Is there a cure for the common cold? (Tips on preventing the sniffles this winter)
It isn’t likely that you’ll be able to prevent yourself from catching a cold entirely, but there are plenty of ways to decrease your chances of getting sick, as well as ways to minimize the severity of your cold if you do happen to fall ill this winter.
Three Easy Ways to Prevent Common Colds:
1. Keep it Clean – Cold and Flu germs are spread through contact. Therefore, you want to ensure that the surfaces with which you interact with other people (i.e., telephone, door handle, counter top, your hands, etc.) are clean and not harboring germs. You also don’t want to pick anything up from another person who has come into contact with the same surface. Pick up some antibacterial cleaners and soaps for your home to nip colds in the bud.
2. Keep Your Airways Hydrated – It is easy to suffer from dry, scratchy throats and sinuses during winter. Central heating dries out the air, which in turn dries out your mucous membranes. Some simple fixes for this are buying a humidifier or using a saline sinus spray. A humidifier will help to rebalance the humidity levels in your home. Ideally, these levels should be around 45% humidity. Dehydrated sinuses can often manifest symptoms similar to a cold, and they can also exacerbate infection.
3. Be Conscious of Your Body – Eating healthy, exercising and sleeping will all boost your immune system. Providing your body with what it needs in terms of energy sources will make it easier to produce the antibodies that attack and heal infections.
Three Easy Ways to Ensure a Speedy Recovery:
1. Keep it Clean (Again) – The last thing you want is to stop cleaning up while you’re sick. You’ll just re-infect yourself and anyone else that comes into your environment. Properly dispose of used tissues, wash your sheets, and wash your hands at the bare minimum.
2. Liquids and Vitamins – When you are fighting off a cold, your body is working much harder than when you are healthy. This means it needs extra nutrition and fluids. Taking immune system boosting vitamins assists those functions and processes, making it a little easier on your body. Some of the most important vitamins to take are Zinc, Vitamin C, Echinacea, and B vitamins. There has also been a lot of research done on the healing properties of Colloidal Silver.
3. Take it Easy, but Not Too Easy – While it’s important to make sure you’re getting enough rest, you don’t want to stay in bed all day for a week. Rest if you need to, but try to maintain your normal schedule, including gentle exercise. Exercising detoxifies your body, and will also help you sweat out the infection.
Common colds shouldn’t last for more than a week. If you are suffering from fevers, vomiting, diarrhea, recurring infections, or other severe symptoms, make a visit to your physician. For more information on how to obtain an affordable health insurance plan, visit TheHealthQuote.com for a free personal health insurance quote. Having a comprehensive health insurance plan is important and not something to be overlooked. With all the affordable health insurance plans available, there is no reason you can’t have at least basic health coverage.
Essential Vitamins and Their Effect on the Body
We last looked at some essential foods and food groups that will help your heart and reduce the risk of coronary disease/failure. Today we will discover just how wonderful and important vitamins can be to the body. Believe it or not, we can obtain nearly all of the vitamins our body requires just from the foods we eat, however supplements are an easy way to make sure that we get the ideal amount into our system. It is important, however, to understand the role that vitamins play in our lives and how to recognize the signs when our body tells us that we are deficient in a particular vitamin. Ready? Alright, here we go.
• Vitamin A – Simply put, vitamin A helps us see. The properties of the vitamin help strengthen eye muscles allowing us to see better, see colors brighter. Vitamin A is also important for healthy skin. A deficiency in vitamin A, while rare in the United States, can lead to blindness or other vision problems.
• Vitamin B – There are many different variations of B vitamins, but they all serve the same general purpose – they produce and aid in the transport of energy around the body. Vital to red blood cells, B vitamins transport oxygen throughout the body. There are also certain vitamins in the group that aid in the transport of iron in the body. A deficiency in the B vitamin group is signified by fatigue, memory loss and high blood pressure.
• Vitamin C – Vitamin C is perhaps one of the most important vitamins in our diet, it surely gets talked about the most! Vitamin C is essential for repairing damaged tissue, regenerating muscle cells and fighting off infection. This is why drinking orange juice when you have a cold is such a good idea! A lack of vitamin C will manifest itself through sore muscles, bleeding/soft gums, and a general tendency to be affected by infectious diseases. Again, with our diets today, vitamin C deficiencies are extremely rare.
