Optimal Health Institute
May 2009 Newsletter
This month’s articles:
The Problem May Not Be Your Memory
Insomnia Linked to Suicidal Thoughts and Attempts
Mars & Venus? New Research Challenges Theories
Omega 3 Supplementation Improves Surgical Recovery
Helpful Tip to Reduce Junk E-Mail
The topics for our regular features are:
Sex: Question and Answer
Just Do It! Arm Yourself! Tone Your Triceps
Food for Thought: Building Your Bank Account
Frightening Food Fact: Shakedown
Recipe of the Month: Protein Pancakes
Supplement of the Month: Supplements to Help Lower Urinary Tract Infections
Referral Incentive Program
Happenings
The Problem May NOT Be Your Memory
What’s worse: memory loss or fears about memory loss?
Sure, memory loss is bothersome. Who likes losing keys and forgetting appointments or directions? But, bad as they are, these moments when our memory seems to be mired in molasses may not necessarily mean we are spiraling down toward dementia.
There can be many common causes of forgetfulness – other than you losing your memory: stress, too much alcohol, too little sleep, boredom, thyroid diseases, poor nutrition, and head injury, to name some.
In “Achieving Optimal Memory”, Aaron P. Nelson, Ph.D., of the Harvard Medical School writes of six other reasons why we forget:
Distraction. Multi-tasking may make your day, but doing a dozen things at once can make you daffy. Details are bound to be forgotten.
Depression. Classic symptoms of depression include having a hard time remembering, focusing, or making decisions. This is especially true when the depression goes with grief over a loss of a loved one or at retirement.
Hormones. For women, hormonal fluctuations following childbirth and around menopause can make them feel forgetful. Men also go though a hormonal change as they age. A drop in testosterone level has been linked with age-related memory problems.
Hypertension. You’re more prone to memory impairment if you have high blood pressure, according to Nelson. “We think,” he writes, “that hypertension impairs memory by damaging tiny blood vessels that terminate in the brain’s white matter ….”
Diabetes. High blood sugar can impair the function of – even damage the structure of – the hippocampus, the brain structure that consolidates memories. In 2003, researchers at New York University School of Medicine reported that people with suboptimal glucose metabolism achieved lower scores on short-term memory tests that people with normal blood sugar.
Smoking. A 2004 study published in the journal Neurology, 9,209 people ages 65 and older were evaluated annually using a standard test of cognitive functions. “Scores declined slightly for most participants during this period,” writes Nelson, “but the decline was five times greater for smokers than for people who never smoked. The decline was most pronounced among people who smoked the most cigarettes over the longest period of time.”
Exercise your mind
You can keep your memory sharp by working it. Challenging yourself to learn new skills causes an increase in the connections between nerve cells, helping your brain to store and retrieve information more easily. Here are a several ways you can challenge your mind:
Singing or playing a musical instrument.
Doing crossword puzzles and board games.
Switching careers or starting a new one.
Socializing.
Starting a new hobby, like magic.
Volunteering.
Reading and writing.
Learning about computers or a foreign language-and then traveling.
Gary Legwold National Health and Wellness Monthly Magazine June 2008
Note from Sandra: If you have concerns about your memory, we can assess if there is a real problem by giving you an-Internet-based neurocognitive assessment (The Cognitive Stability Index or CSI). Some of you (who completed the full initial assessment) have already taken this test as part of your initial evaluation. Others (e.g., those who just had a hormone evaluation) probably have not had this done. Whether or not you have previously been tested, we can administer the test if you have concerns about your memory or changes in your memory. The test takes approximately 45 minutes (including time for me to review the results with you) and not only measures memory, but also processing speed (how quickly you can pull the information you need out of your brain), response speed and attention. Give me a call (or email) if you are interested in taking (or re-taking) the test.
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Insomnia Linked to Suicidal Thoughts, Attempts
But researchers say it’s not clear if one causes the other
By Randy Dotinga, HealthDay Reporter
New research provides more evidence of a link between sleeplessness and suicidal thoughts or attempts, although it’s not clear whether insomnia actually makes people want to kill themselves.
