What are you doing right now? Aside from reading this post, you are most likely sitting somewhere. On your couch? At your desk? In a chair? Wherever you find yourself sitting, I’m sure that it won’t come as a surprise to you, that sitting isn’t good for your health. But did you know that it is so bad for your health that it could be taking years off of your life?
It’s true.
Unfortunately, I can’t even say that I’m setting a good example for any of you by doing something other than sitting on the couch with my laptop myself. However, this new study did get me thinking about ways I might be able to do less sitting, and I think I am going to give a few of them a try (tomorrow).
After adjusting for smoking, height/weight, and other factors, Patel’s team found that compared to sitting less than three hours a day, sitting six or more hours a day:
Increased the death rate by about 40% in women
Increased the death rate by about 20% in men
Increased the death rate by 94% in the least active women
Increased the death rate by 48% in the least active men
It wasn’t just that they weren’t getting exercise. Patel and colleagues found that sitting itself was detrimental to health. Sitting increased risk of cancer death, but the main death risk linked to sitting was heart disease.
That’s scary stuff. I’m sure that I’m sitting more than six hours of the day, and up until very recently I was getting little to no exercise.
So, how many hours a day do you spend sitting? Could you be sitting your way to an early grave? What about your kids?
In the age of couch potatoes, it’s not surprising that a lack of activity has become a serious health risk. The question is — What are you ready to do about it?
Are you ready to take steps to be more active and less sedentary? If so, now is a great time to start. The best part is, the study doesn’t suggest that you have to replace hours of sitting with hours of activity. It seems that even just breaking up your sitting time with a bit of active non-sitting time can be beneficial.
Here are some tips for increasing your life expectancy by decreasing the amount of time you sit. Remember, these are just ideas, use these ideas as guidelines for developing a personal plan that works best for you.
I recently wrote a post about the controversial proposal of making birth control pills available over-the-counter, and in even more controversial news, on Friday the FDA approved a new (prescription only) emergency contraceptive. This new emergency contraception is not the morning after pill, but it’s not an abortion pill either.
Federal drug regulators on Friday approved a new form of emergency contraceptive pill that prevents pregnancies if taken as many as five days after unprotected intercourse.
. . .
Women who have unprotected intercourse have about 1 chance in 20 of becoming pregnant. Those who take Plan B within three days cut that risk to about 1 in 40, while those who take ella would cut that risk to about 1 in 50, regulators say.
The controversy surrounding emergency contraceptives comes mainly from the pro-life (or anti-abortion) community, which is confusing to me because there are hopes that these medications could someday reduce the need for clinical abortions. The main sticking point seems to be that this group of people believe that life begins the moment of conception (or fertilization), and that these emergency contraception medications “abort” a fertilized egg.
Did you see the headlines linking sunscreen to skin cancer? Are you feeling confused about how to protect yourself and family from the dangers of sun exposure? These stories stem from a report by the EWG (Environmental Working Group). Many of these “fear driven” headlines would lead you to believe that it might be more dangerous to use sunscreen than not. Let me assure you, it is still best to use sunscreen, but you should use it wisely.
A statement from The American Academy of Dermatology says, “scientific evidence supports the beneficial effects of sunscreen” and sunscreen is “an important tool in the fight against skin cancer.”
It seems like a real shame to me that these reports are coming out now, at the beginning of the summer season, when we should all be doing everything we can to protect ourselves and our families from the dangerous effects of the sun. We need to take every measure possible to reduce our risk for developing skin cancer, and using sunscreen is still the first line of defense.
One thing you don’t want to do is buy into claims of 50, 80, and up to 100 SPF. These claims lead consumers into a false sense of security. And many people believe that if they use these high SPF sunscreens, they can put it on once and be protected for the entire day. This is not true.
I contacted the American Cancer Society for a comment. Here is the statement they sent me, from Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, Deputy Chief Medical Officer…
I know many people don’t think our government has any business telling us what we can and can not eat. Until recently, I might have even agreed. But the problem of obesity is reaching epidemic proportions, and there’s no signs of it getting any better on it’s own. More and more evidence is pointing to the dangers associated with all the high fat, high sugar, and processed foods we are eating. And with such a limited amount of healthy food available to the consumer (at least compared to unhealthy foods), its virtually impossible to suggest that people have a “choice” when it comes to avoiding trans fats and processed foods.
