Encouraging Health

From www.msnbc.com’s health section:

Restless legs in the genes, not the imagination
2 studies show strange-sounding twitchy syndrome is a real condition

Scientists have linked certain genes to restless legs syndrome, suggesting the twitching condition described as “jimmy legs� in a “Seinfeld� episode is biologically based and not an imaginary disorder.

New studies published this week in two top medical journals are being called the first to identify specific genes responsible for restless legs syndrome symptoms.

Research in the New England Journal of Medicine, linked a common gene variation to nighttime leg-twitching. It involved people in Iceland and the United States.

A second study in Nature Genetics identified the same gene variation and two others in Germans and Canadians with restless legs syndrome.

“This discovery demonstrates the power of genetics not only for uncovering the biological causes of disease, but also for defining diseases such as RLS and establishing them as medical conditions,� said Dr. Kari Stefansson, in a prepared statement.

Stefansson is a prominent Icelandic scientist who co-authored the New England Journal study.

Restless legs syndrome is a neurological condition characterized by an irresistible urge to move the legs. Sufferers say it often hits at night, preventing them from sleeping.

restless legs syndrome

restless legs syndrome

From www.ArticlesTree.com:

The secret to looking young and beautiful is to have beautiful skin. We all dream of getting a miracle in a bottle and so many advertisements have led us to believe that it is possible to have zero pores, instant face lifts and more. In our pursuit of getting that miracle bottle, we are willing to pay hundreds of dollars for a tiny jar of moisteriser that is supposedly going to fix our problems forever. We have been brainwashed to think that only expensive beauty products would be able to deliver what we seek. But that is not true. A good skin care product does not need to be expensive. Here are my ten tips to have beautiful skin without spending hundreds of dollars each year.
1)Have a routine to cleanse, tone and moisterise your face twice each day, morning and night. The skin collects a lot of dirt and dust and you’ll want to avoid the pores from being clogged up with impurities. Clogged up pores lead to bigger pores, blackheads, pimples and blemishes.

2)Try to exfoliate the skin weekly to get rid of the dead cells that is causing the skin to appear dull. You won’t believe what a weekly polish will do to your skin. Use either home made exfoliators or mask.

3)Replenish the lost nutrients by applying a homemade mask on a weekly basis - preferably after a good exfoliation. Dependent on what kind of mask it is, put it on for 5 to 15 minutes. This will leave the skin soft, smooth and refreshed.

Read more cheap skincare treatment tips by clicking above.

cheap skincare treatment

cheap skincare treatment

From www.msnbc.com:

The headlines were irresistible: “Lunch Break Boob Jobs Headed to Europe.” According to some news outlets that carried the story, doctors would be using women’s own belly fat for a one-hour breast-augmentation procedure that could be available as early as next year. But if you think getting a flatter stomach and bigger cup size in the time it takes to eat a sandwich sounds too good to be true, you’re right. So let us set the record straight: there’s no such thing as the one-hour boob job—unless you count some of the architectural wonders now being sold at Victoria’s Secret.

So how did the news-that’s-not get such, um, pick up? Well, there is a globule of truth in that a small San Diego-based biotech company called Cytori Therapeutics has developed a system that uses the stem cells in fat to make fat grafts more viable. That’s important if you’re going to have surgery involving relocation of fat cells. (Left to its own devices, transplanted fat often dies or gets re-absorbed. If used to boost breasts, it can calcify in a way that can make make cancer detection more difficult.) But not only is the Cytori technique still in clinical trials, the procedure will not take place at drive-by speed.

Read more of this tantilizing article by clicking above.

breast enhancement

breast enhancement

From www.RealAge.com:

The Weak Bones Diet

What do you call a diet that asks you to cut calories but doesn’t require you to exercise? Call it weak.

That’s exactly what happens to your bones when you opt for exercise-free weight loss — they get weaker. And that means a slip or fall may be more likely to put you out of commission. Talk about lame.

