myhealthvillage

13 Search Results for "drinking"

• You can't MAKE me! You can't MAKE me!

  • From: cindymcgee
  • Description:

    You can’t make me!

    Let me tell you a story about an imaginary client of mine that I’ll call Waldo.

    He had just been diagnosed with diabetes and was dealing with several other medical problems as well.

    He came in the room angry and discouraged.  “I’m already on so many darned medicines now and my doctor says I have to go on another one for my diabetes.”

    “I feel just awful. I used to drink when I felt this bad, but my doctor made me quit drinking 6 months ago when I found out I had liver problems. Now he’s even making me give up my favorite foods.”

    I felt sorry for my client, but rather than just provide some words of comfort, I decided to play “the devil’s advocate.”

    I asked, “So, did you stop drinking 6 months ago?”  Yes

    “Did you stop because your doctor followed you to the grocery store and took the case of beer out of your cart before you checked out?”  No

    “Did your doctor actually MAKE you stop drinking?” No

    “Who decided to stop drinking?” I did.

    “Why?”  I didn’t want to make my health even worse.

    The moral of the story is this: Doctors do not make you do anything. We go to doctors because we want their help and their expertise. Whether we follow through on what they suggest is entirely up to us.

    Do we want to feel better and keep our health from getting worse? Then we need to make some hard choices.  Whatever we decide, we must recognize it as our own decision. 

    Because, it’s really true:  “You can’t MAKE me!”

  • Blog post
  • 3 months ago
  • Views: 41
  • Not yet rated

• MiriamSands

  • Views: 51
  • Since: 7 months ago

• Milk and Vitamins Milk and Vitamins

  • From: Judy_Bock_RN
  • Description:

     Milk and Vitamins

    Recently I had a discussion with a client who told me she was drinking whole milk rather than low fat because she wanted to get the vitamin D in whole milk. I told her this wasn't necessary because low fat and skim milk also have vitamin D in them.

    Then I got to wondering if the amounts of vitamin D were the same between whole, 2%, 1% and skim. I checked this online with the National Dairy Council and verified that this was indeed the case.

    Here's the rundown including amount of fat, calories and vitamins in milk:

    Whole milk is 3.25% fat and has 8 grams of fat and 150 calories per 8 oz. serving and may or may not be fortified with vitamin D in the amount of 400 international units (IU) per quart. If it is, there is a requirement that the label says it is fortified.

    2% has 2% fat (clever that they call it 2%), 5 grams of fat and 120 calories per 8 oz. serving. Vitamin A and D must be added in the amount of 2000 IU vitamin A and 400 IU of vitamin D per quart.

    1% has 1% fat (clever again), 2.5 grams fat and 100 calories per 8 oz. serving. It also must have vitamin A and D added in the same amounts as 2%.

    Skim milk has 0 fat (now why don't they call it zero), 0 grams fat and 80 calories per 8 oz. serving. It too has vitamin A and D added in the same amounts as 2% and 1%.

    So the winner for good health and optimum vitamins ......... drum roll please, is my choice: Skim milk (or zero milk if I can get this to catch on). It has no fat and just the same amount of vitamin D as whole milk plus the bonus addition of vitamin A.

    Have you had your skim milk today?

     

  • Blog post
  • 9 months ago
  • Views: 100

• Is your diet soda safe? Is your diet soda safe?

  • From: Jan_Swaney_MD
  • Description:

    I’m getting a fizzy discomfort in my stomach about the potential negative health effects of diet soft drinks.  That’s right – those seemingly harmless, artifically sweetened knock-offs that become the drinks of choice for many people fighting the battle of the bulge.  Afterall, aren’t diet drinks a healthier alternative than regular sodas that are loaded with calories from high fructose corn syrup?  The answer to this is a resounding “probably."  But it turns-out that they may not be risk free.

    Enter the epidemiologists, whose elegant analyses can tease-out relationships that help launch new lines of investigation about cause and effect, and for whom we have much to thank in contemporary medicine.  They are the sleuths who first showed us that cigarette smoking causes lung cancer, high cholesterol poses a risk for heart disease, and maternal folate deficiency leads to birth defects.

