Peptic Ulcer Disease: It's process and prevention

By Katie A. Price

When you have peptic ulcer disease, the linings of your stomach called mucus layers are disrupted due to the increased acidity in the stomach. A peptic ulcer disease can show no symptoms in the beginning when the condition is not yet grave or the disruptions are not yet deep. Peptic ulcer disease is said to be idiopathic but a lot of experts would associate it to many predisposing factors. Helicobacter Pylori, a bacterium found in the stomach is also believed to contribute to the occurrence of peptic ulcer disease.

The presence of increased acid contents in the stomach causes the peptic ulcer disease. This corrosive acid is called hydrochloric acid. The stomach can tolerate a specific amount of hydrochloric acid; however, if the amount exceeds the limit, the protective layer called the mucous layers of the stomach will be disrupted and therefore cause the ulceration.

The most common sign of peptic ulcer is sharp pain experienced during eating. Unlike the misconception, eating or food intake does not relieve the pain but instead triggers it. This is most evident if the peptic ulcer originates in the gastric region rather than the duodenal region. Aside from food intake, peptic ulcer disease can also be associated with stress.

A person who is stressed or is facing a stressful situation has increased gastric motility. Gastric motility is the movement of foods from one part of the stomach to another. Gastric motility is required in the process of digestion. With increased gastric motility, the parietal cells of the intestine release hydrochloric acid that helps in the breakdown of food for the nutrient to be supplied in the bloodstream. Therefore, stress contributes to the increased amount of hydrochloric acid within the stomach.

Stressed people also resort to other ways to relieve anxiety such as drinking alcohol and cigarette smoking. However, what they do not know is that these things increase the chances of developing peptic ulcer disease. Nicotine is present in the cigarette that a person smokes. Nicotine is known to be a stimulant and a potent vasoconstrictor. Stimulants trigger the parasympathetic reaction of the body wherein the body enters a relaxed state.

Coffee drinkers are also not excused in developing peptic ulcer disease. Those who are fond of drinking coffee and would rather drink coffee than eat breakfast will cause irritability to the linings of their stomach. Breakfast is an important meal of the day and should not be replaced with coffee alone.

Symptoms of peptic ulcer would include nausea, vomiting, and gnawing pain that is not relieved by eating. For more advanced ulcers, it can cause bleeding. Vomiting of blood is very typical and also the presence of blood in the stools. Patients with peptic ulcer are also exhibiting feelings of tiredness and weakness.

Preventing peptic ulcer disease requires lifestyle modifications such as cessation of habits that are bad for health. Alcoholics should stop drinking alcohol and engage into a more productive and healthier lifestyle. - 17269

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How to Eat a Pomegranate; Three Different Ways

By Paula Danks

A pomegranate is a fruit grown mostly in warmer climates. You will find it growing naturally around the East Indies, the Himalayas, Iran, Pakistan, Turkey, Africa and some of the warmer states like Florida, California and Arizona. These red fruits are chocked full of vitamins and minerals, including potassium, Vitamin C, Calcium and Phosphorous. They are also very sweet tasting and are a low calorie snack.

The skin on this red colored fruit is a little tough and not easy to peel. The best way to peel it is to cut the top of first, slice the skin into 4 different sections, like you would do if you were cutting up an apple or orange. Soak the fruit in a bowl of water for a few minutes to soften it up. Then break the fruit apart in the bowl of water. The tasty fruit inside, the arils, will sink to the bottom and the white rind and separators will float to the top.

The outside of the fruit is not edible and tends to be quite hard. To get at it effectively, cut the top off and section it in several sections from top to bottom without cutting all the way through it. Now you can place it into a deep bowl of water and let it soak for about 10 minutes. After those 10 minutes, tear the fruit apart, still in the water. The heavier seeds and fruit will drop to the bottom and the white pulp and rind will float to the top.

How you eat a pomegranate entirely up to you. The seeds are even edible so you can just pop the whole fruit into your mouth and chew. However, many people choose to just eat the fruit around the seeds and discard the seeds, which once dried can be ground up as seasoning for a large variety of dishes. Some countries actually use them in soups and stews. They are also quite delicious if you simply top them onto plain or vanilla yogurt.

