5 Ways for Parents To prevent Obesity In Children


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Childhood obesity in not a parent ego issue but is actually a serious medical condition. Most people write it off as a parent’s attempt to better their image by making their child better looking but it is far from that. As kids, we are all drawn towards junk food like fries, burgers and sodas. Also, candy contributes to obesity but on some occasions like Halloween and Christmas, it is a part of the celebration.

Here are some points that would help you control the weight problems of your kids –

1.Watch The Weight Gain – This is the easiest and the most ignored solution for obesity issues. Most obesity problems are not complicated at all and you can control these problems by merely watching what goes in. Simply keep a tab on the diet of your child but don’t under nourish them. There are certain diet requirements based on height and age and you should follow them when you watch their food intake.

2. Encourage Regular Eating – It is best that you fix regular eating timetables and even join your kids when they are eating. As per the government health recommendations, there must be 3 meals and additional snacks per day of a healthy person. Hence, your child shouldn’t be going without food for more than 3-4 hours. If you join them during their meals, it would add more regularity to their timetable.

3. Inculcate Healthy Eating Habits Early – Healthy dietary choices not only prevent obesity but they also cancel out other health issues in a person’s life. But it is much more difficult to break someone out of an unhealthy eating habit than it is to incorporate it from an early age. Add fruits and vegetables in their diet plans when they are in preschool and you will notice that such kids stay away from fatty foods when they grow up.

4. Don’t Be Restrictive – It is okay to control their intake and monitor it up to a certain extent but you must try and not come across as some tyrannical food control freak. These are probably the best years of your kids in terms of digestion and you don’t want to be too much of a spoil sport. Another thing about being overly restrictive is that children tend to do the opposite of what you tell them to do. This means that if you keep them away from junk food, they will gravitate towards it and you don’t want that.

5. Join Them In Moderate and Healthy Eating – Your kids learn from your habits and even imitate your choices. The best thing is to join them and eat moderately in front of them so as to set an example. If you are gorging on burgers yourself and asking them not to, it creates double standards and makes them angry. So, when you ask them to eat their salad, do the same and things would be much easier.

Don’t be too strict while introducing the regimen. Be easy on the kids, they are children, after all. Be polite and give them a free treat occasionally to encourage them.


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E-Cigarettes: Healthy Alternative or Harmful For the Heart?

Smoking kills. Yes, of course that statement doesn’t need any re-clarification, but ask any smoker and he will tell you in detail about the numerous difficulties of trying to quit smoking. These start from the urges and cravings for the smoke to problems in concentration and lack of productivity at work. This is why E-Cigarette or electronic cigarettes are something that you must consider whether it is you or your close someone who is trying to quit smoking.

The problem starts with the fact that there is a raging debate about the beneficial effects of electronic cigarettes and it is believed by many to be harmful for your heart, doing little good than bad. Well, recent extensive studies and research has shown that they are completely safe and has no harmful effect on the heart. Still don’t believe this suggestion? Here are 3 reasons to stop worrying and start believing this result –

1. The Survey Is An Extensive One

Yes, right, that a survey can never be theoretically all encompassing reflecting cent percentage of the populace but at the same time in practice, an extensively done survey with a wide range of carefully selected sample subjects is the nearest you can reach to a statistical surety. This is why the survey which takes into account a reliable number of subjects, all of whom were made to sue the electronic cigarette, makes it a perfectly setup scenario.

The fact that the survey was done on people who were made to use the electronic cigarette and were monitored for problems right before and after the usage makes it perfectly clear that the harms from using the same are absent. Scientists and doctors have mentioned that there is a slight possibility that electronic cigarettes come with short term harm for some, but the same is extremely negligible to be taken into account.

2. Millions Of People Are Using Electronic Cigarettes

There are more than a million people all over the globe who are using the electronic cigarettes an alternative path to quitting smoking and reaping the benefits out of the same. The reports of problems or health hazards due to smoking an electronic cigarette are next to null and the rare instances can be safely categorized as cases of allergy, unadvised consumption or unregulated consumption of the same. Remember that no remedy is good if you overdo it and the same hold of the concept of electronic cigarettes.

