2. How to deal with an allergy to nuts?

There is no specific medicine to treat allergies to nuts. The improved treatment, without a doubt it’s as simple as avoiding eating all foods or products containing nuts.

We must bear in mind that some people are so sensitive that not only should avoid eating them but also unable to take foods that are made with the same instruments that are used in the processing or manufacturing products that contain them. In these circumstances plays a key role food labeling.

They also may have an allergic reaction just by smell or touch them with skin. If we have a child with nut allergy is the vital importance of information on such an allergy to any person you let the child (school, family, friends), even in bars and restaurants when we eat away from home.

3. How to read a label for a diet without nuts?

If you have a child allergic to nuts, the key is to avoid giving foods or products containing such products, it is essential to read all labels very well. Make sure that the food label does not include these ingredients and avoid them: Almonds, Brazil nuts, Cashew, Hazelnuts, Sunflower seeds, Chestnuts, Nuts, Peanuts, Pistachios, and etc.

4. Hidden sources of nuts

We should avoid eating:
- Ethnic foods, baked commercial products suffer because they add more and more nuts in the process.
- Sweets, cakes, pastries and baked products with unknown ingredients.
- Muesli and fruit for breakfast cereals and bars with salted nuts.
- Energy bars and sports bars of concentrated feed.
- Sweets and candy bars.
- Vegetarian dishes flavored with nuts and some veggie burgers or soy.
- Cookies and salty snack.
- Prepared salads and salad dressings. We must not overlook the pesto sauce is made with nuts.
- Typical Christmas products such as marzipan, nougat and nougat.
- Candy with nuts (M & M, Snickers, Hershey bars with nuts, Hershey’s Kisses chocolates with almonds and salted nuts bars).
- Pasta and creams that contain tree nuts (Nutella ® and the like).
- The Gianduja (a creamy mixture of chocolate and chopped toasted nuts.)
- Nut oils (sunflower oil, almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, peanuts).
- Extracts to which artificial flavors are added.
- Bakery products containing nuts (seed bread).
- Eye barbecue sauces, crackers and ice cream, and today manufacturers tend add nuts.
- Avoid mashed almond extract.

If people allergic to pistachio and cashew nuts should be excluded from your diet the handle, as it is of the family Anacardiaceae.

Almonds, chestnuts, hazelnuts, walnuts, etc can cause symptoms in people even without consuming them simply by skin contact or inhalation.

1. Did you know?

They are named (nuts) due to suffering from drying during processing. Different plant species are included, but are characterized by being rich in protein and fat and have less than 50% water. It is advisable to wait until 3 or 4 years to make the nuts in the diet of children.

Since these are a very allergenic foods and we should be cautious when the demos for the first time to our children. Allergy to nuts is an abnormal response of body to the protein found in nuts. After the fish and seafood, nuts are the foods most often cause food allergies in the population.

This allergy can be caused by a single nut or by a group of them. Then we can find a group who are allergic to nuts (hazelnut, almond and peanut), allergic to peanuts and vegetables, allergic to pistachio and cashew nuts, so much so that 25-35% of people with allergies to peanuts are also walnut, cashew or pistachio.

The symptoms result from mild, in which case there is a rash, nausea, headache, swollen lips and tongue, to severe which sometimes occurs with anaphylactic shock (sudden and severe allergic reactions that occur in several problems at once, which can affect the skin, respiration, digestion, heart and blood vessels).

The onset of symptoms may be immediate or delayed several hours after being consumed. Cross-reactions may also occur (latex and some nuts such as chestnuts, walnuts, sunflower seeds and pine nuts). In many instances children allergic to eggs are also nuts.

NO. The composition of both the toasted crumb crust or the same in all. Just change the water content, as the crust and toast contain less.

Does the oil in “raw” is not fattening?

The thermal effect does not change the calorie content of the oils, all provide 9 cal per gram. What is certain is that you saturate when cooked, becoming harmful to health, but the calories are the same, both raw and modified by cooking.

Why is it recommended to increase water consumption when performing a low-calorie diet?

There are mainly 3 reasons:
• increases satiety
• helps to correct intestinal transit, when the diet is low in fat
• prevents the formation of kidney stones, decreasing the density of urine.

