National Healthy Eating Day

The American Heart Association is honoring National Eating Healthy Day on Nov. 7 with these "Tips for Eating Healthy on a Budget."

1. Plan your meals each week: You can check the nutrition facts and create a detailed grocery list; planning helps to avoid impulse shopping.
2. Shop for seasonal produce: Fruits and veggies are cheaper during their peak growing seasons.
3. Look for generic brands: The ingredients are usually the same as the brand names, but they're much more affordable.
4. Avoid eating out: Most restaurants come with extra large portions and price tags to match. Fast foods are typically loaded with excess fat, salt and sugar.
5. Eat before you shop: Cut out the impulse buys.
6. Frozen vegetables and fruit: Just as satisfying and healthy as fresh; check to make sure there's no added salt or sugar.
7. Limit red meat: Eat less expensive protein. Fish, like tuna, has Omega 3 fatty acids; also nuts and beans have a lot of protein, but watch your portion sizes.
8. Use newspaper coupons: You'll save over the cost of the Sunday paper.
9. Make your own pre-packaged snacks: Buy a large container of raisins, nuts or pretzels and divide up.
10. Grow a garden: The veg will be healthy and the exercise is good for you too.

For more information, call 1-800-AHA-USA1

From the Chicago Tribune.

April is National Minority Health Month

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Service's Office on Minority Health is again sponsoring National Minority Health Month in April. This year's focus is on Minority Health and School Food. According to the OMH, in Fiscal Year 2009 more than 31.3 million children a day received lunch through the National School Lunch Program with about 11.1 million participating in breakfast each day, according to the Food Research and Action Center. According to the U.S. Department of Education, in 2005, 41 percent of 4th graders were eligible for free or reduced-price lunches. Only 24 percent of White 4th graders were eligible, while 70 percent of Black and 73 percent of Hispanic students qualified. Eligible as well were 65 percent of American Indian/Alaska Native and 33 percent of Asian/Pacific Islander 4th graders. 

Minorities participate in great numbers in the school lunch program, and some school districts have devised ways to extend the food service over the summer to guarantee that lower income children have access to at least one full meal per day. Minority children are also particularly hard hit by obesity, high cholesterol and diabetes. Therefore, school food is a critical social determinant of the health of minority children. school meals could and should be also a great teachable moment, a pathway to a lifelong education on healthy eating and the environmental impact of our food choices. And we should not forget the link between good nutrition and ability to perform well academically, which has something to do with the persistence of the achievement gap.

Mind Over Morphine

Cheer up: Negative view of pain treatment actually affects outcome, researchers find.

Whether you perceive the glass as half-full or half-empty could impact the way you react to pain and other medical treatments, according to a new study into the effects of negative thinking.

In the most sophisticated study on the subject to date, British and German researchers from Oxford University and University Medical Center in Hamburg subjected 22 healthy volunteers to heat pain, and then treated that pain with a fast-metabolizing, morphine-based painkiller, all the while scanning the volunteers' brains as they described their levels of pain.

The researchers discovered that by lying to the volunteers--for example, telling them that the painkiller was about to wear off and that they should expect pain to increase, even though the painkiller never actually stopped working--they could affect their perceived level of pain, according to the Associated Press. The brain scans confirmed increased activity in certain pain- and stress-related areas of the brain during these lies, suggesting that a patient's outlook has actual therapy-negating effects.

Although this is a small study, researchers suspect the findings could hold true in a broad range of areas, particularly the treatment of chronic illnesses. Chronic disease patients, the vast majority of whom are elderly, are generally conditioned to expect their treatments to fail, according to the AP. By studying the effects of negative thinking on therapy, researchers could find ways to overcome pessimistic patient views to enhance medical therapies, experts believe.

June 15-21: Men's Health Week

Did You Know? June 15-21, 2009 is Men's Health Week.The purpose of Men's Health Week is to heighten the awareness of preventable health problems and encourage early detection and treatment of disease among men and boys. This week gives health care providers, public policy makers, the media, and individuals an opportunity to encourage men and boys to seek regular medical advice and early treatment for disease and injury. For more information, please visit the Men's Health Week website.

June 7-13 is National Headache Awareness Week

During National Headache Awareness Week (June 7-13, 2009), the National Headache Foundation (NHF) is launching “Headache U: It’s all about YOU,” the first headache education program of its kind designed to help people with headache take important steps toward getting relief. Each year, 90% of all men and 95% of all women have at least one headache . Despite many people having frequent and sometimes severe headaches that affect their family, social and work life, most do not actively seek relief from their condition .

Four simple strategies can get sufferers on the right course to relief:

- Realize that headaches matter, and take your headaches seriously;
- Learn all you can – be a student of your own headaches;
- Pay more attention to your personal headache patterns – track your headaches, and try to find clues to triggers and solutions;
- Take control and get the help and care you deserve: many resources are available.

For more information, please visit the National Headache Awareness Week website or go direct to the "Headache U" website.