Detoxification Explained - Ways To Detox Your Body During A Weight Loss Program

Detox is the removal of toxins from the human body, the internal cleansing, nourishing and resting of your body parts. Detox is often practiced with the help of fasting, specific diets, colon therapy, chelation therapy, vitamin therapy and hyperthermia.

How do detox diets work?

A detoxification or cleansing process of the body organs increases the efficiency of the organs to get rid of toxins in your body. When the organs are overloaded with toxins, these toxins begin to accumulate in the body cells. The toxins can interfere with the normal functioning of the body. A normal body naturally detoxifies itself by flushing toxins out of body parts like liver, kidney and colon. Sometimes these body organs fail to remove the harmful toxins from your body. This is the time when you should detoxify.

What is a detox diet?

Detox diet refers to herbs, fasting and other methods of removing dietary and environmental toxins from your body to keep it in good health.There are different types of detox diets. It is generally a short term diet and contains foods which are high in fiber and water that help to eliminate toxins from the body.

You can start with a raw food diet which is excellent for detoxification because raw fruits contain lots of fiber. For instance, you can practice apple diets. During this detox diet you only consume fresh organic apples, pure unfiltered apple juice, apple sauce, baked apples or any food with apple cider vinegar. Another detox diet alternative is drinking vegetable juices such as cucumber juice, orange juice, lime juice, carrot juice or tomato juice. Juices, excluding their pulp, are an excellent source of vitamins, minerals, antidioxants and enzymes. Furthermore, you are able to drink a lot more juice compared to the fruit or vegetable you are able to eat in one sitting.

Detoxifaction Benefits

Detoxification is the process of cleansing impurities from body parts like kidney, lymph, liver, intestines and skin. It completely rejuvenates the entire excretory system and clears clogged bowels and blocked blood vessels. Detox gives organs a break, encourages the liver to flush toxins from the body and enhances blood circulation. After a week or two you will feel fitter and slimmer. You will be loaded with lots of energy and some of your health problems will disappear.

Detox diets are a valuable tool for healthy fat loss. Usually, they are used either when someone is embarking on a diet or on and off during a weight loss program.
By : Jeff Russell

Acne

Acne occurs when dead skin cells, sebum and bacteria clog your pores. In the U.S., about 45 million people have acne. You can get acne at any age; 85 percent with the condition are between the ages of 15 and 24. Acne also tends to be more common and severe in males than females.

Here's how pimples generally develop:

• Your skin has millions of tiny hair follicles (also called pores), which are tiny holes in your skin.
• These pores are attached to oil glands under your skin, which make sebum - an oily, somewhat sticky substance that helps bring dead skin cells to the surface.
• Sometimes, these tiny hairs, sebum and dead skin cells clump together, forming a plug.
• The plug prevents the sebum from reaching the skin surface, causing further build-up of sebum.
• Sebum and dead skin cells create the perfect mix for a certain bacteria (Propionibacterium acnes) to grow.
• In response, your body's natural defenses send bacteria-fighting white blood cells to try to destroy the bacteria; this produces redness, swelling, heat and/or pain.
• Now, once the wall of the plugged follicle breaks down, the sebum, dead skin cells and bacteria spill into the nearby skin.
• And that's what leads to acne lesions.

by http://www.healthatoz.com

Headache

Everyone gets headaches, but not everyone gets the same kind. Some headaches are mild annoyances that go away with over-the-counter pain relievers and rest. Others, like migraines, can shut down a person's life during an attack. About 20 million Americans see a doctor each year for headaches.

Tension, migraine and cluster are types of headaches. The most common is a tension headache, usually from stress, which feels like a tight band around your head. Tension headaches usually go away with rest and over-the-counter medications.

Migraine and cluster headaches are types of vascular headaches. Physical exertion increases the headache pain in vascular headaches. The blood vessels in the tissue surrounding the head dilate or swell, causing your head to throb with pain. Cluster headaches are much less common than migraines, the most common type of vascular headache.

Cluster headaches usually strike several times in rapid succession - lasting weeks or months. Cluster headaches are more common among men and can be extremely painful.

