Muscle Cramps

My beloved gets muscle cramps. Not quiet little unobtrusive ones, usually big ones, announced by severe grimacing of the face, the jumping up like a jack-in-a-box, accompanied by a great variety in sound, the intensity of which usually indicates the severity of the cramp!

What causes muscle cramps?
- Dehydration.
Drink plenty of liquids every day, generally at least six glasses of water or other beverages daily. Fluids help your muscles contract and relax and keep muscle cells hydrated and less irritable. Drink fluids before any exercise activity. During exercise, drink fluids regularly, and continue drinking water or other fluids after you're finished.

- Stretch your muscles.
Stretch before and after you use any muscle for an extended period. If you tend to have leg cramps at night, stretch before bedtime.

So nothing new there, we've been down the road of making sure he takes enough liquids and the stretching!!


It does not matter where he is, when that cramp hits him, he reacts - and always quite suddenly! Trust me - he loses all decorum.
Needless to say, I end up initially in a paralysed state of shock, after which I rapidly move into action rubbing, scolding and cajoling all at once.
We've found these self-care actions actually help:

- Stretch and massage.
Stretch the cramped muscle and gently rub it to help it relax.
For a calf cramp, put your weight on your cramped leg and bend your knee slightly.
If you're unable to stand, try pulling the top of your foot on the affected side toward your head while your leg is in a straightened position.
This is particularly good for a help ease a back thigh or hamstring cramp.
For a front thigh or quadriceps cramp, use a chair to steady yourself and try pulling your foot on the affected side up toward your buttock.

- Apply cold or heat.
Intermittently use a cold pack to relax tense muscles and then use a warm towel or heating pad to help relieve any pain or tenderness.

Sunglasses for UV protection or fashion?

I was shopping for sunglasses recently, and I noticed that some say "100 percent UV protection" and others don't. I've always just assumed that it is important but in my new guise as intrepid researcher, I thought I should find out why UV protection is important for sunglasses?

- Ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun can damage your eyes as well as your skin.
- Strong sunlight can burn the corneas and conjunctivas of your eyes.
- Long-term exposure to UV radiation can contribute to eye disease, especially cataracts.


There is so much choice when choosing sunglasses - Here are some tips on what to look for:

- Blue-blocking plastic lenses.
Often promoted for sun protection, blue-blocking lenses also block red, amber and blue light — which makes it difficult to differentiate traffic light colors.

- Polarized lenses.
Although polarized lenses protect against glare, they don't meet the criteria for UV protection unless they have additional UV-blocking material in the lenses.

- Photochromic lenses.
This type of lens protects the eyes from glare, sun and UV radiation while also maintaining visual acuity. Photochromic lenses also do not distort color.

- Polycarbonate lenses.
A great choice for children and athletes, polycarbonate lenses shield the eyes from UV radiation as well as protect the eyes against impact injuries that may be sustained during play and sports.

UV protection can also be obtained for most rigid contact lenses and many soft contact lenses.

As with your skin, you should protect your eyes in the sun:

- Choose sunglasses that fit close to your face or have wraparound frames.
- Wear a wide-brimmed hat or cap, which keeps out sunlight from directly overhead.
- Never look directly at the sun — even through sunglasses — doing so can cause permanent eye damage.

Things that give you stinky body odor!

Things that make you stink are the same things that make you unhealthy, a few of which are milk, cheese, meat, animal fats and refined carbohydrate products like white flour.
Animal products are the most offensive dietary sources of internal stink by far, and milk products produce the greatest stench of all.

Body odor is not a natural thing!
It is primarily the toxic gas from the putrefaction processes going on inside your body when you've eaten animal products and processed, refined food!

We all know it is easier to cover up symptoms rather than address their root cause. Shortcuts like applying aluminum salts to our armpits is lot easier and quicker than actually cleaning up our metabolic processes.

Do you wonder if your health is OK? All you have to do is to assess your own smell.
If your body stinks, that's a sure sign that there is something rancid going on inside, and disease processes are surely underway.

Think about it: If you smell that bad on the outside, imagine what's going on inside!

Change your foods and you won't have to use the toxic and harmful ingredients found in deodorant products, many of which contain cancer-causing chemicals.

