Taking the IF out of Life

What if...

You can speed up your metabolism in a short period of time?
You can cut back the cost of your groceries each month?
You can maintain your weight once you've lost it?
You can do something for yourself and get off the medication(s) the doctors have prescribed for you?
The medications were only meant to be temporary?
I can suggest to you how?

Well, I decided to do something different with this blog

I've decided to start talking more and sharing things and sucesses I've tried on my own with the things I have and am going to display on this blog for now on. Please fill free to give advice or ask questions about any information you see or want to know about. I promise to try my best to either give you my opinion or find out the facts on what you want to know. We can get healthier together.

Psalms 133:1 How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!!!

Eating Your Way to Healthy Hair

By Danielle Dowling
Reviewed by QualityHealth's Medical Advisory Board

You do almost everything to maintain healthy hair: You wash and condition it regularly, you stay away from blow dryers, curling irons, and all manner of other heat-styling devices, you neither perm nor bleach it, you use a scrunchie rather than an elastic when pulling it up into a ponytail, you wear a bathing cap when swimming, you've even invested in satin pillowcases and a boar-bristle brush. But if you're not consuming the nutrients that healthy hair requires, you might as well let your mane wither into a brittle mass of knots. Your diet is crucial to the maintenance of luxurious locks. In fact, certain restricted-calorie/restricted-fat diets can wreak havoc on your follicles, yielding dull, lifeless strands and sometimes even hair loss. Drawing your meals from the following foods will ensure healthy hair, but remember that eating right won't produce results overnight; it might take six months to a year for your nutritional efforts to take shape.

Protein, vitamin B, and zinc: Or more specifically, iron-rich protein, which supports the production of hair-strengthening keratin. Your body more easily absorbs this type of protein from meat than it does from vegetables. Any lean meat will do, so why not try buffalo? It's leaner than chicken with just 1.8 grams of fat for every 100 grams of meat. It's also a great source of healthy-hair-promoting zinc and vitamin B12; zinc is necessary for tissue growth and maintenance and ensures that the oil glands function properly while B vitamins such as B12, B6, and folate are vital to the creation of red blood cells, which supply the scalp and follicles with nutrients. Shellfish, like clams and oysters, also offer plenty of iron-rich protein, B vitamins, and zinc. But if you prefer to get your protein from vegetables, you can't go wrong with lentils or soybeans, which have B6 and folate, respectively, to boot.

Vitamins A and C: If you pair a food chock-full of ascorbic acid with a vegetable-based iron-rich protein, you'll boost your body's ability to extract that protein. A tofu stir-fry with broccoli and peppers is a good combo. Vitamin C also plays an important role in the formation of collagen, which is important to hair growth, so you may want to top off that stir-fry with a smoothie made from guava, oranges, and strawberries. Meanwhile, vitamin A is not just good for your eyesight; it is also key to the preservation of healthy hair and skin. The best sources of vitamin A are carrots and liver. Indeed, the ancient Egyptians used liver to cure night blindness, a symptom of vitamin A deficiency.

Updated: July 1, 2009

Copyright © 2010 QualityHealth.com. All rights reserved.

5 Ways Honey Can Heal You

Even more reasons why I love this stuff

By Susan McQuillan
Reviewed by QualityHealth's Medical Advisory Board

Honey, one of nature's most natural and intense sweeteners, has been used for centuries as a home remedy for various ailments. In more recent years, science has confirmed what folk medicine has pretty much already proven: Honey heals.

The color of honey, which ranges from pale amber to deep, dark brown, depends on the source of nectar. Although there are exceptions, most light colored honeys, such as alfalfa, orange blossom and clover, have a mild flavor while dark honeys, such as those made from buckwheat or avocado blossoms, have bolder, more distinct flavors. The darker the honey, experts say, the higher its concentration of healing substances. Here are some of the ways honey contributes to good health:

Source of Antioxidants: Normal oxidation in the body can injure cells, which contributes to aging and development of various disease such as cancer and heart disease. Honey has high levels of antioxidants and researchers at the University of California in Davis found that people who added four tablespoons of honey to their diet every day for a month increased the antioxidant levels in their blood.

