Do you have a teenage who is inbeTWEEN?  One who you still can take to the pediatrician until s/he is 18, but could also be taken to your doctor?  What should you do?  The pediatrician really knows more about your teen, but s/he's uncomfortable going there.

Still, this is the age when your teen really needs to be having regular contact with a physician. 

The period between ages 10 and 19 is unique, bringing more rapid biological changes than perhaps any age other than infancy. Even though most of the nation’s 42 million adolescents seem to be thriving, it is a time of risk-taking and pushing boundaries in ways that can mean immediate consequences: Car crashes, experimenting with alcohol or drugs, teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted disease.

And it’s also an age when many of the habits that determine good health during adulthood are set, or not.

[...]

Yet the system of care for tweens and teens is fragmented and poorly designed. Few doctors specialize in adolescents’ complex needs, or provide comprehensive care that earns their trust, concludes a recent probe by the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. Most at risk are the poor.

 

Click for complete article

I think most of us already know that diet sodas and foods that are branded with the term "lite" really are not any healthier for us.  We all know that they just have fewer calories, don't we?  We all know it's a marketing scheme to make us want to buy that product, don't we? Still, fewer calories may be what some of us are looking for, right?  Well, even if you know it, I guess it doesn't hurt to get some tips on healthy alternatives...

"Even if you haven't bought full-fat mayo or sugary soda since blue eye shadow was in style (the first time), you may be getting duped into less-than-stellar food choices at the supermarket. The culprit? The "health halo." "From a distance, some foods seem like healthful choices because of the way they're packaged or labeled," says Janel Ovrut, MS, RD, a Boston-based dietitian. "But just because a product's marketing gives it an aura of health doesn't necessarily mean it's good for you." Here, eight notorious health food impostors, plus smarter swaps that up the nutritional ante and still give you the flavor you crave."

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Maybe this site could help you.

Especially if you are toughing it out on your own.

It's an online program called Gyminee™

My son and daughter-in-law live in Boulder, Co.  They hike, bike, ski and snowshoe.  They are very healthy people.

They have great bikes.  Boulder's streets are lined with bike paths and bikes have the right-of way everywhere.  Most of the busses have bike racks on them.  People bike to work.  People bike for fun.  People bike to bars.  People bike all winter.   People are healthy in Boulder.

BOULDER, Co. – As real estate agent Matt Kolb recently toured several properties he wore a helmet. It wasn’t a hard-hat fit for a construction site but a bicycle helmet.  Kolb sells homes from the back of a two-wheeler.

"Boulder is in the top-five bicycle-friendly cities in the world," said Kolb. "On a bike, you can get anywhere in town in 20 minutes or less."

Real estate firm Pedal to Properties has teamed up with a non-profit called Community Cycles, which supplies low-cost bikes and maintenance to local businesses as a way to encourage emission-free transportation. 

‘Outdoor deficit disorder’
Community Cycles, which was founded by a handful of Boulder bike-riders two years ago, has become a driving force in getting people out of cars and onto bikes. "We started out with a plan to distribute bikes," said Rich Points, Community Cycles’ executive director. "But now we want to address larger issues."

For Points, getting out of the office and onto a bike "combats ‘outdoor deficit disorder.’ You are more involved in the changes in the environment. You are more involved with your own community."  Even with the onset of winter, Points is not willing to give up the bicycling. He just shifts over to studded bike tires on snowy days.

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Come on!  You know there are some basic things you can do to at least try to prevent getting a cold or flu. Hopefully, you’ve gotten a flu shot by now.  Remember, if you haven’t gotten one, it takes two weeks for one to protect you.  So, what are you waiting for?

Otherwise , Reader’s Digest has 14 more things you can do.  One of them is this:

Inhale air from your blow-dryer. It sounds nuts, we know. But one study conducted at Harvard Hospital in England found that people who breathed heated air had half the cold symptoms of people who inhaled air at room temperature. Set the dryer on warm, not hot, and hold it at least 18 inches from your face. Breathe in the air through your nose for as long as you can -- 20 minutes is best.

That's text messaging short hand for "Just Do It."

And just do it is what a doctor volunteering in the Congo did when he performed a very complex amputation by receiving his instructions via text message. 

GR8 job doctor!

