Sunday, December 28, 2008

risk

Risk of Breast Cancer

The term “risk” is used to refer to a number or percentage that describes how likely a certain event is to occur. When we talk about factors that can increase or decrease the risk of developing breast cancer, either for the first time or as a recurrence, we often talk about two different types of risk: absolute risk and relative risk.

Absolute risk

Absolute risk is used to describe an individual’s likelihood of developing breast cancer. It is based on the number of people who will develop breast cancer within a certain time period. Absolute risk also can be stated as a percentage.

When we say that 1 in 8 women in the United States, or 13%, will develop breast cancer over the course of a lifetime, we are talking about absolute risk. On average, an individual woman has a 1-in-8 chance of developing breast cancer over an 80-year lifespan.

The absolute risk of developing breast cancer during a particular decade of life is lower than 1 in 8. The younger you are, the lower the risk

risk of breast cancer

Breast Cancer Risk

By now you may be familiar with the statistic that says 1 in 8 women will develop breast cancer. Many people misinterpret this to mean that, on any given day, they and the women they know have a 1-in-8 risk of developing the disease. That’s simply not true.
People tend to have very different ways of viewing risk. For you, a 1-in-8 lifetime risk may seem like a high likelihood of getting breast cancer. Or you may turn this around and reason that there is a 7-in-8, or 87.5%, chance you will never get breast cancer, even if you live to age 80. How you view risk often depends on your individual situation — for example, whether you or many women you know have had breast cancer, or you have reason to believe you are at higher-than-normal risk for the disease — and your usual way of looking at the world.

Even though studies have found that women have a 13% lifetime risk of developing breast cancer, your individual risk may be higher or lower than that. Individual risk is affected by many different factors, such as family history, reproductive history, lifestyle, environment, and others.

This section is designed to help you better understand breast cancer risk and some of the factors that can increase risk.

Breast Cancer

Breast Cancer symptoms

breast cancer may not cause any symptoms. A lump may be too small for you to feel or to cause any unusual changes you can notice on your own. Often, an abnormal area turns up on a screening mammogram (x-ray of the breast), which leads to further testing.

According to the American Cancer Society, any of the following unusual changes in the breast can be a symptom of breast cancer:

swelling of all or part of the breast
skin irritation or dimpling
breast pain
nipple pain or the nipple turning inward
redness, scaliness, or thickening of the nipple or breast skin
a nipple discharge other than breast milk
a lump in the underarm area

These changes also can be signs of less serious conditions that are not cancerous, such as an infection or a cyst. It’s important to get any breast changes checked out promptly by a doctor.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Breast cancer is always caused by a genetic abnormality (a “mistake” in the genetic material). However, only 5-10% of cancers are due to an abnormality inherited from your mother or father. About 90% of breast cancers are due to genetic abnormalities that happen as a result of the aging process and the “wear and tear” of life in general.

While there are steps every person can take to help the body stay as healthy as possible (such as eating a balanced diet, not smoking, limiting alcohol, and exercising regularly), breast cancer is never anyone's fault. Feeling guilty, or telling yourself that breast cancer happened because of something you or anyone else did, is not productive.

Over time, cancer cells can invade nearby healthy breast tissue and make their way into the underarm lymph nodes, small organs that filter out foreign substances in the body. If cancer cells get into the lymph nodes, they then have a pathway into other parts of the body. The breast cancer’s stage refers to how far the cancer cells have spread beyond the original tumor

breast cancer

What Is Breast Cancer?

Breast cancer is an uncontrolled growth of breast cells. To better understand breast cancer, it helps to understand how any cancer can develop.Cancer occurs as a result of mutations, or abnormal changes, in the genes responsible for regulating the growth of cells and keeping them healthy. The genes are in each cell’s nucleus, which acts as the “control room” of each cell. Normally, the cells in our bodies replace themselves through an orderly process of cell growth: healthy new cells take over as old ones die out. But over time, mutations can “turn on” certain genes and “turn off” others in a cell. That changed cell gains the ability to keep dividing without control or order, producing more cells just like it and forming a tumor.
Usually breast cancer either begins in the cells of the lobules, which are the milk-producing glands, or the ducts, the passages that drain milk from the lobules to the nipple. Less commonly, breast cancer can begin in the stromal tissues, which include the fatty and fibrous connective tissues of the breast.

