Tag Archives: health

Smoking, Obesity And Lack Of Activity Named As Global Killers

Research published in leading medical journal The Lancet suggests that a lack of exercise can be as big a killer as obesity and smoking.

According to the study, approximately one third of adults do not do a healthy amount of exercise, and it is suggested that this could be causing 5.3 million deaths worldwide each year – the equivalent of one in ten deaths – from related illnesses such as breast cancer, diabetes and heart disease.

Nutritionist Caron Leckie, who works for the UK’s largest provider of chef prepared meals and delivered diets, Diet Chef, comments: “In my experience the weather has a big impact on activity levels, certainly in the UK, and many people use it as an excuse to stay indoors and watch television, rather than getting out and about.

“In addition to this, thousands of our customers have jobs which see them sitting down at a desk for up to nine hours each day. It is logical that this sedentary lifestyle can be conducive to obesity.”

Ms Leckie also added that Diet Chef is “working hard to help people to lose weight with our calorie-controlled diet” and that as a company they are also “working closely with a personal trainer to offer advice and tips on how to move more, no matter what your age, weight or health status.”

It is recommended that adults should do a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate exercise each week, this equates to just over 20 minutes per day.

According to a report by the BBC, “researchers said the problem was now so bad it should be treated as a pandemic”.

Ms Leckie’s top tips for motivation to exercise include:
1. Add An Activity
2. Try Something Different
3. Find a Positive Each Week
4. Take up a Hobby

Read her full list of tips on the Diet Chef blog.

Via EPR Network
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A New Quiz to Check Your Low-Carb IQ

The rising popularity of Atkins-approved menus and other low-carbohydrate products shows that ‘low-carb’ has become the new ‘health’ and ‘fat-free’ label. Millions of carb-aware dieters are cutting back on carbohydrates as a way of eating a more balanced diet. A new low-carb quiz complements this theme, helping oldies and newbies to learn more about their low-carb habits. The quiz helps dieters find out if they are making the best choices with vegetables, fish, eggs, and poultry, focusing on the role of protein, fat, and carbohydrates in our diet.

Carbohydrates are important for the proper working of the immune, digestive, and nervous systems, the heart, and the brain. A form of carbohydrate, fiber keeps the intestines clean and disease-free and is essential for the elimination of toxins and other waste materials from the body. Soluble forms of fiber help the body maintain steady glucose levels in the blood and slow digestion. Moreover, the carbohydrates fructose and glucose are responsible for breaking down certain proteins like those that protect the eyes against cataract formation.

If carbohydrates are so important for good health, why exclude them from your menu while on a diet? The new quiz brings to a focus diets such as the Zone diet and Atkins diet and addresses important questions about low-carb dieting and its effects on health. Low-carb diets have been promoted as a healthy and effective approach to weight reduction. A new study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, for example, showed that obese and overweight people who took a protein supplement and reduced the amount of sugar in their diet experienced a significant drop in their blood pressure. Other benefits associated with low-carb diets include improved insulin sensitivity and lower insulin levels, improved triglycerides, reduced blood glucose, and others.

There have been concerns that diets like the Atkins and Zone diet are bad for the heart. Dieters who cut down on carbohydrates – starches and sugars – eat more foods that are rich in fat. This has been said to have a harmful effect on cardiovascular health. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University found that low-carb diets have the opposite effect and help improve blood vessel health.

Many low-carb dieters are also concerned about the effects of ketosis, which increases the level of ketone bodies in the human body. An important question the quiz asks deals with ketosis and the indicators of ketosis having occurred. Are the symptoms of ketosis something to worry about? In fact, scientific studies have shown that ketosis produces some health benefits. It has mood-stabilizing properties and neuroprotective properties and helps improve glucose control in diabetics. Diabetics who follow a ketogenic diet show a considerable improvement in glycemic control, resulting in medication elimination or reduction. Scientists also believe that ketone bodies are an efficient fuel for the brain, offering protection against brain damage. Moreover, studies show that ketogenic diets lower food intake and reduce hunger more than non-ketogenic diets. While prolonged and extreme ketosis is dangerous, moderate or mild ketosis has been shown to produce health benefits.

The new quiz http://www.lowcarbfoods.org/low-carb-foods-quiz.php itself is a helpful tool for dieters who want to assess their eating style, learn more about foods allowed on a diet, and try different dietary plans such as the Zone diet and Atkins diet. The quiz engages in the debate on low-carb dieting and its effects on diabetics and looks at metabolism and ways to boost metabolism. By testing dieters’ knowledge of low-carb diets and lifestyle, the quiz helps them to find a plan that is the best fit for them.

Via EPR Network
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Cook Your Way To Wellness DVD, Created By Maria Atwood, Demonstrates The Preparation Of Nutrient Dense Foods

Maria Atwood, Eastern Plains of Colorado Weston A Price Chapter Leader, is now offering the 90 minute DVD “Cook Your Way to Wellness” with the “Tell Me More” supplemental booklet to the general public. This DVD sold out after being viewed by hundreds of natural health practitioners at a recent Standard Process West convention in Colorado.

Maria Atwood CNHP, herself a former vegetarian, credits following Sally Fallon-Morrell’s leadership with the health she now enjoys. Maria created “Cook Your Way to Wellness” to use as a demonstration tool to help her teach traditional food preparation to others at her Weston A Price chapter meetings. Although these foods can be made by reading “Nourishing Traditions Cookbook” written by Sally Fallon-Morrell & Mary Enig PhD, “Cook Your Way To Wellness”, which has been praised for it’s easy to follow format, gives a welcome visual presentation to the mysterious sounding foods such as Kefir, Fermented Vegetables and other Nourishing

Traditions recipes. After watching her DVD people have commented that they have the confidence they need to tackle these new skills of fermentation, kefir making, beet kvass, jerky making (following the traditions of her Piute Indian grandmother) and kombucha tea. The ease with which she prepared these foods, one step at a time, exemplifies that all people can prepare these truly life giving foods for themselves.

Owning the “Cook Your Way to Wellness” DVD is akin to having a traditional cooking seminar in your own living room. Maria feels strongly that these teachings have changed many people’s lives by reintroducing them to the simple, whole diet of our ancestors, and which may truly restore us to a life filled with strength and vitality. In “Cook Your Way to Wellness” both newcomers and seasoned cooks unfamiliar with fermenting will understand how easy it is to prepare these marvelous foods. Both the Nourishing Traditions, The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats, and “Cook Your Way to Wellness” are available at Maria Atwood’s website:http://www.traditionalcook.com Additionally, Maria has added a superior stoneware baking line of cookware, cutlery, fermented cod liver oil, high vitamin butter, and diatomaceous earth, which she considers an intricate part of her personal diet. A future mail-order catalog will be available soon.

Cook Your Way to Wellness and the supplemental “Tell Me More” booklet, is a seminar that could easily cost several hundred dollars if given in person, but is now available for only $42.95. Free shipping, and sold only within the contiguous USA. Order on-line at http:www.traditonalcook.com or send check or money order to: Maria Atwood CNHP, P.O. Box 355, Burlington, CO 80807.

Maria Atwood, CNHP, is a Certified Natural Health Professional, traditional foods teacher and natural health advocate. She accepted the responsibility of chapter leader in the Eastern Plains of Colorado in order to further the work of the Weston A. Price Foundation and Dr. Weston A Price’s life long goal which are summed up by his dying words: “You Teach, You Teach, You Teach”. Her personal specialty is teaching others the benefits of nutrient dense and traditional foods.

Via EPR Network
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