Preventive Actions for Breast Cancer

According to the World Health Organization, breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. It is a kind of cancer that is found on the breast tissue of one or both breasts. Breast cancer has claimed 500,000 lives worldwide which is an alarming number. In addition, the incidence of breast cancer is rapidly on the rise due to urban expansion and late diagnosis. According to cancer experts, prognosis and survival is largely based on the type of cancer and the diagnosed stage of cancer.

Prevention

Although the specific cause of breast cancer is unknown, there are certain potential risk factors that are involved. Factors include lifestyle, genetics, hormones, body structure and other medical conditions. According to the American Cancer Society, prevention and early detection of signs and symptoms are the best ways to decrease the risk of breast cancer.

The first method of reducing the risk of breast cancer is a healthy lifestyle. Maintaining an appropriate weight, avoiding alcohol and cigarette smoking, and proper active exercise are some ways to lessen the risk of breast cancer. These lifestyle changes will greatly decrease your chance of having breast cancer especially for women that have a history of cancer in their family.

Breast Cancer Detection Techniques

The World Health Organization strongly recommends early detection techniques in order to prevent the disease. These strategies will help decrease the risk of breast cancer. Regular screening for breast cancer is the most effective way of diagnosing the disease. Diagnostic tests such as Mammography screening are very important and effective to diagnose breast cancer as early as possible. This diagnostic test reduced the mortality rate of women with breast cancer around the world.

Unfortunately, mammography screening is not always available for all breast cancer patients specifically in low or middle income countries. In those countries, BSE or breast self-examination is the most preferred substitute and is highly encouraged. It is also a way of increasing awareness of women on breast cancer. BSE involves palpating the breast for lumps or irregularities. By inspecting, observing and feeling the breast for early signs and symptoms regularly, women are empowered to take actions and responsibility for a healthier lifestyle.

Symptoms of Breast Cancer

The first common symptom of breast cancer is usually presence of lump that is unusual among the rest of the tissues. These irregularities can be felt on the breast or armpit. If you think that you have abnormalities or lumps present, you might consider contacting your physician. Just remember that you have to perform Breast Self Examination every month at the same time and day. Being aware of the symptoms and early detection will determine the chance of survival.

Read more →

Blood Cholesterol and Everything You Need to Know

What is blood cholesterol?

Blood cholesterol is also known as blood lipids or blood fats. They are basically fats in the blood. However, fat is not soluble in water like how oil does not mix with water. Thus, they are carried around in capsule-like proteins so that they can be circulated all throughout the body. Blood cholesterol has a direct influence on the rate of metabolism. This is determined by fat density and the type of protein with it. The density depends on consumption and emission from the intestine and the acceptance and excretion from cells.

Blood Cholesterol Induced Medical Conditions

Just like any substance in the body, an abnormal level, whether it is high or low, causes ailments, diseases or even fatality. One of the most common blood cholesterol induced medical conditions is hyperlipidemia. It is an abnormal elevation of the cholesterol levels in the blood. More often than not, it causes complications like cardiovascular diseases. To prevent hyperlipidemia, one must have a basic understanding of what is blood cholesterol. As mentioned beforehand, blood cholesterol is fat. Fatty foods must be avoided to lessen the risk of a lipid level upsurge.

Contrary to what most people think, Hypercholesterolemia is not a disease. Rather, it is a metabolic abnormality where patients cannot absorb cholesterol. This derangement is mainly hereditary. Its counterpart, Hypocholesterolemia has a really low level of cholesterol in the blood. It is a secondary ailment to cancer, hemorrhage, or depression. Knowing what is blood cholesterol is accounted to the understanding of a person of these diseases.

