Balanced Living
March 2008
The Healthy Fridge Makeover
March is National Nutrition Month®
What better time to organize your refrigerator and take stock of your nutrition than National Nutrition Month? One of the best ways to improve your health and longevity is to improve your diet. And one of the easiest ways to improve your diet is to give your fridge a healthy makeover.
"Taking a look at the foods inside your refrigerator is like taking a look inside your heart and your health," says Debra R. Judelson, M.D., a cardiologist with the Cardiovascular Medical Group of Southern California in Beverly Hills.
Dr. Judelson offers the following suggestions on how to reorganize your fridge to support a healthy diet.
Get organized
Take stock of what's inside. Once a month, pull everything out and separate the better-for-you foods from the rest. Make sure you have more low-fat, high-fiber, and low-sugar foods than other types. If not, gradually adjust the number of not-so-good foods and increase the number of healthy foods.
Organize by "more" and "less." Divide your refrigerator into different sections of "choose more often" and "choose less often." This could be by shelf or within the shelf, always keeping more healthy foods up front and less healthy foods toward the back.
"Choose more often" foods include fresh fruits and vegetables; lean meat, poultry, and fish; low-fat yogurt and skim or 1 percent milk; low-fat soft or squeeze margarine, salad dressing, and mayonnaise; and low-fat frozen foods.
"Choose less often" foods include fatty cuts of meat and bacon; breaded and fried foods; whole milk or 2 percent dairy foods; regular salad dressing; sugarbased soft drinks; creamy dips; and high-fat frozen foods.
Shelf appeal
Make healthy food appealing. Keep a food you would love to indulge in next to a healthy food to make it more appetizing. For example, put the chocolate syrup beside the skim milk, ready to be mixed together.
Make a healthy grocery-shopping list and stick to it. Your "no brainer" list should include lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, plain low-fat yogurt, turkey bacon or Canadian bacon, 100 percent whole wheat bread, skinless chicken, and lean ground beef.
"Taking time to plan your family's meals and snacks from a healthier, great-tasting point of view will help lower their cholesterol and blood pressure and reduce their risk for heart disease, stroke, and diabetes," says Dr. Judelson.
Freeze fruits such as bananas, grapes, and orange slices to make them more fun and easy to eat. When your children want a sweet snack, offer them frozen fruit rather than ice cream.
"Making these and other changes in the foods you buy and how you store them can improve your family's health," says Dr. Judelson. "Making small changes is much more effective than trying to implement a total dietary overhaul all at once. One key goal is to reduce your intake of saturated fat and cholesterol to help lower or keep blood cholesterol in check."
For more information:
http://www.eatright.org
http://fhahelps.personaladvantage.com/dieting
The Many Causes of Insomnia
March 3rd - 9th is
National Sleep Awareness Week®
Anxiety and stress are the most common causes of insomnia. About 35 percent of people with chronic insomnia suffer from depression or anxiety. But sleeplessness can also be caused by a variety of medical conditions, medications, and environmental factors. If you suffer from insomnia and have any of the following medical conditions, ask your doctor to discuss possible treatments.
Respiratory conditions
Allergies, asthma, bronchitis, and emphysema can interfere with your breathing at night and can cause you to awaken frequently. In addition, many medications used to treat these conditions cause insomnia. Ask your doctor to give you a dosage schedule least likely to interfere with your bedtime.
Sleep apnea
People with sleep apnea stop breathing for 10- to 60-second intervals dozens or hundreds of times each night. Overweight individuals and men over 50 have the greatest risk of the condition. Most people with sleep apnea are not aware of their breathing problems. Symptoms include: ear-splitting snores, long pauses without breathing followed by a snort, gasp or forced inspiration without awakening, daytime headaches, and chronic daytime fatigue. If untreated, apnea can increase a person's chances of suffering high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke. Treatments include weight loss, corrective surgery of abnormalities of the upper airway, prescription respiratory stimulants, and a nasal mask that keeps breathing passages open during sleep (nasal CPAP).
Heartburn and GERD
Heartburn can interfere with your sleep when stomach acid seeps into the esophagus, triggering a reflex that wakes you up. To reduce the incidence of heartburn: Avoid coffee, alcohol, chocolate, and high-fat and highly acidic foods. Don't eat late at night. Raise the head of your bed six inches by placing blocks of wood under the bed frame. Stop smoking; tobacco smoke weakens the esophageal sphincter.
Arthritis
The pain and stiffness of arthritis often keep sufferers from sleeping well. Pain relievers and regular exercise that increase your joints' range of motion may provide relief. According to the National Sleep Foundation, as many as 75 percent of people with rheumatic or arthritic disorders often suffer from sleep problems.
