Everyone knows that the types of foods you eat have a major impact on your health. As it turns out, when you eat could be almost as important. A new study published July 23, 2013, in the journal Circulation revealed that men who skip breakfast are 27 percent more likely to develop heart disease than men who begin each day with a meal. And men who eat late at night have a 55 percent higher risk for cardiovascular disease than those who go to bed on an empty stomach.

Previous trials have shown that adults who skip meals are more likely to exhibit certain cardiovascular risk factors, such as excessive body weight, hypertension, dyslipidemia, insulin resistance or type 2 diabetes. Habitually skipping breakfast, for example, can increase your chances for significant weight gain by 15 percent and heighten your risk for type 2 diabetes by over 20 percent. Until now, however, no study has linked poor eating patterns to coronary heart disease.

While people who skip breakfast may also engage in other behaviours that increase cardiac risk – smoking, physical inactivity or consuming too much alcohol, for example – missing the most important meal of the day might confer some physiologic costs that are independent of these behaviours. Compared to people who spread their daily energy intake over three or more meals, individuals who consume all of their daily caloric needs at one sitting tend to have higher LDL-C, triglyceride, apolipoprotein-B and blood pressure levels.

Finally, breakfast is more likely than any other meal to be composed of healthier foods, such as yogurt, fruit or whole-grain cereal or breads. When these foods are chronically supplanted by less wholesome items, the undesirable effects begin to stack up.

•  Natural products and their derivatives represent more than half of all the drugs in modern therapeutics.
• Research shows that inflammation is associated with certain gut bacteria that promote carbohydrate cravings.
• Yoga poses such as sun salutation, child’s pose and downward-facing dog improve circulation and give your skin a healthy glow.
• Vitamin A deficiency can cause acne, dry skin and broken fingernails.
• Chamomile tea contains a nutrient called apigenin that has been found to help fight cancer.
• Is your urine bright yellow or orange? That is likely due to vitamin B2 in your diet or supplements.
• Vitamins can lose their potency by 10 to 20 percent, so skip those expired supplements.
• Three kiwis a day can lower blood pressure and reduce clotting.
• Eating probiotic-rich yogurt twice a day can help relieve anxiety and stress.
• Calorie for calorie, one of the most concentrated sources of nutrition is dark, leafy greens.
• Putting your meal on a 10-inch plate (versus a 12-inch plate) can cut up to 500 calories.
• Rose oil soothes allergies, eases headaches, boosts mood and even alleviates feelings of anger and resentment.
• Egg yolks hold all the nutrition, including calcium, magnesium, choline, lutein and vitamins A, D, E, B6 and B12.
• Vitamin B6 has been shown to balance mood swings and ease crankiness and irritability.
• The aroma of green apples can alleviate a migraine.
• Ninety percent of the calories in cream cheese comes from fat.
• Walking uphill can improve cholesterol levels, while walking downhill improves blood sugar levels.

Top Up Your Good Bugs

Your diet and lifestyle play a major role in the balance of bacteria (or bugs) in your body. Amazingly, you are actually a ‘superorganism’ made up of hundreds of microbes living together in and on your body. Your immune system’s job is to monitor the many kinds of bacteria to ensure that healthy bugs are in larger numbers than troublemakers, such as viruses and yeasts. The best way to balance the good with the bad is to ensure you maintain adequate levels of beneficial bacteria in your digestive tract, and maintain a lifestyle that keeps the bad guys in check. No matter where the unhealthy bacteria live, you can influence your immune system’s fight by starting with good flora in the gut. If you experience any of the common symptoms below, you may need a top up with good bugs (also known as probiotics):

•Bloating and/or flatulence

•Constipation or diarrhoea

•Frequent colds and the flu

•Eczema or allergies

Bug Basics

The most effective way to replenish beneficial bacteria in the gut is by taking probiotics. There are many different types of probiotic bugs, and in many ways they are just like us. We employ them because of their occupation. Different strains do different jobs in the body, so it is important to choose the right strain for the right condition. For example, specific strains have been scientifically proven to help with health problems including irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and eczema.

Some of the most effective therapeutic strains include:

•Lactobacillus acidophilus: General balance

This strain is a great everyday probiotic to maintainbacterial balance, and has been extensively tested and proven to restore levels of healthy bacteria in the colon. It is particularly effective after a course of antibiotics and/ or following a gut infection. This strain is antimicrobial in nature and inhibits the growth of unfriendly bacteria.

