Flavonoids are a type of phytonutrients, or plant-based compounds, that are well known for their powerful antioxidant properties. They are the pigments responsible for the many shades of yellow, orange, and red in foods. Flavonoids have been recognized and embraced for their many health...
Impulse Eating a weight loss enemy One of the main challenges faced by people trying to lose weight, or wanting to improve their eating habits is impulsive eating. And even though, the best cure for this problem is education, here are some pretty interesting tips to help you out. Before going into...
I will dare to guess that you have heard before that our emotions have an effect on our health. Positive emotions, or alkalizing emotions, as we call them, can improve your health, and the opposite is also true, negative emotions can be very detrimental to your physical health. This fact has...
Parkinson's disease is a neurological, or brain, disorder that produces tremors, stiffness, and difficulty of walking, moving and balance. It is reduces the natural production of dopamine in brain cells, impairing their ability to control muscle movement. The disease happens mostly to people ages...
Are you at Risk of Alzheimer's Disease? To a certain point, we all are. The main goal of this blog is to point out the dangers of having an extremely acidic diet, and the health benefits attached to alkalizing the way we eat. Our bodies are made to eat a diet made up of mostly alkaline foods, and many of the diseases that we suffer today can be prevented by living a healthy lifestyle and eating an diet rich in alkaline foods.
Specifically talking about Alzheimer’s, a disease that affects over 26 million people world wide, let's look at what an acidic pH does to our brain. Modern diet, which is mainly acidic produces toxic acidic wastes that cause inflammation in our brain. This inflammation slows blood flow to brain cells, and impairs proper cell reproduction and recovery from oxidative stress. Alkaline foods like fruits and vegetables are rich in enzymes and live nutrients vital to brain health. Research shows that Vitamin E for example, prevents this inflammation, and clears away acidic waste while bringing oxygen to our brain. Research has also shown that adults ages 65 and older, who eat a diet rich in fruits and vegetables present less cases of Alzheimer's disease and dementia. This evidences how an Alkaline Diet may help reduce our Risk of Alzheimer's Disease.Risk of Alzheimer's Disease: Alzheimer's expert talks prevention
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The moment Dr. Gary Small realized this country’s nearly 80 million baby boomers would soon celebrate their 65th birthday, he knew he’d write "The Alzheimer’s Prevention Program." “Age is the single greatest risk factor for developing Alzheimer’s disease, and as people reach their mid-40s they tend to become concerned about their memory slips,” said Small, director of the Longevity Center at the University of California, Los Angeles. And so after decades of studying the early detection and treatment of Alzheimer’s, Small decided the time was right to share what he knew about lowering the risk for developing the devastating disease. Although long-term memory of past events -- the names of your favorite high school teacher or your child’s first word -- are generally well-preserved as we age, Small said that short-term memories begin to worsen as we age. The good news, he said, is that such symptoms also respond quickly to targeted mental and physical exercises. "The Alzheimer’s Prevention Program: Keep Your Brain Healthy for the Rest of Your Life," now in bookstores, provides the details. But in advance of his book signing Monday at the Eagle Eye Book Shop in Decatur, Small answered our questions about the program.Nature is wise, and it gave us the power to affect our health with our life choices. A lifestyle that involves exercise, emotional stability, laughter, and a balanced diet rich in hydrating alkaline foods reduces our risk of virtually every disease we can think of. Research has found that even genetic inheritance can be changed with the proper nutrition and lifestyle choices. Every small change to improve your lifestyle and diet will help reduce your risk of Alzheimer's disease, do it for yourself.
On most of our post we talk about the relationship between our diet and our physical health, but did you know it is also closely related to your mental health? Being a happy, stable person doesn't mean everything around you is a fairy tale, it means your brain is functioning in a healthy way. And just as it happens with all other organs in our body, our brain's function is closely related to the way we feed it. Eating Alkaline Foods rich in live nutrients feeds our brains and this results in healthier happier attitudes and moods. You can Fight Depression with an Alkaline Diet. As Kristin Kalning writes for MSNBC: What we eat is bumming us out, new book says 'The Happiness Diet' explores the link between food and mood
Processed foods are stripped of vital nutrients and mood boosters, such as magnesium and vitamin B12, experts say.We know that the typical American diet — filled with processed food and added sugar — is making us fat. But it’s also making us depressed, according “The Happiness Diet,” a new book that links food to feelings.
