Xero and AI

The biggest debate in the office came about because of my $100 billion number as an end-game market cap. In some sense that is the big-hairy-audacious-goal (BHAG) for any putative tech giant.
But in this case thinking about how you get there explains it pretty well and also explains to some degree what the company needs to do.
Xero currently has about a million customers paying on average about $400 per year each. We pay a bit more mostly because we transact some of our business in foreign currencies and as we add optional features we would expect to pay more still. We would expect revenue per customer to grow over time and think $600 is not unrealistic. At least some of the customers become bigger over time. We know one 200 person business who runs the entire thing on Xero. Their next transition would typically be to Oracle accounts - but they do not feel this is necessary.
To get to $100 billion in market cap you probably need $15 billion in revenue at some point. Even that is fairly expensive at 7x revenue - but most of the tech giants trade at about 7x revenue.
At $600 per customer that means you need 25 million customers. To get to my BHAG Xero needs 25 million customers. It needs to be 25 times bigger.
My first cut was simple. Xero has the bulk of the market in New Zealand - its home market - and about a third of the market in Australia. It has a small market share in the UK and a tiny market share in the US. Australia is about 2 percent of the world - and so Xero could - if it got to this market share globally - be 50x bigger.
It is a superior product, mission critical and sticky. This seemed plausible to me.
Then one of my staff members pointed out that there are less than 6 million incorporated businesses in the US. And sure this doesn’t count sole-traders but it does make my 25 million customer target seem hard.
This of course led to a debate. How is it possible to have a million customers mainly in Australia and New Zealand (very small countries economically) and there only be a target market of about 6 million customers in the US.
The first answer was the one alluded to above which is that Australia and New Zealand both have value added taxes which means that everyone with any private business has to file regular tax statements and the vast bulk of them use software to comply. This will apply in Europe too. Xero should have gone to Europe before going to America.
The second answer (which I would love to confirm) is about the structure of the US economy versus countries without large pools of low-income labour. In the US there is a vast pool of labour at approximately $10 an hour which is lightly skilled. Many businesses work out how to leverage an entrepreneur’s talent through using dozens of these people. The average restaurant in America is much larger than the average restaurant in Sydney - and leverages one executive chef over many staff. By contrast this low-income labour pool barely exists in Australia - and of consequence I suspect the average small business is smaller and there are many more of them. Australia, not America is a land of thriving small businesses (at least by number).
I suspect the same is true in Europe. Indeed in Europe in many jurisdictions there are penalties for businesses getting too big. France for instance has different labour laws for companies that employ more than 50 people rather than less than 50 people and many businesses deliberately stop growing under that threshold. My guess is that the market is again relatively bigger in Europe than America . Just because there are more potential customers.
In all cases it leads me to the conclusion that Xero has focussed its energy wrongly (on trying to grow in America) rather than going to countries where it is a natural fit.
Done well though I think there are 25 million customers out there to win. Whether they can do it - that is yet to be seen.

Xero and AI

I am hardly privy to the software design decisions of Xero but they clearly have their eye on this. They originally wrote Xero so that it ran in Microsoft server hosted on Rackspace. They re-wrote it so its backbone is Amazon Cloud Services. This was a non-trivial task - and I think they did it because Amazon has a much better artificial intelligence as a service offering (either direct or third party). They did it for the AI.
The trick here is to get really big fast. If you get big fast. When you do you will have more data and you will win the AI race.
At the moment Xero is the world leader in cloud based accounting software and records more than a trillion dollars in transactions per year. This is a race that Xero can win.
Xero's management issues
Rod Drury who founded Xero and was CEO until recently was a talismanic software genius whose heart and lifestyle was in Hawkes Bay New Zealand.
Now Hawkes Bay may be one of the nicest places in the world to live - but it is not the centre of anything that matters. He was both the inspirational genius and the limiting factor to growth.
The company was listed in New Zealand, hardly the world's most tech-driven market. And when they moved the listing it was to Australia and not to the NASDAQ.
This stock has always been cheap relative to the US SAAS companies. Take Ulimate for instance - a well run company with a vision far less expansive than Xero. The market cap is about double. This is typical.
Xero run the business to be cash flow break even. They are proudly (just) EBITDA positive. The mantra here is to grow as fast as possible subject to the constraint that they do not run out of cash. Which seems a sensible enough mantra - but given the prize is so big why not grow faster?
A Silicon Valley CFO (say a former tech investment banker at Goldman Sachs) would have hyped the stock, listed it on the NASDAQ, raised a bucket-load of cash with the minimum possible dilution and used the cash to grow even faster. Not doing this is the first thing that the company has done wrong.
The second thing they did wrong was target the USA before they targeted Europe. The USA alone amongst OECD countries does not have a value added tax. It has much less software penetration and the usual selling channel (sell to the accountants who then sell to their clients) was not as easily open.
Moreover going to the USA wakened the only credible long-term competitor.
Instead they should have gone to Europe first. Europe has compliance problems coming out of its ears. It is a natural market for a software product that solves them. And it has a weaker competitor in Sage.
They should have produced Xero in multiple languages. They went to the US without a Spanish language version which seems stupid if not insensitive.
And Quickbooks Online is opening in France - a completely natural market for this product.
There is no reason why Xero should cede the natural markets of Western Europe to the Americans. Hop to it I say.
Hope in the management change
Rod Drury has recently resigned as CEO of Xero.
It is not normally great news for a tech company when the talismanic founding genius leaves. But in this case he might have done the right thing.
You see Xero has appointed a genuine internationalist, Steve Vamos, formerly a senior executive at Microsoft.*
Steve will do certain things much better than Rod.
- he will run the administrative side of the firm a lot better - he is a MUCH better people manager and will hire stronger direct reports
- he will be much better at running the US subsidiary
- he will run a global organization much better
- sales and marketing will strengthen
And he will do somethings much worse
- he has not demonstrated product vision in this area
- he is not a life time accounting expert
- he will understand customer need a lot less well
If Rod can stick around as the product visionary this will work very well as a transition. Steve can cover all of Rod's (considerable) weaknesses and not lose Rod's (also considerable) strengths.
The CFO is also changing and this is unambiguously good news. The old CFO was way too parochial. The biggest weakness of Xero was its financial clout to go with the global potential of the company. The company really needs a first-tier Silicon Valley CFO. I think they are going to get it.
Are they going to get this done? I think so - but they will probably wind up being a nice second player to Intuit because they have not gone fast enough. You can own either stock but the upside is far more considerable at Xero.
I bought my stock at under half the current price. It is not that cheap anymore - trading at 16 times trailing revenue and 11 times forward revenue. If the stock quadruples its revenue you will probably win quite nicely owning it - but I am not looking for a quadruple. I am looking at a path to global significance.
I think they might yet do it. It is far from written in stone - but it is as far as growth tech stocks go - a pretty good

Enter the cloud

Cloud accounting is so much superior to the previous shrink-wrapped alternative it is a joke. Nobody would ever go back to the (very limited) box. Moreover the cloud programs get better and better and the improvements are baked in every day. They don't fail to work (notwithstanding Xero’s minor technical problems yesterday).
The customer drag will be one-way forever. Shrink wrapped loses share and eventually shrinks away.
When I first saw Xero I thought that Intuit was ultimately doomed. Relative to Xero, and especially relative to where Xero would be, their product sucked.
I don't think that any more. Every accounting package has come out with a cloud option. Intuit's has turned on a dime. Their investor relations presentations and indeed much of the company is now is a clone of Xero.
No I am not joking. Intuit (a USD55 billion company) copied Xero (a USD4 billion company) and they did it to survive.
Intuit however did more than that. They came to Australia with a cloud-based product (Quick Books Online) and gave it away for $1 a month. This is an unambiguously loss making enterprise. When I asked them why they did it they straight out said "to learn to fight Xero on their home territory".
This is a stunning admission. Intuit is using its huge cash flow (well over a billion per annum) to give away product so they can fight a tiny company from New Zealand.
But it is the right thing to do too. Intuit has learnt how to survive, deserves to survive and will survive.
Ultimately I am not so sure about everybody else. Most of the competitors are weakened and the cloud apps simply steal customers from their non-cloud businesses. At best they can "do an Adobe" and convert much but not all of their customer base to a monthly subscription model. But I suspect that is optimistic. You see artificial intelligence (AI) is going to make a huge gift to the big players.
And that is easy to see by example. Suppose I make a $2000 payment to Dell. You are smart, you know what it is. It is a computer or a server or some other piece of capital equipment. And being a computer it is (for Australian tax purposes) depreciable over three years. I had to look that up.
So I enter it into my accounting package as depreciable over three years.
And go on.
But when 20 people have done that with an AI system the accounting software should recognise this and automatically categorise it correctly. And that just saved you looking up the depreciation schedule.
Xero's stated goal is to get to 99 percent automatic classification of receipts. I don't see any reason why this shouldn't be 99.9 percent. The pain of much of this business - and the whole profession of low-level bookkeeping - should disappear.
And those with the biggest data should win. They should win big. And it will be near-impossible to compete with them. I am sorry MYOB and Sage. You are destined for the scrapbooks of history

The state of play in accounting software

Accounting software packages were nice regional monopolies or oligopolies. Compliance differences meant that they did not compete much across borders. There was one or two in most markets. In some markets these were segmented so there were very simple packages for one or two person businesses, then packages which became more complex as the business became larger.
The quasi-monopolies were pretty good businesses, high incremental cash flows but not much growth. In other words they were targets for private equity.
Many got bought and levered up. In Europe many more got hoovered up by Sage (a London based roll-up of accounting and payroll packages). For instance SolvAxis - which was the leader in Switzerland - was bought into the Sage juggernaut.
The exception was the US where the leader (Intuit) was too big and too valuable to be taken private or levered up.
So around the world you have lots of indebted (and hence weakened) competitors and one super-solvent, super strong competitor in the US (Intuit). Sage is only modestly levered, but a roll-up. It is a strong competitor but nowhere near as powerful as Intuit.gg

The real reason a small business uses software

At the end of the day the reason the small business uses software is that it makes their life easier - and most of that "easier" is broadly compliance: compliance with governments, compliance with insurance companies, compliance with customers needs etc. Having payroll software allows you to comply with tax withholding and other payroll laws. Having accounting software allows you to comply with tax laws (especially valued added taxes).

