News by Nature – Healthy Living, Wellness, Vitality News

CKD: How This Diet Can Help In Managing Kidney Diseases

Eating a healthy diet is an important aspect of maintaining a healthy weight and good health. Eating healthy foods help in building a strong immunity. People suffering from chronic kidney disease (CKD) should consume a balanced diet.

A healthy and balanced diet helps patients with chronic kidney disease to be less dependent on dialysis. It helps in improving their blood sugar levels and blood pressure. Most patients of kidney disease, who do not even need dialysis, don’t consult a dietitian because of lack of awareness of simple ignorance.

According to a latest research published in Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, most patients of chronic kidney disease remain uninformed about how chronic kidney disease diet influences management and progression of chronic kidney disease.

People on dialysis need to take large amounts of protein from their diet. They need to restrict salt, potassium and water content in order to maintain their blood pressure. “Usually patients with chronic kidney disease should take 0.6 gm to 0.8 gm protein per kg of their body weight, before dialysis. These proteins should be good quality protein, from dietary sources such a milk and milk products or meat. Patients on dialysis need to get 1 gm to 1.2 gm protein per kg of their body weight,” says Dr Vijay.

NDTV

Science or Snake Oil: Do ‘Rescue Remedies’ Ease Stress?

Bach flower remedies, which you may know as “rescue remedy”, were created in the 1930s by the English physician Edward Bach. He produced 38 remedies for a variety of emotional states such as “for those who have fear”, “for insufficient interest in present circumstances” and “for despondency or despair”.

Bach’s therapeutic claims were supposedly based on his personal connection to flowers. He is said to have determined the therapeutic benefit of a particular remedy by the emotion he experienced while holding different flowers.

The remedies were prepared by floating the cut flower heads in pure spring water and leaving them in the sun, or boiling them, for a few hours. The resulting dilute stock was kept as a 50:50 solution of brandy and water for decanting to his patients as required.

A review of studies evaluating the evidence for claims made by Bach flower remedies was published in 2010. All six placebo-controlled trials failed to demonstrate any differences between flower remedies and placebos.

The Bach rescue remedy is listed as a medicine on the Therapeutic Goods Administration’s (TGA) Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (although many other Bach flower remedies are not). The listing states it contains “homeopathic ingredients” that have been “traditionally used to relieve feelings of anxiety, nervous tension, stress, agitation or despair and provide a sense of focus and calm”.

Listed medicines are allowed to make “low level” health claims and, although they are meant to hold information to substantiate their claims, unlike registered medicines, they’re not required to produce the evidence prior to marketing. Listed medicines are assessed by the TGA for quality and safety, but not efficacy.

Continue Reading at Cosmos

Consumer Watch: The Nutrition Mistake Messing-up Your Diet

OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — Most people tend to under eat a specific nutrient that makes them more likely to trip up on their healthy diets, and it’s not about eating more vegetables necessarily, but protein.

There are no magic potions here when it comes to losing weight. Ever heard the phrase, you can’t outrun your diet? Basically– working out is great, but what you eat matters more for weight loss. That doesn’t mean reducing your calories by unsafe amount, but it is important to dodge the calorie bombs, you know, the tasty treats.

“Protein is the most filling macro nutrient that we have, so if you were to have 200 calories worth of 93/7 beef, 200 calories of rice, or 200 calories of potatoes — the beef would have you the most full,” says Farris.

Eating enough lean protein will mean you stay full for longer, making it easier to say no thanks to the office candy dish. Farris say the average person should eat 30 grams of protein each main meal.

Eating healthier doesn’t mean being hungry or even all that much less, but it can mean changing the types of foods. To see how nutritious your diet is right now, think of your eating like a financial budget.

Fox 25 News

Infants Health At Risk With Genetically Modified Food

Infant foods, Similac Alimentum and Similac Isomil, which are widely used for children with lactose intolerance, have been found to contain genetically modified foods, according to a study carried out by the Centre for Science and Environment.

Twenty-five per cent of the samples imported from Netherlands and the US were found to be positive. There was no label to indicate they were GM positive.

The study found imported foods like Kellogg’s Froot Loops, American Garden popcorn, Trix Corn Puffs, Mori-Nu-Tofu, Bugles, Karo and Aunt Jemima corn-based syrups were GM positive, as was PromPlus sweet whole kernel corn from Thailand.

Mr Amit Khurana from the food safety team at CSE said, “The risk assessment of GM positive foods has shown that there is toxicity, allergic reaction and change in composition of major and minor nutrients. More work is required to understand its specific impact on human health.”

Deccan Chronicle

Infected with measles? Go The Nature’s Way To Beat It

It is not difficult to understand why the government has been pressing so hard for the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. This because, measles is a highly contagious disease that can be spread by simply breathing in the infected air.

While vaccination is the only way to prevent measles, here are some natural ways of curing it, once the virus hits you.

Tamarind seeds and turmeric: A mix of equal amount of powdered tamarind seeds and turmeric is an efficient healer of measles.

Liquorice: Half a teaspoon of liquorice root ground into powder along with a little drop of honey can cure you effectively from measles.

Margosa leaves: With its antiviral and antiseptic properties that adequately beat measles, margosa leaves do wonder in giving you relief from itching due to the rash. It can be added to hot bathing water.

How Does Diet Impact Breast Cancer Risk?

Dietary habits are often said to sway the risk of cancer. Now, a large long-term study confirms the role played by a diet rich in fruits and vegetables in decreasing the risk of breast cancer.