Accreditation of cancer

Accreditation and Affiliation
Our cancer program is accredited by the American College of Surgeons and the American College of Radiology, a distinction that means we meet high standards for access to care, technology, multidisciplinary care, information and education. Cape Cod Healthcare is affiliated with distinguished cancer treatment centers including Dana-Farber/Partners CancerCare, and the adult oncology collaboration among Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital. In addition, we are affiliated with Women & Infants Hospital, Boston Medical Center and the National Cancer Institute (NCI). These affiliations enable us to offer the most current cancer protocols available and to participate in clinical trials for new treatments.

A regional leader in cancer care
Cape Cod Healthcare Cancer Services provides a complete range of advanced cancer treatment options, highly trained specialists, and top-notch facilities. Our multidisciplinary approach brings together medical oncology, radiation oncology, surgery, radiology, pathology and nursing to analyze and consult on cancer cases. Our investment in imaging technology gives us the ability to provide accurate and early diagnosis and staging.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

COPING WITH ANGER

It is the rare survivor that understands and handles anger in an effective way. Many survivors are completely numb and do not allow themselves to feel their anger. Others direct their anger outward, destroying property, yelling and screaming, name-calling or even becoming abusive themselves. Still others direct it inward in the form of depression, self-hatred, and self-harm or neglect.

Babies have all kinds of habits, needs, and emotions that parents prohibit: sloppiness, anger, greediness, jealousy, self-centered demands, etc. As a child, we all learned that parts of ourselves were bad. This self-hatred becomes automated in the form of depression, which both punishes us and drowns out other feelings too. understading anger. Theories and Facts from Psychological Self-Help at Mental Health Net

The adult survivor needs to learn that his or her anger can be experienced, handled and used for a positive purpose without a catastrophe. As one survivor put it, she was afraid if she ever got angry, the whole world would burn down. For many survivors, anger was a catastrophic experience in their households. They have trouble imagining that anger can be anything but a profoundly destructive force or that there are skills one can learn to manage it effectively.

definitions of anger, learning how to identify when you are angry, and ways you can use anger as a positive force for change. However, before anger can be used as a positive force for change, it is often necessary to learn how to cope with this overwhelming emotion. This article explores some tools you can use to help you cope with anger. It is important to realize that learning to manage anger (like most recovery steps) is a process, not an event.

Because anger control is basically a set of skills, Gintner said it is important to remember that clients will "strike out" at times. "It is important to prepare your clients for this by having them think of a lapse as a 'slip' versus a sign that the plan doesn't work at all," he said. Handling your anger before it handles you by Sharon Foster, reprinted at CTOnline from Counseling Today, vol. 38, May 1996

The ideas below will give you a set of tools you can pick and choose from in building your own anager management strategy. Use what works for you. If one of the tools does not work for you, try another. Do not be afraid to put your own spin on these ideas to provide a truly customized plan for you.

Major Types of Diabetes

Type 1 diabetes
Results from the body's failure to produce insulin, the hormone that "unlocks" the cells of the body, allowing glucose to enter and fuel them. It is estimated that 5-10% of Americans who are diagnosed with diabetes have type 1 diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes
Results from insulin resistance (a condition in which the body fails to properly use insulin), combined with relative insulin deficiency. Most Americans who are diagnosed with diabetes have type 2 diabetes.

Gestational diabetes
Immediately after pregnancy, 5% to 10% of women with gestational diabetes are found to have diabetes, usually, type
Posted by nena at 9:21 AM 0 comments
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
The standard definition of diabetes mellitus is excessive glucose in a blood sample and in other words, you have too much sugar in your blood. For years, doctors set this level fairly high. The World Health Organisation (WHO) lowered the standard level for normal glucose in 1997, and now almost everyone in the UK uses this new standard for diagnosis. Why did the WHO decide to lower the standard level? Because too many people were experiencing complications of diabetes even though their glucose level wasn't high enough to be diagnosed with diabetes. The new definition of diabetes includes symptoms of diabetes, along with any one of the following three criteria
Posted by nena at 10:09 AM 0 comments
Saturday, October 4, 2008
how help ourbody vitamin A
The discovery of vitamin A and the history of its application in the field of human nutrition is a story of bravery and brilliance, one that represents a marriage of the best of scientific inquiry with worldwide cultural traditions; and the suborning of that knowledge to the dictates of the food industry provides a sad lesson in the use of power and influence to obfuscate the truth.

