Most people are unaware of the serious nature of a peanut allergy.  Many people think of allergies in the same way that they think of lactose intolerance.  They think in terms of some minor itchy hives or an upset stomach.  They do not think in terms of life and death.  Peanuts are the most deadly food allergen on the planet.  It comes in second on the list of food allergens to shellfish, but peanuts easily hold the title “most deadly food allergen”.  While more people are allergic to shellfish than they are peanut products, most people with shellfish allergies do not suffer life threatening reactions.  Depending upon which source you use, as many as 85% of people with peanut allergies react in a life-threatening manner.

It only takes miniscule amounts of peanut proteins to cause an anaphylactic reaction.  This reaction is what is responsible for causing people to die.  It cuts off the airway through swelling and the individual suffering the reaction can die if not treated immediately.

If you are not sure whether you have an allergy to peanuts, but suspect that you might, you should have a very serious conversation with your doctor as soon as possible.  Your life is nothing to throw away because you did not take the time to make an appointment.  A doctor can prescribe tests to help determine your level of allergic reaction.  If your reaction is severe enough, you will be prescribed one, if not more, items to help you deal with a possible exposure.  Typically, the most common thing you will have prescribed is a self-injecting dose of epinephrine.  This is stored in a pen-like device and can be delivered in an emergency through most clothing.  You may also be prescribed an albuterol inhaler to help with some of the respiratory distress that accompanies allergic reaction.  The third thing commonly carried by those with peanut allergies is diphenhydramine HCl a.k.a Benadryl. 

Things to Watch For

The protein in peanuts is the allergic component.  For many years, people have been told by doctors that they should be able to use peanut oil in which to fry food.  The logic was that peanut oil is void of the allergic proteins and therefore it should not cause a reaction.  However, this does not seem to be the case.  There are varying reports as to why this might be.  Some say that cold pressed peanut oil does not effectively remove the allergic protein while hot pressed peanut oil does.  Others assert that there are two allergic protein components contained in peanut oil, only one is removed in the process of making either cold or hot pressed oil.  The evidence shows that some people react violently to foods fried in peanut oil and others do not.  The safest method is to stay away from peanut oil completely.

Cross Contamination

Most people are aware of this concept when it comes to raw meat.  If you are using a cutting board to chunk up uncooked chicken, you should wash the board thoroughly before using the board for anything else.  With peanut products cross contamination works the same way, except it only takes 2 parts of peanut protein per million to cause a deadly reaction in some highly sensitive people.  This means that a person with a peanut allergy can have a reaction from simply touching a small amount of peanut product.  There have been reports of people suffering severe life threatening reactions from inhaling dust emitted from bags of peanuts being opened on an air plane in flight.

Treatment Possibilities

Right now, there is no treatment or cure for peanut allergies.  However, research continues to show promise.  Some genetically engineered nut proteins have shown a reduction in allergy reaction in treated mice.  Another promising test has been to slowly introduce small amounts of peanut protein to children in increasing amounts over time to attempt to build an ‘immunity’ to the allergen component.  This should only be attempted when in the presence of a qualified medical professional.  There is no guarantee that this method will not result in a severe life threatening reaction.

The future could hold wonderful advances in the area of peanut allergies, but until then, those who are allergic to peanuts will be well served to educate as many people about the severity of peanut allergies and totally avoid peanuts and peanut products.

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A healthy girl looks at a box of a dozen doughnuts, thinking, “One won’t hurt.”  A girl with an eating disorder beholds the same tempting, tantalizing box of sugary confections, forcing herself to regard them as toxic waste, or planning, “I will eat all of them, because I can throw them up later.”

 While two-thirds of American adults struggle against obesity, one in every fifty young women battles self-imposed starvation or an endless cycle of binges and purges.  Returned to public consciousness by “What’s Eating You,” a powerful and poignant six-part documentary airing on E! television, problems with eating too little are at least as psychologically and physically dangerous as problems with excess weight.  In fact, psychologists are quick to point out that, at the ends of the weight-management continuum, problems originate in people’s attempts to resolve the same issues.  At the heart of all eating disorders, patients’ issues with abandonment, control, and addiction drive their obsessive-compulsive behaviors. 

Perhaps most troublingly, psychologists also point out that ostensibly “all-American” girls, the ones other girls regard as role models, frequently struggle with eating disorders.  Guided by retouched Barbie-doll photographs in Vogue and Elle, these girls lose their capacity to see their bodies clearly and appreciatively.  Their imaginations and expectations severely distort their body images, driving them to exercise beyond exhaustion and diet to the point of malnutrition.  Driven by demanding mothers and their own perfectionism, the high school heroines often live secret lives of quiet desperation. 

Childhood lessons learned.  Childhood conflicts unresolved.

In her day, Grandma probably was right that food cured everything.  Sitting the family around the big, heavily laden table put them at ease and got them talking.  Spirited dinner-table debate was common, but no one left the table unsatisfied or unhappy.  Therefore, in childhood, grandma taught her girls how food comforts.  Better still if it is officially “comfort food” like mashed potatoes and gravy, macaroni and cheese, meatloaf, or any among dozens of fatty, sugary feel-good delicacies.  Comfort foods not only metabolize as sugars, perking-up moods by giving fresh energy, they also trigger the brain’s own anti-depressants—serotonin, nor-epinephrine, and dopamine.  In childhood, girls learn that food equals relief.  Best of all, when a girl feels depressed and “empty inside,” food makes the emptiness go away.

