Everyone knows that muscle is much more attractive than fat. So when you lose weight, you want to build more muscle and not just diet to lose fat. But there are other health benefits to building muscle mass that should motivate you to hit the gym.

First of all, when you build muscle, you automatically reduce your percentage of body fat. And, you look better too. Muscle mass is approximately half as big as the mass of fat deposits.

That means that while five pounds of fat is approximately the size of three grapefruits, five pounds of muscle is more like three tangerines. Therefore, if you are exercising to lose weight, dont be surprised if you actually gain weight. This is not a bad thing! It means you are building muscle mass, and you will look much slimmer than before.

Other health benefits of building muscle mass include burning calories more quickly. Muscles use energy, fat just stores it. So when you have more muscles, you will burn more energy and maintain a healthy body weight more easily.

You do not have to build a lot of muscle mass to reap the benefits. Studies show that building only five pounds of muscle mass will make you healthier and more able to fight off disease. It doesnt take long to build muscle mass, either. Just thirty minutes three times a week is enough to reach your goals.

Lifting weights is the obvious way to build muscle mass, but swimming, running, or even walking will build muscle mass as well.

Timothy Gorman is a successful Webmaster and publisher of Health-Fitness-Solutions.com He provides more health related advice and muscle building secrets that you can research in your pajamas on his website.

While sitting back in her blue jeans and wearing a heavy workout sweater at the Legacy Emanuel Hospital's Emergency room, Angela Jones has her feet prompted up and crossed atop of a small table. When asked about health care issues and how they affect her, Angela explains that there is a portion of people who suffer from not having health care insurance. She makes it clear that some of those who suffer most are young people. Jones, who is a college student, declared her passion for the young because it falls under her own age group.

Says Jones, "The Oregon Health Plan should be open to more people who are under 21 years old. Private insurance shouldn't be so expensive for young people."

According to national surveys, the primary reason people are uninsured is the high cost of health insurance coverage. Notwithstanding, nearly one-quarter (23 percent) of the uninsured reported changing their way of life significantly in order to pay medical bills. Economists have discovered that increasing health care costs correlate to drops in health insurance coverage.

Jones believes that some of the greatest challenges that people face across this nation is obtaining affordable health care. "I would open an Oregon Health Plan to a variety of people who don't have insurance. It is hard to get health insurance."

Terri Heer, a registered nurse at a local hospital, claims that in order to improve America's health care system a key ingredient is to "make sure that everyone (has) access."

This would include cutting out on expenses that are not palpable to so called "health care needs". Heer says, "First, we spend a lot of money servicing people for illnesses that can be prevented. Some of the money spent can go to other things."

Over the long haul, should the nations health care system undergo significant changes, the typical patient may not necessarily see the improvements firsthand. "I would love to say there will be a lot of changes. I am not a pessimist, but I don't think there will be any change," says Heer. Heer does allude to the fact that if more money were spent for people in the health care arena, she says that there is a possibility that the necessary changes would be more evident.

Whether health care is affordable or not is an issue that affects everyone. According to a recent study last year, health care spending in the United States reached $2.3 trillion, and is projected to reach $3 trillion by 2011. By 2016, it is projected to reach $4.2 trillion. Although it is estimated that nearly 47 million Americans are uninsured, the U.S. spends more on health care than any other nation.

The rising tide of health care stems from several factors that has an affect on us all. First, there is an intensity of services in the U.S. health care system that has undergone a dramatic change when you consider that people are living longer coupled with greater chronic illnesses.

Secondly, prescription drugs and technology have gone through significant changes. The fact that major drugs and technological advancement has been a contributing factor for the increase in health care spending. Some analysts suggest that the improvement of state-of-art technologies and drugs increase health care spending. This increase not only attributes to the high-tech inventions, but also because consumer demand for these products has gone through the roof, so to speak.

Thirdly, there is an aging of the population. Since the baby boomers have reached their middle years, there is a tremendous need to take care of them. This trend will continue as baby boomers will qualify for more Medicare in 2011.

Lastly, there is the factor of administrative costs. Some would argue that the private sector plays a critical role in the rise of health care costs and the economic increase they produce in overhead costs. At the same time, 7 percent of health care expenses are a result of administrative costs. This would include aspects of billing and marketing.

