My name is Catherine Morgan, I'm a writer, nurse, and mother. This is a blog about women's issues, health & wellness, inspirational thoughts, and other stuff too. If you like this blog, you will love BlogHer.com where I am also a contributing editor for Health & Wellness.
Find out all the places I blog at by going to catherine-morgan.com.
Well, I’m here to admit that I was unsuccessful in my Choose You commitment. I don’t really consider it a failure though, because I did meet most of my goals. I’m very happy that I am finally at the point where I am not craving sweets and other junk foods.
I didn’t lose any weight, but I was successful in maintaining my healthier eating habits. I wasn’t even tempted when my daughter brought back a plate full of deserts when we went out last week.
I have no plans of giving up. My next Choose You commitment will be to continue my healthy eating while also integrating regular exercise (specifically swimming) into my plan. Although I hope to lose some weight in conjunction with all of this, I’m not going to hold myself to any number on a scale. If I lose five pounds that will be a great bonus, but I know the most important thing is that I am choosing a healthier lifestyle for myself.
I recently wrote a post about choosing to see the positive when we are working hard at weight-loss and fitness goals, but not seeing many results.
I find myself in the classic half-full or half-empty mark in my healthy eating plan. I can choose to see my plan as half empty, because I haven’t even lost one pound yet. Or I can choose to see my plan as half-full, because I have had success in eating healthier foods and avoiding sugar. In other words, I can choose to feel good about myself or choose to feel like a failure. It’s totally up to me. And I’ve decided to try something new, “choose” to feel good about myself and take a closer look at all the ways I’ve been successful.
Although I haven’t lost any weight yet, I have had the strength and willpower to maintain healthy eating habits (and give-up sugar) for over six weeks. In my book, that’s success.
Anyway, that’s my story. I’ll let you know more about my new commitment next week.
How important is willpower when it comes to our ability to maintain a healthy diet and lifestyle? Is it possible to change poor eating habits to healthy ones if you don’t have a lot of willpower?
My answer: The more willpower you have the easier it will be, but perfection isn’t necessary.
No one wants to admit that they lack willpower or self-control, but the truth is, none of us has an unlimited supply. Some days we may have less self control than others, but that makes us normal, not imperfect.
When it comes to healthy living, a healthy dose of willpower is helpful. The good thing is, once you’ve had the willpower to resist certain unhealthy choices and adapt healthy ones, willpower is needed less and less because your new choices become habit.
If you have unhealthy habits, it is possible to change them into healthy habits. They say it takes about three weeks for something to become a habit (or to unlearn a habit), so those first three weeks are when willpower is most needed. And there are things we can do to help maintain are willpower during these critical times. Here are a few tips…
1. Have a plan for dealing with times of low willpower.Making the plan before you’ve lost your willpower is key. Think of all the possible problems that could arise, and then come up with some ways to help you overcome them.
For example: If eating healthy is your goal, make sure you have a lot of healthy alternatives available for the days you’re feeling you must eat something that you know you shouldn’t. If you don’t think that will work, then go ahead and eat what you’re craving, just limit yourself to one serving of it (rather than the whole box). If you think it will help, write down your solutions to the possible problems in a journal or on a post-it note, and review them frequently.
The most important thing is to be prepared. Because it’s not a matter of will you have a moment of weakened self-control, it’s a matter of when.
2. Find ways to reduce the stress in your life. Emotions definitely play a role in the amount of willpower we have on any given day. If you’re an emotional eater, you know what I’m talking about. Do what ever you can to reduce stress in your life. Here are a few ideas…
Do what ever you can do to reduce the stress in your life. This isn’t just a way to help your willpower, this is a necessary component of healthy living.
3. Have a glass of orange juice. Studies show that glucose is a key ingredient that your brain needs to help maintain an effective level of self-control (willpower).
4. Exercise the willpower muscle. Don’t wait for something huge to come along and challenge your willpower. Instead, make an effort to challenge your willpower on a smaller scale more frequently. Doing this actually builds up your ability for having greater willpower at the times you really need it.