    Three independent epidemiologic studies have recently found an association between the consumption of diet drinks and heightened risk for the development of obesity and the metabolic syndrome, conditions that are often a precursor to cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack and stroke.

    Each of these studies was a longitudinal study of a population cohort – meaning that the investigators collected a lot of information about participants at the outset and over a period of years, while oberving the relationships that emerged between certain  exposures (like to nutritional components including diet sodas) and subsequent health outcomes (like obesity and/or the metabolic syndrome.) 

    Collectively, these three studies include analysis of about 17,000 participants including those in the Framingham Study of residents from Framingham, Massachusettes; the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) following adults from 6 major cities across the US; and the San Antonio Heart Study, which followed adults in San Antonio for over 10 years.

    In the Framingham study, both regular and diet soft drinks appeared to pose similar metabolic hazards for the development of metabolic syndrome, which flies in the face of conventional wisdom implicating high fructose corn syrup and insulin resistance as the sole mechanism leading to weight gain, high blood pressure, high triglycerides, and low HDL. 

    But wait, you say.  What about other variables that haven’t been taken into consideration?  Perhaps people who drink diet sodas are doing so to compensate for poorer dietary choices.  Not according to their food diaries – in fact, they tended to make better choices (eat more whole grains, vegetables and consume less fat) than those who drink sweetened soft drinks. 

    Well, what if they had more baseline obesity and that’s why they were drinking diet sodas?  Not so – researchers controlled for levels of obesity and the occurrence of metabolic syndrome at the outset.  And the team in San Antonio found the equivalent of an epidemiologist’s “smoking gun” when they uncovered a classic dose-response relationship between diet drinks and obesity, meaning that a linear relationship was seen and those with higher exposure to diet drinks had a greater likelihood for obesity.

    What could possibly serve as a biologic explanation for these findings?  Does the caramel content of both regular and diet drinks result in more advanced glycation end products, leading to insulin resistance and inflammation? Do artificial sweeteners, which are several hundreds or thousands times sweeter than sugar, lead to taste distortion and increased appetite for intensely sweet, high caloric foods?  Aspartame in rodents damages a portion of the brain involved in leptin signaling that reduces food intake. 

    A recent study by neurobiologists at Purdue showed tha rats, who guage a food’s caloric content by relying on its sweetness and viscosity, lost the ability to self-regulate consumption and overate when chronically exposed to artificially sweetened drinks.

    Years of watching medical debates evolve while research findings ebb and flow tells me that it’ll be a decade or more before this gets settled.  Meanwhile, we have lives to live and decisions to make.  I gave-up diet sodas about a year ago and drink more water, unsweetened tea, and skim milk.  I don’t miss the fizzy drinks or my contribution to our enormous pile of plastic and alumnium packaging, to boot!

     Jan  

    1.  Dhingra R, Sullivan L, et al.  Soft drink consumption and risk of developing cardiometabolic risk  factors and the metaboic syndrome in middle-aged adults in the community.  Circulation 116:480-488,2007.
    2. Fowler SP, Williams K, et al.  Fueling the obesity epidemic?  Artificially sweetened beverage use and long-term weight gain.  Obesity 16:1894-1900, 2008.
    3. Nettleton JA, Lutsey PL, et al. Diet soda intake and risk of incident metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes in the multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis.  Diabetes Care 32:688-694, 2009.
    4. Swithers Susan E, Davidson Terry L.  A role for sweet taste: calorie predictive relations in energy regulation in rats.  Behavioral Neuroscience 122:161-173, 2008.

