Allergies

The importance of protein in a healthy diet is well known to nutritional scientists, and widely understood by the general population. Indeed, every bodily system is directly or indirectly supported by protein. For example, protein supports the structural development of cells, helps ensure the integrity of tissue, aids digestion, carries hormones, and strengthens the immune system[i].

More recently, however, the motivation for people to choose protein-rich foods has been fueled by carbohydrate-free and carbohydrate-reduced diets, such as the Atkins™ Diet, South Beach Diet™ and Isometric Diet™. Via each of these diet programs, millions of people are vigilantly scanning food labels, and asking pertinent health questions when eating out. Added to this growing number of protein-aware people are, of course, the millions of bodybuilders, powerlifters and athletes who have demonstrated for centuries the irreplaceable value of protein in building and maintaining muscle.

As impressive and inspiring as it is to see that more people than ever before are “protein-conscious”, there is still more useful protein information to learn. It is well past time to add an understanding of amino acids to this protein knowledge base.

Many people – understandably -- do not recognize that amino acids are not acids as they are conventionally understood. Rather, they are the molecular units that comprise protein. They are, quite simply, the very building blocks of protein.

Amino acids are organic compounds that contain two groups of molecules: amino -NH2 and carboxyl -COOH. There are a total of 19 amino acids in the human diet, of which 11 are non-essential, and the remaining 8 are essential. It is this critically important fact – that there are 2 kinds of amino acids -- that should be well understood and acted upon by eaters everywhere.

If the term “amino acid” does not readily suggest the link to protein, the terms “non-essential” amino acids and “essential” amino acids can be sources of even greater confusion. The nutritional world is fond of the word “essential”, and uses it often to describe something that is important, or critical, or irreplaceable. For example, a nutritionist may rationally inform her patient that eating 50 grams of protein per day is essential; and by this she means “very important”.

This same application of the term does now, however, flow to the “essential” and “non essential” amino acid vocabulary.

Non-essential amino acids are those that the body is able to synthesize itself. This does not mean, of course, that the body can create these non-essential amino acids out of nothing. Rather, it means that the body’s own internal laboratory can create these 11 non-essential amino acids from raw materials. It is for this reason that these 11 amino acids are called non-essential; it has nothing to do with the term “important” or “unimportant”. These 11 non-essential amino acids include, in alphabetical order:[ii] Alanine Arginine Asparagine Aspartic Acid Cysteine Glutamic Acid Glutamine Glycine Histidine Proline Tyrosine

The remaining 8 amino acids are called essential; and this refers to the fact that they cannot be synthesized. The body can only receive them exogenously eg. through food. These essential amino acids include, in alphabetical order:[iii] Isoleucine Leucine Lysine Methionine Phenylalanine Serine Threonine Tryptophan Valine

Understanding the importance of amino acids is critical, because a failure to eat foods that contain these essential amino acids can lead to deficiency and adverse health effects. These effects can include – but are not limited to -- fatigue, allergies, loss of memory, and even heart disease[iv]. When one considers the pain and suffering caused by any of these four ill health effects, and the myriad of subsequent ailments that they can provoke, it becomes readily apparent that a knowledge of amino acids, and especially “essential” amino acids, must be a part of an intelligent eater’s knowledge base.

While there has been some movement on the part of nutritional supplement companies to provide eaters with convenient and palatable sources of protein, many of them have put their marketing needs first and ignored amino acids altogether. As a consequence of this omission, some eaters are actually suffering from an “overdose” of incomplete protein. This is because what they are eating may not provide them with the total, essential protein that they need. The only complete proteins on the planet are derived from dairy, meat, fish, poultry and soy, and these foods are not present in our most common foods. There are, however, protein supplements that also offer proteins with the full spectrum of amino acids.

The solution here is uncomplicated and accessible. Eaters must simply choose to eat foods and nutritional supplements that offer a “complete” source of protein. This means that all 19 essential amino acids must be present including, of course, the “essential 8” amino acids that the body cannot synthesize.

There are some companies – though still clearly in the minority – that create nutritional supplements that carefully ensure that all of the amino acids are present. It is notable that these companies do not necessarily have to do this, since neither the Food and Drug Administration nor many consumers are demanding this from their food labeling; at least, not yet. This is all the more reason to laud those companies that are putting people and nutrition first, and marketing a distant second.

REFERENCES

[i] Source: “Amino Acids. Diet-and-health-net. http://www.diet-and-health.net/Nutrients/AminoAcids.html

[ii] Source: “Amino Acids”. About.com. http://exercise.about.com/library/Glossary/bldef-amino_acids.htm

[iii] Ibid.

[iv] Source: “What are Amino Acids”. Vanderbilt University. http://vanderbiltowc.wellsource.com/dh/content.aspID=759

About The Author

Copyright 2004 - Protica Research - www.protica.com

Founded in 2001, Protica, Inc. is a nutritional research firm with offices in Lafayette Hill and Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. Protica manufactures capsulized foods, including Profect, a compact, hypoallergenic, ready-to-drink protein beverage containing zero carbohydrates and zero fat. Information on Protica is available at http://www.protica.com

You can also learn about Profect at http://www.profect.com

Allergies are an unpleasant fact of life for many today. The symtoms are all too common including, sneezing, coughing, runny nose, breathing difficulties, skin inflammations, and more. A true allergy sufferer knows how difficult it is to deal with these symptoms on a daily basis.

If your allergy is to airborne elements, you are really at the mercy of changing winds, weather, and seasons too when you are outdoors. There isnt much that can be done to control the outside environment, but there is plenty that you can do to try to control the allergens in the air when you are indoors.

There are several tools at the allergy sufferers disposal to help, but some of the most effective are air purifiers that can help scrub the air of allergic compounds and remove the allergy causing contaminants.

Air duct filters are another valuable weapon in the arsenal for cleaning the air you breathe. Either used by themselves or in tandem with other air cleaners such as air purifiers, they can help rid the air of the following:

Dust, pollen, allergens

Pet dander, dust mites

Harmful bacteria, viruses

Pet odor removal: dog, cat, etc.

Mold / mildew removal

Cigar / cigarette smoke

Air duct filters are very easy to install and yet very effective in what they do. They are designed for use in any HVAC venitilating system to provide central air purification for your home, business or commercial building. They are perfect for small and large ventilating systems in homes or businesses, and industrial use in ventilating systems including; industrial odor removal, gaseous fume removal and biological decontamination.

As with other air purification products, air duct cleaners are usually specified to clean the air within a certain area or space. Their results are best achieved when used within the specifications set for each filter.

Air duct filters are another way that allergy sufferers can begin to take back their life and break free from from allergy symptoms.

About The Author

Duane Johnson - All About Home Air Purifiers is a site that provides free information, tips, and resources for finding the best home air purifiers, commercial air purifiers, humidifiers, and dehumidifiers to help improve your health.

http://all-about-air-quality.info

Whenever we sit down to eat, we assume that the foods we consume are good for us, like milk, vegetables, fruits, and grains. Well, think again. In the last decade the foods we know corn, tomato, potato, soybean, strawberries have drastically changed due to the introduction of genetically modified another word is genetically engineered organisms in 1994. Over 60% of the items on your local grocery store shelves these days are genetically modified, and these items are not labeled as such.

On the surface, these genetically modified foods look and taste similar to what we ate before 1994, but their internal structure is not the same. Their internal genetic structure has been tampered with by the process called genetic engineering. It doesn’t stop there. Most of the processed foods we eat contain some genetically modified food component, like corn syrup and soy lecithin. Look at the labels. Even though they are not specifically labeled “genetically modified,” if their ingredients contain a corn or soy product, chances are that they are contaminated with a genetically modified organism. Canola oil is also a genetically modified product. In addition, animal feed often contains corn products, and eventually it enters our bodies when we eat poultry, eggs, cheese, beef, etc. from animals that have been fed this genetically modified diet.

What is genetically engineered food

Simply put, foreign genes are inserted into a plant for the purpose of either protecting the plant from insects or from frost. Since the plant cannot protect itself from the bugs or frost, why not give it a gene that does For example, fish genes from a fish that weathers the cold has been introduced into strawberries so that they can also resist the cold. This process is not simple. For an insecticide gene to be inserted into the DNA of the plant and to be activated, extra genes are needed to trick the DNA into allowing this foreign gene to enter it. An “antibiotic resistance marker gene” and a promoter gene cauliflower mosaic virus are those extra genes that are inserted along with the insecticide or frost gene. For example, the most widely grown type of genetically engineered soybean, Monsanto’s herbicide- resistant “Round Up Ready” soybean, contains genes from bacteria cauliflower virus, and petunia.

What does that mean for us, the consumer This means that we are eating built-in insecticides in our foods. Genes from completely unrelated organisms such as moth, bacteria, pig, or fish have been introduced into genetically modified plants, and we are eating them. Regulatory officials have stated that these genetically modified foods are supposed to be degraded in the stomach, and thus do not cause any problem. However, this is not the case in real life. An independent study showed that a proportion of large fragments from genetically modified food were not degraded and were observed up to two hours in the digestive system. The longer these fragments don’t get broken down, the more likelihood of an immune response against them. The body’s immune system kicks in and the results are allergic type symptoms. It is known that allergies have increased in the past decade or so for young children. Can genetically modified foods be one of the possible reasons

The Unknowns

Even after these foreign genes are introduced as a package into the plant gene, there is no control as to where they will be inserted into the plant’s DNA. This is a random event, and often takes thousands of tries before it is successfully implanted into the plant’s DNA. The actual location in which the foreign gene is inserted in the DNA is random and unknown, which makes for unreliability of the process.

It is unknown what the foreign gene will do to the makeup of the DNA in a human’s body. The cauliflower prosaic virus similar properties to Hepatitis B and AIDS virus is inserted along with the insecticide gene as a promoter, and how do we know if that virus will not do us harm There have been several instances when viruses previously thought to be restricted to animals have been found to jump species boundaries and affect humans also.

Reports of Health Issues with Genetically Modified Foods

In 1998, Professor Arpad Puztai of Aberdeens Rowett Institute fed several young rats on genetically modified potatoes that carried genes from the snowdrop and jackbean for 110 days equivalent to 10 human years. The rats suffered from slightly stunted growth and their immune systems were compromised and were therefore more likely to be vulnerable to disease.

A study done in Italy suggested that genetically modified soybean intake can influence liver cell nuclear features in young and adult mice. Source: Malatesta M, Caporaloni C, Gavaudan S, et al "Ultrastructural Morphometrical and Immunocytochemical Analyses of Hepatocyte Nuclei from Mice Fed on Genetically Modified Soybean". Cell Structure and Function Vol. 27 2002, No. 4 pp.173-18.

A village of thirty-nine people living adjacent to a large field of Bt-maize Dekalb 818 YG on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines were stricken by a disease with respiratory, intestinal, and skin reactions, and fever 2003. These symptoms occurred when the maize was producing airborne pollen. The maize was genetically engineered to produce the insecticide called Bacillus thuringiensis Bt. In response to Bt-toxin, IgA, IgG, and IgM antibodies were detected in their blood samples, indicating an immune reaction to GM maize pollen. When four of these villagers left the area, their symptoms subsided. As soon as they returned, the symptoms came back again.

Issues That Require Attention

Without the labeling of GM foods, we cannot possibly begin to trace any harmful effects caused by them. We don’t know the long-term effect of eating these foods because there are no studies done. The FDA says that the burden of safety is on the manufacturer. Consumers need to contact their congressmen and let them know that they want genetically modified foods labeled. Until these labels are put on foods, there will not be any accountability on the part of the manufacturer. Until then, consumers can protect themselves by eating only organic foods.

Environmental issues have arisen from these genetically modified plants.

Cross pollination – contamination of fields near genetically modified crops has been witnessed bees take the pollen and fly to another field, cross pollinating the other plants. For example, Starlink corn, a genetically modified corn, was recalled in 2001, and although it was believed to have been removed from the market, several corn products corn tortillas were found to be contaminated with the genetically modified Starlink corn.

Weeds – increasing. Genetically engineered plants are supposed to need less pesticides, and this was the case the first few years they were grown. However, a November 25, 2004 report released by the Northwest Science and Environmental Policy Center showed increased pesticide use by about 50 million pounds for the planting of 550 million acres of genetically engineered GE corn, soybeans and cotton in the United States since 1996. Many farmers have had to spray more herbicides on GE acres in order to keep up with the weeds that are becoming tougher-to-control species.

Helpful links on Genetically Modified Foods:

http://www.organicconsumers.org/monlink.html

http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-PEST/1999/December/Day-21/p32871.htm

http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/home.cfm

http://www.psrast.org/liverchang.htm

http://www.actionbioscience.org/biotech/pusztai.html

http://www.naturallaw.org.nz/genetics/HandBook/4.htm

About The Author

Patty Apostolides is a biologist, poet, author of several articles, and author of the novel "Lipsis Daughter." More information can be found on her website: http://www.geocities.com/10500bc/index.html

Liendou@Writing.com

A healthy home environment means that contaminants that are harmful to your health are removed or neutralized as much as possible. For allergy sufferers, it is vital to try to limit the free distribution of air-borne allergens that can trigger allergic symptoms. That includes airborne contaminants such as:

Dust, pollen, allergens

Pet dander, dust mites

Harmful bacteria, viruses

Pet odor removal: dog, cat, etc.

Mold / mildew removal

Cigar / cigarette smoke

Home air purifiers help rid the air of these particles that can cause allergic reactions and even trigger asthma attacks. If you cant change the way that your body treats what it perceives as a threat by allergic reaction, then you can work on changing the environment that you live in so that your body doesnt sense the presence of these allergy causing compounds.

Most home air purifiers are made to specifically clean and scrub the air within a predefined area or size of room. There is no need to buy a home air purifier that is made for large spaces when you only need it for one small room. Likewise, under buying for the area you need to have clean air is a waste of money and will not achieve the results that you want.

Home air purifiers can also be used in conjunction with other air cleaning devices like air duct filters to provide an even higher level of air quality than is possible with one method alone.

One of the great benefits of home air purifiers is that they are so easy to set up and maintain. Just find a spot in the rooms that you plan to clean and plug the air purifier in. Most are made to run very quietly and will not be a disturbance to anyone in the room. When the recommended time for has elapsed for the filter use, just remove the current filter and pop in the replacement.

Home air purifiers are an inexpensive, simple, and easy way to help control the living environment indoors for anyone who requires high quality air filtration, especially allergy sufferers.

About The Author

Duane Johnson - All About Home Air Purifiers is a site that provides free information, tips, and resources for finding the best home air purifiers, commercial air purifiers, humidifiers, and dehumidifiers to help improve your health.

http://all-about-air-quality.info

Eustachian Ear is the name given to the medical problem that arises when the Eustachian tube in the middle ear is blocked. In the ear, the Eustachian tube normally allows the middle ear to drain into the throat. There is drainage because the middle ear has a fairly constant liquid which keeps the middle ear space moist and allows the liquid to drain down into the throat.

This tube can be blocked for many reasons; common cold, sinusitis, nasal allergy, throat infection, food allergies and sometimes in small children, large adenoids. When the Eustachian tube is blocked the pressure in the middle ear cannot be equalized. If the blockage continues, fluid will build up. Make no mistake, this can be very serious. To assist your body to cure this problem there are simple things you can do.

Clean your ears well all the time.

Address the cause of the contributing problem i.e.; allergies, sinus infection, or throat infection and also treat the ear problem. Cure the body and the ears should clear themselves. Use E.A.R. Drops; these drops are a special formula chosen to solve a wide range of ear problems from simple infections to plugged Eustachian Tubes.

Ear problems are most prevalent in children and seniors, but none of us are exempt. Poor diet and a poor immune system, can often be the reason we develop ear problems. By changing our life style, we can prevent illness and have a healthy, vibrant body.

© 2005 Jane Kriese janes-store@telus.net

About The Author

To learn more, sign up for Jane Krieses Herbs For Health Newsletter, and receive your free alkalinity testing kit at www.herbsforhealthstore.biz

janes-store@telus.net

It seems that the "What is ADHD" question is not very easy to answer, despite the plethora of studies, research and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity testing over the past decades.

In asking the question, "What is ADHD," it is easier to answer by describing what ADHD is not. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder testing and research has not proven that ADHD is a medical condition. There is no concrete research that supports that Attention Deficit and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is a genuine disorder or a disease.

What we do know is that Attention Deficit Disorder and ADHD is becoming a modern day American plague. It is the fastest growing diagnosis given to children and teens, often based on subjective Attention Deficit Disorder Hyperactivity testing of parent ratings and doctor observations.

Doctors use a standard checklist of characteristics when Attention Deficit Hyperactivity testing to make a diagnosis and prescribe a standard course of stimulant drug therapy in the treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity.

ADHD symptoms commonly include aggressive behavior, constant activity, easy distractibility, impulsiveness and/or the inability to concentrate. These ADHD symptoms may include fidgeting or constant movement, excessive talking and difficulty participating in "quiet" activities like reading.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder children always seem to be in motion. They dash around, wiggle, squirm, fidget and talk nonstop. They are whirlwinds that leave messes, throw tantrums, start fights and act obstinate.

Its hard to miss ADHD in children but if the parent happens to miss the signs, the childs teacher certainly will make a point of clearly pointing it out to the parent.

The most prevalent, and most controversial, treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is drug therapy. The top drugs of choice being Ritalin, Adderall, Dexedrine and Concerta.

Now heres the scary part; These commonly prescribed drugs in the treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Attention Deficit Disorder fall in the same drug category Schedule II as cocaine, methadone and opium.

Only a decade ago, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder testing and treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder was virtually unheard of.

The 1987 edition of the Websters Dictionary, touting 50,000 entries and modern definitions, does not even include the word "Hyperactive" or "Hyperactivity." The American Psychiatric Association did not name Attention Deficit as a disorder until 1990.

Young boys, by nature have higher levels of energy than their female counterparts. Boys are diagnoses at a rate three times higher than girls.

When did active, high-spirited, strong-willed and oft times uncooperative kids move from kids being kids to children having a mental disorder If using ADHD medication sales as a marker, this shift began right about the time the American Psychiatric Association named this set of characteristics as a disorder.

Since 1990, prescriptions for ADHD medications quintupled.

As Attention Deficit Hyperactivity testing and treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder reach all-time highs and continue to climb in this country, other countries around the world seem relatively unaffected by this "disorder." This is Americas plague.

This country uses 500% more Ritalin than all the rest of the world combined.

It is rare to find an Asian child undergoing Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder testing, much less receiving treatment. European children are diagnosed at a rate of about 10 percent of their American counterparts.

Either the United States has some pretty hyped up kids or American doctors are over-diagnosing Attention Deficit and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Some people argue that Attention Deficit and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder are not disorders at all, but simply personality types. Some people can sit still, pay attention, concentrate on specific tasks and exhibit proficient social skills. Others get fidgety, jump from project to project or just do not fit in the societal "norm."

The argument is that ADHD people are not "sick" and in need of dangerous drug therapy but simply have a different way of dealing with the conventional world.

Sure these high-energy and on-the-go kids can be incredibly irritating to teachers, energy draining to parents and general all-around hassles in the grocery store but they are also unique, creative, expressive and full of life. And boy, are they full of life!

Maybe we, as a society, should encourage some of these freethinking traits instead of expecting these children to sit quietly.

After all, had Albert Einstein, Lugwig Van Beethoven, Frank Lloyd Wright, Pablo Picasso, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Edison and Henry David Thoreau grown up in todays society, they likely would have been slapped with the Attention Deficit label and placed on medications to make them conform to societal standards.

Should we stifle the natural enthusiasm and fervor of hyperactive people with drug medications Would we have the genius of these incredibly unique minds if stifled by altering drugs

You have to wonder...

In the conventional treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, the goal is short-term, as are the effects. The goal is to make the child more compliant usually so they can sit quietly in school and ADHD medications do work effectively for the majority of children.

However, the price paid for compliant children can be detrimental to the childs mental and physical well being is high.

You want your child to be able to focus, sustain attention and behave calmly and appropriately on his own instead of relying on a pharmaceutical drug to do that for him. We do not want a generation of children to grow up automatically thinking that drugs are the answer.

Treatment should address the root of the problem instead of temporarily masking the symptoms and it should produce lasting changes instead of "fixing" the problem for a couple hours.

A large body of research indicates that environmental factors - nutritionally deficient diets, lead poisoning, food allergies and such - cause ADHD symptoms.

By ruling out environmental toxins, food allergies and other possibly causes and by increasing the bodys strength and wellness through sound diet and nutritional supplementation, Attention Deficit problems can be gently and effectively addressed without the use of dangerous medications.

We also believe that ADHD should stand for "Absolutely Delightful, Hardy and Daring" young children that will one day grow into fine adults if raised in an accepting, loving and stable environment.

So what is ADHD Nothing to be feared, nothing to dreaded, nothing other than a label placed on the societal wild children that need a little extra love and a whole lot of patience.

About The Author

Jeannine Virtue is a freelance journalist and mother of an Attention Deficit Disorder son. To learn about effective alternatives to Ritalin and other ADHD medications, visit http://www.add-adhd-help-center.com jvirtue@add-adhd-help-center.com

The American Association of Poison Control Centers AAPCC has recorded many exposures to household cleaning substances that were serious enough to require treatment in a health care facility. Incredibly, according to the AAPCC the largest number of occurrences of poisoning in 1993 were due to cleaning products - drain cleaners, toilet bowl cleaners, bleach, soaps and detergents.

One Million poisonings in Canada each year are due to household cleaner ingestion. Some are fatal. Thousands of children and adults are permanently disfigured or injured through contact with chemicals in the home each year.

Our pets are also at risk. Animals that dont have access to clean, fresh water are more likely to drink out of puddles, gutters, toilet bowls, or any old container left sitting around with a liquid in it. Even though my cats always have access to clean water in a bowl, they seem to prefer the toilet, the sink, the bathtub, or even a basin with cleaning solution in it.

Here is an alphabetical list of some of the most hazardous cleansers found around the house:

AIR FRESHENERS: interfere with your ability to smell by releasing nerve-deadening agents or coating nasal passages with an oil film, usually methoxychlor, a pesticide that accumulates in fat cells. Known toxic chemicals found in an air freshener are formaldehyde, a highly toxic, known carcinogen, and phenol. When phenol touches your skin it can cause it to swell, burn, peel, and break out in hives.

AMMONIA: is a very volatile chemical and is very damaging to your eyes, respiratory tract and skin.

ANTIBACTERIAL CLEANERS: may contain triclosan, which is absorbed through the skin and can be tied to liver damage.

BLEACH: is a strong corrosive. It will irritate or burn the skin, eyes and respiratory tract. It may cause pulmonary edema or vomiting and coma if ingested. Never mix bleach with acid toilet bowl cleaners or ammonia. These mixtures may produce fumes which can be DEADLY.

CARPET AND UPHOLSTERY SHAMPOO: Most formulas are designed to over power the stain itself; they accomplish the task but not without using highly toxic substances. Some include perchlorethylene, a known carcinogen that damages liver, kidney and nervous system damage; and ammonium hydroxide, a corrosive, extremely irritable to eyes, skin and respiratory passages.

CHLORINE: The first agent of chemical warfare was chlorine. WWII ended with an abundance of this cheap chemical. In the name of huge profits, it was added to our water supply and many other products. Chlorine is the number one cause of breast cancer and can be lethal. Scientists wont handle chlorine without protective gloves, facemasks, and ventilation, yet it is in most store-brand cleaners, including dishwasher detergents. The harmful effects are intensified when the fumes are heated, as in the shower. It ís in our drinking water, swimming pools, Jacuzzis, and more.

DISHWASHER DETERGENTS: Most products contain chlorine in a dry form that is highly concentrated. The #1 cause of household poisoning is dish detergent. Dishwashing liquids are labelled "harmful if swallowed." Each time you wash your dishes, some residue is left on them, which accumulates with each washing. Your food picks up part of the residue -- especially if your meal is hot when you eat it.

