If you still do not know how to lose 10 pounds fast I would recommend what best worked for me. Very popular Brazilian, or some people call it 14 days diet, allows you to lose 10 pounds in 14 days time. There are a lot of different opinions about this diet, but I know that what worked best for me will work for other people.

Definitely this is not a healthy type of diet and not recommended without consulting your doctor or certified nutrition specialist.

Brazilian diet:

Day 1:

1 egg, a cup of coffee without any sweeteners and 1 apple. Use this menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Day 2:

Repeat menu of day 1

Day 3:

Breakfast – 2 eggs

Lunch – 100 g of boiled low-fat beef with spinach.

Dinner – 1 apple

Day 4:

Breakfast – 1 egg

Lunch – 100 g of boiled low-fat fish

Dinner – 2 eggs, a cup of coffee without any sweeteners.

Day 5:

Breakfast – 1 egg, a cup of coffee without any sweeteners

Lunch – 2 eggs and 1 big tomato

Dinner – 100 g of boiled low-fat fish with vegetables

Day 6:

Breakfast – 1 egg, a cup of coffee without any sweeteners

Lunch – 100 g of boiled low-fat beef and a cucumber

Dinner – 100 g of boiled chicken breast without skin and a cup of coffee with 1 teaspoon of honey

Day 7:

Breakfast – a cup of coffee with 1 teaspoon of honey, 1 egg

Lunch – 100 g of boiled chicken without skin with vegetables

Dinner – 100 g of boiled chicken without skin with vegetables, an apple and a cup of coffee without any sweeteners

Repeat first week for second week.

Don’t forget to drink a big glass of non-carbonated water before each meal and try to consume more water during the day, but do not drink for one hour after the meal.

In its most general meaning, physical fitness is a general state of good physical health. Obtaining and maintaining physical fitness is a result of physical activity, proper diet and nutrition and of course proper rest for physical recovery. In its simplest terms, physical fitness is to the human body what fine-tuning is to an engine. It enables people to perform up to their potential. Regardless of age, fitness can be described as a condition that helps individuals look, feel and do their best. Thus, physical fitness trainers, describe it as the ability to perform daily tasks vigorously and alertly, with left over energy to enjoy leisure-time activities and meet emergency demands. Specifically true for senior citizens, physical fitness is the ability to endure, bear up, withstand stress and carry on in circumstances where an unfit person could not continue.

In order for one to be considered physically fit, the heart, lungs, and muscles have to perform at a certain level for the individual to continue feeling capable of performing an activity. At the same time, since what humans do with their bodies directly affects the state of mind, fitness influences to some degree qualities such as mental alertness and emotional expression.

Physical fitness is often divided into the following categories in order for people to be able examine its components or parts. Particularly, physical fitness is judged by:

1. Cardiovascular endurance: This is the ability of the body to deliver oxygen and nutrients to tissues and to remove wastes over sustained periods of time.

2. Muscular strength & endurance: Strength deals with the ability of the muscle to exert force for a brief time period, while endurance is the ability of a muscle, or group of muscles, to sustain repeated contractions or to continue to apply force against an inert object.

3. Flexibility: This denotes the ability to move joints and use muscles through their full range of motion.

4. Body composition: Considered as one of the components of fitness, composition refers to the body in terms of lean mass (muscle, bone, vital tissue, and organs) and fat mass. Actually, the optimal ratio of fat to lean mass is an indication of fitness. Performing the right set of exercises can help people get rid off body fat and increase or maintain muscle mass.

Migraines and cluster headaches: whatever the label, the pain and side effects can be intense! In addition to traditional treatments, including more of the following “superfoods” can help.

What are superfoods? Well, they’re not exactly supplements–although some supplement companies have begun to market “extracts” of various superfoods. By definition, superfoods are whole foods or oils that offer exceptionally high doses of nutrition. People call them “super” in part because of their benefits and in part due to their origins. Most superfoods are not new; rather, they’ve been used by powerful ancient cultures and only recently rediscovered by the West. Although some scientists and many raw foodists credit superfoods with amazing regenerative and protective abilities for almost any health issue, this article discusses superfoods for special consideration by those who suffer migraines and/or cluster headaches.

