Here at Sport and Health we like our fruit, so we thought we would list the different types of fruit you can eat following the alphabet.

Apricots have lots of beta-carotene and also supplies iron.

Blackcurrants have lots of vitamin C and are a vital preservative from cancer and heart disease.

Cranberries are high in vitamin C, iron, potassium and vitamin A.

Dates give lots of energy and are very nourishing, they also help with constipation.

Elderberries help lower cholesterol, improve vision, improve heart health and immue system.

Figs are very nourishing as well, they are rich in fibre, iron, potassium and calcium.

Grapefruits have also a high level of vitamin C and lots of potassium. It also helps if you have circulatory or digestive problems.

Honeydew Melon is stimulating for the kidneys and is also a  mild laxative.

Jujube can help with stress and can act as an anti-inflammatory and also it can help heal wounds.

Kiwi contains lots of vitamin C and vitamin E, it also has lots of potassium.

Lychee is a nice tropical fruit. It also helps naturally increase the energy of the body.

Mango has high iron, so it is the perfect fruit for pregnant women who may suffer from anaemia.

Nectarines are high in vitamin C, vitamin A and Potassium.

Oranges are very high in vitamin C but can also help prevent cancer, constipation, high blood pressure and make your skin look beautiful.

Pineapples help with you have digestive problems. It is also high in anti-oxidants meaning again it is another fruit with lots of vitamin C.

Quince is a great fruit if you want to lose weight and have a healthy body.

Raspberries have lots of calcium, potassium, iron, magnesium and vitamin C. It also helps if you suffer from heart problems, fatigue and depression.

Strawberries can help if you suffer from high blood pressure, and they can also help if you have kidney stones. They are also rich in iron helping with anaemia and fatigue.

Tangerine has lots of vitamin C and has plenty of beta-carotene. It also helps Obesity, Pneumonia, Arthritis and Asthma.

The Ugli helps fight cardio vascular disease and promotes healthy gums. It also has lots of vitamin B and vitamin C.

Watermelon helps reduce dehydration. Also it is packed with lots of antioxidants and has vitamin C and A.

Yellow Lemons are known as the healing fruit. They can help with a variety of things like arthritis, colds, sore throats, rheumatism, urinary tract infections and many more.

Avocado is potassium rich so it can help depression, fatigue and poor digestion. It also has vitamin A, B, C and E.

Beetroot has lots of minerals and vitamins. It has lots of iron so it helps with blood pressure.

By eating one Carrot a day it will supply all your Vitamin A you need in one day. And it also gives you more energy.

Dandelion Leaf helps if you have liver, circulatory, digestive problems. It also contains vitamin A, C, beta-carotene and chlorophyll.

Endive is a great veg if you want to lose weight as it stimulates the appetite. It also is a light laxative.

Fennel can help anaemia, menstrual problems, constipation, indigestion and respiratory disorders.

Garlic is the best healing herb. It helps with cancer, heart problems, infectious diseases and joints. It also is a great antibacterial and can heal wounds.

Horse Radish is great for bronchitis, rheumatism, anemia, flu and other breathing disorders.

Jerusal em Artichoke helps digestive problems, can lower blood pressure, prevent heart disease and also help protect liver from damage.

Kale can l ower cholesterol and can even lower the risk of cancer. It also is a great vegetable for your bodies’ detoxification system.

Leeks are rich in potassium; they also help if you have respiratory problems and are a great cleanser for your body.

Mushroom s can lower cholesterol levels, help prevent breast cancer, prostrate cancer, and diabetes. But they also help weight loss and boost the immune system.

New Potatoes have lots of vitamin C, vitamin B6, potassium, copper, manganese, and have plenty of fibre. Also they help lower blood pressure.

Onions are great if you suffer from anaemia, asthma, bronchitis and ageing. Also they can help prevent cancer and lower blood cholesterol.

Peppers very versatile, they have lots of vitamin C, A, K, iron, potassium and beta-carotene. They help decrease blood cholesterol and boost immunity system.

Radishes are very good for the liver and stomach. They also help with cancer, weight loss and skin disorders.

Spinach helps improve eye sight, reduce blood pressure, strengths muscles, has anti-cancerous properties and is protein rich.

Turnips have lots of potassium, magnesium and are a good source of vitamin B6. They can help prevent from asthma, cancer and skin problems.

Watercress help protect the eyes, it evens cholesterol and blood pressure, it also helps improve memory. It also has lots of vitamins.

Zucchini has lots of vitamin C, can cure asthma, and has antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties.

Check out the other article for the alphabet of Types of Fruit.

Sport and Health recommend eating lentils as they contain protein. And protein is an important food group for your body. They are also iron-rich, and have good amounts of B complex vitamins making it a nutritious and flavourful food to eat.

