If you crave salt: You may need some stress relief. Your constant search for a salt fix could signal that your adrenal glands, which pump adrenaline and other hormones into your blood when you’re feeling anxious, have been working so hard that they’re temporarily exhausted. “The adrenal glands produce a hormone that holds sodium in your body, so if they’re not making enough of that hormone, you may crave salt,” says Susan Blum, M.D., the founder and director of the Blum Center for Health, in Rye Brook, New York. To keep stress in check, try exercise, meditation, or just saying no to yet another PTA request.

If you crave fat: It’s well-known that eating sweets and simple carbohydrates can lead to the infamous sugar crash that leaves you craving more. Consuming fat has a similar self-perpetuating effect, says Sarah Leibowitz, Ph.D., an associate professor of neurobiology at Rockefeller University, in New York City. “Eating fatty foods stimulates the brain to produce peptides that make you crave more fat,” she says. A recent study at the Scripps Research Institute, in Jupiter, Florida, showed that rats who were fed high-fat foods (bacon, icing) began eating more and more—a hallmark of addictive behavior. (They actually refused nutritious food when it was offered.) Fight the urge for chips by eating plenty of lean protein and low-fat dairy products, which will help you feel more satisfied.

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That advice from a leading doctors’ group on Thursday addresses one of the most pressing, least discussed issues facing survivors of heart attacks and other heart patients.

In its first science-based recommendations on the subject, the American Heart Association says having sex only slightly raises the chance for a heart attack. And that’s true for people with and without heart disease.

Surprisingly, despite the higher risk for a heart patient to have a second attack, there’s no evidence that they have more sex-related heart attacks than people without cardiac disease.

Many heart patients don’t think twice about climbing stairs, yet many worry that sexual activity will cause another heart attack, or even sudden death, said Dr. Glenn Levine, lead author of a report detailing the recommendations and a professor of medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

The report says sex is something doctors should bring up with all heart patients. Yet few do because they’re uncomfortable talking about it or they lack information, Levine said. The new guidance is designed to fill that gap.

Heart patients should get a doctor’s OK before engaging in sexual activity. Many may be advised first to do cardiac rehab – exercise while being monitored for heart symptoms, to improve heart strength and increase physical fitness. But the heart association says most eventually will be cleared to resume sexual activity.

The doctors’ group offers advice for heart patients based on scientific research involving sometimes provocative sex-related topics:

-Who’s most at risk for sudden death related to sex? Married men having affairs, often with younger women in unfamiliar settings. Those circumstances can add to stress that may increase the risks, evidence from a handful of studies suggests.

-Sex may be OK as soon as one week after a relatively mild heart attack, if patients can walk up a few flights of stairs without discomfort.

-Viagra and other drugs for erectile dysfunction are generally safe for men with stable heart disease.

“The risk of having a heart attack during sexual activity is two to three times higher than when not having sexual activity. However, this increased risk of heart attack during sexual activity represents only a very small part of a person’s overall risk of having a heart attack, and sexual activity is the cause of less than 1 percent of all heart attacks,” Levine said.

Among heart attack survivors, average risks for another heart attack or sudden death are about 10 in 1 million per hour of sexual activity; having sex increases that to about 20 to 30 in 1 million per hour, the new report says. People without heart disease face lower overall risks for a heart attack, but similar risks for a sex-related attack.

The updated advice was released online Thursday in the heart association journal, Circulation.

Dr. Keith Churchwell, chief medical officer of Vanderbilt University’s Heart and Vascular Institute, said the guidance is important for patients, and that questions about sex are the most common ones he hears from heart patients.

Ohio State University heart specialist Martha Gulati praised the recommendations for emphasizing that sexual counseling is important not just for patients but also their partners, who she says are often just as nervous about resuming sexual activity.

Day-care operator Tammy Collins of Reynoldsburg, Ohio, one of Gulati’s patients, says the advice is reassuring.

She had a heart attack last year on Sept. 11, during a trip to Cincinnati to celebrate her wedding anniversary.

