Nutrition and Your Mental Health

Healty Heart Tips

Everyday Heart Health Tips

If you're not convinced about the need to develop an exercise program for your life, you can at least try following some of these tips in your everyday routine. Take advantage of any opportunity for exercise. Try some today.

• Take the stairs instead of an elevator or escalator at school or the mall. Just start with one flight. Soon, you'll be ready for two.
• Park your car at the far end of the parking lot. The short walk to and from the store or school helps your heart.
• If you ride a bus or subway, get off a stop before your destination. Walk the rest of the way.
• If you can, spend a few minutes of your lunch break taking a stroll around the campus grounds. It should help you stay awake after lunch.
• Think of housework as an extra chance to exercise. Vacuuming briskly can be a real workout.
• Mowing the lawn, pulling weeds, and raking leaves are chores that can be done yourself as a chance to exercise.
• If you have a dog, think of the dog as an exercise machine with fur. A brisk walk with the dog is good for both of your hearts. Make it a part of your daily routine.
• If you have a family, schedule an after-dinner walk. Make it quality time.

SKIN CARE TIPS

For Glowing skin

• A facemask of egg white and honey gently removes the tan from your face.
• Mix oats with honey, yogurt and ground almonds. Apply this in your face, leave it for five minutes and wash with lukewarm water.
• Cucumber is a natural cleanser. Mix cucumber juice with milk and use it instead of a cleanser.
• For oily skin, apply a mixture of grapes, lemon and egg white. Leave it for 20 minutes and rinse with warm water. While lemon acts as a natural cleanser, grapes will soften your skin and egg whites will tighten it. Don’t be alarmed if your skin tingles.
• Cut the lemon and rub the wedge all over your face. Leave it for about 20 minutes, then rinse off with cold water. This will refresh your face. Avoid doing this if you have dry skin.
• Mix honey, lemon and vegetable oil .This mixture is a good moisturiser for dry skin. Apply this mask for 10 minutes.
• Apply the mixture of honey and milk on the face . This will make your skin glow.
• Prepare a mask by mixing a slice of pumpkin with egg yolk and milk. Let this mask set on your face for 30 minutes for a glowing skin.
• Mix half-a-cup honey to your bath water for soft and smooth skin.
• For a soothing body pack, prepare a paste of mint leaves and almonds. Mix it with warm water and apply all over your body. Leave it till it dries and rinse with warm water.
• Buttermilk dabbed on skin for 15 minutes will soak up oil from your skin without drying it.
• Carrot juice applied daily fades blemishes.
• For dark underarms and neck apply lemon juice mixed with cucumber juice and a pinch of turmeric daily. Leave this on for 20 minutes.
• For removing facial hair.. Apply a sticky paste of egg white blended with sugar and corn flour. When it dries, gently peel it off. Repeat this three to four times a week.
• Thin apple slices rubbed onto oily skin will help in controlling oily shine.
• For supple skin, apply a ripe smashed banana on your face for 20 minutes daily.
• Cauliflower juice applied on warts regularly will make them fall.
• For a fair skin, try this natural bleach. Mix orange peels (sun dried and powdered) with milk. Apply this paste for 25 minutes and wash off.
• Mix half teaspoon dried curry leaf powder with multani mitti (fullers earth) and apply on the face. Wash it after it gets dry.
• Apply the mixture of tomato juice and honey on the face and neck , wash it after 15 minutes.
• Apply the mixture of carrot juice and basin. Leave it till it dries and wash the face.
• Add two teaspoon of tomato juice with 4 teaspoon of curd and apply on the face.
• Add a pinch of yeast with 2 teaspoon of cabbage juice and apply.
• Mix 1 table spoon of barley powder with half teaspoon of lime juice and 1 teaspoon of honey. Apply it on the face and wash after 20 minutes.
• Mix pineapple juice and carrot juice together and apply it on the face and wash it after 15 minutes.
• Mix vinegar and rose water in equal quantities and apply.
• Mix curd and cucumber juice and apply it on the face.
• Apply the mixture of coconut water and thick pineapple juice.
• Make a paste with 1/2 teaspoon of milk powder, 1/4 teaspoon of egg white and 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice and apply on the face.
• For dry skin, Make a paste with egg yolk, olive oil and lemon juice. Apply it on the neck and face, wash it out after 10 minutes.
• For oily skin, take a mixture of oatmeal and egg white and apply it on the neck and face
• For glowing skin, use basin or green gram powder mixed with milk instead of soap.
• Apply the mixture of raw turmeric and cream of milk on the face and wash it after 20 minutes. It will make your skin fair.
• Apply the mixture of honey, basin, cream of milk and olive oil as a face pack.
• Apply the paste of fenugreek with milk on the face and let it dry. Wash off with luke warm water.

