Your Wealth is in Your Health

When you are healthy, you are also wealthy. Not in a monetary sense, but in a body sense. Nothing is more important than your health, and if you were wealthy, you would not be able to spend money if you were in poor health. To make sure that you are in the greatest of health, you must exercise on a regular basis and eat foods that are rich in vitamins and minerals. If you have poor food eating habits, then even small changes to your diet can really help a lot. The main thing is to be able to distinguish between healthy foods and not so healthy foods. You have to eat many vegetables and fruit, and grains, and stay away from foods with too many calories, and a lot of fat. You need five servings of fruit and vegetables a day. This is not always easy to do, so drinking fruit and vegetable juice along with healthy food can help. Making small changes gradually is much easier than trying to change your entire diet all at once. Writing down what you eat and drink everyday can give you a good picture of what you eat. This will help you decide which foods you need to eat more of and which ones you should cut back on. If you find yourself at a loss, ask a nutritionist for help. They can advise you on the proper nutrition you need to be your healthiest. Newspapers and magazines do not always have the right information. Do not rely on vitamins, as these are not as good as the real thing. Fresh fruits and vegetables contain many more vitamins and minerals. Try changing around what you eat, since variety is the spice of life. The same old foods get boring eventually, so look for new healthy recipes to incorporate into your daily menu. Avoid fried foods whenever possible, as these are high in fat and cholesterol. Baking or grilling low fat foods is much healthier. Do without salad dressing that is too oily, as they contain many calories. Try drinking diet drinks that do not contain sugar, or water and tea, as these are much better for you, and contain no calories. Sleep is also important when you are trying to lose weight. It will also give you the energy you need to exercise everyday. When you are sleepy, your body makes you think that you are hungry, which can lead to eating more calories than you need to. Sleep will make you feel better all around, and you will have energy to spare. Exercise will give you more energy the more you do it. When starting an exercise program, begin slowly with walking, and add more as your confidence level rises. Swimming, aerobics, and running are also great options. If you eat healthy everyday, and follow a good exercise program regularly, you can be sure to have a body that is full of the wealth of health.

