Thursday 29 May 2014

Why one must QUIT SMOKING?

ENOUGH reasons to quit smoking – NOW!!

Some might fancy their favorite stars on the big screen, smoking and puffing away those silver rings in the air and find it “oh-so-cool”. But in reality, do you have any idea about the havoc it creates within your body and how it brings you closer to be several life threatening diseases?
Why Quit Smoking
Smoking statistics
  • Around 90,000 Indians die of tobacco related disease every year 
  • 56.6% of cancer in men and 44.8% cancers in women are caused by tobacco 
  • Smokers are thrice more likely to develop tuberculosis than non smokers 
  • Tobacco users are twice at risk for developing heart diseases and paralysis 
Still not convinced? Hang on! Now go through the reasons why you should think 1000 times before lighting a cigarette:

Cancers of all sorts: Lung, mouth, cheeks, oral, pharynx, larynx, stomach, kidney, penis, urinary and gall bladder cancers are more mostly because of the ill effects of tobacco.

Heart diseases: Heart attack, angina (chest pain), sudden cardiac death, stroke, peripheral vascular disease (gangrene of legs), and paralysis hits people who are used to nicotine consumption. It reduces flow of blood to heart and increases blood pressure. A smoker has a weak heart and is prone to develop plaque around the coronary arteries and narrows them eventually.


Range of lung diseases: Chronic bronchitis, tuberculosis, emphysema and several other respiratory tract diseases develops in smokers.


Lower stamina: Smoking decreases stamina and power for physical activity. Smokers tend to get tired and drained easily while doing any strenuous activity.


Sexual dysfunction: Impotence, early menopause and decreased oestrogen levels comes along free with heavy smoking. When combined with birth control pills, chance of stroke for women increases.


Accelerates ageing: Smoking can make you age faster than nature does.


Aesthetic turn off: Stained teeth, darkened lips, wrinkled skin, less hair on scalp, bad breath, and smelly clothes – oh what a put off!!


Passing illnesses to loved ones: A smoker unintentionally and unknowingly passes on grave illnesses to others nearby him. Being a passive smoker, anyone around a smoking person is bound to inhale the harmful chemical that comes out of the exhaled smoke.


Pinch your pocket: Isn’t it amusing that we spend so much money on something that can is killing us internally? Smoking not only is exceedingly damaging for health but also dents the pocket severely.

Article taken from:
http://articles.indushealthplus.com/smoking-kick-the-butt-why/

Saturday 24 May 2014

Milk Vs. Yogurt: Which is Healthier?

Since centuries it has been said that a person should have a glass of milk everyday. Health experts say that milk has many important nutrients which are good for growth and maintenance of the body. However, many people today have lactose intolerance, such people simply can't have milk and milk products. But, there is one milk product which seems healthier and easier to digest than milk itself. This product doesn't give a stomach upset to people with lactose intolerance. 

Here is a comparison between milk benefits and yogurt benefits:

Easier to digest than milk: Many people who cannot tolerate milk, either because of a protein allergy or lactose intolerance, can enjoy yogurt. The culturing process makes yogurt more digestible than milk. 



Contributes to colon health: There's a medical truism that states: "You're only as healthy as your colon." When eating yogurt, you care for your colon in two ways. First, yogurt contains lactobacteria, intestines-friendly bacterial cultures that foster a healthy colon, and even lower the risk of colon cancer. Secondly, yogurt is a rich source of calcium - a mineral that contributes to colon health and decreases the risk of colon cancer. Calcium discourages excess growth of the cells lining the colon



Improves the bio-availability of other nutrients: Culturing of yogurt increases the absorption of calcium and B-vitamins. The lactic acid in the yogurt aids in the digestion of the milk calcium, making it easier to absorb. 


Boost immunity: Researchers who studied 68 people who ate two cups of live-culture yogurt daily for three months found that these persons produced higher levels of immunity boosting interferon.

Aids healing after intestinal infections: Some viral and allergic gastrointestinal disorders injure the lining of the intestines, especially the cells that produce lactose.  

Decrease yeast infections: Research has shown that eating eight ounces of yogurt that contains live and active cultures daily reduces the amount of yeast colonies in the vagina and decreases the incidence of vaginal yeast infections. 

Rich source of calcium: An 8-ounce serving of most yogurts provides 450 mg. of calcium, one-half of a child's RDA and 30 to 40 percent of the adult RDA for calcium. Because the live-active cultures in yogurt increase the absorption of calcium, an 8-ounce serving of yogurt gets more calcium into the body than the same volume of milk can.  

