Side Effects of Switching to a Healthy Diet

Adopting a healthy lifestyle is important for your long-term health. Switching to a healthy diet, limiting your caloric intake, adding whole grains and consuming more fruits and vegetables will help you maintain a healthy weight in the long run. While these lifestyle changes are important, you may experience a few side effects while your body is adjusting to your new diet. Consult with your physician before making any changes to your diet or if you are concerned about the symptoms you are experiencing.

Hunger
Reducing your caloric intake may make you feel hungry throughout the day. Avoid hunger by cutting out only 200 to 300 calories per day to start. For example, if you are currently consuming 2300 calories per day, cut back to 2000 calories per day in the initial stage of your diet. Making drastic cuts of more than 300 calories may make it difficult for your body to adjust and may cause you to binge eat. You should also make smart food choices when you eat. Experts at MayoClinic.com recommend consuming foods that take longer for your body to digest. These foods are high in fiber and include whole grains and vegetables. In addition, high-fiber foods are energy dense, meaning they are high in nutrients while supplying minimal calories.

Intestinal Problems
Your body may need time to adjust to the increased fiber in your diet. Adding high-fiber foods too quickly can cause bloating, flatulence, constipation or diarrhea. Consuming beans or legumes may cause additional bloating and gas in your intestines. You can avoid this problem by reintroducing whole-grain foods, fruits and vegetables into your diet in several small portions throughout the day. Add two or three extra grams of fiber each day and see if you feel any digestive distress. Slowly build up your daily intake to 30 to 40 g each day, as you are able to tolerate.

Decreased Energy
Reducing the amount of calories you eat may cause you to feel tired or less energetic in the initial stages, especially if you are increasing your physical activity. Weight loss occurs when your body uses more calories than you consume. The Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide recommends consuming 13 calories per pound of body weight if you are primarily sedentary. For example, if you weigh 150 lbs., you should consume 1950 calories every day. Your caloric needs increase to 16 calories per pound if you are moderately active and 18 calories per pound if you exercise vigorously. Consume enough calories from nutrient-dense foods to avoid feeling tired or fatigued.

Health Risks of Eating Raw Ground Pork

Eating raw meat, including pork, can increase your risk of developing a roundworm infection. Pork, if not cooked thoroughly, carries the risk of infecting you with trichinosis. Cook your pork until the pink is no longer visible to avoid this infection.

Trichinosis
Trichinosis, a food-borne illness, is caused by eating meat that contains trichinella spiralis. This disease -- found in pork, fox, bear, horse and lion meat -- causes roundworm infections worldwide, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information. Once the infected meat is ingested, trichinella cysts break open, allowing roundworms to grow in the intestines. Due to strict USDA guidelines, domestic meat is considered safe, though annually there are approximately 40 cases of trichinosis.

Symptoms
Symptoms of trichinosis are abdominal discomfort, diarrhea, fever, facial swelling, muscle pain, muscle weakness, cramping and pain with breathing. Tests that will be given to diagnose trichinosis include a complete blood count, creatine kinase level test and muscle biopsy.

Treatment
Treatment for trichinosis in the intestines includes administering the medication mebendazole or labendazole. These anti-worm medications kill parasites and treat roundworm infections. These medications -- which often come in chewable tablets -- are used twice per day for three days. The National Center for Biotechnology Information states that the treatment may have to be repeated in two to three weeks. Roundworm cysts in the muscles cannot be treated using this medication and only pain medication may be given to relieve muscle soreness due to the cysts.

Considerations
Only eat fully cooked ground pork. If you have eaten ground pork that is undercooked, raw or contaminated, contact your physician immediately. Smoking, salting or drying pork are not effective ways to get rid of roundworms.

The Benefits of Organic Noni Juice

Overview
Long prized by Polynesians for its medicinal properties, noni juice contains a rich mixture of nutrients, including vitamins, minerals, amino acids and a wide array of healthful phytonutrients. The U.S. market for the juice, derived from the fruit of the Morinda citrafolia tree, has grown exponentially since the late 20th century. The “organic” label on noni juice indicates that the product was grown, processed and transported without the use of any chemical fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides and/or additives.

Combats Fatigue
Ancient Polynesians, who were the first to recognize the health benefits of noni juice, used it to combat fatigue, a finding confirmed by some clinical studies that produced improved quality-of-life scores in the areas of energy level and physical functioning. To further investigate the ergogenic potential of noni juice, a team of Chinese researchers conducted an animal study. Researchers gave older mice the noni juice in varying strengths --10, 20 and 40 milliliters per kilogram of body weight -- and then evaluated their performance in physical endurance tests against a control group of younger mice and older animals that had not received the juice.

In their findings, published in the November 2007 issue of "Phytotherapy Research," researchers reported that older mice that had been given noni juice significantly outperformed older mice in the control group that had not received the juice. The older mice receiving the juice turned in performances that were comparable to those of much younger mice in the control group. Researchers concluded that their findings “confirm the reported use of noni juice to combat fatigue, improve endurance and increase overall physical performance.”

Promotes Cellular Health
First isolated from noni juice by University of Hawaii researcher R.M. Heinicke, prexeronine is an alkaloid precursor to xeronine, a compound that plays a critical role in the maintenance of cell health. Heinicke’s studies led him to conclude that healthy levels of xeronine promoted optimal function of the body’s many proteins. In his preliminary studies, he found that noni’s effects on xeronine production made the juice useful in the treatment of arthritis, atherosclerosis, depression, gastric ulcers, hypertension, menstrual cramps, pain relief and sprains.

Could Fight Cancer
In “Herb-Drug Interactions in Oncology,” authors Barrie R. Cassileth, K. Simon Yeung and Jyothirmai Gubili report that early animal and in-vitro studies indicate that noni juice has antitumor and immunomodulatory properties that might be useful in treating some forms of cancer. In animal studies, polysaccharides from noni juice were combined with suboptimal amounts of certain chemotherapy agents, producing increased survival times and curative effects in test subjects. Although the American Cancer Society acknowledges some promising results from preliminary studies, the organization insists that larger-scale studies must be conducted before making any definitive conclusions.

Nutrition in Noni Juice
A serving size of pure noni juice is 1 tablespoon. That tablespoon delivers 3.5 calories, less than 1 gram of carbohydrate and less than 1 gram of sugar. It also contains a small amount of vitamin C, niacin, folate, calcium, magnesium, potassium, zinc and iron.