SkyBlue Cross Alternative Health Blog

Tuesday 17 July 2012

How to have beautiful skin by avoiding some foods

By: http://www.skybluecross.com
In order to maintain healthy skin it is important for you to practice good eating habits, eat foods that are good for your skin such as fruits and vegetables, avoid oily foods such as french fries, hamburger, hotdogs, and fast foods. If you must have a hamburger or french fries do not cook them in oil, try steaming them or baking them in the toaster oven. Avoid refined sugar because sugar is the number one cause of troubled skin, try your best to avoid eating chocolates, drinking sodas or alcoholic beverages.

Although your body does need a bit of fat, you should avoid eating too much red meat, instead you might want to substitute red meat with say chicken or fish which will give you the required protein that your body needs. Milk is one of the products you must definitely avoid especially if you suffer from acne. Another kind of food to avoid is processed foods as these contain chemicals that can be harmful to the body, and also the skin. Margarine, shortening or other hydrogenated vegetable oils, and commercial dairy products and meats containing hormones should also be avoided.

Protein is essential to good health, but foods that contain high levels of saturated fat and omega-6 fatty acids can do more harm than good. You should avoid foods such as ground beef, sausages, bacon, and ham, as these foods are high in fat to protein ratio, and are not the types of protein you should eat. Also because these foods are cooked at high temperatures they can cause harmful byproducts for you skin. Saturated fats which are known to be harmful to the cardiovascular system, can increase wrinkles and accelerate skin aging, the trans-fatty acids have been proven to have very harmful effects to the skins health and appearance.

Some foods that contain carbohydrates such as pasta, or baked beans have been known to cause conditions which can initiate inflammatory and damaging effects on the skin. Most legumes have beneficial effects on the skin, but canned baked beans which are prepared in brown sugar or molasses, can have a negative effect on glucose levels. When these baked beans are cooked at high temperatures for long periods, it cause break down in their cell wall, causing them to release normal sugars which are easier to digest and cause the blood glucose levels to rise. Less refined foods such as whole grains are digested slower and, as such, are slowly absorbed into the blood steam, resulting in lower blood sugar levels and less insulin discharge, which results in lower glycemic load.


Monday 16 July 2012

How to order Healthy Food for Healthy body

By:http://www.skybluecross.com
When you have no time to cook your own food, what do you do? The answer is obvious, of course. You go out to your local fast food outlet (in deference to your kids’ preferences), you go out to the food strip at the mall, or you order take out. It is convenient and you can eat your fill at these joints. What’s not so obvious, however, is what such a practice is doing to you and your children’s health.

Healthy eating habits are crucial to achieving a healthy mind and body



When you have no time to cook your own food, what do you do? The answer is obvious, of course. You go out to your local fast food outlet (in deference to your kids’ preferences), you go out to the food strip at the mall, or you order take out. It is convenient and you can eat your fill at these joints. What’s not so obvious, however, is what such a practice is doing to you and your children’s health.

Healthy eating habits are crucial to achieving a healthy mind and body. Healthy eating habits refer to eating meals regularly, eating well-balanced meals, and eating only what’s necessary. Healthy eating habits do not involve eating burgers and fries for lunch.

The Fast Food Culture

Unfortunately, some people do think that it is healthy to have burgers and fries for lunch. Advertising spiels have a lot to answer for this. In a world filled with fast food and restaurants, it is but natural that the companies serving up this food have to undermine people’s preference for home-cooked meals or they will become redundant and not make any profit.

As such, big food corporations put millions of dollars into TV commercials that assert in not so many words that a meal eaten at a fast food is special while eating at home with your family the meal your mother cooked is nothing but ordinary.

Such a reversal of values was helped along by the faster pace of life, where people have no more time to devote to preparing home-cooked meals. People are always driving or commuting to work, attending business meetings, or maybe holding one or two jobs. You cannot expect someone who has already been working 12 hours straight to come home and prepare a lengthy meal. It makes more sense to buy some take-out or bring the family out for a meal.