A key player in this fascinating story is Weston A. Price, who discovered that the diets of healthy traditional peoples contained at least ten times as much vitamin A as the American diet of his day. His work revealed that vitamin A is one of several fat-soluble activators present only in animal fats and necessary for the assimilation of minerals in the diet. He noted that the foods held sacred by the peoples he studied, such as spring butter, fish eggs and shark liver, were exceptionally rich in vitamin A.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Risk & Treatment

Risk
However the risks which lead to high blood presure and cardiovascular disease should be known. Some risk factors can be changed. These include smoking, lack of exercise and obesity. An unhealthy diet also increases the risk of high blood pressure. The intake of too much of sodium and salt leads to hypertension. One should also control the intake of alcohol as excessive alcohol in the system increases the risk of hypertension.

Some factors leading to hypertension can be cured or treated. High amounts of cholesterol in the blood, high amounts of fat in the blood, diabetes and diseases of the kidney the affect its function.
One suffering from any such casualties should immediately seek professional medical help which may help reduce hypertension. It also affects our eyes and causes damage to our retina.
One should aim to indulge in regular physical activity at least five days in a week for at least half an hour. Swimming, dancing, cycling, or even taking a brisk walk. Regular physical activity positively helps in lowering blood pressure.

The intake of salt also has a negative effect on blood presure. It is advisable not to have more than six grams of salt a day.
Treatment
One should maintain a healthy diet. 7-9 portions of fruit and vegetables should be eaten per day. Starchy foods should be the bulk of most meals. Very little fatty food should be eaten.2-3 portions of fish should be included in the diet per week. Lean meat or poultry should be eaten.
Food should be fried in vegetable oils and be low in salt.

Consumption of alcohol should be kept to a minimum. No more than 21 units of alcohol should be drunk by men and 14 units by women per week.

what is Blood Pressure & Symptomsand

In Pre-hypertension, each heartbeat generates a force which is transferred to the blood. This force is carried through into the arteries as blood is expelled from the heart. The presure thus caused pushes against the walls of the arteries and the walls push back. This causes the blood to be propelled forward into various parts of the body.
On an average, the normal human heart beats almost 90,000 times every day.if the pressure of the blood is too high, a blood vessel could be damaged and even ruptured causing complications like bleeding. If the blood presure is not enough, the required amount of blood does not reach all the parts of the body, hence the cells do not receive the necessary amount of oxygen and nutrients and the waste products may not be removed adequately.
Symptoms
This disease can silently progress to ultimately develop into a stroke or a heart attack. Hence it is often referred to as the “Silent Killer” Hypertension can in fact be present for years and years without any sign if there are no symptoms and one does not undergo blood pressure screening periodically.
About 1% of patients suffering from high blood pressure are diagnosed with malignant hypertension on their first visit to the physician. These individuals sometimes have a diastolic blood presure (minimum pressure) over 140m Hg. Individuals affected with such high blood presure may often have nausea, severe headache, visual impairment, kidney failure and dizziness. A medical emergency like malignant hypertension requires urgent medical treatment to prevent stroke.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Eating for a Healthy Heart

Nutrition and Diet to Help Prevent Heart Disease

Recent studies have suggested that eating a heart-healthy diet can cut the risk of developing heart disease or stroke by 80%. Considering that heart disease is still the number one killer of both men and women in the United States, this is news worth considering!

Weight control and exercise are the first steps to a healthy heart, but there are additional ways to boost the body’s immunity to heart disease. Take a closer look at how specific food choices impact our ability to help manage or prevent heart disease and high blood pressure— two of the biggest health challenges we face today.

Healthy heart diet: the basics

While age and genetics play a role, doctors have identified six controllable risk factors for heart disease: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, smoking, physical inactivity, and obesity. The first steps in preventing heart disease are to quit smoking and incorporate exercise into your life. The rest of your heart healthy plan can focus on your diet what you eat, and what you don’t eat.

Coronary heart disease is caused by blockages in the arteries that supply blood to the heart. When the blood supply is obstructed, the heart muscle becomes deprived of oxygen and essential nutrients needed to function properly, which can result in angina (chest pains) or a heart attack. The primary substances responsible for narrowing of the arteries are cholesterol and fatty deposits making dietary cholesterol and saturated fat the two major dietary culprits that affect your heart health,

In order to protect your heart, certain foods should be drastically reduced or eliminated from your diet, while increasing foods that support cardiovascular health.

