Archive for the ‘health supplements’ Category

If you could only afford just one or two supplements for optimal health which ones should you choose? With the economy being like it is this is an important question as we cut back on spending and look to spend money as wisely as possible. Here are two supplements you should keep taking or start if you aren’t.

Dr. Laura B. LaValle, RD, LD the director of nutrition as the LaValle Metabolic Institute recommends Vitamin D. Vitamin D is not only necessary for healthy bones recent research show it plays an important role in protecting us from cancer, heart disease and autoimmune disease. Vitamin D may be the most important nutrient you can’t get enough of.

The new research of the disease-preventing benefits of vitamin D suggests that the Daily Recommended Intake or DRI should be raised from 400 IUs to at least 1000 IUs. Concerns about toxicity from getting too much Vitamin D has been replaced with focusing on making sure you are getting enough.

Vitamin D is produced in your skin when cholesterol is exposed to sunlight. For your body to make enough Vitamin D you need from 5 to 30 minutes of sun exposure during the time when the sun is strongest, between 10AM and 3PM. You need to get this sun exposure a minimum of two times a week on your face, arms, legs or back. And you must not use any sunscreen.

However getting enough Vitamin D from the sun in this manner is only effective if you live below 42 degrees latitude. In the US that line runs from Northern California to Boston.

Even if you live in a sunny climate like Hawaii and get plenty of sun you still may not be getting enough Vitamin D. A study done by the University of Wisconsin tested students living in Hawaii who were getting plenty of sun and found 51% of them had low serum levels of Vitamin D.

Many of us don’t live in sunny climates year-round and even if we do we spend most of our time working and living indoors. So what should you do?

The examples of the Japanese and Swedes can give us some ideas. The Japanese who have a limited exposure to sunlight and enjoy a very low incidence of cancer (one of the benefits of getting enough Vitamin D) eat a diet high in fatty fish, which just so happens to be an excellent source of Vitamin D.

In Sweden a study of middle-aged and elderly women found those that took vitamin D supplements and ate 2 to 3 servings of fatty fish per week increased their vitamin D levels by 45%.

The best fish fat source of Vitamin D is cod liver oil. There was a lot of wisdom in the practice of giving kids a spoonful of cod liver oil in times past. Other good sources are oily fish such as wild salmon, mackerel, tuna and sardines. Fortified dairy products are also a source.

Here is a list of various Vitamin D sources and yields:

• Cod liver oil, 1 tablespoon                                yields 1,360 IUs per serving.
• Salmon, cooked, 3.5 oz                                    yields 360 IUs per serving.
• Mackerel, cooked, 3.5 oz                                 yields 345 IUs per serving.
• Tuna fish, canned in oil, 3 oz                             yields 200 IUs per serving.
• Sardines, canned in oil, drained, 1.75 oz            yields 250 IUs per serving.

See the National Institute of Health Dietary Supplement Fact Sheet: Vitamin D for more information. http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/vitamind.asp#h3

If you are concerned about the risks of sun exposure and mercury in fish, studies show moderate amounts of sun exposure and eating a couple of servings of fish per week has far more health benefits than risks.

Speaking of fatty fish leads to the second supplement you should be taking-fish oil. Daniel G. Amen, MD, founder of the Amen Clinics which specializes in brain health and lectures on ways to make our brains healthy says getting enough omega-3 is one of the best ways to take care of your brain. He also points out the health benefits of the omega-3s found in fish oil are not limited to brain (which by the way has 60% of it’s fat content comprising of omega-3 fat).

Dr. Bill is William Thomas Stillwell, MD, a board certified orthopedic surgical specialist, agrees. He is a big proponent of using fish oil to relieve joint pain.

In fact fish oil is so effective at preventing inflammation that it can relieve the pain of rheumatoid arthritis in many cases, studies show. One study showed high doses of fish oil (6 grams per day) reduced morning stiffness and joint tenderness and increased the effectiveness of NSAIDS (aspirin, ibuprofen, acetaminophen, etc.) in rheumatoid arthritis sufferers.

In an Australian study fish oil was shown to reduce the use of NSAIDS by 75% in rheumatoid arthritis patients and reduced the inflammation-causing chemicals in their systems by as much as 41%.

Combine the brain enhancing and inflammation reducing benefits of fish oil with it’s other well known benefits like lowering triglycerides, reducing the risk of blood clots, and improving heart health, makes it another must have supplement that you need to make sure you get enough of.

High doses of fish oil have another less well known benefit—it has a significant impact on sex drive and in high enough doses (typically 1600 to 2000 mg of EPA and 1000 1200mg of DHA) can really boost the libido, especially a woman’s. (By-the-way sunlight exposure also has libido boosting effects in women as it causes a slight increase in testosterone as well as Vitamin D production.)

