5 Steps to Becoming a Vegetarian
Annie Cox asked:
So you’ve made up your mind to stop eating meat and become a vegetarian. Good for you! Vegetarianism is a much healthier form of eating but in the beginning it may be difficult to find enough variety to stop you getting bored. I’ve listed a few ideas that may help as you take your first steps to becoming a vegetarian.
1. Do your research
Buy vegetarian cookery books and magazines. Surf the net for vegetarian websites and join forums where you can get advice and swap recipes.
2. Build a portfolio of your favourite recipes
Try out recipes and if you like them paste them into a folder or scrapbook. Soon you will have a list of about 15 to 20 of your favourite recipes which you can cook on a rotation basis. Find ones you can freeze too for a quick fix when you’re in a hurry.
3. Eat out!
That’s right, I said eat out. Find where your local vegetarian restaurant is and go, simple as that. You don’t have to go on your own either many mainstream restaurants have great vegetarian selections these days. Just ask when you book. If you find something you really like ask if the chef will let you have the recipe. They’re not all Gordon Ramsey so you won’t get shouted at.
4. Take it easy!
Don’t go cold turkey (if you pardon the pun). Ease yourself in to the vegetarian lifestyle. A good way to start is by replacing some of your favourites like burgers and sausages with the vegetarian substitute kind. All supermarkets stock these nowadays. In the UK Quorn and the Linda McCartney ranges are very popular and very tasty.
5. One day at a time
This is a big lifestyle change for you so take it slowly. After you have integrated your substitute items into your diet why not and you’re feeling OK with this, why not have one day a week that is totally vegetarian with no substitutes at all. Slowly build this up to every other day until you’re finally totally vegetarian.
http://www.singlesseeksingles.com/
So you’ve made up your mind to stop eating meat and become a vegetarian. Good for you! Vegetarianism is a much healthier form of eating but in the beginning it may be difficult to find enough variety to stop you getting bored. I’ve listed a few ideas that may help as you take your first steps to becoming a vegetarian.
1. Do your research
Buy vegetarian cookery books and magazines. Surf the net for vegetarian websites and join forums where you can get advice and swap recipes.
2. Build a portfolio of your favourite recipes
Try out recipes and if you like them paste them into a folder or scrapbook. Soon you will have a list of about 15 to 20 of your favourite recipes which you can cook on a rotation basis. Find ones you can freeze too for a quick fix when you’re in a hurry.
3. Eat out!
That’s right, I said eat out. Find where your local vegetarian restaurant is and go, simple as that. You don’t have to go on your own either many mainstream restaurants have great vegetarian selections these days. Just ask when you book. If you find something you really like ask if the chef will let you have the recipe. They’re not all Gordon Ramsey so you won’t get shouted at.
4. Take it easy!
Don’t go cold turkey (if you pardon the pun). Ease yourself in to the vegetarian lifestyle. A good way to start is by replacing some of your favourites like burgers and sausages with the vegetarian substitute kind. All supermarkets stock these nowadays. In the UK Quorn and the Linda McCartney ranges are very popular and very tasty.
5. One day at a time
This is a big lifestyle change for you so take it slowly. After you have integrated your substitute items into your diet why not and you’re feeling OK with this, why not have one day a week that is totally vegetarian with no substitutes at all. Slowly build this up to every other day until you’re finally totally vegetarian.
http://www.singlesseeksingles.com/
Related Reading:
A Fun Fact...
Powered By WPFacts
Categories: Health And Fitness Tags: Vegetarian Selections
The Trans Fat Time Bomb
Maggie Stanfield asked:
What do you know about industrially produced trans fatty acids? Unless you are actually a nutritionist or a doctor, the answer is most likely to be: nothing at all. And why should you? One survey a few years ago found that of the sample asked, 15 per cent thought trans fats were good for your love life.
Trans fats are a closely guarded secret. The food production and catering industries want to keep it that way. A handful of outlets have voluntarily started to cut back on their usage under consumer pressure, but there is no law against them.
Trans fats are a lethal side effect of boiling vegetable oil. Why boil vegetable oil? That all goes back to a pharmacist called Wilhelm Norman in 1903. Mr Norman was trying to find a way of making a substitute for tallow, which was very expensive at the time. Mr Norman discovered that if he boiled cotton seed oil up to 260 degrees Centigrade in the presence of a catalyst such as nickel, that when it cooled, it went hard. He had produced cheap candle wax by ‘hydrogenating vegetable oil’. The thick, greyish-white slabs produced were great candles but Mr Norman didn’t anticipate human beings eating them.
Food giant, Proctor & Gamble, saw the potential and bought the patent from Mr Norman. They were soon producing Crisco in America, a hard vegetable fat that was great for baking and had a long shelf life. Along came a whole series of Crisco cookery books for Japanese, Jewish or Philippine households. Titles included: A Cookery course in 13 Chapters; 24 Pies Men Like; and Crisco Recipes for the Jewish Housewife. That Crisco contained no animal fat made it ideal for vegetarian, Kosher and Halal households.
But there was a problem: this industrial processing of vegetable oil into hydrogenated fat (HVO or PHVO) turned out to be killing people. It wasn’t really until a big clinical trial, The Nurses’ Health Study, which ran for about 10 years in the 1970s and 1980s that the damage really surfaced.
By carefully detailing just what kinds of fat were being consumed, the researchers identified this hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated vegetable oil as the queen of fast food fats that was more of a killer than saturated fats. In fact they discovered that you would need to increase your intake of saturates by about 900 per cent to get the same impact as you would from the same amount of trans fat. Just small amounts of trans fat – say two grams a day – increases your risk of heart disease by 23 per cent.