These are a few tips that can help you develop stronger willpower. But it’s important to know that we will all have times we falter, there is no such thing as having complete self-control, and that is perfectly okay.
What are your willpower issues? Do you have any tips you can share about ways to maintain willpower for healthy living and healthy eating?
May is Lupus Awareness Month, and even though it’s the end of the month, I wanted to do my part to bring more attention to this devastating disease and some of the brave women living and blogging with it.
Lupus is an autoimmune disease that affects many more women than men. In fact, ninety percent of people who develop Lupus are women. The scary part about Lupus is that it can damage any organ in the body (including the heart, kidneys, lungs, blood, joints, and skin) causing life-threatening complications.
The most common symptoms of lupus are: extreme fatigue or exhaustion, headaches, painful or swollen joints, fever, a butterfly-shaped rash across cheeks and nose, sun- or light-sensitivity, and hair loss.
Approximately two-thirds of people with lupus will develop some type of skin complication. This often is in the form of a rash or sores, most of which will appear on sun-exposed areas, such as face, ears, neck, arms, and legs.
There is no single laboratory test that can determine whether a person does or does not have lupus. Diagnosing lupus involves analyzing the results of several lab tests that are used to monitor the immune system, along with a review of the person’s entire medical history.
Systemic lupus is the most common type of lupus. Systemic lupus can affect any organ system of the body, including the heart, kidneys, lungs, blood, joints, and skin.
In lupus, the immune system loses its ability to tell the difference between foreign substances, such as viruses or bacteria, and the body’s healthy tissue. The result is the production of auto-antibodies that attack healthy tissue.
Since many symptoms of lupus mimic those of other illnesses, lupus often can take three to five years to diagnose. Symptoms of lupus can come and go over time, which makes a definite diagnosis more difficult.
There are many courageous women living and blogging with Lupus, and May is the perfect time to check out their blogs and show them some love and support. If you know a woman blogging with Lupus please share their link in comments.
I’m happy to report that even with additional temptations this weekend [It was my mother's birthday and we got her an ice-cream cake, chocolate volcano cake, and cheese cake.] I was still successful in my goal to not eat sugar. It actually wasn’t hard at all to resist, I think because it’s been over two weeks, I’m just not craving the sugar the way I normally do. So that’s a plus!
Do you want to see the Birthday Dance of my mother that I made with the American Cancer Society’s new dance application? Here’s the link – Frances Ellen Disco Dancing (Feel free to tease her about it in comments, she loves all the attention).
OK, back to my post.
Since I was so successful with my first (two week) commitment, I decided to make a longer and more difficult commitment next. For the next six weeks I will be continuing to avoid sugar, but I will also eliminate high fat/calorie snacks and junk food, and lose 5 pounds.
That’s a lot…But you think I can do it, right?
So that’s my new commitment. Now for the giveaway.
Since I know my Choose You Commitment is going to get more and more difficult to stick with, I wanted to do something to increase my online support. It may sound silly, but I love getting comments of support and tips from my readers. And the more feedback I get, the more encouraged I get. So I asked the folks at the American Cancer Society if I could do a giveaway. Not only did they say yes, but they agreed to donate a Choose You Stainless Water Bottle and a Choose You Lapel Pin.
All you have to do is go to MY CHOOSE YOU BLOG POST and leave a comment on the post and you will be entered to win (I’ll announce the winner when I post next Tuesday). Any comment will do, but like I said in my first post… I could use all the support I can get from you.
Are you tired and sluggish all the time? If so, it could be something you’re eating (or not eating). Knowing what foods can help keep your energy up might be just what you need to get through your busy day.
Before we talk about what food are best, lets take a quick look at what you should try to avoid…
Stay away from “quick-fix” foods that contain a lot of sugar or caffeine (like candy bars, soda, and coffee). Although these may give you a quick spike in your energy level, that energy will rapidly bottom out leaving you feeling even more lethargic.