• Vitamin D – Much like the group of B vitamins, there are a few different varieties of vitamin D, all of which perform separate tasks in the body. The main role of the D vitamins is to assist in bone growth and bone structure maintenance. Vitamin D works hand in hand with Vitamin K which we will get to in just a bit. Lack of D vitamins can lead to brittle, porous bones, increased tendency towards tumor growth and unstable hormones. Too much vitamin D, on the other hand, combined with a deficiency of Vitamin K can lead to the calcification of soft tissue.
• Vitamin E – Vitamin E, as discussed in the last blog post on heart health, is vital to protecting tissue, muscle and skin. Think of it as providing a protective layer around your organs. It can protect your lungs, heart, and liver. Vitamin E also works hand in hand with some of the B vitamins in transporting oxygen around the body and can assist Vitamin C in regenerating damaged tissue. Although the effects of Vitamin E deficiency have not been studied in great detail, the benefits include acting as a possible antioxidant (antioxidants balance out free radical cells in your body, most of which eventually lead to tumors). Vitamin E, as it seems, works hand in hand with many of the other vitamins in your body, helping out where needed.
• Vitamin K – As previously mentioned, Vitamin K works with Vitamin D to provide balance and stability to your bone processes. A deficiency of Vitamin K will allow the calcium and Vitamin D to take over your soft tissue, resulting in calcification of your soft tissues. Vitamin K is also essential in the formation of blood coagulation, preventing excessive bleeding whenever you cut yourself. Hemophiliacs lack the receptors in their body to accept vitamin K in the necessary doses and as a result, have difficulty forming blood clots.
Now that you know the important roles that vitamins play in your body, day in and day out, you can make better, more educated decisions when it comes to your diet and nutritional intake. Knowing how your body uses the vitamins and minerals you consume every day will also raise your awareness concerning the difficulties and conditions that might arise from being deficient of any of these vitamins.
5 Everyday Essentials that Can Lead to a Healthy Heart
One of the biggest causes of death in the world today is heart failure. With so many people suffering from heart related illnesses, one might ask themselves “Is there anything I can do about this?” Thankfully, there are quite a few steps you can take on the road to achieving and maintaining a healthy heart.
Diet and exercise are two of the most important factors when it comes to having a healthy heart. Today, we will focus on the diet side.
There are 5 basic and essential needs for the human body: Proteins, Fats, Fruits & Vegetables, Dairy, and Grains. Every individual in one way or another needs these to survive in a healthy manner. Below I will break down some of the best ways to get these heart healthy essentials into your diet each and every day.
• Proteins – Whether you are a meat lover or a vegetarian, the human body cannot survive without protein. Protein is the basic building block of muscle tissue, and guess what; the heart is the most important muscle in the human body! Although red meat contains the highest abundance of usable protein, your body can also obtain it from fish, chicken, eggs, and beans. All of these foods are high in protein and are not hard to come by, by any means. Combining an abundant source of protein with regular exercise is the first step towards building a healthy heart.
• Fats – Now I know what you are thinking, isn’t fat bad? Well it depends. There are 3 kinds of fats, Trans fats, which we all know are bad and have hopefully said goodbye to long ago; Saturated fats clog up arteries and eventually lead to stroke or cardiac arrest; Monounsaturated fats, however, move freely through the blood stream and are easily broken down by the body making their energy instantly available. Although diets high in fat should be avoided whenever possible, ensuring that your body has enough monounsaturated fat to produce and store energy will increase the efficiency of your heart. Many nuts are high in monounsaturated fat including walnuts, pistachios and peanuts. Substituting a light olive oil spray for heavy salad dressing is an excellent way to incorporate heart healthy fats into your diet.
• Fruits and Vegetables – Our bodies evolved with a certain dependence on fiber and plant materials in order for it to survive. While diets are still changing and the benefits of incorporating meat into our everyday diets have been realized, do not forget about vegetables. The main source of fiber in the average American diet comes from fruits and vegetables, but studies show that Americans in particular are still not getting enough. The American Heart Association recommends 15 grams of fiber for every 1000 calories your body consumes. The fiber in your diet assists with digestion, prevents cholesterol buildup from foods high in oils and polyunsaturated fats, and improves satiety (the feeling of being full or satisfied after a meal) by slowing the digestion process. Fruits and vegetables that are highest in fiber include oatmeal, peas, citrus, and strawberries. Brussels sprouts, cauliflower and carrots round out the list of vegetables with the highest fiber content.
