The One Healthy Benefit of Your Stressful Job

Photo: Getty Images

Photo: Getty Images

Next time you’re sweating a work problem, stressing about planning a project, or trying to tame a flare-up with a coworker, take heart in this: You may be giving your brain a boost that will help you grow old gracefully.

In a study just published in the journal Neurology, researchers at Germany’s University of Leipzig gave 1,054 people over age 75 tests that measured their memory and thinking abilities, then repeated the tests over the course of eight years. They also interviewed participants about their work history. People who had jobs that involved high levels of scheduling, developing strategies, resolving conflicts, analyzing data, and evaluating and interpreting information tended to score the best—and also had the slowest rate of cognitive decline.

RELATED: 17 Ways to Age-Proof Your Brain

“Our study is important because it suggests that the type of work you do throughout your career may have even more significance on your brain health than your education does,” said study author Francisca S. Then, PhD, in a release. As she also noted, “Challenges at work may indeed be a positive element, if they build up a person’s mental reserve in the long-term.”

In other words, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Take that, work stress!

RELATED: Best and Worst Jobs For Your Health




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Is Body Mass Index Really the Best Way to Regulate Modeling Agencies?

Photo: Getty Images

Photo: Getty Images

When looking at the beautiful clothes that make their way onto the runways each season, we often forget the nuances that go into selecting the models wearing them. But the recent ban of too-thin models in France based on body mass index, which comes on the heels of Israel, Spain, and Italy’s decision to do the same, has us taking a closer look at the logic of it all.

Fashion houses and agencies that employ models with a BMI under 18—that’s 122 pounds for a 5’9″ woman—could face jail time and a fine of 75,000 euros (about $82,000).

The French government’s fear is that ultra-thin models encourage eating disorders among regular women. While this may be a push to change beauty standards on the catwalk, many models feel the government is setting unrealistic expectations by policing their weight.

RELATED: Subtle Signs of Eating Disorders

“When you look at the criteria behind anorexia, you can’t look only at the body mass index when other criteria are also involved: psychological, a history of hair loss, dental problems,” the head of France’s National Union of Modelling Agencies, Isabelle Saint-Felix, told the AFP.

“Bodies naturally come in all shapes and sizes, thin and otherwise,” model Lyndsey Scott told Cosmopolitan.com. “Even people with eating disorders can have a so-called healthy BMI.”

After the regulations passed in Spain in 2006, some agencies figured out loopholes to conceal women’s true weight. One model told the New York Observer that a Spanish agency gave models weights to tie to their hair or sandbags to tuck inside their shapewear before stepping on the scale.

While we love seeing diversity on the runway, we’re afraid that this new mandate may lead folks to believe that being thin automatically makes you unhealthy—which isn’t necessarily the case. And at the same time, you can have a weight that seems healthy, and still have an eating disorder.

Everyone agrees that the fashion industry should try to prevent more cases like Isabelle Caro, the French model who died from anorexia in 2010 at age 28 and prompted discussions that led to the rule change. But hopefully they can do a better job of identifying (and treating) eating disorders than simply relying on a number on the scale.

RELATED: When Eating Healthy Turns Obsessive




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Babies Using Cell Phones: Not Great, But It’s Happening

Photo: Getty Images

Photo: Getty Images

More than one-third of babies are clicking around on smartphones and tablets—tots as young as six months old—finds a new study presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting.

Based on a survey of 370 parents visiting a pediatric clinic in Philadelphia, 36% of children under 1 years old had touched or scrolled a screen, 24% had called someone, 15% used apps, and 12% played video games. By age 2, the majority of kids were using mobile devices.

RELATED: 100 Ways to Become a Healthier Family

Yet real life and expert guidelines are at odds when it comes to screen time. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that entertainment media (including TV) be avoided for infants and children under age 2. As their policy paper states, “Studies have shown that excessive media can lead to attention problems, school difficulties, sleep and eating disorders, and obesity.”

Parents may feel good about letting kids use learning apps that promise to teach numbers and letters, but they’re not necessarily beneficial. As psychologist Laura E. Berk, PhD, a specialist in early childhood development, has written for the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood; “Based on scientific evidence on how infants learn, I believe that claims that a two-dimensional touch screen app can teach alphabet letters, numbers, and counting from 1 to 10 to babies (including those as young as 6 months) are inaccurate, seriously misleading to parents, and potentially detrimental to infant development.”

