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Archive for November, 2011

To calculate the daily amount of PROTEIN for healthy nutrition simply multiply your body weight in kilos x 0.8 – (Or lbs x 0.365)

EXAMPLE:
Kilo’s = 80kg x 0.8 = 64gms of Protein required.
OR
Lbs = 176lbs x 0.365 = 64gms of Protein required.

Pretty simple really!…just work out what protein you need from your fitness nutrition…then find a quality supply that delivers it!

CAN I INCREASE MY PROTEIN INTAKE?
Of course if you need it, anyone can. In my case I discovered that there is a high quality “unflavored” super protein available to do that. I didn’t need it because I was working hard or active in sport; I needed it because my studies allowed me to understand that to overcome the plateaus in weight loss I was experiencing, I needed to increase my protein intake. That’s right; I needed more protein to lose weight.

You see when I started using whey protein shakes I was 134kg (295lb) and I desperately needed to lose some weight. I started on two whey shakes per day and one healthy meal and with small snacks between meals to keep my energy and metabolic rate up high. However I did not choose a diet or weight loss product; because I had learned that in order to be healthy you must feed the body with healthy nutrition; not starve it of nutrition.

Anyone can lose weight by starving the body of nutrition, but it’s not sustainable. I learned that every time I tried a new diet or weight loss program. Eventually with all those “rebounds” I reached the weight I had become. I know now that diet and weight loss programs don’t address the real problem. I’ve also learned as an engineer that any solution that does not address the real problem is at best a temporary solution and will fail.

When I reached a “plateau” with my weight loss I started adding more protein from an unfavored “super whey protein”. I used the recommended usage adding 32gm to three quarter strength shake making it a total of 50gms per meal. With two of these per day and a healthy meal I was not hungry at all and my weight loss again kicked in. Regardless of your health goals, you’ll get the best results possible by adding this super protein to your daily shakes.

Can you add any whey protein and get the same results? Definitely not; it’s far more about quality than quantity that gets the results.

High-quality whey protein is available and is for those serious about improving lean muscle mass and/or trying to get past stubborn weight plateaus. The whey contains an ideal amino acid profile and comes from dairy cows that are pasture-fed on small New Zealand farms, milked according to season and not treated with hormones or antibiotics. Because I had identified that “toxins” were the real cause of my weight problem I chose this high quality product free of toxins and impurities.

MY STORY:
I only share my story because I believe it demonstrates why I needed to change and take an interest in health and nutrition. I also believe that many business people may relate to my experience. For most of my life in business my health and what I ate took a “backseat” to my daily business requirements. I was always on the run and “fitted in” around them. I now see that my priorities were definitely wrong…but that only became urgent when my health started on a downwards spiral. Sadly I’ve noticed that many people experience the same.

I have an engineering background and only became interested in health when I retired and my health had started to rapidly deteriorate. I had been “obese” for many years and by the time I had reached 65 I was lethargic, lacking energy and needing a knee replacement. For over 40 years I was on multiple medications. With my declining health it suddenly became very clear to me that my quality of life was a long way from where it used to be. I also came to realize that if I continued doing what I had been doing then it was not likely I could expect any different result. I needed to change.

Today I am a “different” person. I’m 70 years old, 46kg (102lb) lighter, energetic beyond imagination and feeling years younger than I am. In fact I feel far better than I was at 45. My real bonus is that my Doctor has now given me a clean bill of health and I’m on no medications at all. In fact I’ve only visited my Doctor twice in the last 3 ½ years for an annual blood test, just to see that I’m as good on the inside as I feel. His comment was “whatever you’re doing just keep doing it because you’re like a teenager on the inside”.

My life change I believe is the direct result of my interest in healthy nutrition. I have concluded that anyone can do what I’ve done if they’re willing to make some changes. It’s not hard or expensive…it’s just your thinking that you must change first. The question you should answer “do I want to feel well and be healthy every day of my life?” Remember…everyone I know would willingly exchange everything they own in exchange for good health…when their health fails.

In life it’s just like everything else…in the end its really “quality” that matters not quantity.

