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Showing posts with label soda. Show all posts
Showing posts with label soda. Show all posts

Five household ingredients for great hair


Did you know that there are common household items in your cabinets right now that you should be using on your hair? These 5 great items not only work wonders for your hair, but since you probably already have them, means you don’t have to go out to buy anything – triple word score!

Virgin Organic Coconut Oil (VOC)

Hands down, my favorite oil to use for my hair. I discuss at length here why VOC is so amazing. In a nutshell, this oil reduces protein loss in hair. This is great since hair gets brittle over time. I use it as a pre-shampoo  treatment, you can also use it as a hot oil treatment or an overall conditioner for your hair, if you don’t mind the smell. There’s a reason why Polynesian women have beautiful hair.





Aloe Vera Gel

You probably already are using aloe vera on your sunburn or bug bites to soothe your skin but have you tried using it on your hair? Whether you have super thick and curly hair like me, or fine and thin hair, aloe vera can be very beneficial for your hair. For one, it contributes to hair growth. In a study “The proteolytic enzymes Aloe vera slough off dead skin cells and open pores. It increases membrane fluidity and permeability and the outward flow of toxins and inward flow of nutrients” Aloe also has 75 known nutrients and its alkalizing effects brings hair and skin’s pH to a desirable level. But the most noticeable effect is how great it makes your hair look and feel. It calms the frizzies and minimizes fly-aways. For dry curly hair, use VOC and layer aloe on top and watch your curls pop.

Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV)

An ACV rinse is like heaven for your hair. If you have never done this before, you need to get with the program- stat! I like to mix one part ACV and 3 parts cool water, but feel free to experiment with your formula. After shampoo and conditioner, you want to pour the rinse over your hair. It results in smoothing the cuticle and leaving soft and shiny hair. The reason ACV is so awesome is because it removes the buildup from commercial products and helps with dandruff and itchy scalp.

Baking Soda

You know that you can use baking soda to naturally clean around your home, you can also use it to clean your hair. You can take back from the freezer what is rightfully yours (well maybe you should use a fresh box unless you want to smell freezer burnt). You can use baking soda to occasionally clarify your hair, it works well to remove impurities. If you have oily hair, you can add the powder directly on your hair and then brush through. It can be very harsh and best used in small amounts when diluted in shampoo or conditioner.

Agave Nectar

Raw agave nectar can provide conditioning by forming a polymer film on the surface of the hair, thereby smoothing the cuticle. It is a humectant which means it attracts water to your hair. To use Agave, you can use it with your favorite oil (VOC maybe) and rinse out. Because it is sugar-like, you want to make sure you rinse Agave out and don’t use it as a leave-in.
Alternatively, you can also use Honey to condition your hair. Honey also naturally lightens your hair. So, that’s actually 6 amazing everyday household items that you can be using on your hair right now for shiny, healthy-looking locks.
Remember to always consult a licensed healthcare practitioner before embarking on any treatment, it’s your health and it’s IMPORTANT.

