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Dirty Details of Germs Hiding at Our Grocery Stores

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If someone were to ask you which is cleaner or has the fewest germs, the grocery store you like to frequent or your toilet at home that you frequently visit, how would you answer?

Many people find it gross or unclean to have one’s dog lick them in the face, but they have no qualm kissing someone else, but they are shocked when they learn that dog’s mouth is cleaner than most people’s mouths. Years ago, I worked as a manager at a large retail store. Our security guard was bitten in the shoulder by a female shoplifter he was trying to stop. The bite infected and left his arm around 75% useless. His doctor told him that humans have far more germs and dangers lurking in their mouths than our dogs do, and that’s taking into account the fact that dogs always lick their privates.

Well, a recent study says that many of our grocery stores contain more germs and bacteria than found on our toilets at home.

Many grocery stores have sanitizing wipes for hands near where they keep their shopping carts, but the carts are not the source of the germs found in our grocery stores. Dr. Charles Gerbia, also known as Dr. Germ, is a professor of microbiology and environmental sciences at the University of Arizona, located in Tucson. He was asked to list the top ten ‘germiest’ items or places in our grocery stores. You may not be shocked by #1 on the list, but you will probably be shocked and perhaps horrified to learn the other top 9.

  1. Shopping carts – “Since 80 percent of germs are transmitted with our hands, it makes sense that shopping cart handles are covered in bacteria. ‘The first thing I do is wipe the handle,’ says Gerba. Take advantage of the sanitizing wipes at the entrance to the store and do the same, or carry your own wipes.”
  2. Shopping cart child’s seat – Just think about the dirty and leaky diapers along with drooling toddlers and more. Many ladies set their purses on the child seat without realizing where else or what else the purse has sat on. One may want to wipe off child’s seats before placing their produce on the seats.
  3. Produce aisle – “‘I don’t know anyone who buys produce without squeezing or touching it,’ says Gerba. Cuts or tears in produce provide an open door for germs to enter, so Gerba recommends choosing produce that is not cracked, split or opened in some way. While you’re in the produce aisle, pick up some extra plastic baggies.”
  4. Meat & seafood counters – Gerba recommends to never buy a package of meat or seafood that isn’t cold or has been torn or poked open. He also recommends double bagging meat and seafood and to make sure it’s kept separate from produce.
  5. Canned & boxed goods – “NSF International, a public health and safety organization, advises shoppers to check all canned and boxed goods for damage. Never buy swollen, leaking or damp cans — that can be a sign that the product is contaminated with bacteria, including the Clostridium botulinum that causes botulism. Also, avoid products with rips or punctures in packaging. These are gateways for germs. According to Gerba, as long as the packages aren’t damaged, most canned and boxed goods should be safe, though he does recommend wiping the tops of canned goods before opening them.”
  6. Self-checkout touch scanners – Most of us have used them. We’ve entered produce codes or number of something, as well as method of payment. Now for the shocker – “A disturbing 50 percent of self–checkout touch–screens had fecal bacteria and some had MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a staph bacteria that is resistant to many types of antibiotics normally used to treat staph infections) too, according to Gerba. ‘There are actually more antibiotic–resistant bacteria on these screens than in a hospital,’ he says. If you like to DIY, make sure to use hand sanitizer after you finish checking out.”
  7. Credit card screens – Realize that the same dirty fingers touching the self-check scanners are also touching the credit card screens. Enough said?
  8. Restroom faucet handle – Most of us wash our hands after we go to the bathroom, but realize that the dirty hands generally turn on the faucets before you wash them. After you wash them, you touch the same faucet handles that were just contaminated before washing.
  9. Re-usable bags – Do you take re-usable bags from home to put your groceries in? If you don’t wash them between rips to the store, think about all the contamination you’ve just read about, being placed in those bags each time you use them.
  10. Improper handling of food – “Sometimes shoppers inadvertently turn perfectly good food into a germ-fest by not handling it properly, says Gerba. Keep cold food cool and hot food warm by picking up refrigerated, frozen and hot deli items right before checking out. If it’s going to take more than an hour to get home, NSF International advises consumers to pack raw meat in a cooler — and keep the cooler in the passenger area of the car during warm weather.”

This wasn’t intended to make anyone paranoid, but it is a way that we can reduce our exposure to some of the germs that can make us ill. If you have a suppressed immune system like I do, that’s very important.

