Welcome to Michael's Article Collection

How to Avoid the Flu this Holiday Season

No flu shot for you this year? Can you keep yourself safe? Yes! Even though flu viruses may be lurking at the next holiday party you attend, you can take simple steps to avoid the bugs. Prevention can mean the difference between a joyous holiday season and a miserable week in bed coughing and sneezing. The holiday season is a social time, and many of the things Miss Manners tells us to do to be. . .

Quit Smoking: Why People Do Bad Things (Even When They Kn...

Do you do Bad Things? Even though you know you shouldn't?It's not your fault. It really isn't. You know you should stop doing it, but no matter how much you know that, and how much you try, you just can't stop!Everyone knows how to lose weight. Don't eat fattening foods. Exercise. Everyone knows how to give up smoking. Don’t light the cigarette. Yet having this knowledge just isn't enough. Some. . .

Make Your New Year's Resolution Stick

The New Year is upon us. Do you have a New Year’s Resolution? Well, if you’re like most Americans (88 percent in 2001 according to a GNC poll), you have at least one resolution. And, if you are like the majority of these promise-makers, your resolution is probably related to health and fitness. In 2001 (according to GNC), 55 percent promised to eat healthier, 50 percent resolved to exercise mor. . .

Herbs as medicines.

Herbs or medicinal plants have a long history in treating disease. In traditional Chinese medicine, for example, the written history of herbal medicine goes back over 2000 years and herbalists in the West have used “weeds” equally long to treat that which ails us. We are all familiar with the virtues of Garlic, Chamomile, Peppermint, Lavender, and other common herbs.Interest in medicinal herbs . . .

Successful New You Resolutions in Ten Strategic Steps

Whether you are setting personal or business goals, the key to successful New Years Resolutions is to create a strategic plan. The following steps will guide you through the goal setting and achievement process.1. Assess Your Starting Point: Take an accurate and detailed assessment of where you presently are relative to the goal you would like to achieve.2. Consider Your Values: Goals based on . . .

Ten Winter Skin Savers

Winter brings with it drier, rougher skin, flakiness and itchiness and chapped sore lips. Combat winter skin woes with these tips from the ancient healing tradition of ayurveda:1. Drink lots of water. Internal hydration keeps skin cells plump and healthy. Water also helps transport nutrients to skin cells, keeping them nourished. According to ayurvedic healers, water should be at room temperatu. . .

How to spot bad mole?

This morning you took a bath. The warm water feels so nice during the cold winter day. There was some funny skin itching on you back. You looked in the mirror, turned this way , that way. There is small mole on your back You remember this spot had been there for years, since childhood. Did this spot get that strange itching? Recently you have heard the news that there are more than 50000 of new. . .

Pain in the butt. How to deal with hemorrhoids?

This is very sensitive area of your body. Too private. Nobody likes when something is wrong over there. However it happens.Hemorrhoids occur practically in everyone. Though hemorrhoids cause problems in 1 out of 25 people. Mostly those are people between 45 and 65 years of age.You find a blood on toilet tissue. Bright red blood. Ok, now what? You do not know why you bleed. It could be rectal ca. . .

You Are What You Eat - Genetically Modified Food

Whenever we sit down to eat, we assume that the foods we consume are good for us, like milk, vegetables, fruits, and grains. Well, think again. In the last decade the foods we know (corn, tomato, potato, soybean, strawberries) have drastically changed due to the introduction of genetically modified (another word is genetically engineered) organisms in 1994. Over 60% of the items on your local . . .

Telepathic Communication With Animals

Animal Communication, or telepathy with animals, is as common an occurrence in some people's lives as it is an oddity in the lives of others. Telepathy is an energetic exchange between two sentient beings for the purpose of communication. Combined with body language and sometimes vocalizations, animals use this form of communication among themselves and even across species. Only humans in We. . .

Arthritis and Aromatherapy

Arthritis is an inflammation of the joints and is characterized by pain, stiffness, swelling, decreased range of movement and at a more serious stage deformity.Aromatherapy is a holistic approach to health and wellness by means of aromatic, plant derived scents. It is very much a traditonal method as well as a science that encompasses the intuitive and creative aspects of preparing special purp. . .

Hard-wired for Exercise

Exercise will make you more fit, but that’s only a small part of the story, according to Philip J. Goscienski, M.D. “Humans are designed for much more physical activity than most of us get,” says Dr. Goscienski, author of Health Secrets of the Stone Age, “and every cell of the body benefits from it. Barely 20 percent of Americans are physically active enough to enjoy those benefits.”The 80 perc. . .

