Category: Wellness

5 Strategies For Living Well with Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia can be a challenging disease, but the following tips can help you to manage your symptoms

Fibromyalgia can be a challenging disease, but the following tips can help you to manage your symptoms:

1) Keep track of the pain: Keep a pain diary so that you can connect your symptoms to other factors in your life including diet, environment, and activities.

2) Do not expect too much from your medication: Though there are drugs that have been approved to treat fibromyalgia, they do not work for everyone.

3) Consider alternative and complementary therapies: Yoga, meditation, massage, acupuncture, Tai Chi, biofeedback, and other forms of bodywork and stress relief techniques have been proven to help manage the pain of fibromyalgia.

4) Be an active participant in your care: If your doctor is not helping you find the best way to deal with your particular symptoms or is not taking your pain seriously, consider finding another provider.

5) Avoiding activity due to pain: Remaining active and pursuing activities that bring you joy and exercise your body are keys to your health.

Source: http://health.msn.com/health-topics/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100259977&page=1

 

 

The Very Unappetizing Truth About McDonald’s Chicken Meals

Although McDonald’s has made some excellent strides in food sustainability such as serving free-range eggs and organic milk in the United Kingsom, a recent article exposed that the chickens they use are grown in deplorable conditions.

Although McDonald’s has made some excellent strides in food sustainability such as serving free-range eggs and organic milk in the United Kingsom, a recent article exposed that the chickens they use are grown in deplorable conditions.

For example, each bird is crowded into a space just large enough to hold all the birds living there –  the floor space for each is roughly equal an 8 1/2″ x 11″ piece of paper.  The birds are all killed after 40 days when a  genetically-engineered slaughter weight is attained although a number of birds die from stress or other reasons before 40 days.  The birds are inundated – externally and in their food with a number of potentially hazardous chemicals.

In the popular book by Michael Pollan, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, he reveals that, for example,  McNuggets contains 38 listed ingredients, including TBHQ (tertiary butylhydroquinone), which is a chemical derived from petroleum which is sprayed onto McNuggets or sprayed  inside their container to keep them fresh.

Reduced Nutrients in Food, Microwaving Food

Numerous research studies show that cooking food in a microwave significantly reduces antioxidants, vitamin and minerals, and also effects protein availability. Studies also show possible cancer risks, particularly related to the release of toxins from plastics used in common foods heated up including chips, pizza and popcorn.

Numerous research studies show that cooking food in a microwave significantly reduces antioxidants, vitamin and minerals, and also effects protein availability. Studies also show possible cancer risks, particularly related to the release of toxins from plastics used in common foods heated up including chips, pizza and popcorn.

When considering the nutritional quality of foods alone, a 2009 of the composition of food historically have found a 5 to 40% reduction in some minerals in fresh produce, and another study found a similar decline in our protein sources.

A 1999 Scandinavian study of the cooking of asparagus spears found that microwaving caused a reduction in vitamins. Another study found that as little as 60 seconds of microwave heating inactivated alliinase, garlic’s primary  ingredient that fights cancer.

A 2003 study  found that microwaved broccoli lost up to 97% of its helpful antioxidants while steamed broccoli only lost 11% of its antioxidants.

A 1992 study found that breast milk that has been microwaved loses lysozyme activity and antibodies that your child needs.

Research:

Davis D R.,  Declining fruit and vegetable nutrient composition: What is the evidence? American Society of Horticultural Science, February 1, 2009

Kidmose U, and associates, Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica B 1999:49(2):110-117

Journal of Science of Food and Agriculture, Nov. 2003

Quan, 1992

Obesity, Exercise & Fibromyalgia

Women who are obese (BMI of 30 or larger) have a 60 to 70 percent higher risk of developing fibromyalgia, compared to women who are not obese.

A 2010 study observes  that women who are have a body-mass-index (BMI) of 30 or greater, which is considered obese have a 60-70%  greater risk of experiencing fibromyalgia than those women who are not obese, and especially among those women who also get plenty of physical exercise.

Fibromyalgia syndrome is marked by a dull aching pain and tenderness in the muscles and soft tissue, and is characterized by persistent fatigue.   Memory problems, disturbed, and irritable bowel syndrome are included amongst other common symptoms.

Researchers: Paul J. Mork, et al, Norweigian University of Science & Technology

Published: Association between physical exercise, body mass index, and risk of fibromyalgia: Longitudinal data from the Norwegian Nord-Trøndelag Health Study, Arthritis Care and Research 2010; 62:5,  611 – 617.

Added sugar can increase heart attack risk

New study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found those who ate more added sugar were more likely to have higher cardiovascular disease risk factors, including higher triglyceride levels and higher ratios of triglycerides to high-density lipoprotein, the “good” cholesterol.

Sugar which is being added in greater amounts and with greater frequency than ever before by food manufacturers in almost all  processed foods and beverages appears to raise the risk of heart disease.

Researchers took a close look at data on  nutritional intake and levels of fat in the blood  in more than 6,000 adults between 1999 and 2006.

They found that those who consumed greater amounts of additional sugar had risks of experiencing heart disease.  This included not only higher triglyceride levels but higher ratios of triglycerides to HD.

