BiOrbe. Armonía consciente

Follow this advice the next time you drink—and feel fantastic the next day Just finished a night of boozing? Put down the slice of pizza. Eating food or drinking non-alcoholic beverages in hopes that it’ll absorb some of the alcohol while you sleep may have no effect on your hangover the next day, according to research from the Netherlands. The scientists surveyed college students, and found that 69 percent of them suffered from hangovers after a night of partying. And the hangovers of those who ate and drank before going to bed were just as severe as those students who didn’t fill their bellies before climbing under the covers. It all comes down to timing, says Aaron White, Ph.D., of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. If you wait to eat or drink water until the night is over, the damage is already done. All of the alcohol you consumed has already made its way into your body, so adding food or drink on top of it won’t affect how it’s absorbed, he expl...

What depression looks like More than 5 million men in the U.S. experience depression each year. Clinical depression—in women or men—can cause sadness and a loss of interest in once pleasurable activities. But depression can sometimes manifest in different ways in different people. "While the symptoms used to diagnose depression are the same regardless of gender, often the chief complaint can be different among men and women" says Ian A. Cook, MD, the Miller Family professor of psychiatry at the University of California–Los Angeles.

Un consumo importante de alcohol puede derivar en problemas serios para la salud como alteraciones en el hígado (cirrosis), inflamaciones del páncreas (pancreatitis), cánceres del aparato digestivo, y problemas psicológicos y sociales (1).    

There’s also some skepticism on the part of mainstream experts about amino acid supplements in particular. Some endocrinologists argue that, when taken orally, they never make it past the blood-brain barrier and so have no effect. “It’s called the placebo effect,” says one endocrinologist drily. Other experts are on the fence, waiting for further research. Endocrinologist Anthony Karpas of Atlanta argues that the actions of certain amino acids, such as tryptophan, are well-known and that these remedies have real potential. When it comes to viewing alcoholism as a brain chemistry problem, though, the tide of mainstream medical opinion is clearly turning. Last year the National Institutes of Health (NIH)’s Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism announced a five-year initiative to study the brain chemistry that underlies alcoholism. The NIH has also held several workshops that included presentations on using fatty acids to treat alcoholism. Another encouraging development is the r...

How Nutritional Therapy for Alcoholism Works The cornerstone of the Nutritional approach is to reduce the body’s dependence on the simple carbohydrates that, like alcohol, convert quickly to sugar in the bloodstream: white bread, pasta, rice, and many baked goods. Relying on such refined carbs, nutritional advocates say, promotes the same blood sugar highs and lows that alcohol does, which can stoke the desire to drink. What’s more, alcoholics often respond to the steady infusion of sugar into their bodies by overproducing insulin, which then removes dangerously high amounts of sugar from the blood. Plummeting blood sugar, known as hypoglycemia, can lead to anxiety, irritability, and cravings—anything to get sugar, or, in this case, alcohol, back in the bloodstream. The anti-alcohol diet emphasizes high-protein foods rich in amino acids. Substituting protein for simple carbohydrates helps break the vicious cycle of blood sugar cravings, and the amino acids are key to brain function....

Nutrition therapy, could it be the key to treating alcoholism? Learn about nutrition treatment for alcoholics and how it differs from traditional alcoholism treatment. AA Meetings Weren't Enough By the time Kathi Tuff finally discovered the treatment method that ended her dependence on alcohol, she’d been binge drinking for 23 of her 37 years and in and out of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) for 13. “I remember being 15 and having guzzling contests with a group of guys at the local pizza joint and winning,” says Tuff, who started drinking in the ninth grade. “I could drink anyone under the table.” Tuff first went into rehab in 1989 at the age of 24, but found recovery a series of false starts. “I’d binge for three weeks, then white-knuckle it. I always wanted to drink,” she says. She fought depression, cravings, and constant emotional pain. AA meetings helped, but not enough.  “I was sober for ten years until 1999, when I really messed up,” she says. The pain of a tough divorce weaken...