NUTRITION BEFORE PREGNANCY
The young woman who is in good health prior to conception and who maintains good nutrition has the best chance of a pregnancy without complications, a healthy baby, and the ability to nurse. During early pregnancy, often before the woman is even aware that she is pregnant, critical development of the fetus takes place.
Two of every five first babies are born to young women under 20 years of age. These young women must still meet the growth needs of their own maturing bodies as well as the nutritional demands of the fetus. Yet, girls in their teens have, far too often, had diets that were inadequate in calcium, iron, and protein. Pregnant girls under 17 years are in an especially high risk category. They have more frequent complications of toxemia, anemia, and long difficult labor. Babies born to them are more often of low birth weight and have a higher rate of neonatal mortality. Repeated pregnancies before age 20 place both the young woman and the unborn child in an extremely high-risk category. Black women are more vulnerable than white women, probably because of their reduced income and consequently poor diets.
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COMMON SKIN DISEASES: PSORIASIS
The cause of psoriasis has not yet been determined. Many theories have been proposed relating the condition to the diet, to infection, to glandular disturbances, or constitutional disorders, but not one has yet been established. Psoriasis begins with flat, symmetrical reddish-brown spots or plaques on the skin, covered with silvery-white scales. Usually the condition is dry, without blisters or exudation. The spots are seen usually around the elbows, on the scalp, on the lower part of the back, and the upper chest. About four per cent of all the cases of skin diseases that come to doctors’ offices are psoriasis.
Psoriasis is a chronic condition and once established tends to get better and worse and to disappear entirely for a while. For this reason innumerable techniques have been announced as cures, only to be followed by subsequent disappointment when the condition recurred.
Many patients with psoriasis do well when put on a meatless diet. Some improve when treated with the appropriate sex gland extracts. Instances have been reported of psoriasis clearing up when treated by ultraviolet light, thiamin and other vitamins. Drugs taken internally, particularly derivatives of arsenic, have been reported helpful. Most recent in the treatment is the use of ACTH, the adrenal cortex tropic hormone, derived from the pituitary gland. This substance causes profound changes in the actions of various cells of the body and may act in that way to disturb the basic mechanism responsible for psoriasis.
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VITAMINS FOR HEALTHY SKIN
What you look like on the outside depends a lot on what you do for yourself on the inside. And as far as your skin is concerned, vitamins and proper nutrition are essential.
To look your best, make sure you’re getting 55 to 65 g. of protein a day. Drink eight glasses of water daily [herbal teas can count for a few of them], and keep your milk and yoghurt consumption restricted to the nonfat variety. Keep away from chocolate, nuts, dried fruits, fried foods, cola drinks, coffee, alcohol, cigarettes, and excessive salt. Also, do not use sugar. Small amounts of honey or blackstrap molasses will sweeten just as well and you’ll look better for it.
A good start toward healthy, glowing skin is a daily protein drink. It can be taken in place of any meal, but it makes an especially good breakfast.
Protein Drink
6 oz. raw nonfat milk
1 tbsp. nutritional yeast powder [lots of В vitamins]
3 tbsp, acidophilus [promotes friendly bacteria]
1 tbsp. granulated lecithin [breaks down bumps or cholesterol under the skin]
2 tbsp. protein powder
1/2-1 tbsp. blackstrap molasses or honey
Carob powder, bananas, strawberries, or any fresh fruit for flavouring
Mix in blender. [Add 3-4 ice cubes, if desired.]
Supplements
Multiple-vitamin and mineral complex – 1 daily
Take after any meal. Important for skin tone and nerve health.
В complex, 100 mg. [time release] – 1 daily Take after any meal. B2 [riboflavin] and B6 [pyridoxine] reduce facial oiliness and blackhead formation.
Vitamin A [dry form], 25,000 IU – 2 daily for 6 days a week. Take 1 after breakfast and 1 after dinner. Maintains soft, smooth, disease-free skin. Builds resistance to infections.
Rose hips vitamin C, 500 mg. with bioflavonoids – 4 daily Take 1 after each meal and at bedtime. Aids in preventing the spread of acne. Promotes healing of wounds, bruising, and scar tissue. Helps to prevent breakage of capillaries on face.