So there’s that. And then there’s this thing called real life. Many parents let children use their devices for practical reasons; 73% of parents in the survey said they let their kids play with mobile devices while they were doing household chores, and 65% did so while running errand.

RELATED: 18 Habits of the Happiest Families

Of course, it makes good sense that lots of screen time isn’t healthy for any child, and may not be an ideal activity for babies. Nor should it substitute for good old playtime. Parents need to avoid overdoing it, too. Another recent study found that cell phones accounted for 30% of parental distraction at playgrounds—a time when kids are more likely to do something dangerous.

Still, when a parent is waiting on a long line at the supermarket or Target, a toddler is getting antsy, and none of the usual stroller toys are helping, handing over a phone for a bit seems like a perfectly reasonable, sane thing to do.

Guidelines from Common Sense Media take a less hardline approach: “Take it from us; A little bit of media isn’t gonna hurt. We simply encourage parents to limit time with screen media for kids under 2….” Instead of just handing over the phone, they recommend, explore words, sounds, and images online together, or check out photos and discuss the people in them.

That’s fun for both parent of child—and a relief for everyone waiting on line around them.

RELATED: 6 Ways Your Mobile Devices Are Hurting Your Body




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2-Minute Walk Every Hour May Help Offset Effects of Sitting

THURSDAY, April 30, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Getting up and walking for two minutes every hour could help reverse the negative health effects from prolonged sitting, new research suggests.

Previous studies have shown that sitting for extended periods of time every day can increase the risk of a number of health issues, such as heart disease, diabetes and premature death.

Current exercise recommendations advise adults to get at least 2.5 hours of moderate physical activity each week. But 80 percent of Americans don’t meet this goal.

The new findings — if confirmed — suggest that even small periods of light activity offer health benefits.

“Exercise is great, but the reality is that the practical amount of vigorous exercise that can be achieved is limited. Our study suggests that even small changes can have a big impact,” said senior study author Tom Greene. He is director of the Study Design and Biostatistics Center at the Center for Clinical and Translational Science at the University of Utah School of Medicine in Salt Lake City.

The findings were published online April 30 in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

The study used data from more than 3,200 people who participated in the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The study volunteers wore devices to measure the intensity of their activities.

The researchers compared the health benefits of longer bouts of low-intensity activities, such as standing, with light-intensity activities, such as walking.

The study participants were followed for three years. During that time, 137 of the people died.

The study found that standing more may not be enough to offset the dangers of sitting for too long, but short bursts of light activities, such as walking, cleaning and gardening, can boost the longevity of people who are sedentary for more than half of their day.

Trading two minutes of sitting for two minutes of light-intensity activity each hour lowered the risk of premature death by 33 percent, the study revealed.

“It was fascinating to see the results because the current national focus is on moderate or vigorous activity. To see that light activity had an association with lower mortality is intriguing,” study lead author Dr. Srinivasan Beddhu, a professor of medicine at the university, said in a university news release.

Over the course of days and weeks, the beneficial effects of walking can add up and help sedentary people get closer to the weekly recommendation for exercise, the researchers explained.

“Based on these results, we would recommend adding two minutes of walking each hour in combination with their normal activities, which should include 2.5 hours of moderate exercise each week,” said Beddhu. Moderate exercise strengthens the heart, muscles and bones, and confers health benefits that low and light activities can’t, according to background information in the news release.

More information

The American Heart Association has more on the benefits of walking.





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Many Pregnant Women Think E-Cigarettes ‘Safer’ Than Regular Cigarettes

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, April 30, 2015 (HealthDay News) — More than 40 percent of pregnant women surveyed think electronic cigarettes are less harmful than tobacco cigarettes, according to a new study.

What’s more, only 57 percent of the women believed that e-cigarettes contain nicotine. And fewer than two-thirds of the women thought that e-cigarettes could be addictive.

“This study is concerning,” said Dr. Edward McCabe, medical director of the March of Dimes.

E-cigarettes are nicotine delivery devices and nicotine can be addictive, McCabe said. In addition, exposing a fetus to nicotine — which can pass from the mother through the placenta — can result in low birth weight and preterm birth.

“There is also strong evidence in animal experiments that nicotine alters brain development,” McCabe said. He added that the U.S. Surgeon General warns pregnant women not to use nicotine in any form.

Some e-cigarettes contain chemicals and heavy metals such as tin, chromium and nickel, which might harm a fetus, McCabe said.

