Weight loss and diet plan for a healthy lifestyle.

MANAGING ARTHRITIS: CHOOSING TREATMENT METHODS The cost and lack of complete effectiveness of the widely employed, medically recognized arthritis-relief techniques are major reasons why so many people turn to self-remedies and informal folk medicine. Some folk remedies people have sworn by for years but which modern-day doctors abhor include drinking vinegar, eating honey, and using snake venom.Some arthritics say that they find relief in warm, dry climates, although weather conditions do not affect all sufferers. Recent medical research has found that climate has an impact on arthritis symptoms when humidity is high and the barometric pressure is low.Some arthritics have reported that changes in their diets have improved their arthritis. During one of my recent public lectures, a woman told me that her grandfather’s arthritis cleared up completely when he stopped drinking milk and eating milk products. It is not unusual for me or my colleagues to be given this type of report. Traditionally oriented nutritionists and the medical establishment state that they have found no connection between diet and arthritis. What is of special interest to the clinical ecologists, whether we are looking at “folk remedies” or “scientific treatments,” is that some therapies do help one individual and not another, or that an exposure to some environmental substance may provoke minor discomfort or harmful effects in one person and not another. Those facts, pointing to very important individual biologic differences in responses to environmental exposures (biochemical individuality), offer clues to the allergic or allergy-like nature of arthritis and numerous other conditions.Avoidance of a given food or foods that specifically affect their joints as well as other body structures will help many arthritic individuals who are sensitive to these particular offending dietary substances. Complete elimination of the same food or group of foods cannot possibly relieve all allergic arthritis sufferers, since they do not have exactly the same pattern of food allergies, and one elimination diet cannot possibly be effective in all cases.Arthritis may be called a patient-specific syndrome. This means that every biologically unique arthritic patient has his or her own one-of-a-kind body chemistry and immune system, which determine his or her particular allergic responses. Tearing up one’s roots, leaving family, friends, and a good job in order to move to a new climate, may simply remove a particular allergic-arthritic individual from an ecologically bad place to an ecologically good place that happens to be free from the specific environmental substances that trigger the symptoms. An ecologically undiagnosed arthritic who is allergically reactive to foods, inhalants, and various environmental chemical substances will not find relief in a new climate because he or she will continue to eat unsuspected food offenders and will still be exposed to airborne allergens and all the potential chemical offenders that are associated with modern living.In some cases just moving across the street, around the comer, or to another part of town might be the answer. Perhaps changing methods of housecleaning or place of work or occupation in the same city will be all that is necessary to gain relief from arthritis that is caused by various chemical substances or airborne allergens present in a specific building. An expensive long-distance move could be undertaken unnecessarily because of modern medicine’s complete failure to recognize a case of chemically susceptible arthritis that is set off by avoidable indoor air pollution, or to spot a sufferer from inhalant mold allergy with arthritic manifestations who only needed to remove mold-containing potted plants or correct a mildew condition in the living quarters, basement, or crawl space.Rather than following the traditional method of trying one form of drug therapy after another on a patient, the clinical ecologist is usually able to determine in advance which measure or combination of measures will be effective. This is because it has been discovered and confirmed that 80 to 90 percent of all arthritis is a musculoskeletal manifestation of an often body-wide (systemic) allergic or allergy-like reaction to some substances in the diet or the environment that affect the joints and surrounding structures as well as the muscles. Our treatment is directed against the specific causes, not the symptoms. Not only can the bioecologic approach relieve arthritis symptoms and often lead to reversal of tissue damage, but in the long run it can prevent recurrence of those symptoms and block the often crippling damage that results from continuous or recurrent joint inflammation.*13/295/5*

