Did you know that the main “ingredient” in a chili is capsaicin? And that capsaicin can be used in a cream or ointment to help relieve pain? The burning sensation that the cream gives by stimulating the pain signals in your body, researchers believe.

People often use a capsaicin cream to help relieve neuropathic (nerve) pain, such as that from shingles (herpes zoster) or diabetic neuropathy, a complication of diabetes. When I had shingles a few years ago, I did try a capsaicin cream and I can tell you one thing for sure: Be sure not to touch your eyes after you’ve rubbed the cream into your skin. You know that burning on the skin? Imagine that on your eye.

This type of cream may also be used by people for relieving cluster headaches and joint pain. The instructions usually say not to apply it more than three or four times a day and to avoid mucus membranes (nose, mouth, vagina).

Capsaicin can also be used as a dietary supplement. Some people swear by it to improve their digestion. The website, HealthLink BC has a good write up on how some people use capsaicin.

Nutritionally, chili isn’t bad either. It has several B vitamins, is low in fat, calories and sodium. It also contains minerals, such as manganese, folate, potassium, iron, copper, and thiamine. Many people believe this is why chilis can be boost the immune system.

So, are you going out to have chilis this month?

~~~~

Image: PhotoXpress.com

Post from: Healthbolt

Someone with obstructive sleep apnoea experiences recurrent choking when their throat closes during sleep, making it a potentially life-threatening disorder. Because of this, many people who suffer from this disorder end up wearing uncomfortable and cumbersome CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) apparatus during the night.

Now some researchers in Australia have found that having a banana smoothie nightcap might just help keep the throat open and therefore reduce this risk of choking.

The study, conducted by a New South Wales University, has come out with preliminary results that indicate that phospholipids (fatty acids) in bananas stay active in the mouth for six hours after ingestion. Already a known fact that phospholipids in other sources work to keep the throat open, this new study has huge implications for those with sleep apnoea.

Not sure what the dentists will make of it as the banana smoothie should be taken after you’ve brushed your teeth for full effect.

But I guess if you’re weighing up good teeth vs breathing, the breathing will win every time.

It’s still early days on for this study and the result are only preliminary so don’t be thinking of throwing away the CPAP machine yet.

(image from sxc.hu)

Post from: Healthbolt

 Yes, it’s that time again. Actually, it’s a little late this week because of all the giveaway logistics that I’ve been trying to juggle. But I promise, this Healthbolt Carnival is worth the wait.

So I hope you’re comfortable, get something to drink (coffee, tea, chai latte, or maybe a wine or beer), and are ready to wander through the blogosphere to see what health and fitness bloggers have been writing about…

First, a little humor to start you off with Madeleine from Mad Kane’s Humor Blog who’s Fishing For Company.

Fiona King from U.S. PharmD lists the 50 Best Video Games for Senior Health.

Ahuva Goldstand from Jerusalemite blog has A conversation with Uzi-Eli Chezi, remedy and refreshment guru. Uzi-Eli, who has been peddling citron juice for over 20 years in Jerusalem has a marketing style straddles the line between old-time witch doctor and gimmicky theme park stall: Rambam-inspired folk medicine for the masses.

Erin Pavlina from Erin Pavlina’s Blog writes about Going Raw for 30 Days, saying, “I’ve decided to do a 30-day trial on a raw diet. I’m really excited by this challenge. Three or four years ago I tried going raw for 30 days but stopped after a couple of weeks.”

Lauren Rose from Supertraining Blog.com lists 7 Surefire Strategies to Avoid the Dreaded Holiday Bulge, saying, “Unfortunately, the holidays are the time of year when many people end up putting on the extra “holiday pounds” which is easy to do for the season continues for just about two months!”

Kara-Leah from Prana Flow NZ discusses How to build a home yoga practice, saying, “”As a yoga teacher, my goal is to inspire my students to practice yoga at home. It’s great when people get themselves to classes three times a week, but the true benefits of yoga really start to unfold when you commit to just showing up on your mat by yourself and seeing what happens.”

Clara Myers from Mind Mart suggests becoming more self-reliant and environmentally friendly by having A Chicken In Every Cul de Sac. Seems raising chickens is easier than you may thing.

Turn the page to read more interesting and informative carnival entries…

Are you a stess eater? You know, you find yourself reaching for comfort foods and junk foods whenever you become stressed. Well, Andy from How To Stop Eating – Stop Binge Eating has some Stop Stress Eating Tips for you.

