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Searching For Health
By Sandy Powers
Health: a state of physical and mental well-being– a desired goal we all seek, but not one we all attain. Common sense tells us we begin by eating healthy, yet, what is eating healthy?
There are an abundance of diets on the market that claim this elusive road to well-bring. High carbohydrates, low carbohydrates. High protein, low protein. Total vegetarian containing no animal protein. High fat, low fat. Sugar busters. All eating plans very diverse, yet they all lay claim to greater health: reducing heart disease, cancer and diabetes while at the same time lowering cholesterol. How is it possible that seemingly conflicting diets profess similar success yet still be factual? For a limited time such assertions can be true. For a limited time. When we drastically alter our diet, our body will respond in kind—drastically. Sometimes, it is to our benefit, other times not. But what research has shown is that the benefits from these restrictive diets are often temporary. Credible scientific and nutritional studies have proven the healthiest eating plans are diets that are balanced by containing food choices from all food groups. The American Dietetic Association, the National Academy of Sciences, the National Research Council, and other major medical societies agree.
Ok. So, a healthy, well-balanced diet is the first step in searching for health, but what comprises this “healthy, well-balance diet” and how can it be measured? By life spans. The people who live the longest have the best diets.
According to the United Nations World Population study, the ten countries with the greatest life expectancies are Andorra, Macau, Japan, San Marino, Singapore, Hong Kong, Gibraltar, Sweden, Australia, and Switzerland. The United States has an overall life expectancy of 78.06, making it 45 in the United Nations’ ranking. I have examined three of these top ten countries and their lifestyles in Searching for Health.
Andorra has the longest life span with an overall life expectancy of 83.52. Andorra is a small mountainous country in southeastern Europe, located high in the eastern Pyrenees Mountain between France and Spain. Andorran cuisine is composed of meat (usually lamb and pork), fish, pasta, vegetables, fruits, dairy (usually cheese), and bread. Olive oil is used in cooking. Wine is the preferred beverage. Luis Pallares, an Andorran consulting surgeon, said it is common to perform surgery on people in their eighties and nineties. They soon return to their normal lives. A frequent question from the patients is “how soon will I be able to walk in the mountains again, tend my garden and go into the woods to gather mushrooms?”
Japan is the third ranking with an overall life expectancy of 82.02. Japan is an island country in East Asia, located to the east of China. Japanese cuisine is based on combining staple foods like rice or noodles, with a soup—usually a fish or meat broth—and dishes made from fish, meat, vegetable, fruit, and tofu, a soy product. Meals usually end with drinking green tea. The most popular exercise is walking.
Australia is the ninth ranking with an overall life expectancy of 80.62. Australia is a country in the Southern Hemisphere surrounded by the South Pacific and Indian Oceans. Australians eat meat, seafood, vegetables, fruit, and vegemite, a dark paste made from yeast extract spread on toast and crackers. Coffee and beer are the preferred beverages. Since Australia has one of the highest incidence of pet ownership in the world, walking the dog is the most popular exercise.
In reviewing the lifestyles of these three countries, I discovered that the diets are basically similar with a few exchanges, for example, like rice in Japan, pasta in Andorra, and crackers and toast in Australia. Walking is the common exercise in all three countries. Evidence of the health benefits of walking has been documented by the recent Women’s Health Study, a major research project that verified walking 15 minutes a day cut the risk of death from heart attack and stroke in half. Walking is also a great stress reducer. Reducing stress is a vital component to health and longevity. The time honored mind-body techniques such as acupuncture, biofeedback, and meditation to reduce stress have passed the litmus test of rigorous medical investigations. Positive effects on heart health, blood pressure, insulin, arthritis, and tension headaches are documented with the reduction of stress through these alternative therapies.
Searching for Health provides insight into achieving better health and a longer life expectancy by adapting our lifestyles. These are the tools to become authors of our own health.
Sandy Powers is the author of the award winning guide to health, “Organic for Health,” also on file with Oprah. Visit Sandy and view her book video at www.organicforhealthsite.com
For Immediate Release
Smart Systems for Health Agency (SSHA) – Partnering for e-Health Innovation
This session will describe SSHA’s role in implementing e-Health in Ontario. SSHA was created in 2003 to electronically connect health care professionals to each other and to patient information – across the health care system. Its IT infrastructure products and services are built for the health care sector and are being increasingly adopted by health care professionals and organizations. With its network and e-mail products that reach one-quarter of all publicly-funded health care locations and providers, SSHA’s products are increasingly being used as the electronic way for health care to share patient information electronically. SSHA is contributing essential elements of Ontario’s Electronic Health Record. Find out where SSHA is at in its role as Ontario’s e-Health enabler.