Allergic To Everything will teach you how to protect yourself from toxic chemicals and poisonous practices before you ingest any of the products on the latest recall lists.

DISCOVER HOW "safe" practices and processes may already be harming or killing you...and how to determine which items you put on or in your body are truly safe for consumption.

You may be the most diligent consumer, yet still be taking home bags and bags of toxic chemicals from the grocery store each and every visit. Sure you read labels, but do you really know what they mean? How many of those twelve syllable words can you actually pronounce, let alone understand?

The Healing Power of a Slinky Posted

"Diseases of the soul are more dangerous and more numerous than those of the body." ~ Cicero

In ancient Greece, doctors served the God of medicine, Askeplios, while healers served the God of health, Hygeia. Medicine means “the tool by which to restore health by correcting imperfections.” Health means “the natural order of things.” These are two contrasting views. So many prescription drugs simply suppress disease rather than correct disease. Sometimes suppression is beneficial and absolutely necessary. But as Dr. Andrew Weil says, by aligning with the natural order, one triggers the body’s tremendous healing capacity and need not be so dependent on the outside cure.*

The “natural order” might sound intimidating like a 30 day fast; or a special diet to suit your blood type; or a complex ayurvedic analysis. That’s all fine and good but “natural order” is so incredibly simple. The institute of hearmath in Colorado has proven what the yogis have practiced for 5,000 years. When a human being reaches a combined state of relaxation, positive emotion, and focus, heart rhythms change immediately. “A shift in heart rhythms may not seem important but in fact it creates a favorable cascade of neural, hormonal and biochemical events that benefit the entire body.”

How do you get to this combined state? No matter your stress, no matter your busy schedule, no matter your crazy life…you take the time to lie down right smack in the middle of your day and relax. As Sark said, "Healing doesn't care about the years or about the counting. I think it is timeless and without age. It waits for our souls to shift into acceptance."

Here are some tips on aligning with the “natural order" and triggering the body's healing capacity:

Make Time

It’s all too often we don’t have time to exercise or relax or do something positive for the mind and body.

“If you don’t have time for exercise, you’ll have to make time for illness.” - Robin Sharma

Some Notes on Fasting

In relation to the article, "Perfect Health," I received some six or eight hundred letters from people who either had fasted, or desired to fast and sought for further information. The letters shared a general uniformity which made clear to me that I had not been sufficiently explicit upon several important points.

The question most commonly asked was how long should one fast, and how one should judge of the time to stop. I personally have never taken a "complete fast," and so I hesitate in recommending this to any one. I have fasted twelve days on two occasions. In both cases I broke my fast because I found myself feeling weak and wanted to be about a good deal. In neither case was I hungry, although hunger quickly returned. I was told by Bernarr Macfadden, and by some of his physicians, that they got their best result from fasts of this length. I would not advise a longer fast for any of the commoner ailments such as stomach and intestinal trouble, headaches, constipation, colds and sore throat. Longer fasts, it seems to me, are for those who have really desperate ailments, such deeply-rooted chronic diseases as Bright's disease, cirrhosis of the liver, rheumatism and cancer. [See introductory caveat re fasting in cancer patients by Healing Cancer Naturally]

Of course if a person has started on a fast and it is giving him no trouble, there is no reason why it should not be continued; but I do not in the least believe in a man's setting before himself the goal of a forty or fifty days' fast and making a "stunt" out of it. I do not think of the fast as a thing to be played with in that way. I do not believe in fasting for the fun of it, or out of curiosity. I do not advise people to fast who have nothing the matter with them, and I do not advise the fast as a periodical or habitual thing. A man who has to fast every now and then is like a person who should spend his time in sweeping rain water out of his house, instead of taking the trouble to repair his roof. If you have to fast every now and then, it is because the habits of your life are wrong, more especially because you are eating unwholesome foods. There were several people who wrote me asking about a fast, to whom my reply was that they should simply adopt a rational diet; that I believed their troubles would all disappear without the need of a fast.