RELAXATION TRAINING FOR WAYWARD NERVES: THE SOLAR PLEXUSIn physical terms the solar plexus is a collection of nerves just below the diaphragm near the stomach and liver. We often react emotionally in this area, and sometimes it is called the seat of the emotions. Many of the expressions we use: ‘gut feelings’, ‘I can feel it in my gut’, ‘he dealt me a body blow’, ‘hitting below the belt’, ‘he got me in the solar plexus’, describe this. Tension in this area can cause ulcers, constipation and period problems. The muscles of the abdomen are also particularly important because they affect the breathing.Self-Massage for the Solar PlexusWhen you are lying on the floor or bed:1 Breathe in slowly, and as you exhale press with the fingers of both hands into the right groin.2 Continue this, inching your way up the right side, across and above the navel, pressing up into the ribs, and down the left side.Place hands flat, one just below the breast bone, the other with the lower edge just above the pubic bone, and vibrate them gently until your arms feel tired.Hold your hands there, and imagine a golden ball of healing light filling your abdomen.*118\326\8*

CHILDREN WITH EPILEPSY: RECREATIONAL (STREET) DRUGSAdolescence is a time of experimentation, and some adolescents are going to experiment with drugs, particularly in their middle or late teens. All parents worry about the drug culture that their child might become involved in, but my experience is that teenagers who have had epilepsy throughout their childhood are probably less likely than many of their peers to experiment with recreational drugs, perhaps because they are more ‘drug-wise’. They have been brought up with a strict drug regime; they are used to using drugs therapeutically, and may be much more aware than most teenagers of the dangers of drug abuse.Of those adolescents who do experiment with drugs, most will obtain them from friends and very few will have access to heroin, crack or cocaine. Marijuana (cannabis) is by far the most commonly-used drug amongst teenagers.For their own safety teenagers need to be well informed about drugs and teenagers with epilepsy need to know the special risks they may be running if they experiment with drugs. Some recreational drugs may interact with anticonvulsant medication and some, particularly alcohol and cocaine, are themselves associated with seizures.ALCOHOLTeenage drinking is on the increase. An American study of high-school seniors in 1986 found that 91 per cent had tried alcohol, 65 per cent had consumed it within the past month, and 5 per cent drank alcohol daily. About 10 per cent of American high-school and university teenagers have been found to be ‘heavy drinkers’. Neither is there as much difference as there used to be between the drinking habits of girls and boys, though girls are still less likely to drink regularly and heavily.These are American figures, but all the evidence is that British teenagers are no different. Alcohol abuse is associated with poor seizure control, and the teenager with epilepsy must be told the risks of drinking, and taught that if they spend an evening in the pub with their friends, they can not match them drink for drink without being likely to have seizures the morning after. It is worth drawing their attention to low-alcohol beers and wines, while also making sure that they understand that whatever they drink they should try to keep their total fluid intake low so that they do not run the risk of a water load induced seizure.MARIJUANAAfter alcohol and tobacco, marijuana is probably the recreational drug most often used by teenagers. Marijuana induces euphoria, heightened perceptions and a sense of relaxation at low doses. High doses have more complex effects, including fear, distortions of body image and disorientation. Marijuana also affects co-ordination, as do many antiepileptic drugs; if they are taken together the toxic effects on co-ordination and balance are likely to be greatly increased.Some reports suggest that marijuana may reduce seizures, others that it may increase them. In fact, because the amounts used and the purity and type of the drug vary so widely it is difficult to come to any clear conclusions. There is no real evidence that it has any specific adverse effect when used by people with epilepsy. However, the heavy marijuana user may tend to be less compliant about taking his or her drugs. There is also a tendency for sleep cycles to be disturbed in heavy marijuana use, and both these factors may mean that a person’s epilepsy becomes less well controlled.AMPHETAMINES(Common names: uppers, speed, pep pills, sulphate, blues, black bombers, purple hearts)Amphetamines are stimulants, reasonably cheap and easy to get hold of, and usually taken to keep the user awake throughout an all-night party (or, a less credible scenario, to