Source:http://blogs.naturalcures.com/five-household-ingredients-for-great-hair/

The Facts, Stats and Dangers of Soda Pop

PreventDisease.com


Kids are heavy consumers of soft drinks, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and they are guzzling soda pop at unprecedented rates.
Carbonated soda pop provides more added sugar in a typical 2-year-old toddler's diet than cookies, candies and ice cream combined.
Image: Dave Sommers
Fifty-six percent of 8-year-olds down soft drinks daily, and a third of teenage boys drink at least three cans of soda pop per day.
  • These popular beverages account for more than a quarter of all drinks consumed in the United States.
  • More than 15 billion gallons were sold in 2000.
  • That works out to at least one 12-ounce can per day for every man, woman and child.
Not only are soft drinks widely available everywhere, from fast food restaurants to video stores, they're now sold in 60 percent of all public and private middle schools and high schools nationwide, according to the National Soft Drink Association. A few schools are even giving away soft drinks to students who buy school lunches.
As soda pop becomes the beverage of choice among the nation's young -- and as soda marketers focus on brand-building among younger and younger consumers -- public health officials, school boards, parents, consumer groups and even the soft drink industry are faced with nagging questions:
  • How healthful are these beverages, which provide a lot calories, sugars and caffeine but no significant nutritional value? 
  • And what happens if you drink a lot of them at a very young age?
Recently, representatives of the soft drink industry, concerned that public opinion and public policy may turn against them, will staged a three-day "fly-in" to lobby Congress to maintain soft drinks sales in schools; and to educate lawmakers on the "proper perspective" on soft drink use.
The industry plans to counter a US Department of Agriculture proposal, announced in January, that would require all foods sold in schools to meet federal nutrition standards. That would mean that snack foods and soft drinks would have to meet the same standards as school lunches.
Nearly everyone by now has heard the litany on the presumed health effects of soft drinks:
  • Obesity
  • Tooth decay
  • Caffeine dependence
  • Weakened bones
But does drinking soda pop really cause those things?
To help separate fact from fiction, the Health section reviewed the latest scientific findings and asked an array of experts on both sides of the debate to weigh in on the topic. Be forewarned, however: Compared with the data available on tobacco and even dietary fat, the scientific evidence on soft drinks is less developed. The results can be a lot like soft drinks themselves, both sweet and sticky.
Obesity
One very recent, independent, peer-reviewed study demonstrates a strong link between soda consumption and childhood obesity.
One previous industry-supported, unpublished study showed no link. Explanations of the mechanism by which soda may lead to obesity have not yet been proved, though the evidence for them is strong.
Many people have long assumed that soda -- high in calories and sugar, low in nutrients -- can make kids fat. But until this month there was no solid, scientific evidence demonstrating this.
Reporting in The Lancet, a British medical journal, a team of Harvard researchers presented the first evidence linking soft drink consumption to childhood obesity. They found that 12-year-olds who drank soft drinks regularly were more likely to be overweight than those who didn't.
For each additional daily serving of sugar-sweetened soft drink consumed during the nearly two-year study, the risk of obesity increased 1.6 times.
Obesity experts called the Harvard findings important and praised the study for being prospective. In other words, the Harvard researchers spent 19 months following the children, rather than capturing a snapshot of data from just one day. It's considered statistically more valuable to conduct a study over a long period of time.
Researchers found that schoolchildren who drank soft drinks consumed almost 200 more calories per day than their counterparts who didn't down soft drinks. That finding helps support the notion that we don't compensate well for calories in liquid form.
Tooth Decay
Here's one health effect that even the soft drink industry admits, grudgingly, has merit. In a carefully worded statement, the NSDA says that "there's no scientific evidence that consumption of sugars per se has any negative effect other than dental caries." But the association also correctly notes that soft drinks aren't the sole cause of tooth decay.
In fact, a lot of sugary foods, from fruit juices to candy and even raisins and other dried fruit, have what dentists refer to as "cariogenic properties," which is to say they can cause tooth decay.
Okay, so how many more cavities are soft drink consumers likely to get compared with people who don't drink soda? This is where it gets complicated.
A federally funded study of nearly 3,200 Americans 9 to 29 years old conducted between 1971 and 1974 showed a direct link between tooth decay and soft drinks. Numerous other studies have shown the same link throughout the world, from Sweden to Iraq.
But sugar isn't the only ingredient in soft drinks that causes tooth problems. The acids in soda pop are also notorious for etching tooth enamel in ways that can lead to cavities. "Acid begins to dissolve tooth enamel in only 20 minutes," notes the Ohio Dental Association in a release issued earlier this month.
Caffeine Dependence
The stimulant properties and dependence potential of caffeine in soda are well documented, as are their effects on children.
Ever tried going without your usual cup of java on the weekend? If so, you may have experienced a splitting headache, a slight rise in blood pressure, irritability and maybe even some stomach problems.
