The diabetic diet free essay sample

t.Essentuki THE DIABETIC DIET. Abstract on English by Kuranov Alina Olegovna # 8211 ; a pupil of Essentuki medical college group # 8470 ; 261. 2002 # 1075 ; . Diabetess. Diabetess Mellitus ( when the term diabetes is used entirely, it ever refers to diabetes mellitus ) is a status in which the organic structure is unable to utilize sugar decently. Sugar ( saccharide ) is the substance our organic structure uses as its major beginning of energy. Once this sugar is absorbed in the blood, it is referred to as blood sugar or blood glucose. Insulin ( a endocrine made in the pancreas that regulates the blood sugar ) is either losing or deficient. As a consequence, the organic structure can non utilize energy foods ( saccharides, fat, protein ) efficaciously and the cells of the organic structure starve . The sugar in the blood may lift to high degrees alternatively of being used for energy. Blood sugar is excreted through piss, which makes excess work for the kidneys doing frequent micturition and inordinate thirst. We will write a custom essay sample on The diabetic diet or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Treatment Diet, exercising and medicine are of import factors that must be coordinated for diabetes to be kept in control. Medication is non used to handle all instances of diabetes. Medicine when used can either be in the signifier of a pill ( unwritten hypoglycaemic agents ) or insulin, which must be injected. Diet, exercising and medicine all affect intervention but unless the diet program is followed carefully no method of intervention will be effectual. By eating the right nutrients in the right sums diet can really assist command the basic job of diabetes. Harmonizing to Control Your Diabetes Education Program for Life, a plan sponsored by the National Diabetes Education Program, people who take control of diabetes will, in the short tally, experience better, have more energy, and prevent the undermentioned marks and symptoms of high blood sugar: thirst, weariness, frequent micturition, weight loss, blurred vision, and slow healing of cuts and contusions. In the long tally, they decrease their opportunities of developing oculus disease, kidney disease, and nervus harm, and add old ages to their lives. THE DIABETIC DIET. Purpose: The diabetic diet is designed to accomplish and keep desirable organic structure weight and near normal blood glucose degrees, cut down hyperglycaemia, glycosuria, and associated symptoms of diabetes in order to minimise the complications often associated with this disease. Use: It is used for the individual with either insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus or non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. The calorie-controlled diet may be adapted for weight decrease and weight care. The Calorie degree prescribed for the diabetic is based on whether the individual needs to lose or derive weight or merely keep the present weight. The calorie degree specified is determined from the tallness, organic structure physique, ideal weight and physical activity degree. General Guidelines for the Diabetic Diet. 1. Avoid concentrated beginnings of saccharides ( sugars ) such as table sugar, honey, jelly, jam, molasses, sirup, maize sirup, confect, regular soft drinks, pies, rings, cookies, pastries, regular mastication gum, and sweet pickles. 2. Avoid sweetened fruits, juices and fruit drinks. Choose fruit, which is fresh, frozen or packed in H2O or its ain juice. Avoid fruits canned in heavy sirup. 3. Avoid sweetened carbonated sodium carbonates, juices and H2O. 4. Learn nutrients both high and low in sugar that are presented in the No Concentrated Sweet Food List 5. Three repasts at regular times should be consumed daily. Make non jump repasts. 6. A nutritionally equal repast program that limits the sum of concentrated fat, cholesterin and salt in the diet. Fat consumption should be 30 % or less of thermal consumption and less than 10 % of day-to-day caloric intake from saturated fat. Dietary cholesterin should be limited to 300 milligram or less daily. 2,400 milligram or less per twenty-four hours of Na is recommended. 7. Daily ingestion of 20-35 g of dietetic fibre from a broad assortment of nutrients is recommended. 8. Mild to chair weight loss ( 10-20 lbs. has been shown to better diabetes control, even if desirable organic structure weight is non achieved. ) 9. Read the label to find the sugar content of packaged nutrients. In add-on to saccharify, brown sugar and maize sirup, other names that are used on ingredient labels include: sucrose, glucose, dextrose, fructose, maltose, lactose, sorbitol, mannitol, honey, maize sirup, maize sirup solids, high fructose maize sirup, molasses, maple sirup. 10. Monitoring of lipoids, blood force per unit area and organic structure weight is important. 