Tag: care

Whether it’s paying to get their own money in their hands or choosing between fixing the car or having food for the week, the poor in America face endless struggles when it comes to making ends meet. Have you ever wondered how they truly make it through each day?

To put it simply, it’s not easy to be poor in America. As of 2015, it’s estimated that approximately 43.1 million Americans live in poverty, and living their lives day to day only continues to get harder as time goes on.

Not only do the poor pay more for things that we all use on a daily basis, but they often don’t have the money to take the deals that’ll cost them less in the long run. In fact, it makes it incredibly easy to feel like the world is working against them, only setting them up to become poorer and poorer.

If you have enough money to buy not only what you need but also what you want, consider yourself lucky. A group of Reddit users shared the tips and tricks they had to use to make it while poor, and these will give you a glimpse of what it’s really like to be poor in America.

On Everyday Life

Have you ever wondered how the poor get by when it comes to their day-to-day lives? It often comes down to making sacrifices and spending more than you can afford when it’s absolutely necessary.

“I know a really poor family that buys loads of candles to light their home at night so that they don’t have to pay for electricity. It makes me sad.”—whysodoubtful

“A buddy of mine went through a tough time a few years back, and I didn’t know about it until he told me about a year ago. One thing that stuck with me was that he made just enough money to survive. By survive, he meant literally enough money to pay rent, utilities and the cheapest, worst food he could buy. He couldn’t afford transportation. Not even the bus.”—FFalldayerryday

“Extended stay housing or motels/hotels. When you can’t qualify to get an apartment because you don’t have proof of income, you end up wasting more money to stay for a week at extended day housing or a cheap motel.”—notmaurypovich

On Shopping

People who don’t have a lot of money are just like anyone else in the sense that they have to go shopping, whether it’s for food, clothing, or other necessities. The difference is that for them, it takes far more planning and a lot of hard decision making.

“When you are broke, you can’t plan ahead or shop sales or buy in bulk. Poor people wait to buy something until they absolutely need it, so they have to pay whatever the going price is at that moment. If ten-packs of paper towels are on sale for half price, that’s great, but you can only afford one roll anyway. In this way, poor people actually pay more than others for common staple goods.”—Meepshesaid

“My mom used to take me to the shopping mall to look for new school clothes. I’d point out 5 outfits I like (one for each school day), and then we’d leave to go to the fabric store where she’d buy remnants in similar colors/styles and then sew outfits that looked just like the things I pointed out in the store.”—aCause4Concern

“I’m making $150-$200 a week and I need new shoes. So I can buy $60 shoes that will last or $15 Walmart shoes. So I buy the Walmart shoes and some groceries instead of just the $60 shoes and no groceries. Three months later I’ll need new shoes again. But I’ll also have to pay rent and my light bill is due. So I’ll pay the light bill and buy some ‘shoe glue’ for $4 to fix my shoes for another few weeks until I can buy the $15 ones again.”—DrStephenFalken

On Food

It’s an absolute necessity to keep food on the table, and it’s something we often hear about the poor struggling with the most. They commonly have to choose between food quality and food quantity, and it’s the latter that usually wins.

“When I was child, Burger King ran a special kids meal where it was two mini Burgers that were attached to each other like a weird conjoined burger experiment. Sometimes we would go. My dinner was 1.5 of the mini burgers, my mom’s dinner was the half I didn’t eat and she would fill up on the free refills of soda.”—Honzo427

“I was so poor once that I would go to Long John Silvers and order a water and crunchies (which used to be free) then sit there and watch the people that would dine in. It was amazing how little they ate. And then they would leave without dumping their tray off in the trash. Fries, hushpuppies, chicken, fish… all untouched. No I didn’t eat a piece that was bitten off of. I once saw a woman order a 2 piece fish and more for her kid, that ate 1 hushpuppy and a few fries, and then left the rest of it there. It was the best I had eaten in weeks.”—ToddTheOdd

“After selling plasma i would walk to wendys and eat the crackers and ketchup for dinner.”—onehunglow58

On Transportation

We all have to get around somehow, and when our primary mode of transportation fails, most of us can quickly figure out a way around it. But for someone without any money to spare, loss of transportation could mean intense stress and reducing their already low budget to get where they need to be.

“Growing up my family had its moments of struggle. Our public transport system at the time had tickets which were simply hole-punched with the date and month, not the year. So we’d save them and store them neatly in envelopes marked by month and concession or full fare. After a few years of saving tickets we pretty much had free train and bus travel for the next 10 years…until they changed the ticketing system to electronically stamped tickets with bar codes.”—SardonicNihilist

“You can get new car parts from the junk yard for virtually nothing, with added discounts if you remove them from the junkers yourself. I had a 12-yr-old car in college and when it blew a tire, I went to the junk yard and found a decent set of tires. Bought all 4 for $70, which reduced my food budget to $16 for the next two weeks.”—IAlbatross

On Personal Care

The average person can stop by the store to pick up something when they need it—tampons, toilet paper, a bar of soap. Even though they’re necessities, the poor have to take shortcuts wherever they can, and that includes personal care items.

