An ulcer is a sore or break in the lining of the digestive tract, usually the stomach or intestine. Over 25 million Americans suffer from ulcers. An ulcer in the gastrointestinal tract is known as a Peptic ulcer and is very painful.

An ulcer diet should become part of your daily routine and is not hard to do. In this article we will look at 11 things you can do to relieve pain and treat an ulcer if you have one.

1. In 9 out of 10 cases an ulcer can be treated with medication. Antibiotics can be used to kill any bacterial infection which will get rid of your ulcer. This is worth a trip to your doctor to see what you can do.

2. Stress is part of causing ulcers to flare up. The less stress you have the more you can lessen the symptoms of an ulcer.

3. In cases where antibiotics do not work many times reducing stomach acid will. Antacids can reduce the acid in your stomach and help lower the pain from an ulcer.

4. If you smoke you need to quit. Smoking will irritate your ulcer and cause you more pain.

5. Watch what you eat and drink. Fatty foods, spicy foods, caffeine, and alcohol all can do harm to an ulcer.

6. Keep food in your stomach. This helps lower gastric secretion and the hyper levels it can reach in your stomach. Eat several smaller meals a day. Eat four or five meals spread out throughout the day to keep food in your stomach and help your ulcer diet be more effective.

7. Take vitamins on a full stomach and not an empty one.

8. Drink milk and try and drink skim milk to help coat your stomach.

9. Aspirin and Ibuprofen are especially hard on your stomach. The same for some drugs.

10. Soda pop and beverages with carbonation in them are good to put in your stomach if you fell an attack coming on. So are saltine crackers which help absorb acid.

11. Brushing your teeth several times a day can help keep the upper part of the gastrointestinal tract free of acid and bacteria.

Ulcers are painful and it is worth the extra effort on your part to do what you can to lessen the pain you feel and the things that are causing it. These 11 tips are not meant to talk you out of visiting your physician to see how they can help you. But many of these tips are things you can do for an ulcer diet on a daily basis and do not require any special knowledge or skill.

Undoubtedly you’ve heard of the popular book, “The Blood Type Diet”. In fact, the ‘type’ of blood you have is identified by the presence or absence of antigens named A and B. What blood type you are is significant only regarding blood transfusions (and in some cases identifying paternity, since you receive your blood type from your parents). If you receive blood from someone who has an antigen you do not, your body will perceive a foreign invader and an immune response will be triggered. This can be a dangerous reaction. So, blood types are identified in case you need to receive blood one day. Period.

There is absolutely no significance as related to your diet, your food tolerances, allergies, or reactions to food! The fact that someone wrote a book called “Eating for Your Blood Type” is akin to writing a book called, “Eating for your Eye Color”. So, I will tell you now how to best eat for your eye color to help you lose weight:

There are groups of people who have blue eyes, others who have brown eyes and some who have green. If both of your parents have blue eyes, so will you–just as if both of your parents have type O blood, you will. Therefore, these characteristics can be seen among others in your family-just go ahead and ask them!

Okay, so first of all, any of you who have blue eyes, listen up! You have light colored eyes and you really like snacks; especially those high in carbohydrates. Am I right? You enjoy having a donut or coffee cake late in the morning. It acts as a real pick-me-up to keep you going until lunch time, and of course, donuts taste so good to you (because your eyes are blue!) You love having some chips or cookies in the afternoon from the vending machine. You just get a craving for something sweet or salty a couple of hours after lunch, and that little munchable treat satisfies you until dinner time. Finally, you often crave something to snack on in the evening while you are watching television. How do I know this? Your eyes are blue! Mine are too. I like to snack.

How can we lose weight? Here’s how: find a lower calorie substitute for the snacks you are presently consuming. There are fantastic 100 calorie snack bags so you can have a hostess mini-cake package late morning, some wheat thins or cheese nips in the afternoon, and a skinny cow ice cream bar in the evening. Yes, even though you have blue eyes and you like to snack, you can still lose weight –just get your snacking under control.