Women need to be educated about e-cigarettes, he said. “It’s not in the best interests of the companies making these products to provide this education. We would hope that there would be other sources of education,” he said.

McCabe said he hopes the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will start regulating e-cigarettes sooner rather than later.

The results of the study were scheduled to be presented at the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists annual meeting in San Francisco. Findings presented at meetings are generally viewed as preliminary until they’ve been published in a peer-reviewed journal.

The research team — led by Dr. Katrina Schafer Mark at the University of Maryland — surveyed 316 pregnant women visiting a university-based outpatient obstetrics and gynecology clinic in Baltimore.

The researchers also found that among the women in the study, 13 percent had ever tried e-cigarettes. Nearly three-quarters of the women who had tried e-cigarettes believed they were less harmful than tobacco. In addition, most of these women also said that e-cigarettes could help them stop smoking.

“Misconceptions about electronic cigarettes are common among pregnant women, posing risks for both maternal and neonatal health,” Mark’s group said. The researchers added that screening and education regarding electronic cigarettes should be included in prenatal care.

Even the industry group the American Vaping Association says pregnant women shouldn’t use e-cigarettes.

“All nicotine use during pregnancy should be avoided, whether the source be cigarettes, e-cigarettes, or nicotine replacement therapy products like nicotine gum and patches. Indeed, studies have shown that nicotine replacement therapy use by pregnant women is tied to low birth weight and preterm birth,” said Gregory Conley, president of the American Vaping Association.

More information

For more on nicotine and pregnancy, visit the March of Dimes.





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Breast Reconstruction Often Involves Multiple Operations

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, April 30, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Most women undergoing breast reconstruction after a mastectomy will need several operations, a new study finds.

Among nearly 4,000 women studied, 88 percent had at least two breast reconstruction operations, 65 percent had more than two, and 39 percent had four or more, the Canadian researchers reported.

“Women undergoing breast reconstruction should expect to have an average of two operations,” lead researcher Dr. Amanda Roberts, a clinical research fellow at the University of Toronto, said during a Thursday morning news conference.

Roberts said that some “re-operations” are expected. These can involve replacing a tissue expander with a permanent breast implant, or recreating a nipple, she explained. The expander is a temporary measure used to stretch breast skin and muscle.

However, some operations are unexpected and deal with long-term complications, such as bleeding, infection or abdominal bulges resulting from the use of abdominal tissue for the breast reconstruction, Roberts said.

“One in 10 patients had one or more unanticipated reapportions,” she said. “Additional surgeries after breast reconstruction can lead to problems, potentially reducing the quality of life.”

For the study, the researchers collected data on 3,972 women who had breast reconstruction between 2002 and 2008.

The findings were to be presented April 30 at the annual meeting of the American Society of Breast Surgeons, in Orlando, Fla.

Dr. Lauren Cassell, chief of breast surgery at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, said having two or more procedures is not unusual.

“This is something we all know,” she said. “If you are an honest plastic surgeon, you will tell your patients this from the get-go.”

Cassell said the goal of reconstruction is to try to make the breast as perfect as possible. “It’s extremely difficult, and the first go-around, sometimes you’re lucky and everything winds up symmetrical and perfect and requires nothing further,” she said. “But very few patients get away with a single procedure.”

In a number of cases, a tissue expander needs to be inserted before the permanent implant is placed, Cassell said. In addition, sometimes a third procedure to recreate a nipple is needed, she said. This procedure ensures that the nipples are perfectly aligned.

“It’s amazing how much less we tolerate an imperfection with a reconstruction than patients do in their own breasts before surgery,” Cassell said. “For women who want to look the best that they can, it may take more than one procedure,” she said.

Usually the first procedure is the major one, Cassell said. After that, the procedures are minor, often involving adjusting the implant or the skin, she explained.

Cassell doesn’t think these multiple operations mean that surgeons are incompetent or greedy. “It’s part of the procedure,” she said. “Everyone is looking for perfection.”

More information

Visit the American Cancer Society for more on breast reconstruction.





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Want to Stay Slim? Keep Food Out of Sight

THURSDAY, April 30, 2015 (HealthDay News) — With food, seeing it is eating it, a new study suggests.

People who keep food in plain sight around the house are more likely to be obese, researchers report, while low self-esteem is another risk factor.

