Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Some Relief for Cancer Patients

A non-profit organization based in Dallas is cleaning up – literally – for cancer patients undergoing cancer treatment.

Cleaning for Cancer is the brainchild of Laporsha Williams, a young Dallas woman whose compassion for the sick and elderly is quite remarkable.

Laporsha, who has been in the cleaning business for eight years, felt that she wanted to help those who were struggling to help themselves, particularly those patients going through the trauma of cancer treatment.

The mission of Cleaning for Cancer is to provide cancer patients with a free professional housekeeping or maid service during the period of their cancer treatment.

“We are passionate about our mission. It’s our way of showing support and sharing the load, one room at a time,” says Laporsha.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Study Links Energy Drinks to Heart Attack Risk

Energy drinks have become increasingly popular in recent years. In fact, it’s a multi-billion dollar industry, but it appears that these drinks could also expose you to a greater risk of heart attack.

Scientists at the University of Adelaide, Australia, looked at the impact of consuming one 250-ml energy drink on platelet and endothelial function (heart attack risk is strongly associated with platelet and endothelial dysfunction).

Red Bull says the study is old and disputes the findings

The researchers noted an increase in platelet aggregation, and an impairment of endothelial function, among study participants one hour after they drank the energy drink. A significant increase in arterial blood pressure was also recorded but there was no significant change in heart rate.

The scientists said it remains uncertain which ingredients are responsible for their findings and that more research was needed.

A spokesperson for the British Heart Foundation agreed. “This research showed blood changes in young people, but we cannot say from the study that this would lead to any heart problems occurring. However the study does illustrate the urgent need for further research in this area.”

Many energy drinks contain multiple stimulants that are not identified, in addition to lots of sugar and caffeine (a diuretic). They can cause dehydration, especially if mixed with alcohol and now they have been linked to possible heart attack as well.

Most sensible people have known for a long time that energy drinks can be dangerous if consumed in quantities. Why does the FDA not enforce stricter standards for energy drinks and other so-called functional food?

For the most part, these foods are better described as dysfunctional. It’s time the FDA woke up and started protecting the consumer. Is this not why they were formed in the first place?

You can read the full article here: http://bit.ly/drPSu3

Vitamin Insufficiency is Boosting Age-related Diseases: Prof. Bruce Ames

The world-reknown scientist, Professor Bruce Ames (from the University of California, Berkeley) has developed a “triage theory” that could have enormous implications for human health.

The word “triage” is from the French word trier meaning to sort, separate, or select.


Micronutrient deficiencies could trigger age-related diseases.

In the context of human health, Prof. Ames believes that natural selection favors short-term survival over the long-term and that our body’s short-term survival is achieved by prioritising the allocation of scarce micronutrients. In other words, if you have a shortage of micronutrients in a major organ (such as the heart, for example) then your body will pull those necessary nutrients from non-essential sources.

This theory was first proposed in 2006 to explain why age-related diseases like heart disease, cancer, and dementia may be unintended consequences of mechanisms developed during evolution to protect against episodic vitamin/mineral shortages.

Although Prof. Ames is applying the theory to micronutrient deficiency, the idea is not new. Triage is precisely what the body does when it is attempting to balance your blood pH – it will draw alkaline reserves from a part of your body, sometimes leaving the latter in an acidic state. And if organs are left in an acidic state for prolonged periods, this is when disease can set in.

“If this hypothesis is correct, micronutrient deficiencies that trigger the triage response would accelerate cancer, aging, and neural decay but would leave critical metabolic functions, such as ATP production, intact,” explained Prof. Ames in the Proceedings of the National, Academy of Sciences.

“My triage theory makes sense,” says Prof. Ames. “And it is almost certainly going to be right.”

Professor Ames is also a senior scientist at Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI).

You can read the full story here: http://bit.ly/9CZoAv

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Sitting Too Long can Kill You

You may be exercising regularly, but if you sit for prolonged periods your health – in fact, your life – could be at great risk. So, sit up and take note because Americans spend more than half of their time sitting: at the office, at home, at school, and in their cars.
Sitting too long can adversely impact your health.

Sitting too much can cause major muscle imbalances that result in a weakened core, bad posture, muscle atrophy, loss of flexibility, lower back pain, weight gain (you burn fewer calories), headaches, fatigue and even death.

Many experts have believed that sitting too long adversely affects your health. Recent research published in January 2010 confirms this. The research indicates that individuals who spend most of their days sitting are more likely to be fat, have a heart attack or suffer a fatality.

