Benefits of Swiss Chard - A Natural Fat Burning Food

By Steve O'Connor  

Discover the incredible weight loss benefits of swiss chard, how to best prepare it and how much you should eat to get maximum benefit from swiss chard - one of nature's amazing fat burning foods.

The veggie known as swiss chard resembles beets or spinach in taste. Along with kale, collard and mustard greens, it is a leafy green vegetable that is commonly referred to simply as "greens". You can purchase it throughout the year, but its peak harvest time starts in June and ends in August.

This leafy green veggie has a wide, crunchy stalk colored white, red or yellow. The leaves are a dark green color, very wide, and are spread out in the shape of a fan. You can eat the stalk as well as the leafy parts.

Fat Burning Benefits of Swiss Chard

It contains anthocyans and fiber that give special protection against cancer of the digestive tract, especially cancer of the colon. There is recent scientific evidence suggesting that Swiss chard may protect the kidneys of diabetic patients, because the serum urea and creatinine levels are reduced.

It is also very high in the following substances: Vitamin A, C, E and K, dietary fiber, magnesium, manganese, iron and potassium.

This vegetable additionally contains reliable amounts of Vitamins B-1, B-2 and B-6, plus folic acid, biotin, niacin, Pantothenic acid, copper, calcium, zinc, phosphorus, and copper, as well as protein.

The vitamin K content helps to keep your bones healthy.

Beta carotene is a cancer-fighting nutrient that is also an antioxidant. Beta carotene belongs to the carotenoid family, and might be able to protect the body against skin cancer and various other kinds of cancer.

Vitamin A is helpful in the reduction of negative effects cigarette smoke has on the body, plus it helps to guard the body against emphysema.

Magnesium is helpful in regulating the body's nerve and muscle tone by regulating the effect of calcium on the body.

Vitamin C helps fight inflammation as an antioxidant that dissolves in water. It provides the energy needed to raise the metabolism of your body in order to burn off excess fat. Swiss chard contains Vitamin C, which is helpful in the prevention of free radical damage to cells, plus it provides additional protection against cancer of the colon. Vitamin C is also very helpful in maintaining a healthy immune system, fending off colds and helping to cure infections.

It also contains potassium, which is helpful in lowering blood levels, as well as cholesterol levels.

The iron content of the vegetable is helpful in producing the body's energy and also manufactures hemoglobin, a protein that transports oxygen everywhere in the body.

This vegetable contains manganese, a trace mineral that is helpful in producing energy that comes from proteins and carbohydrates, as well as synthesizing fatty acids. In addition, manganese protects the body against free radical damage that occurs when energy is produced.

Proper Way to Prepare Swiss Chard

Look for fresh Swiss chard in your supermarket's fresh produce section; this section is one of the store's refrigerated areas. Find the most vibrant green leafy produce, without yellowed or discolored leaves. Be certain that you pick out crisp stalks and crispy leaves that do not contain any visible spots.

You can refrigerate unwashed Swiss chard leaves in a plastic bag for a few days. Blanched Swiss chard leaves may be frozen for future meals. Before cooking the Swiss chard, rinse it off very carefully in order to remove all of the dirt and sand. Immerse the leaves and stalks in a container filled with cold water, swoosh them around, then finish cleaning by rinsing them in cold, running water. Trim off the bottom ends of the vegetable. If the fibers are too plentiful, you can peel them off in the same manner that you peel off excess fibers from celery stalks.

Do not cook this vegetable in an aluminum pot, because the aluminum will, cause your Swiss chard to lose its green color. It is better to quick boil your Swiss chard, as opposed to steaming it, since the quick boil method frees the oxalic acids found in the leaves, and helps it to not taste quite as bitter.

Substitute Swiss chard in lieu of spinach when you cook a vegetarian lasagna. Substitute it for cabbage when preparing stuffed veggie dishes. You can use the leaves as a sandwich wrap, stuffing them with your favorite tuna fish, chicken or turkey fillings. You can also add cooked this vegetable to a penne pasta dish, with the addition of extra virgin olive oil, fresh lemon juice and chopped garlic cloves. Try adding some steamed Swiss chard to a frittata or an omelet.