These well-documented symptoms describe the typical withdrawal process suffered by about half of regular caffeine consumers who go without their usual dose.
The soft drink industry agrees that caffeine causes the same effects in children as adults, but officials also note that there is wide variation in how people respond to caffeine. The simple solution, the industry says, is to choose a soda pop that is caffeine-free. All big soda makers offer products with either low or no caffeine.
That may be a good idea, though it raises the question of whether soda machines in schools should be permitted to offer caffeinated beverages or at least be obligated to offer a significant proportion of caffeine-free products.
It also raises the question of how one determines a product's caffeine content. Nutrition labels are not required to divulge that information. If a beverage contains caffeine, it must be included in the ingredient list, but there's no way to tell how much a beverage has, and there's little logic or predictability to the way caffeine is deployed throughout a product line.
Okay, so most enlightened consumers already know that colas contain a fair amount of caffeine. It turns out to be 35 to 38 milligrams per 12-ounce can, or roughly 28 percent of the amount found in an 8-ounce cup of coffee. But few know that diet colas -- usually chosen by those who are trying to dodge calories and/or sugar -- often pack a lot more caffeine.
A 12-ounce can of Diet Coke, for example, has about 42 milligrams of caffeine -- seven more than the same amount of Coke Classic. A can of Pepsi One has about 56 milligrams of caffeine -- 18 milligrams more than both regular Pepsi and Diet Pepsi.
Even harder to figure out is the caffeine distribution in other flavors of soda pop. Many brands of root beer contain no caffeine. An exception is Barq's, made by the Coca-Cola Co., which has has 23 milligrams per 12-ounce can. Sprite, 7-Up and ginger ale are caffeine-free. But Mountain Dew, the curiously named Mello Yellow, Sun Drop Regular, Jolt and diet as well as regular Sunkist orange soda all pack caffeine.
Caffeine occurs naturally in kola nuts, an ingredient of cola soft drinks. But why is this drug, which is known to create physical dependence, added to other soft drinks?
The industry line is that small amounts are added for taste, not for the drug's power to sustain demand for the products that contain it. Caffeine's bitter taste, they say, enhances other flavors. "It has been a part of almost every cola -- and pepper-type beverage -- since they were first formulated more than 100 years ago," according to the National Soft Drink Association.
But recent blind taste tests conducted by Roland Griffiths at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore found that only 8 percent of regular soft drink consumers could identify the difference between regular and caffeine-free soft drinks.
The study included only subjects who reported that they drank soft drinks mainly for their caffeine content. In other words, more than 90 percent of the self-diagnosed caffeine cravers in this small sample could not detect the presence of caffeine.
That's why the great popularity of caffeinated soft drinks is driven not so much by subtle taste effects as by the mood-altering and physical dependence of caffeine that drives the daily self-administration.
And the unknown could be especially troublesome for the developing brains of children and adolescents. Logic dictates that when you are dependent on a drug, you are really upsetting the normal balances of neurochemistry in the brain. The fact that kids have withdrawal signs and symptoms when the caffeine is stopped is a good indication that something has been profoundly disturbed in the brain.
Exactly where that leads is anybody's guess -- which is to say there is little good research on the effects of caffeine on kids' developing brains.
Bone Weakening
Animal studies demonstrate that phosphorus, a common ingredient in soda, can deplete bones of calcium.
And two recent human studies suggest that girls who drink more soda are more prone to broken bones. The industry denies that soda plays a role in bone weakening.
Animal studies -- mostly involving rats -- point to clear and consistent bone loss with the use of cola beverages. But as scientists like to point out, humans and rats are not exactly the same.
Even so, there's been concern among the research community, public health officials and government agencies over the high phosphorus content in the US diet. Phosphorus -- which occurs naturally in some foods and is used as an additive in many others -- appears to weaken bones by promoting the loss of calcium. With less calcium available, the bones become more porous and prone to fracture.
The soft drink industry argues that the phosphoric acid in soda pop contributes only about 2 percent of the phosphorus in the typical US diet, with a 12-ounce can of soda pop averaging about 30 milligrams.
There's growing concern that even a few cans of soda today can be damaging when they are consumed during the peak bone-building years of childhood and adolescence. A 1996 study published in the Journal of Nutrition by the FDA's Office of Special Nutritionals noted that a pattern of high phosphorus/low calcium consumption, common in the American diet, is not conducive to optimizing peak bone mass in young women.
A 1994 Harvard study of bone fractures in teenage athletes found a strong association between cola beverage consumption and bone fractures in 14-year-old girls. The girls who drank cola were about five times more likely to suffer bone fractures than girls who didn't consume soda pop.
Besides, to many researchers, the combination of rising obesity and bone weakening has the potential to synergistically undermine future health. Adolescents and kids don't think long-term. But what happens when these soft-drinking people become young or middle-aged adults and they have osteoporosis, sedentary living and obesity?
By that time, switching to water, milk or fruit juice may be too little, too late.

