What are Vitamins

Vitamins are organic substances that are produced by plants, which are essential for proper functioning of our bodies. What is the deal with vitamins? Ever since I was a kid I have heard about vitamin C and that its great to help you body fight off diseases. I know that this is the way that a lot of people fell about vitamins but the truth is that if used correctly vitamins can realy help improve your health. They can help you to fell more energized, relaxed, focused and even happier. A good example of a vitamin supplement that is good for everybody is a B-complex plus C vitamin. As I said before most people know that vitamin C is good for strengthening the immune system but the truth is that vitamin C has over six hundred different uses in the body. It helps in the production and repair of bone, teeth and hair. It helps to control inflammation in the body. It also helps with the production of energy on the cellular level. B-complex vitamins are all essential for the creating of energy on the cellular level. And the good that about these vitamins (B-complex and C) si that they are water soluble vitamins which means that the body is able to secrete them easily through the urine if there is an excess amount in the body. This is unlike vitamins A, D, E and K, which are fat soluble and can be toxic if take in large amounts. A lot of people have tried tacking a multi-vitamin and simply say that they took it because they know that its good for them but they didn’t feel anything. When you take a multi-vitamin that has optimal amounts of b-complex and C vitamins then you really do feel it.

How to Treat Muscle Pain Using Herbs

The pain caused by sore muscles can be effectively treated using herbal remedies. This treatment method can also be explained very simply. All you need to know is what herbs to use and how to use them.

Three of the many herbs that can be used to help relieve the pain caused by sore muscles are capsicum (chili pepper), clove bud and mint. Capsicum is the strongest and should be used caution because it can irritate the skin. Clove bud works really well but preparation requires boiling it for five minutes while the other two just need to be steeped in boiling water. Mint is great because if you have muscular pain often you can easily grow it in your garden and always have it on hand.

So how do you use these herbs to help with your muscle pain? To use the capsicum add five teaspoons to five cups boiling water and let it steep for five minutes. To use the clove bud use also five teaspoons to five cups water but boil the clove bud for five minutes. To use the mint add 2.5 cups of dry or fresh mint leaf to five cups boiling water and let steep for five minutes. Once the liquid has cooled enough so that it won't damage the skin you may strain out the used herb. Then wet a piece cloth in the solution and place in the painful area for ten to fifteen minutes. To improve the results place a hot water bottle on top of the cloth and repeat several times.

A great topical herbal product that can help to naturally relieve muscle pain is TIGER BALM.

Also a magnesium supplement can be taken to help relieve of sore muscles

How to Make a Tincture

Here you can read a brief introduction to tinctures. The basic questions that I want to answer here are as follows. What is a tincture? How are tinctures made? And, how do you use tinctures?

A tincture is liquid extract of any type of plant mater. Tinctures are most often made with a alcohol based liquid with a alcohol percentage of between 40 – 60 %. A tincture can also be made on a vinegar or glycerol base. Alcohol tinctures are use most often because they stay the longest and are best absorbed into the body. Glycerol is used to make tinctures for children because it has a sweet taste.

There are many different ways that a tincture can be made. For every plant there is a alcohol percentage which is optimal for the preparation of a tincture of that herb. There is also an amount of liquid to weight of dry herb that is optimal for each individual plant.

The simple way to make a tincture is as follows. Decide which herb you would like to make a tincture out of. Crush or grind the herb as much as possible. Put the crushed herb into a air tight sealable container. Now fill the container with vodka or any other grain alcohol of 40 – 60 %. Fill it so that the alcohol is covering the dry herb by just a little bit. Now shake every day for two weeks. If you see that the alcohol is no longer covering the herb then add alcohol. After two weeks strain out the herb using a cheese cloth and keep the finished product in a dark glass container.

Standard dose for internal use of tinctures is 30 drops 3 times a day.

Now you will know what some one is talking if they say the word tincture.



