- Wellness, Men's Health, Senior Care, Women's HealthGeneral Page Tier 3BlogIt’s holiday time again, and the days between Thanksgiving and New Year’s can be filled with temptation. From office parties to family celebrations, the holidays are times of sharing food and entertaining. You can keep your holiday party traditions on track without sacrificing taste. Here are some tips to help enjoy the season and stay healthy. Plan ahead. Try not to arrive at the party hungry. You are less tempted to over-indulge if you eat a light snack before getting there. Eat structured meals. Skipping meals leads to overeating later or snacking on bits and pieces of high calorie foods that have more calories than the meal yet leave you hungry. Budget wisely. Don’t eat everything at the feast. Prioritize favorites and spend calories on the foods you love. Be careful with beverages. Limit alcohol since it is high in calories and can stimulate your appetite. Always consume alcohol with food, and avoid sweet wines and liqueurs. Try club soda, sparkling water or water with a slice of fruit. Make room for fruits and vegetables. Adding fruits and vegetables into your eating routine provides you essential nutrients to keep you healthy and fiber to help you feel full. Plus, these foods are low in calories. Distance yourself from the food table. You’re more likely to overeat if you are next to the food. Remember you are at the event to socialize first. Once you see all the goodies, it is difficult to resist. Make recipe adjustments. Reduce the fat in your favorite holiday recipes and offer to bring one to the holiday party. Your food will have less calories and fat, yet have the same great taste and texture. Use the lower-fat versions of sour cream or cream cheese, or substitute with yogurt or evaporated milk. Substitute whole milk with almond or coconut milk, which still have similar consistencies to whole milk. Following these tips can help you navigate the parties, but what if you end up overeating? Remember, tomorrow is a new day and get back on track without calling yourself “bad.” Food should never define us as people. Also, no one gains 20 pounds overnight. Weight gain occurs from a steady accumulation of overeating. If you eat too much today, eat a little less tomorrow. Exercise also helps relieve holiday stress and prevent weight gain. A moderate and daily increase in exercise can help partially offset increased holiday eating. Although food is an integral part of the holidays, put the focus on family and friends, laughter and cheer. If balance and moderation are your usual guides, it’s okay to indulge once in a while. Remember a holiday feast is one day, the season lasts all month. Happy holidays!
- Cancer Care, Men's Health, Women's HealthGeneral Page Tier 3BlogUntil recently, experts typically found early stage lung cancer by accident. Since you rarely have symptoms with early lung cancer, finding it early was often a matter of luck. Take, for instance, the person who fell off a ladder and needed a chest x-ray to look for injuries. In turn, the x-ray found an abnormality and additional tests then found lung cancer. But times have dramatically changed. The results of the National Lung Screening Trial led to the new recommendation of a yearly low-dose chest CT scan for those at high risk of lung cancer. While there are a few exceptions, private insurance, Medicare and Medicaid should fully cover your screening. Take our pledge to love your lungs, and be entered to win a $50 Visa gift card! Am I High Risk? Smoking is the biggest risk factor for lung cancer. It’s also the primary risk to determine if you’re eligible for screening. Other risks include exposure to asbestos, radon gas, or prolonged contact with other environmental toxins. You should talk to your doctor about your personal risk factors and if you’re a candidate. Guidelines recommend the low-dose chest CT scan for lung cancer if you’re between the ages of 55 and 80, and have smoked at least 30 pack-years (number of packs per day x number of years). This includes people who still smoke or have quit within the past 15 years. Ready to Quit? Quitting may not be easy. If you smoke or use smokeless tobacco and it’s difficult to quit on your own, you likely suffer from nicotine dependence or tobacco addiction. Like any other disease, tobacco dependence requires ongoing treatment and support. And just like diabetes and heart disease, tobacco dependence often requires a combination approach of expert help and lifestyle changes. We often think of tobacco use as a public health issue – and it is. But it’s also a disease that needs individualized and specialized treatment. Research shows the most effective treatment includes a combination of counseling and medication(s). Counseling can include one-on-one sessions between you and a trained tobacco treatment specialist, or a group approach with classes designed to give you tools for letting go of your tobacco dependence. There are seven FDA approved medications for treating tobacco dependence. You can use these medications to ease nicotine withdrawal symptoms while you work on changing your habits and routines