Thursday, February 16, 2012

About Vitamin C - The Wonder Vitamin?

Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid) may possibly be a "wonder vitamin" in some people's books.  A lot of claims have been made for it in the past few years, not the least of which was Dr. Linus Pauling's claims for its ability to prevent and lessen the duration and intensity of the common cold when taken in large doses.

Unfortunately, although vitamin C is anti-viral and does support the immune system, it is not necessarily a magic bullet that will defeat the common cold or even cancer!  In fact, some recent studies seem to be indicating that Dr. Pauling's claims might be a little overstated.

Vitamin C, like most other vitamins and mineral supplements primarily helps the body do its job effectively.  Deficiencies of vitamin C CAN predispose the body to certain ills, and proper intake either through daily diet or vitamin supplementation can HELP prevent certain conditions and illnesses.  Vitamins and mineral supplements should never be used as the only path to health, but should be part of a lifestyle that includes overall attention to nutrition, activity (okay, exercise), proper rest and sleep, and enjoyable forms of recreation and relaxation.  I personally would throw in yoga and meditation, but those are MY enjoyable forms of recreation, relaxation, and exercise, I guess.  You will have to find what works best for you.

SOURCES

Vitamin C is a water soluble vitamin, and, as such, is not stored in the body.  This means it must be regularly replaced by diet and/or supplementation. The most commonly recognized sources of vitamin C are citrus and other fruits - oranges, tangerines, limes, guava, lemons, papayas, strawberries, black currants, grapefruit and mangoes - as well as a wide range of vegetables. Some vegetables which contain Vitamin C include collard greens, sweet and hot peppers, broccoli, tomatoes, brussel sprouts, cabbage, potatoes, kale, spinach, and watercress.

AFFECTS

Vitamin C is a nutrient valuable for tissue growth, protection of cell membranes from toxic wastes, wound healing, and, as mentioned, support of the immune system.  It supports the growth of collagen and cartilage, protecting in this way against many of the effects of aging.

As an antioxidant, vitamin C helps combat free radicals, and it may help with cancer, high cholesterol, cataracts, diabetes, allergies, asthma, and periodontal disease.

The effectiveness of vitamin C is believed to be increased when taken with vitamin E.

DOSES

The recommended daily intake of Vitamin C is 60 mg per day for adults, although many people, following Dr. Pauling's lead, take much higher doses in hopes of preventing colds and warding off the effects of aging.  However, in higher doses there may be some toxicity with one of the side effects being diarrhea.  In some cases, higher doses of vitamin C may cause kidney stones or anemia, due to an interference with the absorption of vitamin B12.

A reminder:  vitamin C is water soluble, and unused portions will be flushed from the body, so daily intake of foods rich in vitamin C or supplementation with a multivitamin may be of value.

While there do not seem to be major problems associated with an high doses of Vitamin C, it might a good idea to stick within recommended daily allowances since the jury is still out on side effects.

DEFICIENCIES

The most well-known result of a vitamin C deficiency is scurvy, a condition characterized by weakness, anemia, gum disease, and skin lesions.  Fortunately, scurvy is very rare in our modern society although still found to a greater degree in areas of poor nutrition.

Frequent infections, severe colds, nose bleeds, tiredness, and painful joints may also indicate a deficiency.

Summary:

Vitamin C has possibly gotten more publicity than any other vitamin, but what are the facts?

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Acknowledge Your Depression

Depression is an illness and needs to be acknowledged as such. It is not a reason to be ashamed. The reason so many people fail to seek help for their depression is that they are ashamed. Unfortunately, this is one of the feelings associated with depression anyway and makes the illness difficult to acknowledge.

If you are constantly feeling particularly low, well-meaning friends might tell you to “snap out of it” or even start to get irritated by your mood. Your depression will feed off this negativity and you start to wonder why you can’t just “snap out of it”. You then start to feel that there’s something wrong with you because it should be so easy and it’s just “not right” that you feel so bad all the time. Well, it’s not right and there is something wrong with you. You have a medical condition and you deserve treatment in the same way as any other patient. If you had a cold for six months would you ignore it and hope it would pass? No, you would dose yourself up with anything you could find and maybe see a doctor to find out if there’s an underlying reason for it to last so long.

Depression is sadness that lasts too long. Everyone is sad at some point in their lives but depression is more than that. It is a feeling that you can’t bring yourself up from the bottom. In the end you give up trying. People start to avoid you. You feel worse. You need to find external help to treat the problem in the same way as you would if you had a long-lasting cold. You could try herbal remedies – there are some in your pharmacy – or you could see your doctor. There may be an underlying physical cause for your depression.