Several people asked me if it would not be better for them to eat very lightly instead of fasting, or to content themselves with fasts of two or three days at frequent intervals. My reply to that is that I find it very much harder to do that, because all the trouble in the fast occurs during the first two or three days. It is during those days that you are hungry, and if you begin to eat just when your hunger is ceasing, you have wasted all your efforts. In the same way, perhaps, it might be a good thing to eat very lightly of fruit, instead of taking an absolute fast--the only trouble is that I cannot do it. Again and again I have tried, but always with the same result: the light meals are just enough to keep me ravenously hungry, and inevitably I find myself eating more and more. And it does me no good to call myself names about this, I just do it, and keep on doing it; I have finally made up my mind that it is a fact of my nature. I used to try these "fruit fasts" under Dr. Kellogg's advice. I could live on nothing but fruit for several days, but I would get so weak that I could not stand up--far weaker than I have ever become on an out-and-out fast.

One should drink all the water he possibly can while fasting, only not taking too much at a time. I take a glass full every hour, at least; sometimes every half hour. It is a good plan to drink a great deal of water at the outset, whenever meal time comes around, and one thinks of the other folks beginning to eat. I drink the water cold, because it is less trouble, but if there is any hot water about, I prefer that. Hot water between meals is an immensely valuable suggestion which I owe to Dr. Salisbury.

One should take a bath every day while fasting. I prefer a warm bath followed by a cold shower. Also one should take a small enema. I find a pint of cool water sufficient. I received several letters from people who were greatly disturbed because of constipation during the fast. People apparently do not realize that while fasting there is very little to be eliminated from the body. Of course, there are cases, especially of people who have suffered from long continued intestinal trouble, in which even after three or four weeks the enema continues to bring away quantities of dried and impacted faeces.

Many of the questions asked dealt with the manner of breaking the fast; I suppose because I had been particular to warn my readers that this was the one danger point in the proceeding. I told of my experience with the milk diet, and received many inquiries about this. My answer was to refer the writers to Bernarr Macfadden's pamphlet on the milk diet, as I took this diet under his direction and have nothing to add to his instructions. I might say, however, that I was never able to take the milk diet for any length of time but once, and that after my first twelve-day fast. After my second fast it seemed to go wrong with me, and I think the reason was that I did not begin it until a week after breaking the fast, having got along on orange juice and figs in the meantime. Also I tried on many occasions to take the milk diet after a short fast of three or four days and always the milk has disagreed with me and poisoned me. I take this to mean that, in my own case, at any rate, so much milk can only be absorbed when the tissues are greatly reduced; and I have known others who have had the same experience.

While I was down in Alabama, I took a twelve-day fast, and at the end I was tempted by a delicious large Japanese persimmon, which had been eyeing me from the pantry shelf during the whole twelve days. I ate that persimmon--and I mention that it was thoroughly ripe; in spite of which fact it doubled me up with the most alarming cramp--ansd in consequence I do not recommend persimmons for fasters. I know a friend who had a similar experience from the juice of one orange but he was a man with whom acid fruit has always disagreed. I know another man who broke his fast on a Hamburg steak; and this also is not to be recommended.

It has been my experience that immediately after a fast the stomach is very weak, and can easily be upset; also the peristaltic muscles are practically without power. It is, therefore, important to choose foods which are readily digested, and also to continue to take the enema daily until the muscles have been sufficiently built up to make a natural movement possible. The thing to do is to take orange juice or grape juice in small quantities for two or three days, and then go gradually upon the milk diet, beginning with half a glass of warm milk at a time. If the milk does not agree with you, you may begin carefully to add baked potatoes and rice and gruels and broths, if you must; but don't forget the enema.

People ask me in what diseases I recommend fasting. I recommend it for all diseases of which I have ever heard, with the exception of one in which I have heard of bad results--tuberculosis. Dr. Hazzard, in her book, reports a case of the cure of this disease, but Mr. Macfadden tells me that he has known of several cases of people who have lost their weight--and have not regained it. There is one cure quoted in the appendix to this volume.

