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The health benefits of juicing are countless. Juicing is great for weight loss, better immune system function, increased energy, glossy hair and smooth, glowing skin. However, the most important question is, when juice can be purchased at the local grocery store for a fraction of the cost of a juicer, is the cost of a juicer justifiable?

Absolutely!

There are many reasons canned and bottled juice from the supermarket is far inferior to freshly-juiced fruits and vegetables. First, commercial juice is pasteurized, which means that it is heated. This heating kills all of the vital enzymes that are essential to health and life. Have you ever heard the saying, “Live food, live body; dead food, dead body”? Raw fruits and vegetables contain living enzymes, as well as essential vitamins that get destroyed through the pasteurization process. So while you think you are getting the health benefits of the fruits and vegetables from the juice, usually you are just getting sugar, liquid hydration and empty calories.

Many times this bottled and canned juice will also contain sweeteners, like sugar, corn syrup and sometimes artificial chemical sweeteners. Many juices only contain a small amount of juice, or in some cases, no juice at all! Other juices have artificial colors that have been known to cause cancer in laboratory animals, and certain ingredients that are difficult to even pronounce. When you juice fresh fruits and vegetables you are getting no artificial ingredients, no chemical sweeteners, and you can bet you actually are getting juice.

What can juicing do for you?

Fruits and vegetables are a wonderful source of countless vitamins, minerals, live enzymes and phytochemicals, which have been shown to fight cancer. Juicing is an excellent way to add fruits and vegetables to your diet. As juice contains the entire fruit or vegetable, with the exception of the fiber, it contains all the life-giving parts of the plant. Because you are juicing raw fruits and vegetables all the nutrients remain intact, and you are getting the full health benefits of the plants.

Another important health benefit of juicing is that it is in a form that is easy for the body to digest and absorb. People who juice nearly always report a boost of energy that lasts much longer than a cup of coffee, and is much healthier.

1) It takes the workload off the body, so it doesn’t have to work so hard at digesting
2) You feel the results of the juicing almost immediately.

Juices made from green vegetables, such as spinach, cabbage, broccoli, wheat grass and kale are rich in chlorophyll, which helps to build red blood cells, aid in purification of the blood, and to detoxify and heal the body.

The juice of cucumbers contains silica, which is essential for healthy skin and hair, and also strengthens connective tissue. It is important when juicing cucumbers to leave the peel intact, as the majority of silica is found in the peel. Be sure to wash thoroughly before juicing.

Orange fruits and vegetables like carrots, squash, mango and papaya are sky-high in beta-carotene, which is a known cancer fighter, and it’s good for your heart. Just a half a cup of carrots contains 12 mg of beta-carotene, which is twice the amount needed to get its heart-healthy benefits.

Cranberries have been proven to clean out infections in the bladder. Mixed with the sweeter fruit of an apple or watermelon, they are delicious and healthy.

The juice of carrot, apple and wheatgrass works very effectively to quell the symptoms of constipation and promote regularity.

Juicing for kids

Juicing is perfect for children who may be finicky when it comes to eating their vegetables. Stronger vegetable flavors such as cabbage or broccoli are easily disguised by adding the sweetness of an apple. Suddenly the veggies that were once looked upon with much disdain are now gulped down greedily by kids who have no idea they are drinking something healthy. They just know it’s sweet and delicious.

Juicing is also perfect for the elderly population, who may have trouble chewing the hard vegetables, or have difficulty with proper digestion. It’s a way to add numerous fruits and vegetables in one convenient and tasty drink.

Juicing for weight loss

Juicing also aids in weight loss, as it combats the craving for sweets and helps you to feel full. After eating a small meal try drinking a glass of freshly-juiced vegetables and fruits to enjoy the health benefits of juicing, and to help fill you up.

In summary, juicing nourishes the body with vital live enzymes, vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients that have not been destroyed by the pasteurization process of commercial juices. Juicing is a quick, easy way to get the nutrients your body needs, and best of all you have the peace of mind knowing that you are giving you and your family what the body needs to ensure good health and vitality for years to come.

Article found : http://nutrition.suite101.com/article.cfm/health_benefits_of_juicing#ixzz0m2WvOn00

Benefits of Fasting

Fasting does not necessarily suggest depriving the body of all food. Sometimes a fast includes a short period of abstinence from eating just certain foods. Fasting does not mean starving yourself. What it does mean to some people is timing when you eat, and then eating specific foods in moderation. However, consuming enough fluids throughout any fast is important to prevent dehydration. Although fasting can be a controversial issue, the value of physiological fasting as a treatment for many chronic health conditions continues to be studied.