Laurie brings more than 20 years of IT consulting experience and over 10 years experience in health care from an IT consulting and volunteer perspective. In her Client Services role, she brings her leadership skills to the deployment of SSHA products and services to Ontario’s health care sector.
Find out where SSHA is at in its role as Ontario’s e-Health enabler. To register for Early-Bird Passes please visit http://gov.wowgao.com/registration OR call (416)292-0038 Ext. 812.
About Smart Systems for Health Agency:
Smart Systems for Health Agency (SSHA) is an arms-length agency of the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care responsible for putting in place computer technology products and services to connect doctors, hospitals, laboratories, public health offices, community care access centres and pharmacies. Electronically connecting these professionals will allow them to securely share patient information and make more informed decisions about our care.
About the 2008 Government & Health Technologies Conference & Expo:
The 2008 Government & Health Technologies Conference and Expo will focus on the latest IT products and solutions being developed and sought after in the healthcare and public service sector, including Web 2.0, Patient Monitoring Systems, Document Management, Business Intelligence, Mobile Data Systems, RFID Solutions, Biometrics and much more.
As one of Canada’s leading annual IT conference and exposition, the event features ground breaking IT applications that aim to educate key IT professionals, Government officials, developers, architects, engineers and medical professionals with the necessary tools and techniques for the reliable, effective management of all public information services across Canada. For more information about the event, please visit http://gov.wowgao.com
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Our featured events include:
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GAO Group is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. GAO Group has marketing, sales, customer support, manufacturing and R & D facilities in various countries, with most of its staff located in Canada, USA, Europe and China.
The first Member Company, GAO Research Inc., was founded on June 2, 1992 and it quickly established its reputation as an R & D power house in the embedded industry. GAO Group has continually grown and has become a conglomerate of fast growing companies with an enormous international customer base and an extensive network of VARs, distributors, resellers, and strategic partners in diversified industries worldwide.
With the aim of providing unparalleled services to its enormous customer base spread out over the world, GAO Group has developed and deployed state of the art technologies among all its facilities to support such functions as e-commerce, inventory management, CRM, project management, and supply chain management.
WowGao Inc. is an award winning leading event management company that produces, since 2003, internationally renowned conferences and expositions that address the latest innovations and developments in the information technology industry.
This interview is an excerpt from Kevin Gianni’s The Healthiest Year of Your Life, which can be found at http://thehealthiestyearofyourlife.com. In this excerpt, Craig Pepin Donat shares on the experiences that led him to write The Big Fat Health and Fitness Lie.
The Healthiest Year of Your Life with Craig Pepin Donat, a certified personal trainer and author of The Big Fat Health and Fitness Lie.
Kevin: Good evening, everyone. So Craig, you’ve been in the fitness industry for over 26 years and with that, I imagine comes a bit of wisdom. Why don’t you start with your story and how you’ve gotten to where you are now?
Craig: Sure Kevin. Well, first of all, I started out in the fitness industry as a personal trainer making $3.50 an hour.
Kevin: Wow.
Craig: So I’ve been in it for awhile and I grew through the ranks in the fitness industry to the executive level. I was the president of two of the largest fitness organizations in the United States. I was the Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing for the largest chain of fitness clubs in the world operating in 11 countries. I also successfully owned and operated my own fitness company. I’ve visited 30 countries and evaluated health and fitness trends all over Russia, Asia, Europe. I’ve been to dozens of fitness conventions, purchased millions of dollars worth of equipment, supplements and other health and fitness related products and I’ve also had the ability to train thousands of health and fitness professionals around the world and help them to help other people improve their lives. So this really kind of led me to where I am today, which is to where I just got to the point where I want to do something more and that’s why I wrote my book The Big Fat Healthy Fitness Lie and founded Fit Advocate.com so that I could create a platform to protect and enhance the lives and health and fitness consumers.
Kevin: Now you just mentioned your book, The Big Fat Health and Fitness Lie which I absolutely love. What is the big fat fitness lie. Let’s just lay it on the table.
Craig: Why mince words? Let’s dig right in. The lie is that there are these billion dollar industries out there getting richer while we get sicker and fatter and with all the so-called solutions available for losing weight and improving our health, we are literally in the worse shape in the history of modern civilization. There’s big profit in sickness and in fatness, and a lot of times people question that and they think, “Oh, well we live in the United States, we’re in great health and we have the best health care system” which is a complete fallacy. Here’s an interesting fact that people should be aware of, we’re approaching some 300 million people in the U.S. and we have every year 200 million diseases that are diagnosed for conditions that could be prevented with simple lifestyle changes.
Kevin: Wow.
