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THE WONDERS OF WATER -- Boosting your intake of water makes good sense, many experts concur, because water eases digestion and regulates body temperature. Water also bathes the cells and accounts for about sixty-percent of body weight. And it can help you exercise longer and more efficiently. Drinking water can ward off constipation and maybe even crankiness. And since it is a natural appetite suppressant, water can help us lose weight and keep it off. It also provides the necessary moisture that healthy skin requires.

ASTHMA ATTACK ALERT -- According to researchers at the Mayo Clinic, it is important to prevent fatal asthma attacks by treating symptoms early. Do not wait. Although most people regard wheezing as an indication of severity, other symptoms, too, may signal danger. Seek assistance when: breathing becomes difficult; neck, chest, or ribs pull in with each breath; nostrils flare; walking or talking becomes difficult; fingernails or lips turn blue; peak airflow reading drops 50% below your normal level or keeps dropping even after you take your medication.

BABY TEETHING REMEDY -- Mix a teaspoon of powdered slippery elm with water and rub the paste on baby's gums. This will help to ease the discomfort.

NOSE BLEEDS? -- Here is what you should do: Sit and make sure your clothes around your neck are loose. Lean slightly forward. Let the blood flow out through your nose. Keep a soft towel under your nostrils to avoid dripping. Breathe through your mouth and apply pressure to the nose with your thumb and index finger just at the point where the soft and hard part meet. Hold for 5 minutes. If blood has not stopped after 5 minutes, repeat these steps up to a total of 20 minutes. Do not blow your nose! If bleeding persists after 20 minutes, nosebleeds are recurrent, or your nose is swollen, disfigured, or discolored, seek the advice of a physician.

LOOK OUT FOR MOLD -- Household mold can be the cause of chronic sinus infections and asthma. Be conscious of signs of mold in your home such as: leaks, discoloration of walls, condensation behind cabinets or pictures, damp crawlspace, basement, or attic, etc. If you suspect mold, contact the American Industrial Hygiene Association for a local referral.

GREEN TEA INFO -- All teas (green, black, and oolong) are derived from the same plant, Camellia sinensis. The difference is in how the plucked leaves are prepared. Green tea, unlike black and oolong tea, is not fermented, so the active constituents remain unaltered in the herb. The leaves of the tea plant are used both as a social and a medicinal beverage. According to Chinese legend, tea was discovered accidentally by an emperor 4,000 years ago. Since then, Traditional Chinese Medicine has recommended green tea for headaches, body aches and pains, digestion, depression, immune enhancement, detoxification, as an energizer, and to prolong life. Green tea has been shown to mildly lower total cholesterol levels and improve the cholesterol profile in most, but not all, studies. Green tea may also promote cardiovascular health by making platelets in the blood less sticky.

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FEATURED ARTICLE

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Our foods provide us with both "macronutrients" and "micronutrients." Macronutrients are generally thought of as the three basic calorie-containing food groups: 1 - proteins, 2 - fats, and 3 - carbohydrates. Micronutrients consist of several categories including vitamins, minerals, and the whole group of phytonutrients, which consist of substances such as enzymes, co-enzymes, trace elements, antioxidants, etc. Even though micronutrients include critical substances to our metabolic processes and overall health, they do not provide many calories. Calorie sources are proteins, carbohydrates, and fats.

The term "calorie" is used to measure energy. More specifically, one calorie is the amount of energy required to raise one gram of water by one degree centigrade. The process of generating heat is called "thermogenesis" - thermo, referring to temperature or heat, and genesis, referring to "generate." One gram of protein or carbohydrate can generate 4 calories, and one gram of fat can generate 9 calories, and it does not make any difference if the protein, fat, or carbohydrate comes from what is stored in your body or from food in your diet.

