Cancer. It is a word that invokes many different emotions, especially when you find out that someone close to you has been diagnosed. It is easy to let the fear overtake your relationship and create space between you. Don’t let this happen though! It is important for you to be there for your friend or family member during this difficult time.
For some, this will be easy for others not so easy. It is important to put aside all your fears. You may or may not feel awkward at first, if you do, it won’t last long.
Sometimes, you won’t even have to talk, you can just listen. Being there for your friend can sometimes simply mean listening. You don’t need the answers. You don’t need wise words that will make everything better. Listen to what they have to say. Letting them have that release of emotions could be just the thing they need.
For more information and tips, click here.
We all know that it is important to eat a healthy lunch but did you know just how much? A child’s success in many areas, especially learning, can be affected by having a healthy and nutritious lunch in school. Lunch is an essential meal in your children’s day, so why not pack healthful school lunches that they will actually eat and enjoy?
By getting a little creative and putting some thought into their lunch menu, you can end up with a flavorful and nutritious meal that your child will want to eat! It is important to make sure that fruits and vegetables are a part of the lunch as well as low fat or non-dairy milk and cheeses.
Make lunch fun by packing a note or cutting up healthy sandwiches into interesting shapes. There are a lot of simple and creative ideas that you can do to encourage your child to eat their lunch.
For more tips on making school lunches a tasty and nutritious meal, check out this article.
Have Your Chocolate and Eat It Too
Posted by: Disease Management & Health Promotion Team in: ● February 15, 2012
The “can have” list and the “can not have” list is something that every dieter is intimately familiar with. We tend to focus so much more on what restrictions we have to place on our diet rather than focusing on the things that you can actually eat. On this list of can not haves tends to be things like our sugary sweet snacks! However there are recommendations now that can help you move at least one favorite, chocolate, back onto the “can have” list.
Dark chocolate is considered the “better” of the chocolates if you must indulge. This is the recommended sweet for chocoholics everywhere based on numerous studies done on this topic! So what makes dark chocolate any better than Milk/White chocolate? The answer is antioxidants! Dark chocolate in moderation, key word moderation, has been shown to assist in lowering your blood pressure.
These antioxidants found in dark chocolate alone can help remove destructive molecules that are can cause heart disease and other ailments. Milk and White chocolate do not have these same capabilities. Also, studies have found that eating the dark chocolate with milk, decreases the benefits that you can normally receive. So that being said you can have your chocolate, and eat it too!
This does not mean however that you get a prescription to indulge in a massive dark chocolate bar everyday! If you currently look at our diets there are things that we eat now that we could live without. There are plenty of times when we sneak in a few sweets to satisfy that afternoon craving. If these instances do happen, then making the choice to indulge in a dark chocolate Hershey’s kiss or dark chocolate truffle (minus the milk on the side) could be a reasonable choice over what we may normally choose.
Are you consuming too much sodium on a daily basis? By gradually cutting down on sodium, you can take back control of your blood pressure.
On average, American’s consume more sodium that is really necessary or healthy. Sodium can be found in almost everything these days from your processed, canned and snack foods; as well as used during cooking and serving meals in your own home. It is easy to grab the saltshaker and put a dash here and there without even realizing how much you are actually using.
The major issue with high consumption of sodium is that it can cause an increase in blood pressure, which raises the risk for other dangerous diseases. However, there is an upside to this whole issue. According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, salt is an acquired taste and can be unlearned by slowly lowering sodium consumption.
There are simple steps that can be taken to reduce the use of sodium in your diet. To find out more, check out this helpful article.
Insulin: Do’s and Don’ts
Posted by: Disease Management & Health Promotion Team in: ● February 10, 2012
Are you giving yourself insulin based on your meal or your blood sugar? If you have been taught how to carbohydrate count and feel pretty good about it, then you probably should be taking both mealtime insulin and some correction dose insulin too.
If you are currently taking insulin based on your blood sugar reading, then the insulin you are giving yourself is solely to bring down your blood sugar and nothing else. If you find that you are still high at the next mealtime, then you need mealtime insulin. Mealtime insulin can be calculated using an insulin to carb ratio.
Your physician or diabetes educator can help you determine what your insulin to carb ratio should be. Having an insulin to carb ratio of 1 unit per every 10 carbs means that if you have a peanut butter sandwich and a cup of milk (30 carbs) for lunch, you should take 3 units of insulin for that meal in addition to an insulin needed to lower your blood sugar.
If you and your physician decide an insulin to carb ratio would help improve your blood sugars, he or she would probably decrease your correction dose insulin coverage. You may even find that you need very little correction dose insulin coverage.
When it comes to the health of your heart, you can make a big difference by eating right. Making little changes in your daily routine can make a big difference in the long run.
By eating healthier, you can make some real improvements when it comes your high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol and excess body weight. All of which puts you at risk for heart disease.
The American Heart Association suggests taking it one step at a time. Don’t try and drastically change your lifestyle but rather take small steps to eating healthier and feeling better.
For some helpful tips on improving your hearts health, click here.
With the media today, we are bombarded with images of perfection and false advertising. Media images that help to create cultural definitions of beauty and attractiveness are often acknowledged as being among those factors contributing to the rise of eating disorders.
Media messages may not directly cause eating disorders but they affect the way in which people learn to place a value on the size and shape of their body. The desire to be thin pushes many people into unhealthy eating patterns.
According to the American Psychiatric Association (APA), several million people are affected by an eating disorder of some kind. Without treatment, eating disorders can be fatal. Being educated on the signs of eating disorders can help save a life.
To learn more about the signs of an eating disorder and what you can do to help, click here.
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- Outpatient Diabetes Classes 2nd Session March 20, 2012
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