MSNBC has this article about losing weight as you get older. Thought it would be great info for people that are struggling these days.

While time may adorn you with new lines on your face, a new color hair (gray) and a new waistline, the passing decades are not to blame for all of the changes in your body. Your eating habits, your attitude and your approach to everyday experiences also play key roles.

As we age, our bodies lose muscle and gain fat. Our nutritional needs change, as well. But you don’t necessarily feel these changes on a daily basis. Metabolism gradually slows each decade after age 20, so it’s not as if you suddenly wake up 10 pounds heavier. It creeps up slowly. Fortunately, you do have some control over your changing body and slowing metabolism. Some strategies to help you avoid a midlife diet crisis: Read the rest of this entry »

Looking to make a change and lose some weight? I have reviewed the top diet on the internet and you can go and read over 200 comments people have made about why this diet has worked well for them, as well as some of the problems.

Tags: American Dietetic Association, At, bone bank, Bonnie Taub-Dix, Columbia, Columbia University Medical Center, crippling disease, D, flushing, food sources, low-or non-fat dairy products, New York City, One, osteoporosis, physician, spokesperson, Vitamin D

I am really stretching the vitamin D thing lately but I just saw some medical news out of a skin conference in Praugue that explained research that a certain kind of Vitamin D supplement was more effective that topical steroidal cream for getting rid of eczema, this is bound to be big news in my house.

Almost half of patients with steroid-resistant hand eczema had complete or near-complete clearance when treated with the oral vitamin D analog alitretinoin, according to data from two randomized clinical trials.

Almost 80% of patients who relapsed after alitretinoin withdrawal regained disease control when treated again with the 9-cis retinoic acid agent, Uwe Hillen, M.D., of University Clinic in Essen, Germany, reported here at the International Congress of Dermatology.

“Alitretinoin produced improvement in all of the individual signs and symptoms of chronic hand eczema,” said Dr. Hillen. “Patients who relapse after initial treatment can be effectively retreated with alitretinoin, suggesting it is a suitable, intermittent treatment option for the long-term management of this chronic, relapsing disease.”

So the question is how hard would is be to get alitretinoin prescribed for this. The other question is weather taking alitretinoin is a bit of overkill for most people that have eczema probably this is suspected to be the best treatment for people with very bad rashes.

Tags: D, eczema, Essen, Germany, International Congress, University Clinic, Uwe Hillen, Vitamin D

Yesterday my wife got results from some blood tests and they showed that she had a vitamin D deficiency. I thought that this was odd since I was under the impression that anyone that got enough sun would have their bodies create enough vitamin D to stay healthy.

I was apparently wrong.

Not only is my wife deficient but a friend of hers as well as my sister too. I am not sure how widespread the problem of vitamin D deficiency is but in looking this up I have found that it is a lot more common than we would believe.

The body creates vitamin D and you also get it from fish and bread that is fortified with Vitamin D. Other sources of Vitamin D include eggs and liver. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: D, tiredness, Vitamin D, Vitamin D deficiency

I have a new batch of posts that I have run across that I wanted to let you know about. These are about all sorts of things but are all a really great read if you want to do more to keep yourself healthy.

12 Winter Depression Busters

We are entering Winter. If winter is not ourside of your front door then it is probably getting close anyway. Here are 12 tips that should help you stay healthy over the winter.

Checking your Vitamin D

Did you know that Vitamin D deficeincies happen most during the Winter? When there is not as much sun in the sky and we are outdoors less we do not get a chance to get as much Vitamin D as we may need. Dr Gabe Mirkin tells us about a blood test that we can get to check our level of Vitamin D in our system.

10 Commandments of Primal Gym Time

Zen to Fitness is a great blog and I loved the pic on this page of Arnold the Governator with his future wife probably taken back in the early 80s. Anyway the article itself is a great list of things to do to get the most our of your weight workout.

