Health Topic

[obituary]

While talking to a pastry chef friend of mine recently about the upcoming plans for Thanksgiving dinner, she mentioned that she was going to whip up a dessert for her mother using only raw foods. When I raised my eyebrows over the words “raw foods” she explained that a few years ago her mother found her stomach distended so far she could barely stand and ended up spending a year in and out of the hospital having multiple tests to figure out what the problem was. A diagnosis was never made but knowing that something must have triggered her gastrointestinal problems, she turned to the one thing she could change: her diet. After trying the raw food regimen, she hasn’t had another health problem.

The raw food movement—which requires that food be cooked below 115 degrees Fahrenheit—includes not only what most people think of as “raw” such as celery sticks and fresh picked apples, but also refers to foods that have not been processed and still have natural enzymes. Once foods are cooked above 116 degrees, they start to lose their enzymes, lowering their nutritional value. Enzymes in natural foods help the digestive system break the food down in order to absorb nutrients. Raw foods contain alkalizing agents which help the body to purge dangerous toxins and chemicals out of its system. Besides vegetables and fruits, other raw food categories include herbs and oils, seeds and nuts, olives and nuts, wheatgrass, maple and teas.

Vegetarianism has long been a healthy diet followed by many but there are multiple branches of the being a vegetarian, one of them being the raw food specialty. There are also branches off of the raw food sector as well, also dedicated to the health of your body: Fruitarians who mostly eat fruits, Sproutarians mostly eat sprouts, and Juicearian followers mostly drink fresh juice.

Many people believe that health problems arise by faulty food intake such as chemicals, preservatives, pesticides, artificial additives, and even cooking can alter the state of foods by releasing free radicals into the food, which are a cause of cancer. A raw food diet is easier on the wallet and on the clock with little to no preparation time, raw foods tend to have more flavor and are better quality. Raw foods also protect the planet by using less energy and packaging as well as saving you the cleanup and those pesky oven burns.

This week a woman from the U.K. recently came out in the media with her story about how she lost over 160 pounds on the raw food diet. As a preteen, Angela Stokes developed an underactive thyroid—symptoms in which a lack of energy creates a lower metabolism that keeps the body from burning calories—and found her small frame carrying around 294 pounds by age 21. In the year 2000, when her weight had reached its heaviest and she was in fear of diabetes, she went to work, manually working around the world on farms hiding her weight behind her busy life. Two years later she got some help when a friend handed her The Raw Family a book about the raw food diet to improve health.

Stokes credits the book with revolutionizing her life, “I read the whole book in one go . I was utterly absorbed by the raw lifestyle. I had never bothered with structured 'diets' or slimming plans, and now I felt like I knew why—this was the answer I'd been waiting for. It made complete sense to me, a healthy, simple life of raw food, in tune with nature, shorter food preparation times, less washing up, less kitchen equipment, natural skin care and medicine.” Stokes calls this her “Raw Reform” with a website complete with before and after pictures. To date, Stokes has written five books about her transformation and adopting a healthy raw food lifestyle.

A raw food Thanksgiving would be difficult in my family, but with a little determination and a lot of imagination, conjuring up some tasty vegetable casseroles and mixed fruit pies are sometimes all a person can eat. Raw foodism isn’t for everyone and may not appeal to some people—maybe those that stay far away from the veggie trays at cocktail parties or detest wheatgrass smoothie bars—but experimenting with raw foods and finding the right balance may be helpful to solve a health problem or to give vitality to your life and if it works, for that you can be thankful.l

[obituary]

Severe abdominal pain and irregular bowel symptoms can be defined by Irritable Bowel Syndrome—or IBS—usually remedied by prescribing laxatives, stool softeners, and/or antispasmodics for the cramps, constipation, and diarrhea caused by the gastrointestinal condition. New research from London sought out to discover whether or not alternative, natural medicinal remedies are as efficient as the popular over-the-counter drugs in relieving IBS.

Among the alternative remedies for IBS are fiber supplements, hypnotherapy, probiotics—a beneficial mix of bacteria and yeast often found within the stomach—and aromatherapy, specifically peppermint oil. IBS is difficult to treat because its cause is relatively unknown and the symptoms are varied and often inconsistent.

Published by the British Medical Journal, Dr. Alex Ford and his team from McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, analyzed 38 different studies from the past 25 years with over 2,500 participants who have IBS, using three different remedies versus a placebo group: antispasmodics, fiber treatments, and peppermint oil.

Twelve of the studies used the fiber diet with 591 patients, another 22 of the studies compared antispasmodics with the placebo group in 1,778 IBS patients, and the last four studies used peppermint oil in 392 volunteers. While all three of the applications were effective in treating IBS, with no serious side effects, peppermint oil proved most beneficial in the trials. Ford and his colleagues found that almost half of all IBS sufferers had their discomfort disappear after participating in the natural remedy studies.

