Avocados Naturally Conquer Aging and Disease

Contrary to many anti-aging pills and creams, avocados are extremely inexpensive and also quite a delicious addition to any seasonal meal. The best part, however, is that they are actually effective in fighting both again and bolstering your immune system to fight off disease — no expensive medical interventions required. The powerful yet 100% natural effect has to do with how the oil from the fruit can combat free radicals, which have been linked to countless conditions including cancer and heart disease (as well as aging, and in many cases accelerated aging).

What’s most amazing about the antioxidants found in avocados is their ability to ‘deeply’ penetrate inside the body and actually enter the mitochondria, a tiny ‘powerhouse’ which actually turns food into energy inside your body. Your mitochondria are actually teeming with free radicals, which are assaulting the tiny energy assimilators on a daily basis. While other fruits and vegetables — powerful in many ways as well — offer beneficial antioxidants, avocados possess the unique ability to actually make their way inside mitochondria. This is an effect that has scientists raving over the usage of avocados in the prevention of disease and aging.Researcher Christian Cortes-Rojo summarized the findings, explaining:

The problem is that the antioxidants in [other] substances are unable to enter mitochondria. So free radicals go on damaging mitochondria, causing energy production to stop and the cell to collapse and die.

It is these free radicals, brought upon by toxins that enter the body, which are causing serious damage to public health. Breeding disease through the destruction of DNA and cell membranes, free radicals are unwanted invaders of the body. Avocados present themselves as an excellent way to fend off the issue, and researchers say that avocado oil can even allow certain cells to survive in the presence of high iron concentrations — an element that produces a particularly ‘huge’ amount of free radicals. It is also interesting to note that avocado oil is similar to olive oil in terms of composition. Not only has olive oil been found to benefit your overall health, but the consumption of olive oil has been linked to unusually low levels of serious disease in some Mediterranean countries.

DIET & HORMONE IMBALANCE

FREE Workshop Tonight
Balancing Hormones Naturally
Maitland Public Library 6:30 PM

RSVP here Limited Seating

A hormone imbalance can occur in both men and women, and it is caused by an increase or decrease in the body's production of hormones. Hormones are released through various endocrine glands located in the body, and these hormones regulate growth, metabolism, sexual function and mood, according to the National Institutes of Health. While there are many contributing factors to a hormone imbalance, a healthy diet can help to keep your hormones at normal levels.

The Facts

Hormonal imbalances can lead to serious health conditions, including diabetes, osteoporosis, thyroid disorders and heart disease. Your body goes through a normal cycle of hormone secretion throughout the day, according to The Hormone Foundation. For instance, your levels of growth hormone, or GH, peak during your first two hours of deep sleep, which is why it's important to get enough sleep when trying to build muscle in the weight room. Your diet helps to supply your muscles with the nutrients it needs to function properly.

Significance

Nutrition plays a significant role in controlling hormone production, according to Amy Shapiro RD, CDN of Nutrisense Inc. Eating a diet low in saturated fats, sodium and full of nutritionally-dense foods can help to lower the risk of many diseases associated with hormonal imbalance, including heart disease and thyroid disease. Shapiro suggests increasing your intake of antioxidants to fight off free radicals, which are environmental factors that influence hormone production. This means focusing on foods rich in beta-carotene, lycopene and lutein.

Function

The function of a healthy diet in hormonal regulation is to ensure your body is getting the vitamins and nutrients it needs as well as to keep your body weight within normal levels. Obesity can lead to symptoms of hormonal imbalance, such as fatigue and reduced sexual function, and a healthy diet can reduce your risk of obesity significantly. Shapiro recommends choosing fruits and vegetables, foods low in saturated fats, soy foods and eating every three to four hours.

Diet

The U.S. Department of Agriculture offers free dieting advice that can help you maintain a healthy body weight and thus reduce your risk of developing symptoms of hormonal imbalance. This includes eating well-balanced, nutritionally-dense meals consisting of whole grains, vegetables, fruits, lean protein sources and low-fat dairy. You can get a free personalized diet plan based on the USDA's recommendations by visiting MyPyramid.gov.