Still, the findings suggest that “persistent sleep problems might be an important contributor to suicidal thinking,” said study author Dr. Marcin Wojnar, a research fellow at the University of Michigan and an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Warsaw in Poland.
Researchers have connected insomnia to suicide before. But the new study, said to be the most comprehensive of its kind, looks at the population as a whole, not mentally ill people in particular.
The findings were to be released Wednesday at the World Psychiatric Association International Congress on Treatments in Psychiatry in Florence, Italy. The study was funded by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse, the U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health.
The researchers looked at the results of a national survey of 5,692 adults taken between 2001 and 2003. Overall, about a third of those surveyed reported sleep problems, but only a small number said they’d been suicidal. Fewer than 3 percent reported thinking about suicide in the previous year. Less than 1 percent said they’d planned suicide, and the number was nearly the same for those who had attempted it.
People who had trouble getting to sleep were 5.1 times more likely than those who didn’t to have had thoughts about suicide. They were also 9.1 times more likely to have planned suicide and 7.5 times more likely to have attempted suicide within the past 12 months.
Other kinds of sleeplessness — waking up too early and having trouble sleeping through the night — were also linked to suicidal thoughts and attempts. The links remained even when researchers adjusted their figures to account for the influence of mental illness and chronic health conditions.
Wojnar acknowledged that the study didn’t take into account the timing of sleeplessness to determine whether it came before suicidal thoughts or attempts. The study also didn’t look at people who committed suicide, nor did it prove a cause-and-effect relationship between suicide and insomnia. Mental-health experts estimate that many more people — perhaps 10 to 40 times more — try to commit suicide than actually kill themselves. However, suicide is still a huge problem, taking an estimated 877,000 lives a year, according to the World Health Organization.
Research links anxiety to trouble falling asleep and difficulty sleeping through the night, while early awakening is connected to depression, said Alan Berman, executive director of the American Association of Suicidology. “For people who are suffering from insomnia over some period of time, it affects all aspects of daily functioning — the ability to think clearly, to focus and problem solve and synthesize information and make decisions,” he said. Also, insomnia “basically lowers the threshold for impulsive behavior and for being reactive to an emotional event.”
What to do? Step in and try to resolve the problem, Berman said. “Effective intervention is really important,” he said. “Insomnia is something we can observe. People know about it when they’re experiencing it and can respond to it.”
SOURCES: Marcin Wojnar, M.D., Ph.D., Medical University of Warsaw, Poland, and University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Alan Berman, executive director, American Association of Suicidology, Washington D.C.; April 1, 2009, presentation, World Psychiatric Association International Congress on Treatments in Psychiatry, Florence, Italy
Note from Sandra: If you are having difficulties with insomnia, please let us know. There are a number of supplement and behavioral treatments that can help.
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Sex: Question and Answer
Note from Sandra: As part of our focus on Healthy Relationships in 2009, we have decided to have a Question and Answer section in each newsletter. Now is your chance to – anonymously, of course, – ask any questions you may have about sex. Just email me and you will get an answer to your question from either Tom or me (if you would prefer to keep it between just you and I, then I can anonymously talk with Tom about the medical issues that may be involved and get back with you). I will answer every question, but will select one to appear in each newsletter.
Q: (from a female, age range 40-45): Help! I can’t find my G-spot. Where is it?
A: Don’t worry: Your G-spot is in there—on the upper wall of your vagina, about a third of the way in—but it can be hard to pinpoint. In order to locate and stimulate the G-spot, you first need to be sexually aroused. Once you are well into foreplay, lie on your back and lift up your knees. Gently insert one or two fingers (or have your partner do this) two to three inches inside your vagina and make beckoning moves with your fingers, pressing up toward the belly button on the anterior vaginal wall (anterior is the front of the body, posterior is the rear…of the body).
Press gently at first, and then add more pressure. You’ll know you’ve found your G-spot if you feel like you have to pee. Also, the area will feel firmer and a little rubbery. Just remember: Not all women have the same reaction to G-spot stimulation. Some find it leads to a more intense orgasm; others feel nothing at all. So don’t worry if your G-spot doesn’t lead you to bigger orgasms, you’re perfectly normal.