Density Decline
Weight loss has long been known to make bones lighter and less dense. Makes sense, because bones get stronger when they’re routinely stressed, and with less weight to carry around, bones don’t have to work quite as hard.
Enter exercise. In a study of healthy middle-aged people, those who lost weight by exercising were fortunate to report no bone-density changes (see how it’s measured) in their hips or spine.

Strong Stuff
When you exercise, your smart body recognizes the extra strain and tries to make sure your bones are strong enough to endure it, so weight-bearing exercises are best for building bone. We’re talking about things like walking, climbing stairs, and lifting weights, as well as balancing exercises. Make sure you’re getting enough calcium and vitamin D, too. Bones need those nutrients to build new bone.

weak bones diet

weak bones diet

From www.RealAge.com

Where the Wild Cravings Are

That supersize bag of chips and gallon of caramel-swirl ice cream didn’t just jump into your grocery cart. So what happened?

There may actually be a very scientific reason why the jumbo bag of frozen Brussels sprouts didn’t leap into your cart instead, especially if you were shopping while hungry.(

Sweet and Salt Sensitive
In a study, researchers recently tested healthy men’s ability to taste salty, sweet, and bitter solutions. Turns out that when the men had skipped a meal, their taste buds were more tuned-in to sweet and salty flavors, but not so much the bitter ones — think broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and lots of other veggies.

Researchers suspect that our bodies may have been hardwired since ancient times to associate “sweet” and “salty” with “safe to eat,” so these flavors may be more likely to trigger eating, especially when the body needs energy.

Hunger-Control Central
Now that you understand the craving, maybe you’ll have more willpower the next time the candy aisle is calling. Here’s another way to control your eating habits: Eat three square meals a day, plus a snack, so you never get ravenous.

craving, sweet and salty

craving, sweet and salty

From www.WebMD.com’s Message Board:

How much greens in the diet? (by Lou091852 on Jul-06-07)

I can only speak for what I am now eating.

I have always loved fresh salad and now have them three times a day as part of breakfast, lunch and dinner. My salads are composed of approximately 1.5 lbs. of greens (usually roamine, escarole, chickory, dandelion greens, or leaf lettuce), parsley, sprouts, red pepper, cucumber, tomato, fennel, red onion, kohlrabi, and celery. The dressing is a mix of balsamic vinegar and fresh lemon juice with fresh ground pepper and dried organic dulse flakes (seaweed). I am increasingly eating only organic vegetables and tomatoes and romaine (bless them) are now available from my garden which is grown organically.

I must sound a little like a cow but I love salads all year long and particularly at this time of year. I am sure this is healthy for the vitamins and phytochemicals I get, it helps fill me (I eat it first in the meal), I am steadily losing weight (now 168), and enjoy it thoroughly. Could it get any better?

By the way, for all of you fruit lovers who are trying to cut this down but love the sweet taste, I roasted 2″ pieces of butternut squash yesterday in an aluminum foil covered baking pan with a little water at 375 degrees for 40 minutes and had wonderful treat. The squash was tasty and really sweet. Who needs deserts. No spicing was needed either.

Have a good day.
–
Lou
Reply to

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greens, healthy eating

greens, healthy eating

From www.WebMD.com:

Dark Chocolate May Help Blood Pressure
Eating 30 Calories Per Day of Dark Chocolate May Lower High Blood Pressure

The health benefits of dark chocolate may include lowering high blood pressure, German researchers report.

But overindulging in dark chocolate might blow your calorie budget, and packing on pounds could raise blood pressure. So portion control may help you have your dark chocolate and reap its health benefits, the new study suggests.

Small amounts of dark chocolate “efficiently reduced blood pressure,” report the researchers, who included Dirk Taubert, MD, PhD, of Germany’s University Hospital of Cologne.

How small is a small amount of dark chocolate? Participants in Taubert’s study were limited to 30 calories per day of dark chocolate. That’s roughly the number of calories in a Hershey’s Kiss.

Dark Chocolate Benefit?
Taubert’s study included 44 adults aged 56-73 in Duisburg, Germany.