Now for those of you with brown eyes: you like sweets, especially chocolate. And you like peanut butter. Of course you do; I know that because your eyes are brown. I have friends with brown eyes-they like chocolate and peanut butter. So, you like to eat peanut M & M’s, snickers candy bars, chocolate ice cream with nuts in it, and other treats that have a lot of calories. This makes you gain weight. You gain weight when you eat chocolate and peanut butter because your eyes are brown! And because these are very high calorie foods. What can you do about it?

First of all, realize that liking chocolate or peanut butter is not really a physiological craving. You do not need chocolate. You just like it because it tastes good. So you need to know that if you can wait until the craving passes and not wolf down a king-sized Snickers bar or double Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, you will be okay. For every 300 calories you can pass up (check the labels on those candy bars), you’ll lose three more pounds by the end of the month. This could be nine pounds a month if you’re indulging three times a day!

If you still want the taste (of course you do!) then learn to control the portions. Again, many of the 100 calorie snack bags are foods you would enjoy; chocolate covered pretzels, nutter-butter cookie crisps, and chocolate chip cookies. There are lower calorie brands of ice cream and you need to measure out a ½ cup portion when you eat it, instead of scooping ice cream into the bowl until it’s full (yes, I know that’s what you do, because your eyes are brown).

And, finally, we get to the smaller percentage of the population-those with pretty, green eyes. Unfortunately, you are predisposed to a taste for foods that have fat in them! This is unfortunate because fats have twice the calories of carbohydrates. You like donuts, potato chips, cakes, and pie. Cookies, brownies, and ice cream are also sources of fat, as well as sour cream, butter, and salad dressing. You have green eyes, so I know you are not someone who likes a dry baked potato or an undressed salad. You usually order French fries or a milkshake when you go out for fast food.

What can you do to get that weight off? Start limiting your portions of these foods. Write down everything you eat for a week. See how many times each day, on average, you indulge in one of these high fat foods. Now make the decision to reduce this to only one time a day, at most. If you have a donut, you do not also get a milkshake later that day; if you get fried fish you do not also have French fries; if you have pie after lunch you do not also get ice cream after dinner. You have green eyes: you need to find other ways to treat yourself during the day besides eating these high-fat foods!

To everyone with colored eyes, best of luck with your weight loss efforts! I’m confident you will be able to lose weight after you choose lower calorie snacks, reduce your portion sizes, decrease the calories consumed from treats, and find other ways to de-stress besides eating high-calorie foods.

I must add here, that this is a spoof, just in case someone believes these tips are scientifically related to the color of your eyes. The good news is these tips actually will work for you no matter what your eye color!

What is Metamucil?

Metamucil is a fiber supplement and is made up primarily of psyllium seed husks. People often use it to relieve constipation. The truth, however, is that Metamucil is not a laxative in the sense that it does not stimulate the colon and build pressure upon the bowels to pass out the waste.

Since the husk is not water-soluble and cannot be digested, it also reduces the amount of food that can be digested and absorbed by the body. It, therefore, pushes itself out of the system. It is in this sense that Metamucil relieves the constipation.

Can you lose weight with Metamucil?

Yes, Metamucil can help you lose weight to some extent. Since psyllium seed husk is indigestible, it creates a feeling of fullness. You tend to eat a little less, ingest lesser amount of calories and eventually lose weight.

But the amount of weight you lose is not really great. Moreover, you will not be able to maintain the weight loss unless you take fibrous fruits, vegetables and whole grains and also avoid products that increase the calories and lead to weight gain.

Other benefits of Metamucil

The fibrous content of Metamucil cleanses the blood vessels and the intestine as it makes its way downwards. It, therefore, reduces the level of cholesterol.

According to the research conducted by the Food and Drugs Administration, Metamucil may help in lowering the risk of heart attack.

Harmful effects of Metamucil

It has been reported that a continued consumption of Metamucil may lead to vitamin deficiency. Psylliums seed is only husk and not a food. Some consumers even complain of flatulence, stomach cramps and gas.

