Fishy Matters That Really Matter

Rich in omega-3-fatty acids, protein, and other vital nutrients sans the high levels of saturated fat, fish is a major component of a well-balanced diet, helpful in achieving and maintaining our healthy weight. However, because it has been confirmed that fish contains mercury and other toxins prevalent in our environment, questions concerning its healthfulness has been raised. To stay on the safe side without sacrificing the health benefits of eating fish, be guided by these pointers:

King Mackerel, Shark, Tilefish, and Swordfish have been confirmed to contain the most amount of toxins, hence, we are advised to exclude them from our diets.

It's safe to consume up to 12 ounces of these fish and shellfish with low amounts of mercury: canned light tuna, salmon, shrimp, pollock, and catfish.

Since white tuna (albacore) contains more mercury than light tuna, we're advised to consume no more than six ounces of it weekly.

Following these pointers would assure our continued enjoyment of the nutritional benefits of fish. Overall, too much consumption of mercury results to severe health complications, specifically risking the brain and nervous system. Those at higher risk are pregnant women, their unborn fetuses, lactating women, and young children.


Contributed By: Maris Modesto

Why Organic Produce Is Better

The organic food trend sweeping across the globe isn't media hype alone. Learn how going organic could improve health by considering these facts:

* Organic produce tops the freshness list.

Since organically grown produce is not treated with preservatives to prolong its storage life, it's definitely fresher. And fresh fruits and veggies always taste better. However, in buying organic products, knowledge of the source is important. Usually, the farms producing them are located near the places where they're sold.

* Using organic farming methods benefits us and our environment.

Organic farming methods is considered beneficial to our environment because of the following: it decreases pollution, soil contamination and erosion, saves water, makes the soil more fertile, and decreases energy consumption. Because organic farming never uses chemical fertilizers and pesticides, we're treated to pesticide-free and more nutritious fruits and veggies.

* Eating organic meat omits the health risk of adverse side effects.

Livestock raised the organic way is neither fed with animal by-products nor given antibiotics, which could translate to negative health consequences for us. Moreover, the animals are raised in a more spacious environment instead of being cramped together, thus, promoting their overall better health. Reasonably, healthy livestock means healthier meat.


Contributed By: Maris Modesto

The Importance of Keeping a Healthy Weight

The benefits of keeping a healthy weight goes beyond appearances. Besides having a more appealing vital statistics, achieving and maintaining your body's ideal weight is equivalent to a healthier and hardier physique. In effect, your risk of contracting illnesses, especially serious ones, is decreased greatly.

Based on researches, obesity lowers a person's life expectancy by nine years on average. With this comes heightened risks of contracting serious ailments such as Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancers in the breast, prostate and colon. Accordingly, experts have pointed out that only a small percentage of people suffer from obesity due to Cushing's syndrome or slow metabolism due to an underactive thyroid. Majority of obese people worldwide attribute their condition to unhealthy habits characterized by consuming beyond their daily required caloric consumption coupled with a sedentary lifestyle.

But as debilitating as the health consequences of obesity are, it is still a reversible condition. In losing the excess weight, we also decrease our risk of the serious illnesses associated with obesity. Making important healthy lifestyle changes is imperative. Losing weight through a combination of healthy eating and regular exercise becomes more effective if we exercise more and eat less.


Contributed By: Maris Modesto

Getting to Know Financial Stress

Tough economic times always puts the pressure on our finances that we can't help but feel anxious, worried, and/or sad. Where money matters are concerned, the need for surviving in the modern world doesn't exempt us from the burdening mental stress that comes with being preoccupied about anything concerning our bills. Hence, all of us are susceptible to financial stress. Like the usual stress, financial stress affects us physically and mentally. Find out how this comes about by pondering on these facts:

Physical Changes

• trouble sleeping or staying asleep
• declining concentration ability
• feeling down or even tearful during random instances
• loss of appetite

Mental Changes

• pessimistic way of thinking that leads to feelings of helplessness and/or hopelessness
• loss of enthusiasm reflected in oversleeping or wanting to be alone most of the time
• shying away from other people's company or decreased enthusiasm for socializing with friends and loved ones

Coping with these adverse changes is possible when you follow the given suggestions below:

• Stick to your usual routine in spite of yourself.
• Expose yourself to early morning sunshine.
• Talk it out with a friend.
• Be attentive to your physical health needs (healthy diet and regular exercise) despite your feelings.

Contributed By: Maris Modesto

Mesothelioma a Rare Disease

This is a uncommon form of cancer, commonly attached to exposure to asbestos. In Mesothelioma, cancerous cells develop in the mesothelium, a defensive lining that covers most of the bodies inner organs. The most common site for Mesothelioma is the outer lining of the lungs along with chest cavity (known as the pleura lining), but it may also occur in the lining of the abdominal cavity (also known as the peritoneum) or the outer lining of the heart (pericardium).

Individuals who develop Mesothelioma have typically worked in jobs where they were exposed to asbestos particles via airborne means, or by direct contract with contaminated materials used by loved ones or friends in such occupations.

Mesothelioma symptoms

It may take upwards of 30 to 50 years after exposure to asbestos for Mesothelioma symptoms to become apparent. Among the symptoms of Mesothelioma one might see, the primary two associated with plural cavity Mesothelioma are:

• shortness of breath

• pain in the chest - most likely due to an accumulation of fluid in the pleural space

Symptoms of Mesothelioma that are affecting the peritoneal cavity may include

• weight loss

• abdominal swelling

• pain due to ascites (a buildup of fluid in the abdominal cavity).

• bowel obstruction

• blood clotting abnormalities

• anemia

• fever

If the cancer has spread then the symptoms may diversify as well. General symptoms of metastasized Mesothelioma may include pain, trouble swallowing, or swelling of the neck or face.