“My office only has a unisex bathroom so it has the facilities for men and women. Naturally there’s a tampon machine, and tampons are only 5 cents. Once a month I’ll work late, get a roll of nickels and fill up a grocery sack with tampons for my wife.”—permitbyrule

“Not buying but…stealing rolls of toilet paper from public restrooms. And stocking up on paper towels from the same place. This was all in undergrad. My roommate and I would also shower at the gym (university gym, so free memberships) to keep our water bill down.”—TourmalineTart

On Health Care

Health care is obviously a heavily debated topic these days, and the poor bear the brunt of almost every single decision that is made regarding our health care system. When they’re unable to pay for the care they need, they often end up taking matters into their own hands.

“I knew a guy that would go to a livestock feed store and buy antibiotics and some other meds there that were meant for farm animals when he got sick. There was another med he’d get at pet stores too. He’d just cut the pills into smaller pieces to try to guess what the proper [milligram] amount was. It’s apparently crazy cheap for certain meds and doesn’t require a prescription or govt. oversight like it would at a normal pharmacy.”—[deleted]

“At home surgery. Used a pair of needle nose pliers, a razor blade and some anti septic super glue to remove a cyst on my forehead. The secret is to cut it in a ‘cat’s eye’ shape, quickly push the skin back after you pull the cyst out (don’t let it pop) and get the glue on fast.”—[deleted]

“Going without meds, living in constant pain because you can’t afford a prescription. I remember laying in my bed at night, and my mom would be sobbing in her bed from pain, because she couldn’t afford the meds that would treat her rheumatoid arthritis or anything but generic tylenol for her pain.”—squeakygreenmom

We all have our go-to remedies that we reach for when we need them, but did you know that certain home treatments could be hurting more than helping? 

Obviously we can’t run to the doctor’s office for each and every little thing that happens to us, and it’s usually these small afflictions that have us searching for a quick and effective home remedy. But don’t assume that natural always means best—or that it works, either. We may not be doctors (and you should consult yours for personal medical advice) but there’s good reason to believe that these home remedies might be making your ailments worse.

Breast Milk

Let’s make one thing clear—we’re in no way saying that breast milk isn’t the magical, milky powerhouse for your kids that everyone says it is. What we are saying, however, is that it’s not a great idea to use it for everything else that could be going on, such as putting breast milk on your child’s pinkeye, skin rash, or open cut.

According to Dr. Sarah Yamaguchi, an OB/GYN at Los Angeles’ Good Samaritan Hospital, breast milk could take things from bad to worse in the right situations. “Breast milk can transmit infectious diseases such as HIV, and pumped breast milk, if not stored properly, can be contaminated and can actually introduce bacteria into an already infected area,” Yamaguchi says. Instead, make sure you keep any infected areas clean and dry, and just save the breast milk for babies’ stomachs.

Activated Charcoal

Most health enthusiasts have probably heard about the benefits of using activated charcoal as part of a health routine, and maybe some of you have even tried it yourself. People are taking it in pill form as part of detox regimens, adding it to mud masks, and even using it in its powder form to naturally whiten their teeth.

Although any of these things may not be harmful every now and then, too much charcoal isn’t good for you. Some of its most common side effects after ingestion include constipation, nausea or vomiting, and black discoloration of the stool—that last one may not be dangerous in its own right, but it would definitely be alarming, to say the least.

It is plain dangerous because it can cause life-threatening intestinal obstructions and severe dehydration,” says Svetlana Kogan, MD, a physician and author. For a similar detoxing effect, just drink plain ol’ water and try to eat a more nutritious diet.

Vitamins

Most people take some sort of daily vitamin, and doing so isn’t inherently harmful. But vitamin supplments are definitely not an ideal solution for giving your body everything it needs. You should be doing that with your diet.

Assuming that you eat a pretty balanced diet with plenty of protein, fruits and vegetables, and whole grains, you’re already getting in everything that you should. Taking a daily multivitamin can become dangerous when you’re giving your body too much of any one particular supplement because you’ve already gotten enough of it naturally.

Yes, too many vitamins really can be a bad thing—for example, consume too much vitamin D and you could be causing issues with your heart and liver, whereas an excess of vitamin B6 can cause nerve toxicity. Believe it or not, too much vitamin A could actually cause an overdose that could kill you.

If you think you might be lacking in any particular vitamin or mineral, consult your doctor before you supplement on your own.

Licking Wounds

It’s just a natural reaction—you get a quick paper cut, and your finger goes straight in your mouth as if it were pulled by a magnet. Mothers might even use their own spit to wipe something off their child’s face or clean off a scrape, because what’s the problem? You gave birth to them!