Burn Remedy: When used to treat wounds, honey absorbs moisture from the air and uses it to help keep the skin hydrated so it can heal properly. Studies that have been performed to determine whether or not honey actually promotes healing have had mixed results but experts seem to agree that a minor burn dressed with honey and guaze will feel better and heal sooner than a similar wound dressed with antibiotic creams and ointments

Antimicrobial (antibacterial): Honey contains an enzyme that produces hydrogen peroxide, which gives it antibacterial qualities for treating minor cuts, abrasions and even mild forms of acne. Some types of honey, including Manuka honey from the New Zealand Manuka bush, claim to have the highest antimicrobial activity of all.

Cough Suppressant: A study performed at Penn State University confirmed what advocates of folk medicine have been reporting for centuries: A spoonful of honey will relieve a bothersome cough better than the active ingredient in many over-the-counter cough suppressants. The researchers found that children with upper respiratory infections who took buckwheat honey before going to bed had fewer and less severe coughing bouts throughout the night and got better quality sleep. And so did their parents!

Energy Source: Honey is easily digested and absorbed into the bloodstream, which means it's a great source of quick energy. But the good news is: it's not quite as high on the glycemic index as table sugar, which means it's less likely to cause spikes in blood sugar.

Resources:

UC Davis

http://broadcast.ucdavis.edu/search/printable_news.lasso?id=150&table=broadcast

NYU Langone Medical Center: Honey

http://www.med.nyu.edu/patientcare/library/article.html?ChunkIID=155289

Penn State University

http://live.psu.edu/story/27584

HoneyO/Healing Properties of Honey

http://www.honeyo.com/honeyhealing.shtml

National Honey Board's State-by-State Honey Locator

http://www.honeylocator.com/search.asp

Updated: January 14, 2010

Copyright © 2010 QualityHealth.com. All rights reserved.

Are you Iron Deficiencent?

By Laurie Saloman
Reviewed by QualityHealth's Medical Advisory Board

Everybody needs iron, a mineral that performs many functions. Iron disperses oxygen from our lungs throughout our bodies, produces red blood cells, and aids in digestion, among other things. While iron is plentiful in many foods, some people still don't get enough. This can be due to rapid growth during childhood, menstruation, pregnancy, intestinal or stomach diseases, or problems absorbing the iron they do ingest. What are some symptoms that indicate you may need to bump up your iron intake?

• Unusual fatigue. This is the primary symptom of iron deficiency, as the red blood cells that give you energy are decreased.
• Shortness of breath. You may also feel dizzy.
• Pale coloring. This may affect both your skin and fingernails.
• Feelings of cold. You may be unusually sensitive to cold, or have cold hands and feet.
• Difficulty concentrating or learning. This particularly affects children, who may exhibit problems in school.
• Cardiac problems. While it's unlikely, severe iron deficiency can cause complications such as heart attack due to low levels of oxygen in the heart.

To correct an iron deficiency and its symptoms, you should first assess your diet. It's important to understand that dietary iron takes two forms: heme iron, which the body absorbs easily, and nonheme iron, which it does not. The number-one source of heme iron is lean red meat, followed by chicken, turkey and fish. If you're a vegetarian or simply dislike animal protein, you can eat nonheme iron-rich foods such as beans, fortified cereals and some vegetables. Eating them with vitamin C-rich foods increases the amount of iron absorbed by the body.

Unfortunately, some of the most healthful foods you can eat serve to decrease the amount of nonheme iron that your body absorbs, such as milk, eggs, spinach, and anything with lots of fiber. To be completely sure you're getting the right amount of iron, speak to your doctor about taking an iron supplement. Most adolescents and adults need about 10 mg. of iron daily, but pregnant women need significantly more-up to 30 mg. for the health of their baby.

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Sources:

The Mayo Clinic, www.mayoclinic.com

National Institutes of Health, www.nlm.nih.gov

Updated: January 18, 2010

Copyright © 2010 QualityHealth.com. All rights reserved.

