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‘Natural Health’ Category

  1. Time to rethink the habit?

    February 27, 2012 by

    I’d like to share a story today about a dear friend of mine who would have been 29 today. He was a really close friend of mine since the day I was born, because we were born on the same street and were very close in age. In fact, he was exactly one week older than me. All thoughout our childhood we were inseparable, and I’m happy to say that the connection we had followed us into our adult years. However, he changed as the years went on and picked up some bad habits.

     

    One of these was smoking. At age 18 he started to smoke every now and then, because he got in with some buddies that liked to smoke quite a bit. He figured he’d just go ahead and join them to fit in. Over the years, this transitioned into him being a pack a day smoker, if not two packs if he was feeling like spending a bit more money.

     

    I hadn’t ever smoked, and encouraged him to quit whenever possible, while trying not to sound like a complete nag. Of course, over time it was impossible for it not to sound like I was hounding him on his bad habits and our friendship started to decline. It wasn’t a fun experience, but it happened.

     

    He ended up dying of lung cancer at age 28, just a few months ago. I can’t help but imagine that if he had quit or switched to something safer, he would be alive today. I actually was pitching him something called e-cigarettes for quite a while before he died but he said that they just weren’t for him. When I tried to explain that you get the exact same amount of nicotine from them as you do from normal smoking and actually don’t get any of the poisonous stuff, he simply ignored me or didn’t really hear me.

    electronic cigarettes

    The beautiful thing about electronic cigarettes is that they are totally safe – their only output is water vapor! I don’t know why I couldn’t convince him to use these, or at least give them a try. I’m confident that if he just gave them a try even once he would have seen the value in switching. I have a lot of friends now that have made the switch and couldn’t be happier. In fact, e-cigs are actually becoming the vogue and trendy thing, and it brings a tear to my eye to think that this was one of the reasons that my friend rejected them – he didn’t think they were “cool” enough for him. Unfortunately, you can’t think anything is cool if you’re not around anymore.

     

    If you know someone like my friend, please encourage them to give these new smoking products a try. Don’t just take my word for it – do the research yourself and really try to make an impact in the life of someone that you care about. Trust me, it’s worth it. Click here for more information.

     

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  2. Preserving Your Own Food? Beware of Botulism…

    December 2, 2011 by

    botulism magnified

    Botulism under the microscope

    Botulism is a deadly disease, but thankfully one we are seeing less and less of due to our sophisticated medical care and overwhelmingly great knowledge of the human body. Regardless, it still claims the lives of five to ten percent of those who contract it, which is a sad reality that we must accept. The earlier you can identify that you may have botulism, the better your chances to successfully treat the disease and make a full recovery. The symptoms are very distinctive due to the rare nature of the disease.
    Basically, botulism symptoms start out as signs of paralysis in the face. Drooping of the eyelids is considered one of the easiest symptoms to spot, but there are many others. Any loss of control in the mouth, both on the outside with problems moving the lips and the inside with any difficulty swallowing are both very typical bodily responses to botulism poisoning. As time goes on the disease will spread to the extremities causing full paralysis of the musculoskeletal system.
    In the most severe cases of botulism, the muscles in the lungs will also shut down which causes a total respiratory failure. This symptom is the major cause of death among those inflicted, but only occurs if a lethal amount of the toxin is ingested or present in the body. The interesting thing about the symptoms is that while all of this is happening the person remains completely coherent and clear minded. No fever or any other kind of “classic” symptoms come into play with botulism. It is strictly the body’s reaction to a toxin that is invading and taking over the nervous system.
    Infants are the group of people most affected by botulism, simply because the beneficial bacteria in the intestines and stomach have not propagated enough to stop any other kind of bacterial growth. Because of this the botulism bacteria is free to spread throughout an infant’s gastrointestinal tract and actually can become a much more severe case than many adults. There are around 90 cases of infant botulism every single year, but thankfully the mortality rate is rather low with infants due to their amazing ability to recover from many illnesses.
    One of the primary ways that infants get botulism is through consumption of either honey or corn syrup, which is why doctors always recommend to never give it to a child under a year of age. It’s simply too big a risk to give them either of these substances and to be honest doesn’t do much good for them even if it was not infected. To mitigate the risk of botulism in adults, make sure you do not eat any preserved foods that smell bad, and you also throw out any cans that are past their expiration date or look overly damaged or distended. The gaseous buildup inside a can is a sign that the botulism bacteria has grown inside that particular can.

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  3. Birth – the most organic procedure there is?

    December 1, 2011 by

    The most beautiful time in a woman’s life isn’t when she walks down the aisle to get married.  It’s not when she walks down the stairs in her prom dress.  It’s not even the first day she’s born!  These are all examples of outer beauty, but the beauty that I’m talking about today is the magical wonder of pregnancy – the creation of a NEW life on this planet.
    There are a lot of things to learn when it comes to pregnancy.  I’m sure you have heard of the famous book, “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” the classic primer on all of the phases of pregnancy and what will happen to your body as you progress through them.  It’s a great way to give a future mother a little sneak peek on pregnancy week by week as they move through the weeks towards the glorious birth of their new baby.

    Pregnancy week by week - who is farther along?
    One of the most interesting periods of pregnancy is the second trimester.  This is the period from week thirteen to week twenty eight that can best be regarded as the most excitable and energetic time in a woman’s pregnancy.  Thankfully, by this time the dreaded morning sickness is starting to fade or has already evaporated.  The last thing that a mother (or anyone, for that matter) wants is to be throwing up every morning for three months.  It’s one of the worst parts about pregnancy, but fortunately it is front loaded and only lasts the first three months when you don’t have all of the added stress of a larger baby in your stomach.
    The second trimester marks the period of most rapid growth for the baby within you.  It starts to identify its sex by growing the male or female genitalia, and takes on more of the look of a full grown baby.  You may even notice that in the middle of the 2nd trimester the baby will begin to kick or move around in your womb, which is exciting not only for the mother but for the father.  Fathers can sometimes feel like they are left on the sidelines after conception, because the ball is really in the mother’s court at that point.  It’s up to her to nurture and nourish the child.  That doesn’t mean that a father has no responsibility or input, though.  It is up to him to support and nourish his wife and especially to provide that emotional anchor for her.

     

     

    During the second trimester a woman’s hormones are fluctuating in all different directions, so the man in the relationship must be there as that rock for her to hold on to if she is feeling out of touch or overwhelmed with the whole process.
    It is truly a wonderful thing to experience the joy of pregnancy, and there are a lot of things to know if you’re going to look at pregnancy week by week.  The best advice is to take it slow and remember to breathe – you’ll be just fine as long as you are a responsible and loving mother.

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