It is not the fat in the foods we eat but, far more, the excess carbohydrates from our starch- and sugar-loaded diet that is making people fat and unhealthy. If you or people in the family or friend circle are experiencing any of the below mentioned symptoms, the possibility is that may be the excess carbohydrates in your body is responsible for symptoms like gaining weight, fatigue and feeling sleepy all the time, depression, fog like feeling in the brain, low blood sugar, and high blood pressure etc.

It’s a fact that we all need a certain amount of carbohydrates. The carbohydrates that we get through grains, potatoes, sweets and other starchy and sugary foods, is far too much than our we need and body’s capacity to store it. This excess carbohydrate simply gets converted, via insulin, into fat and gets stored in the adipose or fatty tissue. Read the rest of this entry »

The female menopause gets a lot of press and attention and generates discussion but male menopause is also garnering its fair share of interest nowadays. When the levels of the male hormone, testosterone, decrease because of conditions such as high blood pressure or obesity or diabetes, male menopause results. Normally as men age the testosterone levels reduce and since these diseases are common in men over the age of 40 male menopause can be said to begin then.

The testes produce testosterone and the production is directed by the pituitary gland and the hypothalamus. So if any damage occurs to these parts of the brain or to the testes the production of testosterone is directly affected and levels decrease. Damage can occur because of surgery, injury, radiation or infection. Men can feel the effects when the levels of the male hormone decrease just as women do. Depression, fatigue, erectile dysfunction, muscular weakness, osteoporosis, increased irritability, insomnia, and loss of libido are some of the symptoms. They can be caused by obesity, smoking, increased alcohol consumption, medications, lack of exercise, and psychological problems. Read the rest of this entry »

Exchanging convenience for your health is a bad bargain, no matter how you look at it. People are settling for all kinds of conveniences because of their lifestyles which is increasingly becoming career centric. There are other reasons too which are responsible for it but the big daddy of all is having to go out to work.

In majority of cases these days both parents are working full time. And if they have children who need looking after the best option for them is crèche. The crèche do their jobs. And treating raising children as a job hardly sounds like good attitude.

I am not against working at all. I understand the value of economic independence and extra income very well. But I still strongly feel you need to be more sensible to organize and balance life in such a manner that life doesn’t suffer. Read the rest of this entry »

Some good news for pain sufferers is that many options exist to get relief from pains and aches, which is not about swallowing pills. There are many ways other than taking pills to get relief from pains. Through this article I will discuss some of them in short. Before settling for any pain relief therapies, it is very important that the patient talks to her/his doctor. The doctor considers various factors which need to be considered before opting for any treatment, which includes one’s medical condition & history.

Some of the options I am going to discuss are, Pain Relief with Acupuncture, Pain Relief With Stress Management, Pain Relief with Exercise, Pain Relief with Diet and Supplements, Bioelectric Therapy, and Pain Relief with Physical Therapy. Read the rest of this entry »

For women to stay healthy at any age is all about leading a disciplined life. It’s not so simple but not too difficult either. I mean one good thing leads to the other. Even if your lifestyle is too messed up and everything is haywire so to say, you can still bring it back to normal by addressing one irregularity at a time.

Women don’t need to lose heart if they are forty plus and feeling unfit. It’s less to do with age and more with the lifestyle. It is possible for them to stay healthy at any age provided they incorporate and stick to a routine. Like they can start by modifying the diet. A diet that is low on fat, high on fiber, and which contains little or no red meat. Read the rest of this entry »

We hear the term antioxidants bandied about quite freely and they are often included in the list of ingredients in a lot of foods. The theory is that they help prevent cancer but how exactly do they do this and what are they? Antioxidants are substances that prevent the body’s cells from being damaged by free radicals.

These free radicals have the potential to cause cancer. How it works is that free radicals are unstable cells because they have lost one electron. Then, in an attempt to become whole, they take electrons from other healthy cells but in the process they create more free radicals. DNA can be damaged when electrons are taken from cells, which leads to the possibility of cancer developing. Read the rest of this entry »

The food habits of people have changed over generations and, nowadays, intolerances to different kinds of food are more common. It can be caused by unhealthy dietary habits, stress, an immune function that is supersensitive, and weak digestion. A food intolerance is different from an allergy in that it won’t be dangerous to life and the immune system is also not involved. But with a food intolerance people can feel ill and their health will be affected over the long term if it is not diagnosed soon.

A person can develop intolerance for any kind of food as the body does not produce a sufficient quantity of the necessary chemical or enzyme that is needed to digest that particular food—lactose intolerance, for example, or alcohol, or food additives such as caffeine and monosodium glutamate. Read the rest of this entry »

A fact about sleep first – Quality of sleep is that amount of sleep which allows us to operate at optimum levels of energy through the waking hours. Sleeping pills do not help us get quality sleep. So feeling energized and fresh after waking up from the sleeping pill slumber is certainly not the answer.

Frequent use of sleeping pills or a habit of taking sleeping pills affects as badly or may be in a worse manner than smoking may. People get addicted to them and it becomes very difficult to quit the use of sleeping pills. People start with dosing during the night but slowly start taking in the daytime also because of the feel good effect it has. Taking sleeping pills deteriorates their daytime functioning. Read the rest of this entry »

Many people are unaware of how lockjaw occurs and how it can be treated. It is a potentially lethal disease of the nervous system. Also known as tetanus it is caused by bacteria called Clostridium tetani. This bacteria’s spores live in the soil and can be dangerous and infectious for up to 40 years. Worldwide, it causes up to one million deaths including those of newborns.

C.tetani enters the body through a puncture wound, perhaps one caused by a nail and through contact with soil. Once in the body, the bacteria produces a toxin that attacks the nerves that control the muscles, and causes severe spasming.

Lockjaw causes extreme stiffness and spasms of the muscles. It can be easily prevented with the tetanus vaccine with booster shots following. Read the rest of this entry »

Most of us have faced situations where our palms and armpits have become damp with sweat due to nervousness or worry. Imagine, however, if this were a chronic condition and you sweated excessively in some particular parts of your body—beyond what is normal for the human body.

Normally, people sweat to keep the temperature of the body steady at a normal level during exercise or when they have fever or in hot weather. People suffering from hyperhidrosis, however, sweat more than normal even when they are not exercising or are healthy or the weather is not hot. This kind of excessive sweating can be either focal or generalized sweating. Read the rest of this entry »