Healthy politics

With election day a mere six days away, I wanted to give everyone a general idea of both parties plans for healthcare. Senator John McCain's plan is to give quality and affordable coverage to every American. He plans to give tax benefits to all healthcare insurance holders in the amount of $5,000 per family, as opposed to the current plan that just covers those who are insured through their employer. His plan to drive down cost is to build competition within the different companies and wants to focus on preventative care and a wellness program. McCain says the big difference between his plan and Senator Barack Obama's is that while his is focusing on individual choices and maintaining the employer based system while Obama's is 'stifling individual choice and wants to eventually funnel into a European style, government run health plan.' This is according to his Web site.
Obama's version of his plan is to provide affordable, accessible healthcare for everybody, keeping insurance companies accountable and ensuring patient choice without government interference. His plan will cost $60-100 billion a year, which he says will be counteracted by ending wasteful spending in healthcare and ending Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy. He says the main difference in the plans is that McCain is blocking efforts to expand access to health insurance and cut costs. He says McCain's plan is the same as Bush's failed one and McCain wants to tear down the employer based system in the current plan, which would give insurance companies a lot of power with little oversight.
Clear as mud, right? For more information, visit barackobama.com and johnmccain.com.

Let's go under cover..s

Sex is still considered kind of a taboo subject, but this is a blog about any and all types of health, including sexual health. There are countless variables to having sex, from who to trust, what techniques to use, to how to keep yourself physically and mentally safe. There are a lot more, probably twice as many for women, but what I want to focus on is tips for relationship sex. Relationships are hard work, and sex makes everything even more complex. Here's my take on things:
-You should both be sober the first time you have sex. This avoids an uncomfortable morning and lets you get to know one another to have something to build on.
-Get tested! Cool beans if you know and trust the person, but if they don't know, they can't tell you.
-Always wear a condom.
-You should both agree on what's off-limits, especially if you want to wait a while before having sex.
-You need to be able to be vocal about what you like and don't like. This avoids any built up frustration which can lead to a lot of fights that just go in circles.
-You need to understand that its a two way street and listen to the other person's likes and dislikes too.
-You need to make sure that sex doesn't take over the relationship. Do things outside of the house and in groups and talk about other things. I've seen this happen and not only is it unhealthy, it seems to lengthen the time it takes to break it off with the person.
Being vocal and understanding about your sex life will not solve other problems, but will help the relationship to stay healthy and happy, versus if sex isn't comfortable or openly talked about between the two of you, the problems will reach beyond the bedroom soon afterward.

The free facial

Exercising has obvious benefits for full body health, including your skin. Exercising opens your pores and helps with everything from acne to wrinkles. It increases circulation and helps deliver nutrients to skin cells, getting rid of potentially damaging toxins. The increased oxygen flow promotes the production of collagen, a big factor in keeping wrinkles at bay. The biggest skin benefit to working out is that it mediates testosterone hormones like DHEA and DHT that helps skin fight acne. Working out reduces stress, which also lowers the release of these hormones. In the long run, the reduction of these hormones also helps prevent hair loss. Pilates and weight training help at least reduce, if not get rid of cellulite also. Yoga inparticular helps reduce the signs of aging skin. Stretching and yoga poses stretch the muscles which in turn stretches the skin and makes it look firmer and younger. The relaxation of yoga also helps soften the look of crow's feet and prevents new ones from forming. More aerobic exercise like running or cycling increases blood flow which helps get rid of toxins more efficiently, which is amped up even more if you hydrate before and after exercising. Facials are great, and face lifts are sometimes useful, but by living healthy habits, you can get similar effects a lot cheaper and healthier.

