วันอาทิตย์ที่ 30 พฤศจิกายน พ.ศ. 2551

The Natural Approach for Healing Acid Reflux Disease

The medical community believes that the use of prescription drugs is the only valid approach to relieve the symptoms of indigestion. This, of course, is not the truth. Drugs are only good for treating the symptoms of any condition, not for curing that condition. The side effects of prescription drugs, alone, are enough to discount their use entirely.

There are many natural remedies for treating the symptoms of acid reflux. The major difference is that natural remedies have no side effects and can actually cure the condition. They are also cheaper for the consumer.

Why is the medical community so opposed to natural therapy in favor of prescription drugs? The answer is quite easy when you consider the amount of money at stake. Allopathic medicine, pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and insurance companies are all in league to do one thing ? make money. They do this largely at our expense.

There are many natural ingredients found in grocery and health stores, which can help during the acid reflux recovery period. Herbs, such as marshmallow and slippery elm have wonderful healing properties. Licorice, natural honey and aloe vera juice can sooth the esophagus and assist in the healing process.

Chewing gum between meals actually reduces stomach acid. Saliva is quite alkaline in nature. Chewing produces saliva, thereby making the stomach less acidic. By eating dinner at least three hours before retiring, one can drastically reduce the chances of suffering from acid reflux during the night.

Eating smaller, more frequent meals is also quite helpful. One should try to eat four or five little meals each day. Instead of coffee in the morning, start the day with Kukicha Twig tea, and then eat fruit, such as bananas and melons for breakfast. During the day have several snacks of walnuts, almonds and more fruit. For lunch eat a salad, made with grilled chicken breasts, or tofu, mixed with hearts of romaine, tossed with a light lemon and chive vinaigrette.

It is es! sential to keep the food that you eat as alkaline as possible. Learn to cook meals that are easy to digest and have low acidity. Food like pasta primavera, baked chicken breasts on mushroom caps and saut?ed white fish with mashed potatoes are all easy to prepare and delicious. Try to avoid those foods which you know trigger acid reflux until you have healed your irritated esophagus.

Keep in mind that the reason this condition exists in the first place is due to having a damaged esophagus. Let the esophagus heal by not eating the same foods in the same way that caused the damage. Exercising, loosing weight, chewing properly, drinking sufficient amounts of water and elevating the head at night, are all simple things that anyone can do to improve this condition.

After much experimentation, I found that healing acid reflux is really quite simple. With a few changes in lifestyle and with the assistance of natural resources, one can absolutely end the acid reflux syndrome, without the use of harmful drugs.

For more information on how to heal acid reflux the natural way, go to: http://www.refluxgoneforever.com

? 2006 Wind Publishing

Mr. Richey is a self-educated expert on how to cure acid reflux disease, by natural means and has written an extensive report entitled, REFLUX GONE FOREVER, Natural Acid Reflux Remedies.

For more information on how to heal acid reflux the natural way, go to: http://www.refluxgoneforever.com

? 2006 Wind Publishing

Heart Rate Monitor Six Secrets Promoting Peak Performance

A heart rate monitor is an indispensable performance partner, and aerobic ally. The device puts an end to exercise guessing games, by zoning in on exercise intensity, tracking cardio capacity, and keeping tabs on the general efficiency of your efforts. The data generated by a heart rate monitor acts as a reliable compass to enable you to reach your fitness goals.

Heart Rate Monitor Secret One - Fitness Feedback

Establishing your cardiovascular fitness level, based on factors such as age, weight, activity, and heart rate, is sensible before you start an exercise program. A quality heart rate monitor should include this feature. An additional benefit is that it provides you with a fitness baseline, for gauging improvement over time. It will also give you an idea of how fit you are, compared to the other magnificently muscled specimens of your age out there...

Heart Rate Monitor Secret Two - Measuring Motivation

The digits on a heart rate monitor have an astounding ability to activate your motivation button! This is especially true if you train on your own. A well-chosen device will detail exactly what is expected of you, and what you have to do to get there. The data the monitor constantly spews out keeps you on track to reach your exercise goals. A positive progress report from the heart rate monitor pushes you to improve your performance during each workout.

Heart Rate Monitor Secret Three - Pinpoints Perfect Pace

Pace depends on a wide variety of physical and external factors, such as your route, the weather, a new routine, or a rocky personal patch. Every fitness buff knows how easily the body can manipulate you into believing that you are really stretching yourself, while your true performance may be discouragingly dismal... With the feedback offered by a heart rate monitor, subjective judgements are balanced by objective fact. Time and again, this innocent-looking little device will motivate you to wearily trudge back to your targeted range.

Heart Rate Mo! nitor Se cret Four - Exercise Efficiency

If you have just been converted to the fitness fraternity, you may still believe in the old adage of 'no pain, no gain'. Your aim should rather be a gentler, sustained effort at your targeted heart rate, for a period of about 30 minutes. This is where the value of your heart rate monitor lies. By enabling you to stay on target, at the most beneficial exertion rate, the results of your super-efficient workout efforts will be noticeable within a short period.

Heart Rate Monitor Secret Five - Calorie Crunching Companion

Weight management, or weight loss, often features in fitness planning. A heart rate monitor with the capacity to support you in your efforts, can guide you toward your goal weight, and helps to keep you there. Some ranges, such as Polar, even have dedicated weight management monitors.

Using a heart rate monitor as part of a weight loss program, can include keeping track of calorie intake, as well as monitoring any form of activity during the day. In addition, your target heart rate range can be calculated automatically, to enable you to lose weight, and to use your exercise time as efficiently as possible. Once you reach your goal weight, your heart rate monitor can be used to come up with a new, personalized program for weight maintenance.

Heart Rate Monitor Secret Six - Mentor Mentality

The beauty of a heart rate monitor is that it acts as a mentor, with your best interest at heart, so to speak. Once your target heart rate for a productive training session has been established, your practicing partner watches you like a hawk. If you are a bit slack, and don't maintain the perfect pace to remain on target, your heart rate monitor gives you a stern wake-up call!

If you are a procrastinator, make sure you get a heart rate monitor that doesn't give you the opportunity to postpone your workouts. There is magic in a monitor mentor that tells you exactly when to gear up, what to do, and then doesn't let you off the hook for! the dur ation of the session...

If you have any health concerns, it is a good idea to check in with a health practitioner before you start a training program. To help you to find a balance between injury causing over-training, and ineffective under-training, a heart rate monitor is a good investment.

Best-Gym-Equipment.com - Also read the Winsor Pilates article at Best-Gym-Equipment.com - Copyright Rika Susan of Article-Alert.com. Please reprint with links intact.

Warning: Taking Bextra May Harm Your Health

Another Vioxx-like occurrence may be on the rise, as warnings about Pfizer's arthritis pain drug, Bextra, continue to mount.

According to a study of more than 1,500 patients who had previously undergone cardiac surgery, those who were treated for pain with Bextra were more likely to have heart and blood clotting problems than those who received no drug at all.

Associated problems included:

* Stroke

* Heart attack

* Blood clots in the lung

* Deep vein blood clots in the leg

Regardless of the fact that taking Bextra presents such serious health risks, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) still believes the benefits of the drug outweigh the risks when used by the right patients. In light of these health concerns, however, the FDA approved a new label for the drug, which warns that those who recently had heart surgery (or who are allergic to sulfa products) should not take the drug. The revised label also strengthens the warning of the likelihood of severe skin reactions -- two of which may result in death.

Bextra is a cox-2 inhibitor, which is a class of painkillers that are popularly used due to their efficiency in treating arthritis pain and other ailments. Vioxx is also a cox-2 inhibitor and was pulled from the market due to the cardiovascular risks linked to taking the drug.

Considering the health risks involved with cox-2 inhibitors, the FDA will be holding a public advisory meeting to discuss the safety concerns of these and other related drugs.

USA Today December 9, 2004

Dr. Mercola's Comment:

I have previously posted an article warning that Bextra's risks are even higher than Vioxx's. And, as this article stated, the FDA is now modifying Bextra's label to state that taking the drug after having cardiac surgery could increase one's likelihood of heart and blood clotting problems.

Folks, I saw this one coming years ago: In 2001 I warned my readers of the adverse effects from taking Bextra. This drug is just another cox-! 2 inhibi tor disaster waiting to happen. Pain-killing drugs -- meant to relieve symptoms but never the true condition -- are rarely necessary.

Why take the risk of serious side effects from anti-inflammatories when you can create your OWN anti-inflammatory, merely by changing the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fats in your diet?

These two types of fatty acids are BOTH essential for human health. However, the typical American consumes far too many omega-6 fats and not enough omega-3 fats to be healthy.

While the ideal ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fats should be 1:1, most people's intake ratio averages from 20:1 to 50:1! This unbalanced intake could lead to several health problems, whereas proper consumption of omega-3 can help prevent disease or improve many chronic conditions such as:

* Breast cancer

* Diabetes

* Heart disease

* Ulcerative colitis

* Arthritis

* Childhood asthma

* Depression

* Hyperactivity

The easiest way to balance your ratio is to consume more omega-3 fats from good sources and to reduce your intake of omega-6 fats. The primary sources of omega-6 are corn, soy, and canola, safflower and sunflower oils; these foods are overabundant in the typical American diet, which explains our excess omega-6 levels. You want to avoid or limit these oils in order to be optimally healthy.

On the other hand, the best omega-3 fats are those found in fish. That's because the omega-3 in fish is high in two fatty acids crucial to human health: DHA and EPA. Unfortunately, eating most fresh fish -- whether from the ocean, lakes and streams or farm-raised -- is no longer recommended.

This is because (if you are an avid reader of the newsletter then you already know) mercury levels in almost all fish around the world have now hit dangerously high levels, and the risks of mercury now heavily outweigh the benefits gained from fish-derived omega-3 fats.

Fortunately there are clean sources of fish oil you can access without having to worry! about m ercury levels and added toxins, Vital Choice Alaskan Wild Red Salmon comes from the relatively pristine waters of Alaska that have virtually no mercury pollution

Not only is this salmon mercury-free, but it is also loaded with omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA, is high in antioxidants to help you live longer and tastes absolutely delicious!

