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Build Health: Initiate A Health Strategy Makeover
My mother-in-law, a widow of a doctor, recently died. The way she exited was a nightmare. This was because her health strategy produced a lousy result.
Shortly before passing away, she had a colostomy to fix an intestinal blockage, the result...
Children Get Constipated, Too
Do you notice your child putting off going to the bathroom because he/she is busy doing more important things? Do you notice avoidance of the bathroom for fear of a painful bowel movement? Is your child not experiencing daily bowel movements?...
Graviola Capsules by Raintree Nutrition
Description of Graviola Capsules
Graviola (Annona muricata) - Some of the active ingredients
documented, researched, and verified in graviola are a group of
Annonaceous Acetogenins which are only found in the Annonaceae
family to which...
Is Low-Carb Really The Way To Go?
The latest trend in the area of weight loss is low-carb diets such as the Atkins Diet. With so much conflicting information out there on nutrition and weight loss, it’s difficult for the average person to not only find out what works, but also...
The Role of Calories In a Nutritional Program
As far back as we probably can remember we can all usually recall the word 'calories' when the topic of diet and weight loss is discussed in typical mainstream fitness. For some the word is infamous and generally equated with restriction. For others...
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Should You Be Cutting Back on Caffeine?
Many sober, law abiding people who would never dream of knowingly ingesting a mind- altering drug, actually consume one every day.
Before you say that you don't take any drugs at all, can you guess what mind altering drug is so common? It's caffeine!
Caffeine is so pervasive in our culture and in many other cultures that we often forget it is literally a drug that affects our brain. Caffeine is present in coffee, tea, many cola drinks and over the counter medications.
The real question is—is caffeine a bad drug, or is it "okay"? Is caffeine even better than "okay", does it do good things for us?
The verdict on caffeine, particularly when taken in the form of coffee, seems to be mixed. There are nutritional advisers who claim that coffee makes us age faster, wears out our adrenal glands, and causes all sorts of untold damage to our cells.
Other researchers claim that coffee, especially if it’s freshly roasted and ground, is full of antioxidants, and therefore good for us. Most doctors say that drinking one or two cups of coffee a day is probably not harmful. And of course there are others who say we ought to avoid caffeine altogether.
Many of us feel that we cannot really get going in the morning until we have had our first cup of coffee. We often continue to use it throughout the day whenever our energy appears to be flagging and our brain seems to need additional help to think more clearly.
Does caffeine really enhance mental performance, or is that just a myth? Yes, caffeine does give a temporary boost to brain cells.
But the amount required to improve mental performance is not very high. Even half a cup of coffee will be enough to give your brain a boost that lasts several hours.
Oddly enough, more caffeine is not necessarily better. In one test done when high-level executives were given the equivalent of fourteen cups of coffee in a day, they made their decisions faster, but the decisions were not of very good quality.
Not every person reacts to caffeine in the same way. Some people experience greater mental clarity, alertness and productivy after a cup of coffee. Others become jittery,
anxious, or depressed. Although caffeine will keep most of us awake if taken at night, it does not have this effect in everyone.
In some older people, coffee or tea can improve memory and alertness enough to partly offset the effects of aging.
It is true that caffeine is mildly addicting for most people. Some people can quit using caffeine with absolutely no withdrawal symptoms, while others will feel headaches, fatigue, and experience cravings for caffeine for weeks.
Caffeine works by blocking one of the neurotransmitters--adenosine—which normally tells brain cells to calm down. Brain cells that have been affected by caffeine will remain excited and on high alert for several hours.
The most noticeable negative effect of caffeine is that it can interfere with sleep. In most people, drinking coffee, tea or cola in the late afternoon or in the evening will cause insomnia.
The quantity and quality of sleep will be greatly reduced, setting in motion a vicious cycle, where the person affected will feel so tired all the next day that he drinks a lot more coffee in order to try feel awake.
If this is happening to you, cut back on the amount of caffeine you consume each day. You may experience fewer withdrawal symptoms if you cut down gradually. You may wish to substitute green tea for some of your cups of coffee. Green tea has some caffeine, but not as much as coffee.
Better yet, consider substituting exercise for some of those cups of coffee. If you can’t leave your workplace, at least get up from your chair periodically. Do a few stretches, walk around a bit, and jump up and down a few times.