Kids and The Low-Carb Lifestyle

Some pediatricians have been prescribing a low-carb diet for a select group of children for decades, and what they have seen is very unsettling. The ketogenic diet was developed more than 80 years ago in order to control seizures that did not respond to the anticonvulsant medications that were available then. There are now dozens of medications that help to control seizures but the ketogenic di. . .

Got a Headache? Painkillers Are NOT the Solution!

Say you had a stressful day at work, didn't get enough sleep the night before and as a result you've got a bad headache. What do you do? It's easy! You take good old Tylenol or other over-the-counter medicine. And it helps! No more headache, the world is bright again. The next day you wake up with the headache again. This time your headache is tolerable but dull and constant. It's a good thing . . .

Quit Trying To Quit Smoking

When new clients come in to see me the first thing I want to know from them is if they are ready to quit trying to quit smoking. Most people that come into my office intend to use hypnosis to stop an unwanted habit such as smoking. They also have tried other methods before deciding on hypnosis. They have failed in the past and one of the reasons that I attribute to those failures is that they w. . .

Whither Low-Carb?

Fads fade for a reason. Like pet rocks, low-carb diets will disappear because they just don’t do anything worthwhile. The dropout rate is high – about 50 percent – because the diets are boring and are unpalatable to most people. More than 90 percent of dieters return to their previous weight within 5 years, most of them even sooner. Minor side effects such as headache, fuzzy thinking, irritabil. . .

Make it a Gainless Holiday

Christmas gain is New Year’s pain! Starting early is the secret to avoiding the typical 10-pound holiday season accumulation of fat. (Come now – you didn’t think it was muscle, did you?) Develop a few good habits before Thanksgiving and you’re likely to start 2005 weighing no more than you did before, maybe even less. Here are 5 tips that will help you through the holidays.1. Set a mental limit. . .

Eat Like a Stone Ager Without Feeling like One

The word is getting around that the modern dietary lifestyle is one of the reasons why Americans are overweight and burdened by chronic disease. The diet that’s right for us, according to many experts, is what our Stone Age ancestors ate. But is that realistic? Didn’t they eat food raw, and have lots of meat?“There are loads of misconceptions about the Stone Age,” says physician-author Philip J. . .

Breaking the Breakfast Barrier

Why was breakfast fun when you were a kid? Because Mom made it, it was probably sugary, and you didn’t have to do the dishes!Now you’re the whole show, maybe for the rest of the family, and there’s just never enough time in the morning to get the kids to school and for you to get what most nutritionists have pegged as the most important meal of the day. You know that sugar coating is not good, . . .

Another Dangerous Drug – when will it end?

“Risks found with another pain killer” – This is the headline of an article from the New York Times. Surprise! Once again another dangerous “pain killer” Drug is found to cause heart attacks, stroke and death in unsuspecting users. This time it is Celebrex™. Remember that this drug was named by David Graham, an employee of the fda’s office of drug safety, as one of the top five dangerous drugs. . .

Set Yourself Stress-Free

Stress in our personal and professional lives is ever changing and constantly on the rise. Everyday we’re expected to do more and more with less and less - less resources, less energy and less time. In order to master the ability to manage stress, it’s important to first remove one of the biggest obstacles that stands between chaos and calm - SELF. Often we are one of the biggest contributors t. . .

Five Ways to Reduce Environmental Stress

Life is stressful enough without allowing the physical environment - air quality, lighting, noise, and other controllable factors - to intensify day-to-day stress. Especially in the Fall and Winter is where you experience less daylight and more mood swings. The great thing about environmental stress is that in most cases we can control what is in our environment that is causing the stress. Take. . .

7 Strategies To Stop Eating Junk Food !

FACT: Obesity accounts for 300,000 deaths in the U.S. alone.Research into junk food and fast food restaurants have found that there is a direct relationship between the number of fast food restaurants located within your local area and obesity rates.The way in which we eat, and what we eat, is of vital importance to our state of health. The convenience and habitual nature of the problem mean . . .

3 Amazing ways to Shape up in Less than 7 days!

Imagine you need to look great to get all the attention at the biggest party of the year. The cloak has already started ticking and you have got 7 days to fix yourself for the D-Day. If you can take out 15 to 30 minutes in the next few days, you can be ready for action.Step 1: Exercise: Start with skipping and jogging and chin-ups by hanging from a rod for warming up. Two steps of crunches or s. . .

Medical Assistant: Distance Education for the Medical Ass...

Medical Assistant distance education is emerging to meet the demands of a new generation of students in the twenty first century. St. Augustine Medical Assistant School distance education program for medical assistant presents a good model for this integration of technology with medical assistant education. Distance education, particularly in its most recent form, online education, is being int. . .

