Category: Lifestyle

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Lifestyle

Wellness: Is There An App For That?

Most of us are looking for a way to stay motivated and consistent with healthy habits. Whether it is eating better or exercising, many of us need daily reminders, support, and something to keep the process interesting. There are thousands of smart phone apps promising weight loss or ripped abs, but do they really work? Is there an app for that?
A recent study conducted at the University of Florida is critical of most free apps. The apps were compared to the American College of Sports Medicine’s Guidelines for Physical Activity including:
– 150 minutes of cardiorespiratory exercise per week
– Resistance exercise two or three days per week
– Flexibility exercise two or three days per week
– Neuromotor exercise (balance, agility, and coordination) two or three days per week
Yes, measured against these criteria, most fitness apps fall short. But is that really the point?
Most Americans get just eight minutes of physical activity per day, or 56 minutes per week. ANY increase in activity is beneficial. If a free app reminds you to get up and move around more, that is excellent. If an app allows you to log what you eat and be more intentional, fantastic.
The secret to successful weight loss or fitness plans is to combine motivation and support for behavior change. A fitness or weight loss app isn’t going to be a magic cure, but they can support behavior change by:
– Providing positive messages, support, and motivation: The FitBit app does this very well. The app is simple, tracking steps and allowing users to log other data such as ounces of water or calories consumed. The real beauty comes through badges earned through steps, encouraging messages (you are almost to your goal), and the ability to connect with friends in good natured competition.
– Making users set specific goals: “I will take 10,000 steps today” is a more specific goal and will be more successful than a goals such as, “I will be more active.” Successful apps ask users to make measurable daily goals
– Reminding users to be intentional about goals: If you are intentional about something on a daily basis, change will happen. Most apps have the option to set reminders or have prompts built into the design.
– Individualizing activities: Cookie cutter activity or eating plans are less likely to be effective than plans that can be modified to fit individual needs. Apps that allow users to set beginning fitness levels, age, injury issues, dietary preferences, etc., will be more successful. The University of Florida Study recommended Sworkit as a comprehensive and flexible app.
– Being easy and pleasant to use: If an app is too complicated or is discouraging to use, you won’t be likely to go back to it day after day. I’m a fan of Johnson & Johnson’s 7 Minute Workout App. It is simple to use, mixes up activities, and is quick.
So, is there an app for that? There certainly could be. With so many to choose from for any smart phone, finding one to suit your specific needs using the criteria above is very possible. Try some out, most have a free version. Whether you are just getting started toward your goal or just need some new ideas to keep you motivated, a smart phone app may just be trick

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Lifestyle

The Crayon Initiative: One Man's Way of Bringing the Rainbow to Sick Children

Every year, restaurants and schools throw away perfectly good crayons. One man is putting those discarded crayons to use, though. 

The Crayon Initiative, a non-profit organization founded by Bryan Ware, uses discarded crayons to make new crayons, which are distributed to children at hospitals throughout California.

Ware, a creative dad from Northern California, was eating at a restaurant a few years ago with his wife and kids. He watched as his sons scribbled happily with some crayons. A thought struck him as he watched. 

What happens to those crayons afterward?

Ware asked his server and was disappointed to learn that the crayons at the restaurant were thrown away after customers leave. It seemed like a waste to him, so he started taking crayons with him. That simple act turned into The Crayon Initiative. 

The organization now receives leftover crayons from restaurants, schools, and personal donations. Ware sorts the crayons by color and melts them in his own kitchen. He then uses a special mold, built with the help of an occupational therapist, to form the new crayons. They’re molded a little thicker, so younger kids and those with special needs can grip them better.

So far, The Crayon Initiative has delivered more than 2,000 boxes to California hospitals, and recently Ware made the first deliver out of state, traveling all the way to New York. He hopes The Crayon Initiative can continue to grow and provide kids in a difficult situation with a creative outlet.

“From my perspective, the biggest goal is to give them an escape,” Ware told The Mighty. “I can’t even fathom what these kids are going through. If these crayons give them an escape from that hospital room for ten minutes, we did our job.”