enable them to stay awake and revise for an exam). Amphetamines also reduce appetite.Amphetamines used to be prescribed with anticonvulsant medication to counteract the drowsy side-effects although this is seldom done now. Amphetamines themselves probably do not cause seizures, but the chaotic life style they induce, with irregular meals and lack of sleep, may well do so.ECSTASYEcstasy is the street name of a widely available amphetamine-like drug. As with amphetamines, it is largely a ‘party’ drug, keeping the user lively and happy so that they can sustain a party mood for hours without flagging. Many youngsters take it without any apparent ill-effects; others react badly, and some have died. This unpredictability makes it a dangerous drug for anyone; for the teenager with epilepsy it has special risks. Like amphetamines, its use is associated with disrupted sleep and skipped meals. Teenagers who take ecstasy become so lively and hyperactive that they often become dehydrated, which seems to increase the risks from the drug. To avoid dehydration they need to drink a lot (of water, not alcohol) and for someone with epilepsy drinking might itself produce a water overload and trigger off a seizure.HEROIN(Common names: H, smack, scag, horse, blow)Heroin is a powerful drug causing both physical and psychological dependence. The first time it is taken it usually only causes nausea and vomiting. Only after it has been taken a few times is the ‘rush’ — a brief but intense feeling of pleasure and euphoria – experienced. The rush is followed by a feeling of calm and peace. Heroin can be dissolved in water and injected beneath the skin, into a muscle, or directly into a vein. Usually, however, it is smoked (called ‘chasing the dragon’) or sniffed, and taken this way the dangers of overdose and infection are reduced and the effects are less powerful.Pure heroin does not cause seizures in ordinary doses (though it may do so in small children), neither does withdrawal of the drug cause seizures. The real danger (of which anyone who takes heroin, whether or not they have epilepsy, should be aware) is that most ‘street heroin’ is unlikely to be pure. Often it is mixed with substances like strychnine and other drugs which may well cause seizures.COCAINE(Common names: coke, snow, crack)Cocaine is probably the most dangerous street drug for anyone who has epilepsy. It is a stimulant drug with effects very similar to amphetamines and is a potent seizure precipitant. Even people who do not have epilepsy may fit the first time they take cocaine. If you have epilepsy, the risks of having a seizure are very much greater.*73\193\2*

SCIENCE SAVING YOUR HEARTWhen a heart attack comes, you feel as though a lightning bolt had struck the ground beside you. Sharp pain crashes through your chest. It can also sizzle up your arm, your back, your neck. And the pain doesn’t let up.Over 1.5 million Americans will suffer a heart attack each year. And 550,000 of them will die. But advances in surgical techniques and drugs in the last decade now give you the best chances in 50 years of surviving an attack. This means that people who have had heart attacks are living longer and without pain. Increasingly, they are winning the war against heart disease.Leslie Schield, 56, is a heart attack victim who became a victor.”I woke up with pressure in the center of my breastbone,” says Mr. Schield, a plumbing superintendent in Houston. “And I had a pain in my right shoulder. I thought it was heartburn.”Four hours later, Mr. Schield lay on an operating table at Herman Hospital of the University of Texas Medical School. X rays showed that a blood clot was blocking a coronary artery. This blood vessel, no thicker than a soda straw, carries blood and oxygen to the heart. Without enough oxygen, Mr. Schield’s heart screamed in pain.The medical team had to act fast. Drs. Richard Smalling and Lance Gould and their associates slipped a long hollow tube – called a catheter – through an artery in Mr. Schield’s groin up to his heart. Guided by X-ray pictures of the patient’s heart that were projected onto a television screen, the doctors jiggled the catheter so that it rested at the face of the blood clot. Then they squirted the clot with a drug called streptokinase and actually watched the drug dissolve the blockage. Within an hour, the artery channel was clear. Life-sustaining blood flowed freely once more.”I saw the whole thing on television while   it   was   happening,”   says   Mr. Schield, “and except for a hot flash when the drug went in, I got relief right away.”New drugs can save lives after a heart attack, but doctors must act fast. In the 1970s, Mr. Schield (and any other patient with a similar condition) would have either died or been crippled for life by a weak and painful heart.Streptokinase is only