You can also achieve omega-3 benefits by taking fish oil and cod liver oil, as this is a clean, safe and pure alternative to fresh fish. I have researched brands and types of fish oil and cod liver oil extensively and can say with absolute confidence that I recommend Carlson's brand fish oil and cod liver oil. Carlson's fish oils are rigorously tested for potency and purity and is a healthy addition to most any diet.

Dr. Joseph Mercola
Author of Total Health Program
Founder of the renowned Optimal Wellness Center
http://www.Mercola.com - The #1 Natural Health Site on the Internet!

วันเสาร์ที่ 29 พฤศจิกายน พ.ศ. 2551

Type 2 Diabetes 3 Steps to Reduce Your Risk or Improve Health Prospects Post Diagnosis

You may have heard about type 2 Diabetes. This disease has become increasingly common over the last 20 years, with the numbers of sufferers growing steadily. It is the seventh biggest cause of death in the US. Type 2 Diabetes used to be called Late or Mature Onset Diabetes as it usually occurred in older individuals. Unfortunately due to changes in our diet and activity levels, increasing amounts of people are affected by this disease at younger ages. Now even children and teenagers are affected; a previously almost unknown phenomena.

So who is at risk of developing this disease? It is thought that we develop this disease when a number of risk factors are brought together. Type 2 Diabetes risk factors range from things which you cannot control;

?Age; this condition becomes increasingly common after age 40. ?Gender; women have almost twice the risk of men. ?Heredity; people with a family history are at higher risk. ?Heritage; people of non-Caucasian descent are at higher risk.

To things which you can control;

?Weight; being overweight increases your risk: if you are obese you have an 80% chance of developing this disease. ?Diet; eating large amounts of saturated fat, or a high sugar diet increases your risk. ?Exercise; inactivity is one of the main risk factors.

Type 2 Diabetes affects the way that our body controls blood sugar levels. The body needs blood sugar levels to stay within a narrow range; too little or too much will cause problems. When we eat food, carbohydrates are broken down into their simplest form (glucose) and absorbed into the blood stream. As blood sugar levels rise after eating, the body needs to keep them level, and secretes a hormone called insulin which removes the sugar (glucose) from the blood, and stores it in the muscles and liver. If these stores are already full, then the sugar will be stored as fat.

Overeating, frequent snacking, drinking sugary drinks and eating simple carbohydrates (sugar, honey, white bread etc) keeps blo! od sugar levels permanently elevated, causing insulin to be endlessly secreted. The human body is designed for a low-sugar diet, and this overuse insulin may cause the body to stop producing it, or for the insulin to stop working. When this happens, blood sugar levels remain high, but the sugar cannot find its way to where it can be stored, or to where it is needed. This causes symptoms of hunger, cravings, dehydration, thirst, and frequent urination (as the body tries to excrete the sugars). Other symptoms include recurrent thrush and skin infections. Often people are unaware that they have developed this condition until they have a health check, or develop a related health problem. It is thought that up to a million people remain undiagnosed in the UK.

Untreated, this condition has serious health implications; high blood pressure, stroke, circulatory problems, a huge risk of heart disease, amputation, nerve damage, loss of feeling in the limbs, problems with feet, kidney disease, eye problems, blindness, and hypoglycaemia; low blood sugar levels leading to headaches, loss of concentration, drowsiness, and (rarely with type 2) unconsciousness.

If you are concerned that you may be at risk, you can easily arrange to have your blood sugar levels checked by your GP. Type 2 diabetes, once diagnosed, can be successfully treated and controlled through lifestyle changes, and often without recourse to drugs. (If controlled Type 2 is rarely treated with insulin injections; this is the treatment for Insulin Dependant Diabetes, a severe condition which usually occurs in youth and must be treated with insulin).

Everyone can take 3 positive steps to reduce risk. If you have already been diagnosed, the same 3 steps will help manage the disease, and reduce the risk of developing further complications;

1.Maintain a healthy weight, or lose weight if you are currently overweight; using a combination of steps 2 and 3. Much is said about the link between obesity and Type 2 (80% of type 2 Diabetic! s are ob ese), and many of us think of obesity as being extremely overweight. However, obesity (from the Latin Obesus meaning fat, plump or stout) only means having a Body Mass Index (BMI) of more than 30, which may not be as big as you think. It is better to think that if you are overweight, your risk is larger than if you are a healthy weight. To find your own BMI click www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/interactiveTools/bmi.aspx

2.Eat small regular meals which are rich in unrefined whole grains (brown rice, wholemeal bread and pasta, oats, barley etc), fresh fruit and vegetables, and low in sugar, salt, refined processed foods, and saturated fats. This will keep your blood sugar levels balanced, prevent cravings for sweet foods, and keep blood pressure and circulation healthy.

3.Stay active every day, walking, gardening, or exercising for at least 60 minutes each day (this can be broken up into smaller sections). This activity need not be formal exercise, or extremely strenuous; just keep moving. Exercise will reduce high blood sugar levels, but this lasts only for several hours, so the exercise must be regular to maintain the beneficial effects.

Once diagnosed, a healthy diet and regular activity become essential to maintain health and avoid further complications. Type 2 diabetics have a greatly increased risk of developing coronary Heart disease (CHD), with half of male sufferers and a third of female sufferers dying of CHD. However, sufferers who improve their fitness and stay active are at a lesser risk of succumbing to CHD than a non-sufferer who is unfit. Type 2 Diabetics are also at risk of developing other circulatory problems, hypertension (high blood pressure) and high LDL (bad) cholesterol levels, stroke, and vision problems. The same three steps mentioned above will also help to reduce risk of developing these health problems.

The message is clear; you can lower your risk, or improve your health post-diagnosis through maintaining a healthy weight, eating a balanced diet and st! aying ac tive every day.

Type 2 diabetics should always consult their GP before starting a new exercise and diet regime, and exercise should be avoided; ?In excessive heat. ?If blood pressure is raised. ?With very high or very low blood glucose levels (self-testing is recommended). ?If there are any related eye, foot, kidney or kidney problems, or loss of feeling in the hands and feet.

Make sure that you act today to reduce your risk of developing this disease. If you have already developed it, take action to improve your health, and avoid further problems.

Vikki Scovell BA(hons) PG DIP is a fully qualified Personal Trainer and Fitness Coach. She is a qualified Nutrition Adviser and runs successful Community Exercise classes. Vikki is a consultant in Healthy Eating and Exercise initiatives to schools in the independent sector and publishes School and General Healthy Living newsletters. To receive a free weekly newsletter email getfitter@yahoo.co.uk or visit http://www.getfitter.net

Oat Bran Can Help Prevent High Cholesterol

The natural antioxidants in Oat Bran can significantly reduce blood cholesterol levels by suppressing the adhesive molecules which make blood cells stick to artery walls, researchers reported.

When blood cells stick to artery walls and cause inflammation, plaque deposits build up and narrow the passageways through which blood flows. But the Oat Bran antioxidants (known as avenanthramides) can suppress this plaque, and in turn they reduce the gradual constriction of vessels that leads to hardening of the arteries.

The study was conducted by nutritionist Mohsen Meydani and fellow scientists at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (HNRCA) at Tufts University in Boston. The research was funded by the Agricultural Research Service, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Meydani found that the ability of blood cells to stick to arterial wall cells was significantly reduced.

?Adding Oat Bran products as part of an overall healthy diet and cutting down on high-fat, high-cholesterol foods are important to gaining these benefits,? said Meydani. His team filed a patent on the function of avenanthramides present in Oat Bran, based on their anti-inflammatory and antiatherogenic effects. The study was reported in the June issue of USDA?s Agricultural Research magazine.

Robert Nelson is a Nutrition Staff Writer for Super Vitamin Power, Distributors of the Vitamin Power line of nutritional products. All of the products needed for optimal health can be found at: http://www.supervitaminpower.com

Cholesterol...What Is It?

We are being made more aware each and everyday of the possible problems that can be caused by cholesterol, it seems that cholesterol is a medical symptom of our modern day way of life.

But what is cholesterol and how can it affect our general state of health.

Well in fact cholesterol is a natural function of the human body and every one of us requires a certain amount of cholesterol to maintain a healthy state of being, the problem only begins when our bodies produce an imbalance.

The problem originates from our bodies requirement for a certain amount of fat intake, some for immediate use and some to be stored for use later on, and this fat intake requires a delivery system to the rest of the body as a whole.

From the initial intake of fat the body starts its processing procedure by absorbing it into the intestines and from thereon into the liver. While in the liver the fat is split into two different types, one being triglycerides and the other cholesterol.

After this transformation has taken place the triglycerides and cholesterol are packed into vehicles for moving them onwards into the fat cells throughout the body using the bloodstream. These vehicles are called lipoproteins.

There are three types of lipoproteins:

1.Very Low Density Lipoproteins (VLDL)
2.Low Density Lipoproteins (LDL)
3.High Density Lipoproteins (HDL)

Under normal circumstances, our bloodstream does a very efficient job of carrying the LDL and HDL Lipoproteins throughout the body. Cholesterol is a waxy; fat like substance that presents itself naturally in the cell walls and membranes everywhere in our bodies. Cholesterol is used by our bodies to produce many hormones and also uses it to produce vitamin D and the bile acids that help to digest fat.

Where problems can arise is when there is an over abundance of cholesterol in our bloodstream. The cholesterol which is deposited by the LDL can lead to a narrowing of the blood vessels. If this occ! urs, the excess can be deposited in the arteries of the heart, which could result in stroke or heart disease. This is called atherosclerosis. This is why LDL is known as ?bad cholesterol.? HDL usually collects the bad cholesterol and takes it back to the liver. That?s why HDL is known as ?good cholesterol.?

Cholesterol is not of course the only cause of heart disease, but it can be a contributing factor and this of course is why we should consult our doctors on a regular basis for a cholesterol check so that any required attention to this matter can be taken at the earliest possible time.

Copywrite 2005 Terry Till

http://www.bodyextreme.tv

วันศุกร์ที่ 28 พฤศจิกายน พ.ศ. 2551

Pharmaceutical Grade Fish Oil Why Is It Different?

