Many people want to be real slim again and this wish leads them to open market of the products. Weight loss and related keywords score high on search engines. The well founded facts of the obesity have helped several companies to sprout and come to the market place. Almost all of us get the mailers and emails from the companies, advising us of many great products. Some of us take them too seriously. The scams of the weight loss products take us for the ride and we lose money. According to an estimate, nearly half of the obese people try the products which are pushed to them using online and offline methods. Most of these products are marketed with great copies of the sales material and offer us the tall claims. How many of us became slim by using these products? None.

The other products do not look like scams but actually are scams at larger level and with more organized ways. Some of these programs are run by weight loss clinics all over the world. Not all of the weight loss clinics are part of scams but most of them are. You do not come to know about them until you try and lose money instead of weight. There are many tall claims of the magical products which will make you slim over-night. Stay away from all such scams and products.

If you would really like to become slim again, you must have the services of trained doctors who can examine your body and can find out the real reasons of your obesity. Many times, obesity has some attached conditions. It is not your food always which is culprit. Some of the people do have physical condition which forces their body to accumulate fat. Your obesity must be treated in controlled manner. Your doctor needs to find out which are the other parts of the body that are affected. Your doctor is the best person to advise you on the steps you need to take to reduce the weight. He will advise you safe methods which are suitable to your conditions. And if you are pregnant or have heart condition, you must be extra careful; any trial of unknown products for weigh-loss can complicate your situation. Your wish to become slim again is understandable but be safe and always lose weight in controlled conditions. You can use the products which are recommended by your doctor. We recommend this to you Click Here!

Post by Swati of  www.thedirectnews.com

There are hundreds of thousands of hospitals across the world, and they come in all sizes. Have you ever wondered which hospitals are the largest? Well, it can be a little difficult to determine, since there are many ways to measure a hospital’s size. There are rankings based on the number of bed, the number of staff and the number of patients served. In addition, there are different rankings for non-profit hospitals, for children’s hospitals, for specialty hospitals and for private versus public hospitals. But, here’s a list for you of five of the largest hospitals in the world; one from each area of the world.

Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital is the world’s largest. It is located in the Soweto area of Johannesburg, South Africa. The hospital has 3200 beds and over 6700 staff members. It is a teaching school for the University of the Witwatersrand Medical School. This hospital is one of 40 hospitals run by South Africa’s Gauteng Provincial Health Services. Every day, 2000 people check into the Baragwanath Hospital and nearly half of them are HIV positive.
Clinical Centre of Serbia- this hospital has 3500 beds and more than 7500 employees. It is generally ranked as second in the world because of the sheer size of the campus of the Baragwanath Hospital, which sits on 173 acres. It is Europe’s largest hospital.
Jackson Memorial Hospital, Miami, Florida – This is the largest hospital in the US based on number of beds. Jackson has 2000 beds and serves 70,000 patients each year. It is a world leader in organ transplants, performing more than 400 transplants each year.
Ahmedabad Civil Hospital- Located in Ahmedebad India, this is Asia’s largest hospital, with 2800 beds. It is a government run hospital. Ahmedebad is India’s seventh largest city and has some of the best healthcare in the country. Nearly 80,000 surgeries are performed each year on the hospital’s 110 acre campus.
Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine – Located in Beijing, China, this hospital is known for offering world class, yet cost competitive medical care. It is also famous for its practice of traditional Chinese remedies. The hospital employs about 1300 people, including more than 150 high ranking medical specialists, and is the largest hospital in China.
Hospital das Clinicas of the University of Sao Paulo – Located in Brazil, this is Latin America’s largest hospital complex. It offers 2200 beds across six specialized buildings.
Of course, size of a hospital is no measure of the hospital’s ability to provide care. Some of these large hospitals are some of the best in their regions, while some of the best healthcare is also provided at smaller hospitals. And, size is largely determined by how areas of the world tend to build hospitals. For example, the top ten hospitals in Europe are all larger (at least in bed size) than the largest hospital in the US.

As areas and populations grow, these numbers change. So, there’s no guarantee that these hospitals will stay the largest for long.

Phyllis Turner Zerkle blogs about how to find a program for a Masters of Hospital Administration.

