Supplements for Migraine

Migraine is a severe, throbbing headache that usually begins on the side of the head but may affect the whole head. Attacks can persists for hours even days and this proves to be a very painful experience for the sufferer.

Migraine attacks may be triggered by:
Allergic reactions
Bright lights, loud noises, and certain odors or perfumes
Physical or emotional stress
Changes in sleep patterns
Smoking or exposure to smoke
Skipping meals
Alcohol
Menstrual cycle fluctuations, birth control pills, hormone fluctuations during the menopause transition
Tension headaches
Foods containing tyramine (red wine, aged cheese, smoked fish, chicken livers, figs, and some beans), monosodium glutamate (MSG) or nitrates (like bacon, hot dogs, and salami)
Other foods such as chocolate, nuts, peanut butter, avocado, banana, citrus, onions, dairy products, and fermented or pickled foods.

In what way supplements can help?

It is recommended that everyone who has migraine to take magnesium and calcium for a long term period. These materials are known for their effects in maintaining healthy blood vessels and low levels of magnesium are common in people who have migraine. Other herbs that can help are Feverfew and Rosemary. Whereas, Riboflavin, Vitamin C and Pantothenic acid (also called Vitamin B5) can help too.


To minimise the occurence of migraine you may ask yourself or find out, what causes and what can eliminate your migraine triggers. You may also tery biofeedback or relaxation techinque to help you cope with stress. Exercise regularly and drink plenty of water.

Saw Palmetto

The saw palmetto, a small palm tree that grows wild from Texas to South Carolina, gets its name from the spiny, saw-toothed stems that lie at the base of each leaf. Its medicinal properties are derived from the blue-black berries, which are usually harvested in August and September.

USES:

Shrinks the prostate; reduces symptoms of BPH, such as urgent or frequent urination or urinary leaking. Other claims are made with little or no evidence—for example, that saw palmetto helps treat baldness, low libido, bladder disorders, prostatitis, and migraines.

Native Americans used the fruit for food, but also in the treatment of a variety of urinary and reproductive system problems. The Mayans drank it as a tonic, and the Seminoles used the berries as an expectorant and antiseptic.

How It Is Used

The ripe fruit of saw palmetto is used in several forms, including ground and dried fruit or whole berries. It is available as a liquid extract, tablets, capsules, and as an infusion or a tea.


Possible side effects:

Mild abdominal pain, nausea, dizziness and headache.

Please consult your doctor if problems persists.

Acidophilus

Some 500 species of bacteria inhabit the digestive tract. Among these, the most beneficial is acidophilus and bifidus - two strains of lactobacilli bacteria. Both of them are probiotics, meaning that they help to maintain proper balance of health-promoting bacteria in the intestine. They also manufacture natural antibiotics that kill dangerous microbes.

Among foods that encourage the growth of lactobacillus in the body are green leafy vegetables which contains chlorophyll, slippery alm powder and jerusalem artichokes, milk products e.g. yoghurt and whey powder: miso and sauerkraut.

Yoghurt, a traditional source of acidophilus has been used as an elixir in folk medicine for a long time.

Uses:

Acidophilus helps to restore a normal balance of healthy bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract and vagina, which combats digestive disorders and vaginal yeast infections. It may contain cancer-fighting agents, and may possibly lower serum cholesterol levels. Acidophilus helps to manufacture certain vitamins in the intestines, including vitamins B12 and K, thiamine and folic acid.

Acidophilus may prevent or control vaginal yeast infection or Candida albicans. Acidophilus also creates an inhospitable environment for harmful types of Escherichia coli, as well as for salmonella, streptococcus and many other strains of bacteria that can be dangerous or even life threatening.

Calcium

Calcium is the most abundant mineral in the body, most adults get about half the calcium they need each day. Eating enough calcium rich diets may be difficult, but you can prevent a deficiency by taking supplements.

A wide array of products is available. The most common are calcium carbonate, calcium citrate, calcium hydroxyapatite, calcium gluconate, calcium phosphate and calcium lactate. A supplement's elemental  -or pure- calcium depends on its accompanying compound.

Calcium carbonate, which is a useful antacids to relieve heartburn provides 40% elemental calcium, while calcium gluconate supplies 9%. The lower the calcium content, the more pills you may need to meet recommended amounts.