An Introduction to the 13 Vitamins

Vitamins are essential nutrients that your body needs so that it can function effectively. Most vitamins are sourced from the foods you eat but some can be produced by your body as well. They are distinguished from minerals because they come from plants and animals whereas minerals come from the soil and water. Vitamins contain no calories and are not used by the body for energy but without them your body's cells cannot perform certain important functions. In this article I am going to be providing you with a simple introduction to each of the thirteen vitamins. 1) VITAMIN A:- The main function of vitamin A is to assist with vision. A deficiency can lead to a condition called night blindness where you struggle to see in dim light and if left untreated this can develop into full blindness. 2) VITAMIN B1 (THIAMINE):- This vitamin's main function is to work with other B-complex vitamins and help the body convert blood sugar into energy. Not getting enough vitamin B1 can cause beriberi which has a number of undesirable symptoms including pain, loss of feeling in your extremities and in the worst cases death. 3) VITAMIN B2 (RIBOFLAVIN):- Vitamin B2's main function is to work with the other B-complex vitamins and help the body's cells break down carbohydrates, fats and proteins for energy. A vitamin B2 deficiency can lead to skin problems and also damage the eyes. 4) VITAMIN B3 (NIACIN):- The main function of this vitamin is to work with other B-complex vitamins and help the body's cells convert blood sugar into energy. Not getting enough vitamin B3 can lead to the development of pellagra, a condition which causes diarrhea, dementia, delirium and ultimately death. 5) VITAMIN B5 (PANTOTHENIC ACID):- The main function of vitamin B5 is to work with the other B-complex vitamins and help the body's cells convert food into energy. Not getting enough of this vitamin is very rare but can lead to abdominal pain and muscle weakness. 6) VITAMIN B6 (PYRIDOXINE):- This vitamin's main role is to help the body's cells break down proteins into a form they can use. A vitamin B6 deficiency can lead to weakness, tingling in your extremities and seizures. 7) VITAMIN B7 (BIOTIN):- The main function of vitamin B7 is to work with other B-complex vitamins and help the body's cells break down carbohydrates, fats and proteins into a form they can use. Not getting enough can lead to hair loss, skin problems and depression. 8) VITAMIN B9 (FOLIC ACID):- The main role of vitamin B9 is to work with vitamin B12 and help the body produce DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) and RNA (ribonucleic acid) which both contain important genetic information. A deficiency can lead to anemia, diarrhea, stunted growth and weight loss. 9) VITAMIN B12 (COBALAMIN):- The main function of this vitamin is to work with vitamin B9 and help the body produce DNA and RNA. Not getting enough vitamin B12 can lead to pernicious anemia, a condition where your body produces fewer, larger red blood cells. 10) VITAMIN C (ASCORBIC ACID):- Vitamin C's main function is to assist in the production of collagen, a key component of connective tissue in animals that helps wounds heal. Being deficient in this vitamin can lead to scurvy, a condition which causes bleeding, swollen gums and slow healing wounds. 11) VITAMIN D:- The main function of this vitamin is to help the body use calcium and phosphorous which both help to strengthen your bones and teeth. A vitamin D deficiency can lead to weak bones that bend, break and fracture easily. 12) VITAMIN E:- Vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant that protects your body's cells from damage. Failure to get enough of this vitamin can lead to age spots (brown spots on the skin), hemolytic anemia (a condition where your blood cells become delicate and rupture) and other forms of cell damage. 13) VITAMIN K:- The main role of this vitamin is to help the blood clot. Being deficient in vitamin K makes it difficult for your blood to clot and in the worst cases can cause heavy, uncontrollable bleeding. As you can see each of the 13 vitamins are unique but collectively they are essential for good health. Being deficient in any of the above vitamins can lead to numerous health problems and stop your body from functioning properly. However, eating a healthy, balanced diet should allow you to consume adequate levels of each of the 13 vitamins and keep your body performing at an optimal level.

5 Things That You Should Know About Vitamin A

Vitamin A was the first of the thirteen vitamins to be discovered. Its discovery has been credited to McCollum and Davis between 1912 and 1914. The main function of this vitamin is to promote healthy vision but it also does a lot more. In this article I am going to help you learn about this vitamin by discussing five things you should know about vitamin A. 1) IT IS ESSENTIAL FOR HEALTHY VISION:- As I mentioned above this vitamin promotes healthy vision. This benefit was first noticed by the ancient Egyptians who used liver (a rich source of this vitamin) as a remedy for night blindness (a condition that makes it difficult or impossible to see in dim light). The reason for this is that night blindness is a symptom of vitamin A deficiency which can develop into full blindness if not treated. 2) IT IS A FAT SOLUBLE VITAMIN:- This vitamin is fat soluble which means that it dissolves in your body's fatty tissues. Fat soluble vitamins are generally more resistant to heat and light meaning that they are relatively stable when cooked. They can also be stored by your body for later use meaning that if you do not consume much vitamin A on a certain day your body can get its daily requirements from these stores. 3) IT CAN BE SOURCED FROM PLANTS AND ANIMALS:- Vitamin A that is sourced from animal products is called retinol whilst the plant source is referred to as carotenoids. Animal sources of this vitamin include liver, butter, eggs cheese and milk. Plant sources include carrots, peas and spinach. 4) IT HAS OTHER BENEFITS TOO:- Although healthy vision is the most well known vitamin A benefit this is not its only function. It is also essential for healthy growth (especially bone growth), the production of sperm cells and keeps your eyes, skin and mucus moist. 5) YOU CAN GET TOO MUCH:- Most people do not realise that you can overdose on vitamins. However, excessive consumption of vitamins can be just as bad as not getting enough. Overdosing on vitamin A generally leads to bone problems with osteoporosis (reduced bone density) and bone fractures both being symptoms associated with this. I hope this article has given you a better understanding of vitamin A and shown you that there is more to it than just promoting healthy vision. Although this is one of its key functions it is also required for healthy growth, reproduction and much more.