Within the fiber study, insoluble fiber like bran didn’t affect the results, but soluble fiber (psyllium-based like the popular brand Metamucil) helped reduce the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome in one of every eleven patients. The antispasmodic drugs such as hyoscine— used to relax the muscles in the stomach and ease cramping—which are no longer widely prescribed in modern medicine, showed relief in only one of every five volunteers and this was the only drug-based remedy contrast used in the publication. Hyoscine can be found without a prescription in the United States.

The McMaster University study led the researchers to ask for better guidelines to treat this confusing, uncomfortable stomach condition. In the last few years, widely-prescribed drugs such as Zelnorm and Lotranex have been pulled from the shelves due to gastrointestinal side effects, and the increased risk for stroke or heart attack. Professor Roger Jones from King’s College London says the new drug results were a wake-up call and this new study should inspire more research and better investigation into IBS, "These new-generation drugs were going to be the magic bullets for IBS, but it didn't turn out that way…. I think this new paper is important because it shows patients and their physicians that these older treatments can be effective [and] reawaken interest in the pharmacotherapy of irritable bowel syndrome and stimulate further research".

Though researchers have yet to define which treatments work best for which patients because of the different varieties of IBS determined by specific groups of symptoms, hopefully this new study will pave the way for more in-depth research to be done.
About 5 to 20 percent of the population is living with IBS and there are many cases left undiagnosed, with 10 to 15 percent of people in the United States alone showing twice as many women diagnosed as men. The UK also reports around 8 million people suffering with the disorder and Professor Jones thinks that the significance of natural treatments are in the best interest of patients as well as their wallets. Maybe more conditions can be helped by looking back through mom’s home remedies, erasing the complication and making simplicity the new go-to plan.l

[obituary]

Quick fixes for everything from stomach upset to the common cold

Introduction

Your body can throw you for a loop at any time. You wake up with a sore throat on the day of your office Christmas party, a seafood-salad sandwich leaves you with grumbling indigestion, or you overdo it at the gym and arrive home with a stiff neck. Wouldn't it be great to have a live-in doctor/therapist/trainer to tend to your everyday aches and pains?

Here's the next best thing: all-natural, expert-recommended ways to treat ailments quickly, safely, and effectively at home. So clear some space in your bathroom cabinet, refrigerator, and kitchen cupboard for these surprisingly effective (and inexpensive) remedies. They're like having a doctor on call 24 hours a day.l

Quell nausea

Try frozen ginger chips. Infuse fresh ginger in hot water. Strain, then freeze the concoction in ice cube trays. Crush the cubes and suck the icy chips throughout the day to provide your tummy with a steady soothing dribble. Ginger's anti-nausea properties are particularly effective during pregnancy or after surgery.l

Stifle hiccups

Swallow 1 to 2 teaspoons of sugar. The dry granules stimulate and reset the irritated nerve that is causing the spasms of the diaphragm. Any coarse substance, such as salt, can work in a pinch, but sugar tastes best.

Soothe a sore throat


Gargle twice daily with a solution of six pressed garlic cloves mixed into a glass of warm (not hot) water. Follow the regimen for 3 days. A recent study shows that fresh garlic juice has antimicrobial properties that fight pain-causing bacteria. The warm liquid soothes inflamed tissue.l

Curb a cough

Indulge in a square or two of dark chocolate. Researchers found that chocolate's theobromine compound is more effective than codeine at suppressing persistent coughs without the side effects of drowsiness and constipation. To calm a nagging cough that keeps you awake at night, take 2 teaspoons of honey (1 to 2 teaspoons for kids; don't give to children younger than 1), along with 500 mg of Ester C 30 minutes before bed. The vitamin C (nonacidic Ester type won't upset stomachs) boosts the immune system in the early stages of your cough. Recent research shows that honey works better than either a cough suppressant or no treatment at all for relieving children's nocturnal cough and promoting sleep.l

Cool a fever


Sip linden flower tea, which works in two ways: It stimulates the hypothalamus to better control your temperature, and it dilates blood vessels, inducing sweating. Steep 1 tablespoon of dried herb (available in health food stores) in a cup of hot water for 15 minutes, then sip. Drink three to four cups a day. If you still run hot after a day of sipping tea, seek medical attention. For a high fever (above 102�F), take a tepid bath, which simply cools the body to match the water temperature. Bathe until your temperature decreases to 101� to 102�F, then sip linden flower tea to lower it even more.l

Cool a burn


If you grazed your skin with a hot-from-the-oven holiday cookie pan, apply aloe vera gel to the burn as needed. The soothing and anti-inflammatory gel creates a second skin to protect it from air, which irritates exposed nerve endings.l

