Hazards of Diet Pills

Like most women, Michelle Rumsey thought that dropping a dress size would give her confidence a much-needed boost. At 5ft 5in tall and weighing 9st 6lb, she was hardly overweight, but hated the extra fat she had put on around her middle.

In search of a quick-fix one evening, she came across an internet forum on slimming pills where dieters talked about using a drug called Ephedrine to speed up their metabolism and help them lose weight.

Michelle, now 46, placed an order for the drug online — a decision that was to have tragic consequences. She developed a four-year dependence on the pills, causing a heart condition that has left her with a life expectancy of just ten years.

Devastated: Michelle Rumsay is only expected to live for another 10 years after she took an over-the-counter cold and flu remedy consistently to help her control her weight

‘I’m angry and depressed that I have effectively been handed a death sentence,’ she says. ‘It never occurred to me that these pills could be so dangerous.’

Shockingly, Ephedrine is legal in the UK and available without prescription. Marketed as a cold and flu remedy, internet chatrooms are awash with women waxing lyrical about its weight-loss properties.

It is one of several ‘diet’ drugs being used by increasing numbers of women desperate for a short-cut to weight loss.

Most are deemed too unsafe for doctors to prescribe in Britain, but are available online from overseas pharmacies.

Dr Ian Campbell, former chair of the National Obesity Forum and honorary clinical director of the charity Weight Concern, warns: ‘The great hopes we had for medication in the past decade have been dashed. My advice is not to use these slimming aids. I wish we had an effective and safe weight-loss medication, but at the moment there is only one — Orlistat. 

‘The alternatives are of little use or high-risk.’

So what is driving otherwise sensible women to take such desperate measures to control their weight?

'The pills made me feel sick and I could feel my heart beating erratically. It was frightening, but my appetite disappeared'

Until she reached her late 30s, Michelle, from Saxmundham, Suffolk, was the epitome of good health. At 8st 7lb and a size ten, she ran a horse yard and enjoyed running, cycling and climbing.

In November 2005, she met Michael Harrowven, a steel constructor, then 28. Michelle relaxed into her new romance, letting her healthy eating habits slip and swapping salads for Michael’s favourite fast foods. By the following May, she’d put on 13lb.

Michelle says: ‘Michael said I looked beautiful but I was 39 and 11 years his senior. I wanted to look like his girlfriend, not his mother.’

She researched slimming pills online, and on one forum, users recommended Ephedrine. 

A naturally occurring substance with amphetamine-like properties, it is not prescribed as a slimming aid, but is available as an over-the-counter cold remedy. 

It can increase blood pressure, however, leading to heart disease, anxiety and insomnia. Its dangers have not gone unnoticed by the medical profession. 

‘There is a move to make it prescription-only,’ says Dr Campbell. 

Michelle didn’t realise Ephedrine was available in Britain, so she ordered 50 tablets for £12 from a manufacturer in Canada, which was marketing it as a nasal decongestant. 

She bought two packets of 50 tablets every month and admits she should have known better.

‘I actually thought it was illegal, but didn’t see how it could be dangerous. Michael was against the idea, but I was determined to lose weight,’ she says.

She started taking two tablets a day, cut down on what she was eating, and was delighted when she lost 7lb in three weeks. By August 2006, she weighed 8st and was a size eight. 

‘I skipped breakfast and dinner and had a baked potato with a small amount of cheese mid-afternoon,’ she says. 

‘Michael said I was too skinny, but I liked the way I looked.The pills kept my appetite down and I was convinced that if I stopped taking them, the weight would pile back on.’

Word of warning: Lilla Allahiary developed sleep problems and suffered palpitations when she took the slimming pill Reductil

In February 2008 she and Michael broke up, but her addiction to the pills continued. Two years later, she started suffering side-effects after she’d taken her pill one morning.

‘I felt light-headed. The room was blurred and my heart was racing. After ten minutes, my heart rate went back to normal, but I was terrified. I was sure the pills were to blame and threw them in the bin.’ 

Despite her decision to stop taking the tablets, Michelle didn’t put on any weight. ‘I’d been spending £12 a month for nothing,’ she says.

In September 2010, Michelle met Mark Malster, 39, a mechanic, and they started seeing each other. They were out on a bike ride together that month when she suddenly developed chest pains. 

She says: ‘Over the next few weeks, I became more out of breath, and within a month I found it hard to walk up half a flight of stairs without gasping for air.’

