Getting sick? Cut out the sweets!

Remember when you were a kid, when you got sick your mom wouldn't let you have any candy? Well whether they knew it or not, there was a very good reason behind this. Sugar actually impairs your immune system.

According to this article, sugar slows down immune system activities. There are certain white blood cells called neutrophils. These things specialize in destroying cold viruses and other unwanted intruders. However the neutrophils become lethargic when you eat sweets.

In one study, researchers had volunteers consume 100 grams of sugar, the equivalent of two cans of soda. Then they took blood samples from the volunteers. They found that neutrophil activity in the volunteers had plummeted by 50 percent after consuming the sugar. Five hours later, neutrophil activity still remained substantially below normal.

Anything that contains any form of sugar-including sucrose, fructose, and corn syrup -- can impair neutrophil activity: The worst offenders are candy and sweets, which are almost pure sugar and have virtually no nutritional value.

So if you're tired of getting sick so often, do your immune system a favor and cut down on the sugar-laden junk food. You might find yourself fighting off the colds more effectively.

Moving - the most odious form of exercise known to man

I haven't been to the gym in weeks. I have also been neglecting this blog for about as long. Moving can do that to you. The whole process of collecting boxes, searching for an affordable place to live and then actually moving all your garbage to the new place is physically and mentally exhausting. It makes a day at the office like a day at the spa in comparison. Just wanted to let y'all know I haven't abandoned this blog!

Detoxifying foot pads?

I noticed in the little rectangular ad space on my blog that there was a link to something called "detoxifying foot pads". Curious, I clicked on it to see what it was. They claim that it's a product developed in Asia that contains some natural ingredients that combine to naturally draw toxins out of your feet.

Considering your feet are one of the major sweat outlets, I could see how it might possibly work. They claim that you wear these pads at night, and the next morning you'll find gross, brown, sticky goo on the pads, supposedly the toxins it drew out over the course of the night.

I'm open-minded, but skeptical when products make unscientific claims. So I researched them. Apparently there are many companies selling these things and they all make the same claims. Could they all be wrong?

A couple of forums I found had people de-mystifying some of the "magic" around these foot pads. This one took the fancy names for the foot pad ingredients and basically said that it was sand, sugar and wood vinegar... which will turn brown when wet. Your feet are always sweating, so of course it will turn these pads brown. And the sugar gives the "brown goo" its stickiness.

I came to the conclusion that these pads do nothing other than make your feet sticky and gross. Your naturally occuring foot sweat triggers the pad to turn colors, and that's it. Sounds like a scam to me.

In my next post I'll see if I can find methods for detoxifying your body that actually have a scientific basis behind them. Methods that actually work you can usually do on your own, and not with any kind of fancy product being peddled by shysters.

Giving saunas a try

I decided to give the sauna a chance, since it's so helpful for ridding your body of toxin build-up. I think I lasted about 10 minutes. I wish they had a thermometer in there so I could know how extreme the heat was, but it was slightly more bearable than last time. I would guess around 120 degrees or so, but I don't really know.

After getting out I felt woozy and had to sit down. My friend did too. I guess this is normal? Initial research about saunas and dizziness merely said if you feel dizzy to get out of the sauna immediately. I didn't feel dizzy until after I got out, so...?

After feeling well enough to walk, I then felt extremely tired. I felt like this wasn't normal at all, but then my friend said he always feels tired afterwards too. I later read that saunas help the blood vessels in your muscles dilate and increase blood flow, thus helping to clear out built-up toxins. The muscles are then able to relax, and I guess that's why you feel tired? Whatever the case is, I just wanted to take a nap. Zzzzzzzzzz...

Are saunas good for you?

A friend of mine likes to bake himself in the sauna after working out at the gym. He claimed it helped to cleanse your body of toxins. I had my doubts since neither of us were doctors, so I decided to research it for validity.

It turns out he was right. After a good workout, your circulation is going pretty good and stirring up a lot of toxins. One of the best places for your body to send these toxins is out through your pores in the form of sweat. The high heat of a sauna tells your body to open up the pores and start sweating. Out go the toxins.

Some people claim they feel rejuvenated after a sauna session. Tense muscles will also become more relaxed in a heated environment. I'm a little more encouraged now to try it, provided I can stand the heat levels the gym has it set at.

