Eye Care

"Oh, something is wrong with my eye!" We have all said this at some time. How uncomfortable it can be! Fortunately, many common eye (ocular) disorders disappear without treatment or can be managed by self-treating. Various products -- from artificial tears and ointments to ocular decongestants -- are available over the counter (OTC). These products can help with dryness, itching, or excessive watering of the eye. However, a word of caution: In some instances, what may seem like a minor eye problem may lead to a severe, potentially blinding condition.

Many safe and effective OTC products for mild eye disorders are available for self-treatment. Two important factors to remember when considering self-treatment are: (1) if the problem appears to involve the eyeball itself, you should consult a physician immediately; and (2) if you use an OTC eye-care product for 72 hours without improvement of the condition being treated or the condition worsens, you also should see a doctor immediately. If blurring of vision or visual loss is one of your symptoms, see an ophthalmologist (MD) immediately.

To self-treat common ocular disorders with OTC eye-care products, viewers should understand: (1) the structure of the eye; (2) the cause of the disorder; (3) which disorders are safe to self-treat and which should be referred to a physician; (4) the types of OTC eye-care products that are available and the disorders in which they are useful.

What is the structure of the eye?

The eyes are complex sensory organs. About 85% of the total sensory input to our brains originates from our sense of sight, while the other 15% comes from the other four senses of hearing, smell, touch, and taste. The eyes are designed to optimize vision under conditions of varying light. Their location, on the outside of the face, makes them susceptible to trauma, environmental chemicals and particles, and infectious agents. The eyelids and the position of the eye within the bony orbital cavity are the major protective mechanism for the eye.

The eye itself has the shape of a sphere measuring about 1 inch in diameter. It consists of a clear, transparent dome at the front (the cornea) that is surrounded by the white of the eyeball (the sclera). The iris of the eye is the circular, colored portion within the eye, and behind the cornea, and the pupil is the central opening within the iris. Behind the iris and pupil is the eye's lens. The space behind the back of the cornea and the front of the lens is called the anterior chamber and is filled with the aqueous fluid. Behind the lens is a large space that is filled by the transparent vitreous gel. The inside of the back of the eye is lined by the retina, the thin, light-sensitive tissue that changes light images to electrical signals via a chemical reaction. These electrical signals generated by the retina are sent to our brain through the optic nerve. Our brain interprets what our eyes see.

The inner sides of the eyelids, which touch the front surface of surface of the eye, are covered by a thin membrane (the palpebral conjunctiva) that produces mucus to lubricate the eye. This thin membrane folds back on itself and covers the visible sclera of the eyeball. (This continuation of the palpebral conjunctiva is called the bulbar conjunctiva.) Natural oil for the tears is produced by tiny glands located at the edges of the eyelids, providing additional lubrication for the eye. The main component of tears are formed by the lacrimal gland located under the upper lid at the outer corner of the eye. The tears are composed of a combination of the substances produced by the lacrimal gland, the oil glands, and the mucus glands. Tears flow toward the nasal side of the eye and drain into the lacrimal sac in the area between the eye and the side of the nose.

How Is TB Disease Treated?

There is good news for people with TB disease! TB disease can almost always be cured with medicine. But the medicine must be taken as the doctor or nurse tells you. The most common drugs used to fight TB are:
* isoniazid (INH)
* rifampin or rifabutin or rifapentine
* pyrazinamide
If you have TB disease, you will need to take several different drugs. This is because there are many bacteria to be killed. Taking several drugs will do a better job of killing all of the bacteria and preventing them from becoming resistant to the drugs.
If you have TB of the lungs or throat, you are probably infectious. You need to stay home from work or school so that you don't spread TB bacteria to other people. After taking your medicine for a few weeks, you will feel better and you may no longer be infectious to others. Your doctor or nurse will tell you when you can return to work or school.
Having TB should not stop you from leading a normal life. When you are no longer infectious or feeling sick, you can do the same things you did before you had TB. The medicine that you are taking should not affect your strength, sexual function, or ability to work. If you take your medicine as your doctor or nurse tells you, the medicine will kill all the TB bacteria. This will keep you from becoming sick again.

How Is TB Spread?