In closing this gruesome tour of your favorite grocery store, I can’t help but wonder if it wouldn’t be wise to wear disposable gloves like many in the medical profession wear. They may look strange and get strange looks from others, but your body may thank you.

Solar Powered Synthetic Skin for Prosthetics

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One of the tragic signs of today’s decadent and perverse world is an increase in the number of people who have lost a hand, arm, foot or leg. They lose them in various industrial accidents, auto accidents, diseases, during warfare and as a result of terrorism. Roadside bombs blow off legs and arms. Terrorist bombs often accomplish the same thing. A growing number of terrorists are now using vehicles as their weapons of choice, running into crowds of people and blowing up outside crowded buildings.

Many years ago, only a fraction of these amputees would survive and those that did, went through life with their missing limb or limbs. One of my dad’s uncles was born and raised on a farm in central Illinois in the early 1900’s. In his teen years, his left arm became entangled in a piece of farm equipment, severing it just above his elbow. In those days, there really wasn’t any prosthetic arms and Uncle Rollie had to learn how to work and run a farm with only one hand and arm. It was hard but he had no choice. He even learned to hunt using only one arm to fire his shotgun. I went hunting with him several times when I was a kid and I never saw him miss a rabbit or pheasant. I always wondered what he could have accomplish had he had both arms.

After high school, one of the guys I knew in school, Bob, was drafted into the Marine Corps, sent to Vietnam and lost his right leg in a mortar attack by the enemy. The last I knew, he was still getting around on crutches and by hopping on his one leg.

A friend of ours at our home church, Ray, had injured a knee and had to have it replaced. After several unsuccessful knee replacements, he ended up having his leg amputated above the knee. After it healed, he was fitted with a prosthetic leg. While he was able to walk, play basketball, ride a bicycle and more, his prosthetic leg still had limitations.

Amputees like Uncle Rollie, Bob and Ray and the thousands of others may have a new hope in better prosthetics in the near future. Imagine an amputee today getting a prosthetic that externally feels and looks like real skin, that can feel and even power itself.

According to a new report on the work of Ravinder Dahiya, that may soon be a reality:

“For years Ravinder Dahiya has been developing thin and flexible electronics, the kind that could be used for synthetic skin, and for years the material scientist has wrestled with various obstacles. These include making sensors that are small enough and electronics that can bend enough, not to mention how such things could be powered. His team is now reporting a breakthrough in which it has integrated solar cells into a graphene-based electronic skin, raising the possibility of prosthetic limbs that are both sensitive to touch and entirely self-powered.”

‘Electrically conductive, just a single atom thick and stronger than steel, graphene has all sorts of advantages. But it hasn’t always been so cheap. Back in 2015 Dahiya, who works at the University of Glasgow’s School of Engineering, discovered a method of production that made graphene around 100 times cheaper than before. This was good news for any scientist working with graphene and its myriad applications, whether flexible displays for phones or medical patches for drug delivery. But for Dahiya, it made using the material as the basis for synthetic skin a whole lot more feasible…”

“For years, scientists have been trying to recreate the complex neural systems that enable human skin to sense touch by building pressure sensors into various materials. We have seen piezoelectric transistors incorporated into synthetic skins making them sensitive enough to read fingerprints, other approaches that use multipurpose sensors to detect temperature and humidity in addition to pressure, and others that use pressure-sensitive materials made from inorganic semiconductors to only use a small amount of power. The issue with them all is that they need to be powered.”

“For their latest project, Dahiya and his team used single-layer graphene with a transparent polymeric protective layer on top, which is also pressure sensitive and enables the skin to detect minimum pressures of 0.11 kPa. Conveniently, graphene itself happens to be highly transparent and allows 98 percent of the light that hits its surface to pass through. Dahiya’s team took advantage of this by placing a power-generating photovoltaic cell underneath, which provides it with the 20 nanowatts of power per square centimeter that the tactile skin needs to operate.”

Dahiya’s invention holds out a lot of new hope for the many wounded military returning from the Middle East, as well as victims of traffic accidents and more. It’s possible, his innovation could offer new hope for people born without an arm or leg. Imagine giving a child born without an arm or hand, the ability to not only use a prosthetic hand, but to feel what it touches.

Home Healthcare Providers Shanghaied into Socialist Run Union Without Consent

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Many decades ago, unions played an important role in getting thousands of Americans better work conditions, hours and pay. However, in the last few decades, they have helped drive the overall cost of living higher, forced thousands to join unions and pay dues even though they didn’t want to join, and they have become strong political entities pushing socialist agendas.