The Amount to Eat

The recommended portion size of Swiss chard is the equivalent of one cup.

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Vitamin D: Why It's Easy to Be Deficient

By Dr. Zen-Jay Chuang

Have you ever seen pictures of children with extremely bowed legs? It is a condition called rickets and it's from low levels of vitamin D, causing the bones to become soft and weak.

Vitamin D is crucial for bone health. It helps your body keep a good balance of calcium and phosphate in the blood. With low vitamin D levels, children can develop rickets and adults can develop osteomalacia, a condition in which weak bones cause bone pain, fractures, and muscle weakness.

Vitamin D also has many other functions in the body. It helps control the growth of your cells, improves your immunity, provides nerve and muscle strength, and reduces disease-causing inflammation in your body.

Some studies suggest it may help with type 2 diabetes, weight loss, multiple sclerosis, high blood pressure, depression, heart disease, colon cancer, and other types of cancer.

Nursing home residents seem to have significantly fewer falls when they start a daily vitamin D supplement.

While the jury is still out on all of the studies related to vitamin D, we know it is essential that you have enough but not too much so that it becomes harmful. Simply put, you need to have optimal levels of vitamin D.

How Do You Get Enough Vitamin D?

There are 3 ways for you to get vitamin D:

1. Your skin makes vitamin D through sunlight

2. You can get vitamin D from food

3. You can take a vitamin D supplement

Let's start with the sun on your skin.

As a general rule, exposure of the face, hands, arms, and legs to sunlight 2 to 3 times a week may produce enough vitamin D to stay healthy. Exposure should be about 1/4 of the amount of time it takes for you to get a mild sunburn. Depending on your skin color, this can mean from 5 to 30 minutes of sun exposure between 10 am and 3pm.

It is the ultraviolet B radiation in sunlight that helps your skin make vitamin D. Complete cloud cover reduces this radiation by about 50%. Shade, including the shade from severe pollution, reduces this ultraviolet B radiation about 60%.

How about food?

Surprisingly, there are not too many foods that are naturally high in vitamin D. The following list includes the foods highest in vitamin D:

Vitamin D Measured in IUs:

Cod liver oil, 1 tbsp, 1,360

Swordfish, cooked, 3 oz., 566

Sockeye Salmon, cooked 3, oz., 447

Mackerel, canned, 3 oz., 214

Sardines, canned, 3 oz., 197

Tuna Fish, canned in water, drained, 3 oz., 154

Orange juice Vitamin D-fortified, 1 cup, 137

Milk, Vitamin D-fortified, 1 cup, nonfat, reduced fat, & whole, 115-124

The abbreviation IU stands for "international unit" and is what you will find on food and supplement labels.

The third source of vitamin D is from supplements.

In general, there are two different forms of vitamin D on the market: ergocalciferol (also known as vitamin D2) and cholecalciferol (also known as D3). I will discuss their effectiveness in the following section.

How Much Vitamin D Do You Need?

Well, if you can get enough sun on your skin as described above, you really do not have to worry about getting more vitamin D from food and supplements.

On the other hand, food and supplements can provide a healthy dose of vitamin D if you have any (or a combination) of the following risk factors for low vitamin D:

·       You do not spend enough time outdoors, especially in the sun.

·       You live in a northern latitude, especially north of the Philadelphia-San Francisco line. For example, in Boston, there is not enough sunlight to make vitamin D in your skin for about 4 months of the year. If you go further north to Edmonton, Canada, your skin cannot make vitamin D for 5 months of the year.

·       You have been following your dermatologist's suggestion of liberally using sunscreen to protect yourself from the sun's radiation.

·       You have darker skin. Skin pigment reduces the skin's ability to absorb the ultraviolet radiation in the sun. In a bathing suit, a light-skinned person spending 10-12 minutes under peak July sun in Boston can make 10,000 to 20,000 international units of vitamin D. It will take an Asian Indian person, who has darker skin, about 30 minutes to make as much vitamin D. It will take an African American with very dark skin about 120 minutes to make the same amount of vitamin D.

·       You are obese. Fat cells hoard vitamin D. This reduces the circulating vitamin in your blood.

