The secret to joint pain relief — exercise

The secret to joint pain relief — exercise

Joint pain: it throbs, aches, and hurts. Quite likely, it makes you think twice about everyday tasks and pleasures like going for a brisk walk, lifting your grandchild or some grocery bags, chasing a tennis ball across the court, or driving a golf ball down the fairway. Sharp reminders of your limitations arrive thick and fast, practically every time you move.

What causes joint pain?

Very often, the culprits behind joint pain are

• osteoarthritis
• old injuries
• repetitive or overly forceful movements during sports or work
• posture problems
• aging
• inactivity

How exercise can help

Ignoring the pain won’t make it go away. Nor will avoiding all motions that spark discomfort. In fact, limiting your movements can weaken muscles, compounding joint trouble, and affect your posture, setting off a cascade of further problems. And while pain relievers and cold or hot packs may offer quick relief, fixes like these are merely temporary.

By contrast, the right set of exercises can be a long-lasting way to tame ankle, knee, hip, or shoulder pain. Practiced regularly, joint pain relief workouts might permit you to postpone — or even avoid — surgery on a problem joint that has been worsening for years by strengthening key supportive muscles and restoring flexibility. Over time, you may find limitations you’ve learned to work around will begin to ease. Tasks and opportunities for fun that have been weeded out of your repertoire by necessity may come back into reach, too.

Beyond the benefits to your joints, becoming more active can help you stay independent long into your later years. Regular activity is good for your heart and sharpens the mind. It nudges blood pressure down and morale up, eases stress, and shaves off unwanted pounds. Perhaps most importantly, it lessens your risk of dying prematurely. All of this can be achieved at a comfortable pace and very low cost in money or time.

Why weight matters Being overweight raises your risk for developing osteoarthritis in a weight-bearing joint like the knee — and even in the hand, according to some research, since inflammatory factors related to weight might exacerbate this condition. Simply walking across level ground puts up to one-and-a-half times your body weight on your knees. That means a 200-pound man will deliver 300 pounds of pressure to his knee with each step. Off level ground, the news is worse: each knee bears two to three times your body weight when you go up and down stairs, and four to five times your body weight when you squat to tie a shoelace or pick up an item you dropped. Fortunately, strengthening your quadriceps (the muscles on the fronts of the thighs) changes the equation, and so does losing weight. Each pound you lose reduces knee pressure in every step you take. One study found that the risk of developing osteoarthritis dropped 50% with each 11-pound weight loss among younger obese women. If older men lost enough weight to shift from an obese classification to just overweight — that is, from a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher down to one that fell between 25 and 29.9 — the researchers estimated knee osteoarthritis would decrease by a fifth. For older women, that shift would cut knee osteoarthritis by a third.

Artificial Sweeteners

NaturalNews) Scientists from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston have revealed results from a study outlining some of the effects of artificial sweeteners on the body. Conducted on a group of 3,000 women, the results indicated that those who drank two or more artificially-sweetened beverages a day doubled their risk of more-rapid-than-normal kidney function decline.

The study accounted for various other risk factors including the woman's age, her blood pressure, if she smoked, and if she had any other pre-existing conditions such as heart disease or diabetes. The 11-year study evaluated the effects of all sweetened drinks on progressive kidney decline and discovered that two or more diet drinks leads to a two-fold increase in rapid kidney decline incidences.

Though study results did not show any correlation between sugar- or corn syrup-sweetened drinks and the onset of rapid kidney decline, these ingredients are implicated in causing diabetes and obesity and should not be perceived as safe merely because they did not have a direct correlation in this particular study topic.

High sodium intake was also implicated in the study as promoting progressive kidney decline. Since diet soda contains excessive amounts of sodium, higher than sugar soda, it is no surprise that diet sodas were the primary offenders in the study. However it is unclear from this particular study which ingredient plays the larger role in progressive kidney decline, the artificial sweeteners or the sodium content.

Studies on aspartame

When aspartame was first approved in the 1970s under the name "NutraSweet", studies were submitted as supposed proof that the artificial chemical was safe. The FDA initially approved the chemical in 1974 for use in a limited number of foods based upon the studies submitted by G.D. Searle Co., the company that invented aspartame.

Following a discovery made shortly thereafter by a research psychiatrist who found that aspartic acid, a primary ingredient in aspartame, caused holes to form in the brains of mice, the FDA decided to form its own internal task force to investigate the initial claims made by the Searle Co.