Another way to eat a pomegranate is to cut the fruit in half vertically. Holding the cut side up, cut 4 more segment cuts about an inch deep and an inch long. Turn the pomegranate over and pull the fruit open. Now take a heavy wooden spoon or other equally weighted kitchen utensil and whack the back of the fruit. The arils should fall right out easily.

Historically, people used to just pull them off the tree, poke holes in the rind, peel it back and tear large pieces of the fruit apart. Once they had a big enough chunk, they would just pull the seeds out with their fingers and eat them. You can use this method in your kitchen too, and even scoop the seeds out with a spoon for more ease. Be warned though, the juice is a very dark pigment and can stain anything that it touches, including your skin and clothes! - 17269

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Delicious Fresh Juice Recipe: Green Vegetable Cocktail

By Joanna Verdan

Most people agree that no other food is more enzyme-rich and nutrient-rich than freshly made vegetable juice. For our bodies, it is the most easily digestable form of nutrition available. That is why it is unfortunate that, when most people think of vegetable juice, they picture a bottle of V-8 or a can of tomatoe juice. However, vegetable juices can be really delicious and even the biggest skeptics can be converted, when they start to experience the health benefits.

Do you feel constantly hungry and craving junk food? Are you always tired and feeling down? A glass of freshly made juice can probably help. If you don't have a juicer, then go and get yourself one - it's a good investment in your health. Then get some fruits and vegetables (see the recipe below for a shopping list), make some fresh juice, and drink to your health! Do this twice a day for exceptional results, every day for great results, three times a week for noticeable results, or even just once a week for improvement!

Fresh juice has all nutrients that your body needs in a form that can be easily absorbed giving you instant energy boost! Its also great for your health. If you search the Internet, you can read thousands of stories about people who cured themselves of various ailments, lost weight and improved their well-being by drinking freshly made juices.

Green Juice Cocktail Recipe

There are many recipes that you can try and many books and resources are available on the subject. I am going to give you this one recipe for a Green Juice Cocktail made with green vegetables, apples and lemon:

Simple version (few ingredients):

1 head romaine lettuce or 3 stalks of celery

5-6 leaves of kale

1 or 2 apples or pears

1 lemon (not peeled)

Additional/optional ingredients " pick and choose whatever you like or have on hand:

1 cucumber

1/4 to 1/2 ripe Hawaiian papaya (1/2 makes the juice sweeter)

1/2 cup of of parsley (or cilantro)

1 cup of fennel

I like to add some beets or carrots sometimes too, but then of course it is no longer green juice... Some people also like to add a slice of garlic and/or ginger.

Drink it every morning or afternoon to jumpstart your energy!

Remember: It is best to drink your juice on an empty stomach.

The Benefits of Juicing: Vegetable and Fruit Juice Advantage

So why juice the vegetables instead of eating them? What's the benefit of juicing them?

First of all, just imagine having to chop all the above ingredients into a bowl and chewing them! A juicer separates the juice from the fiber of the fruits and vegetables making them easier to digest, leaving you with organic water with all the vitamins, minerals, and enzymes from the plants.

Of course, having fiber is important too, but because it is removed from the juice, your body will not have to waste energy on digestion. The nutrients will go straight into the cells to do their work. So, whenever you are experiencing low energy or any health issues - make yourself some fresh juice! - 17269

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For more information about juicing and juicers, visit Juicer Recipes and Juicing Advice site.

The Quick and Easy Way to Gain Muscle Mass

By Allen Brian

Every male wants to gain some muscle mass. But, if you want to gain more muscle without using non-natural steroids or supplements, then you will need a well designed working out and diet plan to achieve this goal. You need to think about your schedule and decide how much time you can spend working out as well as making changes to the way you eat. Here, we will give you 4 brand new tips for you to gain muscle mass and shape up.

