6 Reasons Doctors Are Now Warning People To Never Wear Flip Flops Again.
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Summer is officially in full swing and now that the weather is all hot and humid people everywhere are taking it easy and going into vacation mode. For most of us that means kicking off our shoes and going barefoot, but when we do have to go somewhere we usually just stick our feet in a pair of sandals or flip-flops.
Who doesn’t own at least one pair of flip-flops? Not only are they the most convenient and classic summer footwear option, they also help to keep feet cool and comfortable. However, that’s about all that they’re good for! Flip-flops are actually terrible for our feet and the rest of our bodily health and wellness. Once you read on about why this is so, and just how bad they truly are, you’ll definitely think twice before you spend hours on end in your flippies this summer.
Here’s why podiatrists and doctors agree that the rubber-soled footwear should only be worn poolside, at the beach, or in gym showers:
1) Injuries- Every year flip-flops are responsible for countless foot injuries that range from minor to severe because they offer the feet practically zero support. A lack of arch and heel support, combined with the fact that they make us walk awkwardly to begin with, are what leads to pain and strain on our feet. The most common injuries that people seek treatment for are things like tendinitis, stress fractures, and heel, arch, or muscle pains. Other problems you can expect to experience from wearing them include cuts and scrapes, jammed toes, rolled ankles, infections, sunburn, bunions, blisters, knee pain, hip pain, back pain, hammertoe, pinched nerves, and the list goes on.
2) They Trip You Up- Flip-flops are definitely not the most graceful things to walk around in. They actually cause us to walk really clumsily and it’s super easy to get tripped up by the shoes. Whether someone steps on the back of them while you’re walking or you manage to catch up the front end, they can throw you off balance in a second. Another hazard they present is slipperiness, it’s easy for feet to slide around in them, especially when they get wet or sweaty.
3) Toxic Materials- Those five dollar flip-flops you see being sold at stores are priced so low for a reason; they’re cheaply made! Many of the plastics and materials that go into making them are low quality and can be poisonous or toxic to human health. Many feature plastics that contain BPA which has been linked to cancer and other serious risks. Latex is also widely used, which many people are allergic to, and so it’s best to forgo the cheap plastic versions. Instead, look for ones made with leather, suede, cork, fabrics, and other natural types of materials that don’t pose such a serious threat to your health.
4) Gross Infections- The open, airy style may allow feet to ‘breathe’ but that comes at a price. Flip-flops expose your feet and toes to all sorts of germs, dirt, bacteria, fungus, and other nasty things that can lead to an infection. A number of studies have found that flip-flops pick up and hold a heck of a lot more bacteria than ordinary shoes. This was found to be especially true when people wore them anywhere in public, like at the gym or in restrooms where gross things thrive. Dangerous pathogens such as Staphylococcus and E. coli can easily find their way into any open sore, wound, or cut and wreak havoc on your health. While most people experience mild infections like Athlete’s foot, some have had to have their toes or feet amputated because they picked up a particularly dangerous strain of something.
5) Blisters- Albeit a minor problem in light of the other more serious flip-flop issues, blisters are painful to deal with nonetheless and can lead to further complications. Flip-flops are all but held on to the foot by those two measly little straps that cross over the top of it. This design means that when you walk the straps inevitably rub against your skin. Sometimes this leads to chaffing, irritation, and blisters form which, if and when they pop open, you’re exposed to more bacteria and possible infection.
6) They Slow You Down- The loose fitting shoes change your gait and in effect they slow people down. Findings from an Auburn University study showed that those who wear flip-flops often take smaller sized steps than their sneaker wearing counterparts. Anyone who has ever worn them knows this already because it’s virtually impossible to run for more than ten feet in the darn things!
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5 Easy Ways To Activate Your Weight Loss Hormones and Boost Your Metabolism
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It’s been said that the key to maintaining a healthy weight begins in the kitchen and that it’s 80% diet, 20% exercise and lifestyle. That simple belief has not slowed or lessened humanity’s ongoing desire and search for the latest and greatest miracle cure that promises to help us shed the pounds faster and easier. People are willing to try anything to lose weight, from fasting and taking risky pills to restricting their diet and getting plastic surgery.
