Vitamin C 101

Vitamin C, technical name ascorbic acid is a water-soluble vitamin present in certain foods but that can also be obtained through supplementation. 

Humans are different from other animals in that they can’t synthesize the vitamin by their own bodies but must get it elsewhere.  

The Benefits Of Vitamin C

·      We need vitamin C in order to make L-carnitine, collagen and some neurotransmitters.  

·      Vitamin C is also involved in the metabolism of protein.  

·      We need vitamin C for the formation of collagen that is part of the connective tissue in the body’s organs and plays a role in wound healing.  

·      Vitamin C is also a good antioxidant, which makes it good in preventing cancer. It has the important role of regenerating other antioxidants in the body.  

·      There is research going on that looks into whether or not vitamin C is definitely linked to its antioxidant properties or whether there is something else going on that makes this a good cancer fighter.  

·      Oral vitamin C produces tissue and plasma concentrations that are tightly controlled. As a water-soluble nutrient, it is excreted by the urine.  

Recommended Intake of Vitamin C

The dietary intake of vitamin C has been set up by the Food and Nutrition Board. It sets up the Daily Reference Intakes for all types of nutrients. 

According to this board, the recommended intake of vitamin C includes the following: 

·      Ages 0-6 months, the intake should be 40 mg per day

·      Ages 7-12 months, the intake should be 50 mg per day

·      Ages `1-3 years, the intake should be 15 mg per day

·      Ages 4-8 years, the intake should be 25 mg per day 

·      Ages 9-13 years, the intake should be 45 mg per day

·      Ages 14-18, the intake should be 75 mg per day

·      Those who are older than 19 years, the intake should be 75 mg per day

Food Sources of Vitamin C

·      Some of the best sources for vitamin C are fruits and vegetables.  

·      Citrus fruits, tomatoes, and tomato juice, as well as potatoes are good sources of vitamin C. 

·      Other foods that will give you vitamin A include red peppers, green peppers, broccoli, kiwifruit, Brussels sprouts, strawberries, and cantaloupe.  

·      While vitamin C isn’t found in grains, it is often added to the cereal we eat. 

Prolonged storage and cooking may destroy vitamin C so it is best when eaten with raw fruits. 

The good news is that many of the best food sources of vitamin C, such as vegetables and fruits, are usually eaten raw. Foods that you can eat that will give you’re the best sources of vitamin C include:

·      Red pepper gives 158 percent of the daily value

·      Orange juice gives 155 percent of the daily value

·      One medium orange gives 117 percent of the daily value

·      Grapefruit juice gives 117 of the daily value

·      Kiwi fruit gives 107 percent of the daily value

·      Green pepper gives 100 percent of the daily value

·      Broccoli gives 85 percent of the daily value

·      Strawberries give 82 percent of the daily value

·      Brussels sprouts give 80 percent of the daily value

Dietary Supplements

Dietary supplements of vitamin C can be given. It is given in the form of ascorbic acid, which has the same bioavailability as the naturally occurring kinds of vitamin C eaten in food sources of vitamin C.  

Other forms of vitamin C supplements include calcium ascorbate, sodium ascorbate, ascorbic acid with bioflavonoids, dehydroascorbate, xylonate, threonate, and calcium ascorbate.  

A few research studies using human participants found that the bioavailability is different depending on the form of vitamin C used.  

Other studies have indicated that there are no differences in the bioavailability of the various types of vitamin C. These vitamins are all extremely cheap and can be used to indicate the individual’s vitamin intake.  

Vitamin C Deficiency

Vitamin C deficiency results in scurvy.  

The timeline for getting scurvy depends on the body’s initial stores of the vitamin in the body to begin with. Signs begin to show up within a month of withdrawing all vitamin C from the diet. Symptoms start out with tiredness, malaise, and other flu-like symptoms.  

As it progresses, the individual can develop gum inflammation, poor healing of soft tissue, petechiae, purpura, poor wound healing, and ecchymosis of the skin. Other signs of a deficiency include swollen and bleeding gums, depression, and corkscrew hairs.

 

How To Beat Self-Doubt And Insecurities To Become The Best You

One of the most limiting things a person can experience in this life is self-doubt. It has the ability to keep you feeling locked away in a prison of your own insecurities. It will suffocate your ability to explore and be free to engage with opportunities and adventures and it will hold you back from ever achieving the things that you really want.

I have personally met people who even gave up on wanting anything at all due to having such a high level of self-doubt. Their insecurities had escalated to such a point over the course of their life where they eventually gave up on even considering that they had any level of freedom at all regarding their own choices. 

This is a terrible place to find ourselves in and it causes a person to live a life that has been massively limited by the illusory constructs that have formed in their mind. Fortunately, though, with a little work and the right amount of determination there is something that we can do to conquer this.

Dominating Doubt

Doubt itself, by its very nature is negative. It is something that denounces and turns down any thoughts of positive or action-inspiring suggestion. If left unchecked, doubt becomes a mindset that keeps a person completely closed off from the world of positive inspiration and it keeps a person confined to a self-centred and destructive ego. 

In order to dominate doubt we must first desire to do so. If we do not have the desire to at least investigate the ability to overcome doubt, then there is truly no hope for us. 

A person who is happy to live in a world of doubt is like a cancer that will infect and overcome anyone who has even a shred of positivity to express, like a black hole, they consume all light, and there is no hope of it ever being re-produced in return. 

Someone who has decided to overcome doubt though is like a black hole that has decided to try to stop sucking in everything and instead has chosen to learn how to produce and create a little light. 

Without having made the choice to do this, without having personally decided that they want to become more positive, more inspiring and more encouraging, a person has no hope of ever conquering their own self-doubt.

