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| Health (Photo credit: Tax Credits) |
Want to live longer? Yes / No..... If Yes.
Then eat less. When animals (as reported in a journal of the National Academy of Sciences) were fed a nutritious, calorie-restricted diet (about 30 percent fewer calories than normal), they experienced less sickness, reduced rates of cancer, less heart disease, and less diabetes, and lived longer.
Researchers believe that if humans would cut out their usual amounts of saturated fats, hydrogenated vegetable oils, pastries, cookies, and other junk food and help themselves to sensible portions of fruits and vegetables instead, they, like the animals in the study, would enjoy improved health.--HealthWise.
Sodas Settle Around the Waistline.
Drinking just one can of sugary soda per day, without adjusting the amount of food eaten or increasing one's exercise level, can add 15 pounds of body weight over a year's time. A 12-ounce can of sugary soda has 150 calories. Americans now drink twice as much sugared soda per person as they did 25 years ago.
Fruit and vegetable juices, and water with a bit of lemon, are great alternatives to the soda habit.--University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.
Pure Water Can Be a Wonderful Doctor!
If you are suffering from fatigue, you feel depressed or too stressed, and you are looking for more energy, water could be just the ticket. Also, if you are interested in losing weight and/or controlling your appetite, if you suffer from dry skin, indigestion, backaches, or headaches, drinking more water might be the solution, at least partly. Water makes up between 70 and 80 percent of our bodies--the blood and brain are 90 percent water! Your cells need it to do everything they're assigned by God, and your kidneys use it to filter out harmful elements. It also helps to lubricate our joints, metabolize fat, keep the brain thinking, and a host of other life-sustaining processes.
Water is a great way to help control one's physical body--as more water consumption typically results in less food consumption. In addition, drinking adequate amounts of water will significantly reduce the daily calories so readily consumed when drinking juice, soft drinks, and milk.
There are several ideas about how much water we need to consume to maintain good health. One rule of thumb is eight ounces a day for every 25 pounds of body weight. You should check with your doctor before changing your diet, but it is a fact that for most people more water will greatly benefit their health.
Your body recycles water in a way only God could have devised, but you will naturally lose water through breathing, sweating, and elimination. To avoid losing excess water, stay away from alcohol, caffeine, and sugar, which slow the absorption of water.--Adapted from Amazing Facts, Inside Report, May/June 2003, p. 30.
More About Fatigue.
75 percent of Americans are chronically dehydrated. In 37 percent of Americans, the thirst mechanism is so weak that it is often mistaken for hunger. Even MILD dehydration will slow down one's metabolism as much as 3 percent. One glass of water shuts down midnight hunger pangs for almost 100 percent of dieters in a University of Washington study. Lack of water is the #1 trigger for daytime fatigue. Preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glasses of water a day significantly eases back and joint pain for up to 80 percent of sufferers. A mere 2 percent drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computer screen or on a printed page. Drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases the risk of colon cancer by 45 percent, plus it can slash the risk of breast cancer by 79 percent, and be 50 percent less likely to develop bladder cancer.
Why Risk Alcohol?
There is nothing in wine that isn't in grapes, except for the alcohol. You can add a variety of red and purple table grapes to your diet instead of the wine. In addition, berries, plums, currants, and other deep red-blue fruits are also excellent sources of the anthocyanin phenols found in wine. And quercetin, another phytonutrient in wine, is actually more plentiful in apples with skin. Onions, whole buckwheat, oranges, and grapefruits provide some too.
A healthy dose of colorful fruits and vegetables provides an abundance of other health-protective nutrients not found in wine.--Environmental Nutrition.
Change Your Behavior Today!
I do not want to be the person I am (fat, sick, medication dependent, lethargic, incapacitated, etc.). I want my health and personal appearance back.
1. Recognize that you are worth the effort--you deserve the best life possible.
2. Make a list of personal reasons you want to change.
3. Remove obstacles to change--like avoiding friends and family who sabotage you and removing junk food from your surroundings.
4. Surround yourself with healthy foods--stock your kitchen right, find an accommodating restaurant.
5. Commit yourself to change--pick the specific day and do it.
6. Gather all your strength--everything else in your life must be secondary to this effort.
7. Never give in to the old ways--not even once. But, if you make a mistake--it's only one meal (if it is food) --start right in again.
8. Tell others about your changes--they will help keep you on track.
9. Associate with like-minded people--find friends with good habits.
10. Appreciate your success for beating the most powerful enemies in your life.
Tips for Handling Stress.
Regulate your life as much as possible; take some creative control of your activities. Exercise adequately; take a long walk outside if possible, breathe deeply, get some sunlight. Shower regularly and drink plenty of water. Eat nourishing food with an adequate supply of B vitamins. Don't take yourself too seriously. Take time for rest and relaxation. Reach out to help someone. Keep life--present and future--in proper perspective.--A Key Encounter.
Nuts Are Good for You!
Adults who substitute two ounces of almonds for other foods can reduce their LDL cholesterol (the bad kind) by 10 percent in just a month. Almonds are high in monounsaturated fat, a good type of fat also found in avocados, olive oil, and other nuts. When monounsaturated fat replaces saturated or trans fats in your diet, cholesterol levels fall.
Nuts also are a good source of protein. But researchers stress that without substituting nuts for other foods, the resulting weight gain can negate their cholesterol-lowering effect. --Circulation.
The Benefits of Eating Wheat.
An important battle in the war against disease may be whole-grain wheat. While it has long been believed that wheat's fiber content might prevent cancer, new research shows that wheat contains powerful antioxidants that strongly contribute to the prevention of colon cancer, and possibly diabetes and heart disease. These antioxidants are found in the wheat's orthophenols, and orthophenols survive the baking process. --Kansas State University.
A Safe Diet for Everyone.
C. Everett Koop, former surgeon general of the United States, suggests the best menu is a "a varietal diet rich in complex carbohydrates and protein obtained from whole grains, beans, peas, legumes and a selection of root vegetables. Daily servings of leafy vegetables, daily servings of fruit, a few nuts and 8-10 glasses of water."--North Pacific Union Conference Gleaner, October 2002.
Walking--the Perfect Exercise!
There's growing agreement among exercise researchers that the intense physical activities offered by most health clubs are not the only--or even the preferable--path to better health. Indeed, the best thing for most of us may be to just walk.
Yes, walk. At a reasonably vigorous clip (three to four m.p.h.) for half an hour or so, maybe five or six times a week. You may not feel the benefits all at once, but the evidence suggests that over the long term, a regular walking routine can do a world of preventive good.
Walking, in fact, may be the perfect exercise. For starters, it's one of the safest things you can do with your body. It's much easier on the knees than running and doesn't trigger untoward side effects.
Because walking affects you in so many ways at once, it can be difficult to determine precisely why it's good for you. But much of the evidence gathered so far is compelling:
Walking briskly for at least half an hour consumes a couple hundred calories and boosts your metabolic rate for the rest of the day, giving you a better chance of winning the battle of the bulge.
Studies show that women who exercised regularly as children and young adults and had a healthy intake of calcium decreased their risk of developing osteoporosis later in life.
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