Posts tagged vitamins
Celebrating Heart Health Month – A Lesson in Good Nutrition Practices and Omega-3’s
Feb 1st
What comes to mind once February rolls around? You usually think Valentine’s Day, right? While most others are sharing their heart with others this month, why not take the time to share some love with your own heart this year? You only have one heart so why not think about treating it right.
As a dietitian in a renowned Heart Hospital, I often come across people from all walks of life that haven’t made the best dietary choices, which have led them to develop coronary artery disease (CAD). Often a patient ends up needing either a cardiac catherization and stent(s) or worse, have to undergo surgical procedures such as a coronary artery bypass graft, or CABG, bypassing blocked arteries. Think about your diet for just a moment, do you eat lots of animal products high in saturated fat and cholesterol, like cold cuts, bacon, red meat, baked goods, whole milk products? Why not make some dietary modifications to trim down the fats in your diet. Limit your intake of fat to 25% or less of your total daily calories. Choose lean meat and avoid high fat meats such as luncheon meats. Limit high fat choices to twice a week or less. Trim the visible fat from meat and removed the skin from poultry like chicken or turkey, before cooking. Bake, broil, grill, or steam foods instead of frying.
Include low-fat or nonfat foods in your diet. Use fat free or reduced fat cheese and yogurt rather than the regular, full fat versions. Replace regular salad dressings with a vinaigrette, low-fat or nonfat dressings. Try putting your salad dressing in a mister bottle and spray on just enough salad dressing to lightly coat your salad without drenching it and taking in all that extra, unnecessary fat and calories.
When cooking, try to use vegetable oils, ¾ cup of liquid oil may be used in place of 1 cup of solid shortening. Olive oil, Canola oil, and Peanut oil are good examples of vegetable oils, just to name a few.
Try to limit or avoid altogether anything that contains Trans fats. Trans fats can increase your risk of cardiovascular disease. Trans fats are created by adding hydrogen to vegetable oils during a process called hydrogenation. Trans fats may be found in commercially baked goods, stick margarine, and vegetable shortening, and they are often used to fry foods.
Unsaturated fats on the other hand, mainly come from plants. They can be monounsaturated or polyunsaturated. Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats are high in total fat and have as many calories as saturated fat. However, choosing unsaturated fat is a healthier option than choosing a saturated fat or a trans fat. Good sources of polyunsaturated fats are corn oil, safflower oil, sesame oil, soybean oil, sunflower oil & seeds. Good sources of monounsaturated fats are avocados, canola, olive & peanut oil and most nuts.
Last but not least Omega-3 fatty acids are fats which seem to positively influence a number of factors related to protection from cardiovascular disease. Good sources of Omega-3 fats are fish oil, flax oil, canola oil, fish such as herring, mackerel, and salmon, walnuts, butternuts, soybeans, and ground flax seed. If you find it hard to consume a diet rich in Omega-3’s why not try a supplement instead. By including Omega-3’s you are playing an active role in protecting yourself from CAD. Try to incorporate more grains, vegetables & nuts into your diet, consume more of a plant-based rather than a meat-based diet.
I hope this is gives you a good start to a heart healthy you!
Dina has been working as a Clinical Dietitian at St. Francis Heart Hospital in Roslyn, NY for the past 10 years. She is a Certified Dietitian Nutritionist, and a Registered Dietitian. In addition Dina works as a consultant for several doctor’s offices providing nutrition counseling ranging from gastrointestinal ailments to cardiac conditions as well as obesity/weight loss. In this capacity she helps prepare patients for bariatric surgery as well as consulting them post operatively.
Dina received her Masters of Science degree in Medical Nutrition Therapy from Long Island University, CW Post and holds a Bachelor’s in Biology from Adelphi University.
Allow Me to Introduce My Story…
Dec 23rd
“Optimum health addresses the mind, body and spirit. Through small adjustments in lifestyle, nutrition and prudent supplementation, you can better adapt to the changes that time brings, and achieve and maintain optimum health over your lifetime.”
- Andrew Weil, M.D.
I firmly believe that no matter what your age, appearance, or health problems, it is still possible to look and feel better. Furthermore, I believe that it is never too late to start. However, this leads to the question “Start doing what?” I have invested a lot of personal time and effort into coming up with the answer, and as a result, many years later, NutraOrigin’s set of goals was outlined and the product line was created.
