Doctor: Ditch health trends, listen to your body

Posted on February 4, 2012 by bilrob

Doctor: Ditch health trends, listen to your body

CTVNews.ca Staff

Handfuls of vitamins. Lemon water in the morning. Glass of red wine at night. Thirty minutes…no wait, one hour of exercise a day. Sound familiar?

When it comes to healthy living, opinions are thick on the ground.

This deepening whirlpool of advice has prompted one doctor to pen a controversial new book, asking readers to ditch collective wisdom and start listening to their bodies.

In his book The End of Illness, David Agus calls for a personalized no-nonsense approach to health in which people pay attention to little red flags in order to avoid debilitating conditions in the long run.

“The key is knowing yourself,” he told CTV’s Canada AM on Wednesday.

That means taking inventory of how you look and feel, a measure that Agus says goes beyond a cursory evaluation of your mood.

For instance: Have you lost hair around your ankles? According to Agus, this could be a sign of a circulatory problem. Ladies, is your ring finger longer than your index finger? This could suggest you’re at risk for osteoarthritis down the road.

“You have to know yourself in a manner that you’ve probably never done before,” reads a line from “The End of Illness.”

Agus’ personal inventory test goes on to ask readers to take stock of their breathing, exercise tolerance and more – advice that isn’t exactly groundbreaking. Doctors have long advised patients to scan their skin for unusual growths and marks. Most women have likely heard that hair growing in odd places could signal hormonal changes.

However, the obviousness of the questionnaire plays into Agus’ main point. We heed general guidelines but ignore basic warning signs in our own bodies, he charges.

“Nothing about health is one-size-fits-all, so until you know how to perform your own ‘fitting,’ you won’t be able to live the long and happy life that’s awaiting you,” Agus writes.

Still, in his book, Agus tries to debunk some common health trends by pushing some tips of his own.

He’s asked would-be health nuts to get rid of their vitamin supplements and throw out their juicers, arguing that they aren’t effective in promoting good health.

“Certainly juicing tastes good but it really is degraded fruit,” he told Canada AM. “Eat the real food.”

Among one of his more controversial points, is the advice that people over the age of 50 should take statins and baby aspirin.

Statins are a commonly prescribed drug used to improve blood cholesterol levels. Critics are wary of people “needlessly” taking the drug and say the long-term effects of the drug aren’t yet clear.

Agus also writes that the annual flu vaccine can change a person’s health for the better, a recommendation that (unsurprisingly) doesn’t sit well with the anti-vaccine crowd.

He also pushes a few bits of conventional wisdom such as eating and going to sleep at the same time every day.

“Your body strives for that regularity,” he said. “On the weekend you take a nap or change your schedule it stresses your body a lot.”

There are some more surprising points in his book. High heels, for instance, are labelled as a daily source of inflammation that could take years off of a person’s life.

“You want to know yourself,” said Agus. “If you wear a pair of shoes and they hurt and you don’t feel well, don’t wear those shoes.”

It all goes back to a guiding rule pushed by the ancient philosopher Socrates: Know thyself.

“Know yourself so you can go (to the doctor) and say ‘How can I live to my 90s without disease?’ It’s possible.”

Comments are now closed for this story

IslandGuy

So the author suggests we should not be influenced by trends in health matters. Would that include his own?

Prof. Pye Chartt

Two literary nuggets of health advice that hinge on common sense in one day. I’ve already forgotten the first book, and, within 5 minutes, will have forgotten this one, too.

Healthy Lifestyle – with Bill & Sheila

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Vegetables - Your Nutrition = Your Health

Posted on January 26, 2012 by bilrob

Vegetables – Your Nutrition = Your Health

About this time of the year I am frequently asked, “What should I eat to lose weight?” Seldom am I asked, “What choices can I make to be healthier or to help prevent disease.”

Research shows wise choices go a long way to aid in disease prevention. Just imagine the power of foods that optimize health and lower the incidence of heart disease, diabetes, cancer and other conditions. I am here to say that food choices do matter.