Xero and the rise of open-architecture, cloud based sma

Into this world of localised (and dare I say in antiquated) small business accounting software comes a truly disruptive company from New Zealand called Xero.
Xero offer a cloud-based accounting package to small business. There are plenty of reasons why cloud-based is superior. But the initial top-of-the-list is the ability to run your business without a dedicated server and on any device.
But there are some big advantages with cloud based software. For instance, if our business had to pay workers compensation insurance to some insurance company we may set up a direct debit (through our accounting software) and make the payment to what is - at least to us - just a bank account number. If we accidentally type the wrong number in that could of course be a disaster. However, Xero have almost certainly had the correct number typed in twenty times before and they can - using a little artificial intelligence - warn us that the number is wrong and get us to type it in again. That is the direction this is heading.
Xero is a minor miracle - a powerful small business accounting software package with an intuitive and elegant interface. Nobody ever said doing their accounts was fun - but following the Xero hashtag on Twitter almost makes small business accounting seem cool. Pushed on that, customers note it saved them the drudgery of the shrink-wrapped solution it replaced.
Anyway - Xero from inception had a problem. It was based in New Zealand. New Zealand is not exactly the centre of the universe. And trying to run a global software company from New Zealand was a challenge. Besides, when Xero started it was diabolically short of money for expansion.
So they made a decision which seems obvious in retrospect, but was innovative at the time. They made the system open-architecture. They allowed people to put their own apps over Xero to meet specific functions.
For example there is an app for doctors’ practices in Australia. There are lots of small business management practices that are specific to a doctors practice in Australia - for example the classification of and collection processes for government reimbursement of medical procedures. Xero wouldn't know enough about how a doctors practice works in Australia to write that software - but someone else does - and they just plug it into Xero. Slogan: "there is an app for that".
And there is an app (often given away) for ordering building materials for a small construction firm. This app builds into the billing and bidding software and also to the ordering software. It is given away because it locks in customers.
And of course there is an app for payroll too. That app will (necessarily) be country-specific because tax laws and court orders and all the other things that you need to withhold from payroll are country specific. In countries where Xero is pervasive Xero might build or acquire a payroll app and will wind up owning a good part of the system. In countries which are a long way from New Zealand it is likely that there will be a third-party payroll system.
Payroll is particularly difficult. You might have an employee in California who is resident in Oregon and has a court-ordered salary withhold in Texas. No small business can comply with that and so they send their payroll to a payroll processor (such as Automatic Data Processing or Paychex) and the payroll processor complies with that. But there is no reason why this can't be done with cloud-based software. Indeed that is what Ultimate Software does. Ultimate Software (NASDAQ: ULTI) is a rocket-ship stock and is the bear case for (say) Automatic Data Processing.
Bronte (our business) does its payroll on Xero and functionality is more than sufficient. Xero have a payroll program with limited functionality in the USA - but you can have payroll apps on Xero with much broader functionality - see this list. Note in this list ADP is a plug-in for Xero but the one with the worst reviews.
The end-game for an open-architecture accounting system is that there is an app for every function that is hard to comply with. If for example private schools have to separate their building accounts from their general accounts and other things there will be an app for that. If a doctors practice needs to invoice simply 70 different insurance companies there will be an app for that.
And owning the open-architecture backbone will be a stunningly powerful (and ultimately stunningly profitable) position. Profits will - as per most of silicon valley - follow relevance.

A stylised history of accounting software and Xero's place in it

Small business accounting software tends to be localised by country such as Quickbooks (USA), MYOB (Australia) or bits of Sage (notably in the UK).
The reason for country-specific software was that this stuff arose during the 1980s (which was a big period of tax reform globally) and the localisation was important for compliance. Moreover, that was a different world - there was no reason to expect that (say) Intuit would have the local knowledge to succeed in Australia let alone France. [Question: could you imagine programming French tax law into an accounting package written in California now? Could you imagine doing it pre-internet?]
Small business software is a much more important business outside the United States than inside. Penetration in Australia for instance is over 70 percent (these are for businesses with say 5-10 staff). In the US it is likely around 20-30 percent. The Australian penetration rate is probably around the non-US OECD average.
I am pretty sure the reason for the high-non-US penetration is tax compliance. The US (almost alone) does not have a value-added tax. VATs are beautifully simple taxes, relatively easy to comply with and that raise revenue very efficiently. But they turn almost every small business into a tax collector. Even an architect or a small consulting firm collects value added tax - and it does so on behalf of other people.
Tax authorities get moderately upset if you do not pay tax you yourself owe to them. They become vehemently angry if you withhold tax on behalf of other people and you don't pay it to them. When you become a tax collector your relationship with the tax authority changes. Being compliant and being seen to be compliant becomes a business necessity.
Small business accounting software helps that - indeed it makes it automatic. And that is why in countries with value added taxes small business accounting software is pervasive.
And because small business accounting software was - from inception - about tax compliance it was necessarily highly localised. When these programs arose in the 1980s computer space was limited (you really wouldn't want a global system for your small business) and cross-border compliance was an unrealistic programming goal.

Xero

GI was quoted in the Australian Financial Review on Monday stating that Xero is the only Australian company with the potential to be a $100 billion global tech behemoth.
As the market cap is less than USD5 billion now I am saying a 20 bagger is possible.
The $100 billion number was a matter of some dispute in the office - and a discussion is in the appendix. However suffice to say there is huge upside provided it all works.
Xero however have a few hoops to jump through on that path. This post is to explain my view and also what I hope management improve. I do not think they have done a great job of it so far (even though the stock and business have been a success).
But for the uninitiated I am going to explain what Xero does and why it has such potential.
Xero is an open architecture cloud-based small business accounting software package. It provides a proper double-entry accounting system for small businesses available from any reasonable device, and backed up automatically. It has permissions to allow various people different levels of access (to facilitate proper accounting controls) and in some jurisdictions it connects straight to banking systems to allow payments to be made directly from Xero.
We use it to run our business. It works. It is wonderful.
This is not an isolated view. Check out the @xero twitter feed. People unironically use the word "love" about accounting software. It makes their life easier - and is way better than alternatives out there. [Observation: as I wrote this I saw the first complaint I have ever seen about the Xero system having issues.]

A quick comment on the Herbalife results

Herbalife reported after market.
There was a lot of noise. Margins in various markets fell. There is the usual Herbalife currency noise.
But lets cut through all of that.
I don't particularly care in this case whether you believe that Herbalife is a scheme that rips people off on their sales or whether you believe (as I do) that Herbalife is a network whereby weight loss products are sold via community support.
At the end of the day profits will eventually follow the volumes of product they sell.
If they are crooked profits will follow volumes.
If Herbalife is (as I argue) a true social support network profits will still eventually follow volumes.
Herbalife has for as long as I know used a consistent measure of volume - the volume point. This is not an arbitrary measure of volume. It is the mechanism by which distributors are paid and which real cash moves.
With a single exception this quarter and only in a trial way in Brazil and Mexico a volume point has an unchanged meaning for the last decade. For example a small tin of Formula 1, their main product and the largest selling diet shake in the world, is 23.95 volume points. It has been 23.95 volume points unchanged for decades.
The price of the product changes, but the number of volume points does not change. Changes in volume points are real changes. When volume points fell as the company implemented the changes demanded by the Federal Trade Commission those were real falls in volume.
And when volumes rose this quarter they were also real changes in volume. If they increase price revenue will grow even faster.
Here is the volume points by sector this quarter versus the previous corresponding quarter.
Three Months Ended Six Months Ended
June 30,
2018 June 30,
2017 % Change June 30,
2018 June 30,
2017 % Change
(Volume Points in millions)
North America 336.4 284.1 18.4 % 639.6 586.7 9.0%
Mexico(1) 237.1 228.9 3.6% 458.9 454.4 1.0%
South & Central America(2) 136.3 137.5 (0.9)% 284.8 290.7 (2.0)%
EMEA 319.5 283.6 12.7 % 614.2 557.8 10.1%
Asia Pacific 302.8 275.9 9.7% 589.4 536.7 9.8%
China 196.1 153.9 27.4 % 337.2 335.9 0.4%
Worldwide(3) 1,528.2 1,363.9 12.0% 2,924.1 2,762.2 5.9%
You see the highlighted things right. Volume points rose 12.7 percent this month in Europe, Middle East and Africa, 18.4 percent in North America and 27.4 percent in China.
This is an acceleration in growth.
Now there are a couple of anomalies here. Firstly the United States (by far the bulk of the the North America segment) is lapping the particularly bad quarter when the company implemented the reforms the Federal Trade Commission demanded. China is lapping a strange quarter. Herbalife raised prices in March 2017 and volume points were particularly high in the first quarter of 2017 and low in the second quarter as customers bought purchases forward to beat the price rise.
But even without these anomalies Herbalife volume growth accelerated. A lot.
Now I say this because even if you believe Bill Ackman's thesis it is not a good stock to be short. Earnings growth is coming. And regulatory problems have passed.
--
But for a true Herbalife bull these results are even sweeter.
Herbalife was made to change its operating rules in North America by the Federal Trade Commission. These rule changes ensure that Herbalife distributors can identify ultimate and real consumers for their product. Mostly the product is UPS direct from Herbalife to the identified ultimate distributor. Alternatively you go into a club and your name is taken.
If the Bill Ackman case were correct (even in any substantial part) this would mean that Herbalife sales would collapse because Mr Ackman argued there were no ultimate customers and inability to identify them would make sales go away.
There was comment after comment from short-sellers arguing this and noting this quarter was going to be even harder as certain changes had to be fully implemented this quarter.
18.4 percent growth and record volumes in North America confirm what I knew - the vast bulk of Herbalife's sales are legitimate sales of diet products sold with community support networks to help people stick to their diet.
Herbalife remains an ethical company selling a product for which there is a real need.

