Giving up using tobacco is one of the most helpful steps you could take for the future of your health and your potential life expectancy. Numerous studies have demonstrated that over half of all smokers decrease their life through their smoking habit, and this doesn’t even consider those who may have a greatly reduced quality of life because of smoking cigarettes. Using tobacco becomes a significant addiction which enslaves individuals. Even though you are not enslaved by using tobacco and only do it casually it is still incredibly high priced.

When looking for a way to quit using tobacco people look for something that is easy to stick to, has mild withdrawal signs and symptoms and that they can easily be successful at. This last factor is more essential than is often realized, as each aborted effort to stop almost always weakens your mind and makes the chances of future success less likely. This really should not induce needless worry into the mind of somebody who would like to give up, but it should make sure that enough effort is put forward to discover those therapies which have the greatest possibility of success. As with countless medical ailments, an integrated approach is needed if the remedy is to be long term.

Just how long to take to quit smoking is typically the very first thing men and women concern themselves with. They wonder whether to ease into stopping progressively or just go cold turkey. While the latter may seem to be the most logical course to adopt, results are always better when the previous, and much more demanding, course is chosen. No matter how little you are smoking cigarettes, if you are using tobacco at all, you are still a smoker and may fall back on it if under emotional stress.

One strategy that can definitely help in the initial stages is to stay away from places and scenarios in which you previously constantly smoked. They’re less likely to be social locations in the current climate as countless jurisdictions have now prohibited smoking cigarettes in public areas, however even sitting in a different seat in your living room area can prevent the mind from making a connection with tobacco. You may find your friends can easily get upset if you avoid them whenever they are using tobacco but your wellbeing is worth it.

Frequently times the programs suggested, like using a hypnotherapist, can easily cost a good deal. Hypnotherapy has had a extremely high success rate and typically you only need 1 or two sessions. However keep in mind a number of folks have been successful without having to pay for any high priced help. When you think of exactly how much dollars is wasted every year through cigarette smoking, you can see that these treatments are actually low cost in comparison.

Today there’s so much help for those who want to quit., Recorded hypnotherapy sessions can be found for individuals who cannot afford to see one face-to-face. A real person can judge from your actions if it really is working and a recording cannot so you have to bear that in mind. An expert can easily grasp a great deal of the situation just by meeting you. The obvious summary is to utilize an expert if possible, but do the very best you can if not.|So, obviously, if you can find the money for an expert go for it however if not do what you can.

Stopping smoking can easily seem a great deal simpler if you’ve got supportive individuals who are around you, but this is often something you’ll have no control over. If you live in a major city, it really is more likely that you will be able to find other people in a group who’re all trying to achieve the same purpose. If you can’t find support in person consider using an Internet group. These can easily help individuals from around the globe achieve the universal target of quitting cigarette smoking.

For an effortless way to quit smoking visit Ways To Stop Smoking.

Why fast food is unhealthy

After yesterday’s post about the top 10 healthy foods, the obvious next question to ask is What is the most unhealthy food?

Well, taking as read the Wiki-answers comment that it would be something that killed you, like a poisonous mushroom, I started hunting.

That set me thinking, how best to explain to you what makes a junk food junk? To answer that question, I found a very informative video below. At 9 minutes, it’s a little longer than I usually include, but it’s well worth the wait.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLFWiL-phT4

So now we know the principles behind it, we move onto….

What is the Most Unhealthy Food?

