10 Tips for Eliminating Sugar From Your Diet

By Cheryl Berkowitz

There's a cozy theory that Mother Nature in her wisdom has given us four times as many sweet taste buds, front and center on our tongues, than any other type. There are various notions about why this may be so, but my favorite one is this: back in days of yore when we hunted and gathered our food in the wilds, nothing in nature that was poisonous had a sweet flavor.

Based on this notion, eating sweets was a survival strategy. Couple this lizard brain propensity with the fact that mother's milk is sweet in flavor -- not to mention that bonding with mother herself is sweet and nurturing and pleasurable -- and once again, our survival. And it's easy to see where the original passion for sweetness began.

Unfortunately, our passion for sweet flavor and the safety it brings has gone radically out of balance. The prevalence of low-quality sweeteners and sugary foods, high-stress living, and looking for love in all the wrong places, has led to an epidemic of sugar addiction.

As a point of interest, factor in the Macrobiotic theory about the energetics of food, noting that sugar, like alcohol and coffee, has an expansive effect on the body/mind. In this view, if we eat too much contracting food like meat and salt, or if we have too much contracting life energy like stress, our organism will seek homeostasis by eating expansive foods. Of course, at those times when rebalancing is necessary, the Macrobiotics recommend the sweet and starchy vegetables and squashes or kuzu root teas, not soda and candy.

But there's nothing sweet about excessive insulin in the blood. This is now implicated in diabetes, heart disease, and an array of other chronic disease processes. Sugar also stresses our adrenal glands, de-mineralizes our bodies including our bones, over-acidifies our blood, causes inflammation, and creates an internal ecology in our gut that compromises our ability to absorb nutrients and undermines our immunity.

Depending on the intensity of your sugar habit, you may need to wean yourself slowly. Frequently, there is an emotional component to a hard-to-break sugar habit. If this is true for you, take the time to get to know your needs and desires and how you use sugar in an attempt to meet them in this indirect way. And please be compassionate with yourself. You are human and doing your best to take care of yourself. But know that you are worth the time and energy it takes to meet your needs in truly healthy, nourishing and life-enhancing ways.

Here are some tips for getting sugar out of your daily diet:

1. Reduce or eliminate caffeine. Caffeine causes blood sugar swings, which can lead to sugar cravings.

2. Drink water. Dehydration can lead to cravings, including the craving for sugar.

3. Eat protein and good fats. While too much protein can tip us towards craving sugar, so can too little. For overall blood sugar balance, enhanced metabolism and satiety, include some protein and good fats with every meal and even in your snacks.

4. Don't skip meals. Skipping meals can cause a dip in your blood sugar, which can spur the craving for sugar.

5. Pass on the white flour and pasta. Not only do these foods lack nutritional value despite being filling, they convert to sugar once digested. Eat whole grains in moderation instead.

6. Eat sweet vegetables and fruit. In the context of a balanced diet, these are wonderful sweets to eat, loaded with fiber, vitamins, micronutrients and phytochemicals.

7. Use kinder, gentler sweeteners. Avoid chemical and artificial sweeteners and food with sugar added. Instead, use small amounts of gentle sweeteners like rice syrup, barley malt, maple syrup, raw honey, stevia and dried fruit.

8. Get more sleep. If you are deprived from staying up too late for months and years on end, you may be craving energy. We typically reach for sweets as a fast but backfiring boost.

9. Get more exercise. Physical activity helps to balance blood sugar and reduce stress.

10. Slow down and find sweetness without eating at all. Are you craving something sweet in your life? Time with friends, hugs, fun, creative expression, spiritual connection? Eating will never meet these needs. So feed yourself the nourishing life you truly deserve!

Cheryl Berkowitz is a Certified Holistic Health Counselor and Certified Health Coach offering nutritional and lifestyle counseling to women of all ages. Cheryl provides nutritional healing support with a mindfulness-based approach, helping clients to improve and sustain good eating habits, shift underlying imbalances, reduce stress and overcome health issues to achieve vibrant health. Cheryl supports women with Natural Bone Health, to prevent and reverse osteopenia and osteoporosis, and she leads seasonal cleanse and weight loss programs. She teaches local workshops and national teleclasses, and serves women in the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts and across the nation, in-person, by phone and Skype.

