Pregnancy and Your Diet

Eat right to help prevent complications during pregnancy. -E.C.

Consume a healthy diet during pregnancy to help optimize your baby's growth and development.

Consuming adequate amounts of certain key nutrients during pregnancy is important for optimal fetal health and development. According to the American Dietetic Association, many women in the United States do not consume proper nutrition before, during and after pregnancy. The American Dietetic Association also reports that maintaining a good nutritional status during pregnancy, which includes gaining the appropriate amount of weight, staying physically active, consuming a variety of healthy foods, taking appropriate vitamin and mineral supplements, safe food handling and avoiding tobacco and alcohol, can help prevent birth defects, chronic health problems in children and suboptimal fetal growth and development.

Calorie Needs

The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists reports that on average, pregnant women need about 300 extra calories per day compared with non-pregnant women. This recommended calorie increase is usually less than 300 calories per day during your first trimester and more than 300 calories per day during your third trimester of pregnancy.

Pregnancy Weight Gain

If your pre-pregnancy body weight was within a healthy range, the American College of Nurse Midwives recommends you gain between 25 and 35 pounds over the course of your pregnancy. If you were overweight or obese when you became pregnant, your obstetrician may recommend you gain less than 25 pounds, and if you were underweight when you conceived your obstetrician may encourage you to gain up to 40 pounds over the course of your pregnancy.

Protein during Pregnancy

Pregnant women require significantly more protein on a daily basis compared to non-pregnant women. The Institute of Medicine's Food and Nutrition Board advises pregnant women to consume at least 71 grams of protein each day, compared to a minimum requirement of 46 grams per day for non-pregnant women. High-protein foods for pregnant women include lean beef, chicken, eggs, low-fat dairy products, soy protein, nuts and seeds.

Vitamins and Minerals

Key vitamins and minerals during pregnancy include folic acid, iron, calcium, vitamin D and iodine. Most prenatal supplements contain these nutrients, but check the label to be sure. The Institute of Medicine's minimum daily requirements for these key nutrients during pregnancy include 15 micrograms of vitamin D, 600 micrograms of folic acid, 1,300 milligrams of calcium for pregnant women ages 18 and under, 1,000 milligrams of calcium for pregnant women ages 19 and up, 27 milligrams of iron and 220 micrograms of iodine each day.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Omega-3 fatty acids are essential for proper fetal growth and development. If your prenatal vitamin doesn't contain omega-3s, especially DHA, ask your obstetrician about taking a prenatal DHA supplement. The American Pregnancy Association recommends all pregnant women consume at least 300 milligrams of DHA on a daily basis. Fish is a good source of DHA, but should be limited during pregnancy due to the presence of mercury. Purified fish oil supplements usually contain little or no harmful contaminants such as mercury.

It's important to avoid certain types of food during pregnancy. These include undercooked meats, unpasteurized dairy products, unheated hot dogs or deli meats, soft cheese such as Brie or feta and high-mercury fish such as shark, swordfish, tilefish and king mackerel. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, pregnant women should limit fish consumption to 12 ounces per week of low-mercury selections such as salmon, canned light tuna, shrimp, catfish or pollock, and limit albacore tuna consumption to 6 ounces or less per week.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this article is for educational purposes only and should not be used for diagnosis or to guide treatment without the opinion of a health professional. Any reader who is concerned about his or her health should contact a doctor for advice.

