Archive for the ‘General Nutrition’ Category

What is Balanced Diet?

Thursday, August 26th, 2010

The kind of food on which a person or a group of persons survive is diet and a balanced diet is the diet that contain a variety of food items in appropriate quality, quantity and proportions that the daily energy (calorie) requirement, proteins ( mainly amino acids), fats (including essential fatty acids), carbohydrates (simple carbohydrates such as glucose), vitamins (all the vitamins, fat soluble and water soluble), minerals, other nutrients and micronutrients are adequately met for maintaining health, vitality and general well-being and also the diet should makes a small provision for extra nutrients to withstand short duration of leanness. In poor countries the understanding of balanced diet by poor people can safeguard the nutritional deficiencies appropriately, without any extra increase in cost.

Due to the variation of dietary habit and pattern, depending on customs, traditions and local availability of food items in different parts of the world, the balanced diet can vary considerably in different parts of the world. The balanced diet should be such that it looks into the linking and disliking of whole population as well as individuals. The balanced diet should address all the nutritional needs of general population and individuals as well. Region, religion, economic capacity, customs, taboos, habits of the people in different geographical areas can make a big difference in balanced diet.

Some major aspects that need to be kept in mind while making a balanced diet include:

  • Protein requirement (which should contribute 10-15% of total calorie intake) and protein should contain all the essential amino acids that are required.
  • The fat requirement, which should constitute 15-30% of total calorie intake and contain essential fatty acids. Fats should be preferably from vegetable sources.
  • Rest of calorie intake should come from carbohydrates and should be rich source of dietary fibers.
  • Balanced diet should have food items that can supply all the vitamins, minerals and many other micronutrients, essential for humans.

Acai Berry: for Healthy Nutrition

Saturday, March 28th, 2009

Acai berry is one of the highly nutritious foods we have on this planet. The nutrition quality and quantity of acai berry is unmatched with any other food available to us for routine consumption and also as food supplementation. Acai berry is also called a super-food because of its unique and high quality (as well as quantity) nutrition contents. The most important health benefits of acai berry comes from the high amount of antioxidants it has in it, which no other food can come near to acai berry in it.

Nutritional contents of acai berry are very high. Some of the nutritional values of acai berry are given here. To most of us acai berry is available in powder form after freeze-drying acai fruit pulp and skin. 100 gram of this freeze-dried acai fruit pulp and skin contain 534 kcal of energy, 8.1 gram proteins (more than 7.5% of total dry weight is amino acids), 52.2 gram (out of 52.2 g of carbohydrate, 42.2 gram is fiber content and can not be assimilated) carbohydrates and 32.5 gram fat. 100 gram of freeze-dried acai fruit pulp and skin also contain calcium (260 mg), iron (4.4 mg), vitamin A (1000 IU), aspartic acid, glutamic acid etc. The fats of acai berry are mainly oleic acid (52.2% of total fat), palmitic acid (24.1% of total fat) and linoleic acid (12.5% of total fat).

The antioxidants of acai berry are anthocyanins (approximately 3.19 mg per gram of acai powder) and many other antioxidants. There are many nutrition blogs that are dedicated for the goodness of antioxidants of acai berry. But if you want to buy acai berry online you should select a good nutrition blog for learning about acai berry before buying it. Many blogs are mushrooming at present, but while selecting one, you should e careful and do some research on your own.

Benefits of Acai Berry

Sunday, March 1st, 2009

Acai berry the superfood of the Amazon has many benefits. For hundreds of years the acai berry was cherished in the Amazon area (where acai berry grows wild in the rainforests and flood plains naturally) for its healing power and also for many more good qualities.

Some of the acai berry benefits are listed below:

· Weight loss for obese and overweight persons.

· Improvement of digestion power.

· Improved sleep (if you suffer from sleeplessness or insomnia).

· Increased energy and vitality.

· Stronger immune system.

· Improved mental clarity and thoughts and also improve concentration.

· Detoxification of toxic deposits of the body.

· Healthier and younger looking skin and youthful appearance.

· Healthier heart due to improved circulation and by reducing cholesterol content in blood.

· Increased sexual desire and performance.

From the above mentioned acai berry benefits it is clear that acai berry is one of the most effective natural food products available at present in the market. So no one should waste their valuable time and precious money using products that do not work and are not natural products. Instead of wasting time and money you should take acai berry supplements for overall improvement of your health.

One of the most important and sought after benefits of acai berry is weight loss in obese and overweight persons. Acai berry products are all natural and made from natural acai berry and there are no artificial products added to the acai berry products that may be harmful to the general health as a whole. One of the ways of acai berry in reducing body weight is by detoxifying your body of harmful toxins. Acai berry products are very rich in antioxidants and keep our body clean, healthy and free from excess pounds.

