10 TIPS FOR A HEALTHY HEART

WORLD HEART DAY- 29TH SEPTEMBER

Theme of 2012: "One World, One Home, One Heart"

10 TIPS FOR A HEALTHY HEART

Care for your heart. If you don’t, it leaves you dying.

• AVOID SMOKING: Smoking reduces life expectancy by 15-25 years. If you are a smoker, you are twice more likely to have a heart attack than a non-smoker. The moment you stop smoking, the risk of heart attack begins to reduce.

• CUT DOWN ON SALT: Too much salt can cause high blood pressure, which increases the risk of developing coronary heart disease.

• WATCH YOUR DIET: Try to have a balanced diet. Eat fresh fruits and vegetables, starch foods such as wholegrain bread and rice.

• MONITOR YOUR ALCOHOL: Too much alcohol can damage the heart muscle, increase blood pressure and also lead to weight gain. Avoid intake of alcohol or at least limit it to one to two units a day, gradually decreasing the consumption.

• GET ACTIVE: At least aim for 30 minutes of moderate exercise a day. Keeping yourself fit not only benefits the heart but also improves mental health and well-being.

• MONITOR YOUR BP, BLOOD SUGAR AND CHOLESTEROL LEVELS: Routine medical check-ups will ring an alarm, if you need medical help.

• MANAGE YOUR WASTE: Cholesterol deposition in blood vessels begins in the first decade of life. Carrying a lot of extra weight as fat can greatly affect your health. Make small but healthy changes in your diet.

• MANAGE YOUR STRESS LEVEL: If you find things are getting on top of you, you may fail to eat properly, smoke and drink too much. This may increase your risk of a heart attack. Practice yoga/meditation. Take a vacation.

• CHECK YOUR FAMILY HISTORY: If a close relative is at risk of developing coronary heart disease from smoking, high BP, high cholesterol, lack of physical activity, obesity and diabetes, then you could be at risk too.

• LAUGHTER IS THE BEST THERAPY: Laughter anytime will work wonders for you. It is an instant way to unleash the pressure and it makes you feel light.

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ONIONS: THE MEDICINAL AND POISONOUS ASPECTS.

Onions absorb bacteria when cut and kept in the room, or by the bedside of the sick. Thus, they are so good at preventing us from getting colds and flu. But the cut and left-over, becomes highly poisonous for even a single night and creates toxic bacteria which may cause adverse stomach infections because of excess bile secretions and even food poisoning. Also, dogs should never eat onions because, their stomachs cannot metabolize them.

In 1919 when the flu killed 40 million people there was this Doctor that visited the many farmers to see if he could help them combat the flu... Many of the farmers and their families had contracted it and many died.

The doctor came upon this one farmer and to his surprise, everyone was very healthy. When the doctor asked what the farmer was doing that was different the wife replied that she had placed an unpeeled onion in a dish in the rooms of the home, (probably only two rooms back then). The doctor couldn't believe it and asked if he could have one of the onions and place it under the microscope. She gave him one and when he did this, he did find the flu virus in the onion. It obviously absorbed the bacteria, therefore, keeping the family healthy.

Now, I heard this story from my hairdresser. She said that several years ago, many of her employees were coming down with the flu, and so were many of her customers. The next year she placed several bowls with onions around in her shop. To her surprise, none of her staff got sick. It must work. Try it and see what happens. We did it last year and we never got the flu.

Now there is a P. S. to this for I sent it to a friend in Oregon who regularly contributes material to me on health issues. She replied with this most interesting experience about onions: 

Thanks for the reminder. I don't know about the farmer's story...but, I do know that I contacted pneumonia, and, needless to say, I was very ill... I came across an article that said to cut both ends off an onion put it into an empty jar, and place the jar next to the sick patient at night. It said the onion would be black in the morning from the germs...sure enough it happened just like that...the onion was a mess and I began to feel better. 

Another thing I read in the article was that onions and garlic placed around the room saved many from the black plague years ago. They have powerful antibacterial, antiseptic properties. 

This is the other note. Lots of times when we have stomach problems we don't know what to blame. Maybe it's the onions that are to blame. Onions absorb bacteria.  That is the reason they are so good at preventing us from getting colds and flu and is the very reason we shouldn't eat an onion that has been sitting for a time after it has been cut open. 

LEFT OVER ONIONS ARE POISONOUS

I had the wonderful privilege of touring Mullins Food Products, Makers of mayonnaise. Questions about food poisoning came up, and I wanted to share what I learned from a chemist.

