How Can We Beating Disease With Eating? (Healthy Tips)

Healthy Tips

Often, we can’t control our environment and the air that we breathe, but we can control the effects of toxicity within our body by getting proper and adequate nutrition for our cellular health as well as to combat the toxicity within our body. It all begins with what we eat.

Meals that Heal (Healthy Tips)

Our intake of food is usually made up of macronutrients and micronutrients.

Macronutrients: Macronutrients are energy providers such as proteins, fats and carbohydrates from fresh foods and rice, noodles, meat, grains and dairy products.

Micronuttrients: Micronutrients are vitamins, minerals and antioxidants that help the cells and tissues to function well. These primarily come from fresh fruits and vegetables.

Unfortunately, most people in the modern society tend to take too many caloric macronutrients (without the micronutrients) especially in Asia where the main staple is often rice, noodles and meat. The consumption of canned, instant or processed foods and fast food also dominates most developed and developing nations, with carbohydrate sources, meat and seafood as the key features at the dinner table.

It has been acknowledged by health authorities worldwide that most diets are lacking natural fruits and vegetable that provide most of the micronutrients that we need on daily basis, especially antioxidants. The importance of eating sufficient fruits and vegetables daily has also been recognized by the National Cancer Institute which recommends an average of 7 servings daily to ward off the threat of cancer. This is because antioxidants can neutralize free radicals within the body, thus stopping the chain reaction that causes untold damage within our body.

Phytonutrients Powerful Antioxidants (Healthy Tips)

There are many different types of antioxidants, but some of the most powerful come from phytonutrients , which are now gaining the attention of researchers worldwide due to their enormous contribution to health. Phytonutrients or ‘plant nutrients’ are the nutrients that give a plant its colour, smell and taste.There are many different classes of phytonutrients, and to date more than 16,000 phytonutrients have been identified.

Consuming different types of phytonutrients in our food sourceis is important as different phytonutrients have different oxidative reactions in different cells but most importantly, most phytonutrients are powerful free radical scavengers. Some types of well-known phytonutrients are:

Beta-carotene gives carrots their bright orange colour and protects us from the development of cancers and heart diseases. There are many other carotenoids.

Flavonoids give pigments to berries and contain antioxidant, antibiotic, cancer-preventive, anti-inflammatory and other tissue-supportive properties.

Sulfur compounds from broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower have anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, immuno-suppertive and antibiotic properties.

How much is 7 servings? (Healthy Tips)

7 servings of fruits and vegetable may sound daunting, but it’s not impossible. A medium sized apple, banana, or orange, ½ cup cooked vegetables, 1 cup of salad greens-each of these are equivalent to 1 serving.

Although 7 servings of various fruits and vegetables are recommended daily for health maintenance, the intake of many still fail alarmingly short:

In USA, less than 9% of adults consume the recommended servings; the average American eats < 3 serving.

In Malaysia, averagely 88.3% people consume < 5 servings, and around 12.3% do not consume any.

In Singapore, 20% of its population eat 2 servings of fruits and 15.8% take 2 servings of vegetables daily.

(source: World Health Organization)

Healthy Tips

How To Keep Diabetes at Bay (Healthy Tips)

Healthy Tips

A healthy lifestyle can ensure you cut your risk of having diabetes. Here are some healthy tips to hold off diabetes:

1. Choose your food wisely (Healthy Tips)

Swap processed grains with unpolished grains
Switch to unpolished rice, brown rice, brown rice bee hoon, or wholemeat bread.Unrefined grains have been shown to lower the body's sugar levels, lowering the risk of diabetes as it places less stress on the pancreas to produce insulin and prevent insulin sensitivity.

Snack healthily
Celery/carrot/cucumber sticks are perfect as snacks as they lessen hunger pangs yet provide you with the necessary fiber and vitamins.

Get juiced with vitamins by feeding your sweet tooth with natural juice concoctions. Try carrot+orange+watermelon+mint, or apple+kasturi. Fresh fruits mean you retain its nutritional content for maximum health benefits!

Switch to skim milk
You still get your dose of calcium with less fat content to maintain a good weight and waistline, as being overweight can keep your body from making and using insulin properly.

Take more lean meat
Cut off the fat, and try other interesting cooking methods, such as broiling, roasting or even barbequeing! Avoid frying food in oil as food tend to soak in oil that can contribute to obesity.