TB is spread through the air from one person to another. The bacteria are put into the air when a person with TB disease of the lungs or throat coughs or sneezes. Laughing, singing, or playing brass or woodwind instruments can also spread the germs in an enclosed space. People nearby may breathe in these bacteria and become infected.
When a person breathes in TB bacteria, the bacteria can settle in the lungs and begin to grow. From there, they move through the blood to other parts of the body, such as the kidney, spine, and brain.
TB in the lungs or throat can be infectious. This means that the bacteria can be spread to other people. TB in other parts of the body, such as the kidney or spine, is usually not infectious.
People with TB disease are most likely to spread it to people they spend time with every day. This includes family members, friends, and coworkers.

what is TB

TB, or tuberculosis, is a disease caused by bacteria calledMycobacterium tuberculosis. The bacteria can attack any part of your body, but they usually attack the lungs. TB disease was once the leading cause of death in the United States.
In the 1940s, scientists discovered the first of several drugs now used to treat TB. As a result, TB slowly began to disappear in the United States. But TB has come back. After 1984, the number of TB cases reported in the United States began to increase. More than 25,000 cases were reported in 1993. But since then the number has steadily declined to about 14,500 cases in 2004.
TB is spread through the air from one person to another. The bacteria are put into the air when a person with TB disease of the lungs or throat coughs or sneezes. People nearby may breathe in these bacteria and become infected.
People who are infected with TB do not feel sick, do not have any symptoms, and cannot spread TB. But they may develop TB disease at some time in the future. People with TB disease can be treated and cured if they seek medical help. Even better, people who have Latent TB Infection(LTBI) but are not yet sick can take medicine so that they will never develop TB disease.

This short guide answers common questions about TB. Please ask your doctor or nurse if you have other questions about TB infection or TB disease.

What Is Cough?

A cough is a natural reflex that protects your lungs. Coughing helps clear your airways of lung irritants, such as smoke and mucus (a slimy substance). This helps prevent infections. A cough also can be a symptom of a medical problem.
Prolonged coughing can cause unpleasant side effects, such as chest pain, exhaustion, light-headedness, and loss of bladder control. Coughing also can interfere with sleep, socializing, and work.

Overview

Coughing occurs when the nerve endings in your airways become irritated. The airways are tubes that carry air into and out of your lungs. Certain substances (such as smoke and pollen), medical conditions, and medicines can irritate these nerve endings.
A cough can be acute, subacute, or chronic, depending on how long it lasts.
An acute cough lasts less than 3 weeks. Common causes of an acute cough are a common cold or other upper respiratory (RES-pi-rah-tor-e) infections. Examples of other upper respiratory infections include the flu, pneumonia (nu-MO-ne-ah), and whooping cough.
A subacute cough lasts 3 to 8 weeks. This type of cough remains even after a cold or other respiratory infection is over.
A chronic cough lasts more than 8 weeks. Common causes of a chronic cough are upper airway cough syndrome (UACS); asthma; and gastroesophageal (GAS-tro-eh-so-fa-JE-al) reflux disease, or GERD.
"UACS" is a term used to describe conditions that inflame the upper airways and cause a cough. Examples include sinus infections and allergies. These conditions can cause mucus to run down your throat from the back of your nose. This is called postnasal drip.

Asthma is a long-term lung disease that inflames and narrows the airways. GERD occurs if acid from your stomach backs up into your throat.

Outlook

The best way to treat a cough is to treat its cause. For example, asthma is treated with medicines that open the airways.
Your doctor may recommend cough medicine if the cause of your cough is unknown and the cough causes a lot of discomfort. Cough medicines may harm children. If your child has a cough, talk with his or her doctor about how to treat it.

The Importance of EXERCISE

Most people do not recognize the importance of exercise. This is evidenced in a host of ways. Are yougetting enough of the right kind of exercise?

The average American watches three and a half hours of television every day. That adds up to 56 days of channel surfing per year. By the age of 65, over nine years will have been spent in front of the small screen!

Nearly one-third of children ages 4 to 19 eat fast food every day, and over 15% in that age group are obese. In order to become slim, thousands of U.S. teens become bulimic or anorexic, or undergo a procedure known as gastric bypass.In addition, from 1991 to 1999, participation in physical education (P.E.) in schools dropped from 42 percent to 29 percent. Since it is not a required part of the curriculum in most schools, kids basically opt not to be involved. (In only one state in the U.S. is P.E. a mandatory part of the curriculum.)

