Archive for the ‘Health’ Category

Soda Without the Corn Syrup

Mar 30th, 10 / 2 Comments

I don’t drink a lot of soda. Most of the flavors don’t appeal to me, and the ones that do (such as lemon-lime and orange) can be had much better through actual fruit juices. Now, there’s even more reason to avoid the stuff though. A recent study showed it’s likely that corn syrup causes more weight gain than normal table sugar. The linked experiment was done using rats, which is why I say it’s likely to cause more weight gain. The rats who had access to corn syrup all gained weight while those who ate table sugar did not.

So, what’s a soda lover to do? Make your own! You may not be able to get all the flavors you’re used to, but you should be able to find something you like. You only need two things to do it too: some carbonated water and a fruit juice that doesn’t use corn syrup. Sticking with 100% juice is probably healthiest, though if I’m making soda I usually worry about flavor first after being sure there’s no corn syrup in the drink. I like using martini and margarita mixers as they usually have enough flavor to still have some kick after being diluted. I just dilute them with carbonated water to make soda instead of the relevant alcoholic drink.

The high quality mixers usually have fruit juices and cane sugar rather than corn syrup, and they are completely worth the extra dollar or two. With juices, it might be worth picking up a concentrated fruit juice to mix with the tonic water, though it also might be harder to find a concentrate that doesn’t use corn syrup. If you prefer fresher juices, by all means stick with those, as they’re likely healthier anyway, and the trick is to try to make it as healthy as possible.

If you really want to stick with more familiar flavors, you can probably find some recipes floating around the internet, then just substitute healthier alternatives, most notably table sugar for corn syrup. You can also leave out all the food coloring not already in your ingredients if you go this route. While not appreciably healthier, it at least kicks some of the stuff out.

Still, I prefer making my own flavors from juices and heartily recommend you try it out. They have more tang to them than colas do, and they’re as simple as mixing tonic water with juice or a mixer of some kind until you have the taste you want.

In any case, if you’re a soda lover or just looking to try something new, I hope this gives you some ideas. Happy mixing.

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How I Learned to Fall Asleep

Feb 6th, 10 / 0 Comments

Note: Please remember, as mentioned in my sitewide disclaimer, I’m not a doctor or otherwise qualified to provide medical advice. This is simply my experience that lead to sleeping better.

I used to have a very hard time falling asleep. I could spend hours laying in bed not sleeping. Sometimes, I just wasn’t tired. Other times, my mind just didn’t want to stop thinking. And when I was younger, it was truly annoying having a bedtime, because the fact was, I was not going to sleep anytime soon.

Eventually, I decided I wasn’t going to strictly abide by a bedtime anymore. Certainly, I would head to my room at the appropriate time and be appropriately quiet. But I got a feel for what volume the TV could be on without anyone hearing outside my room. I listened for when my parents went to bed so I could turn my light on and read. Then, I would play video games, read, and watch TV until I couldn’t hold my eyes open anymore. Then, it was an easy matter to fall asleep. My body just didn’t want to be awake anymore, so it was going to sleep whether I liked it or not.

I liked it way better than trying to sleep on my own. So, for me, the first step was simply to stop trying to sleep when I wasn’t tired. But it wasn’t the end. After all, becoming exhausted in order to fall asleep does get old after awhile, and  doesn’t lend itself well to the scheduled lives most people lead. I still had to wake up for school after all.

However, staying awake until I couldn’t anymore had another effect. After falling asleep quickly and easily for a long time, I learned what happens when I go to sleep. Not in a way I can explain, but rather I could observe how I felt going from awake to asleep as I kept just sleeping easily after staying awake for far too long. After seeing how that worked, I eventually learned to just do it whenever I become tired and wanted to sleep. Now, when ever I feel tired and would like to sleep, it’s a simple matter to lay down, close my eyes, and shut down within a few minutes. It’s not perfect mind you. I still get overly stressed and start thinking too much sometimes when I’d rather just  get some shut eye. But most of the time, it really is just time to lay down and go to sleep.

