Medicrit – Medicare

Archive for February, 2012

A large percentage of women deal with the unwanted storage of stomach fat, but what are the causes of belly fat in women? There is a small list of physical factors that have been determined to be reasons, as well as hypothetical reasons that could be causes of belly fat in women in regards to the lifestyle of many.

Below is a small list of physical factors.

Although it refers more to a woman’s body fat percentage, she actually must have a higher percentage of body fat in order to be able to support extra life as well as her own during pregnancy. No matter how thin or light you are as a woman, your body fat percentage will always be higher than that of a man’s because of your ability to raise a child in your body. If you did not have this extra ‘fat’ or in other words ‘energy storage’, you would not be able to nourish that extra little body and have enough to support your own with energy (and vice versa).

Another cause of belly fat in women is their lower metabolism. It is fact that women have a lower metabolism then men, which affects the rate of their body being able to burn off calories while doing physical tasks. For this reason (if it is known), women may find it less worth their while to go to a gym or exercise daily because it ‘takes to long’ or requires too much effort. This is when you as a woman need to figure out what you really want. If you want to be healthier and look sexier with a new figure, you will find it worth your while to take the steps getting there requires.

Next is a small list of hypothetical factors

Women are very emotional by nature, and with home issues, work stress, and the general demands of life, they’ll usually get worked up quickly. When women get stressed, it increases the release of cortisol (a stress hormone) that causes your body to store fat in more ways than usual. Even in the busyness of life, try to find some time for yourself to just relax and unwind. It will help you in so many ways, and will definitely help you to lose weight easier.

Women’s occupations are generally not as grueling as a man’s, and do not require quite as much physical exertion. This is not true in all cases, but stands true for the majority of cases. This could be another cause of belly fat in women. Because they don’t necessarily have to stay active on a day to day basis, women don’t burn off fat as often. If children are present however, their days can surely be filled with a lot of hustle and bustle!

These are likely causes of belly fat in women. Although, any body fat that anyone has can be reversed and burned off, so it doesn’t label women as ‘fatter then men’ at all! Men get fat too, but for different reasons. Now that you know these causes of belly fat women though, you can take steps to rid yourself of them!

Strokes are the second largest cause of death around the world. This malady causes over six million deaths every year according to the World Health Organization. While there is little that can be done to prevent a stroke, there has been a lot of new research recently that can help in the fight to detect whether a stroke is likely to occur or not. This is especially helpful since the world’s population is starting to age and be placed in the high-risk for stroke demographic.

A genetic variant has been detected in recent studies conducted by St. George’s University of London that is very likely to increase the chances of someone having a stroke. The most common type of strokes-artery ischaemic stroke-occurs when there is a blockage within one or more of the major arteries supplying oxygenated blood to the brain. This type of stroke accounts for about one third of all strokes, so about two million deaths each year.

Within the study, 10,000 stroke victims had their genetic disposition analyzed and compared to 40,000 otherwise healthy people. A gene called HDAC9 has been pinpointed as a precursor to stroke. This variant gene is in about 10 percent of all humans. In people with two copies of this gene, getting one copy from each parent, the risk of having a stroke nearly doubled as compared to folks with no HDAC9 gene.

The implications of this are huge, yet hard to actually act upon. The gene produces a type of protein that helps with muscle and heart development, but why this doubles the risk of stroke in comparison to people that have zero copies of HDAC9 is still unknown. Once this gene and its functioning is better understood, there is a good chance that this can lead to better development of stroke medications. But for now, there is actually little that can be gained from this discovery.

This does not make the discovery fruitless. Any furthering of knowledge that can be gained about strokes carries the potential of learning how to prevent and better treat them in the future. So while there is no immediate practical value to this discovery, there is no telling exactly what kind of future progress can be made. Hopefully, this will result in great things as far as stroke treatment goes. For example, there are already a couple medications out on the market that are effective in regards to limiting the proteins created by HDAC9. Whether or not these drugs can help prevent stroke remains to be seen, but the outlook is pretty optimistic.

The use of these drugs for stroke prevention is still a ways in the future, but this does not mean that they can’t be used to save countless lives. With the Baby Boomer generation reaching the high at-risk age, this research might be just in time.

Introduction

Most men as they age will develop BPH (benign prostatic hyperplasia) or an enlarged prostate. Fortunately most of these men will only experience mild urinary symptoms and not develop significant urinary symptoms from this condition. If you do develop serious urinary symptoms you may want to undergo minimally-invasive treatment on the excess tissue in your prostate.