To find out more about Cheryl's approach: http://www.cherylberkowitz.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Cheryl_Berkowitz

The Power of Magnesium and How To Boost Your Levels

By Dominic Londesborough

Magnesium is one of the seven major minerals your body needs in order to function healthily. It has the smallest presence of the major minerals by weight; a typical 60kg (132lb) person has around 30g of magnesium present. It exists in every cell of the body. Over half resides in the bones, and the rest is found mainly in the muscles, heart and liver.

Functions

One of the main functions of magnesium is in the production of energy in the cells. ATP (adenosine triphosphate) is the body's main source of energy production at the cellular level, and it requires magnesium in order for the process to work.

Magnesium is also needed for muscular contractions, or to be precise it works with calcium, which triggers the muscle to contract, and magnesium enables the muscle to relax.

Over 300 enzymes require magnesium in order to function as catalysts, to speed up biochemical processes in the body.

Another key role is the transmission of nerve impulses, vital if the mind and body are to function in unison. Magnesium is able to assist nerve impulse transmission because it is an electrolyte, which means it is a strong conductor of electricity when dissolved in water. The other three electrolytes in the body are the major minerals chloride, potassium, and sodium. But unique to magnesium is that athletes lose it at the same rate as the normal population when sweating through physical exertion. With the other three electrolytes, the body adapts to physical exercise, and is increasingly able to conserve chloride, potassium and sodium during sweating.

And on a structural level, magnesium works with calcium to form strong and healthy bones and teeth, by holding calcium in the enamel of teeth and the cells of bones. When your diet is low on calcium, or you are not absorbing calcium sufficiently, the body is able to release some magnesium from the bones and into the muscles.

Magnesium deficiency

Studies have shown that over 60% of the US population is magnesium deficient. There are three major causes of this trend. One is the increased intake of junk food, ready meals and takeaways, which are mostly devoid of magnesium. Another is the reduced concentration of magnesium in vegetables, whole grains and legumes, due to large scale modern farming methods which deplete the soil of magnesium. And the third cause is modern water filtration methods, which have reduced the magnesium levels of tap water in soft-water areas.

Other causes include alcohol abuse, poorly controlled diabetes, and chronic vomiting/diarrhoea.

A whole range of health problems are linked to magnesium deficiency. These include apathy, muscle weakness, muscle twitches, loss of appetite, irregular heartbeat, high blood pressure, and in children impeded growth.

Sources

Food sources include green leafy vegetables (primarily spinach with its high concentration of chlorophyll molecules), cashew nuts, almonds, pumpkin seeds, whole grains, bran cereal, oats, legumes (ie beans and pulses), and soy milk.

It is almost impossible to overdose on magnesium through food sources, but it is possible for the body to accumulate excess levels through mis-use of medication high in magnesium such as laxitives. The body is able to excrete excess levels in the urine. Acute excess can lead to lack of muscle co-ordination, loss of balance, and mental confusion.

If you are magnesium deficient, one supplement worth discussing with your doctor is magnesium hexahydrate (also known as magnesium oil), which is concentrated magnesium chloride in a water base, contained in a spray bottle, and sprayed directly onto the skin (most effective on the arms, feet, and just behind the knees). This is known as transdermal therapy, and has the benefit of passing directly into the bloodstream, unlike oral supplements which can cause diarrhoea and result in limited absorption.

So the main message is that magnesium is vital for your health, yet another reason to eat plenty of fresh green vegetables, nuts and seeds, and legumes.

Dominic Londesborough is a top Personal Trainer in London

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dominic_Londesborough

Aloe Vera Juice: An All Around Good Product

By Roger Kern

The aloe vera plant is amazing and can be accredited with fighting and getting rid of many things that can go wrong with the human body. Because of its wonderful properties, aloe vera juice has both external and internal benefits. It has been used for centuries to cure different problems naturally. It is natural, inexpensive and it works. The following article is going to talk about some of the wonderful things that the juice of this plant is known to do effectively.

