Archive | September 2013

MEN VS WOMEN IN HEALTH & 6 TOP MEN DISEASES IN AMERICA

More males than females are born in America each year.  Still regarding health to both genders through research and just living the experience of being an RN over a quarter of a century in numerous fields (primarily of adults to geriatrics) it shows women are more healthier than men (even starting from infancy).  Out of the 15 leading causes of death, men lead women in all of them except Alzheimer’s disease, which many men don’t live long enough to develop in many cases.  Although the gender gap is closing, men still die five years earlier than their wives, on average.  Through WebMD experts have told them the reason for this is that they are partly biological, and men’s approach to their health plays a role too, of course.  “Men put their health last,” says Demetrius Porche, DNS, RN, editor in chief of the Americ.an Journal of Men’s Health. “Most men’s thinking is, if they can live up to their roles in society, then they’re healthy.”  Not always the case especially when age keeps creeping up on a male with his priorities of life changing with new love or even peeps that come on board in a man’s lifetime.  In most cases living healthy normally happens when are age is younger but then due to work to families to expectations leaves little room for healthier habits in the week but even 30 minutes a day could make a tremendous change to all systems of the human body preventing certain diseases/illnesses, especially those due to poor diet, eating habits and overall health habits (Ex. as simple as getting 8 hours for sleep a day).  Men go to the doctor less than women and are more likely to have a serious condition when they do go, research shows. “As long as they’re working and feeling productive, most men aren’t considering the risks to their health,” says Porche.  Like a lot of men say “I don’t have to time to think about it.”.    But even if you’re feeling healthy, a little planning can help you stay that way.  One is through preventions measures before secondary have to start, meaning ending line your now with a disease or illness, that may have been prevented completely if you lived a healthier life.  One way of preventing disease and illness is good eating or diet, with balancing out the 4 food groups (to get all nutrients from minerals to vitamins to enzymes to proteins and more).  The top threats to men’s health aren’t secrets: they are commonly known and often preventable.  WebMD consulted the experts that came up with for you this list of the top health threats to men, and how to avoid them.

 

— Heart disease and stroke

“Heart disease and stroke are the first and second leading causes of death worldwide, in both men and women,” says Darwin Labarthe, MD, MPH, PhD, director of the Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention at the CDC. “It’s a huge global public health problem, and in the U.S. we have some of the highest rates.”  In cardiovascular disease, cholesterol plaques gradually block the arteries in the heart and brain. If a plaque becomes unstable, a blood clot forms, blocking the artery and causing a heart attack or stroke.

One in five men and women will die from cardiovascular disease, according to Labarthe.   For unclear reasons, though, men’s arteries develop atherosclerosis earlier than women’s. “Men’s average age for death from cardiovascular disease is under 65,” he says; women catch up about six years later.

Even in adolescence, girls’ arteries look healthier than boys’. Experts believe women’s naturally higher levels of good cholesterol (HDL) are partly responsible. Men have to work harder to reduce their risk for heart disease and stroke.  How do you go about this?  Take a guess.  Yes, again through your diet, eating, the 4 food groups in your diet, activity or exercise (at least 30 minutes a day or 1 hour every other day) and practicing daily good health habits.

Lung cancer is a terrible disease: ugly, aggressive, and almost always metastatic (spreads somewhere in the body). Lung cancer spreads early, usually before it grows large enough to cause symptoms or even show up on an X-ray. By the time it’s found, lung cancer is often advanced and difficult to cure. Less than half of men are alive a year later.  So … are you still SMOKING?

Tobacco smoke causes 90% of all lung cancers. Thanks to falling smoking rates in the U.S., fewer men than ever are dying of lung cancer. But lung cancer is still the leading cancer killer in men:  Again due to many still practicing poor habits which could have prevented many of the lung cancer cases.  Anyone who QUITS smoking at any age reduces the risk for lung cancer.  Few preventive measures are as effective as stopping smoking and nothing is as challenging, like any addiction (whether mental or physical)

 

 –Prostate Cancer: A Leading Cancer for Men

This is one health problem men can lay full claim to — after all, women don’t have prostates. A walnut-sized gland behind the penis that secretes fluids important for ejaculation, the prostate is prone to problems as men age.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men other than skin cancer. Close to 200,000 men will develop prostate cancer this year in the U.S.

But while one in six men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in his lifetime, only one in 35 will die from it. “Many prostate cancers are slow-growing and unlikely to spread, while others are aggressive,” says Djenaba Joseph, MD, medical officer for cancer prevention at the CDC. “The problem is, we don’t have effective tests for identifying which cancers are more dangerous.”

Screening for prostate cancer requires a digital rectal exam (the infamous gloved finger) and a blood test for prostate specific antigen (PSA).

