Brain Health

A healthy brain begins with smart nutrition.

The foods you eat need to support healthy brain functions. By eating fruits and vegetables of every color, you are providing your brain with nutrients that promote healthy cognitive functioning and improve both short- and long-term memory. For example, grapes contain resveratrol which improves memory.

Heart Health

 Eating enough heart healthy food isn’t easy. Finding the right supplement is. 

To keep your heart healthy, you should eat every color of fruit and vegetable every day. Especially if you’re one of the estimated 230 million people around the world whose lifestyle choices result in smoking or carrying excess weight. Those lifestyle factors make focusing on heart health even more crucial. So it’s even more important to eat a lot of different fruits and vegetables.

Eye Health

 Take care of your vision; eat a variety of fruits and vegetables. 

To keep your vision clear, you need to take good care of your eyes. By eating fruits and vegetables of every color, you are providing your eyes with nutrients that help maintain healthy eye tissue and enhance sun protection. Yellow peppers and cantaloupes, like other yellow- and orange-colored foods, contain beta carotene which is crucial for maintaining healthy eye tissue and preventing free radical damage.

color yourself healthy

where do nutrients come from?

The natural, protective substances found in plants that also give them their unique color are called phytonutrients (or "plant nutrients"). To get the full range of health benefits associated with plant nutrients, you should eat a rainbow of color every day.

Click on the color tabs below for information about the fruits and vegetables associated with each color, the key phytonutrients they contain and their individual health benefits. 

Red - Nutrients Your Body Will Love

Delicious reds range from sweet strawberries to spicy red peppers.

Fruits & Vegetables

• Cherries
• Cranberries
• Red Apples
• Pomegranate
• Radishes
• Raspberries
• Tomatoes

Health Benefits

• Prostate Health
• DNA Health

Purple - Into the Blue ... and Purple

Rich in color, flavor, and most importantly, nutrients. Purple and blue fruits and vegetables support heart and brain health and provide excellent antioxidant protection.

Fruits & Vegetables

• Black Currants
• Eggplant
• Plums
• Beets
• Blackberries
• Blueberries
• Grapes

Health Benefits

• Cognitive Health
• Heart Health
• Support Arterial Function
• Antioxidant Protection

Green - Freshen Your Diet with Green

Green fruits and vegetables support arterial function, cell health, lung and vision health and help maintain healthy liver function. They also help facilitate interaction between cells and maintains healthy cell growth.

Fruits & Vegetables

• Spinach
• Lettuce
• Broccoli
• Green Beans
• Soy beans
• Green Tea
• Green Peppers

Health Benefits

• Cell Health
• Support Arterial Function
• Lung Health
• Maintain Healthy Liver Function

White - Feeling Right with White

White fruits and vegetables are savory favorites and a tasty way to support a healthy lifestyle.

Fruits & Vegetables

 

• Pears
• Cauliflower
• Garlic
• White Kidney Beans
• Horseradish
• Mushrooms
• Onions

Health Benefits

• Maintain Healthy Bones
• Circulatory Health
• Support Arterial Function

Orange - Orange and Yellow for a Brighter Day

Sunny colors for a happy, healthier you.

Fruits & Vegetables

• Corn
• Pineapple
• Lemons
• Passion Fruit
• Oranges
• Carrots
• Papaya

Health Benefits

• Eye Health
• Healthy Immune Function
• Maintain Skin Hydration
• Healthy Growth and
  Development

Nutrition tips for post-gastric bypass

Nutrilite Scientist Micheline Vargas, DrPH, RCEP, has worked with gastric bypass patients in the past. Here are her recommendations:

Start with a consultation with your physician.

There are a number of products you might consider after consulting with your physician. You may be able to add a NUTRILITE Protein Shake in as a snack 1+ times per day to help meet needs. For a multivitamin, you could consider our Daily to start. You could also consider adding an omega-3 in to ensure adequate EPA & DHA especially if fish intake is not optimal. This is a starting point - before you start any new dietary regimen. you should discuss your health and nutritional needs with your physician.

