Simple tests to tell if someone is having a stroke

My father died of a stroke.  It happened over ten years ago in mid April, 2001 and I had returned from a trip to Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) so I was actually home and If I had known the information below I may have saved his life.  I will never know.  Here is hoping you do if you are ever placed in the same situation. (Maybe I'll write more about the actual events another time.)



Taken from http://www.ehow.com/how_2050850_tell-someone-has-had-stroke.html

I also checked http://www.snopes.com/ and http://www.truthorfiction.com/.  According to both the information is good.


Just remember FAST- FACE, ARMS, SPEECH, TIME

F- FACE- check for numbness or weakness in the face by asking the person to smile.  If one side of the face droops or the person can't smile, it may mean stroke. The numberness or weakness is usually limied to one side of the face.

A-ARMS- look for muscle weakness. Ask the person to raise both arms with their eyes closed. If one arm drifts down or can't be raised, it may mean stroke. The person may also have trouble walking or keeping balance.

S- SPEECH- Ask the person to repeat a simple or phrase. If the speech is slurred or they have trouble remembering it may mean stroke.

T- TIME- Get Help immediately if any of the above test show signs of a stroke.  Call 911 or get the person to a hospital.  Tell emergency medical personnel you're dealing with a possible stroke, so they can start proper treatment right away.

Coconut Oil pulling detox experiment: Does this work?

I love blogging. I also reading a number of other blogs. One site I enjoy is elephantjournal.com.

Today I read this article coconut-oil-pulling-detox.  Always willing to try something new I ran out tonight and bought a $9 jar of coconut oil.  I went to Trader Joe's first, but they didn't have any.  I must have had a clueless look on my face, but a sales girl was good enough to ask if I need any help.  When I asked about coconut oil, she knew what it was and also that they didn't carry it.  I was dreading taking the extra ride to Whole Foods (about twenty minutes away) when I sales girl was good enough to recommend a health food store down the rode--Win.

Summary: There are a lot of toxins and bacteria in your mouth.  Holding certain oils in your mouth and swishing the oil for 10-15 minutes will absorb the toxins and bacteria, hence "pulling" the toxins out.  Or "pulling" the oil through your teeth, I really have no idea.

Some of the proposed benefits include:

• Whiter teeth
• Healthy gums
• Clear sinuses
• Decrease in allergy symptoms, asthma & PMS symptoms
• Increase in energy
• Better sleep
• Clearer skin
• Regulated menstrual cycles

Which naturally I really need a regulated menstrual cycle.  But seriously, as I mentioned before- I have a small patch of dry skin and since this only requires a $9 investment, I am giving it a go.

My first try:

The coconut oil is solid at room temperature and it melts quickly in my mouth. It does not have any taste that I could notice.  Although after a while I did notice a very faint coconut --very faint-- taste.  At just about the twenty minute mark I started to gag a little.  I didn't notice anything in particular- it was clear as much as I could tell.  A comment on the original post above, someone mentioned they tried it and they were shocked.  I have to be honest; I am a little disappointed.

Final comments:

It was a little weird, but I will try and do it every morning at least for the next week or two.  Actually, unless something happens unforeseen I'll try and do it every morning until the jar I bought is done.  The morning is best especially since it is recommended to to in on an empty stomach.  It is also said they if you expel into the sink, after rinse a few times with warm water and brushing your teeth use anti-bacterial soap to clean the sink.  (Is there really that much awful toxins and bacteria coming out of your mouth to concern an serious sink washing!)

We will see how it works.  More to follow.

Standing Desk Update: My Heel pain is gone.

As I wrote two weeks ago- stand-desk-i-now-have-heel-pain-i-am- I have been sitting at my desk during work again and I am happy to report my heel pain is gone.

Now that I know it definitely was caused by standing I intent to further my experiment since I still believe standing would help my overall health versus sitting- engaging more muscles, focus, extra calorie burn for weight maintenance, etc.


As I see it there could be three possible causes (assuming of course that it just makes sense that as human we can stand/walk as our natural state):

1) Overload: I went from sitting directly to standing for as long as I possibly could with almost no build up- 6-7 hours per day.

2) Standing posture: the video here has some interesting information:

She mentions the Alexander technique which I look into before.  While I was not static or hunched over while I stood, I could be wrong.