But in fact, “Screening has never definitively been shown to reduce the chances of dying from prostate cancer,” according to Joseph. That’s because screening finds many cancers that would never be fatal, even if undetected. Testing then leads to aggressive treatment of relatively harmless cancers, which causes problems like impotence and incontinence.

Should you get screened for prostate cancer? Some experts say yes, but “the best solution is to see your doctor regularly and talk about your overall risk,” says Joseph. “All men should understand the risks and benefits of each approach, whichever you choose.”

 

 –Depression and Suicide: Men Are at Risk

Depression isn’t just a bad mood, a rough patch, or the blues. It’s an emotional disturbance that affects your whole body and overall health.  In effect, depression proves the mind-body connection. Brain chemicals and stress hormones are out of balance. Sleep, appetite, and energy level are disturbed. Research even suggests men with depression are more likely to develop heart disease.

The results can be tragic. Women attempt suicide more often, but men are more successful at completing it. Suicide is the eighth leading cause of death among all men; for young men it’s higher.

 

–Diabetes: The Silent Health Threat for Men

Diabetes usually begins silently, without symptoms. Over years, blood sugar levels creep higher, eventually spilling into the urine. The resulting frequent urination and thirst are what finally bring many men to the doctor.

The high sugar of diabetes is anything but sweet. Excess glucose acts like a slow poison on blood vessels and nerves everywhere in the body. Heart attacks, strokes, blindness, kidney failure, and amputations are the fallout for thousands of men.

Boys born in 2000 have an alarming one-in-three chance of developing diabetes in their lifetimes. Overweight and obesity are likely feeding the diabetes epidemic. “The combination of diabetes and obesity may be erasing some of the reductions in heart disease risk we’ve had over the last few decades,” warns Labarthe.

Exercise, combined with a healthy diet, can prevent type 2 diabetes. Moderate weight loss — for those who are overweight — and 30 minutes a day of physical activity reduced the chance of diabetes by more than 50% in men at high risk in one major study.

 

Erectile Dysfunction: A Common Health Problem in Men  

  Erectile dysfunction may not be life threatening, but it’s still signals an important health problem. Two-thirds of men older than 70 and up to 39% of 40-year-old men have problems with erectile dysfunction. Men with ED report less enjoyment in life and are more likely to be depressed.

Erectile dysfunction is most often caused by atherosclerosis — the same process that causes heart attacks and strokes. In fact, having ED frequently means that blood vessels throughout the body are in less-than-perfect health. Doctors consider erectile dysfunction an early warning sign for cardiovascular disease.

You’ve probably heard more about the numerous effective treatments for ED than you ever cared to just by watching the evening news. Treatments make a fulfilling sex life possible despite ED, but they don’t cure the condition. If you have erectile dysfunction, see your doctor, and ask if more than your sex life is at risk.

So what’s the key to decreasing these diseases or illnesses in men? 

Live a healthier life men so that you men in America can decrease the chances of developing these diseases or if you are with one of these diagnoses already it will surely help decrease the impact of the disease or illness compared to living an unhealthy life.   So if you need guidance I have direction,  I surely did for my habits and diet and it helped me as a women.  Like a car, the better you treat it the better it operates and the longer it lasts.  Various lifestyle factors have been associated with increasing the risk of stroke. These include lack of exercise, alcohol, diet, obesity, smoking, drug use, and stress. You can control your obesity,  activity/exercise, alcohol consumption, drug use and smoking, including your stress to a degree. Guidelines endorsed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health recommend that Americans should exercise for at least 30 minutes of moderately intense physical activity on most, and preferably all, days of the week.  Recent epidemiologic studies have shown a U-shaped curve for alcohol consumption and coronary heart disease mortality, with low-to-moderate alcohol consumption associated with lower overall mortality. High daily dietary intake of fat is associated with obesity and may act as an independent risk factor or may affect other stroke risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and cardiac disease. Homocysteine is another important dietary component associated with stroke risk, while other dietary stroke risk factors are thought to be mediated through the daily intake of several vitamins and antioxidants. Smoking, especially current smoking, is a crucial and extremely modifiable independent determinant of stroke. Despite the obstacles to the modification of lifestyle factors, health professionals should be encouraged to continue to identify such factors and help improve our ability to prevent stroke, decrease cancers caused by smoking, decrease coronary artery disease which decreases your chance with Obesity, ED, stroke,  & hypertension and more.   Learn healthy habits or healthier habits, broaden your knowledge on the 4 food groups in what is lean or leaner or leanest with each group, increase your activity 30 minutes a day and learn what a healthy diet actually is through Dr. Wayne Scott Anderson’s book “Dr. A’s habits of health” and even if you need to lose weight we can show you the way to do it healthy.  It’s not a diet for 3 months or even 6 to a year but it is learning how to get to your body mass index in the ideal weight range for your height and you decide how low you want to go.  We can show you through the book and those having more difficulty can buy our foods for 6 months or even a year or in my case I started almost a year ago and I use both their healthy foods as well as healthy foods from the store.  You decide the choices, no one else.  If you are interested go to my website healthyusa.tsfl.com and peek at what we offer for no prescription, no charge, no donation and no hacking.  If you like what you see join me and so many others trying to get America healthier and in time decrease our population in diseases or illnesses primarily impacted by health habits, diet, and weight.  Wouldn’t you and the future want to get better in mind and body to impact our health care system that includes our insurance and most importantly lives of citizens in the USA in how they live (which would be more active).  It is your choice and I hope you decide to come aboard to my website healthyusa.tsfl.com and I know if I could do it so can too.  It just takes discipline and the drive to want to stay healthy or get in a better state of heath.  Hope I have helped someone out there in broadening your knowledge regarding how to keep or reach a healthier life.