A Powerful Year-End Meditation

At the close of the year, we often find ourselves thinking ahead to the next year. We think about all the things we didn't accomplish this year, and vow to accomplish them next year. Few of us take the time to reflect on the past year and look at our successes and the experiences that we have learned from.Before you start thinking about New Year's Resolutions, take some time to meditate on th. . .

11 Top Secrets for Dieting Success

If dieting were easy, I suppose we’d all be thin. As we are not, here are 11 tips that successful people use to lose weight. They can help you succeed too. SUCCESS TIP NO. 1: DRINK 8-10 GLASSES OF WATER A DAYOkay, for many people this is a big problem. Water doesn’t taste all that great generally because water doesn’t really “taste” like anything. Drinking water 8 . . .

Understand the Science of Obesity And You're On Your Way ...

Many people think obesity means that a person is overweight, but that's not exactly true. An overweight person has a surplus amount of weight that includes muscle, bone, fat and water. An obese person has a surplus of body fat. Body Mass Index (BMI) is commonly used to determine if a person is obese or not. A person with a BMI over 30 is considered to be obese, and a BMI over 40 is considered t. . .

Exposing the "Best" Source of Protein Myth

An American culture that is marked by a chronic lack of time and the need to achieve is often in pursuit of the “best” something or other. These “best” lists tend to improve time efficiency they help people make quick decisions without a lot of research or “trial and error”. However, as with most inventions, there is a potentially harmful application of these very popular “best” lists. There ar. . .

Finding the Elusive "Complete" Protein Source

Images of “protein powder” containers with accomplished bodybuilders on their labels help inform consumers that protein is a critical macronutrient in strength training success. Yet what is sometimes lost in this protein-bodybuilding link is that protein is an essential component for everyone, regardless of physical activity. Even those who live sedentary lives must ensure that their protein in. . .

Current Dietary Recommendations in Strength Training

Efforts to expand the limits of human strength and endurance have kept the scientist and the athlete occupied for centuries. The quest for another pound of muscle, or to lift next couple of kilos has been relentlessly pursued in the gym and the laboratory alike. As the questions and conquests became more challenging, the answers have become more elusive and complicated. Few concepts and conclus. . .

Eating Healthy in a Time-Starved World

Americans are literally running out of time. Achieving a work-life balance, which is still a luxury for tens of millions of working parents, has been overtaken by an even greater demand: a work-life-nutrition balance. Unfortunately, this increasing demand for nutrition has not been accompanied by a useful strategy that enables people to reclaim time from their harried lives. The result of this . . .

Nutrition Supplements for Aging Americans

While America has given birth to the song “Young at Heart”, and the phrase “you’re as young as you feel!” can be heard from coast to coast by millions of people, demographic trend point firmly toward the other direction: aging. Currently, the 65+ population comprises slightly more than 12% (35 million) of the total US population. By 2030, this percentage is predicted to almost double to just be. . .

The Isometric Diet and Balanced Health

The concept isometric has been a part of the health care vocabulary for decades. The most common application of the term, until now, has been with respect to physical exercise. Taken from the Greek root word Iso, meaning equal, the familiar term Isometric exercises involves applying equal weight to achieve strength goals. Fairly recently, health researchers have discovered another innovative ap. . .

Inactive Alert: Essential Proteins for Sedentary People

The importance of protein in diet has been clearly established by nutritional scientists, and widely accepted by athletes. Among other vital functions, protein is indispensable for creating muscle. Just as important is protein’s essential ability to repair damaged muscles after training[i]. While the value of protein in diet has been accepted and promoted within the athletic community, it has b. . .

Not All Protein is Created Equally

America’s focus on nutritious eating began to receive national attention in the 1940s when President Roosevelt introduced the RDA, or Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) model. This model, which took on the shape of a pyramid in the 1980s (and hence now goes by the term “food pyramid”), has gone through a number of iterations since its inception more than 60 years ago[i]. This change and evolutio. . .

Rediscovering Protein - Corrective Action in the American...

Protein must be a part of a healthy diet for a simple reason: it is essential for life. Every single cell in the human body -- including bones, blood, skin, chemicals, and enzymes -- depend on protein for effective operation.[i]Yet while Americans are more health-conscious than ever before, the national health dialogue continues to be dominated by a cynical theme: malnutrition. Many Americans a. . .

The Danger of Curbing Hunger Artificially

Unhealthy eating is a harmful problem in America, and contrary to a very outdated perception, this harm is not limited to those who suffer from obesity[1]. In reality, according to the Directors of Health Promotion and Education, the majority of Americans exhibit unhealthy eating habits, with just over one in four women and only one in five men claiming to eat the minimum five daily servings of. . .

