Archive for the 'Taking Action' Category

Do Not Ignore Your Health. Lose Fat Quickly

Fresh! Fruits and vegetables in León HDR

Image by marcp_dmoz via Flickr

When you ignore your health and eat unwisely, what you do is nothing but “a rape” you commit on the body that is gifted to you by God.  You should immediately undo the mistake you committed and lose your fat quickly.

To lose fat quickly, you should eat the right kind of foods. The results are achieved by a combination of the right foods and the right exercises, food regimen outweighing the exercises regimen in results.

Your intake of food should consist of proteins to the extent of 40%, good carbohydrates, another 40% and good fats, only 20%. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Weight Loss, Longevity, fiber diets, Health, Nutrition, Taking Action, proteins, good fat, good fats, unhealthy diets

Boot Camp – Way to a Healthier and Fitter You

U.S. Marines count out push-ups.

Image via Wikipedia

The training regimen of a boot camp is becoming increasingly popular these days. These camps have come into vogue after similar but much stringent programmes have been successfully employed by the armed forces of various countries, especially the US, to train their personnel.

A boot camp is usually a small group of people working out together. The first day generally begins by a fitness test of all participants. Thereafter, members are divided into teams and each team works on a particular exercise. Sophisticated equipment used at gyms is often absent from boot camps; this is a platform where volunteers try to increase their stamina and strength by taking up traditional exercises like sit-ups, push-ups and jogging.

Working out at boot camps not only saves the expenses of going to a gym but also gives people a greater chance to widen their social circle. Boot camps are often organised in parks and the fun of exercising in fresh air and open grounds with one’s friends is another advantage that draws a large number of people to join such fitness modules. The monotony of working out alone at one’s private gym is also largely absent from these camps. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Fitness & Exercise, Taking Action, fitness camp, exercise schedule, building stamina

Why Cortisol Destroys your Healthy Weight Loss Diet

Chemical structure of cortisol.

Image via Wikipedia

What you eat and what you do can influence your hormones dramatically. When this happens you can either gain weight or lose weight. Avoid these key areas to make sure you lose weight with your healthy weight loss diet. Don’t take for granted just how powerful hormones like these are in determining your weight loss success.

This one hormone that can cause so many problems is called Cortisol. Excess cortisol will stimulate your appetite and prompt more calories to be stored as fat, so it is very influential in your weight loss plan. These are 2 things you don’t want when trying to follow a healthy weight loss diet.

Cortisol also increases protein breakdown within the muscle, which means a slower metabolism and less calories burned. A key to successful weight loss is keeping your metabolism running at a fast rate so that you are always burning calories.

It decreases glucose utilization and increased insulin resistance, which means the glucose or sugars in your body are not used for energy as much as they should be. Instead they float around and eventually get stored as fat. This is strike two against your healthy weight loss diet and healthy eating plans.

One thing that directly increases cortisol is stress. Stress is the culprit in increasing cortisol levels and resistance to insulin and leptin. Stress can come from work issues, family issues, medical problems and even unhealthy foods. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Taking Action, healthy diet plans, cortisol, glucose utilization, Nutrition, insulin resistance

Breast Health – The Great Debate!

Recently the news has been overloaded with information and opinions over women’s health and mortality as it relates to the use of mammography and self breast exams. With all of this information it is hard to find out what women should do to care for their body.

What are the guidelines to follow? Recent studies have documented that there is little to no link between self breast exams, mammograms and the actual mortality rate of women with breast cancer. In this article we will focus not on the answer to that enormous question, but on the ambiguity behind that statement.

It has been the standard provided by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) that women 40 or older have a mammogram with or without a clinical breast exam every 1-2 years to maintain proper breast health. This recommendation was based on two factors. (1) Clinical studies in women 50-69 demonstrated a 30% reduction in the breast cancer mortality rate when screened annually or biannually (http://www.acpm.org/breast.htm) and (2) the assumption that a women’s breast tissue at the age of 40 would yield similar results.

