Psychodietetics: What you eat vs what you feel

A body of evidence linking the impact of diet on mood and behaviour has been growing for many years. Now scientific evidence, published today, reveals that food can have an immediate and lasting effect upon a person's mental health and behaviour because of the way it affects the structure and function of the brain .

Significant changes in the way food is produced and manufactured have not only reduced the amounts of essential fats, vitamins and minerals consumed, but have also disturbed the balance of nutrients in the foods eaten. The proliferation of industrialised farming has introduced pesticides and altered the body fat composition of animals due to the diets they are now fed. As a result, the population's intake of omega-3 fatty acids has decreased whilst the consumption of omega-6 fatty acids has increased. According to the research, this unequal intake combined with a lack of vitamins and minerals is associated with depression, concentration and memory problems.

More: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com

Starting to exercise...

Some of the benefits you will get from exercise

* reduces risk of heart disease
* reduces risk of high blood pressure
* decreases resting heart rate (so your heart doesn't have to work as hard)
* increases bone density
* reduces risk of osteoporosis
* improves strength and stamina
* increases co-ordination and balance (especially important for older adults)
* improves flexibility
* improves respiration
* improves circulation
* helps to prevent constipation
* helps with weight control
* improves sense of well-being and reduces stress

More at http://www.jr2.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/booth/hliving/startoex.html

Prescriptions and Doctor Visits

I was diagnosed with Mitral Valve Prolapse back in 1990. I underwent an extensive (and expensive) series of tests that found it. I had actually been suffering from the symptoms for 16 years prior to that. The usual diagnosis prior to those tests were: I was too thin, I was too tall, I got up too fast, etc.

Anyway, after diagnosis, I was given a prescription for 50mg of Tenormin to be taken once per day for the rest of my life.

I always have to go to a doctor and get my prescription refilled. Some doctors decide to give me a 6 month prescription, others one year. So every 6-12 months, I have to pay a doctor that spends a total of about 5 minutes with me to give me a prescription that I'm supposed to take everyday for the rest of my life!

Now, some doctors tell me that it's so they can keep me apprised of new medicines that might be more helpful with my condition. Well, that was the case once. One doctor prescribed a new medication for me. However, it didn't work as well as the old one and had far more adverse side effects! I had to go back and ask for my original prescription - and pay the office visit fee again!

Hmmm... that just doesn't seem right to me. If you think about it though, it's a really good marketing strategy... repeat business built right in!

NY's Resolutions about Nutrition & Fitness

The end of 2005 and the beginning of 2006 evidenced the trend away from fad diets and moved overwhelmingly toward common sense nutrition and fitness.

This is excellent news however, will the majority of those convinced that they needed to learn more about these two important aspects of health, continue to learn and apply these resolutions?

So far, it appears that many of us are holding to our New Year's Resolutions and taking that step toward nutritional knowledge as evidenced by some of the top searches performed online. In fact, here are some of the highest searched keywords that brought people to my natural health, nutrition, and healthy cooking sites:

Glycemic Index
Organic Foods
Common Sense Nutrition
Vegetables
Healthy Cooking
Herb Treatments

I will also be creating a new site soon about fitness.

If you made a New Year's Resolution to learn how to eat nutritious foods and get into shape, don't give up on it! Take it one step at a time because even one step is a start, and I have always believed that one step leads to another and another... so take each step as you are comfortable with it, but take it in the right direction - toward your health!

Go Organic!

Would you care for a side dish of pesticides with your meal tonight?

Most sane people would not raise their hand in the affirmative. So how do you reply in the negative, so that food manufacturers will hear you?

Go organic! It is healthier for you to not ingest chemicals not intended for your system. With large-scale food production, pesticides and chemicals are added to help the earth and plants perform. Soil becomes depleted with overuse in food production, so the chemicals are added in an effort to amend that, and to fight off the pests that invade the off-balance system. The chemicals themselves lead to an imbalance, causing a cycle of depletion and perpetuating the system imbalance. In the meantime, these same chemicals are killing off earthworms, which eat soil and produce a richer fertilizer than can be manufactured!