There’s no use looking for cartons of trans fat to be avoided on the supermarket shop. What you need to find is hydrogenated-anything, but that will be on the ingredients panel, very possibly in a text size so small that unless you’ve brought your magnifying glass, you’ll be in trouble. On top of that, because in-store bakery food doesn’t need to declare its ingredients, you may still be innocently purchasing dangerous commercially baked produce.
So surely the European Foods Standards Agency would ban it immediately? No. It was far too useful in the catering trade. It gives great ‘mouth feel’- the sort of thing you get with a nice sticky, moist doughnut or a Danish pastry. It lengthens shelf life too. One man lobbying against trans fats in America appears on television with a cup cake made more than 20 years ago. It still looks perfect and has retained the soft springiness associated with such confections.
Like so many of the dangerous substances we consume, trans fats appear in everything from stock cubes to sweets, children’s cereals to vitamin tablets, Danish pastries to doughnuts, deep fried foods in restaurants, lunchtime snacks like sausage rolls and other produce from takeaways everywhere. They were in lots of the Easter eggs we gorged on a few weeks ago such as the Quality Street ones and they are even in some of the so-called ‘energy’ or ‘health’ bars on the supermarket shelves.
It is ironic that so many Danish pastries contain trans fat because Denmark was the first country to ban them in 2000. Nowhere there can hydrogenated vegetable oil be used and that includes within the catering and restaurant industries as well as the food producers. On 1 April this year, Switzerland followed Denmark and introduced similar legislation. Here in the UK and most of the rest of Europe, we continue to gorge our way through mountains of dangerous products.
When I came to write Trans Fat: The Time Bomb in Your Food (Souvenir Press ?8.99), it was this deception that really annoyed me. How dare the Food Standards Agency, our elected politicians, the consumer outlets and the catering and restaurant industries not tell us that we are eating candle wax.
All of them have known full well about how trans fats are associated not only with a five-fold increase in heart disease but also with Type 2 diabetes, some cancers, infertility, inflammatory diseases, obesity and insulin resistance.
Eight of the big supermarkets said in January 2007 that they would remove all trans fats from their ‘own brand’ ranges within the year. Some managed it. Others didn’t. There’s nothing the law can do because this was a voluntary agreement. Besides, how much of what you buy in the supermarket is ‘own brand’ produce? If you shop at Sainsbury or Tesco say, then it’s probably no more than 10 per cent.
Professor Steen Stender is the cardiologist in Denmark who became the force behind the decision to ban trans fats there. He says: “Between the introduction of the ban in 2000 and 2005, we saw heart disease rates in this country decline by 20 per cent. What more proof does the EU need before it dispenses with ineffective food labelling ideas and voluntary codes and introduces a level playing field for the food industry throughout the EU where no trans fats are used anywhere?”
cookery books
What do you know about industrially produced trans fatty acids? Unless you are actually a nutritionist or a doctor, the answer is most likely to be: nothing at all. And why should you? One survey a few years ago found that of the sample asked, 15 per cent thought trans fats were good for your love life.
Trans fats are a closely guarded secret. The food production and catering industries want to keep it that way. A handful of outlets have voluntarily started to cut back on their usage under consumer pressure, but there is no law against them.
Trans fats are a lethal side effect of boiling vegetable oil. Why boil vegetable oil? That all goes back to a pharmacist called Wilhelm Norman in 1903. Mr Norman was trying to find a way of making a substitute for tallow, which was very expensive at the time. Mr Norman discovered that if he boiled cotton seed oil up to 260 degrees Centigrade in the presence of a catalyst such as nickel, that when it cooled, it went hard. He had produced cheap candle wax by ‘hydrogenating vegetable oil’. The thick, greyish-white slabs produced were great candles but Mr Norman didn’t anticipate human beings eating them.
Food giant, Proctor & Gamble, saw the potential and bought the patent from Mr Norman. They were soon producing Crisco in America, a hard vegetable fat that was great for baking and had a long shelf life. Along came a whole series of Crisco cookery books for Japanese, Jewish or Philippine households. Titles included: A Cookery course in 13 Chapters; 24 Pies Men Like; and Crisco Recipes for the Jewish Housewife. That Crisco contained no animal fat made it ideal for vegetarian, Kosher and Halal households.
But there was a problem: this industrial processing of vegetable oil into hydrogenated fat (HVO or PHVO) turned out to be killing people. It wasn’t really until a big clinical trial, The Nurses’ Health Study, which ran for about 10 years in the 1970s and 1980s that the damage really surfaced.
By carefully detailing just what kinds of fat were being consumed, the researchers identified this hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated vegetable oil as the queen of fast food fats that was more of a killer than saturated fats. In fact they discovered that you would need to increase your intake of saturates by about 900 per cent to get the same impact as you would from the same amount of trans fat. Just small amounts of trans fat – say two grams a day – increases your risk of heart disease by 23 per cent.
There’s no use looking for cartons of trans fat to be avoided on the supermarket shop. What you need to find is hydrogenated-anything, but that will be on the ingredients panel, very possibly in a text size so small that unless you’ve brought your magnifying glass, you’ll be in trouble. On top of that, because in-store bakery food doesn’t need to declare its ingredients, you may still be innocently purchasing dangerous commercially baked produce.
