Super Juice, a Super Solution

(Photograph from Wegmans.com)

 Another pill?

      Convincing my throat to swallow two massive vitamins is a mental battle every morning. Although I absolutely dread this part of my morning routine, I continue to do so because multivitamins and fish oil assist in maintaining a healthy mind and body. When my mother began lecturing to me about a new "miracle" vitamin she had started taking, it is not surprising that I was anything but enthused. She continued on about how "Super Juice" vitamins were giving her more energy and keeping her appetite down. If there was even a slight chance that I was going to add another large pill to my daily routine, this Super Juice had better be truly super.

How will this help me?

     After the conversation with my mother, I began doing some research to see if Super Juice was worth adding to my morning vitamin ritual. I found that these pills are a dietary vegetable and fruit supplement made from 100% juice. As a health-aware person, I instantly appreciated there are no added sugars, dyes, flavors or animal products in these daily vitamins (Full list of ingredients). In just two pills, you gain the benefits of six servings of fruits and vegetables, including: 

Found in two Super Juice pills

• Enzymes from 45 fruits and vegetables 
• 32 phyto-nutrients
• Anti-oxidants
• Probiotics 
• And more

So, let's try it!

     After completing my research, I finally surrendered to my mother's lectures on Super Juice and purchased a pack from Wegmans (also available wherever GNC products are sold, including drugstore.com). I am well aware that despite my conscious effort to lead a nutritious life, I like the majority of adults, do not consume enough fruits and vegetables on a daily basis. Now that I have added these vitamins to my nutritional routine, I cannot imagine feeling healthy without them. I have no doubts that these vitamins have led to my:

• Decreased snack cravings/appetite
• Increased energy
• Improved immune system

     Not surprisingly, if I forget to take Super Juice, I feel drowsy and sluggish all day. It only makes sense that if you cannot ingest enough fruits and vegetables on a daily basis that consuming them in pill form will make you feel healthier as a person overall. There is no reason that everyone should not try Super Juice. So do your body a favor and experience how the nutrition which is packed inside each pill can be your new super solution to a healthier you!

Refuel in 20

Problem: Afternoon Sleepiness

Despite the fact that I get the recommended 8 hours of sleep nearly every night, in the mid-afternoon I get extremely drowsy and lose my focus. This sleepiness not only affects my mental health, but also my physical health when I am behind the wheel. Nearly everyone has experienced this grogginess, along with:

• Decreased reaction time
• Short-term memory
• Decreased information processing
• Decreased judgment
• Decreased vision
• Etc.  

Solution: The 20 Minute Power Nap 

Research has shown that our body is programmed to experience the symptoms above 8 hours after waking up. The solution is not, however, to get more hours of sleep at night, but rather to re-fuel your body with a power nap. A power nap is a mid-afternoon rest which can refocus your brain and refresh your body.  


Why?

In my quest for better mental and physical health, I started to research this napping technique and began to try it out. Research shows that a twenty minute rest can actually provide your body with more rest than an extra twenty minutes of sleep can at night. A twenty minute nap does not allow the body to go into a deep sleep which can make it extremely hard to wake up and continue on with your day. It does, however, allow your brain to take a quick rest and reduce the daily stresses your body encounters. Researcher has even concluded that these twenty minutes allow the brain to clear out useless information and build up your long term memory. Over the past few weeks, my results have been amazing. I never thought that I could fall asleep in only 20 minutes, but all I have to do is relax my body and take a few deep breaths. I wake up feeling amazing and ready to conquer the rest of my crazy day. So go ahead and refuel in 20...but don't forget to set your alarm!

Fish in a Pill

You eat fish in a pill?

A few months ago, I attended a lecture by a health food specialist. One statement she had seemed to particularly stick in my head. For as long as she could remember, she was getting the common cold at least once a month during the fall and winter months. No matter how well she took care of her body, the colds continued to interrupt her life. It felt like she was describing me. She started taking fish oil pills to supplement for the lack of fish in her diet. Her annoying colds virtually disappeared.

