According to Georgetown University School of Medicine researchers, a review of numerous studies attempting to measure the effect of religious beliefs on illness and recovery reveals that at least 80% of the studies show that spirituality and faith have a beneficial effect on health. In previous centuries, healing and religion went hand in hand. Now, in the 21st century, the combination is coming back. In fact, today, more than 30 medical schools in the United States teach courses on spirituality and healing. Just 3 years ago, there were only three schools offering such courses.

So is there power in prayer and spirituality?

An article published article by John Hopkins University’s The Journal of Humanistic Psychology (Vol. 38, No. 3), reported a double-blind study involving a coronary unit at San Francisco General Hospital. One hundred ninety-two coronary patients were assigned randomly to a “prayed for” group, while others were put into a control group. Home prayer groups consisting of five to seven people prayed on behalf of each person in the “prayed for” group without the person’s knowledge.

The patients for whom prayers were dedicated were five times less likely to require antibiotics (three patients compared to 16 patients in the control group), and three times less likely to develop pulmonary edema (six patients compared to 18) — a significant result. No one in the “prayed for” group required any mechanical ventilator equipment, compared to 12 who needed the equipment in the control group. Fewer patients died in the prayed for group.

Understand that this isn’t about curing, but about combining your own power and spirituality with the best that modern medicine has to offer. So regardless of your particular religion or spiritual belief, sending out a prayer may give you just what you need this holiday season — better health and peace. Amen.

Soy foods such as tofu contains isoflavones. Soy isoflavones may help prevent bad cholesterol from sticking to artery walls, as well as lower cholesterol. Eating 20 to 50 grams of soy protein per day can significantly reduce cholesterol. An easy and tasty way that I reccomend to people unfamiliar with soy foods is to put it in desserts. Here is a Soy dessert recipe that has tofu in it.

Tofu Lemon Squares

Filling:

1/2 cup Flour

3 large Eggs

3/4 cup Lemon Juice

1 teaspoon Baking Powder

3/4 cup Tofu, soft

2 cups Brown Sugar

Crust

1/4 cup softened Margarine

1/2 cup Brown Sugar

1 1/4 cup Flour

1/2 cup oatmeal, uncooked

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F

While stove heats up grease a 9 by 13″ pan.

Combine all of the crust ingredients, when crumbly press over bottom of pan and bake for 10 minutes.

For filling, mix together the tofu and eggs.

Add sugar, baking powder, and flour, then blend until smooth.

Mix in lemon juice, then pour the filling over hot crust.

Bake for 1/2 hour, when edges are brown dessert is done. Let it cool completely before slicing into squares. An option is to sprinkle the top with a little brown sugar.

I am.
I hate to see trees toppled. But when they must, I am okay with it when the results turn out like this.

Looking through the mass of bad news in the media, an occasional “good” story touches my heart. This is one.

Tell me about a tree that has to come down and I will ask you why. I take my surroundings to heart, and the loss of a tree is like the loss of a pet. Though a lot of you might find this silly, I grew up in Northwest Washington State amid towering trees - when they are part of one’s landscape you learn to appreciate the beauties they are.

However, I was especially delighted to read about a cedar tree that had to be removed for a Seattle school’s renovation. Oh, not that it had to be removed - I wasn’t happy about that, but what happened to it when it was removed. Most trees go to the tree graveyard (to become lumber or chips); this tree had a nobler plan.

John is 52 years old, and well educated. He has had slightly high blood pressure that is controlled with medication, and knew that his weight had crept up over the past few years. But he wasn’t expecting a heart attack.

“It was after dinner and I was watching T.V,” he says. “I felt as if someone was sitting on my chest. It’s a good thing my wife was with me. She called 911 and I got to the hospital right away.”

Now he has changed his lifestyle dramatically in the past few months since he was told that he had suffered from a heart attack. “I eat a lot more vegetables, and I don’t eat sausage or lots of deep fried foods.” He turns to his wife and grins. “It’s hard, I know, but I want to be around for awhile.”