     

  • Blog post
  • 1 year ago
  • Views: 319

• Dosing Alcohol Dosing Alcohol

  • From: Julie_Stansfield_MD
  • Description:

    Dosing Alcohol

    One of my most favorite professors from Medical School always used to say, “Everything has a correct dose.  Even too much water will kill you.”  My favorite professor from Missouri University of Science and Technology (University of Missouri-Rolla) used to say “the solution to pollution is dilution”.    He would remind us that arsenic is an element found in nature and therefore “natural” and found in your bodies.  A little clearly won’t hurt you.  Living amongst University students this week reminds me of the importance of learning about alcohol dosing.  In Italy there really isn’t a word for “drunk”, the closest translation is “hasn’t had enough to eat”.  In Italy eating and alcohol go hand in hand.  However being drunk is considered poor manners.  Learning to stop well before you are drunk is part of being a refined adult. Being drunken places a person at risk for many bad events, car wrecks, falls, and other decisions that will haunt you after the hangover has left.

     

    Despite all alcohol’s possible bad effects, it is easy to forget that a little alcohol has true benefits.   It seems to improve a person’s cholesterol, reduce their risk of heart disease and risk of diabetes.  The dose is critical.  One for a woman is enough.  Two for a man is enough.   The higher doses have more complications.  Some medicines should never be mixed with alcohol.

    People frequently drink to relax; too much however causes more anxiety and stress.  People may drink to help them sleep, but higher doses causes sleep problems.   Higher alcohol doses raise a person’s blood pressure a little may lower your blood pressure.

    Alcohol is found in nature, it is in all our bodies in tiny amounts.  Too much will kill you, a little may help you if you are otherwise healthy.  If you don’t know how to drink one or two and then stop, then you shouldn’t drink.  You won’t get the benefits from the correct dose, only the problems from the wrong dose.

  • Blog post
  • 1 year ago
  • Views: 223

• Health = Friendship and Friend Health = Friendship and Friendship = Health

  • From: tracy_korman
  • Description:

    Health = Friendship and Friendship = Health

    Don’t you just hate that trite expression – “It isn’t what you know… it’s who you know?”  Well it turns out that it is true in a way that you might not have expected.  Just knowing how to make good health choices isn’t enough.  You need to be connected to people in your life that care that you make those healthy choices.  A strong network of friends is an essential ingredient to achieving your health objectives and that is now being supported by real academic research.

    Here is a quote from today’s “Well” article from the New York Times:

    “Researchers are only now starting to pay attention to the importance of friendship and social networks in overall health.  A 10-year Australian study found that older people with a large circle of friends were 22 percent less likely to die during the study period than those with fewer friends.  A large 2007 study showed an increase of nearly 60 percent in the risk for obesity among people whose friends gained weight.  And last year, Harvard researchers reported that strong social ties could promote brain health as we age.”

    It makes so much sense that eating, exercising, drinking, smoking and managing stress have very strong social dimensions – we do these things as part of our lives with our friends and relations.  Just think how many people you know smoke, drink and overeat when at parties or in other social situations.  The social norm seems to approve of and support these decisions. 

    But it doesn’t have to be that way.  Why has Weight Watchers and other support-based health improvement approaches had so much success?  For one, they are establishing a friendship network that supports eating healthier and exercising more.  Because with a strong friendship network that is connected to our shared health, we can all truly live better longer – sound familier?

     

  • Blog post
  • 1 year ago
  • Views: 411

• Candy Candy

  • From: Julie_Stansfield_MD
  • Description:

    Candy

    Ten pieces of hard candy a day.  Does that seem like a lot?  How about 20 pieces of candy a day?
    

    One can of soda pop has about 10 teaspoons of sugar in a single can.  There are 20 teaspoons in the larger containers from a vending machine. Any parent can tell you that is too much for a child.  That’s too much sugar for an adult too!
    

    Even someone that doesn’t have diabetes can expect to have high blood sugars when they drink that much sugar.  Drink that much every day and you are choosing to play a dangerous game.
    

    Don’t get diabetes, don’t drink sugared drinks.  Stop drinking sugared soda.

  • Blog post
  • 1 year ago
  • Views: 129

• Don't drink your calories! Don't drink your calories!

