Lower Sugar, Lower Blood Pressure

Sounds pretty simple, right? Except in a society overwhelmed by processed foods loaded with added sugar, keeping your sugar (or blood pressure) in check can be a major challenge.

But let's leave the topic of limiting sugar consumption from all sources for another day, and instead focus on sugar from a single source: sugar-sweetened beverages. According to a study published in the June 2010 issue of Circulation (a journal of the American Heart Association), a reduction in sugar-sweetened beverage consumption of one serving per day reduced systolic blood pressure in adults by 1.8 mg Hg and diastolic blood pressure by 1.1 mg Hg over 18 months. (If your blood pressure is 120-75, for example, your systolic blood pressure is 120 and your diastolic blood pressure is 75.) Diet beverage consumption and caffeine intake did not appear to be associated with blood pressure.

Remember, even a small reduction, particularly if all you have to do is drink less sugar-sweetened beverages, can make a big difference. In fact, it might save your life. Your doctor can tell you more - much more - about the considerable dangers of sugar and high blood pressure.

How Nutrition Can Help Eczema

There are three main objectives in the treatment of eczema: reducing inflammation, relieving itching of the skin, and moisturizing dry patches. As most alternative health practitioners know, certain dietary practices and various supplements can help to accomplish these objectives in many cases of eczema that seem to be resistant to standard medical treatment. The most evidence-based lifestyle, dietary and supplementation strategies shown to improve cases of eczema are as follows:

Dietary and Lifestyle Considerations: Avoid any known dietary or environmental irritants or allergens. Reduce the build-up of the polyunsaturated fat arachidonic acid within skin cells, as it is the direct building block of inflammatory prostaglandin hormones. To accomplish this, reduce the intake of the following foods: high-fat meat and dairy products; corn oil, sunflower seed oil, safflower seed oil, and mixed vegetable oils; alcohol, hydrogenated fats (e.g., margarine, commercial peanut butter, shortenings).

Replace the above foods with the following: chicken, turkey, fish, Cornish hen, 1 percent milk or yogurt, low-fat cheese (3 percent or less milk fat), olive oil, canola oil, or peanut oil (for salad dressings, to sauté vegetables or stir fry only).

Important Supplements: Omega-3 fats provide the building block for the production of prostaglandin hormones that reduce the inflammatory activity of skin cells. They also reduce the build-up of arachidonic acid in skin cells by blocking the enzyme that converts linoleic acid and gamma-linolenic acid to arachidonic acid. Examples of omega-3 fats of importance to skin health include EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and ALA (alpha-linolenic acid). EPA is found in fish and fish oils, and ALA is found primarily in flaxseed oil. Clinical trials have shown that omega-3 fats can be effective in the treatment of eczema.

Gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) has also been shown to help in cases of eczema. Studies reveal that many patients with eczema lack the enzyme to convert linoleic acid to gamma-linolenic acid. As gamma-linolenic acid is the building block of an important anti-inflammatory prostaglandin hormone, supplementation with an oil that is high in gamma-linolenic acid, such as borage, black currant or evening primrose oil, has been shown to favorably affect cases of eczema.

A number of B vitamins (especially B₆ and niacin) are necessary co-factors to speed up the enzymes that produce anti-inflammatory prostaglandins in the skin. Vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium and zinc are also required to support various enzymes within skin cells that promote the formation of prostaglandins, which reduce skin inflammatory conditions, including eczema. I recommend a high-potency multivitamin/mineral supplement that contains a B-50 complex along with boosted levels of antioxidants.

In many cases, once specific allergies have been ruled out, the medical profession is at a loss to provide eczema sufferers with any meaningful treatment options. For this subgroup of patients, specific dietary and supplementation practices outlined in this article can provide significant improvement of their condition in many cases. Your doctor can tell you more about the connection between diet and skin health.

Pain: Putting the Fire Out

Back pain, neck pain, knee pain, foot pain - wherever the pain is, it's a pretty powerful motivator. In fact, depending on the severity of the pain, you may be willing to do just about anything to get rid of it. That's why so many people rush to the medicine cabinet and pop a few pills at the first sign of pain. Here's a much better idea: Ask your chiropractor about these simple exercises that can actually help reduce pain caused by common overuse conditions.

