Male suicide: ‘Gender should not be a death sentence’

We take a two-fold approach to changing and saving lives: firstly providing support for men who are down or in crisis, and secondly campaigning for culture change to tackle outdated stereotypes of masculinity that prevent men seeking help.

We do this in the face of a problem that is deeply entrenched. Many men feel forced to stoically “man up” (whatever that means) and grind through bad times without societal permission to open up or seek help. Calm’s research shows that while 67% of women tell someone about going through depression, only 55% of men do the same.

The result? Men are three times more likely than women to take their own lives and suicide is the single biggest killer of men aged between 20 and 49 – something the Duke of Cambridge describes as “an appalling stain on our society”.

But the tide is turning. Since Calm was founded 10 years ago, awareness of male suicide has trebled. Definitively, men are talking more. Calm alone has taken 200,000 helpline calls to date, and prevented more than 1,000 suicides.

The work of organisations and campaigns such as Lift The Weight and the royals’ mental health campaign Heads Together (Calm is a partner charity of the latter) – is a massive step forward. Historically, the alpha-male archetype has had no time for conversations about emotions but, in recent weeks, this has been dismissed by men such as Stormzy, Rio Ferdinand, and Calm’s patron Professor Green – strong, famous, tough men explaining how communication has, in some way, saved their lives.

There is still much work to be done. The emphasis now is to move beyond the rallying cry to open up. We must better equip ourselves, our mates, our workplaces, schools and health services to support those who need it. And we start by building a generation who believe that society’s ideas of your gender should not be a death sentence.

In the UK, the Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123.
In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline is 1-800-273-8255.
In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14.

Male suicide: ‘Gender should not be a death sentence’

Should over-the-counter medical abortion be available? | Daniel Grossman

The coat hanger – often with a red line through it – is a powerful feminist symbol. Conjuring images of women suffering unspeakable consequences of unsafe abortion, the coat hanger sends a foreboding message about a past we must not return to. The implications are clear: abortions women give themselves when they cannot access legal services are dangerous.

While the coat hanger rhetoric has been useful for the abortion rights movement, it has become problematic in the 21st century. Coat hangers are no longer the method of choice for women who want to end a pregnancy on their own. In my research in Texas, women much more commonly report using medications or herbs when they try to self-induce an abortion. Some of these medications are very safe and effective, while the problem with herbs is that they are often ineffective.

This representation of self-abortion as always dangerous is also problematic, because women may in fact be able to safely have an abortion on their own without medical supervision. Focusing solely on the coat hanger imagery also overshadows any conversation about women’s agency and self-determination when it comes to their healthcare.

Not all women who attempt to end a pregnancy on their own do so because they have no other option. Some prefer self-care and turn to herbs and supplements to manage most of their health needs, and some women see self-induction as less invasive and more natural than a clinic-based abortion. Others are just looking for a simple solution to a problem that our society has stigmatized and made difficult to solve.

Medication abortion could change the way our society perceives self-induced abortion. This option for pregnancy termination is available in many US clinics at up to 10 weeks gestation and allows women to take medications at home, where their experience is very similar to a natural miscarriage.

The most effective regimen involves the use of mifepristone, also known as RU-486, followed by misoprostol. Taken together, these drugs are more than 95% effective at causing a complete abortion. Misoprostol can also be used alone, but the efficacy of this method is closer to 85%.

A new article I co-authored in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology turns the notion of self-abortion even further on its head by asking a simple question: do the drugs used in medication abortion meet the criteria of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for over-the-counter sale? The answer is a qualified yes, although more research is needed.

Of course, at the moment, the idea of over-the-counter access to medication abortion in the United States sounds crazy. Currently American women in most states – unlike women in many other countries – are unable to buy even birth control pills without a prescription.

But in the same way that women around the globe are getting contraceptives on their own, many are obtaining medication abortion over the counter at pharmacies. The limited data so far suggests women are doing this safely – and there is no question that use of these medications has contributed to a reduction in abortion-related mortality worldwide.

The FDA has standardized criteria to decide if a medication is appropriate for over-the-counter sale. For medication abortion, the most critical remaining step is determining whether women can assess on their own if the method is appropriate for them – in particular, whether they are less than 10 weeks pregnant. Studies have shown that women are quite accurate at dating their pregnancies if they know when their last menstrual period was. Of course, women could also get an ultrasound, which might be easier to obtain – and more likely to be covered by insurance if they have it – than a clinic-based abortion.

Beyond dating the pregnancy, women must only answer a few health-related questions to determine their eligibility. One or two blood tests may also be required, although their utility is debatable. The rest of the medication abortion process already takes place at home, and women are told to seek care if they have unusual symptoms, such as fever or heavy bleeding. Women can also assess on their own whether the abortion was complete.

While all of these preliminary data are encouraging, more research is needed to clearly document whether the FDA’s criteria are met. We also need to know how much demand there is for over-the-counter medication abortion. It may be that most US women would prefer to meet with a doctor or nurse practitioner before beginning the abortion process, and clearly clinic-based support must remain an option for women.

From a purely medical perspective, it no longer makes sense to demonize women’s safe use of abortion medications at home – just as the abortion rights movement should no longer rely on rhetoric around returning to the days of coat-hanger abortions.

It may be a long time before these drugs are on the shelf of your neighborhood pharmacy, but in the meantime, there are other ways to improve access to this technology and help women obtain abortion care earlier in pregnancy.

Research has already demonstrated the safety of nurse practitioners providing medication abortion, as well as the use of telemedicine to expand access to this option. While we wait for more data on over-the-counter medication abortion, the time has come to start loosening restrictions on this abortion method and to help give women the type of care they want.

Should over-the-counter medical abortion be available? | Daniel Grossman

3 Ways Every Mom Should Try to Better the Mental Health of Kids

It’s often noticed that kids don’t even cross adolescence but go into depression. You must be very worried as a mother, perplexed to figure out how can you care for mental health of kids so that they don’t develop any mental health disorder.

Here are 3 tips that you can follow to keep children healthy:

Encourage them to play board games:

As a mother you must be understanding how much pressure kids go through these days: Be it parental pressure or academic pressure or something else. You also find yourself helpless sometimes as you can’t compromise on kids’ education for their shining future, but you can always try to lessen their burden in some other way. Playing board games is a great way to lessen the stress of kids. Bring educational board games at home and start playing with them. They will have fun playing such innovative games. More they will enjoy the happiness of playing together, especially with parents. Your kids will be learning playfully without even their knowledge. If you are confused about which game to buy, let me get you the solution:

A brand new, interactive board game is going to be launched in market soon, which is designed with the purpose of developing STEM skills of children. This family-friendly tabletop game will take your kid on a journey to a tree squirrel’s world. The animal loving nature of an aerospace engineer, named Randy Hecht, inspired him to invent this game. He even wants to donate a certain percentage of proceed to local animal charities. This game will truly inculcate confidence and competitive spirit in your child as well as will improve their cognitive skills. It’s a fun game that will make your kids happy, hence will reduce their pressure and stress. Your kids will learn about squirrel behaviors. Moreover, the game will improve their verbal and communication skills as well as logical and reasoning skills. Children also will get the opportunity to practice math and negotiation skills through this educational game. Do you intend to support the creators of this board game? You can surely do so, theres a kickstarter campaign being created for you to go and pledge for the project and contribute for the noble cause. It’s not a bad idea because they’re giving back to the community in a positive way.