Cacao (kuh-COW): Commonly marketed as raw cacao or raw chocolate, this “food of the gods” actually became monetary currency in the Aztec empire! Conventional wisdom tells those with migraines to avoid chocolate as a major trigger food. While some people do have sensitivities to chocolate, most people actually react to the typical dairy and refined sugar in cooked chocolate bars. Raw cacao, by contrast, offers seven times the antioxidants of its cooked version, without the offending dairy and sugar. More importantly for those with migraines, raw cacao contains one of the highest sources of magnesium in any food. Magnesium acts as the relaxing counterpart to calcium and helps to balance brain chemisty. In fact, many migraine sufferers manage to stave off headaches by consuming large quantities of magnesium supplements. Magnesium can also help with PMS, another known trigger of migraines. In addition to magnesium, raw cacao offers caffeine (which seems to affect the body less intensely in its raw form). Some people with migraines find that judicious use of caffeine can curtail a headache before it becomes a full blown episode. Most prescription migraine pills contain some form of caffeine. From a nutritional standpoint, raw cacao certainly beats a Pepsi! If you know for sure that chocolate causes a reaction, skip the raw cacao, but otherwise it could be worth a (delicious) try. Add cacao nibs or powder to morning smoothies, or make raw fudge by mixing the powder with coconut butter, raw agave nectar or honey, and some of the other superfoods listed below. As with any new food, start small so you can monitor your reactions.

Maca (MAH-kuh): Also known as “Peruvian viagra,” maca is a root grown at 14,000 feet in the Andes Mountains. Despite its fame for keeping Peruvian men virile into their 80’s, maca actually functions as an adaptogen, meaning it balances all hormones. If someone has too much estrogen, maca works to lower estrogen levels. If another person has too little estrogen, maca helps the body bring those levels back to optimal levels. Maca also nourishes the adrenal glands, helping the body handle some of the stress that so often triggers cluster headaches and migraines. Maca grows in some of the most inhospitable conditions on earth, but it has learned to flourish where other plants die. Natives believe that the root transfers this strength and adaptability to those who consume it: “You are what you eat!” Metaphysics aside, maca’s high mineral content, B-vitamins, protein, fatty acids, and plant sterols allow it to rebuild the body wherever it most needs help–good news for people whose headaches come from stress or hormonal imbalance. Maca tastes a bit like radish, so you don’t want to add too much to sweet smoothies. It blends exceptionally well with cacao, though, and I always enjoy a morning glass of fresh squeezed lemon juice in water with about a teaspooon of maca. The lemon brings out maca’s hidden sweetness, making a surprisingly zesty lemonade.

Hemp: No, I’m not talking about marijuana, even though some people do employ cannabis for medicinal purposes. You can now find hulled hemp seeds, hemp butter, hemp protein powder and hemp oil at alternative health food stores and in many online shops. Despite virtually no THC content (the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana), the U.S. government prohibits the sale of hemp seeds ready for sprouting, so you can only legally buy hulled ones or hemp products, most of which seem to come from Canada. Nonetheless, hemp has experienced a major resurgence in recent years as people have rediscovered what ancient Europeans knew so long ago. Hemp supports the immune system and contains edestin, the protein most easily assimilated by humans–good news for people who react to protein powders made from soy or dairy (whey). Hemp seeds, butter and oil also contain the perfect ratio of Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids, thought to help balance hormones and brain chemistry. In addition, the green color of hemp comes from chlorophyll, which differs only by one atom from hemoglobin. (Hemoglobin forms around an iron atom, whereas chlorophyll forms around that beneficial magnesium atom.) Purifying the blood with chlorophyll-rich foods like hemp, wheat grass and leafy greens can alkalinize the body, which, in turn, eases stress responses like migraines and cluster headaches. Hemp protein powder tastes a bit gritty, but the butters, oil and seeds carry a pleasant, slightly nutty sensation that combines especially well with raw cacao and maca. You can also replace the bulghur wheat (gluten is a major migraine trigger) in foods like tabouli with hemp seeds, or use hemp butter as a nutritious replacement for another common trigger–peanut butter.

Yerba Mate (YUR-buh MAH-tay): For those people who know they need to kick the coffee habit but simply can’t forgo their cuppa Joe, Yerba Mate offers a good substitute. Another highly mineralized South American food, Yerba Mate tastes somewhat similar to coffee, but instead of depleting the adrenal glands, it nourishes them with B-vitamins, 15 amino acids, 11 polyphenols (like in green tea and red wine) and, you guessed it: more magnesium and chlorophyll. Whereas coffee provides a caffeine jolt, mate’s energy comes from the B-vitamins, blood purifying properties and a component called mateine. Unlike caffeine, mateine gives a lift without the crash. Some independent coffee houses now serve soymilk “mate lattes,” or you can brew the tea at home. For best results, warm but don’t boil the water, then let the tea steep for 5 minutes. You can then add hemp milk and essential oils like peppermint with a hint of raw cacao powder, creating your own minty mocha. Yerba Mate also brews well as a sun tea, mixed with orange peel or traditional chai tea spices. A favorite of shamans, Yerba Mate offers a traditional, nutritional alternative to coffee, along with minerals and nutrients thought to support hormonal balance and alkalinity.