In January 2011, Michelle’s GP referred her to the specialist heart and lung hospital, Papworth, in Cambridgeshire. She had scans and tests, and in September 2011 was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension — high blood pressure in the arteries of the lungs which causes heart failure. 

Ephedrine had constricted the vessels in Michelle’s lungs, and the doctor said her heart was under so much pressure it wouldn’t be able to cope for much longer. 

It is illegal for shopkeepers and chemists to sell it in large quantities because it is dangerous if taken for long periods of time or in large volumes. But the drug is sold over-the-counter because it is intended for short-term use as a nasal decongestant. 

Michelle was prescribed a cocktail of seven drugs to keep her blood vessels open, her blood thin and the muscles in her lungs working. 

When they fail — and doctors can’t predict when — she will have to have a tube inserted into her heart to infuse drugs to keep it pumping. Her life expectancy is now just ten years. 

‘I couldn’t stop crying when the doctor told me what was wrong,’ she says. ‘I thought about all the experiences I’ll miss and the horrible death I’ll have, bed-ridden and breathless. Mark is supportive, but we are both devastated.’

Michelle no longer works at the horse yard, and even a simple walk leaves her exhausted. 

‘I’m so angry with myself,’ she says. ‘Nobody forced me to take them.’

WHO KNEW?

One-third of Britons are classified as overweight and the nation spends £11billion a year trying to get slim

 

Until recently, doctors were all too eager to dole out slimming pills. 

When she was just 11, Helen Hancock, now 45, was prescribed Tenuate Dospan — the trade name for diethylpropion, an amphetamine-derivative which suppresses appetite, but also causes anxiety and increases heart rate.

In 1978, Helen’s GP in Loughton, Essex, promised her and her mother Ruth that the drug would help her lose weight. She was size 14 and weighed 11st. 

‘I felt self-conscious compared to my skinny classmates,’ says Helen, now a mother-of-three from Steeple Bumpstead, Essex. ‘The pills seemed like a quick solution.’

Helen’s 15-year-old sister Louise Plant was put on Tenuate Dospan at the same time — despite weighing just 8st 13lb. ‘I was desperate to lose weight, and pushed Mum into letting me take them,’ says Louise, now 49, a mother-of-two and school administrator from Haverhill, Suffolk. 

‘They made me feel sick and I could feel my heart beating erratically. It was frightening, but my appetite disappeared and within a year I’d gone down to 7st 7lb.’

Where to turn? Helen's GP promised her that Tenuate Dospan would help her lose weight. But she suffered side-effects straight away and her weight rose from 9st to 11st within months of stopping (posed by models)

Helen felt the effects immediately. ‘I was permanently on edge. I couldn’t sit still,’ she remembers. Within a year she weighed 9st and was a size ten. She was 18 before she managed to wean herself off Tenuate Dospan, and within months she went from 9st back to 11st.

Helen fad-dieted throughout her 20s and 30s, but the weight continued to creep on. 

Louise, who had stopped taking the pills when she was 20, discovered six years later when she was pregnant with her first child that they had caused an irregular heartbeat. 

Louise, who is 5ft 3in and weighs 16st, says: ‘I didn’t need to take medication for it but I was furious with our GP for giving such a dangerous pill to a 15-year-old girl.’

By March 2008, Helen, by then aged 41, was 20st. She is 5ft 4in.

Her GP offered her a solution — a new slimming pill called Acomplia, which is the trade name for rimonabant. It blocks receptors in the brain to stop it sensing hunger. 

On its UK launch in 2006, it was prescribed to one in every ten obese patients. However, two years later it was banned because of side-effects which can include suicidal thoughts. 

‘It made me feel awful,’ says Helen. ‘I had headaches and heard a constant whooshing noise.’

That October, after seven months on the pills, she stopped taking them and quickly put back on the 2st she had lost. Later that month, rimonabant was banned. 

Two years ago, Helen finally learnt how to lose weight through diet and regular exercise.

Think twice!The side-effects are always worth reading and bearing in mind

Yet despite her healthier lifestyle, she was diagnosed with dangerously high blood pressure in May. She was told she was at risk of a heart attack, and will have to take medication for the rest of her life. 

‘I’m very angry,’ she says. ‘Those pills could have killed me. It is shocking to think that there are women still taking these pills.’

Another slimming pill recently banned in Britain is sibutramine, which alters the serotonin levels in the brain to reduce appetite. ‘It was shown to cause heart disease,’ says Dr Campbell. ‘It also causes restlessness, anxiety, depression and insomnia.’

