We now have foods that can induce labor, foods that relieve the intestines, foods that increase our metabolism and now, foods that can help with symptoms of depression.

Many of the ingredients in foods used to treat symptoms of depression are also found in part in health supplements such as St. John’s Wort that are designed to treat the symptoms of depression.

Fish oils have omega 3 fatty acids which have been known to help with depressive symptoms.

Brown rice contains Vitamins B1 and B3 both of which has been known to treat depression.

Brewer’s Yeast as odd as it sounds is high in Vitamins B1, B2 and B3 and the entire B vitamin family is known to treat symptoms of depression.

Whole grain oats are known to suppress the feelings of depression because the oats help the body to avoid the higher than high then crash and burn feeling that carbs and sugar give us.

Cabbage has been known to prevent stress as well as fight infection and heart disease.

Researchers followed 175,000 men for nine years and found that those who consumed more red and processed meats are at increased risk of developing prostate cancer of any stage or advanced cancer.

According to Dr. Rashmi Sinha and her colleagues at the NCI, High heat cooking methods such as barbecuing and grilling and processed red meats are particularly connected to the risk of prostate cancer.

Researchers surveyed the diets of 175,343 men between the ages of 50 and 71, including how much and what type of meat they ate, as well as cooking methods.

Researchers used that information to estimate certain potentially cancer promoting chemical levels in the diets of men.

Source: Reuters

According to car insurance companies around the country there are in deed specific types of food that are considered more dangerous.

These types of food are considered more dangerous than others because you are more likely to rear end someone if you are eating (or drinking) them.

There are also specific types of food that if you are eating your reaction time may be slower than at other times.

We have compiled a list of the ten most dangerous foods to be eating while driving. Maybe it will save you on your car insurance but it will for sure save you on cleaning up a mess in your car.

1. Coffee is most likely to spill out of the cup even with a lid when you hit a bump.
2. Hot soup is also likely to spill out of the cup when you hit a bump because many people drink hot soup like they drink coffee while driving.
3. Tacos are an extremely dangerous food to eat while driving because it is a proven fact that any food that can disassemble itself while you are driving is sure to distract you.
4. Chili dogs are dangerous for the same reasons as tacos however they are also much messier and will drip down the front of your shirt thus causing you to be even more distracted.
5. Hamburgers are considered one of the most dangerous foods to eat while driving because you eat them with your hands and the grease then gets on the steering wheel possibly making it very slippery.
6. Ribs and wings. They are messy and distracting and you will lick your fingers while eating them.
7. Fried chicken will also cause your hands and the steering wheel to get greasy and be slippery.
8. Jelly donuts are dangerous because no one has ever eaten one without watching the jelly ooze out of the middle.
9. Soda can spill.
10. Chocolate melts and then you are trying to get it off the steering wheel without swerving.

So instead of that miserably uncomfortable feeling why not avoid the causes of the gas in those specific situations?

There are certain types of food that cause gas more readily than other types of food. Foods high in fiber like beans can cause gas.

Foods that are starchy like pasta and potatoes can cause gas.

And in some cases and with some people foods that are high in sugar content can cause gas as well. In other words don’t have a meal with baked beans, baked potatoes and cake before going on a date!

Soft drinks can also cause gas as well as dairy products such as ice cream, cheese, milk and other milk products. Fruits and vegetables such as apples, broccoli, cabbage, corn asparagus, onions, peaches and pears can cause gas as well as whole wheat and pasta. Starting to look like everything that tastes good can cause gas isn’t it?

It’s important to realize also that what causes gas in one person may not cause gas in another.

It is an affordable way to spoil ourselves and all of us should try it more often, especially because we can only win from it.

As I experienced by myself the salt baths regulate certain organic functions and help cure a considerable number of diseases.

The bath salt can be found in a great number of presentations: sparkling, spicy, sulfa-iodide with herbs, effervescence, colored, etc…

As it is common knowledge that the daily stress is the main responsible for all our health problems, a relaxing bath can and will improve our body functions and that is why we must take time to enjoy it.

