How Healthy is Your Grocery Cart?

It is difficult to know what is healthy in today's society. According to most major processed food manufacturer's advertisements, you could live to be 120 eating nothing but cereal out of a box, dried fruit 'snacks' and 'juice cocktails'. Unless you specifically buy from a store that focuses on all-natural ingredients, and really goes above and beyond the call of health (a great case in point is the Mt Capra whole food vitamins), even smart people are often completely misled. Today we look at some more common supermarket health fallacies.

Products 'free' of a bad ingredient

Just about every product on the supermarket shelves makes some sort of health claim. There are sugary gelatine lollies that are '0% fat!', cereals that are sugar free, and ice-cream that has 'no cholesterol'. These claims are technically true - but don't let them blind you to the fact that the overall product is probably not is one of the essential layers of the food pyramid.

Made with 'real' ingredients

Nobody wants to be eating fake food! But claims like 'Made with real chicken' that can found on packets of kids nuggets need to be evaluated critically. Look at the ingredients and see how far down the ingredient list the 'real' ingredient comes. Ingredients are always listed in order from most plentiful to least plentiful - so you might find that your 'real chicken' nuggets are actually 50% textured soy protein, 5% chicken.

'Flavored'

There are quite a lot of products on the supermarket shelves that piggyback on traditional recipe names, like 'guacamole', to con you into thinking they're made the same way you would do it at home. This is rarely true. Check the label … always! Even a wonderful selection of whole food multivitamins won’t save you from the dangers of 'guacamole-flavored dip'.

Zero grams of trans fats

If a product has less than 0.5g of trans fats per serving, the FDA allows manufacturers to make this claim. However, they may make serving sizes artificially small to be allowed to do so. Check the label … again!

Top Food Tips for Great Health!

There is a lot of information available to the average you and the average me nowadays about what to eat. Kid's sugar-laden morning snacks are actually advertised as health food, the internet has a hundred different opinions on a single health subject, and while some people say you should never eat meat, others say that it's all you should eat. Today we look at some great, overall rules to remember to create a wonderfully healthy body for yourself. These mostly go back to the whole food supplement ideal - keep it as close to nature as possible.

You should eat…

· Anything that your great-grandmother would have been able to recognize and name: In many cases, new food is not good food. We don't eat liver or brains regularly anymore, we eat cereal bars and soy hot dogs … and we get cancer. This also includes margarine!

· Check the ingredient list: If there are ingredients in the list that have names that you can't pronounce, don't recognize, or have more than 5 words in them, keep these foods to an absolute minimum. There's no point in getting the highest quality natural Garden of Life vitamins if you end up putting poison over the top of them. The same applies for high fructose corn syrup.

· Does your food tell you that it is healthy? If it does, then it is probably one of the least healthy foods in the supermarket. Apples don't come with health claims, neither do carrots. Foods that are truly healthy won’t usually try to convince you to buy them for their healthy benefits. Of course, the rules vary for health supplements like goat protein powder, etc.

· Eat plants, leaves more than seeds: Bread is made from the seeds of a plant. However, when we look at bread in nutritional terms, it just doesn’t have the same value that spinach does. The same goes for potato chips! Potatoes might be a plant, and they might be cooked in 'vegetable oil' … but the only person you’re cheating if you call chips a vegetable is yourself.

· Eat until you're not hungry - not until you’re full: If you eat until your are full, you've overeaten. Remember that your satiety response takes a while to kick in.

· Be a fringe-dweller: That is, stick around the edges of the supermarket, where all the fresh food is kept.

· Have real meals and revel in your food: Being 'mindfully aware' of the process of eating is a key step in preventing overeating.

Heart Health for Chicks!

Heart attacks are often seen as a man's disease. Sadly, heart disease is also the leading killer of women. The statistics are pretty much even for guys and girls when it comes to heart health -- and they are certainly not good. Women might think that breast cancer is their top concern - in fact, if you are over 25, you need to watch out for a heart attack more than anything else. So, what whole food supplements can you take, and what lifestyle changes can you make, to help keep the center of your womanly emotions in great health?!

Understanding risk factors

Understanding what puts you at greater risk of having a heart attack is the first step in reducing that risk! Here are the top risk factors for heart disease development, and heart attack death, for women.

• Age
• Family predisposition

You can't change either of these factors. But you can be aware that if you are over 55 or have a history of bad heart health in the family, you'll need to pay extra attention to these next factors.

• Smoking cigarettes
• Having high blood pressure
• Not doing enough exercise
• Having diabetes
• Being overweight
• Having metabolic syndrome
• A waist measurement of 35 inches or more
• Being under overwhelming, or long-term, low level stress.

The answers

For most of us, the answer is in the question. Look at the risk factors that apply to you … and reverse them. You can also help yourself get more energy for exercise, support your quest to stop smoking, and help yourself lose weight with organic vitamins and supplements like Garden of Life's Diet 360.

Symptoms of a heart attack

These can be very vague - but if you experience more than three of them simultaneously, take yourself to the hospital.

• Fullness, discomfort, or tightness in the chest
• Being short of breath
• Pain in the upper abdomen
• Feeling a fluttering in your chest, or a pounding sensation
• Nausea and digestive upsets like vomiting
• Sweating heavily for no reason
• Being very weak and dizzy

Are You Sabotaging Your Sleep?

Around two thirds of Americans have problems with sleeping a few nights a week. And what that adds up to in real terms is a lot of avoidable arguments with partners and children, a lot of hours in lost productivity, a lot of mistakes that didn’t need to be made, and a lot of grumpy days that could have been happy ones! Today we're looking at some bedtime habits that can boost your quality of sleep, and some of theNew Chapter organic vitamins that can also help you switch off fully.

1. Set a schedule - stick to it!
   It's actually really hard to go to bed earlier than you are used to, and when you get to bed later than normal, you often find that you can't sleep in to make up for it. Create a sleep schedule that you can stick to as closely as possible.
2. DON'T bring books to bed
   This one sounds counter-intuitive. For many of us, reading is the only way we can get to sleep. However, when you don't have a book handy or you're travelling, this will increase insomnia.
   
