DRINK WATER

[guestguest]

Drink lots of water. Drink it in as huge quantities and as often as possible. It really clears up your skin and helps counteract the drying effects of acids and things you might be using to combat pimples. It's also just really good for you to drink lots of water for other reason. It's necessary for good digestion too....cleans out your system. It gives your skin a healthy glow. It's wonderful.

[Shauna]

I agree with this water drinking tip for the most part. Drinking the proper amount of water for your lifestyle is very important and makes a big difference in your skin, however be careful not to drink too much water. Yes, it is possible. There is a little something called 'water intoxication' that people can get when they drink great amounts of water. So, don't drink all the water that you possibly can. Drink the right amount. Look it up. Water Intoxication is rare, but it is something to look out for because it is addictive. AND, I think everyone here is somewhat prone to addictions. So, just be careful everyone!

[lauryn]

What happens is that as the person consumes large amounts of water over the course of time, blood plasma (the liquid part of blood) increases. As this takes place, the salt content of the blood is diluted. At the same time, the person is losing salt by sweating. Consequently, the amount of salt available to the body tissues decreases over time to a point where the loss interferes with brain, heart, and muscle function.

The official name for this condition is hyponatremia. The symptoms generally mirror those of dehydration (apathy, confusion, nausea, and fatigue), although some individuals show no symptoms at all. If untreated, hyponatremia can lead to coma and even death.

it occurs more in athletes.
marathon runners and cyclists

[lauryn]

CHICO, California (AP) -- A California State University student died of "water intoxication" during hazing in the basement of a fraternity, authorities said Thursday.

Matthew Carrington, 21, died early Wednesday while drinking water from a five-gallon jug and doing exercises at the Chi Tau house near the Chico campus, said Chico Police Sgt. Dave Barrow.

[lauryn]

don't drink soda.

Mountain Dew-20 oz is the worst pop, it contains 19 tsps of sugar and 93 milligrams of caffeine.......nearly equivalent to adult dose of NoDoz.****

Pop is sweetened, acidic, often caffeinated carbonated drink. There is "regular" pop that is sweetened with different kinds of sweeteners and "diet" pop that is sweetened with artificial sweeteners. 45 gallons of pop is consumed per person/per year by the average American. Even adults are just as prone to decay even though they have fairly good enamel and well-calcified enamel.

Double trouble for teeth. It's not just sugar that's bad for teeth, but the acids included in many popular drinks are said to "eat" away enamel and make teeth more prone to . The pH of regular and diet pops ranges from 2.47-3.35. The PH in our mouth is normally about 6.2 to 7.0 slightly more acidic than water. At a PH of 5.2 to 5.5 or below the acid begins to dissolve the hard enamel of our teeth. Phosphoric and citric acids contribute to the acidity of pop.

Regular pop is potentially cavity causing due to its high sugar content. Diet pops do not contribute to cavities. However, the acid in regular and diet pop has the potential to contribute to enamel breakdown and when combined with sugar can contribute to rampant decay!

Regular pops provide between 150-180 calories per 12oz can. Current dietary recommendations for added simple sugar are 10% of total energy.

One can of regular pop per day contains the maximum recommended intake of sugar a day!

Excessive intake of regular pop can contribute to excessive calories leading to obesity and/or decrease intake of foods that have a high nutrient value leading to deficiencies.

[lauryn]

more stuff
The Five Absolute Worst Foods You Can Eat

By Dr. Joseph Mercola
with Rachael Droege

There are no "bad" foods, right? Only food you should eat in moderation? Well, not really. The following foods are so bad for your body that I really can’t see any reason to eat them. Not only do they have zero nutritional value, but they also give your body a healthy dose of toxins, which should make the idea of eating them really hard to swallow.

Doughnuts


Doughnuts are fried, full of sugar and white flour and most all varieties contain trans fat. Store-bought doughnuts are made up of about 35 percent to 40 percent trans fat.

An average doughnut will give you about 200 to 300 calories, mostly from sugar, and few other nutrients.

It’s too bad that Americans view doughnuts as a breakfast food as, nutritionally speaking, eating a doughnut is one of the worst ways to start off your day. It will throw off your blood sugar and won't stay with you so you'll be hungry again soon. You are better off eating no breakfast at all, or better yet grabbing a quick glass of Living Fuel.