linked to tobacco use throughout the day. Work with your health care provider on a treatment that’s right for you. One of the biggest hurdles you may face is the shame of continued use of tobacco despite serious health effects and pleas from your loved ones to stop. The key is for you to understand that dependence on nicotine is very powerful. Asking for help is okay. Once you move past this hurdle, find the right treatment plan and a qualified, supportive health care team, you can take control of your life and let go of tobacco for good. If you’re ready to quit, Anne Arundel Medical Center (AAMC) can help. Visit askAAMC.org/QuitSmoking or call 443-481-5366 to learn more. Authors By Stephen Cattaneo, MD, medical director of Thoracic Oncology, and Joanne Ebner, Cancer Prevention program supervisor, at Anne Arundel Medical Center. Originally published April 17, 2017. Last updated Nov. 15, 2018.
- PediatricsGeneral Page Tier 3BlogWith school back in session, your child’s stress and anxiety may be increasing due to homework, exams and after school activities. Add to that the constant stimulation of electronics, which creates social pressure and in some cases, cyberbullying. All of this can make your child feel like they’re being pulled in many different directions and manifest as stress and anxiety. The good news is that you have the power to help. How do I know if my child is feeling stressed or anxious? Elementary-aged children might experience regression. This means they might lose the ability to perform a skill they previously mastered. This can include children having episodes of bed-wetting, nightmares or night terrors. Children in middle or high school might have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep, or they start waking up very early. You might also notice a difference in their eating habits, whether they’re eating a lot of junk food, not eating as much as usual or not eating at all. Moodiness, irritability, isolation and drastic changes with school grades are other signs that could indicate your child is experiencing high levels of stress or anxiety. WATCH: How to help your child develop coping skills How do I know if my child is just having a bad day or if it’s something else? The best rule of thumb to follow is if you start noticing things and behaviors that raise a red flag for you as a parent, something’s probably off. Trust your intuition. You can and should reach out to your child’s school because, during the school year, teachers and school staff spend more time with your child than you do. If they’re also noticing something is different, you may need to take action. How can I help my child? Think of coping skills as a toolbox. You might pull out the hammer often, but that’s not going to work for every job. You’ll need other tools. Coping skills are similar. Maybe your child loves a particular sport but at night or during school hours, that coping skill is not accessible to them. Encourage them to think of other ways that they can cope. Below are a few tips: Encourage communication. Help your child to identify his or her feelings and name them by asking, “I’m noticing that you’re more tired than usual, can you help me understand?” Kids usually like to use simplistic words, like ‘mad’ or ‘sad.’ You can ask, “Help me understand a little more,” or, “What do you think you need right now?” and encourage them to be the problem solvers. Help your child unplug. Whether it’s dancing, listening to music or going out for a walk, movement is always great for stress or anxiety and boosting mood. Look for grounding techniques to get out of the head and into the body. For example, when you go out for a walk, help them notice what they see, hear, feel, etc. This approach is adaptable for all ages. Talk to your child after a traumatic event. When hearing about violence in the news, reassure children that they are safe. This can help validate your child’s feelings and comfort them during a period of confusion and fear. Reach out to someone your child looks up to. Sometimes, your child won’t be ready to talk to you about something right away. You can reach out to a teacher, school counselor, coach or a mentor in their lives that they connect well with and talk to them. Adopt an attitude of curiosity. Get curious about what your child is feeling and listen without judgement. Ask them open-ended questions like, “What can you tell me about your day?” Don’t forget to take some time to unplug and practice good self-care or ask for help if you need to – it’s OK. Your child needs you, but taking care of others can also take a toll on you. Remind your child that you’re there to support them, but they’re driving the ship and you’re next to them in the passenger’s seat. Patients must be referred into the AAMC Psychiatric Day Hospital by a physician. If you think you or a loved one may be a candidate for these services, please speak with your doctor. If you need a doctor who specializes in mental health, please contact AAMG Mental Health Specialists at 410-573-9000. Author Jennifer Evans is a mental health clinician with Anne Arundel Medical Center’s (AAMC) Psychiatric Day Hospital.
