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By Darra McMullen, Women’s Health Network Writer/Researcher Note to readers:   Regular readers of this blog may have been looking for the following article around March 23 rd . to 26 th , the planned publication time.   This writer apologizes for any inconvenience experienced. Sometimes, life’s challenges simply cause other things to run a little later than anticipated.   No need to worry, though.   The regularly scheduled April article focusing on eye and ear health will be published this month, appearing around April 13, to allow time for everyone to have a chance to read the final installment of the March topic on nutrition.   Please enjoy that story below, now.          As we continue with our look into better nutritional habits, it’s time to examine some of the latest nutritional news that has appeared over the past few months in various journals or other media sources.     ...

Moving Toward Better Nutrition by Darra McMullen, Women’s Health Network Writer/Researcher During the latter part of February, our article took a look at lifestyle and nutritional advice for improving cardiovascular health.   That story was intended as a logical transition between the earlier February heart health article, and our March topic, which focuses solely on nutrition for overall improved health.   Hopefully, regular readers of this blog have had a chance to catch both stories. Now that we’ve taken a peek at nutrition targeted for cardiovascular health during late February and early March, we’ll next focus on maximizing our nutritional intake for overall superior health and use the rest of March to investigate that topic. To begin our investigation, the following article will take a “bird’s eye view” of nutrition, looking at several different areas and making specific recommendations for each one.   Then, check back with this blog around March 23,...

by Darra McMullen, Women’s Health Network Writer/Researcher The topic of diabetes is a large, multifaceted health issue with physical, emotional, and financial ramifications for the U.S. and the world.  For the purposes of this article, we’ll take a peek at some of the many ways we as individuals can help prevent the disease from starting or can help treat diabetes if it is already present.             Shortly, we’ll look at a number of ways we can help ourselves to escape diabetes’ grip, but first, let’s examine some of the latest scientific studies that give us new clues about reducing diabetes risk and/or more successfully treating the disease if it is currently affecting ourselves or our loved ones. Recent Scientific Studies:             •  The first and perhaps most interesting study hails from the Netherlands, where researchers found that peo...

What We Can Do to Preserve Cognitive Health by Darra McMullen, Women’s Health Network Writer/Researcher Note:   Regular readers of this blog may have wondered, “What happened to Part 3 of the August topics on vaccines, travel tips, and foot health?”.  The short answer, in two words, is Hurricane Harvey.  The third installment of the August story was due to be published the last week of August.  Unfortunately, this writer was too busy securing property and getting ready for Harvey’s arrival to submit the final installment of that health topic. Harvey may have delayed a whole lot of everyone’s progress, but the hurricane will not stop this blog from covering the health subjects outlined for the year.  To get “back on track”, we’ll look at Alzheimer’s disease in September and breast cancer in October.  The foot health story will appear before year’s end, probably during the second half of November.  Early November is devoted to diabetes...

Part 2 of Vaccines, Healthy Travel, and Foot Problems by Darra McMullen, Women’s Health Network Writer/Researcher Hopefully, you’ve had a chance to read the first “installment” of this month’s article, which came out at the beginning of August.  If so, you’ll know this month, we’re looking at three topics, each of which has so much information pertaining to it, that it seemed best to divide the story into segments for easier reading.  As we continue our investigation of important vaccines, healthy travel tips, and troublesome foot problems, we should first take a look at an important caution regarding vaccinations. Vaccines: Important Caution: Often times, people are tempted to ease the resulting pain from a vaccine by taking an over-the-counter pain reliever.  Actually, that’s not a good idea from the standpoint of producing maximum immunity from the disease for which you were vaccinated.  Anything that reduces the body’s immune respon...

Important Vaccines, Healthy Travel, and Happy Feet by Darra McMullen, Women’s Health Network Writer/Researcher             For many people, August is a time of transition into something new and a time for completion of summer time goals.  During the month of August and often extending into the first two weeks of September, people take their final summer trips, start new school routines, and slowly push toward concluding summer’s more relaxed, if very hot, pace of life.  People start thinking about the details of fall’s activities.             End-of-summer vacations, new school years, and fall trips for business or personal needs all have a few things in common from a health standpoint.  Those things are: (1) immunizations for the whole family, not just the kids; (2) helpful tips on how to stay healthy while traveling; and (3) how to deal with a v...

by Darra McMullen, Women’s Health Network Writer/Researcher There are many forms of arthritis, but one thing they all have in common is their ability to produce debilitating pain, stiffness, and inflammation in the body’s joints and connective tissues.  Just as there are common threads of symptoms among the many forms of arthritis, there are also common threads of remedies to help treat the misery-inducing ailment, which afflicts millions of Americans every year.             Let’s look at some factors that can both help prevent (or delay onset of) arthritis and also help treat the condition.             •  To begin, limit intake of pro-inflammatory diet influences, such as simple sugars and carbohydrates.             •  Next, increase intake of fish and flax seeds and fish and flax oils for ...