Sunday, July 10, 2011
Health dos, don't for a better looking you :)
Good looks come with good food and a healthy lifestyle. What you eat is what shows on your face, hair and figure.
Dos
Want to eat right but not sure how? Divide your plate. Half should be full of vegetables, and the rest should be divided between proteins - chicken, fish, tofu, egg white, sprouts - and cereals. Include two servings of fruit.
To keep your metabolism high: Eat smaller, more frequent meals. Ditch your three meals a day and eat five-six small meals instead. Leave a gap of three hours between each meal. Nutrients for good skin include proteins, essential fats, vitamins A, E, C, B complex, selenium, zinc and copper.
Get your proteins right: Essential fatty acids (linoleic and alphalinoleicacid) which are found in seed oils are important in maintaining lustrous skin. Fatty fish, alsi (flaxseeds) and evening primrose oil provide essential fatty acids for the skin.
Vitamin A: Best known as a vitamin for healthy skin, is found in fish liver oil, liver, carrot, berries, melons, peppers, broccoli, cabbage, papaya, mango, green leafy vegetables, tomato and yellow pumpkins.
Vitamin C: Also boosts collagen production, which helps keep the skin firm. Top up on citrus fruits (orange, lemon), guava, amla (gooseberry), papaya, broccoli, berries and green leafy vegetables. These have Vitamin C - vital to maintain good skin.
Vitamin E: Is an antioxidant that helps maintain good skin health, and protects from sun damage. You can get it from vegetable oils (sunflower, safflower, soybean), butter, nuts, wheat germ, whole grain cereals, eggs and green leafy vegetables.
Your body requires antioxidants to keep healthy and glowing. Herbs and spices such as cloves, turmeric, dalchini (cinnamon), ginger, pepper, oregano and peppermint, and tomatoes, onions, garlic, bell peppers, beans, peas, black pepper, sunflower and sesame seeds are rich sources.
Reach for THE yoghurt - the probiotics in it enhance absorption of antioxidants and other nutrients.
Avocados are high in calories, but they're a brilliant source of healthy nutrients including good fats, vitamins A, E, C and B6.
Snack healthy with a handful of nuts and seeds: Almonds, walnuts, sunflowers seeds, alsi (flax seeds) and pistachios. Walnuts are a rich source of fatty acids and almonds contain more calcium than any other nut. All of them help you feel fuller for longer.
Don'ts
Trans fats are a by-product that are formed during the process of hydrogenation - adding hydrogen to liquid oils to make them solid. This way, cheap vegetable oils can be made more like animal fat. Vanaspati, Dalda, margarines, shortenings and butter substitutes fall into this category.
They increase the risk of degenerative chronic diseases. Almost all commercially prepared and pre-packed ready-to-eat foods, including commercially prepared biscuits, cakes, cake mixes, chocolates, doughnuts, cereals, fried namkeens and French fries, have trans fats.
Cigarettes are a smoking gun: With every puff producing millions of free radicals, depleting the skin of oxygen, leading to dryness and dry spots, premature lines and wrinkles, dull unhealthy-looking complexion, and loss of radiance.
Alcohol: Excessive alcohol is a dehydrator, which also damages your cells and leads to dull skin, enlarged pores, discolouration, wrinkles and sagging. An occasional glass of wine has antioxidants - "occasional" and "glass" are the key words.
Reference: Yahoo India
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Hypoferremia (Iron Deficiency)
Iron deficiency is, however, a major public health problem throughout the world, and women are most at risk. Deficiency this vital nutrient brings down immunity levels and also reduces the physical and mental capacities of people. Iron is needed by the body to perform a variety of functions. It's most important role is to carry oxygen to all the cells in the body. Iron's ability to take in oxygen makes it a critical part of hemoglobin, the pigment responsible for taking oxygen to all the parts of the body. Iron containing enzymes also helps in converting beta-carotene into the active form of vitamin Avitamin A needed to maintain healthy eyes. A recent study by researchers at the University of Arizonathe University of Arizona and University of ArkansasUniversity of Arkansas show that post menopausal women who consumed 18 milligrams of iron per day had the greatest bone mineral density levels, proving iron is also an integral part of bone health. The important role played by this mineral cannot be underestimated and every effort must be taken to ensure that the required levels are maintained.
Plant-based iron has always been considered to be an inferior source of iron, which means vegans must pay a bit more attention to their diets to ensure proper intake. While heme iron (iron from animal sources) gets absorbed into the body at the rate of 25%-35% of the intake, non-heme is absorbed only at the rate of 2%-10%. The main reason for the low absorptionabsorption rate is the presence of substances that bind with it and carry it outside the body. Fiber in fruits and vegetables, phytates in grains and oxalic acid in spinach are the main culprits thought to be the reason for low iron intakeiron intake by the body, although studies disagree as to just how large a role these binding agents play.
Symptoms of iron deficiency can occur even before the condition has progressed to iron deficiency anaemia.
Symptoms of iron deficiency are not unique to iron deficiency (i.e. not pathognomonic). Iron is needed for many enzymes to function normally, so a wide range of symptoms may eventually emerge, either as the secondary result of the anemia, or as other primary results of iron deficiency. Symptoms of iron deficiency include:
Food rich in Iron content:
Plant-based iron has always been considered to be an inferior source of iron, which means vegans must pay a bit more attention to their diets to ensure proper intake. While heme iron (iron from animal sources) gets absorbed into the body at the rate of 25%-35% of the intake, non-heme is absorbed only at the rate of 2%-10%. The main reason for the low absorptionabsorption rate is the presence of substances that bind with it and carry it outside the body. Fiber in fruits and vegetables, phytates in grains and oxalic acid in spinach are the main culprits thought to be the reason for low iron intakeiron intake by the body, although studies disagree as to just how large a role these binding agents play.
Symptoms of iron deficiency can occur even before the condition has progressed to iron deficiency anaemia.
Symptoms of iron deficiency are not unique to iron deficiency (i.e. not pathognomonic). Iron is needed for many enzymes to function normally, so a wide range of symptoms may eventually emerge, either as the secondary result of the anemia, or as other primary results of iron deficiency. Symptoms of iron deficiency include:
- fatigue
- pallor
- hair loss
- irritability
- weakness
- pica
- brittle or grooved nails
- Plummer-Vinson syndrome: painful atrophy of the mucous membrane covering the tongue, the pharynx and the oesophagus
- Impaired immune function
- Pagophagia
- Restless Legs Syndrome
Food rich in Iron content:
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