Vitamin Supplements

Who benefits from supplements?

The answer is simple: Everyone. Many of my colleagues will probably want to burn me at the stake for this but there is enough evidence to prove that most people today do not eat a balanced enough diet to get all the vitamins they need. In addition, the fast pace, stress and pollution of modern society result in a greater need for vitamins and other nutrients. Read the rest of this entry »

Onion

The humble onion has a variety of health-protective and cleansing benefits. The pungent flavor of onions helps to improve circulation and reduce excess mucus in the respiratory tract and throughout the body. They are rich in sulfur, which promotes detoxification from heavy metals and parasites. Natural compounds in onions help to regulate blood pressure and eliminate damaging LDL cholesterol while increasing levels of beneficial HDL cholesterol. For the most powerful benefits, eat onions both raw and cooked. Red and yellow onions contain quercetin, a potent antioxidant that neutralizes carcinogens and has antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties. Read the rest of this entry »

Carrots

Carrots are one of the best sources of beta-carotene, with approximately 5,000 units of this health-protective nutrient in one carrot and 25,000 units of beta-carotene—an entire day’s health protective allowance—in one cup of fresh carrot juice. Beta- carotene promotes healthy liver function, and has powerful antioxidant properties, which protects cells from the damaging changes that are the primary cause of degenerative diseases. Carrots are also rich in pectin, which helps to alleviate constipation, cleanse the colon, and lower blood cholesterol levels. Read the rest of this entry »

Science is finally beginning to acknowledge that food truly is our best medicine. Fresh fruits and vegetables contain an abundance of vitamins and minerals, as well as a variety of beneficial natural substances that protect the cells from changes that lead to cancer, heart disease, and other degenerative diseases. Fruits and vegetables are also nature’s most potent cleansing foods. The high soluble fiber content of fresh produce helps to cleanse the intestinal tract and also helps to reduce levels of harmful LDL cholesterol in the bloodstream. Because of their rich mineral content, fruits and vegetables help to restore the blood to a healthy alkaline balance. Many fruits and vegetables have gentle diuretic or laxative properties, as well. Following are some examples of fruits and vegetables with powerful cleansing and healing properties. Read the rest of this entry »

Magnesium Health Merits

Hypertension Cure

Magnesium may help reduce high blood pressure. Some evidence suggests that too little magnesium in the body causes muscles in the blood vessel walls—the so-called vascular smooth muscles— to constrict. As the channels in these vessels become narrower, blood pressure tends to increase.

In ongoing studies, researchers are examining magnesium as a potential treatment for other health disorders, from osteoporosis to asthma to diabetes. To date, this research has been too limited to produce any conclusions. Read the rest of this entry »

If you eat lots of green leafy vegetables, whole grains, and legumes, you are consuming plenty of magnesium in your diet.

That’s good news, since a growing body of research suggests that an adequate amount of magnesium in your diet could promote a healthy heart, lower blood pressure, and more. Studies have shown, for example, that greater magnesium content in drinking water corresponds to a lower risk of heart disease, probably because magnesium decreases blood pressure.

Although every human cell needs magnesium, the body contains only an average of about 25 g of it. More than half of that is in the bones; the rest is in places like the teeth, the muscles, the soft tissues, and the blood. Read the rest of this entry »

If we go back to the distinction between living and nonliving material we can list many of the functions of the human body that make us different from inanimate objects. We can breathe, eat, drink, reproduce, maintain a constant body temperature and move around from place to place. All these things are accomplished by expending energy and this, in turn, comes from the way we make use of our food. The change from the food on our table to the raw materials and energy needed by the body to sustain life occurs in a sequence of chemical reactions which are called metabolic processes. First, we need to break down our food during digestion to smaller and smaller units so that they can be absorbed across the lining of the intestines and into the bloodstream. These units can then be used to build bone and tissues and replace used or damaged cells, or they can be broken down further and used as fuel to produce heat and energy. Read the rest of this entry »

The next group of foodstuffs is the cereals. In this country we associate the word cereal with breakfast foods, but it covers all foods made from grain. This includes wheat, barley, maize, millet, rice, sorghum and many more. Cereal is often described as a staple food, meaning that it is the main food of a particular country. Wheat is our staple whereas rice is the staple of many Asian countries. All grains are rich in B vitamins and products made from grains provide many of the B complex group. Grains are the seeds of a plant from the grass family, Gramineae. The seed contains starch as a food for the new plant, and also a rich supply of vitamins, minerals and oil. These are found in the outer husk of the seed and in the ‘germ’ or embryo. Read the rest of this entry »

Time Release and Sustained Release

A major step forward in vitamin manufacturing has been the introduction of time release supplements. Time release also known as sustained release is a process by which vitamins are enrobed in micropellets [tiny time pills] and then combined into a special base for their release in a pattern that assures eight- to twelve-hour absorption. Most vitamins are water soluble and cannot be stored in the body. Without time release, they are quickly absorbed into the bloodstream, and, no matter how large the dose, are excreted in the urine within two or three hours.

Time-release supplements can offer optimum effectiveness, minimal excretary loss, and stable blood levels all during the day and through the night. Read the rest of this entry »

Vitamin B2 [Riboflavin]

FACTS:

Water soluble. Easily absorbed. The amount excreted depends on bodily needs and may be accompanied by protein loss.

Like the other B vitamins it is not stored and must be replaced regularly through whole foods or supplements.

Also known as vitamin G.

Measured in milligrams [mg.] Read the rest of this entry »