There are millions of people like John, who are at risk for a heart attack and aren’t even aware. Heart disease is the number one killer in America, but often there is no warning. In fact, in the majority of people who die suddenly of coronary artery disease, there were no previous symptoms.

Causes of a Heart Attack

Our hearts are mainly made of muscle and need a constant supply of oxygen-rich blood to feed it. A network of coronary arteries supplies this blood.

Over time, in many people there is a gradual buildup of plaque (cholesterol and other substances) inside of the blood vessels. This plaque causes a gradual narrowing of the arteries and less blood can flow to the heart muscle. If a blood clot or broken piece of plaque completely blocks the artery and stops the flow of blood, the area of muscle supplied can become injured or dies. This is known as a myocardial infarction, or heart attack. (Infarction means death from lack of oxygen, and myocardial refers to heart muscle).

In order to prevent a heart attack, it is important to learn how to stop this buildup of plaque and/or clotting of the arteries.

Risk Factors for Heart Disease

There are two types of risk factors that have been identified by studies such as the Framingham Heart Study. Some of these risk factors are not modifiable and can’t be changed, such as your genetics: if everyone in your family had a heart attack at an early age, you are at higher risk yourself.

Ethnic group is another risk factor (some groups such as African Americans, Hispanic people, and certain Asian ethnic groups have a higher risk of high blood pressure). Sex is also another risk factor with men more likely than women before menopause of having a heart attack. Age is another one: the older we are the greater the risk of a heart attack.

But these studies also identified risk factors that can be controlled. The big three risk factors are blood pressure, total cholesterol , and whether a person smokes.

The higher your total cholesterol the greater your risk of heart disease. A total cholesterol below 200 is considered low risk, and one above 240 is high risk. (There is a good cholesterol, though, known as High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) which seems to have the effect of taking up cholesterol from inside the arteries to the liver to be excreted. High levels of HDL are considered good and heart protective).

Smoking is considered a major risk factor for heart disease and doubles the risk for a heart attack. And the person who smokes is also more likely to die if they have a heart attack than the nonsmoker who has one.

High blood pressure makes the heart work harder and it obtains less blood flow. It can also cause plaque formation to increase.

There are other risk factors which have been linked to a higher risk of heart disease. But the researchers aren’t quite as sure whether some of them, such as a sedentary lifestyle, are direct causes of heart disease, or whether they are an indirect cause because they can contribute other risk factors for heart disease such as obesity, syndrome X (insulin resistance) and type 2 diabetes.

Famous Only in the Mind

I am a indeed a very famous and adored creature. There are so many times have played Spanish guitar or done pop concerts in packed out auditoriums in all the top cities. The number of books I’ve written is phenomenal and of course each one has been accompanied by a tour of all the T.V. talk shows. Experts seek my advice constantly on subjects ranging from religion to politics. Each movie that I have starred in has been a huge success at the box office and of course my love life couldn’t be better. I have written many screen plays which have received Academy awards and I’m never seen in public with a hair out of place or a broken nail. My make up is flawless and my complexion gorgeous. Women everywhere envy my perfect figure and I never ~ sweat. But, alas I am all this only in my own mind. Fantasy or “wool gathering” as some people like to refer to it can be wonderful. When the vice of cruel reality crushes the hope out of me I have always tended to escape to a world of my own creation. It’s a dream like world where lovers never hurt you and pie is never fattening. The beaches are always sunny and the water is always 72 degrees. A little crisis is always met with a knight in shining armor who pledges his allegiance and fidelity forever. Gravity never hurts anyone and the whole world gets saved and goes to heaven. The down side of fantasy is that you can come to 1ike it so much that reality becomes bland, banal, and noxious by comparison. I find fantasy can be so addictive that I would like to cancel my environment in favor of prime time fantasy. For someone with a vivid imagination it’s better than television. However, unless one wants to give oneself completely over to fantasy and live in a mental institution the world with its frustrations and agonies must be met with courage, with fortitude, with compassion. A little fantasy can be the spice of life, however it is a dangerous obsession. Some take the trip of fantasy and never come back.

