How vaccines protect children against disease

Today’s guest post comes to us from Ryan Varela, the CEO of Boost Health Insurance, and he writes about how vaccines protect children against disease. Vaccines protect children against disease because they have helped in reduce or completely eliminate many infectious diseases from diptheria, polio to even chickenpox and small pox. Some still beleive that vaccines cause autism in children and that is simply not true. Even the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have information proving that vaccines do not cause autism in children and are vital for public health. An outbreak can happen when parents fail to vaccinate their children. Of course, for each parent, it is a personal decision they must make, but when it comes to vaccines, my wife and I are firm believers in the value and importance of getting our children vaccinated.

Thanks for the great article, Ryan. We hope everyone else enjoys it too.

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Enjoy.
– Will

How vaccines protect children against disease that may result in death or serious illness?

Vaccinating your children is the best and most effective way of protecting them from fatal diseases or illnesses. In this article, we are going to talk about how vaccines protect children against disease and how they can really help.

In the United States and many European countries, vaccines have helped in reducing or eliminating completely many infectious diseases, which once harmed or killed many infants or children.

However, some of these diseases still exist and can result to premature deaths, but with proper vaccinations, children can be protected from them. Some diseases are becoming rare both in United States, Europe, Africa and Asia, thanks to the help of these vaccinations. The only way to completely eliminate these diseases is through regular immunization process.

The essence of vaccination is not just to protect our children, but also to protect their own children and their children’s children and the public’s health overall. Vaccinations have made viral diseases like polio, meningitis, small pox etc. to be reduced to near eradication around the world.

How do vaccines work?

Vaccines help to boost the immune system of your child, so that if the body comes into contact with any specific germ, the immune system will quickly recognize it and fight it. Vaccines protect children against disease because those who are properly vaccinated will either not become sick or will rarely become sick. If you truly want to protect your children from life threatening and often dangerous diseases, then the best thing to do is to vaccinate your baby according to CDC guidelines.

Which deadly diseases were wiped out by vaccines?

Over the years, vaccines have helped in boosting our healthcare system. There are so many examples of diseases that have been completely wiped out by vaccines. For the purpose of this article, we shall look into three diseases namely diphtheria, chickenpox, and polio.

Diphtheria

This is an obscure disease that has been killing babies for many years, until babies started to get diphtheria vaccines. Today, common vaccines protect children against disease like the DTap administered to babies that completely protects them against whopping cough or pertussis, tetanus, and diphtheria. Although, it is highly preventable, but it is no longer a killer disease.

Diphtheria makes a child to develop a thick covering on their throats or in the back of their nose. This disease’s impact can have consequences rendered in multiple ways. It can lead to paralysis, heart failure, difficulty breathing and even death. Ensure you vaccinate your child against diphtheria today.

For maximum protection, healthcare specialists recommend that you give your child at least five doses of DTap vaccine. Your child will get each of these doses within 2 months, 4 months and 6 months of birth, then 15 to 18 months and between 4 to 6 years of age.

Chickenpox

Next in our list of how vaccines protect children against disease is a serious illnesses is chickenpox. Chickenpox is a killer disease that causes fever or itchy rash of blisters on your child. If a child contracts chickenpox, he or she will have many blisters numbering up to 500 all over their body. Chickenpox is a life threatening disease among babies, especially those with weakened immune system. Vaccinating your child is the safest way of keeping him or her healthy. For best protection, healthcare specialists recommend that you give your child at least 2 doses of chickenpox injections. The first can be given within 12 to 15 months, and 4 through 6 years.

Polio

Finally, in our list of ways that vaccines protect children against disease is polio, a deadly infectious and crippling disease that is caused by poliovirus. It is a communicable disease which can pass from one person to another. Polio is so dangerous that it can affect the victim’s spinal cord or brain, thereby cause paralysis. As an anecdote, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt contracted polio and was paralyzed as a result and the March of Dimes formed to eradicate this disease from the planet and still thrives today in working "to prevent birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality". This illness is no joke and another reason why vaccines protect children against disease and you should take heed.

