Tips for healthy eating

1. Eat a variety of nutrient-rich foods. You need more than 40 different nutrients for good health, and no single food supplies them all.

2. Enjoy plenty of whole grains, fruits and vegetables.

3. Maintain a healthy weight – not too fat, not too thin. The weight that’s right for you depends on your sex, height, age and heredity.

4. Eat moderate portions. (The recommended cooked meat portion is 3 ounces, about the size of a deck of cards.)

5. Eat regular meals. Skipping can lead to out-of-control hunger, and overeating.

6. Reduce, but don’t necessarily eliminate certain foods. The key is moderation.

7. Know your diet pitfalls. To improve your eating habits you need to know what’s wrong with them.

8. Make changes gradually. Remedy excesses or deficiencies in your diet with modest changes that can add up to positive, lifelong eating habits.

Source http://www.bluemountaineagle.com/news/local_news/tips-for-healthy-eating/article_c736a81e-5af9-11e0-8b0c-001cc4c03286.html

6 Tips to Improve Hospital Employee Engagement

Memorial Health System in Springfield, Ill., embarked on a journey several years ago to improve its employee engagement. In a 2004 survey of employees at Memorial Medical Center (the health system’s flagship hospital), employee engagement scored in the 30th percentile nationally. As a result, making Memorial Health System "a great to place work" was established as one of the health system’s three strategies. Over the next five years, the system steadily improved in this area, and in 2010, the hospital scored in the 94th percentile for employee satisfaction. The system has been named an "Employer of Choice" for three years, and its affiliate, Memorial Physician Services, earned the award twice before the system applied as a whole. Brad Warren, senior vice president and chief people officer, and Brian Tieman, system director, employee relations, say making engagement an organizational imperative was a key driver in the system's success. Here they share six tactics for other hospitals looking to improve their employee engagement.

1. Make engagement part of your hospital's core strategy. Employee engagement directly impacts a hospital's success, and as such, it should be part of a hospital's overall strategy — not just a task assigned to the human resources department. “Engagement is critical in any service-oriented business,” says Mr. Warren. "We believe great patient care and service is best delivered by employees who are engaged and passionate about our mission," he says.

2. Gain support from senior leadership. Senior leaders must show their commitment to improving engagement in order for improvements to take hold. "No one will believe engagement is a priority unless [the senior leadership team], takes engagement very seriously and displays that level of engagement by modeling the way," says Mr. Warren.

Buy-in from leadership throughout the health system should come naturally. "The only way for Memorial Health System to fulfill its mission to improve the health of the people and communities we serve is to have the unfailing support of employees and their understanding of how their work supports our mission, vision and strategic goals,” he adds. “That level of support will require the highest levels of employee engagement."

3. Hold managers accountable. Senior leaders can best demonstrate their commitment to engagement by holding the leaders who are their direct reports accountable for improving engagement scores and encouraging those leaders to do the same for those who report to them. "Senior leaders need to be actively involved in ensuring a sense of accountability to the teams under their direction," says Mr. Warren. "Without this, we could become complacent."

At Memorial Health System, every department supervisor, manager or director across all affiliates meets with his or her leader to go over employee survey results and develop an action plan to address any deficiencies in the department. "We have made changes in staffing if results did not improve," says Mr. Warren.

4. Provide training. If hospitals plan to hold supervisors accountable for improving engagement, they should offer training to enhance supervisors' skills in this area.

Memorial Health System holds training sessions it cleverly calls "Great Place to Workshops," which are open to any supervisor within the organization. These sessions, offer supervisors training on leadership and provide management tools and techniques. The health system also holds a special workshop each year solely focused on helping mangers interpret employee survey results and develop action plans around them, says Mr. Warren.

The system also demonstrated its commitment to training by adding an organization development division within its human resources department. These specialists work one-on-one with managers of lower-scoring departments to develop action plans to improve engagement. They also staff open "survey labs" where managers can drop by for help interpreting survey results, developing action plans and tracking improvement progress.

