History of Health and Medicine

Hi,

While surfing the web, I found these great quotes:

You can see the original quotes on the website http://www.resultsproject.net/history.html

“One-quarter of what you eat keeps you alive. The other three-quarters keeps your doctor alive.” (Hieroglyph found in an ancient Egyptian tomb.)

“At the end of times the merchants of the word will deceive the nations of the world through their Pharmacia.” (sorcery) – Rev 18:23

“Doctors give drugs of which they know little, into bodies, of which they know less, for diseases of which they know nothing at all.” Voltaire

“The physician should not treat the disease but the patient who is suffering from it.” Maimonides

“Of several remedies, the physician should choose the least sensational.” Hippocrates

“Let food be thy medicine, and let thy medicine be food.” Hippocrates

“And we have made of ourselves living cesspools, and driven doctors to invent names for our diseases.” Plato

“When you are sick of sickness, you are no longer sick.” Old Chinese Proverb

“The carpenter desires timber, the physician disease.” Rig Veda IX. 7.9

“What ails the physician that he dies of the disease. That he would have cured in time gone by? There died alike he who administered the drug and he who took it, and he who imported and sold the drug, and he who bought it.” (Verses upon the death in Baghdad of the physician Yuhanna ibn Masawayh in the year 857)

“The work of the doctor will, in the future, be ever more that of an educator, and ever less that of a man who treats ailments.” Lord Horder

“All drugs are poisons the benefit depends on the dosage.” Philippus Theophrastrus Bombast that of Aureolus Paracelsus (1493-1541)

“All that man needs for health and healing has been provided by God in nature, the challenge of science is to find it.” Philippus Theophrastrus Bombast that of Aureolus Paracelsus (1493-1541)

“I find medicine is the best of all trades because whether you do any good or not you still get your money.” (Moliere: “A Physician in Spite of Himself,” 1664)

“Never, no never does Nature say one thing and wisdom another.” Johann Christolph Frederick von Schuller

“Unless we put medical freedom into the Constitution, the time will come when medicine will organize into an undercover dictatorship to restrict the art of healing to one class of men and deny equal privileges to others; the Constitution of the Republic should make a special privilege for medical freedoms as well as religious freedom.” Benjamin Rush, MD., a signer of the Declaration of Independence and personal physician to George Washington

“The doctor of the future will no longer treat the human frame with drugs, but rather will cure and prevent disease with nutrition.” Thomas Edison

“If we doctors threw all our medicines into the sea, it would be that much better for our patients and that much worse for the fishes.” Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendel Holmes, MD

“It is not… that some people do not know what to do with truth when it is offered to them, but the tragic fate is to reach, after patient search, a condition of mind-blindness, in which the truth is not recognized, though it stares you in the face.” Sir William Osler, physician, 1849-1919

“We must admit that we have never fought the homeopath on matters of principle. We fought them because they came into our community and got the business.” Dr. J.N. McCormack, AMA, 1903

“It’s supposed to be a secret, but I’ll tell you anyway. We doctors do nothing. We only help and encourage the doctor within.” Albert Schweitzer, M.D.

“One of the biggest tragedies of human civilization is the precedents of chemical therapy over nutrition. It’s a substitution of artificial therapy over nature, of poisons over food, in which we are feeding people poisons trying to correct the reactions of starvation.” Dr. Royal Lee, January 12, 1951

“The human body heals itself and nutrition provides the resources to accomplish the task.” Roger Williams Ph.D. (1971)

“An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” Your mother…

Enjoy!

Here is to Your Health,

Regards,

Mohammed

When are diet foods, not diet foods?

Hi,

When my wife and I go grocery shopping, the first thing that I look for when purchasing almost anything is if the packaging says something to the effect “this is a diet safe product”.  You’ve seen it — the package may say something like “Fat-Free” or “Low-Sodium”.  But have you ever thought “but then, how do they make it taste so good?”.

My doctor told me recently to have more fruit or fruit juices.  So off we went to the grocery store to look for fruit juices.  There are so many on the shelves!  But if you read the ingredients, you will quickly find that most of the fruit juices are from concentrate — they are NOT real juice.

Some of the pricier fruit juices are made from real fruit.  The package will clearly say “NOT FROM CONCENTRATE” and will also include the words “NO ADDED SUGARS”.  But still, you should read the ingredients to ensure that you are buying what you think you are buying.

