Posts Tagged ‘Lower’
How To Lower Blood Sugar Levels
January 30th, 2010 
admin Every year countless number of people are diagnosed with diabetes and there are millions of people who die of this dreaded disease every year. Medical science is fast looking for a permanent cure to curb diabetes but to this date it has not met with any major success. In this article we are going to discuss some simple lifestyle changes which can help you keep diabetes under control and how some herbs can help in you leading a normal life even if you have been diagnosed with diabetes.
Lifestyle Changes
If you have been diagnosed with having diabetes the first thing is not to panic but take it in your stride. Take it as a challenge and introduce some healthy changes in your life like if you are overweight start an exercise regimen to loose weight because obesity and diabetes is a dangerous combination which can cause other diseases to crop up. Also avoid eating foods which are rich in sugar content. Vegetables like bitter gourd and green vegetables have been found to be very effective for diabetes patients. Also apple is a great fruit for diabetics they only contain about 80 calories and have loads of nutrition stored in them. Also one more important thing is to keep your carbohydrates intake into check.
Herbs That Curb Diabetes
There are certain herbs mentioned in alternative form of treatment which have been found to be very effective in keeping blood glucose level in control. Like gymnema sylvestre is one such herb which lowers the amount of sugar body absorbs from intake of foods. Also it has been found to promote the pancreas to produce beta cells which are the major source of insulin. Other herbs like salacia oblonga and pterocarpus marsupium also act as great supplements to keep diabetes under check.
Precautions
It has been found that some people completely stop taking their prescription medicines when they switch to herbal medicines which is completely wrong because herbs take their own course of time to treat the patient so if you are taking herbal pills you can take them along with your regular medicines so that your health does not deteriote.
Cutting Edge Technology Provides Relief For Lower Back Pain
January 29th, 2010 admin There are a lot of treatments for lower back pains. Depending what the cause of the pain might be traditional doctors might prescribe medicine or in a worst case scenario recommend surgery. While both of these options might work both have the potential to take you out of your daily routine as medicine can impair you and surgery can incapacitate you. Additionally both medicine as well as surgery, more often than not, treat only the symptoms rather than the cause of the pain itself. There are alternatives however for those living and dealing with both nagging and debilitating lower back pain.
Many Orange County Chiropractors for example offer treatments to sufferers of lower back pain that require no downtime. These Chiropractors employ a wide variety of different treatments and techniques to not just alleviate pain in the lower back but to address and attack the cause of the pain as well in an effort to permanently rid the patient of pain. Expensive medicines only mask the symptoms, while treatments from an experienced Chiropractor are designed to treat the causes of lower back pain.
One of the newest treatments being offered by Orange County Chiropractors is “DRX9000 Spinal Decompression”. Prior to the invention of this treatment those suffering from spinal disc issues had very few options available to them and had to rely on heavy medication to lessen their lower back pain. Spinal Decompression however addresses compressed nerves in the back by utilizing state of the art technology and applying a distraction force to the nerves. Patients who receive this treatment from a Chiropractor often state that they begin feeling relief immediately following treatment and are able to resume their day to day activities right away.
Chiropractic treatments like “DRX9000 Spinal Decompression” are changing the way many people view Chiropractors and the options they offer. Many sufferers of lower back pain often seek out a Chiropractor before visiting a traditional medical doctor simply because they want to avoid pricey medicines as well as surgeries that sometimes fail or must be repeated. People have busy lives and more often than not, can not afford to have any down time and as a result many with lower back pain begin speaking with a Chiropractor so that the cause of their pain can be treated and so that they can get on with their lives.
Those living with lower back pain should locate Chiropractors in their local neighborhood and find out if they offer state of the art techniques similar to or comparable to “DRX9000 Spinal Decompression”. If no local Chiropractors offer cutting edge techniques such as this a simple search online through a search engine will reveal what Chiropractors offer such things and where they’re located. Living with pain is difficult and costly, treating the cause of that pain and then alleviating it shouldn’t be.
Posted in Medicine 
Tags: Back, Cutting, Edge, Lower, Pain, Provides, Relief, Technology 
No Comments »Can I Lower My Cholesterol Without Drugs?
January 25th, 2010 admin It’s been 20 years since I completed the Ironman Triathlon. Now my Olympic dreams have given way to the nightmare of paying for my kids education. Still, I workout regularly, eat well and almost fit into the jeans I wore in the ’80s. So…
How Could I Possibly Have A Cholesterol Problem?
Since I’m your doctor, I’m a little embarrassed to reveal my cholesterol numbers. But if we’re going to beat it together-here they are:
?My total cholesterol is 213 (not terrible, since the goal for total cholesterol is below 200).
?My LDL (low density aka bad cholesterol) is 155. The ideal for bad cholesterol is below 130 (100 if you have heart problems). LDL, cholesterol’s evil step brother, got its bad reputation by filling your arteries with fat causing high blood pressure, heart attacks, strokes and dementia. The LDL may be the single most important number we measure.
