Buyers guide to sliced Bread

The Nutrients

Wholegrain bread is a rich source of nutrients such as:

· Carbohydrate for energy;

· B-group vitamins (thiamine, riboflavin and niacin), which help release energy from food;

· Both insoluble fibre for good gut health and soluble fibre, which can help lower cholesterol absorption;

· Protein for growth and repair;

· Other vitamins and minerals such s iron, selenium and magnesium;

· Natural antioxidants such as vitamin E.

Is Wholegrain Better?

Not necessarily. Wholegrain breads are higher in fibre, as the outer bran layer of the grain is present, but bran also contains phytates, which can reduce some of the nutrients we absorb from wholegrains. The good news is some phytates are broken down during the bread fermentation process and wholegrain breads tend to have more nutrients than white breads anyway. Milling grains to make white flour removes much of the bran and germ, so white bread has lower levels of vitamins, minerals and fibre.

To compensate for the fact that half of all bread eaten is white, this type is often fortified with iron, calcium, folate and omega-3 fats.

It is time to guard yourself against dangers like, pollutants, questionable farming practices, and stress – these factors increasingly contribute to a growing healthcare crisis. Mannatech has championed revolutionary discoveries designed to help boost your body’s ability to stay healthy. Offering a solution for overall wellness is Mannatech's commitment.

Food Myths Busted

Green tea doesn’t contain caffeine

You’re trying to reduce your caffeine intake and you think green tea is the answer because it’s caffeine-free, right? Contrary to what you may think, green tea is not a herbal tea and it contains caffeine (between 10-50mg). Like all tea, the amount of caffeine in green tea is influenced by brewing, preparation and the quantity of leaves used.

Truth of the matter: Green tea contains about the same amount of caffeine as black tea. It is also a rich source of Flavonoids, which act as antioxidants and have been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease. Enjoy a maximum 2-3 cups of tea (or any caffeine-containing drinks) a day.

Source: www.healthyfoodguide.com.au

Mannatech's glyconutrient and phytonutrient supplements are especially formulated for children in their growth years - and they supply the nutrients missing from life in the fast-food lane. Since introducing their first nutritional breakthrough, Ambrotose® complex, in 1994, Mannatech has maintained a leadership position in the worldwide dietary supplements industry. Mannatech offer naturally derived patent-pending and proprietary nutritional products that no other company can offer.

Food Myths Busted

You can choose where you lose weight from

You’re determined to get that six-pack and a trim, taut and terrific bum to match. The latest headline on the health and fitness mag reads “10 days to a flat stomach” or “Get the perfect butt”. The specific diets that target belly or bottom fat sound wonderful but, again, it’s a case of “if is sounds too good to be true, it probably is”.

Nutritionist and exercise expert Kristen Mackenzie says our genes and gender are largely to blame for where we store excess fat. Women generally carry their fat on their buttocks, thighs, breasts and around the stomach area. They are often shaped like a pear on an hourglass. Men, on the other hand, are more prone to being an apple shape and store fat around the stomach.

Just because you store fat in all the places you don’t want, doesn’t mean you can wave a magic wand and lost fat from all these places. If you want to lose fat from around your butt, you must lose fat from all over.

With weight loss, you need to acknowledge the areas that you can and cannot change. You can change your total body fat and muscle mass, but your height, bone size and fat distribution are what make you unique. Be realistic when you set your weight-loss goals and instead of focusing on spot reduction, focus on making a healthier you.

Truth of the matter: To reduce weight from those wobbly bits, move your body and control what goes in your mouth. Try resistance exercises to help tone the areas you like the least. Wear clothes that show off your best assets and love your body. It really is unique and special!

Source: www.healthyfoodguide.com.au

PhytoMatrix™ contains vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals that have been absorbed by a plant’s roots and stored in its tissue. When harvested, these plants provide all-natural ingredients. Mannatech has obtained exclusive rights to a patented, hydroponic cultivation technology that allows plants to absorb significantly greater quantities of minerals. The plant based delivery in PhytoMatrix™ provides greater absorption and utilisation of nutrients than any other existing supplement technologies.