How to eat and live healthier with still occasionally eating processed or high in sugar foods!

If you have been trying to lose weight or just want to live healthier to decrease the chance of suffering certain diseases or illnesses that have happened already in America to some people through poor diet and unhealthy habits, than you have come to the right blog.  Today’s article is on knowing what foods to avoid to prevent slowing your metabolism down.   For starters let’s discuss why foods in high sugar content are bad for you.  Understand how the body works.  If you buy and eat foods with the following, especially in high content of starches, carbohydrates, sugars, calories–which only show on the label if sugar is in the food, and even some fats depending on what is in the fat (THAT’S WHY YOU READ THE INGREDIENTS) you will cause through digestion a high peak of your blood glucose level.  When we eat the food it gets into the stomach, the food than through digestive juices/acids cause break down the ingredients into complex or simple sugars which get transferred into the blood (fructose and glucose).  Glucose is the prime fuel for the body.  Fuel meaning giving energy to the body so we can function in doing our daily exercises (as simple as range of motion of extremities).  Remember when digestion takes place it utilizes the glucose it needs at that time throughout the body.  If you have a large meal or a small meal high in starch or carbohydrates or sugars or calories the body won’t need to utilize all the break down of the simpler sugars the food got broken down into, in the stomach.  So you’ll have extra sugar in the blood.  If the human body was able to dispose of this extra sugar by getting it out of the body naturally we wouldn’t have any obesity or nearly as much.  So when we have bagels with cream cheese, or a mc muffin or some fast processed food for breakfast than start work followed with going out to eat for lunch at a restaurant nearby work than stop off at a pizzeria to pick up dinner for a pizza with chicken wings and blue cheese dressing followed with ice cream we are dealing with high percentages of sugar (as the ending product from digestion=fat storage=weight gain).   We have to be more disciplined in our eating habits.  Society needs to speak up or just not go to some of these fast food joints since ending line the food is not good for you.  Burger King just came out with a burger topped with fries (what the heck is this going to do for someone’s health).  America wake up to the restaurant industry and know to eat out 2 times or less a week or you will be at a high probability of  putting weight on.  When you eat 3 large meals a day these meals take 6 to 8 hours to digest.  The trick is when you are in body mass index range for your height still eat 6 small meals a day with vegetables/fruits and healthy fiber with one of the 6 meals a day being highest in protein with vegetables/fruit in that meal being 50% of the meal on a 9” plate, no larger and no second helpings.  The 5 other meals are smaller and low in calories (80-100), carbohydrates (10-12 grams), sugar (4 or less grams) and the protein (about 6 grams).  In between the meals if you feel hungry drink water or have a snack like celery or something similar to it.  What you cause is your sugar intake with your metabolism of the body to stay more at a steady rate (including your sugar level 80-110) if you eat 6 healthy small meals a day.  When you eat a donut, or processed cereal it will cause the sugar to spike up high and cause the metabolism to slow down (Ex. frosted flakes, grape nuts, and I could go on—again read what the ingredients are and what the products version of a serving is).  You feel tired an hour or two after a large meal of unhealthy/processed food or even a healthy but large meal.  Why do you have no problem in the AM with getting to work and getting started for the day?  Well with drinking coffee in AM it takes care of the fatigue due to the caffeine, so you may not realize the impact of how low your metabolism is.   Trust me, I was there once too.  I am still trying to lose but I am getting there.  So what the body actually does is this:  When glucose gets transferred into the bloodstream from the stomach, following the digestion process, and reaches the pancreas which senses the free floating glucose in the bloodstream it then releases insulin into the bloodstream.  Doing this the insulin now allows glucose to transfer into tissues and cells that need it at that time (fuel for energy of the cells and tissues to do their function) and if not needed we end up with extra glucose in the bloodstream.  When it reaches the liver and is sensed by the liver the liver stores it to the full maximal capacity that the organ can handle.  Keep in mind the liver is only so big, so when a individual has a large excess of glucose in the bloodstream from their meal that they just ate it only can store so much.  The liver actually converts the sugar from glucose (active sugar=active fuel) to glycogen (inactive sugar=non-active sugar).  