The Environmental Protection Agency lists 60,000 of the 70,000 chemicals produced as being potentially dangerous to our health. Hundreds of millions of pounds of pesticides are added annually to the billions of pounds already in the ground, which in turn leach into the cells of the foods that we will be ingesting. To top it off, food plants grown in chemical-additive soil contain more carbohydrates and are lower in protein and minerals. The chemical fertilizers can also cause a severe lack of magnesium in plants, which in turn causes deficiencies of magnesium in humans. This means that the foods we are purchasing are coming to us nutritionally inferior, in their natural state, as a result of their production!

Food plants grown in soil rich in natural minerals and humus have a greater protein content than those grown in chemically fertilized soils. Calcium, magnesium, potassium and iron contents of vegetables from mineral-rich organic soil has ranged from four to many hundreds of times higher than soils chemically fertilized. These foods are more natural, as a direct result of their being grown naturally, and clearly more nutritionally beneficial.

The question is why food manufacturers would continue to use chemical fertilizers and pesticides, when the risks appear to outweigh the benefits. It comes down to economics, as usual - organic production requires a little more labor and effort, which in turn can make the cost of production a little higher. By spreading chemicals instead, the result is a cheaper "solution", with the cost being somewhat hidden in the way of environmental side-effects and our ingesting chemicals not intended for human consumption.

Organic foods, when first introduced, were generally a lot more expensive than their chemically-grown counterparts. What has happened, as a result of consumer demand, is that the supply of more organically-grown foods were requested and purchased, and in turn, the costs have come down. What you have to consider is how much is your long-term health worth? It doesn't seem to make sense to purchase foods that are nutritionally deficient right off the shelf. The purpose of food is to provide our body the maximum amount of nutrients possible. We certainly don't eat for malnutrition, vitamin and mineral deficiency, and unnatural chemicals migrating into every cell of our bodies.

What wouldn't you pay for vitality and the most premium health you can possibly possess?

Eat Whole Grains for Health

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A new study suggests that older adults who regularly eat whole grains such as high-fiber cereals and cooked oatmeal may be less likely to develop a conditions that raise your risk of heart attack and stroke, a new study suggests.

Research has also suggested that middle-age adults can lower their risk of metabolic syndrome by favoring whole grains such as bran, oats and brown rice over highly processed grain products like white bread.

Researchers found that men and women with the highest whole-grain intake (generally three servings a day) were less than 50% as likely to have metabolic syndrome as their peers who consumed less than one serving of whole grains per day.

Brought to your attention by the nutrition site, http://www.Eat-Well-To-Be-Well.com

Twinkie Tax (Fat Tax)

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 11 (HealthDay News) -- In America's ongoing battle of the bulge, one strategy to combat the nation's obesity epidemic has generated more than a decade's worth of attention and controversy.

Popularly known as the "fat tax" or the "Twinkie tax," the concept first gained widespread attention in 1994 when Yale University psychology professor Kelly D. Brownell outlined the idea in an op-ed piece in The New York Times.

Addressing what he called a "dire set of circumstances," Brownell proposed two food-tax options: A big tax, in the range of 7 percent to 10 percent, to discourage the purchase of unhealthy processed foods while subsidizing healthier choices; or a much smaller tax to fund long-term public health nutrition programs...

... Brownell emphasized that, if properly implemented, fat taxes could yield major benefits. For example, slapping a single penny tax onto the cost of soft drinks across the country would generate almost $1.5 billion annually -- a figure that far exceeds the budgets of current government-sponsored nutrition programs, he said.

More...

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Conquering the Food Pyramid

About a century ago, malnutrition was a problem in our country. The U.S. Department of Agriculture worked to educate the public on the foods to eat in order to combat the problem. The first food groups were born, and the number fluctuated through the years from anywhere between four to twelve groups.

Around the mid-1970's, obesity and diet-related illnesses dominated as a public health concern, and the USDA switched gears, creating the Food Guide Pyramid. The food groups and proportions were based on what was healthy for a young adult male, which fit only a portion of the population.

Recently, a modernized version was released - MyPyramid. The new version gives nutritional guidelines, but the challenge is making it applicable to our lives. In short, what do we require to stay healthy?