FURNITURE POLISH: contain petroleum distillates, which are highly flammable and can cause skin and lung cancer. They contain nitrobenzene, which is easily absorbed through the skin and extremely toxic.

LAUNDRY ROOM PRODUCTS: Laundry detergents contain phosphorus, enzymes, ammonia, naphthalene, phenol, sodium nitilotriacetate and countless other chemicals. These substances can cause rashes, itches, allergies, sinus problems and more. The residue left on your clothes, bed sheets, etc. is absorbed through your skin, as is everything else you touch.

OVEN CLEANER: one of the most toxic products people use. They contain lye and ammonia, which eat the skin, and the fumes linger and affect the respiratory system. Then there ís the residue that ís intensified the next time you turn your oven on. Use sea salt and baking soda instead.

TOILET BOWL CLEANERS: usually contain hydrochloric acid, a highly corrosive irritant to both skin and eyes that damages kidneys and liver; and hypochlorite bleach, a corrosive irritant that can burn eyes, skin and respiratory tract. Toilet bowl cleaners also may cause pulmonary edema, vomiting or coma if ingested. Contact with other chemicals may cause chlorine fumes which may be fatal.

Are you one of the millions of consumers who tend to think anything sold must be safe Think again. Since WWII more than 80,000 synthetic chemicals have been invented. Most have been created from petroleum and coal tar for the purposes of chemical warfare. The sad thing is that hardly any of these substances have been tested for safety, but have been added to our food, water and cleaning products without our consent and most often without informing us of any dangers. There is a lot of intentional suppression in this industry that adds approximately 1000 new chemicals each year.

According to the National Research Council, "no toxic information is available for more than 80% of the chemicals in everyday-use products. Less than 20% have been tested for acute effects and less than 10% have been tested for chronic, reproductive or mutagenic effects." Most have not been tested for combined or accumulated effects, nor for their effects on unborn children.

What can you do to protect your loved ones from chemical injury and poisoning

First of all, educate yourself, and find safer alternatives as much as possible.

Secondly, minimize use of harsh chemicals. Clean spills and stains immediately, remove food waste promptly, keep home moisture/humidity down to 30-50%, and use entry way mats at all entrances.

Third, store all cleaning agents in their original containers out of the reach of children. Follow the directions on the label and use only the amount of product recommended. Read labels, follow safety precautions and contact the manufacturer if you have questions.

By definition, we clean our homes to reduce damage or harm to human and pet health, and to protect our valued possessions. Lets not make the solution worse than the problem!

About The Author

Glenn Beach is a self employed subcontractor who has worked extensively in the commercial cleaning industry. More articles and the opportunity to buy and sell environmentally safe products are available on his website. mailto: begle@work-at-home-business-opportunity-canada.com http://www.work-at-home-business-opportunity-canada.com/veriuni_sampler.html

Naturopathic medicine is a system and philosophy of medicine that has been around for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years. Before the advent of ‘conventional’ medicine, which uses a wide variety of drugs and surgical procedures, almost every doctor learned how to use herbs, minerals, homeopathy, and other natural methods to treat disease. Since the early 1900’s and with the discovery of antibiotics, usage and public knowledge of naturopathic medicine has declined. This was most likely due to the ‘quick fix’ nature of many of the new drugs developed and increased safety of surgical procedures. Diseases such as influenza and measles, which today are generally nuisances and easily treated in most people, were very scary and sometimes life threatening in these earlier times. The plague literally plagued people. Today we are blessed with better opportunities for proper nutrition, hygiene, and information about these diseases, all of which lessen the threat of many of the more common diseases becoming life threatening. The attraction that people had towards conventional medicine was and is understandable. Treatments that decrease symptoms of a disease are often well received by patients who are dealing with a troublesome condition. Most advances in technology are viewed as progress and people want the best, especially where their health or that of their loved ones is concerned. The problem that came with this flux towards conventional medicine was that it was new and no one knew what the side effects or long-term effects of using synthetic drugs would be. Also, most people abandoned the more natural methods of health care and stopped caring for themselves in a way that would keep them strong and vital. Instead they began using pills and surgery as ‘fixes’ when things went wrong. They began to eat more processed foods that have fewer vitamins and minerals. Our environment became more polluted. Most doctors know little about nutrition, how or what to eat, or what to do with people affected by the environment. As well, the more scientific medicine gets, the less people understand it. This leads to people feeling ignorant about health matters and leaving all the power in their doctor’s hands.

So, here we are today. When people feel sick or know something is wrong, they make an appointment and usually get a prescription. If that doesn’t work, another prescription is tried. If a person is lucky, they get sick very infrequently and live healthy lives. Complications arise when the treatments given don’t work or cause side effects that need another treatment to lessen them. What happens if you have allergies, asthma, and diabetes How many prescriptions do you take What if the drugs given interact with each other or cause a nutritional deficiency What about the people who are on a drug for the rest of their lives What about people with chronic diseases that have been told they have no cure but the symptoms can be ‘managed’

What causes many of the above problems is the philosophy of the medicine used. The focus should not be however contrary it may sound how to get rid of whatever ails you, but why it began. If you can find out what causes your disease and why it began for you, it is entirely possible to foster your health in such a way that your body heals itself. It does little good to get rid of an ear infection in your child if it returns again. Why take an antiviral daily to suppress herpes outbreaks when this can be done with lifestyle and natural methods that do the same thing while enhancing your immunity If you have advanced heart disease, diabetes, or cancer, what feelings of hope do you have that your life can be enhanced If you take medications daily, perhaps in increasing doses, for the rest of your life with your only hope to have better or stable lab test results, that doesn’t sound like the quality life you could be having. Did you know that with changes to your lifestyle and natural therapies you could increase the energy you feel as well as possibly reverse many of the damaging changes you now live with

There are natural treatments for every complaint. I once heard from a wise doctor, “There are no incurable diseases, only incurable people”. What he meant was that every case of cancer may not be curable, but it is possible to cure cancer. No condition is incurable. What happens in treatment is more a factor of the person, the nature of the disease, and other variables, and not so much which disease is being treated. It is more difficult, of course, to treat diseases that are long-standing, severe, or in other ways complicated. But that does not mean it can never been done. If a person does not want treatment and they get something from being in the place they are at, that makes recovery all the more difficult. It is much easier to treat conditions when they first start and when the person wishes to be well. But still there are no guarantees.

What tends to work best for most people is a multifaceted approach to treating their condition. First, treat the whole person. Find out what their needs are and treat them physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, as they need it. Treat their whole body. Migraines, arthritis, and urinary infections can be related and not separate diseases. A person may not need antibiotics or removal of an organ, they may need something that seems entirely unrelated. The toddler with constant stomach pains may not need medication; he may need to change day cares. Try to understand what is going on for the person.

Second, treat them in such a way as to increase their vitality. The goal is to increase the healing response within so that the body becomes healthier and reverses the disease process naturally and in its time if this is possible. It may be necessary to provide some symptomatic relief, but the goal of a treatment should not be to simply suppress the symptoms. Just because symptoms are gone does not mean that the disease is not there. The goal is a complete cure and no return of the condition sometimes this is possible, at other times it is not. Your body holds an incredible healing force that wants to keep you in harmonious balance at all times. Think of the miracle of healing a broken bone. Think of how microorganisms cause your lungs much distress in bronchitis, yet how well you breathe and how complete the cure when the body is done healing that condition. Think of the miracle of life itself. If disease arises when we hinder the body in maintaining its perfect balance, then restoring conditions of balance will help our bodies to heal themselves. After all, it is not the antibiotic that heals you. The antibiotic simply kills off enough bacteria to allow your body the upper hand. Ask yourself if the body shouldn’t have the upper hand to begin with. If you really do need antibiotics, what is causing the bacteria to gain the upper hand

Naturopathic medicine strives to restore balance by removing any obstacles keeping your body from healing itself. Physicians using this medicine understand the importance of treating each person individually and in a way that helps restore their natural vitality. They also try to use the most gentle yet effective treatment possible to avoid causing side effects or interactions between treatments. Naturopathic physicians also recognize the importance of using conventional medicine when it is necessary. They will also use appropriate lab work, x-rays, and other tools for diagnosis and tracking when necessary. As all physicians, they frequently will refer a complicated condition to providers who can give the patient the best care along with the natural treatments. Naturopaths regard the wants and needs of their patients highly. A patient is encouraged to share their goals and take and active part in their healthcare. Consultations and treatments are generally longer than those with a conventional practitioner so questions can be addressed and a healing relationship established.

About The Author

For more information or questions on related topics, please visit www.MyWebND.com. Get all your health questions answered from a licensed Naturopathic physician without the wait for an office visit. Well-researched, reliable information is now available and easy to find. info@myWebND.com

"Among the most exciting applications of herbal medicine lie in treating abnormalities of the immune system. Clinical studies have shown that various herbal products are effective in treating allergies, asthma, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis. Herbal medicine also has a unique potential usefulness in balancing the immune system in cases of chronic infection, preventing the immune system from turning on the body and causing destruction."

~Phyllis A. Balch, CNC Prescription for Herbal Healing

A healthy, properly functioning immune system is absolutely vital to good health. It is the key to the healing process from the tiniest scratch - to the most complex virus. Even the aging process is intimately linked with the immune system.

Compromised immunity leaves us vulnerable to disease and impairs our ability to heal properly and age well.

SIGNS OF IMPAIRED IMMUNE FUNCTION

CANDIDIASIS/ YEAST INFECTIONS

RECURRING INFECTIONS

CHRONIC FATIGUE

LISTLESSNESS

CHRONIC DIARRHEA

SLOW WOUND HEALING

ALLERGIES

INFLAMMATION

People who have more than 2 or 3 colds or infectious illnesses per year are likely suffering from weakened immunity

WHAT IS THE IMMUNE SYSTEM

The immune system is a complex system of interactions involving many organs and glands as well as substances such as bone marrow, white blood cells, lymphatic vessels and serum factors in our blood. Our immunity dependson all these components functioning together.

HOW DOES OUR IMMUNITY BECOME IMPAIRED

Unfortunately, modern life is full of things that tend to depress our immune systems.

PESTICIDES

CHEMICHALS IN HOUSEHOLD CLEANERS

FOOD ADDITIVES

ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTANTS

OVERUSE OF ANTIBIOTICS

POOR LIVING HABITS

STRESS

IMPROPER NUTRITION

CHEMOTHERAPY

Also many disorders have been linked to improper immune function including thyroid deficiency, diabetes, rheumatic heart disease, reheumatoid arthritis, lupus and pernicious anemia.

For optimal immune function we need to address any disorders that may be inhibiting immune function. We also need to take steps to avoid exposure to toxins such as pesticides and chemicals we use around the house. Try wearing gloves when cleaning to avoid skin exposure and avoid inhaling fumes from things like bleach, oven cleaners, and the like. Make sure dishes and glassware are thouroughly rinsed of any residue from dishwashing liquids etc. Even though theyre more expensive, consider buying nontoxic cleansers. Take steps to ensure that the soaps and shampoos you use are made from the most natural ingredients possible. Aubrey Organics is a good option. Its also important to get plenty of fresh air and to drink the purest water available.

HERBS THAT BENEFIT THE IMMUNE SYSTEM

ASTRAGALUS - A powerful antioxidant which protects the liver from toxins, boosts the immune system and generates anticancer cells in the body.

ECHINACEA - Enhances lymphatic function and boosts immune system.

GINKGO BILOBA - A powerful antioxidant which increases circulation to brain cells.

GOLDENSEAL - An antibacterial which strengthens the immune system and cleanses the blood. Dont take internally for more than a week at a time or if pregnant.

ST. JOHNS WORT- A blood purifier useful in cases of Epstein - Barr virus and HIV.

OLIVE LEAF - Effective against numerous viruses, bacteria and fungi. It has been used in the treatment of people with viral illnesses such as Epstein-Barr disease, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Herpes and AIDS.

SPIRULINA - Aids in protecting the immune system and cleansing toxins from the body. Though technically a nutrient, not an herb, spirulina is a naturally digestible food that helps protect the immune system and aids in mineral absorption. It helps balance blood sugar levels and supplies nutrients that help the body cleanse and heal.

Other herbs that enhance the immune response are

BAYBERRY,FENUGREEK , HAWTHORN, HOREHOUND and RED CLOVER .

~Herbal Formulas~

Herbs often work best when used in combination with other herbs. There are contraindications for certain herbs if you have an auto-immune disorder. Consult a good herbal book or work with an herbalist to create a blend appropriate for your needs.

~ CLEANSE THE LIVER ~

The liver is our primary detoxifying organ and must be functioning optimally for proper immunity.

Herbs which are useful in cleansing the liver include BLACK RADISH, DANDELION, and MILK THISTLE.

~Other Steps to Improved Immunity~

Proper Nutrition

In addition to using herbs to strengthen and balance the immune system it is important to supply the body with adequate nutrients.

Vitamin A Vital to the bodys defense system - known as the infection-fighting vitamin.

Vitamin C Probably the most important vitamin to the immune system. It has a direct effect on bacteria and viruses and is needed for forming adrenal hormones and lymphocytes.

Vitamin E Works synergystically with vitamins A & C as well the mineral selenium as a scavenger of toxic free-radicals.

Zinc Promotes healing of wounds and boosts immune response.

Germanium A trace element which benefits the immune system.

Get sufficient sleep.

Dont Smoke

Excercise Regularly

Reduce Stress and Anxiety.

Stress triggers changes in biochemistry that suppress white blood cell activity and taxes the endocrine system in ways that ultimately result in lowered defense against infection and an impaired capacity for healing. Stress also depletes the body of nutrients. Addressing chronic stress is a very important element of bringing the immune system into balance.

About The Author

Cori Young is an herbalist living in the Pacific Northwest. For more information on healing with herbs, visit her website, Herbal Remedies Info http://www.herbalremediesinfo.com cori@herbalremediesinfo.com

ADHD / ADD Smptoms, Causes & Alternative Treatment

Attention Deficit Disorder ADD is a dysfunction of the Central Nervous System CNS, most specifically the reticular activating system.The most well known form of ADD is attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. ADHD affects an estimated 5% of school aged children in North America. It is the most common neurological disorder among children in this country.

SYMPTOMS AND CHARACHTERISTICS

This condition is marked by learning disabilities, frequent forgetfullness, impaired judgement, excessive talking/interupting, trouble concentrating, shortened attention span, and orginization problems.

WHAT CAUSES ADHD and ADD

Research shows the common factor in all forms of ADD and ADHD to be a coordination failure in the reticular activating system of the brain. This area of the brain helps coordinate external stimulus. A brain chemical, norepinephrine, carries information between different regions of the brain which allows certain areas to be activated while others are inhibited, allowing one to focus on selected external information, while excluding others.

In the case of ADD / ADHD this neural coordination is impaired, causing competitive stimulation from multiple external and internal sources -too much visual stimulation, too much sound stimulation, too many internal feelings and emotions, etc. When the limited neural network is overly taxed in this regard, it becomes unable to "tune in" or focus on some stimulation, while "tuning out," or "turning down" attenuating other stimulation. The results can be irritation, aggression and anxiety.

OTHER CONTRIBUTING FACTORS

SUGAR CONSUMPTION blunts the brains ability to respond to norepinephrine, thus impairing brain coordination.

ALLERGIES Up to 90% of all children with ADD or ADHD are allergic to red, yellow, and blue dyes found in food products. Other common food allergens include, cows milk, peanuts, citrus, and tomatoes.

FAMILY HISTORY

OXYGEN DEPRIVATION AT BIRTH

LEAD POISONING

DIETARY DEFICIENCIES

SMOKING DURING PREGNANCY

HOW CAN ADD/ADHD BE TREATED

CONVENTIONAL APPROACH

Conventional treatment of ADD / ADHD most often includes the use of psychostimulant or antidepressant drugs. Over time, however these drugs often become ineffective and cause a sort of rebound effect where frustration and anger return. Excessive use of stimulant drugs can cause lethargy and depression.

ALTERNATIVE APPROACH

Fortunately there are effective alternatives to medications.

A combination of herbs and nutritional support can often balance the brain chemistry naturally without the side effects of medications. There are formulas available that are designed specifically to provide the essential framework of lipids and fatty acids, natural hormones, as well as neural growth and synchronization factors quintessential for neural and glial cell generation in order to meet the demands of increased neural "traffic" through the reticular activating system.

Many herbs have been shown to provide relief from ADD/ADHD symptoms without the side effects of prescription drugs. However, not all herbs are suitable for small children. They are best used synergistically in a reputable formula designed specifically for the treatment of ADD/ADHD.

CONSIDERATIONS

AVOID SUGAR Research has shown that children with ADD and ADHD may not digest sugars properly. Sugar consumption has been linked to aggressive, restless behaviour.

IDENTIFY ALLERGIES Try to identify and avoid food allergens and neurotoxins such as artificial sweetners and food dyes.

AVOID SOFT DRINKS Both sugar-free and sweetened contain phosphates which displaces calcium/magnesium levels, causing exaggerated muscle activity.

GET PLENTY OF SUNLIGHT Seasonal Affective Disorder, SAD, is sometimes misdiagnosed as ADD or ADHD. Occurring mostly in northern latitudes during the winter months, SAD produces ADD-like symptoms. Consider exposure to full-spectrum lighting if unable to spend time outdoors each day.

REFERENCES:

Prescription For Herbal Healing by Phyllis A. Balch, CNC

12 Effective Ways to Help Your Add/Adhd Child: Drug-Free Alternatives for Attention-Deficit Disorders by Laura J. Stevens

THE LCP SOLUTION: The Remarkable Nutritional Treatment for ADHD, Dyslexia, and Dyspraxia by Malcolm J. Nicholl

Transforming the Difficult Child; The Nurtured Heart Approach by Howard Glasser

About The Author

Cori Young is an herbalist living in the Pacific Northwest. For more information on healing with herbs, visit her website, Herbal Remedies Info http://www.herbalremediesinfo.com cori@herbalremediesinfo.com

Many people think that drastic measures are required in order to have flawless, youthful skin. Nothing could be further from the truth. It’s possible to have better looking skin starting with things you already have in your home; no cosmetic surgery or expensive makeup required!

Healthy skin is moist and produces adequate amounts of oil from the sebaceous glands, producing a natural “glow.” Plump skin cells fit together like a carefully constructed mosaic, where each one has its own place. When skin cells dry out, however, they begin to lift and separate at an angle, giving skin a dull, flaky look that makes the skin appear older.

The two main causes for dry skin are environmental factors weather, chemicals, the use of the wrong personal care products and poor diet. In order to look great on the outside, you must first treat yourself right from within. A regular balanced diet is the number one defense against wrinkles, outbreaks and dry skin conditions. However, certain foods have properties that are most important for that glow that we crave. Here we’ll talk a bit about some of these foods, and you’ll see how quickly you can achieve radiant skin without breaking the bank.

Most moisture for your skin is provided through your bloodstream. The bloodstream is responsible for pumping nutrients and minerals into your system which are carried through that moisture. Without being properly hydrated, nutrients and minerals in your bloodstream may never reach your skin, making them useless in keeping your skin youthful. The oil that your skin produces is not directly responsible for moisturizing, but instead helps to keep moisture in. An inadequate amount of oil will allow excessive evaporation or the moisture in your skin, allowing it to dry out quickly.

Foods rich in protein are essential for skin regeneration and repair. Not just any protein will do. The Atkins diet, which boasts of it low carb dieting results, allows for many types of protein that can cause damage to your skin. Any kind of processed meat, such as bacon, hot dogs or deli meats are loaded with preservatives and salt that will do nothing but pull moisture from your skin. Better sources of protein would include seafood salmon in particular is a very good choice, lean fowl turkey, chicken and vegetable protein. Veggie protein is often overlooked, as American society is accustomed to “meat with every meal.” Try tofu or beans as a high quality protein source. Morningstar Farms makes an excellent veggie burger that even meat lovers would crave if given a try!

Another healthy practice is to eat lots of raw foods every day. Canned and frozen vegetables may provide some nutrients, but only raw veggies and fruits will contain the enzymes necessary to prevent free radical damage. If you absolutely must cook vegetables, steam them lightly and eat al dente.

Certain vitamins and minerals are crucial to youthful skin, including sulfur. In its natural form from foods such as garlic, onions, eggs and asparagus, sulfur with help to keep skin smooth and youthful. You can also take an L-systeine supplement which will also provide adequate amounts of sulfur for healthy skin. A lack of either Vitamin A or B can make your skin chapped or cracked. Beta-carotene is as good for your skin as it is for your eyes. Don’t limit yourself to carrots; any type of yellow or orange vegetable is loaded with them. Good examples are squashes and peppers.

Alpha-hydroxy acids are responsible for keeping your skin pH balanced. You can get them from foods such as apples, grapes, blackberries, citrus fruits, tomatoes and milk. Essential fatty acids EFAs found in fish especially salmon, dark leafy vegetables kale, collards, dandelions and flax seeds are also extremely important for your skin. Lactic acid helps to improve your skin’s moisture content, while glycolic acid removes dead skin cells that make your skin look dry and flaky. Eating foods containing these two EFAs will assist in healthy, glowing skin.

If you’re willing to spend a little just a little, there are a couple of supplements that will powerboost your healthy eating habits. If you find that you can only take one supplement, let it be Vitamin E. It prevents the formation of free radicals and helps repair skin cells damaged from scrapes, burns and bruises. Aloe Vera is another skin healer as well as moisturizer, and can be used topically from the aloe plant, or consumed as a juice found in supermarkets and health food stores. Kelp is an excellent source of nutrients due to its absorption from sea water and is available in several forms.

Junk foods should especially be avoided when trying to maintain healthy skin. Eliminating soda, sugar and other empty-calorie foods will not only improve your skin’s appearance, but will help take off the extra pounds. Fried foods are especially bad, because hot-processed oils such as those found in the supermarket actually create free radicals and can destroy that look you’ve been working so hard for. Alcohol and caffeine should also be avoided, as these and other types of diuretics make the body lose fluids and essential minerals, which dries out your skin.

Each of these foods and supplements are easy to find in your local supermarket or health store, and will cost you much less than the myriad of skin care products which promise unrealistic results. In just a few days, you’ll notice that your skin will begin to produce adequate amounts of oil naturally, and will no longer show signs of being dull, scaly, flaky or tight. Chapping and cracking during the winter will be much less likely to occur as well. Most importantly, these tips will help you to slow down the effects of aging, such as fine lines and wrinkles, brown spots, enlarged pores and sagging skin.

About The Author

Burgundy Shank designs Nutrient Rich Handmade Soaps that contain skin-loving Vitamins such as A, B, C, D, E, and K. She specializes in custom soaps for those with allergies and sensitive skin conditions. You can download the FREE Report “The Top 10 Ingredients to Avoid in Your Personal Care Products” by joining her online newsletter, “Beauty Secrets from Around the World” at http://www.burgundysoap.com. info@burgundysoap.com

When you or loved ones are taking prescription or over the counter medications...there is a lot you should be worried about, and a lot that your pharmacist may not be telling you.

Most people are aware, for example, that several medications taken together can sometimes cause harmful interactions. Most also know that drug allergies can pose significant hazards. These are topics of other articles in this series. And, many people know that young children, elderly adults, pregnant women, nursing women, and severely debilitated people may all be at higher risk for adverse drug events.

But what most people dont know is that a simple blood test can be one of the most important pieces of information in determining the correct dose of many medications...and the results of that test are almost never available to your pharmacist, especially if your pharmacist fills your prescription in a retail drugstore. And, thats a bummer.

The test Im talking about, of course, is the serum creatinine test SEAR-em cree-AT-tuh-neen tehst. Its a difficult name to pronounce and a difficult test to understand...but one that you NEED to know about if you or loved ones are taking over-the-counter or prescription medications.

A serum creatinine test gives a physician or pharmacist an estimate of kidney function.

Serum creatinine is the bean counter of modern medicine... letting folks know if the beans the kidneys are working as well as they should.

Why is that important

Well, kidney function is extremely important in determining the correct doses of many medications since the kidneys along with the liver assist in the removal of medications from the body.