You wake up at night with numbness and tingling in your hands. Sleeping through the night is almost an impossible task. You may be suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome, a condition in which nerves from your neck traveling into your hand can become compressed in the wrist.

What you can do: Extend (straighten) your arm out in front of your body with your palm facing up. Straighten your fingers, keeping them close together. Bend your wrist backward and try to point your fingers toward the floor, and with the opposite hand press down on the palm side of your fingers to bend (extend) your wrist slightly further. Hold this stretch for 2 seconds, return the wrist to a straight position, and then repeat the entire movement for 10 repetitions

Do you feel clicking and popping in your knee? Perhaps walking up and down stairs has become a challenge and taking those after-dinner walks is more and more difficult. Knee pain can be a tricky condition because proper motion depends on the functioning of the hips and ankles.

What you can do: Stand on the edge of a step with the balls of your feet. Make sure you have something to hold on to for balance. Keep a slight bend in your knees and let your heels drift downward towards the floor, so your toes are higher than your heels. Sink the heels downward as far as you can and hold for 5 seconds. You can progress to one foot at a time for increased intensity. Return to the starting position and repeat 10 times.

If you experience sharp pain on the outside of your elbow when trying to twist open a jar or grasping something with your hand, it may be tendonitis of the forearm muscles. This injury became known as tennis elbow because players would get elbow pain after hitting repetitive backswings in tennis.

What you can do: Stand sideways against a wall. Bend your arm 90 degrees at the elbow with the thumb facing up. Place a tennis ball between the top of the forearm and the wall, with the opposite hand press against the inside of your forearm, putting additional pressure into the ball. Move the forearm back and forth in a circular motion on the tennis ball, searching for tender spots. Spend between 30-60 seconds on each tender spot until the pain begins to fade; then search for other tender areas. Do this three to five times per day.

The most important point to remember is that no exercise should make your pain worse. Soreness and discomfort are acceptable and expected; however, increased pain and dysfunction is not. It takes time for an injury to properly heal. Talk to your doctor for more information about what you can do to keep pain away the natural way.

Meet Your Feet

Feet have been evolving for millions of years and are wonders of biomechanical engineering. Your feet support your weight, absorb shock when you jump, walk or run, act as a lever to propel your legs forward, and balance your body as it moves. Each individual foot is a complex machine made up of 26 bones and 33 joints linked by a series of muscles, ligaments and tendons. They are incredibly well suited for moving over the types of terrain humans encountered for 99.9% of their evolution.

The last couple hundred years the conditions feet face have changed the way we move in a tremendously unnatural way. Pavement and other hard surfaces combined with poor footwear designs now make the foot poorly suited for this new world. Modern athletic footwear is designed to cushion the foot and protect the sole from abrasions and wounds. It is NOT designed to optimize the foot's natural performance. These types of footwear which changed our natural stride have resulted in an astronomical increase in leg and lower back injuries.

Shoulder injury rehabilitation exercises - the importance of a tailor-made rehabilitation program