Q: (from a female, age range 50-55): I feel like I wet myself when I have sex. Is that possible?
A: Many women produce large amounts of vaginal fluid during sex, especially during heightened arousal and menstruation. It’s completely normal. Some women even “ejaculate” this liquid during sex when aroused or at the time of orgasm. Unlike urine, this vaginal fluid is clear and odorless, so relax; you don’t need to start wearing diapers to bed. The fluid comes from two glands inside the urethra called the Skene’s glands: It’s the female counterpart to the male prostate, which produces the fluid in male ejaculate.
That said, if you feel pain when the wetness begins, have bleeding during or after intercourse, or the discharge is yellow and/or has an odor, see your doc, as these could signal something more serious.
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MARS AND VENUS?
New research challenges the theories presented in John Gray’s Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus and Deborah Tannen’s You Just Don’t Understand
From Today’s Health & Wellness
New research challenges the theories presented in John Gray’s Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus and Deborah Tannen’s You Just Don’t Understand.
These books, which are largely based on anecdotal evidence, claim that men and women have fundamental communication differences. But according to research done by Erina MacGeorge, an assistant professor of communication at Purdue University, that theory doesn’t hold water.
Based on her research of 738 men and women, she found that both men and women are far more likely to prefer stereotypically feminine ways of communicating than the stereotypically masculine ones.
Of her first of three studies examining this topic, she says, “Overall, men and women were both likely to express sympathy, share similar problems with distressed friends or discourage their friends from worrying. Men did give a bit more advice more often than women, and women were slightly more likely to provide support by affirming their friend or offering help. However, men and women were only 2 percent different.”
MacGeorge is concerned about the ideas that books such as the ones mentioned above are perpetuating. “In earlier studies, my colleagues and I found that men tend to be somewhat more dismissive of others’ feelings and problems, even though both men and women dislike this approach,” she explains. That isn’t good for either men or women, she says.
“If we tell men that rejecting the feelings of others is just as good, only culturally different, then we excuse them from becoming good support providers.” And she notes, “We all need people in our lives that are supportive. Research shows that people who feel comforted and have a strong emotional support system benefit tremendously. Among other things, they live longer, are healthier, are happier and have better relationships.”
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Omega 3 fatty acid supplementation improves surgical recovery
Life Extension Update
April 18, 2009
In the March, 2009 issue of the Annals of Surgery, researchers at Trinity College Dublin and St James’s Hospital report that supplementing with the omega-3 fatty acid eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) helps preserve muscle mass in patients recovering from esophageal cancer surgery.
“There are almost 450 new cases of esophageal cancer diagnosed every year in Ireland and Ireland has one of the highest rates of esophageal cancer in Europe,” noted lead researcher and John V Reynolds, who is a professor of surgery at Trinity College Dublin. “An increasing number of patients are treated with chemotherapy alone or in combination with radiation therapy before they undergo surgery. The surgery is a serious operation lasting several hours, and can take weeks to recover from and up to six months to recover pre-illness quality of life. Weight loss is extremely common both before and especially after this type of surgery, and any approach that can preserve weight, in particular muscle weight and strength, may represent a real advance.”
Dr Reynolds and colleagues randomized 53 patients to receive a calorie-rich nutritional supplement with or without 1.1 gram EPA twice daily before and after surgery. Participants consumed the supplement orally starting five days prior to surgery and through a feeding tube for two to three weeks after the operation.
While subjects who received EPA maintained their weight and muscle mass, those that did not receive the fatty acid lost an average of 4 pounds of muscle mass after their surgeries. “The results were extraordinary in the sense that no previous nutritional formulation had revealed such an outcome, with supplemented patients maintaining all aspects of their body composition in the three weeks following surgery,” coauthor Aoife Ryan stated. “Patients given the standard supplement without omega-3 lost a significant amount of weight comprising 100% muscle mass. In fact 68% of patients suffered ‘clinically severe’ weight loss post surgery in the standard group (without omega-3) versus only 8% in the omega-3 group. The significant finding was that the patients did not lose just fat, as one would expect with weight loss, but instead they depleted their muscle stores significantly.”