Dear Bayer shareholders, what are you thinking?

Bayer is a life-sciences company. It sell drugs with litigation risks (especially
Xarelto ), it genetically modifies seeds (which I guess has litigation risks). It sells herbicides and pesticides all of which have litigation risks.
If you do "life sciences" you muck around with living things and that has litigation risks.
On twitter recently I sought out discussion on risks of Bayer stock and litigation was the key one.
Today Bayer stock is down 12 percent on a California court case where a dying plaintiff claimed that roundup caused his cancer and a jury agreed.
The damages were set at $289 million.
Having watched lots of legal stuff in American stocks I would be surprised if this were not rounded down at least 90 percent on appeal, and if the agglomeration of future cases didn't cost a lot of money.
But whatever. Here is a list of the biggest class actions in US history. None break $10 billion except the global tobacco settlement.
The biggest aggregate claim I can remember is fen-phen which wound up costing about $13 billion.
All of these are spread over many years. And are tax deductible to boot.
Today Bayer's market cap dropped $14 billion, bigger than the biggest set of (non-tobacco) legal losses in history.
This seems disproportionate to me - but then I own Bayer stock. And I am puzzled.
So I am asking the people trading it in Germany - why are you so pessimistic about this?

Clever Technique Uncovers the Role of Stem Cells in Cartilage Repair

Over 50 million people suffer from arthritis in USA alone. Arthritis is a common enough disease among the elderly, which makes it difficult to even undertake the basic chores like holding a spoon, eating, and walking. Arthritis degrades the cartilage between the bone joints making it a painful and debilitating condition. Over time the body is unable to heal the degeneration of the bones. All that the doctors can only do is to help reduce the pain. Many cases are managed just with the help of therapy, and surgery is only performed in severe cases.
Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are found in the bone marrow. The fat and blood in our body helps create cells of various types these include cartilage producing chondrocytes cells. These cells help in restoring arthritis affected joints. There are many sources of MSCs. Muscle-derived MSC is a cell source and sources are placenta, amnion, umbilical cord blood, and ear elastic cartilage.
Injecting MSCs into a joint cartilage has shown effective results. But the puzzle has not been deciphered so far as to how the stem cells work to repair the damage. MSC is said to release a protein factor which in turn helps the body repair its own cartilage damage.
Chondral injury also leads to small and long-term disabilities. There are many surgical treatments available. The cell therapies utilize stem cells by differentiating the many mesenchymal phenotypes and maintaining their multi potency. The MSC is delivered into the knee or injury site through an injection.
There are various tissues in the human body which contain MSCs. These are harvested from the bone marrow, adipose, synovium, and umbilical cord.
Clinical trials have given satisfactory reports on cartilage regeneration after the stem cell implantation. Collagen, polyglycolic acid, hyaluronic acid, and silk fibroin enhance the healing process. They have superior histological and mechanical properties.
Bone marrow-derived stem cell chondrogenic potential has been confirmed by the cell culture studies. Adipose tissue is harvested usually from the patient's buttock region with the help of tumescent liposuction.
Chondral defect seen in early osteoarthritis knees that were implanted with MSC suspension alone or MSCs with a fibrin glue scaffold have shown better cartilage regeneration than the control group. A final follow-up done after a period of 2 years has shown that results have improved in both groups. While the arthroscopy has revealed better cartilage repair in knees that have been implanted with MSCs and scaffold.
Synovial tissue is another alternative source of stem cells which is utilized for cartilage repair procedure. Two studies have reported about the clinical results of synovial tissue-derived MSC.
Peripheral blood-derived MSCs (progenitor cells) are obtained from peripheral blood. In this procedure the bone marrow the iliac crest is taken at the time of cartilage repair surgery. The harvested bone marrow is then centrifuged, and the bone marrow concentrate is obtained. During the surgery itself, the concentrated aspirate is then transplanted at the chondral defect along with hyaluronic acid or collagen.
Cartilage regeneration is due to many various growth factors and biofactors like insulin growth factor, transforming growth factor-β, and SOX9 which enhance chondrogenesis of MSCs, and gene transfer. Healing is enhanced by these growth factors and because of gene transfer as well as pluripotent cells.