Make them Eat Healthy

You must be wondering what connection does our brain have with healthy eating. Let me give you a clear picture. Human body needs vitamins and nutrients in order to make the brain function. If you don’t feed your kids correctly, their brain will not function properly. It will affect their academic performance as well as mental health. So, don’t forget to give them energy drink, meat, fish, milk, vegetables, nuts, seeds etc.

Encourage them to do physical activity

Physical activity is very important for kids to keep their brain active. You should encourage them to practice yoga or play in parks. When your kids are physically active interacting with others, they will develop social skills and will learn how to deal with emotions. Physical activity will help them with healthy mental growth. As a mother, you must be the role model of your child. What can be better than if you accompany him in playground or yoga? Think about it.

Chloe Paltrow, MD, is a psychiatrist with more than 20 years of experience. She is also a researcher in the field of neurology. Dr. Paltrow sees patients with different neurodevelopmental disorders and intellectual disabilities. She has shared her knowledge in various websites and blogs like Collective Evolution, PsychCentral and Pick The Brain. Currently, she is studying how brain injury and brain disorders can be treated with hyperbaric chamber, of which OxyHealth is a leading provider.

3 Ways Every Mom Should Try to Better the Mental Health of Kids

Should link between dementia and artificial sweeteners be taken with a pinch of salt?

They were supposed to be the healthy alternative to their sugar-rich siblings. But now diet colas and other low-calorie drinks have been hit by news that will radically undermine those credentials: a counterintuitive study suggesting a link to stroke and dementia.

The study in the journal Stroke may cause a rethink among those worried about obesity, diabetes or a possible early heart attack from sugar-rich drinks who have been considering making a change. It comes to the alarming conclusion that people polishing off one can a day of artificially sweetened drink are nearly three times as likely to have a stroke or develop dementia.

It’s a shocking conclusion. But the first reason to pause is that the study found no such risk in people who drank standard sugary lemonades and colas.

There is little previous evidence with regard to dementia, which is why the researchers were looking at it, but the link between sugar and stroke is very well known. Too much sugar raises the risk of obesity, diabetes, heart attacks and stroke. It’s altogether a bad thing, which is why the World Health Organisation is telling us all to cut down. So what was going on in this study?

It’s not in itself a bad study. The evidence it analyses is pulled from the well-respected Framingham Heart Study – a cohort of more than 5,000 people in Massachusetts, US, whose diets and lifestyles have been monitored for nearly 50 years, with the main objective of finding out more about heart disease. Along the way, researchers have looked at other health outcomes.

What they are up against is people’s capacity for forgetfulness and lies. This is the case with every study into the food we eat – except for those rare studies, almost impossible to do today, which have in effect imprisoned their subjects and controlled every sip and mouthful they took.

If you can’t do that, you have to ask people to complete food diaries or complete questionnaires. This study took the latter approach. Most people probably did intend to list accurately everything they ate and drank over the period, but it’s not easy to remember. And some people will be too embarrassed to be entirely accurate. Researchers understand this and try to take account of it, but it is difficult.

There are several possible other reasons why an increased stroke risk was associated with diet drinks and not sugary drinks. One is what is called “reverse causality”. People who come to realise that they are sick and have a high risk of a stroke then switch their behaviour – choosing diet drinks long after sugary drinks have helped cause the problem. It’s also possible that those among the cohort who drank most sugary drinks had already died, because the researchers were looking at only the last 16 years, not the whole 50.

When it came to dementia, the link with diet drinks that researchers saw disappeared once they took into account some elements of the health of the people in the study. “When the researchers accounted for other risk factors for Alzheimer’s, such as risk genes, diabetes, heart disease, cholesterol levels and weight, this significant association was lost, suggesting that these drinks are not the whole story,” said Dr Rosa Sancho, head of research at Alzheimer’s Research UK.

The researchers point to it themselves: “We are unable to determine whether artificially sweetened soft drink intake increased the risk of incident dementia through diabetes mellitus or whether people with diabetes mellitus were simply more likely to consume diet beverages,” they write. But they call for more research and others will support them in that.

Artificial sweeteners have been viewed with suspicion by a lot of consumers for many years and not entirely deservedly. They are not natural, in the way that sugar is natural, being grown from beet or cane. Some of the hostility comes from those who worry about ingesting man-made chemicals. But while some artificial flavourings have been shown to carry health risks, studies have failed to find similar problems with artificial sweeteners.

Aspartame “has been extremely controversial since its approval for use by several European countries in the 1980s”, says NHS Choices. In 1996, a study linked it to a rise in brain tumours. “However, the study had very little scientific basis and later studies showed that aspartame was in fact safe to consume,” says the NHS.

Large studies have also been carried out to look at whether the sweetener increased cancer risks – and gave it a clean bill of health. The European Food Safety Authority said in 2013 it was safe even for pregnant women and children, except for anyone with a rare genetic condition called phenylketonuria.

With soft drinks in the spotlight because of rising obesity levels, companies have been making huge efforts to develop artificial sweeteners that will taste as good as sugar and be acceptable to the doubters. Stevia, a plant extract, is marketed as a natural sweetener to the increasingly sceptical health-conscious.

But there are those who think artificial sweeteners will never be the answer to obesity and the diseases that follow in its wake. The problem, in their view, is our sweet tooth and the answer is to reduce our liking for sweetness. So they want to see the gradual reduction of the amount of sugar in our drinks and our food and snacks – without its replacement by artificial sweeteners.

It worked with salt, says Cash, the campaign for action on salt and health, which did much to bring down the salt levels in our food without our noticing it. The same should be possible for sugar. But not if artificial substitutes are used to keep our food and drinks tasting just as sweet as they did before.

Should link between dementia and artificial sweeteners be taken with a pinch of salt?

Should you take your shoes off inside the house?

My brother is a fastidious shoes-off-er. I visited him recently and, within a couple of minutes, he gestured at my feet in horror. “What are those?” he asked. “These?” I replied, pointing to my trainers. “I bought them onli–” “No!” he yelled. “What are they doing on in my house?”

This is the best way to divide people. There are those who despise the thought of rubber on carpet, who lie awake panicking because wearing outdoors shoes indoors upsets the natural order of things. Then there are normal people like me, who don’t really care because they understand the purpose of doormats.