Well, the problem comes down to bacteria, which can be introduced in an open wound through saliva, and it can take a simple cut and turn it into something much worse. “Our breath and saliva have tons of bacteria which can contaminate the wound and lead to an infection,” says Dr. Kogan.

So, what are you supposed to do in a pinch? The best option for anyone who doesn’t have access to a medical kit is to just find some fresh water. Whether you’re in an office building or in the park, there’s bound to be a water fountain or bathroom nearby that you can use to rinse out a cut in a hurry.

Burn Remedies

Whether you’ve burned yourself on a hot pot or accidentally touched your ear with a flat iron, getting burned is never fun, and the healing is usually painful. We’ve all been there—the burn seems like it’s only going to hurt initially, and then the searing pain starts to sink in.

There’s not much you can do to treat it other than putting the area under running water, so many people turn to things they have on hand, particularly what’s in their kitchen. This goes for a lot of other small ailments, too.

Sure, avocados can be good for softening hair and, yes, manuka honey can be used for a variety of different things, but food items shouldn’t be used to treat bodily injuries.

One common burn treatment that Dr. Kogan often has to dismiss is using raw egg whites to treat burns—even when organic, raw eggs contain tons of bacteria that should never be introduced to damaged skin. Instead, stick to water and over-the-counter pain relievers.

Mouthwash Gargling

Although it’s come to light that mouthwash might not be as great as many of us believe it to be, plenty of people still use it in their daily oral hygiene routine. Some people even step up their usage when they’re sick and gargle with it in the hopes that it’ll help speed their recovery along.

We get the logic: Mouthwash often contains alcohol, and alcohol kills bacteria and viruses, so it’ll kill your cold, right? Wrong. If your throat is already inflamed from a cold or flu virus, adding mouthwash to the mix is the last thing you should do.

“Gargling inflamed tonsils with mouthwash is actually very irritating to the area and does not have any effect on potential strep throat,” says Dr. Kogan.

The simplest and most effective solution is to drink plenty of warm liquids to soothe inflammation in the throat and try to get as much rest as possible.

Kava

Kava is a root that’s usually found on various South Pacific islands. Often the root is powdered and taken as a tea, but it can also be found as an extract that can be added to other things. It has been recommended that kava can be taken to soothe anxiety, and some even compare the effects of the herb to those of popular prescription anxiety medications.

One study even showed that taking the herb could, in fact, moderately decrease anxiety levels. Still, though, the study advised that taking kava should be a short-term solution, as it’s one that could cause side effects that aren’t worth only moderate anxiety improvement.

One of the biggest risks of long-term kava use is liver damage, although it’s not known whether kava itself causes liver damage or if it’s the use of kava in conjunction with other medications.

Still, it’s worth noting that 30 cases of kava-related liver damage have been reported in Europe, and consumer advisory for the supplement was issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2002 because of its risk for potential liver failure.

Castor Oil

Castor oil has many uses; it’s most commonly used as a natural laxative. Not only that, but many pregnant women use it as a way to speed up the birthing process when they’re desperate to bring their babies into the world.

While doctors are fine with using castor oil for constipation, just say no when it comes to delivering a baby. “Castor oil may help if you are
constipated and need to pass a bowel movement, but it’s not going to help you go into labor and tastes awful,” says Dr. Yamaguchi.

So, are there any safe ways to start the labor at home? Sure, there are plenty of things people swear have worked for them—being intimate, eating fast food, walking around a lot—but the truth is that there isn’t one thing that’s guaranteed to work for everyone.

Oh, and for constipation? Castor oil is fine, but you can also try drinking prune juice or just increasing your overall fiber intake.

Simplicity is key, especially now. In the post-’90s world of excess, we’re all aiming for that minimalist aesthetic, but it can be hard to achieve. As pop-punk queen Avril Lavigne once sang, “Why’d you have to go and make things so complicated?” Chances are Ms. Lavigne was singing about tortuous teen relationships, but this statement also directly applies to skincare.

The last thing you need is beauty regimen with an ingredients list miles-long with no end in sight. Plus, how can you trust any ingredient enough to put it on your face if you can’t even pronounce it?

Thankfully, there is a solution. Lark Skin Co. is a skincare company based in St. Louis, Missouri. Lisa Dolan founded the company based on the skincare needs that she, herself, had. When she was preparing to be a new mom, she scoured beauty stores for a regimen that was simple and natural. Plus, she wanted multifunctional products that used ingredients she could pronounce.

Now, four years later, Lisa works to share products from Lark Skin Co. that fulfill those very needs.

Minimalism is Key

Empty your shelves of exorbitantly priced products that satisfy only one need and make use of a minimalist way of life. Not only is having a million products splashed across your counter an eyesore, it also takes a ridiculous amount of time to complete your skincare routine when you have approximately fourteen different cremes and serums that all serve one purpose each.

