Heartburn or GERD can Kill

Heartburn is a common annoyance. The busy lifestyle, quick meals, fatty or spicy foods all contribute to the occasional need of a chewable pain reliever. The acceptance of heartburn as an inconvenient, but natural, part of the daily grind can blind you to the warning that a severe heartburn symptom can bring.

Heartburn as a Disorder

Heartburn can be a symptom as well as a disorder. Simple heartburn or GERD can be controlled and dealt with. However, heartburn can signal the presence of a much more serious problem. If it’s heartburn, you will have a burning sensation in the chest usually after eating. There may be a spread of the burning to the throat, sometimes accompanied by a bad taste, difficulty in swallowing, belching, coughing, hoarseness and/or wheezing.

It can become worse by lying down or bending over or by eating. Relief can come from an antacid. While the more severe heartburn symptoms may be mistaken for a heart attack, simple heartburn is usually not made worse by exercise. If there is any concern that the pain may signal a heart attack, get help quickly.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Learning What Foods Will Help Burn Fat

By Lynn Reynolds

If you're eating the typical North American diet, you are probably consuming too much fat. You should not be getting more than 30% of your calories from fat. If you want to lose weight, you'll probably need to cut the amount of fat in your diet. Do not, however, make the mistake of cutting all of the fat in your diet. Some foods will help you burn fat. Let's examine what foods will give you the fat you need in your diet and why no-fat diets fail.

The number one reason that extreme no-fat and low fat diets fail is that people mistake low fat with healthy. Just because a snack is low in fat doesn't mean that it is good for you.

Processed foods contain empty calories and sugars that will cause you to gain weight. Focus on eating whole foods like fruits, vegetables, and grains. These foods will give your body the nutrition it needs without the high levels of sugar and salt found in crackers and cookies.

If you are cutting down severely on fats and calories, you're body will react by going into starvation mode. Instead of burning the fat, your body's metabolism will slow down and it will work to store the fat that it has available. The only way you can lose fat is to feed the body what it needs.

You've heard before that not all fats are equal. Saturated fat can lead to heart disease and should be largely avoided. Meat and cheese is full of the fats that you don't want in your diet. So cut down on your intake of these foods and focus on the foods that provide the essential fatty acids.

One food that is great to incorporate into your diet is the avocado. The fat in the avocado is made up primarily of mono-unsaturated fats. In addition to the healthy fats of the avocado, you are getting other nutritional benefits such as vitamins A, B, and E. Avocado's will give your body the energy it needs during your muscle building routines. And they're great for your immune system, skin, and hair.

Flax is another great food. Flax seed oil contains both Omega 3 and Omega 6. There are several ways you can add flax seed oil to your diet. You can also buy flax seed oil from health food stores and some grocery stores, but make sure it is kept refrigerated and keep a close eye on the expiration date. You can drink it straight or add it to smoothies if you don't like the taste.

Ground flax seeds are another way to add this food to your diet. Whichever way you choose, be sure to not heat the flax as that destroys its beneficial properties. If you want the benefits of flax seed oil without the hassle you can purchase flax seed oil pills.

A third food that can help you burn fat by adding fat to your diet is walnuts. Walnuts contain the healthy fats and are a good source of protein. Adding a handful of walnuts to your breakfast in the morning will ensure that you have the energy you need for your day. Keep walnuts in your desk at work to provide a healthy snack.

Replacing the saturated fat with these three foods will help you lose weight and be healthy. Although you can have them daily, be sure you are not relying too much on these foods and focus on a well balanced diet.

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Internet Dating; Be On The Lookout For These Red Flags

By Astrid Engels

The first thing you do after signing up for an internet dating site is create your profile, including photos and a list of your personal traits. If you're smart you'll include a few personal attention grabbing essentials and maybe even a humorous little story about yourself to showcase your sense fun.

Now the fun begins; it's time to start searching for the man or woman of your dreams. Using the site's built in search, you select your dream date's criteria, hit the search button and wait for the results. Seconds later, your matches are displayed.

As you read through the profiles looking for clues of his or her personality, there are a few things you need to keep an eye out for. These are character traits that are not particularly flattering. More importantly, they could be relationship deal breakers.

Too much sarcasm. We're all guilty of occasionally using sarcasm in the guise of a joke to poke a bit of fun at someone. Provided we do so discreetly, it's usually harmless. But if the guy or gal you're considering dating has nothing good to say about anyone in his or her life, what makes you think they'll talk about you any differently?

Previous relationships. Almost all of us have relationships in our past. And we likely keep some of them to ourselves because they weren't a highlight in our lives. Someone who has a half dozen or more creepy relationship tales to tell may be someone who hasn't learned anything from their past mistakes. They may enjoy playing the victim, but will you enjoy being portrayed as the "bad guy"?

Anger that's out of place. Sure, we all become incredibly angry at times. And if we handle it appropriately it's usually not a big deal. But be careful of someone who appears to be angry at the world. They likely blame everyone but themselves for their problems and sooner rather than later, you are going to get blamed for something.