Uses of Calcium

Majority of the body calcium's is stored in the bones and teeth, where it provides strength and structure. The small amount circulating in the bloodstream helps move nutrients across cell membranes and plays a role in producing the hormones and enzymes that regulate digestion and metabolism.

Calcium too is needed for the normal communication along nerve cells, for blood clotting, for wound healing and for muscle contraction. To have enough of this mineral available in the blood to perform many functions, the body will 'steal'it from the bones. Over time, many calcium 'withdrawals' leave bones porous and fragile. Therefore it is very important to have enough supply of this mineral.

 Calcium

- Maintains bones and teeth
- Helps to prevent progressive bone loss and osteoporosis
- Facilitates hear and muscle contraction, nerve impulses and blood clotting.
- May help to lower blood pressure in hypertensive people
- Eases heartburn

Deficiency

A prolonged calcium deficiency can lead to bone abnormalities, such as osteoporosis. Muscle spasms and cramps also can result from low levels of calcium in the blood

Too much calcium

leads to body's impaired absorption of the minerals zinc, iron and magnesium. Very high doses of calcium form supplements might lead to kidney stones. Calcium carbonates may cause wind or constipation and if this persists switch to calcium citrate.

Sources of Calcium:

Pills and Supplements
Dairy products (low fat)
Canned salmon and sardines (soft bones eaten)
broccoli
almonds

Food Fixation

Weight loss is a boomng industry. We're all on a constant quest for a better body and gladly soak up the latest miracle method for lasting weight loss. New studies come out every day about what is and is not good for our bodies. But in our fight to be healthy, have we created a new eating disorder?

Orthorexia is the obsession with eating healthfully and correctly, taken to an extreme. Orthorexics may pride themselves on eating only organic or only vegetarian, or on their ability to stick to other obscure diets. They often have trouble going out to eat or even having a meal at a friend's house beause their food habits are more than just health-conscious; they're an obsession.

Orthorexia is different from anorexia and bulimia, since the focus is not on the quantity of food, but rather the quality of food. In fact, a person with orthorexia may eat regular meals and take in perfectly normal amount of calories. However, it joins there other, more well-known disorders in the fact that food becomes the absolute centre of a person's life. It's important to give yourself a reality check every so often when it comes to eating healthfully.

A well balanced diet is essential for everyone, and striving to eat well is an excellent way to jeeo your body at its peak at any age. But remember that even healthy eating can go to an unhealthy extreme - keep it healthy, but remember there's more to life than what goes on your plate.

eat well, live well

Eating Disorder: Anorexia Nervosa

An eating disorder is a compulsion to eat, or avoid eating, that negatively affects both one's physical and mental health. Eating disorders are all encompassing. They affect every part of the person's life.

Although it is somewhat strange to find that some people want to be dead-skinned body, while in other parts of the world people are dying to eat. This is still happening.

"Eating disorder" is when a person eats, or refuses to eat, in order to satisfy a psychic need and not a physical need. The person doesn't listen to bodily signals or perhaps is not even aware of them. A normal person eats when hungry and stops eating when the body doesn't need more, when he feels the signal of satisfaction.

Eating disorders are usually classified as anorexia nervosa , bulimia nervosa or binge eating disorder in accordance with the symptoms. However, a person may have an eating disorder without belonging exactly to any of these categories.

Those who lose weight because of illness, e.g., cancer, are not considered to have an eating disorder.

According to the authors of Surviving an Eating Disorder, "feelings about work, school, relationships, day-to-day activities and one's experience of emotional well being are determined by what has or has not been eaten or by a number on a scale." Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are the most common eating disorders generally recognized by medical classification schemes, with a significant diagnostic overlap between the two

Anorexia Nervosa

Anorexia nervosa is an extremely dangerous, life-threatening eating disorder in which a person intentionally deprives themselves of food and can literally starve to death in an attempt to be what they consider "thin." The disorder involves extreme weight loss—at least 15 percent below the individual's "ideal" weight-and a refusal to maintain body weight that is even minimally normal for their age and height. Even if they become extremely emaciated, an anorexic person's distorted body image convinces them they are "fat." The self-esteem of individuals with this disorder is directly dependent on their body shape and weight. Weight loss for them is viewed as an impressive achievement and an indication of extraordinary self-discipline, whereas weight.

