Bovine Colostrum

 

In this WEBMD report via Fox News, we learn that a new study has found that even one high fat meal may have negative cardiovascular implications.  Specifically, the study found that one high fat meal may increase stress on the heart.

Study author Tavis Campbell, PhD, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Calgary:  “What’s really shocking is that it’s just one meal.  It's been well documented that a high-fat diet leads to  atherosclerosis , hardening of the arteries, and high blood pressure, and that exaggerated and prolonged cardiovascular responses to stress are associated with high blood pressure in the future."

In the study one group ate a high fat meal and one ate a low fat meal with the same number of calories and sodium.  Stress tests conducted two hours later showed that, “regardless of the task, the blood pressure response was greater among those who ate the high-fat meal than those who ate the low-fat one.”

While I normally tend to feel that total calorie consumption trumps worrying too much about fat content, per se, this study would tend to corroborate the long held medical view that a heavy fat diet is dangerous for your heart.  In fact, even one heavy fat meal is dangerous for your heart.

 

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I used to think that deviated septum surgery was just a fancy name for a nose job. That is until a friend of mine was diagnosed with sleep apnea due to a deviated septum and had to go under the knife.

My friend had always complained about sleepless nights. I know he’d tried everything from herbal meds to sleeping pills. But, lately, it had gotten worse. After weeks at a sleep clinic, and trying out all sorts of techniques and gizmos, his doctor said deviated septum surgery was needed.

We now tease him about getting a nose job, but we know that sleep apnea can be really tough to deal with. (He looks more tired and haggard each year!)

The septum, apparently, is this thin cartilage that separates the nostrils. If it isn’t in the middle, it’s deviated. If it’s deviated enough, like my friend’s, you end up breathing mostly through one nostril.

We used to think it funny that my friend sometimes whistles through one nose when he has a bad cold. This happened more often in recent weeks as he was hardly getting any sleep.

That’s why he ended up in the sleep clinic. And that’s why he’s going through deviated septum surgery in a few days. The whistling was embarrassing but his sleepless nights were also damaging his health, career, and ability to enjoy life.

His nose always did look kind of crooked, but we always assumed he once broke it or something. He says he just wants the problem corrected and doesn’t want any surgeons messing with the way he looks.

We still tease him that since he’s undergoing a surgical procedure anyway, wouldn’t it be cool to get a movie-star nose as well? Maybe after the surgery he’ll be his old self and be able to laugh at our teasing again.