The key to nutritional health is variety. With the body requiring about 40 essential nutrients and approximately 2,000 calories a day, shaking things up a little in the kitchen is the optimum way to insure that you cover your nutritional bases.

With the Food Guide Pyramid, food groups place a particular food item in one category. The reality is that foods don't always fit that neatly into one slot. Cheese is found under "Dairy", but protein and fat are also applicable categories. Healthy eating requires knowledge of what makes up a food item, and then planning meals accordingly.

Protein, fats, and carbohydrates are considered macronutrients. Vitamins, minerals, and trace elements are micronutrients. Nearly all foods contain a combination of two to three of the macronutrients in their whole state. When foods are overly processed and refined is when you begin to upset the balance of good nutrition.

Protein should be approximately 15% of your total calories. Most people automatically picture "meat" as the only choice, but there are many foods rich in protein. Fish, dairy products, beans, whole grains, and other plant foods provide a healthy alternative. And, fish, poultry, and dairy products provide higher percentages of protein per ounce than meat and eggs.

About 55-60% of your daily diet should be in the form of carbohydrates. They are the body's chief source of energy.

A lot of food trends have taken their turn in the news through the years. Eat more protein, eat less protein, stay away from fats, and on and on it goes. Eating whole foods has been consistently the fall-back for all of these "latest and greatest" ideas, as it offers balance and consistency.

Following a whole foods eating plan is the most nutritionally sound choice and much more simplistic than trying to figure out what processed-food combinations will provide you what, if any, nutrients. By staying as close to the natural state of a food as possible, there are guaranteed to be the maximum amount of macro and micronutrients needed for great health that your food choices can provide.

A diet that is high in fiber and low in fats also alleviates the need to count every calorie you eat. Losing body fat is one of the best side effects of good nutrition!


This article is free to republish as long as credit is given to Debra Augur, http://www.eat-well-to-be-well.com

Alcohol and Nutrition

This is an excerpt from one of Bill Sardi's Knowledge of Health, an excellent source of health information and news.

About 17.6 million Americans have a drinking problem. If efforts to reduce over-consumption of alcohol are as ineffective as they are, then why not limit the damage caused by alcohol? This can be accomplished with nutritional fortification of foods.

Chronic alcoholics frequently have evidence of nutritional deficiency due to decreased intake and impaired utilization of nutrients. Chronic alcohol-related brain damage can often be a direct result of nutrient depletion, particularly of the vitamins B1, B3, B6 and B12 and the mineral, magnesium. Lesser degrees of brain damage frequently go unrecognized, and by the time a vitamin deficiency syndrome has developed and been diagnosed, irreversible damage has often occurred. [Contemporary Issues Clinical Biochemistry 1: 188-224, 1984]

Vitamin B1 (thiamine) deficiency is a major problem among alcoholics. [Alcohol Alcoholism 40: 283-90, 2005] Severe thiamin deficiency causes mental confusion, drowsiness, clouding of consciousness, but a low-grade shortage can produce symptoms of fatigue, weakness, emotional disturbance and memory problems, which are often never suspected as being indicators of alcohol abuse.

For the complete report visit Bill Sardi's Knowledge of Health

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The brain is where poor nutrition is first felt.

The brain is where poor nutrition is first felt. For instance, if you are deficient in iron you will feel depressed and irritable long before you develop anemia. But, if we rely on supplements, we're missing out on trace minerals and phytochemicals available to us only in whole foods. Your system works when fed properly and malfunctions when not!

Neurotransmitters, brain chemicals, are the means whereby the complex structures of your brain are turned into the conscious and unconscious workings of your mind. Several neurotransmitters have been tied to mood and depression. Furthermore, mental illnesses are clearly positioned as having a biological dimension as well as psychological.

When depression interferes with daily living, it can be considered a form of mental illness even if it is such feelings as loneliness, boredom, helplessness, alienation or hopelessness. Feeling sad from time to time is normal but losing interest in life signals depression.

Norepinephrine, seratonin, melatonin, dopamine, neuropeptides, and acetylcholine have been identified, so far, as mood altering brain chemicals.