Here are some of the lists I found near the top of Google, to save you looking:

• AskMen - investigates why 50% of deaths in North America (especially men) are caused by cardiovascular disease.
• TopTenz – Particularly interesting because it shows how easily you can actually ruin some potentially healthy foods.
• Daily Finance – Maybe not where you would first look for nutrition information, but this is very comprehensive and also explains the background to the economics of the fast food evolution.
• it Thing – five of the most unhealthy items many people eat regularly
• X-Ray Technician Schools – A massive list of 100 most unhealthy foods in the American diet

Finally, to end this summary on a positive note,  Nutrition Action has compiled an excellent list of unhealthy foods and also redresses the balance with a parallel list of the best foods. (I found it yesterday, but decided to wait until today to include it.) Their unhealthy list is an interesting (and humorous) read because it compares foods you may think are a “little naughty” with foods that you already know are naughty – and some of the comparisons are really scary. Check out the “little treat” that’s more calories than I should be having in an entire day!  (Happily I’ve never had one of that brand, but I’ve had similar without thinking too much about it.)

Tomorrow, a sinister trick that answers the question What is the Most Unhealthy Food in an unexpected way. So make sure you’re subscribed by email or RSS.

World's Healthiest Foods?

Today I have a “competition” for you. Well, OK, it’s not really a competition, because there isn’t a prize – nor even one consistent answer! But before you read any further, or watch the video, I’d like you to grab a piece of paper (or open up Notepad on your PC) and jot down what you think are the top 10 healthiest foods.

When you’ve made your own list,  check it against these links and the video below where other people share their opinions. Do you agree with them? How closely did your choices match theirs?  Is your personal list chosen because you have a specific health condition?

Top 10 Healthiest Foods….

The video below is probably the closest to my own list of healthiest foods.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxeoiaFKHIY

Other people have different lists. And in fairness, to be more accurate, you really have to ask the question “Healthiest for what purpose, or for whom?”

• For diabetics?
• For those with cardiovascular issues?
• For eyesight?
• For anti-aging?
• For people suffering from mental health disorders?
• For insomniacs?
• For people taking Warfarin? Who need to be VERY careful!
• For people suffering from IBS?
• And many more…..

The “confusion” is highlighted by the list of foods for IBS sufferers. Because an IBS sufferer I know finds that her condition is exacerbated by precisely the foods that my college training would recommend her to eat.

And when we throw food intolerance into the mix, the whole thing goes out of the window. My speciality is treating migraine without resorting to medication – and my earliest investigations found that some of the foods you might have thought to be healthy are in the top 10 for provoking a migraine! You can subscribe free to read about these unusual migraine triggers.

However, notwithstanding all the above grey areas, there is a lot of commonality, and here are the top “n” foods according to various different sources:

• Fitness Magazine
• FitDay
• Cooking Nook
• Healthier Talk
• Health.com

I’ve watched and read several other sites along the same lines and have to confess some of them held some surprises. There is conflicting information about coffee – which, as we found a day or so ago, was “once upon a time” a nutritional bandit, and is now coming into its own as a good source of antioxidants.

Another “wishful” site included chocolate as one of the most healthy foods you can eat. Hmmmm, well I know that chocolate containing 70% (and more) cocoa solids has high levels of antioxidants – but this site showed some beautifully decorated MILK chocolates – which, I think, rather misses the point.

You may have noticed a food I have missed and that you think should be on the list. Please feel free to add it as a comment below.

What you should spot is that the top 10 healthiest foods are largely natural and unprocessed. A tip that someone gave me once was “Eat foods that spoil, but eat them before they spoil”.

Coffee and Diabetes ???

For the past few days I’ve been taking an interest in work done by Dr Lina Radzeviciene on lifestyle factors linked with type 2 diabetes. Today I turn to her work on coffee and diabetes. (Check my previous post for more information and help on type 2 diabetes.)

It led me off on an interesting progression.

Coffee and Diabetes

I was initially surprised to find that the conclusion of Dr Radzeviciene’s study was that regularly drinking four or more cups of coffee daily could be related to a lower risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Source

I express surprise because my original nutritional training was that coffee consumption would increase blood sugar levels.  (So would smoking, which was in line with the result of yesterday’s post on smoking and diabetes.)

The  study appears to have been well conducted, adjusting for factors such as family history of diabetes, BMI, eating speed, morning exercise, cigarette smoking, educational status, and levels of stress so I was interested as to why coffee affected diabetes risk “differently”.

