Soda Accelerates Aging

The reasons to give up soda just keep mounting: cancer, cavities, and even water pollution. Now you can add accelerated cellular aging to that list, according to research published in the American Journal of Public Health.

How Soda Destroys Your Body

Looking at DNA samples of 5,309 participants, the researchers found that drinking soda was related to shorter telomere length in white blood cells. The researchers estimated that drinking 20 ounces of soda daily made you 4.6 years older.

"[Telomeres] are protective caps at the ends of chromosomes," says Lauren Kessler, author of Counterclockwise. "Just as plastic tips keep your shoelaces from unraveling, telomeres keep your DNA from beginning to fray during cell division." Previous research has shown that as telomeres get shorter (generally from age-related damage), your cells stop dividing. Cell division is what keeps us youthful and keeps our organs functioning properly.

Essentially, cellular aging due to telomere shortening is at the root of many health issues, such as inflammation, insulin resistance, and oxidative damage to tissue. The researchers point out that telomere length has even been connected to lifespan.

"Regular consumption of sugar-sweetened sodas might influence disease development, not only by straining the body's metabolic control of sugars, but also through accelerated cellular aging of tissues," says study author Elissa Epel, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry at University of California, San Francisco, in a press release.

Surprisingly, the connection between sugar and telomere length was independent of other sugar-related issues like obesity or diabetes. In fact, sugar issues and aging go hand-in-hand. "One of the most devastating of the so-called age-related changes, according to Tufts [researchers], is reduced blood-sugar tolerance, the body's ability to use glucose in the bloodstream," she says. "By age 70, they say, 20 percent of men and 30 percent of women have abnormal glucose-tolerance levels."

So how many people are shortening their lives by 4.6 years by downing a daily 20-ouncer?

Source: Rodale News

NB: 20 ounces is 2.5 cups.

Friday Inspiration: "The World Belongs To The Enthusiastic"

“Think excitement, talk excitement, act out excitement, and you are bound to become an excited person. Life will take a new zest, deeper interests and greater meaning. You can talk, and act yourself into dullness and into monotony or into unhappiness. By the same process you can build up inspiration, excitement and a surging depth of joy” (Norman Vincent Peale). You can succeed at almost anything for which you have limitless enthusiasm. Enthusiasm moves the world. 

A positive attitude always creates positive results. Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference. Depression, gloom, pessimism, despair, discouragement and fear slay more human beings than all illnesses combined.

Whole foods: the nutritional benefit of papaya

Papaya is a rich source of vitamin C, vitamin A, also rich in many essential B-complex vitamins such as Folic acid, pyridoxine (vitamin B-6), riboflavin, and thiamin (vitamin B-1). These vitamins are essential in the sense that body requires them from external sources to replenish and play a vital role in metabolism.

They are also rich in potassium, and significant amounts of calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and iron. The functions of the vitamins and minerals present in them include free radicals scavenging, immune booster, anti-inflammatory actions, maintenance of healthy mucus membranes and skin, healthy vision, help to control heart rate and blood pressure countering effects of sodium.

Papaya is very easy to digest and contributes to the digestion of other foods. Papaya is considered the perfect breakfast because of its digestibility and vitamin richness.

Vitamin C

This is a water soluble vitamin that is not stored in the body in large amounts in the body. Any extra amount is lost through the urine. You need to include vitamin C rich foods in your diet every day.

The role in the body includes:

• Prevention of cell damage and may reduce your risk for certain cancers and other chronic diseases

• It’s important for growth, repair of bones, teeth, skin and other tissue

• Protect you from infections by keeping your immune system healthy

• Increase your body’s absorption of iron from plant based food.

The best sources are fruits and vegetables, examples include red and yellow peppers, cabbage, green peppers, broccoli, peas, potatoes, sweet potato, tomato, papaya, kiwifruit, orange, strawberries, pineapple, avocado, sour sop, tangerine, and berries

What's So Bad About Added Sugar?

Sugar has been getting a bad rap over the last few years — and in the case of added sugar, it's for good reason. While naturally occurring sugars, like those from fruit, are welcome in a healthy, balanced diet, added refined sugars, like those in a powdery doughnut or soft drink, are a different story. Added sugars come in the form of granules, powders, and syrups that are cooked into foods or added at the table.

According to the American Heart Association, most women should be consuming no more than 100 calories from these added sugars per day, or about 24 grams (six teaspoons of sugar) — for reference, one 12-ounce can of regular Coca-Cola has 39 grams of added sugar. If you're not convinced that it's time to cut back, here are all the reasons to get serious about the sweet stuff ASAP. 

It's addictive: While the levels are lower than highly addictive drugs, sugar affects your brain and releases dopamine into your bloodstream much like cocaine. Like with any other drug, your high diminishes with continued use, so you start craving more and more in hopes of feeling better and better. In fact, there's a trend among newly sober individuals; many get off drugs and pick up a sugar addiction instead.