5. Share best practices. Hospital leaders should also facilitate the sharing of best practices to improve employee engagement. Memorial Health System holds workshops that give managers the opportunity to share best practices for survey participation and engagement and has created best practice tip sheets featuring some of the most popular ideas. The system also invites managers of departments that have experienced significant improvements to speak and answer questions about their successes at the Great Place to Workshops.

"Having our own managers share their best practices is very well received," says Mr. Tieman. "Employees enjoy hearing success stories from their colleagues, not just, for example, by a best-selling author."

Examples of the best practices include rewarding departments that meet survey participation goals with a free luncheon or other activity, holding regular department themed events to encourage camaraderie and sending employees birthday cards in the mail thanking them for their hard work throughout the year.

However, the most successful best practice the health system uncovered seems to be one of the simplest — involving all employees, not just managers, in engagement efforts. Some departments have "green teams" — teams of employees that work throughout the year to encourage survey participation and move survey scores from the red levels that require improvement to performance that reflects attributes of an engaged workforce.

"Ultimately what has made a difference in our engagement journey is that it has been a collective effort between employees and leaders, not leaders doing it alone," says Mr. Tieman. "Yes, the manager is the leader, but every employee is part of the solution."

6. Focus on employee relationships with front-line supervisors. Memorial Health has placed extra emphasis on improving employees' relationships with their front-line supervisors in response to research suggesting this is one of the most crucial links to engagement.

Improving that relationship involves training supervisors to be more open and supportive with employees. Memorial Health System has had significant success in this area. In 2010, 83 percent of staff at Memorial said they agreed with the statement "My manager or immediate supervisor is receptive to staff suggestions," up from 41 percent in 2006.

Another key responsibility of front line supervisors is helping employees understand how their role supports the organization's mission, vision and goals. "The more information we can provide on how the work of all employees in all professions and walks in life impacts our success, the more success we'll have," says Mr. Warren.

Supervisors should not only model passion for their job but also help employees develop passion for their work through giving it meaning. "Part of the role of the supervisor is to connect our vision and mission to the work employees under their direction do every day," he says. "This is something that really can only be done through a personal relationship."

Mr. Warren adds, "’Value of employees’ is one of our seven organizational values. That tells you how critical we view employee engagement to be to our success. Buildings are important, standards are critical…but the best strategy for creating great patient experiences and delivering high-quality, patient-centered care is through the hands and hearts of engaged people."

Source http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-financial-and-business-news/6-tips-to-improve-hospital-employee-engagement.html

Tips For Lowering Cholesterol Naturally

There are many tools for lowering cholesterol naturally that you may want to consider if you have high cholesterol. Many people go on crash diets or change all sorts of things about their lives, taking drastic measures to lower their cholesterol.

You do not need to do any of these things to lower your cholesterol, however. Using natural products, changing your lifestyle gradually and introducing healthier foods are some of the best ways of lowering cholesterol naturally.

Cholesterol is a type of fat made by your liver. Some of that fat comes from the food you eat, while some of it is already in your body. All of the foods that come from animals have some form of cholesterol in them, whereas plant foods do not have cholesterol in them. Foods that are high in saturated fats can raise your cholesterol level considerably, so having a balanced diet is really the best way to approach the cholesterol situation.

Not all cholesterol is bad for you, however. Some cholesterol is necessary for good health, but too much of it can raise your blood pressure and make medical problems such as heart attacks or strokes more common. When you have extra cholesterol in your blood, it causes your arteries to narrow as they become clogged. This may even lead to the artery becoming completely blocked with cholesterol.

Using Natural Products to Lower Cholesterol

Lowering cholesterol naturally using natural products is one of the best ways to accomplish your goal. Remember that herbal treatments and other natural remedies have been around a lot longer than the conventional pharmaceutical treatments you are likely to find at your drug store.

