Everyone Will Be Covered By Obama Care...except The 2..6 Million Americans Exempted By Its Waivers

There are many reasons to doubt the effectiveness of the many components of Obama Care. The latest set of numbers from the Department Of Health and Human Services (HHS) adds another layer of doubt that the political class really had any sense of reality when they passed the legislation. Less than a year after the legislation was passed, HHS has already granted 1,040 waivers to the law to various organizations across the country.

This raises some pretty obvious and simplistic questions:

* If this law is so good, why have so many waivers been granted so quickly for temporary exemptions from the law?

* How could the architects of this law not have even a clue that it would adversely affect so many Americans so quickly (the healthcare blog from "The Hill" estimates that these 1,040 waivers/exemptions cover about 2.6 million Americans).

* Since over 800 waivers have been granted just over the past three months, how many more waivers affecting how many more Americans are yet to be granted?

* Accusations have been made that many of these waivers have been granted to union organizations, the very types of organizations that supported Obama Care in the first place: is this granting of waivers a payment for union support for the passage of Obama Care? Just another aspect of this very bad law. Let's review all of the negative aspects of the law that have erupted or oozed to the surface so far:

- While the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) originally estimated that Obama Care would reduce the Federal deficit by about $135 billion over ten years, their estimate did not include all of the components of Obama Care that were finally included in the legislation. Associated Press analyses found over $100 billion of excluded costs that at the very, very best case makes Obama Care deficit neutral, not positive.

- Even so, the ten year CBO analysis included ten years worth of revenue and taxes and only six years worth of expenses, an apples to oranges, invalid analysis.

- Some of the starting programs of Obama Care are woefully under enrolled, missing their estimated enrollment totals by over 95% in most cases, indicating that maybe these programs are not as good as the political class would have us believe.

- Twenty six states, more than half of the state governments in the country, are in court trying to stop various aspects, if not the whole, of Obama Care. While there are obviously some degree of partisan politics in play here, if Obama Care was that great, there would be no basis for the state court actions. Given that two judges have already found serious flaws with the legislation indicates that the 26 states may be on the right track.

- New York Congressman Anthony Weiner, an ardent supporter of Obama Care when it was going through the legislative process, has now asked for waivers for some areas in his Congressional district. His reason? He wants to see if their is a less expensive or more flexible approach available besides Obama Care for his constituents. If one of your best supporters is asking for waivers, this is not a good indication that this legislation is worthwhile.

- The enitre state of Maine has been given a waiver to Obama Care, with other states also likely to file for waivers. How effective can this law be if entire states can get out from under it?

- The current legislation gives very little credence or support to medical tort reform, a strategy that has significantly reduced health care costs in states that have already implemented tort reform in this area.

- This legislation gives very little credence or support to allowing insurance companies to easily operate across state lines, which would increase health insurance competition and reduce costs.

- This legislation gives very little credence or support to reducing the main culprits of bad health and increased health care costs in this country: smoking, bad eating habits, and lack of exercise of most Americans. Thus, even if Obama Care works perfectly, which is highly unlikely, the root causes of our high national health care costs will still be in place: Americans smoke too much, Americans eat too much of the wrong kind of food, and Americans do not exercise enough. These life style root causes will not be solved by Obama Care which is only a doomed taxing and government bureaucracy approach, not a life style and personal responsibility approach.

- Although Obama Care is supposed to reduce health care costs and allow more Americans to get health care insurance, the legislation is structured so poorly that many major U.S. corporations (AT&T, Verizon, John Deere, Caterpillar, MacDonald's, others) have already publicly stated that they may drop health care insurance for their employees and retirees since it would be less expensive, under Obama Care, to pay the Obama Care fine than continuing to offer health care insurance for their people. Thus, a political class action to reduce the number of Americans without health care insurance is likely to attain just the opposite result: increase the number of Americans without health care insurance.

- This legislation, via its mandate that orders all citizens to buy a product/service that they may or may not want, health care coverage insurance, is a basic violation of our freedom to choose and to live our lives as we see fit.

So let's review:

- This legislation is so bad that every month, hundreds of American companies and unions get exemptions from the law.

- This legislation is so bad that it will likely increase the number of Americans without health care insurance, the exact opposite of what is supposed to do.

- This legislation is so bad that it does not address the underlying, American life style root causes (smoking, obesity, lack of exercise), meaning it will never solve the symptoms of high health care costs and high uninsured rates.

- This legislation is so bad that the very people it is supposed to be helping already have basically ignored the programs it introduced.

- This legislation is so bad that over half of the state governments in the country are in court to stop the law, an unprecedented move on any other Federal legislation in our history.

- This legislation is so bad that the Democrats in the political class did not even have the and courage to pass the law in traditional ways, needing to sneak in the side door of reconciliation to get it passed.

- The legislation is so bad that there are serious flaws in the methodology and analysis used to prove its financial worthiness.

- This legislation is so bad that even its supporters are looking for waivers to get out from under its requirements.

- This legislation is so bad that it undercuts our basic freedom of choice in this country with its government mandates.

What is needed is not an individual waiver from Obama Care. What is needed is a waiver of the entire program and a fresh start with experts in the health care field, not politicians and lobbyists, driving towards a solution. We need out a logical, problem solving approach to health care in this country, without the intrusion of politics, an approach that attacks the root causes of our high health care costs. We see what the political class and lobbyists have gotten us, it is time to put a waiver out on them and do the job right the next time.

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More Proof That Obama Care Is Fatally Flawed

Many, many smart Americans truly believe that Obama Care is likely to fail and place an unbelievable financial and bureaucratic burden on the nation. Their theory is that Obama Care never attacked the underlying root causes of the nation's escalating health care costs, most of which should be addressed as a public health problem. Rather, the legislation went after the problem as a government regulation, taxing, and bureaucracy solution, mostly bypassing the underlying root causes and dooming it to an inglorious failure.

The underlying root causes for high health care costs in this country are relatively straightforward:

1) Americans smoke too much.

2) Americans eat too much.

3) Americans eat too much of the wrong types of food.

4) Americans do not exercise enough.

5) Americans' average age is getting older.

The first four likely root causes are public health issues and that is how they should be addressed. The fifth issue is a graying of the population issue and that should be attacked by a focused effort to minimize the effect of aging diseases, the top cancers, heart disease, and all forms of dementia. Even if Obama Care attained all of its taxing and bureaucratic goals, the bottom line is that the above five conditions would still be around and would still contribute to an ever escalating health care cost crisis.

Now, more and more evidence is starting to pile up, beyond what we have already presented, that further indicates that Obama Care is fatally flawed in so many different ways:

- In a February 15, 2011 article in USA Today, "Heart Disease Gets Real," author Mary Brophy Marcus reviewed the latest guidelines from the American Heart Association regarding ways to prevent cardiovascular disease in women. According to the article, every minute of every day a woman dies in this country from heart disease, making it the leading cause of death for women in this country, more than breast cancer. According to the American Heart Association, what should be done to reduce this pubic health and private health issue:

* Avoid smoking and exposure to environmental smoke

* Be physically active, getting 150 minutes a week of moderate exercise or 75 minutes a week of vigorous exercise.

* Achieve a healthy body weight.

* Eat a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, chose whole grain, high fiber foods, eat oil fish at least twice a week, limit saturated fat, cholesterol and sugar, avoid trans-fatty acids.

Sound familiar? Virtually the same list from above. The root causes of a deadly and widely suffered disease has its root causes in smoking, eating, and exercising. If all Americans did this, disease rates would go down and by reducing the number of times Americans get sick, the costs would go down. Simple, basic economics: reduce demand, keep supply the same and prices have to come down. This was the same advice from the experts at the Cleveland Clinic, when they were interviewed by Fortune magazine and other research and other medical sources. It is not hard if you know how to solve a problem and identify the underlying root causes. Obama Care did none of this.

- One of the major selling and talking points about Obama Care was that needy Americans would rush to enroll in the new programs to get health care coverage. Not so fast, says Amy Goldstein in her Washington Post article from February 11, 2011. According to Ms. Goldstein:

* Although some Americans have signed up for special health plans for people that have been spurned by the insurance industry, signups are far below the levels expected by the Obama Administration.

* The number of people enrolled in these so-called high risk pools is only up to 12,500 across the entire nation, about 250 per state on average.

* Last spring, less than ten months ago, the government's chief actuary forecasted that 375,000 Americans would have signed up for the pools by the end of 2010.

Thus, the government's forecast was off by over 96%.

These are not numbers from Fox News. These are not numbers from the Tea Party. These are not numbers from Rush Limbaugh. These are Obama administration actuals vs. Obama administration forecasts. Missed it by 96%. Pitiful.

Some administration officials say the low numbers are because awareness is so low, which does not change the fact that the administration was so wrong in its forecast and expectations. However, other experts say the new Obama Care program is too expensive for people with existing medical problems. Thus, even when the political class designs a program specifically for certain Americans, by not understanding underlying root causes, they still cannot get the solution right.

