Some women are at higher risk of developing Type 2 diabetes because of a syndrome that often goes undiagnosed: Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, or PCOS, affects between six and ten percent of women who are of childbearing age. One of the symptoms of PCOS is often excess weight gain, with that weight carried around the abdomen. Reducing the risks of developing type 2 diabetes in women with PCOS involves, in part, improving insulin sensitivity.

If you have symptoms such as irregular or infrequent menstrual cycles, acne, excessive body or facial hair, you may have PCOS. PCOS causes a hormonal imbalance that can cause these types of symptoms. Your doctor will be able to identify the syndrome and direct you to appropriate treatment to control the condition and prevent future complications such as heart disease, infertility, endometrial cancer, and diabetes.

Women with PCOS should be sure to eat a healthy diet, and include regular exercise each week. Maintaining a healthy weight, and losing any extra pounds, will not only help to prevent cardiovascular disease and diabetes, it will also help to reduce the symptoms associated with PCOS.

There are some women that, even with increased exercise and a healthy diet, will not lose weight. Will these women still benefit? Studies have shown that exercising has healthy benefits, regardless of its effect on weight. Exercise affects how the body metabolizes carbohydrates (glucose), and improves insulin sensitivity, both of which help to prevent diabetes from developing. As our body becomes less sensitive to insulin, the pancreas increases its production of insulin to try to compensate. By exercising, and improving our body’s sensitivity to insulin, we keep the pancreas from working overtime.

Losing weight can be particularly important to women, not only for the health benefits, but also because of the effect on energy and self-esteem. Even if the exercise does not help you to lose weight in the short term, it will still have a benefit to your health. Before starting an exercise program, it is important to check with your doctor. They may have recommendations on starting a program, or cautions based on your personal medical history.

There are several ways to start an exercise program; the key is finding what works for you. You may choose to ride a stationary bike, swim, walk, or dance.

Walking is a great way to begin a habit of regular exercise. Women who enjoy a daily walk report feeling better, sleeping better, and experience less moods swings. Should you decide to start a walking program, make sure you have a quality pair of walking shoes. Your local running store can provide you with information on the style of shoe best for you. When you begin, do not worry about your speed, or how long you walk. Even a slow-paced walk will be good for your health, and as you build up stamina, you will be able to increase the length of your walk. Start out slow, studies show that even a slow-paced walk is good to your health. As you continue your program, you will probably find your stamina builds up and you can add more distance to your walk. An excellent goal to work towards is a thirty-minute walk every day.

Elizabeth Radisson is the editor of Diabetes.OurGoodHealth.org, where you’ll find numerous articles on the causes of diabetes and related symptoms and illnesses. See our sister site for more general health information.

First showers of monsoon are heartily welcomed by everyone after experiencing the scorching heat of summer. But monsoons reduce the immunity of our body and make us susceptible to many diseases which are commonly associated with this season. It is time for us to keep our body resistant against diseases by boosting our immunity and taking precautions against these diseases.

The diseases associated with monsoon are malaria, jaundice, gastro intestinal infections like typhoid and cholera. Apart from these, viral infections like cold and cough also make their presence felt.
Puddles of water formed due to rain become breeding grounds for mosquitoes which spread diseases like malaria and dengue fever. As a precautionary measure against mosquito bite born diseases one can use mosquito net around the bed which is better choice to mosquito repellants like mats and coils. A mosquito repellant cream is the best choice when you are away from home. Fumigating the house with smoke of dried neem leaves in evenings for 1-2 minutes is an excellent ayurvedic method to keep mosquitoes away.

Pollution of drinking water during monsoon is very common. It is very necessary to drink clean and pure water when water borne monsoon diseases like diarrhea and gastro intestinal infections threaten us. Drinking boiled water at home is strongly recommended to tap water. Prefer mineral water of government certified companies when you are away from home.

Walking in dirty water during rainy season leads to numerous fungal infections which affect toes and nails. Diabetic patients have to take a special care about their feet. Always keep your feet dry and clean. Avoid walking in dirty water. Keep your shoes, socks and raincoats dry and clean. Drying clothes with fumes of loban and dry neem leaves is recommended in ayurvedic texts.

Precautions have to be taken to prevent dampness and growth of fungus (mold) on and around the house where asthmatic patients live. Avoid fumigation in case of asthmatic patients.

Ayurvedic Tips to increase body immunity and preventing diseases of monsoon.

