Healthy World Digest, August #29

* Foods to aid heart health

* Excellent anti-aging supplement

* Exercise and insomnia

* Problems with sugar? Chromium & cinnamon

* Herb for lower back pain

* Master supplement

Well, it's August and many of us are in the dog days of summer. This would be a great time to maintain or improve health, no?

Let's start with...

* Foods to aid heart health

Just a quick list of food stuffs that keep or make your heart healthier in different ways. Ready? Okay.

In quick order, read rapidly...

Black tea, spinach, avocado, soybeans and oatmeal.

Now, anyone could incorporate at least a few of those foods into their day, right?

* Excellent anti-aging supplement

What if I told you that there is a common supplement that burns fat, fights cancer, heart disease and hypertension? What if I told you that you don’t even have to get it via supplement? That you can get it in certain foods? Exciting, right?

Well the substance is conjugated linoleic acid, or CLA. It is being touted as an amazing anti-aging supplement which addresses issues we all confront as we age.

It is a fatty acid, in other words, a fat that allies natural body processes to ward off weight gain, heart disease and cancer.

You can take it in supplemental form but, better yet, get it in beef and dairy. One problem, you must eat grass fed beef and organic dairy to get sufficient CLA.

* Exercise and insomnia

We all agree that physical activity, or exercise, supports our health in various ways.

We probably also agree that physical activity can help us ward off insomnia or manage it. I'm sure we've all experienced deep sleep after a hard day at physical work.

No doubt, we know and research shows, exercise improves sleep.

A few tips. Exercise should be somewhat challenging, not too late in the day, and mental/stressful work does not qualify.

Healthy Exercise World has added a couple of new, more comprehensive pages on exercise and insomnia so feel free to visit section at Exercise & insomnia

* Problems with sugar? Chromium & cinnamon to the rescue

The supplement, GTF Chromium helps your body burn sugar. It’s good for prediabetics, diabetics and sugar-holics.

Cinnamon is also good for stabilizing blood sugar. I just sprinkle into my morning pot (yes, pot) of morning coffee. I also put half a cinnamon stick in for good measure.

* Herb for lower back pain

For the millions of back pain sufferers, including yours truly, a quick way to manage pain.

Devil’s claw blocks the inflammation that leads to lower back pain.

For more on topic, visit our helpful page on herbal remedies for back pain

* Master supplement

Hope I’m not beating you over the head with this one but you may have guessed or already know, that the master supplement is vitamin D. I still suggest vitamin C as the Master Vitamin, or King of Vitamins.

But vitamin C does not have to compete against vitamin D because “vitamin” D is actually a hormone. As a hormone, it seems to influence the health of all vital systems and appears to be the single greatest weapon against the most serious diseases.

Dr. Oz recently highlighted the number of conditions that are linked to low vitamin D levels.

Essentially, it seems to be linked to every major disease process. For example, low vitamin D levels are linked to heart disease and a variety of cancers and much more.

Its importance cannot be stressed enough.

But the best way to get vitamin D is through sunshine, at least 20 minutes a day, wearing as little clothing as possible. On days you can’t get any rays, take a supplement, at least 1,000 IUs but preferably 2 - 4,000 units.

In non tanning seasons, take a supplement daily. It's easy. It's cheap.

But for persons of African descent, taking a supplement is especially important because dark skin does not readily convert the sun rays into vitamin D.

So, people of African descent should still get vitamin D by staying out in the sun longer than non-Africans. However supplementation is even more important for persons of African descent.

Come to think of it, you have to wonder how much of the disparity between the health of persons of African descent and non Africans might be due to this one factor.

Taking vitamin D supplements is the best insurance at the best rate that you could invest in so get to it.

Well that's all for now. But note that we had too much material for you. Putting it all in one issue would mean this is not really a "Digest."

So, you should look for a bonus issue of Healthy World Digest in mid-month.

The topics in the bonus issue will include:

* The low carb diet issue

* Colorful foods

* Great tasting herbs for osteoarthritis

* Dehydration & dry eyes

* Recipe: Chicken & rice casserole

* Why we stress supplements, exercise & lifestyle choices over meds

Stay tuned and be well until then.

tags: anti-aging supplement, exercise insomnia, lower back pain herb

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