Club Drugs

Club drugs are used by teenagers and young adults at clubs or parties or concerts, hence the name 'Club Drugs'. They include GHB, Rohypol, ketamine and LSD.

Short effects from club drugs vary – ketamine changes one's perception and makes them feel as though they are in a different environment. GHB and rohypol are calming. High doses of ketamine can cause amnesia and delirium. Rohypol can be lethal if mixed with alcohol and causes amnesia as well. Some club drugs cause the user to pass out. The abuse of GHB can cause coma and seizures (long term). Long term use of rohypnol can produce physical and mental dependence. Long term use of ketamine causes bladder and kidney damage and users can feel dizzy or pain after use. This can lead to them using opiates to sooth their pain. Street names include Special K, Vitamin K, G, liquid ecstasy, soap, and roofies. Club drugs are typically taken orally in pill form but can be snorted or injected. 1.5% of seniors had abused Rohypnol and 1.4% had abused GHB.

Fun fact: these drugs are made in labaratories.

These drugs are very dangerous as they can be odorless and tasteless and you could be tricked into taking some at a club. They can make you numb and clueless, and are popularly used by rapists to disable their victims. Even if you take it on purpose, they can have devastating effects on you, and the distortion of reality can be dangerous as well.

http://www.thegooddrugsguide.com/ketamine/effects.htm

Food and Exercise Analysis On A Weekend

Reports Generated On March 6, 2011

Food Consumed

Activities Done

Calories Eaten Pie Chart

Nutrition

Nutrition as percent RDA

Calories Balance

Analysis


Overall, I have 29% of fat, 48% of carbs and 23% of protein in the food I eat. I have less fat, same amount of carbohydrates and more proteins compare to my weekday report. I gain 3052 calories on this day which is about 200 calories above my recommended calories according to MyPyramid.gov, shows that I have an appropriate and enough amount of them. Still, I need to have more vegetables and fruits while having enough grains, milk and meat and beans.


Looking over the %RDA graph, numbers are still displayed strangely on it. I still have a lot of highs than lows and this time even more highs.


Closest to 100% of RDA:
Magnesium:

Magnesium in the body serves several important functions: Contraction and relaxation of muscles, Function of certain enzymes in the body, Production and transport of energy and Production of protein. Most dietary magnesium comes from vegetables, such as dark green, leafy vegetables. The recommended daily required magnesium is about 410 mg for 14-18years old boys. This provides a information that I have just enough magnesium to do the above functions in my body and keeping it healthy.

Vitamin A:
Again, as on my weekday report, I have a percent RDA of vitamin that is close to a hundred percent.  Vitamin A helps form and maintain healthy teeth, skeletal and soft tissue, mucous membranes, and skin. It is also known as retinol because it produces the pigments in the retina of the eye. Vitamin A promotes good vision, especially in low light. My amount of Vitamin A is still a bit below a hundred percent. However, it has improved compare to the weekday report. I just need to gain a little bit more of them.  


Calcium:
Calcium has many important jobs. The body stores more than 99 percent of its calcium in the bones and teeth to help make and keep them strong. The rest is throughout the body in blood, muscle and the fluid between cells. Your body needs calcium to help muscles and blood vessels contract and expand, to secrete hormones and enzymes and to send messages through the nervous system. Therefore, it's healthy and very important to gain enough calcium in my food.


Over consumed:
Vitamin B12:
Vitamin B12, like the other B vitamins, is important for metabolism. It helps in the formation of red blood cells and in the maintenance of the central nervous system.  Vitamin B12 is found in eggs, meat, poultry, shellfish, milk, and milk products. I have an extremely high amount of Vitamin B12 (3647% of RDA) on this day because most of them come from the spaghetti with red clam sauce I eat. In addition, having too much of them does not cause any serious deficiency so I am not too worried about that.