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Lifestyle

Just How Sanitary Are Airplanes?

After the Ebola scare of 2015, it’s no wonder that people would worry about being trapped on a potentially germ-filled tube with a bunch of anonymous travelers, some of whom don’t bother to cover their mouth and nose when they cough or sneeze (and may be, for all we know, carriers of some horrible diseases). So I’ve been pleasantly surprised to notice on recent cross-country flights a definite increase in the number of people wearing surgical masks. But it turns out that when it comes to health risks on planes, air quality is just about the last thing we should be worried about.

Airing Grievances

The truth is that on most planes, the cabin air is completely replaced with fresh air from outside every two or three minutes (far more frequently than the air in your office building or, for that matter, your home). In addition, that air is run through high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters, which remove more than 99 percent of bacteria, viruses, and other scary stuff. Newer planes have additional technology that increase the filtration to 100 percent.

Don’t touch that. Actually, don’t touch anything

The air in the cabin is clean, but when it comes to health risks, everything else in the cabin in a horror story. So, rather than a surgical mask, you’d be better off investing your money in surgical gloves. Planes used for short trips may do as many as eight trips per day. Those used for cross-country flights may do only two.
Planes are usually “cleaned” between flights, but that “cleaning” typically consists of picking up newspapers, replacing old or torn in-flight magazines, and possibly pulling trash out of seatback pockets. The most germ-infested places may not be disinfected for weeks or months. Those include seat pockets, tray tables, window shades, armrests, seatbelts, headrests (especially those on the aisle seats, since they get touched by the most people), the toilet flushing lever or button and the handle inside the restroom. How big a problem is it? Consider this:

  • Seat-back pockets are sometimes stuffed with used tissues and airsick bags and other stuff you wouldn’t want on your hands. Researchers at Auburn University just completed a two-year study to determine how long six types of bacteria, including E. coli and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), would survive on commonly touched surfaces on airplanes. On material from seatback pockets, MRSA survived 168 hours (7 days). On armrests, e-coli survived 96 hours (4 days)
  • Researchers at the University of Arizona did a similar study and found that 60 percent of tray tables tested positive for MRSA (which can be fatal). Tray tables are rarely cleaned, and there’s no way of telling what kinds of things have come in contact with the surface. Since it’s been more than 20 years and the statute of limitations has (hopefully) passed, I will admit to that I once changed my infant daughter’s diaper on a tray table—and I know I’m not the only one. Just to have a reference point, Jonathan Sexton, who led the UA study, found MRSA on only 11 percent of samples taken from the New York City subway.
  • The website Travelmath.com found that those tray tables were 195 percent more likely to be romping grounds for bacteria than your average cell phone, which according a Which? magazine study, provide homes for 18 times more germs than your average toilet.

What can you do?

One possible solution is to never fly again and make better use of Skype and Google hangouts. But that’s not going to be practical for most people. So we suggest that you do the following when traveling—and that you have anyone you’re traveling with do the same.

  • Carry hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes with you and carefully wipe down the armrest, headrest, and tray table.
  • Use hand sanitizer before you eat.
  • Use a tissue or some other disposable item to flush toilets, twist overhead airflow vents, and open lavatory doors.
  • Keep your hands away from your eyes, nose, and mouth.
  • Keep your hands out of seat pockets and try not to touch other people’s seats as you walk by.
  • Don’t touch airline blankets or pillows even if they’re in plastic bags. Bring your own instead or use a jacket.
  • Use the bathroom in the terminal before your board. If you have to go on the plane, try to do it as early in the flight as possible. Lavatories are rarely cleaned during flights.

Bon voyage!

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Lifestyle

3 American Cities Are Now Running Completely on Renewable Energy

Imagine if the United States was run entirely on clean, renewable energy. This could someday soon be a reality. A study by a Stanford University professor Mark Z. Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford, and his colleagues, has outlined how each of the 50 states can make the transition to renewable energy by 2050.

According to the plan there would be significant upfront costs, but over time the costs would be roughly equal to the existing price of the fossil fuel infrastructure, maintenance and production.

