Comments on: Healthy Eating, Healthy Living, Good Health Thru Healthy Food & Mind http://brightonyourhealth.com Healthy Living Information and Good Health Tips With A European Twist Thu, 23 Feb 2012 02:33:15 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: mbrighton http://brightonyourhealth.com/#comment-16286 mbrighton Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:27:54 +0000 http://www.brightonyourhealth.com/?page_id=1812#comment-16286 Hi Joe, took an nutritionally objective look at freshhealthystuff drink. What strikes me as a real positive point is the ecological aspects. What I understand is that you use the powercaps to push in the dried powder and regenerate the drink into your own water. What I read on the website sound good:all natural ingredients. But cannot find a list of what those ingredients are. I emailed the company for this and await their answer. Thinking again about Vitamin Water, I found a great synopsis written by a dietitian who thinks along the same lines as me. Check out what she said here; a very thorough article: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/vitamin-water/AN01734 The dietitian says that Vitamin Water is not healthy. My views are: Live and practice habits as close to the earth as possible and keeping our precious earth in mind. Vitamin water is packaged in plastic bottles. Just for this fact I tend to disagree with drinking it. I am not against plastic bottles in very sparce use. But we need to think of the environment. Think Green! I also don't not advocate the use of artificial sweeteners, colors or preservatives. It appears that Vitamin water is not 100% natural, whereby the other product freshhealthystuff is more of a natural product (but I will see the ingredients when they come). Finally, I truely believe in trying to live old-fashioned way and back to basics. These drinks are not cheap and it may be a better nutritional idea to drink good plain water (with a splash of lemon or small amount of real juice) and buy some either high quality vitamins or real fresh fruit. The calorie content of Vitamin Water is quite high. A couple pieces of real fruit and drinking real water you are better off calorie wise, nutrition wise and economic wise. Only my 2 cents! Will do a further update when I receive the list of ingredients from goodhealthystuff.com Hi Joe, took an nutritionally objective look at freshhealthystuff drink. What strikes me as a real positive point is the ecological aspects. What I understand is that you use the powercaps to push in the dried powder and regenerate the drink into your own water. What I read on the website sound good:all natural ingredients. But cannot find a list of what those ingredients are. I emailed the company for this and await their answer.
Thinking again about Vitamin Water, I found a great synopsis written by a dietitian who thinks along the same lines as me. Check out what she said here; a very thorough article: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/vitamin-water/AN01734 The dietitian says that Vitamin Water is not healthy.

My views are: Live and practice habits as close to the earth as possible and keeping our precious earth in mind. Vitamin water is packaged in plastic bottles. Just for this fact I tend to disagree with drinking it. I am not against plastic bottles in very sparce use. But we need to think of the environment. Think Green!
I also don’t not advocate the use of artificial sweeteners, colors or preservatives. It appears that Vitamin water is not 100% natural, whereby the other product freshhealthystuff is more of a natural product (but I will see the ingredients when they come). Finally, I truely believe in trying to live old-fashioned way and back to basics. These drinks are not cheap and it may be a better nutritional idea to drink good plain water (with a splash of lemon or small amount of real juice) and buy some either high quality vitamins or real fresh fruit. The calorie content of Vitamin Water is quite high. A couple pieces of real fruit and drinking real water you are better off calorie wise, nutrition wise and economic wise. Only my 2 cents! Will do a further update when I receive the list of ingredients from goodhealthystuff.com

]]> By: mbrighton http://brightonyourhealth.com/#comment-16206 mbrighton Thu, 09 Feb 2012 23:11:37 +0000 http://www.brightonyourhealth.com/?page_id=1812#comment-16206 I tasted vitamin water once...too sugary for me. I am going to some research and get back with you tomorrow. What i remember is that vitamin water has quite a lot of fructose in it (a form of sugar). I want to double check the ingredients. Will also look at freshhealthystuff drink too. My general philosophy is to drink real water and use the money you would spend on vitamin water to buy some fresh fruit for the vitamins. Check back tomorrow for a more thorough report. Comment appreciated! I tasted vitamin water once…too sugary for me. I am going to some research and get back with you tomorrow. What i remember is that vitamin water has quite a lot of fructose in it (a form of sugar). I want to double check the ingredients. Will also look at freshhealthystuff drink too. My general philosophy is to drink real water and use the money you would spend on vitamin water to buy some fresh fruit for the vitamins. Check back tomorrow for a more thorough report. Comment appreciated!

]]> By: Joe http://brightonyourhealth.com/#comment-16193 Joe Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:33:58 +0000 http://www.brightonyourhealth.com/?page_id=1812#comment-16193 I just stumbled across your blog posting and was wondering what you thought of drinks like vitamin water and a new similar one I also just stumbled across www.freshhealthystuff.com? The freshhealthystuff drink has less ingredients than the vitamin water(and I can pronounce most of them). I just stumbled across your blog posting and was wondering what you thought of drinks like vitamin water and a new similar one I also just stumbled across http://www.freshhealthystuff.com?
The freshhealthystuff drink has less ingredients than the vitamin water(and I can pronounce most of them).