Almost all medications and/or their chemical by-products are either removed by the liver, by the kidneys, or, in many cases, by both the kidneys and liver working together.

So, simply put, when the beans are not working well, many medications will accumulate in the body and increase the risk of drug side effects. And thats an even bigger bummer. The same is true for liver problems, and we will talk about that in another article in this series.

As a result, patients with reduced kidney function often need LOWER doses of many medications.

So how does this all work

Well, creatinine is a chemical that occurs and circulates naturally in the human body. It is the result of normal protein break-down. And, like many medications, creatinine is normally removed from the blood by the beans. So, when the kidneys are not working well, the level of creatinine circulating in the bloodstream will start to go up...just like the blood level of many medications.

Physicians and pharmacists are routinely and easily able to determine how much creatinine is in the blood with the results of a serum creatinine test. This test is part of a very common panel of blood tests. And, if the serum creatinine is high, many drugs need to have a lower dose. The normal value for serum creatinine is about 0.4 to 1.5 mg/dl...but that can vary a bit from lab to lab.

So remember: kidneys no work...serum creatinine go UP.

Now, serum creatinine is not the best measure of kidney function there are other tests that are much more accurate, but results of the serum creatinine test are usually the most readily available...and cheapest...and are generally accurate enough for most purposes...so serum creatinine is the de facto standard for estimating kidney function...most of the time.

The gold standard test that doctors use for measuring kidney function is called creatinine clearance cree-AT-tuh-neeeen CLEAR-uhhh-nce However, not many patients get this particular test because it is pretty darn inconvenient...and smelly. You have to collect all of your urine for 24 hours and keep it in the fridge. Not a lot of volunteers for this test...

Creatinine clearance is the volume of blood that the kidneys clear of creatinine in a given amount of time and it is usually reported as milliliters per minute.

So, when kidney function decreases, creatinine clearance the amount of blood that the kidneys are successfully cleaning also decreases.

So remember: kidneys no work...creatinine clearance go DOWN. Note: this is easy to remember because it is the exact opposite of what you were initially thinking, and the opposite of what happens with serum creatinine. Most of medicine is like this.

Now for the super tricky part just for those gunning for an A. There is a way to guestimate creatinine clearance using serum creatinine...isnt that neat. And, thats probably the best way to determine renal function if a measured creatinine clearance is not available.

What you do is run the serum creatinine value through a fancy equation that will give you an estimated creatinine clearance, which is itself an estimate of kidney function. Estimates of estimates of estimates...thats the kind of exacting science I live for.

For adults, that equation is the famous Cockcroft-Gault equation corrected for ideal body weight and gender...the equation everyone loves to hate. The Cockcroft-Gault equation presumably named after Drs. Cockcroft and Gault...or maybe just Dr. Cockroft-Gault, or maybe Lara Croft, is generally considered very reliable since it has never been well validated in young patients, old patients, thin patients, fat patients...basically all the patients it gets used on. So go figure. Double bonus points if you can remember this: For men, creatinine clearance = 140- Age IBW / 72 SCr For women, creatinine clearance = 140- Age IBW 0.85 / 72 SCr

Where Age is in years, IBW is ideal body weight in kilograms, and SCr is serum creatinine in mg/dl.

For the algebraically-challenged and for anyone wanting help in calculating the results of these complicated equations, please visit this creatinine clearance calculator: http://www.medicationadvisor.com/creatinine/creatinine.asp

Now once you run this a few times, youll find that creatinine clearance for young healthy people is about 100 ml/min well just leave off the ml/min part from now on.

And, dead people have a creatinine clearance of about 0, depending on how healthy they are.

Everyone else falls somewhere in between.

Now someone in the back of the room is saying, I just ran this on myself and I have a creatinine clearance of 150. Well arent you special In fact, young good-looking people can have creatinine clearances of 130, 140, or more...but it doesnt do a whole lot of good since 100 is perfectly acceptable. In fact, its just another case of overachiever overkill.

Now, if someone has a creatinine clearance of 80, that means that they have about...80% kidney function.

And, if someone has a creatinine clearance of 50, that means that they have about...50% kidney function. Are you following all of this

Many drugs that are eliminated by the kidney will require moderate dosage reductions once a patients renal function is in the 40-60 range.

Patients in the 20-40 range will typically require very large reductions in dose.

And, patients who are in the less than 20 range will often need HUGE dosage reductions for medications eliminated by the kidney or better yet, theyll need to take medications that are removed by some other organ altogether...if such an alternative is available.

One last tidbit to consider. Renal function declines as people age. No getting around that. But, the rate of decline is different for different people. By the time youre 50 years old, there is a reasonable chance youll have moderate renal function or worse...by the time youre 80, youll almost certainly have some important degree of renal impairment... and you probably wont even know it or feel it.

Now that you know more renal physiology than you ever, EVER wanted to know...lets get back to the main thread of this article...medication safety.

If you or a loved one are at risk for having decreased kidney function and Ill tell you who such folks are in just a second, you need to step up to the plate and get a handle on this issue because there is a very good chance that your physician and pharmacist either didnt have renal function data or didnt consider it when coming up with a dosage for you.

Here are the steps I recommend for everyone taking prescription or over-the-counter medications:

1 For everyone: If you have access to the results of a recent serum creatinine test it is probably part of your annual physical and you may have gotten a copy, memorize it or write it down and then say to your physician or pharmacist when you get a medication, Say, I think my serum creatinine is about X. So, does this medication need any dosage adjustment in order to be safe for me

2 If you are in one of the following categories, you should expect your physician and pharmacist to have considered your renal function before dosing a medication: known kidney disease; age greater than 50; history or heart attack, angina, stroke, or other artery blockages; history of diabetes any type; history of high blood pressure; prior exposure to chemotherapy drugs; prior prolonged exposure to IV antibiotics; frequent use of pain medications especially non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, but others as well.

So you might say to your physician or pharmacist, Is this drug removed by the kidney, because I have condition X that could decrease kidney function and I just want to be safe. If the drug is removed by the kidney, you might also ask the physician or pharmacist to tell you what your serum creatinine is...and if he or she does not have this information, a big red flag should be going up in your head.

3 If you are not in one of the categories in question 2 and you dont have a serum creatinine available, dont worry. Youre probably safe. But you may want to ask your physician if there is a serum creatinine in your chart and if so, what it is.

4 If you are on dialysis of any sort, serum creatinine is not all that useful for dosing medications. Just make sure your physician and pharmacist are aware that you are on dialysis and perhaps ask, Now is this the usual dose for someone on dialysis

These are some of the steps I hope you will consider the next time you get a prescription or over-the-counter medication so you can be sure that that you or your loved one are getting the right dose.

© 2004 Timothy McNamara, MD, MPH

About The Author

Timothy McNamara, MD, MPH is a nationally prominent expert in medication safety and healthcare technology. For additional practical steps you can take to improve medication safety and a personalized report of your medication profile, go to: http://www.medicationadvisor.com/art2.asp

The secret to an air beds high comfort factor is its ability to spread the bodies weight and contact with the mattress in a more even fashion. Traditional mattress designs are more rigid and can force certain points of the body in contact with the mattress to absorb the entire weight of the body, creating concentrated pressure points that are uncomfortable and often out of natural alignment. Air beds have the ability to mold and shape to the contour of a sleeping body and were originally designed for hospitals and medical environments where higher levels of back support and reduced pressure points on the body were needed. Now this technology can be invited into your own bedroom to create a more comfortable sleeping environment.

An air bed is basically a mattress that contains air bladders instead of hard steel springs. Air beds can often also be adjusted to suit the particular support needs of partners that share a bed, as each side usually has individual air bladder controls that can be adjusted. The adjustable dual air support chambers can provide just the right amount of back support and firmness on one side of a bed without disturbing the other side. Sleeping on an air bed can also provide better spinal alignment through the night, giving you a very comfortable and restful sleep.

Several air beds are endorsed by the Congress of Chiropractic State Associations as good for people with back backs and back support problems. In addition, air beds can help people with allergies by reducing the available nesting ground for dust mites. The traditional coil mattress is usually the largest breeding and nesting ground of dust mites in a household and can contain as many as 5 million dust mites feeding on skin particles that have filtered into the inner mattress core. With an air bed mattress system you do not have this problem, which can help improve your breathing while asleep.

If you’d like to learn more benefits of air beds and what to watch out for, visit: http://www.loft-beds-bunk-beds.com/air-beds.htm

About The Author

S.A. Smith is a freelance writer, contributor, and editor of the Loft Beds Bunk Beds resource site, and can be reached at http://www.loft-beds-bunk-beds.com/.

Even though many dermatologist and doctors don't see the connection between your diet, constipation, a toxic colon, and a toxic liver with the acne that you are suffering from, it does not mean the food you eat is not important in clearing your acne.

If the doctors were right about food and the colon, then they would easily be able to help you clear your acne with their drugs. Drugs can give you temporary relief, it they work at all, but as you use them they can also give you some unpleasant side effects.

In her book, Food And Healing, 1986, Annemarie Colbin, points out,

"In a systems view of the body, input of all kinds relates to output of all kinds. Food, therefore, would have a definite relationship to matter pushed out through the skin. I am continually amazed that dermatologists persist in viewing the skin as merely a protective envelope for the body, ascribing its eruptions to 'viruses' and imprecise malfunctions and supporting the myth that 'diet has nothing to do with acne.'

In my experience, diet has everything to do with acne. Not only did I fix my own bad skin through correct eating but I have seen among my students a number of severe cases - the large purplish kind of acne on cheeks and chins - completely cured within three months by a change of diet."

Foods to Stop Eating

If you smoke, drink alcohol or drink coffee, then this program will not work too well for you. When you have these addictions, your body's minerals and vitamins will be out of balance and it will be difficult for you to achieve any state of good health.

So, here are they foods that you need to stop eating. You don't need to stop eating these foods instantly. Not many people can do this. You need to do this gradually. I know it will be hard to stop eating some of these foods that you have enjoyed, over the years, but you have to ask yourself the question,

"Which do I want to be …Acne free or a junk food addict?"

The choice is yours and I know you will make the right decision so here is the list, White Bread - This is considered junk food since it is void of any vitality for your body. It is hard to digest and causes constipation Chocolate - some chocolates are better than others. Those that have saturated fats such milk, butter and sugars are not good for your health and definitely not good for your skin. Fried Fatty foods - fried foods, butter, chesses, beef, Foods in packages - All foods in packages or boxes are junk food. They are considered dead food and provide no life force to your body. They take from you because they use up minerals, vitamins, and digestive enzymes during digestion. They contain no fiber so they cause constipation. Foods with artificial flavors and preservatives - These are non-foods that are super toxic. Your body does not know what to do with them so it stores them in your body as toxic waste. Milk, ice cream, hard chesses - these foods cause allergies and cause mucus to form. This mucus coats the colon and other internal surfaces and interferes with the function of that area. Bacteria and other pathogens enjoy living in the mucus film. This mucus also tries to escape through the face when you have too much of it in the body. If you cannot digest dairy products, this can cause you to have acne. Sodas are the worst drink you can take. They contain plenty of sugar and phosphoric acid. Sugar is considered a white poison. It creates so many health problems in the body that the FDA should outlaw it. Salt - avoid salt only because it has iodine. Iodine has been shown to cause acne. Excess Vitamin B12 - can aggravate or produce acne.

There you have it. It takes a lot of will power and desire to change your diet. It can be done but do it slowly. Start changing your diet and see where you're at in 6 months.

About The Author

Rudy Silva has a degree in Physics and is a Natural Nutritionist. He is the author of Constipation, Acne, Hemorrhoid, and Fatty Acid ebooks. He writes a newsletter call "natural-remedies-thatwork.com." More acne hints and information on his acne e-book can be found at: http://www.acne-remedies.for--you.info

rss41@yahoo.com

Introduction

There are a number of controversial areas in medicine when it comes to ADHD. Food allergy is certainly one of them.

The classic allergic reaction, which is classified as the type-1 hypersensitivity reaction, can be elicited by food, but this is fairly uncommon. When we discuss food sensitivities in ADHD we are discussing a different, not well-defined, mechanism.

One of the main progenitors of the food allergy/ADHD connection is Dr. Doris Rapp. Dr. Rapp was a pediatric allergist who noticed that many children in her practice had significant physical and behavioral changes when exposed to certain foods. They may have red ear lobes, dark circles under their eyes, or glazed eyes after eating certain foods. These children could have tremendous swings in behavior. They can be calm one minute and wildly hyperactive a few minutes later.

To make it more interesting, children with food allergies usually crave the food that affects them negatively. That means a child who is allergic to peanuts will demand peanut butter and jelly for lunch everyday, and for the rest of the afternoon you have to peel him off of the ceiling.

What is Food Allergy?

The classic allergic reaction operates through a very specific mechanism. The reaction is caused when a specific type of antibody, called IgE, reacts with a specific provoking substance called an allergen. The result of this interaction is an allergic response and the person is deemed allergic to that allergen.

The specific type of antibody involved in classic allergy is called IgE. The proposed antibody mechanism for this type of food allergy does not involve IgE, but a different antibody called IgG. This is significant because standard allergy testing tests only for IgE antibodies. If your child has IgG mediated sensitivity, his allergy test is going to miss it. That means that your child may have a severe allergy to a specific food, but your allergist will tell you he is not allergic to it.

Why the Controversy?

Reason 1: Diagnosis

I said this was a very controversial area of medicine and here is one of the reasons why. Food allergies are very difficult to diagnose. One reason is that the symptoms wax and wane. When a child has a classic allergy, for example to bee stings, then every time a bee stings him, he will have a reaction. Food allergies don’t work that way. There seems to be a threshold that must be exceeded before there are any symptoms. In addition, this threshold seems to vary from day to day. On some days a food will affect the child, and on other days it won’t. Dr. Rapp explains this phenomenon using the analogy of a barrel.

We can view each allergic child as if he has a barrel. As long as the barrel is empty or only partially full, your child will have no problems. Your child won’t become hyperactive until his barrel is overflowing.

Various things will fill your child’s barrel. Let’s say your child is sensitive to chocolate, cats, and peanut butter. Each of these things all can partially fill his barrel. As long as he only has peanut butter or only plays with the cat, his barrel is only partially full. That means that there are no symptoms and that his behavior is fine. Then, one day he has a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, has chocolate ice cream for dessert and plays with the cat all afternoon. These things in combination make his barrel overflow, and by evening he is out of control. Your child has food allergies, but sometimes they affect him and sometimes they don’t.

The barrel can change sizes. If your child has a cold or is upset his barrel gets smaller. It takes less to make it overflow. If he is happy his barrel is bigger. It takes more to make it overflow. If he isn’t eating well and that day he is low on certain nutrients his barrel gets smaller.

Many traditional allergists find this barrel concept ludicrous. It doesn’t fit into the pattern of how other allergies work.

Reason 2: Method of Diagnosis

The next problem is the way in which you test for food allergies. Dr. Rapp describes a technique called provocation-neutralization testing. This method works as follows: Say that a child frequently has headaches after eating eggs. The practitioner will give an intradermal injection of egg extract. If this elicits the child’s headache, then the child tests positive for egg allergy. Other signs of a positive test include an increase in pulse rate of 20 points, a large skin reaction (this indicates a classic IgE reaction), a change in the child’s handwriting, or some other physical or emotional complaint. This last criterion “some other physical or emotional complaint” is problematic. It is too vague. The result is that when studies compared how several physicians evaluated the same group of patients, their results didn’t agree. For each patient if there were twenty different doctors with twenty different sets of findings. None of their diagnoses matched.

Reason 3: The Mechanism

As I mentioned before, the proposed mechanism is an IgG mediated response. Some food allergists diagnose specific food allergies by measuring IgG levels. This runs counter to all of modern allergy practice.

Allergists give allergy shots to treat allergy. The way this works is they give a low level of allergen, which is not enough to elicit an IgE reaction. The dose is slowly increased until eventually the patient can tolerate a significant exposure to the allergen.

This is how it works. The repeated low-level exposure to the allergen induces the body to make a different antibody to the substance. This antibody attaches to the allergen and deactivates it before IgE can cause the allergy reaction. What is this antibody that allergists try to induce to cure their patients of their allergies? You guessed it, IgG. So the very antibody the traditional allergists have been inducing for decades to successfully treat allergies, the food allergy people claim is the antibody guilty of causing allergies.

For a traditional allergist this is nothing short of heresy. IgG has been used for decades to treat allergies successfully. Comes along Rapp and her friends and they claim that IgG causes allergy? This is a little hard for some people to accept.

Just how strongly do allergists reject this idea? I once tried to contact an Israeli physician who was a food allergy specialist to discuss with him provocation-neutralization testing. I called the hospital where he is on staff and asked to speak with him. For some reason the operator instead put me through to the head of the Department of Allergy.

I began discussing with him the theory of food allergies, provocation-neutralization testing and IgG testing. He told me that he was the head of a committee of allergists who were in the process of testifying before the Israeli Knesset to get legislation passed to make IgG testing illegal in Israel.

Can you imagine? You visit a prison in Israel. In one cell there is car thief. In the next cell there is a mass murderer. And in the next cell there is a guy who tested someone for food allergies. Now that’s pretty strong opposition!

Do Food Allergies Really Exist?

The formal medical societies like the AMA claim there is no such thing as food allergies. Rapp and her friends have been screaming for decades that they do exist. So, what is the bottom line? Does it really make sense that what a child eats can affect him so strongly that experts will diagnose him as having ADHD?

We know that the brain is a highly complicated and sensitive organ. We know that many foods have a physiological effect on the body without inducing a classic allergic response. For example, people who are sensitive to monosodium glutamate can have a severe reaction to eating it. The chemicals in red wine affect certain people. We also know that ingesting certain foods alters brain function. Diet has been proven to influence neurotransmitter function. Components of foods can also be used as drugs. For example, tryptophan, tyrosine, and choline have been used in the treatment of sleep disorders, pain, depression, mania, hypertension, shock, or dyskinesias.

The logic of Rapp’s argument is so strong and there is enough circumstantial evidence, that I feel that the question is really the other way around. We know that the brain is intricate and has tremendous metabolic requirements. We know that some people have very strong reactions, including behavioral changes, to certain foods. These things are undisputed. If it turns out that foods do not elicit significant problems in sensitive children, in my opinion, we would need to explain why not!

Are we really seeing an allergy mechanism to food? I prefer to stay out of that debate. Rather than be ostracized by the doctors who specialize in allergy, I feel it is safer to call them food sensitivities. There are no doctors who specialize in sensitivity.

Does Your Child Have Food Sensitivities?

A large number of ADHD children may be having a negative response to food, and this response may be the primary cause of their ADHD. In what type of child should you suspect food allergies?

The following is a list of symptoms that resulted from food allergies in certain children: Hyperactivity Changes in mood Halitosis Sleep disturbances Delay in sleep onset Migraines Other headaches Abdominal pain Bedwetting Tantrums Eczema Asthma Seizures

Research shows that by treating the food allergies all of these symptoms can be relieved.

If you see your child’s symptoms in this list it is possible that food allergies may be contributing to his problem. If your child also has other allergic problems, such as allergy or asthma, then food allergies are almost certainly contributing to his problems.

What Should You Do?

As I wrote in How to Help the Child You Love, there are a number of approaches to diagnosing food allergies. None of them are well substantiated and all of them have difficulties. Yet, many people find that these diagnostic techniques worked for them. Therefore, I’d suggest you could use them provided you have it on good authority that the person administering them has a strong record of success. In my experience, these techniques are more of an art than a science. They really depend upon the talent of the diagnostician.

As I said last time, the best approach to finding food allergies in your child is an elimination diet. It doesn’t really matter which one you choose. I prefer the three that I outline in How to Help the Child You Love. (see http://addadhdadvances.com/childyoulove.html)

Conclusion

Researchers claim that the percentage of ADHD children whose behavioral symptoms are affected by foods ranges from 60% to 75%. This, however, is probably not an accurate number. Parents who consent to have their children participate in diet studies usually believe they have observed food-induced problems in their children. Therefore, children who participate in these studies are more likely to respond to foods than the general population. The truth is we do not know what percentage of ADHD children will respond to dietary changes, but it seems that the number is significant.

Treating the food sensitivities in ADHD children has a number of advantages over using medication. One major advantage all the current methods of treatment can be used to treat pre-school children. Most clinicians do not use medication on pre-school children. A more significant advantage of treating food allergy is that when it works, it works all day. In contrast, Ritalin wears off in about 4 hours.

All this, of course, is providing that food allergies really do exist.

The main thing to remember is that if you think your child has food allergies, then the biggest mistake you can make is to go to an allergist. They don’t believe in food allergies. And whatever you do, do not go to an allergist and ask to have your child provocation-neutralization tested for food allergies. He is going to laugh at you.

Food allergy is an alternative medicine diagnosis. Still, there are physicians who specialize in diagnosing and treating these sensitivities, but they no longer call themselves allergists. Rapp and her group were so ostracized by the formal allergy societies that they eventually broke off and formed a new field called Environmental Medicine.

Therefore, if you want a physician to treat your child you need to find an Environmental Medicine specialist. They are not so common, but they are around.

As I mentioned before, there are a number of approaches to treating food sensitivities. The one you can do yourself is to use an elimination diet. I devoted a large section of How to Help the Child You Love describing exactly how to use elimination diets to diagnose and treat food sensitivities.

In the final analysis, I feel it is fair to say that many ADHD children have sensitivities to the foods they eat. These sensitivities may exacerbate their ADHD symptoms. I won’t go so far as to say that food allergies cause ADHD. That means that if your ADHD child has severe food sensitivity, treating that sensitivity may not get rid of his ADHD. However, until you treat his food allergy, nothing else you do will really help your child’s ADHD, either.

Anthony Kane, MD ADD ADHD Advances http://addadhdadvances.com

About The Author

Anthony Kane, MD is a physician, an international lecturer, and director of special education. He is the author of a book, numerous articles, and a number of online programs dealing with ADHD (addadhdadvances.com/childyoulove.html) treatment, ODD, parenting issues (addadhdadvances.com/betterbehavior.html), and education. You may visit his website at http://addadhdadvances.com. To sign up for the free ADD ADHD Advances online journal send a blank email to: subscribe@addadhdadvances.com?subject=subscribeartcity akane@addadhdadvances.com

Indoor air pollution in the form of dander, dust and pollen particulate matter can be a real irritant for suffers of asthma, allergies and other respiratory conditions. In addition to removal of all direct irritant sources and minimizing the irritant containment materials in your house, you should also consider the indoor ventilation and filtration system of home.

Environmental control is the key to reducing exposure to indoor and outdoor allergens. Keeping a clean house free of dust, dander, smoke, pollen, and other airborne particulate matters will help to reduce the irritation and effect on family members with respiratory difficulties. Air cleaners, filters and hepa filters can play a role in helping to control or reduce the exposure to indoor and outdoor allergens.

Several health authorities have recognized that certain types of air filtration systems can be beneficial in reducing the amount of airborne particulates in a room. The American lung association recommends using a hepa air filter purifier for the bedrooms of asthma suffers. The Mayo clinic recommends an air particle filter for household ventilation systems. Ionic filters and hepa filters have been endorsed or recognized by the Asthma and allergy foundation of America (AAFA) and the British Allergy Foundation seal of approval.

Selecting the wrong type of filtration system could exacerbate the problem by agitating and circulating the existing particulate matter throughout your house, so it is important to do your research thoroughly. Ionic air filters do not create high airflow patterns to clean the air and simply rely on negative ion attraction to collect the airborne particulate matter. They have demonstrates to have decent capture rate of airborne allergens and irritants like pollen, dander, tobacco smoke and dust and can help improve the quality of your indoor air environment. You can read more the ionic air filtration process at: http://www.air-purifiers-review.com/ionic-air-cleaner.htm.