Terra Lincoln is a woman who was found waiting in the Emergency room at the Providence Portland Medical Center. When asked about the rising costs of health care, she said, "If you don't have medical coverage, it'll cost you too much money. If I leave the hospital right now and I need to buy two (types) of medicines, I couldn't afford it." Lincoln says that she is a member of the OHP, but she believes that there are still issues that need to be addressed.

Terra recognizes that to reduce medical costs, she would have to start by getting regular checkups. "Sometimes people of color wait till they're in pain before they get a checkup," she said.

A national survey shows that the primary reason why people cannot afford health care is because of soaring costs of health care coverage. In a recent Wall-Street Journal-NBC survey it is reported that 50% of the American public claims that their highest and most significant economic concern is health care. Consequently, the rising cost of health care is the number one concern for Democratic voters.

Regarding the rising tide of health care, Kristin Venderbush, a native Wisconsin, and another patient in emergency at Providence says, "I worry a lot about what happens to the working poor. They don't have OHP. If you can't advocate for yourself, you will not get the health care you need...on every level."

Harvard University researchers conducted a recent study that discovered that the out-of-pocket medical debt for an average consumer who filed bankruptcy was $12,000. This study noted that 68 percent of those who had filed for bankruptcy carried health insurance. Apparently, these bankruptcy's were results from medical expenses. It was also noted in this study that every 30 seconds someone files for bankruptcy after they have had some type of serious health problem.

In spite of all the social and economic bureaucracy in the health care arena, some changes were made in Washington on January 28, 2008. In his State of the Union address, President Bush made inquired Congress to eliminate the unfair bias of the tax code against people who do not get their health care from their employer. Millions would then have more options that were not previously available and health care would be more accessible for people who could not afford it.

Consequently, the President believes that the Federal government can make health care more affordable and available for those who need it most. Some sources suggest that the President not only wants health care to be available for people, but also for patients and their private physicians so that they will be free to make choices as well. One of the main purposes for the health care agenda is to insure that consumers will not only have the freedom to make choices, but to also enable those to make decisions that will best meet their health care needs.

Kerry Weems, Acting Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, oversees the State Children's Health Insurance Program, also known as SCHIP. This is a critical program because it pays for the health care of more than six and a half million children who come from homes that cannot afford adequate health insurance. These homes exceed the pay scale for Medicaid programs, therefore are not able to participate.

During SCHIP's ten year span, states have used the program to assist families with low-income and uninsured children for their sense of well-being in the health care arena. The Bush Administration believes that states should do more of an effort to provide for the neediest children and enable them to get insurance immediately. The SCHIP was originally intended to cover children who had family incomes ranging from $20,650. This amount would typically include a family of four. According to sources, all states throughout the U.S. have SCHIP programs in place and just over six million children are served.

Children and Health Care

Washington's Perspective

What is driving health care costs?

The fact that the U.S. faces ever increasing health care woes, has left many to believe that the country's current crisis is on a lock-step path toward insolvability.

There are many reasons today why mens health is the focus of attention. Recent statistics have shown an increase in the illness and morbidity rates among men. Mens health is poor according to a wide range of measures. Some of the most significant are:

-Men tend to take more risks than women when it comes to their health. They are more likely to drink more than the normal alcohol limits, to smoke, to be overweight or to use illegal drugs.
-The average male life expectancy at birth is approximately 74 years while for women it is approximately 79 years.
-Men are more susceptible to die from HIV infection, cancer, accidents, heart disease and suicide.
-Men are more than twice as likely as women to have a major or minor accident.

Some of the factors that affect mens health are listed below. These factors are major concerns that have to be dealt with to reduce the fatality rate in men.

1. Alcoholism

Alcoholism is the consumption of alcoholic beverages to a point that this behavior impedes with the alcoholics normal life. The chronic alcohol consumption caused by alcoholism can result in psychological and physiological disorders.

Drinking alcohol is not always detrimental to health and in fact drinking in moderation can be good for you. Try to drink sensibly. Drinking 3 to 4 units (or less) a day for men is just fine. You should see to it that these daily limits shouldnt exceed even if you only drink occasionally. A few days in a month without any alcohol can prove to be quite beneficial to your overall health, too. Binge drinking and intoxication through alcohol should be completely avoided.