3. Upgrade your mattress
   Going from a $1000 mattress to a $2000 mattress might not make a difference to your sleep … apart from keeping you awake at night thinking about your credit card statement! However, if you're sleeping on a decades-old mattress, one that is exceptionally worn or exceptionally cheap, the discomfort could be seriously harming your sleep.
4. LED lights
   The glare of LED lights can actually be a sleep destroyer for many of us, that even New Chapter Tranquilnite and organic vitamins can't fix! If you have an extra bright alarm clock, a night light, a VCR or stereo that stays on all night, start switching off at the wall.
5. Late exercise
   It's important to get exercise. But if you exercise late at night you’re making a health trade-off … not a health improvement. The chemicals that your body creates when exercising are NOT conducive to sleep! Go to sleep earlier, then exercise in the early morning instead of late at night.
6. Don't persist too long
   If you have followed all the checklists for good sleep and still just can't nod off, don't stay in bed. You'll just frustrate yourself. Hop up and balance a checkbook, read by a lamp or play Sudoku.

Your Tongue and Your Health!

So many health conditions lay hidden under the surface for quite a while, before they erupt in spectacular fashion. Heart disease is probably the best known of these (many seemingly healthy people have died of sudden heart attacks), but there are actually many more conditions. However, there is a sneaky way to check on your body's general health, without spending the cash for a full checkup with the doctor. Simply stick out your tongue and have a look in the mirror! Here we look at how your tongue can tell you which organic vitamins you need to take.

White coating on your tongue

If your tongue is covered in white pasty stuff, it's usually an indication of candida overgrowth. Sometimes your diet actually contributes to candida overgrowth (too many refined carbs, too much sugar). It could also be a symptom of an autoimmune disease, such as multiple sclerosis or HIV. However, you would most likely have other prominent symptoms in conjunction with one of these serious diseases.

Brown or black tongue

This isn't a sign of sickness in itself … but does tell you that you’re drinking too much coffee, too much tea, or chewing/smoking too much tobacco! The papillae on the surface of your tongue can become stained easily. If your tongue looks black or brownish, your nutritionist will tell you to cut out the ciggies and caffeinated drinks.

Sore spots

If you've been drinking more citrus juice than usual or have a cold, then you are more predisposed to mouth ulcers. Having sore spots on your tongue usually tells you that your immune system is run down in general - take an immune boosting supplement like Probiotic Immune Support by New Chapter.

Bumps that hurt

Keep an eye on any bumps on your tongue, or the inside of your cheeks, that start hurting, and don't heal within a few days or a week. They could be signs of oral cancer.

Dark red, painful tongue

This may be caused by an extremely rare (nowadays) nutritional deficiency called pellagra, in which you don't get enough niacin. Since the introduction of breakfast cereals fortified with whole food vitamins, it hasn’t really been an issue in the Western World, though.

The Nutritionist's Take on: Depression

It has only been comparatively recently that depression has begun to be accepted as a 'real' disease … and in some circles it hasn't even come that far. So it is unsurprising that there is little information available about the link between nutrition and depression. Treatments to date have focused almost exclusively on cognitive behavior therapy or on drugs affecting neurotransmitters. Both of these treatments have their places, but will be less effective if not supported by proper nutrition. Additionally, researchers are finding that depression can be prevented from developing, or from worsening, by maintaining a healthy diet with organic whole food vitamins. Today we look at the nutritionist's take on depression.

Depression and a balanced diet

When we become depressed, it is rare that we think of our problem as being within the body. Most of the time we tell ourselves that if our job was different, our spouse was different, or our finances were different we'd be fine. So it is difficult to recognize that it might be your diet that is causing or worsening the depression.

The key thing to remember is that if your body and brain were healthier, you would probably feel completely differently about your challenges in life. You would take an active rather than defeatist role when you come up against a problem. The peaks and crashes that many foods and drinks cause in our bodies only contribute to feelings of helplessness and not being able to cope. So, to change the way you feel about your problems:

• Avoid caffeine: You'll first feel wound up and nervous, and then the crash will give you headaches and create a loss of focus. Wean yourself off coffee with tea, then switch to water.
• Never skip a meal: The blood sugar crashes that this creates also affect your other hormones. And, as women especially know, hormones have an enormous role in creating your moods.
• Cut out alcohol: Especially if you're also undergoing cognitive behavior therapy. Alcohol completely changes your 'cognition' - this is not something we generally have control over. If you are trying to be positive, alcohol usually doesn’t help.
• Fruits and veg, or whole food multivitamins: These have all the nutrients that your body needs to create the levels of neurotransmitters and hormones you need to feel good.

Medication and proper nutrition

If antidepressant medication is recommended (though it usually is only for cases of moderate to severe depression), it often becomes difficult to maintain a good nutritional regime … and the lack of vital nutrients and swings in blood sugar will then counteract some of the benefits of the medicine. If you do need to take antidepressants and find them affecting your appetite, you should also take whole food multivitamins to help make sure your body has bioavailable nutrients.

The Nutritionist's Take on Menopause

Menopause will happen to a significant percentage of the world's population … almost half of us! It is a time where women are often left to fend for themselves, information-wise. There are no friendly Health and Human Development teachers available to answer questions, and truthfully, some people seem to be a bit uncomfortable with the end of the reproductive stage of a woman's life. Today we look at menopause from anutritionist's perspective … what favours can you do your body during the second major change of life?

Take calcium

The lack of estrogen freely available in your body is linked to a sharp decrease in bone mass as we age, and it is critical that we have enough calcium freely available in our bodies that we are able to build bone mass up to an ideal point.

Vitamin D

Calcium without adequate vitamin D is almost useless -- vitamin D is needed for proper absorption of the calcium from the foods you eat. However, do check all of your multivitamins to make sure that you aren’t doubling up on vitamin D -- high does have been linked with adverse affects like kidney stones and abdominal pain.