Air filtration systems should not be considered as a solution for any respiratory condition, nor as a reason to ignore sound medical advice and guidance about the removal of irritant sources and allergen habitats from your household. They are also not a substitute for thorough and regular cleaning of your household environment. Selecting the right air purifier system can help complement and enhance your efforts to reducing airborne particulate matters, as well as maintain a healthier indoor breathing environment.

About The Author

S.A. Smith is a freelance editor, writer, and contributor to the Air Purifiers Review resource site, and can be reached at http://www.air-purifiers-review.com

Considering the amount of irritants that are present in the air today, those who suffer from allergies and other breathing disorders are challenged to find effective ways to clean the air that they breathe within their home environment.

Not so many years ago, this simply meant making sure that the house was dusted regularly and that pets were bathed and brushed – outdoors – as often as possible, in order to cut down on the most common allergy inducing factors. Today, there’s far more at stake, when we consider the types of contaminants that are present in our environment as a result of pollution. Bigger challenges, then, require better tools for providing a solution – enter, the air purifier.

The cleaning of the air within your home can be accomplished in a variety of different ways. A simple, straightforward air cleaner is designed to reduce the dust build-up within the home, offering the benefits of cleaner air and less need to perform common household chores, such as dusting. These are electronic in nature and use a basic filtering system that’s designed to draw in, clean and re-circulate the air.

Air purifiers are a bit more complex, in that they are specifically designed to eliminate pollutants such as pollen and other airborne irritants, in addition to the dust that the air cleaner removes from the environment.

These purifiers are available in a number of sizes, including the portable version. In this case, the air is drawn to the bottom of the cleaner and is then pushed upward through an aluminum mesh filter. This is where the pollutants are trapped before the air is moved on to the next phase of the process.

An electronic cleaning cell (two-stage) is the next stop for the airflow, which ionizes dust particles that are invisible to the naked eye and cleans them from the air. From there, the air is diverted to an activated charcoal filter which deodorizes any odors that may remain before the air is re-circulated.

An electronic air purifier should be placed in an area where the highest amount of family traffic takes place, though it can be installed in any room of the home. Complete with a two-speed fan that can typically clean an area of up to 300 cubic feet when on the highest setting, this type of air purifier would be ideal for a room that measured 20’ x 30’.

As economical as it is useful, an electronic air purifier doesn’t require any special wiring, and uses less electricity than that of a 100-watt light bulb.

The electric air cleaner is utilized by placing it in the central duct system, and cleans the air through the process of electrostatic precipitation. Basically, this just means that when the furnace blows smoke and other contaminants into the air, they are forced into a filter, then a charging station that provides charges from tungsten wires.

From there, any remaining particles are forced into a collection area, where they’re trapped and washed away by the cleaning process. Charcoal filters are in position to eliminate any leftover odors from the air, which is then forced out into the home for re-circulation.

Depending upon the design of your home, your economic constraints and the level of allergies that your family members possess, there’s a system that will work for you. Once the air in your home is properly cleaned and purified, you’ll all be breathing much easier.

Copyright 2005 Mike Spencer

About The Author

Mike Spencer

Considering the amount of irritants that are present in the air today, it’s hardly surprising that more people are suffering with breathing problems and allergies. But when it comes to finding an effective air purifier it’s literally a jungle out there.

1st For Air Purifiers reviews the different types of air filtration systems and explains the benefits of each. Arm yourself with the facts about air purification systems here: http://www.1st-for-air-purifiers.com

When you suffer from allergies or asthma, you may think it may be a good idea to purchase an air filtration system for your house. But one legitimate question would be: is it worth paying the money? Experts say that it can ease your symptoms, but that is true only if you make other changes in your environment, too.

These changes concern avoiding the carpeting, finding another place for your pets and using air conditioning during the warmer months in order to get rid of the pollens or allergens. You should as well clean the air filters, the air conditioner filters, and the duct filters every season. Another possibility is not to open your windows and to avoid staying a lot outdoors, during the period when your allergies are acute.

If you have tried all these and didn’t find adequate relief, then it may be better for you to think about using an air filter. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as well as the American Lung Association recommends air filtration for those who suffer from allergies and asthma, but not as a solution per-se. Controlling the pollution and ventilation that can cause allergies is more important; there are arguments on whether filters can give relief from asthma in a house that is clean and well ventilated. Air cleaners may be helpful in some situations and may help reducing allergy or asthma symptoms, but that air cleaning is not the one to reduce consistently the symptoms.

About The Author

Dominic is the author of this article. This article may be reproduced on websites subject to credit being given to the author, and a link to his website. If you would like more information go to http://www.airpurifiersources.com.

Craving particular foods can be a sign of a need for a nutrient that is in the food that is craved. The body is demanding food that contains a particular nutrient. This can be very straight-forward. For example, I spent three months in Sri Lanka, and my diet was very short of zinc. The moment I walked back into my house I reached for the jar of sunflower seeds (an excellent source of zinc) and started stuffing them down myself. Over the next few days I ate a huge amount of sunflower seeds. Initially I really craved them, but after a few days the obsession disappeared. It was only with hindsight that I realised why I had done that.

When gas/petrol contained lead, I had several clients who ate a lot of apples, but testing using kinesiology showed they were not allergic to them. It took me a while to realise why. Most of them were allergic to gas/petrol, which probably meant they were less able to deal with the lead in it than someone who was not allergic to petrol. Apples contain pectin, which is an excellent chelator of lead, (i.e. it can remove lead from the body), so it seemed that these people were instinctively reaching for the pectin to counteract the lead in the gas/petrol.

However, cravings are more likely to indicate an allergy problem. Allergy often seems to equal addiction and the reason for this is not totally clear. It has been suggested that this may be because some protein fragments formed when food is broken down are similar to endorphins, which the body produces naturally to counteract pain and produce euphoria. Then the allergy sufferer’s body becomes adapted to that level of endorphin activity and so craves the allergen in order to maintain the endorphin levels.

One indication of a possible allergy problem is waking with a ‘hangover’ when alcohol has not been consumed the night before. This very often points to one or more food allergies. The person eats the food during the day and satisfies the craving, but during the night withdrawal symptoms begin, and classically the person wakes with a ‘hangover’. Eating the allergen switches off the withdrawal symptoms and allows the person to feel better. In fact some people will not make it through the night without having a snack of their allergen in the early hours to keep their withdrawal symptoms at bay. They are often totally surprised when told that they are reacting to the very food they like and experience as making them feel better.

Because of the addictive nature of allergies some people may have difficulty losing weight. There are two possible scenarios.

Firstly they could be allergic to some high calorie food and find it extremely difficult to moderate their consumption because they are addicted to it. The second possibility is that the person experiences withdrawal symptoms, but for some reason does not seem to connect the withdrawal symptoms with a particular food. In this case they keep on eating different foods without feeling satisfied. They only stop when they consume the allergen, but the turning off of the craving only usually lasts for a short time. Overall calorie consumption can be very high in these people even if the allergen is lettuce.In any event allergy-induced addictions can lead to bingeing and an inability to control food intake.

Because of this allergy-driven addiction problem, some people will like smells that most people do not, e.g. creosote and petrol/gas. Almost invariably the person is allergic to this, and is getting their ‘fix’. Teenagers who sniff glue may be allergic to it, and while counselling may be necessary, correcting this allergy will almost certainly help enormously.

A child with a lot of food sensitivities will often be a fussy eater. The parent will frequently say: ‘My child would be happy if he/she could live on X.’ The child is probably allergic to X, whatever that is. Frequently they become irritable and bad-tempered if they have to go without their favourite food for even a short period of time. Breast fed babies with allergies are usually either difficult feeders or need to be constantly fed both day and night and may be difficult to wean.

Some years ago I had a funny example of the allergic addiction phenomenon. I went to visit a friend, who had a cat. When I went into the kitchen I saw cat food scattered over quite an area around the cat’s food bowl. My friend explained that her cat was a very untidy eater, and she had not had time to clear it up before my visit. I knew that in general cats were tidy eaters, so I wondered if the cat was desperately searching through its dinner for the particular food it craved. I did some testing and found several allergies. I corrected the problems, and after that the cat became a tidy eater like all the other cats I know.

About The Author

Jane Thurnell-Read is an author and researcher on health, allergies and stress. She has written two books for the general public: "Allergy A to Z" and "Health Kinesiology". She also maintains a web site http://www.healthandgoodness.com with tips, inspiration and information for everyone who wants to live a happier, healthier life. Jane Thurnell-Read's book "Allergy A to Z" is available from her web site http://www.healthandgoodness.com, and also from http://www.amazon.com and http://www.amazon.co.uk

janeread@btconnect.com

Those who are plagued by allergies are always struggling to diminish those irritants that cause watery eyes, runny noses and rashes that sometimes translate into full-blown hives. These and other symptoms can be brought about by a number of contaminants that infiltrate the very air that people breathe within their own homes. If you’re among those who are constantly being attacked by airborne allergens, there are some positive steps that you can take in order to reduce or eliminate the elements that are the catalysts to allergy attacks.

Dust mites are the cause of many allergic reactions, and must be eliminated from their most common breeding areas in order to find relief. Since they tend to live in warm and humid places, items such as beds, carpets and upholstered furniture are prime breeding grounds for those miniscule insects. Living on the skin cells that people and their pets shed, they deposit their waste in all of the areas that they gather, wreaking havoc with allergies.

In order to control dust mites and eliminate the allergies that they trigger, wash bedclothes each week and dry on high heat; use anti-allergen casings for mattresses and bedclothes; clean furniture and carpets with a HEPA filter vacuum cleaner; dehumidify the air; filter the air with a HEPA air purifier; perform regular housecleaning at least once a week, using equipment that traps dust; and keep only hypo-allergenic toys in the house that can be washed in hot water, rather than the more commonly used stuffed animals.

With over 35 million people who suffer from pollen-induced allergies, it’s critical that steps are taken to remove the allergens that can trigger adverse reactions, such as sneezing, wheezing, rashes and watery eyes or nose. Large quantities of pollen can enter your home by traveling in through open doors or windows, on clothing and hair – and on the family pet.

As much as we seem to love dry, breezy days, those are the weather conditions that are just right for pollen to circulate. Avoid being outdoors when possible or, at least, be sure to exercise indoors, if you would normally do so outside. When driving, be sure to keep the windows raised and employ the air conditioning. In addition, you should also keep your windows at home closed and use air conditioning or window screens with filters; remember to remove shoes before entering the house; wash your hair each night; avoid hanging laundry outdoors; engage someone else to mow the lawn; and use HEPA filters on heating and air conditioning units.

Those who own pets often have allergic reactions to their dander and need to take precautions in order to eliminate airborne allergens. Keep the pet outdoors as often as is reasonable and wipe down the surfaces of the home’s interior; vacuum frequently using a HEPA vacuum; wash your pet weekly with dander-reducing shampoo and use anti-dander spray; wash your hands after handling your pet; wear a dust mask while cleaning; and use vent filters on air conditioners and heaters.

While it may seem like a great deal of work in order to eliminate these airborne allergens from your home, the amount of work will be significantly reduced if you perform these cleaning rituals regularly.

About The Author

Jonathan Chase is the creator of http://www.home-air-filter-edu.com, a guide to reducing allergens in the home through air purification and other simple methods.

Allergy can be described as a malfunction of the immune system, an exaggerated response to certain substances. Allergies come in all different shapes and sizes, some as benign, but bothersome as the sneezing, wheezing, coughing and watery eyes brought on by pollens, and some whoppers that can actually bring on anaphylaxis and anaphylactic shock and death such a bee stings.

Allergic symptoms can be brought on by many different things. Some environmental allergens are seasonal pollen such as ragweed, mold, dust, dander from household pets. Others can be brought on by foods, such as nuts or shellfish, and some by medications (prescription or over-the-counter).

If you have a family history of allergy you will have a greater risk of acquiring one yourself. The first and foremost way to avoid an allergy is of course to avoid the cause of the allergy. Sometimes avoidance isn't enough and medications are needed.

If you are interested in treating the symptoms of an occasional allergy (such as seasonal pollen) an over-the-counter antihistamine and an over-the-counter nasal spray are generally the combination suggested by most doctors. These will give you temporary relief for 12-24 hours, depending on the ones you choose. Please check for side-effects carefully. These drugs stimulate the nervous system and can cause insomnia, palpitations, nervousness and irritability. If you have a condition such as high blood pressure check with your doctor before taking any over-the-counter medication.

For some who don't obtain relief from other medications, or who have more numerous or serious allergies, allergy shots are recommended. After a consultation and a skin patch test a vaccine is custom made for the patient. The allergy vaccine will actually contain a small amount of the allergens that tested positive. These shots are given frequently at the start of treatment, generally 1-2 times a week for 6 months, then once a month. Maintenance shots are given for 3-5 years then stopped altogether. Your doctor will decide your schedule. Not everyone is a candidate for allergy shots. Your doctor will review your medical history with you to see if you can safely receive them.

Some seek a gentler and more natural way to allergy relief with the use of vitamins, supplements and herbs. Believers see this natural path to allergy treatment as actually strengthening the body. Vitamins C, B5 A, B12, E and Omega 3 can be taken to help reduce allergy symptoms. Honey can be used to prevent hay fever. Some say washabi taken every day prevents hay fever. Please remember that herbs can have interactions with over-the-counter medications and prescription medications and check with your doctor before starting any course of therapy for your allergy.

About The Author

Kelly Gillis

This article courtesy of http://www.allergy-treatment-guide.com

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At some point in your life you will probably suffer from acne. Almost everyone does. There has been a great deal of news about acne treatments recently with many claiming a combination of an acne prevention diet and some of the all natural acne treatments to be the answer. So you might want to try that route.

Acne is a disorder of the sebaceous gland. This is the gland in the skin that secretes an oily substance to the face, neck, and back mostly. If the sebaceous gland becomes clogged with this oily substance you get a zit or a pimple. And sometimes you get a lot of them.

There are many different forms of acne but acne vulgaris is the most common form in adolescents and young adults. The treatments are basically the same no matter what type of acne you have.

The actual cause of acne is still not really understood. Some believe it lies in genetics. Others believe it is a combination of factors such as androgens, allergies, stress, or the use of certain mediations. Natural practitioners tend to believe it is a result of nutritional deficiencies, and toxins in the body that can cause the liver to dysfunction.

The skin is the largest organ in our body and it eliminates toxic body waste through the pores when we sweat. If the body has more toxins than the liver or kidneys can discharge the skin takes over. Many doctors actually refer to the skin as the third kidney. When toxins discharge through the skin they can cause a disruption in the healthy skin and wella you have pimples.

Here are some simple tips to try to help reduce and eliminate your acne. Remember it can take up to 4 weeks to see a difference.

1. Always drink plenty - 8 glasses minimum and more is better. Water helps the body flush it self better and more efficiently.

2. Apply white vinegar to the face, neck, and back. Let is sit for 5 minutes then rinse off with warm water.

3. Use lemon as an exfoliate treatment to remove dead skin cells that clog the pours. Apply the lemon to the infected areas. Let dry for 10 minutes then rinse off with cool water. You might feel a bit of a burning sensation when you apply it. If you can’t take it then dilute the lemon a little bit.

4. Eat a well balanced diet that is high in fresh fruits and vegetables. Avoid unhealthy foods such as greasy or fast foods whenever possible.

5. Take a good quality muli vitamin daily. As well add zinc supplements to your daily intake. Zinc has shown remarkable results in clearing acne.

6. Use Grape seed extract or Echinacea to help boost your immune system to better fight acne causing bacteria.

7. Use Dandelion or Burdock to detoxify your liver and kidneys.

8. Try a homeopathic remedy or an Ayurvedic treatment. Natural medicine is known to have tome remarkable results. That’s because they think outside the box. Rather than treating the symptom which in this case is the zit, they treat the whole you and look for the underlying cause.

Acne can be annoying at best and devastating at worst. There is no reason to have to live with acne these days, no matter how bad it is. There are many treatment options available and if over the counter isn’t working then seek the assistance of your doctor or dermatologist. Don’t suffer any longer!

About The Author

MD Stacener from The Acne Cure has been serving customers for over 20 years, providing valuable information to keep you beautiful and healthy. Please visit us at http://www.acnel.com/

“Risks found with another pain killer” – This is the headline of an article from the New York Times.

Surprise! Once again another dangerous “pain killer” Drug is found to cause heart attacks, stroke and death in unsuspecting users.

This time it is Celebrex™. Remember that this drug was named by David Graham, an employee of the fda’s office of drug safety, as one of the top five dangerous drugs which would be the next problem.

A five-year study by the National Cancer Institute which explored whether Celebrex™ prevented colon polyps and colorectal cancer, has found that those taking the drug had at least a 2.5 times higher risk of cardiac events even at the lower dose.

Those taking a higher dose during the study had as much as a 3.4 times higher risk for heart attacks and stroke. The National Cancer Institute ended the trial early.

Remarkably, neither the drug maker nor the fda have taken action to pull this killer drug from the market.

Drug companies and the fda are already under fire for their unsafe and unethical practices of bringing a new drug to market. Under fire from the public and The United States Congress who is holding hearings about these practices.

Here is one of the root causes of the problem – The fda looks the other way as they allow drug companies to conduct as many trials and studies as they want.

The trials and studies which produce dangerous findings and results are allowed to be swept under the rug while only reporting the few “good” results to the fda.

Hence, the drug is “proven safe” to the fda for public Consumption.

How many more people have to die before we take action and hold the fda and drug companies responsible?

How many more people have to die before we demand the fda really look out for the health of the public, instead of the health of their pocketbook?

How many more people have to die before the fda stops banning safe, natural supplements and herbs which proved themselves to be effective centuries ago.

Fortunately, effective and more importantly safe solutions exist to rid your body of chronic pain and inflammation.

Safe, Natural, Proven solutions to Your chronic aches and Pains are available from Mother Nature.

Are you aware that solving the root causes of pain are the most effective to help you avoid most pain in the first place?

I will share with you some safe, natural and proven Strategies, so You can evaluate them and decide what is right for You.

Foods, supplements and herbs which you can easily incorporate into your diet to help reduce your pain and inflammation:

Ginger Garlic Hot Pepper Turmeric Rosemary Oregano

Green Tea – contains 51 inflammation inhibiting Compounds like salicylic acid and polyphenols.

Fresh cold water fish like salmon and sardines, which are high in omega-3 fatty acids which are a natural oil for your joints and help reduce inflammation.

Grass fed beef which is also high in omega-3 fats

Other foods which are high in omega-3 fats:

Nuts - Brazil, walnuts, almonds, pecans and hazelnuts. As well as seeds – like sunflower seeds and flaxseed.

Mother natures supplements to ease joint pain and inflammation:

Glucosamine – an amino sugar and key component of cartilage. Must be combined with the next 2 for best results.

Boswellin – an Indian herb which reduces inflammation causing complex carbs

Msm – Methyl-sulfonylmethane – an organic source of the mineral sulfur.

The above 3 are best used together for optimum results.

Vitamins C and D – both have been clinically proven to reduce osteoarthritis and joint stiffness and inflammation.

Fish oil tablets - also high in omega-3 fats.

You can even swim and exercise in water to go easy on your joints.

Foods to avoid which inflame your joints:

Refined carbohydrates – these are the biggest offenders and actually generate cox-2s. These are the enzymes which drugs like Vioxx™ and Celebrex™ are designed to inhibit.

Food allergies are also a part of joint pain and arthritis. You will have to keep track of foods which seem to increase joint pain and swelling.

All of these foods, supplements and herbs supplied by mother nature can easily be incorporated into your cooking and diet to help ease joint pain and swelling.

Sources:

Dr. Al Sears Health Confidential for Men – September, 2004

Mercola, Joseph, “Vitamins Slow Arthritis Progression.”, www.Mercola.com, viewed on 8/4/04.

Andjelkovic Z, Vojinovic J, Pejnovic N, et al. “Disease Modifying and immunomodulatory effects of high dose 1 alpha (OH) D3 in rheumatoid arthritis patients.” Clinical Experimental Rheumatology 1999: 17(4):453-456

Jacob, Stanley, M.D. and Martin Zucker, The Miracle of MSM: The Natural Solution for Pain. Berkeley Publishing Group, 1999.

Safayhi, H, Mack T, Sabeiraj J, et al. “Boswellic Acids: Novel, Specific, nonredox inhibitors of 5-lipoxygenase.” Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapies 1992: 261(3): 1, 143-1,146.

Srivastava KC, Mustafa T. “Ginger (Zingiber offincinale) in Rheumatic and musculoskeletal disorders.” Medical Hypotheses 1992;29(4): 342-348

Satoskar RR, et al. “Evaluation of anti-inflammatory property Of curcumin in patients with postoperative inflammation.”International Journal of Clinical Pharmacol Ther Toxicol 1986; 24(12): 651-654.

Haqqi TM, et al. “Prevention of collagen-induced arthritis in mice By a Polyphenolic fraction from green tea.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA 1999; 96(8); 4,524-4,529

About The Author

Lee Cummings has been helping real people solve real problems and feel better with proven nutrition for over 5 years. For A No Cost Report- mailto:report@lc-nutrition.com Discover proven nutrition information: http://www.LC-Nutrition.com leeman@lc-nutrition.com

An allergy is a super-sensitivity to a substance that is not harmful to most other people. These substances are called allergens. The common allergens include pollen, mould, dust mites, cockroaches and pet dander. Some people also have food allergies. Some people have symptoms with strong chemical fumes, odours (including perfumes, fragrances in household cleaners and detergents), smoke and air pollution. These compounds are chemical irritants and not true allergens. The common symptoms of allergy include hay fever, asthma, eczema or food reactions.

How do I know if I have allergies?

Hay fever is the most common allergy problem in Canada. The typical symptoms of hay fever are sneezing, a stuffy or runny nose, watery eyes, a dry cough and itching. Asthma is a lung condition which can lead to shortness of breath, wheezing or coughing. Eczema is a skin condition which often involves a dry itchy rash. True food allergy reactions can include hives, itchiness, shortness of breath, throat tightness, lightheadedness or stomach pain after eating the food allergen. Allergies can be a serious medical condition and you should consult your doctor if you suspect you have them. A doctor may recommend allergy scratch tests (a type of skin testing in which suspected allergens are applied to the skin, scratched and observed for a reaction in 15 minutes). Skin tests should always be done under the supervision of a qualified physician with an expertise in allergy.

How are allergies treated?

The first step in an effective allergy treatment plan is to make some simple lifestyle changes that will limit your exposure to allergens. I would suggest having allergy scratch tests done before any major lifestyle changes are made. After the allergy scratch tests you will know the likely causes of the allergy symptoms. One can avoid pollen by keeping windows closed and air conditioning on during the high-pollen seasons. Most of the mould that causes allergies is from the outdoors. Therefore, keeping the windows closed is helpful. If you notice mould in the house it should be cleaned with diluted bleach. The best ways of avoiding dust mites are to purchase proper dust mite proof pillows and mattress covers, remove carpet from the bedroom, wash the bedding in hot water and to keep the humidity around 40 percent. Vacuuming and duct cleaning are actually not very effective at removing dust mites. The only way to remove pet allergens completely from the home is to keep the pet outdoors or to give the pet away. By keeping pets out of the bedroom, washing pets weekly and removing carpets from the bedroom, you can decrease your total pet allergen exposure. If you have a true food allergy, that food should be completely avoided.

Ask your doctor or pharmacist about which medications would help you manage your allergy symptoms. Antihistamines are the most common medications used to treat hay fever. Antihistamines block the action of histamine released by the immune system and are effective at reducing sneezing, runny nose and itchy, watery eyes. They are particularly effective at relieving the symptoms of seasonal hay fever and should be taken as soon as an allergy attack develops. You may also need a decongestant to reduce nasal congestion. Some antihistamines can cause side effects such as drowsiness and they should be avoided if you have to drive, work or perform tasks that require you to be alert. There are several websites offering good information on allergies, for example, visit www.claritin.ca.

Dr. Harold Kim is an allergy specialist based in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario.

About The Author

News Canada provides a wide selection of current, ready-to-use copyright free news stories and ideas for Television, Print, Radio, and the Web.

