September 30th, 2011
Who’s making a return to movie screens this fall? As far as your health is concerned, fruits and vegetables are the real “superheroes.”
They spring into action once inside your body, helping to control Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) weight in combination with regular exercise and fighting cancer as well as other diseases. Phytochemicals in such foods as Brussels sprouts, red cabbage and kale may help prevent cancer by activating enzymes that break down carcinogens.
A diet that combines plant-based fruits and vegetables, including beans and nuts, appears to bring out the best in each item and magnifies each one’s protective effects.
Doctors and scientists suggest selecting five to nine daily servings of fruit and vegetables from color groups such as purple grapes, yellow squash and red tomatoes, whose outward appearance derives from disease-fighting chemicals called carotenoids. For example, a carotenoid known as lycopene, which is found in tomatoes, may reduce the risk of prostate cancer by up to 35%, as well as lowering the chance of a heart attack or stroke. Carotenoids like lutein and zeaxanthin in spinach and other leafy greens can fight age-related eye disease.
Antioxidants found in fruits and vegetables neutralize dangerous molecules called free radicals. Left unchecked, free radicals attack healthy cells and may create artery-blocking plaque, as well as damaging DNA in a way that creates cancer and even causing the onset of the cognitive decline known as Alzheimer’s Disease.
Blueberries and other berries are packed with antioxidants like Vitamin C, which can reduce the risk of heart disease and prevent urinary-tract infections by inhibiting bacteria. Other fruits and vegetables, such as bananas and peas, are often high in potassium, which may help control hypertension (high blood pressure).Vitamin B6, also found in bananas as well as broccoli and leafy greens, can lower levels of homocysteine, which has been linked to hardening of the arteries, heart attacks, stroke and dementia.
Antioxidants in foods such as garlic and licorice may also shut down a process called angiogenesis, by which tumors recruit blood supplies to help them grow and spread.
“Mother nature is cleverer than all of us and has laced many of our favorite foods with things that can be helpful,” said Dr. William Li, President of the Angiogenesis Foundation. “Ancient cultures have long recognized that your diet can be healing, and scientists are only now beginning to understand why,” he added.
Fruits and vegetables as part of a healthy diet can help to reverse the imbalance of glucose and insulin in the blood stream called Insulin Resistance. If neglected, Insulin Resistance may lead to excess weight and obesity, which, in turn, can result in a number of disorders, including the cluster of cardiovascular diseases called Metabolic Syndrome (Syndrome X) as well as Pre-Diabetes and the leading cause of female infertility known as Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS).
September 29th, 2011
Large numbers of Americans are resorting to unhealthy habits like overeating in order to cope with stress. Their response to feeling under pressure also includes a lack of exercise. This lethargy is creating further health problems such as excess Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) weight gain and obesity, which, in turn, increase stress levels.
A survey of 2,000 adults by the American Psychological Association (APA) reported that 47% of participants said they were concerned about levels of stress in their lives.
Women were more likely than men to say they were affected by stress. Both men and women who were experiencing stress were less likely to say they were in good health and reported higher rates of obesity, hypertension (high blood pressure) and depression.
Women under stress said they felt nervous, wanted to cry or felt drained of energy. Men reported trouble sleeping and feeling angry or irritable. About one third of women said they turned to food for comfort and roughly a quarter of the men said the same. Those who did seek comfort in food were twice as likely as the average American to be diagnosed with obesity, said researchers.
If left unchecked, obesity can lead to the cluster of cardiovascular diseases called Metabolic Syndrome (Syndrome X), which is a significantly increased risk factor for heart attacks and stroke. Obesity can also be an underlying case of reversible Pre-Diabetes, which, if neglected, may develop into Type 2 Diabetes. This latter disorder can only be managed for the rest of the victim’s lifetime and raises the risk of blindness, amputation and severe kidney disease.
“What’s surprising and alarming is the fact that too many people weren’t taking active steps to do anything about the stress they’re feeling,” said Russ Newman of the APA.”People don’t really appreciate how detrimental stress is, and the ways they’re trying to manage stress can be as detrimental, if not more so.”
Participants who reported higher stress levels were more likely to smoke and less likely to exercise, which might relieve their feeling of stress in the short term but would exacerbate it in the long run, said researchers.
Such habits are hard to break, however, says Tajita Sinha, Director of the Research Program on Stress, Addiction and Psychopathology at Yale University School of Medicine. When a person is stressed, the need to feel better “takes precedence over impulse control,” said Dr. Sinha. “We tend to choose a response based on what we know, based on habit. We will be looking for things that calm us down but they may not be the best thing for us.”
Various forms of stress release the steroid cortisol and this process may result in severe weight gain, quite aside from eating fattening, high carbohydrate “comfort” food.
Insulin sensitivity decreases after certain stressful experiences such as work-related mental and emotional pressure. As glucose levels in the body rise, they stimulate increased insulin production, which has a number of negative effects. In particular, it raises levels of noradrenalin, a stress response hormone released under conditions of emotional upset, which, in turn, can induce Insulin Resistance. This latter disorder is a reversible imbalance of glucose and insulin in the bloodstream, which can become an underlying cause of PCOS weight gain and obesity.