Take ginger

Research from several countries around the world emerging recently suggests that the symptoms of menopause can be managed with a daily dose of ginger whole food supplements, like New Chapter's Daily Ginger. Ginger has been found to modulate prostoglandins, which has a stabilizing effect on your hormones during menopause.

Replace your fats

This is good advice from nutritionists at any stage of life, but particularly important at menopause, when the lack of sex hormones has quite an impact on our metabolism. So, replace saturated fat with unsaturated, animal fat for vegetable oil, etc.

Don't forget your fiber

Fiber is important after menopause because of the increased risk of developing colon cancer. Fiber adds bulk to the foods we eat and helps your bowel work properly. It's best to get your fiber from vegetables and fruits, as well as whole grains. You'll need around 30 grams of fiber per day.

5 Tips for Better Digestive Health

When your digestive health improves, so does your overall health -- so today we look at 5 quick ways to stop ignoring, and start looking after, your gut!

1. Go pro!
   As long as you buy a reputable brand of probiotic dietary supplements, which contains a wide variety of different probiotic strains, there is little that science has to say about probiotics that could be construed as negative. It seems that it isn’t just your body you need to look after, but the little critters living inside it also!
2. Look at your lactose
   It is estimated that around 80% of people over the age of 2 (yes, 24 months) are intolerant of dairy foods to some degree. This is more prevalent in people of African descent, of whom almost 100% are dairy intolerant. That means watch your cheese, yogurt and cream as well as your milk.
3. Watch your solids
   Fried foods and your gut don't mix. Fats are very difficult to break down and digest; there isn’t anything wrong with giving your body a workout every so often, but eat too many fried foods and you could be in for some serious gut problems, like IBS.
4. Watch your liquids
   Water is the only drink our body is designed to have on a regular basis. Unfortunately, most of us drink far more coffee, tea and alcohol than we do water. Keep a water bottle next to you at your desk, and in a handy spot at home so you can sip as you need to … and you won’t quench that thirst with a less healthy liquid.
5. Check your meds
   The most common group of side effects in medications are gastro-intestinal ones. If you constantly feel nauseous, often get diarrhea or constipation, or always get heartburn, check those little pamphlets that come with your medication. Probiotic dietary supplements have a hard time overcoming the effects of many ordinary medicines.

The Five Best Foods for a Detox Diet

There’s a lot more interest these days in the benefits of a Detox Diet to regain the vibrant health that is lost through the ingestion of so many chemicals in our food these days. This is something that could be valuable when you find yourself feeling drained all the time, unable to concentrate, when your hair has lost its shine, your eyes their sparkle.

While there are many approaches to Detox Diets, they all aim to lessen the “body burden” that makes us more vulnerable to illness and decreased well-being through these three elements: Increase in the consumption of foods that cleanse the system; minimize the food “pollution” (i.e., artificial chemicals) by sticking to organic, whole foods; and eat more high fiber foods and water that draw out and eliminate toxins by increasing the frequency of bowel movements and urination.

You can get a lot of help from whole foods vitamins shops and their health newsletter for figuring out what to eat. Here is a list that will get you started.

Vegetables: Eat your veggies! Make them fresh, and especially go for the cruciferous vegetables (high in anti-oxidants) such asbroccoli and cauliflower, as well as broccoli sprouts, onions, garlic, artichokes, beets, red and green vegetables. You can make beautiful, colorful salads that are good as good for the eye as they are for you!

Rice & Grains: Enjoy all forms of rice, including rice cakes, rice crackers and rice pasta, and especially whole-grain brown rice. Many North Americans are discovering the taste and value of the more exotic grains such as quinoa and amaranth, which can be eaten hot or cold. Don’t forget the old-fashioned ones as well, e.g., millet, and buckwheat. You’ll find all these at most health food store or in some grocery stores.

Beans: If you have problems with gas from legumes, start with the split yellow and green peas and lentils as they are easiest to digest, and have the added benefit of requiring the least soaking time. You can also use kidney beans, pinto beans, mung beans, garbanzo beans (chickpeas) and adzuki beans. Again, you can use these hot or cold. A sprinkling of beans in a soup or salad is a great touch of fiber, protein, color, and texture!

Nuts and Seeds: The virtues of these are not as appreciated as they should be! Eat them unsalted as a snack, or in salads. Try flaxseed, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, almonds, cashews and walnuts. While some nut butters are permitted, peanut butter and peanuts themselves are not included in this diet.

Oil & Condiments: If you are not already using extra-virgin olive oil for its taste and nutrition, this is the time to make it a habit for cooking and salad dressings. For more flavor (with very few if any calories!) you can add vegetable salt, sea salt, vinegar, soy sauce or tamari, as well as aromatic herbs or spices.

Many people choose to supplement their cleansing diet with organic products (e.g., DetoxiFiber).

Here’s to the new, vibrant you!

Whole Foods Can Be a Whole Lot of Fun

I met a most fascinating man on a business trip this month, and I can’t stop thinking about him. (No, it is not what you think!) During our cross-country flight, I happened to ask what he did for fun.

“I cook! In fact, that is one of our favorite activities as a couple. We love trying out new recipes. On weekends, we love going to the farmer’s market together, picking out the best-looking produce, doing the grocery shopping. Then later we put on some music, pour some wine, and start cooking. Then we light the candles, sit down, and enjoy something special together! It’s a high point of the week for us both!”

His face lit up as he talked about the joys of mushrooms, tomatoes, and leeks, of soups, salads and risottos, pestos and bruschettas, and the pleasure of sharing it with someone special. We both discovered that we have a passion for cookbooks—especially those with lots of great photos to inspire us to cook.

I loved hearing this guy talk about knives and pans and mandolins the way some guys talk about football or cars. It reminded me that it’s best not to stereotype or prejudge. People of all kinds who care about what they put in their bodies take the time to learn to cook and do it well. And it isn’t just about nutrition. It's about digestive health, too.