If your doctor cannot help you they may refer you for counselling. Don’t be embarrassed to go for counselling but do make sure you are comfortable with your counsellor. If not, try another one. Counselling should not be discounted because you don’t feel comfortable with your first choice of practitioner. In everyday life you will naturally find that you get on with some people and clash with others. You cannot afford to have a personality clash with your counsellor. On the other hand you must be sure that it is a personality clash and not just that you don’t agree with what they are saying. A general rule is to go with your instincts. If you like the person and seemed to get on well in the first couple of sessions then stick with it because they might just have touched on the root cause of your problem.

In some cases, acknowledging depression may be difficult because you have lived with it so long that you don’t know whether it is depression or not. If you have grown up with depression it is possible not to realise that you are actually depressed because you have no concept of how normal people should feel. You may feel angry all the time or you may feel like going to the middle of an empty field and simply screaming. You may feel anxious, have trouble sleeping or even sleep too much. You may think that your family would be better off without you (and actually believe that to be true) and may have considered running away or suicide. You may worry about death all the time (yours or someone else’s) and not let yourself be happy just in case…… (or even “I must enjoy this now in case………..”). If you are feeling any or all of the above then you need to consider talking to someone. Even if it is just a friend or family member to start with, they may be able to advise you and encourage you to seek professional help.

Once you have acknowledged that you have depression please remember that it is a medical condition and can be cured. You don’t have to feel this way for ever. Nobody actually thinks of you the way you think they do. Talk to someone. Seek and accept help and you will find that there is a different way of seeing life.

Summary:
Depression is an illness and needs to be acknowledged as such. It is not a reason to be ashamed. The reason so many people fail to seek help for their depression is that they are ashamed. Unfortunately, this is one of the feelings associated with depression anyway and makes the illness difficult to acknowledge.

If you are constantly feeling particularly low, well-meaning friends might tell you to “snap out of it” or even start to get irritated by your mood. Your depressio...

A Review Of Techniques In Managing Your Depression

Some people have a difficult time in managing their depression. Sometimes, their depression and fears can get best of them. As a result, here is a short list of techniques that a person can use to help manage their depression.

I was told by a counselor that one of the ways to manage depression is to challenge your negative thinking with positive statements and realistic thinking. When encountering thoughts that make your fearful or depressed, challenge those thoughts by asking yourself questions that will maintain objectivity and common sense. For example, your afraid that if you do not get that job promotion then you will be stuck at your job forever. This depresses you, however your thinking in this situation is unrealistic. The fact of the matter is that there all are kinds of jobs available and just because you don’t get this job promotion doesn’t mean that you will never get one. In addition, people change jobs all the time, and you always have that option of going elsewhere if you are unhappy at your present location.

Some people get depressed and have a difficult time getting out of bed in the mornings. When this happens, a person should take a deep breathe and try to find something to do to get their mind off of the problem. A person could take a walk, listen to some music, read the newspaper or do an activity that will give them a fresh perspective on things. Doing something will get your mind off of the problem and give you confidence to do other things.

Sometimes, we can get depressed over a task that we will have to perform in the near future. When this happens, visualize yourself doing the task in your mind. For instance, you and your team have to play in the championship volleyball game in front of a large group of people in the next few days. Before the big day comes, imagine yourself playing the game in your mind. Imagine that your playing in front of a large audience. By playing the game in your mind, you will be better prepared to perform for real when the time comes. Self Visualization is a great way to reduce the fear and stress of a coming situation.

Another technique that is very helpful is to have a small notebook of positive statements that make us feel good. Whenever you come across an affirmation that makes you feel good, write it down in a small notebook that you can carry around with you in your pocket. Whenever you feel depressed, open up your small notebook and read those statements.

As a Layman and author of an anxiety book, I have done many interviews with various counselors in how to manage fear, anxiety and depression. The techniques that I have just covered are some basic ways to manage your depression, however your best bet is to get some help from a professional.

Summary:
Some people have a difficult time in managing their depression. Sometimes, their depression and fears can get best of them. As a result, here is a short list of techniques that a person can use to help manage their depression.

I was told by a counselor that one of the ways to manage depression is to challenge your negative thinking with positive statements and realistic thinking. When encountering thoughts that make your fearful or depressed, challenge those thoughts by as...

