Smokehouse Chicken Andamp: December 2013

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Top 7 Travel Money Tips

- It is recommended that you use a "mixed wallet", i.e. a mixture of cash (often you will require some local currency to pay for the taxi from the airport etc), cards made up of pre-paid currency cards as well as your usual credit/debit cards. This enables you to make sure that if you are unfortunate enough to either lose items or have things stolen you will still have cash available.- Ensure that if you are taking a variety of cards abroad with you that they all have different pin numbers. If you are unfortunate and do have any items stolen, or are the target of pickpockets, this way you are protecting at least some of your cash.- Shop around - There is such a wide variety of travel money providers, credit card offers, and pre-paid card options that as with any financial product it is extremely important to shop around to make sure that you get the best deal.- Do not use your bank or building society to purchase travel money! For those that have researched the market this may seem obvious, but for many consumers the high street has been the first port of call. There are a huge variety of online providers, some of which provide free delivery for foreign currency. Often these providers do not charge any commission and the spread that they put over the exchange rate will be significantly less than a high street provider as they will not have the overheads and are looking to increase market share.- Pre-paid cards are a relatively new entrant to the travel money market, and go some way towards replacing travellers cheques which are becoming increasingly rare. One of the main advantages to using a pre-paid card, is that if you are to lose the card or have it stolen, some providers will provide a replacement with the same amount of funds on the card for free! This means that you have the same security you would get with a bank card (i.e. Pin protected), but you are also benefiting from the potential replacement of lost funds.- Check out the potential charges before you go away: If you are planning on only spending on your debit/credit card it is important that you understand what the charges may be. There has been lots of research into this, and it can make a significant difference to your spending money.- Last of all, do not take all of your money to the beach with you!!! - As obvious as it may seem, after a night of indulgence in a foreign country sometimes people leave their common sense at home!Enjoy the holiday and hopefully these tips will mean that you are able to do one extra activity due to the savings that they may have encouraged! Please visit www.cheaptravelmoney.com for more information.

Owner and developer of http://www.cheaptravelmoney.com Matt L is working hard to provide the best possible news and information f