Ed, who was our tour guide, is a food chemistry whiz. During the tour, someone asked if we really needed to worry about mayonnaise. People are always worried that mayonnaise will spoil. Ed's answer will surprise you. Ed said that all commercially-made mayo is completely safe.

"It doesn't even have to be refrigerated. No harm in refrigerating it, but it's not really necessary." He explained that the pH in mayonnaise is set at a point that bacteria could not survive in that environment. He then talked about the summer picnic, with the bowl of potato salad sitting on the table, and how everyone blames the mayonnaise when someone gets sick.

Ed says that, when food poisoning is reported, the first thing the officials look for is when the 'victim' last ate ONIONS and where those onions came from (in the potato salad?). Ed says it's not the mayonnaise (as long as it's not homemade mayo) that spoils in the outdoors. It's probably the ONIONS, and if not the onions, it's the POTATOES.

He explained onions are a huge magnet for bacteria, especially uncooked onions. You should never plan to keep a portion of a sliced onion.. He says it's not even safe if you put it in a zip-lock bag and put it in your refrigerator.

It's already contaminated enough just by being cut open and out for a bit, that it can be a danger to you (and doubly watch out for those onions you put in your hotdogs at the baseball park!). Ed says if you take the leftover onion and cook it like crazy you'll probably be okay, but if you slice that leftover onion and put on your sandwich, you're asking for trouble. Both the onions and the moist potato in a potato salad, will attract and grow bacteria faster than any commercial mayonnaise will even begin to break down.

Also, dogs should never eat onions. Their stomachs cannot metabolize onions.

Please remember it is dangerous to cut an onion and try to use it to cook the next day, it becomes highly poisonous for even a single night and creates toxic bacteria which may cause adverse stomach infections because of excess bile secretions and even food poisoning. 

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THE PROS AND CONS OF EARLY AND LATE MOTHERHOOD

Mothers Over 40 Give Birth To Healthier Children.

Children born to mothers of over 40 are healthier and brighter than those of younger women and less likely have accidents or need hospital care to survive, a study has found.

This latest research may be a piece of good news for the rising number of women who are delaying motherhood.

Previous studies have highlighted the growing infertility rates for older women and the greater risk of them developing diabetes and pre-eclampsia (a disorder of widespread vascular endothelial malfunction and vasospasm that occurs after 20 weeks’ of pregnancy).

The research appears to show advantages for older mothers once they have given birth, possibly due to their greater experience and maturity.

Researchers at the Institute of Child Health, University College London and Birkbeck College, London, said their findings showed older mothers can make better parents.

Head of the team, Dr Alastair Sutcliffe who worked on the study, said negative publicity surrounding the rise of older mothers was based on the physical risks of pregnancy and childbirth.

According to him, there is a clear evidence that there are more desirable outcomes for children of older mothers compared with younger ages, adding that older women’s children are probably better off.

In the above study, the team looked at 1,100 children born to women aged 40 and over, compared with 38,000 children born to younger women. The children’s ages ranged from nine months to five years.

Children of older mothers were less likely to be in accidents or need hospital admission, and were no more at risk of obesity.
While older mothers might generally be more prone to risks possibly because they are less active and unable to run after their children, they may also be better at spotting and avoiding potentially risky situations, the study revealed.

Dr. Abraham Inneh, a gynecologist explains: “Child bearing is a function of reproductive cycle and how fertile a woman is. The wellbeing and health of the child depends on maternal health, genetic makeup, environmental and social economic status”.

Basically as a woman gets older her reproductive cycle wanes, i.e there is reduction in ovulation which entails production of eggs, there is also reduction in menstrual flow which is also part of d reproductive cycle, he said.

There are a lot of things to consider when a woman decides to delay child birth till the age of over 40 because there are advantages and disadvantages because old age in a woman brings about decline in the quantity of eggs produced, which could lead to infertility, even if fertile, old age also brings about decline in d quality of eggs produced, leading to abnormal babies with chromosomal defects, Inneh points out.

According to the gynecologist, women of old maternal age are at risk of having miscarriages, premature deliveries and macrocosmic babies. However with d advent of modern and technology based medicine, these effects of age on child bearing as well as health of the child are negotiable.

Inneh further explains that by assisted reproductive techniques such as Invitro Fertilisation (IVF), older women can get pregnant, and by technology based screening the health and wellbeing of baby and mother can be monitored. Monitoring include ensuring adequate nutrition, environmental and socioeconomic stability.

He emphasised that there are risks associated with babies of older women because in some cases their children stand the risk of genetic and chromosomal abnormalities like down syndrome and kleinfeter syndrome (a chromosomal condition that affects male sexual development. Males with this condition typically have small testes that do not produce enough testosterone, which is the hormone that directs male sexual development before birth and during puberty).

