My name is Dr. Sarah Wilmsmeyer, and I used to be a pharmacist. However, a few years ago, I was introduced to nutritional response testing, and I realized that helping people get healthy is where my true passions lie. Rather than go on and on about myself, I think this video (along with the rest of the site) sums it up pretty well. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me anytime.

Sincerely,

Dr. Sarah

Many people in the world are faced by the problem of snoring. Majority think that snoring is a male problem not knowing that there are also some women who snore though rare. Snoring is the hoarse sound one produces while sleeping which is caused by the obstruction of the respiratory canal and systems. More than half of adults snore while sleeping. This may be very annoying to the partner when together in bed especially when the partner is not used to it.

Causes of snoring

Basically the ‘snore sound’ is caused when the air which we breathe passes through relaxed tissues of the respiratory system causing the tissue to vibrate producing an irritating hoarse sound. The following are the common causes of snoring:

1. Alcohol consumption.

Alcohol consumption is believed to be one of the common causes of snoring to a person if consumed in excess. Alcohol makes the tissues to be relaxed making the air passing across these tissues to vibrate producing the irritating sound.

1. Mouth anatomy.

Your mouth anatomy can also be one of the causes of snoring. People who are plump may have extra tissues at the back of their throats making the windpipe narrower. Hence, when air is breathed it causes the tissues to vibrate and as a result we have snoring.

1. Nasal problems.

Nasal problems like having twisted nostrils may also contribute to snoring.

Symptoms of snoring

The symptoms associated with snoring are as follows:

• Restlessness during sleep.
• Sore throat.
• Chest pains especially at night.
• Gasping while asleep.
• Unconsciously producing unwanted sounds while sleeping.

If the above symptoms are persistent one is advised to immediately seek medical advice for further check-up. This is because if this problem is taken lightly it may persist for a very long period. However, if you go for treatment early after realizing the problem the problem might be solved completely.

There are several methods that can be used to treat or relatively reduce the frequency of the snoring problem. In the next part I will cover several of this treatment methods.

Treatment

I am going to recommend several tips that could help one reduce if not totally stop snoring. They include:

• Using oral appliances that could assist in straightening your tissues in the throat to allow free air passage.
• Working out to reduce weight.
• Changing the sleeping position into a way that the air we breathe passes without obstruction.
• Avoid taking alcohol before going to sleep.

Heart disease remains one of the world’s most serious problems in our modern society, with almost twice as many women at risk compared to men.

While we do know that exercise is vital to keeping our hearts healthy, for women this is not always as easy as it seems. Mothers may have busy lifestyles with their children but this does not provide enough to help the heart so the potential risks are far higher than you would expect.

Exercise and diet are essential to providing a healthy heart, but there are few of us that actually manage to take in the right nutrition on a daily basis. Despite there being many supplements available, it can be difficult to determine exactly where you may benefit.

So what can women do to improve their chances? How can we prevent the spread of heart disease within our busy lives and ensure we get the nutrition we actually need?

Helpful tips to reduce heart disease

Here we shall look at the basic principles you can use to improve your life and health in a way that is best suited to you:

• Though a vital tool for many women, mothers who are working and even those who have to stay at home and look after the children, Automobiles are possibly one of the greatest factors in the rise of heart disease. Where once we were more active, we now rely on the car to do the simplest of tasks… Why not leave it at home and enjoy a brisk walk or even hop on a bicycle.

The benefits will become very apparent in a short space of time. Simple and regular exercise provides many benefits in the long term.

• Changing your diet does not mean giving up those foods you love; in fact the opposite is true! All you need to do is actually work out how much you take in and adjust it accordingly. The problem with many of our favourite foods is that they are often “addictive” in a subconscious way. Teaching yourself to eat them less takes time – However many dieticians tend to advise you to avoid them at all costs.

It’s not true, you can just change the way you think about it so that the craving does not control you, and you control it! Instead of reaching for a hamburger when you want a snack, opt for a carrot instead and reward yourself with a burger for the evening… It is far easier to change the thought process than eliminate your favourite foods.

When heart disease becomes a chronic condition, it is all the more important to consider how you can change your lifestyle.  There are many medications and therapies available but not everything will be suited to everyone.

• While vitamins and supplements may be helpful, they are often not as effective as they only contain a small amount of the nutrients you need. Even if a product claims to “natural” they only require a small amount of the “Active Product” to be classed in this way.

It is better to seek whole food alternatives where you will get the proper amount of nutrients and even improve your entire diet.

• In keeping with this worry, there are now companies also offering Nutrition Response Testing (NRT). A proven scientific theory that allows for you to know exactly what kind of nutrients you may be lacking and providing a guide as to what your body needs.

While it may be easy to just drop into the local drugstore and pick up a pack of multi vitamins, you can have too much of a good thing!

While our bodies can cope with excess vitamins well, it is better to have a personalised guide which is what NRT can do for you. By only taking in the vitamins and nutrients you need, you will improve your overall body health. Your body has less work to do dealing with the excess for a start.

