Heart-Healthy Benefits of Grapes

Do you know that the grape juice have the same heart healthy benefits as red win. There is evidence that drinking red wine may reduce your risk of heart disease. This benefit is most likely due to a substance called resveratrol found in the skin and seeds of grapes — especially dark red and purple grapes.  Resveratrol is also found in grape juice — especially juice made from the dark purple Concord grapes.

Recent studies have suggested that red and purple grape juices may provide the same heart-healthy benefits of red wine, including:

• Reducing the risk of blood clots
• Reducing low-density lipoprotein (LDL, or "bad") cholesterol
• Preventing damage to blood vessels in your heart
• Helping maintain a healthy blood pressure

Both red wine and grape juice also contain antioxidants called flavonoids, which have been shown to increase your high-density lipoprotein (HDL, or "good") cholesterol and lower your risk of clogged arteries (atherosclerosis), and may help lower blood pressure.

These findings on grape juice are good news for people who want the cardiovascular benefits of red wine without the alcohol.

Benefit of Grapes: Lower Blood Pressure, Reduced Heart Damage

Can a grape-enriched diet prevent the downhill sequence of heart failure after years of high blood pressure?

A University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center study suggests grapes may prevent heart health risks beyond the simple blood pressure-lowering impact that can come from a diet rich in fruits and vegetables. The benefits may be the result of the phytochemicals – naturally occurring antioxidants – turning on a protective process in the genes that reduces damage to the heart muscle.

The study, performed in laboratory rats, was presented at the 2009 Experimental Biology convention in New Orleans. Although the current study was supported in part by the California Table Grape Commission, which also supplied the grape powder, the authors note that the commission played no role in the study's design, conduct, analysis or the preparation of the journal article for publication. E. Mitchell Seymour, M.S., also received funding from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, through a National Research Service Award.

Heart cells, like other cells in the body, make an antioxidant protein called glutathione, which is one of our first defenders against damaging oxidative stress. High blood pressure causes oxidative stress in the heart and lowers the amount of protective glutathione. However, intake of grapes actually turned on glutathione-regulating genes in the heart and significantly elevated glutathione levels.

The researchers studied the effect of regular table grapes (a blend of green, red, and black grapes) that were mixed into the rat diet in a powdered form, as part of either a high- or low-salt diet. Comparisons were made between rats consuming the grape powder and rats that received a mild dose of a common blood pressure drug, hydrazine. The rats in the study were from a strain called Dahl rats, which were from a research breed that develops high blood pressure when fed a salty diet. The animals are similar to Americans who have elevated blood pressure related to diet, and who develop heart failure over time because of prolonged hypertension.

Each group of 12 rats was fed the same weight of food each day with powdered grapes making up 3 percent of the diet (by weight) for rats that received grapes as part of either a low-salt or high-salt diet. The rats that received hydrazine were fed it through their water supply in a dose that has been previously shown to be effective in reducing blood pressure.

After 18 weeks, the rats that received the grape-enriched diet powder had lower blood pressure, better heart function, and fewer signs of heart muscle damage. Rats that received the blood pressure medicine, hydrazine, and ate the same salty diet but didn't receive grapes had lower blood pressure, but their hearts were not protected from damage as they were in the grape-fed group.

This may explain why the hearts of grape-fed animals functioned better and had less damage.

Such naturally occurring chemicals have already been shown in other research, including previous U-M studies, Steven Bolling, M.D said the latest results take research on the health benefits of grapes "a step further" by examining the mechanisms impacted by antioxidant-rich grapes.

"There are the small changes that diet can bring, but the effect of grape intake on genes can have a greater impact on disease down the road," said E. Mitchell Seymour, M.S., who led the research as part of his doctoral work in nutrition science at Michigan State University to reduce other potentially harmful molecular and cellular activity in the body.

In all, the researchers say, the study further demonstrates that a grape-enriched diet can have broad effects on the development of hypertension and the risk factors that go with it. Whether the effect can be replicated in humans, they say, remains to be seen.

