Monthly Archives: May 2016

Check bacteria levels at beaches

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beachThe Daily Herald Newspaper asks, “Going to the beach?” From May to September, the Lake County Health Department’s Lakes Management Unit samples Lake Michigan beaches four days a week and beaches on inland lakes biweekly for E coli bacteria. While not all strains of E coli are the same, certain strains can make humans sick if ingested in high enough concentrations. If water samples come back high for E coli, the management body for the bathing beach is notified and a sign is posted indicating the beach closure. Since rain events tend to lead to elevated bacteria levels in the water column, the health department advises persons avoid swimming after a large rain event.
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8 Healthy Grocery Shopping Tips from Registered Dietitians

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grocerySELF on-line says healthy eating starts with choosing the right ingredients—it’s way easier to make a nutritious meal if your kitchen is already stocked with amazing seasonal produce, affordable proteins, and healthy whole grains. But when you’re grocery shopping it’s pretty easy to get distracted by convenient frozen meals and delicious looking pre-packaged sweets. Especially when a mountain of chocolate bars and candy is waiting for you at the checkout line.

Eating healthy means something different to everyone, and it doesn’t have to mean you can’t enjoy indulgent snacks and desserts. But if you’re looking to lose weight or make better diet choices, you might want to have a few healthy food shopping tricks up your sleeve for when you head to the grocery store. Registered dietitians shared eight excellent tips that will help optimize all your shopping trips from now on. Turns out, it’s pretty easy to fill your cart with the best and brightest ingredients if you know exactly what you’re looking for and just where to find it.

1. Always make a shopping list.

Going to the store with a plan is key, explains Emily Cope-Kyle, M.S., R.D.. This will help keep you from buying things you don’t need or want, especially if you’re perusing aisles with pre-packaged and processed foods. Using a list as your guide will help save you time AND money.

2. And navigate aisles like a pro.

By now you probably know exactly where your local grocery store keeps the sweets. If you’re watching your sugar intake, or you’re prone to impulse buys, Amy Gorin, M.S., R.D., owner of Amy Gorin Nutrition, suggests steering clear of these sections while shopping. “I have a huge sweet tooth so I try and walk past the bakery and candy section,” she says. As the saying (sort of) goes, out of sight, out of stomach. Many experts recommend shopping only the perimeter of the store as that’s where the freshest food tends to be displayed. And when you’re ready to kick things up a notch, try organizing your grocery list by where the foods are located in the store. Efficient and healthy—it’s a win-win. Continue reading →

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Your health: Make sure your pool isn’t a health hazard

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girl_swimmingThe Daily Herald shared in its Healthy and Wellness section on May 28th these thoughts: Ah, summer. A time when young and old alike flock to the local pool or splash park for relief from heat.

That is, unless the particular public pool, hot tub or water playground you flock to is among the thousands that are forced to close each year because of serious health and safety violations, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The agency recently detailed inspection data, collected in 2013 in which researchers examined the outcomes of 84,187 routine inspections of 48,632 public aquatic facilities, including hot tubs, pools, water parks and other spots where people swim in treated water, The Washington Post reports.

They found that almost 80 percent of the time, inspectors documented at least one health or safety violation. Continue reading →

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Do You Really Need Rest Days?

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Senior Woman Resting After Exercises In GymMackenzie Lobby Havey, a freelance journalist and coach based in Minneapolis wrote for “Hello Healthy”While it may seem obvious why athletes like Michael Phelps — who trains 5–6 hours most days — need rest days away from exercise, the guidelines for us mere mortals are a little less clear. For instance, if you’re getting the minimum amount of recommended physical activity, do you need to take days completely off from exercising? If you’re taking 10,000 steps per day, does that really warrant recovery time?

As you might expect, it depends on the person.

The Department of Health and Human Services recommends doing one of the following if you hope to achieve the substantial health benefits associated with exercise:

  • 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity each week
  • 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity each week
  • A combination of the two

With that in mind, recent research suggests that you can reap the most exercise benefits if you do around three times that amount of physical activity. The study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, found that people who exercised at a moderate intensity, usually walking, for 450 minutes per week (around an hour each day) were 39% less likely to die prematurely than people who didn’t exercise at all. The risk of dying for those who did the recommended 150 minutes per week was about 31% less during the study.

Continue reading →

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Music is Good for Your Health

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Listening-to-music-can-reduce-painThe Glenbard District 87 Wellness Tip for this week is that music is good for our ears, heart and brain: From classical to funk, music works wonders on your health and well-being. Your prescription for great health and vitality just got a whole lot cooler: Eat well, stay active, reduce stress, and… crank you favorite tunes!
Source: clevelandclinicwellness.com

 

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Everyday Frittata

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frittataHello Healthy stated that this tasty recipe makes it easy to enjoy eggs any meal of the week, lunch included! For a seasonal touch, add sautéed asparagus. Cow’s milk or almond milk can be substituted for the evaporated milk. You can even assemble it the night before and bake the next day just in time for lunch! Serve with a light mixed greens salad. Recipe makes 4 servings.

