Nutrition and Wellness Information, Resources and Education

Archive for July, 2009

It’s really hot out there. But what else is new for summer time. Here down in South Florida it’s not only the heat, but the humidity making it difficult to stand outside for more than 5 minutes without starting to sweat. Unless you’re in a shaded breeze, then maybe 10 minutes:)

In any case hydration is extremely important. Unfortunately hydrating is difficult for those who don’t like to drink water, which is for the most part the BEST hydration. Notice I said, “for the most part”? Research done at University of Aberdeen Medical School http://www.impactlab.com/2009/07/19/some-fruit-and-vegetables-can-hydrate-you-more-than-a-glass-of-water/ shows that some fruits and vegetables contain the ultimate mix of minerals, salts sugar and amino acids to more effectively hydrate than just water or even sports drinks. The key is fruits and vegetables are from nature, sports drinks are not.

As for water it is often said that say 8 of 8 oz glasses of water each day is what you need. The problem with that is you need a certain amount depending on your body size. So the rule of thumb is take your body weight and divide it by 2.  That is the number of ounces of “water” you should consume everyday. I specify water because no other beverage should be considered for strictly hydration. I’ve had some ask me about milk. Absolutely not. In fact even though you drink milk like a beverage, chemically it’s a food and should not be thought of as hydration. Of course coffee can not since that will actually dehydrate you, as will sodas.

Something that a lot of people also do not realize with regard to hydration is certain health issues being caused or at least related to insufficient daily hydration. Since our body is mostly water, lack of sufficient hydration can cause a multitude of health issues. So with more adequate hydration, you may be able to greatly reduce some health issues you’re dealing with and not just some obvious ones like constipation.

Would love to hear your comments.

OK, enough is enough.

We know we need to eat healthier, but there are those who like the idea of a pill of for this and a pill for that, some not realizing that the pills are usually a drug and drugs are synthetic. Synthetic substances have bad side effects because they are made by mad scientists….oops, I mean man, sorry for the Freudian slip, not nature and should only be used for a short period of time, not indefinitely.

Now we have the substance, resveratrol that has been brought more to light recently and is in the skins of grapes and found in red wine. Now they want to make a drug from that to increase longevity? When will the pharmaceutical madness in this country stop?

We’ve seen the TV commercials for drugs to allegedly prevent degenerative diseases, that are followed by a ton of disclaimers about not taking this if you have a list of other conditions. Does anybody remember years ago when Saturday Night Live had what were called “Non-Commercials” that  joked about commercials like this? Perhaps they still do, haven’t watched SNL in years but why are Americans so easily accepting of what the pharmaceuticals are doing? Why does 60 minutes report this as if it’s a good thing, a new drug being developed to slow aging.  When will we poo poo anything that tells us that a drug will work better than what nature has provided and not charge us crazy amounts of money to get it?

Here is the 60 Minutes story http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3TGKOQeTrc&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Enews3news%2Ecom%2F048%2Ehtml&feature=player_embedded

Welcome to my website/blog where I share information about nutrition and how to improve it in your life. There are many misconceptions about what constitutes good nutrition and the purpose of this blog is to help clarify those misconceptions.  It’s amazing the misinformation that is put out about what makes for good nutrition. The fact is, there are a lot of companies with big advertising budgets to imply that there is research showing what they are selling is what the research says you need.  Although I too represent a company that provides a nutritional resource, the research I will direct you to is top notch and indisputable. What I do is educate people from highly credible resources I’ve learned from and make available to you. This research has been peer reviewed by professionals in the  field that the research was done and published in the respective professional journals.

Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself. When it comes to good nutrition it’s really not that complicated.

Rule 1, processed food is bad. Most anything that comes out of a box has little to no nutritional value except for a few exceptions. These exceptions become clear by reading the ingredients. If a good portion of the ingredients is sugar, enriched flour, high fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated oils and or an artificial sweetener like aspartame or similar. It’s best to avoid. None of those ingredients have any nutrition and are harmful to eat over a long period of time.

Rule 2, the best parts of the store to shop in are the produce department, the fish department, the meat department. and a few items in the cereal isle and a couple items in isles that have little processed products. In that order. The more you eat that comes closest to it’s original state from nature, the more nutrition it has. If it has a lot of ingredients you can’t easliy pronounce, probably not good to eat those either.

You may notice I did not mention the dairy department. That was intentional in that there is no dairy required for human nutritional needs. For treats? Sure on occasion. On the other hand, often healthy dairy substitutes like soy, almond or rice milk products are in the dairy section. Also farm raised eggs are ok as well.

Rule 3,  Hydration is of course the most important item to consume everyday. However anything other than water should not be considered for hydration. An exception is high water content produce. There will be future postings on that. But many consider the sports or performance drinks as hydration and they certainly promote and package themselves as such, they certainly are not. As I said, the closer to nature is the best. None of those products can be found in nature. If you don’t have a water filter at home, yes if your faucet delivers water from a treatment plant, you need a water filter. Bottled water is a good alternative but more expensive in the long run. Many are really not sure how uch water they should consume daily. X amount of glasses a day is not reality because you wouldn’t expect someone that is 6.5′ the same requirement as someone who is 5′. So you go by weight. Take your body weight and divide by two. Some think that sounds like a lot. It is if you’re not accustomed to proper hydration.

Anyway, I’ve given some basics in this posting, there is much more to come and I welcome your comments. Please feel free to share this with your friends and relatives since although some of what will be recommended here will sound difficult if not impossible to achieve in your busy lifestyle, I’ll provide ways to make it easier.

In talking about Fit vs. Healthy. it’s really pretty simple. You can be fit, but being healthy requires good nutrition to go with your fitness plan. Without it you’re tearing your body down leading to injuries and possible degenerative disease. Our bodies require regular physical exercise but that exercise does cause damage to cell structures if not offset by good nutrition to counteract the effects. Some feel if they exercise a lot and intensely they can eat anything they want. That is a mistake, especially within the first hour after an exercise routine. The body wants the best nutrition possible during that time for the maintenance needed, also known as recovery. Recovery drinks are not the answer. Real food like fruits and vegetables or certain well formulated nutrition products which I will cover in a subsequent posting.

Hope you found this helpful. Would love your comments.