vitamin for pregnant women
March 8, 2008
The Best Vitamins for Pregnant Women
Pregnancy is a delicate but happy condition for women. During this time, its important for women to take prenatal vitamins to ensure that her and her unborn child’s nutritional needs are well satisfied.
Folic Acid; also known as Vitamin B9, is arguably the most important vitamin that pregnant women need. Sufficient consumption of folic acid will help prevent your unborn child from having any serious birth defects, specifically with the brain and spinal cord. Together, both parts form the neural tube.
Spina bifida is the most common defect of the neural tube, and it refers to an unclosed spine. Babies diagnosed with this condition could end up mentally retarded, paralyzed, or suffer from other serious complications.
The importance of folic acid is emphasized by the US Department of Food and Drug Administration as it encourages women of childbearing age to have a daily intake of 400mg of folic acid and require manufacturers of flour products to fortify their goods with extra folic acid.
Leafy green vegetables, citrus fruits, beans, and nuts are considered excellent natural sources of folic acid. Prenatal vitamins also often contain folic acid.
Vitamin D and Calcium A baby inside his mothers womb uses his mothers bone density to form his own bones. Because of this, pregnant women must increase their calcium intake to reduce bone loss. Foods rich in calcium are once again; leafy green vegetables as well as breads and soy milk.
Vitamin D on the other hand will ensure that you enjoy maximum advantage from calcium rich food. Besides improving yours and your baby’s teeth and gums, vitamin D will also help your body absorb calcium. To get adequate Vitamin D, eat lots of fatty fish, drink lots of milk, and enjoy a few hours of sunlight everyday.
Vitamin C and Iron Iron is a mineral that improves blood circulation and the flow of oxygen within the body of both mother and child. Sufficient iron intake will also reduce chances of pregnant women going into premature delivery and babies from having low birth weights. Iron can also prevent anemia and improve hemoglobin production.
Good sources of iron are spinach, iron-fortified grains, beef, dried beans and fruits, and pork.
Vitamin C helps pregnant women take in as much iron as they need from food. Besides that, vitamin C or ascorbic acid is also an antioxidant and therefore protects pregnant women from the harmful effects of toxins.
Other vitamins may be needed depending on a case to case basis. Consult your doctor for best results.
atkins appetite suppression
March 5, 2008
Atkins and Appetite Suppression
One of the most common, and surprising, effects of following the Atkins diet is appetite suppression. Many followers of the plan report that the between meal hunger pangs they used to experience fade away very quickly. This makes it easier to stay on the diet and continue to lose weight. While other diets have their followers starving between meals, the Atkins diet offers relief from constant hunger. The Atkins diet, with its specific combination of foods and ingredients, has powerful appetite suppressing effects.
The first key component is the amount of protein in the Atkins diet. Protein, more so than carbohydrates, has the power to satiate hunger. If you’ve ever eaten a carb heavy meal and then felt hungry afterward, you know that carbohydrates don’t have much staying power. Protein, when combined with a small amount of healthy fats, can keep you feeling full for long periods of time.
One of the most powerful appetite suppressing foods on the Atkins diet are eggs. Eggs are a great form of quick and easy protein. A recent study showed that eating eggs for breakfast would actually stave off hunger pangs through the rest of the day. The research concerned two groups of women. One group ate eggs for breakfast and the other had a breakfast of bagels and cream cheese. The calorie count for both breakfasts was exactly the same. The subjects kept track of what they ate the rest of the day and answered questions about their levels of hunger and satisfaction throughout the day. The results showed that the women who ate the eggs for breakfast felt more satisfied throughout the entire day. They ate less at each meal than the women who were in the bagel group.
Eggs contain about 6 grams of protein each. This helps to even out blood sugar and produces a feeling of satisfaction. Both of these factors help to curb cravings. Egg yolks also contain lutein and xenazanthin. These nutrients have been shown to have incredible effects on eye health. So it’s important to eat the whole egg, and not just the white. Eggs contain choline that is important in brain functioning and memory. These nutrients are just an added benefit to the appetite suppressing qualities.
Broccoli and cauliflower, two of the acceptable vegetables on the Atkins program, also have appetite-suppressing effects. These vegetables are very bulky and they help make your stomach feel full. When your stomach feels full, it will actually create a chemical response in your body. Your body will reduce its appetite because it believes that your stomach is full of high calorie foods. This will happen regardless of what is in your stomach. You can achieve the same results with water and psyllium husk fiber. Both broccoli and cauliflower provide bulk in your diet and are essential vegetables on the Atkins plan.
The Atkins diet focuses on eating small protein balanced meals a few times per day. This will help keep your blood sugar stabilized and avoid carbohydrate cravings. With high carbohydrate diets, you are riding the wave of carbohydrate highs. After you eat, you feel great and full. Then a few hours later, you come crashing down and are hungrier than you were previous to eating the carbohydrate. This cycle continues and, over time, you will eat more and gain weight. The protein, fat and vegetable meals of the Atkins plan put your blood sugar back in balance. They provide just enough of each type of food, with a proper amount of carbohydrates from the vegetables. The vegetables provide quick carbohydrate energy, and the protein gives the meal staying power. This combination helps suppress your appetite.