"A doctor volunteering in war-torn Congo performed a complex amputation to save a boy’s life by following instructions sent by text message from a colleague in London.

David Nott, 52, a vascular surgeon, was working for a Medicins Sans Frontieres hospital in the eastern town of Rutshuru, an area ravaged by bloody battles between Congolese and rebel troops.

Among the hundreds of wounded soldiers and civilians brought into the hospital in October was a 16-year-old boy who had been caught in the midst of a gun fight between advancing combatants in a forest in the Nyanzale region. "

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Don't you just love peeking into your Christmas stocking?  Can't you just imagine what might be waiting for you in there? 

Okay...The economy is taking a downward turn.  People will be thrifty in their Christmas purchases.  They will be more thoughtful.  You may have been warned about Gift Cards...be careful of where you purchase them.  A business may go "out of business."  If you want to get someone a Gift Certificate for that stocking, perhaps you want it to be useful, something very practical. 

Indiana is a down-to-earth thinking kind of state; wouldn't you say?  Planned Parenthood in Indiana has come up with the perfect solution for that hard to buy for person on your list.  How about a Gift Certificate?  Oh, they say it can be used for any service, and by males or females.  That's comforting to know.  But just so Indiana residents know, yes, it will be able to be used on abortions, too. 

The gift that does not keep on giving. 

From Indiana Planned Parenthood.

"Some Hoosiers 24-Hour News 8 talked to asked if the gift certificates could be used toward abortions. The answer is yes. But, Planned Parenthood said that's not the purpose of the gift certificates.

Struben-Hall said, "They really are intended for preventative healthcare. We decided not to put restrictions on the gift certificates so it's for whatever people feel they need the services for most."


Read the entire article HERE

H/T  Pensamientos

Stressed-out by your boss?   Beware….

If you are prone to heart disease, your workplace and the managerial style of your supervisor could be impacting your health.

"Burdened by an overbearing boss? Your heart may pay the price, according to new research.

The Swedish study found that workers' risks for angina, heart attack and death rose along with the reported incompetence of their bosses.

 

"This study is the first to provide evidence of a prospective, dose-response relationship between concrete managerial behaviors and objectively assessed heart disease among employees," said lead researcher Anna Nyberg, from the department of public health sciences at the Karolinska Institute, and Stress Research Institute at Stockholm University."

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Some families spend more time dealing with hospitals than others do…that’s just an unfortunate fact.  And some hospitals lead patients to have better experiences at them than others do.

Last week my husband happened to have some “work” done on his heart.  He’s had some major surgery done before and has been to many hospitals.  I’ve been to several, too, for various reasons.   We’ve got our opinions regarding them, but when it comes right down to it, you can’t beat the care from doctors, and especially from nurses.

This time he had his care a the four year old Wisconsin Heart Hospital.  I’ve got to tell you, if you ever have to have heart care and have a choice of where to go, this is the place to choose.  It’s modern, clean and efficient.  Everything was right at the fingertips of the medical staff, even in the patient rooms.  Wow.  I was really impressed.

In Canada, that is.  But it will spread as quickly as a big behind to the U.S., most likely.

The morbidly obese are considered disabled..and rightly so if they have medical conditions such as "Polycystic Ovary Syndrome," or hormonal and other disorders. 

There are the disabled who require "in-flight" attendants to travel with them. 

Canada's two major airlines will now require free seats for for these cases.

The trouble is, the airlines fear there will be abuse.

"The agency said the airlines must develop a process to assess eligibility. The free seats need not be provided to obese people who are just uncomfortable in their seats or are not disabled by their size, said the ruling.

The airlines also do not have to make allowances for disabled people who prefer to travel with a companion for personal reasons or those who require care on the ground, but not in the air.

"The agency is leaving it up to Air Canada and WestJet to develop their own screening policies," said agency spokes-man Marc Comeau.

