Dietary Supplements

Vitamin D and Blood Sugar

Well, well. Vitamin D is, after all, turning out to be quite the wonder vitamin. Vitamin D, a very easily obtained vitamin which is also fairly inexpensive in pill form, and can be freely obtained via sunlight exposure, has long been thought to be a pivotal part of preventing cancer, helping to maintain bone density, and helping to prevent asthma and heart disease, among a host of many other health benefits.

After the villification of the sunlight as a cancer causing agent, a lot of research has instead pointed to combining sunlight with hazardous chemical-laced sunscreens and tanning products as a major contributor as well. This is not to say that excessive exposure to sunlight cannot cause skin cancer.

It most certainly can.  However, it seems more and more likely that a combination of not having enough vitamin D circulating in the blood stream and antioxidants, may be more the culprit than the sunlight itself in the burning and cell damage done on some people from the sun. 

Researchers in Australia are also now uncovering significant evidence that vitamin D levels circulating in the blood may be linked to blood sugar levels remaining stable.  They found a correlation between low vitamin D levels and diabetes, showing that those with low vitamin D levels had over a 50% higher chance of developing diabetes.

It is not known exactly why vitamin D seems to protect people from developing diabetes throughout their lives. Perhaps we will know why in our lifetime, this vitamin seems to be so pivotal to so many human body functions, including now diabetes prevention. 

I must say that since I have been taking vitamin D and getting artificial sunlight via a UVB tanning booth twice a week, I have not gotten sick once. So I firmly believe that vitamin D levels contribute heavily to an awesome immune response, among a huge range of health benefits.

Pepper Diet Supplement Burns Extra Calories

You may have heard before of the principle that spicy foods, or that specific spicy, hot peppers, contain chemical compounds in them that help your metabolism to burn more calories. And mostly that is true.  Pepper diet pills may actually help you to burn more calories.

Actually, cayenne pepper has been known to help boost the metabolism. It makes sense that it may cause a slight boost in calorie burn because the body actually gets warm when you consume really spicy hot food, which usually indicates that your metabolism is running on “high”.

Your body actually tends to burn more calories both when it is overheated, because it needs to exert energy and burn calories to cool itself off, and also when the body is too cold, because your body must exert energy/burn calories to warm up.  One of the theories behind the many reasons why there is so much obesity today is because of the climate control that occurs in modern society.

We are almost never subjected to extreme temperatures any more, thanks to air conditioning as well as heat, whereas people used to endure extreme temperatures all the time before these amenities became common place.

The principle of pepper types of diet and weightloss supplements is that they help your body accelerate the rate at which calories burn off, and they do in fact usually burn about 50-75 extra calories each day. That may not be much when it comes to weight loss, because it takes several times that to actually lose one pound.

But, these types of supplements can help give you that little boost that you need to help your body go into maximum calorie burning potential.  Every little bit helps, after all, when you’re dieting, so tricks like taking ACV, or apple cider vinegar, with each meal, and maybe also taking hot pepper pills as well can help you add those little details that add up to dieting and weightloss success.  They also may help to reduce your hunger, which is just another bonus.

Vitamins : Top Five Beneficial Vitamins and Supplements to Take

Humans are designed to perform various tasks. Meaning, they are also designed to consume very high levels of energy. With regards to this, it is a must that humans must incorporate vitamins and minerals in their daily diets that will act as vital supplements to keep them going into.

The generation in which everyone of us currently lives in is a health-conscious generation. Vitamins, minerals, and most of all, nutrition, have become very important topics. Schools, health organizations, hospitals, and clinics emphasize the importance of such to human life. Care for the human body is vital. With a malfunctioning body system, work, challenges, and health will just be dreams which will be out-of-reach. There are a countless of health benefits which can be derived out of vitamin intake as part of your daily diet.

Here are some facts about vitamins and their benefits if you consume them regularly. Vitamin C is necessary to the body to form collagen in bones, cartilage, muscle, and blood vessels and aids in the absorption of iron. Also, vitamin C is used as a prevention of the common cold and respiratory infections. Another important vitamin for our health is D. The major biologic function of vitamin D is to maintain normal blood levels of calcium and phosphorus.

Recently, research also suggests vitamin D may provide protection from osteoporosis, hypertension (high blood pressure), cancer, and several autoimmune diseases. Furthermore, vitamin D is seen as an effective tool in asthma fight. One more vitamin need for us is omega-3. The benefits of omega-3s include reducing the risk of heart disease and stroke while helping to reduce symptoms of hypertension, depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), joint pain and other rheumatoid problems, as well as certain skin diseases.