However, as much as I hate to admit it, the shoes-off-ers might be on to something. A recent study led by researchers at the University of Houston has shown that 26.4% of shoes carry Clostridium difficile, while a 2015 study claimed that 40% of shoes carry Listeria monocytogenes. Work on a farm? A 2014 study concluded that your boots are almost certainly covered in E coli. These are not the things that should be traipsed through living rooms.

But I’m not going out without a fight. Sure, it might be more hygienic to remove your shoes at the door, but only infinitesimally so. By all accounts, you’re unlikely to get ill just because someone is wearing shoes in your living room. And if you have got young kids, who bolt in and out of the house without warning at the first sign of sun, it’s much more practical to keep your shoes on. Not to mention dignified; fewer things inspire more pity than the sight of adults flamingoing themselves into knots as they attempt to do up their shoelaces in a narrow hallway at the end of a night.

True, the answer to both of these problems is loafers. But given the choice of loafers or E Coli, I’ll take the latter every time.

Should you take your shoes off inside the house?

Top 4 Reasons You Should Drink Apple Cider Vinegar Before Bedtime

Top 4 Reasons You Should Drink Apple Cider Vinegar Before Bedtime

Air pollution made Beijing unbearable. Britain should watch and learn | Tania Branigan

On a good morning, from my Beijing tower block, I could gaze across the city to the hills far to the west. On the worst days, when pollution levels soared off the scale, I could barely make out the buildings across the road. The air purifiers in each room were turned up to 11. The filters inside were supposed to last for six months – but after just a couple of months, the pristine white folds had usually turned charcoal grey.

Even with a mask, 20 minutes outside could leave you feeling nauseous. Friends complained of sore throats and coughs that never went away. It was a running, though unamusing, joke: Airmageddon. The airpocalypse. Beige-jing. But it got inside your head as well as your system. After a spate of especially bad days, my spirits lowered. I longed to see the sky.

And then one spring I returned home for a holiday, and turned the corner at the Peak District’s Surprise View, one of the loveliest I know. Below me lay the Hope Valley, and, to my horror, the smog lay thick in its bottom. It took me a moment to recognise my error. Pollution had become so normal to me that, even at a place I knew so well, and had seen shrouded so often, it had not occurred to me that it was just mist.

In primary school my teacher had described climbing up to the hills as a child, and being unable to see Sheffield thanks to the blanket of smog. So many years after the Clean Air Act, it had been unimaginable to us. Now I took toxic air as the norm, like so many in China. I rolled my eyes when headlines shouted about the UK’s air pollution crisis in April 2014. It was, by Beijing’s standards, a pretty clear day.

Now I live in London again and note each morning how good it feels to breathe clean air. But I’ve noticed, too, how unpleasant it can be to walk along Euston Road. And I’ve started to ask myself why I’ve regarded illegal levels of pollution as acceptable. It is hard to see how our own attitudes – what we notice, what we tolerate – shift and how dependent this is on the views of people around us. To begin with, I took Beijing’s bad days for granted. I lived there for five years before getting purifiers. No one liked the filthy air: but most residents regarded it as inevitable, like bad weather. Masks were seen as at best an eccentricity, at worst an indulgent affectation. The only Chinese people who wore them were warding off infections or trying not to spread them.

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when things changed. The research was piling up – scary data on the long-term health impacts: early deaths, heart and lung problems, cancer, diabetes, birth defects. So was the anecdotal evidence: toddlers who developed terrible asthma; the previously healthy friend who found himself waking in the night, struggling to breathe. Soon we were checking an air pollution app each morning, and discussing air purifiers and masks as petrolheads might compare sports cars. Private schools acquired inflatable domes so pupils could exercise without going outside.

We could afford to do this. Whether in Birmingham, Beijing or Delhi, pollution disproportionately affects the poor. They are more likely to live in heavily polluted areas (near factories or main roads, say) and are by definition less able to afford even partial remedies. But no one can escape the problem entirely.

Politburo members also looked out on a wall of grey, and presumably their sisters and sons were complaining, and their grandchildren too were racked by coughs. In 2015, hundreds of millions of people watched the documentary Under the Dome, which laid out the impact of pollution on China in frightening detail. It was a turning point in public awareness – and strikingly, while it was eventually censored, it had received at least partial official backing. Some within the leadership had realised that it had to take action, even if there is still a very long way to go.

That British problems are less severe does not mean we can afford to ignore them. The impact of nitrogen dioxide levels on our health, and especially that of our children, whose developing lungs are so much more vulnerable, is undeniable. The high court has twice judged the government’s response to air pollution as being illegally poor.

Measures such as masks and purifiers may help individuals and even save lives. But they are not enough. The true significance of their adoption in China was that they showed people were recognising the problem. Their popularity helped to reinforce the sense that such concerns were sensible and pressing rather than peculiar or trivial. The real solutions are social – taken by city leaders, national governments and international bodies. But they will act only when the rest of us decide we have had enough.

Air pollution made Beijing unbearable. Britain should watch and learn | Tania Branigan

5 Reasons You Should Get a Good Night’s Rest

Do you really need convincing when it comes to doing things that are good for you?  When it comes to getting a good night’s sleep, however, many people just simply are not getting it (1,2).  Here are some reasons why it is absolutely a necessity (2):

Pay Attention Longer 

There is a reason why your teachers always used to tell you that you should get a good night’s sleep before taking a big exam.  One of the main reasons why they instilled this in you is because proper rest has a great impact on brain function.  If the brain is able to shut down at night, and the cells have a chance to be restored, then it will be much sharper the next day.  Heavy thought weighing on the mind at night are no good for memory, so it is very important that you get a full eight hours for maximum brain capacity when you wake up.

You’ll Keep Your Friends

Maintaining a routine of sporadic naps throughout the day, and having a restless night can cause a significant amount of frustration in the morning.  This will eventually transform into moodiness, and it will be carried with you all day long.  Consistently being disrupted during the night can often make people angry, especially when they notice that other people have been able to sleep all night long.  This anger is sure to boil over, and you may find yourself taking it out on people, even (or sometimes especially) those closest to you.  Good friends will understand your sleeping problems to a point, but no one wants to deal with a crab for very long.

Tired of Sagging and Bagging?

If you are getting sick of constantly looking like you have two black eyes and sallow skin, there is an easy solution for that.  Skin cells naturally renew themselves, strengthening the collagen and elastin, when your body is completely at rest.  The longer they have to do this, the firmer your skin will be, and you can fight off the effects of aging.  All that is needed is a pillow, a good mattress, and eight hours with absolutely nothing to distract you.  The next time you wake up from a good night’s sleep, you will hardly recognize that youthful person staring back at you.