Thursday, February 9, 2012

About alternative health supplements

These days, there are plenty of pills out there offered by your local pharmacy to cure what ails you. But you can never be too sure that the products pushed on us by the food and drug administration are the best thing for you. A lot of these pills have side effects, and some of them are not tolerated well by certain people.

To that end, there are numerous alternative health supplements offered that can help your body get into the best shape it’s ever been. Here are the facts on some of them:

Coral calcium- This supplement is great to help your body. You probably know that your body needs calcium to maintain its bones and teeth, but most people don’t realize that you need a certain level of calcium in your bloodstream as well.

If you don’t keep replenishing this calcium, your body will begin to sap the calcium from your bones and teeth to maintain the level in your blood. This can result in bone and teeth shrinkage, and can make them brittle and cause movements to be painful. Coral calcium is a source of calcium that surpasses most of the others. Available in supplement form, coral calcium can be a great buy.

Another one of the alternative health supplements offered is fish oil. Harvested from fatty fish, this oil contains substances known as omega-3 essential fatty acids. Containing the fatty acids DHA and EPA, fish oil has been linked to memory improvement and general brain health, considering DHA is a substance that needs to maintain its presence in the brain. Also, the American Heart Association recommends that you take fish oils to help maintain heart health. It can help to decrease your risks of heart disease or cardiac arrest!

These are two of the alternative health supplements offered these days that can help lead your body to great health. Hopefully they can help you!

Summary:
These days, there are plenty of pills out there offered by your local pharmacy to cure what ails you.

Saturday, February 4, 2012

A Natural Source Of Melatonin

Melatonin is produced by the pineal gland. It is believed to play a role in anti aging, as well as helping with jet lag and insomnia. But caution is well advised with using melatonin as a supplement, given how powerful its effects are.

One of the problems with melatonin is that most of the studies were done on animals, like rats, and not humans. Animal studies are used by the scientific community to indicate whether a substance has promise, and can yield valuable results even though they are ethically reprehensible and other alternatives exist. One such study was done at the University of Texas Health Science Center.

Whilst it was funded by a grant from the California Walnut Industry, these scientists were able to establish not only that walnuts contained melatonin, but that it was able to be absorbed - at least by rats. But they believe humans would also be able to absorb melatonin from walnuts. Unfortunately, they don't know how many walnuts you'd have to eat to get the benefits they established as a potential in this study. It might be a lot! But using food as a source of melatonin is a good option given that it is much safer, particularly if suffering from serious illnesses.

University of Texas scientists also found that melatonin had an antioxidant effect. Antioxidants protect our cells from damage by oxidation. Antioxidants slow down the aging process, and interestingly, melatonin levels often decrease with age.

The antioxidant effect of melatonin has been presented before. Dr Reiter, also of the University of Texas Health Science Center, believes it can protect the central nervous system as well as the body generally from free radicals. He also thinks melatonin can increase the body's own production of another antioxidant, glutathione peroxidase.

People who should not take melatonin supplements are:

* children
* pregnant women
* breastfeeding mothers
* couples trying to conceive
* people with serious allergies
* HIV and cancer patients

Whilst it is not recommended that people with cancer take melatonin, this is primarily for the reasons that not enough research has been done on humans, at least according to Dr Kenneth Cooper. But some of the research that has been done with people suggests that melatonin may be very helpful - if it is taken with the supervision of a doctor. And herein lies the crux of the problem - melatonin is a very powerful substance. Only small doses are needed to create improvements. For example, Dr Cooper cites the example of dosages as small as 2 to 3 mg only, for some people suffering insomnia.

Overall, melatonin is very promising, and may well help people with serious illnesses like cancer and multiple sclerosis. In the meantime, increasing our dietary intake of foods like walnuts that potentially supply us with this wonderful nutrient, may have a host of protective health benefits as well as slowing down the aging process.

Summary:
Melatonin, being a powerful substance, is one that should be used with caution in cases of serious illness like cancer. Find out who else should be wary of using this supplement, and a food source of melatonin that is a safer, more natural alternative for those still interested in getting the benefits of melatonin. And find out general dosage of melatonin needed for insomnia.

Friday, February 3, 2012

A Natural Hormone Supplement - What Is It And Why Use It?

A natural hormone supplement is a hormone that is identical to what occurs naturally in the body. Most prescription drugs are not the same as a natural hormone supplement. Why?

