Recent Entries
Aug 31, 2010 Cancer, Conditions and diseases
Neck Pain And Swelling a Sign of Thyroid Cancer
There are about 20,000 new cases of thyroid cancer each year in the United States. Females are more likely to have thyroid cancer at a ratio of three to one.
Thyroid cancer is a malignancy of the thyroid gland. It can occur in any age group, although it is most common after age 30 and its aggressiveness increases significantly in older patients. It is unique among cancers; in fact, thyroid cells are unique among all cells of the human body.
People who received radiation therapy as children have a higher incidence of thyroid cancer. Other risk factors are a family history of thyroid cancer and chronic goiter.
But, when a thyroid cancer does begin to grow within a thyroid gland, it almost always does so within a discrete nodule within the thyroid.
Most commonly, thyroid cancers in the early stage produce no symptoms. Occasionally, symptoms such as hoarseness, neck pain, and enlarged lymph nodes do occur in people with thyroid cancer.
There are four types of thyroid cancer some of which are much more common than others.
In fact, the most common types (papillary and follicular) are the most curable. The bottom line, most thyroid cancers are papillary thyroid cancer, and this is one of the most curable cancers of ALL cancers that humans get.
The least common type of thyroid cancer is anaplastic which has a very poor prognosis. Anaplastic thyroid cancer tends to be found after it has spread and is not cured in most cases (it is very uncommon to survive anaplastic thyroid cancer).
These patients often require a tracheostomy during the treatment, and treatment is much more aggressive than for other types of thyroid cancer–because this cancer is much more aggressive.
Most thyroid cancer cells retain this ability to absorb and concentrate iodine. Radioactive Iodine is given to the patient with thyroid cancer after their cancer has been removed.
If there are any normal thyroid cells or thyroid cancer cells remain in the patient’s body (and any thyroid cancer cells retaining this ability to absorb iodine) then these cells will absorb and concentrate the radioactive “poisonous” iodine.
The thyroid cancer cells, however, will concentrate the poison within themselves and the radioactivity destroys the cell from within.
But in general, there is an excellent long-term survival rate among the vast majority of patients that affected with thyroid cancer because it is readily treatable.
Aug 29, 2010 fitness
You can have a good exercise by walking a minimum mile or more than a few times a week and move your arms and wrists around to loosen up the joints.
If you can’t walk or even have time to ride a stationary bicycle, you can use a rowing machine, swim, or join wheel chair races. If you can’t do anything of these things, it is not very good but you can still have my sympathy.
I had known a young man who suffered from polio in his childhood, his one leg was short and supported by a built-up shoe. This person had a lung collapsed because of weak resistance he can’t do his usual routine. He should at least have worked up his pulse rate and breathing on a rowing machine, a few times per week.
Recent news said walking as little as 2½ hours per week can reduce rates of breast cancer, so 5 hours of walking as exercise can’t hurt anyone, females or males.
It is found out that a quick half hour walk raises pulse to about 115, then it drops back below 70 by the time you have finished your morning shower. The normal neighborhood route must measures 1.8 miles.
If there are problems on weather, being busy finding no time or your moods keep you from outdoor walking, you can do some or all of the following:
>> At least 20 push-ups
>> At least 15 chin-ups with legs raise
>> At least 30 turns at skip-rope
>> Arm, shoulder, and wrist stretches
>> Rope stretching isometrics
>> At least 5 minutes above mid-scale on paddle-wheel bike
>> Back exercises
You don’t have to do all these in one session or on the same day. You may arrange the order so that muscles can recover between sets. Do what feels comfortable for you. It is still the exercise that makes you feel strong and alert.
Aug 27, 2010 food and nutrition
In recent years, eggs have been given a bad ranking being described as highly cholesterol food that may lead to complicate many diseases such as heart disease. It is quite sensible to disagree with all these myths that inform us about highly cholesterol foods such as eggs.
Eggs are healthful. They are just underrated in many health and food articles because they are not correctly prepared as diet, thus making it unhealthy to eat.