11. Glycated haemoglobin ( HbA1C ) and day-to-day monitoring of blood glucose are standard tools to mensurate glucose control. # 183 ; For persons with Type 1 diabetes, self-monitoring 4 times daily or more is recommended to keep near-normal blood glucose degrees and addition control. Testing 4 times a twenty-four hours, before each repast, and at bedtime, facilitates accommodations to insulin, repasts, and exercising plan. # 183 ; For persons with Type 2 diabetes, self-monitoring 1-2 times daily or more is recommended to avoid hypoglycaemia and hyperglycaemia symptoms. # 183 ; Newly diagnosed persons should prove blood glucose 4 times a twenty-four hours, before each repast, and at bedtime, or more is recommended to keep near-normal blood glucose degrees and addition control. Testing facilitates accommodations to insulin, repasts, and exercising plan. # 183 ; After a stable form has been established in blood glucose degrees, persons should prove before breakfast, 3-7 times each hebdomad. Once or twice each month you should return to proving 4 times a twenty-four hours ( before each repast, and at bedtime ) to guarantee care of a stable form. No CONCENTRATED SWEETS, LOW FAT DIET. ( Low SUGAR-LOW FAT ) Purpose: The no concentrated Sweets, low fat diet is designed to restrict the entire sum of fat and sugar in the diet to cut down serum lipoid degrees and to accomplish and keep near normal blood glucose degrees. This diet is for people who find the exchange system excessively confusing or curtailing to follow. Use: It is used for the individual with either non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus or for people who need or want to cut down on their sugar and fa Ts intake. The calorie-controlled diet may be adapted for weight decrease and weight care for persons that do non hold diabetes. It is besides used for individuals with elevated serum cholesterin degrees or those who are bad campaigners for bosom disease. General Guidelines. # 183 ; Limit total fat consumption to less than 30 % of entire day-to-day Calories. # 183 ; Reduce saturated fat consumption ( ruddy meat, cheese, whole milk, butter, ice pick, etc. ) # 183 ; Eat less transfat ( stick oleo, shortening, bars, pies, Gallic french friess, snack french friess. ) # 183 ; Eat less cholesterin ( bound egg yolks to more than 4 per hebdomad and meat, fish, domestic fowl to no more than 6 ounces a twenty-four hours ) # 183 ; Reduce sugar consumption. # 183 ; Eat more fruits, veggies, beans, whole grain staff of lifes, and cereals. # 183 ; Maintain a healthy weight. # 183 ; Exercise at least 30 proceedingss on most yearss ( alert walking, aerobic exercises, biking, etc. ) # 183 ; Experiment with formulas by bit by bit cut downing the sum of sugar by 1/4th so l/3rd so 1/2. # 183 ; Use the sweet spices # 8212 ; cinnamon cloves ginger or Myristica fragrans # 8212 ; to convey out sugariness in adust goods. # 183 ; Be careful when utilizing particular diet or dietary nutrients such as dietary bar, cookies, confect and ice pick. These nutrients contain some signifier of sweetening and, hence, Calories. No CONCENTRATED SWEET FOOD LIST. Purpose: The no concentrated Sweets diet is designed to accomplish and keep near normal blood glucose degrees, and cut down associated symptoms of diabetes in order to minimise the complications often associated with this disease. This diet is for people who find the exchange system excessively confusing or curtailing to follow. Use: It is used for the individual with either non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus or for people who need or want to cut down on their sugar consumption. It is non intended for the individual with diabetes taking insulin. The calorie-controlled diet may be adapted for weight decrease and weight care. # 183 ; Eat three repasts at regular times. Do non jump repasts. # 183 ; Limit total fat consumption to less than 30 % of entire day-to-day Calories. # 183 ; Reduce saturated fat consumption ( ruddy meat, cheese, whole milk, butter, ice pick, etc. ) # 183 ; Eat less transfat ( stick oleo, shortening, bars, pies, French french friess, snack french friess. ) # 183 ; Eat less cholesterin ( bound egg yolks to more than 4 per hebdomad and meat, fish, domestic fowl to no more than 6 ounces a twenty-four hours. ) # 183 ; Reduce salt consumption ( canned and dried soups, fast nutrient, frozen dinners, pizza, processed meats and cheese. ) # 183 ; Eat more fruits, veggies, beans, whole grain staff of lifes, and cereals. # 183 ; Maintain a healthy weight. Mild to chair weight loss ( 10-20 pound. has been shown to better diabetes control, even if desirable organic structure weight is non achieved. ) # 183 ; Recommend 20-35 grams/day of dietetic fibre from a broad assortment of nutrients. # 183 ; Be careful when utilizing particular diet or dietary nutrients such as dietary bar, cookies, confect and ice pick. These nutrients contain some signifier of sweetening and, hence, Calories. # 183 ; Monitor