Hangover Cures the College Way

The fall semester is starting and that means college parties are back on! Now before you hit the beer bong and get trashed off your ass, let me indulge you in a critical warning (aren't I always looking out for you?). You must prepare for (brace yourself) . . . THE HANGOVER! That's right, I don't just give you great ideas for getting and being bombed.

Thinking Ahead

The best remedies begin with preparing your body for the binge (come on, everyone cool does it ;P). Eat a good, light meal before you drink (no pizza or other crap you can see yourself puking up later). On the contrary, if you don't eat before your drink, your body is more susceptible to the alcohol and can actually get you drunk faster. But that's not recommended if you want to avoid the hangover.

Drink lots of nonalcholic liquid before and during binging. You need to keep your body hydrated. Alcohol actually steals water from your body and you need to replace it (usually all of those piss breaks amount to more than your body is intaking).

Let's Get the Party Started

Soyouwanna.com has some useful tips for helping prevent the hangover while your drinking: have only when alcoholic drink per hour (yeah, that's going to happen), alternate each drink with nonalcoholic drinks (yeah . . . right), and don't drink cheap booze (oh, come on, we're college students). Click here for more information.
Most importantly, "Beer before liquor, never sicker. Liquor before beer, you're in the clear".

The Morning After

If that doesn't work, (don't worry I don't actually expect you to do all of those buzz killers), here are some cures: drink lots of water, no more alcohol, stay in bed, take aspirin, try to eat a small, light meal, and do not drink coffee.

Myths?

As an alternative to the hangover cure there are some questionable recommendations. I don't now if they work but I have heard you can drink tomato juice with some lime, or even have the same drink you had the night before to balance your system (but I don't believe that). There are, supposedly, medicinal pills specifically for hangovers too.

Bottom of the Bottle

You can either get trashed off your ass and suffer a wicked hangover, or take it slow and have not so much fun.

Happy Drinking!

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Cheap and Easy Chicken Stir-Fry

This recipe is fast, healthy, and cheap.

Honey Chicken Stir-Fry
Visite Tasteofhome.com for more great recipes.

SERVINGS: 4
CATEGORY: Lower Fat
METHOD:
TIME: Prep/Total Time: 30 min.

Ingredients:
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 garlic clove, minced
3 teaspoons olive oil, divided
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 package (16 ounces) frozen broccoli stir-fry vegetable blend
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon cold water
Hot cooked rice

Directions: In a large nonstick skillet, stir-fry chicken and garlic in 2 teaspoons oil. Add the honey, soy sauce, salt and pepper. Cook and stir until chicken is lightly browned and juices run clear. Remove and keep warm. In the same pan, stir-fry the vegetables in remaining oil for 4-5 minutes or until tender. Return chicken to the pan; stir to coat. Combine cornstarch and cold water until smooth; gradually stir into chicken mixture. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 1 minute or until thickened. Serve with rice. Yield: 4 servings.

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What the Heck are Hiccups?

I just got the hiccups all of a sudden. They were very uncomfortable and I had to stop them. I tried holding my breath (which usually works) then breathing deeply, then breathing shallowly. Nothing was working. So I looked to the all mighty Google Search Engine to find the solution.

What are Hiccups?

For years very little was known about hiccups and even less was written about them. Today that's changed. We still don't know jack, but scientists have explained this to us at length.

Here's what we know. When you hiccup, your diaphragm and nearby muscles convulse, causing you to briefly gulp air. Within 35 milliseconds the glottis (the opening at the top of the air passage) slams shut, producing the characteristic "hic."

If you're able to stifle the hiccup right away, great. But if you hiccup more than seven times you'd better settle in for the long haul. Once in hiccup mode you typically will hiccup 63 times or more. Maybe a lot more. The hiccup record, last time I checked, was 57 years.

Hiccups are commonly caused by distention of the stomach, which you get if you eat too much, drink carbonated beverages, or swallow too much air.

Is There a Cure?

Home remedies are mostly based on the idea that you have to disrupt the hiccup cycle. These include holding your breath, induced sneezing, breathing into a bag, drinking water while covering your ears, pulling your tongue, pressing on the eyeballs, sudden fright, or--this is interesting--eating dry granulated sugar. Merely drinking water, if done soon enough, may work by washing down a glob of food in your throat that's pressing against a nerve.

If the preceding are unavailing, a doctor may try drugs such as chlorpromazine, tickling the pharynx with a catheter stuck through the nose, hypnosis, or acupuncture. Still no go? Time for stern measures. In 1833 it was recommended that you blister or burn the skin above the phrenic nerve on the neck and back. This has now been supplanted by a marginally more civilized procedure in which the nerve is sliced or crushed.