?My HDL (good cholesterol) is 55. HDL should stay over 45 for men and 55 for women. The higher the better since HDLs remove the fatty plaques from your arteries and brings them to the liver for elimination
The ratio of total cholesterol to HDL is important to measure. It tells us the amount of fatty material floating around in comparison to the amount being removed. The ideal ratio is 3.5 or less. So if my HDL is 55, to have an ideal cholesterol to HDL ratio of 3.5, my total cholesterol has to be 192 or less (your HDL x 3.5 = the highest total cholesterol you can have and still be ideal.) Try it out…plug in your HDL, multiply it by 3.5 and see if your cholesterol is out of balance.
All Men May Be Created Equal, But All Fats Aren’t
The leading causes of death in the U.S. are heart attacks, cancer and strokes. These diseases all have one thing in common; they are all related to the type of fat we eat. Notice that I didn’t say the amount of fat. That’s not nearly as important (although obesity is!).
Some fats actually improve our health. They correct our cholesterol balance, prevent heart attacks, reduce the chance of stroke and prevent inflammatory diseases such as Rheumatoid Arthritis.
You’ll spot the good fats. They’re liquid at room temperature and consist of:
?Monounsaturated Oils like olive oil, canola oil, oils derived from nuts and avocados.
?Polyunsaturated Oils like corn, soybean, and safflower oils and fish.
Some Fats Aren’t So Good. They’re solid in room temperature and are called:
?Saturated Fats. They’re found in whole milk, red meat, chicken skin, butter, cheese, chocolate and even coconuts. Basically, milk products and meat contain saturated fats. They raise both good and bad cholesterols, but hurt the proper cholesterol/HDL ratio.
Some of us have to be more careful than others since 75% of our cholesterol is manufactured by the liver. In other words, if you’ve got the bad cholesterol genes and your liver continually pumps out cholesterol, you need to act on this newsletter. Others can just pass it on to those who aren’t so blessed.
The Most Evil Fat of All is:
?Man made and prematurely ages and kills thousands of people every year.
?Not safe in any amount to anyone (Institute of Medicine).
?Responsible for Significantly Raising our Bad Cholesterol While Lowering Our Good Cholesterol.
?So unhealthy that even bacteria and mold won’t grow on it.
They are called Trans Fats
These are fake, man made fats. They started as real oils but were heated then cooled until they became solid. This process is called hydrogenation (because it adds hydrogen). You know who they are; they’re the fried foods, fast foods, commercial packaged baked goods, margarine, vegetable shortening and all products that say “hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated” in the ingredients.
You’ll see them all over packaged foods because they never die or go bad. They nearly last forever, since mold and bacteria won’t even grow on them. Nothing will!
In fact, The Nurses’ Health Study found when they replaced only 30 calories of carbohydrates with 30 calories of trans fats the risk of heart disease nearly doubled. When they replaced 80 calories of carbohydrates with 80 calories of either polyunsaturated or monounsaturated fats (the good fats), your chance of heart disease dropped by 30 to 40 percent. THAT’S A BIG HEALTH GAIN WITH LESS THAN 100 CALORIES OF DIET CHANGE!
Let’s put it another way…
By replacing that glob of margarine with olive oil, you’ll lower your chance of heart disease by one-third.
Is it worth it?
This is so important that in January 2006, a law requiring all food packaging to state whether it contains trans fats goes into effect.
To summarize, fats can be either liquid or solid at room temperature. Always choose liquids, they are the good fats. Fats that are solid at room temperature should be avoided. When cooking with oil, stir fry…don’t deep fry.
If you need to buy foods with trans fats, make sure they are listed as low as possible on the ingredient list. The higher on the list, the more in the food.
Is There Anything I Can Take, Naturally, To Balance My Cholesterol?
There appears to be three or four effective products worthy of a try, such as:
Garlic: While there is disagreement in the literature, the garlic that hasn’t had its odor removed (wild garlic) may lower your total cholesterol, bad cholesterol and triglycerides (circulating blood fat) about 10%.
Fish Oil: An abundant quantity of research seems to conclude that 1-2 grams of a fish oil supplement per day reduces your chance of a heart attack and stroke by preventing dangerous, irregular heart rhythms, thinning the blood, lowering triglycerides and preventing inflammation. In fact, one large trial found that by taking just 1 gram per day of fish oil over a 3.5 year period reduced the risk of dying from heart disease by 25 percent in those who already survived one heart attack. While it significantly lowered triglycerides, it seemed to slightly raise bad cholesterol.
Since women’s hearts are especially sensitive to high triglycerides. Those whose levels are high may benefit from taking 4 g/day of fish oil. Adding apple pectin (a type of fiber) to the fish oil seems to increase its triglyceride lowering ability even further. Flax seed oil, also an Omega 3 fatty acid (like fish oil), doesn’t seem to lower triglyceride levels.
So make sure it’s fish oil not just Omega 3 Fatty Acids.
Niacin: (Nicotinic acid) Lowers bad and total cholesterol and raises good cholesterol. It also can lower triglycerides. Unfortunately the dose needed for treatment is about 100 times more than the Recommended Daily Allowance and can potentially be toxic, especially to your liver. It should be considered a medication and taken only under your doctor’s directions if the other natural alternatives weren’t effective or appropriate.
