Are artificial sweeteners bad for you?

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There has long been a debate on whether diet and low sugar food and drinks are more beneficial to your health than the full-fat version. Many diet or low sugar products are made sweet by adding artificial sweeteners, and new research has shown that this may have side effects which can be quite bad.

Six artificial sweeteners – aspartame, sucralose, saccharine, neotame, advantame, and acesulfame potassium-k have been linked to being toxic to gut bacteria, something that we all need to maintain a healthy digestive system.

Unfortunately, the advice is ever changing and its not only diet food and drinks that contain these sweeteners.  Many health experts say that it is safe to drink and eat a range of foods but everything in moderation. If you drink a lot of diet coke for example, then rather switching to drinking the equivalent in full-fat coke, cut down the amount of it you drink altogether.

Diets have always been a hot topic and if you do your research you will find a lot of conflicting advice out there. Fruit and vegetables are an important part of any diet and you need to try and eat at least 5 portions a day. Try to eat as little processed foods as possible and keep an eye on how much sugar and salt is added to your foods.

 

 

Taking high dose vitamins

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If you search on the internet, you will find a number of vitamins that many people state will help to improve this and that. Often people are suggesting to take rather high dosages of vitamins to see the true effect it has, but doing this without medical back up can result in irreversible damage to your body.

Many people swear by vitamin B6 as a way of helping with tiredness, mood swings, hormone imbalances and a number of other issues. The daily recommend dose of B6 is around 1.3mg for an adult between the ages of 19 and 50. Often people will be self-medicating with 200mg plus a day of the vitamin in desperation to see results. For many people this may be ok and not have any negative side effects, but with B6 having an effect on your nervous system, taking high doses for a long period may cause irreversible damage.

Before taking any high dose vitamin supplements it is vital to consult your doctor and explain what you want to take and why. If they advise you against it, then it is probably best to take their advice and start on a lower dose.

 

Are healthy foods really all that healthy?

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It seems that every week a new diet is hitting the market which claims to be able to aid weight lose substantially. Most of these types of diets claim to be ground breaking or revolutionary but often have no medical research to back up their claims and are often just variations on other diets.

Recently a nutrition coach has slammed some views on healthy eating by comparing calories in foods that we assume are healthy to food which we assume are junk.  For example in some pre-prepared pasta dishes, calories can be close to 1000 but if you compare that to a Big Mac, the pasta is nearly twice the amount of calories. For example, 100 grams of superfood fruit and nut mix has the same calories in as two chunky KitKat bars.

Of course, its not all about calories and some foods are better for you and have other benefits, but purely for the purpose of weight loss, it is definitely something to consider.

It’s no secret that the most simple way to lose weight is to burn more calories than you consume, so by eating less calories and doing exercise, you should lose weight.

 

New research to show how you can recover from pre-diabetes

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Type 2 diabetes is on the increase across the UK and much of it is being blamed on obesity and poor diet. Recent studies have shown how much this illness costs the NHS every year and how many people are being affected by it. Scientists are trying to find out ways that they can reduce or reverse the condition and diet seems to be top of the list. A recent study carried out was done to show the effects of a crash diet and how it can reduce the risk of later developing diabetes. The people that were included in the trial had to have their calorie intake massively reduced for 4 weeks to around 600 calories a day. During this time they also did light exercise such as walking around every 30 mins of so.

The results showed that all of the people had dropped out of the pre diabetes area and were fast on their way to reducing their risk completely. The 5 mins of exercise that was done showed to lower their blood sugar levels and therefore help their body deal with their food intake better. This diet is not advisable unless you are under a consultant or doctor.

Are you Anaemic?

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Anaemia is a serious condition which can affect men or women of all ages. Often we only discover we are anaemic after having a blood test carried out at the doctors. You may notice that you feel extremely tired even soon after you have slept. You may have noticed a loss of energy and that you feel like you have no motivation. You may also have heart palpitations and feel like you are short of breath. These are all common signs of anaemia which can often be why people eventually go to the doctors to find out what is wrong.

When you have anaemia, your body doesn’t produce enough red blood cells. You don’t get enough oxygen, which makes you feel fatigued and can also cause serious health complications.

Your doctor will carry out a full blood count and check your level of red blood cells. If the results come back low then you will be given a course of iron tablets to take to help replace the iron lost in your body. These are usually stronger than the over the counter supplements you can buy. Often you will need to take the iron tablets for 6 months and then have another test to see if you can stop them.