Iron:
Iron is a mineral found in every cell of the body. Iron is considered an essential mineral because it is needed to make part of blood cells.  The human body needs iron to make the oxygen-carrying proteins hemoglobin and myoglobin. Hemoglobin is found in red blood cells and myoglobin is found in muscles. Iron also makes up part of many proteins in the body. The genetic disorder called hemochromatosis affects the body's ability to control how much iron is absorbed. This leads to too much iron in the body. Treatment consists of a 
low-iron diet, no iron supplements, and phlebotomy (blood removal) on a regular basis.
Children can sometimes develop iron poisoning by swallowing too many iron supplements and cause symptoms such as Fatigue, Anorexia, Dizziness,Nausea,Vomiting, Headache, Weight loss, Shortness of breath, Grayish color to the skin. This over consumed product is what I should be concerned about by controlling my diet.


Protein:
Every cell in the human body contains protein. It is a major part of the skin, muscles, organs, and glands. Protein is also found in all body fluids, except bile and urine.  A diet high in meat can contribute to high cholesterol levels or other diseases such as gout. A high-protein diet may also put a strain on the kidneys. Therefore, I should reduce the amount of meat and high protein food in my diet.


Summarizing all the data above, I should eat more vegetables and fruits as always. I should reduce the amount of Iron and Protein because I over-consume them because too much of them cause negative effects to my body. In general, I have reach the 3 of the 5 recommended daily food plan but I still have a lot to change for specific nutrients to balance a healthy diet for myself.


On weekends, the diet might go unhealthy easily because we sometimes go for a big and delicious meal. However, exercising on weekends might increase as well. In the future, the only free time I will have is probably on weekends while working on my job. I am pretty sure I will still be exercising as I love doing it. However, changing food diet on weekends might be really hard because we tend to relax and eat more tasty but unhealthy food. Still, it's important to keep a healthy diet as my body grows older so I will try to make it balanced.

Food and Exercise Analysis On A Weekday

Reports Generated On March 1st, 2011:

My Daily Food Pyramid

 

Food Consumed

 

Activities Done

Calories Eaten Pie Chart

Nutrition

Nutrition as percent RDA

Calories Balance

Analysis

In overall, the nutrients that I gain from my food on a normal week day are 35% of fat, 48% of carbs and 17% of protein. According to the recommended calories from MyPyramid.gov, the calories I gain are 340 lower. I have enough grains, milk and meats everyday but not vegetables and fruits. For each of these, I need to increase about one cup to reach the numbers recommended. 


While I am looking over my %RDA graph, I encounter some problems because not many of them are close to 100%. A lot of them were way above 100%. 
The below nutrients are the closest to 100% of RDA:
Calcium:
Calcium plays an important role in building stronger, denser bones early in life and keeping bones strong and healthy later in life. Approximately 99 percent of the body's calcium is stored in the bones and teeth. The calcium I gain is about 1258 mg. For people who are 9 to 18 years old, the recommended adequate intake for calcium is about 1300 mg, which is a good thing because it means I have a close enough amount of them to grow on my bones.


Zinc:
Zinc is believed to possess antioxidant properties, which may protect against accelerated aging of the skin and muscles of the body; studies differ as to its effectiveness. Zinc also helps speed up the healing process after an injury. Again, I am still a bit down below 100% for this one, however, I still have approximately enough amount for zinc which is good.


Vitamin A:

I have a 80% of Vitamin A. Vitamin A plays a role in a variety of functions throughout the body, such as Vision, Gene transcription, Immune function, Embryonic development and reproduction, Bone metabolism, Haematopoiesis, Skin and cellular health, Antioxidant activity. For fourteen to eighteen year old teens, the recommended intake amount is 900. Having vitamin A is really important to the whole function of my body so I should gain a little more.

I have at least 7 items that are above 180 and 1 below 40% so these are my top 3.

Over-consumed that are far-above 100%:

Selenium:

As I search on the Internet, Selenium is a trace mineral that is essential to good health but required only in small amounts. Selenium is incorporated into proteins to make selenoproteins, which are important antioxidant enzymes. The antioxidant properties of selenoproteins help prevent cellular damage from free radicals. Free radicals are natural by-products of oxygen metabolism that may contribute to the development of chronic diseases such as cancer and heart disease. However, I guess it won't affect my health negatively by having too much.

Manganese:

Health benefits of manganese ensure healthy bone structure, bone metabolism, helping in building essential enzymes for building bones. However, the deficiency symptoms of manganese include high blood pressure, heart ailments, muscular contraction, bone malformation, high cholesterol, poor eyesight, hearing trouble, severe memory loss, shivers and tremors. The deficiency symptoms sound pretty scary for having too much manganese which is an important issue that I should be concerned on.