But small changes may not have a great impact. A recent study suggests that if you add only two servings of vegetables to your daily diet, you may experience a 4 percent drop in your risk of cancer. However, when it came to heart disease, participants in the same group who ate larger amounts of vegetables were at a much lower risk of heart disease.

Looking at another common issue, it is estimated 1 in 10 Americans are pre-diabetic. By 2020, that estimate grows to 1 in 2! Wise choices may make the difference between being a positive or a negative statistic for many of these conditions.

My five categories of “wise choices” that can aid disease prevention are: vegetables, fruits, beans and legumes, whole grains and nuts and seeds.

Why these foods? The answer lies in two words, Nutrient Density. Nutrient-dense foods contain minerals, vitamins, micronutrients such as trace minerals, fiber, antioxidants, flavonoids and more. These are necessary tools for the body to maintain proper health and enable prevention of serious disease.

Which do you think provides your body the best tools to maintain good health: a serving of French fries or a serving of broccoli? How about the choice of a handful of candy or a handful of almonds?

You know the answers. The wise choices of broccoli and almonds are nutrient-dense foods. So, rather than asking for French fries, ask for a double serving of steamed vegetables. Remember, this choice is as much about the nutrients you gain, as it is the calories you save.

To keep nutrient density in mind when you shop for foods, I suggest you purchase more deep-colored fruits and vegetables, fresh or frozen and without added sugar. For snacks, think of a handful of nuts or seeds. Consider adding beans and legumes to your menu as a protein source instead of red meat. Also make it a habit to look for “Whole Grain” on labels and think of shopping for foods in their simple, natural form. By doing so, you will gravitate toward real foods rather than hyper-processed ones. The result will be that your body will thank you and return the favor by providing you with better health.

I propose that in addition to the terms “exercise” and “diet” you add the term “nutrient dense” to your health vocabulary. This will help you remember the clear connection between your health and the nutritional choices you make.

This information is meant to increase awareness and should not be viewed as medical advice or instruction. You should consult your health care professional for medical advice before considering a change in your diet.

Ruth Ann Clayton is a Registered Dietitian and co-owner of Nature’s Way, The Health Food Store on the Square in Mountain Home. Contact her at [email protected]

Vegetarian, Raw and Vegan with Bill & Sheila
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Loving life and living it

Posted on July 17, 2011 by bilrob

Loving life and living it

Aging started on the minute that we were born. Loving life and living it to the fullest is something that we should have done since the start. So how can we age with grace?

Exercise is something that we should to keep a body fit. It would also help us live a longer productive life. As we grow older, the body functions start to slow down. It is important to stay active. Exercise also improves the cardiovascular system or our heart. Exercise increases the heart rate and enable blood to flow smoothly to the heart.

For older adults there are low impact activities like walking, swimming, yoga at tai chi that can be done. These trainings will reduce the risk of falls and fractures even increase endurance and boost bone density.

The kind of activity that the person is doing is not only what is important. Activities or exercise should be done at least once a week. Research showed that participants aged 65 and older who exercised once a week reduced their risk of death by 40 per cent compared to participants of the same age who did not exercise at all.

Also changing the diet is very important in living a healthy aging life. As people get older, there is a need for an increase level of certain nutrients. Nutrient deficiency appears to increase with age. Some nutrients that are lacking in older adults are folate; calcium, magnesium, zinc, and vitamins D, E, B6, and C. Aside from these lacking nutrients, older adults also lack iron, zinc, riboflavin, and vitamins A and B12.

To change diet, the first thing to do is plan. Some people find it difficult to change their diet since they are used to unstable meal plans. Eating three healthy meals daily would require diet and daily meal plan. Diet for older people would require plenty of vegetables and fruits. Fibres are also necessary to keep cholesterol and sugar level down.