Here is the story:
I became a health enthusiast after joining the army. Being a part of the Special Forces, I quickly came to realize that my performance completely relied on my physical condition. This led me to believe that being in better shape equals better health. Such a naïve consideration collapsed after my term of service came to a close and I moved on to begin college. It was shortly after that when I started to experience a number of unpleasant symptoms, which gradually increased in severity over time.
I went to doctors first and, then hospitals, with no resolution. I was in much better physical shape than most of my friends and I never smoked, while some of them did. My family had an excellent health history which was not the case for some of the healthier guys I knew. I held a routine training regiment as a number of my friends never even exercised. The doctors could not help and as my symptoms continued to get worse my list of activities began to shrink and life was becoming less and less appealing. I quickly came to realize that I had no other choice but to rely on myself. I began reading books about alternative medicine and I met with scientists who were conducting research in the field. As a result, I was able to develop a program, the foundation of which was the intake of nutritional supplements and soon enough I got my life back. It was a good lesson on what nutraceuticals can do and one that would change my life forever.
There were many factors that influenced the formation of my own concept on health related issues we all face as individuals and as a society as well. I spent many years working as an Environmental Engineering Consultant leading a number of large projects aimed to reduce pollutions for industrial and urban zones. I also worked hand in hand with many health organizations and agencies which had a lasting effect on my thinking as well
As time passed, I advanced in my career, I raised a family, and, my interest in nutritional supplements and a healthy lifestyle was always a big part of my life.
Knowing my passion and willingness to help, led many of my friends, colleagues and neighbors to ask me to help them build supplement regiments that would optimize their health. This was how I became the sort of “nutritional guru” in this small circle of people. Being involved in such a process, I faced a number of challenges:
- There were very few quality complex formulations designed for specific health concerns.
- Many products on the market contain such an ineffective concentration level of the formula’s ingredients (due to the production cost restrictions), that it would require the intake of several bottles per month in order to reach the needed effect.
- It takes a significant investment of time and logistic efforts from the average consumer to do research, build a needed regiment, and obtain nutritional products, unless you consider involving health professionals and dealing with expenses usually not covered by insurance.
The next logical step in my mind was to form a company that specializes in the development of state-of-the-art comprehensive formulations designed to nutritionally address some of the most devastating health concerns in North America.. The result was the birth of NutraOrigin.
Years later, I find myself fortunate enough to work with a great team of dedicated professionals who prides themselves on manufacturing only those products that provide legitimate results for the consumer.
We are a performance oriented company which means that all of our new product introductions arise from genuine advances in technology and performance. We have always and continue to pride ourselves on our commitment to the highest standards of ethics and integrity. Each and every one of our products guarantees:
- Purity and Potency
- Integrity of Formulation
- Adherence to Label Claims
One of our main priorities at NutraOrigin is to never take professional or ethical shortcuts. This is why all of our formulations are developed with no cost or time restrictions in order to ensure the highest level of effectiveness and to provide:
- Highly concentrated dosages of each ingredient.
- Multiple effective components that deliver the full spectrum of nutritional benefits.
- Synergistic compositions that maximize the integrity and absorption of all individual components
in our products.
When comparing our product line to that of other nutraceutical brands, it is plain to see that our formulations greatly supersede most of our competitors because we offer a greater amount of ingredients in higher concentrations. All of our products are manufactured in facilities which are independently inspected and certified as Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP). Many NutraOrigin products include herbal ingredients or components derived from plants and we also use vegetarian capsules. This is why most of our products are vegetarian.
As a company it is important to NutraOrigin that we understand our customer’s nutritional needs, challenges and accomplishments. This is the reason why we have created these communities such as the ones you will see here as well as on our Facebook and Twitter. Our goal is to hold a forum where all of us can learn from each other through shared experiences. As we go into 2010, it is our hope to evolve with the community in order to provide better health and wellness for you all. We welcome you into our network and I hope to hear what makes you motivated, feel good and challenged to take yourself to the next level.
—Alex
Alex Khesin
Chief Operating Officer
NutraOrigin