The diseases for which fasting is most obviously to be recommended are those of the stomach and intestines, which any one can see are directly caused by the presence of fermenting and putrefying food in the system. Next come all those complaints which are caused by the poison derived from these foods in the blood and the eliminative organs: such are headaches and rheumatism, liver and kidney troubles, and of course all skin diseases. Finally, there are the fever and infectious diseases, which are caused by the invasion of the organism by foreign bacteria which are enabled to secure a lodgment because of the weakened and impure condition of the bloodstream. Such are the "colds" and fevers. In these latter cases nature tries to save us, for there is immediately experienced a disinclination on the part of the sick person to take any sort of food; and there is no telling how many people have been hurried out of life in a few days or hours, because ignorant relatives, nurses and physicians have gathered at their bedside and implored them to eat. I can look back upon a time in my own experience when my wife was in the hospital with a slow fever; they would bring her up three square meals a day, consisting of lamb chops, poached eggs on toast, cooked vegetables, preserves and desserts; and the physician would stand by her bedside and say, in sepulchral tones, "If you do not eat, you will die!"

My friend, Mr. Arthur Brisbane, wrote me a gravely disapproving letter when he read that I was fasting. I had a long correspondence wit him, at the end of which he acknowledged that there "might be something in it." "Even dogs fast when they are ill,'' he wrote; and I replied, "I look forward to the time when human beings may be as wise as dogs." I read the other day an amusing story of a man who made himself a reputation for curing the diseases of the pampered pets of our rich society ladies. They would bring him their overfed dogs, and he would shut them up in an old brick-kiln, with a tub of water and leave them there to howl until they were hoarse. In addition to the water he would put in each cell a hunk of stale bread, a piece of bacon rind, and an old boot. He would go back at the end of a few days, and if the bread was eaten he would write to the fond owner that the dog's recovery was assured. He would go back in few more days, and if the bacon rind was eaten he would write that the dog was nearly well. And at the end of another week, he would go back and if the old boot was eaten he would write to the owner that the dog was now completely restored to health.

Several people wrote me who were in the last stages of some desperate disease. Of course they had always been consulting with physicians and the physicians had told them that my article was "pure nonsense;" and they would write me that they would like to try to fast, but that they were "too weak and too far gone to stand it." There is no greater delusion than that a person needs strength to fast. The weaker you are from disease, the more certain it is that you need to fast, the more certain it is that your body has not strength enough to digest the food you are taking into it. If you fast under those circumstances, you will grow not weaker, but stronger. In fact, my experience seems to indicate that the people who have the least trouble on the fast are the people who are most in need of it. The system which has been exhausted by the efforts to digest the foods that are piled into it, simply lies down with a sigh of relief and goes to sleep.

The fast is Nature's remedy for all diseases and there are few exceptions to the rule. When you feel sick, fast. Do not wait until the next day, when you will feel stronger, nor till the next week, when you are going away into the country, but stop eating at once. Many of the people who wrote to me were victims of our system of wage slavery, who wrote me that they were ill, but could not get even a few days' release in which to fast. They wanted to know if they could fast and at the same time continue their work. Many can do this, especially if the work is of clerical or routine sort. On my first fast I could not have done any work, because I was too weak. But on my second fast I could have done anything except very severe physical labor. I have one friend who fasted eight days for the first time and who did all her own housework and put up several gallons of preserves on the last day. I have received letters from a couple of women who have fasted ten or twelve days, and have done all their own work. I know of one case of a young girl who fasted thirty-three days and worked at the time at a sanatorium, and on the twenty-fourth day she walked twenty miles.

