You’re home from work and have the house to yourself. You’ve been very disciplined during the day. Just plenty of water to drink and a few biscuits. The scales show those pounds yielding to the diet. And then you find yourself opening the kitchen door. There’s a tub of icecream in the freezer that’s got your name on it. When that’s gone, there’s that piece of cheesecake and a peanut butter sandwich or two to round things off. By the time you’ve finished, the good work of the day has been undone with an intake of calories sufficient to keep a small army going for a week. But, and here comes the sad truth, you have to support being overweight with your lifestyle. If you have a little self-discipline, there’s no reason to carry all that extra weight around. It’s the boom and bust approach to dieting that does the most harm, with binge eating one of the most common of the eating disorders. Why do we do it?

Binge eating is evidence of emotional problems. It says something fundamental about how we see ourselves, how much we really care about our bodies. In these modern times, everyone knows how dangerous it is to be overweight, let alone obese. Every article like this everywhere on the web tells the same story of the risks of diabetes, cancers and heart disease. So to take the decision not to lose weight is making a statement about our lives. Put the other way round – if we cared about the risks, we would find the motivation to diet. Defeatism means giving up. We believe we are beaten. Sometimes, it’s like there’s no point in even trying even if we are literally shortening our lives.

Of course, there are therapies and treatments for all the eating disorders but, without coverage under a health plan, this is an expensive exercise. For most people, it comes down to self-help. So you need to untangle the cause and effect. Answer this simple question: what triggers a binge? If there’s a consistent reason for suddenly wanting to empty your fridge, this gives you a starting point. You might find it useful to keep a diary. It’s easier to see a pattern when you read back through a month or so of entries. Then you have to confront those situations and devise a way of getting through them without the need to eat. Recognize this desire for food has nothing to do with physical hunger. If that was the case, using a drug like meridia would be the answer, suppressing your appetite.

You have to break the habit of eating as a response to your emotions. Be your own therapist. Apply common sense and approach the exercise with an open mind. With honesty, you should overcome the problem. Of course, a sensible diet will help. Eating a good breakfast sets you up for the day. Avoid snacking and keep to regular times for lunch and an evening meal. If hunger does become a problem, you can buy meridia and it will see you through difficult times until your stomach gets used to smaller quantities of food. The aim should be to improve the general quality of your life. You will not become happy overnight, but at least aim for a more positive outlook.

It is strange how putting a number on something makes it seem either so much better or so much worse. The presence of a chemical causing cancer in food is scary even though only in a few parts per million. Just the thought of the risk is enough to frighten people away. So what should we make of the newly released figure showing doctors wrote more than 56 million prescriptions for sleeping pills in 2008? Keeping this in a historical context, this is 70% more prescriptions than were written in 2002. And if you are worried about the cost of the drugs to the insurance industry and your own pockets through co-payments, that is $4.5 billion. Remember, this is only talking about prescriptions and not the number of tablets. Further, remember you do not need a prescription to buy sleeping pills online so there could be millions more pills used. You just have to ask whether the use of this volume of drugs by the current population of the US is a good thing.

We need to start at the beginning. In theory, the majority of pills are distributed on the basis they should only be for short-term use. The reality is rather different. These drugs are the most heavily advertized and the most profitable to the pharmaceutical industry. As a result of this promotional effort, most sleeping pills are taken for an average of five years, i.e. there is a high degree of dependence. But, you will say, all these drugs do is help us to get a good night’s sleep. This must be a good thing. Well, sadly, the pills do not induce natural sleep. All they do is knock you out for a few hours. The argument then runs on. Insomnia is a bad thing. It has to be treated. Well, there is no clinical evidence that lack of sleep is bad for you or changes life expectancy. People sleep when they are tired and natural sleep heals the body and mind. But there is excellent medical evidence that people who use sleeping pills over any length of time are twice as likely to become depressed, to experience memory problems and to die younger. It used to be argued that many people who had cancer also smoked. Now we understand the cause and effect. People who are depressed are more likely to suffer insomnia, commit suicide or have heart attacks.

