Health Care - A Populist Solution

It should be obvious by now that the U.S. health care system is not going to be happily corrected from the top down. If we truly had a free-market competitive system with many insurance companies vying for the public's business, that should bring prices of their service down, right?

How can our President be an honest broker in a negotiation with the fabulously wealthy health insurance corporations, the pharmaceutical industry, and others who were major contributors to his election? It simply is not going to happen. These folks have spent a lot of money and time to get their corporations into a position where they have got the most profitable game in town, and -- as we have seen with the heavy Wall Street influence on this administration -- they are not going to be forced to give it all up, just to make the American people happy.

An article recently appeared in the newspaper by T.R. Reid, which gives a rundown of the administrative costs of various health insurance plans around the world, with ours included. The U.S. topped them all at 20% being spent on paperwork, reviewing claims, and marketing. The European countries and Canada ran about 4-6% administrative costs. Taiwan came in the lowest at 1.5%! It shouldn't require private detective sleuthing around the corridors of power in Washington to help us figure out that Americans are under the thumb of an uncompetitive and -- I may as well say it -- corrupt system.

We have a system where the people with the most to gain, "gain access" to our political leaders with the help of well-connected lobbyists to get their views heard. Then, when election time rolls around, mega-contributions flow into the appropriate party's account in return for favorable legislation that allows the corporations to maintain their strangle-hold on our shrinking American economy. It's all a highly-ritualized dance here, but in any Third-World country the same general process is called corruption and influence-buying. The results are the same, whatever we call it.

Healthy Eating and Lifestyle Habits That Keep You Young

According to most health and nutrition experts, your body is only as good as the stuff you give it. If you keep eating junk food, then you literally become junk too. If you eat foods high in cholesterol, fat and other harmful elements, you get exposed to more diseases and infections, and you age earlier and get fat as well. Here are a number of healthy eating and lifestyle habits to follow, to ensure that you stay fit and look young longer.

Eat Three Full Meals Each Day

The key to healthy eating is by having a balanced diet, and by eating three full meals a day, along with 2 to 3 low-fat snacks in between. This means that you eat a little bit every three hours, instead of skipping meals during daytime, and binging during dinner time. In healthy eating, good balance is key, which means that you must have a sampling of all the major food groups. Therefore, eat balanced amounts of protein, fiber, unsaturated fat, vegetables and fruits.

Take Vitamins And Supplements

By taking vitamins and supplements each day, you actually help keep the doctor away. Supplements are great because they help the body break down the essential nutrients and minerals more efficiently, as well as aid in the digestion and assimilation of food, and provide other essential nutrients too.

Cut Down On Processed Foods

Most of the processed foods sold in grocery stores today often have ingredients that are detrimental to our health. Many processed foods come loaded with artificial flavorings and preservatives. Try cutting down on your consumption of processed foods, and instead hike your intake of fresh fruits and vegetables. When going to the grocery, always make it a habit to read the labels. You'll be surprised just how much trans-fat, sodium or sugar is in the favorite food item you're buying.

Health Benefits to Cure Panic Attacks

While in the throes of a panic attack, many people feel like they are having a heart attack or stroke or as if they are suffocating. But while it is unquestionably frightening and uncomfortable, a single or occasional panic attack is unlikely to cause you any serious health consequences. Such attacks usually pass within 10 or 20 minutes, and the main physical after-effect is mostly likely to be fatigue.

So if a panic attack is not going to kill you, is it really that big a deal? Maybe you can just learn to live with it. How important is it to get find for panic attacks?

In fact, there are major long-term health benefits to treatment for people in whom panic attacks are not just isolated or occasional events, but frequent and/or severe. For most people, frequent and continued panic attacks will lead to a constant state of worry or anticipatory anxiety, which is a key indicator that what you have is not just a panic attack but a panic disorder. And constant anticipatory anxiety has long-term negative consequences for your overall health as well as your happiness.

This kind of anxiety can actually weaken the body's immune system and make it more vulnerable to a whole host of ailments. Some of the most common physical reactions that can be traced to anxiety are muscular tension and shoulder and lower back pain, more frequent colds, ulcers, acid stomach/acid reflux, digestive disorders such as irritable bowel and ulcerative colitis, teeth grinding, headaches, and sleep disorders.

And while it's true that isolated panic attacks generally do not cause immediate heart damage, there actually is evidence of an increased risk of heart attack and stroke over the long term for people who suffer from panic disorder or agoraphobia.