A Nurses Prayer

Several months ago, a patient of a fellow nurse died as a result of negligence on the part of some of the staff and the hospital. It affected me so, that I went into the break room several days later, and wrote a poem, if you will, about the experience. To read the poem and find out more about the events of that day, please click HERE to go to my hubpages. Hope you enjoy it, and please be sure to leave a comment when you stop by! You may also want to have a box of kleenex with you when you read it!!!

Lowering Your Cholesterol and Other Benefits of Hearty Lima Bean Soup

In the cold, drudge of winter, this delicious, hearty Lima Bean Soup recipe is just the ticket for warming your soul!

Beans are low in fat, while high in protein and fiber, and can help to fight cancer and lower your blood sugar if you are a diabetic. They will also help to lower the risk of heart disease!

Make sure to visit my hubpages for my delicious Lima Bean Soup recipe and learn more about the benefits of eating beans!

How to Prevent Bed Sores

If you are caring for a bedridden family member or friend, you should know that, due to immobility and other factors, they are more prone to acquiring bed sores. Bedsores, also known as decubitus ulcers or pressure ulcers, can be prevented by taking daily precautions to avoid them.

I have just written a great new article on EHow entitled How to Prevent Bedsores, and would love you to take a look! Click HERE to visit my article now, and don't forget to leave a comment. I appreciate your support!

More on the Flat Belly Diet and MUFA Meals

I blogged a couple of weeks ago about the new, Flat Belly Diet, that has recently been introduced to the dieting industry. my take on it: JUST ANOTHER SCAM! But, I wanted to see what others thought so I did a little searching. I found a great article about the diet and MUFA meals on hubpages. Published by Maddie Ruud, it is a really well-written article...Click the below link to read it:

http://hubpages.com/_vajs531wdt59/hub/MUFA-Diet

How to Treat a Sprained Ankle

So, you have twisted your ankle doing that new Samba move on the dance floor again? How many times have you told your partner to quit stomping on your feet? You are probably now experiencing severe pain, increased swelling and it may be turning an amazing color of crimson and azure blue. Click here to go to my hubpages article and find out more about signs and symptoms of a sprain and the best treatment for a speedy recovery. Oh, and we will also go over the mechanism of a sprain and find out how it is caused....Some really interesting stuff, I assure you. Stop by my hubpages for additional really cool articles written by me, RN Online!
http://hubpages.com/_vajs531wdt59/hub/How-to-Treat-a-Sprained-Ankle

How to Avoid a Winter Cold

Winter Colds are the worst, aren't they? And to top it off, colds are the result of a virus for which there exists no cure! So, the best that we can do is try to prevent ourselves from catching one in the first place. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and that is so true when it comes to the common cold.

I have written a really cool article on EHow giving you tips and advice about how to NOT catch a cold this season! Click HERE to read the entire article NOW!

The Truth About the Flat Belly Diet

Flat Belly Diet: Just Another Diet Scam?

After the New Year, everyone is busy first making and then trying to keep from breaking their New Year's resolutions. It is no wonder then, that keyword searches for diet plans to assist individuals in reaching their goals are HOT, HOT, HOT as far as major search engines like Google and Yahoo are concerned. Topping the list of On Fire Topics and sparking the latest media frenzy is a new revolution in diet plans, a "breakthrough in medical science", the so-called Flat Belly Diet. Recently spotlighted on the Good Morning America show, the diet claims that frantic dieters can lose 15 pounds in 32 days and get a flat belly without ever doing a single crunch! The diet was developed by Editor in Chief, Liz Vaccariello and Nutrition Editor, Cynthia Sass, both of Prevention Magazine! Yes, you did hear me correctly! This supposed "breakthrough in medical science" diet was actually created by two MAGAZINE EDITORS!

The diet is fully detailed in a book for $31.95 plus offers an online support system, similar to Weight Watchers and the South Beach Diet. Wow, sounds like a great deal! But really, is it?

This article hopes to serve the purpose of reviewing the major claims of the Flat Belly Diet and will attempt to offer the conscientious consumer an alternative view on these claims, thus enabling them to make informed choices about whether this is a diet miracle, or just another contemporary, predator-style, marketing-friendly diet scam stalking it's next desperate, overweight prey!