So surely the European Foods Standards Agency would ban it immediately? No. It was far too useful in the catering trade. It gives great ‘mouth feel’- the sort of thing you get with a nice sticky, moist doughnut or a Danish pastry. It lengthens shelf life too. One man lobbying against trans fats in America appears on television with a cup cake made more than 20 years ago. It still looks perfect and has retained the soft springiness associated with such confections.
Like so many of the dangerous substances we consume, trans fats appear in everything from stock cubes to sweets, children’s cereals to vitamin tablets, Danish pastries to doughnuts, deep fried foods in restaurants, lunchtime snacks like sausage rolls and other produce from takeaways everywhere. They were in lots of the Easter eggs we gorged on a few weeks ago such as the Quality Street ones and they are even in some of the so-called ‘energy’ or ‘health’ bars on the supermarket shelves.
It is ironic that so many Danish pastries contain trans fat because Denmark was the first country to ban them in 2000. Nowhere there can hydrogenated vegetable oil be used and that includes within the catering and restaurant industries as well as the food producers. On 1 April this year, Switzerland followed Denmark and introduced similar legislation. Here in the UK and most of the rest of Europe, we continue to gorge our way through mountains of dangerous products.
When I came to write Trans Fat: The Time Bomb in Your Food (Souvenir Press ?8.99), it was this deception that really annoyed me. How dare the Food Standards Agency, our elected politicians, the consumer outlets and the catering and restaurant industries not tell us that we are eating candle wax.
All of them have known full well about how trans fats are associated not only with a five-fold increase in heart disease but also with Type 2 diabetes, some cancers, infertility, inflammatory diseases, obesity and insulin resistance.
Eight of the big supermarkets said in January 2007 that they would remove all trans fats from their ‘own brand’ ranges within the year. Some managed it. Others didn’t. There’s nothing the law can do because this was a voluntary agreement. Besides, how much of what you buy in the supermarket is ‘own brand’ produce? If you shop at Sainsbury or Tesco say, then it’s probably no more than 10 per cent.
Professor Steen Stender is the cardiologist in Denmark who became the force behind the decision to ban trans fats there. He says: “Between the introduction of the ban in 2000 and 2005, we saw heart disease rates in this country decline by 20 per cent. What more proof does the EU need before it dispenses with ineffective food labelling ideas and voluntary codes and introduces a level playing field for the food industry throughout the EU where no trans fats are used anywhere?”
cookery books
Related Reading:
A Fun Fact...
Powered By WPFacts
Categories: Health And Fitness Tags: Catering Industries
Neurotransmitter Chemistry – Nervousness and Moods
Dr. Casey Adams asked:
What we consume directly relates to our moods and nervous condition. Why? Because of the biochemistry of our neurotransmitter fluid.
Nerve dendrites do not actually touch. They are not connected in the physical sense. Rather, between them exists a space called the synapse. The synapse contains a special chemistry called the neurotransmitter fluid. The neurotransmitter chemistry provides the medium for the waveform pulses traveling between neurons. Through this chemistry, waves of various frequencies are transmitted, moving information from one neuron to another, and as described above, enabling a broadcasting of the information through various other channels around the body.
This tiny sea of neurotransmitter fluid contains various biochemical components, most of which are ionic in nature. These ions combine with the protein neurotransmitters to create a system that drives an electromagnetic synaptic potential. Each CNS neuron can range in synapse count. Some might have several thousand while others have significantly less. Through these synapses, each neuron may be firing up to 100,000 electromagnetic pulse inputs into this fluid at one time. Depending upon its particular makeup at the time, the fluid will provide a combination of excitatory potential and inhibitory potential. This balance serves to escort or conduct waveform information from one nerve to another, while at the same time dampening or filtering these waveforms to prevent overload and over-stimulation. This process might well be compared to the process of transistors and resisters we see in integrated circuits. Neurotransmitters are tremendous semiconductors. Their delicate ionic balance precisely buffer and conduct waveform biocommunications within neurotransmitter fluids.
Two examples of neurotransmitters are acetylcholine and adrenaline (or epinephrine). These two messenger substances conduct and/or magnify specific wave frequencies, which reflect either programmed (autonomic) intention or conscious intention. Acetylcholine will modulate an instruction to muscle fibers to contract, while adrenaline will modulate instructions that perpetuate the ‘fight or flight’ response: Causing a quickening of heart rate and blood flow, immediate motor muscle response, visual acuity, and so on. Each of these biochemicals conducts particular types of waveforms. They will affect the neurotransmitter fluid, but they also interact with waveforms outside the confines of the fluid. For example, acetylcholine also stimulates skeletal muscle cells directly. This means the intentional response and programming to protect the body in specific ways is being conducted through these messenger molecules-and they are effectively translating that information into physical response.
The chemistry of this neurotransmitter fluid directly relates to our moods, our thinking patterns and our reaction time. The chemistry of the neurotransmitter fluid is most directly effected by our diet. This can be evidenced clearly by observing a drunk person. Alcohol immediately changes the chemical composition of the neurotransmitter fluid, resulting in a change in mood, reaction time, balance, and cognitive awareness.
This is also why we notice that people who eat a well-rounded vegetarian diet tend to be more relaxed, and sharp. A wholesome diet with plenty of fresh plant-based foods–which contain a balance of minerals and vitamins — will create a balanced neurotransmitter fluid, resulting in better cognition, a relaxed mood, and better awareness.
Kansieo.com
What we consume directly relates to our moods and nervous condition. Why? Because of the biochemistry of our neurotransmitter fluid.
