2012

While most of our articles are highly researched and sourced there is the occasional photo that is sent to us that we just must pass along and share. This year we were sent one that we felt was something special. The intensity of the dog’s face shows more sincerity than most people! As you share a warm holiday season with your family, we hope you, too, experience many moments of sincerity and joy! Wishing You a Happy and Blessed New Year!   It’s just too good not to pass on. Use the Email to a Friend feature (available on every article) to email this “smile-a-gram” to your friends and family.

You and most others are probably familiar with the deadly MRSA superbug that’s been spreading across U.S. communities like wildfire. What you likely didn’t know — until right now — is a potentially greater risk, a faster spreading deadly superbug referred to as “C. diff” or “c-diff” has emerged that killed more than twice the number of people than H1N1 Swine Flu! If you have not heard about “C. diff” there might just be a reason, as many healthcare providers are not informed of the seriousness of this threat. Further, most antibiotics actually strengthen these superbugs. Scary would be an understatement for most who rely on antibiotics as an omnibus.

Hormones play a major role in how well your body functions and how you feel from day to day. If your hormones are in balance, you likely sleep well and have lots of energy, a strong sex drive, and well-functioning immune and digestive systems. “The healthy body is equipped to produce all the hormones a woman needs throughout her life,” said Dr. Christiane Northrup, author of The Wisdom of Menopause. But those hormones can easily become pushed off kilter — even with too much stress or an unhealthy diet — leaving room for a wide array of hormonal disorders to surface. As many as one in 10 women may suffer.

Even though the holidays are supposed to be a joyous time of year as you celebrate with family and friends, they have the tendency to elicit feelings of depression, loneliness and despair, leading to bouts of depression and a sense of feeling utterly overwhelmed by expectations. The holidays aren’t always merry and bright … keep reading to find out how to stay joyful this year even if you’re feeling stressed to the max. And it seems everywhere you turn you hear on the news or read in the newspaper stories about the poor state of the economy — only compounding feelings of desperation. By changing your outlook on the holidays.

Cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins are among the most commonly prescribed drugs in the United States. Generally, if your total cholesterol level is 240 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) or higher, or your LDL (bad) cholesterol is 130 mg/dL or higher, you may be considered a candidate for statin drugs. Statin drugs brought in nearly $28 billion in sales in 2006 … but at what cost to your health? Statins work by interfering with an enzyme that your body needs to make cholesterol. Along with lowering cholesterol, the drugs — which include Lipitor, Zocor, Mevacor, Pravachol, Crestor and others — may also help your body reabsorb cholesterol that has accumulated on.

Insomnia, the most common sleep complaint among Americans, means “no sleep” in Latin. And as the definition implies, people with insomnia may not only have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep, they may also not feel refreshed or restored upon waking. Chronic insomnia can lead to mental health problems including anxiety disorders and depression. It’s an extremely common problem, with up to 40 percent of Americans suffering symptoms of insomnia within a given year, and 10-15 percent dealing with chronic insomnia, according to the National Center for Sleep Disorders Research at the National Institutes of Health. The chronic lack of sleep associated with insomnia does more than just zap your.

Bisphenol-A (BPA) is a chemical form of synthetic estrogen used in countless commonly used household items including water bottles, plastic food containers, food packages, canned goods and more. In all about 6 billion pounds of the chemical are produced around the world each year, amounting to $6 billion in sales. New research has revealed that BPA may make infant girls more aggressive by “masculinizing” their brains. The chemical, which helps harden polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resin, has been linked to serious human health conditions even at low levels to which Americans are commonly exposed. “In laboratory tests, trace BPA exposure has been shown to disrupt the endocrine system and trigger.

If you’re like most American families, you enjoy milk, cheese, ice cream and other dairy products on a regular basis. You probably perceive them to be healthy staples, full of calcium, protein and other nutrients to support your family’s health. You should know, however, that U.S. dairy products may not be as pure as they seem. Instead, they commonly contain a genetically modified ingredient — Monsanto’s genetically engineered bovine growth hormone (rBGH or rBST) — that has been linked to so many health hazards in humans and animals it’s banned in most other industrialized nations, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the European Union. Cancer Risks and More: What.