Doctors usually recommend treating fungal nail infections only when such infections cause secondary problems including pain, recurring ingrown toenails, or secondary bacterial infections of the nails or skin.

If the nail infection does not cause any of these problems, then doctors often discourage treatment because of the potential side effects, the need to monitor the blood throughout therapy and the high recurrence rate. Patients with liver or heart disease generally should not take these medications.

Some insurance companies require documentation of secondary problems beyond the mere presence of the fungal infection before they will cover the costs of the anti-fungal medications.


The anti-fungal medications usually suppress the nail infection when taken as directed. Unfortunately, they cannot guarantee a permanent cure. At least 1 in 5 patients, or 20 percent, will have a recurrence of the original nail infection at some time, making re-treatment with medication necessary.


Because the fungus grows slowly, it can be hard to eliminate. Anti-fungal medications are available to combat fungal infections; however, they are strong oral medications that must be taken consistently for months in order to be effective. The medications also have potential side effects to other body organs (especially the liver, skin and/or bone marrow).

To monitor side effects your physician must order periodic blood tests (usually monthly) during treatment. Any of the symptoms (listed below) suggesting organ damage should be reported immediately to your physician.

Unfortunately, anti-fungal creams applied to the nail do not penetrate the nail bed to kill the fungus at its source and are generally ineffective.


Fungal infections of the nails are common. The fungus grows in the nail bed, where the nail meets the skin. The fungus grows slowly and does not spread to internal organs.

The main concern is the nail discoloration (usually yellow) and change in nail texture and growth. Nails can become crumbly, break easily, and grow irregularly. However, because other nail conditions sometimes mimic fungal infection, most doctors will confirm the diagnosis by sending a nail clipping for laboratory evaluation — especially if treatment is being considered.

Fungal infections are not commonly contagious nor do they spread easily between people. Nail fungus grows more often in people with weaker immune systems, which rather than suppress it, allow the fungus to become established. There is currently no known way to boost your immune system to make fungal infections less likely.

Here are some ways that may help to prevent fungal infections:


Are You a Weight Watcher?

category: Weight Loss
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The decision to lose weight is not one that many people make lightly - excuse the pun. Often, it has been flitting around in the mind for years. It may even have been reached, acted on and abandoned as another fad diet bit the dust. Then, a rogue photograph appears depicting you doing your best whale impression, or you are unexpectedly required to move quickly (perhaps during a fire drill at work, where everyone sees you panting), and almost expire from the effort. Shamed into action you decide once again that another attempt to shed weight will be worthwhile.

The good news is that you needn’t do it on your own. A huge range of weight-loss programs exist today - from independent, locally run clubs to the multi-national organizations- all offering weight-loss plans to suit individual needs and budgets.

Arguably, one of the most successful of the large organizations is WeightWatchers. Founded in a New York apartment over 40 years ago by Jane Nedetch, the small support group for friends has grown into the vastly successful international company that it is today. By combining a program of healthy eating and exercise with group support, WeightWatchers developed a ‘partnership’ approach to dieting which has since been emulated by many other weight-loss organizations world wide.

How does WeightWatchers operate?

Membership: After locating a local meeting venue via the internet or the local press, members can join the organization for a fee of around $25-$30. This membership fee is often waived during special promotion months, which are generally advertised in the media.

A weekly fee of around $10-$15 is paid at each meeting, although monthly and three-monthly packages can be bought in advance at a discounted rate. Membership lapses if a member fails to attend meetings for four weeks. Members must pay for a missed meeting but if they have missed more than two, they need only pay for the first week missed and for the current week. Each member is allowed to miss two meetings in the course of the year without having to pay.

When a member has reached an agreed ‘goal’ weight and maintained it (within two lbs or one kilo) for six weeks, he or she becomes a Life member and may attend future meetings free of charge, provided the goal weight is maintained and at least one meeting is attended each month.

Online membership is now available for those who cannot attend meetings or who live in a rural area. A monthly online membership costs around $44.

The Points System: The dietary part of the WeightWatchers program works on a ‘points’ system. Every food is allocated a point value according to its fat and sugar content. For example, an apple may be valued at one point, while a sausage may be valued at five. Most vegetables and salad ingredients are ‘free’ and can be eaten without penalty. Members are given a daily point allocation of around 18-22 points, depending on their current weight. No food is forbidden, as long as the point value is factored into the daily point consumption. Points may be saved for later in a week to allow members to eat out.

