Inflammation, Cancer and health

November 29, 2014

Inflammation, Cancer and health – Why your diet is important

Inflammation, Cancer and health. Actually inflammation can lead to several health complication more so if it is chronic inflammation.

The body defense mechanism is always under certain threats despite the measures put in place to defend it from both external and internal attacks. The body immune system and the white blood cells are such defense mechanism the body relays on for protection against diseases and infections. Whenever they are under attack the whole body organs including the skin are at risk of various infections. We are therefore going to discuss the effects of inflammation on human health generally before we can get to specific areas of the body.

What is inflammation?

There are two different kinds of inflammations and they include the following:

Acute inflammation
Chronic inflammation

Acute inflammation – this is actually your body’s natural and helpful immune response to tissue damage. Like for instance when you get a bruise or wound either from a minor accident or otherwise, the wound or the cut swells, reddens and feels inflamed. These are all signs that your immune system is busy at work sending white blood cells to the site of your injury to repair the tissue. In situation like this, inflammation is our friend and we couldn’t live without it.

Chronic inflammation – this is a situation where your body’s confused and damaging immune response to a bombardment of environmental, physical and mental invaders, which come in the form of things like poor diet, toxic chemicals and stress. Therefore this article will be focusing on the type of inflammation. Here’s chronic inflammation in a nutshell:

What does inflammation have to do with cancer?

Like I have indicated in the introduction that the body’s immune system is facing threats of being weaken by several health complications. For example the prolonged inflammation can harm your body’s healthy cells and tissue thereby causing the deterioration of your immune system. This deteriorated state can escalate your risk of diseases like cancer.

Nevertheless, it is important to note that not all inflammation is bad. Your body’s inflammatory response is essential for you to heal. This response communicates with your body’s immune system to send white blood cells and chemicals to help fight off infection or repair an injury.

But when inflammation persists, or when your body triggers a response when you don’t have an infection or injury, its cause for concern.

Other causes of chronic inflammation can include obesity, smoking and even the second hand smoking, stress, lack of exercise, exposure to secondhand smoke and diet choices. And worse, chronic inflammation often shows no signs.

The good news is you can reduce chronic inflammation and lower your cancer risks. “It starts with your diet”. An anti-inflammatory diet also can help you avoid diabetes, heart disease and Alzheimer’s.

The following are some of the anti-inflammatory diet tips.

Add more plant foods to your plate

Plant foods are the only foods that contain anti-inflammatory phytonutrients. Plus, they are high in the antioxidants and fiber your body needs to stay cancer-free. Fiber also can lower levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a protein in the blood that signals inflammation.

The experts in nutrition recommend filling at least two-thirds of your plate with foods realized naturally from the vegetation. Like for instance:

It is advisable that you serve half of your plate with non-starchy vegetables and fruits of all colors.
Make one-quarter of your plate whole grains or starchy vegetables, like potatoes, corn and peas.

Limit processed foods

Choosing whole, fresh foods and doing your own prep maximizes nutrients and phytonutrients. These nutrients keep us healthy in many ways, while reducing inflammation.

Processed foods are lower in nutrients and higher in refined sugars, flours and fats. These foods are usually loaded with artificial ingredients that can increase CRP levels.

Avoid highly processed foods, like fast food, packaged and instant foods.
Steer clear of processed meats, like deli-meats, bacon, sausage, hotdogs and pepperoni.
Sodas and other sport drinks are to be no go zones.

Balance fatty acids

Omega-3 fatty acids can help protect your body from chronic inflammation. On the other hand, omega-6 fatty acids increase inflammation.

Many Americans are trying to include more omega-3 fatty acids in their diet. But, they’re still eating too much omega-6 fatty acids.

The key is balance, so you’ll take in more omega-3 and less omega-6.

Eat foods high in omega-3 fatty acids, such as salmon, tuna, halibut, flaxseeds, chia seeds, walnuts, pecans and avocado.
Use oils high in omega-3, such as olive and canola.
Avoid or limit oils high in omega-6, such as corn, sunflower, peanut and soybean.
Read the ingredients on packaged foods. Limit foods made with refined vegetable oils high in omega-6. You’ll find these oils in most snack foods, cookies, crackers and sweets.