Conclusion

No one knows shit about hiccups.

A Miracle

It's a miracle! As I was writing this my hiccups stopped. Sweet.

Discussion

How do you stop your hiccups?

Source

StraighDope.com

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Protect Yourself from Swine Flu

As you may know, the human swine flu has reached Canada. As students you are more at risk. Crowded classrooms, libraries, and hallways can spread the virus fast. And school isn't the only danger zone. There are grocery stores, malls, doctor's offices, workplaces, parks, . . . you must be cautious anywhere there are people or around anything that people might have touched.

As far as I know, the swine flu is not (yet) a reason to barricade yourself in your room. But it doesn't hurt to prepare yourself. The precautions to protect yourself from this virus are the same you would take to protect yourself from any flu.

General Information

H1N1 Flu Virus (Human Swine Flu) has been reported in Canada, Mexico and the United States and several other countries in Europe and the South Pacific . The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) is working collaboratively with Mexican and American officials to further investigate this situation.

Governments around the world and the World Health Organization are engaged to investigate and address this situation.

Cases of H1N1 Flu Virus (Human Swine Flu) have been reported in Canada.

PHAC continues to work with federal, provincial and international governments to address this situation, and will share more information with Canadians as it becomes available.

How to Protect Yourself

• The Public Health Agency advises Canadians to:
  
• Wash hands thoroughly with soap and warm water, or use hand sanitizer


• Cough and sneeze in your arm or sleeve


• Get your annual flu shot


• Keep doing what you normally do, but stay home if sick


• Check http://www.fightflu.ca/ for more information


• Check http://www.voyage.gc.ca/ for travel notices and advisories


• Talk to a health professional if you experience severe flu-like symptoms

For more information visit the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Topics for Discussion

Do you think the swine flu is going to become like the SARS epidemic?

Source: publichealth.gc.ca

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Free and Simple Weight Watchers Program

The Weight Watchers program is a diet plan that requires you to carefully record and control what you eat and how many points to allocate to each thing you eat. This program costs $40 to sign up and $22 each month, plus all of the necessary books and materials. But you get more support, resources and help.

If you want to try the program, or make it your own, there are some simple steps you can do that won't cost you anything. All it takes is a little dedication and willingness to track everything you eat. In the long run, it allows you to learn more about food, your body, organization, planning and self control. With some hard work you can actually lose weight.

Step 1: Calculate your recommended points for the day

ADD POINTS: You will add all of these point up to figure out how many weight watchers points you can have in a day.

ARE YOU?
Male - 8 pts
Female - 2 pts

HOW OLD ARE YOU?
17-26 - 4 pts
27-37 - 3 pts
38-47 - 2 pts
48-58 - 1 pt
over 58 - 0 pts

WHAT DO YOU WEIGH?
Use the first 2 digits of your weight - for example - if you weigh 145 then use 14 pts

HOW ACTIVE ARE YOU?
If you spend most of your day:
Sitting down - 0 pts
Occasionally sitting but mostly standing - 1 pt
Walking most of the time - 2 pts
Doing physical work most of the time - 3 pts

POINTS BANK:
You also get an extra 35 points during the week, which you can use all at once, or spread out over the week. (you can use these for drinking nights and eating out)
from ehow.com

Step 2: Set a goal

For a few days eat only as many points as recommended for your body. Then you can begin reducing your points to begin losing weight. For example, if you have 20 points you may wish to reduce it to 15.

Step 3: Calculate points. (Your points include anything you consume, including drinks)

CLICK HERE for a free points calculator. You only need to know the calories, grams of fat, and fibre.

If you don't know this informations, visit WebMD for a Food-O-Meter that can find the nutritional value of almost any food.

Step 4: Record your points

It is easiest to write everything in a notebook
1. Write the date
2. Write the time of each meal, snack, or drink
3. Write the total points of each meal, snack, or drink
4. Total the points for the day
5. If you have points left over at the end of the day, add them to your "Bank" of 35 points for the week. If you go over your goal, subtract them from your bank.

Tips:

• Pay attention to serving sizes
• Remember that all good diets include exercise
• Plan out healthy meals and snacks which actually allow you to eat more. Click Here for weight watchers recipes.
• Drinking water instead of soft drinks, juice, coffee, beer, etc. frees up a lot of points
• When grocery shopping switch to low fat/calorie products. It can make a big difference.
• Eat slowly and chew your food really well. This will give your body better digestion and time to tell you that you are full.