Nutrition (per serving):  Calories: 236; Total Fat: 16g; Saturated Fat: 6g; Monounsaturated Fat: 7g; Cholesterol: 212mg; Sodium: 511mg; Carbohydrate: 6g; Dietary Fiber: 1g; Sugar: 5g; Protein: 15g

Enjoy eggs any day of the week with this simple frittata by Cooking Light. Lightly cook your favorite veggies, load the remaining ingredients in the recipe below into an oven-friendly pan, and bake. The recipe calls for evaporated milk, but you can use any milk you like. Experiment with the frittata recipe using these three riffs:

  • Riff 1: Omit bacon for a vegetarian version.
  • Riff 2: Swap in 4 cups coarsely chopped kale or Swiss chard for zucchini.
  • Riff 3: Play with different cheeses: Try reduced-fat sharp cheddar or pepper-Jack for a bit of heat.

Ingredients

  • 4 medium bacon slices
  • 1 tablespoon canola oil
  • 2 cups thinly sliced zucchini (about 1/4-inch thick per slice)
  • 1 cup quartered grape tomatoes
  • 3/4 cup 2% reduced-fat evaporated milk
  • 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
  • 3/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
  • 2 ounces Swiss cheese, shredded (about 1/2 cup)

Continue reading →

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When making positive change, make sure you have a backup plan.

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back upThe Glenbard District 87 Wellness Tip of the week is to always have a back-up plan.

SAMPLE 1:
Plan A: Make a whole-foods dinner from scratch every Monday night.

Complication: You had no time to go to the grocery store.
Plan B: Keep salad greens, carrots or frozen veggies on hand so that you will always have a vegetable at the table.
SAMPLE 2:
Plan A: Walk outdoors for a 1/2 hour on your lunch break every weekday.
Complication: You’re stuck inside due to crummy weather.
Plan B: Climb the stairs, walk laps around the office, and/or do jumping jacks.
SAMPLE 3:
Plan A: Meditate for 20 minutes every morning.
Complication: The dog had an accident, which took time to clean up.
Plan B: Close your eyes and breathe deeply for two to five minutes sometime later in your day.
Source: clevelandclinicwellness.com
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Teens say they’re addicted to technology

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teens and technologyAmy Joyce in the The Washington Post reported that half of of all teens say they feel addicted to their mobile devices. That’s right, 50 percent of teens actually admitted that they feel addicted. Just imagine what the real number is.

Not only do teens feel they can’t put their devices down, but their parents know it (59 percent) and many parents themselves can’t put their own devices down (27 percent).

This according to a new report by Common Sense Media, which also found that teens feel their parents are addicted as well.

“Digital devices have transformed people’s lives. They are changing everything from parent-child relationships, to human interaction, to our ability to focus on the task at hand,” said James Steyer, founder and chief executive of Common Sense, an organization that studies and rates media and technology for kids and families. “And particularly for young people who are growing up as digital natives, it has public health concerns.”

With technology blending into our lives in ways that we never could have imagined just a decade ago, it’s tricky to decide what’s OK and what is just the way we live now.

It’s difficult to find a balance and to set boundaries, for our children and ourselves. For instance, 48 percent of parents feel they have to answer emails and texts immediately, and 72 percent of teens say they need to; 69 percent of parents say they check devices hourly while 78 percent of teens do.

What impact does all of this have on our lives?

According to the report, it’s led to multi-tasking that our brains, and certainly our children’s brains, can’t handle.

In fact, high percentages of teens admitted that they watched TV, used social media and texted while doing homework. (And yet most teens said they didn’t think their multi-tasking harmed the quality of their work.)

The report also found that devices are impacting our relationships.

Continue reading →

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We spend less than 1 percent of our time exercising

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exercisingDespite the wide-ranging physical, mental and social benefits of physical activity, the average human will actually spend less than 1 percent of his or her entire life exercising, according to a recent survey by Reebok.

In addition, the average human will spend 6.8 percent of his or her life socializing with someone they love.

The study, conducted by Reebok in partnership with global consultancy Censuswide evaluated nine countries around the world and disclosed that the average human would spend just 0.69 percent of their life exercising — or otherwise defined as 180 of their 25,915 days.,

“If we all traded in 30 minutes of phone time for a jog, we could actually help change the dynamics of global wellness,” said Yan Martin, vice president of brand management at Reebok. “This study will hopefully help to push and inspire people to do more. Run one extra lap, climb a few extra stairs.”

The study incorporated more than 9,000 respondents from the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, France, Mexico, Russia, Korea and Spain. Here are some of the results: Continue reading →

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