This year has seen the seventh opinion survey by the American Dietetic Association. It has been monitoring attitudes towards diet and nutrition since 1991 with irregular surveys. In this most recent, the headline is that three-quarters of those surveyed refused to give up the food they liked, with 80% stating there was no need to change their current diet. Now, as headlines go, this could be good or bad. If everyone liked healthy food in smaller portions, they would not have to give up anything they liked in order to maintain a low body weight. But if everyone likes a diet rich in fat, laced with salt and full of sugar, then their waistlines will continue expanding at an ever faster rate.

Since the ability to lose weight depends on a willingness to change what you eat, the headline is more likely bad news. No matter how good a drug like acomplia – in clinical trials, participants lost an average of 10% of their body weight – it only works in conjunction with diet and exercise. For the purpose of analysis, the survey divides people into three groups. Just over 40% claimed they were already taking the action necessary to reduce their weight. Just under 40% fell into the “guilt” group, i.e. they knew they should and would just as soon as they could but, until then, they would just feel guilty about not doing it. The remainder fell into the group unable or unwilling to struggle against the enormity of the problem.

There has been a slight reduction in the number of people falling into this last class, but the percentage of those who claim to be taking positive steps remains fairly steady. All the Association can say is that more people seem to be aware of the need to think about their diet and the need to take some exercise. The majority, however, seem focused on the belief that there will soon be a miracle cure. As it stands, acomplia and the other appetite suppressants rely on the individuals to diet and exercise. Most seem to be waiting for the mythical “fat-buster” – a tablet that will produce instant weight loss with no pain. As a group, women claim to be more responsible when it comes to dieting, but neither gender has any real interest in exercise. Both sexes seem to have a slightly better awareness of health issues such as those involving the use of trans-fat, but this is yet to translate into action to eliminate “bad” foods and eat smaller portions on a less frequent basis.

The hope is that, as more do search out information, they may become convinced of the need to act. Unfortunately, television is the most popular source of information and, with advertising interests so strongly represented, this is not the most reliable source. It all comes down to convenience both in the food itself and the source of information. When that seems to be failing, it is convenient to try a tablet like acomplia. You never know, it might work – actually, it does work, but only when people confront the reality and both diet and exercise.

The Jacob’s Ridge community features 5 lots on W. Kerr Scott Dam & Reservoir. All lots are lakefront and have access to public water, saving owners from $5,000 to $10,000 on drilling a well.

The entire development also features underground utilities. The lots are clustered around a “dead-end” cul-de-sac on a private road. Currently, the owner is offering $10,000 cash rebate to buyer!

Driving directions are 421 North from Wilkesboro NC towards Boone, turn left on South Recreation Rd., then right on Rocky Point Rd. Look for the sign at Nicole Ln., then turn right on Jacob’s Way.

W. Kerr Scott Lake is 1500 acres with 50 miles of shoreline and is controlled by the US Army Corps of Engineers. It is clean water with good fishing and is excellent for boating, kayaking, skiing, and swimming. The property is surrounded by National Parks. Wilkesboro NC is a beautiful community and town with friendly people. It is located just 40 miles east of Boone NC and Blowing Rock NC and one and a half hours northwest of Charlotte.

Contact Elizabeth Carter, 336.973.5594 or Greg Stikeleather, Broker, 704.880.5247 or email eacarter@charter.net

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search for : Jacob’s Ridge, W. Kerr Scott Dam & Reservoir, W. Kerr Scott Lake, Wilkesboro NC, Boone NC, Blowing Rock NC

There has been a sad trend since the turn of this century. Health insurance costs have been rising so fast that even large sections of the middle class now find it a struggle, if not impossible, to pay the premiums demanded by the insurers for private plans. The fact is that, although in the last one or two years, there have been some increases in average take-home pay, these increases have not kept pace with inflation. People today are more poor than they were ten years ago. For a time, people compensated by using their credit cards and borrowing against the positive housing equity on their homes. With the bursting of the housing bubble and the credit crunch, people must now confront the size of the debt they carry. Articles like this are not supposed to feel sorry for employers. They are the ones who take our work, pay us as little possible and buy big houses to live in. Sometimes, we only put up with this exploitation because of the health plans some offer as part of the compensation package. But they have also been feeling the strain.