If eggs are given and prepared without fatty sausage or bacon, no buttery toast, or was cooked without fat, they are really reasonably nutritious and safe.
To boil an egg is very good, or “fry” in a non-stick pan with a cover and a spoon or so of water. Toast can be fine. Or just a small amount of butter or margarine can help avert hunger between meals. Just be very careful to avoid margarine made with hydrogenated oils or “trans fatty acids”.
Avoid using mayonnaise to eggs, but try low fat yogurt instead. Try omelets made with eggs and tofu, avoiding cheese, can be tasty.
You can also serve boiled eggs pickled in vinegar and salt which make it a good meal or snack to ward off hunger.
If you prepare eggs intelligently, they are a great source of protein, vitamins, and minerals. They are better than sugary cereals or breakfast rolls to stop your hunger.
Aug 26, 2010 General
Do You Know Noise Can Cause Illness?
What do you know about noise? Do you know that noise makes people grumpy? That it lowers all mental faculties, dulls mental processes, make people irritable and pessimistic?
People react to noise and to fear in about the same way. And the noise in a large typing office may range between 70 to 80 decibels – close to 90 decibels produced by a pneumatic drill chewing up a street.
Even the average office produces 50 decibels, as does a vacuum cleaner or a busy restaurant. Experts estimate the cost of noise at approximately $4 million a day in lowered production. What can be done about it?
Don’t pool the typewriters. Spread them out. Use dividers, acoustical materials, rugs and drapes that will absorb and diminish some of the racket. Where noisy equipment really can’t be controlled partition it off from surrounding areas and provide the people who have to live with earplugs or muffs. They may not like the feel or the appearance of ear protectors. But the benefit in comfort and efficiency can make it well worthwhile.
Aug 24, 2010 General health, fitness, weight loss
It is surprising that great number of books by medical professionals and nutritional consultants tells that foods in combination, or special supplements, can “turn up your fat burners.” But publications by other known clinic, the US Government, and other reliable sources all say this is TOTAL NONSENSE.
If you could ignore calories and eat “fat burner” foods to lose weight, the combination would have to work the same as weight loss drugs, which pose significant health risks.
There are certain ways to lose weight in a matter of days and weeks only. But these are the real ways to “fake” on weight loss, with drugs, herbs, and surgery:
a) Ingest fewer calories
b) > take something to kill appetite
c) Burn more calories (exercise is the safest way)
d) > induce fever
e) > induce agitation & hyper activity
f) Discard body mass by artificial means
g) > diuretics, to expel water faster than normal
h) > steam room, sauna, hot clothes, wraps to lose water
i) > laxatives, to interfere with digestion, lose water
j) > induce vomiting
k) > cut off or suck out parts of the body
All of these tricks are risky, most are temporary, mostly can cause damage to the body even up to death. Dehydration can kill quickly.
The best and safer way is to stuff the stomach with low calorie vegetables, eat fruits, which will satisfy hunger and leave no room for steak or pie, and don’t forget to drink fruit juices. –
Note: Original post by Dr. Miller author of “Easy Health Diet: — Seven of ten deaths are caused by preventable diseases.
Aug 23, 2010 herbs and plants, vitamins and minerals
Ginger root offers you a lot of medicinal benefits, including the ability to treat headaches and common colds. One of the most common uses of ginger root is to treat your upset stomach, something we all know and hate. Normally in the form of flat ginger ale and crackers, this vitamin could fix even the most upset of stomachs – and fast to boot.
For the past few decades, ancient civilizations have used the vitamin in both cooking form and medicine form. Although the technology back then wasn’t close to what it is today, the ancient civilizations knew that ginger root would help prevent ailments ranging from motion sickness to athlete’s foot. With ginger root having anti-inflammatory properties, it can also make the pain of rheumatoid arthritis less intense. Women that drink ginger tea have said that it helps them eliminate menstrual cramps completely.