Different people will have different levels of tolerance in terms of temperature and duration that they can withstand. Always listen to your body and don't push yourself too hard. A word of caution: Saunas are NOT recommended for pregnant women, people with heart conditions, or those under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Replacing a missing tooth

If you've had a tooth removed, it's usually in your best interest to have it replaced, usually with a bridge. If you don't, the tooth above it will start to extend out into the gap, and the neighboring teeth will start to drift into the gap as well. Teeth aren't exactly fixed in their locations. They drift according to the pressure around them, so your perfect smile may start to shift into something a little less perfect.

Most people get bridges done. This is where they file down the two neighboring teeth and put the replacement teeth across them, thus bridging the gap. It's cheaper than implants, but destructive to those two neighboring teeth.

Ideally, if you can afford it, dental implants are a great way to replace missing teeth. There are mutliple steps involved to get one "installed" in your mouth, so you want to make sure you have a dentist who knows what they're doing. There's a directory available to search for Dental Implant Dentists in your area, complete with descriptions of their areas of specialty. Do your homework, then get the procedure done before your teeth start drifting too far.

Disclosure Policy

Returning from a break

I took a little break from posting stuff here. I also took a little time off from the gym as well. I'm sure most people did. I start again today, but in the 1.5 weeks of very little physical activity, here's what I've noticed:

• I get more pinched nerves in my back when I don't exercise. I used to randomly feel sharp pains in various locations due to pinched nerves. After going to the gym on a regular basis (with each visit lasting about an hour or more), I no longer experienced the pinched nerves.
  
• After nearly two weeks on hiatus, I felt a pinched nerve again just this morning.
  
• I feel more tired all the time.

I'm looking forward to renewing my gym routine. I'll feel better, and not just physically. There's the emotional pride that I'm making an effort to take care of myself. There's also the removal of that guilt of paying for membership and not going. Heh, any source of motivation to get your butt into the gym is a good one, right?

Getting lasered

I used to wear glasses. It was such a pain in ass because on hot days I would be sweaty and gross and the glasses would slide down my nose, on cold days they would fog up when I went inside a warm room, and everything was completely fuzzy without them. My sweety convinced my skeptical self to try getting Lasik done.

After chickening out once, I decided to try it a second time and actually went through with it. I was a little nervous because it was my eyes, you know? There was some pain when the machine cut the flap on my cornea. I know I was writhing around a bit because the doctor said to hold still and continue focusing on the little red light. The freakiest part was the laser zapping and the smell of burning flesh a few seconds later. That was me I was smelling. Ew.

But after all that, I was able to see perfectly without glasses the very next day. It was so cool. It's been about 6 years now. My vision isn't as great as it was back then (the clarity has reduced a bit over the years), and my night vision has definitely decreased after the surgery. But given the hassles of glasses and my abhorrance for contacts, I think it was worth it.

Jiffy, no longer a natural product

I'm always on the lookout for trans fats in the products I buy. It's seriously worse than using lard, so I avoid the stuff whenever possible. Jiffy used to be a brand of cornbread mix that I used to use. It's fairly cheap and tastes pretty good. However, for some reason they decided to change their recipe. The mix used to contain lard, but now they've decided to add "partially hydrogenated lard" to it.

I have never heard of such madness. The whole point of hydrogenating vegetable oils in the first place was to make it more like animal fat -- more pleasant mouth-feel and longer shelf life, but a fraction of the cost. Why put lard of all things through this awful process? I don't know, likely to increase the shelf life (at the cost of making it an unnatural product). All I know is that here's yet another product I have to avoid now. It's rather sad.

Learning about detoxifying your body

You may have heard of cleansing or detoxifying as a way of ridding your body of toxic buildup. This generally involves altering what you eat, using products or joining programs. For example, everyone knows (at least they should know) that you need to have adequate fiber in your diet for a healthy digestive tract, but do you know why? Bowel movements that lack enough fiber do not move nicely through your intestines. They might be too hard or too soft, resulting in toxic buildup.

There are other places toxins can build up, such as the kidneys and the blood. There are various techniques, some better than other, so it's best to read up on body detox information before deciding the best course of action for you. There can be side-effects you don't know about that could be misinterpreted as something else.

You may not even need to perform any specific form of detoxification. A simple change of diet, such as reducing your consumption of refined sugars, can help you immensely. A change of lifestyle, such as exercising more to help improve your colonic activity, might be the route you are looking for. The more information you find, the better decisions you can make when it comes to your health.

Why should you believe me?

I received a question from a reader interested in losing weight. She asked, since I've never had to battle with weight at all (thanks to my fast metabolism), why should anyone listen to what I have to say? (Don't worry, she was polite about it.)

