Barb's Daily Dose

What You Need, and How to Get It - Vitamins: What to Take, What to Skip

Another Great Article from Health.com

What you need, and how to get it - Vitamins: What to Take, What to Skip - Health.com.

Keep a Food Diary to Lose Weight

One of the best ways to lose weight is to become more conscious of what you’re eating and why you’re eating it. Take the first step and keep a food diary. This has been prov-en in countless research studies to help people lose weight.  Once you start to see in black and white how much you’re actually consuming, it triggers some hesitation and thought before mindlessly shoveling in the food.

U.S. Leads Developed Countries in Teen Pregnancy Rate

An Interesting Article from Nurse.com

The teen pregnancy rate in the United States remains the highest of any developed country, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with about 400,000 teens ages 15 to 19 giving birth each year between 2004 and 2008.

Teen pregnancy is a public health concern because teen mothers are more likely to experience negative social outcomes, and infants of teen mothers have higher risks for preterm birth, low birth weight and related complications, according to the CDC.

Continue reading here.

Caffeine Kick - 8 Energy Boosters Under 80 Calories

Check out this helpful article from Health.com

Caffeine kick - 8 Energy Boosters Under 80 Calories - Health.com.

10% Weight Loss

Aim for a 10% Weight Loss in the New Year

If you’re like many people you’ve made a New Years resolution to lose weight. Good for you!  How’s it going?  If you’re like most people, resolve starts to weaken a little bit by about the 3rd week, and it’s likely that you may need a little kick start.

Many people become discouraged and overwhelmed by the idea of losing 30, 40 or even 50 or more pounds. Giving up seems like the only option once you’ve skipped a few work outs or indulged a bit too much.  And yet, you’ve already made some significant changes and it’s a good idea to get back to your healthier habits.

What I Wish I'd Known About Caregiving Priorities

Today's Featured Guest Writer is Neil Bernstein, Senior Editor at Caring.com

What I Wish I'd Known About Caregiving Priorities:  Caring.com Expert/Geriatric Psychologist David Solie. The author of How to Say It to Seniors:  Closing the Communication Gap With Our Elders Talks About Discovering that Parents Want Comfort and Companionship from Their Children, not Management.

With all his expertise in helping seniors navigate their final years, you might think David Solie would have sailed through his years of care giving for his mother without any regrets. In fact, Solie -- a geriatric psychologist, the author of How to Say It to Seniors: Closing the Communication Gap With Our Elders, and a member of Caring.com's advisory board -- admits that, at times, he went overboard trying to "manage" her care.

The Alpha Plan

The Alpha Plan aims to help students make healthy choices in college and throughout their lives.

Every college bound teenage, and their parents dread the Freshman Fifteen:  the plus-or-minus 15 pounds that many students gain in their first year of the college experience.  The cause may seem obvious - many are living on their own for the first time, and are exposed to stress, alcohol, and greasy cafeteria food - but the cure often seems harder to find.  I recently interviewed Dr. Mariam Manoukian, a physician who practices in Silicon Valley, who has just the prescription:  Her book, The Alpha Plan.

How to Use Baby Steps to Lose Weight

As promised, Please View This Informative Video of Nurse Barb,Chef Jacques Wilson, Dr. Mariam Manoukian and Dr. Manjul Patwardhan of El Camino Hospital Discussing Taking Steps to a Healthier Way of Living. 

Disclosure

I'm delighted to be working with El Camino Hospital to inform people about the incredible services available there, a Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence. The more I learn about their programs and services, the more impressed I am with their commitment to do whatever it takes to help people live their best lives. I'm excited that they're offering Health Perks to my readers and followers free of charge. Just use “nurse barb” as the promotion code and it’s free. In addition, you’ll automatically be entered to win a cooking class and dinner with El Camino Hospital’s Award winning Chef Jacques and me.

Fat Women and Media Stigma

I thought this was a great article by Stepahnie Pappas from LiveScience on how difficult it is for women who are overweight to deal with images on TV and in the media.

Childhood Trauma Linked to Depression

I saw a patient the other day, who is battling depression. She and I were talking about some of her early experiences as a child and there came that moment when I could see that no matter how resilient or  strong a person is, it's extraordinarily difficult to recover 100% from being treated badly.  

According to an excellent article by Kate Kelland from Reuters, "A study published earlier this month found that childhood hardship, including suffering abuse or losing a parent or having a parent with  addiction problems, also raised the risk of a range of chronic physical illnesses in later life, such as diabetes, heart disease or asthma.