Quiet flatulence


Take two enteric-coated peppermint capsules (500 mg each) three times daily. Peppermint kills bacteria that cause bloating and relaxes gastrointestinal muscles for smoother, spasm-free digestion. Enteric coating prevents capsules from opening in the stomach and increasing discomfort by causing heartburn and indigestion. The peppermint then releases and goes to work lower in the gastrointestinal tract, where gas-plagued people need it most.l

Stop foot odor


Soak feet nightly in 1 part vinegar and 2 parts water to eliminate odoriferous bacteria. Or take a daily foot bath in strong black tea (let it cool first) for 30 minutes. Tea's tannins kill bacteria and close the pores in your feet, keeping feet dry longer; bacteria tend to thrive in moist environments. You'll see results in a few days to a week. One caution: Only do the soak when your feet are free of cuts.l

Cut short a cold


Sip a faux hot toddy. Cut a vitamin C-rich lemon in half and squeeze the juice from one half into a cup. Studies show that vitamin C taken before the onset of a cold shortens its duration and severity. Drop the lemon half shell into the cup. Add boiling water and a teaspoon of organic raw honey, an immunity booster that also coats painful throat tissues. Breathe in the healing vapor to open sinuses, and sip a cupful two or three times daily to fight the bug. (To make a traditional hot toddy, add a half shot of brandy.)l

Sweeten bad breath


Gargle with a small cup of acidic lemon juice to kill odor-causing bacteria. Then eat a bit of plain unsweetened yogurt, which contains beneficial lactobacillus bacteria. These so-called probiotics compete with and replace the reeking bacteria. The lemon-yogurt combo instantly neutralizes odor and lasts 12 to 24 hours.l

Soften chapped lips


Rub on anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and moisturizing olive oil two or three times a day to soothe, soften, and lubricate. Your lips will feel immediately better, but it will take a few days before they start to heal on their own. Preliminary research on mice shows that applying extra virgin olive oil to skin after sunbathing may prevent skin cancer.l

Relax a stiff neck


A stiff neck results from slowed circulation and lymph flow to muscle tissues. Use contrast hydrotherapy — a quick blast of hot, then cold water — to get the blood pumping again. In the shower, first run hot water over your neck for 20 seconds to increase blood flow, then switch to cold for 10 seconds to constrict blood flow. Alternate three times, always ending with cold. When you get out of the shower, your body will send the blood back out to the skin, which results in a final dilation of blood vessels and — voil�! — a looser neck.l

End snoring

If you snore mostly when on your back, put a tennis ball in a shirt pocket cut from an old T-shirt and sew it to the midback of your tight pajama top. The discomfort forces you to roll over and sleep on your side — without waking you up.l

Beat insomnia

Before bedtime, eat a handful of cherries, which scientists discovered are jam-packed with melatonin, the same hormone created by your body to regulate sleep patterns. Then steep yourself in a hot bath to relax your muscles and your mind. In bed, rest your head on a lavender-filled pillow — the fragrance induces sleepiness.l

Revive puffy, tired eyes


Black tea is chock-full of astringent compounds called tannins that can help deflate and tighten the bags under your eyes. Activate the tannins in a tea bag by dipping in a cup of hot water for several minutes. Cool in the fridge, then apply the damp bag as a compress to the closed eye for 10 minutes.l

Whiten stained teeth


Crush a few fresh strawberries into a scrubbing pulp that you mix with a pinch of stain-removing baking soda and enough water to make a paste. Apply the mixture to a soft-bristled toothbrush and polish for a few minutes once every 3 or 4 months. (More often can erode tooth enamel.) The astringent malic acid in strawberries helps buff coffee and red-wine stains from teeth.l

Prevent a headache

Try relaxing magnesium (200 to 400 mg) to reduce the muscle tension and spasms that can cause your noggin to throb. But not any type will do. Make sure the supplement contains at least 200 mg of active elemental magnesium. Because magnesium is more preventive than curative, the treatment works best on, say, premenstrual headaches because you can predict when they're coming and take a dose a day in advance. Those with kidney problems should consult a health care practitioner before taking magnesium.l

Sidestep a hangover


Because excess alcohol depletes the body of essential B vitamins (they help break down alcohol in the body), before going to bed, take a B-50 complex supplement, which will ensure the metabolism of alcohol continues apace. Also, rehydrate by drinking plenty of water.l

Relieve menstrual cramps

Take � to 1 teaspoon of crampbark tincture every 2 hours on the days of your worst cramps. Test-tube studies show that this North American plant works as a muscle relaxant to quickly relieve painful spasms.l

Heal dry skin, rashes, and eczema


Bathe in your breakfast. Although oatmeal is a centuries-old skin soother, researchers only recently recognized the avenanthramides in oats as the key compounds that calm inflamed, itchy skin. Put whole oats in a clean, dry sock. Seal the open end with a rubber band, and then drop the sock into a warm or hot bath. Soak yourself for 15 to 20 minutes.l

[obituary]

Specialists hope latest implants will offer less pain and more function

WASHINGTON - What was left of Dan Sivia's ankle simply didn't work. He limped through his 30s by sheer force of will, one foot almost completely immobile from repeated broken bones and surgeries.

