High fiber diets are the source of all-life, kind of like the Force, the Rings in Lord of the Rings, and whatever other silly fantasy Life-Source you can come up with.This might seem to be a bit of a hyperbole on my part, but it's personal. In my early twenties, after years of eating lots of processed, hearty American foods (aka white bread and tofu-dogs), I developed a polyp in my colon. Sure, there's genetics involved and just dumb luck, but on examination, fiber was sorely lacking in my diet at the time.
You keep track of deadlines at work, your child's soccer schedule, your car maintenance and everything else that needs to be done, but what about your health? Managing your health should be the most important task at hand, but most of us put it on the back burner. Monitoring your health is just as important as anything else, if you're not healthy eventually you won't be able to meet the day to day demands your life brings. So...why not stop, take a minute and get your health in order.
What exactly is cholesterol? It's inside all of us and we need it to live, yet the word has a negative connotation due to medical news reports over the last 20 years. More recently, "good cholesterol" has become a buzzword, contributing to even more confusion. Cholesterol is a slightly waxy, fat-like substance in the bloodstream. In 1769, Francois Poulletier de la Salle first identified cholesterol as a solid form in gallstones. Today, cholesterol can be measured but it's function is still not fully understood. Cholesterol is required to build and maintain cell membranes and there is some thought that it may even work as an anti-oxidant. Cholesterol remains somewhat mysterious, even to scientists, because it's not completely clear how it travels through the bloodstream.
In recent years a greater emphasis has been placed on Colorectal Cancer and preventative screenings for the number two cancer killer than ever before, yet half the people recommended to receive such screenings do not. U.S. data shows that only 55 percent of people over the age of 50 have gotten a colorectal screening. The most commonly known method by the public to screen for colon cancer is the colonoscopy which tends to scare many away.
Fever is the first weapon in the arsenal used when foreign substances invade the body. Chemicals released by the foreign substances stimulate the hypothalamus, the "thermostat" of the body. The hypothalamus raises and lowers body temperature through chemical signals to other systems to make the changes necessary. A fever is the response to foreign substances, such as bacteria or viruses in the body. Fevers have benefits. Higher body temperature does not allow certain chemicals and nutrients to be available for bacteria or viruses, which they rely on to exist and reproduce. A higher body temperature works with the immune system to fight off infection. Fever is a symptom, not necessarily a problem in itself, as sometimes thought.