Aparna from Beauty and Personality Grooming tells us that “dust that gets accumulated in our houses is a host to millions of germs and microorganisms” and suggests you should Beware of dust mites on your pillows.

Andy from Weight Loss Window writes about how Tomorrow Never Comes for those who keep saying ““I’ll start eating healthy tomorrow” or “I’ll start exercising tomorrow”.

Cory from Eating Healthy looks at Caffeine: Sources and Effects, saying, “Caffeine can have a lot of effects on your body if you consume it constantly in large doses.”

axel g writes about Living With Physical Pain.

TherapyDoc from Everyone Needs Therapy presents Those Active Therapeutic Agents.

Jimson Lee from Speedendurance.com discusses Dynamic Warm Up vs. Static Stretching Controversy, saying, “A look at the differences between static stretching and dynamic stretching in the Warm-up, including the benefits of microstretching.”

Brain Blogger looks at The Need for Post-Marketing Surveillance of Drugs, saying, “When a new drug is approved and enters the marketplace, often the only safety and efficacy information available is based on a few thousand people who took the drug during strictly controlled clinical trials. Not surprisingly, these trials are designed to focus on the drugs’ benefits, and may not include a large enough sample size to elicit serious adverse effects”

Matthew from Fast Medical Information writes about Advance Medical Directives, saying, “Advance directives refers to specific treatment preferences of a patient and also the designation of a decision-maker if the patient themselves is unable to make their own decisions. This includes a living will, the power of attorney and health care proxy.”

Loi P from Life Experiments suggests you could Go Vegan.

Valeria from Timeless Lessons lists 10 Benefits of Meditation and How to Do It.

Mike Salara looks at How to make patience work for you.

Grace R Young OT looks at how bloggers can keep in good shape despite spending a lot of time at the computer in Computer Comfort.

Tammy and Susie from a href=”http://the100calorieblog.com” mce_href=”http://the100calorieblog.com”>The 100 Calorie Blog looks at Adventures in 100 Calorie Eating, Cooking and Dieting at the The 100 Calorie Blog.

Alvin Hopkinson from High Blood Pressure Treatment and Medication Reviews provides 6 Healthy Tips to Control Hypertension in Foods for High Blood Pressure.

Lazy Man and Health writes about I Joined a Gym.

Jeremy Waller from Natural Remedy Reports gives information on What Does Eczema Look Like?, saying, “Eczema comes in many shapes and varieties. Some of which can be pretty unsightly…”

Patricia Turner from Pharmacy Technician Certification reports on why Exercise is good for the Heart.

Cory Albertson from Eating Healthy looks at pushups in An Oldie but a Goodie.

Joel Gray from Health Tips 101 has some Herbal Weight Loss Solutions.

Jeff Carlson from Gobs Channel says to Remember Posture.

Weight Loss Journal from Weight Ladder lists the The Right Kind of Foods Your Body Needs for Weight Loss, Fitness, Exercise, and Health

brigid from New York Public Library presents Brain Fitnessat the New York Public Library, saying, “After attending a recent staff training session offered by the library’s Office of Staff Development, I decided to return to a habit of my childhood–eating sardines.”

Will Edwards from White Dove Books discusses The Tragedy of Drugging Our Children , saying, “Americans are among the unhealthiest people on earth and this situation continues to get even worse. The reason is clear why this unfortunate situation continues to be so frightening. It’s because you cannot get well by taking prescription drugs to resolve your ailment. I don’t understand why the general public is so gullible to think this is the way to wellness.”

Relax from The Wise Curve discusses How to Become a Sleeping Winner, saying, “Get good quality sleep with Progressive Muscle Relaxation, and proper matress + pillows.”

Astrid Lee from World Healing looks at how to stay worry-free and stress-free in Trust, Stress-Combatting Thought & Saintly Help.

And that’s it for this edition of the Healthbolt Carnival.

Want to join next time? It’s as simple as submitting a health, wellness, or fitness related blog post using our carnival submission form.

Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: a healthbolt carnival, blog carnival.

Post from: Healthbolt

One of the first things to go, besides the exercise, is healthy eating habits. We overindulge in all our favorite, but not necessarily, healthy foods.