• Dairy – When consuming dairy products, one must be careful. While the nutrients contained in these products are essential to the body (i.e. calcium, potassium, and magnesium) they can also be very high in the polyunsaturated fats, remember those from earlier? The items found in dairy however, besides the fats, have been known to reduce blood pressure, specifically potassium. The role of potassium in our body is to maintain a healthy fluid balance. This ultimately leads to balanced and healthy blood pressure. Healthy blood pressure is essential to the health of your heart by making its job much easier. Recommended dairy products include low fat milk, low fat cheese, and yogurt. It is important, however, to be aware of your intake of dairy products. While consuming the recommended amount of dairy products will serve to decrease your blood pressure, eating too much can begin to have the opposite effect as it will increase your cholesterol levels and begin to clog your arteries.
• Grains – Grains are perhaps the most important step in maintaining a healthy heart. Grains are so versatile; they perform many of the tasks of the above food groups; lowering cholesterol, decreasing blood pressure, and enriching the muscle tissue of the heart. Much of the value of grains comes from vitamin E, a proven protector of muscle tissue. It is important that as your heart becomes strong, that you maintain it with a healthy diet of grains. Grains are also a good source of fiber, often consisting of varieties that cannot be easily obtained from fruits or vegetables. Foods high in grains include bread, bran and brown rice. Substituting “whole wheat” items into your diet can reduce your risk of heart attack by up to 30%.
Each and every food item listed above can be easily obtained at any grocery store. Remember the three main steps. Strengthen your heart with proteins, assist your heart with dairy, fiber, and dietary fats, and lastly, protect your heart with grains and minerals.
The Eight Most Fattening Foods of Fall
With the change of the seasons, also brings the change of your weight! The never ending parties and dinners to celebrate the holidays. This year, try being conscience about what you’re eating and maybe your new years resolution will be different!
1. Halloween candy With all the bowls and bags of bite-size treats around the house, it’s all too tempting to steal a few. But those tiny chocolate bars are more of a trick than a treat. Eat just four “bite size” bars and you’re up to 320 calories. Twenty pieces of candy corn will cost you 100 calories, and just 25 jelly beans add up to 140 calories.
2. Mashed potatoes They are the quintessential comfort food for fall. But watch out before taking seconds: weighed down with milk and butter, mashed potatoes usually have about 200 calories in a half-cup serving.
3. Venti Pumpkin Spice Latte Starbucks drinks are notoriously high in calories, and their autumn special is no exception. The Venti Pumpkin Spice Latte weighs in at 510 calories and 20 grams of fat.
4. Apple pie A Thanksgiving dinner is never complete without a slice of apple pie. But with more than 400 calories and 20 grams of fat, this might be one dessert you shouldn’t be saving room for. Add a scoop of ice cream (who doesn’t?) and you’re up to 530 calories. It might just be enough to last you until next fall.
5. Cider Who doesn’t love a cup of warm cider? You might not want to skip this traditional treat altogether, but with a sugar-laden 200 calories in 16 ounces, the sweet drink should probably be considered a dessert substitute rather than a beverage.
6. Stuffing At 358 calories and 18 grams of fat per cup, there’s a reason they call it stuffing. The high-carb turkey companion may be appearing on lots of menus this fall, not to mention its starring role on Thanksgiving Day, but take it easy if you’re trying to keep the fall weight gain to a minimum.
7. Candy apple An apple alone is a pretty healthy fall fruit somewhere in the 60-100 calorie range. Coat it in caramel, however, and you have quite a different story. A large candy apple with caramel usually weighs in around 540 calories. Avoiding this autumn treat will be a boon for your dental bills and your figure.
8. Turducken This combo wonderbird is a trendy entree you might want to forgo. It contains turkey, duck and chicken wrapped together for a new twist on the usual Thanksgiving meal. In terms of your diet, that twist may be for the worse: one serving of Turducken has 749 calories and 34.5 grams of fat. Try limiting yourself to one bird and skip the crispy skin. A three-ounce serving of skinless turkey has 130 calories.
List compiled compliments of MSN.com.