Meet Jennifer, a 15 year-old state-level tennis player, who almost had to be forced by her coach to attend her initial physiotherapy consultation. She didn't see the need because her shoulder 'only hurt when she served'! When asked how it affected her serve, she said that she couldn't serve as hard, and that sometimes she just didn't practice at all when it hurt. This response immediately suggested to me that to gain Jennifer's compliance in any sort of rehabilitation program, education was going to be vital.
Assessment
The initial assessment was quite straightforward. Sharp pain had been present on serving for two months in the anterior superior region of her right shoulder, when she made contact with the ball. Overall, the pain had been progressively getting worse. Pain was reproduced at end of range flexion and on an impingement test (horizontal flexion, then internal rotation of her shoulder). Her humerus was sitting anteriorly and she also demonstrated slight capsular laxity anteriorly on her right shoulder with ligament testing and gently gliding the head of humerus forward in sitting. Internal rotation was decreased by approximately 45 degrees on her right compared to her left, suggesting significant posterior capsule and external rotator cuff tightness. Her scapular control was very poor through abduction, especially on sustaining the 'stop sign' position. In summary, we can conclude that the supraspinatus tendon was 'impinging' (pinching; getting inflamed) under the bony arch of the acromion process, a situation exacerbated during serving.
Ask the athlete
An important, but often-overlooked, aspect of assessing an athlete's injury, is asking the athlete whether or not any technical changes have been made/ are being made in their training. Often technical changes can result in injury because the patient cannot cope with the physical requirement of the technique. If no real changes are being made, then it may help to see if the patient can explain the aspects of their technique they are working on. This could clue you in to the type of injury and what you may need to work on. In this case, Jennifer had been working on the same thing for the last six months ­ trying to keep her elbow high as she reached the cocking position on her serve. In tennis or throwing, the shoulder should be abducted to approximately 90 degrees at the end of the cocking phase. Jennifer was letting it drop well below this. But no matter how much she was cued by her coach or how hard she tried, Jennifer couldn't do it, and no doubt the effectiveness of her serve was being affected because of this lack of control and strength.
Treatment
Our first treatment session consisted of trigger points to infraspinatus and teres minor. This allowed the humeral head to sit back in a better position and to improve her range of internal rotation. Kinesio-Taping the humeral head posteriorly then reinforced a better shoulder posture. This was obviously not going to remedy a chronic shoulder problem, but it served a very important purpose: it proved to Jennifer that we could significantly decrease her pain.
She could now roll her arm over in a service motion without pain ­ a feeling she had not had in a while! In addition, it began to teach her where the correct 'normal' position for her shoulder should be: much less rounded and closer to a 'neutral position' ­ the centre of rotation for her 'ball and socket' joint. Jennifer then realized how much better she could feel when serving on court. It also gave her confidence in me, which was vital if we were to have a good outcome.
The rest of the session consisted of further education ­ thoroughly explaining to Jennifer her injury and using some 'scare tactics'. For Jennifer, that meant giving her some examples of other tennis players who had had similar injuries as juniors but were not handled properly and had subsequently not had continued success in the sport. This definitely had an impact on the keen young tennis player. At following sessions, she presented to the clinic with her folder in which she kept her list of exercises and reassured me that she had been doing her exercises religiously. Compliance was no longer a problem.

What Ever Runner Should Know About Shoes:

Proper Shoe Fit:

Ø Know what type of shoe is best for your foot.

Ø Buy shoes from a specialty store or a knowledgeable Internet retailer to ensure proper shoe type and fit. Running magazines frequently list specialty stores by state, so runners can find a local source.

Ø Buy shoes that are appropriate for your foot type and training intensity, not for cosmetics, celebrity endorsement, or cost.

Ø Always get fitted for running shoes in the evening. Feet are larger at the end of the day. There should be a half an inch between the longest toe and the end of the toe box.

Ø Wear running socks when trying on shoes to ensure a proper fit.

Ø If you wear orthotics inserts, bring them along and try them in the new shoes before buying.

Ø Take a test run in the shoes at the store before purchasing to confirm comfort and fit.

Ø If the shoes don’t feel good in the store, don’t buy them. Running shoes so not need to be “broken in” to be comfortable.

Running Shoe Care:

Ø Wear running shoes only for running. Wearing running shoes for walking or playing other sports can break down the motion control and cushioning of your shoes.

Ø Don’t kick off your shoes without untying them. This will destroy the heel counter.

Ø Avoid running in wet shoes. A wet midsole has 40% - 50% less shock absorbing capability.

Ø Don’t wash running shoes in the clothes washer. This will deform their shape.

Ø Exposure to excessive heat will degrade the components of the shoe. Let them air dry naturally after exposure to water.

Running Shoe Replacement:

Ø Excessively worn running shoes may lead to injury. Researches note a significant correlation between infrequent change of running shoes and injuries.

Ø Replace shoes every 400 to 600 miles or every 6 months. Estimate your weekly mileage and mark your calendar as a reminder.

Ø Outsoles are made of durable compounds and are a poor indicator of the remaining shoe life. In most cases, the midsole will wear out long before the outsole, especially for heavy runners.