Reduce consumption of red meat

Eating too much red meat, like pork, beef, lamb, deer and buffalo, can increase your cancer risks. Try to limit red meat to 18 oz. or less each week to keep your cancer risks low.

The experts suggest replacing red meat with these high protein foods to help reduce chronic inflammation.

Choose animal proteins, such as skinless chicken, turkey and fish.
Replace animal proteins with plant proteins, such as beans and lentils, at some meals.
Choose meat, milk, cheese and eggs from pasture-raised and hormone-free animals.

Eat more fermented foods

Fermented foods such as yogurt, sauerkraut and miso contain probiotics that help reduce inflammation. To get the most health perks, eat at least one small serving of a fermented food each day.

Choose low-fat, plain organic yogurt and kefir.
Try fermented vegetables, such as sauerkraut and kimchi, with a sandwich or salad.
Enjoy a cup of miso soup or kombucha tea.

Foods that help prevent cancer also help reduce chronic inflammation, and vice-versa. So, following these guidelines will ultimately reduce your risk of a variety of chronic diseases, and improve your quality of life.

If you’re concerned you have chronic inflammation, speaking to doctor Dalal Akoury will be very helpful to you to unlock all the problems going through your mind. Doctor Akoury is an expert of more than two decades and has transformed many people’s lives through effective treatment which is precise and direct to the last solution. Remember that inflammation may not be friendly to you at all and so scheduling for an appointment the doctor Akoury is the best you can do for yourself, your family and even to the extended family.

Inflammation, Cancer and health – Why your diet is important

Shared Medical Appointment: An Innovative Practice Model

November 22, 2014

Shared Medical Appointment: An Innovative Practice Model

A visit to a physician can always be such a tense moment. This is often characterized with a lot of anxiety and high expectations on the part of the patient. As a patient you want to get well. Yet you are also torn between the desire to get well and the fear of negative outcomes. It is usually worse with chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart conditions, asthma and ulcers.

It is based on such considerations and a hoard of others that it becomes necessary for the medical practitioner to adopt a method or initiate one that is more likely to make the medical appointment a less excruciating experience.

If the practitioner is able to turn the tension of the moment into a fun filled experience then it is a definite straight up success. It is not just the victim who enjoys the benefit of the experience with the medic, rather, the medical expert also stands to derive considerable gratification from handling a satisfied patient. No palm wetting, no forehead sweats; just a cool and non-tense exchange between a medic and his or her patient.

Impetus for the shared medical appointment approach

The shared medical appointment can be said to be resulting from the above line of considerations, to make the experience a natural process.

This shared medical appointment model, also referred to as group visits, cluster visits or problem solving drop-in group medical appointments (DIGMA) has been orchestrated with the core objective of inspiring the medical practitioner to come up with, implement and appraise shared medical appointments chiefly for patients with diabetes.

The model is basically an innovative approach that has a distinctly different methodology as opposed to the usual diabetes education classes. It involves a group of 12 to 16 patients meeting up with a doctor, medical assistant, behaviorist, nurse, and dedicated documenter for a time period of one and a half hours.

The traditional diabetic classes on the other hand usually address self-management techniques, the question of exercise and recommended nutrition for these patients. The group visits provide medical evaluation, the coordination and provision of precautionary services, mechanisms of adjusting medication, all which often miss in the ordinary diabetic classes.

The model succeeds in its conception as being innovative since it is found to improve the care offered to conventional patients of chronic disorders which primarily include diabetes as well as asthma, coronary disease, and urological conditions by aiding the use of available resources far more efficiently.

shared-Medical-appointments

The majority of successful shared medical appointment programs have included an element of case management and between-visit care coordination. The program is traditionally headed by a nurse, a physician or nurse practitioner.

If you set up a limited component of care management for group of patients who attend the programs of these cluster visits the program can be quite a useful step toward a wider use of care coordination within your field of practice.