Back to fat-free foods.  How do they get them to taste so good.  In my experience, foods that are fat-free seem to have a higher caloric content.  Some have more salt (sodium) that their “regular” counterpart.  Others have more sugar — while even more have more of both sodium AND sugar.  Now you could getting low-fat, but if you’re adding more salt to your diet then you’re damaging your body.  Salt will increase your blood pressure.  Sugar just left to sit just adds more fat to your body — so is low-fat really low-fat?  Read the label!

According to an article published by eDiets.com:

“Eating breakfast is one of the lifestyle habits that predict weight loss and maintaining that desired weight. I love my cereal in the morning, but exploring the cereal aisle can be a confusing experience, especially for dieters. Don’t read the front of the package to get the scoop on cereals. Read the back first, namely the ingredient list and the nutrition facts panel.

Cereals labeled “smart” or “whole grain” or “fruit” are not necessarily smart for your waistline or your health. Often they contain a bit of whole grain, but there is no limit on the other ingredients, including sugar. Here’s a tip: The first ingredient should be whole grain: whole wheat, whole oats, rye or other. Read the nutrition facts panel and note the serving size. The standard serving size is ¾ to 1 cup, and you make your decision from there.

If one serving contains more than 4 to 8 grams of sugar (1 to 2 teaspoons), then move on. Kashi GoLean, Shredded wheat, All Bran cereals, Fiber One, unsweetened muesli and granola (fat-free) are good choices. Watch out for “code words” that mean sugar and fat have been added. Cereals that are labeled “Crunchy,” “Frosted,” “Honey” or “Honey Nut” may have more sugar added.

Add your own sugar; don’t let the manufacturer add it for you. For example, a 1-cup serving of Cheerios with a half-cup of nonfat milk has 150 calories. A ¾-cup serving of Cinnamon Toast Crunch has 170 calories — a smaller serving for more calories. Not a bargain.”

When I decide on breakfast in the morning, I do weigh my options (no pun intended).  Do I eat 1 cup of Cherrios, that will probably fill me up physically and mentally or do I have 1 bagel that probably has MORE calories and fat and though I may be full physically, mentally I may still feel hungry.

When you think about food in this way, then you quickly make the right decisions about food.

Here is another example.

On the weekend I ate some fast-food with my son.  I had a hamburger, and he had half a chicken burger.  As he has been growing up, we’ve always encouraged him to eat what’s on his plate BUT stop when he feels like stopping.  I’d rather throw away food than “force feed” him and have him look like me when he’s 18.  Back to the story.  I probably had 1000 calories in that one meal, if not more.  If I had opted for something else, chances are I could have eaten more for less calories and stayed fuller longer — both physically and mentally.

From the same article, here is what they said about diet breads:

“Diet breads, diet crackers or other bread products may be the same product, only portioned differently. Bread labeled “25-percent fewer calories” than the regular version may merely be sliced 25-percent thinner. Read the label and compare the weight of the serving. “Lite” bread usually refers to the color and does not indicate its fiber content. Sometimes breads are colored with caramel, molasses or brown sugar. Choose bread made from 100-percent whole-wheat flour with a minimum of 4 grams of fiber per serving.”

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration allows the following definitions on food labels:

FAT–FREE — The product has less than .5 grams of fat per serving.
LOW-FAT — The product has 3 grams or less of fat per serving.
REDUCED or LESS FAT — The product has at least 25% less fat per serving than the full-fat version.
LITE or LIGHT

• The product has fewer calories or half the fat of the non-light version.
• The sodium content of a low-calorie, low-fat food is 50 percent less than the non-light version.
• A food is clearer in color (like light instead of dark corn syrup).

CALORIE-FREE — The product has less than 5 calories per serving.
LOW–CALORIE — The product has 40 calories or less per serving.
REDUCED or FEWER CALORIES — The product has at least 25 percent fewer calories per serving than the non-reduced version.

Enjoy!

Here is to Your Health,

Regards,

Mohammed

Technorati Tags: diet foods, low-fat, calorie-free, lite, fat-free, weight loss, lose weight

Lifesytle Changes – the Weekend

Hi All,

No – I didn’t forget to write.

