When you’re healthy, you need a little salt in your diet to remain balanced. However, much of our food supply is overloaded with salt and many of us are consuming way more than we even realize. Here are a few tips from guest blogger, Chris Bekermeier, to help you control your salt intake.

If you are up-to-date about “salt facts,” you’ve probably read too much salt causes hypertension, or high blood pressure, which may lead to a host of other problems like heart disease and stroke. Did you also know that salt is prevalent in our diets, even if we don’t pick up the saltshaker? Approximately 75% of our daily salt intake is already in the everyday foods we eat such as ready-meals, cereals, breads and soups.

Many people forget, whether eating out or at home, that adding salt to their food is unnecessary and also unhealthy. Tasting food to see if salt is needed is the best solution. Many people add salt through habit, but frequently find it is not necessary because their food tastes fine without it.

Research published in the British Medical Journal reveals that if Americans made minute reductions in their salt intake, the result would be over 100,000 fewer cases of heart disease, over 60,000 fewer strokes, and more than 90,000 fewer heart attacks yearly.

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans created by the federal government suggest that individuals limit their sodium intake to 2,300 milligrams per day, or 1,500 milligrams if they are over age 50, are African-American or have high blood pressure, chronic kidney disease or diabetes. Even though necessary in small quantities, salt increases blood volume, stresses the heart and raises the pressure in the arteries.

5 Tips to Take Salt Out of Your Diet

1. Cook from scratch.

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Today’s guest blogger, Grace, is an expert in cleaning. Check to see if you’re making these common household cleaning mistakes! 

Cleaning our home is a task we all have to do on a daily and weekly basis, but unfortunately we usually have time for it only on the weekend. If you add to that the annual spring cleaning, the monthly chores, the usual pre-festive season cleaning and for renovations, it could easily seem that all we do is clean and tidy up. Yet our homes still look dirty, messy and cluttered, the air quality is bad, there are nasty stains on the furniture and the upholstery and some dusting and mopping are never enough.

Keeping a house clean is a constant job, not just something we do on the weekend. Preventing spills and stains, keeping the home clean and tidy – these tasks are the responsibility of each member of the family. The so called domestic or residential cleaning has some basic rules which can help you manage quicker and easier. If you’ve got your own system, just keep in mind that the most important tasks are sanitation and decluttering.

There are some common domestic cleaning mistakes which people make and prevent them from having a more effective cleanup on a regular basis. Here are the 6 most common ones and what you can do to avoid them:

Mistake 1:

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Food can’t be poison unless it’s gone bad, right? Not necessarily. This article by guest blogger, Jaime A. Heidel, isn’t about food poisoning from eating bad sushi; this article aims to shine some light on the poisoned food being sold to you everyday.

This is how the dictionary defines the word poison:

“A substance that, when introduced into or absorbed by a living organism, causes death or injury.”

There are many foods out there being sold as health food or diet food that are really anything but. Even some of the vegetables you’re eating and serving your family can do serious damage to your health. It’s poison but it’s a slower form of poison, which is why so many people, when they finally succumb to its effects, don’t make the connection.

Autoimmune disease, diabetes, chronic pain conditions and even cancer can all be traced back to one common source: Poisoned food.

Top 10 Poison Foods You Eat Everyday

1. Pasta

This American dinner staple is responsible for half a dozen illnesses and disease. This is because 1 in every 133 people is intolerant to the protein found in wheat, barley and rye. This protein is called gluten. Symptoms of gluten intolerance include chronic abdominal cramping, diarrhea, flatulence, muscle aches, brain fog, learning disabilities and mood swings.

Even in those who are not intolerant to gluten, pasta is still essentially a poison food. This is because it is made from refined flour and has virtually no nutritional value. This flour causes blood sugar spikes, chronic immune inflammatory response, and a condition called leaky gut syndrome due to the lectins pasta contains.

If you want to indulge in a healthier pasta dish, switch to gluten free brown rice pasta instead. [click to continue…]

Do you snore or do you sleep with or near someone who does? It`s not only annoying but can be or become a health issue. Let`s hear about a few natural cures for snoring from guest blogger, Jimmy Keillor. 

It used to be that snoring was simply a nasty surprise that you stumbled upon after spending your first couple of nights with your newlywed, or it was the dull noise that came down the hall from the guest room at night every time your grandfather came to visit. Unfortunately, snoring is turning out to be more than just an annoyance, but an indicator of possible health problems as well.

If you’re looking to curb your snoring and improve your health, here are five all-natural remedies for you to try:

Yoga

Yoga is a great place to start for people that are looking to quit snoring without using pills or awkward devices. The reason that yoga can help snorers mute themselves at night is because it teaches controlled breathing. Another reason that yoga is a good idea is that it can help those that are overweight to shed a couple of pounds, which can actually reduce snoring if extra neck weight is pushing down on the soft tissue in the throat during sleep.

Hydration

It sounds simple, but a little bit of water can go a long way when looking for a cure for snoring. Dry nasal passageways contribute to snoring, and dehydration contributes to dry nasal passageways. If you are already hydrated well, you might try taking a hot shower before you sleep or even try using a Neti pot.

Tea

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