Monday, May 30, 2011

IS YOUR CELL PHONE A HEALTH HAZARD

More than six billion minutes each day cell phones are sent in the U.S. Science suggests a link between heavy cell phone use (30 minutes or more a day) and an increase of a type of brain cancer. Now a new study suggests a link between the National Institutes of Health reports that electromagnetic radiation that is given off by a cell phone antenna triggers an increase of brain glucose in the area of the head that is closest to where the cell phone is held. Health effects remain unknown but if you want to minimize exposure until all the evidence is in, follow these proven safety tips from Devra Davis, PhD, an epidemiologist and author of the book Disconnect: The Truth About cell Phone radiation:

· Avoid direct contact with your cell phone during calls. Use the speaker phone setting or wired hands-free device. Although wireless Bluetooth devices do reduce radiation, they don’t eliminate it.
· Follow the bars. Radiation exposure increases when a cell phone’s signal is weak or when you’re traveling in a fast-moving car or train. That’s because the phone needs to constantly reconnect to new towers. Wait until you have three or more bars showing before you make your call.
· Tell your children to text. Because their skulls are thinner than adults, children absorb radiation at a higher rate when they hold a phone to their ear.
· Save the long chats for a non cordless landline or an internet phone system, like Skype. When you are on the go, let your fingers do the talking and send a text instead.

Friday, May 27, 2011

CHOLESTEROL CONTROL

According to cardiologist Michael H. Davidson, M.D., executive medical director of Radiant Research in Chicago, people who get about 6 g of pectin a day can lower their cholesterol by at least five percent. This amount can be found in three cups of grapefruit sections. Here at Carrington, grapefruit sections appear every morning at the Continental Breakfast, as well as platters of melons and orange slices. Yogurt and both hot and cold cereals are featured along with fruit juices, coffee, tea and toast. Two hours (between seven and nine a.m.) both dining rooms are available and residents sit wherever they wish. At other formal meals we sit at tables with three other residents. At 9:30 an exercise program is available on the Third Floor and we can follow the program with a TV exercise channel. We are also encouraged to walk the cement circular sidewalk around the building and can jot down the time distance at the main desk and keep track of doing a “virtual” walk to the Chartwell Headquarters in Ontario. We will soon be as far their main Saskatchewan Branch.

Judy Dodd RD, assistant professor in the School of Health and Rehabilitation at the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh and former president of the American Dietetic Association tells us how the pectin in the whole grains, beans, vegetables and fresh fruits dissolve into a gel that traps fat and cholesterol, transporting it into the stool. It glides through the body’s organs where other chemicals produced by the liver that interrupts the production of cholesterol. Whole grains, beans, and fresh fruit and vegetables, cooked or raw can be made into salads or a blender drink. There are over 400 strains of bacteria in the gut – some are good like the yogurts that contain probiotics and some are bad (pathogenic). The intestinal flora can be thrown off kilter by medications that may be advised by each person’s family doctor. They can explain why it is often neessary to take yogurt after consuming some medications. The intestinal flora can be thrown into disarray by too many sweets, and other refined foods. It is always a good idea to make a list of questions before your next trip to your family doctor.

Monday, May 23, 2011

COLDS AND FLU

There are 200-plus cold-causing viruses and they are very busy scouting around the body searching for an easy entry. When the body permits one or another of them to enter and feed on an imbalanced acid/alkaline balance in the system, illness can result. This depends on how much the acid/alkaline balance is off center. Flu shots can be effective in 70 to 90 per cent of cases if one is under 65 years of age, and also relates to the kinds of food being eaten. One of the best strategies against colds and flu is to eat all the immunity-boosting foods that can be found.

