Tag Archives: food

Children's Health

Obesity in Adolescents

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Obesity and overweight are the second most major reasons of preventable deaths in America. Stagnant lifestyle and junk food is to be blamed for more than three hundred thousand deaths per annum. The sad thing is that this problem is on the rise. Obesity is a chronic disease which poses serious health risk to the health of an individual. Also, obesity is the easiest recognizable medical problem, but is very difficult to deal with.

People usually confuse obesity with overweight. Overweight is gaining of a few extra pounds. A person is considered obese when the total body weight is minimum ten percent more than the recommended weight for his/her body structure and height. According to an estimate every year hundred billion dollars are spent on the obesity problem. It is very important to treat the problem as early as possible. Obese children between the age of ten and thirteen have eighty percent chances of growing into obese adults, unless they change their ways and adopt a healthier lifestyle. The obesity problem starts from the age of five and continue till adolescence.

Obesity can be caused due to complex reasons including biological, genetic, cultural and behavioral factors. Usually a person gets obese when he/she consumes more calories than the body burns. Also there are fifty percent chances of becoming obese when both one of the parent is obese and when obesity has affected both the parents, the chances increases to eighty percent. One percent of obese people can have that fat because of health reasons, as obesity can be caused due to few medical disorders. The causes of obesity in adolescence are overeating, family history, bad eating habits, little or no exercise, medical illness, low self esteem, medications, depression, emotional problems, stressful life, and family problem.

Obesity can cause many major problems. Some of them are diabetes, sleeping disorders, high blood pressure, breathing problems, emotional problems and increase in heart disease risk. Teenagers are more prone to get emotional problems. Because of the weight, they develop low self esteem. They get into depression, obsessive compulsion disorder and anxiety.

Adolescents who want to tackle the obesity problem should approach a pediatrician who will thoroughly evaluate the cause. If no physical disorder is to be blamed, the weight is reduced by limiting the calorie intake and increasing physical activity. The doctor can advice a weight management program and change the eating habits of the teenager, slowly. The patient must avoid oily, fatty, fast and junk food. The potions must be reduced in order to decrease the calorie intake. If the adolescent has developed emotional problems because of obesity, an adolescent psychiatrist can collaborate with the pediatrician in order to make a comprehensive plan for treatment. The plan includes reasonable goals, behavior modification, family participation, and management of physical activity.

Self motivation is extremely necessary in loosing weight. Because obesity is more a family problem and not an individual problem, the whole family can switch to eating healthy food and exercising regularly. This can make the weight control program a success. Parents can play a major role by boosting the self esteem of their children by concentrating on their strengths and encouraging them, instead of targeting the weight problem. The whole family should eat meals together, instead of eating individually while watching a movie. This helps all the members to focus on the food and the quantity being eaten. If the teenager isnt getting support from his family members, he/she can join support groups which can help towards the goals.

After the adolescent has lost weight, it is very important that he/she maintains it. In majority of the cases, people shift back to their old eating habits after loosing weight. That is the reason why obesity is more of a lifetime issue. So the main aim of any weight loss program must be make the adolescent like healthy food. He/she must also be made to exercise regularly, irrespective of the weight.

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General Health

Inconsiderate Bad Habits

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Some bad habits are just plain inconsiderate. The person does their behaviors without a thought to the person he is affecting. A little attention to the feelings of others would stop many of these bad habits in their tracks.

Many people have inconsiderate bad habits in the kitchen. You will find them drinking from the milk jug or juice carton. They do not consider that someone else might not like to drink after them. They are in the habit of doing it, so they do not think about it.

Someone might have the bad habit of opening two liter bottles of pop and leaving the caps off. This is inconsiderate to the person buying the soda because the soda goes flat. No one will drink it. It is also a bad habit to open carbonated drink cans and drink a few swallows only. Many people will do this and then right away open another.

The refrigerator is a source of trouble in some homes. People have certain bad habits there, too. They might take food out of the refrigerator and leave it on the counter to spoil. They may simply stand in front with the door open, staring as all the cold rushes out.

If you have an older refrigerator, they may have bad habits about not filling ice cube trays, and leaving them in the freezing compartment empty. Some people have bad habits of freeloading. They will clean your refrigerator out of food in no time at all if you do not watch them. They will take food when they have been offered none, and when they are offered some, they will take more.

Sometimes people staying with you, or living with you as roommates, will do some cooking. If they have bad habits and do not clean up their messes, you will not appreciate the food they cook no matter how good it is. After awhile, you will just wish they would stop cooking altogether.

Other bad habits have to do with the bathroom. Sometimes, people hog the bathroom. They will not leave time for anyone else to get in to use it. You may need to go to work the same time as they do. If they do not let you get in to get ready, they will be on time and you will be the one who is late. That is very inconsiderate.

Men have been told forever, it seems that their bad habits of leaving the toilet seat up are inconsiderate. They do not realize that a woman, not expecting the seat to be up, can actually get injured by falling in too hard. It is not a pleasant subject, and it is not a pleasant thing to happen.

Other bad habits involve vehicles. You might be in the habit of leaving your car windows down. If you are accustomed to this, you will be ready to put them up if you know rain is coming. However, if you leave someone else’s windows down, they may not be prepared. Also, it is a bad habit to borrow a car and not put gas in it.

