Striving4Zen

OK, so maybe it's not the most pleasant thing to look at or talk about, but your poop can tell you a lot about your health. Pay attention to it!!

Types 1 and 2 indicate constipation, with 3 and 4 being the "ideal stools" especially the latter, as they are the easiest to pass, and 5–7 being further tending towards diarrhea or urgency.

Thanks Dr. Oz!

Labels: Bristol Stool Chart, Dr. Oz, Health, poop

Want to improve your health? Start by focusing on the things that bring you happiness. There is some scientific evidence that positive emotions can help make your life longer and healthier.

But to produce good health, positive emotions may need to be long term. In other words, thinking positive thoughts for a month when you already have heart disease won’t cure the disease. But lowering your stress levels over a period of years with a positive outlook and relaxation techniques could reduce your risk of heart problems.

Read more...

Labels: happiness, Health, Holistic Health, living holistically, positive outlook, relaxation, study

Exercise at a glance

In a nutshell, exercise can:

• reduce your chances of getting heart disease. For those who already have heart disease, exercise reduces the chances of dying from it.
• lower your risk of developing hypertension and diabetes.
• reduce your risk for colon cancer and some other forms of cancer.
• improve your mood and mental functioning.
• keep your bones strong and joints healthy.
• help you maintain a healthy weight.
• help you maintain your independence well into your later years.

Labels: exercise, Health, healthy living, staying healthy

Historically, ginger has a long tradition of being very effective in alleviating symptoms of gastrointestinal distress.

In herbal medicine, ginger is regarded as an excellent carminative (a substance which promotes the elimination of intestinal gas) and intestinal spasmolytic (a substance which relaxes and soothes the intestinal tract).

Modern scientific research has revealed that ginger possesses numerous therapeutic properties including antioxidant effects, an ability to inhibit the formation of inflammatory compounds, and direct anti-inflammatory effects.

Ginger is a good source of potassium, magnesium, copper, manganese and vitamin B6.

Source

Labels: ginger, Health, healthy diet, nutrition

The city Board of Health yesterday approved a new version of a law requiring fast-food outlets to display calorie counts.
The law passed last year, which was challenged in court applied, to restaurants that were already providing nutritional information to customers. The new policy will apply to any chain that operates at least 15 separate outlets.
"It's going to get a lot easier to make informed choices at New York City's chain restaurants this spring," said Margo Wootan, nutrition policy director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
"We expect that many more cities, counties and states will require menu labeling once they see how easy it is for these chains to list calories on menus."
The regulation takes effect March 31 and the restaurants will be required to display calorie counts "in close proximity" to items on their menus or menu boards in letters and numbers at least as big as the name of the item or the price.

SOURCE

Labels: Calories, diet, fast food, Health

1. Only use glass baby bottles and dishes for your baby
2. Give your baby natural fabric toys instead of plastic ones
3. Store your food and beverages in glass -- NOT plastic -- containers
4. IF you choose to use a microwave, don’t microwave food in a plastic container
5. Stop buying and consuming canned foods and drinks
6. Avoid using plastic wrap (and never microwave anything covered in it)
7. Get rid of your plastic dishes and cups, and replace them with glass varieties
8. If you opt to use plastic kitchenware, at least get rid of the older, scratched-up varieties, avoid putting them in the dishwasher, and don’t wash them with harsh detergents, as these things can cause more chemicals to leach into your food
9. Avoid using bottled water; filter your own using a reverse osmosis filter instead
10. Before allowing a dental sealant to be applied to you, or your children’s, teeth, ask your dentist to verify that it does not contain BPA.

In the event that you do opt to use plastic containers for your food, be sure to avoid those marked on the bottom with the recycling label No. 7, as these varieties may contain BPA. Containers marked with the recycling labels No. 1, No. 2, and No. 4 do not contain BPA (however they may contain other unsavory chemicals that you’re best off avoiding by using glass instead).

Why avoid BPA?

Labels: BPA, Health, toxins, water bottle

Donna Karan is hosting this AMAZING initiative that aims to "create a working environment where the worlds of conventional and alternative medical practices unite to invent new ways of healing, health and well-being for all of us."

I will be volunteering for this event and hope to throw my passion behind its goals. Let's hope this is a step forward in raising the awareness of Holistic Healing and Wellness rather than sickness and medication.