Herbal treatments come from trees, plants and other natural sources, meaning that you must be careful about what you are taking. Herbal treatments typically are not regulated, so it really is a “use at your own risk” situation.

Many natural products seem to reduce cholesterol. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates natural herbal products, but much of the investigation into the products is not completed to the same high level as conventional medicines. Therefore, it is important to be careful when you are considering herbal treatments of any kind. Always consult your doctor before trying anything new when lowering cholesterol naturally.

The following products have been recognized for their effectiveness in lowering cholesterol:

- Garlic

- B vitamins

- Soy

- Fiber

- Chromium

- Grape seed extract

- Vitamin C

- Pantothine

There are many other natural products and herbal remedies that may assist in lowering cholesterol, so consult your doctor or locate a good herbalist for more information. You want to be careful when it comes to combining cholesterol medication and natural remedies, as some of the side effects may clash.

Making Lifestyle Changes

There are many things you can do to help lower cholesterol naturally and changing the way you choose to live your life is one of them. You may have to make lifestyle changes to lower your cholesterol levels and start putting yourself back on the road to health, but do not despair. Making some minor lifestyle changes is not very difficult and, in fact, many of the changes you make will benefit you in other areas of your life. With lower cholesterol, you will start feeling more energetic and you will have more vitality.

Exercise – this is probably the most important thing you can do to lower your cholesterol levels and keep them down. Try getting moderate exercise a few times a week (about 30 minutes a day for a few days a week). Ease yourself into a program and get your body moving, but take it easy. You don't need to run for miles or do thousands of weight lifting exercising in order to stave off the effects of high cholesterol. You just need to get active and start introducing your body to other forms of exercise beyond reaching for the remote control.

Quit smoking – this is arguably the second most important thing you can do. If you don't smoke, don't start. If you do, quit. Smoking actually lowers the level of good cholesterol in your blood, making it a lot harder to fight off the bad cholesterol. It also creates a higher risk of heart disease and can really zap the energy in your lungs. You can bring down your cholesterol and drastically lower your risk of heart disease if you quit smoking now, so what's stopping you?

Watch what you eat – eating a proper diet is not that complicated, especially when it comes to lowering your cholesterol. You will want to maintain a healthy balance in your diet, but you should also integrate a lot more fruits and vegetables. Remember that fruits and vegetables are low in calories and fat, so that will help out a great deal with your goal. Also cut down on your consumption of saturated fats, as these typically are not good for your diet. Use whole grains as much as possible and eat plenty of natural fiber products.

Keep your stress down – keep a lid on your anger and other emotions that you feel physically. You will want to try to find time in your day to de-stress from work properly without turning to destructive devices like drinking or smoking. Getting proper exercise is a great way to blow off steam, so try going for a quick run next time you feel angry. Part of lowering cholesterol in a natural way includes keeping your body away from harmful reactions such as stress because stress puts a strain on your system and can contribute to heart problems.

Dietary Changes

As we touched upon briefly, making some dietary changes is a good idea when it comes to lowering cholesterol naturally. You will want to achieve the balance of lowering high cholesterol foods and increasing the level of low cholesterol foods you eat. High fiber products and foods low in saturated fats are important in a low cholesterol diet, of course, but you will also want to integrate fruits and vegetables.

There are a number of dietary options for low cholesterol out there and several hundred diet books and websites that promise to lower your cholesterol. The truth is that there is no one single plan that can help you lower your cholesterol. Instead, you will need to work with your family and your doctor to find a dietary plan that best works with your lifestyle. Here are a few pointers:

-Eat more fruits and vegetables

-Avoid trans fats and saturated fats

-Use whole grains and whole wheat products instead of standard white products, such as flour or rice

-Stay away from high levels of carbohydrates

-Use low-fat dairy products, especially skim milk, instead of conventional dairy products

-Use lean meats, such as turkey, chicken or fish, instead of red meat

-Use olive and canola oils when cooking

-Attempt to use low-fat alternatives for dips and sauces

There are a number of other dietary secrets that you can use, but these are some basics. Try to find your own way to eat healthy and keep your cholesterol levels down. If you work with your diet, you will start to find that some of the solutions to your problems are right in front of you. Making a dietary change is not that difficult, after all.