Metabolic Syndrome

If you have metabolic syndrome (a condition characterized by obesity around the waist, high blood pressure and disturbed glucose and insulin metabolism), make sure you include dairy in your diet. Researchers in Wales found that drinking milk or eating dairy products regularly can lower the risk of developing the syndrome by 62 per cent.

It’s not known exactly how this works, but it has been proposed conjugated linoleic acids (CLA), found mainly in dairy products, may improve the action of insulin in the body, reducing blood glucose levels. More research is needed, but 2-3 daily serves of dairy products will benefit your bones and teeth, no matter what other good they might do!

Source: J Epidemio Commun Health

Mannatech’s goal is to empower you with the nutrients your body needs to stay fit, active and successful. Take control of your health and share wellness solutions with others by learning more about Mannatech's cutting-edge technologies which help provide what every body needs for optimal health. Vibrant health is no longer a certainty. Mannatech is on the cutting edge of new technologies that provide what every body needs to stay healthy.

Diabetes

Diabetes is the name given to a group of different conditions in which there is too much glucose in the blood. Here’s what happens:

• The body needs a special sugar called glucose as its main source of fuel or energy. The body makes glucose from foods containing carbohydrate such as vegetables containing carbohydrate (like potatoes or corn) and cereal foods (like bread, pasta and rice) as well as fruit and milk.

• The glucose is carried around the body in the blood and the glucose level is called glycaemia (glyc = glucose; aemia = in the blood). The glucose level must be neither too high nor too low, but just right.

• The glucose running around in the blood stream now has to get out of the blood and into the body tissues. It’s the cells in the body tissues that actually do the work – brain cells so you can think, heart cells so you can pump blood and muscle cells so you can walk. Glucose is also stored in the liver, like you would store food items in the kitchen pantry.

• This is where insulin enters the story. Insulin is a hormone made by the pancreas, a gland sitting just below the stomach. Insulin opens the doors (the glucose channels) that let glucose go from the blood to the body cells where energy is made.

• This process is called glucose metabolism.

• In diabetes, the pancreas either cannot make insulin or the insulin it does make is not enough and cannot work properly.

• Without insulin doing its job, the glucose channels are shut. Glucose builds up in the blood leading to high blood glucose levels which causes the health problems linked to diabetes.

Mannatech’s goal is to empower you with the nutrients your body needs to stay fit, active and successful. Take control of your health and share wellness solutions with others by learning more about Mannatech's cutting-edge technologies which help provide what every body needs for optimal health. Vibrant health is no longer a certainty. Mannatech is on the cutting edge of new technologies that provide what every body needs to stay healthy.

Is Organic Worth More Money?

Have you eaten your 60 servings of spinach today?

You’d have to eat that much in order to get the same amount of iron you would have gotten from one serving of spinach grown in 1948. And you’d have to eat 25 cups to get even the measly RDA of vitamin E.

What’s going on here?

Modern agricultural techniques are the culprits. The fruits and vegetables on today’s supermarket shelves come from nutrient-poor soil grown on chemical fertilizers and sprayed with pesticides. Not to mention genetically modified produce, which farmers aren’t required to label.

What’s more, in order to get these foods to the store before they start to rot, commercial growers harvest fruits and vegetables before they’ve had time to ripen. (You’ve noticed how bananas in the produce aisle are green when you buy them.)

Before the onset of industrial agriculture, farmers relied on natural fertilizers to grow their produce. In order to insure freshness, grocers bought foodstuffs from local farmers, so the fruits and vegetables available to Americans decades ago had time to ripen in the sun naturally - so yesteryear’s produce contained much higher levels of vitamins, minerals, and other natural compounds essential to your health.

