The surgery itself is performed by modifying the shape of cornea to reverse eyesight deterioration. Once that problem has been resolved, the light can properly focus on the retina in the back of the eye.

Unlike many other methods of improving your eyesight, laser eye treatment has a proven track record of efficient use and long-term results in more than 90% of patients around the world. Various enhancement procedures following the initial treatment increase the number of successful cases even further, making it the most reliable way of treating astigmatic, nearsighted and farsighted people.

The only downsides of the surgery are that it’s irreversible and quite expensive when performed by skilled medical professionals with cutting edge equipment.

Despite what some people may have been lead to believe, laser eye treatment is almost painless and patients who undertake the surgery report high levels of comfort throughout the entire procedure. To prevent infection and inflammation in your eyes, the doctor will apply special eye drops that may sting a little.

There’s no stitching involved in the operation and recovery can be done anywhere. The eye has the fastest regeneration rate out of all parts of our body, so the healing process is usually completed after a very short time.

For a while after laser eye treatment, your eyesight may fluctuate and vision could feel blurry. Your eyes are also going to become dry faster than usual. These effects subdue and disappear completely shortly after the surgery.

If you are interested in this procedure, click here to visit the official website of Accuvision for more information about laser eye treatment.

Whether working in an office, spending days in hospitals or schools or always on the road or even housewives, staying fit and healthy can be a really challenging task. So here’s some diet plans for women that will surely help you lose weight and maintain lean and healthy body.

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1. DASH Diet

DASH diet or Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension is a lifetime approach to nutritious eating that is intended to aid treat or prevent hypertension or high blood pressure. This diet plan encourages women to lessen the sodium in their diet and consume a variety of foods that are full of nutrients to assist in lowering blood pressure, such as calcium, potassium, and magnesium. Among all the diet plans for women, DASH plan is famous for its safety, nutritional completeness, ability to control or prevent diabetes, and heart health benefits.

Aside from lowering blood pressure, DASH diet also offers other health benefits, which include protection against cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis, diabetes and stroke. Even though DASH diet is not a weight loss plan, like other women diet plans, women may actually lose extra pounds since it guides women toward eating healthier snacks and meals.

2. TLC Diet

A sound and healthful way to eat, Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes or TLC is a diet plan that requires pure commitment and education. This solid diet plan is principally good at improving cardiovascular health.

The main focus of this plan is to decrease the amount of saturated fat that women take since saturated fat raises cholesterol level. Women can also reduce the saturated fat in their diet by restricting the quantity of milk products and meat that they eat. Consuming low-fat products and replacing the animal fat in their diet with unsaturated fat, particularly monounsaturated oils, such as canola, olive, or peanut oil, is highly recommended for women diet plans.

3. Mediterranean Diet

Originated from the Crete Greek Island where Cretans and Greeks live longer compared to any other nations in the world, this Greek diet incorporates the essentials of healthy eating, with a flavorful olive oil and maybe some red wine, among other ingredients symbolizing the traditional cooking manner of countries nearby the Mediterranean Sea.

The Mediterranean diet plan is gaining its fame as a tasty, heart-friendly substitute to low-fat eating. With its focus on the importance of vegetables and fruits, fish, and olive oil, the Mediterranean diet plan is eminently practical.

4. Weight Watchers

An effective and smart diet program, Weight Watchers promotes weight-loss through proper exercise, practicing healthy eating habits, and a supportive environment. The program does not restrict any type of food. It encourages women to make keener choices by following a daily value that helps retain calories in check.

5. Flexitarian Diet

Flexitarianism or Flexitarian Diet is the new word for a healthy dieting that reduces meat without depriving yourself from eating meat. This is a complete eating plan, which does not take away diets but rather includes new foods to your existing diet. Flexitarianism gradually leads you to eat more vegetables while still enjoying your preferred meats. Flexitarians have a lower rate of diabetes, heart problems, and cancer, weigh 15% less, and live approximately three years longer than those who consume much meat.

6. Volumetrics

Developed by a veteran nutrition researcher, Dr. Barbara Rolls, Volumetrics’ basic concept is to eat a substantial volume of food while regulating the amount of calories intake and meeting dietary requirements. It is a diet plan that is designed to promote long-term weight management. Even the so-called “forbidden” or energy-dense foods like chocolate and candy may be taken, but the amount of calories should be considered.

