Exercising is more effective than dieting

I saw an article that said that dieting is just as effective as diet and exercising when someone is trying to lose weight. I could not believe what I was reading. There is no way in hell that just dieting alone is as effective as dieting and exercising when trying to lose weight.
First, exercising is more effective than dieting when trying to lose weight. If it was not, then why do health experts tell us to always go to the gym and get a lot of cardio when doing so? Humans need to burn calories and exercising is one of the most effective ways to do so. Dieting is helpful when trying to lose weight and people should always try to eat healthy, but to so that it is as effective is not true.
I have many friends who do not have the time to exercise as much as they would like and so they diet. While they do lose weight, it is not as much as they would like and always seem to be not in a good mood.
Not only does working out help you lose weight, I think that it allows you to relax and clear your head. It is for some people a chance to get away for a little while. To just put those headphones on and go.
Whereas dieting just makes you upset that you cannot eat certain things while watching others eat them in front of you. Also, I find it a lot harder to keep on my diet than it is to get into a gym routine. I look forward to getting done with work and go to the gym. I do not look forward to eating a meal that I probably am not going to like.

Why Stem cell research should be allowed

This is why stem cell research, all of it, should be allowed.


The following story was taken from this women's blog at www.medsocial.com.

http://medsocial.com/blog.aspx?blogaction=viewblog&show=240


My name is Pat Daniels. I am writing to you in regard to my son Kevin. Kevin was a volunteer firefighter and EMT with the South Boston Fire Department when on the night of August 7, 1998 while responding to a fire call, he had an accident on the way to the call. He was only 19 years old. He sustained a traumatic brain injury that almost claimed his life and has left him a quadrapelic with limited mobility. He is not paralyzed. He’s still an associate member with the department. He was also a firefighter and EMT at the South Boston Speedway the summer he had the accident. Kevin’s father is the maintenance manager at the speedway.

The doctors advised us to terminate life, but for us that wasn’t an option. Kevin is a survivor. He was born at 28 weeks weighing 2lbs 5oz., 15 inches long.

We have researched stem cell therapy for 3-4 years. After sending Kevin’s medical records to a doctor in California, we were told he was a candidate for the umbilical cord blood stem cell therapy, but would have to go to Tijuana, Mexico to have the procedure done. The fire dept. immediately started raising funds for us to go. They raised enough for us to go for one trip. The cost is $5,000.00 per vial of stem cells plus the cost of the procedure is $5,000.00. Then there’s the cost of travel expenses -$6,000.00. We would like to see Kevin get 6-8 vials this time.

On September 25, 2006 we went to Mexico and had the umbilical cord blood stem cell transplant. Since the procedure has been done, we have seen 30 improvements, some being significant. His speech is much better. His medicine for spasticity in his extremities has been reduced to where he is only getting 22% of what he was getting. That is a 78% reduction in 2 months. He now has slight movement in all 5 fingers on his left hand, which he didn’t have before. We knew if the first trip was successful we would need to return every six months until no more improvements are seen. It is wonderful that after 8 years we can still see improvements because of this treatment.

We are now trying to raise the funds to go back. The South Boston Fire Dept. is accepting donations. I’m reaching out to others outside of this area for help. I’ve never reached out to others for help since Kevin’s accident, but the importance of Kevin continuing to receive the stem cell therapy means too much to him for me not to reach out and ask.

I want to push the government and the medical field to research this avenue of treatment for others. I don’t want this just to help my son, but for it to help others as well. This means that Kevin needs to continue this process to prove the success of this procedure.



If you would like to send a donation or know of others that would like to help, please send the donation to:

Kevin Daniels Stem Cell Fund

South Boston Fire Dept.

403 Broad Street

South Boston Va. 24592

You can call Chief William Murray with any questions at 434-575-4292. The dept. is receiving and administering the funds and all donations are tax deductable.

Any donation would be greatly appreciated.

May God bless you and keep you is my prayer.





Pat Daniels

1106 Daniels Trail

Halifax, VA. 24558

434-575-1740

The best social networking site

With the interest in health that the United States has seen lately, there is no surprise that many websites have opened up to try and explain certain health issues. Like all other websites on the internet, there are good sides and bad ones. I did however, find one health related site that was not only educational but it was entertaining. It was a social networking site and health site rolled into one. It was kind of a “medical MySpace.” That social networking site is called www.medsocial.com
Like other social networking sites, Medsocial has an area where you could e-mail with other people that are apart of the network. It also allows you to have “friends” which are basically those who you talk to most often. And like the other social networking sites, it has blogs and allows you to post pictures.
However, there is one huge difference that Medsocial has over any other social networking site that I have been too. It has a forum section that is absolutely on of the greatest areas on the web. Unlike other social networking sites that have areas where you can be in a group and discuss a wide variety of a certain subject, Medsocials’ forum sections are all health related, but they are divided into certain topics that are then divided into certain topic discussions.
For example, I love exercising and always concerned about the proper ways to exercise, what are different ways to lose weight or what are the proper foods to help keep cholesterol down. Well, with the forum section of Medsocial, there are many topics that involve all of these topics. First, there is a general topic called healthy lifestyle and in that topic, there are several subjects about a healthy lifestyle. The subjects are as follows: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diet and healthy eating, exercise and fitness, weight loss and a general healthy lifestyle discussion. All of these topics are ones that I, as a person with a genuine concern for a healthy living would be interested in.
I appreciate the fact that the topics in the forums are more structured, which I believe keeps people more focused on the discussion at hand. Where as if the topics were more broad, people tend to get off topic, which stops people from either contributing to the topics or joining them at all.
These forums have also enhanced my knowledge about health and medicine related issues because of the topics that are here. The topics range from sexual health and sexuality to healthy aging. Plus there is a general discussion board with a variety of topics that the other subjects do not cover. And as a man, it is nice to read from other men about the topics that are important to men. It is nice to hear something about men’s health that does not always involve Viagra, even though there is an erectile dysfunction discussion board.
I believe Medsocial is a very valuable social networking site for children, students and adults a like. It will help people who are concerned or even curious with everything health related, plus a lot of medical professionals use Medsocial to communicate with each other. I do not even consider it a social networking site anymore, I consider it a tool that can and does come in very valuable in my life and I am convinced it will be valuable if you use it as well.