The majority of girls with eating disorders have suffered either betrayal by or loss of a parent.  One way or another, the girls are forced into premature adulthood, sometimes parenting their parents, or often forced to fend mostly for themselves.  Life circumstances often contribute to food’s preciousness, because a substance-abusing parent seldom eats or thinks of regular meals, and an absent parent cannot put food on the table.  When food is scarce, a girl learns to eat as much as she can when she can, savoring every comforting bite. 

A parent’s betrayal sometimes takes more insidious form, especially between mothers and daughters.  Especially daughters of obese women, learn early-on that their mothers are not sources of unconditional love; instead, the girls are agents of their mothers’ redemption.  As their mothers live vicariously through them, the girls must accomplish all that their mothers could not; and their mothers often project their own self-loathing onto their unsuspecting daughters, reviling them with, “Look how fat you are!  No one ever will love you if you look like that.”  The more the girls achieve, the mother their mothers demand.  These girls need the comfort and nourishment food provides, but, as if every food were a forbidden fruit, they feel guilty for eating.

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For years we have been inculcated with the idea that in order to eat healthy we had to spend a lot of money.  However, with a bit of research you will find two things wrong with that thought.  First, there is not necessarily any correlation necessary between health and price; and second, our notion of health is based on many assumptions that rely on bad science and special interests.

The Food Pyramid will make you FAT and sick!

The best thing to do here is talk about the obvious first, the idea of ‘healthy’.  Do you remember growing up seeing the USDA’s ‘food pyramid’?  It was an icon that tried to tell us what, how, and how much we should eat in order to be healthy.  An interesting study was done and the following statement made that has served to shock many Americans.  “The caloric proportions of proteins, fats and carbohydrates advocated by USDA’s Food Pyramid and Dietary guidelines are alarmingly similar to the USDA guidelines for fattening cattle and other livestock.”

The “New” Food Pyramid…not much better

In 2005 the USDA changed the old pyramid to the new MyPyramid and made some changes, but according to a paper published by the Harvard School of Public Health, it still falls very short of what it should be.  “The bad news is that the new symbol…continues to recommend foods that aren’t essential to good health, and may even be detrimental in the quantities included in MyPyramid.”  That doesn’t sound very good at all for the USDA.  The next logical question would be one wondering why the USDA would or could do such a thing.  It would seem that the Harvard School of Public Health thinks that the USDA has some link to the special interests in the food industry.  In the same report they say the following:  “Released in early January 2005, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005 continues to reflect the tense interplay of science and the powerful food industry.”

Special Interest and Bad Science Defining Health?

It would seem that our understanding of healthy foods has been tainted with falsehoods by those ‘big bad greedy special interest groups’ yet again.  It does only make sense that human beings have been around for a long time and we really haven’t had a lot of problems surviving.  We can learn a lot from our past.  A good reference for a truly healthy diet is the book Nourishing Traditions:  The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dicotcrats by Sally Fallon.  In this book, you will find that much of the food our grandparents ate on a regular basis is actually very healthy and we should still be eating it today.  The nice thing about it is that many of the foods they used to eat are really inexpensive today still!

Learning from History

The idea of eating fats like our grandparents used to eat might make many people a bit squeamish, but don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.  Read the book and see for yourself the evidence that the lobbyists have tried to suppress.  At the very least, go the Weston A. Price Foundation website and read up a bit on what they have to say. 

Can’t Get Away from Exercise

One of the best things you can do for your health is to become more active.  To tie this to your eating and diet, why not start a garden of your own.  It will allow you to produce food for pennies on the dollar that is healthy and doesn’t contain hormones or any chemicals you don’t know about.  It will also allow you to get outdoors and off the couch and actually do more physical work.  Some people might even call this kind of activity, exercise.  The great thing about producing food for yourself is not only the health benefits you can achieve, but the pride and satisfaction that comes with knowing that you are not dependent upon the grocery store and the economy for your sustenance.

To eat healthy foods, simply follow the guidelines set down for us in history before people were so interested in the millions of dollars that would be made by telling people what to eat.  Add the current understanding of the benefits of exercise and the combination will leave you more fulfilled, less poor, and healthier than you would have thought you could be with such a simple ‘change’.

Healthy food doesn’t have to be expensive, please take the time to read some of the links about, especially the Weston A. Price website concerning nutrition to find which foods are healthy, and you will find that many of the foods that are the best for you are very inexpensive.

Looking for a healthy diet? Try Medifast diet, a clinically based diet. Use a medifast coupon code for additional savings.