Craig: And we spend in the United States, 270 billion dollars on 3.7 billion prescriptions written to, not to cure anything because there’s really very few cures in modern medicine, medicine is meant mostly to mask our symptoms. So taking into our bodies a lot of toxic chemicals and you know there’s so much confusion out there and misinformation about health and fitness. So there’s a huge opportunity, unfortunately, for people to make big money on the lack of knowledge that people have about how to lose weight, improve their health, get in shape and live better. So millions of people are out there paying thousands of dollars that have no chance of helping them achieve their goal and that’s really the big fat lie.
Kevin: And let me just ask you this, you’ve been on the other side, you’ve been a part of the industry that is making a lot of money in the fitness clubs and the organizations and everything. When did you suddenly say, “Hey, you know, maybe I need to educate people about this.”
Craig: Well, first of all I never felt that the club industry was a bad industry.
Kevin: Okay.
Craig: And in my book I still am a big proponent of joining a fitness center for the average person, there are, of course, some caveat of how to get a quality club. I have an article on the ten worst tricks for the fitness industry. So I try to expose the things that I think are bad but there’s also a lot of good too, but what I did notice while I was operating all of these clubs and trying to help people is that I would talk to thousands of consumers, face to face. For a big part of my career, my job was to get out there and help, work with people in the field, club operators, managers, sales people, fitness staff members, personal trainers, to talk to them about how to help people make decisions that are good for them and the guiding principle, of course was always don’t focus on making money, focus on helping people and you will make money as a natural result, as a natural bi-produce of helping people. That’s always been one of my guiding principles, but in speaking with all these consumers, you find that the average person spends thousands and thousands of dollars on products and services that have no chance of helping them. They spend hours and hours of wasted time on information that will never help them improve their health or change their lives. So I got tired, frustrated and really kind of outraged at all of the quick fix solutions that are out there that people jump from one to the other and without really understanding the true cause of why they’re in such poor health. So I wanted to try to educate them on all of the things, the lies the deceptions while also trying to give them simple solutions for how to improve their health, how to lose weight, how to get in shape, how to live better, how to feel better with no tricks and no gimmicks for the rest of their lives. That’s really what the big fat health and fitness lie is all about and that’s really what Fit Advocate website is all about.
Kevin: And you take a different approach in your book as opposed to a lot of the other books that I’ve read about health and fitness and it’s related to addiction. You say addiction feeds this whole lie. What do you mean by this?
Craig: Well, many people live a self-inflicted toxic lifestyle that destroys their health and feeds this lie. So what do I mean by that? Well, the definition of toxic, first of all, is poison and in our society we are surrounded by poisons, in our air, it’s in our water, some of them we can’t avoid and many of them we can, however. A lot of these poisons, they’re not going to kill us today, but instead what they do is they slowly and quietly deteriorate and destroy our health.
There’s two specific types of poisons or toxins that I talk about that create these health problems. The first, of course is chemical exposures. There are thousands of untested chemical combinations in our food supply to improve taste, texture, color or to extend shelf life. There are low calorie,low carb foods laced with toxic sweeteners that has contributed to obesity and diabetes. We’ve been conditioned to believe that sodium fluoride, for example is good for our teeth. Yet it’s a known chemical waste bi-product of the aluminum and phosphate fertilizer industry. This chemical has been pumped into our water supply and put into our dental hygiene products for years but fluoridation has been flatly rejected by many developed countries because of the dangers and the lack of really any scientific evidence of any health benefit. Beyond that, we have toxic chemicals in our household products, our cleaning products, personal hygiene products. Fruits and vegetables have been treated with herbicides and pesticides. Chickens and cows are fed ground chicken and beef. Then pumped full of antibiotics to stave off disease from the horrific conditions in which they live and where they’re slaughtered. So we have all of those, you know, all of this chemical toxicity. That’s the first concern.
The second is the biggest toxic exposure which is related to stress, and people don’t realize this but as much as 80% of all disease is the result of stress and having had the ability to travel all over the world and visit, you know, I believe I’ve been to over 40 countries now, you find that we in America are the most stressed out country on the planet. We work more than any other activity other than sleep. Just think about our normal lives, we wake up every day and we’re running on empty from morning to night. We’ve got the pressures at work, at home, the challenges sustaining some sort of happy relationship with our significant others. We’ve got the demands of the kids, trying to pay the bills. We have all of the negativity in the news. We’re all trying to live the American dream which is predicated on financial freedom, but the truth is only a fraction of people out there actually ever realize the American dream and the rest of us are simply trying to get by, and, you know, we’re buried in a mountain of debt. All of these things add up to a lot of worry and stress and to cope with this stress, what do we do? We drink, we smoke, we take drugs, we over eat, we eat the wrong foods and we spend hours in front of the television or surfing the internet. All of these activities, unfortunately make us fat, lazy and out of shape, and what happens is this poor health that’s created from this self addictive lifestyle creates, and opens the door for these big fat health and fitness lies. One of them is companies that market, manufacture and market and sale products that have no chance of helping us and then, of course, the worse thing is when we look to synthetic chemical compounds, prescription drugs, as the first line of defense to handle our self inflicted health problems. So we really have a lot of issues that we have to deal with in order to be healthy, but people need to understand the basis of where it starts, the cause.