Though there is no single drug that can cure men of BPH, there are medical procedures that can be performed to reduce the excess tissue created by BPH.

Treating Symptoms Of BPH

Men who have BPH develop urinary symptoms such as dripping, weak urine stream, frequent urination and urine retention. Though bothersome, these symptoms can lead to some significant medical conditions such as:

• Urinary Tract Infection
• Acute and Chronic Urine Retention
• Weak Bladder Muscle
• Bladder Stones
• Damaged Kidney

Because there is no cure for BPH, men look to reduce these symptoms. In addition medicines that men take to reduce the symptoms are not always effective for all men.

Surveys also show that men who are taking these medications stop using the drugs because they are not effective, cost too much or because of the side effects that develop. Side effects include such conditions as lightheadedness, dizziness, or retrograde ejaculation.

Men then turn to minimally-invasive therapies for relief from the symptoms of BPH.

Minimally-Invasive Therapies

Minimally-invasive therapies can reduce the size of your prostate without actually cutting the prostate and at the same time relieve symptoms of BPH. The two treatments that are most popular for treating BPH with heat above 140 degrees is transurethral needle ablation (TUNA) and transurethral microwave thermotherapy (TUMT).

• TUNA- Was invented in the 1920s and used on humans in 1993. It heats the excess prostate tissue to 140 degrees by inserting interstitial radiofrequency (RF) needles through the urethra tube. With new techniques being used this procedure has been in decline.
• TUMT – Invented in the 1920s and was first used in 1985 This procedure requires the insertion of a urethra catheter in the bladder. This will allow a microwave antenna in the catheter to go to the prostate and heat the excess flesh to 150 degrees.

Advantages Of Minimally-Invasive Treatments

These medical procedures have many advantages over the surgical procedure transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP). These advantages include such things as:

• Performed on an outpatient basis
• Fewer complications
• Overall patient comfort

Conclusion

If you develop severe symptoms of BPH, you may want to consider minimally-invasive treatments to relieve your symptoms.

What’s the connection between fibromyalgia & your thyroid?

As I work with clients, I find that nearly all of them have undiagnosed thyroid issues. The most common thing for me to recommend in a consultation is for someone to get a full thyroid panel done by a good doctor who understands thyroid disease.

Why? Many symptoms of thyroid disease overlap with fibromyalgia symptoms. It just makes good sense to check to see if some of your fibromyalgia symptoms, or symptoms of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), could be caused by low thyroid.

In addition, thyroid issues could be amplifying your CFS or fibromyalgia symptoms, making them worse than they would be if your thyroid was functioning properly. If it is, then…

Treating your thyroid could improve your fibromyalgia.

Here are some of the symptoms of low thyroid that can mimic fibromyalgia:

Fatigue
Insomnia
Depression
Brain fog
Difficulty concentrating
Sleeping more than average
Muscle pain, especially lower body
Muscle weakness
Pain, stiffness, or swelling in your joints
Increased sensitivity to temperature, particularly cold

Other common symptoms of low thyroid are:

Constipation
Pale, dry skin
Puffy face
Hoarse voice
Elevated cholesterol levels
Unexplained weight gain
Difficulty losing weight
Heavier than normal menstrual periods
Brittle fingernails and hair

There are three things that make discovering a thyroid condition tricky.

First, the most common symptoms of low thyroid look like fibromyalgia.

One down side to being diagnosed with fibromyalgia is that doctors may put all of your symptoms under the “fibromyalgia” heading and not look further for causes. This may be what happens with your thyroid.

If you complain to your doctor that your legs are hurting more than normal, but everything else feels the same, your doctor could very well say, “Your fibromyalgia is flaring up. You must’ve done something different with those muscles.”

However, if your doctor is familiar with the lesser known symptoms of low thyroid, you might discover that your leg pain is due to low thyroid.

Second, your doctor and/or lab may not know about the updated lab standards.

In November 2002, new guidelines were published by the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) for what the normal range should be for your thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH). Before this revision, a range of 0.5 to 5.0 was considered normal.

However, the AACE found that patients within the range of 3.04 to 5.0 had symptoms of hypothyroidism. (This is one test where the higher number indicates low thyroid function.)

In light of this, the AACE shifted the normal range to be 0.3 to 3.04 – a much narrower range.

According to the AACE, this shift doubles the number of people who are considered to have abnormal thyroid function. The reality is, these folks already had abnormal thyroid function; the test now correctly reflects this, allowing these people to get proper treatment.