As a result, we have lots of fun and good times. But we can also end up gaining extra weight that tends to stick around, even when the holidays are over.

But not to worry, help is at hand. Kaiser Permanente has put together some tips to help skip the weight gain while celebrating the season…

• Don’t skip meals or eat very little most of the day to save up so that you can eat more at a party or dinner. Eat at your regular times, with perhaps a little lower fat or smaller portions in general. If your meal will be later than usual, have a snack to curb your appetite so that you are not too hungry when you get there.
• Don’t stand near the buffet table. Take what you like and move away from the table.
• Make the season one of sharing. If you are given sweets or other special foods, then share them with family, coworkers, or various groups with which you will be meeting.
• Limit the alcohol. It stimulates the appetite and contributes extra calories.
• Choose the foods you really like and pass on the ones that you don’t like as much.
• Check your place on the hunger scale: on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 is very hungry and 10 is very full. If you reach a 7 or so, then stop eating. You don’t need any more.
• Plan ahead. If you are going to a family dinner where you know most of what will be served, think about what you will eat. And plan ahead how to politely but firmly decline seconds from an insistent host or hostess.
• If you overindulge at a holiday gathering, don’t just decide that you have blown it and that you won’t try to adhere to healthy diet guidelines until January 1. An occasional lapse does not cause excessive weight gain or prolonged elevated blood glucose levels, but several weeks of excessive eating may. Instead, use the event as an opportunity to learn and to plan better for the next time.
• Continue regular exercise or start exercising regularly. The exercise will help control your blood glucose and your weight. And, you will probably feel better.
• Focus on the people and the fellowship, not the food.
• Try to eat slowly and possibly on a smaller plate. Focus on weight management versus weight loss for the holiday season. Weight loss is difficult enough to achieve the rest of the year and will be especially hard during the holidays.
• If you are already thinking ahead about making New Year Resolutions about weight loss, an effective tool to use while trying to lose or maintain is keeping a food diary, a Kaiser Permanente study found. “The more food records people kept, the more weight they lost,” said lead author Jack Hollis Ph.D., a researcher at Kaiser Permanente’s Center for Health Research in Portland, Ore. “Those who kept daily food records lost twice as much weight as those who kept no records. It seems that the simple act of writing down what you eat encourages people to consume fewer calories.”

Sounds like pretty good advice. Of course, advice is one thing. Sticking to it is another.

(source)

Post from: Healthbolt

Want to try?

Then maybe you should sign up for the 30 Days Without Sugar Challenge that Scott Olson is putting together to celebrate next month’s inaugural National Sugar Free Month.

As Scott says “The New Year is a time for looking ahead, a time for renewal and reflection, a time to set new goals, and (typically) a time for weight loss. Why not make this year’s commitment to lose weight a more permanent healthy step by making a pledge to do without sugar for 30 days.”

The author of the book Sugarettes, Scott is making it his mission to increase awareness of the addictive qualities of sugar and the health hazards of that addiction.

Here’s what he has to say about ‘What Makes Sugar Harmful?’

Sugar is both addictive and harmful; this makes for a powerful combination that works against you and your health. Sugar seems perfectly designed to destroy our health: 

Sugar is addictive: We all joke about being addicted to sugar, but the truth is that animal studies have shown that sugar is an addiction every bit as powerful as other addictions like drugs, alcohol and cigarettes. Recognizing sugar as an addiction explains a lot of our behavior around sugar including hoarding, binging and using sugar to change our mood – all of these are very similar to other addictions. It also explains why we go on diets, lose weight and then gain it back again. If you have ever questioned whether sugar is a real addiction, try the 30 Sugar Free Days Challenge and see for yourself just how addicting sugar can be.

Weight: Despite what medical and nutritional professionals have to say, sugar leads to weight gain. Part of the problem is that sugar contains calories, but sugar is also special in its ability to add to our waistlines. Sugar acts as fuel for the body and whenever we eat a lot of sugar, there is a lot of sugar-energy in our blood stream. The body only needs a certain amount of energy at any given time. Once the body’s basic energy needs are met, the body has to deal with all the extra sugar and, for most people, that extra sugar gets stored as fat. Keeping sugar out of the diet means this fat storage never takes place. Being overweight or obese increases a number of diseases, including diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and even certain cancers. It is estimated that obesity cuts life expectancy by as many as five years.