How to maintain normal blood cholesterol

Other than learning what is blood cholesterol a person must know how to maintain a normal blood cholesterol level. Cholesterol intake depends mainly upon what kinds of food are taken into the body. Thus, the first thing to do is to have a background on the kinds of fats in different types of foods. It is true that there are good fats and bad fats. Good fats are called unsaturated fats. These are found in plants. They are frequently found in olive oil, sesame oil etc. Bad fats are called saturated fats. Saturated fats are found in animal products and by-products. Dairy products, poultry, beef etc. have saturated fats. They are bad for you because their fats are in solid forms, which makes it more difficult to digest compared to unsaturated fats that are in liquid forms.

Read more →

Food Habits that will Change your Body Shape

A person’s body shape depends on his food habits. Therefore, a person who is unsatisfied with his body shape has no one to blame but himself. However, what caused the problem is also the solution in this case. Changing food habits to healthy and slimming ones can rapidly change a person’s body shape as long as it is done with conviction. Here are some food habits that you have to learn by heart, to make your body shape into a more pleasing one.

Trim the Fat off your Diet

Eat more fiber such as fruits, vegetables, and grain. Substitute red meat in your diet with fish or poultry. Chicken or turkey meat is better than red meat for it contains half the fat content. If you cannot avoid eating red meat, go lean. Trim the visible fat before cooking. Grill, roast or boil it to get rid of the invisible fat.  Top food habits include cooking with unsaturated vegetable oils like olive oil and Saffola instead of butter, lard or shortening. 

Go Non-Fat

Replace high-fat snacks like potato chips, candy bars, etc. with unbuttered popcorn, vegetables, and fruits. Go non-fat cow’s milk or soy milk instead of fresh cow’s milk. Sour cream based dressings can be replaced with low fat yogurt or cottage cheese. Skim the fat off soups by chilling them so that you can scrape off the top layer of fat. Going non-fat should be at the top of your food habits list.

 

Eating Habits

Food habits aren’t always literally about foods. It is also about eating. Remember to eat only when hungry. Never overeat. A common mistake made by people is relating food to negative emotions. The metabolism is much slower when there is stress on the body so remember never to eat when tired, tense or upset just for the sake of it. Eat five small meals a day rather than three big ones. Cut down on alcohol, coffee, tea and sodas. These beverages aren’t only bad for your health, they also have high calories. Do not eat late at night.

Know your Food Pyramid

There are carbohydrates that are good for you like asparagus, beans, broccoli, blueberries, cabbage, cantaloupe, citrus fruits etc. and there are bad carbohydrates such as bananas, breads, carrots, processed cereals, corn, pancakes, and potatoes. Knowing the food types and what they possess is part of good food habits. The trend nowadays is not limiting what you eat, rather knowing what you’re eating.

Read more →

Top 10 Health Tips for Elders

Being in your golden years is no excuse for living a sedentary life. In contrast, this is the stage where you must become more wary of your health. Some diseases are inevitable because they come with aging. The build-up of toxins, chemicals and fats during your younger years can take a toll on vital organs. The only way to prevent more damage from happening is to keep these health tips in mind.

01. Aerobic Exercises

Important health tips include aerobic exercises. What activities qualify as aerobic exercise? For most people, any exercise consisting of rhythmic, continuous movement that utilizes the large muscle groups of the body is fair game. Walking, biking, jogging, swimming, skiing, dancing, jumping rope, and even stair climbing are all aerobic exercises.

02. Build Muscle

A popular form of aerobics for the elderly is floor aerobics. This is an aerobics routine performed on a floor without the use of paraphernalia during the exercise except some free weights or big rubber bands for some routines.

03. Increase your Bone Density

Osteoporosis, a disease that affects bone density attribute to calcium loss, is common among the elderly. Health tips from experts often involve running. Long distance running increases bone density in the legs considerably. You can also supplement your calcium needs by taking non-fat milk fortified with calcium or calcium supplements.

04. Burn Fat

Ballroom dancing is beneficial as a fat burning and cardiovascular workout if done continuously for 25 to 30 minutes non-stop. It is a great stress buster. Taebo is also a good fat-burning regimen for seniors because it is a fun sport. Like ballroom dancing, it reduces fat and strengthens the cardiovascular muscles. It is a workout that uses a combination of taekwondo and boxing.

