Every mechanical object has a weak link, the one area that wears out over time and causes the mechanism to be prone to breakage. A good case can be made that, in the human body, our joints and the surrounding soft tissue are our weakest links.

The Toll of Joint Pain

Indeed, joint pain affects tens of millions of Americans. According to the Arthritis Foundation, over 1.3 million people suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, while another 27 million experience the pain associated with osteoarthritis. And everyone from fitness buffs to weekend warriors to professional athletes can attest to the toll that sports can take on joint health.

Knees are Vulnerable

Our knees are especially vulnerable to injury. If done to excess, running and other kinds of exercise can easily lead to kneecap pain or to pain where the quadriceps connects to the kneecap. Injuries to the cartilage and ligaments on the outside of the knee are common, as are muscular sprains and strains.

The Angst of Ankles and Shoulders

As with knees, our ankles are extremely vulnerable to injury. Strains and sprains are common, and are often caused by a simple twist or turn of the ankle. Likewise, there are dozens of shoulder injuries, from rotator cuff injuries to dislocation, that are extraordinarily painful and that can adversely impact a person’s quality of life.

Elbows and Wrists

Elbow injuries are common to weekend athletes. There’s tennis elbow, golfer’s elbow, and thrower’s elbow, as well as a variety of kinds of ligament sprains. Even desk jockeys can feel the burn in their wrists, as carpal tunnel syndrome affects millions of people.

Strengthening Our Weakest Links

If joints are our body’s weakest links, it’s critical that we work to ensure that they are in working order. When it comes to joint health, the first step to take is to get high quality, safe, and effective nutrients that specifically support our joints and the soft tissue surrounding our joints. Whether we’re in our athletic prime or are feeling the effects of getting a bit older, taking supplements that are specifically designed to enhance our joint health simply makes sense.

Products that Help

When it comes to a nutritional product that supports joint health, look for one that includes glycine and histidine, amino acids that promote neuromuscular control and that maintain flexible joints. Boron is also crucial, as it helps maximize bone health through the increased retention of calcium and magnesium.

For those people who regularly work out, a nutritional supplement that contains glucosamine is critical. Sports injuries are most often the result of damage to the connective tissue around the joints, and glucosamine helps to ensure that the connective tissue remains healthy. Similarly, natural anti-inflammatory compounds like bromelain and boswellia further support quick recovery from a workout and the health of joints and soft tissues.

Our joints may be the body’s weak link, but using targeted nutrients can help us strengthen that link and ensure that our joints and soft tissues will continue to serve us for years to come.

Breakfast, like any other meal of the day, needs proper planning. No longer is it planned independently of the other meals. The three meals should be planned as a unit and balanced against the daily body requirement with enough allowance for good health.

A light breakfast must necessarily be followed be a substantial meal, while a heavy breakfast must be followed by a light lunch. If both breakfast and lunch are light, then a heavy dinner is needed.

Like all meals, breakfast must be planned to include food nutrients not provided for or inadequately found in the two other meals to complete the essential body requirements for the day.

Too often, skimpy breakfasts are blamed in lack of time. Considering that one-fourth to one-third of the day’s requirements is served at breakfast, the need for planning ahead is doubly justified.

Breakfast mean to break the fast of several hours.

The factors affecting the nature of the breakfast menu will depend upon age, sex, weight, health, and kind of activities of the individual family members. Other factors to consider are the amount of time allotted for its preparation by one or several family members, or by a hired helper and how light, moderate, or heavy other meals are intended to be. Family custom may have to contend with all of these, although strictly speaking, this must not prevail upon the more important factors.

Breakfast should always include a raw fruit because this contains more vitamins and minerals than cooked ones. Fresh ripe fruits have a rich mellow aroma that can stimulate even the most delicate appetite. It should be taken as the first course of the meal for the same reason.

Fresh eggs are good breakfast food because they are rich in complete protein, fat, iron, calcium, phosphorus, vitamins A & B, and niacin. They are also easy to prepare and digest. They can be fried, poached, soft-cooked, hard-cooked, scrambled, or prepared as an omelet.

