7 Tips for Women to Stay Naturally Healthy

By Maureen Denard

It’s not often that we stop to analyze why, but a woman’s health is watched more carefully than that of a man, probably because she undergoes many more physical and psychological changes over the course of her life – puberty, pregnancy, motherhood, menopause – they all change a woman’s physical and mental makeup significantly, and because of this, if she doesn’t take care of her health, she’s bound to lose it along the way at some point or the other. There are many easy ways for women to stay naturally healthy, and a few of them are outlined below:

·         A healthy diet: As with any health-related list, this one too starts by emphasizing the importance of a good diet, one that includes more of fruits, vegetables, wholegrain foods, legumes like lentils, beans and peas, and less of fat, complex carbohydrates and sugar. You are what you assimilate from what you eat, remember this at every stage of your life and you avoid unseemly weight gain and unexpected disease.

·         Regular exercise: A healthy diet is augmented and enhanced by an active lifestyle, one which includes regular exercise. Half an hour a day for five days a week is enough, the key is to be as regular as you can.

·         Breastfeeding: A woman’s greatest blessing is that she can carry life inside of her on the journey to motherhood. And with breastfeeding being not just a way to bond with your child but also a surefire way to keep cancer, depression and a host of other diseases at bay, you can bet God sure was in a good mood when he created a woman.

·         Independence: Most of a woman’s sorrows and pains in life come about because she is dependent on the men in her life – be it a father or a husband or a son or a significant other, dependency only creates shackles that chafe and burn, until you’re so bruised that it seems the scars will never fade away. The key to independence is the solid foundation of education upon which you can build a profession which gives you both emotional and professional satisfaction. With financial independence, you’re also free to choose your own path should that of a spouse go a different way, one which you’re not prepared to travel for any reason. 

·         Grooming: You feel inside the way you think you look outside, so go all out to look as beautiful as you think you can be. It’s not the cosmetics that are important, but the way you identify and augment your strengths and play down your weaknesses. Keep yourself well groomed, no matter how old you are, and you tend to remain young at heart for life.

·         A zest for life: Too much optimism could make you reckless, too much pessimism could make you a coward, but the right amount of both makes you a realist who knows that life only happens once. So make the most of happy moments and brush away the sad ones instead of letting them get you down, and you’ll find that both your emotional and physical wellbeing improve.

·         Me time: A woman plays multiple roles over the course of her life, sometimes taking on more than one simultaneously. But besides a daughter, a mother, a wife, a friend, or a girlfriend, find time to be yourself. When you know you have your corner to retreat to and recoup your strength in when life throws too many punches at you, you don’t worry too much about the next round that you have to fight. You know you’ll get out there and give it all you’ve got.

This guest post is contributed by Maureen Denard, who writes on the subject of Online MSN Degree . Maureen can be reached at: denard12.maureen@gmail.com.  

YES! Women Do Have Health Rights

Whether or not you support the ACLU, or even believe in what they do, this win is a positive step in the effort to protect women's health rights.  It also demonstrates to many who still believe that women are second calls citizens, that this is not supported by the law of the land.

Tallahassee, FL – In an important decision for the right of women to make their own medical choices, the Florida District Court of Appeal today ruled that the rights of a pregnant woman were violated when she was forced to remain hospitalized against her will after disagreeing with a hospital's recommended treatment. Read complete article

Birth Control Pill Caused Stroke

Bayer sued over pill that caused stroke in young woman.

What is tragic about this situation is the prescribing doctor failed to address the severe nutritional deficiencies associated with taking the birth control pill, and the effects they have on hormonal disruption.

I have seen this too many times over the years in a wide age-range of women taking the "pill" for various reasons.  Side-effects can be mediated successfully with natural remedies, many prevented with this information.

By Marrecca Fiore Jun 7th 2010 5:01PM

An actress who is currently an understudy in the Broadway show "Wicked" is suing Bayer, claiming its birth control pill Yasmin caused her to have a stroke when she was 27 years old, the New York Post reports.

Brenda Hamilton, a former Bronx resident who now lives in West New York, N.J., filed a civil suit in the Bronx claiming that Bayer knew the birth-control pill Yasmin posed a greater risk of stroke and blood clots than other birth control pills, but didn't warn consumers.

Hamilton says she was otherwise healthy and had been taking Yasmin for a little more than two years when she suffered a stroke in May 2007.

"I'm pretty angry that this happened to me. I was 27 at the time. I don't think this should be happening to young women. It shouldn't happen to any woman just because they take birth-control pills," she told the Post.

