Alternative Therapies and Health News

Home Remedies for Sexual Impotence:

1. Treatment using Garlic

Garlic is believed to act as a tonic for loss of sexual power due to any particular cause, sexual weakness, impotency resulting from sexual overindulgence and nervous exhaustion. Two to Three cloves of raw garlic if chewed daily can make a world of difference.

2. Sexual Impotence treatment using Onion

Onion comes second to garlic; especially white variety of onion serves the best for treating impotency. It increases libido and strengthens the reproductory organs, therefore helping men to get over sexual impotency.

3. Sexual Impotence treatment using Carrot

Carrots are considered very valuable to cure impotency. For better results, about 150 gm of carrots, chopped finely, should be taken with a half-boiled egg, dipped in a tablespoon of honey, once daily for a month or two. This combination increases sexual stamina.

4. Sexual Impotence treatment using Lady’s Fingers

Lady’s Finger serves as another tonic to cure impotence. According to Ayurveda, persons who take five to ten grams of the root powder of this vegetable with a glass of milk and two teaspoons of ground mishri (rock sugar/rock candy) daily, will never lose sexual vigor.

5. Sexual Impotence treatment using Asparagus

Dried roots of Asparagus are highly recommended for impotence by Unani medicine. Fifteen grams of these roots boiled in one cup of milk should be taken twice daily.

6. Sexual Impotence treatment using Drumstick

A soup made with about fifteen grams of drumstick flowers boiled in 250 ml milk is very useful as a sexual tonic. It is also useful in functional barrenness in both men and women. The powder of the dry bark of drumstick tree (Horseradish tree) is also a valuable cure for impotence, premature ejaculation, and thinness of semen. Thirty grams of this powder, mixed with a tablespoon of honey, should be taken three times daily for a month.

7. Sexual Impotence treatment using Ginger

Half a teaspoon of ginger juice should be taken with a half-boiled egg and honey, once daily at night, for a month.

8. Sexual Impotence treatment using Dried Dates

Dried dates are a highly-strengthening food. Pounded and mixed with almonds, pistachio nuts, and quince seeds in equal quantities, about 100 gm should be taken daily as an effective medicine for increasing sexual power.

9. Sexual Impotence treatment using Raisins

Black raisins are useful for restoration of sexual vigor. They should be boiled with milk after being washed thoroughly in lukewarm water. This will make them puffed and sweet. Intake of this milk three times a day will surely be fruitful for impotency problems.

10. Fresh Fruit diet followed by a well-balanced diet

Adopt an exclusive fresh fruit diet for seven days. Take fresh juicy fruits three times a day with a gap of five hours. After the exclusive seven day treatment go for a well-balanced diet consisting of seeds, nuts, grains, vegetables , fruits, whey, sour milk- particularly goat’s mailk, millet , garlic , honey, cold-pressed vegetable oils, and brewer’s yeast.

11. Things to avoid

Avoid Alcohol, Smoking, Tea, Coffee, and processed, canned, refined and denatured foods, especially white sugar and white flour, and products made from them.

12. Body Massage

A vigorous body massage proves highly beneficial in the treatment of impotence, as it helps to revive muscular vigor and mental peace.

13. Cold hip bath

The nerves of the genital organs are controlled by the pelvic region. Hence a cold hip bath for ten minutes in the morning or evening is very effective .

14. Fresh air, outdoor exercises and Yogasanas

Every effort should be made to build up the general health level to the highest degree. Therefore go for fresh air and outdoor exercises. Ardently follow Yoga. Dhanurasana, sarvangasana, and halasana in Yogasanas are highly beneficial

Sexual Impotence, if not cared for, might make your life very imbalanced- both mentally and physically. Every step should be taken to follow a healthy lifestyle to avoid such situations. If necessary, medical or psychiatric assistance should be sought to cure impotence.

The risk of colorectal cancer, which is one of the most commonly occurring cancers, can be reduced by a simple change in your diet. Colorectal cancer is the cancer of the rectum and the large intestine (colon). In the United States, almost 120,000 people are diagnosed of colorectal cancer every year.

According to studies, diet containing red meat and animal fat in high amount can increase the risk of colorectal cancer. Apart from the fat that increases the risk, there are substances like heterocyclic amine found in heavily cooked meat that can cause cancer. 

According to recent studies, a combination of vitamin D and Calcium has the potential to reduce the risk of colorectal cancer. Animal and human studies proved that, if the diet is rich in calcium and vitamin D products then the chances of suffering from colorectal cancer is very less.