Also known as “obesity surgery,” this procedure involves getting their stomach stapled in order to restrict the food intake. As a result, they eat less and lose weight. Yet, a host of other problems develop.

One such problem involves deterioration of the stomach lining. Also, the staples sometimes come apart, causing tears and leaks. And, due to the stomach’s poor absorption, nutrient deficiencies can occur. Is this the only way in which overweight, out-of-shape people can become healthy? Is there any alternative? Yes! And that alternative is exercise!

Becoming Strong and Healthy

Many factors contribute to the degradation of health in teens today. You live in a terribly polluted world. The atmosphere, water supply, and—unless everything you eat is totally organic—food supply are all contaminated. You are bombarded by fast food at every corner. And video games have led the majority of teens to spend countless hours in front of the television being sedentary. And, as a result of all of this, there exists a generation that is out-of-shape, overweight and obese.

But there is hope. The wonderful tool of exercise can help teens become fit and healthy. Performing some form of physical activity daily will significantly boost your “basal metabolic rate”—the number of calories your body burns in order to keep you alive. By having a high metabolism, you burn calories 24 hours a day—even while you sleep! You can literally turn your body into a fat-burning machine!

This has many benefits: With a strong metabolism comes a strong immune system. When you burn fat, the toxins are released into the bloodstream, and are quickly carried out of the body through sweat. This inoculates you against the probability of developing cancerous and diseased cells. Therefore, hard exercise—that makes you sweat—is very good for you.

Exercise also helps to regulate the amount of insulin released into the bloodstream. Insulin is commonly referred to as “the fat-making hormone.” Its job is to metabolize blood sugar into energy. But too much insulin in the bloodstream keeps your body from burning stored fat. Years of an overworked pancreas—the organ that produces insulin—can lead to “onset (type 2) diabetes.” However, if you use—burn—more calories than you consume, you significantly reduce the chances of developing this disease.

Exercise can also help control other problems, such as: Sleep apnea, moodiness, stress, decreased energy, cardiovascular disease, high cholesterol and others. There are too many benefits to list here. But be assured that this tool can help you become a fit, stronger, disease-free, and overall healthier person.

“What Type of Exercise Should I Do?”

The main goal of aerobic exercise is to keep the heart elevated for an extended period of time for the purpose of strengthening the heart and lungs. The most common aerobic exercise is walking. It is easy to do. You have been doing it since you were a toddler. By now, you are a “pro” at it. Increase the pace, and walking turns into an aerobic exercise. But, if you are more advanced or are easily bored, then you can move on to jogging or running.

Running is the quickest way to lose weight, because it burns many calories. It also tones your calves and thighs. However, to avoid extreme muscle aches or injuries, do not begin a running routine until you have performed two to three months of aerobic walking.

Other aerobic exercises could include: Bicycling, hiking, basketball, swimming, golf, tennis, etc. Aerobic exercise should be done a minimum of 3 days a week, but 5 to 6 is recommended. The important thing is to pick something that interests you. If you like what you are doing, you will be more likely to stick with it.

Proverbs 20:29 states, “The glory of young men is their strength.” Therefore, strength training—also known as toning and weight lifting—is also a very good exercise. Through moderate toning, you gain muscle definition and increased bone mass, which helps to prevent diseases such as osteoporosis.

Interestingly, every extra pound of muscle that you have burns 50 calories a day just to maintain its mass. So, if you gain five pounds of muscle, then an extra 250 calories per day is burned! (3,500 calories equal one pound of fat.)

The easiest way to implement a strength training program is to use your own weight as resistance. For example, push-ups are great for strengthening the chest muscles. Yet simultaneously, they strengthen your upper back, biceps, triceps and shoulders. However, strength training should be done no more than three times a week. You should pick one exercise for each body part. Never train the same body part two days in a row, or you will overwork the muscle, possibly causing injury.

Time to Take Action

By now, you may be thinking, “I’ve tried all of this, but nothing worked.” Seriously and honestly think for a moment. Did you really try? Were you diligent in your pursuit? Did you try as hard as you could? Were you driven to SUCCEED? Your answer to these questions will tell you a lot about why you did not succeed.

