Currently, chronic diseases are by far the leading cause of death in the world and their impact is steadily growing. The report projects that approximately 17 million people die prematurely each year as a result of the global epidemic of chronic disease.

Faced with the prospect of millions of people dying prematurely and suffering needlessly from heart disease, stroke, cancer and diabetes, the epidemic of chronic disease must be stopped. “This is a very serious situation, both for public health and for the societies and economies affected, the cost of inaction is clear and unacceptable. It is vital that our country should review and implement the health actions we know will reduce premature death from chronic diseases.”- helpyourbody

“We know what to do, and so we must do it now.”

The vast majority of cases of chronic diseases are caused by a small number of known and preventable risk factors. Three of the most important are unhealthy diet, physical inactivity and tobacco use. These risk factors are increasing as people’s dietary habits change to foods high in fats and sugars, and people’s work and living situations are much less physically active.

One billion people are overweight or obese, and help your body predicts that it will rise beyond 1.5 billion by 2015 without immediate action.

Aim

The aim of the helpyourbody is to substantially reduce the burden of chronic metabolic disease (cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and osteoarthritis) in India by fostering Integrated Public Health Action.

Vote in your support

‘We cannot afford to say ‘we must tackle other diseases first – HIV/AIDS, malaria, cancer etc. and then we will deal with chronic diseases. If we wait even 10 years, we will find that the problem is even larger and difficult to cure. Precaution is a must.

Be the next to vote and support the fight against chronic disease. http://bit.ly/87jU2r

http://www.helpyourbody.in/signaturecampaign.aspx

by Adele Woodyard

 Why did this attractive, small (pop. 1800) North Florida town  name itself after Cuba’s capital? Tobacco. Back in the 1800s, what was known as shade tobacco flourished in dozens of Gadsden County farms. The long, rubbery leaf was shipped to Tampa to layer the outside of hand-rolled cigars in Ybor City companies. So in 1906, the founding fathers named the town Havana, in honor of the Cuban experts who’d taught these local farmers better growing methods.  

 By  the mid-1970s, all but the best cigars wore a synthetic wrapper. That invention helped sink Havana’s thriving economy. Enter antiques. A former bank, hardware store, fertilizer warehouse  and Ford dealership began to house collectibles, furniture, art, food stores and eateries. Antique lovers came in from other countries, and U.S. states as far away as Alaska. Where the residents were concerned, antiques saved the town.

 Names change, antique dealers come and go, but here’s some of what I found on my September visit. The majority of shops cluster on the west side of Main Street, between First and Second Streets, Seventh to Ninth Avenues.

Downtown Historic Havana

The huge Planter’s Exchange Antique Mall sprawls beside the railroad tracks, in a collection of odd-shaped buildings that end with the Art Trail Studios and Shops. Inside I wandered through a series of mind-boggling displays, some free-standing, others tucked into corners, hallways, and “booths”. In one room. I opened the lid of a beat up “early spice tin” to find five varied sized copper top spice holders inside, for $49.95. There are hand-sewn quilts for $69.95 each, three late 1800s purple glass flasks for $99.95. Cherry and oak old-fashioned paddles sold for $12.95 apiece. My folks, who collected Early American antiques, would have loved the ladder back chairs with cane seats. They probably would have bought all eight at $79.00 each.   

 When I asked a saleswoman “how many vendors?” she said, “I have no idea. Some rent a booth, others maybe a space like this,” pointing to a large, European, elaborately inlaid sideboard. A sign suggests it would make “a good bar”– at $1,295.95.    .   .        . . .   

 The Little River General Store that specializes in gourmet foods, also offered nostalgic toys and games. A shop named Brocante carried kitchen items, old and new books, linens and vintage tools. Among the usual items of jewelry, collectible bottles and vintage art, one shop,  Broken Shell Boutique, carried architectural salvage.

 Lunch at eateries with names like The Tomato Café and Tea Room and Mocking Bird Cafe. sounded enticing. But The Havana Trading Company had recently added an ice cream shop to their 13 vendors. I treated myself to a brimming chocolate shake, so full of ice cream, it ran over the edge of the glass. You don’t have to be an antique lover and/or collector to enjoy a visit to Historic Havana.

 Located about 15 miles north of Tallahassee, it is easily reached from U.S. Hwy 27, 90 or I-10. If possible take S.R. 12,  the North Florida Art Trail that connects with Quincy, for a quiet drive past beautiful, old Victorian homes. 

A little history:

Henkie Kelner masterfully blended Piloto Ligero tobacco from two different cultivation areas in the Dominican Republic and added a strip of tobacco from Nicaragua.  This potent filler blend is bound by a Corojo/Olor hybrid Dominican binder.

This is said to be the strongest Zino cigar made.

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Cuban-seed
Binder: Dominican hybrid Corojo/Olor
Filler: A unique combination of Dominican
Shape: Robusto Extra
Size: 5 X 58
Draw: Perfect
Burn: Good – A few touch ups required and flaky ash.
Construction: Great

The first 1/3 blasted me with loads of pepper and spice.

