Make Mental Health Your Priority Every Month

By Felicia Wong, M.DAs the month of May comes to an end, make a promise to yourself that personal mental wellness will remain a daily priority.  Mental Health America has been working for 100 years to promote well-being for all Americans and recently developed a resource called 10 Tools to Live Your Life Well based on extensive scientific evidence.Each day, we face all sorts of demands and drama which can lead to insomnia, lack of concentration, problems in our relationships, and other mental health issues. These "10 Tools" provide proven, healthy ways to cope with stress and boost your overall well-being.  Make a commitment...

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Posted in: anxiety,balance,coping,depression,exercise,faith,Felicia Wong MD,getting help,happiness,health,healthy eating,mental health,mood,sleep,therapy,worry

Healthcare and The Environment

Over my many years working in healthcare facilities I have developed a green and clean system to help in the elimination of devastating bacteria that can lead to MRSA and other difficult infections. It seems as the facilities make a major contribution to this problem and they must be addressed. How Healthcare Impacts the EnvironmentHospitals make significant contributions to their communities by providing a wide variety of services.  They are also major employers, with healthcare comprising approximately 16% of the national and regional economy. Hospitals operate all day everyday, making their environmental footprint large in many communities. Hospitals impact the environment by: Generating approximately 7,000 tons per day of waste, including infectious waste, hazardous waste,...

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Posted in: News

Does Going Pink Lead to "The Cure"?

Real questions do need to be asked about pink products and real progress in prevention and cure of breast cancer. Back in March, BCA re-launched the Think Before You Pink® blog to provide information and resources for those interested in shifting the dominant breast cancer narrative. One of our goals was to provide concrete tools that would help people start conversations with their friends, family and communities. As a result, I am excited to announce that we are finishing a “first draft” of our brand-new Think Before You Pink® toolkit. We’ll be offering a sneak peek next week, so stay tuned! As a lead-in to the initial release of our toolkit, we thought that it would be interesting to revisit our campaign’s best known resource – our critical questions. We created these questions in response...

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Posted in: News

Veggie Might: Wild Rice Salad with Edamame (or Fresh Fava Beans and Three Hours)

Written by the fabulous Leigh, Veggie Might is a weekly Thursday column about all things Vegetarian.I’ve been so bored by my lunches of late: repeat appearances of grain-bean-green bowls, salad after endless green salad, and I’ve been looking for something new and exciting, but simple enough to make quickly or ahead in bulk. I was seduced by the photograph accompanying this recipe Wild Rice and Edamame Salad at Chow.com. Mmm...wild rice and edamame. So pretty! So healthy! So springy! But when I clicked through, the secondary and tertiary ingredients were woefully disappointing. Dried fruit and nuts? Five tablespoons of oil? Honey? So sweet! So...

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Posted in: Sides,Vegan,Vegetarian,Veggie Might

Dietary Restrictions 101, Part II: Macrobiotics, Locavorism, and More

For the first half of our quick guide to dietary restrictions, head to Dietary Restrictions 101, Part I: Allergies, Diabetes, and Beyond. This article was originally published in November 2009.Being a LOCAVORE is an old concept with newfound popularity. It involves buying chow either grown or raised close to your geographic location. (A 100-mile radius is the most common parameter used.) Locavorism is better for the both the environment and your health, so you really can’t go wrong here. Call your CSA, man!For more on locavorism, try: La Vida Locavore (Really, the title alone deserves a click.)Do you know somebody on Atkins? Or Zone? Or, to a...

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Dietary Restrictions 101, Part I: Allergies, Diabetes, and Beyond

This was originally published in November 2009. Part II to come later today.Maybe you’ve prepared a lovely pot roast dinner, only to discover one of your guests is a lifelong vegan. Perhaps you accidentally ordered chicken parmesan for a lactose-intolerant friend with poultry allergies. Or mayhaps your 13-year-old just announced she’s now a Slow Food-oriented locavore with dreams of going completely raw by sophomore year. At one point or another, we’ve all been confronted by dietary restrictions. Some, like vegetarianism, are commonplace enough that they don’t pose much of an obstacle anymore. But what do you feed someone on an elimination diet?...

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Make Your Effort to Save Water

For many years I served on one community's Health and Environment Commission.  Water Conservation  was one large issue on which we worked.   I had the first community xeriscaped yard and brought in the rain barrel concept.  We created tiered usage rates, specific watering hours, and had a great array of water saving items available from the water department.  Audits were available from the water department as well. As this problem continues, here are some tips you might wish to use.  For main stream media I thought this was quite helpful. Saving water at home Where to start: In order of water savings...

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Posted in: News

Ask the Internet: Dealing With Food Allergies?