 

Watch out for hidden sugars

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When trying to maintain a balanced healthy diet it’s important to think about how much sugar we have. The first type of sugar to think about is added sugars. These are in so many things that are considered healthy such as granola type cereals and breakfast bars as well as the more obvious things like chocolates and sweets. There is also a lot of added sugars to many drinks particularly fruit juices that are described as ‘Juice drink’. Fizzy drinks, unless diet drinks, are loaded with added sugar and yet as they are not filling they can be consumed with little regard to the amount of sugar that they contain.

The other sugars to be aware of are naturally occurring sugars such as fructose, glucose and lactose. These sugars are digested quickly and rapidly release the sugar into the bloodstream giving us a sugar hit then a deficit quickly after. Fruits high in sugar include pineapple, which has 16g of sugar per slice, bananas with 17g of sugar per banana and watermelon with 18g of sugar per wedge. Now these foods are still considered healthy as they contain many important vitamins however they should be eaten in moderation due to their high sugar content and the effects that sugar can have on the teeth and in fact the whole body.

Taking probiotics to help your immune system

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Bacteria is needed in our bodies to help with many functions, bacteria in the gut is needed to digest our food and allow us to take the nutrients we need from it to stay healthy. It is estimated that there are roughly 10 trillion microorganisms living in the human intestines. Once these get to work on our food we can then absorb it in to our blood stream.

Research has shown that over 80% of our immune activity takes place in the gut, so it makes sense that if we have good bacteria in our gut this can help us stay healthy and fend out viruses and infections.

Probiotics are found in foods that contain living bacteria, but the healthy kind that your body needs to be strong. You can also buy over the counter probiotics that can be taken to help boost the good bacterial in your gut. By taking probiotics either through food or supplements, you are giving fuel to the good bacteria in your body and essentially strengthening it.

Yogurt is one of the best foods for probiotics but always go for the natural ones and add your own fruit to taste. Yogurts that say they contain live bacteria often have less than natural yogurt and the bacteria in these products have probably been pasteurized, killing the cultures, resulting in no value to your body.

 

What foods are a naturally good source of iron?

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Iron is a very important nutrient and often people who do not have enough iron can become anaemic and find they have very little energy. Iron is a component of haemoglobin in red blood cells that distribute oxygen around the body, it is also contributes towards myoglobin that is found in muscles and tissues.

If you have a good balanced diet then you should not need to take iron supplements unless you have been advised to do so. Iron is found in a number of foods and is often associated with dark green veg such as Kales, Broccoli and Spinach. Other good sources of iron include Liver, meat and fish, Eggs, nuts, iron fortified cereals and dried fruits such as raisins.

If you feel that even after a good night’s sleep you still have little energy and are struggling to stay awake then it may be worth going to your doctors to see if they will give you a blood test to check your iron count. This is a very common test and can quickly determine if you are in fact getting enough iron.

If you are pregnant then you will often need even more iron in take than usually and will be advised to take pregnancy supplements to help with this.

 

 

How not to feel hungry when on a diet

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Many of us try out a diet at some point in our lives and research has shown that most people stop because they cannot stand the feeling of being hungry all the time.

There are many new diets out there at the moment that allow you to eat as much as you like of some foods meaning you should never be hungry and still lose weight. Often people say it is not how much you eat but rather what you are eating that is important and some foods can even speed up the weight lose process.

When looking at your meals you should have at least a third if not half of your plate as salad or vegetables. When eating meat or fish it should be baked not fried and should not have rich coatings on it such as batter or breadcrumbs. Sauces often have a lot of added sugar and sweeteners in, so if you really do want a sauce then why not make your own so you know exactly what is in it.

Little food and often is usually the best way to go to avoid feeling hungry and picking foods that are take a long time to digest can help to get your body to use more energy to break them down whilst still allowing you to feel full.

 

Healthy and filling breakfast ideas

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It is often said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day – the first food consumed after several hours of rest, needed to provide energy to kick-start the day. It is easy to find cereals filled with sugar or to enjoy greasy foods like a bacon sandwich, but there are healthier options.

One idea is to enjoy porridge oats with a variety of fruits or perhaps honey. Fruits like strawberries, blueberries or banana go great with oats, or you could be more adventurous and try the likes of kiwi or pomegranate, full of antioxidants and great for maintaining good health.

For those who enjoy something a little more savoury, eggs can be a great option – from making omelettes to a side for smoked salmon. They also go great with avocado which, although high in fats, is actually really good for the heart and is very nutritious.

Some people struggle to eat a large breakfast, and for those people a smoothie might be a good alternative. The possibilities for smoothies are seemingly endless – anything that can be blended can go in a smoothie. Choose some favourite fruits or vegetables, and maybe pop in some extra vitamins or nutrients – there are lots of supplements available at health shops.