MS Maze

Anyone can get diabetes, but healthy living choices can help us lessen the odds by a long shot.

“Diabetes Mellitus” is a term for a group of diseases that affect how the body uses blood glucose, the main energy source for the cells in your muscles and tissues. It is the body’s main source of fuel. Although they share similar names and are often confused, there are two distinct forms of diabetes…

Find out how to be proactive… take the pledge:

Anyone Can Get Diabetes: Healthy Living Choices May Help You Avoid It

Photo: National Institutes of Health

On Writing

Sometimes simple equals powerful.

You can’t break everything down for simplicity’s sake; some topics require in depth analysis or lots of details. But every now and then keeping it simple is the key. As a case in point, what could be simpler than walking? A post about walking. This one is easy and to the point, free of complicated details or references to research. It is basic common sense and yet is the most commented upon post I’ve ever written. What a pleasantly puzzling surprise and a lesson learned.

Having a writing buddy — someone to compare writing goals with — has proven to be very a very effective tool for me. As is our mantra, “Bloody write it!” Life seems to be working against me ever completing a memoir, but those words keep echoing through my head until I answer the call. It seems there is always something else that must be written — blog posts don’t write themselves and deadlines loom. I’ve always got an idea for the next one that I should start on immediately. Because of the mantra and the inevitable end-of-week exchange of stats, the memoir has finally made it to the top of my priorities list. Hallelujah!

This Week On Care2

Rounding up Care2 Causes this week is Steve Williams: Kiss Your BitTorrent Goodbye and Go Mad for Maddow – It’s the Care2 Friday Wrap!

My Contributions:

Walking Your Way to a Healthier Mind, Body, and Soul: Walk. Walk somewhere. Walk nowhere. Be creative. If you are physically able, you owe it to yourself to use those marvelous legs to walk your way to a healthier body, mind, and spirit… one step at a time. Wow! I was really blown away by the page views and comments on this article. It was a very pleasant surprise. Thank you to everyone who put in their two cents worth.

If Breast is Best, Why So Many Obstacles? What could be more natural and normal than breastfeeding an infant? Natural it may be, but due to societal obstacles, it is hardly the norm.

Honoring Organ Donor Families: Find Out How You Can Donate Life: A little over five years ago, my family suffered the loss of one of our own at age 52. Her forethought in filling out an organ donation card resulted in either saving or improving the lives of eight strangers. Nothing can ever make up for the tragic loss of a loved one, but through her death came renewed hope for other families. Find out how you can make a difference.

Anyone Can Get Diabetes: Healthy Living Choices May Help You Avoid It: Anyone can get diabetes. Find out how to be proactive… take the pledge!

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Care2 Causes

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Contact: writer@webcampone.com

WebCamp One, LLC: Full-service website design, management, and development company with clients throughout the USA and Canada. Expert in standards compliant website design. From website management to freelance writing, we’ve got the web covered. Visit: WebCamp One on Facebook.

Help will come too late for many of the 106,759 Americans awaiting donation on the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network waiting list.

April is National Donate Life Month, honoring those individuals and their families who have elected to donate organs, tissue, blood, and marrow in an effort to save or enhance the lives of others, and to encourage more people to follow their example.

We owe a special debt of gratitude to those selfless individuals and their families who have, even in their own sorrow, acted to ease someone else’s suffering and save lives.

A little over five years ago, my family suffered the loss of one of our own at age 52. Her forethought in filling out an organ donation card resulted in either saving or improving the lives of eight strangers. Nothing can ever make up for the tragic loss of a loved one, but through her death came renewed hope for other families.

Read the rest of this post:

Honoring Organ Donor Families: Find Out How You Can Donate Life

Photo: organdonor.gov

What could be more natural and normal than breastfeeding an infant? Natural it may be, but it is hardly the norm. The World Health Organization (WHO) says that globally less than 40 percent of infants under six months of age are exclusively breastfed.

A recently-released study indicates that if mothers would breastfeed their infants for the first six months of life, it would save about 1,000 lives and billions of dollars annually.

We hardly needed another study to tell us what should be common sense. Health organizations the world over agree that breastfeeding is the most perfect source of nutrition for infants. It is packed with proteins and nutrients; easy to digest; and contains antibodies that protect babies from bacterial and viral infections and reduces the risk of many illnesses, including meningitis, diarrhea and ear infections, to name a few.

