Healthy Info Blog

If you or someone you know suffers from obesity you need to know that there is a great probability that at some time you will get Diabetes. Scientists over the years have found that Obesity and Type II diabetes are connected. The current reasoning for the connection comes from the fact that scientists believe the extra weight you carry around while obese causes your body to change and part of that change is making your body and its cells resistant to insulin. Within the extra weight an obese carries is fat and it is that fat that causes the problem. Fat interferes with how a person’s body “uses” insulin. In an obese individual that has diabetes problems it indicates that their body cells, particularly fat cells, but liver and muscle cells also do not react the right way to insulin.

Now your body makes its own insulin through the pancreas. When your cells are not working correctly, your pancreas will produce too much insulin, which results in too much glucose staying in your blood instead of getting into the cells it needs to go to. When all of this happens, doctors refer to it as being “insulin resistant.”

Here is a list of symptoms you may experience with insulin resistance relating to diabetes:

· Fatigue – this is the number one feature, it could be tiredness in the morning, or afternoon, or both.

· Mental Fog – this comes as not being able to focus, poor memory, poor grades (if in school)

· Low Blood Sugar – this will also manifest itself by mental or physical tiredness, or by being jittery or jumpy, especially if you don’t eat on a schedule. Once you eat the symptoms go away immediately

· Bloating & Gas

· Sleepiness – this typically happens after eating a meal full of carbohydrates

· Increase in Weight & Fat – men will show it in their stomachs while women tend to show stored fat in their bottom.

If you have any of these symptoms and are obese, you will want to mention them to your doctor. It could mean that you have diabetes, but remember that these symptoms can be linked to other types of problems as well.

Obesity today is the number one risk factor for diabetes. The NCHS reports that at least 30% of adults are obese. In today’s numbers that is over 50 million people. Many doctors feel that by introducing a few life-style changes, a person can help reduce their body’s need for insulin.

A good way to start is with altering your diet to help you to eat better and to lose weight. In particular with altering your diet, pay attention to the carbohydrates you consume in your meals. Doctors and physicians suggest replacing white bread and corn products like French fries, doughnuts, potato chips/corn chips with high fiber foods such as whole grains, brown or wild rice. They also suggest eating vegetables such as spinach, carrots, and green beans. Always consult with your doctor when changing your diet or starting a new exercise program.

Tags: diabetes, obesity, weight loss

Did you know that when lung disease is diagnosed that 87% of the people are smokers? Or that smoking is a factor in other cancers in as much as 30%. These numbers are very high. Researchers estimate as many as 440,000 people die in America each year from diseases caused by smoking. That means that cigarette smoking is a cause in 1 out of 5 deaths.

But almost everyone that smokes is aware of the risk of lung cancer. Everyone knows that the number one cause of lung cancer is smoking. But is that really going to affect you? I would say yes. That is because the cigarette that you smoke is known to have been made with over 4000 chemical compounds. The smoke that is burned off the cigarette itself is known to have chemicals and carcinogens that get drawn right down into the lungs and cause damage, stress and inflammation. This sets the stage for tumors, and damage that the body is unable to repair. Your lungs are such vital organs that do not function well after ingesting all those chemicals. The risks associated with smoking and lung cancer are great, the best way to avoid it is to not smoke at all, or if you are a smoker to quit.

But there are other cancers associated with cigarette smoking. They include mouth cancer, throat cancer, and bladder cancer. As recently as 2004, scientists and doctors have added 5 new cancers to the list associated with smoking, and 4 other diseases. These would be cancers of the stomach, pancreas, kidney, cervix and acute myeloid leukemia. The 4 diseases put on the list as being linked to smoking are pneumonia, abdominal aortic aneurysm, cataracts, and periodontitis. These findings were all issued in a statement by the US Surgeon General in 2004 reiterating the fact that cigarette smoking is bad for you.

Doctors and physicians are getting better at recognizing and treating cancers, but they will be the first ones to tell you that your health will dramatically improve once you stop smoking. They will tell you that within 20 minutes of stopping to smoke your blood pressure drops. They will tell you that within 12 hours the CO2/carbon monoxide in your blood drops back to normal. They will tell you that after 3 months your lungs will breathe freer and function better. Nine months after you stop smoking, any shortness of breath diminishes and after 1 year of stopping to smoke your risk of heart disease is cut in half what it was when you were a smoker.

The doctor could go on with the good news and tell you that after 5 years your risk of stroke could be cut to that of a nonsmoker and after 10 years your lung cancer risk is cut in half. If you remain smoke free for up to 15 years your risk of heart disease will be the same as someone that has never smoked. The effort to stop is hard, but the benefits are huge.