Now if you still have extra glucose in the bloodstream after the liver does its storing the glucose has to go somewhere.  The extra sugar now gets stored into the human fat tissue=weight gain. Fat storage is simply putting weight gain on the person’s body.  If your sugar blood level isn’t kept between 80-110 throughout the day than your metabolism isn’t kept at a steady rate.  Eat 5 days or more a week with 6 small HEALTHY meals a day and treating yourself one or two days a week to treats only one or two times each day of the one or two days your treating yourself.  In treating yourself 1 to 2 days with not as healthy foods you can do this ONLY if your body mass index is within normal range.  If not than you have to lose weight first. For if you still need to lose weight and you treat yourself to fattening foods or highier sugar content foods you will put your diet behind 3 days, which will prevent you from losing weight.  This is due to the food high in sugar as the ending result of digestion and you cause high fat storage.  The sacrifice for your body is worth it but during the weight loss period you will even shrink your stomach size naturally.  There are 4 food groups with each group having lean, leaner and the leanest type of foods in that group of the 4.  If you want to learn more about this than go to my website healthyusa.tsfl.com and peek at what we can offer you through Dr. Wayne Scott Anderson with his book “Dr A’s Habits of Health” and even foods to buy if you want them in the beginning of your diet loss which provides health bars to lunches and dinners to desserts of all kinds to all types of shakes/drinks and so much more foods (low in fat/calories/carbs).  Learn how to become healthier for yourself, even spreading the news to family or friends who may become interested and being a great mentor for your children in helping the next generation to be more healthy which would help our health care system to helping our health economy that includes insurance payments for bills at hospitals/doctor’s offices lessened.  Our society has become so unhealthy in diet causing so many increases in diseases/illnesses, including children, (Obesity, Diabetes II, coronary artery disease, hypertension, and more).  Take a look at facebook or UTube with pictures of people in America shopping at Walmart.  It may be funny to some people but it is also outright scary with what’s happening to our country.  Our country has increased drastically in poor health habits that killed our economy with let alone what our health care system with insurance costs are for society.  We could, as a society, turn things around for the better regarding ourselves and others in our country for everyone’s health that would impact every American citizen of all ages in a positive way.  I hope I have impacted someone in this country in wanting to learn more about knowing how to become healthier with making a good change for our country as a diversified whole.  Society has a responsibility and impact on how things run in each of their respective countries but especially in America, since we live in a democracy.  Its common sense if we get better regarding our health overall it will put an impact on our health economy if we don’t our health care system will just get WORSE.  Do mom’s and dad’s want this for their children’s future or their children or even our own lives?  Society has to take a stand, don’t leave it up to our government but leave it up to our citizens in America’s homes with our schools (proper health teaching to the cafeteria food), our restaurant industry (get off of living with such processed and fast foods in our states and lastly our government to an extent.  What does any politician care really have as a top priority being health since their making high incomes to live life up (President Obama upon retirement will be the first President making 450,000 dollars a year).  I know I would be a happy camper too and I could go on with other politicians salaries but I started with the top.  So let’s make a move America and go for the healthier aspect of life.   Take a peek at no fee or charge, no prescription, no foods that you have to buy, no obligation, and no hacking, as well.  You make all the choices in what you want and when you want to stop.  No rip off that you have to stay on our time frame, it’s all based on yours.  Again, you make all the choices and wouldn’t it be great if we could turn around back the way our health was, not so bad, that our insurance you pay a price that just keeps rising, and you have to go through so many hoops to see the type of doctor you want when onetime it was just a breeze.  Join me, and go to healthyusa.tsfl.com and just take a peek;)  Hope to hear from anyone who would like a doctor (Dr. Anderson) and free coach (myself) for guidance in making America a healthier country.  Please leave a comment; I would love to hear your opinion.

Wake up America and get healthier to decrease disease and illness of all ages to make our country a better place for all citizens to live in.