Some research has even shown that omega-3s can boost the immune system and help protect us from an array of illnesses including Alzheimer’s disease and cancer. In addition, B-group vitamins are essential for metabolic processes such as energy production and red blood cell synthesis. In terms of skin health and skin care, vitamin E benefits are numerous. At the end of this list, I will tell you the benefits of vitamin A.

Vitamin A helps form and maintain healthy teeth, skeletal and soft tissue, mucous membranes, and skin. It is also known as retinol because it produces the pigments in the retina of the eye. Moreover, vitamin A promotes good vision, especially in low light. It may also be needed for reproduction and breast-feeding.

Each vitamin has specific role. If you have low levels of certain vitamins, you may develop a deficiency disease. The best way to get enough vitamins is to eat a balanced diet with a variety of foods. In some cases, you may need to take a daily multivitamin for optimal health. However, high doses of some vitamins can make you sick.

Can Acai Really Help You Lose Weight?

It seems like as soon as the acai berry became a sensation for it’s potentially stellar antioxidant properties, and it’s trace element of omega 3 fats in the berry, that there was an instant monsoon of acai “diet products” on the market that purported to help you shed pounds through it’s antioxidant power.  Wait a second here, antioxidants help you lose weight? That was certainly news to me, so I thought it sounded somewhat like hype, and apparently I was right.

The fact is, acai berry is definitely a great source of antioxidants for the human body. Just the fact that it is such a VERY deeply pigmented fruit that it’s almost black should tell you that it’s an excellent, nutrient packed and antioxidant packed fruit, just going off of the conventional wisdom that darkly pigmented fruits and veggies are traditionally the most nutrient dense.

Does ingesting a lot o nutrient dense foods make your weight loss goals a lot easier and more attainable? ABSOLUTELY!  So, it’s not a stretch to imagine that eating a lot of acai fruit will help you lose weight, if the rest of your diet is in order too, but that’s true of any nutrient dense, calorie-spare food.  What of it’s weight loss benefits in a pill?

Well, a good, but real and pure acai supplement can definitely help you achieve higher energy levels, and certainly adds a boost to your body’s antioxidant stores, but what most likely helps you to lose weight in most of these supplements is not the acai berry itself, but the stimulants that are included in the supplement, like caffeine or something similar that acts as an appetite suppressant, since there have been no singularly weight loss benefits identified in the acai berry yet.

I still say that if you are looking for a great antioxidant and a great diet pill, maybe you could try an acai  “fat loss” diet pill, but make sure it’s actually pure acai in the ingredient label, since there are really no regulations governing this labeling yet.  If it doesn’t at least make you feel better, then it may not be worth it if you are using it just for weight loss, or as just an antioxidant supplement, so judge for yourself how it interacts with your body and benefits you.

Truvia, My New Favorite Natural Sugar Alternative

Well, I’ve officially found a great new sugar substitute that does not have the nasty after taste nor the chemicals that so many other sugar substitutes have. It’s called Truvia, and it’s not cheap, but it’s also very tasty, and does not have that same after taste that the chemical ones that aren’t good for you have, like Equal and Sweet n Low, which contain aspartame and saccharin. Do you remember Tab, the first diet soda, and how awful it tasted? It’s because it was made with saccharin. That was before we knew how bad these chemically altered sweeteners were for the human body.

I myself was a user of Sweet n Low for years. I really thought that I was doing something healthier for my body by eating this sweetener, which is made with saccharin, instead of eating sugar, and the fact is, that not only was I not saving significant calories, but I was also loading my body with chemicals that eventually convert into some sort of formaldehyde.

Artificial sweeteners have been linked to a bevy of health problems, most prevalently, they have come up as potential candidates for being a cancer causing agent, or carcinogen.  Then, about five years ago, I found out about Stevia as my interest in natural health and eliminating as many unnatural things from my diet as I could, increasing my holistic outlook on medicine and living.

Stevia is a plant, and there are certain part of that plant that are reaped to make the stevia powder that is used to sweeten drinks, cereals, you name it. It is supposed to not affect your blood sugar at all, and has no calories.  It also has not been linked to any major health problems, since it is all natural.

Truvia is actually made with “the sweetest part” of the stevia plant, and some other natural ingredients. It supposedly is all natural, and I hope it’s true and something doesn’t come out about it being a lie, because I REALLY like the flavor of this natural sweetener. It is not bitter like pure stevia extract and powder can be, or overpowering with an aftertaste at all, but it’s very smooth and natural tasting, almost like real sugar, but I daresay even a bit better of a sweetness.