Excessive ingestion of Metamucil without sufficient water may even dry up the colon. You may also experience a little difficulty in breathing as you swallow it.

Metamucil is also available in capsule form. But again you should take plenty of water as it may swell your face as well as the throat resulting in choking it.

Since psyllium seed is just a dry husk, you must drink plenty of water to prevent it from staying put in the colon and get it moving along. Those who do not drink sufficient amount of water with Metamucil tend to get constipated instead of being relieved of it.

What is the best way to lose weight?

Physical exercises are good provided you take them regularly, but that is easier said than done. After a few days people tend to find excuses to skip them.

Similarly it is not easy to stick to strict bland diet regimes, keep counting calories and refrain from the tasty, crisp and fried foods. There are always reasons to take it “just for now”.

It would be inhuman to deny yourself a tasty food now and them. The good news is that you can enjoy your favorite foods, of course, within limits and also lose weight.

Try Proactol Plus weight loss pills.

Proactol Plus weight loss pills are made up of a natural cactus plant called prickly pear. Its fibrous ingredients bind with a whopping 28% of the fat you eat, stop it being absorbed by your body and pass it out. So you can continue to eat the food you eat daily. They also create a feeling of fullness and reduce craving for food.

They can help you to burn off about 250 calories daily without taking any physical exercise.

After a recent talk I gave – this question was asked “How does inflammation lead to chronic disease?”

Chronic inflammation is a long-term physiologic response – lasting weeks, months, or years – to one or more factors, including exposure to environmental toxins, microbial or viral infection, processes related to aging, or stress, but most often to poor nutrition.

Chronic inflammation is activated when the mechanisms of acute inflammation fail to arrest infection or heal an injury. Left unchecked, prolonged chronic inflammation generates a series of destructive reactions that damages cells and eventually leads to clinical symptoms of disease.

Ultimately, chronic inflammation is a failure of the body’s immune system to maintain a healthy homeostatic state.

Inflammatory Biomarkers include:

Obesity, Metabolic Syndrome, Type 2 Diabetes, Atherosclerosis, Cancer, and Rheumatoid Arthritis

Key Thought – Food Can Reduce Inflammation

Most persons with diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension, and other chronic health problems have high levels of inflammation in their bodies that occur over time when the immune system tries unsuccessfully to repair cells and rid itself of harmful toxins.

The right foods can help reduce the amount of inflammation in the body and improve health. Here are some suggestions for clients and patients on ways to use clean eating to decrease inflammation:

1. Boost your intake of fresh fruits and vegetables. Aim to eat five to seven servings each of fruits and vegetables daily. Choose fruits and vegetables that are deep green, orange, yellow, and purple, since these have the greatest nutritional value. Ten to 14 servings per day may sound like too much, but serving sizes are small: one medium fruit, 1/2 cup frozen fruit, 1/2 cup cooked vegetable, 1/2 cup cut fresh fruit, and 1 cup leafy raw greens.

2. Cook without oil as much as possible sauté with water or veggie broth.. Make a quick and easy dressing using 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, 1/2 clove minced garlic, spicy mustard, and 1 T each of chopped fresh parsley and chives. (Use 1/2 tsp dried herbs if fresh herbs aren’t available.)

3. Snack on walnuts instead of chips. Walnuts provide fiber, minerals, antioxidants, and the kinds of fatty acids that are good for your brain and heart.

4. Eat whole grain cereals such as oatmeal or flax flakes for breakfast, and replace refined grains with whole grains, as in choosing brown rice over white rice.

5. Eliminate all animal products – meats, fish, milk, cheese, chicken and eggs.

6. Eliminate fast foods. Cook at home. Make meal time a family focus for health and renewal. Prep in advance, cook more to freeze some, and for lunches later in the week.

7. East more potatoes, especially sweet potatoes. They’re high in vitamins and delicious when baked with a little sea-salt, pepper, garlic, and rosemary.

