Obesity in the USA
By Sara Mendez | August 26, 2008
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USA Today reports five of the poorest states were in the top ten most obese states (Mississippi, Kentucky, Louisiana, West Virginia and Alabama) in America. In 2006 Mississippi was the first state to have 30% obesity among its population according to WebMd.com, it also has a high rate of poverty. USA Today also explains, poverty areas are generally unsafe which discourage children from playing outside, have few grocery stores which offer fruits and vegetables, and many housing developments in these areas are not built with sidewalks for exercise. All of these problems contribute to obesity, the poor are set up to fail to achieve a healthy lifestyle.
Grocery shopping on than $18.00 a day for a family of four is already near impossible but if you want to eat right and be healthy, this task is impossible. This is the challenge families on food stamps are confronted with daily. A needy family of four can get up to $542.00 a month in food stamp assistance according to fns.usda.gov. Being a smart shopper is key when on this kind of budget. The protocol many poor adults follow is this, buy whatever is on sale, use coupons, buy in bulk and get as much generic as possible. What is not figured into this equation is healthy foods and fresh produce.
The typical middle class American family of four spends roughly $600.00 per month on food and more if the foods are organic, low fat, soy based or trans fat free. Often they do not think twice about spending a little extra money on an item if it will be healthier for them. For an impoverished family, the only thing they are worried about is stretching the budget as far as it will go, regardless of health benefits. For example, Ramen noodles are about ten cents a package which means a child can have one a day for a month for around $3.00. While parents are thinking this is a brilliant food item, they are not bothering to look at the nutritional values. One package of Ramen is equal to two servings. Each serving has 194 calories in it and 1960 mg of sodium (82% of our daily value). For many food stamp shoppers, fresh produce is a waste of money. If the item is not eaten right away it will go bad which means money was wasted. So instead they buy fruit snacks packed with sugar, pasta, rice, tacos and greasy chips. These are all things which can be bough for cheap and on a food stamp program and they will not go bad quickly.
Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski and his wife decided to try and raise awareness about hunger and poverty. So they tried living on $21.00 a week (the food stamp budget in Oregon for a family of two). The governor quickly realized he would have to learn to do without organic foods, Swiss cheese, and one of his favorite lunch items low sodium Progresso soups. He quickly said yes though to Cup O’Noodles, generic peanut butter and half a banana. Workers from the Department of Health and Human Services offered him some advice to living on food stamps, look for low cost staple items. Some suggestions were, Ramen, macaroni and cheese, beans and rice. All of which were far from healthy choices.
The Federal Nutrition Assistance Program does its best to educate food stamp receivers on healthy living and nutrition but sadly they do not give more money to families to buy healthier items. One of the few ways families in poverty can get healthy meals is through the free lunch/breakfast programs in schools. For children who qualify, they will get a healthy lunch and/or breakfast due to the recent changes to school menus.
There is no denying poverty and obesity are linked. It is difficult to fix one problem without fixing the other. Each problem also snowballs into other problems such as healthcare costs, disability cases, and unemployment. Obesity is not just one problem requiring one simple solution, it is a whole mess of problems which need multiple solutions.
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A Proven System To Stop Smoking Naturally
By Robert Franklin | August 23, 2008
There’s no doubt that smoking saps the wallet and health of smokers. Smoking is bad for your health. Smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer and emphysema. Smoking can also cause ugly stains on the teeth, accelerate the aging of the skin, and increase fatigue. Those are the biggest reasons people decide to stop smoking. Fortunately, smokers can stop smoking naturally, without using expensive, artificial means.
Strong willpower is necessary for a smoker to become a nonsmoker. For serious smokers, smoking is more than a habit. It’s an addiction. Addictions cause nerve pathways in the brain to be constantly and repeatedly stimulated. Because these pathways have become familiar, it is hard to switch to a new pathway. Quitting is all about stopping the use of the old nerve pathways and replacing them with new pathways. Willpower is the only way to get this done. If you are serious about quitting, you can override years of bad habits and create new nerve pathways in your brain.
