Drink Water at the Right Time!

The right times to drink water for maximum health benefits

Water and proper hydration are absolutely essential for all life. Take a look at just a few of water’s health benefits and see if there are any surprises: 

* composes 75% of your brain

* regulates your body temperature

* makes up 83% of your blood

* removes waste

* composes 22% of your bones

* cushions your joints

* helps carry nutrients & oxygen to your cells

* moistens oxygen for breathing

* helps convert food to energy

* protects and cushions vital organs

* helps your body absorb nutrients

* makes up 75% of your muscles

Here’s the proper times to drink water for maximum effectiveness 

Drink LEMON juice to Alkalize!

In today's info, we're going to talk about a juice recipe for one of my favorite fruits. This is one of the easiest things that you can do for your health that can have a huge difference. 

If you are like most people in America - you could be waking up and having a cup of coffee or some other stimulant that damages your endocrine system and inhibits your fat burning potential. Caffeine raises your cortisol levels - which can cause you to store fat, age prematurely, give you wrinkles and much more.  I'm sure you wouldn't like to have those aging lines in your face.

So what do we have to prevent that? What do we have as an alternative to boost our energy up and alkalize our body healthily?

The answer to that is LEMON. 

Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia Commons

Lemon water has amazing healing benefits.  In this episode, we are giving you 3 of the many benefits that lemon can bring to your body.

Tool 1 - Enhances Mood

Lemon energizes you and it enhances your mood. The energy a human receives from food comes from the atoms and molecules in your food. A reaction occurs when the positive charged ions from food enter the digestive tract and interact with the negative charged enzymes.

Lemon is one of the few foods that contain more negative charged ions, providing your body with more energy when it enters the digestive tract. The scent of lemon also has mood enhancing and energizing properties. The smell of lemon juice can brighten your mood and help clear your mind. Lemon can also help reduce anxiety and depression.

What lemon does is it gives us alkalized taste buds. And when we have alkalized taste buds, we stop craving for destructive things to our health like cookies, sweets, cakes, and other kinds of food. This principle goes with one of our most popular book, "Train your Taste to Trim your Waste".

Tool 2 - Freshens Breath

It freshens your breath. Besides fresher breath, lemons have  been known to help relieve tooth pain and gingivitis. Be aware that citric acid can erode tooth enamel, so you should be mindful of this. Do not brush your teeth just after drinking your lemon water. It is best to brush your teeth first, then drink your lemon water, or wait a significant amount of time after to brush your teeth. Additionally, you can rinse your mouth with purified water after you finish your lemon water.

Tool 3 - Makes you skinny

Photo Courtesy of http://www.dealpharmarx.com/

Yes, it aids in weight loss, as some of you might wonder. Lemons are high in pectin fiber, which helps fight hunger cravings. Studies have shown that people who maintain a more alkaline diet, do in fact lose weight faster.

I personally find myself making better choices throughout the day if I start my day off right by making a health conscious choice to drink warm lemon water first thing every morning.

Now, that we’ve shown you the 3 benefits, I might as well show you how to put your own lemon in your water. But before you can do this, you have to buy lemon from grocery stores. I would always suggest that you buy in bulk so that you can get discounts from the wholesale. And then, here it is!

Step 1) Make a bucket of lemon juice

Step 2) Pour the juice in an ice cube tray .

And now you have prepared lemon cubes every morning!

"Healthy' Shakes?? I don't think so!

