Archive

Archive for December, 2010

Dec
16

The world of health and nutrition has many options to offer consumers. How do you know if what you are getting is really best for your body and health? Maybe you regularly work out, or just have a busy lifestyle and want to add some additional nutrition to your diet. You should be aware of the advantages that occur when you buy whole food vitamins and organic multivitamins. When taking and utilizing whole food vitamins into your daily diet, you can be assured that you are using the most absorbable substances, made with only organic and plant based ingredients.

Ingredients in whole food vitamins often include superfood powders, herbs, and mushrooms. These have the maximum possible nutritional value and content. They are not the ordinary vitamins you grab on a trip to the grocery store. Organic multivitamins naturally help the body use its own sources to heal itself. There are no harmful additives like sugar, preservatives, flavors, or colors. Our bodies need pure nutrition such as those found in organic multivitamins. When you buy organic multivitamins, you enable your body to maintain better overall health. This in turn helps with energy levels and healthy digestion.

Natural protein is much better for your body than animal protein. Animal proteins are linked to disease, ageing, and poor health. Natural vegan and vegetarian proteins are easily digested and assimilated by the body. Entirely natural and organic, you may use these powders as a great supplement for extra protein in your daily diet. When you buy all natural protein, it should be entirely plant based. This is as absorbable as mother’s milk. It also naturally enhances insulin and leptin functions within the body. Natural protein is a living substance, unlike animal protein, which causes acid accumulations in the body when digested.

Raw vegan protein is not heat treated. It is entirely alkaline, which means it does not add any acidity to the body. When you buy raw protein powder, you are getting highly digestible 85% protein that is gluten free. It is also hypoallergenic, which means you will experience no gas or bloating. A complete amino acid profile is provided in raw vegan protein, with zero sugar, and low fat. Vegan and raw protein powders give your body a supreme advantage for fat loss and gaining lean muscle mass. When you buy vegan protein powder, you help your body achieve optimum fitness levels. Immunity is strengthened, antioxidant functions are enabled, and good HDL cholesterol is built.

Dec
15

Did you know that the main cause of hair loss in men and women is partly caused by the male hormone testosterone? Testosterone along with the enzyme, 5 alpha reductase, will produce DHT (dihydrotestosterone). This DHT hormone will attach to a hair follicle. By doing this, it blocks nutrients from getting to the hair strand and the hair follicle. This will eventually cause the hair strand to fall out and the follicle to die. This type of hair loss is known as androgenetic alopecia or male pattern baldness (MPB) and/or female pattern baldness (FPB).

In men, testosterone is created in the testes. This production will begin in the fetus at about the eighth week. This hormone is responsible for the development of the male’s deep voice, and the growth of his hair, muscles and bone. Also it is the key hormone responsible for a man’s sex drive.

In women, testosterone is made in much smaller quantities in the ovaries. It is mainly responsible for a woman’s sex drive

Controlling Testosterone And Hair Loss – In my research I did not find any medicines or drugs that targeted testosterone to stop MPB or FPB. Most of what I found targets the 5 alpha-reductase enzyme. This enzyme is produced in the prostrate gland and adrenal glands.

I found that two herbs, Saw Palmetto and Pygeum will block DHT. Saw Palmetto is probably the best known of the two. It is believed to act in two ways. First it lowers DHT by blocking the 5 alpha-reductase enzyme. The second way it helps with controlling androgenetic alopecia, is by blocking receptor sites needed to absorb DHT.

Pygeum comes from the African continent and is the bark of the African evergreen. It acts by inhibiting the enzyme 5-alpha-reductase, thus helping to stop the development of DHT.

If you are going to use either Saw Palmetto or Pygeum, you will have better luck in stopping MPB or FPB by using the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) approved drug Minoxidil. This is approved for use by both men and women dealing with MPB or FPB.

Another FDA approved drug is Propecia. This is taken in pill form, but is not approved for use by women since it may cause birth defects.

