With cold and flu season around the corner, it is more important than ever to bolster your immune system this fall and winter. Here are some natural, simple solutions that will help protect you!
1. Chestnuts bolster immunity
In both Asia and the Mediterranean region, chestnuts have been popular for centuries. Chestnuts differ from other nuts with their low fat content and high fiber. They have a mild, sweet taste and a crumbly consistency. An excellent source of potassium, folate, vitamins B6 and C, bolster the immune system to fight off the flu and combat infections. This flu season, introduce more chestnuts into your cooking: they are good roasted in the oven, cooked with chicken, lamb, beef, or pork, or in any dish with beans and legumes.
2. Stimulate your thymus
Your thymus is a fist-size gland located behind your sternum in the center of your chest. It plays a critical role in the functioning of the lymphatic and immune systems. It develops over time, reaching peak size when you are in your early 30s, then begins to physically diminish until it shrinks to the size of a pea around age 70. You experience the gland's waning as waning energy in your body.
One way to stimulate your thymus is to use acupressure. With your index and middle finger, gently tap against the sternum (midway between the nipples) 50 times, in the morning and evening.
3. Be healthy with bee products
Royal jelly has long been regarded in Asia as a longevity tonic that enhances energy, virility, and immunity. Rich in vitamins and collagen, royal jelly is used to feed queen bees. An antibacterial protein in the substance, dubbed royalisin, is effective against certain bacteria, including streptococcus and staphylococcus.
Bee propolis is rich in flavonoids that have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. It also contains terpenoids that possess antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, and antiprotozoan agents. Not unlike some prescription antibiotics, propolis prevents bacterial cell division and breaks down the invading organism's cell walls and cytoplasm.
Find royal jelly and bee propolis in enriched honey or in supplement form from herb shops and health food stores.
4. Beta-carotene Builds Immunity
Beta-carotene is a powerful antioxidant that improves immune function and promotes mucous membrane health. In fact, a 1997 study conducted by the Institute of Food Research in the United Kingdom suggested that dietary intake of beta-carotene can enhance cell-mediated immune responses. How to get these beta-benefits this flu season? Eat more orange-colored vegetables, including carrots, winter squash, butternut squash, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, and yams. Additionally, these are all an excellent source of Vitamin C, a famous immune support.
6. Treat Your Body Right
Encourage your body to fight flu and other infections by giving it the care it needs.
• Get at least 7 hours of quality sleep every night. Studies show that your immune system function drops by an average of 60% after just three nights of poor sleep.
• Keep your stress level low with meditation, tai chi, or yoga.
• Dry body brushing daily can activate lymph circulation that is important to clear out toxic debris and stimulate immunity.
• If you feel your immune system has already been compromised and illness is on the way, consider this Cold & Flu elixir, which supports recovery as it boosts your immune system.
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Discover Natural Ways to Avoid the Flu
Employment Crossing
Last year, we read news all over the world indicated unemployment happened almost everywhere, it meant that employee supply was far more exceeding the jobs available on that period. Although crisis hasn’t over yet but many experts agreed that the current economic condition has shown some significant improvement.
We can see the recovery is starting and one of the signs is the increasing numbers of vacancies. More and more vacancies are available these days, this condition has triggered more jobs sites are now available, particularly over the net. If you have a closer look to the jobs sites, you will find that most of them are working for employer, very rare that they work for the jobs seekers!
Only few have decided to work for the jobs seekers, among the few is EmploymentCrossing.com. Right on the homepage, people can find some interesting facts that make this jobs site totally different from the other jobs sites. This site has done their homework very well, they take your jobs search seriously, the tag line of this provider shows it’s all “Your career is too important not to research every job opening you can find.”
And for this specific reason EmploymentCrossing Reviews every employer career webpage they can find so they can provide every vacancy listed for their members. This provider also review every job they can find from job board, newspaper classified-want-ads, all Fortune 500 and Fortune 1,000 companies, and job openings from all Inc. 500 and Inc. 5,000 companies. The result is jobs added on daily basis reached hundred of thousand, more vacancies always mean more opportunity for jobs seekers.