“Self-esteem is important because when adults don’t feel good about themselves, there may be less incentive for implementing behavioral changes in the home environment,” study author Charles Emery, a professor of psychology at Ohio State, said in a university news release.

The study, published April 28 in the International Journal of Obesity, involved 100 volunteers aged 20 to 78. Of these participants, half were obese and the other half were normal weight.

Researchers completed a two-hour home visit with each participant. During this time, they asked each person about eating habits and examined where food was stored in the home, along with the home’s layout. For instance, the researchers measured the distance between the person’s favorite spot and food storage. They also considered any stairs or doors that might block access to food.

Each volunteer also completed a psychological survey. Two weeks after the home visit, researchers followed up with each participant to evaluate the food they bought and their level of physical activity.

The investigators found that obese participants tended to keep food out in the open throughout the house. They also ate more sugar and less healthy foods than those who weren’t obese. Although everyone spent about the same amount of money on food and ate around the same number of calories, those who were a normal weight spent less money on fast food.

“The amount of food in the homes was similar, but in the homes of obese individuals, food was distributed in more locations outside the kitchen,” said Emery. “That speaks to the environment being arranged in a way that may make it harder to avoid eating food. That has not been clearly documented before.”

The obese participants also reported more concern about having sufficient access to food. These people also said avoiding food was more difficult when they were distressed or in situations where eating is socially acceptable.

“This may reflect a greater preoccupation with food, and that is also important. If food is something you’re thinking about a lot, it potentially becomes a source of stress. And yet, it’s something hard not to think about,” Emery said. “You can’t just stop eating, but ideally you can change the way you eat and, to some degree, change the way you’re thinking about eating.”

In addition, low self-esteem and symptoms of depression were more often reported among the obese participants.

Although having food available outside the kitchen and low self-esteem are risk factors for obesity, they do not cause weight problems, the study authors pointed out.

“We’re painting a detailed picture of the home environment that two different groups of people have created. Whether that environment contributed to obesity or obesity led to the environment, we don’t know,” said Emery. “I do think the home environment is a really important place to focus on since that’s where most people spend a majority of their time.”

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases provides facts and statistics on obesity.





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Study Casts Doubt on Use of Common Antibiotic for UTIs in Women

THURSDAY, April 30, 2015 (HealthDay News) — The antibiotic most commonly prescribed for bladder and other urinary tract infections, nitrofurantoin, may not be the most effective option, new research suggests.

More than 25 percent of older adults have reduced kidney function, and bladder infections are a common complaint.

Doctors often turn to nitrofurantoin to treat these and other urinary tract infections (UTIs), but concerns have been raised about the ability of the drug to reach the urinary tract and target bacteria that causes bladder infections, especially in those with poor kidney function.

The new Canadian research was led by Dr. Amit Garg, a nephrologist at Western University in London, Ontario. His team compared the benefits of nitrofurantoin to the effectiveness of other commonly used antibiotics such as ciprofloxacin (“Cipro”) and norfloxicin.

The study, published recently in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, involved 10,000 older women with low kidney function and more than 180,000 women with normal kidney function.

Researchers found that nitrofurantoin was less successful than other drugs in treating UTIs among all of the women in the study — not just those with reduced kidney function.

What’s more, the study suggests that use of nitrofurantoin for UTIs among older women may boost the odds the patient will require a second round of treatment with another antibiotic or a trip to the hospital, the researchers said.

“In our setting, nitrofurantoin was the most commonly prescribed antibiotic for a urinary tract infection in older women irrespective of their kidney function,” Garg said in a journal news release.

“These patients had more treatment failures with nitrofurantoin compared with other antibiotics such as ciprofloxacin,” he added. “However, this was evident regardless of a patient’s level of kidney function.”

One expert believes that nitrofurantoin still may have a place in the treatment of UTIs, however, especially in older patients.

“Treatment of urinary tract infections in the elderly is a balance between management of symptoms and avoidance of complications, and nitrofurantoin is one of the safer antibiotics we can offer,” said Dr. Elizabeth Kavaler, a urologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

Ciproflaxin is an alternative, but “the incidence of complications with Cipro outweighs its usefulness in many of our elderly patients with relatively benign conditions,” Kavaler said. “In addition, increasing resistance to Cipro is making it less effective for the treatment of more serious conditions.”

And Garg’s team stressed that doctors should not avoid prescribing any antibiotic based solely on a woman’s level of kidney function. They should also consider other factors, such as patterns of bacterial resistance, the researchers said.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases provides more information on urinary tract infections.





