Health news blog

NOT JUST WALKING

Brisk walking, 25 minutes a day, four days a week, is enough to provide you with physical and psychological well-being. For the more eager and adventurous, there are many other great exercise activities.

Riding a bicycle is an excellent exercise, whether it be a real bicycle or an exercise bicycle. When it gets too hot or too cold to exercise outdoors, I go with my sons to a health club. While they’re lifting weights and playing basketball, I ride a stationary bicycle and watch the pretty women lifting weights, stretching and taking aerobics classes.

Swimming is another excellent, all-around exercise that gives you the health benefits of brisk walking. And because swimming takes the weight off your lower back, it’s a wonderful activity for those with problem backs.

Brisk walking, jogging, swimming, cross-country skiing, rowing, aerobics, karate—anything that keeps your heart beating in your Heartbeat Target Zone for about 25 minutes will do the trick. If you prefer more strenuous and difficult activities, fine. If not, brisk walking is all it takes to strengthen your “doctor within.” Such sports as baseball and touch football are fun, but they don’t give you the aerobic benefits of walking, because the action isn’t continuous. Your heart rate doesn’t stay in the Heartbeat Target Zone. Instead, it bounces up and down as you start and stop.

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Let’s suppose you eat an abundance of Super Foods, that your diet is filled with vitamins and minerals significantly above the RDAs. Do you need to take supplements? Absolutely!

How many vitamins and minerals you consume is only one side of the equation; your nutrient requirement is the other. There are many factors that increase your need for vitamins and minerals. Alcohol, coffee, tea, tobacco, marijuana, refined foods and radiation, for example, lower the blood levels of one or more B vitamins. Premenstrual tension lowers the blood level of vitamin E. Physical and emotional stress increases with your need for vitamin C, the B vitamins and zinc. Air pollution increases your need for vitamin C.

Many common medicines interfere with the absorption of the vitamins and minerals you eat or prevent your body from utilizing them properly. Aspirin, mineral oil, antacids, oral contraceptives, antibiotics, diuretics, pain medications and heart medications can increase your nutrient requirements.

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I was describing the “doctor within” and the immune system recently to a friend of mine. He said, “What’s the problem, Arnie? If I get sick, I go to my doctor and he’ll give me a shot to fix my immune system.”

Unfortunately, our medical system is not the answer. You see, we don’t have a health-care system in this country, we have a disease-care system. Disease is fussed over. People suffering from obscure and “glamorous” diseases are given the medical red-carpet treatment. Millions of dollars, hundreds of journals and some of the best minds in this country are devoted to disease. Medical students spend most of their time studying rare diseases and practicing crisis medicine, instead of learning to prevent disease by protecting the “doctor within.” And health? It gets lost in the shuffle.

Our medical system has been captured by the disease-loving “Band-Aid philosophers” of medicine, who pay homage to such high-tech procedures as coronary artery bypass surgery, various chemotherapies, plasma electrophoresis, PTCA (percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty), CAT scans and, lately, MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scans.

These surgeries and machines are exciting: it’s high-tech glamour. What doctor wouldn’t want to be in an operating room, replacing one heart with another? Isn’t the chance to play God more fun than trying to teach people to eat and think properly? Sure it is, but it doesn’t work. There is no Band-Aid that can restore good health once it’s gone.

Our medical system has been led astray. And so our medical researchers concentrate on building new hearts, not on keeping the old ones strong and healthy. Hospitals are filled with tons of amazing machinery that can do everything but give people back their health. Bigger and better machines, more surgical techniques, artificial organs; it’s a wonder that there’s any room left for patients in our medical system.

Doctors are paid large fees to perform surgery, office procedures and laboratory tests. They are paid very little for spending time listening to their patients, for carefully going over their medical and personal histories, for teaching them how to change their life-style. And they are paid nothing for preventing disease.

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Since your primary care doctor functions as the “gatekeeper”—blocking or granting access to specialists—choosing a good gatekeeper can be vital. You want someone who, if necessary, will appeal on your behalf if you need a special test or an extra day in the hospital. It’s often hard to tell much about a doctor from the brochures, so again, talk to other members, even people you bump into in the waiting room.