Stay away from sodas
A recent research in US showed that adults who drink one or more diet or regular sodas a day had a 50-60% increased risk of developing Metabolic Syndrome.

2. Supplement your diet (Healthy Tips)

Opt for supplements that can provide you all the vitamins, minerals and essential elements your body needs for those times when a balanced diet is not available.

A broad spectrum enzyme catalyst (digestive and metabolic), food enzymes) can jumpstart enzyme activities to boost overall metabolic processes for cells to perform at optimal levels. An enzyme catalyst can also help nutrient absorption and help relieve the burden on digestive organs.

3. Be active (Healthy Tips)

Walk for short distance – to the office, bus stops, or even windowshopping. Brisk walking in the long term can help you lose weight, keep your cholesterol and blood pressure under control, and help your body use insulin.

Pick a hobby that lets you get active, like doing yoga, dancing, or joining a local running group in your area.

Opt to carry your groceries rather than use the trolley. This can help build strength and muscles for strong bones. With more muscle, you can burn more calories.

More info (Healthy Tips)

Diabetes is Truly Debilitating (Healthy Tips)

Diabetes cannot be cured; and it is a debilitating disease as it can lead to many other types of serious and fatal diseases. If you are diabetic, you are also likely to suffer from obesity, kidney diseases, vascular diseases, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. These are all complications that come from having diabetes. But if you change your lifestyle and diet now, you can lower your risk of becoming another statistic.

Warning Sign of Diabetes (Healthy Tips)

- Frequent urination
- Excessive thirst
- Increased hunger
- Fatigue
- Lack of interest and concentration
- Blurred vision
- Vomiting and stomach pain (often mistaken as the flu)

Healthy Tips

What kind of nutrition do our cells need? (Healthy Tips)

Healthy Tips

Variety (Healthy Tips)
Different nutrients assist different processes and development, for instance calcium helps to build bone while protein is needed to build muscles. Generally there are 2 types of nutrients.
- Macronutrients like protein, carbohydrates and fats (essential fatty acids) provide energy and act as building blocks for muscles, nerve cells and enzymes.
- Micronutrients like vitamins, minerals and pigments facilitate chemical reactions and act as catalysts, antioxidants to support cellular repair, strengthen internal defense system, etc.

Proportional intake of nutrients (Healthy Tips)
Excessive nutrient intake especially fat soluble vitamins (Vitamins A, D, E & K) may cause toxicity symptoms like headache and vomiting while inadequate nutrient intake (malnutrition) leads to abnormality of cell functions and cell death. Most of the time, our nutrient intake is imbalanced, le inadequate intake of a particular nutrient(s). This may lead to behavioural and physical changes depending on the nutrient type.

Consumption (Healthy Tips)
Daily replenishment of nutrients is essential as it is often impossible to know which nutrient type(s) is lacking/in excess. Always take more water-soluble nutrients as any excess is not retained in the body but is easily excreted.

Interdependent nutrients (Healthy Tips)
Most nutrients are interdependent whereby insufficient intake of any one nutrient may limit the effectiveness of all other nutrients, thus sufficient intake of all essential nutrients is vital.

Cannot be manufactured (Healthy Tips)
Some nutrients are considered essential as they cannot be manufactured by the body, thus the body solely depends on our daily intake.

Digestibility (Healthy Tips)
The best source of nutrients is natural and organic food as they are easier to digest and absorb as they are often not chemically processed and have no added colouring, preservatives, additives and pesticides.

Nutrient Robbers (Healthy Tips)

As our society progresses, food intake has actually increased, but why is imbalanced or inadequate nutrition still so prevalent? What is ‘robbing’ these nutrients?

Cooking and storage of food (Healthy Tips)
Vitamins, minerals and other nutrients are often lost during the cooking and preparation process due to high heat. Storage and excessive exposure to sunlight or air also deplete nutrients in food.

Processed food (Healthy Tips)
Processed and refined foods are often acidic in nature and have little to no essential nutrients like vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients and antioxidants. As a result, they frequently requires more nutrients to aid and support their metabolism.

Imbalanced lifestyle (Healthy Tips)
Stress, smoking and excessive alcohol intake often impair our absorption of nutrients and deplete our nutrient reserves.

Medicine intake (Healthy Tips)
Concumption of medicine, antibiotics and drugs create havoc in our bodies as their use will usually generate oxidative stress and disrupt our normal biochemical and metabolic pathways. This then requires nutrients to compensate and neutralize it, thus depleting our nutrient reserves.