The key features of anorexia nervosa are:
Refusal to sustain a minimally normal body weight
Intense fear of gaining weight, despite being underweight
Distorted view of one’s body or weight, or denial of the dangers of one’s low weight

There are two types of anorexia. In the restricting type, weight loss is achieved by restricting calories. Restricting anorexics follow drastic diets, go on fasts, and exercise to excess. In the purging type, people get rid of calories they’ve consumed by vomiting or using laxatives and diuretics.

Anorexia is most common in adolescent girls and young women, with a typical age of onset between the ages of 13 and 20. But people of all ages—including men and children—can suffer from anorexia.

Whats more?

Signs and symptoms of anorexia

People with anorexia often hide their condition, so the warning signs are not always easy to spot. Furthermore, anorexics will typically try to explain away their disordered eating behaviors when confronted. But as anorexia progresses, the signs and symptoms become increasingly obvious and difficult to deny.

Eating and food behavior signs and symptoms

• Dieting despite being thin – Follows a severely restricted diet. Eats only certain low-calorie foods. Bans “bad” foods such as carbohydrates and fats.
  
• Obsession with calories, fat grams, and nutrition – Reads food labels, measures and weighs portions, keeps a food diary, reads diet books.
  
• Pretending to eat or lying about eating – Hides, plays with, or throws away food to avoid eating. Makes excuses to get out of meals (“I had a huge lunch” or “My stomach isn’t feeling good.”).
  
• Preoccupation with food – Eats very little, but constantly thinks about food. May cook for others, collect recipes, read food magazines, or make meal plans.
  
• Strange or secretive food rituals – Often refuses to eat around others or in public places. May eat in rigid, ritualistic ways (e.g. cutting food “just so”, chewing food and spitting it out, using a specific plate).
  

Appearance and body image signs and symptoms

• Dramatic weight loss – Rapid, drastic weight loss with no medical cause.
  
• Feeling fat, despite being underweight – May complain about being overweight in general or just “too fat” in certain places such as the stomach, hips, or thighs.
  
• Fixation on body image – Obsessed with weight, body shape, or clothing size. Frequent weigh-ins and concern over tiny fluctuations in weight.
  
• Harshly critical of appearance – Spends a lot of time in front of the mirror checking for flaws. There’s always something to criticize. They’re never thin enough.
  
• Denies being too thin – Refuses to believe that his or her low body weight is a problem, but may try to conceal it (drinking a lot of water before being weighed, wearing baggy or oversized clothes).
  

Purging signs and symptoms

• Using diet pills, laxatives, or diuretics – Abuses water pills, herbal appetite suppressants, prescription stimulants, ipecac syrup, and other drugs for weight loss.
  
• Throwing up after eating – Frequently disappears after meals or goes to the bathroom. May run the water to disguise sounds of vomiting or reappear smelling like mouthwash or mints.
  
• Compulsive exercising – Follows a punishing exercise regimen aimed at burning calories. Will exercise through injuries, illness, and bad weather. Works out extra hard after bingeing or eating something “bad.”
  

What Causes Anorexia Nervosa?

There is no single cause of anorexia nervosa. Several different factors are usually involved in producing this disorder.
Cultural pressures

Psychological issues

Family environment

Genetic factors

Life transitions

Perpetuating factors

among the causes perhaps psychological factor plays the more if not the most important aspect of Anorexia Nervosa as Psychological characteristics that can make a person more likely to develop anorexia nervosa include:

• Low self-esteem
  
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• Feelings of ineffectiveness
  
• 
  
• Poor body image
  
• 
  
• Depression
  
• 
  
• Difficulty expressing feelings
  
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• Rigid thinking patterns
  
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• Need for control
  
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• Perfectionism
  
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• Physical or sexual abuse
  
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• Avoidance of conflict with others
  
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• Need to feel special or unique
  

Signs and Symptoms (early)

• The first physical signs and effects of anorexia are:Loss of menstrual periods
  
• Lack of energy and weakness
  
• Feeling cold all the time
  
• Dry, yellowish skin Constipation and abdominal pain
  
• Restlessness and insomnia
  
• Dizziness, fainting, and headaches
  
• Growth of fine hair all over the body and face
  

Treatment

Among the treatment for Anorexia nervosa are:

• Psychotherapy
  
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• Support groups
  
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• Medication
  
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• Hospitalization
  
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Psychotherapy

Individual psychotherapy is the cornerstone of treatment for anorexia nervosa, especially for people who are beyond adolescence and who are not living at home. Individual therapy provides a safe place to learn how to identify concerns, solve problems, overcome fears, and test new skills.