Cookie Monster had it right

Sacrifice the carbs, because cookies and other simply digested carbs have been shown to legitimately improve your mood. Other foods like hot tea, coffee, and chocolate are rumored to improve your mood also, but tea and coffee are simply because of the caffeine content, which is a short lived high. Chocolate is a little bit more legit, but optimally, you should stick with a one ounce serving for the antioxidant benefits. Eating a small portion of carbohydrate for a snack about three or four hours after a meal, such as an oatmeal cookie, part of a bagel or wheat toast will send tryptophan from your blood stream into your brain which metabolizes into seratonin. Elevated seratonin improves your mood and actually can facilitate falling asleep easier. This is because your brain naturally metabolizes seratonin into melatonin at the end of the day, which is a natural sleep aid. So, okay, maybe not to the same extent as Cookie Monster, but a cookie a day can keep the doctor away too.

Trick or treat

Halloween is this weekend, and everyone knows what that means; costumes, haunted houses and an insane amount of candy. Not only that, every restaurant is kicking their cooking up a notch with pumpkin flavors, and its usually things like pumpkin cheese cake, muffins or pie, which are also definitely not good. Pumpkin muffins are about 550 calories and Cheesecake Factory's pumpkin cheese cake has 950 calories and 58 grams of fat, only topped by Dairy Queen's large pumpkin pie blizzard with 1,080 calories and 40 grams of fat. That would take two hours of jogging to work off. For personal relief, try and avoid sweets to that extent and opt for a small portion of plain ice cream or kettle corn to satisfy your sweet tooth. If you're on a trick or treat route, milky ways or peppermint patties are a better candy choice than Reese's or kit kats, which have 220 calories and 11 grams of fat. You could also hand out chocolate covered pretzels or stickers instead. If you stick to the assorted candy, definitely go for the snack size. One day of candy isn't going to ruin anybody's diet or figure, but Halloween kind of kick starts the holiday season which can lead to more overeating, so starting good habits now can keep you sitting on Santa's lap instead of the other way around.

Eat like an Egyptian

.. or any other country in the world besides America. We have the most overweight issues and 'proudly' developed fast food, the coffee break and the commercial snack industry. The international tips on keeping weight down are simple and effective.
Eat slowly and enjoy your food. Its more enjoyable and it gives your brain time to catch up with your stomach to tell you you're full.
Eat less and to the point of being full, not stuffed. Just about every other country has smaller portion sizes than in America and it shows. If you do have a snack, eat an apple, or grains, not sugary candy or baked goods that are sky high in trans fat. Snack to curb the edge off your hunger, not enough to fill you back up.
Getting your body moving everyday is essential to a healthy lifestyle and weight maintenance. Keep it in mind when you're running errands. Use the stairs instead of the elevator or park further away from the store. Every little bit helps.
Take diet tips from other cultures. In Asia, meat is not usually the center piece of a meal. Use meat to season and garnish, but whole grains or yes, carbs. This fact is why Asian cultures have rice as an integral part of their diet but are thinner as a culture. If you need meat with every meal, follow South Americans and only get super lean cuts. They eat more meat as a culture and have less cases of heart disease. A good tip from the Mediterranean is to appreciate all aspects of your food. The olive, for example, is used very frequently in the form of olive oil, which is a healthier fat. And they also eat the olives, which is a very heart healthy food. South Africa has a lot of nuts in their general diet, which are a good source of protein, and South Africa has virtually no weight problems and the least incidences of all types of cancer.

Stress Management

Everyone has stress in their life. The way we handle it determines our mood and our living environment. Everyone has their way of keeping stress in check, whether its good or bad, and there are some tips to help.
-Take things on one at a time. Thinking about your to-do list for the whole week is a sure way to feel overwhelmed.
-I like to write obvious things such as work, class, meeting, etc. on my to-do list because marking things off is rewarding.
-Prioritize. Finishing a project or paper or presentation is more important than finishing your scrapbook.
-Talk things out with other people. Don't harp on what you have to do, but talking it out seems to help me make sure I have everything covered and helps me create an order for things.
-If its keeping you awake at night, take Tylenol PM (or the like), drink a glass of wine or I know some people who agree with Willie Nelson and Bob Marley's theory of stress management and sleep aid :) I'm not officially endorsing it, just another method.