Natural Health

Sprinters, want to shave time off your best events? The Stanford Sleep Clinic recently helped swimmers cut half a second from their best times simply by sleeping longer for about six weeks. After a baseline of five to seven hours of sleep per night was established over a two week period, the researchers had the swimmers adjust their sleep schedule to include ten hours per night.

This just in: there’s yet another reason to beef up your diet with broccoli. A new study shows that eating just a few servings per week of broccoli can significantly reduce a man’s risk for prostate cancer. Tissue samples revealed dramatic changes in key genes that play a role in cancer regulation.

By: Rick Schaff

-- an excerpt from my book, MISLED

www.HEALTHandINSPIRATION.com

Health and fitness magazines and radio and television commercial producers often find themselves in precarious situations due to the nature of how they generate revenues; most of their profits are produced by selling advertising space. Unfortunately, that means that they often have little choice but to work with companies that distort the truth. Simply put, even publications and programs that have stated goals to provide beneficial information on health and fitness to their audiences are often forced to sell ad space or time to disingenuous companies to stay in business. In many cases, the articles and programming must frequently support the “fabulous results” their clients’ products claim to provide. My magazine DIVAS was in print for two years; this provided me with firsthand experience about the compromising decisions every magazine owner and/or publisher must face. Jeff Everson, former editor for Muscle & Fitness Magazine and current publisher of Planet Muscle Magazine stated the following about this situation:

“One of the biggest problems that magazines endure is their dependence on supplement ads to pay their bills. If you just tried to publish a magazine about real training, you would never make it. While one naturally tries to improve the industry, it would be suicide to bite the hands that feed you.

Low sodium intake may lead to high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease, especially if you are consuming less than 2,300 mg of sodium per day. Scientists reported that adults who consumed less than 2,300 mg of sodium per day were 37% more likely to die from cardiovascular causes than those who ingested more than 2,300 mg. What's worse, a low sodium diet increases the risk of cardiovascular disease. We all know that too much sodium can be dangerous as well, so how in the world do we find the happy medium?

By: Rick Schaff

-- an excerpt from my book, MISLED

www.HEALTHandINSPIRATION.com

I was in a health food store about a year ago buying some spices when something intriguing caught my eye. The label on one of the spice jars read, “non-irradiated.” My immediate reaction was curiosity. Why would such a statement appear on a spice jar? Did that mean everything else was typically irradiated? When I got home, I started to research irradiated food and to my surprise I found out that many types of food are routinely subjected to some form of radiation treatment in order to kill harmful bacteria and extend shelf life.

Whether you’re on vacation near a hiking hotspot or happen to live in a place where trails abound, hiking can be a great way to change up your cardio routine. Depending on your stats and the intensity and duration of your hike, you can burn 500 calories or more in an hour of hiking (based on a 150-lb. person). Trails with several hills or mostly uphill climbs allow you to burn hundreds of calories more than cross-country treks.

Raw food may be a path to better overall health and fitness. For years, studies have shown that a diet with a high proportion of fresh raw fruits and vegetables will improve health and longevity. So how about a diet consisting entirely of raw foods?

At the root of the raw food diet is the theory that just like other animals in nature, humans are designed for raw foods and therefore can more effectively utilize raw uncooked food. Heating food above 110 degrees Fahrenheit results in the depletion of nutrients in our food, the destruction of enzymes, and the creation of toxins.

Herbal remedies known as “ginsengs” are some of the most popular herbal supplements in the United States. There are several types of ginsengs available, the most commonly used being Panax ginseng, also referred to as Korean or Asian ginseng. Panax ginseng has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years to improve mental and physical vitality. Other uses include improving exercise performance, immune function, reducing fatigue, and reducing male infertility.

It sounds counterintuitive, but eating more bacteria may actually help you be healthier. Probiotics is a new fad sweeping through the nutrition industry. Described as “superstar bacteria,” the idea behind probiotics is to maximize the impact of healthy types of bacteria. Just as the bacteria in yogurts has health benefits, new foods with probiotics can assist in peristalsis. Peristalsis is the mechanism of the intestine that allows it to process food. Probiotics have also been associated with general digestive tract regularity. But what exactly are you eating?

There is an ongoing debate about whether one should eat organic foods or not. Some say eating organic is a no-brainer because of the potential ingestion of hormones, antibiotics, pesticides and other dubious additives found in conventionally grown foods. On the other hand, some argue that organic foods are similar in nutritional quality, yet they cost more and aren’t all that accessible. So what’s the real story? Let me give you some facts, along with my personal take on the subject…

The nation’s milk industry has a great deal of advertising money and political clout behind it. While their ad campaigns have done a great job in convincing us that milk is very good for our health and comes from “happy cows,” many believe these statements to be far from the truth. The fundamental argument is that we are the only species that drinks milk past its infant stage, and therefore milk should be reserved for infants as nature intended and also come from our own species.

An excerpt from my book, MISLED
www.HEALTHandINSPIRATION.com

Most studies suggest that alcohol destroys your body in just about every aspect, mainly because it inhibits the absorption of many necessary vitamins, minerals, and enzymes, and increases their excretion from the body. However, some studies propose that alcohol in moderation may have some health benefits. Alcohol is a confusing topic for many people, and especially for some religious groups, like Christians who aren’t sure if they are allowed to drink alcohol due to their beliefs. Let’s lay out some facts so that you can decide which approach is best for you.

You always hear people talking about whole grains and refined grains, but do you really know the difference? Most folks are aware that whole grains are better for them, probably because the word “whole” provokes thoughts of “wholesome,” but they often don’t know what makes them healthy. Let’s address this issue and give you some excellent examples of whole grains that you can add to your daily diet.

Lignans are naturally occurring chemical compounds found in many plants, the most common being flaxseed and sesame seeds. Several types of lignans are phytoestrogens, meaning that they mimic the effects of estrogen. When estrogen is in the body at low levels, phytoestrogens may act as a weak estrogen, whereas if there are higher levels of estrogen in the body, phytoestrogens may reduce estrogen’s effects by attaching to the same places on cells that estrogen attaches, thereby lowering circulating estrogen.

By: Rick Schaff

-- an excerpt from my book, MISLED

www.HEALTHandINSPIRATION.com

Since your body consists of 60-75% water, simple logic suggests that one of the most important things you can do to stay healthy is to drink clean, fresh water. In fact, the World Health Organization claimed that 80 percent of all world illnesses would be eliminated if we only drank pure water. Water is necessary for every vital cell function. When you take into consideration that we lose about ten glasses of water each day just by our normal everyday metabolic processes, you can begin to understand why it is so important to drink a great deal of clean water. There are some debates as to which type of water is the most beneficial to drink and the following discussion will examine some of them.