If you shed hair, around a million, it can become a problem. Each day, most people lose about 100 strands of hair from their head. A person who does not experience hair loss is quite fortunate, because each of us have hundreds of hairs that can potentially be lost. If you are not concerned about your hair loss, sometime in the future you may find that all your hair has disappeared.

Studies have shown that 90% of all hair loss is caused by either genetics or hormonal reasons. With males, the reason for hairline and whole head baldness is androgenic alopecia. This has also been called male pattern baldness. For women there is normally thinning hair on the entire head. It is not to be compared to the lines of the hair, created by the similar androgenic alopecia. For females, it is intended as hair loss in females.

There is a type of hair loss that 65% of white men have when they are 45 years old. Some women experience hair loss between the ages of 30 and 40, with significant hair loss only occurring during and after menopause. Approximately half of all children will experience hair loss due to inherited genes.

Early treatment will prevent your child from experiencing hair loss during mid-life. The hormone DHT is the primary culprit in hair loss. 5-alpha reductase, an enzyme produced in the adrenal glands, is responsible for the production of testosterone, which in turn affect the production of DHT. Enzyme production is dependent upon the age of the male as well as his genetic makeup. DHT affects the hair follicles. DHT causes hair follicles to become smaller, and finally, die. The main reason for male and female hair loss is Androgenetic Alopecia. Stress, thyroid problems, autoimmune diseases such as diabetes, trauma systems, fever, psoriasis, etc. are other causes.

Therefore, we came to the conclusion that specific products with good quality are able to help us with our bald heads; however these must be applied in the beginning phase. A lot of products are created for hair growth and this just goes to show how valuable your hair is. So, the production of DHT may be slowed or blocked.

Having lots of snack choices is important. Contrary to intuition, having lots of snack choices around doesn’t promote overeating. When you have options, your brain gets over the, “I must eat” mantra and focuses on the variety instead. Check out our weight management tips for more ideas on snacking.

Fewer and fewer people are washing their hands before they eat. In part, this decline in personal cleanliness is due to the convenience and availability of food, lack of education in the classroom and oversight or forgetfulness.

If you’re sitting in a classroom or at a computer workstation all day, you might think, “I don’t have germs on my hands, so why should I go into a dirty washroom to wash my hands? I’ll just get them dirtier by doing so! Besides, I worked hard all morning, and I want to eat now!”

Several studies published in The Lancet and more widely popular serials such as The New York Times indicate the average school water fountain/drinking fountain has more bacteria and mold on the handles and the spout than the average public washroom (in a school).

Washing your hands will rid you of graphite from pencils, dirt and bacteria on keyboards, metals and paint coatings from door handles, and bacteria that got onto your hand when you sneezed. Ridding yourself of these sources of poor digestion will make vitamin and mineral absorption more efficient while reducing the amount of blood needed to be diverted from the brain to the stomach. Good deal, huh?

If you have to eat on the go, make it something that’s easy to digest. Smoothies are popular for this reason, but try going for whole-grain cookies and dried or fresh fruit too. Also, if you eat a water-rich food, like celery (93 per cent water), you’ll be getting your nutrients, fiber and water all at the same time. Now that’s almost Jem’Hadar-like! Notice Captain Picard never ate his croissants in the turbolift? Smart bloke, that one. Croissants are high in fat content and low in fiber and nutrients, making them difficult to digest even if you drink lots of juice with them. If your stomach has to put more energy into digesting, again, it’s diverting blood away from your brain. See, you always knew there was an explanation why his diplomacy worked most of the time against all odds.