There’s something really great about taking the “long-cut” when you can in the kitchen. Have you noticed how a person can get excited about their culinary adventures? How about the pride in serving a steaming homemade clam chowder with a thick crusty slice of homemade bread? Or a crispy medley of greens tossed with other colorful vegetables, and maybe a sprinkle of pumpkin seeds? And the satisfaction from offering it to family and friends, whose gratitude is really the best dessert?

If you are at all like me, it can be all too easy to fall into a routine and start thinking of cooking as a chore. So talking to this fellow reminded me that if you add some spice, fixing food from scratch can be a meaningful part of the day. Furthermore, as we both agreed, we like using whole foods because we know that they offer us more nutrition, including those valuable micro-nutrients.

Of course it’s not always possible, and that is when I rely on whole food supplements and organic vitamins. As one wise person said, if you were given a car at age 18 and told it would be the only car you would ever have, how would you care for it? Would we do any less with our bodies? And why not make it fun?!

Making up for Stress

So many of us live with high levels of stress, and being under constant stress is very hard on our bodies and is a contributor to many health issues. The more stress you have the more likely you are to suffer weight gain, insomnia, migraines, and heart related illnesses. If you are one of the thousands of people who have very stressful lives you might want to consider adding dietary supplements to your diet to help battle the effects of all that stress.

After extended quantities of stress you may begin to feel the effects; it generally shows up in your sleep patterns first. You may find it difficult to fall asleep. Once you start losing sleep other systems of your body begin to get affected, such as your immune system and digestive health system. When your body gets weak from lack of sleep it has to work harder to battle infections. It can’t always keep up with the demands and you become prone to easily avoided illnesses such as colds and flu.

Adding things like whole food supplements is an excellent way to avoid getting sick while under tremendous stress. It’s also highly recommended that you get some sort of exercise daily which is a good way to help relieve the stress in your life. Exercise tends to help you sleep better and if you can keep yourself from falling into an insomnia pattern, the risks of getting sick lessens.

It’s very hard to avoid the stress we deal with in our daily lives but there are plenty of ways to avoid the effects of stress. A healthy diet, plenty of exercise, proper sleep, and adding herbal supplements as needed to give you an extra boost, will help you stay healthy during your very stressful times.

What is Good Health?

Certainly you can’t turn on the evening news without hearing something about the debate on health care reform. It is top priority in Washington these days but I often wonder if they aren’t taking the wrong approach. As a nation we need to be trying to get ourselves to that perfect weight America that is the foundation of a healthier population which will then reduce illnesses that are directly related to obesity and poor diets.

We can’t expect to fix the financial problems with health care if we don’t fix what is causing people to have to spend so much on health care; that is, we need to get people healthier. That can be achieved by educating people on proper diet, the importance of adding whole food supplements to that diet, getting proper exercise, and changing the way people look at food.

Food has been used as a crutch for far too long. People are driven by four basic needs; food, water, sex, and money. The problem is most people can’t control many aspects of their lives but they can control their food intake. So when they aren’t getting enough of the other things that drive them, they turn to the one thing they can control and that’s food. Weight loss diets don’t work because people look at food as a reward or for comfort. When they are denied the foods they enjoy they give up on the diet. We need to teach people that moderation is the key to weight loss and a healthier body.

I believe it’s vitally important that people understand about how food functions once it’s consumed. These are the things we need to be teaching those who are looking for a healthier life style. We need to show them how adding things such as dietary supplements and drinking more water can make a world of difference in how they feel. Health care reform needs to start with getting people healthy.

Can’t run without Fuel

You wouldn’t expect your car to run well if you didn’t put the right kind of fuel in it and you shouldn’t expect your body to run well if you don’t put the right kind of fuel in it either. Our bodies are made up of millions of cells that carry the fuel from our food to the different organs of our bodies. These cells have to be nourished properly by eating the perfect foodcombinations. This doesn’t mean you can only eat these types of foods; it just means you need to include these types of foods into your diet.

Understanding how each of the systems of the body functions and what kind of fuel they need to function correctly is the most essential part of a healthy diet and healthy lifestyle. As a nutrition expert for over thirty years I have written countless articles praising the effects of whole food supplements and proper diet. It is never too late to change a bad eating or unhealthy lifestyle for a healthier more fulfilling lifestyle. The first step is often the hardest and that’s changing your attitude and thoughts about the foods you eat.

I enjoy rich, high cholesterol, fatty foods as much as the next person and I don’t always turn them down. I have found that I can have good health and still enjoy some of the bad foods in life as long as I take that in moderation. When you mention weight loss and diet to people they automatically think of having to eat tasteless meals and never getting any sweets. Food should be enjoyed; just not over enjoyed.

When you become disciplined in your eating habits and get into a good exercise routine you will notice a marked change in many different aspects of your life. Adding whole food vitamins to your routine adds even more benefits to your healthy lifestyle. You will likely see a change in your weight, energy level, the texture of your skin and hair, your sex life will improve, and you should notice that you are sleeping better. There are so many benefits to leading a healthy lifestyle.

Changing Lifestyle to Improve Life

There has to be a conscious decision to make lifestyle changes to improve the quality and quantity of your life. If you aren’t getting enough sleep, eating the right foods, or getting enough exercise, your body will turn on you and essentially send out warnings that you need to make changes in your lifestyle. This is what happened to me and made me make drastic changes and to move into what I call my garden of life.

I wasn’t eating correctly nor getting enough sleep or exercise. I started my new life by changing the way I eat and addingwhole food vitamins to my daily routine. I started eating only organic foods and cut back dramatically the amount of red meat I had in my diet. I wanted to feed my body and not my emotions so I changed my thinking about the foods I ate and how they made me feel.

You see, so many people eat because they have cravings for certain types of foods. Even if they aren’t hungry, people will find themselves putting away donuts or chips because they satisfy a craving for sweet or salty. These can also be considered comfort foods which may comfort you but they also work against your body’s natural systems. By addingwhole food multivitamins to my daily routine along with healthy foods such as organic vegetables and fruits, I was able to use that food as the fuel for the important systems of my body, such as the immune system.

