Every time you turn around the headlines are screaming about another food recall. E-coli, listeria, e-coli and avian flu issues have us rethinking where we dine or what we put into our grocery carts and into our mouths. The Chipotle e-coli issues leave us less likely to be craving Mexican food at that establishment, even though they are cleared of contamination issues and back in business again. We may want to eat healthy by eating more produce, but then we worry about listeria-contaminated lettuce or consuming supposedly “pre-washed produce” like bagged coleslaw or lettuce, only to find a large manufacturer like Dole is sweeping them off the shelves in a massive recall. Even a treat like ice cream was contaminated with listeria causing Blue Bell, a manufacturer established way back in 1907, to halt production of this frozen treat while they determined the source of contamination. The avian flu has us scrambling to find organic eggs or just doing without eggs altogether.
College life is a dramatic change from the comfy convenience of living at home. Even if you were involved in athletics or had a part-time job, chances are you had three nourishing meals, a clean bed and your laundry done on a regular basis. You got your homework done before the weekend so you had free time. Unless you continue to live at home while attending college, you are in for a rude awakening.
Big adjustments
The biggest adjustment might be living away from home for the first time, and, in general, dormitory life and sharing a room with strangers. Even if you shared a room with a sibling, it’s just not the same. Strangers coming and going all the time, and their friends as well, and so on. Sometimes you need to get away from it all and the library may become your sanctuary – that’s a good place to go to catch up on your studies and chill out a bit.
Nothing saps your energy and keeps you from feeling your best like a head cold, no matter what the time of year. Colds can come at any time, and flu season typically runs from October through May, peaking in February. You must be proactive to help your kids understand how to develop healthy habits.
As soon as your child is old enough to understand that “germs are not our friend”, you should encourage your child to do the following:
If you are in reasonably good health, you might attribute it to genes (no major health issues in your immediate family), you watch what you eat and you have good gut health. What the heck is good gut health you ask?
Much scientific research has been done showing the association between a gut-healthy diet and increased immunity and overall health. If you’re already blessed with good health, you must be doing something right, and, if you want to strive for good health, look below to see what you should be doing going forward.
It’s Friday at your workplace and the boss is out for the day. Someone suggests doing Mexican food for lunch and soon all the employees are making a mad dash for the door. You feast on all that tasty fare and head back to work, however, the rest of the day you swig water until you are sure you can hear that water sloshing around inside of you. Blame it on the spicy salsa and a few too many warm tortilla chips. But, not only that, you want to loosen your pants because you feel like a balloon about to burst – must’ve been the refried beans! Mexican food sure is tasty, but everyone jokes about beans and their aftereffects.
During your high school and college years, pizza was your go-to food 24/7; you ate that hot and piping pizza pie when it was delivered, and ice cold the next morning. Your stomach never rebelled one iota. So …
Suddenly, that ooey-gooey crust or that tangy tomato sauce leaves you feeling like your innards are on fire. After vowing to stop patronizing that pizza joint going forward, you might think “do they make pizza differently these days … or is it me?” Well, if you really have to ask that question, perhaps it is time to make an appointment with a gastroenterologist to have your GI tract checked out to ensure everything is okay. Gastroenterologists deal with all types of stomach ailments and should be able to quickly determine if your pain is caused by simple indigestion or is a symptom of a serious stomach condition.
But first, let’s delve a little into the topic of indigestion.
When you are not feeling up to par, there are a few solutions available to remedy the situation: 1) you wait it out and hope it goes away; 2) you Google to find the answer (and sometimes you feel worse after reading what those symptoms might really be; or 3) you take yourself to the doctor.
Babies and pets are the only ones who must suffer in silence because they are unable to tell you they don’t feel well. An astute parent, or pet parent, notices a not-so-perky or listless demeanor or crying/whining and that is all you have to go on.
Toddlers or children are more vocal. They’ll come up to you and say “I’ve got a tummy ache” and will point a chubby finger around the area of their bellybutton. Well, that doesn’t help much, so, it is up to you to play detective and decide if the malady warrants a trip to the pediatrician, or even the E.R., or just a few days spent in bed. Pain that is generally located around the center of the abdomen, or the bellybutton is considered “simple” abdominal pain.
Constipation is a problem for many people, it is something that can have a direct impact on our overall health and can also cause long term damage to our bodies. Constipation can be a sign of an unhealthy diet or stress or that you aren’t getting enough water or it can be a sign of another medical condition. If you are constipated often you should go to a gastroenterologist in Flushing and get a check up.
The recent death of character actor, Abe Vigoda, caused the media to haul out sound bites and videos of some of his most memorable scenes. Of course, there was dialogue of Vigoda playing Tessio in “The Godfather”, as well as his character Fish in the “Barney Miller” series. But oddly enough, many of the sound bites and still shots of Fish in “Barney Miller” had that character’s hand dipping into a box of prunes while extolling their virtues. He said “I’ve been eating prunes for 40 years. When I was 13, I gave a girl a necklace of prune pits. Her mother thought I was into voodoo.”
You read that right… your skin is not only an organ, it’s the biggest organ in your body. Face it… your skin is everywhere! Regardless of your shape or size, your skin is huge. In fact, at this very moment, you’ve got about 19 million skin cells… per square inch … which equals about 20 feet of skin! And all those varied areas of skin all over your body can make it tough to care for, especially considering the fact that the skin in different areas of your body gets different types of exposures. That means that each area’s skin requires different types of care. Think about it. The skin on your face is vastly different from, say, the skin on your feet, isn’t it? Just one reason is because the skin on your face is constantly exposed to the world, whereas the skin on your feet isn’t. Another reason is because the skin on your feet gets a whole different kind of beating compared to that of your face. So what do you do to care for the various areas of skin located all over your body? Here are some tips from dermatologists about how to care for the many different types of skin your body contains.
Everyone loves the magic and allure of a winter wonderland, with its Christmas sparkle and rich, crystal beauty. But nobody loves what winter’s harsh winds and dry air can do to their skin. First, there are those harmful UV rays. Did you know they can age you faster than just about everything else? This is a fact, which is why you not only need sunscreen on those days you head out for a sunny day at the beach; you also need it through the winter to minimize the sun’s effects, especially for skin cancer prevention. Then there’s the cold. Those frosty winds whipping around your face and other skin surfaces can dry out your skin, leaving it rough and scaly. And, finally, because of all those frigid temps, you’re likely turning up the heat inside your home, which is like adding insult to injury on your poor skin cells. And there you have it… the perfect combination for turning soft, supple skin into a veritable alligator bag. Following are some tips from dermatologists in New Jersey on how to prevent sun damage to skin in winter.