A flood of scientific evidence about fish oil points to a startling conclusion that taking high-dose fish oils, which are very rich in Omega-3 Fatty Acids, helps support a healthy heart, a healthy brain, a healthy immune system, healthy joint movement, healthy kidneys and much more.

Each grade of fish oil is distinguished from the other by its purity and concentration of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids. Crude fish oils are the least expensive and most will likely contain some levels of contaminants including PCBs, DDT and organic mercury.

When choosing a high dose fish oil remember that knowledge is power and not all fish oils are manufactured the same. Some fish oils may even be dangerous when taken in high doses.

With many choices of fish oil available, and with so many pro and con opinions written about each, it is easy to become confused. So when it comes time for you to choose a fish oil make sure you do your homework and choose wisely ? your health depends on it.

When choosing a fish oil that you will be ingesting in high doses it is crucial that you choose one that is pure and free of contaminants, toxins, and mercury. How can you, the consumer, tell the difference?

Currently there are three grades of fish oil available on the market today:

  • Cod Liver Oil

  • Health-food grade fish oil, and

  • Pharmaceutical-grade fish oil

Cod Liver Oil

Cod Liver Oil is the lowest quality fish oil and like the name implies it is manufactured from the livers of Cod fish. It has the lowest concentration of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids and contains the highest levels of contaminants such as organic mercury, PCB's, and DDT. Cod Liver Oil may also contain a high level of Vitamin A.

Cod Liver Oil is not recommended for high dose consumption. A typical serving of Cod Liver Oil contains 500 mg. of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids.

Health-food Grade Fish Oils

Most health-food grade fish oils are manufactured fr! om fish body oils. Fish oils can be manufactured from a single fish species or from several fish species.

Fish size and their relative rank in the food chain can help us understand the level of contaminants that may be found in health-food grade fish oils. Small fish, such as sardines and anchovies, don?t live long so are less prone to accumulate environmental pollutants. Larger fish, such as salmon and mackerel, are predatory species that live longer so they could contain higher levels of pollutants. If the label says it comes from a particular species of fish, such as salmon, then you can be sure that it probably is health-food grade fish oil.

A slightly more purified type of health-food grade fish oil is available which includes oils that have been subjected to a limited amount of molecular distillation to remove some of the cholesterol. These types of fish oils are usually labeled as cholesterol-free.

Fish Oil Concentrate is yet another type of health-food grade fish oil. Fish oil concentrates consist of ethyl esters of the fish oil that have been subjected to fractional cooling. The solidified saturated fats are removed leaving behind a more concentrated solution of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids. A typical one-gram capsule of thermally fractionated health-food grade fish oil contains up to 500 mg. of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids.

Typical health-food grade fish oils may contain varying amounts of contaminants. In addition, the fractional cooling method does not necessarily remove all the PCB?s or the long-chain monoene fatty acids that may give rise to gastric distress. Due to the varying amounts of contaminants that could still be contained in health-food grade, it is questionable as to whether it is safe at high levels. A typical one-gram capsule of health-food grade fish oil contains approximately 300 mg. of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids.

Pharmaceutical-grade Fish Oil -- the newest generation of fish oil.

Pharmaceutical-grade fish oils start with thermally ! fraction ated health-food grade fish oils. These oils are then distilled, using a highly complex refining technology, into fractions rich in long-chain omega-3 fatty acids. According to manufacturers, it typically takes about 100 gallons of health-food grade fish oil to make one gallon of pharmaceutical-grade fish oil.

Individual fractions are then combined to provide a 2:1 ratio of Eicosapentaenoic Acid (EPA) and Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA) for the finished fish oil product. Scientific studies conducted with pharmaceutical-grade fish oils that used a 2:1 ratio of EPA and DHA reported significant clinical benefits.

Pharmaceutical-grade fish oils are exceptionally low in long-chain monoenes, PCB's and other pollutants. Pharmaceutical-grade fish oils are believed to be the safest to take in high doses. A typical one-gram capsule of pharmaceutical-grade fish oil will have a minimum of 600 mg. of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids.

Pharmaceutical-grade fish oils are a fairly new product and a good-quality source may be difficult to find. In addition, pharmaceutical-grade fish oils definitely cost more ? sometimes twice as much. This increased cost is an outcome of the complex process used to remove impurities. Each step in the refining process adds additional production costs.

For instance, OmegaRx developed by Dr. Barry Sears and recommended in his book, The OmegaRx Zone ? The Miracle of the New High Dose Fish Oil, starts with health food grade fish oil which then goes through nine additional steps to make it pharmaceutical grade quality. Pharmaceutical-grade fish oils generally taste better and the amount of long-chain monoenes, which cause gastric distress, are dramatically reduced.

For more information about where to purchase Dr. Barry Sears' OmegaRx Fish Oil Supplement, please visit http://www.fishoilzone.biz or http://www.omega3zone.biz or call To Your Health at 503-244-5941.

About The Author

Bev Storer is a writer and researcher in the field of nutrition and nutrit! ional su pplements. To learn more about pharmaceutical-grade fish oil, visit her website or e-mail her directly at info@fishoilzone.biz.

The Healing Arts: A Firetender's Lesson Part Four Becoming Ready To Die

At that first Sundance, I was thrust into an alternate reality. A brutal reality. The three counties that compose the Pine Ridge Reservation are the poorest in the nation. At that time, in 1991, the average life expectancy of a resident on the Rez was 48 years. Infant mortality was at a rate six times higher than the general US population. Alcoholism and drug use and gunplay and car wrecks were rampant. All this in America's Heartland!

More than 85% of the population had nothing to do with the traditional ways. They were oriented to Christianity, and had more than a little fear of the things they surmised were going on up there. I was told, if I were to come out to Sundance, to be prepared to die.

They weren't kidding, and it was not necessarily about Sundance itself. It was about being on the rez. And being white -- wascicu (wa-si-chu) -- didn't really help, either. In their home town, Wanbli, one of the families ran out of toilet paper. I volunteered to walk across the street to their Auntie's to borrow some. It was night. Six of the kids in the house gathered at the door to watch. When I asked what's up? the eldest replied, Don't you know you're going to get killed?

During one six-week stretch while I was on Pine Ridge, which has a population of about 20,000, there was one violent death each week.

The Chips' home (inherited from Woptura) was about 640 acres on the prairie adjacent to the Dakota Badlands. A log cabin built in the 1920s, a clapboard house with ceremony room, and a trailer were the family homes. Water came from a persnickety hand pump, outhouses were the only privies, and the roads were no more than splintered and sliced asphalt, if they weren't gravel and dirt. Winters were brutal, insulation was sheets of plastic stapled to the inside of the one-layer thick walls, and the diet was primarily canned and highly processed goods called commodities dispensed by the government.

Seeing the Government's hand in everything, I have since come to believe that advan! cing civ ilization is not interested in killing off the Lakota people (or Native Americans for that matter) it is hell-bent on eradicating their way of being, which is all about a heart-consciousness that acknowledge everything is alive and all is to be shared.

With the nearest hospital over 100 miles away in Rapid City, I, as a former paramedic knew that I could easily die from something as simple as a badly broken leg. Perhaps the strongest prayers of my life were prayed when I first understood the danger of the environment I was in. Actually, they were prayed specifically while being a passenger in Charles' 1978 Olds while racing through the partially paved, curved roads of the Badlands at 100 MPH riding on tires of half-rubber and half-splintered steel-radial belts!

Arriving about two weeks before the Sundance started, I was asked to tend fire for it with a few other people. That meant hauling firewood out of the creeks with no more than a 1960s vintage pick-up, and chain-sawing up to twelve cords for use during the ceremony. Every inch of my exposed body (and in the oppresive heat, I could not cover what I needed to) was peppered with itchy, swollen bites from thumbnail-sized mosquitos. I would usually stay at least another two weeks afterwards, half in recovery, half in clean-up and all about connection with the land -- so much a part of the people, and now, inseperable from my heart.

Sundance lasts for an official period of nine days. Four days of this are preparation, during which time there is a least one Inipi per day. One day is called Tree Day, on which a tree is sacrificed and placed at the center of the arbor where the ceremony occurs. The following four days are the Sundance itself, which involves three Inipis or more each day. Along with traipsing far into the hills and gathering hundreds of Stone People for the lodges, felling as many as 100 pine trees (sustainably!) to re-build the arbor which had a diameter of about 200 feet, and setting up camp sites, gathering sage, and tend! ing fire for Inipis, I was working 14-hour days.

I had been given no more spiritual direction than Live your life as a prayer as you build a place for the people. I had to thrust myself into a world where my primary relationship was with Nature. And Nature told me what to do as it placed me closer and closer to the thin line between this world and that which lies beyond death. As guideline, I used the principles I learned while tending fire for the Inipi, and just expanded them to fit the size of accommodating around fifty dancers and 100 supporters.

My solace was found by constantly turning to my relationship with my Creator for strength and understanding, and the clarity to help others. There was so much to do, and the resources so limited. By actively giving thanks for everything that was around me that I did have, I found that I received many you're welcomes from nature that were both deeply personal and objectively obvious.

Over the course of a number of visits to the rez over the next few years, I began taking on the responsibilities of Chief Firetender for the Sundance. Charles Chips, the Spiritual Intercessor, prepared all aspects of the ceremony itself, including choosing and working with the Dancers. I was responsible for everything that had to do with the physical aspects of the ceremony and grounds and, since I was very familiar with the property, mobilizing and working with the supporters who arrived to assist the Dancers.

In this role, I passed on the little I knew about moving people to one mind, one heart. What I did grasp was intention and an almost incredible amount of respect for whatever snippets of ancient tradition we were taught. Amongst the most powerful experiences of my life were the times when I got to go along to sacrifice a buffalo (tatanka) for the people's feast at the end of the dance. These were no hunting trips. At the time, the sacrifice of buffalo was just beginning to be allowed again. They were almost eerie interplays between species who understood th! eir role s in the creation. I also began to understand how sacred space works: what you put in is what you take out.