According to Dr. Rolls, limiting or restricting your diet will not be effective in the long run. You’ll just get hungry and discontented and will certainly return to your old ways. The concept is that gentle and stable diet wins the race, if weight is lost so quickly, it will just creep back on.

7. Biggest Loser Diet

This plan is a low-calorie diet program inspired by the popular TV show, The Biggest Loser. The diet plan follows the concept of 4-3-2-1 pyramid.

- four of veggies and fruits
- three servings of lean protein
- two cups of whole grains
- one serving of sweet treat

Practice a diet based mainly on vegetables, fruits, lean protein, and enough physical activity. Surely you will lose extra weight, decrease blood pressure, lower cholesterol, and become healthier and more energized.

8. Flat Belly Diet

Unlike a lot of diet plans for women that involve dreary exercise regimens and intricate, limiting recipes, the Flat Belly Diet is fairly simple. The diet promises a 15 pounds weight loss and a flat belly in just 32 days. While reasonable exercise in suggested, it is not the main element in the diet.

The secret element in this plan that shapes belly fat is the inclusion of MUFA or monounsaturated fat at every meal you take. MUFAs are found in avocados, olives, seeds, nuts, dark chocolate, flax, soybean, and sunflower and olive oils.

9. South Beach Diet

The South Beach Diet, which was created by Dr. Arthur Agatston, was initially developed for obese heart patients. This plan assured that cravings for sweets, sugars, and other carbohydrates will lessen as you go along with the plan because this diet is thought to keep level of blood sugar maintained.

Nowadays, where high-fat, low-carb diets are in trend, it is good to have a diet that suggests eating less foods filled with saturates and substituting some of these with heart-healthy monounsaturates. South Beach Diet is based on taking low GI foods, which are becoming popular, and encourages cutting down on carb-rich meals, which are packed with less nutrients such as sugary cereals, white bread, and sweets.

10. Vegan Diet

There are a lot of moral, environmental as well as personal reasons why someone will practice a Vegan lifestyle. Getting popularity because of its effective weight loss, this supports weight loss through the consumption of leafy greens, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and soy or rice milks. The secret to a nutritionally sound vegan diet is variety. While this plan eliminates fish, meat, and poultry products, vegans also exclude all animal products such as dairy and eggs.

A well-planned vegan diet can meet the nutritional needs of women of all ages. The key is to know your nutritional requirements so that you design a diet plan that meets them.

11. Ornish Diet

According to Dr. Dean Ornish, creator of Ornish diet program, a vegetarian diet combined with exercise can lessen stress and help in losing weight. The principles of the Ornish Diet are based on a big body of epidemiological study, which shows that diets high in saturated fat and cholesterol cause blood pressure and blood cholesterol levels to increase, thus increasing the possibility of heart disease. Furthermore, many research studies have confirmed that diets low in cholesterol and fat cause blood pressure and blood cholesterol levels to decrease. With this, a lot of nutritionists and doctors now suggest this popular diet plan to people who wish to lose weight and those who have heart conditions.

12. Abs Diet

The premise of this diet plan is in contrast to plans that restrict calorie and food intake. It clarifies how other kinds of women diet plans result in disappointment since the human body functions by going into hunger mode when calories are lessen. This means it stores more fats normally in the stomach area. The stomach isn’t just one of the easiest and fastest places for the human body to place fat reserves, but also a place that needs most energy to burn it.

This diet plan does involve a wide range of healthy and nutritional foods suggested by many dietitians. Nevertheless, there are fewer emphases on keeping an eye or counting on calories. Instead, the diet promotes a range of foods to be a part of meals that can be taken in satisfying amounts.

Maintaining a diet plan takes a bunch of commitment. The key to a healthy and effective diet plan is to develop a better and more nourishing connection with food.

Ultraviolet Rays

Sunglasses are there to help you see when the sun shines in your eyes, but they are also to protect you from the sun’s harmful rays. Just like you apply sun cream to protect your skin, you should wear sunglasses to protect your eyes from UV radiation from the sun. Short and long term exposure to UVA and UVB rays, which is emitted from things other than the sun, such as tanning machines, can damage your eyes and affect your vision.

Short Term Effects

Over exposing your eyes to excessive amounts of UV rays in a short period of time can cause photokeratitus, which is a temporary inflammation of the cornea. It usually results in a gritty feeling in the eyes, sensitivity to light, redness and tearing.