News Canada is a niche service in public relations, offering access to print, radio, television, and now the Internet media, with ready-to-use, editorial "fill" items. Monitoring and analysis are two more of our primary services. The service supplies access to the national media for marketers in the private, the public, and the not-for-profit sectors. Your corporate and product news, consumer tips and information are packaged in a variety of ready-to-use formats and are made available to every Canadian media organization including weekly and daily newspapers, cable and commercial television stations, radio stations, as well as the Web sites Canadians visit most often. Visit News Canada and learn more about the NC services.

It is estimated that 17 million people in America have asthma, with 5 million being under the age of 18. Asthma, which is Greek for “to pant”, is a chronic lung disease that triggers episodes of coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath which is caused by an inflammation of the lungs that result in the airways to narrow. It can take place at any age, and appears to have a genetic link. Although its symptoms are controllable, it is not thought to be curable.

Triggers for asthma can vary from one person to the other and may include allergens (dust, smoke, molds, pollens, and animal dander), chemical agents (cleaning products, perfumes, etc.), emotional stress and exercise. The best way to halt asthma attacks is to prevent them in the first place. Simple steps include controlling and managing house dust mites, animal related allergens, tobacco smoke, cockroach allergen, mold and other fungal spores and pollens, smoke from wood burning stoves, colds and viral respiratory infection, and physical activity or exercise induced asthma (EIA).

It was once thought that physical activity should be discouraged if you had asthma, but today this is not the case. With the appropriate precautions, exercise is not only considered safe, but it is frequently promoted as part of a sound respiratory therapeutic program. There are many ways to help avoid exercise induced asthma. If you have asthma, check with your doctor before you begin an exercise program and get a complete physical with a review of your current medicine therapy.

Some guidelines:

Warm up with 10 minutes or so of low intensity walking and gentle stretching and before your workout.

Avoid exercising in cold, dry air or in areas where air pollution or allergens are high. If you must exercise in a cold environment use a scarf or face mask to trap the warm moist air and prevent cold dry air from penetrating deep into your lungs.

After exercise, be sure to include a 10 to 15 minute cool down period.

Asthma attacks place significant stress on the body. Fatigue is common, making it even more difficult to breath. This is why a gradual progression with exercise is important. Developing cardiorespiratory fitness will make you feel less fatigued and will help lung function.

Different types of exercise may effect symptoms of asthma. For example, outdoor running is often worse than indoor running on a treadmill. To improve cardiorespiratory fitness, begin with 20 (or less) of low intensity aerobic activity 3 times per week, eventually building to five. Exercise in 10 minute intervals with a short rest in between. Use a cross training method applying different exercise modalities (i.e. treadmill, bike, rower). Swimming rarely causes EIA due to the warm moist air (however swimming in chlorinated pools may be a trigger for some).

Exercise intensity is also related to EIA and should be kept at a moderate level. You should be able to talk in short sentences throughout your workout.

Long duration exercise causes more exercise induced asthma then shorter bouts. Sports that promote stop and go activities such as tennis, volleyball & resistance training may cause less EIA in some individuals.

Keep your exercise up beat by making the most of your workouts, and avoid becoming bored or stressed, pick activities that you enjoy and can do.

If a medication is prescribed you can use it before exercise and monitor peak air flow with a peak flow meter. Your inhaler can be used during exercise also if symptoms arise. Talk to your doctor about how to use your inhaler with exercise. If notwithstanding your efforts, symptoms develop and persist, stop the activity and inform your doctor. Your doctor may recommend simple changes in medication that make the difference.

Drink plenty of fluids before, during and after exercise. Dehydration causes airways in the lungs to constrict, and makes breathing more difficult. Studies have shown that this is true even if the individual is not exercising. Thirst is a poor indicator of when to rehydrate, by the time you sense thirst your body is already lacking essential fluids.

Avoid alcohol and caffeinated beverages such as coffee, tea or sodas; these are diuretics, which dehydrate you even further.

Exercise-related breathing problems also occur in individuals who have not been diagnosed with asthma. People with allergies may experience many of the same symptoms, as exercise causes increased oxygen demand, breathing rate, and cooling and drying of the airways.

Although right now there is no cure for asthma, it can be managed with proper treatment and lifestyle management. Controlling symptoms may include using an inhaler or other medicine, as well as identifying and avoiding factors that may trigger an episode. Educating yourself as much as you can about asthma and your response to exercise gives you improved control and a greater chance of living an active life.

About The Author

Scott is an exercise physiologist and has worked in cardiopulmonary rehabilitation for many years. He has also managed large fitness centers and is past director of the Flushing YMCA in New York City. He is currently a Wellness Consultant with American LifeWay Wellness.

Website: http://www.americanlifeway.org/

slarson@americanlifeway.org

Anaphylaxis can happen within seconds, minutes or even hours of a substance entering the body. As a rule, the sooner the casualty's body reacts, the worse the reaction will be.

St. John Ambulance, Canada's leader in safety-oriented™ first aid training and products, advises that you can detect anaphylaxis and help the casualty, if you know what to do.

Signs and symptoms of anaphylaxis

Itchy, flushed skin, raised skin rash (hives).

Sneezing, running nose and watery eyes.

Swelling of the airway.

A 'lump' or 'tickle' in the throat that won't go away.

Coughing.

Sense of impending doom.

Nausea and vomiting.

As the condition worsens, a casualty may experience:

Pale skin.

Anxiety and/or a severe headache.

Wheezing and breathing difficulties, coughing.

Irregular and rapid pulse.

Swelling of lips, tongue, throat, hands and feet.

Shock.

Unconsciousness followed by stopped breathing and heart.

First aid for a severe allergic reaction

When a casualty experiences a severe allergic reaction, they are in a life-threatening situation.

Assess the individual and immediately call for medical help.

Stop any activity and place the casualty in the most comfortable position for breathing - usually sitting upright.

Some people with known allergies carry medication in the event of an attack. If the individual has prescribed medicine with them, help them take a correct dosage.

Stay with the casualty until medical help takes over. Monitor vital signs and try to calm and reassure the casualty, as fear and anxiety will make the condition worse.

Knowing what to do can mean the difference between life and death in an emergency. St. John Ambulance offers a wide range of programs, customized for all walks of life and skill levels. Learn what you need to know from Canada's leader in first aid for more than 118 years. Contact the St. John Ambulance office nearest you or look us up on the Internet at www.sja.ca.

About The Author

News Canada provides a wide selection of current, ready-to-use copyright free news stories and ideas for Television, Print, Radio, and the Web.

News Canada is a niche service in public relations, offering access to print, radio, television, and now the Internet media, with ready-to-use, editorial "fill" items. Monitoring and analysis are two more of our primary services. The service supplies access to the national media for marketers in the private, the public, and the not-for-profit sectors. Your corporate and product news, consumer tips and information are packaged in a variety of ready-to-use formats and are made available to every Canadian media organization including weekly and daily newspapers, cable and commercial television stations, radio stations, as well as the Web sites Canadians visit most often. Visit News Canada and learn more about the NC services.

About the Author

Actually I’m not fond of writing, I don’t even write at all. I am not expecting to be in this field. But nevertheless, I love to read books...almost everything interest me. Reading is my passion! And now that I am in an article writer team, writing gives me an additional thrill in myself...Before I love to read books but now I’m also in a writing stuff. I can say that I am not a good writer but I am always trying to be one.

About the Author

None

About the Author

Copyright 2005 Health-FocusProviding Resources on Health and Nutrition

The problem is that most of these natural eating instincts are lost on the way. Usually, during the growing process, adults project their unhealthy habits on children, offering them a range of foods that are not always best choices. As adults, we have formed our eating habits, more or less healthy and usually worry about our children's eating habits, but their instinct is often correct.

My theory has as starting point my own experience as a child, when I recall rejecting foods that I found too greasy or too deeply fried. Observing babies and children behaviour towards feeding might give us an idea about what eating instinctively means. Small children that did not have the time to get influenced by adults, have the natural eating instinct unspoiled. Contrary to adults' opinion about eating, they want to eat many smaller meals and only when they are hungry.

To support my thesis, I resort to the recommendation made by specialists in baby nutrition who advise on feeding babies at request, not forcing a program on them, thus a meals program will be generated by their inner scheduler according to their needs.

So, from children we learn that one should eat when hungry and in the amount striclty required by body necessities, not driven by social cues such as eating out with friends even if not hungry or taking a lunch break just because it's noon.

Another reason supporting the theory towards a simpler way of eating is that based on the foods offered by nature. Every living creature finds its subsistence resources in nature. Theoretically, foods of natural origin in their unspoiled state should suffice for ensuring men a healthy existence. I am not a sustainer of some paleolithic diet or anything like this, but we cannot not make reference to the simple way of eating of old times. It is a fact that in modern times modern and more complex diseases have developed (such as the increased incidence of tooth decay, allergies, various diseases of the digestive system such as diverticulitis), most in tight connection to modern diets. Man was not built for so many refined and super-refined processed foods. The great discovery - cooking - was just a means to make foods more digestible, but nowadays we experience an extreme version of modern eating, one abounding in processed foods and pre-prepared meals.

Eating in a balanced proportion raw foods (vegetables, fruit) and cooked meals is definitely healthier. Also healthy choices are those of foods in an unrefined state, as close to natural as possible.

Towards a healthier way of eating a reconsideration of our diet is needed. The thing is, it is harder to re-educate ourselves than to acquire from scratch, as first we need to forget everything we know, get rid of all the unhealthy habits and then to rediscover eating and it is even harder to resist so many temptations scatered all over, just at hand to grab!

About The Author

Laura Ciocan writes for http://www.dietsindex.com where you can find more information about the dietary options.

Please feel free to use this article in your Newsletter or on your website. If you use this article, please include the resource box and send a brief message to let me know where it appeared: mailto:lauracio@gmail.com.

In fact, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health, allergies account for 2 million missed school days each year, and on any given day more than 10,000 children are absent from school due to troublesome allergy symptoms. In Canada, this represents approximately 200,000 missed school days and more than 1,000 children missing school on any given day because of allergies. Allergies can have a significant impact on a child's quality of life.

Fortunately, the allergy experts at Claritin, the leader in the treatment of seasonal and perennial allergies, have developed appropriate information to help parents determine whether a child suffers from allergies.

For instance, if one parent has allergies, chances are one in three that a child will have an allergy, and if both parents have allergies the chance jumps to seven in 10.

By providing parents with the appropriate information, they will be better equipped to consult with their healthcare provider and set up an appropriate system to help avoid a child's allergy triggers.

It can be hard for parents to distinguish between colds and allergies without help, because many symptoms of each are similar.

The casual misdiagnosis that "it's just a cold" can result in unnecessary suffering for the child with allergies. Here are some common allergy symptoms parents should look for:

A runny or stuffy nose and constant sneezing

Breathing through the mouth or snoring, due to a stuffy nose

Itchy nose, eyes, or skin

Rubbing the nose upward with the palm of the hand (also known as the "allergy salute")

Watery eyes or dark circles under the eyes

Headaches, earaches, or hearing problems

Changes in behavior; children may be irritable or hyperactive

Once a physician has determined that a child has allergies, parents should know there are treatment options available to ease the symptoms including avoidance of allergy triggers, allergy shots, and/or medications. One medication in particular, Claritin Syrup is learning friendly for children. It is the only non-sedating antihistamine for children to treat both seasonal and year-round allergies without causing drowsiness.

For more information on allergies and their effect on learning contact 1-800-665-1507 or visit www.claritin.ca.

About The Author

News Canada provides a wide selection of current, ready-to-use copyright free news stories and ideas for Television, Print, Radio, and the Web.

News Canada is a niche service in public relations, offering access to print, radio, television, and now the Internet media, with ready-to-use, editorial "fill" items. Monitoring and analysis are two more of our primary services. The service supplies access to the national media for marketers in the private, the public, and the not-for-profit sectors. Your corporate and product news, consumer tips and information are packaged in a variety of ready-to-use formats and are made available to every Canadian media organization including weekly and daily newspapers, cable and commercial television stations, radio stations, as well as the Web sites Canadians visit most often. Visit News Canada and learn more about the NC services.

About the Author

Kimberly Beauchamp, ND, received her bachelor's degree from the University of Rhode Island and her Doctorate of Naturopathic Medicine from Bastyr University in Kenmore, WA. She is a co-founder and practicing physician at South County Naturopaths, Inc., in Wakefield, RI. Dr. Beauchamp teaches holistic medicine classes and provides consultations focusing on detoxification and whole-foods nutrition.

About the Author

© Copyright Body, Mind & SoulHealer 2005. All rights reserved.Naturopathic Physician, Dr. Rita Louise, Ph.D. is the author of the book “Avoiding the Cosmic 2x4”. It is her unique gift as a medical intuitive and clairvoyant that illuminates and enlivens her work. Let Dr. Louise help you bring health healing and wholeness back into your life. Visit http://www.soulhealer.com for more information

Allergies and their complications take a significant toll on student's attendance and performance in school. Studies in the U.S. show that allergic rhinitis is responsible for up to 2 million lost school days annually, which translates into 10,000 absences per school year. In Canada, this represents about 200,000 lost school days per year and 1,000 absences annually.

Students who seek protection from their allergy symptoms must be wary of the type of treatment they choose.

Antihistamines are typically recom-mended to treat allergies. They work by blocking the action of histamine, the substance that's behind allergy symptoms. There are many different brands of antihistamines but they all belong in two classes. The older, first generation antihistamines typically bring relief for about three to six hours. Unfortunately their formulations also bring many side effects including drowsiness.

The newer, second generation anti-histamines have a different molecular structure from the older antihistamines. They can relieve allergy symptoms for up to 24 hours - so you can take them once a day. And newer, learning friendly, antihistamines like Claritin are non-drowsy which help you perform tasks like studying and writing exams that require alertness. Make sure, however, to read your medication package properly because not all antihistamines are non-sedating. Specifically, you should look for the words "non-drowsy" on the box.

This is important as recent studies show that students with seasonal allergic rhinitis taking a sedating antihistamine performed significantly worse than allergy-free students on exams measuring factual, conceptual knowledge and knowledge of application. However, students taking non-sedative antihistamines performed significantly better.

For more information on allergies and their effect on learning contact 1-800-665-1507 or visit www.claritin.ca.

About The Author

News Canada provides a wide selection of current, ready-to-use copyright free news stories and ideas for Television, Print, Radio, and the Web.

News Canada is a niche service in public relations, offering access to print, radio, television, and now the Internet media, with ready-to-use, editorial "fill" items. Monitoring and analysis are two more of our primary services. The service supplies access to the national media for marketers in the private, the public, and the not-for-profit sectors. Your corporate and product news, consumer tips and information are packaged in a variety of ready-to-use formats and are made available to every Canadian media organization including weekly and daily newspapers, cable and commercial television stations, radio stations, as well as the Web sites Canadians visit most often. Visit News Canada and learn more about the NC services.

Your doctor has shown you how to use an auto-injector for adrenaline in the event of a severe allergy attack, but you are dreading the day it is needed. At the same time, you also know that your child's life could be saved by the correct use of this medicine.

These anxieties are natural for parents, so it may relieve you to know that help is on its way. Currently 600,000 Canadians may be at risk for life-threatening allergic reactions (anaphylaxis) to such triggers as foods, drugs, insect stings, and natural latex rubber - and the medical profession is pointing to a rapidly increasing rate. On September 19, Shoppers Drug Mart/Pharmaprix is holding a Health-Watch for Children Day at as many as 800 stores across Canada. Pharmacists at these locations will conduct one-on-one educational session with allergic individuals, parents, or caregivers of children with food, and other potentially life-threatening allergies. The sessions will include a demonstration of how to properly use a spring-loaded epinephrine injector; how to recognize early symptoms; and what to do should an anaphylactic reaction occur.

"If a qualified allergist has determined that someone has a potentially life-threatening allergy, then that person needs to know how to avoid their particular trigger and how to proceed in the event of an unexpected reaction. It is important to be prepared and to act swiftly," says Jane Salter, President of Anaphylaxis Canada. "Unlike milder allergic reactions (hay fever, eczema), anaphylaxis reflects extreme activity of the immune system and can lead to compromise of all body systems. The most worrying signs and symptoms relate to the heart and lungs. Foods account for approximately 50% of fatal anaphylaxis reactions and peanut is the food most commonly associated with death.

"While most reactions occur shortly after contact, a few may be delayed one or two hours. Early injection of adrenaline (epinephrine) is the cornerstone of therapy. While the first symptoms can be very mild, it is important to stop the reaction at this point before it gets out of hand. As a dose of epinephrine lasts for only 10 or 20 minutes, patients should carry one dose for every 15 minutes travel time to a medical facility (to a maximum of three doses). Many reactions recur within four to six hours. Hence, if someone has had a reaction, it is important that they remain in a hospital setting for several hours."

Mark your calendar on Sept. 19

During HealthWatch for Children Day, a special pharmacist-directed clinic will guide parents through these issues during private 20-minute appointments. Parents will be provided with an updated HealthWatch brochure, Food Allergies and Intolerance; a fanny pack for children, large enough to hold two doses of epinephrine; and laminated instructions on how to administer the medication with an auto-injector, which can be carried around in the fanny pack.

Anaphylaxis Canada, and Association Quebecois des Allergies Alimentaires have endorsed the Shoppers Drug Mart/Pharmaprix initiative on this important health focus, and suggest that the Sept. 19 information day will go a long way to provide information and clarification. Contact your local Shoppers Drug Mart/Pharmaprix for an appointment.

About The Author

News Canada provides a wide selection of current, ready-to-use copyright free news stories and ideas for Television, Print, Radio, and the Web.

News Canada is a niche service in public relations, offering access to print, radio, television, and now the Internet media, with ready-to-use, editorial "fill" items. Monitoring and analysis are two more of our primary services. The service supplies access to the national media for marketers in the private, the public, and the not-for-profit sectors. Your corporate and product news, consumer tips and information are packaged in a variety of ready-to-use formats and are made available to every Canadian media organization including weekly and daily newspapers, cable and commercial television stations, radio stations, as well as the Web sites Canadians visit most often. Visit News Canada and learn more about the NC services.

How you live your life is truely a self choice. And there are so many choices to make. We are bombarded from every side about what we should do, what we should eat, that we should get a certain amount of exercise, that we should believe a certain way, that we should use this product or that product. The list of shoulds and should nots are end- less! Keep this is mind. The word should will bring on guilt quicker than any other word because it is negative. Just think about it and you will realize what I mean.

Some of the choices we have before us today concern whether to use all natural and organic products. There is a lot to be said for using them and in my own opinion not a lot to be said against. Some of us feel that it is important because it means we are allowing the earth to support us as it was meant to. For others it is a neccesity because of allergies and other sensitivities. Some believe it is all a health issue. For instance, some believe that burning candles with dyes in them is harmful to our health. I would think for that to be unhealthy a person would need to be shut up in a small closet with many candles burning all the time for several days on end! And there are some that choose it just because they like to follow what others are doing.

Other choices we are presented with every day is our diets. Back in the day people were concerned with eating the foods they liked. Now things have definetly changed! There are low fat diets, low carb diets, high protein diets, becoming vegetarian, vegan or macrobiotic. Every- one is talking about what each of us should eat or not eat. There's that word should again! What chemicals animals are given in their food is a concern, or what chemicals we use on our gardens and fields, growing our food. Organic food growing gives us a healthy choice.

What is most difficult about all these choices is that each choice is touted as being the best for everyone. So how do you choose? Talk to your body and don't be afraid to experiment with different things so you can make an informed choice. Listen to what your body is telling you as you experiment. Let your body, mind and soul do the choosing!

www.naturallivingbychoice.com

About The Author

Kristine Peterson

I am a health conscious individual that spends a lot of time researching different ways of thinking. It is important to me to think outside the box or the matrix if you will! I do not believe and accept everything I see, read, or hear. Some things I have found to be truths for my own life and those things I pass on to you. My maxims are "think for yourself" and "listen to your whole self, body, mind and soul!" I have found that if I do those two things I am always happy! The goal of my web site is to supply those of you that have made the choice to go natural with quality products!

www.naturallivingbychoice.com

Most parents know that if their child has been diagnosed by an allergist to be at risk for a severe reaction, injectable adrenaline, also known as epinephrine, must be administered rapidly, no matter how mild the early symptoms appear. Many admit however that they need more help when it comes to the best, and most effective plan-of-action.

As part of a nationwide initiative to answer pressing questions on anaphylaxis, a special pharmacist-directed, Health-Watch for Children Day is planned at 800 Shoppers Drug Mart/Pharmaprix locations, on Thursday, Sept. 19. Pharma-cists at these locations will conduct a one-on-one educational session with allergic individuals, parents, or caregivers of children with food, and other potentially life-threatening allergies. The sessions will include a demonstration on how to administer the medication with an auto-injector; how to recognize early symptoms; and what to do should an anaphylactic reaction occur.

Anaphylaxis Canada, and Association Quebecois des Allergies Alimentaires have endorsed the Shoppers Drug Mart/Pharmaprix initiative on this important health focus, and suggest that the Sept. 19 information day will go a long way to provide information and clarification. Contact your local Shoppers Drug Mart/Pharmaprix for an appointment.

About The Author

News Canada provides a wide selection of current, ready-to-use copyright free news stories and ideas for Television, Print, Radio, and the Web.

News Canada is a niche service in public relations, offering access to print, radio, television, and now the Internet media, with ready-to-use, editorial "fill" items. Monitoring and analysis are two more of our primary services. The service supplies access to the national media for marketers in the private, the public, and the not-for-profit sectors. Your corporate and product news, consumer tips and information are packaged in a variety of ready-to-use formats and are made available to every Canadian media organization including weekly and daily newspapers, cable and commercial television stations, radio stations, as well as the Web sites Canadians visit most often. Visit News Canada and learn more about the NC services.

Disclaimer: This article represents personal views and should be treated as such. Implementation of any ideas contained herein can only be done at own risk. Original article location: www.art.eonworks.com

This article describes and explains my current view on what constitutes a healthy diet along with health promoting eating habits. Further, it will give examples of meals based on the suggested diet. The diet is simple to implement and relatively low cost - I spend about US $150/month.

I read a lot about the topics of health and especially diets. I have been experimenting with diets since 1990 and keep journals about my observations. Over time I tried several very different diets - ranging from the politically correct ones to highly controversial, along with diets of my own design. My general observation is that a healthy diet plays an essential role in the overall scheme of well being.

Why eat healthy?

Eating the natural foods humans are well adapted at utilizing, enhances ones ability to cope with the reality of every day life. This in essence improves the probability of living a longer, healthier life. Quality food consumption becomes especially important in the present world of high stress and pollution - making a healthy diet an essential aspect of modern self health care. (Although food is not the only aspect contributing to health or disease, it is significant enough to consider it's effects seriously.)

I think anybody who seriously tried living healthier through a better diet, proper physical activity, adequate rest, and by addressing mental and spiritual factors have experienced a vast range of natural health benefits. Common benefits are overall better health and a sense of well being, better sleep, improved physical endurance and strength, sharper mental abilities and lower sleep requirements. Further more, no or little time and money and energy is spend on doctors, hospitals and health insurance bills.

What is a healthy diet?

Since this article deals with healthy eating, a question remains to be answered: what constitutes a healthy diet? Unfortunately, there are more opinions about this than there are health experts. To further complicate the matter, dietary concepts change over time, leaving most people confused and uncertain about what or whom to trust. One solution to this problem is to become sufficiently knowledgeable about the relevant subjects and rely on common sense to draw basic conclusions. Along with personal experimentation, such an approach will enable one to establish healthy eating habits. This takes time and energy, but considering the long lasting benefits a healthy diet can provide, the effort is more then well worth it.

In order to determine the minimal basic requirements of a healthy diet, I concluded that it is safe to start with the following two objectives:

examine human diet over time - the foods humans consumed since the arrival of our species.

examine diets of ethnical groups known for their good health.