Of course I didn’t have to look too far to find a 2008 study confirming my original training (reported on Diabetes UK) which found that:

… daily consumption of caffeine in coffee, tea or soft drinks increases blood sugar levels for people with Type 2 diabetes and could undermine efforts to control the condition.

Researchers at the Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina, USA, monitored the glucose levels of ten people with diabetes, who drank at least two cups of coffee a day and who were trying to manage their condition through diet, exercise and oral medication.

They were monitored for 72 hours and the study found that when they consumed caffeine their glucose levels went up by 8 per cent.  Source

This is what I would have expected, but of course science moves on and Dr Radzeviciene’s study suggesting lower risk came later (2009) than the “raised blood sugar levels study”.

It is known that good coffee contains antioxidant compounds, so my first reaction was to attribute the result to that.

Investigating further, I found more information, including that reported on in 2012 by USA Today. Apparently a possible explanation has been found, based on work with cell cultures. They readily point out this is not proof! Quoted below:

Chinese researchers behind the new study think they may know why that may be so. They found three major compounds in coffee that may provide potentially beneficial effects: caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid and caffeine. Source

There are plenty of references to the coffee and diabetes debate, but some are pretty technical. The most readable one I came across, and suggest you read, was in the Huffington Post, from which I quote below,  reporting on a range of studies, such as:

Women who had four or more cups of coffee per day “had significantly higher adiponectin” than those who did not drink coffee regularly, they discovered. Adiponectin plays an important role inpromoting insulin sensitivity, which protects against Type 2 diabetes.

They pointed out an interesting result from another study showing that drinking five cups of coffee for one week boosted the levels of the important antioxidant glutathione.

And another quote from the same source, about a different study:

In conclusion, the German-Finnish research team said: “Coffee consumption appears to have favorable effects on some markers of subclinical inflammation and oxidative stress.”

So – what does all this prove? Certainly it proves that yesterday’s “nutritional villain” may turn out to be today’s “hero”. Please note my use of the word “may”. But, to be honest I can’t say I’m rushing to “down” 4+ cups of coffee a day, for quite different reasons: I just don’t know that I want the level of “buzz” that so much coffee would give me.

(As an aside, migraine sufferers may be interested to read a post on my other website about migraines and caffeine.)

An interesting experience of my own on coffee consumption happened some years ago when I went out to dinner with friends. Because I was driving, instead of having a second glass of wine after the one I had with the meal, I had a second cup of coffee – thinking I was being “good”. It gave me such an unexpected “buzz” that I wonder if it impaired my driving just as much as the wine would have. (I am NOT advocating wine instead of coffee here, for the avoidance of doubt!)

Obviously anecdotal, and a total digression from coffee and diabetes, but just my warning to be careful of the coffee buzz. It was done in ignorance, but never repeated. Phew, after all that, I’m off to grab my ONE daily coffee

Eggs and Diabetics

As an interesting follow-up from yesterday’s post about the health problems caused by eating too quickly I looked into some of the other work done by the lead author Dr Lina Radzeviciene. My eye was first caught by a study on eggs and diabetes. (Type 2)

According to Diabetes UK, a helpful resource for sufferers:

Type 2 diabetes develops when the body does not produce enough insulin to maintain a normal blood glucose level, or when the body is unable to effectively use the insulin that is being produced.

Eggs and Diabetes

On PubMed, a free database on which you can access scientific research, I found a study by Dr Radzeviciene reporting on a possible link between consumption of more than 1 egg per week and increased risk of type 2 diabetes. Source

Eggs have also received some bad press about containing too much cholesterol. I’d like to address the balance by suggesting you watch the very informative video below from dietician Celynn Erasmus.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjShpNNCE5Q

While I can’t  argue with this research on eggs and diabetes, I’d like to spring to the defence of one of my favorite foods by reminding readers that eggs are a great source of protein, being what is known as a complete protein (contains all the essential amino acids needed for body building). Together with grilled tomatoes and mushrooms, eggs can form the basis of a quick healthy snack as an omelette, a boiled, scrambled or poached egg on wholemeal bread. Moderation needed as ever

Is eating fast healthy?