In Sweden, researchers gave half of a group of 262 people a supplement that contained the healthy bacteria (Lactobacillus reuteri) and the other half a placebo (dummy pill) once a day. After 80 days researchers found that the ones given the supplement were two and one half less likely to have caught a cold than the placebo-poppers. Not just any brand will do. In United States, the only brand containing Lacto bacillus neuteri is said to be Stonyfield Farm. For more details check with your local health food store

If one doesn’t keep yogurt handy, eating alkaline foods such as chicken soup, asparagus, avocado, chili peppers, garlic, hot red peppers, vitamin C rich foods such as acerola berries, broccoli, cranberry juice, grapefruit, oranges and most other fruits and vegetables. Using yams instead of the white potato is beneficial because of its low glycemic index. Eating close to 80 per cent alkaline producing foods and 20 per cent of the acid producing foods is a good mix, according to Simone Gabbay, RNCP. Acid producing foods include many of the proteins such as beef, fish, and beans. Grain cereals, such as millet, amaranth and quinoa are alkaline-producing cereals. Her most recent book is: “Edgar Cayce’s Diet Plan for Optimal Health and Weight Loss.” Visit her Web site at: simongabbay.com.

Friday, May 20, 2011

PEAS AND POTATOES

Peas are one of the colourful vegetables featured at dinner this week here at Carrington Retirement Home that is tasty and a delight to the eye as well. They are gliding around a serving of the potato that sits silently nearby. Unless their brown coats remain when baked, the potato is denuded of its most valuable asset and is to the compost. According to Mary Ellen Camire, PhD, professor in the department of food science and human nutrition at the University of Maine, her advice is, “To take advantage of the potato’s cancer fighting abilities, you really have to eat the peel. A potato’s healing ability contains an anti-carcinogenic compound called chlorogenic acid.”

When hosting a Thanksgiving dinner, my son noticed that I was sliding the skins from the kettle of boiled potatoes. “Don’t discard them and I will eat them with leftovers tomorrow,” he requested. Sometimes children can be wiser than a parent who may care more about what others think when there is a possible higher wisdom to consider. My son later received the gold medal as top student with honours when he graduated from the University of Victoria. From my son’s advice, I have always remembered to use the complete potato with its fashionable brown coat along with the rest of the potato. When I notice its brown coat still remains on the white plates as our pleasant servers carry away the most valuable asset from our table to join scraps, there comes a feeling of heart regret and a wish that other children will offer his advice to parents and help those who may be silently developing cancer cells.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

ORANGES

Here at Carrington we have a Continental breakfast and sit wherever we want in the dining area with friends and find the long counter lined up with large platters of sliced oranges, apples, grapefruit neatly sectioned, several varieties of melons, half a dozen varieties of cold cereals as well as hot cereal, brown sugar, milk, tea and coffee, a bowl of yogurt and half a dozen fruit drinks.

I saw and tasted my first orange when I was five years old, and continued to enjoy an orange once a year at Christmas time until it was time to leave home and attend high school in the nearest city since high school was not taught in small rural schools. The ladies in our farming district gathered at the home of someone with a sewing machine, cut out and sewed red and green net see-through bags for nuts and candy to be handed out after the Christmas program. At the top of the bag both an apple and orange were tucked in and placed under a Christmas tree to pass out after the Christmas Concert. Santa in his familiar uniform called out the names tags of the children along with other small gifts. I was delighted to receive a round pin cushion. I think Alice Bennett knew I liked to sew little things with a needle and thread and wrapped one up in pretty paper for my both my sister and I. Some of the young folks stayed to dance until midnight.

But the most exciting thing about oranges I would learn about later. Oranges contain limonene and helps block lung and breast cancers and plenty of vitamin C that works against those winter colds and flu. In a study at Duke University Medical Center, laboratory animals given a diet of limonene showed a 70 percent reduction of cancerous tumours. Among the tumours that remained, they shrank to 20 per cent to be less than half their former size. The way that limonene acts on tumour cells or lesions is really unique says Michael Gould, Ph.D., Professor of Oncology at the University of Wisconsin Medical School. Essentially, the compound gets cancer cells to self destruct. It assists them in their own suicide.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

BRAZIL NUTS HELP WARD OFF CANCER

Just one Brazil nut a day could help ward off colon cancer. These nuts are high in the trace mineral selenium and doctors at the University of Arizona found that men with high levels of selenium are six times less likely to develop colon cancer than men with low levels of selenium.