Labels: Donna Karan, Health, Holistic Health, Urban Zen, yoga

Healthy in London:
The meals and snacks are based around specially selected vegetables and fruits that “mainline” our bodies with vitamins, minerals and supernutrients known for their healing properties. They have been designed to contain slowly digested, low and medium-low glycemic index (GI) carbohydrate foods such as rye toast, tortilla wraps, oats, pulses such as peas, red kidney and cannellini beans and basmati rice to keep blood sugar levels normal and steady. This not only helps to satisfy your appetite, it takes the strain off your pancreas, which has had to work overtime pumping out more and more insulin to deal with festive foods.
The meals also contain easy-to-digest protein foods such as white fish, lamb and chicken, which will keep you full and reduce cravings. If you look at the meals and think “Help, that isn’t enough”, at least give it a go. Eating the right balance of low GI carbohydrates and protein works surprisingly well to keep your appetite under control naturally. But if you are still a bit peckish, between-meal snacks are included. This is not meant to be three days of torment but three days of healing from the inside out.
Liver foods
Our livers process nutrients, especially fats, as well as neutralising and making safe such toxins as alcohol. If you have been enjoying more than the odd festive tipple and have tucked into more fatty, rich foods than normal, certain vegetables and fruits are great for restoring the wellbeing of your liver.
We all know that broccoli is “good for us” in that “eat your greens” kind of way; what is less obvious is that, along with watercress, this über-veg provides supernutrients that boost an enzyme, glutathione, which helps the liver to remove the waste products of over-consumption. It is also a strong antioxidant, which can restore the strength of liver cells. If you cannot stand the bitter taste, have broccoli in soups — this tones the bitterness down — steam it as a vegetable at all main meals, or break it into florettes and add it to stir-fries.
Avocados are also very liver-friendly. Although we tend to think of them as fattening, they are one of the few foods to contain ready-made glutathione. Stick to half a small one a day and you won’t pile on the pounds. Throw them chopped into salads or mash them and spread on toast for a snack.
Artichoke hearts are full of cynarin, a supernutrient that enables our livers to make more bile; this, in turn, helps to carry excess cholesterol from our body. They also give us a little silymarin (plant compounds found in milk thistle, a supplement that renews and repairs damaged liver cells). The simplest way to get the goodness is to take artichoke hearts straight from a jar and add them to, say, pasta dishes. You can also serve them with roasted peppers as an antipasto, or with a salad.
Always use plenty of garlic and onions. Rich in sulphur-based supernutrients, these can increase our production of detoxing enzymes that can help to heal and repair damage.
Beetroot is rich in betacyanin (the deep-red pigments that both give this vegetable its colour and seem to support the liver) plus betaine, which is present in very few other foods and helps to detoxify homocysteine, high levels of which can trigger heart disease.
As for fruits, berries are best. Frozen are as good as fresh because they retain their ellagic acid, a plant compound that increases production of liver enzymes, thus improving the organ’s ability to repair and strengthen itself. Frozen versions are great thrown into smoothies, or defrosted and added to cereals. Fresh berries make simple between-meal snacks.
Oranges are rich in vitamin C and hesperitin, which — along with lycopene (the red pigment found in tomatoes) — is a supernutrient that can lower cholesterol and take the strain off the liver.
Kidney foods
When your general food intake goes up, your salt tends to follow suit, putting more strain on your kidneys — which work 24 hours a day keeping mineral levels in the blood constant and within safe limits. Vegetables and fruits are, in general, rich in potassium, the mineral that helps to rebalance salt overloads — the more, the better.
Celery in particular contains apiin and other supernutrients that help to cleanse the kidneys through their diuretic properties. It is easy to use in salads and as between-meal snacks.
Also add parsley where you can. This herb is especially rich in potassium, helping to flush through the kidneys, eliminating excess salt and lowering blood pressure.
Cranberries are also a well-known kidney-friendly food. Drinking 250ml of cranberry juice daily (use low-sugar versions) has been shown to coat the lining of the urinary tract with tannins — supernutrients that act like a non-stick coating and help to flush bugs through and take the strain off these two small organs.
Colon foods
It is easy to view the colon as the dumping ground of the digestive system, but this would be to trivialise its infinite number of active roles that take place day and night, ranging from making certain vitamins, balancing out good and bad bacteria, breaking down dietary compounds and eliminating toxins and potentially carcinogenic compounds.
Some specific foods can help to restore colon balance. Apples and pears are rich in soluble fibre, which can grab on to potentially cancer-causing pollutants and toxins in the colon, removing them from the body in stools. Have them as between-meal snacks, and use them in healing puddings such as baked apples and poached pears.
Chicory, bananas and Jerusalem artichokes are all rich in fructo-oligosaccharides, types of carbohydrate that feed “good” bacteria, restore balance and reduce problems such as bloating and other symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome. They also help to bulk out stools and increase the speed of disposal of waste and pollutants from the body. Chicory can be braised and served with main dishes, as well as being used raw in salads.Finally, we come back to garlic. The sulphur-based compounds that it contains help to eliminate toxins, viruses, bacteria and parasites from the intestines, again lifting the strain from the day-to-day processing role that our digestive system undertakes.