It seems it’s not just what you eat that matters, but how quickly you eat it too. When I told my kids to eat slowly, they asked me why is eating fast unhealthy?

Quite apart from giving you indigestion, there are  several other links between poor health and eating too quickly.

First a quick video showing the background to this article, to be followed up by news of a study into the topic, and some free practical help if you’re suffering ill-effects already.

Is Eating Fast Unhealthy?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8nc9uc93OE

As long ago as May 2009 a New Zealand study of 2,500 middle-aged women discovered that those who admitted to eating faster had a significantly higher BMI than others, after adjusting for other factors such as activity rates, menopause, smoking, age and health of thyroid. As ever, more work is required to prove causality. Source

The UK Telegraph today (May 2012) reports on a new study showing that:

People who say they ‘wolf’ their food down and eat faster than others are more than twice as likely to have diabetes, a study has found. Read full article here.

Other reasons why eating fast is unhealthy include:

• Eating too quickly can lead to weight gain too, because you don’t give your body chance to “realise” it’s time to stop because you are full
• It leads to a stressful lifestyle
• Failure to chew food adequately means the digestion process is incomplete (digestion starts in the saliva) so some essential nutrients won’t be broken down properly
• If your fast eating is also predominantly “fast foods” they are probably nutritionally sound in many other ways (additives and low nutritional content)

You don’t need me to tell you how to eat more slowly…. Just do it!

For a free report on relief from indigestion, acid reflux and stomach ulcers, head over to PainReliefNaturally.

I don’t know how many of you get news from our UK’s BBC, but I came across an interesting story today about the nutritional benefits of seaweed. This is an extract from a story in the BBC News Magazine – and it’s well worth clicking over to the source to read the whole article, which contains links to recipes, research, and some thoughts on why people in the UK don’t eat seaweed, despite its value as a foodstuff.

Seaweed is unexploited in Western cuisine, new research says. But while it is popular in Asia, could it become a staple food elsewhere?

It has been eaten by coastal people since prehistoric times, and today 145 species of red, brown or green seaweed are used worldwide as food.

But modern Westerners have lost their appetite for the stuff.

“We’ve forgotten to eat seaweed,” says physicist Prof Ole Mouritsen, from the University of Southern Denmark.

In China, Japan and Korea seaweed has for centuries formed part of the daily diet, and demand far outstrips supply.

In Japanese meals, more than 20 species are used – including a seaweed-based soup stock called “dashi” believed to contain chemicals forming the “fifth flavour” known as “umami”. Source

Well, well – there’s unami again! Mentioned in my previous post about making food taste better.  A very complete description of unami, with special reference to seaweeds, can be found at: Flavour Journal, from which the paragraph below is extracted.

Use of the term ‘umami’ for the fifth basic taste and for describing the sensation of deliciousness is finding its way into Western cuisine.

The seaweed most commonly used to wrap sushi is Nori. Below you can see a quick video on making Nori wraps. (From LovingSuperfoods.com)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynEsl1fs_Ps

Nutritional Benefits of Seaweed

So why would you want to eat seaweed? According to Tidal Greens:

It’s simple. Sea vegetables offer the broadest range of minerals of any food and are an excellent source of the B-vitamin folate, and magnesium, as well as a great source of iron, calcium, and the B-vitamins riboflavin and pantothenic acid. In addition, seaweed contains significant amounts of lignans, which are plant compounds with cancer-protective properties. Source

An in-depth treatment of the food value of seaweed can be found at The World’s Healthiest Foods, from which the quotation below is extracted, to give you some ideas of how to get seaweed into your diet.

