Dieting

There are hundreds of diets, weight loss plans, diet pills and exercise routines to the desire of individuals to be thin. Many people would like a quick fix and use these diet pills and detox theories which are so dangerous to the human body and mind. I have some what struggled with my weight, my body just wants to stay at a whopping 116! I'm sure dietitians and nutritionists would argue, although I feel as though Weight Watchers is the best diet out there right now. 

Weight watchers is a diet plan, although it is healthy and actually good for your body. It includes all the major food groups in your daily food intake and has you reach a healthy amount of daily calories. It also includes exercise and you are able to go out to eat on this plan. Weight watchers in on a point system, giving every food or beverage you put into your mouth a point value (most vegetables being zero, a big mac is 14 and a glass of wine is 2). The number of points one can consume in a day depends on your gender, age, starting weight, and activity level. If you choose to work out for a significant amount of time, you may also add points to your day which enables you to eat more. Weight watchers is healthy, easy and it actually works. I have done this a few times and lost a significant amount of weight. Now, I am back on it and lost 5 pounds in two weeks. It is not a quick diet, although they say the less your loose in a week the less likely it is to gain back afterwards. So, the next time you are ready for a change or your jeans are little snug, give Weight Watchers a try instead of doing it the fast, pill popping way. Visit WeightWatchers.com for more information. 

Healthy Relationships

As adolescents, young adults, and even adults, it is extremely important to be aware of your relationship status. Understanding what a “healthy relationship” is is very important so you can not only respect your partner but respect yourself. Here is a list of topics that make a relationship healthy. Obviously arguments happen, it only natural, and mistakes are made, although excessive amounts may hurt you emotionally or physically.

Respect: self respect and your partners respect. Understand their desires, dislikes and hopes in your relationship. Give them space when needed, and never cross the line with verbal or physical violence.

Trust: believe their word and have faith in your instincts.

Honesty: always tell the truth and try not to hide anything from your partner. Lies only turn into unnecessary arguments, which can lead to pain and tears. Be honest with your partner and yourself.

Support: try to back up your partner 100 percent with all they choose to do even if you don’t think it’s the right thing. And if you believe differently, suggest differently, but make sure they understand you are behind them.

Separation: time away is okay! It is important to see your friends and family separately. It makes the time your together afterwards much happier and stronger.

Communication: talking is very important in all relationships. If you hold things in, they will eventually blow up inside of you. Talk about your feelings, your day and your future together. Be sure to tell them what is bothering you and what makes you happy.

As college students, relationships can be stressful from your education and all the other aspects that go along with being away from home and living at school. This list is very important, even though it seems like common sense, not fulfilling these key parts of a relationship can make it go straight down the drain, and cause a lot of pain in both individuals. To read more about this and other healthy relationships topics visit health.org/teen/your_mind/relationships.html

Protein

I was sitting in one of my classes yesterday, and over heard a group of guys talking about bench pressing and protein shakes. I have never realized what these were, how they worked and the harm it actually has on the human body.

Being “huge” is important to many males; it makes them feel better and more powerful. Some of these men are not happy with their natural look, so now turning to enhancements to help enlarge their body mass.

In fact, extra protein actually leads to more body fat which does not directly relate to extra muscle. Excessive amounts of protein that these body builders take in can actually harm your kidneys and cause bone loss. Most people need about 40-60 grams of protein a day, which is about one breast of chicken. Most body builders consume about five times this recommended amount.

In conclusion, protein is important in your daily diet although unnatural in take can cause harm and obesity if not used properly. I feel as though if you cant get “huge” unnaturally, you probably shouldn’t look “huge!”

Stress and Obesity

There are many of children in our country that suffer from poverty. Poverty has been known to have a direct effect on stress and obesity. Stress and poverty have a significant relationship from money worries, health insurance, working and their overall life style.

Studies have shown that people eat more and more unhealthy ways when they feel “stressed,” which directly leads to povershed obesity. On the other side of obesity are children going unfed because the food is scarce due to stress and money issues.

Children in our country are gaining weights or getting sick due to their parents financial problems. Parents are not feeding their children properly, not feeding them at all or feeding them food that is unhealthy which makes the child gain weight. Hopefully in this presidential election, the problem of health insurance will be fixed or solved, although work and money problems can only be fixed by the family itself. Maybe the education system can help in some way with counseling the unfortunate raised in these unlucky families.

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26508051

"Mood Foods"

If you’re feeling down, depressed, anxious or cranky- studies have recently shown that a healthy diet and certain food combination can actually reduce these feelings and occasionally eliminate them completely.