Energy drinks are particularly bad because of their high levels of caffeine and sugar. Energy drinks may also cause…
Nervousness
Irritability
Insomnia
Rapid Heart Rate
Increased Blood Pressure
Consuming high levels of salt may also contribute to a sluggish feeling.
Well, those are the things you should avoid, now let’s take a look at the foods with the most benefits. Try to focus on low-glycemic foods, because they release energy slowly. The best are foods high in complex carbohydrates and low in fat.
Whole Grains – These are high in fiber (which slow the breakdown and absorption of sugar) and complex carbohydrates, they also contain antioxidants similar to those in fruits and vegetables. In addition to increasing energy, whole grains are believed to reduce the risk of cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. For the most benefit, try to eat 6 or more servings of whole grains per day.
Oatmeal is a whole grain that is also beneficial for its high source of soluble fiber.
Foods high in protein but low in fat will also help keep your energy up…
Salmon is high in protein, and is also high in omega-3 fats that can also boost your cardiovascular health.
Beans are packed with protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals.
Best fruits for increasing energy…
Bananas
Apples
Pears
Apricots
Watermelon
Berries
Top vegetable for increasing energy…
Spinach
Carrots
Broccoli
Brussel Sprouts
Yams
Great energy snacks…
Almonds
Peanut Butter
Soy Nuts
Trail Mix
Don’t forget to drink plenty of water. Not only can dehydration lead to fatigue, but water also helps flush out toxins that can drain your energy.
Eating these high energy foods can have other benefits besides just reducing fatigue. When you avoid foods that cause fatigue and instead eat healthy high energy foods, you reduce your risk of heart disease, diabetes, and possibly cancer. Eating these foods can also help you maintain a healthy weight. And don’t forget that you are the role model for the children in your life, you can teach them by example how to make healthy food choices.
Find out what BlogHer was a guest on Oprah, who played cards with Brad Pitt, and who had their first kiss with Scott Baio. HINT: One of them was me.
In the spirit of their newly launched Fun and Games section, BlogHer has cooked up a Scavenger Hunt using some of your jaw-dropping profile facts. Playing is fun and easy, and we’re giving away cash prizes, natch.
Here’s how it works:
Read (and marvel!) at each fun fact about a BlogHer.
Tell us which amazing BlogHer the fact belongs to. We make it easy by giving you just two links to BlogHer profiles. Follow each link, read both surprising facts and then answer (links will open in a new window, so you won’t lose your place on the entry form).
If you score 100 percent correct answers, you’ll be entered in a random drawing to win one of ten $100 Visa gift cards. Late to the game? No worries, we’re leaving this open until Tuesday, April 20th, at 5 p.m. Pacific. Read the official rules here.
Are healthcare, politics, and the high cost of healthy foods related?
Yes.
Let me start by saying…I am so sick of politics I could throw-up. But that said, this is about much more than politics. It’s about the warped reality we are all living in, from the White House to our local supermarket and fast food joint.
About two weeks ago I read an article comparing the cost of health care to the cost of food. It suggests that the best way to solve the healthcare crisis, is for all consumers to be forced to pay more for healthcare – Because then people would think about the cost before “choosing” certain tests and treatments. What a shocking revelation…Who would have thought (other than the CATO Institute) that the people who can’t afford expensive health care services would “choose” not to have them? Although, I wouldn’t really consider that a choice.
We’ve heard a lot about too many mammograms leading to too many invasive biopsies. But now a recent study is showing that doctors may be doing too many invasive heart tests as well.
Every year more than a million people in the United States are given an angiogram to check for blocked arteries, but in many cases the tests reveal no significant blockage.
Does that mean that all of these tests were unnecessary? Not at all. The study suggests that doctors begin to do a better job determining which patients really need an angiogram…Specifically, that careful evaluation be done when patients have no known heart disease and they are not in an emergency situation.
Patel thinks that “the entire diagnostic process from start to finish needs reevaluation — from talking to patients to the threshold for going invasive,” meaning angiography.
