The Secret To Fighting Colds This Winter

Colds are the most common form of illness known in adults and children. There are more than 200 viruses that can cause the common cold which are spread through hand contact, sneezing and coughing. Common symptoms include sore throat, headaches, coughing, sneezing, tiredness and a build up of mucus in the nose.

Now that i've let you know about the illness that will haunt the majority of people this winter, I thought I would let you in on a little secret of mine....
Garlic is my winter wonder food!!
It's amazing! Whenever I feel a cold or flu coming on I either chew on a clove of garlic or cut it into fours and swallow it like tablets and within minutes my headache starts to fade, my nose clears and my throat stops hurting. I'm not making this up. During the 18th century gravediggers in France drank crushed garlic to reduce the risk of catching the plague and in both World Wars soldiers were given garlic to prevent gangrene. It is pretty cool stuff and its clinically proven to help with the common cold. A study done in the UK proved that taking a garlic supplement lowered the severity of cold and flu symptoms. Whilst a study done by the University of Florida concluded that garlic reduced the chances of an individual catching the common cold.

So the next time you wake up with a blocked nose and sore throat think twice about reaching for those cold and flu tablets and try eating some garlic instead.




Reference:

National institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases 2012, Common Cold, viewed 18 May 2013, < http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/commonCold/Pages/overview.aspx>
 University of Maryland Medical Center 2011, Garlic, viewed 18 May 2013, <http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/garlic-000245.htm>
 Josling, B. Sc. 2001,  ‘Preventing the Common Cold With a Garlic Supplement: A Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Survey’, Advances In Natural Therapy, Vol. 18, No.4, pp. 189-193, viewed 19 May 2013, < http://ehis.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.endeavour.edu.au:2048/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&sid=773ea8e1-518c-416d-9c0f-7a8a2f39ae1e%40sessionmgr115&hid=102>
 Nantz, Rowe, Muller, Creasy, Stanika, Percival, 2012, ‘Supplementation with aged garlic extract improves both NK and γδ-T cell function and reduces the severity of cold and flu symptoms: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled nutrition intervention’ Clinical Nutrition, Vol.31, Issue 3, pp. 337-344, viewed 19 May 2013, < http://www.clinicalnutritionjournal.com/article/S0261-5614(11)00231-7/fulltext#sec2>
  

SFL Body Transformation

My sister Cassandra and I are on a body transformation mission. During the HSC last year and going to Europe on a holiday I put on 8kg. It might not sound like much but for me it is huge! I used to always wear shorts and now as soon as I put a pair on I feel like a sausage. Over the past year I have felt my clothes get tighter and tighter and now I only feel comfortable wearing a loose long sleeve dress. As for my sister, she has just given birth to her second child and is wanting to lose the baby weight.

I dont want you thinking that I have low self confidence or hate my body, because I am the total opposite. I love my body! I love what it can do! And I love my curves! I have embraced the fact that i'm probably never going to be a size 6 and i'm happy with that. I love my body so much that I don't want to abuse it through binge eating and being lazy anymore. I want to treat it to whole foods and exercise.

So Cass and I over the weekend decided to take some before shots. Whilst she was taking a photo of me she murmured 'you're not going to like this one.' Thats what I love about our relationship. We have a no lying, no bullshit friendship. We tell it like it is and that's what makes us so close. We also took our body measurements to keep us on track. We won't be using the scales because they can't tell the weight of our brains and boobs and thats just unfair.

So how will we be transforming our bodies?

Clean eating and exercise! That's the only way to do it. We won't be counting calories, we will be counting nutrients. I'm usually a grazer and an over eater so I want to cut my food intake to 3 meals and 2 snacks a day. But I will listen to my body. If I need more, i'll eat more. If I need less, i'll eat less. I will not be eating past 7pm. I will exercise a minimum of 3x 45 minute workouts a week. I will have one cheat meal a week. Every two weeks my sister and I will be taking more photos and taking our measurements to check our progress.

What do I want to achieve from this?

• More energy
• Lower body fat percentage
• Visibly more muscle tone
• Run 7km without stopping
• Decrease cellulite 
• Clearer skin
• Increase flexibility

I'll keep you updated with our progress!

Eat Well, Feel Better

I recently wrote an article for The Roar Effect and I thought I would share it with you.

From a young age we are made aware of how the foods we eat affect us emotionally. Think back to being a child and the sugar high’s we would experience at a birthday party and then the tantrums we would have that evening that would drive our parents crazy. We discovered that the processed sugary foods that gave us all that energy also had adverse effects.

Out of the many factors that contribute to the development of depression, nutritional imbalances may be one of them. So what can we eat to give us energy and make us feel great all the time?

Below is a list of feel good foods that are great for those days when you don’t feel like getting out of bed.

• ·      Salmon is full of Omega 3, which is important for brain function. Surveys have shown that the more fish a population of a country eats the lower is their incidence of depression.
• ·      Spinach is high in folic acid that has been reported to alleviate depression and fatigue. It is also packed with magnesium that serotonin needs to stabilise your mood and ensure a good nights sleep.
• ·      Quinoa is a high protein complex carbohydrate that means it won’t cause spikes in your blood sugar level leading to unstable moods. It helps the body to produce serotonin, giving you a relaxed feeling.
• ·      Strawberries are packed with vitamin C, which is essential for the proper conversion of tyrosine into dopamine, adrenaline and noradrenalin, which are ‘feel good’ chemicals.
• ·      Beef contains high levels of vitamin B12. Vitamin B12 is required for proper red blood cell formation, neurological function and DNA synthesis. Studies have shown that quite often people suffering from depression are deficient in vitamin B12.
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If you would like to find out more about the wonderful things The Roar Effect are doing to eliminate youth suicide check out http://theroareffect.org.