DIET USING NEGATIVE CALORIES

We can have a diet using negative calories. The main idea is that our body uses more calories to digest some aliments than the calories we know those aliments contain themselves by analyzing the combination of nutritional components of the specific aliments. If we burn more calories than we consume, then we will lose weight.

The theory is in fact very appealing: the body has to consume energy in order to digest the food. For example, an orange has about 50 calories. To process all nutritional components and vitamins that an orange contains, our body will burn more than just 50 calories.

The diet using negative calories is more a solution we can call on in some specific periods, when our body is overwhelmed with nutrition, like holidays, Christmas, New Year’s, birthdays, weddings, and less of a solution that can be used on a long term.

Some specialists say that the lost of weight is obtained mostly by losing parts of the muscular tissue, which is not recommended at all.

So if you decide to use the diet with negative calories keep in mind the following:

• Make sure it is done in a period your body has already too many calories stored and you won’t be affecting your health by doing this.
• Ask a medic if you can resist only eating this types of aliments and also ask him the time limit for this diet in your case so you can avoid getting sick.
• Try to combine them as much as you can, do not eat just oranges or other fruits that contain citric acid as they are not good for your stomach activity when eaten in huge quantities.
• Review your schedule for the days you want to use this diet and make sure you don’t have any important or stressful things to do. Stress also causes caloric burn and weight reduction and if it occurs during a diet that weakens the organism you can feel physically powerless. If such a thing happens give up on the diet and eat something with many calories and glucoses fast.

If all above points are checked and passed you can start a negative calories diet and give a try to actually eating something instead of taking slim pills and drinking tea.

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Diabetes treatment

Now a day’s diabetes treatment has become a common disease among people. It is caused due to mismanagement of carbohydrate metabolism inside the body. Diabetes is identified with the excessive production of urine, hunger, thirst and excessive loss of weight, blurred vision, and delay in healing of skin, repeated infection, and excessive fatigue. Diabetes has got a serous issue of human health. It denotes sugar in blood and urine very excessively. 

So, when it comes to treatment of diabetes the main concern should be given to control blood sugar, which is main cause of diabetes. Managing blood sugar is the stepping-stone of this diabetes treatment program. To remove the complications of diabetes one must take it seriously and adopt some good diet process or healthy exercise. Apart from doing so some take insulin and any other type of medication program to be cured to some extent. Frequent testing of blood sugar can denote you how much you have improved on your part to manage suitable measure of sugar in blood. It is very important to learn the right range of glucose in blood unless and until you cannot have the idea about the complication you are facing about this disease. It depends on age mainly such as in younger age assuming not much complication is there the suitable range of glucose is 80-120 mg/dL and in older age it is 100-140 mg/dL. 

Diabetes program includes some specific self-treatments like having good and suitable diet, having proper exercise, maintaining healthy weight and medication. When it is about good and suitable diet it does not make any suggestion to take all dull food which are not of your interest rather it denotes to have more fruits, vegetables and grains that means you should be conscious in taking the foods of high nutrition and lower fat and calories. Avoid taking sweets and animal products with no limit. The main part of this diabetes treatment program is that you own self should be challenging in this task otherwise this program will be harder enough. Consult any dietitian about meal plan and try to maintain it at the fixed times every day with same amount according to your diet plan.

On the part of having proper exercise you should be cautious about all aerobic exercises. In this diabetes treatment program you can make your choices among the daily exercises like doing morning or evening walk, jogging, hiking, biking, swimming and any other exercises of heart and lungs. Remember giving consistency to your exercise process is very important to get the best result through it.

Try to maintain weight according to your activity level and age because overweight is dangerous factor which help to make your cells more resistant to insulin. Making suitable weight loss plan and going according to that can make its result more effectively.

Sometimes medication takes a very important role in case where it is found that good dieting and exercise are not fulfilling it purpose. This type of diabetes program includes the insert of insulin as per requirement. As it can’t be taken in form of pill some people have it injected by syringe or some have it with insulin pump.

So now it is very clear that diabetes is always manageable if the sufferer give a serious daily attention to it. Although diabetes stands for life long suffering, yet it never means the end of your life. You just have to remember that the disease will be in your control only and only if you are self disciplined for your each and every step of treatment program.

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DEPRESSION – AVOIDING IT

Depression is a serious illness that can affect the work power, family and social life of a person. This is why we don’t have to ignore it and hide it. It is important to know the symptoms, the causes and what possibilities we have to prevent it.