These foods are not just making us fat, these foods are killing us. The CDC estimates that more than 300,000 Americans die each year from obesity-related complications…Doesn’t our government bare some responsibility in protecting the lives of its citizens?
It seems we are long past telling people to simply avoid these unhealthy foods, for so many people that is just not an option. To make matters worse, it’s now believed that junk food can be as addicting as cocaine.
What can be done?
I don’t think there is one way to fix this problem, but I do think that something needs to be done. Here is a graph showing preventable causes of death…
Obesity isn’t a problem that can be solved with a one-size-fits-all solution. But there are things our government could do that would help.
Although controversial, some say that taxing junk food is the answer. But during a recession it’s hard to justify increasing the cost of food (even if it is junk). I think taxing junk food could be a good idea, as long as it’s done in conjunction with making healthy foods more available and affordable. And what about taxing the manufacturers producing this junk too? It surely couldn’t hurt to make selling junk food less profitable.
I also think more regulations on processed and fast foods would be beneficial. Eliminating trans fats is a great start, but lowering the acceptable amounts of sodium and sugar being used by manufacturers is also very important. We have to stop allowing manufacturers to sell products that are essentially killing consumers.
National Public Health Week: Can We Become A Healthier Nation?
I think many people living in the United States would be surprised to know that we are not one of healthiest nations in the world. Not even close.
The American Public Health Association (APHA) would like to change that, but they can’t do it alone. So during the first week of April, the APHA would like to bring more awareness to public health, and offer ways that we can all help this country become a healthy nation.
While the United States spends more on health care than any other nation in the world, it lags behind many developed nations in important health measures. Compared with other developed nations, the United States has relatively low life expectancy, high infant mortality rates, a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS and persistent health inequities.
This is simply unacceptable. Since the early 1900s, APHA has vigorously promoted the need for universal health care coverage. However, while universal access to health care is vital to improving the health of our nation, it is just one element of reforming our health system. In order to more fully and effectively achieve a healthier nation we need to ensure the underlying social and economic conditions that allow individuals and communities to be healthy.
We must shift from a nation solely focused on treating individual illness to one that also promotes population-based health services that encourage preventive and early intervention practices.
What do you think? Can we become a healthier nation? Would you be willing to help us get there?
Have you ever felt like you were addicted to junk food? A shocking new study finds that this can actually happen. Apparently foods high in fat and sugar can be as addictive as cocaine or nicotine. This addictive aspect of junk food can then lead to compulsive overeating and in-turn obesity.
I can certainly see how this could be true. I know I have a terrible time getting off sugar. It usually takes a solid five to seven days of no sugars before I feel like I’m not craving it. It’s hard, but once I get over that hump, I always feel great. But it only takes one bite of a cookie, or one brownie, or one piece of candy, and I am right back where I started…seemingly addicted to sugar. I may have been avoiding sweets for months without any problem, but that one “falling off the wagon” moment sucks me right back into the sugar craving.
a compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance (as heroin, nicotine, or alcohol) characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal; broadly : persistent compulsive use of a substance known by the user to be harmful.
Thankfully, I’ve never been addicted to alcohol, drugs, or even cigarettes…But I do have symptoms of withdraw when I try to stop eating sugar, and when I am eating sugar I crave more and more of it (even when I know it is contributing to weight gain, and negative affects on my health). So I guess it does feel like an actual addiction.
I was honored to have a chance to talk with Greg Grunberg (star of the NBC show Heroes) last week about his work to bring more awareness and understanding to epilepsy. Greg, who’s son Jake was diagnosed with epilepsy at age 7, went to the nation’s capital last week for Saturday’s National Walk for Epilepsy. He also met with members of Congress, including Rep. Ed Perlmutter of Colorado (who has a daughter with epilepsy) about bringing more awareness to this disease.
Greg told me that just before his son’s 7th birthday he began having (what he thought were) staring spells. At first Greg and his wife just thought their son was daydreaming, but during his annual check-up the pediatrician discovered that Jake was actually having seizures.