Then a doctor offered his last hope: An ankle replacement.

A what? Sivia knew about hip, knee, even shoulder replacements. But ankles?l

His confusion is understandable: The first ankle replacements of the 1970s were abandoned when they couldn't withstand the pounding of daily life. A second generation in the '90s lasted longer but never became really popular.

Now the nation is embarking on a new generation of artificial ankles designed to work more like the joint you're born with, a move specialists hope finally will offer less pain and more function to thousands who hobble — although it's too soon to be sure.

"These third-generation prostheses really mimic a natural ankle, which is really what makes them different," says ankle specialist Dr. Steven L. Haddad of the Illinois Bone and Joint Institute and an orthopedic surgery professor at Northwestern University.

Ripe for growth

If the newer implants pan out, it's a market ripe for growth. More than 200,000 people seek care for ankle pain annually, with few options for the severely damaged. More than 8,000 a year get their ankle bones fused, a last-ditch treatment after years of suffering, while surgeons perform between 2,000 and 2,500 ankle replacements.

While Medicare pays for ankle replacements, which Haddad says can reach $50,000 including a three- to five-day hospital stay, many other insurers don't. And a review in September's Journal of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons cautions that so far, there is little research to tell how long newer versions will last — and that few hospitals have much practice in implanting them.

But for Sivia, the surgery restored an ability to walk that the 39-year-old thought he'd forever lost. His leg was crooked from a series of breaks that began in childhood and included a crushing ankle fracture at 28. A decade of pain later, he sought out Haddad. Then he spent 17 months on crutches, with external pins holding bones in place, as Haddad rebuilt his leg. The last surgery, the ankle implant, came in July.

"When I got to rake my own lawn — I've done it three times just because I can," the Waukegan, Ill., man said with a laugh. "I'm riding my bike, I'm doing all the things everybody else is doing."

No easy task

Haddad says ankle sufferers tend to move like a sidewinder snake, one foot gingerly turned out to the side while the other foot does the heavy pushing to walk. They might have standard arthritis. But usually, fractures from years earlier — sometimes broken ankles, but often broken legs that left the entire lower limb out of alignment — simply made the ankle and its cushioning cartilage wear out.

Fusion — eliminating the pain-causing friction by permanently connecting ankle bones so they won't move — is usually an easy operation, with about 5 percent who fail to heal. The disadvantage is a stiff ankle that limits the foot's range of motion and eventually causes a domino effect, wearing out smaller joints in the foot to cause more pain until they, too, are fused.

Hence the quest for artificial ankles that would allow a fully flexible foot and normal gait.

That's not an easy task. The ankle joint is smaller than the hip and knee and must absorb more force than its sister joints, Dr. Keith Wapner of the University of Pennsylvania told a recent American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons meeting.

The Food and Drug Administration began clearing so-called third-generation ankle implants in 2005, versions that Wapner expects to last longer. Each model is slightly different but consists of two attached parts. Surgeons drill a tunnel into the lower leg bone and slide in the stem of the artificial joint. A bottom piece connects to the top of the foot. Thin plastic hooked to one side functions as cartilage. Bone then grows into the implant, holding it in place.l

In Europe, doctors also can use a similar but three-piece artificial ankle, where the plastic cushion is free-floating. Amid questions about whether that approach is better or worse, the FDA is evaluating whether to allow it here.

So which is better, fusion or replacement?

It all depends on age and activity. Even if these new ankles last more than a decade as Haddad expects, someone who jogs or mountain climbs will wear theirs out faster than someone who is sedentary. Also, different patients have different risks of wound infections.

"If you're someone that does not mind having additional surgeries on your ankle in the future as a trade-off to get better function, then a replacement is a better option," Haddad tells patients. "If you want to take care of it once, you have to opt for a fusion."l

[obituary]

Sadder folks watch 30 percent more than happy counterparts, study finds

Unhappy people glue themselves to the television 30 percent more than happy people.

The finding, announced on Thursday, comes from a survey of nearly 30,000 American adults conducted between 1975 and 2006 as part of the General Social Survey.

While happy people reported watching an average of 19 hours of television per week, unhappy people reported 25 hours a week. The results held even after taking into account education, income, age and marital status. l
In addition, happy individuals were more socially active, attended more religious services, voted more and read a newspaper more often than their less-chipper counterparts.

The researchers are not sure, though, whether unhappiness leads to more television-watching or more viewing leads to unhappiness.

In fact, people say they like watching television: Past research has shown that when people watch television they enjoy it. In these studies, participants reported that on a scale from 0 (dislike) to 10 (greatly enjoy), TV-watching was nearly an 8.

