Wait Less for Weight Loss
People Still Getting Fatter - Over 1 Billion Adults Overweight Worldwide
According to Paul Zimmet "This insidious, creeping pandemic of obesity is now engulfing the entire world. It's as big a threat as global warming and bird flu." This statement was recently made at the International Congress on Obesity which is held once every four years.
Paul Zimmet is Foundation Director of the International Diabetes Institute, and Professor of Diabetes at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia, at Deakin University, Victoria, Australia, and at the Graduate School of Public Health of the University of Pittsburgh, USA. He is also co-Chair of the IDF Task Force on Epidemiology.
Acording to the World Health Organization, more than 1 billion adults are overweight with 300 million of them are obese.
People have been getting fatter and fatter every year for the past 25 years. And this increase is not limited to adults. The percentage of young people who are overweight has more than tripled since 1980. Among children and teens aged 6-19 years, 16 percent (over 9 million young people) are considered overweight.
Why is this of concern? Mainly because it puts people at much higher risk for diabetes, hypertension (high blood pressure), coronary heart disease, stroke, and some forms of cancer.
Of special concern is the growing obesity rates among children. This is not only leading to a high degree of type 2 diabetes among teenagers but also setting them up for shortened life spans and more health problems in their later years.
The main culprits in the alarmingly fast growth of child obesity are, without a doubt, fast foods. Fast foods tend to be loaded with what has become the new primary food groups - salt, fat, and sugar. Any one of these ingredients in excess can easily lead to problems, but with all three you're basically begging for trouble.
What's even worse is that even so called 'health foods' are not helping with the problem. Foods advertised as "low-fat" tend to compensate with "high sugar". Foods low in sugar are high in salt. And fats are in food everywhere.
So what can we do? Some of the experts are pushing for governments to impose bans on junk foods. But that's not going to happen.
The answer is moderation. We are never going to completely get rid of fast foods. Our entire economy is geared for it. But what we can do is to watch more closely what we eat by religiously choosing the low-calorie options at your restaurants and shopping marts.
by: Janice Kaszursky
A Mother's Instincts by Peter Nisbet
Ignore a mother's instincts about her child's health at your peril!Whether you are a health professional or a parent with an unwell child, you must always remember that a mother knows far better than any doctor or physician whether her child is seriously ill or not. No member of the medical profession should ever ignore a mother's instincts in these matters, and neither should the mother.
This is particularly true of meningitis, which can very easily be misdiagnosed. Meningitis is a disease which required very rapid diagnosis to enable full recovery, particularly bacterial meningitis.
Meningitis symptoms are very varied and similar to many other illnesses which children commonly get, and very often the mother's instincts are more important than a doctor's knowledge. Let's take a look at some bacterial meningitis symptoms which are frequently diagnosed wrongly:
Sore throat and reddening at the back of the throat: This could be anything, including the tonsillitis that this condition is often misdiagnosed as. It could also be measles or a streptococcal infection ('strep throat') or a multitude of other conditions from the initial stages of diphtheria to flu.
Irritability: A child can be irritated for many reasons. She may be teething, which generally makes tots a bit grumpy, or just plain hungry or tired.
High temperature: How many illnesses cause a high temperature? At a rough guess I would say most!
There are many more, but some which a doctor should be able to associate with bacterial meningitis are stiffness in the neck, a bulging fontanelle (the soft part on the top of the head) and jaundice (slight yellowing of the skin). The problem with these symptoms is that they don't always appear. They can all be absent and the doctor will then have little to go on.
Most doctors have never come across a case of measles, let alone meningitis, and most never will. How then, could they be expected to spot the smaller signs of the disease which a mothers instincts will pick up on? These may be minor symptoms, but some are specific to meningitis in young children and even encephalitis.
This is where he should rely on the mother, but, sometimes fatally, most never do. However, a mothers instincts can be of critical importance in saving the life of her son or daughter.
One of these lesser, but just as important, symptoms is 'Paradoxical Irritability'. This is where a child does not become soothed when picked up by the mother, but rather gets more irritated, and it is an indicator of meningitis. A mother can spot this.
A mother also knows when her child becomes more lethargic than normal. Lethargy and a general disinterest in surroundings and stimuli are other symptoms of meningitis. Therefore, although a mother may not be aware of the symptoms of the disease, nor even suspect it, she can pick up on some of those which distinguish meningitis from most other diseases.
There have been many reported cases of a doctor and mother disagreeing as to the seriousness of a child's condition, resolved by the mother herself taking the child to Accident and Emergency. In lots of these cases the child survived only through the mother's actions, frequently made in contradiction to a doctor's recommendations.
Many consultant pediatricians recognise this, and impress on student doctors and nurses that they must listen to the mother. "A mother knows her child better than anyone else, and her instincts should be a prime tool used in the diagnosis of her child's condition". Perhaps not verbatim, but that is the gist of what many specialists teach.
