Health & WellnessS


Magic Wand

Paying attention to emotions better weight loss strategy than nutritional knowledge

Jeremy Dean
PsyBlog
Fri, 14 Nov 2014 18:16 UTC
emotional eating
Learning to pay attention to your emotions is a more powerful weight-loss strategy than greater nutritional knowledge, a new study finds.

With obesity rates rising, many policy-makers argue that nutritional education will help people make better decisions.

The new research, though, points to the greater benefits of learning to understand and respond to your own inner states over and above nutritional education.
In one study, published in the Journal of Marketing Research, a group of people were given a nutritional knowledge course and they were taught to recognise basic emotions in both themselves and other people (Kidwell et al., 2014).

A comparison group was given just the nutritional knowledge course.

Part of the emotion training involved being presented with food products and asked to notice how this changed their own emotions, and those of other people.

Comment: One thing that also helps to combat emotional eating is to learn how to de-stress, so you are not using food as a calming agent. One of the best ways to enhance emotional well-being with immediate affects is the Éiriú Eolas program which can be learned online here.

An excellent way to manage weight is to follow a ketogenic diet. This program keeps blood sugar levels stable, gives you more energy and alleviates many health issues. See: The Ketogenic Diet - An Overview

Also see:
Dr. Gabor Maté: "When the Body Says No: Understanding the Stress-Disease Connection"

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Green Light

Bilingual brains process information more efficiently


Natural Blaze
Thu, 13 Nov 2014 23:28 UTC
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© IOTAGLOBAL
Forget Sudoku: Speaking multiple languages routinely exercises the brain

Speaking more than one language is good for the brain, according to new research that indicates bilingual speakers process information more efficiently and more easily than those who know a single language.

The benefits occur because the bilingual brain is constantly activating both languages and choosing which language to use and which to ignore, said Northwestern University's Viorica Marian, the lead author of the research and a professor in the department of communication sciences and disorders in the School of Communication. When the brain is constantly exercised in this way, it doesn't have to work as hard to perform cognitive tasks, the researchers found.

"It's like a stop light," Marian said. "Bilinguals are always giving the green light to one language and red to another. When you have to do that all the time, you get really good at inhibiting the words you don't need," she said.
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Evil Rays

Study finds that cellphone use greatly increases risk of brain cancer

Mike Barrett
Natural Society
Wed, 12 Nov 2014 22:43 UTC
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Did you ever wonder how a cell phone might affect your brain? When you think about it, the use of cell phones is massively experimental, as we had no idea what kind of negative effects they might have on people when they were first introduced. Well now, decades after heavy use of cell phones, a study shows that brain tumor rates nearly triple after 25 years of cell phone use.

The Swedish study, published in the journal Pathophysiology, found that the longer someone talked on their phone - in terms of hours and years - the more likely they were to develop glioma, a deadly form of brain cancer.

The study found that, overall, people who used wireless phones for more than a year were at 70% greater risk of brain cancer as compared to those who used wireless phones for a year or less. Those who used wireless phones for more than 25 years were at a 300% greater risk of brain cancer than those who used wireless phones for a year or less.

Dr. Gabriel Zada, a neurosurgeon at the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine who wasn't involved in the study, said that the study provides more evidence that cell phones and brain cancer may be linked.

Comment: See also:

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Pills

Robin Williams was on anti-depressant drug with 'black box' warning at the time of his suicide; findings downplayed by mainstream media

Kelly Patricia O'Meara
CCHR International
Mon, 10 Nov 2014 15:08 UTC
Robin Williams
The antidepressant found in Williams' toxicology test, Mirtazapine (Remeron), has 10 drug regulatory agency warnings citing suicidal ideation
If news headlines were to be believed about the autopsy findings of beloved actor/comedian Robin Williams, who tragically committed suicide nearly two months ago, no drugs were found in his system at the time of his death, as evidenced by headlines from USA Today, NBC News, the BBC and others proclaiming "no alcohol or drugs" were found. These headlines couldn't be more wrong.

The medical examiner's report cites an antidepressant drug was in Williams' system at the time of his death. The particular antidepressant, Mirtazapine, (also known as Remeron) carries 10 international drug regulatory warnings on causing suicidal ideation.

