Be Sodium Savvy, Eat Less Salt

A recent report from the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says most Americans consume far more sodium each day than the recommended amount mainly in the form of salt.

Consuming too much sodium can lead to heart disease and stroke, which are the No.1 and No.3 killers of both men and women in the United States every year. People who are especially at risk include adults 40 and older, African Americans and anyone with high blood pressure - which means that 69% of the U.S. population is at risk.

Here are some of the CDS's tips on how yo can cut back on your sodium intake:

• Know your daily sodium limit. Federal dietary guidelines say adults should eat no more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium a day (about 1 teaspoon of salt). However, if you're in one of the three previously mentioned higher risk groups, you should consume no more than 1,500 milligrams a day.
• Choose fruits and vegetables instead of processed foods. Seventy-seven percent of the sodium that we consume comes from processed and restaurant foods.
• Read nutrition labels carefully. Add up the milligrams of sodium in everything you eat to make sure you're staying within your daily limit.
• Eat smart when dining out. Before ordering, ask about low-sodium offerings, or ask to see nutritional information, including sodium content.

Original source: Denver Post, USAweekend insert,June 12-14, 2009

Don't get enough of your daily requirement of fruits and vegetables? Click here!

Probiotics are Vital for Babies from Pregnancy to Toddler hood

All moms want the very best for their children. You want to keep them from getting sick and prepare them for the outside world. Probiotics are an amazing way to do this. Starting from pregnancy, moms who take probiotics provide their babies with immunoglobulin A, a substance that will greatly reduce the chances of allergies and eczema during the first year1.

Read more by visiting Nurich Health News below:

Nuriche Health News

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Noni Tahitea Gets European Safety Approval

The European Food Safety Authority authorized the use of noni, the basis of Tahitian Noni International's Tahitea line, opening the door for the company to increase its presence in the European market.

Noni is the common name for the leaves of Morinda citrifolia. The dried and roasted leaves are used for the preparation of infusions. Tahitian Noni's Calming Tahitian Serenity, Authentic Founder's Formula and Spiced Chai products all include the noni leaf.

According to Director of Public Relations Andre Peterson, Tahitian Noni International currently operates in 10 subsidiaries in Europe, and the company believes the recent safety approval will only increase demand.

"The approval of noni leaves to be used in tea marks another milestone in the company's approach to bring noni to the world," he said.

Tahitian Noni International is headquartered in Provo, Utah with international manufacturing facilities in the U.S., Germany, Tahiti, Japan and China. Information about purchasing Tahitian Noni products can be found on the company website or by calling 1-888-869-9254 (Please give distributor ID: 1771821)

Original source: worldtea news

Illness May Be Linked To 'Sick Building'

I found this article in today's paper and found it interesting enough to post it here:

AT THE WATER COOLER

Illness may be linked to 'sick building'


The sneezing, the coughing, the drowsiness - but only at the office. Could it be that you're allergic to...work? It may sound like a stunt to wrangle some time off. But your ailments could be related to "sick building syndrome," an illness caused by mold, inadequate ventilation, or chemicals from walls and carpet of old and new buildings.

The causes can be difficult to pin down. said Susan Lessack, partner in Pepper Hamilton law firm in Berwyn, PA.

"Often there is a tendency to doubt that the person is experiencing something related tothe building , and these illnesses are met with suspicion even though they are quite valid," she said.

If you notice you're only feeling ill while you're at work, ask your employer to test the building's air quality. If possible, try to work from another location to see if the symptoms fade.

If a link is found between an illness and the building, an employee could seek compensation under workers compensation laws, Lessack said. That can be difficult to do.

When employees work in a "sick building," they feel a sense of relief after leaving work.

"This can lead to poor morale as well as high turnover," she said.

Original source Business Section of Rocky Mountain News 10/30/08

Lose 10 Pounds in Six Weeks

Here are five simple food swaps that can help you lose more than 10 pounds in the next six weeks.

1. Stick to one serving of cereal. For most people, a typical pour of breakfast cereal is equal to two servings. If you're trying to lose weight, trim calories by accurately measuring one serving into your bowl (usually that means ¾ - 1 cup, however, cereal serving sizes vary so you must regularly check the package labeling on your favorite brands and varieties).
   
   For those who eat a daily bowl of breakfast cereal, follow my lead, and you'll save about 150 calories by cutting back on cereal and at least 50 calories in extra milk every morning. That's 8,400 calories saved and 2.5 pounds lost at the end of six weeks!
   
   
2. Skip your late night snack. We all feel the need to munch in the evening, and although a p.m. snack can be perfectly appropriate (diet-friendly p.m. snacks should not exceed 150 calories), for many people, the evening tends to be the time of day we blow it on calorie overload - comfort food central; ice cream, cookies, potato chips, popcorn and more!
   
   On average, people gobble down way more than 250 calories after 8 p.m. Exercise some willpower and skip your nighttime snack altogether. Sip an herbal tea, floss/brush your teeth and close down the kitchen for the evening. You'll save at least 250 calories each day and after six weeks, you'll have cut 10,500 calories and dropped three whole pounds!
   
