Although illness and diseases are the main topics I like to diversify to other subjects, today it is petty irritations, or not so petty irritations.
I am talking about things that come up in your life and cause pain or irritation for a short time.
Nothing serious of course but at the time they can cause you pain or discomfort and even make your life a misery for a while.
Itchy skin is one; it can drive you mad if you can’t get to scratch it. This can be caused by your skin being dry or insect bites. My remedy for that including the insect bites is Vaseline. It may seem slightly old fashioned with all the new and modern treatments and creams on the market today, but it works a treat and cost a fraction of those creams and tubes you buy.
Vaseline soothes the skin and it is great for dry lips as well, it is even mild enough for baby so put a jar in your medicine cupboard and forget those expensive creams and salves. Read the rest of this entry »
As most people know being overweight can cause many problems in your life. The main one is heart problems but it can also cause a good many side effects such as back problems, digestive problems and stress etc.Of course we all know that being overweight is caused by over eating, lack of exercise or eating the wrong types of food.
Food is the biggest problem, of course we all have to eat to live, but the problem is not how much we eat, but what we eat.
These days, healthy eating is pushed to the forefront of our minds by all the posters and television programs demanding we eat more fruit and vegetables which is what we should be eating, but too many people in this day and age live on fast food and easy to prepare menu’s that usually contain too much fat and salt.
Like many other things food can become an addiction or an obsession, especially if you feel depressed, lonely or just plain bored. Read the rest of this entry »
Coughs, Colds, Flu and the Norovirus which are sweeping the country at the moment, are all common complaints of what we could call winter blues.Every year at around Christmas and the start of the cold weather, most people come down with one or other of these ailments.
Although they are not usually life threatening they still make you feel ill and listless and also thoroughly miserable.
Norovirus which has been sweeping the country is a stomach bug that causes sudden vomiting and diarrhoea, most people recover from this within one or two days, however, the very old and very young risk becoming dehydrated and may require hospital treatment.
There is no known treatment for this illness except to let it run its course.
The way to try and combat these illnesses and many others is to try and keep our immune system as healthy as possible. Read the rest of this entry »
I may be straying off actual illnesses at the moment but I think what we eat is equally important to keep us healthy and keep the illnesses at bay.
Today I am going to talk about fats and oils which all of us use almost daily.
We know that high cholesterol is bad for the heart, and some fats and oils can clog the arteries these are saturated fats. diets high in saturated fat increase the risk of heart disease and stroke.
Some foods that are these categories are butter, ghee, suet, lard, coconut oil, cottonseed oil and palm kernel oil.
Dairy products are also included in this section, cream, cheese, meat, chocolate and various prepared ready meals.
Vegetable oil has long been promoted as being heart healthy, but don’t be misled into believing that you can use it liberally. Oil is still oil and it still contains fat and calories. Read the rest of this entry »
There are not too many people about now that remembers the years 1940 to 1945. These of course were the years of the last war.I was seven years old in 1945, the last year of the war, and as I lived in a small seaside town I experienced none of the horrors of those war torn years.
What I can remember is that many people who had the room in their gardens kept hens, mainly for the eggs which were scarce in those days.
The other was that almost every garden had a vegetable plot which provided much needed vegetables during that time.
These vegetables were organic as in those times people could not afford to spend out on pest controllers so the food they ate was healthy home grown. Read the rest of this entry »
Garlic may not be to every ones taste because of its pungent taste and smell, but it is worth experimenting with this herb if you have never tried it.
Garlic is an excellent health giving food, the properties it contains help to fight, and prevent many health concerns and diseases.
Garlic has a variety of powerful compounds containing sulphur, these compounds are responsible for garlic’s pungent odour, but they are also responsible for the large amount of health properties they contain.
In addition to the compounds garlic is an excellent source of manganese, vitamin B6 and Vitamin C and a good source of selenium.
The numerous studies on the regular consumption of garlic have shown the potential benefits on blood pressure, platelet aggregation, and cholesterol levels.
Regular garlic intake may also help to stimulate the production of nitric oxide in the lining of the blood vessel wall so helping to relax them. Due to this, garlic may help to prevent atherosclerosis and diabetic heart disease, as well as reducing the risk of heart attack or stroke. Garlic’s benefits can definitely be considered a potential ally in heart health. Read the rest of this entry »
20 years back who knew most of us would be addicted to meals comprising hamburger, French fries and a coke. It is much beyond the fat in the foods we eat. It is actually the excess carbohydrates in the diet that is already full of starch- and sugar and this is what is making people fat and unfit, and are becoming for diseases such as diabetes.You will find some symptoms listed down. If you are experiencing some of them, there are good chances that the excess carbohydrates in your body are partially or wholly to be blamed for it. Symptoms such as excess weight, fatigue and feeling sleepy all the time, feeling depressed, fogginess in the brain, low and high BP etc. Read the rest of this entry »
Cholesterol may be a common household word, but people don’t really know much about it. Cholesterol is actually a fat-like substance found in animal cells- including human cells. Cholesterol is a must for life. Humans can live without eating anything that will raise their cholesterol level because our bodies are designed to produce all the cholesterol it requires for health and survival. At the same time high blood cholesterol is a risk factor for heart attack.Cholesterol is attached to lipoproteins. These get collected in the liver and then circulate through our bloodstream. Two known lipoproteins types are, HDL, i.e. high-density lipoprotein and LDL - low-density lipoprotein. They are “good” type that carries cholesterol out of the system; and the “bad” type, which does just the opposite respectively. Low-Density Lipoprotein deposits cholesterol in artery walls, which as it builds, narrows the arteries. Read the rest of this entry »
Honey is full of beneficial properties. In spite of so much being written on about honey there seems to exist a lot of confusion when it comes to this natural sweetener. Lets get a few facts in order first. That honey provides natural support for a range of body structures and functions. One thing is absolutely certain, that honey contains a number of good health-promoting antioxidants.
Vitamins, which are found in honey, include thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B-12, and biotin. Honey also contains minerals and amino acids, plus a number of live enzymes that help promote good health. Honey also helps when someone is suffering with insomnia and also with occasional. Read the rest of this entry »
Until a few years ago we were all prescribed the same protein, low fat, high carbohydrate diet and it was considered as the perfect diet for all of us. This diet will do the same for all of us. That we’d lose weight, lower our cholesterol and improve our health and fitness. But as time passed and more research went into it, it was found that this type of one for all diet resulted in rise in obesity along with side effect of ever-growing cases in diabetes. Do you know eating a low-fat diet can actually raise cholesterol? Read the rest of this entry »