Worry not—Lark Skin Co. makes a product specifically for the minimalist in you. The Beauty Balm is multifunctional in the sense that you can use it as a creamy cleanser, makeup remover, moisturizer, hair conditioner, or body balm.

That’s not even the best part! If you’re in a pinch and your hair or skin resembles the Sahara Desert, you can apply the balm to the ends of your hair as a conditioning treatment, or you can apply it to your skin as a deep penetrating moisturizer. This trick is perfect for long flights!

Maintaining Luscious Locks

Is there anything better than running your fingers through silky hair? The answer is no. No there is not.

Lark Skin Co. made their Hair Potion—sans-witchcraft!—which is designed to actually improve the texture and shine of your hair.

Not to mention that this potion protects your hair from heat styling. No more using a copious amount of different products to achieve the desired effect that this product has. Talk about a triple whammy!

Take a Bath; You Deserve it

Life is rough, and you deserve to treat yourself.

There is no better way to release your stress than by taking a bath. What’s more, with the New Moon Ritual Salts you can actually start anew during your soak.

By taking a bath with the luxurious New Moon Ritual Salts, which are infused with lavender and sage, you get the opportunity to set your intentions for the month while detoxing.

Not to mention, Lark has included Himalayan salts as one of the ingredients, which is the ultimate aid in detoxification. Whether you’re detoxing because of the New Moon or because you simply have a case of the Mondays, this is the perfect bath salt for you.

Treat Your Skin to Some Rest and Relaxation

Lark Skin Co. makes a Red Clay and Aloe Clay Mask and it’s exactly what you’ve been missing your entire life. The clay and aloe combine and work together to restore moisture to your skin while reducing any inflammation you may have. While the mask is geared toward those with sensitive and aging skin, anyone can use it. It’s never too young to be proactive about aging!

You work hard—your skin shouldn’t. Give your beautiful face the chance it deserves to be vibrant and hydrated. Take time for yourself throughout the week to give your skin some attention, rest, and relaxation.

Be Good to Yourself

Life is full of complications and compromises, but of all the things you should be compromising on, skincare is not one of them.

Your skin is only as vibrant as the time you put into it. Simplicity is key in all areas of your life, skincare included. Find a routine that checks all of your boxes while using the fewest number of products. If you’re looking to make your life easier, Lark Skin Co. is the brand for you. Give it a try; your skin is waiting!

No one starts the day intending to be unhealthy. For the most part the majority of us try to exercise, attempt to make good meal choices, and generally observe some cardinal rules of health. But sometimes as good as our intentions are, we unknowingly do things that can potentially harm our health.

Think you have everything in check? You might want to have a look at our list of things that many of us do every day that are bad for us.

Eat From the Salad Bar

You choose to eat from the salad bar for lunch because it has to be good for you with all of the nutritious lettuce, broccoli, and carrots, right?

In truth, although they may appear to offer you good choices, most salad bars also offer high fat food items like creamy potato salad and oily, marinated vegetables, causing the total meal to be worse for you than a burger.

For example, a Wendy’s Spicy Chicken Caesar Salad has 780 calories and 51 grams of fat, and a Pretzel Bacon Cheeseburger has 680 calories and 36 grams of fat. If you choose to eat a salad, make sure you check the caloric content (if available), and stay away from items that contain mayonnaise or a lot of oil.

Sit a Lot

Everyone knows that it’s important to exercise and that not exercising can put you at risk for certain health issues. But did you know just how bad sitting is for you? Recent studies have shown frequent sitting to be linked to increased risk of heart disease, decreased mental health, and other issues.

Surprisingly, even if you regularly exercise—but also sit a lot during the day—you’re still at risk! Experts refer to excessive sitting as “the new smoking,” because people who sit excessively are as unhealthy as those who puff on cigarettes. What should you do if your job requires you to sit a lot? Stand whenever you can!

Compared with sitting, standing burns an extra 20 calories per hour. Also, try to get up and move periodically or make it a point to move every hour or so. Sneak in movement whenever you can.

Pace while you’re on a conference call. Instead of scheduling a meeting over coffee, suggest a walk. Commit to walking during lunch or climbing a certain number of stairs per day.

Wear Skinny Jeans

Sure those tight pants look great on you, but are they worth the risk? An article in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry describes a case of a woman who experienced nerve damage from helping her friend move while wearing skinny jeans.

She was squatting throughout the day, and this caused compression of the area under the knee that houses a lot of nerves. The compression was severe enough to cause numbness in her lower legs that landed her in the hospital for a couple of days.

Doctors say that this condition is called “compartment syndrome.” It happens when the blood supply to the leg muscle is reduced because of tight-fitting pants. This in turn causes swelling of the muscles and compression of the nearby nerves.