Soda


One can of soda has about 10 teaspoons of sugar, 150 calories, 30 to 55 mg of caffeine, and is loaded with artificial food colors and sulphites. I can't think of any good reason to ever have it. The diet varieties are also problematic as they are filled with harmful artificial sweeteners like aspartame.

Studies have linked soda to osteoporosis, obesity, tooth decay and heart disease, yet the average American drinks an estimated 56 gallons of soft drinks each year. Plus, drinking all that sugar will likely suppress your appetite for healthy foods, which pave the way for nutrient deficiencies.

Soft drink consumption among children has almost doubled in the United States over the last decade, which is not surprising considering that most school hallways are lined with soda-filled vending machines.

Schools often make marketing deals with leading soft drink companies such as Coca-Cola from which they receive commissions--based on a percentage of sales at each school--and sometimes a lump-sum payment, in exchange for their students’ health. School vending machines can increase the consumption of sweetened beverages by up to 50 or more cans of soda per student per year.

If you routinely drink soda--regular or diet--eliminating it from your diet is one of the simplest and most profound health improvements you can make.

French Fries (and Nearly All Commercially Fried Foods)

Potatoes are bad enough when consumed in their raw state, as their simple sugars are rapidly converted to glucose that raises insulin levels and can devastate your health. But when they are cooked in trans fat at high temperatures, all sorts of interesting and very unpleasant things occur.

Anything that is fried, even vegetables, has the issue of trans fat and the potent cancer-causing substance acrylamide.

Foods that are fried in vegetable oils like canola, soybean, safflower, corn, and other seed and nut oils are particularly problematic. These polyunsaturated fats easily become rancid when exposed to oxygen and produce large amounts of damaging free radicals in the body. They are also very susceptible to heat-induced damage from cooking. What is not commonly known is that these oils can actually cause aging, clotting, inflammation, cancer and weight gain. You can read the article "Secrets of the Edible Oil Industry" for more information.

It is theoretically possible to create a more "healthy" French fry if you cook it in a healthy fat like virgin coconut oil. Due to its high saturated fat content, coconut oil is extremely stable and is not damaged by the high temperatures of cooking. This is why coconut oil should be the only oil you use to cook with.

I am fond of telling patients that one French fry is worse for your health than one cigarette, so you may want to consider this before you order your next ‘Biggie’ order.

Chips


Most commercial chips, and this includes corn chips, potato chips, tortilla chips, you name it, are high in trans fat. Fortunately, some companies have caught on to the recent media blitz about the dangers of trans fat and have started to produce chips without trans fat.

However, the high temperatures used to cook them will potentially cause the formation of carcinogenic substances like acrylamide, and this risk remains even if the trans fat is removed.

Fried Non-Fish Seafood

This category represents the culmination of non-healthy aspects of food. Fried shrimp, clams, oysters, lobsters, and so on have all the issues of trans fat and acrylamide mentioned above, plus an added risk of mercury.

Seafood is loaded with toxic mercury and shellfish like shrimp and lobsters can be contaminated with parasites and resistant viruses that may not even be killed with high heat. These creatures, considered scavenger animals, consume foods that may be harmful for you.

Eating these foods gives you a quadruple dose of toxins--trans fat, acrylamide, mercury and possibly parasites or viruses--with every bite.

If you have a taste for seafood, there’s an easy solution. It’s best to avoid your local fish fry and try the only fish I now eat--the delicious wild red Alaskan salmon that was proven through independent lab testing to be free of harmful levels of mercury and other contaminants.

[cinnamonfern]

Lauryn, my mom just told me about that kid who died during hazing in a fraternity a couple days ago. I couldn't believe that you could actually die from that. It's so sad, something so innocent and thinking that drinking water would be safe, led the kid to die.

[Holly]

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor nor an expert. The following is information about water consumption I have
learned over the years.

Please feel free to agree or disagree with my opinion.

To find the ideal amount of water for your size, take your body weight and divide it by 2. The amount left is the amount of oz of water to drink daily.

120 lbs / 2 = 60 oz.