Researchers: Miriam Vos, MD, Emory School of Medicine & associates.

Published: Journal of American Medical Association, 2010.

Learn more about natural ways to help prevent heart disease.

Poor Dental Hygiene Tied to Heart Disease Risk

It occurs to us that those who consume more sugar may also be more likely to have poor dental hygiene habits.  Researchers in the following study were looking at brushing and flossing rates – but sugar consumption is certainly tied to dental caries.

Researchers looking at the health histories of more than 11,000 patients in Scotland, have found that those patients who do not brush their teeth twice a day are more likely to have heart disease compared to those who do so.

70% of the subjects brushed their teeth twice a day, and 60% visit the dentist twice a year.  Those subjects with poorer brushing habits had a 70% higher risk of heart disease.

Researchers: University College of London

Published: British Medical Journal (BMJ), May, 2010

Killer Carbohydrates & Diabetes

According to 2007 data from the National Institutes of Health, 25% of Americans 20 years and older had abnormally high levels of glucose in the blood—a pre-diabetic state. That number leapt to 35% in individuals 60 and older.

One quarter of Americans over 20 years old have abnormally high glucose levels – which is considered to be pre-diabetic. By the time Americans are 60 or older the percentage rises to 35%.  Considering the US population data, as of 2009, about 60,000,000 citizens are pre-diabetic and at very high risk of developing diabetes.

  • Due to excess carbohydrates in the diet, about 20% of Americans are pre-diabetic.
  • Carbohydrates are absorbed into the blood primarily due to the digestive enzymes amylase, sucrase, and glucosidase.
  • However, L-arabinose – a natural, mostly indigestible sugar – blocks sucrase activity, preventing sugar sucrose from moving into the bloodstream.
  • Similarly, extracts of seaweed, white beans, and Irvingia block starch breakdown  in the intestine, preventing these calories from being absorbed into the bloodstream.
  • Green tea extract helps your body metabolize additional calories while you are not active.
  • All together these are  natural compounds that have the potential to dramatically slow total carbohydrate intake, limit blood sugar and insulin spikes after meals, and help support weight loss.

Editor’s Note: See more information on nutrition, diabetes and diabetic retinopathy.

Sources: National Institutes of Health, 2007, 2009

 

Sugary sodas linked to pancreatic cancer: study

Analyses of data collected on 60,524 Singapore Chinese adults showed that people who drank two or more sugar-sweetened soft drinks a week were at greater risk of developing pancreatic cancer compared with individuals who did not, the study published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention says.

A study published in 2010 which analyzed data collected for 60,524  Chinese adults in Singapore demonstrated that those people who consume two or more sugar-sweetened soft drinks weekly were at higher risk of suffering from pancreatic cancer compared with those who do not drink sugary drinks.

However, the researchers did not find a link was found between  juice consumption and pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic cancer is a rapidly fatal cancer in adults.  Fewer than 5% of patients survive five or more years after being diagnosed with this form of cancer.

Published: Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, 2010.

Epigenetics redefines the role of DNA in our health

It was once thought that our health and well-being was predetermined by the DNA we inherited from our parents and ancestors. The new field of Epigenetics now defines our health in both nature and nurture.

Epigenetics is the study of changes in gene activity that do not involve alterations to the genetic code but still get passed down to at least one successive generation.

It was once thought that our health and well-being was predetermined by the DNA we inherited from our parents and ancestors.  The new field of Epigenetics now defines our health in both nature and nurture.

Epigenetics is the study of changes in gene activity that do not involve alterations to the genetic code but still get passed down to at least one successive generation.

These patterns of gene expression are governed by the cellular material — the epigenome — that sits on top of the genome, just outside it.  It is these epigenetic “marks” that activate your genes. In this way environmental factors like diet, stress and prenatal nutrition can make an imprint on genes that is passed from one generation to the next, affecting both the current and future generations — meaning how well we are nourished both emotionally and diet-wise when we are young genetically affects both our future state of health as well as that of our future generations.

This field of science may well be able to explain ultimately why only one of two people with the same genetic disposition for getting a particular disease actually end up having that disease expressed.

Pomegranate offers hope in war on superbugs

Professor Declan Naughton, biomolecular scientist at the University of Kingston, Surrey and his team have created an ointment that tackles drug-resistant infections by harnessing chemicals that are contained in pomegranate rind.

They found that by combining pomegranate rind with other natural products such as vitamin C and a metal salt gave a much more potent effect; killing off, or inhibiting, drug-resistant microbes from growing created a strong, infection-busting compound.

Researchers in England have designed a salve using pomegranate rind chemicals to be used in fighting drug resistant infections. They determined that a compound including pomegranate rind and other natural nutrients like vitamin C and a metal salt have a very effective result in that they can kill off drug-resistant microbes or inhibit them from growing.

The need for finding new ways to tackle superbugs is growing more and more desperate as these superbugs continue to develop resistance to common antibiotics.

Editor’s Note: It is good that some scientists are open to seeking nature for help in solving our health problems with the understanding that there are secrets in whole foods that can help us.

Researchers: Professor Declan Naughton, biomolecular scientist, University of Kingston, Surrey, and associates.