7 Ways to Tell if Bifocal Contact Lenses are Right for You
Let's face it, you are getting older and seeing through your contacts is not as easy as it used to be. Things are not in focus, and you just know that you are going to have to get bifocals. However, not wanting to admit your age, you are not too thrilled with looking "old". Thanks to modern medical science, you may have the option of keeping your contacts, more accurately, bifocal contact lenses. The following tips will let you know when you are ready for the bifocal contacts.
1- The first thing that you will notice is that the smaller reading material becomes harder to read. You might feel as if you want a magnifying glass. As the eye aging progresses you will find that performing tasks that are near you will become more difficult, you may even need help.
2- As you get tired, if you are in poor lighting, reading poor quality material or if you have many tasks that are performed near you, you will notice that you are not seeing as well as you expect to. At this point, you may want to get some reading glasses that are commonly available in a drug store. These will act as a magnifying glass and help to rest your eyes.
3- Finally, you will begin to notice that none of the glasses from the drug store are helping your vision. The time is right to start looking into whether or not bifocal contact lenses are the right choice for you.
4- Getting the bifocal contact lenses will be approximately $500.00 to $700.00 depending upon where you live. This cost should include your contact lenses fitting as well as the bifocal contact lenses itself. If this cost is too much for your budget, you may be able to be fitted with Mono Vision lenses.
5- Mono Vision lenses accomplish much the same thing as the bifocal contact lenses, but at a fraction of the cost. The way Mono Vision works is to fit one eye with a near vision contact and the other with a far vision contact. You will automatically adjust to the eye that is right for the viewing that you want to do, although it will take some getting use to. The price of Mono Vision contact lenses is roughly $200.00.
6- Be sure to ask your doctor if it is possible for you to have a trial period when switching to bifocal contact lenses. This type of lenses is not right for every person and may not be right for you either; it is nice to know that you will not be locked into anything that you do not like.
7- Because the use of bifocal contact lenses is fairly new, check with your optical insurance provider to see if they are covered under your plan. If they are not, you may be able to take advantage of your employers flex spending plan.
John Mancini has been writing about Contact Lenses online and offline for a long time. Visit http://contact-lenses-infos.com or http://find-contact-lenses.net to read more about matters like contact lens online and cheap contact lenses.
Are Liquid Vitamins Enough?
Copyright 2005 Daniel Weigum
In our fast paced world, the population is eating a diet that accommodates the fast paced lifestyle. Fast food is easy and allows the working class to eat a meal in the convenient allotted hour.
Health professionals and advocates constantly preach the risks of this lifestyle. The repeated calorie and trans fat content warnings are on the minds of many even while these fried foods are consumed. Is the taste and convenience worth the health risk?
Acrylamide is a carcinogenic substance most are not familiar with. This carcinogenic substance unfortunately is present in the most popular fried foods. Acrylamide is present in foods prepared at high temperatures using methods such as frying, grilling, baking and broiling. A safe level of acrylamide was set by the Food Standards Agency at 10 ppb. French fries and potato chips can have up to 100 times this amount.
Using cooking oil alternatives isn't a remedy for high acrylamide levels either. Ironically, frying foods in polyunsaturated oils can add unhealthy trans fats to a diet. The polyunsaturated oils oxidize rapidly during the high temperature frying process becoming the harmful trans fats most are trying to avoid. If frying is the desired cooking method, the use of monounsaturated oils such as olive oil may be a better alternative.
Although antioxidants are not a combatant for high levels of acrylamide, antioxidants are still very important in the protections against free radical damage. The only real defense we have against acrylamide is to abstain from foods prepared at high temperatures. This is not easy and can become a complete lifestyle change. An alternative is to be much more careful when preparing foods of any kind. Burnt foods do not contain the nutrient content once abundant prior to preparation. Unfortunately, it contains high levels of the carcinogen, acrylamide.
Health professionals recommend the consumption of more raw foods as well. Raw foods are rich on nutrients and contain low levels of harmful toxins like acrylamide. When raw foods are referred to, some foods that are normally prepared using high temperature processes need to be pasteurized before eating. The digestive system is very effective at killing bacteria and harmful pathogens but can't combat all harmful bacteria in large quantities such as e-coli.
A reasonable diet change can limit your acrylamide intake. All delights in an average diet do not have to be discarded. Frying is definitely a cooking method to avoid if possible. If frying is without an alternative, the use of a monounsaturated oil is recommended. Cooking methods such as grilling, steaming, boiling, or baking at lower temperature can greatly reduce the levels of acrylamide in your diet as well as reduce the nutrient loss during the preparation of a meal. A meal needs to be completely prepared to prevent pathogen and bacteria from entering your digestive system. Just keep in mind, burning during preparation is the number one mistake to avoid. Raw food snacks can be added to your diet to take the place of foods high in acrylamide content like potato chips.
Free radicals and antioxidant protection are important and represent a completely different disease causing battle. Proper preparation of foods is the key to reducing acrylamide in a diet. The next time eating high calorie, fried foods seems like the only options; concerns of Trans fats and calories should not be the only thing in mind. The carcinogen levels can be just as harmful to your health.
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Dan is a health conscious webmaster searching for answers to health issues that affect everyone everyday. Read more health information cover great topics at http://www.vitaminmaniac.com in the 'Health Articles' section.
5 Diabetes Symptoms You Should Know
As the baby boomers age, they are faced with an array of diseases that accompany the golden years. Along with grandchildren and retirement, they are faced with ailments from arthritis to diabetes. The thought of getting a disease such as diabetes can be worrisome, it helps to be aware of what diabetes symptoms are and be able to recognize them early enough to get the help you will need to get the disease under control.
1- There are some common diabetes symptoms that should be checked out by a physician. By themselves, each symptom is not a cause for alarm. However, if more than a couple are noticed at one time, an appointment with your primary care physician should be made without hesitation.
2- The first thing that you should know about diabetes is, it is very important to pay attention to your body. There are over one million new diagnoses of diabetes that are made each year. Diabetes is directly or indirectly the cause of approximately 200,000 deaths every year. It is estimated that 17 million people in America have diabetes, it is also estimated that approximately one third of these people do not even know they have the disease.
3- The reason that so many people do not know that they may have diabetes is because some people show no diabetes symptoms. Therefore, it is very important to have blood work checked every year after the age of 45. This is often part of a routine physical at this age, but it is always a good idea to check with the doctor to make sure the test is being run.
4- There are several diabetes symptoms to be on the look out for, they include, but are not limited to:
Sudden weight loss
Drinking excessive amounts of water
Excessive urination
Feeling a numbness or tingling in the hands or feet
Having infections more often than usual
Being slow to heal from a wound
It is also important to note that any one person may have all, some or none of these diabetes symptoms. These symptoms can also be experienced in any combination.
5- Along with this list of symptoms, diabetes can also be accompanied by stomach pains, vomiting or nausea. If these symptoms occur in conjunction with the list, it could be the immediate onset of type 1 diabetes, otherwise known as insulin-dependent diabetes. When you call your doctors' office for an appointment, be sure to tell them you are experiencing possible diabetes symptoms and that you need to be seen right away.
John Mancini has been writing about Diabetes online and offline for a long time. Visit http://diabetes-now.net or http://diabetes-central.net to read more about matters like diabetic diet and diabetes.