“Omega 3 enriched nutrition appears to prevent loss of muscle mass by reducing the amount of inflammatory markers in the blood – this means the metabolism is not as stressed as it usually is post surgery,” Dr Reynolds added. “We also saw that the omega-3 group was less likely to have a fever in the first week post surgery which points to the ability of omega-3 to suppress inflammation. Looking at their blood tests omega-3 fed patients had much lower inflammatory compounds circulating in their blood which points to the ability of omega-3 to reduce inflammation.”
“This study has provided an interesting insight into how nutritional therapy can positively impact on the major stress of cancer surgery,” he concluded. “Throughout cancer care, many patients undergoing therapy nowadays have a combination of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy, and studies addressing whether nutritional supplementation with omega-3 for the entire duration of treatment should be considered. Finally, we do not expect these findings are unique to cancer surgery, and similar benefits may accrue to patients needing complex surgical care for non-cancer problems, for instance liver transplantation or major cardiac surgery.”
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Food for Thought:
Building Your Bank Account
A Good Rule to Live By…
A 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud man, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o’clock, with his hair fashionably combed and shaved perfectly, even though he is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today.
His wife of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary. After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, he smiled sweetly when told his room was ready.
As he maneuvered his walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of his tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on his window.
I love it,’ he stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy.
Mr. Jones, you haven’t seen the room; just wait.’
‘That doesn’t have anything to do with it,’ he replied. ‘Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. †Whether I like my room or not doesn’t depend on how the furniture is arranged… it’s how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it.
‘It’s a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do. Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open, I’ll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I’ve stored away. Just for this time in my life. Old age is like a bank account. You withdraw from what you’ve put in. So, my advice to you would be to deposit a lot of happiness in the bank account of memories!’
Remember the five simple rules to be happy:
1. Free your heart from hatred.
2. Free your mind from worries.
3. Live simply.
4. Give more.
5. Expect less.
Note from Sandra: Those clients who have worked with me in therapy know my “Choices Lecture” – which is pretty much summed up by the thoughts above (the article was sent to me by one of our OHI family members – thank you!).
When faced with any hardship, any dilemma, any bump in the road on this journey we call “life”, you have a choice. You can choose to be happy and seek joy in the small things that are present in our lives every day (you may have to look for them – but they’re there). You can choose to be confident that whatever the difficulty that you are going through at the moment will result in a lesson learned, a stronger you, and the simple knowing that “I CAN”. Or you can choose to give in to the part of your mind that tells you, “I can’t do this” or “It’s just too much” or “It’s not fair” or “I’ll never be happy”.
Your mind does not know the difference between truth and non-truth – it will simply believe what you tell it. So, if you tell yourself that you are miserable, that life is unfair, that things will never get better – then that will indeed become your reality. Have you ever woken up in the morning and told yourself that it’s going to be a bad day – you just know it? Your mind then pays selective attention to the things that are not so good (and the things that are good never make it onto your radar screen) – and by day’s end, you will quite likely have a list of all the horrible, awful things that happened to you that day to confirm your belief. That’s called “self-fulfilling prophecy” – you tell yourself that something will be a certain way and your brain obligingly complies.
Conversely, if you tell yourself that you can do anything – not necessarily that you will enjoy it – but that you can survive it and make it through – then that, too, becomes your reality. One of my all-time favorite quotes comes from a book by Richard Bach (he wrote Jonathan Living Seagull – which, if you haven’t read, you need to). The book I’m referring to is called, “Illusions”. The quote is simply, “You will never be given a problem without a gift for you in its hands”. Another favorite from that book is, “You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it true…You may have to work for it, however”.
Life is about choices and the most fundamental choice is whether you choose to be happy. It sounds simple, but it can be a difficult skill to learn. But like any skill, the more you practice it, the better you get.