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The perennial vegetables are the excellent investments for the home gardeners.  The annual vegetables that must be planted in the years, the perennial vegetables can live & produce the vegetables for several years, with only the minimal efforts that are needed by gardeners after their plantation. Most of the gardeners are only know about the one or the two perennial vegetables varieties that are available in the market, but they are well over the hundreds of the different perennial vegetable which the home gardener may grow.  Here are the lists of the four perennial excellent vegetable which ever the gardener must try to follow and grow the same into their gardens:

Asparagus: It is one of the best and most well known vegetables, after the asparagus patches are established even once they will keep on producing the delicious spears for the decades to be come.  They take generally around two or three year for getting the patch well established, & also there are various varieties to be chosen from, also including the purple asparagus that is very rarely found in the supermarkets.

Rhubarb: After the asparagus, the rhubarbs are probably second common mostly grown perennial vegetables in United States & Canada countries. They are the best suited for the northern regions, because most of the varieties are needed the winter temperatures of about 40 degrees (F) for producing the stalks in the following years.  Although the perennial vegetables, the rhubarbs are more often treated like the fruits & are delicious in the pies, the jams, the cobblers and much more.

Jerusalem Artichokes: It is also known as the “Sun chokes” as they are of the sunflower types which produce the delicious and nutty tubers which have the flavors which are similar to the artichokes.  They are deliciously baked, mashed and steamed & can be eaten also in the sliced raw mixed with the salads.  These plants are very productive, however, & are difficult in getting rid of the established areas.

Artichokes: They are a true artichoke, & yes, these are also the perennial vegetables as well. They are the best suited for the regions which are the zones of seven or even higher, although some of the gardener goes to the greater lengths for getting them for growing in the areas as the cold as that of the zone five.

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The Mother Nature contains many secrets in them. They have so much of the positive qualities that will help a person in preventing them from taking the pills and antibiotics. Fruits are the biggest boon for humanity from the Nature. All of the fruits contain something which is special in their own way that will help in the prevention from the numerous kinds of disease, pains and aches.

Strawberry: They are the best fruit that contains the high nutritional value & also having the greater cleaning properties. They are rich in minerals, vitamins and potassium. They also contain the high contents of the water ranging from 80-90% and are ideal for cleaning purposes.

1. They are used in the herbal treatment of the liver, heart and kidneys.

2. They are used for the curing rheumatic disorders & if they are eaten in the larger qualities during winters they are beneficial in the treatment of the tuberculosis and anemia.

3. They also play very important role in the beauty, aided for the complexional, skin disorders, acne and sunburns.

4. They have the dentifrice that will help in the strengthening of the gums, which prevents the tartar & also helps in the whitening of the teeth.

5. They are used as the herbal remedy in the treatment of the old wounds, sore eyes and ulcers.

Peaches: They are also rich in the minerals and potassium & have the water content around 80%.

1. They are the best herbal remedy in the digestive problems as they are having some of the alkaline in the body that will help in the cure of the digestive problems.

2. For the constipation they are advised that they are taken during night and they help in curing the constipation problems and chronic diseases.

3. They are also called as the natural cleaner as they help in cleaning the bladder and the kidneys.

4. If they are taken in the larger quantity they keep the person fresh, light and energetic through the whole year.

Pomegranate: Such fruits are rich in minerals, vitamins, potassium and sodium, potassium. They are consisting of around 70% of the water.

1. They are helpful for keeping their stomach easy and light for the digestion.

2. They are used in the resistance for the tuberculosis, ragged up near liver, kidney and heart.

3. They are also proved to be the good remedy in releasing their hysteria, mental tension and hyper tension.

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Over the years the number of Asthma patients had increased. The percentage of Asthma has increased from 3% to 7.5% since 1980. Asthma is mainly in the urban areas as comparative to rural areas. According to recent survey there are 25 million people in United States who are suffering from Asthma.

Scientist had different theories regarding the rise of Asthma. The first theory that they hold is because of our better health. Our immune system is much more prone to allergens which in turn trigger the histamines and other inflammatory agents in the lungs.

Air pollution is one of the causes of Asthma. With the hike in population, pollution is increasing day by day. Also in urban area people are often exposed to allergens that set off Asthma-smoke, dust mites, mold and cockroaches are the main causes for its activation. Asthma is more prevalent in children as with the modernization children are more involved in indoor activities, so they are more prone to these allergens. This is one of the reasons of the increase in Asthma these days.

There are many new treatments for Asthma, rather than going for excessive treatments, it is advisable by the doctors to clean their environment where they live in and also to take daily medication in order to prevent Acute Asthma.

Things to do for Asthmatic patients are:

1. Oral medication for children with chronic Asthma
2. Education and maintenance about Asthma inhalers and asthma triggers
3. Knowledge of Allergens that causes Asthma
4. Cleaning ones own Social Environment

A new approach is been given by the scientist. The success of Asthma inhalers encourage the scientists to search for new drugs. These Asthma inhalers are very much effective and are long lasting. Yet there are many Asthmatic patients who tend to ignore their doctors instruction and often fall into trouble. For such patients it is advisable to give them knowledge about the Allergens which causes asthma. Trainings or Special sessions should be organized by the hospital in order to educate the Asthmatic families against the Asthma and the preventive measures to be taken.

According to the research this new approach is going off well. It has been seen that the families who were giving these session are now more comfortable with the Asthma problems and had 38 more days per year without any Asthma attacks or symptoms.

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