Do You Count Sodium

Sodium is something that your body needs and it will encourage your muscles to grow by increasing the volume of fluid in your muscle cells. It has nothing good to build muscle, but it can retain water in our body. It can also boost the absorption of amino acids and carbohydrate storage in our body. Since it can increase our cellular fluid, our joint leverage is improved and hence we gain more strength, suffer lesser muscle strains, and soft tissue injuries from weight training. Sodium has another function to improve the responsiveness of muscles to insulin.

Foods That Include Omega-3

Eating foods such as fish that contain omega-3 fatty acids is very helpful in allowing you to gain more muscle mass. Salmon, lake trout, mackerel, sardines, tuna and herring are fishes that contain a lot of Omega-3 fatty acids. Foods like sprouts, kale, spinach, walnuts, cauliflower, broccoli, oregano, tofu, soy beans, Brussels sprouts, mustard seeds and flax seeds are all rich in Omega-3 fatty acids. Our muscles will become more sensitive to our insulin after eating these foods, and this gives us more storage of glycogen and puts more amino acids into our body's muscles. Above biological process is important because it will retain glutamine - an essential nutrition for the metabolism of protein and preventing muscle deteriorating.

Your Resistance Training

If you seriously want to gain more muscle mass, you need to do more than eat the proper diet. Workout with free weight and dumbbells are important for resistance training. They would work out your ancillary muscles and build compound mass on them. Dumbbells are very useful for muscle building, because they are flexible for you to do a wide range of motions while workout with them. You can work many muscle sets with just this one piece of equipment in order to get more muscle mass.

Experimenting with Different Exercise Regimes

No one is born with inert knowing of how their bodies respond to varied exercises. One exercise may work for one person while another works better for another person. Exercises that help you gain muscle mass need to be tested. You will find one if you spend some time on testing. But if you want to learn more, there is abundance of sites where you can visit for some great advices on building muscle especially if you have tried but failed in other exercise regimes. - 17269

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Why Hire an Online Personal Trainer?

By Jay Bonaretti

In the early 90?s, having a personal trainer was nearly unheard of. They were exclusive to celebrities. Then, as the fitness industry has evolved, personal trainers are commonplace in helping you reach your health and fitness goals. Nowadays, online personal training is becoming more and more popular.

An online personal trainer has many advantages over the conventional personal trainer. Within this article, we will discuss precisely what the main advantages are.

Have you struggled to get off the lounge when you get home from work? Well, an online personal trainer can lift your motivational levels higher than ever before!

A high level of motivation is accomplished by being in contact with your trainer on a regular basis (unlike with a conventional personal trainer where you would see them once a week!).

The high level of communication also means that you stay accountable. You are required to report back to your online PT on a regular basis to make sure that you stay on track.

Being on the internet, you can therefore be educated so much more easily than in person with someone. Not only can you have concepts explained to you clearly, but also plenty of references can be provided that you can view instantly.

Money concerns? No problems with online personal training. It is far cheaper to obtain an online coach because you don?t spend hourly appointments with your trainer. You could pay less than the cost of a one hour session in order to obtain daily support throughout the week!

Whilst a conventional personal trainer may be quite useful with explaining exercise technique in person, an online personal trainer can provide you with detailed exercise descriptions and video?s to guide you through various movements. This is a real benefit when you are inevitably training by yourself and forget what your PT showed you!

Ultimately, we all want to achieve our goals. This must be one of the most important things with online personal training ? the combination of the motivation and accountability can really drive you to achieve your goals in no time at all. I really believe that online personal training just has that slight advantage in the industry.

You really need to ask yourself, ?How am I going to achieve my health and fitness goals??. If that means hiring an online personal trainer ? then go for it! Don?t waste time and money on trying quick-fixes ? put yourself as a priority and make things happen. - 17269

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About the author: Jay Bonaretti is an award winningpersonal trainer and owns Australia's most effective online personal training information supersite. If you're looking to get into shape quickly, visit his personal training site.

Maintenance To Delay Treadmill Belt Replacement And Repairs

By Chloe Adisson

Just like any other machine, the treadmill needs regular maintenance. When it gets broken, the most common repair is the treadmill belt replacement. But the degree of damage may vary for home and commercial use.

