The Amazing Health Benefits of Selenium

Selenium, a trace mineral that is essential to health, is emerging as a nutrition powerhouse. Yet, few people are aware of its importance or know where to get it.

Selenium has many tasks to perform in the body. It helps to boost the immune system and fight off infection, providing a general increase in the body's defense against dangerous bacteria, viruses and cancer cells. On a basic cellular level, every cell in the body needs a particular hormone from the thyroid gland which Selenium helps to convert to an active form.

Perhaps the most famed use of Selenium in supplement form is as an antioxidant. It helps to mop up dangerous molecules, known as free radicals, that can damage and alter healthy cells. It has also been recommended for fighting the effects of aging.

Specifically, Selenium may help to:

Prevent cancer. Test-tube studies indicate that in addition to fostering healthy cell growth and division, Selenium discourages the formation of tumors. When researchers at Cornell University and the University of Arizona pooled results from 5-year studies designed to assess the effects of Selenium supplements (200 mcg daily), they came up with some startling findings. Read more here...

Lose Weight by Avoiding Trans Fat

New research from a six-year study at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine has found that diets rich in trans fat cause a redistribution of fat from other parts of the body into the abdomen. And, this occurs even when total calories are controlled, giving us all the more reason to reduce trans fats from our diets.

Foods which contain large amounts of unhealthy trans fats include:

• Most spreads/margarine
• Cake mixes
• Fast foods
• Frozen pastries and other frozen foods
• Breakfast cereals
• Chips
• Crackers
• Cookies
• Candies
• Restaurant foods where hydrogenated oils are used in the preparation.

Many foods with less than a half gram of trans fat per serving are labeled as having zero amounts of trans fat. Currently, there is no recommended dietary allowance for trans fat. So, it's a good rule of thumb to minimize or even eliminate trans fat from your diet whenever possible.

How to Keep Your Spirits High During the Holidays

For many people, this is "the most wonderful time of the year," filled with family get-togethers, good food and time to sit back and reflect on all there is for which to be thankful. But for some, the holiday season brings stress, anxiety, sadness and despair, leading to a full-blown case of the holiday blues.

"A lot of people around the holidays want to have everything perfect. When it's not, it causes them stress and anxiety," says James Conti, a psychologist with the Memorial Health Care System in Hollywood, Florida.

In fact, the "season to be jolly" is anything but for millions of Americans. "People get burned out and wish the holidays were over," says Dr. Jeffrey Brantley, director of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program at Duke University's Center for Integrative Medicine.

The holiday blues can be brought on by a variety of factors, according to the National Mental Health Association, including:

• Stress
• Fatigue
• Unrealistic expectations
• Over-commercialization
• Financial constraints
• The inability to be with one's family and friends
• The demands of shopping, parties, family reunions and house guests.

Holiday blues can encompass more than feelings of stress and sadness. Loneliness, uncertainty about the future, self-evaluation and reflection on past failures can often surface, leading to symptoms like headaches and difficulty sleeping. Often, people react in unhealthy ways, such as drinking excessively or over-eating, which can compound problems.

As a result, a full one in five Americans worry that holiday stress could affect their physical health, according to the American Psychological Association.

Tips to Help Keep Your Spirits Bright
If you know you have a tendency to feel blue around the holidays (or after January 1st when all the excitement ends), these tips can help you ward off stress and keep your spirits bright:

Set Realistic Expectations. As the saying goes, "Rome wasn't built in a day," and neither will your "perfect" holiday. Try not to set your expectations so high for just that one special day, but rather try to experience the holidays a little bit at a time over the entire season. Don't be afraid to say no, and be liberal in delegating tasks to friends and family who want to help. Taking on too much is guaranteed to send you down the path of anxiety, not gaiety.

Leave the Past Behind You. Dwelling on the "good old days" can bring up feelings of loss or of wanting things to be how they used to be. Embrace changes and find a way to enjoy the season as it is now. Starting a new tradition is a good first step.

Can Green Tea Help You Live Longer?

You may have heard that Japan has the highest percentage of centenarians (people aged 100 or above) of any country in the world. Japan's Health Ministry just released the latest figures, and there are more than 28,000 centenarians living in Japan today. That's more than double the number here in the U.S. There are probably many reasons contributing to this (including a diet high in protein and omega-3 fatty acids), but I find it intriguing that 80 percent of them are known to drink green tea every day.

You've read about the healthful properties of green tea many times in previous newsletters. For one thing, it's high in polyphenols. These antioxidants help protect your cells from the "fire" of daily metabolism.

A new study of more than 40,000 Japanese men and women indicated that those who drink a lot of green tea do indeed live longer. The research also revealed that green tea may protect against heart disease. And the more you drink the better. Those who drank five or more cups a day had a 16 percent lower rate of heart disease than those who drank only one cup per day--and their rate of death was 26 percent lower!

Green tea is tasty and can warm you up on any cool, crisp evening. If you're not a tea drinker, green tea extract is available at most health food stores and right here on our web site. I recommend 500 mg daily. (Check the label before you buy to make sure it has the antioxidant EGCG, which is 25 to 100 times more powerful than vitamins E and C.) Note that just one capsule of our Affordable Green Tea extract provides the benefits of about five cups of green tea.

33 Times the Antioxidant Content as Red Wine Grapes!

Studies show that Acai has up to 33 times the antioxidant content as red wine grapes. No other berry or fruit product comes close to matching the nutritional and antioxidant content of Acai.

The Acai berry is harvested from the Brazilian rain forest and has been used for thousands of years by the natives of Brazil. They believe the Acai berry to have amazing healing and nutritional properties.

Acai contains a complete array of vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids, including Vitamin B1 (Thiamin), Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin), Vitamin B3 (Niacin), Vitamin C, Vitamin E (tocopherol), iron, potassium, phosphorus and calcium.  It also contains the essential fatty acids Omega 6 and Omega 9, all the essential amino acids, and more protein than an average egg.

Acai gives you the energy from your youth, with added vitality and increased stamina. This little known Amazon berry may be the key to greater energy levels and greater health. You can pay high prices for watered down Acai drinks, or you can get pure Acai in capsule form with a higher concentration of all the beneficial nutrients. Try our amazing Acai extract today. Learn more at HealthyChoiceNaturals.com.