Healthy Moola

Since I am fascinated with genetic disorders, I came across this one while reading AOL news. It is called hyperekplexia and it is a genetic disorder that when the person is startled the person freezes much like the expression scared stiff. This disorder is when someone has a delayed reaction to something suprising such as fireworks.

This is very interesting. If you want to read about a person who suffers from this illness and what he does to cope with you can check out the article from the London Telegraph here. By the way the man in the article is also a male stripper and dances with a group called the Crippledales.

Some people have tap water that is recycled, meaning the sewage water is cleaned and treated and safe for drinking. It is universal knowledge that pollutants can enter water and either make the water unsafe to drink or the drinker become sick or even get cancer (for instance in the movie Erin Brokovitch). The latest in recycled water and pollutants,  are medicines flushed down the toilet can or might be in your water that you drink. The people who flush down the medicines are folks in the healthcare industry and consumers of medicines.

Some of the medicines, even extremely diluted can cause problems. The most common traces are mood stabilizers, anti-convulsants, and antibiotics. A scary thing, water is supposed to be safe. Every person who talks about good living say drink lots and lots of water. Who knows what the scope of the damage is, it could be years before anyone knows how much damage has been done. Don’t think for one minute bottled water is safer, perhaps some water is safe and others get their water from the tap and bottle it.

I don’t know why people would flush them away anyway. I toss mine in the trash. This is what the government urges people to do throw in the trash or drop off at a special collection site. All health care facilities should use special trashcans like they do for blood and human fluids and needles and drop off at a collection site.

Since drinking water is precious, recycling it from sewage water is way to preserve fresh water but remember anything you flush in your toilet might wind up in your glass.

Have a nice day.

I had this friend who’s dad was Mexican. He grew jalapenos and chilis in the garden. I love hot peppers. He told me that eating spicy foods help you lose weight. Sure I don’t believe that.  Later on I did read in some magazine that eating spciy food can help you lose weight. The reason is this, the spicier the food the more you are going to drink water and the more water drink the less food you eat. Why not try some Mexican recipes today especially the spicy ones.

Senility and Alzeihmer’s do happen with old age for some people. There may not be a preventive technique so you will never get these disorders but you can try everything you can to boost your memory. What would it hurt as these memory boosters are simple and good for you as well.

~Stock up on blueberries. I don’t care for these raw but I love them in muffins. I don’t think cooking them will take away their helpful properties, it gives you another reason to eat that blueberry muffin!

~Strawberries. Yummy! Especially this time of year when the local farmers are picking the summer’s best. I like the ones the are so ripe they will probably spoil in the next day.

~Spinach. OKay most people don’t like spinach. Raw spinach has a flavor similar to romain lettuce. For cooked spinach try  a dish like quiche you can barely taste the spinach.

~Turmeric. This is a spice and it is a staple in Indian coking not only does it help your brain but there seems to be anti cancer and anti inflammatory properties.

~Fish and fish oil. I guess we already knew fish was good for us. Personally, I love salmon.

~Eggs. Mix this with the spinach and you are halfway to a delicious quiche

~Acetyl-L-carnitine this is a supplement that taken in regular doses (500 mg-1000mg) can help with cognitive function. I am not a big supplement person but if you can’t enough supplements, you can add this to your collection

~Phosphatidyl Serine- another suplement you are supposed to take  with salmon or sardines. If I can’t pronounce it I don’t want to take it.

~Ginkgo Biloba-  you can find this in a lot of green teas

~Exercise- another reason to exercise.

Have a memorable day!

Earlier tonight I watched Nature  on PBS and they were talking about humans and the animal kingdom. One segment was very interesting and it was about dolphins mixed with thearpy to help children with special needs. One boy who came from England comes to Florida every year for two weeks to recieve dolphin therapy with a speech therapist and now the boy can communicate some when before he couldn’t.

Animals have always been proven to be useful in making someone feel better but can dolphins do much more than bring happiness to someone? For parents who fork out the dough say it is true. Scientists are now trying to prove with hard evidence that DAT (dolphin assisted therapy) really works or are there other factors for children learning to commnicate or have functionality with someone else. A 40 minute session of DAT is thousands of dollars plus travel and expenses if the person doesn’t live close to one of these marine parks.

What do you think about Dolphin Therapy? Does it work? Or does swimming with dolphins make the patient relax and able to focus more on learning a new task?

