Dr. Soram's Integrative Medicine
Practical Complementary and Alternative Medicine
After celebrating on New Year’s Eve and using it as the last hurrah to overindulge, most people set out on a stringent quest of resolutions beginning the very next day. Then around the end of January, many fail to live up to their stated resolutions, give up and go back to their former lifestyle.
Not only does stress and anxiety interfere with your immune system, making you vulnerable to illnesses like the flu, it impairs your body’s ability to respond to its anti-inflammatory signals, putting you at an increased risk of allergies, autoimmune diseases and heart disease.
In other words, chronic stress is known to actually intensify inflammation, according to the APA, which makes you more vulnerable to inflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases like multiple sclerosis.
Stress can also trigger or worsen diabetes, if you already have it. When your body is stressed it releases stress hormones that automatically secrete extra sugar into your bloodstream (which is, of course, not a good thing for someone who is already struggling with diabetes).
Howie Mandel does it. President Obama has done it. And so have countless athletes and celebrities: The closed-fist greeting!
It’s a trend for some, but Howie Mandel does it for a different reason … to avoid germs! Might his OCD closed-fist greeting be a gift in disguise for us all?
And might his approach be suddenly changing from being seen as bit weird to being the mainstream preferred greeting?
Actually, it could be a way to HELP PREVENT the Flu!
.aspx?width=220&height=147)
How did the researchers come to this realization? By watching birds.
Researchers from the University of Freiburg and the Max Plank Institute for Ornithology in Germany offered blackcaps a choice of two foods; they were identical except one contained more flavonoids. Sure enough, the birds chose to eat the foods that contained the extra antioxidants.
Next, they looked into what impact the flavonoids had on the birds’ health. Compared with birds not fed flavonoids, those that ate modest amounts of the healthy antioxidants for four weeks had stronger immune systems.
In fact, candy and food spending is expected to increase along with overall holiday-related shopping. Shoppers are anticpated to spend an average of 10% more on food related gifts over last year.
A food item can indeed make a very thoughtful, not to mention delicious, gift. But before you start pre-heating the oven or heading over to your local gourmet shop with ready-to-be-filled gift baskets in hand, make sure you are not making any of these food-related gift-giving blunders.
.aspx?width=166&height=250)
What Are Cavities?
Cavities, called dental caries by dental health professionals, are areas on the tooth where the enamel has been eaten away by acid. Cavities can occur anywhere on the surface of a tooth, but can continue to deepen beyond the surface and eat into the entire tooth structure. When they are small or surface cavities, treatment is managed with fillings. If cavities reach the root structure of the tooth, a root canal and crown will typically be required. Therefore, cavities are not just bad for your teeth; they can be expensive and cause multiple, inconvenient trips to the dentist to treat them. Further, the bacteria from your mouth can travel into your bloodstream and impact other areas of your body, an occurrence that is linked to heart disease, diabetes and more.
Hundreds of household food items such as commercially prepared baked goods and margarine, and commercially prepared fried foods like onion rings, contain significant amounts of trans fatty acids. Astoundingly, typical French fries contain about 40% trans fatty acids, many popular cookies and crackers have from 30 to 50%, and doughnuts include some 35 to 40% trans fat.
Nearly 8 percent of the U.S. population has diabetes, a condition that causes high blood sugar levels and a host of related health problems. The majority of people suffer from type 2 diabetes, a form that can develop at any age and, according to the Mayo Clinic, is often preventable.
As it stands, diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States, and while nearly 18 million people have already been diagnosed, another 5.7 have not. Another 57 million suffer from pre-diabetes, a condition that puts them at risk of developing diabetes, and its related complications.
Your circadian rhythm, or your body’s internal clock, regulates numerous biological processes that take place in your body throughout the day and night.
Your biological clock regulates what time you go to sleep and wake up, and it also has profound impacts on other areas of your physical and mental health, such as your metabolism, sleep, weight, and risk of diseases and mood disorders.
Accidents are the leading cause of death among toddlers, so keeping your home baby-proof is an essential part of being a parent, grandparent or anyone who has babies and toddlers who visit their home.
While most people are aware of the major risks, such as keeping toxic chemicals and medicines out of the reach of children, there are many other, less known ways that children can get hurt.
If children are ever in your home, here are the top things you can do to make sure that they stay out of harm’s way.