Long Term Effects

Exposure to small amounts over a long period of time can increase the risk of cataracts and cause irreversible damage to the retina. Repeated exposure can increase the risk of chronic eye disease, and long term exposure can increase the risk of pterygium, which is a growth, and pinguecula, which is a lesion on the white of your eye.

Choosing Sunglasses

For the best protection, choose sunglasses that are really dark and have large lenses, if not the wrap around variety. Look for sunglasses that carry a CE mark or British Standard BSEN 1836:1997. If you already wear glasses, then you’ll need prescription sunglasses, so check out www.glassesonspec.co.uk.

Test Them Out

You should take an eye test every couple of years as eyesight doesn’t often degenerate instantly. It can be a slow process that is hard to notice until you realise that the book is pressed up against your nose. An eye test can detect signs of an eye condition before it affects your vision, and could potentially save your sight. Conditions such as Glaucoma can have no symptoms at all, but can be spotted through a thorough eye test.

Protect Them

If you sit at a computer for more than three hours a day, do DIY or enjoy the sunshine, then you need to think about protecting your eyes.

If you spend a lot of time looking at a computer screen:

• Remember to blink! If you don’t your eyes will become dry and uncomfortable.
• Have a break. It is recommended that you look away from the screen for at least thirty seconds if not more to give your muscles a break.
• The top of the monitor should be at eye level or slightly below, and should be positioned approximately 50cm away.

If you do DIY:

• Every year around 30,000 eye injuries are caused by DIY related activity.
• Protective eyewear should always be worn for hammering, chiselling, drilling, splitting tiles, painting ceilings and laying insulation.

In the sun:

• The UVA and UVB rays found in sunlight may harm your eyes, such as cataracts.
• Sunglasses that carry a CE mark or British Standard BSEN 1836:1997 have UV filters that will protect your eyes.

Maintaining a Healthy Lifestyle

Smoking doubles the risk of AMD (Age-related Macular Degeneration) which is the main cause of blindness in the EU. So quitting smoking can mean the difference between being able to see and not.

A healthy diet affects your eyes too. Leafy green vegetables help protect your eyes against cataracts and AMD, and anti-oxidant vitamins A, C and E found in oranges, kiwis and tomatoes help to maintain healthy eye cells and tissues.

Diabetes can also cause blindness, so avoiding obesity can help save your sight as well as your weight.

If you’re worried about your site, then get a check up and then check out a glasses guide.

Coenzyme Q10 – image credit: Wikipedia

Coenzyme Q10 and  free radicals

Another important capability of Q10 is to protect our cells from the destructive effects of free radicals. Our current lifestyle – high physical and psychological stress, unbalanced diet as well as negative effects of the external environment lead to the fact that our body is exposed to toxic free radicals in a high degree. Coenzyme Q10 neutralizes free radicals, prevents the negative effects and directly stabilizes the cell wall (read more about how to neutralize free radicals with antioxidants).

Which foods contain Q10?

Coenzyme Q10 is essential for proper functioning of the body and its long-term lack leads to an increased risk of serious health complications. When our body isn’t capable of producing enough of Q10 on its own (for example with increasing age), it’s important to increase the intake of foods which contain Q10, such as:

• fish
• nuts
• lean meats
• cereals
• olive oil
• broccoli
• carrots

Under normal circumstances, the need for Q10 can be covered with a balanced diet, especially with an emphasis on foods rich in coenzyme Q10 (as listed above) and vitamins important for the process of creating Q10 in our body (niacin, vitamins B6 and B12, folic acid and pantothenic acid).

Coenzyme Q10 and Effects on the Skin

With advancing age the content of coenzyme Q10 in our body naturally decreases and this leads to visible aging of our skin. Wrinkles begin to form, wounds are harder to heal and scars are formed. Coenzyme Q10 positively affects these processes by reducing the appearance of wrinkles, keeping the skin moist and lightening the dark or red spots caused by acne, overexposure to the sun or aging. Applying Q10 on skin for a period of time leads to positive results.

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The glycemic index basically measures how your body reacts to the food you eat. Generally, the higher the GI value, the greater tendency the food has to disrupt the balanced level of glucose in the blood. The best therefore is to choose and eat foods with a low glycemic index.