Medications and sleep
Many prescription and nonprescription medications can cause insomnia. Ask your doctor if you can change to a related drug or alter the dosage or the time you take the medication if you have sleep problems and regularly take one or more of these drugs: Excedrin, Anacin, Triaminicin, prescription diet pills, and other drugs that contain amphetamine, beta blockers, decongestants, antidepressants, antihypertensive medications, steroids, thyroid hormones, antimetabolites, oral contraceptives, broncho-dilating drugs for asthma, and tranquilizers.
Nicotine and Alcohol
Nicotine is a stimulant. Smokers experience nicotine withdrawal during sleep and can have difficulty falling asleep and problems waking up. Alcohol may speed the beginning of sleep, but it increases the number of times you awaken in the later half of the night.
For more information:
www.sleepfoundation.org
www.personaladvantage.com/content?sub=10000761
Eye-Care Essentials for Computer Users
March is Save Your Vision Month
If you spend hours each day working at a computer screen, you may experience eyestrain, blurred vision, itchy eyes, and occasional double vision.
"But studies have found no indication that working on a computer screen causes permanent vision problems," says Kent Daum, O.D., an optometrist at the University of Alabama School of Optometry in Birmingham. "Short-term problems, such as tired, irritated, or watery eyes, do bother 70 percent to 75 percent of people who work at computers, but these problems can usually be corrected by wearing a special pair of glasses for computer work, adjusting lighting in the workplace, and altering the position of the computer screen."
Correct vision problems
One of the easiest ways to prevent eye fatigue and discomfort is to see a vision specialist.
"Minor visual problems, such as astigmatism or imbalances between the eyes, can be corrected by wearing corrective lenses, and you'll greatly increase your comfort," Dr. Daum says. "If you don't have to see distant objects clearly while at the computer, wearing bifocal lenses with the top adjusted for the computer screen and the bottom adjusted for reading is best."
If your distance vision must be clear while working at the computer, bifocal lenses with the upper part adjusted for distance and a large bottom part adjusted for the computer is recommended. As an alternative, a progressive lens with a large middle section for computer work could be used.
"Some people can comfortably use bifocal contact lenses when working at a computer, but in most cases, glasses will provide greater comfort and clearer vision," Dr. Daum says.
Increase your comfort
The following steps can further reduce your eye discomfort and fatigue.
- Place the computer straight in front of you, not off to the side.
- Place the screen at right angles to any windows to minimize glare.
- Adjust the screen angle to minimize reflections from overhead lights or desk lamps.
- Use drapes, shades, or blinds to control window lighting and glare. Vertical or horizontal blinds will direct light away from you and the computer.
- Keep the screen brightness the same or brighter than the brightness of other objects in the room.
- Set your computer to display black characters on a white background.
- Use an adjustable copy holder to keep reference material at the same height and distance away from you as the computer screen. "This eliminates the need to change eye focus when looking from one to the other," Dr. Daum says.
- Use a glare-reduction filter to enhance screen contrast and increase character legibility.
- Use a three-sided computer hood if glare continues to be a problem.
- Wipe the screen often with an anti-static cloth.
- Take periodic rest breaks. "Every 15 minutes or so, look up and focus on a distant object for about two minutes," Dr. Daum says. "Blinking frequently and using artificial-tear eye drops to relieve dryness and irritation can also help."
For more information:
www.aoa.org
http://fhahelps.personaladvantage.com
High-Risk Tax Audit Targets
Worried about the possibility of a tax audit? Tax time is quickly approaching and many of us are stressed. While the odds
are low you will be audited (during the past few years, less than two percent of all tax returns were audited by the Internal
Revenue Service (IRS)), here is some information to help you steer clear of a possible audit.
Your chances of being audited depend on:
- What type of income you report
- The amount of income you report
- The type of business you're in
- The tax deductions you report
- Your past history with the IRS
Your odds are higher if:
- Your business runs on cash transactions (such as restaurants, bars, retail stores and so forth) where it would be easier to skim cash undetected
- Your itemized deductions are high in proportion to your income
- Your business expenses (especially entertainment and travel) are high in proportion to your income
- You claim tax shelter investment losses
- You or your business have been previously audited and found to be owing taxes
It's especially important to keep good records, such as:
- Detailed accounts of daily business cash transactions
- Receipts for charitable deductions and all itemized deductions
- Investment loss documentation
It's also a good idea to consult with a tax attorney now to learn what more you can do to protect yourself should you be audited in the future.
For more information:
http://fhahelps.personaladvantage.com/content?sub=10000112
http://www.irs.gov