Some research also indicates that women who breastfeed benefit as well…

Read this post in its entirety:

If Breast is Best, Why So Many Obstacles?

Photo: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

You can walk the dog, walk with the kids, or just take a stroll by yourself. However you do it, walking is good for the mind, body, and soul, and here’s why:

• Walking helps you manage your weight, lowering your risk of heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes.
• It is a gentle, low-impact exercise and easy on the joints.
• Walking improves circulation; increases your energy level; improves sleep, mood, and sense of well-being.
• It is free. You don’t need a health club membership or special equipment. A good pair of walking shoes will do the trick.
• Walking with family, friends, or neighbors can be a social outlet.
• You don’t have to go anywhere in particular, although that’s certainly efficient; it is more about the journey.
• It is a good way to calm and declutter your mind. It will get you out of the house and into the great outdoors, where you can let your thoughts roam freely. (Turn off that cell phone!)

Read this post in its entirety:

Walking Your Way to a Healthier Mind, Body, and Soul

Photo: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/974922

It’s all about taking your money.

The Patient Affordable Health Care Act is lengthy and confusing enough as it is. Add the hype and the wild fabrications of the past year to the mix and you’ve got a prescription for scammers to swoop right in and take advantage of the situation.

NPR reports that within days of President Obama signing the bill into law, an ad on cable television prodded viewers to call an 800 number to take advantage of the “limited enrollment” period “now that health care legislation has passed.” Buyer beware: there is no limited enrollment period.

There are also reports of “Obamacare” insurance policies being sold door-to-door…

Read this post in its entirety:

Using the Health Care Bill to Separate You from Your Money

Photo: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1237499

Random Ruminations

An intersection with a four-way stop sign is no place for overblown courtesy; when it’s your turn, go! Everybody waving the other guy through is just not working out.

When you receive a frantic email about some upcoming legislation that will lead to the end of civilization as we know it and vilifying the politician who sponsored it, you might want to verify that such legislation actually exists before forwarding it to a zillion of your closest friends.

If I have a smudge on my face, please tell me before I discover it myself after the party then tell me you knew it was there all along. I hate when that happens.

Saw the 3-D version of Alice in Wonderland this week and it was absolutely delightful! 3-D movies have come a long way since I last wore a pair of those funny glasses, and Johnny Depp goes down in my book as one of the great actors of all time. I can’t imagine the role he couldn’t play with gusto.

This Week On Care2

MS Activist John Hicklenton Ends Life at Euthanasia Clinic: Make no mistake about it. John Hicklenton triumphed over multiple sclerosis. I say this in spite of the fact that he ended his own life because of it.

A Chocolate a Day Keeps the Doctor Away: Go ahead. Indulge your inner chocoholic in a guilt-free zone, armed with the knowledge that one small square of chocolate a day could reduce your risk of heart disease.

Ronald McDonald in the Hot Seat: Is he to blame for childhood obesity? Ronald McDonald is in the hot seat — someone wants him gone. Is the smiling clown a junk food pusher, or an easy scapegoat?

Using the Health Care Bill to Separate You from Your Money: The Patient Affordable Health Care Act is lengthy and confusing enough as it is. Add the hype and the wild fabrications of the past year to the mix and you’ve got a prescription for scammers to swoop right in!

Wrapping Care2 Causes for the Week is Suzi Parrasch: TGIF! It’s Time for Friday Wrap-Up

Read More
Care2 Healthy & Green Living
Care2 Causes

Connect: Facebook – LinkedIn – Twitter

Contact: writer@webcampone.com

WebCamp One, LLC: Full-service website design, management, and development company with clients throughout the USA and Canada. Expert in standards compliant website design. From website management to freelance writing, we’ve got the web covered. Visit: WebCamp One on Facebook.

Ronald McDonald is in the hot seat. Is it time to kick him to the curb?

Corporate Accountability International says it is. In a press release, Deborah Lapidus, senior organizer of the nonprofit group had this to say, “This clown is no friend to our children or their health. No icon has ever been more effective in hooking kids on a harmful product. Kids have become more obese and less healthy on his watch. He’s a deep-fried Joe Camel for the 21st Century. He deserves a break, and so do our kids.”

Read this post in its entirety and check out the poll results:

Ronald McDonald in the Hot Seat: Is he to blame for childhood obesity?

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cesarastudillo/158254453/ – CC BY 2.0