Dehydration is also another problem for older people. It is more difficult for them to know they are dehydrated because signals going to the brain signalling the need for water is no longer functioning properly. While there are older people who reduce their water intake to avoid trips to the bathroom.

Dehydration may lead to headaches, digestive problems, constipation and worse, kidney failure. Water intake should not be less than eight glasses a day. Take note of how much water you are taking in. You can add a squeeze of lemon or a little club soda if you are getting tired of drinking just ordinary water.

Not only our physicality is affected by aging but also out mental health. There are older people who experience mild impairment of thinking and memory. Because older people are no longer feeling or able to do the things that they were able to do before, many older adults become depressed.

Some symptoms of depression for older adults are social withdrawal, decreased activity with no apparent physical cause, loss of interest or pleasure in things previously enjoyed, loss of appetite, loss of weight, restlessness and expressed feelings of worthlessness, such as being a burden or a bother.

It is important these feelings. Being around with people like friends and family can definitely give support and security older adults are looking for. To achieve healthy aging, it is important to have close relationships with others and participate in regular activities that give meaning and excitement to life. Try visiting friends, volunteering, maintaining some form of physical activity and increasing leisure time.

Aging is inevitable – it happens to everybody. But healthy aging is something you should and can do to embrace life to the fullest and show your next generation relatives how loving life should be done.

Healthy Lifestyle – with Bill & Sheila

Acid Reflux Disease - The Pharmaceutical Hoax!

Posted on July 7, 2011 by bilrob

Acid Reflux Disease – The Pharmaceutical Hoax!

The medical community would have you believe that only drugs can treat and heal acid reflux disease. This is simply not true – there are natural ways to heal this condition. PPI drugs (proton pump inhibitors), like Nexium, Prilosec, Prevacid and Protonix should only be be taken for eight weeks, at most. Doctors are aware of this, but most patients continue to take these drugs on a permanent basis. Unfortunately, there are no studies determining what the long term effects of these drugs are on the human body.

PPI drugs actually shut down the pumps that produce the stomach acid necessary to digest food. You have to wonder how the human body digests and assimilates food properly without stomach acid. How does a body remain healthy without the proper digestion of food? Is this natural?

I used to suffer from acute acid reflux. I was addicted to a PPI drug…..that certain “colored pill”. After several years of taking this drug, my condition became worse and I was told to double the dose. I began to feel sluggish and tired. My vision suffered and my blood pressure went off the charts. I realized that these were probably side effects of the PPI drug. I did some research and found that there were hundreds of possible harmful side effects, including:

Headache, diarrhoea, nausea, abdominal pain, dry mouth, aggravated constipation, enlarged abdomen, back pain, chest pain, anaemia, allergic reaction, hypertension, tachycardia, goitre, tinnitus, facial oedema, conjunctivitis, vision abnormal, aggravated depression, dizziness, hypertonia, nervousness, cystitis, insomnia, migraine, anorexia, acne, dermatitis, glycosuria, hyperuricemia, hyponatremia, arthritis aggravated, tongue oedema, ulcerative stomatitis, impotence, insomnia, to name a few.

I mean, who needs tongue oedema, impotence or aggravated constipation? Good God! I knew that I had to stop taking this drug! But when I tried, the acid pumps, which had been shut off for so long, went wild and produced more acid than ever before. I have never suffered so much in my life….even drinking water gave me severe indigestion. My doctor suggested that I get back on the pill. He had no other advice to offer.

I became determined to beat this dreadful condition – beat the curse of the big drug companies! I really had no choice, because medical science, apparently, had no solution for my problem. I began extensive research on the subject and found out some very interesting things.

