How to Super Charge Your DietWritten by Jason Reischutz
How to Super Charge your Diet What I am going to tell you is some very powerful information. I am going to show you how to make YOUR recipes super healthy like mine. You like eating you favorite recipes, so you should continue to do so. Most recipes can be made healthier.1. Ratio is more important that quantity. I do not count calories. I want you to make sure that meat is less than one third of your plate and fruits and vegetables are at least 2/3 of your plate. Meat and protein slow down digestion; you need fiber and carbohydrates to keep your digestion moving. 2. Mix proteins and sugars. This will help to keep your blood sugar level. Blood sugar affects energy levels and mood as well as hunger. For example if you eat an orange by itself it will cause your blood sugar to spike. You will have a burst of energy but then be tired a while later. But if you eat a handful of nuts with it will keep your blood sugar level. If you find your self always eating or craving sweets eating some protein with sweets will reduce this tendency. 3. Try to avoid fats that are solid at room temperature. Your body has trouble processing these fats; they clog you arteries and make you fat. Examples of fats you should try to avoid are lard, margarine, and butter. However you can eat as much good fat as you like. Replace those saturated fats like lard and butter with good fats like olive and vegetable oil. The foods will taste about same but be much better for you. 4. As I have mentioned before be careful with packaged foods. Read ingredients and select ones with least chemicals. A lot of things that you buy packaged can be made without chemicals at home easily. See back issues for my quick easy hummus, salsa, and guacamole recipes. Remember, when you make something yourself you know exactly what’s in it. 5. Avoid white flour, white sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and white rice. These things are all highly refined and have different bad effects on our health. Drink less soda. It is bad for you. Try to drink less than one or two a day. It raises you blood sugar. Besides that, it rots your teeth; even diet soda has acids that rot teeth. When cooking these things can be easily replaced with whole grain flours, cane sugar, fruit preserves, and long grain brown rice.
| | Standards for Natural and Organic Cosmetics Written by Lori Stryker
Standards for Natural and Organic Cosmetics If you are concerned about what you eat, and levels of synthetic chemicals present in your food, next logical step is to focus attention on what you put on your skin every day. Up to 60 percent of what is applied to skin soaks through to blood vessels where it is processed by liver. The rest of cosmetic is absorbed by skin or evaporates away. For those who approach their health holistically, cosmetics warrant a closer view as to what current standards are regarding natural and organic cosmetics. A natural cosmetic denotes a product made with natural ingredients and simple methods of preparation. Natural cosmetics should also be free from chemical ingredients, which are agents that have undergone extreme heat or pressure to drastically alter chemical profile of original substance. Many synthetic chemicals, although chemically identical to their natural parallels, have a history of causing allergies, contact dermatitis and other adverse reactions when they are used in cosmetics. Petroleum-derived substances likewise have a dubious history, causing damage to environment and skin. If in manufacture of a cosmetic ingredient or whole cosmetic ecology and biodiversity of flora and fauna of earth has been irreparably damaged, then cosmetic cannot claim to be natural or organic. Likewise, genetically modified, bio-engineered or irradiated ingredients appear contrary to concept of a natural cosmetic. Natural ingredients must be limited to substances which are derived directly and simply from plant sources, minerals and rarely animal sources, and use methods such as cold-pressing, distillation, collecting, such as with beeswax or honey, which imposes no harm to bee or its hive, harvesting plants and seeds, etc. In addition, it is responsibility of manufacturer to examine safety data for each ingredient used to ensure minimal or no toxicity to consumer. In Canada, there are no current standards for natural or organic cosmetics, and organic food labeling is voluntary. In U.S., many are lobbying for stringent standards in cosmetic industry, to regulate how terms “natural” and “organic” can be used. There are no standards for personal care products, and some manufacturers have procured certifications by independent organizations from various parts of world. Ingredients which are used in manufacture of cosmetics which are certified agriculturally by USDA can be identified on labels. For food, a product is 95-100 percent organic if it contains mostly or only organically produced ingredients. The California Organic Products Act of 2003 states that a personal care product is certified organic if it contains 70 percent minimum weight organic ingredients which are non-water and non-salt, but rest can be synthetic or petroleum derived as long as these substances are on National Organic Program’s approved list. Controversy has arisen from use of hydrosols, or floral waters to constitute bulk of 70 percent, in order to gain certification. Clearly, focus on organic status in necessary, but more pressing is issue of whether a cosmetic is truly natural or not. It is not possible at present time to have a full range of cosmetic products which are made from all certified organic ingredients, since cost is prohibitive, but more importantly availability of ingredients which would qualify as truly organic are not available.
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