AUTHOR: Sally Squires

Zero Calorie Detox Drink


Boost your metabolism naturally with this ZERO CALORIE Detox Drink. Put down the diet sodas and crystal light and try this out for a week. You will drop weight and have TONS ON ENERGY! Sounds yummy!

1 Apple thinly sliced

1 Cinnamon Stick

Drop apple slices in the bottom of the pitcher and then the cinnamon sticks, cover with ice about 1/2 way up then add water.

Source: Raw For Beauty

Soda Linked to Aggression, Attention Problems, and Social Withdrawal in Young Children

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Soda has already been blamed for making kids obese. New research blames the sugary drinks for behavioral problems in children too.

Analyzing data from 2,929 families, researchers linked soda consumption to aggression, attention problems and social withdrawal in 5-year-olds. They published their findings in the Journal of Pediatrics on Friday.
Although earlier studies have shown an association between soft-drink consumption and aggression in teens, none had investigated whether a similar relationship existed in younger children.

To that end, Columbia University epidemiologist Shakira Suglia and her colleagues examined data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, which followed 2,929 mother-child pairs in 20 large U.S. cities from the time the children were born. The study, run by Columbia and Princeton University, collected information through surveys the mothers completed periodically over several years.

In one survey, mothers answered questions about behavior problems in their children. They also reported how much soda their kids drank on a typical day.

Suglia and her colleagues found that even at the young age of 5, 43% of the kids consumed at least one serving of soda per day, and 4% drank four servings or more.

The more soda kids drank, the more likely their mothers were to report that the kids had problems with aggression, withdrawal and staying focused on a task. For instance, children who downed four or more servings of soda per day were more than twice as likely to destroy others’ belongings, get into fights and physically attack people, compared with kids who didn’t drink soda at all.

Read full article

Source: RealFarmacy.com

Coca-Cola facing huge class action lawsuit over alleged false claims for Vitaminwater

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For years, the Coca-Cola Company has been deceptively marketing its “vitaminwater” beverage brand as a healthy alternative to plain water and sugary soda beverages, making outlandish claims that the drink can help boost immunity and even help people fight eye disease. But now the beverage giant is facing a monstrous class-action lawsuit over this marketing racket, none of which is true about the sugar-laden junk food drink.
The suit, which was originally filed back in 2010 by the nonprofit health advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), alleges that Coca-Cola has been engaged in what can only be described
as blatant labeling fraud. Vitaminwater’s “Power-C” flavor, for instance, claims to deliver “zinc and vitamin C to power your immune system,” while the “XXX” flavor is branded as containing “antioxidant vitamins to help fight free radicals and help support your body.”
Both claims are an immense exaggeration, as these two vitaminwater products are composed primarily of water, sugar, and a handful of synthetic vitamins, which is hardly a recipe for robust immunity. And yet this is the overall image being portrayed by Coca-Cola for its vitaminwater line of beverages, which is really nothing more than glorified soda pop without carbonation.