What should you do? If you plan on doing a lot of squatting or sitting, don’t wear tight pants. If you don’t have a choice, make sure that you don’t bend down for extended periods.

Bite Your Nails

It may be a common temporary cure for the jitters, but biting your nails may not be worth the risks. The number and type of bacteria that live under your fingernails range from mild to pretty nasty.

Studies have found salmonella, E. coli, and other harmful pathogens.

If you bite your nails, basically wha
tever your fingers touch during the day ends up in your mouth. Even if you wash your hands regularly, most of us don’t get under the nails well, so bacteria festers there.

What can happen if you keep biting? You could end up with severe gastrointestinal issues or other unpleasant sickness.

Hold in Sneezes

We know this one doesn’t come as a shock. Ever try to hold a sneeze in? It feels like your head is going to explode! Well, it kind of can. Sneezes move at a whopping 100 miles per hour and can cause some damage if they’re stopped in their tracks.

Incidents of fractures in nasal cartilage, nose bleeds, and even detached retinas have been reported. What should you do if you’re in a situation where you need to hold it? Just do your best and muffle it in your sleeve.

Stare at a Screen All Day

Your mom was right. If you stare at it long enough, you’ll go blind. Well, maybe not blind, but staring at your computer screen for extended periods can cause some serious eye issues. The most common one is computer vision syndrome (CVS), which is characterized by blurry vision, dry and red eyes, headaches, eye irritation, and neck or back pain.

As you get older (say over age 40), it gets tougher to work on a screen for prolonged periods because your eyes become less flexible, and you become more susceptible to CVS.

What can you do to combat it? A couple of things. Try reducing the surrounding glare on your computer by dimming lights and avoiding window glare. Also, move your computer so that it’s slightly below eye level and about 20 to 28 inches away from your face.

Lastly, follow the 20-20-20 rule. Every 20 minutes look away from your screen and at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds.

Wear Contact Lenses Excessively

We know that wearing your glasses is a pain, and a lot of people don’t really dig the laser eye correction surgery. So wearing your contacts is your best option, but wearing them too often may be bad for you.

The mechanism by which the lens sits on your eye causes the tissue of your eye to be blocked from receiving oxygen. As you can imagine, this is not a good thing. Wearing contact lenses too often can cause pain and dryness as well as damage to the corneas.

Give your eyes a break by using your contacts a little less and wearing your glasses a little more. 

Not Clean Your Washing Machine

We wash our clothing in the washing machine—don’t the soap and bleach that we add clean the machine and our clothes at the same time? Apparently not!

Experts say that our washing machines are full of bacteria that get on the wet clothing and then on to our bodies. Microbiology experts explain that in a load of just underwear there can be about 100 million E. coli transmitted to the next load. And E.coli isn’t the only germ present in your wash.

Hepatitis A virus, norovirus, rotavirus, and salmonella can all be sharing the same living space in your washer as well. Want to get rid of these nasty germs? Wash your clothing with bleach and hot water (regular detergent doesn’t touch them).

Can’t use bleach? Use a product like Clorox 2 with peroxide. Also, periodically clean your washer by letting the machine go through its cycle empty with just bleach and water. Want to go the organic route? Experts say that the sun’s ultraviolet rays are as good at killing bacteria as bleach. As often as you can, dry your clothing in the sun.

In 2015, the city of Chicago faced a heartbreaking health crisis.

Not a single person ended up in the hospital due to this threat; no one missed work. Still, the suffering was unbearable.

This illness pulled a dirty trick. It went after man’s best friend.

The H3N2 flu virus doesn’t thrive in human bodies. It infects dogs and, more rarely, cats. The 2015 Chicago outbreak saw 1,000 pets brought low with fever, fatigue, and runny noses. In other words, this virus does to dogs pretty much exactly what the flu does to people.

Veterinarians were able to treat the flu victims in Chicago, and eventually, the epidemic passed. But the virus was only biding its time. In June 2017, the dog flu resurfaced, this time in the Sunshine State. As of this writing, 12 dogs have been diagnosed with canine influenza in Florida, and those numbers are almost certain to rise. Here’s what you need to know.

1. Is your dog at risk?

According to the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), canine influenza is caused by a newer virus. As a result, dogs haven’t yet developed immunity.

“Almost all dogs, regardless of breed or age…, are susceptible to infection if exposed to the active virus,” the AVMA states on its website. “Virtually all dogs exposed to the virus become infected, and nearly 80 percent show clinical signs of the disease.”

2. How serious is dog flu?

The symptoms of canine influenza are similar to the flu we’re all familiar with. In its most common form, dog flu causes coughing, fever, lethargy, and runny nose. In rare cases, dog flu is accompanied by pneumonia and fevers of up to 106 degrees. That’s when the illness becomes truly dangerous.

3. Is the dog flu ever fatal?

Just like its human counterpart, canine influenza rarely leads to death. However, fatalities are not unheard of. The AVMA places the fatality rate of dog flu at less than 10 percent.

