Author: Nancy Goldsmith

Healthy Holiday Eating

TurkeyIt’s already that time of year: time to start planning how to stay in control of your eating during the holiday period. For those determined to maintain a healthy diet despite the overabundance of heavy foods that become available, there are ways to eat properly without depriving yourself of seasonal celebrations.

Instead of depriving yourself, just change the way you approach the ever-present temptations:
Here’s the way to do it:

First, use a smaller plate – and then don’t go back for seconds. You can fill up your plate and so feel that you’ve tasted all the goodies at the holiday dinner, without going overboard.

Modify family recipes: Tradition doesn’t mean that you can’t eat healthfully. Even if your grandmother used chicken fat and gravy, you can substitute applesauce for oil, cottage cheese for sour cream, and other low-fat ingredients, and still cook a delicious menu.

Eat before you go: Instead of starving yourself all day because you’re going to a party in the evening, eat healthy protein-based meals throughout the day so that you won’t be starving and ready to eat everything in sight at the evening event.

Keep Active: No matter how busy the holiday season gets, keep exercising – walk up the stairs in the mall and carry those gifts home from the store by foot if you can!

Forgive Yourself: Do your best. But remember, the holiday season is filled with temptation, so if you don’t keep all your resolutions all the time, that’s okay too.

The WHO Launches New Meningitis Vaccine Campaign

The World Health Organization (WHO) launched its new project this week- one that will provide over 300 million Africans with a new meningitis vaccine.

Meningitis killed 4,000 of 78,000 diseased people in Africa last year. The new vaccine was produced in India, and ensures immunity against group A meningococcus, a bacteria responsible for up to 85% of meningitis cases in the region. This vaccine is also more affordable than the previous one.

The WHO’s campaign was initiated in Burkina Faso, where 12-16 million are to be vaccinated over the course of ten days. The movement will cover 25 sub-Saharan countries in total which are part of the “meningitis belt,” which stretches from Senegal to Ethiopia.

Winter Health: The Common Cold

Winter evokes images of winter wonderland scenes of graceful ice skaters and sparkling snowflakes. But to prevent adding illness and injury to this idyllic scene, it is important to exercise health and safety precautions during the winter months.

One of the mainstays of winter is the common cold. More than 100 viruses can cause colds, the world’s most frequent illness, so most people average about three colds each year. To reduce your chances of catching a cold, keep up your natural resistance with good nutrition, adequate sleep, seasonally-appropriate exercise, and vitamins. Keep the humidity up and the thermostat down in your home, as dry air dries out and cracks the mucous membranes in your nose and throat, creating spaces for cold viruses to enter. And wash your hands frequently, especially after contact with someone who has a cold.

If you do catch a cold, you will probably experience a sore throat, sneezing, runny nose, watery eyes, aches and pains, low fever, nasal congestion, and/or fever, for about a week or two. Treat your cold with a mild pain/fever reducer, a lot of fluids, and a great deal of bed rest to ensure that you recover your strength as quickly as possible.

New Device Seeking Approval in Fight Against Obesity

As many as twelve million Americans may soon be eligible to have surgery to implant a small and flexible stomach band into their abdomens in order to help them lose weight. The Food and Drug Administration is still examining the efficacy and side effects of such an implant, and is scheduled to reach a final decision within the next few months.

Lap-Band, as it is known, is a product produced by Allergan Inc. It is already being used by about 100,000 people a year who are considered morbidly obese, and has been shown to help them lose about 50 pounds or more on average.

On Friday a panel of FDA advisors decided to recommend the expansion of the use of the device to patients who are less obese, deciding in an 8-2 vote that the benefits of offering this device to less overweight patients outweighs the risks.

J&J Antacid Recall Announced

MylantaJohnson & Johnson has added additional products to its list of recalls for this year: twelve types of Mylanta and one Alternagel antacid. The wholesale and retail level recall, which affects as many as 12 million bottles of Mylanta and 85,000 bottles of Alternagel, was not initiated because of consumer safety concerns, Johnson & Johnson explained, but because an internal review within the company showed that the bottles had failed to make note of the alcohol content in some flavoring agents.

“Certain flavoring agents contribute small (less than 1 percent) amounts of alcohol,” J&J explained on the Mylanta website. “It is unlikely that use of these products will cause either absorption or alcohol sensitivity related adverse events.”

The health care product company has already instituted more than six recalls this year, most notably the April 30 recall of over forty types of children’s pain and allergy medications, which included children’s liquid Tylenol, Benadryl, and Motrin. The FDA termed that recall the “largest” in children’s medicine history.