Various exercises are also given a point value. Bonus points gained by being active, allow the member to save for later in the week, or may be spent on an extra treat to the value of the bonus on that day.

There are ceilings on the number of points which can be saved or earned in any one week to prevent binge eating, starving and excessive exercising.

All members receive a points-value guide to the basic foods in Week One of the program.

The Meetings: On joining WeightWatchers, the member’s height and current weight are recorded in the ‘passport’ document, which holds each member’s personal details for the duration of the program. The member retains the passport and only has to produce it when being weighed. A general goal weight is then set in consultation with the group leader, based on healthy weight to height ratios. A more specific goal can be set later when the member’s weight lies within this ratio.

The member receives the Week One support materials which included a weekly brochure containing a tracker (for recording food intake, exercise and points) a possible weekly menu, some words on the topic of the week and a Quickstart DVD ( a support DVD to be used during the first six weeks of the program).

The member then attends the weekly meeting during which the leader delivers a talk on the week’s topic and members are invited to share their experiences, questions and advice.

Why is WeightWatchers so popular? Many devotees of the organization will answer this in just one word: Flexibility.

The weight-loss plan which runs for 24 weeks can be tailored to meet a wide range of needs. The points system allows for total flexibility of menu. No food is forbidden or compulsory and the menus if used are written with busy lifestyles in mind.

Meetings are also flexible; with members being able to attend meetings at other venues should they find themselves unable to get to their usual meeting. Members are also free to choose the level of their involvement at these meetings. While some need the group support each week, many people opt to just ‘weigh-in’ then leave. Either is acceptable.

In addition, WeightWatchers offers a wide range of support materials: a points value guide to specific brands of foods, a Supermarket guide, the Eating-Out guide, a monthly WeightWatchers’ magazine, WeightWatchers’ own food products, cookbooks and scales.

Like any weight-loss program, the WeightWatchers system does have some drawbacks. As it is run at a local level by leaders who have previously lost weight on the program, and current members who volunteer, the effectiveness of the support group is dependent on individual personalities. If a new member has trouble fitting in with the existing group, he or she may choose not to return.

Some people may also argue that the points’ system approach to weight control is a short term method and just one of many weight-loss options, although none of these other options are promoted to members.

Finally, for many people the weekly fee is too expensive, especially if the member does not like to attend the meetings. It does seem extravagant to spend $15 each week just to step on a pair of scales.

Regardless of these criticisms, people are still flocking to join WeightWatchers and many similar weight-loss organizations across the globe. In today’s world, weight-loss needs to be less about vanity and more about health and well being, with all the benefits of looking good ‘thrown in’.

Weight Watchers offers a practical, accessible and structured way forward to a fit, healthy lifestyle.


If you want to loose weight you have likely already heard the praise being given to the latest in natural cures - Hoodia Gordonii. So, is it as good as they say? How does it work? And most importantly - will it help you loose weight?

STUDY SHOWED HUNGER PAINS TURNED OFF

The most frequently reported study to promote Hoodia Gordonii as a weight loss supplement was conducted with obese individuals who were given Hoodia Gordonii and left in a room with little to distract them except TV, reading and eating. This group consumed on average 1000 less calories a day than the control group given a placebo.

The active ingredient in Hoodia Gordonii appears to tell the brain that the stomach is full. No hunger pains could mean less eating, which would naturally cause a loss of weight.

AFRICAN BUSHMAN USED HOODIA TO STAVE OFF HUNGER FOR LONG TRIPS

Hoodia Gordonii is an African cactus that grows naturally only in the Kalahari desert. For thousands of years the bushman of this region have eaten Hoodia Gordonii with no apparent ill side effects, like the racing heart experience of Ephedra or other supplements.

In fact, the only known side effect seems to be an overall good feeling. However, the bushman used the Hoodia Gordonii sparingly and further studies are required to examine the possible side effects of regular doses over a long period of time.

WILL THE HOODIA GORDONII HELP YOU LOOSE WEIGHT?

The molecule that has been linked to the appetite suppressing abilities of Hoodia Gordonii, now called P. 57, appears to affect both humans and animals. One study showed a decrease in appetite by 30-40%. There are documented personal experiences showing the immediate effects of eating Hoodia Gordonii.

It is important to note that the molecule isolated in Hoodia Gordonii does not necessarily affect the appetite when eating high carbohydrate or sugar diets or when hunger is caused by physical exercise. While P. 57 can signal to the brain that the body is full, the sugar drops and physical requirement for nourishment can counteract these effects.