If your doctor is still using the old standards, I suggest bringing this press release from the AACE to your next appointment. If your doctor remains resistant after reading the press release, it’s time to look for a new doctor – at least for your thyroid needs.

Third, your doctor may only know how to diagnose basic low thyroid.

In order to properly diagnose some thyroid disorders, such as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, an autoimmune disease where your body thinks your thyroid is evil and tries to kill it, your doctor needs to run a full thyroid panel, not just a simple TSH test. Only by running a full thyroid panel, will a doctor who understands the intricacies of thyroid disease have the information needed to treat you.

Your TSH levels can actually look normal while you are having a problem with your thyroid.

It was the thyroid antibodies that told my doctor that I had Hashimoto’s; one of my clients doesn’t manufacture enough T3 from the T4 in her body. These are things you’d never know by only running the TSH test.

Most MD’s will only run the TSH test. However, your thyroid test should include Free T3, Free T4, and thyroid antibodies TPO/TSI, along with the TSH level if you want to get a complete diagnosis.

Of course, you’ll also need to see a doctor that knows how to interpret these test results! Normally, that means visiting a naturopath. If you need help finding a good one, let me know.

You’ve finally gotten a diagnosis of low thyroid. Now what?

When treating your thyroid, there are two options: synthetic medications or natural glandulars.

Most MD’s will prescribe synthetic medication such as Synthroid or levothyroxine to treat your hypothyroidism. These medications only contain the T4 thyroid hormone. I believe that glandulars are a much better option.

Using a natural glandular, such as Armour Thyroid, gives you both the T3 and T4 thyroid hormones. They are made from pig thyroid, which is similar to human thyroid. However, if you go with a natural glandular, choose Armour Thyroid.

Why is Armour Thyroid brand the only way to go?

I’ve read that many MD’s prescribe synthetics because they think that the natural glandulars are not standardized, meaning that you may not get a consistent amount of thyroid hormone in a natural pill.

Forest Laboratories, the manufacturer of Armour Thyroid, tests both the raw material and the actual tablets, to make sure that you are getting exactly what you are prescribed. Armour Thyroid is standardized.

In addition:

Armour Thyroid is gluten free. The generics are not.
Natural glandulars have been proven to work better on depression than many antidepressants! Synthetics cannot make this claim.
Your thyroid produces both the T3 and T4 thyroid hormones. Natural glandulars contain both T3 and T4; the synthetics most MD’s prescribe do not.
It’s almost always true that natural products are utilized by your body more fully than synthetics.

If you want to read more about diagnosing thyroid disease, Hashimoto’s, and how an undiagnosed thyroid disorder could be affecting you, I highly recommend reading Why Do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms? by Datis Kharrazian. It’s an excellent, groundbreaking book about this subject.

Action Steps

Check out the symptoms of low thyroid. Do any of them apply to you?

If they do, make an appointment to talk with your doctor about running a FULL thyroid panel to test your thyroid. Treating your thyroid can make a huge difference in your fibromyalgia symptoms. You owe it to yourself to check this out as soon as possible!

In today’s news, headlines of obesity and over weight children make for very startling reading. Unfortunately, without intervention, many overweight children eventually grow up to become obese and overweight adults. Obesity leads to a higher risk of life-threatening and limiting diseases, and, in many cases, results in a decreased life expectancy. Most definitely, weight loss for children is a very sensitive subject, but one that is very important as well.

We are living in an electronic age that makes it very easy for children to fall into a sedentary lifestyle. Apart from making healthier and more sensible food choices, another step that can help them with weight loss is to get them away from the TV, computers, and video games, just to name a few. So, what can be done to encourage our children to become more active in life so that they can achieve a healthier lifestyle and lose weight at the same time?

Most of all it is essential for parents to deal with the issue of weight loss for their children with care patience and understanding. Understand that your children are still growing and need a healthy nutritious balanced diet. Therefore, it is necessary to discuss any weight loss program with a dietician or family physician. Not eating properly while trying to be more active in order to lose weight is dangerous and not to be taken lightly.

While it is not possible for parents to control everything that their child eats, they must at least help them in developing healthy eating habits. You should teach them the importance of nutrition, and provide them nutritious and tasty food at home. Monkey see monkey do as they say, if you are eating chips, candy bars and soft drinks, then you are not setting a good example for them to follow.

A healthy nutritious diet is the key and is required by a growing child. Appropriate exercises and physical activities are also essential for your children to feel better and lose weight as well. Parents and children should opt for exercises that the entire family can do together. Making exercises a fun activity takes the chore out of exercising and will help achieve healthy weight loss for children. Exercises should become a part of daily routine in a house. They should be done in such a way that child enjoys it and does not see it as a task. You can make your kids move, by going for a daily family walk, perhaps with your family dog.