Rice and other cereals are the main fuel contributors in breakfast. Rice is cooked plain or sautéed in small amount of fat and garlic. Corn broiled and buttered is a practical American way that can be adopted anywhere where corn is available.

Milk is the almost complete food and is welcome at any meal. At breakfast, milk is popular as a beverage or taken with coffee, chocolate, oatmeal, and other cereals. Milk should be bought from sanitary and reliable sources. Fresh milk is safer if pasteurized before serving.

Breakfast breads may be in the form of rolls, buns, loafbread, biscuits, waffles, or hot cakes. Breads can be toasted and served with butter or fruit jam like strawberry. Waffles, hotcakes, and French toast are good for heavy and substantial breakfast. Rolls with butter and jam, jelly, or marmalade are suitable for heavy breakfast, too, especially if taken with a heavy protein dish and chocolate.

Yes, it is official. Golf is good for you. This has also been verified by the United States Golf Association and their advice is that you should play golf and walk the course while playing rather than riding the golf cart. That is how it is good for health. Walking is known to boost the pumping of the heart for the blood to circulate through the body to carry out this activity and this in turn provides the essential nourishment for your body. Walking is good for the body so golfing carts should be avoided as much as is possible. Besides golf carts do a lot of damage to the green, adding to the pollution in the air. Now, grass is artificially grown even in places where it’s not meant to grow and here the cart can cause damage. Repairing then becomes an expensive affair.

Some argued that the start and stop system that is part of the game of golf is not really good and can actually do the body harm but they were silenced when it was proven that even the start and stop pattern has a lot of positive benefits to it. People have actually chronicled their experiences and what they gained by the very act of walking the course rather than riding it. This is the simplest and cheapest form of exercise and researchers in Sweden discovered that if eighteen holes were played then one has equaled about forty to seventy percent of any high intensity aerobic workout.

This is very good given that you are getting a lot of pleasure out of the game and it does not ever get monotonous. Bad cholesterol levels were found to have dropped while good cholesterol remained steady. These results were not seen among the cart users. Golf Science International came up with the fact that four hours of golf are more or less equal to at least forty five minutes of a fitness class. Northern Ohio Golf Association came up with the theory that walking across the golf course is like walking three to four miles and this is including the walking around trees and hillocks that form the green.

But if you feel that this can’t really be true, then try it out for yourself. At your next game, try to walk alternate holes so that once the game is over you have effectively walked nine holes. Do this for some time and slowly you stop taking the cart as you find that walking gives you a new high as well as lets you play.

Straightening your teeth can work wonders on your smile, but did you also know it may help lower your risk of developing serious diseases?

“Crooked, crowded or unevenly spaced teeth are harder to keep clean and tend to harbor more food and bacteria,” said Dr. Jacqueline Fulop-Goodling, an orthodontics specialist in New York. “This can lead to an increase in plaque and bacteria in the mouth which can cause decay and periodontal disease, a bacterial infection of the gums, bone and periodontal ligament that can enter the blood stream, travel to major organs and cause systemic complications.”

According to the American Academy of Periodontology, gum disease may contribute to the development of heart disease; increase the risk of stroke, premature birth and low birth weight; and pose a serious threat to people whose health is already compromised due to diabetes, respiratory diseases or osteoporosis.

Properly aligned teeth can help keep plaque and tarter from building up. Plaque and tarter are known causes of gum disease. Straight teeth help gums “fit” tighter around them and also make it easier to brush and floss, which leads to better gum health.

With today’s advances in orthodontic technology, straightening crooked teeth is easier and less noticeable than ever before.

Invisalign, for instance, is a popular technique that straightens teeth using a series of custom-made, clear and removable aligners. Clinical studies show that gum health may improve using Invisalign over other forms of teeth-straightening techniques. Because there are no brackets or wires to worry about, patients can take out their “braces” after meals to brush and floss.

Additional health benefits of straightening teeth include improved chewing and speech and less stress on supporting bone and jaw joints.