Lilla Allahiary, 27, from Hove, Sussex, suffered many such symptoms when she was prescribed Reductil — the trade name for sibutramine — in January 2002, at the age of 16. 

At 5ft 6in, she was 12st and a size 14. ‘I’d dieted unsuccessfully for three years,’ she says. ‘I didn’t think pills prescribed by my doctor could be dangerous.’

Within four months, she’d lost three stone — but she also developed sleeping problems.

‘I’d be awake until 5am with heart palpitations, sweaty palms and stomach cramps. I couldn’t concentrate, so my college work and social life suffered. I’d reached my target weight of 9st that April, so I stopped taking Reductil,’ says Lilla, a social media strategist.

Six months later, though, she’d put on two stone. Wanting another quick fix, she searched for slimming pills online and came across Xenical — the trade name for Orlistat. 

The only slimming pill in the UK now available on prescription, it stops the body’s absorption of fat.In April 2009, it became available in a lower dose, over-the-counter pill called Alli.

‘It works to a degree,’ says Dr Campbell. ‘Its side-effects, though unpleasant, are not dangerous.’

Lilla ordered it online. ‘It seemed easier than going to my GP,’ she says. ‘I wasn’t asked any questions about my weight.’ 

Ultimately, it failed to keep Lilla’s weight down. By the age of 22, she was a size 18 and weighed 16st. 

She went back to her GP who prescribed her Reductil again, but at a lower dose. 

‘He gave me a two-month supply, but after a month the palpitations and shakes started,’ says Lilla. ‘I knew I had to stop taking them.’ 

She has since lost three stone by eating sensibly. She now weighs 12st 11lb, and is a size 14.

‘I’m annoyed with myself for thinking slimming pills were a healthy solution,’ she says. 

Hopefully other women will heed her advice before they, too, put their health — and lives — at risk.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2205700/Ephedrine-Michelle-thought-diet-pills-safe-shes-got-just-10-years-live.html#ixzz270U08aMX 
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Why you should love your...BIG BOTTOM: The physical flaws that are good for your health

Scientists at Oxford University have found that storing fat in your bottom, rather than stomach, cuts levels of ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol and raises the ‘good’ HDL cholesterol that protects against hardening of the arteries.

Their review, published in the International Journal of Obesity, showed the benefits of an ample derriere extend even to cutting the risk of diabetes. 

Gluteofemoral fat stored around the bottom seems to act as a buffer, mopping up inflammatory fats that could have a dangerous effect elsewhere

Professor Jimmy Bell, head of metabolic and molecular imaging at Hammersmith Hospitals NHS Trust, explains: ‘Fat comes in “good” and “bad” forms. 

 

Burning off too much of this healthier form of fat isn't good for you

'Gluteofemoral fat stored around the bottom seems to act as a buffer, mopping up inflammatory fats that could have a dangerous effect elsewhere.

‘Because fat around your backside breaks down more slowly than belly fat, it produces fewer inflammatory cytokines — chemicals which have been linked to diabetes, heart disease and obesity. 

'Burning off too much of this healthier form of fat isn’t good for you.’

However, excess fat around the middle can have severe health implications, so getting rid of it  is important.

source: dailymail.co.uk

Weight-loss clinics are handing out dangerous slimming drugs with lethal side effects

Patients are being put at risk by doctors selling them potentially dangerous weight-loss pills at private slimming clinics.

A number of centres in England were found to be handing out drugs which could have lethal side effects, a health watchdog has revealed.

Two of the drugs routinely being given to patients – phentermine and diethylpropion – are similar to amphetamines and were banned from this country in 2000 over fears they caused heart disease.

Both were subsequently reinstated following legal action by the manufacturer. 

But due to serious safety concerns, they are not used on the NHS and private doctors are strongly advised not to prescribe them.

But in the last two months the Care Quality Commission has found six private clinics handing out the drugs without warning of the dangers. 

In some cases doctors had not even bothered to check patients’ blood pressure beforehand, even though the pills have been linked to heart problems.

The watchdog is concerned that many other private clinics across the country are handing out the pills.

There are about 80 registered private slimming clinics run by doctors in England, part of a diet industry worth a total of £2billion.

Some centres charge initial ‘registration costs’ of £20, followed by monthly fees of £80 which cover regular consultations with doctors who advise on diet plans and slimming pills.

In one clinic, the Diet Centre in St Neots, Cambridgeshire, CQC investigators found that a nurse was handing out slimming pills even though she did not have the correct qualifications.

