General Health Journal

A good morning won’t be complete with a delicious breakfast that’ll pump up the energy you need for the whole day.  Healthy food for children is very important but getting them to eat it is sometimes a problem. Breakfast is regarded as the most important meal of the day so it’s really important that this meal should not only be appetizing but also nutritious and healthy at the same time.

If your idea of a good morning starter includes a bagel with cream cheese, think again. A breakfast of bagel with cream cheese has a total of 300 calories depending on the bagel variety and the amount of cheese you put in it. This meal’s heavy but you don’t want to start your day with a bulky stomach if you want to move around your office with ease.

Neither do you want yourself fainting around your desk with eating just a little breakfast. So carefully choose your first day’s meal with a menu that goes like this one:

Mushroom and pepper omelet (see recipe below)

2 slices of toasted bread

Fresh orange juice

8 pieces ripe strawberries

Here’s the recipe for the Mushroom and Pepper Omelet:

2 eggs, beaten

5 large button mushrooms, canned or fresh

1 small green pepper, chopped

½ half white onion, chopped

cheddar cheese, chopped (optional)

salt and pepper

olive oil

Put the stove on low heat. Pour in a little olive oil on a non-stick pan. Put the eggs and wait until it gets cooked. When the outer edge of the egg becomes firm, place all the veggies at the center of the egg. Cover and let it cook for about 3 minutes. Flip one side of the omelet and remove from heat. Makes 2 servings.

Diet and Nutrition Breakfast, Healthy Food

If one would choose which activity he could not live without, the top rater would be eating. We eat for the simple reason that we are hungry, some eat because they are depressed and some eat if they are happy. But we should also consider the fact that we eat to stay healthy.

The food pyramid is an important guide in eating. On the top of the pyramid are those foods we should take less. These foods are those containing sugar and fats. We should not entirely avoid eating such because we need it for health reasons but it should be taken in moderation. If these foods are taken in excess, it would have a damaging result to our body. The middle of the pyramid contains poultry and dairy products which gives us our daily dose of protein. It also contains fruits and vegetables which are the ultimate source of vitamins. The last layer contains those foods which supplies our body with energy.

Following the food pyramid would ensure us that our body will receive its needed nutrients. Vegetables should be taken constantly but we should not forego eating other foods because they have some nutrients that cannot be provided by eating vegetables alone. Fruits as well should be taken in moderation. Yes it is healthy but if eaten too much it could affect our sugar levels since some fruits have high sugar content. Care should be taken to make sure that we provide healthy food for kids. If they start to eat correctly early in life then they should continue the good habit later on.

At the end of the day, what we should bear in mind is that everything taken in excess is never good for the health. We should learn to control what we put in our mouth for it will have drastic effects on our health.

Healthy Living Food, Healthy Eating

If you follow our guidelines you will be much more likely to accomplish your goal of stopping smoking.

1. Don’t try and cut down how many cigarettes you smoke.

Even if you only smoke 3 cigarettes a day you are still damaging your long term health. Studies have shown that if you simply try and cut down the number of cigarettes you smoke each day, you are more than likely to end up back at your original amount within a month.

Many people also try and change to “low tar” style cigarettes – again, this is not a good approach to stopping smoking. Nicotine is addictive – people who switch to low nicotine cigarettes just end up smoking more of them and ingesting the same quantity of the harmful substances they were originally.

2. List the reasons for wanting to quit.

You may find it helps to write down all the reasons why you want to quit – pin this up somewhere you will see it daily to keep you on track to stop the habit.

Some example reasons:

• Have a healthier lifestyle
• Be a good role-model to your children/relatives
• Protect your co-workers or family from inhaling your 2nd hand smoke
• Keeping your clothing/house/workplace smelling fresh
• Saving money

You should read your list out loud at least once a day – keeping your reasons to quit fresh in your head will make you far more likely to stick to it.

3. 50% of smokers over 18 years old have already quit – you can join them.

There are literally millions of people alive today who now live their day to day lives without the need to poison their lungs. If all of these people can quit, you can join them with a little will power.