A patient of diabetes may use these shared medical appointment programs in the place of a primary care or they can as well alternate the two sets of care arrangements: group visits and the one-on-one care units.

Other than the group education services typically offered in group visits, collective problem-solving, focused secluded or partially private health evaluations which allow for personalized medication adjustment; the programs may also involve ordering of referrals and preemptive services.

The sessions may always vary. They may go from one hour to even several hours depending with the physician-patient arrangements. Each session may have a varied number of attendees, with the typical maximum being 20 persons.

Benefits of the Group Visits Model

shared-medical-appointment Past medical records have indicated that patients generally enjoy interacting in a shared form of environment. There are less cases of tension associated with medical situations and this can always provide a lot of encouragement to those who attend the sessions while providing them with essential tips that may not be received in a short medical visit.

Physicians also benefit from the change of pace typical of these programs and have a chance to innovatively and much more thoroughly attend to the matters presented by chronic disorders which are common in most of the primary care circumstances.

Evaluations of the shared medical appointments have also reported a general increase in satisfaction levels of the patients and clinicians along with improved quality of care offered in the cluster situations. There have also been a reduction in the aggregate emergency section and specialist visits by these patients. This indicates a general possibility of increased perfection in following the directions provided during the sessions.

What makes the cluster visits even more beneficial is the communal environment created by the group approaches. Patients are able to share experiences freely and feel relieved by the existence of certain critical but shared experiences. It is human nature that you feel better when you know that you are not alone in your situation. Just the environment alone, the sight of many people supposedly in for the same course is enough to relax a patient’s nerves.

The patients attending the sessions are able to share their concerns collectively and get responses. This may help in two different ways. A patient who is either shy or simply unwilling to ask a pressing question may benefit from another patient asking the same. Secondly, a patient may get response to a question that he or she might have forgotten to ask the nurse or the physician in attendance. In general, the patients learn from the healthcare team in session, from one another as well as from the environment itself.

About the doctor

Dr. Dalal Akouri has years or experience attending to patients with various life threatening chronic illnesses and is proud to have improved the lives of such patients. You too can join this vast community of patients who have seen the fruits of her work by contacting het today.

Shared Medical Appointment: An Innovative Practice Model

Eating Clean During the Holidays

November 12, 2014

How to eat clean during the holidays

Holidays are quite a tempting time of the year with regard to foodstuffs. This is the time when all your friends want you to fellowship with them in parties and homecoming events. A lot of these may overwhelm you to the level of not having a clean track of the types of foods you are actually taking.

It is common for several folks to fall out into unhealthy eating habits, not because they are essentially careless, but because of the natural human weakness. It becomes hard to just decide what to do with all the invitations, and when you decide to attend them, you do not know exactly how to go about the plates.

As a result you often find yourself eating just so much but doing so little about your health. You do not find time to perform some exercise to be able to burn some of the calories you do not need for your wellbeing.

clean eating during the holidays

How to maneuver the eating dilemma

What is ailing you the most is perhaps the issue of indecisiveness. You are well aware of what your definition of a clean meal is. You know what is both delicious and healthy at the same time. Now, the problem comes when you go out to the friend’s place. Because you simply think it will be much of a bother to dictate what to be taken.

That does not have to be. You can avoid that sort of ‘dictation’ while at the same time serve yourself a clean meal. The moment you suspect or are even aware that the recipe to be encountered at the holiday party is not exactly what works for you then you can offer to bring along your own dish. Of course you will share this out to the folks present. But you are assured of something clean.

You need to make arrangements ahead of time; consider something that can work effectively for large gatherings. With such considerations in place there are a number of options available for you. Whole wheat flour can be quite useful in creating some of the healthiest dishes for you. You may also consider going for some uncured bacon rather than using the regular one.

These will give you a good Cranberry and Apple Turkey Roulade enough to cheer up an entire party. Just ensure you have the correct proportions of the ingredients, the bacon perfectly cut, your onions well chopped, the right rosemary, average salt; low sodium, some pepper; preferably freshly ground, chicken broth; lower sodium and fat free, the apple; granny Smith-chopped and peeled, dry cranberries, turkey tenderloins, rosemary springs, canola oil and all purpose flour in the mix.