Lowering cholesterol naturally can seem like a daunting and complicated task that will transform your whole life and have you eating unbuttered whole wheat bread and water for every meal while you run laps around your block. The truth is that there are some lifestyle changes you can make to help lower your cholesterol, but the effort is worth it. Try using some natural products, make some subtle lifestyle changes and try adding some healthy foods to your diet. You will find that lowering your cholesterol does not have to be an impossible goal and that it really isn't all that hard to do!

Always Consult Your Physician First

Although it is helpful to get health information by reading and talking with friends, make sure you consult your doctor first before trying any new treatment or changing your diet. Remember that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not strictly regulate the strength, purity or safety of herbs and supplements. Be sure to always read product labels. If you have a medical condition, or are taking other drugs, herbs, or supplements, speak with your doctor before taking medical action or changing your health routine. This information is not intended to replace the advice of a doctor. LifeScript disclaims any liability for the decisions made by its readers based on the information provided.

Source http://news.peacefmonline.com/health/201103/148593.php

Simple Tips for Relieving Common Digestive Problems

Although many television viewers are bombarded with advertisements for medications that claim to relieve or prevent digestive discomfort, some recommendations from Fox News may help people control these conditions without medical intervention.

Individuals who experience uncomfortable sensations in their chest and throat after they eat may suffer from heartburn. The news organization suggested that people who have these symptoms should avoid eating in large quantities, along with fried foods and carbonated drinks.

Those who suffer from disruptive bowel activity may benefit from increasing their fiber intake. However, the news source noted that individuals who have irritable bowel syndrome should only consume fiber from natural foods, not dietary supplements. Apples, beans and citrus fruits are all healthy sources of fiber.

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), about 70 million Americans have digestive diseases.

Certain foods and medications may exacerbate symptoms of these disorders, so keeping track of which products cause discomfort may help people avoid future complications or identify potential allergies.

The NIH added that overweight individuals are more likely to suffer from digestive problems, but participating in regular exercise may help reduce occurrences of heartburn or bowel troubles.

Source http://www.drcutler.com/digestive-health/simple-tips-for-relieving-common-digestive-problems-800468027/

10 Health Benefits of Eggs

Some of you may have eaten eggs over the Easter weekend so I thought I'd post ten health benefits of eggs (and it doesn't count if they were chocolate eggs!)

1. Eggs are great for the eyes. According to one study, an egg a day may prevent macular degeneraton due to the carotenoid content, specifically lutein and zeaxanthin. Both nutrients are more readily available to our bodies from eggs than from other sources.

2. In another study, researchers found that people who eat eggs every day lower their risk of developing cataracts, also because of the lutein and zeaxanthin in eggs.

3. One egg contains 6 grams of high-quality protein and all 9 essential amino acids.

4. According to a study by the Harvard School of Public Health, there is no significant link between egg consumption and heart disease. In fact, according to one study, regular consumption of eggs may help prevent blood clots, stroke, and heart attacks.

5. They are a good source of choline. One egg yolk has about 300 micrograms of choline. Choline is an important nutrient that helps regulate the brain, nervous system, and cardiovascular system.

6. They contain the right kind of fat. One egg contains just 5 grams of fat and only 1.5 grams of that is saturated fat.

7. New research shows that, contrary to previous belief, moderate consumption of eggs does not have a negative impact on cholesterol. In fact, recent studies have shown that regular consumption of two eggs per day does not affect a person's lipid profile and may, in fact, improve it. Research suggests that it is saturated fat that raises cholesterol rather than dietary cholesterol.