When taking fish oil supplements ignore the recommended one or two capsules listed on the bottle. Instead take enough each day so you get at least 1600 mg of EPA. EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) is one of the omega-3 oils found in fish oil. Taking a minimum of 1600 mg of EPA will also make sure you are getting plenty of DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), another important omega-3 (DHA is the one that is good for your brain) as most fish oil supplements contain both.

Sunlight, vitamin D, fatty fish and fish oil are the health supplements you can’t do without. No matter what the economy is like. It’s a matter of your health. It’s a matter of your quality of life.

David Christian Solomon
http://www.articlesbase.com/supplements-and-vitamins-articles/2-supplements-you-cant-get-enough-of-and-cant-afford-to-go-without-715825.html

A key ingredient to improving your lifestyle and living a healthy life is antioxidants. There are several antioxidant supplements out there that can help you live a healthy life, that are natural and won’t cause you any damage. You can also eat different types of food that contain antioxidants as well, although supplements are the ideal way to get the right amounts of antioxidants.

If you take in more antioxidants through food and supplements, there are a few benefits that you’ll have, with the first being cell protection. Antioxidants can help to protect your cells from damage, which helps to fend off diseases. Many times, you can have a lack of vitamins in your body, which will cause you to recover from diseases or injury very slow. If you have the right amount of vitamins and antioxidants in your body, you’ll notice the differences.

In most cases, you can get antioxidant supplements in the form of herbal or natural, which will greatly help your body. They have a lot of benefits as well, such as preventing various diseases, keeping blood clotting under control, and restoring libido. Nutrition and proper dieting is a very important part of life, therefore you should always keep your health under control and make sure you eat well.

There are non synthetic supplements out there as well, that are ideal for keeping your health maintained. They can be easily absorbed by your body, unlike that of synthetic supplements. Synthetic supplements are well known for their absorbing, as it can take a long time before you see any type of results. Non synthetic on the other hand, gives you almost immediate results, as they are easily absorbed by the body and don’t have any type of side effects.

Some chinese herbs contains high levels of antioxidants. One example is Antioxidant Herb Tea and is made of wild cephalotaxus sinensis, trichosanthes fruit and spreading hedyotis (oldenlandiae herba).

These ingredients provide triterpenoid saponin, coumaric acid, flavonoid, methatriacontane, stigmasterol, ursolic acid and oleanolic acid. Chinese medicine uses them as strong antioxidants to boost the body defenses, to facilitate better blood circulation, remove stagnancy and toxins, and dissolve accumulated mass.

Ingredients: cephalotaxus sinensis, trichosanthes fruit, hedyotis herba, green tea and jasmine flower.

Keep in mind that even though you may be taking vitamins that contain antioxidants, you’ll still need to remain on a healthy diet. You’ll need food that contains the minerals and vitamins you need as well, although the supplement vitamins will give you more. You can also use vitamins and supplements that contain antioxidants if you aren’t able to eat the right foods that contain these precious nutrients.

For more reasons than one, you should always make sure that you include foods and supplements that contain antioxidants in your diet. If you aren’t taking in the right amount of antioxidants, you’ll be at a risk for disease or other harmful effects. Antioxidants do a lot for your body, which is why you want to ensure that you are taking in the right amounts. You can find many different vitamins and supplements that include them, all you need to do is make sure that you are eating right and doing all you can to lead a healthy lifestyle.

J Lindgren
http://www.articlesbase.com/supplements-and-vitamins-articles/antioxidant-supplements-148712.html

this really sounds stupid but i have started to take some supplements that are given to horses and had developed 400% results in my health and virility….but for the long term …will it be okay to continue the use of the horse (animal) supplements. if anyone has some links i will appreciate it.

oats

An ounce of prevention towards wellness -

Learn the simple steps to living a healthier and happier life!

Concern over health and how to improve your health has become a topic more and more of us think about and try to implement in our lives. Advances in medicine have helped us live longer lives and have allowed us to overcome some of the ills and infections that used to kill many people. Vaccines have helped prevent illness and death. They have eliminated diseases like smallpox and have helped against rabies, diphtheria and the plague.

However, we have started to incur a new host of health problems due to the length of our life, the processed foods we eat, the fast paced lives we live and the chemicals that pollute our world. Every day we see new commercials on TV about the next great drug that will make your life better or healthier. But do you actually listen to the list of possible side effects. Are these drugs really helping or just creating different problems. Remember, no pharmaceutical company ever made money by curing you quickly so you could stop taking their pills.

Why wait until you feel poorly before you see a doctor that will only work on alleviating your symptoms and not on fixing the underlying problem. Start achieving wellness and begin improving your health before you get to the point you need to see a doctor. Work on improving your overall wellness.

As the old adage says “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

Of the leading causes of death in the United States, many can be prevented. The likelihood of contracting heart disease, diabetes, and other health issues can be directly impacted by the choices we make every day. The choices about what we put into our bodies and the choices we make that affect our personal environment.