   
3. Scratch the butter/margarine. Cut out a total of one tablespoon of regular butter or margarine from your toast, veggies, potatoes, dinner rolls, etc. each day. At 100 calories per tablespoon, you'll save 4,200 calories and drop over one pound in six weeks. What if you can't give up the butter or margarine? At least switch to a soft tub spread that says "reduced fat" and "trans-fat free" on the label - it's half the calories of the full fat versions, so you'll still drop over ½ pound.
   
   
4. Lose the mayo and cheese on your sandwich. Omit the slice of cheese and mayonnaise on your sandwich (use mustard instead - only five calories per teaspoon) and you'll save about 200 calories per sandwich. If you eat a sandwich a day, you'll end up saving 8,400 calories and find yourself 2.5 pounds lighter after just six weeks.
   
   
5. Delete the extras: It's amazing how much extra food we can munch on without realizing it - a grab of this/that off our kid's plate, an extra packet of ketchup or salad dressing, a bite of your co-worker's dessert... before you know it, you've consumed an extra 800 calories!

Be super mindful and delete the "extras" and you'll be able to trim a significant amount of calories off your weekly total. Also, pay attention to your beverages (alcohol included) - as well as what's going into your coffee and tea. By trimming 1000 extra calories off each week (about 150 per day), you'll save a total of 6000 calories and drop 1.75 pounds at the end of six weeks!

Follow all five tips and you'll potentially lose more than 10 pounds at the end of six short weeks. Here's the math: 2.5 pounds + 3 pounds + 1 pound + 2.5 pounds + 1.75 pound = 10+ pounds lost!

(Original source unknown)

Top 10 Detox Foods

Can't remember where I found this article originally, but thought it was a great one to post here:

There's no better time to give your body a healthy, fresh start than right now. Plus if you're thinking about lowering your weight and your real age "eating clean" is a great first step. Add these 10 foods to your grocery cart and you'll get three terrific benefits:

1. Lots of super-healthy liquids to flush out the body while pouring in nutrients.

2. Fiber to keep your GI tract fit.

3. Foods that energize cleansing enzymes in the liver, your body's built-in detox center.

The top 10:

1. Green leafy vegetables. Eat them raw, throw them into a broth, add them to juices. Their chlorophyll helps swab out environmental toxins (heavy metals, pesticides) and is an all-round liver protector.
2. Lemons. You need to keep the fluids flowing to wash out the body and fresh lemonade is ideal. Its vitamin C - considered the detox vitamin - helps convert toxins into a water - soluble form that?s easily flushed away.
3. Watercress. Put a handful into salads, soups, and sandwiches. The peppery little green leaves have a diuretic effect that helps move things through your system. And cress is rich in minerals too.
4. Garlic. Add it to everything - salads, sauces, spreads. In addition to the bulb's cardio benefits, it activates liver enzymes that help filter out junk.
5. Green tea. This antioxidant-rich brew is one of the healthiest ways to get more fluids into your system. Bonus: It contains catechins, which speed up liver activity.
6. Broccoli sprouts. Get 'em at your health-food store. They pack 20 to 50 times more cancer-fighting, enzyme-stimulating activity into each bite than the grown-up vegetable.
7. Sesame seeds. They're credited with protecting liver cells from the damaging effects of alcohol and other chemicals. For a concentrated form, try tahini, the yummy sesame seed paste that?s a staple of Asian cooking.
8. Cabbage. There are two main types of detoxifying enzymes in the liver; this potent veggie helps activate both of them. Coleslaw, anyone?
9. Psyllium. A plant that?s rich in soluble fiber, like oat bran, but more versatile. It mops up toxins (cholesterol too) and helps clear them out. Stir powdered psyllium into juice to help cleanse your colon, or have psyllium-fortified Bran Buds for breakfast.
10. Fruits, fruits, fruits. They're full of almost all the good things above - vitamin C, fiber, nutritious fluids, and all kinds of antioxidants. Besides, nothing tastes better than a ripe mango, fresh berries, or a perfect pear.

Ultimate Detox Recipe

Easy Wilted Garlic-Sesame Salad

Toss dark, leafy greens in hot, garlicky oil for a cleansing?and delicious - dish
4 servings, about 65 calories each
1 Tsp. olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 lb. spinach, stemmed,
or 1 lb. Swiss chard, stems sliced, leaves torn
or 1 lb. mixture of spinach and watercress
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 Tsp. sesame seeds for garnish
Warm oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and stir until lightly browned, about 45 seconds. Add greens (do in two batches, if necessary) and toss until just wilted, 2 to 4 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Red flags raised over energy drinks

'Caffeine intoxication' alarm. Scientists call for labels warning of dangers, especially when mixed with alcohol
SHARON KIRKEY, Canwest News Service


Fresh alarms are being raised over "energy drinks," with experts warning of increasing reports of "caffeine intoxication" and single servings containing the caffeine equivalent of 10 cans of Coca-Cola.