Acid reflux is big business. It’s a drug company’s dream come true. Millions of Americans suffer from acid reflux. Many millions more experience the pain of heartburn, ranging from once a month to every day. This affliction is the result of the splashing up of fluids from the stomach into the oesophagus. These fluids are composed of hydrochloric acid, pepsin and occasionally liver bile. Stomach fluid helps break down the food we eat so that it can be digested. The hydrochloric acid in the stomach fluid helps prevent harmful bacteria from multiplying in the stomach and intestines. Although hydrochloric acid also helps the body absorb vitamins and nutrients, it is a very strong corrosive. The stomach holds this powerful acid in check with a special protective lining. The oesophagus, however, does not have this protection. When acid splashes up through the lower oesophageal sphincter into the oesophagus, we have the problems of heartburn, gerd, or acid reflux. This condition, if left unchecked, can eventually lead to Barrett’s Disease, or cancer of the oesophagus.

Of course, I found all this to be quite scary and, since drugs were not the answer for me, I had to find alternative ways to treat this condition. I researched the subject even further and found a plethora of natural things that could heal acid reflux. First of all, I learned that acid reflux is not a disease, but a condition that begins when the oesophagus becomes irritated. Let’s say that you are watching an exciting ball game on TV. Someone hands you a bag of corn chips and without thinking, you eat them too fast, without chewing properly. The jagged edges of the chips have caused little lacerations in the oesophagus that you’re not even aware of. Later that evening you are invited to a Mexican chilli party. The spicy tomato sauce in the chilli further irritates those injuries. You wash down the chilli with alcohol or soda, making it even worse. Before you know it, you have a full blown case of acid reflux. Until you allow your oesophagus to heal, you will continue to suffer from this condition.

I was astounded to find that the oesophagus can be healed in about three days. Simply eating foods that are easy to digest, three or four times during the day, and omitting the regular big meals, is the key. I ate fruits like bananas, melon and apples during the day. I snacked on walnuts and almonds. I found that eating slowly in a relaxed atmosphere and chewing food well helped enormously. There are foods and drinks which should obviously be avoided like those which are fried, spicy, or too crunchy. Alcohol and carbonated drinks are a definite no-no . We are all aware of which foods trigger our indigestion. You just have to avoid them for a few days until you are over the hump.

There are many natural herbs and health store items which can assist in this healing process. Slippery elm, Twig tea, aloe vera juice, licorice products and orange peel extract can be of great value, just to mention a few. Removing stress from your life is essential during this period. Yoga and meditation are worth considering to ward off the daily angst.

I managed to stop taking those harmful and expensive drugs, in favour of natural remedies. I cured my acid reflux condition. I am drug free. You can do it too.

Learning To Listen To What Your Body Tells You

Posted on June 12, 2011 by bilrob

Fruit & Vegetables for Natural Health

Natural Health – Learning To Listen To What Your Body Tells You

When a poet and king once sang, “Our bodies are beautifully and wonderfully made oh God”, he knew what he was saying. One of the wonderful things that our bodies could do is healing itself. We need intervention from time to time but the body, when treated right has the ability to correct itself. Often, all it takes is to listen to what the body is telling us.

Sure there is nothing much we can do when our body is already shouting for the nearest comfort room or the stomach is rumbling for the next meal. Often times though, when there is pain, like a headache, the normal course of action is to reach out for a bottle of painkiller to mask the pain so we can function.

Listening to what our body is telling us would prevent a lot of illnesses from getting worse. When there is a headache, there is something wrong to cause the pain. Taking painkillers is a good but temporary solution, the next step though and more permanent is to know what caused the pain. Not being able to identify that will make us grab the painkiller in another six to eight hours. Every ingestion of a tablet or a capsule puts our liver and our colon in danger. Chemical residues that were components to its manufacture will stay in the liver and overtime will clog the colon that will produce other more serious illnesses. Learning to listen to the messages that our body tells us is that important.

There are many other things that our body is trying to tell us. Being sleepy, feeling sluggish, increasing weight or weight loss, body temperature, mood swings, blood pressure, and pulse rate are among the few that could be observed and could be measured with certainty. When that happens the body is telling us that something is not working well. Taking energy drinks, resting, relaxing, taking antacids are few of the things that are normally done but all these have temporary effects. When the feeling of sluggishness for example persists, no amount of energy drink could restore the body to functioning normally. All the palliative measures taken are temporary solutions that do not cure the illnesses. It only masks the effects and masking the effects could be terribly dangerous.