I find weekends very challenging.  I don’t have a set time where I wake up, as I’m usually up by 5:00am during the week, I like to sleep in a bit (usually 7:00am or 8:00am) — but this weekend…well, I woke up at 8:00am then promptly went back to sleep and didn’t get up until 11:00am!

That really throws your day into a loop.

So this weekend wasn’t the best when it came to minding what I eat.

Breakfast didn’t really happen, and neither did lunch… but I did get some exercise.  I took my son to the indoor pool and we had a blast for the 3 hours we were there!  There is a beginners pool that is around .85m (just about 3 feet) at the deep end… he can get through it standing on his tippy toes (he’s pretty tall for his age – 3 years old).

I enjoyed the water as well.  On my way out the pool, I looked into their watercise options and will enroll into a program.  My physiotherapist suggested that for overweight individuals doing their exercise in water is beneficial since there is some natural resistance and it’s easier to move around since the water is helping carry your weight.

So what did I eat?  Well I had MORE than I should have.  Over the Saturday/Sunday probably an extra 2000 calories.  Saturday was a hamburger (from a local “fast food” place) and Sunday was fried chicken (eeek — WITH the skin!).  Do I feel guilty.  Yes, a bit… ok, A LOT.  But I did get in quite a bit of exercise over the weekend.

In addition to the exercise at the pool, we did a lot of walking and cycling this weekend.  So all is not lost.  I’ll be going to the doctors office this Saturday or Sunday to get myself weighed.

Today was a so-so day.

My son has a viral infection, and I think I might have what he has so my stomach has been upset most of the day.  Breakfast was later than usual – 10:30am and consisted of three slices of the high-fibre, 0 sugars multi-grain break with three slices of process cheese (yes, I could have skipped on the cheese and had the light jam) and a cup of tea.

Lunch will consist of fruit.  With my stomach being upset, I’m not eager to have anything else.  Fruit is 8 strawberries, and 1 cup of canteloupe.

Dinner will be baked potatoe (on the BBQ) along with a lean cut of beef also done on the BBQ.  Plus there will be veggies on the side (we keep a package of frozen, mixed vegetables in the house).  For drinks, probably water.

I’m doing my best to avoid any sugary drinks – like juices, or soda pop and I’ve avoided junk food — like chips/nachos etc., for about one week now.

Very soon, I’ll be heading out for a walk — I generally go out for about 20-30 minutes.

Take care!

Here is to Your Health,

Regards,

Mohammed

Technorati Tags: weight loss, diet plan, exercise, eating right

Lifestyle Changes Day 1 (continued) and Day 2 Combined

Hi All,

So here is the rest of day 1…

For a snack, I’d taken some trail mix to work.  About 1/4 cup worth and had this between breakfast and lunch.

For lunch I had a chicken soup, it had onions, tomatoes in 1/4 sections, and carrots.  Yummy!  I used only white chicken breast with no skin.  There was no added butter, margarine or oils.  The chicken was boiled in water and I added the onions, tomatoes and carrots to it.  A little salt, and pepper to taste.  I had A LOT.  Probably about 2 cups worth of broth and TONS of onion, tomatoe and carrot!  Caloric content?  Couldn’t even guess…  Sorry!

For my afternoon snack I had two slices of chedder cheese on a whole-wheat dinner roll (small roll).  The dinner roll has about 120 calories, a little high for the product.

I didn’t ride my stationary cycle, but did go out for a 20 minute walk.

Day 2

Breakfast was almost the same as yesterday.

3 slices of toast with 2tsp of Becel margarine and avacado on it.  I’m really beginning to like this!  Oh the toast was the ultra-healthy stuff I wrote about yesterday.

Also had one glass of 2% milk.

Lunch will consist of 1/2 cup of those Heinz beans in tomatoe sauce plus a medium baked potatoe.  NO mayo!  I’ll add some pepper to it.

Throughout the day I’ll probably end up having 3-6 cups of decaffinated tea with 2% milk.

Here is to Your Health!