• Make a paste of red sandal wood and apply it on the face every day for glowing skin.

• Make a paste with red sandal powder and coconut milk and apply on the face for soft skin.

The Long Tail of the EMR

In the fall of 2008 I had the opportunity to do some research on the, then dormant, EMR marketplace. The results came as no surprise. Most physicians did not have an EMR and were not interested in adopting an EMR due to cost and usability barriers.

Much has changed in one short year. Spurred by ARRA and its HITECH portion, there is a renewed interest for technology in the physician community. Some of it came from the promise of stimulus funds and some stems from the perceived inevitability of the need to have technology in one's office. There is no feverish anticipation of the great things an EMR will bring to a medical practice. Instead, there seems to be a somber resignation to the upcoming demise of a trusted friend: the paper chart.

On the other side of the market, vendors are gearing up for 2010. Since stimulus funds are supposed to begin flowing in 2011, the coming year is crucial to most vendors. There is a palpable sense of urgency for capturing market share before it is too late, and all physicians have made their choices. After all, once a physician buys and uses an EMR, changing vendors is not an easy proposition. Transferring clinical data from one EMR to another is practically impossible and the costs of change are high.

The HIT news is chockfull of announcements of mega deals almost every day. Mergers and acquisitions are rampant. Vendors are signing multi million dollar deals with large hospitals, medical organizations and regional healthcare groups to provide EMRs to affiliated physicians. At this point in the game, there are two vendors clearly ahead of the pack in the ambulatory market: Allscripts and eClinicalWorks. It is likely that the next months will add a few more contenders for large chunks of market share, most likely athena, NextGen and probably GE. These large corporations, most of them public, are very well poised to capitalize on the ARRA stimulus. They have the marketing power, the infrastructure and the ability to forge business agreements with equally large distribution partners that will lead to significant sales through 2010 and 2011.

However, the ambulatory EMR market has a very Long Tail.

Granted, the EMR market is not a consumer market per se. It has a finite size of a few hundred thousand customers and once a customer buys one EMR, it is very unlikely that he/she will be buying another one for at least several years. However, certain aspects of Chris Anderson's Long Tail theory still apply to the ambulatory EMR market.

Examining the current state of EMR adoption reveals that a handful of products are used by many physicians, while hundreds of others are used by very few, and some homegrown EMRs are only used by their creator and maybe friends and family. These hundreds of small to tiny products are the Long Tail of the EMR market and the tail has been getting longer and longer ever since HITECH became law. Unfortunately for small vendors, the tail has been also getting narrower at most points, and many existing small businesses, as well as new entrants, are hurting.

Few medium size vendors, in the thicker part of the tail, have been around for a while and are no better and no worse than the large players. Their survival will depend on finding ways to manage costs down and identify niches where they can provide unique service.

Then there are the newer web based, or internet based, EMRs. Most have price points significantly lower than the popular products. Unfortunately, the product quality in this group is not superior to the large EMRs. These vendors are most at risk of being wiped out by the bigger, better funded competition, who is also exploring the “cloud” based paradigm.

The homegrown products will likely always exist and serve the limited market they were designed to serve, with no major effect on the overall EMR market.

And then there is the exciting part of the tail, the part where innovation occurs. Tails are much better suited to breeding innovative solutions and the EMR Long Tail is no different. The tail contains several open source products that grow and innovate based on active user participation and distributed development efforts. These are worth watching. Other residents of the tail are attempting to formulate novel business models based on aggregation of smaller software packages, such as electronic prescribing, registries and patient connectivity. Some of these companies are veteran portal service providers adding new service lines to meet government regulations. DocSite, RelayHealth and Quest 360 are just a few. Others are trying to create entire platforms on which interchangeable software service providers can aggregate their wares. And then there is the entire Health 2.0 phenomena attempting to bring consumerism to health care, but that deserves its own separate analysis.