Nerve dendrites do not actually touch. They are not connected in the physical sense. Rather, between them exists a space called the synapse. The synapse contains a special chemistry called the neurotransmitter fluid. The neurotransmitter chemistry provides the medium for the waveform pulses traveling between neurons. Through this chemistry, waves of various frequencies are transmitted, moving information from one neuron to another, and as described above, enabling a broadcasting of the information through various other channels around the body.
This tiny sea of neurotransmitter fluid contains various biochemical components, most of which are ionic in nature. These ions combine with the protein neurotransmitters to create a system that drives an electromagnetic synaptic potential. Each CNS neuron can range in synapse count. Some might have several thousand while others have significantly less. Through these synapses, each neuron may be firing up to 100,000 electromagnetic pulse inputs into this fluid at one time. Depending upon its particular makeup at the time, the fluid will provide a combination of excitatory potential and inhibitory potential. This balance serves to escort or conduct waveform information from one nerve to another, while at the same time dampening or filtering these waveforms to prevent overload and over-stimulation. This process might well be compared to the process of transistors and resisters we see in integrated circuits. Neurotransmitters are tremendous semiconductors. Their delicate ionic balance precisely buffer and conduct waveform biocommunications within neurotransmitter fluids.
Two examples of neurotransmitters are acetylcholine and adrenaline (or epinephrine). These two messenger substances conduct and/or magnify specific wave frequencies, which reflect either programmed (autonomic) intention or conscious intention. Acetylcholine will modulate an instruction to muscle fibers to contract, while adrenaline will modulate instructions that perpetuate the ‘fight or flight’ response: Causing a quickening of heart rate and blood flow, immediate motor muscle response, visual acuity, and so on. Each of these biochemicals conducts particular types of waveforms. They will affect the neurotransmitter fluid, but they also interact with waveforms outside the confines of the fluid. For example, acetylcholine also stimulates skeletal muscle cells directly. This means the intentional response and programming to protect the body in specific ways is being conducted through these messenger molecules-and they are effectively translating that information into physical response.
The chemistry of this neurotransmitter fluid directly relates to our moods, our thinking patterns and our reaction time. The chemistry of the neurotransmitter fluid is most directly effected by our diet. This can be evidenced clearly by observing a drunk person. Alcohol immediately changes the chemical composition of the neurotransmitter fluid, resulting in a change in mood, reaction time, balance, and cognitive awareness.
This is also why we notice that people who eat a well-rounded vegetarian diet tend to be more relaxed, and sharp. A wholesome diet with plenty of fresh plant-based foods–which contain a balance of minerals and vitamins — will create a balanced neurotransmitter fluid, resulting in better cognition, a relaxed mood, and better awareness.
Kansieo.com
Related Reading:
A Fun Fact...
Powered By WPFacts
Categories: Health And Fitness Tags: Synapses
Benefits of the Soya Bean
John Gibb asked:
Soya is one of the oldest and most nutritious foods in the world. In the 11th century BC it was primarily consumed in Northern China, spreading to the west and the U.S.A. in the middle of the 18th century and only more recently to Europe. Soya is mainly used in industry and for animal feed despite the fact that it is the third most important crop world-wide today and less than 3% is consumed by humans.
Soya has many nutritional advantages as it contains protein, fibre and isoflavones which have positive effects on cholesterol, bone density, menstrual and menopausal symptoms as well as preventing certain cancers. It is thought to be a wonder food by the Chinese who believe it can cure kidney disease, water retention, common colds, anaemia and leg ulcers.
Research studies by Professor Anderson in 1995 resulted in healthy heart claims as Soya was found to reduce blood cholesterol levels in many of his studies. Soya isoflavones combined with soya protein enhance blood cholesterol reductions as well as having a positive effect on menopausal women by reducing the risk of hot flushes. Improved vascular function, reduction of blood pressure, antioxidant protection of LDL cholesterol and inhibition of platelet activation are other known cardiovascular effects of Soya and its constituent isoflavones.
The recommended daily amount of soya protein by the UK Joint Health Claims Initiative in 2002 is 25g as part of a low-fat diet to help reduce cholesterol level. In orser to achieve this RDA of Soya to promote a healthy heart and reduce cholesterol it is necessary to consume three portions of a Soya based food each day. This can be easily achieved by using Soya milk on cereal each morning, adding soya milk to tea and coffee and choosing a dessert made from soya milk eg. custard or fruit smoothies yoghurt etc.,
There are many Soya cookery books available as well as the many recipes containing soya beans and tofu which already exist in Chinese cooking books. If more people included Soya into their daily diet the risk of developing Heart disease would be reduced which would have a significant impact on the incidence of mortality caused by Coronory Heart Disease today.
Create a video blog
Soya is one of the oldest and most nutritious foods in the world. In the 11th century BC it was primarily consumed in Northern China, spreading to the west and the U.S.A. in the middle of the 18th century and only more recently to Europe. Soya is mainly used in industry and for animal feed despite the fact that it is the third most important crop world-wide today and less than 3% is consumed by humans.
Soya has many nutritional advantages as it contains protein, fibre and isoflavones which have positive effects on cholesterol, bone density, menstrual and menopausal symptoms as well as preventing certain cancers. It is thought to be a wonder food by the Chinese who believe it can cure kidney disease, water retention, common colds, anaemia and leg ulcers.
Research studies by Professor Anderson in 1995 resulted in healthy heart claims as Soya was found to reduce blood cholesterol levels in many of his studies. Soya isoflavones combined with soya protein enhance blood cholesterol reductions as well as having a positive effect on menopausal women by reducing the risk of hot flushes. Improved vascular function, reduction of blood pressure, antioxidant protection of LDL cholesterol and inhibition of platelet activation are other known cardiovascular effects of Soya and its constituent isoflavones.
