The Water/Weight Equation: How Water Affects Diet

Whether you’re trying to lose weight, or just plain health-conscious, here are some important facts about the “water-weight” equation you’ll want to know.  In addition to the many essential health benefits water provides the human body, scientists say it has a direct effect on how our body reacts to weight-loss dieting.  Water suppresses appetite naturally and helps the body metabolize stored fat.  Studies have shown that a decrease in water intake will actually cause fat deposits to increase, while an increase in water can reduce fat deposits.  Read more . . .

Memory Loss and Aging

Is memory loss, senility, dementia, and Alzheimer’s Disease just the norms of getting old?  Is the best we can do to keep our brains functioning to do crossword puzzles, read, maybe learn a foreign language?  Perhaps not.  Recent studies show that diet and lifestyle play a much bigger role in memory retention than ever thought possible.  In fact, it could well be that our total lifestyle determines how our brain functions and what cognitive abilities we retain as we age past our “prime.”  Point of fact: Americans have one of the highest rates of brain-toxifying diets in the world–highest in saturated fats, trans fat, chemical additives, and refined sugar.  As science has shown, sugar can lead to glucose spikes and crashes, causing wildly fluctuating brain energy levels.  Fatty meats, cream and whole milk, lard, shortening, and butter contain artery-clogging saturated fats that restrict blood flow to the brain and lead to poor cardiovascular health related to cognitive decline.  Read more . . .

How Diet Affects Sex Drive

Science shows that like any other bodily function, sex drive can be stimulated or suppressed by what one eats.  For example, as healthy as dairy products like yogurt and cheese may be for overall health, they have been shown to put sexual urges right to sleep in many women.  Likewise, sodas, ice cream, excess sweets, nuts, coconut, and avocados have all been known to cool one’s natural flame to barely a flicker.  And for many people, plants of the nightshade family–tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes, and peppers–can take you right out of the mood even if you haven't had any in a month.   And the tricky part is, some people react quite differently to certain foods than to others, so we all have to be observant of the tell-tale signs to know which foods are stifling our sexual desire.  Read more . . .

Antioxidants: Why We Need Them and How to Get Them

Today, many individuals routinely conduct their own research on the properties of various vitamins, minerals, herbs, and other natural substances that come to public attention said to improve the immune system, fend off viruses and disease, and cleanse the body of toxins.  (That may well be what led you to this resource center.)  And it is for this reason that most everyone today is familiar with those things called antioxidants.  But while most are aware that these mysterious substances are good for the human body, far fewer know why.  In the nutshell, science has identified “oxidation” of the body’s internal molecules as a prime causal factor in contracting a wide range of diseases--everything from cancer to arteriosclerosis to cataracts.  Fortunately, antioxidants–Vitamins C, E, as well as flavonoids and carotenoids–have been well documented as having the ability to inhibit oxidation of these molecules and thus assist the body in warding off ailments when used as preventative agents (as opposed to using them as curative or therapeutic).  Read more . . .

IRON: How Do You Know if You're Getting Enough?

For those of us old enough to remember, during the 1950s and 1960s a common TV and radio commercial shown in America was for a product called Geritol.  Remember?  Even old Lucy Ricardo was seen reminding viewers of the dangers of having “iron-poor blood.” But was all that a bunch of hype, or is iron deficiency a genuine concern?  According to recent studies, about 20% of all women, 50% of all pregnant women, and 3% of all men in America are deficient in iron.  But how would you really recognize if you were among those who need to make a change?  Read more . . .

CALCIUM: Why We Need It, How to Get It, and How to Maintain It

Calcium is the most abundant mineral in the human body.  It is, in fact, in every bone.  Why then is there such concern about not getting enough?  The answer is simple.  In reality, nothing can happen in the human body without calcium.  It’s not just important to body functioning, it’s indispensable.  It’s essential for our muscular and neuronal systems, our hormonal balances, and involved in our immune and oxidant functioning which protects us against microbes, toxins, and other foreign invasive bodies.  Its use and function in the body cannot be overstated and should never be underestimated.  Read more . . .