Author: St. Elizabeth Healthcare

How much sugar do you eat? I’m not talking about soda or sugar-filled coffees or the candy that always seems to be hanging out in the office – do you have a clear picture of how much sugar you’re eating every day? I decided to take a closer look. For the whole month of February, my husband and I made a pact – to abstain from sugar. We avoided processed sugar and reduced our natural sugar intake – and the results were stunning. It was easier to get up in the morning, I felt more energy throughout the day, my…

You’ve probably heard friends or family members talking about how “addicted” they are to sweets, chips or pizza. New research suggests  they may not be exaggerating. A study from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai identified the most and least addictive foods  we eat. To rank them, researchers asked participants how often they’ve eaten a food item to the point that it made them feel physically ill. Those foods people ate in excess earned a higher score than others. Pizza had the highest ranking, with chocolate and chips falling closely behind. On the other end of the scale,…

St. Patrick’s Day is the perfect excuse to add a fun ““ and healthy ““ green dish to your diet. We found this yummy frittata that reminded us of one of our favorite kids’ books. The frittata is stuffed with spinach, leeks, dill, ham and Havarti cheese. It’s packed with protein to help you feel fuller longer. It only takes 30 minutes from start to finish. Serve with roasted potatoes or hash browns and you won’t have to eat again until you get back from Cincinnati’s St. Patrick’s Day parade.

Running is hard on your body. From the impact on your joints to shin splints, you need to know when it’s time to take it easy and ice versus when you need to make an appointment with your doctor about something more serious. Physical Therapist Stacey McConnell talks with Dr. Michael J. Miller of St. Elizabeth Sports Medicine on how to spot an injury early. Sometimes spotting and treating an injury early can make all the difference in getting healed sooner. When you leave your injury alone and continue to run on it, no matter how serious it was when…

Meetings, emails, chores and passwords are just a few lists that run through our heads in a single day. We’re inundated with so much information that retaining it can become challenging, affecting our long-term memory. We’re told at a young age that quiet time is beneficial to allow our imaginations to wander, have time to just think and even wind down from an over-stimulating activity. This exercise of setting aside a few minutes a day to let our brains rest stems from our ancestors, according to Dr. Rajeev Kurapati with St. Elizabeth Healthcare. In his most recent NKY Tribune column,…

About half of people with diabetes will eventually develop neuropathy, or nerve damage, because of the disease. Most people who develop neuropathy have been living with diabetes for a long time. Long-term exposure to high blood sugar damages delicate nerve tissue as well as the blood vessels that supply oxygen to those nerves, though doctors aren’t sure why the damage happens, according to the Mayo Clinic. Most people develop what’s called peripheral neuropathy, or nerve damage in the feet and hands. Diabetic neuropathy can also lead to bladder problems, digestive issues and erectile dysfunction, as well as joint damage. The…

It feels like the snow will never end. But, with spring-like weather in the forecast I wanted to share – what I hope is – one last snow-related post of the year. Anne Bramley, a food blogger, recently wrote about her love for turning snow into ice cream. While I’ve never tried, it sounds like a fun experiment. Before you rush outside to grab a bowl full of the snow in your backyard, here are a few tips from Bramley about when snow is safer to eat: 1. Fresh snow isn’t the best snow As she puts it, snow “scrubs”…

Early this coming Sunday morning, our clocks and cell phones will play a dirty little trick on all of us by “springing forward” an hour at 2 a.m., leaving a lot Greater Cincinnatians with an hour less of our Sunday to enjoy. Granted, it happens every year to almost everyone in the U.S. on the second Sunday in March, so we should be prepared. But, if you’re like most of us, you never are. The result, lots of grouchy people for at least the first half of next week. In fact, according to the National Sleep Foundation, most of us…

Pasta  is a great comfort food  on these cold winter nights  with all of its warm, gooey goodness. And you’re always so full after you’ve eaten a big bowl of it. But what if you’re gluten-free or trying to avoid so many carbohydrates? Well, the answer is simple: use thinly sliced zucchini instead of lasagna noodles in your next batch of homemade lasagna. We found  this  great recipe for those of us who still want to enjoy an age-old comfort food, but don’t want to ruin our diet. Are there other ways you “improved” a classic comfort food to make…

If your kid has Type 1 diabetes, you already know it’s a life-changer. Managing the disease means negotiating a complex and ever-changing balance between diet, physical activity and medications including insulin to keep your child’s blood sugar at healthy levels and prevent potentially fatal complications. Much of the burden of managing the disease initially falls on parents. The Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston offers these 10 tips to help parents and caregivers manage kids’ diabetes: Take an active role in managing the disease, regardless of how old your child is. Even independent and responsible teens need oversight from time to…