Dec
05
2011
WOMEN WHO EAT LOTS OF VEGETABLES HAVE A LOWER RISK OF STROKE
Dr. Susanne Rautiainen and her research group from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, reported in the journal: Stroke, that after collecting data on the dietary habits of women, they found that those women who consumed the highest amount of antioxidant containing foods (foods that have elevated levels of vitamins C, E, carotenoids, flavonoids and phytochemicals-fruits and veggies and grains) had a lower risk of stroke. Lesson-Make half your plate fruits and veggies-especially if you are a woman!!!
VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES AND EFFECT ON BRAIN FUNCTIONING
Researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine presented data recently showing that in a test group of young men, ages 18 to 29, that were told to play a violent video game for ten hours, MRI studies and cognitive testing performed afterwards revealed changes in brain function, and cognitive behavior. These changes did revert back almost to baseline, after a week of not playing the games. Lesson: parents, be careful with what video games your children are playing in your home and at the homes of friends. There is an abundance of violent and incredibly popular video games coming out daily, for all of the techno-game boxes and these games seem to obtain viewing access in many homes with young children. Be aware, stay informed and stay connected !
HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE GOES UNTREATED IN MANY ...
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Mar
26
2011
I recently attended a screening for the movie entitled, “Race to Nowhere.” It’s an excellent, realistic story about the stress and pressure that our kids are going through. The pressure from the enormous amount of homework that is given to cover all of the material in the lesson plan. Pressure to take honors and advanced placement courses to bump up the grade point average over the previously top “4.0”. Pressure to get the, “A” and load the high-school resume with everything from proficiency in sports and musical instruments to demonstrating a serious commitment to community service. Pressure to get into the “best” school –whether it’s college for high-schoolers or even a top tier lower, middle and upper school for our younger kids. Pressure to look unique and stand out amongst all of the top applicants. Pressure felt by the parents and their kids. Pressure to succeed. And what is this pressure doing to our children? What is this pressure doing to us as parents? In some cases it is having a deleterious effect on the child, on the parent and on the family. The rates of teenage suicide are climbing. Clinical depression is being seen more and more in the teenage population by psychologists. We already know that the use of caffeinated beverages, energy drinks and stimulants are also on the rise in this age group. We have research ...
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Nov
17
2010
You all know by now the incredible benefits that you can get by exercising and eating healthy. Well now there is additional research which has come to us from the British Journal of Sports Medicine*(1), which demonstrated that individuals who exercised a minimum of five days a week had 43% fewer days with an upper respiratory tract infection. Wow-that’s right, exercise, five days a week helped reduce the number of colds this group of subjects had. And that’s not all. Those subjects that did the most exercise that developed a cold (upper respiratory infection) had a shorter course of infection symptoms and less severity than their shorter exercise time peers. Okay, are you getting up from that chair yet?
As reported in the current meetings of The American Heart Association (AHA)*(2), salt (sodium chloride) may be harming the health of teens now and will affect them in the future. The recommendation: cut down on your salt consumption. What’s the problem associated with eating too much salt? Well for one thing, too much salt can raise your blood pressure (called high blood pressure or hypertension). By raising your blood pressure, you are putting more stress on the heart muscle. This then may cause heart problems like a heart attack or stroke. A big problem is that most high blood pressure is silent-you just don’t feel it. That’s right, you can have a silent killer ...
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Apr
27
2010
The headlines hit every newspaper, radio and television news program all across our country: 45% of all Americans have high blood pressure, diabetes or high cholesterol. These are the results of the most recent National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics. 13% of American adults had at least two of these conditions and 3% had all three! 15% of American adults had one of these problems undiagnosed-yes-they are walking around with diabetes, elevated blood pressure or high cholesterol and they don’t even know it! Non-Hispanic African-Americans were more likely than non-Hispanic white and Mexican-Americans to have at least one of the three conditions. And even more revealing, non-Hispanic African-Americans were more likely to have all three conditions compared with non-Hispanic white Americans. As we all know, all three conditions are associated with heart disease-the leading cause of death in the United States. According to additional data from the Centers For Disease Control And prevention (CDC), African-Americans had a 51% higher prevalence of obesity compared with whites. It’s all starting to make more sense. In fact a recent research projection made by Anirban Basu, PhD of the University of Chicago indicates that “obesity rates across all age categories in the U.S. adult population will remain stable for the next 10 years. However young African American adults ages 18-39, children-mainly boys ages 6-9 and ...
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Mar
18
2010
So let’s start with this one: they are calling her a wannabe “biggest woman in the world.” Donna Simpson, a young woman of only 42, and already the “World’s Fattest Mother” according to the Guinness Book of World Records , has been gracing the pages and television screens of virtually every news organization in the USA this week, claiming that she weighs 600 pounds and wants to go to 1000 pounds. What! That’s right-she is currently at 600 pounds-and by every measure and medical account-she is in the obese-morbidly obese category. According to many published reports (MSNBC, FOX News, Post Chronicle, etc.) she wants to be “World’s Fattest Woman.” And how will she get there-the answer-by eating over 12,000 calories a day. Many world class athletes and body builders will consume between 10 to 20,000 calories a day of course burning up between 3-5000 calories in their exercise regimen. Donna Simpson will only be burning up calories by breathing, eating or walking to the bathroom or bed room. What will this be costing her to get to this outrageous weight-well some estimates say between $500-1000 dollars a day in food costs. Now here is a major ridiculous part of this story-Donna has a web site where people can pay money to see her eat. OMG!!! Yes, by going to Supersizebombshells.com, you can see Donna and other ...
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