Warning

While diet does play an indirect role in affecting hormonal production, there are other factors that contribute to increases or decreases of hormone levels, such as aging, menopause, stress and genetics. So, even if you eat healthily, you may still experience symptoms of hormonal imbalance. For this reason, you should consult your doctor or endocrinologist to determine the steps you need to take to become healthy. This may include lifestyle changes, such as eating healthier, and/or prescription medications designed to control your hormone production.

Read more:@ LiveStrong

The Dangers of Hormone Replacement Therapy

Learn more about this at our workshop tonight at:
Maitland Public Library
501 Maitland Ave, 32751
6:30 pm Click Here to RSVP


From: The Douglas Report

Every time I think we’ve finally closed the book on hormone replacement therapy,
Big Pharma opens it right back up.

They just won’t let this one go, not while there’s still a few bucks to be squeezed out if it.

The latest nonsense would have you believe that HRT can decrease a woman’s risk of colon cancer. The longer a woman manages to survive the increased risk of heart attack, stroke and breast cancer that come from this med, the lower her colon cancer risk.

According to a study in the American Journal of Gastroenterology, women who took HRT for less than four years lowered the risk of colon cancer by a quarter… those who took it for up to eight years cut their risk by a third… and those who took it for 15 years cut their risk by two-thirds.

I don’t care if this holds true or not. You’d have to be clinically insane to turn to HRT to lower your colon cancer risk. It’s just not worth it.

If you’re worried about colon cancer, get a colonoscopy. Just be sure to choose a tried-and-true colonoscopy, not the pricey virtual nonsense that sounds like it might be more comfortable. In the wrong hands, they’re far less accurate — and in the right ones, they’ll probably lead to a real colonoscopy anyway.

Hormone replacement therapy is one of the darkest chapters in medical history. This isn’t a book that needs to be closed — it needs to be burned.

In addition from Natural News:

In 2002, the Women's Health Initiative study found that the drugs significantly increased women's risk of dying from heart attacks, strokes, and blood clots. Since then, research has also linked the drugs to breast cancer and dementia. Use of the drugs fell to six million by 2003.

Valentines Special : The Truth about your heart

What's your risk of having a heart attack or stroke?

Your answers to the following questions can help determine your risk of developing cardiovascular disease in the next 10 years. Based on your answers, we've also included recommendations to help keep you healthy.

Click HERE to take the test.

1. Stop smoking. Quitting smoking is the single most important thing a person can do to live longer. If you are a smoker, you are twice as likely to have a heart attack than a non-smoker. But from the moment you stop smoking, the risk of heart attack starts to reduce. With public smoking bans recently introduced, there has never been a better time to give up.

2. Cut down on salt. Too much salt can cause high blood pressure, which increases the risk of developing coronary heart disease. Avoid foods like crisps, salted nuts, canned and packet soups and sauces, baked beans and canned vegetables, pork pies, pizzas and ready meals. Many breakfast cereals and breads that appear healthy also contain high levels of salt, so keep your eye on these too.

3. Watch your diet. A healthy diet can help to reduce the risk of developing heart disease, and can also help increase the chances of survival after a heart attack. You should try to have a balanced diet, containing plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, oily fish, starchy foods such as wholegrain bread, pasta and rice. Avoid foods like biscuits, cakes, pastries and dairy products that are high in saturated fats and sugar.

4. Monitor your alcohol. Too much alcohol can damage the heart muscle, increase blood pressure and also lead to weight gain. Binge drinking will increase your risk of having a heart attack, so you should aim to limit your intake to one to two units a day.

5. Get active.The heart is a muscle and it needs exercise to keep fit so that it can pump blood efficiently round your body with each heart beat. You should aim for 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise a day. If this seems too daunting, start off gently and build up gradually. Keeping fit not only benefits your physical health - it improves your mental health and wellbeing too.

6. Manage your weight. The number of people who are overweight in Britain is rising fast - already more than half of the adult population is overweight or obese. Carrying a lot of extra weight as fat can greatly affect your health and increases the risk of life-threatening conditions such as coronary heart disease and diabetes. If you are overweight or obese, start by making small, but healthy changes to what you eat, and try to become more active.