The British Journal of Sports Medicine published information provided by Elin Ekblom-Bak of the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences. According to Ekblom-Bak, after four hours of sitting your body starts to send harmful signals. Genes regulating the amount of glucose and fat in your body start to shut down. "People should keep exercising because that has a lot of benefits, but when they're in the office, they should try to interrupt sitting as often as possible," says Ekblom-Bak.

In an extensive study the results of which were published in 2009, researchers found that people who sat for longer periods had a higher death risk, and it did not matter if they exercised or not. This study tracked more than 17,000 Canadians for about twelve years.

The solution to the problem is relatively simple: take periodic breaks and stretch often.

Here are some suggestions:

1. Take a break at least every forty-five minutes.

2. Stretch throughout the day. You can stretch when you take your breaks. Download this poster that will show you how you can stretch at work or at home. Pin the poster to the wall of your work and home office to remind yourself that you need to stretch often. These exercises will help you reduce fatigue and avoid bodily injury.

3. Instead of sending your colleagues an email, walk to their offices and tell them what you want them to know.

4. Use a posture cushion regularly. This will not only help improve your posture, but improve your blood circulation and relieve your upper body stress as well.

5. Exercise regularly and spread your exercise routine over the course of the day if possible e.g. before and after work, or at lunch time and after work.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

The Obesity of America’s Young Males Skyrockets 67%

Obesity has reached staggering proportions in America, home to the most obese people on earth.

One statistic that sticks out is that of extremely obese males aged 6 to 19. For this group, obesity has increased from 9% in 1999-2000 to 15% in 2009-2010 – a shocking increase of 67% in just ten short years!

Bad parental lifestyle choices condemn our nation's
children to a life of disease and misery


According to the (Center for Disease Control and Prevention:

• Obesity in adults has increased by 60% within the past twenty years

• Obesity in children has tripled in the past thirty years

• More than two-thirds (68%) of adults are overweight

• A staggering 34% of American adults are obese

• 17% of children are obese

• Obesity-related deaths have climbed to more than 300,000 a year, second only to tobacco-related deaths

Sadly, there is no mystery behind this epidemic. It is directly attributable to the standard American diet (I call it the SAD diet): fast-food, sodas, canned goods, microwave dinners – most of which are chemically altered – combined with the lack of exercise is a recipe (no pun intended) for disaster. Through bad lifestyle choices, Americans have chosen to literally eat themselves to death.

The solution to this obesity epidemic is no mystery either: fresh, wholesome fruits and vegetables, lots of clean water, regular exercise and sunshine – and suddenly the world starts looking brighter!

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Vitamin D3 – It’s Critical to Your Health

Many of us have been brainwashed into believing that exposure to the sun is bad for you. It’s true that chronic, excessive exposure to sunlight does increase the risk of skin cancer, but sensible, moderate sun exposure is absolutely crucial to your health because this is the way your skin produces Vitamin D3, one of the most powerful healing chemicals that your body can produce.

Your skin produces Vitamin D3 through
direct exposure to the sun

Although it has been labeled a vitamin, D3 is actually a very powerful steroid hormone that regulates over 2000 (of your 30,000) genes.

Many experts believe that Vitamin D deficiency is epidemic throughout the entire United States.



Some Pertinent Statistics

• Over 40,000 Americans die annually from cancer caused by Vitamin D deficiency.

• It has been estimated that approximately one billion people worldwide have vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency.

• 40% of the U.S. population is vitamin D deficient.

• 42% of African American women of childbearing age are deficient in vitamin D.

• 48% of young girls (9-11 years old) are vitamin D deficient.

• 76% of pregnant mothers are severely vitamin D deficient, causing a vitamin D deficiency in their unborn children (and this predisposes them to type 1 diabetes, arthritis, multiple sclerosis and schizophrenia later in life).

• 81% of children who had Vitamin D deficient mothers were also Vitamin D deficient.

Some Facts about Vitamin D3 and Vitamin D3 Deficiency

• Direct exposure to sunlight is the only reliable way to generate Vitamin D. Although some foodstuffs contain Vitamin D, you cannot get enough from food sources.

• Vitamin D prevents prostate cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, depression, colon cancer and schizophrenia.

• The further you live from the Equator, the more exposure you need to the sun in order to generate Vitamin D.

• Vitamin D deficiency causes muscle weakness.

• People with dark skin pigmentation may need 20 to 30 times more exposure to sunlight as fair skinned people to generate the same amount of Vitamin D.

• Vitamin D is crucial for calcium absorption in your intestines.

• Rickets, a bone-wasting disease, is caused by vitamin D deficiency.

• Chronic vitamin D deficiency is often misdiagnosed as fibromyalgia because its symptoms are so similar: muscle weakness, aches and pains.

• Your risk of developing serious diseases like diabetes and cancer is reduced 50% - 80% through simple, sensible exposure to natural sunlight 2-3 times each week.