If you live in a state that is NOT a right-to-work state, you are forced to join a union and pay monthly dues, even if you don’t want to join. Our state is that way and if you want to get a job at local grocery store like Kroger, who only pays minimum wages and offers part time hours to start, you also have to pay union dues out of the meager earnings. For years, some of have referred to this as legal extortion and compared unions to illegal protection rackets – pay or suffer the consequences.

During the 2012 presidential campaigns, one very socialist union, the SEIU, paid protesters $11 an hour to be bussed to Mitt Romney campaign events to disrupt the event.

In 2014, the Wisconsin Education Association Council (the state’s teachers; union) spent $1.6 million of union dues money to campaign against Gov. Scott Walker during a recall election which he won.

In 2014, Adam Neuman was one of many teachers in Michigan who decided to opt out of the union after the passage of a law in 2012. He felt the union was too politically active in all the wrong areas and didn’t want his dues used for those purposes. After opting out of the union, he was shocked when he got paycheck and saw an $80 deduction from the school district. He inquired into the matter knowing that he should no longer be paying union dues and was shocked to learn that the deduction is not considered dues, but part of a program known as ‘release time’ which is a politically correct way of saying that the deduction is earmarked to pay the salary of the union officials.

In 2015, it was revealed that the National Education Association (NEA), one of the most liberal, socialist and powerful unions in America, was hosting the Read Across America initiative and guess who is taking a key role in the initiative? Yep! The GLSEN is an active participant with the goal of pushing their theme of acceptance of the LGBT perverted lifestyle and they want to reach all grade levels, even down to kindergarteners.

In 2015, the NEA again made news when it was learned that they were spending millions of dollars of union dues to help keep illegal aliens in the United States.

Now we are learning that the SEIU (Service Employees International Union) has shanghaied thousands of home healthcare providers into joining the union and paying union dues without their consent according to Forbes:

“In 2013, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) got one of its favored politicians, Minnesota governor Mark Dayton, to sign an order declaring that home healthcare providers who receive Medicaid money to care for disabled family members were government employees. But they were “employees” only because that made them eligible for unionization. The SEIU figured that it had a good shot at finagling a victory in an election, which would then lead to a nice infusion of new dues money.”

“The election, conducted under the auspices of the friendly state bureaucracy, was done entirely through mail-in ballots and under its rules, a victory required only a majority of the votes cast. When the votes were counted in 2014, 3,543 were in favor of the union and 2,306 against. There were about 27,000 home healthcare providers, so with just 13 percent of the total number, the SEIU was declared the representative of all 27,000.”

“Nearly 24,000 home caregivers had become union members without their consent or even over their dissent.”

Further investigation has discovered that some of the ballots on the union vote were mailed to vacant houses and business, leading many to believe the election results were a fraudulent attempt to enslave the thousands of healthcare workers and make them part of the SEIU.

Although it only took 3,543 questionable votes to pass the union bill, opposition has gathered over 6,000 signatures in a call for another vote, but so far that call is being denied.

America needs a national law that makes the entire country a right work nation, meaning that NO ONE will be forced to join a union and pay union dues if they don’t want to. Should not we all have that freedom?

TX Bill Will Allow Doctors to Lie, Keep Info Hidden from Pregnant Women

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For many families, learning that there will be a new addition to the family is generally an exciting time. The realization that a new human being is forming in the womb is an awesome concept and miracle of life.

In today’s world of modern medicine, most women look forward to going to their doctor to find out how their pregnancy is coming along. Is the new mom to be healthy? Is the baby healthy? Is there anything that the new mom needs to be doing or not doing? What about vitamins and supplements? Dozens of questions to ask and one would expect their medical physician to answer.

So how would you feel if you knew that your doctor doesn’t have to tell you the truth of how your unborn baby is doing? Or how would feel if you knew that your doctor could be lying to you about the miracle forming in your womb? Could you trust anything the doctor tells you?

If you live in Texas, that may soon be a concern.

The Texas Senate recently passed a bill, Senate Bill 25, that would allow your doctor to lie to you about your unborn child and prevent you from suing that doctor for not telling you the truth.

According to a recent report:

“Senate Bill 25, which will now be sent to the Texas House, prevents parents from suing their medical provider if their baby is born with disabilities, even if that doctor discovered the condition during routine prenatal testing and failed to inform the parents.”