Many people don’t know the fact that ginger root isn’t really classified as a root, but instead an underground stem and it is harvested year round just like the hawthorne berry. The harvests, which are obtained roughly five months or so after being planted, are used in the creation of products such as candied ginger and ginger syrup. Harvests that are obtained later can be sold as fresh ginger. The longer the ginger remains in the ground before being harvested, the spicier and hotter it gets.
Ginger won’t grow anywhere, it takes a special type of soil, a fertile soil. It is normally grown commercially, in large harvests. We find ginger always in high demand, because it has a lot of useful benefits and purposes. From adding spice to food to healing certain ailments, ginger root is easily one of the best vitamins around.
Ginger can also be useful for baking. It can be used with cookies and breads, or used to spice up your jellies and jams. When you shop for ginger root, you should ensure that the gnarly fist like bulb is smooth, the surface hard to the touch, and the weight being somewhat heavy. If the bulb is hard and light in weight, it won’t be as good.
Yes, it can be an all around help when it comes to common ailments. It can be used with hundreds of cooking recipes; you can use your creative imagination to make even more uses with it as well. Ginger is used in many fine dining restaurants as well, as it tastes great as a dressing on salads. Serving a lot of healthy purposes, ginger root is one of the best selling items on the market – and easily one of the best tasting supplements out there.
Aug 21, 2010 Uncategorized
Everyone knows that the human body needs a certain amount of vitamins and minerals everyday to function properly and remain healthy. A well balanced diet can supply your body with the vitamins it needs, although problems and disorders can arise if your diet doesn’t supply your body with the vitamins it needs.
The symptoms of vitamin deficiency will normally present themselves when the lack of vitamins is at an advanced level. Those who don’t get enough of vitamins A, B1, and B2 for example, will always feel tired, along with a loss of appetite. Other symptoms include mental and emotional stress, chapped lips, and other annoying or painful habits.
The most common causes of deficiency include a poor diet, alcoholism, stress, a lack of vitamins, or medicine that interferes with your ingestion of vitamins. If you are always feeling tired or feeling a lack of energy, you are probably short on the vitamins that your body needs to have on a daily basis.
If you visit your doctor and tell him the problem, he will probably recommend vitamins and supplements that will give you what you need. Whatever you do, you should never overdo it and try to catch up on what you’ve been missing – as this will do you more harm than good.
Even though you may be following a healthy diet, you’ll still need to take vitamins and supplements. No matter how healthy you eat, you should still use the right vitamins and supplements to give your body what it needs.
Vitamins are a great back up source, as they will provide your body with the minerals and nutrients it needs in the event of your diet failing you. Before or after every meal that you consume, you should take vitamins or supplements.
If you have a deficiency in a certain vitamin or vitamins, you should make sure that you never miss taking the vitamin you need. Even though you may not realize it, being deficient in a vitamin can really affect your performance as well as the overall health of your body.
When you look for supplements, you should always look for those that contain vitamins B6, B12, D, E, and folic acid. Along with being considered dietary supplements, these well known vitamins will help to fight cancer and help your heart remain healthy. The combination of these vitamins will help your body to remain healthy, boost your immune system, and keep you feeling refreshed.
To remain healthy and keep your body operating as it should, you’ll need to invest in vitamins and supplements. You can find them online or at local nutrition stores, many of which won’t cost you much money at all. No matter what your age may be, you’ll need to ensure that you are eating the right foods and taking the right foods. Keep in mind that you should never replace food with vitamins, as they are more less meant to give you additional nutrients and minerals.
Although I highly recommend more of eating natural foods, however, anytime you aren’t able to eat the right food, you should turn to vitamin supplements to give your body what it needs. Supplements and vitamins are one of the best investments you can make, as everyone needs vitamins in their body.
And even if the costs may add up over time, it is more than worth it when you think about. For what you spend in vitamins and supplements, you’ll be keeping your body healthy – and preventing a deficiency in vitamins.
Aug 20, 2010 General, Wellness, food and nutrition
Soy protein is emerging as one of the great alternative protein sources for human consumption. Health experts are all excited about how soy protein can change the face of nutrition. What’s all the rage? Here are some great reasons to get with soy protein.