What are the benefits?

The majority of people do not consume enough fish in our diets and consequently suffer from a lack of omega3. Omega 3 is an essential fatty acid, but for those who do not want to consume salmon on a daily basis, a fish oil pill is a great compromise. They can be purchased at local food and drug stores. These pills not only aid in low immunity like in the case of the speaker and myself, but also in many other health ailments. Researchers have concluded that taking a daily omega3 pill can help with:

• Heart disease
• High cholesterol
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Skin, hair, and nails
• Weight loss
• AND MORE

Ready to pop open a bottle of fish? 


I certainly felt strange going to the food store to pickup some milk, eggs, and a bottle of fish, but I figured that the strange concept of consuming a pill filled with fish oil was worth a try. Of course I cannot totally attribute my results to fish oil, but I am positive it was not a coincidence that right around the time that I started taking the pills, my hair got shinier, my nails which used to be soft and brittle got hard, and most importantly I have had one cold in the past seven months. Despite my "health-freak" lifestyle, I used to be burdened with the common cold at least every 3-4 weeks, so these results were incredible to me. If you have any of the symptoms listed in the above list and you know that you do not consume enough fish in your diet, please do yourself a favor and pop open a bottle of fish!

Scary Splenda

       It seems as though every shelf in the grocery store is covered with packages advertising "low fat," "fat-free" and "zero sugar" products. I refer to them as products rather than foods because the majority of ingredients are man-made chemicals. The fact is that most people do not take the time to read through the ingredients and are consequently oblivious to the harmful products which are entering their bodies. Admittedly, I used to be one of these careless food shoppers who was immediately drawn to buy the products which convinced me with their labels that I needed to buy the product in order to not get fat. When I began to research what made these products low calorie, I was disgusted and frightened by what I found.

What is in Splenda?
     The creators of Splenda advertise their product as a natural and safe artificial sweetener with no calories. The fake sugar is added to foods in order to reduce the calories so that they can then be sold as low-fat and reduced-sugar foods. Splenda is listed as suclarose on food labels.  http://www.womentowomen.com/healthyweight/splenda.aspx

What are the dangers?
    The fact is that Splenda is an unnatural product which cannot be recognized by the human digestive system. Ironically, the chemicals remain in our system for long periods of time and can actually be stored in fat cells thus causing weight gain. Splenda contains chlorine, and although it is not yet clear how much of it remains in the body, researchers have found that not all of the harmful chlorine is rinsed out of the body through digestion and excretion. Researchers have also concluded that Splenda consumed by children in various products like diet sodas is causing aggressiveness and malnutrition of the brain. http://www.splendaexposed.com/


Stop Poisoning Your Body! 

      Although it is sometimes tedious to read the labels of everything you buy in the food store, it is with out a doubt worth the effort. Over the past year, I stopped eating any foods with Splenda or other artificial sweeteners in them. I have many less migraines, feel more energized, and have a calmer state of mind knowing that I am not poisoning my brain and body with Splenda. The most amazing part of cutting out fake sugars.... I did not gain even a pound while consuming nearly 200 more calories of naturally sweetened foods each day. So please do not be frightened of real sugars, simply be smart and consume all foods in reasonable portions!

Sleep - An Essential of Health

          A huge part of maintaining good health is getting adequate sleep. As a science major, I have noticed that this topic has become especially prevalent in the science fields within the last fifteen years. There are a seemingly endless amount of research papers and websites with information about the essentials of sleep. Like most people, I know that getting about eight hours of sleep is recommended by the majority of medical professionals, but I found myself wanting to know why.