We caught you with a  Healthy Life. Read our previous posts on How to stay a Healthy and Fit Life, How to control your Weight and Fat, Essential Nutrition for a good immune system, Eating for Health, Happiness and Successful Weight Control. Now it’s the time for you to Use our Tips in your Life

We bring to you the best free dating service to get a Partner of your choice (You will get hopefully). Well I am trying my Luck, let’s try yours on this free dating sites.

Vitamins and minerals are needed in required quantities for a healthy immune. If the vitamins are not supplied, it may create serious health disorders.  Deficiency in vitamins & minerals starts appearing usually appear when the shortage is already in an advanced level. For example, Shortage in Indivuals of the vitamins A, C  & B2 suffer from loss of appetite, mental and emotional disturbances etc.

Which Vitamins are Where?

Vitamin A
Vitamin A is found in liver and dairy products. It is essential for a healthy immune system.Vitamin A  isn’t actually present in carrot and other stuff, but the human body can turn yellow and orange vegetables, carrot contain beta-carotene, it can turn into Vitamin-A.

B Vitamins

Vitamin B1 necessary for the essential functioning for your nervous system is found in plenty in flour, bread and many meats. Vitamin B2 found in liver and green vegetables which is good for growing bodies and helps the body to release energy. Vitamin B3 is important in building the structure of the skin and is present in bread, liver and yeast extract. Vitamin B5 is found in eggs, beef, tomatoes, chicken and potatoes.

Vitamin C

Vitamin C helps in keeping the immune system safe. Vitamin C is found in strawberries, blackcurrants, oranges and other citrus fruits. Vitamin C helps with the healing of wounds.

Vitamin D

Essential to absorb calcium which is a necessary component for bones and teeth. You will find it in the early morning sunlight.

Vitamin K

Spinach will give you Vitamin K. It is used for Blood Clotting.

So Vitamins are necessary for a Healthy Life.
Find some of the Vitamins Online at  Natures best.

As a woman, your body is very complex. Throughout every phase of your life you will require extra care and nutritional support. Today’s scientific advances support a number of natural choices for women, like soy. Still, the fact remains that calcium, folic acid and iron continue to be the most important nutrients that can impact a woman’s total health. All women should take a daily multiple vitamins with these essential nutrients.

Calcium is essential to strong healthy bones.

As a woman you have a much greater risk of developing osteoporosis because you have less bone tissue and lose bone more rapidly then men do. Be sure to consume adequate calcium throughout life, as this may reduce your risk of osteoporosis later in life. Calcium is essential to the health of bones, teeth and skin, yet few adults get enough of it in their diets. Make sure you find a high quality calcium supplement to ensure you receive a health-enhancing daily allowance.

Folic acid impacts women in many ways.

It plays an important role during rapid fetal growth and development. In fact, adequate intake of folic acid as part of a healthy diet before and in early pregnancy may reduce the risk of having a baby with a birth defect of the brain or spinal cord. All women of childbearing age are recommended to consume 400 mcg of folic acid everyday starting at least one month before conception into the early weeks of pregnancy.

Folic acid also plays a role in the maintenance of normal homocysteine levels; elevated levels of homocysteine are believed to be a risk factor of heart health. Iron

Iron is a vital nutrient that plays an essential role in forming healthy red blood cells and transporting oxygen. It’s estimated that as many as 62% of women over the age of 20 are not meeting the RDA for iron. Women also tend to be low in iron because they tend to eat foods low in iron and lose iron through menstruation. Drinking a glass of orange juice with your cereal can boost iron absorption by the body. Vitamin C helps the body metabolize the iron. A high quality Vitamin C supplement rich in antioxidants to help fight the harmful effects of free radicals is a wonderful supplement not only to assist iron absorption, but also to combat ageing.

Vitamin C is coveted for its many benefits, including a contribution to healthy bones, teeth, blood vessels and the production of collagen.

In addition to taking a daily multiple vitamin, routine exams are key to prevention and healthy living. You should have a yearly gynecological exam that includes a pelvic exam, breast exam and PAP test. Also, consider performing monthly self-breast exams to familiarize yourself with how your breasts normally look and feel. If you are over 40, you should have a mammogram every year.

About the author: Kim Beardsmore is a weight loss consultant whose business operates across 60 countries. This world renowned, medically approved program will give you results you’ll love and all the support you need! Estimate your healthy body weight, recipes, articles, ezine and more at http://weight-loss-heal th.com.au

Coffee and Health

Coffee and health used to be a controversed theme in the seventies. Nowadays, moderate coffee consumption is rather exonerated from its supposed negative long term effects upon health.

My mother used to be one of those persons who teaches her offspring, in its early ages, that coffee is not bad. It is bad bad bad! In consequence, I managed to keep away from coffee. At least untill the difficult age of 10, when, as I remember, I was permitted to join mother and neighbour-friends at the coffee-tattle table.

That was the moment I started to exercise my taste buds on coffee. In those days, I remember developping a partiality for coffee with milk. Or should I say milk with coffee… However, I know now that the coffee I was drinking back then was indeed, not so good. Preground, over boiled, sometimes brewed over the grounds from the other day, could you think of worst? No wonder I wanted to hyde those hideous characteristics with tones of milk.

In the meantime, I probably took a good sip of coffee on the road and woke-up to a much more pleasant reality. Coffee is not bad. It is good good good. But why are there so many voices whispering that coffee and health don’t go well together? Caffeine

Call it food or beverage, coffee is free of any nutritional value, and, as indecent as it may sound, we consume it exclusively for pleasure.

Yes, the caffeine content in coffee is partialy responsible for that pleasure. Caffeine acts as a mild stimulent over the central nervous system, that results in better memory, better judgements and ideea-associations, better moovement-coordination.

A single serve espresso contains somewhere among 80 and 120 milligrams of caffeine. A normal cup of coffee (even drip coffee) contains about 100 – 150 milligrams of caffeine. This is what commonsense calls moderate consumption at one sit. Within several hours (varying from one person to another) caffeine is eliminated from the body. Refering to average coffee drinker again, s/he can have three or four sips (servings) of coffee every day aside from any health risk.

The thing about coffee is quite the same as with other foods and beverages. The effects vary with the dosing: moderate can be medicine, too much can be poison. The average coffee drinker can experience nocive effects after ingesting 550 milligrams (women) and 700 milligrams (men) at one sit. These effects reffer to headaches, nausea, petulance. The caffeine overdose is beeing speculated around 10 grams. I say, it would be impossible to reach it exclusively by drinking coffee, as you should ingest 100 cups at one sit. However, if you succeed, it may be the last thing you’ll ever do.

Coffee is not recommended when certain health problems are allready present. Reasons could stand on solid proof or only on purpose to avoid unprooved but also unwanted risk. Acidy

Acidy describes the sour-component of the coffee taste. Acidy (or acidity) is emphasised in Arabica coffee and in light roasts. It may have a negative efect over the digestive functions. People that are less tolerant with acidity but still want to drink coffee, may choose a decaffeinated coffee or a natural low-acidity coffee from Brazil, India or Caribbee.

Other negative effects that have been nominated (eg. over pregnant women) have not resulted in significant proof when tested. The medical society nowadays is rather exonerating coffee from long term negative effects upon human health. The beneficial effects of coffee

Coffee has prooven beneficial effects over persons suffering from astma. 2 to 4 small cups of coffee through-out the day will help them reduce the recurency of astma-attacks and moderate their intensity.

Coffee contains natural antioxidants called ‘flavonoids’ that are wide known as disease protectors.

The beneficial effects of moderate caffeine consumption are wide recognised: caffeine works on alertness, mood, sensorial activity and memory. Of course, you may choose to take your daily caffeine intake from other foods and beverages: chocolate, carbonated drinks based on coca-nuts extract, tea.

Beside these effects, somewhat prooven by the medical society, I would mention one more: the pure pleasure of sipping a good cup of coffee. If every person on this planet would do this every day, I believe there would be less wars, suicides, health problems, people suffering from depression etc. etc. But I could be wrong
Click Here!

Don’t diet, just eat and lose weight!

First, the following “diet” is really not a diet, in the conventional sense, but a natural way of eating. It allows one to eat essentially anything one wishes, while attaining weight loss or weight control goals and consuming the necessary nutrients for a long and healthful life. The term “diet” implies restrictions by either eliminating or radically reducing the intake of certain foods or food groups. Most diets are inappropriate, unhealthful (some are even dangerous) and ultimately doomed to fail.