Plant Sterols and Stanols: These plant products are added to some margarines and prevent the absorption of cholesterol in our intestines. In daily use, it has consistently lowered bad cholesterol about 10%.3,7 So far it does not appear to have long term negative effects. Life long use is predicted to result in a 20% decrease in coronary events.
But, The Best Is Saved For Last
Policosanol: A sugar cane derivative that lowers total cholesterol by 16% to 21%, bad cholesterol by 21% to 29% and raises good cholesterol by 8% to 15%. Although it’s triglyceride lowering effects have not been consistent, other cardiac benefits such as the prevention of clots and the dangerous oxidation of bad cholesterol have been demonstrated. Three year follow-ups have not shown negat
ive side effects. 10-20 mg/day seems to be just as beneficial as higher doses.
Standard pharmaceutical treatments today include Statin Drugs, such as:
? Mevacor
? Zocor and
? Pravachol
They work by interfering with the liver’s ability to produce cholesterol and increasing its ability to remove cholesterol from the blood. Although statins can lower LDL cholesterol by as much as 60 percent, they can also damage the liver and, in rare incidences, cause a serious or deadly illness.
But, there’s good news. The chances of dying from the three leading causes of death (coronary vascular, cancer and strokes) are largely under your control.
Don’t Tell Me These Three Steps Are Too Hard…
1. Test your cholesterol (good, bad and total) and triglycerides
2. Watch the type of fats you eat.
o Eat fats that are oils at room temperature
o Moderately limit meat and dairy fats
o Severely limit margarine, fried foods and packaged food with the word “hydrogenated” in the ingredients.
3. If your cholesterol or triglycerides are elevated or out of balance, talk to us about whether you are a candidate for natural treatments. They can be very effective and may prevent the need for medications. Sometimes medications are necessary but the supplements may allow you to take a lower dose.
Lower Cholesterol Naturally Without Drugs
January 24th, 2010 admin Diet to lower cholesterol is very simple if you know which type of cholesterol in the foods you must keep off. The best diet to lower cholesterol is one designed to lower blood pressure: * [the DASH diet, the all-around best diet for controlling cholesterol, diabetes, blood pressure and weight. A diet to lower cholesterol is only a small factor in influencing your body’s total cholesterol level. There are also supplements on the market that can make it easier to lower cholesterol naturally. Changing your diet to lower cholesterol is usually the first step in cholesterol maintenance, before medicines are added.
Dietary cholesterol is found only in foods that come from animals. Diets have gotten worse because poor people are eating crappy food, not because the diet fairy left them with the pork rinds rich people didn’t want. Diet can be a very effective tool for lowering blood pressure. Dieting to lose weight will certainly improve your health but if you already have existing health problems , then you need to have a healthy diet based on what foods you need to include and what foods you need to omit at mealtime. Diets rich in beans, peas, rice bran, barley, oat bran, whole grains, citrus fruits and apple pulp can help lower cholesterol levels, especially when additionally cutting back on animal products and fats. Eat fresh fruits and vegetables, raw when possible.
Most doctors and fitness specialists recommend that you exercise for at least 30 minutes a day for optimal health benefits. Be aware that lifestyle factors such as diet, health and fitness levels will all play a part in maintaining overall health and routine cardiovascular health. It’s really nice to know that now fast-foods establishments even offer low-fat or non-fried food options, helping those on the road to fitness stick to their plans.
Exercise and eating healthy foods is the key to long healthy life with out worry and fear of being within the high risk groups for hypercholesterolemia. It is important however to remember regular exercise and herbal supplements along with a lowering cholesterol diet to get the most benefit from it, as those two things are just as important to get the best results. Another benefit of regular exercise is weight loss, which can also help increase HDL cholesterol and lower LDL cholesterol levels. Exercise itself doesn’t directly lower cholesterol, but will strengthen the heart and entire circulatory system. Buying a rebounding video is a good idea if you’d prefer structured exercise instruction. Exercise 30 minutes a day as often as you can in a week.
Just a few diet changes, a good combination of supplements, vitamins, herbs, spices, and exercise is all that is needed to get started on a diet for
lowering cholesterol. Not just any herbal supplements, but those which only contain natural ingredients. It’s also critical that you only purchase supplements made from what are called standardized herbal extracts. Some of these supplements will actually help you to extend your life by insuring against poor health. Supplements lower cholesterol naturallyResearch also shows that improvement results can be dramatic if you were to strongly consider the combined use of regular exercises and the regular use of nutritional supplements, which are clinically proven to lower cholesterol naturally with no side effects. Supplements such as Omega-3, inositol hexaniacinate, pantethine, and guggulipid can be effective in lowering cholesterol. Remember
that the approach with drugs and / or dietary supplements is to supplement and not to replace a healthy diet and exercise.
How to lower cholesterol by 14 percent without cholesterol medications and without side effects. You can lower cholesterol naturally with many different cholesterol lowering herbs and nutrients. Dieting to lose weight will certainly improve health but if existing health problems already exist, such as high cholesterol, a diet to lower cholesterol is essential. The conclusion of the experts is that good regular exercising and a diet to lower cholesterol is a must.