Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Ginger! Who'da Thunk it!

I've just made a late-in-life discovery: Ginger is a healthful nutrient! I knew about using it for seasoning, and I watched Gilligan's Island, so I knew about the hair color, but I never knew the following facts. Now we can all benefit from this great gift ...

Ginger, whole, sliced, grated, in crystals, or dried and powdered is beneficial for:
  • Relieving nausea - doesn't cause drowsiness like some meds, especially useful after surgery or chemotherapy.
  • Ease motion sickness when riding or flying.
  • Reduce dizziness, i.e. from motion sickness, and in older adults.
  • Control chronic pain by reducing inflammation and lowering natural pain-causing Prostaglandins. Relieve muscle strain and pain from arthritis (swelling joints, etc.) - using ginger oil for massages.
  • Limit flatulence by soothing the digestive tract. (Also important when traveling long distances in close quarters!)
  • Lessening symptoms of common colds, allergies, and other respiratory problems. It's a natural decongestant!
  • Improve blood lipid levels by raising HDL (good) cholesterol, lowering LDL (the bad one) and reducing triglycerides.
So grab some hot ginger tea, ginger ale, or a ginger beer and some ginger snap cookies and make your mouth as well as your body a lot happier!


Opposite-Sex Marriage?

got this from the Catholic League - interesting, hmm?

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on a piece in today’s New York Times by Adam Liptak:

When two men want to get married, they call it “same-sex marriage,” but how many of us have heard of marriage being labeled “opposite-sex marriage”? Well, that’s exactly the way the New York Times is playing it. Referring to attorney Charles J. Cooper, who is pressing the case against recognition of gay marriage, Adam Liptak writes, “The government should be allowed to favor opposite-sex marriages, Mr. Cooper said, in order ‘to channel naturally procreative sexual activity between men and women into stable, enduring unions.’”

A Lexis-Nexis search shows this is only the tenth time the New York Times has ever used the term “opposite-sex marriage,” and only the fifth time it appeared in a news story (some columnists and letter writers have employed it). The first time anyone appears to have used this term was in the 1990s: an editorial in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 1994; a Yale Law Journal article that same year; an article by Andrew Sullivan in 1996 in the New Republic; and so on. Which raises the question: Is this the start of one more round of corrupting the English language?

Here’s how it will play out in the classroom: kindergartners will be told that some adults choose same-sex marriage and some choose opposite-sex marriage. There is no moral difference—it’s just a matter of different strokes for different folks. Not mentioned, of course, will be that some male-on-male sex practices are dangerous. Nor will it be pointed out that only so-called opposite-sex marriages are capable of reproducing the human race. In other words, the kids will be lied to about what nature ordains.

The politicization of language is nothing new, but this latest entry is particularly disturbing. Marriage means one thing, and attempts to make it a smorgasbord are pernicious.

Susan A. Fani
Director of Communications
Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights
catalyst@catholicleague.org
New York, NY 10123
212-371-3191
212-371-3394 (fax)

http://catholicleague.org/release.php?id=1701

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Prevent Swine Flu - Good Advice

Dr. Vinay Goyal is an MBBS,DRM,DNB (Intensivist and Thyroid specialist) having clinical experience of over 20 years. He has worked in institutions like Hinduja Hospital , Bombay Hospital  ,  Saifee Hospital  , Tata Memorial etc.. Presently, he is heading our Nuclear Medicine Department and Thyroid clinic at Riddhivinayak Cardiac and Critical Centre, Malad (W).
       
The following message given by him, I feel makes a lot of sense and is important for all to know
       
The only portals of entry are the nostrils and mouth/throat. In a global epidemic of this nature, it's almost impossible to avoid coming into contact with H1N1 in spite of all precautions. Contact with H1N1 is not so much of a problem as proliferation is.
       