Why a Good Diet is Essential for Good Health

Although there are many things that affect your health, like genetics, activity level, and environment, having a good diet is one of the most influential factors. Having a good diet is essential for maintaining good health, although altering your diet can cause you to gain weight, lose weight, change your body composition, or lower your cholesterol level. You will need to decide what your health goals are and make sure that your diet is in line with those goals.

People try all kinds of things to help them lose weight, but one thing that they modify the most to help them lose weight is their diet, and rightfully so. A good diet is very important and has a huge impact on your overall health, especially over the long term. Changing your diet can cause weight gain or loss and any other number of things. If are trying to change your weight or improve your health, you may be able to alter your diet to make it easier to accomplish those goals.

There are countless number of factors that determine your overall health, but having a good diet can improve anyone's health. A good diet will give you more energy, make it easier to focus, and make you feel better overall. For people who are trying to accomplish specific health goals, there is some type of diet out there that should work, although you must be careful that you choose a diet that is going to be good for your body.

Many people consider a good diet to be eating guidelines that cause you to drop the pounds, but many weight loss diets can be very bad for you. Some weight loss plans are actually tough on your body because you are essentially starving yourself. These diet plans that consist of hardly any calories and lots of filler foods with no nutritional value can be harmful to your body and only help you lose weight while you are on that diet. Typically when someone goes back to their regular eating habits, they gain all the weight back, which leads to them going on the same or another starvation diet.

A good diet isn't necessarily one that causes you to lose weight quickly. A good diet is one that is balanced and gives you all the nutrients you need to be healthy, energetic, and the ability to fight off diseases. However, many weight loss diets cause you to lose weight because you do not allow your body the nutrients it needs to survive and your body begins to consume itself. This is especially true in the case of thin people who try to lose even more weight. One of the worst things about diets that deprive your body of its required nutrients is that once you begin eating normally again, all the pounds come back on quickly.

Although there are many reputed 'miracle diets' out there, most of these diets are not actually a good diet at all, and can be harmful to your body. A good diet allows you to get your daily fill of the proper nutrients so that your body can function the way it should. Many of these miracle diets cause you to starve yourself, even if you are eating something. It is not possible to survive only on foods like salad because you burn more energy by chewing the salad than you gain by digesting it. Diets that deprive you of nutrients only make your body weak and vulnerable to disease and other unwanted conditions.

The Atkins diet is a quasi-starvation diet that has drawn a lot of disciples and a lot of critics in recent years. Although some say it is a feel good diet, it does not promote good diet habits. The Atkins diet is a plan in which you cut your carbohydrate intake to nearly nothing, but you can eat anything else you want, which leaves meat and cheese as the majority of your feel good diet. Because of the lack of carbohydrates your body begins to burn fat for energy at a rapid rate, but critics claim that eating protein-rich food constantly will clog your arteries and eventually cause a heart attack or other heart problems, which means that these are not good diet habits. Many people who have used the Atkins diet claim that it is difficult to keep the weight off when they begin practicing good diet habits again. Like other starvation feel good diets, when you eat normal food again your body tries to prepare for the next time it will be starved by storing reserve energy in the form of fat.

The key to taking weight off and keeping it off is through moderation. Having a good diet does not mean that you have no carbohydrates or no fat, because your body actually does need some fat and carbohydrates to function properly. A good diet is one that gives you the necessary amount of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals without much excess on a regular basis. Sometimes it is necessary to tinker with your diet to get to a target weight, but it should not be at the expense of your health. A good diet is one that allows you to maintain your weight and cholesterol at a level that is considered healthy for your size, age, and sex. For many people, they are finally able to end their weight problem by maintaining a good diet that will let them lose weight gradually and keep it off.

The only healthy way to lose weight and keep it off is by practicing balance in your diet and exercise level. A good diet provides you with all the nutrients your body needs, but not so much that there is a huge excess. In order to function properly, your body does need all the things that weight loss diets tell you to avoid. Carbohydrates, fat, and cholesterol are all things you body needs and will suffer without. Altering your diet somewhat can be a good way to help accomplish your health goals, but any diet you partake in should still provide you with a normal amount of all the nutrients you need, otherwise you will not be able to keep the weight off.