Researchers at the National Cancer Institute found that people with the highest intake of carotenoids – the pigments that give fruits and vegetables their colour, were as much as six times less likely to develop skin cancer than those with lowest intakes. Researchers speculate that beta-carotene plants itself in the skin, where its pigments help deflect sunlight. There are several other recent studies on sunlight now yielding the same results,” says Harinder Garewal, MD, PhD, professor of Medicine at the University of Arizona’s College of Medicine. These findings are important because they suggest that you can do something to reverse the onset of cancer. So eat the most carotenoid-rich yellow, orange, and red fruits and vegetables such as pumpkin, sweet potatoes, yams, watermelon and sweet red bell peppers.

Researchers reviewed 63 studies and found that high levels of vitamin D cut the risk of colon, ovarian, and breast cancer by up to 50 percent. They recommend getting 1,000 units of vitamin E per day. One cup of milk contains about 100 IU. For those who are intolerant to regular milk should make a change to goat’s milk with smaller fat globules that is easier and a more acceptable size for the human body to digest.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

THE POWER OF FOOD TO PREVENT HEALTH PROBLEMS

Apples, grapefruit and onions are among the foods considered leaders in the fight against cancer. In a study of more than a thousand people who had lung cancer the ones who ate the most of these three foods had half the risk of dying with lung cancer than those who ate the least amounts of these foods. These foods can all be found in pill form in health stores called quercetin but when taken with foods as nature has provided have the help of other enzymes making them more available for the digestive system. In this study the people who ate the most of these foods in their dietary regime had half the risk of lung cancer.

In another study in a Finland, researchers found that the men who consumed more quercetin were 60 per cent less likely to have cancer than men consuming lower quercetin intakes.

Basil Laboratory studies suggest that compounds in basil may help disrupt the dangerous chain of events that can lead to cancer. Basil’s ability to prevent cancerous changes was linked not to one particular compound in the herb but instead to several compounds working together, the researchers speculated. Basil is also a rich source of antioxidants. Per 100 g, it has more antioxidant content than dark chocolate, blackberries, strawberries or blueberries, according to the researchers. Of course a serving size of basil is tiny compared to the amount of berries that you would eat in one sitting. Helping ourselves to this extra dose is a great benefit against an environment that has pollution, ultra violet light, radiation and car exhaust that vastly increases free radical production.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

PLEASING THE PALATE - MENDING THE MUSCLES - SATISFYING THE SOUL AND HELPING THE HEART

All the benefits about the spice called Cumin have been known from ancient times and used to flavour many foods, often added to soups and found it also benefits many ailments. It is used by cooks in present day kitchens as these health benefits become better known. Cumin is also present in most curry powders. Some cooks use it in place of cayenne but cumin is said by others to have a more mild smoky type of flavour.

As spring moves into summer an addition of cumin to gravies, and all colourful vegetables help protect the skin, hair, and eyes from the sun’s harmful rays. Add to that its benefits to the liver and other related disorders as it moves through the entire system right down through to the exit with all body systems showing improvements. It is good to take notes on these benefits that have been felt throughout the body.

Ginger is another ancient root and is espoused by Victor Marchione, M.D. who has done experiments in New Zealand that has shown that Ginger relives Arthrtis, cleanses the colon, reduces cramps and improves circulation. It creates warmth throughout the entire body that gives suppleness, creates flexible joints and mobility, and reduces the unwanted prescriptions that can cause side effects.

The heart, considered the most important muscle, is then able to call on all other body systems that have been kept healthy and ready with supplies that keep the blood stream flowing ceaselessly for its urgent needs. Habits like smoking and overuse of alcohol is detrimental to the health of all other body systems.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

A VIRTUAL MOTHERS DAY FAMILY

With no family left in town for this Mother’s Day it seemed like it might be an interesting idea to honour this one by creating a Virtual Mothers Day Family. Selecting from among those whom I would want for my present day mother, I am lucky to have many choices - those who have treated others as well as me with integrity and honesty. A three day drive would bring me to St. George and since I travel only by walker or bicycle I’ll wait and see if the telephone lines will bring me a familiar voice.