Kevin: Yes. How does someone take that sort of addiction or quote unquote addictive personality and turn that into fitness success?
Craig: Well the first thing they have to do is identify it.
Kevin: Yes.
Craig: You have to realize it. Here’s, here’s a fact that’s pretty important that people should know about, the number one reason that people give for not exercising regularly is that they don’t have enough time, okay. Yet the average American watches four and a half hours of television a day. So there’s an issue there with priority and people have to understand that time is the most important and the most valuable thing that we have because once it’s gone you can’t get it back. If you want to improve your health, you have to make time to do all of the things that are necessary to improve and enhance your health and your life and it’s not just exercise but it is one of the key components. So they have to first understand the issues and then have the right motivation and set the right priorities to get them to where they need to be.
To read the rest of this transcript as well as access more information on creating and living a healthy lifestyle and hear from other health experts just like Craig Pepin Donat please visit http://thehealthiestyearofyourlife.com.
To read the rest of this transcript as well as access The Healthiest Year of Life experts just like Craig Pepin-Donat please click here! Kevin Gianni is an internationally recognized health advocate, author & film consultant. He has helped thousands of people take control of their own health naturally. For more information visit raw food diets and holistic nutrition.
An aging prostate can restrict your activities and maybe even your social life. Educating oneself about, and safeguarding prostate health should be a priority of all men over the age of 40.
Although it’s not fully understood why an aging prostate affects some men differently than others, experts have indicated that cutting back on red meat, saturated fats, and increasing fiber and vegetable intake will may help overall health. Heredity and ethnicity play a part in how an aging prostate affects men also. Of course, age is a primary factor.
As we learn more about prostate health from studies that have been conducted, we can gather some practical tips that can help men protect their prostate.
Let’s look at five proactive health care tips you can follow to help support prostate health.
Good Nutrition
diet is believed to be a contributive factor to how your prostate ages. Most nutrition experts believe that a healthy prostate can be supported by a balanced diet. It’s worth noting that prostate health is a large concern in North America, northwest Europe, Australia and the Caribbean Islands. The common factor across these countries is a diet that is predominant in red meat, saturated fats, less fiber with little or no vegetables.
It is recommended that men eat a low-fat diet that includes plenty of fresh fruits, vegetables and high fiber intake. Red meat should be avoided.
In addition, there are specific foods which are believed to support prostate health such as soybeans, wheatgrass, avocados, saw palmetto and pumpkin seeds, because they contain a plant sterol called beta sitosterol. Foods rich in a caretenoids called lycopene, found in processed tomatoes, watermelon, pink grapefruit, are also known to be beneficial for prostate health.
Education
Read up on prostate health. The Internet is a good source for educating yourself on the prostate, how it works, what to expect from your prostate as you get older and what steps you can take to keep your prostate healthy.
Most men may not be aware of the physiology of the prostate gland. Understanding the basics will help men to take proactive measures to keep their prostate healthy. The prostate gland is situated just behind the urethra. Many men associate the prostate with nocturia — the prostate gland can affect intimacy, sleeping habits and urine flow.
Regular Checkups
If you are concerned about your prostate at any age you should consult your doctor, otherwise men in their 40s should begin regular physicals which include a prostate exam. As with all health concerns, request that your doctor evaluate your risk by considering family history, diet and ethnicity.
Checkups and early action will help you maintain prostate health.
Exercise
Exercise helps increase blood circulation. It enhances the optimal performance of all organs and tissues. Good circulation is important to maintain prostate health, as well.
Doctors recommend that men take a brisk walk for 30 minutes every day, five days a week. Kegel exercises for the prostate gland strategically work to increase muscle tone in this area.
Nutritional Supplements
Since prostate health can be directly related to diet, nutritional supplements can be very effective in supporting prostate health. You could include plenty of saw palmetto or soybeans in your diet, but you would have to eat a lot of these for it to provide nutritional support for prostate health.
Prostate Health Supplements, like Super Beta Prostate, that is designed to support healthy prostate functioning, contain large amounts of concentrated beta sitosterol along with vitamins and minerals. The benefits of Super Beta Prostate’s unique formula can help to maintain a healthy prostate, bladder, and urinary tract.
New Vitality is a health supplements company. It develops supplement products which are carefully formulated under the guidance of an elite panel comprised of renowned doctors, nutritionists, chemists and researchers. Whether you want a nutritional supplement, pet health supplement, a personal care product or a health care product, New Vitality is a one-stop shop for all needs.
