A healthy diet containing at least 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day is very important to maintain optimal health, but due to a decrease in levels of nutrients we aren't getting same benefit as 100 years ago.

Crops are being grown in soils that have less goodness left in them. Also many fruits and vegetables that are imported from other countries are picked before the're ripe and then flown long distances before being stacked on supermarket shelves.

As a result many vitamins and minerals are lost before we even get them home. Many people tend to do a weekly shop due to busy lifestyles instead of buying fresh produce each day. Vegetables and fruits are often stored in fridges and vegetable racks at home for days before being cooked and eaten. This means even more nutrients are lost.

A study has found that spinach contains 60% less iron than 50 years ago,and runner beans that used to contain large amounts of sodium hardly have a trace of it today.

Chemicals are also added to our food. Fertilizers and pesticides are used in farming, and fruit is often sprayed with chemicals to help ripening after they have been picked.

If you are a meat eater most meat now contains anti-biotics and growth hormones.

At turn of last century in about 1900 incidence of cancer was about 1 in 80 now it's 1 in 3

Are You Getting Enough Sleep? By Cynthia Perkins

Just like eating healthy and exercise, adequate sleep is an essential component for a health conscious life style. We are a sleep-deprived society and this is wrecking havoc on individual’s mental and physical health. Lack of sleep can be as dangerous to your health as smoking. Studies have shown that people who slept 7 to 8 hours a night lived significantly longer than those who didn’t.

Lack of sleep affects all areas of your life including: ~Emotional- you may be more frustrated, irritable, cranky and moody ~Social-you may be difficult to get along with, lack of desire to socialize ~Cognitive-impaired ability to learn, poor memory, decreased problem solving abilities ~Physical- productivity is impaired, fatigue, a compromised immune system which leaves you vulnerable to disease, infection, and colds etc. ~Safety-judgment may be impaired, your less aware and alert which can lead to accidents, hand eye coordination is impaired Sleep also restores our physical and mental energy. The body repairs itself while we sleep. It detoxes and heals. Thus, for us individuals living with chronic illness or chronic pain, obtaining adequate sleep is vitally important. We need adequate sleep to help us cope with stress, to relieve pain and fatigue and keep symptoms to a minimum. Lack of sleep in chronically ill often increases pain and fatigue and exacerbates whatever symptoms they may experience.