All the best medical evidence confirms you should only take ambien for short periods of time. Even though the ads for ambien cr may suggest it is safe to take it for longer periods of time, this is not supported by the evidence. Any use of sleeping pills over time is not recommended. If you find insomnia is genuinely affecting the quality of your life, the best form of treatment is cognitive behavioral therapy. This teaches you how to fall asleep naturally. In other words, you get all the advantages of taking the pills, but without exposing yourself to the risk of all the adverse side effects. So, finally, to answer the question posed in the article’s title, the nation’s health is being put at risk. While capitalism and the free market can be good for some markets, this market is actually damaging the health of the nation and government should do something to reduce the level of dependence.

It’s a sad fact of modern life that rheumatism in all its many forms is increasingly common. As an inflammatory disease, it’s most likely to affect the joints and connective tissue, and it resists most forms of treatment, i.e. it slowly reduces mobility and causes chronic pain. In some forms such as Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), the damage goes beyond the joints with organs affected as well. It’s estimated that RA affects about 1% of the world’s population and it most often appears between the ages of 40 and 50. You will understand that 1% is about 670 million people and then you reduce that number to favor older people. Under normal circumstances, we would just tolerate the loss of mobility but there is a more serious problem. RA accelerates the onset of artherosclerosis, and there is very clear evidence to show a significant increase in the rate of people affected by strokes and heart attacks. Even with the full range of modern medicine brought to bear, RA reduces life expectancy. Worse, in its earliest phase, it is most likely to cause erectile dysfunction. With the damage to the arteries apparent in the smaller vessels first, the failure to produce an erection often demonstrates the presence of artherosclerosis.

In the Annual Scientific Meeting run by the American College of Rheumatology this year, a research team from St. James’s Hospital, Dublin reported their findings of a very strong link between RA and erectile dysfunction. The recommendation is that the use of erectile dysfunction as a harbinger should be expanded. The current best practice has all primary care physicians react to patients reporting erectile dysfunction as actual heart patients. The full range of diagnostic tools should be used to identify those most as risk of cardiovascular disease and preventative treatment begun in all proven cases. Dr. Sheane is proposing the tests should be expanded to include all tests for the rheumatic diseases in general, and RA in particular. Even though the treatments currently available cannot prevent the development of rheumatism, they can slow it down. More importantly, it gives people a breathing space in which to plan life when mobility is reduced.

One slight reservation lies in the nature of the research project. It was observational only, i.e. it was research conducted by questionnaire and physical examination with participants interviewed sequentially as they attended rheumatology clinics. It was not a full clinical trial. Nevertheless, the figures are disconcerting. Just under 70% of the patients interviewed had erectile dysfunction. This is rather higher than the incidence of erectile dysfunction in the general population. So here comes the bad news. Cialis is a remarkably effective drug, but it is not a treatment for rheumatic diseases. With RA being particularly aggressive, cialis on its own will only slow down the loss of sexual potency. This is not to say the situation is hopeless. There are a combination of treatments that can reduce the damage to the blood vessels. More importantly, a team from Boston has recently confirmed that sexual activity three or more times every week prolongs the sex life well beyond ordinary limits. Sexual activity also releases endorphins which improve mobility and reduce pain. Sex helps you live a better life with rheumatism.

It’s always a joy to be able to link apparently unrelated subjects in the title to an article. This title is a real winner. Scientology was developed by a science fiction writer and has attracted some notoriety of late as various Hollywood figures have complained about its strange beliefs and homophobic practices. The idea of being able to relate dieting and weight loss to the pronouncements of the Thetans is wonderful but, unfortunately, not possible in this instance. No matter how interested the extraterrestrials may be in weight loss, they have neglected to include it in their religion. However, you will be pleased to know that it all does tie together. Kirstie Alley may be better known as an actress, but she is also a high-ranking Scientologist. Some years ago, she had a serious cocaine addiction and has credited the Church with her “cure”. She is now the celebrity ambassador for the Scientology movement’s drug treatment program and, probably by virtue of the size of her financial contributions to the Church, she is now a level 7 Thetan.