Big Differences. Yes, opposites attract and variety is the spice of life. But if your differences are just too great, that spiciness is going to leave a bad taste in your mouth. Religion, drug use and the desire to have children are all examples of differences that, while they may not affect the short term, can be too difficult to overcome in the long run.

Dating and internet dating is all about getting to know someone. Figuring out whether that person as a whole "fits" you. Your choosing someone to spend your life with, so choose wisely!

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Use Muscle Confusion To Burn Fat

By Jillita Horton

Have you ever heard of "muscle confusion?" When muscles are confused as to what the heck is going on, they are forced to work harder. A hard-working muscle needs more energy to carry out the task. And where do muscles get energy from? Two sources, basically: food, and body fat.

Now, if you eat way to much every day, your muscles will get their energy supply from all this food, which is why an overweight person may be working out diligently seven days a week like a horse, and never lose a pound, because there are just too many beers, pizza and nachos in the picture.

But suppose you are like many people out there, watching what you eat, practicing portion control, counting calories, limiting sugar and fried foods, and exercising day after day after day -- and you just aren't seeing any results? Is this aggravating or what?

You are so serious about your workouts. Without fail, you make it to the gym almost every day. On your days off, you exercise maybe by riding a bike, walking or jogging at the park. Why isn't the weight coming off? Why are your legs still flabby? Why is your middle still mushy?

It's because your muscles have adapted to everything you are doing. This doesn't mean that your routines are necessarily easy. They may still bring on sweat and fatigue, and even a little muscle burn. So shouldn't you be losing more weight?

It's time for muscle confusion. If your routine is predictable to your muscles, they will adapt. An adapted muscle requires LESS work than a confused muscle. Less work equals fewer calories burned, less body fat used for energy.

So instead of doing the same thing week after week after week for your legs, change up your program every few weeks. You maybe have heard this should be done every 12 weeks. Sometimes the protocol is named as eight weeks. But strive for a big change every 2-4 weeks, and see what happens!

You can switch up your routines by using different pieces of equipment or doing different exercises for the major muscle groups.

So if you always use the horizontal leg press, instead use: declined leg press, Smith machine barbell squats, hack squats.

If you do lying-down hamstring curls, do them on the seated machine.

If your gym has more than one leg extension machine, try another leg extension machine. The different make and model will stimulate your muscles.

Do you use mostly machines for upper body work? Start using dumbbells and barbells. Confuse your muscles. Shock them.

Do you always use the elliptical trainer for cardio? Start jogging on the treadmill. If you use the same piece of cardio equipment three times a week, take one of those sessions and replace it with a group cardio class.

If you never use an incline on the treadmill, start using a high one, but do not hold on. Holding on will cheat you big-time. If you've been holding on at no incline, then let go and swing your arms and never hold on again. Your muscles will be gratefully confused.

If you've been walking all this time, then jog. If you use mostly free weights, replace some of these routines with machines.

Bottom line: Never let your body get used to your workout routine. This will ensure muscle confusion.

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Burn Belly Fat Fast: 3 Tips To Burn Fat Fast

By Tanapon Laohaniwatworn

Trying to burn belly fat fast is not a tough thing to do, though it can seem that way if you are trying to go about it the wrong way. This articles will show you some simple ways you can start to burn belly fat without jumping on the next crazy diet bandwagon or using an infomercial gimmick that promises easy results in just "6 minutes per day".

How to Burn Belly Fat Fast

Tip #1 - Avoid "quick fix" diets that promise overnight result

There are a lot of different "quick fixes", but what you really want to avoid is using a "crash diet." A crash diet essentially means that you try to starve yourself by purposely eating as little as possible in hopes it will help you burn fat. For example, many people try to eat only one meal a day and try to maintain this as a lifestyle. A crash diet will only cause you more grief then results. It will put your body into starvation mode and crash your metabolism. You may lose some belly fat but in the long run your metabolism will slow down and you will lose muscle mass. This makes it even harder to burn belly fat.

Don't use a crash diet. Try to eat 5-6 smaller meals in a day. This will keep you full, and will prevent spikes in your blood sugar. Eating high quality protein (such as chicken, turkey, fish, tuna, etc) will help you lose your belly fat as these foods take a lot of energy to digest.

Vitamin rich foods packed with minerals and high nutritional value such as fruits and vegetables will help you lose your belly fat because they are not very calorie dense. This means you can eat a lot of fruits and vegetables and not consume as many calories as you would eating processed food.

This helps you burn belly fat and do it fast because you are essentially eating more food but consuming fewer calories.

Tip #2 - Really push yourself when you workout!

If you do intense workouts as opposed to workouts where you never really push yourself, then you will be on the right track to burn belly fat fast. Pushing yourself hard when you workout gets your metabolism going and it will keep it elevated so you keep burning calories long after you are finished working out.

The trick is to push your self hard for short periods of time. Not for a long, extended workout.

Try the following exercises and read the instructions below. You will feel a huge difference between the intensity of this vs. your old workouts.

12 body weight squats

15 dumbbell swings

12 pushups

Do this series of exercises and do as many rounds as you can in 10 minutes. You will feel how intense this workout is if you do this!