So, in short form, if you want to try this:

1) Start staying awake until staying awake is a struggle.
2) Lay down, get comfy, and go to sleep quickly due to being extremely tired.
3) Eventually, after many repetitions of steps one and two, learn to put yourself to sleep by noticing how you go to sleep quickly when extremely tired. This should happen subconsciously.

Naturally, sleep deprivation is considered a bad idea in the medical community, so it would be wise to consult a medical professional first. I wouldn’t expect something horribly bad to come of this so long as you’re smart about knowing your limits (protip: don’t drive after being awake for 24 hours straight), but getting a professional opinion on the matter can’t hurt and could possibly help a lot. It could also catch any issues that might be specific to you if you have any health complications that too little sleep might adversely effect.

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All Natural Does not Always Mean Perfectly Safe to Use

Dec 3rd, 09 / 0 Comments

A lot of herbal supplements are marked as all natural, then the claim is made that because it’s all natural, it’s perfectly safe to use. While I’m sure many herbal supplements are perfectly safe to use, this is fallacious reasoning, and you should still look into what you’re getting before using it. A little research will confirm the safety of any supplement you use, rather than blind trust because it’s all natural.

For some extreme examples of what I mean, check out these examples of all natural items.

-100% all natural hemlock.
-100% all natural mercury.
-100% all natural cyanide.

Notice something about all three of these all natural items? All of them can potentially kill you. Obviously, no natural supplements are going to use these particular items. However, I’m sure you see my point that natural doesn’t necessarily mean safe. So don’t just assume something is safe because it’s natural, do some research to see what you’re getting and what it does to people. Depending on what you’re looking for, it may also be wise to consult your doctor first. Then, once you’ve done your research, if the product you’re looking at still looks like a good fit for you, go ahead and pick some up to give it a try.

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The Republicans Do Have Some Ideas on Health Care

Nov 4th, 09 / 0 Comments

Now, that’s not to say I’m at all happy with the congressional republicans right now. Too much bluster, voting no all the time, and refusing to budge on anything. And I don’t think most of their ideas will do the job either. Tort reform just isn’t going to do the trick, and cooperatives just wouldn’t be anywhere near as effective at lowering prices as the public option would be, because the cooperatives would have far less bargaining power as fewer people would be signed on to them.

However, they do have one idea, that’s really quite simple, that we should put into practice. Let people buy insurance across state lines, and force all the insurance companies in the country to compete with each other. Make them earn our business instead of being the only place to turn in a given area for coverage. As far as I’ve seen, it hasn’t been added to any reform efforts yet, and it really should be.

Now, I understand that this could cause some insurance companies to go under. While that isn’t great news, it would mostly be a result of having more companies than we need taking more money from the market of buyers than they can afford. And the health of our country comes before company survival. Of course, if too many companies fall out of business, then we’ll end up right back where we are now. I think this is unlikely to happen since there would be a much larger pool of people, so the presence of enough companies to foster competition could be supported.

That doesn’t mean we should do away with the public option though. I’m still a huge supporter of the public option, and I think it’s one of the most important parts of health care reform, along with eliminating clauses about pre-existing conditions and eliminating the ability of insurance companies to rescind coverage. The public option provides us with a non-profit option for health care, will help to keep the insurance companies honest, and can also be used to make sure a basic level of care is offered at a rate as affordable as possible. Besides which, the public option provides us with cover in case the remaining insurance companies after the dust settles decide they would like the idea of a rate hike.

But, when an idea is good, it’s good, and we ought to acknowledge that and think about how it might be incorporated into the larger policy package. Perhaps we’d hear more about it though, if the republicans would stop obstructing and start conversing.

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The Public Health Care Option and Mandate to Purchase Health Insurance

Sep 20th, 09 / 1 Comment

Two of the major reforms being proposed in the health care package being debated by congress are the addition of a non-profit public health insurance option (which is NOT single payer and is NOT socialized health care) and mandating that everyone purchase health insurance, with a fine levied on those who fail to do so. The mandate for purchasing health insurance needs to be tied to the public option, and if the public option isn’t passed, the mandate to purchase must not be passed either.