Six reasons for eating foods with a low GI

• It makes it easier for the body to lose weight.
• It reduces the risk of colon cancer, breast cancer or pancreatic cancer.
• It reduces the risk of heart problems and stroke.
• It reduces the risk of diabetes.
• It reduces the risk of colds and flu.
• It increases the energy level, you will feel energetic and smarter.

 The importance of glycemic index for weight loss

The basis of a classical reduction diet is to limit the intake of fat and carbohydrates, followed by increasing the protein consumption. It’s actually more important to watch carbohydrates than fat. When loosing weight, it’s important to reduce the intake of high GI carbs in favor of protein or carbohydrates with low GI.

Watching the glycemic index of foods should be one of the priorities especially for people who feel hungry after a limited energy intake or can’t lose weight for a long time (sometimes despite the increased exercise activity and energy expenditure). Foods containing carbohydrates have varying ability to increase blood sugar levels. After eating, the sugar level rises in the blood and washes out the insulin hormone. Insulin ensures the reduction of blood sugar levels, but when the sugar level get too low (hypoglycemia), the feel of hunger, nervousness or headache arrive again. This can be fought by eating a next meal, but this again swings the bloog sugar levels. The more frequent these rapid fluctuations, the greater the likelihood of getting overweight. For this reason, it is preferable to watch the GI on foods and achieve balanced levels of blood glucose.

Glycemic index levels

Foods with carbohydrates can be divided according to the level of GI to those with low, medium and high GI:

• less or equal to 55 – low GI
• 55 – 69 – medium GI
• 70 or more – high GI

To lose weight and be healthy (or if you have diabetes), the foods with low GI should be at the first place for you. Sometimes, you can try foods with the medium GI, but you definitely should avoid the high GI foods. The ideal GI value is 55, eating foods with GI above 70 is risky. Foods with a low GI are being digested for a longer time and maintain balanced blood sugar levels. The value of GI is influenced by the ratio of three primary nutrients (carbohydrates, fats and proteins), fiber (which slows down the use of sugars), how the food was processed, acidity of the food (GI is reduced by acids) and of course by the serving size (small portions = less sugar). Generally speaking, if two people on a diet of the same energetic value, it’s likely that the one who eats foods with lower GI will lose more weight.

Glycemic Index and Diet

Read more about this topic in our article “Glycemic Index Diet – How Does It Work?”

The role of Glycemic Index in disease prevention

It has been proven that eating a low-GI diet for a long time may significantly reduce the risk of developing a diabetes, stroke, heart disease, colon cancer and obesity. 

Read more about Glycemic Index:

• The Glycemic Index Diet (Low-Glycemic Diet)
• Glycemic index diet: What’s behind the claims

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For this, it’s necessary to know a metabolic profile, which isn’t possible to determine electronically. In addition, the weight loss pays a very important point – you need to constantly change the mode of physical activity and change the diet accordingly, because the body has a very interesting ability to adapt to any conditions. After some time of adhering to any fixed mode, it ceases to be efficient. In summary – if you don’t have the basic information about what is going on in the body at the cellular level, it’s necessary to carefully try the individual options with respect to basic rules of rational diet.

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A very often is the form of softgel – it is mostly a gelatin capsule that is filled with either some oil containing fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, beta-carotene), lecithin and essential amino acids. These capsules contain fewer additives than tablets and dissolve faster in the digestive tract. But – it is not entirely true that the substances in the capsules are more suitable and better used in our body!

People who for various reasons do not like to swallow tablets and capsules can purchase the supplements in the form of powder, which easily dissolves in water or mixed into food.

Another category of supplements is represented by the liquid form – easy to swallow, often flavored, which is especially useful for young children. A specific group of products are liquid extracts – a concentrated solutions produced by leaching plants in water, glycerine or alcohol.

Very modern and widely promoted are the preparations which are gradually releasing individual substances in our digestive tract. They are composed of very small capsules which are contained in a normal sized one. These micro-capsules, when passing our digestive system, gradually disintegrate and release the substance in the blood for up to several hours.

Rarely we can meet up with supplements that are taken sublingually – usually a liquid containing active substances that is dripped under the tongue, thus accelerating the overall absorption of all nutrients.

What should we observe when choosing supplements?