First of all, I've never made any claims to be an expert. I am merely sharing knowledge that I have learned through the course of educating myself about various health topics that interest me. I'm fairly good at researching and finding information, that's where my strength lies.

Second, I've very rarely, if at all, posted about losing weight. I don't post weight loss tips because each human body is different. What works for one will not work for someone else, and may not be healthy for yet another person.

The bottom line is, as far as online information is concerned, always be skeptical. Don't believe the first thing you read, including my blog. Verify it by finding other sources of information that say the same thing. Websites that don't cite their sources for information are to be treated with suspicion. The worst of these are the emails that people send around containing "life-saving information". I delete those on sight. Anything that tells you to "send it to everyone you care about" is just another viral email trying to make its way around the world. Information is power, but it can also be harmful if inaccurate.

Coupons and more coupons

I buy a lot of stuff online. I don't always look for coupons when I check out though, and I really should because there are so many available! One such site that offers online coupons is at NCNatural.com. Their alphabetical list is pretty extensive. For example, there are plenty of Office Depot coupons you could use in conjunction with the special deals they often offer. 10% off any order? I could use that! $10 off a $50 purchase at PETsMART? I could use that too. Oh and Amazon.com... how I love that store. They have everything, I'm always there browsing for stuff. I was amazed at how many offers and discounts were listed here.

Anyway, buying healthy food is always more expensive than the regular stuff, so if I can save money elsewhere to compensate, then I'm a happy camper.

Exercises for drifting kneecaps

Just in case some of you were wondering what exercises I was doing to make my kneecaps drift back to where they're supposed to be, I'll share. I'm all about sharing.

The problem I had was my inner thigh muscle, the vastus medialis, was weaker than my outer thigh muscle, the vastus lateralis. This was pulling my kneecap out of alignment, so I needed to strengthen the weaker muscle to pull the kneecap back. I found this photo of a knee labled with its appropriate structures for reference.

The one I practice while standing alone in the elevator is easy, they're like half-squats. Stand with your feet at shoulder width. Point your toes out at a 45-degree angle. Now bend your knees and lower yourself about 6-12 inches, whatever feels comfortable for you. Now push yourself back up. Repeat this several times and you should feel the medialis muscle being worked.

The other exercise I do while watching TV is done sitting down. They're like leg lifts. Lift one leg up so that it is straight. Point your toes out at a 45 degree angle again. Now bend and straighten the leg with your foot at this angle. You can use weights to work them harder if you wish. Again you can feel that inner thigh muscle being worked after a while. Do the same thing with the other leg. You'll want to do the same number of reps so both legs will be even.

Exercises take time before you can start seeing the effects, but they will work. Just have patience and perseverence.

Self defense as exercise

I once took a karate class as a child, thinking it would be fun because I loooooved kung fu movies on TV. Ugh, it was boring. I did not have the patience to learn all the beginner steps and all the proper movements. But for those who do, this is excellent exercise. Martial arts has traditionally been great for your health not only because of the physical activity but also because of the propery breathing techniques they have you do. You'd be surprised how much breathing properly can affect you.

Practicing at home is how you become good at it. It helps to have martial arts equipment available for you to practice on. I think it was more fun for me to pretend to be a martial arts expert at home than to actually attend the class. I'd kick, punch and jump around, pretend to throw ninja stars and fight with swords. I'm sure I got even more exercise pretending than I ever did in class. Fun times.

Pain is a messenger

Nobody likes pain. Well, there are a few twisted individuals who do, but for most of us if we smack our shins against a table, we're not gonna enjoy it. Understandably, most of us want to live pain-free lives. Pills to kill various kinds of pain is a huge business.

There are certain situations where you shouldn't try to immediately drown the pain. Pain is your body's way of telling you something is wrong. Awhile back I started having random moments of pain in my left knee. Some days were worse than others, but it never really went away. Someone suggested that using Icy Hot would help with the pain.

This is the wrong way to think when dealing with newly discovered pain. I shouldn't be worrying about what product I can use to make the pain go away, I should be worried about what was causing it in the first place. If you treat the source, the symptoms will go away. So I went to a doctor specializing in sports medicine because they see knee injuries all the time.

He took X-rays to confirm, but he was pretty much able to tell what was wrong just by looking. It seems my kneecaps had drifted slightly off to opposite sides because the outer thigh muscle was pulling harder than the other thigh muscle.They were no longer floating in the middle like it was supposed to. To correct this, he showed me leg exercises I could do to strengthen the weaker muscle and pull the kneecaps back into place. I did them whenever I was in an elevator by myself or at home watching TV. A few months later, the pain went away, permanently.