• Your skin CANNOT produce Vitamin D3 through exposure to sun that has been filtered by glass i.e. if you are in your home or in your office.

How to Get Your Share of Vitamin D3

The best source of Vitamin D3 is direct exposure to the sun (and it’s free) - expose 6-10% of your body to the sun a couple of times a week and this should be sufficient to get all the Vitamin D your body needs to function optimally. Some experts suggest daily sun exposure, from 10 to 15 minutes per day.

Cod liver oil is another good source of Vitamin D3.

You can get some Vitamin D from your diet, but it’s unlikely that you will get all you need. Oily fish like salmon, sardines, tuna and mackerel contains Vitamin D, but you would have to eat salmon and mackerel 3-5 times a week in order to get your Vitamin D requirement.

You can also use a Vitamin supplement, but make sure that it is Vitamin D3 and NOT D2. There are two forms of Vitamin D that the human body can synthesize and use: D2 and D3 – the latter is a lot more powerful and effective.

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Avoid Sugar: The Deadly Sweet Aging Treat

The substance we know as “sugar” is an unnatural, man-made chemical produced by a series of industrial processes. The sugar cane (or beet) is pressed to extract the juice that is then refined into molasses. The molasses is then refined into brown sugar, and finally into the pure sucrose crystals that we refer to as white sugar. This chemical that we refer to as “sugar” is devoid of any vitamins, minerals, proteins, enzymes or any other beneficial nutrients and it is alien to the human system.



Refined Sugar: Sweet and Deadly

The average American consumes a staggering 115 pounds of sugar per year. It would seem that most Americans are addicted to this chemical and it should come as no surprise - we are exposed to sugar from the time we are born. Infant formula contains sugar and how often do you see parents stuffing candy into the mouths of their toddlers or allowing them to sip soda?

Our foods and beverages are loaded with sugar (or chemical alternatives that are just as bad and worse) – from breakfast cereals, soups, ketchup and other condiments, to hotdogs and some tobaccos. Most Americans get about 22% of their daily calories from sugar – an “empty calorie” source of no nutritional value! It’s no wonder we are malnourished.

If you examine your food labels carefully, you will notice that most packaged foods contain some form of sweetener. Have you noticed how people always gravitate to sweet foods? It’s a craving just like any other chemical addiction. Most people cannot get enough sugar. The companies that make our foods know this and sweeten their offerings in the hope of addicting and gaining a customer for life.

One of the most common results of excessive sugar consumption is hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). About 35% of Americans suffer from some form of hypoglycemia, a craving for sugar that is followed by a quick “high” once the craving is satisfied, followed by a crash after the sweet foods have been eaten.

Hypoglycemia causes symptoms such as fatigue, hunger, trembling, nervousness, sweating, dizziness or light-headedness, sleepiness, confusion, difficulty speaking and anxiety.

The damage that sugar causes is insidious. Over time sugar ruins your pancreas, your adrenal glands, and disrupts your entire endocrine system.

Sugar also accelerates the aging process. It does this in two ways:

• Sugar attaches itself to proteins in the body forming a new sugar-protein substances called advanced glycation end-products (referred to as AGEs). The higher your AGE levels, the faster you are aging.
• Sugar increases free radicals in your body and this will also accelerate the aging process.

Here are some problems associated with excessive sugar consumption:

• Sugar is the leading cause of dental deterioration
• Sugar can cause premature aging
• Sugar contributes to obesity
• Sugar can suppress your immune system and impair your defenses against infectious disease
• Excess sugar in the bloodstream stimulates the generation of free radicals
• It is the main cause of diabetes, hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia
• Sugar can make your skin age by changing the structure of collagen
• Sugar is a significant or contributory cause of heart disease, arteriosclerosis, mental illness, depression, senility, hypertension
• Sugar feeds cancer cells and has been connected with the development of cancer of the breast, ovaries, prostate, rectum, pancreas, lung, gallbladder and stomach
• Sugar can contribute to osteoporosis
• Sugar disrupts the endocrine system, causing damage to the adrenal glands, pancreas and liver
• It is the reason why blood sugar levels fluctuate widely
• Sugar can lower your Vitamin E levels
• It promotes overgrowth of the candida yeast organism
• Sugar causes food allergies
• Sugar increases chronic fatigue, hyperactivity in about 50% of children and also increases anxiety and irritability

There are natural alternatives to sugar, such as Stevia, Lo Han and Xylitol.

If the above list of problems associated with excessive sugar consumption does not motivate you to stop or at least cut down on sugar, nothing will. Sugar is your enemy. You can live without it and, once you have kicked the habit, you’ll find that you feel so much healthier.