Vitamin E, 400 IU [dry form] – 3 daily. Take 1 after each meal. Improves circulation in tiny face capillaries. Aids in healing by replacing cells on the skin’s outer layer. Works with vitamin С in making skin less susceptible to acne. Use vitamin-E oil externally on skin for healing burns, abrasions, and scar tissue.
Multiple chelated minerals – 6 daily Take 2 tablets after each meal [or 3 in a.m. and p.m.] Helps maintain the acid-alkaline balance of the blood necessary for a clear complexion. Calcium is for soft, smooth skin tissue; copper for skin colour; iron to improve pale skin; potassium for dry skin and acne; zinc for external and internal wound healing.
Choline and inositol, 1,000 mg. – 4 tablets daily. Take 2 after breakfast and dinner. [Lecithin granules, 2 tbsp. daily, can be substituted for choline and inositol tabs.] Helps emulsify cholesterol [fatty deposits or bumps under the skin]. Purifies the kidneys which aids the skin.
Acidophilus – 6 tbsp. daily Take 2 tbsp. or 6 capsules after each meal. Helps fight skin eruptions caused by unfriendly bacteria in the system.
Chlorophyll – 3 tsp. or 9 tablets daily Take 1 tsp. or 3 tablets after each meal. Reduces hazard of bacterial contamination. Possesses antibiotic action. An excellent aid to wound healing, after washing thoroughly with a soap substitute made from the comfrey plant.
If the face is badly blemished, extra zinc is advised. Take six tablets daily, two after each meal. Aids in growth and repair of injured tissues.
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SPORTS INJURES: THE SKELETON – WHAT EXPERTS RECOMMEND
Call for calcium. To begin with, make sure you’re getting plenty of calcium, an important mineral for strengthening bones—most guys need about one gram per day. You can find calcium in virtually any dairy product. One cup of nonfat yogurt, for example, will give you almost half your daily calcium requirement.
Exercise your bones. Weight-bearing exercise—for the legs, that means any exercise in which you are on your feet—helps strengthen bones by building up bone mass. So if all of your exercise is done on a weight bench, your leg bones might not be as built up as they should be to absorb tackles in a football game.
Wear a helmet. Skull fractures are about the most dangerous of breaks—and thanks to an increasing interest in high-velocity sports, like cycling and skating, they’re unfortunately becoming more common. In bicycling alone, experts reckon you’re bur to seven times more likely to suffer a serious head injury if you’re not wearing a helmet. So wear one.
Spot stress indicators. Stress fractures cause more pain than swelling, says Dr. Janda. “If you feel a constant, steady pain—not soreness—about an hour after an activity, get it looked at,” he says. Common areas for stress fractures include the feet and legs, since bones there absorb a force equivalent to three times your body weight every time you run.
Bone up on rest. The good news about a stress fracture is that you probably won’t need a huge, cumbersome cast. The bad news is you will need to rest that bone. Experts say you should avoid any exercise with it for a couple of months. After that, your doctor can give you a support brace or bandage to help the injured bone while you resume your favorite sport.
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SEXUAL FITNESS: SHAPING UP AFTER VASECTOMY; VD AND VITAMIN DEMANDS
Shaping Up After Vasectomy
Vasectomy is a relatively simple, safe, sterilization procedure where the vas deferens (the male’s sperm-carrying tubes) are sealed, preventing the ejaculation of sperm. The sperm continue to be formed, but are re-absorbed into body tissues.
Because of this, many antibodies are engaged in continually inactivating sperm, often causing a man who has had a vasectomy to become more susceptible to infections.
Since most men have vasectomies in order to continue an active sex life, it’s wise to take out nutritional insurance to ensure it.
Recommended Nutritional Insurance
• MVP (Mindell Vitamin Programme)
• Extra vitamin C, 1,000 mg., a.m., and p.m.
• Chelated zinc, 15-50 mg., daily
VD and Vitamin Demands
Syphilis
Syphilis is caused by a tiny corkscrew-like organism called a spirochete. It is usually transmitted by sexual contact and requires only the presence of an open wound or slightly irritated mucous membrane, such as the mouth, rectum, or outer male and female genital organs, to enter the body.
In its first stage, there is usually a painless sore on the penis or entrance to the vagina. (The sore might appear instead, or also, on the nipple, anus, or finger.)