The 24 women and 20 men had mild high blood pressure (hypertension) or borderline blood pressure that fell just short of hypertension. They were otherwise healthy and weren’t taking blood pressure drugs or nutritional supplements.

Taubert’s team split participants into two similar groups.

One group got 30-calorie daily doses of dark chocolate for 18 weeks. The researchers checked the amount of cocoa in the German chocolate bars.

For comparison, the other group got a similar daily dose of “white chocolate,” which doesn’t contain chocolate liquor or cocoa.

Both groups got the same instructions: Take your chocolate dose two hours after dinner, don’t change your normal diet and fitness habits, and keep a diet and exercise diary.

Read more by clicking above.

dark chocolate, blood pressure

dark chocolate, blood pressure

From www.RealAge.com:

Where the Wild Cravings Are

That supersize bag of chips and gallon of caramel-swirl ice cream didn’t just jump into your grocery cart. So what happened?

There may actually be a very scientific reason why the jumbo bag of frozen Brussels sprouts didn’t leap into your cart instead, especially if you were shopping while hungry.(

Sweet and Salt Sensitive
In a study, researchers recently tested healthy men’s ability to taste salty, sweet, and bitter solutions. Turns out that when the men had skipped a meal, their taste buds were more tuned-in to sweet and salty flavors, but not so much the bitter ones — think broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and lots of other veggies.

Researchers suspect that our bodies may have been hardwired since ancient times to associate “sweet” and “salty” with “safe to eat,” so these flavors may be more likely to trigger eating, especially when the body needs energy.

Hunger-Control Central
Now that you understand the craving, maybe you’ll have more willpower the next time the candy aisle is calling. Here’s another way to control your eating habits: Eat three square meals a day, plus a snack, so you never get ravenous. And RealAge Drs. Michael Roizen and Mehmet Oz recommend sticking to this online menu planner (http://www.realage.com/reg/regvar/regYOAD.aspx?mod=YOAD_MP) for your meals.

emotional eating, meal plan

emotional eating, meal plan

From www.RealAge.com:

Wrinkles and pimples? It just doesn’t seem fair.

If you’ve tried cleansers, astringents, and toners, but those stubborn red bumps are like nosy neighbors that just won’t go away, here’s something else to try: whole-grain cereal for breakfast.

Curb the Carbs
Reduced insulin sensitivity may be linked to pimple-producing hormones. That’s why eating a diet with a lower glycemic load glycemic load (we’re talking more lean meats and fish, more low-fat dairy, more whole grains, and fewer refined carbs) may help control acne — it helps improve your sensitivity to insulin.

That was the result when a group of men opted for more protein, whole grains, and fruit in a recent study. Their skin was clearer after just 12 weeks.

clear skin, insulin sensitivity, whole grains

clear skin, insulin sensitivity, whole grains

From www.RealAge.com:

Yellow stains aside, brewed coffee or tea may not be the worst thing you could swish past your pearly whites.

Other drinks tested in a recent study produced much more wear and tear on tooth enamel, especially bubbly soft drinks. But here’s the surprise: It didn’t matter if the sodas were diet or not.

Erosion Explosion
When your tooth enamel starts to erode, you’ve got major problems on your hands. And certain foods like sweets and sodas may hasten this process. All carbonated drinks in a recent study had some impact on tooth enamel (with the one possible exception being root beer — its impact on tooth enamel was slight). Citrus-flavored sodas hit teeth hardest, but colas caused problems, too. And it didn’t matter if the drinks were diet or full-sugar.

It’s the Acids
Contrary to what you might think, it’s not only the sugars in bubbly beverages that erode tooth enamel. It’s also the acids. The total acid content and acid type — look for names like phosphoric, citric, malic, and tartaric — in a beverage affect how strong the attack is on your choppers. Rinsing after sipping a soda may hasten the acids out of your mouth.

bad teeth, yellow teeth, soda, cola

bad teeth, yellow teeth, soda, cola