Health news blog

As a rule, you can’t feel good if your muscles are weak. Instead, you feel tired, below par. Feeling this way affects your emotional state. You probably feel depressed and unhappy with your inability to perform the activities you want to do. Many people tell me they can’t carry bags of groceries because their arms feel too tired.

For these and other reasons, it’s important that you tone the large-muscle groups in your arms and legs. Brisk walking or jogging tones your legs. Swimming tones arms and legs. For my arm exercise I keep two barbells near my bathroom sink. I turn on the Physician’s Radio Network in the morning to hear the latest medical news and do these three exercises for the muscles of my arms and shoulders. Start with light weights; three or five pounds is fine. I believe it’s better to do more repetitions with light weights than to struggle through fewer repetitions with heavy weights. You can always increase the weight as you get stronger.

Bicep Curl: The biceps are the muscles on the “inside” of your upper arm, the muscles that tighten when somebody rolls up their sleeves and “makes a muscle.” Hold one weight in each hand, with your arms resting at your sides. Your little fingers should be closest to your body, your thumbs furthest away. Keeping your elbows firmly at your sides, lift your hands, bending your arms at the elbow, and bring the weights up until they almost touch the front of your shoulders. Then lower your arms back to the starting position and repeat. Do five to start. Gradually work up to 20 to 30 curls without stopping.

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CRUNCHY POTATO SALAD

2 lbs. potatoes 1/2 cup celery 1/2 cup sweet red peppers 3/4 cup scallions 1/4 cup parsley 1/2 cup nonfat yogurt

2 tbls. cider vinegar

1 tsp. curry powder

Wash all vegetables. Skin potatoes, chop celery, pepper and parsley; thinly slice scallions. Steam or boil potatoes until tender, then drain. Cut potatoes into 1/2-inch cubes, and combine with chopped vegetables. In a small bowl, mix yogurt, vinegar and curry powder. Stir yogurt mixture into potato mixture. Cover and refrigerate until serving time. Excellent for carry-out lunches.

Serves 4 to 6.

OKRA STEW

1 large onion

4 medium tomatoes

1 clove garlic, minced

1 six-oz. can tomato paste

2 tsps. lemon juice 1/2 tsp. oregano

1 lb. okra

Wash vegetables. Chop onion and tomatoes. Saute onion and garlic in water until tender. Add tomato paste, tomatoes, lemon juice and oregano. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Wash okra and cut off the cone-shapped top. Add to tomato mixture. Simmer, covered, 20-30 minutes. Serve over hot grains.

Serves 4.

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Take care of your “doctor within” and your immune system— starting now. Don’t wait for the trouble signs to appear, because by then it may be too late. The road to lifelong immunity starts right here, right now, with the Immune For Life program.

The Immune For Life program begins by acknowledging the importance of your “doctor within.” I designed the program to, first, stop harming the good doctor and, second, to begin strengthening this ally. Whatever your immune status, you can begin—right now—to make the changes in your habits and lifestyle to stop harming your “doctor within” and put you on the road to vibrant health and happiness. Here are the basics of the Immune For Life program:

1. Do you know if your diet is sabatoging your “doctor within”? Or how many health-destructive negative thoughts pass through your mind every day? Knowledge is power. Find out whether your life-style and daily habits are helping or harming your “doctor within.” In the Immune For Life Workbook that starts on page 149, you’ll find a series of quizzes that will help you evaluate your daily habits and thoughts. Taking the quizzes will teach you a great deal about yourself and will point to potential trouble spots for your “doctor within.”

2. Stop harming your “doctor within” and immune system with the dangerous Standard American Diet. Instead, add years to your life and life to your years by switching to the Super Food diet. Find out which foods are the Super Foods, with extra power to protect you against cancer, heart disease, strokes, diabetes, depression and other diseases.