4. How long does dog flu last?

The vast majority of infected animals get over the illness in two or three weeks.

5. This latest outbreak is in Florida. Are dogs in other states at risk?

The short answer is “yes.” Since its U.S. debut in 2004, canine influenza has popped up in at least 40 states. The risk of infection rises considerably when dogs have contact with each other, as in kennels, dog parks, and animal shelters.

6. What can we do to protect our pets from the dog flu?

The best way to prevent infection is to prevent contact with a sick animal. The virus spreads through nose-to-nose contact between dogs, said Keith Poulsen, a veterinarian who teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

However, Dr. Cynda Crawford of the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine said in a news conference that the virus “is also spread very effectively and efficiently with contact through contaminated clothing, contaminated hands, contaminated objects in the environment.”

Talk to your veterinarian. If dog flu has been a problem in your area, your vet might recommend vaccinating your pet.

“The more dogs in a community that we can vaccinate to build up community immunity, the better chance we have of keeping that virus out,” Crawford said.

When T.S. Eliot wrote that “April is the cruellest month,” he must have been talking about allergies.

Just as the sun finally peeks out to warm our chilled bones, the air fills with pollen, dust, and a devil’s brew of allergens designed to make those of us who suffer from seasonal allergies want to go back to bed for a few months.
You can stuff pills down your gullet. You can walk around in a gas mask. But why do that when you can make a few simple changes to your diet for an allergy-free season? This summer, eat these foods to enjoy the sunshine without choking and dripping and being generally miserable.

1. Local Honey

Angels are real, and they are called bees. Not only do our buzzing buddies pollinate our crops for us, free of charge, they manufacture the world’s finest defense against seasonal allergies (maybe—more on that later).
The reasoning is pretty tidy. Local honey is made from local pollen. Local pollen is a serious allergen. Therefore, if you get your system used to the stuff by sampling bits of local honey early in the season, you won’t get all scratchy-voiced and stuffed up.

But does it really work? Maybe, says a doctor named Lawrence Rosen, who consulted with WebMD about foods that treat allergies.
“If you take small doses of honey early in the season, you may develop a tolerance toward pollen in your area,” Rosen said. The key word here is “may.” The jury’s still out, but it’s worth a try. Besides, honey is delicious.

2. Pineapples

Pineapples aren’t just kitschy cups for tropical beverages anymore. The fruit might also help keep your nasal passages clear during allergy season.
The fruit contains this stuff called bromelain, which is an enzyme that can sooth irritation caused by allergies. It might even help with asthma, Rosen told WebMD. Just don’t try to eat the spiny skin. They may be called “pineapples,” but you can’t bite into them like a non-pine apple.

3. Salmon and Tuna

You might recognize these fishes from the semi-recent national obsession with Omega-3 fatty acids. Well, the “good” fats found in tuna, salmon, and certain other ocean residents is also good for toning down the effects of allergies.
It’s all about reducing inflammation, which Omega-3s do quite nicely, thank you.

4. Broccoli (Sorry)

Your mom was right. You should eat your broccoli. That goes double if you suffer from seasonal allergies. Broccoli contains a flavenoid called quercetin that can help to reduce histamine levels.
Histamines are the shock troops of the allergic response. They’re natural chemicals that your body releases when it senses allergens sneaking into your system. They make your eyes water, your nose run, and your skin itch, which is basically the trifecta of seasonal allergies.

5. Hot Peppers

If you thought broccoli was loaded with the histamine-busting flavenoid quercetin, you’ve got to try ancho peppers. These dried poblanos contain like 9 times the amount of quercetin that broccoli can boast. Jalapenos and serrano peppers are also rich in quercetin, so get that hot sauce brewing!

Your doctor will try to be completely honest with you when it comes to your health, medications you may be taking, and other facts about your overall well-being. There are some health-related issues, however, that your doctor may not tell you. Here are some facts that your doctor could be concealing from you.

1. Your doctor likely knows little about health insurance or the cost of treatment.

It’s no secret that doctors are experts in medicine and the physiology of the body. While they might have some idea about the billing aspect of health care, they likely know little more than you do.

There are entire programs dedicated to teaching students about proper medical coding and billing because determining the cost of treatment can become very complicated. Combine that with the fact that your insurance company never pays full price for treatment and instead has worked out agreements with health care organizations in your state for various costs, and the whole thing becomes almost impossible to decipher.

2. About one in 20 cancer diagnoses made by a primary care doctor are incorrect.

Primary care doctors have an incredibly difficult job. Instead of specializing in just one part of the body, they focus on the entire thing. They also see an incredibly large volume of patients every day. This makes errors relatively common, even among the most dedicated primary care physicians.