So which path do you choose?†††
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Exercise: JUST DO IT!!!
Arm Yourself – Tone Your Triceps
By: Kimberly Husband
National Health and Wellness Club
Note from Sandra: Our new First Lady has created a renewed interest in having well-defined arms – which are truly beautifully sculpted and which allow her to wear all those sleeveless outfits! So, if your arm continues to flap back and forth even after you’ve stopped waving, these exercises are for you!
Your triceps are the muscles on the underside of your upper arm, opposite the biceps. The triceps are involved any time you straighten your arm or twist your wrist upward. You engage them when reaching for things, pushing yourself up from a chair or out of bed.
Since the triceps are difficult to isolate, they can be tough to tone and therefore prone to flabbiness. However, personal trainer Dennis Gudim recommends these exercises to firm up the triceps so you can avoid injury — and wear summer’s barest fashions with pride.
Do two or three sets of 8 to 10 repetitions each. If you can no longer lift the weight at the end of a set, it’s too heavy. If your muscles aren’t fatigued by the end of a set, the weight is too light. Try starting with 2 to 5 pounds for the triceps kick back and 5 to 10 for the overhead extension.
Triceps kickback: Rest one hand and knee on the bench (or chairs). With your upper arm parallel to the floor, bend your dumbbell-holding arm at 90 degrees. Extend the lower arm until it is at full extension. Once you reach full extension, contract the triceps as hard as possible without locking your elbow. Then slowly lower the dumbbell back to the 90-degree angle. Keep your upper arm stationary, pressed against your body, throughout the exercise. Don’t use momentum to swing the weight; move it slowly with your muscles.
Triceps overhead extension: Start with the dumbbell in the overhead position. Begin lowering it slowly while keeping elbows pointed to ceiling. Lower it to a point where your forearms are slightly below parallel to the ground. Without resting, immediately begin pressing the weight back up. Contract the triceps muscles as hard as you can while avoiding locking out the elbow joints. Hold the contraction for 1 to 2 seconds, and then begin another rep. Don’t use the weight’s momentum to “bounce” it as you reverse direction; make the change with smooth control.
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HELPFUL TIP TO REDUCE JUNK EMAIL
Note from Sandra: It seems like we have less privacy every day – whether it’s traffic cameras catching you running that yellow (well, okay…orange) light, security breaches of our personal data or simply getting “spammed”. I received this and thought I’d pass it along to you – it’s a simple way to protect you and those you email from getting on some spammer’s email list (or worse – getting a computer virus). You may have noticed that I follow this advice when sending out the newsletter….
Do you really know how to properly forward e-mails? 50% of us DO NOT.
Do you wonder why you get viruses or junk mail? Do you hate it?
Every time you forward an e-mail there is information left over from the people who got the message before you, namely their e-mail addresses & names. †As the messages get forwarded along, the list of addresses builds, and builds, and builds, and all it takes is for some poor person to get a virus, and his or her computer can send that virus to every e-mail address that has come across his or her computer. †Or, someone can take all of those addresses and sell them or send junk mail to them in the hopes that you will go to the site and he will make five cents for each hit. †That’s right, all of that inconvenience over a nickel!
How do you stop it? †Well, there are several easy steps:
(1) When you forward an e-mail, DELETE all of the other addresses that appear in the body of the message (at the top). †That’s right, DELETE them. †Highlight them and delete them, backspace them, cut them, or hit the tab key whatever it is you know how to do. †It only takes a second but you MUST click the ‘Forward’ button first and then you will have full editing capabilities against the body and headers of the message. †If you don’t click on ‘Forward’ first, you won’t be able to edit the message at all.
(2) Whenever you send an e-mail to more than one person, do NOT use the “To:” or “Cc:” fields for adding e-mail addresses. Always use the “BCC:” (blind carbon copy) field for listing the e-mail addresses. †This way the people you send to will only see their own e-mail address. †If you don’t see your “BCC:” option click on where it says “To:” and your address list will appear. †Highlight the address and choose BCC: and that’s it, – it’s that easy. †When you send to BCC: your message will automatically say ‘Undisclosed Recipients’ in the ‘TO:’ field of the people who receive it.