Tags: D, Gabe Mirkin, Vitamin D

Theoretically, you could get adequate protein from a strictly vegetarian diet, but practically it would be extremely difficult. For one thing, it would require the eating of huge amounts of food. Most vegetarian diets make excellent use of eggs, milk, and cheese, and to that extent are only partly vegetarian.

Animal proteins are stressed in your reducing diet for another reason. Recent knowledge indicates that Vitamin A is not always well absorbed in the form in which it occurs in green plants. Such plants, normally rated as excellent sources of the vitamin, contain it in yellow pigments of which the chief is carotene.

This does not become the vitamin until it is altered in your liver. It has been found that some persons absorb as little as 5% of available carotene; hence, though their food contains plenty of Vitamin A units, they derive no benefit from it.
Animal foods, however—eggs, butter, liver, milk, cheese —contain the true vitamin. The animal has done all the work of converting the carotene into Vitamin A, saving you the trouble. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: animal foods, animal products, cheese, Dairy product, dairy products, food, green plants, health, itchiness, milk, Mineral oil, mineral oil dressings, nutrients, nutrition, protein, reducing diets, vegetarian diet, vegetarian diets, Vitamin, vitamin a, Vitamin D

I remember a few years ago as my wife was pregnant with our first child she qot the requisite baby viatmins ande we never questioned them again. Everyone we knew that was pregnant would take the popular vitamins so that they would get all the nutrients they could while trying not to truly be “eating for two”.

Times have noty changed and Health Canada today announced that pregnant women should take an even larger supplementation of Vitamin D to protect against any possible deficiency and then some.

Women who are pregnant or breast-feeding should consider increasing their vitamin D intake to 2,000 international units a day to reduce the chances their children will develop such ailments as multiple sclerosis, diabetes and cancer later in life, the Canadian Pediatric Society says.

That amount of vitamin D is 10 times higher than what is currently recommended by Health Canada for women in their childbearing years, and the advice is believed to be the first time a medical group has called for healthy people to take such elevated amounts of the sunshine vitamin.

But it is the second time in recent months that a major Canadian public health advocacy group has decided the evidence for taking vitamin D has become so compelling that it is overstepping the government’s recommendations.

The pediatric society, representing doctors who specialize in children’s health, is issuing the vitamin D advice in a position statement being released today in its journal, Pediatrics & Child Health. The statement said aboriginal people in particular are at higher risk of deficiencies of the vitamin.

“New findings suggest that adequate vitamin D status in mothers during pregnancy and in their infants may have lifetime implications,” the statement said.

As a precaution against being exposed to too much of the nutrient, the statement also recommended that women periodically have their doctors monitor their blood levels of the vitamin.

Tags: Canadian Pediatric Society, cancer, diabetes, health, Health Issues, health_canada, multiple sclerosis, possible deficiency, pregnancy, Vitamin, Vitamin D, women_health

The four-year study out of Creighton University in Nebraska found that women who regularly took vitamin D3 had a 60 per cent reduction in cancer infections compared to a group taking placebos.

The study followed 1,179 healthy, women 55 years and older from rural eastern Nebraska between 2000 and 2005. Participants were randomly assigned to receive 1400-1500 mg of calcium alone, or supplemental calcium plus 1,100 IU vitamin D3, or placebo.

The researchers studied only vitamin D3, which comes from animal sources and seems to be more active than vitamin D2, which is derived from plant sources.

Among the 288 women taking placebo, 20 developed breast, colon, lung or another form of cancer. Among the 445 women taking just calcium, 17 developed cancer. But among the largest group — the 446 women taking vitamin D daily — just 13 developed cancer.

“What we found is that a vitamin D supplement decreased the cancer incidence in postmenopausal women by about 60 per cent,” lead investigator Joan Lappe, an associate professor of both medicine and nursing at Creighton University

This is not the first time that researchers have noted the health benefits of vitamin D. In February, two studies found that the vitamin was linked to lower rates of breast cancer and colorectal cancer. The “sunshine vitamin,” as it’s sometimes called, has also been shown to kill some cancer cells in laboratory experiments.