The United States, today, is polio-free, thanks to vigilant and persistent vaccination of children in our country. But in some parts of the world, especially Asia and Africa, polio is still a life threatening disease. Ensuring that children are properly vaccinated against polio remains the ideal way of eradicating polio in the world.

Healthcare experts recommend that every child should get four dosages of polio vaccines, which is known as IPV for maximum protection. The first dose will be given at 2 months, another at 4 months, then the third one can come between 6 through 18 months and finally 4 through 6 years.

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About the Guest Post Author

Ryan Varela is the CEO of Boost Health Insurance which provides customized and affordable health care plans for thousands of customers across the United States. Aside from writing on the topic of how vaccines protect children against disease, Ryan has nearly a decade of experience in the health care industry and continues to serve the greater need to educate and deliver access to affordable options to those who need health care the most.

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5 fun ways to cook using a pressure cooker

Today’s guest post comes to us from Chef Faisal Aziz at Best Pressure Cooker Reviews a website dedicated to the fun and food you can cook using a pressure cooker. This article outlines just how safe a pressure cooker can be to use if you follow Faisal’s 5 easy to follow tips on safe cooking using a pressure cooker. Growing up my mom used to cook using a pressure cooker to make deep fried prawns and scallops and the best fried chicken this side of the Mississippi. My mom’s family had midwest roots and the food I ate younger was a reflection of those roots. I can tell you that food that comes from a pressure cooker is like nothing else. It is so juicy and moist and not everything has to be deep fried. It is just that some of the tastiest food usually is that comes from a pressure cooker. That being said, please take a look at the article below and find out how much fun and how safe it is to cook using a pressure cooker.

Enjoy.
– Will

Enlightening details about the 5 most important steps for safe pressure cooking

Introduction to safe pressure cooking

Pressure cookers are considered some of the most convenient and safest cooking options. This is because a pressure cooker does not require much supervision while you cook using a pressure cooker. One just needs to set the timer and wait for the food to cook since the timer will switch off when the food is cooked. This means it is not necessary to stay nearby while the food is cooking and as a result one can start cooking and proceed to do other things. However, it is always important to observe safety while you cook using a pressure cooker. Here are the 5 most important steps for safe pressure cooking:

1. Ensure there is ample space
   As the name suggests, pressure cookers use pressure and steam to cook different kinds of foods. This means that there needs to be enough space inside the pot for the pressure. Because of this, it is important to avoid filling the cooking pots to the brim. This is because there will be no space for pressure and this can cause accidents. There are also some types of foods which expand when they are cooked and one needs to consider the space they will occupy after they expand.
2. Avoid opening the lid before the cooker is switched off
   It is always recommended that one should wait until the food is properly cooked until you move to open the cooker. Opening before the food is cooked will allow the pressure which was cooking the food to escape. Besides hindering proper cooking, this can be dangerous because the pressure also release steam which is usually hot. The hot steam can cause burns and it can be even more dangerous when it gets into one’s face. This makes it important to keep the lid on until the cooker is switched off. You can read power pressure cooker reviews for more instructions here on the necessary safety precautions one needs to take when handling a pressure cooker.
3. Regulate Pressure
   Pressure cookers come with options to adjust the pressure and heat levels depending on what is being cooked and the stage of cooking. Some types of food require a lot of heat so that they can cook properly and therefore they need high pressure levels. By not monitoring the pressure levels the pressure can be too much and eventually cause accidents. If a person is cooking while doing other things, it is advisable to use moderate pressure levels which are not likely to cause accidents.



4. Utilizing The Timer
   The timer of the pressure cooker is meant to stop the cooker once the time set has elapsed. But some people do not use a timer and this can cause problems. When the timer is not set, one can forget about the food getting cooked or get engaged in other things, consequently allowing the cooker to run unmonitored. The pressure cooker can experience problems or cause accidents if it remains running for long hours. This is why it is important to set the timer since it will stop the cooker even if the person cooking is not present.
5. Place The Cooker On A Firm Flat Place
   Even if there is no enough space it is always advisable to look for space which will hold the cooker firmly while it is cooking. This avoids the accidents that can be caused by the cooker tipping over and falling to the floor. This is one of the simplest safety tips but one where most people do not pay much attention to it. Therefore, by following the outlined steps one can safely do pressure cooking and enjoy well cooked foods.