Home treadmills used daily have an average lifespan of 2 to 3 years. For serious runners, the treadmill's life is shorter. So if you hope to make your treadmill's lifespan a little longer, it is important to maintain it properly.

Basic maintenance tips:

- Lubricate your treadmill at least once every year. This is if its usage is only minimal, say 3 to 5 times a week and you're only using it for walking and jogging.

- Lubricate your treadmill at shorter intervals if you're a serious runner. Depending on the nature of your speed, distance, and inclination, the average maintenance should be every 6 months.

- Only the appropriate lubricant must be used. Every treadmill's manufacturer has a specific lubricant. However, there are also those that don't need any lubrication. Make sure to use the correct one or else, contact your dealer.

- Consult the user manual. This is very important. Proper maintenance and treadmill belt replacement procedure is found in the treadmill's manual for you to use. Take time to read it and understand.

Proper maintenance of your treadmill equipment has a lot of advantages. In fact, maintenance is always an advantage as it prevents damages from happening soon. If ignored, you will find that a treadmill belt replacement can be very expensive.

How can you tell if your equipment is in good condition? Before a repair or a replacement or parts like the belt is decided, inspection is conducted. Below are some of the common and obvious things done in troubleshooting a treadmill.

- Belt and Deck Inspection - Centering and Tensioning Test - Belt Slip Test - Speed Test - Adjustments of the Belt

There are more parts to look into. If you are not sure about how these things are done, it's best to call the repair center or customer service to assist you. It may cost you a few bucks but it's safer and reliable.

Although a treadmill belt replacement is the common problem in problematic treadmill equipment, not all repairs need replacement of parts. Here are some of examples below on repairs between those that need treadmill parts replacement and those that don't.

Repair of your treadmill needs parts replaced when:

- The running board is broken - The console is faulty - The motor (heart of the treadmill) is the problem - Belt is faulty

Repair of your treadmill do not need parts replaced when:

- The belt is just slipping - The belt is not centered and tensioned properly - The treadmill only needs recalibration

Ask for a routine checkup from the service center. Familiarize the type of replacements and repairs too. This way, you will understand the complexity your treadmill's problem better and perhaps delay the treadmill belt replacement even further. - 17269

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Don't Rule Out Acai Yet

By Tim Wellington

Like many of the other superfruits, the acai tree is native to hot, humid and tropical climates like those found in Central America, South America and Brazil. The purple berry that it produces has a berry-chocolate flavor to it. The inside of the palm, the soft part know as the heart of palm has been used in salads, eaten alone and in other dishes.

It has, for centuries been a staple food for civilizations in the Amazon, Brazilian, Central and other South American countries. All parts of the tree can be used for something. Nothing is wasted. The hearts of palm are harvested, eaten by the natives and exported as a delicacy to other countries. The leaves have been harvested and woven into mats, baskets, brooms and roofing thatch for years. The trunks of the trees have been chopped down and cut to use in building structures all through these countries.

The fruit has become very popular in nutritional circles, both for age-defiance and for simple, healthy dieting. Acai's proponents claim that it will help boost your metabolism while giving you all of the nutrients that your body needs. The natives of Brazil have been eating the hearts of palms and the fruit from this tree for centuries, as it has been a staple food for them passed down from generation to generation.

Since the media has started promoting the berry and its juice from this tree, the farming of acai has enabled natives to create a financially richer life. What used to be a staple food for them is now a means of living. They use what they need of the tree, plant more, farm them, harvest them, and then sell them to exporters and diet food companies. The juice is very popular in Brazil. You can drink it sweet or salty, whichever you prefer. They are also now selling it in freeze dried and powder form for exporting abroad. This is one of those plants that is functional in many areas. None of it goes to waste. Now that they are farming it, the seeds are more important than ever. After they plant the seeds, it only takes a couple months for seedlings to sprout. This is considered a short time under good conditions. Any left over seeds can be ground and used in the feeding of farm animals and in enriching the soil around plants.