- Another major selling point from the Obama/Pelosi/Reid Obama Care trifecta was that the legislation would actually end up being a job creation vehicle, as she stated just days before the final vote: "It's about jobs. In its life, (the legislation) will create four million jobs, 400,000 jobs almost immediately."

How is that prediction coming along? According to an article in the National Review on February 10, 2011 by Yuval Levin, not so good. Mr. Levin was covering a House Budget Committee on that day when he heard Congressman John Campbell ask a question of Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Director Douglas Elmendorf:

Campbell: You just mentioned that you believe - or that in your estimate - that the health care law would reduce the labor used in the economy by about one half of one percent. Given that, I believe you say, there's 150 million full time people working in 2021, that means that, in your estimation, the health care law would reduce employment by 800,000 in 2021. Is that correct? Elmendorf: Yes. the way I would put it is that we do estimate, as you said, that household employment will be about 160 million by the end of the decade. Half a percent is 800,000.

Obama Care supporters do not dare challenge the credibility of the CBO on this issue since they used the CBO numbers to help pass the legislation. Thus, if anyone believes the CBO was right in their original estimates of how much this legislation would reduce the Federal deficit (which we have proven was based on faulty data and assumptions), you cannot now say the CBO is wrong in their estimates when the say that Obama Care will actually reduce U.S. employment by 800,000, not increase it by 4 million as Ms. Pelosi claimed. Another horrendous estimate.

- However, while many still firmly believe that the five reasons listed above are primary underlying root causes of our high health care costs, there could a potential other reason, unrelated to the public health causes. In the March, 2011 issue of Life Extensions magazine, William Faloon had an interesting article entitled, "No Real Health Care Cost Crisis." (Note: there is a potential conflict of interest here since Life Extension the company is in the business of selling supplements whose sales are likely sometimes competitors with drug company products.)

Mr. Faloon's conclusion is that a leading cause of our high health care costs is the cozy arrangement the drug companies have with the Federal government. His theory goes as follows: the Federal government gives pharmaceutical companies a virtual monopoly over patented and generic drugs which result in outlandish profits earned from their protected drugs which are then used to use lobbyists who work on Congress to pass legislation that leaves the taxpayers on the hook for paying for these over priced medicines.

He gave several examples of this model and potential reality including the following:

* In July, 2009, the FDA officially announced something that those in the medical field knew for a long time: an old drug called colchicine was effective in treating acute cases of gouty arthritis.

* The drug had been around since the 19th century and has its original with the ancient Greeks.

* The FDA wanted the ancient drug officially tested for safety and efficacy and offered one company an exclusive three year protection plan, i.e. they would have no competitors in the sale of the drug for that time period even though the drug predated the FDA.

* In return the company conducted a ONE WEEK trial and proved the drug was all it was supposed to be and was safe.

* Before the Federal government via the FDA got involved, the drug sold for $.09 a pill.

* Once the government granted the monopoly, the price shot up by a factor of 50 to a cost of $5.00 a pill.

* Before the FDA got involved, the Federal government and the American taxpayer had paid out about $1 million a year through Medicare-Medicaid to supply colchicine for Americans who needed it.

* After the FDA intervention, the government and the American taxpayer will now pay about $50 million a year for the same drug that they used to pay $1 million for.

If you repeat this outrageous price mark up strategy across all drug categories, you can see why the nation is paying such high medical bills.

The article lays out another example for the drug Valtrex. According to Life Extension, the raw material to make a one month supply of Valtrex costs about $.60. Yes, $.60. The article estimates that the cost of production is about $1.50 so the total end product to the drug company is $2.10. However, given the government/drug industry connection, one month of Valtrex retails for $200, resulting in about $198 in gross margin for every month's worth of Valtrex sold.

Is Mr. Faloon wrong and biased? I do not know but I am sure most Americans have gagged many times when told what the actual costs of their drugs are. At least his line of reasoning is worth an unbiased investigation and analysis to see if this is another root cause of our high health care costs.

And, according to an article in the January, 2011 issue of Business Week magazine, Congress may actual to this. The article pointed out the fact that the drug industry "offered $80 billion In dIscounts and refunds over 10 years to help pay for the law. The concessions may have insulated the industry from tough new rules or price controls." Maybe Mr. Faloon is onto something afterall.

- Our final example has not been written up in an unbiased, national publication. It is based on a sample size of one but much like high priced drugs, I would bet many people have experienced or heard of the following situation. A good friend of mine runs her own business. She is the only employee of the business. She had a health care plan but dropped it because of its expense and the fact that it never seemed to live up to the hype and coverage it received when she purchased the policy.

Thus, when she needed a relatively major operation, she knew that she would have to pay for it herself out of her funds. However, once her doctor realized she had no insurance, the costs of the operation dropped dramatically. This is a situation we have all probalby seen a number of times. There is often two price lists: one for those that have insurance (the higher price) and one for those that do not have insurance (a lower price).

Seems many doctors are artificially inflating their prices since they know the end customer, the sick American, will be getting help in payment via their insurance company. If the operation costs the uninsured $10,000, it might cost the insured $15,000. Since the insured person is getting help in payment from the insurance company, they are not as diligent as they might be if they were using their own money. Thus, another potential, underlying root cause.

In summary, now what do we know about Obama Care:

* The political class never understood the underlying root cuases of our high health costs, public health issues, and thus, Obama Care's heavy handed government bureaucracy approach is likely to fail.

* Americans currently with health care insurance coverage are likely to lose that coverage because their companies can save money by paying the fine for not having insurance under Obama Care rather than continuing to provide health care coverage.

* The numbers that Obama Care is based on, from a deficit reduction perspective, are flawed since the CBO estimates do not include all of the costs components that were in the final legislation.

* The law criminalize millions of honest Americans if they do not purchase mandatory health care insurance under Obama Care.

* Promised job creation under Obama Care is unlikely to materialize.

* Promised program enrollment under the early components of Obama Care are staggering short of expectations.

* The Federal government via the FDA and the drug companies may be in such a close relationship, along with the Congress and the drug company lobbyists, that the Federal government might actually be a major source of cost escalation.

* The "two price list" syndrome, not addressed under Obama Care, may actually be another major cost factor.

It appears that the major causes of escalating health costs in this country are the ones NOT covered by the burdensome Obama Care legislation. It is fatally flawed and needs to be repealed as soon as possible. We need to impanel a group of smart Americans, similar to the success we enjoyed using the same process for the Manhattan Project, the Apollo Space Program, the Military Base Closing Commission, the Grace Commission, etc. They would identify and quantify the underlying root causes and come up with proposed solutions, sans lobbyists and politicians. These alternative proposals would be voted on by the American voters and the winner would be implemented.

The political class has proven via Obama Care that they cannot solve a problem because they cannot understand the underlying root causes. Obama Care is fatally flawed, lets pull the plug and start over before it is too late and the nation, its citizens, and the country's financial health straight lines.

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And The Wheels Of The Obama Care Bus Never Go Round And Round...they Just Come Off

Since the legislation known as Obama Care was passed back in the spring, it seems like a good time to revisit the legislation and see what has happened in the health care industry since then. Unfortunately, for both the President and millions of Americans, early indications is that this legislation will make a bad situation worse. Keep in mind, two of the big reasons for passing this bill was to provide health care insurance coverage to the 10% of the population which does not currently have health care insurance and to reduce the high cost of health care insurance and medical treatment in this country.

How is the legislation doing vs. these objectives? Not good. Consider:

- In the August 20, 2010 issue of Fortune magazine, there was an interview article with the chairman of AT&T, Randall Stephenson. Although most of the article focused on AT&T's marketing and financial situation, the closing question was about AT&T's likely response to Obama Care. Mr. Stephenson was very clear with his answer. He did not want to drop health care coverage for his employees but under the new legislation, it was a better business decision for AT&T to drop its employee coverage and pay the much smaller fine to the government for not having a health care plan. He discussed "economic gravity" which appeared to be code words for "if my competitors take this path (dropping health care insurance programs) which makes them financially stronger, than AT&T would do so also." Thus, rather than reduce the number of uninsured Americans, this legislation might actually put hundreds of thousands of current and retired AT&T employees on the list of those that do not have healt h care coverage insurance.

- This was not the first time that AT&T was in the news regarding the new health care bill. In a Fortune magazine article on May 6, 2010, it discussed the fact that AT&T, Verizon, Caterpillar, and John Deere, among other companies, had created financial reserves in the billions of dollars to possibly pay for the increased expenses the health care legislation would incur, implying that these and other companies might drop health care coverage for their employees also. This ticked off Congressman Waxman of California, who demanded to see all of the internal documents these companies had produced relative to Obama Care and scheduled Congressional hearings to review the documents. Waxman initially thought that the companies were making up fear stories to discredit the legislation and he wanted to go after them. However, after reviewing the documents, he abruptly cancelled the hearings, apparently realizing that the companies were right in anticipating higher health care insuranc e costs for their employees. Now, we are not looking at hundreds of thousands of AT&Ters losing their health care coverage, we are looking at millions of Americans losing their health care coverage as a result of Obama Care.

