Good nutrition is the bedrock of lifelong health and should ideally start right from infancy. A balanced diet is essential to get all the nutrients needed for growth. It is also critical if one wants to maintain optimal health. Some basic foods that you should include in your daily diet are:
- Grains - Prefer whole grains like whole wheat, brown rice and oatmeal over refined bread, pastas and breakfast cereals.
- Vegetables - The deeper the color of the vegetable, the greater concentration of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.
- Fruits - All fruits are good for health. Prefer fresh fruit juice.
- Dairy products - Organic dairy is the very good for health.
- Proteins - Aim for variety while choosing source of proteins. Oily fish is the best source of proteins. Reduce consumption of red meat. Egg, poultry, beans, nuts and seeds are other foods that have high protein content.
- Oils - Fresh high quality oils like olive and coconut oil and oils derived from raw nuts and seeds are healthy sources of fat.
You should eat slowly and chew your food properly before swallowing. Digestion actually begins in your mouth where digestive enzymes in the saliva mix with food.
Filed under: Dietary Health Tips, Digestive Health on January 29th, 2010 | No Comments »
Life is a continuous struggle and better to realize early that one has to meet its challenges; the better it is for everyone. Coming to terms with the changes that death of a special person may bring about, becomes difficult to handle by many individuals. A long period of sadness and sorrow during which interest in daily activities is lost. Refusal to attend school or a drop in grades. Withdrawal from friends, hyper-activity or keeping too busy.
Considering that today’s teens are extremely stressed out, grief counselors often use the strategy of patient listening and subtle suggestions on individual basis. Teens are given an opportunity to openly express their feelings amongst people in similar situations Group activities like art therapy and writing are frequently used to reach out to the teenager to help give expression to emotions.
The basic goals of group activities are:
Help youngsters to perceive grief as a normal human reaction to death. The group format induces a sense of positive identity in the grieving adolescent as groups give mutual aid and a means for re-entering the mainstream. Remove any sense of guilt that may be compelling the child to blame him or herself for the loss.
Filed under: Mental Illness on January 28th, 2010 | No Comments »
Thyroiditis literally means inflammation of thyroid gland due to autoimmune attack. It refers to Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, the most common cause of hypothyroidism in U.S, believed to run in families and associated often with diabetes and celiac disease.
Symptoms include fatigue, depression, modest weight gain, intolerance to cold, excessive sleepiness, dried coarse hair, constipation, dry skin, muscle cramps, increased cholesterol levels, decreased concentration and vague aches and pains. Severe symptoms include puffiness around eyes, slowing of heart rate, heart failure and even coma.
Another less common form of thyroiditis is De Quervain’s Thyroiditis, also known as subacute or granulomatous thyroiditis. It is characterized by painful swelling of the gland. Once inflammation settles down, patients may suffer from hypothyroid problems. The third type of thyroiditis is “Silent Thyroidits”. Being the least common type of thyroiditis, it was detected only in 1970. It is a mixture of Hashimoto’s and De Quervain’s thyroiditis. The fourth type of thyroiditis is called Reidel’s thyroiditis – a rare disease, which physicians believe is a rare tumor involving the thyroid and surrounding tissues. Treatment is done only after diagnosis of symptoms. For more details, visit your physician.
Filed under: Dietary Health Tips, Digestive Health, Sleep Problems on January 25th, 2010 | No Comments »
Bacteria, viruses, and toxins are common foreign substances that the body’s immune system considers as harmful. The system reacts with biological defenses to avoid infections. Inflammation is the first automatic responses of the auto immune system.
An anti inflammatory diet is based on the theory that the body does not need fat and therefore reacts with inflammation. The ingredient that reduces inflammation is Omega 3 essential fatty acids. Oily fish, is the best sources of Omega 3. Red meat on the other side, is considered to trigger inflammatory responses. Some instructions that are part of the anti-inflammatory diet are:
1. Caloric intake of 2000 to 3000 calories per day depending upon your size and level of activity.
2. Use virgin oils for cooking and try to avoid saturated fats.
3. Avoid margarine and vegetable shortening that list them as ingredients.
4. Choose fruits and vegetables from all parts of the color spectrum: berries, tomatoes, orange , yellow fruits and dark leafy vegetables.
5. Mushrooms are used as the preferred source of phytonutrients.
6. Drink tea over coffee and wine over whisky and beer.
Filed under: Dietary Health Tips, Nutrition on January 18th, 2010 | No Comments »
The apple cider vinegar diet is not a proper diet plan. It is a diet that is supplemented with adequate amounts of apple cider. The diet, is actually based on the weight loss properties of only one item. This diet does not prescribe any menu. There are no allowed or disallowed foods too. The diet suggests moderation and avoidance of mid meal snacks.
The process includes adding yeast and sugar for fermentation. This changes the alcohol into acid and gives apple cider vinegar its incredible flavor, distinctive taste and weight loss properties.
The ACV diet requires consumption of two to three teaspoons of apple cider vinegar before all the meal. The acidic taste is strong and difficult for people to take it in its original form. The apple cider is equally beneficial as a salad dressing or as a sauce or any other manner that suits individual culinary preferences.