The most important objective of eating any food is to provide the body with all the essential nutrients for a long and healthful life. Almost every food provides some element needed by your body. If you do not care about being healthy, avoiding sickness and disease and living a long life, then this natural way of eating is not for you. The second most important reason for eating any food is because you enjoy it and it makes you happy. It is highly unlikely that you will consistently, and for long term, eat foods that you do not enjoy. Similarly, it is extremely unlikely that you will be able to completely eliminate foods that you do enjoy from your diet.

Many diets and dieticians expect a person to continually keep count of every calorie, carbohydrate and/or gram of fat that enters your mouth! Again, what is likelihood of being able to maintain this tedious ritual for any meaningful length of time? Nothing could be more depressing and stress-inducing as the constant monitoring of calories, carbs or fat. Therefore, if enjoying your meals is not important to you, then this natural way of eating is probably not for you.

Finally, you should eat food to maintain an appropriate weight for your height and frame. Being over-weight or under-weight is not conducive to a long, healthful life nor does it promote a positive self image. If being too heavy or too thin is not important to you, than this natural way of eating may not be for you.

Tips for Successful Weight Control

Lose or gain weight because you want to and not to please others.Otherwise, you will not be sufficiently motivated to change your bad eating habits. In fact, when the inevitable happens and you fail to achieve you goal, it will reinforce and, most probably, escalate the inappropriate behavior (i.e. over-eating, exclusively eating junk food, bulimia, etc.)

You must begin this natural way of eating with a positive outlook and the belief that you can achieve your goals with a minimal amount of effort. If you lack the self-confidence and motivation, or you do not believe that you can lose or gain weight, you will not!

It is extremely important for you to learn about the nutrients contained in the foods you eat. This is the only part of this natural way of eating that requires some effort on your part. The only way to accomplish this is to read. The internet is probably the best and easiest venue for obtaining this type of information. The following are excellent sources of health and nutrition-related information:

1) Medline Plus – http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/foodnutritionandmetabolism.htm l

2) Food and Nutrition Information Center – http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/

3) McKinley Health Center – http://www.mckinley.uiuc.edu/

4) USDA Nutrient Data Laboratory – http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/

Remember, the key to weight control is to be healthy, happy and fit. You must understand which foods will provide these three, all-important elements. Believe it or not, there are foods which you enjoy that are actually good for you!

Incredibly, many overweight people actually do not eat enough! Listen to your body, not your mind. Your body knows when it has had the appropriate amount of food and, more importantly, the appropriate amount of nutrition. Because many people do not understand nutrition, they eat food that does not supply sufficient nutrients to the body. They will feel hungry even after a large meal because theirs bodies are “starving” for proper nutrition. For this reason, most diets do not work or the individual cannot stay with the diet because it is an unnatural way of eating. Your body literally believes it is starving; therefore, it will take actions to survive the famine. It is a self-preservation mechanism, if you will. The body begins drawing off your muscles and stores the fat for later use in the event that it does not receive the necessary nourishment for an extended period of time. When a person finally falls off the diet (which is inevitable), they gain back all the lost weight and, in many cases, even more! The reason is because it takes the body sometime to adjust from its self-preservation mode, so all the food that is consumed is stored as fat while your body continues to draw from muscle.

There is no such thing as losing weight fast. It will take 3 to 6 months (or more depending on the amount of weight loss needed),to lose a significant amount of weight. The good news is that once you have lost the weight, you should not gain it back because you will have learned about the food you eat.

Yes, you have heard it before and you are now going to hear it again – exercise! Even a small amount of exercise (1/2 hour per day, 3 days per week) will greatly accelerate weight control.

If you feel like having a snack or something sweet, have it. Your body is telling you it needs something. Of coarse, it would be better to eat a piece of fruit rather than a candy bar. However, either is preferable to over-eating at your next meal or agonizing over the decision to indulge the urge.