Can Orange Juice Make Your Heart Healthier?

A fruit we take for granted

By Jo Cavallo

Reviewed by QualityHealth's Medical Advisory Board

The health benefits derived from eating oranges are well documented. Rich in vitamin C, which offers antioxidant protection and helps boost the immune system, oranges are also a good source of fiber and other important nutrients like folate, thiamine, potassium, vitamin A and calcium, crucial for maintaining strong bones. And while oranges have also been found to be heart protective in lowering cholesterol and blood pressure levels, new research is showing that an antioxidant in orange juice called hesperidin-a plant-based compound called a flavonoid-helps blood vessel function, also referred to as "endothelial function," by improving the health of cells lining the blood vessels.

When the cells are damaged, it can lead to the development of clogged arteries, a major risk factor for heart attack and stroke. In addition to oranges, flavonoids are also found in grapes, red wine, green and black teas and dark chocolate.

The study involved 24 healthy men at risk for cardiovascular disease. Each participant was instructed to drink 500 milliliters (or half a liter) of orange juice each day, a "dummy" drink that contained the same number of calories as the orange juice or a dummy drink fortified with 292 milligrams of hesperidin. (A 500-milliliter glass of orange juice contains 292 milligrams of hesperidin.) Each man drank every beverage for one month. At the end of the study, researchers found that when the volunteers drank either the daily glass of orange juice or the hesperidin-fortified drink, they had better endothelial function and lower diastolic blood pressure (the lower number on a blood pressure reading) than when they drank the non-hesperidin beverage. The full study results were released last summer at a meeting of the American Heart Association in Las Vegas.

Foods Rich in Flavonoids

Nutritional experts say to reap the full health benefits of flavonoids, stick to eating the whole food, in its raw form, rather than drinking fortified juices. For a diet rich in flavonoids, be sure to include some of the following foods in each meal:

• Citrus fruits and juices, such as oranges, grapefruits, lemons; apples; pears; watermelon
• Red, blue and purple berries; red and purple grapes; red wine
• Green and black teas
• Dark chocolate
• Vegetables, especially dark, leafy ones like broccoli, spinach and Brussels sprouts; beets; tomatoes; carrots; squash; asparagus
• Nuts, such as almonds
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Beans, especially kidney and lima
• Herbs, including dill, basil (leaf), peppermint, anise seed

Updated: February 1, 2010

Copyright © 2010 QualityHealth.com. All rights reserved.

The Digestive Benefits of Yogurt

By Jo Cavallo
Reviewed by QualityHealth's Medical Advisory Board

The health benefits of eating yogurt, from helping build stronger bones to warding of infection, have been touted for years. Now, there's even more reason to reach for that container of yogurt from your grocer's shelf. Studies are showing that the probiotics ("good bacteriam") found in yogurt can reduce diarrhea and that certain probiotics, for example, Bifidobacterium infantis 35624, may be useful in easing the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), according to a review of evidence published in the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology.

Probiotics, derived from the Greek word meaning "for life," are live microorganisms, in most cases, bacteria, that are similar to the beneficial microorganisms found in the digestive system. They work by helping to break down foods that enter the digestive tract and fight off unhealthy bacteria and yeast.

There are a variety of microbes found in yogurt, most commonly, Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus bacterium, both of which create a barrier between harmful bacteria and the lining of the digestive tract, relieving digestive pain. Streptococcus thermophilus bacteria work by fighting lactic acid bacteria that can interfere with digestion and cause an upset stomach. Lactabacillus bacterium helps the body absorb nutrients, breaks down toxins and boosts metabolism, which improves digestion.

According to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, researchers are now looking into whether probiotics can halt the development of "unfriendly" microorganisms, such as disease-causing bacteria, yeasts, fungi and parasites, and/or suppress their growth in conditions like IBS and infections with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), a bacterium that causes most ulcers and many types of chronic stomach inflammation.

How to Choose the Right Yogurt for You