Colds and Antioxidants

Colds and Antioxidants

It's almost Winter time and that means cold and flu season.  So I thought I would share some info to fight against colds.  Some of this information is probably already known to many of you, but it never hurts to read it again.

There are many herbs which can fight against colds and flu, here is a short list and their benefits.  Most of these are available in most Health Food stores and how to consume them, or you can order them by clicking on some of the sites advertised on this blog.

Echinacea:  Boosts the immune system. Promotes healing of skin wounds. Fights bacterial and viral infections. Shortens the duration of colds and flu.

Elder:  Relieves symptoms of coughs and colds. Applied externally, useful for burns, rashes, and minor skin problems.

Ephedra:  Decongestant can relieve stuffy nose, watery eyes, and other cold and allergy symptoms.  May help relieve headaches.  Long-acting stimulant that can last up to 24 hours.

Eucalyptus:  Helps relieve upper respiratory distress caused by cold and flu.  Good expectorant.  Good antiseptic. Can help soothe stiffness and swelling of arthritis and rheumatism.

Fennel:  Digestive aid that can relieve cramps and gas.  Good expectorant for coughs and colds, Can improve sluggish appetite, Relieves stiff, painful joints.

Fenugreek:  Good expectorant for coughs and colds.  As a gargle, can relieve sore throat.  Useful for skin irritations and other inflammations.  Lowers blood sugar.

Ginger:  Calms upset stomach. Eases cold symptoms.  Soothes and promotes healing of minor burns and skin inflammations.

Siberian Ginseng:  Helps body withstand stress.  Improves mental alertness.  Helps cure colds and infections. Improves overall health. Helps prevent heart disease by reducing cholesterol and blood pressure.

Goldenseal: Antiinflammatory action can soothe irritated mucous membranes.  Relieves symptoms of colds and flu.  Aids indigestion and constipation.

Horehound:  Relieves symptoms of coughs and colds.  Promotes sweating, helps cool off the body.

Licorice: Helps break up congestion due to colds.  Soothes sore, hoarse throat.

Lungwort: Good expectorant, breaks up chest congestion.  Can sooth throat irritation. Helps cure diarrhea.

Onion:  Good expectorant.  Relieves symptoms of common cold.  Relieves gas. Good antiseptic.

These are just some of numerous herbs which can help with colds and flus.  Tea is also excellent and loaded with antioxidants. 

Healthful antioxidants in tea, called polyphenols, are credited with everything from reducing the risk of certain types of cancer to lowering blood pressure and cholesterol levels. But to really get your fill of antioxidants from tea, choose brewed over bottled. In general, green brewed teas deliver the most polyphenols -- averaging 50 to 500 milligrams per serving. Fresh-brewed black tea hooks you up with anywhere from 10 to 360 milligrams per cup.

Colds and Antioxidants

Tips to lose Weight

Tips to Lose Weight

Following the Winter weight gain issue, here are a couple tips to help you win the battle.

If your family is prone to gain weight easily, meaning your family genes are such that there are not many size slim.  Well, then, here's the simple trick to outrunning your obesity genes:

MOVEMENT


In a study of people genetically predisposed to obesity, those who were the most active managed to seriously alter their body's predisposition to gain weight. They were far less likely to pack on pounds over time compared with the least active in the study.

The cards stacked against you when it comes to family health history, but nothing is certain. Only about 30 percent of aging is determined by genetic factors. The other 70 percent you control through your behaviors. Here are just a few examples of how you can alter the way your genes affect your health:

Exercise for 3 minutes.
Cook with olive oil. 
Eat Whole Grain.

Regarding whole grain:  
The more whole grains you add to your diet in place of refined grains, the better off your waistline will be. The whole-grain lovers tended to have less belly fat than refined-grain buyers -- and had smaller waists, too. But eating more whole grains had a fat-curbing effect only when it was combined with a low intake of refined grains.  Just how many whole-grain servings do you need to stay slim? Researchers think at least three servings daily is a good goal. That can be achieved with half a cup of steel-cut oatmeal in the morning and a couple of slices of whole-grain bread for your sandwich at lunch. But not just any whole-grain bread. Find a loaf that's high in fiber. Researchers suspect the waist-friendly qualities of whole-grain products come, in part, from the appetite-steadying fiber found inside. Whole grains also have lots of magnesium, which is good for improving insulin sensitivity.