Unfortunately a similar correlation has yet to be found, prompting the new assertion that a women should wait until 50 to have her first mammogram. But is this right? Can one assume tissue changes occur in every woman at a specific age? And why is it important to this debate? Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Taking Action, cancer mortality rate, Seniors, Women's Health, self breast exams, breast cancer mortality, breast cancer mortality rate, Cancer Prevention, Treatment

Girls in Team Sports Gain Benefits Far Beyond Health and Fitness

Though long espoused as crucial for the development of young men, involvement in sports is highly beneficial for girls as well. Young women involved in sports are more likely to achieve academically, have increased self-esteem, experience a higher level of health and wellness, learn crucial skills for entering a competitive workforce, and enjoy the social rewards that accompany working as a team and having fun with others.

With the availability of girls’ sports increasing, it is important that young women be encouraged to participate and enjoy the higher quality of life that sports help them achieve.

The most obvious benefit of involvement in sports is a healthier body. All children involved in athletics experience a decrease in the likelihood of developing obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and several other complications linked to a sedentary lifestyle.

For young women, in particular, there is a strong correlation between adequate exercise and a decreased risk for breast cancer and osteoporosis, both diseases that typically affect women. Studies also reveal that girls involved in extracurricular activities are less likely to experience an unwanted pregnancy. Being physically active when young increases the likelihood that a person will live an active lifestyle as an adult. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Babies & Children, risk for breast cancer, adequate exercise, girls sports, Fitness & Exercise, Women's Health, Mental Health, Longevity, Cancer Prevention, Treatment

1 Devastatingly Simple Way To Improve Your Health

Pick up any magazine, watch any commercial, or surf the Internet for a little while and you will find that we are bombarded with advertisements for procedures, medicines, and supplements to fix ourselves. We need weight loss supplements to get rid of pounds of fat that have gathered from over the years.

They recommend surgical procedures to tuck tummies or get rid of wrinkles. There are medicines and creams to reverse the signs of premature aging brought on by poor habits like smoking.

All of these are nice to have around, but are expensive and time consuming. Why use these products to correct years of poor health choices instead of making better ones now?

Many of the habits we pick up when we are young have grave consequences when we get older. For example, smoking may look “cool” as a young adult, but it becomes an addiction that ages the skin and eventually threatens multiple types of cancer. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: poor habits, health choices, Cancer Prevention, Treatment, weight loss supplements, grave consequences, miracle cures, Recovery, Taking Action

StudentScholarships.org – The Health Care System

According to StudentScholarships.org, the quarrel over whether privatization of the [Canadian] Health Care System is beneficial is an ongoing and heated debate. Individuals in favor of the privatization quote numerous benefits, the primary argument being: a reduction in waiting times for all patients.

While there is no question that the waiting times for medical care are a pressing issue, I believe privatization is no feasible solution. The overall standard of service received under the proposed new Health Care system would no doubt decline.

Furthermore, privatization would undermine our Canadian values of equality for all individuals. Our belief that each citizen has the equal right to receive medical treatment would be challenged if a tiered Health Care system was enforced.

At first glance, privatization might be seen in a positive light, as those individuals who could afford it would jump the queue – in turn, the waiting line would be shorter for the remaining patients; however, another contributing factor to a shorter waiting line, would be the simple fact that those individuals recognizing that they cannot afford to receive medical care, would neglect to seek help.

Privatization of health care alone would not suddenly increase the amount of physicians available to treat patients, nor would it suddenly free up time for physicians to see more patients.

As it stands right now, emergency room patients are treated on a basis of severity, not who can pay a higher fee. I believe introducing a private health care system would give an unfair advantage to the wealthy, while potentially neglecting those individuals who, while greatly needing the help, cannot afford it.

The social question then arises over whether judging an individual’s worth through monetary values alone is justified. Surely one’s salary level does not determine just how valuable he is to society? Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Health, emergency room patients, News, privatization of health care, privatization of the health care system, private health care