In its second stage (one to two months later), there is a mild general illness, sore throat, mild fever, and a pink non-itchy rash. (Third stage symptoms, which can endanger virtually all organs, appear four or more years later, but are extremely rare, as the disease is usually diagnosed by then.)
If early treatment is started with penicillin or any of the other newer antibiotics, recovery is swift and complete. Unfortunately, some of these remedies cause almost as much need for supplements as the disease itself.
Gonorrhea
Like syphilis, gonorrhea is usually transmitted through sexual contact, but the responsible organism, the gonococcus, has the ability to acquire a resistance to some of the most powerful medical weapons, such as sulpha drugs, penicillin, and many of the -mycins.
Symptoms occur three to ten days after infection. There is usually pain on passing urine and a discharge of pus. Often these symptoms go unnoticed by women.
Early and adequate treatment with antibiotics is essential in order to avoid complications. But, as I’ve mentioned before, though these remedies do their job, they take their nutritional toll out on you.
Recommended Supplement
• MVP
• Extra vitamin C, 1,000 mg., a.m and p.m.
• (3 acidophilus capsules, 3 times daily; and vitamin K, 100 meg., daily, if on an extended antibiotic programme.)
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BACH FLOWER REMEDIES: ADMINISTRATION OF BACH FLOWER REMEDIES – COMBINATION MEDICINES
If more than one medicines are administered simultaneously, they are called combination medicines. In the above case Mimulus and Scleranthus when taken simultaneously are to all intents and purposes taken as combination medicine.
If however, 1/2 dram of Mimulus globules is mixed with 1 /2 dram of Scleranthus globules is mixed in a phial which is violently shaken, this forms a combination medicine of 2 components – Mimulus and Scleranthus. 4-6 globules from this combination is as effective as the two medicines taken separately or when combined for every dose.
However, the proper method of making the combination remedy is to impregnate 1 Dram phial with No 20 globules with 3 drops each from Mimulus and Scleranthus remedies and shake it violently.
If No 30 globules are used instead of No 20 then 2 or 3 globules will form one dose.
It is not advisable to make combination remedy of more than 3 components. If 5 or 6 remedies appear to be required in a certain case then 2 combination medicines of 2 or 3 remedies each may be prepared in 2 treatment bottles.
Depending upon the condition of the patient when the contents of the treatment bottles get exhausted, the same combination or an altered combination is prepared afresh.
Occasion may arise during the administration of medicine from the treatment bottles, when some acute condition call for a new medicine.This new medicine need not be added into the regular treatment bottles. It can be given separately 3 or 4 doses a day till the acute condition lasts.
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DIGESTION-RELATED DISORDERS: LACTOSE INTOLERANCE
As many as 50 million Americans are unable to eat dairy products such as milk, cheese, ice cream, and other foods that the rest of us take for granted. These people suffer from a malady known as lactose intolerance, meaning that they have lost the ability to produce the digestive enzyme lactase, which is necessary for the body to convert milk sugar (lactose) into glucose. That cold glass of milk becomes a source of stomach cramping, diarrhea, nausea, gas, and related symptoms. Lactose intolerance, however, need not be a death knell for future dairy product consumption. Once diagnosed, lactose intolerance can be treated by introducing low-lactose or lactose-free foods into the diet. Through trial and error, individuals usually find that they can tolerate one type of low-lactose food better than others. As an alternative to learning to eat foods without lactose, some people find that they can purchase special products that contain the missing lactase and thus eat dairy foods without serious side effects. Most large grocery chains, food cooperatives, and drug stores have these products available in liquid or tablet form. It should be noted, however, that these products do not work for everyone. For someone who is lactose intolerant, some initial experimentation must occur before settling into a diet that works.
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DIABETES & PREGNANCY
Pregnancy in diabetic women carries higher risk than in normal women. During pre-insulin era the out come in pregnancy of a diabetic women were disastrous both for mother and foetus. With the introduction of insulin in 1921, there has been tremendous improvement in the outcome of such pregnancies.
Diabetes is encountered in 2-3% of all pregnancies, of which almost 90% are detected during pregnancies and known as gestational diabetes mellitus while the rest are established diabetes either Type 1 or Type 2.