A major study published in The BMJ earlier this year showed that people who integrate a lot of ultra-processed foods into their diet have a higher risk of cancer.

But recently, a team of researchers from the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, MA, has conducted a large-scale, long-term study investigating in more detail the relationship between fruits and vegetables in a person’s diet and their risk of breast cancer.

This new study not only suggests that eating a lot of fruits and vegetables can lower breast cancer risk — and the risk of developing aggressive tumors, no less — but it also explains how much fruits and vegetables someone should ideally eat per day in order to offset risk.

Lowered risk of aggressive cancer tumors

The researchers were able to observe that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables appeared to be associated with a particularly lowered risk of developing aggressive types of cancer tumors, which grow and spread fast and are often resistant to traditional treatments, such as chemotherapy.

These include estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer, HER2-enriched breast cancer, and basal-like cancers, which are similar to another aggressive tumor type: triple-negative.

So what does this mean? According to the researchers, this suggests that fruits and vegetables contain other nutrients, such as antioxidants, that may contribute to offsetting cancer risk.

Continue Reading at Medical News Today

New Pacific kava standards underway for global market

Avoiding a ban such as that imposed in Germany in the early 2000s and instilling confidence in an increasing global market are two of the key reasons for the quality standards being developed for Pacific kava.

The governments of Fiji, Samoa and Vanuatu have partnered with the Pacific Horticultural and Agricultural Market Access programme, or PHAMA, to develop the these standards.

The new initiative will also include the development of manuals that explain production methods, cost-effective testing methods and a push to establish more kava nurseries.

Deputy Team Leader of the PHAMA programme Semy Siakimotu spoke to Tim Glasgow about the new standards.

Listen to the podcast or read the transcript at RNZ.

Ireland To Maintain A ‘GMO-Free Status’

The Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Denis Naughten, has secured Cabinet approval to enable Ireland to prohibit or restrict the cultivation of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) in Ireland.

The Government approved for the transposition of Directive 2015/412 of the European Parliament and of the Council of March 11 2015, which will enable Ireland to opt out of cultivation of GMO crops approved for cultivation elsewhere in the EU.

Announcing the Cabinet’s decision today, Minister Naughten said:

“This is a very significant development; I believe it is critically important that Ireland takes whatever steps are necessary to maintain our GMO cultivation-free status, which is a key element of our international reputation as a green, sustainable food producer.”

The maintenance of the country’s ‘GMO-free status’ will take place on a much wider range of policy grounds than had previously been the case.

“Whilst it is my intention to apply the opt-out provision, I propose to keep the matter of Ireland’s GMO cultivation policy under review in consultation with my colleagues in Government and in light of scientific developments in this rapidly-evolving sector,” said the minister.

AgriLand

20 Hidden Reasons Your Diet Isn’t Working

Focus on improving the nutritional quality of your diet rather than your calorie intake for improved body weight and health,” Palinski-Wade says. Intrigued? These are the other weight loss tips doctors wish you’d stop following.

You aren’t eating enough calories

Wait, isn’t the point of a diet that you are supposed to cut calories? Yes, but according to registered dietitian and author of Belly Fat for Dummies Erin Palinski-Wade, RD, CDE, it’s only one piece of the puzzle. “A calorie is not just a calorie,” she says. “Depending on what you consume, calories from nutrients such as protein and unsaturated fat keep you full for an extended period, whereas calories from simple sugars digest rapidly.”

You’re skipping meals

As with cutting calories, skipping meals isn’t effective for healthy weight loss. Ignoring hunger cues throws off the signaling in your body, as Laura Moore, RD, director of the dietetic internship program at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health, explains. “Energy intake, or what’s consumed, and expenditure, or what’s burned, is coordinated by signals from several systems, including the endocrine, adipose tissue, neurologic, and gastrointestinal systems,” she says.

You’re not mindful when you eat

“Take small bites of food and chew it slowly, stopping two or three times during a meal to determine if you are hungry or if you feel satisfied,” she says. If you get into the habit of mindful eating, you’ll be less likely to finish off those extra bites of mac and cheese from your kid’s plate. Another strategy is to change up your plate size—according to research from Cornell, subjects serving themselves food on larger plates dished out more, consumed more, and wasted more.

Continue Reading at Reader’s Digest

Addressing Emotional Wellness In the Workplace

When it comes to employee wellness, a lot of the discussion centers on physical wellness: encouraging employees to increase their physical activity levels, develop healthier eating habits, getting more sleep, etc. In addition to being easier to relate to, these kinds of wellness initiatives produce results that are not only easier to see and quantify (weight loss, lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol, etc.), but also easier to link to business outcomes, such as reducing insurance costs and absenteeism.

Ignoring emotional health – both on a personal level and on an organizational level – can have consequences that are much more concerning than a few moments of awkwardness, such as higher rates of employee burnout, interpersonal conflicts, and decreased productivity. “Emotionally unwell” employees can also spread their personal feelings of stress or unhappiness to other members of the organization, even those they don’t directly interact with, infecting the overall company culture.

EAPs are employee benefit programs that provide workers with resources and tools to help them deal with personal problems (addiction, debt, family issues, etc.) that may be affecting their work performance. More actively promoting the EAP to employees, both on a global scale and individually to those managers are concerned about, is a simple but effective way to enhance emotional wellness with very little additional expense.