Even though the diagnosis of epilepsy was scary for Greg and his wife, they were determined to find out everything they could and get their son the best possible treatment. And like many parents, they turned to the internet for answers. But what they found was that there was no one-size-fits-all treatment, because there isn’t any one-size-fits-all type of seizure. Greg told me that every seizure is different, and every patient responds differently to medication. Unfortunately, Jake has been found to be in the 25 percent of children that have seizures which are more difficult to treat. And at the age of 13, Jake has already been on many different medications, tried many different treatments, and even has had surgery.
One thing that Greg says he wished he knew earlier on in his son’s diagnosis, was that there is actually a specialized type of neurologist (known as an epileptologist) who specializes in the treatment of epilepsy. For this reason, Greg’s message to parents with a child suffering from uncontrolled seizures is “don’t settle”. He wants parents to seek out a specialist and not to settle for anything less than seizure-free (or at least as close to seizure-free as possible).
To help parents (as well as friends and family) of children with epilepsy, Greg has come together with some of his friends in the entertainment world and he’s created a wonderful interactive website to bring more awareness to this disease. It’s called Talk About It…at TalkAboutIt.org. He also has a great ning site where anyone can go to get information and Talk About It.
Higgs particles, dark matter, string theory, black holes, the big bang…What will scientists discover at CERN? I find this incredibly exciting. What do you think?
Scientists at the European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN) are celebrating after successfully colliding particles at record-breaking energy levels in what some are calling a new era of particle physics.
A team of scientists at the European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN) have achieved high-power collisions of sub-atomic particles in a bid to create mini-versions of the big bang.
Will we find out how the universe came to be?
And if you prefer RAP to physics, check out this YouTube Rap Video about the science behind CERN…
A few weeks ago I noticed that I was seeing an increasing number of commercials advertising inexpensive “easy to get” health insurance. The first thing that came to my mind was…This has got to be some sort of scam. Otherwise, wouldn’t everyone be getting cheap insurance? It’s sad really, with over 46 million Americans uninsured, there is no shortage of scammers lining up to exploit them.
It seems I was right. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
These fake and deceptive health plans are spreading like wildfire across the country, taking advantage of our troubled economy and playing on people’s fears. Victims of this insurance fraud have been saddled with tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills when their bogus insurers refuse to pay. And this isn’t a problem that is going to go away any time soon, so consumers need to learn how to recognize these fraudulent policies and protect themselves.
With the recession, rising unemployment and continued debate over health care reform, “there’s a perfect storm of circumstances that resulted in a new proliferation in fake and deceptive health insurance,” says Jim Quiggle of the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud, a Washington-based consumer watchdog group.
“Some of these policies are completely phony, delivering nothing but a piece of paper. Others promise full health benefits, but provide shriveled coverage and expensive hidden costs.
Typically, crooked plans aggressively market full health coverage, but deliver no coverage at all, stripped-down policies that deliver little, or medical discount cards (which require members to pay most expenses themselves). Blast faxes, invasive telemarketing, insurance agents and enticing websites are among the marketing tools. Regulators in most states have been forced to crack down over the last two years. But the plans are hard to shut down. Often they simply disappear and resurface under new names, without required state licenses.
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.
Ironically, the article also makes an analogy reinforcing the fact that low-income families are essentially forced to make unhealthy food choices do to the high cost of healthy foods. And not only is this OK with the author of this article, but it’s actually the method he proposes to solve the health care crisis.
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.
Are you eating the one thing that increases a woman’s risk of stroke?
A new study has found that a diet high in fat (specifically trans-fat) increases a woman’s risk of stroke. We already know that high fat diets increases the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and some cancers – just to name a few. But this new study looked specifically at women, and found that women who ate the most trans fat had a 30 percent greater risk for stroke.
This new research emphasizes the dangers of not just trans-fats, but the trans-fats in cookies, cakes, and pastries — Sad news for anyone (me) who may have been in San Francisco and found out how yummy a gourmet cupcake can be.
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 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.
Troubling news about teens and sex…Teen pregnancy rates are up after a ten year decline. There is no doubt that teen pregnancy is on the rise. The question is…What can we do about it?
It seems obvious that abstinence-only programs aren’t working to reduce teen pregnancy. If you ask me, it’s not the “abstinence” part that is the problem, it’s the “only” part. I’m not against teaching abstinence as part of a sex education program, but to only teach abstinence seem irresponsible.
So then, what is the best way to reduce teen pregnancy?
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?
Stem Cell Research: Mixing religion, science and politics equals controversy.
