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I would be hard pressed to think of two such starkly differing approaches to reforming health care than that of presidential nominees Barack Obama and John McCain.

Since the latest presidential debate Tuesday at Belmont University in Nashville, TN, I have been thinking about how different McCain and Obama’s approaches to health care truly are.

Obama dreams of building onto the already existing system of relying on employers for health care by expanding government-aided insurance programs.

John McCain, however, would like to do away with the employer-based older system and instead work on a free market ability to make coverage affordable to all Americans.

So tell me, how much will health care be a factor when you vote this election year?

Tags: Barack Obama, Election, health, Health Care, John McCain, Politics

The Pentagon is trying to seek new ways of treating troops who suffer from brain damage or combat stress.

The Pentagon is researching alternative methods such as acupuncture, meditation, yoga and even pet therapy to assist with these patients. 

Dr. S Ward Casscells, the assistant secretary for health affairs stated, “This new theme is a big departure for our cautious culture.”

This year the Pentagon has spent $5 million alone to study these types of treatments and their effects on the troops.

According to a new study women who have received a flu shot during pregnancy will pass on protection to their newborns.

The New England Journal of Medicine released a report October 9 revealing that flu shots pass on to the fetus and lesson the likelihood of contracting the flu during the first few months of life. 

Study co-author Mark Steinhohoff states, “I think this will now make a difference.”

“If you want to protect the baby and be careful, maybe the vaccine is a way to do that. I think more women will ask for it,” he says.

Does this change your mind about having a flu shot during pregnancy?

Are you as confused as I am sometimes about how much exercise you’re actually supposed to get per day?  30 minutes?  An hour?  Cardio or strength training?

Well, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has now made it easier on us.  The new HHS guidelines are more specific than anything they have before released and goes so far as to specify special populations.

For instance, for adults the HHS suggests 2.5 hours of moderate aerobic activity per week.  What that means for you is:  brisk walking, water aerobics or ballroom dancing.  Adults should also participate in weight training at least two days per week.

The HHS recommends that children & adolescents do an hour of moderate activity per day, including a more rigorous activity three days a week. 

And for older adults, the recommendation is to try and follow the adult guidelines as best possible, unless a chronic condition doesn’t all.

So, now that we all know where we stand, where are you in this list and how are you doing with what the HHS is suggesting?

Tags: exercise, health, workout

Healthy eating tends to be much easier at home because you have more control over how your food is prepared and portioned. When it comes to eating out, keeping your habits healthy is not always as easy.

Here are a few tips for eating healthier at restaurants. All you frequent travellers will appreciate these:

1. When asked for your drink order, choose water or tea over sugar-laden or alcoholic drinks. If you insist upon having soda, opt for diet over regular in order to save on calories and sugar.

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For many people, the first step in eating healthier is choosing good foods like fruits, vegetables, lean meats, cheeses and nuts over bad foods like frozen pizzas and fast food. However, not all foods which appear to be healthy are all that great for you. Many have hidden dangers like high sugar content, or more fat than is necessary.

The following are a few tips on choosing the right options when it comes to healthy snacks and foods, to ensure that you truly are eating healthy, rather than simply being deceived!

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This is a short Workout Video called “Holiday Workout by Kim Strother.”

Tags: workout videos, holiday workouts, Kim Strother

First there is the company wide bonus for achieving the customer service satisfaction goal; next is the reward for the most productive team member; the boss also recognizes the most efficient worker, the most enthusiastic assistant, and so forth.

Do you reward yourself for the things you did well?

Rewards don’t need to be excessive or over-the-top. Your personal rewards should be tied to your own realistic, achievable goals. You may wish to reward yourself for accomplished short term, mid term, and also long term goals. This system of rewards will permit you to stay on task, and to also see some direct positive results from your hard work.

It’s interesting that rewarding yourself will not only increase your personal morale, but it will actually have a positive effect on your time management. So I guess you could say that rewards are a valuable time management tool!

Time management demands a firm grasp of what you are doing with your time. By scheduling your leisure time (or reward time) you will keep yourself happy. At the same time, this combined schedule will remind you of the reward in store for the successful completion of the project, meeting of the deadline, or any other short term reward you may have chosen. In a way, this reward will be the dangling carrot in a world of office politics, next to impossible deadlines, and telephones ringing off the hook!

Rewards will also become highly effective time management tools when you consider how much harder this form of self motivation will make you work to accomplish your set goal. Goal setting in itself is a major component of effective time management, and it is easy to see how a desirable reward could be a great form of motivation.

Naturally, personal wastes of time are only part of the issue. Last but not least, proper planning of both work and fun time will allow you to have a healthy balance in your life. With a healthy balance, you will be able to manage your time effective and consistently.

My sister-in-law called today upset because the doctor told her she had perioral dermatitis. Sounds bad doesn’t it?

Let’s break it down and it won’t be so scary. First of all, dermatitis is simply an inflammation of the skin - usually in the form of some sort of rash. And perioral just means “around the mouth.”

So basically, she was diagnosed with a rash around her mouth. But then again, she already knew that! That’s why she made an appointment with the dermatologist to begin with.

Once I explained the meaning of her diagnosis to her, she just laughed. Why do they always make it sound so awful?

Here are a couple of other common types of dermatitis:

• Atopic eczema - This is the most common one and usually results from some type of internal irritant.
• Allergic contact - This is as the name sounds, when the skin comes in contact with something that it is allergic to causing inflammation and irritation to the skin.
• Irritant contact - This is usually caused by a certain chemical substance that causes the skin to become irritated.
• Infantile seborrhoeic eczema - Also known as cradle crap, this forms on the head and can spread very quickly.
• Gravitational - This particular type hits people in the legs, usually elderly people and is due to poor circulation.

Reaching any weight goal will require taking in less calories than you are working off. However, if you want to improve your health, you’ll have to incorporate a little more work into it than that. You should aim for optimum nutrition by eating meals that are full of nutrients. This is the key to getting a balanced diet.

Good nutrition is just giving your body what it needs on a daily basis. And, when you do that, you’ll be amazed at how well your body treats you. You’ll have more energy, you’ll maintain a healthy weight, your blood pressure and cholesterol will stay within the normal guidelines and you’ll just feel good overall.

The key is to know what to eat. I do my best to eat a whole food diet. That means no processed foods, fast foods or junk. I’ve eliminated refined sugar and eat only whole grains. I also stay away from red meat, but that’s another conversation. I eat a lot of fish (usually salmon) and chicken or turkey and fresh fruits and vegetables.

If you’d like to eat healthier you can start just by adding one of two servings of fresh fruit each day. Remember that canned fruit is usually swimming in a sugary liquid, so it’s not a substitute.

Once you manage to get some fruit into yourself on a daily basis, then start adding fresh vegetables and whole grains. When you start adding more whole foods, you’ll notice that you’re consuming a lot more fiber than your body is used to, so it’s a good idea to take it slow. Also remember to drink plenty of water or you may find that you get slightly constipated.

Give it a try for 30 days and then see how you feel. I think you’ll be amazed.