The first person that comes to memory in the mid l920s is Alice Bennett, a neighbour who lived about two miles from my parent’s home near Orion, Alberta. It was my first week end “sleep over” and at five years of age I was thrilled. Alice and her husband had no children and perhaps it was a novelty for her as well. Alice called my mother on the barb wire telephone to invite me. My brother Paul had hooked it up on the fence line. My father hitched our team to his grain wagon and drove me over to Alice and her husband’s half section homestead. “No more teasing this weekend from my second brother who is always up to some mischief,” I told myself with delight.

The two men chatted outside about crops and the rain that was needed to fill the empty grain shells with seeds. Alice and I were gathering the eggs as my father gave me a wave, left the yard trail and made a right turn toward our family home as my hands waved their excitement. His wagon descended the next small rise and then disappeared from sight. At that moment a sudden emptiness filled my heart and seemingly my very soul as my whole being seemed to fall apart. I watched Alice set the supper table with exciting food not often seen at our simple home suppers. Suddenly all of Alice’s wonderful meal took on the status of ashes and I couldn’t eat. A special Thanksgiving type dessert had been placed in the oven but when the usual delicious fragrance of apple pie reached the table my appetite had vanished. Alice left the kitchen to strain and separate the milk that her husband brought from the barn and I tiptoed through their living room and sat silently in the semi-darkness of their glassed in porch, fighting back the tears. When she came back she held a plate of fresh made cookies and told me to eat as many as I wished. Alice was considered by the entire community to be a wonderful cook and like a special aunt to us but I could not imagine that I would ever be able to take a bite of food again. The barb wire telephone rang back home and my father’s old grain wagon became a fancy limo as my real Mother tucked me into my homemade little cot.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

HELPING EACH OTHER -LEARNING AND GROWING

Many new residents here at Carrington find it difficult to become accustomed to this sudden change. Their children may be among the working poor and cannot help their parents. Some churches offer help and one such place I know about is located next door to the Alliance Church where the working poor can come twice a week for clothing and food. These people may have to work all their lives to pay for the retirement of government and elected officials who receive generous retirement packages.

With the new wing of Carrington now open, volunteers were asked to help new ones fit in and find their way around. At the end of this Welcome Week one ticket is drawn and a prize awarded. We volunteers have had a great time getting to know these early builders of Canada during the depressions.

Our son put himself through the University of Victoria with summer jobs and scholarships. With the desperate need for doctors here we have had to import them from other countries, so we offered to provide help by paying the interest needed for needy student loans. Our parents had lost their three year old son, Harold, during the 1930s from a scarlet fever epidemic when vaccinations were not available. To honour his memory they decided to have one more child who might become a medical doctor and help others avoid such a sad loss. He became a teacher and now helps the people of Kenya establish group farms in light of possible food shortages in the future. My husband and many others working with him were required to use harmful chemicals in the work place. Unwittingly, these are the ones who helped invent our great improvements in communications TVs and iphones. My husband was dying of Parkinson’s disease that gradually damaged his brilliant mind. Companies selling them did not know how harmful these chemicals were. Since my nieces had registered in pre-med courses hoping to become medical doctors I offered to pay the interest required for their student loans. Other nieces and nephews were helped for just one year since they had chosen other professions and were doing well without further help. With some of the money our son returned to us when he paid his own way through university I advanced $30,000.00 for student loan interest. Their mother now says it has been used for good causes in promoting “the Lord’s work.” No medical doctor’s degrees happened. Please put all deals in writing or face the loss of your own retirement funds. Both parents have good government jobs and future pensions in place. Management here is working with me for a part-time job. I am 87 years old.