(NaturalNews) Commercial protein powders and shakes are a popular choice among fitness crowds as well as busy professionals, moms and pregnant women. On the surface, these expedient snacks and meals appear innocent, but upon closer examination, are fraught with health harming toxins. Whether contaminated with heavy metals, MSG or allergy triggers, taking a second look at this fashionable convenience food is worthwhile. A tasty poison When we drink down our protein shake each morning before bolting out the door, the last thing we would suspect is that it's loaded with heavy metals. Unfortunately, this is the case for a majority of commercial powders. In 2010, Consumer Reportstested samples of 15 protein powders and shakes for arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury. As reported in, "Is Your Protein Powder Toxic?": "They found that at least one item from each product line contained detectable levels of cadmium, arsenic, lead or mercury. The three most toxic brands contained levels of heavy metal toxicity above the safe allowable limits proposed by U.S. Pharmacopeia. Many others contained levels in the low to moderate range." For those who would like to preserve health, any amount is too high - especially for pregnant mothers. Take for example cadmium. It accumulates in the kidneys and causes damage while taking years to be eliminated from the body. Michael Harbut, M.D., director of the Environmental Cancer Initiative in Michigan, finds cadmium particularly worrisome: "This (cadmium) is a highly toxic metal, and while there are some cases where decisions have to be weighed against relative risks, accepting that you have to be exposed to any cadmium at all in yourprotein drink after your workout is definitely not one of them." Heavy metals are not the only impurities, monosodium glutamate (MSG) is often present too. During the processing of high protein foods like isolates, MSG is created. Since it's not an additional ingredient, but a consequence of the manufacturing process, MSG doesn't need to be labeled onprotein powders. Low temperature drying is an attempt to minimize the creation of monosodium glutamate, yet the end result is still a denatured protein and should be regarded with a wary eye. Allergens are also problem. Many protein powders are made with milk and its byproducts, soy or eggs which can trigger mild to severe reactions including: digestive upset, gas, skin rashes, nausea, cramping and diarrhea. For those with an allergy, consuming the troublesome food can turn life threatening. If you would like to forgo commercial protein powders, Sarah of the Healthy Home Economist suggests a few alternatives: "Try gelatin instead - it has 7 grams of protein per tablespoon. Gelatin is a colloidal substance which means it attracts digestive juices to itself similar to raw foods full of enzymes. Hence, gelatin is helpful to the digestion and contains a protein kick to boot." Low temperature dried nutritional yeast is another option at 8 grams of protein per serving. You can also toss a quarter cup of hemp seeds in with your smoothie to give it a healthy protein boost. She adds, "Be aware that even natural gelatin contains small amounts of MSG, so if you are particularly sensitive, you may wish to choose nutritional yeast as the better alternative."

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/041545_protein_powders_heavy_metals_contamination.html#ixzz2bZUl90Rk

Best Foods for your Brain

Healing Herbs and Spices

The BEST medications!

For many health problems, the most powerful “drug” on the planet is fresh food. That’s according to Dr. Mark Hyman, an expert in Functional Medicine, which addresses the underlying causes of disease. So here are some common health problems he says we can fix, just by eating the right food, no medicine cabinet required:

•First, if you’re feeling depressed: Eat a tuna sandwich. Or a handful of Brazil nuts. Both are loaded with selenium, a mineral that’s crucial for the production of thyroid hormones, which govern our metabolism and mood. In fact, a study found that people with the lowest levels of selenium are more likely to be depressed. So, to keep our mood stable, experts recommend consuming 55 micrograms of selenium a day, which is about what we get from a 3-ounce can of tuna.

•Next, if you’re having skin problems, eat more onions. Research shows that the sulfur in foods like onions, leeks, and scallions help produce molecules that detoxify our skin, and make us less prone to acne breakouts.

•What about if you’re feeling bloated? The best “drugs” for that are watery fruits and vegetables, like melons, cucumbers, and celery. Dr. Hyman says a lot of people think the solution to bloat is to consume less water, not more. But science says bloat usually means we have too much sodium in our diet, and one of the best ways to quickly flush sodium out of our system is to eat produce with a high water content.

•The last food fix is for people who can’t sleep. Drink a glass of tart cherry juice. According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, cherries contain melatonin, a hormone that helps regulate our sleep. In fact, a study found that people with chronic insomnia, who drank 8 ounces of tart cherry juice an hour before bedtime, generally stayed asleep longer than those who didn’t.

4 Herbs that Quicken Your Metabolism

As we long for a cleaner and healthier lifestyle, we usually start out with wanting to speed up our metabolism to expel toxins and burn fats. Fad diets and synthetic weight-loss pills just won’t do. We need long-term and natural solutions to safety quicken our metabolic processes.

Herbs that increase metabolism may be a good option for those who want to lose weight and improve health, as they allow you to keep eating a regular diet but speed up your metabolism to burn calories and fat more quickly.

Metabolism is the process of breaking down food in our bodies and eventually assimilating it into the body cells for the production of energy. The metabolic process is vital to all the other functions of the body and problems associated with metabolism need to be addressed in the best way possible to keep the body performing at an optimal condition. By reducing fat and looking good, you can also keep your self-confidence afloat.

Here are a few herbs that quicken metabolism:

1. Parsley

This aromatic herb is a natural diuretic, rich in many important nutrients. It curbs appetite and reduces food cravings. It is also a good liver and kidney cleanser, as well as an effective digestive aid. Parsley is an incredibly effective herb for overall health and in boosting metabolism as it has very high levels of Vitamin C as well as iron, and it actually contains time times the amount of Vitamin C that a citrus fruit has and more iron than any other leafy green vegetable. In addition to these essentials, it has Vitamin A and B as well.