Conclusion – Testosterone plays a major roll in causing MPB or FPB by interacting with the enzyme, 5 alpha reductase. This creates DHT which blocks nutrients from reaching the hair follicle and hair strand. Those herbs and drugs used to control pattern baldness do not attack testosterone but mainly the 5 alpha reductase enzyme.

Dec
14

We all know that human beings run on calories. The calories we intake can come from several different sources, primarily from macro-nutrients such as carbohydrates, protein, and fat. Whenever we think of losing weight, the first idea that pops into mind is watching our calories. Most of us don’t really even know what a calorie is or how many we may need.

A calorie is simply a measure of food as energy. Ideally, in order to maintain a normal body weight, you should consume only as many calories as your body burns. In order to lose weight, you should consume fewer calories than your body burns. And not surprisingly, when you consume more calories than you burn, you gain weight. So it’s important to know how many calories you need.

Use the following formula to figure out how many calories you should consume daily to fulfill your energy needs. This will determine how many calories you need to either lose or maintain your weight. These are guidelines, not absolute numbers to live by. Individuals are different, you determine how many calories you need, how many you actually consume:

Basic Calorie Needs

  • First, determine your Basic Calorie Needs. Also known as your Resting Metabolic Rate, it is the number of calories required to keep your body in full working order.
  • Take your healthy weight (or ideal body weight) and multiply it by 10 (female), or 11 (male). A Healthy Weight Range table can be found on Page 12 of my book, Anti-Aging and You. This number that results from multiplying the healthy weight by 11 or 10 is your Basic Calorie Needs.

Activity Calorie Needs
Next, you need to figure out your Activity Calorie Needs by determining your activity level from the following descriptions. Then multiply your Basic Caloric Needs by the matching percentage.

• Sedentary (20%): You sit, drive. lie down, or stand in one place for most of the day. Multiply by 0.20.
• Lightly active (30%): You walk but not for more than two hours a day. Multiply by 0.30.
• Moderately active (40%): You do very little sitting. You garden; you dance, do a lot of housework, and take exercise classes. Multiply by 0.40.
• Very active (50%): You’re active in a physical sport or a labor intensive job, such as construction. Multiply by 0.5.

Calories for Digestion
Now, you want to figure out how many calories you need for digesting and absorbing nutrients. Take your Basic Calories Needs and add it to your Activity Calorie Needs. Then take that number and multiply it by.10. This will determine your Calorie Needs for Digestion.

Total Calorie Needs
Finally, add your Basic Calorie Needs, your Activity Calorie Needs, and your Calorie Needs for Digestion and absorption of nutrients from your food. This figure represents your total energy needs in calories.

This is the number of calories you can eat every day to lose or maintain weight. The actual number of calories that works for you depends on how much exercise you decide to do when you start making lifestyle changes. Never set a daily calorie level that provides less than ten calories per pound of your current weight. For example, if you weigh 150 pounds, your average calorie count for the day should be no less than 1500 calories. The following are calorie requirements for the average person in each group.
Where do you figure in?

1,600 calories: Needed for many sedentary woman and some older adults.
2,200 calories: Needed for most children, teenage girls, active women, and many sedentary men.
2,800 calories: Needed for teenage boys, many active men, and some very active women.

Though most of us have busy schedules and don’t have the time to count calories and measure servings, with a little preparation and know how, you don’t need to count calories. You just need to know how many servings of each macro-nutrient you should eat on a daily basis.

Dec
11

Sleeping is a state of mind and body where all voluntary muscles stop working and mind goes from consciousness to subconscious and then to unconscious state. It might be considered same as coma if main differentiation is not pointed out because in coma one cannot reverse states of mind and body whereas in sleep it is possible to regain all senses and all voluntary muscles start working again. All mammals, reptiles, birds, and fishes must have it. Nonetheless it is a huge research subject and there many layers of it. In 1937, Alfred Lee Loomis first defined sleep stages but that was for Rapid eye Movement which is type of sleeping for mammals and birds only. Another type of it is Non-Rapid eye movement. We will see stages of sleep according to types of sleep.

Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep

REM is a type of sleep but it is itself a stage of sleep. We all like memorable dreaming which mostly occurs in this stage of sleep. REM is only forth part of total sleep and includes rapid eye movement & EEG (Electroencephalography). When experiments were carried out in special sleep laboratory, they resulted that in mammals, muscular Atonia is seen in descending order. REM is last stage after four stages occurring in NREM.

NREM- Non-Rapid Eye Movement sleep

Four different stages of sleep in NREM were described by Nathaniel Kleitman and William Dement in 1953 which were later altered by AASM commission in 2004. But standard sleep stages in NREM were given in R&K scoring manual in 1968 by Anthony Kales and Allan Rechtschaffen. According to this manual there are four stages in NREM type of it. 3rd and 4th sleep stages are considered as slow rate sleep and out of all wave pattern, delta waves are less than 50% in 3rd stage and more than 50% in 4th stage.

Described below are four of those levels:

N1 stage: N1 is initial stage of sleep in which subject losses consciousness about out world and muscle tone. These things occur because during this stage alpha waves of 8 to 13 Hz are converted into Theta waves of 4 to 7 Hz.

N2 Stage: Sleep spindles with 11 to 16 Hz make most of this stage and human adult loss consciousness totally during this stage which comprises almost 50% of it.

N3 Stage: Delta waves with 0.5 to 2Hz frequency are main part of this type of sleep. Night terrors and sleepwalking mostly occur during this stage.

One might wonder that there are only four stages are described here but these four stages occur in N1-N2-N3-N2-REM pattern which complete five stages of sleep with all of them taking around 90 minutes.

Dec
10

There are so many risks that our bodies face each and every day, even during sleep, as evidenced by the thousands of sleep terror cases recorded each year despite the numerous sleep terror disorder treatment options available. The causes of the disorder are simply too mysterious and too complex for any one treatment to solve the entire problem altogether.

As with any problem solving process, the first step in trying to solve any issue is to know what triggers it. Even in this very first step, medical experts have struggled identifying the most pressing causes behind these disorders. Thus, all efforts dedicated to put these terrors to a halt have been put on pause, and people who keep experiencing these terrors continue their battle with these disorders. Hopefully, a sleep terror disorder treatment that works on most, if not all, of the causes will be finally discovered. For more information on this, all you have to do is read on.

A few things must be remembered when dealing with sleep disorders and sleep terror disorder treatment options. The first thing is that the disorder can occur to both children and adults. Children are the common victims of the disorder, and experts say that the pressing reason behind this is the children’s premature nervous system.

However, adults are not immune from the condition, since several cases of the disorder are also caused by severe stress and anxiety. Sleep deprivation has also become a common reason behind this truly mysterious condition. In effect, the age range of the victims alone makes the search for that one perfectly effective sleep terror disorder treatment very difficult.

When a person experiences sleep terror disorder treatments, several symptoms commonly arise. The most usual ones include in increase in the heart rate, excessive sweating – even when inside a properly cooled room, and breathing that is quite rapid – a case referred to as hyperventilation. This is the instance when people instantly sit upright in bed, from a completely asleep state.

Many movies portray this scene, which makes people doubt its truthfulness, but experts agree that it does happen in real life. Some people even begin screaming or crying after waking up. Generally, most people who experience sleep disorders have very fearful or terrified facial expressions, thus causing panic to the people around him.

The sleep terror disorder treatment regimen that can successfully cure this is no stranger to anyone, since these are the steps that are needed in order to get some peaceful sleep. It is greatly advised for people to sleep at the same time during the day as much as possible. Napping must also be avoided to minimize the instances of the disorder. Most importantly, people must avoid constant exposure to stress, anxiety, and fear. Hopefully, the terrors will end, thanks to this sleep terror disorder treatment regimen.