What the Doctor Ordered

You have heard it before, but now it is time to put this medical advice to work.  Allow your body the resting time it needs to naturally renew and revitalize its organs in order to perform at maximum capacity.  By not getting a good night’s sleep, you are simply saying with your actions that you do not care about your health.

It Just Feels So Darn Good

Sometimes in your busy life, lying in bed at night may be the only time you have to yourself.  If I were you, I would relish it, and nuzzle comfortably into your bed.  Can you think of any reason why you shouldn’t just lie there and do absolutely nothing?  You will be rewarding your body after a hard day’s work full of chaos.

1. http://www.naturalnewsblogs.com/common-reasons-people-trouble-sleeping-can-get-good-nights-sleep/


2. http://www.naturalnewsblogs.com/sleep-disorders-symptoms-causes-treatments/


3. http://www.naturalnewsblogs.com/3-benefits-getting-sleep/

Dr. Serge is a clinical nutritionist. He owns a doctorate degree in nutrition from McGill University in Canada. In addition, he completed a 7-year postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School in Massachusetts where he studied the impact of fat as it relates to heart disease.

He has authored a book on this topic that is awaiting publication with Edition Berger publishers in Canada. He holds an advance certification in Nutrition Response Testing (SM) from Ulan Nutritional Systems in Florida and he is a certified herbalist through the Australian College of Phytotherapy.

His personalized nutritional programs allow to help individuals with a wide variety of health concerns such as hormonal imbalance, digestive issues, heart-related conditions, detoxes/cleanses, weight loss, fatigue, migraines, allergies, among others.

5 Reasons You Should Get a Good Night’s Rest

Splenda – toxic carcinogenic sweetener you should avoid

Non-nutritive sweeteners such as Splenda have become an important part of everyday life and are increasingly used nowadays in a variety of dietary and medicinal products. They provide fewer calories and more intense sweetness than sugar-containing products.

Common artificial sweeteners aspartame, saccharine, sucralose, neotame, and acesulfame-K have received a ‘safe status’ from the FDA. However, they are not so safe, and some of them can be very dangerous. If you are still using artificial sweeteners, you may be slowly killing yourself.

You can find Artificial Sweeteners not only in our food and beverages, but in a variety of other products such as toothpastes, mouthwashes, medicines (often in cough syrup and other OTC), children’s chewable vitamins, chewing gums, diet drinks, a variety of sweets, protein drinks, canned food and many more (literally thousands of products). Sadly, some of these sweeteners are now common contaminant in our tap water.

These agents are claimed to promote weight loss and are promoted as a safe alternative for diabetics. However, research data indicates that artificial sweeteners tend to lead to weight gain, and are not suitable for diabetics at all.

There are plenty of natural healthy products you can use in place of sugar and artificial sweeteners.

You probably heard about aspartame dangers, but let’s take a closer look at dangers of Sucralose:

1. WHAT IS IT AND WHERE YOU CAN FIND IT

Sucralose (Marketed under the name Splenda), 600 times sweeter than sugar – a better alternative to NutraSweet? Not so much.
You can find sucralose in yogurts, protein bars and drinks, frozen desserts, syrups, diet beverages, kettle corn, prepared meals and baked goods such as English muffins (this sweetener is one of the few not so sensitive to heat). Please be careful when purchasing ‘natural healthy’ products as well, because some of them may contain sucralose. I have seen it in chewable vitamins for kids, elderberry tablets and so on, always read the ingredient list carefully.

Splenda has been promoted as a better alternative to refined white sugar and advertised for a long time as “made from sugar, so it tastes like sugar.”

Yes, Sucralose is derived from sugar; however, its preparation involves chlorinating sucrose, changing the structure of the sugar molecules. Yes, chlorine, known carcinogen and one of the most toxic chemicals on the planet. This type of sugar molecule does not occur in the nature, and your body cannot properly metabolize it. Also, your body absorbs Sucralose into your fat cells.

”Sucralose (Splenda) bears more chemical similarity to DDT than it does to sugar.” (According to Dr. Mercola)

2. A BRIEF HISTORY

Splenda has been approved in the United States in 1998. When sucralose was first being considered for approval by the FDA, CSPI objected. The pre-approval test indicated potential toxicity, but again – approved! Pre-approval research in animals showed that sucralose caused shrunken thymus glands (up to 40% shrinkage – important immune system regulator) and enlarged liver and kidneys. Its long-term safety is unknown (but it will NOT be anything good for sure).

In 2013, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) placed Splenda in its “caution” category and had formally recommended that consumers should avoid sucralose altogether. A recent update from 2016 – CSPI Downgrades Sucralose from “Caution” to “Avoid”! This action was an answer for the latest 2016 independent Italian laboratory study, which published extensive research on mice. The study found that sucralose caused leukemia and related blood cancers in male mice.

3. WATER AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINANT

The artificial sweetener sucralose has recently been shown to be a widespread of contaminant of wastewater, surface water, and groundwater. In fact, sucralose has been found in the U.S. drinking water systems. Recent research found that sucralose has a low rate of removal (11%) in drinking water tested that presently serves 28 million people.
The sweetener was found to be present in:

The source water of 15 out of 19 of drinking water treatment plants tested
The finished water of 13 out of 17 plants, and
In 8 out of 12 water distribution systems.

Sucralose is largely resistant to natural breakdown processes and accumulates in the environment with unknown consequences for human and environmental health.

”Though sucralose does not appear toxic to plant growth, the persistent qualities of sucralose may lead to chronic low-dose exposure with largely unknown consequences for human and environmental health.” Sucralose represents an ecotoxicological contaminant that significantly affects the behavior of animals: “Exposed organisms may diverge from normal behavior, which ultimately can have ecological consequences.”

4. NEGATIVE HEALTH EFFECTS

Splenda can promote migraine headaches, and other reported side effects include muscle aches, stomach cramps and nausea, allergic reactions, bladder issues, skin irritation, dizziness, inflammation, vision problems, neurological problems and much more (including Seizures). Sucralose long-term intake can lead to serious chronic conditions and disorders. There are several testimonials by people from all over the world about The Potential Dangers of Sucralose.

Another study found that sucralose significantly reduced healthy intestinal bacteria (up to 50%!). It also alters gut microflora and mess with your enzymes as well, so it essentially wrecks our immune system. In addition, it increases the pH level in the intestines. This could have a range of consequences, including effects on blood sugar, inflammatory bowel disease and more. In fact, a study says that: “Increased sucralose consumption may explain why Canada has the highest incidence of inflammatory bowel disease in the world.”

Unlike aspartame, sucralose does not break down at high temperatures. However, by cooking and baking Splenda a cancer-causing dioxins and dioxin-like compounds are formed.

• Sucralose is carcinogenic and otherwise toxic in rats.


• Splenda has possible neurotoxic properties in animals.