As with any weight loss program it is necessary to adapt diet and lifestyle to experience the most profound changes. Suppressing the appetite should not be a replacement for good nutrition and healthy living. It is also important to note that further testing of the safety and effects of Hoodia Gordonii are sure to continue and not all products that are advertised to contain Hoodia Gordonii are prepared equally. The active ingredient in many products is not enough to produce the desired effects and should be chosen wisely.


Whether you are trying to lose a few extra pounds, or building a sculpted body; you will need every available technique in your arsenal when you begin to fight f-a-t. If you are only using one or two tactics you may get there eventually, but you will have a long uphill battle.

Are you ready to fire up your fat burning capabilities? The basics of metabolism has everything to do with fat burning. It is the biochemical processes that take place in the body; the breakdown of nutrients in the blood after digestion, resulting in growth of new tissue, more energy, and the release of wastes.

You have billions of cells- nerve cells, muscle cells, fat cells, blood cells, and all kinds of cells. These cells burn up a lot of energy as they get their job done in a well metabolized body, but a person whose metabolism runs slow, a lot of excess fat will be stored because not enough energy is burned up. The good news is that the metabolism furnace can be turned up substantially. There are several things which affect the metabolism such as exercise, the digestion of foods, body temperature, and hormone activity. Here are seven of the easiest ways to burn fat faster.

1. The food you eat. There are several foods that actually burn fat faster than others. Spices is one food that can help you burn more calories by triggering a thermodynamic burn that can last several hours after eating.

2. The time you eat. The best time to eat the largest portion of the foods you eat for the day is before two o’clock. Make sure you never skip a meal, especially breakfast. The process of eating actually starts your burner blasting. Do not skip breakfast, and wait until mid-day to eat because if you do your metabolism will run slower all day. That means you are burning less fat, which is not what you are aiming for. You want to burn fat faster, not slower.

3. The amount of food. If you deprive yourself of food, your body goes into a survival mode and slows itself down to prepare for a possible famine. That means that fad diets are definitely out if you want to burn fat faster. But on the other hand, if you eat more calories than your body uses throughout the day, these additional calories will be stored as fat. Therefore, the secret is moderation. Try eating three small meals and two small snacks daily. It’s like throwing another log on the fire whenever you eat, but remember- small amounts of food at a time. If you have too much food in the stomach at any one time, it will slow the fat burn down, totally defeating the purpose.

4. To prevent build up of fat you need to increase your daily activities. The muscles are where all the calories are burned during exercise, and the more efficient the muscles are at burning fat - the quicker weight loss can be achieved. To be an efficient fat burner you need to increase your muscle mass. The timing and various types of exercise also contribute to a turbo metabolism. When you perform any kind of activity your body burns fat and glucose. The good thing is that you do not need to exercise hard to burn fat. It’s a good habit to begin exercising every morning. Do as much as you can until you reach an entire hour each day, five or six days a week.

5. Do your strength training before doing any cardiovascular work. It takes the body about 15 minutes to warm up and start burning fat. For example, if you are jogging for 45 minutes, you will only be burning fat for the last 30 minutes of your workout. Instead, try lifting weights for the first 15 minutes, which gives your body the time it needs to warm up. By the time you hit the road, you will be burning fat during the entire jogging session. PLUS - you will have built muscle too!

6. Do not do the exact same workout every day. Your body will start to get used to that exercise, and eventually it will stop burning fat calories. So if you jog one day, try a different activity the next day. Keep rotating the exercises, that way your body will stay at an optimal fat burning state. The best way to burn fat is to work out as hard as you can for as long as you can. But if you are just beginning a program, try varying the intensity from fast, to normal, to fast, to normal. This will help to build endurance, and eventually, you will be able to extend the high intensity periods until your entire workout is done at an ultimate fat burning speed. The fat burning equation is simple. The more muscle tone you have, the more calories you will burn even when you are not active.

7. Inhaling and exhaling through your nose, rather than your mouth also helps to stabilize your heart rate, and increase your endurance. Of course you know this means turbo charged fat burning.

With these seven tips, you should be well on your way to burning fat at an optimal level. If you stick with these techniques, and make them a part of your day - your body will amaze you in a few weeks.


If you’re stalled on a weight loss plateau despite sticking to your diet, the first thing to check is your water intake. Research suggests that most Americans unknowingly suffer from mild, chronic dehydration, and you could be one of them!