Smokers should pay more for all

There is no doubt that smokers have rights, they are people and they are citizens of the United States of America but they are also putting themselves and a lot of other people in danger.
First the obvious, they are putting a unhealthy toxin into themselves and into the air without really any regard for the health info or medical info for anyone else.
Not only does smoking pollute the air, but cigarette buds are the number one most littered object in the world. They are a complete eye sore to everyone and yet, smokers continue to think that the earth is their ashtray.
I still find it funny that with all the research that has been done about smoking over the years that smokers continue to ignore the medical information that smoking kills thousands a year and makes millions of year sick just in this country alone. I personally have no problem if smokers want to ignore the health information out there and slowly toxin themselves, but others do not want to be around them.
Another debate to have is the raise of health insurance for everyone and one of the reason being is because of smokers, who regardless if you smoke are not, are influencing your health insurance by raising it. I think what should be done is that if you smoke, which makes your health and your medical info more at risk, then you should pay more. Your credit score can determine if you are smoking then have your credit card companies turn the information over to your health insurance provider, then they can pay more and not make the rest of us pay more.
Why should the ones who don’t smoke, who do pay attention to the health information pay more? I do not think we should and I for one am tired of doing so. It is the smokers fault and they should be held accountable for their actions.

The dangers of children having weight loss surgery

I recently read an article that said a growing number of children are having weight loss surgery known as laparoscopic gastric banding, where an elastic color installed around the stomach limits how much someone can eat. This is something that is very scary to me.
To tell a child that they way to just lose weight is to have an easy way out, which is surgery. What kind of message does that send to children? It says that no matter what you do, the only way to achieve a certain goal is through surgery. There is no mention of the medical information or the health information about the children, just the fact that kids can have this.
The article said that children could not have this surgery many years ago because of the dangers but procedures and doctors now have become much better at performing this surgery. Well I agree that doctors today have become better but not to the point where children should have this procedure.
Now, in rare cases where genetics is the main reason where a child is overweight and no form of exercise will help them, then I can see the surgery being preformed. It is the last option. The doctors have looked at the child’s medical info and said that the surgery is the only option. However, this will not always be the case. Too many kids and too many doctors will want to perform this surgery without looking at the medical info and the health info of every child and will just perform this surgery. For the children, it’s the easy way out and for the doctors, it’s in easy payday.

The governor making girls get a STD shot in Texas

The governor of Texas signed a bill today that said by 2008, all school girls entering the sixth grade will be required to get vaccinated against an STD that causes cervical cancer.
To some extent, I like this idea. I like the fact that even a more conservative state such as Texas would take the initiative and make the state as safe as possible in the fight against sexually transmitted diseases. The reason I say conservative, and this is not in any way to offend anyone, but usually conservative places are against forms of birth control. And while this is not birth control, it does deal with the reality that children have sex even at that young age and it is there to help protect them.
The problem with this program that I do not like is that the story does not say much about the drug and the health info about it. What is the medical information about the drug? What are the side effects? What of the child’s health information will not make it safe for her to use the drug? I find it sometimes hard to always let the government say something and everyone must follow, but that is a different argument.
I wish it was up to parents of the daughter, who know the daughter and her medical information and her health information who would make her take this shot. But I guess when parents do not always live in reality, it is up to someone else to make sure that the children are as safe as possible.

The "french fries" insurance rise

McDonalds says it will select a new trans-fat free oil for cooking its french fries, or as some of you call it, freedom fries. Now there has been a lot of talk in the news about trans-fat and if cities, such as New York and Chicago should ban the oil.



For me personally, being a medstudent, I do not eat fast food at all because I
know how bad it is for your body and won’t eat it. However, I think that if
people really want to eat this kind of product, then I think they should be
allowed too. Everyone knows the medical information that fast food makes you fat, is bad for all areas of your body
and will hurt you down the line, yet you still want to eat it, that is up to
that person. If you choose to ignore the medical info that proves how bad this is for you then you are ignorant, or
can't read or don't have access to this medical info.



I sometimes feel that people either want to stay healthy or not, but it is up to
that person to do so, not authority figures. However, I do realize that
unhealthy people are causing health insurance prices to raise as well. Perhaps
they should have their credit card information attached to their
medical information. This way when they
go to McDonalds and purchase a quarter pounder and add two pounds onto their
ass, the doctors, insurance companies, and everyone else can just look at their
medical info and
medical records and clearly see that that
person is a useless slob that eats too much fast food.

I think the red-coated commies and civil rights libertarians would have a hay
day with allowing insurance companies and credit card companies share
medical information like this. They
would scream foul and raise a storm about how their civil liberties were being
violated by sharing medical information and
medical info through these means would raise
the ACLU's guard. Those same people would also weight 359 pounds, and
would most likely be less motivated to dispute the claim out of sheer laziness.

Oh well, I'm only lazy enough to write a stupid blog about how to exploit the
overweight through merging medical info and
credit card info