8. Cut out sugary drinks. Instead drink more water, sparkling water, home-juiced juices, herbal teas and green teas. With lemon wedges.

9. Eat more lentils and beans. They’re good sources of protein and is a great replacement for red meat at meals. Try black beans and brown rice sautéed with onions and garlic and seasoned with cumin.

10. Munch on dark chocolate and fresh raspberries for dessert. Both are loaded with antioxidants. Or try my favorite dessert, frozen bananas with berries and nuts.

If you make these simple changes, you’ll lose weight, your skin will improve, you’ll have more energy, sleep better, and life will continue to get better and better.

I promise!

There are some days when you feel like you could workout forever, and then there are those days where you’re tired after 15 minutes. The days where you have to will yourself to finish are frustrating, but your body may be telling you something. Here are some of the most common reasons why your workout feels harder than it should on some days.

You’re Not Drinking Enough

If you’re struggling to get through your workout, you may not be drinking enough fluid. Exercise performance starts to suffer when you’ve lost as little as 2% of your body water. When that happens, you’ll start to feel tired and less motivated to exercise. When you reach a level of 5% dehydration, you can really feel the effects. Don’t count on thirst to tell you when you need to drink. That usually comes after you’ve already lost too much fluid. Keep a water bottle handy during a workout, and sip between 5 and 10 ounces every 15 minutes while you’re exercising, and drink 15-20 ounces before starting to workout. If you’re planning a session that lasts longer than an hour, sip a sports drink that contains electrolytes.

You’re Not Minding Your Nutrition

If you’re feeling drained during an intense workout, you may be glycogen depleted. This is more likely to happen if you do a high-intensity workout first thing in the morning. During high-intensity workouts, your body uses primarily glycogen as a fuel source, and if you work out intensely, your glycogen stores may hit rock bottom after 1 to 2 hours. Not only will you feel fatigued, but you’ll have to slow down. You’re less likely to feel overly tired if you’re work out a moderate intensity since your body primarily burns fat at a lower intensity.

If you do a vigorous workout, have a snack with about 30 to 40 grams of carbs before exercising. If you’re in a rush a piece of fruit or energy bar will work. If you plan on working out for more than an hour, bring along a sports drink.

You’re Overtraining

If you’re regularly feeling fatigued during exercise or having trouble getting through your usual workout and you’re clocking a lot of hours at the gym, you may be overtraining. Take a few days off to let your body rest and recover. Other signs of overtraining including an increased resting heart rate, lack of appetite, weight loss, muscle soreness, difficulty recovering from exercise, increased susceptibility to colds and flu, changes in sleep patterns and loss of enthusiasm for working out. If you have these symptoms, you may need a longer period of rest.

You Have an Undiagnosed Medical Problem

A number of medical problems including diabetes and an underactive thyroid can make a workout feel harder. One of the more common causes, particularly among females, is iron deficiency anemia. If fatigue is a persistent problem, see your doctor.

You’re Not Getting Enough Sleep

Your workout may seem harder than usual because you’re not getting enough sleep. Make it your goal to get at least 7 hours of sleep a night. When you don’t sleep enough, exercise will feel more challenging, and your risk of catching colds and flu bugs at the gym because your resistance to infection will be lower.

You’re Bored

Sometimes boredom can make exercise seem harder because your nervous system is rebelling against doing the same workout over and over again. Don’t let tedium cause you to lose your enthusiasm and turn exercise into a drudgery. Try a new routine, and get a new burst of enthusiasm. It’ll also help you break out of a plateau.

Although the ball is larger and the bases are closer together, arm strength in playing softball is no less important than in playing baseball. Ironically, because everything involved with a softball field is smaller than the regular baseball field, arm strength for quickness is possibly of greater importance.

These four exercises will help build the muscle mass required to increase strength in the primary throwing muscles. This is in no way a total strength conditioning program, as the lower body, legs, also play a pivotal role in the overall process.