The recommended daily amount of soya protein by the UK Joint Health Claims Initiative in 2002 is 25g as part of a low-fat diet to help reduce cholesterol level. In orser to achieve this RDA of Soya to promote a healthy heart and reduce cholesterol it is necessary to consume three portions of a Soya based food each day. This can be easily achieved by using Soya milk on cereal each morning, adding soya milk to tea and coffee and choosing a dessert made from soya milk eg. custard or fruit smoothies yoghurt etc.,
There are many Soya cookery books available as well as the many recipes containing soya beans and tofu which already exist in Chinese cooking books. If more people included Soya into their daily diet the risk of developing Heart disease would be reduced which would have a significant impact on the incidence of mortality caused by Coronory Heart Disease today.
Create a video blog
Related Reading:
A Fun Fact...
Powered By WPFacts
Categories: Health And Fitness Tags: Chinese Cooking
Natural Gout Treatment – How Should You Use Food To Raise Your Body pH Levels?
John Mepham asked:
What does pH stand for? Is it personal hygiene? Or proper health? Or possibly hydrated? Well no. It actually stands for the power of hydrogen. But without going deeper into biochemistry, gout sufferers just need to know that raising body pH levels makes the body more alkaline, and lowering them, more acidic.
Raising your body’s pH levels is part of natural gout treatment. The theory is, supported by studies, that higher body pH levels (more alkaline) contribute to a reduction in uric acid levels because uric acid (diluted from drinking lots of water) becomes more soluble if the body is more alkaline. The higher the acid/alkaline ratio i.e. the higher the pH number on the pH scale, the more alkaline your body, and the more uric acid you should dissolve.
If you reduce your uric acid levels to below 6.0 mg/dL (men), slightly less in women, it is more likely that the troublesome MSU crystals will dissolve and a gout cure will be achieved.
ACHIEVING A MORE ALKALINE BODY
There are various ways to achieve a more alkaline body but probably the easiest is to drink alkaline (ionized) water which is water with excess oxygen in the form of OH-, not O2. It’s described as being lively and much tastier than regular water, and you can cook with it. The manufacturers of a well known ionizer brand say food cooked with alkaline water is tastier.
Another route is via eating more alkaline foods and drinking alkaline beverages. There is a silence on food and beverage product nutrition labels. They do not show the pH values of the product, but foods and beverages have a pH value.
THE pH SCALE
The pH scale ranges from 14 (most alkaline) down to 0 (most acidic). pH of 7 is neutral. It is a logarithmic scale. On this scale, as on pH test strips scales, a single whole number change (whether up or down) means a change of 10 times the previous number. So small number changes on this scale in fact mean very significant differences between the alkalinity and acidity of different foods.
As well as pH 0 food labels, neither the excellent USDA National Nutrient database, nor most cookery books and articles list pH values of foods and beverages. And it’s not the word off the lips of celebrity chefs. But you can find the pH of foods and drinks on the Internet. One good list is at [http://home.bluegrass.net/~jclark/alkaline_foods.htm]
USING pH VALUES IN DIET PLANNING
Most natural gout treatment involves a diet. Firstly, to reach your ideal weight if required, as it probably will be for most gout sufferers. Secondly, to assist the uric acid reduction process. The low purine gout diet, and any diet which has a positive effect on insulin resistance, are two useful diets in natural gout treatment. Dieting is hard work but most gout sufferers will not achieve a natural gout cure without diet.
“Miracle” foods for gout, such as cherries, celery and perhaps strawberries, (all have been reported to cure gout in some cases), will not work for everyone, probably only for a small minority. Neither will simple natural gout remedies such as avoiding alcohol, although this did work in one famous case in Japan.
So a gout sufferer aiming for a natural gout cure is on a diet. He/she has to carefully consider everything eaten or drunk and maybe consider the pH of foods too. This is a very tall order. In effect they would be on two diets simultaneously.
So how do you use the pH potential of foods numbers? Firstly learn the extent to which a food or drink is acidic or is alkaline. Any number above pH 7.0 is considered alkaline, and below pH 7.0 acidic. Study for a while the pH tables you have downloaded and get a rough idea of the values of your most eaten foods. For an easy, more exact reference, put up a pH foods chart, or printed downloaded lists, on your kitchen wall as a reminder.
Keep this natural gout treatment simple. Instead of two simultaneous diets, exclude some acidic foods especially if they are ones you consume a lot. But continue with your primary gout diet plan. Only exclude more acidic foods, if your body pH levels are not rising above pH 7.0 after testing with pH test strips for a considerable time and at different times of day. (The body’s pH numbers change frequently. perhaps even minute by minute).
Record the time and value of all your pH measurements and ensure you follow the test strip manufacturer’s usage instructions exactly. Don’t overdo it. Just as a highly acidic body can suffer from acidosis, an over alkaline body can suffer from alkalosis, which causes muscle cramps and spasms among other problems.
Remember too, that there are other ways of raising pH, notably drinking alkaline (ionized) water. Drinking lots of regular water daily also raises pH. So too do alkalizing minerals such as calcium, potassium, magnesium and zinc. Make your pH rise and your uric acid levels should fall. Ensure that your body is not acidic.
NB. The contents of this article contain medical information not medical advice. Please always discuss remedies with your doctor or other health care professional before implementing any treatment.