The best "cleaning" nutritional supplements that can reduce your body odor are chlorella and parsley.
Cilantro - the culinary spice - also works well.
Chlorophyll is a miracle worker for cleaning your blood of toxins.
But nothing can completely neutralize the metabolic byproducts produced when eating animal products.

I'Even whey protein, including the clean, organic whey proteins, still result in "dirty" metabolic processes that produce odor.
Brown rice protein, however, is clean.

Cleanout your system by having a raw food juice every morning - be sure to use greens vegetables like silverbeet or spinach leaves, celery and cucumber, along with various fruits or superfood powders.

More than anything, if you want to eliminate body odor for life, avoid cheese, milk and dairy products

What causes heartburn?

That scourge of modern-day living - heartburn!

What causes it? Most heartburn is actually caused by too little acid in the stomach, not too much.
Heartburn happens when foods mix with stomach acid to form a liquid that rises into the oesophagus, causing chest pain or a burning sensation in the stomach.

You might want to consider simply changing your eating habits - don't just reach for the antacids!
Antacids effectively "block" stomach acid, but at the same time, they block the absorption of nutrients and can hinder proper digestion, possibly making indigestion worse

Many foods have a reputation for causing heartburn - onions, garlic, hot and spicy foods, fatty, fried and highly acidic foods, like tomatoes and citrus.
Chocolate and coffee are also common culprits.

The way you eat is often just as important as what you eat.
People who eat especially quickly, who have a lie-down after a big meal or who simply overeat, are often more susceptible to heartburn.

Eating too much or too fast, without chewing well, requires the stomach to produce more acid to break down food, creating future problems.

As soon as you feel heartburn coming on, one of the first things you should do is drink water.

Love what you do!

"Do your work with your whole heart and you will succeed — there's so little competition."

- Elbert Hubbard

BMI is not the be-all and end-all

Author of The Obesity Myth, Paul Campos, says those with a BMI in the overweight range are often those with the highest life expectancy!

BMI is calculated by Your Weight divided by (Your Height x Your Height).
For example I weigh 78kg and am 1.7m tall.
My BMI is therefore 78 / (1.7x1.7) = 26.99 = Overweight.

However, BMI does not differentiate between muscle and fat.
Muscle weighs more than fat.
So, if you're muscular and short and in the overweight category, don't obsess about your BMI.

What your bloodpressure reading means

Have a look at the 4 blood pressure categories and what they mean:.

If your top number is Below 120 and your bottom number is Below 80 places you in the Normal blood pressure Category;

- Maintain or adopt a healthy lifestyle.


If your top number is 120-139 or your bottom number is 80-89, it places you in the Pre-hypertension Category;

- Maintain or adopt a healthy lifestyle.


If you top number is 140-159 or your bottom number is 90-99, it places you in the Stage 1 hypertension Category;

- Maintain or adopt a healthy lifestyle. If blood pressure goal isn't reached in about 6 months, get further advice.


If your top number is 160 or more or your bottom number is 100 or more, it places you in the Stage 2 hypertension Category;

- Maintain or adopt a healthy lifestyle. Get medical monitoring.

Are you finding it almost impossible to lose weight?

One of my friends is finding that despite proper eating and exercise she simply cannot lose the extra weight.
If you're in the same boat, you will be happy to hear that there are a number of things contributing to this and that when you treat them the weight will often begin to disappear.

Many of the factors contributing to weight gain affect the rest of us. These are the most common ones:

Hypothyroidism.
It is the most common thyroid disorder and usually strikes after age 40.
It is more common on women than in men, and affects 6% to 10% of women over the age of 65.
Don't use the suspicion of Hypothyroidism as an excuse to stay overweight and unhealthy! Hypothyroidism is diagnosed through a simple blood test.

Nutritional deficiencies.
When you are deficient in vitamins or minerals your body will crave more food than you need and your metabolism will be sluggish. Find a high-quality multi-vitamin and liquid mineral supplement from a reputable company.

Poor sleep.
There is much truth in the expression "getting your beauty sleep".
Deep sleep raises growth hormone, so getting 8-9 hours of sleep a night can contribute to your staying young and trim!

Candida
Fungal overgrowth contributes massively to both sugar cravings and weight gain, maily due to excess sugar intake and antibiotic use.
Treating this will not just help you to lose weight but can also eliminate your spastic colon and sinusitis!