Looking at the type of diets humans lived on through out pre-history, provides good insights into the kind of foods human body should be well adapted at utilizing and dealing with. Further, the diets of certain ethnical groups that are well known for good health - the people of Okinawa(Japan), traditional cultures in the Mediterranean region and many hunter-gatherer societies - suggest certain health promoting dietary habits. Upon closer examination, two main denominators emerged: diets are based on natural, whole or minimally processed foods in accordance to heritage. diets are lower in calories compared to a typical western diet.

In the context of present time, one can therefore make two general assumptions in regard to the question of what constitutes a healthy diet: 1) generally, the less a food is processed the better. 2) eat less - eat what is adequate, do not over eat.

Generally, the less a food is processed the better.

The reason for this is simple. For 99.9% of human existence, our species lived on foods that were either raw or minimally processed. The technology needed to increase food processing did not exist until very recently. It is therefore reasonable to assume that our bodies are best adapted at utilizing and dealing with the raw or minimally processed foods which sustained us for hundreds of thousands of years: fruits, vegetables, meats, nuts and seeds.

Often, the more recent the food is, the more likely it is to be less beneficial or even directly harmful - possibly due to lack of full adaptation to such foods. For example, it is estimated that food cooking started about 500 000 - 250 000 years ago (depending on the source, the range may vary). During this time frame, it is likely that human species have at least adapted in some way to cooked animal and vegetable foods. On the other hand, the beginnings of grain consumption are much more recent. Evidence of earliest known, systematical collecting of grains for food goes back to about 23 000 years ago - giving less time for adaptation to grain based foods.

Now, let's fast forward to recent times and consider all the new, human invented, highly processed foods so common today: fast foods, pizza, sweets, chips, convenience foods, canned foods, etc. along with the dramatic rise in heart attacks, high blood pressure, stroke, cancers, diabetes, kidney problems (and all the complications that arose from these conditions) during the past 100 years or so.

Considering the declining health of most western nations as opposed to good health of the ethnical groups described above, it seems reasonable that the most recent food inventions are directly harmful to human health. Further, it has been repeatedly observed that as ethnical groups around the world adopt the modern western diet, their health dramatically declines and they develop the same diseases that are so common to westerners. Not to mention the fact that the above mentioned diseases were far less common among westerners themselves barely 100 years ago.

The more a food is processed - through excessive cooking, pasteurization, homogenization, high heat, mechanical processing, etc, - the less natural and nutritious it becomes to a point of becoming a harmful burden to the body, rather then a useful and health promoting food. Some industrial processing practices deprive food of their nutrients to such a high degree that the food has to be "enriched" by artificially adding some nutrients back into the food. This is especially true of flours where vitamins are added back in after the processing is done.

A good diet is based on natural, whole or minimally processed foods. A large portion of it should consist of foods that can be eaten raw, such as fruits and vegetables. Fermented or cultured, unpasteurized foods such as kefir, yogurt, cheeses, miso, sauerkraut and pickles are considered highly beneficial. Cooking should be minimal and only applied to foods that must be cooked in order to be edible. Ancestral heritage also plays an important role as certain foods may need to be excluded or emphasized.

Eat less - eat what is adequate, do not over eat

During the past several decades, food in the western and westernized nations became increasingly affordable and more readily available then ever before in human history. This very fact combined with the enjoyment food consumption brings, results in all too frequent over eating. Which again leads to the above mentioned health problems.

In the past, as in the traditional way of living among the ethnical groups mentioned earlier, food consumption has always been significantly lower. Food quality, on the other hand, has always been higher. Resulting in a lower food intake, but of nutrient dense foods.

Finally, as an interesting note, it has been repeatedly confirmed through laboratory experiments on animals, including monkeys, that cutting down calories considerably lowers their susceptibility to diseases and prolongs their life up to 50%. It is believed by many, that life long caloric restriction can have similar effects on humans.

Health promoting eating habits

Over time, through reading and experimenting, I gradually arrived at several basic health promoting habits that in my experience are the most important:

Avoid or minimize:

Avoid all junk, sweets, canned and convenience foods - including all foods with added sugar: most commercial yogurts, kefirs and juices, fruit and soft drinks.

Avoid all refined or overly heated fats: margarine, any oil that is not cold pressed, leftover fat from cooking, all foods that contain hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated fats and trans fatty acids (read the labels). Such fats are considered to be among the most health damaging foods.

Avoid consumption of fish and water animals unless certain they came from unpolluted waters. Especially predators should be avoided as the toxins accumulate in them in far greater quantities.

Keep the intake of foods high in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) low - mainly nuts and seeds and any products made from them (mostly oils). PUFAs are unstable, they oxidize readily resulting in harmful free radicals. High PUFA intake have been repeatedly linked with cancer, heart and inflammatory diseases.

Do not cook meat or fat at high temperatures while exposed to air. Such practice will avoid fat and cholesterol oxidation - believed to be responsible for build up of arterial plaque and injury to arterial cells. Grilling and frying is especially harmful. Boiling is probably the safest way of cooking meat.

Minimize or eliminate consumption of foods frequently contaminated with mycotoxins: alcoholic beverages, wheat, rye, barley, corn and peanuts. Mycotoxins are poisonous substances produced by certain molds and fungi which cause a wide range of health problems including cancer, asthma, multiple sclerosis and diabetes.

Emphasize and do:

The more natural and less processed the food the better. Emphasize whole, fresh foods. Replace white rice with brown rice; white bread with whole grain bread; sugar with small amounts of raw honey or dry fruit; pasta with millet or whole grain pasta; canned foods with fresh; candy and other sweets with dry or sweet fruit; etc. Organic foods are best as they are higher in nutrients and do not contain harmful pesticides, hormones or antibiotics found in conventional foods. Always choose fresh over frozen, dried or canned foods. Fresh foods taste better, have more nutrients in them, have no added salt, sugar or unhealthy additives.

Enjoy simple meals. Generally, the simpler the food preparation the more nutrients are preserved and the easier it is to digest. Simple meals are easy and quick to prepare and use fewer resources like electricity and water - thus are more environmentally friendly and less costly.

Only cook foods that need to be cooked in order to be edible (beans, grains and some vegetables). Foods that are edible in a raw state (fruits, most vegetables, sprouts, nuts and seeds) should be consumed on a daily basis and preferably with every meal. Raw foods are higher in nutrients, which to some degree get lost during cooking, and are easier to digest. At least 50% of the diet, by volume, should consist of raw foods.

Steam vegetables that need to be cooked - steaming preserves more nutrients which when boiled leech into the water. Do not overcook. Cooked vegetables should be crunchy when you eat them, not soft.

Chew food well (simply chew it longer) and eat at a comfortable pace. This improves digestion which already starts in the mouth while saliva gets mixed with the food.

Variety in diet is very important - to prevent allergies, malnutrition and to lower exposure to natural and man-made toxins found in many natural foods.

Always properly wash fruits and vegetables before consumption. This lowers the exposure to agricultural chemicals (used to cultivate conventional plants) and harmful microorganisms. Peel the skin if washing is not sufficient.

Nuts and seeds should be soaked before consumption - to lower or eliminate natural anti nutrients like enzyme inhibitors. Soaking makes them much easier to digest. Do not eat more then a few handfuls a week as they are high in PUFAs and difficult to digest.

Grains (except amaranth, millet and rice) and beans must be soaked before consumption. This lowers or eliminates anti nutrients like phytic acid which inhibits mineral absorption that can lead to mineral deficiency.

Fruits are best eaten alone as a snack between meals. To improve digestion only eat one type of fruit at a time.

Regularly consume unpasteurized fermented/cultured foods like sauerkraut, miso, pickles, kefir, yogurt, etc. These are pre-digested foods that are high in probiotics (friendly bacteria) and enzymes which provide numerous health benefits. Start with what your ancestors consumed and later experiment with other foods as well.

Regularly consume enzyme rich foods: sprouts, raw honey, grapes, figs, avocados, bananas, papayas, pineapple, kiwi, mango and fermented/cultured foods (see above). Enzymes obtained from raw foods ease the digestion by reducing the body's need to produce digestive enzymes.

Consider the diet your ancestors ate for thousands of years - you will most likely do very well on such a diet due to the long period of adaptation to it. For example, the traditional Chinese diet is high in carbohydrates and low in fat and protein; Europeans, on the other hand, have been eating less carbs and more protein and fat; North American Indians did not eat grains.

Drink adequate amounts of liquid through out the day. Water is best. Under normal conditions, most people need 2-3 liters of liquid/day.

Unless very hungry, do not eat for 3-4 hours before bedtime. That way the nightly fast can be prolonged considerably. This gives the body more/adequate time and energy to perform the countless nightly tasks that are so essential to good health. (Rather then digesting the just eaten meal)

Eat only when hungry and do not overeat regardless of food. I found this to be among the most important of all health promoting habits.

Good sources of protein: any meat that comes from organic, free range animals that are fed their natural diet (hard to find) when not organic: lean poultry meat (high fat cuts are high in polyunsaturated fatty acids which oxidize readily during cooking and in the body; toxins accumulate in the fat) beans fresh, soaked or sprouted nuts and seeds raw fermented milk products: sour milk, kefir, cheeses, etc (hard to find) wild game eggs

Most commercial meats including pork and beef, unless organic and not fed corn/grains/beans, contain antibiotics, hormones and too many polyunsaturated fats - thus should be avoided.

Good sources of carbohydrates: vegetables fruits whole or minimally processed fresh grains: rice, oat, amaranth, millet, barley, wheat, etc. beans potatoes

Good sources of fats: avocados butter fresh, soaked or sprouted nuts and seeds (mostly source of omega 6) coconuts or coconut oil full fat raw milk products (cheese, milk, cream, etc) from pasture fed cattle olives or first cold pressed (extra virgin) olive oil

Shopping

I always try to find organic foods to avoid harmful substances like hormones, antibiotics, pesticides, etc. The most contaminated fruits are: raisins, cherries, peaches, strawberries, mexican (winter) cantaloupe, apples, apricots, Chilean (winter) grapes. And the most contaminated vegetables are: spinach, celery, green beans, bell peppers, cucumbers, cultivated button mushrooms, potatoes and wheat. Lean poultry is probably the safest meat to eat if not organic.

Meal examples

What follows are weekly meals that closely resemble my diet at the time of this writing. When planning meals, the key idea is to have variety in diet and to rely on food combinations that agree with ones digestion.

TBS = table spoon tsp = tea spoon / = or any fruit eaten alone 0.5L sour milk, 300g potatoes, fennel 0.5L kefir, 50-100g oatmeal, 25g raisins 0.5L plain yogurt, 300g grapes/2-3 bananas 50-100g oatmeal, 1-2TBS honey, cinammon 1/2 salad head, 1-2 tomatoes/pepper fruit, 1/2 cucumber/squash, 1-2TBS olive oil medium avocado, 1-2 bananas, cinammon 50-100g brown rice, 1-2 hardboiled eggs, 2-4 radishes, 25-50g leeks, 1-2TBS ground flax seeds, 50g sprouts 50-100g amaranth, 1-2 steamed parsnips, 1 steamed onion, 1-2 steamed carrots, celery stick, 1tsp freshly grated raw ginger, parsley, 1TBS olive oil 200g mung bean sprouts, 1-2 carrots, 25-50g leeks, 25g soaked pumpkin seeds/almonds/sesame seeds 1/2 steamed broccoli/cauliflower, 1-2 tomatoes/pepper fruit, 1/2 squash/cucumber, 150g turkey/chicken breast, 2-3 cloves of minced garlic, 1TBS olive oil 100g buckwheat sprouts, 2 carrots, florence fennel stick, 25g sprouted sunflower seeds, 25g raisins 50-100g amaranth, steamed onion, steamed asparagus, florence fennel stick, 1tsp freshly grated raw ginger, parsley, 1TBS coconut oil 50-100g millet, celery stick, 2-4 radishes, 25-50g leeks, 25g pumpkin seeds

I plan meals loosely, 1-2 days ahead. The meal preparation is very simple: meat and eggs are boiled in water, vegetables that need cooking are steamed. Since certain food vitamins become more bioavailable once exposed to low heat cooking, it is a good idea to alternate between cooked and raw vegetables. For example, Bio-carotene found in carrots becomes more absorbable after light steaming. I adjust the quantity of food according to how physically active I am during the day.

In addition to the above foods I also take vitamin and mineral supplements and drink bottled water. I use spices and salt. Kefir and sour milk are made at home from organic full-fat, unhomogenised pasteurized milk. Sprouts are home grown as well for maximum freshness. Both are very easy to make and require only few minutes of daily attention.

Final thoughts

Although a healthy diet can enormously improve ones health, it is only one essential part of healthy living. The other parts are proper and adeqaute physical activity, mental and spiritual well being, and adequate rest. All need to be addressed in order to achieve better health.

An important thing I learned while experimenting with diets and other health related approaches is to always pay attention to the signals from the body. It is essential to do this - in order to maintain good health - and adjust accordingly. As one gets better at reading the body, it becomes natural to self diagnose a lot of minor problems (which can become major if not paid attention to) and remedy them by simply adjusting the diet or other aspects of life. Finally, we are all different - what works for one person may not work for another - thus it's important to experiment with ones diet to find out what works and what doesn't.

(If you found this article helpful, you may return the favor by buying a poster of one of my images at http://www.art.eonworks.com)

RESOURCES

My favorite health related websites:

www.mercola.com - an excellent, bloat free, fast and easy to navigate site of Dr. Mercola. Full of really useful, practical and down to earth health information.

www.westonaprice.com - by building upon the work of Weston A. Price, this site provides a rich source of information about health and nutrition. Their recommendations are based on time proven traditional approach to diet and health along with scientific studies, rather then hype or political-correctness.

www.beyondveg.com - a superb site dealing with: " Reports from veterans of vegetarian and raw-food diets, veganism, fruitarianism, and instinctive eating, plus new science from paleolithic diet research and clinical nutrition." A fascinating read for anybody who has been into health and diets for some time.

Sprouting basics - an excellent introduction to sprouting nuts, grains, seeds and beans by Tom Billings.

Dom's kefir - a comprehensive guide to kefir making at home.

www.wildfermentation.com - fermenting foods links.

USDA National Nutrient Database - find out the nutrient content of many foods. The database files are freely available along with free software.

Books I found especially valuable:

Know Your Fats: The Complete Primer for Understanding the Nutrition of Fats, Oils and Cholesterol by Mary G. Enig, Ph.D.

Mucusless Diet Healing System by Arnold Ehret Natural Health, Natural Medicine by Andrew Weil, M.D.

Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct

Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats by Sally Fallon, Mary G. Enig, Ph.D.

Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price Survival Into The 21st Century by Viktoras Kulvinskas

The Raw Life: Becoming Natural In An Unnatural World by Paul Nison

About The Author

Dawid Michalczyk is a freelance illustrator and artist. Besides computers, his main interests include art, health and anthropology. He loves to ride a bicycle and does it almost every day. To see examples of his work and other articles visit his website at http://www.art.eonworks.com. He can be reached at dm@eonworks.com.

About the Author

Jonathan Chase (a lifelone allergy sufferer) is the creator of http://www.home-air-filter-edu.com, which provides free information to individuals interested in air purification and reducing their allergy symptoms.

About the Author

Visit http://www.natural-treatment-guide.com/allergy/home-allergy-remedies.html to learn more about treating allergy naturally.

About the Author

Harold Miller used to suffer from allergies until he took it upon himself to get educated. While Harold still has the occasional bout, he has learned many ways to improve his allergies and as a result enjoys serving as a contributing editor at http://www.allergyrelief101.com – a site dedicated to providing information on air purifiers.

About the Author

©Susan Dunn, MA, The EQ Coach™, http://www.susandunn.cc . I offer coaching around emotional intelligence – relationships, career, transitions, retirement, and personal and professional development. I offer distance learning courses, and an EQ library – http://www.webstrategies.cc/ebooklibrary.html . Mailto:sdunn@susandunn.cc for FREE ezine.

Thankfully, there's no place like home to escape from these airborne allergens. Or is there? Dust, mold and other allergens can also make a home seem unbearable for allergy sufferers.

The good news is that there are ways to reduce these irritants and make your home a haven from outdoor pollen and mould spore attacks.

There are a number of preventative steps that the estimated one in five Canadians who suffer from allergies can take to reduce the number of allergens in their living spaces. The most effective and simple steps involve sanitizing your environment with a thorough cleaning.

If you don't want outdoor pollen, dust, dust mites and mould to be "at home" with you, here are a few suggestions:

In the bedroom, discourage dust mites by encasing mattresses, pillows and box springs in airtight or allergen-proof casings and/or regularly vacuum them. Sheets should be washed weekly in hot water to kill dust mites. Use comforters and pillows made of synthetic fiber and replace synthetic pillows every two or three years.

In the bathroom, the biggest problem may be mold. Wash the tile behind the tub, shower doors and around the sink with an anti-fungal cleaner. Replace vinyl shower curtain liners regularly.

Wash curtains, drapes, bedding and children's stuffed animals in hot water to eliminate dust.

Keep pets and their animal danders out of bedrooms.

Keep furnishings, household decorations and collections of knickknacks to a minimum. The fewer surfaces on which dust can collect, the easier your home will be to clean.

Get rid of house plants. They are a major source of mould and dust.

Remove carpets and replace them with tiled or wooden floors.

Have furnaces serviced, ducts cleaned and appropriate filters put on the furnace and the vents. Keep humidifiers and air conditioners clean.

For more information on coping with allergies contact 1-800-665-1507 or visit www.claritin.ca.

About The Author

News Canada provides a wide selection of current, ready-to-use copyright free news stories and ideas for Television, Print, Radio, and the Web.

News Canada is a niche service in public relations, offering access to print, radio, television, and now the Internet media, with ready-to-use, editorial "fill" items. Monitoring and analysis are two more of our primary services. The service supplies access to the national media for marketers in the private, the public, and the not-for-profit sectors. Your corporate and product news, consumer tips and information are packaged in a variety of ready-to-use formats and are made available to every Canadian media organization including weekly and daily newspapers, cable and commercial television stations, radio stations, as well as the Web sites Canadians visit most often. Visit News Canada and learn more about the NC services.

According to the experts, all that pulling and digging makes your heart, lungs and muscles strong. Stretching and bending increases your flexibility. It's good for the soul. There's no better feeling than watching a seedling burst from a tiny seed.

Gardening can give you constant rewards such as fresh vegetables or beautiful flowers and a well cared for lawn is a great source of pride.

For gardening enthusiasts, the spring does not come soon enough. For those who suffer seasonal allergies, it comes too soon. Pollen from trees, grasses and weeds, as well as mould spores in warmer months cause sneezing, runny nose, itchy watery eyes and nasal congestion. In severe cases, sore throats and coughs can develop.

Here's a quick list of important pollen sources to be aware of when gardening:

Trees (oak, elm, birch, hickory, cottonwood, maple, ash)

Grasses (meadow fescue, Kentucky bluegrass, orchard, timothy, redtop, Bermuda)

Weeds (ragweed, cocklebur, marsh elder, sagebrush, mugwort, pigweed and tumbleweed).

You may be able to limit the numbers of allergy attacks you have by staying indoors and installing air purifiers in your home. But for Canadians who can't wait to get their hands dirty in the outdoors effective non-drowsy antihistamine medications like Claritin can help control your allergy symptoms and make you more comfortable without the drowsiness that accompanies other antihistamine treatments.

The more you know about your allergy the better you can control it. For the most up to date forecast of seasonal allergy triggers in your area watch for the Claritin Pollen Report on the Weather Network. Using the latest meteorological data, the 60-second report provides pollen level estimates for the coming 24 hours - in addition to current tree, grass and ragweed pollen levels. You can catch the report 24 hours a day on the Weather Network at 28 minutes past the hour.

So if you love to watch the flowers bloom but hate allergies keep track of the pollen count and ask your pharmacist to help you dig up the treatment that's right for you.

About The Author

News Canada provides a wide selection of current, ready-to-use copyright free news stories and ideas for Television, Print, Radio, and the Web.

News Canada is a niche service in public relations, offering access to print, radio, television, and now the Internet media, with ready-to-use, editorial "fill" items. Monitoring and analysis are two more of our primary services. The service supplies access to the national media for marketers in the private, the public, and the not-for-profit sectors. Your corporate and product news, consumer tips and information are packaged in a variety of ready-to-use formats and are made available to every Canadian media organization including weekly and daily newspapers, cable and commercial television stations, radio stations, as well as the Web sites Canadians visit most often. Visit News Canada and learn more about the NC services.

It is important to devise ways to make it easy for him to remember to carry at least one dose of epinephrine with him at all times. On September 19, Shoppers Drug Mart/Pharmaprix is holding an information day to provide this exact help. The HealthWatch for Children Day will be held at as many as 800 stores across Canada where pharmacists will conduct a one-on-one educational session with allergic individuals, parents, or caregivers of children with food and other potentially life-threatening allergies. The sessions will include a demonstration of how to properly use a spring-loaded injector; how to recognize early symptoms of anaphylaxis; and what to do should an anaphylactic reaction occur.

Anaphylaxis, the term for life-threatening allergies, is on the increase in Canada and because of it there is growing concern among the medical profession regarding patient knowledge and education. Some of the leading issues cited are that patients:

o fail to carry epinephrine at all times.

o are unsure about using an auto-injector correctly.

o fail to use epinephrine immediately since early symptoms of anaphylaxis can be mild.

o fail to be taken to a hospital once epinephrine has been administered.

During the HealthWatch for Children Day, a special pharmacist-directed clinic will guide parents through these issues during private 20-minute appointments. Parents will be provided with an updated HealthWatch brochure, Food Allergies and Intolerance; a fanny pack for children, large enough to hold two doses of epinephrine and laminated instructions on how to administer the medication with an auto-injector, which can be carried around in the fanny pack.

Anaphylaxis Canada, and Association Quebecois des Allergies Alimentaires have endorsed the Shoppers Drug Mart/Pharmaprix initiative on this important health focus, and suggest that the Sept. 19 information day will go a long way to provide information and clarification. Contact your local Shoppers Drug Mart/Pharmaprix for an appointment.

About The Author

News Canada provides a wide selection of current, ready-to-use copyright free news stories and ideas for Television, Print, Radio, and the Web.

News Canada is a niche service in public relations, offering access to print, radio, television, and now the Internet media, with ready-to-use, editorial "fill" items. Monitoring and analysis are two more of our primary services. The service supplies access to the national media for marketers in the private, the public, and the not-for-profit sectors. Your corporate and product news, consumer tips and information are packaged in a variety of ready-to-use formats and are made available to every Canadian media organization including weekly and daily newspapers, cable and commercial television stations, radio stations, as well as the Web sites Canadians visit most often. Visit News Canada and learn more about the NC services.

About the Author

If you need more information about immune system pls visit : http://www.natural-treatment-guide.com/immunesystem/immunesystem-intro.html For information on how to boost your body immune system kindly visit: http://www.natural-treatment-guide.com/immunesystem/immunity-booster.html

I have studied this phenomenon for over 20 years and do know for a fact that with conventional medications, these reactions are quite common. The AMA is calling for the FDA to reverse their ruling on supplements implemented in 1997.

But is this really the best approach?

Many Universities across the nation have closed their Ethno -botany and Botany labs, disallowing many with the gift in this field to aid in the search for new cures, and to determine which plants will have adverse reactions when combined with other chemicals

A good example is the treatment of Gout.

Medications that are prescribed by traditional medicine are normally Allopurinal or Zyloprim and Colchicine (which, by the way, is a homeopathic remedy from the bulb of the Autumn Crocus) which decreases the reaction that causes uric acid in the blood. Allopurinal and Colchicine can be enhanced by a specialized diet and the elimination of some supplements that can cause an elevation of certain enzymes in the diet. Both of these drugs can also cause serious side effects and toxicity when taken in high doses and/or for a prolonged period of time.

The deficiency of certain nutrients can provoke an attack of gout, people who take antibiotics can increase the risk of an attack and a persons diet can certainly influence not only the severity of an attack, but the frequency of attacks.