It's linked to heart disease: Recent studies have shown a link between high sugar consumption and heart disease, even for individuals who aren't overweight. Over the course of one 15-year study, participants who took in 25 percent or more of their daily calories as sugar were more than twice as likely to die from heart disease as those whose diets included less than 10 percent added sugar.

It promotes belly fat: One laboratory study has drawn a link between high levels of fructose in a childhood diet with an increase in belly fat. When fructose, a sugar widely used in processed foods and sodas, was present as children's fat cells mature, research found that "more of these cells matured into fat cells in belly fat." Beyond a larger waistline, abdominal obesity raises the risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

It affects your immune system: According to naturopath practitioner Dr. Holly Lucille, too much sugar is one of the biggest problems that contributes to being "immuno-compromised or susceptible to catching flus." If you're constantly coming down with a new bug or infection, it might be time to look honestly at your sugar consumption.

Source: Popsugar fitness

9 Anti-Cancer Foods You Cannot Ignore

With modern lifestyles, people are exposed to multiple carcinogenic agents on a daily basis. It is hence no wonder that cancer rates are soaring. To keep far away from this terrifying disease, below is a list of anti-cancer foods that cannot be ignored.

1. Flavonoid-Rich Berries

These berries include currants, cherries, cranberries, hawthorn berries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and strawberries. As powerful antioxidants, flavonoids can be more potent than traditional antioxidants like vitamin C and E, beta-carotene, selenium and zinc. And antioxidants are well-known to be crucial in the prevention of cancer. So pop a berry or two daily as a snack, rather than the nutrition-less sweets, for optimal cancer protection

2. Turmeric

Love curry?

Curry is one of the delicious foods that protect against cancer, if it contains turmeric. This is because turmeric contains the phytonutrient, curcumin, which has been found to be anti-inflammatory and cancer-inhibiting.

3. Cruciferous Vegetables

These vegetables include cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kale, cress, horseradish, kohlrabi, mustard, radish and turnip. They are beneficial because they contain the phytonutrient, glucosinolates, which has been found to detoxify certain carcinogens and help lower cancer risk, especially colon cancer.

4. Garlic

Garlic contains about 200 biologically active compounds, such as sulfur containing amino-acids, glutathione and cysteine, that have powerful protective functions against cancer formation, growth and metastasis. For the best effect, garlic should be eaten freshly chopped and raw. But if the smell and taste of raw garlic is really intolerable, it could be lightly stir-fried with vegetables, or boiled in soups.

5. Mushrooms

Mushrooms aren't only tasty to eat, they can also protect one from cancer. At least some mushrooms can. Like the reishi (Ganoderma), shiitake and maitake, which the Chinese and Japanese have been using for ages to boost immunity, protect against as well as treat cancer.

6. Yogurt

Various species of probiotics (eg. Bifidobacterium lactis) present in yoghurt have been found to improve immunity and detoxify many carcinogens, including hormones, meat carcinogens and environmental toxins.

7. Spinach

Many people formed their impression of spinach from watching the cartoon Popeye as a kid. But is this green food as wonderful as it is portrayed to be?

Long reputed for increasing power and energy, spinach is also an anti-cancer food because of its richness in chlorophyll and carotene. Besides protecting one from cancer, it is also rich in iron, folic acid, vitamins and minerals, as well as the antioxidant coenzyme Q10 (which has anti-aging properties).

If there's only one green vegetable to be eaten, then it must be spinach.

8. Fiber-Rich Foods

Fiber in plant foods are important not only for healthy bowels, they are also important for preventing colorectal cancer. Fiber facilitates the movement of food through the digestive tract, so there is less time for any carcinogens in one's food to be absorbed, and less carcinogens are produced by the "rotting" food in the gut as it passes through.

Whole grains (e.g. unpolished rice), beans, seeds, lentils and vegetables make rich sources of fiber, so be sure to include them in the daily meals.

9. Bee Propolis

Propolis is a substance produced by bees to protect themselves and their hives against bacterial, viral and fungal infections. Rich in bioflavonoids, vitamins and amino acids, it has been found to be immunity-enhancing and cancer-preventing.

What kinds of anti-cancer foods do you eat regularly?

Source: Food Matters

FOODS AND HEALTH

Our health depends on the sum total of many small decisions that we take each day, in other words, our lifestyle.

The decisions we make that most affect our health have to do with the foods we eat.

Poor diet and nutrition are major contributory risk factors for ill health and premature death. It is therefore very important to get a grip on the quality and the quantity of fuel with put in our body and how they aid our systems to perform optimally.

If we were to liken our body to a diesel run car, if petrol or adulterated fuel was put in the car instead, imagine the undesirable consequences that can follow. Obviously, the car will probably ignite and move to a short distance until it runs out of reserve and completely stops. Unhealthy dietary practices can do the same to our bodies this includes high consumption of fried and fatty foods, salt, refined carbohydrate, low consumption of fruits and vegetables.

We must continually decide which foods to select and how best they are prepared. The more complete the information we have concerning available foods, the easier it is to make the best choices for health.