The second 1/3 had a nice nutty and cedar taste, with the spice still present.

The last 1/3 had hints of leather and the spice starts to build back up!

Overall, this is a very complex, well-balanced cigar with thick smoke and an intense aroma.  By all means it’s full-bodied from the first puff to the last.  They are not cheap, but do yourself a favor and try one; you won’t be disappointed.

Currently, approximately one third of the global population over the age of 15 – about 1.1 billion people – smoke cigarettes. Tobacco use continues to be the leading preventable cause of death worldwide, killing at least five million people each year. Trends from illness and death related to tobacco use indicate that by 2030, tobacco use will contribute to the deaths of more than 10 million people worldwide each year, 70 percent of whom live in the developing world. Though various strategies are in place, including bans on smoking in public areas, restrictions on advertisements for tobacco products, and increased taxes on cigarettes, the number of people who use tobacco has not significantly decreased. A recently released report from the World Health Organization (WHO) details cigarette and smokeless tobacco consumption and seeks to find an approach that may lessen the use of these products.

The WHO report indicates that though 22 of the world’s most populous 100 cities are now “smoke-free,” this only accounts for 5.4 percent of the world’s population. In 2008, the WHO established a set of guidelines aimed at helping nations to reduce smoking, which include:

1. Monitoring tobacco use and the policies to prevent it,
2. Protecting people from tobacco smoke,
3. Offering people help to quit using tobacco,
4. Warning people about the dangers of tobacco,
5. Enforcing bans on tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship, and
6. Raising taxes on tobacco.

However, reports indicate that less than 10 percent of the world’s population is covered by any one of these measures. Additionally, only two percent of individuals live in nations that have comprehensive and widely-accepted smoke-free laws, and 94 percent are not protected by any laws against smoking.

Laws banning smoking – including the use of cigarettes, cigars, and hookahs – in public places will come into force in 2010 in many areas of the world. According the Syrian Society for Countering Cancer, 60 percent of adult men and 23 percent of women in Syria smoke, and 98 percent of Syrians are affected by second-hand smoke exposure. Other nations face similarly high rates of tobacco use and smoking-related illness and death. The high incidence of tobacco-related deaths in the Philippines (90,000 per year), Malaysia (10,000 per year), and Vietnam (40,000 per year) has caused concern in these regions, but fully effective smoking bans are not yet in place. Reports indicate that the majority of smokers in some Southeast Asian countries are men, and that as many as 75 percent of men smoke, compared to fewer than 20 percent of women who do. In Cambodia, for example, roughly half of the older women do use tobacco, but favor smokeless chewing tobacco, which many women begin during pregnancy to help lessen prenatal nausea.

Over the past four years, smoking rates have decreased in developed nations including the United States, Japan, and Western Europe as anti-smoking laws gain momentum. However, the World Lung Foundation (WLF) indicates that “More than 80 percent of those with premature deaths [from smoking] would occur in low- and middle-income countries.” Since 1960, according to the WLF, “the global production of tobacco has increased 300 percent in low- and middle-resource countries while dropping more than 50 percent in high-resource countries.” In China and India, over half a billion men consume tobacco, and other nations are facing similar problems of mass consumption of tobacco use. Tobacco is a contributing cause to heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, cancers and asthma worldwide, regardless of how it is consumed (smoked, chewed, etc.). According to Ala Alwan, the WHO non-communicable diseases expert, more than 80 percent of the WHO’s projected cancer deaths are likely to occur in the poorest regions of Africa. To increase awareness and provide education about the dangers of smoking, the WHO is planning to establish a regional hub there in 2010.

It remains to be seen how much impact the efforts of the WHO and other organizations will have with regard to decreasing the number of individuals who use tobacco. Through newly established laws, increased taxation, and outreach and education about the dangers of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products, it may be possible to urge individuals to quit smoking or not to start at all.

Discuss This and Other Public Health Concerns in the iCons in Medicine Forums

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Although there is no such thing as a good addiction, probably one of the worst is the Find a word that people with tobacco.

Tobacco is a slightly different kind of addiction in comparison to addictions such as gaming and sex, addictions, which are almost caused by the addictive personality itself. Tobacco is a little different, because the substance itself addictive.

Most people who take to smoking, especially if they live in a hardNeighborhood to do this because the cool thing to do. Peer pressure is a terrible thing in this world, especially if you are a youth. The last thing you want is to have your colleagues laugh at you, call chicken or whatever it daily abuse of court if you tell them no thanks to the hand that they are cigarette. So to not be forgotten, take the cigarette and take your first train to be teased.

Unfortunately, the hooks, which follows, is your body a chance toTells you that they do not want to be smoke in the lungs, ignored by young people. God forbid he should be allowed to be laughed at, because so squeamish.

It takes time, but eventually the body will not even accustomed to the smoke. The cough is not so difficult, but gradually all the stops. Soon, the youth in the situation, a whole cigarette without external signs that the cigarette itself does him no harm to smoke.

