Hihigh

Archive for December, 2011

If you strive for fitness, all great fitness tips you get should be read with passion. We all want a good health, and we want to stay fit. Some people find it hard to become fit and healthy. Overweight people are battling to lose pounds with diets and workouts and after a few weeks they give up and continue their un-healthy lifestyle. Some of them have other bad habits as well, such as smoking and drinking too much alcohol. Other people loves to move; like running, swimming, basketball, tennis,skiing, you name it… they find joy and excitement in activities that bring them health and fitness. I’m concerned about the first group, the quitters.

What can they do to become healthy and fit? If you don’t know I’ll give you the answer right now. You have probably heard it a thousand times so you probably don’t wanna hear it again, but I beg you to read it 30 – thirty – times and memorize it. YOU MUST EXPEND MORE CALORIES THAN YOU CONSUME. Here are a few tips on HOW to do it:

Drink Huge Amounts Of Water

One of the smartest fitness tips I have heard about and practiced is intake of fluids in large amounts. According to experts, water and juices from various kinds of fruit are essential part of good diet. Not only will such liquids help you lose weight, they can also keep you body optimally hydrated. Besides, people who are drinking enough fluids is a day usually have clearer complexion so drink up!

Move Around AS Much AS Possible (and try to make it fun !)

Many will say that moving around is the best fitness tip there is. Simple things like for instance climbing stairs, walking dogs, mowing your lawn, cleaning your house, dancing and other moving activities can burn a lot of calories. What is more engaging about moving around is that you don’t just lose weight but you also relieve your mind and your muscles from stress. According to recent studies, movement is one of the best stress relievers so don’t just sit all day in front of your computer at work. Stand up let’s say every half hour and stretch your legs. Likewise, it would be better for you to take the stairs instead of riding the elevator when you go to the office.

Stop Smoking Now

A very momentous fitness tip is for you to quit smoking and concentrate on staying healthy and fit. Tobacco-smoking is definitely bad for the body. Smokers often suffer from different types of diseases including certain types of cancers. If you value your health as well as your life, throw that tobacco away.

Don’t Stress

A lot of us who are under constant pressure tend to eat too much and do not take good care of their bodies. If you are one of them who are constantly too stressed-out to think straight, take a break and appraise the kind of life that you have.

Stay away from Food high in fat

Most of us love it; going to MacDonald or Burger King from time to time. It’s so easy and simple, and cheap. However, your body doesn’t like too much of it. Therefore you should eat as little fat food as possible. If you eat pork, cut off the fat parts of it, chicken is good food and can be prepared in many delicious ways and the same goes for fish – it’s so healthy and the fat you get from fish is the good kind of fat that your body needs. If you combine these foods with high fiber bread, vegetables and fruit and make this a habit, you will lose weight and become healthy.

These are the fitness tips of today.

When it comes to supplements, is a multivitamin with iron important or is iron something the body can do without? Of course, iron is important to the body but why are there some multivitamin with iron content while some don’t have this mineral?

To be able to determine whether a multivitamin with iron is truly important, let us first take a look at the role of iron in the body.

Iron is a mineral that plays a role in the different metabolic functions in the body. It is also part of the hemoglobin, which is the part of the blood responsible for carrying oxygen. It is an important co-factor in the production of neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine.

There are two forms, namely the heme and non-heme. Heme iron comes from meat, fish, liver, and poultry while non-heme iron includes beans, lentils, cereals, flour, and other grain products.

Non-heme iron is not as well absorbed by the body like heme iron. Other sources of iron include strawberries, nuts, green leafy vegetables, peas, and asparagus.

Iron deficiency anemia is one problem caused by lack of iron. It is characterized by severe fatigue and weakness, pale skin, and a weakened immunity. Anemia is common in pregnant women, children, and those who consume a diet low in iron.

While a lack of this mineral can be a problem, an excess amount can be harmful too. Too much iron in the body is called hemochromatosis and this can lead to diabetes, skin irregularities, and damage to the liver.

An excess of iron can also cause heart and brain damage, which can lead to heart attack or stroke. The risk for too much iron is actually greater than lack of this mineral. The body only accumulates iron, with only minimal loss through hair, fingernails, and skin cells.

The dangers of too much iron are real and are very serious. Anemia, though caused by a lack of iron, is not treated with iron but with B-complex vitamins, specifically folic acid, B6, and B12. The body can get much iron from the diet, that is why a multivitamin with iron just doesn’t seem to be the worth the risk.

A multivitamin with iron can cause your iron levels to increase and can place you at risk for the harmful effects of this mineral.

Rather than take a multivitamin with this mineral, make it a point to eat foods rich in iron everyday so you won’t have to worry about iron deficiency. Of course, a natural multivitamin with other important nutrients is also crucial as well.