Obviously it takes a certain amount of energy, provided by the calories contained in what you eat, for your body to perform its basic metabolic functions and to support whatever level of physical exercise you engage in. If you consume exactly the amount of calories you are burning from a combination of your metabolic processes and your physical activity, your weight will remain the same. However, the body is a miraculous machine and incorporates a natural process of preserving itself for future caloric needs by storing excess calories in the form of body fat. That is, if you consume more calories than you use, your body will store the excess as fat. If you use (burn) more than you consume, you will burn up some of the body fat you have stored. This is why it is important that you do not consume too many calories in relationship to the amount you burn so that you do not gain excess weight. On the other hand it is equally important that you consume enough calories, especially from protein, so that you do not ultimately waste away due to your body having to rob itself to obtain caloric energy. As with any health-related matter, balance is the key.

There has been a lot of interest in and development of many different kinds of weight loss programs, especially over the last couple of decades, with promises that calories do not count. Generally speaking, this is just not so. It is true that you can influence weight loss by the consumption of calories from different food groups, but nevertheless a calorie is still a calorie. Certain benefits, like increased thermogenesis, and faster weight loss from higher dietary percentages of protein and fat can be realized when total calories are taken into account, but a calorie is still a calorie over the long term. Each pound of body fat contains the amount of stored energy equal to 3,500 calories. Therefore, to eliminate one pound of body fat, you must burn 3,500 calories more than the amount of calories you consume. This can take place over a day, week or month, as the time does not matter.

Let us say you require 1,500 calories per day to maintain your weight at your current activity level. While you eat the 1,500 calories each day and maintain your same energy level, your weight will not go up or down and you will have the energy you need. If you want to lose ten pounds, you must experience a calorie deficit of 35,000 calories (10 pounds x 3,500 calories per pound).

If you limit your daily intake of calories to 1,000 instead of 1,500, the deficit is 500 calories per day. Dividing 3,500 calories per pound by 500 calories per day, you can see that this equals seven days - the amount of time to lose the one pound. Then, obviously you could lose the ten pounds in seventy days (10 pounds x 7 days per pound = 70 days).

When this is understood, it is easy to see why exercise is so important in controlling weight. In this example, lets assume for a moment that you do not want to limit your calorie consumption all together, that you want to loose the ten pounds just by increasing your exercise. So you add walking, jogging, bicycling, or whatever activity you prefer to your daily routine so that you burn 500 more calories per day than you had been previously. If you continued to consume the same amount of calories as before you started exercising, you would be losing the same pound per seven days (500 calories burned per day x 7 days = 3,500 calories).

In effect, if you limited your calories and exercised, as in our example, you could possibly double your weight loss. Then, by supporting thermogenesis by limiting your carbohydrates while keeping your dietary protein percentage high, you can efficiently lose weight. And the protein helps prevent loss of lean body mass or muscle. This is important because thermogenesis takes place in muscle tissue, and you need to maintain your strength. And probably the biggest advantage of applying these principles in your weight loss regimen is that you are building not only muscle, but good health as well - your ultimate goal for years to come.

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WELLNESS QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

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** Q & A #1:

I am a new homeowner. A friend suggested that I have my home tested for radon, but I do not know anything about it. Can you advise me on radon and on how to get my home tested?

Radon is a naturally-occurring, odorless, and colorless gas produced by the breakdown of uranium in soil, rock, and water. Because radon is a gas, it can enter buildings through openings or cracks in the foundation. The radon gas itself decays into radioactive solids, called radon daughters. The radon daughters attach to dust particles in the air, and can be inhaled. The inhalation of radon daughters has been linked to lung cancer. You can get radon detection devices at many hardware and home improvement stores, or by contacting the EPA's National Radon Hotline (1-800-SOS-RADON). These devices are left in the home for 2 to 90 days, and indicate whether there might be a radon problem in the home. If results indicate that your home has a level exceeding 4 picocuries (pC/L), you will want to test your home again with the short, 2 to 90 day test and then calculate the average of the two tests, or test your home with an alpha track detector, which measures the long term radon average for three to twelve months. If the radon level in your home exceeds 4 pC/L, there are several techniques available to lower levels.

** Q & A #2:

What is Hypothyroidism?