Good luck and feel free to ask me any questions. I'll do my best to find you an accurate and credible answer.

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Worst Easter Candy

As promised I have found an interesting article from WebMD. Easter is this Sunday and this article breaks down the nutritional information of many different candies.

I don't mean to ruin candy. I know tomorrow I am stocking up on Cadbury Eggs before they're gone!

Read Best to Worst Easter Basket Treats

"Pick your Easter basket poison. Are you partial to the marshmallow or peanut butter eggs or the milk chocolate bunnies...or, are you a Peeps person? What's the best way to approach your Easter basket, knowing you're going to indulge to some extent?" . . .

Happy Easter!

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A Great Health Website

WebMD is a great website that has a lot of resources for anything health related. I'm not sure how reliable it is but it does seem professional. I love that there a short videos for almost every topic. The articles are so easy to understand and there are a lot of great tips. When I go on the site there are so many interesting featured articles that I want to read them all!

You should definitely check it out. I will post some of my favourites once I have some time to visit the site again.

Here is one to start. Click the picture below to read very short explanations of "Weird Body Quirks: From Brain Freeze to Hiccupping".

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Healthy Eating: Special K Challenge

As part of my New Years Resolution I have decided to eat healthier. I heard about the Special K cereal diet and decided to try it out because I really like the cereal.

It is called the Special K Challenge. They have tips for success, exercise tips, healthy recipes and more. Check out the website to find tons of credible and useful resources.

The feature I like the best is the Meal Planner. The meal planner creates a suggested weeks worth of meals and snacks based on your recommended daily calorie intake.
While I found that the meal planner provides great ideas for a healthy diet I am not following it exactly. My twist on the challenge is that I am going to substitute one meal each day with a bowl of Special K. The cereal is available in different flavours so I can mix it up. Right now I am working my way through a box of Special K Berry. I love this one with some sliced banana and 1% milk.

I am going to be dieting this way for a couple of months. I'll let you know how it works out for me.

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Warning Labels on Plus-Sized Clothing?

A professor in the UK argues that clothing labels, on sizes 16 and up, should include obesity help line numbers. This is intended to help curb the high rate of obesity in the UK that is consuming their health care resources and government spending. Here is the article, found on wptz.com.

U.K. Professor Wants Government To Fight Obesity

"A leading professor in the U.K. said that obese people should be warned about the health risks of their weight when buying clothes, according to The Daily Mail.

Naveed Sattar, professor of metabolic medicine at the University of Glasgow, said that oversized clothing should have obesity help line numbers sewn on them to try to reduce Britain's obesity crisis.

The professor made the recommendations in this week's issue of the British Medical Journal.

Sir George Albert, the U.K.'s national director for emergency care, joined other health professionals in their recommendations. He wants the government to take a more proactive response to obesity.

The suggestion would be to put the label on all clothes with waist sizes over 37 inches for boys or 31 inches for girls. Women's clothes over size 16 would also get a label.

The paper reported that Sattar also believes new urban roads should only be built if they include a separate lane for bicyclists.The professor also said that new housing complexes should all include sports facilities and park areas.

Britain's obesity problem could bankrupt its health system if nothing is done to stop it, according to Sattar. The British Medical Journal reported that more than half of the U.K.'s population is overweight and more than one in five adults is obese.

Treating obese people in that country takes up about 9 percent of the health budget, the Mail reported.

Sattar thinks there should be more political intervention. He told the journal that he also wants food manufacturers to display nutrition information on the content of all meals and snacks at retail and catering outlets.

"People clearly have some responsibility for their health, but society and government have a responsibility to make the preferred, easy choices healthier ones," Sattar said.

Sattar said in the journal that education should be provided at all levels to change behavior towards diet and physical activity, and obesity made a core part of all medical training, according to a press release."

My Opinion:

Shopping for clothing can already be hard enough on a person’s self esteem. Embarrassing and degrading women further is not a good way to cut down on health care costs. In fact, this may actually increase health costs for prescription drugs which these women may feel are necessary to live a happier life.

In addition, the article says that obese people use up 9% of their health care budget. But I think that this is not a high enough number to call for radical change. Maybe the government should be more concerned with curbing violence, car accidents, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, and so on.

Notice in this article there is no mention of anorexia help line numbers on sizes extra small and lower. This professor is not concerned with health issues or costs, but is actually concerned that UK women should try harder to look like fake supermodels.

Discussion: What do you think about this proposal? Will it help or hinder health issues?

This video is related to this post. It's a Dove commercial from their real beauty campaign.

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