Eat Your 5 serving of fruit and vegetables daily

- if not think about a supplement

If you ever feel tempted to go for a burger, fries and a soft drink, consider this: along with the fast food, you are ordering up an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes and obesity. But the opposite is true, too. According to a new University of Florida (UF) study, if you stay away from processed and fast foods and instead eat a lot of veggies, nuts and fruits, you will actively be helping to prevent or reverse harmful metabolic processes in your body. The result? Better health and a slimmer body.

An important advantage to having plant-based foods as an abundant part of your daily diet appears to result from the phytochemicals they contain. As noted in the UF findings recently published in the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, these natural substances prevent oxidative stress — a process linked to being overweight and to the onset of diseases including heart disease and diabetes. Phytochemicals include lycopene from tomatoes, isoflavones from soy, beta carotene from carrots, anthocyanins from blueberries, allicin from garlic, and many more.

Without enough phytochemicals and antioxidants to counteract oxidative stress, damaging free radicals cause inflammation and other toxic problems in the body. In overweight people, excess fat tissue and certain enzymes that are more active also trigger the production of excessive free radicals, according to a media statement by the UF researchers.

The research team, headed by Heather K. Vincent, Ph.D., studied a group of 54 young adults divided into a normal weight and an overweight or obese group, analysing their dietary patterns over several days. Surprisingly, the people in both groups took in about the same amount of calories. However, the overweight and obese young people were found to be eating fewer plant-based foods. That means those who were carrying around excess pounds were consuming fewer protective trace minerals and phytochemicals and consuming far more saturated fats.

In addition, those eating less plant-based foods were found to have higher levels of oxidative stress and inflammation in their bodies than their normal-weight counterparts. This is a crucial finding because oxidative stress and inflammation are processes clearly associated with the onset of obesity, heart disease, diabetes and joint disease.

“Diets low in plant-based foods affect health over the course of a long period of time,” Dr. Vincent explained in a statement to the press. “This is related to annual weight gain, inflammation and oxidative stress. Those are the onset processes of disease that debilitate people later in life.”

“People who are obese need more fruits, vegetables, legumes and wholesome unrefined grains,” she said. “In comparison to a normal-weight person, an obese person is always going to be behind the eight ball because there are so many adverse metabolic processes going on.”

In order to get enough protective phytochemicals daily, the UF researchers concluded that people should try to consume plant-based foods such as leafy greens, fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes at the start of each meal. As a way to encourage people to get enough phytochemicals from meals and snacks, Dr. Vincent also called for use of a phytochemical index, which compares the number of calories consumed from plant-based, nutrient-rich foods with the overall number of calories taken in each day.

“Fill your plate with colourful, low-calorie, varied-texture foods derived from plants first. By slowly eating phytochemical-rich foods such as salads with olive oil or fresh-cut fruits before the actual meal, you will likely reduce the overall portion size, fat content and energy intake. In this way, you’re ensuring that you get the variety of protective, disease-fighting phytochemicals you need and controlling caloric intake,” said Vincent, an assistant professor in the UF Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine Institute, in the media statement.

Adapted from an article by S. L. Baker, features writer  (NaturalNews)

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About 71% of the earth’s surface is covered by water.  With all this water out there, why are most people not drinking as much as they should?  Water is vitally important in order for humans to function properly, since every system of the body depends upon this sustaining substance.  In fact, about 50-65% of your body is made up of water.

A person can only survive for about 3 days if they don’t drink any fluids.  Drinking soda, coffee, or juice will keep you alive, but you need pure water if you want to be as healthy as you can be.

Reduces the Risk of a Heart Attack
A study at Loma Linda University discovered that people who drink 5+ glasses of water daily were less likely to die from heart disease than people who drank less than 2 glasses a day.

Helps with Weight Loss
Water helps your metabolism to work properly.  One of the main jobs of the liver is to convert the fat your body stores into energy.  If the kidneys aren’t getting enough water, then the liver has to do their work along with it’s own and the result is that it can’t metabolize fat as efficiently.  Water also gives you the energy and hydration needed for exercise.  If your muscles have the proper amount of water, they will contract more easily which means your workout will be more effective and beneficial.  It’s also true that many people think they’re hungry when their body is actually thirsty for water!

It’s Good For Your Body and Brain
Your body is constantly using up water.  Even minor dehydration can result in headaches, fatigue, lack of concentration, and irritability.  Drinking water can wash these symptoms away!

Keeps Your Skin Healthy
Water is important for preventing dry skin and acne.  It flushes impurities out of your skin.  As a result, your complexion is clear and your skin is healthy.

Keeps your Muscles and Joints in Good Shape
Your joints and muscles are mainly lubricated and cushioned by water. You can prevent fatigue and muscle cramps by drinking plenty of water before, during, and after hard work or exercise.

Cuts down on Disease and Infection
Drinking water can help you to avoid kidney stones and reduce your risk of getting urinary tract infections.

Helps Maintain Proper Digestion
If you don’t drink enough water, the pancreas doesn’t work efficiently, acids in the stomach are not properly neutralized, and intestine functions are hindered.  This can lead to constipation, false appendicitis pain, colitis pain, and hiatus hernia.   Drinking a glass of water, at least a half an hour before mealtime will greatly help the digestion process.  Also, proper water intake can prevent heartburn.

Subjects on the high-fat diet lost much more weight than any of the others.  Several subjects on the high-carb diet actually gained weight, even at only 1000 kcal/day!

Even at 2,600 kcal/day of very low-carb diet, subjects lost weight. Thus the dogma that a “balanced” diet is best for almost everyone had been falsified a half century ago.

Examination of at least two dozen recent controlled diet trials by an equal number of authors in several countries led to these conclusions:

1. Carb restriction improved control of serum glucose, the primary target of nutritional therapy, and reduced insulin fluctuations.

2. Carb-restricted diets are at least as effective for weight loss as low-fat diets.

3. Substitution of fat for carb is generally beneficial for markers of and for the actual incidence of cardiovascular disease. [This means that a diet of 25% carb, 25% protein and 50% fat will be optimum for many folks. Some have followed such diets for over 50 years.]

4. Carb restriction has benefits even in the absence of weight loss.