Archive for November, 2009
Allergy Symptoms & Treatments : How to Cure Chemical Allergies
An allergy to chemicals, more appropriately known as a chemical intolerance, can only be treated by avoidance of that chemical. Avoid contact with an irritating chemical with health information from an immunologist in this free video on allergies.
Expert: Ana Lamas
Bio: Dr. Ana Lamas is an immunologist and allergist with two practices in Miami, Florida.
Filmmaker: Paul Muller
Duration : 0:1:3
“Health Food” vs. Healthy Food — How to read labels
Do you know how to read food labels? Maybe you THOUGHT you did. Truth is, you probably don’t.
But Jeff Novick, MS, RD — of the McDougall program — does. And in his full talk he shows the 3 easy steps you MUST know if you ever buy foods at any supermarket or “health” food store.
In this online excerpt, Novick — who used to be a food service manager at Kraft Foods — exposes one of the dirty secrets major food corporations use to deceive consumers. It’s no accident labels are so confusing!
High-protein/low-carb diet proponents claim that the US started eating “low-fat” foods 20 years ago and yet still gained weight, “proving” that the low-fat diet wasn’t effective.
But that’s nonsense, as Novick demonstrates in his talk.
The foods weren’t/aren’t low-fat at all. Food companies use sleight of hand to make them appear that way.
Novick shows how to cut through the nonsense of food labeling to see what you need to see, and understand what you’re really getting.
This is an excerpt from Novick’s 80-minute talk at the VegSource 2007 Healthy Lifestyle Expo, and part of a 12-part series of top health expert presentations.
In his full fascinating and entertaining presentation, Novick teachers the “three easy rules” for cutting through the b.s. and quickly understanding food labels, to know exactly what you’re getting. After watching his talk, you’ll never look at packaged food the same!
You can get a DVD set featuring all 12 amazing talks from the Expo 2007. CLICK HERE for more info: https://secure2.vegsource.com/catalog/
or go to VEGSOURCE.COM and click on STORE
Duration : 0:9:24
Mediterranean Diet : The Heart Health Diet, Lower Cholesterol, Lose Weight
http://eCa.sh/meddiet , The Mediterranean Diet and Why its such a good Diet for losing weight, lowering cholesterol, and having a Healthy Heart.
Duration : 0:2:50
It’s NUTS that the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act
The fact is that physicians, surgeons, the health care team, and the patient should determine hospital length of stay . . . NOT the insurance companies and their administrators who sit in their corporate offices making decisions based on $$$ instead of what is best for human beings.
Someone asked for more information pros/cons . . . well, this is the best I can do:
http://www.aafp.org/afp/20030401/tips/17.html
http://www.statcan.ca/english/studies/82-003/archive/2004/16-1-b.pdf
http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/90/11/833.pdf
http://books.google.com/books?id=qp7wF9pwsTUC&pg=PA75&lpg=PA75&dq=determining+hospital+length+of+stay+mastectomy&source=web&ots=9RzTapzwbC&sig=Bzpkigv5wAiqRbh9JTEN12VLYEw&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=7&ct=result
http://www.jstor.org/pss/3763485
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract;jsessionid=DCD85EC6CEDCFBC9175A21BFDBA8389B.tomcat1?fromPage=online&aid=76815
http://www.pinkribbonreview.com/2008/05/28/understanding-the-breast-cancer-protection-act
And, I still don’t think anyone facing a serious illness should be forced to fight an insurance company when their only focus should be fighting for their life and health.
I would like to update to say that scottjoynh advised the following: An orchiectomy (removal of a cancerous testicle) is typically outpatient surgery. Thank you for providing this information.
Excellent blog: http://generationcancer.blogspot.com/2009/02/taking-tree-late-effects-are-teh_09.html
Generation Cancer by Matthew Zachary
I’m Too Young for This and The Stupid Cancer Show
http://i2y.com/about/leadership.shtml
Breast Cancer Early Act
http://www.youngsurvival.org/images/pdf/2009_07_joint_statement_breast_cancer_early_act_final_w_stories.pdf
Duration : 0:6:2
Nancy Ann-DeParle Speaks With AllBusiness.com About Health Insurance Reform
Nancy-Ann Deparle , Director of the White House Office of Health Reform, and Mark Duggan, Senior Economist, Council of Economic Advisors, discuss submitted questions and real world case studies about the benefits of health insurance Reform for small businesses with Allbusiness.coms Keith Girard
Duration : 0:22:20
chemical engineers, medicine and pharmacy students, how did you survive health and sciences, any tips to pass?
hello, if you are a student or ex students please do you have any tips on pasing sciences at university level, i mean these courses are too hard its not funny at all but one thing i’ve noticed is that majority of students actually pass and graduate in the end, so what are the things or secret that helped you to study and understand your courses, i know its not imposible but organic chemistry just doesn’t make any sense to me and i’m starting pharmacy next year, any advice on how to study and prepare will be appreciated.
generally, these students pass and graduate because of one key thing: commitment. you dont have to be a genius to pass chemistry or physics- believe me, ive done it and they are not my best subjects. you have to find an environment and method where you are most comfortable studying. i personally can only study at home, with low classical music playing (it helps with memorizing, so they say). in medical school, there are a TON of facts to memorize, so ive gotten my study habits down to a science (no pun intended)- making flash cards have save my butt on many an exam, and i used the barrons mcat review books to help me through my undergrad courses. they review the physical sciences, but without explaining everything step-by-step; your textbook will do that for you. these review books are useful in that they offer practice tests. also, ive found that barrons ‘organic chemistry the easy way’ (there are also books of the same name for general chem, physics and bio) is extremely helpful when you arent quite getting the concept you are going over in your textbook. i cant say it enough: practice problems, practice problems, practice problems! they are the key to understanding the hard sciences. good luck- if i got through it, so can you!