Digestive Benefits

The aloe vera plant has many properties that help the human digestive system to function much better. If your digestive system becomes out of whack, just a few ounces of this miracle juice can help to get things back on track. When the digestive system is out of balance, this makes it difficult for necessary nutrients to be absorbed by the body. Also known as the first aid plant, it's juice assists to detoxify the body naturally. It prompts regular bowel movements and helps the body to absorb nutrients and protein effectively. It puts things back in balance.

Internal Cleansing

The aloe plant also facilitates the body's internal cleansing. This is mostly done via the digestive system, when done properly will lead to maintaining a healthy weight. This is accomplished when aloe vera helps to cleanse the digestive system. Unfortunately, a lot times the foods that the body digests are not expelled properly from the body. This is especially the case for overly processed foods filled with preservatives and additives that were never really meant to be absorbed by the body. Many of these foods will linger around and clog up the intestines. This will usually make the average person feel tired and lifeless. Drinking aloe juice on a regular basis will increase your energy levels and help to expel this energy depleting gunk from your intestines. In addition, it assists in ridding the body of harmful aggressive bacteria that might accumulate in the intestines.

Nutrients and Vitamins

The aloe vera plant has so many different nutrients, vitamins and minerals that they are almost too numerous to name. It has things such as vitamins A, B1, B6, B12, folic acid and niacin. It has minerals such as potassium, chromium, copper and zinc. All of these are very beneficial for the human body to function at its best.

Nature's Healer

The first aid plant's aloe juice has often been touted as being nature's little healer. It has so many medicinal properties that it is also thought to be a generic tonic. However, it is non-toxic, non-alcoholic and magnificent for healing many things in the human body naturally. It has anti-inflammatory properties that can soothe the pain from things such as insect bites, rashes sunburn and even acne. As a matter of fact, it has an astringent that helps to fade the scarring that blemishes can leave behind. If aloe vera juice is rubbed directly onto the surface of the infected area, it will help to quickly to get rid of pain. In the case of acne scars, it will begin the fading process.

In conclusion, aloe vera juice is by far one of the best gifts that nature has provided. It originates from the cactus family, but is very special when it comes to fighting disease and healing the body. It is found in numerous medicinal and beauty products that are created to help the body to look good and feel great. It is indeed a resource for healthy living.

HerbalWiseSupplements is an Independant Herbalife Distributor that is dedicated to bringing the best nutrition to the world one person at a time. FOR BETTER DIGESTION WITH ALOE VERA JUICE click here. FOR HEALTHY DIGESTION click here.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Roger_Kern

Synthetic Vitamins - So Called Natural Vitamin E Is Quite Unnatural

By Boro Petric

It's an odd paradox that so many people in this world readily accept synthetic, engineered versions of foods in the quest to stay healthy. Much of what is on the shelves of most grocery stores is so processed, refined and chemically altered that it can hardly be called food at all.

And when you go to purchase vitamins to fill in the gaps of your diet, you're in for a whole new world of engineered products that are anything but "good" for you. In fact, most of the vitamin products you find on shelves are synthetic vitamins, which will end up doing more damage to your health than good. It's important to know more about what you eat or ingest. Your health depends on you having the right knowledge and taking action on what you know.

Synthetic Vitamin E Products - Not As Natural As You Think

You'll find lots of Vitamin E tablets and gel caps that are readily available for purchase at affordable prices. However, even though the Vitamin E that is contained in these products is natural, the way these products deliver the vitamin to you are anything but. Yes, most Vitamin E products use the vitamin in its natural form, and they are proud to display this fact on their packaging, but it's what they don't tell you that can cause serious health risks and complications.

Isolated

The first factor that makes Vitamin E synthetic blends bad is the fact that the vitamin is isolated from other co-factors (approx. 300 of them) that make it effective for health benefits in the first place. When these synthetic vitamins are produced, they extract and isolate d-alpha tocopherol, the natural form of Vitamin E, from other vitamins, minerals and nutrients that co-exist with the vitamin in healthy plant food sources. By taking the vitamin and isolating it from these co-factors, they are essentially stripping away the health benefits of taking Vitamin E, altogether.

