These days you can’t open a newspaper, pick up a magazine or turn on the TV without being inundated with messages about being healthy. It is great that these messages are coming through the main stream media, because America is bigger and unhealthier than ever before. The good old USofA tops the charts in obesity statistics. According to the Food Standards Agency, between the years 1999-2000 34% of America’s females and 27.7% of men could have been considered obese. The next country on the list, Argentina, wasn’t too far behind, but it still doesn’t change the fact that we here in the US are letting fast food options and lazy schedules outweigh the need for making healthier choices around our eating habits. Making little changes in your diet and eating choices can really make a strong impact on your health, weight and general well-bring. If they seem all too daunting to do at once, just make a small change per week and see how your body feels. You may be pleasantly surprised at the ease of making the little things into big impacts. Read on and be healthy.

Have a Healthy Kitchen

It should come as no surprise that creating healthier eating habits begins right at home in your very own kitchen. One good place to start is a good old fashioned purge. No, not the kind that can lead to an eating disorder, but rather a purge of food in your kitchen. After coming home following an exhausting work day, it is so tempting and easy to reach for fast, yet less healthy food choices. If you make the effort to not keep any tempting food in your kitchen, you are less likely to eat it. Simple? Yes. On the same tack, take time when you have time, maybe on a Saturday or Sunday, to cook for yourself meals to last through the week. That way even if you are dragging your tired self home at 9 pm, you will already have your meal choices made for you.

(more…)

Sometimes you just need to get seen by a doctor, stat. Maybe you aren’t having an emergency like having a baby or cradling your severed limb in your hands, but things like a sprained ankle or a rapidly rising temperature require some fairly prompt attention. According to Health Net’s website, urgent care services are “medically necessary services which are required for an illness or injury that would not result in further disability or death if not treated immediately, but require professional attention and have the potential to develop such a threat if treatment is delayed longer than 24 hours.” What is the difference between emergency and urgent care? How can you get seen quickly without spending a ton of your hard earned dollars? How can you make sure that your urgent care visit will be covered by your health insurance? Read on to learn the best way to approach urgent care.

Assess Your Symptoms

If you are feeling like you are having a heart attack, get thee to an emergency room, stat. Urgent care centers are not for people who feel like their lives are in danger. But, if you’re uncomfortable from a minor sports injury or your flu feels like it’s just getting worse, an urgent center will be the way to go. Before you hop into a car to head for the emergency room or an urgent care center, ask yourself the following questions: Could I tolerate the way I’m feeling for another 48 hours? Do I want to spend less than $600 on a visit? Do I have the time to wait to be seen? If you answered “yes” to all of these questions, point your car in the direction of the nearest urgent care center.

(more…)

Read the Fine Print

As I’ve mentioned in another blog, it would be a pretty amazing feat to make it into your golden years without having at least one “pre-existing medical condition.” The human body just can’t stay in peak condition until the end of one’s life, so having some medical baggage is perfectly normal for a senior. Since long term care insurance policies are designed with the elderly in mind, they are a little more lenient than other types of insurance plans when it comes to covering pre-existing medical conditions. This doesn’t mean that they welcome everyone with open arms. You need to be aware of this, and get very clear with insurance carriers about what their pre-existing medical condition clause it, get it in writing, and scrutinize every word.

(more…)

You may be asking yourself “Just what in the heck are alternative therapies?” According to Northwestern Health Sciences University, alternative therapies are “Interventions for improving, maintaining and promoting health and well being, preventing disease, or treating illness. Encompassing over 200 modalities and more than 10,000 uses, alternative and complementary therapies are not part of the standard North American biomedical regimen of health care or disease prevention. Standard refers to practices commonly taught in U. S. medical schools, covered by major insurers, or referred to as allopathic or Western medicine.” This article will seek to explain some forms of alternative therapies and help you look into whether they might be the right choice for you.

Acupuncture

Do you often find yourself feeling like you’re on pins and needles? With acupuncture, you literally are. Acupuncture is a technique in which incredibly thin needles of varying lengths are inserted into your skin to help treat a variety of conditions. Although acupuncture isn’t touted as an actual treatment for cancer, studies have shown it can help in battling the nausea that comes along with chemotherapy and radiation. It aids in relieving pain after dental surgery, treating headaches, rehabilitation after strokes and helping to treat a number of different muskuloskeletal conditions. The points in which needles are inserted into your skin are called acupoints, and to keep a healthy energy flowing through the body, the needles are only inserted deep enough into the skin to keep them from falling out. If you are cringing and imagining feeling like a walking (or, laying down) pincushion: never fear. The most skilled acupuncturists do not cause any pain.

Chiropractic Care

If thinking of a visit to the chiropractor has you your head filled with visions of cracking bones and anguished faces, think again. It is a very safe and effective practice when performed by a professional. According to the American Chiropractic Association, “chiropractic is a health care profession that focuses on disorders of the musculoskeletal system and the nervous system, and the effects of these disorders on general health. Chiropractic care is used most often to treat neuromusculoskeletal complaints, including but not limited to back pain, neck pain, pain in the joints of the arms or legs, and headaches.” Although chiropractic care itself does not hurt the patient, it is common for there to be a little bit of soreness and discomfort following any procedure. One benefit to an alternative therapy like the two listed is that they do not involve any type of drugs at all, simply trying to treat any illness or ailments through addressing it as directly as possible in the body.