Major Claim #1: Lose 15 pounds in 32 days.

Unfortunately, our current generation focuses on the dense desire for instant gratification! We want everything NOW, and sometimes even yesterday! It is no mistake, then, that brilliant advertising executives exploit this concept by marketing these "quick fix" types of diet plans, such as the Flat Belly Diet.

First and foremost, any diet plan that offers dieters a quick fix in losing weight is an absolute farce! While quick fixes may often result initially in rapid weight loss, this weight loss tends to be short term, consequently resulting in an even greater weight gain further down the line.

Additionally, physicians recommend that weight loss that is most beneficial for your body, your health, and will ultimately be easier to maintain is weight loss that occurs slowly, at a rate of about 2 pounds per week. Therefore, losing 15 pounds in one month's time, although an attractive concept is NOT HEALTHY!

Losing weight is such a simple matter, yet most individuals make it so difficult, especially when people are brainwashed by this "quick fix" mentality. It's a matter of a simple balancing act of diet, exercise and then maintaining your weight loss with your continued efforts. The bottom line is you must either eat less than you burn, or burn more than you eat! It is all about calorie intake vs. calorie expenditure, period!

Major Claim #2: MUFA at Every Meal

The Flat Belly diet claims that eating MUFA, or mono-unsaturated fatty acids at every meal is the key to their weight loss program. MUFA's include foods such as vegetable oils, nuts, seeds and some plant foods.

According to "Dietary Fat and Heart Health: in Search of the Ideal Fat", MUFA intake at the expense of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFA) and saturated fatty acids, (SFA) does not actually counter the presence of dietary cholesterol very well and can lead to an actual increase in LDL/HLD ratio. A balanced SFA/MUFA/PUFA ratio, which is a blend of each type of fatty acids, is said to incorporate a better fatty acid balance than just MUFA alone. In general, their study found that a balance of 1:1:1 produced the best LDL/HDL ratio.

Major Claim #3: Get a Flat Tummy without any Crunches

So, let me get this straight? Lose weight and get a flat belly without any exercise? Wait a minute, it IS a miracle!

Come on folks, let's use our heads, here and think about this concept for just a minute. Bodybuilders will tell you that getting flat, six-pack abs is no easy task. It requires hard work and commitment. When you see a lean, muscular bodybuilder during a competition, their ripped, washboard stomachs are the result of intense dieting down during their pre-competition preparation. Furthermore, they do a great deal of abdominal exercises, along with additional cardiovascular and strength training as well.

In complete opposition to what the Flat Belly Diet leads you to believe, a flat belly does not magically occur with little or no effort. In order to achieve a sexy, flat tummy, regular cardiovascular exercise is required, along with strength training for the ENTIRE body, not just the stomach, and a healthy, low calorie diet. And sorry folks, you are going to have to do some regular sit ups to build those muscles. Losing belly fat without strengthening underlying abdominal muscles will only leave you with a soft, flabby tummy that looks like mush! So, contrary to what the Flat Belly Diet is telling you, it is just not that simple and will take some time and hard work.

Conclusion

According to USA Today, 65% of Americans are either overweight or obese! It is also thought that this rate will continue to rise to even greater alarming levels within the next few years. Quick fix methods of weight loss do not work. Long term efforts that focus on lifestyle changes have proven to be the best way to promote healthy weight loss that will be able to be maintained throughout one's lifetime!

The weight loss Industry will continue to prey on those desperate individuals who are looking for quick fixes in an attempt to solve a long term problem. It is up to each individual to educate themselves and not fall into the trap that these large corporations try to entice them into. This article hopes to open your consumer eyes ever so gently to this concept to assist you in defending yourselves against big business, corporate weight loss scams. The Flat Belly Diet, in this author's opinion, falls into this type of category, but you, the consumer, must judge for yourself!

Happy New Year

I would like to wish everyone a safe and Happy New Year! I hope to continue to blog my way into 2008, by posting my very first blog of the New Year. I have just said goodbye to 2007, opened up the front door, literally, and let 2008 in. I hope all you can do the same!