Bathroom, Smelling, Scratching and Other Health Tips

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Wash your hands , your mother used to tell you. It is not only about preventing foodborne illnesses and peptic ulcers. In winter time, this habit can prevent a nasty flu.
Here are more bathroom hygiene or other seemingly strange but true tips that could help you to be happy and healthy.

Use the First Stall

After analyzing 51 public restrooms, experts found that the stall closest to the restroom door consistently had the lowest bacteria levels (and the most toilet paper!). The first stall probably sees less traffic because it's near the door and people want privacy. And when you're finished, stand before you flush. When toilets are flushed, a fine mist of water containing contagious bacteria sprays up. You can catch intestinal bugs and hepatitis from it.

Flush Away Trouble

Ever notice how satisfying it is to flush a toilet, especially if it's one of those airport monsters? Think of this next tip as a stress laxative—a bit strange, but guaranteed to be gentle and effective: Before you go to bed, put some small strips of flushable paper and a pencil in the bathroom. The following morning, take a seat and write down the names of all the people or situations in your life that are causing you angst. Then throw them in the bowl and flush. You'll be amazed at how great this feels and works.

Use Scents to keep the Willies at Bay

If you get claustrophobic in small spaces such as subways, elevators, and that closet of an office they stuck you in, visit your local fruit stand. A sniff of green apple may help relieve claustrophobic sensations. Carry one with you. Also, if you're selling your house, placing a basket of fresh green apples on the table may make potential buyers perceive the house as larger.

Shave Your 'stache_and_Sniff_Less

If you're prone to allergies and have a mustache, wash it twice a day with liquid soap. One study found that patients who did this used fewer antihistamines and decongestants. Reason: Cleaning got rid of stuck pollen grains.

Scratch the Other Limb

For itchy skin under a cast or a wound that you can't scratch, try scratching the same place on the other arm or foot. This may trick your brain into thinking you're scratching the real itch.

Ice your body to break a High Fever

Anything up to 102°F is mild and can be treated by drinking plenty of fluids. But to quickly bring down a reading above that, put an ice pack under your arm or near your groin. Icing either spot will cool your body's core. It's uncomfortable, but it works fast. Then see a doctor.

Skip the Antibacterial Soap

There's absolutely no reason to buy antibacterial soaps, according to the American Medical Association. While close to 50 percent of soaps sold in the States contain antimicrobial agents, the AMA claims there's no solid scientific proof that these soaps are better at preventing infection than regular soap. In fact, the group argues that antibacterial soaps may be doing more harm than good—by making bacteria stronger and more resistant to existing germ killers.

Straighten_Your_Drive

Taking a long drive? Pretend someone poured a cold drink down your back—notice how your shoulders pull back and your spine curves? That's the position your back should be in when you're rolling down the highway.

Pet Away High Blood Pressure

To lower your risk of heart attack and stroke, get a dog. Numerous studies show that petting a dog keeps blood pressure under control when you're stressed.

Accuse Others of Taking Your Keys

Research suggests there's a marked difference between how younger and older people interpret misplacing their car keys. A young guy usually blames it on someone else: "Who took my damn keys?" An old man typically blames it on himself: "I must be getting old. I misplaced my keys again." Never use your age as an excuse for anything like this—and see if you don't remain younger longer. It's an effective mental trick.

Change Your Name

People with "positive" initials—ones that spell out things like J.O.Y. or W.O.W.—live nearly 4 1/2 years longer than people with neutral initials. D.U.D.'s and A.S.S.'s live nearly 3 years less. Other initials that may shorten life: I.L.L. and D.E.D.

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How to Lose Your Bad Microbes

There is a lot of information on the web about losing weight, some information on anti-candida diets and almost nothing on how to get rid of other unwanted opportunistic microbes.


Let's review some of the existing antimicrobial diets:

The most popular advice is - get more good bacteria, it will fight your bad bugs - eat your yogurt and miso soup or take probiotics.