- It gets worse. In a September 30, 2010 Wall Street Journal article, it was reported that McDonald's had warned the Federal government that it also might drop its health care coverage for its restaurant employees since the new legislation was incompatible with some specialized health care insurance plans ("mini-med plans" which are popular in the retail and restaurant industry) it had for its employees. They were asking for a waiver to the new law or they would have to drop their plans since they could not be in compliance with the new law.

I guess the drafters of the legislation never did their homework to understand how mini-med plans might be affected. Since about 1.4 million Americans are covered by these types of insurance plans, the potential is there to add over a million more people, in addition to the millions of AT&T, Verizon, Caterpillar, and John Deere employees and retirees who may lose their health care insurance coverage.

The other sad part of this situation is that we are already seeing companies looking for exemptions to the law. It is never a good sign when a new law may have t grant exemptions to its own rules within months after the law takes affect. This shows that someone, or everyone, in Congress did not do their homework on the ramifications of this bill.

- In that same article, it is stated that health insurance companies have already proposed a round of double digit increases in premiums in order to cover some of the mandates in the new law. Looks like between the financial cash reserves that bigger companies are setting aside for anticipated higher costs and the insurance companies asking for more money now from their premiums in order to cover the requirements of the law, that we are not going to see any abatement in rising health care costs as promised by Obama Care.

- In a very ironic twist, a November 4, 2010 Associated Press article reported that AARP was raising its health care insurance premiums for its own employees anywhere from 8-13% in 2011. Part of the increase is due to generally rising medical costs but part of the increase is also due to Obama Care that the AARP vigorously endorsed. AARP is trying to avoid a 40% tax on high cost plans that will take effect in later years under the law. The article mentioned that Boeing employees are also going to see an increase in their insurance premiums as a result of the 40% tax. Thus, at least the law's unintended, mostly bad, consequences, does not differentiate friend from foe.

- But it gets even better (or worse, depending on your perspective.) In a November 12, 2010 Associated Press article, the reporter profiled a breast cancer surgeon who had posted a warning in her waiting room that she would stop taking New Medicare patients if Congress allows looming cuts in doctors' Medicare compensation to become law. If nothing is done quickly, Medicare payments to doctors will decrease 23%.

Although this crisis has nothing to do with Obama Care, it is instructive of how things will likely unfold in the the future. This specific cost cutting process started back in the 1990s as an attempt to get Medicare costs under control but the implementation of the law was constantly pushed back year over year. The article quotes sources as saying that if the funding is not restored, two-thirds of doctors would stop taking Medicare patients, endangering the health of tens of millions of Americans. The cost to the government of another delay to the original law's implementation? About $1 billion a month, $12 billion a year.

Why is this important? Obama Care calls for hundreds of billions of dollars to be axed from Medicare payments to doctors over the next decade. In fact, most of the flimsy financial justification for Obama Care assumed that these hundreds of billions of dollars would be saved by shorting the doctors relative to what they get today. However, if the majority of doctors are going to stop taking Medicare patients as a result of the government taking $12 billion away in payments, how many doctors do you think will stop taking Medicare patients if the government takes away hundreds of billions of dollars?

It would get ugly real fast. But I am pretty sure what would not happen. Congress would cave into pressure, would not implement the Medicare cuts called for by Obama Care, and the financial model on which this legislation was sold would be destroyed, leaving the American taxpayer with a health care industry more broken than before and much more expensive than before.

- Much of this legislation was modeled after the health care reform law passed by the state of Massachusetts. Within a few years after that law was passed, costs are already out of control, the expected drop in emergency room visits never materialized, medical coverage is being curtailed, and the system was trying to delay accepting new customers.

- The Obama administration admitted a few months ago that upwards of $100 billion a year is lost through fraud and criminal activity in current government medical insurance programs. How much worse will that fraud become and how many more taxpayer dollars will be lost by implementing an even larger government health care programs without first fixing the current fraud and criminal problems?

So let's review:

1) Millions of working and retired Americans are likely to lose their health care insurance coverage from larger companies for the simple reason it is a better economic decision under Obama Care to not have the expense of insuring their workforce and to pay a much smaller fine.

2) Companies are setting aside cash reserves in anticipation of the higher costs of complying with the law, preventing them from using that money to hire more employees, conduct more research and development, and compete with other global companies.

3) Hundreds of thousands, if not more than a million Americans receiving health care coverage via their retail or restaurant jobs, will likely lose coverage because their specialized insurance programs cannot be made compatible with the requirements of the new health care reform law. Thus, rather than reducing the number of Americans without affordable health care insurance, this legislation is highly to increase the number of uninsured Americans.

4) Insurance premiums are already going up as a result of the new law, including those premiums covered by supporters of the law such as AARP. The hundreds of billions in savings predicted from Obama Care in the area of Medicare doctor payments is likely to never materialize since even a small decrease has already provoked doctors into promising not to accept Medicare patients.

5) The one state that has a similar plan to Obama Care has experienced a nightmare of rising costs, declining coverage, and unexpected steady streams of people into emergency rooms.

6) More and larger government health care programs is likely to result in higher amounts of fraud and crime.

Why has this turning into a disaster within seven months after it was signed? The political class never understood the root causes of our rising health care costs, high costs that put affordable health care insurance out of the financial reach of millions of Americans. Without understanding the root causes, there is very little chance of coming up with an efficient and effective solution. The horror stories listed above prove this point. Higher costs, higher premiums, and fewer people getting insurance coverage, the exact opposite of what the legislation was supposed to do.

What should be done? Two things. First, this law has to be repealed and the process has to start over. It has introduced unbelievable uncertainty into the market, uncertainty that has left companies in a non-hiring mode since they do not understand what their future health care costs will be. Thus, it is better for employers to hunker down with the current workforce than to expand and possibly find out they cannot afford the additional employees due to Obama Care. Plus, at 2,500 pages or whatever the final number was, nobody in Congress or the White House understands what is in the legislation and what the unintended consequences will be.

Second, an entirely new process needs to be undertaken to understand the root causes of our high health care costs using smart Americans from a wide variety of fields of expertise and which minimizes the input of lobbyists and politicians. Obama Care never understood the underlying causes. All this bill did was take the existing money in the national health care delivery system and move it around, and then stir in additional taxation on top of everything. It never got underneath the problem to understand the reality of the situation and the root causes of ever escalating health care costs.

In an old children's song, "the wheels on the bus go round and round." In the world of Obama Care, the wheels on this bus never went round and round since they fell off almost immediately, probably increasing the number of people on the bus without insurance and raising the cost of eventually fixing the bus.

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Gestational Diabetes Test - What is it And How do I Prepare?

During even a low risk pregnancy, you'll find there are many different tests you'll experience, from the first pregnancy test through to regular urine tests, blood pressure tests, blood tests and a gestational diabetes test.

Gestational diabetes is a complication more common in women who have health or weight problems or are experiencing pregnancy at an older age. Even if you're not in the risk category for gestational diabetes you'll still probably be tested for it.

Before you begin to worry about such a scary sounding problem, just remember this - many women who get it have never had any type of diabetes before pregnancy and many of these women often find it disappears within a few weeks of baby's birth. The most important thing is diagnosing and treating it during pregnancy.

This article is written as a guide to Glucose Tolerance Tests, what to expect and how to prepare for them.

What is Gestational Diabetes?

Gestational Diabetes is a pregnancy induced problem with the insulin produced by your pancreas. The insulin plays in important role in processing the sugars you eat.

What are the risks of having untreated Gestational Diabetes?

Some of the basic problems associated with Gestational Diabetes include very large babies, which may lead to an early induction or caesarian.

The large amount of glucose that crosses through the placenta forces the baby's pancreas to work overtime. Baby's body will create extra energy which is then stored as fat. This can also lead to higher risk of obesity and diabetes in later life for the child.

Glucose problems can also have an adverse effect on baby's breathing at birth.

What does the Glucose drink taste and look like?

The Glucose drink doesn't taste bad - in fact it tastes almost exactly like lemonade. It's a clear liquid in a small bottle and is generally only about 500 ml.

What types of Glucose Tolerance Tests are there?

There are several types of tests, depending on where you live and your risk of having gestational diabetes.

The tests are known as Glucose Tolerance Tests (GTT) and involve drinking a sugary liquid after which you'll be tested to see how your body reacts to the liquid.

Preparing for your Test

It's important to prepare for the test correctly, so that you don't have a false positive or need to retake the test. The following are guidelines only and should be checked with your doctor before the test.

Don't eat or drink anything but water in the 12 hours before the test. (If you do, it may result in a false positive.)