Comment: Peace of mind cannot be found in a pill. It's sad that so many people are duped into taking a drug that causes the exact opposite of what they are hoping for. Rest in peace, Robin.

When it comes to Anti-depressants, it appears profit, not benefits, outweigh the risks

Warning: Antidepressants May Led to Suicidal Tendencies

Psychological side-effects of anti-depressants worse than thought

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Syringe

Ebola treatment trials using survivors' blood and test drugs to start in west Africa

Nina Larson and Frankie Taggart
AFP
Thu, 13 Nov 2014 20:36 UTC
ebola trials
Global aid agency Doctors Without Borders said on Thursday it would begin unprecedented trials within a month on Ebola drugs and blood from survivors using patients in west Africa.
Global aid agency Doctors Without Borders said on Thursday it would begin unprecedented trials on patients in west Africa to test Ebola drugs and the use of survivors' blood as therapy.

The trials in Guinea are aimed at rushing out an emergency therapy to battle an epidemic which has taken more than 5,000 lives since December.

"This is an unprecedented international partnership which represents hope for patients to finally get a real treatment against a disease that today kills between 50 and 80 percent of those infected," said Annick Antierens, who is coordinating the trials for the medical charity, known by its French initials MSF.

The first trials are due to start in December and results could be available by February next year, MSF said.

Ebola, transmitted through bodily fluids, leads to haemorrhagic fever and -- in an estimated 70 percent of cases in the current outbreak -- death.

There is no specific treatment regime and, as yet, no licensed vaccine -- although one of the leading candidates, known as ChAd3 and made by Britain's GlaxoSmithKline, is being tested in Mali and elsewhere.

Patients' best chance of survival, if their condition is caught early enough, is taking paracetamol for their fever, rehydrating and being kept well nourished.
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Cell Phone

Forty-four reasons cell phones can cause cancer

Lloyd Burrell
Electricsense.com
Mon, 10 Nov 2014 19:49 UTC
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© Whyweweb.com
Cell phones emit microwave radio-frequency radiation. Fact.

This radiation has the ability to penetrate our bodies. Fact.

Our governments do virtually nothing to protect us from these dangers. Fact.

And yet there is strong evidence, multiple peer reviewed studies, to indicate that cell phones cause cancer and other diseases.

Take a look for yourself at these facts.

But first let's just consider what cancer is.

Cancer And DNA

The National Cancer Institute says,
"Cancer is a term used for diseases in which abnormal cells divide without control and are able to invade other tissues.....all cancers begin in cells......cells grow and divide in a controlled way to produce more cells as they are needed to keep the body healthy. When cells become old or damaged, they die and are replaced with new cells. However, sometimes this orderly process goes wrong. The genetic material (DNA) of a cell can become damaged or changed, producing mutations that affect normal cell growth and division. When this happens, cells do not die when they should and new cells form when the body does not need them."
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© National Cancer Institute
So cancer typically involves abnormal cell division and DNA damage and in some cases cells may form a mass of tissue called a tumor.

Comment: See also:

What the cellphone industry doesn't want you to know about radiation concerns

What's Wi-Fi doing to us? Experiment finds that shrubs die when placed next to wireless routers

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Attention

Candy colored single use detergent pods poisoning children in alarming numbers

Cliff Weathers
Alternet
Tue, 11 Nov 2014 00:00 UTC
detergent pods
More than 17,000 small children were harmed by single-use detergent packages in just over a year.

Kids often see the bright red and blue of laundry pods and mistake them as candy, and they're heading to emergency rooms in alarming numbers.

More than 17,000 incidents of children ingesting laundry-detergent packages had been recorded by poison-control centers across the nation between 2012 and 2013, according to a report in the journal Pediatrics. One child has even died after ingesting the ingredients of the pods.

Laundry pods, which are jaw-breaker sized single-use containers of concentrated liquid detergent, have a flexible outer membrane that can easily be perforated by young children trying to bite into them, says the study.

The pods, which often come in bright multi-color combinations, to show that cleaning ingredients will be mixed in the wash, may resemble hard candies or even the teething toys often given to children.

