There are many herbs that we are just finding out exactly what they are really good for and what negative effects they can have on us generally.
Just reading an article which suggests Angelica (Angelica sinensis) can help with the digestive system. Used by the Chinese women to keep them strong and vibrant from puberty on, these Practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine believe that angelica makes periods less painful, enables conception, eases childbirth, and helps ensure an easier menopause as well as a digestive stimulant. Seems like a miraculous herb! We do have to be aware if there are bleeding disorders as Angelica thins the blood.
It is also researched to show that Angelica compounds bind to circulating free radicals, thereby rendering them harmless. Free radicals are highly reactive chemicals produced by the body that can accelerate the aging process by damaging the body inside and out.
Our immune function lessens with age and with fewer immune cells patrolling the body for foreign invaders (bacteria and viruses) and cancer cells, we become more vulnerable to infection and cancer. Researchers have found that angelica stimulates the production and activity of immune cells.
Mannatech's proprietary products redefine wellness and are designed to give you assurance of nutritional health. Mannatech sells more than 24 proprietary and scientifically validated glyconutritional supplements and products for adults and children that address health and wellbeing.
Friday, June 29, 2007
Monday, June 25, 2007
Powerhouse Super Food
Coaxing children to eat vegies is a fun process. Broccoli is really easy - just tell the kids we are eating green trees and it really excites their imagination.
Broccoli is one of nature's best super foods, a nutrient-packed vegetable that provides the body with a wide range of vitamins, minerals, fibre and antioxidants. Very few kilojoules, like its relatives cabbage and cauliflower, broccoli has been shown to reduce the risk of bowel cancer. The ingredients responsible are the strong-smelling sulfur compounds known as indoles and isothiocyanates, which seem to 'switch on' cancer-fighting enzymes and block carcinogens from entering the body.
Another dietary factor that keeps the bowel healthy is broccoli's high fibre content. This soluble form of fibre is ultra-filling and good for appetite control, as well as helping to lower blood cholesterol in a similar way to oats, by binding to the cholesterol and 'sweeping' it out of the bowel, preventing it from being reabsorbed into the body where it causes health problems.
Cook broccoli carefully, as boiling will reduce its nutrient content by about half. To minimise the loss of nutrients, use as little water as possible and bring it to the boil before adding the broccoli. Cook until just tender when the stalk is pierced with a knife, then serve immediately. Or steam or microwave it, so you don't need to use any water at all.
I definitely steam my vegies, especially broccoli, even then one has to be vigilant not to overcook. Blanching may be the best or even raw in salads for crunch. Cook with stock, garlic and onion, then puree to make soup.
Mannatech's products are at the cutting-edge of nutritional science. Their glyconutrients, containing broccoli, are necessary for optimal health and wellbeing.
Broccoli is one of nature's best super foods, a nutrient-packed vegetable that provides the body with a wide range of vitamins, minerals, fibre and antioxidants. Very few kilojoules, like its relatives cabbage and cauliflower, broccoli has been shown to reduce the risk of bowel cancer. The ingredients responsible are the strong-smelling sulfur compounds known as indoles and isothiocyanates, which seem to 'switch on' cancer-fighting enzymes and block carcinogens from entering the body.
Another dietary factor that keeps the bowel healthy is broccoli's high fibre content. This soluble form of fibre is ultra-filling and good for appetite control, as well as helping to lower blood cholesterol in a similar way to oats, by binding to the cholesterol and 'sweeping' it out of the bowel, preventing it from being reabsorbed into the body where it causes health problems.
Cook broccoli carefully, as boiling will reduce its nutrient content by about half. To minimise the loss of nutrients, use as little water as possible and bring it to the boil before adding the broccoli. Cook until just tender when the stalk is pierced with a knife, then serve immediately. Or steam or microwave it, so you don't need to use any water at all.
I definitely steam my vegies, especially broccoli, even then one has to be vigilant not to overcook. Blanching may be the best or even raw in salads for crunch. Cook with stock, garlic and onion, then puree to make soup.
Mannatech's products are at the cutting-edge of nutritional science. Their glyconutrients, containing broccoli, are necessary for optimal health and wellbeing.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
No Need for Man-made Trans Fat!
Trans fats turn up naturally in milk and meat - in tiny amounts. But it's the man-made version that's causing all the trouble. When vegetable oil and hydrogen are put together under tremendous pressure, the resulting fat provides a taste and consistency that drives consumers wild. Manufacturers now use it in nearly everything, from margarine and shortening to cookies, granola bars, bean dip, and frozen french fries. Chain restaurants love the oil because it keeps their partially fried foods from spoiling while they're being shipped all over the country.