People are aware that they need to eat healthy food. However, what do you do if you are misled into thinking that restaurant fare and fast food taste better than home-cooked food? Sadly, there’s also an underlying effort to make people think that food in restaurant and fast foods are all healthy, that there’s really not much difference when you eat in or out. It’s all the same, but eating out is more convenient.

As people continue to be bombarded with mass media advertisements advocating the value of fast food and eating out, and as people become even more busy trying to hold on to their jobs, more and more people stop cooking and begin taking these commercials to heart. People have deserted home-cooked and nutritious meals that need hours of preparation for big servings of calorie- and fat-rich food that gets served up within minutes.

The Diseased Nation

The success of the fast food industry in establishing a culture that thrives in fast food and meals eaten out, our people’s health has been placed on the balance. Thus, America is now an ailing nation. Incidence of heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure continues to rise as obesity becomes even more prevalent.

I am not saying that fast food is to be avoided at all costs. What I am saying is that a trip to the fast food should be made only very infrequently, not three times a week as most people now are wont to do. A change should be instituted to bring back the days when there’s no doubt about what healthy food is and where to find it. This is all I ask.



Sunday 15 July 2012

What Benefits of Raw Foods Diet can bring to Your Health

By: http://www.SkyBlueCross.com
What Benefits of   Raw Foods Diet can bring  to Your Health
 The benefits advocated from eating such a diet seem endless: lowering cholesterol and triglyceride levels, eliminating cravings, preventing overeating, purging the body of accumulated toxins, balancing hormones, maintaining blood glucose levels and reversing degenerative diseases.
 Followers of a raw diet cite numerous health benefits, including increased energy levels, improved appearance of skin, improved digestion, weight loss and reduced risk of heart disease, just to name a few. Proponents believe that enzymes are the life force of a food and that every food contains its own perfect mix. These enzymes help us digest foods completely, without relying on our body to produce its own cocktail of digestive enzymes.
 There can be some side effects when you are first starting a raw foods diet. Some detoxification effects may be experienced as your body attempts to shed some toxicity. This may include occasional headaches, nausea sensations and mild depression. If these symptoms persist, you should seek the help of somebody who is experienced with detoxification symptoms.
 Following a raw food diet means that you have to carefully plan your meals to make sure you don't fall short of essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals. In some instances it might be appropriate to consider taking dietary supplements, especially when just starting out. You'll need to invest in some appliances so that you are able to prepare the food, if you don’t already have them available. A durable juicer, a blender and a large food processor make raw food preparation a breeze. You may also want to look into purchasing large containers to soak sprouts, grains and beans, as well as for storage. A durable juice extractor for your fruits and vegetables
 The smoothest way to begin a raw foods lifestyle is to slowly transition into it. Try starting off by eating approximately 70 to 80 percent raw foods in your diet. Have fruit and salads throughout the day and a cooked vegetable meal with a salad in the evening. This should help make the transition easier on your body and hopefully lessen side effects associated with detoxification. This is an emotional time as well, so you should allow yourself plenty of time to make the switch. Journaling during the process can help. Before you know it, you’ll be feeling the positive effects of a healthy, detoxifying raw foods diet.
 

Saturday 14 July 2012

Have Healthy with Organic Foods

By: http://www.skybluecross.com
When you go to the grocery store or supermarket to buy fruits or vegetables, do you pick just any produce or are you particular about getting organic foods?  There is a difference between the two and, after our discussion, you may decide that organic foods are the way to go.  Let’s take a look at the benefits of buying organic produce.

While both types of produce may look the same, organic foods must be able to meet specific standards of production, including specific growing and processing conditions that are unique to foods that can be labeled “organic”.  For crop foods, the organic foods can’t be grown using any chemical pesticides, non-organic fertilizer, human waste fertilizer or sludge from sewage.  They also cannot be processed using ionizing radiation—a process that kills bacteria but that some people believe is unsafe. Finally, the food can’t be genetically altered.

At one point, organic foods were grown on small farms, particularly those that were family-owned and operated.  In today’s time, however, organic foods are grown on larger farms and are more readily available in most supermarkets, co-ops and health food stores.  In the US, parts of Europe and Japan, the production of organic foods is currently federally regulated and in other countries, specific organic certification is required before these foods can be sold.

