michaels, Author at Better Innovations

5 Foods that Speed Up the Aging Process

October 25, 2011 By michaels

Did you know that in many areas of the US, the average life expectancy for women and men is actually declining? Itâ€™s true. For the first time in history, we are seeing a generation of children that may not outlive their parents. Despite technological and medical advances and groundbreaking scientific research, America has managed to become one of the most overly-indulgent and unhealthy nations in the world, with over 74 percent of the country being overweight or obese.

It all boils down to what we put into our bodies and how well we take care of ourselves. Everything that you put into your body has a consequence. Itâ€™s up to you to determine the nature of that consequence. Are you eating something that will benefit your health? Or are you eating something that will ultimately put your health jeopardy? The choice is yours.

Here are some foods that you might want to consider limiting or removing from your diet completely to ensure a long and healthy life:

Carbonated beverages â€“ This includes soft drinks, beer, energy drinks and even sparkling water. Many of these beverages contain high amounts of sugar. People who consume too much sugar are at greater risk for obesity, which also increases oneâ€™s risk of high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease â€“ the leading cause of death among women. The carbonation can also lead to bone loss and fractures and even medical conditions such as arthritis, scoliosis and osteoporosis.

Fried foods â€“ Nothing goes better with the big game than buffalo chicken wings and potato chips. While these foods are okay to consume once in a blue moon, eating too many fried foods can cause plaque buildup along the arterial walls, leading to a condition known as atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries. These foods are also cooked at extremely high temperatures, thus creating trans fats, which have been linked to coronary heart disease (CHD).

White grains â€“ This means white bread, white rice and others of the like. These foods have a very high glycemic index and contain little to no fiber â€“ an essential nutrient that aids in digestion and has been shown to aid in the prevention of a myriad of age-related diseases. A good healthy alternative to white grains is whole grains. Whole grains are high in fiber, have a low glycemic index and are really good for the heart too.

Red meat â€“ While red meat is teeming with essential animal proteins necessary for survival, middle-aged women and men who consume too much red meat have a greater risk of inflammatory-related diseases. Red meat also has high saturated fat content, meaning that it can increase the likelihood of heart disease. More recently, scientists discovered that carcinogens are released when red meat is cooked, meaning that cancer-risk is also a concern.

Sweets â€“ This is a pretty broad category, but if itâ€™s sweet, chances are that itâ€™s loaded with sugar. As I previously mentioned, sugars are okay if consumed in moderation, but too much sugar can cause metabolic issues and even lead to type II diabetes. Additionally, most desserts are high in trans fats and hydrogenated oils which can lead to further health complications.

About the Author

This post was written by Dr. Eric Honing, Phoenix bioidentical hormones expert. As the owner and operator of BodyLogicMD of Phoenix, Dr. Eric Honing dedicates his practice to bioidentical hormones therapy and hormone balance, and customized nutrition and fitness programs to help women and men experiencing symptoms of menopause and andropause (the male menopause), including weight gain, sexual dysfunction, declining energy levels, depression and stress. As a former Family Medical Doctor, Dr. Honing always desired to help patients achieve wellness through hormone balance and preventive medicine.

Managing Fat Intake for a Heart-Healthy Diet

September 7, 2011 By michaels

Think youâ€™ve successfully managed to cheat the system by munching on low-fat cookies and opting for frozen yogurts over ice cream? You may want to reconsider your peace of mind.

Fat fact: fats are the necessary evil to sustaining human life. Fats and cholesterol are the construction workers said by a recent study to build artery strength and repair damage inflicted on these core pathways running through our body; a low fat diet particularly decreases the ability of these fats to effectively attack problem areas surrounding your heart.

Fat myth: low-fat products are always healthy. Although our heart health and physical appearance is commonly attributed with our consumption of fats, even low-fat foods find themselves loaded with calories and, in some cases, loaded with more sugar than their â€œregular fatâ€ counterparts. There also remains the â€œlow-fat mentality;â€ that is, the idea that because something is lower in fat, we can eat more of it. The healthiest diets are those that balance portion sizes.

Yet the reality is that a lack of fat consumption is not the solution to heart disease or weight loss. Eliminating fats altogether only forces your body into a state of starvation, causing calories to burn at an even slower rate than your logic would have you believe.

Just as there are good carbs and bad carbs, there are good fats and bad fats. Naturally, the latter is to be avoided and managed by watching intake of bad cholesterol and bad fats that can be found in junk food; even in those snacks that are misleadingly labeled as â€œbakedâ€ or low-fat that still possess saturated and trans fats. Companies prefer to use positive terms to lead you to believe that something is significantly healthier for you, when the end result is actually quite questionable.

All the same, creating a heart-healthy diet does not necessarily mean compiling a fat-friendly new list of foods to consume. It does, however, mean monitoring where your fat intake is coming from and doing your best to intake monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats â€“ fats that are more than willing to befriend your heart health. These fats are commonly found in varieties of nuts, fish and in many soy products.