Extremely High Doses

The average dosage in a Vitamin E capsule you buy at the store can be up to 10 times what you would get from eating a food that is high in Vitamin E. While it's easy to assume that if a little is good, then more is better, this adage does not apply to Vitamin E. When you factor in the Vitamin E that you might get from foods, along with the mega-dose found in most supplements, you are getting way too much for your body to deal with. Top all of that off with the fact that the main source of these high Vitamin E doses are isolated, ineffective supplement forms, and you have a recipe for disaster.

The more you learn about the way Vitamins really work and how the synthetic versions are created, the easier it is to understand why you should avoid these products. It is simply reprehensible that so many physicians and healthcare professionals tell their patients to start taking vitamins, when the synthetic vitamins that people take are not effective and can actually cause harm to consumers.

Of course, the multi-billion dollar healthcare juggernaut knows the truth about these types of vitamin products, but they also need to keep their cash cow viable. Advising patients to take these dangerous synthetic vitamins is just another rouse used to keep people unhealthy and in need of medical services and products. Do yourself a favor and avoid these types of vitamins, for your own health's sake.

Download your free ebook 15 Secrets to Super Health that could put you on the fast-track to Super Health.

More Articles You (Don't Want to) Miss --> supplements review

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Boro_Petric

Toxins in Food - The Greatest Mix of Ignorance, Denial and Deception

By Boro Petric

If you want an interesting exercise to do some time, try going to your local supermarket and checking the ingredients labels on the foods you eat the most often. Go ahead. Check out the things that make up your favorite foods.

Take a gander at the ingredients in those snacks that your children eat. Chances are, you'll read a lot of chemical names that you aren't familiar with, along with a few things that you've probably heard of. In addition to seeing and learning some very long chemical names, you'll probably not see even one warning about the toxins in foods that people eat day in and day out. Many of these toxins are the very names you read on the back of the food packaging.

How about that for an eye opener?

What They're Not Telling Us

Something else you may want to take note of as your perusing these foods is the number of them that say "All Natural", "Healthy" or some other jargon that leads you to believe that these foods are actually good for you and your family. They are telling you one thing, yet feeding you quite another.

The vast majority of processed foods are so filled with toxins, and the producers of these foods aren't even forced to tell you that they are poisoning you to death. They have to disclose calories, fats, carbohydrates and protein levels, but the powers that be never make the food giants disclose one word about the toxins they feed us.

Looks like the government, and their administrative bodies are not looking out for us after all.

What Toxins?

Okay, you might think that it is a brash assumption to say that the ingredients in foods are toxic. After all, there's lots of healthy, nutrients being added to foods too, right? Not so much. In fact, the vitamin fortifying and mineral adding that goes on is really just more toxin loading in the disguise of being a nutritional boost.

The vitamins and minerals the food companies add to their concoctions are usually chemically engineered and developed in laboratories. They may say that they are vitamins, but, more often than not, they are isolated, engineered mega-doses of synthetic vitamins that are being administered in such a way as to be toxic rather than being healthy.

The Simple Poisons

Don't think that an additive or ingredient has to have a long, difficult to pronounce name to be toxic.

Corn Fructose Syrup, which is a common ingredient in hundreds of foods, is no innocuous ingredient or sweetener. Rather, its liquid death that causes sever toxic build up in our bodies faster than nearly any other common ingredient found in foods today.

It doesn't have to sound like a dangerous chemical to be one, corn fructose syrup and other common, every day ingredients are deadly co-conspirators to our health just as much as any other ingredient.

What to Do?

To break free from the toxins in foods that are causing so many diseases and physical ailments, you have to avoid the processed, everyday food that is the staple of the Modern diet.

Begin to eat the way nature intended, in other words unprocessed and non-refined foods (organic meat, living plant foods & water) and eschew the processed junk and you will begin to feel better as your body is finally getting the food it so desperately needs. You will likely feel better after only a few days, as your body begins to thrive on foods free from the toxins that you have probably been ingesting for years and years.

You have the power to make this change, you just need to decide to do it - for your health's sake.

Download your free ebook 15 Secrets to Super Health that could put you on the fast-track to Super Health.

More Articles You (Don't Want to) Miss --> toxins body

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Boro_Petric