When it comes to employment opportunity, this site is worth to be considered. Just visit the site and compare with others jobs sites and you will find this site has dedicated their service focusing on research jobs!
Diabetic Retinopathy - Prevention
There are steps you can take to reduce your chance of vision loss from diabetic retinopathy and its complications:
Control your blood sugar levels.
Long-term studies show that keeping blood sugar levels as close to normal as possible reduces the risk of the development and progression of retinopathy.3, 5 Keep blood sugar levels near normal by eating a healthful diet, frequently monitoring your blood sugar levels, getting regular physical exercise, and taking insulin or medicines for type 2 diabetes if prescribed. One study found that teens who kept their blood sugar levels near normal reduced their risk for developing diabetic retinopathy and also reduced kidney damage during young adulthood.6
Control your blood pressure.
Long-term studies suggest that retinopathy is more likely to progress to the severe form and that macular edema is more likely to occur in people who have high blood pressure. It is not clear whether treating high blood pressure can directly affect long-term vision but, in general, keeping blood pressure levels close to normal can reduce the risk of many different complications of diabetes.5 For more information about how to control your blood pressure, see the topic High Blood Pressure (Hypertension).
Have your eyes examined by an eye specialist (ophthalmologist or optometrist) every year.
If you are at low risk for vision problems, your doctor may consider follow-up exams every 2 years. Screening for diabetic retinopathy and other eye problems will not prevent diabetic eye disease, but it can help you avoid vision loss by allowing for early detection and treatment.
See your eye doctor if you have changes in your vision.
Changes in vision—such as floaters, pain or pressure in the eye, blurry or double vision, or new vision loss—may be symptoms of serious damage to your retina. In most cases, the sooner the problem can be treated, the more effective the treatment will be.
Cataracts, how are they treated?
Surgery is the only way to correct vision loss caused by cataracts. But cataracts in older adults do not always need to be removed. The vision loss from a cataract often happens slowly and may never become severe.
There are a number of things you can do that may help you manage your vision problems. Many people get along very well with the help of eyeglasses, contacts, or other vision aids. Keep your eyeglasses or contact lens prescription up to date. Also make sure you have plenty of lighting in your home. You may be able to avoid or delay surgery.
Whether you need cataract surgery depends on how much of a problem the cataract causes for daily activities like driving and reading. Surgery is almost always by your choice (elective) and can be scheduled when it is convenient. For people who do decide to have surgery, the surgery usually works very well.
Some people have to have surgery. Children are sometimes born with cataracts that need to be removed. Other people may get cataracts after an eye injury or as a result of eye disease or other health problems. Cataracts from these causes may also need to be removed.
Holiday Fun and Affordable Eyewear
From time to time, most people will experience eye problems, whether it is temporary or permanent. To name few of them are itchy eye, blurriness and fatigue. When it comes to blurry vision problems like nearsightedness, farsightedness and presbyopia, the solution is eyewear. Talking about eyewear, those people need prescription eyeglasses to correct their vision, so they can see clearer and stay focus on the object.
Prescription eyeglasses on these days can be easily found almost everywhere, particularly over the internet. The problem is, they are just too many, and most of the time the eyewear they are selling is too expensive, or the style is just out of date.
Have you heard about Zenni Optical? Zenni is the specialist when it comes to affordable prescription eyeglasses, affordable but still preserving good quality product. Buyers will not find any out of date eyeglasses on this store, in fact this store always updated its collection, for this upcoming holiday, this store launch Holiday Fun Eyeglasses, fashionable and colorful perfect to celebrate holidays.
Not only stop there, to find the entire latest collection, simply visit the New Arrivals, on this section wide selection of eyewear made of high quality material available in various style. About the price, buyers will not get into any trouble when it comes to price, the price for a pair of complete prescription eyeglasses with anti UV and anti scratch, thin light high quality lenses and full guarantee is started at $8, this $8 Prescription Zenni Glasses is one hot selling item among its huge collection of affordable prescription eyeglasses. Grab your own pair to match your fashion for this holiday season only at Zenni.