Carnitine deficiency.
This deficiency forces your body to turn kilojoules into fat and makes it almost impossible to lose fat.
Take Acetyl - L-Carnitine 1000 mg daily (which gets into the cells more effectively than just taking carnitine) for four months, as this can help both energy and weight loss.

Stressed out.
Make a conscious decision to change your attitude. Whenever you notice that you're getting anxious or worried ask yourself the simple question "Am I in immediate danger?"
As the answer is almost always no, you'll find that you relax as you realize this, which in turn will relax your adrenal glands!
A few drops of Rescue Remedy (comprising of 5 Bach Flower Essences) on your tongue and regular yoga exercises will be a huge help.

It is never necessary to be on extreme, unsustainable or unhealthy diets to lose weight and keep it off.Follow these recommendations - they will help you stay trim, healthy and full of vitality as well!

Exercise is part of holistic health!

Exercise has been the bane of my life for almost all of my adult life.
I used to be an active child, walking and cycling everywhere and playing tennis practically every day. The older I got, the more I found reasons not to!!

Today I read an article on CNN that reported findings from an English study that women find it a lot harder than men to maintian any work-life balance when the working hours start to get long! Me to a tee!

Having been overly ambitious in my youth, the first activities that got sacrificed were exercise.
It's time to change!

Beware over-exercise - it acidifies the body rather than alkalinize it!

Exercise benefits of rebounding

Rebounding? What - like from a bad experience?

No, this rebounding is working out on a low trampoline. It's one of the most efficient ways to become more flexible, stronger and healthier!

Rebounding is

• good for your heart - the aerobic effect often surpasses that of running;
• detoxifying - it stimulates the pymphatic system, helping it drain away the body's metabolic wastes;
• stabilizing the nervous system - the repetitive bouncing motion can put you in a trans-like state of total relaxtion; and
• Rebounding builds muscle!

Just rebound for at least 15 minutes 5 times per week - safe, convenient and inexpensive!

Trans Fatty Acids = Hydrogenated Fat

Information on Transfatty Acids from the "American Heart Association" website:

Clinical studies have demonstrated that consumption of transfatty acids or hydrogenated fat result in higher blood cholesterol levels than consumption of cis fatty acids or naturally occurring oils. Relative to saturated fatty acids, trans fatty acids or hydrogenated fat result in lower blood cholesterol levels. Clarification is needed on issues related to the potentially detrimental effects of transfatty acids or hydrogenated fat compared with saturated fat with respect to decreasing HDL cholesterol levels and increasing Lp(a) levels alone and compared with their benefits in decreasing total and LDL cholesterol levels.

Data from epidemiological studies supporting a relationship between trans fatty acid or hydrogenated fat intake and risk for CVD (Cardiovascular disease) are highly variable. Once again, difficulties inherent in estimating intake, especially long-term intake, are complicated, and those in use await validation. Establishing a relationship is further complicated by difficulties in teasing out confounding factors associated with all dietary data.

On the basis of these data and reservations, it is prudent at this point to recommend that naturally occurring unhydrogenated oil be used when possible and attempts made to substitute unhydrogenated oil for hydrogenated or saturated fat in processed foods. Additionally, the recommendation to substitute softer for harder margarines and cooking fats seems justified."


We'll explore the increasing evidence about the harmful effects of too mcuh hydrogenated fats in our diets in future newsletters...

Xeno estrogens in plastic

Plastics used in products such as cling film and water bottles, release a toxic family of chemicals called phthalates that are released under heat and can cause hormone disruptions in the body. Plasticisers leach from these products and are being absorbed by the food they are protecting.

The degree to which our food and environment is polluted with estrogen-increasing chemicals is staggering. Estrogen “stimulates” are far too common, and you should avoid them whenever possible. A good way to start is to always heat food in glass containers. Never use plasticware to heat food, even if it’s only for a few minutes in the microwave.

If you absolutely have no other option but to use plastic wraps, make sure you use non-PVC based cling film.

Saturated Fat - should you reduce your meat intake?

Saturated fats are absolutely vital to many cellular and hormonal functions. Here is just a partial list.

Saturated fats…

• Raise HDL cholesterol levels, the so-called “good” cholesterol;


• Are one of the only dietary agents that lower the highly dangerous lipoprotein(a);


• Do not bind with insulin; something of extreme importance to diabetics;


• Are critical to hormonal and immune function;


• Help protect the neuron integrity in the brain, which helps keep memory and
• cognitive function active as we age;


• …and that is a partial list.