Caffeinated Content
What does pH stand for? Is it personal hygiene? Or proper health? Or possibly hydrated? Well no. It actually stands for the power of hydrogen. But without going deeper into biochemistry, gout sufferers just need to know that raising body pH levels makes the body more alkaline, and lowering them, more acidic.
Raising your body’s pH levels is part of natural gout treatment. The theory is, supported by studies, that higher body pH levels (more alkaline) contribute to a reduction in uric acid levels because uric acid (diluted from drinking lots of water) becomes more soluble if the body is more alkaline. The higher the acid/alkaline ratio i.e. the higher the pH number on the pH scale, the more alkaline your body, and the more uric acid you should dissolve.
If you reduce your uric acid levels to below 6.0 mg/dL (men), slightly less in women, it is more likely that the troublesome MSU crystals will dissolve and a gout cure will be achieved.
ACHIEVING A MORE ALKALINE BODY
There are various ways to achieve a more alkaline body but probably the easiest is to drink alkaline (ionized) water which is water with excess oxygen in the form of OH-, not O2. It’s described as being lively and much tastier than regular water, and you can cook with it. The manufacturers of a well known ionizer brand say food cooked with alkaline water is tastier.
Another route is via eating more alkaline foods and drinking alkaline beverages. There is a silence on food and beverage product nutrition labels. They do not show the pH values of the product, but foods and beverages have a pH value.
THE pH SCALE
The pH scale ranges from 14 (most alkaline) down to 0 (most acidic). pH of 7 is neutral. It is a logarithmic scale. On this scale, as on pH test strips scales, a single whole number change (whether up or down) means a change of 10 times the previous number. So small number changes on this scale in fact mean very significant differences between the alkalinity and acidity of different foods.
As well as pH 0 food labels, neither the excellent USDA National Nutrient database, nor most cookery books and articles list pH values of foods and beverages. And it’s not the word off the lips of celebrity chefs. But you can find the pH of foods and drinks on the Internet. One good list is at [http://home.bluegrass.net/~jclark/alkaline_foods.htm]
USING pH VALUES IN DIET PLANNING
Most natural gout treatment involves a diet. Firstly, to reach your ideal weight if required, as it probably will be for most gout sufferers. Secondly, to assist the uric acid reduction process. The low purine gout diet, and any diet which has a positive effect on insulin resistance, are two useful diets in natural gout treatment. Dieting is hard work but most gout sufferers will not achieve a natural gout cure without diet.
“Miracle” foods for gout, such as cherries, celery and perhaps strawberries, (all have been reported to cure gout in some cases), will not work for everyone, probably only for a small minority. Neither will simple natural gout remedies such as avoiding alcohol, although this did work in one famous case in Japan.
So a gout sufferer aiming for a natural gout cure is on a diet. He/she has to carefully consider everything eaten or drunk and maybe consider the pH of foods too. This is a very tall order. In effect they would be on two diets simultaneously.
So how do you use the pH potential of foods numbers? Firstly learn the extent to which a food or drink is acidic or is alkaline. Any number above pH 7.0 is considered alkaline, and below pH 7.0 acidic. Study for a while the pH tables you have downloaded and get a rough idea of the values of your most eaten foods. For an easy, more exact reference, put up a pH foods chart, or printed downloaded lists, on your kitchen wall as a reminder.
Keep this natural gout treatment simple. Instead of two simultaneous diets, exclude some acidic foods especially if they are ones you consume a lot. But continue with your primary gout diet plan. Only exclude more acidic foods, if your body pH levels are not rising above pH 7.0 after testing with pH test strips for a considerable time and at different times of day. (The body’s pH numbers change frequently. perhaps even minute by minute).
Record the time and value of all your pH measurements and ensure you follow the test strip manufacturer’s usage instructions exactly. Don’t overdo it. Just as a highly acidic body can suffer from acidosis, an over alkaline body can suffer from alkalosis, which causes muscle cramps and spasms among other problems.
Remember too, that there are other ways of raising pH, notably drinking alkaline (ionized) water. Drinking lots of regular water daily also raises pH. So too do alkalizing minerals such as calcium, potassium, magnesium and zinc. Make your pH rise and your uric acid levels should fall. Ensure that your body is not acidic.
NB. The contents of this article contain medical information not medical advice. Please always discuss remedies with your doctor or other health care professional before implementing any treatment.
Caffeinated Content
Related Reading:
A Fun Fact...
Powered By WPFacts
Categories: Health And Fitness Tags: Personal Hygiene
Do You Have This Essential Weight Loss Skill?
Janice Elizabeth Small asked:
There is one practical skill which you need above all others when you want to lose weight. That skill will give you the ability to enjoy your food while you’re trying to lose weight as much as when you’re not. It’s a skill that unfortunately is getting less common these days as we lead busier and busier lives.
What’s that skill?
The ability to cook!
If you can’t even boil an egg then you are stuck with eating unimaginative ready meals and TV dinners or greasy take-aways and fast food. And you will no doubt eat out in restaurants more than is good for you. With such a combination you are unlikely to get all the vitamins and minerals you need to stay healthy and you will be getting far too much food full of fat, salt and sugar and too many calories to lose weight.
With a rudimentary knowledge of cooking, however, you can whip up the most delicious low-calorie healthy meals, eat as much as you need (as long as you don’t stuff yourself) and enjoy everything you eat without doing any damage to your waistline.
Of course, you need to know what to cook but there are any number of helpful low-calorie and low-fat cookery books out there as well as specialist magazines and websites. You can plan a whole raft of delicious meals each week for you and your family and they won’t even know they are eating healthily to keep you company!