Internal Usage of Organic Aloe Vera Products

Internal Usage
Internally, Aloe Vera is used in the following Industries:
1. Natural Health Care Industry (Complementary and Alternative Medicine): The bio-active properties of the Aloe Vera are therapeutic and the plant has a long established reputation in the world of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAMS). It is used for both topical (skin) and internal use.
Used internally it assists people who suffer from health concerns like immune deficiency (HIV, AIDS, flu, low energy, etc), digestive system (health concerns with stomach, intestine, ulcers, etc), cardiovascular concerns (high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels), diabetes (concerns with unstable blood sugar levels), arthritis (joint pain).
Research has also indicated that it is found in products related to animal health care. A lot of the healing properties which work on humans can also be applied to animals.
2. Food & Beverage Industry (Functional Food): In the beverage market, the drinkable juice provides beneficial properties due to its good regulating action in the digestive system and in complementary form for gastritis treatments, ulcers and others. It is also used in drinks for athletes and sportsmen, like tonic and purifier of the organism.
Aloe Vera is known to be used in assisting people with the following health conditions:
Diabetes
Diabetes mellitus is a disorder of carbohydrate metabolism characterized by lowered insulin secretion. Some patients take insulin daily to maintain healthy blood sugar levels and others only watch their diet to ensure that the blood sugar levels are maintained in a healthy way.
The wonder plant cannot replace or cure diabetes but is a great product to supplement diabetic treatments as it contains a large content of glycol-nutrients which will not elevate blood sugar levels and is also highly beneficial in wound healing. Wound healing with diabetic patients is very slow and sometimes in severe cases not present at all.
An early clinical trial in India was conducted where 3000 mildly diabetic patients were fed bread incorporating it's gel - 90% showed a reduction in blood sugar levels. Many studies have been conducted in mice with very favorable results. However, fewer trials have been conducted on humans. Studies that have been conducted on humans have shown that it stimulates insulin secretion and lowers blood sugar down to its normal state.
Immune Deficiency Conditions
It has been shown to be a compound that may help neutralise the HIV by transforming the protein envelope, so it cannot invade human cells. This could help stop the virus from multiplying in the body and thereby helps to keep the immune system stronger. It also helps the absorption of vitamins and other minerals and nutrients. Additionally it lines the abdominal cavity and has been shown to reduce abdominal pains commonly associated with HIV patients.
Currently, more and more research is being conducted into the complimentary treatment of HIV/AIDS sufferers. Carrington laboratories have shown that the glycol-nutrients contained in it stimulate phagocytosis - where the cell can break down invading organisms and enhances antiviral activity of the HIV to produce a defective virus. Previously mentioned Aloe Vera contains, Beta-carotene, Vitamins C, E, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B12, Pyroxidien, Choline and Thiamine - These vitamins are all vital to keep up the immunity of the HIV patient.
Digestive Conditions
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) refers to shifting abdominal pain with alternating constipation and diarrhoea. This is sometimes described as irregular or disturbed bowel function. In earlier times it was called 'spastic colon'.
It has a tonic effect on the intestinal tract and can allow for reduced transit time in the bowel. A very important note, it can improve the bacterial flora with a decrease in the presence of yeasts and a reduction in pH - so with Aloe Vera this is normalized naturally. Tests conducted confirm that bowel putrefaction was reduced and protein digestion and absorption improved with the ingestion of the plant.
Tests conducted by Doctor Jeffrey Bland of the Linus Pauling Institute of Science and Medicine in California confirm that bowel putrefaction was reduced and protein digestion and absorption improved with the ingestion of Aloe Vera. The study involved the results of Aloe Vera on the gastro intestinal tract. There was a faster movement of food through the bowel with better protein digestion and absorption, an increase in water in the stool made it bulkier, and a normalization of stool bacteria, where there had previously been high levels of yeasts in some of the subjects. With such benefits, many of those suffering from I.B.S and Ulcerative Colitis have enjoyed much relief and a reduction in their symptoms, after using Aloe Vera. As Aloe Vera is not a cure for either of these conditions, it has been noted that if the use of Aloe Vera is discontinued, the symptoms will return within a few days.
Cholesterol Conditions
Aloe Vera contains a phyto-sterol/beta-sitosterol. Beta-sitosterol is a competing sterol that will enter the blood. The body can use and break down beta-sitosterol simply with no side effects. As a result the dangerous LDL cholesterol will pass out of the body without doing damage. With time - our body will produce less LDL cholesterol and so the levels will drop.
Natural News states that Aloe Vera Gel improves the quality of blood and helps re-balance the blood chemistry - this in turn lowers cholesterol and total triglyceride levels in people with elevated levels.
In a long term study conducted in Korea in 2003 revealed that the hepatic cholesterol levels significantly increased in a control group during aging versus the group that had been supplementing with Aloe Vera which decreased by more than 30%. The conclusion is that life-long supplementation with Aloe Vera suppressed free-radical oxidation damage and age-related increase in hepatic cholesterol.
High Blood Pressure
Blood pressure is controlled by the balance of Calcium, magnesium and potassium in relation to sodium. Should these ratios be balanced - a large improvement in high blood pressure will occur quickly. Homocysteine - High levels of homocysteine in the blood cause sticky blood or blood cells to clot and these then would also battle to go through blocked arteries.
Homocysteine levels can be reduced by supplementation of Vitamin B12. Vitamin B12 is also one of the components of Aloe Vera. Aloe Vera should decrease these levels, thus blood will then be better able to deliver life giving oxygen to the cells in the body. Aloe Vera also contains Vitamin C and Salicylic acid which will help dilate capillaries and strengthen these capillaries, assisting blood to flow more freely and reduce blood pressure.
Arthritis
Osteoarthritis is common in elderly people and describes a condition in which the cartilage in the joints wears away, inducing pain and stiffness mainly in weight-bearing joints. Rheumatoid arthritis affects the whole body and not just certain joints. It is an inflammatory disease and joints become inflamed.
Aloe Vera is widely known to reduce inflammation and taking it orally will help with both the osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. It is important to note, that for best results, Aloe Vera should be taken both orally and topically in such cases as rheumatoid and osteoarthritis; which will benefit from the anti-inflammatory properties of Aloe Vera - Topically Aloe Vera can be applied directly to the affected joints to reduce pain. Orally, Aloe Vera's anti-inflammatory properties will reduce the inflammation in the body and so the inflammation will subside internally.
Regarding osteoarthritis, Aloe Vera stimulates collagen formation - Collagen makes up cartilage so will help to repair the joints where the cartilage has worn away. By taking Aloe Vera life-long, one could reduce their exposure to the inflammation or the wearing away of the cartilage leading to both forms of arthritis.
External Usage
Commonly, consumers find Aloe Vera ingredients in products like:
Facial and body cleansing and moisturizing products like day & night creams, anti-aging creams, facial wash products and body lotions and scrubs.
After sun, skin burn and laser therapy treatments.
Hair and scalp products like shampoos and conditioners
Skin cleaning products like liquid- and solid soaps, hand creams and bath and shower products.
Deodorants and antiperspirants.
Insect repellent products.
Aloe Vera is therefore used a lot in amenities for the Spa and Hotel Industry.
Natural Health Care Industry (Complementary and Alternative Medicine)
The bio-active properties of the Aloe Vera are therapeutic as well and the plant has a long established reputation in the world of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAMS). The plant is well-known for its trans-dermal properties. It can reach deeper body tissues, allowing it to take all the nutrients of the aloe into the skin. Inflammatory type of skin problems such as eczema, psoriasis, and acne, can benefit from these high transdermal and anti-inflammatory properties. Further results have shown glycol-nutrients act as humectants- a substance that absorbs or helps another substance retain water and moisture. Aloe helps retain moisture in damaged tissue; the penetrating power of Aloe allows water and other moisturizers to sink deeply into the skin, replenishing lost fluids and restoring the fatty layer. Aloe Vera allows uronic acids (which strip toxic materials of their harmful effects) to penetrate deeply, making the cleansing astringent qualities of Aloe more effective.
Aloe Vera is known to be used in assisting people with the following skin conditions:
Skin Burns
Some of the most dramatic results to date are in the treatment of burns. Studies have shown the application of an aloe vera gel can reduce the healing process by one-third the normal time. Aloe Vera is widely used in burn treatment at the trauma centres in California, Illinois, New York and Texas in the US. Aloe Vera possesses the type of enzymatic action that can absorb purulent matter and keep festering sores clean.
Skin Rejuvenation
In studies conducted by Dr Ivan E. Danhof, M.D., Ph.D., president of North Texas Research Laboratories and a retired Professor of Physiology from the University of Texas, the interior gel from Aloe Vera was found to increase production of human fibroblast cells by six to eight times, as compared to normal cell reproduction. Fibroblast cells are found in the dermis of the skin and are responsible for fabricating collagen, the skin's support protein. During sun exposure and through the normal aging processes, fibroblasts slow their collagen production. As aging continues, the quality of collagen is lessened and wrinkling becomes deeper. Dr Danhof found that it improved fibroblast cell integrity and also quickened the making of collagen.
Psoriasis
Studies have shown that aloe in a gel form can be more effective than using a cortisone product on burns and wounds. A recent study also showed that it is more effective in reducing itchiness, burning, inflammation and irritation on psoriasis skin than a 0.1% cortisone type cream.
Seborrhea
This is a fairly common skin condition, leading to oily, red, and scaly eruptions in areas such as the eyebrows, eyelids, nose, ear, upper lip, chest, groin, and chin. A double-blind, placebo-controlled study of 44 individuals found that four to six weeks of treatment with aloe ointment could significantly reduce symptoms of seborrhea.
Eczema
Many users suffering from eczema have also reported that their symptoms reduced, with smoother and softer skin. It is not surprising that Dr Peter Atherton-a leading authority on Aloe Vera and a research Fellow at Oxford University studying the medicinal effects of the plant supports the claims that it can treat damaged eczematous skin.
Acne
Other valuable components found in it, such as Salicylic acid-an important acne treatment-contains anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, and exfoliating properties, valuable components in dealing with painful acne type skin. An added advantage is that Salicylic acid found in it will not dry out acne skin, which is quite common when using other salicylic type of creams.

Polyphenols Promote Health - Found in Whole Fruits and Vegetables

There is a super-food we all should include in our diet. Our ancestors stayed healthy by gathering berries and roots which were a huge part of their diet. The berries contain polyphenols which help our bodies stay healthy in so many ways. They help with digestion, keeping arteries clean, energy, metabolism, and much more. Some foods other than berries that are high in polyphenols are dark chocolate, red wine, red cherries, oranges, onions, cloves, apples, teas and coffee. The trick is to stay away from the sugar that is associated with some of these foods. If you can eat them without then they are apt to do your body good. Polyphenols is a class of nutrients and there are many individual varieties which we need. So just eating blueberries won't get you a full spectrum.
Some things to consider about polyphenols would be:
Polyphenols are powerful micronutrients which help boost energy and keep you healthy. These foods containing super-nutrients in brightly colored food include mulberry, grape seed extract and acai fruit.
They are Metabolic-Enhancing and can help you metabolize food better.
They have been known to Help reduce gas & bloating. Their presence in whole foods with much fiber and other nutrients promotes restoring balance to your digestive system.
Polyphenols, powerful antioxidant chemicals found naturally in many plants, are instrumental in protecting our cells from free radical damage, which are often attributed to chronic illnesses like cancer, heart disease and dementia.
They're linked to longevity.
Because we all want to live long and prosper, we need to eat a plant heavy diet. This will make sure to get plenty of polyphenols in our diet every day. Because these nutrients don't stay in the body long, our diet needs to get them in at every meal to make a difference in our health. Some people want to just take a supplement to provide them with the things they need to do the job. That is fine, but everyone needs to realize that once a day simply will not cut it. Eating polyphenol rich foods every meal and every snack will provide the biggest boost to the body. It is through delivering a steady stream to the body through the whole day that makes the biggest difference.
Let me say that important point again: Eating polyphenol rich foods every meal and every snack will give the biggest boost to the body. That is what makes the difference.
Some of you may be tempted to find the exact polyphenol count in every given food so you can eat the ones that work best. This might be a waste of time. So just because foods are polyphenol-rich, that fact doesn't always mean you'll benefit from its polyphenols. Many foods have complex mixtures of different polyphenols, thus making it impossible to determine the total impact on the body. Some of these factors include sun exposure, storage, cooking methods and ripeness. These conditions can all affect that count, too. You just really need to focus on eating well all of the time and forget the counting.
There are over 8,000 different types of polyphenols. So you probably won't see the word "polyphenol" available in your grocery store on each bottle of pomegranate juice or apple. It may help to look for labels that include subclasses of polyphenols such as
flavonoids , flavonols , and isoflavones .
There are so many of these subclasses and the words may not be familiar to you as you read this. In Wikipedia you will find a good explanation about flavonols that might be helpful. Check Wikipedia for flavonols.
In putting your food together with other foods, be aware that some ingredients will interfere with the absorption of the polyphenols, so it will be wise to not combine them. For instance, the sugar and non dairy creamer added to dark chocolate, coffee and tea are the bad things that keep you from absorbing the good things. Interesting enough, milk is OK.
With citrus, they all are good, but the sweet orange peel contains the highest amount of polyphenols. So add some actual zest to your salads and desserts. The peel is a high source in apples and grapes as well. And, the darker the cherry the higher the polyphenols. They also are way sweeter.
Pay Attention and Eat your way to Health by including Polyphenol Rich Food in EVERY SNACK AND EVERY MEAL. It is fine to get these nutrients in supplements but make sure you are taking them at every meal and every snack to do your body good.

Surprising Healthier Lifestyle Choices You Can Make

If you're thinking about making healthier lifestyle choices, it's could be time to be a case of out with the old and in with the new! So here are some surprisingly easy ways you can improve your well-being and make your habits the healthiest ones ever!
Drink Coffee to Boost Your Mood
We hear a lot about the negative health effects of caffeine, but let's not forget that it has its good points too! There is a link between moderate coffee consumption and improved mood. So if you're feeling like those dark clouds are setting in, try a cup of coffee or two!
Chew Gum to Make You More Alert
Most of us have fallen victim to that afternoon slump, especially after a busy morning in work. But did you know that chewing mint flavoured gum can help to make you feel more awake, reduce feelings of tiredness and improve your concentration levels? It can also work as a stress reliever too!
Stand More and Live Longer
Office workers, beware! Sitting for prolonged periods of time can put you at a higher risk of back pain, heart disease, diabetes and a host of other health problems. It's simple, if you want to give yourself a better chance of a longer life, sit less and stand more! When you're at work, try to introduce five minutes of physical activity every hour and make sure you take regular breaks away from your desk or workstation. Small changes like taking the stairs instead of the lift will also make a big difference to your health.
Stay Clean
Taking money out from a cash machine is something we usually do without thinking too much about it. But do you wash your hands afterwards? Cash machines have been known to contain the same sickness causing bacteria found in some public toilets. You wouldn't touch a toilet seat without scrubbing your hands, would you?
Think Positive
The mind and body are very closely connected, so it's important to think positive. The stresses of life can cause some people to suffer from a low mood, so make sure you do the things that help you to keep thinking positively. Join a class, visit friends, de-clutter the house - anything that keeps your mind in good spirits. The happier you feel, the healthier you'll be!
It's never too late to make healthier lifestyle choices. A few small changes can make a significant positive difference to your health and well-being.
Here's to good health!

