Tag: Nutritious

Water – The Forgotten Nutrient

Posted on by Winsome

Water, the forgotten nutrient

 

Tips for Success

  • Drink at least 8 – 10 glasses of water daily.
  • Develop a timetable for your water intake, e.g. by noon, you should have had 4 cups/1 litre.
  • Flavour water with a slice of orange, lemon or lime.
  • Watch coffee, tea and alcohol – they induce water loss.
  • Remember, for every 2 cups/500 ml of caffeinated beverages you consume, you need to drink an extra 8 oz/250 ml of water.
  • Carry water with you when exercising to avoid dehydration.
  • Drinking water regulates body temperature; prevents constipation and aids digestion; helps your body absorb vital nutrients.  DON’T CHEAT YOUR BODY OF NUTRIENTS.
  • The overweight person needs more water than the thin one.  Larger people have larger metabolic loads.  Since we know that water is the key to fat metabolism, it follows that the overweight person needs more water.  For every 25 pounds you are over a healthy body weight, you need an extra 8-oz/250 ml serving of water.
  • Remember, as the day progresses, your water should be the same colour going out as it is coming in.

 

 

 

 

 

Your body does a good job of keeping water levels balanced, especially if you regularly maintain an adequate intake of fluids.

 

The key to staying hydrated is not allowing yourself to get thirsty.  Thirst does not signal you to drink until after you’ve already lost 2 cups of fluids!

Your Body Needs Water

The overweight, sick, elderly and very young are at greater risk of illness from dehydration.  But no matter what your age or physical condition, when you lack fluids, your blood pressure drops, your heart has difficulty circulating blood through your body, your kidneys have trouble excreting waste, your skin will sag, you will be more apt to suffer from constipation, and your body has difficulty in maintaining proper muscle tone.

Incredible as it may seem, water is quite possibly the single most important catalyst in losing weight and keeping it off.  Although most of us take it for granted, water may be the only true “magic potion” for permanent weight loss.

 

Water and Weight Loss

Water suppresses the appetite naturally and helps the body metabolize stored fat.  Studies have shown that a decrease in water intake will cause fat deposits to increase, while an increase in water intake can actually reduce fat deposits.

Here’s why:  The kidneys can’t function properly without enough water.  When they don’t work to capacity, some of their load is dumped onto the liver.  One of the liver’s primary functions is to metabolize stored fat into usable energy for the body.  But, if the liver has to do some of the kidney’s work, it can’t operate at full throttle.  As a result, it metabolizes less fat, more fat remains stored in the body and weight loss stops.

Drinking enough water is the best treatment for fluid retention.   When the body gets less water, it perceives this as a threat to survival and begins to hold onto every drop.  Water is stored in extra-cellular spaces (outside the cells).  This shows up as swollen feet, legs and hands.  Diuretics offer a temporary solution at best.  They force out stored water along with some essential nutrients.  Again, the body perceives a threat and will replace the loss water at the first opportunity.  Thus, the condition quickly returns.

The best way to overcome the problem of water retention is to give your body what it needs – plenty of water.  Only then will stored water be released.  If you have a constant problem with water retention excess salt may be to blame.  Your body will tolerate sodium only in a certain concentration.  The more salt you eat, the more water your system retains to dilute it.  But getting rid of excess salt is easy – just drink more water.  As it’s forced through the kidney, it takes away excess sodium.

 

Water and Exercise

In an effort to prevent dehydration, some people, particularly those taking part in competitive sports or endurance events like marathons, drink too much water, which can lead to a potentially serious or even fatal condition called hyponatremia.

Hyponatremia occurs when over-consumption of water dilutes levels of sodium in the blood.  Symptoms include nausea and vomiting, muscle weakness, headache and disorientation, as well as bloating and puffiness in the face and fingers.  For some unknown reason, the condition seems more common among women than men.

Drink about 500 ml two hours before exercise, which allows time for you to excrete any excess fluid.  During exercise, start drinking early and at regular intervals – between 150 – 300 ml every 15 to 20 minutes.  Water and other beverages should be cooler than air temperature, which makes them more palatable, and may help regulate body temperature.