Those of you who follow gossip cannot fail to have noticed the constant stories about Ms Alley’s fluctuating weight. As the young star of Cheers, she was relatively slim. Sadly, as the years advanced, so did signs of her spreading hips. By 2005, she had expanded to more than 200 pounds but, by virtue of an aggressive diet and exercise program, she lost 75 pounds in a year and appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show in a revealing bathing costume. With this public celebration of her weight loss success behind her, she returned to eating and put most of the weight back on again. Now she has launched a new project. Going under the name Organic Liaison LLC, it sells a diet regime based on a new organic product with USDA approval. People who sign up, pay between $10 and $149 every month. In return, they receive a diet regime also including vitamins and supplements. So far, many of the members have reported some success. Ms Alley herself has lost 20 pounds.

The reason for the controversy is that all the income generated by this company seems to be channelled straight into the Church’s bank account. While there is nothing in law to prevent any private company from donating some or all of its net profit to charitable, religious or other comparable purposes, many who signed up for the weight loss program have been shocked to discover most, if not all, their money is funding the Church of Scientology. While most view the Church as harmless, there is a difference between passively ignoring it and discovering you are actively supporting it with your own money. No matter whether the company’s organic product is effective or the diet regime is nutritionally sound, there is a serious issue at stake here. We give to charities when we sympathize with their aims. Failing to disclose that Organic Liaison is effectively a front for collecting funds for the Church seems almost dishonest. How much easier it is when it comes to phentermine. Here we have an FDA approved drug with decades of track record in safely helping people to lose weight. There is no question of any part of the purchase price being diverted for non-commercial purposes. Phentermine is a capitalist’s dream – a safe and effective drug that can command a good price because there is no real competition in the market. It’s a shame Ms Alley is not a red-blooded capitalist.

The diagnosis of a disorder in relation to anxiety is always a question of fact and degree. It is perfectly natural for people to worry or feel anxious in different situations where a threat is present. Allowing for the sensitivity in the use of the words, our ability to foresee and predict has been essential to our evolution as a species. We survive because we see the risks in our environment and take precautions. Thus, drawing a positive line between “natural” anxiety and irrational levels of anxiety suggesting a disorder is always a matter of opinion – the victim of the uncontrolled anxiety sees the quality of life disappear, and objective observers see a need for intervention to protect the individual or others from the possibility of harm. This diagnosis can often be complicated by physical factors such as substance abuse. It may be necessary to treat the physical problems including, say, alcoholism, before or alongside the anxiety. Similarly, the presence of depression will require a different approach.

For the medical profession, the constant debate is how to strike a balance between the need to give effective treatment, and the healthcare model which, for the most part, is for-profit. Almost all the research during the last century proves the benefits of the various types of psychotherapy. Making the patient the focus of attention and relating to that patient as an individual with needs is, in itself, a major therapy. Allowing the patient the time to talk through problems and devise strategies for coping gives the individual ownership over the solutions – a necessary mental step in making the strategies effective. The moment you approach the patient as an inconvenience – reduce choice over treatment options in favor of medication – the majority either give up or grow defensive and resentful. Doctors have often responded by making treatment using medication compulsory. Listen to hospital administrators and they will tell you the cost of labor in providing psychotherapy to all patients is impossible to fund. Listen to the pharmaceutical industry and it will tell you there are effective drugs to cure all problems without the need for expensive therapy. In a capitalist model, medication therefore tends to win out over psychotherapy.

This is not to say that drugs like valium are not effective. In fact, the majority of people feel less anxious when they begin taking it. But drugs like valium do not “cure” the underlying problems. For that, you need physicians, psychiatrists, therapists, counselors and social workers to reach out to each person and offer support. With proper care, most people with anxiety disorders can live normal lives as self-confidence returns. This places valium in its most effective role – to provide a respite, a breathing space during which the psychotherapy can encourage the individual to start making the changes necessary for the anxiety to fade. For these purposes, the best type of psychotherapy is cognitive behavioral therapy where people are trained to rethink the way in which they respond to pressure. They are exposed to the feared social situations and grow less sensitive. They learn how to cope without worrying. It would be wonderful if you could patent this and put it in a bottle. The manufacturer would make a fortune and earn the profound gratitude of everyone who has ever had an anxiety or panic attack. Until then, we have to rely on talk as the best form of treatment.

