Saturday, February 19, 2011
The Nutrition Source
1:27 PM | 
Posted by
Kaplan Center for Health and Wellness
Today I’d like to share another one of my favorite websites: The Nutrition Source
This website was created by the Nutrition Department at the Harvard School of Public Health. If you want the best and most recent information on nutrition, this is the spot. Their site is packed full with tips for healthy eating. The information they provide is user friendly. The resources on this website range from quick tips for eating right to in-depth information about individual nutrients.
Click here to see 10 easy steps to follow for eating right:
Click here to access an A to Z index of nutrition topics:
Click here to read about the Harvard School of Public Health’s very own food pyramid. A food pyramid that is based on the latest and best science:
As you can see, the Nutrition Source is an awesome resource. Add it your favorites today!
Nancy Silva, ND
Faculty, Health and Wellness Department
Kaplan University
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Let's Move
5:08 PM |
Posted by
Kaplan Center for Health and Wellness
This week I’d like to talk about a couple of my favorite websites. First one up: Let's Move
This website is part of a nationwide initiative to promote healthy choices, improve the quality of food in schools, increase access to healthy food, and so much more!
In particular, the Let’s Move campaign is raising a fight against the obesity epidemic in America. According to a national survey of health behaviors and nutrition, 66 percent of American adults are considered overweight or obese, with obesity rates alone in excess of 32 percent (Donatelle, 2009). Take a look at these CDC images to see how this epidemic has grown over the past 20 years:
This CDC graphic is a bit surprising and shocking isn't it?! Why has this happened? In part this is due to changes in pattern of food consumption. For instance, caloric intake: “In total, we are now eating 31 percent more calories than we were forty years ago–including 56 percent more fats and oils and 14 percent more sugars and sweeteners” (Let’s Move, 2010).
Lack of exercise can also take part of the blame: Data from the National Health Interview Survey shows that four in ten adults in the United States never engage in any exercise, sports, or physically active hobbies in their leisure time. (Donatelle, 2009)
In addition, technology has certainly changed the way we spend our time: The average American child spends more than 7.5 hours a day watching TV and movies, using cell phones and computers for entertainment, and playing video games (Let’s Move, 2010).
The Let’s Move campaign is addressing these problems on multiple levels. Their website has a wealth of information about nutrition and physical activity with simple steps to take action. The resources on this sight are abundant and easy to use. They even include tools for getting involved in the campaign and spreading the word in your community.
Here’s an example:
As you can see, the Let’s Move campaign includes everyone. Honestly, I just can’t say enough about this excellent campaign! Please check it out today and spread the word:
Nancy Silva, ND
Faculty, Health and Wellness Department
Kaplan University
References
Donatelle, R. (2009). Health: The basics (8th ed.). San Francisco: Pearson Benjamin Cummings.
Let’s Move. (2010). Learn the Facts. Retrieved December 27, 2010, from http://www.letsmove.gov/
Sunday, February 13, 2011
The Way to Fighting a Flu or a Cold is... Your Stomach!
2:17 PM |
Posted by
Kaplan Center for Health and Wellness
The Way to Fighting a Flu or a Cold is... Your Stomach!
by Dr. Nina La, D.C., L.Ac.
Adjunct Professor, Kaplan University School of Health Sciences
Allied medical staff, Tri-City Regional Medical Center
by Dr. Nina La, D.C., L.Ac.
Adjunct Professor, Kaplan University School of Health Sciences
Allied medical staff, Tri-City Regional Medical Center
Recipe #1: Honey-Chrysanthemum Tea (for Wind-Heat symptoms, aka. Flu)
The Chrysanthemum flower (Chinese jú huā 菊花, Latin flos chrysanthemi morifolii) is a cool, spicy herb that release the exterior. When you have symptoms such as fever, headache, and red, painful, dry eyes (usually resultant of the Santa Ana winds in California, or the Neveda desert winds), this tea is indicated for you. In combination with the multi-purpose of honey, this Honey-Chrysanthemum Tea moistens the lungs' dryness, relieves your cough, and brightens your eyes.