Is sparkling water, add calories?

NO. With gas or without gas, water gives energy, so it is never a factor of concern about weight gain. The sparkling water is often restricted for persons with hypertension, given its high sodium content.

How does a warm or paraffin oil?

Is removed directly through the feces. It can not be absorbed by the body, since the enzymes do not metabolize. That is why it does not add calories. Importantly, high consumption, you can drag them fat-soluble vitamins and also cause diarrhea.

“Sugar or honey, which fattens less?

Sugar provides about 4 calories per gram, and honey 3.26 cal / gram. However, in daily life, these differences are irrelevant, so if both are used to sweeten the difference can reach about 10 calories a day, being negligible for the calories you should consume daily.

These are just some of the questions confronting us daily, and knowing how to distinguish the false from the true, learn to choose healthy.

Does eating quickly and hastily fattening?

NO. Is the consumption of excess calories which results in an increase in body weight. What if it happens, is that people who eat quickly turn usually eat more food.

Does salt fattening?

NO. Salt being a mineral, is heated (no calories). However, its intake can cause fluid retention in people with heart disease, kidney or liver. Fluid retention does not mean fat.

Are vitamin and mineral supplements increase our weight?

NO. None provides calories (energy).

Does drinking fruit after meals fattening?

NO. There is no food or food combination that helps increase or decrease body weight. As mentioned on many occasions, excessive consumption of calories is what causes the weight gain. The fruit provides the same amount of energy, regardless of when it is consumed.

Do laxatives slimming?

NO. The point of action of laxatives is in the large intestine, and absorption of nutrients occurs in the small intestine, which does not contribute to weight reduction, and use it for that purpose, threatening our health.

Is it true that foods do not contribute calories Light?

NO. A food “Light” is one that contains at least 30% fewer calories than conventional food, with which it is compared. Therefore, it does provide energy, but in smaller amounts.

A brief description about each myth or misconception regarding nutrition is concerned, will help us understand the true reasons for the different processes of food and metabolism. Have clear ideas give us some knowledge, which will improve our decisions and therefore quality of life.

At the same time, avoiding misleading advertisements that threaten our health and wellbeing. The correct information on the most common questions and concerns, leads us to know how to choose, knowing how to respond and decide clearly, in situations that allow us access to a healthy lifestyle.

Then try to clarify the following points regarding nutrition and weight gain:

Is it possible that obese absorb more nutrients than thin people?

NO. Nutrient absorption occurs in the same way in both.

Is obesity hereditary?

Inheritance is one of the factors that influence the development of obesity, namely that children of obese parents are at increased risk.

However, other factors such as sedentary lifestyle, inadequate intake and an unhealthy lifestyle, which will lead to this disorder.

An increase in body weight tends to increase blood cholesterol, blood pressure, and in general the risk of adverse effects on heart health. In addition to maintaining body weight in balance, physical activity can help lower blood pressure and increase the health and general welfare.

Things can change to lower cholesterol:

• Maintain a healthy weight (a weight gain tends to increase cholesterol levels)
• Make physical activity (reduce LDL cholesterol)
• Lower stress
• A healthy diet (elimiinar especially saturated fats that raise cholesterol levels)
• Limit alcohol consumption
• Stop smoking

Things we can not change:

• Sex (men tend to have higher cholesterol levels than women until menopause, when men and women are at equal risk)
• The age (cholesterol levels increase with age)

• Our ethnicity (ethnic groups are at higher risk than others)
• Our family history (if the family is affected by cholesterol, then it is likely to be affected by it).

Fact # 5: Reduce cholesterol through Healthy Food sources.

Our food choices can affect cholesterol levels, especially if the diet consists mainly of saturated fat. The butter and milk mixture (made from a mixture of butter and vegetable oils) are high in saturated fat, which is the type of fat that adversely affects cholesterol levels. The limitation of these foods in our diet will help to reduce cholesterol levels in the blood.

A healthier choice in our food consumption and an active lifestyle helps to keep cholesterol within recommended levels.