The best place to start, he says, is with patients without symptoms of heart disease, such as chest pain. Almost 1 in 3 Americans who get angiograms today are symptom-free. Their doctors order angiograms presumably because they suspect “silent” heart disease, perhaps because a patient has a family history of coronary disease, diabetes or other risk factors.
But angioplasty and stenting–procedures commonly done during angiography to widen clogged coronaries and keep them open–have never been shown to lengthen life, Patel says. The reason for doing them is to relieve symptoms. And if a patient doesn’t have symptoms, then doctors and patients should ask themselves what’s the point of doing the angiogram — instead of reducing coronary disease risk factors.
Typically, patients suspected of heart disease based on family history or, say, unexplained chest pain, first undergo non-invasive tests such as a stress echocardiogram or nuclear perfusion study to see how well the heart is functioning. Guidelines suggest such tests should indicate a potential problem before a patient is referred for an angiogram. In the study, 84% of patients got at least one of these tests, but the information they provided was only modestly helpful in predicting whether patients had significant disease. Researchers said this underscored the need to find more effective ways to recommend patients for angiograms.
Other factors contribute to demands for more angiograms, doctors say. Among these: financial incentives for doctors to perform angiograms, worries of malpractice suits if a blockage is missed on early tests, and patients demanding more specific information about their condition.
“Our whole system is incented to do more,” says Chet Rihal, a cardiologist and director of the catheterization clinic at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. “We’ve got to get much smarter about how we’re ordering and interpreting these tests.”
What do you think? Do the benefits of angiograms outweigh the risks for patients without known heart disease?
We know that the food we choose to put into our body can have a huge affect on our health and quality of life, but many of us still choose to eat unhealthy foods. Let’s face it, the unhealthy stuff tastes really good, and we don’t usually have cravings for healthy food. That’s exactly why obesity is such a large problem for both adults and children in our country…But is dieting the answer? I don’t think so. As we all know, dieting can often lead to a roller coaster of weight loss and weight gain, that leaves many weighing more in the long run.
I was honored to be asked to attend the Avon Foundation’s Breast Cancer Forum last week in San Francisco. And I have a lot of information to share with everyone. I’m going to start with an interview I did with Dr. Laura Esserman. If the name doesn’t sound familiar, she was one of the researchers behind the controversial change in mammogram recommendations. I wrote about it for BlogHer back in November in a post titled…
I guess the title of the post speaks to where I stand on the issue.
Although my feelings on this topic are contrary to Dr. Esserman’s point of view, I do think that she believes she has a woman’s best interest at heart.
Dr. Laura Esserman, a nationally known breast surgeon, is the director of the UCSF Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center at the Mount Zion campus. Her work is devoted to developing new, more effective ways to care for and empower breast cancer patients during treatment and to tailor treatments using biology, personal preference and constant feedback regarding outcomes of care.
Shortly after Dr. Esserman spoke about her study to the attendees of the breast cancer forum, I had an opportunity to interview her.
I was honored to be asked to attend the Avon Foundation’s Breast Cancer Forum earlier this week in San Francisco. And I have so much to share with everyone about all that I learned there. I decided to do that in a series of posts rather than just one big one.
Here is some of what I’ll be sharing over the next several days…
- Video interviews with Dr. Laura Esserman on new mammogram recommendations.
- Video reactions of attendees to Dr. Esserman’s discussion on new mammogram recommendations.
- Advances in Imaging Technologies to help improve early detection and diagnosis of breast cancer.
- Is fear of unnecessary biopsies having an impact on early breast cancer detection?
- Results of survey on the early impact of the new breast cancer screening guidelines.
- The latest research on Inflammatory Breast Cancer…Signs and symptoms for early diagnosis, new treatment recommendations, understanding why this type of breast cancer can be so deadly.
- Reaching the medically under-served, uninsured, and under-insured.
- Nutrition and physical activity in breast cancer.
- Most effective ways to explain risk factors in breast cancer diagnosis and treatment.
