HealthyConcerns.com

Review of the 5 Most Popular Wearable Activity Trackers | Brit + Co.

From Brit & Co.

It’s the day before Thanksgiving and you’re probably already thinking about all of the calories you’ll be consuming tomorrow. Couple that with the fact that Christmas and New Years are only about a month away and you’ll agree that it might be a good idea to start tracking your fitness and calorie intake to make sure you don’t put on too many pounds this holiday season.

I've had a FitBit for over a year now. Can't say it really motivates me to change behavior much. Although I do get that sense if accimplishment when I've had a particularly good day (of walking, I mean).

I also fell out of logging my food ebcause it doesn't synch with The Daily Plate, which is the most robus food tracking app I've found. 

Finally, I'm not sure the sleep tracking on the FitBit is enturely accurate or useful. 

And yet, I stick with it.

How about you? Do you have any of these gadgets designed to help you join the "Quantified Self" movement?

Bookmark, because I know I'll need it some day soon: Natural stomach-ache cures

From Treehugger.com: Five Natural Fixes for a Stomach-Ache

I think I've probably tried the peppermint or chamomile tea approach before without noticing tremendous results, but the use of cayenne, ginger and fennel is new on me, and may take a leap of faith to try, since I'm no ginger or fennel fan.

[Oh, spoiler alert: Those are the five natural fixes I listed right there. But please do still click through for more detail.]

Have you tried any of these natural remedies for intestinal issues? What works for you?

 

Vegan cold remedies | Simple Vegan Cooking

I too have the cold-into-bronchitis pattern, so I'm bookmarking this post for my own good...and yours :)

No one told me that getting on with life after cancer would be so hard

“I still get really nervous and anxious before coming to see you and before each scan,” she said. “I was prepared for how chemotherapy would make me feel. I expected to feel tired, to get sick. What I wasn’t prepared for was how to move on with my life, without letting cancer take over. No one told me that getting on with life after cancer would be like this. No one told me that this would be so hard.”

Poignant post. Having worked with someone who was definitely going through this re-adjustment, I think it is something that either patients are not prepared for, or perhaps simply can't really be prepared for.

A deficit in caregiver personal responsibility

Why one-third of hospitals will close by 2020Why physicians should care about Amanda TrujilloGranting rights to a fetus at the cost of the motherWhy EMR is a dirty word to many doctorsMy mother fell through the cracks of the system and diedDoctors are forced to choose between really small or super big

via www.kevinmd.com

Not only is the punchline at the end of the post...the best punchline is perhaps the first comment.

What to say to a newly diagnosed cancer patient

“So, the doctor told me I have breast cancer. I just wanted to let you know. I’m doing fine right now, but I have some decisions to make regarding my treatment options. I’ll keep you posted.”

This may be a typical email sent to family and friends after receiving a breast cancer diagnosis. Sending emails seems more practical at this point. With so many friends and family to update, unless a general meeting is called at the local hotel conference room, they would have to repeat these words over and over again. It’s hard enough to say them once.

 

Here come the well meaning responses.

via www.kevinmd.com

Argh. It's hard to believe, but people really do say incredibly thoughtless and painful things to their very dearest friends and family...when we don't know what to say. It's not just upon hearing about a diagnosis, sometimes it's about a miscarriage or infertility or just losing a job.

This post starts with some awful wrong things to say, and then share some positive solutions to replace them.

Planned Parenthood, Health Care and Me...again

Sadly, looks like it's time to re-post this:

Hi. I've used Planned Parenthood. In fact, for at least 4 years (not sure I fully remember how long) Planned Parenthood was my sole health care source.

I used the student health center when in college, but then I moved to NYC, and like any of us who don't go right from college (or high school) to full-time employment with a company big or progressive enough to provide employees with health care, I was out of luck.

I was doing part-time temp work while pursuing my dream, and even when I transitioned to full-time work, there was no health care. And no I didn't buy heath insurance. I'm not sure at the ripe old age of 21 I had a good concept of why I would need it or how to get it.

What I did know, what had been sort of burned into my consciousness, was that I need to get an annual exam. (In fact, if you use the birth control pill they don't give you refills past a year in order to require you to get that annual exam.)

So, each year, when I came home for Christmas, I went to the Planned Parenthood in Sunnyvale, CA. I got my exam; I got my pill prescription renewed. And given I lived in NYC during the early days of the AIDS crisis, and during the time where the message that every person should get tested was so pervasive, Planned Parenthood is also where I got my AIDS test.

I don't remember what I paid. I paid something, but it was a sliding scale based on my nearly non-existent income.

I should add that even when I moved back to California and worked full-time, for about 7 years I worked for very small companies who did not provide health care. I didn't have my first company-provided health care plan until 1997.

At some point I started making enough money that I did go out and get myself an individual health plan.

But Planned Parenthood was a place that women like me could go, be treated with respect, and have our basic health care needs addressed.

I have never been pregnant. Which, obviously, means I have never had an abortion. And most of my fellow  pursuing-a-dream friends who used Planned Parenthood were the same.

Not that it should matter, given abortion is legal in this country.

You may have seen lots of folks tweeting this week and weekend about using Planned Parenthood.

This is just my story. One story. One I think many many American women could tell. 

What is your Planned Parenthood story?

 

Paula Deen, type-2 diabetes and ethics

I'm sorry that Paula Deen has discovered that she has Type-2 diabetes.

I'm flummoxed but understanding that she's going to become a spopesperson for a pharma company that makes a Type-2 diabetes treatment. [PS-Novartis says it's notTHEM she has inked a deal with.]

But I'll be disappointed and aggrieved if she does all that and does nothing to adjust her cooking style.

To continue cooking about as unhealthily as it's possible to do, to make a joke, really, of that unhealthiness, and then to monetize the at-least-partially-resulting illness?

Seems to cross a line to me.

This blogger thinks so too. What do you think?

Note: The story is all still a bit hearsay-y, so stay tuned to see what Ms. Deen really come sout and says.

 

The diagnosis

Prominent internet thinker Xeni Jardin blogs her experience getting her first mammogram, ultrasound and, ultimately, diagnosis.

It is powerful stuff.

It is moving.

It has been experienced by many. But few have captured it in words. 

It is something I've experienced only a little part of. I have a couple of odd spots in my breasts. Spots they track. Have tracked for years.

And each time I go for my annual mammogram (this year augmented with an ultrasound) I wonder if these odd harmless spots will stop being so.

So far, so good for me.

If you are heading down this path, I'm guessing Xeni will be blogging it. And here's another resource: Susan Niebur has been blogging her battle for four years. And Laurie Kingston. 

These are women warriors. I hope your admiration will join mine.

Cross-post: BlogHer.com interview with Kathy Freston

Interviewed Kathy Freston for BlogHer. She's awesome:

http://www.blogher.com/interview-talking-health-oprah-and-veganism-author-kathy-freston