WOMEN AND THE BEST FOODS

Each and every woman should bear in mind that what you eat would clearly show up in your physical appearance. Not only are you accountable for what you eat, but you are as well accountable for the things you do. You should avoid alcoholic drinks, smoking cigarettes, and other vices that would do harm to your health. Staying positive and getting a good night's rest does wonders for you physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Reality of Aging Women

Women are fragile and they are prone to illness especially as they age. There are a few ways to slow the aging process. You need to always remember that you do not have to feel sad about getting old. How you feel deep inside is what should matter to you. No matter how many lines are showing up on your face, what matters is that they are happy smiles. Women are more prone to suffer the effects of the fluctuation of their hormones. Most women encounter what is known as the menopausal period. For the teenagers, there is the influence of peer pressure as well.

Women who are in their forties are usually more prone to have illnesses due to their hormonal changes than the younger women. Women should look into their health as a priority. Eating healthy food would make you look and feel younger. Not only will you look good when you are on a healthy diet, but physically you would be in a great shape and feel great.

Recommended Food for Women

To slow down the aging process, you should indulge in foods rich in antioxidants such as kidney beans, blue berries, plums, strawberries, artichokes, blackberries, pecans, cherries, honey, and apples. Not only do these foods contain anti aging properties but they also lessen the risk for cardiovascular diseases, cancer, stroke, diabetes and Alzheimer's disease.

In order to improve your bone health, you should eat leafy greens, sesame seeds, beans, low fat yogurt, tofu, and eggs. Bear in mind that women are more prone to bone degradation that would eventually lead to osteoporosis in their later years.

To prevent and reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases, you should have canola oil, skinless poultry, egg substitutes, cabbage, raspberries, grapes, and onions in your diet.

To keep your skin looking young and healthy, you should have a hearty meal with avocados, green tea, carrots, spinach, cantaloupe, citrus fruits, bananas, tomatoes, sunflower seeds, hazel nuts, olives, Brazil nuts, cottage cheese, and walnuts.

Being Healthy Inside and Out

The health needs of women range from extra iron during their childbearing years to calcium and vitamin D for bone health. In order to achieve the overall good health any woman would want, you should have flax seed, kale, pumpkin, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, dark meat, broccoli, salmon, mangoes, figs, and kiwi as part of your diet to help you stay healthy.

In order to stay healthy, you should always remember that you have to feel good with yourself inside and out.

Epilepsy and women

Epilepsy is a common neurological disorder that is characterized by recurrent and unprovoked seizures. The seizures are transient signs or symptoms of abnormal and excessive neuronal activity in the brain. A large percentage of people all over the world have epilepsy, and it usually occurs in young children or the elderly. This disease is usually controlled, but it is not fully cured with medication. Surgery can be an option but not for all cases. The syndrome of epilepsy will not occur lifelong; some forms are just confined in the early childhood of the affected person. This disease should not be understood as a single disorder but rather as a group of syndromes that has divergent symptoms but all of them involve electrical activity in the brain.

Epilepsy and Women’s Hormones

Women with epilepsy are a special case, and it requires some considerations because of the relationship between the female sex hormones—the estrogen and the progesterone—and the seizures. There are some women who experience fluctuating seizures because of the differences in the amount of hormone present in the body. Some significant times in a woman’s life where hormonal changes are observed are during her puberty stage, during pregnancy, and during the menopausal stages.

Estrogen and progesterone regulate the menstrual cycle, and they prepare the women’s body for reproduction. Estrogen can excite the electrical activity of the brain and increase the risks of seizure, while progesterone suppresses the electrical activity and reduces seizure risks. The two can be balanced for most times, but when an imbalance occurs where more estrogen is produced than the progesterone, women with epilepsy will have high risks of seizure.

Epileptic Women and Pregnancy

There are some important things that an epileptic woman should know first before using any birth control pills and planning on a pregnancy. Birth control pills are safe for a woman with epilepsy, but there are also some conditions in which the use of birth control pills are risky because they can be rendered less effective when anti-seizure drugs are also taken. Anti-seizure drugs can increase the risk of birth defects. There are many anti-seizure drugs and medications that can be used as birth control and hormonal pills that have no ill effects on child bearing. These drugs are:

1).One group of anti-seizure drugs is known as “liver enzyme-inducing” drugs. They increase the rate at which the liver breaks down the contraceptive hormones that you get from birth control. This means that the contraception medication will leave your body faster. Liver enzyme-inducing drugs include oxcarbazepine (Trileptal), carbamazepine (Carbatrol, Tegretrol), phenytoin (Dilantin), phenobarbital (Luminal), primidone (Mysoline), and topiramate (Topamax). If you are taking one of these drugs, it can make your hormonal birth control less effective.

2).Two drugs—felbamate (Felbatol) and valproate (Depakote)—can even heighten the hormonal levels. If you are on one of these drugs, your doctor may need to adjust the dosage of your birth control so that you don't have too much of the contraceptive in your body.

3).Finally, there are “neutral” drugs that do not have any effect on hormone breakdown. Lamotrigine (Lamictal), gabapentin (Neurontin), levetiracetam (Keppra), clobazam, clonazepam, ethosuximide, Lyrica, sodium valproate, Zonegran, and tiagabine (Gabitril) will not interfere with your birth control.