Excellent source of protein: Plain yogurt contains around ten to fourteen grams of protein per eight ounces, which amounts to twenty percent of the daily protein requirement for most persons. 



Lowers cholesterol: There are a few studies that have shown that yogurt can reduce the blood cholesterol. This may be because the live cultures in yogurt can assimilate the cholesterol or because yogurt binds bile acids, (which has also been shown to lower cholesterol), or both.

Yogurt is a "grow food.": Two nutritional properties of yogurt may help children with intestinal absorption problems grow: the easier digestibility of the proteins and the fact that the lactic acid in yogurt increases the absorption of minerals.

Yogurt & Curd
There is a lot of confusion about yogurt and curd. These two milk items might seem similar, but are not. They are produced by two different methods. Curd is liquid milk, which gets transformed into solid form by adding an acidic substance to it like, lemon juice or vinegar. While yogurt is produced by adding live bacteria to milk and the lactose part gets metabolized. Also, yogurt is more liquid form, compared to curd.

Why Digestive System Doesn’t Function Properly: Reasons & Solutions

Your digestive system plays a major role in the overall health of your body. Digestive problems are particularly common in Western society and have become part of the daily routine of many of us, but in normal condition they are not supposed to appear at all. Too many people have become accustomed to living with digestive disorders such as abdominal pain and bloating, irritable bowel and constipation.

Here I would like to show you 5 factors that can affect your digestive system and cause it to function improperly. I will also suggest you solutions to overcome these factors:

1. Stress

A diagram of the physical digestive system.
You don’t need a doctor to know that stress plays a major role in the health of our gut. The biochemical changes that occur when we are stressed have significant and immediate impact on our gut function. When the brain feels very stressed, it releases  various hormones that cause changes to the digestive system in the short term, such as lack of appetite, heartburn, nausea, diarrhea and stomach pain. In the long term, prolonged stress can worsen chronic diseases such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and heartburn.

A Diagram of the emotional digestive system

It not only affects existing chronic diseases, but may also lead to the development of a variety of gastrointestinal diseases such as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), peptic ulcer disease, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and even food allergies. Stress can cause inflammation of the gastrointestinal system, and makes you more susceptible to infection. A healthy lifestyle should include stress reduction techniques that will improve not only your digestive system, but your overall well-being.

2. Enzyme Deficiency

There are many factors that can affect your body’s ability to produce a high enough enzyme level to maintain good health. These can be: unhealthy diet, air pollution, emotional stress, lack of sleep and more. Enzyme deficiency is the root of many digestion problems in our society. Your digestive enzymes, which are mostly produced in your pancreas, help you break down the food into nutrients so that your body can absorb them. Enzyme deficiency results in poor digestion and poor nutrient absorption,  and this creates a variety of gastrointestinal problems, including: constipation, bloating, cramping and heartburn.

We get many enzymes from the foods we eat, especially raw foods that directly help with our digestive process. To maintain a healthy enzyme levels it’s important to eat raw foods that are enzyme-rich. Consuming them helps your body’s to produce its own enzymes and reduces the burden on your body to produce the enzymes it needs. In addition to raw foods, read my article how to make digestive enzyme detox smoothie which contains digestive enzymes that help to ease the burden of the complicated process of digestion.

3. Magnesium Deficiency

Magnesium deficiency causes, among many other things, constipation and digestive-related disorders. Your body uses this important mineral to aid in the digestion process. Without magnesium, your body cannot properly digest foods, as it activates enzymes that let the body digest and break down food into smaller pieces for energy, and it also works to produce and transport energy during digestion.

You may not get enough magnesium in your diet. Having the right amount of magnesium in your body is important to your digestive and overall health, so make sure to include magnesium-rich foods, such as dark green leafy vegetables, nuts, seeds, whole grains, beans, lentils, avocados, bananas and dried fruits. Magnesium is also available as a supplement, but you should not take magnesium supplement without a physician’s approval as it can interfere with current medications that you take.

4. Intestinal Flora Imbalance

Our intestinal tract is full of various species of bacteria and yeasts that help digestion, kill harmful and pathogenic infections as well as helping to produce many vitamins and other chemical substances needed for our health.  These organisms that live in our intestines are called the intestinal flora. When the good or friendly flora are missing or in low concentration, it allows other harmful pathogens to multiply in the intestine. This affects the digestion of food, and can cause many other symptoms, since the pathogens create toxins that are absorbed into the body.