Inspectors said there was no evidence patients had their blood pressure or weight recorded before being given phentermine and diethylpropion. The clinic has since been shut down. 

Phentermine was one of the drugs regularly given to patients despite being banned in 2000 over fears they caused heart disease

New Leaf Health in Leeds, and Dr Anthony Adam Schiff in Newbury, Berkshire, were found to be handing out potentially dangerous drugs and given warning notices. 

The CQC says it has ‘major concerns’ with three other clinics.

A spokesman said: ‘We would urge anyone who has concerns about medicines that they’ve been prescribed or information they’ve been given by a slimming clinic to contact their GP – but also to tell CQC.’

Josy Lofthouse suffered palpitations, breathlessness and insomnia after taking slimming pills given to her by a private clinic.

She said a doctor took her blood pressure, height and weight and she was given a month’s supply and told ‘almost as an afterthought, that they might make me feel depressed’.

The 5ft mother of two, from Barnet, North London, took them as she was desperate to slim from a size 16 to a 12. 

Mrs Lofthouse, 52, said: ‘I became hyperactive and a raging insomniac. I learned afterwards that the drugs were amphetamine-based, like those taken illegally by young ravers who want to party all night without getting tired. 

‘Worst of all, I developed terrifying and constant heart palpitations that I couldn’t control. By the end of the first week on the tablets I’d lost a few pounds, but I was too frightened to continue.’

She subsequently managed to drop several dress sizes by eating sensibly and working out.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk

Use a red plate to lose a bit of weight: People who eat off them cut their food intake by 40%

Eating from a red plate could help dieters lose weight, scientists claim.

Serving up meals on red plates or drinking from red cups cuts consumption by about 40 per cent, according to one study carried out by German and Swiss academics.

Researchers say the colour red may encourage diners to avoid snacking because it is commonly associated with  the idea of ‘danger, prohibition and stop’.

They claim the discovery means the Government and  food industry could use red packaging on unhealthy foods as a deterrent – and could even use more red in pubs to prevent people drinking too much.

In the study, 41 male students were asked to drink tea from cups marked with red or blue labels. They drank 44 per cent less from cups with red labels.

In the second part of the study, 109 people were given ten pretzels each on either a red, blue or white plate. Those with a red plate ate fewer pretzels.

The results were published in the journal Appetite.

Ursula Arens, from the British Dietetic Association, said: ‘Red may be associated with alarm or something primeval.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk

Stress during second and third month of pregnancy raises risk of premature birth and losing baby boys

• First time stress has been shown to affect the balance between the sexes
• Findings based on stress caused by the 2005 Tarapaca earthquake in Chile

It is the first time stress has been shown to affect the balance between the sexes, known as the sex ratio, which normally favours an excess in the number of boys being born.

Mothers-to-be who are highly stressed during the second and third month of pregnancy are more at risk of giving birth prematurely and losing boy babies, say researchers.

A new study shows exposure to stress can shorten the length of pregnancy, making it more likely that babies will be born early and for boys to be miscarried.

It has been described as nature's way of balancing an increased risk of premature death in young men, starting in infancy.

The latest findings suggest the extra risk to boys starts even earlier – in the womb.

The results come from a study investigating the effect on pregnant women of the stress caused by the 2005 Tarapaca earthquake in Chile.

But US researchers claim there could be implications for pregnant women in more normally stressful situations, because the effects are independent of poverty, bad housing and poor diet.

Professors Florencia Torche  and Karine Kleinhaus, of New York University, analysed birth certificates of all babies born between 2004-2006 in Chile, where there are 200,000 births a year. The magnitude of the earthquake was measured at 7.9, which is classified as ‘disastrous’.

The researchers found that women who lived closest to the quake during their second and third months of pregnancy had shorter pregnancies and were at higher risk of delivering pre-term, before 37 weeks gestation. 

The pregnancies of women exposed to the earthquake in the second month of pregnancy were on average 1.3 days shorter than those in the unaffected areas of Chile. The pregnancies of those exposed in the third month were almost two days shorter. 

Normally, about six in 100 women had a pre-term birth, but among women exposed to the earthquake in the third month of pregnancy, this rose by 3.4 per cent, meaning more than nine women in 100 delivered their babies early.

The researchers found a decline in the sex ratio among those exposed to the earthquake in the third month of 5.8 per cent, meaning fewer boy babies survived to delivery.

