Health Tips

If you have diabetes or prediabetes, your health care provider will likely recommend that you see a dietitian to help you develop a healthy-eating plan. The plan helps you control your blood sugar, also called blood glucose, manage your weight and control heart disease risk factors. These factors include high blood pressure and high blood fats. When you eat extra calories and carbohydrates, your blood sugar levels rise. If blood sugar isn't controlled, it can lead to serious problems. These problems include a high blood sugar level, called hyperglycemia. If this high level lasts for a long time, it may lead to long-term complications, such as nerve, kidney and heart damage. You can help keep your blood sugar level in a safe range. Make healthy food choices and track your eating habits. For most people with type 2 diabetes, weight loss also can make it easier to control blood sugar. Weight loss offers a host of other health benefits. If you need to lose weight, a healthy-eating plan...

  CDC's CORE Health Equity Strategy CDC is transforming its research, surveillance, and implementation science efforts to identify and address the drivers of health disparities.  integrates health equity as a foundational element in science and research, programs, partnerships, and workforce. Preventable Health Disparities Health disparities  are preventable differences that populations experience in the burden of disease, injury, violence, or opportunities. When people have limited access to resources they need to be healthy, they are more likely to struggle with health Factors Affecting Health Equity Social Determinants of Health Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) are the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age. Long-standing inequities in the five areas below influence health outcomes and quality of life. Understanding these inequities can help us improve health outcomes and promote health equity. Social and Community Context Social contex...

 High blood pressure (hypertension) has no symptoms and can be dangerous if not treated. Hypertension puts you at risk for stroke, heart attack and other problems. Nearly half of adults who have hypertension don’t realize it. So, checkups are crucial. Dietary changes, exercise and medicine can help you keep your blood pressure where it should be. What is high blood pressure? High blood pressure is when the force of blood pushing against your artery walls is consistently too high. This damages your arteries over time and can lead to serious complications like heart attack and stroke. “Hypertension” is another word for this common condition. Healthcare providers call high blood pressure a “silent killer” because you usually don’t have any symptoms. So, you may not be aware that anything is wrong, but the damage is still occurring within your body. Blood pressure (BP) is the measurement of the pressure or force of blood pushing against blood vessel walls. Your BP reading has two numbe...

 You don’t have to go vegan, gluten-free, or quit any particular food group to lose weight. In fact, you’re more likely to keep the pounds off for good if it’s something you can live with for the long term. Despite the desire for fast weight loss, fad diets and plans that promise quick results aren't the answer. You are unlikely to stick with them and they may rob you of needed nutrients. But it does make sense to cut way down on, or totally cut out, empty calories. Foods to limit for weight loss: Foods with added sugars. These are the sugars in cookies, cakes, sugar-sweetened drinks, and other items -- not the sugars that are naturally in fruits, for instance. Sugary foods often have a lot of calories but few nutrients. Aim to spend less than 10% of your daily calories on added sugars. Carbs with less nutritional value. You don't have to eliminate carbs, but you can be picky about your choices. For example, whole grains are better choices than highly processed items because p...

  You may have heard a lot about tracking what you eat and counting calories. Find out what calories are, the recommended intake, why it can be useful to count calories and how doing so can help you lose weight. What are calories? Calories are a measure of the amount of energy in an item of food or drink. You will see the number of calories in an item listed on the packaging as "kcal". Should I keep track of calories? When we eat and drink more calories than we use, our bodies store the excess as body fat. If this continues over time, we may put on weight. Knowing the calorie content of food and drink – and how much we have – makes it easier to keep track of our daily intake. However, counting calories is not the only way to change how you eat to lose weight. Simple things like adjusting portion sizes and making sure your meals are made up of the right types of food can also make a big difference. Find out more about healthy eating when trying to lose weight. How many calorie...

Malnutrition is when a person’s diet does not provide enough nutrients or the right balance for optimal health. Symptoms often involve weight loss, reduced appetite, tiredness, and irritability. Causes of malnutrition include: unsuitable dietary choices having a low income difficulty obtaining food various physical and mental health conditions Undernutrition is one type of malnutritionTrusted Source. It occurs when the body does not get enough food and enough necessary nutrients. It can lead to: delayed growth low weight wasting If a person does not get the right balance of nutrients, they can also have malnutrition. It is possible to have obesity with malnutrition. When a person has too little food, a limited diet, or a condition that stops their body from obtaining the right balance of nutrients, it can severely impact their health. In some cases, this can become life threatening. This article looks at malnutrition in detail, including the causes, symptoms, and treatments. People may...

 NATIONAL TASK FORCE ON THE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT OF OBESITY More than 60 percent of adults in the United States are overweight or obese, and obese persons are more likely to be ill than those who are not. Obesity presents challenges to physicians and patients and also has a negative impact on health status. Some patients who are obese may delay medical care because of concerns about disparagement by physicians and health care staff, or fear of being weighed. Simple accommodations, such as providing large-sized examination gowns and armless chairs, as well as weighing patients in a private area, may make the medical setting more accessible and more comfortable for obese patients. Extremely obese patients often have special health needs, such as lower extremity edema or respiratory insufficiency that require targeted evaluation and treatment. Although physical examination may be more difficult in obese patients, their disproportionate risk for some illnesses that are amenable to ...

 Vapes are electronic devices that let you inhale nicotine in an aerosol, or vapour, instead of smoke. This is done by heating a solution (e-liquid) that typically contains propylene glycol, vegetable glycerine, flavourings and nicotine. E-liquids come in different nicotine strengths, so you control how much nicotine you need to help with cravings and other withdrawal symptoms, such as feeling irritable and having low mood. Nicotine itself is not very harmful and has been used safely for many years in medicines to help people stop smoking. Help break the routines of smoking cigarettes The routines and rituals of smoking can be hard to stop, so vaping can help you gradually let go of these while immediately reducing the health risks of smoking cigarettes. Some people find vaping helps them because the hand-to-mouth action is like smoking, plus you get similar sensations, like throat hit (the "kick" in the back of your throat when you inhale). Any smoking is harmful and you wil...

 Once you know roughly how many calories you are having, try using the amounts below as a general guide to help you stay on track. Women Based on an average of 1,400kcal per day: breakfast: 280kcal lunch: 420kcal dinner: 420kcal snacks and drinks: 280kcal Men Based on an average of 1,900kcal per day: breakfast: 380kcal lunch: 570kcal dinner: 570kcal snacks and drinks: 380kcal Remember When having your meals, try to include: at least 5 portions of fruit and veg each day – a portion is 80g, though a combination of smaller amounts counts too at least 2 portions of fish each week (if you eat it), one of which is oily – a portion is 140g

 1. Eat nutritionally dense foods Healthful meals and snacks should form the foundation of the human diet. A simple way to create a meal plan is to ensure that each meal consists of fruit and vegetables, whole grains, and protein. Total fiber intake should be 25 to 30 grams  dailyTrusted Source. A person should also aim to eliminate trans fats from the diet and minimize the intake of saturated fats, which has a strong link Trusted Source to the incidence of coronary heart disease. Instead, people can consume monounsaturated fatty acids or polyunsaturated fatty acids, which are types of unsaturated fat. The following foods are healthful and rich in nutrients: - fresh fruits and vegetables - fish - legumes - nuts - seeds - whole grains, such as brown rice and oatmeal 2. Keep a food and weight diary Self-monitoring is a helpful toolTrusted Source in successfully losing weight. People can use a paper diary, mobile app, or dedicated website to record every food they consume daily. ...