3) The dress shoes I was wearing.

For now I will first- stand for half a day on Fridays when it is appropriate to wear my vivos vivobarefoot . Later, I will purchase office appropriate vivobares- dharma:

http://www.vivobarefoot.com/us/mens/dharma-52.html/

Just to recap: I have heel pain when I transitioned from laying to standing or sitting to standing and minor pain when walking in shoes (barefoot, sandals walking/running pain free).

After two weeks of sitting during the day my heel pain is gone, so I will try standing only with minimalist shoes.

I'll keep you posted!

Thanks for reading.

System overload: How do I cure psoriasis?

So almost ten years ago I developed psoriasis or eczema- any of the doctors I went to see over the intervening years were never clear on which it was.  So I will just call it dermatitis. Accepted medicine and every doctor I have been too ignored any idea of a nutritionally basis for as the cause.  Every one prescribed a topical cream.  A few years ago it spread out two both my shins to a point where both we covered.  Over the year I tried many different things and the thing I found was the most effect was doing cleanses.  Basically I would do five days eating fruit and vegetables while taking carbon pills and another herbal supplement.  Anyway while it subsided I still have had a small patch for the last few years.

I am ready to really get it healed along with getting my weight under control.  A close friend is also having a problem with it and his doctor amazingly recommended what is essentially a Paleo diet.

This is the site I follow and the product I have used for my cleanse

herbdoc

Intestinal formula #1

Intestinal Formula #2

I usually buy one bottle of #1 and #2.  I'll post my protocol later.


Since we have been talking about it and I have been blogging more lately.  I figured I would document it here and see how another cleanse or two works.  As embarrassing as it is a lot of us are dealing with this problem.  Please feel free to comment anomonoously if you have your own experience or advice.

Thanks,

Trying to make some sense,
Frank

Give blood—its good for you and good for others

I believe that are we progress in knowledge we will keep rediscovering ancient knowledge. We now have tools that allow us to share knowledge and move closer to the Truth. I will blog more on this topic later (Pyramid of Truth), but right now I would like to speak on the subject for health. In systems theory all things affect all other things in unpredictable ways.

In The 4 Hour Body book, link, he mentions that give blood regular may have additional health benefits, especially for men (women’s menstrual cycle may have a similar effect) since blood have hold toxins that are introduced to the body. The ancients Greeks believed in the balance of the four fluids of the body. And during the dark ages “Blood letting” was a common practice as a cure for a variety of aliments. And during the industrial revolutions till now it was considered barbaric and ignorant. Now we are relearning that maybe there weren’t too wrong.

The bottom line is donate blood is good for the overall society. You might save a life. In addition there are other reasons and it might be healthier for you to give blood. Yes, there are stories about getting infected during blood donation, but I for one believe it to be safe.

Standing Desk- 5 day report (7 calendar days)

I started using the standing desk last week on Wednesday. I only sat down during lunch and for about an hour on Thursday while working the last five days (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Monday, Today). On Tuesday (today) once 2PM hit my feet were tired and I felt it was time to finally take a break from standing. Just to recap I stood about six hours Wednesday, eight hours Thursday, nine hours Friday. This week I stood all day Monday except for about 15 minutes for lunch and all day until a half hour 1PM meeting where the project manager asked me to sit. I stood for half an hour and then had to sit.


Again, thankfully it only takes me about 2 minutes to convert from a sitting to a standing desk thanks to my cubicles configuration. I’ll post a picture and maybe a video next week.

Overall, so far I am a big fan. I spent a total of about 37 hours standing (6,8,9,8,6) when I normally would have been sitting. I feel pretty could and it has only been my first week. It has also affected my run performance adding about 7-8 minutes to my mile times. Yesterday I also felt my abs were sore during my run.

Since I am traveling tomorrow I plan on walking the two miles to the Train (Go mass transit) to make sure I get some exercise and I will also attempt to stand whenever possible. I am flying so I will have to spend some time sitting and the meeting room will not allow me a standing desk. My plan is to return stronger on Thursday.

So how is your digestion? (Health Feedback)

I went a few years ago to a friend who was attending the Swedish Institute in New York to become an acupuncturist. During the assessment inquiry he asked me “So how is your digestion?” Not having any idea how to judge I said “OK”. Well of course I questioned how to actually judge how your digestion is and it turns out that how your “bathroom performance” is?