Alcoholism can Affect Your Health in Various Ways:

Alcohol can damage many of the bodys organs leading to liver disease, some cancers and high blood pressure. High blood pressure often leads to coronary heart disease and many kinds of stroke. Excess alcohol can also make you overweight or obese which further result in other complications.

Apart from causing physical damage, alcoholism also affects your psychological behaviour. It increases the chances of violent and aggressive behaviour by men. Alcoholism has been the root cause for many incidents of domestic violence and child abuse. Men who are heavy drinkers develop psychological and emotional problems such as depression. Alcohol dependence is like nicotine or other drug addictions and can be very difficult to overcome.

3. Tobacco Smoking

Tobacco smoking or simply "smoking" is the act of burning the dried or cured leaves of the tobacco plant and inhaling the smoke for various reasons. It could be for pleasure or ritualistic purposes, or out of habit and to satisfy addiction. Tobacco smoke contains an addictive stimulant called nicotine that briefly improves alertness, memory and mood. But nicotine also forms a strong physical and psychological chemical dependence or addiction. Medical studies have shown that main health risks in tobacco pertain to diseases of the cardiovascular system, in particular smoking being a major risk factor for cancer, particularly lung cancer and cancers of the larynx and tongue, myocardial infarction (heart attack), Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and emphysema.

It is estimated that about 1 in 3 people smoke in the UK. In Britain, every day around 320 smokers die due to tobacco smoking. The health consequences of tobacco smoking are linked to direct tobacco smoking, passive smoking, breathing of environmental or secondhand tobacco smoke. A recent study showed that nonsmokers lived about 10 more years than the smokers. Heavy smokers were about 25 times more likely to die of lung cancer or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease than the nonsmokers. Lung cancer rates are linked to the number of people who smoke. More men than women smoke. As a result more men than women die of lung cancer.

Active smoking is extremely hazardous to your health but passive smoking also plays a major role in the number of fatalities per year. Passive smoking is estimated to cause at least 49 deaths a year among those working in the hospitality industry, twice as many as die in this group from exposure to smoke in the home. According to the Canadian Lung Association, tobacco kills between 40,000-45,000 Canadians per year, more than the total number of deaths from AIDS, traffic accidents, suicide, murder, fires and accidental poisoning.

Some Facts that Act as a Reality Check for those Who Smoke:

-Smoking kills 120000 people each year in the UK, compared to 5000 caused by road accidents.

-Smoking is the greatest solitary reason for ill health and premature death in the UK.

-Smoking augments the risk of impotence by around 50% for men in their 30s.

-Smoking causes:

1 in 4 deaths from heart disease

One-third of all cancer deaths

4 out of 5 lung cancer deaths

4 out of 5 deaths from bronchitis and emphysema

-Smoking affects virtually all parts of the body. 2000 arms and legs are amputated every year in the UK as a direct result of smoking.

4. Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer is a disease wherein the cancer forms in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system. Cancer occurs when cells of the prostate mutate and begin to multiply out of control. Prostate cancer may cause pain, difficulty in urinating, erectile dysfunction and other symptoms.

Mostly Men over the age of 50 suffer from prostate cancer. This cancer only occurs in men, as the organ is exclusively of the male reproductive tract. Prostate cancer is 2nd most common cancer (after lung cancer) responsible for male fatalities in the US. Many factors such as genetics and diet have been implicated in the development of prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer is the 9th most common cancer in the world, but is the number one non-skin cancer in United States men. 18% of American men were affected and 3% of men died due to this cancer in 2005. Prostate cancer rates are higher and prognosis poorer in Western societies than the rest of the world. Longer life expectancy and diets high in animal fats are some of the risk factors for prostate cancer that make it more prevalent in the Western world.

5. HIV Infection Or AIDS

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome or Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a collection of symptoms and infections resulting from the specific damage to the immune system caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). Individuals are prone to opportunistic infections and tumors during the late stages of this infection. While treatments for AIDS and HIV are present to slow down the viruss progression, there is no definite & known cure.

HIV spreads through direct contact of a mucous membrane or the bloodstream with a bodily fluid containing HIV, such as blood, semen, vaginal fluid, pre-seminal fluid and breast milk. Mostly, this transmission comes in the form of anal, vaginal or oral sex, blood transfusion, contaminated hypodermic needles, exchange between mother and baby during pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding, or other exposure to one of the above bodily fluids.