Medical trials have shown that small amounts of apple cider vinegar, added to food or taken along with a meal reduce the glycemic index of carbohydrates being consumed. Since apple cider vinegar does not involve apparent risks there is no harm in using it.
Filed under: Dietary Health Tips, Digestive Health on January 15th, 2010 | No Comments »
A child’s brain has not fully developed to understand the future implications of certain life events like death and is liable to build theories in the mind that are far removed from reality. Death of a loved one often sends waves of emotional upheavals in the young mind that fails to properly understand the direct and indirect consequences of the event.
A child’s concept of death changes with age. While a child may not fully understand the finality of death, adolescents may be able to accept the irreversibility of the event. However, they may still fail to realize or accept the implications of the event in its entirety.
The young mind fails to recognize that speaking out and expressing what one is feeling deep inside can actually help to a large extent. It is here that parents or care givers have to play the part of a grief counselor. While handling adolescent grief, it is important that parents keep in mind that many times teens try to play the role of a responsible adult and try to protect their parents.
Patient listening without judgmental comments, encouraging a journal, a healthy nutritional diet, exercise and sufficient rest can go along a way in providing relief from grief.
Filed under: Mental Illness on January 12th, 2010 | No Comments »
Kidneys are a pair of organs that filter waste products from blood. Certain chemicals in our body react to form stones in kidneys called kidney stones. While small kidney stones pass through urinary tract system without signs or symptoms, larger kidney stones cause trauma to ureters and urethra while passing through the urinary tract.
Kidney stone symptoms include fluctuating pain in the side below ribs which can last 20 to 60 minutes. This pain then radiates from the side to the lower abdomen. Other symptoms include nausea, vomiting, fever, chills, bloody, cloudy or foul-smelling urine, pain on urination and persistent urge to urinate. In other cases, recurring urinary tract infections occurs. Diagnosis is done using X-rays.
Blood analysis may be done to check excessive calcium or uric acid in blood, the two common reasons for kidney stones. Urine testing may also be done. Different imaging tests like CT scan may be required to determine presence of stones. Other techniques include ultrasound and/or intravenous pyelography. Pain and symptom evaluation is done through medical history and physical examination. Check with your physician if you feel you have these symptoms.
Filed under: Natural Remedies on January 9th, 2010 | No Comments »
Cellulite is the formation of unsightly ‘orange peel’ on upper legs, thighs and stomachs of both women and men. It is mainly caused due to inappropriate fat storage from micro vascular damage with enhanced fluid and lymphatic retention. Most anti-cellulite creams used for treatment have either caffeine or aminophylline (both dehydrating) and retinal or DMAE as special ingredients. Though they claim to improve cellulite appearance, they actually can’t work.
According to Neutrogena study, 70 % women claim to have visible cellulite, which extends to more than 85 % if you ask other researchers or physicians. More women than men suffer from the problem, thanks to estrogen and progesterone hormones. Other anti-cellulite creams use DMAE or dimethylaminoethanol, an antioxidant extracted from fish that supposedly stimulates muscles to become firmer and hide cellulite appearance.
Filed under: Natural Skin Care on January 6th, 2010 | No Comments »
The American Academy of Neurology defines concussion as “mental status alteration due to biomechanical forces affecting the brain.” It needn’t only cause loss of consciousness. Concussion has varying grades. In grade 0, the injury gets characterized by headaches and concentration difficulties. Grade 1 concussion causes the patient to appear stunned or dazed but without loss of consciousness and sensory difficulties.
Grade 2 concussions are characterized by headaches and cloudy senses lasting more than a minute without loss of consciousness. Symptoms include ringing in the ears, post traumatic amnesia, irritability, confusion or dizziness, watching stars, feeling dazed or lightheaded, nausea or vomiting, sensitivity to light, slurred speech, concentration problems and balance and co-ordination difficulties. Some individuals feel anxious or irritable without getting tired.
Recommendations vary based on concussion grade. Children with grade 1 concussion need close observation at home. Individuals with grade 2 or 3 concussion need to be taken to the nearest emergency room for prolonged observation or special imaging studies. Some believe that in a grade 1 concussion, athletes can be rested till symptoms last while other physicians and professionals believe that post-concussion, the athlete could be sidelined for a week.
Filed under: Mental Illness on December 23rd, 2009 | No Comments »
Osteoporosis is a complicated condition where the bone mass density of a person declines slowly to a point where even a low trauma triggers a hip, wrist or spine fracture. Hence, to clearly ascertain which part of the bone is affected, many physicians use algorithms to assist them in decision-making and treatment options. An algorithm is a set of rules or a step-by-step procedure that permits the reader to produce solution to a given problem based on the results. Some of these algorithms are more detailed and can include information about diagnosis and treatment.
Most algorithms also determine whether the individual is taking proper medications, is receiving appropriate weight-bearing exercises, has stopped smoking, has reduced alcohol intake. It also helps the physician to determine if the individual has any clinical evidence of osteoporosis, i.e., a height loss of more than 1.5 inches and low-impact fracture of hip wrist or spine.
However, osteoporosis algorithms don’t answer all questions related to the condition, especially as the situation could vary based on individual to individual. In such circumstances, doctors must rely on their educational expertise. Algorithms are just one way to check the onset of osteoporosis.
Filed under: Exercise and Fitness on December 18th, 2009 | No Comments »