Tiredness

Many people are tired nowadays, either they run around too much or try to fit too much in a short period. Also many people wake up already tired. If you are one of the ones that wake up tired, it means that something is not quite right. There are various reasons for that. What I am concentrating on is food that we eat and water that we drink, as well as a possible cause is the liver being sluggish to detoxifying. What I have found that certain foods, and especially sugary foods, wheat, cheese and dairy products can cause water retentions, and also the body to work at a slower rate. Quite often eliminating wheat or reducing it, makes people have more energy during the day and in the morning when they wake. Drinking enough water, which can be between a litre and half to two litres or more, depends if you are working somewhere with air conditioning or heating system, or if you exercise or cycle to work. Dairy and especially cheese, is another food that makes the body sluggish. Try to eliminate some of the food above to see which one gives you more energy and either stay off it for a long time or reduce the amount that you have a day.

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Hypoglycaemia

Hypoglycaemia is a condition where the blood sugar level goes very low. The condition can cause dizziness, moodiness, irritation, tiredness, foggy heads and among others heart palpitation day and or night. I always knew that I could not go without eating for more than 3 hours, if by chance I do, or I have to wait for dinner, lunch or even breakfast, I become a hungry and angry lion!!. Travelling is the worse time when I am not prepared and the only things that you find is fast releasing sugary foods, which makes things better at first and than I get another dip in my sugar level and I start the lion behaviour again!! Now usually to avoid all that, during the day I keep that under control by eating snacks such as seeds and nuts, as well as apples and pears or mandarins. I had a blood test lately as I was having a raised heart beat at night and not sleeping well. I thought I was under stress and that was the cause of it, but to be in the safe side I thought to have it checked with my doctor anyway. Heart is good, which is a relief. The day I did my blood test, I had breakfast which is oat muesli, with nuts and fruits and yogurt, and two hours later I had my blood test. I had a call in the afternoon from the doctor asking if I was ok. I said yes, of course I was. The reason he called was that he was worried as the blood test showed that I was hypoglycaemic and he thought that I was walking around feeling faint or dizzy. I said I was quite well, as I kept my blood sugar level in control by eating my snacks etc. So I had to repeat the blood test, but as I wanted to think why would I be hypoglycaemic after having a slow releasing breakfast, I said to him that I would repeat the test the week after as I wanted to do something before hand. Well thinking of my habit of eating, during the day I was fine, but I eat quite early at 6pm with my son and than I do not eat anything till the next day at 8am. Now for me, but also for many people suffering from hypoglycaemia, that is a long gap. What I did to see if it worked, I ate nuts with yogurt or some slow sugar releasing fruits such as apple, pear and or mandarins around 9pm and see if that will make a change. As vitamin D in England is not made through the skin as the sun rays are not strong enough, from November till March, I decided to take extra dosage. Vitamin D as well as chromium has a very important role in the insulin metabolism. Well on Monday I repeated the blood test, without the breakfast in the morning as suggested and well, no hypoglycaemia, I was fine. This in a way warned me about the long gap without eating, even from the evening to the mornings. Now, my theory on this episode is that it takes two meals for the blood sugar level to stabilize and therefore is an interesting fact. For me and my colleagues at least is a very important point. Many people do not eat breakfast and sometimes skip even the lunch, which it means that the body stays in red alert for many hours after the first meal. This means that if somebody does not eat breakfast it takes two meals for the blood sugar level to stabilize, that might be a reason why many people feel much more energetic after their evening meals, while they feel tired after lunch. Obviously what you eat for breakfast and lunch is as important as skipping the meals to stabilize the blood sugar level. This is especially important in people with a family history of late diabetes (type II) or even type I diabetes. So having breakfast and not leaving a long gap between one meal and the other is as important as eating the right food!!!

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How to improve your immune system to fight colds

January till March most people get a cold for one reason or another. Food that can help the immune system include garlic, onions, leeks, pumpkins and any of the vegetables will gives help with fighting infections and get your immune system strong. Supplement wise, vitamin C (up to 2000 mg a day or bowel tolerance), zinc, echinecea if taking as soon as you get the cold, aconites same as echinecea, wild oregano is very good for fighting viruses, fungi and bacterial infections, colloidal silver, as well. One extra vitamin that is needed during the winter months, especially in England is vitamin D, as the ray from the sun are stron enought to promote the making of vitamin D through the skin. Vitamin D as well as being involved in the calcium and magensium uptake is also involved in the immune system. Have a good supply of the supplements, support your liver always and intestinal tract with probiotics to avoid getting any bug through the intestine and you should get either much healthier or fight the bugs quicker and faster.

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Christmas indulgence and New Year Resolutions!!