Each one of us had at some point a depressing sad moment. Depression is a normal human reaction associated to a loss, with the tumult of everyday life or with an agitated sentimental life. Sometimes the sadness sensation passes but sometimes it doesn’t, it becomes more persistent and it can conduct to nervous breakdowns. The diseases of the nervous system are very serious and that is why it is important not to pass them by without proper help when we realize we can’t handle them by ourselves. Getting help is not only normal, but required also.

Here are some of the symptoms of depression:

- sadness

- loosing energy

- loosing hope in life and others

- not finding pleasant anymore the things you used to love

- having trouble concentrating

- uncontrolled crying

- headaches, other types of inexplicable aches and itches

- needing to sleep a lot or on the contrary not getting any sleep at all

- loosing appetite and loosing weight at the same time

These are just some of the symptoms of depression and if more of them are associated they are not to be ignored and a discussion with a close person or a specialist has to happen very soon.

What causes depression? There is not a single source that causes depression. This is a complex disease that can appear as a result of multiple causes. Depression can also be transmitted among persons that are close to each other, by influence.

There are proofs that say persons suffering of depression suffer brain changes. There are also proofs that explain how depression can also be genetic. Children affected by the depression of their parents or parents whose children suffer from chronic depression are more likely to be affected themselves by this illness.

To try and prevent depression we have to know ourselves very well. Although treatable depression can be hard to prevent once we are already melancholic. The best method to avoid another crisis after a chronic depression is to keep and eye open to its symptoms and its causes. And also get professional hope whenever we feel like we need it.

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The Avian Influenza Virus (Bird Flu) A Pandemic in the Making

Is the world today looking at another pandemic due to the avian influenza virus? The increasing cases of the avian influenza virus, the global spreading of the disease and the fact that many scientists believe that it is not a matter of if but when we will experience it, is making this a global question. What is making some believe this is highly probable?

To answer that question we first need to examine what the avian influenza is, and some of its history.

Avian Influenza, also known as bird flu is an illness that is caused by avian influenza viruses. These viruses occur naturally amongst wild birds and are carried in their intestines. These viruses are very contagious and normally will not make wild birds sick however; they can be extremely dangerous to domestic birds such as Turkeys, Chickens, and Ducks making them extremely sick and can lead to death.

The Avian Flu was first recorded in Italy more than 100 years ago in 1878. As the cause of a large amount of deaths in Poultry it became known as “Fowl Plague”. This disease was recorded in the United States in 1924-25, and then again in 1929. In 1955, it was determined that the virus causing Fowl Plague was one of the influenza viruses. The official designation for the bird flu is Influenza-A H5N1. This strain was originally first isolated in birds from South Africa in 1961.

Originally thought only to infect birds this flu received unprecedented publicity in 1997 when for the first time the virus was transmitted to humans. During this period 18 people were hospitalized and 6 died. Authorities in an attempt to control the outbreak killed approximately 1.5 million chickens. This was in an attempt to remove the source of the virus.

Since 1997 there have been confirmed cases of humans infected with the virus. Two children from Hong Kong were infected that year but both children recovered.

In 2003 two members of a Hong Kong family were infected after traveling to China. One person died. The cause was never determined on where or how those two people were infected. Later back in China another family member died of a respiratory illness but no testing was done at that time.

Also in 2003 the Netherlands reported more than 80 cases of avian influenza-A among poultry workers and their families. One patient died. At that time there seemed to be some evidence of human to human transmissions. These outbreaks tapered off in the spring of 2004 but then re-emerged in the summer.

As of Sept 19, 2005 there have been 114 confirmed human cases of bird flu with 59 of them being fatal. Human cases of the disease have been reported in Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, and Indonesia. Sustained person to person transmission has not occurred but there is another report of suspected human to human transmission from Thailand in fall of 2004. The virus recently has shown the ability to jump from species to species with cats, pigs, tigers and leopards becoming infected. Areas affected by H5N1 avian influenza in poultry include: Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Russia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia.

So now what does this all have to do with a possible influenza pandemic?

First an influenza pandemic occurs when a new virus appears that the human population has no immunity from. This results in a large scale outbreak worldwide with an enormous amount of deaths and illness. Because of global transportation, over crowding and urbanization these epidemics would take hold very quickly on a global scale.

This is why the recent findings in regards to the bird flu virus are particularly concerning. The reassortment (this is the changing of genetic material between two types of virus making a third) of avian influenza genomes is very likely to occur since these viruses have demonstrated a capacity to infect multiple species, as is now the case in Asia. This then leads to the greater chance of human exposure and infection. This new virus has new genetics which would then be immune to current vaccines. As shown the world has faced pandemic possibilities for several years in regards to the avian influenza virus and with the recent developments it does only seem a matter of time before we are faced with a flu pandemic of gigantic proportions. No one knows for sure if or when a pandemic would occur, it could be within weeks or years, but all the conditions are in place, save one – sustained proof of a virus that is being transmitted from human to human.