“The marketing of vitaminwater will go down in history as one of the boldest and brashest attempts ever to affix a healthy halo to what is essentially a junk food, a non-carbonated soda,” says Michael F. Jacobson, Executive Director of CSPI. “Vitaminwater, like Coca-Cola itself, promotes weight gain, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cannot deliver on any of the dishonest claims it has made over the years.”


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10 Foods To Avoid With Acid Reflux

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An estimated 25 million American adults have acid reflux, or a severe form of heartburn, and experience the issue on a daily basis. More than 60 million suffer from heartburn once a month. And while simple overeating can be to blame, there are several foods that only exacerbate the condition and make it worse. Here you will learn of many foods to avoid with acid reflux.
Heartburn isn’t something to take lightly. In addition to the almost unbearable pain, the acid consistently irritating the esophagus can lead to lasting damage and increase your risk of esophageal cancer.
Interestingly, health professionals prescribe medications known as proton pump inhibitors to reduce the amount of acid build up when the condition is actually caused by too little acid in many cases, not too much acid. In some cases, the disorder is caused by a faulty valve between the stomach and the esophagus. However, in others, it is only made worse by diet.
“After food passes through your esophagus into your stomach, a muscular valve called the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) closes, preventing food or acid to move back up. Gastroesophageal reflux occurs when the LES relaxes inappropriately, allowing acid from your stomach to flow (reflux) backward into your esophagus.”
Foods to Avoid with Acid Reflux
In addition to utilizing these 5 natural remedies for acid reflux, here are some foods to avoid when heartburn and acid reflux are a common problem:
·         Chocolate - Apparently chocolate works to relax the sphincter muscle, allowing acids to flow back into the esophagus. But that isn’t the only reason it’s bad for acid reflux—it also contains the next thing on our list:
·         Caffeine - Whether you get your daily jolt from coffee or soda, caffeine is a known contributor to acid reflux.
·         Soda - The bubbles in soda can expand in the stomach, causing acids to back up. Sodas that are caffeinated are doubly bad.
·         Alcohol - Like chocolate, alcohol relaxes the sphincter, allowing acid to flow freely. One drink may not be a problem, but when paired with other heartburn culprits, you’re only asking for greater pain.
·         Citrus fruits - The acid content in these fruits are especially problematic when consumed on an empty stomach or when paired with other acidic foods.
·         Tomatoes - While they are otherwise good for you, tomatoes are very acidic too.
·         Spicy foods - Among other foods to avoid with acid reflux, hot and spicy foods can make heartburn a problem. Simply swap out milder alternatives for the spicy dishes you like.
·         Fried and other high fat foods - Fried foods are a common heartburn culprit, but even high fat dairy and meat products can be problematic for some sensitive people.
·         Meat – Meat is one of the hardest foods to digest. Limit consumption and try to choose non-fatty meats like chicken or turkey.
·         Dairy – Dairy may provide temporary relief, but it could also cause problems.
If acid reflux is a problem for you, learn your triggers and how best to avoid them. In the end, you will have to find out exactly which foods are OK, and which foods to avoid with acid reflux. Learn to know your body.

Source : TruthTheory.com

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Proof That Soda Increases Risk of Diabetes


Drinking a can of sugar-laced soda a day will raise your risk of developing diabetes by 22%!

According to a new study just released evidence suggests that just one 12 ounce serving of a sugar-sweetened beverage can significantly raise the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

What’s interesting about this this is that since most of the research on the evil effects of soda has been done on people in the US, researches at the Imperial College of London set up to seek a link between soda consumption and Type 2 diabetes in Europeans as well.

The British researchers used 15 years of data compiled from over 27,000 people from seven European countries. Over that 15 year period, more than 40 percent of those people developed type 2 diabetes and those who said they consumed at least one soda or similar sweet drink showed an 18% higher risk of developing the disease! When they took out factors such as weight and body mass index, the risk rose to 22%!

Coincidentally, these findings were right in line with the US studies showing a 25% percent increased risk of type 2 diabetes when consuming one soda per day.

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