Thyroid disorders affect women more often than men. The thyroid is a small gland, located in the neck. The purpose of the thyroid gland is to take up iodine from the body and produce hormones. These hormones are responsible for controlling how fast the body uses energy. This gland regulates your metabolism. Hypothyroidism is a disorder affecting the thyroid. It is not doing its job in a timely manner, making one feel slower and slower. The signs of hypothyroidism include weakness, fatigue, intolerance to cold, constipation, weight change, depression, heavy or prolonged menstrual flow, dry skin, and hoarseness. Diagnosis is made by checking the thyroid gland's ability to produce the hormones that regulate metabolism. The treatment for hypothyroidism includes thyroid hormones that supplement what the thyroid cannot produce. The medication needs to be monitored until a therapeutic level is achieved. Inform your health care professional if you experience heart palpitations, heat intolerance, sweating, nervousness, and irritability.

** Q & A #3:

I want to have new carpet installed in my home, but my husband seems to be allergic or at least very sensitive to the smell of new carpet. Can you offer some suggestions?

New carpet can be a source of chemical emissions. In addition to the carpet, the padding and adhesives all emit volatile organic compounds. Some people report symptoms such as upper respiratory irritations, headaches, skin rashes, shortness of breath or cough, any fatigue, which they associate with new carpet installation. The distinct odor of new carpet is usually attributed to the chemicals 4-phenylcyclohexene (4-PC). This chemical can be detected at very low levels, but does not result in an unpleasant odor for everyone. The odor dissipates within a few days. There are steps you can take that will make the carpet installation process easier for sensitive persons. First consult with your retailer. Ask for help in selecting carpet, padding, and adhesives that have lower emissions. Request that the carpet installer follow the Carpet and Rug Institute's installation guidelines. Before installing the carpet, ask the retailer to unroll and air out the carpet in a well ventilated area. If possible, have the sensitive person leave the premises during and immediately after carpet installation. An important way to reduce exposure to carpet emissions is to increase the ventilation in the area. Open the windows and doors, and also use fans to increase the amount of fresh air exchange. Use the building's ventilation system for two or three days after installation.

** Q & A #4:

Can you provide me with information regarding Legionnaires' Disease?

Legionnaires' disease, which is also known as Legionellosis, is a form of pneumonia. It is often called Legionnaires' disease because the first known outbreak occurred in the Bellevue Stratford Hotel that was hosting a convention of the Pennsylvania Department of the American Legion. In that outbreak, approximately 221 people contracted this previously unknown type of bacterial pneumonia, and 34 people died. The source of the bacterium was found to be contaminated water used to cool the air in the hotel's air conditioning system. Legionnaires' disease is most often contracted by inhaling mist from water sources such as whirlpool baths, showers, and cooling towers that are contaminated with Legionella bacteria. There is no evidence for person-to-person spread of the disease. Symptoms of Legionnaires' disease include fever, chills, and a cough that may or may not produce sputum. Other symptoms include abdominal pain, diarrhea, and confusion. This list of symptoms, however, does not readily distinguish Legionnaires' disease from other types of pneumonia. Legionnaires' disease is confirmed by laboratory tests that detect the presence of the bacterium, Legionella pnuemophila, or the presence of other bacteria in the family Legionellaceae. It is the most often treated with the antibiotic drug Erythromycin. Although Legionnaires' disease has a mortality rate of 5 to 15 percent, many people may be infected with the bacterium that causes the disease, yet not develop any symptoms. It is likely that many cases of Legionnaires' disease go undiagnosed. Legionnaires' disease can be viewed as an example of how our physical environment affects our health. Relative humidity, temperature, and other environmental factors can alter the incidence and the fatality rates of infectious diseases, including Legionnaires' disease. For example, cooling towers and evaporative condensers of large air conditioning systems have been associated with outbreaks of the disease, and the highest incidence of Legionnaires' disease occurs in the warmest months of the year, the time when air conditioning systems are used the most.

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THE HERBAL CORNER