The Daily Mail in England has this very interesting story that seems to give hope to the millions of people worldwide that suffer from Alzheimers disease.

Doctors are calling for a clinical trial of an experimental drug treatment that it is claimed can reverse the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease “in minutes”.

U.S. researchers say the treatment allowed an 82-year- old sufferer to recognize his wife for the first time in years.

In the UK, specialists believe the claims should be properly tested as only a few patients have been treated so far.
The treatment involves injecting a drug called Enbrel – which is normally used to treat arthritis – into the spine at the neck. Read the rest of this entry »

Looking to make a change and lose some weight? I have reviewed the top diet on the internet and you can go and read over 200 comments people have made about why this diet has worked well for them, as well as some of the problems.

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Well last night was the finale of this seasons version of the Biggest Loser and it was a night of celebration and motivation not a night to watch challenges, gameplay or workouts and not very many tips either. I taped the show as always becasue two hours is too long for any TV show and they use lots and lots of commercials for filler.

The show was broken into two parts, first all of the kicked off players did a weight in to see who would win the $100,000 for the also rans and then the last four did their weight in to see who would be crowned Biggest Loser and wind $250,000.

As they introduced all of the players except the last 4 we were amazed at home at how much weight everyone seemed to lose. There were many ways that these people could have just given up and then not attended the final show but everyone was there and everyone lost a ton of weight. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: allison sweeney, Biggest Loser, bob harper, christmas, IT Project Manager, jillian michaels, kim lyons, Los Angeles, personal trainer, reality tv, six pack, tv show, USD

Setting short term weight loss goals is very important. A couple of nights ago I was watching a fitness show filmed out of Vancouver called the Last 10 Pounds Bootcamp, and it really got me thinking about goals that most people have for their fitness.

Last 10 Pounds Bootcamp is a 30 minute show with a trainer and a nutritionist. The idea of the Last 10 Pounds Bootcamp is that the person will change their life, for a reason, by losing 10 pounds in one month. The girl on the show this week was going with some friends to Los Angeles and wanted to fit into a new dress for the trip. In the end the girl did lose the weight and looked great after losing 10 pounds.

The show really illustrates the power of short term weight loss goals. The reason that the show got me thinking is because most of the time we hear about people with really long term goals. Lose 50 pounds, lose 100 pounds, run a marathon, completely clean up your diet. What if instead we got shorter term goals that we could achieve quickly, easily, and repeatably?

Of course all of us that have tried to complete a goal have been able to make these long term plans but I am suggesting that you make no plan for change that takes more than a month. Can you instead set a short term weight loss goal? Can you lose 10 pounds in a month? Why not make a few goals not for the next month and then after you have achieved, or almost achieved your short term goal you can go and make another similar goal.

If you have a very large dramatic life changing goal it is going to be hard to keep up the work it takes to attain your goal if it is going to take three years or something so instead I suggest you break down that life changing goal in to a smaller goal, maybe a short term weight loss goal, that you can still get excited about and you can then work towards this bite sized chunk and then slingshot yourself to the next goal on this success.

My wife has always said that she wants to lose 100 pounds. If you saw a pic of my wife I am sure that you would agree with me that there is no way that she can lose 100 pounds but she could probably lose 30 if she wanted to. I have seen up close how my wife, although well meaning has struggled with temptations, occasional lack of motivation and sadness because she has set her self up to a goal that is to big to easily see the end of. If I could have her just see the end of the month or maybe by now the end of December and no later then she would have a lot more success.

If you are having some struggles try this idea of looking at where you are today and where you want to be in a month and see if you can do this instead. These short term weight loss goals are the real secret to continuing on your diet.

Tags: Los Angeles, lose 10 pounds, losing 10 pounds, motivation, nutritionist, short term goal, Vancouver, Weight Loss

What if your mind’s eye could take you to a place so peaceful that the experience eased your pain or sped your recovery from surgery? It’s not such a far-fetched concept. In fact there are many studies that show that guided imagery can be good in many parts of your life.