HIV affects nearly every organ system. Individuals affected with AIDS have a greater risk of developing various cancers such as Kaposis sarcoma, cervical cancer and cancers of the immune system known as lymphomas.

As of January 2006 according to studies & research conducted by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO), AIDS has taken more than 25 million lives since it was first established on June 5, 1981. This makes it one of the most destructive epidemics in recorded history. In 2005 itself, AIDS killed an estimated 2.4 to 3.3 million people.

Globally, between 33.4 and 46 million people currently live with HIV. In 2005, between 3.4 and 6.2 million people were newly infected. Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the worst affected region, with an estimated 21.6 to 27.4 million people currently living with HIV. South & South East Asia are second worst affected with 15%. In the United States, the number of persons with AIDS increased from about 35,000 in 1988 to over 220,000 in 1996.

6. Obesity

Obesity is a physical condition that results from surplus storage of fat in the body. In men this fat mostly gets collected around the abdomen and is often termed as a beer belly. Obesity has been defined as a weight more than 20% above what is considered normal according to the body mass index. BMI is calculated by assessing an individuals age, height and weight. The chief reason for concern is that obesity multiplies a persons risk of contracting a wide range of life-threatening diseases.

In the UK at present, over half the adults are overweight and 1 in 5 is obese. Current estimates place more than 35% of Americans in the obese category. Obesity has turned out to be our biggest health crisis and as per recent statistics, 78% of men will be overweight or obese in another 10 to 15 years. The proportion of men in England classified as overweight was 47% and the proportion of obese men was 21%. Being overweight or obese can cause grave threats to mens health. Central obesity, especially, can increase your risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and osteoarthritis. Men may also suffer from low self esteem and social isolation.

7. Impotence

Impotence or Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a sexual dysfunction characterized by the inability to develop or maintain an erection of the penis for satisfactory sexual intercourse regardless of the capability of ejaculation. The causes of erectile dysfunction may be physiological or psychological.
Normal erections during sleep and in the early morning suggest a psychogenic cause, while loss of these erections may signify underlying disease, often cardiovascular in origin. Other factors leading to impotence are diabetes mellitus or hypogonadism.

The inability to achieve erection sufficient for penetration and sex, (impotence), increases with age. Of men aged 50 to 80 years, 30% are impotent. In the age group of 70 to 80 years, nearly 50% are unable to achieve erection sufficient for sex without treatment. 15 to 30 million American men suffer from impotence at present. According to the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS), for every 1,000 men in the United States, 7.7 physician office visits were made for ED in 1985. By 1999, that rate had nearly tripled to 22.3.

Causes of Erectile Dysfunction or Impotence
Damage to nerves, arteries, smooth muscles, and fibrous tissues, often as a result of disease, is the most common cause of impotence. Diseases such as diabetes, kidney disease, chronic alcoholism, multiple sclerosis, atherosclerosis, vascular disease, and neurologic disease account for about 70% of ED cases. Between 35% to 50% of men with diabetes suffer from impotence.

Different lifestyles that contribute to heart disease and vascular problems raise the risk of impotence. Smoking, obesity and lack of proper exercise are possible causes of ED. Also, surgery (radical prostate and bladder surgery for cancer) can injure nerves and arteries near the penis, leading to impotence. Injury to the penis, spinal cord, prostate, bladder and pelvis often results in impotence by harming nerves, smooth muscles, arteries and fibrous tissues of the corpora cavernosa. Many medications like blood pressure drugs, antihistamines, antidepressants, tranquilizers, appetite suppressants and cimetidine (an ulcer drug) can cause impotence.

Also psychological factors such as stress, anxiety, guilt, depression, low self-esteem and fear of sexual failure cause 10% to 20% of impotence cases. Other possible causes include hormonal abnormalities, such as inadequate testosterone levels.

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For every parent health of their children is the most important concern. Children are very choosy when it comes to eating nutritious food. They get attracted more towards junk foods like burgers, chocolates, ice creams, and chips etc. that never contribute in the nutritional intake but in fact cause bad impact on their health.

Parents normally get convinced by their children and get them all the things to eat whatever they demand not concerning much about their effects. And similarly children also are not aware of what they should eat and what they should not.

In the present modern society mostly people do not have a healthy lifestyle and thus they are getting more prone to diseases.
As the childhood age is the actual age of growth and development and thus in this age essential nutrients are very important for the body.