Here are some things you can do to increase your wellness and start down the path to improve your health:

Diet and Nutrition – Your diet does a lot in determining your overall health and wellness. What you put into your body does make a difference. “It’s easy to buy into some pretty popular nutrition misconceptions — myths and half-truths that ultimately find us making far fewer healthier food choices than we realize,” says New York University nutritionist Samantha Heller, MS, RD.

Read labels, don’t trust all the advertising and always try to get whole foods and not processed substitutes.

The same goes for your supplements. Get those that are made from natural ingredients and aren’t over processed. Every vitamin and mineral and phytochemical in our body works in concert with one another, and it’s easy to knock that balance off. Be sure the supplements you are taking are balanced and introduced to your body in a way that they are usable and work together as nature intended.

Some of the things you want to make sure you get enough of in your diet are fiber, antioxidants, soy, and water. These things along with a well balanced nutritional intake of whole foods and supplements can go a long way in improving health and increasing wellness.

Weight – Maintaining a healthy weight is critical to improving health. You don’t have to be as thin as a rail – this is actually just as unhealthy as being overweight – you just need to keep the excess in check.

It all begins with attitude. Start by changing how you feel about yourself, your body and your eating habits. Change to a can do attitude where you start to do what’s right for you. Simple moderate exercise, eating a healthy breakfast (no skipping allowed), reducing your calorie intake by not taking just one more are all small things we can do to get in better health by being at a better weight.

Don’t go for the fad diets that don’t work or at best get you to lose weight for a while but then just put it back on later. A slow and steady change will help you lose the weight and keep it off and it will be much healthier for you.

Get plenty of whole foods, protein (quite often a good soy protein can give you what you need without adding fat to your diet) and drink lots of water. Water is critical to the health and wellness of your body. It helps rid you of toxic build up and it is needed for normal cell processes to work. Another side effect of water is that it can make you feel full without adding the calories so you will eat less.

Exercise – Aerobic exercise is very important to maintaining your wellness and improving your health. It has been linked to cancer prevention, reduction of osteoporosis, helping with depression, lowering the risk of heart disease and diabetes, and of course obesity and weight control. It can also help with cognitive functions – meaning you can think more clearly and work more efficiently.

Aerobic exercise makes most of us think of joining a gym or having to run several miles every day. This is just not the case. You can keep it very simple and still achieve benefits. Walking is one of the best exercises out there. It is simple, easy on the joints, doesn’t cost us a lot of money and it can be done pretty much anywhere. To get a benefit from walking, you just need to make sure that it is aerobic. That means you want to walk at a pace that leaves you feeling “warm and slightly out of breath”. One good way to start is the 5 out 5 back plan. Just walk 5 minutes away from the house and then you are force to walk 5 minutes back. Increase the time out as your health and fitness increase.

Stress Management – Most of us live with some type of stress every day. It has just become part of our lives. It has also become one reason we don’t always feel our best and why we are susceptible to feeling run down and ’sick’.

Reducing stress can help now and our long term health. Stress keeps our bodies from functioning at their best and slowly wears on us. Find way to relax, to have that ‘me’ time where the pressures of the day can be pushed aside.

Try to simplify your life. Our world has become so fast paced and ‘in your face’ – ‘do it now’ that we just don’t have time to sit and watch the clouds or the rain or…. One simple way to gain a little sanity is to disconnect from the fast pace, try just turning off the cell phone. Just leave it behind for an hour.

But, no matter how much we work on getting rid of the stresses in our life there will always be something that causes us stress. Luckily, there are ways to help us overcome the stress nutritionally.

Avoiding Toxins – With all of our advances and science and technology, man has come up with many great things to improve our quality of life. However, we are learning that some of these things that are there to improve actually produce side effects that can hurt us and our health – now and in the future.

The EPA has warned that indoor air pollution is more of a concern than the pollution we find outside. Many cleaners as well as skin and beauty products actually contain harmful toxins.

There are companies out there that do produce green cleaners that are safe for people and for the environment. Read labels and know what your beauty and cleaning products contain.

One of the best ways to maintain your health is to wash your hands. We touch so many different things with our hands things that might have been cleaned with toxins or touched by something unhealthy that by just washing, you can cut down on many unwanted health effects.

Adequate Sleep – Giving your body the sleep it requires is a great way to keep it healthy. During sleep your body regenerates and rejuvenates. It is absolutely imperative to get enough sleep, but getting more doesn’t always mean you are getting better quality sleep.

Quit Smoking – Despite the many warnings and the known health risks smoking is still prevalent around the world. Quitting this habit can not only improve your health drastically and improve your chances of preventing future disease; it can relieve you of a financial burden. Just think if you applied all the money you spend on cigarettes on healthy nutritional supplements how much you could increase your health and wellness.

Its not always the difficult path that is required for change. Quite often making a few simple changes in our lives can make dramatic results.

Think about it!

Michael Tomberlin
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/improve-your-health-716139.html