Top 5 Health Tips for Good Health

This came in my news letter from Gil. Gil's Health Tips. Very useful info. Enjoy!

Health Tips Top 5 for Good Health

1. Keep your Liver happy

This organ does many complex things in our body from digestion through to breaking down chemicals. Like the filter in a swimming pool, it plays a major role in clearing out the rubbish in our body.

TIP:* the juice of half a lemon in warm water when you get up in the morning is a naturopathic favourite to ‘kick start the liver’ for the day.* moderate any intake of drugs, alcohol, caffeine, fats and unnecessary pharmaceuticals.

2. Stay hydrated

Keep aiming for 1.5 –2.5 litres of positive fluid a day. More if you are exercising, have diarrhea, breast feeding. in hot weather or airconditioning.

TIP* Caffeine is a diuretic, pulling precious water out of your body. It can also interfere with the absorption/utilisation of many nutrients including calcium, iron, protein and water soluble vitamins. If you have to have it, ingest caffeinated drinks and foods at least 2 hours before or after meals and supplements.

3. Fruit and Veg

Load up your plate with at least 5-7 different vegetables and 2 fruits a day.

TIP• You can eat veges at any time not just at dinner time!

4. Exercise20-60 minutes a day, everyday for pure maintenance. For weight loss up have to up both time and intensity.

TIP• Exercise keeps your circulatory system happy, offering some prevention for heart disease and lowering unhealthy cholesterol levels

5. Stay connected

Feed your mind and soul, a happy mind creates a healthy body.

TIP* Being connected to a like minded community, regularly debriefing with family and friends, and laughter have been shown to increase quality and quantity of life in those with life challenging illnesses.

Don’t wait to get sick to start!

Stem Cells and Lungs

Cord blood stem cells generate lung epithelium
by David Douglas
Last Updated: 2008-05-15 15:25:14 -0400 (Reuters Health)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Stem cells obtained from human umbilical cord blood may make an effective alternative to adult bone marrow and embryonic stem cells for regeneration and repair of injured airway epithelium, according to findings by US and Italian researchers.

"The results of this study," senior investigator Dr. Daniel J. Weiss told Reuters Health, "demonstrate that it is possible to derive lung epithelial cells from human cord blood-origin stem cells."

As described in the April 1st issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Dr. Weiss of the University of Vermont College of Medicine Burlington, and colleagues obtained human cord blood from normal deliveries, and extracted and cultured mesenchymal stem cells in specialized airway growth media or with specific growth factors.

These cultured cells could be induced to differentially express markers of the airway epithelial phenotype including Clara cell secretory protein, cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR), and surfactant protein C.
Systemic administration of the cultured cells to immunotolerant mice led to some localization in the airway and alveolar epithelium. In both regions, the cells acquired cytokeratin expression. Moreover, those that appeared to have engrafted as airway epithelium showed human CFTR expression.

The investigators observe that their approach appears to be comparable to using stem cells from adult bone marrow. "With further research," concluded Dr. Weiss, "we hope these cells could be utilized to repair damaged lungs in diseases such as cystic fibrosis and emphysema."
Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2008;177:701-711.

http://www.rtmagazine.com/reuters_article.asp?id=20080515scie001%2Ehtml

Acne And Emphysema/COPD

Antibiotic Commonly Used to Treat Acne Helps Emphysema Lungs

Researchers have found that doxycycline, an antibiotic commonly used to treat acne, can prevent tissue damage caused by emphysema. Doxycycline boosts the body’s ability to protect against damage in the lungs.

Emphysema sufferers have unusually low levels of the protein VEGF, which helps to maintain healthy lung tissue. Researchers found that when mice with reduced levels of VEGF in the lungs were given doxycycline, they suffered minimal lung damage compared with control mice.

“The images that we have of the lungs of mice that have been treated with doxycycline are startlingly different to those that we didn’t treat.

VEGF-deficient lungs show vast pockets of tissue damage when untreated and greatly reduced damaged when treated with doxycycline,” says Ellen C Breen, PhD from the school of medicine at the University of California, San Diego.

Researchers stress that it is too early to say whether these findings would have a preventive role for humans with a genetic predisposition to lung disease.

http://www.rtmagazine.com/news/2008-05-16_01.asp

Chased By Hounds

So often I feel like this COPD and Asthma are chasing me down to the point of doubting that I can continue the fight because I am tired. So tired. Well, today, a dear friend shared the following with me and I want to share it with you.