Read more at Suite101: Healthy Pregnancy Diet  |Suite101 by Doc Erin 

7 Gadgets That Won't Be Around In 2020

y Seth Fiegerman, MainStreet

Which Tech Gadgets Will Be Phased Out This Decade? Hindsight may always be 20-20, but you don’t need particularly great foresight to know many of the gadgets on today’s market won’t be around in 2020 given how quickly the tech industry keeps changing. In the first half of the 2000s, retailers were buzzing about the prospects of MP3 playersand netbooks, but by the end of the decade, those products had largely been replaced bysmartphones and tablets. As tempting as it may be to imagine otherwise, some of the gadgets you may rely on most right now will likely suffer the same fate and be killed off or made obsolete by the end of this decade. Sure, you may still be able to find these products for sale in certain niche stores, but they will no longer be produced for a mass-market audience. More from MainStreet : 10 Brand Names That Are Gone, But Not Forgotten 10 Ways a Smartphone Drains Your Wallet 5 Things You Think Work, But Actually Don't “You can still find and buy VCRs and there are people still using mainframes from 1992, so it’s not like this stuff disappears forever,” says Stephen Baker, an industry analyst at the NPD Group. Baker notes that the main reason retailers continue to market and sell outdated products is to cater to shoppers who buy them for nostalgia’s sake, but for all intents and purposes the market has left these products in the dust. So which popular products today will join the likes of VCRs, cassette players and transistor radios in the next few years? MainStreet asked five tech analysts to offer their thoughts on the gadgets that will largely be phased out by the end of this decade.

Photo: mroach/Flickr Standalone GPS Systems The days of spending $200 or more on a standalone GPS device won’t last much longer, analysts say. “Portable navigation devices like those sold byTomTom and Garmin will probably not be sold in 2020, just because mobile phones will have taken on that function themselves and because GPS systems will be standard equipment in cars,” says Charles S. Golvin, an analyst at Forrester, a market research firm. As a result, there won’t be much of a need to buy a product whose only function is to tell you directions. If there is a demand for these GPS systems, it will likely come from a very specific segment of consumers. “Maybe you could argue there will be a market for guys climbing Mount Everest or long-distance truckers or the military, but for the vast majority of consumers, standalone GPS systems will be irrelevant and redundant,” Baker says.

Photo: Jinx!/Flickr E-Readers The e-reader has already undergone significant changes in its short history, evolving from a product with a keyboard to one with a touchscreen and more recently being integrated into a kind of a tablet-hybrid, but according to Golvin, the market for e-readers will mostly disappear by the end of the decade. “The tablet will largely supplant the e-reader in the same way that the iPod increasingly gets displaced by smartphones,” Golvin says. “Tablets will take on the e-reader function of handling magazine, newspaper and book reading.” In essence, spending money on an e-reader that can only handle reading when tablets can do this and more will come to seem as useless as buying a GPS system that can only look up directions when other technology does this as well. Just how small the e-reader market becomes may depend somewhat on advancements in display technology. One of the biggest incentives for consumers to buy a pure e-reader is to have an e-ink display (like reading from a book) rather than a backlit display (like reading from a computer screen), but according to Golvin, manufacturers are already working on ways to merge the two reading experiences and create a tablet that doubles as an authentic e-reader. Even then, there may be still be some e-readers on the market at the beginning of next decade, but not many. “It could be that by 2020 you can still buy a super cheap e-reader for $20, but by and large, the volume of sales will be so close to zero as to be indistinguishable, like CD players are now,” he says.

Photo: Mr.Thomas/Flickr Feature Phones Several of the products that are likely to be phased out will ultimately be the victim of advances tosmartphones, and none more directly than feature phones. Tim Bajarin, a technology columnist and principle analyst with Creative Strategies, predicts that 80% of all phones sold in 2015 will be smartphones and every phone sold in 2018 will be a smartphone. This rapid decline will come about thanks to a drop in prices for consumers and an increase in revenue opportunities for carriers. “Even today, the money that is made is not on the phone itself but on the services,” Bajarin says, noting that carriers will opt to “fade out” their feature phone option in favor of smartphones with more services.

Photo: FaceMePLS/Flickr Low-End Digital Cameras When Apple unveiled the iPhone 4S, smartphone competitors probably weren’t the only ones beginning to sweat. Digital camera makers also have much to be worried about. Apple’s newest phone has a killer 8-megapixel camera that takes in more light and records video at 1080p HD video. Until recently, those kind of specs were unique to digital cameras, but increasingly smartphones are taking over the market. “Flip cameras went bye-bye and now low-end camera functions are being taken over by smartphones,” says Rob Enderle, principle analyst for the Enderle Group. Going forward, consumers will have less incentive to carry around a camera when they already have a phone in their pocket that takes quality pictures. “The point-and-shooters – and particularly the cameras that sell for under $200 – will eventually go away and be replaced by cellphones that do the same thing.” On the other hand, Enderle predicts more expensive and high-tech cameras may have a brighter future, though not by much, as a smaller market of photo enthusiasts seek out professional-quality cameras that go above and beyond what’s offered on a phone.