Calming the mind and spirit are important parts of restoring health. And, conversely, restoring health calms the mind and spirit. Avoiding foods and habits that scatter the mind (rich foods, refined sugar, alcohol, coffee, eating too late and too large of meals) and a simple diet with perhaps occasional light fasting goes a long way toward building inner peace.

Denatured, devitalized, deficient foods may very well create denatured, devitalized, deficient lives. Depression, isolation, insecurities, fears, intense anxiety… Life depleting food intake becomes brain chemistry influencing thinking and emotion. Foods can drive emotions and passionate desire, emotional heat, and even social disarray.

More nutrition information, causes and effects...

Fat or Sugar?

Food is processed and must travel to its destination: grocery store shelves in our neighborhood. Food manufacturers make sure that the food you receive is fresh and not rotting in the bag when you purchase it.

The process of hydrogenation leads to longer shelf life for foods such as oils, margarines, and shortenings so that they won't go rancid. Most refined oils are solvent extracted at high heat with harsh chemicals, then bleached and chemically treated to obtain an oil that has no color or taste. These products are used in the making of food stuffs such as breads, cakes, and cookies. On food labels, look for "hydrogenated" or "partially hydrogenated", and then avoid them!

Hydrogenation sounds like a good thing, as no one wants to purchase rancid foods. It comes with a heavy price, though. The process of hydrogenation causes an immune damaging synthetic fat - known as a Trans fatty acid - that has been found to elevate blood cholesterol. As we know, a build-up of cholesterol can lead to heart disease.

This is putting the fat into food products. What if we just take the fat out completely?

When grocery shopping, if you see "light", "nonfat", "low fat", or "diet" on the food labels, a red flag should go up. Food manufacturers depend on you to continue buying their products, so they work to make sure those products taste good, keeping you coming back for more. In the case of removing the fat from a product, chances are sugar is added back in as a replacement in order to make it taste good, keeping you coming back for more. Sugar begets the craving of still more sugar, exactly what the manufacturers are counting on.

Here is where the confusion comes in. It seems it is a choice between fat-laden food products, or sugar-laden ones, and trying to decide which is the lesser of two evils.

The body requires fat, in moderation, in order to function. On its own, the body cannot manufacture enough essential fatty acids, so it needs to receive the balance of them from an outside source, from the foods you choose. Eating fat actually stimulates the burning of stored fat in your body and satiates your appetite. Without that feeling of being satiated, you will feel hungry, which leads to the unproductive cycle of overeating, as your body tries to compensate for the shortage of nutrients it is experiencing.

Which is the lesser of the two evils? Neither!

Stick with whole foods eating, the most beneficial habit you can pick up in order to provide your body with the nutrients it requires. When you eat whole foods, you are eating them as close to their natural state as possible. Whole foods eating is an exercise in moderation, giving you some fat and some sugar, but naturally. Keep in mind that the less the product is manufactured, the better quality it is. When you eat quality whole foods, you get caught up in a cycle that your body will love and reward you for, giving you greater energy and vitality.

Would you want it any other way?

This article may be reproduced as long as credit is given to http://www.Eat-Well-To-Be-Well.com and the links within the article are presented in tact.

Risk of Cancer Reduced!

Astonishing news... the risk for most cancers can be cut by 30 to 50 percent with use of an economical vitamin D pill. Widespread use of vitamin D supplements would be expected to reduce colon cancer by 50%, and breast and ovarian cancer by 30%.

Researchers at the University of California San Diego caught the cancer industry by surprise with their stunning review of 63 published papers, revealing cancer rates can be dramatically reduced by raising blood levels of vitamin D beyond dietary levels with the use of vitamin pills. Large portions of human populations, especially in northern latitudes and people with darkly-pigmented skin, have very low circulating levels of vitamin D.

More...

Farmed vs Fresh Fish

Omega-3 fish oil is rightly being extolled for its healthy qualities. But we are reminded that fish don’t produce omega-3 oils, they phytoplankton they eat from cold waters provides the omega-3s and then it is converted into EPA and DHA, the omega-3 molecules that reduce triglycerides (a cholesterol number), controls blood pressure, lines our nervous system, controls inflammation, and many other functions. But, fish are what they eat.

More...

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