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Colorado Dog Key to U.S. Plague Outbreak, Study Confirms

By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, April 30, 2015 (HealthDay News) — A Colorado dog last year caused the largest outbreak of pneumonic plague — also called the Black Death — in the United States since 1924, scientists reported Thursday.

Four people, including the dog’s owner, ended up contracting the rare and potentially deadly infection, Colorado public health officials reported. Their findings were published in the May 1 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s journal, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

The outbreak took place in the rural Eastern Plains of Colorado, and centered around a 2-year-old pit bull terrier. The dog had to be put to sleep in June 2014 after developing a mysterious illness that caused bloody mucous.

The pit bull’s owner, a friend of the owner, and two veterinary clinic workers developed similar symptoms in the days that followed. All wound up testing positive for Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes plague.

The plague is infamous for killing millions of Europeans during the Middle Ages. Untreated pneumonic plague has a fatality rate of 93 percent and higher, the study says.

Although now rare, plague still exists in certain areas. About eight human plague cases are reported each year in the United States, the CDC reports. These cases are generally spread by rural rodent populations in parts of the American West.

The last full-fledged pneumonic plague epidemic in the United States occurred in Los Angeles in 1924, according to the CDC.

In last year’s outbreak, public health officials ended up treating 88 people with antibiotics to make sure the illness didn’t spread to anyone else who had been in contact with the dog or any of the four humans, said Dr. John Douglas, executive director of the Tri-County Health Department that serves Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas counties in Colorado.

In Colorado, the regular carriers of plague are prairie dogs, Douglas said. The pit bull likely contracted the plague from a flea that jumped to him from a prairie dog.

It’s not unusual that a flea hitch a ride onto a family pet and then infect a human — that’s how most cases of human plague occur, Douglas said.

What is unusual is that the dog fell terribly ill with plague, so much so that it may have passed the illness directly on to humans. The dog’s symptoms included fever, bloody mucous, shortness of breath and lack of muscle control in its right front leg.

“Dogs were not thought to be animals to get very sick from plague,” Douglas said, noting that he could find only one previous case in the literature that mentioned a dog passing plague along to a human. “Usually when a dog gets exposed to the plague, they either don’t get sick from it or they develop such a mild illness that you wouldn’t know the dog was sick.”

The dog owner, a previously healthy middle-aged man, developed a fever and a cough three days after his pit bull was euthanized. He started coughing up blood, and was hospitalized with an initial diagnosis of pneumonia.

It took nine days following his hospitalization for doctors to identify plague as the culprit, from his blood samples. Liver and lung tissues from the pit bull subsequently tested positive for plague.

While doctors scratched their heads over the man’s strange illness, two vet clinic workers and a close female contact of the dog owner also developed similar symptoms — fever, cough and difficulty breathing.

After the man’s diagnosis, doctors ran blood tests on the others and discovered they also had plague. All four patients recovered after being placed on antibiotics.

With antibiotics, the death rate drops to less than 10 percent for pneumonic plague, according to Douglas.

“It turns out that it is quite treatable if you suspect it and you diagnose it,” he said. “The problem is it’s such an uncommon disease that if you don’t consider it as part of your diagnosis, you may not do the right test and know what you’re dealing with.”

Public health officials swooped in following the diagnosis of plague, identifying 114 people who had contact with either the dog or the plague patients. Antibiotics were prescribed to 88 people, and the remaining 26 were asked to monitor themselves for fever and report any symptoms.

The case serves as a reminder that plague is a potential illness for some people in the rural parts of the American West, Douglas said.

“The greatest risk factor is being around infected rodent populations,” he said. “Folks who live in rural areas and folks who have pets, where those pets can bring fleas into contact with them, are most likely to get sick.”

The thought of the plague may be scary, but Dr. Aaron Glatt, an expert for the Infectious Diseases Society of America, said that “this is not something that people should panic about.”

“If I was practicing out West in a rural area, this is something I would read and take note of,” said Glatt. “It’s not an East Coast disease. If you’re living near prairie dogs, that’s where it’s a concern.”

More information

For more information on plague, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.





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How Amy Schumer’s Boy Band Parody Sparked a Stream of Empowering Selfies

Finally, a boy band tune we can hum with pride! In her spot-on One Direction parody “Girl, You Don’t Need Makeup,” comedian (and feminist superhero) Amy Schumer calls bull on all pop songs that pretend to celebrate natural beauty, when what they really mean is model-like conventional beauty.

