7 Healthy Foods That Can Backfire If You Eat Too Much Of Them

You know that eating an entire box of cookies in one sitting isn't good for you—but experts say overdoing it with certain more nutritious foods could be just as dangerous. There's no need to ditch these foods from your diet altogether—but you'll want to avoid taking in excessive amounts since that's when they can start to compromise your health.

Sandwiches are good, so I can eat a lot

Oranges and Tomatoes

You've got to be careful to not overindulge with these delicious but highly acidic summer staples, says Gina Sam, MD, MPH, director of the Mount Sinai Gastrointestinal Motility Center at The Mount Sinai Hospital. The increased acid intake associated with eating too many oranges or tomatoes can lead to re-flux. Over an extended period of time, this can cause Barrett's Esophagus, a disorder in which precancerous lesions form on esophageal lining. Sam suggests sticking to no more than two servings of oranges or tomatoes a day and avoiding these foods altogether if you already have symptoms of re-flux.

Cause to acid re-flux?

Canned Tuna

This easy-to-prep, low-cal fish is a healthy salad or sandwich go-to. However, eating too much of it can result in dangerous mercury levels since tuna is higher in mercury than many other fish. Excessive mercury intake can lead to vision problems, impaired hearing and speech, lack of coordination, and muscle weakness. Make sure you don’t consume more than three to five cans of tuna a week, says Sam, and try swapping out tuna for lower-mercury fish like salmon, shrimp, and Pollock.

Heavy metal pollution? or BPA?

Water

While hydration is key to good health, excessive water consumption can cause water intoxication, says Alan R. Gaby, MD, author of the textbook Nutritional Medicine. This happens when extreme water intake dilutes the sodium in the body, resulting in an abnormally low blood sodium level, which can lead to impaired brain function and even death. How much water would you have to drink for this to be an issue? It's typically only a problem for ultramarathoners and people who force themselves to over-drink. But to make sure you're not consuming too much water, check your urine: If it's always transparent, reduce your intake.

I always drink gallons of water per day, will it too much?

Soy

Tofu lovers, listen up! While soy can help control cholesterol levels and blood pressure when consumed in moderation, it also inhibits iron absorption, says Gaby—so excessive intake has the potential to cause iron-deficiency anemia. Also, because soy contains estrogen-like compounds (isoflavones), long-term consumption of large amounts has the potential to cause endometrial hyperplasia, a proliferation of the uterine lining that can lead to uterine cancer. While there's no exact cutoff for how much soy is safe, you probably want to stick to two servings per day or less.

Too much of soy leads to anemia?

Spinach

This versatile and delicious leafy green is packed with goodness: It’s an excellent source of protein, fiber, and various vitamins and minerals. Spinach is also high in lutein, a carotenoid that may help prevent age-related macular degeneration (a common cause of vision loss and blindness), says Gaby. However, spinach is also high in oxalate, a compound that can lead to the formation of kidney stones—so patients with calcium oxalate kidney stones should avoid overdoing it with this veggie.

Too much of spinach can cause kidney stone?

Brazil Nuts

This crunchy snack is a great source of protein, fiber, essential fatty acids, and selenium. Plus, eating nuts has been shown to lower serum cholesterol and blood pressure, says Gaby. Still, you shouldn't nosh on these nuts every day since they're extremely rich in selenium and the nutrient can be toxic in high amounts, says Gaby. Taking in too much may result in hair loss, brittleness or loss of nails, dermatitis, neurological abnormalities, and in severe cases, death. Joel Fuhrman, MD, a family physician, nutritional researcher, and author of The End of Dieting, says that shelled Brazil nuts maintain higher selenium levels—so you shouldn't have more than 10 a day.

Brazil nut

Lean Animal Protein

If you primarily rely on low-fat meats like chicken breasts or egg whites for your daily dose of protein, it might be time for a diet makeover. Fuhrman says that consuming too many animal proteins can be dangerous since it makes your body produce the hormone insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), which promotes aging and increases your risk of cancer (particularly breast cancer) when present in high levels. In fact, a study published in the journal Cell Metabolism found that there was a four-fold increase in cancer-related death risks and a 75% increase in overall mortality in people who got at least 20% of their calories from lean animal protein (as opposed to 15% or less). The simple fix? Try to get the majority of your protein from plants, such as beans, nuts, seeds, and whole grains, says Fuhrman.