While you are still healthy and not showing any symptoms of H1N1 infection, in order to prevent proliferation, aggravation of symptoms and development of secondary infections, some very simple steps, not fully highlighted in most official communications, can be practiced (instead of focusing on how to stock N95 or Tamiflu):
  1. Frequent hand-washing (well highlighted in all official communications).
    Really scrub those puppies - especially around your fingernails and knuckles and between your fingers. Then get a paper towel without touching anything else and dry your hands well. Then use the towel to turn off the water and open the bathroom door. (Or else you'll pick up all the germs from the cretins who didn't wash before you!)
  2. "Hands-off-the-face" approach. Resist all temptations to touch any part of face (unless you want to eat, bathe or slap).
  3. Gargle twice a day with warm salt water (use Listerine if you don't trust salt).
    H1N1 takes 2-3 days after initial infection in the throat/ nasal cavity to proliferate and show characteristic symptoms. Simple gargling prevents proliferation. In a way, gargling with salt water has the same effect on a healthy individual that Tamiflu has on an infected one. Don't underestimate this simple, inexpensive and powerful preventative method. 
  4. Similar to 3 above, clean your nostrils at least once every day with warm salt water.
    Not everybody may be good at Jala Neti or Sutra Neti (very good Yoga asanas to clean nasal cavities), but blowing the nose hard once a day and swabbing both nostrils with cotton buds dipped in warm salt water is very effective in bringing down viral population.
  5. Boost your natural immunity with foods that are rich in Vitamin C (Amla and other citrus fruits). If you have to supplement with Vitamin C tablets, make sure that it also has Zinc to boost absorption. 
  6. Drink as much of warm liquids (tea, coffee, etc) as you can.
    Drinking warm liquids has the same effect as gargling, but in the reverse direction. They wash off proliferating viruses from the throat into the stomach where they cannot survive, proliferate or do any harm.

Natural Sea Salt Versus Table Salt, the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

By Willie JonesWillie Jones

If you have read other health articles that I’ve written you know that I am not a believer in Man messing with Mother Nature when it comes to the food we eat.  In this article I want to address a common spice we all use on a daily basis.  Salt!

Salt as we know it is a pure white free flowing spice that we find essential to flavoring our daily foods.  Usually one doesn’t even think about it much unless we have a medical condition where a doctor will tell us to decrease the amount of salt intake.

Table salt is normally rock or ocean salt that is mined, heat blasted, chemically treated, and then anti-caking agents and iodine added to it.  What you have left is table salt that is basically dead.  It is now just dry sodium and chloride.  Once again man is cheating us of one of Mother Natures most perfect foods.  Processed salt is now devoid of all the essential minerals and macrobiotic nutrients that our bodies need to survive.

Consider this, when you cry your tears are salty, and if you’ve cut yourself and tasted your blood, you know it is salty.  The fluids in our bodies are like an ocean environment.  Salt is essential for life and yet our bodies cannot make it so it must come from an outside source.  Most often it comes from meat or regular table salt.  The problem is that our bodies don’t really know what to do with processed salt.  Years of processed salt intake can damage almost all areas of the body such as the heart, kidneys, muscles and bones and it is processed salt that bloats us and causes water retention.  Processed salt can put a body out of balance.  According to Dr Langre’s book, people that have an aversion to salt or tell you they dislike salt most likely have too much sodium chloride attached to their organs and tissues, are really telling you that they are sick and are in need of essential minerals.

100% natural sea salt maintains its integrity.  Quite frankly, natural, organic sea salt is completely unfooled around with and is still harvested the same way it was done 2000 years ago by French salt farmers.  It is hand raked and left in the sun to dry.  All of the trace and micro-nutrients are fully intact.  The correct balance of sodium and chloride are present as well as calcium, magnesium, potassium and 90 other trace and micro-nutrients.  These are charged minerals that retain a lot of moisture and are grey in color.  If your sea salt from the health food store is white and free flowing then it is processed and should not be used.

When natural sea salt is ingested, it immediately works with the saliva in the mouth (amalese in particular) and starts the digestive process.  The more minerals present in the mouth the more digestion takes place.  Digestion continues in the stomach.  Natural organic sea salt has been known to lower blood pressure and decrease water retention.  It enables the liver, kidneys and adrenals to work much more efficiently.  It can boost the immune system.  Natural sea salt has all the elements of the ocean and this means that the survival potential of a body is much greater than if you remove these vital elements.

Do your body good and get natural grey sea salt.  It won’t pour like table salt because of the moisture content, but the health benefits can be significant.

Willie is a freelance writer and researcher whose own health problems prompted her to take responsibility for gaining as much information on health as possible and to share that knowledge with others.  She is co-owner of http://www.cleanbodydetox.com a site that focuses on health and detox through ionic foot baths.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Willie_Jones http://EzineArticles.com/?Natural-Sea-Salt-Versus-Table-Salt,-the-Good,-the-Bad-and-the-Ugly&id=502186