If you're trying to watch your weight, you don’t have to forgo appetizers if you choose well. If you pick the right starter before your meal may actually help you eat less overall. For example, olive oil contains oleic acid, a monounsaturated fat. Upon reaching the small intestine, oleic acid triggers the production of oleoylethanolamide (OEA), another fatty substance. OEA then finds its way to nerve endings that carry a hunger-curbing message to the brain. The message is loud and clear: "You SHOULD Stop eating SINCE You're full!" Researchers are hoping that new appetite-suppressing drugs using OEA will be developed to reduce obesity.

Don’t deprive yourself of that fresh whole-grain bread and olive oil the next time a waiter brings it to your table. It may be your diet’s best friend. Eating a small amount of healthy unsaturated fat — think olive oil, nuts, avocado, and fish before a meal triggers a chain reaction in your digestive system that slows the rate at which your stomach empties, which means you feel fuller faster. It also helps keep your blood sugar levels from spiking after your meal and makes it easier for your body to absorb fat-soluble nutrients, such as vitamins A, D, E, and K, as well as lycopene and lutein.

Bones can no longer be thought of only in terms of fracture risk and osteoporosis. Bones are constantly giving birth to new cells and these cells play vital roles in metabolism and immunity. For example, when bone cells get inflamed not only does this promote excess bone loss it directly causes fat cells to multiply in white adipose tissue – which clearly explains why women gain weight after menopause as well as the key to stopping the problem.

The highlight study of the year was a detailed gene analysis performed on one of the world's healthiest older men at 113 at the time. Disastrous bone drugs were not part of his plan. Researchers expected to find genetic advantages enabling him to live a long life. Much to their surprise, he didn't have any better "genes" at all – he had better bones! And the reason he had better bones was because he ate a diet containing fresh fruit and vegetables (bone anti-inflammatory nutrients) and stayed very active thus stimulating bone health. Bone health can be greatly enhanced by weight bearing exercise.

Vitamin K, which is a fat soluble vitamin, is critical for good health, in particular for proper bone formation and blood clotting. Only with vitamin K can our health be aye okay, and it would thus be prudent for us to ensure that we get a decent amount of it via our diet.

Good sources of vitamin K include green leafy vegetables, such as broccoli, collards, kale and spinach. It is also found in vegetables such as asparagus, brussels sprouts, cabbage, green peas, romaine lettuce and Swiss chard. Other decent dietary sources of the vitamin include canola oil, cottonseed oil, olive oil and soybean oil.

One of our reader reported that after menopause, her blood pressure was creeping up and was regularly running between 130 and 140 over the mid-90s. She had a craving for something sweet but didn’t have much in the cabints so she settled for a few tablespoons of tahini with some honey mixed in.

The following morning her reading—111/83. She has tried this many times since with dramatic drops each time. The reason is that Tahini, or sesame paste, is made of ground sesame seeds, which have broad health benefits. This is a staple in Middle Eastern food best known as an ingredient in hummus. You can find tahini in the specialty foods section of your grocery store or in your health food store.

We have been reading a bunch of crap about how vitamins do not really work to prevent cancer, help with overall health or prevent aging. You may have read about the Journal of The American Medical Association study, which found that vitamin E and vitamin C did not prevent heart attack, stroke, or cardiovascular death in this group of men. You likely also heard about research presented at the recent annual American Association for Cancer Research conference showing that vitamins C and E didn’t protect these men against cancer either.

But most of these reports failed to mention that study participants were only taking 500 mg of vitamin C daily and 400 IU of synthetic vitamin E every other day. A minimum reasonable intake of vitamin C is 1,000 mg, and anyone familiar with how antioxidants work would never prescribe synthetic vitamin E, much less in an every-other-day dosage.
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Alcohol is neutralized into carbon dioxide and water in the liver, your body’s primary organ for detoxification. Along the way, however, numerous intermediary products are formed—some more toxic than alcohol itself. Chief among these is acetaldehyde, a close relative of formaldehyde (the substance used to embalm cadavers). Acetaldehyde increases the production of free radicals that damage the liver and stimulate the brain to trigger feelings of nausea and discomfort.