In the USA since the late 1800's, U.S. laws allow medicines to be patented only if they are not naturally occurring substances. If a drug company discovers a natural substance that can be used medically, anyone else can also use/make/sell that substance. So for business purposes, what happens is that the pharmaceutical companies create synthetic hormones that are intentionally different from a natural hormone supplement. Examples are Premarin, Prempro and Provera - these synthetic drugs are different in their molecular structure from the estrogens and progesterone found in the human body.

And the problem with synthetic drugs is - since they are different from what occurs naturally in the human body, the body treats them differently and the result is often harmful side effects. Studies such as the Women's Health Initiative have concluded that synthetic hormone replacement therapy risks may exceed the benefits!

For women, a natural hormone supplement program will use natural natural progesterone and/or natural estrogen. Both hormones are crucial for good health in women. In a normal menstrual cycle, estrogen is the hormone produced for the first 10-12 days of the cycle. Ovulation signals the body to produce progesterone that continues for the next 12 days or so. If there's no pregnancy, estrogen and progesterone levels drop at about day 28 and menstruation begins. However, if there is no ovulation, progesterone is not produced that cycle. This happens frequently today for women in their thirties and forties - no ovulation and no progesterone, likely resulting in symptoms of hormone imbalance.

If the woman has had a hysterectomy, surgical menopause means the body produces little or no progesterone, creating hormone imbalance. And in postmenopausal women, the production of progesterone ceases as ovulation no longer occurs. However, even after menopause, estrogen production will still be 40 to 60 percent of what it once was.

For men, natural hormone supplement therapy uses natural testosterone, not one of the synthetic testosterone drugs. Testosterone replacement therapy requires the supervision of a physician in the USA.

Using a safer natural hormone supplement such as natural progesterone or natural estrogen is recommended by numerous physicians since these hormones are identical to what occurs in the body, having few or no side effects like the synthetic drugs have. There are reliable online sources of natural hormones. Learn as much as you can about when to use natural hormone supplements to help stay strong, energized, healthy and free from the many symptoms associated with growing old prematurely.

Summary:
A natural hormone supplement is a hormone that is identical to what occurs naturally in the body. Most prescription drugs are not the same as a natural hormone supplement. Why?

In the USA since the late 1800's, U.S. laws allow medicines to be patented only if they are not naturally occurring substances. If a drug company discovers a natural substance that can be used medically, anyone else can also use/make/sell that substance. So for business purposes, what happens is tha...

A Potential Cause And Solution To Depression

A Potential Cause And Solution To Depression
I have recently made a very startling discovery which has helped me to stop spiralling into bouts of depression. In this article, I write about this discovery which I hope will help other people to lead much happier lives, free from anxiety and stress.

I am the type of person who can easily let things get on top of me. If I am rushed about here there and everywhere by my family or friends, I am often left feeling very drained and exhausted. I am sure this is the same for many people but the way it affects me over the next twenty-four hours is somewhat different. I seem to lose all of my energy and this then can easily lead me into thinking in a very negative way, often ending with me becoming quite depressed.

For whatever reason this depression can stay and in a way haunt my life for quite a few days. I begin to worry about the future, start to think that I am a failure, start to become paranoid about what other people think of me and basically become scared to leave my own house.

I have spoken to my family and especially my parents about this issue. They have advised me to seek help from a doctor. I must say that even though this would be good advice for most people, I feel that I am the kind of person who could become easily hooked and dependant on any tablets that would be described. I certainly do not want an addiction to add to my problems.

Possible solution to my depression


A few weeks ago I was watching a television program which has since had a massive impact on my life. It was an army type program and it talked about how one particular group of soldiers had all seemingly become ill and could not even complete the most routine of tasks.

A doctor or some other type of medical person was called to their camp to investigate what was wrong. The initial belief was that it was likely to be some form of food poisoning.

The doctor actually stated that the men had salt deprivation and called for for a large amount of salt tablets to be bought to the camp.

I thought about this and wondered if this could be the cause of my own issues.

The next time I felt I was becoming down or when I was over tired, I ate food products which contained a lot of salt and I am very happy to report that I quickly regained my energy and confidence levels. Such a simple solution to what was once such a huge problem for me.

If you are also the kind of person who is often depressed try eating a bit more salt, it might just change your life.

Summary:
I have recently made a very startling discovery which has helped me to stop spiralling into bouts of depression. In this article, I write about this discovery which I hope will help other people to lead much happier lives, free from anxiety and stress.