Do mushrooms and green tea affect breast-cancer rates?
The researchers found that the greater the mushroom consumption (both fresh and dried), the lower the breast-cancer risk. Those who ate the greatest amounts of fresh mushrooms (10 grams or more per day) were about 2/3 less likely than those who ate none at all to develop breast cancer. Subjects who ate 4 grams per day saw their breast-cancer risk fall by half.
Interestingly, the women decreased their risk even more if they also drank green tea daily. The breast-cancer risk of women who consumed both mushrooms and green tea was 11 percent, compared to 18 percent for women who didn't consume either food. The study used green tea, which is a "younger" tea but which still has caffeine.
While the researchers eliminated possible confounding factors, this study does not prove that mushrooms and green tea actually reduce a woman's chances of getting breast cancer.
Epidemiological studies, however, do show that in places where the Chinese people are still eating the traditional diet, breast-cancer rates are 4-to-5 times lower than those of most developed countries. (All bets are off if a Chinese woman has switched to eating a westernized diet.) So eat some!
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Keep a healthy living!
For ages, people are aware and keep bear in mind that health is one of the most precious gifts to us, and prevention is one of the most sounding when it comes to health, prevention is always easier, cheaper and less hurt than to cure. There are so many references these days when it comes to health information, we live in internet era where most of the information is searchable, the issue here is, whether they are reliable or not considering tons of result you will get when asking the search engine when it comes to health topic. To add into your reliable health references, here is Health.Infoniac.com.
This is one popular website too, where viewers can search a wide range of health topic, to mention few of them are birth control, healthy diet and fertility. In addition to above topics, in this site, viewers can also find latest article about health news, health products and valuable health tips. If viewer wants to contribute for instance some health articles, he or she can submit the article as there is one specific section where viewer can submit his or her article to share with this website readers. If you are interested, please pay a visit health.infoniac.com. Keep a healthy living!
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What is high cholesterol?
Cholesterol is a type of fat called a lipid. The body uses it for many things, such as making new cells. Your liver makes the cholesterol that your body needs. You also get cholesterol from the foods you eat.
Your body needs some cholesterol. But if you have too much, it starts to build up in your arteries. (Arteries are the blood vessels that carry blood away from the heart.) This is called hardening of the arteries, or atherosclerosis. It is usually a slow process that gets worse as you get older.
For a general idea about your total cholesterol number, compare your number to the following:
* Best is less than 200.
* Borderline-high is 200 to 239.
* High is 240 or above.
High cholesterol doesn't make you feel sick. But if cholesterol builds up in your arteries, it can block blood flow to your heart or brain and cause a heart attack or stroke.
By the time you find out you have it, it may already be clogging your arteries. So it is very important to start treatment even though you may feel fine.
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Swine flu cases speeds up in coming months
The global spread of swine flu will endanger more lives as it speeds up in coming months and governments must boost preparations for a swift response, the World Health Organization said Friday.
There will soon be a period of further global spread of the virus, and most countries may see swine flu cases double every three to four days for several months until peak transmission is reached, said WHO's Western Pacific director, Shin Young-soo.
"At a certain point, there will seem to be an explosion in case numbers," Shin told a symposium of health officials and experts in Beijing. "It is certain there will be more cases and more deaths."
WHO has declared the swine flu strain a pandemic, and it has killed almost 1,800 people worldwide through last week. International attention has focused on how the pandemic is progressing in southern hemisphere countries such as Australia, which are experiencing winter and their flu season.
But it is in developing countries where the accelerated spread of swine flu poses the greatest threat as it places underequipped and underfunded health systems under severe strain, Shin said.
Governments must act quickly to educate the public, prepare their health systems to care for severe cases and protect those deemed more vulnerable to prevent unnecessary deaths, he said.
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