Making the switch to renewable energy would significantly reduce air pollution, which has been linked to the deaths of approximately 63,000 Americans each year. Renewable energy would also eliminate greenhouse gases produced by fossil fuel.

Three cities have already paved the way by showing that the transition to renewable energy can be a reality.

Burlington, Vermont

Burlington, Vermont is the first large U.S. city to run entirely on renewable energy. With the switch to renewables, Burlington residents are only using renewable resources when they power up their electronics.

Their electricity now comes from solar, wind, hydroelectric and biomass sources. Vermont has a statewide goal of getting 90 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2050, including electricity, heating, and transportation.

Greensburg, Kansas

Greensburg, Kansas is a city that truly lives by the motto “If you take care of the land it will take care of you”. In 2007, Greensburg, Kansas was hit by a monstrous tornado that killed 13 people and injured more than 60 others. Over 95 percent of the structures in the town were demolished. As the citizens began to rebuild they were determined to build a better infrastructure and developed a long-term recovery plan which included 100% renewable electricity. They have achieved that goal and more, making Greensburg, Kansas “America’s greenest little town.”

Aspen, Colorado

Aspen, Colorado is the third US city to receive all of its power from renewable sources. The city is gathering much of its energy from wind and hydroelectric, with a smaller portion coming from solar and geothermal. Aspen had been using about 75 to 80 percent renewable energy and finally committed to 100% renewables in August, 2015. The city receives its wind energy from wind farms in Nebraska and South Dakota.

As Scientists continue to warn us to stop using fossil fuels and start using 100% renewable energy, these three cities are leading to charge. Other global cities and towns are also positioned to become leaders in the clean energy field in the near future. There’s no question that the shift towards renewable energy has begun and it’s exciting to see where it will ultimately go as many more join the movement.

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Lifestyle

Learn How To Shop To Prevent Excess Food Waste

We’ve all been there.

You make your weekly, or perhaps monthly, trip to the grocery store and stock up on food. But you misjudge just how much you need and what you’ll actually eat. Then you’re put in the position of throwing away food that was perfectly good a week ago. Food you paid good money for. 

This is more common than you think. Each year, Americans waste an estimated 40 percent of food they’ve purchased. Family households are responsible for a significant portion of that waste. One study estimates that it’s the equivalent of throwing away $165 million a year. 

There’s a solution, but it might sound counterintuitive: Shop more. 

Victoria Ligon, a researcher at the University of Arizona, said most Americans only worry about how to limit food waste once they’ve already gone shopping. However, Ligon believes people need think more about potential waste before they go shopping–not after. 

In her research, Ligon tracked shopping and food preparation patterns, interviewed participants, and followed food diaries to gain greater insight into the mind of shoppers. It became evident that Americans aren’t shopping frequently enough. 

Americans tend to be price sensitive when it comes to food. That leads to many people buying groceries infrequently in bulk at stores such as Wal-Mart, Costco, and Sam’s Club. In other words, we’re just looking for the best deal.

Consequently, shoppers over-buy because they don’t tend to think about the cost of wasted food while shopping. A study by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) noted that food has become relatively cheap and available. So much so that many shoppers don’t think it’s a big deal if a little gets thrown out.

The $165 million figure indicates that it’s a very big deal, though. 

If you really want to eliminate waste, look to Europe. Across the pond, they have a market culture rather than a supermarket culture. People tend to shop for groceries every day or every other day.

Instead of stockpiling food that will potentially go bad, buy only what you’re going to eat that night or the next day. Go to the grocery store and see what looks good. Find produce that’s fresh and in-season. Swing buy the meat department and see what’s on sale. Typically, meat gets marked down significantly as it approaches its sell by date. That means savings for you!

The biggest obstacle to this sort of shopping is the perceived hassle. Why make five to seven trips to the store when I can make one? Well, stopping by the store for a few things is a lot different than lugging a cart around for an hour or more. If you’re only grabbing a few things, each trip should be relatively painless. 

