Walker

For a berry with such an intimidating name, the wolfberry certainly has a lot going for it. Wolfberry comes from the Mandarin name Gou qi zi goo-chee-zee , a red berry from the Solanaceae nightshade family that includes tomato, eggplant, chili pepper, and potato. In popular English, gou qi zi literally wolf energy berry has become goji. For at least 2000 years, the wolfberry has grown wild in China and been used in common recipes and traditional Chinese medicine. Eighteenth century Chinese farmers nicknamed gou qi zi wolfberry when they saw wolves feasting among the berry-laden vines during late summer at prime harvest time. Smart mammals. The Chinese revere the wolfberry as a national treasure regarded as among the most nutrient-dense of the nation s plants. This premise has stimulated scientific investigation about its potential health benefits and systematic cultivation, commercialization, and now increasing export to first-world countries mainly in Europe and the US. A significant source of macronutrients The wolfberry contains significant amounts of our body s daily macronutrient needs, including carbohydrates, proteins, fat and dietary fiber. The content of a...

If you ate a green salad with fresh chopped tomatoes, then you not only got a healthy dose of this powerful antioxidant, but you have also taken significant action toward lowering your blood pressure. A recent double-blind study conducted in Israel has confirmed what hearth-healthy Italians have enjoyed for centuries tomatoes and tomato sauce lower blood pressure and the risk of heart disease. The Israeli study was led up by Dr. Esther Paran, head of the hypertension division of Soroka Medical Center. It involved patients who were already being treated for hypertension, but were not responding well to the medications. Paran had patients take a supplement of tomato extract. The results were a significant drop in blood pressure after just four weeks. Tomatoes are so effective at lowering blood pressure because they contain lycopene. This potent antioxidant is even the focus of some hybrid tomatoes grown by the Israeli company, Lycomato, in order to have higher concentrations of lycopene in each piece of fruit. Other antioxidants found in tomatoes make this one super-food in the prevention of heart disease. It can even help keep LDL cholesterol from oxidizing which makes...

Imagine you just got into a car accident. You re bleeding profusely, you are in dire need of medical attention, and you may just need an organ transplant. With so many odds against you, it can be terrifying to think that your life is in someone else s hands. We never tend to realize how crucial these decisions are until we are put into that situation. Far too often we hesitate when becoming an organ donor ourselves, forgetting too quickly that we may need help just like everyone else. Organ transplants are a common procedure in medicine today, and surprisingly, many of the donors are still alive. It is a frequent myth that you have to be deceased in order to give your organs to someone who is on death s door step. Fortunately, if you can survive without a specific organ, you can still participate in helping others. Many times family members or partners will try to become a match for their loved one who is need of an organ. Other times generous and warm hearted people will be willing to give a kidney or a similar organ to a stranger who they don t even know. All of these are certainly acts of kindness, and happen frequently in the world. While living donors are...

Your adrenal glands are two tiny pyramid-shaped pieces of tissue situated right above each kidney. Their job is to produce and release, when appropriate, certain regulatory hormones and chemical messengers. Adrenaline is manufactured in the interior of the adrenal gland, called the adrenal medulla. Cortisol, the other chemical from the adrenal gland, is made in the exterior portion of the gland, called the adrenal cortex. The cortex also secretes androgens, estrogens, and progestins. Cortisol, commonly called hydrocortisone, is the most abundant -- and one of the most important -- of many adrenal cortex hormones. Cortisol helps you handle longer-term stress situations. In addition to helping you handle stress, these two primary adrenal hormones, adrenaline and cortisol, along with others similarly produced, help control body fluid balance, blood pressure, blood sugar, and other central metabolic functions. In the heightened nervous state of adrenal burnout, the body overproduces adrenaline, cortisol and other stress hormones. Constant stress and poor nutrition can weaken the adrenal glands. Eventually, this causes the adrenal glands, the front line in the stress...