Vegan or Non-Veg , It Doesn' t Matter As Long As You Are Eating Healthy

Nutrition is something which is the cry in today's fast running life of work and personal life. The balance creation is very necessary. Food is the fuel which we feed to our body that works like a fuel for it. The fuel must be apt for the body in order to work efficiently and protect us against diseases. Eating healthy is the need of the hour as the fast food culture is making the people fall prey to a lot of diseases. Also, it does lead to a proper diet. People go for them because they are easily accessible, cheap and they do not want to cook food as they are too tired to do that for themselves. But this is just not done!
Getting started!
Investing in your body is just as important as breathing. This article focuses on showing that making healthy food is a very easy job plus it is quick. Within no time you can treat yourself in the most healthy way and tasty way. There are some recipes which are very easy-peasy and will keep your body fit and your soul filled with energy so you work more and achieve your dreams.
Vegan Diet:
High intake of fruits and vegetables in the diet of a person leads to high levels of activeness and longer periods of freshness. The amount of salt, saturated fats and cholesterol are found to be less in amount in vegan diet than the non-vegetarian one. A lot of people contend that vegetarian diet are not complete however that is not true. A balanced diet can be made from the plants, foodgrains and pulses available to the people. There are a number of options available in the vegan diet, which you can choose from. Some of them are Potato Broccoli soup; Asiago roasted Brussels sprouts, salads, Lo Mein, cilantro lime rice, home-made vegan nutella etc.
Non-vegetarian diet:
The diet, which includes all sorts of meat, crabs, fishes, chicken, egg etc. Yes, all the non-vegetarians must have already felt the heat building up in their tummy while reading all these types of options available to them. The amount of energy these foods provide is enormous and the person must work out to burn up the calories accumulated in excess to remain fit. This diet usually contains highly saturated fats and hence the meat should be properly cooked, grilled and barbequed before eating. Eating fish can be of immense importance for a person suffering from high blood pressure as it contains the omega acids and magnesium which will help in lowering the blood pressure. Red meat should be avoided as it contains fats and oils which make your blood thicken. This results in making your heart work more and sometimes lead to blockage of heart. This can be dangerous and proper care must be taken before consuming it. Proper exercise must be done after consuming it. Veggies can be incorporated in the diet.
Combo:
A combination of both the diets will help the person to achieve proper balance in diet. This will ensure nutrition and increased levels of activeness. The body will work in its full efficiency as the benefits of both of the ways get incorporated in diet.

Uses and Benefits of Lemon

Lemon, a citrus fruit when tasted brings a sour expression on your face. Though not consumed separately, the taste of lemon is unique from others. It has many kinds as well - Bonnie Brae, goes in San Diego, USA, Eureka, a common all place lemon, also called Four season because it has the capability to produce fruit and flowers together all year long, Femminello St. Teresa, that is found in Italy, Yen Ben, resident of Australia. Did you know that lemon is a native of Asia. Lemon though comes into the category of fruit, but is a part of every recipe. Be it fruits or salads or chicken or vegetables or fish, lemon could be added in almost everything and bring out a better taste of it. Name one dish whose taste will not be improved after the addition of lemon in it (with tea as an exception). Lemon is an absolute all-rounder with endless benefits. Apart from its culinary qualities lemon can be used in a lot of things.
Lemon is basically the home of Vitamin C. C is the vitamin that your body requires most. It helps in maintaining the functions of the body and regulates immune system. Lemon also produces juices that are needed in digestion.
As it also purifies your blood lemon can be used during cholera and malaria as treatment.
Lemon Juice is also highly recommended by doctors. After a session of workout, drinking lemon water can replenish body salt. It also has anti-bacterial properties.
Lemon juice has also been proved effective in weight loss. Mix lemon juice and honey in a glass of lukewarm water and drink it every day you will soon notice a loss in your weight.
You can use lemon as a preservative for many things like apples, avocado, banana where the acid in the lemon can prevent them from changing color or turning stale. Just apply lemon juice on the sliced parts.
If your rice becomes sticky then just add lemon juice and separate them and make them fresh again. Lemon juice also helps maintaining pH levels in your body.
Lemon zest is also very good for the skin. It lightens skin tones, eliminates scars and pores.
Not only lemon zest, but the leaves of the lemon plant are also very useful. You can use lemon leaves in tea, fishes and other seafood, chicken.
You can use lemon oil for aromatherapy, it will soothe your body and provides relaxation.
Apart from aromatherapy, lemon can be also used to relax your feet. In a bucket take warm water and squeeze lemon into it. You can also add baking soda if you want. Soak your feet in it for 10 to 15 mins. You will feel relaxed and your feet will be softened.
By applying coconut oil mixed with lemon juice you can get rid of dandruff.
The amount of citric acid present in lemon is more than other fruits like grapefruit and orange. Lemon contains two times more citric acid than grapefruit and five times more than orange juice.

Things to Eat While Dieting

Gaining weight is an easy task, but losing weight can show you stars in the morning. It's not a cup of tea for everyone. You have to go the gym, exercise regularly, control your food which is the worst. You workout and after that, you get a food craving, but you can only eat selected things. Here are a few dishes that you can eat while dieting that will fill you up and suppress your cravings.
Whole Eggs - Eggs are very fulfilling without much eating, are high in protein and nutrients, and contains healthy fats. It also helps in building muscles. Hunger can be satiated by whole eggs and it does not increase weight as well. If you have eggs for breakfast you will not feel the need for a snack before lunch. There is a myth about eggs that they raise the number of calories but it is wrong. On the contrary Whole eggs burn more calories and reduce food cravings. You can consume up to 2 eggs a day while on a diet.
Apples - "An apple a day keeps the doctor away". Plus apples have the potential to keep fat away as well. Apples do have calories, but it is also filled with water and fiber which makes you feel full and is also efficient in reducing hunger pangs. The amount of pectin is high in apples which combined with water restricts your cells to absorb only a certain level of fat. Many doctors will suggest you include apple in your diet if you are in the process of losing weight. If you consume apple an hour and so before mealtime, you will find yourself cutting out on our intake.
Avocado - Avocado is an all-rounder. You can have them any time with anything, be it salads or main course. They are rich in nutrients and healthy fats. They also help in reducing fats, improves vision, benefits your heart. It also has the capacity to reduce food cravings. It is found out in researches that Avocado lowers cholesterol, reduces belly fat. It is the perfect food to consume during weight reduction. You should maintain an average of 1 Avocado per day. Avocado includes Vitamin K, Vitamin E, Potassium, Folate, Vitamin C, Copper, Magnesium, and antioxidants.
Bananas - Bananas are the home of potassium and starch that helps in weight loss. After your workout session if you consume bananas then it will fill all the nutrition needs at that time. Apart from diet benefits bananas can solve your digestion issues. They maintain your blood pressure, eliminating the risks of it shooting up or down. And studies have proven it also prevent strokes in women above 30.
Brown Rice - Brown rice resistant starch, which is a healthy carbohydrate that burn body fat. Brown rice looks after your heart health also. It's low in calories and makes you feel filled after consuming. It is also considered much healthier than white rice as it has provided more benefits to your body than white rice.

Spinal Cord - How Is It Formed?

The brain and spinal cord are important parts of the neural tube, which develop from the embryonic cells. During the formation of the neural tube, the morphogen gradients situated in the anti parallel position regulate the development of the system. When the cells of the vertebrae mature with a variety of cells, they lie in a pattern of Dorsal-Ventral. The design and texture of the Dorsal-Ventral Pattern vary from individual to individual. However, it's morphogen gradients, which decide the position of each cell in a living organism through the pattern formation. The morphogens are able to provide apt information about the vertabrea at the top of their gradients. But, they are incapable of providing the exact information about the neural tube in the middle.
The Functions of Morphogen
Morphogens develop a graded distribution; instill cells with appropriate cellular responses. The substance can comprise intracellular factors, and also extracellular factors. It is responsible in determining the location or position of an individual cell.
How Morphogen Gradients Influence the Pattern Formation of the Neural Tube
Two proteins such as Sonic Hedgehog (Shh) and Bone Morphogenetic proteins (BMP) develop anti parallel Morphogen gradient and the Dorsal-Ventral axis. And therefore, both the substances are responsive to the protein signaling from Shh and BMP. Whereas positional information is concerned, the apt and accurate information is largely dependent on the antiparllel gradients of the morphogen as opposed to the single gradient. And the antiparallel morphogen gradient cannot function solely without the integration of the protein duo such as Shh and BMP.
Validating the Truth of Pattern Formation of the Neural Tube
Shh and BMP work as precursors to establish the pattern formation in the neural tube in the vertebrae. To validate the statement, a study has been conducted in the neural tube of the developing mouse. A compound was used to measure the Shh and BMP signaling features. The phosphorylated Smad1/5/8 was assumed as BMP signaling data, while Shh signaling got the transcriptional reporter identification
During the first 30h of the formation of vertebrae, the levels of two of the proteins remained unchanged from the distance of its source. However, a little later, the gradients became contracted. This emphasized that two signaling proteins stayed in their greatest distance during the formation phase at the earliest. Later on, the distances between the gradients shrank with the increase in size of the tissues.
The Key functions of the Signaling Gradients
In order to provide precise information about the positional identities of the neural tube along the axis of the Dorsal-Ventral, the signal gradients must compose of accurate positional data.
With a positional error, when one cell is closer to the morphogen source, the proteins are incapable of offering accurate positional information about the neural tube throughout the DV axis. But, after 30h the levels of the proteins decreased in the middle of the Dorsal-Ventral axis. The positional error increases when the proteins remain less than 20 cell diameter from the morphogen source. However, when both the proteins remain at more than 3 cells diameter at 5h around the DV axis much before their developing stage, they offer the correct location wise information.
Gene Regulatory Networks
Another way to decide the positional pattern of the neural tube is gene regulatory transcriptional networks. They are the most reliable technique to have a clear understanding about the positional information involving the neural tube. In the developing mice, these networks collect information from the disputing gradients for neural progenitors. The network is capable of integrating two data sources to provide accurate information of the location about the developing tissues.
Neural tube is the key structure of the spinal cord and brain. And on its functions, the formation of spinal cord depends a lot.

