Foods That Cleanse The Liver | Best Health Tip And Food Tips | Education

Balance Your Fats - The Benefits of Omega 3 6 and 9

If our decisions about fat are made based on fear and guilt, how do we eat well? Where's the pleasure, if it is soon wiped away by negative thoughts? What do we really know about fats?
Thinking positive about fats means we need to get to know them. Let's start with the polyunsaturates. We often hear that we should reduce the saturated fat, cut out trans fats, and eat more polyunsaturates. As the title suggests, we are looking here at the balance of these polyunsaturated fatty acids in our diet.
The main issue here is that we have evolved in an environment where we got the main two polyunsaturates, omega-6 and omega-3, in a certain ratio. Our bodies process both of them using the same enzyme. This worked fine for thousands and thousands of years. Then we started getting more of one in our diets. The ratio changed. Things were no longer in balance. Does this make a difference? There are plenty of scientists around who think it does. Why is that?

Firstly, when omega-3 and omega-6 are waiting to be metabolized by the enzymes, omega-6 gets to the head of the queue. If the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 is high, the omega-3 doesn't get taken up by the body properly. We can lose the benefit of what we are getting in our diet.
Secondly, this very new change in our diet appears to have some problems. We need some omega-6 in our diet. It is an essential fatty acid; our body needs it but cannot make it. What seems to be happening is that a diet high in omega-6 can give rise to low-level inflammation. There are lots of chronic diseases where inflammation is a feature, often an uncomfortable one, such as in some forms of arthritis.
Third on the list of issues is metabolism. There is some evidence that omega-6 fatty acids encourage the body to store fat. Over thousands of years, when people didn't get so much omega-6 in their diet, those who lived outside the tropics got a glut in autumn. Fattening up before a chilly winter is a sensible thing for a mammal to do, because you can live off your reserves of fat when food is scarce. Our bodies are programmed to store energy in this way, and nature provides the right food at the right time, in autumn, when seeds (nuts, grains and pulses) are abundant. Eating more omega-6 the whole year round may not be a good idea.

The main two polyunsaturates we meet in foods are omega-6 fatty acids and omega-3 fatty acids. Our best omega-3s come from fish, but are also found in egg yolks and meats. Strict vegetarians may get them from algae products. Omega-6 polyunsaturates are found in many oils from grains, seeds and nuts. The amount of omega-6 varies, with more than 50% in sunflower, safflower, corn oil and soybean oil. Rapeseed oil has a more favorable ratio.
There are varieties of safflower that have been bred to produce oil with a lower omega-6 content than the regular safflower, and it is also known that grain-fed animals produce meat with more omega-6 than those that graze on green stuff. So you have to be a little bit careful if you want to reduce your omega-6 ratio.

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The Atkins Diet Pros And Cons - What The Experts Don't Tell You About The Atkins Diet!

No one would participate in any dieting plan without seeing the potential pros and cons of it. The Atkins diet is no exception to this and one should carefully research the Atkins diet pros and cons before proceeding with it. Atkins diet pros include rapid weight loss, improved health, reduced risk of disease and methods to maintain weight. But the most popular in the list of Atkins diet benefits is that of rapid initial weight loss, which mainly depends on a high-fat and high-protein diet that may lead to cons and may compromise a good cardiac and other organ health.

Atkins Diet Pros

Atkins diet pros are realized through the cutting down of the intake of bad carbohydrates into your body. By significantly reducing the bad carbohydrates that you introduce into your body, it will start to burn the stored fat triggered by a processed named Ketosis. In fact, initially, practically all carbohydrates will be removed from the diet--not just those found in junk food. You are basically consuming mostly fats and oils during the first phase. For most of us, eating high levels of fat is satisfying for us and causes us to lose weight faster. Don't just eat any type of fatty food however. Limit the intake of trans-fats such as what is found in margarine and shortening. Stick to the good fats such as real butter, oils in nuts, canola oil, flax seed, and olive oil. Try to also stay away from the polyunsaturated fats other then those containing omega-3 fatty acids (like what is in fish).

Another of the Atkins diet benefits is the plan within its program to maintain the weight levels achieved. The idea behind weight maintenance is that each individual has a particular level of carbohydrate intake in which they will neither lose nor gain weight. So after the initial phase of rapid weight loss, some carbohydrates are gradually introduced back into the body in order to determine what that level of balance is.

Another of the Atkins diet pros is the prevention of diseases such as Type 2 Diabetes. In simple terms, a high-protein and high-fat diet does not convert into sugar resulting in a stabilization of the blood sugar and insulin levels within the bloodstream. Patients who are pre-diabetic can possibly avoid having to take insulin shots in the future by losing weight through the Atkins diet now.