Well, all the Christmas lights and decorations have started to appear in our local malls. The competition is really hot this year. Retailers have been suffering because of the credit crunch so they started the campaign to get us to spend our hard-earned dollars really early. But, of course, we first have to get through Thanksgiving. And don’t forget about your health! In the good old days, those Pilgrims had an easy ride when it comes to weight loss. There was little food to last through each year so the idea of celebrating a successful harvest with a feast made sense. Filling up the store houses with grains and cereals really was the difference between life and death. So getting the family together was a way of boosting morale as everyone faced the hardships of the winter to come. Oh, and everyone was as thin as a rake. Today, the story could not be more different. It’s not just the turkeys putting on the pounds for the festive season. We spend the year eating just that little bit too much, not counting the calories and giving in to temptations. At best, our weight stays the same but, more often, it rises slowly but steadily. Then along comes Thanksgiving and Christmas when everyone is expected to binge on more food.

Social gatherings are mixed blessings. It’s good to see everyone and, when they all start eating and drinking together, it makes for a special event as we catch up with news, celebrate all the recent successes and bitch about all the problems. This hides all the hard work that went into making all the food and all the discomfort that comes afterwards – in particular that bloated feeling. There’s another sad truth. When months go by between visits, we forget each other’s look. It can be a surprise when the door opens and a slightly more overweight figure walks in. This can affect how much we enjoy the holiday. Everything about us is wrapped up in how we feel about ourselves and the others we love. The amount of energy we have and level of self-confidence we feel is dictated by how we look. It impacts the choice of clothes to wear, the places to go, and so on. A recent study by the University of Washington found an emerging majority of people do not want these extra pounds. Attitudes are changing with the overweight coming bottom on a scale of sexual attractiveness.

So unless you want to feel really bad about yourself in the New Year, start an active diet right now. The world is going to expect you to overeat on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Start losing some weight now. That way, you will emerge from the binge at the same weight and not carrying even more. That means a calorie-reduced diet starting today. If you feel hungry, buy phentermine, the one appetite suppressant that has stayed fit and active throughout the years. Launched fifty years ago, phentermine has seen off all its rivals as the drug most likely to keep morale high and those weight loss blues away.

There’s always quite a big slice of the population that’s down. For them, the world revolves through shades of grey into black and back again, and there’s nothing worse than meeting happy people to make them feel really bad. Somehow all the bitterness and resentment comes to the surface. It’s a Scrooge, “Bah, humbug!” day everyday, including Christmas, if the crowd around them is bouncing around being all joyful. Perhaps it’s a fear the happiness might somehow be infectious. They want to drive all these jolly people away unless, in a moment of weakness, they find a little joy creeps up and bites them on whichever part of the anatomy might be exposed. But, for whatever reason, unhappy people resist happiness with a real enthusiasm. Sadly, the increasing body of medical evidence is that this is shortening their lives.

Let’s start with the European Heart Journal which, this month, is carrying an article suggesting that people who find peace and joy, if not excitement, in their lives are less likely to suffer from heart disease. This is not to say everyone should walk around in a state of pure contentment all the time. Everyone is entitled to periods when they feel angry, anxious or depressed. It’s a balance between dark and light. It seems the people who feel positive about themselves for longer, live longer. While those who lapse into longer lasting anxiety and depressive states are more likely to suffer heart attacks. This builds on an increasing body of research findings that happy people have stronger immune systems, lower blood pressure and are less likely to contract diabetes. Just as important, people with a positive outlook are more likely to enjoy good sleep, only drink moderate amounts of alcohol and are better able to quit smoking. But, as with all science, there is a need for more research. The immediate article comes out of a ten-year study involving 1,740 participants. This is on the borderline of statistical significance. There should more more studies involving larger numbers of people to tease out all the complex strands that contribute to longer or shorter life expectancy.