Make sure you have at least an hour available in which to take the test.

If possible ask someone to drive you home, since after fasting and drinking the liquid, you may feel light headed.

What complications can the test cause?

Some women will experience some minor problems from the test including:

For this reason it's important to stay at the testing centre during the entire testing period.

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Emotional Health & Wellbeing: What are obsessions?

The 14th to the 16th century Europe believed that people who experienced blasphemous, sexual, or other obsessive thoughts are evil possessed. Because of this reasoning, treatment involved banishing the "wicked" from the "possessed" person through exorcism to stop the "obsessive" thoughts.

Most common themes are aggression, contamination, harm, illness, religion, sexuality, and violence. The frustrating aspect of obsessive behavior is the irrationality taken up by the person to himself for the sake of the anticipated pleasure.

Obsessions, eventually, has to end once it makes the person unable to focus because of the fixed and deep-rooted craving to perform the repetitive behavior in order to control the anxiety resulting from these thoughts.

What are common Obsessions?

Everyone keeps up with a daily routine. However, there are instances that these habits can get in the way of people's daily lives once they turn into obsessive thoughts. When they do run through the person's mind repeatedly, people become nervous and afraid.

Obsessions with fears of evil thoughts, of harming others and of certain sounds, images, words, or numbers can hamper any normal life. People turn to alcohol or drugs to alleviate anxiety and to be free of the distressing thoughts, temporarily.

In the same way, obsessions are intrusive and irrational like washing one's hands repeatedly due to the fear of contact with dirt, and germs including contamination.

Obsession also evolves from a deep fear of hateful zealots who view others as targets. When people develop an obsession with intruders, they may lock and re-lock their doors many times until they feel safe and secure. It is a simple routine gone wrong.

Being obsessed with people brings about confusion and insecurity. Obsessing on people complicates the difference between love, lust, and desire. On the other hand, they can be delightful for as long as control rules over these feelings.

Likewise, obsession with people can create a certain level of distrust like worrying that a task is not over and done properly even when this is not true. It can also be a fixated concern with order, symmetry, perfection, exactness, or truth.

Uncontrollable and persistent ideas or images that a person cannot end even though it creates significant distress like constant lying, instant shopping, chronic gambling, sex addiction, or drugs problem have harmful consequences, even if they briefly relieve the stress of the obsessive thoughts.

Obsessions can become the master, and you are its slave. The root of being obsessed with the rich and famous is plain insecurity. Celebrity-obsessed people feel better being with famous people. In today's society, individuals who are obsessed with the way they look make use of their celebrity obsession as inspiration or idea for makeover.

Then again, the overwhelming liking or excessive interest in a given subject can violate prevailing social norms, and the obsessive enthusiasm makes people forget their aspirations.

Obsessing excessively can worsen over time. Obsessions with aggression, blasphemy, and possessiveness constantly put people in war zones. Persistently and indiscriminately, you hunt for would-be enemy daily.

The extreme obsession with acquisition of different things and failure to use or discard them creates a significant clutter that impairs basic living activities. Compulsive hoarding cause by fondness for material objects is link to compulsive buying. As the boundary between right and wrong blurs, the behavior could lead to stealing and reluctance to return borrowed items.

Obsessions come in all shapes. Thus, one can be obsessed with good parenting, fund-raising, collecting antiques, or promoting moral regeneration. These obsessions produce good feelings and beneficial results, but obsession with perfection can get them out of control.

Obsession with perfection that stems from the desire to be happy, to live in an ideal environment, and to lack nothing if foolishly impersonated can cloud right judgment. Thus, the only way to make perfect a life obsessed with perfection is to accept imperfections.

Daily concerns like paying bills, studying for exams, keeping home clean, do well at work, interpersonal relationships are legitimate worries. However, without people noticing, they bear these desires to obsessive extent.

There are many different theories about the cause of obsessive behavior. The majority of researchers believe that it is an abnormality of the neurotransmitter serotonin, along with psychological or biological defects.

Obsessions stems from many things that most people are not aware. A bad obsession is the endless focus on something, mentally and physically, until the behavior causes significant impairment and distress. A good obsession would be focusing on working out a problem to achieve something good.

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Glucose Control Solutions & Blood Sugar Testing

If you have been suffering from diabetes, keeping your blood sugar under control is important. This is why you use a diabetic blood glucose monitors to keep track of your blood sugar. Along with the monitor, it is important that you use diabetes control solution as well. However, many people are not aware of what these solutions are, how they work, and why they should be used. Here's a closer look at these diabetes control solutions and how you can use them to help keep your diabetes well under control.

Diabetes control solutions are used to determine the accuracy of your blood sugar monitor and diabetes test strips. Glucose control solution work just as blood would with your diabetic meter and your blood glucose test strips. This is due to the fact that your diabetes control solution contains just enough glucose to react with the test strips similarly to when you perform a glucose blood test.

Why should you use Diabetes Control Solutions?

# To practice monitoring your blood sugar levels (important for recently diagnosed diabetics)

# To determine if a new diabetic meters is functioning properly, this serves as a way to calibrate your diabetes meter

# To make sure your blood glucose meter and diabetes test strips are not damaged, if your meter has fallen accidentally or if your vial of glucometer test strips have been left open or in the heat.

Things to remember when purchasing Glucose Control Solutions:

# Each brand of Diabetes Control Solution is made for that specific brand of diabetic strips, and not necessarily for that specific brand of diabetes meter.

# The Diabetes Control Solution range is usually found on the package of diabetic test strip

# if an error occurs, follow the manufacturer's instructions on how to isolate and correct the error

Things to remember when Using Glucose Control Solutions:

So, how do you use control solutions? It's actually fairly easy to do. You perform the test with the solution the very same way that you would test your own blood. Place the strip into the meter, then put a tiny drop of the diabetes control solution onto your finger and touch the glucose testing strips to the solution so that it sucks in the solution. After it does the countdown, it will give you a number. On the back of your strips, you'll see a number which is usually between 50 and 200. This will let you know the range that the number should be in. If it is within range, then your strips are fine. If it is higher or lower than the range on the strips, then there is probably a problem with those strips and you should not use them.

Glucose control solutions are used to test whether or not your glucose test strips or diabetes monitor is providing accurate results. A glucose control test is performed in exactly the same way as a standard blood test, except you place a drop of the glucose control solution on the test strip instead of blood.

Calibrate regularly. Diabetic Control Solutions are important tools for ensuring the accuracy and reliability of your blood sugar monitors and your blood glucose test strips.

Click here to learn more about diabetes nutritional supplements and glucose supplements

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Are You Getting In The Way Of Your Emotional Health?

How do you feel about your emotions?

Do you let them flow?

Do you like all of them?

Do you take the time to let them out?

Explore them?

Or can't you be bothered with them?

Do you feel depressed about them?

Want to numb them out?

Well it's not our emotions that are the problem. It's our RELATIONSHIP with our emotions that's the key to emotional wellness.

Think about that for a second. Cause it's very profound and it's the crux of why so many of us stay in our pain way longer than we need to be in it.

It's not what we feel that's the problem. It's what we tell ourselves about what we feel. There's like this background music of chatter that's going on when we feel something.

It might go something like this:

I can't feel that? What would my kids think if they saw me feeling that? What would my husband think of me if I told him I was feeling that? I can't cry in public. I can't feel that anger because then I would have to make a decision about my marriage? I have to be upbeat, I can't feel sad. Everyone is depending on me I can't be depressed.

Emotions don't cause us pain. They well up and then pass through us and we let them go.

It's our unhealthy relationship with our emotions that causes us the pain.

The gold is in allowing yourself to have all your emotions, to accept them. When you accept them they pass through.

Emotions = energy in motion. And at any stage if you stop that flow you're going to get blocked up and this is the crux to so many issues we have in our lives, ie: physical ailments, emotional and mental pain.

So next time you feel an emotion just observe what else you're saying to yourself that is making it not ok for you to be feeling what you're feeling. See if you can see the part of you that stops your emotions and feelings. You don't have to get into battle with it but just by realising what you say to yourself will free you up to let those emotions run through.

How you relate to your emotions is a microcosm of how you relate to the world.

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Move Your Career With Health Education

Health education is the occupation of educating people about health. Sometimes degrees in health education are also known as wellness studies. Health education includes environmental health, physical health, social health, emotional health, intellectual health, and spiritual health. Health education degrees programs train graduates to encourage good health within their communities. Health educators take classes to learn about the importance of exercise, diet, vitamins and many other topics.

Health education degrees are offered from Associates to PhDs. The courses taken will vary depending upon the type of degree being pursued; while general courses about health are taken at the associate's level, at the master's level, students would be able to specialize in a certain area like Health Promotion Management. A master's degree Health Education allows students to pursue leadership and management positions in places such as hospitals and clinics.