Collins’ mother died of a heart attack at the same age, on her 51st birthday. With high blood pressure and high cholesterol, Collins knew she was at risk. She developed symptoms a few hours after having sex. She dismissed it at first, until she felt a sharp pain in her upper back and had trouble breathing. She was rushed to the hospital and doctors used stents to open blocked arteries.

Collins said she wasn’t embarrassed to ask Gulati about sex, who told her it was unlikely that her night of romance had caused the heart attack. After several weeks of cardiac rehab, she was cleared to resume sexual activity – advice that surprised her friends. But Collins said the exercise sessions have made her feel fitter than ever.

“A heart attack does not have to be the end of living,” Collins said.

Chicago cardiologist Dan Fintel, a professor of medicine at Northwestern University, said he routinely gives heart patients a sex talk on their last day in the hospital, knowing that it’s likely on their minds.

“Resuming sexual activity is safe and emotionally part of the healing process, with a few caveats,” he tells patients.

Those caveats elicit nervous chuckles when he explains that includes no philandering, given evidence about that causing extra stress.

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TMZ reports:

Heavy D died from a pulmonary embolism caused by deep leg vein thrombosis … and a long flight back to L.A. from a Michael Jackson memorial concert may have been a contributing factor. A pulmonary embolism is a blockage of one or more arteries in the lungs — most often caused by blood clots which travel into the lungs from other parts of the body. In Heavy’s case, the clot was formed in his legs. Officials from the L.A. County Coroner’s Office say Heavy also suffered from heart disease, which could have been a contributing factor in his death.

The truth is, deep leg vein thrombosis can happen to anyone who sits too long. If he was on a long plane ride, it’s easy to see how it happened. A friend of mine who is a journalist was recently diagnosed with the same issue from writing at his desk for extended hours. I write from a large exercise ball as much as I can to cut my chances of suffering the same fate.

If you listen to Hip-Hop and assess what people inside the rap community are eating, you get a lot of food that sounds good, but is not good for you. In the early days of Run DMC and the Beastie Boys, they rapped about 40 ounces, White Castle, and frank and beans.  Fast forward a bit and Ludacris puts out albums with titles like “Chicken and Beer.” Ice Cube, Rakim, the Wu-Tang Clan, Diddy, and a lot of other rappers pushed various alcohol brands from St. Ides to Ciroc. We also cannot forget that Busta Rhymes almost single-handedly rebuilt the cognac industry in France with one rap song. It is hard to deny that hip-hop living can be hard on rappers’ bodies.

And if we look beyond Heavy D, we can see that hip-hop has had some seriously close calls. Nate Dogg and Patrice O’Neal died of strokes at a very young ages. Rick Ross, who was recently in the hospital due to seizures, is clearly obese and in need of a lifestyle change. In addition we saw pioneer rapper Erik Sermon from EPMD suffer a heart attack. People forget that Latino rapper Big Pun passed away from complications due to his unhealthy eating habits. It is hard to deny that folks from the hip-hop generation are in a state of emergency in regards to their health.

If we think realistically about how a diet of the above will affect you over the long term, we see why so many rappers are getting sick and dying. It is a very sad but harsh reality. At the same time, no one can deny how various pockets of hip-hop promoted good living over the years. KRS One, Public Enemy, Kam, and Monie Luv all made songs that promoted good diets. A lot of early rap promoted the dietary regimen of the Nation of Islam founder Elijah Muhammad. They spoke to the importance of eating more vegetables, less alcohol, and pork, but over the years, a lot of the healthy related raps were pushed to the back of the bus.

I wanted to get some clarity on the hip-hop and health, so I called Dr. Peter Goldman, a doctor to many of the top MMA fighters and coaches you see in the Ultimate Fighting Championships including BJ Penn and Jake Shields. Dr. Goldman is also from the hip-hop generation and was raised in Brooklyn. I asked him what he thought about how so many adults from that generation got to this state.