There are many types of individual therapy. Cognitive behavioral approaches can help to develop healthy ways of thinking and patterns of behavior, particularly with food and relationships. Other kinds of therapy emphasize important interpersonal relationships and psychological issues, such as self-esteem.

Family therapy is almost always used as part of treatment when the person with anorexia nervosa is young or living at home. Family therapy can be useful to provide information about anorexia nervosa, assess the impact of the disorder on the family, help members overcome guilt, improve communication and decision-making skills, develop strategies for coping, and develop practical strategies for overcoming the disorder.


Marital therapy is almost always valuable when the person with anorexia nervosa is married. The primary goal of marital therapy is to strengthen the relationship. It can provide practical suggestions on how to deal with the disorder. It may also help identify and resolve communication problems.

Group therapy can play an important role as part of hospital treatment, partial hospitalization or intensive day treatment. There are many different types of groups, each with different goals and orientations. Some groups are "task-oriented" and may focus on food, eating, body image, interpersonal skills, and vocational training. Other groups are aimed at understanding the psychological factors that may have led to the development and maintenance of the disorder.

Groups can assist in dealing with other associated emotional symptoms, such as anxiety, depression and anger. Sharing experiences with others in a group can be very effective in helping reduce guilt, shame, and isolation, and can lead to important insights regarding strategies for recovery.

Perhaps the most well-known case of people who died of Anorexia Nervosa is Karen Carpenter's Case

"Before Karen Carpenter died, no one spoke of any of this. Girls starved themselves, but they didn't know that there were thousands of other girls that did the same things. They surely didn't know that their eating habits would kill them. No one was aware of anorexia and it's devastating consequences. Up until 1983, eating disorders were not taken seriously. They were treated like any other bad habits that no one ever mentioned. Many thought that there was a quick fix to the problem, and that the solution to an eating disorder was simply to start eating again. Girls believed that they were cured, when in fact, they weren't.

This problem would have continued unnoticed had it not been for the death of Karen Carpenter. Immediately following Karen's death, there was a massive surge in the media regarding the great singer and her battle against anorexia. Eating disorders all of a sudden became highly publicized. Magazines and journals began publishing articles, and the news had top stories about anorexia and it's devastating effects. All of the media coverage on Karen's death encouraged other celebrities to go public with their stories. The death raised the profile of eating disorders in the entertainment community. Jane Fonda and Cherry Boon O'Neill, daughter of singer Pat Boone, admitted to their eating disorders and committed themselves to getting help. Also coming forward with their problems were Kathy Rigby, gymnast and actress, and actresses Jeannine Turner and Lynn Redgrave.

Karen Carpenter's death gave people quite a scare. In the days and months to follow the tragic incident, there were a flurry of frightened phone calls to medical centers from people who had been jolted by the singer's death and wanted help. Psychologically-oriented groups had a doubling in attendance following Karen's death. In addition, many people began to launch voluntary support groups for victims of eating disorders."

Let us be more aware of the people around us, lend a helping hand and a caring deed, it may go a long way. The person next to you may just suffer Anorexia, they need you

D for Diabetes?

Over the last five years or so, researchers have established tentative links between Vitamin D deficiency and metabolic syndrome (aka syndrome X), a condition characterised by abdominal obesity, high blood pressure and high levels of either blood sugar or insulin.

People with metabolic syndrome have an elevated risk for type-2 diabetes and/or cardiovascular disease, as well as other health problems. Now a study from Spain provides new evidence that the two are closely linked. It looked at a group of morbidly-obese individuals and found that 63 percent of them had metabolic syndrome.

A little more than half of the group also had too little vitamin D in their bodies. More significantly, however, roughly 61 percent of those with metabolic syndrome were vitamin D deficient, leading the researchers to say they were closely linked - at least in morbidly-obese individuals. The Spanish study was strictly observational, so it makes no claims about the value of vitamin D supplementation. It does, However add yet another reason to make sure you either get enough sun time or take a daily dose of Vitamin D3.