Fantastic Flax: Smoothie Ideas for Flax Seed Whole Food Supplements

You just can’t get any better as a health food than flax seed & fruit smoothies … all those great vitamins, minerals and antioxidants in the fruit, the fiber and omega-3s of the flax seed, and the probiotics that you can incorporate via the yogurty base. Nutritious -- and much more delicious than some of the world's other healthiest foods, like brussel sprouts! Today we're looking at different smoothie recipes for your flax seed whole food supplements, to keep your life both healthy and interesting.

Strawberry Pineapple Flax Smoothie

This one has that distinct tang of pineapple and strawberry to balance out the rich nuttiness of flax seed whole food supplements. Use a cup of pineapple juice, ¾ cup of strawberries or other berries, half a cup of yogurt and 2 tbsp of your flax seed. Blend and drink!

Flaxseed Chocolate Dessert Smoothie

This one uses fruit and chocolate for an extra sugar hit with the goodness of flax. Mix 3 cups chocolate milk with a banana, ¾ cup strawberries and ¼ cup raspberries. Mix in half a cup of yogurt (look for a brand without high fructose corn syrup), and 2 tbsp of your flax seed whole food supplement. Blend and drink!

Flaxseed Breakfast Smoothie

The flax provides fiber that other breakfast smoothies have little of, as well as all its other important benefits! It uses many of the same ingredients: ½ banana, 5 strawberries, a cup of orange juice and ½ cup plain yogurt alongside a tbsp of your flax seed. You can add a tablespoon of whey protein powder if you like, also.

Afternoon Fresh Flax Smoothie

This one looks pretty crazy, and the ingredient list doesn’t sound nearly as sweet and tempting as some of the other smoothies! But once you taste it, you'll be an instant convert. Grab 2 cups of spinach and a cup of almond milk -- blend with a banana, a tablespoon of flax seed whole food supplement, and a handful of ice. Note that you can substitute a portion of your flax seeds for other whole food supplements if you like.

Fantastic Flax -- How Does it Work?

Flax seed is often recommended by dieticians for its various beneficial effects in the body. However, if you're anything like the average person, you wouldn’t know a flax seed if it came up and kissed you in the street! Today we are looking at the benefits of flax seed whole food supplements as a regular part of your diet, and exactly how they work in the body.

Flax is also known as linseed; it is this name which is most commonly used when flax is incorporated into bread. The nutritional basics of flaxseed, for a hundred gram quantity, are:

• 450 kCal
• 41 grams of fat
• 28 grams of fiber
• 20 grams of protein

Flax whole food supplement is known to be extremely high in fiber -- it is one of the foods highest in dietary fiber known to humans. Fiber has a whole range of health benefits, including making people feel full faster (and therefore reducing the risk of overeating), speeding the passage of foods through the digestive system (and reducing the re-absorption of harmful chemicals in the waste), lowering LDL and total cholesterol, and helping regulate blood sugar (reducing mood swings, insulin resistance and the risk of diabetes).

Flax is also a rich source of omega-3 fatty acids, and for people that don't eat fish (or are concerned about heavy metal contamination of fish), is a great dietary source. Omega-3 fatty acids have been shown in various studies to help in conditions like:

• Cancer
• Cardiovascular disease
• Immune-suppressing conditions
• Autism and ADD
• Rheumatoid arthritis

Like other whole grains and bran cereals, flax seed whole food supplements are high in lignans. These are known to be potent antioxidants; this is the reason for flax's possible anti cancer potential.

There are, however, a few cautions about the use of flax seed whole food supplements for certain individuals. These include:

• People at increased risk of prostate cancer should not take flax seed oil -- the Mayo Clinic completed research showing that alpha linoleic acid in flax oil could increase prostate cancer risk.
• People with irritable bowel syndrome may have an adverse reaction to flax seed, experiencing worse cramping and diarrhea.
• Ask your doctor if the phytoestrogens in flax seed whole food supplements could interact with any of your conditions or other medications.

Taking Vitamin for Optimal Health

Many people are not getting the proper nutrition due to lack of a healthy diet. In a world filled with so many food choices, it is hard sometimes to make the right food choice. The American diet is high in trans fats, sodium, refined sugars and preservatives. These types of eating habit have taken a toll on our bodies and had caused health care costs to soar. By decreasing the amount of processed foods that we eat can increase over all health. Small positive changes in the diet can have long lasting positive effects on our health. Taking vitamin supplements can also help the body to get the nutrition it needs to function properly.

Organic whole food supplements can help the body get what it needs to function efficiently on a daily basis. There are no preservatives in these types of nutritional supplements. These all-natural whole food supplements are the best choice when it comes to vitamins. Supplements can help add nutritional support to the body that is not taken in by eating the proper foods every day. This can help the body fight off infections and boost the immune system.