Types of Lentils Nutrition

There are so many different types of lentils so here are a few for you:

Brown Lentils:

Brown Lentils are the most common type of lentils; they have a mild flavour and can be used for different recipes.

Green Lentils:

These give a delicate flavour, they are a brownish green type of lentil but don’t turn as mushy as the other types of lentils.

Split Red Lentils:

Split Red Lentils tend to turn golden when cooked, they cook really fast so are a favourite for soups.

Yellow Lentils:

This type of lentil gives a mild flavour and in India, they often use the yellow lentils for flour.

How to eat Lentils for nutrition?

You can eat lentils in a variety of ways, this includes, soups, salads, casseroles and stews. There are many different recipes online whether you are a vegetarian or a meat eater.

So why should you eat lentils?

Lentils cook very fast and they need little time to prepare them. They help bulk up your food making it nourishing and hearty but they aren’t very expensive but the best thing is they also give you lasting benefits for your body. Hopefully what you have read will make you interested in lentils.

But we thought we would do some research on what the benefits of drinking water are. This is what they found out:

First we decided to learn about water and the function of it in our human body, the benefits were that it transports nutrients and oxygen into cells, helping the body metabolism, protecting vital organs, moister the air in lungs, regulating body temperature and detoxifying the body.

Also we learnt that muscles consist of 75% water, brain has 90% of water, bone consists of 22% and blood has 83%. We felt these were already great benefits for our body.

But we still wanted to know what the benefits of drinking water were for our health.

Here’s what we found – top 10 benefits of drinking water.

1. Skin looks healthier and younger

By being hydrated your skin looks automatically younger and also by drinking water it replenishes skin tissues, it moisturizes skin and also increases skin elasticity.

2. Lose Weight

By drinking water it flushes down the by-products of fat breakdown. So this reduces hunger, which means you’ll eat less.

3. Can help relieve headaches

Because if you’re not use to drinking water you may suffer from dehydration so by drinking water this can help.

4. Relieves Fatigue

Water flushes out toxins and waste products from the body.

5. Improves Digestion and Constipation

Drinking water raises the metabolism so this aids digestion and by eating fibre and drinking water you will have a daily bowel movement.

6. Better Mood

Your body will feel good and so this will make you feel good.

7. Relieves Tiredness

Drinking water will help flush out waste products and toxins from the body.

8. Benefits the Brain

Drinking water will make your brain work efficiently and so it will help you think clearer.

9. Reduced Cramps and Strains

By being hydrated this will keep muscles and joints lubricated.

10. Vital for Pregnancy

By being pregnant your body will need more water to support the growing body and blood supply. If you also breastfeed you should drink plenty of water because you may get dehydrated.

One last question we wanted to solve was how much water should we drink?

We found out that it was between 7 to 10 averaged sized glasses of water. But it also depends on size and height because everyone is different so it just comes down to thinking about it for your own body.

To start with we are going to talk about the simple easy Team Bonding Activities which can really help create an excellent team feeling mood. The first one is:

Break In/Break Out

With this Team Bonding Activities, you have to form a tight circle so you are standing shoulder to shoulder. Then you pick someone out of the group who will stand on the outside of the group and has to try and Break In the group below the legs. Break Out is the other way, so the person is standing in the middle of the circle and has to get out of the circle. These are excellent Team Bonding Activities which really starts to encourage team bonding.

Human Knot

Get the group to form a circle again and make sure they are shoulder to shoulder. Then instruct the group to grab someone’s hands on the opposite side of the group. Just ensure that the group aren’t holding onto someone next to them. The group then have to try and figure how to untangle the knot. This is a great Team Bonding Activity as it really starts getting people to start talking to each other.

2 Truths, 1 Lie

Get everyone in the group to think of 2 truths and one lie. Then make everyone take it in turns to say theirs whilst the rest have to try and guess which one is the lie.

Blindfold Feel

This Icebreaker is great if the group know each other, the group take it in turns to being blindfolded and try to guess someone by touching the persons’ face.

Head or Catch

Form a circle, someone in the middle throws the ball. Then explain that if you say catch you actually mean head and if you say head you mean catch. Head or Catch and Blindfold Feel are two great Team Bonding Activities to really start getting the group working together.

Hope you have fun with these Icebreakers and Team Bonding Activities and check back again soon to see the next lot of Icebreakers and Team Bonding Activities for you.

You’ve heard about them, but what exactly are homeopathic remedies/homoeopathy? Why would you want to try them, and more important – do they actually work? Let’s talk about what homeopathy means, and why it’s gaining more and more popularity.

What is Homeopathy?