Migraine headaches are different because they involve other parts of the body in addition to the brain. Affecting 28 million Americans, they usually cause severe pain on one or both sides of the head and can be accompanied by nausea and vomiting, light sensitivity, distorted vision and dizziness.

A rebound headache is common in migraine patients, but it can also happen if you take pain relievers more than two or three times a week.

Many people who think they are having sinus headaches may be actually suffering from migraines. A sinus headache usually means constant pain and tenderness over the affected sinus. It is characterized by a deep, dull ache made worse by head movements or straining.

Prognosis

Most headaches are not caused by serious conditions and usually can be treated with over-the-counter medicines. Migraines and other types of serious head pain may need prescription treatments and monitoring by a doctor.

Common Flu Strain Resistant to Popular Antiviral Drug

HURSDAY, Jan. 8 (HealthDay News) -- The most common strain of flu this season is resistant to the popular antiviral drug Tamiflu, but government health officials said Thursday there is no reason to panic.

The fact that the flu season so far has been slow, and that other drugs work well against this particular flu virus, has health officials adopting a watchful attitude for now.

While the cause of the mutation that made the virus resistant to Tamiflu (oseltamivir) isn't known, experts suspect it was caused by the wide use of Tamiflu in other countries to treat upper respiratory infections.

There were reports last year from Europe and other countries that a certain type of flu -- H1N1 -- was resistant to oseltamivir, according to Dr. Joseph Bresee, chief of flu prevention at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

This year, the CDC was on the lookout for flu resistance to Tamiflu in the United States and, sure enough, it showed up. Moreover, the proportion of the strain that is resistant has gone up from around 10 percent last year to all of the H1N1 strains this year, Bresee said.

Two weeks ago, the CDC issued new guidelines urging doctors to test suspected flu cases to see if they are influenza A or influenza B, and if they are A, whether they are H1 or H3 viruses, Bresee said.

"We didn't want to make a big deal out of this," Bresee said. "We think it's interesting. We think it's worth monitoring closely, but we are still watching. When we see more, then we will get a better sense of what the public health impact of it is. We don't have a good feel of that yet."

The resistant strain is the most common type of flu circulating in the United States right now, but the season is early and the number of cases is low, Bresee said.

As more flu cases are reported, other strains of the virus may become more common, Bresee added.

"What happens frequently is that one type of flu will circulate at one time in the season and be replaced by another type later in the season, so in a week's time, a month's time, we may have mostly H3s or mostly Bs, which oseltamivir works wonderfully for," he explained.

To be most effective, Tamiflu, made by Roche, needs to taken within 48 hours after flu symptoms appear, Bresee said. "Generally, antivirals for influenza are underused in the U.S.," he added.

Most people with flu are not treated, Bresee noted. "Clearly, it's a self-limited disease and you will get over it," he said.

Bresee noted there are alternatives to Tamiflu, including Relenza (zanamivir) made by GlaxoSmithKline. "The viruses that we are seeing that are resistant to Tamiflu are sensitive to zanamivir," he said.

Zanamivir has some limitations, Bresee said. It can't be given to young children and patients with certain lung diseases.

Other treatment options include the antiviral rimantadine (brand name Flumadine).

Bresee added that all the circulating flu stains are prevented by the flu vaccine, and it's not too late to get vaccinated. "Folks who haven't gotten the vaccine so far can still go get it," he said.

Dr. Pascal James Imperato, dean and Distinguished Service Professor of the Graduate Program in Public Health at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in New York City, thinks resistance to Tamiflu developed because of its use in other countries to treat upper respiratory infections.

"The emerging resistance of H1N1 influenza strains to oseltamivir was first noted a few years ago," Imperato said. "At present, based on analyses of H1N1 isolates from 16 countries in 2008, some 31 percent demonstrated resistance to Tamiflu."

Tamiflu resistance has not been documented for the two other common current human influenza strains, H3N2 and influenza B, or for avian influenza (H5N1), Imperato said.

"On the face of it, the emergence of resistance in the presence of limited drug use would seem unusual," Imperato said. "However, in many areas of the world, there is significant Tamiflu use for upper respiratory infections. It is believed that minor mutations in the H1N1 virus can in effect block the action of Tamiflu," he said.

