health update02

Time to Quit
Tobacco use is the single most preventable risk to human health in developed countries, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . Despite that, many people continue to smoke, knowing the numerous negative consequences that come with such a choice.

Quitting smoking is no easy task, but it can be done. The average person who .has successfully quit smoking has only done so after five or six failed attempts. If you're ready, the CDC offers these tips for" quitting a habit that could one day take your life. Go all the way Simply reducing the amount of cigarettes but not stopping entirely doesn't work. If you think cutting back to . "low-nicotine" or "low-tar" cigarettes will be enough as well simply put, it isn't. Oftentimes, . people simply end up craving more nicotine, and smoking more . of these "lower octane" cigarettes than they had originally planned . When you've decided to quit, realize that quitting means no I more cigarettes at all. Understand the commitment. Thanks to the addictive properties of nicotine, quitting smoking can be as difficult as giving up alcohol or hard drugs. Understand that the desire to smoke will still be there. Nicotine withdrawal can make you moody and leave you craving a cigarette. Realize that these negatives will be a big part of the process, but over time, these withdrawal symptoms will begin to weaken as your
willpower holds up. Recognize you're not alone. Chances are, you know someone who has already quit smoking.

Regardless of how much they used to smoke, quitting is difficult whether they smoked four cigarettes or 4 packs of cigarettes a day. The CDC points out that half of all adult smokers have quit smoking meaning anyone can do it. it just takes motivation and effort.

Stopping Prediabetes

PREDIABETES might sound like a trumped-up disease, but it's real. The good news is, you can cure it. Three doctors, Kevin Hoppock and Elaine Harrington of Wichita Clinic in Kansas and Ron Hunninghake of the Center for the Improvement of Human Functioning International, answer questions about the condition.
What is prediabetes, and why have we heard the name only recently?
It used to be called insulin resistance. It sometimes is called glucose intolerance, impaired glucose tolerance or borderline diabetes. In prediabetes, sugars aren't metabolized properly .
Glucose - a sugar is the body's main source of energy. It's absorbed into your bloodstream when you eat or when your liver releases it. Insulin unlocks receptors that allow cells to pull it out of your bloodstream. If the process doesn't work right, excess glucose builds up in your blood. Blood-sugar levels above 125 mean you have diabetes. Levels of 100 to 125 mean prediabetes. Below 100 is normal.
Everyone should be tested by age 45, says the American Diabetes Association. Ask your doctor about testing.
Who's at risk?
Overweight is one of the biggest risk factors, as are poor eating habits and not enough physical activity. The Mayo Clinic estimates that 54 million Americans might have prediabetes.
For adults, waist size is an indicator:
Women with waists of 35 inches or bigger are at greater risk. For men, it's 40 inches. Feeling tired after eating also
is a sign.
What are the symptoms?
Beyond blood-sugar levels, there usually are none. That's the problem: Your heart, nerves, eyes and kidneys are being damaged, but you don't know there's anything wrong.
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How is it treated?
The cure is weight reduction, by avoiding simple sugars.
The new book "Stop Prediabetes Now" ($24.95, Wiley), co-authored by Hunninghake, lays out plan for improving your diet. It recommends eating lean protein and lots of vegetables.
Eat only "good" carbs - as found in whole grains. Avoid foods such as candy.
If you don't address prediabetes, you stand a good chance of developing Type 2 diabetes, which is not curable.

Notes on Juicing

Juice, one of today's hottest trends "rediscovers" traditional health benefits

Juice is healthy fast food.
Juice bars and smoothie bars are popping up all over the country and--in this era of too many genetically modified, over-refined, chemical-laden packaged, processed foods, that's good news! Research consistently shows that people who eat the greatest quantity of fruits and vegetables are the most likely to have a long and healthy life. That's why the latest "food pyramid" from the USDA recommends nine servings of fruits and vegetables along with three servings of whole grains as part of a 2,000-calorie day.
Now, those nine servings are a tall order, even for the most disciplined person, but Vita-Mix whole food juice can make "eating" those nine servings a lot easier. Even better, the Vita-Mix makes the nutrients in the fruits and vegetables more "bioavailable."
What makes nutrients bioavailable?
Bioavailability refers to the difference between the amount of a substance (drug, chemical or nutrient) to which a person is exposed and the actual does of the substance that the body receives. If a nutrient (in a food) is ingested, bioavailability relates to the amount that is absorbed by the intestinal tract.
The concept of bioavailability takes into consideration that certain key nutrients are found in the seeds and skins of fruits and vegetables and they simply cannot be absorbed when food is simply chewed. The Vita-Mix blades pulverize food fiber to rupture the cell walls of these difficult-to-digest parts of whole foods. In turn, up to three times more nutrition is released.
Whole food juice unlocks the power of whole foods.

Extracted juice discards the pulp-which is where the nutrients like vitamin A, C and E and the minerals like iron , copper, iodine and magnesium are trapped. What you get with extracted juice is essentially "healthy" sugar-a handful of nutrients and pure fruit sugar. (See the chart provided by FDA-registered Lancaster Labs.)
"The Vita-Mix doesn't throw out the most nutritious part of fruits and vegetables. My knowledge of the healing nutrients and fibers contained in the pulp of fruits and vegetables would never allow me to use any juicer that discards this precious pulp."
John Heinerman, Ph. D.
Author of "Heinerman's Encyclopedia of Healing Juices"
"Virtually every beauty factor-skin, hair bones and overall vitality-is dramatically affected by what we choose to drink. The Vita-mix machine not only liberates every nutrient trapped within the cell walls of produce, but also liberates me from the prohibitive time, cost and produce storage constraints of my old juicing program."
Kat James
Author and public television host of "The Truth about Beauty";

Vita-Mix 5000 for fee shipping use code: 06-003008

Some Juicy Tidbits:
The fiber in Vita-Mix whole food juice counteracts the natural sugars in fresh fruit to prevent the "sugar rush" and high glycemic effect.
The Vita-Mix machine makes short work of the whole fruit or vegetable-seeds, stems, stalks and all become creamy-smooth juice in under a minute.
Clean-up is amazingly fast. Just a drop of soap in a half-container of warm water does the job in 30 seconds