Baking Soda to the Rescue With These 6 Problems

 Baking soda is not just an ingredient you use in your cooking efforts to make the best chocolate chip cookies. Believe it or not, this item has a ton of uses in home cleaning, which you will do well to consider the next time you are engaged in any such activity. It is an excellent abrasive, which is quite effective and also gentle enough. It possesses superb deodorising properties and can easily be your go-to solution for some cleaning emergencies. Here are some of the uses you should know about:
Remove bad odours from a fridge - if you are worried that last night's yummy but smelly fish dish will leave a lasting scent in your fridge, you should know that baking soda is the solution to this problem. It can absorb any negative smells in the refrigerator so that they don't linger inside and transfer to other foods in the area.
Clean stains from plastic food containers - food leftovers usually leave a mark on food containers. To clean them, you must wipe with a sponge and the soda. Alternatively, you can remove stains by soaking them in a solution of 4 tbsp. baking soda with a quart of warm water. That is a quick and scrub-free method of cleaning plastic containers.
Scrub kitchen surfaces - keeping kitchen surfaces clean is a must since that is where you prepare your food. You will be happy to learn that pretty much every area in there can be cleaned with the aid of baking soda. When you combine it with water, you can pretty much deal with the gunk on stainless steel sinks, cooking utensils, range hood, microwave and other small appliances as well as countertops. Baking soda sure is quite universal.
Deal with greasy pans and dishes - when your cooking efforts result in a mess; you can quickly deal with the aftermath. Baked-on food can be addressed with a pinch of it and dish soap. Pretty much all you need to dissolve the greasy stains is a hot water soak of dirty items, a scrub sponge and some baking soda. Well, some elbow grease as well.
Remove musty smell from upholstery - if your soft furnishings have developed an unpleasant musty smell, it is time to banish it with it. Sprinkle a generous amount of soda on the surfaces and let it sit for 15 minutes. Then, vacuum up the area. It works like a charm on your mattress too! You can also use it to remove strong odours from pet beds, as a safe alternative to any other cleaning solution out there.
Freshen smelly shoes - your gym class shoes may not be the most pleasant thing in the world, but you can still freshen them by sprinkling some soda inside. Tap out any amount of soda before wearing them again, or use the vacuum cleaner.
As you can see, baking soda is quite versatile in cleaning multiple areas of your home. It is up to you to include this fantastic solution in your cleaning rounds - it is cheap and eco-friendly!

Baking Soda to the Rescue With These 6 Problems

 Baking soda is not just an ingredient you use in your cooking efforts to make the best chocolate chip cookies. Believe it or not, this item has a ton of uses in home cleaning, which you will do well to consider the next time you are engaged in any such activity. It is an excellent abrasive, which is quite effective and also gentle enough. It possesses superb deodorising properties and can easily be your go-to solution for some cleaning emergencies. Here are some of the uses you should know about:
Remove bad odours from a fridge - if you are worried that last night's yummy but smelly fish dish will leave a lasting scent in your fridge, you should know that baking soda is the solution to this problem. It can absorb any negative smells in the refrigerator so that they don't linger inside and transfer to other foods in the area.
Clean stains from plastic food containers - food leftovers usually leave a mark on food containers. To clean them, you must wipe with a sponge and the soda. Alternatively, you can remove stains by soaking them in a solution of 4 tbsp. baking soda with a quart of warm water. That is a quick and scrub-free method of cleaning plastic containers.
Scrub kitchen surfaces - keeping kitchen surfaces clean is a must since that is where you prepare your food. You will be happy to learn that pretty much every area in there can be cleaned with the aid of baking soda. When you combine it with water, you can pretty much deal with the gunk on stainless steel sinks, cooking utensils, range hood, microwave and other small appliances as well as countertops. Baking soda sure is quite universal.
Deal with greasy pans and dishes - when your cooking efforts result in a mess; you can quickly deal with the aftermath. Baked-on food can be addressed with a pinch of it and dish soap. Pretty much all you need to dissolve the greasy stains is a hot water soak of dirty items, a scrub sponge and some baking soda. Well, some elbow grease as well.
Remove musty smell from upholstery - if your soft furnishings have developed an unpleasant musty smell, it is time to banish it with it. Sprinkle a generous amount of soda on the surfaces and let it sit for 15 minutes. Then, vacuum up the area. It works like a charm on your mattress too! You can also use it to remove strong odours from pet beds, as a safe alternative to any other cleaning solution out there.
Freshen smelly shoes - your gym class shoes may not be the most pleasant thing in the world, but you can still freshen them by sprinkling some soda inside. Tap out any amount of soda before wearing them again, or use the vacuum cleaner.
As you can see, baking soda is quite versatile in cleaning multiple areas of your home. It is up to you to include this fantastic solution in your cleaning rounds - it is cheap and eco-friendly!

Knee Replacement Cost Guide

Knee replacement surgery has become quite common and more affordable in the last few years. It is now considered as a safe option for people with severe osteoarthritis of the knee joint. This is especially a boon for patients who have end-stage arthritis of the knee.
The constant increase in the number of patients undergoing knee surgery surgery can be attributed to a number of reasons, including the following:
Increased affordability: Now a greater number of patients prefer to opt for knee replacement surgery because the cost of implants has decreased significantly in the recent past.
Range of implants available: Thanks to advancements in medical technology, there are a number of knee implants available today to fulfill the individual needs of the patients. From implants with 180 and 360 degrees motion to 3D-printed knee implants, there is nothing that isn't available to benefit patients with different severity of osteoarthritis.
Improved surgical outcomes: Open knee replacement is a thing of the past. Now, several new technologies are available that offer greater benefits and ensures positive outcomes. Thanks to minimally invasive technology, surgery is not that painful anymore. Nor does it take weeks of hospitalization for the patient to recover.
But still, the cost of knee surgery in the Western countries continues to remain on the higher side. For patients in such countries who wish to undergo affordable knee surgery, flying to the top medical tourism destination is an option. Some of these medical tourism hotspots for knee replacement include India, Thailand, and Turkey.
The Average Cost of Knee Replacement: Top Countries
The average cost of knee surgery in the Western countries may start from $30000. Further, it is seen that the cost of knee replacement surgery varies not only from country to country but within a country or a city as well. This is especially true about the US.
For example, the knee surgery cost in Dallas, US, may vary between $16,772 and $61,585, depending on the hospital. Paying a higher price for a procedure does not necessarily mean that the quality that the hospital offers to the patient is any better than the hospital that is less expensive.
There are several factors that can be attributed to the disparity between the pricing of the same procedure within the same city. Competition, state taxes, location, and the level of free care provided by the hospital are some of them.
The cost of knee replacement in India, Turkey, Mexico, Thailand, and Taiwan, on the other hand, is much more reasonable than in the Western countries. The cost drops by as much as 50 to 80 percent in these countries. This explains the patient mindset when they decide to travel to the overseas to get knee implants.
Type, Material, and Manufacturer of Implant
There are different types and material of knee implants available today to choose from. Each implant has a specific purpose and is most suitable for a specific patient group. For example, older adults can manage everyday activities with an implant that allows flexion of 110 degrees. However, younger adults may need a high-flex knee implant because of an excessive activity level.
Cobalt chromium alloy, titanium alloy, oxidized zirconium, and polyethylene implants are commonly available nowadays. Each implant material has specific pros and cons associated with them. They vary in terms of pricing, use, availability, and longevity.
Type of Surgery
An individual is either recommended to undergo (TKR) or partial knee replacement. The difference lies in the portion of the knee joint replaced during the procedure. The duration of hospitalization and the recovery period in the case of TKR is greater than that of partial replacement. Therefore, there is a direct impact on the total cost that the patient has to shell out of his pocket for the procedure.
Type of Hospital
Hospitals with the most advanced infrastructure and state-of-the-art technologies tend to charge higher than other hospitals. This is despite the fact that the experience and the qualifications of the surgeon handling the case could be the same. The cost also depends on the location of the hospital. Centrally-located and easily accessible hospitals are expensive than remotely located ones.
Experience of the Surgeon
The cost of knee surgery also depends on how experienced the surgeon is. Surgeons with vast experience are the most sought after. In fact, it has been scientifically proved that surgeons who perform more than 50 TKR a year have less than one-third complications rate as compared to those who perform less than 50 TKR per year.
Most patients prefer to be treated by a surgeon who is experienced. But there is an extra price that they must pay for it.
Rehabilitation Cost
Rehabilitation after surgery includes physiotherapy, which is conducted at an extra cost. The doctors usually advise the candidate to undergo physiotherapy for at least 6 to 12 weeks for better outcomes and pain relief. Each session of physical therapy may cost anywhere between $20 and $350, depending on the country where you are getting treated. Rehabilitation is an important aspect of recovery after knee replacement. Therefore, patients must take into consideration these expenses while planning for the surgery.
Incidental Costs
The patient may have to incur incidental costs in case of any complication. Additionally, the costs may increase when the duration of stay inside the ICU post surgery is extended. Like any other surgery, there are certain complications associated as well. Post-surgical infection delayed wound healing, deep vein thrombosis (DVT), and pulmonary embolism are some of the examples. The management of such conditions has an impact on the overall cost.
Other Costs
Unanticipated care and management of a pre-existing condition may add to the total bill amount.
The greater the number of days you spend at the hospital, the bigger is the billing amount.
Cost of private or single accommodation is greater than shared or multi-bedded accommodation.
Follow-up visits after discharge from the hospital cost extra.
Loss of earning resulting out of hospital stay and impact of surgery may add to the financial burden.
Tips To Choose A Hospital Overseas For Knee Surgery
Choose the country wisely. Countries that offer cheaper treatment do not necessarily compromise with the quality of medical services.
Choose the surgeon wisely. Do not choose someone who is experienced but charges a whopping amount.
Choose a surgeon whose clinic is less crowded. Surgeons who are hugely popular tend to remain busy and spend less time per patient. This may hinder personalized care that you may desire to have.
Seek help from a hospital or a medical tourism facilitator to arrange for additional needs. This may include accommodation, local travel, translator services, and hospital transfer.
Check the credibility of the hospital online before selecting one. Look for patient testimonials and Google reviews.
Check the accreditation of the hospital. Prefer to choose a hospital that is certified by Joint Commission International (JCI).
Ask for all the information beforehand about the type of implants that will be used. Also, ask for a detailed profile of the surgeon who will conduct the surgery.
Seek an estimate for potential costs associated with airline tickets, hotel, food, and other expenses.