Ingredients include 30 grams (1.1 ounce) of fresh chrysanthemum, with 150 grams (5.3 ounces) of honey, and 1000 cc or mL of water: to make 2 servings. Cooking instructions include a few simple steps: Boil the chrysanthemum and water over high heat (approximately 2 minutes), then strain the tea and stir in honey until dissolved. The tea can be cooled to desired temperature, and the dosage of the honey is dependent on indivual taste. Enjoy!
Recipe #2: Ginseng Chicken Soup (for Wind-Cold symptoms, aka. Common Cold)
Now, if you have common cold symptoms, such as running nose, bodyache, chills more than fever, and a headache, then this soup is perfect for you, especially for those who have decreased appetite as a result. This Ginseng Chicken Soup tonifies your middle abdominal qi while harmonizing your stomach to help you strengthen the Wei defensive qi. Chicken is very nourishing and very warming to your stomach!
Ingredients include 1 whole chicken, with 20 grams (0.71 ounce) of red ginseng or American ginseng, 20 pieces of red jujube, 30 grames (1.1 ounce) of lycium and salt to taste. This soup makes 4 servings, and require both a preparation and a cooking stage. Preparation includes removing the giblets from the cavity of the chicken before washing the chicken thoroughly, then place 10 grams of ginseng, 10 pieces of jujube, and 10 grams of lycium inside the chicken. The cooking stage includes placing the chicken (breast-side up) ina stock pot, adding 1000cc of water, additional 10 grams of ginseng, 10 pieces of jujube and 20 grames of lycium to the stock pot. Cover the lid, bring to a boil then reduce to medium heat. Simmer for an additional 30 minutes or until the chicken softens. Season with salt to taste, then--enjoy! =)
Have a safe and warm weekend!
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"If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door!" - Milton Berle
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Dr. Nina La is an allied medical staff specialized in acupuncture at Tri-City Regional Medical Center (Hospital). She is also a chiropractic physician, herbalist, and an adjunct professor at Kaplan University. You can contact her at NLa@kaplan.edu, or visit her website at http://drninala.com.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Your Palm, Your Sole, Your Love
11:50 AM |
Posted by
Kaplan Center for Health and Wellness
Your Palm, Your Sole, Your Love
by Dr. Nina La, D.C., L.Ac.
Adjunct Professor, Kaplan University School of Health Sciences
Allied medical staff, Tri-City Regional Medical Center
by Dr. Nina La, D.C., L.Ac.
Adjunct Professor, Kaplan University School of Health Sciences
Allied medical staff, Tri-City Regional Medical Center
Reflexology, or zone therapy, is similar in acupressure in that pressure is applied, usually in the form of your thumb, into specific areas of the hands and feet. Reflexologists do not apply lotion, and the purpose for doing pressure points in the hands and feet is based on the theory of microacupuncture, where certain points in the hands and feet represent organic areas on the body. This theory is said to have originated from China some 5000 years ago, but has now been popularized in over 4 major continents, including but is not limited to Asia, Europe, North America and Africa.
This is an example of a reflexology foot chart.
To destress for yourself and your loved one on this special day, here is a self-help reflexology tip from Kunz, B. & K. (2006). Hand Reflexology. Dorling Kindersley Publication: p.124-5.
According to a Singapore research, pressing on the "adrenal gland" of the hand stimulates areas of the brain to promote relaxation. The "adrenal gland" is located mid-way between the first and second metacarpal bones (thumb and index fingers). If you've hit a sensitive spot, then you've found the right point!
For overall stress reduction, it is recommended that you roll a tennis ball between two palms in multi-directions to stimulate the "adrenal gland."
So go ahead and pamper yourself and/or your loved one for this coming Valentine's. Let's have a stress-free and fun-filled Valentine's Day ahead! =)
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"Last night I lay in bed looking up at the stars in the sky and I thought to myself, where the heck is the ceiling." - Unknown
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Dr. Nina La is an allied medical staff specialized in acupuncture at Tri-City Regional Medical Center (Hospital). She is also a chiropractic physician, herbalist, and an adjunct professor at Kaplan University. You can contact her at NLa@kaplan.edu, or visit her website at http://drninala.com.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Science and its Application: Teaching Between the Lines
12:55 AM |
Posted by
Kaplan Center for Health and Wellness
by Earon S. Davis, J.D., M.P.H.