Granted, this assumes you actually have time to spare before or after work each day. If you do, try changing your shopping routine for a week.

You may never step foot in a warehouse-style store again. 

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Lifestyle

Nature-Therapy At Its Best: Prison Teaches Beekeeping To Inmates

Ostensibly, prison is supposed to be about rehabilitation. You would never know it at some institutions, though. But one in Washington is taking that goal to heart. 

And it’s doing it with bees. 

Cedar Creek Corrections Center in Littlerock, Washington is home to a beekeeping program that teaches inmates about green practices and trains them in a skill they can use after rejoining society. The program even works with Olympia Bee Keeper’s Association to fund a beekeeping apprentice certification. 

It’s one of the more coveted jobs inside in the prison and is quickly becoming a great way to build a rapport between the inmates and prison staff. 

“It gives me an open communication line we can talk about and share,” Glenn Epling, corrections officer and program instructor, told the King 5 news station. “It helps me bring something to these inmates that I’m finding out they’re very interested in.”

Many of the inmates didn’t know a thing about bees before working in the program. Now, they can spot diseases, pests, and healthy gathering of pollen. They’ve also learned how to effectively collect honey and wax and turn them into marketable products.

“You have the opportunity to actually advance yourself when you get out of here,” inmate Jack Boysen said. “You have the potential to turn this into a career when you get out.” 

The program is part of Washington’s Sustainability in Prisons Project, which was formally started in 2008 at four prisons. Currently, each of the state’s 12 prisons and around 3,000 inmates participate in the program. It includes environmental initiatives other than beekeeping like butterfly breeding and flower growing. 

Joslyn Rose Trivett, who works for the Sustainability in Prisons Project, said the program is giving inmates hope.

“A lot of the people who are incarcerated are struggling with the feeling of being thrown away and discarded by society,” Trivett said. However, she said the program has shown them, “There is value in every material and every resource and every animal and plant and certainly in every person.”

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Lifestyle

A 6-Year-Old Amputee Raises Money For A Tailless Dolphin

Braedon Monthony was taken with Winter the tailless dolphin the first time he saw her in Dolphin Tale. He excitedly told his mother, “Mom, how cool! She’s just like me!”

Winter, the star of Dolphin Tale, lost her tail after getting caught in a crab trap. Now, she uses a prosthetic tail. It’s something to which the first grader can relate. Braedon lost both of his legs below the knees after fighting bacterial form of meningitis before he was even a year old. 

Braedon desperately wanted to meet Winter in person, so he started a lemonade stand to raise money. When the Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Florida heard about Braedon’s efforts, they offered his family free tickets and set up a special meet and greet next spring. Unfortunately, the family will have to pay for the trip down there. But not to worry!

So far, Braedon has raised about $200 and the family also started a Go Fund Me page, which has netted around $4,000. It’s more than enough to go see Winter. 

“Ever since I saw the movie, I’ve been wanting to meet her, I’m so excited,” Braedon told People. “She lost her tail and I lost my legs, we both wear prosthetics, we’re the same!”

The movie, and Winter, made Braedon feel a little less lonely. He said it made him realize he wasn’t the only to lose his legs. 

“When he saw the movie, he was so excited to see another being similar to him,” Braedon’s mom, Elaine Monthony, told People. “He felt such a kinship with Winter. He doesn’t see people with prosthetics every day, so it will be very special for him to see her, he doesn’t have to feel alone or different. We can’t wait to see him experience that.” 

Like Winter, the prostheses aren’t an obstacle to Braedon. The energetic little boy loves to bike, swim, and just play outside. He might use the energy to do some good one day, too. Braedon said when he grows up he wants to work with animals who are missing limbs.

“I would like to train dolphins and killer whales that have lost their tales, because it would make me feel so happy that I would have my own dolphin to train!” he said. “Mine would definitely like me a lot, I think. We would have a lot in common.” 

Go get ’em kid!

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Lifestyle

A Paralyzed Woman Became a Fashion Designer and Revolutionized the Way of Jeans Forever!