“Guided imagery,” a type of mind-body therapy that uses visualized images to communicate to the housekeeping systems of the body, is making its way into traditional medical settings.

“People are just now taking a very serious look at it,” said David E. Bresler, co-founder of the Academy for Guided Imagery, in Malibu, Calif., and author of the book Free Yourself From Pain. “There are a handful of hospitals around the country and around the world that are starting to implement these programs,” he said.

In one study, researchers at Harvard Medical School found that more than 30 percent of U.S. adults have used some form of mind-body medicine, a category that includes imagery, according to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

Bresler, a traditionally trained Ph.D. neuroscientist, first became intrigued with alternative methods of pain relief in the early 1970s, as founder and director of the University of California, Los Angeles, Pain Control Unit. Patients often used vivid images to describe their pain. It felt like an ice pick to one person, fire ants to another. One particular patient, a psychiatrist with a painful rectal carcinoma, suffered low back pain that he said “felt like a dog chewing on my spine.”

Bresler knew that when patients used their imagination to go to a peaceful place, it helped them to relax, so he guided the agitated psychiatrist through a relaxation exercise. When the man’s pain flared up, Bresler instructed him to speak to the dog. Would it let go of his spine? Then, an astonishing thing happened — when the dog let go to talk, the man’s pain subsided.

Today, guided imagery has numerous applications. Sports psychologists use it to enhance athletes’ physical performance. Cancer centers often use it to relieve patients’ pain and nausea.

In a 2004 study in the journal Pain, researchers at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center found that children who used guided-imagery tapes before and after routine surgery had significantly less pain and anxiety than a control group. More recently, researchers examined how children used these tapes, which suggested that they “go” to a park, at least in their mind. Many, though, put their own spin on the proposed image, allowing them to escape to places like a swimming pool, a lake or an amusement park.
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Tags: Academy for Guided Imagery, agitated psychiatrist, Author, California, cancer, carcinoma, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, co-founder, Complementary Medicine, David E. Bresler, fatigue, fibromyalgia, Florida International University's School of Nursing, founder and director, Guided imagery, Harvard Medical School, imagery, imagery researcher and professor, involving chronic, Los Angeles, low back pain, Malibu, Miami, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, nausea, pain, Pain Control Unit, psychiatrist, relaxation, Sports psychologists, surgery, Swimming, United States, University of California, Victoria Menzies

A couple years ago my wife was considering weight loss surgery as her years off dieting and exercise and the yoyo weight loss/gain nightmare had mad her tired of the whole weight loss industry. Using Weight Watchers and getting the exercise to a more moderate lvel have helped Michelle lose three pounds or so per week and she is quickly dropping the weight that was so stubborn just a couple of years back. Yesterday Michelle got a call for the gastric bypass surgery consultation which here in Alberta Canada takes 19 months, I am happy to say that she turned it down because a healthy lifestyle has maed the difference for her. As you probably know there are a lot of instances where this surgery is really helpful for people but only in cases where there is a risk of imminent death by now doing something as drastic as this surgery is.

I have found an article from Bloomberg that I think really shows the importance of this surgery and the possible implications. Below are some exerpts from that article.
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Tags: American Medical Association, arthritis, associate professor, back surgery, bariatric surgeries, bariatric surgery, Bloomberg, Bruce M. Wolfe, California, David R. Flum, David S. Zingmond, diabetes, food, Gastric bypass, gastric bypass surgery, GBP, health care services, heart surgery, high blood pressure, hip replacement, insurance, John M. Morton, Journal of the American Medical Association, knee surgery, lead researcher, Los Angeles, Medicare, Michelle Fay Cortez, Minneapolis, obesity, obesity surgery, Oregon Health Science University in Portland, plastic surgery, Portland, professor of medicine, professor of surgery, reporter, Seattle, Stanford University in California, surgeries, surgery, UCLA's School of Medicine, United States, University of California at Los Angeles, University of Washington in Seattle, weight loss surgery