For those of you interested in this issue, you will find it useful to look at http://www.springerlink.com/content/0474658172222350/fulltext.pdf. The most interesting studies involve groups of nuns who live 7 to 10 years longer than average. They live “stress-free” quite unlike the modern secular majority whose lives are blighted by worry and anxiety. As it stands, the medical profession prefers to deal with simple remedies. To keep health insurance costs to a minimum, physicians write out a prescription for xanax while signalling for the next patient to enter. Dealing with abstract notions of happiness is not in the program for time-crunched doctors.

This is unfortunate because, although there is no evidence that happiness cures serious illness, it can always make the experience of illness more bearable. This does not deny that if you buy anti-anxiety drugs (e.g. if you buy xanax) online, you will not find anxiety levels reduce. But there is a difference between an absence of anxiety and a positive attitude to life. The evidence is mounting that happiness improves longevity. So, if you want to avoid an early death, start looking for a little joy. You never know. It may just creep up on you and bite you when you are least expecting it. That bite could add years to your life.

You want to insure your health and ask your insurance agent to offer you a good policy. You are given quotes and start thinking about buying a certain plan when the inevitable question is asked “What type of plan do you want to purchase?” This question has left many first-time insurance shoppers confused as they didn’t know about any plan types before. Too bad, because by choosing the type of insurance plan you will pay for determines how your coverage will be distributed as well as how your medical services will be provided. And as you may guess this is crucial when it comes to insuring own health.

But do not worry, this article will explain the essence behind each coverage plan type you can get in the US so the next time you will be asked the question of plan types you would choose the perfect plan to meet your requirements.

HMO (Health Maintenance Organization)

HMO plans are the most popular type of managed care distribution these days. They provide a wide spectrum of healthcare services you can receive for a reduced fee or free of charge. But the main catch is that you can receive them only at specific locations and from specific professionals. And you will have to choose a primary care physician (PCP) who will refer you to other professionals when needed. Without your PCP’s affiliations you won’t be able to receive coverage for the services you took. Neither will you be covered for the costs if you address someone outside the network.

PPO (Preferred Provider Organization)

PPO insurance coverage is quite alike to HMO. This type of managed care also requires you to choose a PCP, however you have more options when choosing this doctor. This is especially useful to those who have a good relation with their family doctors who might be outside the insurance company’s network. Moreover, you have fewer restrictions on out-of-network services, still you will eventually pay more for them if compared to in-network services.

POS (Point of Service)

POS health insurance plans also require you to choose a primary car physician. But you aren’t restricted to a network your insurance company has. Still, it will be impossible for you to get individual health insurance coverage if you don’t get a referral from your PCP before visiting any other doctor.

EPO (Exclusive Provider Organization)

EPO health insurance coverage is almost the same as HMO plans. There’s a PCP you have to get a referral from in order to visit a specialist and there’s a network of physicians and facilities you are limited to. The only difference is that you pay only for the services you received, while with HMO plans you have to pay a regular monthly fee.

Fee-for-Service

This type of insurance coverage is the oldest out there and least complicated to understand. You have no restrictions on where to get your care or whom to address. You only pay for the services you receive when needed. However, you get less coverage with such plans and your overall expenses tend to be higher than with managed care plans.

When you are reviewing different types of life insurance policies one of the most important decisions would be to choose the most appropriate premium type to follow with your policy. It all depends on your short and long term insurance needs, which all have their most appropriate premium arrangements.

A good insurance agent will always ask you for how long you need life insurance and insurance protection. If your insurance needs are exceeding the short and medium terms, spanning over 5-10 years in the future, the most cost effective solution would be having level premiums with your life insurance policy.