• There is also a possibility of DNA Damage over long term exposure.


• It has diabetes-promoting effects in human subjects.

”It is like putting a pesticide in your body. And this is at levels of intake erroneously approved by the Food and Drug Administration.” (According to James Turner, the chairman of the national consumer education group Citizens for Health.)

5. BREAST MILK CONCERN

Also, sucralose passes into breast milk at levels high enough to make the milk sweeter. Saccharin, sucralose, and acesulfame-potassium were present in 65% of participants’ milk samples, whereas aspartame was not.
Therefore, pregnant and nursing women should make a special effort to avoid aspartame, ace-K, Sucralose and other artificial sweeteners.

6. SAFETY

Splenda has NEVER been proven safe for human consumption. According to Johnson & Johnson, which markets Splenda, “more than 110 studies conducted over 20 years have proven the safety of sucralose.” You mean the studies which were funded by companies with the sole interest in the product being used and to maximize the profits? Moreover, ”out of these 110 studies, only two were human studies, and the longest one was only four days (and in relation to tooth decay!)” Also, those animal studies reveal plenty of problems such as:

• Increased male infertility


• Decreased red blood cells (sign of anemia)


• Enlarged and calcified kidneys


• Higher death rate in rabbits

and more..

Long-term effects on humans is a severe issue. If something causes cancer and other serious health problems in rodents in the studies, it is undoubtedly a reason for concern!
CSPI recommends that consumers avoid sucralose.

Let’s take a quick look at few natural alternatives:

• ORGANIC MAPLE SYRUP


• ORGANIC COCONUT SUGAR


• WILD RAW HONEY

some others :
-MOLASSES
-DATE SUGAR
-STEVIA
-MONK FRUIT

From all these natural alternatives, I always recommend the ‘organic version.’ I use only real manuka honey as a sweetener, and if occasionally baking I use coconut sugar (date sugar is good too!), I eat plenty of organic fruits so no need for more unnecessary sugars.

Conclusion:

Sucralose does not seem to be as safe as the FDA is trying to believe us and you should avoid it. Also, keep in mind that Xylitol, Sorbitol, and other sugar alcohols are life-threatening toxins to dogs! Don’t forget that you can find artificial sweeteners not only in our foods and medicine, but in many other products, so switching to ‘raw honey’ alternatives is a critical step, but another major step is to get rid of all the products containing them and look for healthy natural alternatives. With all the toxins, chemicals, and heavy metals everywhere and in almost everything, it is imperative to start slowly eliminating these threats to your health. Also, keep in mind that Splenda is now present in our tap water, so filtering your water with hi-quality filter systems is becoming essential.

---

Sources:

1. Artificial sweeteners linked to weight gain.


2. Artificial Sweeteners and Cancer.


3. Sucralose.


4. Artificial sweetener sucralose in U.S. drinking water systems.


5. Splenda alters gut microflora..


6. Study links Splenda to higher risk of leukemia.


7. The effect of five artificial sweeteners on Caco-2, HT-29 and HEK-293 cells.


8. Artificial sweeteners as a sugar substitute: Are they really safe?


9. Artificial sweeteners – a review.


10. CSPI’s ‘Chemical Cuisine’ Rates Artificial Sweeteners.


11. The Bitter Truth About Splenda.

Natural Health Investigator at MAHAJEK

>>>CHECK HERE FOR RECOMMENDED PRODUCTS FROM MY ARTICLES<<<
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I am into natural medicine and healthy lifestyle for more than 12 years. Writing about natural healthy lifestyle, longevity, herbs & supplements, nutrition, mental health, exercise, holistic medicine, healthy home, toxins&chemicals and much more..

”With natural medicine nothing is impossible, all diseases can be cured and prevented, with the right approach and ‘open eyes’ we can all live healthy and happy to 100+”

Splenda – toxic carcinogenic sweetener you should avoid

10 Huge Reasons You Should Use Your Blender Daily

Chances are excellent you have a blender sitting on the corner of a countertop. It’s lonely and forgotten, like an old boyfriend or a Backstreet Boys CD.

Well dust that baby off, because it’s got a pile of health benefits that should make it your most-used kitchen implement.

1. Avoid Cancer

You probably know hot dogs are full of nitrates that put them in the same cancer-causing category as cigarettes. But did you know most veggies are just as bad?

That’s right. Most vegetables are grown in nitrate-heavy fertilizers. When we cook them, they produce cancer causing compounds that we then ingest. Eating veggies raw, in healthy smoothies, keeps the nitrates from metamorphosing into the Mr. Hyde of foods. Get that blender whirring.

2. Have a Better Sex Life

Who doesn’t want a better sex life? Better all-around nutrition helps, but several smoothie ingredients can ramp up the amour. The short list of natural aphrodisiac blender buddies includes:

• Almonds


• Blueberries


• Coconut water


• Spinach

Mix them all at once in this recipe, then stand back. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

3. Lose Weight

When you make a smoothie, you’ll tend to add more high-fiber foods like kale or spinach. Those provide a lot of hunger-curbing bulk without amping up the calories.

Use your blender to feel full without the fat-gain. Need some ideas to get you going? Try this post on ten weight loss smoothie ideas to get the creative juices flowing.

4. Get More Healthy Veggies

It’s not easy eating green. We all know we ought to eat more veggies but it takes a lot of time between the shopping and the food prep.

Using a blender is a great way to pack more healthy veggies into your day. Just drop the healthy foods like broccoli, spinach, kale and zucchini in the hopper with a little fruit and milk and bang.

5. Get More Nutrients

Anyone can get all the nutrients they need by popping a multivitamin, right? Wrong.

Researchers uncover more beneficial compounds in plants almost every day. Their best advice so far is: “Eat the rainbow,” because you never know what unique nutrient hides in a cranberry or kiwi fruit.

Using a blender every day is a great way to work in more exotic fruits and veggies. That way we get the benefit of things science doesn’t even know about yet.

6. They’re Fun

Kids love smoothies. You love smoothies. Everyone loves smoothies. There you are, sitting on your couch and you don’t even notice you’re doing something healthy.

You hardly miss the time it takes to make a healthy smoothie. You have so much fun drinking that yummy, richly colored shake it almost feels like cheating.

A blender is a great way to add a little joy into a dull routine.

7. They’re Fast

You come home from work, your husband’s acting like he just got trampled by a bison, your kids are swinging off the chandelier, and you don’t even own a chandelier. Who the heck has time to cook a five course meal with seven vegetables?

On the flip side, everyone’s got time to make a smoothie. Reheat last night’s grilled chicken, bang the blender on, and boom, you’re eating healthy in ten minutes.

8. Get Better Quality Veggies

Broccoli is easy, right? Just chop it up and toss it in to blanch. Frozen peas, zucchini, carrots and a couple other run-of-the mill veggies aren’t too hard to cook.