 

Juices – The good, the bad, and the Junk!

Posted on by Winsome
Nutritious Juices - Healthy Options' take on juices, from the most nutritious to the junk!
Nutritious Juices – Healthy Options’ take on juices, from the most nutritious to the junk!

The best that there is!

It would be hard to design a better food than fruit.  No fat, cholesterol, or sodium.  Lots of fibre, taste, and (usually) vitamins.  And it may help reduce the risk of cancer.

Except for the fibre, fruit juice, has the same advantages.  In fact, Canada’s Food Guide to Healthy Eating counts each petite ½ cup (125 ml) of fruit (or vegetable) juice as one of the five to ten servings of fruits and vegetables we should eat every day.  To ensure adequate amounts of fruit and vegetables, remember to eat a maximum of 3 fruit and 6 vegetable servings daily.

What most people don’t realize is that some juices are far more nutritious than others.  We rate the most common juices according to how much a day’s worth of vitamins and minerals each cup (250 ml) supplies. For most juices, we averaged the numbers for bottled, chilled, canned, and frozen concentrate.  Here are our findings:

Orange – is by far the best.  A glass of OJ has over a day’s vitamin C and a quarter of a day’s Folacin/Folic Acid, the B-vitamin that reduces the risk of birth defects and that may help protect against heart disease.  It also has more than ten per cent of a day’s potassium (which may help prevent high blood pressure), magnesium, and thiamin, plus at least five per cent of copper and vitamin B-6.  Some orange juices – Minute Maid, Oasis, and Tropicana’s new Calcium & Vitamin C Supplement, for example – now contain added calcium.

  • Grapefruit –  has almost as much vitamin C, B-6, copper, and potassium as OJ, but less thiamin and hardly any Folacin.
  • Prune – has between ten and 25 per cent of a day’s iron, magnesium, potassium, vitamin C, and riboflavin, and slightly less copper and niacin.
  • Pineapple – has half a day’s vitamin C and at least 10% of a day’s potassium, thiamin, copper, magnesium, vitamin B-6, and Folacin.
  • Grape – scrapes the bottom of nutrient barrel.
  • Apple – is even lower than grape.
  • Cranberry Cocktail – can be grouped with apple and grape but may be worth drinking.  In a study of older women, those who drank ten ounces (312 ml) every day had half the risk of urinary tract infections of those who given a cranberry free beverage.

 Three Rules to help you find the best juices:

  1. Shoot for the most nutritious juices.  The top four: orange, grapefruit, prune, and pineapple.  Just looking at the name on the bottle or carton isn’t enough.  Oasis Health Break Wild Blueberry Cocktail, Fresh’n Tasty Orange-Peach Juice, and Dole Tropical Fruit Juice all have apple, grape, or pear as their main juice.
  2. Check the ingredient list.  Look for no added sweeteners like sugar, glucose, fructose, honey, molasses, or corn and other syrups.  Avoid artificial sweeteners like NutraSweet (aspartame) and Acesulfame K (acesulfame potassium).  A search for added sweeteners is critical for “nectars,” “drinks,” “spritzers,” “cocktails,” and “punches.”  Del Monte’s Prune Nectar, for example, is 100% juice.  McCain’s Grape Nectar is only 50 juice and Fairlee’s Mango Nectar is 35%.  Go figure!  Or take Minute Maid Premium frozen concentrates.  Despite pictures of fruit all over their labels, only the orange, grapefruit, and lemon juices are 100% juice.  The rest (like Watermelon Punch) contain a measly 10% to 15% juice.
  3. Fortification is fine, as long as it is not fortified junk.  A juice like McCain Tropical 5, a mixture of pineapple, orange, passion fruit, lemon juice and mango puree, is simply a good juice made better by the addition of some extra vitamin C to bring the content up to 100 per cent of the recommended daily intake.  A glass of Sunny Delight, on the other hand, is just a “vitamin C and thiamin pill, with a tablespoon of juice, some sugar and orange-coloured water.”