Caffeine Myths and Facts

Caffeine myth or caffeine fact? It's not always easy to know. Chances are you have some real misperceptions about caffeine. For starters, do you know the most common sources of caffeine? Well, maybe two of the sources aren't too hard to name -- coffee and tea leaves. But did you know kola nuts and cocoa beans are also included among the most common caffeine sources? And do you know how much caffeine content can vary from food to food? Turns out it's quite a lot actually, depending on the type and serving size of a food or beverage and how it's prepared.

Caffeine content can range from as much as 160 milligrams in some energy drinks to as little as 4 milligrams in a 1-ounce serving of chocolate-flavored syrup. Even decaffeinated coffee isn't completely free of caffeine. Caffeine is also present in some over-the-counter pain relievers, cold medications, and diet pills. These products can contain as little as 16 milligrams or as much as 200 milligrams of caffeine. In fact, caffeine itself is a mild painkiller and increases the effectiveness of other pain relievers.

Want to know more? Read on. WebMD has examined some of the most common myths about caffeine and gathered the facts to shed some light on those myths.

Caffeine Myth No. 1: Caffeine Is Addictive

This one has some truth to it, depending on what you mean by "addictive." Caffeine is a stimulant to the central nervous system, and regular use of caffeine does cause mild physical dependence. But caffeine doesn't threaten your physical, social, or economic health the way addictive drugs do. (Although after seeing your monthly spending at the coffee shop, you might disagree!)

If you stop taking caffeine abruptly, you may have symptoms for a day or more, especially if you consume two or more cups of coffee a day. Symptoms of withdrawal from caffeine include:

• headache
• fatigue
• anxiety
• irritability
• depressed mood
• difficulty concentrating

No doubt, caffeine withdrawal can make for a few bad days. However, caffeine does not cause the severity of withdrawal or harmful drug-seeking behaviors as street drugs or alcohol. For this reason, most experts don't consider caffeine dependence a serious addiction.

Caffeine Myth No. 2: Caffeine Is Likely to Cause Insomnia

Your body quickly absorbs caffeine. But it also gets rid of it quickly. Processed mainly through the liver, caffeine has a relatively short half-life. This means it takes about five to seven hours, on average, to eliminate half of it from your body. After eight to 10 hours, 75% of the caffeine is gone. For most people, a cup of coffee or two in the morning won't interfere with sleep at night.

Consuming caffeine later in the day, however, can interfere with sleep. If you're like most people, your sleep won't be affected if you don't consume caffeine at least six hours before going to bed. Your sensitivity may vary, though, depending on your metabolism and the amount of caffeine you regularly consume. People who are more sensitive may not only experience insomnia but also have caffeine side effects of nervousness and gastrointestinal upset.

This article is from:- http://www.webmd.com/balance/caffeine-myths-and-facts

How to Change Your Life in a Week: The Ten Best Health and Fitness Retreats

This article was written in 2012 so the prices will have changed!!!

From meditation in Costa Rica to macrobiotics in Scotland, we present the 10 best holidays to help remodel you – body and mind

The body-changing bootcamp

What better way to approach a milestone birthday than to get in shape with a week at

MIND & BODY

Love Yourself... Diet

Give yourself exactly what you need—and losing weight will be just one benefit.

 courtesy of Shutterstock

Matzo ball soup, guacamole and chips—these are the foods I eat when I’m in the mood to celebrate. I drown my sorrows with Ben & Jerry’s Coffee Heath Bar Crunch. And when I’ve taken too many trips to the freezer and too few to the gym, I punish myself by withholding the foods I love. Like a lot of women I know, my relationship with food is complicated: I look to it more for joy, solace, companionship (even repentance!) than for nourishment. But I’m learning that it doesn’t have to be that way. You don’t need to starve yourself—or beat yourself up for not starving yourself—to lose weight. Instead, discover how to nurture yourself and create a healthier, happier relationship with food—and your body.

LOVE-YOURSELF STRATEGY: Learn to eat mindfully 
To kick the habit of overeating, turn your attention toward food rather than away from it. When you sit down to eat, relish each morsel. Notice the color, shape, texture, and aroma, as well as the taste. If you’re eating with friends or family, talk about how the meal was made and where it comes from. Even when indulging in a fast-food meal, take it home and enjoy it properly: Put it on a plate and eat with cutlery by candlelight!
HOW IT HELPS: Mindfulness, which can include deep breathing and meditation, helps you become more aware of the reasons you’re eating, says Jeffrey Greeson, Ph.D., a health psychologist at Duke Integrative Medicine. “Often we eat not because we’re hungry but because we’re stressed, frustrated, or bored.” Mindfulness lets you catch impulses as they crop up and teaches you to sit with difficult feelings and respond to them in a healthy way instead of using food as a buffer. It can also make eating more satisfying, which may help you eat less.
GET STARTED: Start today with a shopping trip to your favorite market. Choose foods that delight your senses—juicy fruits, colorful vegetables, and high-quality chocolate. Once back in your kitchen, take the time to prepare a meal that looks and tastes appealing.

LOVE-YOURSELF STRATEGY: Savor low-density foods 
Forget the idea that to lose weight you have to feel hungry all the time. Instead of depriving yourself, satisfy yourself with low-energy-density foods like fruits and vegetables, wholegrain breads, and broth-based soups; they’re filling without being high in calories or fat.
HOW IT HELPS: In a one-year study of 97 obese women (conducted by Barbara Rolls, a nutrition researcher at Pennsylvania State University and creator of the Volumetrics Eating Plan), those who filled their plates with low-density foods ate more but still lost 3.3 pounds more than those who ate less and restricted fat. In separate studies, Rolls and colleagues found that women who ate a large green salad or a bowl of broth-based soup before a meal consumed fewer calories than those who went straight to the main course.
GET STARTED: Create meals around legumes, fruits, vegetables, and lean protein, and when shopping for packaged foods, learn to check the labels. A food has a low-energy density if the number of calories is lower than its weight in grams. (For example, one half cup of black beans weighs 130 grams but contains only 100 calories, so it’s considered a low-density food.)

LOVE-YOURSELF STRATEGY: Embrace complex carbs 
Simple carbs like white flour, refined sugar, and white rice spike your blood sugar and leave you hungry soon after you eat. For a more satisfying meal, choose complex carbs like brown rice, beans, non-starchy veggies (leafy greens, peppers, and cucumbers), whole-grain pastas and breads, and most fruits; they’re all low on the glycemic index, meaning the sugars are absorbed more slowly into your bloodstream, keeping blood sugar steady.
HOW IT HELPS: Researchers at Harvard University found that obese patients who lost weight by eating foods low on the glycemic index reported less hunger and kept off the weight longer than those who lost weight on a typical low-fat diet.
GET STARTED: To find foods that are low on the glycemic index (scores of 55 or less), go to glycemicindex.com.

by Rachel Kanigel - See more at: http://www.naturalhealthmag.com/mind-body/love-yourself-diet#sthash.DKMtW2rC.dpuf