What can you do about it? One simple way to go is to buy local organically grown fruits and vegetables whenever possible. Not only will you avoid pesticides and other chemicals – you’ll get a lot more of Nature’s beneficial ingredients.

A recent study published in The Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry found that organic tomatoes contain almost twice as much of an important type of compound – called “flavonoids” – as conventionally grown tomatoes.1

Flavonoids are naturally occurring anti-oxidants found in a number of plants, including tomatoes, blueberries, grapes, and green tea. The benefits of anti-oxidants cannot be overstated. Here are just a few of the benefits linked to flavonoids:

• Improved circulation
• Lower cholesterol
• Lower blood pressure
• Reduced inflammation
• Reduced risk of rheumatoid arthritis
• Increased bone strength
• Reduced risk of heart disease
• Stronger immune response
• Faster recovery from sunburn
• Reduced risk of many types of cancer, including lung, prostate, and skin cancer
• Memory loss prevention
• Higher metabolism and greater weight loss

So if you find both conventionally grown and organic tomatoes at your local grocer, the choice is a no-brainer – go organic. Even better, find a local farmer or co-op to buy from. The same rule of thumb applies to meat, eggs and milk, for the simple reason that they will contain more of the ingredients your body needs for optimum health.

Taking supplements is another effective way to compensate for today’s nutrient-poor produce. Vitamin E, vitamin C, selenium, CoQ10, and alpha lipoic acid are all powerful anti-oxidants that improve heart health, slow the aging process, prevent cancer, and even boost your brainpower.

Nutritionists recommend daily amounts for each of these nutrients. They are the building blocks for an anti-oxidant powerhouse:

• Vitamin E – 400 IEU
• Vitamin C – 1,000 mg
• Selenium – 55 micrograms
• CoQ10 – 100 mg
• Alpha lipoic acid – 100 mg

Mannatech products are at the cutting edge of nutritional science. The breakthrough innovation found in many Mannatech products is Ambrotose® complex, which is designed to provide supplemental glyconutrients. Mannatech leads the industry in glyconutrient technology around the world and strives to offer better solutions for global health.

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Foods must bridge the gap in healthy aging, nutrition experts say

While dietary supplement marketers have long targetted baby boomers, this generation is still in need of more functional foods geared towards their nutritional and emotional requirements, according to speakers at IFT Expo.

Development of such products could boost the bottom line of manufacturers, but also increase the longevity of what has been the most educated and affluent generation to date. Antioxidants, calcium, vitamin D and zinc for instance, can slow the rate of age-related disease and increase the number of healthy years in a person's life, the speakers said in a symposium on healthy aging.

"We need to take that information and apply it,", a nutrition scientist at Tufts University, told IFT attendees. "We have to be willing to create new food products that older people can consume on a regular basis."

While the research shows that antioxidants, zinc and copper can delay AMD (age-related macular degeneration), the nutrition scientist also estimates that - in the right doses - this type of fortification or supplementation could prevent 300,000 cases of blindness in a five-year period.

However, there are numerous factors that set the stage for an aging person's nutritional health, according to the speakers.

These include socio-economic influences - such as a person's economic status, their psychological health, or the impact of changes in their environment as they age - and also physiological factors - such as altered nutrient metabolism, a reduced ability to absorb nutrients, or the interaction of nutrients with pharmaceutical drugs.

Aging boomers are generally more aware of the relationship between food and beverage and how they feel physically - according to a researcher with the Hartman Group in Washington state - and they want feelings of vitality rather than foods that make them feel sluggish. They also want to feel independent and be in charge of their own health.

The speakers also highlighted the potential positive impact on healthcare systems if disease were delayed significantly in the aging process.

It is time to guard yourself against dangers like, pollutants, questionable farming practices, and stress – these factors increasingly contribute to a growing healthcare crisis. Mannatech has championed revolutionary discoveries designed to help boost your body’s ability to stay healthy. Offering a solution for overall wellness is Mannatech's commitment.