PHYTONUTRIENTS FOR LIFE
For youth and adults engaging in physical activity and sports, healthy eating is essential for optimizing performance. Combining good nutrition with physical activity can lead to a healthier lifestyle.
- Maximize with nutrient-packed foods and energize with grains
- Eating whole grains, lean protein, fruits and vegetables,
and low-fat or fat-free dairy. Body’s quickest energy foods such as whole-grain/wheat bread, pasta, oatmeal,
cereals, tortillas and brown rice - Eat less high in solid fats, added sugars, and sodium (salt).
Power up with meat, seafood and mix it up with plant protein foods
Protein is essential for building and repairing muscle. Choose lean or low-fat cuts of meat, and skinless chicken or turkey and seafood twice a week.
Quality protein sources come from plant based foods such as beans and peas (kidney, black, or white beans; split peas; chickpeas; hummus), soy products (tofu, tempeh, veggie burgers), and unsalted nuts and seeds.
Don’t forget *dairy
Foods like fat-free and low-fat milk, cheese, yogurt, and fortified soy beverages (soymilk) help to build and maintain strong bones needed for everyday activities.
Drink water
Stay hydrated by drinking water instead of sugary drinks.
OUR DIGESTIVE SYSTEM at:
Our partially digested food starts to arrive in the small intestine as pulpy acidic fluid, 1.5 hours after it is eaten.
While opinions vary, routine physical exams are generally recommended once a year if you're over the age of 50, and once every 3 years if you're younger than 50 and in good health.
If you have a chronic disease or other ongoing health issues, you should see your doctor more often, no matter how old you are.
Complete blood count (CBC)
Chemistry (basic metabolic) panel
Thyroid panel (Hormonal Balance)
Nutrient tests for levels of vital nutrients, such as iron or B vitamins
For many conditions, a medication can only do so much. Healthy lifestyle habits can improve the chances that a medication will be effective.
For people with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and many other conditions, medications should be in addition to lifestyle changes, not instead of them
Phytonutrients have powerful antioxidant properties that help prevent damage to cells throughout the body.
A number of phytonutrients have been shown to reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease
Vary your fruits and vegetables Get the nutrients your body needs by eating a variety of colours such as blue, red, or black berries; red and yellow peppers; and dark greens like spinach and kale. Choose fresh, frozen, low-sodium canned, dried, or 100 percent juice options.
Our partially digested food starts to arrive in the small intestine as pulpy acidic fluid, 1.5 hours after it is eaten.
After 4 TO 5 hours the stomach has emptied.
In the small intestine, the pH becomes crucial; it needs to be finely balanced in order to activate digestive enzymes. The partly digested foods is very acidic, with a low pH, having been released from the stomach and needs to be made much more alkaline.
The partly digested foods arrives in the intestines having been released from the stomach resulting alkaline fluid mix neutralises the gastric acid which would damage the lining of the intestine. The mucus component lubricates the walls of the intestine. Transit time through the small intestine is an average of 4 hours. Emptying of the small intestine is complete after an average of 8 hours.
In the large intestine, the passage of the digesting food in the colon is a lot slower, taking from 30 to 40 hours until it is removed by defecation.
When you’re trying to learn more about digestive health, the chances are that you’ll hear a lot about a substance called “mucoid plaque” – an element within the intestines that prevents standard digestion and can sometimes contribute to serious health conditions.
In its healthy form, mucus is a slippery and clear substance that helps to lubricate certain parts of the body and protect the surface of membranes.
Part of the way in which it works is to coat everything that you ingest, engulfing everything from toxins, and water. The more dangerous stuff the mucus in your body consumes, the more it becomes cloudy, sticky, and thick.
In the process of building within the intestinal tract, mucoid plaque also binds more toxins and waste materials that move through your digestive system, so that it gradually becomes more wide-spread across the intestinal walls.
The result of this mucoid issue is that your typical digestive behaviour is compromised, and you begin to struggle to absorb nutrients in the way that you normally would.
At the same time, your risk of autointoxication increases as you retain more waste matter, and you may even create a friendlier internal environment for parasites.