I found that no matter how daunting the size of the event, no matter how complex the details, or foreign the language or tradition, what allows things to happen in a good way--what provides a home for Spirit and fosters the miracles happening in any spiritual orientation--is the focused intent of the people who participate in it to channel something Greater than themselves toward the well-being of others. Out of that, the participants create the result.

I found that regardless of the knowledge or use of the ancient prayers, as long as the intent of the participants was clearly for the greater good, that is exactly what happens.

Next: ...and then, there's Ego.

Russ Reina shares over 35 years of experience in the healing arts through his web site http://mauihealingartist.com. It is a potent resource for those wishing to deepen their abilities in connection and develop their powers as healers. For a powerful free tool to explore your inner world, please check out his adjunct site http://thestoryofthis.net

(Permission is granted to reprint this article, unedited, provided proper attribution is made and the signature line -- the above resource paragraph -- is kept intact)

Obesity The Number 1 Health Issue in the US

Obesity is quickly becoming the number one health issue confronting America today, and it's not just America, other countries are affected also. Obesity leads to a multitude of health problems including, but certianly not limited too:

Heart disease
Diabetes
High Blood Pressure

These 3 alone are rapidly becoming the leading causes of premature death in both men and women, in our society.

While it is easy to blame our sedentary lifestyles, our eating habits and the fast food industry. It really boils down to choice, in most cases we either choose to be overweight, or we choose not to be. Yes there are some people with medical conditions that are beyond their control, however for most of us it is really a matter of eating less (or eating the right foods) and moving more (exercise). For some, those with a very good sense of personal discipline, it is very easy to lose weight. Most of us need some kind of guidance. That guidance can be in the form of a simple diet plan and exercise program, an organized diet program that lays out what we should eat and when we should eat it, a support group or professional medical help.

Many of the popular diet plans are designed for you to follow yourself, some have websites offering recipes, plans, progress charts, tips and motivation and even support groups or diet buddy plans. Some encourage weekly meetings. Most work for some of the people who try them, however to really be successful and maintain your weight loss, you need to change what you eat, how you eat, and have an exercise program you will stick to for the rest of your life.

This is a huge committment to make, finding the diet program that you are comfortable with, and can stay with will make a big difference.

If you or someone you know is overweight, finding a way that works for you or them to lose weight and to maintain a weight healthy lifestyle could improve health and extend life.

Many people who are overweight are on medication to lower blood pressure,! control blood cholesterol levels, or control diabetes. Losing weight can lead to improvement in those conditions and may even allow your Doctor to reduce dosages or in some cases take you off medications.

How can To Your Health 101 help?

New and original articles concerning weight loss and many other health issues, written by myself and a multitude of guest authors.

Motivational and support tips

Internet resources you can go to for help, including:

Links to Diet Plan sites
Suggested reading
Surveys

Because I am also overweight, and constantly battle to maintain that elusive healthy lifestyle, chronicling my own journey, may provide inspiration for someone to continue.

To Your Health

Jim Newell

Please visit http://www.ToYourHealth101.com for current and timely health & wellness information, links to other health & wellness sites, and to subscribe to our monthly newsletter.

Jimmie Newell is the webmaster for http://www.ToYourHealth101.com, a health & wellness website, featuring editorials, tips, information and links addressing many of the health issues of today.

วันพฤหัสบดีที่ 27 พฤศจิกายน พ.ศ. 2551

Surviving Heart Attacks

Over one million Americans suffer heart attack every year and from this number comes some 460,000 annual deaths. And 50% of these deaths dies an hour after the start of the symptoms of heart attack and were not able to make it to the hospital. These are evidences enough that proves that coronary heart disease is the leading cause of deaths among Americans.

The heart is continuously pumping nutrient-rich blood and oxygen to be supplied to the blood mainstream. Blood in return is delivered to the heart through the coronary arteries. In heart disease, the walls of the arteries are covered with fatty substances that obstruct the normal flow of blood. These fatty substances or plaques may lead to the accumulation of blood components that stick on the wall linings of the arteries. This is a gradual process and may start at a very early age.

Plaques break up. And with this comes clotting of the blood on the linings to seal the break. This will cause further blockage of the arteries. This cycle of building up of fatty substances, the rapture of the plaque and the clotting of the blood will cause the arteries to narrow which then reduces the blood flow.

Ischemia or the condition of too little blood flow reaching the heart can cause chest pains or angina. Depending on the intensity, chest pains may cause terrible heart pains and may make normal living rather difficult for the coronary heart disease patient. However, there is silent ischema, which has the same symptoms differing only on the absence of pain.

Heart attack occurs when blood supply to the heart is suddenly cut off due to the blockage caused by the clotting of the blood. The cells present in the heart muscles would die once they lack the necessary oxygen-carrying blood. The more prolonged the condition remains, the greater number of cells perishes.

To limit the damages caused by the heart attack, one method employed is the re-opening of the blocked arteries for blood flow restoration. This lessens the frequency of occurr! ence of heart attack. One popular heart attack treatment is the clot-busting therapy or the thrombolytic therapy. Two of the more often used procedures are the coronary artery bypass surgery and angioplasty. To increase the effectivity of these treatments, procedures must be done an hour or less after the heart attack.

Different from what is ordinarily portrayed in many movie scenes, heart attack is not a sudden chest pain wherein the patient clutches on his chest and accordingly. Heart attack is a gradual process where one may feel mild irritation in the chest cavity at first until eventually, chest pains become more severe.

Chest discomforts vary from one case to another. Patients who have experience heart attacks recently may not be able to identify their personal symptoms, as each may be as different as the previous heart attack. Chest discomforts are normally characterized with uncomfortable squeezing, pressure and pain in the area nearest to the heart. Shortness of breath is also one symptom of heart attack along with nausea and cold sweat in some cases.

As mentioned at the beginning paragraph of this article, not all heart attack patients die due to the attack. If you happen to experience the symptoms associated with heart attack and suspecting yourself to be having clogged arteries, you can help save your own life by acting fastly against the disease. Seek medical care at once and inquire if what precautionary measures you may undergo.

Robert Thatcher is a freelance publisher based in Cupertino, California. He publishes articles and reports in various ezines and provides heart attack resources on http://www.about-heart-attacks.info

Mend Your Broken Heart for Valentine's Day Three Great Heart Exercises You Can Do In San Francisc

February is the perfect month to consider mending your broken heart and San Francisco is the just the right city to do it. No, I am not talking about your love life. I am talking about strengthening the most important muscle in your body; your heart.

Valentine's month is a period in between the holidays and summer. There are not as many distractions which make it a great month to begin an exercise program. The San Francisco setting for this is ideal with the cool clear days February provides and no fog!

More importantly there is no better city to train than San Francisco because of our unique topography. Where most cities have to rely solely on long, boring and flat cardio workouts we have a ton of options for quick, high intensity cardio workouts.

Three great options for fast cardio training that The City offers are: beach sprints, hill sprints and stair climbing.

1. Beach Sprints: Sprinting at the beach is great for developing strength in your legs as well as your heart. It takes more effort than sprinting on a solid surface and you can't beat the scenery (unless all you can see is fog but that's pretty cool too.) A great cardio workout at the beach would be to sprint for twenty seconds then walk for ten and repeat eight times for a total of four minutes. This is the Fartlek method of training and has been proven to be just as effective as running at a steady state for longer periods.

2. Hill Sprints: When I was young and had to walk everywhere I would curse the hills of San Francisco. Driving my old cars with stick shifts was never much fun either. Now it's all about automatics and using the hills to exercise. Much like beach sprints; hill sprints are great for strengthening the legs and glutes, as well as your heart. The best thing about hill sprints is most likely you have a hill right outside your door (if you don't you probably live close to the beach.) Try the around the block run. Jog easy downhill and around the turns and sprint uphill. Depending on the length! and slo pe of the hill start out doing this once or twice and try to build up to five or six times or more.

3. Stair Climbing: One of the aspects of San Francisco I have always loved, even as a kid, is the amount of stairs we have. Long staircases slice through neighborhoods providing easy routes to our favorite coffee shops and create the feeling, for me, of being in an old world time and place. What I really love about them is the leg, glute and cardio workout they can provide. Try running up a long staircase, walking up two stairs at a time or carrying a pair of dumbbells on your climb. If you want to climb it more than once be careful coming back down as you will be tired.

Try these once or twice a week along with a longer, steady run. Of course do a proper warm up before exercising and always consult a physician before starting a new exercise program. Happy Valentines Day!

Jim Phillips is a physical educator, fitness coach and owner of http://www.home-exercise-secrets.com.

Does Your Heart Get Tired During Exercise?

A healthy heart is so strong that it is almost never a cause of tiredness during exercise. Tiredness during exercise comes from your muscles. They run out of fuel or out of oxygen. Skeletal muscles use both fat and sugar for energy. When your muscles run out of their stored sugar supply, called glycogen, they cannot contract and function adequately. You feel tired, your muscles hurt and you have difficulty coordinating them. On the other hand, your heart muscle gets energy directly from fat and sugar in your blood and even from a breakdown product of metabolism called lactic acid. It is virtually impossible for the heart muscle to run out of fuel unless you are starving to death.

A healthy heart doesn't run out of oxygen either. Oxygen comes to the heart directly through arteries on its outside surface. If these arteries are not plugged up with plaques, they are large enough to supply all the oxygen that the heart can possibly need. However, fatty plaques in arteries can block the flow of blood. When the heart does not get enough blood, it will hurt and can start to beat irregularly. Exercise won't make a healthy heart hurt. If you develop chest pain during exercise, something is wrong and you need to check with a doctor immediately.

Subscribe to my FREE weekly newsletter on fitness, health, and nutrition.

Dr. Gabe Mirkin has been a radio talk show host for 25 years and practicing physician for more than 40 years; he is board certified in four specialties, including sports medicine. Read or listen to hundreds of his fitness and health reports -- and the FREE Good Food Book -- at http://www.DrMirkin.com

วันพุธที่ 26 พฤศจิกายน พ.ศ. 2551

Chew on This Improve Your Health by Aiding Digestion

Five million men in the United States get heartburn or indigestion from time to time, usually after a large meal. Some, however, experience severe problems. While there are many ways you can help prevent indigestion there are five specific things that you can do right now to help.