Adjunct Professor, School of Health Sciences
Kaplan University
One of the things I enjoy most about teaching is that I get to start with all the relevant science and then proceed to the space between the facts - to the space where we are talking about human life, human health and welfare. Our intellect may be able to grasp the reductionist products of science and the deductionist conclusions of "experts"(real and imagined) but what we really care about is what we find between the lines, in the process of making science and its interpretation meaningful and accessible to others.
I have spent years in the fields of environmental health, public health policy and environmental law, and now find myself immersed in complementary and alternative medicine and nutrition. Like the environment, there are lots of facts about nutrition, lots of research, and even more opinions from the various interest groups as to what they mean. In both environment and health sciences, we are told that we know what the healthy choices are, and that it is a question of will power and education as to which choices we make. We are told that people just don't care to make the right choices.
In the environmental field, we know that this is both true and false. We have a good deal of science, but it is so infused with politics and economic interests that we can't get our government to make the decisions necessary to protect our health and welfare, and our future. For some unknown reason, there is preciously little research funding for answering the questions that could jeopardize industrial interests involved with the revolving door between government, industry and consulting firms. There are so many toxic chemicals and biological and physical threats to which we are exposed that the costs of measuring the adverse impacts of any one substance are immense, certainly beyond the means provided by a Congress dependent upon private financing for their omnipresent re-election campaigns.
We all know this about environmental issues. We know this about the struggle to allow complementary medical systems and modalities into the mainstream. Where does the money come from to meet the double-blind, placebo-controlled standard required by the medical industry? Of course, there is a double-standard because existing practices of mainstream medicine are very often not required to meet such a high burden of proof. What's good for the goose is not necessarily good for the gander.
In the field of nutrition, the same observations hold true. There is science, to be sure, but much is absent, often by design. Who is there to be sure that the public is protected when that would mean costly changes and/or lost profit opportunities to businesses? Who is there to create a level playing field in which consumers are protected from potentially harmful products that are engineered and marketed with great intensity and intelligence? In the 20 years it may take to prove that a product, or type of product, is causing serious health problems, by the time a consensus emerges from the usual free-for-all of lobbying and spin-doctoring, the easily correctable problem (don't allow it to go to market) becomes terribly complex and difficult to manage without tremendous efforts and dislocations. The end result, often, is that business products and byproducts are almost granted a presumption of innocence unless proven guilty. The "precautionary principle" and regulatory systems are too often seen as a nuisance thwarting economic growth.
And so, the job of teaching in the health sciences involves both science and art, the art of balancing what we know, with what we don't know. It is a realm of immense complexity where we really have more uncertainty than certainty. Do we teach students that our limited knowledge is good enough to assert as truth? We can teach students the latest research studies and the latest government guidelines, but how do we prepare them for the vast array of changes they will encounter during their lifetimes? I think that we can do this by focusing on the spaces between the lines, by helping students to understand their own reactions to information and scientific studies and to allow them to experience the ways in which people are manipulated for the benefit of vested interests, even when their intentions are completely honorable.
Students come to school expecting to be taught the truths that science has revealed. They'd like it all neatly wrapped up with no loose ends. But life isn't that way. Science is a process and not a product. Technology is a tool and not a panacea. It is susceptible to a vast array of flaws and failings, which may be ignored when it is in somebody's interest to do so. Often, that's the bad news we have to break to them. But from the way they are responding, perhaps it is also the good news. When we treat science as a dynamic process, and recognize the infusion of politics into most areas of scientific debate, there is greater hope that we can correct our errors and create a new balance which respects both business opportunities and the long-term needs of our people.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Snow Day
1:59 PM |
Posted by
Kaplan Center for Health and Wellness
I live in Chicago, where snow days are not terribly unexpected, but much of the US is experiencing a snow day today.
These are days when it doesn't make a lot of sense to go outdoors (unless a cold wave is approaching). Yet, we often behave as if nature is an inconvenience, a challenge to be overcome. We fight the snow. We fight the rain. We fight the drought. We fight the heat. We fight the cold. Indeed, there are safety concerns, but for everyone who might die because of difficulty getting to a hospital, more will die from weather-related accidents and from heart attacks triggered by shoveling snow.