So why should you care? Because water is an essential ingredient for your weight loss. In fact, water is needed for a wide range of the body’s biochemical processes, but lets just look at what water does for dieters:

Water is essential for your body to metabolize stored fat into energy - so much so, that your body’s metabolism can be slowed by relatively mild levels of dehydration. And the slower your metabolism, the slower your weight loss (and the greater your fatigue), until eventually your weight loss just crawls to a halt, and you hit the dreaded diet plateau.

Water is a natural appetite suppressant. In the hypothalamus, a region in your brain that controls appetites and cravings, the control centers for hunger and thirst are located next to each other, and there tends to be some overlap. This has both advantages and disadvantages for the dieter: on the down side, it means that chronic mild dehydration can confuse these control mechanisms, leading to feelings of hunger, rather than thirst. But on a positive note, it means you can use water to reduce your appetite. For example, in one University of Washington study, drinking a glass of water reduced nighttime hunger cravings for most of the dieters studied.

Water is an essential component of the processes that enable muscle to contract. This means that water helps to maintain muscle tone. Better muscle tone means a better looking body, and isn’t that what dieting and weight loss is about?

Water also helps to prevent the sagging skin that often follows weight loss - water plumps the skin cells, giving the skin a younger and healthier look.

Water helps rid the body of waste. During weight loss, the body has a lot more waste to get rid of, as a byproduct of all that metabolized fat. So adequate water is essential to your health while dieting.

Water can even help with constipation. When the body gets too little water, it siphons what it needs from within, particularly from the colon. This leads to constipation. But normal bowel function usually returns with adequate water intake.

More generally, mild dehydration can cause a number of health problems, in addition to your diet plateau. The symptoms of mild dehydration can include:

Not a pretty picture, is it? But once you get your water in balance, you reach the “breakthrough point”, a concept pioneered by Dr. Peter Lindner, a California obesity expert. Once you’ve reached the breakthrough point, fluid retention eases, the liver and endocrine system start to function more effectively, you will start to regain your natural thirst and your hunger cravings will be significantly reduced. And so the end result of reaching and sustaining the breakthrough point in your water balance is that your body is able to metabolize fat more effectively.

So how much water should you drink daily, for a healthy and ‘adequate’ intake? First, a couple of basic principles:

Having said that, an adequate water intake for a sedentary but normal-weight adult during cool weather, is generally recognized as 8 x 8 oz glasses.

Note that you need additional water in hot weather, when you lose more water through sweat.

You also need additional water when you exercise. Athletes attempt to enhance their performance by maintaining an optimal fluid balance while exercising, estimated to require 6 to 12 oz of fluid at 15 to 20 minute intervals. Even if you’re not concerned about your athletic performance, you should consume a similar amount of water when exercising, in order to maintain adequate hydration.

And if you’re overweight, you’ll need an extra glass of water for each 25 pounds overweight, because the extra weight creates extra metabolic demand.

But how do you manage to drink so much water? A typical recommendation from the weight loss experts is 3 glasses of water with every meal. That’s 3 glasses with breakfast, 3 with lunch, and 3 with dinner. Plus, of course, additional regular water between meals when you’re exercising or when its hot.

So if you’re dieting, stalled on a weight loss plateau, or suffering some of the classic symptoms of dehydration, do, first of all, ensure that you have an adequate water intake. It could be the ‘missing ingredient’ in your diet regime.


Permanent Weight Loss Solutions

category: Weight Loss
by admin, No Comments »

There are many people who attempting to lose weight, some will succeed and others will fail, however the biggest battle for people who are able to reduce their weight, is often to keep to their ideal weight. Many people will find that they have soon returned to the weight that they were before they went on their diet or even that they are actually fatter. This can of course be very depressive and can result in them losing a lot of their self-esteem. What is needed is for a permanent solution to their weight problems.

There are some obvious routes to take in the battle to lose weight. They would include increasing the amount in which we exercise and reducing the amount we eat. It is this eating issue that can be the hardest to control and to reduce as our temptations often get the better of us.

In my opinion what we need to do is to make our house a fat free zone. If we become hungry and start looking through the cupboards and notice for example a packet of crisps, it can often be very difficult not to eat them. Our desire for instant food can become too great and our inner demons try and convince us that one packet will not hurt. If that packet of crisps had not been in the cupboard we would have not been put into that position of temptation and would of course not have been able to eat them.

