Archive for September, 2011

Losing weight the American way means easy breezy and versatile.. The one thing about research is the ludicrousness of the study doesn’t matter. It seems any study can come up with potentially accurate information. The one thing is I am hoping is the studies didn’t cost a fortune. There is no reasonable price for these studies.

The Large Fork Study

The first one is hard to be discrete when practicing. Researchers from the University of Utah in the Journal of Consumer Research found the larger your fork and the bigger you bite when you eat, the less you will probably end up eating when you are in a restaurant. They used two sizes of forks in a popular Italian restaurant to measure how much people ate, and found that the participants (who used a pitch fork) ate less than those with smaller ones. I am not sure what size folks were used but if you are going for results the bigger the better.

Further testing showed that when the participants were presented with plate loaded with food, those with large forks ate considerable less than those with small ones. The amount of food consumed was not influence by fork size when they were given small serving.

This means when you use a large fork always order a super sized plate of food. This will help at buffets where you can load your plate to overflowing.

Remember this doesn’t work for all settings. When this was tried with volunteers in a laboratory, the results were the opposite; the participants with the small forks ate less than those with the larger forks. So when you eat in a laboratory leave the pitch fork home.

The Neat Method

The next innovative way to lose weight has been put into practice by millions of people. It is often called Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT), simply put, it is the movement you do outside structured physical activity.

This is wonderful news to those that don’t like to move around much. All you have to do is start to fidget, with such activities as pacing, if lying on the couch chewing gum will do, and talking even if to yourself will burn some of those nasty calories.

At work drum your fingers against your desktop, while bobbing your foot under the desk. This is called incidental physical activities. On plane flights the person that squirms and shakes his legs may be annoying, but he is burning more calories than you. Your best bet is to emulate his movements, instead of complaining. .

To lose weight you have to mean business, so if you are right handed, shove food in with your left hand. Expect some misses, so wear old stained outfits. When you test these methods you will be doing it blindly, there isn’t much information on how long you have to do it to see results. Because the researchers care so much about your health, they didn’t bother to tell you the best foods to eat, or how to make fidgeting a lifestyle. I am sure there is another expensive study in the future, which will address those issues.

The disclaimer, check with your health care provider before embarking on losing weight with these methods. These are meant to bridge the gap, when simple calorie counting is too much trouble.

The real help for MS may be outside the medical model. Medical advances to deal with the condition hasn’t dramatically improved. The medical way is to focus is on high potency drugs. However, just like any of the other so called chronic conditions get ready for one drug after another. So the treatments of choice will be pharmaceuticals. For Multiple Scleroses this means profits for the pharmaceutical industry, and a suffering patient.

Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic and often disabling condition, which attacks the central nervous system, which includes the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves. Symptoms may be mild or severe, and come or go. The current thinking is that MS is a chronic condition and the only thing a patient can do is find relief.

According to most sources multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease. Autoimmune diseases are when the body’s immune systems which normally attacks substances foreign to the body such as bacteria mistakenly attacks normal tissue. In MS, the immune system is attacking components of the central nervous system such as the brain and spinal cord along with the optic nerves

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a medical mystery with a few theories on how it develops. It isn’t always easy to diagnose since symptoms can be very mild and transient.  To the medical community this condition like many others is in need of pharmaceuticals.

Medical Solutions

Treating MS follows the trend in managing chronic conditions by using a wide variety of medications to reduce the frequency and severity of symptoms. When one medication stops working they look for another drug.

The strategy is to modify the course of the disease (slow it down) treat exacerbations (flare-ups) manage symptoms, improve function. These treatments are symptom control and this is what drives the advances in modern medicine.

The drugs such as Avonex®, Betaseron®, Copaxone®, Extavia®, Gilenya®, Rebif®, and Novatron® come with the hopes that they can reduce disease activity and progression.

The list of possible side effects: depression, anemia, liver abnormalities, allergic reaction, flu like symptoms, anxiety, palpitations, and even chest pains. Some are short lived side effects, and some aren’t common ones. The real problem is the longer you are on them and the more combinations you take the bigger the danger. The documented effectiveness of these drugs isn’t very strong.

Real Answers!

Studies shows that living closer to the equator reduces MS risk. This fits in with research that suggests vitamin D from sun exposure may be protective against MS.  Vitamin deficiencies  play a part in this condition. Just about every chronic condition, which develops comes from inside. The promise of science hasn’t been realized unless you think high dosage medicine is the answer to all health problems.

The one treatment in the medical and pharmaceutical models not used is diet. This has the most implications to both relieve and reverse most of the symptoms. There has been a lack of monitoring diet by the medical community, not just because of ignorance and arrogance, but because this condition can abate and relapse on its own. Most people have to see for themselves what the active ingredients in plant foods can do to. A healthy way of eating is the prototype for any treatment options.