Not eating enough is just as bad as eating too much. Everybody is looking for perfect weight America and they think they can achieve this by starving themselves. It’s very important to make sure you are getting enough of the essential vitamins and minerals that your body needs. To live healthy and happy there has to be a medium of good food, good exercise, and good nutrition.

Your Body the Machine

Our bodies are designed to run like a fine-tuned machine. When that machine isn’t properly cared for it doesn’t run smoothly and often times will break down. Putting products into the machine that aren’t designed for maximum performance limits your body as to what it can do. But when you put in the perfect combination of products that are designed to be utilized in the most optimum way, your body performs amazingly. I realized this and found that by simply changing my diet and subscribing to a nutrition newsletter I began feeling much better.

Taking care of the individual systems of my body by feeding them important whole food supplements made those systems begin to function at top performance. Adding probiotics as well regulated my digestive system and made the food I ate work better for my body. Getting exercise also increased how well my body was performing which helped me to lose weight and become a healthier person. We only get one body in this life and it’s up to us to care for it the best we can.

So many foods that we are tempted to eat are full of products that work against our body performance. Because our bodies are designed to fight infections and illnesses, we have to be sure to make sure this system is being fed properly. Dietary supplements are an important part of a healthy body because we often don’t get enough of the vitamins and minerals we need by simply eating a healthy diet. Taking a whole food multivitamin is one excellent way to help your body get enough of the important vitamins it needs every day.

Your body is a machine and needs maintenance in order for it to keep working the way it was designed to. By making simple changes in your diet and exercise routines you can live healthier and happier for much longer. You can learn what supplements work best with your body by studying the vitamin code; you can find this by doing an easy online search.

For Better Health

Several years ago I made a commitment to myself to eat better and get more exercise. I also decided I should start taking vitamins and minerals to help my body to function better. As I researched for the best types of supplements I came across whole food vitamins which caught my eye. I decided this was about as natural as vitamins come and decided to give them a try. It was possibly one of the best decisions I made to maintain a healthier lifestyle.

When considering the perfect weight, America falls quite short of where we should all be. We are a country of fat citizens and it has reached epidemic proportions. I, for one, began eating better, fixing healthier meals for my entire family, and also began educating my friends about nutrition and what is best for their bodies. I now host a rather large group that is dedicated to healthier lifestyles for themselves and their families. I feel like I’ve made a difference in helping to combat obesity in our community.

Once I began taking the whole food multivitamins it didn’t take long for my body to recognize the difference and to start functioning more efficiently. I found when so many of my co-workers were falling ill to seasonal flu or colds I was maintaining my health. Since I also put my entire family on these vitamins, my children didn’t miss a single day of school because of illness. The body is a machine and needs to be maintained, much like your automobile does. If you don’t properly maintain it, it’s going to break down and so will your body.

Whole food vitamins are as natural as natural can get and they work very easily with your body’s natural systems. In order for vitamins to work they have to be broken down and these vitamins break down much easier than the popular name brand vitamins on the market. I urge anybody who is looking to improve their health to try whole food supplements as the perfect way to get your body back in shape.

5 Unusual and Effective Natural Health Products

We are used to seeing pills, powders and dried out mushrooms as part of the whole food multivitamin product range. However, as the industry becomes more developed and differentiated, manufacturers of holistic health products are coming up with more and more unusual, and effective, ideas! Today we are looking at 5 odd-seeming, but effective, nutritionist recommended products.

New Chapter Life Shield Throat Defense

We are used to taking our dietary supplements and defenses internally … but more usually as a pill than a spray! This odd product makes perfect sense - the lining of our throat is very thin, and there are so many airborne viruses and pollutants in our crowded modern world. This product is based on the immune-boosting properties of mushrooms.

MyChelle Guava Cactus Mask

Again, antioxidants are sually delivered via the teeth, tongue, throat and stomach … not the skin! This nourishing antioxidant mask has anti-aging ingredients like organic green tea and tocotrienols to clean up the antioxidants that can really damage our skin. Better out than in, in this case!

Tea Trio by Garden of Life

It is rare that tea manufacturers and whole food multivitamin manufacturers get together to create a product. Usually herbal teas have only scanty evidence for their health benefits - these teas are made by one of the pre-eminent manufacturers of natural health products.

Ginger Honey Tonic for Digestion

When was the last time you saw anything advertised as a 'tonic'? It was probably in an advertisement from the 60s, however the old-fashioned name is a disguise for quite an advanced product. Ginger and papaya support digestion, and there are an additional 12 anti-aging ingredients that neutralize free-radical activity.

Clenzology by Garden of Life

One of the few products that recognizes that good health and avoidance of disease is most easily achieved by simply killing germs before they get to your body … immune boosting is a very worthwhile exercise, but certainly limited in its effectiveness. This unusual product cleans under the fingernails as well as refreshing the breath … amazing!

5 Things You Didn't Know You Could Buy Organic

Going organic is a big lifestyle change … it means paying more attention to what is in your home, going into your lungs, entering your stomach, and being put on your skin than you ever have in your life! However, there are thousands of people that swear they have much healthier, more vibrant lives because of the change to organic. It simply makes sense to live as close to nature as you possibly can. If you are thinking about a change to organic (or have started already), today we take you through five products that many people don't know there is an organic version of, from organic vitamins and gut bacteria, to organic t-shirts.

Fruit and vegetables

This is an obvious one. But while you probably know there are organic fruits and vegetables out there, what you probably don't realize is the range that is available. You can get just about anything, from raspberries to pawpaw to dates to baby corn to prepacked lettuce, spinach and squash. Look for stores online that will deliver to you -- you can often get a better price than in the supermarket.

Gift Hampers

There are a hundred stores that sell gift hampers, but only a few that sell organic ones. Hampers are a great way to introduce your friends and loved ones to the awesome taste and better nutrition that organic foods provide. Of course, you can always make up your own organic hamper, too!