I’m going to keep my eyes and ears peeled for any bad press on this Truvia stuff, because I’m hooked on it for now, and am hoping that it truly is all natural and healthy to consume. By the way, they are also having coupons online for a dollar off, I’ve been using them while I can since it runs almost $4 for a box of only 50 packets, so I’d try to use those while I can if I were you, get the deal!

Jillian Michaels Sued for Supplement Claims?

Apparently there was a not so happy customer of a supplement that Jillian Michaels, the most famous personal trainer in the world right now and one of the stars of Biggest Loser along with Bob the trainer, endorses.  Let me preface this story by telling you a piece of my mind. I’m getting awfully sick of the sue happy mentality of people here in the US. This person actually wants to start a class action lawsuit over what she claims are false claims made by the diet supplement which claims to suppress the appetite by taking two pills before each meal, called “Maximum Strength Calorie Control”.

The woman says that the pill did not suppress her hunger as claimed and also did not cause her to lose weight as the product claimed. Now, I’ll admit, I’m all for supplements, and they have helped me immensely in my life, not only in my quest to lose weight when I need to shed a few extra pounds, but also in many other facets of my life, so I may be a little biased, but this seems like it’s really nothing more than a bid to get paid for something that didn’t make you lose weight.

I’m not sure why this angered her so much that she wanted to start  a class action lawsuit over it .I mean, shoot, if I had a nickel for every time a product didn’t do exactly what I wanted it to, I might be rich, but at the same time I know that I was also to blame, I maybe didn’t follow the instructions or I didn’t actually do my part to get the expected results either. I’m a realist, and I wouldn’t want to waste my time or anyone elses with such claims.

I just have this fear that lawsuits like this, where no one was actually hurt, maimed or otherwise psychologically really hurt, don’t set the bar for the way things are going here, because there are much more important things to waste time on, where people actually suffer terrible side effects or become ill in some way, not where their expectations just weren’t met all the way. I think this type of litigation is dangerous to free enterprise.  That’s just my opinion, and it’s a free world for me to express it.

Do Vitamin B12 Shots Help You Lose Weight?

I happened across this information, because, as usual, I was actually surfing the web for a completely unrelated reason to B12 and how it may help people lose weight. In fact, what I was searching for was information on how light may destroy certain vitamins, and the importance of keeping certain ones out of the sunlight and in the darkest places possible in the house.  But I was intrigued when I saw some information on B12 shots, which I’ve always been intrigued by to begin with, and how some people on a forum were swearing that gettin B12 shots helped to accelerate, or even initiate their weight loss.

Of course, anyone would be interested to know that something that already has a great reputation for giving people excellent energy levels and even putting them ina  great mood, and happened to also help some people lose weight.

So I looked a little further into it, and there is of course, no documented research other than anecdotal stories and testimonials from some people, that B12 in itself would help you lose weight. The side effects of this vitamin injection especially (it also comes in a sublingual formula, pill form, and even nasal sprays), probably help people to have the energy to work out hard and therefore, the increased energy levels may improve the ability for people to get up, move around and burn more calories.

A lot of times, when a product give s you extra energy, it tends to also give you an edge when it comes to suppressing hunger because as you all know, when you already have energy, your body really doesn’t find as much reason to eat, since you actually eat for energy. That’s right, that thing we all do now here in the US as a pastime, called eating, is actually a biological function that is designed to impart energy to the human body so that we may function, think, and move around like we need to efficiently.

You can go get vitamin B12 shots, which is supposed to still be the most superior way to deliver the vitamin to the blood stream for maximum results and the best energy levles and mood enhancement as well. The shots of B12 will run you around $10 to $20 per shot, depending on your geographical location (prices vary everywhere for services like this), and also depending on where you are going. 

As I understand it, certain doctors will give these shots, and also some weight loss centers offer this shot as well.  Vitamin B12 has shown to be somewhat effective as well, when delivered via a sublingual (under the tongue) formula where the vitamin solution is held under the tongue for several minutes and delivered to the body that way, and it is also thought to be somewhat effective when delivered via a nasal spray, where it is absorbed through the epithelial cells that line the nose, and delivered to the blood stream that way.

Intrigued?  I know I am, because I know that B vitamins are very effective for my energy levels, just when taken in an energy drink, so I wonder how a week long vitamin B12 shot would affect my energy and mood levels (B12 also enhances my mood, not sure if this is typical or unusual).

Going to Try Emergen-C for Energy, Appetite, Immunity

So, I’ve been interested in trying out this Emergen-C stuff for a while, it’s just one of those things I haven’t quite gotten around to buying yet, with all the other things going on right now. 