(3) Remove any ‘FW:’ in the subject line. You can rename the subject if you wish or even fix spelling.
(4) ALWAYS hit your Forward button from the actual e-mail you are reading. †Ever get those e-mails that you have to open 10 pages to read the one page with the information on it? †By forwarding from the actual page you wish someone to view, you stop that person from having to open even more e-mails just to see what you sent.
(5) Have you ever gotten an e-mail that is a petition? †It states a position and asks you to add your name and address and to forward it to 10 or 15 people or your entire address book. †The e-mail can be forwarded on and on and can collect thousands of names and e-mail addresses. †A FACT: The completed petition is actually worth a couple of bucks to a professional spammer because of the wealth of valid names and e-mail addresses contained therein. †If you want to support the petition, send it as your own personal letter to the intended recipient. †Your position may carry more weight as a personal letter than a laundry list of names and e-mail address on a petition. †(Actually, if you think about it, who’s supposed to send the petition in to whatever cause it supports? †And don’t believe the ones that say that the e-mail is being traced, it just ain’t so!)
(6) One of the main ones I hate is the ones that say that something like, ‘Send this e-mail to 10 people and you’ll see something great run across your screen.’ †Or, sometimes they’ll just tease you by saying something really cute will happen. IT AIN’T GONNA HAPPEN! †(Trust me; I’m still seeing some of the same ones that I waited on 10 years ago!) I don’t let the bad luck ones scare me either, they get trashed.
(7) Before you forward an Amber Alert, or a Virus Alert, or some of the other ones floating around nowadays, check them out before you forward them. †Most of them are junk mail that have been circling the net for YEARS!
You can check just about everything you receive in an e-mail that you are not quite sure about at a website called Snopes. It is a great site that does research on all sorts of rumors and myths. Just go to www.snopes.com – but be prepared – it is kind of addicting to read all the different categories. They rate each “rumor” by stating the data (or lack thereof), and whether it is true, false or unverified.
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FRIGHTENING FOOD FACT:
SHAKEDOWN
“Like It.” “Love It.” “Gotta Have It.” Those are the small medium and large sizes of ice creams, shakes, smoothies, and sorbets sold at Cold Stone Creamery, and upscale ice cream chain with more than 1400 stores nationwide. “Not Worth It” might be a better name, at least when it comes to the Oh Fudge! Shake.
Sure, few people buy an ice cream shake expecting it to shrink their waist. But Oh Fudge! is more of a quake than a shake. It starts at 1,250 calories for the “Like It” (16 ounce) size. That’s more than the 1,160 calories in a large (32 ounce) McDonald’s Triple Thick Shake, which used to seem outrageous. But Oh Fudge! leaves the Triple Thick in its dust.
The “Love It” (20 ounce) Oh Fudge! has 1,660 calories, and the “Gotta Have It” (24 ounce) has 1,920 calories. Along with a day’s calories come 69 grams of saturated fat from the chocolate ice cream, milk, and fudge syrup. That’s 3 and a half days’ worth, but who’s counting?
It’s not just a mouthful. It’s a bellyful…for those planning on full-size bellies. Its two 16 ounce T-bone steaks plus a buttered baked potato, all blended into a handy 24 ounce cup.
Shakes can be worse for dieters than ice cream because liquid calories don’t make you feel as full.
If you’re at a Cold Stone and determined to drink your calories, try the Lower Calorie Signature Smoothies – Berry Lemony, Berry Trinity, Citrus Sunsation, and Strawberry Bananza – which have less sugar than the shakes (and no artificial sweeteners). Each has only about 150 to 250 calories (for a small) and flavor to spare…not padding for the spare around your waist.
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Recipe of the Month
High Protein Pancakes
Prep Time = 5 minutes, Cooking Time = 5 minutes Makes 2 servings (8 pancakes total)
These cottage cheese-filled pancakes are easy to make and good to eat!
Note: The texture is different from traditional pancakes in that they are not as light and fluffy.