Healthy eating means many things to many people, and everyone has different goals for the perfect diet. The key to following a healthy diet is to find a diet you can stick with for the rest of your life. A diet should not be simply a temporary change in the way you life, eat and exercise. Rather, it should be a permanent change that you can live with day in and day out, year in and year out.

For some people, a healthy diet can be as simple as increasing the amount of fruits and vegetables in the daily diet. For others, a radical change, involving strict control of fat and cholesterol, may be required.

Of course what is needed will depend on the goal of each individual. The serious runner in search of greater conditioning will of course have different goals than the couch potato who is concerned about the possibility of heart disease.

Even though every person will different goals when it comes to healthy eating, the basic tenets of healthy eating are the same. The most important thing is to eat a good variety of foods, while eating less of the bad stuff and more of the good.

That may sound like an oversimplification, but it really is that easy. Putting that simple concept into proactive, however, is the hard part. Everyone wants to eat healthier, but there are so many temptations in today’s world that healthy eating can be very difficult. The key is to make healthy choices as appealing as unhealthy ones.

One way to make healthy foods appealing is buying a wide variety of exotic fruits at the local supermarket. There are probably varieties of fruits and vegetables at your local grocery store that you never even heard of before. Why not make your next trip to the grocery store an adventure by sampling these exotic offerings?

Experimenting with new recipes is another great way to bring excitement and adventure to healthy eating. A quick perusal of your favorite low fat or healthy eating cookbook will likely present you with many fun and exciting recipes to try. Often a new cookbook, or a couple of new recipes are all it takes to spur a healthier lifestyle.

It is also important to know that eating healthier does not necessarily mean making a radical change. There are very simple things you can do, such as cutting the skin off your chicken breast, or trimming the fat from your favorite steak, that can result in significant fat reductions and health improvements. Dieters should not overlook the importance of these small changes when seeking a healthier diet.

Other examples of small changes resulting in healthier eating include:

- Replacing whole milk with skim or 2%, both in recipes and for drinking – Snacking on sorbet or low fat frozen yogurt instead of premium ice cream – Spraying pans with nonfat cooking spray instead of using butter or margarine – Replacing high fat cuts of meat with leaner ones – Eating more low fat fish and less red meat – Using egg substitutes, the kind made from egg whites, in recipes, meals and baking

There are probably hundreds of other such tips, and they can add up to significant health improvements, whether your goal is to get fit, lose weight or improve your level of health. No matter who you are or what your current level of fitness, eating a healthier diet and losing weight may be easier than you think.

In the end, eating a healthy diet, improving your level of fitness, and managing your consumption of fat and cholesterol boils down to common sense. Depriving yourself of your favorite foods can be counterproductive to a long term dietary change. Deprivation leads inevitably to cravings, and that can start a vicious cycle of dieting and splurging.

It is best to think of healthy eating as a marathon rather than a sprint. The goal of any healthy eating program should be to make easy, lifelong changes in the way you shop, cook and dine. Only by making changes that you can follow for a lifetime will you truly be able to enjoy a healthy diet.

Compelling evidence shows that certain lifestyle behaviours can improve health, prevent premature death and may even prolong life. The problem is that people often drift along, continuing their unhealthy ways – maybe vowing to stop smoking or drink less “some day soon” – until a disease or health problem strikes and it may be too late to reverse the damage. Assessing your lifestyle and how it affects health before illness occurs is a wise precaution. (However, changing one’s lifestyle even after illness can sometimes improve health – for instance giving up cigarettes and exercising more after a heart attack.) Why assess lifestyle risks? Accumulating scientific evidence shows that a few simple lifestyle habits can directly improve health and decrease disease risks. Much disability and premature death from today’s foremost killers – heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, liver cirrhosis, suicide and unintentional injuries – stem from everyday habits. Over half the premature deaths in North America are blamed on unhealthy behaviours such as cigarette smoking, insufficient exercise, excessive alcohol intake and a fat-laden diet. Only six per cent of premature deaths are considered avoidable through better medical care. A California study has demonstrated that disease risks can be reduced by not smoking cigarettes, moderating alcohol use, eating breakfast, having regular physical activity, maintaining desirable weight, getting enough (7-8 hours) nightly sleep and having close social networks. The effect is cumulative: the greater the number of good lifestyle habits, the greater the chance of better health and a longer life. A recent Canadian study confirmed a lower chance of premature death by avoiding cigarette smoking, high blood pressure (related to obesity and insufficient exercise), adult-onset diabetes (due to obesity, poor diet, lack of exercise) and excess alcohol consumption. (However, some everyday influences are an unavoidable part of the environment, over which individuals have little control – such as air pollution or traffic noise.) To evaluate your lifestyle, ask yourself a few key questions about everyday activities such as the amount of fat you eat, smoking and drinking habits – see checklist below – and evaluate which might be improving your health or perhaps damaging it. Consider seeking advice from a health professional about habits you wish to change. Quick, easy computer programs help rate your lifestyle To help people assess the health impact of various lifestyle activities, a new Computerized Lifestyle Assessment (CLA) program, developed by the Addiction Research Foundation and the University of Toronto, provides a practical, quick, confidential and easy method of evaluating lifestyle strengths and weaknesses. The computer program, which takes 20 minutes to run, asks detailed questions about 16 lifestyle activities, with graphic feedback along the way and a printed report at the end. Identification and feedback about risk activities that undermine health often lead people to improve their lifestyle and seek advice from a health professional. For details about the CLA program, call or contact the publisher, Multi-Health Systems, at 1-800-268-6011. The computer program asks questions about. * substance abuse; * health maintenance; * preventive activities; * social and intimate relationships; * mental and emotional wellbeing. The program feeds back information about: * lifestyle strengths or activities to keep up * areas of concern or factors that can threaten health * risk areas requiring action to prevent disease The final printout pinpoints health-harming behaviours, some of which may come as a surprise, others that may be known to the person who might be “thinking about” changing them. For example, a woman who thinks she leads a healthy life – doesn’t smoke, drink or take other drugs, eats a low-fat vegetarian diet and exercises three times a week – may have emotional problems stemming from poor social relationships and a perfectionist attitude. Or, a man who doesn’t smoke, drinks little alcohol and has good work and personal relationships may endanger his health by being overweight with the beginnings of diabetes, hypertension and a potential heart problem. Curiously, computers sometimes elicit more personal information about sensitive lifestyle areas than a doctors interview. For instance, many people find it easier to report excess alcohol consumption to a computer than to a physician. Women, especially, seem more likely to confide alcohol, sexual and other problems to a computer than to a doctor. Computerized psychiatric histories sometimes spot problems missed by clinicians – such as suicidal thoughts, anxiety, depression or phobias. Adolescent and student lifestyles especially poor. One recent study found that seven out of 10 people questioned were particularly worried about nutrition and half were also concerned about physical inactivity. A study of Queen’s University students found that over 80 per cent fail to get regular medical/dental care, and over half consume excess alcohol and have poor management of work-leisure time. Study results show student health problems with: * Alcohol: * Cannabis: * Cigarettes: * Stress: * Inactivity: * Weight: * Sex: * Condom use: Adolescent eating habits can endanger health. Many adolescents receive inadequate nutrition due to poor diets, irregular eating habits and eating disorders that stem from the wish to conform to society’s idealization of thinness. “Weight control” techniques such as self-induced vomiting and diarrhea are widespread. A recent U.S. National Adolescent Health Survey found 61 per cent of adolescent females and 28 per cent of adolescent males were dieting, 51 per cent often fasted, 16 per cent used diet pills and 12 per cent practiced vomiting. Teens had poor dietary practices because of: * Excessive preoccupation with physical appearance; * Western society’s obsession with thinness; * Eating disorders such as Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia. Lifestyle habits can improve health: * not smoking tobacco; * maintaining desirable weight (avoiding obesity); * good nutrition (following Canada’s Food Guide); * exercising regularly and sufficiently (at least 30 minutes three times a week); * getting enough sound nightly sleep (7-8 hours); * avoiding accidental injuries by taking safety measures (such as seatbelts and helmets); * practicing motor vehicle safety; * moderating alcohol use; * avoiding other recreational drugs; * getting regular dental care and medical check-ups as advised; * fostering family, work and social networks; * having safe and satisfying sexual relationships; * avoiding or learning how to cope with excess stress; * enjoining sufficient leisure-time activities and relaxation; * getting any needed therapy for mental problems. Lifestyle changes occur in five stages Stage 1: Pre-contemplation – the health risk of a particular life-style activity is (largely) unrecognized, denied or trivialized. Stage 2: Contemplation – admitting to a health risk and thinking about making a change “some day. Stage 3: Preparation – motivated and ready for change “soon”, planning how and what to do, often setting an actual date. Stage 4: Action – active steps to change behaviour – e.g., giving up cigarettes, walking to work instead of driving, drinking less – setting a specific schedule and definite goals. Stage 5: Maintenance – long-term change achieved and kept up. Just asking can make a difference. Surveys show that many people expect physicians or nurses to ask about and give advice or information regarding health. Given the chance, many people would like to discuss lifestyle concerns such as nutrition, obesity, alcohol,other drug use, family conflicts, elderly relatives, sexual problems and chronic pain – but often hesitate to do so unless asked