Although there are many guides that will tell you how to take the extra pounds off and keep them off, these plans must somehow incorporate a good diet that is balanced. While eating chocolate cake will not help you lose weight, you cannot avoid it forever, especially once you are at your target weight. Unfortunately most diets require people to stay on them to maintain their weight, which isn't realistic. These extreme diets create yo-yo dieters who become locked in a cycle of losing and gaining weight, never finding a happy medium. The key to keeping your weight at a healthy and normal level is to have a good diet that is balanced and can be maintained.

What is Good Eating?

Many people feel that there is a huge gap between good eating and eating food that tastes good. However, it is possible to eat meals and snacks that taste good and are good for you. The key to good eating is being aware of kind of food you eat and the kind of food you need to be eating.

Although many diets ask you to eat the blandest food you can possibly imagine, these kinds of diets usually do not promote good eating habits. This is not to say that eating great tasting food that is full of fat is great for you either. In order to have good eating habits, you need to know what food is good or bad, and what foods are good to a certain point.

Good eating does not mean depriving your taste buds of any pleasure, but it also doesn't mean that you should load yourself down with anything and everything that tastes good. Truly good eating is about finding a balance and being conservative so that you can have that occasional calorie-loaded treat.

Just because you are trying to practice good eating habits doesn't mean that you can't sneak in an occasional Big Mac, but it does mean that your lunch routine can't be a Big Mac value meal super-sized with a warm apple pie. It also doesn't mean that you can't have chocolate or other sweets, they just cannot be the foundation of your diet. Good eating is all about moderation and keeping your diet in balance.

Good eating habits do not mean that everything you eat has to be considered health food, but you do need to be conscious of what it is you are putting in your body and how much you are eating. If you are practicing good eating, you can still go to fast food restaurants and eat candy, but you cannot eat these kinds of foods all the time. Even when you are eating healthy foods, you must be careful not to gorge yourself at every meal.

If you are contemplating developing good eating habits, keep in mind that this doesn't mean that you cannot eat anything that tastes good again or that everything you eat has to fit the textbook definition of healthy. However, good eating does mean that you monitor how much food you eat and what kinds of foods you eat most of the time.

Although everyone experiences cravings, most people usually have indiscriminate hunger, meaning that what they eat is not as important as eating something. Various diet plans will ask you to ignore nutrition and good diet habits and avoid all carbohydrates, or say that fruits contain too much sugar to help you, but these diets are designed to work rapidly on a system that is out of balance. True good diet guidelines consider good diet habits and are balanced and can be maintained. When hunger strikes, you need to quell your hunger with a meal that is healthy overall and follows good diet guidelines. This allows you to have the occasional greasy hamburger or sugar-loaded desert while being reasonable about what you eat.

One way to keep things in balance and practice good diet guidelines is by making some homemade meals. Although making a meal at home sounds like a lot of work, it can be very rewarding and taste far better and provide better nutrition and good diet food than what you can get at a fast food restaurant. One cooking tool that has enabled many people to easily prepare healthy meals is the George Foreman Grill. The Foreman Grill makes it easy to cook things evenly since it is heated from two sides, and it is healthy because the excess grease is allowed to run off into a drip tray, removing it from your food.

If you have issues with restricting what you eat, an exercise routine may be something you should look into. When you exercise regularly and get into better shape, your metabolism increases and burns energy more quickly. A faster metabolism means that you can eat more without gaining weight. Fast metabolisms are what allow some people to eat everything in sight, but remain thin. A fast metabolism is also one way that farmers are able to eat a diet primarily composed of meat, potatoes, eggs, and whole milk without becoming obese.

There is no clear-cut recipe for good eating. Everyone has different tastes and metabolism rates, but practicing good eating doesn't mean you can't eat anything good. Just try to be aware of what you are eating and what your food contains.

Good eating doesn't mean the end of good food. It doesn't mean that you have to write down everything you eat either. Good eating means that you have to think about what you are eating and how this food is going to affect you.

Good eating is a major component of being healthy, but many people make good eating sound torturous and burdensome. However, good eating done right will eventually become a habit you like if you practice moderation.