Tips to Lose Weight

Vitamin Advisor and Complete Program Supplements

Vitamin Advisor and Complete Program Supplements

Hello to all.  Today I'd like to share with you a nutrition and supplement site which I highly recommend. Dr. Weil's vitamin advisor and complete program supplements.  Please click on the link on this site at the bottom of the page, and you'll get a better idea of what I'm talking about.

The Vitamin Advisor is a health and lifestyle questionnaire that takes just ten minutes to complete. Created by Andrew Weil, M.D., and his science advisory team, it asks about your diet, lifestyle habits, age, gender, health concerns, medications and other factors that affect your nutrition needs.

This 4-step questionnaire requires just minutes to complete, and generates a free, no-obligation vitamin and supplement recommendation that is personalized to meet your unique nutritional needs.

When you click the "Submit" button, your answers are processed via our proprietary, physician-approved algorithms to determine the precise mix of supplements - in just the right dosages - to fit your unique nutritional requirements.
Then, this personal recommendation is presented to you, free, with no obligation.

 If you choose to order supplements after receiving your recommendation, you will receive premium quality, evidence-based supplements in the proper doses, and that exactly match the recommendations from Dr. Weil. They will be custom-packed just for you in daily-dose packets in a convenient dispenser box and shipped directly to you.

You may take it to the retail or online merchant of your choice. It can also be shared with nutritionists and other health professionals to assist you in meeting your health goals.

After you receive your recommendation, you will have the opportunity to fulfill your supplement needs with Weil Complete Program supplements. If you choose this option, your order, custom-packed with your unique supplement combination in 30 daily-dose packets, will be shipped right to your door. You may choose automatic billing and shipping each month for the period of your choice, to ensure maximum freshness and convenience.

Dr. Weil has personally directed the creation of these formulas to allow an exact match with his recommendations, but he does not profit from their sales, and donates all of his after-tax profits from royalties from the sale of Weil Complete supplements directly to the Weil Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that supports integrative medicine through training, education and research.

Vitamin Advisor and Complete Program Supplements

Winter Weight Gain

Winter Weight Gain

Winter is fast approaching and as usual it is more difficult to get motivated to hit the gym and keep the weight down.  So here is an idea for a side dish which will help prevent putting on weight.

Winter Squash,  butternut, acorn, or delicata, winter squash has a lot going for it nutritionally.

Squash is high not only in fiber, about 6 grams of fiber per cup of mash, but also in water. You can eat lots and feel full without going overboard on calories, but hold the butter and brown sugar.

I found this great recipe:

Oven Roasted Squash with Garlic and Parsley

10 servings, about 3/4 cup each

Active Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 

Ingredients  

• 5 pounds winter squash (such as butternut, buttercup, kabocha or hubbard), peeled, seeded and cut into 1-inch chunks (see Tip)
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, divided
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley   

Preparation

1.  Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Toss squash with 4 teaspoons oil, salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Spread evenly on a large baking sheet. Roast, stirring occasionally, until tender throughout and lightly browned, 30 to 45 minutes (depending on the variety of squash).
3. Heat the remaining 2 teaspoons oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant but not brown, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Toss the roasted squash with the garlic and parsley. Taste, adjust the seasoning and serve

Nutrition

104 calories; 3 g fat (0 g sat, 2 g mono); 0 mg cholesterol; 21 g carbohydrates; 2 g protein; 6 g fiber; 357 mg sodium; 555 mg potassium. 1 1/2 Carbohydrate Serving

Exchanges: 1 starch, 1/2 fat

Nutrition Note: Vitamin A (430% daily value), Vitamin C (50% dv), Potassium (16% dv).

Hope you like it, I tried it with some boneless chicken breasts.  It makes a low fat, high in fiber meal.  Let me know what you think.

Winter Weight Gain

 

nutrifitweight: Enjoying Meals and Staying Slim

nutrifitweight: Enjoying Meals and Staying Slim

Enjoying Meals and Staying Slim

Enjoying Meals and Staying Slim

It is not only possible but also realistic to enjoy your meals and stay slim at the same time.  There are many ways of losing weight, but most are difficult in real life.  Losing weight by fasting is possible, but dangerous in practice.  Losing weight by following a strict diet is possible, but unrealistic because you eventually get sick of it and will quit.