If you are interested in dieting, you may have heard talk of how to diet. I can almost guarantee you haven’t heard everything though. In fact, if you read the rest of this how to diet review, you’ll discover three features almost nobody is talking about… yet…

Reduce Heart Attacks

High amounts of magnesium and folate, as well as fiber, contribute to making navy beans good for your heart. Turns out that people who eat lots of legumes in their diets have more than an eighty percent decreased risk of getting heart attacks. It is said that if every American had one hundred percent of their daily requirement of folate a day, the total number of heart attacks in the country would reduce by ten percent. One and a half cups of folate would give you that percentage. Magnesium, on the other hand, helps with making the arteries a more limber place for the bloodstream. Not only does magnesium help decrease the risk of heart attacks, after a heart attack it helps prevent free radical injury to the heart.

Iron

Navy beans are called so because in the eighteen hundreds, the US navy served the beans at every meal. Eating the beans raw is not really an option, because of the extremely hard exterior. Cooking these beans does take away from the nutritional value, but makes them more edible. Eleven and a half milligrams of iron can be found in a cup of raw navy beans. Canned navy beans have five milligrams of iron, half as much as the raw variety. Boiled navy beans contain four and a half milligrams of iron. In both cases, the process of cooking is slow and saps much of the nutritional content. Eating the beans raw is not suggested because they may have toxic compounds only destroyed by cooking.

Carbohydrates

Even though navy beans have a large amount of carbohydrates, almost half of them are fiber. Fiber is good because it helps with the digestive system. Those with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes can reduce the amount of insulin they take because of that. Most popular diet plans suggest taking these beans in the later stages. The high fiber content of navy beans means that they take a while to digest. They are very low on the glycemic index which means they help stabilize blood glucose levels. High glycemic foods can even be lowered by eating them alongside these beans. This can be good if you like sweets but can’t have too many.

Alkalizing our bodies with fresh fruits and vegetables… Nature’s healing foods

“Let food be your medicine. Let medicine be your food” Hippocrates

We’ve all heard the saying, “An apple a day will keep the Doctor away”, and most of us would agree that fruits and vegetables are essential to health. Daily we hear or see information that emphasizes how important fruits and vegetables are to our diets, yet most Americans are seriously lacking the number of servings recommended by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), in 2009 only 24.4% of US Citizens ate the recommended 5+ servings of fruits and vegetables per day! What happened to our commonplace belief in the inherent goodness of produce?

Many experts are now even recommending between 5 and 13 servings of fruits and veggies every day to help prevent disease and illness. Frequent consumption of produce can help keep High Blood pressure, Cancer, Heart Disease, Cataracts, and many other illnesses at bay. Why are we, as a nation, so reluctant to incorporate these disease-preventing and vitality-creating substances into our lives?

Years ago our Parents and Grandparents enjoyed diets full of quality fruits and vegetables, on an everyday basis. It certainly wouldn’t have surprised anyone to even see two separate vegetables cooked with every dinner. Today, it’s a feat in itself to even find a home cooked meal! In many Third World countries, they still continue to consume fresh produce more often than they do dairy or meat products, and many of the same countries have a much lower rate of Cancers, Diabetes, and Autoimmune diseases. These facts should certainly make an inquisitive person wonder, “Why is the richest, most advanced country in the World, the United States of America, also one of the sickest countries in the World?”

One answer to that question is that our hectic and very industrialized way of living has made fresh produce and whole foods a thing of the past for many Americans. If we do take the time to add fruits and veggies to our daily intake, it is often in the form of canned foods, sugary juices, or preserved frozen varieties; which are quick and easy, but retain very little nutritional value. Most of us do know that we have to make a conscious effort to include more produce in our diets, but how many people actually understand that the quality of the fruit and vegetable is equally as important as the consumption?

One reason that fruits and vegetables are such powerful healers is that they help to Alkaline the body; or restore the body’s blood PH level to a non-acidic level. One of the primary reasons why our bodies become infested with pain, illness, and disease, is because our PH (Potential Hydrogen) systems are severely out of balance. Now, what is this PH system all about?

The PH balance of the blood stream is one of the most important biochemical balances in all of human body chemistry. Everything single system in your body is affected by your PH level!!! Your PH is measured on a scale from 0 to 14. The higher the number on the scale, the more alkaline the substance, and the lower the number the more acidic the substance.

