Sea Crest Health Care Center

No curmudgeon here, but just one harried boomer, who’s watching life’s intrusions chip, chipping away… One upside of travel used to be the “turn off your mobile phones” announcement, and now, it appears one’s conscience gets no time – off from calorie counting. Regulators’ appetite for calorie counts is about to extend beyond restaurants to include airplanes, movie theaters and convenience stores. The government wants calorie listings posted to make it easier for consumers to select healthier options…and I just want to be left alone.

Sure, I watch what I eat – but I’ll do it on my time & my watch. Though initially appreciative of the health-care overhaul enacted in March that had restaurants post calories, resentment started creeping in on the very rare occasions I was about to succumb. One chocolate chip cookie with my Dunkin Donuts coffee would certainly not wreak havoc on this body… until, I espied the 600 plus calories affixed to that slot.

I know. An airplane is the last place you want their food offerings, but I wish Big Brother would keep its elbows out of my less than roomy aisle seat!

Health advocates say the change could be a powerful tool in fighting the obesity epidemic, a top initiative in Washington since first lady Michelle Obama made childhood obesity her signature cause in February.

Come to think of it…Michelle can stay away too!

I am admittedly not the trendiest girl around.  I don’t have designer shoes or a luxury car or get my hair blown out.  Actually, where I live getting your hair blown out means you drove with a window open, but I don’t do that much either.  The NYC crowd would have a field day with how un-cool I am with my suburban clothes and addiction to Dunkin’ Donuts iced coffee.  I am about as mainstream as they come, and for this I am generally unapologetic.  It’s who I am and I’m OK with that.

Although un-hip, I am quite interested in doing things to keep myself and my family healthy.  I try mightily to get my children to willingly eat vegetables. I don’t cook red meat. I choose fresh ingredients rather than food-in-a-box whenever possible.  I am embarking on an experiment to be a vegetarian, and I recently gave up caffeine for a month.  I am willing to try new things – within reason.

There was a recent article in the New York Times about the popularity of a fermented tea drink called kombucha.  Apparently this tea can do all kinds of magical things like re-growing hair, calming digestive issues and curing hangovers.  Those who drink it claim that it is quite delish.  Sounds good, right?  I’m in! I could be the first one in the suburbs to partake of this delightful elixir!  How do I get it?

This is where things get a little hairy for me.  Because kombucha is made by immersing a disk of bacteria into brewed tea and letting it sit, unrefrigerated, for up to two weeks.

A disk of bacteria.

In your tea.

On purpose.

I am so not down with that.

I understand the benefits of probiotics.  I eat yogurt (from the refrigerator, thank you very much).  But, I have to admit that I wouldn’t even drink the plain tea if it sat out for two weeks – and the introduction of the bacteria disk into the equation does nothing to improve the situation for me.

I suppose the nature of kombucha is essentially similar to beer.  Fermented substances in a drink are not that uncommon.  And yet, I can’t quite get my head around voluntarily introducing bacteria into a completely acceptable drink like tea.  I guess I don’t brew my own beer either, although I do enjoy drinking it.

There are packaged versions of kombucha available, including one made by Red Bull.  I am slightly more comfortable with the manufactured versions, mostly because I work under the assumption that beverage manufacturers are as terrified of being sued as I am of dying of kombucha poisoning.

I am a big sucker for slick marketing and putting anything, even something utterly disgusting, in a pretty bottle and giving it a fun name goes a long way to drawing my interest.  If I actually went out and purchased a Carpe Diem Kombucha, it would be an ultimate marking success for them.

Ooooo…pretty bottle….fancy name…who cares what’s in it?  I must have it!

