As a 20-year fitness enthusiast, I am well aware of the importance of exercise in maintaining a healthy body. However, it has taken me four decades to learn that good nutrition is just as important in the overall health equation.
Consuming a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean protein and healthy fat helps maintain body weight, stabilize blood sugar levels and provide essential nutrients.
Healthy carbohydrates -- fruits, vegetables, and whole grains -- provide the body's preferred source of fuel for activity and fiber for intestinal health.
But perhaps the most important contribution of dietary fruits, vegetables and whole grains is the rich source of antioxidants they provide. Antioxidants are vitamins, minerals and enzymes which protect the body from the relentless attack of microscopic bandits called free radicals.
Free radicals are unstable molecules which have lost an electron. Functioning like a car with a flat tire, free radicals constantly seek to stabilize themselves. They do this by stealing electrons from surrounding healthy cells. This process breaks down cells' outer wall, ushering in infection, DNA damage and even cancerous mutations.
Since free radicals are produced from processes which are impossible to avoid -- pollution, cigarette smoke, stress, sunlight and even respiration -- protection must be present inside our cells. Cellular antioxidants provide this protection by offering their electrons to scavenging free radicals, acting as bodyguards for healthy cells.
Although our diets provide the best source of antioxidants, most Americans fall short of the recommended 9 to 12 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. Most of us consume only 1-2 daily servings (including French fries, ketchup and iceberg lettuce).
To compensate, the American Medical Association recommends that all adults take a vitamin/mineral supplement. However, there are significant differences in the quality, bioavailability and absorption rate of vitamin supplements on the market.
Because the FDA does not regulate the nutritional industry, consumers must work harder to protect themselves.
An effective way to determine the quality of a vitamin supplement is to measure whether the most-difficult-to-absorb molecules have made their way from the gastrointestinal tract into the cell.
Antioxidants provide this benchmark since they are fat-soluble and do not readily disperse in the watery environment of the gut.
Instead, they clump together and create larger molecules that cannot slide through the cell wall.
In the past, the only way to measure cellular antioxidant levels was through a blood test. A new technology (Pharmanex Biophotonic Scanner) has revolutionized this process, making it possible to non- invasively read cellular antioxidant levels by a laser hand scan in two minutes.
This allows health-conscious individuals to regularly monitor their cell health and determine whether their diet and supplements are providing optimal immune protection.
Maximize your health by using 21st-century technology to validate what your mother already knew: Eat your fruits and vegetables, take your vitamins, and go out and play.
Source:Lisa Bell( www.BellBodies.com online)
Showing posts with label Anxiety. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Anxiety. Show all posts
Reduce The Heart Attack Threat
A recent study has found that physical activity reduces the risk of heart attacks in men with diabetes.
Men with type 2 diabetes can save their lives by walking, and the faster they walk the less likely they are to have a heart attack or stroke, according to new research reported in the latest issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
Related Articles
Who Smiles Most, Menn or Women?
Heart Disease Linked To Stress "Previous studies found beneficial effects of physical activity in the general population, but this is one of the few studies on the benefits of physical activity in adults with diabetes," said lead investigator Mihaela Tanasescu, associate professor in the College of Health Sciences at Touro University International in Cypress, California. "The findings are significant because diabetes greatly increases risk for cardiovascular disease."
Tanasescu and her co-authors from Harvard School of Public Health studied a subset of men enrolled in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. It's a study of 51,529 male health professionals 40 to 75 years old in 1986 when the project started. In this new analysis, the researchers identified 3,058 men who reported a diagnosis of diabetes at age 30 or older. Men with physical disabilities were excluded, so the findings are based on 2,803 non-disabled diabetic men.