Take a look to history on past influenza pandemic’s. This may give a better understanding when we use the word gigantic proportions. These previous pandemics have led to high levels of illness, death, social disruption, and economic loss. The potential devastation of the avian flu virus is greater than these former pandemics.

There have been 3 such influenza pandemics in the 20th century.

In 1918-1919 when more than 500,000 died in the United States alone, along with approximately 50 million people worldwide. In 1957-1958 the Asian flu caused 70,000 deaths first reported in China late in February 1957 and it spread to the U.S by June of 1957. The Hong Kong flu in 1968 and 1969 caused some 34,000 deaths in the United States alone.

So what would happen if we faced a pandemic today, from the avian flu virus? Most agree we could stand a very little chance of containment for several reasons. First the world will have just weeks to accomplish that feat. Scientists estimate that 300,000 to one million people would immediately be in need of the anti-viral. At this time there are limited stocks. Because of production limitations the current time frame is four to six months to produce a certain quantity of vaccine. This may not be fast enough. The fact is that for containment the world would need to carry out a massive inoculation campaign within a two to three week time frame for any type of chance to contain the virus.

There is also the chance that current vaccines for the avian flu would have little or no effect on a pandemic virus. This is because the vaccine needs to match the pandemic virus which may not be the case. The world then would need a new vaccine. So a vaccine developed in Thailand may not protect you from another virus in another part of the world. This would take several months to develop and by that time millions may die.

Then there is the distribution issue. There is no guarantee of distribution priorities. This could mean that poorer nations may not get the vaccine at all, because richer countries would get the majority.

So what is our government and others doing to effectively deal with this possible nightmare? What can you do as an individual?

On February 4, 2004 there was an order for an immediate ban on the import of all birds ) from the following areas in Southeast Asia: Cambodia; Indonesia; Japan; Laos; People's Republic of China, including Hong Kong, SAR; South Korea; Thailand; and Vietnam. Hong Kong was removed from the ban list because of imposed vaccination, inspection, and surveillance programs for poultry farms, live poultry markets, and pet bird dealers; Also since there have been no additional cases of Influenza A (H5N1) in birds in Hong Kong since the positive peregrine falcon which was the reason for their inclusion on the list.

The World Health Organization has helped lead efforts to develop a national plan to cover aspects of responding to a pandemic require enhanced surveillance and early detection. Improving our public health infrastructure to be able to administer programs effectively is also a priority.

There has also been contract for egg surge capacity worth about $10 million awarded. This was done to assist with the making of vaccines. Since vaccines can provide a safe, effective and efficient means to prevent illness, disability and death from infectious diseases, research is a high priority with health organizations. The National Institutes of Health is another organization that is assisting with the testing of new vaccines.

The only downfall is they do take time to develop and as in any new strain of the virus there would not be enough at the time of the outbreak. This fact is making the reporting and early detection a priority.

The World Health Organizations Center For Disease Control, Association of Public Health Laboratories, Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, Vietnamese Ministry of Health just to name a few are proactively monitoring world influenza reports. There is a network of 112 National Influenza Centers that are monitoring activity and isolating influenza viruses in all continents. They then report immediately the finding of any new or unusual influenza viruses found. They have also implemented new notification methods for public health emergencies that would be of international concern.

In America at this time the risk is very low for a pandemic from the avian flu virus. This does not mean the government is doing nothing. The French drug maker Sanofi-Aventis won a $100 million contract to supply the United States a vaccine against H5N1.

The United States has also awarded a $2.8 million contract to Britain's GlaxoSmithKline for 84,300 courses of an antiviral. Although not a vaccine, this antiviral Tamiflu®, has shown the ability to protect against human infection. The purchases are part of a US plan to buy vaccine for 20 million people and anti-viral for another 20 million. In the past four years the Department of Health and Human Services has invested a large amount in protecting against the flu including increases for CDC influenza funding ($17.2 million to $41.6 million, 242%) and creation of Strategic Reserves/Stockpiles ($0 to $80 million).

It also looks like an effective vaccine may finally have emerged to counter the avian flu virus. Just recently in tests, preliminary results obtained from 115 of the vaccine recipients showed a strong enough immune response to ward off the virus. These tests have been taking place for several months.

