Mercury Toxicity

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Fish is a great source of protein. It's super healthy and for some of us, it's considered a delicious and delightful meal. It's one of the healthiest foods you can ever eat. But if you are not careful enough, you will suffer from some health problems and more importantly "Mercury Toxicity".

Today we will talk about everything you should know about mercury toxicity and whether you should eat fish normally or you should stop eating it permanently!

Mercury

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Mercury is a heavy metal which is toxic that's found in water, soil and air. There are three main forms which are metallic, inorganic and organic.

Mercury can be toxic when people inhale mercury vapour or ingest any form of mercury or when you eat fish or shellfish and that's due to water pollution where they are exposed to low concentrations of mercury. Over time you can have serious health problems!

Eating fish is considered the major source of mercury exposure in humans but that's not the problem. The major problem occurs over time where the mercury accumulates in our body so that when it reaches certain levels, it's considered toxic and causes serious health problems. (Usually mercury accumulates in our body in it's organic form which is known as Methylmercury) (1,2)

Seaplants like algae absorbs mercury then small fish eat them then large fish accumulate higher levels of mercury from eating small fish.(3)

How Much is safe?

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US government agencies recommended blood mercury levels to be below 5.0 mcg per liter to prevent mercury poisoning. (4) Studies showed that people who eats larger fish such as Blue Pike had higher levels in their bodies. One study showed that 73 people had hair mercury levels higher than the recommended levels where it was linked that the main reason for this increase in mercury levels is eating high amounts of fish. (5,6)

What type of fish can harm you more?

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 One study showed that one third of fish caught in the new jersey shore had mercury levels more than 0.5 part per million which can harm many people who eats this type of fish regularly. (7)
Larger and longer-lived fish tends to contain the highest amount of mercury like Tuna, shark, swordfish, king mackerel and others. (8)

Mercury Toxicity

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It's a type of metal poisoning and a medical condition caused by exposure to mercury or its compounds. (9)
High levels of mercury in our blood are associated with neurological problems like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Autism. It also may be the blame for depression and anxiety. (10)
mercury toxicity has been linked to high blood pressure, High LDL cholesterol which is the bad cholesterol and increased the risk of heart attack. (11,12,13)
A study of 1800 person showed that those with the highest levels of hair mercury were more likely to die from heart-related problems than people with lower levels of hair mercury.(14)

Avoid eating fish?

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I think you won't eat fish after this article. Well, my advice to you is: "Don't worry too much"
So you probably think that i'm crazy but trust me you should eat fish at least twice per week because fish are an important source for proteins and omega 3 fatty acids.

People who are at a higher risk of having mercury toxicity are pregnant women, breastfeeding mother and young infants. They should keep in mind the following recommendations before eating fish regularly : (15)

• Stick to the low mercury fish like salmon, sardines, cod and shrimps
• Eat fish twice per week 
• Avoid high mercury fish like we mentioned above

Don't worry too much about mercury toxicity if you are eating fish just twice per week, just know that the benefits you get from eating fish outweighs the risks from mercury toxicity.
Last but not least, try to choose a variety of fish lower in mercury. (i guess you will, you better DO!)
As always if you found this article helpful. Well, don't be selfish and share it with everyone!
 "Be Healthy, Be Safe".

Weight loss

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You want to lose weight? You don't know exactly what to do?! You think you are doing everything right but still, you are not getting any results!! Today we will talk about things that could be hindering your progress in weight loss. 

1- Counting calories

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We all tend to be careful when eating things and we count calories so that we reach the Caloric deficit (which is to eat less calories than you need). There is just one problem with that, it's not just the quantity of the calories but actually it's all about the quality of the calories you consume daily. 

There is a big difference between eating 100 gm of cheese burger VS 100 gm of chicken breasts!

Some people underestimate what they eat, one study showed that 10 obese people reported that they consume 1000 calories per day while lab investigations showed that they were taking 2000 calories per day without even noticing that. (1) 

Choose your calories wisely and count them precisely.

2- Exercises 

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When it comes to weight loss, exercise is one of the most effective ways to lose weight. Studies showed that weight lifting is considered the most effective way for wight loss, where you gain muscles, burn fat and increase your overall metabolic rate. (2,3)

 3- Proteins

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Whether you are working out or not, you should consider eating enough protein everyday. protein has been shown to help people to lose weight in several ways, it increases the feeling of fullness so it reduce your appetite, it also protects your muscle mass during weight loss. (4,5,6)

One study showed that people who are eating meals with 30% of calories from protein lead to consuming 575 less calories per day than when they ate 15% of calories from protein.. (7)

3- Frequent small meals are better?!

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We all heard about this advice somewhere. It's when you eat several small meals every few hours to prevent hunger.

This advice can be true but only when taken accurately and seriously, otherwise you will end up eating too many calories and actually getting fatter!

You should only eat when you are hungry and that's the key of success when it comes to weight loss.

In one study, hunger and blood sugar level decreased while the metabolic rate increased in men who consumed 3 meals instead of 14 meals within a 36 hour time frame. (8)

When i mentioned that you should eat only when you are hungry, don't trick me and say. Okay, i only eat when i'm TOO hungry. The "TOO" word here is very important because if you let yourself get TOO hungry, you will unconsciously eat TOO much. Eat HEALTHY snacks (like fruits and veggies not burgers okay!) in between your main meals to prevent getting too hungry.

