Antioxidants are compounds such as vitamin A, C and E, as well as beta carotene.  They inhibit oxidation int he body and may help to prevent damage to healthy cells.  As a result, antioxidants have been touted as cancer fighters and hear disease prevention tools.  The exact mechanism through which antioxidants work is not entirely understood, but most of the medical community agrees that consuming antioxidants is beneficial to human health.

Snack on This!

For speedier afternoon thinking, which snack should you choose---a ripe banana or a chunk of cheddar cheese?

Gor for the banana.  Why?  High-carb/low-fat foods test better than low-carb/high-fat diets when it comes to giving you a mental edge.

COMBO EFFECT

Both low-carb/high-fat and high-car/low fat diets appear to perk up people's moods, but when it comes to things like brain processing speeds, high-car/low-fat foods beat others to the punch.  Makes sense.  Carbs are a critical source of the type of energy that brains need to perform.  Fat on the other hand (espcially saturated fat), seems to bog down the mind.

GO BANANAS

Need more reasons to eat bananas?  Besides making your wits quicker, theyll also:

   - Provide you with a healthy dose of vitamin B6, a nutrient credited with helping fend off Parkinson's disease.

    - Reduce your risk of kidney cancer.

    - Help keep your blood pressure steady, because they're full of potassium.

Do you know of any snacks that help think fast?  Any natural remedies for helping with memory and quick recall?  Foods and the benefits of fruits seem to be the best way.  There are many nutritional antioxidants available and supplements as well.  Post comments and add to this blog to help expand our awareness of ways we can all help to keep our minds sharp and quick and with that mental edge.

PHYTONUTRIENTS IN THE DIET

Phytonutrients are a natural substance found in foods of plant origin, which play a potentially beneficial role in the diet and in the prevention and treatment of disease.

While there are many phytonutrients that have been identified, there are probably thousands more that remain to be discovered.  The best known phytonutrients are carotenoids, flavonois and isoflavones.  Carotenoids include yellow, orange and red pigment in fruits and vegetables.  Dark, green, leafy  vegetables are rich in the carotenoid, beta carotene, but the usual yellow color is masked by the chloraphyll, the green pigment in the vegetables.  Flavonoids are reddish pigments, found in red grape skins and citrus fruits, and isoflavones can be found in peanuts, lentils, soy and other legumes.   You're familiar, no doubt, with vitamins, now we have "phytomins", which are less familiar, but equally important, health-promoting substances in food.

Phytonutrients are also known as phytochemicals.  Nutritional antioxidans are abundant in these compounds.

Researchers are busily uncovering a host of beneficial compounds in plant foods.  While these phytonutrients aren't essential  by traditional definitions, they apparently reduce risks of diseases of aging.

For example, the isoflavones in soy products may reduce the risk of heart disease, osteoporosis, and several types of cancer.  Certain flavonoids in blueberries may actually reverse nerve cell aging.  And a wide arroy of compounds in fruits and vegetables may protect cell components against oxidative damage as well as vitamin C or E.

Phytonutrients have provided the impetus for plant and nutrition scientists to work together because foods will continue to be the primary source of these compounds.

While nearly all plant foods contain health-promoting phytochemicals, the following are the most phyto-dense food sources:

  Soy
 Tomato
 Broccoli
 Garlic
 Flax Seeds
 Citrus Foods
 Melons: Cantaloupe, Watermelon
 Pink Grapefruit
 Blueberries
 Sweet Potatoes
 Chili Peppers
Legumes:  Beans and Lentils

Make sure you include these healty foods to your daily diet.  Some are natural remedies for lowering cholesterol and for lowering blood pressure as well.  Do you know of any other beneficial foods that have improved your overall well being?  It will be fascinating to see what other phytonutrients science will discover in the future to help us.  Research Xanthones to see what's been discovered recently and how they can help with inflammation problems.

THE BEST SCHOOL LUNCHES--THEY HELP KIDS GRADES, TOO!

School's in full swing, and for a lot of parents, the most challenging school-year task isn't picking up the kids from practice or hunting down the project supplies...it's packing lunches....weeks and weeks of lunches.

Why bother? Because so many school cafeterias still serve meals that are fat and sugar fiestas---the kind that are producing high blood pressure in kids as young as twelve. 

