Ask a few volunteers from the class to tell what they had to eat the day before. Roughly determine the number of calories and the amount of fat they consumed. As an alternative, list what you ate the day before and the calories and grams of fat. Show how to calculate percentage of calories from fats. For most of us, that translates to 45-60 grams of fat daily, based on a 2000 to 2200 calorie-per-day regimen.
Exercise is equally important to maintain a healthy cardiovascular system, but it does not have to involve jogging several times per week or heel-crushing athletic aerobic dance. Most recently it has been found that walking briskly three or more times per week, 30 minutes each time, provides sufficient cardiovascular conditioning. Even people who are overweight can benefit from walking to increase cardiovascular fitness.
Tuberculosis is a disease of the lung caused by a bacterium, Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tubercles, or sacks of fibrous connective tissue, form in the lung around infected areas as the body tries to wall-off this organism. The infected individual may carry on this way for quite some time or never go past this stage. Sometimes, however, the bacteria become widely spread throughout the lungs, usually because the person has contracted another disease. Other symptoms of tuberculosis include fever, fatigue, and weight loss. A chronic cough with bloody sputum is a hallmark of this disease.
In later stages, other bacteria begin infecting the lungs. Extensive destruction of lung tissue makes it difficult for the person to feel as though he or she is getting enough air. Scar tissue develops in the lungs, making gas exchange even more difficult.
We often think of tuberculosis as a disease of the past. Indeed, one hundred years ago, tuberculosis caused one-third of the deaths of young adults in Europe. Tuberculosis has not, however, gone away. In fact, it is becoming more widespread. Probably 20% of the world's population, 1 billion people, are infected with this disease. And 3 million or more people will die from tuberculosis this year, 12,000 or more in the United States alone. With the rising AIDS epidemic, increased homeless population, and drug abuse, tuberculosis is increasing.
Antibiotic treatment can cure tuberculosis in the early stages of the disease, but antibiotic-resistant strains are surfacing. Treatment during later stages is possible, but lung damage has often already occurred. Better public health measures and sanitation are needed to slow the spread of this disease.