Research shows the fat can drive 'bad' LDL cholesterol levels up and hart-protective HDLl cholesterol levels down. For women, a diet rife with trans fats doubles the risk of heart disease. Part of the danger stems from the fat's structure, which is quire stiff. This characteristic makes trans fats tough for the body to break down and clear from the blood - giving them time to lodge in a artery walls.
The heart evidence is so dramatic that the US Institute of Medicine ( IOM), a group of scientists that advises the nation on health issues, recommended in 2002 that we keep our intake of trans fats as low as possible. 'As it is not a nutrient there is no reason for anyone to consume added trans fat,' says Alice Lichtenstein, a professor of nutrition at the Friedman School of Nutrition at Tufts University. 'These fats are just not necessary.'
Mannatech products, including glyconutrients, are at the cutting-edge of Nutritional science and are required for optimal health.
Research shows the fat can drive 'bad' LDL cholesterol levels up and hart-protective HDLl cholesterol levels down. For women, a diet rife with trans fats doubles the risk of heart disease. Part of the danger stems from the fat's structure, which is quire stiff. This characteristic makes trans fats tough for the body to break down and clear from the blood - giving them time to lodge in a artery walls.
The heart evidence is so dramatic that the US Institute of Medicine ( IOM), a group of scientists that advises the nation on health issues, recommended in 2002 that we keep our intake of trans fats as low as possible. 'As it is not a nutrient there is no reason for anyone to consume added trans fat,' says Alice Lichtenstein, a professor of nutrition at the Friedman School of Nutrition at Tufts University. 'These fats are just not necessary.'
Mannatech products, including glyconutrients, are at the cutting-edge of Nutritional science and are required for optimal health.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Bird Rehabilitation
Whilst travelling along our highways we often find animals and birds having been hurt and taken to care centres for rehabilitation. This informative article was interesting reading in Attracting Birds to you Garden by John Dengate.
Getting birds back into their natural environment can take an enormous amount of ability, time and money and is best handles by those who know what they're doing. The intricacies of rehabilitating birds are best illustrated by the example of an abandoned kite chick.
Kites, hawks, owls and eagles require a balanced diet of mice and birds to provide the roughage and nutrients they need to develop properly. Using substitute foods can cause serious damage. Once the kite chick is older it needs to learn to hunt for itself. The ancient European technique of falconry is the best way to teach it.
When the chick can catch mice in a large cage, it is transferred into a 'hacking' cage. This is an enclosure in an area where the bird's natural prey is plentiful. One end of the cage is open so the bird can fly out to hunt. In the cage, food is provided so the bird will be okay if it doesn't catch enough. Usually after a few weeks, the bird will be able to look after itself.
This process, termed 'hacking' the bird back into the wild, can be very successful if sufficient time and expertise is put into it.
Just as humans need roughage, kites and falcons need roughage from fur or feathers to develop properly.
Glyconutrients are generally missing from our diet but is necessary for optimal health and wellbeing in humans.
Getting birds back into their natural environment can take an enormous amount of ability, time and money and is best handles by those who know what they're doing. The intricacies of rehabilitating birds are best illustrated by the example of an abandoned kite chick.
Kites, hawks, owls and eagles require a balanced diet of mice and birds to provide the roughage and nutrients they need to develop properly. Using substitute foods can cause serious damage. Once the kite chick is older it needs to learn to hunt for itself. The ancient European technique of falconry is the best way to teach it.
When the chick can catch mice in a large cage, it is transferred into a 'hacking' cage. This is an enclosure in an area where the bird's natural prey is plentiful. One end of the cage is open so the bird can fly out to hunt. In the cage, food is provided so the bird will be okay if it doesn't catch enough. Usually after a few weeks, the bird will be able to look after itself.
This process, termed 'hacking' the bird back into the wild, can be very successful if sufficient time and expertise is put into it.
Just as humans need roughage, kites and falcons need roughage from fur or feathers to develop properly.
Glyconutrients are generally missing from our diet but is necessary for optimal health and wellbeing in humans.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Blemished versus Unblemished
This is from an interesting article I read which gives wise interpretation to blemished fruit.
'Although many gardeners are quite happy to tolerate the odd pest and occasional chewed leaf in the garden, far less are satisfied eating fruit with the odd bug hole or brown spot. However, perfect, unblemished fruit is probably the result of intensive spraying. If the grower waited long enough between spraying and harvesting, and if the companies that assure you the product was harmless are right, you have nothing to worry about. If either of these assumptions is wrong, you're probably better off choosing the fruit with the odd spot on it. Behind the blemish is likely to be a tastier, more wholesome product'.