If you feel you’re being unjustly denied services you need, don’t be afraid to fight for them. If politely making your case to your doctor doesn’t work, try appealing to an administrator. All HMOs have formal grievance procedures.

Finally, the more you can learn about any medical conditions you have, the better position you’ll be in to assert yourself. HMO doctors have a difficult time saying no to reasonable, well-informed patients.

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what òî look for: Whole rye should be the first ingredient. Long, slow cooking causes the natural sugar in rye flour to darken and sweeten the bread.

typical nutritional data per slice: 100 Calories, 0.5 g

fat, 3 g fiber, 200 mg sodium.

good brands: Mestemacher Genuine Westphalian Pumpernickel… Rubschlager 100% Rye, Rye-Ola Pumpernickel.

Dietary silicon, found in whole grains and their products (such as beer), reduces bone loss and promotes bone formation.

Beer is an especially good source because it is readily absorbed. Other sources of silicon include oat bran, barley and rice.

warning: More than two drinks per day for men or one for women is considered harmful.

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In the 1980s, doctors and patients found out that the drug minoxidil does help grow—and regrow—hair. It just didn’t work predictably well for many of those who tried it. Ten years and countless trials later, some dermatologists think that a three-drug regimen may be more successful in battling baldness.

This less common regimen involves mixing Rogaine {minoxidil), now available over-the-counter, with Proscar (finasteride), originally a medication for prostate enlargement, and thyroid hormone.

the application method is similar to what is suggested on the packages of minoxidil: Rub it into the scalp every day. Of course, this combination treatment will cost more— but early results are promising.

note: Finasteride should be avoided by men contemplating fatherhood. (Women should also avoid it before and during pregnancy.)

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Never store vitamins in the refrigerator. Each time you open the bottle, warm air from the outside will mix with the cold vitamins, causing condensation. Over time the pills will become sticky and may actually begin to dissolve.

also: Don’t store them in the bathroom, where heat and humidity can shorten their shelf life.

better: Store vitamins in a pantry or on the kitchen counter where they’ll stay dry and at room temperature.

exceptions: Supplements of intestinal flora, such as lactoba-cilli or bifidobacteria. These should be kept in the refrigerator.

These bony protuberances on the sides of the feet are caused by ill-fitting shoes and/or hereditary factors. They can lead to painful calluses, osteoarthritis and/or hammertoes.

self-defense: Wear loose-fitting shoes. New shoes should be purchased at midday, when the feet are slightly swollen. Make sure there’s a thumb’s-width space between the front of the shoe and your longest toe.

to reduce redness and to reduce swelling.’ Use ice around the bunion.

finger test: If a whitish area appears when you press down on a bump, you may not be suffering from a bunion but from bursitis, a condition that requires medical attention.

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Certain herbs and certain supplements have been shown to relieve allergy symptoms. In addition to a daily vitamin Ñ supplement, consider taking all of the following supplements a week or two prior to the onset of your pollen allergy season (trees, April…grass, May…ragweed, August), best choices…

Crapeseed extract is the most effective natural antihistamine. In France, it’s a popular choice for treating allergies. It contains proanthocyanidin, an antioxidant that helps reduce mucous membrane inflammation.

typical dose: 100 mg to 200 mg three times daily between meals.

Nettles, derived from the leaves, stems and roots of a perennial plant that grows throughout the US, is an effective natural antihistamine. It can be taken during an allergy flare-up but is more effective as a preventive.

typical dose: 300 mg three times daily with meals.

Quercetin, a bioflavonoid in many vegetables, is a powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant. It helps reduce nasal congestion and inhibits the effects of histamines, body chemicals that cause allergy symptoms.

Take a quercetin supplement that includes bromelain, a digestive enzyme that improves the body’s ability to absorb quercetin.

typical dose: 250 mg to 500 mg three times daily with meals.

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