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In the video (which also aired Tuesday on her Comedy Central show Inside Amy Schumer), a quartet of young men surround Schumer in her kitchen as she’s about to go out for the day:

“Girl, it ain’t no lie / Look deep into my eyes / You’re perfect and I think you should know / That you don’t need no lipstick / You don’t need no blush / Cause you’ve got that inner natural glow

While the singers dance around her living room, they encourage her to remove “that goop” by chanting a chorus of “Wipe it off!” But as soon as she’s bare-faced, the shocked guys change their tune and usher her back to the vanity.

“Just a little makeup, some natural-looking makeup” the guys beg. Schumer’s exasperated look in the last scene says it all.

RELATED: Jennifer Aniston Says Motherhood Shouldn’t Define Her Value as a Woman

The song pokes fun at the fact that a man’s concept of beauty au natural is totally skewed. Clear skin, a glowing complexion, long, full lashes—making all that look natural takes work. So let’s not pretend it doesn’t.

Hilariously, the sketch captures how much work we need to do to re-think our culture’s definition of beauty. (At the very least, it really would be nice to not feel pressure to look perfectly put together all the time.)

But what we love most about this sketch is that Schumer turned it into an empowerment movement: When she tweeted a request for bare-faced photos Tuesday night, the #girlyoudontneedmakeup hashtag quickly went viral.

These are just a few of the refreshing snaps Schumer retweeted:

RELATED: 7 Times Celebrities Embraced Their Natural Beauty

Now that is beautiful.

RELATED: 9 Ways to Silence Your Inner Critic




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Why This Mom Was Food Shamed for Packing Oreos in Her Daughter’s Lunch


 
When packing a lunch for her daughter Natalee one day last week, Leeza Pearson tossed in a sandwich, string cheese, and—since she was out of veggies and fruit—4 Oreo cookies as a snack.

Imagine her surprise when her 4-year-old returned home that day—Oreos untouched—with a judgy note from Children’s Academy in Aurora, Colorado, which read:

“Dear Parents, it is very important that all students have a nutritious lunch. This is a public school setting and all children are required to have a fruit, a vegetable and a healthy snack from home, along with a milk. If they have potatoes, the child will also need bread to go along with it. Lunchables, chips, fruit snacks, and peanut butter are not considered to be a healthy snack. This is a very important part of our program and we need everyone’s participation.”

Let’s just say that Mom wasn’t amused. “I think it is definitely over the top, especially because they told her she can’t eat what is in her lunch,” Pearson told ABC News. “They should have at least allowed to eat her food and contacted me to explain the policy and tell me not to pack them again.” (The school doesn’t provide lunches.)

RELATED: 13 Delicious Twists on Classic Lunches

“Over the top” is one way to put it; galling is another. Maybe I’m not the right person to weigh in on this, seeing how Double Stuff Oreos comprise one of my four major food groups, but this story doesn’t seem to be so much about the importance of good nutrition as it is about overriding a parent’s authority—not to mention handling the situation in the most ham-fisted way possible.

A spokeswoman for the Aurora Public Schools—who is probably praying this story goes away soon—explained that while it’s not set policy to drop preachy notes in lunchboxes, they do want to encourage healthy eating.

RELATED: 5 Tips for Packing a Healthy Lunch

Note to Aurora Public Schools: If that’s the case you may want to re-think that carbfest combo of potatoes and bread mentioned in the missive above. What’s more, you probably shouldn’t be sending out mixed signals. (Pearson claims the children were asked to bring in candy for an Easter celebration this past April and given jelly beans as a snack while staying for after-school care.)

“[My daughter] is not overweight by any means and I usually try to feed her healthy,” Pearson said. “It’s not like I was offering cookies to the entire class and it’s not like that was the only thing in her lunch.”

Hmm…wonder what they’re eating in the teachers’ lounge? Besides crow, I mean.

RELATED: 3 Easy School Lunch Ideas

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7 Cats Who Have Better Posture Than You

Who’s a cute little boy? Who? Who?

No, seriously. What the heck?

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I’m not a cat person. Those gotta-see YouTube videos of funny felines has never been my thing. Kitty Stuck in Hamster Ball? Eh. Cats Playing Patty Cake. Yawn. Drunk Cat. Ninja Cats. Keyboard Cat? Nothing. Even the frowning-phenomenon that is Grumpy Cat leaves me kind of cold.