Lack of such nutrients can abrupt the proper growth of the body and may lead to certain diseases sooner or later. That is why parents need to take special care when it comes to the health of their children.

Taking care of health does not mean that it results in overweight of their children by increasing their diets or underweight children by reduction in the required amount of diet in fear of obesity.
Children should be given required amount of essential nutrients that is healthy diet.

For that they should follow diet-health-weight chart or nutrition chart strictly. The dieting program should be monitored by a physician. The pediatrician will guide you in controlling the eating habits of the child and will prescribe the healthy diet, which is very much essential for the growth of the child. Pediatricians and nutritionists are of great help in chalking out the healthy meal plan, which is liked by both parents as well as children.

Tips that parents can follow at home:

• Avoid bringing junk foods to home.


• Instead of giving chips, give your child crackers and peanut butter.


• In place of dry fruits, offer fruit roll-ups.


• Instead of offering ice cream, give them frozen yogurt. .


• Be little bit creative with vegetables, like mash the cauliflower like potatoes, add cheese to broccoli, and provide ketchup with pinto beans.


• Have stock of cereals, which are rich in fibers instead of sweet cereals.


• Replace high fat cookies with vanilla wafers, animal crackers, graham crackers and fig cookies.


• Replace chips, or cracker jacks with pretzels.


• Cook the meat separately if your child dislikes the meat with sauce.

Author is running a health information site http://www.peoples-health.com where information on several diseases like allergies, blood disorders, cancer, childrens health, digestive disorder, liver diseases etc. and tips on dieting, nutrition and improving lifestyle has been provided. Find some useful articles on dieting here =>http://peoples-health.com/children_nutrition.htm

The expression: "Health is Natural" would suggest that health would be our natural state of being. The word health does not merely mean the absence of illness, but a feeling of wellness, an absence of discomfort.

Why are so many people under doctor's treatment for a variety of illnesses and diseases? I would not think hypertension should qualify as a natural state of being. Nevertheless it's considered quite normal, especially as we get older.

It appears to me that doctors and nurses are not really health professionals. Only sick people avail themselves of their services. Medical Schools do not teach how to keep people healthy. They just train doctors to look after sick people. Also, they train doctors to treat the symptoms, not the causes of illness. There's a pill, powder, or needle for everything. If health is natural we wouldn't need doctors, at least not as often. We would just need them to treat injuries, like broken bones, etc.

If you drive a car, and your oil light comes on, what do you do? Most of us would put oil in the car. But what if you do not feel like doing that, but the little light keeps bothering you? Well, you could get rid of that light, somehow. And see...it wouldn't bother you anymore. And you feel happy. That is, of course, till the motor seizes up.

It seems to me that this is what's been happening in the world of medicine for quite some time now. You get a pill for your head ache, a pill for your back ache, medication for your blood pressure, etc. So, sure, your pain goes away, your blood pressure drops, all as long as you take your medications. But the medical
world doesn't really seem to know what the underlying cause is of all those conditions, health issues, etc.

Health is natural only if we live a natural life. By that I mean using things from nature without altering them. I honestly cannot think of any food, drink, or product we buy that's totally natural. Everything is processed. Often, during the processing nutrients get taken out. Sometimes they get added again to the end product, which than is called "enhanced".

In my humble opinion nutrition and health go together. Your health depends on what you eat. A lot of serious diseases such as cancer, diabetes, etc might become less prevalent if we would get the proper nutrition. Also, we have to stop putting all those chemical medications into our bodies.

One of the big stumbling blocks for this solution is the Pharmaceutical world. Think of all the money they would lose if it became general knowledge that our diet can control our health.

More and more doctors, and also people, are turning to alternative medicine. They're turning to natural products to not only relieve the symptoms, but to eliminate the causes of our poor health.

More and more farmers are going back to growing organic crops. As people become more educated and knowledgeable about nutrition they are starting to demand natural products.

Maybe, slowly but surely, we can change our planet to be a place where "Health is Natural", once again.

Joyce Thorburn is passionate about staying healthy in a natural way. She's committed to offering
people natural pain relief products, and other natural products to enhance health.

To discover more about healthy, natural alternatives
visit: http://www.Health-is-Natural.com/stay-healthy-naturally