In short, these superfoods bring trace minerals, potent nutrients, and a bit of folklore. As foods rather than drugs, they gradually rebuild and support the body, instead of generating a “quick fix.” If you’d like a holistic approach to treating migraines or cluster headaches and haven’t responded to “newfangled cures,” you might want to explore some ancient culinary treats.

To detoxify your body simply means to cleanse your body of any toxins it may be harboring. We know, for instance, that some chemicals and pesticides, or certain fumes we breathe, can be toxic to us. In addition, many of our modern day food choices can create a toxic environment that slowly lowers our overall immunity. The phrase Toxic Load refers to the condition of our cells and tissues – the inner terrain – that develops when we consume, year after year, highly processed foods. While the liver and the kidneys are natural detoxifiers, organs whose job is to filter out impurities, there are several other ways to help your body detoxify itself. While some of these ways may be viewed as extreme, such as dialysis or a lengthy juice fast, there are several every day things that can be done to detoxify your body with subtlety and consistency.

Nutrition

No amount of great nutrition in the world will work very well until our body stops receiving the massive amounts of processed and fake foods that create a toxic inner terrain. Fortunately, it’s easy to learn what is hard on your body; there are no complex charts to memorize. Rule One: the more processed a substance, the larger the toxic load. Simply examine your weekly intake. Eat less of them. Find healthier substitutes. Or, better yet, drop them altogether.

Select organic, whole, unprocessed foods, whenever possible. Stop eating foods with additives and preservatives. Get your oil needs from olive oil, nuts, seeds, such as flax, psyllium, etc. Slow down or eliminate: processed meat (highly processed beef, chicken, lamb, sausages, pate, luncheon meats, bologna), most seafood (bottom feeders, such as mussels, clams, lobster, highly processed anchovies and sardines), pasteurized dairy (milk, butter, cheese, ice cream, yogurt), processed oil(hydrogenated, lard, canola), flour products (bread, pastries, cookies, cakes, pies, donuts, crackers), caffeine (coffee, black teas), tap water ( use filtered or bottled spring water), alcohol (beer, wine, sake, scotch, gin, vodka), processed sugar (candy, sweets, chocolate), sodas (diet coke, sugared drinks), and fake foods (artificial anything!).

Re-hydrate

Our bodies and our world are both largely composed of water, making water a vitally important element to the human race. Thus, it’s no surprise that water is a huge factor in overall health, as well as detoxification. Re-hydrating helps detoxification in several ways. First of all, water is a natural appetite suppressant, keeping people from ingesting things, such as fast food meals, that may add toxins to the body. Secondly, water stimulates the kidneys, helping them to do their job of filtering. Water also aids in digestion; without water, digestion can not occur, leaving the intestines without the ability to remove waste.

One of the most important reasons for re-hydrating is the lymph system. The lymph system is the often overlooked set of vessels used to transport metabolic waste out of the body. Drinking water to re-hydrate helps prevent the lymph system from becoming overwhelmed with old, necrotic material.

While it is recommended that the average person drink at least eight glasses of water a day, people often forget to do this, compromising their body’s natural health driven abilities. Some suggest taking your weight in pounds and dividing it in half. This is the number of ounces of water you should drink a day. Buy a bottle, somewhere around the size of a gallon. Fill it each day, and drink it empty each day. It is a great way to measurably know how much water you are using. If you don’t have access to spring water, then filter your tap water with a carbon filter.

Brush Your Skin

Brushing your skin may seem like an odd concept, an act that is typically reserved for a head of hair. But, the pores in our skin are often an open doorway to innumerable toxins we may encounter. Because our skin absorbs what’s on it, it will absorb any toxins present. Brushing these toxins away, however, can minimize the amount of toxins that enter the body through the pores. Our skin can be considered our largest elimination organ, especially during a change in nutrition. To help this process along, purchase a long handled skin brush and dry-brush your entire body for two or three minutes before bathing or showering each day. It may sting a bit the first few times, but you are conditioning your skin to breathe more. This also improves circulation, releases toxins and stimulates new skin production. For some, wet-brushing while bathing can be just as effective.

Take Alkalinizing Baths

Another good idea is Alkalinizing Baths. For these, toss a cup of sea salt or a cup of baking soda into a bath. Get in and slowly increase the heat until you are sweating. The object is to make the outside water more alkaline than the body and blood itself. It is relaxing, and very powerful when combined with skin brushing.

Do Yoga, Be Yoga

Yoga is one of the best detoxifying exercises you can practice. Because one of the foundations of yoga is breathing, and one of the ways to detoxify yourself is to simply breathe, yoga can teach you correct ways to breathe, giving you the ability to make the most out of every breathe you take. The poses, or Asanas, practiced in yoga also aid in detoxification. Freeing the body of restrictions, these Asanas stretch muscles and limbs, loosening them and letting the muscles and limbs become more relaxed and nimble, freeing the toxins that muscle knots may harbor. These Asanas aid in circulation – the circulation of blood is greatly enhanced through flexibility – and these poses make you physically and mentally flow better. When things flow correctly, the body rids itself of toxins much more easily.