1. The digestive system gets weakened due to dehydration in summer. This leads to low digestive power. This is further weakened by vitiation of doshas and dhatus due to monsoon. Hence following diets which increase power of digestion and strengthen the digestive system would be beneficial in rainy season.

• Light foods prepared out of old barley, rice and wheat.

• Sour and salted soups of vegetables.

• Drinking boiled and cooled water mixed with little honey.

• Consuming little quantity of wine prepared out of grapes.

• Adding ginger and green gram in daily diet.

• Eating warm food.

2. Avoid the following

Sleeping in daytime.

Over physical exertion.

Over exposure to sun.

3. Always keep the surrounding dry and clean. Do not allow water to get accumulated around.

4. Keep your body warm as viruses attack immediately when body temperature goes down.

5. Do not enter air conditioned room with wet hair and damp cloths.

6. Dry your feet and webs with soft dry cloth whenever they are wet.

7. Wash vegetables with clean water and steam them well to kill germs.

8. Avoid eating uncooked foods and salads.

9. Drink plenty of water and keep your body well hydrated.

10. Do not allow kids to play in stagnant polluted water filled puddles.

Ayurvedic Home remedies for Monsoon diseases

1. Apply castor oil or sesame oil for cracked feet and skin.

2. A freshly prepared paste of turmeric, neem and sesame seeds is recommended in ayurveda for fungal infection between toes.

3. Drink a glass of warm water mixed with a tea spoon of honey in empty stomach. This flushes out accumulated toxins.

4. Freshly prepared radish juice is the best remedy for cold.

5. A pinch each of long pepper powder and rock salt mixed in warm water reduces cough

6. The following home recipes can be used as home remedies for digestive disorders of monsoon

In Indigestion

Ingredients:

Rice-1/2 cup

Water -4 cups

Long pepper- 2or 3

Ginger -1’’

Method of preparation:

Cook rice with recommended quantity of water with crushed ginger and salt. Powder long pepper and fry it in a spoon of cow’s ghee and add it to gruel. Consume this when it hot. This is very light to digest and relieves colic pain.

In Diarrhea

Ingredients:

Rice -1/2 cup

Water – 4 cups

Ginger paste – 1/2 spoon

Salt to taste

Pomegranate juice: ½ cup

Method of preparation

1. Cook rice with recommended quantity of water with ginger paste and salt

2. Add pomegranate juice when the gruel is warm. This gruel rehydrates body and supply energy . This soothes inflamed walls of intestine and controls bowel movements.
In flatulence

Ingredients:

½ cup of rice

4 cups of water

Haritaki (Terminalia chebula) – powder-1/2 spoon

Roots of pippali or long pepper

Ginger paste -1/2 spoon salt to taste

Method of preparation

Cook Rice, haritaki powder , roots of pippali and water together. Add salt to it.Consume this when it is warm. This relieves flatulence and regularizes the bowel movement

Thus precautions coupled with care really help you to enjoy monsoon. Have a healthy and safe monsoon.

Biography of Dr.SavithaSuri

Dr.SavithaSuri has been an Ayurvedic Practitioner since 1989. After getting a graduation degree in ayurveda (Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery) in 1988 from University of Mysore, India, she started practising ayurveda . Her articles about ayurveda have been published in news papers and websites. She is a regular health columnist to a regional news paper.

Dr.SavithaSuri lives in Mysore , Karnataka, India. She gives consultations in Mysore and also in Bangalore, the silicon valley of India.
http://www.ayurhelp.com
email doctor@ayurhelp.com

Eating fruits that are red or orange in color will help improve you skin health and help to prevent acne. Here are the fruits you should be eating.

* Apples – eat 3 – 4 apples a day while working to clearing your acne. Apples are good for skin health. Eat at least 2 a day. Eat organic apples because you can eat the skins and most pectin is in the skin, which helps with constipation. Apples contain ascorbic acid, bioflavonoids, fiber, pectin, quercetin, minerals, and vitamins

* Apricots – eat as many as you like. Apricots are a high source of minerals, fiber, and beta-carotene and will help control acne. (A precursor to vitamin A) They help to relieve or prevent constipation.

* Bananas – eat only one banana a day. Bananas have the phytochemcial fructoOligosaccharides, which feeds the good bacterial in your colon. By feeding the good bacteria, you prevent the bad bacteria from overtaking the colon and producing toxic acids that get to the skin and create acne.

