My mother gave up saying this a very long time ago. Much to her despair I grew up on a diet largely dominated by pizza and chocolate (don’t try this at home). When I elected to turn vegetarian at age 13, vegetarians were not as common as nowadays, and many people assumed I ate only vegetables. Nothing could be further from the truth. Until quite recently you’d be hard pushed to find a fresh fruit or vegetable in my kitchen. They would be bought sometimes with good intentions but would end up providing only visual satisfaction.

A friend suggested I get a juicer. Fresh vegetable juice is popularly considered very beneficial - as a balm for many complaints and as a general aid to wellbeing. Nowadays at the supermarket checkout I no longer hang my head in shame but have to stop myself from beaming proudly at the queue behind as my abundant greens hit the conveyor belt (neatly concealing the odd slab of chocolate underneath of course).

I’m not saying it’s changed my life, but knowing I’ve already downed my government regulation “five daily portions” before I even start work has an encouraging psychological impact on the day, regardless of the physical benefits.

It is widely thought that organic fruit and vegetables are better value nutritionally. Others say it’s nonsense. There’s an interesting page at www.organicconnection.net. I buy organic when I can – even if it’s all psychological, it makes me feel better.

Some say it’s not good to have too much fruit juice as opposed to vegetable juice, because it messes with the insulin levels. Others say it’s not good to mix fruit and vegetables, some say it’s good to vary the ingredients so as to avoid developing allergies, yet more say there’s no point in juicing at all. All I can say is that it makes me feel good. I quite often get up feeling groggy, but after meditating and having a fresh juice I feel as good as new.

Whatever some juicing critics may say, it’s been proven in many ways that fresh raw food retains its nutrients. Juicing just means you can digest a lot of nutrients without having to deal with a massive bulk of fibre in the process. It’s more than just vitamins and minerals though. Try it for yourself and see if you agree - drinking fresh juice feels like absorbing the very life energy of the plant.

It’s fun to experiment with different combinations - I’ve made as many disgusting discoveries as delicious ones. Apples, carrots or celery are well-known for blending well with other things, and ginger seems to make pretty much anything taste good. Garlic is not for the faint-hearted or overly sociable, but it’s fiercely good for you.

There are a lot of machines on the market. I went for the Moulinex Juicemaster Plus which worked out about $90 US. You can spend hundreds if you want to get something really durable and efficient, but this one has served me well. I’ve used it nearly every day for at least 6 months and can definitely say it’s money well spent.

srichinmoycentre.org/Members/sumangali/ Sumangali Morhall is a member of the Sri Chinmoy Centre in Cardiff Wales. She works in a running shop “Run and Become” Sumangali enjoys writing prose and poetry and edits a website about the music of radiosrichinmoy.org/sri_chinmoy/ Sri Chinmoy

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Tags: allergies, diet, Heart, mineral, vegetarians

When Christmas is finally over after all the hype and the crazy food eating that accompanies it we’re left wondering how diabetics are supposed to live through and enjoy this holiday season.

During the holiday period many diabetics experience the worst levels of the year, mainly because everyone is eating the wrong types of food and far too much sugar. Everywhere you go you’re offered foods full of sugar and white flour - the worst enemies of the diabetic.

Whilst vegetarians have an acceptible Christmas alternative carved out for them, the battle still has to be won for the diabetic.

In our own family, we struggled to find healthy recipes for our Christmas meal and the dessert to follow… and failed.

Everything in the traditional recipe books was full of sugar, chocolate and fat. We are now starting to plan for Christmas 2007 and actively looking for recipes that we can enjoy all year round, but also during the holiday season.

One excellent find is the new cookbook entitled “The Diabetes Weight Loss Diet” by Anthony Worral-Thompson and produced in conjunction with Diabetes UK. This new cookbook is aimed at adults with Type 2 diabetes, but has some wonderful tasty and exciting recipes suitable for Type 1diabetics too. If you’re fed up with “boring”, healthy recipes, Anthony’s book is a breath of fresh air in the kitchen!