7. Get your blood pressure and cholesterol levels checked by your GP. The higher your blood pressure, the shorter your life expectancy. People with high blood pressure run a higher risk of having a stroke or a heart attack. High levels of cholesterol in the blood - produced by the liver from saturated fats - can lead to fatty deposits in your coronary arteries that increase your risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, and diseases that affect the circulation. You can help lower your cholesterol level by exercising and eating high-fibre foods such as porridge, beans, pulses, lentils, nuts, fruits and vegetables.

8. Learn to manage your stress levels. If you find things are getting on top of you, you may fail to eat properly, smoke and drink too much and this may increase your risk of a heart attack.

9. Check your family history . If a close relative is at risk of developing coronary heart disease from smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, lack of physical activity, obesity and diabetes, then you could be at risk too.

10. Make sure you can recognise the early signs of coronary heart disease . Tightness or discomfort in the chest, neck, arm or stomach which comes on when you exert yourself but goes away with rest may be the first sign of angina, which can lead to a heart attack if left untreated.

Its "Go Red for Women" Day, wear your Red and promote awareness of deadly heart disease

From:  Women's Health Blog

Mind-numbing fact: More women die of cardiovascular disease than from all forms of cancer combined, according to the American Heart Association.

Eye-opening fact: 80 percent of cardiac events in women—which include heart attacks and strokes—could be prevented if women made the right choices for their hearts involving diet, exercise and abstinence from smoking, according to the AHA. And nearly half of American women have no idea that heart disease is their number 1 killer.

The American Heart Association wants to change that. Its Go Red For Women campaign educates women about their heart disease risk, how they can reduce their risk, and how to identify the symptoms of a heart attack or stroke (check out the info below). Today, February 3, is National Wear Red Day and women are encouraged to don something red to raise awareness that heart disease is not an “old man’s disease.”

Women’s Health staffers are going to get decked out in red and we invite all of you to join us. But simply wearing crimson won’t accomplish much—you’ve got to tell other women why you’re doing it. Our suggestion? Post a picture of yourself wearing red to your blog or Facebook or Twitter profile, along with a link to this story. (Twitter-ers: The hashtag is #GoRedForWomen.) Who knows? One of your friends might learn something that could save her life.

How to Protect Your Ticker
“It’s important to take care of your heart even before you have any symptoms,” says Arthur Agatston, M.D., a Miami cardiologist and author of The South Beach Heart Program. “Quite simply, the earlier you start, the easier it is to prevent heart disease.” The best ways to reduce your risk for heart disease:

1. Eat More Plants and Fish: Certain fruits and vegetables are good sources of heart-protecting antioxidants and potassium, which regulates blood pressure. Omega-3 fatty acids in fish decreasing your blood pressure and triglycerides.
2. Cut the Fat: Reduce your intake of saturated fat and trans fat; the latter can raise levels of bad cholesterol and also lower levels of good cholesterol.
3. Know Your Risk: have your physician to check for high cholesterol, elevated blood sugar, and signs of diabetes. Know your family’s medical history.
4. Be Active: The AHA recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity each week
5. Quit Smoking: Besides the fact that cigarettes cause cancer, are expensive, and just plain smell bad, they could very well kill you.

Warning Signs
What exactly does a heart attack look like? Actress Elizabeth Banks, who graces the March cover of Women’s Health, teamed up with Go Red For Women on a 3-minute video in which she plays a mom having a heart attack. “This little film is about a super mom who takes care of everyone except herself and learns the lesson that she better look at herself as well,” Banks says.

Heart attacks are no laughing matter, but Banks manages to make viewers smile when her son in the video looks up heart attack symptoms on her iPhone and hands it to his chest-clutching mom, who previously insisted that she was fine. Banks finally calls 911. Study up on the signs of heart attack and stroke from the AHA so you know when to make that important call. Read more about Signs of a Heart Attack and Signs of a Stroke