If you can pack a healthy lunch on most days, it's worth it---and not just for your kids' bodies, but also for their grades.  A mid-day fuel-up includes whole grains, fiber and protein (a combo that digests gradually), supplies the brain with a stready stream of energy--the exact opposite of the sugar rush and follow-up energy crash that high-carb junk foods produce in kids.  The trick, of course, is to create nutritious but delicious lunches that kids will eat, not toss or trade.

But how?

FIRST:  Get them to pitch in---if they help choose the contents, they're more likely to chow down.

SECOND:  Don't worry about every lunch being a perfectly balanced meal.  Monitor their intake over a week's time, and if it's balanced, they'll be O.K.

THIRD:  Ask them to bring home anything they don't eat, no guilt trips.  It's a good way to judge what works at lunchtime---and what doesn't.

Here are some ideas:

Add fun with shapes:  For young ones, use large cookie cutters to make star-shaped sandwiches on birthdays, snowmen in December and different shapes for holidays and special occasions.

Make do-it-yourself stacks:  Forget those highly processed lunch kits, put whole-wheat crackers, a favorite cheese or two, and lean meat in separate bags, add mustard packets and let kids make their own snack stacks.

Pack an edible forest:  Full of nutritional antioxidants: vegetables....and they're much more fun when they're really broccoli "trees", carrot "logs", "bell-pepper-strip canoes", cherry tomoato "boulders", and cucumber-slice "bridges", all ready to dunk into salsa, hummus or yogurt dip.

Make it a brunch:  There's nothing wrong with a box of multi-grain cereal, a container of berries and a thermos of milk for lunch if that's what your kid really wants. 

Change up the bread:   For a kid with a sweet tooth, how about low-fat cream cheese with apple slices on cinnamon-raisin bread?  For a teen, try turkey and cheddar on rye with chutney.

Pack some Xanthones:  The benefits of mangosteen juice are becoming well-known.  Bursting with phytonutrients and nutritional antioxidants, this great tasting juice will leave kids (and adults!) clamoring for more.

Make quick kebabs:  Thread wooden skewers with cubes of turkey, cheese, grapes and dried apricots.  Wrap in tight plastic.

Make it a sub, or a burrito:  Fill a thermos with sliced-up meatballs and tomato sauce.  Pack a sliced wheat roll for a hot sub sandwich on the first cool day.  Or fill the thermos with chicken-and-bean taco filling, pack whole-wheat tortillas and a bag of shredded lettuce and cheese.

Always throw in some fruit:  Fresh is best, but stock up on fruit cups, too.  Raisin boxes are great, too.

Tuck in a "real" dessert:  Restricting treats entirely can make kids obsess over them.  Choose desserts with redeeming qualities:  whole-grain Fig Newtons, banana oatmeal muffins, a few dark chocolate kisses that are rich in the same protective antioxidants as in apples and grapes.

Getting kids in the habit of eating plenty of fruits and vegetables will benefit them for years to come.   Healthy habits started when young will endure throughout a lifetime.

Know of some tasty, nutritious, kid-friendly snacks that others might benefit others?  Please post recipes, ideas and snacks on our blog.  We're always looking for fresh, new ideas.

The Vitamin for Healthy Nails

Of all the nutritional supplements touted for treating nails that split, break, and peel, only one has gotten a univeral thumbs-up from science:  Biotin.

Biotin, a B-complex vitamin has long been used to treat damaged hooves on horses.  And because our nails are made of the same stuff (keratin), it turns out the vitamin works for us two-legged creatures, too.

What's good for the horse.....

When dermatologits first put biotin to the test in humans nearly 20 years ago, they found that extra biotin intake could increase nail thickness up to 25 percent in women who had soft or brittle nails.  One study used 2.5 milligrams of biotin daily to help strengthen nails, which is quite a bit---more than mosts diets and multi-vitamins contain.  So, if you have soft nails, first ask your doctor how best to increase your biotin intake safely.

Health professionals recommend getting 300 micrograms of biotin each day.  Your diet is always your best and safest source of vitamins and minerals, so if you want to strengthen your nails naturally, try eating more biotin-rich foods.  This includes food such as nuts (peanuts, filberts, cashews and almonds), eggs, soybeans, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, fish (haddock and salmon), or vegetables like chard or carrots.   Foods with nutritional antioxidants are beneficial to the human body in so many ways.  Natural remedies are always preferred, but sometimes supplements are needed as well.  If your nails are still brittle after following the above recommendations, investigate a supplement with your doctor.

Try this plan and see if your nails are stronger, longer and healthier.  Have you tried any supplements or foods that have improved the strength of your nails?  Please post comments.