Fail -Safe Tips For Deep Sleep - One Is Bound To Work For You

When drifting off is a struggle, it may seem like one of life's greatest frustrations. It needn't. In most cases, choices made during the day can have a big impact on whether going to sleep is a pleasure or a nightmare.
At least one in five people have difficulty in getting to sleep at night. A small number of them visit their family doctors for help. Many thousands more suffer in silence.
Sleeplessness is not only one of the commonest - and most worrying - of all medical problems, it is also one of the problems about which there are the greatest number of myths.
For example, many people seem convinced that they must get at least eight hours sleep every night.
That's simply not true. There is no firm rule about how much sleep we all need. Some people only feel comfortable when they have had 10 hours sleep. Others, like Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, manage perfectly well on four hours' sleep a night.
It's also important to remember that we all need less sleep as we get older.
A second myth is that if you have a sleepless night, then you'll have to sleep twice as along the following night to make up for it - and avoid damaging your health.
The fact is that if you get just two hours sleep before going off to work then the worst that will happen is that you'll feel tired! And you should be able to recover completely by having an extra couple of hours' sleep the following night.
Many of the unfortunate millions who suffer from insomnia could solve their problem completely if only they knew a little more about the common causes of sleeplessness - so, here are some of the reasons why people can't sleep, together with the solutions.
STRESS
If you go to bed thinking about the day's problems and worrying about the things you have to sort out tomorrow then you're bound to have difficulty in sleeping.
Writing down your problems will help take them off your mind. So, make a full list of your worries. Then put the list on one side and spend an hour relaxing in front of the TV before you go to bed.
MEDICINES
Prescribed pills often keep people awake. Drugs used for heart disease, high blood pressure and asthma commonly cause sleeplessness. Ask your doctor if he can change your prescription. Remember, too, that 50 per cent of people who can't sleep are kept awake because they drink tea or coffee last thing at night. Caffeine is a powerful stimulant. Tobacco is another possible cause of sleeplessness and, although a single nightcap might help you sleep, too much alcohol will definitely cause insomnia.
PAIN
If you are kept awake by pain, then ask your doctor for help. If he can't help you then ask for a second option.
CRAMP
Cramps keep many people awake. You can keep cramp at bay by using this simple exercise. Stand barefoot one yard away from a wall. Lean forward until your hands touch the wall, but keep your heels on the floor. Hold the position for 10 seconds and repeat it once. Do the exercise three times a day for a week and then every night before you go to bed.
DEPRESSION
When depression and sleeplessness go together, it is the depression that needs a doctor's treatment.
HUNGER
If you are kept awake by hunger, then have a bite. Don't have anything too hot, rich or spicy. A hot milk drink will probably be best. Remember, too, that if you are slimming you may have difficulty in sleeping. A low blood sugar will keep you awake. A very low-calorie late-night snack might help.
NOISE
If you are kept awake by noise, try soundproofing your bedroom with bookshelves and double glazing. Or try wearing ear plugs. They take a little getting used to, but work very well and are recommended for shift workers who have to try and sleep during the day.
Finally, it's worth remembering that you won't be able to get to sleep if you're not tired.
If you've dealt with all these problems and you still have difficulty in getting to sleep at night, then follow this special bedtime regime:
1. Relax your body thoroughly before getting into bed. Take a good brisk walk for 10 to 15 minutes. Think through your day's problems and write down all your worries in a notebook. Keep it by your side and every time a new problem pops into your head, write it down.
2. Have a soothing, warm bath for 15 minutes.
3. Go to bed with a relaxing book or magazine. Try to keep something relaxing for bedtime reading. And have a spare book ready.
4. When you turn off the light, close your eyes and try to transport yourself to somewhere beautiful, relaxing and warm. Imagine, for example, that you're lying alone on a peaceful, sunny beach. Try to hear the waves on the shore and the sound of seagulls high overhead.
5. This simple regime will probably send you to sleep within minutes. But if you can't get to sleep, don't lie there fretting. Get up, sit in a comfortable chair and read your book again. Make yourself a hot, milky drink. Then go back to bed when you start yawning.
There are millions hits on the internet search drive for Wellness - from mental to physical health, cardiac fitness, cancer, yoga, how to overcome certain ailments such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity, stoke, and tips on weight loss and how to grow taller, with many other ideas getting honorable mention. It takes quite a bit of research to find any one site that has so much to offer on all these fronts, let alone one that can combine all the needs for your innermost wellness - joy, bliss and beyond. For wellness' sake you can stop looking out there, and take some time for yourself, a sort of one-stop-shop: BalancedLifestyleWikipedia.

Not Sure How to Have a Healthy Life ? Here You Can Get Some Ideas

What is the most beautiful think we possess? It's life... that needs extra care and love. But, we usually fail to take maximum care of it. Rather emphasize on having an unhealthy lifestyle which naturally leads to complicated health problems. Though, it is a desire of every individual to have a fit body and mind, but we take things for granted. Having a positive mindset along with a healthy lifestyle can surely increase your life span.
We have grown up listening to "health is wealth " but most of us are now running after the materialistic world while ignoring their health. It's a fact that having a healthy lifestyle would definitely demand a lot of restrictions in life, but isn't it worth doing?
A well-balanced living
You must have seen the change in yourself when you encounter different emotions. Staying happy can bring a positive attitude in life and can make you capable of handling tasks conveniently. Having stress in your life can restrict from enjoying every moment of life and also have a negative impact on health.
Take out some time for yourself and maintain a healthy schedule. Get indulged into some creative work which can help to reduce stress:
Every week allot a time for yourself to de-stress and every day spend some time to relax
Why don't you devote some time to your hobby? Learn something new that excites you
Laugh... laugh... and laugh as much as you can! This can definitely help to de-stress, boost up your mind and improve mood
Wake up early morning and have a cup of coffee. Now spend some time in a quite environment
A few tips to follow
"The groundwork for all happiness is good health" and having an active life is essential to make sure that you live your life to the fullest. But, the question is how can you have an active living? Though there are many people around who might think of having a healthy life, but lack of guidance restrict them from having one. So, here are a few tips which can help you in achieving the target:
Have a change in routine : Following the same line of exercise can be monotonous, so it's important that you have a variation in it. Why don't you try swimming or a bike riding... as this would not only help you in maintaining health, but will also motivate in workout.
Involve in an activity you enjoy : If you don't like jogging, just drop the idea of doing so! Take a brisk walk instead or if you are a dance lover definitely give a try to zumba session. You just need to enjoy the workout and nothing else!
Revive the metabolism: An aerobic session of 30 minutes three times a week will revive your metabolism. Having lack of time can give you option to break up the activity and make it a daily routine.
Maintain a balance in life. Have patience to reach the goal and then you will no longer be a part of unhealthy lifestyle.
Dietary guidelines for a healthy life
A healthy diet can certainly uplift your health and a good health improves mental status. Everything seems to be related and so staying updated with necessary dietary measures can allow having an active and improved life.
Use salt in moderate amount though it is usually advice to stop the intake of salt and sugar
Enjoy variety of foods for a balanced diet
Include lots of vegetables and fruits in your diet plan and these food should be safe and clean
Do exercise daily so that an ideal body weight is maintained
Include low-fat and high protein food in diet such as low-fat milk, fish, pulses and lean meat
Do not overeat as this can lead to obesity
Make sure that you adopt the right cooking style. Make minimum use of oil and avoid having fried food. For elderly people, micronutrient rich foods are the best to keep them fit and active. Say "No" to processed food and animal foods such as butter, ghee etc.
A healthy lifestyle is a need of every individual, but the fast pace of our lives really make things impossible. But, still try to avoid food that is rich in carbohydrates. Office goers sometimes might fail to do workouts, but you can definitely avoid lifts while reaching your office. Use staircase or get down from the cab and have a walk of 2kms to reach to your destiny. You can try out a few things to keep yourself healthy!