Dec
09

Site of the day: Mexican pharmacy- cheap medications online without prescription.
Our bodies require food but food covers a lot of different things and sometimes that food can be damaging or upsetting to people suffering allergies and various medical conditions. Sometimes whether the food is cooked or uncooked can be a deciding factor as well.

Certain people also react to food whether it is processed or unprocessed. Types of food such as carbohydrates, protein, fat and various nutrients can have adverse results as well. But our reactions to food at not necessarily immediate, obvious or severe enough to warrant direct investigation. We just don’t feel that we are operating at 100% sometimes.

Eating an unbalanced diet can be a problem. Too much of certain types of food can create imbalances in your body chemistry as well. Food that is too rich, too sweet or too salty can cause problems even it is tastes good to us. Our bodies can fail to process certain foods for a variety of reasons.

Allergies and reactions can occur when our immune system misidentifies a normally harmless food as a foreign attack on the body. The immune system will then mount a vigorous defense to protect the body from what is otherwise a harmless energy giver. The food itself is not the problem but the body’s reaction and its defense mechanism that is activated to combat it. This is a standard “allergic reaction.”

Some allergic reactions are so severe to certain foods (peanuts, for example) that even a very small amount can cause a deadly immune reaction that can result in severe incapacitation and even death.

In other instances, the body simply doesn’t process the food appropriately. This can lead to conditions such as diabetes. Diabetes results when the pancreas fails to produce enough (or any) of the insulin that the body requires to process carbohydrates and sugars. When no insulin is being produced it is called Type 1 diabetes. This is often discovered in children, teens and young adults.

When insulin is being produced but not enough to do the job it is called Type 2 diabetes and is usually diagnosed in older people (generally over the age of 40).

Symptoms include
- Being excessively and consistently thirsty
- Passing a greater that usual amount of urine
- Feeling unusually tired and lethargic
- A constant hunger
- Skin conditions such as infections, itching and slow healing of cuts and wounds
- Drastic and unexplained loss of weight
- Blurred vision, dizziness and headaches
- Moodiness
- Cramps (usually in the legs)

While there is currently no cure for diabetes the problem can be managed through regular exercise and living a healthy lifestyle as well as regular blood glucose testing and insulin injections.

There are also a variety of diets that can meet the special needs of people suffering from allergic reactions and diabetes.

Diabetes occurs to a greater extent in some countries and less so in others due to differences in diets and lifestyles. Well known diets such as the Mediterranean diet can go a long way to assisting with special needs. Some even consider it more than just a diet but a way of life bringing great health and well being benefits.

Dec
08

One of the most difficult things for an individual to do is to quit smoking. These days, there are more and more products being offered to accomplish just that, but in spite of this, it is still easy for people to relapse and take up their smoking habits once again. Some people believe that smoking is more of a habit then the need for the nicotine and they could be partially correct. Research has shown that the body does becomes dependent on the nicotine that is in the cigarettes, but there is also the psychological part of the equation where the mind also becomes part of the addiction and that can be a very difficult situation to deal with.

So what are some of the best ways to quit smoking? Here are a few ideas to hopefully help you kick the habit.

Try a nicotine supplement. There are nicotine patches and nicotine gum that you can try that release small amounts of nicotine into your bloodstream. As you become less dependent and the withdrawal symptoms ease, smaller amounts of nicotine are released. This form of treatment works better with another form of medication along with the loving moral support of your family and friends. This technique does not work for everyone as it depends on several factors including your overall health along with your personality and how often you smoke. People who smoke less seem to have an easier time quitting then those who smoke more.

Join a therapy group for smokers or get individual therapy. This is a great way to get moral support because it lets you know that you are not the only one who is trying to kick the habit and there is strength in numbers.

You could also try hypnosis. This method is used to guide you into a hypnotic state of mind where you are conditioned to believe that you no longer have a craving for cigarettes and the thought of them is repulsive to you.

There are those people who can quit cold turkey. This method involved a persons decision to no longer smoke and give them up completely.