Arm Circles

To perform this exercise, stand with feet shoulder width apart, raise both arms to shoulder level height, begin rotating your arms forward in small circles for 15 seconds, then reverse your circles for 15 seconds. Drop your arms to your side and shake it out.

Perform 10 reps of arm circles daily, increasing your time duration 5 seconds daily until you reach maximum endurance, as with all exercises properly performed, the will let you know maximum performance.

This exercise will increase flexibility, balance and stamina and endurance of the rotator cuff muscles.

Exercise, Resistance or Surgical Bands

Any one of the above training aids will suffice for this exercise.

Attach the band to a stationary object, door, install a hook or whatever, as long as it’s attached at least a foot above, and preferably higher, than your height.

Grasping the unattached end of the band, come to your plant position, left foot forward if right handed, right foot forward for lefties, your arm will be at shoulder height in the L position, hand close to ear.

From this position, using your arm and shoulders, pull the band forward as if you were completing your pitching motion, finishing with your hand at your opposite hip.

Jobe Exercise



This exercised is named after Frank Jobe, Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Team Physician, and was originally created as a rehab exercise from an arm injury, but Nolan Ryan began using it as a regular strength exercise, and as they say, the rest is history.

To perform this exercise, stand feet shoulder width apart, hold a 1 – 3 Lb. weight in each hand, which are at your side. Slowly raise your arms straight out sideways, until your arms are at shoulder level, then slowly lower them back to your side.

Perform 3 sets of 10 reps each. As you gain strength you can either increase the number of reps you perform, or increase the amounts of the weight, but Do Not Exceed 5 Lb weights as it then begins to stress instead of strengthen the muscles.

Long Toss Exercise

Just as the name indicates, it involves playing catch and throwing the baseball farther distances as your strength increases. Begin this exercise throwing @ 50′ apart, increasing in 10′ intervals until reaching 100 to 110 feet apart.

It’s important to realize and remember, although the drill is Long Toss the number of throws and frequency also has an impact on the drill. You’re better off making less throws per session and throw greater distances and more sessions.

***Be sure to always stretch and warm the muscles before beginning the long toss or your risk of injury will skyrocket. ***

The concept of indoor rowing machines has been around since the 1900’s but old designs were more like a torture device and is not an accurate representative of actual rowing. Development of modern fitness rowing machines was established in the 1980’s. While the machine had been designed primarily as a training tool for watercraft rowing, it is gaining popularity as a favorite workout tool not just for rowers but also for other athletes and common individuals who want to get a full body exercise. Nowadays, these machines are portable, studier, and simulate rowing on a real boat more accurately.

Like any other fitness machine there are advantages and disadvantages in using rowing machines.

ADVANTAGES

1. Full body workouts. Rowing provides a full body workout. Besides being an excellent cardiovascular exercise, working out on rowing machines, stresses major muscles in the body anaerobically. It workouts arms, chest, back, and legs.
2. Very low impact workouts. Unlike treadmills, these machines provide very low impact workouts. You are not putting much stress on your ankles, knees, and joints. Although your legs are in full motion, your legs do not strike hard surfaces so it is more comfortable.
3. Intense calorie-burning exercise. You can burn up to eight hundred calories per hour by working out on the rowing machine, this is machine for losing weight.
4. Less expensive. It is less expensive compared to other fitness equipment such as treadmills and elliptical machines.

DISADVANTAGES

1. Lower Back Injury. This machine puts the toll on your lower back so this is not an ideal machine for people with back and spine problems. In using the machine, proper technique should be used.
2. Hard to assemble. Putting the pieces together can be frustrating for some people.

Rajon Rondo isn’t the biggest guy in the NBA. He stands 6’1 which is taller than average in the real world but makes him small by NBA standards. Here’s the thing though; he found out how to improve vertical jumping through little known jumping exercises.

In an interview given in February 2009 Rajon Rondo admitted that he had a fairly simple vertical jump training program that focused on some simple core principles. One of these principles was that you had to do the right exercises if you were looking at improving vertical jump height on an ongoing basis. Here are three of them:

Hill Sprints. If you want to know how to improve vertical jumping as quick as possible then this should definitely be one of your “jumping exercises”!

