Pharmacy Links
- Generic Pharmacy
- Generic Viagra
- Medications Without a Prescription
- Online Pharmacy – Levitra
- prescription medications. information, side effects, interactions
Tags
Categories
- Allergies
- Anti Depressants-Sleeping Aid
- Arthritis
- Cancer
- Epilepsy
- General health
- Herbal
- Hormonal
- Men's Health-Erectile Dysfunction
- Skin Care
- Weight Loss
- Women's Health
KEEP YOUR HOMOCYSTEINE LOW
April 23, 2009
Vitamins B6, Â12 and B9 (also called folic acid) are important to keep your blood homocysteine levels low. Elevated homocysteine levels are a major risk factor for heart disease because homocysteine has an abrasive effect on the inner lining of our arteries, initiating inflammation and atherosclerosis. It also makes the formation of blood clots more likely. Folic acid, vitamin Â12 and B6 all work together to keep homocysteine levels low by helping to convert homocysteine into the amino acid methionine.
Good sources of folic acid include oranges, avocados, spinach, asparagus and any green leafy vegetable. Vitamin B6 is found in high concentrations in bananas, salmon, chicken, potatoes and hazelnuts. Good sources of vitamin Â12 are salmon, mussels, crab, beef, chicken and eggs. Betaine is another nutrient found in eggs which is needed to keep homocysteine low.
If you have diagnosed elevated homocysteine levels in your blood, then as well as eating these foods and drinking raw vegetable juices, you will need to take a supplement of these vitamins. An ideal daily dose of each would be 1 000 mcg folic acid, 50mg vitamin B6 and 400mcg vitamin B12.
Researchers at the Oregon Health and Science University in the US claim I that diets low in foods containing folate and carotenoids may be a “major contributing factor” to the high rate of heart disease in men and women in Central and Eastern Europe, compared with Western Europe, the US and Asian countries. The researchers found substantially higher death rates
10 heart saving tips you must follow from cardiac disease among men and women, especially men between the ages of 30 and 50 years in Estonia, Hungary, Russia and Lithuania, which correlated with low intakes of folate and carotenoids in their diet. Carotenoids include beta carotene, lycopene, lutein and related compounds found mainly in brightly coloured vegetables.
*53/53/5*
NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS FOR FERTILITY: ZINC
Zinc is the most widely studied nutrient in terms of fertility for both men and women. It is an essential component of genetic material, and a zinc deficiency can cause chromosome changes in either the man or the woman, leading to reduced fertility and an increased risk of miscarriages.
Zinc is necessary for the body to attract and hold the reproductive hormones, oestrogen and progesterone.
Zinc also plays a vital role in cell division so it is especially important that adequate levels are available at the time of conception. When couples go for IVF treatment, and the egg has been fertilised, the doctors have to wait until it divides sufficiently before it is put back in the woman. If the cell division is inadequate then that fertilised egg will not be used. This same cell division takes place during natural conception and it also requires good levels of zinc. If levels are not optimum, then it not only makes it difficult to conceive but there are also risks of having a baby with low birth weight, malformations or poor development of the brain and nervous system.
Zinc deficiency can block the absorption of folic acid so having a deficiency of one nutrient can lead to deficiencies in other nutrients. This is why getting a good intake of a number of nutrients is so important.
Zinc is also vital for your partner because it is crucial for the proper development of sperm. We know this because when young animals are fed a zinc-deficient diet they can produce abnormal sperm. For example, 60 day-old mice were found to be sterile after only three weeks of being fed a zinc-deficient diet.
Studies carried out in the 1980s showed that zinc deficiency in men causes a temporary but reversible reduction in sperm count and a reduced testosterone level. And this reduction in testosterone level has since been confirmed by other studies.
Giving zinc to men with low testosterone levels raises the hormone to a more normal level and increases the sperm count. In one study some men had an increase of 150 per cent in their sperm count, and in nine cases out of 22 their partners conceived while they were taking the zinc.
Simply comparing men with low sperm counts to men with normal sperm counts has shown that serum (blood) zinc levels and seminal zinc levels are significantly lower in infertile men.
With each ejaculation, men lose up to 9 per cent of their daily zinc intake. So it is crucial that your partner keeps up a good daily intake of zinc.
Clearly, zinc should be taken as a supplement if there is any problem with sperm count or quality. You and your partner should also include sources of zinc, such as oats, rye, whole-wheat, almonds, pumpkin seeds and peas, in your diet.
Symptoms of zinc deficiency include:
• white spots on nails
• low sperm count
• poor sense of taste
• poor sense of smell
You should take 30mg zinc a day.
Your partner should take 30mg zinc a day.
*46/73/5*
SELF-HELP PREVENTION: HEAT RASH (PRICKLY HEAT) AND HEATSTROKE
Heat rash (prickly heat)
It is an itching skin condition caused by heavy sweating (usually in hot climates). Little red pimples occur in sweaty areas.
What causes it?
Inflammation of the sweat ducts.
Prevention
• In hot and sweaty climates reduce your physical activity and hence the amount you sweat.