Every day someone undergoes a life-altering experience, whether positive or negative. From the time we wake up and fall asleep, our world could quite possibly take an 180-degree turn, and that’s exactly what happened for Heidi McKenzie. Heidi was your everyday girl who enjoyed sports and other recreations. However, her life came to a halt in 2007 when she suffered injuries from a severe accident, paralyzing her from the waist down. Fortunately, she was the recipient of positivity and well-wishes as her support group aided in her mental discovery, but Heidi had one long-lasting qualm that couldn’t be solved through therapy or kind words – fashion. Heidi had already been a creative and fashion forward woman so when she realized her style choices were rather limited, specifically in finding pants that were both stylish and comfortable, she was not impressed. 

“Being adaptive and functional is what sells to those in wheelchairs so that is the main focus … cute is not a priority,” Heidi states. 

She knew that the majority of clothing wear for people in wheelchairs was catered toward the elderly, so skinny jeans or extreme flares are never an option when she’s on the market for a new outfit. As she was mulling this over she went on to graduate college, engage in various volunteer organizations, and she even won a beauty pageant! She was still in the fast lane in almost every aspect except for her jeans, and it finally became too much.

More than 3 million people are in wheelchairs in the United States alone, so Heidi decided to be the spokesperson for young Millennials that knew their life was only different by the chair they relied upon. Heidi partnered with designer Kristin Alexandra Tidwell to create jeans that are fashion-forward, comfortable, and easily accessible for people in wheelchairs. She titled it “Alter Ur Ego” and started a Kickstarter campaign that immediately took off raising more than 20k. They began creating jeans that have since been a wild success. These jeans look like your everyday pair, however, there is a comfortable elastic band that holds your stomach in since it’s impossible to suck in, and no one likes an unwanted pooch! The pockets are easier to access with them being placed lower on the leg and the cut is higher in the back so you don’t have any unwanted skin peeking through. The last invention is pure genius  – they manufactured an invisible catheter opening to avoid embarrassment yet still maintain the much-needed accessibility. 

Heidi is an inspiration to us all as she continues to look forward in life and pursue her love for designing items that people, who are in a similar situation as herself, can utilize. Her positivity and resolve is something we could all use a little more of in this world! 

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Mom With Sick Baby Finds Her Parking Tickets Paid By Kind Stranger

When you have a sick child, feeding the meter probably isn’t your first priority. 

An Australian mom was initially distraught to see she had been ticketed after spending several days in a Canberra hospital with her sick nine-week-old son. She found a welcome surprise when she picked up the ticket, though. 

There was a note attached to the ticket left by a kind stranger, who only gave her name as “Laura.” It said, “I saw your car had a parking ticket on it. I’m sure whatever you’re going through at the hospital is tough enough so I have paid for you.”

The note included a receipt for the payment, as well. 

The anonymous mom posted a picture of the note to the Canberra Mums Facebook page. She wanted to share the compassionate act with others and hoped Laura might see it. The post went viral in no time, receiving 50,000 likes in less than a day. Now more than 100,000 people have liked the post, and it has also been shared 16,000 times. 

In the post, the anonymous mom wrote, “I hope that Laura sees this and knows how much I appreciate her support. Thank you so much.”

There’s been no word on whether Laura has seen the post, but, if the reactions to it are any indication, she’s incredibly appreciated. 

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Make A Difference By Riding Your Bike To Work

Everyone has an opinion about obesity in America–from parents to cable-news talking heads to health officials. They repeatedly point to familiar culprits: processed junk food, sugary sodas, video games, an increase in the number office jobs, and, of course, portion size.

However, there’s one variable that is rarely mentioned in the conversation, and it’s all around us.

Our communities.

During the 1950s and 1960s middle class white families moved from more diverse urban areas to the suburbs and exurbs. It was called “white flight,” and it helped shape the suburban landscapes that are so familiar today. Communities started to favor branching, “hierarchical” layouts instead of the organic and grid systems of older cities.

It resulted in homogenous communities with houses surrounded by enormous pristine lawns. Neighborhoods and subdivisions bunched together via cul-de-sacs. Soon, a car was a necessity to access the basic amenities of the community.