The study is published online in the leading reproductive medicine journal Human Reproduction. Prof Kleinhaus, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, and Environmental Medicine, said ‘Generally, there are more male than female live births. 

‘The ratio of male to female births is approximately 51:49 – in other words, out of every 100 births, 51 will be boys. 

‘Our findings indicate a 5.8 per cent decline in this proportion, which would translate into a ratio of 45 male births per 100 births, so that there are now more female than male births. This is a significant change for this type of measure.’

Previous research has suggested in times of stress women are more likely to miscarry boys because they grow larger than girls and require more sustenance from the mother, and they may also be less robust than females and not adapt their development to a stressful environment in the womb. 

Prof Torche said ‘Our findings on a decreased sex ratio support this hypothesis and suggest that stress may affect the viability of male births.

She said the study provided strong evidence that stress independently affected the outcome of pregnancies, rather than being a side-effect of poor housing, poverty and bad diet.

‘In terms of implications, it is clearly unrealistic to recommend avoiding natural disasters. However, this research suggests the need to improve access to healthcare for women from the onset of pregnancy and even before conception. 

‘Obviously this will not reduce the exposure to stress, but it may provide care, advice, and tools that would allow women to cope with stressful circumstances’ she added.

source:dailymail

Forget a warm cup of cocoa! Drinking cherry juice twice a day will give you 39minutes of extra rest

• Researchers say the juice could help athletes recover from injury as well as people with insomnia or jet lag

Lavender pillows, warm cups of cocoa and a relaxing going-to-bed routine, are all popular ways to reach the land of nod.

Now researchers have found a fruity solution for those who struggle to get to sleep or find themselves waking too early in the morning.

An international team found that when healthy adults had two daily glasses of tart cherry juice, they rested an average 39 minutes longer.

This broke down as around 25 minutes of extra sleep and 14 more minutes spent relaxing in bed.

They also found they woke less often when in bed compared to when they drank a non-cherry fruit cocktail.

The study was conducted at Northumbria University and has now appeared in the European Journal of Nutrition.

Participants were given two servings of Montmorency cherry juice concentrate diluted with half a pint of water, or an alternative fruit drink for seven consecutive days - once when they woke up and another before bed. 

They were also asked to abstain from eating a list of foods, known to contain or influence melatonin - a powerful antioxidant that is key to regulating our sleep-wake cycles.

The researchers then tracked their sleeping habits using actigraphs (watches that sense movement) and questionnaires. Urine samples were taken to measure the levels of melatonin in the system.

They found the cherry drink led to longer sleep time, less daytime napping and better sleep efficiency (the ratio of time spent in bed to time spent sleeping) among the 20 participants. 

The researchers attribute the sleep benefits to the melatonin content of the red fruit.

Each serving of the tart cherry juice concentrate was estimated to contain the equivalent of 90 – 100 tart cherries, which 'significantly elevated' the level of melatonin in the bodies of the participants.

Dr Glyn Howatson, an exercise physiologist, said: 'We were initially interested in the application of tart cherries in recovery from strenuous exercise.

'Sleep forms a critical component in that recovery process, which is often forgotten.

'These results show that tart cherry juice concentrate can be used to facilitate sleep in healthy adults and, excitingly, has the potential to be applied as a natural intervention, not only to athletes, but to other populations with insomnia and general disturbed sleep from shift work or jet lag.'

It is thought that a third of people in the UK will experience bouts of insomnia during their lives. The condition, which is classed as being unable to get to sleep or stay asleep long enough to feel refreshed the next day, is more common among women and older people.

While more research is necessary before medical professionals turn to cherries as a sole treatment for sleep disorders, the scientists conclude that tart cherry juice concentrate could be a viable 'adjunct intervention for disturbed sleep across a number of scenarios.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health

'Smoking can make your nipples fall off': Plastic surgeon warns of gangrene following breast lift

Smoking can make your nipples fall off - this is the astonishing claim by Dr Anthony Youn, one of American's top plastic surgeons.

The practitioner from Detroit, Michigan, was quick to point out this applied to patients who underwent breast lifts to perk up their chests.

He said the nicotine and carbon monoxide taken in during smoking can disrupt blood flow to different parts of the body and so disrupts the healing process following surgery.

The toxins can act as a 'virtual tourniquet' and effectively kill a body part by stopping blood from reaching it.

Speaking to CNN Health, Dr Youn said: 'I cringe every time I see a patient for a breast lift who is a smoker.

'I’m deathly afraid that despite my warnings, she will smoke before or after surgery and cause her nipples to turn black and fall off.