Benefits

The possible health benefits of fasting are thought to be many and include improved immune system function, increased energy, and an overall sense of well-being. The physiological benefits of fasting have been known to lower systolic blood pressure, body temperature, and cholesterol, in addition to lowering glucose levels in the blood. The body’s metabolic rate also slows during a fast, allowing it to conserve energy, thereby contributing to the healing process.

Potential

Many advocates of regular fasting maintain that it contributes to a longer life by cleaning the body of harmful toxins. They believe that chemicals absorbed into the body from the environment are stored in the body’s fat. When a person fasts, the body must rely on these reserves, as an energy source. As the body breaks down fat, toxins are released and eliminated through the function of organs like the liver, kidneys, colon, lungs, and skin. Some people believe that fasting can be used to manage weight and achieve safe weight loss and therefore may be an option to treat obesity and related hypertension.

Theories/Speculation

When the body has no new sources of fuel coming in, it must use excess sugar and carbohydrates stored as fat to produce the energy it needs. Digesting food takes a lot of the body’s energy. Fasting works by redirecting energy away from the digestive process to the immune system. Advocates believe that fasting benefits the body in much the same way as do rest and sleep. The assumption is that careful, regulated periods of fasting may actually aid individuals in recovering faster from illness or injury. Healing occurs, as the body is able to use more energy to repair damaged bone, tissue or organs.

Time Frame

Fasting actually begins within the first 12 — 24 hours of not eating, when the body begins to chemically break down fat to use as energy. Some people fast for only one day each week, during which time they might go without eating just certain foods like prepared or junk foods. Other people go on a longer fast at least once or twice each year. The general consensus seems to be that long fasts are more beneficial for healing than short fasts. Individuals who fast for more than a day say that they usually stop feeling hungry after about the third day. Yet those who fast report having more energy than normal despite not feeling hungry. However, even people who fast several times each year say that when hunger returns, it’s time to break the fast. They recommend eating lightly at first, adding solid food back into the diet gradually.

Warning

During a fast, a person needs to consume adequate calories for health in order to avoid becoming malnourished. However, if not done correctly, doctors warn that fasting may be dangerous to one’s health. Some people experience headaches or joint pain during the first few days. Other adverse effects of fasting may include fatigue, dizziness, and weakness. If you feel tired or weak during a fast, you should rest. A juice fast is considered to be a safer alternative because the body gets enough nutrients. Fruit and vegetable juices are also easy to digest.

Expert Insight

Health experts say that most healthy individuals have enough fat stored in the body to live without food for several weeks, as long as they keep themselves well hydrated. Starvation only occurs when the body has exhausted its fat reserves and must use tissue from vital organs as a source of energy to survive. Yet because of the many potential benefits, the medical community continues to study the effects of fasting for enhancing immune function. Since even animals instinctively fast when they are sick or injured, a person’s loss of appetite may well be a normal, as well as an effective response to illness.

Actual article may be found at the link below:

http://www.ehow.com/about_4615273_benefits-of-fasting.html?ref=Track2&utm_source=ask 

Acupuncture weight loss is one of the popular natural methods of losing weight. Considering that binging – .i.e. excessive eating is many times a result of increased stress levels, frustrations and anxiety, acupuncture for weight loss may be effective for losing weight to some people.

The exact workings of this old natural art are still not well understood. It is supposed that the inserted needles are used in such a way as to stimulate release of the hormone endorphin. Endorphin, your body’s natural feel good factors, then result to a calming and relaxing effect. Acupuncture weight loss based programs then use such a calming to introduce control of binging that result from stress.

This strategy of using such techniques to encourage a lifestyle that encourages and maintains weight loss is aiding weight loss.

Stress generally tenses up the body such that your body systems are in a degree of fight or flee. The full extent of fight or flee status would for example be, the state of your body systems when you see a car speeding towards you to run you over. At such a state some of your body systems nearly shut down to facilitate others. Blood moves away from abdominal area to skeletal muscles, there is increased heart beat, all to put you in a position to fight or flee.

This usually is meant to last for a short time until the danger has passed. However in stress this status is constant in the body to some significant extent resulting to system imbalance. Release of endorphin in a natural weight loss process like acupuncture would assist in rebalancing your body systems.

Acupuncture for Weight Loss – How it works

A practitioner would choose points of treatment depending on the patient’s diagnosed problem. The needles are then inserted in these points. Once inserted the needles stay in place for about 30-45 minutes per session, then they are removed.

Points in the ear are replaced with ear tacks or ear staples and an adhesive is placed over them. Normally the ear staples are exactly where the needle was. These are meant to continue treatment in between sessions.

When the patient feels an urge to eat in between meals or when it is unnecessary to eat, they apply a mild pressure on the ear staples; alternatively rub them back and forth for about 20 seconds. This results to a direct stimulation causing a mild endorphin release, relaxing the patient to regain control.