There are other reactions that need to be taken into account also, and that is that Allopurinal and Colchicine has a negative effect on the liver after 6 months of use, which will make it harder for those drugs to work effectively. If you also add some supplementation, even a regular multi-vitamin into the system when the liver is already struggling to keep up with the demands of the system, this can cause an adverse reaction to the liver, in part because the liver has to work harder to absorb the micro-nutrients given in the multi-vitamin.

The balance between conventional medicine and alternative medicine is a delicate one. Right now, both schools of thought refuse to work together, and the general public is who suffers.

For some who suffered from allergies when Seldane was prescribed, this was a very concerning issue. When taking Seldane, patients were not told that taking the medication along with certain micro-nutrients could prove to be fatal, and was in a few cases across the United States.

In 1993, the New England Journal of medicine published an article in which researchers estimated that as many as 60 million people had participated in alternative medical care. A follow-up study to that one, which appeared in a 1998 issue of JAMA, estimated that the number of visits to alternative practitioners had increased more than 47 percent between 1990 and 1997 and that expenditures in 1997 for alternative medicine services exceeded 21 billion dollars.

In our small town we had a family practitioner that took care of the community needs. He was a wonderful man that always gave of his time, energy and knowledge freely. A week after he was diagnosed with Gastric Carcinoma, he called me for advice. I asked him why he would call me and ask me for help. He told me that he had watched the patients that he had diagnosed with this same disease die slow, painful and miserable death, even while they were on conventional medications. He said he knew that the traditional medications and protocols didn't work, he had diagnosed cancers, informed the patients, watched them slowly die and he wanted something else. I treated him for 9 months; the cancer did not advance in that time, it didn't go away either, but it didn't advance. I asked him to do both treatments together, traditional and integrative, but he refused. He had a friend that was a Oncologist and this friend finally convinced him to try some clinical trials at a couple of Universities. In order to do that, the family doctor had to come off all other protocols that he had been taking. They waited a few weeks for the nutrients to leave his body, then started him on a protocol called PP6 and Thalidomide. A few days after the first treatment, he told his closest friend, "I've killed myself." Within a few weeks, he was totally incapacitated. He passed away some 5 months later, in severe pain and agony.

It's not always conventional medicine at fault....A cancer patient in N-stage was being treated by both conventional physician and naturopathic physician. Because the patient had been put on Prednisone he had become edemic. The Naturopath told the patient to come off the drug immediately, and then left town on a business trip. I got a call a few days later, the patients breathing was labored and he had fluid in his lungs. The massage therapist that called explained what had happened. I told her to call the man's medical physician immediately, the reduction of Prednisone can not be halted that quickly without the patient undergoing repercussions . The patient paid the ultimate price for the bridge between alternative and conventional medicine. There is so much that can be integrated into both schools of thought and treatment. These stories are why the public is turning to other methods for treatment, most do a combination, which, as the previous story illustrates, can be detrimental to health, unless the health care giver has a knowledge of both fields and an understanding of the chemical reactions that can occur.

It is always best to be responsible for your own health and treatment. No health care professional should be given total and complete control over another man's life. The need for knowledge is a necessity when deciding to integrate different methods of treatment for the health care provider involved, it could mean the difference between the life and death of a patient. The future of Integrated Medicine lies in the publics demand for the combination of traditional, alternative medicine, Bio-technology and Nano-technology. This integration will be needed in order to give patients the best of all fields of study.

About The Author

D.S. Epperson is the top Formulary for Home Blend Gourmet, (www.sugarblend.com) a Fuctional Foods Company based in the U.S., and South Pacific Health, the Corporate Base for 9 different Company's associated with Human Health, Enviromental, Agricultural, Veterinarian, Nutraceutical, Topical, Functional Food, Skincare, Sports and Fitness and Botanical Extractions. Her work spans a period of 20 years as a Nutritional Biochemist in protocols for acute and chronic conditions. She has writen reference books on herbs and manufacturing medicines from botanicals, and formulates functional foods for the benefit of those suffering from disease. More information can be found at: http://www.sugarblend.com.

About the Author: Joel Turtel is the author of “Public Schools, Public Menace: How Public Schools Lie To Parents and Betray Our Children." Website: http://www.mykidsdeservebetter.com, Email: lbooksusa@aol.com, Phone: 718-447-7348.

About the Author

Actually I’m not fond of writing, I don’t even write at all. I am not expecting to be in this field. But nevertheless, I love to read books...almost everything interest me. Reading is my passion! And now that I am in an article writer team, writing gives me an additional thrill in myself...Before I love to read books but now I’m also in a writing stuff. I can say that I am not a good writer but I am always trying to be one.

The colon is the part of the large intestine extending from the cecum to the rectum. The most common sign of a toxic colon is constipation. Dead food leads to constipation, toxic build up, weight gain, and low energy. Constipation results when waste materials move too slowly through the large bowel, resulting in infrequent and/or painful elimination.

This process causes putrefied, nasty materials to stay in the colon too long and old fecal matter starts to harden and stick to the colon. Over 2.5 million North American's suffer from constipation. Most North Americans are storing 5 to 10 pounds of old fecal matter in their bodies. We are all subject to this problem, even the rich and famous. It has been documented that John Wayne had 40 pounds of built up fecal matter in his colon and Elvis Presley had 60 pounds of built up fecal matter when he died.

You could say we are all full of s_ _ t!

Now, you are probably wondering what causes constipation? Basically the causes are our life style. We lack fiber and water in our diet, eat junk food, lack of exercise, advanced age and bowel disorders. It may also be the side effects of iron supplements, some drugs or pain killers.

Dr. Bernard Jensen D.C. PhD. says “poor bowel management lies at the root of most peoples health problems”. This is because the poisons back up in the system polluting our inner environment. We call this auto intoxication or self poisoning.

The following conditions can be related to constipation; allergies, bad breath, foul spelling gas and stools, diarrhea, sluggish elimination, irregular bowel movements, frequent congestion, colds, viruses, frequent headaches, general aches and pains, intolerance to fatty foods, low energy, low back pain, low resistance to infection, needing to sleep a long time, pain in liver or gallbladder, P.M.S., breast soreness, vaginal infection, skin problems, boils, pimples or acne.

Some healers in the natural world have implicated constipation as a contributing factor in the following diseases and disorders; Appendicitis, diverticulitis, hemorrhoids, benign tumors, I.B.S. (including spastic bowel ulcerative colitis & Crohn's disease, gout, rheumatoid arthritis and obesity. Let's face it, this doesn't sound healthy.

To rid the body of this condition you need to change your lifestyle and cleanse your body; for the lifestyle changes, I refer you to the free E-Book, “9 Steps To A Healthy Vibrant Life”, Step Four “Examining Your Life Style”. The book as available at www.herbs4health.net. Remember, you must increase your water and fiber!

Now it is time to cleanse the body and cleanse the body and cleanse the body. Any time we have a life style disease it is safe to say the first step is to cleanse. The cleanses are also in the book “9 Steps To A Healthy Vibrant Body”. The Colon Cleanse is excellent and very inexpensive. These cleanses can be done fairly often, if needed. I recommend two cleanses a year for maintenance of good health.

There are also some herbs that help activate the bowel and they are; parsley, black seed, cascara and worm wood. You might also find relief using Psyllium Husk as this contains dietary fiber.

Does colon cleansing look like a cure all to a lot of lifestyle diseases? It is! cleansing your colon will remove a lot of poison from your body and it will help you assimilate the goodness from your vitamins and minerals. This and a better lifestyle will give you a healthy, vibrant body.

© 2005 Jane Kriese

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Herbs For Health Newsletter and receive you free (life changing ) “Alkalinity Testing Kit”.

visit: www.herbs4health.net

Please feel free to use this article in your Newsletter or on your web site. If you use this article, please send a brief message to let me know where it appeared: mailto:janes-store@telus.net Thank you.

This article may be reprinted in newsletters and on web sites, with resource box included.

If using this article, please send a brief message to janes-store@telus.net

URL: http://www.herbs4health.net

About The Author

Jane Kriese - I am the web master for the site, www.herbsforhealthstore.biz, I love to study, and write articles, about holistic cures for life style diseases. It is exciting to educate people, and watch as they change their life style by, introducing holistic products, and new habits, into their life. Many of these people have healed their bodies. The holistic world is full of hope and joy, and I believe with effort we can have a healthy vibrant body.

Although there has been suspicion for years that air pollution does more to the body than what was known, it was not until recently that researchers in California discovered something quite significant. Through in-depth studies, these experts found that microscopic particles in the atmosphere can have the capability of disrupting some of the inner mechanics of cellular structure. With this information, researchers now understand why the urban haze produced by air pollutants is so harmful to humans.

How do these particles get past our bodies natural defenses and into our cells?

The scientists now know that even the smallest of particles found in smoke and dust can lead to cell injury, thanks to the extensive research. These particles are so minuscule, that they simply go past the body’s natural defense system. The study also showed that these small particles are capable of traveling well past the bloodstream and lungs, penetrating within the cells. The pollutants then accumulate within a critical area, which is responsible for powering the cell, as well as helping it maintain function. Unfortunately, when this cellular component becomes damaged from the air pollutants, numerous diseases can develop.

Where do these particles come from?

If you have ever traveled to Los Angeles, Detroit, Phoenix, or other large cities, then you have noticed a gray-like haze that lingers overhead. It is this particle pollution that causes so much trouble. In fact, this very haze has now been directly linked with problems such as children missing school, shorter life spans, cancer, reduced level of lung function, more hospital admittances, heart disease, and aggravated respiratory illnesses. Because of this, strict rules have now been implemented by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for creating methods in order to reduce air pollutants.

Where do we go from here?

With the new regulations for all types of air pollutants, the EPA now estimates that more than 15,000 premature deaths and 350,000 cases of asthma will be prevented. Additionally, this agency estimates that approximately one million children will be spared problems with lung or respiratory problems just in the next 15 years. Even so, there still remains the mystery of which particle types cause which health problems. What researchers know is that the air is filled with all sorts of particles and many different sizes. The goal is to identify how each of these particles affects the body so the appropriate measures can be taken. However, this new research does identify that even the smallest air particle can have an adverse effect on the body.

New studies to further knowledge…

Another study consisting of 10 scientists involved the collection of various sized particles from the atmosphere close to the downtown Los Angeles area. The collected particles were then concentrated, placed in a solution, and added to two different cell types. The first group of cells was comprised of macrophages, which came from mice and is a scavenger type cell that destroys foreign mater found in the body’s lungs, as well as other major organs. The second group of cells came from the deep lining of a human’s lung. With the cells in the solution, chemical reactions in the tissue was examined, followed by the cells being examined using an electron microscope.

Interestingly, the discovery was that particles coming into contact with the cells triggered a response of inflammation, which could explain why pollution exacerbates things like asthma, airway inflammation, and other respiratory problems. However, as the scientists went into the cells even deeper, they found that one-tenth of a micron had collected within the structures of the cell, known as mitochondria. These are oblong in shape and considered the laborers of the cells, combining oxygen and sugar to produce the required fuel so the cells can continue functioning.

This study went on to show that when exposed to air pollutants, the cell wall of the mitochondria was damaged. With this, the “fuel” production was stopped and instead, other chemicals were produced, which creates the inflammation of the mitochondria and ultimately, the damage to the cell. With this information, top scientists realized that the past efforts to clean up air pollution did not focus on the small particles and the danger they impose.

The thing to remember is that the cell’s mitochondrial is similar to a battery. If it becomes damaged, the cell will die. The reason this is so crucial is that what scientists now know is that the small particles are actually better at causing damage, meaning the ultra-fine particles should be a primary focus because of the extensive toxicity and ability to cause stress to the body’s cells.

Protecting the air for tomorrow…

If you consider that the sky can change from a bright blue to a dull gray simple because of air pollution, you can only imagine what these particles can do when inhaled. What is so fascinating is that these particles that can be so damaging to the cellular system are actually microscopic pieces that range anywhere from broken up tire fragments to acid droplets. Then, these are measured in microns, which is a unit of measurement the same to one-millionth of a meter. Considering that the human hair is approximately 50 microns in diameter and that some of these inhaled air pollutants are 0.003 microns, it is easier to understand how they enter the cellular system in the first place.

There are still a lot of questions about air pollution and the body’s cells but because research is now showing a direct correlation, it is believed that even more research will be conducted to narrow the types of particles down to specific damage. Although this type of research takes years, it does show that researchers and scientists are on the right track.

About The Author

Dr. Craig Donnelly founded BPA Air Quality Solutions / www.BreathePureAir.com as a result of his experience with his patients, many of whom suffered from allergies, asthma and airborne environmental sensitivities. Having been diagnosed with asthma himself, Dr. Craig understood about the origin of the health consequences many of his patients experienced on a daily basis from breathing contaminated indoor air. www.BreathePureAir.com specializes in home air purifiers, commercial air cleaners and smoke eaters and industrial air purification solutions.

Feel free to copy this article for publication as long as the resource box(with links) is left intact.

Do you know what information you need in a medical emergency? Being prepared can make a life saving difference in an emergency situation.

Who needs to keep their information available and updated?

Actually, all of us should but very few do. However for those at risk, such as seniors, people with chronic illness, serious allergies or medication complications, special needs children and anyone traveling away from home it is something that should not be overlooked.

Children should also have the proper medical information on them at all times if they have a medical condition or serious allergy.

"In a medical emergency, you might be unconscious or unable to speak for yourself," said Alfred Sacchetti, MD, of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP). "That's why it's so important to make sure that medical personnel have access to your medical history, as well as relevant contact information. For example, knowing what medications you are taking could prevent severe drug interactions, and knowing what allergies you have could prevent serious reactions."

Millions of Americans have medical conditions which should be immediately known to Emergency Personnel. Diabetes, alzheimers, transplant surgery, patient's currently on blood thinners such as Coumadin, epilepsy, asthma, severe allergies, heart disease and cancer patients and medication allergies such as penicillin and other antibiotics are all conditions that should be brought to the attention of emergency personnel. Additionally, many of us are reasonably health but getting older and our list of medications continues to grow with the years.

What information should be maintained?

Here are just some of the things recommended by Edward Stettner, MD, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, Emory University Atlanta, GA and other healthcare professionals.

Medical history - Chronic medical conditions Medications - Including over-the-counter Allergies - Medications and foods Surgical history - Include the date, hospital and surgeon Private physician - Include primary care as well as specialists Emergency contacts - Include multiple contacts with alternate numbers Miscellaneous - Include advance directives, specific dietary needs, or any other important information

How can you keep your information available and up to date?

Today you have many options that allow you to have your emergency information available. Which one you choose should be based on your personal needs and risk factors.

The “Vial of Life” program is a free program designed for seniors and individuals with serious medical conditions. It provides medical information to emergency personnel who respond to and treat home emergencies. The “Vial of Life” contains much of the medical information needed by emergency personnel, such as existing medical conditions, allergies, medication currently being taken, and emergency contact information. Medical history and emergency information forms are also available on-line from the Mayo Clinic and the American Medical Association. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Emergency Physicians have also created an Emergency Information Form (EIF) for parents of children with special health care needs.

There are also a number of monitoring services available that will maintain your information for you and provide in home alert devices that will dispatch emergency services if the need arises.

These are all good solutions for the home but do not provide coverage when you are away from the house.

As a minimum, anyone with an existing medical condition or that has special emergency needs should wear some type of medical ID to alert medics to their situation.

So how do you carry all that information around with you?

Digital technology allows a very large amount of information to be stored on surprisingly small devices. One company, MedicTag LLC, has adapted this technology to produce an emergency information device that fits on a keyring. The device is simple to use and works with your desktop or laptop computer. You can fill out the information form and make changes whenever necessary, always keeping your emergency information up to date. Emergency responders on site with a laptop or at the emergency room can have instant access to your vital information, even if you are unconscious, allowing them to diagnose and properly treat you with as little delay as possible.

Do you need to have your emergency information available?

For most of us the answer is probably yes. If not you, how about a child, parent or other loved one in your family? Considering the possible life saving benefits for us, it is something that we should seriously consider, for safety and security that affects the whole family.

Additional resources and references:

•Vial of Life •American Academy of Pediatrics •MedicTag LLC •The Mayo Clinic •US Dept. of Health and Human Services •American College of Emergency Physicians •The American Medical Association

About The Author

Edward Ricci Founder MedicTag LLC http://medictag.com/

Let’s take a look a the basic food elements in your perfect dietary plan; fruits and vegetables group, bread, cereals, rice and past groups, meats and beans group and dairy group. Each has different characteristics or helpful nutritional value for your dietary needs.

Fruits and Vegetables – Fruits have very little if any protein and fat. Instead, they have carbohydrates, generally fruit sugar or fructose and glucose. As Florida commercials tend to announce, fruits offer us vitamins, C and B to be exact, as well as potassium, fiber and other nutrients. While the sugar helps with maintaining blood sugar levels, vitamins and other nutrients help ward off sickness and disease, and fiber is important for waste disposal from the body.

Here is a peek at some fruits and their relationship to the perfect diet.

Apples – These help cleanse the system and aid lungs, and have been used as laxatives, for fainting, melancholy and palpitations. Apples have been known to help people with diabetes, heart disease, cancer and high cholesterol trouble.

Apricots – These offer beta carotene and potassium. They aid in adding moisture to the body, especially the breathing and throat areas. Apricots have been known to help fight cancer and high blood pressure, prevent night blindness, aid those with stomach and lung cancers, low energy and elderly with mental depression.

Bananas – These have been noted to help with intestinal and lung problems, ulcers and constipation, mental alertness, and increasing energy. They also help people with diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease risk, blood sugar level maintenance, and the elderly with confusion.

Berries – A variety of berries has been noted to help with varicose veins, menstrual problems, premature graying, joint ailments, insomnia, liver, spleen and pancreas problems. They also help reduce cancer risk and aid with rheumatoid arthritic solutions, weight loss issues, stomach and colon cancers.

Citrus Fruits – Oranges, tangerines, kumquats, lemons, limes - -help with stomach and colon trouble and with anemia and infections (like scurvy) and colds. They are also help people with cataracts and the prevention of colon and stomach cancers.

Figs – These work as laxatives and have been known to help with the treatment of boils and anemia reduction, and the prevention of osteoporosis.

Grapes – Grapes are associated with cleansing the body and to help with water retention, urinary issues, jaundice and hepatitis. They are also associated with the healing of rheumatoid arthritis and aid with mental confusion / depression, especially among the elderly.

Mangos – Mangos are noted to aid in the prevention of anemia and the strengthening of the immune system. They also have been used to help with fighting off infections and tumors and the prevention of cervical cancer. And they help with the heal of diarrhea, sweating and mental alertness.

Papayas – This is a great source for vitamin C and is also noted for helping with male fertility, with aiding white blood cells among the elderly, with intestinal treatments and with cancer prevention.

Pears – Pears have similar characteristics as apples. They provide moisture for the body, are slow to digest and have fairly little allergic responses reported. They have also been used to help with coughing, diabetes, cholesterol levels, dryness in the chest cavity, skin injuries, introducing babies to food, staving off hunger and boosting brain power.

Pineapples – Their juice helps with digestion, dissolving blood clots (related to thrombosis) and healing wounds. They have been known to help with cancer prevention.

Prunes – Help with iron deficiency and constipation. Prune puree can act as a substitute in dietary cooking to lighten the fat low, working in place of butter and margarine.

Now let’s look at some veggies. Again low in calories, vegetables are also high in fiber content, vitamins and minerals, with little to zero protein and fats. Check and see how some veggies affect your perfect diet.

Artichoke – Artichokes have been known to aid liver disease, kidneys and gallbladders. They also help with large intestinal problems, skin and bowel cancer prevention, high cholesterol and hepatitis.

Asparagus – Great source of some vitamin B, this veggie helps with water retention with regards to kidneys and menstrual issues, cataracts and lung problems (some bronchitis, tuberculosis).

Avocado – Great source for vitamins E and some Bs and oil, avocados help with the immune systems in elderly people. They also aid the liver, lungs and intestines (ulcer treatments), infertility in men and Parkinson’s Disease.

Broccoli – This has been noted to help with anemia, eye disorders like near-sightedness, and infections, especially childhood ones like measles. Broccoli has also been known to help counteract the effects of cigarette smoke and aid in many types of cancer prevention.

Cabbage – Cabbage has been used to help with lung and digestive disorders, ulcers, wounds, joints, mastitis and acne. Is has been reported to help with breast and prostate cancers, bacterial infections and heart disease prevention.

Celery – This is helpful for those with high blood pressure, for those with rheumatoid arthritis and for calming, not only with the liver but with stress and anxiety as well. Celery is also used to help with stomach, pancreas and spleen troubles, acne and canker sores, burning urine and eye inflammation.

Legumes – These seed pod products help with the reduction of heart disease risk and help with the healing of some cancers, blood sugar level maintenance and iron / calcium maintenance in the body. They also aid people with anemia and diabetes.

Mushrooms – These help white blood cells in the immune system, help fight some cancers and heart disease and may help in the prevention of clotting, by blood thinning.

Onions – They have helped with heart disease prevention, bladder (and other) cancer, and circulatory problems. They have also helped in healing swelling from bug bites and bronchial inflammations. And onion tea is said to have sedative qualities.

Potatoes / Other Roots – These root veggies are associated with the prevention of different cancers, the prevention of blood clotting related with heart disease, and with protection against inhaled nicotine (via smokers). Carrots further aid in stomach and lung cancer care, food poisoning healing, iron deficiency, sexual problems and night blindness. While beets help reduce heart disease risk and spina bifida (with pregnant women). And they help with high blood pressure care and muscle replenishing.

Pumpkins / Squash – These have been known to help with the prevention of prostate cancer and the reduction of heart disease risk. They also aid in healing cataracts / retinal and lens damage in the eye and with the flu and colds.

Soybeans – These help with osteoporosis risk reduction, lowering blood cholesterol levels, and prostate and breast cancer reduction and prevention. Soybeans have also been known for helping the spleen, blood and pancreas, and increasing milk production in breast-feeding women.

Tomatoes – These help in the reduction of heart disease, the healing of prostate and other cancers, and with the aging (both mentally and physically) process.

Bread, Cereals, Rice and Pasta – Cereals are considered staple foods. Depending upon the country, weather, region, etc., popular varieties vary; corn, barley, oats, wheat, rice, millet. Grains mainly give the body carbohydrates (mostly starches), some fiber, protein, vitamins (mainly Bs and E) and minerals. Here is a peek at some foods in this category.

Bread – This major energy source offers the body lots of nutrition, protein, calcium, iron and B vitamins. Breads help reduce risk of infertility in men, anemia, heart and spine problems, osteoporosis and colon cancer risk. Historically, bread was prescribed as nature’s way to aid in colonic irrigation.

Corn – Corn may be able to help with spina bifida risk in babies. It helps with heart disease and colon cancer prevention. Popped corn can be a great diet food, depending upon the oil and additives (like butter) used. Corn silks have been used in diuretic teas to help with high blood pressure, gallstones, kidney stones, water retention, and urinary problems.

Oats – Oats are known to help with skin problems and in the treatment of depression, anxiety and insomnia. The saponins, B vitamins and alkaloids in oats aid with mood-lifting. Some forms of oats also work as antiseptic and heart disease treatments, help lower blood pressure and with weight reduction (cause full feeling and digest slowly) and are popular on diabetic menus.

Rice – Rice has been used for the healing of depression, for reducing colon cancer risk, for reducing cholesterol levels and blood pressure. It offers quick energy for the body, helps calm the stomach, is good for poor digestion and diarrhea, and helps fight celiac disease. Rice cakes are great substitutions for dieters, replacing breads.

Wheat - This traditional kidney toner help with the reduction and prevention of colon and breast cancer, blocking of the arteries and heart disease. Wheat also aids in mental functions including focus and calmness. Many pastas are made from wheat and in this category. They offer carbohydrates, fiber and B vitamins to the body.