* Blackberries – help cleanse the blood and are good for constipation. They help a weak kidney and are good for creating good skin on your face.

* Blueberries are a good blood cleanser. They are also good for constipation and various skin disorders – eczema, acne, psoraisis

* Cantaloupes – are high in vitamin A, C, and have many other minerals. This makes them good for any type of skin problems

* Cherries – are good blood cleansers and help the liver and kidney. They promote regular bowel movements.

* Figs – are high in fiber and help to reduce constipation.

* Grapefruits – helps to dissolve and eliminate poisons from drugs thus improving the liver function

* Grapes – help cleanse the body, build blood, and build the body. It is good for constipation, skin, and liver disorders.

* Mango – is good for kidney inflammation. It contains a lot of minerals, which helps to neutralize acid waste.

* Strawberries – have been shown to have strong anti-acne activity. They are high in pectin content, which helps to keep your bowels moving.

* Pineapples – contains many vitamins and minerals. It contains Papain, which helps to digest protein. They are useful in of excess mucus, digestive problems, intestinal worms, and constipation.

These fruits below are useful for acne since they have an antibiotic effect,

* Grapes
* Plums
* Figs
* Raspberries
* Blueberries
* Honey
* Apple juice
* Grape juice

Use as many of these fruits in your diet. If you do, you will start to see improvement in your skin and your acne will start to clear up.

Rudy Silva is a Natural Nutritionist. He is the author an acne e-book can be found at: http://www.acne-remedies.for–you.info
In addition you can get a free special acne facial cleansing report at: http://www.for–you.com/SkinCareTreatment

You have decided to go for contact lenses, but you’re not sure if you’ll be able to wear them all the time or if you can handle them properly? Here are some recommendations that you should take into consideration…
- You must wash your hands before using contact lenses;
- A progressive wearing of your contact lenses is needed (from a couple of hours in the first day, to a 12 hours period later on);
- You should avoid wearing them in the week-end or at least one day per week;
- Store the contact lenses in their special boxes and if you have different dyoptrics, be careful not to mix them up;
- Every morning after putting on your contact lenses, throw away the solution in which you kept them overnight and refresh it in the evening;
- Make sure that you always keep your contact lenses in their special solution; if not, they dry and become useless. You must use the special solution that comes with your contact lenses and not some improvised solutions like those with water and salt.

These recommendations are everyday steps that must be followed for a proper hygiene of your contact lenses, but when it comes to going away on vacation you should also consider the followings:
-You must not use any cream soap because the cream will remain on your hands and can be easily transferred to your contact lens;
- After swimming, the contact lenses must be removed, cleaned and disinfected. You must know that not all contact lenses can be worn at the beach or at the pool. The rigid ones can get lost easily; therefore those flexible and soft ones are more suitable for these situations. There are also special contact lenses for swimming, but you should make sure that they are appropriate for this before actually going swimming. You can easily find out if your contact lenses are made for swimming, by diving with your eyes wide open, into a bowl full of water. Move your head around a few times and, if your contact lenses don’t move, then you’re good to go!
- When you get out of the water you have to blink often in order to eliminate the excess liquid from your eyes. You shouldn’t rub your eyelids very hard.

Nowadays, when we can change almost every part of our body that we dislike, our eyes don’t make an exception. We can actually choose the color of our eyes, due to a simple contact lens. Since this option is often adopted by women, being regarded as one of the easiest change-of-look tricks, these women must remember the followings:
- Put on your contact lenses before putting on your make-up.
- If you use fixative for your hair, do it before you put on the contact lenses, and close your eyes while you spray it.
- Keep away the nail varnish, your perfume or the acetone because these can affect the plastic in your contact lens.
- Blink often when you dry your hair so that your eyes don’t get dry.
- Use a liquid foundation cream, so that it doesn’t affect the contact lens.
There are various colors of contact lenses, adapted to everyone’s needs and wishes. You can even get a contact lens for Halloween and for a Vampire look or blank contact lens to make you look blind. You can simply choose a contact lens of a color and another contact lens of a different color for a strange, funny way of looking.
A large variety of colors is offered by acuvue contact lenses. Some acuvue contact lenses – ACUVUE 2 are available in various cosmetic tints like hazel, green, violet, amethyst, blue and even gray. There are also opaque acuvue contact lenses for darker eyes and enhancers for lighter eyes.