Back Pain – The increasing problem of poor PC posture

Most people who surf the net or work with computers probably get minor aches and pains from time to time. These back, shoulder and neck pains often seem fairly minor, and most of the time get better after a little while. The actual root cause can sometimes come from other areas of life, such as sports injuries, a poor mattress, gardening, just the ageing process. But there seems little doubt that spending long hours hunched over a keyboard is at least a contributory factor to back pain.

Better by design: engineering flu vaccines

New method could improve vaccines for both seasonal flu and bird fluHOUSTON -- (March 17, 2009) -- A new computerized method of testing could help world health officials better identify flu vaccines that are effective against multiple strains of the disease. Rice University scientists who created the method say tests of data from bird flu and seasonal flu outbreaks suggest their method can better gauge the efficacy of proposed vaccines than can tests used today.Rice's Michael Deem, the lead scientist on the project, will present the group's results March 19 at the American Physical Society's 2009 meeting in Pittsburgh. The results are also slated to appear in the forthcoming book "Influenza: Molecular Virology" from Horizon Scientific Press.Avian flu, or bird flu, is a particularly deadly type of flu that's transmitted from birds to humans. It hasn't yet evolved into a form that can be transmitted readily between humans, but scientists and world health authorities are trying to prepare for a potential outbreak. Because the virus mutates continually, creating a vaccine in advance is problematic. For example, scientists have already found that a vaccine designed for the 1997 strain of bird flu does not work against a 2003 strain."Current vaccines contain only a single version of a given flu subtype," Deem said. "We wanted to gauge the effectiveness of a vaccine that contained multiple versions of a given subtype."World health authorities currently test the efficacy of proposed flu vaccines using either ferrets, which can contract the same forms of flu as people, or genetic assays. Rice's new computerized method could be a cheaper and faster alternative.With the new method, flu virus mutations are assigned numerical scores. Deem, Rice's John W. Cox Professor of Bioengineering and professor of physics and astronomy, and colleagues developed the method so they could assign a number that captured the amount of difference or similarity between strains. The method can also be used to test how effective a vaccine will be against divergent strains. To verify this, the team checked their results against flu vaccine data collected by the World Health Organization from 1971 to 2004."For seasonal influenza, we validated our model against observational data compiled by the World Health Organization's Global Influenza Surveillance Network," Deem said. "We also ran tests against bird flu data. We found that multiple-component bird flu vaccines appeared to be helpful in controlling the simultaneous multiple introduction of bird flu strains."Influenza viruses are like chameleons. They constantly change the patterns on their outer surface to avoid being targeted by antibodies. This rapid mutation rate is the reason seasonal flu vaccines must be changed annually. However, the vaccines sometimes offer less than ideal protection against newly evolved strains. It takes about six months to produce annual vaccine supplies; also, ideal vaccine strains are often difficult to produce by the standard hen’s egg technology, and alternative strains are substituted."Oftentimes, bird flu seems to emerge with multiple strains, and something similar can happen with newly released or evolved strains of seasonal flu as well," Deem said. The computational approach Deem will discuss is able to estimate the need for and the efficacy of a multiple-component vaccine in the face of the emergence of multiple flu strains.Each year, world health authorities create a flu vaccine that protects against three types of seasonal flu -- two subtypes of type A flu and one subtype of type B.