DVD Players DVD players are in the process of being phased out now by Blu-ray players and will likely be erased from the consumer landscape by the end of the decade. “The DVD player should be replaced by digital delivery,” says Ian Olgeirson, a senior analyst at SNL Kagan, who points to streaming movie services like Netflix as being the future. “Blu-rays and whatever the next generation high-end movie format emerges could prolong the lifespan because of challenges around streaming, but eventually the disc is going to be phased out.” The idea of placing a disc into a DVD player to watch a movie will eventually seem as outdated as placing a record on a turntable, which brings us to the next product on our list…

Photo: alixanaeuphoria/Flickr Recordable CDs and DVDs Using CDs and DVDs to view and store content will soon be a thing of the past. “CDs are clearly not going to make it over the next 10 years because everything will shift over to pure digital distribution, so all those shiny discs will be gone,” Bajarin says. This will be due in part to more streaming options for music and movies and a greater reliance on digital downloads, combined with more efficient storage options for consumers, including USB drives, external hard drives and of course the cloud. “All a CD is is a medium for distribution of content … and within 10 years, you won’t need a physical transport medium,” Bajarin says.

Photo: bochalla/Flickr Video Game Consoles Popular video game systems such as the Wii,PlayStation and Xbox may still be in homes next decade, but they will look much different. Rather than buy a separate console, Enderle expects that consumers will instead buy smart televisions with a gaming system built into it, not to mention tablets and smartphones that will continue to ramp up their gaming options. “It looks like analog game systems won’t make it until the end of the decade,” Enderle says. “You are already seeing the Wii have a tough time holding on to the market and PlayStation has been struggling for a while.” The gaming systems that will succeed in the future will be those that manage to move away from being focused solely on video games and more on other entertainment options such as movies, evolving from a traditional game console into more of a set-top box. Reference is Yahoo

GRAPE SEED EXTRACT PREVENTS CHRONIC DEGENERATIVE DISEASES

The grape seed extract may be better for you than the grapes from which is comes. For countless centuries, people from many different cultures have enjoyed a fine glass of wine, but only recently have scientists discovered that it might be good for us, too.

Yes, moderate wine drinking actually has a number of excellent potential health benefits, although of course the alcohol is not the part that does all the good!

In fact, one of the surprising advantages of millions of consumers enjoying the fruits of the wine industry is that its by-products can be made into some really useful health supplements.

Take grape seeds, for example. Grape seed extract is known as waste product of the winery and grape juice industry, because they don’t go into the finished drinks.

What is in grape seed extract?

What you may not know is that grape seed extract contains a vast array of health-giving ingredients, such as protein, lipids, carbohydrates and polyphenols (which come mainly in the form of flavonoids, also known as bioflavonoids).

The term flavonoid is used for a class of plant chemicals known for their activity as highly potent antioxidants, and therefore for their capability in protecting the body against oxidative and free radical damage. It’s not really surprising when you consider the scientific studies: they show that the antioxidant power of polyphenols is 20 times more powerful than vitamin E, and 50 times greater than vitamin C.

Because of its polyphenol content, purple grape juice provides a far greater antioxidant effect than orange juice.

What else can grape seed extract do?

Some people call these polyphenols “nature’s biological response modifiers” because of their ability to help the body fight viruses, allergens, and carcinogens.

That means that among their many talents, they exhibit anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic, anti-cancerous and anti-microbial activity.

Not bad for a “waste product”!

Procyanadin: The secret anti aging vitamin?

One particular type of phenol found in grape seed is called procyanidin. It was initially discovered in 1936 by Professor Jacques Masquelier, who called it Vitamin P, (although the name didn’t really catch on, and has since fallen out of usage).

As well as the disease prevention mentioned above, procyanidins are thought to protect the body from premature ageing.

Scientists think they do this by increasing vitamin C levels in the cells and scavenging for toxins so the organs can get rid of them.

A good "side effect": Younger looking skin

Procyanidins also bond with collagen, the most abundant protein in the body and a key component of skin, gums, bones, teeth, hair and body tissues.