THREE-DAY REPAIR PLAN
What to drink
Peppermint tea: the oils in peppermint contain more than 40 supernutrients, including menthol, which helps to relax the digestive system and relieves intestinal cramping and gas. It is also said to improve symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome. Drink between meals to avoid heartburn.
Chamomile: the supernutrient apigenin in chamomile affects the same part of the brain as anti-anxiety drugs, helping you to relax and sleep well, which enhances the repair process.
Dandelion tea: this can improve liver function and also acts as a diuretic to help the flow of waste through the kidneys. Have no more than three cups of root tea and three cups of leaf tea a day. (Teabags from all the main supermarkets and main brands are good. For mint tea, fresh mint leaves are easy to buy and are preferable).
Water: there is no need to drink a specific quantity of mineral water daily. If you are drinking herbal teas, top them up with mineral water in between so that the total amount of fluid you drink in a day is approximately two litres. And remember that you should have another litre of water for every hour of strenuous exercise that you undertake.
On waking: Drink a tumbler of hot water infused with lemon, and take 200mg of milk thistle in capsule form.
Puddings/snacks
Citrus fruits: rich in vitamin C to support your liver, plus hesperidin, a super-nutrient known to help to lower blood cholesterol.
Pomegranate seeds: help to lower blood cholesterol and break down fatty plaques on artery walls.
Berries: great for ellagic acid and vitamin C to support your liver.
Pears, apples: good for soluble fibre to help to lower blood cholesterol.
Nuts: a 30g handful. Almonds are good for vitamin E to help to repair your liver and give you plant sterols that help to lower cholesterol. Walnuts are rich in omega-3 oils which, again, help to lower cholesterol.
For the first three days, do try really hard not to eat anything with refined sugar to give your body maximum rest, and then for the following seven days we will advise the least damaging sweet pudding or snack.

Foods that help you hold back the years
Multigrain bread For selenium, a mineral that is essential for making glutathione, an enzyme that zaps free radicals, which are present in air pollution and cigarette smoke. When breathed into the body, they attack and break down collagen. Also good: muesli, brazil nuts, sunflower seeds and shrimps.
Oats For the trace mineral silicic acid, which is needed to make the spongy cells that lie between collagen and elastin fibres. These make the skin plump and the nails and hair strong, and slow down the formation of fine lines. Also good: whole-grain wheat, beetroot, alfalfa sprouts and Fiji water.
Wholemeal pitta, goji berries and muesli For ferulic acid (pitta) and vitamins C (berries) and E (muesli). Ferulic acid is a potent antioxidant supernutrient that helps vitamins C and E to maximise their ability to protect the skin from the sun’s ageing UV rays. Goji berries contain 500 times more vitamin C than oranges, gram for gram. Also good: whole-grain pasta and bran flakes for ferulic acid; oranges, grapefruit, strawberries and peppers for vitamin C; sweet potatoes, sunflower seeds, almonds, avocado and spinach for vitamin E.
Sweet potatoes, tomatoes, spinach For three antioxidant pigments betacarotene (sweet potatoes), lycopene (tomatoes) and lutein (spinach), which accumulate in the skin and help to reflect ageing UV rays from the sun by giving skin an estimated permanent sun protection factor (SPF) of three. Also good: carrots, apricots and peaches for betacarotene; pink grapefruit and tomato juice for lycopene; oranges for lutein.
Cherries For anthocyanins, red and dark-blue antioxidant pigments that keep the tiny blood vessels that supply the skin with nutrients in good condition. Also good: blueberries, blackberries, pomegranates, pomegranate juice, black grapes and radishes.
Soya milk and lentils For plant oestrogens, which help to make lubricating oils and good-quality collagen in the skin. They also help to repair both collagen and elastin, which are essential for slowing down the thinning of the skin and the formation of lines. Also good: soya beans, tofu, soya yoghurt, bean sprouts, whole-grain cereals and linseeds.
Salmon For protein to build and regenerate collagen and elastin. Salmon also provides omega-3 oils, which are essential for making prostaglandins, hormone-like substances that keep the skin supple and hydrated. Also good: mackerel, herrings, sardines, anchovies, omega-3-enriched eggs, organic whole milk, omega-3-enriched semi-skimmed milk, hemp seeds, walnuts and almonds.
Steak For the mineral iron - depleted supplies can lead to poor hair growth and thinning hair. Steak is also high in protein. Also good: dark turkey and dark chicken meat, mackerel and sardines.