While losing weight can be extremely difficult, there are some basic things that you can to to naturally activate your weight loss hormones. Those are the hormones which regulate and have the biggest impact on our body weight. That way you can achieve a healthier overall balance, and weight, without having to resort to the more drastic measures mentioned above. Below are five ways in which you can turn on weight loss hormones, so give them a try and see if they can make a difference in your life:
1. Eat a Proper Breakfast. Never skip the most important meal of the day because it helps to switch your body from a state of fasting to an awake, calorie burning machine. That’s because when you’re asleep and in a state of rest your metabolism, breathing, and heart rate are all slowed down. In order to start your day off right and turn on the weight loss hormones, you need to eat a balanced breakfast. That means a meal consisting of healthy fats, protein, and carbohydrates that’s around 800 calories or less.
2. Focus on Your Breathing. By practicing certain measured breathing techniques you can speed up your metabolism and burn through more calories than you would with regular, normal breathing patterns. According to a recent study, the following breathing technique led to participants having an increased resting metabolic oxygen consumption rate of up to thirty-seven percent. What they were asked to do was breathe through only one nostril at a time, closing off the other one completely, for twenty-seven breathing cycles. This was done four times per day for one month and it was found to make that much of a difference by speeding up metabolism and activating weight loss hormones.
3. Eat More Satisfying Types of Foods. When you eat junk foods that are filled with sugar and salt you won’t feel full for long and so you end up eating even more just to feel sated. By choosing to eat more filling foods that leave you feeling satisfied for longer after eating, you can avoid piling on the pounds. The hormone which is primarily responsible for making us feel full is leptin and it can be found in high amounts in the following list of foods; oatmeal, hot peppers such as jalapenos, grapefruit, turkey, chicken and other lean types of meats like beef and pork, fish such as tuna, salmon, and sardines, yogurt (the low-fat variety), broccoli, green tea, almonds, eggs, beans, skim milk, olive oil, turmeric, and apples. Working these leptin-rich foods into your diet will naturally leave you feeling fuller for longer and will help prevent you from over-eating.
4. Aim to Get a Quality Nights Rest. By getting the recommended 6-8 hours of sleep every night, you will feel better all around. Failing to get enough sleep leads to leptin levels dropping, the hormone that makes you feel full, and so you’ll be more likely to eat more and yet still not feel satisfied. That leads to overeating as your body is looking for ways to make up for the energy it’s lacking from the lack of sleep. Studies have found that people who don’t get enough sleep are at an increased risk for a number of health issues, including gaining weight.
5. Aim to Increase and Build up Your Muscles. Working out and lifting weights is the key to increasing muscle mass. When you lift heavy weights enough times to feel a burn that means your body is producing testosterone, a sex hormone that we all have in our systems and which helps build muscle by burning fat. You don’t even need a gym or set of weights to activate this weight loss hormone. Instead, by simply carrying heavy things like groceries, packages, or even your kids whenever you get a chance to throughout the day, you can increase testosterone levels. However, doing a number of repetitions and lifting weights to the point where you can feel it, and are sore the next day, is a key factor to shedding pounds.
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Have You Ever Noticed This Tiny Hole Above Someone’s Ear? This Is The Strange Reason Why It’s There.
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If you have ever noticed that someone has a tiny hole above their ear, that looks like it could be a misplaced dimple, you may have assumed that it was from some odd type of piercing. However, what you actually picked up on is a body feature that happens to be a naturally occurring mutation in some people. And while the little hole is not all that common in America, it’s more prevalent than you’d imagine it to be.
Those tiny holes are best known as preauricular sinuses and they are located right around the junction where the top of the external ear cartilage meets the face. They are considered birth defects and get passed down from one generation to the next. The holes can occur on one or both ears, with the right side being where they are more frequently found. For the most part they are harmless, but just like other types of sinuses, they can become infected and require treatment. Some may also form cysts and in rare cases draining or removal is the best option.
Why the holes are there in the first place and for what purpose remains mostly a mystery. The accompanying Business Insider video mentions an interesting theory put forth by Neil Shubin, an evolutionary biologist, who says that they could very well be an ‘evolutionary remnant of fish gills’. It’s an interesting idea and makes sense, but there could just as easily be another explanation for the holes.
