Tag: Serious Health

Weight Gain And Cholesterol

It’s really not a secret that there is a connection between weight gain and cholesterol levels. If you are overweight one of the best things you can do for your body is lose your excess body weight.

Weight gain and cholesterol is a common problem for many people as they age. When we age we often have slower metabolisms and just don’t get as much exercise.

Those factors can lead to an increase in the amount of excess body fat you put on.

Of course, sometimes having trouble with your cholesterol levels is a result of hereditary factors, but more often than not it is a result of lifestyle choices.

If we eat too many foods that are bad for us: high in fat and calories and generally lacking in any nutritional value, for example, we will most likely gain weight as well as increase the levels of bad cholesterol.

According to the American Heart Association, you should try to keep your overall cholesterol levels below 199mg/dl. Your bad cholesterol levels, LDL, should be less than 99mg/dl.

The higher your LDL levels the more fat you have in your bloodstream. This fat can clog your arteries and lead to many serious health related issues such as heart attack and stroke.

Of course, you do have many ways you can help control your cholesterol levels and you don’t have to (in many cases, ultimately you need to ask your doctor) rely solely on medication.

Eating right is your first line of defense. For many people, just eating a healthier diet will be enough to prevent developing any cholesterol problems in the first place.

Lean protein, vegetables, more fruits and lots of water can go a long way to ensure that your cholesterol levels are kept where they should be.

You can start small too. Just stop eating so much of the bad stuff. If you really love your burgers why not just cut back on the amount you have in a week?

Or, why not try a leaner ground beef or possibly even a turkey burger. It’s up to you but you can see that there are many simple things you can do to eat better and not eating as much bad stuff.

Another simple fix is to eat less sugar. For many people this can be accomplished just by cutting way back on some of the beverages they drink.

I had a friend who lost 10 lbs. in one month and the only thing she did was stop drinking pop. Most beverages are loaded with sugar and some of the worst offenders are energy drinks.

Getting less sugar in your diet can be a simple way for you to loss excess body fat and lose weight.

Weight gain and cholesterol do go hand in hand but you can lose weight with some simple changes to your diet and exercise program. Don’t give up and make sure you talk to your doctor before you start, but you really can have a positive impact on your cholesterol levels.

Triglycerides-Fat In The Human Body

Triglycerides are one of the types of fat that are naturally occurring in the human body. While you do need some, the problem comes when your levels get out of balance and you have a higher level than you should.

Your doctor can easily let you know whether or not your triglycerides are where they should be. If they are too high, she can also provide you with some resources for getting them back to more normal levels.

Having high levels can lead to many serious health issues like heart disease and diabetes. There may be things you can do, other than take prescription medication and have to deal with all the side effects, to lower your levels.

You can keep your cholesterol as well as triglycerides at the proper balance as well as just keep your body weight where it needs to be.

Bottom line: these tips will help you look better, feel better and get more healthy:

1. Watch how much you eat. We tend to eat portions that are too big. One of the simplest (in terms of both implementation and actually being able to stick with it) things you can do is cut back on your portion sizes.

A good rule of thumb is to keep all your portion sizes about the size of a deck of cards or the palm of your hand. This makes keeping track of the proper portions easier than having to pull out a scale all the time.

This is a good trick to keep in mind when you are eating out too. Most restaurant meals are the portion of 2 to 3 meals. Take home the extra so you can enjoy it another day.

Also, eat throughout the day, but make each meal you eat smaller and more nutritious. Don’t eat a bunch of huge, high fat meals. Instead eat about 6 times a day and keep each meal the proper portion size and keep them loaded with fruits, vegetables, and lean protein.

A low fat diet is a very effective way to ensure that all systems are working the way they were made to work.

2. Get moving. Again, exercise is just one of those things that can help you control the fat levels in your body as well as around your middle. It just provides so many benefits.

If you are new to exercising you want to talk to your doctor to make sure you are healthy enough. And once you get the ok start small.

It will take time for these tips to start showing up in your blood tests or on the scale. You must view it as a process and not some sort of quick fix.

Be willing to start small, say take a walk everyday, then ramp things up as you get stronger.

3. Moderation in the amount of things like sugar and alcohol in your diet is another way to keep your blood levels where they should be.

No one says you can never drink or never eat a candy bar again, it’s just that you need to make sure you do keep the intake of these things to a minimum.

So, if your doctor tells you that you have high triglycerides, don’t panic. There are many ways you can get these levels back into the normal range. Just work with your doctor and follow these tips.

Are There Any Chronic Fatigue Treatments?

There is no specific treatment for chronic fatigue syndrome but a combination of treatments is being used by the doctors to alleviate the symptoms and signs. Chronic fatigue syndrome, or CFS, is characterized by neurological problems, having flu-like symptoms, and debilitating fatigue, often experienced as poor stamina and extreme exhaustion. There are various core symptoms such as general pain, mental fogginess, excessive fatigue and gastro-intestinal problems, headaches, sleep disorder, sore throat, and abnormal temperature.

Display of symptoms varies among the patients. The degree of their severity varies, which can be between getting easily fatigued after stressful activity, being completely bedridden, and totally disabled. Should the symptoms not indicative of other serious health problems they should wane and disappear over time. For some patients, the chronic fatigue illness starts suddenly with a flu that does not go away completely while for other patients it gradually appears over a period of time. For many patients, the illness is often triggered after involving in high stress circumstance.