Another thing that you could try is an electronic cigarette. This device is not yet considered to be a smoking-cessation device, but it is becoming more popular. It looks like a cigarette and it has a heating element that vaporizes liquid which is safe to be inhaled.

One method that is used by smokers is to help quit smoking is to decrease your cigarette usage by one cigarette each week that you smoke. Just think about it, if you normally smoke ten cigarettes a day, in ten weeks you would be down to zero. The best way for you to quit smoking is to try the various methods that are available and use the one that is most effective for you. Do not get discouraged as some people have to try more then once before they are successful in quitting smoking. This will ensure that you will hopefully be around to enjoy life to the fullest with your family and friends for a long time to come.

I hope that you found this information useful and if you would like more information on ways to live healthy, then please visit my healthy living web site where you will find great information to help you live a long and healthy life.

Dec
07

If you want to get rid of acne, you’ve probably spent hours scouring the Internet and late night infomercials. It can seem as though you are fighting a never-ending battle and in some cases, this stress can actually make your acne worse! Ever wonder why some people seem to go through life without anything more than an occasional pimple and others are plagued with severe cases of acne? As more products become available on the market, many doctors are recommending a more holistic treatment for acne.

Lotions, Creams, Washes and Other Acne Products

Over the last several decades, many acne products containing extremely strong chemicals have become quite popular. These chemicals are mean to dry the skin out, because excess is oil is often thought to be the cause of acne. Instead of helping matters, these chemicals can often make matters worse. This is one reason why the best way to get rid of acne is to treat the whole body, including even your emotional state.

Holistic Treatments and Why They Are Effective

While stress per say isn’t responsible for acne, it can mess with the hormones in the body. These hormones often cause an increase in sebum, which is a substance produced by the body to increase moisture in the skin and the hair. During adolescence, the body produces more sebum than the follicles can dispel. A bacterium begins to form and gets trapped inside the follicle. The area becomes inflamed, causing a pimple to form. The key to holistic treatments to get rid of acne is to reduce the lifestyle, environment, and bodily changes that help produce this bacteria and excess sebum.

What You Can Do to Get Rid of Acne

It’s time to rethink what you eat, what cosmetics and facial products you use, and how you live your life overall. Eliminating as much stress as you can, will help keep your hormones from acting up and can provide a number of other health benefits, too. Relaxation techniques help purge the body of stress and other toxins. For those that want to finally be free of acne by way of something other than harsh chemicals or expensive acne products, this new way of treating acne is the answer you’re looking for.

A Final Thought or Two

Sometimes, it just takes understanding more of what is going on with your body and your life. Simple changes in what you eat, what you put on your skin, and your lifestyle can all make a big difference in your complexion.

Dec
05

We have all turned on the TV and watched the scenes of a character portrayed with classic asthmatic wheezing. It is called a “device” in the movie biz that is not nearly the truth for most asthma sufferers. Because of this literary device, wheezing has become one of the most emphasized signs of asthma so that most of us actually expect all asthma victims to have that tell tale wheeze when they breathe. These sounds, dubbed into movies and TV shows, like the wheeze and the raspy throat, have actually become scary to non-asthma sufferers. It is the worst side effect of the disease that is quite dramatic and used for that purpose. Because this device has become a standard in film and TV, the general public has come to believe that all asthmatics can be identified by these sounds.

Hollywood fiction is certainly not the whole truth in this instance. Actually, it is far from the truth for a large number of asthma sufferers. In fact, about half of all asthmatics do not wheeze or make raspy sounds at all, especially when following a proper treatment program. The majority, nearly 60%, have a nagging cough when suffering an episode. Wheezing actually occurs only in the most extreme cases which is why movie makers use that device when depicting asthmatics to over-dramatize the scene. But, such depictions create a false picture and may cause some borderline asthmatics to ignore real symptoms.

Wheezing is certainly a sign of severe asthma but other, less dramatic, symptoms should not be ignored. Where there is a nagging cough, breathing problems when under even mild exertion, wheezing only when sleeping or at rest, or any shortness of breath, are all possible signs that a visit to a doctor may be indicated. Remember, only the most severe asthmatics fall into the wheezing category. The majority of asthmatics do not wheeze.

