Showing posts with label health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health. Show all posts

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Homeopathy and Obama's New Health Care Plan




Obama wants to put a cap on the price big pharma can charge for new, advanced drugs meant for treating disease. How about homeopathy? It is inexpensive, safe and easy to use for many diseases that are very costly to Medicare, insurance companies and patients.

This is the time for homeopaths to get involved and tell the new government how important it is to consider homeopathy in the new health care plan. Simple studies could be set up where parents can elect to choose homeopathy for ADD, Autism, ADHD in towns where the cost of taking care of children with these disabilities is seriously reducing the other services the town can provide.

It would cost so little to implement homeopathic clinics to take care of some of these epidemics that are poorly treated by conventional medicine. Make your voice count write comments, suggestions and start to make homeopathy a household word!

Source: www.innerhealth.us

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Maintain Strength and Balance with Yoga




Falls are the most common trauma that sends folks over 65 to hospitals, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In fact, about 33% of older adults will fall during any given year.

At Temple University, researchers designed an Iyengar yoga program for senior women lasting nine weeks. Iyengar yoga uses props like straps, blankets, bolsters, chairs and blocks to ease people into stretches and strengthening poses at their own pace.

After nine weeks, the women had a faster stride, increased flexibility in their legs, and were able to balance better on one leg, which helps to reduce the probability of falls. They also learned how to distribute pressure on the bottom of their feet more evenly, which also aids stability. An added benefit: Some women who had back or knee pain when the study began were pain-free by the time the study ended.

Yoga classes can be too aggressive if you’re not already flexible or strong. If you’re looking for a class, try to find a teacher who specializes in teaching people at your age and fitness level. To locate yoga teachers in your area, try the Yoga Alliance, the only national certifying body for all types of yoga teachers.

Suza Francina, an Iygengar teacher in California, has authored several books about yoga for oldsters, including The New Yoga for People Over 50 and The New Yoga for Healthy Aging: Living Longer and Stronger and Loving Every Day.

Her books are filled with delightful stories about people who started yoga late in life, with specific instructions and photographs that show ways to approach yoga poses with props so that you can get the benefits of many poses that would otherwise be too difficult.

The Anti-Aging Bottom Line: Yoga is an ancient tradition with a lot of modern relevance for healing and strengthening the mind, body and spirit. Yoga is unique in that its practice can be individualized to accomodate the needs of anyone who seeks to improve his or her health. In addition to enhancing strength and flexibility and decreasing the likelihood of falls, you may find that your yoga practice brings a new feeling of overall balance into your life.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

5 Healthiest Anti-Aging Snacks





Snacking often gets a bad rap, but if you make intelligent choices about what you eat, you can actually benefit your health and longevity. Read on to find out how!

Why Snacks?
Most of us are used to eating three times a day, but it is much healthier to eat smaller meals more frequently -f ive small meals a day, for instance. Eating in this way delivers a steady stream of nutrients, blood sugar, and energy to your body throughout the day and is also much less taxing on the digestive and metabolic systems.

And when you eat more small meals throughout the day, you will most likely avoid the pitfalls of overindulging at your next meal and may actually consume fewer total calories for the day.

Keep healthy "grab-and-go" snacks on hand all the time to avoid the tempting lure of high-calorie snacks. Here are my top five snack choices:

1. Nuts and Seeds Keep You Young
Healthy and appetizing, nuts and seeds are absolutely the best snack of the bunch. Helping yourself to a handful of nuts and seeds every day can improve circulation and muscle tone.

And nuts and seeds are especially full of arginine, an amino acid that helps to combat heart disease, impotence, infertility, and high blood pressure, and it also facilitates the healing process. Additionally, arginine can stimulate the pituitary gland at the base of the brain.

The pituitary releases growth hormones, which begin to decline quickly in humans after age 35. This means that after 35, your hormones start to plunge and you experience some aging symptoms. The skin loses elasticity, the muscle loses mass and strength, the lean body tissue decreases, fertility and virility decrease, and other signs of aging start to set in.

Many nuts and seeds are rich sources of vitamin E, lignants and omega-3 fatty acids, which protect you from heart disease and also from the ravages of aging.

Almonds, pine nuts, sesame seeds, Brazil nuts, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, peanuts, and pistachios: mix them in any combination and enjoy! Keep in mind that there are more nutrients in the raw form than roasted. Make sure that the nuts and seeds are fresh and not old and rancid.

2. An Apple a Day for Heart Health
There are many reasons to eat an apple - or two or three - every day. One study discovered that subjects who ate five apples or more a week had a healthier lung function than those who ate no apples.

And scientists have confirmed that apples also contribute to a healthy heart. Thanks to the fruit's rich pectin content, eating two to three apples per day leads to decreased cholesterol levels. Pectin also helps prevent colon cancer, one of the top causes of death in adults over age sixty.

3. Bring On the Berries
In season again, berries are bursting with antioxidants. The enticing red, purple, and blue skins of berries contain bioflavonoids, antioxidant compounds that reduce free radical damage.

These flavonoids are more potent antioxidants than vitamins C and E, and they also help to reduce inflammation - more effectively even than aspirin!

• Blueberries are your best pick because not only do they have the highest level of antioxidant activity, but they also possess powerful neuroprotective properties that shield brain cells from damage , helping to slow down the age-related onset of memory loss, Alzheimer's, and senility.