Both internal and external environments play a part for the human body in how we, as people, turn out either healthy or unhealthy in the nation that we live in and even as a world.  External environments are the images of what makes up the nation or the planet earth at home including the outer space (a single entity in which air, water, and continents interrelate for mankind and more; but the important question is this: is it overall effective or not to life).  Let’s take a metaphor in understanding this, an effective external environment for life is country life (ex. life in Virginia) for home/produce/life and an area of weather that is suitable for the human body as opposed to living in the North Pole (freezing ice cold) much more difficult to obtain an healthy external environment for the human body.  The internal environment is referring to our minds and bodies which are primarily up to us, the people, in what we decide to be acceptable in how we live out our daily.  Society determines what is considered ok as a habit and what is not, ending line how we treat ourselves daily.  Yes drugs are not legal, so there are limitations (law).  Thank God or we could be worse off with disease and illness in the U.S.  Though we can control other things for example what we simple drink daily that can range from 1 can to a six pack of regular soda daily for some people (which equals high sugar content in the body) or using nutraSweet regularly (which can cause cancer), or even better-diet soda (Phenylketonurics Phenylalanine).  Why is this on the soda can  and what does that mean?  It is to prevent a law suit since it can cause cancer.  I could go on with unhealthy foods and drinks;  ending line is we need to know what is in our foods and fluids we ingest, making smarts decisions on what we ingest and in how big a proportion from daily intake down to every meal you eat that day. To become a healthier nation to spread out into the world with living healthier habits in our daily living with occasional eating of things unhealthy could make a 360 turn in how our diseases and illnesses could go down in number.   There are diseases/illnesses in the top rank in the U.S. due to many with Obesity (Ex. leading to Diabetes II and even cardiac disease that can further lead you to a heart attack or even a stroke).  To get out of unhealthy eating/dieting, with a little exercise daily or every other day (not necessarily work out but my hat is off to those who do) and keeping your weight in your body mass index would make a turn for you and so many others overtime.  We have to start somewhere, just like technology did but this is much easier since we have the knowledge; it just has to be utilized (first from the home, into schools, into fast food joints to restaurants, to our government (who should not be the one deciding our health care system and insurance) and stricter rules through FDA (higher standards in what we eat).  Put this all together and we call it SOCIETY.  Remember society gives direction on what’s allowed in the community (simply TV to radio content, what’s allowed in local restaurants, who are president is, and to what’s allowed in the house (mom and dad that’s you).  We need to start nurturing our society a lot better (we don’t now).

What will this do for the present  couples, especially with children?  It will make both age groups healthier with a better life and the same results for the future grand kids coming down the road.  What will it do for you people single or just couples without children, like myself?  It will give you all healthier lives and for all a change for the better in the percentage in diseases/illnesses (going down drastically) to the point of impacting our insurance costs in time for the better with how our health care system works (this wouldn’t be over night).  We have to start somewhere.  Let’s get our overall health to a point where we don’t need so much health care or the government to get involved deciding how our health care system runs but pay more attention to what is going on in wall street, wars we have to keep an eye on or even take part in looking into or getting our troops out of, etc…  No matter if you are in a high or mid or low income bracket there are affordable foods that you can have in your diet with gradually increasing to 30 minutes of exercise daily or every other day in your life, of course in time.  It’s just like watching TV,  you just have to fit it in your life and in time it will become a regular part of your activities of daily living with not making you feel as if this is a burden but routine.  If you want to live a longer life with helping to decrease disease in our country then make the move whether young, mid-age or even older.  It is like a wound that our society over generations allowed to happen, in time.  The ending result is 2/3 of our country is obese, do we want to continue making this wound larger?  We already have caused a large number of obesity but like all wounds, time heals all wounds (if not completely than to a degree and in America’s case it’s a large one).  We are now in a technology that knows what foods are high in fat, high in sugar, high in carbohydrates, high in calories, with what it can cause when foods like this are taken on a daily basis in all yours meals over a long period of time, which is obesity.  We also know  the ending result of obesity in based upon the kinetics of what it can create in the body, again overtime.   We are a stronger nation in all colors, races, ages, and sexes with knowing the knowledge of what to do.   Do you want a better fit body, family, grandchildren and even country than take the action NOW.  For your goal in playing a part is one you need to be healthy or get healthier and without question you will feel better.  Also, for the next decade & generation to be healthier it will help Americans in their lives all around (including our health care showing a spread of disease in lower percentage that is originally due to poor diet and activity choices by our people=again society’s choices, who are so important in helping to decide where the health of the present and future of the US people lie. America please help me turn this around.  Should we let our government make the move on our health rather than us?  Finally after so many years Obama’s health care law had to get involved because of the money aspect regarding Americans health took, taking a toll on our economy.  I know I would want the people making the last move regarding our health care system, when we still have choices.  If you care about this you would want to take part in joining me (at almost 50 y/o) to get healthier.  If you are than go to healthyusa.tsfl.com and be a part of making our home a healthy USA with learning the knowledge of how to prevent or better treat your body even diagnosed if already diagnosed with obesity, coronary heart disease, diabetes II, high blood pressure, stroke, transient attack ischemia, and more).  ***It is recommended to get clearance first from your M.D. if you decide to take this diet plan or not.***