Aside from the self-insured/uninsured plan and the managed health care plan there is still one more form of health insurance coverage that can be obtained by consumers who have a little more money that they wish to spend on their health insurance coverage.
Screening will save a huge amount of lives but researchers already raise economic concerns regarding the medical health care; it may be possible that future agencies will deny the right to a health insurance just on the reason that a client presents a higher risk because he has one of these genes. Often you also find yourself with benefits such as health insurance for yourself and your family.
Health plans, health insurance carriers, third party administrators and other managed care organizations and medical management firms encounter a myriad of regulations when they are managing members who reside in multiple states. At a minimum, you have got to understand the difference between an indemnity plan and a managed care plan and its variants, which are the two basic types of health insurance plans offered today. A health insurance plan premium with an 80/20 or 20% co-insurance level is much higher typically than is a 50/50 or a 50% plans.
I want you to get so healthy; you’ll never need to make a health insurance claim. Today the employer also has found it challenging to decide how to offer employer sponsored group health insurance to their employees, so that both of them arrive at some point of agreement. Some of the college costs that should figure in your budget planning are the tuition fees, books and study materials, living expenses, health insurance and clothing to name a few.
Most people who hold a university degree pursue jobs they derive pleasure from which decreases stress and such jobs often offer better health insurance plans to their employees, resulting in improved overall health. Health insurance benefits are many. A manager may believe that ABC stock is a better health insurance stock than ZZZ.
In order to help simplify the process here are ten things you should look for when shopping for a health insurance policy. Peer review is also a substitute for the phrase ‘independent medical review’, where physicians are looking at cases to provide claims decisions for health insurance payers, workers compensation insurance payers, disability insurance payers, etc. With all the health insurance premiums going up there are companies that prey on people with low premiums and coverage that does not cover anything.
The key is to make the protection available, and have a mandatory employee meeting on identity theft and the protection you are making available, similar to what you probably do for health insurance. What father show that travel insurance relates to international health insurance is that both policies provide basic health insurance or medical insurance for individual families against medical emergency at any where you might be either inside or outside the country. Blue cross has been over the years the most stable largest health insurance provider in the United States.
Be prepared for medical claims the old E111 forms have now been replaced by the European health insurance card (EHIC) which entitles the holder to free medical treatment within Europe equivalent to that available on the NHS.
Personal includes such things as family auto expenses, owner life insurance, owner health insurance, business entertainment that was not really spent on clients, business trips not really for business, home office expenses, family cellular phones and much more. Unfortunately with the high costs of medical procedures and treatment, most people can’t afford to be without some kind of health insurance.
The Oat (Avena sativa) is originally from southern Europe; its cultivation has spread to all five continents. The oat is a plant of the Gramineae family, growing up to 1 meter high. Its flowers, as well as its grains, are grouped in pairs in ears. The Bran and the grains are the main parts used.
The oat is used as food for people and as feed for animals, particularly fowl and livestock. Oat Flakes, which are prepared by pressing oats into ground grain, are an essential food which is very well-liked in countries of central and northern Europe. Furthermore, oats have remarkable effects on the nervous system.
Oat grains have about 60-70% of starch and additional sugars (carbohydrates), about 14% of proteins, about 7% of lipids (fats). Amid other substances, they contain a considerable quantity of lecithin, B vitamins, pantothenic acid, enzymes, minerals, mainly calcium and phosphorus, certain trace elements and an alkaloid (avenine), which has corresponding and stimulating effects on the nervous system.
The use of oats is very suitable in cases of depression, insomnia, and physical or nervous fatigue. Individuals suffering from stress or sexual impotence, students mainly during exams—athletes and breast-feeding women will find that oats are an ideal medicine-food. Because of its tremendous use in cases of poor digestion, it is also good for convalescents and individuals suffering from gastritis, colitis and other digestive troubles.
Oat Bran contains silicon and vitamins A and B. It has soothing effects on the nervous system, both when taken orally as a concoction, and when used externally, during bathing.
Several studies have confirmed that oat bran reduces cholesterol in the blood. This decline only affects the so-called “bad” cholesterol (LDL), but does not manipulate the level of “good” or protective cholesterol (HDL), which as recently revealed acts to help shun arteriosclerosis.
Jason Hunter is a natural health advocate. He is webmaster of a natural health web site called Home Health and Natural Remedies, which he gives tips on reversing and curing some of today’s deadliest lifestyle diseases. Visit his web site at http://www.hhesonline.com.
Global recession moved closer on Friday after some poor figures from Japan and Europe, while more gloom percolated out of China.
Japanese industrial production and retail sales slumped, Eurozone unemployment jumped sharply (the biggest rise in more than a decade) to a two year high and Sweden became the latest European economy to fall into recession.
