Health Update, February 2010
Latest Health News
Apparently, killing continues to always be the answer
So they figured out that nitric oxide is “able to alleviate stress in bacteria caused by many antibiotics.” In other words, that’s why bacteria are becoming resistant to antibiotics. But instead of thinking, hmmm, maybe the answer isn’t more antibiotics (but instead might have to do with probiotics), they’re going with how they can inhibit the nitric oxide and continue kicking up the level of antibiotics. *Sigh…*
Yes, for chrissakes, GM plants are harmful to your health!
Photo: jeff_w_brooktree
Here’s a new study on GM corn that’s pretty clear: “Our analysis clearly reveals for the 3 GMOs new side effects linked with GM maize consumption, Effects were mostly associated with the kidney and liver, the dietary detoxifying organs, although different between the 3 GMOs. Other effects were also noticed in the heart, adrenal glands, spleen and haematopoietic system.” ‘Nough said.
Well, all women are meant to be mothers, aren’t they?
I found this to be an extremely interesting piece about a French author who wrote a book where she regrets becoming a mother (her kids are 12 and 10, and she offered the book to them. They are, shockingly, more interested in Harry Potter). It seems the atmosphere in France around motherhood is even more pressured than in the United States. Will we ever accept that not all women are supposed to get married and have kids, and this isn’t necessarily a bad thing?
The ghrelin gremlin rears its ugly head once again
What might be the key to people regaining weight after months of losing it is a little hormone named gremlin, ahem, I mean ghrelin. Yep, it’s the one that kicks in to let you know you are hungry and it’s time to eat, stat. Looks like levels of the hormone just keep getting higher as people lose weight, according to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine. Check out HSI’s three top ways to deal with this little sabotager from hell.
Win! Win! Win!
Yep, it’s that time of year again. The dreaded Valentine’s Day is upon us. If you are singled, this day is pretty much the worst of the year (unless you decide to go rock it out with your friends, which is what I usually do). If you are coupled, it’s still pretty much the worst day of the year (damn you, Hallmark, and all your pressure!).
So to celebrate (ha ha) this festive occasion, I thought what better time than now to give away a Valentine’s package connected to love? Don’t worry, these prizes are not of the “love is grand” variety. Neither are they of the “love is a battlefield” variety. Like most of life, they fall somewhere in the middle, and make you think, fantasize, and remember all the different forms of love you’ve experienced in your life.
The packet includes an amazing anthology from The Sun Magazine entitled, The Mysterious Life of the Heart, the latest movie from award-winning filmmaker Kara Herold, Bachelorette, 34, and a couple of other sweet goodies. The total value of the prize is over $60, but all you have to is sign up below for our monthly newsletter, chock full of good (and fun!) info every month.
Already signed up? You can still enter; click here for details. And good luck!
Sex, sex, sex…sex, sex, sex
Photo: motleypixel
Did I get your attention? I thought so. There certainly is always a lot to talk about when it comes to sex, and usually not enough of the good, important stuff is actually talked about when it comes to sex. So, if you are hoping to learn a bit more about sex and health, and maybe how stepping outside the norm can help with both, here’s a couple of great (and fun) resources:
1. The computer and iPhone are vindicated. Looks like Viagra and obesity are to blame for the carpal tunnel syndrome epidemic. Alas, the pressure put on your wrists during sex (guess it depends on whose on top?) is crippling people’s arms throughout the world. It’s gotta be true if a scientific study says it’s so:
Some Sex Positions Are Bad For Your Health
2. Sex is better than meditation, eating right, and exercise all wrapped up into one. Well, that may be stretching it a bit, but take a look at this outline of health benefits to getting it on:
Which might mean it’s time to bust out of the box…
Photo: timsamoff
3. Bored with having sex at home? Tired of having to keep quiet because of the kids/neighbors/dogs/impressionable parakeets? Then maybe a night out – sans a fancy dinner and substituting a Motel Six room – is just what you need.
How to Have Motel Six Sex (thanks, eHow. You always know how to show us the way).
4. A little bit more hotel sex, just bolder. Love this guy’s story about sex in a crammed hotel bathroom with wife while their six kids are “sleeping” in the other room:
5. Think you got it going on? Occasionally ponder how tough it must be for your friend who is in a wheelchair to figure out the sex question? Ahem, no more. He’s probably having better sex than you. A lot better:
Disabled People Might Be Having Better Sex Than You
Alright, now off to do, well, whatever it is you need to do.
Grain-Free Livin’
My January, with the exception of a one-day “good cheat” (I say good because I don’t believe we should ever restrict anything 100%) that included a delectable gluten-free hazelnut/chocolate scone and a gluten-free fried-green-tomato and bacon sandwich, has been grain-free.
Photo: DavidDennisPhotos.com
Why? Well, there are more and more nutritional experts out there who say that grains well, just aren’t good for us. I won’t go so far as to say I think they are bad for all of us, or that anyone should cut them out completely, but I do know from my own experience that eating grains – even whole ones – makes me tired as hell about an hour after I eat them, sometimes even before.
The day I ate the scone and sandwich was horrible – I couldn’t recover (given, I had drank coffee earlier that day, which I rarely do, so was also contending with the blood-sugar plunge from that). Eating grains can sometimes make me feel worse than eating sugar. That, to me, is a sign.
Some other people’s bodies can certainly process grains better than mine. But before you go thinking you are one of them, ask yourself about your day. Do you feel great in the morning after your coffee and breakfast, but begin to crash right before lunch? Then you eat lunch, feel ok for a little while, but hit rock bottom around 2:30 or 3 (stat on more coffee!)? Ok, this doesn’t necessarily means grains aren’t for you – maybe cutting back on sugar and caffeine will help – but maybe it does. Maybe, just maybe, those underlying aches and pains that you are writing off may have to do with eating grains.
There are also issues around grain processing. Everyone is up in arms over the high environmental impact of meat. While this is completely understandable and true for factory-farmed meat, where cows that aren’t even supposed to be eating grains are chained inside pens for their entire lives and forced to eat fattening corn, wheat, and soy, and are processed through as quickly as possible for our fast food habit, the conscious act of eating locally grown, grass-fed meats may actually have LESS of an environmental impact than a grain-based diet according to some new “radical” views (actually based on old views, because that’s how people ate before grains came onto the scene).
I’m not here to convert anyone, just to offer possibilities that may lead to feeling stronger, better, and more present in your life. I’d love to hear feedback from those who have tried different approaches to improving their energy and overall outlook. Figuring out what works for us individually is the whole point of this life, whether that be something as “simple” as a diet approach to something as complex as a spiritual practice.
So January is almost over, and yeah, I’m gonna go for February. I’m taking it one month at a time to see what happens. I’ll keep you up-to-date!