For several years now, we’ve been hearing about how green tea can prevent many serious diseases, including cancer. As the evidence mounts, it can be hard to ignore the fact that green tea is a powerful way to protect your health.

So, what is it about green tea that is creating so much attention? Well, it appears that the anti-oxidants in green tea are just as powerful as those in fruits and vegetables ? possibly even more so. And, anti-oxidants are critical to preserving health and preventing disease.

As we convert the foods we eat into energy, we create free radicals in our body that can damage our cells and our DNA if left unchecked. It is believed that unchecked free radicals contribute to the development of many diseases, including cancer.

Anti-oxidants combat these free radicals so that they are not able to wreak such havoc on our bodies. Therefore, a diet rich in anti-oxidants is a great way to protect your health. Your best sources of anti-oxidants are fresh fruits, vegetables, and yes, green tea.

The research abounds to support the fact that green tea is healthy. Here are some examples.

Take a look in the March, 2004 issue of New Scientist Magazine. You’ll find numerous studies mentioned that suggest that green tea protects against many types of cancers, including lung, prostate and breast cancer. A study at Kyushu University in Japan showed that green tea slowed the growth of a certain type of human lung cancer cells.

Next, visit the US National Cancer Institute’s website and review their studies. You’ll find evidence that the anti-oxidants in green tea inhibited the growth of cancer cells and reduced the number and size of tumors in animals. You can view the press release on this study here: http://www.cancer.gov/newscenter/pressreleases/tea

Check out the May 2002 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. This magazine describes a Chinese study that showed that men and women who have been lifelong tea drinkers have higher bone mineral density than those who are not tea drinkers. The study involved 497 Chinese men and 540 Chinese women over the age of 30 who were asked about how much tea they drink as well as about lifestyle factors. Of the 1,037 study participants, 48.4 percent were habitual, long-term tea drinkers. The researchers found that those who had been drinking tea habitually for six to 10 years had higher bone mineral density in the lumbar spine, and those who had been drinking tea regularly for more than 10 years had higher bone mineral density in all body sites measured than study participants who didn’t drink tea regularly.

This same magazine reported on another study in December of 2005 that suggested drinking just one cup a day of green or black tea may lower the risk of epithelial ovarian cancer in women by 24 percent. By drinking two or more cups each day, you can cut the risk by up to 48 percent. This study was conducted over a 15 year period by researchers at the Swedish Mammography Cohort.

It’s important to report that there appears to be virtually no evidence that suggests that anything about green tea is unhealthy. Even studies which can’t necessarily support green tea health claims show that green tea has no negative effects.

For example, a study conducted by Yoshitaka Tsubono, M.D., Yoshikazu Nishino, M.D., Shoko Komatsu, M.D., Chung-Cheng Hsieh, Sc.D., Seiki Kanemura, M.D., Ichiro Tsuji, M.D., Haruo Nakatsuka, Ph.D., Akira Fukao, M.D., Hiroshi Satoh, M.D., and Shigeru Hisamichi, M.D. could find no link between consumption of green tea and gastric cancer. The study did not find any increased protection among those who consistently drink green tea, but it also did not find any health risks associated with large green tea consumption.

So, in light of all the evidence, it seems that adding green tea to your diet is a wise choice. While we still need to do more research on the subject, there certainly is reason to believe that green tea is a powerful tool for protecting your health. In addition, there’s reason to believe that green tea’s effects may be more prevalent on certain types of cancers, and less prevalent on others.

And, even if it turns out that green tea doesn’t prevent serious diseases ? there is compelling evidence that green tea is healthy. Green tea can support healthy teeth, and slows down the aging process, just as any other food rich in anti-oxidants. Plus, there is also research that suggests that green tea may speed up metabolism and help you maintain a healthy weight.

As you can see ? you have nothing to lose. Even if green tea doesn’t make you live to an old age with no serious illnesses, it won’t hurt you. So, go make a cup of green tea. There’s little doubt that it will do something good for your body.