What the agency discovered was a series of falsified claims, compromised study results, and missing information. The claims made in favor of aspartame were so dubious and the evidence so faulty that the FDA decreed that a grand jury should investigate Searle Co.'s claims. Unfortunately, the case failed to move forward when U.S. Attorney Thomas Sullivan and Assistant U.S. Attorney William Conlon failed to initiate any legal action. Conlon was later hired by the law firm that represented Searle Co.

Investigation revealed that aspartame had caused tumors, seizures, brain holes, and death in many of the studies. All negative findings had been altered or scrubbed from the final reports delivered to the FDA when aspartame was first reviewed.

Time and time again the question over whether aspartame is safe has led to investigations that never go anywhere. Studies are continually released in support of the chemical's safety even though they fail to address the results of other studies that show it to be harmful.

Other artificial sweeteners

A study published in the January, 2008 issue of the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health revealed that the newer artificial sweetener, sucralose, alters gut microflora and inhibits the assimilation of dietary nutrients.

Commonly marketed as being "made from sugar", sucralose had undergone no long-term human studies to verify its safety in humans. Like aspartame, initial studies revealed negative reactions by lab animals on whom it was tested, indicating that there could be the same potential problems in humans.

The EU Food Commission, Canadian health officials, and the U.S. FDA all rejected the initial studies submitted by McNeil Nutritionals, the marketers of sucralose, because of the negative results. However they encouraged the company to continue researching until they "got it right". McNeil simply lowered the levels of sucralose used in their studies until an acceptable limit was found. After several tries, sucralose was finally approved.

Stevia, a safe alternative

A great many varieties of artificial sweeteners have been approved, many scandalously, despite the fact that safe, natural alternatives exist. Stevia, for instance, is a sweet herb from South America that is up to 300 times sweeter than sugar. Claiming inadequate safety research, the FDA has long refused the herb from being included on the "generally recognized as safe" (GRAS) list.

Up until last year, all forms of stevia could only be sold as dietary supplements. The extract could not be labeled as a "sweetener" and it could not be included in any food items.

Once the parent companies of both Pepsi and Coca-Cola discovered how to manipulate and patent a segment of stevia, however, it suddenly became safe to use as a sweetener and is now sold on grocery store shelves in packets similar to the artificial sweeteners. The FDA reluctantly added the natural stevia extract to the GRAS list as well.

Stick with natural and unprocessed
When it comes to health, a person's best bet is to avoid artificial sweeteners altogether. There are plenty of preferable, safe alternatives such as stevia which will allow for a little extra sweetness without all the harmful side effects.

Sources for this story include

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/a...

http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2009...

http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/

http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/co...

What juice will clean my colon of old fecal matter?

Believe it or not, but the best juice to cleanse your colon is water!

When it comes to vegetables, the best vegetables to juice to clean your colon are those that have a yin or cooling ability. Constipation indicates your body is too hot. Let me explain ...

First, to be honest, many people have more than 10 lbs of caked fecal matter. John Wayne had something like 40 pounds and Elvis Presley had about the same, if I remember correct. In fact, Elvis died sitting on the toilet. He had so much compacted fecal matter that he literally gave himself a heart attack trying to force a bowel movement. Elvis isn't the only person who has done this... may others have had the same problem.

You don't need expensive bowel cleansing programs. You just need to apply some common sense in combination with the taking advantage of ancient wisdom.

First, you need to look at lifestyle. You need to eliminate as many processed foods as you can. These foods have no fiber and get stuck in the body.

Second, realize the bowels need moisture to work properly. You can have all the fiber in the world, but if you don't have moisture in the bowels, then the fiber can't do very much. So you need to make sure you are drinking lots of water ... juice, tea, coffee, sodas, etc all do not constitute as water ... you need water and water by itself.

Although tea has water in it, once you turn it into tea, the constitution has changed and the body no longer recognizes the tea as water. This same rule applies to juice, sodas, etc.

Third, foods that are high in yang (hot) energy will naturally burn the moisture from the body. So even if you are drink lots of water, if you have too much yang energy, then the water is burned up by the yang energy. Foods that are high in yang energy include but are not limited to deep fried foods, BBQ / grilled foods, alcohol and other foods like green peppers, garlic, ginger, spicy foods, etc.

Taking all of this into account. What you need is to ensure you are drinking lots of water, getting sufficient fiber by eating whole foods and/or even taking a fiber supplement... not eating too many yang foods while having foods that are slightly more yin (cooling) so the moisture stays in the bowels. But if you have too much yin energy then instead of constipation, you will have loose bowel movements and even bowel movements that appear diarrhea like in nature.

Licorice tea is excellent for helping to bring moisture to the bowels. Additionally, the yogis of India say that licorice creates a scent that attracts women (possibly another bonus!).