It is at this point that the act of smoking isaddicted is not because of the smoke, but because the substance referred to in his nicotine. Nicotine is a drug and like any other drug, if taken long enough, the body begins to crave it. Suddenly the person finds that if he is not a cigarette, which he begins to nervously. Now it is not simply a question of a load compartment of a smoke to impress his friends, but a drug that does not satisfy the way to go.

For some people, this addiction can become so bad that they have evolved into whatbe a chain smoker. These are people who have a cigarette at all times. This chain smoker can easily go through four or five packs of cigarettes per day.

There is no need to go beyond the damage, do not go this way of smoking on the body. In the years since reaching the peak of their popularity cigarettes has been done enough research to prove beyond doubt that smoking causes cancer, respiratory diseases and heart disease. Kills in a word, smoking. FurtherEvidence that smoking is an addiction, in fact, as with this knowledge of what cigarette smoking can do, these people find it almost impossible to stop.

Since then, there were many ways to try to deal with this terrible addiction, including patches, gum, and of course smokers anonymous. While some people succeed in ending their habit of smoking, many of them are never in a position to abandon it completely.

Unfortunately, the best way to stop it, not to start in the first place.

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Smoking is dangerous for your health because if you ask me one more time if I can spare a cigarette I’m going to punch you square in the balls.

You likely already know that tobacco smoke is bad for babies in utero – and even second-hand smoke for babies/kids. But this study has linked tobacco smoke to symptoms of ADD/ADHD.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/173623.php

Kids first exposed to tobacco smoke after birth (vs. in utero) have a 1.3 times higher rate of behavioral issues. Kids who were ALSO exposed in utero have a doubled risk of these issues.

The behavioral issues include things like hyperactivity, attention deficits or problems in their relationships with peers.

And yes, the results of the study were “independent of affects from the social environment in which the children were growing up.” Meaning, they ruled out that kids from poor/less educated families (who smoke) would be more likely to have behavioral issues.

Researcher Ivana T. Croghan of the Mayo Clinic Nicotine Research Program and colleagues have found out that women who smoke more than 100 cigarettes in their lifetime, are at increased risk of developing breast cancer. However, women can still improve their odds if they quit smoking.

The research compared 1,225 women with breast cancer to 6,872 who did not have the disease, looking at smoking history and other known risk factors for cancer. These findings sharply contradict past studies that found no link between smoking and breast cancer.

Read more about the published study in the September/October 2009 issue of the Breast Journal.

Sorry I’ve been so distant as of late, guys, but there has been a lot of stuff going on right now with me, my family, my work and so on. It’s been hard to get some time to actually sit down and write something that I found to be worthwhile. There were a few posts but nothing that I figured anyone would want to read.

So now I’ve come back to announce some good news! Well, sorta… I’m going to start posting again! Like, seriously posting. More reviews, more news articles, more stuff about my daily life, and a new addition to my blog will be in the form of video reviews. Mostly YouTube inserts, but something to go along with the article I’ve written.

A lot of the stuff that I’ll be reviewing within the next few months will be shisha. For those of you that aren’t familiar, that is tobacco that is covered in molasses and flavorings that is meant to be smoked from a hookah. If all goes well, I should be getting my first, of perhaps many, hookah in March of 2010. A birthday gift of epic proportions.

So stay tuned for some new posts and please, please, PLEASE comment my blog with some suggestions about what you think I should be doing differently or just giving me some encouragement! Let me know what you think about this blog, and I’ll be sure to let you know that I’m thankful.

Thanks, guys.

Picked up some Hydro: Herbal Molasses at my local smoke shop today, they just got it in and I figured I would give it a try! READ THE REVIEW ->

I have seen this stuff on different websites and have always been tempted by it. Something about tobacco-free tobacco products doesn’t seem right, but I figured it was worth a shot. I went with the wild berry flavor.

Right out of the package I give them a plus for putting the tobacco in a re-sealable baggie. It is in a plastic wrapper inside there, but it’s not too difficult to get that out. I just like being able to keep my tobacco from drying out as much as possible.

Once I got the tobacco out and started packing the bowl I noticed the first major difference between this and the tobacco molasses. The texture.

This herbal molasses has a very wirey texture to it. Unlike the leafy texture of normal shisha tobacco, this feels more like you’re putting moistened pine needles into your bowl. Luckily it’s not too dry and the good smell of it kept me from just throwing it out right then and there.

Once I finished it up and threw a warm coal on, the smoke started fairly quickly and was pretty nice. The flavor of the shisha was not overpowering, a nice fruity mixture. Smoke was nice and thick, not very harsh.

I really couldn’t tell the difference between this and regular shisha in terms of the taste and smoke. So if you are nervous about tobacco being bad for you this is a solid alternative. But then again you’re smoking a hookah. You’ve all seen the health studies.

I plan on getting back to my smoke shop and trying out a couple of the other flavors for sure.

“Fucked Up Friends” by Tobacco