Take some deep breaths. A little exercise break can revitalize your brain without giving you the caffeine jitters.
If you decide to keep drinking caffeine, remember that your brain won't really benefit from more than one or two cups of coffee in a day.
This article is an excerpt from the new book by Royane Real titled "How You Can Be Smarter – Use Your Brain to Learn Faster, Remember Better and Be More Creative" If you want to improve your learning ability, download it today, or get the paperback version at http://www.lulu.com/real
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| Nutrition.gov Homepage |
| US federal guide offering access to all government web sites with reliable and accurate information on nutrition and dietary guidance. |
| www.nutrition.gov |
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| American Society for Nutrition |
| Publication from the American Academy of Nutritional Sciences. Includes past and current issues online with subscription information. |
| www.nutrition.org |
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| Food and Nutrition Information Center Home Page: |
| Has dietary supplements, guidelines, food guide pyramid, child care nutrition, food safety, and topics from AZ. |
| fnic.nal.usda.gov |
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| British Nutrition Foundation |
| Promotes the nutritional wellbeing of society through the impartial interpretation and effective dissemination of scientifically based nutritional knowledge ... |
| www.nutrition.org.uk |
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| NutritionData's Nutrition Facts Calorie Counter |
| Nutrition facts calorie counter and calculator promotes healthy eating by telling you, in simple terms, what is good and bad about the foods you eat. |
| www.nutritiondata.com |
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| Nutrition Explorations: The Fun and Easy Way to Teach and Learn ... |
| Nutrition Explorations provides nutrition education information and resources for teachers, school foodservice professionals, parents, families and kids. |
| www.nutritionexplorations.org |
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| About Nutrition - Nutrition, Diets, and Vitamin Supplements Help |
| Guide to nutrition information with vitamin and mineral index, news updates, free e-mail newsletter, chat room, discussion forums, and recipe boards. |
| nutrition.about.com |
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| MyPyramid.gov - United States Department of Agriculture - Home |
| The Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion created the food pyramid guidance system. Find updated information about daily food recommendations, ... |
| www.mypyramid.gov |
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| American Dietetic Association |
| Nutrition information, resources, and access to Registered Dietitians provided by ADA and the National Center for Nutrition and Dietetics. |
| www.eatright.org |
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| MedlinePlus: Nutrition |
| (Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion) - Links to PDF; Whole Grains: High in Nutrition and Fiber, yet Low in Fat (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education ... |
| www.nlm.nih.gov |
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| Dole 5 A Day - We make 5 A Day fun! |
| Learn the importance of eating five servings of fruits and vegetables every day. Includes recipes for kids to try. |
| www.dole5aday.com |
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| Nutrition - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
| An encyclopedia article on nutrition, including sections on history, health, food processing, longevity, lifetstyle, policy, holistic approaches, ... |
| en.wikipedia.org |
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| Nutrition Cafe |
| Be a Nutrition Sleuth, play the Grab-a-Grape game or build a meal in the Have-a-Bite Cafe. [Optional Flash version] |
| exhibits.pacsci.org |
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| ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine -- Nutrition News |
| Answers to questions about nutrition, body weight, herbal and nutritional supplements, and the role of diet in improving and maintaining your health. |
| www.sciencedaily.com |
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| Nutrition Source, Harvard School of Public Health |
| Harvard School of Public Health and Nutrition Research covers latest information on fiber, fats, calcium, carbohydrates, eggs, nutritional pyramids, ... |
| www.hsph.harvard.edu |
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| Welcome to Nutrition Australia |
| Non-profit, independent body promoting the health and well-being of all Australians. Includes nutrition news and health facts. |
| www.nutritionaustralia.org |
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| WHO | Nutrition |
| Nutrition is an input to and foundation for health and development. ... Better nutrition means stronger immune systems, less illness and better health. ... |
| www.who.int |
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| Center for Science in the Public Interest |
| Since 1971, the Center for Science in the Public Interest has been a strong advocate for nutrition and health, food safety, alcohol policy, ... |
| www.cspinet.org |
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| American Journal of Clinical Nutrition |
| Publication with nutrition topics, health news, FDA regulations, and legislative events. |
| www.ajcn.org |
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| BBC - Health - Healthy living - Nutrition |
| Offers a wealth of health and nutrition information including recipes, weight calculators, diet tips and nutrition advice. |
| www.bbc.co.uk |
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