 

If You Like to Drink, You Should Take Milk Thistle

Hey don't worry about it I am guilty also. There is nothing I like more then to sit on a Friday night after the kids go to sleep and drink a few cups of dry red wine. Whether it is at a festive meal with my friends, or just me and my wife. I like to get a little drunk on the weekends. I don't drink like I did when I was a teenager but I do still like to inebriate myself on the weekends. We all know that drinking alcohol is bad for our bodies, but hey everything in proportion right?

So what is it that alcohol does to our bodies that is so harmful? First off it dehydrates us. This is why you can wake up in the morning with a mouth as dry as the Nevada dessert during a drought. Second it increases the acidity of the stomach and digestive tract as well as the rest of the body. This is why you get the heart burn. And if you don't watch out this can also cause stomach ulcers. Third it depletes your body of important vitamins. Most vital of which being those of the B complex vitamins. This is one of the big reasons people suffer from headaches the morning after drinking large amounts.

So now I drink smart. I make sure to drink lots of water when drinking. I eat foods that help keep my acid levels balanced. Examples of good foods to eat when drinking are cucumbers, lettuce, almonds and sesame products. And I take a 100 mg B-complex vitamin before and after I drink. My close friends know that I can get up early and function fine, even after consuming large amounts of alcoholic beverages the night before.

But wait what about the liver? Yes alcohol is very harmful to our livers as well. Daily consumption of alcohol can result in the liver disease known as cirrhosis and liver cancer.

Should you take Milk Thistle if you drink? YES
So what is Milk Thistle? Milk Thistle is an herb that is known to be a hepatoprotector which helps protect the liver cells. Many studies have found Milk thistle to help with liver diseases such as cirrhosis and hepatitis.
See full monograph for Milk Thistle
When and how should you take Milk Thistle if you drink?
If you drink regularly then you should take Milk Thistle regularly as well. You can purchase Milk Thistle capsules at almost any Pharmacy. You should take one a day of most capsules.
So my suggestion is this. Don't drink every day. And if you are like me and like to drink on the weekend, get yourself some milk thistle and take it.

Why Would You Take a Multivitamin?

What exactly is a multivitamin? Why would someone need to take a multivitamin? What are the differences between the different multivitamins? These questions and many other are going to be my focus here. Because I think that it's important for people to know the health benefits of multivitamins and also to how to choose which one is best for them.

A multivitamin is a food supplement that contains all of the essential vitamins and minerals that our body needs to operate at its optimal potential. To truly accurate when I am speaking here about a multivitamin in truth I am talking about a multi vitamin and mineral supplement.

In my opinion everyone should take a multivitamin. I take two every day and so do my wife and my sons. I look at it like super fuel for our biological engines. A lot of people have asked me in the past. What do I need a multivitamin for when I eat food? Well that is a good question and the answer is not so simple.

For starters our bodies need a very large range of different vitamins and minerals to keep us functioning at our maximum potential. And in order to get the full list we need to be eating a large variety of different foods. Please don't mistake variety for quantity because it's not how much you eat, but what you eat.

The recommended daily intake of fresh fruits and vegetables is seven cups. Now most people are not eating seven cups of fresh fruits and vegetables a day. There for these people would benefit from supplementing their diet with a multivitamin.

Also a lot of our foods are not whole. Rice is the classic example of vitamin deficiency do to consumption of food not in its whole form. For those who don't know the story I will tell you it in short. It was when white rice became popular and replaced brown rice. People who had a diet that was made up largely of rice started to suffer from a sickness known as Beriberi. Beriberi in the end was found not to be a sickness at all but a thiamin or vitamin B1 deficiency. This was because the thiamin in the rise was being removed during the polishing process.

So because of this fact, that a lot of the foods that make up our diet are processed and not whole. It is a good idea to take a multivitamin.