The right way to take a salt bath is to get under the warm water and let the ingredients of the bath get inside your body, which under the heat of the water turns into a “sponge” and allows the substances to work their way and reach a benefic effect.

I am especially fond of the process of meditating inside the bath water. It is the most common way to relax, my very own oasis of silence, the moment when my body can get rid of the tensions built during the day.

A healthy bath is drawn by pouring in the bath tub around 100-150 grams of aromatic salt and letting the water pour until the level in which your body is completely submerged is reached.

The bath salt with medicinal plants extract is the perfect remedy for a lot of health problems from headache to cancer and helps a lot the body to resist damaging or overwhelming treatments like radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

I have experienced this during my own chemotherapy period and I remember how wonderful I felt after an evening herbal bath.

The natural powers of the plants are transferred in the essential oils that are released when the bath salt dissolves. I must say that the essential oils help reducing the body toxins at the skin level and releases the spine pressure.

The most common plants used for therapeutic baths are chamomile, sage, lavender, mint, eucalyptus, basil, rosemary, the combination of pine, rose and violets oil and of course the aromatized sea salt.

Before I started using salt baths I was tested for cardiovascular and circulatory problems and only after that I was allowed to make the best of this relaxing experience.

This is how I have found out that hot salt baths are forbidden to the patients with heart and blood pressure problems.

It goes without question that it is also forbidden to the one having contagious skin diseases like chicken pox or other related affections.

I used to take effervescence baths during both of my pregnancies because my doctor told me that the baby also feels the extensive relaxation these baths give the body.

During the last trimester of pregnancy when my babies were quite restless an effervescence bath always helped them relax and helped me get a good night sleep.

I have found for myself that our body responds to both bad and good stimulus and the more powerful they are, the stronger is the reaction our body has.

After experiencing it for many years, I must say that salt baths are a nice and affordable way to find relaxation and a remedy at hand for anyone.

Just as socially acceptable as Ritalin and ADD have become, the same goes for Prozac and Paxil and depression.

How do you tell if you are depressed? I mean, really depressed not just having a bad day?

And how do you know if you’re experiencing depression related to post-partum or the death of a loved one or even depression related to the loss of a job.

Did you know that women are twice as likely to suffer from depression as men, yet men are more likely to commit suicide than women are?

Some symptoms of depression that you should look for and be aware of are:

• Less interest in activities that used to interest you.
• Thoughts about death or suicide.
• Feelings of worthlessness and wondering if life is worth living.
• Eating more or eating less; weight gain or weight loss.
• Disturbances in sleeping patterns and sleeping much more often. Inability to get out of bed.
• Difficulty concentrating and remembering things you normally would not have had problems remembering.

If you think you may be suffering from depression after reading our list above you really should see your doctor. Upon meeting with you, your doctor will most likely perform a thorough physical exam on you complete with blood tests.

The exam and blood tests will ensure you are not suffering from anemia or an underactive thyroid or some other ailment that could be misconstrued for depression.

It is not uncommon for an underactive thyroid to be misdiagnosed for depression without the proper tests. Your doctor may also ask you a series of questions to determine the level of your depression as well as a mental health assessment.

The mental health assessment may be conducted by a mental health professional such as a psychologist and will determine the level and frequency of therapy you will undergo.

Overall it would be better to be safe than sorry. Depression can be a very serious mental illness and if you have been sad or depressed for longer than four consecutive days you should definitely visit your health professional.

If your doctor determines you are suffering from depression there are a multitude of medications ranging from Zoloft to Paxil and Prozac that they may prescribe to you as well as therapy sessions with a counselor.

With constipation there is also the feeling of not having emptied the bowel sufficiently.

Constipation is caused by the slow movement of food through the human digestive track which in turn causes it to absorb more water.

This renders the waste matter from the digested food to become drier and more difficult to pass and therefore painful.