A couple of recent lab studies have indicated that the level of antioxidants once advertised for this berry is not as high as it was first stated. They had claimed it as being among the very highest in antioxidants, however the studies they have been performing lately in comparison to other fruits and juices, shows this berry as coming up short of the peak. It may not have as high a level of antioxidants when compared to several frozen fruit juices, red wine, strawberries, mangos, blueberries, dark-colored grapes and pomegranates. If they are correct, acai may only run on an even keel with cherries and cranberries, but is still higher in antioxidants than oranges and of course apple juice.

Even without the huge antioxidant component, there is little doubt that acai is an awesome nutritional boost to your body. Many studies have indicated that this berry may be a future treatment for leukemia, diabetes, heart health and high blood pressure, as well as many other difficult-to-treat illnesses. If fact, they are already using acai as a contrast agent in MRI's for gastrointestinal scans! - 17269

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Acai Berry Is It Beneficial?

By Carter Sinclair

If you've been following health trends, chances are pretty high that you've heard of the acai berry. Acai berries, which are native to the Amazon rain forest, have been gaining in popularity as a health food supplement in the United States and all over the world.

So, why the buzz about the acai berry? It turns out that the acai berry has been held in high regard for centuries among the native peoples of the region where the acai berry is harvested. For hundreds of years it's been used for a variety of medicinal purposes, and it's prized for the ability to give greater energy and vitality.

The question remains, is there any truth to these claims and is the acai berry really beneficial? The answer, surprisingly, is yes. Science is just beginning to unlock some of the incredible properties of this tasty purple berry.

Acai contains a high amount of fiber which is necessary for digestion and helps to fight cancer cells and slows down the aging process. It also contains essential fatty acids Omega-6 and Omega-9. It is packed with vitamins E, C, and B.

The acai berry contains more antioxidants per calorie than any other known fruit or vegetable. In addition to its high antioxidant content, it contains anthocyanins - a substance found in grapes that gives red wine its heart-healthy properties. Acai also has untold numbers of trace elements and micronutrients. While it's impossible to survive on one food alone, acai comes closest to being the perfect human food.

Because acai has a short shelf life and is only found in the Amazon rain forest, acai berries have become popular around the world in the form of juices and powders. These products contain the same nutrients as unprocessed acai berries, and can be easily added to smoothies, shakes, snacks, and other foods.There are also supplements that harness the powerful nutrients found in the acai berry. - 17269

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Muscle Building Secrets - You've Got To See This

By Mike Muscelli

Would you like to learn some muscle building secrets? Of course we all would love to learn what it takes to develop that sculpted physique that would make us the envy of our friends and the desire of the opposite sex.

It doesn't have to be a dream though, we can achieve this as long as we understand a few key points. If you truly want success there are 2 things you need to keep in mind if you want to obtain a solid bodybuilder's physique:

1. Squatting

If you're interested in one of the muscle building secrets, have a look into squatting. Squatting is one of the most powerful muscle building exercises you can take part in. It hurts like nothing else, but the results speak for themselves. Squatting helps you build not only large legs, but a large upper body through the release of HGH.

In order to perform a squat, first place the barbell on the traps and then unrack it. After that, as you squat, keep your butt out and chest up and continue down until you're at a 90 degree angle to the ground. After this, you want to push with your heels to lift the weight back up.

2. Deadlift For Mass

Deadlifting is a great mass building exercise that can transform your physique like no other exercise can. You really need to try it out to see what you've been missing, you won't believe the results you can achieve simply by adding this exercise to the mix.

All you need to do is keep your feet under the barbell, toes out, shoulder with apart, bend over and grasp the bar with both a pronated and supinated grip. Keep your chest up, look forward and push down on the ground with your heels to lift the weight. Don't pull with your arms, use your heels.

If you implement these muscle building secrets you will achieve a more muscular body in a short amount of time. Most people are not willing to go through the pain these exercises cause.

It's important to note though that these alone will not be enough to get you the body you want. You must have a solid plan and diet to ensure that these exercises are of any use, otherwise you're just wasting your time. - 17269

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