A healthy meal should include the following:

• Lean meat, poultry, fish, eggs or vegetarian meat alternative such as legumes, beans, lentils or nuts
• Pasta, rice, noodles, potatoes or bread
• Plenty of vegetables and salads

As a general guide, the meal should consist of: half vegetables, a quarter of the plate should be rice, pasta, noodles, potatoes or bread and one quarter of the plate of lean meat or vegetarian meat alternative and salad. Experiment with methods of low-fat cooking and grilling, boiling, steaming or using the microwave.

Following a balanced diet combined with physical activity and healthy habits, we will keep cholesterol at a level recommended.

Basically, cholesterol is a lipid, which is broadly defined as any fat-soluble, naturally occurring molecule, such as fats and oils. Cholesterol originates naturally in the body through the liver, but can be created in small quantities through our diet.

Cholesterol plays an important role in the body as a building block for cell walls and bile acids and is necessary to make hormones and vitamin D. A low level of blood cholesterol is natural and healthy.

Cholesterol only becomes a problem when more cholesterol in the blood than the body needs. Can cause the buildup of fatty deposits in the arteries, reducing blood flow in the arteries and then can become a problem for heart health.

Fact # 2: There are two types of blood cholesterol (good and bad) that are transported in special packages, namely:

Low density lipoprotein (LDL) transports cholesterol from the liver to body tissues. If there is a high level of bad cholesterol (LDL) levels can accumulate in the walls of blood vessels and lead to narrowing.

Your total cholesterol is made up of LDL and HDL. Therefore, the total cholesterol level recommended for heart health should be below 200 milligrams per deciliter (mg / dl).

To help keep our heart healthy and lead a healthy life is important to keep the bad cholesterol (LDL) and lower good cholesterol (HDL) high.

Fact # 3: Eating too much saturated fat makes you raise cholesterol levels, although there are many factors that can cause cholesterol levels exceeded the recommended level, the most common dietary cause is eating too much fat and in particular Too much saturated fat.

High consumption of saturated fats can increase bad cholesterol (LDL) and jeopardize the health of our heart. In general, saturated fats found in fatty meats and dairy products, butter, cheese, chips and other snacks.

We can reduce consumption of saturated fat by eating less food rich in saturated fats such as margarine, fish oil, walnuts and pumpkin seeds.

Studies have shown that this condition affects between 10 and 30 per cent of the adult population, who are more prone to insomnia are women and the elderly, can also occur even in individuals with high socioeconomic status or those with psychiatric illness.

It is not considered when insomnia occurs only for one night. But if insomnia is filed by more than 15 days, it is necessary to go to the doctor to detect the causes.

Some of the causes that can cause insomnia have coffee consumption, smoking, alcohol and drugs. Are considered poor living habits such as stress, very noisy environment, extreme temperatures, schedule changes, among others.

For some people, insomnia can be a very serious disease and may even affect their daily lives, change their mood, they may feel sleepy during the day, this may affect the degree of losing concentration while driving some machinery or car.

10 tips to avoid treating insomnia:

1. Try to set a schedule for sleep, this is that you sleep and get up at the same time, including weekends.

2. Make sure when you go to bed is an optimal environment, that is, not too light in the room as quietly as possible and with a moderate temperature.

3. If you’re someone who constantly consume coffee, alcohol or snuff, try to avoid them little by little.

4. Make an activity that relaxes your body, such as a hot water bath, massage or yoga or meditation, this will help sleep.

5. Playing sports during the day, is also a good option, because your body is tired and this will help you sleep more easily.

6. Continue with your bedtime ritual, such as checking the locks on the doors, turn off the lights in your house, brushing teeth, etc.., This is for your body to associate with bedtime.

7. Another option is to take a glass of warm milk or herbal tea a couple of hours before bedtime.

8. If you already lying down and can not sleep, get up and listen to music or read a book or magazine until you return to sleep.

9. Once in bed, listen to music at low volume. There are special discs for inducing sleep.

10. If your insomnia persists, consult your doctor to determine the origin and whether it is necessary to take treatment.

The most common causes of obesity are overeating first the food and energy, and to a lesser extent: metabolic endocrine disorders (Cushing’s disease, hypothyroidism, etc.)