Choosing the right meat and poultry products can be one of the most difficult parts of cooking and eating for better health. Meat, seafood and poultry are important sources of protein, iron, vitamins and minerals, but they are often laden with undesirable qualities such as saturated fat and cholesterol as well. Choosing the best, leanest cuts of meat is important to any health conscious shopper.

One of the most important things to know when choosing meat, seafood and poultry products is that less is often more. That means buying meat, seafood and poultry products that have been processed as little as possible. The past few years have seen quite a jump in the number of convenience foods, but these foods are often much less healthy than their fresh meat counterparts.

One reason why this is so is the need preservatives, sodium and other additives. Foods that are frozen, microwavable or ready to eat often contain large amounts of sodium, often more than you need in several days. While it is fine to keep a couple of these convenient foods on hand for quick meals, they cannot form the basis of a healthy eating lifestyle.

Fresh meat, seafood and poultry, on the other hand, does not suffer from the need to add sodium or preservatives. Buying fresh meats and seafood, and preparing it yourself, is the best way to have confidence in the nutritional quality of the food you feed your family.

Of course no discussion of fresh meat is complete without a note or two about safe handling techniques. Food borne illnesses can easily be spread through contaminated meat, poultry and seafood, and it is impossible to tell from looking if the product is contaminated. Since cooking to the proper temperature destroys these food borne pathogens, the most important thing is to keep raw meat and poultry away from foods that will not be cooked.

That means keeping things like salad bowls and bread plates well away from the area of the countertop where the meat is prepared. Any surface touched by raw meat, seafood or poultry should be thoroughly cleaned with an antibacterial solution, and separate cutting boards should be used for vegetables and meats. Following these basic food hygiene practices is the best way to protect yourself and your family from food borne illnesses.

Cutting the fat is also an important consideration when it comes to choosing meat, seafood and poultry. While most types of fish are healthy and low fat, some fish, such as salmon, can have significant fat content. Again, the nutritional labels should be your guide.

When it comes to chicken, the best course of action is to buy skinless, boneless chicken breasts. This type of poultry is healthy, convenient and easy to use. And best of all, skinless, boneless chicken breasts are often on sale, so stock up on them when your local grocery store runs its next promotion. A good alternative for those with the time is to buy regular chicken breasts and remove the skin and bone yourself. This is often a less expensive alternative than buying the boneless, skinless chicken breast.

Ground turkey can be an excellent and lower fat alternative to ground beef, but again it is important to read the label carefully. That is because ground turkey, particularly the less expensive brands, often contain skin and fat along with the lean meat. Ground turkey breast, or a brand with a lower fat content, can be a healthier alternative. Ground turkey breast can be used in any recipe that calls for ground beef, including burritos, barbecue, tacos, chili and even hamburgers on the grill.

And of course, eating healthy does not mean giving up delicious foods like beef and pork. Lean cuts of beef and pork can be an important part of a healthy diet. Beef and pork are both excellent sources of iron, zinc and B complex vitamins, and properly prepared, lean beef and pork are nutritious as well as delicious.

And finally, there are a number of lower fat, healthier alternatives to beef and pork. Meats like buffalo, venison and emu are much lower in fat than beef, while providing the same or even higher levels of protein. The downside of these exotic meats, of course, is the price, but if you can find a local supply at a good price they are definitely worth a look.