In The Laws to Success, Mr. Pack shows that without good health, it is very difficult—if not impossible—to succeed in life. The way to succeed in anything is by exercising your will. Employ the laws of success. Anything of value takes time and effort.

First, you must increase your motivation. You can do this by thinking about the benefits of exercising every day. Nothing can stop the person who is driven to succeed.

Next, you must resolve to begin exercising, and then DO IT! Don’t put it off until tomorrow, because tomorrow will never come. Make it a habit of visualizing yourself as fit and healthy—and make it happen.

And finally, you must be diligent and persevere. This is called “stick-to-it-iveness.” Once you start, you must never stop. Determine to keep going, regardless of outside circumstances.

Ear Pain Relief - Quick and Easy

There are pains that can stop you from your daily activity and having a good time at life like you normally do. When you have ear pain, it can keep you up at night with excruciating pain. This will make you frustrated and restless. What you need is ear pain relief quickly. Ear pain can cause headache pain at the same time. You must make sure that you take care of the earache pain because it can affect the hearing if not treated. Here are some suggestions and tips that will help provide quick and fast ear ache pain relief.

Some Causes of Ear Infection Pain Relief

Some of the common causes of ear ache pain are:

Swimming - when you swim without ear plugs and this allows the water to enter your ear canal. There are different bacteria in the pool from all the other users of the pool. This water get into you ear and causes ear infection and you will need ear pain relief.

Common cold - this can cause pressure to build up in the ears, causing ear ache pain relief.

Injured part of the body that is related to the ear, like a tooth ache, can cause headache pain.Each of the different ear pain has different types of pain relief. But there are some things that you can do to get relief from many different types of instances. This will help you get a good nights rest.

The Different Types of Ear Pain Relief

When you or someone in the family is suffering from ear ache pain, try to sleep with the bad ear facing up. Sometimes you think that sleeping on the painful ear will help, but in fact it doesn't.There are pain killers that you can take to help with ear pain relief. These pain killers contain acetaminophen like Tylenol or Ibuprofen can help with the headache pain relief. You need to be careful on how much you take as they can cause stomach problems.You can also find antiseptic eardrops. These eardrops will provide fast and efficient ear ache pain relief. Use them according to the instructions on the box.There is also warm compresses, like a hand towel that can be applied to the hurt ear for quick ear pain relief.If you don't have any medicated eardrops available to use, here is a household remedy. Warm up some garlic, vegetable or olive oil and put a couple of drops in the infected ear for ear pain relief. You need to make sure that the oil is warm and not hot. If the oil is hot, you can cause permanent damage, such as affecting your hearing.

There is an easy way for you to check to see if the oil is warm or hot. Apply a drop on your inner arm to see if it is okay to administer in your ear infection for fast pain relief.

What you Need to Know

If you have any liquid such as puss coming out of the hurt ear, do not apply any drops or oil in the ear. Instead see you doctor immediately. When there is puss you have an ear infection and you need antibiotics. You can still use the warm compresses to get through the nigh for temporary ear ache pain relief.If your ear is swollen, and you are not getting any ear pain relief in 24 hour from the above medication, you need to see the doctor so you can get ear pain relief.

What is Flu and What is Influenza

Influenza, or flu, is a respiratory illness that is caused by a virus. Flu is highly contagious and is usually spread by the coughs and sneezes of a person who is infected. You can also catch flu from an infected person if you touch them (e.g. shaking hands). Adults are contagious one day before getting symptoms and up to 7 days after becoming ill. This means that you can spread the influenza virus before you even know you are infected. A flu epidemic, when a large number of people in one country are infected with flu, can last several weeks.

What are the symptoms of flu?

It is common to confuse flu with a bad cold. Flu and cold symptoms may include a runny/blocked nose, sore throat, and cough. Here are some symptoms which a person with flu will have. These are not common heavy cold symptoms:

• high temperature
• cold sweats, shivers
• headache
• aching joints, aching limbs
• fatigue, feeling utterly exhausted
• gastro-intestinal symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, are much more common among children than adults

These symptoms may linger for about a week. The feeling of tiredness and gloom can continue for several weeks.
How serious is flu?