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…
I wrote about my feelings on stem cell research back in 2007, and my feelings are still the same. I believe the unused embryos that would otherwise be discarded from fertility clinics, should be treated with the same respect we give organ donation.
The CDC estimates that there are 76 million cases of food-borne illnesses each year, and of that number more than 300,000 will be hospitalized and 5,000 will die. Those are high numbers, especially considering these types of illnesses are very preventable.
On Thursday we will all be sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner, and some of us will even contract one of these food-borne illnesses. But there are things we can do to reduce our risk of of food-borne illness.
To start, here is a great video on Holiday Food Safety from the FDA website…
Are women just too emotional for mammograms before 50?
Unless you’ve been under a rock all week, you have probably heard about the government task force that has recommended new guidelines for breast cancer prevention. It goes something like this…
If you’re younger than 50 or older than 75, you no longer have to worry your pretty little head about breast cancer, or getting those pesky boob squishing mammograms.
Hallelujah! I wonder how long it will be before we go back to giving women Valium for chest pain? Who needs preventative care when it’s not 100% effective anyway? Hell, just go ahead and give us anti-anxiety meds for all of our ills…I’ll betcha we save a bundle on healthcare costs.Women already outlive men by a bunch of years, maybe this will even things out a bit…Isn’t equality what we’ve been cryin about all these years?
OK, I know, I went a little too far with my analogy. But seriously, this is what’s going on…
On Monday, the United States Preventive Services Task Force recommended that routine mammograms start at age 50 instead of 40, that women receive the test every two years as opposed to annually, and that physicians no longer train women to perform breast self-examination.
Imaging centers saw cancellations for mammograms more than double since the news of these “recommendations” were announced. I wonder how many of those women may actually have breast cancer right now and will miss the opportunity for early detection and treatment?
I have to admit, I’ve been having a lot of cynical thoughts running through my head since I heard this disturbing news. Like…
I can’t help but think that if the pharmaceutical companies were profiting from mammograms these recommendations would be suggesting that they begin ten years earlier rather than later.
And then there’s this one…
If a healthcare reform bill is going to benefit the insurance industry (and it must – considering all their lobbying dollars), then insurance companies need guidelines that will allow them to reduce the amount of money they shell out for quality health care.
I know these are just thoughts, but when government panels are established to become corporate bean counters of women’s health policy, it makes me a little angry.
The thing is, when it comes to healthcare for women – I want to see more choices for women, not less.
Check out this video, it really does a nice job of addressing the problems associated with these new guidelines…
Was I the only one who was completely shocked to find out that this so called panel of experts had three representatives from insurance companies, but no experts in oncology or breast cancer?
Today the blogging community is praying for Anissa Mayhew, a loving mother of three, who blogs at Free Anissa and Hope 4 Peyton. Anissa suffered a stroke yesterday afternoon, and we are all hoping and praying that she will make a full recovery.
The Great American Smokeout happens every year on the third Thursday in November, and it has been going on each year since 1977. This is a day that smokers all across the country are encouraged to not smoke, or at least cut back on their smoking for one day. Each year millions of smokers participate in the smokeout in the hope that this one step will be the catalyst to their quitting permanently.
In honor of Word Diabetes Day I’ve decided to do a blog roundup of women blogging diabetes. Most are blogs by women who are living with diabetes, and others are women blogging about parenting a child with diabetes. I’ve also included several informative links and resources at the end of this post.
If you blog about living with diabetes or World Diabetes Day, please leave your link in comments.
Do you know someone who suffers with Alzheimer’s disease? Or someone who is a caregiver to a loved one with this devastating disease? If so, you understand the heartache associated with an Alzheimer’s diagnosis.
Who are we without our memories of past experiences? For most of us, the though of losing our memories to Alzheimer’s disease is horrifying. But there is much more to Alzheimer’s than memory loss.
Did you know that one in four Americans living with HIV are women? It’s true. HIV/AIDS is affecting more and more women, specifically African American women. It’s actually become the leading cause of death in African American women between the ages of 25-34.
When I first saw this, I honestly thought it was a joke.
(CBS) Kellogg, the nation’s largest cereal maker, is making new, controversial claims that its Krispies cereals can help boost kids’ immune systems.
Does fortifying junk food with a couple of vitamins make it healthy? No, of course not. Processed foods and foods high in sugar are not healthy. Period.