How do we reach and stay at a healthy state in making our lives a grand ride on a roller coaster without falling off the track; and if we do fall off the ride (Ex. Have a trauma, like a back injury) if you have been healthy most or all your life the better the odds you will turn out.  To reach that level internally we now all need to see what it is we are NOT doing best to our bodies regarding the daily habits of prevention (most significant factor) or regarding the habits of secondary-treating of disease or illnesses people have today (do you follow your diet, or are you compliant with taking your meds prescribed, etc…).   Prevention Habits would be stay fit (not necessarily a body builder fit), be ideal in your weight (BMI), eat and drink healthy, know good foods from bad foods, and practice healthy habits of living.  If your at this healthy state already great and if you do unhealthy habits occasionally that is great also (Examples like eating Burger King, having shell fish, drinking alcohol and parting till 2am or so).  If you need to learn how to reach this state or even learn how to stay in this level of health because of getting older or whatever the reason is than Dr. Anderson and myself as your coach can help you.  Dr. Anderson through his book of “Dr. A’s Habits of Heath” and me as your health coach with take shape for life will teach you all about this.  We can provide the knowledge, the foods you eat for 3 to 6mths to a couple of years, depending on what you want to lose; but in time you can even stop take shape for life and just buy healthier foods in the store using all 4 food groups (which the book reviews also with what foods in each group is the lean, leaner to the leanest and in what proportions).

I always say do anything legal in America within moderation and you should do fine but when we don’t negative feedback begins to start, which is what has happened to our country & even others with cancer, obesity, cardiac disease, diabetes, and more due to living on a regular basis unhealthy habits, poor activities of daily living and unhealthy normally in the diet  So America let’s turn around for the better and join me.  Take a peek at healthyusa.tsfl.com and check us out with guaranteed no hacking, no fee, no donation, or any BS.  I hope I did shed light on someone and hope to hear from you soon.  Thank you for reading at my blog and don’t hesitate with giving me your comments, they matter.

For your knowledge the top health problems in the USA are:

1-Heart disease
Heart disease was the #1 disease affecting Americans in 2010. The World Health Organization’s (WHO) statistics showed 31.5% of women and 26.8% of men die of heart disease.

To prevent heart disease, become physically active, eat a heart healthy diet, and quit smoking.

2-Obesity
Two-thirds of Americans are now either overweight or obese. Obesity has become an epidemic in the U.S. and leads to other diseases such as high blood pressure, hypertension, and diabetes. The best way to prevent obesity is through a well-balanced diet and physical activity.

3-Cancer
The 2008 World Cancer Report predicted that deaths caused by cancers will nearly double by the year 2030. This means 27 million people will suffer from cancer by 2030 resulting in 17 million deaths every year. Experts believe the main culprit will be poor lifestyle choices. There are many forms of cancer, but limiting the intake of red meat and animal fat, exposure to the sun, alcohol intake, and knowing your family’s history can limit the risk of developing cancer.

4-Infectious disease
Disease-causing germs such as bacteria, viruses, parasites or fungi spread diseases directly or indirectly from one person to the other – sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), HIV, etc. Infectious diseases are now the world’s biggest killer of children and young adults; they lead to 16.2% of worldwide deaths.  Simple things like washing your hands and preparing foods properly could prevent the chances of spreading infectious diseases.

5-Tuberculosis
Around 2 million people die of tuberculosis (TB) every year. Researchers have shown almost one-third of the world’s population is infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacteria that cause tuberculosis. The bacteria are spread through coughing and sneezing. Be sure to cover your mouth and wash your hands.

6-HIV/AIDS
Nearly 25 million people have been infected with HIV/AIDS from 1981 to the present.
According to the latest data from the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), an estimated 2.7 million people became newly infected with HIV in 2008, and 2 million people died of AIDS-related causes in 2008. Practicing safe sex and monogamy can prevent the chances of spreading or contracting HIV or AIDS. Your partner may look safe, but the only way to know the current status of yourself or your partner is by getting tested.

7-Lower respiratory tract infections
Diseases of the lungs, such as pneumonia, kill more than 4 million people each year. Lower respiratory tract infections also include tuberculosis and whooping cough. Washing hands, and following a healthy diet and exercise routine will help keep the immune system strong in order to fight off infections.

8-Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
COPD includes lung diseases that make breathing difficult. It is estimated that by 2020 it will be the third biggest killer in the world. Smoking is the most recognized cause for COPD but occupational exposure to dust, air pollution and certain inherited diseases have been known to cause the disease as well. Exercises built around strengthening your lungs, such as cardio, are a good way to prevent COPD.

9-Influenza
An estimated 36,000 people die annually due to complications from influenza.
Influenza, which is more commonly known as the flu, is a highly infectious disease that is caused by the influenza virus. Transmission of the disease is made through both airborne and physical contact. Hand-washing, covering coughs and sneezes, and avoiding people with the flu are a few ways to combat interception of the virus.

10-Depression
Clinical depression is one of the most common mental illnesses; affecting more than 19 million Americans each year. Developing healthy habits such as not overworking, taking breaks, meditation, and exercise can help prevent depression.