Regards,

Mohammed

Technorati Tags: weight loss diet plan, diet plan, daily diet plan, 1500 calorie diet plan

Ingredients in Foods

Hi,

If you read my previous post, I also noted some of the ingredients that are found in the products I ate.  Here is a definition of these ingredients:

Soluble Fibre – Soluble fibre dissolves in the gut and forms a viscous gel that slows down the release of some nutrients. It can also reduce the risk of heart disease, by reducing blood cholesterol levels. Soluble fibre is present in fruit, vegetables, pulses (e.g. kidney beans, baked beans, lentils) and foods containing oats, barley or rye.

Polyunsaturated Fats – Belonging to a class of animal or vegetable fats or oils containing multiple double or triple molecular bonds that are unsaturated by the incorporation of hydrogen; such fats and oils are associated with a low level of cholesterol in the blood.

Monosaturated Fats – Fatty acids capable of accepting more hydrogen atoms; remain liquid or soft at room temperature.

Saturated Fats – A kind of fat often found in meat and dairy products, as well as some vegetable oils, such as coconut and palm oils. These fats contain single bonds and cannot incorporate any additional hydrogen atoms. They are associated with high cholesterol levels in the blood.  You should avoid these types of fats – or keep them to an absolute minimum.

I took some cheese to work today, 36g but after I read the “Nutrition Facts” and it contains 7g of fats — which is fine.  However 5g of those fats are saturated fats — NOT GOOD.  It also contains a high amount of sodium (or salt) — 290mg (12% of 36g slice of cheese).

Here is to Your Health,

Regards,

Mohammed

Technorati Tags: soluble fibre, fats, polyunsaturated fats, monosaturated fats, saturated fats, healthy eating, nutrition

Day 1 of New Lifestyle Change

Well – I’d gone to the doctor for my blood test last week, and the results came back.  Not good.  Technically I’m a diabetic, but the doctor will not put me on any medications.  I knew this would happen eventually — especially since I’ve gained back some of the weight I lost.

I had drifted back to my old ways.  But NO MORE! 

I’ve started a new regime of exercise from the start of the week.

Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday – I went out for a 15 minute walk at work, and took 15 minutes for lunch.

At home, I rode my stationary cycle for 10 minutes (day 1), 15 minutes (day 2), 20 minutes (day 3).  I also toss a small Winnie the Pooh ball around with my son while I’m cycling.

Breakfast:

3 slices of ultra-healthy toast.  0 sugars, 2g of soluable fibre, 2g of non-soluable fibre and 60 calories per slice. 

On the toast I added Becel light margarine.  2tsp has 35 calories, and 4g of fat, .5g saturated, 0g trans, polyunsaturated 1g, monosaturated 1.5g and 60mg of salt.  Becel also makes a no salt version of their margarine, but unfortunately not a no salt AND light version.

Bought one medium avacado and cut in half, scooped out half added a pinch of salt and topped onto the toast.  Mmmm… was that ever GOOD!  Looked horrible, but was actually very, very tasty!

A fifth of a medium avacado has approx. 55 calories, so I am guessing that half should have around 135 calories?

And one cup of decaffinated tea (to keep the blood pressure down) with 2% milk — about 1/4 cup.  NO sugar or sweetener added to the tea.

Total calories 180 (toast), 20 (margarine), 135 calories for the avacado = 335 calories.

What could I have done differently?  Probably 2 slices of toast instead of 3.  But the third slice was the end piece — does it count as a full slice??? 

My doctor said that I need to cut my calorie intake to about 1500 calories per day.  I think I’m on the right path!

At the start of this, I was a 304lbs — my goal by June is to be down to 260lbs — that’s 40lbs in 4 months or about 10lbs per month which is 1-2lbs per week.

Can I do it?  I’m hoping that YOU will make sure that I do!

I’ll post daily what I’ve eaten for the day — including any cheating!  And will post my weight on a weekly or bi-weekly basis (as I can visit the doctors office to use their scale).

Here is to Your Health!

Regards,

Mohammed

Technorati Tags: weight loss, diet plan, exercise, avacado, lose 40lbs, calorie counting, calories

 

Foods that Kill

Did you know that according to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) about 76 million Americans will suffer from a food-borne illness and that 5,000 will DIE from the illness?  Who is most compromised?  Children and the elderly as their immune system are the weakest.

The recent spinach scare would be enough to keep anyone away from vegetables — but that’s not reality.  Fruits and vegetables make up part of a healthy diet.  You just need to follow some common sense techniques when it comes to handling fruits and vegetables, including organic products.