But if older mother’s pregnancy is well managed with the modern day and technology based medicine, studies have shown that their children get a better start in life than younger mothers babies.

One disadvantage of younger mothers’ babies have is the fact that they are prone to illnesses and diseases in life because their mothers tend to be naive and most times ill prepared for pregnancy and child bearing,he stated.

In this situation, they suffer more from nutritional deficiencies, such as iron deficiency, anemia, vitamin B-12 etc because they are naive with mother craft, he said.

Older mothers tend to be more dedicated to parenting than younger mothers as such their babies get adequate care and baby support, they are also more educated and more empowered economically to give their babies the basic needs. Their babies could be referred to as precious babies. -Lola Adesiyan 

<http://www.searchnigeria.net/articles/Mothers-Over-40-Give-Birth-To-Healthier-Children

YOUR OWN BATH TOWEL CAN GIVE YOU GONORRHEA & OTHER DISEASES –BEWARE!!

Human bodies get dirty and so do bath towels. You wash your body every day, but do you ever wash your bath towels? How often and how thoroughly do you wash your wash clothes?

Do you hang your towel on a rack in the bathroom all week, or you care to spread it out in the sun? Do you ever think about what might be lurking in your dirty towels?

Do you share your towels with anyone? Come to think of it, when was the last time you changed your favourite towel—three months, six months, 12 months, or never?

There is no such thing as a harmless old towel. Even if you aired it, boiled it and disinfected it, an over-used bath towel could still wreak havoc against you! Most towels on the market are made of 100 percent cotton. That makes them very absorbent.

After a shower, you would probably have eliminated most of the germs and dirt from your skin, but do you know that the process of rubbing your towel against your body rubs off dead skin that sticks to the moist towel? Believe it or not, your towel could be a magnet for some of the most deadly but contagious germs imaginable.

Among these are pathogens for sexually transmissible diseases such as gonorrhea and trichomoniasis.

For the sake of your good health, beware of the following contagious diseases from bath towels. All of them are treatable with antibiotics, anti-fungal medications and good hygiene. But most of all, avoidance of poor towel hygiene is the best prevention.

Gonorrhea
Neisseria gonorrhea is a sexually transmitted infection. The causative bacteria are present in the seminal fluid of infected men or vaginal discharges of infected women and are easily spread through physical contact that may be sexual or non-sexual such as sharing of bath towels. Many persons don’t know, but the gonorrhea bacteria could also be transmitted from the towel to the eyes, so you do not want to be rubbing that dirty towel where it counts, do you?

Gonorrhea is curable, but the bacteria can infect the genital tract, the mouth, and the rectum, and can also wreak havoc in a woman’s cervix, womb, birth canal, and fallopian tubes. The end result for a woman might include pelvic inflammatory disease, infertility, or ectopic pregnancy. Women are particularly more at risk because they often have no symptoms even while the damage is being done.

Tip: Avoid rubbing your eyes and genitals with the same towel. Practice careful hygiene to avoid contagion! Absolutely no towel sharing!

Trichomoniasis
A sexually transmitted parasitic infection, Trichomonas vaginalis is a microscopic parasite and is one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases. Most of the times, you don’t get symptoms, but they can include itching, burning, pain, irritation, painful urination, discharge, and odour. Failure to get treatment can lead to re-infection.

Tip: Change or wash your towels often as possible.

Barber’s Rash
This is a skin infection in facial hair areas. It is also known as “Folliculitis”. The underlying medical cause is or Staph Infection which can be notoriously hard to treat. It can spread to the rest of the body through use of a contaminated towel.

Tip: Don’t share your towels with someone else.

Conjunctivitis
This is the infamous contagious eye infection also known as “Pink Eye”. Conjunctivitis is a group of diseases that cause swelling, itching, burning, and redness of the conjunctiva, the protective membrane that lines the eyelids and covers exposed areas of the sclera, or white of the eye.

Symptoms include “pink” eye, irritated, reddened, crusting, gritty, itchy eyes, swollen eyelid, eye pain and/or discomfort, light sensitivity, yellow discharge from the eye, or your eyelids glued shut after sleep.

Tip: Don’t rub your face with the same towel used to rub your body. Use a separate face towel and never share towels.

Impetigo
Impetigo is caused by different streptococci strains. Symptoms include skin rash with pus and discharge, pimples, blisters, itching rash, dried scabs, excessive scratching, and a blistery rash that spreads. Sometimes on your face!

Tip: Change or wash your towels often as possible.