Organic foods can include fresh vegetables and fruits, which are not processed and come directly from the growers through farmer’s markets, supermarkets and roadside stands.  Many of these products are only available during certain times of the year.  One can also get organic eggs, dairy products and meat in their fresh and unprocessed forms.

Organic eggs are generally provided by free-range chickens and not from those kept in cages in large, egg factories.  Organic meats must not come from animals that have been treated with any growth hormones, steroids or antibiotics.  Processed organic foods can be found in the organic food section of the supermarket but often are more expensive than their conventional food counterparts.  Processed organic foods can include canned products, frozen produce, prepared items and even snack foods.

In truth, processed organic foods need only contain a certain percentage of organic ingredients.  In Australia, for example, a food can be labeled “organic” if it contains at least 95% organic ingredients.  In other countries, however, the percentage can be less than that.  Even so, those non-organic ingredients must be free of artificial food additives and no aspect of the food can be processed using chemical ripening techniques, genetic modification or irradiation.  In some cases, the organic food must be made using energy-saving techniques and packaged in recyclable or biodegradable
materials.

It’s not always easy to identify whether or not your food is truly organic.  Sometimes, you need to buy directly from an organic grower in order to be certain the food is organic.  More recently, however, foods that are organic can be identified by governmental labeling, stating that the food is “certified organic”.

Because of the safety and wholesomeness of organic foods, you may wish to do you and your family a favor by buying only organic products.  The food tastes excellent and you can be assured you’re getting a product that won’t be harmful to you.

Friday 13 July 2012

Vegetarian compared to raw foodist

By: http://www.skybluecross.com/
Is there a difference between vegetarian and raw food diets? A raw foodist is a vegetarian, but one who generally is not going to cook his vegetables or fruits. A vegetarian is someone who simply doesn’t eat meat, fish or poultry, but only consumes vegetables, pasta, and rice. A vegetarian might eat meatless spaghetti sauce or order onion rings in a restaurant. (Not the healthiest choice, but sometimes it’s hard to find something to eat in a restaurant if you’re vegetarian – even harder if you’re a raw foodist.)

There are different categories of vegetarians, like vegans, or fruitarians, and raw foodist is a category of vegetarianism. We haven’t seen anything about sushi being considered a raw food, but it is. Raw food, though, generally means eating raw, uncooked fruits, vegetables, dried fruits, seaweeds, etc.

But to be a raw food purist means raw broccoli, not steamed. To a vegetarian, someone committed to not eat meat or fish or animal products, steamed vegetables are just as good, although everyone would agree that steaming can take out nutrients from foods, rendering them less nutritious. A vegetarian might consume dairy or egg products; however a vegan will not consume any animal products at all. And a raw foodist is a vegan who consumes only uncooked, unprocessed raw foods.
Proponents of the raw diet believe that enzymes are the life force of a food and that every food contains its own perfect mix. These enzymes help us digest foods completely, without relying on our body to produce its own cocktail of digestive enzymes.
It is also thought that the cooking process destroys vitamins and minerals and that cooked foods not only take longer to digest, but they also allow partially digested fats, proteins and carbohydrates to clog up our gut and arteries.
Followers of a raw diet cite numerous health benefits, including:
• increased energy levels
• improved appearance of skin
• improved digestion
• weight loss
• reduced risk of heart disease

Thursday 12 July 2012

How foods can affect you to get better sleep

By: http://www.skybluecross.com/
Foods can affect you to get better sleep.People who are busy with their work are usually the ones who are having problems in sleeping. This is because the exhaustion and their hectic schedule keeps them from getting better sleep on daily basis. If you are one of those who are having trouble sleeping due to too much work, it is now time to reflect what might be causing these and address it properly.

One of the things that hinder people from getting better sleep is the set of foods that they eat. This is because these foods might contain ingredients and other properties that can really affect the person's chemical balance. If you think that the foods that you are eating affects you in getting better sleep, try assessing your food intake for one day.