A number of years ago, when I went about losing my own excess weight, I decided to remove all of the foods from all of the cupboards which I was aware that I needed to stop eating. I also removed certain drinks such as alcoholic drinks which were also something which contributed to my weight problems. I put into the dustbin all of the takeaway menus that I had and basically attempted to make it as hard as possible for me to eat or drink anything that I shouldn’t have been.

When out and about I had to be determined to keep to my diet and to not be tempted to buy any of these items from the shops etc. This was not easy to do as I am somebody who loves all of these fatty type foods.

In my weekly food shop I bought far more fruit and vegetables and was surprised at how quickly my taste buds started to change. I soon looked forward to eating an apple as an example and the weight slowly but surely started to reduce.

After a number of months I reached a weight that I was happy with. My wife stated that I was now able to start eating items such as dry roasted peanuts, this was a particular favourite of mine. This was possibly true but could easily result in a return to my old bad habits and of course weight problems. I decided to stick with the fruit and my cupboards are still free of those foods which I love to eat but which are not good for my weight.


Don’t give up carbs! Carb cycling allows you to drop fat, build muscle, increase energy and sex drive, and even improve your skin – by eating carbs the right way.

Do you ever wish you had the vitality of a teenager or the muscles of a star athlete? Well, you can’t turn back the hands of time or suddenly morph into a superhero, but you can lose weight, gain energy, and reach your fitness goals by jumpstarting your anabolic hormones. It’s not complicated and it doesn’t require you to buy any special equipment. You just need to learn how to cut through popular diet trends and misinformation and understand which foods truly benefit your body the most.

As a younger person, perhaps you could eat anything you wanted without gaining a pound. Then, as you grew older, you started to notice the scale creeping upward. Maybe you suffered through the low-fat diets of the 1990s, only to find yourself surrounded by today’s low-carb diets. There certainly are a lot of diets out there, yet the average American keeps getting larger. That’s because much of the so-called health information that bombards the general public does a good job selling diet books, pills, and “specialty” foods, but it hasn’t done anything to cut the rising trend of obesity in this country.

The truth about losing weight is simple. The only way to shed fat is to eat less calories than your body needs to maintain your current weigh. Yet, losing weight alone will not give you the healthy glow or energy so many of us crave. If you want to boost your energy as you drop pounds, you need to increase your body’s natural production of anti-aging anabolic hormones.

Throughout life, there are two important bodily processes that determine how you look and feel - anabolism and catabolism. Anabolism is the process fueled by anabolic hormones that allows your body to build muscle. As younger people, we produced a lot of important anabolic growth and sex hormones. As we age, our bodies produce less of these hormones, which leads to weight gain and health problems. Catabolism is the process by which your body burns fat. Many popular diets, including most low-carb plans, focus only on changing your catabolism. Therefore, they do not help you build muscle or help your body produce more anabolic hormones.

For years I helped members of the Russian National Athletic Team drop fat, build muscle, and improve their performances by kick starting their bodies’ anabolism process. I instructed the team to alternate between days of eating a normal amount of carbs and days of limited carb consumption. This method produced amazing results because it was based on real science, not marketing hype by the diet industry. When I moved to America, I started seeing clients who dieted and exercised regularly but still could not lose weight. They didn’t realize that a slowed metabolism was derailing their efforts. I knew that my older patients would never compete in the Olympics, but they too could benefit from eating like a serious athlete.

By alternating between low carb and higher carb days, my clients have been able to get the lean, strong bodies they have always wanted. They also enjoy the luxury of eating the foods they love, as long as they eat them at the right time. It takes a little discipline at first, but it is far easier and healthier than low-carb, restriction diets.

How can you try it at home? During normal carb days, I recommend eating between 350 to 400 grams of carbohydrates. That’s about what you probably are already eating. Keep in mind that you should focus on eating unrefined carbs from whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. These carbs are packed with healthy compounds that help ward off disease and keep your body young. Limited refined carbs from sugar and processed white flour. This includes white bread, crackers, and all processed junk food. Remember, all carbs are not created equally!

On limited carb days, do not eat any foods containing sugar or white flour. Try to keep your carbs under 300 grams a day. You should never starve yourself or feel hungry, even on limited carb days. Sound tricky? It’s not! Counting carbs is pretty easy once you get the hang of it. I suggest picking up a carb counting book, like the ones used by diabetics.

The small extra effort it takes to carb cycle can bring a huge payoff. If you combine carb cycling with exercise, you will protect yourself from countless age-related illnesses, such as osteoarthritis, cardiovascular disease, and even form of cancer. You’ll also look and feel great.



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