It’s difficult to quit smoking. No one said it wouldn’t be hard. Bad habits can be hard enough to break, but addictions are not easy to quit. To reach your ultimate goal of quitting smoking you may need some help along the way. A support group can help here. For some people, it may be your friends and family. Using professional support groups may work for some. Either way, having encouraging people around you can work in your favor.
Quitting cold turkey to stop smoking naturally is often the advice given by those who have been successful. The reason for this is that it will be hard to stop smoking if you only decrease the amount of cigarettes smoked per day. You’re still receiving the stimulation you’re your body craves and this doesn’t help the situation. Stop smoking at all and you may get better results.
Once you’ve made the decision to kick the cigarette habit, dispose of every pack in your possession and vow never to purchase another. Stay away from social environments that can entice you to light up. Drink plenty of fluids and commit to a workout regimen to alleviate the pangs of withdrawal.
The cravings and associated symptoms caused by withdrawal from nicotine are hard to tolerate. When these cravings get strong, you can walk around outside or have a chat with a friend over the phone until the cravings subside. You can also try things like reading a book or watching a movie. Some people enjoy meditating or praying to help calm the cravings while trying to stop smoking naturally.
Some people like to meditate or pray in order to help them get over the cravings. Others like to take deep breaths or distract themselves with other activities. Some people chew gum instead to give their mouths something to do. Whatever you choose to do, make sure you do that rather than smoke again.
With self-control and a good support system, it is quite possible to stop smoking naturally. It’s not entirely easy to accomplish, but once the first symptoms of withdrawal are over, you can quit smoking and become healthier.
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Gastric Bypass Pros and Cons
By Patrick Glancy | August 19, 2008
According to Obesitysurgicalcenter.org, one third of the adult population in America is obese. Each year, obesity causes 300,000 deaths and 100 billion in healthcare costs. Gastric bypass and other similar surgeries are among the fastest growing elective surgeries in the country, next to breast augmentation. Gastric bypass is reserved for those who are considered morbidly obese. The chance to lose significant amounts of weight and improve their health appeals to so many, they are willing to risk their lives to have this surgery. According to Obesehelp.net, a web site which explains the surgery, 75% of patients can expect to lose up to 80% of their body weight, 80% will be off hypertension medications and 90% with type two diabetes will be off medication as well, just to name a few.
Not everyone who has this surgery is successful in weight loss for many reasons. The surgery can be complicated and dangerous as well. During the surgery, a section of stomach is sealed off to reduce the amount of food which can be eaten, if the seal is broken by over eating, the results can be serious and even fatal. This is why many patients have follow up education and care, including and overview of proper diet and exercise, before and after the surgery. Unfortunately many clinics neglect long term post care, however there are other ways of maintaining your healthy lifestyle.
Being obese does not always mean you sit down and eat two large pizzas, obesity can be caused by many things. For example, binge eating, genetics, lack of health education poor choices and emotional attachments to food. A healthy lifestyle is easy to learn simply by visiting with a dietitian to understand better choices or spend sometime with a personal trainer at a gym. The hardest part is to put the tools into action and begin making a better choice. Learning why you eat so poorly is a whole other issue in the weight struggle. Some people eat when they are upset or depressed and some might simply be bored. Maybe there is a happy memory associated with food which makes you crave certain things such as a Twinkie. Many have Gastric bypass surgery and are unsuccessful because they have not addressed all their issues with food, which requires help.
Some may choose to continue following up with a physician or counselor while other choose to go a different route such as using hypnosis. Hypnosis works with the mind in many different ways. One way it works is by addressing problems or emotions attached to food. Rarely does post care touch on the emotional bond a patient might have with food. Hypnosis researches and finds out why food has taken such a hold. Another way is by combating cravings for favorite foods and replacing those cravings with better healthier options such as exercise and health foods.