•Bifidobacterium lactis: Dysbiosis

When there are more bad bugs than good bugs in the gut, it is called dysbiosis. This is the reason we experience many of the symptoms mentioned earlier. Bifidobacterium lactis has been proven to address dysbiosis, improving overall health. It has also been shown to reduce gastrointestinal disturbances, especially after antibiotic use

•Lactobacillus rhamnosusGG : Eczema and allergies

This probiotic strain has been studied in over 350 clinical trials, and has the ability to enhance immune system function, specifically reducing the occurrence and symptoms of allergies, eczema and other atopic conditions. LGG may also help to decrease the risk of digestive upsets such as diarrhoea in both adults and children. It can also shorten the time that you experience diarrhoea if you are struck by a nasty gastro bug.

•Lactobacillus plantarum 299v: Irritable Bowel Syndrome

The 299v strain is a specialised strain of Lactobacillus used specifically for gut issues. This probiotic has been proven to assist and manage the symptoms of medically-diagnosed IBS and other inflammatory bowel disorders. It has been clinically shown to improve the key IBS related problems of bloating, flatulence, pain, inflammation, constipation and diarrhoea.

Prebiotics For Beneficial Bacteria Growth

To ensure a healthy population of beneficial bacteria in the intestine, it is important to provide food for their growth. Simply supplementing with a probiotic may not be enough to ensure a viable population of these beneficial bacteria. Prebiotics in the form of fibre provides this growth medium. Some of the most effective prebiotic foods include lactulose, Fructo-oligosaccharides and Galacto-oligosaccharides.

Lifestyle Tips to Boost Your Good Bugs

To keep your ‘superorganism’ balanced, you need to include and avoid certain factors in your diet and lifestyle. Here are some easy everyday ideas that maintain your good and bad bugs in harmony:

•Reduce alcohol: Reduce your weekly consumption as excess drinking kills off large proportions of the good bugs.

• Manage stress: Stress can lead to an imbalance of bacteria. Talk to your Practitioner about techniques and supplements to support your response to stress.

• Exercise: Moving your body a little each day assists immune function and keeps your bowel moving too.

• Basic nutrition: Drink plenty of water, a minimum of eight glasses per day, and avoid excessive caffeine, sugar and salt intake to keep your good bugs flourishing.

Maximise Your Health with Probiotics

Maintaining bacterial balance is one of the key elements of optimal health and vitality. Remember, your immune system doesn’t just control colds. It also regulates your ‘superorganism’ on a daily basis. Together with healthy diet and lifestyle choices, a daily probiotic is one of the best ways to keep your good and bad bugs in check and bring your body back into balance. Whether you have eczema, allergies or IBS, specific probiotics can enhance the success of your treatment.

Do those dreaded colds and flus leave you and your family with runny noses, coughs, sore throats, headaches, fevers and fatigue through the winter months? These symptoms are often the leading cause of time away from school and work. Now is the perfect time to boost your immune system and defend against cold and flu symptoms. Remember, prevention is always better than cure.

Exposure to even low levels of organophosphate pesticides in pregnant women can impart significant and lasting effects upon a child’s IQ and cognitive development (i.e. poor attention skills, hyperactive behavior, and declining mental development). Organophosphates are neurotoxic. They are used in agriculture and home products to eliminate insects (insecticides), weeds (herbicides), fungi (fungicides), and rodents (rodenticides). Research points to diet as the primary route of exposure.

But levels of exposure currently regarded as safe have been called into question due to the adverse effects these chemicals have been shown to have on general well-being, fertility, and the potential for lasting metabolic disruption in children during prenatal exposure.

Organophosphates are known to cross transplacentally to the child and multiple, world-wide studies have correlated the risk of in-utero exposures to negative health outcomes. Results of data collected from a nationally representative sample of US children from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) showed that increased exposure to organophosphates increased the odds of being diagnosed with ADHD. These findings also suggested that prenatal exposure alone is largely responsible for IQ decline.

Until protection increases through public health channels, it is advisable for all, but especially pregnant women, to avoid exposure to these chemicals especially around the home and through eating a diet that is organic or pesticide-free. Additionally, detoxification techniques which include multi-nutrient support, antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids, can make an impact. After birth, feeding children organic foods also can make an impact since children who regularly consumed organic (vs. conventional) foods reduced their exposure level from above to below the EPA’s current guidelines.