Blessings,

Luna (Kasey)

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Chased By Hounds
E.M. Bounds
May 16, 2008

"Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me, for in you my soul takes refuge. I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed." (Psalm 57:1)

A. C. Dixon wrote, "Rising early one morning, I heard the baying of a deerhounds in pursuit of their quarry. Looking away to a broad, open field in front of me, I saw a young fawn making its way across, and giving signs that its race was well-nigh run. Reaching the rails of the enclosure, it leaped over and crouched within ten feet from where I stood.

A moment later, two of the hounds came over, and the fawn ran in my direction and pushed its head between my legs. I lifted the little thing to my breast, and, swinging round and round, fought off the dogs. I felt, just then, that all the dogs in the West could not, and should not capture that fawn after its weakness had appealed to my strength.

So is it, when human helplessness appeals to Almighty God. Well do I remember when the hounds of sin were after my soul, until, at last, I ran into the arms of Almighty God."

"For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." (Romans 5:6)

E.M. Bounds

"The Necessity of Prayer"

http://www.injesus.com/index.php?module=message&task=view&MID=VB007EM5&GroupID=2A000MJQ&sLocation=Messages&criterio=Chased%20by%20Hounds&paging=search

WAYS TO LIVE WELL WITH LUNG DISEASE

Prevent respiratory infections
Any respiratory infection — even the common cold — can cause an acute exacerbation of COPD, so it is to your advantage to do whatever you can to avoid catching what's going around. Washing your hands frequently with soap and water can reduce your risk. Alcohol-based instant hand sanitizers can also help. As much as possible, stay several feet away from people who have colds or other respiratory infections that can be spread by sneezing or coughing.

In addition to having an annual flu shot and an immunization against pneumonia every five years (see "Immunizations"), you may also benefit from antiviral medications for preventing and treating influenza, such as zanamivir (Relenza), amantadine (Symmetrel), and rimantadine (Flumadine). These drugs are not substitutes for a flu shot, but they can offer added prevention. If you get the flu, they can help reduce the severity and duration of your illness.

Exercise regularly
If you are attending a pulmonary rehab program, you will also need to exercise at home on the days you don't attend sessions. It's especially important to find an exercise that you enjoy well enough to do almost every day. Aerobic exercises, which increase the heart rate and breathing rate, are most beneficial. If you don't like the treadmill, try tai chi, yoga, swimming, or walking around your neighborhood with a friend. Aim for at least 20 minutes a day on most days. Even if you aren't in a pulmonary rehabilitation program, regular exercise helps maintain strength in your arms and legs and prevent you from becoming easily tired during physical activities.

Do breathing exercises
Another lesson from pulmonary rehabilitation that can easily become a part of your daily routine is pursed-lip breathing. This technique is valuable for helping you improve your breathing before and during physical activities. Before you start moving, inhale through your nose so deeply that your abdomen expands. Then, as you begin to move, exhale through your mouth with your lips pursed to slow down the airflow. Your exhalation should last twice as long as your inhalation. You will feel pressure in your windpipe and chest as you slowly breathe out. When you finish exhaling, rest for a moment, then inhale and start the process again.
Breathing exercises can help keep you from feeling out of breath while going up and down stairs, walking in the mall, or otherwise exerting yourself. Use breathing exercises to pace yourself through physical activities. When climbing stairs, for example, you might inhale, then climb three steps as you exhale, rest, then inhale, climb three more steps as you exhale, and so on until you have reached the top of the stairs.

Eat and drink regularly
Small meals are easier to digest and use less energy than large meals. If you have been avoiding eating because it makes you tired or out of breath, try having smaller, more frequent meals throughout the day instead of three large meals. In addition, drink plenty of water or other noncaffeinated, nonalcoholic beverages. This can help relieve congestion by thinning mucus, enabling you to cough it up more easily. There's no magic number of glasses you should drink daily; simply get into the habit of drinking regularly throughout the day.

Avoid lung irritants
An important way to control your symptoms and prevent acute exacerbations is to keep your airways from becoming irritated. Many things can irritate the airways, especially exhaust fumes from your stove, smoke from your fireplace, dry air, and molds and mildew from water damage in your home. If you have allergies, try to avoid exposure to whatever causes them — pollen, pet dander, house dust, mold, and so on.

Here are some specific tips for avoiding irritants:

Use a humidifier when the air is very dry. Moisture in the air can reduce irritation by keeping your airways moist. A humidifier is especially helpful during the winter, when the air in your home may be dry. Change the water and clean the filter of your humidifier regularly to prevent buildup of mold and bacteria.