A possible sticking point is how to decide when obesity is a disability. The agency has recommended the airlines adopt a policy used by Dallas-based Southwest Airlines, which gives a free seat to people who are too big to lower their armrest. "


Read the complete article HERE

"Doctors are wondering what the effect of the credit crunch will be on new year queues at genito-urinary clinics. Specialists in this area have noticed that some City workers, the first to feel the effects of recession, have suffered physically as well as financially. The pattern of graphs showing the decline in share prices could be mirrored by another showing the increase in sexually transmitted infections. Will more anxiety - induced by fear of unemployment, forced house sales, unpaid school fees and rocketing fuel bills - drive the depressed and insecure to escape grim reality with an exciting if transient affair and a visit to the clinic? "



HPV: An Unwanted Gift At Christmas

This is a British story…but there’s no denying that we have an STD problem here in the US.

 

How cool is that?

“Flu shots may reduce the risk of blood clots forming in veins by 26 percent, according to research presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2008.  “Our study suggests for the first time that vaccination against influenza may reduce the risk of venous thrombotic embolism (VTE)”. 

Read the article  HERE

Honey Crisp                                                           Courtesy of WA Apple Comm

I confess..I liked being a country girl growing up.   I wasn’t a “farm girl,” but I lived out in the country on several acres of land in the boonies, surrounded by farm land, fields, woods and cows.  Life was a dream, for a kid back in the 60s anyway.

From the “Bye!” in the morning until I decided to stroll back home sometime later in the day, I guess around dinner time, the day was pretty much an adventure, with the fields, woods and streams being  my playground for me, my sister and my friends…oh, and our dogs, Smokey and Beauty.

Thirsty?  Drink straight out of the brook (I’m still alive).  Hungry?  There was always some sort of wild fruit growing out there…and it didn’t seem to matter if it was ripe or not…we ate it anyway.   We always knew where to find the wild strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, elderberries, black walnuts, pears, grapes, rhubarb, and apples.   And if that apple was especially green and sour, well, a little salt would help that out…right off the salt block for the cows.  (I’m still alive).  Nothing better than a sour green apple with salt on it.  My brothers must have taught me those things.  Oh, the fun kids miss nowadays.



Pink Lady                                                                Courtesy of WA Apple Comm




Apples… you sure won’t find me eating a plain apple much lately.  They just aren’t one of my favorite fruits.  I love them dehydrated and I have my own dehydrator.  The trouble is, when I eat them that way, it’s hard to remember that eight little chips are like eating a whole apple.  You can easily eat four apples in a matter of minutes and not even know it.  But I love homemade applesauce, a baked apple, apple pie… and fresh apple cider. But apples are so good for us…

Sprinkle with peanuts and drizzle with caramel topping.  Cut and serve.


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Apple and Celery Salad with Peanuts 

The photo you see here is of White Rabbit Candy.  It’s made in China and has been found to contain melamine.  Packages have been found in the U.S. in California and Connecticut so far.

We know Cadbury has some confections that are made in China and has recalled their products.  But it doesn’t hurt to be aware of where your food items are actually being manufactured.  You may want to look at packaged soups and other powdered items too. 

The linked article regarding Cadbury may say samples were within “legal limits,” but if you are pregnant or suffering from an illness, and consume an industrial chemical, being within legal limits isn’t something you want to hear.  That’s not acceptable when you are dealing with a chemical that has hundreds of thousands of children sick, and several dead, in China.

"Candy lovers beware. Melamine-tainted candy — imported from China — is now showing up on store shelves in the United States.

Sometimes we’ll take just about any drug to feel better…just because the doctor says it’s the right drug, right now.  Drugs go through years of studies now before they are put on the market, but still, we don’t know all the consequences…

Doctors may prescribe certain drugs to their patients depending on which Pharmaceuticals Rep they have…

Back in 1957 a drug, Thalidomide, was put on the market.  It was promoted for morning sickness…

It was a horrific disaster.

Read about it at Wired   HERE

I admit it.  I am not physically fit. I haven’t been for quite some time. 

But I do try.  Tae Bo  is my favorite “thing.”  (Thanks, Billy Blanks).

My dad, who this past year was critically ill, lifts heavy weights and rides a bike and snow shoes. 

He’s 84.  Until he was recently ill, he was inverting himself on some contraption as part of his weight lifting routine. 

My father-in-law, also 84, hops on a bike on a whim and will ride 40 miles.  He does 85 push-ups. 

I am hoping to be walking when I am 84.

Well, how about you?

If you are brave, check out the test. 

Or, if you are wise, check out the test.

You can do it here by clicking on the image: