united for healthy oregon

Archive for June, 2009

People say, “Health is wealth.” This statement proves true because being healthy allows people to perform all their routine tasks effectively throughout the day. Therefore, everyone wants to have a healthy body, mind and soul. There are a few things like balanced diet, regular exercise and good sleep that are mandatory for development of a fit and muscular body.

What Does Having a Healthy Body Mean?

Having a Healthy body does not always mean six pack abs or muscular biceps, triceps and thighs. A healthy body is far from any kind of ailments or diseases. Having a healthy body is possible but only if you follow proper eating habits, workout, and take proper care of your body.

How to Become Healthy

To gain a great level of health one needs a proper diet regiment, routine exercise targeted to at different parts of body and supplements for essential nutrients. Eating too much fatty food or food rich in sugar will result in gaining weight. It is advisable to avoid fatty and sugary foods since it has been proven that both contribute to obesity and physical ailments.

Eating meals on an eating schedule is very important and should be done with smaller servings.   One should maintain the habit of eating light and frequent. Eating too much at one time will have a negative effect on body. But it does not mean that one should be starving for food. Drinking enough water is also important as it helps in proper food digestion. It also maintains the required water level in body and protects from dehydration.

In order to stay healthy, you should avoid drinking alcohol as it affects the digestive system as well as nervous system. Alcohol directly affects the Liver and Kidney. So, if you are really serious about your health, it’s better if you keep yourself away from alcohol. Smoking is another danger for health. Smokers are easy victim for several diseases. Smoking always has an adverse effect on the respiratory system as well as the nervous system. Therefore, it is mandatory for health conscious people to stay away from smoking or any kind of tobacco related habits.

Along with nutrient rich foods, you also need proper rest and good sleep to maintain a healthy body. You will not be able to get the benefits of all your efforts until you get good sleep. The best way is to adopt the policy of going to sleep early at night and getting up early in the morning.

Following the suggestions described here will help you in leading a healthy lifestyle.

Most often, a health advocate is being interchanged with patient advocate.  Although both are concerned with the promotion of health, prevention of illness or infirmity, and the maintenance of health, a health advocate encompasses a more general approach and is concerned with the public’s general health, while a patient advocate oversees the patients’ well being and overall health.  A patient advocate works on behalf of the patient while and health advocate works to provide the public with assistance or easy access and passage to the perplexing healthcare delivery system.  Health advocates are responsible in making the healthcare system more understandable to the clientele and populace.

Health Advocates are found working in the hospitals acting as intermediary between the community and the hospital like the social services.  A health advocate can either be a doctor or a nurse or anybody with a medical or healthcare background who seeks to ascertain that every member of the community receives quality healthcare.  They can be found in rural and borough areas wherein access to immediate healthcare is not warranted.  They are more focused on providing quality healthcare to the part of the populace that receives little or no medical and healthcare attention at all.

Anyone with a background and experience in the Peace Corps, healthcare administration, and insurance companies can become a health advocate.  There are some health advocacy groups that have particular and distinguishing skills needed in order to do duty as a health advocate within their system of connections.  This means that the qualifying skills required to become a health advocate depends and vary from network to network or situation to situation.

A health advocate has the liberty to choose whether to work in the household of a single parent in rural areas to make certain that the family especially the children are able to see a doctor regularly regardless of unavailability of health insurance or financial constraints for medication and visit to the doctor.  Other health advocates are also found working in resident homes taking care of the elderly or in rehabilitation centers taking care of clienteles with long-term illness or permanent disability.  Some are also found taking care of patients with HIV/AIDS.

Being a health advocate is a rewarding calling and an exciting job opportunity as the field of health advocacy offers diverse ways on how a health advocate can perform his duties and responsibilities and functions.  A health advocate can choose to work either in the private or government health sector. Aside from acting as a link between the community and the healthcare system, a health advocate is also responsible in disseminating pertinent information regarding health promotion and the healthcare delivery system itself.

This may sound contingent but the healthcare delivery system itself is another entity in which not all members of the public are familiar with, especially those of low socio-economic status and with poor educational background.  This fact is actually downing because the healthcare system offers a wide array of benefits to all those who knows how the system operates.  This is where the health advocate comes into view.  Health advocates are there to assist the public in the maze of the healthcare system and allow them to acquire access to quality healthcare.  With the aid of the health advocate, each and every members of the community are able to exercise their rights to receive quality healthcare and promote their overall well-being.

Healthy lifestyles in all aspects of our lives are essential to arriving in your later years, as I am now at 68, that if so you well understand that you can remember muh farther back than you have time forward.

My father and grand father both lived to 93. I live much more healthy lifestyles than they did, but who knows. But in theory then I am now down under ten thousand days left alive to enjoy my family and friends and to still make worthwhile contributions to life, as we all desire.

And to keep active and make good use of however many days we have left on earth alive, we can pretty much measure based on our lifestyles and our own family life history. I will give a personal example for myself, with no promise from God that he could stop me tomorrow from looking the wrong way as I step into an oncoming bus. If so, hello, St. Peter.

Or, if I or you have been naughty and not nice, fools us, we not only had a miserable life, but to believe what we were taught in Sunday School, bad people live forever in hell, as they did of the hell they kept creating on earth. There is a wiser way, and yes, it is what we learned in Sunday school or kindergarten, until we outgrew that nonsense and went out and toughened up and bit back better than we got.

Not as smart as we thought. In fact, pushing your way up and in causes you internal anguish somehow enough that shortens the life of you the bully, and sweet angel of mercy at the next desk lives on serenely loved by all. Curse her, she will ask for your forgiveness.

Who is sneering, wearing red with a pointy stick and horns, who smiles like the good fairy from the west.

Well, women seem to master these elemental truths more naturally, and if we men see any girlie man prancing around performing these wonderful eight actions daily, you know we guy guys who will die early privately call him Betsy.

Well gents, let us consider that marriage has softened even Arnold, so let us put him in performing each of these acts so you chaps afraid your manly mask be torn off, you are both The Arnold and Cary Grant. And you do these acts dressed as Cary, or if you can suck it up and beef up, the Arnold.

Cary with a Fred Astaire hat would allow you, on your first day, to be an English Count. As in the popular children’s show, you love to Count your blessings. So you do that, with a fancy English cane if Cary will loan you his.If not, buy a good one, it will come in handy with the next mugger.

Clear this with the boss as a psychological study on building morale. But to you this is how to powerfully imprint these eight elemental commonalities between the happiest, healthiest, most long living people, from a University of California study.

You try to do what Tony Curtis tells us he did when he played the millionaire with Marilyn Monroe: he spoke in front of a mirror and practiced speaking like Cary Grant.So, Cary, you gently point your Mary Poppins cane at so and so and say, so and so, I am thankful for you, and I Count you as my blessing 35.

The lower they are on the power grid the more you should praise. If you can imprint this first element of happiness, you will be exhausted, and by the time you present your last rose and greatest praise to the most humble and neglected employee or contract worker, the evening cleaning lady.

Be honest and humble with her on her magical transforming of the mess you all make to picture perfect in the morning. By now, those who were moaning at you earlier will likely lead a rare and memorable applause for Annie the Cleaning Lady.

She will hum all her shift and show that rose to her family, and so will your heart to you. That is the first of the eight, we have run out of time, lights out, make sure the camp fire is put out. We will obviously have to make this part of the series that help you imprint your bliss. First, what do we do? We Count our blessing, my Lord.

It’s also important to consult a dietician and plan a diet program and then follow it strictly. Dieting, fasting or skipping meals is not a prescribed way to lose weight as there are minimum requirements for a healthy body, which is 1800 calories per day for men and 1200 calories per day for women. In order to maintain fitness levels, one has to have a diet plan that fits one’s particular body type and its requirements. Otherwise, it may lead to sluggishness, fatigue, nutritional deficiencies, often irritability etc.

Some important tips that help weight loss and maintain a healthy lifestyle are-

Don’t skip breakfast as it’s the most important meal of the day, but watch what you eat. Include healthy things like fruits and juices, grains, porridge etc. these will help you attain a healthy lifestyle and control your weight Exercise regularly as that will help to burn excess body fat and maintain a healthy lifestyle for long. This is one of the best ways to lose weight. Don’t skip any meal and don’t overeat at any meal time, instead eat in small portions at regular intervals. It’s important to read and understand carefully food labels on cans, packets etc and count calories and plan your diet intake. This will help you attain a healthy lifestyle and a good physique. Drinking water at regular intervals is important as it helps the body to stay fuller and hydrated all day long. Include whole grains, fruits and vegetables in your diet as they don’t add many calories but give the required fibres to the body.

The Benefits of Power Walking

Power walking. If there’s one exercise activity that I know is loaded with health and anti-aging benefits, it’s power walking. And over the years I’ve turned my routine daily walk into an enjoyable vigorous daily fitness program.

My walks definitely aren’t your usual leisurely stroll around the block. My walks are downright demanding, designed to work up a sweat, exercise all my muscles, and raise my heart rate. And I absolutely love it.

At this time, I am happy to say my walking and exercise routine has kept me in good physical condition for over twenty years. For a guy my age (I’ll never see 60 again) my tummy’s flat and toned, my arms, chest, and shoulders are firm and toned, and I can see my toes when I look down. All thanks to my vigorous daily walking and exercise routine.

Of course, power walking isn’t my only physical activity. But it’s the physical activity I love most, just ahead of hiking and geocaching.

My Daily Power Walking Routine

Okay, here’s my daily walking and exercise routine that helps keep me in pretty good physical condition for a guy over 60. Maybe you can get a few ideas from my routine that you can work into your daily walking routine.

Every day I walk four miles over a measured route. I deliberately push myself while walking, to the point I’m breathing vigorously. Again, this isn’t a stroll. I’m not out for a leisurely walk around the block with my dog, occasionally stopping to chat with my neighbors.

My walks are designed to push myself physically to get my heart rate up. I’m out for a workout, not just a “walk.” My goal is to stay healthy and in shape. It won’t happen with me sitting on my duff in front of the TV munching on chips and having a beer.

Park Benches and Picnic Tables: My Outdoor Fitness Equipment
My daily walking routine takes me through a new five-mile long county recreation park. Along the park route are the usual park benches, picnic tables, and occasional covered gazebos.

These park benches and picnic tables are perfect for developing a flat toned stomach and toning the upper body. There are eight benches along the length of my walk. On my walk I stop at four of the benches. I face the bench, lean forward placing my hands on the back of bench, and do 15 pushups – slowly. Four benches, 15 pushups each, 60 pushups every day on my walk.

The key here is to place your hands in different positions on each park bench. On one bench my hands will be close together while doing the pushups. On another bench my hands are further apart. Spacing your hands this way makes these simple pushups a great exercise for increasing upper body toning by working your shoulders, upper arms, and chest.

And here’s how I use the picnic tables. There are three picnic tables on my walking route. They’re perfect for toning your abs, flattening your stomach, and working your upper leg muscles. What do I do? I sit on the top of each picnic table, tuck my legs and feet under the picnic table bench, and slowly do 15 sit ups keeping my back straight. Three tables, 15 slow sit-ups each, makes 45 sit-ups on my walk.

An Hour A Day Keeps The Doctor Away

My daily walk and exercise routine takes about an hour and fifteen minutes. Believe me, with this routine I don’t need a gym membership. Been there. Done that. Working out in a gym is simply too boring for me.

This is my daily routine. It’s an ingrained daily habit I’ve been doing for over twenty years. It works for me. It keeps me in shape. It’s my magic anti-aging elixir. If you’re healthy enough, and your doctor approves, you could easily develop a similar daily walking and exercise routine.

A daily walk doesn’t have to be boring. Just keep your eyes open and look for handy ready-made workout equipment along the way. You can feel great, look better, be sexier, and you’ll probably even be smarter, just from taking a daily walk.