Away from the parties

Some people may also consider not going for the white bread for the holidays. At these times there is a lot of eating going on and you may easily end up taking too much of that white bread stuff. It is not exactly healthy. So you may need to consider making use of the whole grain or whole wheat alternative as this will be a perfect way to stay clean.

Actually there are quite a wide variety of sources of starch that will replace the unclean regular dishes. Rice diehards may opt for the wild or brown rice options in place of the common white one. This will be much healthier even if taken in large quantities over time.

You could as well consider experimenting your diet with a variety of grains such as millet, quinoa or barley. These will keep you out of danger even when you take them in excess.

Such grain alternatives will fare well with side dishes. You will find the dishes adding some amazing color to your main entrée when you give them the needed attention in their making. You could get the awesome feel by roasting the vegetables to caramelize and become crispy then you serve them sprinkled with toasted walnuts, Kalamata olives or vinegar.

Remember not to have your mashed potatoes loaded with so much cream or butter. A healthier way to go about it would be to instead use roasted garlic. There are a lot of health benefits that will be attached to the garlic, or even fresh herbs, cheese or horseradish.

For your protein, you may consider taking a break from the normal chest meat-pork-mutton routine. These red meat options may not be the best for your holiday, especially now that you may be having a lot of eating to do.

holiday eating For purposes of a ‘clean’ alternative, go instead for some white meat. This is the time to invest in eating fish. This is basically about taking white meat instead of the normal red options. White meat will provide you with a safer alternative and a whole lot of nutritional wealth.

Even a better way to go would be to get your proteins from more organic sources. Beans will be a good source. Not only that, there is a budget question to it. The organic legumes are basically cheap in addition to the fact that they are much healthier as compared to meat.

These proteins will help you with your immunity while the whole grains provide you with the needed amino acids. With immunity strengthened, you can be certain of protection against infections that are commonly associated with the holiday season.

To top it all, do not forget about fruits in your diet. Make fruits part of your daily routine as they will be good with the vitamins. They will provide you some of the most essential vitamins your body cannot do without.

With keen consideration of these elements you are good to go through your holidays. Moreover, you can find more of these insights when you stay in touch with AwareMed because here we offer you nothing but the best knowledge about your wellbeing. At AwareMed we care about you and your safety. Information brings power and that is precisely what we give you.

How to eat clean during the holidays

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The Temptations of the Holidays with a Healthy Lifestyle

November 10, 2014

The Temptations of the Holidays with a Healthy Lifestyle

Many people are obese today not because they were born that way, but because they have forgotten about some of the healthy practices necessary for every individual.

Eating too much during the holidays is a problem that does not only face the adults or a particular age bracket or group of people. Rather, this is a problem that is faced by the youth, grownups and children in equal ratio.

No one is safe when it comes to the holiday err. It is easy to understand why and how this happens. Holidays involve coming together as families. This is the time when you want to offer your little family the time of their lives. You want them to eat to their fill, whatever they want.

So as the daddy you make sure you shop plenty of stuff and keep a large stock of food at home. You know what happens with the kids and the youngsters at home?

They are home all the time. Watching television dominates their daily programs. No schools, no homework to burden their thoughts at this season. So, bored as they may get, they will need some sort of entertainment.

What do you consider entertainment? Well, I do not expect you to actually answer. Just put yourself inside the head of a bored kid. They go for whatever provides the most ‘high’. Just the kind of ‘high’ you get from taking your favorite hard drink.

The latest movies would do, but food will be the preference. Children eat what there is in the house. And since they need something entertaining in the eating so they will go for the sweetest stuff in your holiday shopping.

What is the sweetest stuff you would opt for as a kid? With no knowledge about the downsides of the sweetness?

holidays

The snacks, no doubt. Sweet cakes, bacon, sweetest bread around, a lot of it. The biscuits are such a nice little pastime, if you are not aware. They can cause a nice little distraction as you crush and enjoy the crunchy sound and the effect that creates in the mood. Good times.