The takeaway for small vendors in the EMR space is that one can create a very profitable business in the EMR Long Tail. Physicians are not a homogeneous group of customers and it is very unlikely that that the utilitarian large EMR vendors will be able to satisfy the majority of the market. Multiple niche opportunities already exist in providing services tailored to particular medical specialties and various practice models, such as medical homes, concierge medicine, telemedicine, micro practices and more. More niche opportunities will be created by physician work-flow preferences and proliferation of non-physician providers. Tail companies that learn how to answer the needs of these niches by providing high quality solutions, while keeping costs of customization and service to a minimum, will thrive.

Since in the software world nobody stays on top for very long (except Microsoft), a disruptive enough technology breakthrough will eventually occur and the EMR market will be irrevocably changed, and the change will likely be brought on by someone from the Long Tail.

Margalit Gur-Arie was COO at GenesysMD (Purkinje), an HIT company focusing on web based EHR/PMS and billing services for physicians. Prior to GenesysMD, Margalit was Director of Product Management at Essence/Purkinje and HIT Consultant for SSM Healthcare, a large non-profit hospital organization.

What You Need To Know About Eczema

Eczema covers a whole multitude of skin problems that cause the skin to become inflamed or irritated. The most common form of eczema is known as atopic dermatitis/eczema. Atopic eczema occurrences are on the rise in within the U.S. population, especially in young children and infants. Commonly, infants who develop the condition will outgrow it by their second birthday but many continue having that problem, requiring treatment throughout their lives.

Eczema commonly causes itching and often with that itching comes a rash, the rash normally appears on the face, knees, hands or feet but also affects other areas. The affected areas may appear dry and thickened, it may also have a scaly appearance. Fair skinned people may have reddish or brownish rashes while darker skinned people may have lighter or darker patches. Although there is no cure for eczema, it can be well managed by treatments as well as avoiding triggers.

In treating eczema, the main goal is to relieve and then prevent itching. Because the disease creates dryness that leads to itchiness, lotions and creams are recommended to keep the skin moist. Usually these are applied after showers or baths while the skin is still moist. If itching is already an issue, cold compresses may relieve it. Hydrocortisone and other prescription creams and ointments that contain corticosteroids are commonly prescribed. Even oral corticosteroids are prescribed in harsh cases.

In order to prevent outbreaks skin should be moisturized often, avoid sweating or overheating, avoid scratchy materials, avoid harsh soaps, detergents and solvents. Also avoid any allergy triggers.

The Two Ingredients For Weight Loss Success: Persistence & Patience

One of the most common mistake that people make that leads to weight loss failure is to chase fast weight loss solutions.

Whether it is in the supermarket in the magazine rack, or on late night television, everyone is talking about the best ways to loose weight at an extremely fast rate. They tell you tahat they personally lost 5-10 pounds a week for a total of over a hundred pounds with the use of the advertised product or technique solution. While they disclose the fact that the results that they discuss are not typical, the want of such a product to work for you can often get you to ignore this fact and palce your hopes on getting a miracle in return for your hard earned cash. What you are often overlooking is the fact that diet results are reliant on several variables, and the variables that contributed to the weight loss on the screen may not have even had anything to do with the drug or weight loss program that they are promoting. These testimonials are very good at getting desparate people to part with their money, but do very little to tell the average person what effect the use of the product shown will have on their weight loss success.

Healthy, permanent weight loss depends on a consistant and positive change to ap erson’s lifestyle over a prolonged period of time to be effective.

A large percentage of dieters will fail due to giving in to the slick sales messages of commercial powers that pry on laziness. By targeting consumers that they know have trouble with the two ingredients for dieting success, pesistance and patience, they can market differnet products to those wishing to lose weight while keeping them inoerpetual need of another solution, one that they will readily and eagerly provide.

Both history and medical science have shown that the only consistantly proven way to lose weight and keep it off is to eat the proper foods in the proper amounts, and to increase physical activity to burn calories and keep the body from storing excess enery as fat. Though some people might find extra support or metabolic advantage from taking herbal suppliments or following a specific dietary regimine, without these two factors, and the will power to control them on an ongoing basis, any fast weight loss solution will ultimately end up in temporary, minmal weight loss with the highest health risks.

A little ain't enough, or is it?