In the majority of cases flu is not serious - it is just unpleasant. For some people, however, there can be severe complications. This is more likely if you are elderly or have some other longstanding illness that can undermine your immune system. Your risk of experiencing severe flu complications is higher if:

• you are over 65
• you are a baby or a very young child
• you are pregnant
• you have some kind of heart or cardiovascular disease
• you have a chest problem, such as asthma or bronchitis
• you have a kidney disease
• you suffer from diabetes
• you are taking steroids
• you are undergoing treatment for cancer
• you have any longstanding disease that can significantly lower your immune system

Some of the complications caused by influenza may include bacterial pneumonia,dehydration, and worsening of chronic medical conditions, such as congestive heart failure, asthma, or diabetes. Children may get sinus problems and ear infections.

What should I do if I have flu?

As flu is caused by a virus, antibiotics won't do any good, unless the flu has led to another illness. Some of the symptoms, such as headache and body pains may be alleviated if you take a painkiller. Some painkillers, such as aspirin, should not be given to children under 12 (Department of Health, United Kingdom). If you have flu you should:

• stay at home
• try to avoid contact with other people
• keep warm and rest
• make sure you consume plenty of liquids
• don't consume alcohol
• if you are a smoker stop smoking or cut your consumption down as much as you can
• try to get some food down (eat what you can)
• if you live alone, tell a relative, friend or neighbor that you have flu. Make sure someone can check in on you and do your shopping

If I have flu should I tell my doctor?

According The Department of Health, UK, you should only contact your doctor if you are frail or elderly, your temperature remains high after four to five days, your symptoms worsen, you think you are seriously ill, you become short of breath, and/or you develop chest pain. A phone call to your doctor if you are worried may be a better solution than making an appointment.

Flu in the USA

In the United States approximately 5% to 20% of the population gets flu, according to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Over 200,000 people are hospitalized from flu complications each year, and about 36,000 people are estimated to die as a result of flu.

Flu in the world

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in annual influenza epidemics 5% to 15% of the world's population become ill with upper respiratory tract infections. Hospitalization and deaths mainly occur in high-risk groups. It is estimated that between one quarter to one half of a million people die each year as a result of flu. In industrialized countries the majority of deaths as a result of flu occur among people over the age of 65 years.

How to prevent flu

Health experts and government agencies throughout the world say that the single best way to protect yourself from catching flu is to get vaccination every year. There are two types of vaccinations, the flu shot and the nasal-spray flu vaccine. The flu shot is administered with a needle, usually in the arm - it is approved for people older than six months, including healthy people and those with chronic medical conditions. The nasal-spray flu vaccine is a vaccine made with live, weakened flu viruses that do not make you ill.

A flu vaccine will contain three influenza viruses - One A (H3N2) virus, one A (H1N2) virus, and one B virus. As viruses adapt and change, so do those contained within the vaccines - what is included in them is based on international surveillance and scientists' calculations about which virus types and strains will circulate in a given year. You are protected about two weeks after receiving the vaccination.

Annual flu vaccinations should start in September or as soon as the vaccine is on hand and continue throughout the flu season, into January, and beyond. This is because the timing and duration of influenza seasons are never the same. Flu outbreaks usually peak at around January, but they can happen as early as October.

The flu vaccine is not suitable for some people

You should check with your doctor before deciding to have the flu vaccine if:

• you have a severe allergy to chicken eggs
• you have had a severe reaction to a flu vaccination
• you developed Guillain-Barré Syndrome within six weeks of receiving a flu vaccine
• you are less than six months old
• you have a fever with a moderate-to-severe illness. You should wait till you recover before being vaccinated
• There are three types of flu viruses
  
  Three types of flu viruses exist - infuenza A, influenza B and influenza C. Types A and B viruses cause seasonal epidemics which hit the USA and Europe virtually every winter. The type C influenza virus causes mild respiratory illness and is not responsible for epidemics.
  
  Two proteins on the surface of influenza A viruses divide it into subtypes - the hemagglutinin (H) and the neuraminidase (N). 16 different hemagglutinin subtypes and 9 different neuraminidase subtypes are known to exist. The current subtypes of influenza A viruses found in people are A (H1N1) and A (H3N2).
  
  There are no B virus subtypes, but there are different influenza B virus strains. 
• 
  

What Is the Flu

What Is the Flu?

Influenza (say: in-floo-en-zah) is also called the flu. It's an infection that causes fever, chills, cough, body aches, headaches, and sometimes earaches orsinus problems. The flu is caused by the influenza virus (say: vy-rus). A virus is a microorganism (say: my-croh-or-gah-nih-zum), which means it's so small that you can't see it without a strong microscope.