“Your brain is made of food, and the right foods are the foundation of good mental health,” said Drew Ramsey, M.D., who co-authored “The Happiness Diet” with veteran health editor, Tyler Graham. “You can't feel your best if you starve the brain.” Undernourished brains, the authors say, go hand-in-hand with overweight bodies — and they back up these claims with voluminous amounts of data. Thanks to big agriculture and the food industry, our grocery stores are full of food loaded down with added sugar, refined carbohydrates and vegetable fats, like corn oil. Our refrigerators contain factory-farmed meat and dairy products. These foods, the authors say, are stripped of vital nutrients, such as magnesium and vitamin B12, and essential fats, such as conjugated linoleic acid. You’ll find these natural mood-boosters in whole grains and leafy greens, but also in grass-fed beef and full-fat dairy, which dieters tend to avoid for fear of gaining weight. Substantial weight loss leaves many formerly fat people seeking plastic surgery to repair under-eye bags, slack jaws and so many wrinkles that it led one online patient to comment: “I looked like everything had melted." “Focusing on getting skinny by eating a low-fat, low-calorie diet, fails for most people,” said Ramsey, a clinical psychiatrist at Columbia University. “The Happiness Diet” nixes calorie counting in favor of eating healthy fats, like olive oil, complex carbohydrates like vegetables and sustainably raised meat. Dieters will feel more satisfied, and, by extension, lose weight, said Ramsey. “I do believe (that) much of the food available to us is nutrient-poor, and that most Americans eat a largely unhealthful diet and need to get back to eating real food,” wrote Elisa Zied, R.D., in an e-mail. But calories do matter, and portions consumed matters, too. “That’s really the bottom line when it comes to sustainable weight loss,” she said. Exercise is also key to weight loss — something the authors don’t address in “The Happiness Diet.” Though exercise is Ramsey’s “top prescription for anxiety” when working with patients, he and Graham point out that if you’re eating the typical American diet, you don’t feel much like exercising. Fill your plate with kale and wild-caught salmon and you’re bound to feel better — and ready to tackle the treadmill. OK, so whole foods make you feel better, and should make you skinnier. But don’t they cost a whole lot more? “The biggest myth out there is that eating right is expensive,” said Ramsey. If you're really into this kind of thing, you could skip buying cuts of meat at the grocery store; instead, gather some like-minded buddies to buy a whole animal from a local farmer. He also suggests joining a CSA (community-supported agriculture) program for a weekly supply of produce, which is usually less expensive than what you’d get at the market. And freeze, freeze, freeze — everything from fish to fruit to butter. Spending money on good food is worth it, said Graham, who pointed out that 100 years ago, people spent much more on food than they do now. “Your brain is made out of food,” he said. "What's more important, having 200 cable channels or feeding your brain the nutrients it needs?"Full article at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45612114/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition/#.TubWd2BQY6o Depression attacks more and more people every day in our society. But this is not because of life has become sadder than it used to be, or because jay has become harder to find. What we eat is directly related to the way we feel on a regular basis. An Alkaline Diet promotes cellular nutrition in your brain, allowing it to maintain happier more stable moods. Give it a try.
A Healthy Lifestyle is the key to Disease Prevention. Even to those diseases we thought we had no way of preventing. Eating an Alkaline Diet, a plant based diet, decreases our risk of disease. Drinking enough water, and breathing properly also help Alkalize, as do a positive attitude, a good mood and enough sleep. As Carolyn Rosenblatt states in her article for Forbes, all these factors, working together, help decrease our chances of Alzheimer's Disease.
"… “It’s work” says Bresky. “Lots of people just don’t want to do the work”. They want a pill, or a doctor, or the government to fix it for them.
He explains that dementia is a chronic inflammatory disease. As with heart disease, which is also a chronic inflammatory problem, lifestyle is everything. Dr. Bresky says what we eat has a tremendous preventive effect. “A Mediterranean diet alone lowers the risk of Alzheimer’s Disease by 40%” he says. He urges all his patients to eat the way people do in Italy and Greece, where studies were done on why these populations had the lowest risk of heart disease. A diet high in fruits and vegetables, with plenty of fish, nuts and other sources of mono-unsaturated fats and low in meats is part of the strategy he recommends.
The other parts of his plan include listening to music 30 minutes daily, as music heals. “The brain works through numbers and patterns”, he says. Listening to Mozart’s piano concerto stimulates the brain in a particular way that has a specific effect we want. He suggests that Mozart is the best kind of music for prevention of Alzheimer’s, as compared with other types of music.
As most doctors tell us, we also need to find good stress reduction techniques. “I teach people how to meditate or pray”, says Bresky. It works. Chronic stress is damaging, and “depression kills brain cells”.
Walking is also essential to this prevention effort. Walking just four hours a week reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s by 30%, he says. Along with these things, his plan includes laughter, 9-10 hearty laughs a day. It requires drinking plenty of water, good quality sleep, and the novel idea that health measures include doing a simple or small act of kindness for another person every day.
Other essentials include adequate hydration, and good quality sleep. Sleep is enhanced by doing all the other parts of the program, even for people with insomnia…"
More and more experts are talking about the direct link between lifestyle and Disease Prevention. Specifically when it comes to Nutrition. We are what we eat, and with the proper diet, and a healthy lifestyle we can Prevent Disease, and even defy genetic disease inheritance.
You don't need to become an expert, keep in mind some general guidelines and you can significantly improve your health today and in the future. Eating plenty of Fruits and Vegetables, and drinking enough water will help your body stay Alkaline. And exercising regularly, relaxing, laughing instead of stressing, and sleeping will allow your body to heal itself. Do you give yourself the gift of "me time" every day?