  • From: LeGreta_Hudson_MS_RD_CDE
  • Description:

    DON’T DRINK YOUR CALORIES!!

    I love summer…hot, sticky, humid summer…  Staying hydrated … with appropriate beverages is an issue in my house.  During the summer is when I see this played out most vividly. Several summers ago, me and my boys packed up and went to Disney World. We’ve made it our vacation destination, when we can’t think of anyplace else to go. I love going to the amusement parks…the rides, game shows, exhibits and the L I N E S…  We’ve mostly visited during the summer…and I would always warn my men...It's Florida, It's summer and It WILL be HOT…so…NO complaining.”

    I always carried plenty of water…I carried it in my back pack (on my back)…like a pack horse...along with granola bars and fruit. I was attempting to eliminate the need for sugary beverages to quench their thirst!  It got so bad we had to establish “the beverage-vacation rule”. WHY do you ask…?

    One particular summer vacation my spouse drank $30 worth “liquid candy”… to stay hydrated! I know it was $30, because my sister (who was on vacation with us) tallied the cost of his beverage intake. She was amazed!  I counted the calories!

    Here are a few summer time favorites in my house:

    ·         Gatorade …my son would drink 2 to 3 of these a day…we finally went to G2 (low calorie Gatorade), which has 70 calories per 20 ounce bottle.

    ·         12 ounce of Soda = 140 calories…and on a hot summer day I’ve seen grownups drink 4 to 5 at a picnic. That would be ~ 560 calories…

    ·         A pouch of Capri Sun is 6.75 fluid ounces… and 70 calories each…how many of these has your child inhaled?

    ·         Beer…I just opened my beverage frig and found beer that ranged from 90 to 110 calories for light beer!

    ·         Orange, Apple, Grape juice…any type of juice…16 ounces = 220 + calories

    Some would say …but what about diet drinks, or iced tea with splenda…? I say…Save Your Money! Nothing is better than water to quench thirst!

    So…the beverage rule when on vacation goes like this: whenever we are eating a meal out… everyone orders water. Coffee and milk at breakfast are exempt. When at parks, the pool and picnics…we drink water. We’ve practice this for 10 years. We have saved money, calories and we’ve been better hydrated.  And my boys have gotten used to ordering water at most eateries.

    So…If you are guilty of drinking more than 150 calories a day in liquid candy…STOP!

    Sugar sweetened beverages can lead to unnecessary weight gain…which can increase a person’s risk for chronic disease.  Juice can be the worst…most people think juice is a healthy alternative to soda (not when you drink 20 ounces)…therefore they over consume… 4 ounces is plenty.

    Here’s a great way to get flavored water pretty cheap. Cut an orange, apple, and a few grapes…put them at the bottom of a water bottle…cover with ice and fill with water. Continue to fill the bottle with water throughout the day. At the end of the day when the ice has melted…eat the fruit!

    Inexpensive flavored water and a few servings of fruit…that’s what’s needed on a hot summer day!

    Le Greta

     

  • Blog post
  • 1 year ago
  • Views: 317

• lesrenee

  • Views: 292
  • Since: 1 year ago

• Dfallis

  • Views: 67
  • Since: 1 year ago

• What?...Menopause! What?...Menopause!

  • From: LeGreta_Hudson_MS_RD_CDE
  • Description:

    As I reflected on the past year, I experienced a few physical changes that gave rise to life re-adjustment.  Last Spring my doctor’s office called me with surprising news.  The nurse…at the other end of the phone said…Doctor X asked me to call you to say that you can stop taking the birth control pills…..because you are “post-menopausal”.  After celebrating my 50^th birthday, I felt all of 30…and it wasn’t until that moment …hearing those words…”post menopause” …that I felt old!  Who knew? What a shock...I’m just 50…isn’t that something that happens to old women? I know…I couldn’t remember my last cycle….BUT…menopause!