Today's question is born of a full-body rash, and it's kinda many questions.Q: How do you deal with your food allergies? Do you cook mostly at home? Do you buy special food products? (In which case, which are your favorites?) What happens when you go out to eat? Do you alert the server or the cook? Do you find managing your allergy is an expensive undertaking? Is having it a pain in the butt, or do you barely think about it anymore?A: Still no idea about my own outbreak of hives, but I'm super curious to read how y'all cope, and I think I might turn responses into tomorrow's article. Fire away, and thank you!Want to ask the interweb a question?...

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Mercury a Concern as it Remains in Vaccines

You may or may not like, or know of, Tim Bolen.  This aside he is a relentless expositor of important issues in health care today.  And he should be applauded for the most part in his ongoing expose of the fraudulent actions of the over-relied upon quackbuster operation.  You know, Stephen Barrett's propaganda (false flag) fiasco relied on by too many journalists.To the ire of many Bolen exposes the issues of mercury remaining in vaccines through the eyes and research of now attacked-by-MSM pundits -The Attack on Mark and David Geier... Opinion by Consumer Advocate  Tim Bolen Saturday, May 21st,  2011An attorney friend of mine, Bob Reeves, a mainstay in the mercury in health care wars, called me last April 28th, 2011 and asked me to look into some strange...

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Posted in: a natural health news,a natural news,contaminated vaccines,Mark Geier MD,mercury and CFL light bulbs,quackpotwatch,Tim Bolen

Sunscreen Safety at Issue

Just as the Northern Hemisphere is getting close to the sunnier summer season these consideration about using sunscreen may be important to consider -It's that time of year when sunscreen advertisements become ubiquitous on television—cute kids prancing on the beach after their mothers conscientiously apply multiple coats of white lotion in an effort, the companies tell you, to protect against sunburns and skin cancer. Sunscreen has become big business. In 1972, sunscreens and sunblocks raked in $18 million. Last year, a single Banana Boat brand product brought in that amount, and the top 10 sunscreen products on the market netted more than $300 million in sales. Yet, as sales of sunscreen have grown, so has theincidence of melanoma, the most fatal form of skin cancer....

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Posted in: a natural health news,a natural news,natural health news,sunscreen

Peanut Dipping Sauce: Allergies Unwelcome

Sweet readers! Thanks very much for being so patient with us last week while we got drunk on Jagermeister worked on work-stuff. It was fun doing the wayback recipe thing - I hadn't looked at some of those in quite awhile, and it made me want lassis.I had a different post set up for today, but instead, my entire body has been possessed by a zombie demon a nasty case of hives. So, instead of going to work and bringing home the bacon (mmm...bacon) like a boss, I'm sitting at HOTUS' computer, awaiting a swift and merciful end to my pain callback from the doctor. It's very exciting, unbelievably itchy, and also kind of weird, because this has never...

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Posted in: 15 Minutes or Less,Dips and Sauces,Vegan,Vegetarian

Wayback Machine: Chocolate Cherry "Ice Cream" Popsicles

Sweet readers, we're taking the week off to catch up on some real-life work. In the meantime, we're re-posting some of our favorite recipes and essays. This one, from Jaime, is from July 2010. Enjoy!When you're in the midst of a week of high-90s days, as New York City is now, it is very easy and tempting to have all meals catered by The Messrs Ben and Jerry.“There's no cooking,” you say. “I'm saving electricity and gas by not turning on my stove! And ice cream has dairy and protein and dark chocolate's antioxidants!” I can't find it in my heart to counter any of those arguments, mostly because ice cream is so dang delicious. But what's one...

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More Benefit from Vitamin D

Vitamin D found to boost functioning in the elderlyVitamin D (actually, a hormone) appears to play a wide variety of roles in health and disease. Back in 2007 I reported on a study which found that higher levels of vitamin D were associated with better physical functioning in the elderly over time. This may not come as too much of a surprise when we consider the evidence that vitamin D has the ability to preserve muscle, and enhance balance and reaction times.  The role vitamin D has here may have particular relevance to the elderly. As we age, we can be at increased risk of frailty and falls. It is possible, therefore, that maintaining higher levels of vitamin D might help preserve functioning and prevent falls in later life. The study I reported on back in 2007 has validity,...

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Posted in: older adults need more vitamin D

Wayback Machine: Spaghetti Squash Casserole

Sweet readers, we're taking the week off to catch up on some real-life work. In the meantime, we're re-posting some of our favorite recipes and essays. This one is from November 2007. Enjoy!I’m turning 30 tomorrow. It’s the kind of age that brings up a lot of questions. Were my 20s spent wisely? Am I where I expected to be at this age? Why, after 90,000 days on this planet, do I still suck at buying bras? (Has Oprah taught me NOTHING?)Being a food blogger/freak, I’ve also wondered (a LOT) how much my tastes will continue to change. Will my palate dull over time? Will I hate candy at 40? Love anise at 55? Will Werther’s Originals ever, ever appeal...

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