Vitamin D is produced in the skin when exposed to sunlight and is activated in the liver and kidney. It is also found in food items like fish, eggs and dairy products. Vitamin D increases the absorption of calcium in the intestine. Thus, dairy products play a very significant role in the prevention of colorectal cancer.
 

The low-carb Atkins diet is found out to be the most popular and most effective diet plans. It has shown to beat even the Zone and the Ornish diet plans. Women on the Atkins plan lost more weight than those on other low fat diet plans. Atkins followers lost about 10 pounds in 12 months; those on the Zone diet lost 3.5 and those on the Ornish lost 5 pounds.

What makes weight loss easier in Atkins is that, they opt for low-cab and high-fat diet. Atkins recognizes that the main problem with the Western eating habits is that, they have more of carbohydrates and sugar which is the main cause for obesity.

Because of fewer amounts of carbohydrates in our body, all the stored fat will have to be used up to get energy. Thus this diet helps in using up the stored body fat.  In low-carb diets, our body burns more calories than in a normal diet. And moreover, fat helps people feel fuller and hence helps losing weight easier. Protein also makes people feel less hungry. Thus low-carb diet reduces overeating problems. Another reason for Atkins being more effective is that women replaced water with soft drinks.

Apart from weight loss, there were other benefits shown in people who adopted Atkins diet. They had higher levels of HDL cholesterol (good cholesterol) and lower blood pressure than those on other diets. According to Harvard researchers, low-carb high-fat diet is more heart-healthy.

According to a National survey, Anorexia and bulimia are two well-known eating disorders, but now a days binge eating is being called America’s most common diet problem. Binge eating  is an eating disorder where the person faces uncontrolled  bouts of  eating, even after being full, at least twice in a week.

The survey found that around 3.5 percent of women and 2 percent of men suffer from binge eating. Psychiatric researchers at the Harvard University Medical School and its affiliate, McLean Psychiatric Hospital, said the study is the first national census of eating disorders.

It is said that binge eaters face a severe risk of obesity and related diseases like diabetes, heart disease, stroke and certain cancers. A binge eater usually has a a full dinner, then some  of ice cream for dessert, then a big  bag of chips, and he goes on without any stop.

“It’s a little bit analogous to something you hear from an alcoholic, when they might say, ‘Well, I wanted to have one drink,’ and they’ve had 12 drinks and they’re passed out on the floor,” he said in a conference call with reporters. “Even though they feel full, even though they feel disgusting and guilty, they can’t stop.”

Dr. James I. Hudson, the study’s lead author and a Harvard Medical School psychiatry professor, said binge eating deserves more recognition from health professionals.”These results argue that binge eating is common. It’s more common than both the other eating disorders combined and it’s strongly associated with obesity,” he explained. “Taken together, these findings suggest that this is an eating disorder and should be treated as such.”

Hudson said that the team interviewed around 9,000 people nationwide from 2001 to 2003 about their eating habits and psychological backgrounds. The study as it seems, underestimates the actual number of eating disorders, because people are often ashamed to accept their abnormal eating habits.

The survey also concludes that it takes people a longer struggle to fight  binge eating. These symptoms continue for around eight years as compared to less than two years for an anorexic patients, who is often young and may recover as they mature.

Men and women between the ages of 18 and 29 are most likely to be diagnosed with this eating disorder, and people older than 60 had the lowest rates of eating problems. The doctors said all three disorders are mood disorders like depression and anxiety.

Till now, most of us have been thinking that soy is one of the healthiest foods ever, ummm…but not anymore folks. There have been several studies in recent times that show that soy is not that good for your health and especially for pregnant women.

Soy consumption by pregnant women has been linked to birth defects in babies. A British study showed that vegetarian moms, who typically consume more soy, have a high risk of birthing a boy with hypospadias. It has been seen than 1 out of every 125 male babies is now born with the once-rare condition, hypospadias, which is a gruesome malformity of the penis, where the urethra opening lies somewhere along the underside of the penile shaft instead of at the end. The penis has also been found to be shorter, in fact 2.6 inches shorter in the more severe cases.

And the malformity is also associated with homosexuality. These moms also risk giving birth to babies who are more likely to get leukemia.

Soy has indeed become a craze in the U.S in recent times, with its sales hitting $4 billion in 2004, from a mere $850 million in 1992. Some folks go out of their way to eat energy bars, pseudo-meats, soymilk and soy-laced cold cereals. And health- conscious moms-to-be consume tall, cool glasses of soymilk.

The American Heart Association has also announced that soy does not lower cholesterol and does not prevent heart disease. Infact, now, soy consumption is said to increase the risk of birth defects, infertility, cancer and heart disease.