Adding fiber to your diet every day not only improves digestion, it may in fact enhance your overall health. Far too many people's diets today consist of junk and fast foods in addition to a lot of meat and high fat meals. These foods only make indigestion worse.

A high-fiber diet will not only aid digestion but can help prevent a wide variety of diseases including diabetes, heart disease, hemorrhoids and colorectal cancer. You should avoid foods like broccoli, baked beans, cabbage, cauliflower and carbonated drinks that can give you gas, and consider adding more vegetables, fruits, whole grain cereals and nuts to your diet.

Also drink a lot of water which helps lubricate the food content in your digestive tract and makes the absorption of dissolved minerals, vitamins and other nutrients much easier.

Secondly, and perhaps the most often overlooked part of digestion is chewing. Chewing begins the process of breaking down your food and triggers the release of digestive enzymes. Be careful not to not to overeat however, as the more you food you ingest the more acid your stomach produces to digest the food. And the more acid your stomach secretes the the more your chances of getting heartburn and indigestion.

Exercise and avoiding stress is the third step to the prevention of indigestion. Not only will you be leading a healthier lifestyle but your digestive functions will be healthier too. Obesity and lack of exercise can result in stomach pain, diarrhea and symptoms of irritable bowl syndrome. Therefore, exercise can lower the chances of digestive problems. Stress too can adversely effect on digestion. By causing a reduction of blood flow to the abdomen and the secretion of digestive enzymes drops,! the dig estive process slows, and this can lead to heartburn and indigestion.

Antacids can be overused when trying to fight indigestion and heartburn. Stomach acids can that help digest food can sometime reflux, or back up, into the esophagael tract and cause the burning sensation you experience during indigestion. Many people reach for antacids when they feel the burn and often these over-the-counter antacids do indeed help neutralize stomach acid. The problem with overuse however, is your stomach can loose much of its acidity, limit your stomachs digestive function, and open the door to bacterial infections.

Lastly, you can help prevent indigestion by taking digestive enzyme supplements. These enzymes come from plant sources that help to promote good digestion and enhance the absorption of nutrient. Poor diet and poor health result in a lack of adequate amounts of this important enzyme. Therefore, taking digestive enzyme supplements can reduce symptoms of indigestion and upset stomach. Consider taking digestive enzymes even if you are a healthy person, as they can help you keep up your digestive health.

Caring is key for Jill Seimer as she shares healthly living at RefluxLife.com on natural solutions. Recently she published natural healing for acid reflux from her trials on acid reflux disorder symptoms.

PrimalNutrition: Ancestral Wisdom for a Modern Epidemic

There are diets named after people ? Atkins, Pritkin, Rosedale, and Ornish; regions ? Mediterranean and Asian; places ? The Hamptons and Okinawa; and even how you cook, or don?t cook, your food ? Raw and Macrobiotic. There is definitely not a shortage of nutritional information; however, there IS a shortage of valuable and effective nutrition informational. The vast majority of books and recommendations are based on nothing more than faulty science and personal conjecture. The dizzying array of contradictory information confuses rather than informs, and cripples rather than equips. You can not turn on a TV or open a magazine without being bombarded by the latest diet fad or counseled by the next weight-loss guru. One day you're informed that a specific food is nothing short of a miracle, and the next day you're informed that consumption of that very miracle food assures untimely disease and death.

The fact of the matter is that in order to move our nutritional status forward, we need to look backward. Our genome has evolved through Darwinian natural selection, or trial and error, over hundreds of thousands of years, and its proper expression necessitates a lifestyle that is harmonious with our evolution. Our bodies are adapted to subsist and thrive on the foodstuffs available to our ancestors prior to the advent of farming and processing techniques developed during the Neolithic revolution. This dietary regimen is broadly known as the Paleo diet and represents humanities only natural form of sustenance. By following this regimen you can drastically improve your health, performance, and body composition, while simultaneously slashing your risk of acquiring the various degenerative diseases that plague modern society such as cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimers. The tenets of this regimen are extremely simple and straightforward. There is no need to count calories, carbohydrates, or fat grams. Eat when hungry, and until you?re full.

Do eat: Meats, eggs, vegetables, fruits, and nuts.! These a re the foods that bestowed our ancestors with the robust health necessary to face a harsh environment free of degenerative disease.

Do not eat: Grains, dairy, potatoes, beans, sugar, or any type of processed food. These foodstuffs are inedible without processing techniques developed roughly 10,000 years ago (less than a hundred years for many of the foods found in your average supermarket); a blink of an eye in the evolution of man. As such, our bodies have not physiologically adapted to properly handle these foods, and their consumption results in various pathologies.

It is immediately evident that current dietary recommendations are at odds with how we are genetically programmed to eat. Various world-renowned researchers, such as Loren Cordain, feel that the root cause of the majority of modern disease lay within our departure from our ancestral diet. Neolithic foods are calorie dense and nutrient poor, tend to cause large elevations in insulin levels (the number one biomarker for aging), create a condition of chronic inflammation in the body, and cause wild swings in blood sugar that lead to ravenous hunger and a lack of satiety. All of this translates into unhealthy levels of bodyfat, sub par health, and eventually chronic disease. Scary as this may be, we as people have the ability to consciously avoid these foods in favor of those that promote health, well-being, and longevity.

Paleo foods are dense in nutrients, low in calories, tend to have a low glycemic index, modulate inflammation, and induce satiety. This translates into optimized health, and an excellent defense against chronic disease. Paleo nutrition is not only a panacea for health, but also for fitness and performance. The regimen effectively regulates insulin and satiety thereby creating the ideal environment for the optimization of body composition. The nutrient density of the regimen is extremely high and promotes rapid recovery allowing the individual to work out at a high intensity on a more frequent ba! sis. The protein content of the diet is high and promotes the accrual of lean body mass and recovery of damaged muscle tissue. Forget diet trends and fads that come and go like the wind, adopt the only nutritional protocol designed by nature, and optimize your health, fitness, and performance.

Jonathon Edward is a Certified Personal Trainer, Nutritional Advisor, and Motivational Coach based out of Orlando, FL. He specializes in creating unique and effective training and nutrition programs that consistently help his clients reach their goals. Jonathon is also the founder of Primal-Movement, a personal training company providing Functional Fitness to the masses.

More info can be found at: http://www.primal-movement.com

Heartburn Symptoms

Heartburn is the most prevalent complaint heard about the digestive system. When the hydrochloric acid from the stomach enters the esophagus - the food tube that connects the mouth with the stomach - it inflames and irritates the unprotected lining of the tube and causes heartburn.

The most common symptoms of heartburn include a burning pain starting behind the breastbone and ribs and radiating upwards the throat. The pain usually starts after a meal. One may experience a feeling of liquid coming up the throat from the stomach. A bitter or sour taste in the mouth is felt in some cases. The pain gets worse with bending down or lying down. The other symptoms include burping and a feeling of bloating. If heartburn is due to Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disease (GERD), sleep problems, chronic cough, asthma, hoarseness, tightness in the throat, laryngitis, wheezing, bad breath, sore throat, ear infection, sinus infection and dental erosion are the conditions that may be experienced by the patient.

It is very important to differentiate the symptoms of heartburn and heart attack. Heart attack symptoms include tightness, pressure or pain in the center of the chest. The pain spreads to the shoulders, neck and arms, mostly to the left side. The heart patients experience cold sweat, nausea and vomiting, weakness and dizziness. There is general shortness of breath. Except for pain in the chest, which is common to heartburn and heart attack, others are heart-attack specific.

Heartburn is quite serious when it accompanies abdominal pain and or bleeding. It may be indicative of peptic ulcers, gall bladder disease, a tear in the esophagus or inflammation of the stomach (gastritis). Heartburn with vomiting blood indicates bleeding in the esophagus or stomach. This causes the stools to be dark.

Various tests are done to confirm and determine the severity of heartburn related to GERD. They are upper GI endoscopy, upper GI series, esophageal manometry and 24-hour pH monitor.

While the symptoms o! f heartb urn can be easily felt and detected by patients, persistent heartburn may be a symptom of more serious conditions like hiatal hernia, esophagitis, Barrett?s esophagus or even esophagus cancer.

Heartburn provides detailed information on Heartburn, Heartburn Medication, Heartburn Treatment, Heartburn Symptom and more. Heartburn is affiliated with Heart Rate Monitor Watches.

วันอังคารที่ 25 พฤศจิกายน พ.ศ. 2551

Healing Your Body

Are you ready to be healthy and full of vibrant energy? Would you like some ideas about how to heal your body?

During many years as a psychotherapist, I discovered fascinating insights into the emotional causes of disease and accidents. I have also developed powerful processes that have helped people heal themselves and maintain their health and safety.

For example, Sunny, a young man in his early twenties, was diabetic from the time he was twelve years old. When he came to see me he was almost daily going into diabetic shock. I have a favorite saying, ?Close your eyes and see clearly.? So I said, ?Sunny, close your eyes and imagine that you are really small and traveling inside your body to the place where you store all your tension.? It was no surprise to either one of us when Sunny ended up in front of his pancreas. He said, ?My God, what a mess. There?s a lot of junk in there.?

In the course of his counseling sessions, Sunny became aware of and overcame all the negative emotional issues that were ?stored? in his pancreas. By the eighth and final session, Sunny reported that he was feeling great and his pancreas looked very healthy. He said, ?It?s amazing, Helene, I?m taking less than one-half of the amount of insulin I needed when I first came to see you. I realize that I almost killed myself by way of diabetic shock because I couldn?t cope with all the emotional pain with my family and a broken relationship.?

Another example of the connection between the mind, the emotions, and the body is thirty-five-year-old Cindy. She had no relief from her constant vaginal yeast infections no matter how much she treated the condition with the medication from her doctor. In her counseling process, Cindy found out that her yeast infections were actually serving her by preventing her from being sexual. When confronted with the idea, Cindy admitted to herself that she was afraid to be in another sexual relationship because she always got too emotionally involved, and then felt deeply hurt ! if it en ded. Cindy?s infection cleared up when she trusted herself to avoid another relationship until she was confident that she would not be devastated if it did not last.