Turning an Addictive Snack into a Complete Meal

The proliferation of fast food restaurants, convenience stores, and vending machines in virtually every corner of residential America has created a serious nutritional problem. “Snacking” – a harmless-sounding verb that deceptively implies something unobjectionable – has reached addictive proportions[i]. The manifestation of this addiction goes beyond mere obesity something that is widely cons. . .

Overall Risk of Cancer Cut By 37%...

What do you think about this? Overall cancer risk reduced by 37% Overall reduction in cancer mortality rates by 50% 30% reduction of colorectal cancer. Sounds like the sort of claims someone standing on a soapbox trying to sell snake oil would make... but SURPRISE... these statements are coming from the mainstream... and the results are from simple natural multi-vitamins NOT pharmaceutical dr. . .

The Business Traveler’s Diet Problem: Staying Fit When on...

Despite the fact that accurate nutrition information can be accessed by almost anyone with an Internet connection or a library card, the 21st century has picked up where the last one left off: one dominated by poor eating habits. The reason for this national dietary deficiency is not due to any single source or kind of nutrition misinformation. Nor can it be said that a lack of interest or effo. . .

Protein - The Denominator Customary to All Diets

The Human Body is in a constant flux with the environment. Matter and molecules flow in and out, casting themselves into its complexities. Although the body lends them structure, it is the intake—the diet—that decides its physique. To control what goes in a diet is to choose what stays inside. Dietary decisions reflect an awareness of metabolism and the nutrients needed to modify it. There may . . .

Protein and Endurance Sports

Endurance Sports are like music concerts. They start at a low key, setting a steady rhythm and culminate into a crescendo that enthralls the spectator and the athlete. And not unlike an orchestra, endurance demands a flawless performance from every organ, testing the limits of their resilience. As each system, conducted by the human will, endures a pace bordering on fatigue, the athlete begins . . .

Unchaining Yourself from an Unhealthy Food Addiction

The cry of “I have no willpower!” often emerges from the consumers who jokingly surrender to their lack of will when it comes to eating something clearly unhealthy. However, scientific nutritional research has identified that something much more serious – much more dangerous – is often at work here. For many people, what they perceive as a harmless lack of willpower is actually an addiction an . . .

Capsulized Food: The Next Step in Food Evolution

Anyone who has spent a day fasting from food, or who has even skipped a meal, knows just how much time we save when we are not provisioning and consuming meals. Of course, efficiency is not our only concern when it comes to eating. If we were to articulate our fundamental requirements for food, we would probably come up with the following: (1) it should give us the nutrition our bodies need; . . .

Catching a Killer - New Steps Taken in Treating Mesothelioma

There’s a silent killer out there. It creeps up on its victims, attacks them quietly and unsuspectingly, and initiates a wound that develops over many years before it eventually causes pain. This unstoppable murderer is known as mesothelioma.Mesothelioma is a malignant tumor that develops on the mesothelial cells of either the lungs, heart or abdominal organs, and plagues those who have been ex. . .

Ammonia Advanced

"Ammonia is introduced by the fish waste and decomposing organic debris, is the most toxic nitrogen compound. It is present in two forms in the pond - free and ionized. Free ammonia is the most toxic and will cause death in very low concentrations. Problems associated with non-lethal elevated levels of ammonia include gill disease, dropsy and finrot. The higher the pH and the temperature, and t. . .

Back pain, joint pain, knee pain, arthritis and a host of...

"The smallest pain in our little finger gives us more concern than the destruction of millions of our fellow beings." William Hazlitt [1778-1830. British Essayist]If "The smallest pain in our little finger gives us more concern..." then what happens when we have back, knee or joint pain?Did you know that 80% of Americans will battle with back pain at some point in their lives? 7 million people. . .

How Do You Know It’s Alzheimers?

There are many different causes of dementia. Alzheimer’s disease is just one of the most common. Some forms of dementia can be reversed. Unfortunately, despite recent medical advances, Alzheimer’s cannot. That’s why it’s crucial to pinpoint the exact cause of the symptoms.Expect your doctor to spend a great deal of time gathering the patient’s complete medical history, doing a thorough examinat. . .

The Perfect Diet Just for You

You decide to start a new diet plan. You shop around, get ideas, talk to friends, family, co-workers, forum friends, chat room buddies…then you choose the one that sounds best and works within your budget and sign up. Next comes the fun part of learning a new system. You count calories, track servings, buy special foods, hit the treadmill, plan meals around special recipes, weigh in regul. . .