Lettuce – discard the outer leaves, and use what you need.  Of what you remove to be eaten, ensure that it is washed thoroughly.  Remove any dirt from the leaves.  I’ve seen small bugs in lettuce from time-to-time, so make sure you check for this when cleaning.

Water – you can’t wash water, but you need to be cautious of the water you drink — even if from a tap.  Recently in Vancouver, BC Canada there was a water scare due to high amounts of bacteria in the water there was a boil-water advisory issued.  Luckily we keep a lot of bottle water at home for our 3-year old, so were able to use this until the boil advisory was lifted… as well we don’t drink tap water and normally purchase the 18l water bottles.  If your water comes from a well or stream you need to ensure that the water is tested yearly.  Visit the EPA website for more details at http://www.epa.gov.

Raw Sprouts – ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS wash raw sprouts!  Sprouts have all been associated with salmonella and e.coli — two nasty illnesses.

Unpasturized juice, milk or cheese – plain and simple – avoid these types of products (including things like honey or anything unpasturized).  Pasturization kills harmful bacteria that can be found in these products.  Unpasteurized products have been linked to salmonella, E. coli and Listeria — all of which can lead to death.

Read the entire story: http://www.nowgoto.ws/13foodsthatcankill

Technorati Tags: foods that kill, wash fruits and vegetables, organic produce, organic foods

Here is to Your Health!

Mohammed

Think Your Way Thin — No, Really!

You’ve probably read, or heard or been told that you can “think your way thin” — well, it now appears that there is some level of truth to it.  Here is an article I found on Reuters.com (that is from a magazine called Psychological Science) – enjoy!

The original article in Psychological Science:

Mind-Set Matters: Exercise and the Placebo Effect
Alia J. Crum and Ellen J. Langer

I found this article on http://www.psychologicalscience.org/media/releases/2007/langer.cfm

Mind-set matters — Why thinking you got a

work out may actually make you healthier

As the commitment to our New Year’s resolutions wanes and the trips to the gym become more infrequent, new findings appearing in the February issue of Psychological Science may offer us one more chance to reap the benefits of exercise through our daily routine. Harvard University psychologist Ellen Langer and her student Alia Crum found that many of the beneficial results of exercise are due to the placebo effect.

The surgeon general recommends 30 minutes of daily exercise to maintain a healthy lifestyle. While this may be harder for those who are required to sit behind a desk for eight hours, other jobs are inherently physical, like a hotel housekeeper. On average, they clean 15 rooms per day, each taking 20 to 30 minutes to complete. According to the study, the housekeepers might not perceive their job as exercise, but if their mind-set is shifted so that they become aware of the exercise they are getting, then health improvements would be expected to follow.

The researchers studied 84 female housekeepers from seven hotels. Women in 4 hotels were told that their regular work was enough exercise to meet the requirements for a healthy, active lifestyle, whereas the women in the other three hotels were told nothing. To determine if the placebo effect plays a role in the benefits of exercise, the researchers investigated whether subjects’ mind-set (in this case, their perceived levels of exercise) could inhibit or enhance the health benefits of exercise independent of any actual exercise.

Four weeks later, the researchers returned to assess any changes in the women’s health. They found that the women in the informed group had lost an average of 2 pounds, lowered their blood pressure by almost 10 percent, and were significantly healthier as measured by body-fat percentage, body mass index, and waist-to-hip ratio. These changes were significantly higher than those reported in the control group and were especially remarkable given the time period of only four weeks.

Langer writes, “Whether the change in physiological health was brought about directly or indirectly, it is clear that health is significantly affected by mind-set.” This research shows the moderating role of mind-set and its ability to enhance health, which may have particular relevance for treating diseases associated with a sedentary lifestyle.

###

Psychological Science, published by the Association for Psychological Science, is ranked among the top 10 general psychology journals for impact by the Institute for Scientific Information. For a copy of the article “Mind-Set Matters Exercise and the Placebo Effect” and access to other Psychological Science research findings please contact Catherine West at (202) 783-2077 or cwest@psychologicalscience.org.

Technorati Tags: think your way thin, exercise and placebo effect, weight loss and mindset

Enjoy!

Here is to Your Health,

Mohammed

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