3. Laboratory Analysis

There have been numerous analyses of the electronic cigarettes in the laboratory and it has been seen that it is free from any remote presence of carcinogenic substances which might be meddling with your health. The trace amount of whatever harmful substance might be there in an e-cigarette is negligible. The amount you accumulate from smoking an e-cigarette continuously for six to eight months is the same as one single conventional cigarette.

It is recommended that you start using the electronic cigarette or gift it to a loved one at the earliest and bunk any worries that you might have.


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Road Trips Shouldn’t Be an End of Your Healthy Eating Endeavours

Road trips and unhealthy food go hand-in-hand indeed. After all what more is there to do when travelling? Sitting in a closed vehicle, your arm will invariably stretch towards the open pack of chips. Aerated drinks, sodas and take-away are what follows next. You don’t even realize how much junk food you have in your system by the time you reach your destination.

Junk food is certainly more convenient and may sound much easier to carry while travelling. But what we don’t realize is how we run after convenience without really looking its nutritional value. If you try to find the nutritional value of burgers, wafers and other junk food, you probably won’t find any! These foods, although seem very appetizing but on the contrary are extremely unhealthy.

If this is what you consume throughout your trip, chances are you won’t even be able to enjoy as much as you hope for. Wonder Why? The extra sugar, starch and preservatives present in junk food makes you grouchy, fatigued and may even leave you with a stomach ache. To avoid these situations, you just need to make little changes in your pre-trip shopping list and then you’re set to travel, the healthy way!

Since there are not many places giving importance to healthy, it’s the best to pack your own meals and snacks from home. This way you know you are consuming the best material which has wholesome nutritional value. Healthy means fruits and lots of veggies and thus when you are going out, take these with you. Fruits like apple, banana, orange and kiwi are quite filling, easy to eat and very good for body and so they make great snacks of travelling. For veggies, you can boil them, chop and carry in zip-lock pouches or take them with you in a salad form. Consuming the daily requirements of veggies will keep you healthy and regulate your body functions properly!

Another great way to fulfil your nutritional requirement when on the go is nuts. Nuts give you energy, contain essential fatty acids like Omega-3 and reduce the level of cholesterol in your body. Being high on fibre, they are a part of a balanced diet and also keep blood pressure under control. Having almonds and few cashews daily will yield positive effects on your health. If you want to carry some sweet snacks on the trip with you, invest in granola bars! Since these are rich source of fibre, nuts and cereal, it will make you feel fuller for a long time.

Water is another important element that you need to have when travelling. Never forget to carry water with you. Also take yogurt, juice, and water rich foods like cucumber

If you are going to a place like a movie or airport where home-made food cannot be carried, you must not get tempted and eat only healthy and nutritional food. Tofu-wraps, salads and other low-calorie food can be ordered. Japanese cuisine is an excellent option to explore as it’s known for its low-calorie nutritional content.

Just stay determined, and soon you won’t even feel like looking at the junk food anymore. The first step may be the hardest, but once you are on the path, nothing will be able to stray you!


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Top 7 Backache Myths

It is so frustrating to come back home after a hard day’s work with a backache only to find that no one understands the reason for the ache. You visit your doctor and he cannot see the pain. You are told that it is a part of ageing and you need surgery to cure it, which is risky. All these are myths and these myths have been debunked here.

1. Backache Is A Myth – If your doctor cannot see it or understand the cause of the pain, it does not mean that the pain is a myth. The pain is very real. People rarely understand that for those suffering from back pain, the pain is excruciating at times.

2. Backache is a part of Ageing – Backache is not a part of ageing. Any one from a teenager to a 70 year old can have this problem.

3. Backache Is Pain In The Lower Back – If you believe this myth, then you couldn’t be further from the truth. Pain in any part of the back, upper or lower is backache. Sometimes, it spreads to you legs and arms and in more severe cases, causes numbness.

4. Backache Occurs For A Specific Reason – No! It does not always occur for a specific reason. Sometimes, the reason may be due to lifting heavy loads or injury but it can be sitting for too long, bad posture or even genetic problem. A truck driver has as much chance of getting a teenager. Most people do not know the reason for this.