The bonding promotes cell health and skin elasticity, making it seem more youthful, in a process that works almost like a natural face-lift. Procyanidins additionally help protect the body from sun damage, which can also cause premature ageing of the skin.

More importantly it helps inside the body

Vanity is one thing, but underlying health is quite another.

Far more important to your body than looking good, is the fact that procyanidins can improve your vision, the flexibility of your joints, the health of your arteries and body tissues (such as the heart) and also strengthen capilliaries and veins to improve your circulatory system.

This is important because the health of your circulatory system affects the health of your heart.

It seems that grape seed extract delays the oxidation of low density lipoproteins, the fats that are responsible for “bad cholesterol”.

The longer it takes for LDL to oxidize, the less likely it is to start clogging up your veins and arteries. People who drink purple grape juice can show an increase in oxidation lag time of 27%.

So, procyanidins present in grape seeds are known to exert anti-inflammatory, anti-arthritic and anti-allergic activities, to prevent skin aging, to scavenge oxygen free radicals and to inhibit the damaging effects of UV radiation from sunlight.

Since most of these processes are linked to cancer, it follows that grape seeds are probably strong anti-carcinogenic and/or anti-tumor-promoting agents.

Studies show they may have particular use against colorectal cancer, and scientists are devoting a fair amount of new research to grape seed because they’re pretty confident about its abilities.

The other "secret ingredient" of grape seed extract.

One other of the grape’s hidden health weapons is also worth a mention: it’s called resveratrol. This chemical is found primarily in the skin and seeds, particularly in muscadine grapes, and it confers a number of beneficial effects to the body.

They include all those mentioned above, but also an ability to help the brain and its processes work efficiently i.e. they have neuroprotective capabilities. In rats, this has life-prolonging effects, so it’s reasonable to assume it may do the same for other animals, humans included.

Whats the best way to get grape seed extract into your body?

Luckily, you don’t have to drink litres of wine or grape juice, or eat sacks of grape seeds to get these helpful chemicals into your body.

Thanks to modern technology, we now have high-quality grape seed extract in the form of supplements.

That means you can enjoy all the health-giving properties of grape seed simply by taking a pill.

Meanwhile, it’s a bonus to know that all these amazing added benefits are coming from the “waste products” of wine, so that an enjoyable pastime for some folks results in a health boost for millions of others.

Next time you toast your good health, you might like to spare a thought for the humble grape seed and all the wonders it can offer your body. Cheers!

Top-quality Grape Seed Supplement
Article Reference

Obesity and Diabetes: It Doesn’t Have to Be.

In October 2008, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control reported that the incidence of newly diagnosed diabetes nearly doubled in the last 10 years. The human and economic cost of diabetes, in the U.S. and around the world, is rapidly becoming the most important of all public health problems. The good news is that diabetes, along with most other chronic degenerative diseases, can be prevented through modest lifestyle changes. Knowing the risk factors and learning how to reduce them can restore active and healthy lives to millions.

Obesity and Diabetes: It Doesn’t Have to Be.
There is no chronic degenerative disease more epidemic today than type 2 diabetes. And yet it is among the most easily prevented of all diseases. That’s because the explosion of diabetes we see today is largely the result of two trends: rapidly increasing obesity and a dramatic drop in daily physical exercise. Those trends can be reversed and the incidence of obesity, diabetes, and their complications greatly reduced. 

The reason I can say that with confidence is the result of an important study by the Diabetes Prevention Program, a major clinical trial performed by the National Institutes of Health. All 3,234 study participants in the study were overweight and had impaired glucose tolerance, recognized risk factors for diabetes.

One-third of the subjects took metformin, the most frequently-prescribed diabetes drug, twice a day, one-third received a placebo twice a day in place of the drug, and one-third received training in diet, exercise, and behavior modification. 

The goals of the lifestyle intervention training were to:

• achieve and maintain a weight loss of 7 percent with healthy eating and increased physical activity, and
• maintain physical activity at least 150 minutes a week with moderate exercise, such as walking or biking.

Not what you would consider a radical change in lifestyle. 