Getting in a rut with vegetables is a real problem though. The best plan is to eat a ton of different veggies. But who can actually choke down the really healthy ones like kale?

This is where a blender comes to the rescue like a nutrition-focused superman. Veggies we don’t traditionally like go in, they blend, they’re yummy. Now we’ve got a lot more nutrients and fiber and it wasn’t even hard to do.

9. Fight Colds & Flu

No matter which side of the flu vaccine debate you stand on, nobody likes getting sick. Why not use your blender to give your immune system a real shot in the arm?

Colds and flu are caused by viruses. Your immune system can fight those ten times better when you’re eating lots of foods like turmeric, dark, leafy greens and deeply colored fruits and veggies.

In the winter months, stack the deck in your favor with your blender and a healthy daily smoothie.

10. Make All Kinds of Healthy, Yummy Foods

Think blenders are just for smoothies? Think again. A blender is a great way to make healthy, yummy nut butters, grind your own flours from nutrient-packed grains, and even make hot soups.

There are even some blenders that heat the soups up for you while they blend.

What are you waiting for? Pull that blender out of its corner and get it in your corner again. For these and lots of other reasons, you’ll be really glad you did.

References:

1. https://www.iarc.fr/en/media-centre/pr/2015/pdfs/pr240_E.pdf


2. http://www.aicr.org/reduce-your-cancer-risk/diet/elements_phytochemicals.html


3. https://www.nutritionmagic.com/foods/heres-hot-dogs-killing-speak/


4. https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/vegetables-and-fruits/

Dennis Ahlgren is one of the writers on the Nutrition Magic Blog, a site that shares the best in health and wellness on the web. Dennis is a father and a longtime fitness nut. He’s passionate about nutrition and healthy living. “To me living is about really living. Being as active as possible for as long as possible.”

10 Huge Reasons You Should Use Your Blender Daily

Why you Should Add this Tastey Booster Food, Nutritional Yeast, to Your Diet

By Karen Brennan, MSW, NC, BCHN®, Herbalist

Nutritional Yeast: What is it?

Nutritional Yeast is not a plant nor animal food but rather a fungus like mushrooms.  It is a good addition to a vegan, vegetarian, paleo, gluten free and dairy free diet.

I have Candida, I am avoiding foods that contain yeast, can I eat nutritional yeast?

The yeast you find in breads and beer is a live and active yeast.  Nutritional yeast comes in a dried flake form and is not an active yeast.  This means you cannot use it to make bread or beer but more importantly it will not lead to overgrowth of yeast/candida in the body.  Therefore, because it has been deactivated it cannot cause or contribute to candida. You may read otherwise on the web but nutritional yeast is safe to it.

What causes overgrowth of candida (healthy people will always have some candida) is a diet high in sugary/processed foods and drinks, antibiotic use and birth control pills to name a few root causes.  To learn more about what candida is, what are more causes, symptoms and more importantly, how to address it read this article

What are the Benefits of Adding this Food into my Diet?

• Beta Glucan fibers found in nutritional yeast help to maintain the body’s defense against pathogens (this was found in a study in which participants consumed a spoonful daily)


• Another study in which participants consumed one half a spoonful found that mood states improved and they had significant boost in feelings of vigor.


• It is a great addition to vegan and vegetarian diets due to its protein and B vitamin content. It also has a cheesy taste so many use it to replace cheese in their diet.


• It contains all nine essential amino acids.


• It is a rich source of 14 minerals and 17 vitamins


• It has antiviral and antibacterial properties


• It may be useful for candida, chronic acne, diarrhea, and immune system support.


• Athletes use it for an energy boost

How Do I use it in My Recipes?

You can add nutritional yeast to many dishes that you make.  Add it at the end to hot and cooked dishes as high temperatures may destroy the nutritional benefits of the yeast.  For instance, add some to your cooked chicken curry dish or to your favorite pasta sauce.

• Sprinkle it on your stove topped cooked popcorn


• Add it into hummus, pesto, pasta sauces and cold soups


• Sprinkle onto your salads and cooked vegetables


• Use it as you would use grated cheese


• Add to bean and rice or whole grain dishes.

Recipes with Nutritional Yeast

Will my local Grocery Store Carry Nutritional Yeast?

• Your local traditional grocery store may not but many are adding healthier options. For instance, many Walmart and King Soopers now contain nutritional yeast products. Whole Foods and other local natural grocery stores and vitamin shops should carry nutritional yeast.


• Otherwise order online from www.thrivemarket.com, amazon or many other healthy whole foods or vitamin websites.


• Because I only use a small amount per day I store mine in a glass jar in the fridge to maintain freshness. Otherwise, store in your pantry or cupboard. It should keep for up to 2 years.

What You Need to Know

• Those with Gout may want to keep the amount to ½ a teaspoon per day due to its purine content


• You may have heard that some nutritional yeast products contain lead. These brands have no detectable lead in them-Bob’s Red Mill, NOW, Bragg’s, Dr. Fuhrman, and Red Star.  However, no matter what the brand, it is safe to consume 2 tablespoons per day.


• Some nutritional yeast products contain B12 while others do not. Read the label. If you are a vegan or vegetarian and avoid meats, it is still best to supplement with B12 in a methylated form. It is a myth that B12 is naturally found in nutritional yeast-it must be added in.


• It does NOT contain MSG as you may hear this rumor. Yeast is a natural source of the umami flavor or natural glutamic acid.  The glutamic acid is bound to other amino acids. The glutamic acid that is MSG is not bound.  When you consume glutamic acid from real foods, your body controls how much is absorbed.  Excess glutamic acid is passed off as waste not stored in your body.  MSG that is added to fast food and processed foods is an excitotoxin that overexcites your cells.

Sources

http://nutritionfacts.org/2017/02/14/benefits-of-nutritional-yeast-to-prevent-the-common-cold/?

Bauman, E. & Friedlander, J. (2014) Foundations in Nutrition.  CA: Bauman College

Wood, R. (2010) The New Whole Foods Encyclopedia.  NY: Penguin Books

As a nutrition professional, Karen Brennan of Tru Foods Nutrition Services LLC does not treat, cure or diagnose. This information is for educational purposes only.

I am a nutrition professional with a focus on mental health and gut health. I am also passionate about getting nutrition information out to the public so that others can take charge of their own health instead of living on meds. I help others who have tried the medical route and who are often are worse off because of it. Nutrition therapy has an individized approach and addresses root causes.

Why you Should Add this Tastey Booster Food, Nutritional Yeast, to Your Diet

TV dramas should not portray suicide methods, say MPs

Greater restrictions should be placed on the portrayal of suicide in TV dramas to prevent encouraging copycats, say MPs.

