No matter how much temptation and cajoling, we couldn’t get her to eat an Easter egg. At work, Easter is another excuse to eat chocolate and for most of us, we unfurl the Easter egg foil and easily chomp on some chocolate. But the office health nut instead munches on a carrot – about as close to the Easter bunny as they’ll get. But what if they ate too many carrots? Or too many bran muffins? They are actually damaging their body in a way they may not realise; believing advice they read or heard and perhaps taking that advice too far. Yes, it is possible to be too healthy. There is a way though to have a healthy diet – one based on knowing what is reliable advice, and knowing how to follow it.

—-What is too healthy? Why go to extremes? —-

A diet that is too healthy means eating only a limited selection of foods specifically for their purported health properties. The lady who refused the Easter egg may be one who thinks that she will live happy and healthy in a body free from ‘bad food’ – she may even snack continually on carrots for better eyesight. Obsessive behaviour is one reason why people may go to extremes in their healthy eating. Other reasons include a health scare (at risk for osteoporosis), or an excuse to overindulge (red wine and dark chocolate). Many healthy eating extremes are also triggered by the concept of health-crazing.

—What is health-crazing?—

The evidence of health-crazing can be seen on checkout conveyor belts; punnets of blueberries, cans of salmon, and boxes of green tea. ‘So what?’ you might say, ‘What is the difference between the familiar food pyramid and the blurb on a box of tea about the powers of antioxidants?’ Basically, health-crazing is when diet is focused on one food rather than a total approach to health through a balanced diet. Health-crazing isn’t necessarily bad unless it influences the fundamental balance of nutrients within the body.

—When health-crazing goes too far—

Even those of us who aren’t strict with everything in their diet may tend to favour one food. Over a period of about eight months, Suzie* ate three bran muffins each day, and a bowl of bran cereal for breakfast. Sure, she was ‘regular’ but then she was too regular, causing a rectal tear, pain and lethargy. Bran also reduces iron uptake; an explanation for her low haemoglobin level. The solution? She cut down on the bran, and increased so-called ‘stodge’ foods like fats. But what drives the craze that made Suzie fixate on bran? Or an office colleague gulp down their morning blueberry smoothie? The answer is money. Why else would someone steal an entire blueberry field in Canada after the health craze for blueberries reached fever pitch?

The recipe for the smoothie may have come from a women’s magazine, a TV show, or any number of advertisements that bombard us with the latest in food with properties to burn fat, give youth, and arouse libido. But how can you tell if this advice is even genuine?

—What is genuine advice?—

Remember our office colleague at the beginning of the article? Eventually we got her to eat the Easter egg – we used the magic words: ‘Scientists say it’s good for you’. But who are these scientists and can we believe them? There are ways to recognise whether advice used in heath-crazing is genuine.

The hallmarks of dubious advice include…

++ vague source of information – common phrases are mentioned, such as ‘scientists say’ or ‘it has been proven’. There is no reference to who the scientists are, and whether they are from public or private enterprise.

++the entertainment angle – current affairs shows are notorious for their thinly researched stories of magic water and fat loss foods as they know that these topics have sure-fire ratings.

++ marketing angle/money to be made. For example, advertorials about the benefits of high calcium intake from a company that just happens to sell calcium enriched milk.

Genuine advice is…

++ sourced from a thorough study – peer reviewed, trialled and the product/thoery is used over a period of time.

++ endorsed – if a government body also endorses scientific findings then this adds credibility to the discovery. But be wary of endorsement that sounds important but is really just a front for commercial organisations eg the ‘Tobacco Information Service’ run by the Tobacco Merchants Association.

++ able to be researched for yourself – look for a source, such as in a medical journal. Then go and read the full article. Look for how the study was conducted, how many participants, what was the error margin, etc.

Does all this reading and double-checking sound like a lot of effort? Who do we believe? Thankfully there is an answer to a truly healthy diet and it doesn’t involve hard work or sacrifice; it’s about getting the balance right.

The Recommended Daily Intake - RDI – is a proven scientific analysis of all the nutrients the body needs to function at optimal level. Each macronutrient (eg carbohydrate), vitamin (eg Vitamin C) and mineral (Eg Calcium) has a measurement that the body must intake each day, ranging from micrograms to grams. But how do you know if you’re meeting this level, or exceeding it?