5. All types of Backaches Can Be Treated – Despite various treatments, sometimes, the backache never goes away. Since it is a debilitating condition, you can do your part to make it more comfortable for the person. Since the activity becomes limited in extreme cases, the person goes into depression.

6. Backache Can be cured with Surgery – Surgery is not always an option and in 5-% of the cases, it does not work. The reason for this is that at times, there is nothing tobe operated on and even the surgeon cannot guarantee results.

7. Backache Must Be treated with narcotics – Narcotics are not essential for treating backache. Sometimes, the condition is not severe enough to warrant the use of narcotics. Simple pain killers can take care of the problem but only your doctor knows best.

There are so many backache myths that it is difficult to address all of them. You are the best person to decide how severe the pain is. Don’t go by myths and use common sense to deal with it. Go to a doctor and ask him to prescribe medicines to deal with the pain.


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3 Diet Tips for Cancer Patients

There is a relation between your diet and how your body reacts to cancer. You already know that lifestyle changes can have a huge impact on the way your body reacts to cancer. Sudden rise in the number of cancer patients has been encouraging cancer cure research that has come up with an interesting relationship between your diet and cancer.

The researches show that different kinds of foods have different reactions to cancers – some can help your body fight cancer and keep it at bay, while others can increase cancer risk. But following a good and healthy diet will ensure that you are not a cancer victim. Here are 3 healthy diet tips that will help you fight cancer.

1. Consume More Plant Based Products

Research has shown that most of the vegetables, fruits and whole grains have cancer-fighting nutrients. Plant products have more fiber, less fat and these help protect your immune system against cancer. Have a diet that includes of vegetables like cauliflower, broccoli, tomato, carrot, spinach. Also include whole grains like sprouts, beans, nuts and grains; along with citrus fruits and berries.

You should see that you do not remove the phytochemicals from these foods. The lesser these are cooked or mixed with other ingredients and altered from their natural form and colour, the better they are. Try not to consume too much of processed food. For example, instead of having canned orange juice, have an orange.

2. Have Large Amount Of Fiber

A good diet to fight cancer will consist of a large amount of fiber. Fiber is that part of the food that your body doesn’t digest. It is the roughage your body needs to aid digestion. Fiber ensures that your digestive tract is working smoothly and that no cancerous compound can accumulate in it.

You can get your daily dose of fiber from fruits, leafy vegetables. Also, brown bread and rice can give you fiber. It is best to avoid white bread and rice, as these do not give your body the required amount of fiber.

3. Cut Down On Your Intake Of Meat

A healthy diet for fighting cancer does not include eating meat. Research shows that people who do not eat meat are 50% less likely to have cancer than those that have meat.

Meat doesn’t have any nutrient that helps fight cancer. It doesn’t provide you and fiber and causes increase in weight. It contains high amounts of saturated fat that can be a reason for cancer.

This, however, doesn’t mean that you need to become a vegetarian. Have meat but in moderate amount. The amount of meat you consume should not exceed fifteen percent of your total calorie intake in a day. Lean meat like chicken, turkey instead of red meat and beef are better options than meats like sausage, salami and other processed meats.

Your immune system fights cells that cause cancer and so, you will have to keep it healthy. Eat well, eat a healthy diet and fight cancer.


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Foods You Shouldn’t Eat When You’re Pregnant

Are you pregnant? Then it is the time to review your diet plan. During pregnancy you ought to be careful with what you eat as your choices affect your and yet to be born child’s health. You got to say ‘NO’ to food that is harmful for you no matter how appealing they are to your taste buds! Here is a list of food items that must be out of your diet plan for coming nine months:

1. Cheese: Unpasteurized cheese like blue cheese, brie, camembert and feta must be completely avoided. It is best to stay away from soft cheese.

2. Fish: Fish with high mercury content must be completely avoided as it may lead to brain damage of the unborn baby. Some other side-effects can be lower IQ, decreased memory or attention span or other developmental delays. Fishes with high mercury content are King Makerel, shark and Tilefish.

3. Raw meat: Exclude sushi, shellfish, uncooked poultry and beef as they have the risk of coliform bacteria, salmonella and toxoplasmosis. These bacteria pose a great health risk for pregnant women.