There is no reason for the diabetes women to avoid pregnancy. With the emergence of modern concept of care of such high risk pregnancies, development of newer insulin, human insulin, insulin delivery systems, and advent of home glucose monitoring systems by meters have totally revolutionised the outcome of such diabetic pregnancies. However, management of diabetes in a diabetic woman is a team work of a diabetologist, obstetricians, neonatologist, and diabetic nurse educator, dietician etc.
Patient’s co-operation for regular follow-up, good home monitoring and strict self discipline through out the pregnancy makes the normal outcome of such high risk pregnancies possible.
Pregnant diabetes women can be grouped into two classes. (1) Gestational Diabetics (2) Known diabetics with pregnancy.
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THE TREATMENT OF DIABETES
Diabetes is largely treated by diet. Some of the principles are well established: diabetics have to avoid sugar, and to lose weight if they are obese. Another traditional feature of diabetic diets used to be severe restriction of all carbohydrates, such as bread, potatoes and the like. Diabetics, carefully counting their carbohydrate units, naturally turned to other foods, and a typical diabetic diet was very low in carbohydrates and consequently high in fat. Because many fats have a high proportion of saturated fatty acids, diabetics in western countries thus tended to eat even more saturated fat than non-diabetics.
Today many specialists have stopped prescribing a very low-carbohydrate, high-saturated-fat diet. Carbohydrates (except sugar) are permitted in rather greater amount, so that total fat intake is not increased. And instead of merely telling their patients what to avoid, positive advice is also given: the fats should be chosen to include a proportion of the unsaturated and polyunsaturated ones which effectively reduce blood-cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Diabetics given such a diet have lower cholesterol levels; another bonus is more effective reduction of blood glucose. In these ways, it is hoped that the heart-disease risk of diabetics living in western countries may be reduced towards that of Japanese diabetics.
If we accept that a reduction in risk factors is generally worth while, this must apply with increased force to diabetics. They should certainly stop smoking. If they have high blood pressure this must be dealt with carefully. Control of the blood-glucose level is clearly important but it is also important that cholesterol and triglyceride levels are controlled; the diabetic will be advised to lose excess weight, and this helps reduce the blood cholesterol. As we saw above, some diabetic complications in experimental animals have been largely prevented by insulin treatment. Recent evidence suggests that the same results are possible in man. Dr Job in Paris has reported that very careful control of blood-glucose levels is followed by a lower frequency of eye complications. And Dr Lowy, working in London, finds that the risks to the diabetic mother and her newborn baby are reduced if an extremely careful control of glucose levels is kept.
Lastly, it should be noted that many diabetics – perhaps 50 per cent – do not know that they have diabetes; a report from Ireland showed that no less than one quarter of newly diagnosed diabetic women already had signs of coronary disease. The implication is that we should try much harder to detect diabetes; this will permit its earlier control and correction of the associated risk factors.
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LEARNING ABOUT HORMONES: CORTISONE
From the adrenal cortex come hormones now called Cortisone and many derivatives such as Meticortin, Kenacort and Predinsone or Prednisolone are available. This hormone has a definite relationship to many different conditions.
Both the cortex and the medulla of the adrenal gland are important in enabling the human being to adapt himself to conditions of stress. The adrenalin is closely associated with the sympathetic nervous system. The hormones of the cortex help the body build resistance to all sorts of damaging influences, such as cold, heat, burns, exhaustion, fasting, chemical agents, and even bruises. The hormones help the body to maintain adequate amounts of sugar in the blood. Among the conditions that have been treated successfully with Cortisone and with ACTH – which stimulates the production of Cortisone – are the allergic reactions such as asthma, hay fever, and serum sickness. Remarkable results have been achieved in treatment of acute rheumatic fever with termination of the attack and apparently, in some cases, complete control. Rheumatoid arthritis, lupus erythematosus and polyarteritis nodosa are conditions now believed to result from sensitivities of the tissues to certain substances and which have responded favorably to treatment with Cortisone. Even certain infections and some serious conditions affecting the blood have responded favorably. Apparently the conditions are not a result of a deficiency of the hormones, but rather that these hormones in some way alter the reactions of the tissues in the body.
Again one should realize that ACTH and Cortisone are not identical. ACTH can stimulate the secretion of all types of hormones of the adrenal, including those concerned with water and salt, sugars, and the sex hormones.
Aldosterone is another adrenocortical hormone concerned particularly with metabolism of salts and water in the body.
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