Slim People in Progress

Sodium is the Silent Killer - Guest Post by Jeff Hopeck

According to the FDA, nearly 50 million Americans suffer from high blood pressure...Worse, an estimated 50% DON'T KNOW THEY HAVE IT...Why? Watch guest blogger Jeff Hopeck's video...

Sodium is the "silent killer" and increased sodium in your diet is a direct link to high blood pressure......
....and high blood pressure typically has NO SYMPTOMS, that's WHY people don't know they have it.

In this video, I demonstrate how the food industry plays their "slippery tricks" when they manufacture and market foods.

Remember:  2,400-2,500mg/day ONLY -  and that can sometimes be in 1 simple little can of soup, 8 chicken wings, and many other daily household foods that we think are "healthy."

You can learn more about Jeff Hopeck and how to read food labels at his blog Stop Killing Yourself - the website that can help you and your loved ones live longer.

Related Post
Stop Killing Yourself - Read the Labels

Milk and Weight Loss: Friends or Foes?

Following is a guest post by Sydney Johnston, a free lance health writer. Her take on milk is the opposite of what you hear from Weight Watchers. Read on and you decide how you want to deal with milk in your diet.

Milk and Weight Loss: Friends or Foes?

If we can believe the dairy industry, milk and weight loss go together like chocolate and peanut butter. Celebrities like Brooke Shields, Mariska Hargitay, Sheryl Crow and Glenn Close lounge in magazine ads, earnestly assuring us that their great bodies are the result of drinking milk. But is the link between weight and milk genuine?

"Nutrition Reviews", a respected scientific journal, reviewed 49 different studies and found:

• 41 of the research papers indicated no relationship whatsoever between dairy and weight loss
• Two studies declared that milk and dairy products increased weight, rather than reduced it
• Six of the studies found that folks who drank milk lost weight - but these six were financed by none other than the American Dairy Association

This is very unconvincing evidence. And here are three more thoughts on dairy and weight loss:

1. The Dairy Association promotes "24:24", meaning three glasses, or 24 ounces of milk every day. That's an extra 300 calories that could be "spent" in other ways.

2. Dairy products all contain lactose, which is a very concentrated sugar. Sugar + too much fat ... do we need to say anything else?

Clinton Foundation Recommends

One of the The (Bill) Clinton Foundation projects is improving the health of America, especially our youth.  Here's a great website the foundation recommends, Alliance for a Healthier Generation.  it offers guidelines for healthier food choices in school and out.  With childhood obesity at epidemic proportions, we need to offer our children better options. 

A Healthier Generation Kids is a great kids-friendly, interactive site full of fun things to do and lots of good stuff to learn.  Share it with your children!

Three Wonder Foods

An article in today's Real Age - Wonder Foods features a few foods that are not on the mainstream menus yet, but are nutritionally loaded with good things.  Açaí berries are full of antioxidents. Quinoa is crammed with protein, calcium and lots of other vitamins and minerals.  Matcha is actually the powdered form of the whole green tea leaf and packs a whollop of antioxidents.

Read the article and the recipe for Quinoa and Black Bean Salad (2 points per serving).

Cranberries are Awesome

In Today's Yahoo Health News, the benefits of cranberries are touted.  Not only are they rich in antioxidants, they also help fight urinary infections, cholesterol and the formation of plaque on teeth.  The National Institutes of Health is funding research on the cranberry's effects on heart disease, yeast infections and other conditions, and other researchers are investigating its potential against cancer, stroke and viral infections.

Have cranberries today with you Thanksgiving meal.  It's good for you!