More than juice, what you need to do is think of some foods to eat to help cleanse the bowels. Apples,melons and papaya are some fruits that come to mind to help cleanse the bowels. Papaya is a great cleanser but I wouldn't have it all the time because papaya can also create too much dampness in the body.

Drink green tea instead of coffee... green tea has a slight cooling effect on the body whereas coffee is a factor in constipation.

Eat vegetables like carrots, corn, squash, bamboo shoots and definitely eat some zucchini (or any squash for that matter)... one of the best natural cleansers is zucchini though. Beets also do good too. Beets can really help to purge the bowels of old fecal matter but don't be surprised if your bowel movements or urine turn red after eating beets. But I would focus less on juicing and more on the foods you eat because that way you get fiber too.

Sure, the vegetables you juice will have an impact, but it's diet and lifestyle that will have the biggest impact on constipation, cleaning and preventing fecal matter from compacting within the colon.

You will know when your body has enough moisture in the bowels and fiber because the bowels movements will be relatively easy and the actual bowel movement itself will create a coil like shape.

Eliminate those hot (yang) foods, incorporate some cooling foods... and eat some whole grains such as brown rice.

Also, it's worth noting that cold drinks and cold foods can lead to constipation.

Believe it or not, but cold drinks and foods make your body hot. Thus burning up moisture in the body. The reason why is because when you have something cold, while it may be refreshing to your mouth, as soon as it lands in your stomach, your stomach needs to warm the food or drink.

To do this, the body pushes lots blood to your stomach. Of course, this then robs other parts of your body of blood. But it also robs your body of moisture. Cold foods and drinks should be avoided.

Please also remember that the colon is a muscle. When you have old fecal matter stuck in your colon, it becomes like cement along your colon wall. It prevents the colon muscle from squeezing. In turn, this contributes to a lazy (weak) colon which in turn makes the constipation issue worse.

So we want to ensure we are drinking enough water because that's what really begins to allow the old fecal matter to be removed. It's not a quick process to clean out the colon, but it is not a difficult thing to do either.

Constipation is more of a lifestyle issue ... juice has an impact, but if you fail to fix the lifestyle, the constipation will just continue. Just make some of the minor changes / adjustments above and I am sure you will notice a huge difference.

One last thought, try to get to sleep early ...  around 10 PM is good ... 11 PM is acceptable, but any time you go to sleep after midnight, you make your body hot by stressing the hormones and adrenal glands ... meaning you burn more moisture in the body.

Ultimately, become aware of the visible and hidden factors that lead to constipation.

Colon cancer is one of the easiest cancers to prevent!

When your fecal matter becomes a stubborn layer of mucus plaque, water is not strong enough to remove it. You need to detoxify it with Magnesium oxide.

the right way to cook instant noodle

The correct way to cook instant noodles without harming our bodies and health: Normally, how we cook the instant noodles is to put the noodles into a pot with water, throw in the powder and let it cook for around 3 minutes and then it's ready to eat.

This is the WRONG method of cooking the instant noodles.

By doing this, when we actually boil the ingredients in the powder,normally with MSG, it will change the molecular structure of the MSG, causing it to be toxic.

The other thing that you may or may not realize is that, the noodles are coated with wax and it will take around 4 to 5 days for the body to excrete the wax after you have eaten the noodles. 
  

CORRECT METHOD: 
1. Boil the noodles in a pot of water.

2. Once the noodles are cooked, take out the noodles, and throw away the water which contains wax.

3. Boil another pot of water, add the cooked noodles into the hot boiling water and then turn off the stove.

4. Only at this stage when the stove is off, and while the water is very hot, add the flavouring powder into the water, to make noodle soup.

5. However, if you need dry noodles, remove the noodles and add the flavouring powder and toss it to get dry noodles.

Dietician's Note: 
 

 
If you buy plain hakka noodles which you make, you initially need to boil in water and discard the water. This will soften the noodles but to prevent it from sticking we need to add a tbsp of oil and also the noodles are deep fried partially to make them crunchy and then dusted with flour to prevent them from sticking while boiling. Hence when you buy the noodles they are already made unhealthy and this is the type we use to make stir fry noodles and the regular Maggie too is made the same way, plus they add MSG / Ajinomoto and other chemical preservetives.
 

A large number of patients with ages ranging from 18-24
 
years
 
 are ending up with pancreatitis either as 
 
a swelling or infection
 
 of the pancreas 
 
due to regular consumption of instant noodles...

 
If the frequency is more than 3 times a week, then it is very hazardous...