Healthy Tips

Oxygen Robbers (Healthy Tips)

Healthy Tips

Why don’t we get sufficient and quality oxygen?

Pollution (Healthy Tips)
Industrial pollution and car fumes are toxic gases that, when inhaled, create reactive conditions and ion imbalance that increase free radical activities.

Lack of exercise (Healthy Tips)
Sedentary lifestyles and shallow breathing of polluted air contribute to low oxygen levels in the body.

Smoking (Healthy Tips)
Smoking dries out our airways, thus dust and dirt cannot be filtered and pushed out. Polluted air then directly enters our lungs and clogs it, thus affecting our lungs’ efficiency and increasing the risk of lung infections, allergies, asthmatic attacks and formation of cancer.

How can we get sufficient oxygen? (Healthy Tips)

Exercise (Healthy Tips)
When we exercise, our lung capacity expands and inhalation rate is increased, resulting in a larger intake of oxygen for aerobic metabolism and release of carbon dioxide, a by-product of metabolism. The recommended exercise period is 30 minutes for at least 3 times weekly

Oxygen supplements (Healthy Tips)
With the rapid rise of technology, oxygen supplements with stable oxygen molecules are now available to people who lack adequate or high quality oxygen. These supplements can boost metabolism and energy levels by directly increasing the level.of oxygen in our blood.

Healthy Tips

Phytonutrients – Our Body’s Protector (Healthy Tips)

Healthy Tips

Phytonutrients are actually Mother Nature’s medicine – they are the plant’s defense mechanism against pests, bacteria, ultraviolet radiation , free radicals and countless diseases. Evidence indicates that these phytonutrients may also protect the human body from certain cansers and heart disease. These are thousands of phytonutrients in fruits, vegetables, grains and some herbs.

Often touted as the best natural medicine, phytonutrients help repair and rebuild damaged cells, inhibit cancer-producing substances and boost immunity by mobilising the body’s immune cells. Each class of phytonutrients affect cellular well-being in different ways and specific phytonutrients often fight specific cancers. Thus, the best way to take advantage of nature’s ‘medicine’ is by consuming a variety of fruits and vegetables across all 7 colour groups.

Measuring antioxidant Levels (Healthy Tips)
Taking food high in phytonutrients and antioxidants can help to ward off illnesses, prevent most chronic diseases and premature ageing. Because of the important of antioxidants, scientists developed the Oxygen Radical Absorbance Assay (ORAC) which measures the antioxidant capacities of different foods.

According to the USDA, we need about 3,000 – 5,000 ORAC units daily from fruits and vegetables. With research suggesting that antioxidants may play important roles in preventing many degenerative diseases and slowing down the ageing process, the higher antioxidant capacity fruits and vegetables have, the more it will positively impact our health.

Go Organic (Healthy Tips)
Assess the nutritional value of your food through its source:
- Over 400 different pesticide residues used in conventional farming may be present in food
- 500 food additives are used in processed food
- Protective coatings and waxes are often used to prolong shelf life and improve appearance

Phytochemicals (phytonutrients) in plant foods may be destroyed by modern processing techniques and likely contain fewer phytonutrients. Most commercial produce also contain high levels of chemical herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers.

Organic produce is often better as it strictly limits the use of artificial chemicals but emphasizes crop rotation for healthy soil and natural pest-control. This ensures there is less toxins in the food produced and more often than not, higher nutrient value.

Healthy Tips

Essential Nutrients for Healthy Living (Healthy Tips)

Healthy Tips

What are the essential nutrients to maintain the body’s functions at the optimal level and what’s the best source?(Healthy Tips)

Healthy Tips…Carbohydrates
are the body’s main source of energy
Undersirable source: Refined flours, cakes, cookies (simple carbohydrates).
Best source: Whole grains, fruite and vegetables (complex carbohydrates).
Imbalance: A Lack of complex carbohydrates may lead to malnutrition while excessive simple carbohydrates may increase blood sugar levels and contribute to weight gain.

Healthy Tips…Vitamin and Mineral
play important roles in most physiological functions and biochemical processes, such as regulating heartbeat, muscle contraction and digestion.
Undersirable source: Sweetened fruit juices, processed foods.
Best source: Fresh fruits and vegetables.
Imbalance: Processed foods or juices are often fortified with vitamins and minerals as they don’t contain much nutrients. As these emphasise on certain nutrients and neglect the rest, it may upset the body’s internal balance.