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Sunday, December 8, 2013

Pain - Guide For Screening People At Risk Of Becoming Chronic Sufferers

The severity of a health problem never explains the level of disability alone. In fact, medical conditions account for the level of disability in only 11 to 12% of cases.1 What can explain this phenomenon? Pain must be understood as a personal and subjective experience modulated by the impression that an individual has of the immediate consequences of pain on his/her life, future consequences, estimated duration of the problem, emotions that pain arouses, and the strategies (means) he/she can use to feel better. Therefore, the intensity of pain is the consequence of a stream of physical and psychological events that influence one another. In short, the way in which an individual interprets the sensory information of pain and perceives its long-term implications, along with his/her (perceived) capacity to deal with such requirements, determine the "experience" of pain(2) and provide guidance for it.The level of disability following an injury or illness is better determined by an individual's personality traits and beliefs and by his/her environment. We have developed a guide for rehabilitation workers and program managers for screening cases at risk of becoming chronic sufferers. In addition, this guide discusses information that must be obtained from an individual with regard to his/her condition to plan a rehabilitation program effectively.Chronicity Risk FactorsIf the answer is "yes" to a single one of the following questions, there is a risk of the individual becoming a chronic sufferer.1. Does the individual exhibit symptoms or behavior related to psychological distress (fear, anxiety, concerns, depression, substance abuse, somatization)?2. Does the individual appear to dramatize his/her situation (amplifying the consequences of his/her current condition)?3. Does the individual avoid getting involved in any process likely to improve his/her condition?4. Does the individual derive important secondary benefits from his/her condition (i.e. more attention from his/her family circle, removal from unpleasant work or a stressful work environment, etc.)?5. Does the individual misunderstand the consequences of his/her health problem, leading him/her to draw wrong and more serious conclusions on his/her situation?6. Is the individual passive with regard to his/her treatment?7. Has he/she been suffering from pain for more than two months with its intensity showing no signs of subsiding?8. Does the individual think that treatments attempted to date have failed?9. Is the individual in a situation where he/she has been told that everything is fine, medically speaking, but the pain persists?10. Has the individual interrupted or considerably reduced any physical activity?11. Is the individual grappling with a dispute over a benefit claim?If the answer is "yes" to a single one of these questions with regard to the individual's situation, there is an important risk of long-term chronic pain and disability.In order to better determine the individual's situation and provide him/her with the appropriate support to cope with the problem effectively, referral to a clinic specialized in pain management is recommended. The clinic will be able to evaluate the individual adequately and recommend a rehabilitation plan adapted to his/her condition. The following section entitled "From Evaluation to a Rehabilitation Plan" discusses the information that a clinic specialized in pain management has to obtain in such circumstances.From Evaluation to a Rehabilitation ProgramBefore undertaking any rehabilitation program, it is important to obtain precise information on the individual's condition through a six-step evaluation.DiagnosisThe type of pain should be determined based on the physician's diagnosis:o Localized paino Regional paino Generalized painThe rehabilitation and pain management program should be adapted to the individual's type of pain. The program should be entirely different for an individual suffering from generalized pain such as fibromyalgia compared to an individual suffering from local pain such as bursitis.Psychological AspectsAn individual's psychological condition, interpretation of the consequences of pain, understanding of the problem and perception of the resources available for help throughout the rehabilitation process are among the many factors to document. It should be pointed out that in most cases, these factors have proven to be the most important determinants of the evolution of the individual's condition, regardless of the severity of his/her medical condition. Therefore, effective treatment involves taking into account an individual's psychological condition.Muscle PerformanceOur bones and muscles - the musculoskeletal system-carry us, day in, day out, and enable us to move, exercise and go about our daily activities. When suffering from pain after an injury, the level of our daily activities decreases, sometimes considerably. Consequently, muscle mass usually decreases, resulting in loss of strength and stamina. This loss in physical condition leads to premature fatigability, even during activities normally requiring only very light effort. Evaluating the level of physical condition determines the cardiopulmonary endurance of an individual and explains the extent to which it plays a role in his/her current condition. For instance, an individual may think that fatigue and shortness of breath felt when doing simple housekeeping tasks are the result of an injury, whereas this consequence might be due to muscle deconditioning for the most part.Muscle PhysiologyMuscle metabolism disorders represent one of the most important causes of myalgia. Pain of chemical origin - described most often as progressive, shooting and unremitting pain - indicates the possibility of a muscle metabolism problem, thus preventing muscles from adequately using the energy they need to produce efforts required. From that moment on, an individual feels pain because of muscle metabolic disturbance. This phenomenon can limit initial rehabilitation potential if an individual is inadvertently asked to do exercises that exceed his/her muscle capacity and generate pain.Motor ControlAs soon as pain appears, motor behavior is affected. An individual does not move in the same way anymore, considerably modifying movement to avoid pain as much as possible. Even when an injury has healed, this motor behavior often remains; however, because of its ineffectiveness, pain is caused by this very behavior. Does the individual move naturally and effectively, or has he/she lost all motor effectiveness? This important question will also guide the rehabilitation process.BiomechanicsIf an individual suffers from a work injury such as tendonitis (swimmer's shoulder), is it possible that this injury was sustained because he/she did not move his/her muscles in the safest and most conservative manner? This aspect is important in preventing an individual from falling back into old habits and relapsing after having returned to work following a rehabilitation program.ConclusionOnly by considering the condition of each individual from a global perspective, i.e., by taking into account the overall physical, psychological, environmental and behavioural factors that mutually influence pain, can we prevent a problem from becoming chronic and even restore an optimal quality of life in the most complex cases.