You will have lots of health education career options. Individuals having health education degrees play a crucial role in many organizations in various settings to improve our nations health. You can work at various positions in various organizations. Health Care Settings include hospitals (for-profit and public), medical care clinics, home health agencies, HMOs and PPOs. Here, a health educator trains employees how to be healthy. Patient education positions are far and few between because insurance companies do not cover the costs.

health education degrees

Public Health Agencies are authorized, tax funded, government agencies. They offer police protection, educational systems, as well as clean air and water. Public health departments make available health services and are organized by a city, county, state, or federal government. School Health Education engages all strategies, activities, and services offered by, in, or in association with schools that are designed to promote students' physical, emotional and social development. School health involves teaching students about health and health related behaviors. Programs and curriculum are based on the school's expectations and health. You can work for NGO.

health education career

Candidates having higher degrees in health education can hold typically two types of positions. You as health educators hold including academic, or faculty or health educator in a student health service or wellness center. As a faculty member, the health educator naturally has three major responsibilities: teaching, community and professional service, and scholarly research. As a health educator in a university health service or wellness center, the major responsibility is to plan, implement, and evaluate health promotion and education programs for program participants as health education lessons. Health education lessons depend upon the level of health education.

health education lessons

Work site Health Promotion is a mixture of educational, organizational and environmental activities designed to improve the health and safety of employees and their families. These work site wellness programs offer an additional setting for health educators and allow them to reach segments of the population that are not easily reached through traditional community health programs. Some work site health promotion activities consist of smoking cessation, stress management, bulletin boards, newsletters, and much more. You can also work independently on contract basis for various organizations.

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Emotional Health Help:Grieving the Loss of a Pet

When your beloved pet dies, what are the first words you hear well-meaning friends utter? 'Get a new pet! You'll feel so much better!' But I retort with a resounding, 'No!' Don't go out and hunt feverishly for some other animal, even of the same variety or breed, to replace your much-loved pet. When my dear brother and sister-in-law lost one of their two dogs, still very young, to an unexpected, rampant virus, I would no more suggest that they replace'Boo' (a charming, sweet-natured part Rotweiller) than I would have expected them to suggest I replace one of my children. The loss of a pet can be as devastating for some as the loss of a beloved person. Can you replace a loved one in the human world? Definitely not. And if pets are often loved as much as humans, how could you replace that cat, or dog or horse, or any animal that held such an affectionate spot in your heart? Better instead for those grieving that loss of a pet, to find comfort in these coping methods.

Tell everyone that cares about you, that your precious pet has passed away. Allow your friends and loved ones to comfort you. When my husband (of 23 years) and I were dating, I remember him calling me to inform me, in choked-back tears, that his dear little 'Toby', a friendly, loving little Pomeranian had died. We cried together and I felt honored to share his grief. Years later, we cried together, after I shared how I felt after taking our first cat 'Oliver' to the Humane Society, ill and old as he was, and how our nine year-old son sobbed in my arms.

Allow yourself to feel what you feel. I can remember to the day when my grandparents' poodle 'Pierre' passed away. I was twelve years old and 'Pierre' was older than me. My harsh, autocratic Dutch grandmother cried when she told me, saying that, after all, Pierre was, 'only a dog' and not a person. I don't remember much except that I cried with her and told her that I loved both her and Pierre.

Let the tears flow. When our second son was only about three or four, he was given care of a nest of baby birds. They had been found in an old trailer, abandoned by the mother. Jake was taught by his grandfather who found them, how to feed and care for the young fledglings. And did that little boy care for them? He followed Grandpa's instructions to the letter. But the babies died. As babies left to fend without their mother often do. That little boy cried all day long and into the night. Whenever we, his parents, or his older siblings would come upon that sad little boy, we would just hug him. We knew that only time would heal his grief for his 'baby birds'.

Gather all the photographs that you may have of you and your pet. Purchase an inexpensive frame collage. Place the photographs of you and your pet into the frames.

Write a memoir to your pet. You think it sounds silly? Not at all. As a teacher, I have often assigned students to write a eulogy for a loved one. And that loved has often been a pet. Writing is art with words. Let the sentiments you have for your pet find freedom in writing.

Pets share our heart and soul as only a non-verbal being can. They are no less loved because they cannot speak. If your pet could speak, she would say how happy she was to live with you, under your care and protection.

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How to Eradicate Your Emotional Health Problems Including Insomnia

These can include depression, anxiety, insomnia, irritability and panic attacks. In this article I write about each of these potential problems and suggest solutions to overcome them.

Depression

I am sure that we all become depressed at different times of our life, I certainly do. It is easy to let things and people get us down. We can start to feel sorry for ourselves and to think that the world is working against us.

The brain has two halves, positive and negative. In these periods of depression the negative side assumes control and it can become very hard to get out of this rut.

I see the positive side of my brain as an apple and the negative side as a pear. If I only ever eat pears, I will not be able to experience the joy of eating apples. In short I have to give the positive side a chance to help me to reach a state of happiness and I need to learn to ignore the negative.

Anxiety and panic attacks

At times people start becoming anxious about their future or even about their present situation. This can in certain cases even lead on to panic attacks.

In my opinion worrying does not help the situation, it only makes things worse. I have to say that I do worry and that the cloud of doom does descend over my life at regular intervals. When this occurs I try very hard to break the cycle and I even talk to the demons in my head. I have a battle of wills with them. I tell them that they will not win and that I will not stress anymore. This is not that simple but is what I try to do.

Insomnia

Having trouble with sleeping at night can happen for a number of reasons, the main one of which is stress. Other causes are snoring, an intake of too much caffeine, a noisy environment or depression.

I have written about stress and depression already, it is also time to cut down on the coffee. A simple suggestion in potentially solving insomnia, is to read a book in bed before attempting to get to sleep. This book should help you to get your mind away from any anxieties you may have, it should relax your body and should also tire your eyes.

Irritability

When people lose sleep or work to hard they can become over tired and this can lead to irritability. This can cause people to have a higher pulse rate, making their muscles feel tight and can leave people also feeling anxious and lethargic.

It is important to therefore ensure that you obtain a good amount of hours sleep per night (at least seven)and that you only work a certain amount of hours per week. Money is important to people, however in my opinion health should be the priority.

Solutions to these emotional health problems

I have come to realise that I need to treat myself from time to time. I have always found it difficult to relax and would often feel stressed and under pressure.

I now use various methods at different times of the year to help me to chill out a bit and to reward my body. These include aromatherapy, using herbal products, attending tai chi lessons and I have even tried Yoga. I must admit I could never get to grips with Yoga, however have heard it can prove to be very beneficial to people who can.

Meditation

My favourite form of relaxation is by meditating. I do this by sitting on a straight back chair and by basically concentrating with my eyes closed. I pay particular notice to my breathing and it has certainly helped me to see things in a much clearer way.

In conclusion there are many ways of reducing emotional health problems and with determination you are able to see your way to a better and brighter future.

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Atkins Diet Secrets

There have been a lot of different diet fads over the years. Some are highly effective while others are nothing more than smoke and mirrors. Trying to figure out the good diets from the bad can be a Herculean task. What I want to talk about now is one of the most popular diets of the day: The Atkins diet.

The Atkins diet was created by Dr. Atkins. It is based around one simple idea - cut carbs and increase protein consumption. You see our bodies can use both carbohydrates and protein to create energy. The difference between the two is that carbohydrates metabolize extremely fast. Basically our bodies use them up really fast leaving us in need of more energy. If our diets are heavy in carbs the end result is increased hunger because of how fast our bodies process carbohydrate rich foods. More hunger equals more food which equals more calories. You can probably see where this is going. The more calories you take in the harder it will be for you to lose weight and if you take in too many calories you will actually gain weight.

By cutting out the carbohydrates and upping our consumption of protein we force our bodies to rely heavily on protein for its energy. Protein metabolizes relatively slowly which will encourage the body to burn some stored fat for bursts of energy. Also because protein gets used up slowly we stay full longer after eating protein rich foods. That is why it is said that protein increases our satisfaction with our meals.

The nice thing about the Atkins diet is that we can still eat foods that would be denied to us under other diet plans. Egg's (with the yolk), steaks, cheeses and other foods that are considered big no-no's with a lot of diets are all acceptable under this plan.

For long term success you are not supposed to eat protein based foods alone. You restrict yourself to protein only for just the first couple of weeks. The goal of the first two weeks is to change your body from a carb burning machine into a fat burning machine. After these two weeks are up you should gradually begin to introduce carbohydrates back into your diet, but they should only be a small part of your diet. There are some foods that are absolutely forbidden. Anything made out of refined sugar is off limits. You have to kiss your white breads good bye. Also white rice, potatoes, and anything made out of white flour is gone for good.

I should note that many people have questioned whether or not this diet is healthy in the long run. On that point I cannot comment, but I will say that so many people have had success with the Atkins diet no one can question whether or not you will lose weight with it.