Labels: glycemic index, Health, health food, nutrition

Probiotics are the healthy bacteria found among the intestinal microbiota, the living microorganisms in the intestinal tract necessary for proper digestive health. They are responsible for protective effects including healthy turnover of cells in the intestinal tract, production of essential nutrients such as short-chain fatty acids and amino acids, stimulation of intestinal immunity and prevention of overgrowth of harmful organisms. Probiotics can also be found in fermented food products such as yogurt and in supplements.
....."A host of influences including genetics, environment, diet and disease can dramatically offset this balance of microbiota in the GI tract and affect our health."
Simin Meydan, DVM, PhD, also of the HNRCA at Tufts, reviewed the research on probiotics and suggested that probiotics consumption may positively enhance the immune response and allow for improved resistance to infectious diseases.
Yet, researchers are still unclear on the method of action behind probiotics' benefits. Robert Clancy, PhD, of The University of New Castle, Australia, suggested that there will be "Immunobiotic Evolution," stemming from the growing body of research demonstrating that probiotics have immune system benefits. In reviewing the research on the method of action, he said, "Research on probiotics is moving rapidly to identify the mechanism by which probiotics can stimulate the intestinal lining, how that function can lend benefit for protective immunity, diminish allergic hypersensitivity in the digestive trace and reduce cancer risk."
... Quigley offered several proposed methods of action including probiotics' anti-inflammatory properties, as well as displacing harmful bacteria and replenish the balance of healthy flora along the digestive tract.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/061009/nym032.html?.v=67

Labels: Health, nutrition, Probiotics

Consumers are eating more fresh foods and organically grown products as awareness rises about the link between poor food choices and poor health.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/15542128.htm

Labels: Health, organic

Dr. Mercola
Good health begins in your gut, where there is supposed to be trillions of good bacteria to help build and protect your health. But virtually everyone -- due to contemporary lifestyles including a history of processed foods, processed supplements, antibiotics and other drugs, improper sleep, and much more -- have wiped away many of these good bacteria, leaving them with dangerously depleted defenses against disease.
For most people, it really is like they should have an army inside their gut defending against bad bacteria, viruses, and other invaders, BUT they've killed off most of their troops leaving only a meager few soldiers to do the work off an entire army!
You can of course guess the solution -- you need to replenish the "army" of good bacteria in your gut, and keep it replenished.
Probiotics are health-enhancing bacteria that replenish the microflora in your intestinal track, helping your body to digest and absorb food, as well as fight off many different illnesses and disease.
While it is only starting to receive its due attention by Western medical professionals, the health benefits of probiotics have been known for at least 100 years. Studies have shown that probiotics are effective for the control of:
-Inflammatory bowel disease
-Vaginal yeast infections
-Food and skin allergies in children
-Premature labor in pregnant women
-Recurrent ear and bladder infections
-Chronic diarrhea ... and more!
Of course, as I mentioned, they are essential to protect your immune system overall. If you are successfully able to change your diet so you are truly eating properly day in and day out, the need for probiotics decreases as it is somewhat similar to planting a garden. If you have plenty of healthy plants there is no room for the weeds to grow.

Labels: Health, Mercola, Probiotics