3. Make sure your “doctor within” is getting all the vitamins and minerals it needs by adopting a Nutri-Prevention program of supplements best suited to your needs. Your program may include DLPA—dl-phenylalanine—a natural and safe nutrient that bolsters the immune system, blocks chronic pain and relieves certain types of depression by protecting and enhancing the endorphin hormones.

4. Meld your mind and body into an invincible barrier against depression, negative thinking, physical and emotional disease. Learn how not to be a stress seeker who risks heart disease and other problems by trying to take on the world single-handed. Find out whether you’re a stress phobic, with depressed, unhappy thoughts that increase your risk of cancer and other diseases. Learn to make affirmations and visualizations a part of your everyday Immune For Life program.

5. Discover how brisk walking and other simple exercises can strengthen your “doctor within,” bolster your immune system and fight depression.

6. Soothe and simultaneously energize your “doctor within” with Meditative Relaxation. This is an excellent way to dispose of the stress, anger and frustration that are so destructive to your health and happiness.

The Immune For Life program is relatively simple. But it all depends on your making, here and now, a firm and irrevocable commitment to zestful health, happiness and longevity.

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When you pay more than 50% of the support for an individual, tax benefits can result… • When the individual’s income doesn’t exceed $3,200 in 2005 or $3,300 in 2006 (excluding tax-exempt income, such as from municipal bonds and the tax-free portion of Social Security),

you may be able to claim him/her as a dependent to obtain a tax exemption of $3,200 in 2005 and $3,300 in 2006.

note: New rules apply to a qualifying child. Income may not matter and support only becomes critical if the child pays more than half.

• Even if the individual has income exceeding the limit, you may be able to deduct medical expenses you pay on his behalf if the individual is a relative. (Ë “relative” is a parent, grandparent, sibling, child, grandchild, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew or in-law.)

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Consider asking your doctor not to include especially sensitive information in your record. You might say, “If I tell you something very personal that may be relevant to my care but that I don’t want to be written in my chart, would you respect my wishes?” If your doctor is unwilling to honor your request, you’ll have to decide whether you still want to reveal the information.

Keep in mind that keeping important information out of your chart could compromise your care down the road—especially if you see another doctor or if your doctor fails to remember what you said. Keep information out of your record only if you feel doing so is absolutely essential.

Be wary of any medical information you give out, no matter how innocent it seems. A TV ad once offered free information on pollen counts to anyone who called an 800 number. The names of those who called were then used by the drug company that had sponsored the ad to market an allergy medication.

Get a copy of your medical records to make sure all information is factually correct. An error in your chart could lead to the loss of employment or future insurance coverage.

In most states, you have a legal right to your medical records. In the rest, you can ask your doctor for a copy of your chart. If your doctor won’t provide it, you’ve got to wonder whether your doctor views health care as a democracy or a dictatorship.

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Grain products, including pasta, oatmeal, hot and cold breakfast cereals and bread, are divided into two subgroups— whole and refined. Whole grains, by definition, contain the entire grain—the bran (outer coating), germ (seed embryo) and endosperm (also called the kernel, it makes up most of the seed). Examples include whole-wheat flour, cracked wheat (bulgur) and brown rice.

Whole grains are rich in fiber, which has been shown to reduce risk for heart disease, diabetes and some cancers. They provide large amounts of vitamins and minerals that are sometimes lacking in our diet, including magnesium, selenium, potassium, zinc, vitamin E and chromium.

Refined grains are milled to remove the bran and germ, which gives them a finer texture and lengthens their shelf life. This process is also nutritionally devastating—it removes the healthful fiber, iron and many  vitamins and other vitamins and minerals found in whole grains.

Since refined grains are digested more quickly than whole grains, they can cause spikes in blood sugar and insulin secretion, which can increase hunger—and diabetes risk. Refined grains include white flour, white rice and white bread.