As we age, there is a point where we stop fighting so much. But we may also stop playing as much. Younger children are drawn to snow days. As a child, snow days are something to be looked forward to with glee. As we become adults, they are dreaded because they interfere with work, with appointments, with our well-planned lives. Still, there is usually a part of us that retains the child's perspective, no matter how "mature" we seem to be. For elders, the snow day may hold less power, perhaps providing more entertainment than enjoyment. The entertainment comes from all the younger people working so hard to tame nature, to get things done, to behave as if nature did not have the power to change our lives. For the elders, we already know the inexorable power of nature, in the form of the passage of time.
At their best, snow days give us pause to reflect upon our busy lives. These are times when we can take advantage of the art of non-doing. For a day or two, we may not need to do anything in order to accomplish all that needs to be done. To enter this taoist realm is a gift, but a bewildering gift to many of us. We struggle to do things, to continue our habits and patterns, to do that which is expected of us. Some of us eventually let go of those feelings and enter the world of non-doing. Most of us don't.
Sometimes, this realm only seems safe to enter after the day is over, everyone is fed and cared-for, duties are discharged, and we are somehow brought to the realization that our main goal in life is to survive with meaning and family and a sense of belonging. For that moment, late in the evening, we have attained the highest of our own human nature, suddenly becoming more fully human and in tune with a natural world that truly is not within our control. We sigh in awe. We have stepped outside our goofy culture, outside the box of status and wealth, power and importance. Secretly, we wonder what it would be like to have more, and longer, snow days. And, for most of us, that is good enough. We're ready to resume the rat race in the morning.
If we think of those who are less fortunate, it can bring very uncomfortable feelings and a need to help. If we think of the massive over-consumption of our culture and how it endangers all life on this earth, and brings so little real meaning to our lives, the dissonance can be terribly disconcerting. But perhaps, if we take this time, this snow day (and part of tomorrow), to let all of this sink in, we may be in a better position to make personal and political decisions that will bring our lives more into balance - with our planet, our fellow humans, our natural world, and ourselves.
Earon
Earon S. Davis, JD, MPH, NCTMB
Adjunct Professor, School of Health Sciences
Kaplan University
Earon has degrees in public health, law and sociology. In addition to teaching, he is currently an integrative body worker for a major hospital system in the Chicago area. Earon has written articles on Reiki and Didgeridoo for the Center for Health and Wellness. He is a student of many of the world's wisdom traditions and has twice traveled to China (Happy Chinese New Year!).
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
" How Am I Doing ? "
12:01 PM |
Posted by
Kaplan Center for Health and Wellness
By Mary Oleksowicz, MSTOM., L.Ac.
There is nothing like the invigoration provided by a new opportunity. The New Year and the “ resolutions” that it stimulates often provide a fresh start . Now that we are a few days into the New Year , that vigor may be starting to subside. This makes one wonder, how can we successfully achieve not only our New Year’s resolutions but other goals that we develop for ourselves?
Planning seems to be the key to success. Part of this planning process is to set realistic goals. For example, someone may want to lose thirty pounds over the course of the year. This is a significant amount of weight to lose. Overtime, one may become frustrated by not meeting this goal. However, if you plan to start your weight loss journey on a smaller scale perhaps five pounds in the first month , the feeling of success will be achieved much sooner and help you to stay committed .
In addition to planning your resolutions with realistic goals, you also need to have a course of action. What are the most obvious things you can do to impact your situation? Make a list of four of these actions and then implement one per week for the following month. Be sure that you continue to reward yourself upon implementing each goal. Rewards maybe an extra hour of reading your favorite novel or a cup of herbal tea.
Lastly , I have found that having accountability makes keeping resolutions easier. This can be done by logging your progress via blog or online support group. I always encourage a friend to join me on my resolutions and thus we can check in (and commiserate) with each other . In the great words of former NYC mayor Ed Koch, the occasional “How am I doing?” can make a difference between resolution failure and success.
I wish you luck and success !
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