To paraphrase Dr. Oz in “You: the owners manual” we are adults and we all do it. It is a great feedback to how your overall health is and I myself ignored it for years. It should be solid single to two pieces that make an S shape just like your intestines. Nothing else in the bowl after you are done and you should not take a long time nor expend a lot of effort.

My fat loss plan

I have being battling my weight most of my adult life now. When I was growing up I was always skinny kid. I started getting fat after college. I am 36 years old and it is only getting harder. It is a typical story; this is a fight that started when I was out of college working my first professional job. As the first few years went by my diet got worse and my exercise effort trailed off. Before working, I was actually in very good shape. In college I help organize a weight lifting club and maintain our small weight room. We would hold monthly presentations on different workouts and diet information. I have a huge library of diet and exercise books. Most of them I read but never implemented, at least long term. (The term analysis paralysis comes to mind)

You can look at the reference list of books I am taking from to see an example. These are books that I have taken some bit of knowledge from. I am not following any single book in its entirety. They all have parts that I like and don’t like. Some of them are not diet or exercise books and merely provide some useful insight.

Now I am ready and determined to get this right. My weight on my 6’ frame has peaked at 276 lbs. I have been following this morphed diet well for the 10 days. I am down 12 pounds. As I mentioned earlier, my goal for Sunday is 262, 2 pounds and 3 days to go.

Since a whole part of this is a learning experience and I am including facets from multiple sources, I figure I better get the details documented.

Problem statement: Obesity is a systematic problem (watchman’s rattle- this is an obvious point, but it needs to be repeated) and it is part of our nature and culture that is exacerbating the problem.

Principle Solution: The human body will adept to its environment and both diet and exercise are integral to healthly function. The goal is not simply weight loss, but a healthly lifestyle includes exercise, both cardio and resistance exercise, and a healthy whole food diet ( see references below).

Supplements: I am currently taking a high quality multivitamin and omega fat once a day in the morning with breakfast.

Diet principles:

1) no sugar

2) easy to prepare, repeatable meals

3) Lots of greens

4) High quality lean protein (mostly grilled chicken)

5) Plan your meals and have food ready

6) Avoid Dairy, Alcohol, Diet Soda

7) Cheat meal once per week where you eat what ever you want. (It makes following the meal plan easier the rest of the week- and better than a whole day)

8) Drink plenty of water- I shoot for four liters a day—usually don’t drink quite that much. But that is my goal.

I have seen this rule: W = M/2 + 2a + 5b where M is your weight in lbs, a is ounces of soda, diet soda, tea, alcohol and b are ounces of coffee which gives you ounces per day. I think this is way too much and you certainly should waste that much effort. Actually, the new evolution diet had the point it should be that much effort to drink adequate water- especially if it reduces your exercise ability. Avoid soda and beer and drink water.



Exercise: At the beginning I am doing whatever I can. I’ve gotten addicted to barefoot running so my exercise focus has been on running whenever I can. There is a lot of information out there that supports short variable workouts versus sustained repetitive training, but for right now I try to get out 3 miles four or more times a week.

Final principles: Set goals, short term, mid term and long term.

Leverage social support by doing something like blogging about them. Surround yourself with other people with similar goals and healthy habits. Focus not on weight, but fat loss and muscle and performance. Track your progress with measurable quantities (weight, percent body fat, 1-mile time, heart rate, etc.)

I am also using an app for my phone (endomondo.com) that using GPS to track my running performance in concert with a Bluetooth heart rate monitor.



Cold helps with weight loss. Right now in NY it is sufficient to be outside without a shirt. Not sure how I will continue with this as the weather gets warming.



References:

The Spark (The Spark: The 28-Day Breakthrough Plan for Losing Weight, Getting Fit, and Transforming Your Life

Why we get fat (Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It)

The 4 hour body (The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman)

The new evolution diet (The New Evolution Diet: What Our Paleolithic Ancestors Can Teach Us about Weight Loss, Fitness, and Aging)

In defense of food(In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto)

The omnivores’ dilemma (The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals_

The Paleo solution (The Paleo Solution: The Original Human Diet)

Born to run(Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen (Vintage))