Ventilate your home. Good ventilation can reduce the amount of irritating dust and cooking exhaust in the air. Use an exhaust fan vented outdoors when cooking. Avoid using a fireplace or wood stove; wood smoke is a lung irritant. Unless you are allergic to pollen and other outdoor allergens, keep windows open when the weather is warm enough. Fresh air not only helps ventilate your home but can also raise the humidity level. Although it would seem that air purifiers may help, there is no clear evidence that they are beneficial for people with COPD.

Have furnaces and chimneys inspected. Making sure that furnaces are operating normally can reduce the amount of smoke and fumes they emit. Having chimneys cleaned can ensure that they vent smoke and exhaust effectively.

Avoid aerosol products. Just about any aerosol (other than medicine or oxygen therapy) can irritate your airways. That includes hairspray, perfume, deodorant, paint sprayers, and insecticides. Instead of aerosol products, use gel or liquid preparations; for deodorants, use roll-on or stick forms.

COPD Green

12 Foods Where Organic Makes Sense
Avoiding the "dirty dozen" could dramatically cut your exposure to pesticides. What's the dirty dozen, you ask? It's a watch list of the 12 most pesticide-polluted fruits and veggies. Solution: Grab the organic versions. -- going organic with these 12 fruits and veggies could cut your exposure to pesticides as much as 90 percent!

Fruits
Peaches and nectarines
Strawberries and cherries
Apples and pears
Imported grapes

Veggies
Spinach and lettuce
Potatoes and celery
Sweet bell peppers

Beyond Pesticides
Cutting your exposure to pesticides is only one reason to go organic. La Puma says you'll be healthier, too, because some organic foods are more nutritious than their conventionally grown counterparts.

Tomato-y Treat That's Truly Tops
Whether it's revving up our veggie burgers or toning down our barbecue sauces, ketchup is one condiment few people could live without.So squeeze more out of it by going organic. Organic ketchup packs three times more lycopene than the regular stuff and almost twice the level of flavonoids. Here's what all that extra nutrition means for your body.

Love That Lycopene
Lycopene gives fruits (like tomatoes!) and veggies a rich red color, and it may give your body a leg up on loads of diseases -- from cancer to clogged arteries.

Organic Thought
Going organic may boost your intake of cancer-fighting antioxidants.
Researchers who recently tested the antioxidant content of corn that had been grown with and without the use of pesticides found that the corn grown without the chemicals had almost 60% more flavonoids compared to the corn grown with pesticides. Flavonoids are a type of antioxidant nutrient associated with reduced cancer risk.

Researchers speculate that organic produce may have more flavonoids because plants use flavonoids to defend themselves against pests and diseases. Produce grown with pesticides has less need for flavonoids and thus may produce less of them. However, organically grown produce will need to produce more flavonoids to protect itself from bugs and diseases. More research needs to be completed to confirm test results regarding the association between organically grown produce and increased flavonoid content.

Why You Should Snap Up In-Season Asparagus
Go ahead, celebrate this season's delicate asparagus spears by digging into a big pile. Why? Your pancreas will thank you. Seems that getting lots of folate -- specifically from food, not so much from supplements -- may help protect you from pancreatic cancer. And just half a cup of asparagus delivers 190 micrograms of the stuff, more than 25 percent of what you need. Your Pancreas, and MoreFolate is a member of the B-vitamin group, and it has long been touted as a heart helper. Some early research also links high folate intake to a lower risk of colon, breast, ovarian, and lung cancers.

Pancreatic cancer prevention is just the newest member of the why-we-love-folate list. (Do you know what pancreatitis is? Read up on the symptoms.)

Food Is a Factor
Folate from both food and the stuff found in supplements (folic acid) helps your heart. But in a study, when it came to defending against pancreatic cancer, only food sources seemed to have an effect. Folate-rich foods aren’t hard to come by if you go for the green -- as in artichokes, brussels sprouts, lima beans, avocados, soybeans, and broccoli. And of course, asparagus -- which is in season in many U.S. markets. Trim away the woody ends of succulent stalks, and serve them up in one of these three ways:

Steam them, and then garnish with fresh tomato for a salad alternative. Here's a recipe from EatingWell that shows you how.

Snip them into 1-inch pieces to make this creamy-yet-creamless Asparagus Soup.

Chop and boil them briefly, and then use the chunks to fill an omelet. (Did you know that eggs are back on the good-for-you list?)

Go organic, go Green. To your good health and better breathing!
Remember to recycle and use earth friendly products so that our beautiful Mother Earth can breathe better, too.

Blessings to all,
Luna (Kasey)

Asthma & COPD Inhaler Use = Awakening Opportunities

Hi Everyone! This is just such a wonderfully pleasant and eye opening report that I had to share it here. What a wonderful point Mariah makes as well as giving us some smiles. Enjoy and take to heart.
Blessings,
Kasey
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Breathing Lessons
Meditation practice and using an inhaler can have surprising parallels.