One of the most pleasant Atkins diet benefits is the fact that you start to look better and feel better not only in your self-esteem but physically as well. Patients who had chronic acid reflux and bloating from gas report that these symptoms begin to disappear once going on the Atkins diet. This is just because you are eating healthier and you weight is going down resulting in less pressure on your gastrointestinal system.

Atkins Diet Cons

The Atkins Diet is a popular and fast way to lose a lot of weight fast - there're many who give positive testimonials as to how much they did lose and how much better they feel. However one should be aware of the Atkins diet pros and cons before pursuing this diet. This is why knowing the Atkins Diet pros and cons are so important! Of the Atkins diet cons, the often asked about is the danger of a high-fat and high-protein diet in relation to good cardiac and other organ health.

Affecting the proper functioning of kidneys is one of the Atkins diet cons not too often discussed. A measure of good kidney function is the level of creatinine in the bloodstream. A high creatinine level means that the kidneys are not functioning as well. It has been determined that creatinine levels increase as a person is on the Atkins diet. Recommendations indicate that creatinine levels should be below 3.0. Any creatinine levels higher than that should be managed by a physician.

There is also the risk of calcium loss that is one of the Atkins diet cons. Calcium loss can result in the weakening of the bones or what is known as Osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is a loss of the healthy density in the bones and the bones become brittle and break easily. If the protein intake remains high as in the Atkins diet, the calcium intake will be low. Reductions in bone loss can also be attributed to the ratio of animal to vegetable protein intake.

Another of the Atkins diet cons is the effect it has on persons suffering from gout. Gout is a form of arthritis and it is triggered by elevated levels of uric acid in the blood. The condition in the Atkins diet known as ketosis is where the body starts burning stored fat. You want to go into ketosis or else the initial fast weight loss characteristic of the Atkins diet. As Ketones increase in your system, uric acid levels also increase and this is what complicates the gout.

Another common complaint from those on the Atkins diet is constipation. This is because there is a lack of fiber in this type of diet and fiber is what you need in order to give substance to a stool for passing. You might need to take some fiber supplements to help prevent this condition. There is also the increase of the risk of heart disease because of higher cholesterol and saturated fat intake.

The Atkins Diet pros and cons should be carefully considered before determining if this is the right diet for you. It can be a very effective diet but just make sure it will not put you at unnecessary risk.


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Wild Salmon Vs Farm Raised Salmon

Many people don't know the difference between wild salmon and farm raised salmon. For example, when you go to the grocery store and see fresh wild salmon fillets it is usually not from the Pacific Ocean. The fillets came from the Atlantic Ocean where they have farms, that raise salmon that were wild at one point in time and were given special formulated feed in a fish farm. True wild salmon thrive out in the Pacific Ocean. They are born in a stream, swim out to the ocean, grow in the ocean, swim back to where they were hatched from, mate, lay eggs, and will shortly end up dying afterwords.

Atlantic Salmon are placed in a hatchery, grow, and feed in a restricted area, majority of the time they are turned into commercial food products and are exported across the world to other countries or in grocery stores. This Atlantic Ocean process of salmon hatchery is called aquaculture and is done in other countries and places like, The Great Lakes. In the United States the salmon farms make approximately is higher than 80 percent of the salmon that are on the market each day. Thirty percent comes from the traditional hatcheries and the other fifty percent are raised in aquaculture or open pen nets off shore. These farms can raise up to one million salmon a time. The farmed salmon are confined, fed a steady diet of special formulated protein food pellets, and when they eat it, they become fatter than wild salmon, with not much more omega-3 than expected, but actually less per every three ounces.

Farm raised salmon don't have as healthy amount of fatty acids as wild salmon does. Carcinogenic chemicals are found in farmed raised salmon and are purchased from U.S. Grocery stores have so much higher levels of PCB that pose an increased risk for cancer. The United States has banned PCB to be used in all items, but they persist in the environment and end up in animal fat. When the farmed salmon from U.S. Grocery stores were tested, their salmon that was farmed contained up to twice the fat of wild salmon. The test also found sixteen times the PCB compared to those found wild salmon, four times the levels in beef, and 3.4 times the levels found in other types of seafood.