It is important to note that no H1N1 influenza resistance to Relenza has developed, Imperato said. "This is the other drug in the neuraminidase group used to prevent and treat influenza," he said.

Flu usually causes about 36,000 deaths in the United States each year. Most deaths are among the elderly, very young or those with medical conditions such as asthma or heart disease. Pneumonia resulting from flu is usually the fatal complication.

More information

For more on the flu, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Sources: HealthDay

10 Essential Health Tips

1. Move More
Make it a daily challenge to find ways to move your body. Climb stairs if given a choice between that and escalators or elevators. Walk your dog; chase your kids; toss balls with friends, mow the lawn. Anything that moves your limbs is not only a fitness tool, it's a stress buster. Think 'move' in small increments of time. It doesn't have to be an hour in the gym or a 45-minute aerobic dance class or tai chi or kickboxing. But that's great when you're up to it. Meanwhile, move more. Thought for the day: Cha, Cha, Cha…. Then do it!

2. Cut Fat
Avoid the obvious such as fried foods, burgers and other fatty meats (i.e. pork, bacon, ham, salami, ribs and sausage). Dairy products such as cheese, cottage cheese, milk and cream should be eaten in low fat versions. Nuts and sandwich meats, mayonnaise, margarine, butter and sauces should be eaten in limited amounts. Most are available in lower fat versions such as substitute butter, fat free cheeses and mayonnaise. Thought for the day: Lean, mean, fat-burning machine…. Then be one!

3. Quit Smoking
The jury is definitely in on this verdict. Ever since 1960 when the Surgeon General announced that smoking was harmful to your health, Americans have been reducing their use of tobacco products that kill. Just recently, we've seen a surge in smoking in adolescents and teens. Could it be the Hollywood influence? It seems the stars in every movie of late smoke cigarettes. Beware. Warn your children of the false romance or 'tough guy' stance of Hollywood smokers. Thought for the day: Give up just one cigarette…. the next one.

4. Reduce Stress
Easier said than done, stress busters come in many forms. Some techniques recommended by experts are to think positive thoughts. Spend 30 minutes a day doing something you like. (i.e.,Soak in a hot tub; walk on the beach or in a park; read a good book; visit a friend; play with your dog; listen to soothing music; watch a funny movie. Get a massage, a facial or a haircut. Meditate. Count to ten before losing your temper or getting aggravated. Avoid difficult people when possible. Thought for the day: When seeing red, think pink clouds….then float on them.

5. Protect Yourself from Pollution
If you can't live in a smog-free environment, at least avoid smoke-filled rooms, high traffic areas, breathing in highway fumes and exercising near busy thoroughfares. Exercise outside when the smog rating is low. Exercise indoors in air conditioning when air quality is good. Plant lots of shrubbery in your yard. It's a good pollution and dirt from the street deterrent. Thought for the day: 'Smoke gets in your eyes'…and your mouth, and your nose and your lungs as do pollutants….hum the tune daily.

6. Wear Your Seat Belt
Statistics show that seat belts add to longevity and help alleviate potential injuries in car crashes. Thought for the day: Buckle down and buckle up.

7. Floss Your Teeth
Recent studies make a direct connection between longevity and teeth flossing. Nobody knows exactly why. Perhaps it's because people who floss tend to be more health conscious than people who don't? Thought for the day: Floss and be your body's boss.

8. Avoid Excessive Drinking
While recent studies show a glass of wine or one drink a day (two for men) can help protect against heart disease, more than that can cause other health problems such as liver and kidney disease and cancer. Thought for the day: A jug of wine should last a long time.

9. Keep a Positive Mental Outlook
There's a definitive connection between living well and healthfully and having a cheerful outlook on life. Thought for the day: You can't be unhappy when you're smiling or singing.

10. Choose Your Parents Well
The link between genetics and health is a powerful one. But just because one or both of your parents died young in ill health doesn't mean you cannot counteract the genetic pool handed you. Thought for the day: Follow these basic tips for healthy living and you can better control your own destiny.