The Atkins diet is actually a craving control diet that can help suppress your appetite. If you’ve had a problem with carbohydrate cravings before, this new way of eating will help control those cravings. The more you eat on the plan, the better your cravings will be controlled and the easier it will be to follow the diet.
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vitamin for elderly
March 4, 2008
A Review of Vitamins for the Elderly
As a person grows older, they learn a lot from experience, as the old adage says the older one gets, the wiser he becomes. However, when a person is aging the right food choices aren’t clearly known to them, they must fully understand that they should eat nutritionally balanced meals always.
On the other hand, elderly people don’t get enough vitamins and minerals needed by their aging bodies to fight the illnesses caused by aging. Because the fact that as people grow older, their bodies become less efficient in accepting and using nutrients. This tends to make them develop more illnesses, thus, needing more medications which have an adverse affect in the way their body accepts nutrients.
There are plenty of vitamins which help maintain the aging body of the elderly. One is Vitamin D, this is very important to them. It plays an important role since it is mainly a calcium vitamin which is required to keep healthy bones. Without this, bones tend to become brittle causing osteoporosis. Elderly people should eat proper dairy products because these are the best sources of Vitamin D.
Oxidation is a very serious condition among the elderly. This is caused by free radicals that destroy the healthy cells in the body. When the healthy cells are damaged, the seniors are at risk of developing arthritis, heart disease, cancers, Parkinson’s disease, cataracts and other disorders. Other physical signs of a damaged cells are wrinkles and the skin begins to sag because it loses its elasticity, thus making one look older. These can be prevented by antioxidants. Antioxidants which help neutralize free radicals can prevent the damage caused by these free radicals and they help our immune system function properly. Vitamins A, C and E are the important vitamins that contain beta carotenes which fight the free radicals. Other sources of antioxidants are fresh fruits and vegetables.
Few seniors get enough Vitamin K. Vitamin K is responsible for good blood circulation in the body; it helps maintain the proper functioning of the blood clotting mechanism. It also prevents excessive bleeding. Vitamin K also helps prevent the Alzheimer’s disease common among the elderly. The best sources of Vitamin K are green tea, broccoli, spinach, asparagus, cabbage and dark green lettuce. But avoid freezing them because cold temperatures destroy the Vitamin K found in these vegetables.
These are some of the helpful vitamins for the elderly, but keep in mind that regardless of age, it is very important to give our bodies nutrients through vitamins. As for the older people, choose the one which will suit their needs to help them maintain good health.
swmer’s ear in children
March 3, 2008
Swimmer’s Ear in Children
Swimmer’s ear is bacterial growth infection inside the canal of the ear. It is also known as Otitis Externa. It differs a lot from ear infections which are dealt with on a regular basis, which is contracted at times when the child catches a cold. The common ear infection is known as Otitis Media, in which the middle of the ear is infected. Incase of swimmer’s ear, the ear canal which leads towards the ear drum is infected by bacteria. The first symptom is that when the finger is stuck inside the ear canal, it will hurt a lot. In normal cases, it won’t hurt at all.
The skin within that are is very delicate and hence, is protected by nature by a thin earwax coating. Usually, water can easily glide inside and then outside the ear without any problem. But when the water cleans some or all of the earwax and if some of the water is retained inside, the bacteria will take advantage of this situation. Chemicals in the water aggravate the situation by increasing the irritation. It starts growing within the soft and warm ear canal and can cause swelling and redness. A slight itchiness also accompanies it. But the child must be instructed to not to scratch, otherwise there is a greater chance of the situation becoming worse. If there is no itchiness, obviously there will be pain, which is the initial symptom. The ear should not be bumped or touched even from the exterior, as that will cause intense pain. Hearing can become difficult due to the bacterial infection as that will swell the ear canal and block the passage.
The pain and itchiness can only be gotten rid off by fighting the infection and killing the grown bacteria. In usual cases, ear drops are prescribed by the doctor. These ear drops have antibiotics which are meant to kill the bacteria. The dosage and number of days to use the ear drops as told by the doctor should be strictly followed. If the doses are missed there is a possibility of bacterial re-growth. A wick is also introduced inside the ear, sometimes. This wick actually is small piece of sponge with absorbed lotion. The wick is left inside then. This procedure is used when the doctor thinks it is important to apply medicine directly to the part of the ear canal which is infected. If the pain is unbearable by the child, parents can give pain killers, but only after taking suggestion from the doctor. Once the antibiotics begin working, pain killers can be stopped.
Swimmer’s ear cannot be just attained cause of water entering the ear at the time of taking baths or showers. Children, who have joined the summer swimming camp, can complain of this problem. After the swimmer’s ear is treated, the child shouldn’t swim immediately. Doctor, usually, advices them to stay away from water for a week or two. The time period may sound very long, but it keeps the pain away for a long time. Special ear drops are available over the counter which can be put inside the child’s ear after swimming is over. This will dry up any water inside the ear, if any. Swimmer’s ear can also be caused when inquisitive kids try to stuff things inside the ear and thus damaging it. Bacteria get a chance of developing on the scratched area. In this case, only parent’s supervision will do the trick.
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