I used to get migraines a lot but now I don’t have so many of them. The actual cause of migraines are still unknown but there are factors such as gender and strees levels that can cause a migraine.  What they do know for sure can cause a migraine is stress triggers it, serotin is released, blood vessles constrict, chemicals releases irritate the nerves. A Migraine is a painful, pulsating headache and could be accompanied by nausea and sensitivity to light. Many more women have migraines then men, pregnant women rarely get migraines and children entering puberty are prone to migraines. Most of the time rest and OTC medicine can help with the symptoms. If you have constant migraines you might want to talk to your doctor about preventive treatment.

Since I didn’t know too much other than they are painful as hell, I looked them on Wiki and I found some interesting tid bits about migraines. Did you know some people can feel euphoric after an episode or they can feel washed out and drained. I wish I could feel euphoric after a migraine I fall into I want to nap all day like I was the other day. Here are some common triggers for migraines: allergic reactions, bright lights, loud noises, perfume, emotional/physical stress, change in sleep patterns, smoking, skipping meals, alcohol, menstruation, Tyramine (found in red wine, aged cheese), MSG or Nitrates (found in hot dogs and bacon).

Have a nice day!

How do you feel about medicine tailored to your genetic profile? I was watching Charlie Rose the other night on PBS and he had on 2 men who created different companies where you give them your DNA and they an approximate probability of what diseases you might have.

The Human genome project is one of the greatest discoveries into why we are  and why certain people get certain dieases. This is exciting becaue the possiblities of finding cures for diseases that genetically inherit or even the best of all, prevention of diseases you might have a higher risk of developing. I can’t even believe that we are on the forefront of something major to happen to humankind.

This is a good idea. No it is not available for people who can’t afford the profiling done but soon,  more and more people will be able to have genetic profiling done. Think of all the lives that will be lengthed just by prevention.  Someone can do all the right things and wind up with cancer, who knows in the future they maybe able to manipulate the gene code and rid the person of cancer for good.

I can not think of anything bad about this but if you can I would love to hear it.

Have a wonderful day!

When Sunshine was a baby, her doctor told us that he would prefer us not to give her infant cold medicine.  Yes, she did get a couple of colds and she was restless and cried and snotted all over the place but we didn’t give her any medicine. With in a couple of days she was back to normal. Plus it didn’t help that I held while she slept when she was sick. I know what cold medicines do to me and I am an adult. I can’t imagine giving even a infant made medicine to my child.

Apparently 10 out of 21 Arizona infant deaths in 2006 were linked to over the counter cold medicine. Sure it supposed to be safe but I wonder is it really? I really think the best medicine for colds will always be chicken noodle soup and orange juice. All cold medicines do is alleviate symptoms of the cold. I think they are a waste of money and can be dangerous.

If you have children, have you given them over the counter cold medicine.

According to Reuters, if the trend continues all American adults will be overweight or obese by the year 2048, forty years away. In forty years I will be 68, that seems like a long time to me. This also includes the folks that are younger than me as well. A person who is 8 now is predicted to be overweight.

I don’t know about you but I do think this is dire news. There is a lot of reasons why people gaining more and more weight such as too much television, not enough exercise, accessibility of fatty foods, making bad choices and they are valid reasons. The question becomes how do we as a nation become healthy? How did the bad habits become instilled in our brains and how can we change that? I think more unusual marketing needs to be done to change the thinking.

While perusing AOL for the latest news, I came across an interesting news article about people who keep a sterile home, their children may be more likely to develop IBS (irratable bowel syndrome). I would have to agree with this in a way.

I see all the commercials all the time for hand santizers, and bleach products for your toys and sorts of other things to keep the germs away.  In my opinion, it seems like cleaniless is taking force. I am suggesting eating from a plate with raw chicken juices or playing with animal waste and eating but cleaning your hands because you touch a door knob or scrubbing the toilet after every use or grabbing little Timmy’s toy that he slobbered all over all clean it, I think is excessive and may cause problems with the immune system.

How the immune system works is a pathogen (a virus or bacteria) is introdcued into the body. White blood cells come and attack it.  When the same exact pathogen enters the body, the immune system knows how to kill it ( we are assuming we are talking about regular pathogens like cold and flu).  This is the same thought bechind vaccines, they inject dead or live viruses into your body, just enough to teach the immune system. Now let’s assume you keep yourself and your home and eveything around free of bacteria you are not introducing any pathogens into the body and thus the white blood cells don’t know how to react.

Over time if a person who lived as germ free as possible might have slow working immune system or they could wind up in the hospital because the pathogen is more severe  than it should be.

A clean house, clean dishes, clean clothes and clean bodies should keep you hygenic and fairly healthy. Colds and germs are apart of life and unless you live in a bubble you need them to make an awesome immune system.