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The Atkins Diet Review

Atkins diet is a diet plan which was discovered by Dr. Robert Atkins. The official name used for the Atkins Diet is Atkins Nutritional Approach. This diet aims at reducing the extra weight from the body. Dr. Robert Atkins has been benefited by using Atkins diet, himself. If you are disheartened even after sticking to different types of diet, to reduce your body weight, then you must give a try to Atkins diet.

This is a way that helps an individual to lose his weight by inducing certain changes in his eating habits and consequently the metabolic activities of his body. This is a diet which involve lower amount of carbohydrates. A number of people have been benefited by using this diet in terms of reducing their weight and improving their heart conditions. This diet does not include of leaving its followers hungry at all, unlike some other strict diet programs. In addition to weight loss this plan for getting healthier helps an individual to fight diseases like High blood pressure, Diabetes, High cholesterol levels and others.

The feedback of various followers of this diet suggests that sticking to this diet also make people more energetic than before. This diet has negative effects on lethargy. This diet aims at reducing the carbohydrate intake by obese people. The people who follow this diet begin to show the results very soon, as compared with other diets. Thus, instead of following any other diet routine, use Atkins diet for the best results. However, before doing so, it's always sensible to consult a professional dietitian.

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Atkins Diet

Having a well shaped body has become a necessity in today's fitness conscious world. Every person desires to look their best, and for that people go on various kinds of diets, which are often quite unhealthy and makes a person unfit during the process of weight loss as most diets require you to cut down on your eating habits excessively, depriving you of your favorite foods. However, we all wish to go on a diet in which we can eat as much as we want, and it is only possible with an 'Atkins diet'

The three step diet allows you to lose weight reasonably without much sacrifice on your eating habits. In this diet you are allowed to intake as many proteins as you wish to, however, it strictly instructs to quit the consumption of carbohydrates, which includes food articles such as fruits, vegetables and items like bread. The most distinguished trait of this particular diet is that unlike other diets there is no concept of calories calculation. Many people who have followed this diet claimed to have lost approximately 10-25 and often 30 pounds within the very first week.

The procedure of the diet is such that in the preliminary 1-2 weeks you are supposed to intake just 15-20 grams of carbohydrates strictly each day, though it is highly recommended not to have carbohydrates during the initial phase of this diet but still you are allowed to have vegetables with extremely low carbohydrates . However, there is no restriction on the consumption of eggs, chicken or meat in ay form. Also you are allowed to freely eat foods like cheese, sausages, butter and so forth. As you precede with the diet you, a few weeks later, you can increase your intake by approximately 25 grams per day. The essential idea is of this diet is that you eat healthy and lose weight simultaneously.

Several persons who have been on the Atkins diet have confirmed that this diet may well initially help you lose weight reasonably but during the process you might face a few tribulations such as deficiency of power and liveliness in your body. Also, as the diet suggests that once you have met your weight loss purpose you can increase the intake of carbohydrates that are healthy in nature; this according to some persons makes the diet futile as in the long run it makes you go back to your original weight once again.

However, which ever diet you plan to go for, you should always consult your dietitian/ doctor for the best advice as they can guide you best as to which diet will help you attain your ultimate weight loss goals without inflicting any serious or harmful side effects on your health.

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Dieting Basics

If you are setting out to diet, there is a fairly good chance that your diet will fail. That is the first basic rule of dieting. You need to find out why your diet failed and fix it. That is the second basic rule. Follow some basic rules of dieting and you will succeed.

Make sure your diet is safe. If you are losing a large amount of weight, you should consult your physician. He may have guidelines that he wants you to follow and he may want to monitor your progress.

If you are taking a diet supplement or a special diet program (such as Adkins) make sure that it is safe. Just because a product can claim that it is natural does not mean that it is safe. Ephedra, which was removed from the market in 2004, was made from natural ingredients.

Cut portions, not meals. If you think you can skip a meal and sustain a diet, you are setting yourself up for a big disappointment. You should change your intake of calories at each meal.

You should substitute healthy food for junk food. Surely there are some fruits that you enjoy. Replace that cookie at lunch with and apple or an orange. Have a banana with breakfast instead of a pastry. Prepare a fruit salad for dessert. Make sure you get plenty of whole grains. And moderate your intake of alcohol. If you are at a social event, alternate between alcoholic drinks and diet drinks or water.

Read labels. Know the calories of everything you eat. Just because something seems healthy does not mean that you are should not moderate your intake. A classic example is juices. Yes, they are healthier than sodas, but they also can contain a lot of calories and such undesirable ingredients as fructose corn syrup.

Work toward a permanent goal. Even if you are losing weight for a special event, you should maintain the good habits that helped you lose the weight to begin with. Do not fall back on bad habits. Once you switch to healthy meals, there is no reason to return to junk. Include at least some basic exercise in your diet regimen.

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HCG Diet

The HCG Diet has turn out to be a really well-liked diet plan trend within the population. There has been much controversy as to whether the HCG diet is a truly legit and safe method to lose weight. This HCG diet article will just go into the basics with some information to obtain you aquainted.

Diet plan trends, weight reduction diets, low carb diets and fads come and go, as we seek a diet plan strategy, the diet, a method to help us shed undesirable pounds and inches, but a fat loss diet plan like this has no equal.

Diets do not usually work for people with abnormal fat shops because they do not lose the right type of fat although dieting. HCG works at the metabolic level to discharge these shops into the bloodstream to ensure that they can be used as fuel, and this is why a very low calorie diet plan must accompany the HCG dosage.

The initials (HCG) stand for Human Chorionic Gonadotropin, which is really a hormone produced in large amounts by pregnant ladies to control metabolic functions.

HCG will decrease your craving for food and metabolize stored fat. You will not expertise irritability, headaches, weakness or any hunger pains as with other low calorie diets, but you will lose abnormal fat, reshape your body and look the way youre supposed to.

It works, regardless of regardless of whether you exercise or not!

Youll not lose muscle mass or retain your extra large skin, as the reshaping will also shrink double chins and chicken necks.

The original HCG diet plan protocol involved a low calorie diet and a series of HCG diet plan injections.

There has been an excellent deal of controversy as to whether its greatest administered by injection or by mouth. However, oral HCG (under the tongue) mimics the injection and either way youre ingesting the same hormone.

A word of warning:

There are no recognized HCG diet plan dangers or HCG negative effects, but there are various types and you ought to be aware that homeopathic HCG is not the very best choice to create!

This type is widely available over the web and often low-cost, but the problems lies in that it hardly ever contains any HCG hormone at all.

Losing weight has never before been this simple and this fat loss diet has no equal.

Needless to say there will probably be skeptics who will inform you that it is harmful or doesnt work, but theyre not worth listening to, as this method has much more than fifty years of study behind it.

If you want to learn much more about the HCG diet, why not take a appear at our HCG diet plan blog or join a HCG diet plan forum where you can find resources, information, diet suggestions, the newest news and some tempting HCG diet plan recipes.

HCG Diet Drops

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Diet Vs Diet

Americans spend tens of billions of dollars a year in their quest for losing weight, and getting fit. As I've said before, there are a number of different approaches to dieting, and a number of these approaches will produce results. The key is in finding an approach that works for YOU, and one you can be CONSISTENT with.

Listed here, for you, are some of the most popular diets available today, some information about them, and the results of some studies done by some of the top universities in the country. The studies followed groups of people following one of the specific diets listed, and compared the weight loss results of each group of dieters after extended periods of time. So which diet will shed the most pounds after a year? Keep on reading to find out...the results may surprise you!

The Diets:

Atkins Diet (low carb)
A high protein diet, encourages some form of meat at every meal, and restricts carbohydrates.
Calorie Breakdown:
20% Carbs
30% Protein
50% Fat

Weight Watchers (low fat)
Emphasizes portion control. Encourages grains, fruits, vegetables, and modest servings of meat.
Calorie Breakdown:
50% Carbs
20% Protein
30% Fat

Zone Diet
40/30/30 ratio theoretically stabilizes hormones that trigger hunger and weight gain.
Calorie Breakdown:
40% Carbs
30% Protein
30% Fat

Mediterranean Diet
Prescribes grains, vegetables, and sources of healthy fats such as olive oil and nuts.
Calorie Breakdown:
45% Carbs
20% Protein
35% Fat

Ornish Diet (Low fat vegetarian)
Recommends eliminating nuts, meat, and fish.
Calorie Breakdown:
70% Carbs
20%Protein
10% Fat

THE RESULTS:

Low Carb vs. Low Fat vs. Mediterranean

Pounds lost at six months: Low carb 14 lbs, WW 10lbs, Mediterranean 10 lbs

Final loss (two years): Low carb 12 lbs, WW 7 lbs, Mediterranean 10 lbs

Low Carb vs. Low Fat vs. Zone vs. Ornish

Pounds lost at six months: Low carb 14 lbs, WW 9 lbs, Zone 6 lbs, Ornish 6 lbs

Final loss (one year): Low carb 10, WW 6 lbs, Zone 4 lbs, Ornish 5 lbs

Low Fat vs. Exercise

Pounds lost at six weeks: WW 6 lbs, Exercise 2 lbs

Final loss (three months): WW 9 lbs, Exercise 3 lbs

So what does this mean for you?