Insulin Insensitivity: Sugar in our blood stream over a long period of time leads to insulin insensitivity. This means that the cells of your body are insensitive to insulin (the hormone that controls high blood sugar). Insulin insensitivity is responsible for the disease called metabolic syndrome and is a step away from diabetes. Diabetes is an awful disease that reduces life expectancy by 10 to 15 years.

Toxic: While it is not very well known, sugar is toxic to our blood vessels. In much the same way that cigarette smoke damages the lungs of the smoker, sugar damages the blood vessels of the sugar-consumer. Diabetics, who have a much higher amount of sugar in their blood, have an equally high amount of this blood vessel damage. Diabetic kidney disease, heart disease, eye disease (retinopathy), nerve disease (neuropathy), and strokes, all have a common cause:  sugar destruction to blood vessels.

It really is enough to want to make you give up sugar. But, while it sounds simple, taking away all sugar and foods that act like sugar is no small feat

And that’s where Scott comes in. He’s created the 30 Sugar Free Days Challenge to help you, providing an e-book that will explain the program and show you all the foods you can eat and can’t eat, meal plans and recipes, and online support.

Sounds like something worth looking into.

And don’t forget you have until 8th December to enter to Win One of Three Copies of Sugarettes. 

Post from: Healthbolt

It’s everywhere.

In fact, it’s almost impossible to avoid and according to Dr Scott Olson, in his book Sugarettes, it’s as addictive as cigarettes.

I’ve just finished reading Sugarettes and I got to say, it was a real eye opener. Who knew that sugar was so prevalent in society today? Seems that everything we eat and drink has sugar in it and the more processed the food, the more the sugar content. 

In Sugarettes, Scott Olson looks at how sugar affects the body and why we should look at it as an addiction and a leading cause of not only obesity but also other medical illnesses of our times.

This is a must read for anyone interested in improving their diet and their health.

Healthbolt has three copies of this fascinating book to giveaway to anyone anywhere in the world.

Here’s all you have to do….

- leave a comment with your email address about why you want a copy of this book by 8th December.

-  No email address left in the comment = no entry.

- winners will be announced on 9th December and sent an email with the subject heading ‘Healthbolt Giveaway Winner’ with instructions on how to claim their prize.

Post from: Healthbolt

Since then, I’ve discovered that there is a ‘free teaser version’ of  The Testicle Cookbook available, complete with the history of testicle cooking, five recipes and how-to videos. So if anyone’s interested in ‘cooking with balls’, this one’s for you…

Click here to read the sample version of The Testicle Cookbook.

And here if you want to purchase the full version…

Post from: Healthbolt

After performing one of the three different tasks for 45 minutes – relaxing in a sitting position, reading and summarizing a text, or completing a series of memory, attention, and vigilance tests on the computer – the women were provided with an all-you-can-eat buffet to dig into.

The researchers measured the sponstaneous food intake of the students following each activity and discovered that the women ate 203 more calories after the reading-writing task and 253 more calories after the memory and attention task than they did when they were just sitting around and relaxing. The researchers also discovered, from blood samples taken before, during, and after each activity, that the greater the intellectual work, the bigger the fluctuation in glucose and insulin levels.

So what does this mean? Well, according to Jean-Philippe Chaput, the study’s main author, “Caloric overcompensation following intellectual work, combined with the fact that we are less physically active when doing intellectual tasks, could contribute to the obesity epidemic currently observed in industrialized countries,”

In other words, it’s possible that all this increased thinking while sitting is helping make us fatter.

So maybe that treadmill workdesk isn’t such a bad idea after all!!!

(source)

Post from: Healthbolt

We have heard and got the addresses of …

Humairah Irfan
Greg
Mubina

Still need to hear and get addresses from…

Tina O
CanCan

Please email me your mailing address ASAP, otherwise I might have to draw another name out of the hat!!!

As for everyone who didn’t win a copy, do think about buying your own copy of the DVD or watch the full documentary online for only $4.95. It’s definitely worth the investment.

Post from: Healthbolt

The five winners are…

Humairah Irfan
Mubina
Tina O
CanCan
Greg

Please email me your mailing address by Friday 12th September. If I don’t hear from you by then, will draw another name out of the hat!!!

As for everyone who didn’t win a copy, do think about buying your own copy of the DVD or watch the full documentary online for only $4.95. It’s definitely worth the investment.

Post from: Healthbolt