Ø Midsole materials last for approximately 400 – 600 miles or 6 to 12 months, depending on the mileage and intensity of training. Midsole wear can be subtle and manifest by excessive wrinkles and compression of the sock liner.

Ø Running shoes may lose between 30% and 50% of their shock absorption after about 250 miles of use. Even sitting on a shelf, their shock absorbing capabilities are significantly reduced after 1 to 2 years.

Ø Alternating between two pairs of running shoes will extend the life of the midsole longer than wearing each pair of shoes consecutively.

Save Your Soles

• By Kristen Dold, Women's Health

 

Apart from the occasional pedi, women tend to use and abuse their feet—maybe because "foot care" has less-than-sexy (OK, geriatric) connotations. But hey, bunions and bone spurs happen... a lot. Research shows that most people have a foot injury of some sort by age 40, and women undergo the majority of common-problem foot surgeries. Sidestep heinous maladies by treating your feet right.

[How self-check during a DIY pedicure could help save your life]

Foot Foes

Genes play a leading role in female foot woes. So does anatomy: "In general, women have narrower heels and weaker joints than men do,"says Frank Valente, D.C., a chiropractor in Manhattan. "Plus, irregular menstrual cycles and lower-fat diets can decrease bone mass, putting women at increased risk for ankle sprains and dislocated foot bones." Also, wider hips mean that some women are predisposed to walking knock-kneed, which can throw off the body's alignment and stance, and potentially lead to foot injuries, says Eric Horton, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon in San Diego.

[Will you inherit your mom's body?]

High Times

Stilettos can make your feet hurt like hell for a reason. "One-inch heels can increase the pressure on your feet by about 22 percent," says orthopedic surgeon Steven Raikin, M.D., of the Rothman Institute in Philadelphia. "Two inches can add up to 57 percent, and three inches can add a whopping 76 percent." That pressure means toes are crammed into a tight area, and the long-term results can be very unsultry bunions or clawlike hammertoes. What's more, so much weight shifting onto the feet causes calf muscles to clench up and eventually tighten, making it hard to walk normally even on days you wear flats. Platform and wedge shoes are a bit kinder, but most still have an unnatural incline, says Catherine Cheung, D.P.M., a podiatrist in San Francisco.

Happy Feet

No, you don't have to pack your closet exclusively with Crocs. Just follow these tips:

1. Try not to stand or walk around in heels higher than two inches for more than four hours straight, says Horton. (If you do wear way-high heels on a big night out, ice your feet when you get home to curb any swelling or pain.)

[Learn how to ward off the nasty effects of a new epidemic called Sitting Disease]

2. Remember that feet can still grow and spread throughout adulthood (especially after pregnancy) and tend to be at their most swollen at the end of the day, so do your shoe shopping in the afternoon. Have your feet measured every year to make sure you're buying the right size.

3. For extra heel and arch cushioning, slip orthopedic inserts into your flats. Most won't fit into skimpy high heels, so use gel pads there instead. You can buy them at a drugstore for around $20, or spring for custom-made orthotics from a doc.

4. As your body's essential support system, your feet can take a lot of weight, but "every pound you gain means an extra three pounds of pressure in your ankle region," says Raikin. Yet another reason to always maintain a healthy weight.

5. To keep your feet limber, do stretches such as writing the alphabet with pointed toes; to massage your arches, roll your feet over a tennis ball for a few minutes a day; and to stretch your ankle and calf, extend your knee, place a towel around the ball of your foot, and pull toes toward you.

Provided by Women's Health

Reduce Your Stress Burden

Pay attention when people talk about sudden onset of bizarre and unusual ailments. When you hear people say things like, "I did not eat anything different yesterday and today my guts are going crazy" or "This is the type of situation I can usually handle, but for some reason I am not processing it well this time," your ears should perk up.

The answer can be found in a little word with big implications: stress. Our bodies endure stress, which can be simply defined as anything that causes a reaction. There are three main areas in which we experience stress: physical, emotional and chemical. Stress involving any of these areas can affect us profoundly. Here are some of the common signs of stress, along with ways to reduce your stress burden. Talk to your doctor for more information.