GBS specific nutrition tips

o Eat small quantities: The stomachs capacity has changed, so the amount of food intake has to change.

o Make sure food is completely chewed: You need more time for chewing and also not all food is possible to chew well. Choose appropriate food!

o Don't eat and drink at the same time: The reduced capacity of the stomach will no longer permit to take in both: liquid and food at the same time. It´s better to drink between or before meals.

o Do not lay down after eating: In a horizontal position reflux is more likely. The food also remains longer in the prestomach and leads to a very uncomfortable accumulation of mucus.

o Eat five times a day: This is important, because if you only eat 2-3 times a day, it is not possible to have a great variety of food. Consequently, as you can only eat small amounts, you do not get enough proteins, minerals and vitamins. In addition, when eating 5 times daily, it is less likely that you are overpowered by sudden hunger attacks where you probably forget the new eating habits.

o Reduce beverages rich in calories: Soft drinks, hot chocolate, and milk shakes all contain a lot of calories. These beverages can still be consumed after your operation. Be mindful!

Protein requirements for exercising individuals

The estimated protein requirement is higher for exercising individuals and athletes due to an increased need for repairing and rebuilding muscle. Some common recommendations are:

International

• Sedentary Adult: 0.8-1.0 g/kg body weight 
• Endurance Athlete: 1.2-1.4 g/kg body weight 
• Strength Athlete: 1.2-1.7 g/kg body weight  

United States Only

• Sedentary Adult: 0.4-0.5 g/pound body weight
• Endurance Athlete: 0.5-0.6 g/pound body weight
• Strength Athlete: 0.5-0.7 g/pound body weight

Some athletes prefer to supplement their diet with whey protein because it is more rapidly emptied from the stomach resulting in a faster rise in plasma amino acids and protein synthesis. This characteristic makes whey protein especially desirable immediately before or following exercise. However, to maintain protein synthesis throughout the day, a person should also balance their intake with other dietary proteins for which Soy protein is an excellent option.

Tips for healthy weight gain

Some helpful hints for gaining weight in a healthy way are

1. Eat slightly larger portion sizes

2. If appetite is an issue, be careful not to consume too many beverages prior to eating (you don't want to fill up on liquid)

3. Find ways to add healthy, calorie dense foods into your diet.

• Nuts and seeds paired with dried fruit make a great snack
• Cook with healthy oils such as olive oil and canola oil
• Consume beverages such as milk and fruit juice that provide calories but also lots of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients
• Eat more starchy vegetables such as roots and tubers
• Consider mixing a scoop of sugar-free protein powder into your foods and beverages to increase the calorie count

4. Exercise is still important for people trying to gain weight but consider doing more strength training and low-to-moderate intensity aerobic activity rather than higher intensity aerobic activity

What You Should Know About Essential Fatty Acids

Although the importance of essential fatty acids has become a mainstream topic, many people still don’t know exactly what they are or why they’re important. As a result, it’s common for such people to be consuming them in imbalanced or inadequate amounts and be wasting money on supplements that they don’t need.
As with most widespread health information, the food industry takes full advantage of the benefits and popularity of essential fatty acids by using them to market foods that are highly processed and unhealthy. Because of this, many people are consuming these critical fatty acids from less desirable sources and may be compromising their health as a result. To avoid this, it’s important that you know what essential fatty acids are, what they do, and what the best sources are.

The Best Sources of Essential Fatty Acids
As with most nutrients, the most natural and sensible approach is to obtain essential fatty acids from natural whole foods which is exactly what we’ve been doing for millions of years.
Walnuts, flax seed oil, chia seeds, and hemp seed oil are common sources of the essential omega 3 fatty acid ALA. Seafood is an excellent source of the conditionally essential fatty acids EPA and DHA which aren’t always properly derived from ALA. Vegetable oils are the most common source of the omega 6 fatty acid LA, and its conditionally essential derivative GLA is found in borage oil, black currant oil, evening primrose oil, and hemp seed oil. Meat, dairy, and eggs from pasture raised animals are all good sources of both omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids. By following a diet that’s based on a healthy balance of these foods and doesn’t include excessive amounts of vegetable oils, essential fatty acid balance should take care of itself and be of little concern.
For the highest quality sources of essential fatty acids, choose meats, eggs, and dairy from pasture raised animals and wild caught fish from minimally contaminated water. If you choose to use supplements, fish oils, or vegetable oils, be sure to get them from a reputable source and store them properly to minimize the risk of oxidation and rancidity. Although supplements and oils are reasonable choices, I prefer to rely mostly on seafood, pasture raised meat, and raw nuts for essential fatty acids.