The chances of a person being born with a preauricular sinus dimple varies across geographical and ethnic lines. Researchers in Korea found that the small dents are most common among Asian and African populations, where between 4-10% of people may have them. In comparison, less than 1% of Americans and those born in the UK are affected, which is far fewer. In Ethiopia, the teeny holes are considered lucky to have because they’re believed to bring people money and wealth.
If you didn’t know what those strange ear holes were before, now you know the basics about the auricular sinus. Please pass this on and help share it so that more people can learn about them and be informed!
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The Health Benefits Of Eating Garlic In The Morning On An Empty Stomach Everyday
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“Since garlic then hath powers to save from death, bear with it though it makes unsavory breath.” This quote can be found in the Regimen sanitatis Salernitanum, a medieval medical text in poem form that today is more commonly known as the Salerno Regimen of Health. For years the book was regarded as a primary source of medical information and advice, with early physicians following the verses and doling out remedies straight from its pages.
Times have changed but the premise behind many of the ideas covered by the book remain the same. Garlic is still one of nature’s strongest medicines and a little bit of the pungent bulb goes a very long way. The positive impact it can have on human health has been observed for centuries and modern studies only back up what people knew all those years ago. Simply put, garlic does a body good. If you want to look, feel, and stay as healthy as you possibly can, then you should aim to eat more of it!
One easy way to work more garlic into your diet is by eating some first thing in the morning, before breakfast, on a completely empty stomach. As strange as it sounds, you can actually help strengthen and heal yourself by doing exactly that. If you’re thinking there’s no way I can choke down raw garlic in the morning, don’t worry about it because you should be using either roasted garlic or garlic supplements instead. Not only are coated capsules easy to swallow down with a glass of water, they also work best because they dissolve in the intestines rather than the stomach.
When you take garlic right after you wake up great things will start happening in your body and the following are the main health benefits that you can naturally derive from doing so:
1) Reduced Blood Pressure- It reduces hypertension and the risk of developing dangerous blood clots. Garlic promotes overall circulatory health because it acts as a natural blood thinner which makes it easier for the heart to pump blood.
2) Helps Prevent Heart Attacks- Garlic can prevent heart attacks by slowing and reducing the development of atherosclerosis, which is the narrowing and hardening of arteries that decreases blood flow and can lead to both blood clots and heart attacks.
3) Reduce Bad Cholesterol Levels- Studies have shown that garlic lowers the LDL cholesterol, which is the “bad” type of cholesterol that puts people at increased risk for heart attacks.
4) Stabilizes Blood Sugar- Studies show that garlic increases the amount of insulin available in people with diabetes and so it helps to regulate the amount of glucose in the blood.
5) Boost Immunity- Garlic is excellent for boosting your immune system because it’s packed with nutrients like potassium, fiber, Vitamins C and B6, and so much more. If you ever get a cold skip the medications and take some garlic instead, its been proven to help reduce the severity of symptoms associated with the flu and common cold.
6) It May Help Prevent Cancer- Garlic is recognized by the National Cancer Institute as potentially having anticancer properties. However, more studies are needed to determine how and why this is so. The anti-cancer link may be down to the fact that it helps to relieve oxidative stress, meaning its natural antioxidant properties aid our bodies in removing damage causing free radicals and thus provides protection against them.
7) Other Associated Benefits- Garlic can also help our bodies absorb minerals, improve impotence, prevent yeast infections, protect against osteoarthritis, clean and reduce fatty build up in the liver, and act as a natural antibiotic.
There you have it, some of the top ways that garlic can benefit your bodily health! Below is a recipe for oven roasted garlic that you can make ahead of time and so there’s no excuse not to eat more of this potent super-food!
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. 2. Take some garlic bulbs, remove the dry outer skin, and carefully cut off the tops of the bulbs. 3. Take a piece of tin foil, lay it flat, then place an equal sized piece of parchment paper on top of the foil. 4. Place the garlic atop the parchment paper and drizzle the bulbs with olive oil. 5. Wrap them up neat and tightly in the foil before placing them on a pan in the oven, roast for 1 hour. 6. Remove, unwrap, allow to cool, and then gently squeeze the garlic bulbs to remove the clove. 7. Serve and use them right away or place them in a covered storage container where they’ll keep for a few days in the fridge.