Organic maitake mushrooms

Mushrooms are often heavily coated in chemicals to help protect them from environmental factors they are so vulnerable to. You can get the benefits of maitake mushrooms in organic form, with no counterproductive chemicals, from the famous whole food multivitamin company New Chapter.

Shampoo and Conditioner

If you have an aversion to chemicals, you probably avoid reading the back of your shampoo bottle … it is just too depressing. You can actually get organic shampoo and conditioner that is just as good as the synthetic version at cleaning and conditioning your hair … and much better at looking after your body!

Wine

Growing winegrapes can use a lot of pesticides, fungicides and herbicides. Many people that drink organic wine claim the hangover is almost non-existent, compared to standard wine. Good enough reason for me!

Three FAQs About Organic Vitamins

There is currently an unprecedented level of intrusion into our lives by chemicals … where we used to pick something straight out of ground and eat it (and in fact, evolved quite highly while doing so!), now there is chemical intervention in many areas of our lives. The exposure to chemicals and other non-natural particles and waves concerns many people, who believe that the diseases that currently plague our society could be almost wiped out by using organic products. You probably know you can get organic apples … but did you know you can get organic vitamins? Today we answer five question about them.

What is organic, anyway?

Anything that is labelled as organic should also have a certification mark from the USDA National Organic Program, otherwise it may not adhere to the strict standards needed for the term to be correct. Organic products should not contain, be treated with, or be exposed to any:

• Pesticides
• Synthetic fertilizers
• Sewage sludge
• Genetically modified organisms
• Ionizing radiation
• Antibiotics
• Growth hormones.

In other words, they should be 100%, completely, all natural.

Why do organic vitamins cost more?

Like many other organic products, organic vitamins cost more than their synthetic counterparts because of the lower yields that organic crops have, and the effort involved in converting land to organic status (a 3 year process). However, most people feel the extra cost is well worth it.

There's no taste factor with organic vitamins .. why is it so important to buy organic?

One of the big reasons that people advocate organic food is the taste difference - they believe that organic food has a fresher, more natural, sweeter and fuller taste. Obviously, this doesn’t matter with vitamins, but there is another concern. Scientists have recognized for quite a while that it is better to get your vitamins from whole food rather than in a pill, and it is possible that the chemicals and process of isolating vitamins takes away their value to your body. This is why organic vitamins are recommended.

Symptoms of Candidiasis

Candida overgrowth puts an enormous strain on the body's defences. Many of us are naturally prone to candida overgrowth, or you may be taking medications (such as antibiotics or the contraceptive pill) that break down your body's fungal defense systems and predispose you to candida overgrowth. However, you may not even know that you have it! Today we look at some of the symptoms of candidiasis, to help you know when to start a fungal defense course.

White patches in your mouth

These may appear on your tongue, inside your cheeks or in your throat. They are nothing more than little colonies of yeast cells, setting up camp in your pristine mouth. Ugh!

Frequent vaginal or penile thrush

Most of us have experienced the horrible itchiness that comes along with vaginal or penile thrush. If you have a general candida overgrowth in your body, you will be very prone to thrush outbreaks, the OTC medications that you get will take up to their maximum time to work and you'll usually have fast recurrence of symptoms.

Skin rashes in warm, damp areas

You might get a rash under your arms, under your breasts, around your groin or in other skin folds (which you'll notice more, the more skin folds you have). Yeast likes to live and breed in warm, moist places, and if you have serious overgrowth, even being occasionally exposed to the air like your armpits and the area underneath your breast are, won’t bother it. These rashes will usually be itchy, just like genital thrush is … a horrible, unsatisfiable itch that doesn’t stop until you've scratched it to the point of pain.

Skin blisters

In extreme cases, skin blisters may develop due to the irritation of little colonies of yeast living on it!

If you find that you are prone to yeast infections, or even if you are on the contraceptive pill or antibiotics, it is a good idea to take a fungal defense as a preventive action. It is much easier to stop colonies becoming established than fight them once they are.

Is Your Water Sabotaging Your Health Regime?

We hear volumes about the health benefits of water … we are supposed to drink 8 glasses daily, use it wash our hands thoroughly, and shower in it every day. However, in some cases, your water might be sabotaging your health regime. The quality of our drinking water is actually fairly poorly regulated. While we certainly have developing country standards of water safety (where you can get typhoid or giardia just from your morning glass of water), there are still plenty of nasties in our water. Today we look at how to combat the baddies in your water!

Where do impurities in the water come from?

Our water supply is not a closed system. It comes from aquifers or dams, that are in contact with the soil. It is fed by rainfall, which can quite easily have low levels of harmful chemicals in it - think acid rain. Agricultural runoff (fertilizers and pesticides) and improper use of household chemicals are two of the major sources of chemical pollution in our water.

What do these chemicals do?

This is very difficult to say with any certainty - it would take decades fro scientists to properly study the effects of having isolated chemicals in the drinking water of a certain population … not to mention pretty unethical. However, many people believe that the increase in a wide range of degenerative diseases is caused by the constant low-level exposure to chemicals that we all deal with every day, some of which come from our water.

So, if you’re taking whole food multivitamins to help prevent osteoporosis or rheumatoid arthritis, for example, your water could certainly be sabotaging your health regime!

So, should I drink bottled water?

Not if you care about the environment! Current estimates are that it TAKES three bottles of water to CREATE one bottle of water. That is waste, water used in processing, water used in making the plastic, water used in transporting and refrigerating it, etc. Not to mention the affect of petrochemical production, fuel for transport... bottled water isn't even guaranteed to be a purer than tap water. Tap water is the best delivery system for water - it is just that it needs to be cleaned up a bit.

Water filtration systems

These are generally accepted as the best solution to the water purity/environmental conundrum. They require an investment, but your will use them every day for the rest of your long, long life … no more negating the effects of all those vege stir-fries and whole food multivitamins!

7 Groups at Increased Risk of Bone Diseases … and What to Do About It

Our poor old bones … they are one of the most ignored parts of our bodies, after our spleens and medulla oblongatas! The terrible thing about that ignorance is, though, that in later life your mobility and capability is enormously reduced, if you might shatter a hip simply by steeping down off something the wrong way. Today we are looking at some groups that are at increased risk of bone diseases, and the organic vitaminsthey should be taking to offset that risk.