More eateries are now offering more slurp-able soups in slurpee-like containers with extra-wide straws, so you can really eat on the go. Try them out some time. Better yet, try a homemade soup-sicle. If you have lots of leftover soup that’s pretty homogenous, like split pea soup or a gazpacho, freeze it in a popsicle maker. Both of which taste great cold, by the way. Remember that, for runny soups, you have to let the liquid turn semi-hard before sticking the popsicle stick in, otherwise it won’t be a very stable popsicle.

Eat a tuna salad sandwich
Tuna is packed with lots of goodies: vitamins B6 and B12, omega-3 fatty acids to protect your heart, immune-boosting selenium and bone-building magnesium, phosphorus and vitamin D. All of these nutrients also help you deal with stress more easily. With celery, plain yogurt or mayonnaise, whole-grain bread or pita, this super sandwich is filling and easy to throw together, not fattening.

Steam some broccoli
These crunchy little guys pack in calcium, folic acid, and cancer-fighting ingredients called isothiocyanates that’ll get those damaging chemicals before they start vandalizing. Broccoli gets you a double the bang for your buck with vitamin A and C, fiber and iron, magnesium to boot. Try them with a bit of cheese, salsa, nutritional yeast or lemon juice. They cook in 3 minutes.

Heat up some soup
Water-based foods fill you up fast to help you maintain or lose weght, according to a study by Barbara Rolls, professor of nutrition at Pennsylvania State University. Her research found that women who ate soup as a first course at lunch consumed 26 percent fewer calories at that meal. Choose a low-sodium soup chock full of veggies for maximum nutrient absorption.

Nibble on nuts
Almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts and others pack a lot of nutritional punch. Nuts are a cheap source of protein, those great omega-6 fatty acids, and minerals. THese help hormone production, healthy skin and strong blood vessels. The protein also makes you feel full for a longer time. Raw unsalted nuts are the healthiest choice.

Brew some green tea
Those polyphenols in green tea have a powerful antioxidant effect, which reduce chances of heart disease in your late twenties if you’re overdosing on pizza and junk food, and is linked to cancer prevention. The alkaline qualities of green tea also make it a great mouthwash, and certain polyphenols help you burn more calories in your regular activities.

Inspect your skin, hair and nails
Most of us do it anyway, but try looking for signs of nutritional duress. It’s also a good thing to look for signs of skin cancer. The most common kind of cancer cna be caught early; look for moles that have become irregular-shaped, changed color, bleed or change in dimensions.

If you’re gonna read a label, do it right.
Many of you’d be surprised, for example, at how few breads feature whole-grain flour as the first ingredient. We usually just look at the big words on the front. It’s worth looking for breads with whole wheat flour as the first ingredient, because nutrient- and fiber-dense carbohydrates help us have more energy, sleep better, eat less, lower our risk for heart disease and help the body to absorb nutrients from non-carbohydrate food sources.

When you choose a container for your kit, make sure that you pick one that’s durable. For my container, I employed a band-aid tin. This has been successful without adding any additional cost. It should be easy to fill your kit because the drug store offers many things suitable for supplying your kit.

Adhesive bandages—It’s a good idea to pack stick-on bandages and make sure you include different sizes. Butterfly-style adhesive bandages are also a good choice to have on hand. I would suggest keeping the kit stocked with five each of three different sized bandages and also three butterfly bandages. Cloth rather than plastic bandages are preferable. I think they stick better, even though I’ve been carrying them around in my handbag forever. Having a variety of different bandage sizes will make it easier to cover a wound, whether you need just one or several to cover a larger injury.

Anti-bacterial cream—There are several small sizes of anti-bacterial creams available, including sample sizes, that will fit neatly into your kit. There are single use sizes available. Protection will be given from infection during the use of the cream, while the healing is beginning.

Wet wipes—Make sure to include individual, single use wet wipes available at your pharmacy. These wipes are available with anti-bacterial cream already in them. These will be necessary for cleaning the wound. Do this by gently cleaning the wound as much as possible before applying the anti-bacterial cream.