Also in the United Kingdom the risk at this time is very low but could be subject to change very suddenly. Precautions are being taken since the virus is spreading. The government has ordered around 14.6 million courses of the drug Tamiflu - enough to treat around a quarter of the UK's population. They have devised a distribution system that would make the anti-viral available to health workers, people who would be essential to the continuing of the government, and people at high risk first. The UK Health Protection Agency estimates that in the event of a flu pandemic there could be a possible 50,000 deaths in Wales and England alone. Because of its planning The World Health Organization has said that the UK is at the forefront of preparations internationally for a pandemic influenza outbreak.

Now you’re asking what can I do to help myself in case of an influenza outbreak?

Still the most effective way to deal with influenza in general is still by vaccination each year. At this time there are no vaccines on the market to combat the avian flu virus. But as seen above it is very close to a answer. Other flu vaccines are available and should be considered to prevent help prevent an outbreak.

There are two types of vaccines. The first is a flu shot. This is inactivated vaccine (containing a killed virus) given usually in the arm. It has been approved for use in persons older than 6 months, healthy people, and also people with a chronic health condition. The second type is a nasal spray flu vaccine. This is a vaccine made with live and weakened viruses that do not cause the flu. It is approved for use in healthy people over 5 years of age up to 49 years.

Anyone who wants to reduce their chances of getting influenza can be vaccinated. There are people who are at high risk to suffer serious complications if they were to contract influenza or people who care for such individuals. These people should be vaccinated each year. This group includes, persons 65 years of age or older. People who live in nursing homes, or other long term care facilities. Adults and children 6 months and older who have chronic heart or lung conditions, this is including asthma. Adults and children 6 months and older who needed regular medical care or were in a hospital during the previous year because of a metabolic disease (like diabetes), chronic kidney disease, or weakened immune system, including immune system problems caused by infection with human immunodeficiency virus. [HIV/AIDS] Any Children 6 months to 18 years of age who are on long-term aspirin therapy. This is because children given aspirin while they have influenza are at risk of Reye syndrome. Any women who will be pregnant during the influenza season and all children 6 to 23 months of age should also be vaccinated yearly.

People with any condition that can compromise respiratory function meaning, a condition that makes it hard to breathe or swallow, such as brain injury or disease, spinal cord injuries, seizure disorders, or other nerve or muscle disorders.

Other measures to prepare and deal with an outbreak would include. Avoid close contact with people who are sick. If possible, stay home from work or keep your child from school when sick. Cover your mouth and nose with tissue when coughing or sneezing. Wash your hands often. Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth.

Keeping surfaces clean also plays a significant role in the preventing the spread of the virus. Influenza virus is destroyed by heat (167-212°F [75-100°C]). In addition, several chemical germicides, including chlorine, hydrogen peroxide, detergents (soap), iodophors (iodine-based antiseptics), and alcohols are effective against influenza viruses if used in proper concentration for sufficient length of time. For example, wipes or gels with alcohol in them can be used to clean hands.

Not wanting to sound like a doomsday prophet but in the end the following is known. The threat is real. Bird flu is spreading at an alarming rate. There is the potential for a catastrophic flu pandemic. Since 1997 we have seen the virus go from affecting just birds, to affecting other animals and now an increasing amount of human infections. This is showing that the virus is changing and not for the better. The world is becoming united to stopping this deadly virus and saving an apocalyptic nightmare. Do we know when or where a flu pandemic may start? No, we don’t due to the fact at this time there is no absolute proof of human to human transmittal of the virus we can not guess. This is a prerequisite of a pandemic; it has to be spread human to human.

By monitoring, reporting and working together on vaccines we are at the present time staying ahead of a possible flu pandemic which could devastate the global community. There is promise as seen by this month’s discovery of a workable vaccine for the avian flu virus. Even with this new threat as individuals we do need to take precautions to keep from contracting any of the other forms of influenza. By continued research, individual effort and the joint effort of the global community we may avoid a flu pandemic that would have the potential to kill millions.

For more information on the avian flu virus some good resources are. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, World Health Organization, Department of Health and Human Services, the World Organization for Animal Health and the New England Journal of Medicine.

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AFRAID OF HEIGHTS?

Being afraid of height (whether during a plane trip or escalading a mountain) is a serious problem that affects many persons and can have severe if not fatal repercussions on the respective person. The sickness is provoked by the lack of oxygen.

The easiest manifestation of height sickness can appear at altitudes of 2000 meters and it will manifest itself through headaches, dizziness, and incapability of movement. These symptoms will disappear in a few days if you continue staying at that height.