You may be surprised to have read ‘heart disease’. But it has been noted that soy indeed worsens cardiomyopathy. It’s a condition where there are enlarged, swollen heart muscles that cannot pump adequately and cause heart failure. Cardiomyopathy is the usual cause of death when a young athlete drops dead on the football field.

How else does soy harm the heart? Soy isoflavones may interfere with potassium in the heart, which can cause arrhythmias. And soy protein can also elevate your homocysteine levels, a known risk factor for heart disease.

Onions and garlic contain powerful phytochemicals that help your body in fighting diseases and promoting good health. But cutting onions looks like a huge task as it brings tears to the eyes, so much so that you may not be able to carry out the whole process.

Here are a few tips to prevent tears while cutting onions:

• Peel the onions and place them in a bowl of cold water for 20-30 minutes. This will get rid of the strong odor. You can now cut the onions.
• After peeling, place the onions in refrigerator/freezer for 20-30 minutes. To avoid the onion smell from spreading to other items in the fridge, cut the onions into two halves and keep them in an air tight box, so that the other items do not pick up the smell.
• Cut onions under cold running water. This is how professional chefs do.
• Burn a candle where you are cutting onions. The burning flame can draw the tear-causing odor towards the heat source.
• Before cutting onions, rub some lemon on the chopping board or put some white vinegar on it.
• Put a slice of bread in your mouth while cutting onions, this usually works.
• First cut the whole onion, leaving behind its root.
• If you use contact lenses, put them on before cutting onions. Sounds crazy, but this helps.
• Cut onions in a well-ventilated place and cut fast. But be careful because you may hurt yourself with the knife while cutting fast.
• You can also use a sharp chef’s knife that glides through the onions with ease, allowing less tear causing compounds to come out.
• Soak the onions in water before cutting. And place a toothpick between your front teeth and bite the toothpick while cutting.
• Use a knife to cut a cone out of the bottom of the onion, the place where roots grow.  This cone should be 1/3 deep and its diameter should be about a third of the diameter of the onion. Throw away this piece and chop off the top, peel, and slice the onion.

These tips do not ensure that there will be no more tears, but they will be far less than usual.

A recent study suggests that caffeine in coffee can cut muscle soreness better than some drugs. So you can easily skip the after-workout massage for a cup of refreshing coffee. The study showed that moderate doses of caffeine, that is, about 2 cups of coffee, can cut post-exercise muscle pain.

These findings can be particularly helpful for people who are new to exercise, since they experience the most soreness and pain. Earlier studies have also shown that moderate amounts of caffeine increases alertness, boosts endurance, and reduces pain during moderate-intensity cycling.

It is possible that caffeine likely works by blocking the body’s receptors for adenosine, a chemical released in response to inflammation. But the study does not mean that you should loads of coffee to your gym. Because too much caffeine can cause jitteriness, heart palpitations and sleep disturbances.

And these studies do not apply to regular caffeine users, as they are less sensitive to caffeine’s effects. But still, the researchers believe that caffeine seems to work better than most painkiller drugs for muscle pain like aspirin or ibuprofen.

Also read: Drink Your Tea Minus The Milk …

1. Purple grapes: Eating purple grapes or drinking the juice prevents urinary tract infections. Grapes contain infection-battling compounds and safeguard collagen in the skin.

2. Bay Leaves: Bay leaves which are indispensable to French, Indian and Mediterranean are great digestive aids. Bay leaves expel gas and aid digestion by stimulating production of digestive enzymes. For better digestion, drink a cup of bay leaf tea every day. Crush 2 bay leaves and steep in 1 cup boiling water, by keeping it covered for 15 minutes. Then strain the leaves completely, and drink.

3. Cinnamon: It is added to coffee or food to give that special taste or flavour. It is beneficial for people suffering from Type 2 Diabetes. And inhaling the fragrance of cinnamon is also said to benefit cognitive functioning and improve memory. It also provides instant relief from bladder infection. Add 2 tablespoons of cinnamon powder and 1 teaspoon honey to a glass of lukewarm water. And drink this concoction regularly for a few days to alleviate the problem.

Last year we heard that spicy food can kill cancer. Now we know how : Apparently the spicy stuff in peppers - capsaicin can kill cancer cells by targeting the cancer cells’ mitochondria, or power source and there are possibilities that new drugs could be developed to exploit this capability.

Scientists discovered that capsaicin, found in jalapeno peppers, triggers cancer cell death by attacking mitochondria - the cells’ energy-generating boiler rooms.