THE SUPER 5 OF A HEALTHY PANCREAS

    You're  a GIANT step ahead of a pancreatic cancer if you eat loads of veggies every day.  In fact, eat enough (nine servings instead of five) and you could cut your risk in half.

     Now, go one better, and get a sampling of SPECIFIC veggies from a recently researched list of key health.

5 PICKS FOR YOUR PANCREAS

    What is it about the veggies below that makes them the mortal enemy of pancreatic cancer?   Take your pick.  They're loaded with everything from vitamin C and carotenoids to folate and fiber.

     1.) Dark, leafy greens like spinach, kale, mustard and chard.

     2.) Cruciferous veggies like broccoli and brussel sprouts.

     3.) Orange-yellow veggies like corn, squash, sweet potatoes and carrots.

     4.) Beans like soybeans,lima beans, pintos, lentils and black beans.

     5.) Alum veggies, specifically onions and garlic.

THE EASIEST WAY TO GET THERE

    So, how do you get something from each of the five groups into your diet?  Easy!!!  Have soup and salad for lunch.  With a health soup such as minestrone and a salad loaded with all of the good, healthy stuff, you'll get more than your fill of nutritious, antioxidant, phytonutrient rich foods in one fell swoop.

   Another trick that I have up my sleeve to get my kids to eat more veggies is to slip them into my morning juice concoction.  I use my Vita-Mix blender to whip up a batch of fruit juice each day.   They like it and swig it right down.  Over time I began slipping in veggies undetected.  At first I would put in a pinch of fresh spinach leaves....no one was the wiser (but much healthier!).  I then put in a couple of broccoli florettes with no discovery.   Recently I've been slipping in tomatoes (one of their worst foes), and down the hatch it goes.  It's blended, easy to make, no one protests and it ensures the entire family of getting plenty of nutritional antioxidants with their first sip of the day.  I also add some liquid vitamin supplement and liquid calcium for extra insurance.  Try it, I'm sure you'll have great results, too.

REASONS WHY YOU NEED THAI-GO!

Well, besides the reasonable cost, delicIous taste, money-back guarantee, experience of Nathure's Sunshine products, and much more, I would like to suggest some of the health benefits that have been attributed to Mangosteen:

1.  Powerful antioxidant protection.  Whether you are healthy (like me) or ill (like so many others), you need to protect yourself from the free radical damage caused by pollutants from food additives, pesticides, air pollution, cigarette smoke, and huNdreds of other toxin sources.  (Independent study ranks Thai-go better than twice the ORAC antioxidants capacity of the closets competitive mangosteen juice!).

2.  Prevents aging effects (I like this!).

3. Promotes higher engergy levels---feel less tired (one of the first benefits I realized after trying Thai-Go mangosteen juice.....with 10 other great ingredients).

4. Circulatory system health:  it strengthens/protects heart, lowers inflammation in the arteries that harden them (artherosclerosis), in fact it may help lower cholesterol/LDL blood fat.  As a result, lower blood pressure!

5.  Anti-depressant effects due to its positive influence on serotonin levels.

6.  Better mental alertness and brain health....no doubt something we could all use!  This is due to better blood circulation.

7. Helps some allergies, it's a natural histamine blocker.

8.  Powerful immune system stimulant.   In fact Thai-Go provides up to 3 times the nearest competitor!  Not bad!

9. May help lower blood sugar,...this is great for diabetics.

10. Helps the body cope with fungal, bacterial, viral, parasitic and other foreign invaders. 

11.  Anti-asthma effects.

12....and finally:  may help fight cellular abnormalities (tumors/cancer). 

If these reasons don't convince you, I don't know what will!  A quick search of testimonials, conversations wtih Thai-go drinkers, and most importantly your own experience will convince you.  Healthy or dealing with illness and disease, this product full of nutritional antioxidants is what you need on a daily basis. 

Please share your experiences with Thai-go or any other mangosteen juice product.  I drink 2 "shots" per day for optimum benefits, this seems to be the optimum amount.  Please let me know if you have a testimonial to share after your experience.  Interested in trying this juice (and who wouldn't be???), please visit my website to learn more and give it a 30-90 day trial.  I'm pretty sure you will be amazed at the way you feel.