Acai berry is very reach and important source of proteins, dietary fibers, omega fatty acids (has a protective effect on the heart and cardiovascular system), many important vitamins, minerals and also important antioxidants (anthocyanins). Anthocyanins are one of the most powerful antioxidants available at present.

Lap Band for Weight Loss

Sunday, February 15th, 2009

There are many disadvantages of obesity and more so if you are extremely obese (if your BMI is more than 40). Main disadvantages are cardiovascular diseases, arthritis, and all related diseases and a social stigma and inability to socialize normally. There are many weight loss strategies that are available for an obese person to reduce weight. But all have there advantages and disadvantages and no plan is 100% successful. Most commonly followed strategy is regular physical exercise and a strict diet plan with very low calorie but that supplies all the essential nutrients. There are other strategies like lap band surgery or laparoscopic adjustable gastric band surgery and also many dietary formulas with nutrients that are claimed to be very useful in reducing weight in obese and overweight people.

Lap band surgery or laparoscopic adjustable gastric band surgery is placement of a restrictive device by bariatric surgery meant for obese people whose BMI is more than 40 to loss weight. The restrictive gastric band is place around top portion of stomach. The restrictive band is a silicon inflatable prosthetic device. Lap band surgery is also done in case of obese people with BMI between 35 to 40 if they have certain cardiovascular and other comorbid conditions like diabetes, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea, metabolic abnormalities etc.

There are many successful lap band stories throughout the world. Many users of lap band surgery claim it to be excellent procedure for weight loss and maintenance of lost weight. But it depends on the user also, how he changes his lifestyle in terms of food habits. After surgery the patient has to reduce the food intake and also take small feeds more frequently, adjusting to personal requirement and the goal of weight he sets for himself.

Contact Lenses and Eye Health

Saturday, February 14th, 2009

Now-a-days contact lenses are very popular. Contact lenses are used for various reasons by various people. Some people use them for correction of their eyesight and for more practicality. Also sometimes correction of eye sight is not perfect with glasses and in these cases contact lenses are preferred over conventional glasses or spectacles. The ophthalmological conditions that are not corrected properly with glasses are keratoconus, aniseikonia etc. In the above mentioned cases contact lenses are preferred as conventional glasses can not give you perfect vision. And also many people find the use of glasses too cumbersome when better option is available to him/her.

Contact lens can also protect your eyes from accidental injuries to some extent. In patients with nutritional deficiency (mainly vitamin A deficiency) and with eye problem are more prone to develop scar tissue in the cornea of eye if there is injury to the cornea. So patients who have eye problem due to previous nutritional deficiency should use contact lenses to prevent the accidental injury to eyes. Contact lenses are also used for cosmetic purposes and they can be tainted to any color as per requirement of the customer. So many people are using contact lenses to change the color of their eyes.

But use of contact lenses also have some disadvantages like; can cause damage to the eyes if not handled properly. The lenses should be sterile (free from germs) and maintaining of contact lens may be difficult any costly. Contact lenses are more costly and not easily available in compare to glasses. If you are using hard type of contact lens you have to preserve in preserving solution and clean them before wearing every time.

Acai Products

Sunday, February 1st, 2009

Acai berry is one of the nature’s wonders in the field of nutrition. Acai or acai berry is a South American native plant that grows naturally in the flood plains of Amazon basin and is consumed regularly as part of staple diet by the tribes of Amazon. Acai berry constitute up to 45 % of the diet of the tribes of Amazon. These tribes are much healthier than any group of people in this globe and this is because of consumption of large quantity of acai berry by these tribes. Acai plant or acai palm grows in the swamps and floodplains of Amazon and grows up to the height of about 30 meters. The acai berry is like grape (about an inch in diameter) and the color is black purple which is dependent on the maturity of the berry. It has a seed which is big compared to its size.

The acai berry is very rich in nutritional contents. Acai berry is one of the richest natural sources of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids and many more essential nutrients. Antioxidants are the compounds that help our body in fighting against free radicals (free radicals are free scavenging electrons that can cause damage to the cell in the body and cause cancer and these are prevented by antioxidants, which receives the free electron and prevent damage by them) and prevent cancer.

Many nutritional products and weight loss products are produced from acai berry, making good use of their unique nutritional contents. Products that are of good quality are acai burn, ultra acai berry and many more good products are available in the market. These products like acai burn are excellent in losing weight for the obese and overweight persons. These products are also very good energy drinks. These products are produced from natural acai berry and they are very safe to use without any harmful adverse effects.

