Travel Vaccinations

We all know that fruit is good for us and we should be eating two or three services of fruit per day. Reasons why we should be eating fruit include:

• fruits are high in vitamins and minerals
• fruit are high in valuable antioxidants
• fruit is an excellent source of fibre

So if fruit is good for us, what about fruit juices? This is what Kathryn has to say about fruit:

Fruit is part of a healthy diet because of its vitamin, antioxidant and fibre content. Fruit also contributes small but useful amounts of potassium and nutritional guidelines recommend two or three pieces of fruit per day.

When you juice fruit you get most of the antioxidants, vitamins and potassium out. But you only get most, not all all of them. Moreover, juice doesn’t contain any of the fibre from the fruit, that goes down the waste tube.

Again, it’s common sense really. Fruit juice contains important vitamins and antioxidants but you’ll lose most if not all of the fibre. Fibre is extremely important and it is recommended that we eat around 30 grams of fibre per day. The main sources of fibre in our diets are:

• fruit
• vegetables
• nuts
• seeds
• legumes
• cereals
• bread

Although we can get our fibre intake from sources other than fruit, it is unlikely that we do. Most Australians only get around 20 grams of fibre per day so getting our fruit intake from juice rather than whole fruits is not recommended.

You might also wish to avoid fruit juice if you are trying to lose or maintain your weight. A glass of fruit juice may contain 3 or 4 times the number of calories of a piece of whole fruit and it will be much less filling.

Drinking fruit juice every now and then is fine and I’m sure having fruit juice is better than having no fruit at all but it’s best to try to eat 2 or 3 pieces of whole fresh fruit per day.

One of the healthiest diets in the world is believed to be the Mediterranean diet. The Mediterranean diet is high in:

• fruit
• vegetables
• nuts
• legumes
• whole grains
• fish
• olive oil

Recent research suggests this diet is especially beneficial for children:

A "Mediterranean" diet rich in fruits, vegetables and nuts protects against allergic rhinitis and asthma symptoms.

Children who ate nuts at least three times a week were less likely to wheeze. Nuts are a rich source of vitamin E, the body’s primary defence against cellular damage caused by free radicals. And they contain high levels of magnesium, which other research suggests, may protect against asthma and boost lung power.

And a daily diet of oranges, apples, and tomatoes also protected against wheezing and allergic rhinitis. Grapes in particular seemed to protect against current and previous wheezing and allergic rhinitis, even after adjusting for other potentially influential factors. Red grape skin contains high levels of antioxidants as well as resveratrol, a potent polyphenol, known to curb inflammatory activity, say the authors.

It’s not suprising that this kind of diet is healthy. Of course we should all be eating lots of fruit and vegetables and unprocessed foods. It’s not only common sense but also a Government recommendation:

Eating plenty of fruit and vegies not only contributes to good health, but also protects against a number of diseases and helps maintain a healthy weight.

Most Australians eat only half the amount of fruit and vegies recommended for good health. Adults need to eat at least 2 serves of fruit and 5 serves of vegies each day. The amount children need depends on their age.

For most of us, we just need to add a couple more servings of fresh food daily and we’ll be right but don’t forget the fish, nuts, and olive oil to get the real benefits of the Mediterranean diet.

I love a good contest and if you do to you might want to write a quite blog post linking to John Chow with a paragraph something along these lines:

John Chow dot Com, a blog that helps you make money on the internet, is giving away a Microsoft Zune. To enter, all you have to do is write about it. This is my entry. Now give me my Zune!

That was pretty easy don’t you think? Wish me luck!

At the start of every month I’ll be posting a brief roundup of the most popular articles of the previous month. If you haven’t read them yet, please take a look. Don’t forget that comments are welcome and encouraged. If you have something to add to the article or don’t agree with what I wrote then say so in the comments.

1. How to Detect Skin Cancer

Australians are 5 times more likely to get skin cancer than Americans with around 375,000 being diagnosed each year. Early detection is the key to successfully treating skin cancer. Checking your skin regularly will help you to detect any skin cancers and improve your chances of being one of the 90% who survive skin cancer.

2. East Perth Medical Centre

Our doctors and medical staff have many years of experience in a wide range of fields. Although we focus on the administration of travel vaccinations, we also provide other health services.

3. Top 10 Travel Related Diseases

Most of us wouldn’t even think twice about the possible diseases we can contract while on holiday. Unfortunately, when we travel we find ourselves at higher risk of disease than if we had stayed at home. Check with your doctor before departing on holiday for information on travel vaccinations which can prevent a number of the common travel related diseases. However, vaccines are not always available and other methods of prevention are required.

4. Is the Atkins Diet Better Than Most?

Almost all popular diets work in the short term simply because dieters are eating fewer calories. The problem with these fad diets is that they are almost impossible to stick to in the long term so as soon as you go off the diet you’ll most likely gain the weight you lost.

5. What is Physiotherapy?

Physiotherapy is provided to a wide variety of people for a wide variety of reasons. People most in need of physiotherapy are the elderly, who may be suffering from conditions such as arthritis, people who have an injury which has resulted in restricted physical movement, and people suffering from certain health problems such as cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, and headaches. Physiotherapists can also provide information on how to prevent injuries.