Prevention best ‘cure’ for many health problems.

Benjamin Franklin once said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” – and the best “cure” for many of the most prevalent health problems in the United States is to prevent them in the first place through healthy lifestyle choices.

National Public Health Week is April 6 – 12, 2009. The North Georgia Health District continues to join the Georgia Department of Human Resources in encouraging Georgians of all ages to make better health a priority, now and for a lifetime, by following the guidelines of the Live Healthy Georgia campaign: Be Active, Eat Healthy, Be Smoke Free, Get Checked and Be Positive.

Physical activity, for example, is an excellent disease preventative that fits easily into everyday activities. Build in a few minutes most days of the week for walking, biking, stair climbing, or running and the body will burn extra calories instead of storing them.

The food choices we make every day also affect our health—food choices influence how we feel today, tomorrow, and in the future. It is possible to eat plenty of food but not the right foods that give our bodies the nutrients needed to be healthy. The best way to eat a balanced diet is to eat a variety of nutrient-packed foods every day and stay within the (more…)

There are actually diet rules out there that are meant to be broken? Yes, recently many dated diet guidelines and myths are up for speculation. You’ve probably heard all these silly rules before, but experts weigh-in on the worthiness of these supposed truisms - most of which won’t help you lose weight or make dieting any easier.

10 Food Rules You Can Ignore:

1. Eating at night will pile on the pounds. The total calories you consume over a 24-hour period or over a week is what causes you to gain weight, and when you eat these calories doesn’t matter.

2. It’s best to eat at the same times every day. Eat when you’re hungry, not when the clock says it’s time to eat.

3. Dieting with a buddy always makes weight loss easier. Common goals may pay off but weight loss is a personal journey.

4. Dietary fat keeps you feeling full longer, so you’ll eat less. Fat does take longer to digest, but it will not help you control your appetite. Foods likely to fight off hunger the longest are protein foods, followed by carbohydrates, then fats.

5. When you blow your diet, you might as well wait until the next day to get back on track. Nothing could be farther from the truth- always try to get right back on track with your next meal.

6. Refusing food at a party or when visiting is rude. Turning down food that you know will blow your diet is socially acceptable.

7. Skipping a meal every now and then will help you lose. Skipping a meal means you will be so hungry at the next meal that you are likely to overeat. This can also help lead to a slowdown of your metabolism.

8. Bread is fattening, nuts are fattening, pasta is fattening. Whole-wheat bread/pasta is a great source of nutrients, and it won’t make you gain weight more than any other food with the same number of calories.

9. All calories are equal. This is somewhat true, however; you’ll get more nutrients from a 100-calorie apple than from a 100-calorie portion of white bread. Choose healthier items if you are losing weight, or controlling your hunger.

10. If you don’t clean your plate, you’re wasting food. If you just don’t feel right leaving the table until you’ve cleaned your plate, underestimate your hunger and put less food on your plate to begin with, or you may overeat.

Don’t believe everything you hear! Much of it is just superstition. Now you can tell your friends the real truth. In the end, nutrition experts say, many of the food and dieting rules we hold dear are meant to be broken - without guilt!

If you are trying to get insurance, get a new doctor or joining a gym, you are more than likely very familiar with the a health screening questionnaire, but you may wonder what the purpose is or why you actually have to fill it out. Is there any real purpose to them or are you just wasting your time?

A health screening questionnaire is devised to get the pertinent information from you regarding the service or treatment that you are looking to get. For instance, if you are joining a health club, the survey will probably feature questions about your health as it pertains to your heart and any muscular problems that you may have had.

If you are going to a new doctor’s office, you are pretty much assured that you will have to fill out a survey so that your doctor will have a better idea of what your general health is and what kind of allergies that you have or what treatments or procedures that you have had in the past. In essence, it provides them with a quick snapshot of your health.

Of course, there are those that are sometimes embarrassed by certain things that they have had in the past and they will lie or not tell the truth in its fullest on a health screening survey and is something that you should not do.

It totally defeats the purpose of the survey and you many end up receiving medical treatment or a prescription that is unhealthy for you to receive. In regards to your health, you can imagine how important it is to make sure that you are providing accurate facts to ensure proper care.

Health screening questionnaires are a vital part of many different aspects of the medical industry. As with anything though, they are only as useful as the information that is provided by the person that is filling them out. When the wrong information goes in, it makes logical sense that the wrong treatments and evaluations are the result.

