I have wanted to write an article on this topic for some time but for whatever reason just never have gotten around to it. I was born in rural South Georgia where my parents were sharecroppers.

 For those that might not understand the concept of sharecropping, land owners would allow usually poor whites to come live in usually a dilapidated or at the very least housing that needed some attention. They would farm the land on what was called halves. My mom and dad were involved in this in the 30s and 40s in South Georgia. I am not so sure the land owners were fair in the way this was handled according to stories told to me.

Stress comes to us in various packages. It can surface through difficulties in personal or family relationships. The death or the impending death of someone close to us can cause it. When one loses a job, it can surface and by the same token, starting a new job can be stress related.

Stress is actually the body's response to the stressor itself. Stress is the response made by the body and mind to adjust to pressure surrounding our daily lives.Stress is not necessarily bad. A certain amount of it can cause a person to stay on his toes and do a better job at what he is trying to accomplish. An example of this can be seen with the student that gets nervous when giving oral presentations in class. This added stress will usually cause him to be better prepared and a better job will be done on the presentation.

There are so many fad diets out there these days that attract people with there fast weight loss and celebrity lifestyle image. The fact is that nearly all of these diets only really offer short-term weight loss solutions and can be extremely unhealthy. Iv'e put together a list of 5 popular fad diets - along with reasons NOT to try them!

Detox Diet
Claims to lose a stone in 10 days, defeat cellulite, give glowing skin and no more bloating. This diet is meant to compliment other detox methods such as massages, colonic irrigation, saunas, fasting etc. Food such as fish, meat, eggs, dairy, wheat, salt, sugar etc are banned, while fruit, veg, beans, seeds, nuts are allowed. This results in a lack of nutrients, lowered immune system, a temporary weight loss, mainly water. It can lead to yo-yo dieting, nausea, sickness and headaches. It is said to causes food cravings, resulting in eventually giving up! It can also cause eating disorders and there is no good evidence of it actually working!

Low Carb / Atkins Die
The aim of low carb diets is to force the body to use its own fat as its main energy source. This produces something called ketone bodies to fuel body parts that can not use fat as an energy source such as the brain and red blood cells. This puts you in a state of ketosis - resulting in smelly breath and side effects like fatigue and nausea. These diets do produce short term results, which actually come from loss of muscle tissue and water. They are not a long term weight loss solution and are unhealthy if sustained.

Starvation Diet
Starving yourself is one of the worst diets that you could try. Ok, you may initially lose a lot of weight but the effect this has on your body is drastic! You will be extremely lacking much needed nutrition and this will lead to fatigue, lack of sex drive and hormones, sleep loss, possible hypothermia, poor concentration and judgement, depression, anxiety, personality changes, social withdrawal, your metabolism will dramatically slow down, you will lose organ tissue and muscles, you can get shakes, feel the cold more, and feel very week. Low calorie intakes actually slow down weight loss.

Hollywood Diet
This is basically a 24 or 48 hour 'Juice Fast' where you eat no food in this time. This diet has the same cons as the starvation diet. You are really just losing excess water in the body with this diet and it does'nt last long, you will soon put that weight back on. It is expensive to buy the juice, around $25! You will get no protein or iron in the body, and will be taking lots of sugar and carbs. Tastes good at first but soon turns very sickly.

Cabbage Soup Diet
This is a 7 day diet plan which supposedly offers a fast weight loss solution. This is a very short term solution and is not sustainable so is'nt a viable option for long term weight loss. There are a few benefits to this diet which include fast weight loss, a healthy beneficial change from eating junk food, and research has shown that cabbage helps to prevent cancer. However, the drawbacks do outweigh these benefits somewhat significantly. The soup is high in salt, lacking in good overall nutrition - low in protein, calcium, essential fatty acids, high in sodium and MSG, requires much will power as the soup tastes very bland and is extremely repetitive, gives you gas!, and most of all this is not a healthy sustainable solution to long-term weight loss. This diet will most probably make you GAIN weight as it has a very low calorie intake and you can get bloated!


There really is no substitute for a healthy diet and regular exercise if you want to lose weight and live an overall healthier and more active lifestyle.

Arthritis, in the simplest terms, can be defined as the inflammation of one or several joints. It is one of the most common chronic diseases in the world. There are several types of Arthritis, like rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis, etc. Let us a have a look at the causes of arthritis.

Causes of Arthritis
Arthritis can be caused due to numerous reasons, but, increasing age is the most common cause of arthritis. Apart from age, excess weight and genetics are also important causes of arthritis. Injury, trauma, illness or infection in the joints can also result in arthritis. Sometimes, abnormal metabolism and over active immune system can also cause arthritis. In rare cases, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis is also found in children. What are the symptoms of arthritis? Let us have a look.

Arthritis Symptoms in Legs
Pain in the legs is one of the most common and prominent symptoms of arthritis in legs. Nearly all the types of arthritis have leg pain as their common symptom. Apart from leg pain, the following are the symptoms that are seen in arthritis.

Pain: Joint pain in the arms and legs is the most prominent symptom of arthritis. This pain may be dull or severe depending upon the advancement and type of arthritis. In most cases, arthritis pain in legs gets severe when the person wakes up after a night's sleep, gets up or bends his leg and arms.

Stiffness: Stiffness in nearly all the joints of the body like the arms, legs, fingers and wrists is also one of the most common arthritis symptoms in legs. Similar to the arthritis pain, stiffness is seen when a person wakes up after a night's sleep. As the leg is not mobilized all night, it stiffens in the morning and the stiffening lasts for nearly an hour.

Swelling: Painful swelling is yet another symptom of arthritis in the legs. All the signs of inflammation are observed in arthritis, like swelling and also warmness in the joints. Among all the other arthritis symptoms in legs, swelling is the only one that is easily noticeable, and hence can help in recognizing the disease quickly.

Other Arthritis in Legs Symptoms
Along with these major symptoms, one can also observe other arthritis symptoms in legs. Fever followed by chills and tenderness in the joints are the other symptoms of arthritis. Due to the pain and swelling, a person suffering from arthritis faces difficulty in walking. In case of children, symptoms related to arthritis like loss of appetite, weight loss and anemia are also observed. It has also been observed that a child develop rashes on the joints when suffering from juvenile arthritis. Read more on early symptoms of arthritis.

Treatment of Arthritis
If a person experiences the above mentioned symptoms due to any unknown cause, he should consult the doctor to check for the possibility of arthritis. Similarly, if frequent leg pain or stiffness that worsens as time passes is observed, one should consult the doctor. The doctor may ask the person to undertake blood tests or X-ray in order to confirm the presence of arthritis. The swelling in the joints may not be noticed in the X-ray in the initial stage, but can be found in a more advanced stage. Similarly, advanced techniques like an MRI can be used to determine the presence of arthritis.

One should remember that there is no cure for rheumatoid arthritis. But there certainly are medications that help in relieving the pain. Therefore, once arthritis is diagnosed, the doctor may prescribe you anti-inflammatory drugs to ease the pain and also the swelling. Physiotherapy can also be effectively used to improve the movements of the joints and prevent stiffness.

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