There are no limits when using hypnosis, as it deals with the mind making it very successful in those who are looking to lose weight or maintain weight loss. It works by helping you to see your memories, associations and feelings about food to improve in your life and choices. Some may feel counselor, dietitian and physician visits are the only way to insure a successful Gastric bypass surgery. Those visits should happen, but with hypnosis you gain a better understanding as to why you feel the way you do towards food and how you can regain control of your life and help make your Gastric bypass surgery the best it can be.
Losing weight is difficult enough without all the fad diets and gimmicks. Once you have made the decision to lose weight, be it with surgery or simply changing a few things, make sure you investigate all options for weight loss and find out what is best for you. If you do elect surgery, consider using hypnosis as a tool in addition to your arsenal again your battle with the bulge.
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Quit Smoking for your Smile
By Patrick Glancy | August 18, 2008
Tobacco secession is a challenge facing many people today. Often people try to quit many times and for many different reasons. Some are quitting because they have been recently diagnosed with a health condition such as diabetes or heart problems. Others simply want to be healthier and avoid potential health problems such as Lung Caner and COPD. There is always a reason to quit, and BBC News just added one more, dental problems.
Across Europe, dentists conducted a research study to find out why so many patients were rejecting dental devices and procedures. They discovered smoking was the common link. BBC News reported the findings of the study, not only does smoking cause bad breath and teeth discoloration, but many other dental problems such as oral cancer, receding gums which leave the roots exposed, the diminished ability of taste buds and finally the rejection of dental devices and procedures.
People who are missing teeth or have lost a tooth due to an accident rely heavily on dental devices such as dentures and implants to improve their oral health. Implants are a new alternative to dentures of the past. Implants work similar to dentures, as they provide a false tooth to replace a missing one. They are used in people who have lost individual teeth, or to create a bridge and for better support to older dentures. Implants work by functioning as the “root” of the tooth because they are made from titanium and are implanted in the jaw. They are coated with a substance called hydroxyapatite which acts as the same chemical makeup of our own bones making the implants more effective than dentures.
Not everyone is a candidate for implants however. A prime candidate requires good healing and blood flow to insure the gum tissue heals properly without infection or rejection of the implant. Implant rejection happens more commonly in smokers. Smoking as well as other diseases such as diabetes, effect how the body heals and how the blood flows, thus resulting in a likely rejection.
Implant rejection may not effect all patients, but there are other procedures which are effected by smoking. Something as simple as a filling can be ineffective because of smoking, along with teeth removals, and gum disease. Antibiotics and topical treatments can also become useless because of smoking which can lead to more serious problems before, during and after dental procedures.
According to a study done by the American Dental Association, 32% of smokers needed to have a filling replaced, 10.1% needed a tooth extraction and 22.5% needed a major dental cleaning. Smoking can also be a factor in the loss of jaw bone, gum disease leading to tooth loss, and increased plaque and tartar build up. According to WebMD, 90% of patients with oral cancer use tobacco products and of those 90%, 37% who keep using tobacco products after having one cancerous lesion removed will develop another compared to 6% of those who quit smoking.
Quitting is the ideal way to combat these conditions. Another study done by the American Dental Association, 97.5% of patients who quite using tobacco, showed an almost complete reduction of mouth lesions (leukoplakia potentially cancerous mouth lesions) in just six weeks of quitting.
There are many ways available to quit smoking and your dentist can help you on your path. There are prescription treatments such as Zyban or Wellbutrin which can help curb cravings. There are also over the counter treatments such as the nicotine patch, gum and lozenges. Other treatments include hypnosis, acupuncture and herbal remedies. Patients should talk with their dentists or healthcare providers to find out the best way to quit for them. Since each person is different, each persons plan will be different. Some people use a combination of treatments to quit. Quitting smoking can be a difficult road, however it will get easier. The health benefits far outweigh the challenge.
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Why Smoking Is Bad? - Some Things You Didn’t Know
By Clare Innes | August 17, 2008
I don’t want to bang on about what harm smoking can do to your body, because you are well aware of that already, I’m sure. The threats of the health hazards are so ‘old hat’ now that no-one even takes any notice anymore. Just one question from me though…in these days of health and fitness, why bother with your five portions of fruit and veggies, and going down the gym three times a week, if you’re not going to give up the ciggies?
