That's Fit

There are certainly a million plus reasons to quit smoking: the smell, the cancer risks, the heart disease, etc ... But now there is a new one! If you want to have plastic surgery on your face (and if you've smoked for a long time ... you probably want to), your doctor may insist that you quit before she'll do the procedure. Smoking interferes with the healing process.

This article tells the tale of a woman who repeatedly tried to quit smoking with no success. Until! That is ... her purpose for quitting was vanity. Hooray for that! I don't honestly care what she does with her face, I'm just grateful to have one less smoker in the world. I'm also thrilled that doctors have found a legitimately convincing way to get people to stop.

Endometriosis is a condition that was discussed a lot in my house when I hit puberty and started experiencing menstrual cramping that brought me to my knees. My mother was diagnosed with it (and told she needed a hysterectomy) when she gave birth to me -- that was, of course, after more than 25 years of truly unbearable cramping during menstruation and 10 years of trying to conceive with no luck. She had seen doctors about the pain and was basically told it was in her head.

So, when I came across this post at Divine Caroline on the "Devastating Effects of Endometriosis," I took a moment to read it over, and boy am I glad I did. It turns out that endometriosis can cause a lot more than just miserable cramping.

Endometriosis "occurs when fragments of the womb lining are found in other parts of the body where they may swell, bleed, and lead to fusing and scarring." Fragments are generally found in the abdomen, but can be found in the ovaries, fallopian tubes, bladder, and bowel -- even as far away as the lungs. And, it can cause infertility -- between 30 and 40 percent of women with endometriosis are unable to conceive.

A bad night's rest can wreak havoc on the next day. As a young person myself, sleep is often a footnote on a busy schedule for me. But there are some pretty compelling arguments for keeping better sleeping habits. One of the first steps for getting on that bandwagon is to be aware of the health threats.

Decreased alertness and performance during normal day activities is just one of those hazards from prolonged inadequate sleep. We're talking about a 32% reduction in daytime alertness from just an hour and a half less. These decreases can affect you even worse though. As the article states, extreme sleepiness during the day can damage memory and cognitive abilities!

So how do you combat bad sleeping habits? First of all, get on a schedule. We have internal clocks for a reason, and unless you keep a regular pattern it will remain in limbo. Working out is also another great suggestion from the article. I can personally attest to this one, having taken up cycling years ago for that very purpose! Another one is to avoid daytime sleeping. In other words, napping more than 20 or 30 minutes can affect your sleeping pattern for that night causing you to feel overly awake. This just barely touches all the information available, but you can find more here if you want to look into it.

Bulimia nervosa, like anorexia nervosa, is an eating disorder that centers around control. One of the most common eating disorders, bulimia is characterized by consuming large amounts of food and then ridding the stomach of its contents by way of vomiting, over-exercising, or use of laxatives.

Eating to excess (called the "binge") is comforting to bulimics. But eating too much causes them to feel out of control. They also feel guilt, shame, and a fear of weight gain which causes them to "purge." This "binge and purge" cycle is extremely dangerous and can lead to serious and long-term health problems, like tooth decay, gum disease, loss of tooth enamel, osteoporosis, kidney damage, heart problems, and even death.

Because bulimia is harder to recognize than anorexia -- the symptoms are more subtle and bulimics are not always thin -- awareness is critical. Please consider these symptoms and physical effects of bulimia.

If I could opt for one elective surgery, I'd choose something that would erase the loose post-pregnancy skin hanging from my tummy. I know it's been four years since my last 10-pounder was born but it seems no matter how fit or lean I get, the jiggle remains. A tummy tuck or liposuction would be ideal. I'm not sure I'd ever go through with these procedures, though. Something about choosing to have surgery for a non-medical reason makes me a little nervous. If it weren't so controversial, maybe I'd hop on the lipodissolve bandwagon.

Surgery is not required for lipodissolve. All it takes is a few injections of a chemical found in lecithin, the food ingredient derived from soybeans. Shots are given right into bulging body parts where they dissolve fat cells. Lipodissolve is becoming quite the rage, despite the fact that the FDA has not approved the compound used in the shots.

Lipodissolve just hasn't received much clinical study. Besides the possible pain, nausea, diarrhea, elevated liver enzymes and lumps at the injection site, who knows what long-term side effects of this treatment might surface. Lipodissolve is such an unknown that the state of Kansas has banned the marketing and sales of this quick fix.

While I've never been a smoker, I do enjoy drinking wine and I love spending time outdoors in the sunshine. I admit that I worry sometimes about the negative effects these habits may have on my health, but I guess I don't worry enough to stop doing either.

I find it pretty scary though to read that cancer charities in the UK are warning smokers, drinkers, sun-worshipers and those who are obese that incidents of deadly lifestyle-related cancers are on the rise. I realize that this news is coming out of a different country, but I also know that alcohol, cigarettes, over-eating and suntanning will have the save effects on me as on anyone in Britain.

The usual suspects like lung cancer and melanoma are named in the piece, but so are womb and mouth cancer, among others. They sound pretty terrifying and agonizing to me. I still stand by the notion that things are alright in moderation but this information makes me think that I may have to change my idea of what moderation is.

Are you concerned about lifestyle cancers?