But perhaps the high from watching television doesn't last.

Short-term pleasure, long-term malaise
"These conflicting data suggest that TV may provide viewers with short-run pleasure, but at the expense of long-term malaise," said researcher John Robinson, a sociologist at the University of Maryland, College Park.

In this scenario, even the happiest campers could turn into Debbie-downers if they continue to stare at the boob-tube. The researchers suggest that over time, television-viewing could push out other activities that do have more lasting benefits. Exercise and --- come to mind, as do parties and other forms of socialization known to have psychological benefits. l
Or, maybe television is simply a refuge for people who are already unhappy.

"TV is not judgmental nor difficult, so people with few social skills or resources for other activities can engage in it," Robinson and UM colleague Steven Martin write in the December issue of the journal Social Indicators Research.

They add, "Furthermore, chronic unhappiness can be socially and personally debilitating and can interfere with work and most social and personal activities, but even the unhappiest people can click a remote and be passively entertained by a TV."

The researchers say follow-up studies are needed to tease out the relationship between television and happiness. l

[obituary]

11 tips to help you enjoy the season without busting your diet

Introduction


Food temptations are everywhere during the holidays. Office parties, tins packed with homemade cookies, and festive cocktails offer little escape. But if you follow these tips, you’ll survive the season a little happier and healthier.l

Psych yourself

Don't tell yourself, "It's okay, it's the holidays." That opens the door to 6 weeks of splurging. Switch out of holiday mode as soon as the party's over. Don't turn Thanksgiving through New Year's into one long binge. For the duration of the holidays, wear your snuggest clothes that don't allow much room for expanding waists or bums. Wearing sweats -- or your favorite fat pants -- is out until January. l

Back away from the food


As obvious as it sounds, don't stand near the food at parties. Make the weight loss effort, and you'll find you eat less. At a buffet? Eating a little of everything guarantees high calories. Decide on three or four things, only one of which is high in calories. Save that for last so there's less chance of overeating. Scan the buffet for shrimp with cocktail sauce – it’s practically fat-free and high in protein, iron, and the antioxidant lycopene.l

Stop, drop and roll


Instead of burning the candle into the wee hours every night, just STOP what you're doing; DROP into bed; and ROLL over! Nothing horrible will happen if you let some decorating wait until tomorrow. Your body will thank you. Studies have shown that a lack of sleep can cause weight gain. If you aren't getting enough sleep you're more likely to make poor choices when it comes to food and fitness.l

Get moving!l

It's all about calories in vs. calories out, so make exercise a nonnegotiable priority. Try squeezing exercise minutes into each day to get your heart pumping. Remember: minutes, not hours. Ten minutes is better than nothing. In fact, 10 minutes in the morning is often the best time for weight loss during the holiday since our days get busy with extra to-do’s and social events.l

A mere 10 minutes can burn off a few hors d'oeuvres, a glass of wine or it can just simply be a healthy release of stress. A brisk walk on the treadmill or elliptical can keep your jeans from feeling tight, especially at this time of the year when you're ingesting more calories. l

Stick with the 5-a-day plan

Make sure to get your fruits and vegetables. In a bid to cut calories and save time, we often forgo the foods that would nourish us during the holidays. The excess sugar often consumed during the holidays gives us an energy high and then a crash. So fill up on healthy food -- eat five fruits and vegetables a day BEFORE you allow yourself to snack on holiday treats. Those few extra minutes you take to plan some healthy snacks and meals will save you many minutes of burning off extra calories later!l

Don't be tempted by temptation

Avoid constantly putting yourself in situations that tempt you. For example, don’t walk through the break room at work 10 times a day when you know it's filled with holiday treats and candies. Spend a few minutes in the morning packing a healthy snack (like almonds, a piece of fruit or a yogurt) so you'll have a healthy weight-loss alternative.
And don't place treats on your kitchen counter to stare you in the face or take four desserts off the buffet vowing to take only one bite of each. Remember, EAT before you meet. Have this small meal before you go to any parties: a hardboiled egg, apple, and a thirst quencher (water, seltzer, diet soda, tea).l

Liquid calories count

Holidays are notorious for tempting us with drinks we wouldn't normally consume. Alcohol offers no nutrients — just empty calories, and we often forget to count them. Eggnog coffee drinks with whipped cream, hot toddies, spiced rum, these drinks can have as many calories as a personal pan pizza! Limit your consumption and order sparkling water with a splash of cranberry juice instead. It'll look festive and save calories. If you want to go for the alcohol, alternate alcoholic drinks with diet-friendly, calorie-free sparkling water.l
Also watch out for too-big beverages. Restaurant and bar drinks can run as much as 43 percent larger than what is considered a standard drink serving, according to Public Health Institute researchers who analyzed 337 drinks purchased at 80 establishments. Not only are you downing more calories than you bargained for, but being tipsy could also lead you to let your guard down and overeat. One drink equals 12 ounces of beer (the amount in one can or bottle), 5 ounces of wine (a little less than half a can of soda), or 1.5 ounces of spirits or liquor (a shot-glass worth, either straight or in a mixed drink).l