“The architects of the so-called ‘wrongful-birth’ bill have argued it would protect children with disabilities and prevent doctors from facing unnecessary lawsuits. ‘It is unacceptable that doctors can be penalized for embracing the sanctity of life,’ Senator Brandon Creighton (R-TX) said in a press release when he introduced the legislation last fall.”

While the bill is intended to protect children with disabilities, it also raises ethical questions on being able to trust one’s doctor to tell the truth. Many doctors are pro-life and do not believe in abortion and have hidden the truth of problems from expecting parents. This bill is intended to legally protect those doctors who practice according to their beliefs. However, the bill does not protect doctors from being sued for negligent behavior and they can still face malpractice suits for that negligence.

Abortion advocates, of which I am not, argue that the bill is nothing more than a ploy to prevent a parent from having the option to abort – murder – their unborn child if he or she is discovered to have some form of disability.

Heather Busby, Executive Director at NARAL Pro-Choice Texas, told the media:

“SB 25 would allow doctors to lie to their patients.”

“[It] is another thinly veiled attempt to prevent Texans from accessing their constitutional right to abortion.”

Whether you believe in the sanctity of life or not, this bill is still unnerving as it will allow doctors to lie to patients. Even though their intentions are good and ethical, the underlying question is whether or not expectant parents, moms especially, can trust their doctors to tell them the truth?

As much as I condemn abortion because it is murdering an innocent child, I also condemn lying, for whatever reason. If you cannot trust your doctor to tell you the truth about the condition or health of your child, how can you trust he or she on any other health related matters?

Even if you did not believe in abortion, wouldn’t you want to know the truth if there was anything wrong with your developing baby? Wouldn’t you want to know so you could be prepared for any special needs a disabled child may require?

Regardless if one is pro-life or pro-choice, Texas Senate Bill 25 is a bad bill and should never be passed. It will only serve to undermine confidence in one’s doctor.

Do You Know About Invisible Illnesses?

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Have you ever heard of invisible illnesses? Do you have any clue what they are? Are you aware that some people you know may have an invisible illness that is ravaging their body on the inside, but shows little to no signs on the outside? Would it make a difference in your relationship with them? Unfortunately, it often does.

Take the case of Victoria Graham, a 23-year-old beauty queen from Maryland. Outwardly, Graham is a ravishing young beauty that surely captures the attention of many young men. When she walks out on the stage at a beauty pageant in a gown, she is a real crowd pleaser. However, when she turns her back to the audience to return to her place on the stage, many onlookers gasp at the sight of the same young beauty. Running from the base of her skull, down her spine to her tailbone is a telltale pink scar.

Graham has suffered from an invisible illness her entire life, but that 25-inch scar extending the length of her back is the only outward sign. It’s there because she has undergone 10 surgeries on her brain and spine. Without those surgeries, she would not be able to stand up straight.

Graham suffers from Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS). According to The Ehlers-Danlos Society:

“Ehlers-Danlos syndromes are a group of connective tissue disorders that can be inherited and are varied both in how affect the body and in their genetic causes. They are generally characterized by joint hypermobility (joints that stretch further than normal), skin hyperextensibility (skin that can be stretched further than normal), and tissue fragility.”

“The Ehlers-Danlos syndromes (EDS) are currently classified into thirteen subtypes. Each EDS subtype has a set of clinical criteria that help guide diagnosis; a patient’s physical signs and symptoms will be matched up to the major and minor criteria to identify the subtype that is the most complete fit. There is substantial symptom overlap between the EDS subtypes and the other connective tissue disorders including hypermobility spectrum disorders, as well as a lot of variability, so a definitive diagnosis for all the EDS subtypes when the gene mutation is known—all but hypermobile EDS (hEDS)—also calls for confirmation by testing to identify the responsible variant for the gene affected in each subtype.”

Graham is also the president and founder of The Zebra Network, a group to bring attention to Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. The tagline for her social platform states:

“But You Don’t Look Sick: Making Invisible Illness Visible.”

In a report on Graham and her invisible illness:

“The so-called ‘invisible illnesses’ that its victims, like Graham, endure every day can be physically, mentally, and emotionally grueling. Graham says that while she may appear normal to others, some days she is unable to walk more than a few steps without her body either crumpling on itself or causing her to lose consciousness.”