One Shot Needed This Year

Last year, there was a lot of talk about the H1N1 (Swine) Flu virus. That’s because it was a new type of flu virus and the regular flu vaccine (say: vak-seen) didn’t include protection from it. That’s why people needed two different flu shots. But this year, the regular flu vaccine has been changed so that it will protect against H1N1.

The vaccine is available as a shot (injected through the skin) or as a spray mist (into the nostrils). Most kids older than 2 can get the spray mist vaccine. Kids younger than age 9 need two doses of the vaccine if they have never had a flu shot or did not get the H1N1 vaccine during the 2009-2010 flu season. Older kids and teens need only one dose.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends the flu vaccine for all people age 6 months and older. If you’re a kid, that means you!

Certain people are at higher risk of complications from the flu, including:

• pregnant women
• children younger than age 5, especially those younger than 2
• people age 65 and older
• people of any age who have long term health conditions

So if you’re a kid who has asthma, diabetes, or another health problem, your doctor will recommend you get a flu shot.
Flu vaccines are usually given in the fall, before flu season starts. Flu season means the months of the year when a lot of people have the flu and it's easy to catch it. It usually starts in November and ends in May.

Fitness Body

What is important to keep in mind, however, is that although a natural consequence of following a CR diet is weight loss, this is NOT a weight loss diet. The purpose of a traditional CR diet is to slow aging and improve your chances for an extended, healthy life. Granted, when your weight is closer to a healthy, ideal weight, your health usually improves, also. But many people who regularly follow a CR diet lifestyle actually have weights that are between 10-25% lower than what may be considered an ‘ideal’ body weight.

Why go on a restricted diet?

The most widely promoted reason for going on a CR diet is to expand your lifespan. Not only do people follow a CR diet to live longer, but to also live healthier, since a CR diet is said to be responsible for reducing the risk of cancer, diabetes and heart disease, just to name a few. We know a CR diet does all this for animals, but does it do the same for humans? Although some people are already imposing this strict regimen upon themselves, it is really too early tell whether CR will have the same effect in humans. However, as long as they are eating an adequate, healthy diet, and don’t allow their weight to drop too low, they may not be doing themselves any harm. For some people, however, such a diet may not be a benefit. Before starting any new diet, be sure to check with your healthcare provider.

An interesting outcropping to following a diet program to promote a longer life is the number of researchers attempting to find that same solution in a pill! Scientists are curious about the physiological changes that result from a CR diet and are trying to duplicate those changes through drugs. I’m sure we’ll all know when the ‘fountain of youth’ has been discovered in a bottle.

Give me research!

Although it has been shown time and time again that this type of diet has multiple health and longevity benefits for animals, as mentioned above, showing the same results in humans has been difficult. Here are the only three so far;

· The National Academy of Science (NAS) concluded that humans who followed a calorie restricted diet for 6 years saw a 40% decrease in risk factors for developing heart disease.

· In 2006, NAS found that humans following a calorie restricted diet were at less risk for oxidative and metabolic stress in the brain.

· In a 2006 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers studied human subjects who followed up to a 25% calorie restricted diet. After 6 months, these subjects were found to burn fewer calories at rest.

Concerns of a CR diet

One concern that many researchers have is that if people choose to go on a CR diet, they eliminate the wrong foods and the few foods they do eat are nutrient-sparse, where it should be just the opposite. If you plan to experiment with this diet, now is the time to commit to eating healthy, whole foods. You may have to get to know your kitchen and how to use what’s in it!

Another concern when looking into a CR diet is the big promotion for supplement use. On many websites catering to CR followers, readers are led to believe that because their calories are restricted that they are lacking essential nutrients and the REAL key to a long, healthy life is supplements, especially their supplements, which of course are superior to any others. If you are going to follow a CR diet in order to improve your health and live longer, it just makes sense that the foods you do eat are of the highest biological quality, providing all the important nutrients and antioxidants possible.