It is my hope that when following these 5 basic safety measures when cooking with a pressure cooker, you will not only find out how easy it is to use a pressure cooker, but you will also learn to make many great meals with this fantastic cooking device. Please stop by my website and find out more about the fun and great tasting meals you can make with a pressure cooker.

About the Guest Post Author

Chef Faisal Aziz is the author of Best Pressure Cooker Reviews, a hobby niche blogger. Faisal loves to cook and publish his experience with his pressure cooker at Best Pressure Cooker Reviews.

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For all reviews, please exercise discretion. If the sponsor of the article is in conflict of the topic of the article, we will pull down the sponsorship to remove any conflict of interest with the article at-hand. For instance, there is an article about a hamburger restaurant and a competing hamburger restaurant sponsors the article; we will pull the sponsorship and issue a refund.

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4 food safety rules you can’t overlook when cooking with children

Today’s guest post comes to us from Lauren D. Brown atMess Makes Food and she writes about 4 must-follow food safety rules when cooking with children. Nothing can be more rewarding that doing an activity with your child where they are learning. One of those activities is cooking with children and helping them to learn to prepare and cook a meal from start to finish, including safely storing the food after the meal. Lauren speaks about how to properly ensure the safety of your family when it comes to cooking with children that might be something a child would not think about from washing hands to food prep to storage, Lauren covers each aspect as a reminder so that we all remain healthy and happy in our household. I really enjoyed the read. I hope you do too.

Enjoy.
– Will

4 must-follow food safety rules when cooking with children

Healthy cooking must start with food safety. If parents want to cook with their children often, a good way to start is by using something easy when cooking for kids, such as teach them how to cook rice using rice cooker or ask them to help you wash your vegetables carefully. It is necessary to teach them the fundamental rules of cooking, but it still enables a safe cooking with children experience. Let’s allow our kids to be food safety explorers! Don’t let bacteria have the ability to grow! Right now, we will learn the basics, including, clean, separate, cook, and chill.

4 Basic rules on food safety – checklist for children

Basically, food poisoning, due to viruses and bacteria, can be prevented by four simple rules when both parents and children are preparing a meal:

1. Clean – Wash your own and your children’s hands often

No one can deny the importance of washing your hands. Nonetheless, aside from that, cleaning all the surfaces of your kitchen is also vital, in particular, the countertops, the kitchen appliance, the reusable bags, and others (even if you need to peel or slice anything before cooking).

Taking a specific example, the inside of your microwave is easy to get dirty, owing to the food that can cover the insides of the microwave, so the bacteria can grow quickly. Correspondingly, it is necessary to clean both the outside and inside, involving, the buttons and handles to prevent food poisoning.

Washing hands in the right and most thorough way will dramatically decrease or remove the risk of food poisoning. Additionally, the spread of flu or cold is also minimized a significantly. Here are some things to always consider. You should also was wash your hands:

• Before and after eating, preparing the meal, after handling the pet, using the toilet, changing diapers.
• With the warm soapy water ~ 20 seconds. Asking your kids to sing a song while washing their hands can help these 20 seconds breeze on by.
• Cleaning the surfaces of the kitchen, particularly, the countertops, freezer, tables, fridge, shelves, and others

2. Separate – store your foods in a separate way – poultry, eggs, raw meat, and seafood

Cross-contamination can happen once germs from raw/ unclean objects (meat, fish, poultry,…) are placed close to the ready-to-eat or cooked dishes.

• Keep your foods separate so that it can prevent the cooked foods from cross-contamination by raw poultry, egg, meat, and seafood.
• Utilize more than a single cutting board – one for the cooked/ready-to-eat foods (vegetables, bread, fruits,…) and another for seafood, raw meat, and poultry.
• Clean these cutting boards with the warm soapy water after using and put them in your dishwasher. Additionally, you should also utilize a sanitizing solution or bleach solution on your cutting boards and don’t forget to rinse thoroughly with water after that that activity.
• Be sure to discard old cutting boards when you begin to see cracks, excessive scars of knives, and crevices.