200 lbs / 2 = 100 oz

The trick is to drink it all day long not gulping it down once or twice a day. If you gulp down large amounts of water, you not only flush out toxins from your body but also flush vitamins and minerals as well.

If you want to flush toxins, you can safely drink a large amount first thing in the morning, BEFORE consuming anything else, up to 1 litre or 4 cups.

The body cannot use the water efficiently if you gulp it down. Ideally sipping at a glass, averaging one cup per hour, is best.

[Holly]

Did you hear or see on tv yesterday that milk may be the cause of acne?
My mom has said that for years.
It seems that the hormones in cow's milk may cause acne in people that are prone to it.

[lauryn]

even organic milk?

cinnamonfern, hazing is outta control.

[anonymousartist]

interesting thread!

I didn't realize I would probably need to drink about 30 oz more water because of my body weight (although water from fruits and vegetables counts too).

Some of the "facts" about the foods that are bad I might call into question, though. Fried foods only have trans fat if they are fried in hydrogenated oils (which are artificial saturated fats. They are often not included in the fat content listed on nutrition labels.) There's tons of foods and other factors that cause free radicals in the body which is why it's important to consume anti-oxidants. As far as toxins go, eating a varied and nutritious diet tends to help dilute sources of toxins in the diet so our bodies can handle small amounts (I live in florida and people aren't dying of eating seafood). There's also no scientific proof that temporarily spiking the blood sugar with sugary foods will cause bad health effects to healthy people.

I think we need to take our diets as a whole and try to first eat all of the things that are recommended (fruits, veggies, carbs) and consume the right amount of water. Then cutting out the bad stuff becomes much easier. (I used to have very bad eating habits. If I could change that for the better, I must be able to stop picking, right?)

No clue if milk could cause acne. Shooting up cows with hormones can cause the cows a great deal of pain through increased health problems though

[lauryn]

In addition to avoiding refined carbohydrates and highly processed foods, a recent report suggests that you may also think about how much milk you are consuming.

Acne may be caused in large part by the male hormone 5alpha-dihydrotestosterone, which turns on oil-making cells in the skin of both men and women. Cow’s milk contains 5 alpha-reduced steroids and other hormones that can be broken down to dihydrotestosterone. The enzymes necessary to convert the hormones to dihydrotestosterone are present in your oil glands.

These hormones in cow’s milk are particularly high in pregnant cows, which make up 75%-90% of the dairy milk market. High milk intake has been shown to increase blood levels of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1). High IGF-1 levels are believed to promote acne through hyperkeratinization, a multiplication of skin cells associated with acne.

In a study of 6,500 adolescent offspring from the Nurses’ Health Study II, results showed a significant positive association between milk consumption and acne. The relationship was independent of the fat content of the milk.

Other foods with a positive association included milk-based instant breakfast drinks, sherbet, cottage cheese and cream cheese, but not other dairy foods or foods such as french fries, chocolate candy or pizza.

According to Dr. William Danby, a dermatologist who spoke at the Atlantic Dermatological Conference, “Milk is designed to make things grow. Human beings are the only animal to continue to drink milk beyond infancy, and it is not even the milk of our own species. Young growing humans need milk from pregnant cows just as much as young growing cows need milk from pregnant humans - not at all.”

Many women attempt to minimize PCOS symptoms by reducing the carbohydrate content of their diet and by increasing dairy consumption, since dairy is high in protein and has no carbs. This article suggests that milk products may not give you the results you're looking for. We suggest you increase consumption of fresh vegetables and get some of your animal protein from fish, poultry and egg whites. Refined grain and dairy products are ubiquitous and convenient. But they are not necessarily healthy.

[lauryn]

Organic milk is naturally higher in certain nutrients than non-organic milk, and one such nutrient is Omega 3 essential fatty acid.

In 2003 Dr Richard Dewhurst, Joint Leader of the Nutrition and Microbiology Team at the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research, carried out a peer reviewed study that confirmed that organic milk naturally contains much more omega 3 fatty acid than non-organic milk. This is due to the fact that organic cows are often fed higher levels of natural red clover than non-organic cows.

This is great news as most people in the UK are deficient in Omega 3 fatty acids, which are essential for maintaining a healthy heart, supple and flexible joints, healthy growth and strong bones and teeth.