The results, however, were radical. While metformin was found to somewhat reduce the risk of diabetes in persons at high risk, lifestyle intervention was far more effective. Overall, healthy diet and exercise—without any drugs—reduced the likelihood of diabetes by nearly two-thirds. Of course there also were no negative drug side effects from eating right and exercising, only additional benefits that can last a lifetime.

These striking results tell us that millions of high-risk people can use diet, exercise, and behavior modification to avoid developing type 2 diabetes. Through nothing more than awareness of risk factors, and individual preventive action, families all around the world can be spared the burden of diabetes and its debilitating complications.

Further reading:
Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group. Reduction in the incidence of Type 2 diabetes with lifestyle intervention or metmormin. N. Engl. J. Med. 346(6):393-403. 2002.

Molitch, M.E., et al. The Diabetes Prevention Program and Its Global Implications. J. Am Soc Nephrol. 14:S103-07. 2003.

Kirtland, K. et al. State-specific incidence of diabetes among adults—participating states, 1995—1997 and 2005—2007. MMWR 57:1169-72. 2008.


from http://www.usana.com/Main/myUsana/page/HealthDiabetes

How much protein do you really need?

By Sarah B. Weir and Lori Bongiorno
Posted Mon Aug 8, 2011 2:04pm PDT More from Green Picks blog

Guess how much protein is in a juicy, 8-ounce cheeseburger washed down with a milkshake? This single meal contains two to three times as much as most people need per day.

It’s no great surprise that Americans chow down on a lot of protein. We love beef and consume about 67 pounds per capita annually (that’s four times the international average). The popularity of low-carb regimes such as Atkins has also made meat the go-to food for dieters.

In fact, the average person eats about double the amount of protein that their body requires, according to the results of 2007-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

How to fulfill your daily protein requirement

The human body uses protein to repair damaged cells and to build new ones. Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition at NYU and author of What to Eat, estimates that the average adult man needs about 65 grams of protein a day and the average adult female needs about 55 grams. Some sources, such as the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization say you can maintain a healthy diet with even less.

What does this actually mean in terms of food choices? The National Institutes of Health explains that most people can meet their daily protein requirement by eating two to three small servings of a protein-rich food a day.

Examples of a single serving of protein include:

• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons of peanut butter
• 2-3 ounces of red meat, poultry, or fish (about the size of a deck of cards)
• ½ cup of cooked dried beans such as black beans or chickpeas

Whole grains, seeds, and some vegetables also contain protein, so consuming enough is not difficult even if you don’t eat meat. Vegetarians and vegans can easily get what they need by balancing complimentary proteins such as corn and beans or rice and tofu. Nutritionists used to recommend combining foods at the same meal, but research now shows that is unnecessary.

Are there drawbacks to eating more protein?

Eating large amounts of red and processed meats is associated with higher rates of heart disease and cancer, and most nutritionists such as Marion Nestle recommend cutting back on meat, especially on fatty cuts.

However, it’s less well known that your protein choices can have a substantial impact on the environment. Meat and dairy production requires tremendous amounts of fuel, pesticides, and chemical fertilizers, and generates greenhouse gases. The Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) recently published Meat Eater’s Guide points out that if you ate once less burger a week it would be the environmentally-positive equivalent of taking your car off the road for 320 miles.

Meat is also expensive. Not all proteins are created equal -- neither at the doctor’s office, nor the cash register. Here’s a comparison of three typical proteins:

Porterhouse steak
Serving size: 4 ounces
Protein: 22 grams
EWG carbon footprint rating: 2 nd worst out of 20 analyzed
Cost: 4 dollars
Fat: 22 grams
Saturated fat: 9 grams

Farm-raised salmon
Serving size: 4 ounces
Protein: 22 grams
EWG carbon footprint rating: 5th worst
Cost: 3 dollars
Fat: 10 grams
Saturated fat: 2 grams

Lentils
Serving size: 1 cup
Protein: 17.9 grams
EWG carbon footprint rating: best
Cost: 20 cents
Fat: zero
Saturated fat: zero

Many people find meat to be a delicious and satisfying component of their diet that they don’t want to sacrifice. But if you want to save money, eat a nutritionally sound diet, and are concerned about the impact meat and dairy production has on the planet, consider reducing your consumption.

