Blog: Nutrition and Exercise for Health and Weight Control

Approximately 20 percent of US adults regularly suffer from sluggish bowels and irregularity. That is not surprising since most Americans get very little fiber in their daily diet.

To cope with this problem, many people take laxatives and fiber supplements. Laxatives are known to weaken the function of the bowels and thereby exacerbate the problem.

Both Helpful and Not

Every supermarket, pharmacy, discount department store, and health food store has numerous fiber supplements which are regarded as a healthy way of dealing with constipation. The trouble is, these dietary additives are composed primarily of soluble fiber rather than insoluble. (more…)

Did you know that your blood vessels are lined with the same kind of tissue as your skin? People commonly spend considerable time, money, and effort on keeping their outer skin attractive, but most fail to realize the far greater importance of keeping the inner skin smooth and healthy.

How We Damage Our Vessels

The lining of our blood vessels is called endothelium and it becomes thickened and covered with hardened plaque over years of poor diet and insufficient physical activity. The arteries become stiff and the heart has to work much harder to push blood through these narrow, inflexible channels. (more…)

This is wonderful with rice or a corn muffin and some veggies alongside. You can cook a big batch and freeze some in small plastic containers for individual meals later on. To thaw, place the container in the microwave for 1 min. Then empty the still-frozen lentils into a bowl and cover with a plate. Warm in microwave for a few minutes or until heated through.

Put 2 cups dry lentils, any type, in a large pot. Cover with about 2 qt water. (more…)

Diet, exercise, and weight control are the keys to improving blood cholesterol without medication. Reducing saturated fat to no more than 10% of daily calories is the number one dietary consideration.

The monounsaturated fats in olive oil and the omega-3 fats are both helpful for lowering cholesterol. Cook with olive oil and use the extra light variety for baking. Enjoy nuts and seeds regularly, especially almonds, walnuts, and flax seeds and eat cold-water fish at least twice a week.

Food Science Products

Use a spread containing plant sterols instead of butter or margarine. Promise is a leading brand and the natural sterols it contains have been shown to be effective in reducing cholesterol with regular use. One to two tablespoons a day is the recommended amount. (more…)

Cholesterol is not technically a fat, but it is a fat-soluble lipid. It is used in the body’s manufacture of hormones, Vitamin D, and bile acids as well as in the structure of cell walls.

Your liver makes about 1000mg of cholesterol every day and your body doesn’t need much more than that. When you take in too much cholesterol (mainly from foods high in saturated fat) your body has difficulty getting rid of the excess and it accumulates in the tissues.

Foods high in cholesterol are high fat dairy, egg yolks, fatty meats, and poultry skin. As you can see, these are all animal products. Since cholesterol is manufactured in the liver, it is not present in any foods of plant origin.

So when you see food in the supermarket with “No Cholesterol” in bold type on the label, consider whether it’s a food that ordinarily has an animal product containing cholesterol in it. If not, the words are just a consumer ploy.

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints have been recognized since the 1970’s as having lower rates of heart disease than the rest of the nation. Members are required to fast once a month and this is believed to be responsible for their lower rates.

Mormons exhibit approximately 5 percent less heart disease than the rest of the population. Experts believe the 24-hour absence of food could help re-set the body’s metabolism, enabling it to work more efficiently as a result. (more…)

If you are a reader of nutrition articles, you have probably come across the words phytonutrients and phytochemicals. These terms are becoming frequently used as plant-based chemicals and nutrients are receiving more and more attention as essential for reducing risk of chronic, degenerative disease.

Phyto is Greek for plant - therefore these are plant nutrients and plant chemicals. They are mainly antioxidants and every month scientists are discovering more of these health-protective constituents in plant foods. Researchers estimate that 30,000 to 50,000 exist in nature. (more…)

Trans fat is formed when hydrogen is added to oil to produce partially hydrogenated shortening and margarine. Saturated fat differs from trans fat in that it is harder and more stable, being fully saturated with hydrogen. Both of these can raise (bad) LDL cholesterol; however, trans fat also decreases (good) HDL cholesterol.

To Be Safe

Both the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the National Academies of Science recommend keeping intake of trans fat as low as possible and limiting saturated fat to less than (more…)

When someone quits smoking, weight is often gained even if they don’t alter their diet or their exercise routines at all. That’s because smoking causes the body to burn slightly more calories in order to cope with carbon monoxide and other tobacco toxins.

When you’re no longer taking in all those chemicals, your metabolism slows down to more normal levels, which means fewer calories are burned. This can lower energy needs by as many as 200 to 500 calories and that can result in as much as a pound a week in weight gain. (more…)