So why would Kellogg’s think that by adding a few vitamins to its kid cereals, that they could then call them healthy? Let me take a guess – $$$$$$$$$$. Isn’t it interesting how they are making these claims about “boosting your families immunity” at a time when most mothers are fearful of the H1N1 virus? Coincidence? Or just super good marketing strategy?
The truth is…Sugar (and many of the other ingredients in these cereals) actually weaken the immune system, so claims of boosting immunity are totally bogus. Shame on you Kellogg’s – You are clearly taking advantage of this swine flu crisis to increase your bottom line.
What do you think about this? Let me know in comments.
November is Epilepsy Awareness Month. I hope this post will provide information and facts about epilepsy, while also showcasing women blogging about life with seizures.
Epilepsy affects over 3 million Americans of all ages – more than multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, and Parkinson’s disease combined. Almost 500 new cases of epilepsy are diagnosed every day in the United States. Epilepsy affects 50,000,000 people worldwide.
In two-thirds of patients diagnosed with epilepsy, the cause is unknown.
Epilepsy can develop at any age and can be a result of genetics, stroke, head injury, and many other factors.
In over thirty percent of patients, seizures cannot be controlled with treatment. Uncontrolled seizures may lead to brain damage and death. Many more have only partial control of their seizures.
The severe epilepsy syndromes of childhood can cause developmental delay and brain damage, leading to a lifetime of dependency and continually accruing costs—both medical and societal.
It is estimated that up to 50,000 deaths occur annually in the U.S. from status epilepticus (prolonged seizures), Sudden Unexplained Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP), and other seizure-related causes such as drowning and other accidents.
The mortality rate among people with epilepsy is two to three times higher than the general population and the risk of sudden death is twenty-four times greater.
Recurring seizures are also a burden for those living with brain tumors and other disorders such as cerebral palsy, mental retardation, autism, Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, multiple sclerosis, tuberous sclerosis, and a variety of genetic syndromes.
I found this video on a blog called My 3 Peanuts – It is a very informative video that explains exactly what happens during a seizure.
This is my response to seeing so many bloggers and commenters turning the “choice” to vaccinate for H1N1, into a free for all hate fest against moms who are “choosing” not to vaccinate.
To vaccinate or not to vaccinate, that is the question many moms are facing when it comes to Swine Flu and the H1N1 vaccine (including me). As far as I’m concerned, there is no right or wrong answer when it comes to the H1N1 vaccine. There is plenty of information available for parents to educate themselves on both the H1N1 virus as well as the vaccine, and I believe every mother has the right to make the decision she believes is best for her children. But not everyone thinks so, there are many moms on the internet freely venting their disdain for anyone who doesn’t vaccinate their child for H1N1.
Anti-depressants have been in the news a lot recently. There are new questions about anti-depressant use and the risk of suicide. Questions about why anti-depressant use seems to be on the rise. Questions about the risks of using anti-depressants during pregnancy. And questions about the safety of using anti-depressants in adolescence. Unfortunately, there are more questions than answers.
For me, these types of questions boil down to…Do the benefits outweigh the risks? And there is no right or wrong answer, I believe these questions need to be addressed on a case by case basis.
As with everything in life – Knowledge is power. So in this post we will take a look at the latest news surrounding anti-depressant use, as well as links to information on diagnosis and treatment of depression.
The latest research on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome has it linked to a cancer-causing retrovirus…
Last week I was reading a lot about the latest research linking Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) to the XMRV Retrovirus. Some of the articles even implied that people suffering with CFS (like myself) should be excited at the possibility that this news could lead to better diagnosis and treatment of CFS. But, it’s not exactly good news for CFS patients, especially for patients hoping for a cure. Here’s why…
Where do you stand on healthcare reform? It’s a hot-button political issue that has strong opinions on both sides. And with October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month, it seems appropriate to address how healthcare reform could affect the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer.
My name is Catherine Morgan...I'm a writer, nurse, and mother. I'm also a contributing editor for BlogHer Health & Wellness.
Welcome to my blog...I write a little bit of everything with an emphasis on healthy living, inspiration, nutrition, and health news. I hope you'll find topics that interest you here, and I would love to know what you think in comments. Thanks for stopping by.
Are you eating the one thing that increases a woman’s risk of stroke?