By Mariah Burton Nelson

Two years ago, my doctor recommended something my Zen teacher, Cheri Huber, has been recommending since I first met her in 1984."Pay attention to your breathing," he said.

His reasons were different from Cheri's. "You have asthma," he explained.

At first, I didn't hear the part about breathing. I didn't make the connection between asthma and my spiritual path. I did not say, laughingly, as Cheri often does in response to unwelcome news, "Oh happy blessed opportunity!"

Instead, I heard "chronic incurable disease" and "daily medication for the rest of your life" and "avoid things you're allergic to, including dust, pollen, dairy products, and your beloved mutt, Rocky."

Yikes! I love my allergens! I didn't want to fear flowers and trees. I crave cheese, yogurt, milk. And there was no way I was giving up Rocky. Plus, I'm a professional speaker. I use my voice--including my breath--to earn a living. I can't cough through keynotes. And I'm an athlete. Sports require breathing. I can't have a "breathing disease"! Except--I do. Along with 15 million other Americans, I "suffer from asthma," as it says in my "You and Your Asthma" brochure.

Buddhism is "the path that leads to the extinction of suffering." Cheri says people seek enlightenment when they've suffered enough. After coughing convulsively for two months and cracking two ribs in the process, I had suffered enough. (My asthma is atypical, apparently, in that its primary symptom is coughing rather than wheezing.) So I started taking my doctor's (and Cheri's) advice.

Funny, I'd never really paid attention to my breath before. Despite more than a dozen years of meditation, I'd never questioned the fact that I rarely breathe through my nose. I knew I had allergies--and I knew, without testing, exactly what I was allergic to--but it had never occurred to me to avoid those things. Instead, I accommodated my chronic runny nose and post-nasal drip by littering my house with Kleenex boxes, stuffing pocket packs into every purse, swallowing Sudafed before any public appearance.According to my doctor, I have had "the sensitivity that produces asthma" since I was young. But I have not had the sensitivity to respond to my body's signals.

So I responded. I stopped eating dairy products. I started wearing a dust mask when I weed and mow. I began vacuuming more often. Rocky got more baths.

Best of all, my treatment program paralleled my spiritual program. It forced me to notice the moment. During those initial few weeks, I took three prescription inhalants (along with one internal steroid, prednisone). Each inhalant application involved spraying medication into my mouth or nose, then holding my breath for 10 seconds, then repeating the procedure two to four times--and two to four times a day. This added up to 24 hold-for-10 counts each day.My doctor (a Vietnamese Buddhist, by the way) taught me that how you use inhalants matters. You must shake the canister, exhale fully, spray, inhale gently, then count to 10. This sounded familiar. My meditation practice involves sitting and counting my breaths from one to 10, then starting over. So, in addition to Zen meditation, I did asthma meditation: Spray, inhale, count, exhale, repeat. Each day, 24 new opportunities to awaken. How difficult it is to inhale medicine, then count to exactly 10 without losing track! (Do other "asthma sufferers" admit this?) I expected to be "better" at this. When I was supposed to inhale this way four times in a row, I could lose count not only of the one-to-10 count but also the one-to-four count. The lesson became clear: When inhaling medication, just inhale medication. Like Zen: When chopping wood, chop wood. When breathing, breathe.

"This asthma diagnosis is the best thing that's ever happened to me!" I enthused to mother, who also happens to be a physician. Mom gently pointed out that prednisone can have an euphoric side effect. Uh-oh. You mean I'm mistaking intoxication for enlightenment? I hate it when that happens. But about two years later, I'm here to report that the euphoria has lasted. Especially on the way to sleep, I can feel almost giddy about this simple experience: unobstructed nasal breathing. For the first time in my life, my sinuses feel as wide open as garden hoses, as empty as the mind between thoughts. What a miracle to breathe with my mouth closed! What ecstasy to feel oxygen ascend through both nostrils at once! How pleasant not to drool on the pillow!

Paying attention is also paying off in other ways. My coughing has subsided. And I no longer need the medication on a daily basis, just occasionally. Paying attention to those allergens, and avoiding them, seems to be doing the trick. Fortunately, I don't have a life-threatening form of asthma. Therefore, paying attention to my breath and my health will not extend my life expectancy. Nor will such attention guarantee that I'll stop suffering entirely--from coughing, congestion, or other human frailties like shame or greed.

But for me, so far, the promise of asthma seems to be this: Each day for the rest of my life, I will focus, at least for a little while, on my breathing, on my body, on these precious moments of being alive.

A happy blessed opportunity indeed.