So these are a just a small number of possibilities for ladies to improve their chances of combating heart disease. There are a wide variety of things you can do and may not even realise just how simple they are.

Keys to heart disease prevention include lowering cholesterol , exercising, controlling high blood pressure, maintaining a healthy weight, and most importantly, quitting smoking. If you or one of your family members experience heart disease, do not panic. Consult a heart specialist right away. All it takes is a little effort and some willpower and we may even see an end to this condition.

Menopause is when your menstruation periods stop for more than twelve months straight. For many women, menopause usually takes place between the ages of forty and sixty. But, because of illness, medical procedures or genetics, some women experience menopause before the age of forty. Whether induced or natural, menopause that happens before forty is called premature menopause. It is also known as premature ovarian failure.

Symptoms of premature menopause

Signs of premature menopause are typically the very same as those experienced by females undergoing normal menopause and could include

• Hot flashes
• Periods that are lighter or heaver than usual
• Missed or irregular periods

These signs indicate that the ovaries are making less estrogen. In addition to symptoms listed above, some women may face:

• Fatigue
• Difficulty sleeping
• Reduced sex drive
• loss of bladder control
• Dry mouth, eyes or skin
• Mood swings
• Mild depression
• Vaginal dryness
• Breast tenderness

Besides symptoms stated above, if you are under the age of forty and encounter any of the conditions below, visit your doctor to find out whether you are experiencing premature menopause:

• You or one of your family members experienced autoimmune disorder such as Graves’ disease, lupus, or hypothyroidism.
• Your sister or mother had premature menopause
• You’ve gone through radiation or chemotherapy
• You have ever vainly tried to become pregnant more than one year.

Steps in preventing premature menopause

The good news is there is treatment available for premature menopause. However, there is a popular adage that tells “prevention is better than cures.” Below are some the helpful steps that will help you prevent premature menopause.

1) Follow a routine workout program. 30 minutes of brisk walking everyday induces your body to discharge natural chemical called endorphins, which guarantee you a sense of well-being.

2) Make positive lifestyle changes to prevent premature menopause. This involves eating a healthy diet that is rich in vegetables and fruits and foods that have iron, folic acid, calcium, and protein. Severe diseases, such as hypertension and diabetes, must be supervised closely, as they cause premature delivery.

3) Understand your emotions. Feelings of anxiety, sadness, confusion and irritability can become devastating. You can easily avoid the adverse effects if you have the ability to control the negative emotions. Seek a support group. Socializing with others will help you get rid of boredom and enable you express your views with others. In this way, you can get rid of negative feelings and thoughts.

4) Cultivate the habit of taking calcium supplement daily and eat healthy foods. This will help lower high osteoporosis and cholesterol level.

5) Decrease the consumption of spices, caffeine and alcohols. Instead, drink cool water.

6) If you experience premature menopause, consult your physician and find out whether you should take whole-food supplements. In addition to hormone replacement therapy, whole-food supplements provide other benefits to your health.

7) Consider following a solid sleep routine. A good night’s sleep can help minimize insomnia, anxiety, irritability, and depression. If your efforts to improve sleeping habit fail, you can seek medical treatment to maintain good sleeping habits.

Most of us lose a lot of strays every day, however if you’ve discovered a growing number of falling out after brushing your hair or in the shower, stop the cycle before it gets out of your control. Hair loss problem seems to be extremely common these days. Common causes of hair loss are nutritional deficiencies, tension, dry skin, extreme oiliness of the scalp, thyroid discrepancy, ailment, as well as hair damages due to hair dyeing or coloring, straightening, perming, and bleaching.

Here are a couple things to remember in preventing hair loss.

Take protein rich foods

First off, you need to know that the food you eat will affect the health of your hair and hence your hair fall. If you have a diet that is complete in proteins like almonds, yogurt, grain, chick and eggs, these will be normally enough to stop hair loss. It’s recommended that you have a high fat diet plan to start thinking of consuming healthier meals as this will reduce the testosterone degree which is connected to hair fall.

Get a head massage

Make sure you massage your scalp for a couple of minutes daily to stimulate circulation. Excellent circulation in the scalp tries to keep hair roots active, and the circulation can be enhanced with massage using a couple of drops of bay essential or lavender oil in sesame or an almond oil base.

Don’t over heat your hair

Change your hair dryer on low and cool settings, and reduce the use of flat irons. Do not color your hair more than 1 or 2 shades its typical color. You will require more chemicals if you change color frequently. So, it is advisable not to use more chemicals which can easily make your hair crack. If you use hair spray or hair gel, don’t hang around for it to dry before you comb as it may harden hair and hence can cause hair damage.

Antioxidants

Green tea is full of antioxidants which protect against hair fall and boost hair development. If you are experiencing severe hair fall, try applying lukewarm green tea, normally two sacks brewed in one cup of water on your scalp and leave this mix on for an hour and then wash.

