Saturday, October 15, 2011

Watermelon Health Advantages



Watermelons are an excellent source of several vitamins: vitamin A, which helps maintain eye health and is an antioxidant; vitamin C, which helps strengthen immunity, heal wounds, prevent cell damage, promote healthy teeth and gums; and vitamin B6, which helps brain function and helps convert protein to energy.

Watermelon also contains the amino acids citrulline and arginine, which can help maintain arteries, blood flow and overall cardiovascular function.

Watermelon is not only great on a hot summer day, this delectable thirst-quencher may also help quench the inflammation that contributes to conditions like asthma, atherosclerosis, diabetes, colon cancer, and Its a summer fruit and can be consumed in many ways like eaten raw, or as a juice and can be added to the salad in combination of other fruits. 100 gm of watermelon contains 90% water and 7% carbohydrates providing just 46 calories per 100 gm.

Watermelon has the highest concentration of lycopene which is a important antioxidant helpful in fighting heart diseases and cancer. It also contains high amount of potassium which is essential for muscle nerve function and helps lower blood pressure. The fruit contains vitamin A which helps maintain eye health and is a good antioxidant, B6 provides brain function and vitamin C which helps build immunity and prevent cell damage.

As an added bonus, these studies have also shown that deep red varieties of watermelon have displaced the tomato as the lycopene king, Patil said. Almost 92 percent of watermelon is water, but the remaining 8 percent is loaded with lycopene, an anti-oxidant that protects the human heart, prostate and skin health.

Friday, October 14, 2011

How to Cure Hangover Nausea



One of the worst parts about a hangover is the nausea. It's sometimes impossible to take any remedy, even an aspirin, and hold it down until it can start to work. You probably already know some of the things that help you when you're facing the nausea of a hangover - or nausea for any other reason, for that matter. But take a look at some advice you may not have thought of.

The nausea pros - moms to be - have a hatful of tricks they use to get their days started when nausea is threatening to put their lives on hold. One of those is to eat something very dry and drink something very light. Even our grandmothers said that plain crackers or dry toast was a good thing to eat when nausea was a problem. And they were right!

Start with only a small amount of either, then wash it down with something very light. A weak tea is usually a good idea for a drink - hot if you're feeling chilled or cold if you're feeling flushed and overheated.

What You Need To Know

Water will help rehydrate your body. Drink water during and after alcohol consumption.
Be sure to snack before and/or after drinking.
When possible, sleep in the morning after.

Make a banana milkshake. If you aren't in the mood for solid food for breakfast, drink a banana milkshake to alleviate the symptoms of your hangover, including nausea. In a blender, mix two bananas with five cups of milk. Add honey to sweeten the drink. The bananas will restore your electrolytes and potassium, which are often depleted after heavy drinking. The milk will soothe your stomach and help keep you hydrated. And the honey will help boost your blood sugar levels.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Beware for Foods That Can Increase Breast Cancer Risks



It goes without saying that cancer is a horrible disease. But there's some good news: We're surviving more often than not. In fact according to the American Cancer Society, the five-year survival rate for all cancers diagnosed between 1999 and 2006 was 68 percent, up from 50 percent between 1975 and 1977.

If you’re a woman who just can’t eat a sandwich on anything but white bread, if you can’t go a day without your chocolate cake, if you gulp down sugary sodas by the case, you may have more to worry about than just the numbers of your scale.

In a study of more than 62,000 post menopausal women published in this month’s American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, a group of French researchers found that foods high on the glycemic index (also known as rapidly digesting simple carbohydrates like white flour and sugar) may increase the risk of breast cancer in women who are already overweight, particularly those who carry their weight in the waistline.

Ever wonder which foods should be strongly avoided by those at high risk for cancer? We can begin identifying cancer-causing foods once we know which ingredients in our food cause cancer. Some of those ingredients are food additives and chemicals used to enhance taste, while others are used strictly for appearance or to increase product shelf life. The key to avoiding cancer-causing foods is knowing which ingredients are carcinogens -- or cancer promoters -- and then reading food labels to permanently avoid consuming those ingredients.

1. All charred food, which create heterocyclic aromatic amines, known carcinogens. Even dark toast is suspect.

2. Well-done red meat. Medium or rare is better, little or no red meat is best.

3. Sugar, both white and brown–which is simply white sugar with molasses added.

4. Heavily salted, smoked and pickled foods, which lead to higher rates of stomach cancer.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Fat Burning Activities in Offices



With the current unemployment rate reaching its highest since the 1980s, the job market has become far more competitive and demanding. Americans are spending longer hours in the office, working harder than ever to keep their jobs, and, as a result, experiencing extreme stress and neglecting their health and fitness. If you're locked into long-hour employment, all that work and no play means impaired health and a poor quality of life for you. You may not be able to quit your job, but you can break the stress cycle and even stay in shape with the following workplace fitness tips.

Instead of booking a meeting room, you'll want to invite your colleagues and relatives to come walk with you. Take them seriously. Make sure the subject is discussed not too formally. Exchange ideas and opinions is one thing you can do, not expensive and also more relaxed. By doing this, the calories you will burn faster than having to sit in the office room.

It will be fortunate to have coworkers who have the same health goal, because they will not invite you to eat at fast food restaurants. If you do not have, then immediately find friends with common goals, this will be an additional motivation for you. You and co-workers could have a pedometer (pedometer) to assess who has the most step on the weekdays. This will be great fun, apart from useful to motivate each other, but also beneficial to relieve a little stress.

Several times during the day, take a few minutes to do three to five PowerHouse Hit the Deck cards, go up and down a couple of flights of stairs, or go outside for a walk around the building. Short bursts of intense physical activity burn off stress hormones and release endorphins and restore balance.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Lowering Fat Consumption



Eating a high fat diet may contribute to heart disease. Eating too much fat also contributes to excess body weight, since a gram of fat has about twice as many calories per gram as carbohydrates and proteins. Being overweight may increase your risk of developing high blood pressure, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases (diseases of the heart and blood vessels) and certain forms of cancer.

Whether you are trying to lose weight, lower blood cholesterol levels or simply eat healthier, you'll want to limit total fat intake.

You can do a few things right now to reduce the amount of fat you consume. Train yourself to think lowfat when you eat, shop, and order in restaurants. Lowering your fat intake doesn’t have to be a chore, though. Keep these fat-reducing tips in mind:

Go fat-free in dairy. Probably the single most important step you can take to reduce the amount of fat you consume is to switch to fat-free (skim) milk, cheese, sour cream, yogurt, ice cream or frozen yogurt, and butter- or margarine-type spreads.

Discover liquid fat-free non-dairy creamers. Flavored and unflavored liquid fat-free non-dairy creamers are ideal for putting in coffee, tea, cocoa, and desserts.

The plain liquid non-dairy type (it’s made from soybeans) is a terrific substitute everywhere you use cream.

A typical dinner meal on the lower fat diet would include sesame chicken with rice, snow peas and carrots, frozen broccoli, fat-free cheese, oranges and a dinner roll.

According to the American Diabetes Association, Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes; millions of Americans have been diagnosed with it, and many more are unaware they are at high risk. Some groups have a higher risk for developing Type 2 diabetes, particularly African-Americans, Latinos, Native Americans and the elderly.

Although more research is needed, a prudent recommendation for losing weight or maintaining a healthy weight is to be mindful of the amount of food you eat in relation to the amount of calories you burn in a day. A moderate intake of fats, with an emphasis on healthful unsaturated fats, fits in fine with a weight-loss or weight-maintaining diet.

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