However, most people usually hear only about stepped premiums, which are the best option for short periods of time, being cheaper in the short run – a great advantage for the agent or broker to close the deal. However, stepped premiums are recalculated on a yearly basis, taking into consideration the age and health condition of the policyholder, and the premium eventually rises with each year passing. And the older you become, the costlier it is for you to pay out your premiums. The major problem with stepped premiums is that when you reach your 50’s or 60’s the cost of insurance becomes so unbearable that you will be forced to either reduce your coverage amounts or even drop the insurance altogether. And that’s definitely not the best thing to do as you have just entered the age when life insurance is particularly needed.

When you choose to go with level premiums you can rest assured that the costs of your insurance won’t increase over time as they are not recalculated like stepped premiums. The only factor influencing the future changes in your premiums is the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which affects your income as well, and is usually between 3 and 5 percent. So the amount of money you will pay in ten years won’t be much higher than the amount you get when only looking for life insurance quotes before any purchase.

With level premiums you can rest assured that the amount of your premiums will be at the same level up to the age of 65, if the economy doesn’t experience any fundamental shifts. However, when you turn 65 years old most life insurance policies will switch to stepped premiums and you will have your rates increased each year just as if you have bought a policy with stepped premium arrangements when comparing life insurance quotes.

For example, a man who is 40 years old who purchases $100,000 of life insurance coverage with stepped premiums will spend an average of $15 per month (compare life insurance quotes initially if you want lower rates) at the first stage and when he will reach the age of 65 his gross insurance costs will account about $15,000. However, with the same amount of coverage the same man will pay $24 per month with level premiums, but his gross costs will be as low as $7,000 for the same period of time.

It may look like level premiums are more expensive initially, but in the long run they provide savings for up to twice the amount you would pay with stepped premiums. So if you are looking for a long term life insurance policy make sure that you choose level premiums in case the money question matters.

One of the more interesting debates that rumbles around bars from time to time (and occasionally ends up in the Supreme Court) is not just whether people should be allowed to own guns. It comes down to the practicality of whether people should be responsible for the safety of these potentially dangerous weapons. We have had an unfortunate number of incidents when young people have picked up guns lying around the house and managed to get off a round or two. Less commonly, they have taken their parents’ guns to school and managed to add a few students and the odd teacher to the trophy wall. For the record, the deadliest peacetime shooting incident took place at Virginia Tech in 2007 when one man killed thirty-two people. The NRA, being the NRA, is against any forms of controls. If a householder is the victim of a house invasion, you cannot ask the invader to wait while you take the gun out of the safe. You want the freedom to offer immediate defense of self and property. But some states have enacted laws requiring varying security measures to prevent their children from becoming a danger to themselves or others. This is where the Supreme Court comes in with arguments over whether these security measures are constitutional.

So, to understand the principles involved, let’s substitute prescription drugs for guns. Many of the standard drugs we have in our homes are routinely abused by others. Suppose our children confuse them for candy and are hooked on painkillers or sedatives. Would we say the parents were at fault in failing to protect their children? Should the drugs have been locked away? Now let’s slightly change the story. The children can be a little older and more knowing. They understand the street value of the drugs so stand on the right corners to sell off their parents “stash”. The children are, of course, committing a criminal offense and this would not be possible if they could not get their hands on the drugs. The lack of security made the crime possible.

The reason for all this speculation is a story that comes out of East Tulsa. It seems a fifth grader made herself popular by standing out in the playground during recess, and giving away flexeril and painkillers to her fellow students. So far, we do not know why the parents had these drugs around the house. Flexeril is a highly effective muscle relaxant but, particularly among younger users, there are adverse side effects on the heart rate with the possibility of seizures. Ten children took the pills and four went to hospital for a check-up. There have been no adverse effects reported. But what all this comes back to is whether the parents should be liable for allowing their daughter to take medication from the house. The child could be treated as a juvenile offender for being in possession of drugs without a prescription and distributing them. Her age, between 10 and 11, will not save her. But this could not have happened without her parents’ failure to keep the drugs safely locked away. As a matter of policy, do we want to make parents responsible for the dangerous “things” they keep in their homes? There are some interesting policy decisions here and we might learn something about America by watching what happens in East Tulsa over the next week or so.