4. It will take effort to stop smoking.

A major step in the battle to stop smoking is knowing you need to quit in the first place. If you are already reading this you are on the road to redemption. There are many ways to quit smoking, including nicotine patches, nicotine gum and hypnotherapy. Almost all smokers experience nicotine withdrawal when they attempt to quit – this is natural and is just your body purging itself of the poison you have put in it. Just try and take it one day at a time, and before you know it you will no longer be thinking of cigarettes.

5. Help is available

There are plenty online resources available to you – please use them if you feel it will help you. You should also contact your local doctor for confidential advice.

Healthy Living stop smoking

Being healthy doesn’t mean that a person must follow strict nutrition philosophies, staying thin or depriving someone in eating the food you like. It is about feeling healthy, getting enough energy and keeping the body as healthy as possible. This can be achieved by learning the basic nutrition and incorporating it with proper exercises. Choosing the right food and avoiding the type of food that will put your body at risk will help a person to become risk free from illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

Eating food rich in calories, fiber and carbohydrates are among the basic nutrients the body needed that. An active body should maintain a balance between the intake and the expenditure, it means that the body should not eat more food than the body uses. The body needs 2000 calories a day depending on the age, height, weight, sex and physical activity. Eating the right amount of food can help the person become healthier than before. It can help if the person will eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, legumes and grains which high in complex carbohydrates, vitamins, fiber and minerals with low fat and free from bad cholesterol. Special diets such as diabetic diets can also be good for the body.

Drinking a lot of water is also vital for a healthy body. The body needs water to flush the systems, especially the kidneys and the bladder. It helps remove the waste products and toxins. The best way to eat smart is to know what to eat and how you eat. Chew the food slowly, there are some who tend to eat fast because they are in hurry they don’t know that it might cause risk in their health.

Healthy Living Diet, Energy, Food

Smoking is one of the leading causes of lung diseases. Ironically, it is the number 1 cause of preventable diseases in America.

If you are trying to quit smoking, but hardly making any progress by yourself, try to seek for the experts’ help. There are a lot of ways to break this deadly habit. You can go for counseling, take up alternative therapy like acupuncture, nicotine replacement therapy, and even perseverance.

Study shows that only four to five percent of smokers who tried to quit were successful on their first attempt. But a big jump in success rate was observed for repeated attempts which show an overwhelming 40 to 50 percent.

For those who still in to smoking, you might want to consider these facts.

Lung cancer is responsible for a large percent of lung related deaths around the world. Smoking can greatly increase the risk of incurring this disease.

Smoking makes you more prone to Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) which can lead to cervical cancer.

Macular degeneration is the leading cause eye problem, specifically, blindness amongst elderly. Smoking increases the risk of developing this age-related degeneration.

Other deadly diseases that you might incur if you don’t stop smoking are heart diseases and stroke. Experts say that fewer cigarettes can improve blood ability to carry oxygen.

Aside from the ugly yellow stain it leaves on your teeth, smoking can make you loose them if you don’t stop kick those butts.

Study shows that fertility may be improved if you quit smoking.

These are just some of the reasons why you must leave your smokey ways. This just doesn’t improve your life, but also avoid early cause of death.

Healthy Living Lung Disease, Smoking

Depression is a medical condition. It is not a phase that an individual must or can outgrow but rather it is a condition that needs to be cured. Undergoing depression is no joke, not only you are mentally unhealthy, your physical well being also suffers.

Teens and adults  undergo depression. Depression of teens can be attributed to peer pressure. Either they are being bullied at school or is undergoing an identity crisis. It is further exacerbated by the fact that their parents think that they are just acting out their teen angst and fail to see the real reason. Those teens undergoing such condition also fail to understand what they are going through since their mind is clouted by the depression they are experiencing. On the other hand, depression on adults can be rooted with their problems at work, with their family or their romantic partner.

Individuals who are undergoing depression experience low self esteem, they loose appetite on food and worst, some they into drugs and alcohol. To be able to help individuals undergoing depression, one must know its symptoms. Loss of appetite, drastic gain or loss weight, mood swings and thought of suicide are some. As a medical condition, depression has a cure. One has to consult a doctor to able to cure it. You cannot just pop a medicine for it might worsen one’s condition.

