Banana Diet
Have you heard about the morning banana diet? Of course you still need to eat healthy food, but bananas do help you lose weight. You do this diet by eating one or two bananas for breakfast every morning. They contain a resistant starch, which ferments in your large intestine, creating by-products that block conversion of some carbohydrates into fuel, so replacing ordinary carbs with the resistant starch in bananas can boost fat burning. And the fiber in bananas bulks up in your stomach, so you feel full for longer. A healthy way to do the banana diet makes sense and includes exercise. There’s a good example at
No commentsUse of Naltrexone Should Be Restricted say Australian Experts
Naltrexone is used as a regular oral treatment for heroin and alcohol addiction. However, most patients do not adhere to the schedule of the treatment; therefore the effectiveness of naltrexone is decreased by a huge percent; which has led to the development of long lasting naltrexone implants. This way the treatment won’t fail because of the patient’s lack of consistency. But, these implants are currently not approved for human use even though they are being distributed by private clinics.
This new method of implanting naltrexone has not gone under rigourous research though. That is why Professor Robert Ali, Director of the Drug Alcohol Services Council in Adelaide, concurs with the fact that even though welcomed because it is inexpensive and long lasting, naltrexone can be extremely dangerous.
A study about this issue was conducted by Dr. Paul Haber, Head of Drug Health Services at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. The study included 12 patients who had recently acquired naltrexone orally or by an implant. Out of the 12 patients, 8 had received the naltrexone by an implant. These 8 patients showed severe opiate withdrawal and dehydration, infection from the surgery, and a psychiatric disorder. The results further convey that this practice is not safe.
No commentsInformation about Angina Attacks and Strokes
Angina Attacks: An angina attack is strong pain in your chest that occurs when not enough oxygen-rich blood gets to a part of your heart. This happens when the vessels (that carry blood to the heart) are blocked. Risk factors for Angina Attacks are similar to those of any coronary heart disease. They include smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, inactivity, family record of disease, etc. There are also the ones that you can’t control like age and sex. To prevent angina attacks you need to make lifestyle changes. You need learn to handle stress and relax well, eat a healthy diet, stop smoking, and be physical active. Those simple things can make your life better. A few simple treatments for an Angina attack are to slow down, avoid large meals, and avoid situations that make your stress level increase. More intense treatments include medicines, medical procedures and cardiac rehabilitation.
Strokes: A stroke is what causes brain damage and it is the third leading cause of death in America. A stroke occurs when an artery that is transporting blood to a part of the brain is blocked; the lack of blood flow makes the brain cells die. Many risk factors for stroke can’t be controlled. Like ethnicity, age, sex, or family record of the disease. However, there are risk factors like smoking and drinking alcohol that can be controlled. An average of eighty percent of strokes can be prevented. Different ways to prevent a stroke include knowing your blood pressure, a healthy diet, physical activity, lower cholesterol levels, and controlling diabetes. Treatment for stroke is available in a few different ways. A stroke survivor could have surgery, medications, hospital care or rehabilitation.
No commentsHeart Attacks
A heart attack is a cardiovascular disease that occurs when the blood supply to a part of the heart is reduced or stopped. This happens when a coronary artery is blocked, and therefore the blood cannot get through to the heart. If the artery is not unblocked rapidly, then the heart starts to die from lack of oxygen-rich blood.
There are a few major risk factors that you can control like smoking, diabetes, physical inactivity, overweight and obesity, high blood cholesterol, and high blood pressure; that increase the chances of having a heart attack. The risk factors that you can’t control are age and family history of early CAD.
The way to prevent a heart attack is by stopping contribution to the risk factors. So, if you stop smoking, lose weight if you are overweight, follow a healthy diet and do physical activity you can work towards been risk-free of a heart attack.
Treatment of a heart attack depends on whether the treatment refers to immediate treatment or after treatment. If a heart attack is suspected then treatment would include more oxygen, aspirins, nitroglycerin, and treatment for chest pain. A few treatments for a patient that already had a heart attack would include thrombolytic medicines, beta blockers, anticoagulants, and antiplatelet medicines.
No commentsWhat is a Sprained Ankle? How to treat it?
A sprained ankle is a very common type of an ankle injury. It happens when a ligament is stretched or partially torn; that is in minor sprains. In severe sprains the ligament is fully torn. The most common type of a sprained ankle is an inversion sprain (or lateral ligament sprain) where the ankle turns under so the sole of the foot faces inwards, damaging the ligaments on the outside of the ankle. In addition, a medial ligament sprain is rare but can occur particularly with a fracture. This happens when the ankle rolls the other way, so the sole of the foot faces outwards, damaging the ligaments on the inside of the ankle.
The “RICE” method is the best method of treatment to treat a sprained ankle. First, you should rest. Stop any physical activity, as that may worsen the sprained ankle. Within the first forty-eight hours of being injured, ice the sprained ankle and elevate it. You should do these for twenty minutes, about four times a day. Be cautious though! Do not ice for more than twenty minutes as you can actually damage the tissues. Compress the sprained ankle; you can use any wrap, but a recommended one would be an Ace bandage. Last, but not least, elevate it! Try to keep your sprained ankle higher than your heart, put your foot up while watching TV, put a pillows under your foot when you go to sleep, etc.
There are a couple of good ways to prevent this injury; which you attempt to do. First, you should brace or tape your ankle. It should be good enough so that you feel comfortable, but still securing it. The second way to prevent a sprained ankle is warming up and stretching well. Before doing any kind of physical activity, you should run a lap, and stretch all of your body.
There are a couple long term effects of this injury. One is that the ankle will have more chances of getting sprained again, because its strength was already compromised the first time it was injured. The other long term effect that you might find is unexpected pain and being unable to walk easily.
One Insulin Injection Is Better Than Three for Diabetes
Diabetes patients control blood sugar to avoid microvascular and macrovascular complications. Patients who have concentrations less than 7% of hemoglobin have a very low risk of complications. The blood sugar level is directly related to the concentration of hemoglobin A1c.
A study consisting of 418 patients with two different types of diabetes, and was published in The Lancet. It was conducted by Professor Reinhard G Bretzel of Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen, Germany. The study was conducted by having 205 individuals injected insulin glargine once per day. While at the same time every day 210 individuals injected insulin lispro three times per day. The conclusion came out to be that a single daily injection of insulin helps as much as controlling diabetes with injections up to three times a day. In addition, insulin users are more satisfied with the insulin glargine than the insulin lispro.
At the end of 44 weeks, there had been a clear decrease in the amounts of hemoglobin A1c. The rate of decrease was of 1.7% for the insulin glargine users and for the insulin lispro group, it was 1.9% decrease in the rate.
No commentsHigh Risk Pools
Currently, only thirty-one states operate high risk pools. These are designed for a safety net for people whose health condition makes it nearly impossible for them to obtain health insurance. Most of these pools deliver a decent major medical policy which includes many disease specific benefits.
People with preexisting medical conditions are in a very bad position to get health insurance. Some of them can work their way around it through their job or other ways. But, the fact is that most of them can’t. These pools help people in these conditions.
However, there are many limitations. Even though the insurance provided by the pools is pretty decent, sometimes you will still have to pay. You might also have limits, which are not big enough to cover needs.
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