The endorphin hormone is believed to create a conducive physiological and psychological environment to make lasting choice to overcome eating temptations. The tacks are removed after three days or sooner if they are uncomfortable. The treatment frequency depends on the patients goals. For a faster loss of weight, acupuncture weight loss would be done more often. But whatever you choose the treatment tapers off in frequency.

For example you can start with a treatment session a day, then to every other day and then to twice a week and finally after you gain your ideal-weight a booster treatment. This booster treatment may be once every two weeks and finally terminate treatment.

Short course acupuncture weight loss treatments mainly aim to suppress appetite and assist in acquiring the lifestyle change necessary to maintain healthy weight.

Acupuncture for weight loss program goes hand in hand with a healthy weight loss diet and an exercise regime. Though clinically acupuncture for weight loss has yet to prove significant effect in loss of weight, there exist prove that it can be effective for some people. Especially for those whose weight problem is mainly linked to stress.

Acupuncture weight loss points target the following:

Points that help in calming anxiety, anger, frustration and insecurity

Endocrine System and Kidneys – to treat water retention a source of some weight regain as well as stimulate nerve and hormonal rebalance,

Spleen and Thyroid Gland – for sugar and hormonal rebalancing

And finally Adrenal and Ovary Glands – to treat weight gain due to menopause or P.M.S.
Acupuncture for weight loss may be recommended for inclusion on a weight loss regime especially for highly stressed individuals. In fact acupuncture is a weight loss support structure. It may be included in a wholesome weight loss plan for specific purposes.

Source: Health-eMark.com

Depression and Acupuncture – A new hope for relief

Symptoms of Depression
Depression is a mood disorder characterized by both physical and psychological symptoms that can be detrimental to one’s normal daily functioning. Depressed individuals often suffer from poor sleeping habits, crying spells, anxiety, worry, poor memory, inability to concentrate, body aches, stomach disturbances and a lack of interest in activities previously enjoyed. In extreme cases, individuals become helpless and hopeless about their lives and suicide is often considered.
Modern Treatment for Depression
Modern medicine typically treats depression with a form of psychotherapy and/or anti-depressant drugs regardless of the specific symptoms presented by the depressed patient. In the United States, the DSM-IV, a diagnostic tool for appropriately categorizing psychological disorders, is widely used in the diagnosis and treatment for depression.
How Chinese Medicine Views Depression
In contrast, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) does not recognize depression as a particular illness per se, but it aims to treat the specific symptoms that are unique to the individual using a variety of techniques such as acupuncture, Chinese herbs, tui-na massage, and energetic exercises to restore imbalances found in the body.

Based on a holistic approach, acupuncture consists of fine needles inserted along various points in the body, with the purpose of stimulating the body’s flow of energy and functionality, known as Qi. Though acupuncture has been traditionally taught as a preventive form of health care, it has also been proven effective in the treatment of pain and chronic conditions.

Studies of Acupuncture for Depression
Since the early nineties, studies around the globe have suggested that treating depression with acupuncture has a positive and holistic effect on depressed patients, particularly when used in combination with psychotherapy and herbal treatments.
Psychologist John Allen, from the University of Arizona in Tucson, and Acupuncturist Rosa Schnyer, conducted the very first pilot controlled study on treating depression symptoms with acupuncture in the Western scientific world. In a double blind randomized study, 34 depressed female patients who met the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria were assigned to one of three treatment groups for eight weeks.
The first group received acupuncture treatment specifically tailored to their depression symptoms. The second group received a general acupuncture treatment not specific to depression, and the third group was placed on a waiting list for acupuncture treatment, but received no treatment. The study found that those in the tailored acupuncture treatment experienced a significant reduction in symptoms, compared to those in the non-specific treatment. Moreover, over 50% of the participants no longer met the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for depression after the study.
The study findings suggest that using acupuncture alone could be as effective as other types of treatments for relieving depression symptoms typically used in Western medicine, such as psychotherapy and drugs. While these results are promising and the United Nations World Health Organization has approved acupuncture as a treatment for depression, further clinical trials with larger samples are deemed necessary to endorse this new hope for relief.
Sources:
Allen, J. J. B. (2000). Depression and acupuncture: a controlled clinical trial. Psychiatric Times Online, 22, 3.
Tian, C. H. (2002). Acupuncture treatment for depression. New England Journal of Traditional Medicine, 1, 4-7.
About the Author

A culmination of studying psychology and being a patient of integrative medicine gives Indira Samayoa-Bettner a unique understanding of the human body and spirit.

Indira Samayoa-Bettner holds a BS in psychology and is currently pursuing her Masters Degree in San Diego, California. She continues to use acupuncture and Chinese Medicine to improve and maintain life-long health.