I grew up in one of these suburbs.

I never thought of it as an especially bad place to grow up. There was little crime and any danger was primarily of my own making. There were good schools. There were ponds to skate on during the winter and baseball fields to play on during the summer. It has only occurred to me as an adult how difficult it would be to live there without a car.

Taking a trip on foot to the nearest grocery store from my childhood home wouldn’t be impossible, but it would be time-consuming, difficult, and tiring. The same goes for many other businesses and services. My reexamination illustrated something.

While cul-de-sacs and subdivisions might be great for secluded personal kingdoms, they might not be great for your health.

Norman Garrick and Wesley Marshall are assistant professors of engineering at the Universities of Connecticut and Colorado and they believe the issue is worth examining. Marshall told The Atlantic in extreme cases, “Older, denser, connected cities were killing three times fewer people than sparser, tree-like cities on an annual basis.”

Naturally, they assumed people walk and bike more in dense cities that are easy to navigate. However, Garrick, Marshall, and Daniel Piatkowski, of Savannah State University, wanted to delve into street networks and health.

Their study, which looked at 24 California cities, reported that cities with compact street networks (i.e., more intersections) were healthier. These communities showed lower levels of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease.

An earlier study by the RAND Corporation showed similar results. Even after controlling for factors such as age, economic status, and race researchers found that people in areas with a high degree of suburban sprawl were more likely to have health problems such as high blood pressure, arthritis, and breathing difficulties.

Roland Sturm, a RAND Health economist, said of the study, “We know from previous studies that suburban sprawl reduces the time people spend walking and increases the time they spend sitting in cars, and that is associated with higher obesity rates. This probably plays an important role in the health effects we observe.”

However, not everyone is convinced that cities lead to more walking and biking.

Timothy Wojan and Karen Hamrick, of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, authored a new study focusing on “active commuters,” those who either walk or bike to work. They examined the prevalence of these active commuters in more compact cities versus sprawling suburbs. Controlling for age, gender, race, ethnicity, education, and occupation, Wojan and Hamrick ran a regression analysis of the link between active commuting and fitness in each place.

Their results ran contrary to the other studies. Wojan and Hamrick found that urban residents weren’t significantly more active than suburban residents. They posit that this is because only a fraction of people in both places actually walk or ride a bike to work. That being said, they did find a correlation between active commuters and decreased body mass index (BMI). The few people that do walk or bike to work have markedly lower BMIs, which could indicate better overall health.

According to data from the United State Census Bureau, the number of people who bike to work increased from 488,000 in 2000 to 786,000 in 2012. That equates to roughly a 60 percent increase. The increase might seem impressive, but cyclists still make up only 0.6 of all commuters. Census Bureau data also showed that 2.8 percent of the population walks to work. That adds up to 3.4 percent of the population who either walk or bike to work.

This is a poor showing compared to European countries where biking is part of everyday life. In the Netherlands, 31 percent of people commute by bike every day and 99 percent of people own a bike.

In Denmark, 24 percent of people commute by bike every day and 90 percent of people own a bike. Furthermore, the country spends around $10 million a year on biking infrastructure, and only 29 percent of people own cars. Although there might not be a direct correlation, it’s probably worth noting that obesity rates in countries like the Netherlands and Denmark are significantly lower than in the U.S.

Granted, these are countries with a fraction of the population of the U.S., and they are also home to old, compact cities. Still, there seems to be an enthusiasm toward biking that is missing here. Biking advocates are hopeful for the future, though.

“In recent years, many communities have taken steps to support more transportation options, such as bicycling and walking,” Brian McKenzie, a Census Bureau sociologist said. “For example, many cities have invested in bike share programs, bike lanes and more pedestrian-friendly streets.”

It’s clear that more of us need to be walking and biking to work in this country. The health benefits are too obvious to ignore at this point. The only way that will happen is with strong encouragement and support of policy changes (bike lanes, traffic calming measures, etc.) at a local level.

So next time you walk out the door, ask yourself: Do I have to drive?