As simple as it seems, a healthy diet, physical activity, and a well-balanced lifestyle can help to further prevent the onset of many diseases. Take control in 2013 and begin to live your best life now.  Go to healthusa.tsfl.com and start to help turn our health around in America.

References: AMADImag.com

Joint United Nations Program

World Cancer Report

World Health Organization (WHO)

Alzheimer’s Disease considered by some as Diabetes 3=Brain Diabetes Part2.

Part 2=More Tips for Avoiding Alzheimer’s Disease

The beauty of following a healthy diet is that it helps treat and prevent all chronic degenerative diseases, from the common ones like heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity and Alzheimer’s to the ones you have never heard of or can’t even pronounce.

The first step is to eat healthy, maintaining exercise balanced with rest and practice healthy habits in addressing Alzheimer’s disease, which is currently at epidemic proportions, with 5.4 million Americans – including one in eight people aged 65 and over – living with the disease.  By 2050, this is expected to jump to 16 million, and in the next 20 years it is projected that Alzheimer’s will affect one in four Americans. People we need to live healthier if not to help ourselves our future young ones.

In spite of how common memory loss is among Westerners, it is NOT a “normal” part of aging.  While even mild “senior moments” may be caused by the same brain lesions associated with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, these cognitive changes are by no means inevitable! People who experience very little decline in their cognitive function up until their deaths have been found (post-mortem) to be free of brain lesions, showing that it’s entirely possible to prevent the damage from occurring in the first place and one of the best ways to do this is by leading a healthy lifestyle.

  • Fructose. As mentioned, most everyone will benefit from keeping their total fructose consumed to below 25 grams per day.
  • Improve Magnesium Levels. There is some exciting preliminary research strongly suggesting a decrease in Alzheimer symptoms with increased levels of magnesium in the brain. Unfortunately most magnesium supplements do not pass the blood brain levels, but a new one, magnesium threonate, appears to and holds some promise for the future for treating this condition.
  • Optimize your vitamin D levels with safe sun exposure. Strong links between low levels of vitamin D in Alzheimer’s patients and poor outcomes on cognitive tests have been revealed. Researchers believe that optimal vitamin D levels may enhance the amount of important chemicals in your brain and protect brain cells by increasing the effectiveness of the glial cells in nursing damaged neurons back to health.

Vitamin D may also exert some of its beneficial effects on Alzheimer’s through its anti-inflammatory and immune-boosting properties. Sufficient vitamin D is imperative for proper functioning of your immune system to combat inflammation that is also associated with Alzheimer’s.

  • Vitamin B12: According to a small Finnish study recently published in the journal Neurology,people who consume foods rich in B12 may reduce their risk of Alzheimer’s in their later years. For each unit increase in the marker of vitamin B12 (holotranscobalamin) the risk of developing Alzheimer’s was reduced by 2 percent. Very high doses of B vitamins have also been found to treat Alzheimer’s disease and reduce memory loss.
  • Eat a nutritious diet, rich in folate. Vegetables, without question, are your best form of folate, and we should all eat plenty of fresh raw veggies every day.
  • High-quality animal-based omega-3 fats, such as krill oil. (I recommend avoiding most fish because, although fish is naturally high in omega-3, most fish are now severely contaminated with mercury.) High intake of the omega-3 fats EPA and DHA help by preventing cell damage caused by Alzheimer’s disease, thereby slowing down its progression, and lowering your risk of developing the disorder.
  • Avoid and remove mercury from your body. Dental amalgam fillings, which are 50% mercury by weight, are one of the major sources of heavy metal toxicity, however you should be healthy prior to having them removed.
  • Avoid aluminum, such as antiperspirants, non-stick cookware, vaccine adjuvants, etc.
  • Exercise regularly. It’s been suggested that exercise can trigger a change in the way the amyloid precursor protein is metabolized, thus, slowing down the onset and progression of Alzheimer’s. Exercise also increases levels of the protein PGC-1alpha. Research has also shown that people with Alzheimer’s have less PGC-1alpha in their brains and cells that contain more of the protein produce less of the toxic amyloid protein associated with Alzheimer’s. I would strongly recommend reviewing the Peak Fitness Technique for my specific recommendations.
  • Avoid flu vaccinations as most contain both mercury and aluminum, well-known neurotoxic and immunotoxic agents.
  • Eat plenty of blueberries. Wild blueberries, which have high anthocyanin and antioxidant content, are known to guard against Alzheimer’s and other neurological diseases.
  • Challenge your mind daily. Mental stimulation, especially learning something new, such as learning to play an instrument or a new language, is associated with a decreased risk of Alzheimer’s. Researchers suspect that mental challenge helps to build up your brain, making it less susceptible to the lesions associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
  • Avoid anticholinergic and statin drugs. Drugs that block acetylcholine, a nervous system neurotransmitter, have been shown to increase your risk of dementia. These drugs include certain nighttime pain relievers, antihistamines, sleep aids, certain antidepressants, medications to control incontinence, and certain narcotic pain relievers.