Also, consider that everything that enters your body has a calorie count; you may be eating something that claims to be low in carbs or low in fat, but that doesnâ€™t make it lower in calories if the low fat is counter-proportionate to the amount of carbs in the food item. For example, two tablespoons of the average peanut butter is said to have 191 calories, while reduced-fat peanut butter stands at an ever-so-slightly slashed 187 calories. These products also tend to see themselves loaded with more sugar than they otherwise would, which creates a natural tendency to leave an appetite unsatisfied and craving more. If your goal is weight loss, this diet-embracing label is very detrimental to your weight loss process.

Supplying your body with the right balance of nutrients and managing your intake of bad fats can be as simple as reading a label â€“ that is, beyond the emboldened â€œlow-fatâ€ print crawling across the front of a package. Learn to set benchmarks for your diet, and know better than to bring an entire box of cookies with you to your bedroom. (You know youâ€™re not going to stop at one.) At the same time, go into your diet realistically: give yourself breathing room so as to not completely polarize your fat-craving, sugar-crazed inner self. Weâ€™re only human, after all.

About The Author

NutraPlanet is an online nutritional store that offers health, vitamin and bodybuilding supplements for those looking to live healthy, burn fat, train professionally or simply stay in shape. Search NutraPlanet for a wide variety of products, from top fat burners like OxyElite Pro or mental health products like Piracetam.

Is There A Link To Diabetes and Astigmatism?

August 24, 2011 By michaels

Astigmatism is a vision problem where objects at any distance can appear blurred. It is usually corrected with glasses or contact lenses. It is one of a set of vision problems referred to as â€œrefractive errorsâ€, and this collection of conditions includes nearsightedness (myopia), farsightedness (hyperopia) and the loss of close vision associated with age (presbyopia). Refractive errors are not a health problem, but simply affect the way that eyes focus light.

Diabetes is a disease where sugar is not effectively moved from the blood stream into the cells. Sugar is vital as a form of energy and normally enters the cells of muscle, fat and liver to be used for energy or stored as a reserve. The hormone insulin is required to transfer sugar from the blood into the cells, and patients with diabetes either do not produce insulin (type 1 diabetes), or have developed a resistance to its action (type 2 diabetes). Diabetic patients therefore have high levels of sugar in their blood. Both type 1 and type 2 diabetes list â€œblurred visionâ€ as a symptom.

Diabetes is a complex disease, with symptoms which are wide-ranging and can be severe. Eye problems are well-documented and are referred to collectively as diabetic eye disease. Diabetic eye disease most commonly includes diabetic retinopathy, where the tiny blood vessels in the light-sensitive retina are damaged, but may also include cataracts and glaucoma. Astigmatism is not normally listed as a common component of diabetic eye disease, but is there a link?

To understand the nature of astigmatism, you should consider what causes it. Unlike other refractive errors of vision, astigmatism results in a blurred image of objects at any distance. It is normally due to a misshapen cornea at the front of the eye, or a misshapen lens. The typical analogy to describe the nature of an astigmatic cornea is to compare the shapes of a baseball and a rugby ball. The curvature of a baseball is the same across its surface because itâ€™s spherical. That is a good design for a cornea or for each face of the convex lens. A rugby ball is longer in one axis than the other, and that is the case with the astigmatic eye. Some light is bent more than others as it passes through the misshapen cornea or lens, resulting in a fuzzy image.

How might this relate to diabetes? Glaucoma is one of the diabetic eye diseases, and the loss of vision is due to destruction of the optic nerve. This is due to an increase in pressure in the fluid in the front of the eye, in the anterior segment between the cornea and lens. This is known as ocular hypertension and is found in patients with diabetes. This increase in fluid pressure could account for the blurred vision reported as a symptom of type 1 and type 2 diabetes, even though some sources describe ocular hypertension as not affecting eyesight. Increasing the pressure on the cornea and the lens could result in deformation of the shape of those eye elements in some people, resulting in the typical blurred vision of astigmatism.

There are also reports of high blood sugar levels directly affecting the shape of the lens, though the mechanism for this is unclear. Astigmatic vision problems have been reported in patients before treatment for diabetes, and resolving (or reported as farsightedness) upon treatment. Clearly there is some link between high blood sugar levels and vision, but it is unclear if these changes can be called astigmatism in the traditional sense.

About the Author

Dr. David Cronauer works for ReplaceMyContacts.com, an online retailer of cheap contact lenses such as Acuvue Oasys and Proclear Toric. He is a graduate of Wilkes University Pennsylvania College of Optometry where he received his Doctor of Optometry degree. Dr. Cronauer is certified in the treatment and management of ocular disease and specializes in vision-related problems for head injury and stroke victims.

Safeguarding Your Eyes

April 9, 2011 By michaels

This is a guest post from out friend Brett Oliveira, who works with BuyMoreContacts.com. Brett and his team offer lenses from Acuvue Oasys, Biofinity, and Purevision.

Even as we become increasingly health conscious as a society, the need to maintain eye health continues to be underemphasized. Following some simple guidelines for eye care can ensure that you guard your eyesight from unnecessary damage and can help to detect and treat problems early. However, these efforts are only effective if [Read more…]