Tags: cancer, quit smoking, stop smoking

For year doctors and physicians believed that heart failure in a person with obesity was caused by outlying risk factors. These outlying risk factors were issues like high blood pressure, diabetes, CAD. But further tests today have shown that obesity in itself and not the other outlying risk factors leads to heart failure. Which means, that if you are obese you are at risk of heart failure, whether you have any of the other outside risk factors or not. Obesity itself can be a cause for heart failure. The tests have also shown that excess body weight considerably increases the risk of heart failure, even in those not specifically deemed obese by their physicians. In a Heart Study done for 14 years, those who were just considered overweight had a 34% bigger risk of developing heart failure than some not overweight and the percentage went up to a huge 104% for those who are obese. Meaning someone obese has a 104% greater risk, than someone not overweight, of developing heart failure.

Someone might want to know what defines obesity? The word obesity is a term meaning, a person that has too much body fat. Our bodies should be made up of the correct portions of water, fat, protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals. Within an individual diagnosed as obese, their body will have too large an amount of fat.

A couple of quick ways for someone to estimate their body fat is to measure their waistline or calculate their BMI. The waist measurement should be 35” or under for women and 40” or under for men. To calculate your BMI use this formula:

BMI = [weight / (height x height)] x 703

A BMI reading over 30 is considered obese.

Doctors and physicians and scientists are now saying that even if you feel great while you are obese, they have found that inside your body will probably be very profound signs of chemical changes and of damage being done on your heart. These signs, though silent, are so important as to urgently impress upon the doctors to encourage their patients that the time to lose weight, exercise and change eating habits is now before the damage to the heart increases.

There is no quick or easy way to fix the problem of obesity or of being overweight. The solution sounds so simple:you must burn/exercise and use more calories than you take in by eating. But the reality for most people is that while the words are very simple, the job of getting it done is very hard. That is why 1 out of 3 people in is obese. Most doctors will tell you the best way to get to a better weight will be through healthy eating habits and life style changes. Diets, doctors will tell you do not help someone who has taken off weight, maintain that weight loss. There are a high percentage of people who have succeeded in taking off excess weight, just to gain it right back again.

Tags: heart failure, obesity, weight loss

Just because you are a health nut and eat your required portions of food groups a day and maybe even exercise, doesn’t mean you are healthy. Your healthy lifestyle will all be for nothing if you smoke. Perhaps you don’t feel bad today or even tomorrow, but scientists and physicians can almost guarantee that in the future you will be at a much greater risk for several severe health issues because you smoke versus if you didn’t smoke.

For instance, did you know that smoker is at greater risk of asthma or emphysema? Both these conditions affect the way a person is able to breathe. With emphysema a person has trouble getting enough oxygen or air into their lungs. They are always straining to breathe. You might see someone with emphysema having to use an oxygen tank to help ease their condition. Someone with asthma also has a hard breathing, but it is because their airway is inflamed and feels blocked. People with asthma will need special medication for when they have an attack.

A smoker also has an increased risk of cancer. The longer a person has smoked and the more cigarettes they use in a day increases their risk of cancer, particularly lung cancer. Other types of cancer in smokers are mouth cancer, bladder cancer, pancreas and kidney cancer as well as cancer of the esophagus. Smoking raises the risk of mouth cancer in an individual to as much as 4 times more than a non smoker. One good bit of news is that if you do quit smoking your lungs can eventually clear themselves. Doctors say that a smoker’s risk of lung cancer can be the same as a non smoker after 15 years.

When you smoke that cigarette did you know there are chemical compounds and toxins that you are inhaling? Do you know any of these chemicals?

· Benzyl Benzoate

· Acetic Acid

· Acetanisole

· Acetoin

· 6-Acetoxydihydrotheaspirane

· 2-Acetyl-3-Ethylpyrazine

· Acetophenone

· 2-Acetyl-5-Methylfuran.

These are some of the compounds in cigarettes. There are over 4000 chemical compounds in the cigarette you smoke, as well as over 400 toxic substances. This is what you put into your lungs when you smoke.

Another affect of smoking is that it cuts down the amount of years you have to live. It has been shown to reduce your lifespan by as much as 8 years. If you quit smoking, that would be 8 healthy years you could enjoy.

Not only would giving up smoking benefit yourself, it will benefit all of those around you. This is because there are health issues from smoking that harm those around you by your cigarette smoking. The term for this is passive smoking. This means that the smoke that is given off your cigarette is deadly. That smoke actually carries higher risks associated with it than the smoke you inhale yourself. Your children are at risk of asthma and bronchitis, adult friends and family are at greater risk of lung cancer. What better reason to quit, for you and for them.

Tags: healthy lifestyle, quit smoking, stop smoking