The most dangerous type of potato...

Dear Healthy Friend,

My 5-year old daughter loves swing ball! And I try hit the ball with her a bit whenever I can! She also loves to skip - she's learning how to use the skipping rope nicely now - and loves to hula hoop... I could sit and watch her for hours enjoying her outdoor activities and it seems this is the best thing for her! Not just for a healthy lifestyle, but for her health too!

Keep reading to find out why...

In the name of good health,
 
Taryn Strugnell
Managing Editor of Nutrition & Healing

P.S. No man ever suffered from a saw palmetto defficiency... So why use it? Keep reading to find out what Dr Wright has to say!

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Kids who watch TV face heart risk!

Dr WC Douglass
Editor, Daily Dose

I'm not a fan of any kind of potato - but there's one in particular that's far worse than all the others.

And you've probably got one in your home right now.

It's a couch potato - and while no one doubts that plugging your meat in a seat is unhealthy at any age, a new study finds that little kids who watch the most TV already have the earliest signs of heart disease.

Australian researchers randomly selected 1,492 6-year-olds from 34 schools in the Sydney area and asked the kids' parents to fill out questionnaires on how much time each day the children spent watching TV, using a computer and playing outside.

They found that the average kid spent just 36 minutes a day being physically active... And nearly TWO HOURS a day parked in front of a screen, according to the study in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology: Journal of the American Heart Association (try saying that five times fast).

Then, the researchers photographed the arteries in the backs of the children's eyes and found that the couch potatoes had narrower blood vessels - and that each hour of tube time lead to a narrowing of 1.53 microns.

That's a number so small it's impossible to picture - but in real-world terms, it's enough to raise systolic blood pressure readings by 10mmHg.

The researchers say they have no idea what this means for children and plan to follow these kids to see what happens as they age.

But we don't need a study to know that narrow blood vessels lead to increased heart risk in adults. If that process is starting years earlier - in creche! - the long-term news can't possibly be good.

That's not the only problem with TVs, computers and video games. Other studies have linked glowing screens to sleep issues, developmental problems and even stupidity - especially if your kid is inclined to mimic wrestling moves or cartoon stunts when he eventually goes outside.

I know most kids would react to a TV-free home as if they'd been sentenced to Alcatraz... But that's the best way to make sure your child is safe.

And if you can't quite kick the tube to the curb, at least curb the number of hours your kids spend watching it.

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Is saw palmetto #1?

Q: I want to start thinking more about my prostate health. Of course, I see saw palmetto all over the place - is this the best choice?

Dr. Wright: As natural medicine became ever more popular in the last quarter of the 20th century, more and more herbal products were introduced among them a breakthrough herbal treatment for BPH: Saw palmetto. Saw palmetto quickly became available in nearly all natural food stores and almost immediately became a bestseller, as it is quite effective for sometimes dramatically reducing the symptoms of BPH.

But even though saw palmetto was usually effective for the symptoms of BPH, I continued to recommend using zinc and essential fatty acids first for at least three to four months, followed by saw palmetto only if zinc and essential fatty acids together weren't effective in that time.

My reasoning, admittedly theoretical (no money for controlled studies was or is available), is that zinc and essential fatty acids are essential to life and health, and saw palmetto isn't. Most people live entire lifetimes without even one microgram of saw palmetto, but no one can live long without zinc or essential fatty acids! So even though saw palmetto isn't thought to be harmful (more about this below), it's best to use zinc and essential fatty acids for BPH first.

If a man's prostate function improves with more zinc, then his retina and hearing apparatus (both of which normally contain more zinc than the prostate) will very likely benefit from some of that supplemental zinc too, even if those areas aren't yet symptomatic. Similarly, if a man's prostate function is improved with additional essential fatty acids, then likely his cardiovascular health will be improved as well. As Nutrition & Healing readers know, in just the last few years many research studies have shown that essential fatty acids significantly reduce risk of atherosclerotic vascular disease.

Again, if after three to four months zinc and essential fatty acids aren't effective, saw palmetto can always be tried next.

For more natural health breakthroughs watch this 'underground' video that's taking on the medical world with astounding results.