'I've seen it before,' he claimed.

Dr Youn said he treated one female smoker whose nipples had turned purple after smoking caused the tiny veins in the breast to fail, leading to a backup of old blood.

Left untreated they could have turned black and fallen off.

He had to resort to using leeches over several days to suck out the old blood and so restore the woman's nipples to a healthy pink.

He told CNN he now made sure all of his patients understood the dire outcomes that could result from smoking following a cosmetic operation.

'If you are having a breast lift or reduction and you smoke, your nipples could turn black and fall off. 

'If you are having a tummy tuck and you smoke, you may get an infection resulting in a big gross open wound that will take three months to heal. 

'If you are having a facelift and you smoke, the skin of your cheek could turn black and slough off, leaving exposed fat.'

Those applying for cosmetic surgery such as tummy tucks or breast surgery on the NHS must be non-smokers.

According to the NHS: Research has shown smokers have more

problems with wound healing than non-smokers.

'This means they are likely to have to stay in hospital for longer and may require treatment for infections. 

'Procedures are more likely to be successful in those who do not smoke.'

source: Dailymail.co.uk

6 Foods That Weaken Bones

Salt

Salt saps calcium from the bones, weakening them over time. For every 2,300 milligrams of sodium you take in, you lose about 40 milligrams of calcium, dietitians say. One study compared postmenopausal women who ate a high-salt diet with those who didn't, and the ones who ate a lot of salt lost more bone minerals. Our American diet is unusually salt-heavy; most of us ingest double the 2,300 milligrams of salt we should get in a day, according to the 2005 federal dietary guidelines.
What to do: The quickest, most efficient way to cut salt intake is to avoid processed foods. Research shows that most Americans get 75 percent of their sodium not from table salt but from processed food. Key foods to avoid include processed and deli meats, frozen meals, canned soup, pizza, fast food such as burgers and fries, and canned vegetables.

Soft Drinks

Soft drinks pose a double-whammy danger to bones. The fizziness in carbonated drinks often comes from phosphoric acid, which ups the rate at which calcium is excreted in the urine. Meanwhile, of course, soft drinks fill you up and satisfy your thirst without providing any of the nutrients you might get from milk or juice.
What to do: When you're tempted to reach for a cola, instead try milk, calcium- and vitamin D-fortified orange juice, or a fruit smoothie made with yogurt. Or just drink water when you're thirsty, and eat a diet high in bone-building nutrients.

Caffeine

The numbers for caffeine aren't as bad as for salt, but caffeine's action is similar, leaching calcium from bones. For every 100 milligrams of caffeine (the amount in a small to medium-sized cup of coffee), you lose 6 milligrams of calcium. That's not a lot, but it can become a problem if you tend to substitute caffeine-containing drinks like iced tea and coffee for beverages that are healthy for bones, like milk and fortified juice.

What to do: Limit yourself to one or two cups of coffee in the morning, then switch to other drinks that don't have caffeine's bone-sapping action. Adding milk to your coffee helps to offset the problem, of course.

Vitamin A

In the case of vitamin A, recent research is proving that you really can get too much of a good thing. Found in eggs, full-fat dairy, liver, and vitamin-fortified foods, vitamin A is important for vision and the immune system. But the American diet is naturally high in vitamin A, and most multivitamins also contain vitamin A. So it's possible to get much more than the recommended allotment of 5,000 IUs (international units) a day—which many experts think is too high anyway.

Postmenopausal women, in particular, seem to be susceptible to vitamin A overload. Studies show that women whose intake was higher than 5,000 IUs had more than double the fracture rate of women whose intake was less than 1,600 IUs a day.

What to do: Switch to low-fat or nonfat dairy products only, and eat egg whites rather than whole eggs (all the vitamin A is in the yolk). Also check your multivitamin, and if it's high in vitamin A, switch to one that isn't.

Alcohol

Think of alcohol as a calcium-blocker; it prevents the bone-building minerals you eat from being absorbed. And heavy drinking disrupts the bone remodeling process by preventing osteoblasts, the bone-building cells, from doing their job. So not only do bones become weaker, but when you do suffer a fracture, alcohol can interfere with healing.

What to do: Limit your drinking to one drink a day, whether that's wine, beer, or hard alcohol.

