What is a Calorie? | How Many Calories Makes One Pound? | Burning Calories | Walking 1 Mile Burns How Many Calories?
Foods Boasting Health Benefits
Super Foods Blended & Enhanced With Products Claiming to Boost Health Benefits
|
|
Some of the best sources of health benefits come in packages wrapped by Mother Nature. So beautiful to the eye, so health-wise to the body. And so fresh.
Fresh fruit, vegetables and hearty nuts add health and flavor to any diet plan. But when a health benefit for a particular food is associated with a particular manufactured product, the situation becomes a manufacturer's dream machine. People want to be healthy; they seek products that will make them look younger, feel better and those that offer substantial benefits to the body.
Take vitamins sold over the counter. In actuality, very few individuals benefit from commercialized vitamin supplements. If the individual is of a healthy state, consumes a healthy well-rounded diet based on the Food Pyramid, gets ample activity, isn't pregnant, lactating, elderly or on a restricted diet - the natural vitamins consumed in the daily diet should suffice. In fact, taking a multi-vitamin can potentially trigger all sorts of health woes particularly where some vitamins are concerned - such as Vitamin A. A build-up can create vitamin toxicity issues which may not be reversible.
My grandfather took so many vitamins that I was awed at how he managed to swallow them all. He took daily walks; he ate exceptionally well, so well that he needed to drop about 50 pounds. But he was certain that those over the counter vitamins were the key to his longevity - that he would live well into his eighties just like his mother and father (who by the way, never took a multi-vitamin in their lives). He died of a massive heart attack at a traffic light while in his early 60's.
Nonetheless, our point is that vitamins are a multi-million dollar industry. And now, super foods that have been plied or combined with other powerful formulas, foods and/or elements have quickly become very popular. Healthy, beneficial, energizing - all attention-getters for not only the health conscious individual, but for all individuals seeking ways to improve their overall health and increase longevity.
Fiber in cereals, calcium in dairy products and vitamin C in citrus fruits - a healthy bounty that can receive FDA approval for boasting privileges which in turn boosts sales while providing a product that is beneficial. Everyone's a winner. An FDA endorsement solidifies health benefits currently known in a particular food and it's a good idea when shopping to look for that endorsement on product labels, as well as on packages.
|
|
Although we have a very good idea of the Super Foods that currently exist, as well as their healthy benefits - time will increase our knowledge through carefully monitored studies, as well as the time line of man in relation to certain foods. Fact is, some foods become overnight Super Food sensations while other are left coughing in the dust - standing straight-up even.
In truth, almost-all foods in their natural state can be considered super foods with super-healthy benefits to the body. And as with some products, studies have indicated or shown that additives that were considered beneficial to the health may actually be harmful.
And some foods defined as super foods have never been proven effective. Take the acai berry. It's a common ingredient in many juices and yogurts these days, as well as weight loss supplements. The acai berry is touted to hold super powers in the area of weight loss and antioxidant powers. Fact is, there have not been sufficient health studies to accurately substantiate or disprove those claims.
When super foods become infused and combined with products that enhance their already-super powers, by listening to certain advertisements surrounding these products it lends the impression to the consumer that if we purchase the product that we'll be better, faster, stronger - and best of all, healthier.
My mind goes back to a time when I was at the supermarket and this little old lady was examining a container of cranberry juice. She looked at me and mumbled that she and her husband had been drinking the product for months and it was supposed to make them feel better but to-date, she felt no different than before they had purchased the product.
Given such, this validates and demonstrates the necessity of the ineffectiveness of product concentration. Unfortunately, one single product isn't that powerful to combat a malady of potential ills that threaten the body and any 'peace of mind' that fortifies the product is simply 'in the mind'. For the body to benefit from super foods and those enhanced with super-products, a variety of particular foods are necessary for the body but not necessarily those products infused with super-products.
Simply put, a single food that can reap body-altering health benefits isn't currently available and it probably won't ever be a viable option in our future dietary landscape. Therefore - if and until that time does arrive, we recommend a diet as close to nature as possible and one based on the Official FDA Food Pyramid.
Oh - and don't forget to check out the labels on those health-wise products. Every little bit adds up to your good health!
|
|
How Many Calories in a Pound? | Natural Diet Plan | Tortilla Soup Recipes