“There’s a lot of evidence out there that populations in first world countries are deficient in vitamin D and if you give them more, we can prevent cancers and other diseases that have been reported to be prevented with vitamin D,” said Lappe.

Humans can absorb vitamin D when ultraviolet rays from the sun trigger vitamin D synthesis in our skin. But because of our short summers in Canada and our latitude, most Canadians don’t get anywhere near enough of it all year long.

Because of the growing body of evidence about vitamin D, for the first time, the Canadian Cancer Society is recommending a specific amount of supplementation for Canadians to consider taking. The Society is now recommending that:

-Adults living in Canada should consider taking vitamin D supplementation of 1,000 international units (IU) a day during the fall and winter.

-Adults at higher risk of having lower vitamin D levels should consider taking vitamin D supplementation of 1,000 IU/day all year round. This includes people who are older; with dark skin; who don’t go outside often, and who wear clothing that covers most of their skin.
At this time, the Canadian Cancer Society does not have a recommendation for vitamin D supplementation for children.

“The evidence is still growing in this area, but we want to give guidance to Canadians about this emerging area of cancer prevention based on what we know now,” said Heather Logan, director of Cancer Control Policy with the Canadian Cancer Society.

“We’re recommending 1,000 IUs daily because the current evidence suggests this amount will help reduce cancer risk with the least potential for harm,” said Logan.

“As we find out more we will update our recommendation.”

Logan cautions Canadians about relying too much on getting vitamin D through exposure to sunlight.

“It’s not a good idea to rely solely on the sun to obtain vitamin D,” said Logan. “For some people, it’s possible that just a few minutes of unprotected sun exposure every day could increase skin cancer risk.”

Tags: associate professor, associate professor of both medicine and nursing, breast cancer, Canada, Canadian Cancer Society, cancer, cancer prevention, cancers, colorectal cancer, Creighton University in Nebraska, D, director of Cancer Control Policy, first world countries, Heather Logan, Joan Lappe, lead investigator, Nebraska, placebos, professor of both medicine, skin cancer, Vitamin D

Many of us eat energy bars, protein bars or the like, I found this short article at  eVitamins  and though I would throw it in

Energy bars are fortified foods containing a blend of protein, carbohydrates, fat, fiber, vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients. The primary source of protein in energy bars is usually soy or milk, with fiber provided from grains, oats, apple pectin, or other sources. Some bars also contain additional herbs or nutrients thought to enhance energy, promote weight loss, or increase endurance. Energy bars can be consumed before, during, and after athletic events to ensure sufficient energy and replace expended nutrients. They may also be used as a snack or meal replacement.

Varieties
Energy bars come in a wide variety of flavors and textures. They may be high in protein, high in carbohydrates, low in fat, or contain a balanced ratio of these nutrients. They may have a taffy-like texture, or may be baked for a cookie-like consistency. Many are coated with chocolate, carob, vanilla yogurt, or other flavors. Natural energy bars with natural sugars, flavors, and colors are also available.

Buying and storing tips
Look for energy bars in the snack foods or supplement section of health food stores, or in the specialty foods section of most supermarkets. Store energy bars in a cool, dark location for 6 to 12 months.

Availability
Energy bars are available year-round.

Preparation, uses, and tips
Combine natural energy bars and a handful of grapes or cherries for a fast breakfast or healthful mid-day snack. Energy bars are easy to transport, so if youre going for a long bike ride or hike, pack some energy bars to satisfy your snack attacks.

Nutritional Highlights
Energy bar (High carbohydrate), 1.3 oz. (37g)Calories: 130Protein: 2.0gCarbohydrate: 26gTotal Fat: 2.5gFiber: 0.5g
Energy bar (Low carbohydrate), 2.5 oz. (72g)Calories: 290Protein: 30gCarbohydrate: 17gTotal Fat: 6gFiber: 0.0g
Vitamin and mineral content varies among bars.

Tags: energy, Energy bar, energy bars, health food stores, Highlights Energy bar, Natural energy bars, Store energy bars, sufficient energy, What