3. Chill – Refrigerate properly to 40F or lower

The majority of the food safety programs recommend that housewives should refrigerate their foods properly at a suitable temperature. The purpose is to prevent food poisoning and slow the growing process of bacteria.

• Sets your freezer at 0 degrees Fahrenheit and fridge under 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Place a fridge thermometer in your fridge. Don’t forget to check it frequently.
• Put the foods that you bought from the store in the refrigerator and freezer right away, especially the perishable foods.
• Refrigerate any leftover foods from your meal.
• Store your foods in small containers ~ 2 inches or less.
• Consume packaged foods based on its use-by date/date of expiration.
• Use cold-running water or the microwave in order to thaw the frozen foods before cooking with children.
• Marinate your meats in the refrigerator.

4. Chill – Refrigerate properly to 400F or lower

Meat, egg, fish, seafood, and poultry must be cooked at the proper temperature so as to destroy any harmful bacteria. Even though you cook with modern appliances such as using a toaster oven, it’s also necessary to choose the right temperature for your dishes.

• To check to make sure each of the following meats are done: poultry, meat, seafood, fish, and dishes with eggs. Be sure to utilize a food thermometer if you are unsure of when a certain type of meat isn’t cooked completely yet.
• Leftover foods must be reheated at 165 degrees Fahrenheit. For older adults, reheat all deli style meat as well.
• Boil the meat marinade ~ few minutes if you want to use it for your meal.
• Follow the proper temperature below for your dish:
  • + Lamb, beef, veal ~ 1450F;
  • + Ground lamb, beef, veal ~ 1450F;
  • + Pork ~ 1600F;
  • + Egg dishes, casseroles ~ 1600F;
  • + Poultry ~ 1650F;
  • + Leftover ~ 1650F;
  • + Ground poultry ~ 1650F;
  • + Using a fork with and knife to open opaque meat to check how done it is on the inside;

It is my hope that these 4 rules will help parents have a healthy cooking with children experience. At the same time, the risk of food poisoning is also minimized and/or eliminated by keeping everyone safe from germs.

About the Guest Post Author

I’m Lauren, founder of Mess Makes Food. My passion is delicious dishes from all over the world. I like to introduce my healthy recipes to my readers. I also want to share my opinions on how to choose best kitchen gadgets and some tips on cooking processes. Make, have, and enjoy many great meals together with your children!

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For all reviews, please exercise discretion. If the sponsor of the article is in conflict of the topic of the article, we will pull down the sponsorship to remove any conflict of interest with the article at-hand. For instance, there is an article about a hamburger restaurant and a competing hamburger restaurant sponsors the article; we will pull the sponsorship and issue a refund.

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3 ways to include your family in exercise activities

Today’s guest post comes to us from Dan Chabert at RunnerClick and he writes about how to include your family in exercise activities. This article tugs at my heartstrings because I too find it difficult to get active and motivated to exercise. Perhaps employing these ways to incorporate my family in exercise activities will go a long way to building lasting memories and to lead by example with my children that exercise is an important part of a healthy lifestyle for both my mental well-being and physical well-being and it is a life-long endeavor. Not just when the time is convenient. It must be a consideration at all times. Building healthy habits now with your children will last a lifetime with your kids.

Enjoy.
– Will

3 excellent ways to incorporate your family into your exercise routine

Having a family places demands on your time that people without children simply don’t understand. Once you are responsible for the health and well-being of another living person, your time no longer belongs to you, and it seems like the only way you can do everything you need to do in day-to-day life is to somehow secure a magical 25th hour to your day. I hate to be the one to break it to you, but unfortunately, there is no 25th hour. We all have only 24 hours in each day.

It’s not all that surprising, then, that many parents often find themselves unable to exercise, or get into a regular routine, because they feel so strapped for time each day. It’s all too common that we parents get into the habit of caring for others and putting their needs before our own. By the time we realize that we’ve been neglecting ourselves, it seems like it’s too late: we’re stressed out beyond belief, our clothes don’t fit as well anymore (assuming they fit at all), we’re generally unhappy, and the list goes on. Here’s the thing, though: we have to take care of ourselves! We have to look out for our own general health and physical and mental well-being. We owe it to ourselves to do all that we can to make ourselves the very best, the very healthiest, versions of ourselves as possible, not only because it’ll make us feel fantastic, but also because we have to be our own biggest advocates. We parents routinely go above and beyond to care for our families, but no one is going to care for us but ourselves. Our health should be as big a priority as that of our family.