If the term is new to you, it’s a kind of alternative medicine where you take a very diluted form of a preparation that would, in its undiluted state, cause the same problem. That sounds strange, so how about an example?

There is a homeopathic remedy gaining in popularity that is made from snake venom, and it’s used to treat chronic pain…the same kind of pain you might experience if you had a snakebite!  But because the homeopathic remedy is so dilute, it helps to prevent the expression of the pain. In other words, you take the remedy in order to lessen the effects of the chronic pain.

So, homeopathic remedies/homoeopathy are based on the principle that is known as the law of similars. In other words, “like cures like”.

Why Try Homeopathic Remedies/homoeopathy?

Especially if you have a chronic condition, you might not relish taking prescription medications for the long term. For example, perhaps you have a condition, such as arthritis, that you need to take prescription pain medication. While the medication works, you don’t want to get hooked on it.

Here’s where homeopathic remedies come in. They provide a way to either cut down on, or even eliminate, prescription drugs. Using the arthritis example again, after starting a homeopathic regimen you might be able to stop taking your pain medications except on rare days when extra relief is needed.

Does Homoeopathy Work?

The next question is this: do homeopathic remedies/homoeopathy work? There are people who swear the remedies do work, as well as those who insist that it’s only a placebo effect. Where is the truth?

There is no denying that homeopathic remedies do work in many individuals, even if traditional medicine insists the preparation is so dilute that it’s nothing more than water. And yes, it is always possible that the cure is due to a placebo effect in some of these people.

But here’s a question to ask yourself; if homeopathic remedies do relieve your condition, does it matter if it’s the remedy or a placebo? For anyone suffering from a chronic condition, the answer is most likely no!

Western medicine relies on charts and graphs, of being able to use a scientific medicine to alleviate a specific condition. Alternative medicine tends to treat the body as a whole, instead of in parts.

Should you try homeopathic remedies? If traditional medicine has let you down, or if you don’t want to take prescription drugs if you don’t have to, then you should investigate homeopathic remedies.

You’re huffing and puffing, and can’t seem to get enough air. Maybe you’re even in pretty decent shape – so why can’t you seem to get all the oxygen that you should? Assuming you are in otherwise good health, the problem may not be with your lungs so much as your respiratory muscles.

How You Breathe

If you ask most people to breathe deeply, they try to fill their lungs with air using their chest muscles. The problem is that if you want to really breathe deeply, you need to use a different set of muscles. As a result, you may be breathing far shallower than you should, in order to get oxygen in your lungs and then your bloodstream.

If you’ve ever been a singer, stage actor or have played a wind instrument, then you know that deep breaths come from your diaphragm muscles. By using them to move the air in and out of your lungs, you’re helping to get the most oxygen into your lungs, and carbon dioxide out.

What is Powerbreathe?

Powerbreathe is relatively new on the market, and was originally aimed at athletes. While people involved in sports tend to be the most frequent users, Powerbreathe is finding more and more enthusiasm among everyday people. Here’s an example; you’re in OK shape, but when you climb a couple flights of stairs, you get a little short of breath. You’ve just had a physical exam, so you know you don’t have any lung problems. You just aren’t able to get all the oxygen you need, due to your breathing habits.

Here’s where Powerbreathe comes into play.  It’s a small, hand-held device that re-trains your breathing muscles so that they become stronger and more efficient. As your muscle strength improves, you get more oxygen into your body, both at rest and while moving.

Who Can Use Powerbreathe?

I mentioned earlier that Powerbreathe has become more mainstream, with everyday people using it. Can someone who has impaired lung function use it – for example, if you have chronic bronchitis? While the ultimate answer to that question lies with your doctor, in general, anyone who wants to breathe better can use it.

By re-training your respiratory muscles to be more efficient, you increase your lung capacity. In fact, Powerbreathe is also excellent for public speakers, singers and anyone who needs to be able to control their breaths.

It doesn’t take long to use, either; approximately 30 breaths twice a day is enough to increase your lung function, and the amount of oxygen you take in.

If you want to be able to work, eat, sleep and play better, then try breathing better with Powerbreathe.

You may have heard about bentonite clay in passing, but never really stopped to think about it. However, you aren’t feeling as well as you should, have started some research and wonder if maybe you have too many toxins in your body. If this sounds familiar, then it’s time to discuss a toxic body and the role bentonite clay can play to help remove toxins from it.

Bentonite Clay 101

You’re probably familiar with clay, and you know that it’s made from very fine particles of rock or soil. If you’ve ever driven or walked through clay, you know how slippery it can be.  And if you’ve ever let clay dry on something (like shoes or a car) you know how hard it can be to get off!