blood glucose, glycated haemoglobin, lipoids, blood force per unit area and organic structure weight. # 183 ; Exercise at least 30 proceedingss on most yearss ( alert walking, aerobic exercises, biking, etc ) . Regular exercising improves control of blood sugar and is an of import portion of any healthy life style. # 183 ; Experiment with formulas by bit by bit cut downing the sum of sugar by 1/4th so l/3rd so 1/2. # 183 ; Use the sweet spices # 8212 ; cinnamon cloves ginger or Myristica fragrans # 8212 ; to convey out sugariness in adust goods. # 183 ; Read the label to find the sugar content of packaged nutrients. In add-on to saccharify, brown sugar and maize sirup, other names that are used on ingredient labels include: sucrose, glucose, dextrose, fructose, maltose, modified nutrient amylum, natural sweetenings, lactose, sorbitol, Osmitrol, honey, maize sirup, maize sirup solids, high fructose maize sirup, molasses, maple sirup. ABOUT THE MAJOR NUTRIENTS IN THE DIABETIC DIET. Carbohydrates are made up of simple sugars, complex saccharides, and fiber. Simple saccharides are normally known as sugars, beginnings of simple saccharides include table sugar, confects and other Sweets, sodium carbonates and bakeshop goods. The sugar in these nutrients is in a signifier that is absorbed easy by the organic structure, as opposed to the slower-digesting complex saccharides. Complex saccharides include all the complex starches and fiber, such as those found in grains, cereals, staff of lifes and starchy veggies like murphies, maize, peas and beans. Milk, fruit and veggies besides contribute important sums of saccharide in the diet. 100 % of the saccharides eaten are broken down into glucose. Therefore saccharides elevate the blood sugar at a faster rate than either protein or flesh out so merely mensural sums should be consumed. Complex saccharides contain many indispensable foods and are the organic structure s most effectual beginning of energy. Proteinprovides aminic acids for your organic structure to construct, keep, and fix cells and musculus tissue, heal lesions, and back up the immune system. It is really easy to acquire protein in our diet, in fact, most Americans consume 2-3 times more protein than necessary. Excess protein does non make musculus, as many hope, but is stored as fat. Excess protein can set strive on the liver and kidneys. The best protein beginnings are milk, yoghurt, cheese, thin meat, domestic fowl, fish, beans, eggs, and nuts. Breads, cereals and veggies contribute little sums of protein in the diet. About 60 % of the protein eaten are broken down into glucose. Dieticians recommend about 45 to 50 gms of protein a twenty-four hours for most adult females and 50 to 60 gms a twenty-four hours for most work forces or 10 per centum to 20 per centum of day-to-day Calories. Children and babies, who are turning quickly, need more protein, as do pregnant adult females. Fat, like saccharides, are used by the organic structure for fuel and are indispensable for the soaking up of certain vitamins. Although some fat in the diet is necessary, excessively much fat can take to bosom disease, fleshiness and other wellness jobs. Fats should consist no more than 30 % of day-to-day Calories, or even lower. Fats in the diet may be of animate being or vegetable beginning. Examples of fat in the diet are gravy, bacon, oleo, butter, pick, salad dressings and nuts. Meats and some milk merchandises besides contain important sums of fat. About 10 % of the fat eaten is broken down into glucose. The balance is stored as fat for future usage

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS essays

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS essays John Quincy Adams was born in Braintree (Quincy), Massachusetts on July 11th, 1767. His ancestry lineage was English. Adams religion was Unitarian. His father, John Adams, was born in Braintree (Quincy), Massachusetts on October 19th, 1735. He died in Quincy, Massachusetts on July 4th, 1826. He had three major occupations. He was a lawyer, a statesman, and the President of the United States. His mother, Abigail Smith Adams, was born in Weymouth Massachusetts on November 11th, 1744. She died in Quincy, Massachusetts on October 28th, 1818. John Quincy Adams had two brothers: Charles Adams who lived between the years 1770 and 1800, and Thomas Boylston Adams who lived between the years 1772 and 1832. He also had two sisters: Abigail Amelia Adams who lived between the years 1765 and 1813, and Susanna Adams who lived between the years 1768 and 1770. Louisa Catherine Johnson was born in London, England on February 12th, 1775 and she died in Washington DC on May 14th, 1852. Louisa was the second daughter of Joshua and Catherine Johnson. John Quincy Adams and Louisa Catherine Johnson were married before eleven a.m. on July 26th, 1767 in London, England at the All Hollows Barking Church. They were married by Mr. Hewlett. The portrait on the next page is of Louisa Catherine Adams at age 43. It was painted by Gilbert Stuart in 1818. John Quincy Adams and Louisa Catherine Adams had four children. Their children were George Washington Adams (1801-1812), John Adams (1803-1834), Charles Francis Adams (1807-1886), and Louisa Catherine Adams (1811-1812). John Quincy Adams had plenty of education, which helped him in his election as President. He studied in Paris, Amsterdam, Leyden, and The Hugue. He received his Bachelor of Arts in 1787 from Harvard and studied law from 1788 to 1790 with Theophilus Parsons. His Pre-presidency occupations consisted of being a lawyer and a professor. These jobs helped Ada...