If you think of other people every day, you will be less likely to engage in inconsiderate bad habits. You will find that you are appreciated more if you find ways to control your behaviors and curb your bad habits.

General Health

How Good Habits Can Turn into Bad Habits

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It is not uncommon for good habits to morph into bad habits. This often happens when good habits are taken to an extreme. This is why people should be aware of their behavior, even when it might seem positive.

People who want things to be the very best can seem to be very upbeat people. At least that is true until they go too far. When their leadership becomes nit-picking perfectionism, their good habits have turned into bad habits. Once it has reached such a point, it is hard to salvage the situation.

Sometimes people make their neatness into bad habits. They start out nice enough. They just want to keep things tidy and clean. They are perfectly willing to do some work to keep it that way. Then, they go overboard. They begin stressing over every tiny smudge or speck of dust. Besides this, they expect you to be as obsessive as they are.

There are two of these situations that are fairly similar. People turn good savings practices into bad habits. The first is when a person starts saving money for emergencies or for the future. They start a savings account, or an investment account. Then they begin to put money into it.

If they develop bad habits, they can get carried away with their savings and become a miser. They can be that person who will not buy their children new school clothes because the money has to go into savings. They can be the one who will drive a car that breaks down every week. They cannot bear spending money that could go to savings.

A similar situation happens when people start buying in bulk. At first they tell themselves they are just stocking up. However, the stocking up may not stop at a reasonable level. If it has become a bad habit, their entire basement, garage, attic, and all their closets may be filled with extra food and cleaning supplies. They have so much that it will go bad before they can possibly eat it all.

You may wonder how being concerned about others can possibly lead to bad habits. A person who is this thoughtful is generous in spirit and cares only for the well-being of those around her. The bad habit may come in when the person puts others’ needs too far above her own. This can lead to all sorts of psychological problems for her.

Perhaps you have heard that there is never a dumb question. People are generally encouraged to ask questions at school and at work. However, it becomes a bad habit when people ask questions aimlessly to no purpose. They will sometimes ask so many questions that no work can be accomplished at all. Sometimes it is better to try to figure something out on your own.

This just goes to show that extremes are usually bad habits waiting to happen. Be a considerate person, yes, but do not do it at the expense of your own well-being. Indeed, you should maintain a savings account. Just make sure your family has what it needs. Do not let your good habits turn into bad habits and make your life difficult.

Arthritis

Do You Have Degenerative Arthritis?

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Do You Have Degenerative Arthritis?
Rudy Silva

With 10 million or more people with arthritis, the majority of them will have degenerative arthritis. This arthritis is called Osteoarthritis. Degenerative arthritis occurs when joints are overworked, rub against each other, experience excess friction, and slowly degenerate.
Most joints rub against each other, but bone joints have a protective layer called cartilage. This cartilage has no blood vessels or nerves so it cannot receive nutrients directly. This cartilage serves as a cushion or pad between bones so that bones don’t wear out and so you don’t feel pain.
Cartilage should not wear out if its surfaces remain lubricated with oils that you eat. But if you are not eating the right oils or the proper amount, then your cartilage can become dry. Under these conditions you will slowly deteriorate the cartilage, which will lead to degenerative arthritis.
Once your cartilage becomes damage or grinded down, it is hard to regenerate it. Cartilage is not a living tissue and does not receive its nourishment directly from blood vessels. It is made up of mucin, albumin and sulfuric acid. It absorbs oils and nutrients by osmosis.
Osmosis is the movement of oil from an area of high oil concentration passing through a membrane into an area of low oil concentration. So if the cartilage is deficient in oil and you don’t eat the oil it needs to minimize cartilage-to-cartilage friction, then degenerative arthritis will occur over time.
Eating oil that is high in vitamin D and iodine is what is necessary for good cartilage strength and function. Oil such as cod liver oil is ideal as lubrication for cartilage function. Fish oil is another good oil to eat. When you eat cod liver oil, this oil passes through the joint lining into the joint cavity. Once in the cavity, this oil is absorbed into the cartilage through osmosis.
Once the cartilage is properly lubricated, it has an elasticity and lubrication so that when it rubs against other cartilage little friction and cartilage degeneration occurs.
There is another process that can affect the integrity of the cartilage. Calcium can deposit on the bone near the cartilage and breaking to the cartilage and wear it down.
To prevent this condition, calcium must be kept in solution in the lymph liquid. This is done by maintain a balance diet.
Degenerative arthritis is a process where the cartilage at the end of bones in joint structures slowly degrades. This degradation occurs from the lack of the right oil in the diet and through calcium build up in the bone joint. Joint degeneration starts to occur after the age of 20 and can continue if the right diet if not followed.
Eating the right food to prevent degenerative arthritis is difficult to do if you have been brought up eating the wrong kinds of food. But as an adult you can now make a choice as to whether you will have Osteoarthritis when you get older by eating the foods.

About The Author

Rudy Silva has a degree in Physics and is a Natural Nutritionist. He is the author of Constipation, Acne, Hemorrhoid, and Fatty Acid ebooks. He writes a newsletter call “natural-remedies-thatwork.com.” More acne hints and information on his acne e-book can be found at: http://www.acne-remedies.for–you.info
rss41@yahoo.com