COUGH, COLD, & FLU

USE GARLIC, ONION, AND GINGER

By: Dr. Timothy Swift, Fuerte Men Health Correspondent

Well guys and gals, time to prepare for cough, cold and flu (CC&F) seasons. One of the best things to do this time of year is boost your immune system - even more so than you might do already. This means stocking up on the three essentials for immune support. These three ingredients provide protection from bacterial, viral and fungal infections. They have constituents that help the body’s natural immune system to fight off as well as shorten the recovery times from coughs, colds and flu. These items are garlic, onions and ginger root.

Garlic (allium sativa) is a strong anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-fungal plant. The cloves contain a constituent called allicin, which helps the body fight off invading pathogens. It is used for things like coughs, asthma, acne, high blood pressure, pain and inflammation. It can be consumed raw or cooked. It is available in pill form of differing strengths.

I carry two forms in pill format in my office (www.terramadrehealth.com). One is used mainly as immune support, the other is used when greater results are wanted such as with lowing high blood pressure.

IMMUNE SYSTEM CHECK UP

PREVENTION IS THE KEY

By: Dr. Timothy Swift, Fuerte Men Health Correspondent

Welcome to my August Column. Yes, it is back to school time. Time to shop for clothes, books, the newest electronics-I can’t live without devices and other necessities. 

One thing that you may have forgotten about is your child’s (and your family’s) immune system. When students return to school from a summer of camps, play and relaxing they all get to the share the bugs they have picked up over the summer. When a bunch of kids go from an outside environment to one that is contained, there is a drastic increase in coughs, colds and other maladies during the first 4-6 weeks of returning to school. These coughs and colds get disseminated into the broader community and spread like wildfire. Prevention is the key.

PAIN MANAGEMENT

MY PAIN IS NOT YOURS

By: Dr. Timothy Swift, Fuerte Men Health Correspondent

“I feel your pain” is often the response from friends when you share an ache or discomfort you are having. But what is pain. I am here to tell you pain manifest as different things to different people for different reasons. My pain is not your pain nor visa versa. Similar perhaps but not likely the same cause and effect.

I want to offer you some insight into pain and solutions that you can implement today. I also invite you to check out my website for more information on pain, pain management and treatment. Pain is a response our body makes to some form of abnormality. It can be caused by a trauma, for instance a fractured bone. It is often associated with inflammation.

Where there is pain there is inflammation but the reverse is not necessarily true. Athletic individuals often experience pain during their workout or routines. The old adage of “no pain, no gain” while still discussed often lead to injury and long term problems. Repetitive strain injuries from running, jumping, repeated motions with work (machinists, office workers, landscapers) can create pain from wear and tear on joints, ligaments, tendons and bones.

IN YOUR HEALTH:  PRIDE AND

GIVING BACK TO THE COMMUNITY

By: Dr. Timothy Swift, Fuerte Men Health Correspondent

We all have Pride in our communities and it is for us to define those communities. For some it is a geographic place, others it is more of about the collective - the bigger community. All I know is that I belong to many communities and am not defined by any one of them, but each is a thread in the tapestry that is me. My tapestry is unique to me and shaped by my experiences, friends, places and knowledge. It makes me as unique as the patients that walk in my medical office door. Each is treated as a unique individual and treatments are created accordingly: unique to that person. This means if you come to me with a diagnosis of diabetes, I do not give you the diabetes treatment. Together we tailor a plan that suits your individual goals, needs and desires.

The same can apply to how you as an individual give back to your communities. Part of “It takes a Village” is knowing and understanding that we each have something to give back, a responsibility even. The unique piece about this is you get to choose how, when and where you give back. Just because you are identified with a certain community, does not necessarily imply that this is the community to which you are required to give back. This is where some people may disagree with me.

HOW EMOTIONALLY SOUND ARE YOU?

