Nutrition and Health Care
~thoughts and informations~
January 5th, 2012 | 
Author: The DASH diet grabbed the top spot in best overall diet in the U.S. News and World Report’s Best Diets 2012, which also rates other popular diets in various categories. DASH diet plan also took top ranking as the best diet for healthy eating and the best diabetes diet (tied with the Biggest Loser diet).
DASH diet which stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension offers the best overall nutrition, focuses on lowering blood pressure by reducing sodium intake and encouraging a healthy mix of whole grains, fruits, and vegetables rich in vitamins like potassium, magnesium, and calcium.
In DASH diet the number of servings of grains, vegetables, dairy and other food types that a person should eat daily, based on their calorie needs are prescribed. It suggests high amounts of fiber, potassium and magnesium, and keeps sweets to a minimum.
If you need to lower your high blood pressure, then incorporate the DASH diet into your lifestyle. Doctors recommend:
- Eating more fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy foods
- Cutting back on foods that are high in saturated fat, cholesterol, and total fat
- Eating more whole grain products, fish, poultry, and nuts
- Eating less red meat and sweets
- Eating foods that are rich in magnesium, potassium, and calcium
The DASH diet, which stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, is an example of such an eating plan. In studies, patients who were on the DASH diet reduced their blood pressure within two weeks. Another diet — DASH-Sodium — calls for reducing sodium (salt) to 1,500 mg a day (about 2/3 teaspoon). Studies of patients on the DASH-Sodium plan significantly lowered their blood pressure.
When starting the DASH diet, start slowly and make gradual changes. Consider adopting a diet plan that allows 2,400 milligrams of salt per day (about 1 teaspoon) and then once your body has adjusted to the diet further lower your salt intake to 1,500 mg per day (about 2/3 teaspoon). These amounts include all salt consumed, including that in food products, used in cooking, and added at the table.
Here are some tips to get you started on the DASH diet:
- Add a serving of vegetables at lunch and at dinner.
- Add a serving of fruit to your meals or as a snack. Canned and dried fruits are easy to use.
- Use only half the butter, margarine, or salad dressing, and use low-fat or fat-free condiments.
- Drink low-fat or skim dairy products three times a day.
- Limit meat to six ounces a day. Try eating some vegetarian meals.
- Add more vegetables, rice, pasta, and dry beans to your diet.
- Instead of typical snacks (chips, etc.), eat unsalted pretzels or nuts, raisins, graham crackers, low-fat and fat-free yogurt and frozen yogurt; unsalted plain popcorn with no butter, and raw vegetables.
- Read food labels carefully to choose products that are lower in sodium.
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It is cold and flu season once again! So we should be prepared in fighting cold and flu viruses. Exercise is one preventative measures we can use to defeat these annoying and potentially life-threatening viruses.
It doesn’t take hours of exercise per day to achieve a stronger immune system. A daily 30 minutes workout is already adequate for most people to strengthen their immune system.
People nowadays are more aware of the latest developments in science and technology and more and more people are taking Umbilical cord banking seriously.
What is Umbilical Cord Banking or Stem Cell Banking?
Umbilical Cord Banking is simply the preservation of the cord blood. Cord Blood is the blood which is found in Umbilical Cord of the baby. The umbilical cord is commonly known as the birth cord or the funiculus umbilicalis. It connects the developing embryo to the placenta. After a baby is born and the umbilical cord is cut, some blood remains in the blood vessels of the placenta and the portion of the umbilical cord that remains attached to it. The blood in the umbilical cord is rich in stem cells. The stem cell is vital in the regeneration of white blood cells.
Benefits of Umbilical Cord Banking
The stem cells have the potential to fight and cure many life-threatening diseases. While bone marrow can supply stem cells, the quality and quantity is much better in the umbilical cord. What’s best with cord blood is that it does not have to match the child’s tissue type as closely as bone marrow does. And so the chance of being a match and saving someone’s life is even greater. A person does not have to depend on others for donation if he has his own stem cells preserved. In cases of emergency, the cord blood you had preserved for him will be able to save him at this hour of need.
Some diseases which can be cured by cord blood stem cells are Leukemia, Plasma Cell Disorders, Stem Cell Disorders, Congenital (Inherited) Immune System Disorder, Inherited Erythrocyte Abnormalities, Inherited Platelet Abnormalities, Ovarian Cancer etc.
If there has been history of some particular disease or genetic disease in the family, then it becomes necessary for the expected parents to plan for Umbilical Cord Banking of their child. In case any kind of disease appears in your child, at any point of life your child will always have a health insurance in the form of his cord blood cells.