Researchers assessed physical activity every two years between 1986 and 1998 using questionnaires that asked about average time spent per week in activities such as walking, running, lap swimming and tennis. Walking pace was gauged as "casual" – meaning 2 miles per hour (mph) or less, "normal" 2 to 2.9 mph, brisk 3 to 3.9 mph or "striding," which was defined as 4 mph or faster. The time spent at each activity in hours per week was multiplied by its typical energy expenditure expressed in metabolic equivalents (METS), which were totaled for a MET-hour score. During 14 years of follow-up 266 new cardiovascular events occurred; 96 were fatal and 170 were nonfatal. There were 355 deaths from all causes.
In the study, diabetic men who were in the third highest of four categories (quintile) of total physical activity reduced their risk of cardiovascular disease by 36 percent and their risk of death by 43 percent compared to those in the lowest quintile of physical activity.
There was no further improvement in the fourth and fifth quintiles. Men in the highest quintile of walking expended more than 16MET-hours/week (equivalent to four hours of brisk walking in a week) and reduced their risk of death by 43 percent. Men who walked at a brisk or very brisk pace had a significantly lower risk of cardiovascular disease as compared to men who walked at a casual pace. Thus, while high amounts of energy expenditure or vigorous exercise may not be required, walking appears to reduce risk when performed regularly and at a fast pace.
The benefits of physical activity in this study were significant, but Tanasescu says diabetic patients should consult their physicians before beginning an exercise program. "In a few cases, patients may be advised not to undertake certain types of physical activity," she says. "But overall, risks associated with exercise are low and benefits are considerable in individuals with type 2 diabetes."
Men with type 2 diabetes can save their lives by walking, and the faster they walk the less likely they are to have a heart attack or stroke, according to new research reported in the latest issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
Related Articles
Who Smiles Most, Menn or Women?
Heart Disease Linked To Stress "Previous studies found beneficial effects of physical activity in the general population, but this is one of the few studies on the benefits of physical activity in adults with diabetes," said lead investigator Mihaela Tanasescu, associate professor in the College of Health Sciences at Touro University International in Cypress, California. "The findings are significant because diabetes greatly increases risk for cardiovascular disease."
Tanasescu and her co-authors from Harvard School of Public Health studied a subset of men enrolled in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. It's a study of 51,529 male health professionals 40 to 75 years old in 1986 when the project started. In this new analysis, the researchers identified 3,058 men who reported a diagnosis of diabetes at age 30 or older. Men with physical disabilities were excluded, so the findings are based on 2,803 non-disabled diabetic men.
Researchers assessed physical activity every two years between 1986 and 1998 using questionnaires that asked about average time spent per week in activities such as walking, running, lap swimming and tennis. Walking pace was gauged as "casual" – meaning 2 miles per hour (mph) or less, "normal" 2 to 2.9 mph, brisk 3 to 3.9 mph or "striding," which was defined as 4 mph or faster. The time spent at each activity in hours per week was multiplied by its typical energy expenditure expressed in metabolic equivalents (METS), which were totaled for a MET-hour score. During 14 years of follow-up 266 new cardiovascular events occurred; 96 were fatal and 170 were nonfatal. There were 355 deaths from all causes.
In the study, diabetic men who were in the third highest of four categories (quintile) of total physical activity reduced their risk of cardiovascular disease by 36 percent and their risk of death by 43 percent compared to those in the lowest quintile of physical activity.
There was no further improvement in the fourth and fifth quintiles. Men in the highest quintile of walking expended more than 16MET-hours/week (equivalent to four hours of brisk walking in a week) and reduced their risk of death by 43 percent. Men who walked at a brisk or very brisk pace had a significantly lower risk of cardiovascular disease as compared to men who walked at a casual pace. Thus, while high amounts of energy expenditure or vigorous exercise may not be required, walking appears to reduce risk when performed regularly and at a fast pace.
The benefits of physical activity in this study were significant, but Tanasescu says diabetic patients should consult their physicians before beginning an exercise program. "In a few cases, patients may be advised not to undertake certain types of physical activity," she says. "But overall, risks associated with exercise are low and benefits are considerable in individuals with type 2 diabetes."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