Back in school in our Chemistry classes, we all learned about pH: acids had low numbers, alkalines had high numbers, and a pH of 7.0 was neutral. Who would have ever thought that this lesson could be a life-saver.

Back then, for me at least, it all meant absolutely nothing in terms of my day-to-day life. I never thought it really mattered…until now. Turns out that we have a better chance for good long-term health if our body’s pH is neutral or slightly more alkaline.

When our bodies tend toward greater acidity, which can be measured easily using simple and cheaply priced pH Test Strips, we have a greater risk of developing osteoporosis, weak muscles, heart disease, diabetes, kidney disease, and a host of other health problems, including cancer.

The reason this happens is that the body tries to compensate for the acidity produced by our diets in several ways. The kidneys are responsible for fluid balance and maintaining a relatively neutral pH in the body so they have to work harder to do this when the body turns acidic.

Our bones start to release more calcium and magnesium to counteract the acidity and our muscles start to produce more ammonia as well. Over an extended period of time you can figure that this acidic environment is going to take a toll on your body in seriously negative ways.

Having said that, does it not then make sense that we can also do good for our bodies by eating a proper and more alkaline diet since this is what our bodies prefer? If eating raw fruit and vegetables makes our bodies more alkaline (which is a highly recommended way to eat for health) then it makes sense why our ancestors who ate exactly that way had much less incidence of disease than we have in our lives today.

In the North American diet, excess calcium is coming primarily from dairy products, and excess sodium is coming from “prepared foods” that are loaded with salt. Largely missing from the diet are magnesium and potassium that would come from eating fruits and vegetables. A diet based on fruits and vegetables, grains and legumes, with a small amount of dairy, would give the body all four of the alkaline minerals in better balance.

People in North America tend to consume too much calcium and sodium and insufficient magnesium and potassium. This is mostly shown in urine tests which show calcium and sodium being excreted while magnesium and potassium are being retained.

Clearly this is why we are not focused on the pH of our urine. An alkaline urine simply tells us that some alkaline minerals are being discarded by the body. Much more important is the pH of your saliva, which tells of your success in creating an alkaline condition within your body…the ultimate goal.

So, the bottom line is to eat more fruits and vegetables and monitor your pH level on a consistent basis to maintain an alkaline environment in your body, for, by doing so, you should be able to prevent disease as diseases love an acidic environment.

Who would have thought that something so simple as eating properly and monitoring our pH level could keep us healthy for the long-term? It can, so do yourself a favor and try it. It certainly couldn’t hurt you. Best of health.

Hair loss can be a very unpleasant experience for any person. Men are more prone to this problem than women and usually get male pattern hair loss that is characterized by hair thinning and balding that starts in the crown and hairline areas and progresses towards partial or complete baldness. It may be not the worst thing to happen from the physiological point of view since hair doesn’t play any significant functional role in the health of a person. However, hair loss can trigger serious psychological discomfort because it affects a visible portion of a person’s body and can seriously affect a person’s image. Since hair loss is still considered to be a sign of bad health the person experiencing it can automatically be regarded as ill and get treated respectively. That’s why so many men a desperate to find an effective solution for hair loss problems and weight in on all the possible options, the most popular of witch are hair transplantation and Propecia treatment course.

Hair transplantation has become one of the most promising and effective methods of dealing with hair loss when it was introduced as compared to all the semi-medical treatment options that were available in the past. Hair transplantation involves surgical removal of hair from one part of the body and its inception in the area of hair loss. This technique requires high qualification from the doctor performing transplantation and can be rather costly if you are looking to do it in a professional clinic. Besides, there’s always a risk that the hair that’s been transplanted will fall off too and you will need another pricey procedure to restore its previous state. Still many men choose this treatment option because it is more effective than most herbal and semi-medical preparations for hair loss and was the only medical solution for a period of time.

Propecia, on the other hand, was the first medication to be actually approved by the FDA for the treatment of hair loss in men. Before it was introduced to the market there were no prescription medications to use for hair loss and even the causes of the problem haven’t been studied well. However, after people started using Propecia and observed its effectiveness there were more studies undertaken on the nature of hair loss in men and it was discovered that it’s triggered by the excess of a specific androgen in the bloodstream that Propecia helps controlling. Thus, unlike hair transplantation. Propecia targets the exact cause rather than effect when dealing with hair loss. Yet, the drug also has its limitations and is not for everyone.

Hair transplantation can be used by both men and women whereas Propecia is prescribed solely to men and shouldn’t be even handled by women because it may cause serious hormonal changes. Propecia has higher effectiveness rates and is much cheaper than transplantation surgeries but you will have to take it for a really long time in order to stop, reverse hair loss and sustain the effects you’ve achieved. So it’s highly recommended to consult with your doctor about the both options in order to choose the one that’s more appropriate in your situation.

