Even though we all do it, pooping is one topic that most people would rather NOT discuss — even with their doctor. Yet, your bowel habits — from the frequency to the shape and color of your poop — can give you invaluable clues about what’s going on inside your body. You may find it crude, embarrassing or just plain gross, but the truth is that from a health standpoint your poop is not something to be ignored.

Dr. Oz on Poop: “S Shaped” is Best

You may have seen Dr. Mehmet Oz’s appearance on the Oprah show several years back during which he talked all about poop. According to Dr. Oz, your bowel movements should be “S shaped” and hit your toilet with a “swoosh” sound. Pellet-like poop that plops into the water is a sign of constipation.

Click here to read more.

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.

Click here to read more.

Every year, 1.3 million Americans undergo LASIK surgery to correct their vision, and most have good results. In fact, only 2 percent to 3 percent of LASIK (which stands for Laser-Assisted In-Situ Keratomileusis) patients have complications, according to the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery.

But while the opportunity to see clearly without glasses or contacts is a tempting one, is it worth the potential risks that do exist? This is the question that everyone considering LASIK surgery must face.

How Does LASIK Work?

LASIK surgery permanently changes the shape of your cornea, which is the clear covering in front of your eye. The surgery works like this:

• A special knife is used to cut a flap in your cornea, which is folded back to reveal the middlesection, or stroma, of the cornea.
• Pulses from a laser are used to vaporize a portion of the stroma.
• The flap is replaced.

The idea is that once the shape of your cornea is changed, it will be able to bend, or refract, light rays to focus on your retina, rather than at a point beyond, or short of, it, helping you to see better. Generally speaking, LASIK may help someone who has nearsightedness (myopia), farsightedness (hyperopia) or astigmatism.

Click here to read more.

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.

Click here to read more.

Money is at the root of many marital arguments, even in a normal economy. But right now especially, as high unemployment rates sustain and savings accounts are dwindling, the heightened financial stress is taking an extra toll on many relationships.

In fact, according to a Harris Interactive poll, 38 percent of men and women said that money was the number-one cause of marital conflict … and that was in 2006 — before the economy really got bad. The bottom line is when finances get tight, an issue many couples are dealing with right now, it puts extra stress on your marriage. But that doesn’t mean your happiness or intimacy has to suffer. With the tips that follow you can be sure your marriage will survive these tough times, and may even come out stronger.

Click here to read more.

An All-Natural, Simple and Fast Treatment is Available! When Done by a Doctor Your Insurance Likely Covers

More than 42 percent of Americans experience dizziness or vertigo during their lifetimes. Many suffer in silence, assuming there is nothing that can be done for the disarming feeling of spinning or falling off balance.

However, in about 20-50 percent of cases dizziness is actually caused by a disorder that’s incredibly easy, and fast, to treat — once it’s diagnosed. If you currently struggle with dizziness, you owe it to yourself to explore this condition, as it’s actually one of the most common causes of vertigo there is.

Click here to read more.

While the idea of dying from a broken heart may strike some as nothing more than folklore — Shakespearian even research has proven the reality of such an occurrence.

When people encounter certain distressing situations, a flood of stress hormones are unleashed, taking a drastic toll on the heart and causing sudden life-threatening heart spasms in otherwise healthy people. Such situations may include:

• A traumatic romantic breakup
• The shock of a surprise party
• The death of a loved one
• Being in a car accident

One woman experienced sudden, intense chest pain after giving an emotional talk about her son’s battle with mental illness. After being rushed to the hospital and treated for what doctors believed was a heart attack, it was discovered the woman had instead experienced an unusual heart malfunction … otherwise referred to as broken heart syndrome.

Click here to read more.

Grapes have been a part of human civilization since ancient times. They’re mentioned in biblical stories as “the fruit of the vine,” are featured in Egyptian hieroglyphics, and were treasured for winemaking in ancient Greek and Roman civilizations.

Today, grapes are the sixth most popular fruit in the United States (after bananas, apples, watermelon, oranges and cantaloupe). Though there are thousands of different grape varieties, about 20 of them represent the majority of table grapes consumed.