• Don’t drink hot drinks.
• Wear as few clothes as possible, preferably made of light, natural fibres.
• Shower in tepid water and use no soap. Dry carefully and use a dusting powder.
• Soothe the bad areas with calamine lotion.
Heatstroke
Heat stroke is a condition in which the body is unable to lose heat, for example in extremely hot climates in which the air is hotter than the body so that the body does not lose heat into the air. It can also occur in very humid conditions in which the body is unable to sweat and so lose heat. The skin is hot, dry and red, and the sufferer has a rapid pulse and a high temperature and may also vomit and be irritable. If severe, it can lead to a coma.
What causes it?
An inability of the body to cool off by normal heat loss or via sweating (which also reduces body temperature).
Prevention
• Avoid extremely hot situations.
• Drink ice-cold liquids to lower the body temperature.
NB This is not a treatment. No one with this condition should be cooled quickly.
• When in hot climates wear thin, natural-fibre clothes and keep out of the direct sun.
*167/72/5*
WEIGHT LOSS: STRUCTURE OF THERAPY GROUPS
How many patients should there be in a therapy group? Between four and eight patients seems ideal-small enough so each can relate to the others, large enough to bring together people with a range of experiences. Many groups are made up entirely of women because there are relatively few males with eating disorders.
Most outpatient groups meet once a week, with sessions lasting from one and a quarter to two hours. Some shorter-term programs meet twice a week. Meeting more frequently provides additional support to very symptomatic patients.
Inpatient groups are more varied. I have found it helpful to combine daily group psychotherapy with other groups, such as psychodrama, art, movement, nutrition, relaxation, women’s issues, and body image groups.
Outpatient groups can meet for a limited number of weeks or they may be open-ended. Short-term groups are generally more structured. They may have a preset agenda with different specific topics each week. In addition, members continue to monitor their symptomatic behavior and work to change it.
Group leaders should make sure all members know when and where meetings will be and how to get there. An eating-disordered patient has enough trouble dealing with her insecurities. She doesn’t need to wander the halls of some huge building, anxious and alone, looking for the meeting room. Lack of clear instructions can cause a patient to quit the group before she has even started.
Groups are usually more effective if they are made up of patients with similar problems. Like oil and water, bulimics in the same group may not easily mix. An anorexic may feel “bullied” by a bulimic, while the bulimic may feel frustrated that the anorexic won’t open up and share what’s going on inside. Higher-weight patients may feel angry or envious in the presence of emaciated ones.
*90/35/5*
STIMULATE YOUR DETERMINATION: NEVER TOO OLD TO LOSE
Connie Bissonnette had all but given up on slimming down. At age 50 and 172 pounds, the full-time university instructor from Stillwater, Minnesota, believed that weight gain was a normal part of the aging process.
Lucky for her, her son Jeff knew better. And as a result of his persistence, Connie is 41 pounds thinner.
In 1992, Jeff was a student at the University of Wisconsin, majoring in human performance. When he came home for Christmas break that year, he had a mission: to persuade his mom to start exercising. “I was his first project,” Connie jokes.
She responded with her usual litany of excuses—she didn’t have time, she didn’t have the energy, her knees bothered her. But Jeff persisted. “He said, ‘Just give me 10 minutes, three times a week,’” Connie recalls. “He devised a workout that I could do at home, with what I had on hand. I started out by sitting in a chair and doing leg lifts. Then I added other exercises, like doing pushups against the wall.”
Despite her initial protests, Connie found herself enjoying her workout. Within a few months, she noticed that her knees felt better. So she asked Jeff to add some more exercises to her routine. Her 10-minute exercise sessions stretched to as long as 30 minutes.Plus, she started walking for 30 minutes, 2 or 3 days a week. One year later, she was 20 pounds lighter.
But Jeff wasn’t done. His next challenge was to transform his mother’s longtime meat-and-potatoes diet. Again, he advised Connie to start small. She substituted jam for butter on her morning toast, fresh fruit for her snack time potato chips and candy bars. Eventually, she traded frying for baking as her cooking method of choice.
It took some time, but all those little changes added up. Four years after she began exercising, Connie had lost a total of 41 pounds. Now, at age 58, she has maintained her weight at about 131 pounds since 1996.
Connie was so grateful to her son for helping her slim down that she decided to return the favor. In May 1997, she became a certified personal trainer. Now, she works in her son’s gym. “It’s great to be able to encourage the clients I train by telling them about my own weight-loss experience,” she reports. “I don’t let anyone say, ‘I can’t.’”
WINNING ACTION
Stop believing the myth of middle-age spread. Yes, most of us do gain weight as the birthdays roll by. But this accumulation of extra pounds isn’t written in our genes, our hormones, or the laws of nature. We gain weight, quite simply, because we become less active. According to William Evans, Ph.D., director of the Noll Physiological Research Center at Pennsylvania State University in University Park, about 80 percent of overweight is caused by a sedentary lifestyle. So keep moving, no matter what your age. You’ll look slimmer and you’ll feel younger.
*144\89\8*
