How to Buy an Individual Health Insurance Plan

More Americans are buying their own health insurance, but the process can be tough. There are ways to make sure you understand what you’re buying, and that you get the product that’s best for you.

You may want to start by confirming that you really do need to buy individual insurance. For many people, it’s better to avoid the individual market, since in most states insurers can reject you because of preexisting health conditions.

Read original article here:
http://guides.wsj.com/health/health-costs/how-to-buy-an-individual-health-insurance-plan/

Watch What Could Happen to Your Body If You Drank 10 Cans of Coke a Day

To raise awareness about sugar content in beverages, Los Angeles resident George Prior chugged 300 sodas in one month.

Drinking just 12 ounces of soda a day can boost your chance of dying from heart disease by one-third, but what would happen if you downed 10 sugar-filled cans of Coca-Cola every day for 30 days? Fortunately, you don’t have to go to such extreme lengths to find out, because 50-year-old Los Angeles resident George Prior has done it for you.

Prior, who follows the Paleo diet and works out regularly, wrote on his blog that he decided to do the Super Size Me–style project because he wanted to raise awareness about how easy it is to ingest hundreds of grams of hidden sugar through beverages. Drinking 10 cans of Coca-Cola (sometimes he added in a few cans of Cherry Coke for variety) put an extra 350 grams of sugar into Prior’s body every day.

“ ‘But,’ you’re probably thinking, ‘everyone knows it wouldn’t be healthy to drink 10 cokes a day, and, besides, I only drink four Cokes a day,’ ” Prior wrote on his blog.

“That’s true, perhaps you’re only drinking four Cokes, but if you add in the two glasses of orange juice, the two sweetened coffee drinks from Starbucks, the 16 ounce Odwalla drink, the two ‘healthy’ brand ice teas, and the $9 fruit smoothie you waited ten minutes in line for, you’ve made my ten Cokes look like child’s play. Maybe it’s not all Coke, but they’re all sugar drinks, and a big percentage of Americans drink at least the sugar equivalent of my ten Cokes,” he explained.

Prior got a complete physical before starting his experiment on Oct. 24. He weighed 168 pounds, he had 9.4 percent body fat, and his blood pressure was 129/77. Even though Prior followed his normal exercise and diet plan, by the 30th day of the program, Nov. 22, he tipped the scales at 191 pounds—an increase of 23 pounds in 30 days. His body fat had also increased, to 15.3 percent, and his blood pressure was a much less healthy 143/96. Prior also experienced increased cravings for other sugary treats. Here’s what happened to his body:

“The actual drinking of the ten Cokes got to be an irritating chore every day,” Prior toldExpress. “There were a lot of visits to the restroom, a feeling of constant fullness, and a clutter of cans everywhere.”

But Prior is clear that Coke isn’t the only sugar drink we need to worry about, particularly in regard to the health of children.

"Kids shouldn’t drink Cokes,” Prior told the paper. Given the sugar content of other beverages, “kids shouldn’t drink juices, either, and that’s going to be a very hard sell to parents who believe that juice is ‘natural,’ or even ‘organic,’ ” he added.  

In the video below, which was shot on Prior’s first Coca-Cola-free day, you can see how he feels mentally and physically now that the experiment is over—he’s certainly eager to get all those added pounds off. You can also check out what he does with all the sodas that he didn’t drink. (Hint: He doesn’t pass them along to a friend.)

Check out the youtube movie : https://youtu.be/ImaLQgPLyq4


Original article : http://www.takepart.com/article/2014/12/03/watch-what-could-happen-your-body-if-you-drank-10-cans-coke-day