But it looks like Standing Cat is the Internet feline to finally do me in. George is an 8-month-old munchkin/exotic shorthair who has a propensity for standing on two legs and stealing hearts.

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His owner Andrew Park, 28, of Austin, Texas, isn’t sure why George likes going upright, telling Today.com, “He is a cat, so it’s difficult to judge his motivations. He kind of just does what he wants. Sometimes it is because he hears something, sometimes he does it to scope out an area and sometimes it just seems like he feels a bit suspicious of his surroundings. It really is hilarious.” Park also added—unnecessarily, we might add—that George is a “total sweetheart.”

RELATED: 12 Ways to Beat Cat Allergies

No big shocker, the ginger-toned tabby—who has drawn comparisons to everyone from Garfield to actor Wilford Brimley, of The Waltons (seriously, what is it with cats and Wilford Brimley??)—is fast becoming a social-media sensation, racking up more than 26,000 Instagram followers. He’s also got his own Facebook page and YouTube channel.

But what’s even better is that George seems to be one of many Standing Cats. Hilariously, balancing on two tiny hind legs, these cats all have better posture than most people (myself included). Does your stand-and-deliver stance leave something to be desired? Take a cue from these kitties.

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(And yes, that is Taylor Swift’s cat, Olivia Benson, captured by her new boo, Calvin Harris.)

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Sharing Breast Milk May Pose Risks Women Haven’t Considered

THURSDAY, April 30, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Women may be using shared breast milk from friends and family, but they don’t always consider the risks involved with providing donor milk to their babies, a new survey shows.

As many as one-third of women don’t consider the health of a breast milk donor. The researchers also found few women are discussing with their doctor the option of using donor breast milk from a friend or family member before engaging in the practice.

“We’re trying to play catch-up to understanding something that thousands of women are already doing so that health care professionals and women can make better decisions for themselves and their babies,” said Sarah Keim. She is a principal investigator with the Center for Biobehavioral Health at The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.

“Our study found that friends and relatives and the media are playing a huge role in education and dialogue around breast milk sharing, but that health care practitioners are being left out,” Keim said in a hospital news release. “And that’s concerning, because there are risks involved with feeding your baby breast milk from another woman — friend or stranger.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics has a clear policy on the dangers associated with feeding babies unpasteurized milk, but there are no guidelines on the sharing of breast milk among friends or relatives.

Many women want to breast-feed but can’t, which has caused the unregulated breast milk industry to flourish, according to the study authors. Breast milk is bought, sold and traded with the hope of providing infants with its proven health benefits.

But, previous studies have shown that breast milk sold online may be contaminated with cow’s milk, chemicals or bacteria. Nonprofit milk banks screen donated breast milk rigorously, but their limited supplies tend to go to hospitalized, premature babies.

Breast milk sold at milk banks can cost up to $4 per ounce, forcing some women to turn to friends and relatives for help.

In investigating this issue, the researchers asked 500 new mothers in central Ohio what they knew about breast milk sharing and if they had ever used donated milk, or had donated milk themselves. The researchers found women with more education and higher incomes were more likely to be aware of breast milk sharing and to have considered engaging in this practice than women with less education and lower incomes.

Of all the women polled, 77 percent were familiar with breast milk sharing. Of these women, 67 percent said they would consider the health of the mother before using her donated milk. The researchers pointed out the remaining 33 percent of respondents didn’t consider this a priority. Meanwhile, 27 percent of the women surveyed said that they hadn’t considered the safety of using another woman’s breast milk.

Roughly 4 percent of the women had either used or donated breast milk or given it to another woman’s child. Less than half of these women did so with friends or relatives. None of the women reported buying breast milk online, according to the researchers.

About 45 percent of the women said they produced more milk than their child needed.

“This is the first study to look at the characteristics of women who are more or less likely to engage in the practice of breast milk sharing, and can help give physicians a starting point for dialogue with their patients,” Keim said.

“If you have difficulty with breast-feeding, seek help right away, and if breast-feeding isn’t an option, work closely with your baby’s pediatrician to come up with a plan for feeding your baby that meets their unique needs. Some babies have difficulty growing or have medical conditions that require different strategies,” Keim advised.

More information

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration provides more information on the use of donor breast milk.





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