By: Michelle Fletcher

More and more seniors are becoming physically active–reaping the countless health benefits associated with regular exercise. If power walking and your run–of–the–mill strength building exercises are uninteresting, the no–impact Chinese exercise Tai Chi is an excellent way to tone muscle, increase endurance, and gain balance

Adding to the list of its already known health benefits, modern science is coming to find chemicals found in Green Tea may also show promise for slowing the degradation of immune cells caused by HIV.  The immune cells that HIV attacks are the T-cells produced by the thyroid gland.  These cells are often referred to as “Generals” because they lead other immune cells to the areas of the body that require resistance or repair from pathogens. 

When left untreated, HIV can virtually wipe out the bodies supply and ability to produce T-cells thereby leaving it susceptible to other disease causing viruses and bacteria.  Eventually this leads to Advanced Immune Deficiency Syndrome, otherwise known as AIDS.  A person with advanced AIDS can die of the virus that causes the common cold because without immune protection there is a quick proliferation of the virus cells throughout the lungs which can cause pneumonia. Virtually any disease is a potential killer for a person with advanced HIV or AIDS without the proper medications.

Type II Diabetes is a degenerative disease in which the body becomes less efficient at absorbing and utilizing glucose.  It is different than Type I Diabetes because it is acquired as the body’s cells become less and less receptive to insulin—the shuttle that delivers glucose to be burned and stored in cells—whereas Type I is present at birth.  Elevated production of insulin is a sign of Diabetes in its gestation period.  Insulin is the aging hormone, like oxygen its presence is needed in the body for metabolism, but resistance linked over production results in what appears to be rapid aging.  It only seems natural that as Western Medicine confronts this epidemic it would turn to one of nature’s most renowned anti-aging botanicals, Green Tea.

Diabetes is a highly complex disorder that, while it can be partially attributed to genetic proclivities, depends primarily on lifestyle choices.  An unbalanced diet high in sugar and nutritionally inferior processed foods (which are full of sugar) combined with a sedentary life are two of the most common contributing factors leading to the development of Diabetes.

In response to the metabolizing of sugar, the pancreas secretes the enzyme insulin along with other pancreatic digestive juices to transport glucose into individual cells throughout the body to be burned (body heat).  Insulin is needed because with the exception of the brain and liver most organs and tissue cannot absorb glucose on their own.  In the process water and carbon dioxide are created, but the cell is also capable of trapping energy through a chemical process.  This energy is a reserve.  When blood sugar volumes spike, as they do after eating say a candy bar, the pancreas must secrete an ample amount of insulin to “shuttle” the glucose into cells—glucose is a sticky and gummy substance that can do damage to arteries when it reacts adversely to other chemicals in the bloodstream or clings to proteins and fats.  As the brain, liver, and muscles cells fill up on glucose, insulin has no other choice but to force excess glucose in the blood into fat cells for storage as a means to protect the body, hence the correlation between obesity and Diabetes.

By: Michelle Fletcher

Nearly 1 million men and women in the United States suffer from eating disorders, according to The National Institute of Mental Health. With such startling statistics, it is surprising to learn that many of these cases go untreated year after year.

By: Michelle Fletcher

Ten million Americans over the age of 50 suffer from osteoporosis. In addition, 34 million are at a serious risk for developing this debilitating bone disease. The severe loss of bone mass and breakdown of the architecture of the bone, osteoporosis thins the bones to a point where a mere cough can cause a fracture. Twenty percent of those suffering with osteoporosis will die within a year after sustaining a broken hip. Within 15 years, half of all Americans over age 50 will be at risk for osteoporosis-related fractures, according to the Surgeon General.

Are you wondering if eating right and exercising is enough to keep your heart and circulation in tip-top shape? You might want to join ranks with others who are boosting heart health by adding supplemental herbs to their diet. Here’s a look at some proven herbal heart helpers.

1. Garlic: Affectionately called the stinking rose by those who love its culinary uses, most people don’t think of garlic as a medicinal herb. Still, it has been used for thousands of years as a treatment for a wide range of conditions. Some of those uses include infections, wound healing and tumors. Today, we know that garlic lovers can boast about their lowered cholesterol and blood pressure. The National Cancer Institute is now looking at garlic’s ability to fight several forms of cancer, including stomach and colon cancers.

 

The Chinese scholar Lu Yu in his Cha Shung, the earliest treatise on tea, says, "When feeling hot, thirsty, depressed, suffering from headache, eye ache, fatigue of the four limbs or pains in the joints, one should only drink tea. Tea tempers the spirit, harmonizes the mind, dispels lassitude, relieves fatigue, awakens thought, prevents drowsiness and refreshes the body and mind." What else would be the most effective way to help you cope with the stress of day to day living in today's competitive world?

Red tea is known to have a soothing effect on the central nervous system and is a safe, long term herbal remedy for headaches, irritability, disturbed sleeping patterns, insomnia, nervous tension, stress, hypertension, panic attacks and even mild depression.

Approximately 180,000 women will be told they have breast cancer this year. Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women, after skin cancer, and the leading cause of cancer deaths for women 35 to 54. Though early detection is an important component of survival, prevention is a primary goal in the fight against breast cancer.

Oriental medicine provides many resources for prevention. Exercises such as Qigong, Tai Chi and Yoga reduce stress, a leading cause of cancer, and alleviate tension. These physical arts also bring the body and mind into balance. Since the 1970s medical Qigong experiments for the treatment of breast cancer have shown the exercise improves quality of life and helps delay the growth and onset of cancer.

By Michelle Fletcher

Prostate disorders affect millions of men in the United States each year. Not just afflicting the elderly, over half of 49-50 year-old men have enlarged prostates, and a 1 in 4 chance of developing cancerous cells.

Bitter, Pungent, Salty, Bland, Sweet, Astringent, Sour, Warm, Cold, Neutral, Hot and Aromatic.

To use herbs within the scope of Chinese Herbology, one must first understand the properties (the personality which dictates how an herb will function) of each herb beyond the scope of its category. Properties are tastes, temperatures, and qualities of an herb. The possible tastes are sweet, sour, bitter, pungent, bland, salty, astringent, and aromatic. It may have other qualities such as toxic. The possible temperatures are cool, cold, warm, neutral, and hot.