In this Max Headroom world that we have entered into snake oils have made a huge comeback. But instead of the traveling salesman in a buggy coming through town, gathering the locals for a sales pitch, selling the tonic and moving on, the pitch is made right in your home on the internet, in your car on the radio and on late night infomercials.

There are claims of age-reversal, hair re-growth, and energy boosters. There are pills that will get rid of your heartburn, but you will have to put up with the nausea, the vomiting the diarrhea and itchy skin, but hey, you won't have heartburn anymore. The sad thing is that folks still fall for this stuff. The sooner we realize that we are going to age and that we get older every day, we probably will lose hair and gravitational pull is inevitable, the sooner we can comfortably and easily live our lives. 

There are steps however that we can take to keep ourselves in top shape, feel more comfortable and have more energy. One is regular exercise in accordance with your doctor's consultation; another is a well balanced diet with more whole grains, nuts & legumes, limit intake of high fat foods & alcoholic beverages and eat at least 5-9 servings of fruit and vegetables every day. 

Fruit and vegetables not only contain vitamins and minerals that are good for us, they also contain phytochemicals. Phyto, Greek for plant. Plant chemicals contain protective, disease-preventing compounds. It is estimated that just one serving of vegetables contains over 100 different phytochemicals. New discoveries are being made every day as to their disease preventative properties, some of which include cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and hypertension. They also help prevent cell damage, prevent cancer cell replication, and decrease cholesterol levels.           

Some phytochemical extract is available in pill form, but there is no magic when it comes to health. If your diet consists regularly of fast foods, junk food and candy there is no pill that will balance it out for you.