One of the reasons for the success of this book is that it’s based on Anthony’s previous offerings of low GI diet books. If you’re unsure what GI is or what it stands for - it could be worth visiting your local library or bookshop and learning something about it. GI or glycemic index is a measure of how swiftly a particular food enters the blood stream - for the diabetic, the lower the glycemic index, the better for your health.

Whilst the GI diet is primarily aimed at those who lose weight, it also offers some excellent possibilities for diabetics who are trying to improve their blood glucose control, feel healthy and reduce the risk of complications.

As always, only make significant changes to your diet in conjunction with your health care professional and dietician.

Jen Carter runs the Diabetia site which offers diabetia.com/Type_1_Diabetes.html information on type 1 diabetes, her diabetic daughter Alissa also writes articles for the diabetia.com Diabetia website.

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Tags: diabetic, diet, lose weight, vegetarians, weight Loss

You’ve certainly heard the expression many times, “You are what you eat.” Have you ever really thought about what it means? And do you think about it when you’re making food choices?

In some ways, we do become what we eat, literally. Have you ever seen an example of your blood plasma after eating a fast food hamburger? What was previously a clear liquid becomes cloudy with the fat and cholesterol that’s absorbed from eating a high-fat hamburger.

And when you think about it, we also become what we don’t eat. When we switch from eating meat to a vegetarian-based diet, we become less fat, less prone to many types of cancers. Our cholesterol can improve. When we’re leaner and eating fewer animal products, then many other health and fitness issues are reduced. The incidence of Type II diabetes is reduced. Blood pressure falls into normal ranges. When you’re healthier, you’re taking fewer medications. Even if you have a prescription drug benefit in your health plan, you’re still saving money with fewer co-payments on medications.

If you have a family history of high cholesterol or high blood pressure, then it’s particularly incumbent on you to revise your eating habits. Moving towards a more vegetarian diet has been shown statistically to reduce the incidence of so many of the diseases of industrialized countries. Vegetarians are statistically healthier than omnivorous persons; they’re leaner and live longer.

Isn’t it time to think about what you want to be and to eat accordingly? Do you want to be sluggish and fat? Do you want the risk that goes with eating animal products, with their high fat content? Or do you want to look like and be what vegetarians are? Leaner and fitter with a longer anticipated lifespan. It’s never too late to change what you’re doing and increase your chances for a longer, fitter life.

Are you looking for a

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For alternative health physicians, fingernails are an excellent barometer on how well you are absorbing nutrients from the food you eat. So if you have a poor diet, it stands to reason that your nails won’t be in good shape.

Common problems include white spots, ridges and brittleness and if you suffer from these problems, these steps will show you how to obtain healthy nails.

If you are suffering from a fungal infection (causing abnormal growth, extreme brittleness, discolouration) and want to know how to obtain healthy nails

- it can be difficult to remove from the nail and the nail bed. The initial course of action will be anti-fungal medication from your doctor, then follow up with our suggestions below.

Nutritional deficiencies

If you want healthy nails, first understand that nails in poor condition are an indication of a nutritional deficiency.

White spots can indicate a zinc deficiency, ridges in the fingernails can indicate iron and/or a calcium deficiency and brittle nails can indicate a deficiency of the sulphur-containing amino acids.

A nutritional program for healthy nails

Supplement with the base line nutritional program of all 90 essential nutrients - vitamins, minerals, amino acids and essential fatty acids. Out of all of these, plant derived minerals produce excellent results in terms of stronger nails and rapid growth.

Treat the fingernail problems directly with a supplement containing gelatine – especially important for vegetarians.

Digestive enzymes before meals to improve the absorption of nutrients.

You should begin noticing results within a couple of weeks!

Paul Newland is a health writer, sports training consultant and martial arts instructor and runs the

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Tags: diet, mineral, vegetarians