The moral of this story -- treat the cause, not the symptom. That pain is trying to tell you something, you should probably listen.

Supplement Reviews

It seems like they've got a supplement for everything these days. You want to lose weight, gain weight, be smarter, whatever it is, there's a claim somewhere that they can help you if you take their supplement. Who can you believe? Certainly not paid celebrities.

There's a review site that might be able to help. With so many supplements, some with esoteric names like Cissus RX or Xyience, it's hard to figure out what's right for you. I trust user reviews more than those written by anyone else because they're not in it for the money.

The effects of dieting and fasting

Curious about fasting and its effects, I did a little more online research. When I do such research, I avoid sites that are selling things. I always find testimonials to be dubious and subjective. I look for independent sites, and stories written by average people with the goal of sharing, not selling.

I found one such story here. It's a little long, but goes into great detail about the various diets this person tried and how each one made her feel. What I found particularly interesting was how some of them made her feel fantastic or joyous, but after getting off the diet the weight would all come back.

One of the alarming side-effects of fasting is malnutrition. She tells us about how her gums started to recede and her hair became brittle. It's a really interesting story that anyone interested in weight loss should read.

Mortgage stress is still damaging stress

Any of you who follow my personal blog know that I am in the process of selling my house. The stress of owning a house was never the problem, it was the stress of paying for it. As a first time home buyer, I was completely clueless about loans and financing and all that stuff. I relied heavily on letting the loan broker and realtor handle everything. I just cared about getting the house.

Well let me tell you, no matter how odious a task it may be, it pays to learn about this stuff before you get involved in it. I had no idea about all the fees and percentages and penalties... it was an ocean of numbers I didn't want to swim in. I should have at least learn to float in it.

What I should have done was learn enough about mortgages to at least know what I was agreeing to. You may like to think your broker has your best interest at heart, but that's just being naive. Mine was a family friend and I still found out later that there were some illegal fees charged to me. Don't be a sucker. Do your homework before making such a huge commitment.

PKU and dieting

Two posts ago we talked about phenylketonuria (PKU) and how those who have it cannot consume much protein. This means they need to avoid high-protein foods like meat, eggs, dairy, beans and peas. This restriction means that most of my advice about balancing your carbs goes out the window for those with PKU.

So what's the best way to diet if you have PKU and you need to drop a few pounds? Since you're limited to fruits, vegetables and grains, the trick is to make the right choices. I used to have a vegetarian friend who ate no meat, but ate lots of pre-packaged starchy frozen dinners. She was overweight because she made poor choices. The same advice goes to you as to any other dieter: stay away from fried foods and refined carbs as much as you can. Some whole grains contain more protein than others, so find out from your doctor which ones are best for your condition.

A reader pointed me to www.phifoundation.org, a really ugly website with a lot of interesting information about weight loss. Her (the reader's) main question was what I thought about fasting. Since I have not studied nutrition or medicine, I can't say with any authority that fasting is good or bad. There are some cultures that incorporate fasting as part of their traditions. Some believe that it's a good way to purge your body. What do I think?

I think, in moderation, it might have its merits. However, fasting over a long period of time will cause your body's metabolism to slow down to compensate for the lack of fuel. If your goal is to burn more calories, you don't want your body to slow down. The site mentions losing weight quick with enemas and fasting... that alarmed me a little because enemas aren't natural. You don't see animals pumping water into their backsides, why should we?

The rest of the information on the site makes a lot of valid points, but since I've done no scientific research myself, I can't say whether they're accurate or not. (The alternating font colors certainly don't help!) I'd be interested in finding out what some of you thought about the information presented there.

Getting more readers to your blog

Like any blog owner, I often think about how I can get more readers. It's an ego thing, you know? If I have more readers, people must like reading what I write! (I know I like reading what I write, but maybe that's just me being full of myself.) I like to think that, if only people knew that my site existed, maybe they would become a regular visitor.

But how? Search engine marketing is one way. As involved as I am in online activities, I've never really looked that much into search engine optimization. It does require a lot of effort to become good at it, which is why it's so much easier to just hire a professional. Apogee is a big player in this field, and actively involved in SEMPO, an organization created to educate and foster awareness of search engine marketing and its role in marketing as a whole.

If you don't put yourself out there, no one will know you're there.