What You Should Know About Vitamins

A well-balanced diet is supposed to contain all the necessary vitamins in sufficient quantities. However, this is not always possible. For example, when you are suffering from certain illnesses, are on a restricted diet, are pregnant, or breast feeding, extra vitamins may be recommended by your doctor. But remember, under normal circumstances extra vitamins are unnecessary and can even be harmful, leading to poisonous overdoses called – hyper-vitaminosis!

The Role of Vitamins

Vitamin A is necessary for healthy skin, bones, and eyes.  Try not to take vitamin A supplements as an excess can cause fragile bones, liver and spleen enlargement and loss of appetite and possibly even hair.

The B vitamins affect blood, skin, nerves and growth, and the way your body uses foods. It will do no harm to take brewer’s yeast, a rich source of several B vitamins, for extra energy. The benefit is that the body quickly excretes any excess vitamin B. Therefore, the body set the balance automatically.

Any diet  should contain sufficient daily amounts of vitamin C-rich foods, as the body cannot store vitamin C, and it is easily destroyed by time, cooking and by cigarette smoking. 

Vitamin D is necessary for strong bones and teeth. It is found mainly in fish liver oils, egg yolk, liver, fatty sea-fish and milk. Supplements should be avoided as overdosing can cause vomiting, headaches, weight loss and calcium deposits in kidneys and arteries.

Vitamin E occurs in many foods especially in oils of wheat germ, cottonseed, and corn, and in oatmeal, margarine, eggs, meat, butter, and peas. Vitamin E occurs in many foods especially in oils of wheat germ, cottonseed, and corn, and in oatmeal, margarine, eggs, meat, butter, and peas.

Vitamin K helps prevent excessive bleeding. Ample quantities can be obtained by eating pig’s liver, green leafy vegetables, eggs and milk; supplements are largely unnecessary as the body makes up for any shortage by manufacturing it in the intestines.  

If you are suffering from vitamin deficiency, you should consult your doctor.

The Logic of Women!!

Logic #1

Lunchtime at the office, Sarah and Jane went to the diner on the corner with their lunch boxes,  they have decided to eat their lunch there, so without ordering anything they sit down, open their lunch boxes and  begin to eat .

The manager sees this and says to them, "You can't eat your own food in here!"

With that, they swap lunch boxes and continue eating!!

Logic #2

 Kimberly informed her friend Mary that she had started a diet to lose some pounds she had put on recently.

“Good!” Mary exclaimed. “I’m ready to start a diet too. We can be dieting buddies and help each other out. When I feel the urge to drive out and get a burger and fries, I’ll call you first.”

“Great!” Kimberley replied. “I’ll ride with you.”

What are Free Radicals and Antioxidants?

As the body’s cells use oxygen to produce energy, some highly unstable molecules known as free radicals are produced.

These are molecules or atoms with missing electrons. These molecules rush around grabbing electrons from other molecules to stabilize themselves, in the process creating new free radicals. An electron-grabbing chain reaction starts that damages tissues and contributes to ageing and degenerative disease.

The good guys who put a stop to this are the antioxidants, among which are vitamins E, C and beta carotene. They seek out the free radicals and inactive them - becoming inactive themselves in the process. This is why a regular supply of antioxidants is needed, and the best way of ensuring this to eat a natural unrefined plant food diet.

Danie De Villiers - Freelance Writer

Women and Calcium

Calcium is a mineral that strengthens your bones and teeth, and ensures everything runs smoothly with your muscles and nerves. It's especially important for growth. Calcium can continue to add to the strength of your bones until you reach the age of 30 to 35, when peak bone mass is reached.

After this point, as a natural part of the ageing process, your bones lose their density and grow weaker. If you haven't had enough calcium in your diet prior to this, there's an increased risk that your bones won't be strong enough to cope with any weakening, which can result in the brittle bone disease, osteoporosis.