Yoga also circulates positive thinking, which removes toxins from the body in more ways than one. A person bent on negative thinking will not only perpetuate thoughts laden in toxicity, but they are also more likely to engage in an overall unhealthy lifestyle, a lifestyle that invites impurities rather than fights them. Yoga, however, because it helps people feel physically, emotionally, and spiritually better, allows a positive life force to circulate within, a life force bent on removing toxins. It also arms people with a mindset that allows people to embrace and embody health and wholeness, adopting an internal environment where toxins don’t want to remain, packing up and leaving instead.

TWISTED is a medical yoga studio at the Center for Osteopathic Medicine in Boulder, Colorado. Twisted integrates osteopathic medicine, hatha yoga and mindfulness practices to teach optimal balance between physical, mental, and emotional health. It aims to educate and help people to live a healthy life from the inside out. Rehabilitation programs offer a comprehensive treatment regime for the whole being, empowering each person one breath at a time to stimulate the body’s natural healing potential.

The case for ridding the body of accumulated waste is a strong one. Powerful natural healers over the years have pointed to internal cleansing time and again as a cornerstone of optimum health. Natural health giants including Dr. Bernard Jensen, Dr. Norman Walker, Ph.D., Dr. Jon Matsen, author of Eating Alive, one of the best natural health primers ever written, Dr. Paul Bragg, Dr. Herbert Shelton, Dr. Paavo Airola have all emphasized the need to cleanse our internal bodies. The list of advocates goes on and on. The question no longer is whether to detoxify, but how.

At the end of the nineteenth century, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, of Kellogg’s cereal fame and subject of the film The Road to Wellville, offered his guests a variety of cleansing programs at the Battle Creek Sanitarium. Later, Dr. Jensen helped thousands of patients relieve a wide assortment of ailments through internal cleansing at his ranch retreat in Escondido, California. But these days it isn’t practical for most of us to drop everything for days, weeks, or even months at a time to “clean house”. We may no longer have the time, but our need to detoxify is greater than ever.

Today, toxins from every direction bombard our bodies. Poisons pollute the air we breathe. They seep into the water we drink and infiltrate the food we eat. There’s just no avoiding them. In 1993 over 271 million pounds of toxic chemicals (phosphoric acid, ammonia, sulfuric acid, methanol etc.) were dumped into our water supply. Agribusiness uses 33 times more pesticides today than 50 years ago. The simple truth is your filtering and eliminative organs were not designed to process such a heavy load. Eventually they become overworked, sluggish and toxins begin to accumulate throughout the entire body.

Staying inside won’t work either. The EPA reports that levels of pollutants inside buildings can be as much as 100 times greater than outdoor pollution levels. Time magazine, December 21,1998, in an article titled This Place makes Me Sick, reported on the escalating problem known as sick-building syndrome, a disease of modern architecture in which sealed, energy conserving buildings have become breeding grounds for some particularly insidious stuff. These include out-gassing of paint, vinyl flooring, insulation and furniture; chemical contaminants oozing from copy machines, fax machines and laser printers; molds, fungi, bacteria and dusts belching from dirty air ducts and inadequately maintained air conditioners. It’s enough to make you sick…and it does.

But if this toxic monster seems unbeatable, don’t despair. Therapeutic, internal cleansing can take the load off your eliminative organs and free them up to do their work. Remember that these poisons are hiding all over your body, in all the soft tissues, organs and systems. Avoid the mistake of concentrating solely on the colon. A colon cleanse will do you some good, but improvement will be marginal. The large intestine is only one of your body’s five channels of elimination, albeit the most obvious one. The lungs, lymph system, kidneys and skin each have crucial roles to play in the cleansing process, and you’ll need to address them all to get maximum results. The liver, the primary filter for the blood stream, will almost certainly need detoxifying. However, unless it is especially weak or toxic, cleansing the liver should wait until you’ve lowered the toxic load on the rest of your body.

Fortunately, modern herbalists have formulated some excellent cleansing products you can use to great effect, without putting your life on hold. Keep in mind, different herbs target different organs and systems. A cleansing product’s design should be comprehensive enough to do a thorough job. The best cleanses activate all five channels of elimination and promote the release of toxins from every nook and cranny. Here’s what to look for.

Channel #1 – The Colon

Unless you are having 2-3 good bowel movements every day you are constipated and invariably toxic.

Therapeutic Herbs

Chickweed to strengthen the bowel.

Fennel seed to relieve gas by improving digestion.

Ginger Root which acts as a cleansing agent.

Marshmallow removes hardened mucous from the intestines.