If you really don’t have a clue where to start it’s worth joining a beginners class or buying a basic “Learn to cook” book to get the fundamental skills. After that the whole world of delicious cuisine is your oyster.
You may even find that your attempts to lose weight may result in you gaining a whole new exciting relationship with food rather than fearing it as the enemy.
Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small
Create a video blog…instantly.
There is one practical skill which you need above all others when you want to lose weight. That skill will give you the ability to enjoy your food while you’re trying to lose weight as much as when you’re not. It’s a skill that unfortunately is getting less common these days as we lead busier and busier lives.
What’s that skill?
The ability to cook!
If you can’t even boil an egg then you are stuck with eating unimaginative ready meals and TV dinners or greasy take-aways and fast food. And you will no doubt eat out in restaurants more than is good for you. With such a combination you are unlikely to get all the vitamins and minerals you need to stay healthy and you will be getting far too much food full of fat, salt and sugar and too many calories to lose weight.
With a rudimentary knowledge of cooking, however, you can whip up the most delicious low-calorie healthy meals, eat as much as you need (as long as you don’t stuff yourself) and enjoy everything you eat without doing any damage to your waistline.
Of course, you need to know what to cook but there are any number of helpful low-calorie and low-fat cookery books out there as well as specialist magazines and websites. You can plan a whole raft of delicious meals each week for you and your family and they won’t even know they are eating healthily to keep you company!
If you really don’t have a clue where to start it’s worth joining a beginners class or buying a basic “Learn to cook” book to get the fundamental skills. After that the whole world of delicious cuisine is your oyster.
You may even find that your attempts to lose weight may result in you gaining a whole new exciting relationship with food rather than fearing it as the enemy.
Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small
Create a video blog…instantly.
Related Reading:
A Fun Fact...
Powered By WPFacts
Categories: Health And Fitness Tags: No Doubt
The Four Pillars For Healthy and Enjoyable Eating
Graham Farmer asked:
Eating is something we all do, and like sex, is a basic human drive. Unfortunately the act of eating brings a bewildering set of choices and too many opportunities to get things wrong!
Eating is at the core of western lifestyles, cookery books, diet books, supermarkets and governments all tell us how we should be eating. Yet somehow, eating is a case of, more is bad. More books, more choice and more food are all pressures going in the wrong direction. I know I have too many cookbooks. Every time I buy a new book, I think “this is the one that will make the difference”. The reality is, I use the same books time and time again, and many books never get used at all.
I believe good eating involves some very simple ideas.
Balance: Our diet must be balanced and must have variety. We all know we should eat more fruit and vegetables, less sweet and sugary things, but do we do it? Also a diet that consists of a few similar foods is never going to give us the variety of essential nutrients that our bodies need.
Moderation: For many people moderation equals ‘diet’ where the diet is meant to help reduce weight. Many words have been written about the merits of different diets, but all lead to the same result, less intake. A ‘diet’ must suit the dieter, be balanced and be enjoyable. Unfortunately so many aren’t and this leads to failure. Probably the key message is to eat less! Eat what you enjoy but eat less. Reduce what you eat, don’t eliminate what you eat. Don’t be afraid to leave some food on the plate, whoever said our stomachs were all the same size? Everybody seems intent on doling out large portions; we do not have to respond by eating more than we wish. We are solely responsible for what we actually eat, no one else.
Quality: Everybody appreciates well-prepared quality food. Accept nothing less. Too often food is a mass-produced commercial product created for ease of manufacture and profit. Don’t enhance their profits at the expense of your health and well-being! Quality food is also more satisfying, which leads you to eat less for the same feeling of fullness. I have a friend who makes small but delicious apple muffins, I can only ever eat one at a time, whereas I can easily eat two or three ‘bought’ ones. Therefore I eat less, I eat quality food and I feel more satisfied.
Enjoyment: Eating is about enjoyment and it is certainly not about rushing. Sit down together to eat, enjoy your company, take your time, chew your food thoroughly, and appreciate the efforts of the cook. Don’t eat watching television, don’t eat on the move, and don’t eat whilst reading. Eating like this is eating automatically, it doesn’t help the task and the food is not appreciated either. Slow down and enjoy your food.
Eating puts us in touch with our senses, our culture, and the world around us. Enjoy preparing food, enjoy eating food and then enjoy the enhanced feeling of well-being that will follow.
Create a video blog
Eating is something we all do, and like sex, is a basic human drive. Unfortunately the act of eating brings a bewildering set of choices and too many opportunities to get things wrong!
Eating is at the core of western lifestyles, cookery books, diet books, supermarkets and governments all tell us how we should be eating. Yet somehow, eating is a case of, more is bad. More books, more choice and more food are all pressures going in the wrong direction. I know I have too many cookbooks. Every time I buy a new book, I think “this is the one that will make the difference”. The reality is, I use the same books time and time again, and many books never get used at all.
I believe good eating involves some very simple ideas.
Balance: Our diet must be balanced and must have variety. We all know we should eat more fruit and vegetables, less sweet and sugary things, but do we do it? Also a diet that consists of a few similar foods is never going to give us the variety of essential nutrients that our bodies need.
Moderation: For many people moderation equals ‘diet’ where the diet is meant to help reduce weight. Many words have been written about the merits of different diets, but all lead to the same result, less intake. A ‘diet’ must suit the dieter, be balanced and be enjoyable. Unfortunately so many aren’t and this leads to failure. Probably the key message is to eat less! Eat what you enjoy but eat less. Reduce what you eat, don’t eliminate what you eat. Don’t be afraid to leave some food on the plate, whoever said our stomachs were all the same size? Everybody seems intent on doling out large portions; we do not have to respond by eating more than we wish. We are solely responsible for what we actually eat, no one else.