Pain relievers—You can keep a small plastic container in the kit filled with a pain reliever, that can be refilled after it’s used. Though small, single use packets are available and convenient, it is more economical to have a larger, cheaper size available in which to refill the small containers.

Optional items—If there is any room left in the container, it’s a good idea to fill this space with any medical or first aid items specific to your family’s health care needs. Antacids, allergy medication, eye drops, tweezers, and a small scissors are also very good additions to your kit.

Once filled, the kit in a can should be stored in an easy to locate place in your luggage. Putting this kind of first aid kit together is good practice for older children.

Make an extra kit and add some decoration, and it will make an inexpensive and useful gift for family member, friend, coworker, or your child’s teacher. Plus, who knows when you might have the chance to “be ready”!

Drugs and the FDA
First the drugs. Once a prescription drug is FDA approved, it can only be prescribed by a licensed physician and only dispensed by a licensed pharmacist. You then have a three level check system to ensure safety: the FDA, the medical doctor or physician, and the pharmacist.

Supplements
On the other hand, we have natural food supplements. The FDA does not regulate these substances and they don’t require a physician or pharmacist to purchase them. The only quality check is the manufacturer, which is required to ensure that the food supplements they produce are safe.

Now that I have you really concerned, let’s look at the safety track record of drugs verses food supplements. In 1998, a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association estimated that adverse reactions to prescription drugs were killing about 106,000 Americans each year, almost three times as many as killed by automobiles (4). Of these 106,000 people, 41% (43,000) were hospitalized due to an adverse drug reaction; the other 59% (63,000 people), developed a fatal reaction to prescription drugs they received while in the hospital. The most disturbing fact about this report is that the study only included drugs that were given properly and under normal circumstances, and excluded drugs that were administered in error or taken in attempted suicides. Wow! It just keeps getting better and better for those prescription drugs, doesn’t it?

Now let’s look at food supplements. In 1997, approximately 40% of the United States population (267,743,595 people) took dietary supplements, of which 18,000 had adverse reactions (5). However, these 18,000 poisonings were in children under 5 years of age that overdosed or took excessive amounts of vitamin supplements. So we see that life threatening adverse reactions to vitamins, mineral, and herbal supplements rarely occur in the adult population. Clearly, food supplements are much safer than prescription or non-prescription drugs any day of the week!

Efficacy?
Now that you feel comfortable again in regards to the safety of food supplements, there is the issue of effectiveness, or what we in the biz like to call “efficacy.” In essence, do food supplements do what you think they are doing?
This is where being informed really comes in handy. Remember that the FDA holds manufacturers responsible for the safety of their products? Well, that doesn’t mean that their products will do you any good. For example, I’m sure you have all heard or read about the benefits of Glucosamine Sulfate and Chondroitin Sulfate for joint pain and mobility, and rightly so. These food supplements have been clinically shown to improve joint function. However, the manufacturers of products that contain these substances are not really being honest with you. What they are not telling you is that oral Chondroitin Sulfate is too large (molecularly) to be absorbed by the body and that, in clinical trials, the injectable form of Chondroitin Sulfate was used, not oral (6). Yes, that’s right my friends, the pill form of Chondroitin Sulfate that you are taking is doing absolutely nothing for you. Yet, there are hundreds of food supplements out there that have oral Chondroitin Sulfate in their products, imagine that!

The moral of the story is that you are responsible for the food supplements that you take. Yes, food supplements are very safe if taken in accordance with the label instructions (or as instructed by a healthcare professional), but you don’t take them just for the fun of it. You take supplements to improve or maintain your health. So, unless you like spending money on products that do nothing for you, or don’t do what you think they’re doing, it is important to research and understand the products that you are taking. And hey, don’t always believe what the manufacturer tells you, research it for yourself. Food supplements can be a very valuable tool in the quest for optimum health, but they need to be used wisely. So don’t fall for all the media hype! Become an informed consumer. You’ll be better off and save some money to boot! Can’t beat that!