Insulin Resistance and its side effects may promote the build-up of fat throughout the body as well as a rise in cholesterol and blood pressure levels and the formation of artery-blocking plaque.
Excess weight and obesity-linked Insulin Resistance also contributes to the development of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), the hormonal imbalance which is a major cause of female infertility, as well as skin conditions, excess facial and body hair and male pattern baldness in women.
But don’t despair! Switching to a balanced, nutritious diet can help reverse weight gain, while regular exercise has been proved to have a positive psychological effect on stress-related emotions as well as helping people to return to a healthy weight.
September 28th, 2011
Children sometimes need a gentle push to get into the habit of regular exercise. Making sure they remain healthy is a great way for you to keep fit at the same time and here are some suggestions that can be mutually beneficial:
1) Set a good example. Children need to understand that you believe in taking care of yourself while advocating that they do the same. It’s no good eating chips on the sofa while telling them to exercise and eat healthy meals. So practice what you preach. Let them see you working out or taking part in other energetic activities, even if it’s only a regular brisk walk.
2) Make exercise “cool.” Suggest activities that are not going to embarrass a child. Invest in a stylish kid’s bike. It doesn’t have to be expensive – there are always plenty of good used examples for sale in the classified ad section of your local paper. Again, you could lead by example by buying one for yourself, though don’t insist upon accompanying your child all the time. An alternative is to suggest something he or she may never have thought of, like taking a course in a martial art like judo.
3) Restrict sedentary time. Be firm about controlling the number of hours your child spends in front of a television screen or playing computer games. This is a danger period for eating snacks and guzzling sugar-rich sodas. Try to set a target of 60 minutes of physical activity for the child a day, most days of the week.
4) Take a firm stance. Don’t allow your child to argue about the need for good health. Say right from the start that by getting into the habit of eating a balanced, nutritious diet and exercising early, the child will help guard against ill-health later in life.
5) Promote the concept of personal best. Many children avoid exercise because it involves a competitive element like playing sports with other kids. But there are plenty of healthy exercises, like walking and swimming, which don’t need to involve competition. Encourage your child to regularly set new distance targets and offer fulsome praise when he or she achieves them.
Some 15% of American children are currently obese and many are already experiencing heart problems and various forms of Diabetes, which used only to be be seen in adults.
Liver diseases, including even cirrhosis, are also increasingly being detected in overweight teenagers. Cirrhosis, which is irreparable liver damage, is commonly linked with alcohol misuse. But it can also be caused by a fatty diet which includes an excessive intake of fast food and sugar-laden drinks.
Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), Excess weight and obesity often have Insulin Resistance as their underlying cause. Poor diets and lack of exercise mean that more and more youngsters are developing Insulin Resistance, which is caused by an imbalance of glucose and insulin in the bloodstream.
Fortunately, Insulin Resistance in both young people and adults is reversible. But if this condition is neglected, it can lead to a variety of disorders, including the cluster of cardiovascular diseases called Metabolic Syndrome (Syndrome X), which is a significantly increased risk factor for a heart attack or stroke.
So remember that it’s never too soon to start taking action to preserve your child’s health or, for that matter, your own, too.
September 27th, 2011
As well as helping Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome weight loss and improving overall PCOS health, just 30 minutes of brisk activity like walking can immediately boost the mood of depressed people. A short workout has the same “pick-me-up” effect as caffeine or binge-eating, according to a study.
So, if you ever feel down and tempted to reach for some unhealthy comfort food, take a walk instead of eating a fattening snack. Better still, invite a friend to accompany you and enjoy a pleasant chat while enjoying the benefits of exercise.
Researchers at the University of Texas in Austin found that patients suffering from depression who walked on a treadmill for half-an-hour reported feeling more vigorous and having a greater sense of psychological well-being for up to an hour after the workout.
These patients and another group, who just sat quietly for 30 minutes, all reported reductions in negative feelings such as depression, tension, anger and fatigue. But only those who had exercised said they felt good after the session.
Lead researcher John Bartholomew said the study, which involved 40 people aged between 18 and 55, was among the first to show that exercise can have an immediate positive effect on depression.
“You should derive a benefit very early on in the process and hopefully that is the kind of thing that will motivate people to continue to engage in this behavior,” said Professor Bartholomew.
The positive effects from walking were sizable, says the study, lifting participant’s feelings of vigor to near-normal levels. But researchers warned that the results were short-lived and declined over the following hour.
Regular exercise is crucial to reversing Insulin Resistance, an imbalance of blood glucose and insulin levels which can be an underlying cause of excess weight gain and obesity leading to depression. Many overweight people become depressed because the social stigmatization of excess weight gain causes embarrassment, shame and guilt.
There is a neuro-biological link to obesity because low levels of the mood-elevating neuro-transmitter called serotonin in depressed people cause them to eat meals high in carbohydrates. These, in turn, raise insulin levels and cause PCOS weight gain while stimulating production of tryptophan, an amino acid essential for the production of serotonin.
It is easy to become trapped in a vicious cycle because overweight and obese individuals report that they crave high-carbohydrate meals when depressed, anxious or alone. Consuming this kind of food can result in extremes of mood changes.