Do not be afraid of saturated fats in moderation — or for that matter anything in moderation that is from a whole food source.

Do you stand a lot? Tips for healthy legs.

Do your legs sometimes feel like they're concrete weights? Do your legs ache after standing all day? Do your ankles puff up after sitting or standing for a long time?

Mine does and now I can do something about it.

 

Drink lots of water - at least 1.5 litres a day and don't skull it - frequent little sips is the secret.

 

Eat a well balanced diet - lots of crisps, salty nuts and alcohol quickly make things worse.

 

Try not to cross your legs for long periods - it cuts the circulation to your legs.

 

Get rid of your excess weight - a body mass index of between 18.9 and 24.9 is ideal.

High Blood Pressure?

Big news in the UK last week was that Beta Blockers that are commonly prescribed for people with heart problems and specifically, high blood pressure increases the risk of strokes!

What are your alternatives?
First, ask your doctor about natural means of treatment. Most doctors assume that their patients simply will not do anything lifestyle-wise to help themselves. The concern over high blood pressure is extremely valid. Elevated blood pressure is known as the “silent killer”.

In some cases, the use of safer drugs, such as mild diuretics or ACE inhibitors, could be an ideal alternative to discuss with your doctor.

Do yourself a favour - take high blood pressure seriously. Just don’t take any old pill your doctor throws your way without doing your own research and asking hard, intelligent questions.

It’s your body and your life, its time to take responsibility for your health!

Healthy Herbs

Cinnamon kills yeasts which otherwise blocks the uptake of glucose via insulin.
Cinnamon is a great stress reliever.
It is also an antacid for helping upset stomachs and diarrhea.

According to a 2003 study at Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center in Maryland, cinnamon could help control blood sugar & cholesterol.
Just add as little as 1 gram to your cereal, porridge, fruit or toast at breakfast to start seeing results without side-effects - no need for supplements!

What is EMF radiation?

Ingrid says she tested all her household appliances for their EMF strength, and whilst I knowingly nodded, it lead me to silently say Why?

Over the past few years, I've of course heard of concerns - mainly about mobiles - relating to some sort of radiation from all our household appliances, including power lines, microwave ovens, computer and TV screens, security devices, radars and most recently mobile phones and their base stations.

Electromagnetic fields are present everywhere in our environment but are invisible to the human eye. Electric fields exist whenever charge is present and are measured in volts per metre (V/m). Magnetic fields arise from current flow. Their flux densities are measured in microtesla (µT) or millitesla (mT).

The concern arises really because the human body also has electromagnetic fields.
Tiny electrical currents exist in the human body due to the chemical reactions that occur as part of the normal bodily functions. Our nerves relay signals by transmitting electric impulses. Even the heart is electrically active - an activity that can be traced with an electrocardiogram.

Low frequency and high frequency electromagnetic waves affect the human body in different ways. The main effect of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields is heating of body tissues.

According to the World Health Organisation, short-term exposure to very high levels of electromagnetic fields can be harmful to health. There are insufficint studies and inconclusive results regarding the long-term health effects caused by cumulative low level electromagnetic fields exposures.

I'm going to rather be safe than foolhardy - have my electrical appliances tested and switch it off when not used - I may even reduce my ecological footprint...

Chronic Diseases

Here's an extract from the World Health Organisation website:

• Chronic diseases are now the major cause of death and disability worldwide. Noncommunicable conditions, including cardiovascular diseases (CVD), diabetes, obesity, cancer and respiratory diseases, now account for 59% of the 57 million deaths annually and 46% of the global burden of disease.


• A relatively few risk factors – high cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity, smoking and alcohol – cause the majority of the chronic disease burden.


• A change in dietary habits, physical activity and tobacco control, have a major impact in reducing the rates of these chronic diseases, often in a relatively short time.


• Heart attacks and strokes kill about 12 million people every year; another 3.9 million die from hypertensive and other heart conditions.


• More than one billion adults worldwide are overweight; at least 300 million of them are clinically obese.


• About 75% of CVD can be attributed to the majority risks: high cholesterol, high blood pressure, low fruit and vegetable intake, inactive lifestyle and tobacco.


• Sustained behavioural interventions have been shown to be effective in reducing population risk factors.

Nutritional education can change all that!