However all irregularity of bowel movements should not be treated as constipation. Some individuals are regular as clockwork while some others just are not. Both may be normal.

While some may typically ‘go’ several times a day, some may ‘go’ only every other day without any discomfort. So long as there is no difficulty in passing stool or pain, irregularity of bowel movements cannot strictly be construed as constipation.

If however a bowel movement is less frequent than twice a week, then that is cause for concern. It is pain, difficulty of passage and the feeling of inadequate or incomplete evacuation that are the identifying factors.

Some causes of constipation like pregnancy or illness will reverse themselves usually along with the causative factor but other factors do require medical help.

With children, the fact that they may not be able to communicate coherently and exactly what their problems are, diagnosis may be somewhat more difficult to make.

As with adults, the symptoms of IBS, which are pain or discomfort, diarrhea or constipation, gas bloating and signs of indigestion make themselves felt after eating or when under any kind of stress.

What happens is that the nerves and muscles in the large intestine may be hypersensitive with some children and can suddenly and involuntarily contract (spasm). Then the food in the digestive tract is either sped out causing diarrhea or it progresses slow causing constipation.

So this increased or decreased speed at which the intestine works as also abnormal muscle contractions are what cause the problems that a child faces with IBS. As against adults, children with IBS tend to have increased sensitivity in their large intestine and have been seen to react strongly to the stimuli or the triggers of IBS.

The triggers for IBS among children can be anything from emotional trauma to teething to food triggers. Many children react adversely to stress involving family trauma, a new situation such as a school or relocation, which is why IBS symptoms may be more readily activated in more sensitive children.

Children who are teething may also find that it is a trigger for IBS. Overeating or eating foods with caffeine content such as sodas, chocolate, fast food, oily or highly spiced foods can trigger IBS in children. Milk and dairy products also cause IBS to be triggered; particularly in children who are lactose intolerant.

Sometimes when a child has suffered a gastrointestinal infection or salmonella etc. he or she may be seen to develop Irritable Bowel Syndrome. It does seem to occur when immunity of the child is somewhat impaired.

Parents who suspect their child may have symptoms of IBS should look for the following symptoms which may manifest themselves repeatedly over a period of three months or more:

• The child’s patterns of defecating and the appearance of consistency of stool changes
• Chronic constipation or diarrhea
• Abdominal pain
• Bloating gas
• Heartburn or acidity
• Nausea
• Headache
• Weight loss

If other causes for the above symptoms have been examined and discarded, then IBS ought to be considered as a possible cause.

People who had lost weight and maintained a normal weight for five years were much more physically active than overweight people who had not lost weight, researchers found.

Dr. Suzanne Phelan of California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo and her colleagues found that people’s home environment is also important. People who maintained weight had fewer TVs in their homes and less likely kept fatty foods in their homes.

Source: Reuters

Trichotillomania which is sometimes seen as a ‘bad habit’ or a tic, is usually classified as an impulse control disorder or a obsessive compulsive disorder.

Though some clinicians consider this an addiction, others see it as a disorder of the same kind that as pyromania (the impulse to deliberately start fires), pathological gambling and kleptomania (the urge to steal and collect / horde things).

Trichotillomania can lead the sufferer to pull out head hair, nose hair, facial hair, pubic hair, the eyelashes and eyebrows. Sometimes this disorder can manifest itself in bald patches where the hair has been pulled out. Parts of the eyebrows can be missing, and even the eyelashes can noticeably be missing in parts.

Depression or stress is usually observed to trigger this kind of hair pulling behavior. Trichotillomania is not a disorder to be taken lightly; it can worsen and some sufferers are also known to chew or eat their own hair which can result in the Rapunzel Syndrome which is a rare intestinal disorder that is caused by ingesting one’s hair.

Many Trichotillomania sufferers combat their disorder in isolation thinking they are the only ones with the problem. This is because of the stigmatization it has and the low levels of reporting. However this is something that needs intervention if it is not to escalate into a bigger problem.