The causes for intestinal flora imbalance can be due to illnesses, improper diet, antibiotic use,  other medications, food chemicals and more. In these cases you may want to consider taking probiotics. You can refer in this matter to my article 9 reasons to take probiotics and why it’s so good for you. Or you can eat live-culture yogurt that often provides plenty of probiotics and is the simplest way to get them.  Make sure that the label states that it is live culture yogurt, as some companies pasteurize or kill the probiotic organisms after they have fermented the milk to make yogurt.

5. Heavy Metal Toxicity

The presence of toxic metals, such as too much mercury, aluminum, cadmium, arsenic, lead and nickel, has a damaging effect on the intestinal flora for some people. These metals flood the environment and can be found in cookware, household cleaners, cosmetics, air pollution, insecticides, herbicides and smoking that causes cadmium poisoning. They invade our body and cause or contribute to a long list of diseases.

To help fight heavy metal toxicity you can use clay to detox your body, or consume foods rich in pectin fibers (such as apples). Those fibers bind cholesterol and heavy metals to cleanse blood and intestines. Cilantro or coriander also aids our body to get rid of mercury and other heavy metals that end up in our bloodstream. Also chlorophyll rich-foods are food in this case. Chlorophyll is the green color in green leaves ,fruits and veges. It is not just a pigment, it connects with the toxins and free radicals and turns them into neutral materials. Studies have shown that chlorophyll helps in cleaning heavy metals that tend to accumulate in our body in different places, and has anti cancer properties, that specifically affect the liver. Read more about it in my article how to detoxify your body using chlorophyll. Also the green algae chlorella has been shown to help remove heavy metals, such as cadmium and mercury, pesticides and industrial pollutants from the body, thus helping to detoxify it. You can find more information in my article how to boost your health by eating seaweeds and algae. You can also prepare herbal infusion from red clover blossoms that also cleanse heavy metals and chemical toxicity, include those caused by the use of drugs.

Source of article:
http://www.healthyandnaturalworld.com/reasons-your-digestive-system-doesnt-function-properly/

Friday 2 May 2014

How to stay Healthy During The Summer?

With the weather in the city turning hot and sultry, it is a good time to increase your intake of fluids and take special precautions if spending long hours outdoors. 

Drinking the right kind of fluids is important. Water is the best option and carrying a bottle with you while travelling will prove beneficial. While we all love our daily cup of chai and coffee, try to keep caffeine drinks to a minimum. They may quench your thirst but do not give the necessary salts and nutrients the body needs. Further, energy drinks are full of sugar. Stick to nimbu paani or fresh fruit juices. 



Keeping yourself well-hydrated throughout the day is important. Don't wait until you feel thirsty, keep sipping on liquids in between. For those who indulge in rigorous outdoor exercises, taking a water break every twenty minutes is essential. 

Be aware of the signs that your body is giving out. Notice if your heart rate is increasing or if the colour of your urine is darker than before. If yes, get out of the sun and start consuming the right foods. 



Dehydration usually happens when the body has lost too much fluid and electrolytes (the salts potassium and sodium). Keep your electrolyte levels in check, by consuming chicken broth or soups. Eating salads rich in fresh fruits, and vegetables can help. Coconut water and aam panna is good too. 

Salty snacks can help. Try adding some salt or chaat masala to sliced apples or cucumbers as a refreshing snack. 

It's also low in fats and carbohydrates and makes for a healthy option. What you wear also plays a role. Light clothing is important to help the skin breathe. Cotton or light fabrics like linens are a good option. Such materials let the body sweat, yet keep it cool and airy. Save all your silks and satin outfits for the night. 



Other few things we need to take care in Summers:

  • During summers eat less spicy food, if you have the more spicy food the more difficulty for your stomach to digest it. 
  • Whatever you take your meal do take a glass of buttermilk it gives you cooling effect.
  • If you get time clean your feet, underarms and face. 
  • Eat curd in summer season. 
  • During Loo time you have to take raw onion. Onion has power to protect you from loo in the summer season.
  • Whenever you come to home and you faced scorching heat outside ..never drink chilled water it harms you a lot. Do keep a pot and try to drink that pot water only in whole summer. If you want to keep the water cool cover the pot with a wet towel and check it every hour or two whether it is wet or dry. You have to keep the towel wet. 
  • In summer try to always cover your head and face.