By: Dr. Timothy Swift, Fuerte Men Health Correspondent

So how is your emotional health as we enter, spring and summer and bathing suit season? Good, sort of good, lousy, in the toilet?

Emotional health is as important as is physical health. You may be at the gym everyday, eating no carbs, no fat and lots of protein, but you have body aches, you feel down or depressed. You are obsessed about everything you eat, what you wear, how you look. Perhaps you have developed an inflated opinion of yourself. Do you put others down to make yourself feel good? Have you found yourself criticizing others as a way to shift the focus off yourself? Do you find the need to always have a drink in your hand, a drug in your body or a man in your bed as a way to cope? All of these, and more, are signs of fragile emotional health.

KEEP YOUR BODY FINE TUNED

LET WATER SPRING YOU INTO SHAPE

By: Dr. Timothy Swift, Fuerte Men Health Correspondent  

Why should I drink water and how much do I drink daily?

Humans are mainly composed of water. The majority of us go through life dehydrated. We think we are drinking enough fluids but we are not getting the right fluids into our bodies.

A simple rule of thumb is to drink half your weight (in pounds) in ounces of water every day to sustain normal activity. So, someone who weighs 150 pounds should aim for 75 ounces, or approximately 2.2 liters of water daily or half a gallon for the non-metric folks in the US.

WHAT GAY MEN KNOW AND

STRAIGHT MEN NEED TO FIND OUT

 By: Dr. Rick Silverman, Fuerte Men Medical Correspondent 

At the beginning of each year I lead a surgical mission to Ecuador to provide care for various problems, such as cleft lip and palate, hand abnormalities and burn scars.  On my way back to Boston, I sometimes take a detour through Sarasota, Florida to visit my parents, who spend the winter there.  The contrast between my time in Ecuador and the environs of Sarasota is never lost on me.  This year, during my three day visit, I mostly spent time with my parents, ate, worked out a few times, and walked the beach each day.  During those walks, one thought kept popping into my head:  What is it that gay men know that straight men seem to ignore?  Do gay men have some secret to share with the rest of America when it comes to health and fitness?

FOUR LETTER WORD

THE DIE IN “DIET”

By: Dr. Timothy Swift, Fuerte Men Health Correspondent 

Welcome to 2012. Did you make any resolutions about health and exercise this year? This column will help you sort through the plethora of plans, programs and fads that many subscribe to in January and forget about by February.

Eating for your health and exercise are two pieces of the puzzle when it relates to your overall health. Your body is like a computer; garbage in and garbage out. When you make changes regarding what to put in, the results may not become apparent for many years. There are no quick fixes when it comes to weight management. New studies have shown that in order to keep weight off, one must maintain an eating program for five years. Yo-yo diets are just that, back and forth, over and over again. Eating programs are systematic plans to address the issues concerning the individual. No “diet” plan is going to work for everyone. We are all different. What works for one may not work for another? Naturopathic doctors are trained to think of patients as individuals not throwing those with similar symptoms into one grouping.

HOLIDAY DRINKING

Let’s Talk Booze.

By: Dr. Timothy Swift, Fuerte Men Health Correspondent  

December is one of the party months (aren’t they all) where individuals can tend to over indulge. Some choose to drive after imbibing (drinking) others know enough to take a cab to avoid the $1000’s of dollars associated with the DUI or DWI charge. Yes, it can actually costs more then this, especially if you loose your job, like the FAA Head, Mr. Babbitt did so recently.

Let’s take a look at what your body assimilates and over what period of time. The legal limits of alcohol in the body vary from state to state, province-to-province, and depending on age in various constituents. An average blood alcohol content (BAC) allowed, that I will use is 0.08. This means that 8% of your blood by volume is alcohol. BAC is tested in two different ways; one via Breathalyzer and the other through a blood test. The Breathalyzer analyses how much alcohol is being metabolized and released in the breath. This is actually a good indicator of how much alcohol one has consumed. It is often followed up a blood test for court confirmations and reliability.