All birth control pills pose some increased risk of stroke and blood clots -- smoking increases the risk of both, according to literature that is included with birth control prescriptions. The estrogen in birth control pills is believed to be behind the increased risk. Yasmin bills itself as a low-estrogen pill that reduces the symptoms

In 2008, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cited Bayer for overstating the safety of the product in its advertising, according to the Post.

Hamilton's lawsuit is one of about 1,100 filed in the U.S. claiming the pills caused serious or life-threatening health problems. Two class-action suits have been filed in Canada.

A spokeswoman for Bayer told the Post the company would not comment on pending litigation.

of premenstrual syndrome, including bloating, cramping and mood swings.

'Old treatments' better

Two of the most effective treatments I have ever used with clients experiencing GI problems have been peppermint oil (and tea) as well as fiber or a favorite fiber blend.

A Novartis drug taken off the market recently made me want to pull my hair out because it had such offensive ads. Women were targeted and I think the tome was that IBS was one of those "hypochondriac" and imaginary illnesses.

I guess no one at Novartis knew, or cared, that IBS and other issues like diverticulitis often were from a lack of fiber in the diet.

I like to use peppermint oil. Generally these come in coated capsules but I have had clients use peppermint tea and essential oil effectively. Peppermint oil does soothe and relax, but can fight bacteria as well.

Not to overlook the stress related GI problems, herbs such as marshmallow root for reducing inflammation along with scullcap or similar herbs, and selected flower essences can do quite a remarkable job.

'Old treatments' better for IBS
Older "overlooked" treatments for irritable bowel syndrome may end up being the best option for patients, research suggests.

Fibre, anti-spasmodic drugs and peppermint oil were all found to be effective in a review of the evidence.

Guidelines on IBS should be updated in light of the findings, the researchers say in the British Medical Journal.

A UK expert said there had been a general feeling among doctors that the therapies "didn't work".

Between 5% and 20% of the population is estimated to suffer from IBS which is characterised by abdominal pain and an irregular bowel habit.


This puts these simple remedies back on the agenda
Professor Roger Jones, King's College London

The exact cause of the condition is unknown and recommendations for treatment include dietary advice, antidepressants and alternative therapies.

Fibre, antispasmodics and peppermint oil are used to treat IBS, but evidence of their effectiveness is unclear because of conflicting results from studies, the researchers said.

They have also been overlooked because of the focus on newer more expensive drugs which ended up being withdrawn due to lack of efficacy and safety concerns, they added.

Benefits

By trawling through all the studies comparing the therapies with dummy pills or no treatment, the researchers were able to look at data from 2,500 adult patients with IBS.

Fibre, antispasmodics and peppermint oil were all found to be effective, with doctors needing to treat 11, 5 and 2.5 patients, respectively for one patient to benefit.

Insoluble fibre such as bran was not beneficial; only isphaghula husk - a soluble form of fibre - significantly reduced symptoms.

Hyoscine - extracted from the cork wood tree - was the most successful antispasmodic drug looked at and should be the first choice, the researchers said.

Out of all three treatments, peppermint oil seemed to come out on top.

Both peppermint oil and hyoscine - an antispasmodic not currently widely prescribed in the UK - are available from the pharmacy.

Study leader Dr Alex Jones, a gastroenterologist who has recently moved from Canada - where he did the research to St James University Hospital in Leeds - said the treatments were cheap, safe and had been in use for 15 to 20 years.

"They fell out of favour with the development of new drugs.

"This is good news for patients."

Professor Roger Jones, head of the Department of General Practice at Kings College London, and founding president of the Primary Care Society for Gastroenterology, said: "There is a general feeling that they don't work very well.

"With all of the treatments for IBS, there is a huge placebo effect so it is easy to imagine your treatment is working then the trials come along and suggest they don't.

"This puts these simple remedies back on the agenda."

He added that the study did not pick out which patients would benefit from which treatment but as they are safe and cheap, patients can test what works best for them.

Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/7727459.stm
Published: 2008/11/14
© BBC MMVIII

Fertility Concerns

Several new reports show that the effect of supplements can be very helpful when conception and fertility are concerned.

Read the new news notes...

And do remember that your nutritional status has a great impact on your health, especially when planning for a baby.

Should women who have paid for statins be given their money back?

I think Dr. John Briffa has a point of consideration here. If you follow this blog you know we are also big skeptics about the statins and are most concerned with the health problems they create and the ones they really do not help.

Again marketing seems to be the drive behind the sales of this class of drug. Yet more and more you read articles that seem to tell you that statins will fix just about everything.