In the rush for a new change of “look”, people should consider that the contact lenses have its advantages and disadvantages. The advantages are that you benefit from a constant correction of your eyesight, you can wear lenses overnight (such as acuvue contact lenses), your binocular eyesight improves and your visual field gets larger. Unlike eyeglasses, they are excellent for bad weather and can even change the color of your eyes. Last but not least, you can get rid of those annoying spectacles which leave traumas to the children.

On the other hand there are disadvantages as well: contact lenses need more care than spectacles. Their purchase and maintaining cost is higher. Contact lenses are not recommended to children, old people or to those persons who suffer from severe allergies, eye infections, the syndrome of the dry eye or who work in an environment that doesn’t allow a proper handling of the contact lenses. However, if the person is mature enough to take care what he buys and wears, the contact lenses can be an answer to a prayer.

As you can see, contact lenses are made to fit everyone’s necessities and desires, from a simple change of “look” to a medical prescription. So, no matter what you’re looking for, be sure that there’s a suitable pair of contact lenses for you!

If you are interested in buying acuvue contact lenses or in finding out more information about contact lens, simply click this link.

Eating while sleeping? It’s probably a disorder.

Has this happened to you?

You woke up one morning, and you found that there were wrappers of candy bar all over your kitchen. Incidentally, your stomach aches and you see that you had chocolate smudges all over your hands and face. Your parents or your husband tells you that you are up all night long eating, but surprisingly, you don’t recall that you did so. Your parents or your husband seemed serious telling you that you actually ate all those chocolates. Is there an inside joke?

Probably not, In fact, the symptoms show that you probably have a night eating syndrome.

Night eating syndrome, also known as sleep-related eating, is considered by medical doctors as a parasomnia. It is not a frequent sleepwalking type. People suffering from this disorder have experiences of recurrent eating episodes while asleep, without actually being aware that they are actually doing it. This nocturnal eating syndrome might happen most of the time that it would show significant gain in your weight. Although this disorder can affect people in all ages and sexes, the sleep-related eating affects young women more than men.

What is night eating disorder?

Also known as nocturnal sleep-related eating disorder or NS-RED, night eating disorder is not an eating problem strictly speaking. It is known as a sleep disorder type that enables people to eat while seemingly asleep. While sleeping, they could eat while in bed, or in some cases, roaming around the house or staying at the kitchen.

The people suffering from this disorder are not conscious during NS-RED episodes. That is why night eating disorder is always related to sleepwalking. Being asleep, they do not know that they eat and cannot recall any incident of eating the night before. If at all, they can only remember in fragments. The NS-RED episode more or less occurs somewhere in a state between sleep and wakefulness.

When people suffering from night eating disorder learn that they have such a problem, they feel ashamed and embarrassed. Some, even with evidence presented by his or her family members, deny that they did that. They cannot believe that they could do such a thing and cannot admit to themselves that they could not control themselves.

The food consumed during the disorder periods are most likely to be high-sugar, high-fat food that people usually avoid when they’re awake. In some cases, there are those who eat bizarre food combinations, such as raw bacon partnered with mayonnaise, or hotdogs being dipped in a peanut butter. Some even eat non-food items such as soap in the same way they slice cheese.

How can you get NS-RED?

According to recent statistics, about three to nine people or about one to three percent of the total population are most likely to be affected by the disorder, with up to 15 percent of those who have eating disorders affected by night eating disorder.

Many of those affected by the syndrome diet (or at least try to) during the day, leaving them hungry and very weak to binge eating during the night when their control to achieve weight loss gets weakened by sleep. Some people have medical histories of drug abuse, alcoholism, and other sleep disorders such as restless legs, sleep apnea, and sleep walking. They often get tired upon waking up due to fragmented sleep. Many NS-RED cases seem to run along family lines.

How can you eat and unable to remember doing so?

Actually, that could really happen. While research on this disorder is still not that comprehensive, there is a high probability that there are parts of the brain that are truly sleeping even though some parts stay wide awake. Also asleep are the parts that regulate your waking consciousness, so it is no wonder that you cannot remember any memories of gorging on food on the night before.

Is NS-RED curable? What should you do if you have it?

Thank god, treatment is available for your night eating disorder. Treatment starts with a medical interview as well as spending a night or two in a good sleep-disorders center where you brain activity can be monitored. Medication is sometimes helpful, but you should avoid taking sleeping pills as they can aggravate your sleep disorder by adding to the clumsiness and confusion upon waking up and may cause you injury as can regular use of these pills.