The combination is taken from the following treatments:

Cognitive behavior treatment. This is a therapy combined with the gradual exercise and wherein the patient is treated by dealing with their mental health. The aim is to classify behaviors and negative beliefs that cause delay of recovery and eventually replace with positive, healthy behaviors.

Moderating daily activities. The patient is encouraged to avoid or reduce excessive psychological and physical stress; however, it is not encouraged to take too much rest. In this treatment, the objective is to gently enhance the stamina and maintain moderate activity level.

Gradual/steady exercise. This is a kind of exercise program where the patient relies on the help of physical therapist. It aims to increase gradually the level of exercise to improve chronic fatigue symptoms.

Depression treatment. Depression is treated with serotonin re-uptake inhibitor and tricyclic anti-depressants. The anti-depressant does not only help treat depression but it can also relieve pain and improve sleep.

Pain treatment. Like depression, pain is medically treated by administering non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, like ibuprofen or aspirin, or acetaminophen. These medicines can also aid in lowering the fever and pain.

Allergy-like treatment. Medical treatment used is antihistamines, like cetirizine, decongestants, and fexofenadine. These drugs help relieve allergy symptoms like runny nose.

Hypotension treatment. The low blood pressure is treated with drugs like atenolol, midodrine, and fludrocortisones. These are useful when people suffer from chronic fatigue.

Poor nervous system treatment. Clonazepam is used to treat symptoms like skin tenderness and dizziness while anxiety is treated with alprazolam and lorazepam.

There are experimental therapies that experts continue to research with the aim of finding treatments for the syndrome. These therapies include the following:

Acupuncture
Anti-viral drugs
D-ribose
Methylphenidate
Immune globulins
Cholinesterase inhibitors
Corticosteroids

The Food Diet

In addition to the above mentioned treatments, health experts advise patients to be careful with their diet. They recommend avoiding diet rich in toxins or those unhealthy foods. Patients should be careful with foods containing carcinogens, aspartame, additives, mono sodium glutamate, amalgam, fluoride, sugar, among others.

Unhealthy foods such as table or refined salt, margarine, hydrogenated fats, chlorinated water, refined oils, junk foods, fried and smoked foods, soft drinks, baking powder, and alcohol drinks can aggravate chronic fatigue symptoms so they must be avoided at most times.

Causes Of Chronic Fatigue Symptoms

Drowsiness is a simple feeling that can be relieved by going to sleep. Fatigue is more serious such that sleep can never relieve the condition. Apathy is more different as it is a condition where one doesn’t completely care of the things around them. All three are fatigue symptoms. Fatigue is the condition when one is suffering from tiredness, lack of energy, and weariness. Chronic fatigue symptoms are more serious than what you may think.

They require medical attention as there can be other serious health case overlooked. For example, a thyroid problem can cause fatigue symptoms. Another is the condition of depression, which is different from CFS, but displays similar symptoms such as low energy level and fatigue lasting a day.

Sometimes, the symptoms of chronic fatigue are associated by other illnesses, such as diabetes, addison’s disease, eating disorders like bulimia or anorexia, arthritis, kidney disease, congestive heart disease, lupus, cancer, and even malnutrition. If the patient is suffering the symptoms due to one of the mentioned diseases, medical advices are needed before giving them any kind of treatment. These symptoms are entirely different from the normal and common chronic fatigue symptoms, which often happen to adults who lead a pretty stressful and unhealthy lifestyle.

Causes of chronic fatigue symptoms can be divided into two types, psychological and physical, which include the following:

Sleep disorders such as insomnia, narcolepsy, or apnea
Asthma or hay fever
Hypothyroidism
Anemia
Illegal drugs or alcohol regular use
Ongoing pain
Grief and depression

There are home care treatments which can help overcome most of the chronic fatigue symptoms. Adequate and regular rest each night is one thing. Eating balanced and healthy diet, as well as drinking lots of water everyday, is another to curb the symptoms. Learning to avoid a sedentary daily lifestyle can bring the energy out of you. Even simple walking and jogging can help you relax. While maintaining a reasonable personal and work schedule will avoid you from getting easily tired. Or avoiding the increase in your stress level will keep those symptoms away.

Also, taking off from stressful circumstances will help you avoid too much stress. Taking vacation, dealing with relationship problems in a calmer way, taking multivitamins, and avoiding stress-triggering activities are simple yet proven ways to avoid those chronic fatigue symptoms. It also works if you avoid too much night life activities as well as refraining from too much consumption of nicotine, alcohol, caffeine, or drugs.

Alternative and Natural Remedies

If considering medication, there are alternative or natural remedies which can help the condition. There are different alternatives readily available such as having a reflexology massage. It is not only a good way to relax but it also helps improve your blood circulation. While acupuncture, on the other hand, is perfect for the more adventurous type. It increases physical and mental strength, a very ideal way to help overcome those symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome.

Other natural remedies include meditation, which helps bring in your inner piece. And also aromatherapy, which gives you not only inner peace but helps you instantly relax after a whole day of stress and demands. All these natural remedies are believed to bring effective calming results; however, if the patient is suffering from other illness, it is advised that they seek medical advice from a qualified, professional physician before trying out any of these alternative medications.