1. Athletes
   Crazy, isn’t it … we are told that exercise is needed for peak bone mass, and yet athletes are at increased risk of osteoporosis! Before you throw your gym shoes in the corner in disgust at medical science's ineptitude, read on. It is only when people undertake elite level competition, during the main bone formation years up to 25 that they are at increased risk. When female athletes stop menstruating, that is a strong signal they are at risk of early osteoporosis. Organic vitamins can help.
2. Breast cancer survivors
   Chemotherapy often destroys the ovaries' ability to produce and release eggs, and the resulting hormonal changes are a great danger to the health of breast cancer survivor's bones.
3. Early onset menopause
   Every post-menopausal woman is at increased risk of osteoporosis, and needs to take special care of her bones, usually with gentle weight bearing exercise and whole food multivitamins. Early menopausal women may still be working, carrying children around, etc, and are at risk of fractures.
4. Eating disorders
   When adolescents develop eating disorders, they have severely impacted peak bone mass, due to the malnutrition.
5. Elderly women
   The combined action of menopause's hormonal changes, lack of ability to exercise and lowered appetite make elderly women prime candidates for osteoporosis.
6. Corticosteriod therapy patients
   It is a well know n side effect of medications for asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and some skin conditions that bone density loss can occur.
7. Over and Underactive thyroid
   If you have an over or underactive thyroid, in addition to whole food multivitamins for glandular support, you should be taking a bone strength formulation.

Whole Food Multivitamins for Bone Health

We tend to think that if we take the trouble to drink milk with our coffee a few times a day, our bones will be just fine well into old age. Unfortunately, that just isn’t so! Maintaining healthy bones might not be high on the short-term health watchlist, but it is vital to your wellbeing after menopause. Today we are looking at the whole food multivitamins, minerals and supplements that can help you maintain good bone health for life.

Calmag Bone Health by New Chapter

This blend contains calcium as well as the synergistic nutrients it needs to do its special thing with your bones, in a whole food base form. It contain calcium and magnesium in a 1:1 ratio, plus 6 other trace elements that are needed for bone health.

Bone Strength Take Care by New Chapter

Your body recognizes this supplement as food, so you get the benefits of drinking milk or eating cheese, but without the calories. You also get the beneficial effects of having the nutrients delivered in complex format rather than in isolation.

Living Calcium Advanced by Garden of Life

This whole food multivitamin contains MHCA calcium, as well as many supporting cofactors, minerals etc. It contains vitamin K as well as betaine and Poten-yme B Vitamins.

Capraflex by Mt Capra

This organic vitamin formulation supports not only your bones, but all those supporting structures that are necessary for movement - your joints, ligaments, and other connective tissues. Mt Capra is famous for delivering vitamins in natural, organic bases that make them easy to utilise.

In addition to all the whole food multivitamins above, you should endeavor to get 5-20 minutes of sunshine a day on your arms and face, just about every day. If you live above 42 degrees north latitude, you should spend more time than this outdoors for vitamin D synthesis. And don't forget to do 20 minutes of weight-bearing exercise a day -- jump around while you still can!

Life Worth Living

The day I turned 40 years old I was 25 pounds overweight, lethargic, and seldom did any type of real exercise. At 40 I felt like a 60-year-old and to be honest, I looked the part as well. I took a good look in the mirror and decided to give myself the best birthday present ever; a new lease on life. I threw out all the junk that made me the fat, unhealthy person I was, and began taking dietary supplements, eating the right foods, and exercising. This was a decision that saved my life.

It was hard giving up all the many foods I had grown to love but the fact is they were slowly killing me. I began studying the vitamin code to figure out which foods supply what types of nutrients to the different areas of my body. I wanted to build a strong immune system so I researched which foods were best to do that. I made a diet plan and implemented all the essential vitamins and minerals into that plan. I also made a chart that explained what part of the body benefited from the foods I ate so that when I would eat that food I could visualize that area of my body getting stronger. This was an important exercise that helped me to stay on track.

I knew that a healthy digestive system was key in making sure all the nutrients I was taking in got to where they needed to go. I addedprobiotics to my diet to help regulate my digestive system to make sure it was functioning as efficiently as it could. After about two weeks of adding this to my diet I began to notice a huge change in how I felt.

The changes in my body weren’t immediate; it took a few weeks for me to notice all the improvements but gradually I began to drop my weight and as I was able to exercise more the changes came along faster. The combination of changing my diet to healthier foods, getting proper exercise, and taking a whole food multivitamin changed my life for the better and probably added many years to my life. I never really knew how unhealthy I was until I got healthy. I see food in a totally different way now; I eat for what food does for my body and not for how it comforts me emotionally. I am now 42 years old but I feel and look like I'm 30.

Whole Food Supplements

We are told that we need to take vitamins and supplements in order to ensure the body gets the nutrients that it needs. Even though this is true, many of us are not sure what kind to take or what are the differences between vitamins and whole food supplements. It works like this: The body works better when digesting whole foods. For example, we know that oranges contain vitamin C and then think that taking an isolated vitamin C tablet is the same as eating an orange. This is not true; we also need the other micronutrients that are contained in the orange. All of these micronutrients and vitamins that are in fruits and vegetables work together in the body to help maintain optimal health. This is where taking a whole food supplement is better then taking an isolated vitamin.

Whole food vitamins are very different from the synthetic isolated vitamins that are sold at the local pharmacy. Whole food supplements are concentrates of real whole foods. These foods are dried and turned into powder form and then encapsulated into pill form. The supplement now contains the micronutrients that are found in whole foods unlike an isolated synthetic vitamin.

There are more than 25,000 different micronutrients that have been identified so far in vegetables and fruits. For this reason, it is very hard for one to consume the number of nutrients that are needed for the body to maintain optimal health every day. That is why it is important to take whole food vitamins such as Garden of Life supplements, since we do not get enough whole foods in our daily diet. Synthetic vitamins cannot provide these micronutrients as a quality whole food supplement can.