Peppermint cleans and strengthens the bowel.

Plantain is one of the best herbs for neutralizing poison and breaking up intestinal mucous.

Slippery Elm heals and soothes the bowel (and the lungs).

Fenugreek lubricates the intestines and dissolves hardened mucous.

Health Food for the Colon

Flax Seeds– a gentle bulking agent.

Miller’s Bran– a fiber to help restore peristaltic action.

Whey– to acidify the colon.

Brewer’s Yeast– supplies B-complex vitamins, amino acids and minerals to support nerve supply to the colon.

Yogurt– supplies friendly bacteria.

Super-Green Foods– chlorella, spirulina, and blue-green algae help detoxify and build the entire body.

A colon friendly diet is largely vegetarian with lots of high fiber vegetables, fruits, whole grains, cereals and salads.

Channel #2 – The Lungs

Every time you exhale you are eliminating waste.

Therapeutic Herbs

Black Cohosh helps to loosen and expel mucous from the bronchial tubes.

Fenugreek helps expel phlegm, toxic waste, and protects against infection.

Ginger Root is a cleansing agent for the lungs.

Licorice Root reduces excess fluid in the lungs.

Mullein loosens mucous.

Marshmallow removes mucous.

Slippery Elm is soothing and healing to the lungs.

Lobelia relieves bronchial spasms and congestion.

Health Food for the Lungs

A diet for lung health should be high in vegetable proteins, whole grains, and low in refined carbohydrates and starches. Pitted fruits like apricots, peaches and plums are good for the lungs, as are cultured foods like yogurt, kefir and miso.

Channel #3 – The Lymph System

This circulatory system removes cellular debris from all over the body and is home to a large part of your immune system.

Therapeutic Herbs

Black Cohosh stimulates secretions of the lymphatic system.

Echinacea improves lymphatic drainage.

Fenugreek promotes the expulsion of toxic waste from the lymph.

And because liver exhaustion and stress weakens lymphatic function, support your liver with:

Dandelion Root is a powerful liver detoxificant.

Milk Thistle is very protective and cleansing to the liver.

Health Food for the Lymph System

Too many saturated fats, refined carbohydrates, and insufficient water intake makes lymphatic flow sluggish. A colon friendly diet is also good for the lymph. You’ll also want to add some potassium rich foods like broccoli, bananas and black olives. Fresh vegetable juice made from carrots, celery, spinach and parsley is great for the lymph system and the liver. Buy it freshly made at the health food store or, if you are feeling particularly motivated, get a juice extractor and make it yourself using 3 carrots, 3 stalks of celery, ½ a bunch of spinach and ½ a bunch of parsley.

Channel #4 – The Kidneys

Regulation of water and electrolytes, maintaining normal acid-base equilibrium, retention of vital substances and the elimination of metabolic waste is the kidneys’ responsibility.

Therapeutic Herbs

Burdock Root helps detoxify the kidneys.

Ginger Root detoxifies the kidneys.

Horsetail tones the kidneys and bladder.

Health Food for the Kidneys

Emphasize garlic, onions, papayas, bananas, sprouts, leafy greens, cucumbers, and watermelon- all are healing to the kidneys. Try to avoid heavy starches, red meat, dairy products (except cultured), refined, salty and fatty (fast) foods- they all inhibit the kidneys’ filtering ability. In general, a healthy diet that includes plenty of water will support healthy kidneys.

Channel #5 – The Skin

The body’s largest organ also happens to be the largest organ of elimination, removing over 20% of your body’s waste. If you want to detoxify you’re going to have to sweat.

Therapeutic Herbs

Herbs that cleanse the blood have a beneficial impact on the skin.

Black Cohosh neutralizes poisons in the blood.

Yellow Dock a great blood builder.

Burdock Root one of the best blood purifiers.

Dandelion Root detoxifies the liver and the blood.

Yarrow opens the pores to permit free perspiration.

Health Food for the Skin

Foods for healthy skin include: mineral rich foods like leafy greens, bell peppers, broccoli, sunflower and sesame seeds, fish and sea vegetables. Cultured foods like yogurt and kefir supply friendly bacteria. Eat lots of high water content foods; fruits and vegetables, and drink plenty of water, 6-8 glasses of bottled or filtered water every day.

Turbo-charging the cleansing process with herbs and lifestyle modification has helped thousands of my clients relieve digestive problems, lose weight, improve poor skin, eliminate allergies, constipation, fatigue, headaches, brain fog, menstrual problems…the list goes on and on. Chances are, it can help you too.

Sam Rose, CN MS is a licensed and certified nutritionist and owner of Rose Nutrition Center in West Los Angeles. He can be reached at sam@rosenutrition.com or 310-473-8835.

TheBestDetox.com

Boost your Immune System!

Our Immune System – What is it really?

