5 Foods For Better Health

I thought this was interesting when I caught an episode of Dr. Oz so I wanted to share - a good tip of 5 foods to eat for better health!  Enjoy - Becky

1. Cooked Asian Mushrooms (Serving size: Unlimited) 
Mushrooms contain immune system boosting compounds, helping to prevent illness. At less than 100 calories per cup, they’re good for your diet too. But be careful, you’ll lose the benefits if they’re not cooked well. Here are some varieties to try: shitake, maitake, oyster and enoki.

2. Whole Soy Foods (Serving size: 1-2 servings a day)
When you’re shopping, look for whole soy foods over isolated soy protein powders like fake meats with soy isolate. Try eating tofu, tempeh, soy milk, edamame and soy nuts. They’re good sources of protein and help guard against hormonally driven cancers, such as prostate cancer and breast cancer.

3. Cruciferous Vegetables (Serving size: Unlimited)
Cruciferous vegetables belong to the cabbage family. What’s great about these greens is that they protect against cancer. Look for cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, bok choy, kale and brussels sprouts.

4. Healthy Fats (5-7 serving a day; 1 serving is equal to 1 teaspoon of oil)
Not all fats are bad for you – some types actually protect your heart, like omega-3 fatty acids. If you’re looking to increase your intake of good fats and cut out the bad ones, make sure you add these to your grocery list: hemp seeds, flaxseeds, walnut oil, olive oil, hazelnut oil and omega-3 eggs.

5. Whole and Cracked Grains (3-5 servings a day; 1 serving is 1/2 cup cooked)
The good types of whole grain products are ones where you can actually see the grain or large chunks of grain. These foods won’t raise blood sugar the way products made with flour and sugar do. Stock up on basmati rice, wild rice, brown rice, buckwheat, barley, groats and quinoa.

Want more info?  Follow this link! http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/five-foods-for-better-health

Vitamin D and Your Eyes

A recent article on KELOLAND news shares some information on how Vitamin D is good for women's eyes. 

Vitamin D appears to be good for women's eyesight. A new study finds it could protect women from a leading cause of blindness.

A new study shows women under the age of 75 who have higher levels of Vitamin D in their blood are less like to develop macular degeneration later in life.

Macular degeneration is the leading cause of blindness in the U.S. It affects 1 in 10 Americans over 40 --some 8.5 million people. If you have it, you may notice vision changes like the need for bright light when reading, difficulty adapting to low light levels like when you enter a dimly lit restaurant and increasing blurriness of printed words.

A new study say a healthy dose of sun, the best way to get Vitamin D in the bloodstream, could protect your eyes. But just sun may still not be enough.

“The way to increase it to the levels that are protective, we need to eat properly. Eat Vitamin D rich foods,” Dr. Shantan Reddy said.

Those foods include leafy vegetables or fish like salmon and tuna. You can also find vitamin D fortified in things like milk, orange juice and some cereals.

http://www.keloland.com/healthbeat/NewsDetail6389.cfm?Id=113571

Living with Pets May Protect Your Infant from Allergies

Check out this great article to help reduce allergies for your young ones! 

(Health.com) -- Children who live with dogs and cats are less likely to develop allergies to those animals later in life, but only if the pet is under the same roof while the child is still an infant, a new study suggests.
Compared to babies born into cat-free homes, those who grew up with cats were roughly half as likely to be allergic to them as teenagers, the study found.

Growing up around a dog reduced the risk of dog allergies by about the same amount for boys, but not for girls -- a finding that mystified researchers.

Being exposed to pets anytime after the first year of life appeared to have no effect on allergy risk, however, which indicates that timing may be everything when it comes to preventing allergies.

Health.com: 15 hypoallergenic dogs and cats

Though they can't say for sure, the researchers suspect that early exposure to pet allergens and pet-related bacteria strengthens the immune system, accustoms the body to allergens, and helps the child build up a natural immunity.

"Dirt is good," says lead researcher Ganesa Wegienka, Ph.D., summing up the theory. "Your immune system, if it's busy with exposures early on, stays away from the allergic immune profile."
This isn't the first study to find that having a household pet may protect kids from allergies, but it is the first to follow children until they were 18 years old.