Project Plan Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Project Plan - Assignment Example Similarly, other team work based units can implement this system to control the team work process. Likewise, Teamworker will help students to do their projects well; because they do not need to utilize a number of different web based platforms (i.e. Facebook, Google Drive, DropBox etc) as a means of accomplishing a given task. Likewise, it promotes the overall efficiency and productivity of each member; as students no longer need to schedule a block of time in which they will all meet at a given geographic location and discuss the progress of their project. Teamworker is a web-based project that teams of up to six students to gain access to a platform that can facilitate the learning process and provide a level of oversight to those educators that seek to monitor it; prior to delivering a final grade. The benefits of such a platform are innumerable; however, perhaps the most important benefit has to do with the fact that the educators finally have a reliable means of measurement with regard to which team members did what and which team members did not pull their own weight for the project at hand. In terms of actual details that the portal requires, these are inclusive of team name/number, attribution of supervisors and/or tutors’ name as well required population of the project title, and finally a short description of the problem that the project seeks to address; in 100 words or less. After signing up, the team will receive an account number and password. Then, they will have access to their team page and update the team information or upload their assignments together with their meeting minutes. Moreover, as students can share their project files online, they can access the files easily and communicate with other members from only one website. A team can only have privileges and permissions to their only team pages; restricting their operations on the site to only their own team’s content. Yet, the tutors and supervisors can

Course Evaluation Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Course Evaluation Paper - Essay Example During the course, most students identified with the outcomes. I expected to learn the various aspects of family dynamics, which exist in the society regardless of race, social class, or religion, and I did. I expected to learn the theories involved and to be able to learn various solutions to family problems. I was able to relate to some factors that influence family dynamics that apply to my real life. The factors I learnt include the effect of parent’s relationships on the family, aspects of strictness and lenience among parents, personalities, single parenthood, size of family and culture, and beliefs in the family. The course reflected issues that exist in many families in the world, and was able to broaden my knowledge and thinking about family life. I expected the course to highlight the various positive and negative issues that exist in the family and the impact they have on psychological health of family members. Some of the positive family attributes highlighted incl ude success of children linked to good parenting practices, good parent’s relationships and good family values. Peace in the family always relates to good personalities in children and older family members among others. The negative attributes highlighted in the course include the effect of single parenthood on children, violence in the family most likely led to the fall of the family to factors such as divorce, and divorce affected children even in their adulthood. The lecturer was able to teach in the most practical way, making everyone to participate in asking and answering questions, making the course even more enjoyable. She always asked practical questions that apply in real life, used pictures and videos to teach and expected every student to relate to some issues raised during the course of study. This made the course very exciting and easy to learn. The outcomes had a great impact and were specific to the target population, which in this case were classroom students. The course highlighted many issues, which exist in different families. I related to some of