 Lorna suffered from endometriosis form any years and was told my her doctors that she would never be able to have children.  She when through ten years of surgeries and medications without any improvement.  When her doctors told her that she need to have a hysterectomy, she began searching for other options.  A friend told her about Thai Go Mangosteen Juice and she decided that she had nothing to loose.  Within one year she was pain free and in two years she was pregnant. 

More and more people are turning to holistic healing.  Not only will the xanthones in the mangosteen fruit attack specific functions of the body, the nutritional antioxidants will slow down the aging process.  If you would like to take the 90 day Thai Go Mangosteen Juice challenge click here.

If you had a home based business and could earn money from home is there any reason to say no?  Just think about it, you get out of bed, make coffee, set down at your computer and your at work.  The part that is even more exciting is that if you work an hour or if you work 12 hours, when you turn off your computor and you stop for the day, you business is still working for you.  If you had a traditional retail store, it could be the busiest place on earth, but when you lock the door and turn out the lights, your income stops!!!!  I have a system that continues to work for you even after you stop working for the day.  Before you ask the question, let me assure you that this Home Based Business is not a get rich quick scheme.  There are so many "turn key" home bases businesses on the internet that fit in the catagory of "too good to be true".  The reason they are too good to be true is that they promise or at least imply instant wealth.  Anytime that happens you need to raise all the red flags and think about making a fast escape.  

What questions should I ask when looking at a company?

#1  What are your good and/or services?  The company must have some kind of tangable product.  I personally do not consider information a product.  Ideally it is a consumable product that requires monthly replacement.  It also needs to be a quality product with some kind of track record.  I prefer mature companies over young or start up companies.  I once built a business of over 200 distributors with a new company and they changed the compensation plan and reduced my earnings by 70%. 

#2  Are the products priced competivly?  That is a pretty easy question to answer.  What I do is look at the product and the pricing and ask myself this questions:  "If I were a consumer ONLY, and not looking for ways to earn money from home, would I pay that much money for the product?"  That is a simple yes or no.  MANY companies seem to charge exorbinant prices for the products to help support the payouts on the compensation plan.  If you look at the product and think to yourself "That's too much to pay for a box of soap."  or "That is too much to pay for a months supply of vitamins." Then maybe your looking at the wrong company.  I also want to bring up that cheapest is not always best, so be careful when doing your comparisons.

#3  How much does it cost to become a distributor?  In my mind this should be zero!!!  I can't figure out why a company would charge me to sell thier products.

#4  Once I decide to start a home based business how do I build the business?  Before I answer that, let me suggest that anyone who tells you that they are going to build the business for you is full of hot air.  If they tell you that the business will grow and build even if you don't do anything, be careful.  I will tell you that I have developed what I consider a logical way to build a business and a system that we can all develop and grow.  It will take work on your part, however, my goal is to bring in people who are looking for us.  People who want to find ways to make extra money at home, people who have a drive and desire to develop a home based business that they can be proud of and one that will create a sizeable residual income.   I did not invent anything.  This is not a new idea or a creative new concept.  All I am doing is utilizing and arranging some marketing techniques that are avaiable to all of us on the internet. 

I found a solid 35 year old company with solid products that are a great quality and are fairly priced.  The product that brought me to this company is called Thai Go.  Thai Go is a mangosteen fruit juice whice contains 11 other ingredients that are considered nutritional antioxidants.  The mangosteen fruit is loaded with xanthones which are super charged anti-oxidants.  These nutritional antioxidants are critical in the anti-aging process.  This bring up an opportunity to test out my own teachings here.  Yes, if I were just a consumer, I would eagerly buy and use Thai Go Juice in a regular basis.  The company also has a huge line of other products for holistic healing and for general health and well being.

Feel free to take a look at my web page or send me an email or call me on the phone.  All of my contact information is on my web page.

Many of us are searching for a way to supplement our current income, spurred on by the rising costs of goods and services in just about every aspect of our lives.  I myself have been on the look-out for a business that I could work from home in my spare time. Perhaps you, too, would be interested in a turn key home based business.

Recently I became aware of the amazing health benefits of a tropical fruit called the Mangosteen (Garcinia Mangostana).   Unfortunately I have not had the good fortune to taste the fruit itself as it is not available here in the United States, although it is available in Vancouver and other Canadian cities with large Asian populations.   Fortunately it is availabe in juice form through various companies.  It is the pericarp, or bitter tasting rind, of the fruit that contains the extraordinary benefits.  This part of the fruit contains xanthones and other phytonutrients. 