Bentonite clay is a special kind, and it’s primarily formed from weathered volcanic ash. It can include many different minerals and elements in its makeup. While it has other purposes, in the last dozen or so years it’s come to the forefront for use on and inside your body.

Toxins and Your Body

Unless you live in a bubble, you face a multitude of toxins every day. From the air you breathe to the water you drink and food you eat, you take them in every day. Your body is pretty good at removing a lot of toxins; after all, that’s what your kidneys, liver, colon and sweat glands do.

In an ideal world, your body would pretty much remove all these toxic materials from your body on a daily basis. However, in today’s world, we’re bombarded with substances that just aren’t good for your body. Your organs work overtime to try and get rid of the noxious substances, but eventually it becomes a losing battle. There’s too much of a “backlog” of toxins to remove, so it builds up.

Bentonite Clay and Toxins

Here’s where bentonite clay comes into the picture. It has a unique property that lets it absorb toxins from your body. One example is with your skin; there are face masks made with bentonite clay that you rub on and let dry. The bentonite clay absorbs oils, waters and toxins that are on the surface of your skin and into your pores. Once cleaned out, your pores and skin can get back on the job (so to speak) to once more removing toxins efficiently.

Your colon is another example of bentonite clay absorbing these unwanted materials. By taking bentonite clay internally, it grabs onto the toxins until it is eliminated safely from the body (usually with the help of something like psyllium). Since bentonite clay can’t be absorbed by your body, it acts like a capsule around the toxins, escorting them safely out of your colon.

The world unfortunately isn’t getting any cleaner, and your body is paying the price. By using bentonite clay to help remove toxins, you help your body function the way it was meant to.

Sphereing which is also known as Zorbing is, being placed inside a big plastic ball that rolls down a hill. You can be harnessed in a zorb or non-harnessed.

History

The first site which was available for Sphereing was in Rotorua, New Zealand. Sphereing started around the 1980s and since has been slowly becoming a very popular extreme activity to do.

The zorb which is the name of the ball used, is double skinned which means one ball is inside the other and air is between the layer. This acts as a shock absorber for the person while inside the ball.

Types of Sphereing

The two most popular types of Sphereing are:

Harnessed Sphereing

In this one you can get up to speeds of 30mph, it gives you a great thrill if with you like doing extreme activities. You are strapped in, on your shoulders, hips and feet and just roll down on a hill, this may give you a stomach-churning thrill. The experience can last up to 15 seconds though it depends on the course type and how long the hill is.

Aqua Sphereing

With this type of Sphereing there are no straps required, so you just move freely along in the zorb. In this zorb there can be upto 30 litres of water so you will be nice and wet. (Tip make sure you bring spare clothes!!) In the zorb itself you will be sliding about in the zorb so it can make you feel like a washing machine. Aqua Sphereing sounds more extreme but actually it is less intense than the Harnessed Sphereing.

There are also two other types of Sphereing which are:

Air Sphereing

This is just like the other types of Sphereing but it includes flying this time. You fly in the zorb in a vertical wind tunnel which is only available in one location in Britain, which is in Milton Keynes. It is a great activity which gives you a thrill of emotions.

Eclipse Sphereing

If you thought Harness Sphereing was scary already you should take a look at this activity. Eclipse Sphereing is being strapped into the zorb again so like harness Sphereing but you are now in total darkness which can be really scary. The zorb this time are opaque so it is blacked out inside!

Overall sphereing is a great extreme activity to do whether you go individually, have a group of friends or as a great family day out.

History

Zumba classes first started in the 1990s by a man called Beto who is an instructor and a choreographer who created routines for Shakira. Then in 1999 he started specifically doing a class for women. The class became more and more popular so Beto created a company called Zumba Fitness, he was joined by Alberto Perlman and Alberto Aghion.

The music plays the most important part in the workout as it creates beats and tempo changes, so it is key that the transition from one workout to another is smooth. Zumba works on every muscle group in the body which creates a whole body workout. Zumba also uses different dance styles sych as:

• Cha-cha-cha
• Belly dancing
• Samba
• Salsa
• Hip-hop
• Tango

Classes

• Zumba – This class includes basic rhythms set to high energy music while having heaps of fun.
• Zumba Gold – This class is for older adults.
• Zumba Toning – This class uses many different toning exercises and incoperates the Zumba Toning Sticks.
• Aqua Zumba – This is known as the Qua Pool Party. It’s a great fun session, which includes strengthening, splashing and just have heaps of fun whilst doing exercise.
• Zumbatomic – This class is designed for girls and boys aged 4–12. It uses different urban dance styles like hip hop and reggaeton. It is a great fun session for children to do.

Zumba is a great fun exercise and instead of feeling like you have to exercise, Zumba gives you the feeling and smile of you wanting to do it.