The most severe sensations of height sickness appear at extremely high altitudes usually over 3000 meters in altitude. Next to the symptoms already mentioned, others can appear like: loosing appetite, sleep disorders and waking up frequently in the middle of the night. The difficulty that can be encountered when breathing, stomach sickness, temporary losses of memory, encountering difficulty when trying to concentrate are amongst the most common and severe symptoms that solicit an immediate change of altitude.

Who are the ones most likely to be afraid of heights?

There is no way to predict who is going to be height sick. Surprisingly, older people, people with low physical activity and poor health are not more affected by the height sickness than other persons. This also means that if you never encountered this problem until now you can’t be sure that you won’t feel sick next time you take a trip by plane or climb a mountain.

How can this be avoided?

The best solution to avoid this sensation in the mountains is to climb slowly until you get to the destination, and to climb in such a way that the whole process is going to take at least a few days. In case of a plane flight, ask the advice of the physician about the medication you can take to stop the alternative of being plane sick.

It is extremely important to drink as much water as you can possibly drink to avoid deshidratation, a factor that can make the sensation of sick worse. A big quantity of water is lost when you are at low temperatures, but also when you are involved in activities that require a great effort, like winter sports.

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A Little More About Body Temperature

As you've learned, your body temperature is really an internal clock that keeps us awake and sleeping at certain times.

It's also extremely important to understand that the rise and drop of body temperature is a hint for our body to produce the feelings of being awake or being tired.

Whenever your body temperature begins to fall, you will feel tired, lethargic, and drowsier. Whenever your body temperature rises, you will feel more energetic, alert, and be able to focus better.

Don't mistake the fall of body temperature at certain times during the day as the need to sleep. Your body temperature may rise and drop several times in the day as a response to the activities you're doing at the time.

Whenever you put big physical demands on your body your body temperature will rise above the norm. As a response to any intensive physical activity, the body temperature drops for a while as soon as you stop the activity.

For example, if you work an 8 hour shift at a job that requires intense activity, one might feel totally drained and ready to fall asleep when you come home at around 4 PM. What you'll actually find is that this feeling of tiredness is not a sincere desire to sleep, but rather a response from your body due to the drop of body temperature.

If you resist sleeping at this moment and provide a “wind-down” period for your body after this period, body temperature will return to a normal and you will feel alert again.

In the Powerful Sleep plan I would suggest that you nap for 10-45 minutes during your day to physically recharge yourself, it's ideal to take this nap when you experience this body temperature drop as it will help you sleep. Always limit your naps to 45 minutes to avoid entering deep sleep.

After you wake up from your power nap it's normal to feel lethargic or drowsy, this is because your melatonin levels are higher. Get as much high intensity light as possible the moment you wake up, and make sure to MOVE your body to get your body temperature up and running again.

If you currently live a very sedentary lifestyle, your body temperature will drop very often when you're sitting around on your butt or watching TV, so if you feel tired during the day understand it’s not because you need more sleep. It's because you need LESS SLEEP and MORE MOVEMENT!

Body Temperature Update..!

We already know that your body temperature works and ticks like an internal clock controlling our sleeping cycles. Body temperature also controls the metabolism, circulation and other involuntary activities our body undertakes.

Variation in body temperature also indicates and induces the feeling of being awake or being tired.

Reduction in body temperature induces the feeling of lethargy, tiredness and drowsiness. Conversely, a rise in body temperature induces the feeling of alertness, feeling of being energetic resulting in better concentration levels.

The rise and fall of body temperature during the day should not be misinterpreted as the need to rest or sleep. This happens many a times during the day depending upon the body’s activity level at a given time.

When a human body is pushed for heavy physical activity, the body temperature automatically rises and drops slowly once the activity is stopped. This reduction of body temperature induces a feeling of tiredness or drowsiness.

When your body does intensive physical work during the day, you feel tired when you come back home and just want to sleep. This does not happen due to desire of sleep, but due to drop in body temperature, and the reaction of your body due to the drop in temperature.

If you let this phase pass and wait till your body temperature returns to normal, you will start feeling awake and alert again.

In order to recharge your physical energies, I would suggest, as a part of my Powerful Sleep Plan, to take a nap of 10 – 45 minutes during the day. This nap should be taken when you feel sleepy, that is when your body temperature has dropped as it will help in falling asleep. The nap should not be more than 45 minutes and should not enter deep sleep. Deep sleep will only induce further fall in body temperature.

When you wake from your Power Nap, you may feel drowsy and lethargic due to high melatonin levels. It is important to get your body back to normal temperature with the help of light physical movement and exposure to light.

It is understandable if you feel tired even when you lead a sedentary lifestyle. This does not mean you need more sleep, but means that you need more movement and less sleep. This happens due to frequent dropping of body temperature.

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