Whilst all the messages of smoking causing ill-health are pretty much ignored nowadays, due mainly to overkill I think, I have included in this article a few of the lesser known problems that are caused by smoking:
What a lot of people don’t realise is that just one cigarette contains more than 4000 chemical compounds and around 400 of those are actually toxins (poison, to put it plainly). When you inhale on your cigarette, the tip burns at 700 degrees centigrade, whilst the core has a heat of around 60 degrees. What happens here is that the heat breaks down the tobacco to make various toxins, which are then concentrated towards the butt. You receive the worst of the ‘poison’ as you finish your cigarette.
The most damaging products are:
1) Tar, a carcinogen that causes cancer
2) The addictive substance is nicotine, which raises cholesterol too
3) The oxygen in your body is reduced by carbon monoxide
The problems caused by smoking can be influenced by:
1) How many cigarettes you smoke
2) Whether the cigarette has a filter or not
3) How has the tobacco been prepared
It has been shown that life expectancy can be improved by as much as seven or eight years if you do not smoke, but not only that, recent research has shown that if you continue smoking from a young age, people are dying of smoking related illnesses at much younger ages.
The number of people under the age of 70 who die from smoking-related diseases exceeds the total figure for deaths caused by breast cancer, AIDS, traffic accidents and drug addiction.
I know you’re all going to shout, ah c’mon at this one, but the ugly truth is this…if you started smoking at an early age, smoke more than 20 a day and inhale deeply, the greater your chances of getting lung cancer. It then takes roughly 15 years for your risk of getting lung cancer to drop to that of a non smoker.
Oral cancers (cancers of the mouth) are four times more common in smokers than non smokers, a fact that many smokers are unaware of. A disease called Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is also affected very badly by smoking, which is responsible for 80 percent of cases.
A further illness affecting the lungs is emphysema, which 94 percent of a pack a day smokers have when their lungs are examined post mortem (when they’re dead!). Compare that to a non smokers lungs of which 90 percent have little o none. Not too impressive huh!
When anyone ages, it is a natural process for their lung function to slowly reduce. However, for a smoker this can be as much as three times faster. Over years, you can expect to become more and more breathless, until needing constant oxygen, hospital care and then death due to slow suffocation…NOT GOOD.
Here’s one that I bet you guys didn’t know about (at least, not until it was too late!). For men in their 30s and 40s, smoking increases the risk of erectile dysfunction (ED) by about 50 per cent. Erection can’t occur unless blood can flow freely into the penis, so these blood vessels have to be in good condition. Smoking can damage the blood vessels and cause them to degenerate; nicotine narrows the arteries that lead to the penis, reducing blood flow and the pressure of blood in the penis.
Don’t think that because you have no problems now, that you won’t. Oh no…this narrowing problem increases over time so things could get worse later on (no apologies for scare tactics here). More importantly, a smoker with erectile problems should see a doctor, as this can be an indicator that cigarettes have already damaged other blood vessels, including those that supply blood to the heart.
The ’side-stream’ smoke that comes off a cigarette between puffs carries a higher risk than directly inhaled smoke, so you’re not doing your non-smoking partners, kids, friends, etc., any good either…feeling guilty yet…?
Children who grow up in a home where one or both of their parents smoke have twice the risk of getting asthma and asthmatic bronchitis. They also have a higher risk of developing allergies. Infants under two years old are more prone to severe respiratory infections and cot death.
It has been proven that the risk of lung cancer is increased amongst people who smoke ‘passively’ but as yet there is no proof of whether the risk of heart disease is also increased. You can be sure though, that you can look forward to a much healthier old age if you can stop smoking.
So after all this, what is my message? Well I hope to have given you one or two things that you had never thought of before to think about. There are folks out there who love you, and there are 100’s of stop smoking programmes to help you too. Go on, give it a go…and stop smoking now!
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