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Are you suffering from these 5 warning signs?
2nd January 2009
* Do you have these 5 warning symptoms?
* Discover if you have a zinc deficiency
* At last, an easy, natural way to protect
yourself from pneumonia, blood clots,
hair loss and agerelated loss of vision.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
It's 2009... can you believe it?
As a young boy I imagined that by the year 2009
we'd be jet-packing to each other's space pods to
enjoy pill-based dinners while watching hologram
epics on 50 foot sky-screens.
Instead we have Sky TV. Salt-laden ready-meals.
And unpopular electric cars that look like roller
skates.
Ah well. Close enough.
The Collins household was as hectic as ever this
Christmas. As I've got a lot of tips to get through
today, I won't go into the gory details.
Instead, imagine TV's Big Brother (or if you haven't
seen Big Brother, think of the Bedlam insane
asylum in 19th Century London).... except in this
case half of the inmates are squealing children
and the other half are over-fed, squabbling adults
aged 40 to 90.
After the chaos of Christmas and New Year, you'd
be forgiven for having a few of the following
problems...
Bad hair, spots, poor sleep, dodgy bowels, and loss
of appetite.
But if you have all of these, besides a host of
other seemingly small health niggles, then you
may have a deficiency that needs addressing.
Why your eyes, heart and immune system NEED
this...
Zinc is vital for general good health as you get
older. It keeps your eyes healthy and helps
prevent age-related loss of vision. Zinc helps
prevent abnormal blood clots that can lead to
heart attacks.
It also super-charges your immune system and
has been linked to pneumonia prevention.
In short, it's important stuff.
But what many people don't know is that zinc
deficiency is a very common problem in people
over the age of 55.
You'll see that a lot of the symptoms I'm about to
list are also common symptoms of old age. So
don't suddenly panic about this if you recognise a
few of them. I'm well under 55 and I've suffered
some of these myself!
What I want you to think about is how many of
these could be preventable if you only had some
extra zinc in your diet. It's definitely worth thinking
about in these winter months. That essential
immune boost could be just what you need.
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How to spot a zinc deficiency
Signs include:
Hair loss, tight papery skin and stretch marks,
psoriasis, inflamed gums, spots, boils and white
marks on your fingernails.
And there's more...
When you have low amounts of zinc, it takes
longer to heal from wounds and infections... you
get reduced appetite... stomach aches...... your
allergic reactions will be stronger than normal...
and you may become depressed or anaemic.
So why do people get this deficiency?
What foods are you missing out on?
Well, zinc is abundant in meat, poultry, dairy
products, whole grains and nuts. Like me, you
probably eat plenty of these. Or at least plenty of
SOME of these types of food.
Problem solved right? Let's all go to the pub....
Unfortunately, it's not the food that's the problem.
It's your body's ability to extract the right levels of
zinc from that food. We only absorb around 30%
of the zinc we consume. And when we absorb
even less than that.... usually because we're
getting older and our bodies are less efficient...
those niggling health problems can begin.
Okay bad news over. Here's how to solve the
problem.
3 ways to boost your zinc levels
First, if you're worried about this, please to talk to
a medical professional and check whether there's
not a serious underlying medical problem. Just to
make sure.
Next, you can help your body absorb more zinc
by taking supplements of vitamins A, E and B6,
and also magnesium, phosphorus and calcium.
Or even better, to counteract your body's inability
to absorb enough zinc.... dramatically increase
your intake of zinc-rich foods.
The top zinc-booster is.... oysters.
By a long shot.
These gorgeous little bivalves (well, I suppose this
depends on your taste buds and predilection for
salty, slimy seafood) are packed with zinc. They
boast an average of 100 mg per gram of oyster.
To put that into context, the recommended daily
intake of zinc is 45 mg.
Oysters are also packed with vitamins D, A, and
B-12, as well as EPA and DHA omega-3 fatty
acids. All of which will further help get your
immune system up to speed.
Obviously, the fresher and less cooked the
oysters, the better they are for you. Ideally you
want to eat them raw from the half shell.
However, if you're a land-locked vegetarian
seafood hater, then the next food to try would be
cabbage.
There's nowhere near as much zinc in a cabbage,
but if you combine this with sensible portions of
red meat, chicken, ginger, peas, fish, beans, nuts
and wholegrain bread in moderation.... you can
gradually improve your zinc levels. |
Other ways to get more zinc
Here's a good little tip - pumpkin seeds make an
especially effective zinc-boosting snack. They're
rich in the stuff. So a handful a day will do you the
world of good.
My advice is to go for the natural, food-based
sources of zinc. This will help you vary your diet,
enjoy some terrific and tasty food, and get all
those other nutrients you need.
However, if you're struggling with this, you could
also try zinc supplements.
But please beware, nutritionists advise that you
don't go overboard with zinc. This goes for all
vitamin supplements, really. Too much of anything
is bad for you. But for men, this is especially
important.
Men shouldn't consume more than 100 mg of zinc
per day. Fine for the occasional oyster binge. But
certainly not every day over long stretches of
time.
Some studies suggest this could increase the risk
of prostate cancer.
In summary then...
If you're feeling like your immune system is not as
fit as it could be this winter, please consider the
zinc factor.
Imagine if this one little problem was causing all
those niggling health problems. And think of how
good it would be to see the back of them. |
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