Good Food Good Health - Probiotics

Hi everyone

At this time of year anything we can do to help our immune system such as taking probiotics goes a long way to keep us in good health, especially when our bodies are busy fighting off the colds and viruses that are virulent during winter.

As you probably know from reading previous articles I have written that I suffer from COPD, and through this I frequently have to take antibiotics to make sure that no further damage is done to my lungs when I contract colds and chest infections.

I am absolutely against taking antibiotics regularly, but my GP says that this is the lesser of the two evils.

Taking antibiotics kills some of the good bacteria in the gut along with whatever reason you are taking the medication for. So taking prebiotics helps to speed up my body's natural process of producing bacterium and immunity to fight against other viruses.

Did you know that 70 per cent of our immune system is found in our gut, and that our gut is home to over 400 different strains of bacteria.

The bacteria in the gut, which colonises soon after birth from ingested milk, helps to prevent dangerous bacteria such as e.coli from entering and colonising the body.

The guts 'eco-system' of bacteria is a very delicate balance, and can easily be tipped into turmoil by bugs causing diarrhoea and sickness from contaminated or raw foods.

Of course eating a varied diet of good food gives us good health and keeps our immune systems in check, but by adding a probiotic drink or yoghurt can greatly increase the beneficial bacteria in the gut.

As a family we have been taking probiotics for the past couple of years, topping up on the friendly bacteria, and we are all agreed that they have had a good effect on our health and scientists now agree that they do in fact work and help.

I love yoghurt so much that one whole shelf in the refrigerator is always full of them, although for the rest of the family it always used to be 'children, eat your yoghurt to keep your mum happy'!

I started buying probiotic drinks to begin with, which were not received well at all, but as soon as the yoghurt version was available they became a hit, now as soon as I put them I the fridge they are gone!

There are many products available and these can have different names or jargon on them, either Probiotics, prebiotics, bifidobacillus, lactobacillus and omega 3 & 6:-

Probiotics, the most common, living bacteria that top up the normal bacterial found in the gut.

Prebiotics - soluble food that fuels the bacteria in the gut.

Bifidobacillus bacteria thrive in an oxygen-depleted environment.

Lactobacillus bacteria found naturally in milk, is reproduced in the lab from cultured natural sources.

Omega 3 & 6 are polyunsaturated fatty acids vital for growth and cell development and found naturally in foods such as oily fish and kiwi fruit.

By using a probiotic can only help to maintain a healthy balance of good bacteria in the gut, some products have more than one of the above, so it is always advisable to check the label.

People with an unhealthy gut often suffer from symptoms of pain, bloating, trapped wind or gastric problems, could benefit and alleviate some of the problems by using probiotics.

The friendly bacteria in the yoghurts and drinks work by competing for space with harmful bacteria - the good bugs swamping the bad, stimulating the immune system, sending white blood cells and immunoglobin or antibodies to any area needed to prevent harmful

bacteria entering the bloodstream.

A new study published this week confirmed that the benefits of friendly probiotics have a clear effect on the body.

Not only do they significantly change the make-up of gut bacteria that is involved in immune health, but also improve the break down of fat, fibre and protein and the metabolism of vitamins.

Probiotic bacteria also helps to stop the gut absorbing fat, instead being passed out through the body naturally rather than storing it.

These bacteria could be very beneficial for the elderly and also undernourished people, in these instances it is being found to help ward off colds and sore throats.

Research is being carried out to find out whether they are effective in helping protect children against allergies and also with ulcers in the colon - ulcerative colitis.

There is new evidence that a probiotic could be the key in combating the super bug C.difficile. Sufferers of C. diff normally have a recurrence after about 6 weeks as the bacteria re-grows, but bifidobacillus has shown to inhibit this action, so that relapse is unlikely in the patient, so research is ongoing with this.

There are two groups that should definately avoid the use of probiotics - newborn, where bacteria has not been fully colonised naturally, and others whose immune system has been improvised through chemotherapy or blood poisoning. You can always check with your local health advisor to make sure there are no problems taking them.

Using probiotics is no substitute for eating a healthy diet and is not a quick fix, as always 'good food good health' should be your regime- make it a way of life and by adding a friendly bacteria can only help your body in its tireless task of keeping us at peak condition.

Sandra & Ted

This article was composed by Sandra & Ted Wosko. We have always been interested in health issues especially having children, and as with most people, we all suffer with some type of ailment. We are always researching on more and more topics in the endless task of gaining more knowledge to increase our expertise, benefiting ourselves and other people alike.

http://www.goodfoodgoodhealth.com
http://www.thetalkingbooksite.com
http://www.quantum-mind-power.com

Skin care tips

How to Download PSP Games 101

With so many features Video, Photos, Mp3's and even Internet browsing it has so much to offer. One of the coolest features is Downloading games. Instead of having to go clear to store trying to find and pick and choose a game. You can just go directly online and go straight to the PSP game downloading site, built right into the system itself.

To top this off, you can even try some of the demo's, Each demo will give you a game you can download and play right away. Very cool if your really not sure what your looking for right off.

There are several games to choose from. Everything from action, kids games, role playing, and even some of the old style games some of us have grown up to love.
It's one thing to have a Playstation which is cool in itself. But to be able to take it with you anywhere and play, is one of the best things they could ever offer.

The downloads are fast. A full download of a game just takes a few minutes. You can't even go to the store this fast to buy one. As long as you have a wireless connection, Wi-Fi to hook up to. You can download from anywhere. Well almost.

There is no difference whether you get the game or just download it. The quality on this system is still awesome! The graphics still look exactly the same. The sound quality through the headphones is like being in a theater.