Eat Well to Help Reduce Your Risk of Cold

Eating health-promoting foods that increase immune function is a major factor in preventing flu and colds. That's because it's not just a viral infection in your upper respiratory system that causes a cold - it's your body's susceptibility to the virus that really counts. Many factors - including stress, exposure to toxins (such as cigarette smoke and polluted air), excessive exercise, and poor sleep - influence your body's susceptibility to flu and cold viruses. Getting important immune-supporting nutrients from your food, while reducing your intake of food additives that can stress your body, is a very important step in promoting health, both in cold and flu season, as well as throughout the year.

What foods to eat more often

The World's Healthiest Foods are health-promoting foods that help prevent flu and colds. Select foods rich in vitamin A (including beta-carotene and the other carotenoids), vitamin E, and vitamin C. The best sources of vitamins C, A and carotenoids include carrots, spinach, cabbage, kale, red bell peppers, mustard greens, oranges and melons. Many aspects of our immune function are compromised when we are deficient in vitamin C, so much so that Nobel Prize-winning chemist Linus Pauling paid special attention to vitamin C in some of his later work. The vitamin A foods are critical for supporting the lining of our lungs and function of our lymph glands. You can use our Recipe Assistant to find recipes that contain these foods, like our Mediterranean Kale or our Romaine and Avocado Salad. Vitamin E foods are critical for maintenance of our white blood cell function. (Our white cells are one of the major components of our immune system). Foods rich in vitamin E include the green leafy vegetables, sunflower seeds and almonds. Once again, our Recipe Assistant will take you to some tasty examples of vitamin E-supplying meals including our Steamed Salmon and Asparagus.
The minerals selenium and zinc are also particularly important when it comes to immune support. Both of these minerals are commonly found in nuts, seeds, and mushrooms, as well as calf's liver when it comes to zinc and fish when it comes to selenium. The thymus gland, which has been called the "master gland" of the immune system, is an immune organ that seems especially responsive to our zinc levels. When we don't get enough of this mineral in our food, our thymus gland clearly becomes compromised in its ability to help keep us protected from infection. Selenium is no less important due to its influence on our immune cell (macrophage) function and its ability to help protect our immune cell membranes from oxygen damage.
Finally, the omega-3 fatty acids are needed to produce our immune system regulators (called prostaglandins). These high-quality essential fats are largely deficient in the U.S. diet. You couldn't do better here than flax seeds, walnuts, and cold water fish like salmon.

Healthy Food For Optimal Health

The first thing to go was dairy. All of the years that I was consuming massive amounts of cheese was taking a toll on my health. Almost immediately upon giving it up, the majority of my migraine headaches disappeared. Another astonishing revelation was when, just as quickly, I no longer needed the Afrin nasal spray I had come to depend on to clear my sinuses for 35 years! I couldn't leave the house without it. Now my need for it had disappeared. I had no idea that all of these issues were being caused by dairy.
Suddenly it was obvious, but for years I went along consuming dairy and suffering side effects without ever putting the two together. To improve my health on all counts, I realized that I needed to get back to basic, simple foods. No more processed junk foods, no more saturated fats, and no more refined white flours and sugars. So, along with dairy, I cut them out of my life. I now eat a mostly plant-based diet that is rich in nutrients and full of vitamins.
I buy organic when possible to avoid the pesticide and herbicide residues that are so prevalent in conventionally grown produce. I cook my meals from scratch. No more cans, packages or boxes (with a few exceptions). I now use my creativity and Google savvy to put together healthy meal ideas that work for my family. I noticed an immediate improvement to my health. I not only started to lose weight, and ultimately slowly and steadily lost 50 pounds, but I started to feel like my younger self again. More energetic, less achy, clearer skin.
I found that by merging elements from a vegan diet and a raw food lifestyle I could satisfy my family's needs of eating healthy. The elements that I incorporated from the raw food diet is not only eating more vegetables in their raw state, but also eating foods that are "pure". In other words, foods that are not processed or otherwise adulterated. They don't contain chemicals or additives as they are mostly freshly made and consumed. However, it was not feasible to prepare only non-cooked foods 100% or the time. Although, I do try to eat at least 50% raw each day.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3881199