·       Your have a medical condition such as Crohn's disease, celiac disease, and cystic fibrosis that impairs your gut's absorption of vitamin D.

·       You are a strict vegetarian.

·       Your kidneys are impaired so they cannot activate the vitamin D you have.

·       You are older than 65. This means your skin makes less vitamin D, your gut may not absorb nutrients as efficiently, and your kidneys may not activate vitamin D as effectively. Even in sunny South Florida, as many as 40% of older people have low vitamin D levels.

If you have any of these risk factors, how many international units of vitamin D should you aim for a day?

This depends on whom you talk to. In recent years, various scientific authorities came up with different amounts of vitamin D that they consider good for your daily intake through food and supplements.

To spare you the confusing numbers and arguments, here is the bottom line.

If you are an adult, aim for 600 to 2000 IUs of vitamin D a day from your food and supplements.

And if you get vitamin D from supplements, keep in mind that unit for unit, cholecalciferol (vitamin D3) is better used by your body than ergocalciferol (vitamin D2).

In general, vitamin D3 is about 3 times more powerful than vitamin D2.

How Do You Know if You are Vitamin D Deficient?

If you are low on vitamin D, you may have bone pain and muscle weakness. But, often the symptoms of low vitamin D are very subtle. And even without any clear symptoms, low vitamin D can badly affect your health in different ways.

Your doctor can order a simple blood test, 25-hydroxy vitamin D, for you. Again, the normal range for vitamin D also varies according to different authorities. But here is what you need to know: a level of 30 to 50 ng/mL is considered optimal for bone health and overall health.

If your blood test suggests that you are very low on circulating vitamin D, your doctor may give you a prescription for high-dose treatment for a period of time. Make sure you follow his or her directions.

Can You Get Sick From Too Much Vitamin D?

Yes you can!

Too much vitamin D in your body can make you not want to eat, lose weight, urinate excessively, and have abnormal heartbeats. Even more seriously, it can make your blood calcium level too high, resulting in damage to your heart, blood vessels, and kidneys.

Unless you are under close monitoring by you doctor, do not take over 4000 international units of vitamin D from food and supplements a day. Exceeding this dose will increase your risk for having a toxic overload of vitamin D.

On the other hand, your skin will not make too much vitamin D from sunshine. Your body is such a marvelous creation that when you get too much sun, your skin actually rids itself of the extra vitamin D automatically.

Keep reading to discover the keys for defusing ticking health bombs that could be lurking in your body. Click here to discover the medical secrets necessary to know so you can live a better, longer, healthier life.

Don't miss your opportunity to discover the secrets to defusing ticking health bombs that could be lurking in your body. It is possible to live longer & better. Discover what you need to do NOW to keep you & your family disease-free.

Zen-Jay Chuang, MD, is a primary care physician and Chairman of the Whole Health Alerts advisory board. Click here to find out how Dr. Zen-Jay's biodynamic, cutting edge approach to ancient and modern medicine can help you achieve the best health of your life.

RE Health, Inc. 781-878-7114. 100 Weymouth St, Bldg D, Rockland, MA 02370

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Lemon Water Benefits   

by Sally Spann

Lemon water is one of the oldest drinks ever. In fact, the majority of us have fond memories of gulping down this simple yet refreshing drink at some point in our childhoods. Even as adults, the majority of us can't get enough of the sweet and sour flavor of the beverage. Nevertheless, lemon water isn't just a thirst quencher and gives various health advantages as well. Here's a look at a few of them.

Your skin is one of the primary beneficiaries of the benefits of lemon water. It consists of flavanoids which enhance your skin health, making it glow. It may also help treat skin conditions like acne. It works by flushing the toxins out of your system, thus, preventing pimple breakouts. Nevertheless, in case you're battling from a particularly severe form of zits; solely relying on this drink will not help. Rather, you should use efficient anti acne solutions like Zenmed Derma Cleanse System to help cure the problem.

Lemon water may also boost your digestion. Drinking this beverage on a regular basis can help stimulate the bile juices of the liver, which in turn helps in the digestion process. The drink also helps in remedying other conditions like constipation. For most satisfactory results, use luke warm water to prepare the drink.