Supplement With Amino Acids, Vitamins, and Herbs
Certain nutrients, taken before that first drink, can neutralize the effects of acetaldehyde. The most important of these is the amino acid cysteine. By supplementing with cysteine (in the form of N-acetylcysteine), you can actually help your body transform toxic acetaldehyde into glutathione, a potent free-radical fighter and the key agent used by your liver to neutralize harmful substances.
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Yes, it's that time of year again and the common cold is everywhere. Now that winter is here I’d like to share a sore throat cure. You simply mix 1/16 of a teaspoon of cayenne pepper in about 1/2 cup of warm water and use it as a gargle. At first do this several times the first day if you feel a sore throat coming on. Occasionally you may have to use it on the second day but most of the time the problem is cured on the first day. You can increase the cayenne amout to 1/8 teaspoon after the first time. It doesn’t burn like you think it would. Just try to keep the liquid off your lips. You may let a little go down my throat but I’m not sure that’s necessary. The reason this works is that cayenne pepper contains the compound capsaicin, which helps stop the transmission of pain impulses. This may help explain how it stops the pain associated with a sore throat and why capsaicin cream is effective at soothing painful arthritic joints and stopping headaches. It also increases local circulation to the area, which provides a soothing, warming effect.

If you’re looking for a cost free, “easy to implement” weight loss tip, try water. Yes, plain old H20! In two separate studies, researchers found that within 10 minutes of drinking 500 mL (about a pint) of water, metabolic rates in both men and women begin to increase as much as 24 to 30 percent. They don’t fully understand why this occurs, but it appears to be related to osmotic pressure changes since other drinks don’t elicit the same effects.

These changes begin to peak at about 60 minutes before dropping back to normal after that. The great thing is that over the period of a year if you drank this much water every day upon rising it could result in burning an extra 17,400 calories and result in the loss of five pounds. For the best results we suggest drinking the additional water first thing in the morning on an empty stomach.

(J Clin Endocrinol Metab 03;88:6015–6019) (J Clin Endocrinol
Metab 07;92:3334–3337)

The Stock Market, The "Bail Out", and The crazy political situation might be causing you some stress.
We know many people are a little stressed about the economy right now. Is this tinge of stress and anxiety feeling a bad thing?

Believe it or not a new study says it might just be a good thing. A study just published in the Journal, "Psychological Science", seems to indicate that anxiety might be the tool that body uses to help you not make the same mistake twice!

In the study, people who did not experience enough anxiety tended to repeat their mistakes.

Click Here to read the details about this study and a report
from the Mayo Clinic about stress management:

a study published in the November 2007 issue of the journal Nutrition Research¹ regarding French maritime pine bark known by the trade name of Pycnogenol. In this study, 37 patients with poor joint function were randomized to receive 150 mg of Pycnogenol daily or placebo for three months. At the end of the study, those individuals supplemented with Pycnogenol reported a reduction in pain, stiffness and physical limitation that ranged anywhere from 43% to 52%. Interestingly, those people in the Pycnogenol group reported a significant decrease in their use of non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory drugs along with COX2 inhibitors. The researchers speculated that the pine bark extract's effect may be due to its antioxidant and inflammation reducing properties.
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Every day we hear about the increasing number of individuals suffering from memory loss, dementia, cognitive decline, and Alzheimer’s. As our population ages, this is one problem that won’t get any better for the foreseeable future. Researchers are confronting the problem on several fronts, but one area that has gotten very little attention is the dramatic increase in both prescription and over-the-counter drugs. Thanks to a report just presented at the American Academy of Neurology annual meeting, maybe that will change. Dr. Jack Tsao, a professor of neurology, has found that the class of drugs called anticholinergics could be one of the culprits.
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