Popcorns. Not bad for sweeping away some intruding boredom. Popping them would do for the kids at these moments.

With all that oil in popcorns. With all that sugar in biscuits. With all that fat in fried foods. Imagine the health dangers the kids are exposed to. Imagine how long it would take them to accumulate sugar or fat in their bodies.

The tempting adult holiday lifestyle

These temptations are not just for the children. Most grownups make some of the most serious mistakes you can ever imagine of during the holidays. It is true a lot of tempting stuff unfold at such seasons.

These are the times you want to go around partying with friends. You will be offered some of the select dishes around. If not careful you will easily be tempted to eat everything. If not everything then anything you are offered.

Chances are that you may come across something that simply does not work for your system. You may be allergic to it or you may not respond to it favorably. The body is going to treat such meals as foreign and may react negatively. Your health may be affected.

In these occasions you may as well lose count of the meals you take. With some drink in the mix, you may just pick and eat-pick and eat. Before you know it you have taken too much for your digestion. So, what follows? Bloating stomach, aches…I do not want to mention nausea and possible diarrhea.

Temptations. Temptations may be more for a healthy lifestyle during times for the holidays. These are the times when overdrinking is common. You drink out with friends or with some family members.

The possibility of developing an addiction is on the looming. You do not want to appear as a nerd among your peers so you just keep taking more of what the binge can offer. No one notices that you are actually trying out a totally new thing so it is actually a win for you.

But it may be a severe loss for your health. You face a growing habit of drinking more and more of the substance. It could even be some smoking habit you develop because of hanging out with friends. And learning from those friends.

holidays

Way out?

You do not have to be a victim of the holidays. You have a variety of mechanisms that can help you get through the holiday seasons unscathed. Want to take some?

Plan ahead. Always have a prior set of things you wish to do and how. For the case of those with kids, always make arrangements to limit their access to unhealthy foodstuffs or programs. Put in place everything that is going to help you achieve this as you approach the holidays so you do not get bumped up with the situations.

As you eat, remember to exercise regularly. Make exercises part of your regular routine so that the effect of possibly unhealthy meals can be neutralized.

Learn to say no! You must be aware of what works and what does not work for you. That way you will know what your limits are exactly. When you get there, end it. This is a question of self-awareness. You don’t want to forget this.

And, if you suspect that you are not fully self-aware, if you feel that there are areas you still are unsure about, then there is help. You are the type of persons why AwareMed exists. We at AwareMed are here to help you get all the relevant knowledge regarding how to sail safely through your delicate holiday festivities. Just get in touch with us.

The Temptations of the Holidays with a Healthy Lifestyle

Men Ejaculation Disorders

October 31, 2014

Men Ejaculation Disorders – Erectile Dysfunctions

Men Ejaculation Disorders are of different types e.g (i) Retrograde ejaculation (ii) Premature ejaculation (iii) Retarded ejaculation (orgasm) and, (iv) Failure of ejaculation (an ejaculation). Treatment is available and needs to be done in good time.

For a long time in many societies and even in the presence, discussions about topics relating to sex have been seen as a taboo and unacceptable. This practice has been the greatest reason why many people are suffering in silence for conditions which could be easily treated if they come out to seek for help. Sexual dysfunctions come in different ways and in this article we are going to be discussing on the disorders of ejaculation.

Ejaculation encompasses coordinated muscular and neurological events that involve deposition of semen in the urine channel (emission) and ejection of the fluid from the urethral meatus (ejaculation proper). Emission is accomplished by contraction of the vas deferens, seminal vesicles, and ejaculatory ducts. This process is under adrenaline control. Ejaculation proper results from the rhythmic contractions of the muscles around the urethra, which causes the forcible ejection of the ejaculate. Within the spinal cord lies the ejaculation center which is the area involved in the coordination of signals from the brain and penis that eventually lead to ejaculation. There are however four main ejaculatory disorders that are seen in clinical practice and they include the following:

Retrograde ejaculation
Premature ejaculation
Retarded ejaculation (orgasm) and,
Failure of ejaculation (an ejaculation).

