I Need to Cleanse My Body

With finals around the corner and so many assignments due at once, I have not been eating healthy like I usually do. I have been thinking about doing a detox after my finals to cleanse my body from all of the bad food I have put into it. I decided to share some of the research I found about detoxing on my blog.

First, detoxing is basically just cleansing the body of any toxins. Juicing, drinking specially prepared smoothies, tea, or juice is a popular method of going through a detox. Some people go on healthy food diets as a way to study.

Two of the benefits of detoxing can be increased energy during the day and it can help to manage stress. Click here to read five other benefits.

bodyandsoul.com breaks down the types of drinks and food that should be avoided as well as what should be included in a healthy detox. Foods to avoid are alcohol, cigarettes, coffee, and milk products. Foods to enjoy should be fruit, vegetables, fish, and nuts.

Dailyburn.com provides three tips to follow when trying to detox: pack in the proteins, don’t banish carbs, and keep calories under control. Click here to read some of the “detoxifying breakfast recipes” on the website.

Grapefruit

Something that I have not had in a while is grapefruit. It was never my favorite type of fruit, but my mom used to eat them all the time and I would have some every now and then. It turns out, though, that grapefruit can actually be really healthy and is great for a balanced diet.

Research has been done that shows grapefruit being able to help combat cancer. MedicalNewsToday said, “As an excellent source of the strong antioxidant vitamin C as well as other antioxidants, grapefruit can help combat the formation of free radicals known to cause cancer.” This is a simple way to try to help prevent that awful disease. Click here to read more.

Grapefruit can also help with indigestion and diabetes. Organicfact.net explains that when helping with indigestion, the fiber and vegetative pulp in grapefruit adds bulk to the bowels and regulates your excretory schedule. For diabetes, the fruit can help regulate the flow of sugar in the body. To read more about what grapefruit can do, click here.

On the scientific side, grapefruit can improve heart health and reduce the risk of kidney stones. “The most common type of kidney stones is calcium oxalate stones. Citric acid, an organic acid found in grapefruit, may be effective at preventing them by binding with calcium in the kidneys and flushing it out of the body,” authoritynutrition.com said. Read the rest of the article here.

Hearing Health

My family has a long history of hearing loss which brings me to my topic today on hearing health.

When researching, I found that there are different types of hearing loss. In an online article found on Evergreen Speech and Hearing Clinic’s website, they list four different types.

·         Conductive hearing loss affect the outer or middle ear. A person’s ability to conduct sound to the inner ear is affected with this type of loss.

·         Sensorineural hearing loss, also known as nerve hearing loss, is the most common and results from damage to the inner ear.

·         Mixed hearing loss is a combination of conductive and sensorineural hearing losses.

·         Tinnitus is the perception of sound when an external source of sound is absent. It can creates a ringing noise for the individual to hear.

To read more about the different hearing losses click here.

My grandmother and aunt, who wear hearing aids, travel to the Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic at USM to have their hearing aids evaluated. Troubleshooting of their devices is also done at the clinic. Click on their website to learn more about what the clinic does.

So how does a person prevent hearing loss in this noisy world? WebMd provides eight ways to do this. One that stood out to me was to not smoke. It says, “Tobacco can raise your risk for hearing loss, too, research shows.” The site also warns people to check medications for hearing risks and that about 200 medications can damage hearing. Click here to read the rest of the article. 

Type 2 Diabetes

Did you know that drinking only one soda or sugary drink a day could increase your risk of getting type 2 diabetes? I definitely did not know this. Kick the Can website says that drinking those sugary drinks increase the risk of developing the disease by 26 percent. The site also says these drinks can also lead to heart disease. Learn more here.

Healthlinesaid, “Being overweight or obese is linked to the development of type 2 diabetes.”  Yet, we all know that sugary drinks could lead to obesity and being overweight. Therefore, we should all cut down on sodas, sweet tea, and all the other sugary drinks to improve or maintain our health.

The NPR warns that even if a person is “skinny and normal-weight,” they could still be at risk from what they drink and how often they workout. Click here to read this article.

Stress

Everyone has been under some type of stress at some point in their life. So, what kind of health risks could be caused from being under stress?

According to the Mayo Clinic, if stress is left untreated or controlled, it can lead to high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity and diabetes. They also list common effects of stress on the body which include common pains that someone may have such as a headache. Muscle tensions and pain and sleep problems could also be common effects of stress. Click here to read that entire article.

Health.com provides a list of other effects produced by stress and one includes digestion. The article said, “In particular, irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS, which is characterized by pain and bouts of constipation and diarrhea is thought to be fueled in part by stress.” Many people never think that stress could lead to these problems, though.

So how can we keep our stress levels down to prevent these health problems? An article found on apa.org describes a few different ways. Three of their suggestions were to identify the cause of stress, rest the mind, and get help from a professional. Click here to read the description of each solution.

Health Myths

There are tons of health myths that people have been created over time. Yet, some of them may surprise you. For instance, I was always told to drink at least eight glasses of water each day. However, according to WebMd, people only have to drink water when they are thirsty to get enough of it for the day.

Another myth found on health.com is that coffee can dehydrate you. A study was done between coffee drinkers and water drinkers and it turns out, the coffee drinkers weren’t any more dehydrated than those who drank water. Coffee drinkers will love to know this is a myth. Read the article to get the full story.

Contrary to what I blogged about last week using symptomfind.com, WebMd says that eating breakfast generally does not make a person lose weight. A study found that people who don’t eat breakfast actually eat 400 fewer calories. Click here to view other myths.

Climate Change and Health?

Did you know that April 3-9 is recognized as National Public Health Week? Did you know that different types of health are given days, weeks, or months to be observed each month out of the year? Well I sure didn’t, but I learned about many national health observances on this website. Check it out to learn more.

Since today is April 7, I decided to blog about something dealing with public health. National Public Health Week actually has its own website where I learned that climate change can have an effect on our health now and in the future. The site explains that explains that warmer weather can worsen the risk of strokes, heart attacks and many other things. Click here to read more about the effects of climate change and what to do about it. 

Globalchange.gov states, “Climate change can therefore affect human health in two main ways: first, by changing the severity or frequency of health problems that are already affected by climate or weather factors; and second, by creating unprecedented or unanticipated health problems or health threats in places where they have not previously occurred.” Who knew that the climate could have so many effects on a person’s health?