In a world chocked full of chemically enhanced and processed foods, it’s getting harder and harder to tell what really is going into your body. Even some of the biggest brands out there are stretching the truth when it comes to what they do and don’t put in their “natural” foods.

This problem of food fraud is more important now than ever because more and more doctors are discovering that the food we ingest can greatly affect our health and how we feel.
Could food be the culprit behind your sickness?

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Researchers from the University of Connecticut Health Center have found a striking link between your nervous system and your immune system, revealing just how chronic stress may kill you.

The researchers found that the same part of your nervous system that is responsible for the fight-or-flight stress response (the sympathetic nervous system (SNS)) also controls regulatory T cells, which are used by your body to end an immune response once the threatening foreign invader has been destroyed.

“We show for the first time that the nervous system controls the central immune police cells, called regulatory T cells,” said Robert E. Cone, Ph.D., a senior researcher at the University of Connecticut Health Center, in ScienceDaily. “This further shows that it is imperative to concentrate on the neuro-immune interactions and to understand how these two different systems, the immune and nervous systems, interact.”

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If you’ve got a child between the ages of 13 and 19 and feel that having a two-way conversation with this teenager is often painful, and often impossible, keep reading. There are ways to break through what can seem like an insurmountable communication gap. And if you’re thinking about giving up, don’t.

“Studies resoundingly show that a lack of parental support and guidance is one of the primary causes for at-risk behavior such as drinking, smoking, taking drugs and having unprotected sex,” says Dr. Michael Anastasi, a family counselor from La Verne, Calif. “While there is certainly a balance to be struck, it’s absolutely imperative that parents go through the struggle of keeping in touch with their teens and revising their role as caregivers.”

Keep in mind that during the teen years, your child is developing his or her own sense of identity. Teens may try to distance themselves from their parents to do this, and the way you react can make all the difference in having a healthy or destructive relationship.

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Thousands of different types of bacteria exist naturally in our environment. Some are necessary and quite healthy, like probiotics that support digestive health. Others, however, like the ones you’ll read about below, can cause serious disease.

The number of bacteria that can cause illness in humans is only a small fraction of those that exist. So while it’s not necessary, or even possible, to avoid all bacteria, you should be aware of these toxic varieties, and how to keep yourself and your family safe.

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Up to 60 percent of women will experience a urinary tract infection (UTI) at some point in their lives. UTIs are one of the most common reasons why women visit their healthcare professionals and women are 10 times more likely to get a UTI than men. With an estimated 150 million cases in the world each year, the resulting healthcare cost is around $6 billion, not to mention the lost time from work and other normal activities.

UTIs can result in a range of symptoms from mild pain and discomfort to more serious cases that involve your kidneys and renal system and require hospitalization.

Sexual activity is one of the most common risk factors in acquiring a UTI and is part of the reason why so many women will experience a recurrence of the infection — 30-40 percent of women will get another UTI within six months of the first infection. Over time, the conventional treatment, which is almost always antibiotics, stops working as well, requiring stronger or new antibiotics that can cause potentially harmful side effects and make your body more resistant to antibiotics when you really need them.

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When dealing with loss, grieving is a natural, necessary emotional process that human beings go through. Though everyone has a different way of dealing with grief, there are some steps that anyone grieving can take to help remain emotionally and physically well.

What is Grief?

Grief is the natural human response to loss. It is a process of feeling the emotional pain associated with a loss and learning to live a normal life beyond the event that triggered the grief. While many people think of the death of a loved one when they think about grief, it can actually be caused by any number of other types of loss as well, such as:

• Divorce or the break-up of a relationship
• Loss of a job
• Death of a pet
• Miscarriage
• Loss of financial security
• Failure to achieve a cherished dream or goal
• Loss of the feeling of safety after trauma, crime, or injury
• Loss of health of yourself or a loved one

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What happens when you don’t feel well… Nasal Congestion; Sinus Headaches; Sinus-drip… When you begin to feel sick… what do you do and what can you do… without taking drugs… what natural remedy historically has been used by as many as a billion people every day?

Simple Inexpensive Painless Nasal Cleansing (without toxic Drugs), known as “Neti”, has been a common easy to use wellness practice for many centuries.

This is an ancient healing system from India, done effectively by billions of people for thousands of years.  This simple, easy and soothing technique is actually one of the six purification techniques done by many prior to doing yoga and many do daily religiously.

This ancient treatment can reduce the exchange of sinus fluids and viruses in addition to personal benefits of sinus congestion relief.

Nasal cleansing, also known as nasal irrigation, involves using a neti pot to pour a lukewarm saline solution (pure water mixed with natural salt) inside one side of your nostril while tilting your head sideways so the water runs out of your other nostril.

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Over 30 percent of teenagers, and 34 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds, consume energy drinks on a regular basis, according to a report by the Marin Institute. These drinks are heavily marketed to teens as a harmless way to boost energy, but in reality they’ve been linked to serious health effects.

Still, in just one year alone, energy drinks brought in more than $3.2 billion in sales, and up to 500 new energy drink products were introduced worldwide. And sales continue to grow, despite the largely unpublicized risks.

The obvious danger stems from the high levels of caffeine (some energy drinks contain up to 300 mg of caffeine, compared with 80 mg for a typical cup of coffee), which can lead to:

• Increased anxiety and panic attacks
• Increased blood pressure
• Bowel irritability
• Insomnia
• Increased gastric acid

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Building a new home certainly has its up-sides: no avocado green appliances, paisley wallpaper or, worse, hidden mold growing in the basement. But new homes are not without fault. Home-building materials are often toxic and getting them brand-new makes no difference.

Although you may not smell, see or taste it, construction materials emit various gasses and other compounds into your home, many of which are highly toxic. This is part of the reason why the Environmental Protection Agency says that indoor air can be two to five times (and even up to 100 times) more polluted than outdoor air.

This doesn’t mean you should never consider building a new home. While homes that have been lived in a few years may actually be a little healthier since the materials have had a chance to do some of their initial out-gassing, very old homes can bring up a whole new set of problems (lead paint, asbestos, mold, etc.).

Upon building a home (and making the seemingly endless decisions that go along with it), put some consideration into the actual materials that will be used. Often, safer, healthier and more environmentally friendly options exist, and not necessarily for a greater price. Following are some of the especially toxic building materials to watch out for, along with some alternatives to build a greener, healthier home.

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We’re all given a finite amount of time in a day, and it’s up to each of us to determine how to spend it. In relationships (with kids, with a spouse, and so on), we’re faced with many conflicts every day, and you may be tempted to fight through each of these conflicts, to ensure you get your way, to prove that you’re “right,” or maybe just because you feel challenged. But most experts agree: choosing your battles wisely is a much better way of life than battling out every disagreement.

According to the late Dr. Richard Carlson, author of Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff … and It’s All Small Stuff, “Often we allow ourselves to get all worked up about things that, upon closer examination, aren’t really that big a deal. We focus on little problems and concerns and blow them way out of proportion.”

It’s up to us to choose to either make a big deal or simply let it go, and, according to Dr. Carlson, if you learn to choose your battles wisely, you’ll be far more effective in winning those battles that truly are important to you.

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