While the broad range of minerals provided by sea vegetables make them a great addition to your Healthiest Way of Eating, Westerners are often not quite sure how to add more of these nutrient-rich foods to their meals. One easy way is to keep a container of kelp flakes on the dinner table and use it instead of table salt for seasoning foods. You can also experiment with adding your favorite sea vegetable to vegetable dishes, salads, and miso soups. They are easy to add to dishes as they require no cooking (see Tips for Preparing Sea Vegetables in the How to Enjoy section below). It is recommended to include 1 tsp of sea vegetables to your Healthiest Way of Eating each day.

And here’s a link to more tasty seaweed recipes.

Other interesting facts about seaweed:

• I’m told that the “crispy seaweed” we love in (most) Chinese restaurants is NOT seaweed, but cabbage. Apologies to those establishments that serve the real thing. Please post your links as a comment for free advertising!
• According to Sheffield Hallam University eating seaweed burns more calories than going to the gym!
• It’s an ingredient in luxury cosmetics products:

When seaweed is steamed it produces amazing luxurious oils, these oils (complex polysaccharides, proteins, minerals and vitamins) are naturally suspended in the water and as heat has opened the body’s pores, these oils are readily absorbed. The experience is highly sensual and thoroughly relaxing. Seaweed baths have been a great attraction for years, often used as a way of relaxing, relieving pain and in more modern times as a great way to unwind and de-stress. This is largely due to the detoxifying effects of the Seaweed and recuperative effects of its high mineral content. Source

• What about pollution? And isn’t “hijiki” toxic? Learn more here.
• However, it’s not all unami and light, too much seaweed could be harmful to the thyroid, because of the iodine it contains:

CONSUMING more than a handful of the seaweed used as a wrap for sushi rolls or in soups and stews each week could affect the thyroid gland. Dietitians Association of Australia’s Lisa Renn said sushi was a healthy meal but only if restricted to two or three rolls twice a week because of the iodine levels in the seaweed wrap. Source

So, despite the well-documented nutritional benefits of seaweed, take care not to over-do it.

We regularly see reference to serving portion size when reading about healthy eating, because it’s not just the quality of food that matters, but also the quantity. Yet many people aren’t clear about what is a healthy amount to put on your plate. OK, you could weigh everything, but that’s a real pain. Eating a healthy quantity of food should be something you learn to do instinctively – err, if that’s not a contradiction in terms

Here are a few videos from around the web, as I think it’s easier to visualise that way:

Serving Portion Size

First a look at the history of portion sizes, to explain why we have such an obesity problem in the modern world. No wonder the kids these days are so much “bigger” than in days gone by! Especially when you couple the increased portion sizes with reduced activity levels.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6QnCdc6LkY

Then 6 top tips on controlling serving portions for you and your family:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAJ0zMBej84

And now an idea of how to serve up healthy portion sizes. Still a BIG plateful to eat, but far few calories.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17GrPDnYt6E

And finally, a handy chart of serving portion sizes courtesy of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

You may like to share these serving portion size aids with your friends.

Location of Kidney (PD Gray's Anatomy)

A rather neglected topic in maintaining a healthy diet is how to keep kidneys healthy. In fact, reviewing what people search for on the Internet, it seems that many people don’t know what the kidney is for, or what their function is. So let’s briefly address those two topics first.

To learn more about the location and function of the kidney, the best place to look is on Wikipedia, from where the image on the right is sourced. (It is a public domain reproduction of a lithograph plate from Gray’s Anatomy.) The links to Wikipedia are below for those who would like in-depth information on the location and function of the kidney.

Where is our kidney?       What is the function of the kidney?

Those who prefer a more visual approach may like to watch the short video at the bottom of this post.

Turning now to the specific purpose of this post, in “The Nation”, medical practitioner Dr. Toyin Gboyega has documented some statistics that are very worrying in the light of the vital functions performed by the kidney.