    So, here I am…another year older…adjusting to a new normal. I’m lucky…the hot flashes are few, the night sweats are a bit more frequent, and the sleepless nights are being managed.  I believe, the lifestyle I’ve been fortunate enough to have…has helped ease the transition.  I’ve eaten a fairly healthy diet the past 18 years, and I’ve maintained my body weight within a healthy range.  Actually, I’ve told many people that being a health care provider has saved my life….and now I have more proof.  After reading the November issue of the Nutrition Action Healthletter, I ‘m convinced that my attempts at creating a healthy life at an early age were beneficial. The “special feature” article was all about Menopause, Reducing Symptoms: What works? What doesn’t?  The article was helpful in explaining some of the science and a few theory’s for the symptoms, but short on definitive answers on sure fire ways to decrease symptoms….because after all …I just want to know how to make it stop and how long will I have to live like this.  Well, the sad news is… it could be a long time coming for both.  What I do know and the article confirmed….embrace the hot flashes…reduce them by losing excess weight, staying cool, and reducing stress.  After I got the “post menopause” news…I stepped up my yoga sessions to 2-3 times a week and added weekly Pilates. The article said we should practice “pace breathing”. Several small research studies found that pace breathing may cut the number of hot flashes in half. After all…if it doesn’t help (or kill you)… it will make you stronger.  I have found a lot of relief with yoga practices and Pilates.  There is also evidence that soy isoflavones are helpful. Soy researchers say that Genistein (a soy isoflavone) may cut hot flashes by 15% to 25%. I’ll take it! I’ve been drinking soy milk for 15 years. I’d always had a love: hate relationship with tofu, but during the last 5 years I’ve found a way to incorporate it into my diet several times a week.  For some menopause symptoms, there are a few rules about who should and should not eat soy foods and at what age women should limit soy.  

    Well, enough about me…the good news is menopause can be managed. You must pay attention to your symptoms. My goal is to manage the symptoms without medication. The article gave some hope that it is possible! Weight gain is often common during this time in a woman’s life.  Exercise was stated as the single most important step a woman can take through this period…breathe! There were other things like cardiovascular disease, bone loss, and sleep disturbances that made the article.   But I will stop here…remember…baby steps! If you adjust your life by focusing on optimal body weight, activity that includes deep breathing…like Yoga, and eating a low fat, calcium/vitamin D supplemented diet with small amounts of soy foods….it’s a big step and a good start. Oh yeah….eat your fruits and veggies.

     

    Le Greta

  • Blog post
  • 1 year ago
  • Views: 214
  • Not yet rated

• hmurdock

  • Views: 234
  • Since: 2 years ago

• Pills, Potions and Problems Pills, Potions and Problems

  • From: Julie_Stansfield_MD
  • Description:

    Doctors. I'm one of those. Once my kids asked me what kind of work I did. So I told them "I'm an Internist". That means nothing to a little kid and little to an adult. My next sentence was to explain. Before I got very far my son let me know he thought it was probably a lot like television, exciting, fast paced, and a little scary Emergency Department work. Trying to reassure him, I told him I spent a lot of time prescribing medicine and trying to help people with chronic problems stay out of the Emergency room. To the teachers at school this translated into "my mom mostly does drugs at work".

    A few days later we were waiting in the car at a green light. A fairly young fellow was slowly crossing the street smoking a cigarette and drinking from a large soda bottle. Seizing this teachable moment I told the kids this was the kind of guy that was a lot of my business. On a good day I helped people change their habits before they got sick; helping people stop smoking before they couldn't breath; encouraging them to walk more before they can't walk; talking about eating less before they have diabetes. Oh yeah, the pills and potions thing too. The bonus of my work is the privilege of knowing so many decent people. Not just as Mrs. Smith with Diabetes. But as Mrs. Smith a true lady with a new grandchild that nearly died at birth, who also has diabetes.

    HEAVY sighs from the back seat. So for the little guys I tried again. I explained that sometimes at work I spend a lot of time telling people things like, "never drink soda from a cup bigger than your bladder." Giggles from the back seat were my payment. Sometimes you have to know your audience.

  • Blog post
  • 2 years ago
  • Views: 421