]]> By: mbrighton http://brightonyourhealth.com/#comment-15101 mbrighton Thu, 26 Jan 2012 08:57:20 +0000 http://www.brightonyourhealth.com/?page_id=1812#comment-15101 Hi Gina, I am against the use of artificial sweeteners. In Europe, the European Food Safety Authority is doing a huge analysis looking at scientific data to assess whether aspartame is safe for human consumption and if it is, at what levels are considered safe. The final report is not due for awhile, but it will be a neutral opinion. The EFSA is a well-respected authority on nutrition and other issues. Here is an article I wrote here on this study: http://brightonyourhealth.com/mary-brighton-personal-health-tips/aspartame-safe-or-health-risk-the-european-health-authority-to-decide As like anything artificial and potential toxic at large doses, aspartame should be avoided by pregnant and breastfeeding women. Babies and young children should not be having aspartame in their diet. However, there is the question of what to offer as a replacement? Real sugar is one thing. Honey, Maple syrup and brown natural sugar are all options. It is best to be moderate with one's diet and not overdose on foods that have a lot of sugar in general. Drinks are a big culprit for containing artificial sweeteners. Water, juice or small amounts of real soda is better than the diet brands. Aspartame and other artificial sweeteners are everywhere. We need become experts in reading food labels to not be naive on what is in our foods. For diabetic persons, sugar has to be avoided in their diet to keep their blood sugars in control. So what to do for them? With good advice from a dietitian or diabetes educators, diabetics can have small amounts of sugar, honey and other real sweeteners when it is combined with other foods. But artificial sweeteners are often part of a diabetics' diet. If it is in small amounts on an occasional basis, there are high chances that all will be okay. I have tried Stevia, which is a natural sweetener. This may be a better option than aspartame. Stevia was recently approved in Europe to be distributed and used as a sweetener and alternative to sugar. As a personal note, I don't like sugary foods. Those people who do and have a large amount of sugar in their eating plan should look at food labels, try to eliminate any aspartame from their diet and ideally lower the amount of sugar they are eating. Thanks so much for the comment! Let me know if you have any additional questions. Hi Gina, I am against the use of artificial sweeteners. In Europe, the European Food Safety Authority is doing a huge analysis looking at scientific data to assess whether aspartame is safe for human consumption and if it is, at what levels are considered safe. The final report is not due for awhile, but it will be a neutral opinion. The EFSA is a well-respected authority on nutrition and other issues. Here is an article I wrote here on this study: http://brightonyourhealth.com/mary-brighton-personal-health-tips/aspartame-safe-or-health-risk-the-european-health-authority-to-decide
As like anything artificial and potential toxic at large doses, aspartame should be avoided by pregnant and breastfeeding women. Babies and young children should not be having aspartame in their diet.
However, there is the question of what to offer as a replacement? Real sugar is one thing. Honey, Maple syrup and brown natural sugar are all options. It is best to be moderate with one’s diet and not overdose on foods that have a lot of sugar in general. Drinks are a big culprit for containing artificial sweeteners. Water, juice or small amounts of real soda is better than the diet brands. Aspartame and other artificial sweeteners are everywhere. We need become experts in reading food labels to not be naive on what is in our foods.
For diabetic persons, sugar has to be avoided in their diet to keep their blood sugars in control. So what to do for them? With good advice from a dietitian or diabetes educators, diabetics can have small amounts of sugar, honey and other real sweeteners when it is combined with other foods. But artificial sweeteners are often part of a diabetics’ diet. If it is in small amounts on an occasional basis, there are high chances that all will be okay.
I have tried Stevia, which is a natural sweetener. This may be a better option than aspartame. Stevia was recently approved in Europe to be distributed and used as a sweetener and alternative to sugar.
As a personal note, I don’t like sugary foods. Those people who do and have a large amount of sugar in their eating plan should look at food labels, try to eliminate any aspartame from their diet and ideally lower the amount of sugar they are eating.
Thanks so much for the comment! Let me know if you have any additional questions.

]]> By: Gina http://brightonyourhealth.com/#comment-15089 Gina Thu, 26 Jan 2012 04:12:03 +0000 http://www.brightonyourhealth.com/?page_id=1812#comment-15089 Hello Mary. I am a big Michael Pollan fan too. I recommend "The Omnivore’s Dilemma" to everyone I know. Also, I would like to ask what your stance on artificial sweeteners is? I read here that aspartame should be avoided: http://www.mercola.com/Downloads/bonus/aspartame/report.aspx If you're against it, what alternative would you suggest? Thanks! -Gina Hello Mary. I am a big Michael Pollan fan too. I recommend “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” to everyone I know. Also, I would like to ask what your stance on artificial sweeteners is? I read here that aspartame should be avoided: http://www.mercola.com/Downloads/bonus/aspartame/report.aspx If you’re against it, what alternative would you suggest?

Thanks!
-Gina

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