Even if you are not asthmatic, it is good to know what to do if someone has an attack in your presence. The key is to be calm if you are to help that person. An attack can be frightening, especially if you do not have asthma, so it may be up to you to be calm so you can help the asthmatic get through an attack. There is nothing worse than not knowing what to do when a friend or loved one is having an attack so here are some steps that will help you to help the person having an attack.

Keeping a cool head is the main way you can help. The asthmatic may be in a panic mode so they will need you to talk to them to calm them and slow down their breathing. I am reminded of Mel Gibson in the movie “Signs” where he talks to his son who is having an attack. He has his son breathe with him in a relaxed and steady manner. For once Hollywood had it right!

Asthmatics, who are under the care of a doctor, will likely have an inhaler handy or within easy reach. If you are going to be out and about with an asthmatic, find out where their inhaler is located and be sure it can be easily reached should an attack occur. Most asthmatics will likely have their medication with them at all times but you should ask just the same. After all, it will be you who will be called upon to help should an attack occur.

Do not hesitate to call an ambulance to get the asthmatic to the nearest hospital emergency room if the attack is not mitigated by an inhaler or other measures. In most cases, you should be able to handle the situation. However, in extreme cases, the victim may pass out and emergency medical help is then warranted.

If you, yourself, are diagnosed with asthma, you likely already have a plan prescribed by your doctor as to what you need to do when an attack strikes unexpectedly. Your main goal is to first calm yourself so you can take the medical steps needed, such as using an inhaler immediately. If you allow the stress of the attack to overtake you, your breathing will worsen and you will panic even more. So, staying calm is your best first step to overcoming an attack.

Dec
04

Math Anxiety

When it comes to Math Anxiety, are you a worrier or are you panic-stricken? It turns out the answer to this question is key to how you will go about fixing it.

  • My mouth feels dry and my heart starts beating out of my chest.
  • I read the question over and over again, and I just can’t understand what it says
  • I get sleepy and have a really hard time staying awake for the exam.
  • My palms get sweaty and it gets hard to focus on the page
  • My teacher is stupid, and never asks questions about what we have been learning in the class.

Does any of this sound familiar when you sit down to do a math test? The truth is that, to one degree or another, we’ve all had similar experiences. These are natural physiological responses that arise when we perceive threats to our well-being. But if you look at these questions again, you’ll see that they fall into two broad categories: thinking and feeling. And the big insight from recent research, though, is that worry is expressed in the left hemisphere, while panic is expressed in the right. Like much good research, this actually confirms our intuition. The Feeling Right Hemisphere Panic is about feelings. Beating heart, sweaty palms, heightened perceptions. These are exactly the same physiological responses we would feel when we encounter a big cat in the jungle. It is raw survival. And you are experiencing the exact same flood of neurochemicals when we are sitting in the math exam, staring at a question that we can’t even understand the problem, much less figure out the solution.

This phenomenon is way more common than you might expect. You may be surprised to learn that math anxiety rates number three on the list of most common phobias that people experience, just after fear of public speaking and fear of heights. You are not alone, my friend. I will be writing an article soon future article on how to combat math panic. It turns out it is different than what you need to do to get ahead of your panic, as I’ll discuss below. The Thinking Left Hemisphere Worry is mostly a verbal activity: our inner conversation spirals endlessly with the details of how our life will fall apart if we don’t do well on this test. Our parents won’t love us any more, and will stop paying for our education. Our boyfriend or girlfriend won’t want to be seen with the idiot that we really are. The whole thing just spirals until we might be amazed that we are actually still breathing!

The truth is, in my 11 year experience as a math professor teaching thousands of students, I have seen more kids blow their learning energy by worrying during study sessions, rather than focusing on effective strategies for learning, remembering and achieving. They come in feeling defeated from the beginning.