Soy Protein is Plant Protein
Soy beans contain complete protein and have one of the best protein digestibilities among all protein sources. Soy beans also contain little or no fat and have virtually no cholesterol. Lactose intolerant ones will be pleased to know that soy beans contain no lactose.
Being a plant protein, soy is free from steroids and antibiotics animal protein contains. It is also free from the parasites that contaminate some of these products. They also contain none of the diseases one can contract from mean sources such as Mad Cow Disease, and Foot and Mouth Disease.
Vegetarians love this bean as it provides a comparable – if not better – source of protein as compared to its animal counterpart. It provides a protein that is better and easier to digest and is comparable to most protein supplements.
Soy Beans are Very Versatile
Soy beans are very versatile. Various cuisines, especially Asian ones recognize the value of the humble soy bean. A variety of naturally yummy delicacies are all soy based: tofu, soy pudding, Soya milk, and meat substitutes – not to mention condiments such as soy sauce, and hoi sin sauce.
To counter the problem of world hunger, the growing of soybeans has been suggested. Not only are soybeans easy to grow and harvest, they will grow pretty much anywhere and produces much in a little time. There have been farmers reported to have replaced their entire crop line with soy bean plants. These hardy little plants produce much per harvest, and, as said earlier, can grow in even the most trying terrain.
The Great Substitute
Soy is low in fat and can be used to substitute most protein sources. When cooking, you may use soy substitutes instead of flour for a low fat alternative. This makes it a great protein source for those that are looking to lose weight without compromising their protein requirements.
Bodybuilders are considering how this can make their jobs a lot easier. Without the fat and with all the protein goodness – easily digestible at that – bodybuilding has just received a great blessing of a food.
Although these bodybuilders are currently debating how soy can be a help to bodybuilders, it doesn’t take away anything from what soy can contribute to the overall health of a person.
It is very advisable to stick to natural protein rather than processes protein if possible, as processed foods typically have some risk attached to them. The best use of this food can be attributed to how it perfectly fits into anyone’s low-fat, high-protein diet.
Soy products can be incorporated into shakes and drinks. And being lactose-free, lactose intolerant people will still be able to get their milkshake fix without having to suffer so.
Soy products are also a great source of other nutrients such as saponins, isoflavones, and phytosterol. Saponins help support a healthy immune system. It also combines with cholesterol to avoid increased absorption of cholesterol in the body. Phytosterols also help reduce the absorption of cholesterol in the body in the same way saponins do.
Isoflavones are powerful antioxidants and prevent the effects of free radicals in the body. They prevent many of the signs of aging and have been known to help prevent cancer. This alone makes soy a miracle protein source in its own right.
Isoflavones, along with vitamins A, C, and E are among the front liners in the fight against such disease – they also counter the effects of pollution, and stress.
How much is too much
Unlike other protein sources, it is pretty safe to consume a wide amount of soy products. While allergies to soy products exist, cases are few and far between. When changing to a soy diet, however, it would be best to consult your physician or your nutritionist. Ask specifically if the soy interferes with any prescription drugs you are taking.
Soy can be great blessing for people who are looking for a great source of protein that does not entail the side effects of most of the other sources. It would be advisable for one to explore how it can improve one’s diet.
Aug 19, 2010 Heart, food and nutrition
In recent years, scientists have concluded without doubt that many human diseases such as heart disease, cancer and ill-effects of the aging process can be caused or stimulated by a ravenous group of chemicals called free radicals. They act to create oxidative inflammatory damage in tissues such as blood vessels(Clogged arteries) and in joints called Rheumatics or Arthritis and in localised cells called benign growths or Systemic fully-blown cancers .
In this scenario, there is however a knight-in-shining-armour that jumps to the rescue and purges these ever hungry little killers. The name of our crusader is Antioxidants.
Without getting too technical, the oxidation process in our bodies is crucial for health, without it, for instance, we would not be able to extract energy from our food. However if there are too many free radicals in our bodies, this can be very harmful.