Well, by looking at the numbers, you can see that all of the diets produced results. And, with the exception of the subjects following the Mediterranean diet, the dieters tended to gain some of the weight they had lost back over the long term. This is most likely because they failed to follow the diet as strictly over time as they had in the beginning.

This is a problem most dieters have with most diets...consistency. Everyone charges out of the gate ready to cut down on carbs, fat, or to consume the magic ratio, only to find that after a period of time this way of eating is something they can't maintain over the long term. It's not a change they're willing to make with the rest of their life.

My advice to you is the same as always...choose something that's right for YOU. Choose foods you like, eliminate the refined ones, and consume in MODERATION in combination with EXERCISE. The above diets work because they control the amount, and in most cases, the type of food being eaten. As should be evident from the results, the control part is much more important than the type of food being eaten.

So take control of what you eat. If one of theses diets works for you, then GREAT! Pick it, and stick with it. If none of them float your boat, no problem. Choose the foods that work for you, control how much you eat, and be consistent. Combine your efforts with some exercise, commit to sticking with it for at least a year, and watch what happens.

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Weight Loss With Crash Dieting

Crash diets are becoming very popular nowadays because it helps to reduce fat in the fastest possible way. It has caught the imagination of many people in today's fast world where you can lose weight and reach your desired one in minimum amount of time. People feel that they can reach the desired weight by sacrificing their favorite junk foods only for a few days. But this concept is absolutely wrong as it offers very temporary effects.

After following crash dieting for sometime people become very happy with the visible fast weight loss, but they fail to understand that they will regain the lost weight as soon as they go back to their normal diet.
During the course of crash dieting there is a starvation mode in the body and the protein in the muscles becomes the main source of energy and as a result, the weight loss which is being incurred is a very unhealthy one and the body loses the muscle mass and the rate of metabolism becomes very slow due to the small amount of calories that is being consumed. It is because of this slow metabolism that your body will start putting in more weight at a much faster speed.

More over, once you start your normal eating habit after crash dieting the body starts storing more fat in anticipation of another severe starving condition.

Thus crash dieting will make you hungrier and your weight loss effort will become a meaningless one. So the best way to lose weight is to follow the healthy natural procedure with regular exercising.

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Dangers Associated With Crash Dieting

Anyone who looks for long term results from dieting will not choose a crash diet to achieve results like losing weight etc. A crash diet will give you results for sure, in a shorter time period. However, your body will again start gaining weight and you will be left only with memories of the time when you lost your weight.

A crash diet does not lower the fat from your body. Instead what you lose by following a crash diet is the water. These types of diets restrict your carbohydrates intake to very lower levels. This in turn lowers down the level of glycogen and water in your body. The fat remains untouched and after a while when you will increase the intake of carbohydrates, you will again gain more weight.

Also, these diets are often very restrictive. Sometimes, they cut down a particular component of food to 100%. The thing is that your body needs a balanced diet and if you cut the intake of a particular nutrient then it will be harmful for your body. For example, if a crash diet makes you to avoid fat totally, then your body will develop a system that will store more fat than normal. It will slow down the metabolism of your body, and you will gain more weight due to this.

Crash diets may be very dangerous for the vital parts of your body. They make you lose the lean tissue present around liver, kidneys, brain and heart. If you will starve yourself by following such a diet, your body will break off the muscle tissues, to provide you with sufficient energy.

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Foods that improve emotional health

Studies have shown that there is a connection between the food we consume and our emotional health. Nearly every vitamin deficiency can lead to several unpleasant psychological symptoms.

One of the most critical deficiencies is vitamin B deficiency, which can cause agitation, anxiety , irritability and mental lethargy. If the deficiency is left untreated, it can further lead to depression and even dementia.

Vitamin B can be found in a variety of foods, such as raw banana, chicken breast, ready-to-eat cereal, instant oatmeal, lean cooked roast beef.

Vitamin C deficiency can cause tiredness, irritability and even depression. Steamed broccoli, boiled cauliflower, strawberries, fresh orange, lemon and grapefruit juice and slices of red, bell peppers, are excellent food sources of Vitamin C.

What to avoid

There are foods that have negative effects on our emotional health, so we should avoid consuming regularly large amounts of them. Some of the most important ones are the following:

Red meat

Red meat contains large amounts of neurotransmitters, which are created by the fear and pain of the dying animal so it is considered to be highly toxic. It is wise to be consumed with moderation, or even better, replaced with white meat.

Pre-packaged salami

Pre-packaged salami contains lots of nitrates as well as several other preservatives which can cause mood swings, from irritability and melancholy to depression. Replace it with fresh, lean ham.

Packaged fruit snacks

These are not actually fruit snacks, but products full of sugar and chemical agents which are doomed to bring you down within an hour.

Not drinking enough water

Not drinking enough water leaves you dehydrated which leads to lack of energy and eventually to blue moods. Drinking at least 8 glasses of water on a daily basis will help you remain active and energetic throughout the day.

Useful tips

There are some foods you can eat in order to boost your energy levels and help you feel positive during the day, such as:

Eating almonds

Almonds are rich in vitamin B, magnesium and zinc, and even though they are also rich in fat, that particular kind of fat is unsaturated for the most part. Try crunching out a handful of almonds every time you want to get some of your aggression out.

Eating blueberries

Blueberries are high in antioxidants and in fibers while low in calories at the same time. The most important thing is that they are also rich in vitamin C, which is well known for its anti stress benefits.

Eating tuna

Tuna, besides being a low- fat protein source, is also high in vitamin B, which like vitamin C, is well known for its anti stress benefits.

Cottage cheese and fruits

Cottage cheese and fruits is an ideal snack. Cottage cheese is rich in protein without much sugar, and as a result there is no risk of blood sugar rising suddenly, leading to the increase of the appetite and agitation. Fruits on the other hand are rich in vitamin C, and its anti stress benefits. The combination of the two is perfect.

Make it a habit to follow those basic steps on a daily basis. Before you know it, they will become a part of your life.

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Low Carb Breakfast Ideas

If you just started your low carb diet and are stuck for ideas on what to eat for breakfast or just want to try something new, here are some easy-to-prepare breakfast suggestions for you. It is important to plan your meals, so you don't end up making bad choices because you are hungry and in a hurry. Just because your meals are low in carbs, doesn't mean they have to be boring. It is a good idea to find some meals you like and always keep the ingredients for them at home.

Quick breakfast ideas

1) Eggs
You can eat eggs in a variety of ways. The most known way of serving eggs on a low carb diet is probably eggs with bacon, but eggs are so much more than that. You can make omelettes, scrambled eggs and boiled eggs just to name a few. I have a cook book with over 100 egg recipes, they are not all low in carbohydrates, but most can be modified.

2) Smoothies
You can make a variety of low carb smoothies. Common ingredients are eggs, protein powder, Greek yoghurt, heavy cream, cooking oils, frozen berries, nuts and low carb sweeteners.

3) Low carb bread
There are thousands of low carb bread recipes to choose from. You can start by taking a look here at ezinearticles, but be aware that just because someone claim a recipe is low in carbohydrates, it may not be. If you are a new low carber and don't yet have a feel for how many carbs are in a recipe, you must do your homework and count the carbs.

I would say breakfast is the most important meal of the day, because if you don't start your day right, it often follows through the day and you will end up getting starved and eating too much later that day. However, claiming that breakfast is the most important meal, in my experience doesn't mean eating breakfast the minute you open your eyes, but getting off to a good start always helps. I recommend eating breakfast when you get hungry.

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Low Carb Diet Help

Baffled over good carbs and bad carbs?

People who don't see carbohydrates into perspective need all of the low carb diet help they can get, whether in the form of nutrition tips from reliable broadcast literature or online sites, or straight from their medical specialists/nutritionists.

While some individuals may tend to shrug off all the talk about carbs, at the end of the day, getting low carb diet help and clarification from trusted sources is certain to be very useful. 'Bad carbs,' also called easy sugars, make up the refined sugars that give people empty calories. Simple carbs happen naturally in some vegetables and dairy products.

In contrast,'good carbs' or complex carbohydrates include oatmal and grain products ( that might be refined and hence, had their nutrients and fiber removed, or unrefined ), beans and other veggies, and certain fruits. It would be absurd, indeed, to decline healthy, beneficial foods like whole grains, plants and fruits in favor of a delicious burger & potato fries loaded with saturated and trans fats, to be downed by a soda. Then again, fad diets and fastfood continue to hold special attraction for most.

