Thursday, 3 January 2013

Weight Control Tips

Weight control is all about making small changes that you can live with forever. As you incorporate these minor adjustments into your lifestyle, you'll begin to see how they can add up to big calorie savings and weight loss. Here are my top 10 habits to help you turn your dream of weight loss into a reality:
1. Evaluate your eating habits. Are you eating late at night, nibbling while cooking, finishing the kids' meals? Take a look around, and it will be easy to identify a few behaviors you can change that will add up to big calorie savings.
2. If you fail to plan, plan to fail. You need a strategy for your meals and snacks. Pack healthful snacks for the times of day that you know you are typically hungry and can easily stray from your eating plan.
3. Always shop with a full belly. It's a recipe for disaster to go into the grocery store when you are hungry. Shop from a prepared list so impulse buying is kept to a minimum. Eating right starts with stocking healthy food in your pantry and refrigerator.
4. Eat regular meals. Figure out the frequency of your meals that works best in your life and stick to it. Regular meals help prevent bingeing.
5. Eat your food sitting down at a table, and from a plate. Food eaten out of packages and while standing is forgettable. You can wind up eating lots more than if you sit down and consciously enjoy your meals.
6. Serve food onto individual plates, and leave the extras back at the stove. Bowls of food on the table beg to be eaten, and it takes incredible will power not to dig in for seconds. Remember, it takes about 20 minutes for your mind to get the signal from your belly that you are full.
7. Eat slowly, chew every bite, and savor the taste of the food. Try resting your fork between bites and drinking plenty of water with your meals.
8. Don't eat after dinner. This is where lots of folks pack on the extra pounds. If you are hungry, try satisfying your urge with a non-caloric beverage or a piece of hard candy. Brushing your teeth after dinner helps reduce the temptation to eat again.
9. If you snack during the day, treat the snack like a mini-meal. The most nutritious snacks contain complex carbohydrates and a small amount of protein and fat.
10. Start your day with breakfast. It is the most important meal of the day. After a long night's rest, your body needs the fuel to get your metabolism going and give you energy for the rest of the day.

Sunday, 30 December 2012

Healthy Living.

The Difference Between Cardiac Arrest and a Heart Attack

Whopping number of individuals suffer from heart diseases today. Apart from our loved ones, we often encounter news about celebrities falling prey to this horrendous ailment. Doctors often describe "cardiac arrest" or "heart attack" as the cause of the sudden demise. For a layperson, both these terms carry the same meaning. We all believe that both these conditions have similar meaning, but different names.
However, the general belief has no connection with reality. In medical language, both these terms have different meaning. Medically, heart attack denotes some kind of damage to the heart muscles due to shortage of blood flow. In other words, this condition arises due to blood clotting in the arteries, thereby resulting into chest pain and other symptoms, which eventually causes death.
On the other hand, cardiac arrest occurs due to some mysterious reasons, wherein our heart fails to pump blood. When this happens, our muscles and other body organs do not receive required amount of blood for bodily functions and survival. Our heart gets weak, and it starts pumping at an unsafe rate, thereby resulting into death in most cases.
Both the situations can have fatal consequences on our health, the worst case scenario being death. As such, cardiac arrest is more common amongst individuals who have already suffered from some kind of heart diseases in the past.
The recent demise of the pop king, Michael Jackson, had raised many eyebrows about the cause of his death. Trickling news report offered contradictory information. Some new sources cited cardiac arrest as the cause of death, others had published heart attack as the cause of death. Eventually, cardiac arrest was declared as the main culprit for the demise of the Pop King. Certain drugs can trigger cardiac arrest amongst individuals, especially those with weak immune system. We all know that Michael Jackson was dangerously underweight for almost a decade or so, and was on heavy drugs as well.
There are plenty of causes that can lead to the onset of cardiac arrest and heart attack. Goes without saying, proper health care is a must to keep oneself immune to these ailments. It’s always advisable to resort to preventive measures, rather than waiting for the arrival of the ailment and then fighting back. After all, forewarned means being forearmed.
If your family members have fallen prey to this ailment, then do check with the doctor about the exact cause of death. Remember, your chances of getting affected by heart diseases are elevated, if your family has a history of such episodes. Seeking as much information as you can will help you take preventive measures to curb or eliminate the cause of this ailment.
Heart attack and cardiac arrests are usually accompanied by several noticeable symptoms. In most cases, victims might experience mild or severe chest pain. Do keep the helpline number handy to make a quick call, whenever the situation goes out of control. Timely help can potentially save your life!