Because they are under pressure to see so many patients, primary care doctors can fall victim to heuristics or the act of making mental shortcuts in a rushed situation. They have to make important decisions based on probabilities and likely outcomes.

While they are often correct, these doctors are still human beings who can also make mistakes by rushing through an exam. Experts suggest asking questions like, “If it’s not cancer, what could it otherwise be?” This will force your doctor to slow down and think critically.

3. Emergency rooms make more mistakes on the weekends.

If you have to go to the emergency room on the weekend, you are more likely to run into complications or problems, especially if you have a chronic condition. That’s not because the volume of patients is higher, it’s because the number of health care workers is lower.

Doctors and nurses are just like the rest of us: they want weekends off to spend time with their family members and friends. The more experienced staff gets to pick their hours and often chooses to be off on the weekends. This results in less experienced workers seeing patients on the weekends, and lower numbers overall. This inexperience makes it more likely that they will overlook something important when it comes to your condition.

4. There are safer times to get elective surgeries.

If you feel the need to undergo elective surgery, you should try to avoid scheduling it on the weekend. Just like the emergency room, the more experienced surgeons tend to have the weekends off. This results in a two percent higher mortality rate in patients going under the knife on the weekend.

If you are undergoing elective surgery, talk to your doctor about his or her preferred time to perform the surgery. This can ensure you’re getting the experienced hand you trust and not some other doctor that you’ve never met.

Many women enjoy a glass of wine in the evening with dinner or before bed. It can assist with relaxation and helps people unwind after a long day at work. Many women also think that wine helps with heart health, a nice added bonus.
Unfortunately, recent studies have found that there may actually be a risk for women who indulge in a glass of wine on a daily basis. It’s causing women everywhere to reconsider what was once seen as a healthy habit.

Researchers have known for some time that heavy alcohol use and breast cancer were related. The more alcohol a woman drank, the more likely she was to develop this terrible disease. That’s why, for years, doctors recommended that women (and men, too) drink alcohol only in moderation.
The previous recommendation was that women should drink no more than five ounces a day. The benefits included a healthier heart, better skin, and even help in preventing hearing loss. This was welcome news to women everywhere and an invitation to drink for their health.

A recent study, however, is questioning whether any amount of alcohol is actually good for women. It followed 119 women worldwide and examined their alcohol intake and their risk for breast cancer. It examined both premenopausal and postmenopausal women. The results were pretty stark.
Drinking just ten grams of alcohol per day (equivalent to a small glass of wine, eight ounces of beer, or one ounce of hard liquor) increased the risk of breast cancer by five percent in premenopausal women and nine percent in postmenopausal women. Naturally, women everywhere were alarmed by these results.

The news wasn’t all bad, however. The researchers also found that increased daily activity led to a decreased risk of breast cancer. This might mean that getting enough exercise could cancel out the health problems caused by drinking wine daily. That’s far from certain, however, so if women want to be as healthy as possible, they may want to cut out alcohol out of their diet altogether while still getting daily exercise.
Critics of the study have argued that the sample size is too small to draw any firm conclusions. With only 119 women studied, more research will be needed before we really know what connection, if any, there is between small amounts of alcohol and breast cancer. This initial study does point to a connection, even if it’s not conclusive.

For women who have a family history of breast cancer, giving up alcohol completely may be the best course of action. If you are a woman who drinks wine for the health benefits, you can simply drink organic grape juice instead of wine. Grape juice contains all of the health benefits of wine without the risk. Just make sure the grape juice you’re drinking doesn’t have added sugar, or it could lead to weight gain.
While more research is needed, women who are extremely concerned about breast cancer should give up alcohol until more research has been done. This way, a woman can be sure she’s doing everything possible to avoid this terrible health condition.

If it weren’t for electricity, life as we know it in the United States would grind to a halt. But how much do you know about where all the electricity you’re using comes from? In rough numbers, 67 percent of our electricity comes from fossil fuels: coal (33 percent), natural gas (33 percent), and oil (1 percent). The problem with using fossil fuels to produce electricity is that they generate a huge amount of pollution.
Let me give you a quick example. Your neighborhood utility company has to burn about 700 pounds of coal to keep a single 100-watt light bulb lit for a year. (Okay, I know you don’t keep your lightbulbs lit all year without turning them off, but you get the point, right?) Besides keeping the light on, burning that 700 pounds of coal produces five pounds of sulfur dioxide (which causes acid rain) and another five pounds of nitrogen dioxide (which causes smog), according to the non-partisan website howstuffworks. But the biggest problem is the more than 1,800 pounds of carbon dioxide, which is the major culprit behind global warming.
Wait, what? When I first looked at these numbers I thought there was a misprint. How could burning 700 pounds of something generate 1,800 pounds of waste? Well, it’s all about the chemistry. Each molecule of carbon from the burned coal combines with two molecules of oxygen that are already in the air. The result is carbon dioxide—CO2—which weighs something.
Anyway, back to our light bulb. Powering it by burning natural gas would generate far, far less pollution. But there are other problems associated with natural gas production. Hydraulic fracturing (fracking) has released huge reserves of natural gas, but many opponents of the practice say that it’s causing earthquakes and polluting groundwater supplies.
Because of the nasty environmental fallout from fossil-fuel–produced electricity, scientists and entrepreneurs have been frantically experimenting with low-polluting, renewable alternatives, including hydropower, hydrogen fuel cells, wind, geothermal, and solar. Of these, solar is the only one that’s being marketed directly to consumers.
Should you take advantage of one of those enticing offers to install solar panels on your house? The answer is a resounding “maybe.” Let’s take a quick look at some of the pros and cons of solar energy.