It’s a little packet of powder that you mix in with a glass of water that is supposed to be a good mixture of vitamin C (1,000 mg to be precise, which is several times what you need per day, but that’s ok because Vitamin C is a vitamin that is flushed out of your system on a daily basis, so it never builds up to toxic levels in your body anyways), and also has chromium picolinate, which actually helps regulate your blood sugar and also may help control your appetite as well.

It also contains calcium manganese and magnesium, all of which are important minerals which women in particular can benefit from. I became really interested when I read that a lot of people think this little bag of powder daily helps them to keep from getting colds and the flu, and they rarely feel run down, which can be very common in the winter time. 

Also, many people think that it helps their energy levels due to the B vitamins it contains. To be honest, I rely a lot on boosts from a product called 5 Hour Energy right now during the day at work, so something that wasn’t actually caffeinated  would be good, so that I didn’t have to drink caffeinated products to get my energy, especially since I tend to break out from it. 

Vitamin C is great to take in combination with calcium too, because it actually helps your calcium to absorb and be absorbed much better than it would be alone as well. So, if you’re a woman, or a man, you may want to consider taking it for energy boost, possible reduction in appetite, which would probably be mild, and also boost your immunity. I’m buying some tonight at Target and I’ll let you know how it works and how I like it a few days after I start taking it – hopefully it’s good stuff!

What a Good Acidophilus Supplement Can Do for You

With so much attention being focused on colon health and digestive health, it’s no wonder acidophilus supplements and foods have been skyrocketing in popularity lately. These supplements are comprised of what are called probiotics. That’s right, it’s the opposite of antibiotics, which kill bacteria – good and bad, and yes, in the digestive tract as well, where they are very much needed to facilitate smooth digestion and elimination of your foods.

Without the “good bacteria”, we experience more gas, more problems with digesting and eliminating our food, and a generally unpleasant experience when eating a lot of different kinds of foods in our diet. When you add a good probiotic to your system, one that actually coats and inhabits the walls of the intestines, you can greatly increase your digestive and waste elimination system’s efficiency and overall comfort.

I’ve experienced this firsthand. Not only that, but you eliminate a lot of bloating, and generally may even end up facilitating weight loss and management more efficiently in the end because you are essentially digesting and eliminating your foods at a better rate. Also, if you need a good colon cleansing, you should look into a product like Bowtrol, which is a complete cleansing system, and included is a good probiotic supplement with that as well.

Better elimination and processing of your food allows it to be converted into pure energy much more easily, instead of being stored as fat on the body, and also instead of clogging up the main ways in which food is digested and in which the “leftovers” exit the body. Acicophilus releases thousands of tiny friendly flora, or bacteria, into your intestines, where they go to work against the harmful bacterias that create gas, bloating and discomfort.

You may notice a pleasant “empty” feeling compared to the way you usually feel if you’re taking a great acicophilus supplement for a little while. It shouldn’t take very long for it to work, and once it does, you would see why these probiotic supplmeents are so popular with people now.

You can get this friendly bacteria in yogurt, and there are also some excellent drinks and supplements available now as well. Heck, there’s even a protein bar with active live cultures, or aciophilus in them too that I’ve tried that are pretty darn tasty and they also happen to work pretty well. However, if you don’t want all the calories, there are the “Pearls” supplements that some people like, or just plain capsules and caplets at your local drugstore.

Do Digestive Enzymes Help?

As I get older, I notice that some foods, in particular dairy or a lot of meat in a meal, or especially a high fat meal, cause a lot of havoc in my digestive system. The fat part I think may have something to do with my pancreas, and that scares me a bit because the pancreas is an important organ, so that is part of why I lost so much initial weight, because I really focused on cutting out a lot of the fattening foods in my diet. Here and there I will treat myself to pizza or a cheeseburger and french fries, both of which are extremely greasy, fatty foods.

I inevitably will be extremely uncomfortable after a high fat meal though, and will take digestive enzymes to help with the discomfort as well as to help break down the food properly and completely so that it doesn’t clog up my whole system. However, if you eat right, and you don’t eat enough, you really shouldn’t need digestive enzymes since your body should be pumping out just the right amount of these helpful little organisms on it’s own. You may have a deficiency though, and that most likely could be disagnosed by a Doctor or even a naturopath, and they may recommed that you always use digestive enzymes, even with meals that are properly portioned and combined.

I do notice a difference when I take them with meals that may normally bother me, or meals that are too large that make me uncomfortable afterwards. So does my boyfriend, he says that when he takes them after too large a meal, it does make the discomfort subside within a half hour, so that’s useful as well. I would say to keep digestive enzymes around for those times when you know you’ll have indiscretions about what you eat. It really is helpful during those times in assisting your digestive system in doing what it needs to, when you’re not treating it right.