the factors that I have experienced in my own family. Most students were able to relate and connect to most of the issues explained in the course. In some instances the mentioned examples and scenarios rekindled bad memories among some students and caused emotional grieve. These included students coming from a family that experienced violence in the past, drug abuse, families affected by issues such as unemployment, extramarital affairs, and divorce. Some students on the other hand connected well with their well-structured families, which had good values, proper parenting practices, and wealth among others. In either way most students lamented that, they learnt a lot from the course and expected to improve their lives in one way or another. The outcomes were measurable with the timeframe. The lecturer managed to teach various levels of family dynamics within the expected timeframe, and in th e most systematic way. The mentioned outcomes on the students always revealed in each classroom session, and with time, the students had developed a sense of connection with the lecturer and would freely express their views and experiences without fear. The objectives and the outcomes related well in this course and at the end, the lecturer manage

Gas and oil prices Essay Example for Free

Gas and oil prices Essay Oil and Gas PricesOil and Gas 2There are many issues that cause the cost of oil and gas to increase. The main contributing issue to the increasing cost of oil and gas is supply and demand, when demand is greater than supply, the price of oil and gas will increase. The factors that affect supply include increased demand, problems with refineries and pipelines, and disruption to supply or threat of disruption to supply.With the increased demand for oil in the United States and other countries such as India and China; the extra demand for oil has put enormous pressure on available oil reserves. The Energy Information Administration stated, â€Å"If refinery or pipeline and/or reductions in imports cause supplies to decline unexpectedly, gasoline inventories (stocks) may drop rapidly. This may cause wholesalers to bid higher for available supply over concern that future supplies may not be adequate† (Energy Information Administration, 2008, para. 9). With this in mind, the other underlying factors that affect supply are disruption to supply or threat of disruption to supply along with The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is an organization of oil producing countries which produces over 40% of the world’s crude oil and has two-thirds of the world’s oil reserves. This organization was formed in 1960 to regulate the supply of oil and to some extent, the price of oil. The organization includes Algeria, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela. Mouawad, J. stated, â€Å"The cartel has refused to pump more oil, fearing that any hasty move would lead to plummeting oil prices† (Mouawad, 2008 para. 19). With OPEC refusing to increase production and reserves being depleted, a conflict or threat of conflict can be an issue of concern.If there is a conflict or threat of war or conflict with the chance of a disruption in production in an oil producing country will cause oil and gas prices to increase. The most recent conflict that disrupted production is the attacks on the pipelines in Nigeria that caus ed Royal Dutch Shell to decrease exports due to damaged pipelines. Another recent conflict was the exports from Iraq being disrupted by Turkish and Kurdish forces. With these issues increasing the cost of oil and gas, consumers have to deal with the effects as well.With oil and gas prices steadily increasing with no relief in sight, consumers have had to cope with the many adverse effects of high oil and gas prices. There are many adverse effects of increasing oil and gas prices that  consumers have to cope with such as a change in lifestyle, change in shopping habits, and some drastic effects that include not paying utility or vehicle bills leaving some consumers with little options for getting to work. With the increasing oil and gas prices, consumers are left with less expendable income.Consumers are changing their lifestyle, shopping habits, and driving habits. Consumers are left changing their lifestyle by staying home more; therefore, they are eating out at restaurants less, cutting back on entertainment such as nights out at the movies. Consumers are finding themselves combining trips for errands which include paying bills, medical tri ps, and grocery shopping. Consumers are also making the decision of not travel long distances for vacation or decided on not taking a vacation altogether. These effects have consumers looking for alternative ways of travel and more fuel economical vehicles. Mouawad, J., Navarro, M. stated, â€Å"Americans have started trading their gas guzzlers for smaller cars, making fewer trips to the mall and, wherever