Meats and Fish - Meats are a source of protein and iron. Mainly fat content needs to be of concer with regards to perfect dietary planning. And leaner meats are becoming more readily available; lean hamburger, buffalo, emu and ostrich. Fish, also good protein sources, help reduce heart disease risk, inflammation and blood clotting.

Fish – Oily fish have been known to help with bone density, to relieve psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritic pain, and help prevent heart disease and anemia. Shellfish helps with male fertility, brittle bones, weak muscles, weight loss and the prevention of cancer.

Meats – Aid male fertility, build body tissue, nervous system damage and maintenance and help with the prevention of anemia and osteoporosis.

Gamebirds / Poultry – These foods help enhance concentration and mood. They also aid in the prevention of anemia and depression. And for those with allergies, turkey and chicken are noted at rarely causing allergic reactions.

Dairy – Dairy products help in the prevention of tooth decay, protein deficiency, loss of energy, high blood pressure, bone fractures, osteoporosis, rickets and some cancers including colo

About The Author

Chris Stephen is the Editor of Health Conscious, a FREE bi-monthly Newsletter,that gives advice and help tips. yourself. You can subscribe for Free at hcezine@getresponse.com

chrsstephen@yahoo.com

About the Author

For additional medical tips about sinuses and related problems you may log on to http://www.sinusinfectionproblems.com

Boswellia

Boswellia, an herb, is known for its anti-inflammatory abilities and its usefulness in reduces the effects of bronchitis, asthma, cough, laryngitis, and fever. It comes from the resin of a tree in India and made into a pill or cream. It is best known for use in arthritis.

Recommended dose is: 150mg three times a day.

Yamoa

Yamoa is an herbal powder treatment for Asthma, which is derived from the bark of an African gum tree. It is available in capsule and has been typically used to help asthma. It has a good history of helping asthma sufferers.

Minor Blue Dragon formula

The Minor Blue Dragon is a Chinese herbal formula. Another name for it is xiao-qing-long-tang, or XQLT. It’s a blend of eight herbal medicines used to treat asthma for centuries in Asia

The XQLT formula has been used effectively for bronchial asthma for centuries and it is said to have an even more powerful bronchodilator effect than prescription drugs.

This formulation contains ephedra, which has been banned in the US in diet formulas. However, ephedra in this formula is considered safe, since the formula only contains around 15% of this herb. The other ingredients in XQLT are paeonia alba, cinnamon, pinellia, ginger, schisandar, asarum, and glycyrrhiza.

Nutritional Supplements That Help Reduce Asthma

Antioxidants

In addition to the above herbs, it is also important to take a good supply of antioxidants - especially vitamins A, C, and E, carotenoids, and selenium. Taking antioxidants helps to reduce the irritating effects of airborne free radicals, which can activate an asthma attack.

Magnesium

Magnesium has been shown to reduce the risk of developing asthma and might also be helpful in reducing asthma. Magnesium is also good for asthmatics because it helps to dilate the bronchioles. Also, make sure that plenty of water is drunk daily, which thins mucus. The recommended dosage of magnesium is 200-600 mg/day.

MSM

MSM has also proven useful for asthma aside from being beneficial for arthritis, allergies, fatigue, back pain, sinusitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, autoimmune diseases, and many other conditions. Start with 2000mg of MSM per day but be sure to take 50 to 150 micrograms of molybdenum daily since MSM needs molybdenum to activate it properly.

I was able to find a product that already has the proper molybdenum in the MSM, which makes it convenient to take just one pill. Go to google and put in the words "MSM molybdenum" and you will find some web sites that sell this MSM combination.

Copyright © 2005 Rudy Silva

About Rudy: Rudy Silva has a Physics degree and is a Natural Nutritionist. He is the author of Constipation, Acne, Hemorrhoid, and Fatty Acid ebooks. He writes a newsletter called "Natural-Remedies-ThatWork.com". For more information on his writings go to http://www.natural-remedies-thatwork.com/archive.html.

In particular, sedating antihistamines commonly used in the treatment of allergy symptoms can cause drowsiness at the wheel. If a medication does not say non-drowsy on the box then it usually means it is sedating. An allergy medication that is sedating could do any of the following:

Decrease your ability to learn

Decrease your attention span

Provoke memory loss

Interfere with your coordination and the precision of your movements

And cause inexplicable mood swings

All of these symptoms not only affect your productivity, they also affect your safety and that of others. Just think

about how a sedating medication could impair your driving skills. Safe driving simultaneously requires attentiveness, excellent coordination, quick reflexes and good memory. A medication that is sedating could affect any of these requirements and could therefore affect your driving.

Not all allergy medications are created equal. There are non-sedating alternatives available like Claritin that will relieve the sneezing and itching of the nose, eyes and throat while letting you perform to the maximum of your abilities.

Here are some helpful safety tips from the allergy experts at Claritin that you can consider before you take the wheel:

Look for the words non-drowsy, or non-sedating on the package of your allergy medication. In other words, any other expression or word combination may be misleading. If you're not sure about what you're buying, ask your pharmacist to explain the different wording.

Avoid the misconception that certain stimulants like coffee will keep you alert over an extended time period. Coffee or other sources of caffeine are short-term stimulants only.

Avoid alcohol: even small amounts can affect your driving, especially if combined with certain medications.

For more information on how to control allergies this season call 1-800-665-1507 or visit www.claritin.ca.

About The Author

News Canada provides a wide selection of current, ready-to-use copyright free news stories and ideas for Television, Print, Radio, and the Web.

News Canada is a niche service in public relations, offering access to print, radio, television, and now the Internet media, with ready-to-use, editorial "fill" items. Monitoring and analysis are two more of our primary services. The service supplies access to the national media for marketers in the private, the public, and the not-for-profit sectors. Your corporate and product news, consumer tips and information are packaged in a variety of ready-to-use formats and are made available to every Canadian media organization including weekly and daily newspapers, cable and commercial television stations, radio stations, as well as the Web sites Canadians visit most often. Visit News Canada and learn more about the NC services.

There was no mistake. The bill I held recorded the drugs ordered by my fathers Alzheimers' care unit. In only three weeks at this eldercare facility, his drug expenses had soared an incredible 734%. Ironically, his quality of life had plunged about the same percent. Walking and talking when he entered, he now spent his days confined to a wheelchair, unable to walk, drugged into a persistent stupor.

"I've got to do something." The thought haunted me all day.

Then, that evening, an incidental trip to the grocery delivered the help I needed. It came in the form of a thick paperback book, The PDR Pocket Guide to Prescription Drugs (PDR Pocket Guide).

The PDR Pocket Guide provides tons of information for all prescription drugs on the market when it was printed. Specifics include:

generic equivalents,

why the drug is prescribed,

how it should be taken,

when it should not be taken,

side effects and special warning, and

possible interactions with other drugs and food.

The PDR Pocket Guide is available through Amazon.com, or you might find a copy like I did at your local grocery or bookstore. Jam-packed with almost 1700 pages of information, this paperback is a surprisingly affordable $6.99.

Using the pharmacy's bill as a list of medications, I read the PDR report for each drug my father was using. What I found astonished me.

Two of fifteen drugs prescribed were being used "off-label" (not FDA approved for the condition it is used to treat). One of those was specifically contraindicated for use with Alzheimer's patients. Two more were from drug families that I had previously identified as causing allergic reactions in my father.

When I was young, my father used to kid me by saying, "Up with this I will not put!" Up with this I wasn't about to put either, so I called his doctor.

"My father is allergic to Furosemide."

He bristled. "Where did you get an idea like that?"

"Furosemide is a sulfa drug. He's allergic to sulfa drugs."

"I never heard anything like that about Furosemide," he barked. "Who told you that?"

"The PDR Pocket Guide."

"Well, the PDR has a lot of stuff you don't need to know." His arrogance grated on my nerves.

"No more Furosemide." Now I wasn't asking, I was demanding. "You've seen his rash. He didn't have it when he came to the care unit."

"You're not qualified to say what he should or should not have."

"What am I doing," I wondered, "arguing with a doctor who should be helping?" I wish I'd spoken the words I thought next. "Bye-bye! You're fired!"

But, in that moment, I resolved to be fully in control of all my father's drugs. I would learn everything I could and provide drugs direct to the facility. . .or not. There would be no more ordering drugs without my specific authorization

I enlisted the expertise of a pharmacist I found just down the street. She graciously took time from her crowded day to answer all my questions and explain anything I didn't understand. She took a brief history of my father's illness, made note of his allergies, and offered money-saving suggestions. She focused on providing excellent service. In short, she was, and is, an angel.

I immediately began to look for another physician to take over my father's care, but I was too slow. Within a few weeks, my father died of complications from a massive insulin overdose.

Was my experience unusual? Probably not, according to a study from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS). On the subject of the increased cost of pharmaceuticals for people over-65, the study's author, Marie Stagnitti, MPA, reports:

Every year from 1997-2000, the average out of pocket expense for prescription medicines for those with a purchase and age 65 and older was more than three times as high as the average out of pocket expense on prescription medicines for those with a purchase and under age 65.

The potential for overmedication in the elderly is clear in Stagnitti's chart showing an average 23.5 prescriptions in both 1999 and 2000 for the over-65 group that used prescription drugs. The number of prescription drugs used by the under-65 group seemed high to me as well: 9.5 for 1999 and 10.1 prescriptions for the year 2000.

Overmedication is not only crushingly expensive for our elderly, it represents a real and present danger. You can do something about it. Please, learn about and oversee medications. You will help elders save money. You might even save a life.

About The Author

A native Texas, Phyllis Staff lives in Dallas with her family. She is a writer and photographer whose work has appeared in scholarly journals and popular magazines. She is the CEO of thebestisyet.net (http://www.thebestisyet.net) and author of How to Find Great Senior Housing: A Roadmap for Elders and Those Who Love Them (2nd edition).

pando19@direcway.com

"If a qualified allergist has determined that someone has a potentially life-threatening allergy, then that person needs to know how to avoid their particular trigger and how to proceed in the event of an unexpected reaction. It is important to be prepared and to act swiftly," says Jane Salter, President of Anaphylaxis Canada. "Unlike milder allergic reactions (hay fever, eczema), anaphylaxis reflects extreme activity of the immune system and can lead to compromise of all body systems. The most worrying signs and symptoms relate to the heart and lungs. Foods account for approximately 50% of fatal anaphylaxis reactions and peanut is the food most commonly associated with death.

"While most reactions occur shortly after contact, a few may be delayed one or two hours. Early injection of adrenaline (epinephrine) is the cornerstone of therapy. While the first symptoms can be very mild, it is important to stop the reaction at this point before it gets out of hand. As a dose of epinephrine lasts for only 10 or 20 minutes, patients should carry one dose for every 15 minutes travel time to a medical facility (to a maximum of three doses). Many reactions recur within four to six hours. Hence, if someone has had a reaction, it is important that they remain in a hospital setting for several hours."

On the HealthWatch for Children Day, a special pharmacist-directed clinic will guide parents through the most important aspects of these concerns during private 20-minute appointments. As part of the session, parents will be provided with:

a HealthWatch brochure, Food Allergies and Intolerance.

a fanny pack for children, large enough to hold two doses of epinephrine.

laminated instructions on how to administer the medication with an auto-injector, which can be carried around in the fanny pack.

Anaphylaxis Canada, and Association Quebecois des Allergies Alimentaires have endorsed the Shoppers Drug Mart/Pharmaprix initiative on this important health focus, and suggest that the Sept. 19 information day will go a long way to provide information and clarification. Contact your local Shoppers Drug Mart/Pharmaprix for an appointment.

About The Author

News Canada provides a wide selection of current, ready-to-use copyright free news stories and ideas for Television, Print, Radio, and the Web.

News Canada is a niche service in public relations, offering access to print, radio, television, and now the Internet media, with ready-to-use, editorial "fill" items. Monitoring and analysis are two more of our primary services. The service supplies access to the national media for marketers in the private, the public, and the not-for-profit sectors. Your corporate and product news, consumer tips and information are packaged in a variety of ready-to-use formats and are made available to every Canadian media organization including weekly and daily newspapers, cable and commercial television stations, radio stations, as well as the Web sites Canadians visit most often. Visit News Canada and learn more about the NC services.

About the Author

Lisa Maliga, bath & body products designer of [http://www.everythingshea.com] Everything Shea Aromatic Creations, has been working with shea butter since 2001.

About the Author

Patty Blair is a freelance writer who started writing 'books' in the fifth grade. When not dealing with her numerous medical ‘mysteries’ she loves writing, reading, beach combing, fossil hunting, and her incredible son, CJ. Originally from New York, she has lived in sunny Florida since 1981.

Listen up! Behavioral changes guarantee your success - not just knowledge alone. You may already have drawn out your road map with your nutritional plan and your workouts, so take that strategy and ACT on it. Stay motivated and consistently remind yourself of your fitness goal. Here are 11 basic tips to get you jumpstarted! 1. CUT THE SIMPLE CARBS. It's unfortunate that the majority of society is a "carb junkie." This especially applies to overweight individuals mainly because their bodies struggle with insulin sensitivity. Our body absolutely needs carbohydrates, but one has to learn to appropriately reverse the ratio of simple carbs (high glycemic) to complex carbs (low glycemic). Most importantly reducing total sugar intake. Having a positive ratio of complex to simple carbs will allow the body to regulate blood sugar levels, burn more fat as fuel, and ultimately lose more weight. 2. EAT SMALLER, MORE FREQUENT MEALS. Smaller, frequent feedings about every 3-4 hours prevents your blood sugar levels from spiking dramatically throughout the day. This helps your hormones stay in check, while regulating hunger as well. Ultimately, it helps elevate metabolism, it's easier on your digestive system, and it can eventually provide you with more energy throughout the day. 3. CONSUME MORE FUNCTIONAL FATS. Essential fatty acids, such as omega-6 and omega-3 consumed in appropriate ratios of 2:1 or better yet at 1:1 will allow the body to regulate your hormones, calm down inflammation, and stabilize blood sugar levels. This eventually leads to greater fat loss. So suck it up, and buy your fish and flax oils at your local health food store. 4. DOWN THAT WATER. Water is often overlooked, but it's the number one nutrient for our body to survive. Staying hydrated aids with digestion, curbs your appetite, and flushes our metabolic waste. Make sure to get in at least 64 oz per day. 5. INCREASE FIBER INTAKE. This nutrient keeps food moving along your gastrointestinal tract, and like water, it aids in flushing metabolic waste. It also helps maintain consistent energy levels, slows the rate of carbohydrate digestion, which stabilizes blood sugar levels. 6. ABSTAIN FROM ALCOHOL. Not only is alcohol estrogenic (negatively affects testosterone for men), can lead to fat gain, and has a whopping nutrition-empty 7 calories per gram, but it takes precedence over fat metabolism when introduced into the body. Alcohol actually shuts down the fat burning mechanism for up to 48 hours, so avoid it as much as possible. 7. SPICY METABOLISM. Incorporating a variety of spices in your foods such as curry, cayenne pepper, cinnamon and certain herbs may help boost your metabolism. Spices also help with stabilizing blood sugar levels. 8. COMBINE WEIGHT TRAINING WITH YOUR CARDIO. While aerobic activity may burn a great deal of calories, especially when maintained at a high intensity, you'll achieve greater success by combining it with resistance training. This is because proper resistance training stresses all of your muscles fiber types (Type 1 and Type 2). When you stress your muscles effectively, you either maintain and strengthen your current muscle mass or you even gain some. For every pound of muscle you gain it equates to 50 extra calories you can burn per day. So remember to hit the weights at least three times per week along with your cardio. 9. SLOW DOWN YOUR EATING. No one truly gets to sit down and have a nice relaxing meal nowadays, especially with our busy schedules. Learning and realizing to slow down the pace at which we eat prevents compulsive overeating and assists our digestion. It takes at least 20 minutes between the time you're full and when your brain actually realizes it. Slowing your eating will also allow you to enjoy your meal. 10. WATCH FOR FOOD ALLERGIES. Many people are allergic to dairy and wheat products. Being sensitive to these two food categories have been shown to cause weight gain. If you're consuming a diet high in refined foods, these sensitivities become more evident. This causes digestive problems such as bloating, stomach pain, and water retention. If you're not sure you may want to consider an allergy test. 11. GET YOUR ANTIOXIDANTS. Getting your daily dose of antioxidants from either a good multi-vitamin, a specific antioxidant supplement combination, or even a healthy combination of fruits and vegetables is important for combating toxins held in fat cells. Antioxidants such as vitamins A, C, E, polyphenols in green tea, etc. help your body reduce the time that toxins stay in your system. So there it is - 11 basic tips to help you achieve a healthier and leaner physique. It's never to late to take action. Have fun and enjoy the summer!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Whether you are looking for renewed strength, energy and vitality in your life, drug-free relief from arthritis and joint pain, or wanting to make a difference in your financial future by becoming a MonaVie distributor, www.mymonavie.com/wealthontap & www.whatismonavie.com/mikelaw

About the Author

For additional medical tips about sinuses and related problems you may log on to http://www.sinusinfectionproblems.com

Everyone has a sinus on each side of their nose called the maxillary sinus. Wherein, the roots of the upper back teeth go into the right and left maxillary sinuses. This can cause a problem during sinus season. If a sinus has an infection, it can fill up with fluid and cause the entire sinus lining to become inflamed. If encountered by patients they will feel pain in their upper back teeth along with a metallic taste in the mouth. Threatening a major dental problem if continuously endure.

Both of the maxillary sinuses drain into the nose. Nothing much really happens in the sinus except when the exit into the nose is blocked. Swelling in the nose can cause blockage of the sinus outlet and fluid builds up in the sinus. And when the sinus fills up with fluid, bacteria can grow in the fluid because the sinus is warm, dark, and moist. The problem started with the nose blocking up and this is usually caused by nasal and breathing allergies.

This concerns the dentists. Because continued nasal and sinus problems can lead to poor dental development. Wherein, if problems transpire longer can make doing orthodontics very difficult. It is necessary to consult dentist if symptoms persist. Regular check up will help you monitor your status about the disease.

But for the short term, a patient can spray their nose with sea salt spray. This moistens the nasal area and can loosen the snot blocking the sinus exit. Take hot showers and breathe in the hot spray to moisten your nose. Finally, fill up your tub and just let the water evaporate so that the air will stay moist. Lots of sinus problems happen when the heating or cooling systems dry out the air because this dries out your nose.

Caring for your nose and your teeth is the most helpful thing to do in order to prevent at least the effect and occurrence of a sinus infection. So if you are afraid to encounter such terrible sickness…love your whole body that is the least thing to do!

About The Author

Marlon D. Ludovice

Actually I’m not fond of writing, I don’t even write at all. I am not expecting to be in this field. But nevertheless, I love to read books...almost everything interest me. Reading is my passion! And now that I am in an article writer team, writing gives me an additional thrill in myself...Before I love to read books but now I’m also in a writing stuff. I can say that I am not a good writer but I am always trying to be one.

For additional information and comments about the article you may log on to http://www.sinusinfectionproblems.com

jona@sip.com

Modern Living, Complex Health Problems

In our post-modern industrial polluted stress-filled bad-diet culture, no one's health is simple. We are plagued by complex long-term illnesses like lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, AIDS, even sinus problems... it may seem weird to you that I include sinus infections, but the root causes of sinus trouble can be quite complicated... Especially if they are long-term.

Antibiotic Overuse Problems

I hate to say it (because antibiotics are so great in some situations, and so popular overall), but antibiotics can complicate things even further - there are conditions that do not respond to them... and there are many situations in which they are not even indicated.

Physicians have over-prescribed antibiotics for years... they know it, there have been studies that show it, and as a profession they've moved away from that. But people still want to leave the doctor's office with a prescription, a magic-bullet. Of course, sometimes the issue is which antibiotic is the most appropriate one. They don't all work for everything.

Antibiotic Side Effects - When They're Wrong

If the sinusitis hasn't responded to antibiotics, then either the wrong ones were prescribed, or you need to try another kind of treatment. Chinese Herbal Medicine can address the full spectrum of complaints and causes; we often treat the conditions which are not responding to conventional treatments like antibiotics. A woman wrote me about how antibiotics weren't solving her diarrhea problem- this can happen when the disease is cold in nature. Antibiotics are cold and bitter; these qualities help it fight the dampness and heat of bacterial infections. But they are more of the same damage when the disease is cold or deficient in nature. Acupuncture and moxibustion (the warming of acupuncture points) can also be effective; some people respond very quickly... results vary depending upon a number of factors (the acupuncturist's education, accuracy of diagnosis, frequency of treatment, and patient compliance with diet and lifestyle suggestions).

Cold and Deficient

If the mucus is clear or white, then it is more likely cold in nature. That fits with a Spleen-system deficiency and dampness. That would fit with the pulse she felt. You would have lowered appetite, feel fatigued, have loose stool, and possibly feel cold easily. Antibiotics wouldn't help here, and could even make things worse.

Sinus Infection Symptoms

The classic acute sinusitis symptoms are nasal congestion, green nasal phlegm, facial/dental pain, eye pain, headache, and a cough at night. Some patients also complain of fever, feeling ill, bad breath and a sore throat. Chronic sinusitis is more difficult to diagnose. You can have the same symptoms above in a milder form. Chronic means long-term; it's not usually thought of as chronic unless it's been going on for 2 months or more.

Sinus Infection Causes

Sinus problems can be caused by many things- you have to think about environmental and food allergies (allergic sinusitis), chronic sinus infection, and chronic colds. Without more information, it's hard to be specific. Sinusitis often develops after colds, and can become a chronic problem. The sinuses are very small... one of our weak points, especially for people with weakened immune systems or in the presence of irritants (once again, pollution, allergens, etc.)... she probably asked about the farms and pesticides while she was thinking about the cause of your chronic sinusitis.

Mold, Fungus, and Sick Buildings

And we can't forget about mold! While some people appear to be more sensitive than others, fungus can cause fungal sinusitis. This gets into the whole 'sick-building' topic... Mold can grow in the walls of houses and offices, and is not always easy to detect.

Decongestant Side Effects

Decongestants are often prescribed. They work by drying you out. Unfortunately, they don't just dry the mucus. Long-term use of decongestants can lead to other problems, like the dry or heat types of sinus inflammation.

This is why, in Chinese Medicine, we always balance an herb with other herbs- if we are drying the phlegm, we also moisten at the same time. Moisture helps the sinuses drain- you remember that Crocodile-Dundee-put-your-head-under-the-steaming-pot-thing? Likewise, there are chinese herbs whose function it is to moisten and transform phlegm.

Serious Causes of Sinusitis, and Serious Solutions

For those with chronic sinusitis, tests need to be done to rule out the serious things. Sinusitis can be just a simple end-of-your-cold complication, but it can also show up as part of: nasal tumors, fungal infections, and HIV or other immunodeficiency. What about the sinusitis surgery? It works from 50-93% of the time... so it can be a great help if you're sick and tired of it, and nothing else has worked. but it's also a super-painful process! I would see an herbalist first.

About The Author

Brian Carter has been making herbs and acupuncture fun and easy to understand since 1999. He founded Pulse Media International (http://www.pulsemed.org), previously known as the Pulse of Oriental Medicine. He is the author of "Powerful Body, Peaceful Mind: How to Heal Yourself with Foods, Herbs, and Acupressure" (2004 - http://www.pulsemed.org/famous-author.htm)

Brian is a medical professor and public speaker. He writes articles, blogs (http://americas-acupuncturist.blogspot.com/), and speaks on radio across the country, and has been quoted and interviewed by publications like Real Simple, Glamour, and ESPN magazines.

About the Author

Author: Marilyn PokorneyFreelance writer of science, nature, animals and theenvironment.Also loves crafts, gardening, and reading.Website: http://www.apluswriting.net

About the Author

Richard Parenti is the President of the Yoga Health Institute, a prestigious stress management clinic in Modesto, California, USA. He is a Yoga Therapist and the author of "Your Solution to Stress" (ISBN#0-9664007-1-2) which is available on line http://www.solutionstostress.com