Tom, a forty-three-year-old businessman, finally came into the office when his wife threatened to leave him. However, he was still resistant and insisted that he was fine, he had no problems. Meeting him on his level and at his comfort zone, I said, ?Tom, let?s be logical. You are telling me that your childhood was fine, and that you have no issues to resolve. The reality is that you are struggling with your career, having serious problems with your wife and daughters, and you have been warned about the beginnings of heart problems.?

?Let?s take the analogy of an automobile. If your car isn?t running properly do you believe that nothing is wrong or do you open up the hood and fix it? Obviously, Tom, your life is not running well, which means you have to deal with the issues in your unconscious that are causing you problems. In a sense you need to pick up your hood.?

Tom realized that I had a point. He finally loosened his tie, and was willing to regress back to his childhood. To his surprise, he uncovered an incredible amount of pain. Tom had succeeded in blocking his painful childhood; but because of his denial, he was heading for disaster. It was amazing to see this logical, machine-like person transform into a feeling human being as he expressed his fears, his deep hurts, shame, anger, and grief. As a result, Tom began to feel so good about himself that he began to watch his diet, exercise more and improve his relationships with his family. I will never forget when he happily told me about the wonderful report he had received from his doctor.

The case of Sarah is another example of how important it is to listen to your body and constructively express your feelings. Sarah, a forty-seven-year-old woman, was suffering from recurring cancer. Previously, the doctors had succeeded in removing a malignant tumor from her ! throat a nd Sarah seemed to be doing well. However, six months ago they discovered a growth in her back.

During the first counseling session, Sarah was able to express her anger, shame, and fears?something she never did. She was a people pleaser, someone who always had a smile on her face. Sarah always tried to make everyone happy, even if she hurt herself in the process. When Sarah returned the following week, she told me that she was able to cut her pain medication in half. After another session, in which she released intensive emotional pain, she was totally free of physical pain.

Needless to say, Sarah was very optimistic about her recovery. However, Sarah called me one day very upset. She was feeling pain in her throat where the first tumor was removed. I reassured her that the doctors succeeded in removing the growth, the symptom, but the emotional cause was still not resolved. In the next session, after Sarah released her issues about being afraid to speak up, about communicating how she really felt, the pain in her throat disappeared.

I have noticed that certain emotions will be blocked in specific areas of the body. For example, clients often realize that they are angry when they have upper or lower back pain, headaches, tightness in the base of the skull, or jaw pain. I often find fear blocked in the abdominal areas, sadness stuffed in the sinuses, or the sides of the back of the neck. The feeling of responsibility causes tension in the shoulders. Hurt and deep sadness often explains the tightness in the center of the chest or in the heart.

I have also found the body to be very literal. Some examples are: tension in the throat deals with the fear of speaking; problems in the eyes relate to not wanting to see something; hearing problems often correspond to the desire not to hear.

It may be hard to believe, but I have discovered that our unresolved emotions can also cause our accidents. In fact, every time a client had an injury, they were always able to uncover the reason it! happene d. For example, Tonya, a very attractive twenty-one-year-old, had a scar on her forehead from a serious car accident.

I said, ?Tonya, imagine that you are up in the sky and looking down at the collision. Now tell the Tonya in the car why she had that accident.? She replied, ?Tonya, you had that accident because you felt guilty about having so much more than your family members and your friends. You are prettier, smarter, and more successful, and you don?t appreciate all that you have.?

We are all very powerful beings. We have the ability to create our illness or accidents as well as our health and safety. In order to be healthy and full of vibrant energy, we need to understand that our physical bodies are expressing our thoughts and feelings. When we listen to what our bodies are telling us, when we constructively express our emotions and resolve our issues, we can take an active part in healing ourselves and experience optimum safety, health, and happiness.

(Excerpts from the booklet, e-book & tape, ?Healing Your Body?)

?1997 by Helene Rothschild, MS, MA, MFT, Marriage, Family, Therapist, author and speaker. www.helenerothschild.com

HELENE ROTHSCHILD, MS, MA, MFT, is a Marriage, Family Therapist, intuitive counselor, author, teacher, workshop facilitator, and speaker.

She offers empowering telephone, internet, and in-person healing sessions for all issues including: healing your body, relationships, career, prosperity, weight loss and parenting. Helene developed her own unique process, HART: Holistic and Rapid Transformation, which goes right to the core. She teaches HART classes and independent studies.

She is the author of Personal Success ~ an interactive online self-help program, many articles (free articles) and over 85 inspirational and self-help books, booklets, e-books, tapes, posters, and cards--close to a million have been sold worldwide.

Helene has appeared numerous times in the media (including international CNN), and hosted her own local rad! io and t elevision shows.

All of her educational materials, classes and services support her mission of helping people to feel more loving, peaceful, fulfilled, healthy, happy, and empowered.

http://www.lovetopeace.com

Natural Supplements to Lower Your Cholesterol

Has your doctor told you that you need to lower your cholesterol, but you are a little unsure how to go about it? Sure, you know you should cut out meat and fried foods, foods high in sugar and simple carbohydrates, but if that doesn?t work, what else can you do?

Here?s how to lower your cholesterol the natural way, with supplements that are typically safe and effective.

First of all, Beta-Sitosterol is a natural plant extract found in soy and rice that can improve cholesterol metabolism. It works by decreasing the absorption of cholesterol in the digestive system, and decreasing the amount of cholesterol that your liver itself produces.

Another natural plant extract is citrus pectin, taken from fruit. Citrus pectin both lowers cholesterol levels and prevents cholesterol from forming sticky plaque that can clog blood vessels, causing heart attacks and strokes.

Studies have shown that citrus pectin can significantly decrease cholesterol even when patients do not make significant changes to their lifestyles or their diets. Imagine what it can do for you if you combine it with significant lifestyle changes!

Before you begin taking any natural supplement, talk to your doctor to make sure it is safe for you. Many people assume that ?natural? means ?safe,? and most of the time that is true. However, not every supplement is right for every body, so double check with your doctor, just to be sure.

Then, you can start lowering your cholesterol the way nature intended.

Timothy Gorman is a successful Webmaster and publisher of Health-Fitness-Solutions.com He provides more health related advice and tips to lower your cholesterol that you can research in your pajamas on his website.

Heart Attack: Sudden Cardiac Arrest? Do You Know the Difference? Does It Matter?

There is often some confusion between what a heart attack is compared to cardiac arrest. They are actually quite different things.

First, let's cover some basics so we have a good foundational understanding of why heart attacks occur in the first place.

The heart is a muscle that pushes blood into the body an average of 72 times a minute. Like any muscle, the more the heart is used the healthier it tends to be. This doesn't mean that athletes can't have heart attacks, but it does make them less likely to suffer from heart problems that seem to plague the world today.

The body could be considered a very intricate plumbing system. It is made up of miles of conduit through which blood is circulated. The body is a closed system, meaning that the blood continually circulates, first collecting oxygen from the lungs, then delivering it throughout the body and to all of the vital organs, before being pumped back to the heart and around the body again.

Just as with a regular plumbing system in a house, if one of the main pipes becomes fully or partially blocked it creates less of a flow. This is basically what a heart attack is. Fatty deposits on the walls of the coronary arteries gradually cause a narrowing on the inside. The increased buildup of fatty material begins to encroach upon the inner channel and starts to interfere with the free flow of blood through the coronary artery. As this continues harder plaques develop on top of the fatty deposits. If the plaque's surface ruptures or tears, as it often does, a blood clot may occur. If the clot causes only a partial blockage, the person may develop chest pains and some other heart attack symptoms. But when the blood clot significantly or totally blocks the flow of blood through one or both of the coronary arteries, a heart attack normally results.

As mentioned at the beginning of this article, there is a difference between a heart attack and cardiac arrest. Unlike heart attacks, cardiac arrest involves a shutdown ! of the h eart muscle. It often happens abruptly, without much in the way of symptoms. Also unlike a heart attack, it involves an electrical malfunction. Part of the heart's electrical system short-circuits, causing fibrillation. Fibrillation is a quivering of the heart muscle, where instead of actually beating, it quivers or shudders. In this condition it is unable to pump blood to the body and vital organs. If help is not on hand within minutes of the attack, the victim will first suffer brain damage, then die.

Where a heart attack victim normally has time to seek medical help and eventual recovery, a person suffering sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) has just four to six minutes before brain death and body death begin. It is estimated that over 95% of victims die before even reaching a hospital.

What's the answer?

Again, unlike heart attack victims, medical help is needed within minutes of cardiac arrest. If help is available it is best found in the form of a defibrillator. This is a device that sends an electrical shock through the heart, momentarily stopping it, but in so doing allowing the heart to recalibrate its rhythm and kick itself back into regular motion again. Amazingly, survival rates soar to somewhere around 75% when defibrillation is used on a cardiac arrest victim within several minutes of the episode.

Now here's the kicker:

Although it would seem from what you've just read that defibrillators are unnecessary for those prone to or suffering heart attacks, sudden cardiac arrest is more often than not preceded by one or more heart attacks.

So, should heart attack sufferers consider owning a portable defibrillator? You bet!

It wasn't too long ago that the only people using defibrillators were medical crews, hospital technicians, or other medical professionals. But times have changed for the better (although not enough people are aware of it), and you can now buy home-use defibrillators that are completely portable, simple to use, safe, and relatively i! nexpensi ve.

If you or a close family member have suffered a heart attack, are at risk of having heart attacks, or have been advised by a doctor that you a are high risk patient, consider purchasing a portable, automated, external defibrillator. It may be the best money you ever spent.

Graham Hobbs is a successful Webmaster and publisher of The Automated External Defibrillator. where you can find out more about Heart Attacks than you could shake a stick at on a hot day.

http://www.defibrilator-automated-external.com

วันจันทร์ที่ 24 พฤศจิกายน พ.ศ. 2551

Cholesterol?s Natural Enemies

Cholesterol is an important part of your body?s natural function. You can not live with out it. When your body starts producing too much of it then it becomes your hearts mortal enemy. If you have high cholesterol then you need to declare war. Anything less is not good enough. When you fight any war you need to have weapons and the more powerful they are the better. Modern medicine has given us some great weapons for fighting cholesterol. Sometimes that is not enough and unfortunately using them can come with severe side effects. I for one have not found one yet that I can take. The good news is that nature it self has provided us with weapons to fight cholesterol. With these natural weapons against cholesterol many people can avoid drugs and most of the rest can lower dose or improve the effect of their cholesterol drugs.

