Nutrition

Reading food labels will help you improve the quality of food you put in your body!

1. Check the Serving Size. In many cases manufacturers will increase the serving size per item to conceal the bad news. Read the nutrition details that are based on a single serving.

Eating red meat increases the chances of dying prematurely, according to a federal study. New evidence suggests that a diet that regularly includes steaks, burgers, and pork chops is hazardous to health. The study of more than 500,000 middle-aged and elderly Americans bolsters prior evidence of the health risks of diets laden with red meat such as hamburger, processed meats like hot dogs, bacon, and cold cuts. 

In contrast, the study found that routine consumption of fish, chicken, turkey and other poultry decreased the risk of death by a small amount.

Previous research had found a link between red meat and increased risk of heart disease and cancer (particularly colorectal cancer), but the new study - published in February 2009 by the National Cancer Institute in the Archives of Internal Medicine - is the first large examination of the relationship between eating meat and mortality.

If you or a loved one suffers from the excruciating pain of gout, here's the most effective folk remedy I know. It dates back to the 1950s, to a Texas doctor who was so crippled by gout, that he was forced to use a wheelchair.  He reported in a Texas medical journal that a diet including six cherries a day soon had him up and walking; he added that his physician tried the cherry diet on 12 patients and had equally spectacular results. A survey by Revention magazine found that 67% of readers who tried cherries for gout enjoyed positive results.

The human body, which is made up of between 55 and 75 percent water (lean people have more water in their bodies because muscle holds more water than fat), is in need of constant water replenishment. Your lungs expel between two and four cups of water each day through normal breathing - even more on a cold day. If your feet sweat, you may lose another cup of water. If you make half a dozen trips to the bathroom during the day, that's another six cups of water. If you perspire, you expel about two cups of water (which doesn't include exercise-induced perspiration).