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October 2008
Your food, your mood
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Comfort foods and snacks give us a quick pick-me-up, but they often lead to a crash soon afterwards. This is especially true for those comforts high in sugar, fat or caffeine.
The link between your diet and your mood goes much deeper than the “you are what you eat” adage. In some cases, psychiatrists and dietitians recommend that patients fight depression through nutrition instead of drugs.
So the next time you feel like wallowing in a pint of ice cream, do you think you can settle for blueberries, pumpkin seeds and Vitamin D milk? Do you have the will power? What do you eat when you’re low? Is it healthy or a guilty pleasure?
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Love, sex and the changing landscape of infidelity
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Yes, your fear has come true. Apparently, a handful of new studies note surprising transformations in the marital landscape in America, according to this report.
“Infidelity appears to be on the rise, particularly among older men and young couples. Notably, women appear to be closing the adultery gap: younger women appear to be cheating on their spouses nearly as often as men.”
Sigh. Does this surprise you? What do you think?
Permalink | Comments (40) | Post your comment | Categories: Love & Relationship
Preventive medicine — another name for overdiagnosis?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
If you’re healthy, should you go looking for a disease or an ailment?
A recent article says that is the gist of preventive medicine these days.
It says preventive medicine is less about promoting healthy habits, and more about seeking out early diagnosis. Early diagnosis sometimes leads people to be treated for “diseases” that would never have bothered them because almost everybody with a diagnosis undergoes treatment. Much of that is costly and unnecessary, according to the article. It notes that pharmaceutical companies and medical centers see preventive medicine as a great way to turn people into patients — and paying customers.
What do you think? Do you have a concern about overdiagnosis and the unneccesary costs and treatments that goes along with it?
Do you get annual screenings and checkups even if you are living a healthy lifestyle — exercising, eating a balanced diet and not smoking? Have you ever received a diagnosis that completely caught you off guard?
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Quackery or good medicine? What’s your opinion of alternative treatments?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Acupuncture. Touch therapy. Herbal remedies. A recent story says more practitioners of conventional medicine are recognizing the benefits of alternative treatments.
The Johns Hopkins Integrative Medicine and Digestive Center, which opened Sept. 2, is the latest marriage of mainstream healthcare and alternative treatments. That center includes acupuncturists, massage therapists and a psychotherapist who uses hypnosis and touch therapy.
Still, conventional doctors say more research is needed to determine the validity of some of these alternative treatments.
I find myself turning to ‘natural healing’ first for whatever ails me.
What has been your experience with alternative medicine? What have you tried that works for you?
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Adjust your attitude to a skinnier you
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We know you love your skinny friends, but don’t you just hate them? Weight loss seems to come easily to some people, and one researcher says he knows why.
Don’t look too hard at genetic differences, says Dr. John Foreyt, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
It’s all in the mind. Research shows that people who lost weight and kept it off were staying active through mild exercise, eating smaller portions and eating healthier foods.
But most of all, they had willpower. They had a plan and stuck to it - no gimmicks, no marathons, no fasting. Little decisions added up over time to create diet success, and those little decisions were the result of constant self-monitoring.
Do skinny people just have a better attitude, or are they born with it? (And can we still hate them?) Or do they eat better than you?
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