During the cold and flu season it is imperative to make sure that the immune system is working properly. By taking vitamin and mineral supplements this can help to boost the immune system and keep some infections at bay. There are many vitamins on the market that help with supporting a healthy immune system. Some of the top brands on the market are Garden of Life and New Chapter Organic Supplements just to name a few.

Many people who start taking vitamins and nutritional supplements notice a difference in energy levels and mental focus the first few weeks. This is because the body is starting to get many of the minerals and vitamins it has been lacking from an unhealthy diet. Some will also go through a form of detox that subsides after a few weeks. Detox happens when the body is able to fight off the free radicals and toxins that we are exposed through diet and environmental factors.

Studies have shown that small changes in eating habits and by taking supplements can help improve ones over all health. Many doctors and nutritionists are now recommending to patients the importance of taking vitamins and to keep a healthy life style. With these small changes, anyone can improve their health.

The Benefits of Organic Vitamins

While in the process of recovering from a particularly aggressive case of the flu, I found that I felt completely lagged and out of sorts. For weeks, I felt sluggish and weak, which I attributed to the toll the illness had taken on my body. I tried getting extra rest, eating good foods, drinking enough fluids and followed the advice commonly recommended for recuperating, but nothing seemed to work. It wasn’t until I realized how badly depleted my body was that I realized the need to take better care of myself on the whole so that I didn’t feel this way again.

I needed to receive the proper nourishment that I could only get from adding organic vitamins and foods to my daily diet. I started by going shopping and purchasing some fresh fruits and vegetables and added four to six servings of each to my diet. I then searched online and found some high-quality vitamin supplements from beyondprobiotics.net, which were another addition. Within a matter of a few days, I felt like I was well on my way to become a healthier person just by doing these two simple things.

The organic vitamins I purchased from beyondprobiotics.net were called Vitamin Code One for Women Formula. Contained in the organic vitamins I was surprised to find many different raw, food-created nutrients that I didn’t find in grocery or health-food store supplements. The capsules are a once-daily formula which meet my unique nutritional needs and make me feel better and more energetic than I have felt in a very long time.

I found the vitamins also provide certain protection for my body like breast and reproductive health, bone strength, energy, healthy heart and skin. The vitamins are make from uncooked, unprocessed, unadulterated foods completely free of binding agents, contain on fructose, maltodextrine or magnesium stearate or corn starch, like other vitamins. The vitamins are easy to digest and have specially targeted peptides to provide the maximum amount of nutrients for my body.

The addition of these vitamins to my diet is convenient and contains everything I need to allow my body to be at its best health wise. Never again will I ever put myself in a position to have a weakened immune system, since adding these vitamins and organic foods to my diet, I feel like a completely new person. I would highly recommend any woman who wants to experience better health and quality of life adds the vitamins to her diet, the results are well worth it.

Make Your Metabolism Work For You: Scientific Discoveries and Nutritional Supplements

Your base metabolic rate has an enormous effect on your weight loss efforts. In fact, raising your base metabolic rate can help you burn the same number of calories as you would by jogging around the block several times a day -- but without actually doing anything! It's scientifically proven -- so how do you do that? We look at what science and the organic whole food supplement industry have to say about boosting your metabolism.

Three minute high intensity bursts

We've been told a multitude of things about the intensity and amount of exercise time needed for health benefits. From being told that 20 minutes four times a week of moderate exercise is sufficient, to saying that an hour of vigorous exercise five times a week is needed … it's all a bit confusing! However, now scientists at the University of Edinburgh have research to suggest that doing just three minutes of very high intensity exercise a few times a week dramatically improved metabolism, glucose clearance and the action of insulin.

Cut down on fructose

Fructose, a fruit sugar, could stimulate our brains to crave higher food intake and stimulate obesity, researchers at Johns Hopkins University have found. Your whole food supplements designed to cut down on your appetite could be negated by consuming large amounts of fructose - which is found in more foods than you might think. Spring onions, for example, have high levels. Soft drinks, processed foods with corn syrup, and table sweeteners all have high fructose levels.

Check your prolactin

Excess prolactin (the hormone that stimulates breast milk production) in both men and women can be produced by stress, some brain tumors and some medicines can also cause raised levels. Doctors are now finding it can also interfere with insulin action and disturb metabolism. So before you begin a course of whole food supplements designed to boost your metabolism, make sure your body isn’t silently working against you.