Statistics show that around one in 10 adults worldwide has some form of kidney damage, while every year millions die prematurely of heart attacks and strokes linked to chronic kidney disease and symptoms often don’t become apparent until its later stages, leaving many people unaware of the damage the disease is doing.  Source

Dr Gboyega explains the link between kidney disease and blood pressure thus:

“At each given moment, healthy kidneys ensure that blood levels of water, salts, and other key chemicals are in perfect balance.  When they begin to fail, this very precise system starts to fall apart and this is why it is important to look after your kidneys because they work with your heart to control your blood pressure. With each heartbeat, blood is pushed through your kidneys for filtering.”

To do their work, your kidneys need a constant supply of blood at a normal pressure.  Too little blood or too little pressure can cause acute, sudden kidney failure.  Too much blood or too much pressure can lead to scarring that can cause chronic, permanent kidney disease.”

Most people will be aware that excess alcohol will strain the kidneys. It is less obvious, but nevertheless true, that cigarette smoking can worsen kidney damage. Overloading kidneys in any way will cause problems. Other culprits can be over-the-counter medication and excess protein.

So as well as quitting smoking and reducing alcohol, what else can we do to prevent kidney disease?

How To Keep Kidneys Healthy

Because other conditions of ill-health will place a increased load on the kidneys, it’s important to follow your physician’s recommendations to control any tendencies to the following:

• High Blood Pressure
• High Cholesterol
• Diabetes / Poor Blood Sugar Control

Summarised below are the foods Dr Gboyega recommends. When you visit the source article you will find more detailed reasons he recommends these foods, together with some great tips on including them into your everyday diet.

• Onions – antioxidant flavonoids
• Cabbage – fibre and vitamins (very affordable too!)
• Garlic – lowers cholesterol and reduces inflammation
• Apples – high in fibre and anti-oxidants
• Cherries – anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory
• Fish – good source of omega 3 essential fatty acids
• Olive oil – oleic acid prevents inflammation and oxidation

How the kidney works – video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pz5DHAv_Mw4

In conclusion, it’s important to be aware of how to keep kidneys healthy because of the vital function they perform. The good news is that the steps shown above will contribute to overall health, which in turn will reduce the risk of kidney disease.

Continuing yesterday’s theme of preventative health care, although it’s widely known that quitting smoking reduces your risk of a cancer diagnosis, an amazing number of people don’t act on that knowledge. Information quoted below from a report described on Yahoo News might encourage smokers to more urgently consider how to stop smoking.

“The ACS (American Cancer Society) has emphasized the importance of smoking cessation programs in reducing the risk for smoking-related cancers,” Schnabel noted. “The link between smoking and cancer is well-established, and an investment of resources into smoking cessation programs would be expected to translate into saving many lives, and relieving the burden of the related cancer from the affected individuals, and from society as a whole.”

The report found that if comprehensive smoke-free laws were passed by states that currently don’t have such laws, there would be 624,000 fewer cancer deaths over the long term and $1.32 billion less in cancer treatment costs over five years. Source

The fact that the report talks about passing smoke-free laws in the USA came as quite a surprise to me, as here in the UK we have had a smoking ban in several situations (social and work-place) for several years now. (Full details and dates available from Wikipedia.) The laws are well observed and popular with non-smokers, meeting little resistance even from smokers now.

As the case against smoking builds, I imagine US politicians will soon realise the benefits of anti-smoking laws, although the cost-benefit situation is different in the UK where we have state-funded health care, even for those who have caused their own illnesses!

The ACS’s Health Day report picks up on other measures you can take to reduce the risk of cancer, some of which were considered in yesterday’s post, but the prime purpose of today’s post is to remind readers of the importance of stopping smoking.

How to Stop Smoking

Quit Smoking Effortlessly

Check out my subsidiary websites for more information on why stop smoking and if you’re ready to take action, here’s my recommended method that shows you how to stop smoking effortlessly - with a 60-day money back guarantee.