Here is a list of some of nature?s most powerful weapons against cholesterol.

Exercise: Exercise especially cardiovascular exercise is one of you body?s natural ways of lowering your cholesterol. I list this first because it can also strengthen your entire cardiovascular system, help manage weight, lower you risk of many diseases such as diabetes and cancer.

Weight Control: This is hardest weapon to use yet it is probably the most effective at helping control your cholesterol. Being over weight is not as much of a problem in most of the world. In Western Europe and especially the United States our diets have become extremely high in fat and simple carbohydrates. I saw a study that showed that now the average American consumes more than 100 times as much sugar than those who lived in the early 1900?s. I know it is hard to do, I have to fight this fight every day, but if you are serious about your health it something you need to do.

Soluble Fiber: A diet high in high fiber foods will help you lower you cholesterol. Soluble fiber absorbs stomach acid and caries it out of the body. You body is then forced to convert cholesterol into stomach acid. For those who ar! e strivi ng to lose weight taking a fiber supplement before meals with help you feel less hungry. Fruits and vegetables such as apples, citrus fruit, berries, carrots and cabbage are high in soluble fiber and pectin both shown to be helpful in lowering cholesterol. Oats and barley are also great sources of cholesterol lowering fibers.

Soy Protein: This is a powerful weapon against cholesterol. To achieve the benefit you need to consume about 24 grams a day of soy protein. There are many companies that now make soy bars and shakes that can help you reach this goal. People with high cholesterol have seen a drop of 15 to 20 percent with this level of supplementation.

Plant Sterols: Plant sterols and stanols, are found in all plants. The are similar to cholesterol in composition. Because of this they compete with cholesterol for absorption. Leafy vegetable, nuts, vegetable oils, corn and rice are high in plant sterols. You can also find cholesterol lowering cooking oils and margarine?s that have these added to them. There are also a number of supplements out on the market today to provide your body with higher livers of plant sterols.

Nuts: Several studies have shown that nuts such as pecans, walnuts and almonds can help your body lower cholesterol. The combination of monounsaturated or polyunsaturated and plant sterols are an effective combination. I replace candy snacks with nuts and include them in my cooking.

Olive Oil: Olive oil especially extra virgin olive oil is high in mono-saturated fats that help the body lower cholesterol.

Flaxseed: Flaxseed is high in alpha-linolenic acid, which is a type of poly-unsaturated fat that has been shown to lower cholesterol. You can add flaxseed to your diet or there are many flaxseed and alpha-linolenic acid supplements on the market.

I hope the information above can help you in your battle against high cholesterol. I wish you much success it this battle.

Rusty Ford
Editor
http://health-pictures.com

Cannot be Exchanged When Diseased

No! No! Not Exempt!

You have one body and one life, treat it badly and reap the harvest of sorrows, sickness, diseased, pain, unhappiness and low self-esteem. Will you be able to purchase a new body when wrecked with disease? Is careless or ignorance a victor over your life? Is it not better to have a healthy body than a diseased one? You are not too old or too young to change your lifestyle!

The Heart Cries Stop I?m Dying!

When you shop for food items, just remember, that whatever you purchase will determine your health and wellbeing. Don?t ever think that you?re too old to change your eating habits, although, it would be better if you started eating healthily from a young age. But remember that too much fat can cause your arteries to become blocked and Atherosclerosis may result, that is, a type of ?hardening of the arteries? in which lipids and other substances build up on the inside wall of the blood vessels. Coronary Atherosclerosis has dramatically increased over the last twenty years and is becoming the leading cause of death in the western world. Coronary atherosclerosis is due to lifestyle. High-fat and high-cholesterol diets, cigarette smoking and hypertension (high blood pressure) are risk factors of coronary atherosclerosis.

However, although fat is an essential part of our diet, it can be harmful if we eat too much of it, especially saturated fats, found in animal and dairy products. And I can confidently say that eating too much of these fats can create different kinds of diseases and illnesses in our body.

Obesity the Forecast of Body Destruction

Obesity is a threat to happiness, self-esteem and sociability. High calories equal death traps and a lack of exercise equals Amen. Negligence equals ignorance and ignorance leads to disease or death. The food you eat and your lifestyle will determine your happiness and health. Your exclusiveness from others, low self esteem, rejection, and poor health are often indicators of what you should not b! e.

The prevalence of overweight and obesity is on the increase. Obesity is a fast-growing epidemic that is primarily due to environmental influences. For many years it has been said that low fat diets reduce obesity. Despite a reduction in fat intake, obesity continues to rise. However, obesity and inactivity is an epidemic and not a media story.

Obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the industrialized world. It has a negative effect in blood levels, such as high blood pressure, type-2 diabetes, and a fatty liver so putting a person at risk of cardiovascular disorders, and is one of the leading causes of premature death in the western world. Also, obesity increases the risk of various types of cancers. Therefore, it?s possible that the next generation may be sicker and have a shorter lifespan than previous generations.

Exercise Keeps the Heart and Other Organs Healthy

Exercise is a must, at least 3 days a week. You just cannot eat or consume calories on a daily basis, without exercising! Brisk walking is one of the major exercises you need to be engaged in because when you walk briskly, you exercise at least the major organs of the body. So be sure to take brisk walks. But remember to warm up first, that is, walk slowly, and then, start increasing your pace. Eexercise can have positive effects on weight loss, weight control and overall general health.

Do you want to live longer? Then do your exercise. Do you want to prevent disease? Then change your lifestyle. Remember that even modest levels of exercise would help a person feel better within themselves.

Copyright 2006 Words of Life and Health

Veronique Belmar write books on Health, Biblical Prophecies, Children's Books, Poetry, and many more. At the age of ten she was interested in eating healthily and taking part in different sporting activities, and at fifteen her favourite books were based on health and lifestyle literatures. Because of her involvement in these literatures, she discovered the imp! ortance of health, lifestyle, what to eat and what not to eat. Also, how to live an honourable life, in order to be happy, healthy and prosperous; and now she is able to tell, and help others care for their health and happiness. Veronique Belmar is author of both Life and Health Joy (http://www.lifeandhealthjoy.com ) and of Words of Life (http://www.wordsoflifegh.com )

Blood Pressure Medications: A Concise Guide

High blood pressure is unfortunately something that most people have to deal with as they age. This is especially true for the average person in the western part of the world. The national average for high blood pressure is approximately 24% in the United States with most other Western countries within close proximity of that number.


Medication is the most frequent form of treatment outside of individual lifestyle choices. However, there are a wide variety of drug types used to treat high blood pressure and they each approach the problem in a unique fashion. A physician will prescribe the type of drug best suited for the needs of the individual patient.

Diuretics
A diuretic is a medication that reduces the amount of water and sodium in the blood. The reduction in water helps to reduce the overall pressure on the walls of the blood vessels and as a result lower the overall blood pressure. A diuretic is usually prescribed in addition to another type of medication as opposed to being used a sole treatment by itself. Diuretics are often called ?water pills? and the physician may refer to them as such.

Beta Blockers
Beta blocks work to reduce the heart rate and lower the blood pressure by inhibiting the bodies ?fight / flight? response. Essentially a beta-blocker blocks the ability of epinephrine and norepinephrine to stimulate the sympathetic nervous system. This action prevents the increased heart rate and high blood pressure, which is a direct result of that stimulation. The beta-blockers prescribed for high blood pressure have a calming effect and give the person a greater tolerance for stress.

Ace Inhibitors
Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors, or ACE Inhibitors, as they are commonly known helped to reduce blood pressure by preventing the hormone Angiotensin II from forming. Angiontensin II normally constricts the blood vessels as well as acting on the brain to increase the need for salt and hydration.

Angiotensin Antagonist
Angiontensin antag! onists t arget the same hormone as ACE inhibitors, described above. However, rather than inhibiting the production of Angiotensin II it blocks its effect on the cells of the heart and blood vessels. These medications are also referred to as ARB?s, which stands for angiotensin receptor blockers. This is a newer type of medication which helps to modulate the renin-angiotensin system which has a big role in maintaining the bodies overall blood pressure and the volume of blood in the body.

Calcium Channels Blockers
This class of medications reduce the overall level of calcium in the heart which in turn reduces the blood pressure since the level of calcium dictates the force with which the heart pumps blood. Individuals with a weak heart (cardiomyopathy) are advised to not take a calcium channel blocker.

Alpha Blockers
Alpha-blockers bring blood pressure lower by limiting the nerve impulses sent to the blood vessels, which allows the blood to pass more freely. Whereas the beta-blockers affect the heart to decrease blood pressure, the Alpha-blockers affect the blood vessels.

Alpha-Beta Blockers
The Alpha-Beta class of drugs combines the effects of both the Alpha-blockers and the Beta-blockers, and thereby bring about lower blood pressure. See the descriptions for both to understand how they work.

Nervous System Inhibitors
Nervous system inhibitors work at the level of the brain as opposed to the circulatory system. Essentially this class of drugs reduces the nerve impulses sent the blood vessels thereby allowing them to be more relaxed which results in lower blood pressure.

Vasodilators
A vasodilator works similar to many of the other drugs by relaxing the blood vessels and as a result lowering blood vessels. However, these medicines do not target the hormones or the heart directly. There are a large variety of these types of drugs and they act in different ways.

Ray Kelly is an Exercise Scientist with 15 years experience in the health and fitness industry. F! ind out more about Blood Pressure at: Blood Pressure and Weight Loss or http://www.free-online-health.com

วันอาทิตย์ที่ 23 พฤศจิกายน พ.ศ. 2551

A Brain Stroke Will Change Your Life

Did you know that having a Stroke is the third largest threat to your life?

The facts are that 500,000 - 700,000 people have a stroke each year and this number is rising much to fast. Millions of brain cells die each minute a stroke is untreated.