Too much of meat

For more health info and promotions, please follow us on Facebook- Wellness Lab

Download Wellness Lab Mobile App now for more promotions 

If you like this article, you can share this to your friends and families , together we share the health information and the taste of a healthy life!

8 Common Causes Of Chest Pain

Chest pain. The first thing you may think of is heart attack. Certainly chest pain is not something to ignore. But you should know that it has many possible causes.

In fact, as much as a quarter of the U.S. population experiences chest pain that is not related to the heart. Chest pain may also be caused by problems in your lungs, esophagus, muscles, ribs, or nerves, for example. Some of these conditions are serious and life threatening. Others are not. If you have unexplained chest pain, the only way to confirm its cause is to have a doctor evaluate you.

Heart Disease

One of the main causes of chest pain is due to a cardiac origin which is medically known as ‘angina’. Research states that any person can suffer from angina for a short or long period of time, depending on the type of heart disease. In cases like this, chest pain is felt in the shoulder region and travels to the limbs too.

• Angina or a heart attack: The most common symptom is chest pain that may feel like tightness, heavy pressure, squeezing, or crushing pain. The pain may spread to the arm, shoulder, jaw, or back.
• A tear in the wall of the aorta, the large blood vessel that takes blood from the heart to the rest of the body (aortic dissection) causes sudden, severe pain in the chest and upper back.
• Swelling (inflammation) in the sac that surrounds the heart (pericarditis) causes pain in the center part of the chest.

Angina or a heart attack

Due To Tension

Not many are aware but, tension is another main reason for chest pains. When there is an increase in the level of blood pressure in the arteries which carry the blood to the lungs it gives out a pain in the chest.

Tension can  also cause stomach pain

Acidity

Gastroesophageal reflux disease also known as GERD is another cause for chest pain. Acidity or heart burn are some of the common reasons. It is accompanied with constant burping, heaviness on the chest and at times pain in the shoulder region too. Other possible causes:

• Spasms or narrowing of the esophagus (the tube that carries food from the mouth to the stomach)
• Gallstones cause pain that gets worse after a meal (most often a fatty meal).
• Stomach ulcer or gastritis: Burning pain occurs if your stomach is empty and feels better when you eat food

GERD syndrome

Lung Problems

It may have never crossed our mind to relate lung disorders with chest pain, but strangely abnormality of the lung function can be one of the causes of chest pain. Below is a few of lung problems that causing chest pain.

• A blood clot in the lung (pulmonary embolism)
• Collapse of the lung (pneumothorax)
• Pneumonia causes a sharp chest pain that often gets worse when you take a deep breath or cough.
• Swelling of the lining around the lung (pleurisy) can cause chest pain that usually feels sharp, and often gets worse when you take a deep breath or cough.

Pneumonia can cause a sharp chest pain

Stress and Depression

• Stress is the underlying problem and another reason for chest pain. When the body is under stress, the heart rate increases, and blood pressure also rises rapidly which affects the circulatory system of blood flow to the heart resulting in a chest pain.
• Depression plays havoc in one’s life, especially with the heart. When you are feeling depressed there is an increase in the heart rate and faster blood flow to the heart causing a sudden chest pain.

Stress and Depression

Due To Injury

An injury to the rib cage, muscles or the chest wall will result to chest pain. This type of chest pain usually remains constant and can be treated with medication.

Lung Trauma

Body Exertion

When the body does not get sufficient oxygen to carry out metabolic processes it results to exertion and strain on the muscles and organs. This strain effects the chest region leading to chest pain. Exertion is one of the many causes of chest pain and should be treated by taking proper rest.

Exercises is good but overdoing it cause problems

For more health info and promotions, please follow us on Facebook- Wellness Lab

Download Wellness Lab Mobile App now for more promotions 

If you like this article, you can share this to your friends and families , together we share the health information and the taste of a healthy life!