Artichokes: Best ways to cook them? I just discovered the health benefits of this food for my blood type.?
Thanks for your suggestions. (I don’t do a lot of cooking so I can all the tips I can get)
I find that simplest is best. Start by getting a serrated blade and cutting off the top half of the hard inedible leaves, and snipping the spines off the lower ones. Peel the stem (don’t cut it off) and steam for about 30-45 minutes or until the leaves pull off with no resistance. Serve with melted butter and garlic for dipping.
The lower outer leaves can be easily plucked, and scrape them of their meaty morsels. Once you start getting into the purple center leaves, remove all remaining leaves and carefully remove the fuzzy choke with a table knife (I like a grapefruit spoon for this). Enjoy the heart.
I want to lose weight due to pregnancy. I’m looking for a good health/diet supplement. Any suggestions?
It can be in powder or pill form. I want something to make my workout session really powerful as well as promoting my overall health. Any suggestions are helpful.
if you are really concerned about your "overall health",,,, you will not be looking for diet supplements that are in powder or pill form….
Do you want 0bama and everyone in his administration to have all access to your IRS information?
August 26, 2009 8:26 PM
Declan McCullagh – Democratic Health Care Bill Divulges IRS Tax Data
Posted by Declan McCullagh
(AP)
One of the problems with any proposed law that’s over 1,000 pages long and constantly changing is that much deviltry can lie in the details. Take the Democrats’ proposal to rewrite health care policy, better known as H.R. 3200 or by opponents as "Obamacare."
Section 431(a) of the bill says that the IRS must divulge taxpayer identity information, including the filing status, the modified adjusted gross income, the number of dependents, and "other information as is prescribed by" regulation. That information will be provided to the new Health Choices Commissioner and state health programs and used to determine who qualifies for "affordability credits."
Section 245(b)(2)(A) says the IRS must divulge tax return details — there’s no specified limit on what’s available or unavailable — to the Health Choices Commissioner. The purpose, again, is to verify "affordability credits."
Section 1801(a) says that the Social Security Administration can obtain tax return data on anyone who may be eligible for a "low-income prescription drug subsidy" but has not applied for it.
Over at the Institute for Policy Innovation (a free-market think tank and presumably no fan of Obamacare), Tom Giovanetti argues that: "How many thousands of federal employees will have access to your records? The privacy of your health records will be only as good as the most nosy, most dishonest and most malcontented federal employee…. So say good-bye to privacy from the federal government. It was fun while it lasted for 233 years."
I’m not as certain as Giovanetti that this represents privacy’s Armageddon. (Though I do wonder where the usual suspects like the Electronic Privacy Information Center are. Presumably inserting limits on information that can be disclosed — and adding strict penalties on misuse of the information kept on file about hundreds of millions of Americans — is at least as important as fretting about Facebook’s privacy policy in Canada.)
A better candidate for a future privacy crisis is the so-called stimulus bill enacted with limited debate early this year. It mandated the "utilization of an electronic health record for each person in the United States by 2014," but included only limited privacy protections.
It’s true that if the legislative branch chooses to create "affordability credits," it probably makes sense to ensure they’re not abused. The goal of curbing fraud runs up against the goal of preserving individual privacy.
If we’re going to have such significant additional government intrusion into our health care system, we will have to draw the privacy line somewhere. Maybe the House Democrats’ current bill gets it right. Maybe it doesn’t. But this vignette should be reason to be skeptical of claims that a massive and complex bill must be enacted as rapidly as its backers would have you believe.
Update August 27 11 a.m: Marc Rotenberg of the Electronic Privacy Information Center says in e-mail: "We would oppose section 431(a) of the bill because it violates the intent of the Privacy Act which generally requires agencies to obtain information directly from individuals and not from other agencies." EPIC still hasn’t updated their Web site to reflect this sentiment, but it’s good to know that other folks have concerns too.
________________________________________
Declan McCullagh is a correspondent for CBSNews.com. He can be reached at declan@cbsnews.com.
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/08/26/taking_liberties/entry5268079.shtml
You gotta be kidding, I don’t want this guy into any of my records, medical or otherwise.
Am I able to write off Health Insurance Premiums for tax purposes at the end of the year?
I am looking to purchase my own health insurance instead of going through my company. I know that the company takes out the cost on a pre-tax basis, but their insurance is not the greatest. If I do decided to sign up for health insurance, will I be able to use the cost of my own health insurance as a deduction fo tax purposes?
You may deduct qualified medical expenses you pay for yourself, your spouse, and your dependents, including a person you claim as a dependent under a Multiple Support Agreement. You can also deduct medical expenses you paid for someone who would have qualified as your dependent for the purpose of taking personal exemptions except that the person did not meet the gross income or joint return test.
You deduct medical expenses on Form 1040, Schedule A (PDF), Itemized Deductions. The total of all allowable medical expenses must be reduced by 7.5% of your Adjusted Gross Income. For more information, refer to Publication 502, Medical and Dental Expenses.