Yes, there is treatment. It begins with a clinical interview and a night or two at a sleep-disorders center where brain activity is monitored. Sometimes medication is helpful, but sleeping pills should be avoided. They can make matters worse by increasing confusion and clumsiness that can lead to injury. Regular use of sleeping pills can also lead you to dependency. It would be better that you ask a doctor on what medication to take.

Nishanth Reddy is an author and publisher of many health related websites. Visit his website to know more about other Sleep Disorders like insomnia, sleep apnea, snoring, restless legs, narcolepsy.
Sleep Disorders Guide

Getting your bowels moving and cleaning out your colon is necessary for having facial skin without blemishes or acne. By reducing the toxins in your colon, you minimize the toxins that can seep out of your facial pores and contribute to acne.

If you eat 3 meals each day, you should have at least 2 bowel movements a day. If you only have one, then you are short 1 bowel movement.

To get your bowels moving like they should, you need to, clean out what is in your colon right now. So the first day is for cleaning out your colon. The next two days is too keep cleaning the colon and to detoxify the body.

Doing a 3-day mini-fruit juice fast is the best way to start cleaning out the colon, to detoxify the blood, and rejuvenate your body. Just doing a fast for three days is not a cure all and it will require more work on your part by starting to eat more natural foods.

In her extensive book, Coking For Healthy Healing, 1991, Linda Rector-page, N.D., Ph.D., talks about what a fast does,

“Fasting works by self-digestion. During a cleanse, the body in its infinite wisdom, will decompose and burn only the substances and tissue that are damaged, diseased, or unneeded, such as abscesses, tumors, excess fat deposits, and congestive wastes. Even a relatively short fast can accelerate elimination from the liver, kidneys, lungs and skin, often causing dramatic changes as masses of accumulated waste are expelled. Live foods and juices can literally pick up dead matter from the body and carry it away.”

Day before the fast

The day before the fast, eat a large salad and two apples. This will give you plenty of fiber to scrub the walls of your colon as you move fecal matter out of your colon the following day.

First day of colon cleanse

Do this cleanse on a Saturday, Sunday or any other day that you don’t have to go anywhere. You will be going to the bathroom all day and at times you need to be there quick.

Buy the following items.

* Organic apple juice – one gallon
* Organic apples – 6 for one day
* Organic prune juice – one quart

When you first wake up in the morning, drink,

* 8 oz of prune juice
* 10 minutes later drink another 8oz of prune juice
* 10 minutes later again drink another 8 oz of prune juice
* wait 20 minutes than drink 8 oz of apple juice
* wait 30 minutes than drink another 8 oz of apple juice

If you haven’t sped to the bathroom yet, you will in a little while.

Now you will be drink 8 oz of apple juice every hour until the end of the day. You can stop drink apple juice around 5pm.

During the day you can eat three apples in the morning and 3 apples in the evening.

This process will clean out any fecal matter that has been sitting your colon for days and gets you ready for the next step.

Second way to start the colon cleanse

Another way to start a colon cleanse is to use a product that is called “Oxy-Powder.” This product is in capsules and is used to 30 days. Simply by taking capsules everyday, you will clean out your colon and any build up along your colon walls.

You can get this product on the internet, just type in Oxy-powder.

Second day of mini fast

During the second day you can drink different kinds of juice and eat 2-6 apples. You can drink any kind of juice be it fruit or vegetable. A combination of fruit and vegetable juice is good.

Third day of mini fast

The third day is like the second day where you can drink different kinds of juice and eat 2-6 apples. You can drink any kind of juice be it fruit or vegetable. A combination of fruit and vegetable juice is good

Fourth Day, after the fast is done

After you have finished your three-day mini fast, start eating soft foods to gently adjust your system to food. Here are some of the foods you can eat:

* Baked potato
* Fruit salad
* Fruit smoothie
* Light soup
* Oatmeal, multigrain cereal
* Salad
* Yogurt

If you are ill, not feeling good or your immune system is down, do not do this mini-fast. Wait until you feel strong. After do the mini-juice fast you are now ready for the next step in clearing your acne.

Rudy Silva has a degree in Physics and is a Natural Nutritionist. He is the author of Constipation, Acne, Hemorrhoid, and Fatty Acid ebooks. He writes a newsletter call “natural-remedies-thatwork.com.” More acne hints and information on his acne e-book can be found at: http://www.acne-remedies.for–you.info