In getting low carb diet help and info, the health-oriented is also bound to stumble across varied medical opinion, like the finding that a low carb diet may lead to greater weight loss than the supposed low fat diet. Professionals point out, though, that what really accounts for the heavy weight loss isn't really the diet type, but more the reduced calories. In association with this, it has to be observed that not all low carb foods have decreased calories.

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5 Tips on Getting Rid of Acne

There are many different causes for acne. The complication is not in knowing why acne occurs, it is identifying the ultimate cause for each person that has it and then figuring out the appropriate treatment for the condition. There is some good news in light of all of this. That is that there are some basic acne treatments that everyone can experiment with when it comes to getting rid of acne. Here, I will share with you the most common 5 tips on getting rid of acne.

1.

One of the first ways that you can be successful in getting rid of acne is to engage in a diet that benefits the skin, as well as your health in general. Organic foods have recently started to gain in popularity and for a very good reason. These particular foods are not processed. Furthermore, when these foods are cultivated, harmful chemicals that can prove to be toxic to your overall health, as well as the health of your skin are not used.

Examples of these toxins include herbicides, pesticides, and similar items. If you want to recover from acne, you should ensure to eat plenty of foods that are labeled Organic. Naturally, consuming a lot of foods that are green and leafy in the vegetable category is appropriate. Furthermore, fruits and nuts are also beneficial. It is also important to consume items that contain a fair amount of water.

2.

The second way that you can get rid of acne is by ensuring that you consume ten to twelve glasses of water a day. Each of these glasses should be at least eight ounces. I know this seems like quite a bit of water, but it is a key element when it comes to purifying the body on the whole. The more water that moves through your body, the more clean and pure the inside of the body will be.

When this happens, that purification will actually spread to the outside, or the skin. This means that when impurities invade the pores of the skin, it is highly likely that the water that you have consumed will play a vital role in quickly eliminating this obstruction. As a result, you will experience fewer blemishes.

3.

Did you know that by increasing the amount of vitamins that you ingest, you can reduce the possibility of an acne outbreak? This is the next way that you can work on getting rid of acne. All you have to do is focus on eating foods that have high levels of vitamins A, B12, B, E, B5, & B6. If you find that it is difficult sorting through the ingredients on everything that you eat or drink in order to maximize your exposure to these vitamins, you can purchase supplements.

Many elect to simply take a multivitamin every single day. Then, there are some that purchase each of these vitamins and then rotate days on taking them. However, you decide to do it, it is important to just do it! You are sure to see immediate results when it comes to how clean and healthy your skin is!

4.

When it comes to getting rid of acne, many individuals are turning towards natural herbs. There are a number of herbs that have been found to assist in acne complications. Red Clover is an especially popular herb because of the fact that it works to purify the blood and remove toxins from the body. Then, you have other herbal remedies such as Dandelion Root, and Alfalfa. There are even Chinese Herbs like Yang Ming and Lung Heat that can prove to be beneficial.

5.

If you have a severe case of acne, and nothing else that you have tried is successful when getting rid of it, you should consider setting up an appointment with a dermatologist. These professionals will work closely with you to determine your triggers, skin type, and what will be the best treatment option for you as an individual.

Conclusion

Acne is a complex skin condition that has plagued millions and millions of people all throughout history. There are many different ways that you can approach this situation. While not all are successful for everyone, there are a few out there that can help you optimize the health of your skin. Here, you have been introduced to 5 tips on getting rid of acne give them a try!

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5 Acne Treatment Tips You Can Use Today

Luckily, there are a number of things you can do everyday to make sure your skin is less prone to flare ups. Here are five tips for taking control of your acne starting today.

1. Exercise - Keeping in shape can help fight acne by fighting off negative stress levels that can come from negative self-esteem and depression. However, some safeguards need to be in place to ward off acne that can result from your workout routines. Watch what you put on your body with regards to clothing, sports gear and equipment.

For example, tight lycra and nylon exercise outfits might look great in the movies and on magazine models, but if you are susceptible to acne problems, avoid these synthetic fabrics that tend to trap in body moisture and heat resulting in a bacteria frenzy. Instead, choose loose clothing made of cotton or natural blends to allow more air to get to your skin.

And when you are finished with your workout, get out of clothing wet from perspiration or water sports. Shower and change into dry, clean clothing. And keep your sports gear and equipment clean, too. Dirty headgear, for instance, can irritate forehead areas prone to acne problems. So toss headbands into the washing machine after workout sessions.

2. Cosmetics - To avoid pore-clogging and skin irritations that are similar to acne and that can contribute to acne, use products labeled noncomedogenic or oil-free. Shimmering facial colors can contain a flaky mineral called mica that can cause skin irritations and clog pores. Other additives in coloring that can cause similar reactions are coal tar derivatives, carmine and heavy cream in blushes.

More preventative measures include using a lip gloss that promotes a matte finish instead of a high gloss for less pore-clogging; note the more the shine, the more then comedogenic content and the more the pores can clog. Beware that eye creams can contain heavier concentrations of moisturizers than regular creams and lotions, meaning they have greater potential to clog pores in the surrounding facial areas.

3. Diet - Studies show that diet does not play a role in either the cause or the treatment of acne. However, what is recommended for acne preventative care is this: what is best for your body is best for your skin, especially since your skin is the largest organ of your body. So remember to watch your diet and consume healthy vitamins, minerals and other supplements. This will help to prevent and help conquer acne breakout.

4. Hygiene - A healthy skin regimen should include no harsh scrubbing or over-washing, because this can cause possible skin irritation or possible over production of oil to replace what has washed off, clogging pores in the process. Products with gentle exfoliation ingredients are OK to use; i.e. not scratchy nut or fruit shell pieces that can tear skin. And skip alcohol products when possible; these can take off the top layer of your skin and cause your glands to product more oil, clogging pores in the process.

If you do spot acne-troubled areas, do NOT mess with them. Remember that these are already weeks in the making, and squeezing or picking blemishes can force the infected area to regress back inside, further troubling the region and possibly leave a scar. If necessary, seek help from a dermatologist for alternative treatments.

5. Shaving - Shaving for both genders is actually an excellent way of exfoliating or removing dead skin to help with the prevention and spreading of acne instead of leaving the remains to clog pores. And for some light acne cases already in process, shaving can help rid whiteheads and blackheads from the face. A word of caution: for areas with infection or high inflammatory activity (redness, sensitive, open acne, sores, etc.), do not shave. Or at the very least, use a shaving cream for sensitive skin!

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sign of acid reflux

Heartburn-the principal sign of acid reflux disease, causes and cares

Acid reflux disease is a product of the failure of the esophageal sphincter to function properly. Because of abnormal acid production, digestive processes are affected and causes burning sensations in the stomach, chest and even up to the esophagus. Too low acid production causes the valve in the stomach not to open. So the tendency of the stomach acids is to rise up and inflame the esophagus. On the other hand, too much acid production follows the same case.

There are many factors that can be deemed responsible for acid reflux disease. One of which is the use of too much salt. Aside from alcohol, caffeine and smoking which all add to the risk of acid reflux, salt is unexpectedly concluded to cause and aggravate the disease. This finding is in accordance to the studies of researchers from Sweden. They found out from the lifestyle of their samplings that extra table salt increases the risk of having acid reflux disease up to 70%. This is alarming because it is implied that extra table salt can harm more that alcohol and caffeine. A related study conducted by Dr. Roshini Rajapaksa of New York University Medical Center attested the same results on the risks of too much table salt.

Countless individuals who suffer from acid reflux disease also suffer the discomfort and pains of its symptoms. The principal sign of acid reflux disease is persistent heartburn. Seldom heartburn experienced by most people may not lead to an acid reflux problem but a regular occurrence of up to thrice a week calls for proper attention already. In some cases, there are individuals who do not suffer from heartburn although they have acid reflux disease.

Heartburn is usually experienced after eating a heavy meal or when bending or lying down. The symptom is characterized by the burning sensation that originates from the upper abdomen and to the back of the breastbone. Then a burning sensation is felt in the chest. As time passes by, the pain travels up to the throat until you experience a sour taste in your mouth. The pain radiates all throughout the back that you become uneasy and unable to do things.

Some of the other signs of acid reflux disease are regular hoarseness especially in the morning, finding a hard time swallowing, choking sensation where the food seems to be stuck in the throat, constant dry cough with unknown cause and bad breath. These are just some of the symptoms that the person inflicted by acid reflux disease can notice on himself.

These symptoms, nevertheless, can be treated depending upon the frequency and the level of pain. Particularly, heartburn may need greater attention because it could be more than the pains it caused you. Further tests should be undergone to point out the real root and the length of damages that the heartburn had gone. Only the doctor can prescribe you the medications that will reduce an acute heartburn.

Healthy habits such as proper diet and exercise should also be developed in your everyday system so as to avoid the symptoms and totally cure the acid reflux disease. And bad habits such as smoking and drinking alcohol and caffeine beverages should also be avoided or minimized. This is the natural way of treating any disease.

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