Be social and generous

Take your camera and be the designated photographer. You can't eat while snapping wriggling kids. Brush up your small talk; talking slows down eating. And finally, give it away! After your party company leaves, give away leftover food to neighbors, doormen, or delivery people, or take it to work the next day.l

Save it for something special


Indulge only in new, interesting foods; have one taste of each. Avoid feeling deprived and distracted by food all evening long —allow yourself one dessert or holiday truffle per event. When you’re done, destroy the plate. If you've had enough to eat but others are still picking, dump salt over any food you have left.l

Pace yourself


Eating slowly doesn't just decrease the amount of food you consume, it also fills you up faster. Healthy women who were instructed to wolf down their meals ate more food (by nearly 70 calories) but felt less satisfied than women who were told to take their time (21 minutes longer, to be exact), according to a recent study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association. To get into a slower rhythm, take smaller bites, chew thoroughly, and put your fork down between each one.l

Write it down


Just the simple act of recording what you eat can help you cut calories. In a recent study of 1,685 adults published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, the more food records a person kept, the more weight they lost. For a modern method, try e-mailing the information to yourself or using a computer program such as

برای مشاهده محتوا ، لطفا وارد شوید یا ثبت نام کنید

.l

[Madame Tussaud]

Hi,dear archigirl.
What a GOOD topic
Honey, thanks for this topic
It's very great

[A r c h i]

Top 5 Causes of Skin Aging

Let's count down the top five barriers between you and healthier, younger-looking skin:

5l.The enemy: Lack of moisture. Dry skin isn't just uncomfortable - it's also a sign that your skin isn't holding on to enough water to allow its repair enzymes to work properly. That means that your skin is less able to naturally heal the inflammation caused by external attackers like the sun, excess sugar intake, and pollution.
The solution:Moisturize! Not all creams and lotions are created equal, though: Ideally, a moisturizer should not only temporarily hydrate, but also strengthen skin so that it can retain moisture more effectively. Check ingredient lists for ceramides, cholesterol, and fatty acids (stearic acid is the one you'll see most often) - those are the very lipids found naturally in your skin barrier, a layer of the epidermis that keeps moisture in and irritants out. Deliver those powerhouse moisturizers topically, and you'll bolster skin's ability to prevent further dryness.

4. The enemy: Pollution. The exhaust-belching cars and other pollutants in our modern environments are among the major causes of free radicals in the skin (the sun and cigarette smoke, which you'll read about below, also make the list of free-radical producers).
So just what is a free radical? In a nutshell, it's an oxygen molecule that has been stripped of one of its electrons ... meaning that it's on the hunt for replacement electrons. As a result of that hunt, free radicals attack vital skin components like collagen, resulting in skin aging.
The solution: Chances are, you can't take off for the less-polluted climate of a pristine desert island, but antioxidants can help mitigate the damage that pollution causes. Antioxidants calm free radicals by delivering the electrons they seek - and as a result, they also stave off free radicals' aging effects. Get them through your diet (through green tea, dark chocolate, and lots of fruits and veggies, particularly berries and pomegranates) or topically with skin-care ingredients like coenzyme Q10, green tea, coffeeberry, and idebenone.

3. The enemy: Genetics. Yes, to some extent each person's aging process is the unavoidable result of the genes they inherited.
The solution: Obviously there's not much to be done about this one. We are, however, looking into the genetic component of skin aging at the University of Miami Cosmetic Medicine and Research Institute and hope to pinpoint the exact genes involved.

2. The enemy: Smoking. If you need another great reason to quit smoking, here's one: Smoking breaks down collagen, one of the most critical structural proteins in your skin. The result is premature aging in the form of lines, wrinkles, and loss of skin firmness. Smoking also decreases blood flow to the skin, which leaves the complexion sallow and less radiant, and allows damaging toxins to build up.
The solution: Talk to your doctor, research stop-smoking aids, or enlist the support of your friends... just do what it takes to quit smoking!