Reflexology

Therapy through the hands and feet? This may sound like utter voodoo (or just plain gross to some) but reflexology is a calming and effective form of an alternative therapy. Reflexology is a form of therapy that uses pressure on specific areas of the feet (or the hands) with the goal of relieving a variety of problems and balancing the flow of vital energy throughout the body. While evidence does not support reflexology for a treatment for something serious like cancer, it has been shown to help with relaxation and relieve certain types of pain and anxiety. The theory behind reflexology is that there are certain points on the hands and feet that are associated with other body parts and organs. When these points on the hands and feet are stimulated, it is though t promote health and well being in the related body parts.

While alternative therapies tend not to be covered under standard health insurance packages, some companies will offer them at a slightly higher co-pay. If you are interested in learning more about these therapies and if they are available through your insurance provider, contact them today to find out more.

photo credit: Thunderchild tm

I am a huge health advocate, and I’m also a strong believer in the old saying “Knowledge is power.” I wanted to start this Healthy Living series in this blog to arm readers with as much knowledge as possible, so that you all are able to make educated choices around your health and well being. That way, even if you’re making poor choices (I’m looking at you, smokers), you know all of the full ramifications around those choices. To kick things off, I wanted to wax poetic about one of my favorite subjects: food. More specifically, where the food we Americans eat comes from. I’m hoping that bringing this subject to light will make you think more thoughtfully about the food you’re putting into your body and how you might make better dietary choices.

Happy Cows Come From…

As a vegan, I realize I have a biased perspective on the meat industry here, but really, if you do enough reading and research, the numbers don’t lie. When I ask my meat-eating friends and family how they can still eat meat knowing how animals are raised, treated, slaughtered and so on, they often reply “I just try not to think about it.” I can only shrug, because living in denial is a hard thing to shake people out of. But when you’re biting into a hamburger, do you know where that meat has come from? Meat like beef and poultry are raised in huge feedlots around the country. You can’t take a drive down I-5 in California without seeing cattle literally stacked on top of one another. When you’re biting into a juicy steak, are you confident in the USDA’s inspection of the meat processing plants? Read a book like “Slaughterhouse: The Shocking Story of Greed, Neglect, and Inhumane Treatment Inside the US Meat Industry” and you may never look at beef the same way again. Things like cattle not being stunned properly and skinned alive to rotted meat simply being cut away from carcasses and sent on through inspection with flying colors. Graphic and disturbing? Yes. But necessary to know if you’re really interested in knowing about what you’re eating.

(more…)

Insurance carriers are always having to shell out the money-that’s just a part of what they do. When people need to draw on their insurance plans to cover things that happen, insurance companies open their pockets to make it happen. 2008 broke into the top numbers in terms of expenses for insurance companies. Hitting the #3 slot happened due to multiple catastrophes around the world in this past year, causing millions to turn to their insurance companies in the wake of a disaster.

Cyclones, Earthquakes and Hurricanes: Oh, My!

If you watch the news, you know that this hasn’t been an easy year for people around the world. There was the devastating earthquake in China, and the horrendous cyclone in Myanmar, and the list goes on. In fact, if you look up “2008 natural disasters” and visit a few different web pages, you might be surprised at how many events human beings endured around the world this past year. Flooding, tropical storms, landslides, typhoons and in so many different countries. All of these events contributed to making 2008 the 3rd most expensive year for insurers. When people lose everything, it’s insurance companies who take the hit.

Catastrophes and Insurance by the Numbers

Although there were less loss-producing events around the world this past year (dropping 210 from 2007), insured losses in 2008 were 50% higher than the previous year, coming in at $45 billion, as overall losses stood at $200 billion, when they had only been $85 billion in 2007. This past year, over 220,000 people were killed as the result of a natural disaster.

In looking at these horrible events individually, it was the United States who got hit the hardest in terms of losses. Hurricane Ike blasted through the nation like the nasty storm that it was, leaving insurers to clean up the mess to the tune of $15 billion. Following a close second was the terrible Hurricane Gustav, who caused overall losses of $10 billion and and insured loss of $5 billion.

Can This Insurance Trend Be Reversed?

This is a hard question to ponder, because when you’re dealing with things like natural disaster, the solution is quite complex. Such increases in the number of natural disasters and occurrences is caused by changes in our climate like global warming, rising sea levels and higher temperatures everywhere. This may not be able to be reversed, but we can certainly do things to slow it down or even stop it completely. This would require radical changes around the world, and we’re obviously looking at greater issues here than just insurance costs. Human life and quality of it is much more valuable, and we don’t want to lose either.

In the meantime, look over all of your insurance needs. Having health insurance is the first place to start. If you are looking for more information about how to protect your family, take a look online to help some answers to any questions you might have. If you are renting a home, get renters insurance for all your property within. If you own your home, home insurance is a wonderful investment for your future. Life insurance and everything in between may seem like a waste of money as you sign those checks each month, but in the event of an emergency, you will be so happy you spent your money wisely.

photo credit: eschipul