Silent strokes can jeopardize memory!

The symptoms of a stroke are sometimes obvious, like numbness or weakness on one side of the face, trouble speaking, difficulty walking, and vision problems. Some strokes, though, pass completely unnoticed. But even these can have a significant and lasting effect on memory, reports the June 2012 issue of the Harvard Women’s Health Watch.

These so-called silent strokes create pinpoints of dead cells in the brain. The damaged areas are smaller than with a traditional stroke, and often don’t affect areas of the brain associated with movement or speech.
During a typical ischemic stroke, a blood clot blocks a blood vessel that feeds part of the brain. Without a steady supply of blood, cells in that area malfunction and may die. Symptoms that appear reflect the functions that were controlled by the affected part of the brain. A hemorrhagic stroke caused by a burst blood vessel does the same thing.

During a silent stroke, the interruption in blood flow occurs in part of the brain that doesn’t control any vital functions. Although it doesn’t cause any obvious symptoms—most people who’ve had a silent stroke have no idea it occurred—the damage does show up on an MRI or CT scan.

Silent strokes could interrupt the flow of information in the brain needed for memory, especially if several of these strokes occur over time (which is the most common scenario). Damage from silent strokes can accumulate, leading to more and more memory problems.

Is there anything a woman can do when faced with a stroke that has no symptoms, and that can only be found on an MRI or CT scan? “I think that it should make people aware that it’s imperative to manage risk factors,” says Karen Furie, associate professor at Harvard Medical School and director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Stroke Service. This means:

- controlling blood pressure and diabetes
- not smoking
- keeping cholesterol levels in check
- aiming for a healthy weight
- managing atrial fibrillation

If you are experiencing signs of memory loss, don’t dismiss it as a normal part of aging. See your doctor for testing to make sure the issue isn’t a silent stroke.

Source: From the Harvard Medical School Newsletter

Samia Khoury Dietitian
I  am waiting for you to help you lose weight or consult you on health issues at my clinic in Lebanon or over the web wherever you live! Just contact me at 00 961 3 48 31 86 or via email to take an appointment live or online.

Email: samia.khoury@gmail.com

Please LIKE my Facebook Page: Samia Khoury Diet Clinic

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Samia-Khoury-Diet-Clinic/245139520495

Twitter: @samiakdietitian

http://www.samiakhoury.com/

Lack of Omega 3 can anticipate brain aging problems!!

A study by researchers at the University of California in USA and published in the journal of Neurology suggests that people who follow a diet deficient in omega 3 may suffer in advance with the natural process of brain aging such as loss of memory, reasoning and cognitive abilities.

They analyzed 1575 individuals, men and women between 67 and 76 years old with no signs of dementia and made them go thru brain MRI and tests that measured mental function, body mass and levels of omega 3 in blood cells.

At the end of testing, the group of people who had the lowest levels of omega-3 had 25% less amount of the nutrient in the blood than the group that showed a higher presence of the fatty acid.

Those individuals with less omega-3 in the blood showed less brain volume on magnetic resonance and poor outcomes of tests of visual memory and executive function of the brain, such as problem solving and ability to think of several things at the same time.

This is definitely a good reason to include more Omega 3 in your meals daily! Omega 3 is present in salmon, sardines, tuna, flaxseeds, walnuts, chestnut, olive and canola oil, dark green vegetables and as supplements!

Samia Khoury Dietitian

I am waiting for you to help you lose weight or consult you on health issues at my clinic in Lebanon or over the web wherever you live! Just contact me at 00 961 3 48 31 86 or via email to take an appointment live or online.

Email: samia.khoury@gmail.com

Please LIKE my Facebook Page: Samia Khoury Diet Clinic

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Samia-Khoury-Diet-Clinic/245139520495

Twitter: @samiakdietitian

http://www.samiakhoury.com/

The Dangers of Sugar…

The white sugar we consume is the brown sugar made from cane or beet that went thru a bleaching process to become white. The problem is that when this happens, it loses all the nutrients sugar initially has (calcium, phosphorous, iron, potassium, magnesium, zinc, copper, Vitamin B1, B2) and this is why we call it empty calories because it doesn’t bring us any benefit to our health. What’s worse is that refined sugar not only comes without vitamins and minerals but also steals some of our vitamins and minerals to be digested and absorbed. Refined sugar (white) is also bad because:

-          It causes constant acidity of the blood: your body will steal calcium from your bones to neutralize this acidity;

-          You will have more cavity and risk for osteoporosis

-          Hyperglycemia

-          Studies show high consumption of sugar is correlated with more depression and even schizophrenia risks

-          Diabetes

-          Loss of magnesium: leading to infections

-          Excessive sugar can lead to inflammation and consequently to cancer

-          Obesity

-          Arteriosclerosis

-          Addiction to sugar is like addiction to drug and can have bad consequences like irritability, aggressiveness

-          lack of energy, tiredness

When I say sugar it’s the sugar we add to juice, milk, tea, coffee, but also the hidden sugar in the industrialized products soft drinks, cake, candies, biscuits, deserts, chocolates.