Toenail Fungal Infection

Saturday, January 31st, 2009

Fungal infection of toenail is commonly seen in persons with bad personal hygiene spatially poor foot hygiene. In persons with poor foot hygiene the toenail fungus infection is commonly seen during wet seasons (rainy season).

If nutritional status (causes lowering of body immunity and that causes infection) of a person is poor it helps in spreading of fungal infection of toenails to other body parts like other parts of skin. But it is very rarely spread to other inner organs of the body. If body immunity is perfect as in perfect nutritional status, the spread of fungal and other infection is rare.

There are many modalities of treatment for toenail fungus. Toenail fungus can be treated with oral and topical antifungal agents or it can be treated with surgical removal of the affected part of the toenail along with the affected root of the toe. The choice of the treatment should be right and if you choose the right treatment you can easily cure and get rid of toenail fungal infection. If you are treating your toenail fungal infection, there is always a chance of recurring the infection if it is not fully eradicated and eradication takes at least 12 weeks of treatment with oral and topical antifungal agents and more 6 weeks for fingernail fungal infection. During this long treatment with antifungal antibiotics there can be potentially dangerous side effects like liver damage and heart trouble if you are taking some medicines while on antifungal treatment. These are the reasons why many doctors prefer the surgical treatment for toenail fungus.

You can also treat your toenail with natural oils like tea tree oil that can cure mild to moderate infections of toe nails with fungus. Tea tree oil is very effective In treatment of toe nail infection with fungus and is preferred by many doctors in treating this condition.

Obesity Treatment With Acai

Wednesday, January 28th, 2009

There are numerous products in the market for treatment of obesity and for losing weight. In fact market is flooded with weight loss products. You as a customer (obese or over weight person) are a confused person as what to take and what to avoid. It is really very difficult for you to decide what to accept for losing weight, which may be for the treatment of obesity or to lose some extra weight to make your body perfect.

If you are at loss about what to choose for reducing your weight, than ultra acai berry is the right choice for you. Acai burn not only causes weight loss, it helps in losing weight very fast and quick. Ultra acai berry is a breakthrough new formula that is perfect blend of Amazonian antioxidant and nutrient properties of acai berry with that of Western scientific knowledge and research.

Acai or other acai berry weight loss products are rated as number one super food by many well known doctors, dieticians and scientists world over. In one of the recent scientific trial it was fond that acai is much more effective than all other weight loss diets and also better than diet and exercise formulation for obesity reduction. In the study it was seen that ultra acai berry and other acai berry weight loss products can lose average of about 15 pounds weight, but with placebo it was about 3 pounds weight loss. Both the groups were asked to do regular diet and exercise for the study. So the result is in favor of ultra acai berry and it can reduce weight about 400-500% more than diet and exercise can do. It is an amazing result for the overweight and obese persons, because it is a tough job to keep doing regular exercise for the rest of your life. So now you (obese and overweight persons) have excellent and much better option than diet and exercise.

Nutrition and Nutrients

Saturday, December 6th, 2008

Nutrition is a science of food and relationship of food science with health. Nutrients are substances that must be supplied in sufficient quantity in the diet because they can not synthesized by our body. Nutrients are required for body growth and development and for maintenance of normal body function. Nutrients are also known as “food factors”. Nutrients are proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and trace elements which are required by our body in micro quantity but are essential for growth and maintenance of normal body functions. Water is also can be classified as nutrient and it is one of the most important and without it a man will not survive. Without food a man can survive for more than a month but with out water a man can not even survive for a week. And these days water pollution is a major concern that can affects health adversely.

Dietetics is the practical application of principles of nutrition. Dietetics includes planning of food and nutrition for diseased or sick and for people with normal health. Dietetics also includes planning of diet for weight loss for the overweight (a body mass index or BMI of more than 25-30) and obese (BMI of more than 30) persons. Dieticians are the person who deals in dietetics and do the planning of food intake in diseased state, for healthy persons who want to maintain good health and for overweight and obese who want to get to normal body shape.

For optimum health we need energy providing foods, which are proteins, fats and carbohydrates, vitamins, which include 4 fat soluble vitamins (vitamin A, D, E and K) and 10 water soluble vitamins (vitamin B complex group, folic acid and vitamin C), choline, 4 minerals, 7 trace elements or minerals, 3 electrolytes and few ultra trace minerals.

Someone is getting good nutrition can be said when he is having a nutritional status that enables him to grow well and maintain good health. Good nutrition is essential for growth and well being of individual and community as a whole. Without good nutrition a nation can not prosper and it is the very basic for the development of a nation as a whole.