References1 Aronoff, G.M., "Evaluating and Rating Impairment Caused by Pain", Demeter SL, Anderson GBJ, eds. Disability Evaluation, 2nd Edition (2003), American Medical Association.2 Drawn from the special report available on [http://www.winesomefitness.com] : Managing Pain: Why it Is Important to Consider Psychological and Behavioral Factors.Dr Denis Boucher PhD, holds a doctoral degree in medical research. He also completed a master degree in exercise science where he specialized himself in sport psychology.He's also a member of well known scientific organizations: ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine), APA (American Psychological Association), IASP (International Association for the Study of Pain), Canadian Pain Society, ASCH (American Society of Clinical Hypnosis).He is the editor of the Web site [http://www.winesomefitness.com] a Web site dedicated to hea

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Friday, December 6, 2013

There's An App For That

The importance of tracking your fitness progress is well documented and proven to increase success. In an age of ever-growing (and ever-changing) technology trends, the "app" is now king. Need to find a place to eat? There's an app for that. Need to estimate a car repair? There's an app for that. Need to track your fitness progress? There are a bunch of apps for that.So how do we choose the right app? Let's look at several of the most popular fitness tracking apps available today. The three I have chosen are Lose It! by FitNow, Inc., Calorie Counter & Diet Tracker by MyFitnessPal.com and Calorie Tracker by LiveStrong.com. I should preface this review by stating that all three of these apps are free. That was the one requirement for this review. There are too many good free apps out there to spend money on one.All three of the apps are very similar with subtle differences. Below is a list of the features that are basically the same in each of the three apps.
Set goals
Graphs for weight
Online interface
Large food database
Create recipes and auto saves previous meals
My foods section making it easy to choose regular foods
Large exercise database and customizable
Set motivators and reminders to log and exercise
Nutrient breakout to track fat, carbs, protein, etc.
All three apps have easy to use interfaces and the set up for each is very simple. They all walk you through your goals and take information such as age, height, and weight when you first download the app. You can then go in and modify all your profile information whenever needed.My favorite features present in all three apps are the My Foods section, the nutrient breakouts, and the set reminders feature. The My Foods section allows you to quickly recall foods or meals that you have previously entered or looked up. This makes log entries much faster as most of us are creatures of habit when it comes to meals.The nutrient breakouts take your entered foods and show you the amounts of protein, fat, carbs, sodium, etc. This gives you a great detailed look at the types of foods you are eating and helps to identify foods you should avoid or at least limit.The set reminders feature allows you to set up notifications on your phone. The notifications can be set to remind you to log in your meals or workouts. This is a very useful feature that helps ensure you are diligent about your daily logging.You really can't go wrong with any of these apps. The FitNow and MyFitnessPal apps have two features that I think set them apart from the Livestrong app. These two features are the bar code scanner and the friends section.The bar code scanner is a really cool feature. The scanner uses the camera on your phone and is very easy to use. Also, I have yet to find a food it doesn't recognize with the scanner. This feature makes it extremely simple for log entries and creating recipes. You also know you are getting the right product. Without the scanner you will occasionally have to pick an item that matches as closely as possible. With the scanner, its exact.The friends section is a fun way to interact with others who are trying to get or stay fit. You can't see actual numbers for each other, but it will say what exercise you performed, give an up or down indicator when you check in your weight and allows you to comment back and forth on the status updates. This can be a great motivator for you and your friends. A little healthy competition is always good.To be fair the Livestrong app does have a community section, however it is not quite as interactive and is open to anyone, not just friends.Of the FitNow and MyFitnessPal apps I personally like the interface of the FitNow app the best. I think it flows a little better from screen to screen and is also a little easier to look at. Again these are all good tracking apps.With all the fitness technology available today, getting and staying fit still requires discipline and will. There is no designer drug, fancy engineered drink, or high-tech workout that will magically melt away the pounds without hard work and sacrifice. Technology can however help. Try out one of these apps and see yourself transform... and maybe have a little fun in the process.

Steve Stark Get Fit & Stay Fit!Steve is a NFPT Certified Personal Trainer with over 15 years of experience training athletes as well as private clients. For expert fitness advice, instructional exercise videos, printable workout routines and 4 or 8 week workout programs visit www.wor

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