The National Institute on Aging shared that eating nutrient-rich foods can help you stay healthy as you age. Choose a variety of nutrient-dense foods across and within all the food groups: vegetables, fruits, grains, protein foods, dairy products, and oils. Picking an assortment of fats, carbohydrates, and proteins within every food group throughout the week will help you get many nutrients.

Fats give you energy, and they help the body absorb certain vitamins. Certain kinds of fat can be bad for your health. To lower the unhealthy fat in your diet, consider:

• Choosing cuts of meat with less fat and remove the skin from chicken
• Using low-fat or fat-free dairy products
• Selecting oils, such as olive or canola, for cooking

Carbohydrates are the body’s main source of energy. Many foods with carbohydrates also supply fiber that can help prevent stomach or intestinal problems, such as constipation, and lower cholesterol and blood sugar. To add fiber to your diet, consider:

• Eating cooked dry beans, peas, and lentils
• Leaving skins on your fruit and vegetables but wash them before eating
• Choosing whole fruit over fruit juice

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Sierra Powell asks, “Is your child having trouble eating and only wants one or a specific type of food?”

That is common, especially for kids that are teething or those that have a medical condition. You, as the parent, are trying everything from introducing the child into a diet, and nothing seems to work? No need to worry, as the article below will give you five tricks you need to help your picky eater get all the nutrients they need for healthy growth.

Respect your Child’s Appetite

If you notice that your child is not hungry, don’t force them to have a snack or a meal. Parents tend to bribe their children to have food in exchange to have some TV time. Bribing will only frustrate your child and create anxiety when the child realizes it is time to eat.

The other way you can respect the kid’s appetite is by serving him/her small portions of food, and when done, they will have the independence to ask for more.

Make Dinner Time Fun

Mealtime does not need to be dull or full of tears. As a parent, you can spice up dinner to accommodate everything. If you offer juice during dinner time, you can switch it and offer it during breakfast. Instead of tea, you can offer milk, so your child gets all the nutrients they need. In between meals, offer water to ease their digestion.

When making dinner, you might ask the child to help chop the onions or cut the broccoli. The child can also help in stirring the pot if they are of the right age. The process will make them crave eating the food they have cooked for themselves. Read more

College of DuPage Nursing Student Andrea D. Adam wrote for Healthy Lombard that according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC, 2020), when mothers decide not to breastfeed their infants, an estimated additional three billion dollars is added to annual U.S. medical healthcare costs. Breastfeeding may be challenging or intimidating for new mothers, and not all mothers are able to breastfeed, but the benefits far outweigh the costs of breastfeeding. Breastfeeding provides the infant with a boost in immune system function, decreases morbidity and mortality risk, and promotes optimal development. Overall, it is cost-efficient and creates a special bond between mother and infant.

Infant breast milk provides the baby with much-needed immune protection from illnesses. The newborn is at risk of getting serious illnesses because their immune system is not fully developed. Breast milk provides infants with necessary antibodies, boosting their immune system and providing them with protection for a longer period of time (CDC, 2020). With this added protection from breast milk, the infant will have a reduced risk of becoming seriously ill. Breast milk also decreases the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, asthma, and ear infections which are especially common in children. Another important benefit is that breastfed infants have a lower risk of childhood obesity and consequently, cardiovascular morbidities later in life (CDC, 2020). One of the goals for the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion on their Healthy People 2020 topics is to improve the health of women and children and ultimately, breast milk provides all the nutrients and vitamins that the infant needs for optimal development (ODPHP, n.d.). This means that everything the infant needs is in breast milk provided that the mother is healthy and follows prenatal nutritional counseling. Read more

Dr. Pinsky, Medical Director of Infection Control and Prevention at Edward Hospital shared in the Edward Elmhurst Healthy Driven Blog that one of the most baffling aspects of COVID-19, the illness caused by SARS-CoV-2, is how differently it seems to affect people.

One person may have mild symptoms and recover in just a few days while another person may have prolonged symptoms that lead to pneumonia, shortness of breath, and hospitalization. Some may not develop symptoms at all.

In each case, the virus can be transmitted two days prior to the onset of symptoms (pre-symptomatic) and up to 10 days after the onset of symptoms for those with mild symptoms. For those who don’t develop symptoms, the infectious period is shorter, but no more than 10 days. Those who have severe infections requiring hospitalization may be infectious for up to 20 days.

Risk factors for severe infection

The same spectrum of severity can occur at any age and within any risk group, even within the most vulnerable elderly populations. Those over age 65 compromise the majority of deaths due to COVID-19, but there is excess mortality due to COVID-19 in all adult age groups. Many more of all ages have survived with severe symptoms and suffer a prolonged and debilitating illness.

Severe infection is uncommon in children and young adults. Rare complications include multisystem inflammation in children and heart failure in young adults. Read more