What Everyone Ought To Know About These Everyday Foods

Looking after you wellness and wellbeing is often a simple matter of nutrition. Unfortunately, many people do not know which foods are their friends and which are their enemies. When it comes to cognitive function, nutrition is even more important as the brain relies on getting the right balance of vitamins and minerals to work properly, and those who consume a diet made up of junk food are depriving their brain of the chance to function to its best ability. Nutritionists advise us to consume brain-healthy foods and also to avoid certain types of food that are known for limiting the activity of the brain. Not many people know about the types of foods that can kill of their intelligence, however, so we’ve made a list of them here.

 

1. Sugary foods. Sugar, as we know, is terrible in terms of making us gain weight, but it can also be responsible for declining brain function. Lots of sugar consumption can lead to neurological problems in the long-term, as well as affecting the memory. Sugar also affects your ability to learn, so children and adults alike are advised to steer clear of products that are pre-baked and contain sugar, corn syrup or high levels of fructose.


2. More well-known for the damage it can do to the liver, alcohol can also have a devastating effect on the brain. It causes something called ‘brain fog’ which results in mental confusion and a lack of ability to think clearly or remember events from the immediate or distant past. High levels of alcohol can lead to this ‘brain fog’, but fortunately, cutting down on your alcohol intake may help restore your brain function to normal.


3. Junk food is also a key culprit, as a study has revealed that these types of food can actually change the brain chemistry, leading to symptoms such as anxiety and depression. They can also be addictive and can lead to withdrawal symptoms, so are best avoided.

Categories: Brain, brain fog, brain function, Damage, Food, foods, function, high levels, junk food, Sugar, Wellness

What Everyone Ought To Know About Drinking Soda

You’ve probably heard plenty of reports that claim that drinking soda is bad for your wellness, but is this really the truth? The answer to this question is a resounding yes: soda does indeed do immeasurable damage to your health and wellbeing.

 

Drinking soda can cause all kinds of health issues, including making you gain weight and damaging your heart. Not drinking soda would make a significant difference to your health and therefore everyone should aim towards cutting these kinds of beverages out of their lives for good. Here are some of the main benefits of cutting soda out of your diet for good:

 

1. You’ll avoid filling up on empty calories. There are no nutrients whatsoever in carbonated beverages. That means that all of the calories you take into your body in this form are what is known as ‘empty’ calories, i.e. they do you no good whatsoever and simply translate directly as weight gain. Not only that, soda can actually inhibit other important nutrients from being absorbed by your body, such as calcium.


2. You might be thinner. Research has shown that those who drink soda on a regular basis consume around 10 percent more calories than those who drink other kinds of beverages. This can lead directly to a gain of around 20 pounds per year, which can all add up very significantly. The amount of soft drinks consumed by the average person per year has been increasing roughly in line with the increasing rates of obesity, and many lead scientists believe that the two sets of figures are related inextricably.


3. You’re less likely to suffer from Type 2 diabetes. Those who drink lots of sweetened drinks every day are more likely to develop the disease than those who drink little or no carbonated sweet beverages. The high levels of fructose corn syrup in the drinks is responsible for raising glucose levels, which in turn increases the risk of contracting the disease.

Categories: beverages, calories, Damage, drink, Drinking, drinking soda, soda

How To Keep Asthma In Check And Stay Alive

Asthma is a condition which is so common that it’s often overlooked in terms of seriousness. The fact is that a good deal of people die from asthma related complications every single year and though we’ve got a lot of medication to help prevent this, not everyone has access to it. 80% of all asthma related deaths each year occurs in developing countries where their medical care simply doesn’t have the resources to supply inhalers and similar healthcare. Asthma is a massive cause of largely preventable death and it should never be considered to be anything other than dangerous. Even though we’re equipped to deal with it in the UK there are two or three preventable asthma deaths in schools each year. These are children who weren’t quick enough to act or didn’t have friends or teachers who knew what to do.

 

Education is paramount when it comes to treating conditions like asthma. Yes, the drugs are going to help but only if you and the people you spend your time with know how to use them. If you forget your inhaler one day and you have an asthma attack then that inhaler is useless to you. You’ll need to know how to best deal with an attack without the safety net of an inhaler, if you don’t then you could die.

 

In the event of an asthma attack the most important thing you can do is contact the emergency services. This is especially important if you don’t have your inhaler and may not be necessary if you have it. Take and hold deep breaths, the additional levels of CO2 in your blood will help slow down the inflammation. Steam from a shower can be helpful, as is getting out of range of whatever set off your attack in the first place. We’ve got a whole article dedicated to the best ways to combat an asthma attack without your inhaler, please read that for more information on keeping yourself safe from asthma!

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How To Keep Asthma In Check And Stay Alive

Categories: Asthma, Damage, Death

How Does Diabetes Damage your Eyes?

There are several health complaints which you might associate with diabetes depending on how much you know about the condition. These are gangrene leading to amputation and blindness. Both are obviously very severe and when left unmanaged can spiral out of control and lead to a nasty end. What you might not be as aware of is just why the conditions occur in the first place. Why would a condition which affects your blood sugar levels damage your eyesight?

Well, high levels of blood-sugar damage us on a micro-vascular level, meaning it harms the tiniest blood vessels in our body. Think of blood-sugar as tiny crystals of sugar in the blood, minuscule but sharp like broken glass. In the tighter vessel these crystals are going to leave tiny rips and tears or start to clog it up altogether. The eyes are incredibly delicate organs and as such any damage, no matter how small is dangerous and may affect our eyesight.

There are two main types of diabetic retinopathy (diabetes causes eyes issues) these are:
Non-Proliferative Retinopathy – The first stage of the disease in which the constantly fluctuating levels of blood-sugar start to damage the walls of blood vessels. As I say, crystals leaving tears. These vessels then begin to leak and a leaking blood vessel causes swelling. In the eye this swelling causes a blurring of the vision in which straight lines may appear wavy as the retina bulges and changes shape.

Proliferative Retinopathy – The disease’s second stage in which the eyes try and make up for the damaged and leaking blood vessels by creating new ones. These are weak and take up too much space, crowding your delicate eyes. These vessels can't take the pressure and will burst and then bleed, causing scarring and potential blindness.

Categories: Damage, Diabetes, eyes