Retrograde Ejaculation

Retrograde ejaculation is the process whereby the semen is passed in a retrograde fashion into the bladder as opposed to out the urethra. There are 3 potential causes to this problem;

Anatomic (following bladder neck surgery or from a congenital process),
Neurologic (due to disorders that interfere with the ability of the bladder neck to close during emission, such as diabetes mellitus, retroperitoneal surgery)
Pharmacologic (due to paralysis of the bladder neck by certain medications)

This process is diagnosed by the finding of seminal fluid and/or sperm within a urine specimen obtained immediately after orgasm.

The treatment of retrograde ejaculation depends to some extent on the cause. For instance anatomic causes are rarely curable and sperm harvesting from the bladder is required for those patients wishing to initiate a pregnancy. Pharmacologic causes are generally reversible by withdrawal of the offending medication. Neurologic causes are difficult to treat if there is complete nerve damage such as may occur in spinal cord injured patients. In those patients with a partial neural injury (diabetes), the use of certain medications (pseudoephedrine for example) may convert the patient to an antegrade ejaculator.

Premature Ejaculation

Premature ejaculation which is also known as rapid ejaculation lacks a definition that is agreed upon by all practitioners but essentially is the condition whereby a patient ejaculates with minimal sexual stimulation and before he wishes it to occur. It can be life-long (primary) or secondary. There are numerous theories as to the cause but most cases are probably multi-factorial with a contribution from both psychological and physical factors. This is believed to be the most common sexual dysfunction in males with almost 30% of men of all ages suffering from this condition. Interestingly however, the quality of life of these patients is not negatively affected by their condition. The management of this problem is best handled in a combined psycho-pharmacologic fashion. The use of medications to increase ejaculation time is useful in permitting the patients to practice senate focus exercises to recondition the ejaculatory reflex. The latter technique is essential to the long-term cure of premature ejaculation. To date, there is minimal evidence-based data assessing the outcome of this therapeutic approach.

Retarded Orgasm

Retarded orgasm is a very difficult sexual dysfunction to treat. This condition involves the inability of the patient to achieve orgasm (ejaculation) in a timely manner and in severe cases men fail to achieve orgasm on any occasion. As men age, there is an increase in the time it takes to achieve ejaculation, however, in some men this increase may lead to the inability to ejaculate within a 30 minute time period from the initiation of sexual stimulation. The causes of this condition include the use of certain anti-depressant medications (Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Luvox, Celexa), sensory neurologic disorders affecting penile sensation (as may occur with diabetic nerve damage), and psychological disorders (this is frequently seen in older men in their early experiences following divorce or being widowed).

Finally there are men in whom there is no clear etiology for this problem and these are believed to have either a physiological or idiopathic form of this condition. There does not exist any pharmacologic strategy for these patients although there are anecdotal reports of the use of the anti-depressant bupropion. If patients are significantly bothered by this problem, as many of the sufferers are, the use of penile vibratory therapy has the ability to permit patients to achieve orgasm. The results are better in patients in whom there is a delay in orgasm as opposed to those who have a consistent complete failure to achieve orgasm.

Now therefore having understood all the erectile dysfunctions affecting men and in particular at the point of ejaculation, the question I want to pose to you is, are you or anyone you know is suffering from either of the problems silently because of the societal problem? Would you want to be of help to someone or even to yourself? I believe you want to put this behind you and have full enjoyment of your sex life. Help is only a phone call away at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center under Doctor Akoury’s care. Calling doctor Akoury today to schedule for an appointment is the best you can do for yourself or to your friend. Doctor Akoury is an expert of over two decades and has been of help to many patients across the globe ensuring that every patient that passes through her care does not comeback for the same problem. You deserve the best in your sex life and that is what you will get from your engagement with the experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center. Don’t hesitate make that call today.

Men Ejaculation Disorders – Erectile Dysfunctions

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