Read the labels on the packaging, for example, a slice of typical wholemeal and grain bread has 7% of the RDI for iron. Be aware of which nutrients have an upper limit that must not be exceeded or else adverse health effects may arise. For example, any more than five carrots a day (Vitamin A Carotene) will cause skin to tinge orange. Fat soluble Vitamin A Retinol found in liver and fortified milk, in the short term can cause headaches and vomiting and in the longer term, hair loss and liver damage if consumed in greater quantities than 3000 milligrams a day, which is approx three times the RDI usually caused by exceeding dosages in vitamin supplements.

Being too healthy can be harmful to your health unless you follow genuine advice within scope of the RDI. The key to a truly healthy diet is balance; never ever eat too much of one thing, and allow some indulgences like Easter eggs. After all, the Easter bunny eats carrots, but he eats chocolate too.

* Name changed.

And if you doubt the facts in I’ve written, then good, I’ve proved my point.

Go read more about where I got the information:

+++Carrots turning skin orange: www.dietitician.com/vitamina.html

+++Too much Vitamin A retinol: Department of Health and Ageing and Ministry of Health, 2006, Nutrient Reference Values for Australia and New Zealand Executive Summary, Commonwealth of Australia. PDF From www.nhmrc.gov.au

+++Stealing a Blueberry farm: http://bluecrabbouevard.com, Sep 21 2006

+++What happens when you overdose on vitamins: Note, can you trust these sources?: LifeForce Hospitals, 1999, ‘Vitamin Overdose’ `http://chemo.net/newpage35.htm 1999 and

Changing Shape, ‘Vitamin, mineral, chart’, www.changingshape.com/resources/references/vmchart.asp

Tobacco Merchants Association: www.tma/org tobacco

Typical bread iron quantity: Burgen bread, www.burgen.co.nz

Need Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, an estimated two thirds of young people to mental health services, are not always. It ‘time to explore a career in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry mental health health.Mental career ProfileEstablish and maintaining interpersonal relationships, personal, and very often hidden, information, and then use this information could save your life someone. If you think a meaningful career is much more than a salary, would be the mental health of your profession. With a growing population and the identification of new diseases, the industry is ripe for growth and discovery.Child and mental health services for young people in general to a variety of mental, emotional and substance abuse problems children present every day, concentrate. This may mean to the patient as an individual or group contexts to find answers to developmental disorders. Workplaces can also hospitals, clinics, schools, and career development for mental health facilities.A competitive EdgeWhy intellectual achievements? In a word: diversity. One of the main advantages of a career in this profession is that usually is not limited to a length predictable. There are several steps level to meet a wide range of interests and level of education to be. Many of the niches overlap, which you can explore as you wish. Some of the options available: • • Clinical psychology Psychiatry Occupational therapy • Psychiatric Nursing • Social services • Psychotherapy • developmentFlexibility Language is another important advantage. A surprising percentage of mental health professionals are self-employed within their practice or as a freelance consultant. Given that mental health is a coveted profession, graduates may find they can create their own paths to decide when and how much work on the basis of their personal and professional obligations.Mental think of health in most people NumbersWhen mental health, the psychologist usually comes to mind. It can be a good start, when the growth potential in the field of child psychiatry and mental health of adolescents. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that psychologists only 166,000 jobs held in 2006. And employment of psychologists is expected to increase by 15 percent by the year 2016 – which is faster than the national average. Even psychologists in primary and secondary schools enjoyed a higher annual average wage and the wage level of $ 66,040. To follow the career PathWhile all professionals in the field of mental health in general for bachelor degree in a relevant, students should be able to compete for their jobs than a specialist, or pursue a doctorate in psychiatry, psychology or counseling . For example, if you enjoy the view in schools that have established a specialist (EDS), a graduate school in psychology, traditionally requires 3 years of full-time study and a 1-full-time for future years internship.The psychologists tend to be more severe. Geri Fox, Director of Psychiatry of Medical Education degree with the University of Illinois at Chicago, promotes board certification through the completion of two years of child and adolescent psychiatry training, in addition to earning board certification in general psychiatry.

Read more http://www.pannipa.com

Most of us want to lose weight and/or get healthier than we are. Healthy eating plans are the key to that.

This doesn’t mean that eating healthily and making sure to take in balanced levels of nutrition are the only ways to lose those ten or one-hundred pounds. Starvation diets are popular, as are programs that completely eschew certain food groups at all times or certain hours or limit intake to only a few food types. These are only a few of your options, walk through the diet aisle in any bookstore and you’ll find a thousand more.

Because our bodies react to any drastic change in nutrition or calorie intake by processing more calories to make up for any lack, it is usually fairly easy to start losing weight quickly. Sustaining the weight loss can be at least as difficult as sticking to any radical dietary change, even harder is keeping a significant amount of weight off. Historically, a high percentage of people on diets regain at least the amount lost, if not significantly more.