Diet Control

Multiple sclerosis responds to both diet and an exercise programs. The relief from diet and different exercise programs has been chronicled. The appropriate testing comes from the patients who have not just slowed the disease, but reversed much of the condition. In 1948 a Dr. Roy Swank created the first known MS diet. This diet is high in vegetables, fruits and nuts while eliminating saturated fats. To understand this you need a bigger view of this condition. Just about all condition are an inside out occurrence. Specific needs aren’t being met for your body to function properly.

There are thousands of patients that went into remission, and had lesions that decreased in size. The type of exercise is usually light: incorporating yoga and stretching exercises. This helps muscles flexibility and will lessen the chance of becoming stiff or developing atrophy.

There are other diets that include gluten and casein free ones. Flavonoids seem to offer some help and so does food allergy testing.  The notion that dug safety is a safe bet is fading. The future outlook is going to show that one stop answers that come from pharmaceuticals will raise more concerns than answer any questions.

Fibromyalgia patients need more than pharmaceuticals. What is needed is a solution, and the only way to find it means knowing the cause. If there ever was a condition crying our for a natural solution this is it.

Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia is a condition that has a profound impact on one’s life. The range of symptoms are so great than everyday living becomes a chore. From constant pain, interrupted sleep, fatigue, sore muscles, headaches, irritable bowel, anxiety and depression the condition is takes away any feeling of well being.

The fact that this is diagnosed in females aged 20 to 50 years of age doesn’t help. Until the pharmaceutical companies found a drug for this condition, most doctors thought of it as either a psychological problem or an imagined one. Now, it has an official diagnosis, which requires that there are a certain number of designated tender points that are extremely sensitive to pressure induced pain.

Pharmaceutical Solution

Pharmaceutical solutions can be anything from antidepressants, painkillers and anticonvulsants. Lyrica is an anticonvulsant and the first medication approved by the FDA  specifically for fibromyalgia. The list of medications for this condition has become quite long. Cymbalta and Effexor Cymbalta and antidepressant approved by the FDA to treat fibromyalgia pain, Paxil and Zoloft for sleep, wellbeing and pain relief. Elavil and other trycyclin antidepressants are often prescribed. This has side effects such as weight gain, dizziness and fatigue.

With all these drugs complete relief from the pain isn’t always possible. That is why the natural route seems a good way to find a solution.

Natural Approach

There are ways to restore normal function. Emerging evidence is being to see fibromyalgia as a metabolic condition. One of the areas being look at is how this condition is tied to low thyroid function. The evidence is pointing in that direction. Right off the bat there can are some overlapping symptoms that makes this well worth looking into. More women that men suffer from both hypothyroidism and fibromayalgia. The fibromyalgia symptoms are usually more severe, but they both create havoc in the patients life. From fatigue, depression, digestive issue and muscle weakness both conditions are debilitating.

Vitamin D Deficiency

There is a link between fibromyalgia and vitamin D deficiency. Muscular pain and weakness can be a sign of a vitamin D deficiency. What studies show is that Fibromyalgia sufferers have deficiencies of calcium and serotonin. These contribute to the depression, since vitamin D helps create serotonin, the feel good hormone, this vitamin is extremely important. Serotonin helps you sleep better, and reduces grain fog, depression and anxiety.

Vitamin D helps your body absorb calcium, which helps your muscles relax. The Mayo Clinic has identified a relationship between low levels of vitamin D and chronic pain.

Ribose Supplementation

D-Ribose is a 5-carbon sugar (unlike 6-carbon glucose sugar), directly involved in the production of “ATP”. The body uses this sugar for energy production. Many patients that supplement with D-Ribrose have experience significant improvement. This is especially true in muscle strength. Patient’s with fibro reach the anaerobic threshold in their muscles earlier. Their muscles get tired faster and are using less of the available energy. Ribrose increases the muscles energy pool which reduces the metabolic strain in affected muscles. This allows the patient to resume activities that tired them out before.

Restoring Health

The way to restore your health naturally, means seeing that you aren’t deficient in either nutrients or hormones. Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is a powerful antioxidant, which helps restore energy in the form of adenosine triphospate (ATP). This is deficient in people with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome.

Physical activity provides some pain relief along with improved sleep. There are many people that see benefits of a diet consisting of vegetable juicing, fruits, seeds, and barley grass juice. A whole food diet is essential to healing.

The one modality I don’t want to leave out is Upper Cervical Chiropractic Care. Many patients were able to resume their full activities after treatment.