First important thing is the information on their labels or leaflets. There is a furious competition among the manufacturers of dietary supplements, so they mark their products in different attractive terms such as “pharmaceutical quality”, “clinically tested”, “clean”, “scientifically standardized” etc. When deciding which supplement to buy, it is a good idea to realize that none of these words are actually normally defined by the manner approved by the relevant directive offices and that this is only a way of subliminal advertising. If you want to read more about food labeling, Food Labeling Guide is very informative.

A normal procedure in the manufacturing of dietary supplements usually looks as follows: One company produces plant material, this material is then bought by another company, which then processes it into pure pulp, powder, extract or concentrate. In another place, another company produces various forms of vitamins, minerals and other active substances commonly used in the food industry. These materials are available to wholesalers, who then sell them to companies producing their own brand of food supplements. If you come to the store or pharmacy for some medicine, there is a strong likelihood that many of the exhibited products contain ingredients from the same manufacturers.

For this reason, it is preferable to check the amount of the active substances, compare them with the amount contained in other products and recalculate the product’s price, at least for an approximate idea. In many cases, you will find that among the products from different manufacturers and with the same amount of components, there is a big price difference.

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Some of the other symptoms my include:

• confusion
• fatigue
• fever
• headaches
• amnesia
• upset stomach or abdominal pain

It’s assumed that the virus that causes shingles is being revitalized when our immune system is weakened – age, stress, various diseases or use of drugs. So far, it’s now known what causes a change in the behavior of the virus and causing symptoms. The disease mainly affects the elderly and the weak, which is manifested most often by itching, erythema, general fatigue, fever. After a few days blisters dry out and turn into scabs. For some people, however, even in this stage, the pain may persist.

What are the complications of shingles?

Complications are more frequent and more severe if the patient has a weakened immune system. Some serious complications include:

• Infection – the rash can get infected. Typically, in this case it’s sufficient to take antibioticsd.
• Loss of pigmentation – the disappearance of the skin rash may leave white spots.
• Scarring – blisters can sometimes leave scars, but it’s relatively uncommon.
• Ramsay Hunt syndrome – infection of the facial nerve. The formation of this infection can be quite scary – some people may think that it is a stroke. In this case, you must act quickly because in rare cases it can lead to a permanent facial nerve weakness or even loss of hearing. Symptoms of Ramsay Hunt syndrome include ear pain, deafness, dizziness and facial paralysis. Pain usually resolves within 48 hours.
• Encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) – the patient has a high fever, is confused, has headaches, lethargy and feels weakness in the limbs. This disease is quite rare.
• Postherpetic neuralgia – may be the result of nerve fibers damage. Damaged fibers are not able to send nerve impulses from the skin to the brain. Impulses become chaotic, causing pain – neuralgia – which may persist long after other symptoms have disappeared.

Shingles – Tips for good Nutrition

Treatment of shingles is focused on the treatment of acute manifestations of this disease, it’s necessary to take supplements to heal the blisters and treatment of persistent pain after a running infection (which can take months and sometimes even years).

Supplements used to treat acute symptoms are divided into two groups:

• supplements used locally on affected areas
• supplements used internally to boost the immune system and for better healing of inflamed skin and nerves

The combination of some products applied to the skin can bring quick relief – recommended are aloe vera gel mixed with oil with a high content of vitamin E. Both substances calm and soother the pain and itching, promote skin healing and reduce the likelihood of secondary infection of the skin damaged by the virus.

For oral treatment, it’s appropriate to use an antioxidant – a very effective is vitamin C combined with bioflavonoids (at least 1 gram of vitamin C per day divided into several doses). The immune system will also be supported by the use of echinacea extract (200 mg triple per day) and omega-3 fatty acids (2 grams daily).

The amino acid lysine (1000 mg three times a day) and the trace element selenium (50 mg twice a day) promote the growth of healthy skin and generally accelerate the healing process.

All supplements can be taken together with prescribed medications.

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Biologists from the Institute for Human aging at Liverpool University developed a study that proves that sparingly fed laboratory animals live longer and their health status is significantly better than at well-nourished animals. Dr. Brian Merry of the Institute of Human Ageing announced that he was able to extend the life of rats in a laboratory environment by forty-two percent. Other researchers have extended the life of some animals as much as fifty percent. The rats were denied as much as seventy percent of the normal amount of food. Experimental animals were more energetic and healthier, more youthful looking and reacted more quickly to stimuli.