It’s a fantastic mechanism working within us, protecting us against disease by identifying and killing pathogens (infectious agents) and tumor cells. Our immune system identifies a range of nasty agents from viruses to parasitic worms and needs to set these apart from our own body’s healthy cells and tissues so that the healthy cells and tissues can function correctly.

Detection can be complex for the immune system as infectious agents can adapt and evolve to successfully infect us. To endure this challenge, the immune system endevours to develop mechanics to help recognize and neutralize these agents. So let’s give our immune system a helping hand by eating healthily!

“Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food.” – Hippocrates, AD 390

“You cannot achieve environmental security and human development without addressing the basic issues of health and nutrition.” – Gro H. Brundtland

“Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dine like a pauper.” – Ancient proverb

“You are what you eat.” – Ancient proverb

Garlic (Allium Sativum) – The Super Food Germ Buster!

A.k.a. “the stinking rose”, this bulbous perennial grows up to one metre high, with light pink or green-white flowers. Native to Asia, garlic is now grown Worldwide. It is in the plant’s bulb (cloves) that has the antioxidant & medicinal properties.

Constituents:Nutrients: vitamins A, B, C, & E, calcium, magnesium, zinc, selenium, & other minerals. Phyto-chemicals: allicin, alliin (potent sulphur amino acids), beta-carotene, & more!

Garlic’s Key Actions

– antioxidant, antibiotic, anti-viral, antiseptic, anti-parasitic, antispasmodic, diuretic, antihypertensive, fungicide, expectorant

Garlic’s Key Actions

– antioxidant, antibiotic, anti-viral, antiseptic, anti-parasitic, antispasmodic, diuretic, fungicide, expectorant

Benefits

Garlic provides an excellent defense for our immune system and in turn our lymphatic system (major part of the immune system). It also provides help with other bodily systems, and therefore is a good all rounder for wellbeing.

Respiratory: Garlic has a long and established reputation for helping the immune system especially with sinusitis, asthma, colds, flu, bronchitis and catarrh of the stomach.

Circulatory: Research has shown that garlic can help to protect the cardiovascular system, reducing the risk of blood clotting, heart disease and other related conditions.

Other: Garlic was used to dress wounds during the First World War! It also helps to get rid of intestinal worms, stimulates bile for digestion of fats and helps reduce the occurrence of cancer.

Caution / Concern

Seek medical advice if taking blood thinning medication. Smaller consumption for children under the age of 12. Garlic is considered as a safe herb but as Lucretius said “What is food to one man may be fierce poison to others”. Also, too much of a good thing results in a bad thing. Moderation is usually key! Consider a clove or capsule equivalent for an easy guide to your daily dose for general well being.

The Italian Job by Michele Maes

Here’s a really tasty Italian, healthy food snack, or starter:

Toast a slice of bread, rub a glove of raw garlic (without the skin) onto the toast. Then rub half a sliced tomato on top of the garlic, & add some roughly chopped fresh basil. Drizzle a little amount of good quality virgin pressed olive oil over the toast and then lay very thin slices of Parmesan cheese on top. Delicious & healthy!

Immune Booster Juice

Tomatoes and carrots help contribute to your needed daily intake amount of vitamin C, ideal for maintaining a healthy body. Garlic, ginger and horseradish contain potent antioxidants and antiflammatory properties. All of these ingredients combined create a mighty anti-mucus punch!

The Hot Stuff Juice Mix, by miracle juicesTM

Ingredients:

300 g tomatoes, 100 g celery, 2.5cm fresh root ginger, roughly chopped, 1 garlic clove, 2 cm fresh horseradish, 175 g carrots, 2 ice cubes, celery slivers to decorate on top (optional). Juice all the ingredients (you need a juice extracting machine for this), mix the juice in blender or food processor with the ice cubes and serve. Decorate with celery slivers, if liked. Makes 150ml (1/2 pint).

Some of the Nutritional Values: calories: 189, Vitamin A: 51253 iu, Vitamin C: 87mg, Zinc: 5-52mg

NB: The contents of these articles are for information purposes only. The reader is recommended to think carefully about any difficulties he or she is having with their own health and to consult their doctor if uncertain as to its cause or nature.

Island Fire is a proprietary Noni juice product from Elements for Life. It is a raw, unpasteurized, Noni elixir with no added fruit juices or fruit sugars. Considered by health experts such as David Wolfe and Steve Adler to be the best Noni product on the market, it consists of Tahitian Noni, ginger, Hawaiian Turmeric, cayenne, lemon, apple cider vinegar, and trace minerals (both from colloidal, and plant and ocean-sourced ionic minerals). A shot or two in the morning will really get your metabolism and taste buds going! This is a daily health tonic focused on rejuvenation, detoxification, superior energy, good mood, and overall health.