As I post on these topics, I will also include links to them on this post.
Would you like a little dog food and ammonia with your burger? -
Question. Would you eat dog food?
No?
What if it was mixed in with your hamburger meat? Would you eat it then?
What if I told you it wasn’t your choice? What if it was already in the burgers you are eating?
Don’t shoot the messenger. Anyway, it’s not like they are just putting dog food into your burger, they are adding ammonia first to kill off the E. coli. Well that’s a relief. And if the USDA says it’s safe, it shouldn’t matter whether you know about it or not. Right?
I don’t know how I missed this – It was in the New York Times back in December…
Eight years ago, federal officials were struggling to remove potentially deadly E. coli from hamburgers when an entrepreneurial company from South Dakota came up with a novel idea: injecting beef with ammonia.
No worries though…The USDA says it’s a perfectly safe way to turn fatty slaughterhouse trimmings (once sold as dog food) into burgers from your favorite fast food joint, grocery chains, and even school lunches.
Yes, you heard right. Rather than make dog food out of this otherwise trash, it’s now being processed into food for you and me (and our kids). What are the poor dogs going to eat? And how long will it be before we are all eating that too?
And get this…The USDA has exempted this new beef product from its mandatory E. coli testing, based on studies done by the same company making millions selling this disgusting stuff.
By now most of us have heard that there are many health benefits to red wine and dark chocolate. But what is it about these two (seemingly not so healthy) foods that make them good for us? And…Is it possible to get too much of a good thing?
In this post we’ll take a look at these two foods and their surprising health benefits.
Let’s start with my personal favorite – dark chocolate.
Today you can buy just about every type of chocolate candy (from M&Ms to Kit-Kats) in dark chocolate. But, it’s not just any chocolate that’s good for you…It must be dark chocolate with a high percentage (70%) of cocoa, to get more of the health-enhancing antioxidants.
Earlier this week I was part of a conference call with Carnie Wilson, who was recently featured on the Dr. Oz Show to talk about her food and alcohol addiction.
Carnie Wilson has always struggled with her weight. She even had gastric bypass surgery in 1999. Then after going through two pregnancies, and gaining 50 pounds each time, she found herself battling the extra weight all over again.
Carnie told us that the show was “very dramatic,” and “the fact that he had labeled me morbidly obese really shocked me.” But, she also says, “Dr. Oz was one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met.” Carnie was confused when Dr. Oz told her that she was pre-diabetic – “I was actually in shock because I just had blood work done. All that blood work came back normal. To this day I am not pre-diabetic,” she said in the press call. “If he wants to call me that, it’s fine, but my glucose levels are at a normal range.”
After watching the show, I can understand how Carnie may have been shocked by some of the things Dr. Oz was saying to her. It’s funny to me how Dr. Oz seems to try so hard to make medical issues more understandable to the average person, but he didn’t clarify many of the comments he was making about Carnie. For instance, doctors refer to patients as “morbidly obese” strictly based on their weight and BMI. But clearly, although Carnie may fit the medical definition of morbidly obese, she is obviously in a much healthier place than she was in the past. And when Dr. Oz checks her glucose level, he does so by using a method diabetics use to keep track of their blood sugar throughout the day. Carnie’s doctor would be using a much more accurate method that involves fasting blood work, and that’s why she is so certain she is not pre-diabetic…she probably isn’t.
I think it is well known that as we get older we have a more difficult time getting pregnant, but I was shocked to hear these new statistics on fertility. It seems that 90 percent of a woman’s eggs are gone by age 30, and only 3 percent remain by age 40. Ninety Percent of eggs are GONE! That’s a huge number. That’s a scary number.
It’s common knowledge that women have more difficulty conceiving as they age, but this is the very first study believed to quantify the number of eggs lost and it shows that the decline is more rapid than previously believed. Over time, the quality of ovarian eggs also deteriorates, increasing the difficulty of conception and the risk of having an unhealthy baby. The study was based on information collected from 325 women of varying ages in the United Kingdom, the United States and Europe.
