Food safety — avoiding food-borne illnesses — is an important concern for everyone who prepares or serves food, whether at a party, in a restaurant or other public place, or at home. Meat thermometers are a useful tool for making sure the food you serve is safe. While kitchen hygiene and hand washing are important […]
Expiration Dates on Medications
Do you check your medications for their expiration dates? An expiration date is the date after which a medication is no longer considered safe or effective to use. It is important to know the expiration date of any medication you are taking so you can be sure it is safe to use and will work […]
Do Mealtimes Matter?
Recent research supports an old idea: it matters what time you eat. The new field of Chrono-nutrition is finding confirmation for the idea that eating more in the early part of the day is better for weight maintenance and metabolism than eating later in the evening. Nutritionist Adelle Davis wrote in 1954, “Eat breakfast like a […]
How Reading to Kids Improves their Health
If you’re still thinking about New Year’s resolutions, here’s a good one: read with your children. It’s fun, it’s easy, and you might be surprised at the fact that it’s good for your kids’ health, too. Reading affects adult health Reading with your children improves their language development, helps them learn to love reading, and […]
Coping with Vertigo
Bob Dylan made headlines last year when he used a machine to sign books because he was suffering from vertigo. Vertigo rarely makes headlines, though. It is the feeling that you are moving or that the room you are in is moving. Almost 40% of Americans experience it at some point in their lives. For […]
GMO Foods and Your Family
Genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, are plants or animals that have had biotechnology applied to change the DNA of the plant or animal in ways that do not occur in nature. Should you feel concerned about GMOs? Examples of GMOs There are not many GMOs grown in the United States. However, the few products that […]
6 Steps to Starting an Exercise Program
More than half of Americans who make New Year’s resolutions choose to exercise more. It is the most popular resolution this year. Yet 40% of us will give up by February 1, and more than 10% will really never get started. Sometimes a good start makes all the difference. If you have been thinking about […]
Time for a Pap Test?
A Pap test or Pap smear is a simple test that checks the health of your cervix. It looks for cell changes that can signal future cervical cancers. Straight Talk about Pap Smears You should begin having annual Pap smears at age 21. Pap smears over 30 Pap smears should be part of your yearly […]
Bath Time Safety for Kids
More than 43,000 children each year receive medical care for accidents that happen in the bathtub or shower. Follow these suggestions to keep your child safe. Falls Falls are the most common injury among children in bathrooms. They are most likely to hurt their faces, and “lacerations” — cuts — are the most common type […]
Dry January
Since 2012, people worldwide have declared Dry January: a month without alcohol. The observation was the brainchild of the British charity Alcohol Change UK, which proposes a month off from alcohol as a way to save money, find out whether you might be drinking too much, and test out a sober lifestyle. The process is […]