Health on the Internet Sleuth
This week I decided to check out the Internet Sleuth as Dr. James had mentioned it in class. I got there by going to Dr. James topical index which had a link to the Internet Sleuth. Under "Browse the Internet
Sleuth by category" I clicked on "Health". This led me to a bunch of health-related search engines. I decided to use the Good Health Web Library and did a search on nutrition. Wow! I was impress
ed by the rapidity with which the search engine returned my information. It took maybe a second or two! While the page layout itself was not all that aesthetically pleasing, it did get the job done. The page simply said the number of documents that wer
e found, and then lists each of the documents in no particular order. I checked out a few of them:
This was a document put out by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. They start out by saying how making the right food choices can reduce the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and cancer, and then describe and discuss seven basic gui
delines that we should follow when making food choices:
1) Eat a variety of foods
2) Maintain a desirable weight.
3) Avoid too much fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol.
4) Eat food with adequate starch and fiber.
5) Avoid too much sugar.
6) Avoid too much sodium.
7) If you drink alcoholic beverages, do so in moderation.
These are the basic tenets of good eating, but if you want more detail, check out this document. It's very easy to read and highly informative.
Are you trying to quit smoking? According to the American Cancer Society, each year approximately 17 million Americans try to stop smoking, but only 1.3 million succeed. These statistics are STAGGERING. Why is it so hard to quit smoking? This article
describes what makes quitting smoking so difficult, and describes the two major products approved by the FDA to help people stop smoking. The first is nicotine chewing gum, and the second is the nicotine patch, a transdermal, "band aid" that releases sma
ll amounts of nicotine into the system.
This is a document put out by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and they delineate main points to consider when purchasing fruits.
a) Wholesomeness -- the fruits appearance
b) Quality -- USDA grade; the article talks about the different grades and the differences between them
c) Nutritive value -- 2 to 4 servings per day are suggested and they point out that fruits have many vitamins and minerals and are low in fat
d) Convenience
e) Methods of use
f) Informative labeling -- retailers must provide nutrition information
on the 20 most frequently eaten raw fruits; this article goes into detail
about each of those 20 fruits.
Vegetarian diets: The pluses and pitfalls
Getting fit your way
Silicone breast implants
10 tips to healthy eating
The food label, the pyramid, and you
In terms of social
psychology, I think that having this kind of
information out there is a good start because, as we've repeatedly been
told, we are a lazy nation. Because the American diet is largely focused
around meat, people need to understand how to balance their diets with
the other food groups. Although the medical field is rapidly advancing
in its ability to save lives, we should not use this as an excuse to be
unhealthy. Health should be proactive not reactive. Once
people realize this, then they will begin to understand the true meaning of a healthy
lifestyle. Documents such as the ones I've found this week are important
because they teach people how to be proactive. The next step is for
people to take the information given to them and encompass it in their
lives. We all know the right thing to do; the question is, are we going
to do it?
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