The advertisement for pin-hole glasses reads like a miracle. By using this product for just 30 minutes a day, you can supposedly improve your vision and throw away your eyeglasses or contact lenses.

This device, which looks like a pair of sunglasses, is an opaque disc dotted with rows of pin-holes. Its unique design can supposedly cure astigmatism, double vision, photophobia (sensitivity to light), and cataracts.

Testimonials abound about the product. One user claimed that after 20 minutes of using these spectacles, he could see perfectly and read signs across the street without eyeglasses.

A pair of pin-hole glasses is expensive which is probably a small amount to pay for those who desire to see clearly again. After all, dramatic results are hard to come by with conventional eyeglasses. Should we believe its promoters?

The idea behind pin-hole glasses is not new. It was known centuries ago and was used before the advent of glass lenses. The reason they work is simple.

“Light passing through a small hole (or holes) is restricted to rays coming straight from the viewed object; these rays do not need focusing to bring them to a point,” according to Drs. Russell S. Worrall and Jacob Nevyas in “The Health Robbers.”

Just look through any pin-hole and you’ll see what they mean. When you do this, blurred images become focused. This is because the amount of peripheral light rays (which are responsible for blurring) is reduced. With appropriately spaced multiple pin-holes, you’ll get clear straight vision without the difficulty of concentrating on a single hole.

But there are problems with this system. First, lateral vision is compromised. You can see clearly straight ahead but side vision is blurred and distant vision is dim. Multiple images may also form and confuse you.

“Monocularly, one could achieve a legible single image with appropriate adjustment of head position. When the second eye is opened, one cannot be certain that the pin-holes before that eye will be centered for that head position. As a result, one may get a single image in one eye but a doubled one in the other,” wrote Dr. Sidney Wittenberg in “Pin-hole Eyewear Systems: A Special Report” published in the Journal of the American Optometric Association.

“Modern promoters claim their products are better than conventional lenses. Actually, both reduce the focus effort needed to read, but pinhole glasses are much less useful because they restrict contrast, brightness, and the field of view. Worn as sunglasses, they can even be harmful because the holes allow damaging ultraviolet rays to reach the eye,” Worrall and Nevyas added.

Those who have benefited from pin-hole spectacles are, more often than not, people who wear the wrong eyeglasses. Naturally, replacing these with pin-hole glasses will make them see well.

If you don’t need eyeglasses but simply use them to improve your appearance or to hide those ugly eye bags and dark circles, switch to Eyevive instead. This powerful cream will revitalize your eyes to make you look young again. For details, check out http://www.eyevive.com

Acne can be a mild problem that gets easily eliminated by topical solutions you can buy at any pharmacy. But it can also be a problem that will require you to address a dermatologist and undergo a serious treatment. In most cases moderate and severe forms of acne will make the doctor prescribe you with an antibiotic treatment either in the form of pills or topical cremes. In some cases such a treatment will actually help, while in other circumstances the problem can get even worse. So what’s the catch with antibiotic acne treatment, what are its main drawbacks and is there any effective alternative to it? Let’s answer these questions.

First of all, we’ll have to look into the actual causes behind acne breakouts in order to understand why antibiotics are used for treating this condition. The usual mechanism of acne formation involves several factors. There’s a lot of different bacteria dwelling in skin pores, usually beneficial and helping fight alien bacteria that can cause irritation or infections. The amount of these bacteria is usually stable. However, when there’s an abundance of oil in the skin, which is very favorable for bacterial development, the amount of beneficial bacteria increases and that causes inflammation. This is what we see as acne and that’s why it is usually associated with bacterial infections. So the obvious solution would be to use a drug that cuts down the amount of bacteria and prevents inflammation. That’s exactly what doctors do when prescribing antibiotics to their patients.

There’s one problem with antibiotics though. Because they target nearly all bacteria in the skin this means that most beneficial bacteria are also eliminated. This creates the risk of alien bacterial infection because the usual bacteria protecting your skin from outside agents are eliminated by the treatment. And you may end up having more serious problems. Besides, after some time the amount of own bacteria can exceed again the normal amount if there are favorable conditions for bacterial development (increased oil production) and you will have to take antibiotics again. Which is not very good for your health in general because antibiotics seriously affect the liver and can also cause dysbiosis in many parts of the body, which can also be a serious health problem.

A really effective alternative to antibiotic acne treatment is using Accutane. This drug is regarded as the most effective solution for acne but since it is very potent it is only meant to be used under strict doctor supervision. Accutane has a different approach to treating acne and addresses the actual problem behind acne formation – excessive oil production in the skin. If the amount of oil is normalized there will be less bacteria and no irritation in the skin, which will stop acne breakouts. That’s exactly why Accutane is so effective for treating acne and doesn’t seriously affect any other aspects of skin health. Speak to your doctor about using Accutane in order to make sure that this drug will work for you.