Women Vitamins: My Vitamins Love Me…They Love Me Not..

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What are the best vitamins for women?  What sort of women vitamins should I take?  These are common questions that can generate a variety of answers.  In today’s world the term “vitamins” includes vitamins plus: minerals, phyto-nutrients, amino acids, enzymes, herbs and other nutrient forms. Choosing the right combination of all of those is a daunting task..

An average person’s healthy, daily diet includes 5-8 servings of fruits and vegetables and anywhere from 40-80 grams of protein. Yet it is reported that only 50% of women eat fruit..about 33% of women are deficient in their protein intake, and only 20% eat leafy green veggies more than once every 4 days.

You may also be surprised by the fact that today’s vegetables contain significantly less nutrition than the vegetables grown and eaten 50 years ago.

This lack of nutrients, through choice and availability, eventually causes marginal deficiencies.  In turn, these deficiencies trigger health issues so common that most people do not recognize them as health issues at аƖƖ, but rather accept them as everyday inconveniences of modern life….some of these include:

• Mood swings
• Fatigue
• Nervousness
• Headaches
• Confusion
• Muscle weakness

Long term nutrient deficiencies place the average person at risk for more serious diseases like cancer, hypertension, Alzheimer’s, and CVD (heart disease).

So, if the average diet is unable to supply the nutrients and vitamins needed, what can women do to make sure they are as healthy as possible? There is a simple solution – find a source of sensible supplementation.

Take quality, science-based supplements formulated with the correct balance of micro-nutrients, trace minerals, and vitamins for women. Then a woman can keep her body in balance, maintain higher energy levels, and greatly reduce risks of developing many serious degenerative diseases.

Before you rush out and purchase mega doses of multi vitamins and mineral formulations, remember that a reasonable diet, may lessen the amount of supplementation your diet needs.  Most people do not need super high doses of any vitamin or mineral.  Make no mistake, vitamin intake is important, but vitamins are not nutrients, and can never be viewed as a replacement for a healthy, daily diet.

Vitamin supplements often contain unnecessarily large quantities of certain vitamins anԁ minerals. Usually, these are the cheapest forms of ingredients available.  Capsule and tablet vitamin products are also created with filler and binder products that bulk up the tablet and give no supplemental value.

Vitamins A,B,C,E,and D along with folic acid, Co-Q 10, magnesium and zinc….are considered the “bed-rock” vitamins of an active life.

Women Vitamins and Protein

I use and endorse Women Vitamins: A-Z Complete. a liquid multi-vitamin for women with 11 vitamins and 70 trace minerals. It is quickly and easily absorbed by your body, has no unnecessary fillers or sugars, and does a great job of supplying a sensible vitamin product.

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Women Vitamins: The Low Down on High Blood Pressure

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Summer time should be the perfect time…but the stress of high temperatures, the strain of kids out of school, the extra expenses of vacations and the high cost of utility bills can put our happiness, our health, and our hearts at risk.

An estimated 60 million Americans have high blood pressure (or hypertension), an increase of 10 million over the last 10 years. Most people aren’t even aware that they have high blood pressure and it goes untreated. Yet, hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases (heart diseases), and is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States.

It is estimated that high blood pressure  has or will affect 90% of Americans at one time or another. Main causes of this condition include lifestyle factors that are controllable: eating a high-grain, high-sugar diet and not exercising and factors and some factors that are out of our control: excessive stress.

Happily, most people can normalize their blood pressure by following a healthy nutrition plan, participating in exercise, and rebalancing emotions and stress responses.

One old standby to combat high blood pressure is vitamin C.  Studies of the effect of Vitamin C in relation to hypertension go back well over a decade.  It is a powerful antioxidant that has continually proven its efficacy against hypertension.

A study (published in the Lancet ,1999) of 45 people with hypertension, noted that blood pressure levels fell by 9.1% after taking 500 mg supplement of vitamin C daily for a month. Duffy SJ, Gokce N, Holbrook M, et al. Treatment of hypertension with ascorbic acid.

Vitamin C, a potent antioxidant, may lower blood pressure by protecting the body’s supply of nitric oxide which relaxes blood vessels, contributing to healthy blood pressure levels. Studies have also shown that vitamin C may help protect against certain cancers and chest pain when consumed as part of a healthy diet rich in fruits and vegetables.

Recently, 2 studies (Brazilian and Israeli) looked at the benefits of vitamin C on hypertension and blood sugar levels.

The Federal University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, led by Erika E Nishi, focused on the results of specific testing on 32 male Wistar rats, and determined that vitamin C lessened the severity of hypertension and protected blood cells against hypertension-induced genotoxicity. (Genotoxicity is a property possessed by some substances that makes them harmful to the genetic information contained in organism).   Brain, liver and heart cells were all protected by vitamin C after hypertension-induced DNA damage.    Human & Experimental Toxicology

Israeli researchers gave 70 patients from their hypertension clinic either a placebo, or a combination of antioxidants: vitamin C (1,000 mg/day), vitamin E (400 iu/day), coenzyme Q10 (120 mg/day) and selenium (200 mcg/day).

Participants were tested at 3 and 6 months.  Both testings showed those who took the supplements had improved blood sugar control, lowered blood pressure, significantly higher levels of HDL cholesterol,  and healthier arteries.  Those who took the placebo showed no differences.

The bad news is high blood pressure is a silent threat to your health and the number of people suffering from high blood pressure is increasing.

The good news is that taking steps to provide yourself with a nutritious diet, simple exercises, proper supplementation, and practicing stress reduction techniques like EFT, can help guard you from something as potentially dangerous as hypertension.

The Institute of Medicine (IOM; Washington, DC) estimated that hypertension prevalence might be reduced by as much as 22% if Americans consumed less salt in their diet and ate more vegetables, fruit, and lean protein.  A recent study calculated that reducing salt intake from 3,400 milligrams to the currently advised maximum intake level of 2,300 milligrams per day could bring down the number of individuals with high blood pressure by about 11.1 million and result in approximately $17.8 billion in health care cost savings annually.  The committee also estimated that an initiative to help overweight and obese Americans each lose 10 pounds could reduce the prevalence of high blood pressure in the overall population by 7 to 8%.  An exercise program that gets physically inactive people more active could decrease prevalence by 4 to 6%.

Be safe, be healthy, take your Women Vitamins and be blessed, Kersten

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