You can help your kids in achieving weight loss in less painful way by helping them in making sensible food choices. Today many kids love eating fast food at least few times a week as they feel it is a part of their lifestyle. Unfortunately, these foods are loaded with calories, sodium and fat. In addition, when kids get addicted to eating these highly salty and flavoured foods, they are most likely to reject bland vegetables or grilled chicken. Weight loss for children is possible if you can stop the fast food habit once and for all. This can be accomplished gradually, maybe limiting fast food to once a week, then once a month and of coarse not at all!

You should avoid being over-strict with either exercise or diet routines as this can have detrimental effect on your children. So, be careful and introduce new ideas in a gradual way and involve your kids in the planning and decision making to get the desired results in a much easier and faster way together. It is always best to be supportive and practice what you preach.

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Many people do not get the vitamins that they need daily. While it is easy to take a vitamin most people forget and it is extremely difficult to make sure that we eat the needed nutrition each day. Eating fruits and vegetables every single day can give us the vitamins and nutrients that we need as well as energy and many other added benefits. There are even some studies that link eating fruits and vegetables daily with a lower cancer risk. Most people simply do not have the time for this and go throughout their lives without eating these essential foods, but there is definitely a better way.

-Adding Fruit and Vegetable Juicers

Instead of eating the fruits and vegetables every single day you can drink vegetable or fruit juice. While there are many companies that offer this type of juice drink premixed and ready in the bottle there are so many additives that are added in that we simply do not get as good a nutritional value as we would if we made the juice ourselves. This is why we need to make our own juice with the help of juicers that specialize in this food group.

-What Are Fruit and Vegetable Juicers

These juicers are a broad variety of different juicers made specifically to extract the juice out of a fruit or vegetable. This can be done in several methods and usually involves squeezing or grinding the vegetable and/or fruit until all the juice is out. This results in only the pulp remaining of the fruit and is a great way to get natural and great tasting juice to consume that you do not have to worry about any kind of preservatives or artificial sweeteners being added to.

-Where to Find These Types of Juicers

If you want to purchase these types of juicers there are several different locations where you can purchase from. The first being online and this is one of the most popular places to purchase from. If you purchase your juicers online you will get a chance to read reviews and go through several different models and types of juicers until you find the correct juicer for you. If you do not find what you are looking for online or you do not feel comfortable with purchasing online you can go to one of your local stores and look for a great juicer there.

Is it possible to eliminate man boobs in time for that cruise you have planned? It depends. When are you leaving? Because you do have several options. It’s just that some will take longer than others to show the desired effects. So take a look at your calendar and then read on for more information.

Your first option is surgery

Of course surgery is your first option and it probably sounds like you’ll get the quickest results. You just make an appointment, lay down on the table, and when you walk out of the office your man boobs are gone.

But think again. Surgery is not the ‘overnight solution’ the doctors would have you believe. You’re going to have incisions and stitches. You’ll probably have quite a bit of pain for the first few days and you’ll definitely have swelling, which may last up to 4 or 5 weeks.

And once those stitches come out, you’re going to have scarring. True, they may be small scars, but in the beginning all scars are red, raw and ugly. Do you really want to take a cruise with fresh, raw scars all over your chest? And will you even be able to afford the cruise after you pay for the surgery?

If you’re considering surgery you should allow at least 6 to 8 weeks between the time of the operation to the time you board the cruise ship.

Your second option is lifestyle changes

Your next option is to make some lifestyle changes. Start eating a healthier diet. Many of the foods we eat, especially meats, contain high levels of estrogen, the female hormone that’s responsible for breast tissue. And eating lots of fats and sugars and high-calorie foods can also add weight in your chest area.

A healthy diet and a regular exercise routine can eliminate man boobs and in the process your whole body will look and feel better. And while it might seem like this option won’t give you results as fast as surgery, consider this: If you start right this minute, you’ll start seeing results within 2 weeks and may even completely eliminate your problem in just a few months.

Your third option includes supplements

If you like the idea of making some healthy lifestyle changes instead of going under the knife but you need to speed up the process by a month or so then take a look at some of the new dietary supplements. These supplements were specifically created to help speed up the fat-burning process in men, to help them eliminate man boobs safely and quickly. When combined with a healthy diet and workout routine, you can see results in as little as 6 to 8 weeks and still have plenty of money left over for your cruise!