Breathe Away Your Tension and Stress

Breathing properly is one of the simplest and best ways to drain your tension and relieve your stress. Simply by changing your breathing patterns, you can rapidly induce a state of greater relaxation. If you control the way you breathe, you have a powerful tool in reducing bodily tension. Just as important, you have a tool that helps prevent your body from becoming tense in the first place.

What happens inside when you breathe

Breathing provides your body with oxygen and removes waste products — primarily carbon dioxide — from your blood. Your lungs carry out this gas exchange. Lungs, however, don’t have their own muscles for breathing. Your diaphragm is the major muscle necessary for proper breathing. The diaphragm is a dome-shaped muscle that separates your chest cavity from your abdominal cavity and acts as a flexible floor for your lungs.

When you inhale, your diaphragm flattens downward, creating more space in the chest cavity and permitting the lungs to fill. You can see your stomach rising. When you exhale, your diaphragm returns to its dome shape. Diaphragmatic breathing, also called abdominal breathing, provides the most efficient way of exchanging oxygen and carbon dioxide.

How we breath

Your diaphragm works automatically, but you can override the process, especially when you’re under stress. And that’s where problems can arise. Too often you neglect to use your diaphragm when you breathe, and you interfere with the proper exchange of gases in your system, which can result in greater tension, more fatigue, and more stress.

Is your breathing bad?

“Bad breathing” can take a number of forms. You may be a chest and shoulder breather, bringing air into your lungs by expanding your chest cavity and raising your shoulders. This description certainly fits if you have more than a touch of vanity and opt for never sticking out your tummy when you breathe.

You also may be a breath holder, stopping your breathing entirely when you’re distracted or lost in thought. Both are inefficient, stress-producing forms of breathing. And when you’re under stress, your breathing patterns deteriorate even more. To make things worse, once your breathing goes awry, you feel even more stressed. Quite a nasty cycle.

Breathing for life

Why change your breathing now?

You probably take your breathing for granted. And why not? You've been breathing for most of your life; you’d think by now you would have figured out how to do it right. No such luck. When you’re feeling stressed, your breathing becomes faster and shallower. When you breathe this way, your body reacts:

• Less oxygen reaches your bloodstream. 
• Your blood vessels constrict. 
• Less oxygen reaches your brain. 
• Your heart rate and your blood pressure go up. 
• You feel light-headed, shaky, and tenser. 

Our primitive ancestors knew how to breathe. They didn't have to deal with the IRS, stacks of unpaid bills, or the Boss from Hell. These days only opera singers, stage actors, musicians who play wind instruments, and a couple of dozen moonlighting yoga instructors actually breathe effectively. The rest of us mess it up.

Are you breathing right?

However, for a period of your life, you did get the whole breathing thing right. As a baby lying in your crib, you breathed serenely. Your little belly rose and fell in the most relaxed way. But then you grew up and blew it. Thankfully, all is not lost. You can re-teach yourself to breathe properly.

Evaluate your breathing

You may be one of the few people who actually breathe properly. But before you skip this, read a little further. To find out whether the way you breathe is stress-reducing, take this simple test.

• Lie on your back. 
• Put your right hand on your belly and your left hand on your chest. 

Try to become aware of the way you breathe. Check to see whether your breathing is smooth, slow, and regular. If you’re breathing properly, the hand on your belly rises and falls rhythmically as you inhale and exhale. The hand on your chest should move very little, and if that hand does rise, it should follow the rise in your belly. 

Don't stress about breathing technique

A lot of people who want to adopt new patterns of breathing have a fervent desire to get it perfectly right. They frequently get so lost in body parts or lung mechanics that they wind up more stressed out than they were before they started. Don’t let this happen to you. And remember that there’s no one exactly right way to breathe all the time.

Give yourself lots of room to experiment with your breathing. And don’t overdo it. If you've been breathing inefficiently for all these years, changing gears may take some time. Above all, you’re not taking a test. Don’t grade yourself on how deeply you can breathe or how flat you can make your diaphragm. Remember, the goal is to reduce your stress, not add to it.

A lung function test can be done to test your lung capacity

For more health info and promotions, please follow us on Facebook- Wellness Lab

Download Wellness Lab Mobile App now for more promotions 

If you like this article, you can share this to your friends and families , together we share the health information and the taste of a healthy life!