The leading authority on raw foods and superfoods, David Wolfe, has mentioned Noni numerous times as the world’s most powerful fruit. It is found all over the Polynesian Islands and other tropical environments. In the last 15 years, all sorts of Noni products have been introduced to the market. Unfortunately, most of the benefits are lost in the pasteurization or dilution of the juice with other fruit juices and sugars.

For thousands of years Noni has been used in Polynesian culture, and is known in Polynesian lore to be a cure-all food. Noni contains has the highest natural concentration of polysaccharides than any other plant species. Polysaccharides are a type of complex sugar that stimulates the immune system to be more resistant to immune system disorders. As we learn more about this, the future of nutrition may one day lie in polysaccharides. Noni also contains a tremendous amount of the beauty mineral sulfur, which is especially good for our hair, skin, and nails.

Another superfood characteristic of Noni is its anti-fungal and anti-microbial properties. This means it can assist in boosting your immune system. And because there is no added sugar to Island Fire (only 1 gram of sugar total per 1 ounce serving), there is no sugar stimulation when you have an ounce or two. Instead, there is long-term energy that is supportive of your immune system. Also, because it has never been flash heated, it is actually enzyme active and live. Island Fire actually contains more than 140 bio-active enzymes. These enzymes, and enzymes in general, are crucial for our health and energy. Enzymes are the “workers” that convert the food we eat into energy, enable our five senses, and break down food into usable nutrition and waste.

What puts Island Fire Noni Elixir leaps ahead of other Noni products besides being unpasteurized and organic is its added ingredients such as Turmeric and Ginger (as well as cayenne, lemon, and raw apple cider vinegar). Turmeric is a powerful anti-inflammatory antioxidant. It is actually the greatest anti-inflammatory in the Ayurvedic System. This assists in reducing joint inflammation if youre injured or after a workout. The ginger, because of its high sulfur content, is also wonderful for muscle recovery and tissue repair. Sulfur also helps rejuvenate our skin and protect it from the sun, free radical damage and wrinkling.

Island Fire Noni Elixir is a powerful tonic to use in supporting your overall health, immune system, and energy. The smell and taste can be quite interesting as first but can grow on you the more you drink it. If you’ve ever taken a shot of liquor before, you can definitely handle Noni though! You can sip Island Fire alone or on ice, just like you would a cocktail, you can take a straight shot of it in the morning to get your metabolism and energy going, you could even mix it with some coconut water or soaked and blended goji berries to sweeten it up naturally. It’s wonderful that Elements for Life has come up with such a healthy way to make Noni juice taste good though. Enjoy this one of a kind superfood Elixir.

Flax seed contain many ingredients that are good for our bodies including omega fatty acids, lignan, mucilage, and many different amino acids that make it a great nutritional item. The amino acids found in Flax Seed are Tryptophan, Threonine, Isoleucine, Leucine, and Lysine. Each one of these amino acids offers different benefits.

Tryptophan helps to create Serotonin, a vital ingredient to help you function mentally. A lack of Serotonin can result in various disorders including depression and mood related disorders. Tryptophan is as given as a tranquilizer for those who suffer from insomnia.

Threonine is commonly referred to as Trptophan but they are two separate amino acids. This one helps the body to balance the proteins and distribute them to the cardiovascular system, liver, central nervous system, and the immune system. Isoleucine isn’t a well known amino acid it is essential. This helps hemoglobin to be made so you the body is able to control blood sugar levels. If you don’t get enough Isoleucine it can result in headaches, dizziness, fatigue, depression, confusion and irritability.

Another amino acid that aids with controlling blood sugar levels is Leucine. It also helps the body to grow and repair muscle tissues including bones and skin, the making of growth hormones, to help wounds heal, and to boost energy levels. Leucine prevents the muscle proteins from breaking down while you experience trauma or stress. This amino acid can help those who suffer from Phenylketonuria, a condition where the body isn’t able to metabolize another amino acid called Phenylalanine. Lysine allows the body to make antibodies, hormones, and enzymes. It is also used to absorb calcium for tissue repairs and to help children grow and develop.

In addition to these essential amino acids, flax seed also has many others that are beneficial to the body including Aspartic Acid, Glutamic Acid, and Glycine. It is a good idea to add flax seed or flax seed oil supplements to your diet to ensure you get all the amino acids you need.

Fresh fruit and vegetable juices are a wonderful source of nutrition. They are great for healthy people and can be life saving for those who are ill. Once you get started drinking fresh juices, you will experience some of the most delightful flavors a person could ever begin to imagine!  Fruit juices contain nutrients that are in a form that need no digestion so they are ready for immediate absorption and assimilation into the body, which is why they are so wonderful for people who are fighting serious illnesses.