Putting it into play

There are different ways to follow a CR diet; you can either consistently drop your calorie intake on a daily basis, or, as was done in some research studies, you can pick one or several days per week and drop the calorie level on just those days. It is felt that if you start with just picking a few days to restrict your calories, it may be easier to follow. Proponents of the diet do recommend a gradual restriction, taking one to two years to get fully into the restriction, rather than just dropping the calorie intake by 25-40%. The key benefit is to develop health effects of the restriction, not develop malnutrition! Again, this is not a diet to follow for weight loss, but to improve your health and longevity.

How many calories are you currently eating? If you don’t know, either work with a registered dietitian (RD) who can help you figure out your current intake, or find a website that will allow you to enter in all your foods for several days. A couple of sites that help you do this are http://www.mypyramid.gov/ and http://nat.crgq.com/mainnat.html. The next step would be to determine how many calories you actually need. Again an RD can help you or you can find a website to help you discover this, such as http://www.wvda.org/calcs/index.htm.

To get the most out of a CR diet, as mentioned earlier, it is important that you eat foods that are nutrient dense. This means a lot of nutrition packed into every morsel, which includes plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. This also includes a lot of bulk, such as a lot of salads and high fiber produce and starches, such as brown rice and whole grain breads and cereals, focusing most on low glycemic index foods.

Here are some specific tips when considering a CR diet:

· Eat a lot of vegetables, of all kinds. These foods contain the highest content of a wide variety of nutrients for their calories.

· Carefully select the right amount of protein. For a CR diet, it is recommended to stick to the RDI range of 0.6-0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight. This means that if you weigh 150 pounds, your protein needs would be 41 to 55 grams of protein per day. Most people eat MUCH more than that, so calculate how much you eat so you’re more aware of where you are and where you have to go.

· Pay attention to the kind of protein you eat. This is important no matter what diet you’re on; the more plant-based proteins you can eat, the healthier your outcomes. It is important to understand how you can follow a plant-based diet and still get adequate protein. Examples of plant-based proteins include soy products, nuts, and beans. Combining vegetables with healthy starches will ensure you get complete proteins.

· Choose healthy, plant-based fats. Foods containing monounsaturated fats include olive oil, nuts, and avocados. It is important to remember that fat is a high source of calories, however, so be sure to limit your fat intake.

· Avoid simple sugars and processed flours. You’ve heard this one, before, too! The less processed the foods, the more natural and more nutritious they are.

A calorie restricted diet isn’t for everyone, and there may be aspects of a CR diet that appeal to you and other aspects that repel you. The purpose of this article, however, was to inform you of what this growing trend is all about and give you something else to consider if you are concerned about your health and lifespan. We may not have found the fountain of youth, yet, and this may not be it, either, but at least following some of the guidelines proposed by CR followers can be healthy for everyone.

What Is Cancer

Cancer is a scary word. Almost everyone knows someone who got very sick or died from cancer. Most of the time, cancer affects older people. Not many kids get cancer, but when they do, very often it can be treated and cured.

What Is Cancer?

Cancer is actually a group of many related diseases that all have to do with cells. Cells are the very small units that make up all living things, including the human body. There are billions of cells in each person's body.

Cancer happens when cells that are not normal grow and spread very fast. Normal body cells grow and divide and know to stop growing. Over time, they also die. Unlike these normal cells, cancer cells just continue to grow and divide out of control and don't die when they're supposed to.

Cancer cells usually group or clump together to form tumors (say:too-mers). A growing tumor becomes a lump of cancer cells that can destroy the normal cells around the tumor and damage the body's healthy tissues. This can make someone very sick.

Sometimes cancer cells break away from the original tumor and travel to other areas of the body, where they keep growing and can go on to form new tumors. This is how cancer spreads. The spread of a tumor to a new place in the body is called metastasis (say: meh-tas-tuh-sis).

Causes of Cancer

You probably know a kid who had chickenpox — maybe even you. But you probably don't know any kids who've had cancer. If you packed a large football stadium with kids, probably only one child in that stadium would have cancer.

Doctors aren't sure why some people get cancer and others don't. They do know that cancer is not contagious. You can't catch it from someone else who has it — cancer isn't caused by germs, like colds or the flu are. So don't be afraid of other kids — or anyone else — with cancer. You can talk to, play with, and hug someone with cancer.

Kids can't get cancer from anything they do either. Some kids think that a bump on the head causes brain cancer or that bad people get cancer. This isn't true! Kids don't do anything wrong to get cancer. But some unhealthy habits, especially cigarette smoking or drinking too much alcohol every day, can make you a lot more likely to get cancer when you become an adult.