Here are some tips from the EWG's Meat Eater’s Guide:

• Reduce portion sizes by eating one less burger or steak each week, or participate in Meatless Mondays by skipping meat (and cheese if you can swing it) just one day a week.
• Choose the healthiest protein sources when you can. Beans, low-fat yogurt, and nuts are all high in protein and low-impact.
• When you do eat meat and cheese, eat the highest quality that you can afford. (One way to save money is to eat less, but better quality meat and dairy products.) Here’s a guide decoding the labels, from cage-free to grass-fed.
• Don’t waste meat. Uneaten meat accounts for about 20 percent of meat’s greenhouse gas emissions.

You don’t have to become a vegetarian or go to other extremes. These small changes will help reduce your impact, while providing plenty of protein in your diet.

USANA Nutritionals - Essentials

Essentials, PH The Essentials™ —vitamin & mineral supplement for adults are a combination of two products: Mega Antioxidant™ and Chelated Mineral™. Together, they provide a broad spectrum of vitamins, minerals, and other plant nutrients that form the foundation of USANA’s nutritional system. They have the advantage of USANA’s patented Olivol™ olive fruit extract that provides the nutritional benefits of the Mediterranean diet.

If you want to maintain health with a product with safety and quality consider taking ESSENTIALS.The most comprehensive, precisely balanced supplement with unmatch number of anti-oxidantsIt is a supplement but it is listed in Medical Professional References. The Physician's Desk Reference (PDR) and the Master Index of Medical Specialties,these are the most widely used compilations of prescribing information for physicians in the United States and Asia respectively.

HEALTH BENEFITS OF THE USANA ESSENTIALS

-Liver Health(Detoxification)
-Lipotropic Factors
-Optimal Immune Function
-Mega Anti-oxidant Support
-Inflammation Control
-Methylation Support(Homocysteine Control)
-Brain Health
-Heart Health
-Metabolic Health
-Bone Health
-Glycation Control (anti-aging)
-Respiratory Health
-Ocular Health
-Skin Health
-PHENOLIC compounds
-Bioflavonoids
-Sexual Health

for more info of these things pls send me a messge or txt me
09228259201 and visit our website at www.usana.com 

WHY HEALTHY WEIGHT IS (VERY) IMPORTANT?

Reaching and maintaining a healthy weight is important for overall health and can help you prevent and control many diseases and conditions. If you are overweight or obese, you are at higher risk of developing serious health problems, including heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, gallstones, breathing problems, and certain cancers. That is why maintaining a healthy weight is so important: It helps you lower your risk for developing these problems, helps you feel good about yourself, and gives you more energy to enjoy life.

What Is Overweight and Obesity?

Overweight is having extra body weight from muscle, bone, fat, and/or water. Obesity is having a high amount of extra body fat. Body mass index (BMI) is a useful measure of overweight and obesity. According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data from 2007–08, the overall prevalence of overweight and obesity for adults was 68 percent. Children have become heavier as well. In the past 30 years, the prevalence of childhood obesity has more than doubled among children ages 2-5, has tripled among youth ages 6-11, and has more than tripled among adolescents ages 12-19.

The information on this Web site will provide you with information about BMI (including limitations of this measure) and how to reach and stay at a healthy weight. Talk to your health care provider if you are concerned about your BMI.

What Factors Contribute To a Healthy Weight?

Many factors can contribute to a person’s weight. These factors include environment, family history and genetics, metabolism (the way your body changes food and oxygen into energy), and behavior or habits.

Energy Balance

Energy balance is important for maintaining a healthy weight. The amount of energy or calories you get from food and drinks (energy IN) is balanced with the energy your body uses for things like breathing, digesting, and being physically active (energy OUT):

• The same amount of energy IN and energy OUT over time = weight stays the same (energy balance)
• More energy IN than OUT over time = weight gain
• More energy OUT than IN over time = weight loss

To maintain a healthy weight, your energy IN and OUT don’t have to balance exactly every day. It’s the balance over time that helps you maintain a healthy weight.
You can reach and maintain a healthy weight if you:

• Follow a healthy diet, and if you are overweight or obese, reduce your daily intake by 500 calories for weight loss
• Are physically active?
• Limit the time you spend being physically inactive.