Recent Blog Posts

  The Top 15 Signs of Heart Disease Everyone Needs to Know   Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States, which resulted in 29 percent of all U.S. deaths, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). More than half (51 percent) of the people who died of heart disease in 2002 were women. Meanwhile, more than one-third (37 percent) of adults reportedly have two or more of the six risk factors for heart disease and stroke, which include: High blood pressure High cholesterol Diabetes Smoking Physical inactivity Obesity In all, heart disease is thought to cost well over $403 billion for health care services, medications and lost productivity, according to the CDC. What Exactly is Heart Disease? Heart disease is actually a general term used to describe various heart problems. The most common type of heart disease in the United States is coronary artery disease (CAD), which occurs when your heart's arteries buildup plaque and become hardened and narrowed. This reduces blood flow to the heart [...]

  Errors in Your Health Records Can Cost You Big-Time How to Check and Change Yours   Every time you visit a doctor's office or hospital, a record is kept detailing everything from your weight at the time of the visit to the diagnosis. Depending on how often you see a doctor, your health records can become very lengthy and complex. While it may not occur to you to check on what's been written in your medical records, it should. Your health and life insurance premiums, and whether you're denied or granted coverage, are all at stake, as insurers turn to health records as a major source in how to price your policy. Your doctor shouldn't be the only one who knows what's in your health records; it's up to you to check them for accuracy. Coding System Leaves Much Room for Error In the United States, a series of codes known as E&M (evaluation and management) codes are used to record diagnoses and treatments. The coding system, however, is extremely complex and hard to use, even for professionals, and [...]

  Aspirin: What are the Benefits, What are the Risks?   The first form of aspirin -- today one of the most widely used drugs around -- existed all the way back in the 5th century B.C., when the father of medicine, Hippocrates, used willow bark and leaves to relieve pain and reduce fever. It wasn't until the 1820s, however, that scientists identified the active component in willow bark: salicin. Salicylic acid derived from willow bark worked to fight aches and pains, but there was a major drawback: it upset the stomach. So, a few decades later, French chemist Charles Frederic Gerhardt found that combining salicylic acid with acetyl chloride made it less irritating. Aspirin can be purchased for pennies a day, but some believe this easy access makes consumers overlook its potentially serious risks. But Gerhardt, thinking the compound was too complex to make, abandoned the idea. It wasn't until 1899, when Felix Hoffmann, a German chemist, came across Gerhardt's recipe and found the compound really worked, that aspirin came to be. Hoffmann worked for Bayer and convinced the [...]

  Simplify Your Life: Audit for Better Health and Happiness in 15 Easy Steps In our pursuit of the American Dream, most Americans are willing to put up with quite a bit. Very long work hours, sacrificing vacation time, missing out on milestones in their kids’ lives … and maybe even suffering from a few stress-related illnesses. Living simply is a choice everyone can make. Are you ready to simplify yours? You may very well have enough activities crammed into each day that you barely have time to think … let alone to eat healthy, exercise or (gasp) relax -- and that is just from the external pressures. On the inside all of this stress and 24/7 lifestyle can leave you with racing thoughts so severe you have trouble sleeping or, on the flipside, feeling like your brain is completely fried, numb and on the verge of a complete meltdown. And for all of this strife, many of us are still spending our free time worrying about finances, the state of the economy, terrorist threats or coming down with a [...]

  Glucose, Fructose and Sucrose: What’s the Difference Between These Sugars … and Which is the Worst for Your Health?   The sugar in your soda and other favorite sugary treats may all go down sweetly, but a groundbreaking new study found they act very differently once in your body. It may all taste equally sweet, but the type of sugar you eat matters big-time for your health. The three main types of sugar in question are: Glucose: made when your body breaks down starches Fructose: the sugar found naturally in fruits and widely used in the form of high-fructose corn syrup Sucrose: table sugar Researchers from the University of California, Davis compared glucose and fructose consumption among 32 overweight or obese people and found they resulted in very different health changes. After drinking either a fructose- or glucose-sweetened beverage that made up 25 percent of their daily calories for 12 weeks, both groups gained a similar amount of weight. However, those drinking the fructose-sweetened beverage experienced an array of other unhealthy effects, including: An increase in visceral fat, the [...]

  Anti-aging Heart Health via Nutrition and IV Could Eliminate Need for Drugs and Surgery  Heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States, takes the lives of about 2,500 Americans each day. This killer disease is so prevalent that it’s responsible for 40 percent of all U.S. deaths, killing more people than all forms of cancer combined, according to the Mayo Clinic. Many drugs and surgeries for heart disease become unnecessary when you eat a healthy, fresh foods diet and exercise regularly. It can take on many forms ranging from coronary artery disease, the most common type, which involves a hardening of the arteries that provide oxygen and nutrients to your heart, to heart failure, heart muscle disease, heart valve failure and abnormal heart rhythms or arrythmias. While heart disease is often serious, the good news is that you may have more control over your heart disease risk than not. In fact, while a family history or advancing age are known risk factors that you can’t control, there are multiple heart disease risk factors that are completely within your power [...]