TheWellnessLiving Health Tips

Thanks to her teacher’s efforts, my daughter is very interested in learning what foods or beverages are healthy for her and which ones are not. She usually asks whether this snack or that drink are good or bad. Even though I’m usually pretty sure I’m telling the right answer, it’s only common sense, but a little of actual knowledge would be fine to support my advice.

The National Institute of Public Health of Mexico has recently put together “Beverage Consumption  Recommendations” aimed to serve as a guideline for consumers, health professionals, and government officials. One of the main reasons that encouraged this work is the alarming increase in overweight, obesity and diabetes in Mexico. It is thought that beverages contribute a fifth of all calories consumed by Mexicans, and many studies found that caloric beverages increase the risk of obesity. After considering all these evidences, it is clear that educating people and professionals on the benefits and risks associated to the most common drinks is of prime importance to improve the public health conditions.

The committee classified beverages into six levels regarding their health benefits and risks. Some aspects taken into account were caloric content, nutritional value, and health risks associated with the consumption of each type of beverage. The beverages were ranked from the healthier (level 1) to least healthy (level 6):

Level 1: water

Level 2: skim or low fat (1%) milk and sugar free soy beverages

Level 3: coffee and tea without sugar

Level 4: non-caloric beverages with artificial sweeteners

Level 5: beverages with high caloric content and limited health benefits (fruit juices, whole milk, and fruit smoothies with sugar or honey; alcoholic and sports drinks)

Level 6: beverages high in sugar and with low nutritional value (soft drinks and other beverages with significant amounts of added sugar like juices, flavored waters, coffee and tea).

As a conclusion, the panel advices that water should constitute the first choice, followed by no or low-calorie drinks, and skim milk. People should prefer these beverages over others with high caloric value or sweetened beverages, including those containing artificial sweeteners.

Some parts of this ranking agree more or less with our perception, water is obviously a ‘healthy’ option, but it may surprise many people to find out that some beverages, heavily advertised as healthy stuff go quite low in the list, such as fruit juices and fruit smoothies. Time to reconsider what we take in our lunch-bags!

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QualityHealth is one of those resources that seem to have an answer for virtually every question related to health issues so it is a great address to have in our Internet bokmarks. Information at QualityHealth is arranged among about two dozen Health Centers, each dedicated to a specific subject such as Cancer, Osteoporosis, Allergies, Asthma, Depression, Nutrition, Epilepsy and many more. Each center is loaded with accurate and up-to-date information aimed to the general public. But this is where the similarity to other websites ends. HealthQuality also hosts several Suport Groups where people can post questions, concerns or comments about issues like ADHD, insomnia, diabetes, pain management and many more.

Ask your Doctor… the right questions!

Another great section is Ask Your Doctor. By signing up to this free service, you’ll receive lists of questions to ask your doctor. As many of us often forget many of the questions we’d like to ask to our Doctors, this lists are a great thing to take with us when visiting our Doctor. The questions are tailored to your specific concerns and are designed to get the most out of your appointment.

The reference section is a real treasure box. The A-Z “conditions” and “medications” lists have literally thousands of entries with useful information and advice about diseases, symptoms and medications. The latter come especially handy when you are in doubt about taking or not certain pill when experiencing a symptom.

Real added value: Fill your cabinet with free samples

By signing up the QualityHealth email list you’ll receive periodically free samples from dozens of Pharmaceutical, Health, Wellness and Fitness providers that will keep you stocked for the season. Also, the emails come with rebates, valuable discount coupons, offers, articles, recipes and many more free gifts for you and your family. The free samples are actual products and not just promotional gimmicks. Some examples of samples are Robitussin, Nexium and Alavert. Considering that OTC products are not covered by health insurance, these samples are a great way to save! Click here to get your FREE HEALTHY SAMPLES from Qualityhealth.com. !

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A degree in nursing is a great alternative for those wishing to work in healthcare but can’t or don’t want to get into long, demanding and highly expensive medical school program. For many reasons, nursing consitutes a great laboral choice. Nurses are in high demand from many sources. From large general hospitals to small doctor offices, there are several nurses for each MD. Other employers include Senior Care Homes, patient support agencies, home care services and many more.

The educational offer for those seeking for a nursing degree is large and varied. The good news is that many intitutions offer nursing degrees that can be earned online. Some students prefer the traditional, on-campus way of learning, but for many others that is a very difficult option, so having the chance of studying at home is great. Taking an online program is not just sitting and reading a browser’s page. Most insitutions deliver their materials in different ways. Some examples are: email, discussion groups, chat rooms, streaming video, real time videoconferencing and more. Almost every aspect of the program can be covered for one or more of these tools.

Nursing has always been a popular career choice, but with the new available ways to study, earning a valuable nursing degree is easier than ever.

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