What cures the illness is the identification of the cause of the pain or discomfort and if it is not a medical emergency, the avoidance of repeating the same thing to happen again. It is a conscious effort to sit back, think a while, and deciding on matters that will work best for the body and those that will not. Taking temporary measures and dependence on it will make matters worse.

When we learn to listen to what the body is telling us, our dependence on costly interventions and help from health care professionals will be minimal aside from lessening the introduction of chemicals to our system.

Listen to your body with Bill & Sheila

Foods To Eat To Stay Healthy

Posted on June 12, 2011 by bilrob

Foods To Eat To Stay Healthy

Over the years, people have become more and more conscious about which food to eat to stay healthy. Over the years too, several recommendations have been advised. To this end, books were written, keep fit programs were sold and advices followed. The average lifespan though stayed the same, seventy years, much the same as centuries ago.

What are the foods to eat to stay healthy? Everything but in moderation

Doesn’t it sound very much like what the Hebrew book says? ” Lifespan of seventy years”, “all food have been cleansed”, “avoid gluttony?” Through all these years, this has never been challenged. This fact remained sure and true. If ever, several adverts have already claimed superior benefits of their weight reducing, health-inducing product. What the adverts succeeded at was over-selling and over- highlighting their claims but never challenged this fact. But that is always true with commercialism. In this age where cents and dimes are often the rule of the day, there is no compunction to oversell a product to the point of using scare tactics for the targeted consumer to get their attention and possibly draw out their wallets and part with their money.

Do not fall for fad foods – many of them are not healthy. If they were true, some of them should have stayed on in the market and have grown in market share as far as food choices are concerned. Nothing has and nothing will, because the price paid is too high for the benefit received and people eventually could see through that.

Instead, eat food that tastes good. Eat all foods that are recommended in the good old healthy food chart. The body needs sodium, it helps cleanse the body and prevent diseases. The body needs fat. Fat insulates us from the elements and helps keep our body lubricated as machines are lubricated. Fat also keeps our skin supple and feeling younger. Have protein in the diet, you cannot do with less of it especially when in the healing and during the growing up years. Calories are needed to maintain energy levels so is sugar. But then everything has to be taken in the right amounts and quantities. Everything in moderation

The problem is not the food; the problem is the attitude towards food. It is the preference of one food group over the other that keeps the system unbalanced and wanting of nutrients that weakens the body. It is the lifestyle that prevents us or allows excuses not to eat right but have fast food as the usual recourse.

Aside from the food groups that have been classified by science, there are only two types of healthy food in nature that are provided to us. One is food for nutrition, the other are food for medicine and healing. Examples of these are garlic, turmeric and other herbs too many to mention. Every food has its own function and counter action. Spinach has oxalic acid and oranges have counter effects bad for certain blood types, eating raw exposes us to certain microorganisms etc. Nonsense, every food has properties different and tends to counter balance another food.

In an effort to sell a product, a brand, or an idea, what results is a scare that effects in limiting us with healthy food choices often to those that we do not enjoy. The limiting of food choices keeps on evolving that if everything that is heard or advertised is listened to, nothing is worthy of eating anymore.

Every region on earth will always provide a balanced healthy food source for that region. Foods grown in the US are different from those grown in China. But when examined closely, the tastes may change but the same balancing effect in the diet is present, anywhere in the world. That should tell us something. The earth provides everything for our enjoyment and health. Anyone who is not trying to sell anything will say the same thing, “that we should eat all the food groups in correct quantities and proportions”. That way we enjoy life, that way we stay truly healthy.

Healthy foods with Bill & Sheila

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Doctor: Ditch health trends, listen to your body