• Cherries also contain these beneficial anthocyanin compounds, which stimulate your pancreas to produce insulin. In fact, Chinese researchers have observed that cherries help keep diabetics healthy. These compounds also protect you against cancer, arthritis, and heart disease because they lower cholesterol.

To learn more about the health benefits of berries, click here.

4. Avocado: Packed with Nutrients
Among the many antioxidant nutrients, glutathione is known as the "master antioxidant." This naturally occurring compound, found in avocados (as well as asparagus, walnuts, and fish), is made up of the three amino acids glycine, glutamic acid, and cysteine. Glutathione regulates immune cells, protects against cancer, and assists in detoxifying.

A deficiency in glutathione can play a part in diabetes, liver disease, heart disease, low sperm count, and premature aging. Avocados are also a source of L-cysteine, which helps protect your body from the harmful effects of pollution, chemicals, radiation, alcohol, and smoke. L-cysteine may also help boost immunity, protect you from heart disease, and build muscle. It is also useful for combating inflammation and encouraging healthy hair and nail growth.

Pair your avocado with whole-grain crackers or whole-grain crisp breads for a fiber-rich tasty treat.

5. Apricots for Anti-Aging
One of the staple foods of the famously long-lived centenarians in the Hunza valley of the Himalayas is the apricot. Research has discovered that apricots have the highest levels and widest variety of carotenoids of any food.

Carotenoids are antioxidants that help prevent heart disease, reduce "bad cholesterol" levels, and protect against cancer.

I hope you find the ways to nourish your body with healthy snacks! I invite you to visit often and share your own personal health and longevity tips with me.

May you live long, live strong, and live happy!

Reference: Secrets Of Self- Healing

Friday, June 6, 2008

5 Tips for Mom's Longevity


This Mother's Day, show your mother how much you care by sharing with her these 5 vital ways to increase her health and longevity!

1. Exercise Every Day
As women age, they need more than ever to protect their bones and joints. Consider the benefits of a daily walk, at least 20 minutes every day. This will not only help your mother stay fit and build her bones, but it is also a wonderful way to reflect and clear the mind.

Swimming is a great form of cardiovascular exercise, and although it is not considered a weight-bearing activity, can also help fight osteoporosis. Better still, water acts as the perfect cushion for joints, great for those suffering from worn hips and knees. Additionally, gentle energy-boosting exercises like tai chi and yoga are essential for a flourishing anti-aging exercise program.

2. Frequent Fresh Water
Water is essential for everyone. Our body requires a certain amount to maintain our blood osmotic levels, provide the medium for circulating and excreting waste products, and cleansing our internal tissues. Centenarians around the world give credit to their native water sources for their health and long lives; the scientists agree!

What they all have in common is pure water sources located far from any city, free from chemicals and toxins. Choose filtered water; the best filtration process are the ones that use activated charcoal, which removes the impurities but leaves the water-soluble minerals. At least eight glasses of clean pure water should be consumed every day. Click here for my recommended water filters.

3. Treat Your Mother to Tea Time
In addition to being a delicious, low-calorie beverage, tea is the beverage most commonly enjoyed by centenarians around the world. Tea possesses free-radical inhibiting properties more potent than even vitamin E and also helps prevent and treat hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis). The polyphenols in tea, especially the catechins, are powerful antioxidants that help protect against cancer and diabetes. Drink up!

For a masterful blend of healing herbal tea, especially beneficial to your mother's health and wellbeing, click here.

4. Rejuvenate with Anti-aging Foods
When your mother told you to always eat your greens, she was looking out for your health. Now let her know how much you care about her by sharing with her these top life-extending, anti-aging foods:

• Soy contains phytoestrogen, which is a plant form of estrogen that improves the body's hormonal balance and protects women from breast cancer. Soy is also rich in genistein, which protects against osteoporosis and other aging symptoms. Foods that are made with soy include tofu, bean curd, soymilk, soy yogurt, miso, tempeh, and the actual bean pod itself.

• Leafy green vegetables like spinach, collards, chard, kale, mustard greens, parsley and seaweed all contain much needed calcium and other trace minerals for bone health, as well as phytosterol activities that help balance and support the hormonal system.

• Yams and sweet potatoes are powerhouse foods that contain higher amounts of beta-carotene and vitamin C than carrots, more protein than wheat and rice, and more fiber than oat bran. They are also rich in DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone) - a precursor hormone that is essential for the body's anti-aging defenses to work.

• Nuts and seeds: just a handful every day can help improve circulation and muscle tone. Research indicates that many of these nuts and seeds are rich sources of vitamin E, lignans and omega-3 fatty acids, which can help prevent against heart disease and the ravages of aging.

• Deep-sea fish, such as salmon, sea bass, halibut, tuna, and mackeral are rich sources of omega-3 essential fatty acids (EFA), which are crucial to hormonal production and also protect the heart and blood vessels.

5. Laughter for a Long Life
And finally, protecting your mother's health can be fun! Recall a comical family story or a funny family joke. Research tells us that laughter and joy boost immune functions, especially the production of the natural killer cells that help protect the body from illness and cancer. Laughter will also increase your mother's release of endorphins-compounds in her brain that give her a warm and fuzzy sense of wellbeing.

I hope you celebrate your mother's long and healthy life! I invite you to visit often and share your own personal health and longevity tips with me.

May you stay healthy, live long, and live happy! And may your mother live to 100 in good health!