Dangerous drinking glasses

 I ran across this article which discusses the levels of lead and other toxic metals in cartoon glasses that have been sold at fast food restaurants like McDonalds and kid friendly places like Walt Disney. It discusses some of the glasses that were found to have these toxic metals from the designs on the outside of the glasses. I don't have kids but I remember having a lot of these types of glasses in the house when I was growing up so I think bringing the information to the general public is very important. The article is very informative and you may find that you have some of these glasses in your own home.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40309111/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/wid/11915773

Pre-Thanksgiving Plan

 I thought the following article was interesting for those who are looking to stay healthy or eat healthy on what in my opinion can be one of the unhealthiest days of the year. When I was growing up, Thanksgiving dinner was held at my grandmother's house and was a big event. It could be considered an annual family reunion of sorts. It was not uncommon to have 5-10 different pies or desserts on a table which didn't include all sorts of other baked goods like fudge, brownies, cookies and my favorite...homemade popcorn balls. All this was in addition to turkey, ham and all the other normal fixings.

 As the years have passed, many of us have our own families and Thanksgiving is more of an immediate family thing now. There is still lots of food but I try to watch what I eat and focus on eating more of the healthy foods. The article gives some good steps on the days leading up to Turkey Day to help you stay on your healthy path.

http://health.msn.com/healthy-living/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100220323

Cigarette Pack Images

Smoking was a big issue my house when I was growing up. Both parents smoked mulitple packs a day and the whole house smelled like smoke. After awhile you got used to the smell but if you spent a considerable amount of time out of the house, you could pick up on it immediately upon coming back in. The FDA proposed graphic new images which can be found in the following link:
http://www.fda.gov/TobaccoProducts/Labeling/CigaretteProductWarningLabels/default.htm

 The image to be displayed will be chosen by July 2011 and cigarette companies will have until 10/22/12 to put the images on the packs and they will have to cover 50% of the front and back. The idea is interesting and a good step in the right direction. The following link is the article:
http://health.msn.com/health-topics/quit-smoking/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100267002

Drug-coated stents

 I posted this article after reading it because it affected me personally. My stepfather has lived pretty hard, which has included heavy drinking, smoking and eating a lot of fatty red meats. He had a heart attack about 15 years ago at the age of 32. He started to live a healthier life after the heart attack but within a few years, the unhealthy lifestyle had come back. I'm interested to know whether the drug-coated stents of today can be effective despite someone who lives like my stepfather. If you're interested in reading about this newer version of the stent, please read the following article.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40213927/ns/health-heart_health/

Smoking and Cancer

 I grew up in a household where both my parents smoked a lot and luckily I never picked up the habit. The bad thing is that my younger brothers are going through the same thing and 2 of them have asthma which the smoke just makes worse. Now there is research that not only are you getting second hand smoke from the smokers around you, but you may even be a risk for developing a different type of cancer than a smoker could be facing. This is the first I've heard of non-smoker cancer so if any of my readers know anything more, I would be interested in hearing the information.

http://health.msn.com/health-topics/cancer/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100266662

Saturated fats vs. fertility

 I know most of my readers are probably not in the stage of life that I am but I found this particular article interesting. It may be something to think about for the future for those of you looking to have a family. We've learned from class and as we're growing up that saturated fats are bad for your health for a number of reasons. This gives you another reason to be careful of what is going in your mouth.

 http://health.msn.com/healthy-living/nutrition/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100266349

 This article didn't mention about how saturated fats affect women but I have read that women should avoid these as well as refined starches and simple sugars like those in processed breakfast cereals and soft drinks. Hormone imbalance can occur as a result which has an impact on fertility.

Breast Cancer

 As many of you may know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I wanted to take some time to give you a little info on breast cancer and an easy way to help fight this disease.

 Breast cancer doesn't just effect women as men are susceptible to it to. Each year, approximately 200,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer and of those, 40,000 women will die from it. About 1,700 men are diagnosed with 450 deaths resulting from it.
 Dannon and the National Breast Cancer Foundation have teamed up in an effort to raise $1.5 million for breast cancer education and support services. On the tops of Dannon products, you can find a code that can be entered online at http://www.cupsofhope.com/. Each time you enter a code, 10 cents will go towards this goal. Even if the goal is not reached, a guaranteed $500,000 will be donated by Dannon.
 Some controllable risk factors that you can control yourself are being obese or overweight, lack of physical activity, a diet high in saturated fat, and having more than 2 alcoholic drinks a day. For more information on breast cancer, please visit http://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/About-Breast-Cancer/.

Junk Food: The New Weight Loss Diet?

 When I first saw the title of this article, I was intrigued on how exactly someone was going to make a case for eating junkfood as a diet. Acheiving weight loss is a matter of adjusting your calories out vs. calories in. The professor in this article took a unique approach to teaching his students this fact. Some may not agree with his approach but after thinking about it, I believe it makes a bigger statement about limiting calories that you take in. Understanding that there are other factors that may help or inhibit weight loss, the basic principle is still there. Read it and let me know if it makes sense to you. http://health.msn.com/health-topics/diabetes/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100264421

Keep running interesting

 I haven't always been a runner but I have started running while I was in the military. Mostly due to being a requirement. The more I ran, the better I felt overall. Eventually I started getting bored with the repetitiveness my normal running routes and the treadmill. I needed to find new challenges to keep me interested and excited about running. I checked with the gym I went to and searched online to find new options. I found a website, http://runningintheusa.com/Race/Default.aspx, and started competing in 5K events in my area. Most races offer run/walk option so anyone can do them and it's great for your health and overall fitness. Recently my wife and I competed in an event called Warrior Dash which is a 5K run mixed with an obstacle course. http://www.warriordash.com/ The best part to most of these events is that there is also a charitable aspect of them. Some just donate a portion of entry fees but others take it a step further. For example, we had an opportunity to donate our sneakers after the warrior dash which would be cleaned and donated to developing countries.

Salmon...genetically altered.

I recently came across an article discussing the topic of genetically altering Salmon. I found it interesting as I'm a big seafood fan and thought that this would be something worth knowing about. The developer states his case for decreased pollution and overfishing but at what cost? Read more in the article and see if it's worth it. http://health.msn.com/medications/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100264100