one answer, though an important one, to heart disease. Doctors also can insert small but powerful pumps into the heart’s main artery, the aorta. The pump can help a weakened heart muscle circulate blood. Surgeons also open up clogged coronary arteries or bypass them with sophisticated plumbing jobs.A drug that fights organ rejection has made heart transplants viable for far more patients. Other drugs calm irritable hearts and reduce high blood pressure, one of the heart’s most powerful enemies. And researchers are seeking and finding new clues to help you prevent heart attack.Patients with irregular, irritable hearts that could stop at any moment are candidates for pacemakers. This year, surgeons will implant these tiny (each is smaller than the powder puff in a woman’s compact) battery-powered boxes into the chests of 200,000 Americans. Via electric wires, the pacemakers deliver weak shocks to the heart to keep it beating in rhythm.*5/266/5*

THE EVOLUTIONARY POWER PLAGUE OF THE CHRONICThere is a crucial unrecognized problem with genetic causation of harmful diseases, whether they be cancers or other chronic diseases. How do the harmful genes maintain their representation over time? The harm caused by a gene reduces its representation in the next generation in proportion to the negative effects of the gene on the survival or reproduction of the people who carry it. Over generations, a harmful gene will become so rare that it will be present in numbers no larger than what one would expect as a result of ordinary genetic mutation. Because such mutations occur at a low frequency, genetic diseases cannot cause much harm in the population as a whole. Recall that even if the negative effect caused by a harmful gene amounted to a reproductive loss of only one tenth of a percent when averaged over the population, the gene would be too damaging to be maintained by mutation alone. Chronic diseases, if they are common and damaging, must be powerful eliminators of any genetic instruction that may cause them. Only if a genetic instruction provides some compensating benefit can the disease it causes persist as a common ailment. As a rule, chronic genetic diseases can persist as common if the genetic instructions protect against parasites. Genes coding for the chronic disease sickle cell anemia, for example, are maintained because they protect against malaria.      The harm caused by infectious agents is not constrained in this way. Infectious organisms can inflict much greater competitive costs on their hosts, and they can do this indefinitely because their success comes at our expense. Remember, we are their food. The conflict of interest between pathogens and us is therefore like the conflict of interest between a lion and a zebra, or between caterpillars and an oak tree. Consumers can impose great harm on the organisms they consume because the conflict of interest between them pits each consumer in an evolutionary arms race with the species it consumes. Chronic diseases are powerful evolutionary forces here, too, but their power to favor evolutionary increases in resistance to the pathogens is matched by the power of the pathogens to change their strategy for exploiting the host. The damaging diseases can therefore persist indefinitely. If we see chronic diseases that have commonly been causing damage for a long time, the best bet is that they have infectious causes.     Like many great ideas in biology, the idea implicating infectious causation in chronic diseases, though simple, has far-reaching implications. It is so simple and so significant that one would think it would have been recognized by many and would be the starting point for any discussion of the causes of disease. Not yet. As an evolutionary biologist, I cannot claim credit for it either. It was suggested to me by my creative and eccentric colleague, Gregory Cochran, a physicist who spends most of his time resolving intriguing conceptual problems in biology and medicine.     No one can yet say how broad the scope of infectious causation of chronic disease is. Some simple steps of logic, combined with principles of evolution and genetics, lead to the conclusion that most of the highly damaging chronic diseases, including most cancers, are caused by infections. Predictions about infectious causation of mild chronic diseases are much more speculative. The chronic diseases mentioned above are probably just the tip of the iceberg. It is the damage they impose that indicates they are probably caused by infection. But this conclusion does not exclude the possibility that mild chronic conditions, too slight to earn the rank of disease, are also caused by infection. On the contrary, the iceberg metaphor may well apply even though the negative effects on human fitness of these chronic conditions are so slight that they could in theory be maintained by mutation. Some of the uncertainty can be resolved by looking at identical twins. If pairs of twins tend not to share a given chronic condition, we know that we have to look beyond genes to understand the problem. That leaves us with only two alternatives: infection or some noninfectious environmental influence.     