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Placing duct tape (or other tape) over warts to get rid of them is not just an old wives’ tale. A recent study found that placing tape over warts is more effective at eliminating them than standard medical therapy.

the study: Participants who had warts on fingers, palms, heels or soles of the feet were divided into two groups. One group put tape on warts for six days, then soaked the warts and scraped them with emery boards, waited 12 hours and reapplied the tape, repeating the process. The other group had their warts frozen off by a doctor, which is standard therapy.

result: After just two months, 85% of those using the tape had gotten rid of their warts, versus only 60% of those who had received the standard freezing treatment.

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The researchers say there is no clear proof that surgery is better than rehabilitation, and suggest that rehabilitation should routinely be made available to people who have chronic low back pain.

Their cost analysis also found that, on average, surgery is much more expensive per patient than rehabilitation.

However, the researchers caution, this conclusion could change if more patients who receive rehabilitation go on to require back surgery in the future.

Limit conversation with your doctor before he/she takes your blood pressure.

background: Many people whose blood pressure is normal at other times experience a sudden rise in pressure at the doctor’s office.

cause: Anxiety associated with interacting with the doctor. This “white coat” effect—named for the doctor’s garb—makes it hard to get an accurate reading.

study: Hypertensive patients who talked with the doctor before having their blood pressure checked had a sudden rise in blood pressure. This effect was more drastic during discussions of stress and disease than during chitchat. During periods of silence, blood pressure rapidly fell.

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While it works for rats, researchers can’t say for certain that dietary supplements of the metal chromium can extend a human life span. But, according to the researchers from Bemidji State University in Minnesota, the findings are promising.

During the study, researchers gave a special chromium supplement to ten rats and compared them to 20 rats that received chromium in a form less readily absorbed. After almost 3 1/2 years, the researchers reported that 80 percent of the rats that received chromium picolinate. Were still alive, while all the other rats were dead. The results show that the rats that received the supplements lived an average of one year longer than the others.

Until now, research had uncovered only one factor which could produce substantial increases in life span in animals— a significant reduction in caloric intake. The new information about chromium supplements changes all of that because the supplements can produce an equally large increase in life span without any dietary restrictions.

According to one expert, more than 90 percent of adult Americans have a chromium deficiency, mostly because it is not readily absorbed from many foods. Recently, researchers from the USDA developed and patented a form of chromium, called chromium picolinate that is easily absorbed. That’s the form the researchers used in the 3 1/2 year study.

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Frostbite can affect any part of the body that is exposed to extremely cold temperatures, but it most commonly “gets” the nose, ears, fingers, and toes. If only the skin and underlying tissues are damaged, complete recovery is possible. If, however, blood vessels are affected, the damage is permanent.

Relatively mild forms of frostbite can occur suddenly in very cold weather when you are shoveling snow or taking a walk. It is important that you know not only how to treat frost bite, but how to avoid it altogether. Here are several tips from some medical experts.

1) Know the symptoms— the first symptoms usually include a pins-and-needles sensation followed by complete numbness. The skin will most likely appear white, cold and hard, and then become red and swollen. Following warming of the tissue, peeling and blistering may occur.

2) Stay out of the wind— your exposure to extreme cold is made worse if it is also windy. Wind-chill factors play an important role in contributing to frostbite.

3) Take advantage of your own body heat— you can warm your fingers and hands by placing them under your armpits. This is a measure you can use if you can’t get indoors right away.

4) Don’t warm the affected area with dry, radiant heat— frostbitten skin is easily burned and you should be properly warmed by immersion in lukewarm water— 104 to 110 degrees F.

5) Avoid alcohol and smoking— in the case of frostbite, instead of making you warm, alcohol actually causes you to lose more heat. Smoking only makes your extremities more vulnerable to the cold by reducing circulation.

6) Don’t rub frostbite with snow or ice.

7) Don’t touch metal— if you touch freezing metal with your bare hand your skin may freeze to the metal and tear badly when you pull it away.

Dress for the cold— wear several layers of light clothing rather than one bulky or heavy garment.

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