More elaborated advice disliked by the readers suggest
that no more than one third of your daily calories should be coming from each of the following - carbohydrates, protein and fats

Yeast loves sugar and simple carbohydrates - one of representative diets focuses on eliminating simple carbs from your food for at least 3 month. Also suggested is to avoid cheeses, alcohol, chocolate, dried fruits, fresh fruits, fermented foods, mushrooms, vinegar, glutenous foods (wheat, rye, oats, barley), all sugars, honeys and syrups (that includes any ‘ose’, like lactose, sucrose etc), and foods that contain yeast or mold (breads, muffins, cakes, baked goods, cheese, dried fruits, melons, peanuts – although nutritional and brewer’s yeasts are not harmful, as they do not colonize in the intestines). Good foods include the non-excluded veggies, meats, nuts and seeds.

There is no universal anti-candida diet, all alternative and non-alternative medicine practitioners have their own views and beliefs on what can or can not be excluded.

Specific Carbohydrate Diet developed over 60 years ago suggests to exclude complex carbs instead of simple carbs. It is not a low carbohydrate diet, see example recipes. The allowed carbohydrates are monosaccharides such as glucose and fructose. Complex carbohydrates such as starch and glycogen, chitin, lactose, fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS), inulin and galactooligosaccharides (GOS) are not allowed. The diet was thought to work by starving out harmful bacteria and restoring the normal balance.

Another regimen promoted as anti-candida diet is Raw foodism. It promotes consumption of un-cooked, unprocessed and organic foods. On the contrary, anti-bacterial diet (protecting from introducing new bacteria in the system) means you are forbidden to eat or drink anything that was not pasteurized, and thoroughly cooked. Other anti-bacterial recommendations include no or low starch as recommended by Dr. Alan Ebringer.


Check out this SlideShare Presentation for more on microbes:

Microbes and us

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Anti-inflammatory diet

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Humans evolved consuming food that is completely different in composition and nutrient ratios from modern diet. Many of the foods and beverages that have become staples in our Western diets are not only missing in healthy nutrients, they irritate and damage the intestinal lining.

Among ancient humans, hunter-gatherers, there was a huge range of diets - from almost all meat to almost all plant-based. Yet most of mankind for most of human history has lived on vegetarian or near-vegetarian diets.

Among the many health problems resulting from this mismatch between our genetically determined nutritional requirements and our current diet, some might be a consequence in part of the deficiency of potassium alkali salts (K-base), which are amply present in the plant foods that our ancestors ate in abundance, and the exchange of those salts for sodium chloride (NaCl), Deficiency of K-base in the diet increases the net systemic acid load imposed by the diet. Contemporary net acid-producing diets do indeed characteristically produce a low-grade systemic metabolic acidosis in otherwise healthy adult subjects, and the degree of acidosis increases with age.

Hip fracture incidence in older women, for example, correlates with animal protein intake and acidosis is unacceptable from an evolutionarily perspective.

Today, in Western diets, the ratio of n-6 to n-3 essential fatty acids ranges from ~20-30:1 instead of the traditional range of 1-2:1. Over the past 100 to 150 years there has been an enormous increase in the consumption of n-6 fatty acids due to increased intake of vegetable oils from corn, sunflower seeds, safflower seeds, cottonseed and soybeans.

Beneficial effects of n-3 fatty acids have been shown in the secondary prevention of coronary heart disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and, in some patients with renal disease, rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis, Crohn disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (Simopoulos, 1999).

Not only refined but also whole grains and rice contain n-6 fatty acids and no n-3 fatty acids. They also contain sugar-binding proteins lectins that may be blocking nutrient absorption and may be responsible for “leaky gut syndrome” - the inability of the intestinal wall to keep out large, unwanted molecules, such as proteins, due to the altered permeability of intestinal wall. The body misinterprets these large molecules as a foreign invader and begins to produce antibodies to attack them. In turn, this creates a process where one’s body recognizes certain foods and its own molecules as harmful, causing an auto-immune disease when the body attacks itself. As a result bacteria and toxins get transported into bloodstream weakening the body. Among other potential causes of this syndrome are high alcohol and caffeine intake, drugs like ibuprofen and antacids, gluten, casein and other proteins.

Some grains also contain phytates that block absorption of Mg and other minerals.





Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Anti-inflammatory diet

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