Aneesh Chopra, Federal CTO, talks Health 2.0

By MATTHEW HOLT

Aneesh Chopra is the new and first CTO of the Federal Government, and he's also going to be the keynote speaker for the Health 2.0 Conference . I caught up with him for a quick interview yesterday where he discussed his role, Health 2.0 and the new apps.gov site. Off camera we had a great chat and Aneesh both forced me to give a brain dump on exciting companies in Health 2.0 and showed that he knows plenty about the space and has really big ambitions. I can't say more yet, but let's say he's very interested in using new sources of data to improve decisions. I think that it's great that someone so committed to making technology work for people (and not vice versa) is in such a strong position to influence Federal policy. Here's the interview

10 Basic Health Tips

1. Move More
Make it a daily challenge to find ways to move your body. Climb stairs if given a choice between that and escalators or elevators. Walk your dog; chase your kids; toss balls with friends, mow the lawn. Anything that moves your limbs is not only a fitness tool, it's a stress buster. Think 'move' in small increments of time. It doesn't have to be an hour in the gym or a 45-minute aerobic dance class or tai chi or kickboxing. But that's great when you're up to it. Meanwhile, move more. Thought for the day: Cha, Cha, Cha…. Then do it!

2. Cut Fat
Avoid the obvious such as fried foods, burgers and other fatty meats (i.e. pork, bacon, ham, salami, ribs and sausage). Dairy products such as cheese, cottage cheese, milk and cream should be eaten in low fat versions. Nuts and sandwich meats, mayonnaise, margarine, butter and sauces should be eaten in limited amounts. Most are available in lower fat versions such as substitute butter, fat free cheeses and mayonnaise. Thought for the day: Lean, mean, fat-burning machine…. Then be one!

3. Quit Smoking
The jury is definitely in on this verdict. Ever since 1960 when the Surgeon General announced that smoking was harmful to your health, Americans have been reducing their use of tobacco products that kill. Just recently, we've seen a surge in smoking in adolescents and teens. Could it be the Hollywood influence? It seems the stars in every movie of late smoke cigarettes. Beware. Warn your children of the false romance or 'tough guy' stance of Hollywood smokers. Thought for the day: Give up just one cigarette…. the next one.

4. Reduce Stress
Easier said than done, stress busters come in many forms. Some techniques recommended by experts are to think positive thoughts. Spend 30 minutes a day doing something you like. (i.e.,Soak in a hot tub; walk on the beach or in a park; read a good book; visit a friend; play with your dog; listen to soothing music; watch a funny movie. Get a massage, a facial or a haircut. Meditate. Count to ten before losing your temper or getting aggravated. Avoid difficult people when possible. Thought for the day: When seeing red, think pink clouds….then float on them.

5. Protect Yourself from Pollution
If you can't live in a smog-free environment, at least avoid smoke-filled rooms, high traffic areas, breathing in highway fumes and exercising near busy thoroughfares. Exercise outside when the smog rating is low. Exercise indoors in air conditioning when air quality is good. Plant lots of shrubbery in your yard. It's a good pollution and dirt from the street deterrent. Thought for the day: 'Smoke gets in your eyes'…and your mouth, and your nose and your lungs as do pollutants….hum the tune daily.

6. Wear Your Seat Belt
Statistics show that seat belts add to longevity and help alleviate potential injuries in car crashes. Thought for the day: Buckle down and buckle up.

7. Floss Your Teeth
Recent studies make a direct connection between longevity and teeth flossing. Nobody knows exactly why. Perhaps it's because people who floss tend to be more health conscious than people who don't? Thought for the day: Floss and be your body's boss.

8. Avoid Excessive Drinking
While recent studies show a glass of wine or one drink a day (two for men) can help protect against heart disease, more than that can cause other health problems such as liver and kidney disease and cancer. Thought for the day: A jug of wine should last a long time.

9. Keep a Positive Mental Outlook
There's a definitive connection between living well and healthfully and having a cheerful outlook on life. Thought for the day: You can't be unhappy when you're smiling or singing.

10. Choose Your Parents Well
The link between genetics and health is a powerful one. But just because one or both of your parents died young in ill health doesn't mean you cannot counteract the genetic pool handed you. Thought for the day: Follow these basic tips for healthy living and you can better control your own destiny.

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