The national statistics show that, in the period 2000-2007, there was an average 80% increase in the premiums payable by employers for the health plan offered to their employees. As a cost, this has increased five times faster than the cost of wages and salaries. Because consumers have come to expect that prices will not rise, it has not been possible to pass these increased costs on in the wholesale and retail prices. The result has been a reduction in the profits earned by the employers. Hence, wages have not risen fast enough to keep pace with inflation. This has real significance for the future health of the nation. Slightly more than 30% of the workforce is less than 30 years old and the majority of them are not insured. This because more employers have given up the unequal struggle to keep up a health plan for new employees, and more younger people who still have their health do not see it as a priority to use more and more of their take-home pay to fund private health insurance. They feel they are paying against the risk of sickness that might never come. This has an unfortunate knock-on effect. Health insurance distributes the risk so that the fit and health subsidize those who fall sick.

If too many of the healthy refuse cover, the cost must be born by the older population more likely to make claims. This forces the premiums to rise. It would be better if everyone had a policy because this spreads the costs and keeps everyone’s payments low. You can make a start by using sites like this to find the cheapest possible policy, but nothing will change unless government policy changes.

$5,850,000

MLS Number: 50913

City: Valle Crucis, NC
Stories: 2
Bedrooms: 4 Baths: 4.5
Area: Boone-Blowing Rock, NC
Year Built: 1990
Plus Five fully furnished 1,400 sq. ft. Rental Cottages. Each built in 1996 on approx. 1/2 acre sites. Current cottage average annual rental income $150,000.

39.4 acres with 360 degree view of Blue Ridge Mountains.

5,200 sq. ft. main house built in 1990 on 1.24 acres.

No restrictions and no zoning offer many other options:

* Family compound
* Corporate retreat
* Religous retreat
* Horse farm / Dude ranch
* Recording studio
* Cottages can be sold separately
* Land can be further subdivided if desired

Contact Elizabeth Carter, 336.973.5594 or Greg Stikeleather, Broker, 704.880.5247 or email eacarter@charter.net

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search for : Valle Crucis, NC, Blowing Rock, NC, Blue Ridge Mountains

For some, flying is a routine. No matter how much security we have to go through to get on the plane, it’s still quicker than all the other land-based systems of transport. For others, it’s an adventure. We have saved our dollars and now we get our reward – a flight to the holiday destination we have been dreaming about for months. Except that, the further we fly, the worse the effects on our bodies. Some flights are nicked-named, the “red-eye” flights because of their timing. When they land, the people leaving the plane look and act like the cast out of Night of the Living Dead and shamble through the rest of the day like zombies.

When the flights take us across different time zones, the effects can be just as devastating. One of the reasons for this is sleep (or the lack of it). Our bodies have natural circadian rhythms. We have a body clock that automatically tells us when to eat, to sleep and so on. If something disrupts that daily cycle, all the body’s processes are disrupted. A theory has recently taken hold that the body clock can be reset by using ambien. The idea is a simple one. If you are going to fly forward or back twelve hours, you will be expected to function at full alertness at a time your body clock tells you it’s night. Without intervention, your body’s temperature will drop slightly, your metabolism will slow and you will feel tired. But let’s say you take ambien on the plane. Now you sleep out of synch with your old time frame, but in the right frame for your destination. This is thought to be taking the first step to resetting the clock.

In fact, there have been many confirmed stories in the media of sportsmen and women using ambien to get themselves to sleep so they match the local time zones. Some physicians can be persuaded to prescribe ambien for this purpose or you can just buy the ambienonline as you need it for your travel. However, although everyone agrees that it’s the most effective drug to combat insomnia generally, its use for this purpose is more controversial.

Forcing the body to sleep is not the same as getting good quality sleep when your body is expecting it. Merely making you perform the activity of sleeping at the local time, is not resetting the clock that regulates your metabolism. Most informed physicians prefer people to live through the change and adjust naturally.

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that an increasing number of people are now unable to afford medical insurance. Some 47 million people do not have medical insurance. When they begin to fall sick, there is nothing that can be done if money is short. When it comes to a choice between food on the table and treatment, most people decide to eat. They hope they will get better. When health does not improve, there is no improvement in the choice to be made. If treatment remains unaffordable, they have to wait until their sickness worsens to the point it can be considered an emergency. At this point, people decide to go to the emergency room at their local hospital. Federal law is very clear. Hospitals are under a positive legal obligation to treat everyone who walks in through the door. It does not matter whether the emergency is real, in the sense of a traffic accident inflicting unexpected injury, or to some extent manufactured, where the condition only becomes an emergency because of a deliberate delay.

