There is never any absolute certainty about what the nutritional requirements are for the human body of a certain age, size and gender. Scientific research on the subject takes a long time, and results are often not that clear. But, at least scientific research into the subject of vitamins, minerals and other nutritional requirements is being undertaken seriously, and taken seriously by governments.

That was not always so; at least, if it was, it never reached through to the medical profession at the sharp end. I took an interest in diet and health in the late 1970s and 1980’s and have had a personal interest since. My reason then was firstly because of my own severe, and crippling, arthritic problem, and in the later 1980’s because of my son’s food allergies, or intolerances.
Doctors in that era generally dismissed any link between health and diet as nonsense, and were even more dismissive of such things as allergy as a cause of any behavioural changes in a child.

The difficulties we had then caused me to do a lot of reading on the subject of diet and health, and nutritional requirements. I started taking a multi vitamin and mineral supplement at a time when doctors were very dismissive, and I have done so ever since. At least, in public they were dismissive; but I wonder how many were taking such supplements themselves? They must have known the evidence was mounting up even then.

These days, though, doctors are a bit more aware of the links

Countries all across the world celebrate the winter solstice holiday season in their own unique ways. Some such as Christmas and Hanukah are religious celebrations, while others are non-religious celebrations of nature, people and the coming spring solstice. The reasoning behind the various holiday celebrations can sometimes differ greatly, but there are a surprising number of commonalities among the celebratory traditions. Over the thousands of years that man has celebrated the season, each group influenced others with their traditions.

Today each country and faith celebrates the holiday in their own unique ways, but more often than not you can detect common themes shared between countries. In this article we will take a closer look at how Christmas is celebrated in Germany, during which you will see that their traditions are not unlike those shared by England and America.

The youth in many countries celebrate a beloved mystical figure such as Santa Claus and Germany is no different; the German equivalent of America’s Santa and England’s Father Christmas is none other than the kindly Kris Kringle. Unlike Santa, Kris Kringle is not responsible for passing out gifts to excited children - that duty is reserved by another holiday figure: Christkind.

In Germany children will write letters to Christkind (translated as the Christ Child), much like American children send letters to Santa in the North Pole. The German children place their letters into an envelope heavily adorned with glue and sugar. These envelopes are placed on windowsills where they can glitter in the gentle light

Constipation is a problem that affects many Americans every day. Constipation is mainly due to poor eating habits, insufficient exercise, not getting enough fiber and not drinking enough water. Constipation is quite uncomfortable and most everyone knows when they have it. Common symptoms include:

Straining to have a bowel movement

Hard stools - pellet like stools

Not having a bowel movement every day

Not totally emptying your bowels each time you have a movement

If you eat right and adopt a healthy lifestyle, you need not every suffer from constipation, but what can you do in the meantime?

One way to help get things moving is to increase your intake of potassium through eating foods it naturally occurs in. You remember your grandmother telling you to eat prunes to relieve constipation, right? Well that is because prunes are high in potassium!

Potassium works wonders on the walls of the colon and helps to stimulate peristaltic action which makes your bowels move. It also helps to clean out layers of mucus and dried fecal matter that have built up along the colon walls.

Other foods that contain potassium include: tomatoes, broccoli, cucumbers, kale, sesame seeds, wheat germ, brewers yeast, pineapple and cauliflower.

Another natural remedy for constipation is Aloe. This herb that works so good on your outsides can also help your insides too! Aloe and its cousins buckthorn, frangula and senna have natural laxative chemicals and can be very powerful constipation cures It is recommended you take any of these herbs with caution and not for extended periods of