The American Stroke Association advises:

?Stroke is a medical emergency. Know these warning signs of stroke and teach them to others. Every second counts:

?Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body

?Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding

?Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes

?Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination

?Sudden, severe headache with no known cause

Call 9-1-1 immediately? if you experience any of the above symptoms! ?Time lost is brain lost!? Getting to the hospital within the first 60 minutes is critical!

There are three types of stroke: Clot (Ischemic), Bleed (Hemorrhagic) and TIA (Transient Ischemic Attack)

Chances are that it will happen to you or a loved one. It happened in my life to my parents within 2 years of each other. First, my Dad had a Clot (Ischemic) stroke and now my Mom has a Bleed (Hemorrhagic) stroke. Dad had a stroke that caused a clot to stop the blood flow to the brain. Mom had a hemorrhage in the brain stroke. Both are devastating to the person, the family and friends.

My mother is an energetic flamboyant person. Everyday she gets up early and makes her list for the day. She plans what she wants to do and does it with ease and a fastidiousness that would make a professional time manager cry. That was until the other morning when she awoke, washed and dressed for the day. Something had changed, she was dizzy and confused. She lay down in bed and became incoherent. The 911 was called. My mom was rushed by ambulance to the hospital 10 minutes away. She was rushed to John?s Hopkins Neuro-CCU by helicopter.

My mother suffered a brain stroke. A 5.1 cm amount of blo! od has c ollecting inside her brain. This is a major amount of blood to be released into a totally closed area. This also pushes on the gray matter (your brain) and causes brain loss. This loss can be permanent and irreversible. This is the point of this article. You never know how much time you have on this earth and what you will be like after a major health event like a stroke. This not only changes the victim but many other people as well.

My mom is in her tenth day of recovery from the stroke. The outcome is still up in the air but thank God she is getting better. My dream and outcome are for a full recovery over time with the help of dedicated medical professionals, a truly loving family and of course, GOD.

Now the lesson: If you are not living your life to the fullest now, when are you going to start? I saw a vivacious woman changed by an event in an instant.

When are you going to start living like you have no tomorrow? When are you going to laugh, have fun, create new friends, do what you have been putting off? Stop worrying about the bills, your job and your love life. Stop worrying but take action with a new attitude that you will live your life to the fullest. If you should have a life changing event tomorrow, will you be satisfied that you have lived fully.

This moment is all that we can be assured of having. What happens next is...

For more information on strokes visit:

The American Stroke Association
http://www.strokeassociation.org

A Division of:
The American Heart Association
http://www.americanheart.org

Frank Gasiorowski was awarded a Ph.D. in Philosophy/Humanities and is an Author, Speaker, Radio and TV Guest for http://www.90DayGoals.com and Voice-Over narrator on the new BIBLEMIX CD. Frank is one of the founders of the Total Self Mastery University http://www.TotalSelfMastery.com with Dr. Mike Davison. Frank is the Director of F.A.I.T.H. Ministry. http://www.FindAnswersInTheHEART.com

Blood Pressure: Understand It Control It (Preferably with Diet)

Your heart pumps blood through your arteries, and the force this creates on your arteries is called your blood pressure. Blood pressure is measured by counting your pulse when a cuff is tightened around your arm, and again when it is loosened. This gives you two blood pressure numbers: systolic, that measures blood pressure when your heart contracts, and the much lower diastolic, when your heart relaxes.

When your heart contracts, it pushes a huge amount of blood forward to your arteries. Your arteries are supposed to act like balloons and expand to accept the blood and prevent your blood pressure from rising too high. Having plaques in your arteries stiffens them and prevents them from expanding when your heart contracts, causing your blood pressure to rise higher than normal. The stiffer your arteries become, the higher your blood pressure rises. The intense pressure on artery walls from high blood pressure can cause damage that provides ideal places for even more plaque to accumulate. It?s a vicious circle -- high blood pressure continues to cause plaque build-up, which narrows the arteries and increases the blood pressure even more.

High blood pressure, also called hypertension, is one of the primary risk factors for heart disease, yet it can go completely unnoticed for years because you usually don?t feel anything when your pressure is up. The systolic (contraction) blood pressure is more of a concern than the diastolic (relaxation) blood pressure as an indicator of your risk of a heart attack or stroke. Your risk is increased further if you also have high blood cholesterol, sugar or insulin, an enlarged heart, or if you are overweight. Over time, high blood pressure can cause serious damage to your cardiovascular system, your kidneys and other organs.

Check your blood pressure yourself at your local pharmacy, or buy your own blood pressure cuff (they're not expensive.) If your blood pressure is frequently over 120/80, check with your doctor. Read my reports about the ! DASH die t, which can control blood pressure in 80 percent of people with hypertension. It's explained in The Good Food Book and in the Heart Health section of my web site (see the links below.)

Read my Good Food Book FREE, with 100 healthful recipes.

Dr. Gabe Mirkin has been a radio talk show host for 25 years and practicing physician for more than 40 years; he is board certified in four specialties, including sports medicine. Read or listen to hundreds of his fitness and health reports at http://www.DrMirkin.com

Free weekly newsletter on fitness, health, and nutrition.

Heart Burn and Indigestion

There are many people who suffer from the symptoms of heart burn and indigestion. These symptoms may result from the foods we eat, the beverages we drink or our lifestyles, but symptoms of burn heart indigestion may also be related to other medical conditions and chronic symptoms should be reported to your doctor. Choosing a burn heart medication is a choice to be made by you and your doctor. Here is a look at some of the common heart burn medications and the side effects associated with them.

One of the most highly advertised heart burn medications is Prevacid. Prevacid burn heart medication should not be used by persons with liver disease or certain allergies. You have probably seen the commercials and may have heard the side effects associated with this popular treatment for burn heart indigestion. If your heart burn symptoms are mild, the side effects may not seem worth it. Constipation or diarrhea may occur when using Prevacid.

Another common burn heart medication is Pepcid. It should not be used by persons with liver problems, kidney disease, stomach cancer or those with certain allergies. Side effects that may be experienced include headache, constipation, diarrhea or dizziness. There are serious side effects that are rare, but have occurred in persons using Pepcid to treat burn heart indigestion symptoms.

Prilosec is a prescription medication used to treat heart burn symptoms. Users of this burn heart medication may experience constipation, cough, dizziness or back pain.

Any over the counter or prescription burn heart medication may cause unwanted side effects. Only you and your doctor can decide if the benefits outweigh the possible risks. The symptoms of burn heart indigestion may be relieved by certain botanicals or health supplements and possibly prevented changing the diet and lifestyle.

Some people who experience chronic symptoms of burn heart indigestion have other more serious diseases which may not be relieved by changes in eating habits or l! ifestyle . These include acid reflux disease, hiatal hernia and diseases of the esophagus. In addition, any non-burning chest pain, pressure, heaviness or nausea associated with chest pain could be related to the heart, rather than the throat and stomach. It is important to err on the side of caution whenever chest pain is involved. It could be simple burn heart indigestion or something much more serious.

For more information about burn heart, indigestion and other digestive problems, visit www.digestive-disorders-guide.com.

Patsy Hamilton writes informational articles concerning heart burn and other digestive disorders for the Digestive Disorders Guide. Visit us at http://www.digestive-disorders-guide.com

วันเสาร์ที่ 22 พฤศจิกายน พ.ศ. 2551

Weight Loss Tip #5: Trim Down Your Waist to Avoid Heart Attack

A recent global study has come to some pretty alarming conclusions about the link between your waist-to-hip ratio and the risk of suffering from a heart attack.

How does waist-to hip ratio (WHR) work? Well, if your waist and hips are exactly the same circumference, you have a ration of 1 to 1 (1:1).

If your waist is smaller than your hips, the ratio will go down. For example, if your waist is only half as big around as your hips, the it changes to 1 to 2, or 1:2.

If the opposite is true, and your waist is twice as big as your hip area, the ratio goes up to 2 to 1, or 2:1.

Apparently, having a waist to hip ratio of 1:1 or more greatly increases your chances of suffering from a potentially fatal dysfunction of the heart.

A recent global study has come to some pretty alarming conclusions about the link between your waist-to-hip ratio and the risk of suffering from a heart attack.

How does waist-to hip ratio (WHR) work? Well, if your waist and hips are exactly the same circumference, you have a ration of 1 to 1 (1:1).

If your waist is smaller than your hips, the ratio will go down. For example, if your waist is only half as big around as your hips, the it changes to 1 to 2, or 1:2.

If the opposite is true, and your waist is twice as big as your hip area, the ratio goes up to 2 to 1, or 2:1.

Apparently, having a waist to hip ratio of 1:1 or more greatly increases your chances of suffering from a potentially fatal dysfunction of the heart.

Check your waist-to-hip ratio (WHR)

Being in a state of obesity makes the threat many times worse. Currently there are more than 300 million obese people worldwide.

An obese person is generally regarded as somewhat with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more.

Find out your body mass index (BMI)

What makes this issue so tricky is that some people will have a natural advantage with their WHR based on their genetic body type and shape.

Women with small waists and curvy hips will have the! easiest time managing this ratio, while both men and women who have large midsections will have the most difficult time managing it.

Regardless of sex or body type, what is important for you to know is that you must do everything you can to keep your waist size down, down, DOWN!

In addition to heart attack, the WHR has been linked to determining your general risk of developing chronic diseases. It represents one of the many reasons why weight loss has so much more to offer you than a just a sexy body (all though it does come with that!)

The Your Best Body NOW Weight Loss Program teaches you not just how to lose weight but how to improve your entire lifestyle to make weight control and WAIST control simple and easy.

You only get one chance at life. Take care of it by living healthy and fit.

To YourBestBody,

Lawrence Cole
Your Lifestyle and Fitness Coach
YourBestBodyNOW.com

See this Weight Loss article on YourBestBodyNOW.com

Lawrence Cole is a Lifestyle and Fitness Consultant based out of Los Angeles, CA. He has over 10 years of health and fitness experience and designing simple, effective nutritional strategies to help individuals achieve their personal best internal health and physical conditioning.