Scabies
A common infestation of the skin with the microscopic mite Sarcoptes scabei, spreads rapidly under crowded conditions where there is frequent skin-to-skin contact between people.

Symptoms are mainly rashes and itching all over the body, and infections that form in the skin from all the scratching.

Tip: As above.

Tinea
General term for various fungal skin afflictions. Not only can these fungal afflictions affect your skin, but also they can infect your nails. Symptoms include ring-like raised itchy patches, blisters, scabs, and temporary scalp hair loss at site of infection.

Tip: Change or wash your towels often as possible.

Trachoma
A chronic follicular conjunctivitis that leads to scarring in the conjunctiva and cornea and it can lead to blindness. Seriously, who ever thought this could come from a towel? From red and/or watering eyes with swollen eyelids and sensitivity to red lumps on the eyelids and multiple lumps , giving you nasty eye pain, corneal scarring and dimming vision that gets progressively worse until you are totally blind. Not a joke!

Tip: Don’t rub your face with the same towel used to rub your body. Use a separate face towel and never share towels.

Tips on towel health
Assess your current inventory of bathroom towels, bath sheets or washcloths. Hang towels in layers. If you have basic towel bars, the first strategy involves stacking towels according to size. Begin with a bath sheet and fold a hand towel over it, ending with a washcloth. Instead of hooks, try modern towel clips for holding up towels in tight spaces.

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WAYS TO MAKE YOUR FAMILY HAPPIER

My husband works a crazy schedule, and ends up with about 7 days in a row every month where he’s home with us. This throws off our schedule and sometimes it’s hard to spend so much time together as a family. It’s a lot of together time! What we really need to do is “do” something instead of just sitting at home. Here are five new things that we’ve decided to try. They may not be new ideas or “a-ha!” kind of ideas, but they’re a great way to get back to the basics.

Get Moving

My husband exercises a lot. Me? Not so much. So we’ve decided to take on a more healthy, active lifestyle. It’s something that we are hoping to instill in our children while they are so young. It’s easy to walk, instead of drive to the park, and we always take a basketball or soccer ball to keep the kids running around.

This is an easy, smart idea and it’s simple to incorporate into our daily routine.

Snuggle Up

Once a week, we throw blankets down on the carpet, pop in a kid-friendly movie and make some popcorn for movie night. We all snuggle in the blankets and just enjoy each other.

Other times, the kids all pile in bed with us and we read or wrestle or talk and giggle. Those are some of the best times we spend together.

Cook Dinner as a Family

Or any meal for that matter! Not every night, but at least once a week we decide as a family what we’ll have for dinner. Everybody can pick something . . . it just has to be something healthy (although one of my daughter’s always requests cookies no matter what!)

Everybody gets a job, and it’s fun to watch the kids learn the cooking basics. Not only that, kids will also learn how to measure, what teamwork is all about, and being creative.

I’ve also found that if they help make the meal, they’re more likely to eat it as well.

Stick to The Schedule

Like I said, when dad’s home, the schedule gets out of whack. Which throws me and the kids all out of whack. This is something I realize must remain the same consistently.

It’s important that we always wake up at the same time, eat breakfast, and get out the door at the same time. The kids need to know that in the evenings after naptime they get to play for a bit, do homework, have dinner, take baths, and go to bed. They know what to expect and that makes everything just flows better; the kids aren’t cranky and neither am I! Which of course makes dad happy too!

Get a Family Hobby

Ours happens to be gardening. The kids know names of flowers, bushes and trees in our yard. They help pull weeds and plant seeds. We let them help us decide what to plant each season and they get to watch things grow. I like that our kids get to see where our food comes from and how it grows.

What makes your family happy?

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KNOW YOUR ZODIAC SIGN AND WHOM YOU ARE COMPATIBLE WITH

The reality of Horoscope, Astrology or the Zodiac Signs (as the case may be), has continued to be rejected, criticized or doubted by many, either out of ignorance, prejudice, misinformation, contrary knowledge, contrary belief, point of view of approach, areas of interest, etc. There is a difference between knowledge and belief. Most people approach it from the point of view of “I don’t believe in it”, instead of “I don’t know much about it”. Many who have not read beyond the periodic predictions, or those who pay greater attention to star guessing, palm reading, and other seemingly or really occult aspects find it difficult to see anything positive about it. Others hinge their reluctance on the Scriptural criticisms, such as:

•  Lev.19:26: Neither shall you use enchantment, nor observe times.
• Dt.18:10-12: There shall not be found among you any ... that uses divination, or an observer of times... For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD.
• Is.47:13-14: Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save you from these things that shall come upon you. Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it.
• Jer.10:2: Thus says the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.