First of all, we have to consider how these habits and choices get formed. Some of the main sources of influence on the Hip-Hop generation are their parents, society in general, and Hip-Hop artists and their lyrics. The experiences with their parents in regards to how their parents demonstrate they should eat and live will obviously vary. Society in general sends many mixed messages on these topics. For the most part, with some exceptions, Hip-Hop lyrics do not encourage a particularly healthy lifestyle or healthy eating habits. So the result for the most part are listeners whose main sources of influence do not indicate that it is even desirable to be healthy and eat right, let alone tell them how to do it.

For those of us in their 30s and 40s, the time is now. But how do we begin?

By understanding that there are many components to being healthy. For example, eating right, exercising right, resting right, keeping the body balanced with some type of body work like chiropractic or massage, and of course addressing the mental and Spiritual components of health. In regards to diet a good start is including a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables in the diet, drinking plenty of healthy water, avoiding deep fried foods and artificial sweeteners and coloring. As far as exercise goes, it can be yoga, martial arts, walking, swimming, etc, just try to move your body every day. As for rest, make sure to sleep enough, and also make sure to rest the body and the mind when necessary.

Another big part of the equation is what concepts about themselves, their body, and health in general they hold in their subconscious mind. These concepts are mostly implanted there from birth to about 7 years of age and tend to manifest in one’s life in all regards including their health.

Recently, though, some rappers have made many strides to change. 50 Cent has always made health a priority. Fat Joe cut weight after Pun passed away. David Banner went from looking like one of the Fat Boys to looking like a UFC fighter. Even the Fat Boys Kool Rock Ski and Prince Markie Dee both lost weight after the Human Beat Box passed from a heart attack.  Not long ago Diddy ran a marathon for charity. Rapper Rakaa Iriscience from Dilated Peoples has been practicing Gracie Jiu Jitsu. Rapper Tajai from Hieroglypics posts about great veggie dishes and restaurants on his Facebook page. Stic Man from Dead Prez dropped a mixtape dedicated exclusively to healthy living. From front to back it discusses the proper diet, mind state and diet tips people need to live better. He even has a Facebook page dedicated to it called “RBG Fit Club.”

Rapper T-KASH is currently preparing to participate in the Oakland Running Marathon in March for charity 2012 (he completed a half marathon last year). The political rapper who recently toured Europe with Paris lost almost 100 pounds over the last two and a half years. When asked how the weight loss has changed him he said:

You don’t anticipate any health related issues as much. You are aware that you are susceptible to getting any type of disease eventually. But to know that I’ve decelerated that, is calming. When I was big, I always worried.’ What if I get this? What if I get that?’ Alot of that has gone away.

Let us hope it goes away for all of us, one day at a time. Stay healthy y’all.

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A toothache can be a lot more serious than just a pain in the mouth.

Infections can develop and, if left untreated, can get into the bloodstream and spread to critical areas of the body, causing serious illness and even death.

Via BlackAmericaWeb.com

According to the study, Black physicians are embarrassed to address the social stigmas that Blacks bring into the office of the disease, so they often  refrain from addressing the realities and the impact that HIV and AIDS is having on the community.

The survey found that three of the top five barriers to routine testing cited by African-American physicians related to social stigma. Specifically, physicians are concerned that patients may perceive the recommendation to test as accusatory or judgmental (57 percent); would not want to be identified as HIV positive and would worry about people finding out (48 percent); and would be offended due to the stigma associated with HIV (43 percent).

Read more at BET.com

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Nearly 4.5 million Americans are eating less-healthy foods due to a diminished spending power, and desire to conserve money. For African-Americans, who suffer from the greatest economic strains, the numbers could be catastrophic.

The Huffington Post Reports:

While the factors that contribute to a change in diet are complex, many experts see a direct economic force at play in the recent shift away from fruits and vegetables and the apparent embrace of sugary and fast foods. Paychecks are scarce, while the costs of gasoline have been rising. Housing costs tend to be fixed, but food tends to be treated as discretionary, allowing people to save money by substituting cheap calories for more expensive yet healthier goods like fruits and vegetables.

The economic anxieties of today also appear to be contributing to the trend, by inviting Americans to take refuge in a traditional source of comfort — fattening, salty and sweet foods.

Read More At HuffingtonPost.com

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