This is not to imply weight loss through a change in diet is impossible. However, what is crucial to sustainability is changing our eating habits entirely. This means that rather than simply restriction or some other radical alteration, finding a healthy plan that can be stuck to, and which can affect an overall change in eating habits, is what will work best to take weight off, improve our health and keep it that way.

To that end, healthy eating plans are critical, not only to losing weight – which is not always the goal of a change in eating habits, thin people can be unhealthy too – but also to becoming an overall healthier person. All the nutrition in the world will only work if it’s combined with an active program for making it work.

It is common knowledge that we should all regularly consume healthy foods.  Sadly, most of us do not. Many of us are guilty of gorging on foods that are filled with saturated fat and loads of useless calories. Between meals, we have a tendency to reach for greasy chips or sugary candy bars instead of healthy snacks.

This article will give you a solid foundation on which to build some healthy eating habits. Learning the many benefits of a healthy diet can be very uplifting and may motivate you to alter your eating habits for the better.

One particularly disturbing fact is that most people do not consume the recommended five fruits and vegetables per day!  Regularly forgoing your fruits and veggies may lead to life threatening complications years down the line.

Avoid serious obstacles early by eating five fruits and vegetable daily. If you are like the many others that find it difficult to consume the recommended amount, try following these simple tips:

* Most people love spaghetti bolagnaise. Why not dice some of your favorite vegetable to add to your bolagnaise sauce? You may not even taste the difference!

* Drink a fair amount of fruit juices. Any fruit juice will do. A single glass of juice every day will take care of one of your five servings!

* Oddly enough, people don’t seem to count potatoes towards their daily vegetable servings. Potatoes fall into the vegetable category too. It’s easy to shuffle in potatoes with almost every meal. There are so many healthy recipes available for free online that it is almost overwhelming.  If you find yourself wracking your brain to think of healthy recipes containing fruits and vegetables, then try a search engine.

Another alarming fact is that 95% of us are ingesting copious amounts of processed foods. We eat foods containing added chemicals, extra salt and large quantities of sugar. These foods are scattered throughout grocery stores nationwide, but ‘TV Dinners’ and other convenience foods are the main offenders.

It is absolutely critical that you begin eating a consistent diet of healthy foods.

Do Not Read This Unless You are Making a lot of Money!:

If you would like to know how you can save up to 47% on your current Health Insurance Coverage read on… this is going to be one of the most informative messages you will ever read. After reading this message you will never going to have words; expensive and health insurance in the same sentence.

As you already know health insurance costs are at highest they have ever been and there is no sign of them slowing down. More and more Americans are forced to cancel their coverage simply just because they cannot afford it.

Who are the uninsured?

• Approximately 46 million Americans, or 15.7 percent of the population, were without health insurance in 2004 (the latest government data available).

• The number of uninsured rose 800,000 between 2003 and 2004 and has increased by 6 million since 2000.

• The increase in the number of uninsured in 2004 was focused among working age adults. The percentage of working adults (18 to 64) who had no health coverage climbed from 18.6 percent in 2003 to 19.0 percent in 2004. An increase of over 750,000 in 2004.

• Nearly 82 million people – about one-third of the population below the age of 65 spent a portion of either 2002 or 2003 without health coverage.

• The number of uninsured children in 2004 was 8.3 million – or 11.2 percent of all children in the U.S. (1).

You might say that I have great coverage that I am happy with… that’s totally fine.

For past sever years average rate increase for health insurance was 16.2% and what if it keeps on going? If you are right now paying $500 per month for your health insurance in three years from now you would expect to pay over $780 for the same plan. Wait… we all know that insurance companies consistently decrease their benefits and increase co-pays and deductible. Therefore you will pay more for less coverage. By the way if you keep same plan for over five years you will pay over $1000 a month just for your medical coverage. What if you use your Health Insurance?… Chances are if it is not for a regular doctor visits or a check ups it would be considered pre-existing condition. That means your chances of changing to a more affordable coverage in the future will be nearly impossible. That is one of the main reasons people cancel their health insurance because they were diagnosed with something or taking a prescription medication and the insurance company kept raising their rate until they could not qualify for any other coverage and could not afford the one they had.

Now you are saying I do not need coverage my spouse works for a company and I have group coverage… Great.

