By Leah Karpus on November 4th, 2009
Our society is suffering from estrogen overload. No, I’m not referring to Sex and The City reruns—estrogen overload refers to the increasing amount of estrogen in our environment, our food and our bodies.
“Good” Estrogen
Estrogen, the primary female sex hormone, is responsible for normal body processes in women such as secondary female sex characteristics, menstruation, fertility, protein synthesis, bone density, metabolism and much more. Actually, there are three kinds of estrogens in the body: estrone, estradiol, and estriol, which all have specialized roles to play at different points in a woman’s life.
Although estrogen levels are greater in women, estrogen is also needed for libido and maturation of sperm in men.
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By Leah Karpus on September 11th, 2009
Breakfast: good for you and the planet!
Many teens either skip breakfast or grab something starchy and sugary on the way to school. However, from a nutritional point of view, breakfast is the most important part of the day. The solution? A fast and easy breakfast smoothie. You can make your own with protein powder, yogurt and frozen berries, or try Vega smoothie mixes. They have protein for energy, plus all your vitamins and minerals to start the day right. Vega compared its Whole Food Optimizer to a “traditional North American breakfast” including hashbrowns, eggs and bacon, and a “light North American breakfast” including yogurt, cereal and banana. According to the Vega website, there are 38 times more greenhouse gas emissions created by traditional breakfast and 10 times more greenhouse gases created by the light breakfast compared to Vega. Thus, switching to Vega for a year would be equivalent to turning off a 60 watt light bulb for 12,500 hours, or 521 consecutive days (Source: http://sequelnaturals.com/).
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By Liz Thompson on March 13th, 2009
People seem to be jumping off the soy boat as quickly as they jumped on as more research is revealed on this once thought super food.
We all know of soy’s good attributes; contains significant amounts of essential amino acids, omega-6 fatty acids, may have a protective effect on the brain and cardiovascular system and is a good source of protein.
The flip side of this coin is that soy is also rich in isoflavones, called genistein and daidzein, which are potent phytoestrogens. Phytoestrogens, sometimes called “dietary estrogens”, are naturally occurring non steroidal plant compounds which can have estrogenic effects on the body. Because of this, women with breast cancer or a history of the disease should be aware of the risks associated with the use of soy.
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