“‘On bad days I’ll get out my handicapped permit, and I’ve gotten yelled at for it in the middle of a coffee shop,’ Graham tells Babble. ‘There are understanding people, but a lot of people are cruel. Just because I don’t look sick, doesn’t mean I’m not sick’.”

All too often, we see or know people who suffer from one of the many invisible illnesses and we tend to judge them on what we see without knowing what they are going through or why they appear the way they do.

My daughter also suffers from an invisible illness. Physically, she appears normal but overweight. Many of her so-called friends and co-workers have judged her by her appearance and have said some very hurtful things to her about her weight. They are ignorant of the fact that she suffers from a rare condition known as McCune Albright Syndrome. It’s a non-hereditary genetic mutation that occurred sometime during early embryonic development. It manifests itself in a number ways, including tumors, fibrous dysplasia, loss of vision and more. Her tumors have caused excessive amounts of various hormones, including growth hormones and cortisol. In her mid to late thirties, she grew an inch and half in height and put on hormone caused weight. The secretions from the tumors have caused Cushing’s Disease along with a fatty liver and other health issues.

Not knowing about her invisible illness but knowing of her loss of vision, one of her so-called friends told her that she needed to do something about her weight, since she can’t see herself in a mirror very well. Our daughter was deeply hurt by the insensitive comment, since she does watch what she eats and exercises when she can. Doctors have told her that she’s doing a great job by not gaining a lot more weight which is what they expected.

Look around you and realize that around 138 million Americans have some type of invisible illness. Think about it before you say something to them that may be hurtful even though it may be said out of care and concern. They may look normal on the outside, but you may have no idea of what is happening inside their body. Their invisible illness may not only be affecting them physically, but also mentally and emotionally. They need your support, not your criticism.

Worst & Best Sweeteners Per Health Clinic

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A century ago, most people never had to worry about health conditions like obesity, Type-2 diabetes, fatty livers and heart disease. Most people were a lot more physically active on the job, at home and at leisure. They didn’t have things like television, movies or all of the modern electronic distractions that keep our fannies firmly planted in chairs or on the sofa in today’s world.

As the more modern conveniences, electronic devices and forms of entertainment creep into our lives, the most sedentary we tend to become. The more sedentary we become, the more susceptible we are to those killer ailments previously listed.

Another negative of our sedentary lifestyle is that we are bombarded with sweets in our diets. Sugar and artificial sweeteners are found in the major of food items that we put into our shopping carts and into our mouths. The food industry has learned that many people become addicted to sugars and sweeteners. The more they put in their products, the more addicted we become and the more of their products we buy. Consequently, the more of us also die from the effects of too much sugar and artificial sweeteners.

If you are like me, you have been forced to start reading labels, something I swore I would never do, to look for amount and types of sugars and fats, with sodium being a biggie also. It’s almost impossible to avoid some sugars or sweeteners, but do you know which ones are better and which ones are worst?

Rating them from worst to best, here is what one health clinic says about sugars and sweeteners.

#5 – The worst are most of the artificial sweeteners. Many people have turned to them to avoid eating real sugar, but they don’t realize that most artificial sweeteners have a down side. They are great if you are diabetic or prediabetic. For diabetics or prediabetics, real sugar raises the blood glucose levels which lead to a number of health risk issues. But for those who are just trying to avoid real sugar, often found in foods as fructose, glucose and even sucrose, sweeteners are their preferred alternative.

However, one expert says that artificial sweeteners only add to the addiction by causing you to crave more sugary and sweet foods. They have another negative side effect in that artificial sweeteners have been found to change the bacteria in our guts which results in the storage of more fat. I don’t think that’s what most of us want when we open the packet of artificial sweetener to put in our coffee, tea or on our food.

They also highly recommend you stay away from the artificial sweetener called aspartame. At least three independent studies have linked aspartame to cancer.

#4 – Still a bad choice is refined sugar, which can be inflammatory to our bodies, high in calories and help lead to conditions like prediabetes and Type-2 diabetes. Think of them as empty calories with no nutritional benefit and nothing more than a source of FAT.

#3 – Middle of the road, better than numbers 5 and 4, is naturals. By naturals, they mean raw sugar, raw honey, maple syrup and agave nectar. Whereas refined sugars are high in calories but empty nutritionally, raw sugars are only slightly better. They are still forms of sugar and are high in calories, but they do have a ‘few’ nutritional values over refined sugar. They are still bad choices for prediabetics and diabetics.