Japan’s industrial output tumbled 3.1% in October. It had risen 1.1% in September. Consumer spending dropped 3.8% as well, the eighth successive monthly fall.
Industrial production dropped 7.1% in the year to October.
The Trade Ministry had even gloomier news in the detail of the output report.
The Trade Ministry said Japanese companies planned to cut production 6.4% in November, the worst since the survey began in 1973, and a further 2.9% this month. That’s a fall of 12% if the forecasts are met.
Analysts expressed surprise at the speed of the fall in production and Bloomberg reported Richard Jerrams, Macquarie’s Chief economist in Tokyo as saying: “It’s absolutely unprecedented for production to show a 12% drop from September to December. That basically tells you that export demand has collapsed.”
The worry from the figures was the sharp fall in the transportation sector: that’s cars.
Toyota has already forecast that its full year profit in the March 2009 year will fall by almost 70%. Toyota said on Thursday that it slashed production in October by 17%.
Honda Motor Corp, Japan’s second biggest car maker, has forecast it may not make a profit in the second half of the year and it slashed production by 40,000 units last week. Nissan is cutting back, along with truck groups.
General machinery and electronic parts and devices were also very weak (reflecting in part the slump in consumer electronics, as seen by Panasonic slashing its operating profit for the 2009 year by 40% and its overall profit by 90%).
Japanese bankruptcies have been rising, with the number of listed companies filing for bankruptcy protection hitting a post-war high of 30 so far this year.
Household spending dropped 3.8% in the year to October, the largest decline since late 2006.
Like the US and Europe, inflation is rapidly disappearing in Japan: the consumer price index rose 1.9% year-on-year in October, 0.4% slower than September’s rise.
Japan’s Ministry of Labour reported that 30,000 non-regular workers would lose their jobs between October and next March.
The unemployment rate improved to 3.7% compared with 4%, but analysts said the fall represented discouraged people who had given up looking for work.
India, another of the so-called BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China, the four major emerging markets) said its economic growth slowed to 7.6% in the third quarter of 2008 from 7.9%. The news was overshadowed by the terror attacks in Mumbai.
Eurozone unemployment saw its biggest monthly jump in 15 years, increasing the chances of a another big cut in European Central Bank interest rates later this week.
Unemployment in the 15-country region soared by 225,000 in October: At 7.7%, October’s eurozone unemployment rate was the highest for almost two years.
Eurozone annual inflation fell from 3.2% in October to 2.1% in November. It was the biggest monthly fall in inflation since the launch of the euro in 1999.
Eurozone inflation peaked at 4% in July.
In Russia, the central bank raised its key refinancing interest rate again to 13% from 12% on Friday to support the weak rouble.
South Korea saw industrial production fall 2.3% in October, mirroring the experience of Japan.
Sweden fell into recession in the third quarter after its economy contracted 0.1% after a similar contraction in the June quarter.
It joins Ireland, Italy and Germany as European Union members now in recession. New Zealand, Japan and Denmark are other economies also in recession.
In Spain, the collapse of the once-booming home building and property sector continued. The collapse has pushed Spain to the brink of recession.
Major developer, Habitat filed for creditor protection and its rival, Colonial, said it was in risk of following.
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China’s State Information Centre lowered its growth forecast to 8% for the December quarter from 9% in the December quarter, a significant slowing from 2007’s 11.9%.
The person issuing the downgrade was significant: one of China’s senior state economic officials, Zhang Ping, chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission.
He appeared at a rare press conference in Beijing on Thursday evening to update the media on the health of the Chinese economy.
He said the impact of the global financial crisis on China has not stopped.He made similar comments over the weekend.
The downturn in the Chinese economy had accelerated over the past month and could lead to high unemployment and social unrest.
He said the government needed to take “forceful” measures to limit the slowdown in the economy, which included the 1.08% cut in interest rates by the central bank.
“The global financial crisis has not bottomed out yet. The impact is spreading globally and deepening in China. Some domestic economic indicators point to an accelerated slowdown in November,” Mr Zhang said on Thursday at a rare news conference, according to Bloomberg and Reuters.
“Excessive production cuts and closures of businesses will cause massive unemployment, which will lead to instability,” Mr Zhang said.
“Some economic indicators weakened further in November, showing a faster decline,” Zhang Ping said. “Employment is being impacted by factory closures and many migrant workers are returning to their home towns.”
Mr Zhang said that the extra spending would add about 1 percentage point to economic growth next year, less than most private sector economists had forecast.
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Hands up all those who remember the old E111 medical forms you were supposed to have if you travelled in Europe? I can see all those blank faces!
Well, great news is that it doesn’t matter any more. The E111 form was replaced at the beginning of January 2006 by a new European Health Insurance Card (EHIC).