Our body has its own defences against free radicals, in the form of enzymes that are able to turn the hungry little tissue-devouring sharks into harmless water but sometimes our body’s natural defence mechanisms can’t cope.
Other times, external events can cause huge increases of free radicals within our bodies, such as x-rays, cigarette smoke and exposure toother toxic substances. And so a surge of free radicals can swamp our defences and illnesses may take place.
So what does oxidation and free radicals have to do with heart disease?
Low density lipoprotein, commonly know as “bad” LDL, can penetrate and gather against the inner walls of our arteries which under certain conditions, form fatty streaks and plaque.
Taken alone, LDL particles aren’t so dangerous it seems, however, when attacked by free radicals they turn into dangerous and somewhat aggressive cells, capable of actually penetrating and harming the smooth inner walls of our arteries through localised inflammation thereof, So Oxidized LDL is known to be the culprit in stimulating atherosclerosis, heart disease and stroke.
Antioxidants, as the name suggests, help stop the oxidation process, which are the results of free radicals doing their stuff and Most antioxidant research has been carried out on vitamins (A, E, beta carotene) but quite a lot of work has also been done on the healthy benefits of red wine.
While most research on red wine has been done in relation to coronary heart disease, it seems that the benefits of wine don’t stop there.
Fo instance, Red wine contains a wide range of flavanoids; these are the chemicals that give the wine its particular taste, color and character, making one different from another. Many of these flavanoids act like antioxidants.
Perhaps the forerunner of wine research was carried out by a one Serge Renaud, who discovered the French Paradox, which suggested that wine was the decisive factor in protecting the people in southern France from their very high fat diets and ultimately coronary heart disease.
Even if these people do eat large quantities of high fat cheese, pâté, and salami they have some of the lowest rates of heart disease in the world.
Another study, statistical rather than practical, by a Professor Grey of the Swiss University of Bern focussed on the low, medium and high coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality figures of the World Health Organization.
He found from among the high mortality areas were Finland and Scotland, the middle areas included Ireland, and the low CHD areas included Spain, Italy and France. He then compared heart attack rates with antioxidant levels in blood samples taken from men living in those areas.
His results showed that high antioxidant levels, in particular vitamin E, coincided with low death rates of heart disease. Moreover that low vitamin E levels were 94% more accurate in predicting CHD rates than were cholesterol levels or blood pressure figures!
Apart from diet, the high CHD regions drink very little, if any wine, whereas the low regions traditionally accompany their meals most days with wine. But it certainly seems strange that two much studied cities; Glasgow in Scotland and Toulouse in France show many similarities and yet many differences. People of both cities eat tremendous amounts of high fat foods, traditionally take little exercise and drink alcohol.
The surprising difference is that while the people of Glasgow have one of the highest rates of CHD in the world, the fortunate people of Toulouse have one of the lowest.
Traditionally beer and spirits are the preferred drinks in Glasgow, while the folks in Toulouse drink red wine. (Of course the fact that the weather patterns in both areas are poles apart had nothing to do with mortality rates either… Ahemmm.)
So, it has been suggested that drinking in moderation together with meals is beneficial, while binge drinking at bars in the evening is harmful… duhh! It seems the southern Europeans don’t drink for the alcohol buzz, but just as a pleasant accompaniment to their meals.
At first the large heart institutions such as the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association ignored both antioxidants and frowned upon wine. While it is clear that it could be potentially dangerous for a physician to recommend his patients start drinking alcohol, it is also strange that they pretended for so many years to ignore the evidence.
Roll on a few years now and even if they don’t promote the taking of vitamin pills; antioxidants and free radicals they are now more recognized as factors in disease. Though, according to the AHA “There is no scientific proof that drinking wine or any other alcoholic beverage can replace conventional measures.”
No direct comparison trials have been done to determine the specific effect of wine or other alcohol on the risk of developing heart disease or stroke.
The costs of clinical trials is so high that only the pharmaceutical industry have the financial clout to invest in them — invest being the correct word.
Reference: http://www.cholesterol-and-you.pranicpulseoflife.com
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