Hydrogenated Oils

Recent studies have found that the process of hydrogenation, which turns liquid vegetable oil into the solid oils used in commercial baking, destroys the vitamin K naturally found in the oils. Vitamin K is essential for strong bones, and vegetable oils such as canola and olive oil are the second-best dietary source of this key nutrient, after green leafy vegetables. However, the amounts of vitamin K we're talking about are tiny here—one tablespoon of canola oil has 20 micrograms of K, and one tablespoon of olive oil has 6 micrograms, as compared with 120 micrograms in a serving of spinach.

What to do: If you're eating your greens, you don't need to worry about this too much. If you're a big lover of baked goods like muffins and cookies, bake at home using canola oil when possible, and read labels to avoid hydrogenated oils

source:health.msn.com

How to Break a Bad Habit

Who needs willpower? You can ditch any undesirable behavior with these easy mental tricks.

From SELF

I’m addicted to the tube

The quit tip

Consider what you're sacrificing. My impulse to stare at the screen feels as natural to me as breathing, as many habits do. Although this type of reflexive action can be crucial when you need to make a lightning—fast judgment call (friend or foe?), it can backfire when it leads to a less beneficial choice (my watching The Real Housewives of New Jersey). It's essentially a default behavior, a rut I've fallen into that has persisted because it takes too much energy to change, explains Wray Herbert, author of On Second Thought. To stop, he suggests that I consciously think about what valuable resource the behavior is costing me. "We're naturally inclined to value what's scarce," he says. That's easy—with two young sons in the mix, it's my free time.

Did it work?

Like a charm! Whenever I had an urge to channel—surf, I pondered whether random flipping was truly how I wanted to spend my spare minutes. After three days, I was ticked off at myself for giving up the chance to do something I loved (lose myself in a good book) for something I didn't care about (watching a show for the fifth time). Midway through the week, after zoning in front of Real Housewives, I powered off and picked up a novel I'd long been meaning to finish. A month later, I've cut my TV time by a quarter.

I say yes when I mean no

The quit tip

Become more aware. For me, saying yes is the path of least resistance—usually, I'm nodding before someone has even finished an inconvenient request. So I signed up for a week of emails from HabitChanger.com, a site that uses cognitive-behavioral techniques to change semiautomatic habits. Specifically, you get a barrage of cheerleading or instructional texts and messages designed to interrupt your impulse. The hope is that once you become more tuned in to your typical behavior, you can change the way you respond.

Did it work?

Partly. A peppering of four or five missives every day for a week (the program is normally 42 days; I did a modified version) made me much more aware of my tendency to sabotage myself. I got an especially relevant email on a day when I'd agreed to take my sons to visit my parents 90 minutes away, stop at Costco to do the family shopping and drive home in time to make it to a book group (for which I hadn't finished the book). "Eliminate the word should from your vocabulary," the message instructed. "Replace it with would like to." I wish I'd read it a day earlier, when I could have said, "I'd like to&but I can't," to one or more of the above activities. Maybe next time!

I’m Starbucks’s best customer

The quit tip

Zen out. Simple meditation exercises, such as noticing your breath, can help you get off autopilot, says Martine Batchelor, author of Let Go: A Buddhist Guide to Breaking Free of Habits. She tells me to notice what I see, hear, smell and touch as I head out on the street: "Before you leave home, be aware of your hand on the stroller," she says. She also tells me to bring something to sip, because I associate Starbucks with a drink.

"The two main elements of meditation—concentration and inquiry—are key to getting control of your actions," Batchelor explains. "Concentration helps because every time you come back to your breath, your body, a mantra or whatever your meditation is, you dissolve the habit's power," she notes. Inquiry, she tells me, is what follows. "It's like a beam of light," she says. "Normally, you find yourself at Starbucks before you think about it. With inquiry, you notice the details of the experience, you take the time to observe when and how the habit arises, and you become a little more aware that you don't want to do it."

Did it work?

Absolutely. The first morning, I head out the door armed with an iced tea I made at home. Then I look down at my son's hair through the plastic moonroof of the stroller and feel the roughness of the foam handle. As I watch my son fidgeting with his sunglasses, I savor the sweetness of my iced tea. With all the things I'm noticing, I become aware of this stunning fact: I don't feel like going into Starbucks. I try to intuit why I'm normally drawn to the store. It's a treat, I realize. Or it was. What it has become is an expensive habit that I no longer have to indulge, especially with all the other things capturing my attention. I steer the stroller away and keep going, past four more Starbucks. I don't stop at any. It's as if a string has been cut. I'm finally free.

10 Bizarre Home Cures That Really Work

Ease pesky health issues with vodka, pencils and more.