If you’re interested in starting an exercise routine but don’t know where to begin – particularly if you have young children in your family – might I suggest thinking outside the box and establishing an exercise routine wherein you routinely involve your family in exercise activities? Sure, it might sound counter-intuitive, if not also a bit counterproductive, but provided you give yourself some flexibility and patience, exercising with your family can become part of both your and your family’s healthy lifestyle. Besides, incorporating your family in exercise activities can be fun and could build memories that last a lifetime with your children.

Below, you’ll find my suggestions for ways you can involve your family in exercise activities and how to make it a regular routine. Like I mentioned earlier, the biggest, most important thing I can implore you to remember is that you absolutely must be patient and flexible. Some days, things might not go as swimmingly as you desire, and that’s totally ok! Do your best, and you’ll have nothing to be upset about – much like we tell our children.

My tips for how you can incorporate your family in exercise activities:

1. Go on a bicycle ride together. My first suggestion to include your family in exercise activities is going on a bike ride together. I bet you have found memories of riding your bike as a child, and it’s such a fun thing to do that I’m sure your children would love to do it now as well – and with you, it’ll be even more fun! If your children are too young to ride by themselves yet, you could always consider investing in a bike trailer that would allow you to pull them behind you while you ride. Don’t forget all the necessary safety components for bicycle riding – such as obeying traffic laws and wearing helmets (if not also other gear for the little ones). Fortunately, in northern Nevada, you’ll have a variety of terrain to choose from (flats or mountainous areas) and typically-favorable weather that will allow you to ride outdoors nearly year-round, if you so choose. This method of including your family in exercise activities is a great one.
2. Run together as a family. As a hobby, running is incredibly versatile, and it’s an activity that you can do basically anywhere you go: around your neighborhood, through a park, alongside a river, up through the mountains, and the list goes on and on. Plus, children naturally love to run, as evidenced by how quickly toddlers transition from walking to running. Running together as a family could help you create lifelong memories together, and much like it is with bicycling together as a family, the speed or distance you post doesn’t matter. What matters more is that you enjoy the process and the experience and that you emulate for your children how fun it is to regularly incorporate physical activity into your healthy lifestyle. In addition, if your children are too little to run by themselves quite yet, you could consider purchasing a running-friendly stroller and push them in it while you log some miles with the rest of your family. In fact, some bicycle trailers transition into running strollers so if the day isn’t good for a bike ride, you can run or vice versa.



3. Explore your world together on foot by hiking or walking. Perhaps the most accessible exercise that you can do together as a family is simply going for a walk or a hike together. It takes basically zero equipment, save for a good pair of shoes and some water perhaps, and it doesn’t matter if you stay indoors or go venture through any of Nevada’s amazing landscapes, up Mount Rose, around Davis Creek or out near Pyramid Lake. Anyone can walk, and speed and distance do not matter here, either. You can chat with your family while you’re on the move about their observations of the world around them, teach them about the wildlife and vegetation, and you might learn more than you realize when you begin to see the world through your childrens’ eyes.

It’s understandably really challenging, when you’re a parent, to find a way to devote time for exercise nearly every single day. However, it’s incredibly important to do so for all the obvious reasons, but also because you’ll likely find that regularly exercising makes you a better parent and a better partner. While none of us can extract a 25th hour from the day to devote to exercise, one way that we can ensure that we get our daily dose of sweat on our brows is by involving our family in exercise activities. Doing so, will teach the youngest ones in our families that exercise is a normal and enjoyable part of a healthy and active lifestyle, and it will surely help set a positive example and precedent for your children to follow as they grow, develop and mature, as well.

About the Guest Post Author

Dan Chabert is a husband, entrepreneur, long distance runner, travel enthusiast, web guru, certified geek and author at RunnerClick.com, a website dedicated to research and reviews about the many topics, and categories that running encompasses.

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