The Argument Of Doubt

The main argument that people offer to encourage their own self-doubt is that they have either never been able to, or never witnessed something happen. For example, if you try to encourage a person to become a confident public speaker and they harbor massive amounts of internal self-doubt, they will argue that they have never been able to speak confidently in public before and so they just think that from their own point of view, it cannot be done. 

Another person who doubts the ability of someone to come up with some kind of new and enlightening invention doubts it because he has never seen it done before and therefore thinks it simply cannot be done. In all cases of self-doubt, a person is living with a mindset that has experienced great limitation somewhere in the past. 

Therefore, when we know this, we can implement strategies to conquer and eventually destroy these specific doubts. How do we do this?

Creationism

No not the kind of creationism that claims the world was created in 6 days and that all life on earth is somewhere in the region of 6,000 years old, do not even get me started on that! What I am talking about is a form of creationism that is completely and intimately personal. It is inspirational, encouraging, motivating, it is creating and producing and freeing. It is everything that self-doubt is not. 

This works for all kinds of self-doubt and insecurity because it has the effect of contradicting and opposing every form that self-doubt or insecurity takes. We intimately prove the self-doubting limitation wrong, and eventually the mind learns a newer and more positive way of thinking about things, because it has witnessed firsthand the undoing of every single one of its limiting, doubting thoughts. 

In order to do this we must either show or create a case for the opposite. We need proof. Show yourself the opposite of your own self-doubt. Investigate and encourage yourself to try your very best to achieve or to witness or experience the very thing that your mind doubts. 

Commit yourself to the challenge of proving every single one of your doubts wrong, and if you can do this, you will slowly re-program your mind to be able to achieve anything that you could possibly want to achieve.

Conquer the limitations of your doubts and you become a purely positive, inspirational, creative force of life on this planet earth. 

Sit with your doubting mind however, and you will begin to fester in a world of negativity, opposition, and argument for all things limiting. I know which path I would rather choose. 

Now the choice is up to you.

 

Anti-Inflammatory Foods And Diet To Combat Aging

 

Aging gracefully means being as healthy as you can be for as long as possible.  Your dietary and lifestyle choices play a big role in that.  Even though you make the effort to exercise and eat right, you should always be looking for ways to fight aging through eating anti-inflammatory foods. 

 

All of the anti-aging philosophies, promises, and products can be daunting.  You may wonder whether or not eating anti-inflammatory foods is helpful to you.  It turns out that the body’s aging process can be accelerated by inflammation in the body. You need to talk to your doctor, dietitian, or nutritionist to find out more about this. 

 

What is inflammation and how can it affect your body?

 

The immune system responds to injury and diseases by providing you with inflammation.  This is a normal process that is important for healing.  One the other hand, not all inflammation is healthy for you. 

 

When inflammation gets out of hand, it can attack the normal cells of your body and the process that is supposed to heal you becomes self-destructive.  It is now well known that chronic inflammation is the root cause of many serious illnesses, especially those related to the aging process.  

 

Persistent stress, over-exposure to environmental toxins, and poor diet can all contribute to this type of inflammatory process.

 

Can something be done?

 

The good news is that there are some lifestyle choices that can help this process.  Following an anti-inflammatory diet is one way to control the aging process.  While it sounds like a good idea, be wary.  The anti-inflammatory diet is an eating plan you follow through on throughout your life in order to combat the aging process.  It isn’t technically geared for weight loss but rather helps improve your overall long-term health.  

 

The Anti-Inflammatory Diet

 

The anti-inflammatory diet places a focus on whole foods that are whole and unrefined, high in anti-inflammatory spices, high in healthy fats, and high in omega 3 fatty acids.  

 

Some things to include in an anti-inflammatory diet include the following:

 

·      Soy products, such as tofu, soy milk, tempeh, an edamame

·      Healthy fats found in extra virgin olive oil of high quality, beans, avocados, seeds, and nuts

·      Vegetables and foods that are brightly colored, such as dark berries, fruits, and vegetables

·      Clean water and green tea as a beverage

·      Spices that are anti-inflammatory, such as cinnamon, turmeric, and ginger

 

Foods to Avoid

 

It is also important to decrease your intake of foods that cause inflammation. Highly processed foods are inflammatory as are carbohydrates that are quickly digested, such as sugar and sugary snacks. You need to stay away from foods containing vegetable shortening, partially hydrogenated oils, and polyunsaturated oils, such as soy, corn, safflower, and sunflower oils.  

 

It may be difficult to know if you are eating any of these foods, which is why you need to read the food labels to see if any of these inflammatory foods are in them. When you’re not sure, you should buy raw unprocessed foods and cook them yourself. Food that are labeled “raw” or “organic” can be seen as good foods to choose in an anti-inflammatory diet.  

 

Does an anti-inflammatory diet work?

 

According to the expert dietitians, there is good evidence to show that monounsaturated oils and omega 3 oils can fight inflammation. On the other hand, some of the information is off when it comes to taking anti-inflammatory foods to combat aging. One study indicated that heredity can play a role in who gets the disease and who doesn’t. 

 

While diet is important, genetics also plays a role in the aging process. You can decrease the effects of chronic diseases by eating an anti-inflammatory food diet. Don’t make big changes all at once. Start introducing anti-inflammatory foods gradually into your diet and take away inflammatory foods so that eventually your diet represents an anti-inflammatory diet as much as is possible. 

 

Are there risks to an anti-inflammatory diet?

 

According to experts, there are no known risks to taking an anti-inflammatory diet. You should, however, take precautions if you have food allergies. You should talk to your doctor about finding ways to use this type of diet to your advantage.