There are ways by which foods may be mixed to please the mouth without overnourishing the stomach.  This is called the art of cooking.  Soups are an excellent example of mixing foods which will be pleasing to the taste and not overnourish.  The Chinese excel in this practice - mushroom, chicken, beef, egg, pork, fish or clam soup.  Soups are delicious and will also help you lose weight.  The quality of foods not their quantity really contributes to your gaining weight.  For example, 1 pound of beef (450g) is certainly different from 100 g.  Eating 1 pound of beef will put on more weight than eating 100 g and drinking soups will make you consume less food without sacrificing your enjoyment of good meals.  100 gram of beef may seem like a small quantity when used for a beefsteak, but when making soup, its quantity is significantly increased.

To make beef soup, cut up 100 g of beef into small pieces; place in a bowl, add a little wine and five small slices of fresh ginger and an adequate amount of water.  Simmer the soup over low heat for an hour.  This will make a delicious beef soup.  Or you can steam the ingredients for 2 hours.  This beef soup will not put on weight.  On the contrary it will make you lose weight and stay slim.  Moreover, this beef soup contains wine and ginger, which act upon many internal organs.

Soups promote good health.

Beef soup is good for weakness and anemia.

Chicken soup is good for fatigue and neuroasthemia.

Mung bean soup is good for inflammation of the internal organs.

Mushroom soup is good for weak liver.

Clam soup is good for hypertension.

Enjoying meals and staying fit

CHINESE DIET FOR WEIGHT LOSS part 1

CHINESE DIET FOR WEIGHT LOSS
The Chinese Theory of Overweight

It is a fact that Chinese emigrants do not become overweight as easily as their children born in the west. This phenomenon is obvious in Hawaii where there are as many overweight Orientals as Caucasians, Which allows us to reason that obesity has no racial discrimination. In other words, anyone, Orientals or Caucasian, born in the west has an equal opportunity to become overweight.  I have not met any Orientals immigrant who gained more than ten pounds after coming to the West.  I have seen many immigrants gain eight pounds during the first year after their arrival, But their weight normally declined again within a year to maintain more or less the same as their in the Orient.  A dramatic change in their diets caused the initial weight gain.  Undoubtedly, some people have a greater tendency to become overweight due to hereditary factors.  The crucial factors, however, are not hereditary, but the environmental ones that may be altered and influenced.

We have a natural tendency to think that the more our body is nourished, the better.  This is a crucial error we make in nutrition and human health.  It is not always true that the more our body is nourished, the better; we must add another condition to make it a true statement:  The more our body is nourished, the better, provided the body is well balanced. A strong, imbalanced body is just as bad as a weak, balanced body.

A Well-Balanced Body

A well balanced body means that the body is equally in shape in all respects.  For example, a person with a strong stomach but a weak heart, or a strong heart but a weak liver, or who is strong and energetic but who suddenly dies of a heart attack is not well-balanced.

According to the Chinese theory of internal organs, when the stomach and the spleen are overnourished, it weakens the kidneys and bladder; when the kidneys and bladder are overnourished, it weakens the lungs and large intestine.  Under normal circumstances, we eat what we like most, and the mouth is the final judge of our preferences, and so, we eat according to our own taste dictated by the tongue or the mouth.  Ideally, all our internal organs should have equal representation in the mouth to guarantee fairness in the selection of foods.  But it does not function that way.  Since there is no equal representation, we eat just to please the mouth and the stomach.  Small wonder we eat only for enjoyment and put on weight.

Sweet foods are pleasing to the mouth, so we eat them most frequently and in large quantities; bitter foods are good for the heart, but we seldom eat them, because they are not pleasing to the mouth; pungent foods are good for the lungs, but we don’t eat them as often as sweet foods; salty foods are good for the kidneys and gall bladder; sour foods are good for the liver and gall bladder. In short, we eat only to please the mouth and the stomach, which means to enjoy taste and to gain weight as a result.  

Chinese Diet for Weight Loss

 Next Chapter:  Enjoying Meals and Staying Slim

Nutrifitweight

Welcome to my Nutrifitweight blog.  You'll learn about Nutrifitweight and how to live a healthy lifestyle by eating healthy, working out correctly and keeping your weight down.  I will post new articles weekly to help you achieve the maximum results.  Whether you are a new Mom, Retired, a Teenager, or simply want to start toward taking control of your health and well being and have more energy.  This is the blog for you.
Thanks and Happy Reading