Finding Out About Cancer

It can take a while for a doctor to figure out a kid has cancer. That's because the symptoms cancer can cause — weight loss, fevers, swollen glands, or feeling overly tired or sick for a while — usually are not caused by cancer. When a kid has these problems, it's often caused by something less serious, like an infection. With medical testing, the doctor can figure out what's causing the trouble.

If the doctor suspects cancer, he or she can do tests to figure out if that's the problem. A doctor might order X-rays and blood tests and recommend the person go to see an oncologist (say: on-kah-luh-jist). An oncologist is a doctor who takes care of and treats cancer patients. The oncologist will likely run other tests to find out if someone really has cancer. If so, tests can determine what kind of cancer it is and if it has spread to other parts of the body. Based on the results, the doctor will decide the best way to treat it.

One test that an oncologist (or a surgeon) may perform is a biopsy (say: by-op-see). During a biopsy, a piece of tissue is removed from a tumor or a place in the body where cancer is suspected, like the bone marrow. Don't worry — someone getting this test will get special medicine to keep him or her comfortable during the biopsy. The sample that's collected will be examined under a microscope for cancer cells.

The sooner cancer is found and treatment begins, the better someone's chances are for a full recovery and cure.

Treating Cancer Carefully

Cancer is treated with surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation — or sometimes a combination of these treatments. The choice of treatment depends on:

• the type of cancer someone has (the kind of abnormal cells causing the cancer)
• the stage of the tumor (meaning how much the cancer has spread within the body, if at all)

Surgery is the oldest form of treatment for cancer — 3 out of every 5 people with cancer will have an operation to remove it. During surgery, the doctor tries to take out as many cancer cells as possible. Some healthy cells or tissue may also be removed to make sure that all the cancer is gone.

Chemotherapy (say: kee-mo-ther-uh-pee) is the use of anti-cancer medicines (drugs) to treat cancer. These medicines are sometimes taken as a pill, but usually are given through a special intravenous (say: in-truh-vee-nus) line, also called an IV. An IV is a tiny plastic catheter (straw-like tube) that is put into a vein through someone's skin, usually on the arm. The catheter is attached to a bag that holds the medicine. The medicine flows from the bag into a vein, which puts the medicine into the blood, where it can travel throughout the body and attack cancer cells.

Chemotherapy is usually given over a number of weeks to months. Often, a permanent catheter is placed under the skin into a larger blood vessel of the upper chest. This way, a person can easily get several courses of chemotherapy and other medicines through this catheter without having a new IV needle put in. The catheter remains under the skin until all the cancer treatment is completed.

Radiation (say: ray-dee-ay-shun) therapy uses high-energy waves, such as X-rays (invisible waves that can pass through most parts of the body), to damage and destroy cancer cells. It can cause tumors to shrink and even go away completely. Radiation therapy is one of the most common treatments for cancer. Many people with cancer find it goes away after receiving radiation treatments.

With both chemotherapy and radiation, kids may experience side effects. A side effect is an extra problem that's caused by the treatment. Radiation and anti-cancer drugs are very good at destroying cancer cells but, unfortunately, they also destroy healthy cells. This can cause problems such as loss of appetite, tiredness, vomiting, or hair loss. With radiation, a person might have red or irritated skin in the area that's being treated. But all these problems go away and hair grows back after the treatment is over. During the treatment, certain medicines can help a kid feel better.

While treatment is still going on, a kid might not be able to attend school or be around crowds of people — the kid needs to rest and avoid getting infections, such as the flu, when he or she already isn't feeling well. The body may have more trouble fighting off infections because of the cancer or side effects of the treatment.

Getting Better

Remission (say: ree-mih-shun) is a great word for anyone who has cancer. It means all signs of cancer are gone from the body. After surgery or treatment with radiation or chemotherapy, a doctor will then do tests to see if the cancer is still there. If there are no signs of cancer, then the kid is in remission.

Remission is the goal when any kid with cancer goes to the hospital for treatment. Sometimes, this means additional chemotherapy might be needed for a while to keep cancer cells from coming back. And luckily, for many kids, continued remission is the very happy end of their cancer experience.