Monthly Archives: January 2016

Taxing Sugary Water Works

Beverages infused with copies amounts of sugar like Pepsi or Coke aren’t good for you health. When an entire nation consumes too much then public health suffers greatly. This has many governments looking into how they can stymie this overconsumption of unhealthy drinks. One solution is taxing soda sales.

in 2014 the Mexican government started such a tax and consumption has dropped. To prove its effectiveness researchers looked into how much of an impact the tax had on people drinking pop.

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A study published Wednesday in the British Medical Journal suggests the tax is working: After one year, sales of sugar-sweetened drinks in Mexico dropped by 12 percent. And among poor households, which have the highest levels of obesity and untreated diabetes, sales fell by 17 percent.

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These results are not surprising, but their empirical confirmation is of the greatest importance for governments that have opted to use taxes on sugar sweetened beverages as part of public health strategies, and those considering to do it,” wrote Franco Sassi, head of the public health program of the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation.

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Thanks to Delaney!

Increase Your Happiness by Prioritizing Time Over Money

Modern capitalism as informed us that greed is good and we should only work for money. However, if your goal is to live life then working might not be the best use of your time. If you’re looking to be happy in your life then you should definitely value your time over how much money you could earn.

If people want to focus more on their time and less on money in their lives, they could take some actions to help shift their perspective, such as working slightly fewer hours, paying someone to do disliked chores like cleaning the house, or volunteering with a charity. While some options might be available only for people with disposable income, even small changes could make a big difference, Whillans said.

“Having more free time is likely more important for happiness than having more money,” she said. “Even giving up a few hours of a paycheck to volunteer at a food bank may have more bang for your buck in making you feel happier.”

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Pets Can Improve Patient Care

Having pets around is already a pretty fun idea, and now it can also be healthy idea! It’s known that pets can help kids by lowering the chances of them developing allergies, particularly if the pets are allowed outdoors (be careful with letting cats outside though since they kill millions of birds needlessly). Now research is pointing out that patient care can improve when patients happen to have a pet.

A dog or a cat is always there and no matter how big a jerk you’ve been during the day, your dog or cat will always love you when you come home,” he said, adding pets often alleviate loneliness and offer companionship, especially for elderly people.
Monavvari said knowing more about that bond opens up all kinds of possibilities for human health professionals.
“For some people, their pet is the most important family member for them and we were missing that piece altogether. We didn’t know what to ask or if it is appropriate to ask and what information that provides,” he told CBC News.
Patients love to talk about their pets, said Monavvari, and often that can be the most important bond in their lives. He said patients will sometimes put their pet’s health ahead of their own.

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International Year of Yum

2016 is the year of the pulse. Pulses are the edible seeds of plants in the legume family and they are delicious! Pulses are super easy to cook with and really good for the environment. They are really good for your healthy to. This means you should hop on the pulse bandwagon!

To launch the year off to a healthy start you can take the Pulse Pledge.

EATING PULSES CAN HELP MAINTAIN A HEALTHY BODY WEIGHT
Pulses are rich in protein and fibre, and a low in fat, which can all help with body weight management. Protein and fibre help you to feel fuller longer. In addition to fibre, pulses also have other carbohydrates that are complex and take longer to break down compared with other carbohydrates (simple sugars). This means they provide energy for a longer time after you eat them compared with a quick energy source like sugars. The carbohydrates in pulses include oligosaccharides and resistant starch which can increase production of good bacteria for a healthy gut.

Learn more about pulses.

Germany Opens Its First Bike Highway

Germany knows that their autobahns, which are famous for not having a speed limit, can only handle so much traffic. To alleviate pressure put on their highways they have built a highway just for bikes! The 100km long bike path runs through 10 cities.

The bike path is fully lit, cleared of debris, and even has overtaking lanes for cyclists. It’s just like any major road for cars but built for environmentally friendly and healthy transportation: a bicycle.

The RS1 cuts through the Ruhr region in North West Germany, close to the border with the Netherlands, and runs mostly along former railway tracks. The bike paths are 13 feet wide, have overtaking lanes, and according to the AFP are lit, and cleared of snow and other debris, just like regular roads. The inspiration for the RS1 comes from the cycle ways of the Netherlands, and also from London’s bike superhighways, and the route usually crosses other roads via over-and-underpasses.

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