Many people, including me, eat too much over Christmas and New Year, and many drink too much to celebrate the new Year. Once all the festivity are done, we realize that we need to go back to not eating drinking too much because we have put on some extra weight. I noticed that eating a lot more bread and wheat as Italian do, as well as plenty of extra salt, did not agree with me at all. Nothing to do with allergies, but pure retention from eating too much carbohydrates. I am also very greedy on chocolate, the darker the better and that for my poor liver and body did not go well either. Now back to my routine of eating food that does not contain wheat or salt seems quite boring. But I do feel much better in the morning, less tired and less water retention! Now I would love to change my entire family way of cooking, but it does taste good when you eat it. My family actually lower down on salt big time since I suggested that, even my father which things that a salad with no salt is like being a rabbit and eating it from the soil directly might have more taste!! Anyway for people that needs to detox after the holidays, eat plenty of fresh fruits (I know is cold but worth it), plenty of freshly cooked vegetables stews, soups and green vegetables. For the once that do not like beans and lentils much, try the chicken or low fat meats or if you like the fish, eat the fish with vegetables, sweet potatoes or rice and after two weeks you will have lost the weight as well as feeling great, obviously no alcohol too for a month to give your liver a rest!!
Buon appetito to all!!

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Christmas party!!!

It is soon Christmas and many people have started Christmas parties with work and friends. I have have done mine with very good friends last Saturday. We went to a Chinese restuarant, we usually go to a Vietnamese restuarant, where the food is superb but still I am sure with lots of additives, spices and fat that do that body does not agree with. But this year the Vietnamese restuarant was closed, so a friend organized in a Chinese restuarant. Well I have the tendency to eat more than I should at this occasions because of the taste of the food and because I rarely go out to a Chinese meal. By the end of the meal, I felt I had drunk a bottle of wine by selself (I do not drink, so I did drink a bottle of water and half by myself though, as I was very thirsty). The meal was quite salty, which I do not usually eat. But it is not until the end that we stopped the salt, as we were chatting away and eating without complaining much. I left the restuarant with a huge headaches and very very tired. In order to get rid of my headache and consequences of whatever was in that meal, I took milk thistle, probiotics and vitamin C. I am not usually allergic to anything that I know of, but my thought was that because of Christmas, they might have added some more MSG (monosodium glutamate) in their food, a lot of salt and who knows what ever they put in the food to make it more tastier. In short, especially over Christmas, be aware of food that you eat as well as the alcohol that you drink, which can de-hydrate you or cause a major physiological problem which can last up to two days after the meal. In alllergic people this can also cause an allergic reaction or an asthma attack. Otherwise enjoy your Christmas and the have a HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

http://www.nutritionhealth.net/

vitamin c

I have been busy with a project and not paid much attention to my blog. But today while working on my project I read something about vitamin C. This is for people that wants to get everything from their food mainly but also for anyone that wants to improve their health. Vitamin C from food, as ascorbic acid, is mostly found in acerola foods, guavas, peppers, especially red chilli and red peppers, kale. Oranges have less vitamin C than the above foods but as usually is peeled and eaten straight away such as the other fruits, it is less destroyed before you eat it or juice it directly. But what mainly destroys vitamin C from the other foods, is heat, air, light. So to reduce the loss of the vitamin C what it can be done is the following: Try not to bruise the fruits when cutting them as that will release the oxidizing enzymes (the fruit start to get dark and lose its vitamin C). Put vegetables in boiling water, which will again destroy the oxidizing enzyme and preserve more vitamin C. Put a lid on the pan so that less air enters the cooking food. Steam the vegetables or boil them in a little amount of water. Avoid food at the supermarket that looks too green, as sodium bicarbonate might have been added to preserve the color and therefore destroy all the vitamin C. Avoid keeping the vegetables hotfor too many hours once they are cooked, such as the ones that are kept in restuarants. Fruit juices even the fresher ones will lose their vitamin C once the bottle or carton is open. The best way to get the most vitamin C, is to eat fresh fruits and raw vegetables and a variaty of them as well.

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Sunshine

I am lucky that I have my parents living in Italy, when I go there during the summer, I can also go to the beach and get some sunshine. Naturally you need to be carefull nowdays when you go to the beach as unless you go early you will get burned even with a 50 protective sun cream. Especially if your skin is pale white. I usually go early in the morning and by 10.30am I want to go out of the sun and get into the shade. Especially if you have children that is the ideal time. But unfortunately I saw plenty of children coming with their parents or grandparents at that time of the day and staying the hottest hours till 4 o'clock. There are many people concern about not getting tunned enough. I put a suncream of 50 to my child and he still got brown, but luckly not burned.
I think if you live in England you do need to get some strong sunshine sometimes, if you like the sun. For healthy reason, during the summer you should be out and about in the sun for about 10 minutes a day and 20 in a cloudy day. During the winter at least 20 minutes to 30 minutes. I know of many elderly people that do not get even one minute in the sun, as they do not go out much during the summer and winter, which it means their chance of worsening their osteoporosis is greater, as they do not get much of vitamin D. Especially the vegans or the elderly that do not eat any vitamin D containing food.
Anyway the best way of getting vitamin D is with the sun (unless your kidney or liver does not work well, than you do need to get it from either the diet or supplements).

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