Tip 3 - Instead of doing long, slow cardio, try doing intervals

Interval training will help you burn belly fat fast because it will help boost your metabolism for hours after you are done working out. High intensity interval training switches back and forth from high and low intensities, so you are still pushing your self out of your comfort zone for short, quick bursts.

Since you alternate between these intensities in a very meticulous way, you will find yourself working much harder than before. 20 minutes of interval training often feels like 60 minutes of normal, same speed cardio!

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Chelation Therapy

By Anju Mathur, M.D.

Chelation (pronounced key-LAY-shun) is a term derived from the Greek chele, meaning, "claw." A chelation agent is a chemical agent that, like a claw, grabs and chemically bonds with metals or other minerals and toxins. Simply put, chelation is the process in which chemicals bind with minerals. While chelation is a naturally occurring biological process (hemoglobin binds with iron to provide oxygen to tissues), synthesized chelation agents were first developed during World War II as a way to clear toxic metals from the body. Chemists discovered they could create a ring of molecules, which surround or "sequester" mineral molecules and carry them from the body through normal elimination.

Chelation is a well-known method of heavy metal and toxin removal in which a special chemical compound called a chelate - such as dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA), dimercaptopropane sulfonate (DMPS), or ethylene diaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) - is given, usually intravenously. The chelate finds and forms a single attachment to the toxin with one reversible bond. With that bond intact, the toxin is grabbed onto, pulled off the cell and carried from the body. However, the toxin is not neutralized during this process and is potentially able to attach to other cells on its way out.

A very effective chelate is EDTA (Ethylene Diamine Tetra-Acetic Acid), which is a synthetic amino acid. It is used for chelating heavy metals. It is believed to be non-toxic and has almost no side effects. Fifty years ago EDTA was first discovered and used for chelating lead from the body and now it is FDA-approved to be used in therapy for handling poisoning by lead, mercury, aluminum and cadmium. It also assists in eliminating calcium and arterial plaque which stops up blood vessels. However, it must be administered with supplements of vitamins and minerals, because it may also chelate much needed minerals and other substances from the body.

Chelation is the sole treatment used today for lead poisoning. But since the process removes other metals, too, in addition to mineral deposits, calcium-based plaques and other poisons, it benefits other medical conditions. Atherosclerosis (narrowing of the arteries by plaque deposits) and arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) and diabetes can be treated with chelation, as it has a very positive effect on the bloodstream.

For obvious reasons, double-blind studies have never been done to prove or disprove clinical benefits from bypass surgery or balloon angioplasty. The effectiveness of EDTA chelation therapy has been clinically proven to the same extent as bypass surgery and angioplasty, or more so, as established in data from the clinical studies published in the textbook of EDTA Chelation Therapy by Cranton.

A person undergoing chelation therapy has to also change the diet. Non-prescription supplements are recommended, as well as deleting refined and synthetic foods. Certainly it lets down the big drug companies, who would prefer to profit from expensive prescription drugs. Additionally, chelation has no need for surgeons, hospitals, cardiologists and the ever-increasing group of health care workers who make a great deal of money ($6 billion per year) from by pass surgery and balloon angioplasty, because chelation can be performed in a doctor's office. More people have received chelation than have ever had the above-mentioned procedures.

The most frequent criticism leveled by critics of non-traditional and alternative medical therapies is that new treatments are "unproven" because randomized, double-blind, controlled studies have not yet been done to prove effectiveness. Those criticisms ignore the fact that most medical procedures routinely performed in the practice of medicine are also unproven using those same criteria.

With 800,000 people per year dying in the United States alone from arteriosclerosis and its complications, despite the best of high-technology hospital and surgical care that is available, it is imperative that the public be given the option to receive EDTA chelation therapy. It would be senseless to continue to deny a therapy, which has the potential to greatly reduce long-term medical expenditures by reducing the need for far more expensive hospitalization, surgery or angioplasty. Savings to medical insurance companies with resulting reduction in insurance premiums could be great.

How about the improvement in quality of life?

Chelation patients have a tremendous increase in their expected life, although the chelation doctors are reluctant to admit it. It turns out that intravenous chelation therapy greatly reduces the risk of cancer as well as further heart disease. The chelation treatment deals with basic sources of all illness -- the tiny particles of metal, which accumulate over time and which greatly, increase the production of free radicals in the body. As the interior source of free radical production is reduced, by more than one million times, the acceleration of aging stops and people generally feel much younger.

Intravenous chelation therapy, first, removes those heavy metals, usually toxic, which cause tremendous multiplication of free radicals. This cuts out billions and billions of free radicals from even being created because the toxic metals have been removed from your body.

So, immediately all that poison being produced in the body STOPS.

The major causes of death in this country at present are heart disease and cancer. These can be reversed and prevented.

What chelation handles is the damage caused by free radicals; the therapeutic benefit of the chelating substance in reducing free radical activity and even reversing damage that had been done by those free radicals is astounding.

The information contained here in is meant to be used to educate the reader and is in no way intended to provide individual medical advice. Medical advice must only be obtained from a qualified health practitioner.

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