possible, riding public transportation to work† (Mouawad Navarro, 2008, para. 7). These effects have consumers making adjustments to how they shop.With consumers being left with less disposable income they have changed their shopping habits by shopping online to save money on fuel by not leaving their home to go shopping. Consumers are finding themselves looking for and purchasing sale items whenever possible, purchasing bargain brand items instead of name brand items and shifting their automobile purchases towards vehicles with high fuel economy and away from the large SUV type vehicles which get less gas mileage. Some consumers have traded their SUV`s for smaller more fuel economical vehicles like the hybrid models and som e have bought motorcycles. With consumers in large suburban areas dealing with these effects, rural America is struggling with the effects of the increasing cost of oil and gas. In rural areas such as Mississippi, New Mexico, Montana, Wyoming, and North and South Dakota where consumers incomes are much lower and jobs are scarce, who mostly depend on pickup trucks and vans for transportation are going to extremes in order to cope with the high cost of gas. These effects have rural consumers borrowing money from their employers to help pay for the gas to get to work resulting in less money on payday, and changing jobs for shorter commutes. Some rural consumers find themselves hiring friends and family to drive them for errands due to their family or friends vehicle getting better gas  mileage, requesting buyouts from their employers, not making electric or vehicle payments, and some have gone as far as giving up meat so they can buy fuel.Indealing with these kinds of effects, rural consumers have made the diff icult decisions of changing their job for a shorter commute or moving closer to urban manufacturing jobs. Krauss, C. said. â€Å"Dick Stevens, president of Consolidated Catfish Producers, said that 10 workers walked into his office and volunteered to take a buyout rather than continue commuting from Charleston, Miss., 65 miles away† (Krauss, 2008, para. 24). With consumers continuing to cope with the effects of the ever increasing cost of oil and gas, businesses, both large and small are trying to adapt to the changes.

Inconsistency in The Character of Hamlet Essay -- GCSE Coursework Shak

Inconsistency in The  Character of Hamlet The perfection of Hamlet’s character has been called in question - perhaps by those who do not understand it. The character of Hamlet stands by itself. It is not a character marked by strength of will or even of passion, but by refinement of thought and sentiment. Hamlet is as little of the hero as a man can be.   He is a young and princely novice, full of high enthusiasm and quick sensibility - the sport of circumstances, questioning with fortune and refining on his own feelings, and forced from his natural disposition by the strangeness of his situation. Hamlet seems incapable of deliberate action, and is only hurried into extremities on the spur of the occasion, when he has no time to reflect, as in the scene where he kills Polonius, and again, where he alters the letters which Rosencraus and Guildenstern are taking with them to England, purporting his death. At other times, when he is most bound to act, he remains puzzled, undecided, and skeptical, until the occasion is lost, and he finds some pretence to relapse into indolence and thoughtfulness again. For this reason he refuses to kill the King when he is at his prayers, and by a refinement in malice, which is in truth only an excuse for his own want of resolution, defers his revenge to a more fatal opportunity, when he will be engaged in some act "that has no relish of salvation in it." "Now might I do it pat now he is praying; And now I'll do 't; - and so he goes to heaven; And so am I reveng'd? - that would be scanned: A villain kills my father; and for that I, his sole son, do this same villain send To heaven. O, this is hire and salary, not revenge ... Up sword; and know thou a more horrid hent, Whe... ... explaining the cause of his alienation, which he hardly trust himself to think of. It would have taken him years to have come to a direct explanation on the point. In the harassed state of his mind, he could not have done much other than what he did. His conduct does not contradict what he says when he sees her funeral, "I loved Ophelia: forty thousand brothers Could not with all their quantity of love Make up my sum" - [Act v., sc. 1.]   In conclusion, Shakespeare has been accused of inconsistency with Hamlet only because he has kept up the distinction which there is in nature, between the understandings and the moral habits of men, between the absurdity of their ideas and the absurdity of their motives. Hamlet is not a fool, but he makes himself so. His folly, whether in his actions or speeches, comes under the category of impropriety of intention.