There are some companies that only make organic whole food supplements. Organic whole food vitamins are made from foods that are grown organically. That means that they are grown without pesticides or chemicals. With many now becoming more aware of the benefits of eating organic fruits and vegetables, there are also the option to take organic vitamins and supplements. Some companies are even making 100% vegan vitamins. One such company is called Vitamin Code.

Since whole food vitamins are made from whole foods, the body can absorb and digest them more efficiently. This also means that many can take them on an empty stomach with no irritation to the digestive track. The many benefits of taking whole food supplements outweigh synthetic vitamins by far.

Top 5 Complexes and Supplements for Women's Health

We women are often considered to be a completely different species from men. In fact, there is a growing body of evidence that shows that men's and women's bodies have greater genetic differences than the lack of an extra leg on one of our chromosomes! The married segment of society has always intuited these differences (and hopefully, successfully learned to live with them). Now the whole food supplements industry is doing the same! Today we are looking at some of the best New Chapter organic supplements for women's health.

Every Woman II Vitamins

The herbs in this New Chapter organic supplement are designed specifically for supporting women's hormones needed for proper body functioning, especially pasat menopause. This blend contains 25 different vitamins and minerals, and 20 different herbs. It aims to cure stress, help with anti-aging and boost energy.

Every Woman's Inner Beauty

This formulation is specifically designed to support women's mental health in quite an indirect way … by helping them look better. The supplement aims to improve the health of skin, hair and nails. It includes 20 different herbs (just like Every Woman II), including supercritical ginger and turmeric extracts which are supposed to enhance bioavailability.

Perfect Prenatal

Natural is best when it comes to pregnancy, which is why New Chapter branched out into providing prenatal whole food supplements. The nutrients are delivered through whole food form rather than isolated synthetic compounds, which is thought to increase bioavailability.

Every Woman's Mineral Complex

Minerals are easy to miss out on in your diet, but essential to proper cell function. This mineral complex New Chapter organic supplement delivers its minerals in probiotic form, and includes 9 free-radical scavenging herbs.

Every Woman's Iron Support

Even women who generally eat quite a balanced diet and get good amounts of most vitamins and minerals can find themselves iron deficient. The regular loss of blood through menstruation is only one reason why your iron becomes depleted - pregnancy really saps your stores, and if you are like one out of every five women and choose to give blood regularly, then you'll have a hard time keeping up your iron without keeping up the fat from red meat. This whole food supplement has been very popular for this reason.

Living a Healthier Life

Last year I became aware of the need to live a healthier life. I decided to change all my bad habits and replace them with a plan that I call mygarden of life. I went through my pantry and refrigerator and threw away all the food items that were not healthy and replaced them with foods that help my body function more efficiently. I began keeping a diary of all the things I wanted to change such as my weight, sleeping habits, and mental abilities such as my memory. Over the last year I have seen major changes in all these things.

I began taking a whole food multivitamin every day and after doing this for two weeks I noticed a huge change in the amount of energy I had throughout the day. I felt younger and more energetic. I also began an exercise routine to help tone up and rebuild my muscles. After the first month of my garden of life plan I had lost ten pounds and dropped two pant sizes.

I also changed the way I took care of my skin. I threw away all the harmful cosmetics that clog my pores and began using natural skin careproducts. I stopped going to the tanning salon and began taking good care of my skin by using the proper sunscreens designed for my skin type. My skin has never looked better or younger. For the first time in my life I can leave the house without having to put on any make up; my skin looks even and smooth all on its own.

Before I began changing all my bad habits I was having a difficult time sleeping and would often struggle to fall asleep and stay asleep. I found myself waking up at least two times a night. I would get up in the morning feeling like I hadn’t gotten enough sleep. But after I began making the changes in my life by adding a whole food multivitamin to my diet, I began sleeping much better. I was able to fall asleep effortlessly and stay asleep throughout the night. I think the combination of the vitamin and the exercise helped me to overcome this annoying part of my life. I now feel well rested and refreshed every morning.

I recognized that I needed to make these changes in my life. My garden of life plan has benefited me in so many ways and I highly recommend that if you are feeling run down and unable to fully participate in life, that you make these same type of changes in your life. You will have a longer and more satisfying life if you do.

Vitamins and Supplements for Optimal Nutrition

The majorities of us lead very busy lives and do not have time to eat healthy. We know that we do not always make the right food choices on a daily basis. Breakfast can be a cup of coffee and maybe a doughnut -- or even worse, fast food -- as we run out the door. Taking a multivitamin can help one to get the vitamins and minerals that our bodies need to stay healthy.

With all the different vitamins on the market it can be confusing choosing the right one. Each one of use has different needs to help our bodies maintain optimal health. Looking at age, sex and nutritional needs will generally help one to decide on which vitamin to buy.

Have you considered organic vitamins? These vitamins are made from ingredients that do not contain chemicals, artificial coloring and flavors. With many of us trying to lead a healthier lifestyle these are a great choice and is a great first step.

There is also a lot of confusion on what whole food vitamins are. These are vitamins that are made only from natural sources. This means that the vitamins and minerals are not made from man-made materials. The ingredients come from plants, vegetables and fruits. They also do not contain any artificial ingredients like the organic vitamins.

Vitamins and multivitamins are not the same. A vitamin is considered to be an isolated vitamin where there are no other vitamins that are mixed in. A multivitamin is a mixture of vitamins and minerals.

Vitamins that are made for women usually contain more iron and calcium, while vitamins that are made for men may contain things to promote prostate health. Children also have special nutritional needs when it comes to taking a multivitamin.

As science finds out more on how taking certain supplements can help our bodies to achieve optimal health, it is important to be informed on the many different types. For some of us a whole food vitamin is just what we need, while others may need to take organic vitamins. Either way, taking vitamins and supplements can help the body to stay healthy when faced with a busy lifestyle.