The track record on mild chronic diseases also lends credibility to a much broader scope of infectious causation. Dandruff, acne, warts, halitosis, athlete’s foot, and gingivitis are mild chronic conditions now known to be caused by infection. Each was widely interpreted as the natural wear and tear of life or the natural imperfection of humans long after the germ theory of disease had been established.*21\225\2*

BREAST CANCER PREVENTION: EATING PHYTO-OESTROGENS AND FIBRE INTAKE
Eat phyto-oestrogensPhyto-oestrogens are a group of foods which contain substances that have a hormone-like action. Soya beans, for instance, contain phyto-chemicals known as isoflavones which make up about 75 per cent of the soya protein. In the human gut, bacteria convert isoflavones into compounds that can have an oestrogenic action, although they are not hormones. These phyto-oestrogens seem to fit into oestrogen receptors on breast cancer cells but are probably too weak to stimulate the cells. What seems to happen is that these weak oestrogens block the oestrogen receptors and prevent cancer developing.” In simple terms, they prevent the oestrogens in the body from latching on. The two flavonoid compounds, genistein and daidzein, which have this mild oestrogenic activity also help to reduce cholesterol.Soya beans have been found to contain at least five compounds believed to inhibit cancer. One of these compounds is chemically similar to the drug Tamoxifen, which is now used to treat oestrogen-dependent breast cancer. Tamoxifen works as an oestrogen receptor antagonist: that is, it binds on to the oestrogen receptors and inhibits cancer growth. Tests show that the Japanese, for instance, have high levels of isoflavones in their urine and plasma – much higher than the amount found among the British and Americans, indicating that their traditional diet supplies them naturally with the phyto-oestrogens that may prevent hormonally linked cancers. Japanese women have been shown to excrete phyto-oestrogens in their urine 100 -1000 times higher than those excreted by American women. The good news for the rest of us is that one research project reported in the British Medical Journal in 1993 demonstrated that concentrations of daidzein and other isoflavones in plasma could be easily and quickly raised by foods (in this case soya, clover sprouts and linseed) containing phyto-oestrogens.Other examples of foods that contain phyto-oestrogens are whole-grains, legumes (such as chickpeas, lentils, garlic and peas), fennel, celery, parsley, rhubarb and hops.
Increase your fibre intakeFibre is very important because it determines how much oestrogen we store and how much we excrete. Soluble fibre binds oestrogen so that it is excreted more efficiently. Chronic constipation has been linked to breast cancer. That’s not surprising because toxic waste products that are not dealt with properly can end up stored in the body’s fatty tissue, including the breasts. The importance of fibre as far as breast cancer is concerned has not been adequately stressed.Women worried about breast cancer are often told to watch their intake of fat – which is good general health advice. What is not pointed out is that the fibre factor – increasing the amount of fruit and vegetables in your diet – seems to be much more important in prevention.
*5/101/5*

QUESTIONS ABOUT PROGNOSIS OF RA (RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS) Can Arthritis Be Cured?RA is generally a chronic condition in which true cures or permanent remissions are unusual with the medications presently available. This does not mean that most cases of arthritis cannot be controlled effectively, however. The majority of people with RA achieve good to excellent control with a treatment program consisting of medications, therapeutic exercise, adequate rest, and proper joint protection. And most people with RA are able to continue with their normal activities, with some minor adjustments to accommodate joint changes that have occurred.
Will Other Joints Become Involved with Time?Possibly. Most people initially develop pain in their hands and wrists, and ‘ likely that they will experience at the least some discomfort in other joints. But not all joints are affected equally by RA in all people. For instance, the person who is having significant pain and difficulties with finger joints will not necessarily experience the same degree of inflammation or pain in any other joints.