"From Attracting Birds in Your Garden" by John Dengate.
The fruit and veggies in the markets today mostly look spectacular with no marks or if there is a blemish we usually leave the product on the shelf. We find the more expensive organic products do sometimes have more blemishes or marks than other sprayed produce which reminds me of the beautiful plum tree that was grown in our back yard by my father. The plums were huge and had white flesh with rosy colour on the skin. The taste was superb and delicious. Eventually though after a few years of fruiting the grubs (fruit fly) found their way into the fruit. The plums were so tasty we would cut out the grub and eat the fruit as they were so big there was plenty left. We were very disappointed when the tree had to be cut down.
The fruit we eat these days does not have the vitamins and minerals in the same quantity as it did fifty years ago. Glyconutrient supplements produced by Mannatech, are essential to humans and generally missing from our diet. Glyconutrients are needed in our diet for optimal health and goodness.
'Although many gardeners are quite happy to tolerate the odd pest and occasional chewed leaf in the garden, far less are satisfied eating fruit with the odd bug hole or brown spot. However, perfect, unblemished fruit is probably the result of intensive spraying. If the grower waited long enough between spraying and harvesting, and if the companies that assure you the product was harmless are right, you have nothing to worry about. If either of these assumptions is wrong, you're probably better off choosing the fruit with the odd spot on it. Behind the blemish is likely to be a tastier, more wholesome product'.
"From Attracting Birds in Your Garden" by John Dengate.
The fruit and veggies in the markets today mostly look spectacular with no marks or if there is a blemish we usually leave the product on the shelf. We find the more expensive organic products do sometimes have more blemishes or marks than other sprayed produce which reminds me of the beautiful plum tree that was grown in our back yard by my father. The plums were huge and had white flesh with rosy colour on the skin. The taste was superb and delicious. Eventually though after a few years of fruiting the grubs (fruit fly) found their way into the fruit. The plums were so tasty we would cut out the grub and eat the fruit as they were so big there was plenty left. We were very disappointed when the tree had to be cut down.
The fruit we eat these days does not have the vitamins and minerals in the same quantity as it did fifty years ago. Glyconutrient supplements produced by Mannatech, are essential to humans and generally missing from our diet. Glyconutrients are needed in our diet for optimal health and goodness.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Can Evolution Explain Complete Metamorphosis?
An interesting artical from Creation Magazine - Vol.29 No. 3 June-Aug 2007
In a 1999 issue of Nature, two scientists (James Truman & Lyn Riddiford) presented their hypothesis of how complete insect metamorphosis evolved. In the article the authors tried to explain the evolution of four-stage metamorphosis from three-stage metamorphosis by proposing that the latter actually contains four stages. They called this arbitrarily-defined fourth stage the 'pronymph', and described it to be a period which always precedes the first moult, and which varies in duration among different species, sometimes ending as soon as the insect hatches out of its egg. This 'pronymph', they argued, evolved into our modern larva.
In plainer terms, some ancient insect hatched out of its egg too soon and began groping around for food. It continued evolving until it could spend many weeks in this premature, caterpillar-like form, before finally metamorphosing into the long-belated nymph stage - which according to the authors had shortened and evolved into our modern pupa.
Our fatal problem with this idea is that the underdeveloped 'pronymph', as described in Nature, doesn't eat! It would need a fully formed digestive tract and the capability to bite, chew and swallow if it were to survive and grow into an adult. Truman and Riddiford argued that the 'pronymph' overcame these difficulties and gradually evolved until it could eat, move, and presumably defend itself. Defence is very important in a world of 'survival of the fittest', and it boggles the mind how the first premature 'pronymph' was safer and better favoured by evolution than a normal, fully developed nymph!
A better explanation is that four-stage metamorphosis was created independently and completely functional.
Nature provides all the ingredients in the Mannatech product PhytoMatrix containing vitamins and phytochemicals.
In a 1999 issue of Nature, two scientists (James Truman & Lyn Riddiford) presented their hypothesis of how complete insect metamorphosis evolved. In the article the authors tried to explain the evolution of four-stage metamorphosis from three-stage metamorphosis by proposing that the latter actually contains four stages. They called this arbitrarily-defined fourth stage the 'pronymph', and described it to be a period which always precedes the first moult, and which varies in duration among different species, sometimes ending as soon as the insect hatches out of its egg. This 'pronymph', they argued, evolved into our modern larva.