1. The enemy: The sun. The No. 1 saboteur of healthy, youthful skin is the ultraviolet light of the sun. UV rays induce skin-aging inflammation and generate free radicals, which make the sun the biggest threat to skin's collagen, not to mention the fact that UV exposure puts you at a dramatically increased risk for developing skin cancer.
UV light also worsens and causes hyperpigmentation (they don't call 'em sunspots for nothing!). I have found in my years of practice that dark spots and pigmentation irregularities age people as much as - if not more than - lines and wrinkles.
The solution: Protecting your skin from the sun requires a combination of avoidance and vigilant sunscreen-application. Try to stay out of the sun when it's strongest, at midday, and wear sunscreen every day, even if you're not planning a lot of outdoor time. Incidental sun exposure - on the way to lunch, as you walk to and from your car, while you're waiting for the bus - adds up.
And if you are going to be in direct sunlight, invest in hats and sun-protective clothing. (And don't for a second think tanning beds are the solution - they use concentrated doses of UVA rays, which penetrate deep into skin, and are actually even more damaging than the sun.)

[obituary]

There is something more common and more lethal linked to cigarettes

There are searing images that make indelible and emotional imprints on our brains. The burning twin towers. Jack Ruby and Lee Harvey Oswald. Jack Nicholson’s demonic face in “The Shining.” I experienced one of those images as a medical student, on the first day I stepped into an anatomy laboratory.

Called over to two human bodies being studied, we were told that one lung we were looking at was from a smoker, the other from a non-smoker. The sight reminds vivid years later — the smoker’s lung was the color of the tailpipe exhaust from a car burning oil. The non-smoker evangelists got a convert that day.
On that day and in the years since, I've personally witnessed the effects of smoking on the human lung. And while lung cancer is the disease most often associated with cigarettes, cardiovascular disease from smoking is far more common, more lethal and more avoidable.

Nearly 2,400 Americans die of cardiovascular disease each day — one every 37 seconds, according to the American Heart Association. Heart disease kills as many Americans as cancer, diabetes, lower respiratory disease and accidents combined. While heart disease is caused by many factors, including heredity, high blood pressure, stress, a sedentary lifestyle and elevated cholesterol, perhaps the most important is cigarette smoking. Smoking triples the risk of dying from heart disease among middle-aged men and women. Indeed, smoking cigarettes remains the single most preventable cause of premature deaths in the United States.

It's important to remember, there is no safe amount of smoking. Trying to cut back to "fewer cigarettes" really won't give you better chance at a healthy heart or help you avoid cancer.
Smoking is a major cause of atherosclerosis, a buildup of fat on the inside of the arteries that conduct blood to the heart and the rest of our body. As fatty materials build up, these blood vessels, which carry critical amounts of oxygen, narrow. Much like a clogged pipe decreases water flow in the bathroom, so blockage of the coronary arteries diminishes the flow of blood to the heart muscle. As a result, nature tries to increase the amount of critical oxygen by making the heart pump more quickly (increasing the pulse), but this is relatively ineffective. If the supply of oxygen is reduced, the heart muscle is starved. It can die. This is the event known as a myocardial infarction, or heart attack.

Because other things besides cigarettes adversely impact heart health, health professionals have focused on risk reduction rather than actual prevention. Tremendous public health efforts, along with major events like the “Great American Smokeout” — always the third Thursday of November — have been focused on getting people to stop smoking.

No safe amount of smoking

There is a lot of free advice, including numerous Web sites, that is geared to helping people quit smoking, but typically it involves offer vague, impractical concepts, such as behavior modification or changing the environment. A better alternative comes from medical centers, which have created entire departments geared to lessening, even in a limited way, cigarettes’ contribution to the nation’s leading killer.
Hilary Nierenberg, the director of the cardiovascular risk reduction program at New-York Presbyterian Hospital, heads a program founded on the conviction that the risk of death from heart attack can be reduced, if not prevented, with cigarette smoking cessation:

* Target a date to — fix it and stick to it.
* Know your “triggers” and eliminate them. If the smell of coffee in the morning triggers a cigarette need, try a different way to begin the day.
* Recognize failure is a step along the way to success. The average number of attempts before a person successfully quits is six.
* Try medication. There are prescription medications that clearly help relapse. Surprisingly, fewer than 10 percent of physicians prescribe this medication

Results are surprisingly prompt. Twenty minutes after you quit smoking, your blood pressure decreases. After 24 hours, your risk of heart attack begins to decrease. If you quit for as long as one year, your risk of heart disease is half that of a current smoker. After five to 15 years, your risk of stroke is decreased, After 15 years, your risk of heart attack is equal to someone who has never smoked.

So, quit now.l

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But do they actually fight wrinkles or repair environmental damage?l

Scanning the labels of new cleansers making big skin-boosting promises, we find ourselves inexplicably thinking of the “X-Files” movie that came out this year — the one subtitled “I Want to Believe.” Since we have to wash the day's grime off our faces anyway, wouldn't it be swell if we could also fight wrinkles or protect our skin from environmental abuse at the same time?

Who wouldn't want their cleanser to do that? Let's go out and buy some! And that's right about when our inner Dana Scully shouts, “Hello, have you forgotten that you rinse it all off with water? That cleansers literally go right down the drain?”

