Posts Tagged ‘Nutrition’
The Lemonade Diet is a short-term, cleansing diet that is similar to a juice fast in many ways. While you are following the diet (10 to 40 days), your sole source of energy and nutrients is a lemonade made with fresh-squeezed lemon juice, purified (non-fluoridated) water, grade-B maple syrup, and cayenne pepper. In addition, each morning, you drink a salt-water flush, and each evening you drink a laxative tea. The only other beverages allowed on this diet are pure (non-fluoridated) water and peppermint tea.
There is a strict regimen for ending the diet, beginning with fresh-squeezed citrus juices for approximately 36 hours, and then gradually moving to raw vegetables and fruits or to cooked vegetable soups over the course of three to five days after ending the regime.
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The energy fruit contains is in the form of natural sugars.
The burning of these sugars is a ‘clean’ process.
The contents of fruit
As the interest in nutrition increases and people are getting more and more conscious about what they eat, the interest in fruit and its contents also grows. But we still don’t know that much about fruit and there is much to discover about the substances that fruit contains. We know it is healthy for us, and that people who are sick can be cured by a diet of raw fruits and vegetables. Even cancer can sometimes be cured by this diet but which substances fruit contains is a mystery. That a human being can live healthily on fruit alone has been proven by the fruitarians, they only consume fruit. Read the rest of this entry »
Without proper nutrition, bones can become weak and brittle and joints can become damaged.
The health related benefit of a high consumption of fruit and vegetables on a variety of disease has been gaining increasing prominence in the literature over a number of years. A number of observational experimental clinical and intervention studies over the past decade have suggested a positive link between fruit and vegetable consumption and the skeleton (or bones). The skeleton itself has been referred to as “a giant ion exchange column loaded with an alkali buffer,” as 80% of body carbonate, 80% of body citrate, and 35% of body sodium are contained in solution within the hydration shell of bone and are released in response to metabolic acid.more
A variety of population based studies published in the later part of the 1900s and more recently between 2001 and 2003 have demonstrated a beneficial effect of fruit and vegetable potassium intake on indices of bone health in young boys and girls, premenopausal women, perimenopausal women, postmenopausal women and elderly men and women.
Calcium can be found in foods such as low-fat milk and yogurt, dark green, leafy vegetables such as kale and broccoli, carrots, yams and fruits such as oranges.
Acid – base homeostasis is critical to health and it is well documented that extracellular fluid pH remains between 7.35 and 7.45. A major requirements therefore of our metabolic system is to ensure that hydrogen ion concentrations are maintained between 0.035 and 0.045 m Eq/L. Acid-forming foods (protein and carbohydrates) drain calcium from the bones; alkalizing foods (fruits, vegetables, seaweeds) neutralize the acids and prevent calcium drain.
• Effect of dietary acidity:
On a daily basis, humans eat substances that both generate and consume protons and, as a net result adult humans on a normal western diet generate approximately 1 mEq per kg body weight of acid per day. Of course, the more acid precursors a diet contains, the greater the degree of systemic acidity. We know that as humans becomes older their overall renal function declines which include their ability to excrete acid. Hence with increasing age humans become slightly but significantly more acidic, leading to negative calcium balance. Furthermore, osteoclasts and osteoblasts appear to respond independently to small changes in pH in the culture media in which they are growing. There is evidence that a small drop in pH close to the physiologic range, causes a tremendous burst in bone resorption.
• Role of potassium carbonate:
From a clinical point of view the study by sebastian and colleagues in 1994, which demonstrated that potassium bicarbonate administration resulted in a decrease in urinary calcium and phosphorus, with overall calcium balance becoming less negative or more positive is a very important study in the investigation as to whether alkali is important for bone health. Changes were also seen in markers of bone metabolism with a reduction in urinary excretion of hydroxyproline (bone resorption) and an increased excretion of serum osteocalcin (bone formation). Long-term studies looking at alkali administration on indices of bone health throughout the lifecycle are now urgently required.
• The DASH Diet:
Further support for a positive link between fruit and vegetable intake and bone health can be found in the results of the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stopping Hypertension) and DASH sodium intervention trials. DASH diets rich in fruit and vegetables were associated with a significant fall in blood pressure compared with baseline measurements. However of particular interest to the bone field were findings that increasing fruit and vegetable intake from a 3.6 to 9.5 daily servings decreased the urinary calcium excretion from 157 mm/d to 110 mg/d.
Foods for improving bone health:
• Dairy foods provide the major, readily absorbed sources of calcium. Women aged 40 and over should consume 3-4 serves of low fat dairy food daily. Other, non-dairy sources of calcium include fortified breakfast cereals, canned fish with edible bones, some nuts, seeds and green vegetables.
• If calcium supplements are required, the best absorption rate is from a dose of 500-600mg of calcium once or twice daily.
• Avoid salty foods and adding salt to meals and during cooking.
• Vitamin D supplements may be necessary for elderly women with inadequate sun exposure
Weight control, protection form heart disease and some cancers are only some of the benefits. So, if you are looking to add more fruits and vegetables to your diet, here are some ideas to get you there.
1. Have a smoothie for breakfast. This can be anywhere from three to five servings of fruit. Make one at home or go to one of those smoothie places. Just stick to all fruit smoothies. Avoid the “light” smoothie. It is probably filled with artificial sweeteners.
2. Drink vegetable or tomato juice before meals. They curb the appetite and the five ounce can adds half a cup of vegetables to your diet.
3. Make a big pot of vegetable soup for lunches all week. One of the best recipes is at the website Saving Dinner. Click on the “Body Clutter” free menu, scroll down until you see “Veggie Soup”. You can also try a basic minestrone soup. Avoid canned soup. They are too salty, lack in nutrition, and in flavor. more
4. At dinner, make your sides vegetables and skip the starchy sides like pasta and white rice.
5. If a meal is not a meal with out dessert, make dessert a cup of mixed berries, a dollop of vanilla yogurt and a tablespoon of granola. You can change this up with anything from pineapple, baked apples to peaches.
6. The tried and true fruit bowl. Just get a fruit bowl and fill it with organic apples, oranges, bananas, kiwi and peaches. This makes fruit as snack healthy, truly convenient.
7. Snack on fruit and cheese. It is a winning combination. Mix it up- Apples and Parmesan, pears and cheddar, peaches and cottage cheese, berries and mozzarella.
8. Everyone knows that raw veggies make a good snack but, try them cooked as a snack. This can be especially helpful if you get gas from raw veggies. Lightly steam carrots, sugar snap peas, green beans, and broccoli lightly and spray lightly with butter. You can also dip them in a low fat cheese sauce or ranch. They are great warm or cool!
9. Make a salad as your meal. Go light on the dressing and add some tofu or a chicken breast.
10. Go vegetarian for a week and find new ways to eat your vegetables!
11. Mash cauliflower and turnips into mashed and twice baked potatoes. Your family will not even know they are there.
12. Grate vegetables such as zucchini, carrots, parsnips, turnips and squash. Add them to red sauces, pizza, meatloaf and chili. No one will notice and you’ll get the all the nutritional benefits.
Getting creative with your diet and your fruits and vegetables is a sure fire way to get more into your stomach. Hopefully, the above ideas will spur on a few of your own.