05. Stretch your Muscles

Strengthening exercises of the skeletal muscles will prevent low back pain and improve posture. A good stretch regimen is yoga.

06. Breathe Well

This is the most important of all health tips. Breathing supports every body function. Every breath you take stimulates oxygen consumption and utilization. It is necessary to feed your body with oxygen. Without oxygen, a molecule call ATP cannot release its vital energy. Without vital energy, you will not function.

07. Avoid Bad Vices

Cigarette smoking destroys the body supply of vitamin C. Almost all health tips discourage cigarette smoking. This is one of the reasons why smokers develop deeper facial lines than non-smokers. If you are a passive smoker, make sure that you get your share of vitamin C.

08. Eat Berries

Eating more berries can boost your immune system and fight cancer. Ellagic Acid found in red raspberries, strawberries, and cranberries can clear the body of cancer causing chemicals and is a powerful anti-oxidant.

09. Get Regular Checkups

Health tips are quite effective if you know what your goal is. A regular check-up would inform you about the right diet, exercise regimen and more. Be sure to visit your doctor regularly

10. Natural Anti-oxidants

Fruits, vegetables and whole grains may be able to prevent or halt many illnesses associated with aging.

Read more →

How to Improve My Health: A Quick Guide to Good Health and a Sense of Well-Being

Whether it is because of a sudden ailment, a near-death experience or simply a general interest in healthy living and looking fit, everyone asks themselves this question sometime in their lives; “how can I know how to improve my health?” People look for special diet guides, exercise techniques and lifestyle tips that can lengthen the longevity of their lives, improve their immunity to diseases, or even to get that bikini body that they’ve always wanted.

If you are one of the many people who are in need of health improvement techniques and ideas straight from the experts, then this blog is for you. It can give you the know-how you need in order to get the health results that you have been looking for. Just like the title of this blog says, this article will provide a quick rundown on some easy tips that are guaranteed to put you on your way to a clean bill of health.

How to Improve My Health: Tips and Ideas

Before naming the different diets and exercises that one can take in order to promote healthy living, one must first start off with simple lifestyle changes that require no heavy lifting and are generally easy to do. You will not have to pay to get them, and they can make every day of your life a little more enjoyable than the last.

The first and essential step is to get an ample amount of sleep every day. In fact, lack of sleep can cause a plethora of health ailments and disorders. If you are in search for answers on how to improve my health, then you may be aware of the fact that not getting enough sleep can leave you without energy and stamina for the day ahead. Any work, recreation or exercises that you endeavor upon could be sabotaged by not getting the recommended 8 hours of sleep a night. In contrast, sleeping well can have wonderful implications on healthy weight loss, immunity to diseases and general happiness as a whole.

Opening yourself to new relationships and strengthening old relationships is also a cornerstone of health. Studies have shown that having good relationships with your family, co-workers, and community can have significant benefits to your health. Man is a social animal, and becoming a social person is incredibly healthy and natural. Sometimes, it’s not just about how to improve my health, but rather how to improve our health. Good company can turn you and your colleagues into healthier people in mind, body and soul.

Also keep a hopeful and optimistic outlook on life. Pessimists have been shown to be less happy and more prone to illness than those who look for the silver lining in even the greyest horizon. People with a positive perspective on life are at less risk for contracting heart disease and other stress-related ailments. Being optimistic is no assurance that things are going to go the way you want all the time. What it does assure is that you are less likely to stress about the bad things in life, and more likely to enjoy the good things in life.

Sometimes, it is just the little changes that make all the difference. A little bit more sleep, a little more time spent in good company and a lighter outlook on life can mean a much healthier, happier you. If you are still asking how to improve my health, then check out the rest of the articles on this blog. You’re sure to find something that will make a world of difference in you.

Read more →