Practice meditation

The root cause for hair loss is tension and stress. Not just to hair, stress is detrimental to your health as well. If it continues, the hair loss trend can last more than twelve weeks.  Some of the stress factors which are linked to hair loss are major illnesses, surgeries, the loss of a loved person, financial problems, child birth, intense work related stress and divorce. Meditation can play a great role in reducing stress and restoring hormonal balance.

You might think that drinking diet soda is a healthy alternative to taking calorie-rich regular soft drinks if you’re worried about your waistline. This sweet choice could appear as innocent as calorie-free water; however, a research reveals that it could be just as unhealthy to your body as consuming regular soft drink. In some cases, it might be even worse for you.

Here are seven more reasons to give up diet soda:

It messes with your skin

Consuming diet soda can ruin your skin because it decreases your PH levels. As a result, you may have pimples all around your face. According to Dr. Jeanette Graf, we need a high level of alkaline in order to make our bodies healthy.  The doctor suggests his patient to avoid all sorts of soda drinks including diet soda.

Soda decays your tooth

The International Center for Complete Dentistry alerts that diet sodas are as acidic as regular soft drinks, implying that their regular consumption can cause tooth decay.

It damages your Kidney

With just two servings of diet soda each day, you are likely to pose a serious risk to your kidney. Research participants who consumed two or more diet sodas per day had a kidney function decline of thirty percent or more. The study also revealed that those who drank diet soda had less kidney blood filtering capacity than those who consume regular soft drinks.

Diet soda triggers diabetes and heart disease 

Excessive consumption of diet soda triggers diabetics and heart diseases.

It causes dehydration

Some people drink diet soda in lieu of water. Caffeine is a diuretic; therefore sodas with caffeine will cause dehydration.

You are at risk for metabolic syndrome

Drinking diet sodas has actually been connected with metabolic disorder, alerts the American Diabetic Association. Some other popular research such as the Framingham Heart Stud, along with the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study reveals that if you consume diet drink, or eat too much fried foods or meat, you are at high risk for metabolic syndrome.

Diet drinks is responsible for weight gain

Contrary to the popular belief, diet soda is heavily responsible for gaining weight. The San Antonio Heart Study discovers that the more diet soda you take, the higher the chance that you be obese. For each diet drinks you consume there is a sixty five percent increase in your risk of gaining weight.

There are still many other reasons why you should not rely on diet soda in losing weight. I recommend you drink plenty of water, get enough rest, do some light exercises and watch out your diet if you are serious about burning fat.

What are hormones?

Hormones are natural chemicals that are available in the bodies of all animals, including human beings. Although hormones can be produced in small amounts, they play an important role in controlling vital body functions such as development, reproduction and growth.

Hormones have various chemistry and can be steroids or proteins. When taken orally, steroid hormones are active in the body.  For example, birth control pills are regarded as steroid hormones. They can be taken by mouth. On the other hand, protein hormones are dissolved in the stomach, and lose their capacity to act in the body when taken by mouth. As a result, protein hormones are usually injected into the body to have an impact. Insulin, for example, is a protein hormone and it is injected in the body of diabetic patients for treatment.

Negative impacts

Growth hormones are given to cattle in order to make them gain weight quicker, hence producing meat goods for consumers.  These types of hormones also enhance milk production.

While meat and dairy industries rely on using growth hormones for improved productivity and a huge profit, these hormones can pose a lot of health related threats for humans.

Early Puberty in Girls

Early adolescence may be connected with some kind of growth hormones that are usually used in mild products and meat. Some researchers reveal that growth hormones, in particular, lead young girls to go through puberty too soon, an incident connected with higher risk for breast cancer later on. If you are worried about these possible adverse effects of growth hormones, look for dairy products or meats that are hormone-free

Increased Risk for Breast Cancer

Because of the use of steroid hormones in food, some researchers and consumers worry that the risk of getting breast cancer may increase. This concern is validated by an expert called Andrew Weil. He says that the foods that contain growth hormones pose a greater risk in getting breast cancer.  However, the experts clarifies that the U.S department of Agriculture does not permit the use of hormones in chickens, raising hogs and turkeys or various other fowl. Therefore, you can consume meats and various other foods stemmed from these animals if you are worried about getting breast cancer.

Growth hormones, such as testosterone and estrogen, are used 2/3 of all American sheep and cattle. Foods that are labeled “no hormones administered.” are expensive, but they are devoid of hormone related risks.

Increased Risk for Prostate Cancer

Consumers and researchers are also worry that growth hormones in food might increase the danger for prostrate cancer. According to an Australian researchers named Mike Waters, from University of Queensland, discovered that obstructing certain growth hormones can lower the risk for prostrate cancer. Therefore, it is advisable to avoid foods that contain high amount of growth hormones.

Some experts at Cornell University recommend consuming meat and dairy products in small amounts increasing your consumption of vegetables and fruits, and cooking meats without charring or burning them to lower your consumption of steroid hormones and improve health.