The study showed how capsaican can fight cancer cells without harming the surrounding healthy cells. The tests were conducted on cultures of human lung cancer cells and on pancreatic cancers.

This research can help in developing drugs or diatary supplements to fight cancer. It is also possible that cancer patients could be advised to eat a diet rich in spicy foods to help treat or prevent the disease.

But this does not mean that eating vast quantities of chilli pepper alone can prevent or treat cancer. The experiments were only conducted on cancer cells grown in laboratory, and they have not yet been tested to see if they are safe and effective in humans.

Cancer Research UK recommends reducing your cancer risk by eating a healthy, balanced diet, with plenty of fruits and vegetables.

For years, we have heard that tea is good for the heart. But a new research suggests that adding milk to that refreshing cup of tea could destroy all its health benefits.

The research showed that while tea helps to improve the blood flow by increasing the ability of arteries to relax and expand, milk completely counteracts this effect.

Tests showed that drinking black tea improves the ability of the artery to relax and expand significantly, but adding milk to it completely blunts the effect.

Dr Verena Stangl, Cardiology professor from the Charité Hospital in Berlin, said the findings could also have implications for cancer, against which tea has also been shown to be protective. Since milk modifies the biological activities of tea ingredients, it is likely that the anti-tumour effects of tea could be affected as well.

So now you know how to derive maximum benefits from your daily cuppa, skip the milk !

Also read: 20 Reasons To Include Green Tea In Your Diet, Drink Tea To Boost Your Memory, Tea May Heal Skin Damage Caused By Radiation In Cancer Patients .

Energy drinks like Red Bull can be hazardous to your health when mixed with alcohol. There are lots of people out there who mix alcoholic beverages with energy drinks, without realising the consequences. Popular energy drinks such as Red Bull, Rockstar, Full Throttle and Monster are a common choice of ‘mixers’ for alcoholic beverages, but this may pose several health risks.

Roger A. Clemens, from the University of Southern California’s School of Pharmacy says, “You can hinder your respiration, from a public health perspective, you should not mix stimulants with alcohol. When you combine those two together, you always have a risk”.

According to Clemens, some major concerns with mixing these 2 drinks include, cardiovascular risk, impaired judgment, dizziness, shortness of breath, rapid heart beat and disorientation.

You should not mix caffeine with alcohol as mixing mixing high levels of caffeine with alcoholic beverages can be dangerous for your body. It impairs your judgement and causes you to think that you are less drunk because you are more awake.

A Brazilian study found that college students didn’t quite think themselves to be as intoxicated as they really were. The study showed that drinking alcohol and Red Bull together significantly reduces the perception of headache, weakness, impairment of motor coordination and dry mouth.

The study also found that people who combine alcohol with energy drinks are at a greater risk for automobile accidents also because they believe they are less impaired than they actually are.

Also read: 2O Reasons To Stop Consuming Alcohol .

With the end of festival season, you must be all geared up to begin your detox diets, to cleanse your body of all the extra-indulgences. Detoxyfying is a way to recharge, rejuvenate, and renew your body, by cleansing it from within and getting rid of toxins.

But most detox diets, are no better than the body’s natural ability to detoxify itself. The liver and kidneys are the perfect detox machines in our bodies. The best way to detoxify your body is to make some simple, healthy changes to your diet.

Here are some simple tips that you can follow to detoxify naturally:

1. If you intend to flush out those toxins from your body, you should have plenty of water, fruits and vegetables, rather than opting for specially designed ‘Detox diets’ and making drastic cuts in your diet. Drinking more water and eating more fruits and vegetables will make your skin look better and you will feel healthier.

2. Drink lemonade everyday.

3. Keep your diet as natural as possible. Include cereals and whole grains in your diet and cut down on processed and junk food.

4. Remove all bad things from your diet e.g. alcohol, tobacco (cigarettes), caffeine (tea, coffee), soft drinks and soda and you will feel better.

5. Consume vegetable soups and unsweetened fruit juices.

6. Cut down on white rice and pasta and include foods like brown rice, lean chicken and fish to put minimum strain on your organs.

7. Avoid foods containing artificial additives, chemicals, transfats and sugar.

8. Eat fresh fruit salad everyday or stew some fruits like apples, pears, sultanas and raisins in a little water if the weather is cold. You can also have fruit salad topped with plain yoghurt.

9. Avoid red meat, full fat milk and cheese. Instead opt for low-fat or skimmed milk.

10. Drink herbal teas, like ginger and thyme tea.

11. Apart from these changes in your diet, walk and exercise everyday.

12. You can also do some relaxation techniques like deep breathing exercises, massage therapy, sauna and aromatherapy baths.