All in all, parsley is a wonderful herb that helps keep your body healthy and strong while consistently following a weight loss program

2. Hawthorn

This herb does not affect metabolism directly but its indirect effects contribute to improving body metabolism. The herb helps in stimulating the thyroid gland to secrete enough insulin for the assimilation of glucose from the bloodstream into the body’s cells.

3. Mint

Mint stimulates the functioning of the digestive system and acts as a natural hunger suppressant. It curbs appetite, reduces cravings and increases the sense of satiety and fullness after eating.

4. Fennel

Fennel act as a diuretic herb that decreases water retention in the body, suppresses appetite and reduces hunger pangs. It helps remove excess fluid from the body and improves overall energy by helping your body digest and assimilate nutrients more efficiently. it speeds your metabolism to efficiently burn fat and sugar. The herb promotes fat deposit break-up, releasing fats into the bloodstream to be used as energy.

Could Manuka Honey Beat Drug-Resistant Superbugs?

Could Manuka Honey Beat Drug-Resistant Superbugs?

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Now, however, honey could hold the key to combating the very modern threat of drug-resistant superbugs.

A study has shown that manuka honey can fight back on two fronts. Not only can it help to kill MRSA and other superbugs, it can also prevent bacteria from becoming resistant to antibiotics.

The danger of the rise of bugs which do not succumb to drugs was outlined this month by the Chief Medical Officer.

Professor Dame Sally Davies described it as a ‘ticking timebomb’ which could leave millions vulnerable to untreatable germs within a generation.

But a study in Australia offers a solution. At the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), tests were carried out on manuka, kanuka and clover honeys to find which was best at treating bacteria commonly found in chronic skin wounds

Researchers looked at key ingredients known to inhibit bacterial growth.

The best at doing this was Comvita medical-grade manuka honey, made by bees foraging on New Zealand’s manuka trees.

When combined with common antibiotics, the treatment hampered the spread of bacteria on wounds.

Crucially, scientists found the honey prevented the bugs from developing any resistance to the antibiotic.

Professor Liz Harry, of UTS, said: ‘Manuka honey should be used as a first resort for wound treatment, rather than the last resort, as it so often is.’

The research, in the journal PLOS ONE, follows a previous study which found that the honey was effective against more than 80 types of bacteria, including MRSA.

Commercial honey bought at shops is not suitable as it needs to be sterilised to make it medical grade.

Infections are becoming more difficult to defeat but no new class of antibiotic has been discovered since the 1980s. 

It follows a previous study that found manuka honey is effective against more than 80 different types of bacteria, including hospital superbug MRSA.

Professor Liz Harry at UTS said: ‘We have shown bacteria do not become resistant to honey in the laboratory. Consistent with these facts, we also found that if MRSA were treated with just rifampicin [antibiotic], the superbug became resistant very quickly,’ she said. 

‘However, when manuka honey  and rifampicin are used in combination to treat MRSA, rifampicin-resistant MRSA did not emerge. In other words, honey somehow prevents the emergence of rifampicin-resistant MRSA – this is a hugely important finding.’

With overuse of antibiotics partly blamed for the increase in resistant superbugs, GPs will be asked to prescribe fewer antibiotics to patients. 
And while infections are becoming increasingly difficult to beat, no new class of antibiotic has been discovered since the 1980s.

Dr Harry added: ‘With the existence now of bacteria that are resistant to all available antibiotics, and the death of new antibiotics on the market, manuka honey should be used as a first resort for wound treatment, rather than the last resort as it so often does. 

‘What we need is an acceptance by society that antibiotics are not going to provide all that we hoped for when they were discovered in the 1940s; and that we need to start getting very serious about using alternatives to this, or use honey in addition to them.’ 

While all types of honey have some antibacterial properties, the ingredients of manuka honey make it particularly powerful.

It is possible to buy dressings that already contain the honey, as well apply honey directly to bandages and other dressings.

However, supermarket honey will not do.  Any honey used be sterilised to make it of medical grade.

ANCIENT REMEDY

• Apitherapy, the use of honey as a medicine, has been practised since the  times of Ancient Greece (2,000BC - 600AD)

• Honey from the manuka, an evergreen shrub originating from New Zealand, was used by Maoris and settlers as medicine

• The honey has an anti-bacterial level four times greater than standard antiseptic

• It is used to clean wounds, heal  stomach ulcers and treat eczema, acne and insect stings

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