Carbohydrates:

Carbohydrates are compounds made up of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen formed by plants. Four types of carbohydrates are important in nutrition -- sugars (simple sugars), and starches, fibers and gums (complex carbohydrates). As far as weight loss diets go, there doesn't seem to be any long term difference between a low carbohydrate diet or a low fat diet. High carbohydrates diet gain weight for me and High carbohydrates may not be very harmful to my health but it's always better to still keep it in a good zone.

After looking at all data on my graph, I think there are quite a few items that I should change. Perhaps I should eat more fruits and vegetables. Most importantly, I have to cut down the amount of manganese I consume as I stated the negative effects it has.

I love exercising and I am pretty sure that I will still be doing it as I grow old enough to make money for myself. However, I might not have as much time as I have right now to deal with my health diet. Still, the good thing is that I will have more healthy food choices outside to keep myself healthy. This is very important and so I can prevent unnecessary effects by doing this. Although I love the taste and flavor of different kinds of food, I still need to choose some more healthy food that usually don't taste good.

My Favorite Food!!!!

1. Chinese Beef Noodle + Soup!!!

2. Grilled Steak (Especially the Filet Mignon)!!!

3. Teppanyaki with Kobe Beef!!!

4. Bubble Tea!!!

5. Pizza (Any type)

Thoughts on Stress

Stress has become an important issue in the recent days. Distress may lead to a depression. And, it also relates to one's self esteem. People who have a lower self-esteem will encounter more stress. Depression can bring a person to a thought of suicide because of the unhappiness. Therefore, coping with stress is really important. We always need to think the value of our lives before we do something. Suicide is definitely not a smart option for us.

Stress and Coping Ideas

What stresses me out?
Ranking:
1. PowerSchool.
2. People who talk about non sense and who are annoying
3. Homework
4. Parents


Coping methods:
- Do everything that relates to basketball or baseball
- Surfing on the Internet
- Music
- Sleeping

Health In the News: Stress, Depression and Suicide

Title: More College Students with Depression, Anxiety 
Author: By Psych Central News Editor 
Source: Psych Central News 
Date: Reviewed on August 13, 2010. 
Link here: http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/08/13/more-college-students-with-depression-anxiety/16838.html


Summary:
According to the statistics from the American Psychological Association, more college students now are grappling with depression and anxiety disorders than they did a decade ago. They are encountering more distress. The statistics shown that students with moderate to severe depression has gone up from the past decade. However, the research is not necessarily a negative report. The average quality of depression and anxiety experienced by students in counseling has remained constant and relatively mild during the last decade. A decline of suicidal thoughts from the students reflects the general improvements in suicide prevention education.


Big Meaning: 
Although the students now are facing more depression and anxiety at school lives compare to a decade ago, the students have received a more healthy thinking of the qualities and values of their lives. They have figured out other ways to deal with their distress instead of suicides. This shows a improvement of the mental health of the global community. 


Personal Meaning: 
Sometimes distress from school has really been a part of my life. Coming from an Asian family, I may have to face more stress than others. Somehow I couldn't find the value of my life when I was depressed. However, I still found a way to relax myself and changed my negative thoughts when I learned about health and this article. What I am thing is, more and more people can be comfortable dealing with stress without negative thoughts, why can't I do it? If they can get over with it, I CAN.  

Wellness Dimensions

Physical: 5/5 
- I do sports and exercise almost everyday to get myself fit in the healthy zone. 
Intellectual: 3/5
- I like to do mental activities to improve my thinking but I still need to be more creative when things come to certain areas that I am not good at.
Occupational: 4/5
- I am always proud of myself to achieve or finish something. I set goals to make myself to achieve it.
Emotional: 5/5
- I appreciate and care what my friends feel and also would try to make them feel better.
Spiritual: 4/5
- I sometimes make myself in a quiet area and think of what i exist for to understand the value and spirit of human lives.
Social: 4/5
- I am shy most of time to speak up but I do socialize well with my friends.

Overall Score: 25/30