HEALTH AND WELLNESS

                                      One can survive for several weeks without food but only about five days without water! Up to three quarters of our body weight is water. For example, the brain is 75 to 85 percent water, and the muscles are 70 percent water. Among other things, water helps us to digest and absorb food, carrying nutrients to the cells. It removes toxins and other waste, lubricates joints and the colon, and regulates body temperature. But did you know that drinking enough water is also a factor in weight loss?                                                       DRINKING WATER TO LOSE WEIGHT   First of all, water has no calories, is fat free and cholesterol-free, and is low in sodium. Second, it is an appetite suppressant. Third, water helps the body to metabolize stored fat. How? Well, when the kidneys do not have enough water, they cannot function properly. The liver steps in as a backup, but doing so hinders its ability to metabolize fat effecti

                                       Alcohol misuse is a multifaceted problem that includes hazardous use, harmful use, and dependence. Hazardous use, is defined by the World Health Organization, is “a pattern of alcohol consumption carrying with it a risk of harmful consequences,” physical, mental, or social. It includes drinking than the limits recommended by the health authorities or imposed by the law. Harmful use, also called alcohol abuse, involves drinking that is already provoking either physical or mental damage but has not yet led to dependence. Dependence has been described as “the loss of control to abstain from drinking.” An alcohol-dependent person craves alcohol, continues to drink despite various alcohol-induced problems, and suffers from withdrawal in its absence.   No matter what your age, gender, or nationality, you are not free from the risks of hazardous drinking. Just what does alcohol do to the body? What are the health dangers of overdrinking

                                                                                   YOU CAN IMPROVE YOUR HEALTH Austin, who lives in Britain, leads a busy life. In the past, he had some unhealthful habits but came to realize that he was paying a price for them. He stopped smoking and overindulging in alcohol. Still, long days in front of his computer left him feeling lethargic. Although Austin started work at eight o’clock in the morning, he rarely felt fully awake until ten, and he was often sick. So he made an adjustment to his routine. The result?   “In the last seven years, I haven’t taken more than two sick days a years,” he reports. “I feel great –awake and alert –and I enjoy life.” Austin, his wife, and their two small children live in Nepal. Sanitation is lacking in their neighborhood, and the area swarms with mosquitoes and flies. In the past, Austin, and his family frequently suffered from respiratory problems as well as eye infections. They too made chan

                                        King Ferdinand I [1751-1825] is said to have disguised himself as a commoner and, in clandestine fashion, visited a poor neighborhood in Naples. Why the secrecy? One story has it that he wanted to sink his teeth into a food that the queen had banned from the royal court –pizza. If Ferdinand were alive today, he would have no trouble indulging his appetite. Currently, there are some 30,000 pizzerias in Italy, and each year they produce enough pizzas to serve 45 to each inhabitant.                                                              HUMBLE ORIGINS Pizza may have originated in Naples about 1720. Back then, pizza was primarily for the poor, a “fast food” that was sold and consumed outdoors. Vendors would traverse the streets loudly calling out to advertise their tasty delicacies. The pizzas were kept warm in a scudo, a copper receptacle that was carried on the vendor’s head. King Ferdinand 1 eventually made his