Stress Signals

Unusual fatigue: Stress weighs on you physically, emotionally and mentally. It wears you down and drains you. Can't get out of bed in the morning? Stress may be what's keeping you there.

Sleeplessness: You may feel like sleeping for a day or two, but stress tends to keep you up at night, pondering how to pay that bill, meet that work deadline or heal that broken friendship.

Impulsivity: If you find your eating habits changing suddenly, you may be turning to comfort foods to deal with stress. The same is true with impulse buying, particularly when it involves items you don't really need.

Anger/impatience: Stress can make you short-tempered and easily roused to anger, even if your demeanor is normally calm, quiet and reserved.

Lack of concentration/forgetfulness: Stress usually occupies our mental time, so much so that we can have trouble remembering things or make more mistakes. Never forget your keys in the morning? When you're stressed, you just might.

Physical ailments: Back pain, neck pain and pain in general that doesn't have a clear cause (e.g., an injury) is often related to stress. The same is true for colds and flu; stress can lower your immune system, increasing your risk of developing illness.

Ways to Reduce Stress

Work it off: No, we don't mean spending another five hours a day at the very location that may be a major source of stress; we do mean finding the time to exercise. Whether it's an a quick trip to the gym, a peaceful run or a brisk walk with family or friends, exercise puts the focus somewhere else for a while. Biochemically, exercise has a big anti-stress benefit: It helps reduces levels of the stress hormone (cortisol) and increases your "feel-good" hormones, endorphins.

Get away from it: This can be challenging, especially if your stress has reached near-obsession levels, but doing what you can to distract yourself can go a long way toward reducing stress. Schedule a vacation, visit old friends, take a long walk; whatever it takes to remove yourself from your stress environment.

Smile about it: It's much harder for stress to exist in a fun, laughter-filled environment, so put yourself in a position to smile when you're under stress. Watch your favorite sit-com, get tickets to a comedy show, organize a fun night out with the family or friends. After all, laughter truly is the best natural medicine.

Talk about it: When you're stressed, your mind can be a continual stream of negative, overwhelming, stressed-out thoughts. Don't keep it all to yourself; talk to your significant other, closest friend or even a trusted co-worker about what's bothering you. Sometimes the best way to reduce your stress is to vent about it and get a neutral perspective, rather than staying in a bottled-up, stressed-out state.

Cold and Flu Defense

If you're looking to gear up for the cold and flu season without subjecting yourself or your family to the potential dangers of the flu vaccine, take heart: There are natural ways to boost your immune system and reduce your risk of getting sick. Here are a few to discuss with your doctor.

Vitamin C: A study of 715 people showed that flu symptoms were decreased by 85 percent when people took 6 grams of vitamin C as a one-time loading dose, then continuing with 1 gram three times a day, compared with people taking only the 3 grams daily. The message here is to take a lot of vitamin C the first day you feel symptoms or the first day people around you are getting sick, and then take 3 grams daily after that. Keep in mind that vitamin C can loosen stools, so be careful if you are predisposed to this.

Vitamin D: Vitamin D has exploded in research and popularity the past few years. Most of us are familiar with its bone-building properties, however new research suggests it improves the immune system as well. Have your doctor test your vitamin D levels before supplementing. Research suggests 2,000 IU daily is safe for most adults and children. Higher doses are safe and effective, but must be monitored by your doctor.

Elderberry: Elderberry (Sambucus) was researched in a group of 60 people and found to alleviate symptoms four days earlier compared with controls. Elderberry helps boosts the immune system and is great-tasting for kids. Start taking as soon as symptoms manifest.

Gingseng: Panax quinquefolium (ginseng) was studied in a large group of 323 patients as a preventive natural medicine. The group that took panax experienced 30 percent less colds compared with the placebo group (people who didn't take ginseng), and average number of sick days were 11 compared with 16 in the non-treatment group.

Oscillococcinum: Last, but not least, the well-known oscillococcinum is a homeopathic flu treatment that is created new every year. Tough to pronounce, but effective; a Cochrane review of all oscillococcinum studies showed that it reduces the length of illness compared with placebo.

Talk to your doctor for more information about these and other natural ways to boost your immune system and ward off colds and the flu.