On the contrary, the Scriptures also record among others:

• Gen.1:14: And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years.
• Jg.5:20: The stars in their courses fought against Sisera.
• Mt.2:1-2: Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen His Star in the east, and are come to worship him.
• Lk.21:25: And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars.

Thus, there seem to be enough biblical grounds both for and against. But let us not enter into the intricate issues of context, interpretations and contradictions  (etc.) regarding both sides of the biblical passages. That is not the focus here.

Comparative studies with Enneagram and allied sciences have shown that on the area of human behaviour, temperaments and compatibility, it is more or less a matter of approaching one issue from different routes with different methods, but with similar results. However, when it comes to daily or periodic predictions of the future, palm reading and other occult aspects, it takes a different turn into determinism. Here, many who have studied and accepted the aspects of human behaviour, temperaments and compatibility do not feel comfortable with.

In any case, no knowledge is a waste. You may read about yours, and that of friends and relations whose life styles, behaviors and temperaments are familiar to you. Check out also your compatibility with them. Compare it with the reality you know out of experience about your person or theirs. You may discover that on the level of knowledge, it has sound facts, instead of mixing ignorance with the prejudice of unbelief. However, this does not recommend any further use of the Zodiac signs beyond its established data on human behaviors, temperaments and compatibility.

Below are the Zodiac signs and their compatible stars. 

Aries - March 21 - April 20 > Aries goes with Leo, Sagittarius, Gemini and Aquarius Taurus - April 21 - May 21 > Taurus goes with Virgo, Capricorn, Cancer and Pisces.  Gemini - May 22 - June 21 > Gemini goes with Libra, Aquarius, Aries and Leo Cancer - June 22 - July 22 > Cancer goes with Scorpio, Pisces, Taurus and Virgo.  Leo - July 23 -August 21 > Leo goes with Aries, Sagittarius, Gemini and Libra.  Virgo - August 22 - September 23 >  Virgo goes with Taurus, Capricorn, Cancer and Scorpio.  Libra - September 24 - October 23 > Libra goes with Gemini, Aquarius, Leo and Sagittarius.  Scorpio - October 24 - November 22 > Scorpio goes with Cancer, Pisces, Virgo and Capricorn.  Sagittarius - November 23 - December 22 >  Sagittarius goes with Leo, Aries, Libra and Aquarius.  Capricorn - December 23 - January 20 >  Capricorn goes with Virgo, Taurus, Scorpio and Pisces.   Aquarius - January 21 - February 19 > Aquarius goes with Libra, Gemini, Sagittarius and Aries.  Pisces - February 20- March 20 > Pisces goes with Scorpio, Cancer, Capricorn and Taurus.  < http://www.astrology-online.com/persn.htm

THE 10 COMMANDMENTS OF FACEBOOK

"If you violate the letter or spirit of this Statement, or otherwise create risk or possible legal exposure for us, we can stop providing all or part of Facebook to you."

§  Thou Shalt Not ... engage in unlawful multi-level marketing, such as a pyramid scheme, on Facebook." 

§  Thou Shalt Not... Be A Convicted Sex Offender: "You will not use Facebook if you are a convicted sex offender." 

§  Thou Shalt Not... Play Facebook God: "You will not provide any false personal information on Facebook, or create an account for anyone other than yourself without permission [...] You will not create more than one personal account." 

§  Thou Shalt Not... Harass Thy Neighbor: "You will not bully, intimidate, or harass any user."

§  Thou Shalt Not... Be Under 13: "You will not use Facebook if you are under 13." 

§  Thou Shalt Not... Spam Or Hack Facebook: "You will not post unauthorized commercial communications (such as spam) on Facebook [...] You will not upload viruses or other malicious code."  That means you, hackers and pushers of penis-enlargement pills. 

§  Thou Shalt Not... Have Free Speech: "You will not post content that: is hate speech, threatening, or pornographic; incites violence; or contains nudity or graphic or gratuitous violence."

§  Thou Shalt Not... Post Thy Neighbor's Private Data

§  "You will not post anyone's identification documents or sensitive financial information on Facebook." 

§  Thou Shalt Not... Be A Digital Salesman: "You will not use your personal timeline for your own commercial gain (such as selling your status update to an advertiser) [...] You will not sell user data [...] You will not sell, transfer, or sublicense our code, APIs, or tools to anyone." 

§  Thou Shalt Not... Encourage Violation To These Rules: "You will not facilitate or encourage any violations of this Statement or our policies."

Whatever you say, Facebook. You've got the whole world in your hands. 

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