Statin drugs are particularly problematic because they suppress the synthesis of cholesterol, deplete your brain of coenzyme Q10 and neurotransmitter precursors, and prevent adequate delivery of essential fatty acids and fat-soluble antioxidants to your brain by inhibiting the production of the indispensable carrier biomolecule known as low-density lipoprotein.

The foods we eat that has calories, sugars, starches, carbohydrates and some fats are made up of sugar molecules either single or in groups (glucose and fructose for instance).  When food reaches our stomach in time digestion starts to take place where the sugar is broken down in the stomach and the intestines  into individual glucose units.  It turns out glucose is the most common and important one.  The glucose then passes into the liver where 60 to 80 % gets stored=inactive glucose that’s converted to glycogen in this organ.  The remainder of glucose not stored goes in our bloodstream=active sugar & is ready to be utilized by the body where it is needed by many organs.  It’s used as the principle source of energy (brain for energy, the muscles for both energy and some storage, liver for more glucose storage=that’s converted to glycogen, and even fat tissue using it for triglyceride production).  Glucose does get sent to other organs for more storage.  Insulin plays an important role in the glucose being distributed throughout the body.  Without insulin the glucose has nowhere to go.  When digestion occurs a process happens = Breakdown of the sugars , released into the circulatory system which gives you extra glucose, than the pancreas senses that and releases insulin, the insulin allows sugar to pass into the blood cells & to be stored somewhere or utilized by the body (without this process hyperglycemia would occur, like in a diabetic).   When the glucose in the blood reaches the liver a cell sensor picks it up and allows the glucose to go into the organ where glucose is stored as glycogen.  Insulin plays a key role in multiple parts of your metabolism.  Insulin allows protein synthesis, fat synthesis and cell growth to occur in the body.  Now understanding how the body works lets understand how this has anything to do with controlling obesity.   

When you eat a meal let’s say breakfast (fasting from the night before) your sugar level in a normal person is about 80.  After the meal in 1hr the sugar level starts peaking as soon as the pancreas senses glucose it starts releasing insulin that does its storage in the different ways previously discussed and by 2 hrs after the meal the glucose level is down again but in people eating 3 large hyperglycemic meals a day you cause these spikes in your glucose levels and are turning on insulin by the pancreas which stimulates up your FAT STORAGE system.  You need to make a change in that diet by eating 6 small low glycemic meals a day (have one meal every 2 to 3 hours).   This shuts down your fat storage.  When eating low glycemic foods like lentils they raise sugar in the body 28% (slightly) as opposed to high glycemic (sugar) foods like pizza, soda, bread, cornflakes.  Your body can handle high glycemic foods occasionally but not daily since it will allow constant high levels of glucose with the pancreas stimulated to frequently release insulin into the bloodstream and this turns on fat storage and converts all extra energy to FAT. This extra energy is because the meal was high glucose and what the body needed was used but the excess glucose from the high glycemic meals goes to FAT storage=weight.                  

 So what’s the key resolution to weight loss eat 6 low glycemic meals a day= low fat, low carbohydrates, low sugar keeping your baseline glucose and the metabolism of the body at a low sugar level and steady rate on a regular basis with still treating yourself to occasional high glycemic meals, when your body weight is therapeutic.  Follow this plan and in the first week eating like this I lost 5lbs and in the second week another 5lbs and since 1 to 2 lbs. per week .  Remember don’t start occasional high glycemic meals till you reach your ideal weight that you want to be at.  If you don’t, you put your diet back 2-3 days.   To learn more about healthy habits in your life with diet, some exercise, and how to reach your ideal weight like I am almost at come to my website.   I lost 22lbs already and I’m not obese by the body mass index.  Join me and go to healthyusa.tsfl.com.  No charge, no fee, no gimmick, no donations and no hacking.  It’s just you obtaining information about how to live your life healthier, even your family or friends (if interested) who can get involved in being healthier with you possibly spreading this great news to make a healthier USA for all age groups.  Thank you for your time and I hope I have spread some light on someone.  When I made this a routine in my life it got so EASY!  Take a peek;) at healthyusa.tsfl.com.; you may just like what you see.

 

QUOTE FOR WEDNESDAY

“The medical literature tells us that the most effective ways to reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and many more problems are through healthy diet and exercise. Our bodies have evolved to move, yet we now use the energy in oil instead of muscles to do our work.”
David Suzuki   (an environmental activist and host of the television show The Nature of Things. He has also worked as a geneticist, nature writer, and university professor.)