Q: it seems more and more people are being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Can this be prevented or reversed? A: Folks are living longer, but not necessarily better, with drugs and machines that can prop us up, and frankly, keep the medical machine going. Some estimates put 85% of healthcare dollar capture from patients in the last few years of their life. This is not to say that we shouldn’t aim to live longer — but not at the expense of living well. Brains are mostly made of fat
Topic: Natural Anti-inflammatories
from a colleague: For my bulletproof turmeric, I have used coconut oil, butter, honey, and spices to optimize digest and the absorption of curcumin. Curcumin is notoriously difficult to absorb, but fats and spices, particularly the black pepper in the garam masala, greatly increase our absorption of curcumin into the blood stream. 1 cup water 1 tsp turmeric (optionally add one capsule of curcumin 95% extract) ¼ tsp garam masala 1 tsp maca (optional, but delicious) 1 Tbs grass fed butter 1 Tbs coconut oil or MCT oil 1 tsp honey Simmer water with turmeric and garam masala for 10 minutes. Strain through a fine mesh strainer. Add remaining ingredients and whirl in blender or with immersion blender until foamy.
Q: My doctor diagnosed me with COPD and said I’d need to take steroids the rest of my life. I don’t know what this means and there must be a better treatment. Help! A: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease is a group of lung problems that make normal breathing more difficult. The best known of these lung problems is asthma — on the rise at a rapid rate in particular among inner city children. The combination of rising pollution in cities and non-food quasi-edible items increasingly landing in the grocery store cart is noxious. Asthma is caused by two major factors: constriction of the micro-units of the lungs, calledalveola, which pick up oxygen from the air and transfer oxygen to the blood stream, and inflammation. Both aspects need to be addressed by therapy. Other diseases under the COPD umbrella include chronic bronchitis, brochiectasis, emphysema and cystic fibrosis. Typically, a conventionally trained doctor or nurse will have only one solution: a steroidal inhaler. Long term steroids are best avoided: they destroy normal tissue over time, increase cancer risk and often cause diabetes. ...
The Huffington Post (huffingtonpost.com) – How Antioxidants Really Protect Against Stroke and Dementia – By Jaimie Dalessio – (Thursday, February 21, 2013) – The protective power of antioxidants against stroke and dementia may have less to do with your total dietary intake of antioxidants and more to do with the specific foods that contribute to your antioxidant level, new research suggests. Researchers from Harvard Medical School in Boston and Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam in the Netherlands analyzed health and dietary information on 5,395 people aged 55 and older who were part of the long-term Rotterdam Study of medical conditions and other factors in older adults.
Los Angeles Times (CA) – Doctors list overused medical treatments – By Noam N. Levey – (Wednesday, February 20, 2013) – Nearly 100 medical procedures, tests and therapies are overused and often unnecessary, a coalition of leading medical societies says in a new report aimed at improving healthcare and controlling runaway costs. The medical interventions – including early cesarean deliveries, CT scans for head injuries in children and annual Pap tests for middle-aged women – may be necessary in some cases, the physician groups said. But often they are not beneficial and may even cause harm.
If you suffer from seasonal allergies, you are not alone. Twenty percent of the US population (about 50 million people) make over 10 million visits to doctors every year for this common concern. Multiple factors conspire to create the dreaded days of runny noses, itchy and watery eyes, relentless sneezing, scratchy throats and just generally not feeling up to snuff. Unfortunately many of the over-the-counter medicines can create annoying side effects such as drowsiness, insomnia, headache, dizziness and upset stomach.
As always, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. If you are in a profession that demands repetitive wrist movement (such as being a carpenter or pianist or typist) there are a number of ways to reduce your wrist of creating inflammation between the delicate structures that form the wrist. One reason the wrist is so flexible (the most versatile joint in the body) is because it is comprised of a series of 14 carpal bones that fit together like a loose jigsaw puzzle, snuggly bound by a series of sheaths and tendons.