Fairly obviously you need to find a hill first. The steeper the hill is the better your workout will be. You want to sprint uphill for about 65 yards. The important thing to remember is that you are trying to sprint as fast as you can as you want to improve explosive power and quickness not stamina and endurance. Try and do 7 hill sprints per workout session.

Abs exercises. When you want to jump higher, it’s important that you don’t neglect your core, as this is where a lot of explosive power and your balance come from. Ideally you should be doing sit-ups and crunches everyday when you wake up. They are even more effective if you can get a dumbbell weight and hold it to your chest while working out.

You are about to expose the formula of the most effective way to train your muscles to get quicker and faster which many successful athletes has discovered. I found out these exercises much to my dedication to improve my skill in my tennis sport. I ran into these speed training workouts when I was browsing the internet and became interested of its formula and success stories. I have been searching for a better way to improve my stamina and speed because I became frustrated with my old exercise routines which only guarantee to keep me fit. This time I tried these new routines which can be perform in the house without the need of gym equipments or assistance from coach. This is what I like most with these workouts since I don’t have to be in the tennis court or go the gym. The routines are manageable and easy to follow. It only took me 30 minutes or less to warm up my muscle and immediately the result is overwhelming and I could feel your muscles tightened up.

Many of athletes discovered the ways to grow stronger, but only a few has discovered ways to become faster. What I’m about to share to you are the wonders of plyometric workout to work with your muscles for speed and quickness like never before and how to prevent inaccurate training for speed which only results to waste of time and effort. Athletes are normally frustrated in their attempts to get quicker and they oftentimes make the excuse that speed is a skill that we are inborn with and cannot be transformed. This notion is wrong because I myself have proven that I could get quicker and faster with proper speed training and dedication to my work.

Truth is, muscles are capable to gain more speed and quickness as long as you have proper speed training. Muscles are not just for strength or to grow stronger, but it is for speed and flexibility too. I’m not just talking about getting faster in running, but in all your skills. Fast muscle gives you the opportunity to stand out in your sports like soccer, football, basketball, tennis, volleyball, golf and just about other sports where speed is necessary. After few days of performing these plyometric routines, I was amazed of the difference I feel in my performance.

These are the formula which successful athletes has discovered and learned that improved their careers. A lot of recreational players and athletes have transformed their speed and quickness in their sports as a result of this proper speed training.

First of all the question whether turmeric effects benefit men is wrong. It benefits both men and women. It is an ayurvedic herb belonging to ginger family used in India for thousands of years.

The main health benefit for turmeric is its anti inflammation impact. Every one of us is subjected to inflammation if we do not take proper care of our immune system. It can happen both inside and outside out body. Many internal organs are subjected to inflammation when ejecting the unwanted bacteria from our body if we do not provide proper nutrition. Curcumin is one of the substances that can handle inflammation which is available in turmeric. That is why turmeric gains its importance.

More than turmeric effects benefits men, it is beneficial to women.

It is used as a great skin care products. Acne is the result of inflammation. Pimples, blackheads etc., are treated with turmeric paste. Indian women used turmeric for thousands of years to take care of their skin. It is not expensive and also it is a natural herb having fantastic anti septic qualities.

Urinary tract infection is more common to women than men. Turmeric is very good to treat the disease.

Other than the above benefits, it is used to treat burns and boils. Mouth ulcers can be remedied by taking a pinch of turmeric powder in the boiled milk.

A teaspoon of turmeric powder is mixed with a teaspoon of water to make a paste and applied in the forehead during cold and cough. It gives good relief.

If you are a man and looking to get the benefits of turmeric, you should go in for a complete planned nutrition supplement that includes turmeric in enteric coated format. I know for sure a fantastic natural nutrition supplement specially designed for men, women and unisex from New Zealand. As I said earlier, turmeric effects benefits men as well as women.