4- Healthy Fruit juice

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This is one of the biggest mistakes you can actually do when you are trying to lose weight. When it comes to weight loss, you start cutting off sweet beverages and soft drinks and shift to HEALTHY drinks like fruit juice right? Not quit right my friend.

Liquid calories don't actually affects your appetite the same way calories from solid food do. Try this, one day, consider eating an apple as a snack between your main meals.( just one apple)

Another day consider drinking 8-ounce (227 gm) glass of apple juice (approximately 3-4 apples needed) (9). I want you to tell me in the comments the following:

• You felt more satisfied eating 1 apple or drinking 3-4 apples?
•  In your opinion, which is more healthier? 
•  Thank you.

By the way, 12 ounces of unsweetened apple juice contains 36 grams of sugar which is more than in 12 ounces of cola!!. (10,11)

5- Low fat food

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When you choose low fat food, your weight loss plan can't get any healthier right?!

Low fat food are loaded with sugar to improve their taste. One cup of low fat yogurt can contain 47 grams of sugar! (12)

Consider choosing minimally processed food and don't get tricked by everything that says healthy and low fat food cause most of the times, they may actually have the opposite effect. 

6- Read the labels!

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Yes, before buying anything just take a minute and read the label! Trust me you will find things that may shock you. Many Low fat and HEALTHY food (as labeled) contains tons of garbage ingredients that can actually harm you and make you fatter. The problem here is that consumers always get affected by the false nutritional labeling which could sabotage their weight loss progress.

Always check the ingredients and don't trust any label you read.

Last but not least, weight loss is not as difficult as you think. All you need to do is to know what exactely are you eating and what could hinder your weight loss progress. Keep in mind that exercise is very important for your overall health and weight loss. Don't forget to eat and drink clean, stay away from sugar, processed food, soft drinks and unhealthy low fat food.

As always if you found this article helpful. Well, don't be selfish and share it with everyone!

 "Be Healthy, Be Safe".

Honey

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Honey is considered unhealthy in many places, maybe because it contains suger "fructose"?! do you think it's bad for your health?! would you rather add suger or honey to your diet?! Does it matter though!

Today we will clearfy whether you should replace suger with honey or just ignore it's existance.
Honey is considered a real food that can be obtained in it's natural form. It's way more than just a fructose liquid. Honey bees collects Nectar from the environment which are a suger-rich liquid produced from plants then the honey production takes place in their hive where repeated cycles of consumption, digestion and regurgitation (expulsion from digestive tract) takes place to make honey.
There are many types of honey depending on the source of the nectar.
One cup of honey contains: (1,2)

• 1031 calories
• 279g carbohydrates of which 278g suger, 1g dietery fibers
• 1g protein
• Half of that suger is fructose
• Antioxidants
• Glycemic index ranges from low to high
• Trace amounts of Vitamins and minerals.

Antioxidants

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As we know from Coffee and Dark Chocolate articles, Antioxidants are very good for your health .

Unrefined honey contains different antioxidants which can improve your health and protects you from diseases. According studies, the best type of honey that can have this effect on your health is called Buckwheat honey. (3,4)

Relation between Honey and diseases

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There are some factors that may indicate if you are healthy or not and whether there is a risk of disease in the future or not (no not magic). Trigylicerides, blood glucose level and cholesterol, diabetic patients have problem with all of these factors.

A study in healthy diabetics showed that: (5)

1. Honey lowered LDL, triglycerides and increases HDL cholesterol. 
2. Lowered reduced C-Reactive protein (CRP) which is a marker of inflammation.
3. Raised blood suger but not as much as glucose "Dextrose" and fructose and glucose "Sucrose"
4. Lowered Homocysteine which is a non protein amino acid, when it increases it makes the person more prone to have inflammation in blood vessels.

In a controlled trial of 48 diabetic patients, those who were fed honey for 8 weeks lowered their

Trigylicerides, body wieght and total cholesterol while HDL cholesterol (High density Lipoprotein which is the good cholesterol) increased. But on the other hand, HbA1c which is a marker of glucose leve increased which is not GOOD. (6)

Honey for healthy Rats

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What in the world is that?! I don't know but rats should!

A study made on rats showed that honey lead to less fat gain, triglycerides and oxidative stress than either purified fructose or sugar. (7,8)

Well, i guess you want to be like the healthy rats? Right? (i think that's disgusting)

Honey for a healthy skin

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When you apply honey to your skin, it can actually kill bacteria and speed up the process of wound healing. (9,10) pretty amazing right?

To sum up, Honey can be GOOD or BAD as anything in this world. You should always be careful about what you are eating and more importantely the quantity of it (Too much of anything is bad). Honey is good for your health as we mentioned above but don't eat jars of it and just say, i'm healthier than ever! So should you eat Honey??

If you are healthy and active then yes go ahead and eat honey but if you are diabetic and struggle with the dietery load of fructose and carbohydrates then try to limit honey as much as possible. Still, honey is better than sugar so if you are overweighted and you love eating sweet things then try to replace sugar with honey. (don't eat too much though!)

Last but not least, consider to choose darker honey. Generally speaking, darker honey are better than lighter ones as it contains more nutrients like vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.(buckwheat honey are better than lighter varieties) 

As always if you found this article helpful. Well, don't be selfish and share it with everyone!

 "Be Healthy, Be Safe".