This might have been true in the past, but the latest generation of washes may win over even the biggest skeptics. Some new ingredients have rinse-resistant staying power; others offer the more subtle bonus of increasing the effectiveness of your other creams and serums.
And while any benefits will be gradual, there's no question that “it certainly can't hurt to use them,” says Joseph Cincotta, a cosmetic scientist. “Every little bit helps.” So, which of the new washes are worth believing in? The truth is right here.

Minimize wrinkles and brown spots

Anti-aging ingredients such as glycolic acid, vitamin C, and retinol are now popping up in cleansers. But can they be effective when they're on and off the skin in a flash (or rather, a splash)?

With glycolic acid, long used in creams for its ability to smooth skin and diminish fine lines, the answer is a resounding yes. “In a cleanser, glycolic acid binds with water and exfoliates skin, softening lines and reducing pigmentation,” says Francesca Fusco, assistant clinical professor of dermatology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. Bonus: “Since it helps remove the layer of dead skin cells, whatever you apply next will have enhanced penetration,” Fusco says. The key is to choose a formula with a concentration that's high enough to be effective but not so high as to cause irritation. Jim Hammer, a cosmetic chemist, says, “Between 5 and 10 percent is probably a good place to be,” and recommends leaving it on the face for at least a minute. Try DDF Glycolic Exfoliating Wash with 5 percent glycolic acid.

As icky as it sounds, a cleanser that leaves behind a residue on your skin can actually be a good thing.

That's the good news. The flip side is that other anti-aging ingredients, including vitamin C and retinol, don't work as well in cleansers as they do in moisturizers because they aren't in contact with the skin long enough to be effective, says Hammer. Premoistened cleansing wipes, which don't typically get rinsed off, can deliver these ingredients to the skin, especially for people who want a gradual introduction to retinol. We like L'Oréal Paris Revitalift Radiant Smoothing Wet Cleansing Towelettes, which contain vitamin C, and Pond's Dramatic Results Age-Defying Cleansing Towelettes, with retinol. “If you're able to tolerate the amount of retinol in the wipes,” Fusco says, “you could move on to a stronger serum or lotion.”

Protect skin from the sun

As icky as it sounds, a cleanser that leaves behind a residue on your skin can actually be a good thing — as long as that something is sunscreen. Broad-spectrum SPF cleansers such as St. Ives Elements Protective Cleanser and Freeze 24–7 Ice Shield Facial Cleanser with Sunscreen

SPF 15 use rinseproof technology and don't feel sticky (or interfere with basic cleansing). The St. Ives cleanser, for example, contains microencapsulated sunscreen and two film-forming agents, says Dennis Abbeduto, a senior scientist at St. Ives. “This makes the sunscreen stick to the skin, while other ingredients remove dirt and oil.” Dermatologists are enthusiastic about SPF cleansers since they appear to really work. Because they are more for incidental exposure than hard-core protection, however, experts recommend using a moisturizer with SPF 15 or higher.

Repair environmental damage

The free radicals that skin encounter on a daily basis from sun and pollution reduce the collagen and elastin in the underlying layers of skin, causing dullness and sagging. And while cosmetics companies have been throwing traditional antioxidants like vitamin A and E into cleansers for years to counteract the free radicals, “these are oil-soluble vitamins, so they are generally found at extremely low levels in water-based cleansers,” says Hammer.

Experts are more intrigued by a new ingredient Chanel recently introduced in its Précision line of cleansers: a tulip-tree-leaf extract intended to target the residue that pollution can leave on skin. “The tulip extract works as a magnet that traps pollutants accumulated on the skin, then rinses them away with water,” explains Armelle Souraud, Chanel's scientific spokeswoman. As for whether the tulip-tree extract rids skin of environmental residue better than a regular cleanser, Cincotta says, “Most cleansers will remove environmental grime, but if you can leave a barrier of protection from pollutants on the skin, that could be beneficial. I'd want to see studies conducted to determine both the amount of tulip-tree wax left on the skin after cleansing, and the amount of pollutants the cleanser was able to buffer, to see if it's legitimate.”

Hydrate dry skin

Many women with parched skin wait until after they've washed their faces to address flakiness and tightness with hydrating serums and rich creams. But a new cleanser packed with peptides (strings of amino acids frequently found in anti-aging products) may make us consider backing up a step. When used in cleansers, peptides may have a hydrating effect, which can help alleviate the itchy feeling skin may have after washing. In a company study of the peptide-laced Olay Regenerist Deep Hydrating Mousse Cleanser, machine measurements showed higher levels of moisture in participants' skin after they used the cleanser twice a day for three days. The added moisture can plump the skin and keep its protective outer layer intact and able to “resist the forces that lead to aging, like free radicals, better than unmoisturized skin,” says Fusco. To that end, participants in the Olay study also said the cleanser left their skin softer, smoother, and with fewer visible fine lines and wrinkles.l