Compiled by Lauren Gelman, Prevention

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Of course there are some health staples you should never be without—bandages or OTC pain relievers come to mind. But you can treat or cure a surprising number of minor ailments with these unexpected household objects and foods.
Next time you burn your tongue on piping hot pizza or come down with an unshakeable case of hiccups, keep these tips from The Big Doctors Book of Home Remedies in mind:

Home cure: Vodka
Use it for: Foot odor
If your feet smell less than swell, wipe them down with a vodka-soaked washcloth to get rid of the stench. It’s the same principle as rubbing alcohol (which works equally well if you’d rather drink your Grey Goose). Vodka contains alcohol, which is antiseptic and drying, so it destroys odor-causing fungus and bacteria and dries out the moisture that lets these organisms grow.
16 Surprising things that make you smell

Home cure: Pencil
Use it for: Headaches
When you’re stressed or anxious, you subconsciously clench your jaw and teeth; this strains the muscle that connects your jaw to your temples and can trigger a tension headache. A solution: “Put a pencil between your teeth but don’t bite,” says Fred Sheftell, M.D., director of the New England Center for Headache in Stamford, Conn. You automatically relax your jaw muscle to do this, which can prevent the pain.
The best natural remedies for pain

Home cure: Yogurt
Use it for: Bad breath
Preliminary research shows that the live bacteria in yogurt can suppress levels of bad breath–causing bacteria. “Good” bugs in yogurt may crowd out the “bad” stink-causing bacteria or create an unhealthy environment for it, says John C. Moon, DDS, a cosmetic and general dentist in Half Moon Bay, Calif.
13 strange body quirks explained

Home cure: Listerine
Use it for: Blisters
The classic breath freshener—and powerful antiseptic—can also do a number on blisters. Moisten a cotton ball with Listerine and dab it on your blister three times a day until the area dries out and no longer hurts, says Janet Maccaro, Ph.D., CNC, a holistic nutritionist and certified nutrition consultant in Scottsdale, Ariz.
5 ways to prevent blisters

Home cure: Tennis ball
Use it for: Achy feet
For an easy, free mini massage that stretches and soothes your arches, slip off your shoes and roll each foot over a tennis ball, golf ball or soup can for a minute or two. To cool throbbing feet, roll them over a bottle of frozen water.
Tips to prevent foot aches and pains

Home cure: Sugar
Use it for: Hiccups
A teaspoon of sugar swallowed dry can stop hiccups in minutes, says Andre Dubois, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of medicine in the emerging infectious diseases graduate program at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md. The sugar is believed to modify the nerve muscles that would otherwise tell the muscles in the diaphragm to contract spasmodically and contribute to hiccups.
10 weird body clues you shouldn’t ignore

Home cure: Olives or lemons
Use it for: Motion sickness
Motion sickness causes you to produce excess saliva, which can make you nauseated, some doctors say. Compounds in olives called tannins dry out your mouth and can help soothe the queasies. Pop a couple at the first hint of nausea; sucking on a lemon can also do the trick.
Shop smart with these healthy food picks

Home cure: Vegetable oil
Use it for: Brittle nails
In order to really fix dry nails, you have to address the problem of too little moisture. In addition to using hand lotion regularly, try this nighttime treatment from dermatologist Dee Anna Glaser, M.D.: Before you go to bed, apply vegetable oil to your hands, then put on vinyl gloves or wrap your hands in plastic wrap to keep the oil off your bedding. The hand coverings force the oil to penetrate your skin, preventing your hands and nails from getting too dry.
10 money-saving beauty tricks

Home cure: Peppermint or cinnamon gum
Use it for: The stress of a traffic-packed commute
In a NASA-funded study, scientists from Wheeling Jesuit University monitored the responses of 25 college students during simulated driving scenarios. The volunteers reported that peppermint lowered their feelings of fatigue or anxiety by 20 percent. Peppermint and cinnamon each decreased frustration by 25 percent, increased alertness by 30 percent and made the ride seem 30 percent shorter. Not a gum or candy person? Buy peppermint or cinnamon aromatherapy diffusers for the car.
7 super spices for your health

Home cure: Apple
Use it for: Whiter teeth
Crunchy fruits and vegetables act as little toothbrushes when you chew them; they have a natural cleansing action that works on tooth enamel to remove stains. In particular, “apples have a gentle malic acid that also helps dissolve stains,” says Jennifer Jabow, DDS, of Park 56 Dental in New York City.
Surprising habits that protect your teeth

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