Dr. Marie Savard, “Good Morning America” medical contributor, visited “GMA” to discuss the issue and its implications for moms-to-be. “Women lose eggs a lot faster than we thought,” she said. As you get older, conceiving is “much more difficult…Even all those assisted reproductive techniques are challenges.”
“That biological clock does tick,” she said, adding that her advice to women who want kids is, “the sooner the better.”
I imagine this news is going to cause a great deal of anxiety to women in their 30′s who were holding off having children. What do they do? Do they drop everything and try to have a baby before their eggs run out? And how will this affect women who want to pursue a career before motherhood? Are women going to have to start choosing motherhood over career for fear of future infertility?
I came across a pretty disturbing article today…It suggests that doctors are bias against overweight women, to the extent of jeopardizing their health and well-being. It’s no secret that overweight people are discriminated against in many ways. But recent studies have found that overweight women are actually being discriminated by their own doctors and health care professionals. With two out of every three Americans considered to be overweight or obese, this bias could be putting many people at risk. Could you be one of them?
How serious is the problem?
It begins with the availability of quality health care. If you are overweight, you may have a harder time getting health insurance, or be made to pay higher premiums than your thinner counterparts. And it doesn’t stop there. You may be paying more, but getting less. For instance, an overweight woman is more likely to be misdiagnosed or prescribed the wrong dosage of medications. There is also a greater risk of not detecting cancer early enough for effective treatment. And, overweight women are also less likely to find a fertility doctor to help them have a child.
What is your eating style? Do you follow one of the popular diet plans?
If you’re looking to eat healthy or lose weight in the new year, there are a lot of diet plans out there to choose from. But how do you know which plan is best for you? I’m not a fan of fad diets – Even when they work, they are often an unhealthy choice and any weight lost is usually quickly gained back. But there are diet plans geared towards healthy eating and healthy weight loss. Maybe you’re already following one.
In this post I thought we could take a look at some of the diet plans that also focus on healthy eating. Because, in the long run, changing unhealthy eating habits to healthy ones is the only way to lose weight and keep it off.
My new years resolution is about doing everything I can do to have more birthdays. At the moment the one thing that could keep me from doing that, is my blood pressure. I’ve had blood pressure and heart rate problems since my twenties, but now in my forties, I know I’m at a much greater risk for having a heart attack or stroke. So this year I plan on taking specific steps to hopefully lower my blood pressure. Like Morra Arrons-Mele, I would like to make these changes holistically. I’m still planning to take my medications, but even on medication my blood pressure is still not controlled.
Here are the steps I plan to take in 2010…
1. Continue to eat healthy, but kick it up a notch.
2. Reduce stress by using meditation and Reiki on a regular basis.
3. Get the Wii Fit and begin doing light exercising and yoga.
I’ll keep track of my progress by documenting my blood pressure and the days I’ve used any of the above steps.
Christmas. Is it the most wonderful time of the year? Or the most stressful time of the year? Would it surprise you to know that 8 out of 10 people suffer some degree of stress during the holiday season?
This week president Obama announced the release of 13 new embryonic stem cell lines to be used for research. Scientists are hopeful that this research could someday treat or even cure diseases like Diabetes, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and spinal cord injuries (just to name a few). But this decision isn’t without controversy.
Although, I have a hard time understanding why there is such a big controversy. If you consider the two-day old embryo to be life, then wouldn’t you want that life to have some sort of meaning? When the alternative to research is the trash, isn’t there more dignity in research?
This is a one minute video that demonstrates what is currently happening to unused frozen embryos “LIFE” from fertility clinics. These are the same embryos, that could be used to advance scientific research and to save lives…
Well, I’m here to admit that I was unsuccessful in my Choose You commitment. I don’t really consider it a failure though, because I did meet most of my goals. I’m very happy that I am finally at the point where I am not craving sweets and other junk foods.
Earlier this week I was part of a conference call with 