Time-saving tip: Can make extra batter, refrigerate for 2 to 3 days for use in future meals.
Nutritional Info (per serving):
Calories: 294 Carbs: 30.2 g Sodium: 229 mg Fiber: 4.6 g
Fat: 3.1 g Sat Fat: 0.7 g Protein: 34 g Cholesterol: 5.0 mg
Ingredients
1 cup rolled oats, dry
1 cup fat-free cottage cheese
8 egg whites*
1 teaspoon cinnamon**
Instructions: Put all ingredients in a food processor and blend until fully blended. Then pour 1/4-cup pancakes onto a heated grill which has been lightly sprayed with cooking spray. Cook 2 to 3 minutes per side, until brown enough for your taste.
Variations: * To spare the egg yolks, replace egg whites with equivalent amount of Egg Beaters.
** Other suggestions for flavorings and fresh fruit toppings:
1) lightly-microwaved sliced apples with a dash of cinnamon (along with the cinnamon in the pancake mix)
2) for sliced bananas, can add a little banana flavoring in pancake mix
3) for other sliced fresh fruits, replace pancake cinnamon with vanilla
PLEASE NOTE: Above variations are not included in the nutritional analysis.
Note: I found this recipe on www.CalorieKing.com. Out of the 22 people who made the dish, all of them gave it 5 stars – the highest rating. Hope you enjoy!
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Supplement of the Month
Supplements for Lower Urinary Tract Infections
Note from Sandra: This information came from the American Botanical Council (website below). It originally including the botanical names for the various herbs and foods but I have deleted those to make for an easier-to-read article. The article in its original form can be found using the link below.
Lower urinary tract infections (UTIs) are the second most common infection in both men and women and the most common infection in pregnant women. Symptoms include frequent urinary urge, pain upon urination, bladder pain when not urinating, difficult urination, fatigue, and men may feel rectal fullness. Urine may be cloudy; pink if blood is present. Fever, flank pain, nausea and vomiting indicate kidney involvement. Risk factors include female gender, sexual activity, mode of birth control, menopause, diabetes, catheterization, vaginosis, history of UTIs, or urinary obstruction (mostly in men over 50). During pregnancy, UTIs raise risks for mother and child. UTIs occur twice as often in diabetic menopausal women as in non-diabetic. Escherichia coli causes 80% of all UTIs. UTIs are often treated with antibiotics. Chronic sufferers use antibiotics as prophylaxis. Frequent antibiotic use can cause resistance, and vaginal and intestinal dysbiosis that helps E. coli adhere.
Cranberry is used in many folk medicines for UTIs. Juice, juice cocktails, and capsule and tablet extracts produce statistically significant UTI and antibiotic use reduction in women of all ages and in UTIs in male and female elderly. However, in neurogenic bladders, including pediatric patients, cranberry has shown to be ineffective in reducing UTIs or bacteriuria. It is most effective in those with recurrent UTIs. When compared to Lactobacillus rhamnosus or no intervention as preventive treatment in 150 women who had UTIs cleared by antibiotics, a combined cranberry-lingonberry juice reduced UTIs 20% over six months, more than the other study arms. In some studies, cranberry reduced urinary pH; in others, it did not. Bilberry competitively binds to the same cells as bacteria. Although not as effective as cranberry, bilberry has an anti-aggregation effect on oral bacteria. While safe in pregnancy, cranberries’ high oxalic acid is best avoided by any who form calcium-oxalate kidney stones.
Berberine is an alkaloid long used in many medical traditions, from root, rhizome, and bark of goldenseal, coptis, Oregon grape, barberry, Indian barberry and others. The alkaloid is strongly antimicrobial, inhibiting sensitive and resistant E. coli and other organisms, and targets a bacterial protein used in cell division. It prevents E. coli adhesion completely in vitro. In vivo, it completely protected rat bladders from induced hemorrhagic cystitis. In a clinical study, berberine significantly reduced stool E. coli content, diarrhea, and UTI risk.
