Weekly Health Tips

Many health professionals recommend seasonal influenza (flu) vaccines as a preventive measure. But are they safe? Are they necessary? Do they actually work? Or are they a shot in the dark? The debate rages on, but the U.S. Center for Disease Control still urges families to get vaccinated against flu every year -- not only to safeguard their own health, but to prevent a large scale epidemic from taking hold in the U.S.  

The Center for Science in the Public Interest reports that today’s school meals include more fruits and vegetables, more whole grains, low-fat instead of high-fat milk, and sensible limits on calories, unhealthy fats, and salt. This is because nutritional standards have been revamped to ensure better nutrition for all of the 31 million children attending school in this country today. 

As parents, we often minimize the importance of teen stress and simply attribute it to over-active hormones, the search for popularity and peer pressure.  However, recent studies have shown that teenagers actually do have a lot on their minds, even if parents only perceive their stress as “melodrama”. The fact is, many teens are stressed, maybe as much so or more than their parents.

On July 3, 2015, the New York Times published an article about the rising cost of healthcare insurance – “Health Insurance Companies Seek Big Rate Increases for 2016”.  The article cites that the average health insurance company will increase rates from between 20% to 40% in 2016.