What you can do is list down all the foods—including the drinks—that you have taken in for one day and make an assessment after that day. In this way, you can track down which are the foods and drinks you have taken affect your sleeping habits especially at night. The following are just some of the list of foods that might lead one to troublesome and uncomfortable sleeping at nighttime:

1. Too much food intake. This is considered as the major culprit why many people—especially those who don’t have sleeping problems before—are having a hard time sleeping all of a sudden. Experts say that if a person have overeaten, the tendency is that the stomach will have a hard time digesting it. Too much food may also affect the how the digestive system work and may even cause clinical conditions such as ulcer if done regularly.

2. Foods that contain too much fat. Experts say that people are eating foods that have too much fat are prone to not sleeping well at night because it creates a lot of digesting work for the stomach. If one wants to get better sleep, he or she should cut down on foods that are too rich or fatty so there will be lesser work for the stomach especially at nighttime.

3. Too much spicy or acidic foods. These sets of foods can very much affect one's sleeping habits especially at nighttime. If one eats too many sets of spicy foods especially at night, it can lead to troubles in the stomach and even heartburn which makes it harder for you to lie down and get better sleep at night.

4. Too much alcohol intake. Some people say that alcohol may help one to get better sleep but on the contrary, it doesn’t especially if he or she has taken too much of it.

5. Foods that contain caffeine. These are another set of culprits for people who are having trouble sleeping. If you are prone to not sleeping, it is best to avoid foods as well as drinks that have high caffeine content such as coffee, chocolates, sodas that are caffeinated as well as teas. To get better sleep, it is best to not consume these for a while. Or if you really cannot do without these, try minimizing your consumption even for a couple of days. Once you get your sleeping pattern back, you may go back to consuming these but only to limited content so you would not go back to having sleeping problems again.



Wednesday 11 July 2012

Have you ever wondered what foods should I feed my Kid to promote health and weight management?

By: http://www.skybluecross.com/



Kids' food is key-point  for their healthy body; how to make kid's diet be healthy? Here is a list of the top 7 healthiest foods to feed your kid and why it’s so healthy


1. Oatmeal: A fabulous breakfast food, full of B vitamins, iron, zinc and calcium. Old-fashioned oatmeal offers plenty of carbohydrate for quick energy and high fiber. Add berries and honey to make it a delicious perfect food for those fast-paced school day mornings!

2. Yogurt: Kick your child's dairy consumption up a notch and include yogurt on the menu. A great source of calcium, yogurt is easier to digest than regular milk, and the cultures (check the label to make sure they're in there!) are very beneficial to good colon health. Watch it on the sugar content though. A great idea is to buy plain yogurt and sweeten it yourself with fresh fruit!

3. Broccoli: it is one of the best vegetables for anyone, especially growing kids. It has loads of calcium, potassium, beta-carotene and a wide variety of the B vitamins. If your child is not a fan of plain vegetables include broccoli in a casserole or put a little shredded cheese on top to add flavor.

4. Protein: One size does not fit all when it comes to protein. The fact is that growing kids need protein to keep growing. How you're going to give it to them can vary widely, according to your preferences. Good choices include legumes, beans (combined with a grain to make a complete protein), soy products like tofu, eggs or lean meat, fish or poultry.

5. Whole Grains: The best nutrition is found in whole grains. Brown rice and whole wheat bread are a quantum leap over their white counterparts and offer necessary fiber, minerals and vitamins. Choose grain products with the words “whole”, “unbleached” and “intact” or “ground”.

6. Nut Butters: Peanut butter and other nut butters are great fast and easy foods for kids. Kids need fat (it's a good fat if it doesn't have hydrogenated oils mixed in it) and they need the protein. Try spreading almond or sunflower seed butter on crackers, toast or celery sticks for a quick and nutritious snack.

7. Fresh Fruit: My personal choice would be cantaloupe in the melon department. Vitamin C, beta-carotene, bits and pieces of B vitamins and trace minerals and calcium fill every juicy bite. Any in season fresh fruit is sure to be packed with healthy goodness!

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