You can do much more for your health without these drugs and other newer ones from the recombinant-GMO aisle.

Also remember that the majority of medical texts are written with men in mind and women's health - for the most part - seems to remain an aside.

The same pervasive thinking must be in the halls of Big Pharma as well.

Related to this topic are some of our posts on the benefits of vitamin C and vitamin E for heart health and other health concerns, while MSM muddies the water on the facts: Just Like the Cholesterol Myth.

By Dr John Briffa
October 24, 2008

Cholesterol-reducing drugs known as statins are hugely popular and highly profitable. It’s a shame, then, that they aren’t very effective. I say this because while they have been shown to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events such as heart attacks, they do not reduce the overall risk of death when essentially healthy individuals are being treated. This was the conclusion of an analysis of 8 studies which had been performed using individuals with no previous diagnosis of cardiovascular disease [1]. This analysis also revealed that for one individual to be protected from a cardiovascular event (heart attack or stroke) over a 5-year period, 67 people would need to be treated.

Other evidence analysing the effectiveness of the national treatment guidelines in the USA, Canada, the UK and New Zealand has revealed the so-called ‘number needed to treat’ (NNT) varies from 108-198 [2]. These startlingly high NNTs have caused some to question whether statins are really the wonder drugs some would have us believe them to be.

But wait, it gets worse. Because the limited ‘benefits’ of statins seems to be confined mainly to men. The research has found that even in women with diagnosed cardiovascular disease and/or history of heart attack or stroke, statins do not reduce overall risk of death. And in healthy women, they don’t reduce the risk of cardiovascular events (heart attacks and strokes) either. The crashing failure of statins in women was fully elucidated in an analysis from British GP Malcolm Kendrick in the BMJ last year [3].

The singular failure of statin drugs to help women was highlighted this week in the British Medical Journal [4]. In a news piece, our attention was brought to an analysis from a professor of law and a professor of clinical epidemiology in the USA. The paper focuses on the most widely prescribed statin of all - atorvastatin (Lipitor) [5]. It looks at the evidence for the effectiveness of this drug in treating essentially women with no history of cardiovascular disease. In line with previous evidence on statins, there was no significant benefit to be found.

But the authors of this analysis go further by questioning the fact that when Lipitor is promoted and advertised, there’s plenty of talk about the fact that it reduces the risk of heart attacks, but no mention of it’s stunning lack of success with regard in women. They accuse Lipitor’s manufacturers of a lack of candour here, and also ask questions of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the USA. At a bare minimum, they say, the FDA should be using its muscle to protect people against misleading marketing. They also suggest that women who have paid out of their pockets as a result of false promises should be compensated for the money they’ve effectively wasted.

The authors conclude: Our findings indicate that each year reasonably healthy women spend billions of dollars on drugs in the hope of preventing heart attacks but that scientific evidence supporting their hope does not exist.
According to the BMJ new piece, Pfizer have responded to the article in the form of a statement, which I can’t locate on the web. In this statement, Pfizer claims that “Cardiovascular disease is a major cause of death in women as well as men and it ultimately kills as many women as men. However, onset of disease is delayed by some 10-15 years in women compared to men; thus the National Institutes for Health (NIH) ATP III guidelines define age as a risk factor in women at age 55, compared to age 45 for men. In addition, the AHA CVD Guidelines for Women were updated in 2007 and recommend that healthcare professionals should focus on women’s lifetime heart disease risk, not just short-term risk.”

Let this not distract us from the fact, I say, that statins have not been shown to benefit essentially healthy women. And let’s not forget either that for each person that benefits from taking statins, many, many others don’t.

References:

1. Abramson J, Wright JM. Are lipid-lowering guidelines evidence-based? Lancet 2007;369:168-169

2. Manuel DG, et al. Effectiveness and efficiency of different guidelines on statin treatment for preventing deaths from coronary heart disease: modeling study. BMJ 2006;332:1419

3. Kenrick M. Should women be offered cholesterol lowering drugs to prevent cardiovascular disease? No. BMJ 2007;334:983

4. Dobson R. Atorvastatin advertising misled over benefits for women, study claims. BMJ 2008;337:a2209

5. Eisenberg T, et al. Statins and Adverse Cardiovascular Events in Moderate-Risk Females: A Statistical and Legal Analysis with Implications for FDA Preemption Claims. Journal of Empirical Legal Studies. Published Online: Sep 5 2008
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Article from: http://www.drbriffa.com/blog/2008/10/24/should-women-who-have-paid-for-statins-be-given-their-money-back/