Certain psychological disorders (Bulimia nervosa), the iatrogenic (related to consumption of certain drugs like steroids, etc.), and in extreme obesity, genetic factors (current research). In all likelihood one of the tasks ahead is to develop preventive level of each country.

These are general recommendations that should be made to the general population from the schools, media, health institutions, etc. They cover a number of indications that must be assumed by the general population (decreased saturated fat intake, increased fiber intake, moderation in intake of sugar, alcohol and salt, etc.) The second approach should be made to individual level, bearing in mind that obesity is a chronic disease and must be treated as such.

For the success of treatment, depending on each case, it may be necessary to have the cooperation of the Family Physician, Dietician, Specialist in Endocrinology, psychologists, etc., But it must be stated unequivocally that the initial treatment of obesity should be run by the family physician and a dietician.

Treatment: It is given according to the type of obesity and its etiology (For example: If hypothyroidism is essential hormonal treatment in addition to the care of the food).

They are as diverse factors that trigger and affect the treatment of obesity is crucial that a multidisciplinary approach in setting the most appropriate treatment: medical (to identify the cause and assess a possible pharmacological treatment or surgery in extreme degrees) diet (reducing calories from the daily diet of obese and erroneous change dietary habits through Nutrition Education), psychological (anxiety control and analysis of eating behavior). It also has to recommend exercise training to help increase caloric expenditure.

Characteristics of low-calorie diet:

• You must be individualized, varied and balanced diet, limiting calorie foods and those that provide empty calories (soft drinks, candy, snacks, etc.).
• You must meet the minimum requirement of energy and nutrients from the person (the diets that are below the 1,200 Kcal, prepared on the basis of common foods are nutritionally incomplete and half-long treatment duration should be invoked to supplement poliminerovitamínicos avoid nutritional deficiency)
• The caloric reduction at the start of treatment in mild obesity should not exceed 30-40% of normal caloric intake of the individual. For example: if a person consumes 3000 kcal / day, the initial pattern will be approx. 1800-2000 kcal / day. There must be a progressive decrease of the calories from the diet, diet acceptable and flexible.

Change in eating habits = false maintaining weight loss long term. It is imperative in this approach in people after the initial weight loss in order to keep the weight off, because a high percentage of people a year recover the lost weight.

This requires close contact with the person, both individual and group, in addition to a team of professionals (family physicians, dietitians, etc.). Specially trained in this type of treatment.

There is a parameter that lets you easily define the existence of obesity, body mass index (BMI):
BMI (kg/m2) = Actual Weight / Height x Height
* Weight in Kg
* Length in meters

Obesity is a carrier of any person with a Body Mass Index (BMI) greater or equal to 30 kg/m2. Body Mass Index (BMI) also serves to classify the different degrees of obesity:
* BMI 30-40 kg/m2, moderate obesity
* BMI> 40 kg/m2, extreme obesity.

In Spain the prevalence of obesity, according to a study led by Javier Aranceta and collaborators in 1995, was 13.4% in men and women aged 25-60 years. What is more worrying is the fact that it is increasing.

Another important aspect from the point of view of morbidity (increased risk of illness) and mortality, is the fact that people with a BMI over 30, have an increased risk of diabetes (excess weight causes a resistance to insulin and may be caused by either a carbohydrate intolerance, but not all obese people are diabetic and vice versa), hypertension (with increasing body mass, the heart must pump more blood, which is an increase in the values of blood pressure)…,

hyperuricemia and gout (the overeating of foods high in protein causes an increase in uric acid synthesis, especially if there is glucose intolerance), gallstones, hyperlipidemia (high blood cholesterol and triglycerides associated with other risk factors and not only to obesity), respiratory (apnea, snoring?), digestive problems, problems walking, hip and knee osteoarthritis (coxarthrosis and gonarthrosis), psychological and social problems (due to patterns of beauty and the general rejection of obesity in society) and cardiovascular disease.

However when considering the cardiovascular risk is not only important consideration in BMI, but also the distribution of body fat. It is shown that the distribution of abdominal fat is a cardiovascular risk marker more sensitive than BMI itself.

A ratio or waist / hip ratio (measured at umbilicus and hip, respectively) higher than 0.95 in men and 0.80 in women, is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and Diabetes Mellitus.