#2 – Second best is Stevia. In it’s pure 100% form, stevia is a natural sweetener made from the stevia plant and contains ZERO calories and it does not tend to raise one’s blood glucose levels.

I have a bowl of old-fashioned oatmeal for breakfast as it’s good for heart health, but most of my life, I always enjoyed adding brown sugar to my oatmeal. Now that I’m a Type-2 diabetic, I have switched to 100% pure raw stevia to add to my oatmeal. Not quite the same flavor, but it sure makes a difference on my blood glucose readings.

Be careful when buying stevia. Some products are advertised as stevia but when you check their ingredients, the amount of stevia can be tiny at best. I highly recommend something like Stevia-in-the-Raw, which is stevia leaf extract and one filler to help keep it from clumping. One 9.7oz bag lasts me a very long time and doesn’t cost that much.

#1 – the best choice by the health clinic is fresh or frozen fruit. Fruit is a great source of sweetener and can be used to add in things like oatmeal, but one has to be careful with fruit. As a Type-2 diabetic, I have found that many fruits can increase my blood glucose level when stevia doesn’t. Some fruits like oranges can cause a quick spike in blood glucose followed by a depressing low that makes one very drowsy and tired. Virtually all doctors, nutritionists and dieticians recommend several servings of fruit every day, and while they are important, if you are a diabetic, learn which fruits, like apples, are better than others.

One thing I have found as a Type-2 diabetic is that after I have been off of most sugars and sweets for a number of months, my cravings for them diminish and when I do eat or drink sweet things, I often find them too sweet and that’s a good thing

Regardless of what type of sweetener you use and regardless of how healthy you may be now; moderation and discretion is highly advised. Moderation is also a must for good health and if you have any questions, talk to your doctor or a licensed dietician or nutritionist.

Eat These Foods to Boost Your Immune System

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Source:  health.clevelandclinic.org

Want to fight off that illness that’s spreading around the office or your child’s school? Aside from practicing good hygiene, boosting your immune system is a great way to start.

Your diet plays a part in strengthening your immune system. Sadly, too many of us don’t eat enough of the fresh fruits, vegetables and other foods we need to keep ourselves healthy year-round. You can’t just eat an orange or grapefruit and expect one quick burst of vitamin C to prevent a cold. A truly healthy immune system depends on a balanced mix of vitamins and minerals over time, plus normal sleep patterns and a hefty dose of exercise.

With some exceptions, it’s best to get your vitamins and minerals from your food rather than in pill form. Here are some tips for getting the top vitamins your immune system needs to perform.

  • Vitamin C

    You probably know about vitamin C’s connection to the immune system, but did you know you can get it from much more than just citrus fruits? Leafy green vegetables such as spinach and kale, bell peppers, brussels sprouts, strawberries and papaya are also excellent sources. In fact, vitamin C is in so many foods that most people may not need to take supplements unless a doctor advises it.

  • Vitamin E

    Like vitamin C, vitamin E can be a powerful antioxidant that helps your body fight off infection. Almonds, peanuts, hazelnuts and sunflower seeds are all high in vitamin E. So are spinach and broccoli if you prefer to increase your intake through meals rather than snacks.

  • Vitamin B6

    This important vitamin — part of nearly 200 biochemical reactions in your body — is critical in how your immune system functions. Foods high in vitamin B6 include bananas, lean chicken breast, cold-water fish such as tuna, baked potatoes and chickpeas. Bring on the hummus!

  • Vitamin A

    For vitamin A, go colorful. Foods that are high in colorful compounds called carotenoids — carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, cantaloupe and squash — are all great options. The body turns these carotenoids into vitamin A, and they have an antioxidant effect to help strengthen the immune system against infection.

  • Vitamin D

    As mentioned above, it’s best to get most of your vitamins from food, but vitamin D may be the exception to that rule. You can increase your intake through foods such as fatty fish (salmon, mackerel, tuna and sardines) and fortified foods such as milk, orange juice and cereals. Many people have a hard time absorbing vitamin D from food, so if you have a vitamin D deficiency, talk to your doctor about supplements.

  • Folate/folic acid

    Folate is the natural form, and folic acid is the synthetic form, often added to foods because of its health benefits. To get more folate, add more beans and peas to your plate on a regular basis, as well as leafy green vegetables. You can also get folic acid in fortified foods (check the label) such as enriched breads, pastas, rice and other 100 percent whole-grain products.