Healthy human blood normally remains around a slightly alkaline 7.3. When levels drop below this number, blood becomes more acidic and an environment of disease and illness can develop. Many researchers have concluded that “Total healing of chronic illness takes place only when and if the blood is restored to a normal, slightly alkaline pH.” In 1931, Dr. Otto Warburg won the Nobel Prize for showing that disease cannot exist in an alkaline environment.

With this information, it becomes apparent that in order to attain optimal health, we should strive to get our bodies as alkaline as possible. Now, how do we set out to do this? The historical Physician Hippocrates stated it best, “Let food be your medicine. Let medicine be your food”. To state it in even simpler terms, “we are what we eat”. The foods and drinks we ingest have an immediate effect on our blood PH, and consequently every metabolic function of the body is also affected.

The effect that foods and drinks have on our bodies is measured after digestion. They become either acid-forming or alkaline-forming. Many of the foods and drinks that are part of our North American diet are acid forming, and can lead to Acidosis, which is a condition that often leads to permanent cell damage. Some examples of acid-forming and alkaline-forming foods are as follows:

Alkaline forming: most fruits, green vegetables, peas, beans, lentils, spices, herbs and seasonings, and seeds and nuts. It’s certainly no coincidence that most Alkaline foods are fruits and vegetables. These foods were created to be the foundation of our diets, not the side dishes!

Acid forming: meat, fish, poultry, eggs, grains, and legumes. These choices dominate our American diets.

How raw fruits and vegetables heal and prevent illness with enzymes

While eating cooked fruits and vegetables may still provide some Alkalizing benefit, the majority of the healing power of produce exists within the enzymes that are present in raw fruits and veggies. The role of enzymes is to speed up the rate of every chemical reaction in every single cell of your body. In order for minerals, vitamins, hormones, and herbs to do their jobs, they need the assistance of enzymes to reach the intended cells in an effective manner. In fact, Enzymes are often called the “source of life”.

By ingesting raw fruits and vegetables, enzymes are present in amounts sufficient to aid in the digestion process, without depleting the body’s enzyme stores. As digestion is effectively completed, and waste eliminated, acidity is also reduced and the body moves towards Alkalinity.

Eating fruits and vegetables that are high in enzymes can help to increase your energy levels, as well as potentially aid weight loss, rejuvenate skin, and generally support overall health. Fruits and vegetables high in enzymes not only keep our bodies healthy and restore vitality, but they also can be very pleasing to our palates as well.

Many people only eat turkey over the holidays or during special occasions. Yet turkey is extremely nutritious and offers numerous health benefits. The turkeys that we eat today are descendants of wild North American turkeys that were trapped by the early explorers, settlers, and pioneers. Hundreds of years ago, turkeys were sent overseas from North America to Europe where they quickly became a popular food. In fact, the delicious reputation of wild turkeys nearly ended with their entire species becoming extinct, were it not for the United States government intervening to protect the bird. Fortunately today, turkey can easily be found in many grocery stores, and turkey meat is recognized as a healthy substitute for red meat.

Turkey is a rich source of protein. Yet unlike red meat, consumption of turkey meat does not seem to be linked with an increased risk of cancer and blood disease.
Protein is a vital component of every cell in the human body, and an important part of the human diet. Proteins build and repair the body structure and tissues, and aid in the formation of antibodies and hormones.

Turkey meat contains high amounts of selenium, a trace mineral that is necessary for the proper functioning of the immune system. Selenium acts as an antioxidant to protect your cells from the damaging effects of free radicals.

Turkey is an excellent source of vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), which plays in important role in metabolism, immune function, and cell growth. Vitamin B6 is also required for the formation of myelin (in nerve cells), and synthesis of neurotransmitters (serotonin and norepinephrine).

Tryptophan, also found in turkey meat, is an essential amino acid that promotes relaxation and regulates the sleep cycle. It may also help people fall asleep faster and remain asleep for a longer duration. Tryptophan is a mood enhancer that may play a role in the prevention of anxiety, depression, and headaches.

Turkey is associated with the first Thanksgiving meal in the United States. Almost all of the fat found in turkey is located in its skin, which is easily removed after baking or roasting. The white meat has a lower fat content than the dark meat. Delicious dishes made of turkey include chili, salad, casserole, pot pie, enchiladas, quiche, curry, a la King, and slow cooked soup.

Individuals suffering from gout or kidney stones should limit their intake of turkey. Persons who are allergic to turkey should also avoid this food.