Look for fucoxanthin

There have been enormously promising studies in trials on rodents showing that up to a quarter of body weight can be lost in four weeks, with the greatest fat loss from the belly, using a substance found in brown seaweed known as fucoxanthin. There are quite a few Garden of Life products with fucoxanthin included -- these whole food supplements can come in the form of an energy bar, in an omega 3 tablet or in a specific metabolic boosting formula. Look for organic whole food supplements like Fuco THIN, Oceans 3, and FucoProtein bars.

Cooking for Health -- How to Preserve the Antioxidants in Your Food

Antioxidants are readily available from whole food multivitamins -- however, they are also readily available from foods! You'll note that most nutritional supplement bottles state that the product is not a substitute for a healthy and balanced diet. If you’d like to make sure that you have an excellent, healthy nutrient base, and your supplements are just a bonus and a surety, read on for the best cooking methods to preserve antioxidants in your food.

Boiling

Boiling caused the greatest antioxidant loss in cauliflower, peas, zucchini and green beans. In most vegetables, antioxidant loss was significant after vegetables were boiled. If you boil most of your vegetables, organic whole food supplements of antioxidants are still recommended.

Pressure-cooking

Pressure cooking was second only to boiling for antioxidant loss in vegetables. Beets and garlic retained most of their antioxidants after these cooking methods, but that is about all! You'll want to hang onto those antioxidant nutritional supplements for a while longer.

Baking

Baking showed moderate antioxidant loss for most vegetables, apart from green beans, beets, and garlic.

Microwaving

Overall, microwaving produced one of the lowest drops in antioxidant levels after vegetables were cooked. One notable exception comes from a different study done five years earlier, which showed that microwaving broccoli caused a huge 97% drop in flavonoid content.

Griddling

Griddling, or frying without oil on a flat metal surface, helped most foods retain the highest level of antioxidants. Break out the barbeque if you’d like to get the benefits of whole food supplements of antioxidants, but from your actual food!

Steaming

In the broccoli study mentioned in the microwaving section, steaming showed the smallest flavonoid loss of all the cooking methods. There was almost no different in antioxidant content between raw and steamed.

Inconsistent results

Unfortunately, the effect of cooking a food on its antioxidant content is not consistent! For example, tomatoes and corn show higher antioxidant levels once cooked, while potatoes, broccoli and carrots show lower levels.

Remember, though, that eating foods raw is the best way to guarantee that you are getting the antioxidant content that you hear about in studies. If you definitely aren't a raw food person, then keep that bottle of whole food multivitamins handy for a while longer.

The Omega-3 Power Series: More Conditions Omega-3 Can Help With

I'll bet you thought after reading the first part that there couldn’t possibly be more that this little molecule could do for the human body … considering that depression, obesity-related complications, prostate cancer, macular degeneration, asthma, arthritis and diabetes could all be alleviated with omega-3s! In case you needed another five reasons to maintain your daily omega-3 organic whole food supplements, here they are.

Kills cancer cells: At a cellular and a molecular level, omega-3 nutritional supplements can reduce leukocytosis (an accumulation of white blood cells), oxidative stress and systemic inflammation, all of which have been associated with the growth of cancerous tumours.

Reduce harmful effects of chemo drugs: Cisplatin is a chemotherapy drug that often causes kidney damage. Taking DHA, a type of omega 3 whole food supplement, reduced the damage done by cisplatin to the kidneys and also had its own chemoprotective effects.

Protect against strokes: Plaque in the carotid arteries can sometimes come loose and lead to a stroke, by blocking a major blood vessel in the brain. In a recent study, plaque scraped from patients who had begun having neurological symptoms that indicate possible stroke were compared with asymptomatic patients. Those who had started having neurological symptoms has two times less DHA, and 1.5 times less EPA in their plaque samples.

Gum disease: Dental researchers have been looking at resolvins, a family of omega-3 whole food supplements, for their potential in preventing tissue damage and tooth loss from the chronic inflammation caused by the bacteria in gum disease patients. The organic whole food supplements don’t only provide a preventive effect, but could also restore sick gums to health.

Parkinson's: LSU Health Sciences Center researchers in New Orleans have found that omega-3 consumption can prevent the misfolding of a protein, which occurs in gene mutations seen in Parkinson's and Huntington's disease patients. Having a defective Ataxin-1 gene causes a protein to misfold, and then not be properly processed by cells. Tangled clumps of the proteins eventually lead to cell death, but omega-3whole food supplements could prevent that misfolding.

Intelligence: A study of almost 4,000 teenagers published in Acta Pediatricia showed that 15-year-old boys who ate fish once a week had improved cognition, over those who ate fish less frequently. Those who ate fish more than once a week showed around an 11% improvement in verbal, visuospatial and combined intelligence scores.