4. Deli meat: Deli meat like hot dogs are generally contaminated with listeria bacteria that poses a great risk of miscarriage. Have it only if it is steaming hot to evade the risk, otherwise avoid it.

5. Raw eggs: Raw eggs generally contain salmonella which must be avoided. You find this in mayonnaise, Caesar salad dressing, custard and ice creams. You may even find raw eggs in unpasteurized cheese, so all these items must be completely avoided.

Now that you know which food items you need to avoid, don’t forget to include loads of proteins and carbohydrates to your diet. You can get these in plenty isn poultry, cereals, vegetables and fruits.


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3 Complications Post Orthopedic Surgery That You Must Be Aware Of

Prevention is better than cure but have you ever wondered, what is the one and only pre requisite for prevention? Yes, it is the knowledge. This is why it is important that you are up to date with the possible complications that might occur after undergoing an orthopedic surgery. This will not only ensure that you are better equipped to tackle it in the unfortunate circumstance that it crops up, it also means that you can take precaution measures to ensure that it doesn’t happen in the first place. Here are the 3 most common complications that you need to know about:

1. Failure Of The Whole Operation Itself

There is a subtle yet important difference between orthopedic operations and other operations that you usually hear about. While other operations are usually conclusive in nature, an orthopedic operation is more of structural procedures where the tissues that support the structure, along with the muscles need to align themselves properly post the operation in order for it to be successful. This results in failures in the operated area itself or generation of problems in otherwise fit areas.

There are possibilities that after the orthopedic operation, you might face a case where an otherwise rebuilt ligament collapses or fractures are healed in an undesired manner.

2. Infection In The Operated Region

Take any operations that you usually hear of (or even if you font hear of them that usually) and you will see that infections happen to be one of the most common post operation complication. With the case of orthopedic operations this risk is aggravated as more often than not, in order for the surgery to be successful it is required that a foreign object is introduced into the system.

While the doctors usually take extreme care to ensure that no infection spreads from these foreign objects, the chance of one can’t be negated completely. It is recommended that you keep out a keen eye for signs of a spreading infection which will ensure early cure of the same if it surfaces.

3. Blood Clotting

Blood clotting is a unique problem that only patients of orthopedic surgeries face. This is owing to the fact that blood tends to clot in those regions of the body which are either stagnant for an elongated period of time or are exposed to inflammatory chemicals which accelerate the process of blood clotting. This is why it is important that you identify signs of blood clot as early as possible and find a solution to the same.

Remember that if you ignore blood clots for too long, they can travel up your blood vessels and clog other important vessels and organs of the body. Visit a physician regularly to minimize these threats to a basic minimum.

Taking care to ensure that your loved ones are not suffering from any of these three prevalent forms of post-surgery complications will ensure a faster recovery for them. This is why you should choose nothing but the best when it comes to orthopedic surgeries. Savannah Orthopedics is a reliable name you can trust in this matter.


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Top 3 Treatment Options for Colon Cancer

The cells in your body follow a regular pattern where they grow, divide and then die in a predictable fashion. When some of these cells start showing irregular patterns in their function that is when they are said to be cancerous. These cancerous cells may develop in your colon without your knowledge.

Colon Cancer has no proper symptoms, but if you notice that you are suffering from massive weight loss, fatigue and loose stool, you should go for a cancer screening. If your doctor says that you are suffering from colon cancer, here are the three types of treatments that are most likely to be recommended by your doctor:

1. Surgery

Surgery is one of the easiest ways to remove the cancerous growth in your colon, but this is usually performed only when the cancer has been detected in the first stage. In this stage, the doctor can easily remove the tumour by performing a colonoscopy. However, if your cancer is detected at a later stage there are two types of procedures that are followed:

• Surgical Resection

In this process the doctor will make a small incision in your abdomen, remove the tumour from your colon and then connect the dissected colon so that it becomes a single unit again.

• Ostomy

This surgery creates a detour for your intestines. Waste in your body travels through the colon and into the rectum, and they are finally discharged through the anus. Ostomy, bypasses the rectum, where the waste moves through the intestine into the abdomen and discharged into a pouch placed outside the body. This pouch may be temporary; to enable the body to heal after the cancerous cells have been removed or it may be permanent in some cases.

2. Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy literally means, chemical therapy, where certain chemicals are administered into your body to prevent the cells from dividing rapidly and to destroy the cells that are cancerous.

Chemotherapy is said to cause hair loss and this is because the good cells that create new hair take a beating when chemicals are used in order to eliminate the bad ones from your system. Chemotherapy is recommended to people suffering from stage 3 and stage 4 of colon cancer.

3. Radiation

You know that radiation is a powerful source of energy that is harmful for the body. You have often heard about harmful radiation from the sun, atomic bombs and even microwave. You are always asked to protect yourself from these. Colon cancer treatment through radiation follows on these lines. The cancerous cells in your colon and exposed to harmful radiations so that they can be destroyed by them. The radiation that you face during your treatment is not good for your body, but this is something that you must take. There are many patients who insist on chemotherapy instead of radiation because of its harmful nature.

These three kinds of colon cancer treatments will be helpful in eliminating the cancerous cells from your body for a full recovery.


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What You Should Know about Outdoor Exercises

Although you can exercise at the gym or inside your house, it is more fun to do it outside. You can derive more fun walking on the beach than by spending time sweating on a gym treadmill. You can also enjoy jogging, while soaking in the pleasant ambiance of a green park, rather than doing longer sessions of exer-cycling indoors. Here are some of the most popular outdoor exercises that would bring lot of fun with them.

• Take a step at a time – A good way of burning calories is climbing up stairs. You can do this at local stadiums. To avoid spraining your ankle, you must do a warm up exercise just before you climb steps. You can do this by jogging on the ground beside your apartment for about 5-8 minutes. After that, you can do some light stretching and take aim for the stairs.

• Skate your way – Another enjoyable way of doing an outdoor exercise is by inline skating. Inline skating improves your balance and coordination. The lateral skating motion also improves the shape of your hips. Try it out and see for yourself.

• Brisk exercising on the beach – You can always try brisk running on the beach. The coolness of the sand and the gentle breeze of the sea will be add ons to the enjoyment factor. However, before you start running, you must warm-up sufficiently. You can do this by walking on the beach for about five to eight minutes.

If you are looking for a real good challenge, then you can try outdoor plyometrics. A piece of advice though– plyometrics is not for newbies. You must also be free from any injury when you do this exercise. Another thing to remember is that you must always do a warm-up exercise before you indulge in such a session. There are two types of plyometrics, the single leg jump-off and the double leg jump-off. The difference between them is the size of the ledges. It’s up to you which challenge you are ready to face.


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3 Solutions to Top Exercise Excuses

How long can you get away with silly reasons not to exercise? How many more times can you fool yourself that you love yourself as you are? Wake up and get ready to give up all excuses about not hitting the gym. Check out if these exercise excuses seem to be close to what you keep making.

No Time for the Gym is No Excuse

1. Walk while you talk- One of the trendiest excuses for not exercising is that you don’t have enough time. Maybe there is no time to go to the gym, but there is a lot of time to catch up with some free hand right? Why bank only on the gym? Walking is a good way of exercising. Instead of sitting while talking on the phone, you can start briskly walking while having a long drawn conversation with a buddy.

2. Show time and exercise time – Instead of sitting and waiting impatiently for the TV program to resume, you can go cycle on your excer-bike and do some workouts during commercials. If you are stuck up in a queue and it seems that it is simply not moving forward, then you can do some light stretching while waiting.

3. Burn your pockets and calories too- Visiting a shopping mall? Try some quick exercising even while you shop. Instead of using an elevator, you use the stairs. Climbing the stairs is an effective way of burning some calories. It will allow you to perspire and burns a lot of calories out of your body.

Exercising could never be more enjoyable. Simply pocket in your iPhone with you, put on the headset, and start jogging while you enjoy listening to the music. You can also invite your friends to come along with you for a group exercise in the nearby park. Chatting up and exercising could well go hand in hand. Given that where there is a will, there is a way, don’t let excuses stop you from exercising. Good luck!


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