The Pros

• It’s everywhere and we aren’t going to run out any time soon. There are very few places on the planet that never see the light of day. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, “more energy from the sun strikes the earth’s surface in one hour than all the energy consumed on the planet in a year.” Best of all, since the sun will be around for another few billion years, we can use as much solar energy as we want without stressing about depriving our grandchildren.
• It’s quiet. Most other methods of producing electricity are pretty noisy. Solar power is nearly silent. And because there are very few moving parts in solar panels, they’re pretty cheap to maintain.
• It can save you money. Solar panels may allow you to produce your own electricity more cheaply than your utility company can. And if you generate more than you use, many municipal utilities are required to purchase the surplus from you.
• The technology is getting better all the time. That means more efficiency and lower costs.

The Cons

• It’s still expensive. Prices for solar panels are a fraction of what they were 10 or 15 years ago, but if it weren’t for rebates, tax credits, and other government incentives, they would still be out of reach for a lot of people. Unfortunately, many of those incentives are being discontinued, thereby making solar more expensive. In addition, some of the minerals and other materials used to manufacture the panels are extremely rare, and since future demand would exhaust world supplies, prices will surely increase.
• It’s intermittent and hard to store. On overcast days, you’re not going to get much from your solar system. And the technology to efficiently and economically store any extra power you capture when the sun is up is still in development.
• It takes up a lot of space. You need a lot of real estate to produce power. Putting panels on the roof doesn’t take much usable space, but we need a lot more acreage than we have on roofs.
• There is still some environmental impact. Capturing solar radiation doesn’t produce much pollution, but the process of manufacturing the actual panels does.

The Affordable Care Act may have played a beneficial role in early cancer diagnoses.

A study presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology will make the case that the Affordable Care Act, commonly called “Obamacare,” resulted in an increase in early detection of certain cancers.

The study analyzed data from 273,000 patients, primarily focusing on breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and other cancers that can be detected through early screening. Researchers hypothesized that by improving access to healthcare, the Affordable Care Act would allow for improved early detection rates, thereby reducing the cost of cancer treatment and improving survivability for patients.

Those assumptions may be correct. Researchers showed a 1 percent increase in early detection of several cancers, including breast, cervical, lung, and colorectal cancer.

However, they also showed a 1 percent decrease in prostate cancer diagnoses. This may be related to public policy, as in 2012, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommended against routinely screening for the cancer.

While 1 percent may not sound like an impressive number, it’s significant given the size of the study. Researchers also showed that the increases occurred in states that expanded access to Medicaid, an insurance program that provides low-cost or free medical care for the poor and disabled.

To the researchers behind the study, the results are hardly surprising.

“People without insurance are more likely to be diagnosed at a later stage, especially for the cancers that can be detected early through screening or symptoms,” said Xuesong Han, the lead author for the study and the strategic director of health policy and healthcare delivery research at the American Cancer Society.

“Obviously the changes aren’t enormous,” said Bruce Johnson, chief clinical research officer at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, in an interview with Bloomberg. “Because the uptake of screening is relatively slow, this is certainly consistent with the idea that doing the additional screening you could potentially find more stage 1 patients. The earlier the stage, the more likely the person is to be cured.”

“Whatever form our health care takes over the next several years, we advocate for patients to have early access to screening, which can identify cancers at an earlier stage in more curable forms,” Johnson added.

While this research seems credible, long-term research will be necessary to prove the study’s claims.

There are several important caveats; the study is limited in that it only compares data between two years, 2013 and 2014. It was also funded by the American Cancer Society, which has advocated for the Affordable Care Act through its political arm, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.

However, the study used credible resources, as its information came from the National Cancer Database, a registry that covers about 70 percent of new cancer diagnoses in the United States. The American Cancer Society hopes that the information will be used to guide policy, as the Republican-led Congress recently launched an effort to replace the Affordable Care Act with the American Health Act of 2017 (sometimes called “Republicare”).

The AHCA may negatively affect Medicaid, and some policy experts have criticized the legislation’s treatment of preexisting conditions, as the proposed law would allow insurers to significantly increase premiums for people with certain diseases.