In a report on the government’s suicide prevention strategy, the House of Commons health select committee, chaired by the Conservative MP Dr Sarah Wollaston, raises fears that irresponsible media coverage has a damaging effect on vulnerable people.

The MPs say: “We recognise the need for programme makers to portray dramatic situations but we contend that this can be done without unnecessary and exact detail about a suicide method which could influence imitative behaviour. This is of particular concern where the method depicted is relatively uncommon and where scenes show suicide as being quick, easy and painless.”

Ofcom’s broadcasting code currently dictates that methods should not be included except where they are justified editorially and by the context. But in the report, published on Thursday, the committee says the wording is too weak.

The MPs recommend that the code “should be strengthened to ensure that detailed description or portrayal of suicide methods, including particular locations where suicide could be easily imitated, are not permissible”.

They also say more must be done to ensure the news media report suicide responsibility. The committee calls for the government to nominate an individual responsible for ensuring good practice in the media and also recommends strengthening the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) editors’ code of practice.

The editors’ code currently states that “excessive detail” should be avoided when reporting suicides. The MPs say this should be replaced with the term “unnecessary detail”, as recommended by the Samaritans, who say any mention of the method of suicide risks increasing public awareness of it.

The Samaritans chief executive, Ruth Sutherland, said: “We are pleased that our work with the media to ensure that the portrayal and coverage of suicide and attempted suicide is responsible has been acknowledged. We know that strengthening media codes of practice in this area will mean fewer people are put at risk because of irresponsible content.”

The report reiterates previous concerns raised by the committee about online content about suicide methods and urges the government to clearly state its expectations of social media companies with respect to such content and to monitor compliance.

It concludes that the government’s overall strategy on suicide prevention is “essentially sound” but says there may be gaps in implementation. The MPs say 95% of local authorities have a suicide prevention plan, but there is little or no information about the quality of those plans. It recommends local and national oversight of such plans.

There were 4,820 recorded suicides in England in 2015 but the committee suggests the true figure is likely to be higher. It says the standard of proof – beyond reasonable doubt – for findings of suicide in inquests leads to underestimating the number of people who kill themselves. Accordingly, it recommends that it should be changed to “the balance of probabilities”. Other recommendations include calling for the government to detail how different strands of the strategy will be funded and for health professionals to be trained to assess suicide risk.

The health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, said: “We agree with the committee that every death by suicide is a tragedy which has a devastating effect on families and communities.

“We are taking action to ensure we quality assure every local plan so they reach the most vulnerable people – and local authorities now are supported by record mental health funding, with big developments in the availability and quality of crisis care services as a result.”

• In the UK, the Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14. Hotlines in other countries can be found here.
  

TV dramas should not portray suicide methods, say MPs

Why Donald Trump should play even more golf | Patrick Barkham

Scrolling through Twitter last night, I wondered why I felt so well. Not smug, just mystified by a mental and physical glow that made me strangely impervious to the toxic aspects of social media.

It had been an unmemorable weekend. I’d had a distressing argument with one daughter over her disinclination to go swimming; visited a garden centre without buying anything; spotted a marsh harrier; and played “the wheelbarrow game” in the garden, which involves carting one child in a wheelbarrow in pursuit of the others.

Then I read an interview with Florence Williams, author of The Nature Fix, who mentioned that we spend on average 5% of our day outdoors. I totted up my 15-hour Sunday: I’d spent exactly half outside.

We’re oblivious to one of our most obvious requirements. Homo sapiens is supremely adaptable, but westerners have lived predominantly inside for 10 generations at most. We need air, sky and some kind of engagement with the earth – but we’re bouncing off mental and physical walls.

There’s no intrinsic moral blessing to it. We may be shooting grouse, paintballing, cycling, gardening or climbing rocks, but a big portion of the pleasure is simply being outdoors.

There’s a furore about Donald Trump playing golf so often in the first weeks of his presidency. This might just be keeping him calm and sane. Play on, Mr President.

The west does not need the grinding physical labour that sent farm labourers to an early grave, but we must reimagine work and schooling to permit more time outdoors. We’d be wise to protect green space in cities and allow more of the solar-powered, pollution-fighting machines otherwise known as trees, which enhance our wellbeing more than we realise.

These are not new arguments. Octavia Hill, a co-founder of the National Trust, was banging on about “open-air sitting rooms” for the urban poor in the 1870s. But we now have neuroscience to prove what we overlook: we need nature far more than it needs us.

The nitrogen nightmare

‘Thuggish’ species such as nettles thrive on excessive nitrogen and ammonia, smothering rarer wildflowers Photograph: Alamy

Detoxifying the air is our most immediately pressing environmental challenge – for obvious, self-interested reasons. Less obvious is the impact of air pollution on plants. Nitrogen and ammonia unleashed by burning fossil fuels, traffic and farm fertilisers are having a devastating impact on plants, according to the charity Plantlife. A staggering 90% of nature-rich habitats in England and Wales are suffering from excess nitrogen. In such conditions, a few “thuggish” species such as nettles thrive, smothering rarer wildflowers, fungi, lichen and the invertebrates that depend on them.

We need to talk about nitrogen, says Plantlife. We do. And somewhere in a parallel, enlightened world, politicians sport baseball caps embossed with the vote-winning slogan: Reduce nitrogen Deposition Now.

Notes on a very small island

The British Isles is an archipelago of about 6,000 islands but we lost a big one, Doggerland, 8,000 years ago. Our neolithic forebears would have been delighted by plans to rebuild a 2.5 sq mile island on Dogger Bank, in the North Sea. The old Doggerland was swamped by rising seas; Doggerland 2.0 will be devoted to renewable energy, helping to lessen the sea-level rise caused by global warming.

Sadly for romantics, this idealistic island is called the North Sea Wind Power Hub, and will be built by energy companies from Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands. This is our ancestral home. We must participate, if only to preserve the Doggerland brand. But I suppose Brexit means we’re a lonely set of small islands these days.

A fishing boat in the North Sea, where there are plans to build a 2.5 sq mile island on Dogger Bank. Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA

Why Donald Trump should play even more golf | Patrick Barkham

10 Things You Should Throw Away to Soothe Your Allergies

Your dehumidifier

Okay, you don’t have throw this out, per se, but you might want to stash it during allergy season. Since dust mites absorb fluids from the air around them, they tend thrive in humidity levels that range from about 70% to 80%, says Dr. Canfield. Using a dehumidifier, therefore, can help them survive longer.

Unfortunately, however, humans also don’t do well in low-humidity environments. Dr. Canfield suggests trying to keep the humidity levels in your home to around 50% (during the winter, the levels are around 20% to 30%), which should render the bugs dormant.