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8 Signs and Symptoms You Have Poor Circulation and Peripheral Artery Disease, and Don’t Know It.
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Do you have fatigue, cramping or pain in your legs after a relatively short time of walking? If so, you could be suffering from Peripheral Artery Disease, commonly known as PAD. If you do have these symptoms, you are actually lucky, because according to “The American Heart Association” people who have PAD often have no symptoms.
Misdiagnosis or no diagnosis of PAD, a NARROWING of the peripheral ARTERIES to the LEGS, STOMACH, ARMS and HEAD, is common when you are asymptomatic or your symptoms are confused with some other condition. The CAUSE of this is ATHEROSCLEROSIS, most commonly found in the LEGS, results in narrowing and resultant blockage of blood flow to the area. This BLOCKAGE will put you at a significantly increased RISK for a HEART ATTACK or STROKE.
As you will hear from Dr. Yassa, in the video below that you are about to watch, there are ways to avoid misdiagnose or no diagnosis of this disease that can ultimately become LIFE THREATENING.
Common Causes:
1) High Blood Pressure
2) High Cholesterol
3) Being Overweight
4) Inactivity
Having Diabetes can increase the severity of PAD.
Dr. Yassa goes on to discuss in greater detail the SIGNS & SYMPTOMS OF PAD:
1) Leg Pain when moving, that recedes when you stop 2) Leg Cramps in the Calf that feel like a Spasm 3) Burning 4) Numbness 5) Feet are colder than other areas of the body 6) Hair loss on Legs 7) Shiny Skin 8) In the later stages POORLY HEALED WOUNDS ON THE FEET
In the footage below Dr. Yassa discusses the way doctors properly DIAGNOSE PAD, and identify exactly where the blockage is through various imaging tests. TREATMENT and PREVENTION are further discussed.
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The Amazing Health Benefits Of Eating a Pickle a Day According To a New Study
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Pickle lovers everywhere can rejoice and dive deep into a jar of the yummy, salty, sour tasting cucumbers because it turns out that they’re better for us than previously thought! It’s not only pickles that do a body good, but all fermented foods and drinks can boost our health. So the next time you get a craving for something crisp and salty, snack on a few pickles and improve your social life in the process.
You’re probably wondering exactly how can a pickle make my life better and the explanation to that end can be found in a number of relatively new studies that have come out in recent years. In one study, completed by researchers at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, hard evidence was found that the bacteria living in our digestive systems is directly linked to our brain chemistry and behavior. That means the trillions of bacteria in our guts can have a noticeable effect on our mental health and wellness.
Furthermore, researchers at the College of William and Mary found that young adults who ate a diet rich in fermented foods, such as kimchi, sauerkraut, other pickled veggies, kefir, kombucha and more, experienced lower levels of social anxiety than those who did not eat fermented foods. According to Matthew Hilimire, an assistant professor in the department of psychology who co-authored the William and Mary study, the fermented foods had an “anxiolytic effect” on subjects, which in layman’s terms means that they reduced anxiety.
The findings of these two studies can be linked because fermented foods are a major source of probiotics, which help stimulate the growth of healthy, beneficial bacteria in our intestines. That means pickles and other types of fermented foods can work wonders at balancing the bacteria found in our digestive systems. In turn, this can have a profound impact on our overall mood and state of mind because we now know that our gut health is essential to our overall mental health and wellness.
The brain-gut link boils down to this basic premise; a healthy stomach and brain leads to mood stability and therefore less anxiety, depression, and irritability. By simply eating more fermented foods you can positively boost your mental health and improve your social life. You’re less likely to feel so shy, self-conscious, embarrassed, or anxious around others, and that can only be a good thing.
The research into fermented foods is ongoing and scientists are looking at alternative ways to help treat anxiety disorders by ways other than medication. Perhaps in the future we will pop a pickle instead of a pill and that’s awesome!
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