One important question to mention when talking about multivitamins or any vitamin really is how much does the body need. When you look a vitamin, or even nutritional information on food labels. What you see written there in the RDA, the recommended daily allowance. But the RDA is the bare minimum that the body needs to function. The new standard for supplements is the ODA. ODA stands for optimal daily allowance and that is what I look for when I go out to buy a multivitamin.

My current multi vitamin and mineral supplement of choice is the GNC brand Mega Men supplement. What I really love about this supplement is that it has 50 mg of B complex in each pill. To read more about why B complex is good for you take a look at my previous post on B complex. Another good multivitamin that I have taken in the past is the Sulgar brand Multimale supplement. I personally think that it's a good idea to switch brands of multivitamins every half a year or so. The reason for this is because today most of the good quality multi supplements have antioxidant and healthy herbal formulas in them as well. I think that is good to get as many different kinds of these herbs as you can. By changing your multi every six months or even four months you increase the variety of health promoting substances you put into your body.

So if you are not eating seven cups a day a fresh fruits and vegetables. If you don't eat only whole and non processed foods. If you want to give your body a boost of good health every day. Go out and get yourself a good multivitamin.

A Brief Introduction to Anise

Anise, also known as aniseed (Pimpinella anisum), has been used for centuries to treat a wide range of dis ease. It is used to treat coughs, bronchitis, gastric gas, ulcers of the digestive tract, nausea and even the hiccups. Anise is also known to help promote lactation and can be used as a breath freshener.

The active ingredients of aniseed include volatile oils, coumarins, flavonoid glycosides and phenylpropanoids.

Modern research has found scientific proof supporting the anti-microbial, anti-oxidant, anti-fungal(Acta Pharm. 55 (2005) 377–385) and gastroprotective potential of Pimpinella anisum.

Anise is considered to be a very safe herb to use, even for very small children. It may be advisable to avoid consuming anise in large dosages if pregnant.

If you like the taste of block liquorish, enjoy a cup of anise tea with a friend. Just add one teaspoon of anise seeds to two cups of boiling water. Let it simmer for two or three minutes, add a bit of date honey and injoy.

Carbohydrates, Sugars, Energy and YOU

This is meant to be a short explanation of how the body uses carbohydrates and sugars to make and to store energy. This is information that is very important to know if you suffer from hyperglycemia (high levels of glucose in the blood) or hypoglycemia (low levels of glucose in the blood). Even if you don't suffer from ether of these this is important information for you to know because its how our bodies create the energy that we need to live, work and play.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are one of the three macro nutrients. The other two are fats and proteins. The main purpose of carbohydrates in the body is the production of energy. Our bodies turn carbohydrates into energy by first breaking them down to glucose. The cells are then able to absorb the glucose from the blood with the help of the hormone insulin. Insulin can also cause certain cells to store glucose internally in the form of glycogen.

What happens when we eat lots of carbohydrates? After we eat a meal rich in carbohydrates our body will break down the carbs into glucose. This will then cause the glucose levels in our blood to be elevated. This elevated level of glucose in the blood is what causes the secretion of the hormone insulin which causes the cells to absorb the glucose from the blood. The effect of this process on the way we fell is as follows. When the glucose is being absorbed by the cells we feel a rush of energy. But then when the glucose in the blood is all used up we feel a drop in our energy levels, which is known as a crash.

What happen when we don't eat anything? When our sugar levels drop because of fasting or the like our bodies release a hormone called glucagon. This glucagon causes glycogen which is stored in certain cells such as those in the liver to be released. This can then cause glucose levels to shoot up and then crash as when you eat a meal rich in carbohydrates.

The conclusion is that if you would like to keep good balanced energy levels all day long, eat three balanced meals a day. A balanced meal has in it not only carbohydrates but healthy fats, lean proteins and fiber which help the body to release glucose into the blood at a more regulated speed. This helps us to keep our energy levels balanced to do what we need to do in our everyday lives.

Eat well, stay balanced and feel good.