Comment: It's interesting yet sadly unsurprising, that it never occurred to the manufacturers of these pods, that the design and candy-color would make it appealing for a small child to eat. But then, as profit trumps everything, considering the health and safety of consumers is really not their problem! Notice that few bothered to change the design even after being warned of the dangers to children.

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Take 2

Bought: Exposing the hidden story behind vaccines, pharma, and food

Dr. Mercola
Mercola.com
Sat, 08 Nov 2014 21:20 UTC
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"Your health is now brought to you by Wall Street. If you thought they hurt us with the banks, wait 'til you see what they are doing to our health care." - Jeff Hays, Bought

The new documentary Bought dives deeply into the inner workings of the industries at the core of our food and healthcare system, exploring the truth about how vaccines and drugs are developed and rushed to market and the ongoing secrecy behind the genetic engineering of our food supply.

For a limited time proceeds from renting or purchasing this film will be donated to the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), a non-profit organization advocating for vaccine safety and informed consent protection in the public health system.

Filmmaker Jeff Hays believes, as I do, that you have a right to the truth so that you can make educated decisions about your health, food, and medicine. Unfortunately, the truth is not easy to come by today.

Like the banks, the food and drug industries have grown more powerful and less transparent over time, and profit has become the primary motive. Hays may be best known for his 2012 documentary "Doctored," which exposes how the medical and drug industry conspire to control the health care system.

Hays' new film peels back the layers to show how the drug, vaccine, and chemical technology industries have joined forces as one supervillain, with its "undisclosed location" smack-dab in the middle of the White House.
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Life Preserver

A good night's sleep for depression and pain

Dr. Michael Murray
Doctormurray.com
Wed, 12 Nov 2014 17:57 UTC
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Depression and chronic pain are two common conditions that are also associated with poor sleep quality. While it is often thought that the sleep issues are secondary to these conditions, a new study conducted by researchers from the University of Alabama indicates that depression and pain due to osteoarthritis could be the result of poor sleep quality instead of the other way around.

Background data

Prior research has shown that people with hip and knee osteoarthritis (OA) are more likely to have insomnia, daytime sleepiness, and depression, than those without OA. The obvious relationship is that the arthritis pain affects sleep and makes people depressed. However, a 2012 study published in the journal SLEEP looked at sleep quality in people who were in chronic pain, including those with osteoarthritis and researchers found:
  • The amount of pain that people were in before they went to bed had little to do with how well they slept.
  • A person's sleep quality predicted how much pain they were in the next day. People who slept poorly had more pain the following day.
Other studies have shown that poor sleep quality can trigger inflammatory pathways that make arthritis pain worse, and poor sleep also make people more sensitive to the feeling of pain from any cause.
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Attention

'Gluten brain': Wheat cuts off blood flow to frontal cortex

Sayer Ji
Wake Up World
Wed, 12 Nov 2014 09:52 UTC
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As far back as 1954, reports of the full or partial resolution of schizophrenia following a gluten free diet began to surface in the medical literature. We covered this remarkable pattern of associations in a previous article titled, "60 Years of Research Links Gluten Grains to Schizophrenia." While the explanation for this intriguing connection has remained focused on the disruption of the gut-brain axis and the presence in wheat of a wide range of pharmacologically active and mostly opioid receptor modulating polypeptides, a new and possibly more disturbing explanation is beginning to surface: wheat consumption cuts off blood flow to the brain.

Starting with a 1997 case study published in the Journal of Internal Medicine involving a 33-year-old patient, with pre-existing diagnosis of 'schizophrenic' disorder, who first came to medical attention for severe diarrhea and weight loss (classical symptoms of gluten intolerance), brain scan technology determined that cerebral hypoperfusion (decreased blood flow to the brain) was occurring within the patient's frontal cortex.[i] A gluten free diet resulted not only in the normalization of intestinal damage and autoantibodies, but the return of blood flow to the frontal cortex, and the resolution of schizophrenic symptoms.

Comment: In view of this research, and with wheat as the staff of life, it's unsurprising if most people can't put two and two together. See also:

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