Downloading a game also allows you to save the game onto you computer. Some may say you would need the game itself to take around with you. This is not the fact. If you want to save some room on your PSP. All you have to do is save it to your computer. When you want to take the game system out. Just put it back on there and its ready to play. No more games falling out or getting scratched.

How do you download? Check a gaming site that allows you to download right into the PSP itself. Create a username and password and your there. Very simple to use, Very easy to download. In my own opinion you can't get any better than this.

Knowing how to download PSP games allows you to access any PSP game from any available computer.

For more categories to download, check out this open review: PSP Downloads.

Free Online Games at GamingBooth

Gaming Booth is a great free online games arcade that offers over 5,000 games. My favorite game is Onslaught 2. Check out the site and see which game is your favorite.

10 Blogging Tips For Successful Blogging

Millions of people are blogging today, but lots of them are simply "surviving" instead of having fun and earning money by blogging. I have put together 10 tips that will help you run your blog, get more readers and achieve higher rankings!

1. Write about something that you are personally passionate about. This is the only way to keep your blog engaging, fun, and full of fresh content. Unless you are running a corporate blog, write about people that you met today, a book that you are going to read tomorrow - you got the idea. Write that entertain you without a specific number of subscribers that you want to achieve. Your motivation for blogging should be beyond that fact.

2. Running contest to get subscribers is not a way to get loyal readers. The only way to build a quality traffic is by providing a steady stream of content for at least a couple of years. You can spend hundreds of dollars for prizes in exchange for subscribing to your RSS or email, but your "winners" will leave your blog as soon as you give away the prizes. So, there are not shortcuts here.

3. You should make a list of things that you want to blog about. Open these categories and add one more to cover everything that goes beyond your main categories. For example, the Wagg.it blog is about blog promotion and blog promotion tips. But I am dining out and meeting very interesting people every week, so I decided to add 2 more categories: Living in SF and Digital Business World.

4. Use Flickr and Picnik accounts for easy blogging. These two will make your blogging possible in just one click. You take a picture (in my case with 3G iPhone), send it to your Flickr account and editing it by using "Picnik" option. Then you can add some text and publish your new blog post without even leaving Flickr!

5. Open an account on Entrecard.com. There are many complaints that traffic from this site is "bounced" and people don't spend more than 3 seconds on a blog, but it is a good and yet free way to let bloggers find your blog. While some bloggers just "drop" cards, other bloggers stop by and read and after a while you will notice that the number of your readers have increased!

6. If you have at least one blog, it makes perfect sense to set up one more blog. You learn everything and get necessary skills and experience with your first blog, and your every other blog is as easy as 1-2-3. For example, one of my new blogs is just a week old, but I didn't spent much time on it since I knew how to do it.

7. Add your blog's URL to your favorite "social" accounts, such as Digg, Wagg, Propeller etc

8. Add your blog's URL to the most trafficked forums and your traffic will dramatically increase in case you follow basic rules: ask questions, share your expertise and never get involved in conflict situations.

9. Bookmark your blog posts! I wouldn't recommend bookmarking every blog posts, but if you think that you wrote something valuable that might be interesting for people, go ahead and bookmark it! For saving your time and efforts, use the Wagg.it SEO services.

10. Offer advertising space on your blog and paid reviews in order to monetize your blog. Mention that you have different ad options in "About Us" or "Contact Us" sections as well.

Elena Konkina
http://www.WAGG.it/blog/
http://www.optibizz.com

Dirtbike Game

Dirtbike Game has been a great addion to GamingBooth. It's a fun and hard game that you will probably find very addicting. All you have to do is make it to the end of the course and you will move on to the next level. The only problem is that your bike keeps tipping over.

This is just one of the many great games featured at GamingBooth. We will be writing about more soon!

Red Steel - Nintendo Wii - A Review

As most users of the Wii will tell you the interactive Wii remote with a nunchuck makes for a great gaming experience. Particularly if you are mimicking the slash of a sword or the swing of a bat. However the one thing that is difficult with the Wii remote is the difficultly in aiming the remote like a gun - this becomes particularly apparent in Red Steel. Holding the Wii remote in your hand in the traditional way means you hold it in an overhand grip and aim from the wrist. Not the easiest to do, especially in the game Red Steel. I haven't even finished the game because of this and a number of other fatal flaws. In particularly the graphics are very dark - maybe the game designers thought they were setting a mood, but when it becomes difficult to shoot at your enemies because you can't see them - then as a shoot them up this game fails in the most important aspect - playability. The game also gave me a head ache if I played it too long - a sure sign that the game was making too many demands on the eyes of the user.

You can over come the difficulty in aiming by buying the 'gun' setup accessory for your Wii which places your remote on the front of a "rifle" and the nunchuck on the back of the "rifle stock". I can't advise if the straight pistol accessory will work and it doesn't have this option advertised on the cover.

The story line is pretty lame and heavily Japanese influenced. You are a security guard for a Yakuza crime lord's daughter and you end up being her new boyfriend (yeh right - like I could see that really happening - rich people don't marry the help!). While going to visit her daddy all hell breaks loose and you spend the rest of the game going from one dark and graphically unappealing place to another shooting nearly everything in site - it only gets interesting when you get to saw a sword. Shoot em up's like the classic medal of honor series leave this game for dead.

My advice don't waste your money on this one - its a lemon and on special for a reason.

Why not download some classic Nintendo games instead, visit http://nintendo-wii-fanatic.blogspot.com for great links to download sites.

This article is the property of Alastair HARRIS and his immediate family. It may be freely republished over the internet, but must include original links.