People must be given treatment. The difficulty is that most of the uninsured cannot afford to pay their bills. The hospitals can and do issue invoices for the treatment given and drugs supplied. This is also a part of the law. People have a responsibility to pay for their treatment. But hospitals are realistic about their chances of collecting. Continued pursuit for payment usually results in bankruptcy and the creditors only get a few cents in the dollar. So, hospitals make a rational decision. They spread all the unpaid bills among all those who can pay. In other words, whether you are paying out of your own pocket or you are relying on your own health insurance to pay for your treatment, a percentage of every hospital’s bill is a provision against bad debts from the uninsured. The irony is that everyone who is insured is also insuring all the uninsured for their emergency room visits. If you have been wondering why your own health insurance premiums have been going up so sharply of late, it’s because there is a wave of uninsured people going to the emergency rooms around the country.

The health insurers are having to pay more and this additional cost gets passed on in the premiums. Is it going to get any better? No. It’s actually going to get worse. Ever more people are finding health insurance unaffordable. Even with sites like this which allow people to find the cheapest insurance around, many still find the premiums too much. That does not mean you should give up. Using this site will get you offers. Then it’s up to you to negotiate directly with the insurer or its agents to get the best actual premium for the cover. It’s not worth the risk of being uninsured. If at all possible, get some cover.

WEST JEFFERSON NC MOUNTAIN PROPERTY

87.5 +/- Acres Available For Residential Subdivision Mountain Development, 7 miles from West Jefferson, NC

Paved Road and Bridge Built To State Specifications.

Average of $23,000 per acre.

This Property Should Retail For Approximately $50,000 to $60,000 per acre.

ALL PROPERTY HAS LONG RANGE MOUNTAIN VIEWS

Contact Greg Stikeleather, Broker, 704.880.5247

or

email Greg at grstike@charter.net

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When you’re young and in good health, you often live for the now. Some have the qualifications to find employment including health insurance in the compensation package, but most take what is available and let things drift until responsibilities come along. Then you start asking questions about what you want in the future. It starts with a partnership or marriage. It gets more urgent when children appear on the scene. If you found a job with a health insurance package, you can usually add your new partner or spouse to the plan. The first issue is whether that plan gives all the cover you need. Should there be gaps, you buy top-up cover. Then as the family grows, does the plan include children and any other dependents? Overnight, you become experts in the detail of the employer’s plan and carefully research what the private health insurance companies offer to give the additional cover. If your job has no health plan, but one of you had the wisdom to begin a private health policy, it is usually possible to upgrade to a family policy. Because you have track record with a company, this is less of a hassle than finding a completely new company for the family. If you’re starting with no health cover, you will find there are major differences in the premiums quoted. Through sites like this, you get instant quotes from multiple health insurance companies. By using two or three sites like this, you can rapidly accumulate a daunting array of information about different policies and quoted prices. This makes choosing the right cover a real challenge. The first step is take a cold-blooded look at the family finances. This is not a time for sentimentality or blind hope. You need hard figures on what you can afford to pay not just now, but in the foreseeable future. Remember your credit score drops if you start a policy and then find you cannot afford the premiums. The next step is to decide exactly who is to be included in the policy and what range of cover you want – just basic treatment options working up to long-term care insurance. Remember the larger the group and the wider the age range of the people to be included, the more the premium is likely to be. The more conditions, illnesses and injury possibilities you add, the more expensive the policy is likely to be. This drives you back to your financial calculations. The way to lower the premiums is to accept a higher deductible or copayments. But this needs a careful calculation. How much will you pay each year as self-insurance through the deductibles or expenses, against the saving in the annual premium. Weigh the benefits against foreseeable costs to make the right decision on which family health insurance policy to buy.

Analgesics and What They Are: Pain Relieving Medication

Basically, analgesics are a type of drug that help to eliminate pain. Analgesics bring about pain relief by either blocking pain signals headed to the brain or by interfering with the brain’s interpretation of the signals, without bringing about anesthesia or unconsciousness. Basically there are two types of analgesics: ones that are narcotics, and ones that are non-narcotic.

It should be noted that aspirin and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) are classified as analgesics in some references, because they possess some analgesic properties. Besides relieving pain, aspirin and NSAIDS primarily are anti-inflammatory drugs.

