BiG TeA PaRtY Sustainable Living

THE GROOVE IS IN THE HEART

Article By ELIZABETH FIEND

You go to the doctor. First thing, a nurse takes your blood pressure, then makes a face and leaves the room. Most of the time they never tell you the numbers. Infuriating! You should always ask what your numbers are. It’s a pet peeve of mine that you even have to do this — the nurse or doctor should automatically tell you, but mostly they don’t. I’ve found that a lot of people don’t really understand what their blood pressure readings mean or how having high blood pressure might impact your health. So, here’s a primer on blood pressure: what the numbers mean, and how you can improve them through natural methods.

The Big Picture

Your heart contains a muscle that works like a pump. It begins the cycle of pushing blood throughout your body bringing nutrients like oxygen, amino acids or glucose to all your organs. Arteries are the muscle-men of blood vessels; they push blood away from the heart. When your heart beats, which is really a contraction of the muscle, it pumps blood to the arteries and creates little bursts of pressure in the artery walls. This is what we call blood pressure.

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By Gina Kolata
New York Times, May 13, 2008

DR. PAUL D. THOMPSON, a 60-year-old marathon runner and chief of cardiology at Hartford Hospital, stood in front of a medical audience recently and began his talk with a story about himself.

“I’ve been lifting weights since I was 12 years old and look at me,” he said. Dr. Thompson is small and wiry with not a bulging muscle on him. He speculated that he must have a genetic inability to build muscles, no matter how hard he works at it.

But are his muscles healthy?

It is not the kind of question most people ask themselves. But muscle researchers say it is important because muscle health is emerging as an important part of overall health. And, they say, when it comes to muscles, bulk does not matter. How big they can become depends on your sex as well as genetics. What matters for health is whether, like Dr. Thompson, you use them.

Healthy muscles, researchers say, are those that have been worked, stressed and pushed to their limit so that they have enough power and strength to get you through life, especially as you grow older. And keeping muscles fit takes effort, which means regular training with weight lifting and cardiovascular exercise even if the results are not a sculptured look, these experts add.

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“Join [Organic Consumers Association] in celebrating Fair Trade on May 10, 2008!

Fair Trade means a fair price for farmers and artisans, a better future for our planet, and a tastier, higher quality product for you.

On Saturday, May 10, Organic Consumers Association will join with people from 70 countries worldwide to celebrate World Fair Trade Day and highlight the importance and benefits of Fair Trade.

Fair Trade enthusiasts worldwide will host Fair Trade food tastings, house parties, speakers, festivals, concerts, and fashion shows.

We’re trying to set the World Record for the World’s Largest Fair Trade Coffee Break: At 3pm Eastern/Noon Pacific, Fair Trade supporters around the world will take a break to enjoy a cup of Fair Trade coffee.

Go to your Organic Consumers Association state events page to find Fair Trade events near you.” (Presented by VaLerie K)

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The Food Chain
Shortages Threaten Farmers’ Key Tool: Fertilizer

Source: The New York Times
By KEITH BRADSHER and ANDREW MARTIN

XUAN CANH, Vietnam — Truong Thi Nha stands just four and a half feet tall. Her three grown children tower over her, just as many young people in this village outside Hanoi dwarf their parents.

The biggest reason the children are so robust: fertilizer.

Ms. Nha, her face weathered beyond its 51 years, said her growth was stunted by a childhood of hunger and malnutrition. Just a few decades ago, crop yields here were far lower and diets much worse.

Then the widespread use of inexpensive chemical fertilizer, coupled with market reforms, helped power an agricultural explosion here that had already occurred in other parts of the world. Yields of rice and corn rose, and diets grew richer.

Now those gains are threatened in many countries by spot shortages and soaring prices for fertilizer, the most essential ingredient of modern agriculture.

Some kinds of fertilizer have nearly tripled in price in the last year, keeping farmers from buying all they need. That is one of many factors contributing to a rise in food prices that, according to the United Nations’ World Food Program, threatens to push tens of millions of poor people into malnutrition.

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ALLERGIES ARE THE LIES THE BODY TELLS ITSELF

BY ELIZABETH FIEND 5/8

What do vaginal dryness, lousy driving, methamphetamine, cocaine, steroids and Kleenex all have in common? You guessed it: this article is going to be all about seasonal allergies.

Allergies are caused by a body’s misplaced, overblown reaction to something that in reality isn’t harmful. When this happens the culprit is called an allergen. Pollen is an allergen, though it’s a harmless substance, not poisonous in any way to humans. But for a growing number of people, pollen, mold, animal fur and dust mites trigger an unnecessary, and unfortunate, attack by their immune system. The result of this attack is an allergic reaction — nasal secretion, itchy throat, eyes, and ear canals, sneezing, tearing eyes, stuffy nose and ears. Allergies also make some people tired, cranky, impair memory and concentration and prevent sleep.

More and more people are becoming allergic, to food, pollen and — crazy as it sounds — there’s currently a boom in allergies to ladybugs! As for hayfever, at least one in 10 people will suffer from hay fever at some point, and that number is growing.

If one of your parents has allergies you’re at a 50 percent risk of developing allergies yourself. If both of your parents have allergies, you’re screwed — there’s a 70 percent chance you will, too. Strangely enough, even birth order seems to have an influence on who develops allergies: If you have three or more older siblings, you might get off Scot free (presumably due to the fact that your parents gave up by the time you came along and you were exposed to more immune system-building germs than your sibs). Breastfeeding also gives a child an edge over allergies. Allergies can get worse as you age because your system is more easily traumatized and overreacts, even more, to allergens.

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