Benefits of Chlorella Supplements

Chlorella is one of the most scientifically researched foods in history. It is green algae that grow in fresh water. Chlorella is one of nature's best foods, providing you with a rich variety of amino acid (protein), vitamins, enzymes, minerals and carbohydrates. Actually, chlorella is considered to contain every nutrient required by the human body. Each Chlorella microorganism is composed of a nucleus, starch grains, chloroplasts and mitochondria surrounded by a cell wall composed mainly of cellulose. Chlorella is a green single-celled microalgae that contains very high concentrations of chlorophyll. It also supplies high levels of Beta Carotene, Vitamin B-12, Iron, DNA, RNA and Protein. The cell wall in this high quality Chlorella has been broken down mechanically to aid digestibility. Some of benefits of chlorella are given below. Chlorella Improves Digestive System: It has such high chlorophyll content, people who have chronic bad breath is often overcome in just a few days with chlorella. Foul smelling stools are also very much improved and chlorophyll has been recognized to relieving constipation. Chlorella carries enzymes like chlorophyllase and pepsin, which are two digestive enzymes. Enzymes perform a number of important functions in the body. Chlorella has a lot of different types of enzymes that our bodies require.
Chlorella Control Blood Sugar and Blood Pressure Studies have revealed that chlorella tends to control blood sugar in cases of hypoglycemia. In hypoglycemia, blood sugar is too low. Proper levels of blood sugar are essential for normal brain function, heart function and energy metabolism, all of which are crucial in sustaining good health and preventing disease. High blood pressure is one of the major risk factors in heart attack and stroke, which account for more fatalities in the United States than any other disease. Laboratory experiments have shown that regular use of chlorella reduces high blood pressure and prevents strokes in rats.Modern techniques have helped in the processing of chlorella as its full nutritional properties can now be accessed due to the techniques used to dry the alga. So you can take chlorella supplements for the betterment of your health.

10 Steps For Better Sleep

Ten point plan on going to sleep at night: 1: UNWIND ......RELAX: It's essential that your mind be geared for sleep. Sit down for half an hour or even an hour before bedtime. Let the mind wander .take it quietly, gently unwinds. Tensions and anxieties are gently released from the system through this simple way. 2: READ A BOOK: Many find it especially relaxing and mentally soothing to read for a while before the lights are out. This helps gear the mind to a low-key pitch which is an essential prerequisite for prompt and relaxing sleep. 3: SHORT BOUT OF ACTIVITY: Frequently a short, casual stroll before bed will similarly remove tensions and anxieties from the mind. Just amble, tiredness and a lovely sense fatigue. These days’ jogging is popular. 4: WARM BATH: There is little so relaxing as a nice warm shower or bath. The latter is more effective but it takes a bit longer. This warms the blood a little giving a soporific effect when it circulates to the brain centers. 5: WARM DRINK: Many people find a warm to hot milk drink very relaxing. Indeed recent research reported in the BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL indicates this definitely improves sleeping ability. It is preferable to have tea or coffee for this contains caffeine which is a nerve stimulant and will have the converse effect. Either milk as such, or with any of the many commercial0 additives is suitable. Take your pick. 6: WARM BED: It is desirable for the bed to be nice and warm. In summer this happens automatically, but in cooler weather, an electric blanket is the answer to cold bed problem. Warmth breeds relaxation, contentment and nervous satisfaction. 7: COMFORTABLE BED: Sleep comes best and fastest when the bed is comfortable. A bed you find that doesn’t allow you to relax completely will never a good starting point for prompt, restful slumber. 8: RELAXATION: You must learn to relax the entire system completely and utterly once you go to bed. When all the forgoing routines have been followed and you hit bed, gently stretch out into the most comfortable lying position you can find (it may on flat of the back or one side, rarely on the stomach) start with the left toes and systematically relax this part. Work up to the ankle, lower leg, knee, and thigh. Do the left side then the right. Then the whole body in the same way. 9: RELAXING THOUGHTS: As you relax the various joints and muscles system, you gradually phase out all conscious thoughts from your mind. This takes practice and time .It will not come overnight on the first occasion. You must work at it, and stick to the routine. Some prefer to think of happy-occasions, of relaxing situations-lying in the sun on the beach or on a freshly mown lawn. Mind pictures must be on pleasant experiences. These will give a way today dreaming thoughts, visions and sensations. Then they gradually become vague and vaguer, as you gradually drift into oblivion. 10: DEEP BREATHS: As you care for your mind in this manner, gradually take deep breaths. They should be rhythmical, deep, slow and regular. Softly, slowly, rhythmically as you breath in ... out....in....out......you then count. Slowly, very slowly taking one figure with each two to three breaths .Finally you softly tell yourself you will be fast asleep by the time you count to ten. "One ...in, out....in, out....in, out....two...in, out....."