This EHIC is valid for up to 5 years and entitles you to the same level of medical care in the country you’re travelling in, as would be enjoyed by the residents of that country. The card covers discounted and free medical care including emergency treatment, and applies to all the EEC countries plus Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. But be aware that the treatment you’re entitled to might not include all the treatments you get free of charge under the National Health Service here in Britain.
Nevertheless, we believe that it’s wise to carry a EHIC as it could save you time, money and a great deal of hassle if you’re unlucky enough to need medical attention. It can cut through some of the inevitable red tape you’d be faced with if you were relying just on the medical provisions of your travel insurance policy.
You should also be aware that in many areas of Europe, the best medical attention is still reserved for those with private insurance cover. Private insurance bypasses the long queues of local residents waiting patently in inhospitable corridors – after all who wants to spend days of their holiday not only ill, but queuing as well!
Another point is that nationalised health care is only available at nationalised hospitals which, in some countries, are hundreds of miles apart. They tend to be located where the local population work and live – not where you enjoy your holidays! Therefore, you may be a long way from the nearest nationalised hospital whereas private medical and dental clinics are to be found in many tourist areas catering primarily for holidaymakers. Their standard is usually good albeit in local terms, they’re expensive.
Whilst we’ve been discussing medical care, don’t forget that private travel insurance covers you for much more than just medical expenses. Most policies will even pay for you to be flown home to the UK if you’re really ill. Holiday cancellation (due to prior illness), holiday curtailment, loss of luggage or individual items are all aspects normally covered by the insurance.
To be as safe as possible, we recommend that all travellers get a European Health Insurance Card and comprehensive travel insurance. After all, you’ve saved up for ages for the holiday and if something goes wrong the last thing you want is to be worried about the financial implications.
As with most insurance, the best travel insurance bargains are to be found on the Internet. Search on your favourite search engine for “travel insurance”. The brokers usually provide the best value for money as they will have access to a wide range of insurance providers and can pick the best for you. You can try the sites run by the individual insurance companies but they’ll only offer you one option – their policy! A broker can offer you a range of solutions.
We say, no matter how you arrange it, get travel insurance and get peace of mind.
Information about the European Health Insurance Card
The European Health Insurance Card is free from any Post Office or by phoning the Department of Health on 0845 606 2030. You can also apply online at the web site run by the Department of Health. The web address is www.dh.gov.uk/travellers
It is most important to realize that to be successful in the goal of providing your companion with a happy and contented life style, the form of dog health care that works best for your pet, must include exercise and diet as well as frequent checkups with the vet.
Most people equate dog health care with rabies shots and the other series of immunizations that your vet has persuaded you that your doting animal requires. You, as the funding agent for your dogs health, feel obligated to accept all that your vet says. Given that you are most likely smarter than your dog, any other action would be taking advantage of the situation. Let’s face it, your dog cannot even spell dog care. In fact most, if not all dogs, cannot spell at all. Given that, you alone define the right dog health care for your trusting friend.
Exercising Your Dog
For the human and their companion, exercise is probably one of the most important aspects of health care. Holistic dog care must include an appropriate amount of exercise for your faithful friend. Although you can train your dog to sleep most of the day by your side and be as lazy as you, this is not good dog health care practice. To be happy dogs, dogs need to be active. This exercise does not need to be excessive. If you have a Puggle, it most likely does not need more than a walk around the block. Your average Labrador might need a couple of miles a day to feel contented. You should understand the needs of your dog and makes sure that it gets the exercise it needs. Unfortunately most dogs completely rely on their owners for exercise and it is important for the owners not to let them down.
Caring for Your Dogs Stomach
The final component in providing good dog care that is most often ignored is the provision of the right form of food. Cat owners have this down. Cats regularly regurgitate their food and their owners are normally determined to find food that reduces the frequency of their furry purring friend repeatedly doing this.
Animal throw up of all kinds is pretty disgusting to most human beings and we should all strive to minimize the activity for our own benefit. However, most dog owners do not regard the management of the dogs diet as part of an overall practice of good dog health care. They should. Particularly in Europe, dog foods are incredibly inconsistent in quality and content. You should read the labels carefully.
In Europe horse meat is common, in Australia most likely this is replaced with kangaroo meat. These are both difficult meats for the average dog to assimilate. Most dogs do better on milder foods such as lamb and rice. Dog health care practices should include a solid nutritional program that is customized to the sensitivity of the particular animal.
Roland Jefferson is an online researcher based out of Los Angeles, Calfornia. For free resources covering Long Term Health Care Insurance, please visit our Long Term Health Care Insurance Resource.
Medical tourists seeking high class, experienced and economical surgical procedures and treatments for their needs look for doctors and surgeons who offer the best in modern and high-tech equipment, training, and experience.