In plainer terms, some ancient insect hatched out of its egg too soon and began groping around for food. It continued evolving until it could spend many weeks in this premature, caterpillar-like form, before finally metamorphosing into the long-belated nymph stage - which according to the authors had shortened and evolved into our modern pupa.
Our fatal problem with this idea is that the underdeveloped 'pronymph', as described in Nature, doesn't eat! It would need a fully formed digestive tract and the capability to bite, chew and swallow if it were to survive and grow into an adult. Truman and Riddiford argued that the 'pronymph' overcame these difficulties and gradually evolved until it could eat, move, and presumably defend itself. Defence is very important in a world of 'survival of the fittest', and it boggles the mind how the first premature 'pronymph' was safer and better favoured by evolution than a normal, fully developed nymph!
A better explanation is that four-stage metamorphosis was created independently and completely functional.
Nature provides all the ingredients in the Mannatech product PhytoMatrix containing vitamins and phytochemicals.
Monday, June 4, 2007
Herbs for Winter
Winter savory is an insignificant looking bush, about ankle-high, with tiny white summer flowers. It's not the most spectacular herb in the garden, but the great virtue of winter savory is that it smells gorgeous in the colder months when some other herbs, such as basil and tarragon, die down or, like marjoram, lose a lot of their fragrance.
Winter savory needs a rich, moist soil and full sun. Prune it every year when it has finished flowering, otherwise it gets "woody" and the old stems can rot.
Pick the leaves often. Use them in stuffing for a roast chook, or with white sauces for vegies. In past times, when dried beans were one of the winter staples, winter savory was often cooked with them, and it's good with fresh green beans, too. Just add a few leaves to the water when you boil beans, or put the leaves on top of the beans in the steamer. I like to toss new potatoes in melted butter or margarine and add a few leaves of winter savory.
Mannatech products are at the cutting edge of nutritional science; glyconutrients, necessary for optimal health and wellbeing.
Winter savory needs a rich, moist soil and full sun. Prune it every year when it has finished flowering, otherwise it gets "woody" and the old stems can rot.
Pick the leaves often. Use them in stuffing for a roast chook, or with white sauces for vegies. In past times, when dried beans were one of the winter staples, winter savory was often cooked with them, and it's good with fresh green beans, too. Just add a few leaves to the water when you boil beans, or put the leaves on top of the beans in the steamer. I like to toss new potatoes in melted butter or margarine and add a few leaves of winter savory.
Mannatech products are at the cutting edge of nutritional science; glyconutrients, necessary for optimal health and wellbeing.
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Re-Emerging Infections Related to Food
Taken from Health and Living Volume 2, Number 2
Global Health Challenges Still Abound
Viruses are the smallest known forms of life. They are responsible for a wide range of diseases in humans, ranging from the common cold and flu to smallpox, AIDS and hepatitis.
New and re-emerging infectious diseases or those that have been recently discovered have increased in humans during the last 20 years or threaten to grow in the near future. The resurgence of tuberculosis, including antibiotic-resistant strains, and the spread of other diseases regarded until recently as under control- such as cholera and yellow fever-are good examples.
Some examples of resurgence of infectious diseases include cholera in Latin America, yellow fever in Kenya (where the disease had never been recorded before) and diphtheria in Russia.
These examples vividly illustrate that the world remains extremely vulnerable to new and re-emerging infections, and they emphasize the need for increased vigilance, said Dr. James LeDuc of The World Health Organization Division of Communicable Diseases.
Research has proved that glyconutrients are essentially a great benefit for health and well being.
Global Health Challenges Still Abound
Viruses are the smallest known forms of life. They are responsible for a wide range of diseases in humans, ranging from the common cold and flu to smallpox, AIDS and hepatitis.
New and re-emerging infectious diseases or those that have been recently discovered have increased in humans during the last 20 years or threaten to grow in the near future. The resurgence of tuberculosis, including antibiotic-resistant strains, and the spread of other diseases regarded until recently as under control- such as cholera and yellow fever-are good examples.
Some examples of resurgence of infectious diseases include cholera in Latin America, yellow fever in Kenya (where the disease had never been recorded before) and diphtheria in Russia.
These examples vividly illustrate that the world remains extremely vulnerable to new and re-emerging infections, and they emphasize the need for increased vigilance, said Dr. James LeDuc of The World Health Organization Division of Communicable Diseases.
Research has proved that glyconutrients are essentially a great benefit for health and well being.
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