You will find that not all juice blends are created equally.  One that I have discovered to be the best by far is called "Thai-Go", a blend of mangosteen juice and ten other beneficial fruits such as wolfberry, lycium fruit and blueberries.   Nature's Sunshine has harvested the most healthful fruits and nutritional supplements from around the world and combined them into one delicous, nutritious juice.

Benefits of consuming this amazing elixir include: enhancement of the immune system, support of the cardiovascular system and increased energy.

Delicious, nutritious juice is only one product you will find in the top of the line selection with this amazing company.   Members received REAL rewards, REAL relationships and REAL results.  You will find many natural remedies, nutritional antioxidants and two unique compensation plans to help you earn money from home.

Being a  business woman raising a family, this opportunity combines everything I've been searching for:  amazing income potential, products that I am proud to represent and access to products to keep me and my family healthy and strong.  I know you will feel the same way once you research this truly unique home based business! 

Please contact me for more information!   My website is:  www.mynsp.com/toourhealth Post your comments, let me know what your experiences are with home based businesses, network marketing companies and supplementing your income.

MANGOSTEEN FRUIT JUICES

I have tried two different mangosteen juices in recent months.  My first experience with the benefits of mangosteen juice was with XanGo.  It has a very fruity flavor and I enjoyed it right away.  Many who try it proclaim, "How can a juice that tastes this good be SO good for you?!"   At the time I didn't realize that the reason for the sweet, tasty flavor was that it was supplemented with various other fruits.  The reason for this is that the beneficial ingredient, the pericarp, or rind, of the mangosteen is actually quite bitter.  Therefore these other sweet fruit flavors are added to make if more palatable. 

The mangosteen is a tropical fruit about the size of a tangerine whose leathery maroon shell surrounds moist, fragrant, snow-white segements of ambrosial flesh. Sadly, it can't get a visa.  The mangosteen may not be legaally imported to the United States.  They may not even be legally shipped to the mainland from Hawaii where they have begrun to grow them recently.  Alas, we may have to travel to Thailand or other distant countries to get a tast of this desirable fruit! 

My uncle, a flight attendant, travels frequently to Asia and was recently visiting Thailand.  He reports that it is the tastiest fruit he's ever tried. In this region people buy them by the bagful for small change.  The fruit is even available in Vancouver and other Canadian cities, so perhaps we can hunt them down if we visit our friends to the north.

I am told that the fruit is  thirillingly, intoxicatingly luscious, with a precise balance of acid and sugar.  It is held to be the most delectable of all the tropical fruits, and it has been proclaimed by Quenn Victoria to be the "queen of fruits".  It has won praisae down through the ages from all who have encountered it.

Due to the problems with the dreaded Mediterranean fruit fly, the Department of Agriculture does its best to stop it from crossing the borders of the continental United States.  Until recently there was no safe way to assure "disinfestation".

A breakthrough came last October when the governement issued a ruling that all fruits and vegetables that might carry fruit flies could be irradiated for sale in the U.S.  The mangosteen may come to the American markets at last!

Outside of Southeast Asia, mangosteens have flourished in just a few places: southern India, some Caribbean islands and in northeastern Australia.  They have done poorly in California and worse in Florida.

Great explorer, David Fairchild, wrote of the fruit:  "It is so delicate that it melts in the mouth like ice cream.  The flavor is quite indescribably delicious.  There is nothing to mar the perfection of this fruit.  Even the seeds are partly or wholly lacking and when present are very thin and small."

Well, back to my experience with the mangosteen juice (since the tasting of the actual fruit may be in the distant future!).  Shortly after trying XanGo, I was introduced to Thai-Go.  This juice is a blend of not only the mangosteen, but ten other fruits and berries selected for their amazing compounds, antioxidants and phytonutrients. One thing that really impresses me about this juice is that is beats the other mangosteen juices on the market in ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) in an independent laboratory studies, by renowned Brunswick Laboratories, no less. 

This juice also has an delicious flavor, grapes being a predominant flavor.  Other ingredients include wolfberry, sea buckthorn, red grapes, grape seeds, grape skins, blueberries, apple extract, green tea and raspberries.  This combination is amazing!

Please let me know of your expeirences with mangosteen juices and if you've tried Thai-Go!   You may check out my website at www.mynsp.com/toourhealth.   I imagine many are pleasing to the palette, but do any other juices have the combination of known anti oxidants of Thai-Go?  Certainly it's chock full of xanthones, antioxidant nutrition and anti aging benefits!