Other studies have shown in Canada, Ireland, and Britain have found their results the same or similar. Diseases and parasites, which normally exist in extremely low levels in fish scattered around the oceans, could run rampant in a densely packed oceanic feedlots. There chances for survival, farmed fish are vaccinated, while as small fry, and later are given antibiotics or pesticides to avoid the infections. Sea lice, is another particular problem, in a study a fisherman brought two baby pink salmon covered with them. A bioligist later went around salmon farms examining more than seven hundred baby pink salmon and found out that seventy-eight percent were covered with a fatal load of sea lice while, juvenile salmon that she netted farther from the farms were largely lice-free.

Sea lice, in particular, are a problem. In a recent L.A. Times story, Alexandra Morton, an independent biologist and critic of salmon farms, is quoted as beginning to see sea lice in 2001 when a fisherman brought her two baby pink salmon covered with them. Examining more than 700 baby pink salmon around farms, she found that 78 percent were covered with a fatal load of sea lice while juvenile salmon she netted farther from the farms were largely lice-free. Well, there you have it unless you want cancer, want to eat a sick fish, or would you rather have healthy wild salmon that is not farm raised and is a cancer fighter, there is no contest eat wild salmon.

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TABLESPOON OF FLAXSEED OIL FOR A NIGHT

Fats not only gives us energy, but they also play very important role, as a regulator of many physiological processes.

Therefore, providing the body with the appropriate polyunsaturated fats, which are found in seeds and nuts, and olive oil is very beneficial for our health and figure.

A great source of beneficial polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) is our linseed oil, which can be added to salads and other dishes or sauces.

Composition of 1 liter (1000 ml) of flaxseed oil are the following essential fatty acids (EFAs):

– Alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) (omega-3) – over 500 ml

– Linoleic acid (LA) (omega-6) – about 150 ml

– Oleic acid (O) (omega-9) – about 170 ml

– Saturated fatty acids- approximately 100 ml

Linseed oil supports the:

-Digestive system: it stimulates metabolism

-Nervous system: in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis and depression

– Treatment of tumor diseases

– Treatment of overweight and obesity: helps to reduce body fat, has a beneficial effect on the liver degreasing.

– The immune system

– Cardiovascular system: alpha-linolenic acid lowers cholesterol, prevents heart attack and hypertensive disease.

– Skin, hair and nails

Add to salads and other cold dishes and take one tablespoon at night before bedtime! Because …

Linseed oil is great for pregnant women, because it has Omega-3!

„Some scientists claim that the presence of children’s ADHD is associated with a deficiency of Omega-3 in child prenatal period. It was found that children of a women, that had diet rich in Omega 3 fatty acids during the pregnancy, show up to 19% higher level of intelligence in relation to their peers. In addition, the omega-3 fatty acids have a positive effect on the development of brain, central nervous system, vision, heart, and psychomotor function.” (source: Vivetia)

It is good for women, it’s adjusting the proportions of hormones in the body while also affecting the menstrual cycle by reducing menstrual pain and mood swings and alleviates menopausal symptoms.

Also it’s great for men, because it helps in the treatment of infertility.

Athletes should consume linseed oil as it improves muscle growth, reduce fat, produces hemoglobin which increases exercise capacity and it has regenerating effect on the body.

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Sesame Seeds Help You to Lose Stomach Fat

Sesame seeds are packed with these two nutrients which are well known for their properties to eliminate fat cells.
Including sesame paste or Tahini - as it is more commonly known - for breakfast every day gives a great help for anyone who wants to lose stomach fat and weight in general. You will see the scales pointer going down very quickly. Just a tablespoon of paste made with that seed on a slice of bread.

Study after study has shown that calcium not only interferes with the development of adipocytes - fat cells - but also stops the absorption of fat. So when the body lacks calcium we have an abundance in tummy and love handles. Not to mention that it also has a big role on the utilization of insulin, the hormone that regulates metabolism and hunger. If this substance - the insulin - is left free in the body, the increase in adipose tissue (fat) is clear and certain.
The role of omega-3 in the weight loss is less well known. It is known, however, that one of the functions of this fatty acid is to reduce inflammatory processes. What does this have to do with lose stomach fat? It's simple: when our body receives the unwanted visit of a microorganism, the body builds up fat as a defence mechanism.
Of course, the body needs to store energy to get rid of the unwelcomed visitor. However, if the body is well supplied with omega-3, the risk of inflammation is quite small. Therefore, it is not necessary to store fat and the chances of you lose stomach fat is higher.

You can make your own paste or you can buy it ready.
Preparation:
Toast 1 cup of skinless sesame seeds. Let them cool and beat in a processor until it turns into paste.

Carmen Beese is a leading fat loss researcher dedicated to providing valuable information about this subject.

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