Scientists from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore are calling for prominent labels for energy drinks listing caffeine doses and warning of potential risks when used alone, or in combination with alcohol. They're also recommending doctors get familiar with signs of caffeine intoxication, withdrawal and dependence in young people who might be using the beverages.

"In children and adolescents who are not habitual caffeine users, vulnerability to caffeine intoxication may be markedly increased due to an absence of pharmacological tolerance," the researchers warn in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

The team reviewed energy drinks and claims by manufacturers. They found the caffeine content varies 10-fold.

"You can buy a container that says 'energy drink' on it and it might contain 50 milligrams of caffeine - which is about slightly over the amount in a can of

Coca-Cola - or it might contain 500 mg of caffeine, 10 times that and enough to produce overdose symptomatology," said Roland Griffiths, professor in the departments of psychiatry and neuroscience. By comparison, the caffeine content of a six-ounce cup of brewed coffee varies from 77 to 150 mg.

"Many of these products are not labelled with the amount of caffeine. There are no cautionary notes," Griffiths said.

"If you're given a glass to consume of a beverage and you weren't told what it is, and couldn't taste the difference, and it might contain straight vodka and it might contain beer, that's what we're talking about here."

He says recent research suggests that young people who learn to enjoy the caffeine high from energy drinks may move on to prescription stimulants such as Ritalin.

According to their article, annual worldwide energy drink consumption reached 906 million gallons in 2006. Nearly 500 new brands were launched worldwide in 2006 alone.

The National Post reported yesterday that Canadian sales increased 54 per cent, to $277 million in the year ending in August, after a 71-per-cent increase the previous 12 months, according to ACNielsen.

The European Union requires energy drinks carry a "high caffeine content" label.

In Canada, only Red Bull is authorized for sale as a natural health product. Its label says it shouldn't be mixed with alcohol and no more than two cans (500 ml) should be consumed a day. But Health Canada says the safety of other energy drugs "have not yet been evaluated."

Norway restricts the sale of Red Bull to pharmacies; France and Denmark have prohibited its sale altogether. The Medical Society of Prince Edward Island is considering recommending no energy drinks be sold to young people.

Writing in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence, the U.S. researchers say energy drinks are aggressively advertised - primarily to young males - with "alluring" names such as Full Throttle, AMP Energy and Cocaine. Ads promote the psychoactive and stimulant effects of the drinks, they say.

"Consumers may falsely believe that 'more is better' and ingest multiple servings."

As an added risk, some drinks are encouraged to be consumed quickly. One drink, Spike Shooter, claims: "The flavour's so good, you'll want to slam the whole can."

With the drinks widely available in dépanneurs and gas stations, researchers say teens and children "inexperienced and less tolerant to the effects of caffeine" may be at an increased risk for caffeine intoxication - a syndrome recognized by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, psychiatry's official guidebook of mental illnesses.

Symptoms include nervousness, anxiety, restlessness, insomnia, stomach upset, tremors, rapid heart beat and agitation.

"Caffeine in very high doses can produce convulsions and death," Griffiths said. "That rarely occurs. Most people feel very sick. They may vomit, they may get nauseous."

Forty-one cases of caffeine abuse from caffeine-enhanced beverages were reported to a U.S. poison control centre from 2002 to 2004. Another U.S. poison control centre reported nine cases of adverse reactions to the energy drink Redline from January 2004 to March 2006, the Hopkins team found.

Most were male; the youngest was 13.

In a survey last year of 496 undergraduates, 51 per cent reported consuming at least one energy drink in the last month. Of the energy drink users, 29 per cent reported "weekly jolt and crash episodes," 22 per cent reported headaches and 19 per cent reported heart palpitations from drinking energy drinks.

At least four reports of adverse reactions involving energy drinks have been reported to Health Canada. Symptoms included nausea and vomiting and heart irregularities.

The combined use of caffeine and alcohol is "increasing sharply," the researchers say. When mixed with alcohol, people feel less intoxicated, "so they misjudge the extent to which they are impaired," and people may end up consuming more booze, Griffiths said.

"We need to know how much caffeine is in these products."

Researchers are also calling for a cap on the total amount of caffeine "so we don't have a single product that's very likely to overdose someone," Griffiths said.

How the Kicks Rate

Sample of energy drinks and their caffeine content published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence:

Wired X505 (24 ounces): 505 mg of caffeine

Fixx (20 ounces): 500 mg

BooKoo Energy (24 ounces): 360 mg

Redline Power Rush (high concentration energy drink- 2.5 ounces): 350 mg

Redline RTD (8 ounces): 250 mg

No Fear (16 ounces): 174 mg

Monster (16 ounces): 160 mg

Rockstar (16 ounces): 160 mg

Full Throttle (16 ounces): 144

Red Bull (8.3 ounces): 80 mg

Classic soft drinks:

Coca-Cola Classic (12 ounces): 34.5 mg caffeine

Pepsi Cola (12 ounces): 38 mg

Dr. Pepper (12 ounces): 41 mg

Mountain Dew (12 ounces): 54 mg

© The Gazette (Montreal) 2008