Healthy Tips…Protein
are amino acids that form the building blocks of body cells
Undersirable source: Red meat, processed foods (bacon,sausage).
Best source: Fish, algae, lean meat, nuts, eggs and some grains.
Imbalance: Excessive intake of red meat and processed foods may lead to high cholesterol and obesity, and cause an acidic body which leads to a host of illnesses. White meat and alkaline food like algae are the best sources of protein.

Healthy Tips…Fat
helps facilitate the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins and assists brain development
Undersirable source: Red meat, saturated fats (butter, coconut oil).
Best source: Mono-unsaturated oils (olive and peanut oils), poly-unsaturated oils (soy and corn oils) and Omega-3 fatty acids (salmon, flax seeds, walnuts).
Imbalance: Too much saturated fat increases the risk of heart disease while a lack of Omega-3 fats is linked to dyslexia, memory problems and depression.

Healthy Tips…Antioxidants and Phytonutrients
are vital as they repair and regenerate the body’s cells while protecting it against harmful free radicals.
Undersirable source: Fruits and vegetables that are low in antioxidants due to processing, pesticides or chemical farming.
Best source: Organic and fresh fruits and vegetables across all 7 colours, primarily berries and dark, green leafy vegetables.
Imbalance: Free radicals are generated during metabolism, exposure to pollution and stress. A lack of antioxidants and phytonutrients lower the body’s defenses against free radicals, making it susceptible to illnesses.

Other Healthy Tips towards a healthier life:
- Exercise! Moderate exercise like a brisk 30-minute walk three times a week are highly recommended
- Don’t stress it. Small amounts of stress help boost performance but prolonged stress depresses the immune system.
- Laugh. This often releases tension and boosts the production of ‘feel good’ endorphin hormones.
- Don’t smoke and avoid secondhand tobacco smoke.

Healthy Tips

Why do we fall sick frequently?...(Healthy Tips)

Healthy Tips

Sick All The Time?
Maybe It's Your Food

Why do some people fall sick frequently while others enjoy robust health throughout the year? One reason is genetics but since we can't pre-determine good genes for ourselves and our family, what can we do? One way is to ensure that our body is always equipped with nutrients for internal functioning and external defense.

Here are some symptoms of nutrient deficiency from Healthy Tips. Have you ever experienced any of these?

> Lack energy and feel tired constantly
> Fall sick more than twice a year
> Difficulty digesting certain foods or have food allergies
> Belch or pass gas after meals
> Sore or painful joints
> Difficulty maintaining ideal weight
> Long recovery time from illness
> Food or chemical sensitivities

The above are all signs of your body on the path to breaking down. If you frequently experience these symptoms, your body might be sending you signals that it is breaking down internally ande losing the ability to defend against external stresses. Left alone, it may lead to much longer and more serious illnesses.

Below is the reason why do we fall sick frequently?

Poor Nutrition...healthy tips
Nutrition is more about quality and not quantity. According to the Associated Press, the average British diet that's often high in fat, salt and calories, but low on nutrition means malnutrition is a problem even though food is plentiful. It's important to take food high in essential and important nutrients as a lack of any nutrient may disrupt absorption of other nutrients and 'unbalance' our internal system.

Pollution...healthy tips
Other than hazardous air and water pollution, did you know that our skin also encounters pollution like chemicals in household products and overexposure to sunlight and electrical equipment? According to Consumer Protection Agency(CPA), 150 chemicals found in the home are connected to allergies, birth defects, cancer and psychological disorders.

Stress...healthy tips
Stress that persists for several hours daily for weeks or months and lack of sleep impair our repair mechanisms and immune responses and degrade our health.

Drugs...healthy tips
Drugs like antibiotics destroy healthy bacteria in our stomachs while chemotherapy and radiotherapy usually decimate our immune resilience.

Healthy Tips Info:...Did you know
Low fruit and vegetable intake is among the top 10 risk factors for global mortality; up to 2.7 million lives could be saved annually with sufficient fruits and vegetables consumption.(WHO)

Healthy Tips Info:...Did you know
Your body is able to assimilate minerals and nutrients properly only when its pH is balanced. Vegetables and fruits are high in alkaline content and are ideal in balancing the body's acidity levels.

Healthy Tips