8. Eggs are one of the only foods that contain naturally occurring vitamin D.

9. Eggs may prevent breast cancer. In one study, women who consumed at least 6 eggs per week lowered their risk of breast cancer by 44%.

10. Eggs promote healthy hair and nails because of their high sulphur content and wide array of vitamins and minerals. Many people find their hair growing faster after adding eggs to their diet, especially if they were previously deficient in foods containing sulphur or B12.

Source  http://www.healthdiaries.com/eatthis/10-health-benefits-of-eggs.html

Advantages of Eating Fish Foods / Fish Food-Advantages of Eating

Regular consumption of fish can reduce the risk of various diseases and disorders. Selected research findings indicate the following:

Asthma - children who eat fish may be less likely to develop asthma.

Brain and eyes - fish rich in omega 3 fatty acids can contribute to the health of brain tissue and the retina (the light sensitive tissue lining the inner surface of the eye).

Cancer - the omega 3 fatty acids in fish may reduce the risk of many types of cancers by 30 to 50 per cent, especially of the oral cavity, oesophagus, colon, breast, ovary and prostate.

Cardiovascular disease - eating fish every week reduces the risk of heart disease and stroke by reducing blood clots and inflammation, improving blood vessel elasticity, lowering blood pressure, lowering blood fats and boosting 'good' cholesterol

Dementia - elderly people who eat fish or seafood at least once a week may have a lower risk of developing dementia, including Alzheimer's disease.

Depression - people who regularly eat fish have a lower incidence of depression (depression is linked to low levels of omega 3 fatty acids in the brain).

Diabetes - fish may help people with diabetes manage their blood sugar levels.

Eyesight - breastfed babies of mothers who eat fish have better eyesight, perhaps due to the omega 3 fatty acids transmitted in breast milk.

Inflammatory conditions - regular fish consumption may relieve the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and autoimmune disease.

Prematurity - eating fish during pregnancy may help reduce the risk of delivering a premature baby.

Source  http://www.medindia.net/Patients/patientinfo/fishfood_health.htm

A Few Natural Tips for Women

Between premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and female endocrine disorders like polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), women can have it tough. But thank goodness the natural products industry in constantly evolving with new research, new discoveries and new ways to help aggravate, thwart and prevent women’s health woes.

NewsMax.com listed a few natural supplements that are good for women with PCOS’s many symptoms. The list included chaste berry for fertility, buckwheat and omega-3s for polycystic ovaries, saw palmetto for testosterone reduction, ginseng for menstrual irregularities, and biotin (a B vitamin) for improved glucose tolerance and management of insulin resistance.

On a separate note, a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found high intake of B vitamins—specifically thiamine (vitamin B1) and riboflavin (vitamin B2) only sourced from food—significantly lowered the risk of PMS in women (Feb. 23, 2011). Researchers conducted a case-control study nested within the Nurses’ Health Study II cohort. Participants were free of PMS at baseline (1991). After 10 years of follow up, 1,057 women were confirmed as cases and 1968 were confirmed as controls. Dietary information was collected in 1991, 1995 and 1999 by using food-frequency questionnaires.

Intakes of thiamine and riboflavin from food sources were each inversely associated with incident PMS. For example, women in the highest quintile of riboflavin intake 2 to 4 years before the diagnosis year had a 35-percent lower risk of developing PMS than did those in the lowest. No significant associations between incident PMS and dietary intakes of niacin, vitamin B-6, folate and vitamin B-12 were observed. Interestingly, intake of B vitamins from supplements was not associated with a lower risk of PMS.

Which foods are rich in thiamine and riboflavin? Thiamine is found in pork and yeast, with cereal grains an important source due to their ubiquity. Other food sources include oatmeal, flax, kale, eggs and oranges. Riboflavin can be found in milk, cheese, leafy green vegetables and almonds.

Source http://www.naturalproductsmarketplace.com/news/2011/03/a-few-natural-tips-for-women.aspx