Urinary disorders may be cured with the help of lemon water too. Lime is rich in potassium- a substance which is famous to aid the removal of toxins deposited on the walls of the kidney. It can also help remove any calcium deposits in the urinary tract. Extra calcium deposits in the tract could make urinating hard. So, in case you are struggling from a urinary infection, lemon water is one of the easiest home remedies you may use to treat it.

Weight loss is yet another area where this basic drink could be of substantial help. Just a cup full of lemon water daily can help you get rid of extra pounds. Lemon is widely known to have fat burning qualities and could assist in weight loss. Supplement this with 30 minutes of moderate physical activity and you're bound to achieve extraordinary results.

Yet another benefit of this natural drink is that it helps bring down the high cholesterol levels. One major ingredient of lemon is pectin which is said to offer wondrous results in lowering cholesterol naturally.

In addition to the given advantages, drinking lemon water may deliver other merits too. It may offer respite from problems like piles, scurvy, congestion, peptic ulcers and plenty of more. In case you want to avail given advantages, it is suggested to gulp down this drink with no further delay.

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Does Apple Cider Vinegar Cause Weight Loss   

by Morgan Mason

The Creation of Apple Cider Vinegar

To understand how apple vinegar is created, it is helpful to understand how all vinegar is created. Vinegar is a by product of fermentation. Fermentation is a process by which the sugars in foods (oftentimes fruits are used to make vinegar) are broken down by bacteria and yeast. During the first stage of the fermentation process, those sugars become alcohol. As the alcohol is allowed to ferment further, it eventually becomes vinegar.

Can Apple Vinegar Help You Lose Weight?

The belief that this cider vinegar assists with weight loss started in the 1950s when D.C. Jarvis published this belief in his book, Folk Medicine. This weight loss fad has taken legs again recently as some companies have begun to sell the product as a dietary supplement. However, drinking apple cider vinegar does not seem to directly cause individuals to lose weight. If you take the concoction as recommended by its proponents (which is right before meals), it may result in you feeling a bit fuller faster or having a decrease in appetite. It is the reduction in the intake of calories that is causing any resulting weight loss in those who choose to drink apple cider vinegar for weight loss.

Experts Weigh In On Using Apple Cider Vinegar For Weight Loss

Medical and nutrition experts indicate that the claim that vinegar can be used to lose weight is not supported by scientific evidence. The two schools of thought for using vinegar to lose weight are that (1) apple cider vinegar will cause reduced hunger and food cravings; or (2) it will somehow trick your metabolism into burning fat faster that it would under normal conditions without the apple cider vinegar. According to the experts, neither of these theories is accurate.

The consensus is that this product does not cause weight loss. You will be better off saving your money and just reduce your caloric intake on your own.

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Health and Nutrition Facts    by Gladys Alvarez

in Health / Nutrition    (submitted 2012-03-12)

On the World Wide Web today, we have information overload on what health, nutrition, organic eating, weight loss plans, supplements, sport nutrition actually is. Learn the facts about healthy eating tips that will make you more healthy and fit starting today!

There are a great number of health and nutrition facts that are a "given". We are all aware of the many rules that have been handed down for generations about nutrition, but we ignore them. We know, "You are what you eat!" but we eat snack cakes and doughnuts and drink soda pop and chow down on corn dogs, anyway!

The very unfortunate thing about this is that the more we do it, the more we want to do it. Processed foods have an addictive quality that just causes people to never be satisfied. Eating poorly leads to lethargy and poor health that lead to even more lethargy and poor health. It's necessary to break the cycle and introduce whole nutrition to get our bodies clean, active and performing at optimum levels.

People often think that it's too much trouble to eat whole foods. Processed foods are pretty much pure poison, but they're cheap and convenient - or at least that's how they are marketed to us. However, if you take a step back and look at the hype, you are bound to see the truth. Even though a lot of preparation of processed foods has been done for you, a lot of that preparation consists of things you would never choose to do yourself, such as the addition of chemicals, artificial colors, central nervous system wrecking hydrogenated oils, and diabetes producing high fructose corn syrup.