Other symptoms only a mother may notice are a higher pitched cry than normal and a weaker suck during feeding. No doctor would know this. Added to this, there is that mysterious something which only a child's mother has and cannot be defined. A mother knows if her child is very ill, even if the symptoms seem very slight. Even sometimes when there are none. And that is something which must never be ignored. The father doesn't have it, only the mother, and it's magic!
If you feel that your child is seriously ill in contradiction to your doctor’s diagnosis, insist on his or her admission to hospital, and if that fails take your child to Accident and Emergency yourself. It may be a false alarm, but at least you will have given your child every chance.
Many children are alive today for one single reason. A mothers instincts!
Irreplaceable!
Copyright 2006 Peter Nisbet
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About The Author Peter Nisbet is an industrial chemist whose interest in childhood diseases began when his son suffered from misdiagnosed meningitis and encephalitis from which he survived only due to his mother's actions in getting him to hospital. Peter's website is http://www.childhood-diseases-online.com where he tries to give parents useful information on a wide variety of children's illnesses. |
Be Healthy - Take Nutritional Supplements by: Paul Wallace
Adding dietary nutritional supplements to our diets has for years been advocated by nutritionists and nutritional research scientists.Now, the American Medical Association has reversed its long held policy regarding the need for nutritional supplements.
The AMA now recommends daily use of these nutrients they had previously considered unnecessary for health.
Doctors now recognize the absolute need for everyone to take dietary nutritional supplements every day.
The AMA has finally recognized and accepted the preponderance of data that proves a direct link proving that the nutrients in our diets are so poor that they are a major cause of our diseases.
While the most commonly recognized nutritional supplements are vitamins, many more nutrients are classified as nutritional supplements. They include:
1) Minerals,
2) Amino acids,
3) Enzymes,
4) Essential fatty acids,
5) Fiber
Our health and wellbeing is greatly dependent on the food we eat. There simply is no other way to obtain the nutrients we need except through eating.
As early as 1936 the Government reported on the impact of depleted soils. One excerpt from this report states:
"Laboratory test prove that the fruits, the vegetables, the grains, the eggs, and even the milk and the meats of today are not what they were a few generations ago (which doubtless explains why our forefathers thrived on a selection of foods that would starve us!)".
In agreeing with what nutritionists and research scientists have been saying for years, the medical profession is confirming that our food no longer is capable of providing the essential elements our bodies need.
At first glance this may seem unimportant but it is a major change in policy that should not go unrecognized by the general public.
The reasons for this complete reversal of policy are many:
1) Soils are depleted of the nutrients they once provided.
2) Fruits and vegetables are picked too early.
3) Processing destroys nutrients especially enzymes.
Every element needed for growth, health, wellness, and even survival must come from the food we eat. This is because our bodies are "closed systems.
Virtually every leading cause of death today was either unknown or only a minor health concern 50 years ago. Scientific research has proven a definite and immediate link for this to the changes in the food we eat,
Americans, in general, want to improve their health. Over 43% of Americans now take some form of nutritional supplements.
Probably this is a result of having experienced a general feeling of being tired, exhausted, or a sustained feeling of simply not feeling the way we think we should feel.
This indicates that we are concerned enough to take some action. The question is whether it is enough.
We probably picked our nutritional supplement, most likely a vitamin or two, based on some advertisement that described our "symptoms".
The problem is, if we believe that our diet is deficient in one or two vitamins, is it realistic to assume that we are getting all the other nutrients that we get from the same source?
We are the "victims" of advertisers who tell us part truths.
Companies that market food make large sums of money by capitalizing on our desire to be healthy. Two of the biggest "buzz-words" in food advertising today are "Free Radicals" and "Anti-Oxidants".
Free radicals have been proven to cause aging and disease, make changes in DNA structures, suppress the immune system and cause many other health related problems.
Anti-oxidants are vitally important to our health because they destroy free radicals.
Fruit juices provide vitamin C which provides anti-oxidants.
Where this line of advertising is misleading, and possibly dangerous, is that the public is led to believe that simply drinking a glass of juice a day will significantly improve one's health. The glass of juice is beneficial but it certainly is not the "cure-all" to our nutritional deficiencies.
Vitamin C and anti-oxidants are absolutely vital for health, but so are the myriad of other vitamins, minerals, enzymes, amino acids, and essential fatty acids that our bodies need.
Furthermore, anti-oxidants are produced by many other elements of our diet, not just vitamin C, and vitamin C is needed for many other processes in the body.
If one is truly concerned about their health and that of their family, they need a complete dietary nutritional supplement.
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About The Author Paul Wallace has researched nutritional supplements. The deeper he looks, the more he is convinced of their benefits. For a FREE 10 part course on the nutrients required for health, visit http://www.vitaminsimprovehealth.com/course_on_vitamins.htm. |
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