by: Sharon Hopkins
Fruits, goldmine of vitamins, minerals and fiber are ideal to consume at least 4-5 servings in a day. Since they are in the natural form, account for largest part of water and 100% bad cholesterol free, it's much easier for the body to process and absorb the vitamins and minerals from the fresh fruit.
Apple – Round fruit with lots of fiber, vitamins A, C, E and folate. Available in green, red or yellow skin when ripe. Apples reduce the risk of colon cancer, prostate cancer and lung cancer. They also help with heart disease, weight loss and controlling cholesterol.
Bananas – Long thick skinned fruit yellow in color when ripe. Good source of fiber, potassium, vitamins A, C, B6, E & folate. Unripe or green bananas are used in cooking.
Cherries – small round fruit with a seed, red or black in color when ripened. Cherries always have to be ripe to eat. Cherries contain anthocyanins that reduce pain & inflammation.
Figs – Eaten either dried or fresh, figs contain vitamin A, C, folate and niacin. A small sweet fruit full of small seeds.
Kiwi – A rich source of vitamins A, C, E, B - complex, calcium, iron and folic acid, kiwi is a small oval fruit with thin brown skin, soft green flesh and black seeds. The skin is a good source of flavonoid antioxidants.
Lime – Lime or lemon is the most cultivated citrus fruit with green to yellow color loaded with vitamins A, C and folate. Juice of lime is good for detoxification and has antioxidant properties.
Peach - Round juicy fruit with a yellowish red skin & flesh having a taste of acidic tang and sweetness contains a rough stone. Always to be picked and eaten ripe.
Orange - A round thick-skinned juicy edible fruit that is a reddish-yellow color when ripe with sweet to sour flavor. Peeled and eaten fresh or squeezed to make juice. Contain vitamin C, flavanoids, provides pectin and rich in sodium when ripened in sunshine.
Plum - soft round smooth-skinned fruit with sweet flesh and a flattish pointed stone. It is high in carbohydrates, low in fat and calories. An excellent source of vitamin A, C, calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium, fiber and free of sodium and cholesterol.
Papaya - A melon like fruit with yellow- orange flesh with dozens of small black seeds enclosed in skin that ranges in color from green to orange. Either round, pear-shaped, or long like a banana. Rich in vitamins A, B, C, and D; calcium, phosphorous and iron. It is high in digestive properties and has a direct tonic effect on the stomach.
Pear - A sweet juicy yellow or green fruit with a rounded shape narrow towards the stalk. Best eaten at room temperature, pear contains kalium and riboflavine. It is good for skin and contains plenty of fibers.
Strawberry - A triangular shaped red color fruit. It is one of the richest sources of Vitamin C and fiber. It has high content of sodium and iron. It helps in whitening of the teeth. Used to relieve rheumatism.
Watermelon - a type of melon with smooth exterior rind and juicy sweet red interior flesh. Extraordinarily refreshing to drink as juice or eaten when ripe and fresh. Valuable for minerals, vitamins and sugar with useful amount of fiber and iron.
About The Author
Sharon Hopkins manages websites on nutrition, diet such as http://www.diethealthclub.com. A nutritious diet ensures well being, helps to maintain a healthy BMI, reduces the risk of several debilitating diseases like cancer, cardiovascular ailments, diabetes, osteoporosis and stroke.
**Get a money-making mall FREE! Click here:
http://www.mypowermall.com/Biz/Home/30831
Sunday, July 20, 2008
The Day “Live Fast Die Young” started to lose its appeal
by: Stephen Morgan
Somehow the youthful notion of “live fast, die young!” becomes less appealing as the days go by. Funny that, isn’t it?
I remember the day well, it all started in May 1997 with a routine (or so I thought) Doctors appointment in the morning and then the usual rounds of trying to keep clients and staff happy. It was the day of my thirty ninth birthday and so I was looking forward to the celebratory dinner engagement later that evening. I had been feeling slightly “run down”, a euphemism here for “exhausted” but had put it down to slightly busy times in the office and so had finally relented to my wife’s pleas to “go and see the Doc and get everything checked out”.
Upon my return to the office in mid afternoon, I received a message from one of my colleagues “your doctor called and you are to call him back straight away”. “Ah, get the multivitamins ready and get ready to cut back on the alcohol time” I thought but alas not so.
“How are things Doc?”
“I’m fine but you’re not. I have a hospital bed set aside (he gave me the details of the hospital in question) and you are to get there straight away. I will see you there shortly.”
OK, a little bit harsh and to the point I thought. “Is there any particular reason?” I asked rather glibly.