Keep cholestrole down – Keeping LDL (the “bad” cholesterol) level down under 100 is a target level. It’s also helpful to raise the “good” or HDL level with an increase in aerobic exercise, weight loss and dietary changes. An optimal diet is low in animal (saturated) and hydrogenated fats, low in sugar and refined grains (e.g. white flour, white rice, white pasta & bread) and high in fiber. You should be getting about 20 grams of fiber daily for every 1000 calories you eat.
Lower your Lipoprotein(a) Lipoprotein(a) is one of the “bad” forms of cholesterol, with a particular tendency to run in families and cause stroke. Lp(a) levels can be lowered with supplemental vitamin B3, a.k.a. niacin. Before you start taking niacin supplements check your Lp(a) level with a fasting blood test – your result should be less than 30.
Control your level homocystine A high homocysteine level is a strong, independent risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease. Homocysteine is an amino acid – one of the building blocks of protein. A simple blood test will measure your homocysteine level. Your level should be less than 9.0. Homocysteine levels can be lowered by taking supplements of folic acid, along with vitamins B6 and B12. I recommend that everyone take 400 micrograms of folic acid daily as a bare minimum. B6 and B12 supplements should be 25-50 mg, and 100-1000 mcg, respectively. If your homocysteine level is elevated you may need much higher amounts of folic acid.
Eat less – Independent research has suggested that a lower intake of calories, as well as saturated fat and cholesterol can cut the risk of Alzheimer’s disease in half in certain people. Fewer calories mean fewer free radicals the dangerous byproducts of metabolism caused by the processing of food with oxygen. These free radicals have been shown to cause the type of brain injury (known as “oxidative damage”) seen in Alzheimer’s disease.
Eat better – Diets rich in colorful fruits and vegetables, olive oil, avocados, nuts & seeds, small fish, beans & whole grains and lean protein sources including eggs, soy and nonfat dairy products are recommended.
Exercise regularly - Regular exercise is proven to lower the risk of cardiovascular disease in several different ways.
Reduce inflammation Even low levels of inflammation from any cause in your body trigger a response by our immune system that can lead to cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer’s. Inflammation may result from infections, allergies, poor dental health, some medications (e.g. the birth control pill or hormone replacement therapy) or just from being overweight. Weight gain is particularly dangerous if that weight tends to settle around the abdomen and trunk, as opposed to the hips, thighs and buttocks. Central weight gain is associated with higher risk and is also a trigger for systemic inflammation. The best way to test your level of inflammation is with a blood test known as the hs CRP (high-sensitivity C-reactive protein). Your hs-CRP level should be less than 0.7.
Reduce stress - Chronic stress (as well as anxiety and depression) raises your body’s production of the adrenal hormone cortisol. High levels of cortisol have been shown to lead to memory impairment and atrophy of memory centers in the brain. Stress reduction techniques such as exercise, meditation, yoga, Tai Chi and biofeedback may help to combat chronic stress, anxiety and depression.
Use your head – If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it. Studies suggest that engaging the brain in complex tasks, interesting activities and social engagement may have a protective effect.
Rest up – A regular pattern of restful sleep is an important “battery charge” for the brain. Disordered, irregular sleep may have long-term effects on brain function.
Hold off on heavy metals – Heavy metals such as mercury and lead are known to cause brain injury that may not be reversible. Sources of heavy metals include large fish (such as swordfish, tuna steaks, tilefish, king mackerel, shark, halibut and mahi-mahi), which are high in mercury and “silver” dental fillings. Lead exposure may occur from old paint and some calcium supplements, which have recently found to be contaminated with lead.

Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer’s disease currently affects about 4 million Americans and is the 8th leading cause of death, accounting for about 50,000 deaths per year in the U.S. The chance of having Alzheimer’s disease doubles every 4 to 5 years after the age of sixty. Although the risk at age 60 is low (1%), by the age of 75 this reaches almost 10%, and by age 85 between a third and half of Americans have some form of dementia (of which about 75% are the Alzheimer’s type of dementia). Estimates place the risk at about two-thirds of Americans age 90 and above.

This is particularly disturbing news for all of us, since the average American lifespan has been steadily increasing – most women will live to be over 80, and men now average over 75, which means that more than one in ten of us will develop Alzheimer’s disease in our lifetimes.

Despite the many millions of dollars being spent on Alzheimer’s research, the treatment options remain extremely disappointing. Even with earlier, more sensitive diagnostic tests, no effective therapy to has been shown to halt or reverse the disease. The four FDA-approved drugs on the market for Alzheimer’s disease (Aricept®, Exelon®, Reminyl® and the seldom-prescribed Cognex®), only marginally improve function in less than half of patients.

Because of recent research we have gained substantial insight into how, when and why Alzheimer’s disease develops. This provides tremendous ability to identify people at risk and to PREVENT Alzheimer’s from occurring. Particularly when the brain is concerned, once injury and damage has occurred it is quite difficult to reverse that damage. But we now have greater insights into what causes that injury and how to avoid it.