Quality: Everybody appreciates well-prepared quality food. Accept nothing less. Too often food is a mass-produced commercial product created for ease of manufacture and profit. Don’t enhance their profits at the expense of your health and well-being! Quality food is also more satisfying, which leads you to eat less for the same feeling of fullness. I have a friend who makes small but delicious apple muffins, I can only ever eat one at a time, whereas I can easily eat two or three ‘bought’ ones. Therefore I eat less, I eat quality food and I feel more satisfied.
Enjoyment: Eating is about enjoyment and it is certainly not about rushing. Sit down together to eat, enjoy your company, take your time, chew your food thoroughly, and appreciate the efforts of the cook. Don’t eat watching television, don’t eat on the move, and don’t eat whilst reading. Eating like this is eating automatically, it doesn’t help the task and the food is not appreciated either. Slow down and enjoy your food.
Eating puts us in touch with our senses, our culture, and the world around us. Enjoy preparing food, enjoy eating food and then enjoy the enhanced feeling of well-being that will follow.
Create a video blog
Related Reading:
A Fun Fact...
Powered By WPFacts
Categories: Health And Fitness Tags: Fruit Vegetables
Electrolysis Redox Made Simple
Judy Wellsworth asked:
The term electrolysis redox refers to the chemical reactions that occur when electrons are exchanged. Electrolysis redox involves matching an electron accepted via reduction with one that is donated via oxidation. There are many different types of electrolysis redox reactions. One such reaction is a synthesis reaction involving an exchange of electrons that results in the creation of an ionic bond.
Different Examples of Electrolysis Redox
One illustration of electrolysis redox occurs when the incorporation of a single element into a compound results in another single element being released from the compound as a free element.
This also holds true for double replacement of elements within a compound, as opposed to the described single element reaction. Additionally, when a compound is divided into elements as a result of decomposition, the reaction is an example of electrolysis redox. The electrolysis of water is also an example of electrolysis redox.
Characteristics of Electrolysis Redox
The defining characteristic of electrolysis redox is that there must be at least one atom released of at least one type of atom to another type of atom that accepts electrons. An electrolysis redox reaction always results in a change of the oxidation number on either the reactant or product side of the equation. This is the primary means for determining if a reaction is an example of an electrolysis redox reaction.
Non-spontaneous Electrolysis Redox Reactions
When an electrolysis redox is not spontaneous, an external source has to exert a potential greater than that of the cell potential. To bring about a non-spontaneous electrolysis redox reaction, a supply of necessary potential is used to facilitate and electrolysis redox reaction.
Ion-Electron Electrolysis Redox
When electrolysis redox reactions need to be balanced, one can use the ion-electron method This process involves reversing the direction of an electrolysis redox reaction by with an electric current. In this case, when the electric current is passed through a reaction mixture, electrolysis redox occurs.
Learning More About Electrolysis Redox
To develop a full understanding of electrolysis redox, it is necessary to undertake advanced chemistry study. Studying animations is very useful for developing a deeper understanding of what electrolysis redox reactions are and the process of how they occur.
You can seek additional information about electrolysis redox via a chemistry book, online course, or college-level chemistry class. Reading about Hess’s Law is one of the first recommendations for becoming more knowledgeable about the subject of electrolysis redox.
Caffeinated Content
The term electrolysis redox refers to the chemical reactions that occur when electrons are exchanged. Electrolysis redox involves matching an electron accepted via reduction with one that is donated via oxidation. There are many different types of electrolysis redox reactions. One such reaction is a synthesis reaction involving an exchange of electrons that results in the creation of an ionic bond.
Different Examples of Electrolysis Redox
One illustration of electrolysis redox occurs when the incorporation of a single element into a compound results in another single element being released from the compound as a free element.
This also holds true for double replacement of elements within a compound, as opposed to the described single element reaction. Additionally, when a compound is divided into elements as a result of decomposition, the reaction is an example of electrolysis redox. The electrolysis of water is also an example of electrolysis redox.
Characteristics of Electrolysis Redox
The defining characteristic of electrolysis redox is that there must be at least one atom released of at least one type of atom to another type of atom that accepts electrons. An electrolysis redox reaction always results in a change of the oxidation number on either the reactant or product side of the equation. This is the primary means for determining if a reaction is an example of an electrolysis redox reaction.
Non-spontaneous Electrolysis Redox Reactions
When an electrolysis redox is not spontaneous, an external source has to exert a potential greater than that of the cell potential. To bring about a non-spontaneous electrolysis redox reaction, a supply of necessary potential is used to facilitate and electrolysis redox reaction.
Ion-Electron Electrolysis Redox
When electrolysis redox reactions need to be balanced, one can use the ion-electron method This process involves reversing the direction of an electrolysis redox reaction by with an electric current. In this case, when the electric current is passed through a reaction mixture, electrolysis redox occurs.
Learning More About Electrolysis Redox
To develop a full understanding of electrolysis redox, it is necessary to undertake advanced chemistry study. Studying animations is very useful for developing a deeper understanding of what electrolysis redox reactions are and the process of how they occur.
You can seek additional information about electrolysis redox via a chemistry book, online course, or college-level chemistry class. Reading about Hess’s Law is one of the first recommendations for becoming more knowledgeable about the subject of electrolysis redox.
Caffeinated Content
Related Reading:
A Fun Fact...
Powered By WPFacts
Categories: Health And Fitness Tags: Electron