  • Iron

    Iron, which helps your body carry oxygen to cells, comes in different forms. Your body can more easily absorb “heme iron,” which is abundant in lean poultry such as chicken and turkey, plus seafood. But never fear, vegetarians: You can get other forms of iron in beans, broccoli and kale.

  • Selenium

    Selenium seems to have a powerful effect on the immune system, including the potential to slow the body’s over-active responses to certain aggressive forms of cancer. You can find it in garlic, broccoli, sardines, tuna, brazil nuts and barley, among other foods.

  • Zinc

    You can find zinc in oysters, crab, lean meats and poultry, baked beans (skip the kind with added sugar), yogurt and chickpeas. Zinc appears to help slow down the immune response and control inflammation in your body.

Bonus Tip: When You Can’t Eat Fresh, Eat Frozen

Depending on where you live and what time of year it is, you can’t always get your hands on high-quality fresh produce. Keep this in mind: Frozen is fine. Manufacturers freeze frozen fruits and veggies at “peak” ripeness, which means they’ll pack a similar nutritional value as their fresh counterparts. Just choose plain frozen foods rather than those with added sugars or sodium.

How To Remove Uric Acid Crystallization In Joints

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Source: herbs-info.com

It’s common to hear complaints of joint pain and difficulty walking as a person ages. But why do you think this happens? In the area where the joint meets the socket, there is fluid called synovial fluid to cushion the bones; this fluid lessens with age. Without synovial fluid to cushion joint movement, the bone can damage the tissue surrounding it, causing pain and inflammation. This condition is typically called arthritis. But did you know that another cause of arthritis is a problem with the production of uric acid crystals?

The Link Between The Thyroid and Uric Acid Levels

The thyroid is a small, butterfly-shaped organ found in the neck.  It is part of the body’s endocrine system – which is responsible for the production and regulation of hormones in the body. The thyroid specifically produces hormones that regulate growth and metabolism, which explains why thyroid problems often affect a person’s weight and energy levels. But the hormones produced by the thyroid also regulate the amount of uric acid found in the blood.

In hypothyroidism, the kidneys don’t excrete uric acid adequately, leading to their build-up in the joints as crystals. In hyperthyroidism, the body coverts purines to uric acid too fast, leading to build-up in the joints as well.  These crystals damage the tissues in the joint, which causes pain during movement. Prolonged damage to the tissue can cause repeated inflammation and eventual scarring, causing poor mobility to complete immobility.

Can An Alkaline Diet Help?

To counteract the high uric acid levels in the blood, alkalinization therapy is often part of the medical management of gout.  But can an alkaline diet work just as well? It has long been debated whether or not alkaline diets have health benefits or is just a passing fad, with counterarguments stating that the body’s pH is maintained at a very constant level despite the acidity of the food being consumed.

However, it goes deeper than this: A recent study in 2010 published in the Nutrition Journal by Kanbara, A., et. al. revealed that an alkaline diet can cause an increase in uric acid excretion through the urine. On the other hand, acidic diets suppress uric acid excretion in the urine.

This study strongly suggests that by adjusting the diet to include alkaline food, it can promote the removal of uric acid in the blood , which implies hope for the removal of formed uric acid crystals in the joints. However, recent research on the favorable effects of dietary modification that specifically targets uric acid crystals in gouty arthritis has yet to be published (the most recent study was in 1959!)

Eating More Alkaline Food
An alkaline diet is typically high in vegetable and legume intake – food that has high pH or low acid content. An alkali diet can include the following food products:

• Rye bread

• Tofu

• Okra

• Green soybeans

• Carrots

• Green, leafy vegetables

• Tomato

• Red and yellow pepper

• Pumpkin

• Green onion

• Cucumber

• Cabbage

• Lettuce

• Garlic

• Dried seaweed

• Olive oil

Note also how the typical acidic or acid-forming diet contains high levels of sugars, processed foods, bread and meat. Another interesting anomaly here is lemons. Lemons are very acidic yet are considered by proponents of this system to be alkaline forming.

Different studies have shown how beneficial alkaline therapy and alkaline diets can significantly reduce the levels of uric acid in the blood, which paves the way for research on their effects on uric acid crystals. Can you believe that simply tweaking your diet to include more greens and other fruits and vegetables and help reduce the symptoms of gouty arthritis? Medical research indicates that this idea has potential. Surely we have reached the point where “we have the technology”: We can analyze these ideas using metadata and large numbers of people in order to arrive at solid conclusions.