Coming of Age Essay

A coming of age experience can happen any time during one’s life, most often when it is least expected. It is the thread that sews humanity together, a phenomenon, which is undeniable. Society tells us, it is a defining moment in a child’s life, when the world somehow becomes his or her own. Why then is â€Å"Coming of Age† simply relegated to the young? We all experience this phenomenon, from the tender age of four till the ripe old age of ninety-four. It is not an experience based solely on chronological milestones. Coming of age is a defining moment when a person’s wide-eyed nnocence is replaced with something deeper and at times something darker and more sinister, a snapshot in life when one realized the answer rests inside us, not relying completely on God. Consequently, in that way, we are always coming of age, always-losing innocence, gaining understanding, and always discovering new truths about ourselves, emotionally, and intellectually. Coming of age is the act of experiencing a definitive shift in one’s perspective, a greater realization of ones place in the world, and a further understanding of how personal actions and reactions are ntegrally linked. â€Å"That’s not fair† was my signature quotation as a little girl. A life full of Barbie’s, tea parties, and several rounds of Go-Fish card games was very demanding for a five year old. I could only assume the world revolved around which Barbie I wanted to be, what frilly dress I wanted to wear, and my pristine skills of winning every round of Go-Fish. As a little princess, fairness was vital to what made me happy. When I was eight years old, the word â€Å"fair† took on a whole other meaning the day my mom and her best friend, Muffy, took my sister and me to lunch. As we at down at the table, Muffy, the mother of my best friend, Sam, hesitantly twisted the diamond protruding from her gold wedding band. We waited for our lunches in silence, my sister and I only knowing that they had â€Å"something to tell us,† but not knowing what. The silence was unbearable; waiting for something that must have no positive outcome was definitely, as I would term, unfair. After the waitress brought our food, my mom’s voice filled the intolerable silence. Unlike her usual motherly lectures, my mom’s voice seemed Just as excruciating as the previous silence; it was uncertain, unfamiliar, and distant. My mom has always been the woman that I admire and would hope to become. The smiles and love she has given to my sister and me have been unconditional and contagious. At the moment, the slightly tilted frown and the unfulfilled eye contact was not the woman that I knew as my mother. All I wish for was to read her mind, fgure out who she had become so that I could make everything better and change her back to the woman I see myself being one day. Muffy began with her understanding voice, a quality that she and my mother share, â€Å"Emily and Peggy, I can see the concern on your faces and we are here to tell ou that Sam has cancer. He will be undergoing surgery next week and all I ask from you is to be as understanding, mature, and as helpful as possible. I know you are both strong and that it is going to be hard for all of us. My best friend, at eight years old, has cancer. I continued to repeat this in my mind. There was no â€Å"He will be find† or â€Å"Everything will be taken car of. † My mind was running with questions, How long has he had cancer? Will he have to undergo chemo? Will he lose all his hair? But unfair. Two years later Sam went through his third treatment. At this point we were told hat he was not going to make it and at that mo ment, as a young eight year old, I began to understand that life’s trials cannot be won like a game of go-fish. I began to understand that life is not fair because I did not understand why someone so caring and loving like Sam would be put through this. I do wish that fguring these things out at such a young age would not be as tortuous as my best friend getting cancer and passing away. However, for me, maturing at that age is accepting that the world does not revolved around me. That losing in a game of go-fish is not the end of the world and to treasure every day of life.