When considering juice, the freshness of one’s juice is vitally important. The best thing to do whenever possible is to make the juice and drink it on the spot! The reason is because it quickly loses its nutritional value after being squeezed. This is one of the reasons why store-bought juice (even “naked” juice) is not going to do for you what freshly squeezed juices will do. Canned and bottled juices that are pasteurized have had all their enzymes destroyed through processing, and in addition, usually have sugar added, so they would not be good choices. If you cannot drink your juice immediately after squeezing it, store it in an air tight jar in the refrigerator and consume it as soon as possible. Some health practitioners estimate that the enzymes in the juices are destroyed within a few minutes up to an hour or so after juicing.  Fresh juices should be consumed on a daily basis.

Vegetable Juice

Vegetable juices are the builders of the body.

The very best tasting vegetable juice, and probably the easiest one for beginners to start with, is carrot juice. It is also a good base for other juices. It is very sweet, something that may have escaped one’s notice until he quits eating (refined) sugar!  Sugar ruins the taste buds, but once it has been removed from the diet, then the subtle flavors of natural foods burst forth as in a symphony. Do not worry about your skin turning yellow. This will not happen unless you consume a lot of carrot juice, and even then, it is not a harmful condition; in fact, it is a good thing! Contrary to popular opinion, it isn’t the beta carotene in the juice that turns the skin an orange color. It is the toxins and old bile being released from the body through the skin which gives it this yellow or orange cast. Once these toxins have been removed, the skin will return to its normal color no matter how much carrot juice one consumes. Think about it, has anyone ever turned brown from drinking too much coffee or coke?

Cabbage juice is another excellent health drink, but the flavor is not that great so it might be better mixed with carrot juice. Some tastes may need developing! Beet juice makes a very red and tasty juice. A word of warning: do not be alarmed when you use the “sanitation unit” after you have ingested beet juice. You are not bleeding to death. If you experience a red color in the stool or urine, it is most likely from the red in the beets. One healthy concoction to try is a combination of carrot, spinach, beet and dandelion juice. Depending on the proportions of each vegetable used, you will get a slightly different flavor, but it is delicious.

Fruit Juice

Fruit juices are the cleansers of the body.

With regard to fruit juices, some alternative health practitioners have commented that because of the naturally occurring high sugar content of natural fruit juices, they should either be diluted with distilled water, consumed in small amounts, or taken together with their fiber, such as one would get by blending a fruit in the VitaMix. Others have commented that the energy saved by not having to process the fiber goes toward the healing and repairing of the body. Dr. Walker (who lived to be 118 years of age) believed that when a food is juiced and the fiber is separated out, most of the toxins are eliminated with the fiber. The reader will have to make up his own mind. I tend to think that when someone who speaks on the subject of health lives to be 118 years old and dies disease free, he probably knows what he is talking about. In any event, when in doubt, variety is usually a wise route.

Copyright © 2009 Jayne Baer.  All rights reserved.

The crystalline waters of Alaska host one of the world’s most valuable resources: healthy, natural, nutritional fish. Alaska has recognized the importance of their marine life, and has taken firm measures to ensure that the waters around their 34,000 miles of coastline remain pure, and that the fish living in those waters are harvested in a way that is sustainable and eco-friendly.

That’s a lot to brag about when Alaska salmon are in such high demand. Alaska’s response to this demand has been measured and responsible, ensuring that the world can continue to enjoy wild salmon for generations to come. What is that makes these fish so special, and the focus of so many great grilled salmon recipes?

For one thing, salmon is a rich source of protein and Omega-3 fatty acids, while being low on the harmful saturated fats and Omega-6 oils found in other animals. Alaska salmon live a rigorous natural life, and this vitality ensures lean fish with high quality texture and taste. The clean water and healthy organisms keep the salmon free of toxins and impurities in their environment and diet.

Look up grilled salmon recipes, and you will consistently find sources from health-food and low-calorie sites and cookbooks, proudly displaying the nutritional facts of each recipe. These sites will tell you not just how to cook salmon steaks, but will also likely boast about the variety of essential vitamins, minerals, and nutrients packed into a savory salmon feast.

Salmon can be cooked fresh, thawed, or frozen, and this means that it can be enjoyed year-round, even long after the fishing season has ended for a given year. Grilling salmon is a summer-time activity as American as flipping burgers or baking apple pie, and is a whole lot healthier to boot. The versatility of salmon is another thing that makes it so special. It works in any cuisine, from Asian to French, and can be served as a main entrée, or worked into appetizers, salads, and soups. Just crack a cookbook; you’ll be amazed at the number of grilled salmon recipes.

You don’t need anyone to tell you that salmon makes a delicious meal, but if you have been wondering what makes this fish so special, remember that Alaska salmon is also a highly nutritional food, and represents a sustainable practice that you can be proud to participate in.