Whole foods are truly convenient! Fresh fruits and vegetables come in handy, natural, often consumable packaging. Preparing the most healthful whole foods takes the least amount of work and cooking for the greatest amount of nutrition and true, wholesome flavor. Although whole foods may cost a little bit more to buy, you will surely see your doctor bills reduced when you change your diet from ground up chemicals and additives to simple, pure, whole food.

When you eat processed foods, your body has to struggle to try to get rid of all the junk that's ground into processed products. On top of that, your body has to try to sustain life on a severely depleted level of nutrition found in dead ingredients. This is a drain on your energy that causes you to just want to sit around and do nothing. The more inactive your are, the lower your metabolism level will be and the less calories you will burn. That's a great recipe for obesity, depression and poor health.

When you eat whole foods, your body works hard in a wholesome, healthful way. It gets natural exercise from processing whole natural foods and reaping every bit of nutrition and energy available. When you eat fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts and other high quality protein sources, you are eating foods that are filled with life and that give you life. That spark of life will give you energy and make you want to get up, get out and live your life.

We all know, "You are what you eat!" So which would you rather be, a sluggish sack of chemicals and additives or a living, vibrant being filled with life?

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Fitness, Health and Diet Products

By Aldrin Zimmerman  

The past years have witnessed many developments in diet pills and weight shedding solutions. From amphetamines to the Atkins Diet, mankind has gone a long way in coming up with answers to keep healthy and fit. The Anderson Method is one of the latest developments in the weight loss field. This system uses psychotherapy to achieve long-term weight balance. Authorized psychotherapist William Anderson, MA, LMHC has used the methods to himself, enabling him to lose 140 lbs. after 25 years of being overweight.

According to the Anderson Method, there are no fatty or healthy food groups. Instead of limiting your foods and depriving your body of specific food groups, one can discipline himself or herself to consume foods at reasonable amounts. The diet you choose can be based on your tastes without compromising health and fitness. Dissimilar to other trend diet methods, Anderson ensures that this diet is one you can do for life.

The calories you eat from your weight loss plan must be based on the quantity your body uses up. Trend weight loss plans require persons to eat a calorie amount too little to match their body's energy needs. Calories are needed for one to move around and make decisions. Eating an insufficient amount will make you feel weak and unable to think properly. Though consuming less will cause a faster weight reduction speed, you'll eventually eat a large amount as soon as a large meal is presented in front of you. Eating right entails a correct perspective, having reliable weight items, and making fit choices. The Anderson method shifts a person's behavior and inspires the person to shift his or her lifestyle by eating a right amount of calories and maintaining a healthy weight.

Healthy weight loss isn't only achieved by coming up with a healthy diet. Certain people opt to have products that can speed up or enhance the weight loss method. Anderson states that a few of these diet items are unhealthy for the body. Among these are Amphetamines or "speed," which individuals consume to keep them up all night, without knowing that it can cause sudden death. Nowadays, Amphetamine is acknowledged as the illegal crystal meth drug.

The present industry provides numerous weight loss medicine choices but Anderson states that these are scams looking for fast profit. The only safe options are those recommended to obese patients. Anderson thus advises several weight loss medications that can assist in balanced and safe weight reduction. The first product is butter spray. Unlike normal butter applied to fry vegetables and meats, butter spray just inserts about 10 calories to your food. The effect is better taste minus the extra fats and calories.

The next low-fat choice is diet soda. Unlike regular soda drinks, weight loss drinks contain sugars that give your body less calories. As soon as you start engaging in physical activity, these sugars are immediately used up and gone from the body.

Taking a lot of protein will also leave you full for longer periods. The best time to have a lot of protein is during breakfast. Eating a heavy, protein-rich breakfast ensures that your metabolism runs faster for the rest of the day. This prevents you from eating in the succeeding meal. Eggs are an excellent source of fulfilling protein as it has about 75 calories. The calories in eggs have no cholesterol, providing your body with a fit source of energy. For parents, another choice is to have a low-calorie frozen dinner. Unlike fast food portions, low calorie frozen meals provide a sufficient and healthy amount of energy. These foods are perfect for individuals with no time to cook but require meals to get them through the day.

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