Health professionals estimate that one in three women and one in 12 men over the age of 50 suffer from osteoporosis. There's also concern that the diets of teenage girls and young women, in particular, aren't high enough in calcium. Some experts predict the future could bring an osteoporosis epidemic in women.

Of course, if your diet excludes milk and dairy products or if you can't tolerate the milk sugar lactose, then you need to look for calcium alternatives. It is recommended that both men and women get 700mg of calcium every day to ensure good health.

The good news is, if you're concerned about your weight, getting the calcium you need doesn't have to mean eating or drinking full-fat foods. There's exactly the same amount of calcium in skimmed milk as there is in whole milk. The same goes for low-fat yoghurt and reduced-fat cheese. You don't have to buy their full-fat counterparts to look after your bones.

Fruit, Glorious Fruit

Fruit is natural storehouses of vital vitamins and minerals. Fruit is also an excellent source of unrefined carbohydrate, the substance that feeds our bodies with energy.

Fruit is cheap, delicious and certainly, worth of more attention than is usually afforded it. Served raw it is quick and easy to prepare, even  humble every-day fruit can be turned into a surprising variety of stunning sweet and savoury dishes.

Fresh, health-giving fruit is available in some form throughout the year, yet all too often, it forms a neglected and uninteresting part of the average family diet. Money, which could be spent on fresh fruit, is used instead on tinned fruit, calorie-laden cakes, pastries, and sweets. Fruit contains vitamins A and C, roughage and sucrose (natural sugar), so the old proverb about an apple a day keeping the doctor away makes very good sense. 

Fruit should be treated with much greater respect. It must be regarded with the same esteem as meat or fish and, instead of being relegated to the role of a between-meals snack; fruit can be eaten as hors d’oeuvre, as the basis for a light main dish, as a refresher between the main course and cheese, and as a sweet in its own right. This makes good sense. Raw fruit is easy to prepare and always looks appetizing. It goes well with meat, cheese, fish, poultry and game as well as being delicious in sweet or spicy syrups. 

Read further . . . .

You are as beautiful as you want to be

After a certain age, you get the body and face you deserve.

So, it is up to you to decide which body you want. Do not allow stress, discontent or self-pity get the better of your body. Remember, even when you are young and may be in your twenties, it will be very hard to look young and vital when these tensions mirrored on your face.

How you feel, think and look at any age is what is important. The roles that that were once reserved for the young  - career girl, lover, mother – can now be undertaken almost through-out life. There many women who stay young, beautiful and sexy. 

To succeed in keeping the looks and sexiness at any age is not that difficult. You must be interesting and alive. Your image and the projection of that image has more to do with personality, presence, vital good looks and a breezy mind than actual beauty. That thing we called sex appeal is a sort of maturity, meaning a woman of any age must have self-confidence, you must know yourself and you must have experience.

The state of your body, the way you dress it and the impact of your face all reveal your self-esteem. Are you keeping track of your health, your fitness, and your looks? You must be sensible and observant and follow daily routines that are realistic and you must realize that it is your attitude that counts most of all. 

It is your lifestyle that primarily dictates the length and health of your life. The following are the main contributors to a healthy life:

·         A simple diet of natural foods, low in fat, high in vegetables, grains and fruits

·         Plenty of exercise and outdoor work

·         A stress-free relaxed attitude with a philosophical view of events

·         Awareness of being useful, needed and loved

·         A degree of genetic influence

The basis of it all is coming to terms with your individual character. This is more than finding yourself. Knowing your character is recognizing good and bad points, realizing what can be controlled and what runs wild. It is learning to balance life’s ups and downs and working out how fit in with others close to you – how to love them, live them, give and receive from them. Life is essentially a compromise and it’s only as you grow older that you finally accept this is true.

Do not dwell on imperfections. It is adolescent to be obsessed with what are invariably imagined major flaws. Take stock once and for all and decide what is realistic to change and set positive goals. 

Learn to love yourself and your body.