14 ways to easily get more daily anti-oxidants
By now everyone knows that antioxidants are incredibly beneficial to their health. Antioxidants can help prevent cancer, slow down or even reverse aging, improve immunity, increase your energy, strengthen the circulation and other systems. Given this information it’s amazing more people don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables on a daily basis. They are our primary source of antioxidants and the popular press have reported many times about the “5 a day” but for optimum health 8 to 10 servings of fruit and vegetables daily is nearer the mark.
Here are some simple steps to add more anti-oxidants to your diet.
Read MoreMen and women are at risk of estrogen overload these days.
Our environment has become full of xenoestrogens – these are chemicals from the petrochemical industry that have an estrogenic effect on our bodies.They are found in packaging, plastics, and pesticides. These chemicals are believed to have a devastating effect on fertility, reproduction and health of humans and wildlife. It is believed we are suffering estrogen-like dominance. These estrogen mimicking chemicals leach into our foods and drinks from the plastic packaging around foods.
Progesterone goes back to the 1930s and was originally obtained from sow’s ovaries, later it was synthesized from placentas. Then diosgenin from wild yam became a starting point in the chemical manufacturing of progesterone. It is available in cream form to rub on the skin, in the US and Australia it is sold over-the-counter as a cosmetic. In the UK you need a prescription. It is thought to be natural but it is not, wild yams do not contain progesterone.
Read MoreEat more fruit and protect yourself from diabetes
A recent study by British researchers led by Nita Forouhi, from the Medical Research Council Epidemiology Unit at the Institute of Metabolic Science of Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, collected data on 21,831 healthy middle-aged men and women who did not have diabetes. Over the 12 years of the study, 735 of them developed diabetes.
To determine how much fruit and vegetables these people ate, the researchers measured blood levels of vitamin C, which serves as a marker for the amount of fruits and vegetables eaten.
Conclusion -
So what is the role of calcium that circulates in the blood?
Calcium acts as our body’s neutralizer, ensuring balance between acid/alkaline.
When we eat too many acid-forming foods. When I say ‘acid forming foods’ I don’t mean foods like lemons (which incidentally are neutralizing, they are alkaline forming in the body). I am referring to the effect food has on our bodies once it have been eaten and digested. Generally, plant foods are alkaline forming (a few can be acid forming) and animal products in general are acid forming foods to varying degrees. So if you are continually eating acid forming foods, you are constantly forcing your bones to leach out calcium in order to keep the pH of the blood balanced. Also a substance that is very acid forming is sugar and most people consume plenty everyday.
So our first step is to reduce our acid levels, this will stop so much calcium being used from our bones. Number one on the list is pork then beef then lamb and chicken. A 67kg or 10½ stone person needs no more than 40gm or 1½oz of protein a day. It is estimated that for every 10g of extra protein we eat a100mg of calcium, is lost in our urine.
Read More8 early signs of Alzheimer’s or Dementia
Are you misplacing items?
Are you putting things in odd places – sugar in the fridge or butter in the cupboard?
Are you having some degree of trouble doing the usual simple everyday tasks for instance laying the table – putting knives, folks and spoons in the wrong places?
Do you get disorientation – not knowing what time of day it is, not recognising a familiar street?
Do you forget certain words or take too long to find the right words?
Read MoreIs it all down to the menopause?
The average age in the UK (similar in the US) for the menopause is about 51. For some women periods stop at 45 and others at 55. Premature menopause can happen suddenly before the age of 40, this situation can be caused by a number of things. The supply of eggs in the ovaries have run out, we are born with a certain number of eggs once they run out that is it. If you are advised to have a hysterectomy, it’s important to find out if your ovaries are going to be removed as well. If so, find out the reason why. Some doctors routinely remove healthy ovaries as a preventative measure in case of ovarian cancer at some later date. It is important to be aware when your ovaries are removed you will go into surgical menopause overnight, a situation that normally takes 10 to 15 years to develop. In this situation HRT (hormone replacement therapy) with be needed depending on your age of course.
Read MoreYou need to think about these 8 points seriously if you want to avoid osteoporosis
Heredity – I can hear you say that is something I have no control over. If you do have osteoporosis in the family then you need to follow a good lifestyles even more strictly than most. Your lifestyle could further weaken or strengthen your constitution.
Premature menopause – I am taking about the menopause before forty or the sudden onset due to surgery or cancer treatments.
Inactivity – we need to use it or we will lose it. Exercise increases bone density. Being physically fit will also increase muscle strength, which will help to maintain our co-ordination and flexibility making falling less likely.
Read MoreAbout Me
Naturopath, Nutritional Therapist with over 20 years experience - published author, co-owner of a spa and clinic.