Sleep On The Left Side Is Good For Health

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Source: themolas.com

Not everyone knows that the position that we take when we sleep has a significant influence on own digestion. It is no coincidence that, in ancient times, the monks decided to lie down after each meal just for ten minutes, and this served to make the entire digestive lighter. Nor is it a coincidence that the most ancient tradition of oriental medicine (ayurvedic) as well as the Indian suggest you go to sleep lying down on his left side. But what is the reason? For that reason is it necessary to follow this precaution?

Quite simply, our lymphatic system relies on the left side of our body, which means that both the stomach that the liver, but also the bladder and the pancreas, are able to dispose of waste products and they drain to the side digestion and produce at the same time the enzymes that the body needs by neutralizing fatty acids and without pressure.

This means that finally digestion there is no need of two or three hours, but ten or fifteen minutes at most: after this period, after lying down on the left side, you will feel immediately lighter. By adopting this simple measure, in essence, the body acquires the whole of the energy of digestion; when it digests normally, however, we tend to feel heavier, precisely because the digestion involves a consumption of energy.

Obviously, this does not mean that you can eat anything and everything, without careful grease, fried and greasy toppings too, in the absence of concerns. The restraint and moderation are important, but using the trick of rest on the left side you will no doubt have the opportunity to benefit from a greater calm and a more pleasant serenity, even over time.

Why The Pushup Is The World’s Greatest Exercise

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Source: huffingtonpost.com

If I could only do one exercise for the rest of my life, it would be the pushup.

Maybe you hate them or you think you can’t complete a single rep or you think being a runner (or a cyclist or a walker) means you only need to focus on your lower body. But it’s time to stop considering the pushup an arm workout and start accepting it for the body-altering, core-strengthening move it truly is.

You don’t have to drop and give me 50; simply incorporating more pushups into your regular routine can help you reach all sorts of fitness goals, by helping you improve everything from your posture on your bike to your balance to your arm swing.

The Perfect Pushup So how do you do the move of all moves correctly?

  • Start on your hands and toes, in full plank position, with your hands slightly to the sides of your shoulders.
  • Engage your core muscles by trying to bring your belly button toward your spine, then slowly lower your body toward the ground while keeping your neck and spine aligned — no drooping allowed.
  • When your chest is about the size of a fist away from the ground, slowly press back up to full plank position.
  • Repeat! Try for 10 if you’re just starting out — or challenge yourself and see how many you can do before your form starts to falter.

If you’re not quite ready for a pushup, there’s no shame in taking a step back. In fact, I wish more people would give the modified pushup the attention it deserves.

Pushups are hard. That’s why they’re so awesome. But, like any challenging exercise, that means form is paramount. You’re better off doing 10 modified pushups with perfect form than five full pushups with hunched shoulders or a drooping neck or hips. You’ll work the same core, chest and arm muscles while relieving a bit of the pressure, allowing you to train safely. The same rules apply as above; instead, start on hands and knees (and don’t cross the ankles).

In both a modified or full pushup, the wider you place your hands, the more you work your chest.

The closer to your body you place your hands, the more you work your triceps.

Once you’ve mastered the pushup, you can experiment with a whole bunch of variations to not only mix up a tired routine but also to work different muscles in different ways. Here are three of my favorites:

Pushup Variation #1: BOSU Ball Pushups
Originally an acronym for “both sides up”, this versatile gym gadget requires extra core work if you’re going to stay balanced during your pushups.

  • Start by gripping the sides of the ball’s platform, with the round side down.
  • Perform your pushups as usual, trying to wobble as little as possible.

Pushup Variation #2: Renegade Row Pushup
Adding a row to your pushup makes this variation a two-for-one deal: You’ll be working your back muscles to complement all that chest work.

  • Hold the handles of two dumbbells.
  • Complete one pushup, and when you get back to starting position, lift your right arm until the upper arm is about level with your back.
  • Pause, then lower the weight back down and repeat with your left arm before completing your next pushup.
  • Focus on pinching your shoulder blades together with each row, with as little sideways movement as possible.

Pushup Variation #3: T Pushups
Work your obliques by incorporating a mini side plank into your pushups. If When this gets too easy, try it while holding a pair of dumbbells.

  • Complete a pushup as usual, and when you get back to starting position, rotate your body to one side into a side plank position with your arm extended (your body will form a T).
  • Pause, then return to pushup position.
  • Complete another pushup, then rotate to the other side.

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