“Yes, you need a blood transfusion straight away and we will take it from there. I’ll explain more when I see you there”
Things were starting to get a little too serious for my liking. Feeling slightly like a child who had been playing Monopoly and had just received the “Go straight to jail. Do not pass Go and do not collect £200 (or whatever your currency is depending on where you are reading this article)” I put the telephone down, stared at the blank wall in front of me and tried not to go into major panic mode.
The day was definitely not going to plan. The next thing was to inform my wife of exactly what had happened (to the best of my knowledge), put the birthday celebrations on hold; cancel the restaurant reservation and trying not to drive into anyone or anything else I headed home to pack some “overnight things” for my short stay in hospital.
“Overnight things!” I had prepared myself for overnight business trips before but somehow I wasn’t too sure whether the hospital would appreciate me arriving with laptop, mobile and modem et al in tow and so things were a little different this time.
The problem as it turned out had been that I had an abnormally low haemoglobin level that had surfaced as part of a routine Blood Test that had been carried out that morning.
The haemoglobin test is normally ordered as a part of the complete blood count (CBC) (which is ordered for many different reasons, including as a general health screening, further information can be found at http://www.bloodpressureinformation.info/whatisabloodtestpt1.html ). The test is also repeated in patients who have ongoing bleeding problems or chronic anaemia’s or polycythemias.
Normal values in an adult are 12 to 18 grams per decilitre (100 millilitres) of blood. Above-normal haemoglobin levels may be the result of:
• Dehydration,
• Excess production of red blood cells in the bone marrow,
• Severe lung disease, or
• Several other conditions.
Below-normal haemoglobin levels may lead to anaemia that can be the result of:
• iron deficiency or deficiencies in essential vitamins of other elements, such as B12, foliate, B6,
• inherited haemoglobin defects, such as sickle cell anaemia or thalassemias,
• Other inherited defects affecting the red blood cells,
• Cirrhosis of the liver (during which the liver becomes scarred),
• Excessive bleeding,
• Excessive destruction of red blood cells,
• Kidney disease,
• Other chronic illnesses,
• Bone marrow failure or aplastic anaemia, or
• Cancers that affect the bone marrow.
In my case, my haemoglobin count was 5.9 which as my doctor later cheerfully commented “I’ve never seen someone with a blood count that low, still standing!” Just what I wanted to hear I thought as I lay in the hospital bed strapped to a drip getting my transfusion. “Don’t worry, you’ll feel so much better with a few more pints in you and these are the sort that won’t give you a hangover in the morning either!”
Somehow, though grateful for their concern, I found it rather difficult to share their enthusiasm. You see, dear reader, the real problem in the whole proceedings had been with my own rather stupid (it’s a “guy” thing) concept in ignoring the warning signs that had been building up over the years and signing up for a lifetimes course in the “heal thyself” school of medicine.
As a Consultant pointed out rather bluntly at a later stage I had almost killed myself with my own stupidity. I had been losing rather large amounts (at times) of blood during regular bodily functions (I won’t dwell on this too much but you get the drift) but because I had been young and fit had managed to overcome these losses without too much in the way of inconvenience. Also because of my extremely low blood count, to compensate, my blood pressure (though normal at the time) had been kept artificially low.
The moral of the story so far is don’t be stupid, don’t ignore the warning signs and if confronted with anything slightly out of the norm then get it checked out and don’t die of ignorance and shame.
So having received my “Get out of jail free card”, most normal individuals with more than a half functioning brain would have then proceeded through life with caution but sadly it appeared that I was destined to “go for broke next time”.
About The Author
Steve Morgan’s Background is in marketing but through a number of experiences both direct and involving relatives, has developed a more than passing interest in Health Matters and thus acts as a Consultant for Blood Pressure Information (www.bloodpressureinformation.info) an independent information resource in Healthcare Matters. He also has an involvement with two other organisations http://www.stressrelief.ws and http://www.highbloodpressure.name.
**Get a money-making mall FREE! Click here:
http://www.mypowermall.com/Biz/Home/30831
Somehow the youthful notion of “live fast, die young!” becomes less appealing as the days go by. Funny that, isn’t it?
I remember the day well, it all started in May 1997 with a routine (or so I thought) Doctors appointment in the morning and then the usual rounds of trying to keep clients and staff happy. It was the day of my thirty ninth birthday and so I was looking forward to the celebratory dinner engagement later that evening. I had been feeling slightly “run down”, a euphemism here for “exhausted” but had put it down to slightly busy times in the office and so had finally relented to my wife’s pleas to “go and see the Doc and get everything checked out”.
