Happy Halloween

Halloween is my favorite time of year because it’s the only time that I don’t mind hearing you say  “boo” all the time…even when your boyfriend is around…Happy Halloween friends!

Sleep Deprivation Linked to Risk Factors for Stroke, Diabetes and Heart Disease

According to a recent study, those who are getting less than 6 hours of sleep are more likely to increase their chances to develop diabetes, heart disease and strokes.

The clustering of risk factors that includes high cholesterol, high blood sugar, high serum triglycerides, abdominal (central) obesity, and high blood pressure is known as metabolic syndrome.

Dr. Jang Young Kim of Yonsei University in South Korea  said that the people who lacks sleep should be aware of the risks of developing metabolic syndrome, which could lead them to suffer from life threatening and chronic diseases."

Their research is composed of 2,600 adults they were studied for more than 2 years and found that participants who didn’t get at least 6 hours of sleep a night were 41% more likely to develop metabolic syndrome than individuals who got 6 to 8 hours of sleep. The subjects underwent medical exams and shared their medical history.

The team followed up on the subjects after 2 and half years and 560 (22%) of them developed metabolic syndrome. Sleep deprivation was linked to about 30% increased risk of high blood sugar and excess belly fat, as well as 56% higher odds of hypertension, compared to those who have ample sleep.

Fruits That Helps you Lose Weight Fast

Losing weight is a lifestyle change and there are no magic pill it's hard work and sacrifice. Eating fruits instead of junk foods is a great way to lose weight. Fruits have low calories and are full of vitamins and nutrients. Fruit also keep you full longer. Fruits can be taken for breakfast, lunch or dinner, or snacks in between meals.

A new research shows that eating certain fruits can help you burn fat and speed up weight-loss. If you want to know which fruits then keep on reading.

Avocado - it may contain high amount of fat but those fats are good for you. It has high amounts of omega 9 fatty acids, they are monosaturated fats that have high health benefits for your body. It also elevate the rate of fat conversion to energy that improves your metabolism. Avocados are also appetite suppressant it can help you stop craving for more food.

Apple - this fruit contains high amount of fibre and low in calories. It also a delicious substitute for potato chips as snack in between meals. Apple contains vitamins B and C, antioxidants and minerals that are good for your body.

Blueberries - it has huge amounts of antioxidants and fat burning properties. Like avocados, it also helps you increase your metabolism that helps yous burn more calories. This fruit has also low glycaemic index that can lessen your sugar intake, really beneficial for diabetics.

Grapefruit - this fruit has high water content that helps you keep your stomach full. It also helps cleanse your body from toxins, and keeps you hydrated. The fruit also contain enzymes that burn calories.

Coconut - this helps you increase your metabolism by 30%. With less calories this fruit will keep you full, and less calories means more weight loss.

Pomegranates - this fruit contains polyphenols antioxidant that boost your body's metabolism. It also cleanse your body of toxins.

Lemons - this fruit is a very effective toxins cleanser it helps detoxify your liver. Your liver plays an important role in digesting food and burning fat. Lemons helps your body prevent fat accumulation.

GMO’s in Meat

Despite concerns and red flags about genetically modified foods and crops, the use of GMOs in farming has been on an upsurge yearly since the GMO was commercially introduction in 1996. According to the ISAAA, an international organization that supports crop biotechnology, biotech crops have increased 100-fold, from 1.7 million hectares (4.2 million acres) in 1996, to 170 million hectares (420 million acres) in 2012. These 170 million hectares mean that GMO crops now occupy over 10% of the world’s arable land.

The United States is the world’s top GMO producer and consumer. Most of the GMO crop are fed to livestock. Top  6 GMO crops are soy, cotton, corn, canola, sugar beet, and alfalfa. They are heavily utilized by the US and global animal feed market.

Feeding cattle genetically modified (GMO) crops is unhealthy for the animals and results in unsafe beef.

GMOs are not yet proven safe for human consumption. Many studies claiming the safety of GE-foods are industry-funded and only last for 90 days.

There are also reports that scientists in China have created genetically modified cattle designed to produce tastier beef.

source

Saturated Fats are Good in Moderation

There are a lot of products that say low or zero fat and people think in an instant that they are healthy because it keep them fit and keep their heart healthy. However, that is not entirely true. The
McMaster University in Canada did not find any link between the amount of saturated fat people ate and their risk of death from heart disease, stroke or Type 2 diabetes. Also there are dietitians that advice people to take in more good fats in our diet.

Food products don't differentiate between good fats and bad fats, so buying food that are zero or low fat is not wise and can harm your health.

Dr. John Briffa of The Cholesterol Truth  said that the mainstream focusing on the dangers of saturated fat are absurdly exaggerated. These means you should not follow the advice of some health advocate or fad diet to cut down on saturated fats just eat in moderation. Eating butter is not bad if taken in moderately since it is rich in saturated fats, vitamins, cholesterol that is important for brain and nervous system development and various natural compounds with anti-fungal, antioxidant and even anti-cancer properties.

If you remove saturated fats from your diet, you will be missing the health benefits that it can give you like vitamins D, E, K, and A. People should know the differences between good and bad dietary fats.

Fats that are bad for you are Trans-fats (Hydrogenated fats) since they are dense and can block your coronary arteries. These fats are made through "hydrogenation" which is a food manufacturing process in which oils are turned from liquid to solid at high temperatures. They add hydrogen atom to the oil molecule which will turn the oil solid.

This fat also increase the level of LDL which are bad cholesterol in our blood, it also lower the HDL which are good cholesterol.

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Low-fat diet is Better than Low carb Diet

It is often debated among health enthusiast which is better Low-fat diet or Low carb diet both offers a good lifestyle and better health however a new study shows that restricting dietary fat can lead to greater weight loss loss than carbohydrate restriction, even though a low-carb diet reduces insulin and increases fat burning.

The study was published at Cell Metabolism journal. According to one of the researchers Kevin Hall from National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases"A lot of people have very strong opinions about what matters for weight loss, and the physiological data upon which those beliefs are based are sometimes lacking. I wanted to rigorously test the theory that carbohydrate restriction is particularly effective for losing body fat since this idea has been influencing many people's decisions about their diets."

For the research, they use 19 adults that suffers from obesity they confine them to a metabolic ward for two dieting periods of two weeks each. After two dieting periods, they have found that body fat lost under the Low-fat diet was better than with Low carb Diet even though more fat was burned with the low-carb diet.

Body fat loss was calculated using the difference between daily fat intake and net fat oxidation while participants were inside a metabolic chamber.

Hundreds Infected in the U.S. caused by Contaminated Cilantro

More than 380 people in the United States have gotten sick with a stomach illness tied to Mexican cilantro contaminated by human waste, according to US Food and Drug Administration.

This is the 4th straight summer in which the intestinal infection cyclosporiasis has been reported in the US. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are investigating the cause of the latest outbreak, which believe to have started after May 1.

According to FDA, they believe that the contaminated cilantro has parasite shed from the intestinal tract of humans in the growing fields, contaminated water or harvesting, processing and packing activities. It causes diarrhea, nausea and fatigue which can last several weeks to a month or more if untreated.

They have traced the cilantro which comes from Puebla, Mexico.


source CDC