Uva ursi may increase microbial cell hydrophobicity, decreasing adherence. No studies have examined it as a UTI remedy. It has been shown to be effective in prevention, in a standardized extract with dandelion root and leaf.
Other long-used UTI herbs include buchu, a diuretic with possible activity against urinary pathogens; and sage. Saw palmetto and stinging nettle aid urination in older men. Several other herbs used successfully in UTIs have not been studied, including marshmallow, slippery elm, and corn silk among them.†
Nutritional interventions for UTIs include vitamins A and C, for prevention; potassium or sodium citrate salts to alkalinize urine, improve symptoms and boost berberine’s or uva ursi’s effects; and D-mannose, a simple sugar that prevents bacterial adhesion. Dietary interventions include consuming fresh juice and fermented dairy products with probiotics. Frequent poultry, pork, and alcohol intake have been linked to higher rates of antibiotic-resistant UTIs. Studies of probiotic vaginal suppositories have yielded mixed results. Oral probiotics may particularly benefit children with UTIs caused by bacterial migration. Finally, intravaginal estriol cream significantly reduced UTIs in postmenopausal women compared to placebo, and in 60% of the active group, stimulated reappearance of Lactobacilli.
Mariann Garner-Wizard
Head KA. Natural approaches to prevention and treatment of infections of the lower urinary tract. Altern Med Rev. 2008;13(3):†227-244.
American Botanical Council, 6200 Manor Rd, Austin, TX 78723
Phone: 512-926-4900 | Fax: 512-926-2345
Website: www.herbalgram.org | Email: American Botanical Council
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Referral Incentive Program
As a nontraditional medical practice, we are very dependent on word of mouth advertising. We need your help to get the word out about our philosophy of health care and the services we provide. †We pride ourselves on comprehensive assessments and personal treatment plans. †If you have found working with us beneficial, we would like to offer the following incentives for you to refer your family or friends to us for a similar experience. †
Luncheon referral/tour – For every 5 people you refer to us who attend one of our Thursday luncheons, you can earn:
a microdermabrasion treatment †
††††††††††††††††††††††††or
2 bottles of omega 3 fish oil.
Microdermabrasion Series – For every referral who signs up for a 6-visit microdermabrasion series, you can earn:
microdermabrasion treatment
††††††††††††††††††††or
a 1-hour massage
††††††††††††††††††††or
2 bottles of omega 3 fish oil.
Hormone Evaluation Package – For every referral who completes our hormone evaluation and enters our monitoring/mentoring program, you can earn a combination of any two of the following:
a microdermabrasion treatment
a 1-hour massage
2 bottles of omega 3 fish oil.
Full Evaluation Package – For every referral who completes a full evaluation and enters our monitoring/mentoring program, you can earn all of the following:
a microdermabrasion treatment
a 90-minute massage
2 bottles of omega 3 fish oil
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HAPPENINGS!
GROUP WALK: the 3rd Wednesday of the month at noon. The next one will be May 20th. We will meet at OHI for stretching first – feel free to bring your spouse or a friend (and don’t forget your water bottles!).
THURSDAY LUNCHEONS: Every Thursday we offer tours of Optimal Health Institute along with a healthy lunch with Tom and Sandra. We answer all health-related questions – from hormones to supplements. If you feel like you’ve benefited from our services, then please invite a friend or family member to join us for lunch. You are welcome to come and bring a friend or two, or give us the contact information and we will call and personally invite them to learn more about what we do.
HEALTHY CHANGE SUPPORT GROUP: Please join us for a forum to ask questions, provide feedback and get support from your fellow OHI members and Tom, Sandra and Jeff. The group will meet at 5:30 the 2nd Wednesday of the month (May 13th). Please RSVP, as the group will be cancelled if we don’t have at least 3 or 4 attendees.
QUESTIONS, COMMENTS AND FEEDBACK
You can submit your questions (anonymously, of course) to Sandra at slk@optimal-health.net Additionally, we still want you to brag about your successes – whether in the area of healthy lifestyle changes or just life in general. This can be anonymous as well.
As always, we wish you Optimal Health,
Jeff Sandra Tom
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