Upon my return to the office in mid afternoon, I received a message from one of my colleagues “your doctor called and you are to call him back straight away”. “Ah, get the multivitamins ready and get ready to cut back on the alcohol time” I thought but alas not so.
“How are things Doc?”
“I’m fine but you’re not. I have a hospital bed set aside (he gave me the details of the hospital in question) and you are to get there straight away. I will see you there shortly.”
OK, a little bit harsh and to the point I thought. “Is there any particular reason?” I asked rather glibly.
“Yes, you need a blood transfusion straight away and we will take it from there. I’ll explain more when I see you there”
Things were starting to get a little too serious for my liking. Feeling slightly like a child who had been playing Monopoly and had just received the “Go straight to jail. Do not pass Go and do not collect £200 (or whatever your currency is depending on where you are reading this article)” I put the telephone down, stared at the blank wall in front of me and tried not to go into major panic mode.
The day was definitely not going to plan. The next thing was to inform my wife of exactly what had happened (to the best of my knowledge), put the birthday celebrations on hold; cancel the restaurant reservation and trying not to drive into anyone or anything else I headed home to pack some “overnight things” for my short stay in hospital.
“Overnight things!” I had prepared myself for overnight business trips before but somehow I wasn’t too sure whether the hospital would appreciate me arriving with laptop, mobile and modem et al in tow and so things were a little different this time.
The problem as it turned out had been that I had an abnormally low haemoglobin level that had surfaced as part of a routine Blood Test that had been carried out that morning.
The haemoglobin test is normally ordered as a part of the complete blood count (CBC) (which is ordered for many different reasons, including as a general health screening, further information can be found at http://www.bloodpressureinformation.info/whatisabloodtestpt1.html ). The test is also repeated in patients who have ongoing bleeding problems or chronic anaemia’s or polycythemias.
Normal values in an adult are 12 to 18 grams per decilitre (100 millilitres) of blood. Above-normal haemoglobin levels may be the result of:
• Dehydration,
• Excess production of red blood cells in the bone marrow,
• Severe lung disease, or
• Several other conditions.
Below-normal haemoglobin levels may lead to anaemia that can be the result of:
• iron deficiency or deficiencies in essential vitamins of other elements, such as B12, foliate, B6,
• inherited haemoglobin defects, such as sickle cell anaemia or thalassemias,
• Other inherited defects affecting the red blood cells,
• Cirrhosis of the liver (during which the liver becomes scarred),
• Excessive bleeding,
• Excessive destruction of red blood cells,
• Kidney disease,
• Other chronic illnesses,
• Bone marrow failure or aplastic anaemia, or
• Cancers that affect the bone marrow.
In my case, my haemoglobin count was 5.9 which as my doctor later cheerfully commented “I’ve never seen someone with a blood count that low, still standing!” Just what I wanted to hear I thought as I lay in the hospital bed strapped to a drip getting my transfusion. “Don’t worry, you’ll feel so much better with a few more pints in you and these are the sort that won’t give you a hangover in the morning either!”
Somehow, though grateful for their concern, I found it rather difficult to share their enthusiasm. You see, dear reader, the real problem in the whole proceedings had been with my own rather stupid (it’s a “guy” thing) concept in ignoring the warning signs that had been building up over the years and signing up for a lifetimes course in the “heal thyself” school of medicine.
As a Consultant pointed out rather bluntly at a later stage I had almost killed myself with my own stupidity. I had been losing rather large amounts (at times) of blood during regular bodily functions (I won’t dwell on this too much but you get the drift) but because I had been young and fit had managed to overcome these losses without too much in the way of inconvenience. Also because of my extremely low blood count, to compensate, my blood pressure (though normal at the time) had been kept artificially low.
The moral of the story so far is don’t be stupid, don’t ignore the warning signs and if confronted with anything slightly out of the norm then get it checked out and don’t die of ignorance and shame.
So having received my “Get out of jail free card”, most normal individuals with more than a half functioning brain would have then proceeded through life with caution but sadly it appeared that I was destined to “go for broke next time”.
About The Author
Steve Morgan’s Background is in marketing but through a number of experiences both direct and involving relatives, has developed a more than passing interest in Health Matters and thus acts as a Consultant for Blood Pressure Information (www.bloodpressureinformation.info) an independent information resource in Healthcare Matters. He also has an involvement with two other organisations http://www.stressrelief.ws and http://www.highbloodpressure.name.
**Get a money-making mall FREE! Click here:
http://www.mypowermall.com/Biz/Home/30831
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