Health.com: How to reduce pet allergens at home
Previous studies have had mixed results -- some have even linked pet exposure during infancy to an increased risk of allergy -- so it's too early to recommend getting a dog or cat just to ward off allergies in your infant, says David Nash, M.D., clinical director of allergy and immunology at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.

"In the end, we'll probably find out that there are periods of opportunity when exposure to allergens, for some people, is going to have a protective effect," says Dr. Nash, who was not involved with the new study. "But we're a long way from figuring out who it's protective for and when that optimal period is."
By the same token, don't give away your beloved family pet because you're concerned the critter will provoke allergies.

"I would not get rid of my dog if I was having a child," says Wegienka, an epidemiologist in the department of public health sciences at Henry Ford Hospital, in Detroit. "There's no evidence that you should get rid of a dog or a cat."

Health.com: What to do if you're allergic to your pet
Moreover, it's possible that factors other than having a dog or cat in the house influenced the study participants' risk of allergy.

For instance, although the researchers took into account whether the children's parents were allergic to animals, they didn't ask about a broader family history of allergies or other health problems. So it could be that children who are genetically predisposed to animal allergies simply are less likely to grow up in homes with pets.

In the study, which appears in the journal Clinical & Experimental Allergy, Wegienka and her colleagues collected information from 566 children and their parents about the kids' exposure to indoor pets and their history of allergies.

In addition, when the kids turned 18, the researchers took blood samples and tested them for certain immune-system proteins (known as antibodies) that fight off cat and dog allergens.
The teenagers who lived with a cat during their first year of life had a 48 percent lower risk of cat allergy than their peers, and the teen boys who lived with a dog had a 50 percent lower risk of allergy.

The authors suggest that infant girls may not develop the same immunity as boys because they may interact differently with dogs than infant boys, but that's only a guess.

Copyright Health Magazine 2010

http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/06/13/pets.infants.allergies/index.html?hpt=hp_bn6

http://www.siouxfallschiropractic.com/

Workers' Compensation Update: Chiropractic Care More Valuable and Cost-Efficient

Dr. Bob would like me to share this article that was forwarded from the South Dakota Chiropractic Association.  Take a look:

CARMICHAEL, Calif. - June 2, 2011 - A recent study conducted by medical and healthcare professionals outside the chiropractic profession, "Health Maintenance Care in Work-Related Low Back Pain and Its Association with Disability Recurrence," (Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, April 2011, Vol. 53 Is. 4, p: 396-404) concludes chiropractic care to be more effective for common, work-related, low back pain (LBP), when compared to treatment by a physical therapist or physician.  Overall, chiropractic patients illustrated lower medical expenses, fewer disability recurrences and shorter initial periods of disability.

Researchers compared disability episodes across types of healthcare providers who treat claimants with new episodes of work-related LBP.  After an analysis of 894 workers' compensation cases, it was concluded that the preventive healthcare, predominantly and explicitly recommended by chiropractic doctors, is associated with lower disability recurrences. In this study, a recurrent disability is defined as the resumption of at least 15 consecutive days of temporary total disability payments following the health maintenance stage -- the period following a patient's recovery and restoration of optimal health.

"A chiropractor provides an effective approach to maintain health, a key component in preventing episode recurrence," says Gerard Clum, D.C. and spokesperson for the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress. "The clear trend revealed in this study shows chiropractic care resulting in the best outcomes, and the mechanism being used deserves the attention of both the consumer and healthcare professional."

Ten percent of patients experienced recurrent disability due to LBP between initial disabilities and the subsequent return-to-work or healthcare phase. After controlling demographic and severity factors, when compared to recipients cared for mostly by physicians and/or physical therapists, those treated mostly by chiropractors showed consistently better outcomes, less use of opioids, and had fewer surgeries, with overall lower medical expenses.

"A significant hypothesis derived from this study states that chiropractors may be instrumental in avoiding procedures or surgeries of unproven cost utility value or uncertain efficacy," adds Dr. Clum.

About Foundation for Chiropractic Progress 
A not-for-profit organization, the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress aims to inform and educate the general public about the many benefits associated with chiropractic care. To learn more about the Foundation, please visit us on the web at http://www.yes2chiropractic.com/.