What would happen if your spouse left that job or the company stopped providing benefits? Probably the most obvious things that you can see how much that group coverage is really costing you. Next time check how much is deducted out of the paycheck for health coverage, especially for dependents. Group plans do cost more money because by law they are what are called “guaranteed issue”. That means you can have serious medical conditions and still get coverage. Insurance companies have to follow the law and they know they have to accept everyone who works for a large company, therefore they do charge more money for coverage. The biggest problem is not the cost of group health insurance it is what happens if some one, while on the group plan, is diagnosed with a condition or starts to take prescriptions medications. We get back to same issues as mentioned before, unable to qualify for health insurance in the future. There are people that want to leave their job but they cannot because they are going through treatment and cannot to pay for it on their own.

There is another solution… Some might save, so what is the point of even having health insurance. Once you diagnosed with something and insurance company is going to keep raising rates to the point where I am going to have to cancel it anyway. Especially if something does happen and I have to use my coverage I might not be working and I might not have income. Is my insurance company is still going to keep raising my rates? YES.

Before you think about cancelling your coverage consider this. Here are some statistics

• A recent study by Harvard University researchers found that the average out-of-pocket medical debt for those who filed for bankruptcy was $12,000. In addition, the study found that 50 percent of all bankruptcy filings were partly the result of medical expenses. Every 30 seconds in the United States someone files for bankruptcy in the aftermath of a serious health problem.

• Illness and medical bills caused half of the 1,458,000 personal bankruptcies in 2001, according to a study published by the journal Health Affairs.

• Average day in the hospital is $7500 per day.

How can you save up to 47% on your health insurance? Simple… You probably already heard of Health Saving Accounts. They are becoming more and more popular everyday. With the way health insurance prices are moving today Health Saving Accounts are the only way to keep your coverage, save hundreds per month on your health insurance and still have a peace of mind.

To this day I was not able to hear a good definition that everyone can understand. I will do everything I can to make it simple to understand. The easiest way to understand Health Saving Accounts is to think of them as Roth IRA or your Company’s 401k plan. Instead of giving your money away to insurance company you get to keep it more of it for yourself. The way HSA plans work is there health insurance combined with savings account which works in a similar way to your retirement account. There tremendous benefits to have HSA qualified health plan. First all the money that you put in to your HSA account is 100% tax deductible and it is your money that rolls over year after year. At the age of 65 and up if you have not used up all of your HSA money you can roll it over in to your retirement account. Second your health insurance costs are going to be cut almost in half. For example if you had Health Insurance plan with $2500 deductible now and it is costing you $300 per month the same plans with HSA qualified plan, now will cost you only about $160 per month. The reason you save so much money with HSA qualified health plan is because HSA qualified plans do not cover anything until the deductible is met. There are exceptions depending on the Health Insurance Company. Some insurance companies will pay for your once a year physical before you meet your deductible.

Let take an example of how HSA qualified plan could benefit you. Let take some actual numbers from actual health insurance company. In this example I am going to use HSA plans from company called Assurant Health. Assurant Health is leader in Health Saving Accounts and they one of the first companies to implement them. The main reason is that Assurant Health is part of the world’s largest financial company that sets up retirement accounts. In this example I am going to use a family of four, husband 46, wife 42, kids are 12 and 16. On a regular family plan with $2500 deductible, maximum out of pocket of $5500, co-insurance of 80% and doctor visits covered with $35 co-pay, they are going to pay $676.40. Something to keep in mind that all of the regular PPO plans that are available on the market today have family deductible which is double of individual deductible. That means that if you have a plan with $2500 deductible and $5500 maximum out of pocket that means that your family deductible is $5000 and your family maximum out of pocket is $11,000. When we are comparing HSA qualified health plans there is only one deductible, once you meet it you are covered at 100% on the most plans. There are some companies and plans that you still might be responsible for the percent age of the bill until you reach your maximum out of pocket. Most HSA plans do not have maximum out of pocket that meant once you met your deductible you are covered at 100%, it’s that simple. The same plan with $5700 deductible for the entire family with HSA qualified health plans will only be $491.64 per month. For the total monthly savings of 184.76 per month. Also your maximum out of pocket will decrease from $11,000 on a regular plan to $5700 with HSA health plan. That’s yearly savings of $2,217.12 and additional savings of $5300 on the maximum out of pocket. (that’s if you have had to use the plan for emergencies) The main reason for starting HSA health insurance is for Saving Account and being able to put money in to account, at your discretion, tax free. You can put money in to HSA qualified account up to your deductible and you do not have to put any money in to that account if you do not want to. Health Saving Accounts are as flexible as you would want them to be. TO get more information on HSA accounts and get quotes for HSA qualified health coverage see my bio.