Renowned cosmetic surgeon Dr. Toncic and his staff provide a number of cosmetic surgeries at the gorgeous clinic building fondly nicknamed “Villa Milinovi” in Zagreb, Croatia. Dr. Toncic and his team offer a specially designed and equipped modern cosmetic surgery center that caters to the needs of individuals seeking a wide range of cosmetic and plastic surgery treatments. Such treatments include but are not limited to the most popular cosmetic surgical procedures from around the world, such as facelifts, rhinoplasty, and breast augmentation.
About Dr. Toncic:
Dr. Rajko Toncic is an experienced cosmetic surgeon who has performed more than 15,000 operations in his surgical practice over 35 years. He is a member of the European Academy of Facial Plastic Surgery and the Croatian Association of Physicians and the Croatian Assembly of Physicians.
Dr. Dinko Toncic has been practicing for ten years, specializing in aesthetic surgical procedures as well as otorhinolaryngology and head and neck surgical procedures.
Specialized Cosmetic Surgical Procedures
Common procedures performed by Dr. Toncic and his teams includes:
* Rhinoplasty – Both aesthetic and functional nose surgeries are performed which help to enhance appearance, self-confidence and optimal function. Nose surgeries may be either open or closed. Closed rhinoplasty is minimally invasive and is performed via the nostrils, while open rhinoplasty accesses the tip of the nose or via the columella (lower portion of the nasal septum). Rhinoplasty helps address or repair drooping noses, broken noses and septum deformities.
* Breast Augmentation – This procedure is considered to be a relatively simple and minor surgery these days, but an effective one designed to help lift drooping breasts, enhance underdeveloped or asymmetrical breasts and to correct anomalies or enhance breast reconstruction surgical procedures. Small incisions are made to insert implants, which are placed under the pectoral muscles. Results to this type of surgery are immediate and offer patients greater pleasure in their appearance and self-confidence.
* Facelift – Tighten the skin of the face and neck, offering an immediately younger and more youthful appearance. “Mini-lifts” and full facelifts employ exact techniques that create a natural looking appearance that produces little scarring. Dr. Toncic specializes in creating small incisions made in non-visible areas, such as inside the ear or in the hairline.
When it comes to maximum comfort and high quality medical skill and equipment, Dr. Toncic’s new clinic, located in the heart of historic and ancient Croatia, Zagreb is a crowning achievement for medical advancements in Croatia as well as the quality of services provided for worldwide medical travelers. Dr. Toncic’s cosmetic surgical clinic complies with and is certified by the National Ministry of Health and provides maximum comfort, safety and wellbeing for their clients.
Traveling to Croatia
Dr. Toncic and his team are located in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. Known as “the land of a thousand islands,” Croatia is a land that blends Middle European culture with Mediterranean cultures, and offers residents and international travelers romance, Mediterranean architecture, and rural wide-open spaces and national parks. With gorgeous views of nearby mountain vistas to the north, and the Sava River to the south, Zagreb is an historic city filled with cultural landmarks that has morphed into a leading economic development center that attracts millions of tourists every year.
Cost of Cosmetic Surgical Procedures in Croatia
Dr. Toncic’s clinic offers facelift, rhinoplasty, and breast augmentation procedures that are affordable to both domestic and international travelers. Clinic prices include:
* Free airline flights arranged by Dr. Toncic’s cosmetic surgery clinic
* Pre-op examination and blood work
* Anesthesia and surgical procedure
* Overnight stays
* Private accommodations with medical post-operative care and supervision
* Taxi services and transfers to and from surgery and follow up checks
Dr. Toncic’s clinic charges €3960 (UK£3079 – US $5484) for a full facelift. His rhinoplasty or nose surgeries range between €1700 and €2500 (UK£1830 – UK£1944 or US $2354 – $3462) and breast augmentation costs (including silicon implants) range around €3240 (UK £3488 -US $ 4486).
The cost of a facelift in Great Britain runs between UK£4200 and UK£5800. Rhinoplasty, or nose surgical procedures, range between $UK £3000 and UK £4000, and breast augmentation may run a British citizen between UK £3400and UK £5000. The price savings cannot be denied.
More about <a rel=”nofollow” onclick=”javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview(‘/outgoing/article_exit_link’);” href=”Breast”>http://www.placidway.com/subtreatment-detail/treatment,5,subtreatment,26.html/Breast Augmentation Treatment Abroad”>Breast Augmentation</a>
Mary Jo is an RN who has worked in health tourism for over 35 years. She has done international medical management consulting for a major health care organization. Prior to joining PlacidWay (http://www.placidway.com) she worked for the nation’s leading healthcare IT company as an implementation consultant for Electronic Medical Records.
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