You have to remember one thing, these surveys are made to know about you better, for example, your lifestyles, diet, healthy habits, families history and past surgeries. When you have to fill one out, make sure that you take your time and fill them out as accurately as possible to give an accurate medical picture of your well being. In the end, you will be glad that you were truthful with yourself and with your MJ Life health care provider.

Is your screening overdue this year? Contact us today to get your special rates ONLY from MJLifeScreening.com.

Just recently I went to an Ayurvedic center for consultation. The doctor told me that my body is very acidic and my system is very nervous. Perhaps that explains about my fast heart beat.

I’ve heard of acidic body before but never really get to research more on the topic. And since he told me my body is highly acidic, I try to read more on the topics. Unfortunately, being acidic will bring a lot of health problems.

Balance is something that is very important in our lives. You will often hear people and self help guru’s talk about how you need to obtain the perfect balance between your work and personal life in order to have a healthy life.

While this is true, there is another balance that is often ignored and one that must be obtained. This balance is the alkaline vs acidic body content that literally dictates your overall well being.

Everything that you put into your body has an effect on it. If you do not consume the right items in your daily diet, you can put your body on tilt and it can take quite a bit of effort to get that turned around.

Every food type basically falls into two different categories, alkaline and acidic. The idea is to have the proper balance between these foods so that your pH balance is not thrown off. If your regular diet does not have this balance, your body cannot function properly and adverse health conditions are the result.

To find out if your body has the proper pH levels, you can simply purchase some ph strips and test yourself. Normal pH ranges are from 6.0-7.0 depending upon the time of the day. You should test yourself about 2 hours after a meal or one hour before you eat.

If you test normal, you are okay, but if your level is too far in one direction or the other, you are going to have to address it immediately to make sure that you do not fall victim to the health issues that can occur if you are unbalanced.

In most cases, when someone’s pH balance is off, it is on the acidic side. The reason for this is because of the foods that raise your acid level. Things like meat, fish, eggs, wine, yogurts and broths are all very acidic while foods like fruits and vegetables have a higher alkaline content.

As you can see, most of the things that people normally consume are aimed towards the acidic foods. This is also a reason why vegetarians boast such a high health rate as their foods are alkaline based and having a high acidic count is not even a worry for them.

If you are thinking that this is not something that you need to be concerned about, consider that acidosis is linked to things like obesity, cardiovascular damage, immune deficiency and premature aging.

The bottom line is that you have to put healthy things into your system if you want to live a healthy life. You don’t have to give up acidic foods, you just have to eat them in moderation so that you are not risking your health.

One thing that all people have in common is a concern for their health. It was not long ago when it simply did not matter if you smoked, if you were overweight or drank too much.

Today’s society has become much more aware of the repercussions and they are realizing that not only are we responsible for our own health, but many factors that we are exposed from other individuals can also significantly affect our overall health.

Here are the top health issues today that men and women are concerned with.

1. Heart conditions - this is a common concern in both men and women and it should be. There are so many things that can affect your heart and if you are not taking care of all of them, you could end up developing a heart condition that could be difficult to overcome.

Diabetes, stress, weight, high blood pressure and high cholesterol are but a few of the factors that can contribute to a heart attack.

2. Cancer - this is obviously a major concern for everyone. It almost seems as though a new cause for cancer is uncovered each and every day. While some of these causes are uncontrollable, there are some that we very much can avoid.

Things like cigarette smoking and stress are directly related to cancer and can either be avoided all together or limited in exposure.

3. Anxiety disorder - the more things that we have to be successful over and the more things that we can do, the more reasons we have to get anxiety.

This is an emotion that everyone experience’s, it just takes a little more of a toll on some people than it does on others. One thing is for sure though, unless you learn to properly deal with anxiety, you are setting yourself up for significant health issues down the road.

4. Depression - This is a condition that is often downplayed by those that do not have it or have never experienced it.

But it can be devastating to your health over long periods of time. Depression can put anyone into a funk that is often unrecoverable and once that ball gets rolling, it is often very difficult to stop.

5. Diabetes - Diabetes is a condition that is wreaking havoc on our population. While there are those that get diabetes as a hereditary condition, this is also something that develops due to certain health conditions that we create ourselves, such as obesity.

While these are but 5 of the top health issues that people are concerned with today, there are many more and the shame of it all is that a lot of them are actually preventable by living a healthier lifestyle.

If you find yourself worrying about these conditions, it is time to start eating right and exercising every day to get your health back on track. And do a yearly complete health screening to assess your health condition. Any health problems can be solved in a much cheaper and faster way when detected early.