Include Cashews In Your Diet To Get The Following Health Benefits

It is no secret, small size cashews are loved by everyone. Its salty and sweet taste tingle the taste buds of everyone. They are also the overloaded with essential nutrients, which are the important requirement of the body. The powerful nutrients in it promote the heart health, normal functioning of the brain, maintain digestion, and much more. Again the question that hits in everyone's mind is how the small size cashews are the powerhouse of many nutrients? Here is the answer.
The cashews consist of minerals like Copper, Manganese, Zinc, and Phosphorus; let's see how they are essential for the human body.
Copper: This mineral is very important for the production of haemoglobin. Haemoglobin is the protein in the RBC's (red blood cell). RBC's are responsible to carry the oxygen to the tissue in your body. The deficiency of haemoglobin will make the life suffer a lot. You may come across with health disorder like Anemia, Pale Skin, Fatigue, short of breath, Dizziness, Cold Hands, Brittle Nails, and Headache. Taking a hand full of cashews in your daily diet will maintain the number of RBC's in your body and help you to live a healthy life.
Manganese : This nutrient is the stem of the normal health system in many ways. Manganese helps enzymes carrying out their normal function in the body. Enzymes activities are very important for the digestion of food in the stomach. This nutrient also maintains the heart health by metabolizing carbohydrates, protein, and cholesterol.
Potassium : Potassium is very essential for the bone and teeth health. This is true that bone health is maintained with the calcium and phosphorous. Potassium is the mineral that maintains the balance between both calcium and phosphorous. To build up the strong bone system, so that you don't suffer from the bone-related problem in future, you must eat cashew nut every day in limited amount to strengthen your bone structure.
Zinc : This mineral is referred by many nutritionists because it is mostly missed in the diet. This mineral aids the immune system. This mineral helps to produce immunoglobulin in the body, which is responsible to fight against the foreign body. Zinc also supports reproductive health among the male.
These are some extravagant benefits that are provided by the small size cashew nut, which can improve the quality of your life. After learning about the incredible health benefits of having cashews, don't forget to make them a part of your diet, as it may improve your health.

The Health Benefits of Biophilia

Biophilia refers to the love that a person may have for nature and all the natural processes that take place in nature. Biophilia suggests that all individuals are connected to nature as a result of their genetics. The connection between individuals and their natural surroundings is created as a result of thousands of years of surviving in an agrarian setting.
Biophilia was first brought to the scene by psychologists Edward Wilson in the 80s after observing how modernization and urbanization were causing people to lose their connection to nature. As technology continues to become commonplace in today's contemporary society, the importance of Biophilia today cannot be overemphasized.
Why is Biophilia important and relevant today?
Stress-related diseases such as anxiety and depression, as well as other health disorders such as stroke, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases can be diminished if individuals increase their connection to nature. The increasing pressure brought about by technology leaves us little time and opportunity to recuperate the mental and physical energy that we utilize throughout the day.
Incorporating elements if nature directly or indirectly to your physical environment has demonstrated through research to have a considerable effect in helping to reduce stress levels, your blood pressure, stabilize the heart rate, increase productivity and lead to a general feeling of improvement in your wellbeing.
The health benefits of Biophilia
When you nurture your soul in nature, it can have a significant impact on your mind, body, and soul. Some of the benefits of Biophilia include:
Combat the effects of urbanization
Biophilia is important today because as the contemporary world continues to become more urbanized, it has emerged that integrating Biophilic features into our day to day lives can help to combat the effects of urbanization. Biophilic components are designed to mimic patterns, colors, textures and forms of nature, which can be practical since half of the world's population will be located in urban centers.
Improved health
Increasing biophilic elements in the workplace and at home has shown to benefit one's health. For instance, having a large window that can offer individuals views of nature can result in improved rates of recovery from stress and faster recovery from anxiety and depression. Views of nature can also lead to increased concentration levels and it can have serious implications for healing.
Enhanced moods
Biophilia has proven effective to enhance moods. Doing something as simple as taking a walk around the neighborhood can have considerable effects on boosting your moods. Biophilia can be used alongside existing treatments to increase their effectiveness.

A Healthy Lifestyle Is Not a New Year Resolution, It' s a Discipline

A healthy lifestyle from the start will decide how you will be in your midlife and beyond. However it won't happen unless you make the right choices. Work out, eat healthy, sleep well and you will set yourself on the path to success. After about 40, most people have achieved biological adulthood, which is a nicer way to saying you have boarded the slow train to your inevitable mortality. You will start to realize the slow and gradual decline in your response to bodily activities and the resulting resistance in your bodily functions.
Eating unhealthy processed food, irregular sleep pattern and inactivity create low level inflammatory response in your body. This inflammation gradually increases overtime, contributing directly to the germination of every major disease plaguing mankind - obesity, diabetes, heart disease, fatty liver disease, just to name a few.
The first and foremost thing to focus on is Nutrition - what you eat. Add lots of green leafy vegetables, whole grains, organic poultry, dairy and fruits in your daily diet. Keep your body hydrated. Drink plenty of water and raw fruit juice as fluids help keeping body temperature low and removes toxins through perspiration (sweat) and excretion (urine). Keep a balanced share of carbohydrate, protein, good fats and minerals. These small changes in your diet will contribute to your overall wellbeing. Cut back unhealthy fats from your diet slowly and target on stopping to consume them completely. Unhealthy fats include: dark chicken meat, poultry skin, fatty pork cuts, beef and lamb and high-fat dairies include whole milk, butter and cheese. Common ways to cut back on unhealthy fats are listed below:
Instead of frying meat, Bake / Grill / Broil it. Don't forget to take the skin off before cooking chicken or turkey
Instead of butter and cheese on bread, use low fat spreads or slices of tomatoes on it to enhance the flavour
Instead of scrambled eggs, eat boiled / soft-boiled eggs. Garnish with a pinch of salt and black pepper to taste best
Instead of using sugar in patisseries and desserts, use organic honey to satisfy your sweet bud and stay healthy
When it comes to a healthy lifestyle, the importance of sleep is worth discussing. Get yourself adequate sleep, because internal healing and tissue repair happen only when you sleep. Sleep deficiency contributes to an increased risk of cardio-vascular disease, kidney disease, brain damage etc. Sleep deprivation lowers the metabolic rate of your body, which is linked to weight gain. Studies show that sleep deprived individuals have higher levels of Ghrelin, the hormone which stimulates appetite and lower levels of Leptin, the hormone which suppresses appetite. Hence, good sleepers tend to intake fewer calories.
The last, but definitely not the least is the importance of regular exercise when it comes to a healthy and active lifestyle. No matter which age group you belong to, it is advisable and wise to include a minimum 30 minutes of workout / physical activity of moderate intensity such as running, brisk walking on most, if not all days of the week. As humans, we spend far too much time in our synthetic environment, disconnected from the outside world. This disconnect poses a serious threat to our health and general wellness. Think of your body as a complex machine, which houses equally complex parts (bones) and sub systems (organs) inside. If you let it sit idle, the parts and the sub systems will lose movement capability and eventually get rusted. A few tips to incorporate exercise in your daily routine:
Prioritize physical activity
Make it fun
Get a partner
Keep a track of results
Set milestones
All these factors put together, will bring noticeable change in your lifestyle and wellbeing. Some changes will happen quickly, some will be gradual. But overall, you will feel the positive change in your health - mind, body and soul.

This Is The First Thing You Should Do If You Have A Blood Clot In Your Leg

So, you've got a blood clot in your leg. It's a heavy sentence that causes a lot of worry about one's health. Blood clots are nothing to take lightly, but it is important to know that if your doctor indicates that you're dealing with a blood clot in your leg, you need to be focused on hearing what the next steps are in addressing the issue.
Maintaining your focus when you know you're dealing with a blood clot in your leg is easier said than done. Your first inclination will be to get online and look-up something on the more popular medicine sites & see what you've got to look forward to. Unfortunately, you're getting a very incomplete picture. What's more, the levels of misinformation that exist out there can lead you to make poor decisions about your health, and that's never good. Contrary to what you may have heard, a blood clot is not an immediate death sentence.
If you suspect that you have a blood clot in your leg, here's the first thing you should do - go to the emergency room immediately. The emergency department of your local hospital is trained in getting right to work, which means you won't be wasting time in your treatment.
It's important to know that blood clots don't just happen such as what one might experience in a thrombotic storm, a condition in which more than one blood clot occurs in a short period of time. These clots occur in different and sometimes unusual locations. It's aggressive, difficult to treat, and there's not much information out there to go on.
When you head to the emergency room, be sure to have a record of the medicine you take and the reasons why you take it. Physicians will want to know the ins and outs of what you're working with in terms of medication, which can inform them as to the best course of action for your treatment. Also, have a working knowledge of your family medical history. It may seem like overkill, but every bit of information is helpful.
You're going to be dealing with a number of medical professionals in the emergency room. Doctors, nurses, CNAs, and more will be coming in and out of your space. You'll also have a lot of information zipping past you. Do not hesitate in asking as many questions as you want. You have the right to be informed about what is happening and why.
The time will come when it must be determined if you'll be admitted to the hospital for further treatment or sent home. The truth is that every patient is different, which means that there's no real definitive answer. That said, doctors will usually err on the side of caution so that you can receive the "all clear" before heading home. The last thing you'd want is for something potentially dangerous to be missed.
Being told that you have a blood clot in your leg is not something anyone wants to hear, but the best thing you can do is not panic. If you suspect you have a blood clot in your leg, get to the emergency room. Once there, it can be a little scary, but focus & be an active participant in your treatment.