10 Things You Should Throw Away to Soothe Your Allergies

3 Anti-Cancer Soup Recipes You Should Make

3 Anti-Cancer Soup Recipes You Should Make

14 Inflammation-Causing Foods You Should Avoid

14 Inflammation-Causing Foods You Should Avoid

Boys as well as girls should be told about the evils of FGM

Lynne Featherstone, the Liberal Democrat parliamentarian who was once a home office minister, and Justine Greening, the education secretary, have written to Theresa May asking that she will allow girls’ schools to teach pupils what a bad idea female genital mutilation (FGM) is, so that the poor things will know how they can avoid being so tortured.

I can’t remember when I first heard of FGM – presumably when being told all about strange foreign places and habits, while absorbing the oddities of geography at school or later. The tiresome fact is that while the clitoris exists to make reproduction agreeable so that the species will continue, FGM makes reproduction the exact opposite when its painful removal is deemed necessary by any tribe or group.

I know that it is often older women who do the actual chopping

So there is no harm in warning young girls, but you would think the males ought to be the ones to be lectured on the subject. (I know that in the hot places where the habit comes from, it is often other women, older women, who do the actual chopping – perhaps partly to be sure that lush young girls are not keen to attract all the older chaps.)

I do think that it should be the boys’ schools that make sure the pupils are aware of the awfulness of FGM, so that girls and women will not be in for a bad time at the mercy of boys and men who don’t see the usefulness of the clitoris at all.

There’s no harm in sensible information being available for all, but surely it’s the males that need educating.

What do you think? Have your say below

Boys as well as girls should be told about the evils of FGM

NHS royal commission should assess long-term future, says Lord Saatchi

A royal commission should be set up to examine the long-term future of the National Health Service, a senior Tory peer has said.

Former Conservative chairman Lord Saatchi said a commission could take the issue out of politics and “detoxify” any changes that needed to be made.

His recommendation comes before the publication of a report that is expected to show the parlous state of English NHS finances.

In a paper for the Centre for Policy Studies thinktank, Lord Saatchi said: “There is a wide range of perspectives on the current performance of the NHS, and varied confidence in its long-term future, from the pessimistic view that the system is in crisis, to the optimistic position that its only threats are meddling politicians. A royal commission offers significant benefits regardless of the position taken.

“A royal commission is an opportunity to help reverse a deterioration in some clinical outcomes, to identify and eliminate barriers to equal access, and to ensure that trusts are adequately funded to cope with current demand pressures. The solutions it arrives at could help to avert the kind of distress seen throughout the system over the 2016-17 winter.”

Saatchi said the advantages of a commission, rather than any other sort of inquiry, included “the ability to secure the bipartisan support needed to embed lasting changes, to detoxify reforms that otherwise may be too politically dangerous to pursue, and to deploy its unique investigatory power to establish what reforms are needed to ensure that we have a world-class, 21st century, health system”.

“A commission’s investigatory powers and capacity to provide evidenced-based review, free from the constraints of the immediate political cycle, allow it to craft solutions that command the support of practitioners and politicians alike. When set up properly, its recommendations carry a unique legitimacy that could be essential to securing a lasting, bipartisan settlement on the NHS.

As the NHS approaches its 70th birthday he said it “would be reckless not to seek a full body check-up – the first in decades”.

On Monday, NHS Improvement’s figures for the third quarter of 2016-17 will be published.

NHS Improvement’s chief executive, Jim Mackey, has acknowledged that trusts would miss the £580m deficit “control target” and forecasters have predicted the combined hole in their finances could reach nearly £1bn by the end of the year.

Responses to the King’s Fund thinktank’s latest survey of NHS finance directors, carried out in late January and early February, made for “uncomfortable reading”, its director of policy, Richard Murray, said.

“They suggests that the forecast net deficit has risen by about 30% since the autumn, when NHS Improvement’s quarter two report showed a net deficit for the year of £669m. Simply applying one number to the other would give a 2016-17 net provider deficit somewhere between the £820m to £920m mark.”

Murray suggested it was a “big ask” to expect trusts to recover ground over the remainder of the year, given the scale of the winter crisis.

NHS royal commission should assess long-term future, says Lord Saatchi

7 Healthy Seeds You Should Eat Everyday

Seeds are super healthy, and most of us aren’t eating enough of them and Eating them as snacks can reduce your total daily calorie intake.! They are important additions to our daily food consumption. They may be tiny, but they’re nutritional powerhouses loaded with healthy fats, fiber, protein, and minerals.

A study showed that those who consumed seeds and nuts at least five times a week had half the rate of heart attack as those who seldom ate seeds and nuts. It also found those who ate nuts only once a week still had a 25 percent lower risk of heart disease than those that ate few nuts and seeds.

7 Healthy Seeds You Should Eat Everyday

Pumpkin Seeds

Pumpkin seeds are rich in protein and B vitamins, such as thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, B6, and folate. Eating regularly these seeds helps boost immunity, improve heart health, lower bad cholesterol, control diabetes, fight anxiety and depression, reduce arthritis pain and reduce the risk of developing some types of cancer.

Hemp Seeds

Hemp seeds are a superfood with cancer and heart disease prevention properties. It is a great source of complete protein and omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. They also contain phytosterols, plant-based compounds that help lower cholesterol levels. Eating hemp seeds will not give you the same effect as smoking marijuana.

Quinoa

Quinoa has a remarkably high protein content along with amino acids, and vitamin E. It also contains an antioxidant called quercetin. This seed can be substituted in grain dishes in place of rice or pasta. Quinoa also makes a healthy gluten-free breading and can be eaten for breakfast instead of oatmeal.

Chia Seeds

Chia seeds are truly one of the most underrated foods on the planet. These tiny, mottled seeds are a great source of vitamin C, potassium, magnesium, iron, phosphorus, and calcium, which benefits both your body and brain.

Sesame Seeds

It is a great source of manganese, copper, calcium, magnesium, iron, phosphorus, B vitamins, zinc, and fiber. These seeds can lower blood pressure and cholesterol, protect against liver damage and good for bone health. They can even prevent diseases like arthritis, asthma, migraine headaches, osteoporosis and certain cancers.

Wheat Germ

Wheat germ rich in protein, iron, and B vitamins such as folate. Due to high fiber content of this superseed, it helps prevent constipation and keeps your appetite in check. And wheat germ is low on the glycemic index, so it doesn’t spike your blood sugar.

Pine Nuts

Pine nuts contain all of the amino acids along with: vitamin A, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin E, copper, iron, manganese, and phosphorus. They are also a good source of pinoleic acid, a fatty acid that acts as a natural appetite suppressant.

Sources:

–http://www.rd.com

–http://www.top10homeremedies.com

–https://www.nutriliving.com

–http://www.lifehack.org

Read:

7 Healthy Seeds You Should Eat Everyday

8 Reasons You Should NEVER Throw Away Pickle Juice

8 Reasons You Should NEVER Throw Away Pickle Juice