Last week, I pulled an “all-nighter” studying for my microbiology exam. When I walked to my exam at 7:45am, I felt delirious, like I was in another world. The exam took me longer than usual to complete and I found it was hard to comprehend what I was reading and remember what I had studied. When I got home (after a short nap), I researched my experience to see what professionals had to say. It turns out that in a recent study, which was published in Neuron, Dr. Marcos Frank and his colleagues at Pennsylvania School of Medicine observed something new to the medical world. They saw observable changes in the cells of a sleeping brain which consequently allow for memories to form. Dr. Frank states that when a person goes to sleep, “it’s like you’ve thrown a switch, and all of a sudden, everything is turned on that’s necessary for making synaptic changes that form the basis of memory formation” (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090211161934.htm). This would explain why I had trouble remembering things I had just learned and why I had such trouble reading the questions.

Besides my lack of sleep affecting my mental health, I suspected that it also contributed to the cold I had two days later. I seem to find quite frequently that I get sick after a lack of sleep. Better-sleep-better-life.com explains that when you are stressed or have been exposed to bacteria, sleep is extra important to maintain good health. The site states that “your body produces extra protein molecules while you’re sleeping that helps strengthen your ability to fight infection and stay healthy” (http://www.better-sleep-better-life.com/benefits-of-sleep.html). This would obviously explain why I got sick after not sleeping for 36 hours. My immune system would most likely have fought off my cold provided more sleep.

This topic is definitely something that I want to do more research on and blog about in the future. I have only pulled one all-nighter in my college days, but I will absolutely never do it again. In my opinion, it seems rather pointless to stay up all night studying if it makes it more difficult for our brains to remember what they learned. It is also not worth getting sick which affects you doing work for other classes. Maintaining my mental and physical health as a college kid is hard enough without burdening my brain with a lack of sleep.

Battling my sweet tooth

     One of my biggest food-issues in college has been my love for sweets. I cannot get enough of cakes and cookies and ice cream, especially when they are put in front of me. It was very difficult freshman year to not eat desert when I was sitting with my friends in the dining hall for nearly an hour every night. 5 pounds later, I realized that I truly am not very strong when food is in plain sight. I started leaving the dining hall when I was done my dinner rather than sit around and eat desert because I was just relaxing. This is my first tip which I still live by now: when you are done eating a meal, put the food away so that you don't go for second helpings, and if you have a sweet tooth like me, don't buy the sugary food to begin with so that temptation doesn't hurt your waist line.

    Even though I stopped buying unhealthy deserts which are loaded with sugar, my roommates don't seem to live by the same rules. Every time that anyone's parents come to visit, we have cakes and cookies and more left in the house when they leave. Now these delicious sweets which are dripping with fat and bad health are staring me in the face every time I'm in the kitchen. It is so easy to simply take one small bite. The problem is that I'll go back for 6 more small bites throughout the day. This can add up to a whole slice of cake by the end of the day, which isn't a healthy decision for anyone. Here is where my next tip comes into play: put any sweets which are left out to share in a place which is out of direct site. I've learned to put the cakes and such on top of the fridge so that they are not right on the counter where I'm doing my cooking and such. When my sweet tooth still battles me, I'll take a small bite then put a piece of mint gum in my mouth right away. Mint makes anything else taste horrible and thus makes it much easier to say no to that next bite of sugar. Try it :)

Coconut Water = lose weight?

       I was flipping through my health magazine at the gym and saw an ad for coconut water. The ad claimed that this drink has more electrolytes than a Gatorade drink and has no added sugar. When I got home from the gym, I began to research different claims and brands. I personally do not drink Gatorade because it has more calories and sugar in it than I am able to burn off in a workout, so this seemed like a great drink for me. Online consumers raved about the coconut water so I ordered some to see what the new hype was about in the health community. 

  

       The taste is something that grows on you, but it certainly doesn't taste bad in my opinion. I started drinking it between meals and found that I snacked much less. If i drink coconut water before a meal, I definitely eat less, but the coconut water does have about 80 calories (but no fat or unnatural sugars). It doesn't leave that gross sugary after-taste of hydrating drinks like Gatorade. I've been drinking it for about two weeks now, and definitely recommend it to all health freaks like me. I am less hungry, feel more energized throughout the day, and I’ve even lost 2 pounds which is always a plus : )