Will I Become Disabled?Today, treatment of RA begins earlier in the course of the condition, and treatment options are more varied and more effective. The currently available medications can be very effective, and many more are under intensive investigation. Today, too, there is an appreciation of the value of therapeutic exercise, and new methods have been developed to protect joints in order to avoid disability. Even in the least successful cases, in which arthritis persists despite the medical team’s efforts, other options remain. Also, the many surgical procedures available today are infinitely more effective than those offered a few decades ago.Will you become disabled? Today, the odds against this are overwhelmingly in your favor, which is why it is best to avoid listening to a well-meaning friend’s stories about her great-aunt who lives a wheelchair-bound life because of RA. Remember, each person’s case is different, and so much has changed in the approach to treating RA that comparisons are just not valid. Will you need to make some life-style changes? Yes, but that in no way means that you need to relinquish any of your life goals. If you have a good understanding of how to control the particular problems associated with your arthritis and if you remain open to learning new ways to make adjustments, you will succeed in living a normal, productive life. Will you be inconvenienced? Yes, definitely. Will you be disabled? Highly unlikely.
Does RA Shorten a Person’s Life?KA, like most chronic illnesses, is associated with a very slight decrease in life span when all patients who have RA are compared with people who are free of illness. This may not have any individual significance for you because these statistics are derived from comparisons of large groups of people. Therefore, if you are otherwise healthy, you have an excellent chance of living a full and long life.A very small minority of people with severe RA (less than 5 percent) develop complications that make them very ill. These individuals have life-threatening conditions.*14/209/5*

DIAGNOSING OCD: WHAT IS AN OBSESSION?one major source of confusion must be cleared up right away: The term “obsession” has a totally different meaning for mental health professionals than it does for the general public. In magazines and on television, “obsession” has come to mean just about anything people want it to—as long as it has to do with thinking and carries a negative connotation. Most often, the word is used either for what is more accurately termed a preoccupation, like a coach’s “obsession” with winning, or for an addiction, as in a gambler’s “obsession” with horse racing.But these “obsessions,” clearly, have little in common with Raymond’s tormenting spill fantasies, Sherry’s heart-stopping knife thoughts, Jeff’s torturing sexual urges, Melissa’s mind-numbing religious interrogations, and my own thoughts to stab myself. What we suffered were clinical obsessions. This particular meaning of the word stays close to its Latin root, obsidere, meaning “to besiege,” as an army would attack a city for the purpose of forcing surrender. What clinical obsessions represent is, truly, a battle in the mind.The first good definition of clinical obsessions was provided in 1877 by the German psychiatrist Karl Westphal: “Obsessions are thoughts which come to the foreground of consciousness in spite of and contrary to the will of the patient, and which he is unable to suppress although he recognizes them as abnormal and not characteristic of himself.”A similar, precise definition is found in the official manual of American psychiatry (DSM-IV, see Appendix B): Obsessions are “recurrent and persistent thoughts that are experienced as intrusive and inappropriate and that cause marked anxiety or distress.”These definitions highlight the four main qualities of clinical obsessions. Intrusive, recurrent, unwanted, and inappropriate. Occasionally, not all of these characteristics are present, especially in children, chronic OCD sufferers, and OCDers with other psychiatric disorders in addition to OCD. In the great majority of cases, however, including those of Raymond, Sherry, Jeff, Melissa, and myself, all four are clearly recognizable. It is worth looking at each characteristic in some detail in order to become clear about just what an obsession is and what it is not.*6/338/2*

TYPES OF INFECTION: GERMAN MEASLES OR RUBELLAA virus like that of measles but distinct from it, as recognized by the different nature of the condition produced, causes German measles. This condition has assumed increasing importance recently, since it has been recognized that German measles infecting a prospective mother during the first three months of pregnancy can seriously damage the unborn child. German measles is a mild contagious disease with symptoms like those of a mild cold accompanied by a dark rash.From ten to twenty days after exposure the condition begins with malaise, headache, a slight rise in temperature, and stiffness and soreness of the neck because of the enlargement of the glands at the back of the neck. The rash starts on the face and neck and spreads rapidly. The rash persists two or three days. The disease is more severe in adults and very young children. Usually one attack confers permanent immunity. Because of the dark red rash German measles is often confused with scarlet fever.The disease is usually so mild that the only treatment is good nursing. Young married women need to be protected in times of epidemic. Often gamma globulin is given to help resistance. From five to twenty per cent of pregnant women who get German measles have babies damaged by the infection.*8/318/5*