Last July (2002) in Stockholm, the 8th International Conference on Alzheimer’s and Related Disorders was the largest-ever gathering of researchers studying Alzheimer’s. The research results that were presented were very consistent and compelling. Researchers consistently found that the same risk factors for cardiovascular disease (heart attack and stroke) were also risks for Alzheimer’s. The same factors that lead to atherosclerosis (“hardening of the arteries”) also sharply increased the risk of Alzheimer’s. This is great news, since we already have effective means of identifying people at risk, measuring, preventing and reversing the risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

Thankfully, the same measures that protect us from heart attack and stroke are also protective from Alzheimer’s. Here is a listing of the steps we feel are most important to prevent Alzheimer’s from developing:

Keep blood pressure under control – The older prevailing wisdom of keeping blood pressure at 140/90 or below is no longer felt to be ideal. We now feel that lower blood pressure readings, even for older Americans should be targeted. Blood pressure should be no higher than 130/80. There are many means of controlling blood pressure other than medications. Maintaining a healthy weight, avoiding salt and salty foods, exercising regularly, eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables and low in saturated (animal) fat, and supplementing with calcium, magnesium and potassium-rich foods or vitamins can all help to control blood pressure.

BABY FOOD RECIPES

BABY FOOD RECIPES - CHICKEN HEARTS APPLE
Baby food recipes

Material:
250 grams of chicken liver
2 apples, peeled, seeded, chopped
1 carrot, peeled and cut into pieces
3 pieces potatoes, peeled and cut into pieces
2 stalks celery, chopped
3 tablespoons green peas

Directions:
1. Cook all ingredients until cooked.
2. Drain and puree (or chopped finely for children ages 8 months and up)

BABY FOOD RECIPES - FISH APPLE
Baby food recipes

Material:
2 pieces of fish fillets
2 apples, peeled, cut into pieces

Directions:
1. Boil the ingredients until cooked. Drain and puree.

Note:
For children 8 months, the food should not be crushed but only finely chopped. It is good to stimulate the growth of teeth and to train the muscles of the mouth and gums to bite.

BABY FOOD RECIPES - CARAPPEAR
Baby food recipes

Material:
2 stalks carrots, peeled, cut into pieces
2 apples, peeled, cut into pieces
2 pieces of pear, peeled and cut into pieces

Directions:
1. Kl Boil carrots for 10 minutes, then amsukkan apple and pear. Cook until soft.
2. Drain and puree (or chopped finely for children ages 8 months and up)

BABY FOOD RECIPES - steamed fish
Baby food recipes

Material:
1 snapper fillet (or other fish species, according to taste)

Directions:
1. Steam the fish until cooked and then mashed.
2. Can be mixed with pureed vegetables (carrots, broccoli, etc.).

BABY FOOD RECIPES - Broccoli POTATO
Baby food recipes

Material:
7 broccoli florets, discarding the stem
2 potatoes, peeled, cut into pieces
Chicken broth / meat taste (only boiled water chicken / meat, without salt or other seasonings)

Directions:
1. Steam the broccoli and potatoes until cooked.
2. Blend the two ingredients with the processor / blender.
3. Give the broth to taste.

BABY FOOD RECIPES - VEGETABLE INTERFERENCE
Baby food recipes

Material:
1 carrot, peeled, cut into pieces
1 piece of potato, peeled, cut into pieces
2 tablespoons green peas (can be replaced other green vegetables, eg broccoli,
zuchini, celery, etc.)
Chicken broth / meat taste (only boiled water chicken / meat, without garammaupun other seasonings)

Directions:
1. Boiled / steamed until cooked all the ingredients and puree.
2. Give the chicken broth / meat taste.

BABY FOOD RECIPES - CHICKEN SOUP
Baby food recipes

Material:
1 piece of chicken thighs, remove skin, cut meat into pieces (bones were not removed)
1 stalk celery, chopped
2 potatoes, peeled, cut into pieces
1 stick carrot, peeled, cut into pieces
2 tablespoons green peas
500 ml water

Directions:
1. Cook all ingredients until cooked.
2. Discard the chicken bones, then puree all ingredients

BABY FOOD RECIPES - puree CARROT
Baby food recipes

Material:
2 medium carrots, peeled
Boiled water to taste

Directions:
1. Steam the carrots until tender then puree. Add water as needed.
2. Presentation: Give the carrot puree as single or mixed foods
with pulp POTATO / SWEET POTATOES porridge.

BABY FOOD RECIPES - pea puree
Baby food recipes

Material:
250 grams of fresh or frozen peas

Directions:
1. Boil peas until cooked and then mashed.
2. Strain the rough skin so do not take part inedible.
3. Presentation: Give peas puree as a single food or
mixed with porridge POTATO / SWEET POTATOES porridge.