Exercise regularly (it gives you a better mood thus decreases your anxiety for sugar), drink lots of water (it protects your brain from imbalances), eat balanced meals and healthy snacks every 3 hours (it reduces the desire for sugars) and sleep well (studies show people who sleep less than 6 hours daily have more anxiety to eat sugars)

Next time you want to add sugar to your coffee or have a desert, think first if you are doing it excessively. You can have 1 teaspoon of sugar daily, and 1 desert per week to be on the safe side!

Samia Khoury Dietitian

I am waiting for you to help you lose weight or consult you on health issues at my clinic in Lebanon or over the web wherever you live! Just contact me at 00 961 3 48 31 86 or via email to take an appointment live or online.

Email: samia.khoury@gmail.com

Please LIKE my Facebook Page: Samia Khoury Diet Clinic

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Samia-Khoury-Diet-Clinic/245139520495

Twitter: @samiakdietitian

 http://www.samiakhoury.com/

From Osteopenia to Osteoporosis…how to avoid them?

Which foods to consume, which ones to avoid?

Hi everyone, this topic is really important please take 5 minutes to read and learn how to avoid this horrible disease of the century!

If your body is deprived of calcium for a long time, bone diseases such as osteopenia and osteoporosis can develop. Osteopenia occurs when the bone mineral density is lower than it should be but not low enough for osteoporosis to occur. If there aren’t sufficient levels of calcium in the blood to keep the heart, nerves and muscles functioning properly, the body will take from the bones and that is where bone minerals and mass will be lost. If the calcium is not replaced to the bones, over a period of time a far more serious bone disease may develop, osteoporosis leaving the bones weak and prone to dangerous fractures of hips, wrist and spine.

Our bone density reaches its peak at about age 30 so it is imperative to keep consuming sufficient levels of calcium and vitamin D, which enables calcium to be absorbed.

To avoid osteopenia and osteoporosis: have a diet rich in calcium, vitamin D and omega 3! Omega 3 is known to help women in menopause to avoid loss of bone mass.

Here are essential foods that help you fight osteoporosis:

1-      Milk. We need 1000 mg of calcium daily and 1 cup of 250 ml contains around 300 mg of calcium!

2-      Yogurt and cheese are also very high in calcium. Some yogurt are also enriched with vitamin D so they’re a good option of snack!

3-      Sardines and salmons are rich in calcium, vitamin D and omega 3! To be included weekly in your menus!

4-      Dark green vegetables like spinach and broccoli are also rich in calcium. Studies in the University of Bern show that if we ingest big quantities of those, our bone density increases by 3%!

5-      Soya beans are known to fortify our bones. They contain isoflavones which are known to have a similar structure as estrogen and because of that they help our bones absorb minerals like calcium.

6-      Walnuts and almonds are rich in omega 3 and calcium, very recommended daily consumption!

7-      Flaxseeds: help our kidneys get rid of salt and water, so they’re good for our bones to keep calcium inside because salt is bad for osteoporosis. Also flaxseeds are rich in omega 3: Have 1 or 2 tablespoons daily sprinkled on your salad or just added to your stews and cakes!

Foods to avoid if you want to prevent or treat osteoporosis as they can interfere with calcium absorption:

1-      Salt: sodium increases the excretion of calcium from the bones

2-      Soft drinks: rich in phosphorous, too much of it inhibits the absorption of calcium

3-      Oxalic acid like in walnuts, spinach, chocolate and whole wheat cereals

4-      Coffee: Caffeine is diuretic leading calcium to be excreted thru urine. Don’t have more than 2 medium cups of coffee per day to avoid this

5-      Iron: excess foods rich in iron can interfere with calcium absorption

6-      Saturated fats: found in butter, meat and fast food eliminate calcium from our body

7-      Too much protein can reduce calcium in our body since calcium is used by our body when we ingest protein

- The rule is simple: You can consume those foods especially those rich in oxalic acid as they are super healthy but just don’t consume them together with calcium-rich foods and you are in the safe side!! Bone disease can also be prevented by cutting on alcohol and tobacco!

                                                                                                                                                                                          

- Exercise daily if you can for 1 hour, get some sun in your face and hands daily for 15 minutes without cream and directly in the sun (not thru a closed window for instance) to ensure proper vitamin D and consume more of the foods that help you get more calcium, vitamin D and omega 3 and less of the ones that interfere in calcium absorption!

- Check with your doctor if you need some calcium+ vitamin D supplementation! Prevention is always better than treatment!

Do what you can…believe me it’s already more than 80% of the work!

Samia Khoury Dietitian

I am waiting for you to help you lose weight or consult you on health issues at my clinic in Lebanon or over the web wherever you live! Just contact me at 00 961 3 48 31 86 or via email to take an appointment live or online.

Email: samia.khoury@gmail.com

Please LIKE my Facebook Page: Samia Khoury Diet Clinic

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Samia-Khoury-Diet-Clinic/245139520495

Twitter: @samiakdietitian

 http://www.samiakhoury.com/