HEALTHYOLOGY TODAY

Are all diets a dollar pit?

Swimsuit-season is coming soon.

Ever dream that you could loose those extra pounds before it get’s here?

As the dream plays on you can clearly see yourself having fun at the beach or at that outdoor barbecue.  You feel so good about yourself because you know that achieving your goal weight guarantees you’ll be getting the  complements you worked so hard for.

You not only look good but you feel good too.

Then the alarm clock come’s on and the dream is over. As you struggle to do up that top button on your pants you decide “this is the day I start doing something about it.

Congratulations. You’ve just become a candidate for a weight loss program. You’ll now no doubt be joining the many millions in Canada and the US who spend billions of dollars every year attending to this very personal problem.

But will whatever you have to spend be the best value for the money?

According to a new report broadcast by CBC’s Marketplace Friday February 26th there’s at least one place you should avoid.

Check out the segment here and form your own opinions.

??

Could you use an extra $100,000 in the next 15 months if so CLICK THE VIDEO BELOW to find out how you can.

CLICK HERE TO BOOST YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM

The Amazing Cucumber
This information was in The New York Times several weeks ago as part of their “Spotlight on the Home” series that highlighted creative and fanciful ways to solve common problems.

Photo credit: xenia from morguefile.com (more…)

TAMIFLU/NUTRIFERON COMPARISON CHART

The chart on this page shows

Tamiflu and Shaklee’s Nutrireron

compared as to usage restrictions up to and including efficacy.  Of special interest is the "Active Ingredients category".  Note the use of synthetic compounds versus natural ingredients in

Shaklee’s Nurtiferon.

Healthy Snacks

Healthy summer snacks are a must for keeping kids happy and active during time off from school. Snacks provide energy, prevent overeating, and keep blood sugar stable throughout the course of the day. Check out these ideas for healthy summer snacks for kids:

1. White or red grapes (Try freezing them for a new spin!)

2. Frozen blueberries on top of low fat yogurt

3. Fruit “kabobs” (Just line up diced fruit on wooden     skewers.)

4. Baby carrots and a small side of hummus

5. Sliced raw vegetable assortment with a small side of guacamole

6. Diced melon on top of cottage cheese

7. Banana pop (It’s just a frozen banana!)

8. Banana sliced, topped with natural peanut butter, on top a whole-grain English muffin

9. Unsalted almonds or walnuts over a fruit cup

10. Baked tortilla chips with bean dip

11. Celery sticks with whipped cream cheese as dip

12. Homemade “yogurt-sicle” (Just insert a popsicle stick and freeze!)

Bonus Tips: With all these tasty snacks, and summertime activities kids will certainly be thirsty, but resist the urge to serve an ice-cold soda and instead:

* Make an effort to keep water as the main beverage for your kids all summer long.
* When serving fruit juice, choose varieties that are 100% juice (Some kid-friendly boxes and pouches contain about 10% juice, so it pays to compare!).
* Fat-free milk is a nutritious, lower-calorie alternative to whole milk and some kids actually find it more refreshing than the regular kind.

You can also give your kids vitamins to keep them healthy from all the pathagens that are going around these days.

I have to admit I have a sweet tooth.

Always have.

My parents had lots of dental bills to prove it too.

But according to new research I got off easy by consuming goodies that contained sweeteners that at least naturally originate in nature.

Not so for a certain artificial sweetener called sucralose (brand name Splenda®).

(more…)

When you head to the grocery store, shopping for products like eggs, meat, fish, milk, and produce can be very tricky. Signs are posted everywhere labeling food as natural, organic, and a number of other things-but what’s the difference, really? Learning what specific names mean can help you decide if you should shell out extra money on a product of it is simply a marketing ploy.

Natural is a turn associated with a number of fruit and vegetable product. Typically, this is simple a marketing ploy to convince you to buy the product. After all, all fruits and vegetables are natural, right? Unless it’s a new kind of food that has been developed and processed, the product is natural. What you really probably want is organic. Organic foods are grown without chemical pesticides and fertilizers. There are two main benefits to organic foods. First, you are helping the environment because those chemicals are not being introduced into nature. Secondly, you are avoiding ingesting chemicals and are therefore healthy more healthy foods. However, organic products are usually more expensive. If you’re on a budget, skip over organic fruits and vegetables that you can peel, like oranges and bananas. After all, once you’ve discarded the peel, you’ve also discarded the chemicals. Instead, opt for organic items like apples, where you eat the peel. No matter what you buy, however, make sure that you rinse off the food when you get home.

Another tricky label you will see is “no hormones.” This is usually in regards to milk or meat products and is false, since all animals naturally produce hormones. Hormones are what helps an animal (even a human) regulate body organs, have young, and otherwise function. All meat products have hormones. What the labels really mean is that no hormones were unnaturally given to the animal, which is sometimes done to increase milk production. Regardless of hormones, however, the milk and meat is safe for a person and not a violation of an animal’s rights.

Lastly, a label on eggs and meat can indicate if the animal was caged or penned. This does not make a difference in the quality or nutritional value of the meat, but is simply a matter of animal rights. These products may be a bit more expensive, but if you want to make human decisions, that is the way to go. Reading the label and making healthy choices can sometimes be difficult, but learning how to do so can help you make the best choices for you diet.

Are You Giving Your Child the Nutritional Requirements They Need?

Every stage of your child’s development has its own critical nutritional requirements.

Did you know?

• 75% of brain capacity develops between birth and age three. By age five, brain development is 90% complete.

• Starting at age two, your child should eat a diet that’s moderately low in fat to avoid health problems later.

• Between eleven and sixteen, your child often experiences a major growth spurt.

It is never too early to get your child off to the right dietary start, but scientific research suggests there are

More reasons why this is critical.

In an analysis of family nutrition and physical activity, the American Dental Association found that surprisingly half of parents think their kids buy a healthy lunch at school on most days, but only about 36% of kids actually do.

Meanwhile, fast food and vending machine snacks are becoming their food sources of choice in greater quantities than their parents realize.

When it comes to sound nutritional choices, the evidence from the U.S.D.A reports that over three quarters of all school children eat fewer than the recommended five servings of fruit and vegetables per day.

Worse still, most “vegetables” are not vegetables at all because they are in the form of snack foods such as french fries (potatoes) and ketchup (tomatoes).

In addition unnecessarily super-sized portions, lure kids who are less aware than adults of the marketing practices of the fast food industry.

It doesn’t help that their offerings are also cheap to buy and are widely available.  Added together these factors muddle your child’s decision-making in favour of nutritional food choices.

Also problematic is the fact that many children aren’t as active as they used to be.  Children rarely walk to school and more often than not choose to play video games instead of tag.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notes that 36% of children don’t exercise at all.

It’s not surprising then, that childhood obesity is on the rise and according to some estimates, as many children as 2 out of 4 in America today  are being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

There has never been a more urgent time to consider the importance of helping your child make healthy and nutritional choices.

But it is never too early to begin.

You can start today.
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