Table Grapes Vs. Wine Grapes

Table grapes refer to those that are traditionally eaten as is, as a snack, in salads or entrees. Wine grapes are the varieties used to make wine, and there are also raisin grapes, which are primarily used to make the dried fruit.

Grapes are classified as either American or European, with American grapes having skins that are looser than European varieties, which are known for their tight skins.

In the United States, the most popular table grapes are the Thompson Seedless variety, which are the red or green seedless grapes that you’ve probably seen at your local supermarket.

Click here to read more.

As most of my patients know, I am very concerned about the amount of mercury in fish and its effect on human health. Mercury is now associated with many diseases including lupus and autoimmune thyroid conditions as well as IQ damage and epilepsy in children.

Exposure in the womb to mercury from the fish the mother is eating or the store in her body, has detrimental effects on the IQ of the child as multiple studies have shown. Most recently mercury exposure in children is associated with epilepsy.

In addition, flame retardants such as PBDE have been found in fish living in areas as isolated as the Arctic.

I was going to put together a list of articles and papers that document all these things. However, I recently discovered that my good friend Michael Greger M.D. put this information together with full references in 2 videos on his nutritionfacts.org website. So I want to share those videos with you here!

With regards to pregnancy, DHA, an essential fatty acid is very important for the brain development of the child in uterus. There are one or two articles which look at the relative benefit of eating fish because it contains DHA, and compares it with net loss of IQ in the child because of the mercury in the fish that the mother was eating.

For me, there is something intrinsically wrong with this logic. Vegan sources of DHA are readily available as pills. So why would a mother eat fish during her pregnancy just to give the child DHA, when she knows she’s exposing the infant mercury which is going to harm the IQ of the child? She can easily not eat fish, and take one of dozens of vegan sources of DHA that are readily available in the market.

The other issue which is not addressed in the medical literature at all yet, and which I hope will soon be addressed there is the body burden of the mother with mercury and other toxins. For women who eat fish regularly before pregnancy, the mercury accumulates in their organs and muscles. But then it comes out during pregnancy and goes into the fetus. This is another way the fetus can be exposed to mercury.

The important thing to understand is that the fetus has no blood – brain barrier, and so all the mercury in the blood, circulates through the child’s brain and nervous system during pregnancy.

Mercury can easily be cleaned out of the woman before she conceives so she does not contribute this burden to the child in the womb as well as avoiding fish during the pregnancy itself.

Imagine a mother who is cleaned out of mercury and perhaps other toxins as well, along with taking DHA during pregnancy! The benefits for the child’s IQ can be enormous! From my perspective with the way of the world today, we need a lot of very bright children to solve the problems we have.

The sad part about all this is that the obstetricians who are caring for the women during pregnancy by and large are not even aware of this issue. In fact, many of them are probably recommending fish to women during pregnancy to get the DHA.

Please share this information with your friends and relatives who are soon to get pregnant or who are pregnant now.

And read this article entitled “Salmon May Be the Greatest Source of Dietary Pollutants”, before you give your children salmon for dinner tonight!

Please watch these videos and let me know what you think.

The first video is entitled “The Problem with Organic Salmon”

The second video reviews the data of the information I mentioned above about the benefits of DHA versus the damage from the Mercury on children’s IQ.

References:

Fish consumption during child bearing age: a quantitative risk-benefit analysis on neurodevelopment

Dose-response relationship of prenatal mercury exposure and IQ

Relationship between the prenatal exposure to low-level of mercury and the size of a newborn’s cerebellum.

Evidence on the human health effects of low-level methylmercury exposure

Abnormal neuronal migration, deranged cerebral cortical organization, and diffuse white matter astrocytosis of human fetal brain: a major effect of methylmercury poisoning in utero.

Functional MRI approach to developmental methylmercury and polychlorinated biphenyl neurotoxicity.

Reducing the staggering costs of environmental disease in children, estimated at $76.6 billion in 2008.

Sensitivity of continuous performance test (CPT) at age 14 years to developmental methylmercury exposure

Remember to follow me on Twitter and Like me Facebook where you can leave me questions and comments.

Image credit: Sharon Mollerus /Flickr