I understand why the mandate is seen as a good idea. There are many people who are uninsured who will have their bills footed indirectly by taxpayers and those who do purchase health insurance, and by requiring other people to purchase insurance, we’ll be spreading the cost around more and asking them to contribute to the pool of money that will likely end up helping them or their families at some point in their lives.

Here’s the problem though: many of the people who do not purchase health insurance can not afford it. They simply haven’t found a way to earn enough money to do so. Fining people money they don’t have is not the way to help them get insurance or get on their feet. While I understand there is a system of tax credits in the work, such a system does sometimes render people who need help to make such purchases ineligible for help. See the recent fiasco with food stamp benefits for an idea of what I mean. If this were to happen with health insurance, it could deal some families a financial blow they can’t deal with. The public option would be another layer of protection to prevent this from happening with a mandate to purchase in place.

I know there are also talks of having insurance co-ops instead of having a public option. I don’t think co-ops can replace having a public option when it comes to providing affordable insurance to the largest number of people possible. I think they would be a great supplement to the public option and give people more choices in their plans to pick one that best suits their needs, but a non-profit will likely be most able to offer the most inexpensive insurance, which is what some people need.

I’ll be honest, on their own, I think the public option is a good idea, and the mandate to purchase is a bad idea. As a package though, having the public option and the mandate together is still quite good, and I’d be very happy with a bill that did include both. I just don’t want to see a mandate to purchase health insurance pass, then see families who can’t afford health insurance fined because the assistance system put in place to help them overlooked them.

As a final note, I’m no expert on health care, I’ve just been reading a lot about it lately. So, this is true to the best of my knowledge, but there is a lot of information and misinformation going around, and it really is difficult to pick the good out from the bad right now. I’ve also mentioned my biases about the two major topics, so you know where I’m coming from on this. In addition, the bill is still being hotly debated, is constantly changing, and different ideas seem to be going on and off the table all the time, so it’s hard to keep up with all the developments. I’ve tried to be accurate in my representation of what is being talked about, but I know that I may be missing some pieces, so feel free to add your own voice in the comments if need be.

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Another Reason We Need Better Health Care In the U.S.

May 10th, 09 / 1 Comment

Ah, health care. Something we all need at some point in time, yet many can’t afford for one reason or another. It’s expensive after all. There are lots of reasons people like to list in saying we need either universal health care or less expensive health care. A lot of these arguments talk about how health care is a right, no one should be turned away simply because they can’t afford it, and similar ideas. I agree with these thoughts, but you’ve heard them, and many others, argued about quite often by now I’m sure.

I want to talk about another reason we need better health care, one that might even get through to those who have oodles of money and don’t want to “subsidize everyone else’s health care.” Because this reason effects them too.

Remember the outbreak of swine flu we had recently? Remember how it wasn’t a big deal, but many people seemed to think it would be? Well, what happens when we have a real epidemic?

Under our current system, those who can afford it get preventative treatment, whether it be a shot, some kind of medication, or some other way to prevent the disease. Those who can’t afford it will go to the emergency room after they get sick. Guess what happens then? The disease spreads like wildfire, because it has plenty of carriers who simply couldn’t afford preventative treatments. And then it’s more likely to infect those who could afford preventative treatments, because said treatments aren’t usually 100% effective, especially when they’re new treatments, or general treatments for a variety of illnesses. Which means, by letting the poor get sick, the rich are also more likely to be sick, because more carriers of disease means that there are more chances for everyone to get infected.

Now, if we had universal or inexpensive health care, we’d see something different. Yes, some people would still get sick. But, with everyone getting preventative medicine, fewer people would get sick, which will leave fewer chances for the disease to spread. This is good for everyone, not just the people who have health care who otherwise wouldn’t.

Basically, the point I’m trying to make is that no matter who you are, it is in your best interest that everyone have access to affordable health care. Because really, your health will be affected by the health of everyone around you, and the people they’re around as well. So, even if you don’t believe health care is a human right, at least bear in mind that by denying a segment of the population health care, you’re putting yourself at greater risk too.

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