Being physical healthy is not enough we should also pay attention to our mental health. We should be vigilant in keeping our mind and body as healthy as it can be.

Mental Illness Depression, Mental Health

A long life is a healthy and happy life. Secrets of longevity have been long sought by scientists fascinated by stories dating back to the philosophers of ancient Greece and to characters of biblical times. Jeanne Calment, a Frenchwoman who passed away in 1997, is the longest lived person at 122 years of age. With these as inspiration, scientists and health professionals are in the search for the answer to longer human lifespan and perhaps the key to the fountain of youth.

Canada, among the world’s richest countries, has the longest life expectancy today at 80 years. Canadians have access to excellent healthcare, hygiene, diet and lifestyle. But more factors influence the life expectancy of an individual. The people of Okinawa in Japan practice a tradition of taking in a quantity of food just enough for their bodies. Called the Hara Hachi Bu, this custom of eating just right has made Okinawans live longer than any other populace.

In Denmark, Danish who have higher levels of education lived longer. Men who spent more years studying had longer life expectancy at 2.7 years, while women were at 2.2 years. Although these numbers are well calculated, women still outlive men by about 5 years. Studies made in the Netherlands may have found a link, the female menstruation. It gives out a hormone that benefits the heart. During menstruation and pregnancy, the heart pumps more. This is found to be similar to exercising which is good for the heart, both male and female.

Though women can reach the age of 90, this is also possible to men. Lifestyle checks help to achieve this. In a study, researchers conclude that men should watch their ideal weight, quit or don’t smoke at all, maintain normal blood pressures, no instance of diabetes, and exercise and related activities are necessary for longer life. Normal blood pressure adds 4 years, ideal weight adds 1 to 3 years, not smoking adds 14 years, low cholesterol adds 4 years, and regular exercise about 1 to 3 years.

Winning and achieving success may also be vital to a long and happy life. A study found out that Nobel Prize winners lived longer lives by about 1.4 years than the nominees. Given that every single one of them was well-educated and successful individuals already add to the years that they have lived. But you don’t have to shoot for that status. You can achieve longevity through other, easier means. Just keeping a positive attitude adds 7.5 years. Leading an industrious and organized life adds 2 to 4 years.

Healthy Living Health, Long Life

In the last year there have been 35 deaths involving medical helicopters. The year since February 2008 has been the worst year on record for the air ambulance services across the globe.

So, why are there so many accidents involving medical helicopters?

It has been reported that in the majority of these cases the pilots were to blame. Accident investigators found that the pilots involved took undue risks in making sure that the patients they were transporting got to hospital quickly.

Several pilots had flown into severe weather or had gotten disoriented at night. In some cases, pre-flight safety checks had not been undertaken correctly.

It brings into question the use of helicopters as a method of transporting patients. Whilst there are obvious benefits and helicopters have indeed saved many lives, they have also lost some.

Are helicopters being used where it would be safer to use conventional transport? Maybe so.

Emergency Services

Back pain is a very common ailment that most people do not pay much attention to.  However, if you are one of those who suffer from this malady ever so often, you may be a little bit more concerned and eager to know what causes it and how to cure or avoid it.

Back pains are usually caused by constant tension of the lumbar area as well as the shoulders.  The tension results from poor sitting posture, bad sleeping position or severely extraneous activities.  The gravity of pain can range from the tolerable to the unbearable.  Sometimes people who suffer from back pains are unable to even stand up because of the pain or numbness.

The saying “prevention is better than cure” holds true especially in the case of having back pains.  It can be prevented by maintaining good posture while standing up and sitting down.  While sleeping, assume a comfortable position can gives the back ample support, keeping it from any amount of strain.  Whenever lifting heavy objects, always make sure that you have your balance in check so as not to pull or much less injure a muscle.  When performing whatever kind of exercise, always stretch first to warm your muscles up and maintain flexibility.

In serious cases, however, you should call your doctor at once.  If you lost all feeling on your back, or you are experiencing severe unbearable pain for days, it is best to have yourself checked out; perhaps you might need an X ray.  Some doctors prescribe pain relievers and some would recommend you to see a therapist or a chiropractor.

Aches and Pains Back Pain, Spine