Fruits and Vegetables for Life....
The apple is a highly nutritive food. It contains minerals and vitamins in abundance. The food value of the apple
is chiefly constituted by its contents of sugar which ranges from 9 to 51 per cent. Of this, fruit sugar constitutes 60 per
cent and glucose 25 pet cent and cane sugar only 15 per cent.
Apples are useful in kidney stones
The skin of apple should not be discarded when taking it in raw form as the skin and the flesh just below it contain more
vitamin C than the inner flesh. The vitamin content decreases gradually towards the center of the fruit. The skin also contains
five times more vitamin A than the flesh.
Iron contained in the apple helps in formation of blood.
Raw apples are good for constipation.
Cooked or baked apples are good for diarrhea.
Apples have been found useful in acute and chronic dysentery among children. Ripe and sweet apples should be crushed into
pulp and given to the child several times a day.
Apples are of special value to heart patients. They are rich in potassium and phosphorus but low in sodium. It is also
useful for patients of high blood pressure.
Apple is also said to be beneficial to gout patients caused by increase of uric acid in blood.
Bananas are high in potassium, which keeps high blood pressure in check and reduces the risk of heart
disease. In conjunction with sodium they help maintain the fluid and electrolyte balance in body cells, thus maintaining healthy
nerve and muscle function. They also contain tryptophan, which the body converts to serotonin to aid peaceful sleep.
Watermelons are low in calories and very nutritious. Watermelon is high in lycopene, second only to tomatoes.
Recent research suggests that lycopene, a powerful antioxidant, is effective in preventing some forms of cancer and cardiovascular
disease. According to research conducted at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, men who consumed a lycopene-rich
diet were half as likely to suffer a heart attack as those who had little or no lycopene in their diets.
Watermelon is also high in Vitamin C and Vitamin A, in the form of disease fighting beta-carotene.
Research also suggests that the red pigmented foods provide this protection. Lycopene and beta-carotene work in conjunction
with other plant chemicals not found in vitamin/mineral supplements. Potassium is also available, which is believed to help
control blood pressure and possibly prevent strokes.
Tomatoes rich in lycopene, which neutralizes free radicals before they can cause damage,
therefore staving off everything from wrinkles to heart attacks. Studies indicate that lycopene could have twice the anti-carcinogenic
punch of beta-carotene. They also contain a little iron, which is well absorbed by the body when accompanied by vitamin C
and prevents anemia and fatigue.
What causes fibromyalgia?
The cause of fibromyalgia is not known. Patients experience pain in response to stimuli that are normally not perceived
as painful. Researchers have found elevated levels of a nerve chemical signal, called substance P, and nerve growth factor
in the spinal fluid of fibromyalgia patients. The brain nerve chemical serotonin is also relatively low in patients with fibromyalgia. Studies of pain in fibromyalgia have suggested that the central
nervous system (brain) may be somehow supersensitive. Scientists note that there seems to be a diffuse disturbance of pain
perception in patients with fibromyalgia.
Also, patients with fibromyalgia have impaired non-Rapid-Eye-Movement, or non-REM, sleep phase (which likely explains the common feature of waking up fatigued and unrefreshed in these patients).
The onset of fibromyalgia has been associated with psychological distress, trauma, and infection.
Fribromyalgia affects predominantly women (80%) between the ages of 35 to 55. Rarely, fibromyalgia can also affect
men, children and the elderly. It can occur independently or can be associated with another disease, such as systemic lupus
or rheumatoid arthritis. The prevalence of fibromyalgia varies in different countries. In Spain, Sweden and Britain, 1% of
the population is affected by fribromyalgia. In the United States,approximately 2% of the population have fibromyalgia. The
universal symptom of fribromyalgia is pain. As mentioned earlier, the pain in fibromyalgia is not caused by tissue inflammation.
Instead, these patients seem to have an increase sensitivity to many different sensory stimuli and an unusually low pain threshold.
Minor sensory stimuli that ordinarily would not cause pain in dividuals can cause disabling, sometimes severe pain in patients
with fibromyalgia.
The body pain of fibromyalgia can be aggravated by noise, weather change, and emotional stress. The pain is generally
widespread, involving both sides of the body. Pain usually affects the neck, buttocks, shoulder, arms, the upper back and
the chest. Tender points are localized tender areas of the body that can bring on widespread pain and muscle spasm when touched.
Tender points, or pressure points, are commonly found around the elbows, shoulder, knees, hips, back of the head and the sides
of the breastbone.
Fatigue occurs in 90% of patients. Fatigue may be related to abnormal sleep patterns commonly observed in
these patients. Normally, there are several levels of depth of sleep. Getting enough of the deeper levels of sleep may be
more important in refreshing a person than the total number of hours of sleep. Patients with fibromyalgia lack the deep, restorative
level of sleep, called "non-rapid-eye-movement" (non-REM) sleep. Consequently, patients with fibromyalgia often awaken in
the morning without feeling fully rested. Some patients awaken with muscle aches or a sensation of muscle fatigue as if they
had been "working out" all night!
Mental and/or emotional disturbances occur in over half of fibromyalgia patients. These symptoms include poor
concentration, forgetfulness, mood changes, irritability, depression, and anxiety. Since a firm diagnosis of fibromyalgia
is difficult, and no confirmatory laboratory tests are available, patients with fibromyalgia are often misdiagnosed as having
depression as their primary underlying problem.
Other symptoms of fibromyalgia include migraine and tension headaches, numbness or tingling of different parts of the body, abdominal pain related to irritable bowel syndrome ("spastic colon"), and irritable bladder, causing painful and frequent urination. Like fibromyalgia, irritable
bowel syndrome can cause chronic abdominal pain and other bowel disturbances without detectable inflammation of the stomach
or the intestines.
Each patient with fibromyalgia is unique. Any of the above symptoms can occur intermittently and in different
combinations.
What is the treatment for fibromyalgia?
Since the symptoms of fibromyalgia are diverse and vary among patients, treatment programs must be individualized for each
patient. Treatment programs are most effective when they combine patient education, stress reduction, regular exercise, and medications. Recent studies have verified that the best outcome for each patient results from a combination of approaches
that involves the patient in customization of the treatment plan.
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