I want to be cool and brave enough to jump on this bandwagon and give kombucha a try.  But the reality is that it’s probably beyond my capabilities to be that cool and brave.  And the Dunkin’ Donuts coffee is working just fine for me, thanks!

by Edna Milay
Sometimes it seems like everything causes cancer. Then it seems like everything prevents it. What advice should you follow and what can you regard skeptically until further research actually proves something? Here are a few lifestyle tips for cancer prevention. All are well proven to correlate with reduced cancer risks.
1. A little alcohol affects men and women differently. Men actually benefit from a small daily intake of spirits, while women should not exceed a single drink a day, if even that much.
2. Avoid processed meats at all cost, and limit your consumption of all red meat. Fish and fowl are rich in all the proteins you need without the unhealthy fats that come along with.
3. Along the same lines, try to avoid overdosing on sodium and salt, which most people do. The average salt intake is already well above the necessary limit, so any reduction on your part can only be good.
4. Whole, unprocessed foods are your best bet. Fruits, veggies, and things that grow from the ground are healthy. Foods with ingredients you can’t pronounce or that don’t resemble any naturally occurring edible should be shunned. And while you’re at it, aim for a variety of veggies and fruits. Different foods have different vitamins and minerals, so take in as much as possible.
5.  Exercise. About 30 minutes of activity per day, enough to get your heart rate up, should do the trick.
6. Avoid fat, especially saturated and hydrogenated. Hydrogenated fats, found in margarine and most junk foods, are directly linked to cancer risks. Processed sugar is also a known evil. Reduce your calorie intake as much as possible, a strategy linked to longer life overall.

By L. Gordon

Back pain – something most Americans experience a few times a year. Wouldn’t it be nice to know why, and how to prevent it?

One good reason for back pain is lack of muscle strength. When back muscles are weak, they tire when supporting your back, and lose their ability to support you in more straining positions. Exercising three times a week strengthens the muscles and can actually reduce the risk of chronic back pain by 43%, according to researchers in the Samsung Medical Center in Korea. Exercise also has a myriad of other benefits, which don’t bear listing, including weight loss. Even 5 pounds can increase the risk of spinal injury, the study found.

Poor technique is another leading cause of back injury. Never bend over to pick up heavy things; always crouch, and lift with the item close to your body. Don’t twist over to lift something that’s fallen off your chair or desk; twisting your back while lifting even a pen is a great way to strain the cartilage discs in your spine.

There are some old myths about back pain that need to be discarded. Hard mattresses and sitting straight are two to forget immediately. The spine isn’t straight, so a hard mattress is actually pushing your spine out of line. A soft mattress, though, isn’t much better, allowing your spinal column to sag out of shape. Choose a mattress with a medium amount of give.

While good posture is great, sitting upright actually puts weight on your spine, which over the course of the day, can strain it. Leaning back, forward, standing, walking, and stretching throughout the day relieve the tension.

Back pains aren’t all physical. Possibly half of lower back pains in the United States can be traced to stress or other psychosomatic reasons. Take a warm bath, meditate, or get a massage. It could make that pain go away. Heat relaxes muscles, but so can sniffing relaxing scents, or visiting the chiropractor or acupuncturist.

By L. Gordon

What do you get when you combine an aging population with a gaining population?

Hip and knee replacements.

As baby boomers age and acquire arthritis, and as obesity continues to rage among the younger population, knees and hips are wearing out at an unprecedented rate. And as they wear out, they are being replaced at an unprecedented rate.

Arthritis is usually associated with aging, and the grinding down of cartilage at the joints. But cartilage can also be ground down by excessive weight placed on the joint by obesity.

Today, both populations of arthritis patients are growing, as baby boomers hit retirement and obesity grows in the general American population.

Arthritis can cause stiffness, swelling, and general joint pain, restricting, or even severely limiting, patient mobility. When pain-killers cease to help, join replacement surgery is a popular option. Titanium joints can last 10 or so years before they need to be replaced, and drastically reduce pain and increase mobility close to ordinary activity levels.

Between 2000 and 2004, there was a 53% increase in knee replacements and a 37% increase in hip replacements. According to a report by Dr. Sunny Kim at the Florida International University, if these trends persist, there will be 1.4 million knee replacements performed in the year 2015 alone. The cost to health care providers would be enormous.