All symptoms on this page may be caused by Mesothelioma, especially if the individual had a prior exposure to high levels of asbestos earlier in life. However, all of these symptoms can be caused by less serious conditions.

Dengue Alert

What is dengue?

Dengue fever is a relatively common problem in Asia and periodically reaches epidemic proportions in some countries like Indonesia, Philippines and others, usually every 4-5 years. Rarely fatal in fit adults, the patient is often left debilitated and requires considerable time for convalescence. Dengue Fever is most common during the rainy season (November - May) as the mosquito requires clean standing water to reproduce.

Dengue occurs due to infection by a flavivirus which is transmitted by the bite of the Aedes mosquito. (Unlike malaria, this disease occurs in greater Jakarta - urban dengue occurs in nearly all tropical countries like I said it before).



SYMPTOMS

Certainly in the aboriginal stages of illness, dengue fever is difficult if not impossible to distinguish clinically from the many other possible causes of similar symptoms and signs.

IN ADULTS:

The deposit of the dengue virus in the skin by the bite, there is an incubation period of 2 - 14 (usually 4 - 8) days.

Thereafter onset of symptoms is usually abrupt, coinciding with viremia (the virus multiplying in the bloodstream) with chills, headache, backache, weakness, pain behind the eyes, flushing of the face, muscle and joint pain, and lassitude. The joint and back pains can be very bad indeed; hence the older name 'breakbone fever'.

The temperature rapidly rises, often to 40°C (104°F), and there is a low heart rate (compared to the degree of, and other causes of, high fever). The blood pressure is often low also. A transient rash which blanches under pressure may be seen during the first 24 hours of fever.

During the 2nd to 6th day of fever, nausea and even vomiting may occur, and the patient may develop one or more of the following; skin hypersensitivity, generalized swelling of regional lymph nodes, swelling of the palms, changes in taste sensation, loss of appetite, constipation, anxiety and depression.

Within 2 to 4 days a temporary improvement can occur with a sudden drop in temperature and subjective improvement - for 24 hours until there is a second rapid temperature rise. A generalized morbilliform (“measles-like”) rash appears a characteristic rash on the trunk, limbs, palms and soles especially. (This second febrile phase does not invariably occur). This rash usually disappears in 1-5 days, the skin in these areas turn bright red and may peel. The temperature should fall back to normal and the infectious episode is effectively over.

Epistaxis (“nose bleeds”), petechiae (“red skin spots”) and purpuric skin lesions (“purple skin spots / bruises”) can occur at any stage of the disease, varying with age, sex, and type of dengue virus. Bleeding from the gastrointestinal tract, and excessive vaginal bleeding if menstruating can also occur, but do not usually occur in most cases.

IN CHILDREN:

A fever occurs in nearly all dengue infections in children; the other most common symptoms are a red throat, a (usually mild) runny nose, cough, and mild gastrointestinal symptoms which of course may present similar to pharyngitis, influenza, and upper respiratory infections.

The presentation of dengue in the younger child is much less characteristic than in the older child and adult as above.



TREATMENT

It has no particular cure for the infectious caused by dengue virus in dengue fever or DHF / DSS. The complications can and should be treated, and in the rare cases of DSS, treatment for shock as well as a low platelet count is both essential and available including fresh blood and / or platelet transfusion but there is no medicine or vaccine anywhere available that can act specifically against the virus.

It has been suggested that DHF is more likely if the patient has previously had an attack of dengue within the last calendar year (generally within the last eight-twelve months), and that the occurrence of DHF relates to this previous "sensitization". Previous exposure may raise the incidence of subsequent DHF, presumably (as experiments have shown) by the antibody elicited in response to the first infection, being capable of enhancing the infection due to the virus found in the second episode.

Uncontrolled bleeding distinguishes this from uncomplicated dengue fever. Bleeding can occur from the gums, nose, intestine, or under the skin as bruises or spots of blood especially under a tourniquet this test should be employed if there is any suspicion. The liver is often enlarged.

More Public Transportation, Less Obesity

The problem of obesity is known to be at an all-time high in the United States, with an ever-increasing number of young people being found to either be obese or be at risk of it. This is, of course, a bit of a severe problem, and the federal government has attempted to take numerous steps to try and fix the problem. However, recent research has also started to delve into what might be the cause for these problems. According to a study that looked into the frequency of obesity in various countries, it seems that there may be a connection between walking, biking, and public transportation and the frequency of obesity in people.

The study has found that countries where walking, biking, or taking public transportation to work, shopping, or school have largely lower frequencies of obesity in the general population. The study found that the higher the rate of use for public transportation and methods such as bicycles or walking, the lower the recorded instances of obesity. It was also noted that Americans, who largely prefer to travel by car from one location to another, have the highest obesity rates in the world, and are also the people least likely to walk, cycle, or take mass transit.

An estimated 12% of all people use active transportation in the United States, with 9% of that number walking, 1% riding bikes, and 2% taking a bus or train. As for the rest of the population, the car is found to be the favored means of getting around – incidentally, a third of that segment of the population have been found to be obese. This is in comparison to the 67% of commuters in Latvia, 52% of the population that prefers to walk in the Netherlands, and 62% of Swedes who walk, bike, or use mass transit. The obesity rate for Latvia is at 14%, while the Netherlands has it at 11% - significantly lower than for the US.

Part of the reason for this was found to be the structure of most European cities. The roads tended to be narrower and allowed less traffic flow, discouraging people from using cars. In contrast, US areas have much wider roads to allow for more vehicles to pass, and to speed up the flow of traffic. European cities, therefore, are structured to discourage too many people from driving cars, while American cities are designed to accommodate large numbers of vehicles on the road at once.