You Say Tomato - I Say Superfood

The tomato has been called many things throughout history: Peruvian apple, love apple, and even, by Americans at least, a vegetable. Today, however, this lovely fruit is fast becoming known as Superfood!

While not able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, this super hero of the nutrition world is able to do some pretty amazing things. For example, some studies show the tomato may help decrease the risk of prostate cancer, as well as breast, lung and stomach cancers. And the Herald Sun reported in 2003 that the yellow jelly around the seeds have yet another benefit: They may stop blood cells from clumping together, which sometimes leads to strokes and heart attacks.

What is it about this little red fruit that makes it so amazing? Lycopene.

Okay, so the word lycopene doesn’t sound very appetizing, but this powerful antioxidant is the chemical in tomatoes that not only is responsible for it’s red color, but also responsible for its disease-fighting powers.

Just ask an Italian. Italian cooking relies very heavily on tomatoes and tomato products. And, some studies have suggested that this heavy intake of tomatoes by Italians has resulted in a lowering of cancer of the digestive tract.

Now, you’re probably thinking you have to consume tons and tons of fresh tomatoes to enjoy any health benefits. Not true. In one research study it was reported that people who ate tomatoes at least every other day had greater lung capacity. And, the tomatoes don’t even have to be fresh! Again, research shows that the lycopene in tomatoes is more easily absorbed by the body if processed into ketchup, sauce and paste. So, not only are tomatoes a superfood, they’re an easy superfood to include in your diet.

Of course, fresh tomatoes are still beneficial, and packed with wonderful nutrients (not to mention delicious). Just remember the one rule of fresh tomatoes: don’t put them in the refrigerator. The refrigerator destroys not only the flavor, it also destroys the nutrients.

So, go ahead, do something good for your health tonight. Have a tomato.

Women reproductive health

Today’s woman is apparently known for its presence either in the house or at its office workplace promising its influence at both the places. As such it is very important that women health or say women reproductive health is of prime consideration due to rising female death rate due to unwanted pregnancies and other sexually transmitted diseases.

Women health reproductive is primarily concerned with health activities like contraception, fertility, infertility and other sexually transmitted diseases. Here contraception by way of pills, condoms, diaphragm, intrauterine, vasectomy is important way to avoid unintended pregnancies and other hormonal diseases.

Fertility is the ability to conceive either through sexual intercourse or by way of test tube culture whereas infertility is whereby a woman is unable to conceive. Infertility occurs mostly due to factors such as irregular menstrual cycles, painful sexual intercourse, miscarriage or any chronic disability. Sometimes women feel pain in their vulva leading to burning, stinging or irritation in their genitals which is termed as Vulvodynia. Another gynecological disease frequently prevailing is Endometriosis. It happens usually in the reproductive years of a woman whereby the womb sheds during menstruation and leads to internal bleeding, infection and internal injury.

Some of the common sexually transmitted diseases found among women are Chlamydia, Genital herpes, Gonorrhea, Hepatitis and HIV. Women are entitled to various reproductive rights whereby they have the right to knowledge to sexuality and reproduction, right to go for family planning, opt for programs that reduce women infertility and mortality rate, access to safe, affordable abortion techniques in addition to post and pre marriage counseling. Most prominently they are eligible to stop forced sterilization and get right nutrition during the pregnancy period.

To know more log on to womensreproductivehealth.info

Burning Fat vs. Burning Calories

To lose weight and get in shape you must have a good diet and exercise regularly to burn fat. The first thing you must understand about exercise is that just because you are burning calories does not mean you are burning fat. Your main focus when you exercise should be losing body fat, and you can’t lose body fat just from burning calories. When we exercise, our bodies will start burning calories, but the calories that are burned are the calories from carbohydrates in our system. In order to burn calories from your stored fat, your body requires the presence of oxygen. There is a certain amount of oxygen that your body needs in order to start burning fat and the only way for you to measure the amount needed for your own body is to keep up with your target heart rate during exercise. Please understand that if you continue to only burn calories from carbohydrates, you will lose mostly “water weight” which leads to a decrease in your metabolism. Also, think of the calories that are burned from carbohydrates as your energy calories. If you lose too much energy calories then your muscles will not receive enough energy to increase your metabolism which indirectly burn fat. Therefore you must increase your calorie intake when you are on an exercise program to replace your burned energy calories.

Burning Fat Calories during exercise

During aerobic exercise, your body goes through several stages before it reaches the point where you are burning fat. You will hear people say that you are only burning sugar (carbohydrates) not fat during the first 10 minutes of exercise. This is true to a certain extent. I say this because you will continue to burn sugar past the 10 minute mark if you are not working out hard enough for your body to want more oxygen; or you are working out too hard and you can’t supply your body with enough oxygen for fat burning. When you exercise you must move at a steady pace (not too fast, not too slow) so your body will utilize your stored fat (not carbohydrates or sugar) as its energy source. Also remember that just because you reached the fat burning stage does not mean you will stay there. Staying at the fat burning stage once again depends on if you are moving at a pace that is right for your body. Make sure that you are within your target heart rate range.

Burning Fat Calories at rest

The only way for you to continue to burn fat calories hours after you have finished working out is through the anaerobic exercise of weight training. Weight training is the key to burning fat at rest. Weight training is an anaerobic activity that will cause you to burn more calories than aerobic exercise. The calories that you are burning during weight training exercises are mostly calories from carbohydrates (meaning you must eat even more calories per day for energy); but the calories you burn at rest are mostly calories from fat. The reason you are burning fat at rest is because weight training increases your metabolism which uses your stored fat as energy.

To make your body the ultimate fat burning machine you must do aerobic (cardio) and anaerobic (weight training) exercises.