VEGETABLE BENEFITS IN YOUR HEALTH

A vegetarian diet provides a variety of proven health benefits. Vegetarians have significantly reduced rates of obesity, coronary heart disease, hypertension, type II diabetes, diet-related cancers, diverticular disease, constipation and gall stones.

In addition to being richer in fruits and vegetables, vegetarian diets tend to be lower in total fat. Taber & Cook (1980) found lacto-ovo vegetarians to consume an average of 35 percent of energy as fat, compared to omnivores consuming over 40 percent of energy as fat. A study of the diets of a group of French vegetarians found they had a daily intake of 25 percent less fat than non-vegetarians (Millet, 1989). Vegetarians also tend to eat proportionally more polyunsaturated fat to saturated fat compared with non-vegetarians. Animal products are the major sources of dietary saturated fat.

Health Benefits of Vegetarianism

Compared with non-vegetarians, Western vegetarians have:

• A lower average Body Mass Index (BMI) (by about 1 kg/m2).

• A lower mean plasma total cholesterol concentration (by about 0.5 mmol/l).

• A lower mortality from IHD (by about 25 percent).

• They may also have a lower risk for some other diseases such as constipation, diverticular disease, gallstones and appendicitis.

• The evidence available suggests that widespread adoption of a vegetarian diet could prevent approximately 40,000 deaths from IHD in Britain each year.

The Seventh-Day Adventist Church Health Study

This is the only major ongoing study on the general health and mortality of vegetarians in the U.S. Data was collected from 1976-1988. Of the 34,192 participants, all members of the Seventh-day Adventist church: 29 percent were vegetarian, while 7-10 percent of the vegetarians were vegan.

Compared to non-vegetarians the above vegetarians had about:

• 1/2 the high blood pressure and diabetes

• 1/2 the colon cancer

• 2/3 the rheumatoid arthritis and prostate cancer

• Breast, lung, & uterine cancers tended to be lower in vegetarians but could have been due to random chance.

Vegetarian Life Expectancy

Life expectancies in the Adventist Health Study have recently been published. They show that this group of Seventh-day Adventists appears to be the longest-lived, formally studied population in the world (with an average life span of 78.5 years for men, 82.3 for women).

Herbs for Skin Care

There are a wide variety of skin problems many people face on a day to day basis. The most common of course, tends to be oily skin and acne. But there are others as well, such as dry skin, itching and flaky skin, rashes, wrinkles, and even more serious problems such as psoriasis and eczema.

Due to the wide variety of skin problems and conditions people experience, there can be any number of reasons for the problems. Most modern doctors tend to treat the symptoms themselves though, instead of digging for deeper problems to resolve. Herbalists and natural remedy specialists agree however, that most skin related health problems are related to toxins within the body. Specifically the liver or colon is not functioning as well as they should be, and they need to be cleansed.

And since most skin problems are cleared up with liver or colon cleansing approaches, many skin remedies include herbs which work specifically to help the liver cleanse, tone and heal.

Dandelion for instance, is an excellent herb for liver health. It will help the liver produce more bile, which draws toxins and pollutants out of your body at a much faster rate. This process works very well for dealing with every day skin problems such as acne.

Eczema is often caused by a food allergy of some kind, and it's seen most often in children. The most common allergies which cause this skin condition are cows milk and wheat or gluten. Simply removing these items from the child's diet is often all that's needed to clear up the eczema problems.

When food allergies aren't the cause though, sometimes bacteria and infections is. In these cases, Garlic is the best herb to use for clearing up those problems. Garlic is a powerful anti fungus herb which can kill candida yeast related infections among many others. Garlic will also expel most parasites from your body, and those tend to cause skin related problems too.

For wrinkles and dry skin problems though, one of the most natural approaches you can take is to simply drink more water. Our bodies need two to three quarts of water every day, and more so if we're sick or live in dry climates. Since our skin always seems to get water last, after all the major internal organs have gotten their share, there's often not enough left over to hydrate the skin properly. This not only causes dryness, itching and flaking, but it can cause premature wrinkles too.

Applying Vitamins A, C and E to your facial skin directly will also help rehydrate it, fight free radical damage, and reduce or prevent wrinkles as well.

With summer coming very soon, many people will experience mild, moderate and severe sunburns from being exposed too long without proper skin protection. An excellent natural remedy for sunburns though, is to simply apply old fashioned black tea to the burned areas. Soak some teabags in cool water for a few moments to activate the tannin, then lay the bags on the sunburned skin. This will pull the heat and pain from the burn, as well as help it to heal into a nice tan without peeling