Non-Narcotic Analgesic Medications: Acetaminophen is the most popular non-prescription analgesic medication available. Acetaminophen is a widely used pain reliever because it works on mild to moderate pain and it is fairly cheap. The main point about how safe acetaminophen is depends on the correct application of the medicine (follow the exact directions for the dosage to take). Major side effects and even death may occur if acetaminophen is not used as directed. The risk of liver damage can be increased if you take more than 4,000 mg a day or use it for extended periods of time. The chance of liver damage associated with acetaminophen is greater when you drink alcohol. Be sure to discuss the guidelines for acetaminophen use with your doctor, especially the maximum allowable dose.

A lot of people are not aware that acetaminophen is an ingredient in over 600 over-the-counter medicines. It is often found in cold, sinus, and cough medications in combination with other active ingredients. The overall effect of acetaminophen must be thought of when you are taking several drugs containing acetaminophen.
 
In what way can acetaminophen harm the liver? The body rids itself of the metabolites acetaminophen changes into. When someone consumes more than the recommended daily dosage, the toxic metabolites are produced at a level that the body cannot handle.

Narcotic Analgesics: Opiates and opiods, which are derivatives of opiates, are the two kinds of narcotic analgesics. Opium is a white liquid extract of unripe poppy seeds; the alkaloids found in opium are called opiates.

Medicine that ties itself to opiod receptors within the central nervous system or gastrointestinal tract are referred to as opiods.

Wikipedia lists the four broadly-defined categories of opioids:

- Endogenous opioid peptides (these are naturally occurring chemicals, including endorphins, dynorphins, enkephalins)
- Opium alkaloids (drugs like morphine, codeine, thebaine)
- Semi-synthetic opioids (drugs like heroin, oxycodone, hydrocodone, dihydrocodeine, hydromorphone, oxymorphone, nicomorphine)
- Fully synthetic opioids (including pethidine or Demerol, methadone, fentanyl, propoxyphene, pentazocine, buprenorphine, butorphanol, tramadol, and more).

Opioids are given as analgesics to patients who suffer from serious or chronic pain. It is fascinating that there is no maximum dosage for the amount of opiods that can be taken to get rid of pain, but the amount has to be increased slowly so that your body can get used to the medicine without negative side effects (for instance respiratory distress).

An article in eMedicine talks about these side effects, saying that people who have intense pain and use high doses of these medications have less of a chance of having fatal side effects than those who do not have pain but take the same dosage. There has been great debate over the issue of the potential for dependency on opioids versus the advantages of taking them for their analgesic properties for the treatment of chronic pain from conditions like arthritis. There are some experts who maintain that opiods can be taken for years with little chance of becoming addicted or suffering from side effects which are toxic. The patients quality of life must be taken in to consideration when determining whether opioids should be prescribed.

Usual side effects and adverse reactions of Opiods:

- feeling nauseated
- vomiting
- sleepiness
- dry mouth
- miosis (contraction of the pupil)
- orthostatic hypotension (blood pressure lowers upon sudden standing)
- retaining water
- constipation and/or fecal impaction

Least severe of less common side effects:

- feeling confused
- hallucinating
- feeling delirious
- hives
- itching
- hypothermia
- bradycardia (slow heart rate)
- tachycardia (rapid heart rate)
- raised intracranial pressure
- ureteric or biliary spasm

- muscle rigidity

 - Most severe side effects and adverse reactions:

- respiratory depression
- fatal overdose

More Data on Specific Analgesics

Vacation property, an investment for retirement or a permanent residence, this Lake James waterfront home may be your dream property.

The beautiful water front home is located in a private community with spectacular views of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It has a double deck boat dock, an enclosed boat garage and a private ramp to launch your own watercraft. The home was built originally in 1972 and totally renovated in 2002. A four car detached garage was built in 2002.

There is a total of 264 ft. of water front. Beautiful three tier sea walls accent this elegant home. Hard wood and tile floors, modern appliances and vaulted ceilings are only a few of the amenities that capture you with this home.

Private dock permit.

List Price: $1,800,000
Flexibility: Willing to finance
Acreage: .75 acres
Type: Waterfront

Floors: 2
Bedrooms: 4
Bathrooms: 4
Sq. Footage: 3700
Garage Size: 4.0
Year Built: 1972, totally renovated in 2002
School District: Nebo

Suitable Use: Residential

Topography: Rolling
Road Frontage: Private Road
Location: Lake James, Burke County, NC

Amenities: Waterfront, Fireplace, Central AC, Alarm, Wood Floors, Gas Range, Patio, Wheelchair Accessible, Nature/Bike Paths, Boating, Controlled Access, Spa/Jacuzzi

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search for : Lake James waterfront home, Blue Ridge Mountains, Lake James, Burke County, NC