1. Your brains needs constant energy, eating every four hours and help prevent the low levels of blood sugar in your body and brain.

2. Try to stay away from sugary foods including soda, candy and junk food. These foods make your blood sugar drop which shows a significant relation with your mood. Refined sugars such as bagels, white breads and cereal can have the same effect on the body.

3. Protein and high fiber foods have been known to make your body feel much better and has a direct relationship with your happier moods. Vegetables, chicken, meat, and eggs will all have a positive effect on your body.
a. Omega 3
b. Greens
c. Sunflower seeds
d. Beets
e. Oranges

Eating healthy foods not only makes your brain and your body feel better, but relates firmly to your overall look and the way you feel about your self. If you are in a happy mood and eating right then you will not only look and feel better but your health status will increase immensely.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25790849/

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

The month of October is formally dedicated to research, cures, hopes and awareness of Breast Cancer. Although many women (and some men) suffer from this devastating growth, there are many ways in hopes to prevent the cancer from happening in your own body. The simple things such as diet and exercise may prevent you from developing breast cancer. Be aware of what medications you are taking, some of them have been shown to increase the likelihood of growing a tumor and turn into cancer. It is also important to get yearly screenings, as well as at home tests in hopes to find it before its too late. Another significant relationship between the body and breast cancer in females, is your alcohol consumption. Studies have shown that limited drinks or none at all can prevent your risk of breast cancer.

With these prevention tips and yearly doctors’ visits, Breast Cancer can be spotted easily and occasionally treated easily if caught in time. Breast cancer usually does not spread and therefore chemotherapy and surgery can hopefully eliminate the tumor in your body.

This blog is in hopes to remind all you females how important it is to get yearly screenings, especially if breast cancer has been seen in your own family. If not, keep in mind the prevention list above in your daily life style.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/prophylactic-mastectomy/WO00060
http://www.breastcancer.org/risk/index.jsp?gclid=CMOirYLQiJYCFQgRFQodcSCYEw

Labels on Produce

Starting today, September 30th, grocery produce will be forced to state where the item is grown and from. MSNBC just released an article on this subject. There are many arguments they can argue. People say that they would rather not know where their produce is originally from due to the stereotypes or negativity in relation to that country or state. This might also backfire on the store from which the produce is sold. There also might be a dramatic push for local produce, so the produce that are said to be from other locations might be harder to sell, which would force to increase the cost of locally grown fruits and vegetables. The organic grocery stores will do much better when this happens because all of their produce is all natural and usually local (within the states). This is very interesting to see where the produce is from although might scare some people and make them stay away from certain foods.

Alternative Medication

In this blog, I want to share my knowledge of alternative medication including acupuncture, message therapy and probiotics. Acupuncture and massage therapy are forms of therapy and pain reduces that beginning to be more common today. Both acupuncture and massage therapy have nothing to do with medication given by a doctor, although have seen to show significant results in reducing pain or discomfort.

Acupuncture is the art of placing needles into the body in specific areas to either ease pain or for healing purposes such as smoking, dieting or depression. Acupuncture is the art of the Chinese, which has more recently become very popular in today’s society. The points where these needles are placed are found along the “vital energy” areas. These needles are said to take away the stress of an area in the body i.e., a needle through the ear will help ease pain in the lower leg. An issue with acupuncture is that it is rarely covered by insurance, and if not, there is no definite answer that acupuncture will absolutely work for you. Although, studies have shown that acupuncture can help a variety of problems in one’s life including abdominal pain, anxiety, obesity, sleep disorders, muscle spasms, arthritis and many more.

Massage therapy is more common because it is more natural and may show direct relief. Massage therapy is more ordinary to be seen with back, leg, neck and arm pain. The problem with massage therapy is that it cannot fix some problems that are either psychological or internally although can help ease pain for some.

Probiotics have become much more common. Probiotics are a dietary supplement, although is all natural and just add to the natural bacterial cultures found in the body. Most doctors do not recommend probiotics, although nutritionists and other specialists often advocate them. Probiotics help to strengthen the immune system. Reasons to use probiotics include colon cancer, blood pressure, Crohn’s, Colitis, IBD, cholesterol, and reducing inflammation (and much more). Probiotics are becoming more popular because they do not harm the body in any way, even if you just want to try them out, they will only help.

I suggest trying alternative medication if you have pain or problems, and are currently in remission of them. I have heard many stories of success with these forms of medicine and it takes away from the side effects that many doctorsrecommend.