September 9, 2008

Vitamin Poisoning: It Can Happen to You

You should know that as with everything, getting just the right amount of vitamins and minerals is important. Your body is capable of doing many great things for you, and producing much of what you need to get by in this life. However, there are certain things that your body does not produce, which is part of the reason that we need to eat foods. Some of the energy that is produced by the foods goes towards moving and reproducing cells. However, our bodies also glean much from the food that we eat – vitamins and minerals are just part of what we get.

Vitamins and minerals cannot be made by our bodies, but are very important for our bodies to continue to be running as successfully as they are. This means that if for some reason you aren’t getting the right kinds, or the right amounts, of vitamins and minerals in your diet, you might need to take vitamin or mineral supplements in order to make up for what you are not getting in your food. You should know that taking vitamin and mineral supplements can be very good for you, and can make you much more healthy. However, they can be dangerous, so it is very important that you follow directions and never take more than it is recommended to take of any vitamins or minerals.

One of the most important things is that you remember in the case of vitamins and minerals, there is such a thing as too much of something that is good. If you have too much vitamin D, you can be causing damage to your kidneys. If you have too much vitamin A, you can be causing damage to your liver. If you have too much niacin you can cause heart and liver problems. This is called vitamin poisoning.

One of the most important things to remember is that your body will tell you if you are getting too much of something, long before poisoning and damage will occur. Signs of vitamin poisoning when it comes to vitamin supplements would include nausea and vomiting as well as diarrhea. These will occur before your organs are damaged, and if you pay attention to your body you should be able to stop it right there and then and not create more damage or danger to yourself. Most of the signs of supplement overdose will simply fade away when you have gotten rid of the excess and haven’t overdosed again. Unlike drugs, vitamin overdose and poisoning are not likely to lead to permanent damage, but can if you are not careful.

September 8, 2008

Why Breakfast Really is the Most Important Meal of the Day

By now, I’m sure you’ve heard people say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. However, that doesn’t stop millions of Americans, and people around the world, from skipping breakfast or opting for only a drink of coffee. The truth is that breakfast really is the most important meal of the day, and you will have a much more healthy diet if you include breakfast in your daily life.

Breakfast is rightly named—break fast. When you sleep, you are not eating for 6 to 9 hours at least, and more if you haven’t eaten since dinner the night before. Therefore, breakfast is the first time you’ll be eating anything for a very long period of time. Some nutrients, like proteins, cannot be stored in the body and are therefore not present, so the body needs you to replenish the “low” levels of such nutrients. Breakfast is like the match that lights the fire. It truly is a very important source of energy for your body in the morning.

Eating breakfast in the morning also helps you avoid some illnesses and disease. For example, your sugar levels are probably out of whack from not eating for many hours, so having breakfast levels out the amount of sugars in your body, helping to prevent diabetes. Eating a healthy breakfast also helps you to provide food to your stomach so that you don’t overeat at lunch because you are so hungry. Overeating leads to obesity, which comes with a whole host of problems, including heart disease.

Healthy breakfast foods, like eggs, fruit, or bran cereal are also a good source of many of the vitamins and minerals a person needs during the day. If you don’t eat these things in the morning, it will be hard to make up for that loss later in the day. Remember that without the proper amounts of nutrients, you body will not function correctly. When you eat a healthy breakfast, it also makes you choose healthier foods during the rest of the day, so that you continue to get the proper nutrients needed for your body.

Setting aside 15 minutes in the morning to eat breakfast every day can truly make a great different in your diet. In the best case, your breakfast will include foods from at least three different food groups. For example, you can have whole grain toast (bread food group) with peanut butter (protein food group) and a banana (fruit food group). Top that off with a glass of milk to drink, and you’ve even hit a fourth food group. Breakfast does not have to include a heavy pancakes and sausage meal every day to be healthy, and even grabbing a single piece of fruit or a muffin is better than skipping the meal completely. Breakfast is important to your health!

Vitamins for Disease Prevention

There are many different aspects of the food that we eat that help to protect us. Our body can take the food that we eat and turn it into energy. However, our body cannot produce several things that we need in order to survive. In order to do the things that our cells need to do to be healthy and to get by in life, our body has to receive several types of vitamins and minerals. Our body does not make these vitamins and minerals; they are instead gleaned from the food that we eat. There are many ways to get vitamins and minerals from food, so a balanced and healthy diet is always recommended. If you are eating foods from all of the food groups in a balanced manner, you are going to find that you are getting the correct vitamins and minerals. This means that your cells are going to be able to do the work that they need to do to make your body function correctly.

However, if you are not able to get the vitamins and minerals that you need, you are going to find that actually your body is not able to function. This is why some people choose to use vitamin and mineral supplements – because they know they aren’t get the proper amount of vitamins and minerals through what they eat.

Whether you get your vitamins through the food that you eat, or through supplements, there is no joke that they are very good for you, and in fact they are essential for you to stay healthy. One of the main jobs that vitamins and minerals do for you is the prevention of disease. When you have the correct vitamins and minerals, your cells are going to be able to break them down and use them in many different ways. The best way that they can use the vitamins and minerals is to use them to strengthen themselves and to put up barriers against disease. The barriers that are built with the correct vitamins and minerals are going to allow you to not get sick as often and to not be as prone to disease.

If you truly want to be healthy, you should make sure that you have a balanced diet that includes the vitamins and minerals that are needed to make your body strong and healthy. This will increase your immune system, helping to prevent all kinds of illnesses