- Men's Health, Weight Loss, Women's HealthGeneral Page Tier 3BlogHoliday food can bring on anxiety or joy, depending on your mind set. But sweet treats and heavy meals can be landmines when it comes to your health. Yet no one wants to feel deprived during the holiday season, the most wonderful time of the year. Fear not. There are reasonable ways to eat your way through the holidays in a healthy fashion. Follow these simple rules to make it through the season: Rule 1: Eat what you love and leave what you like. Instead of piling your plate with a little bit of everything, take inventory of what foods you really love and infrequently have available. Focus on these foods, while leaving the rest. Rule 2: Eat light to heavy. Start with a glass of water, then a broth based soup or salad, then the lean protein. This way you’re eating foods in their most digestible order. And by the time you reach dessert, a few bites and you will have had enough. Rule 3: Go to social gatherings to gather, not eat. You go to social functions to visit with friends and family, so do just that. Consider ‘pre-eating’ foods with protein and vegetables to keep your appetite in check. This way you can socialize with people you may not see as often without a mouthful of food. Rule 4: Nix the guilt. Feeling guilty after indulging on foods you usually avoid often leads to other unhealthy food choices. Plan the indulgence and enjoy. Then get back on track with your normal eating routine, immediately. Rule 5: Alternate your bubbly with sparkling water On average, most adults consume about 100 calories a day from alcoholic beverages. Alternating between an alcoholic beverage and a zero-calorie sparkler can help you avoid ‘pouring’ on the pounds. Sparkling water is festive while providing hydration to ward off a hangover. It also helps keep you full, therefore you’ll eat less at the party. Rule 6: Don’t be fooled by the health halo. Eating too much healthy food can also lead to weight gain. Also be mindful of ‘calorie swapping.’ If you’re dipping veggies or pureeing them into a creamy soup, then you may as well eat the ice cream. In which case, acknowledge it, enjoy it and then move on. Also keep an eye on your portions. Rule 7: Maintain your exercise schedule. The holidays bring a lot of preparation, shopping and partying which leaves us short on time. Exercise is often the first thing that falls by the wayside. It is important to keep this as a priority, especially since you may be adding a few more indulgences into your diet than usual. Rule 8: Drink half your weight in ounces of water. It is easy to confuse thirst with hunger, leading to mindless snacking that never satisfies. To make sure you are staying hydrated, drink half your body weight in ounces of water. For instance, if you weigh 160 pounds, you would need 80 ounces per day. Add fruit slices or pomegranate seeds to be festive and for flavor. Ring in the New Year on your best foot by staying focused on healthy eating and exercise during the holiday season. Authors By Ann Caldwell and Maureen Shackelford, nutritionists and registered dietitians at Anne Arundel Medical Center. To reach them call 443-481-5555. Originally published Nov. 27, 2017. Last updated Nov. 12, 2018.
- News & Press ReleasesGeneral Page Tier 3BlogWhen we opened Kent Island Urgent Care, the goal was to improve access to basic health care needs for our community. We know that patients have improved care coordination when their care is delivered by a primary care provider, which is why we’ve made the decision to change how we deliver care in the AAMC Kent Island Pavilion. As a result, Kent Island Urgent Care will be closing on December 7, 2018. Having a relationship with a primary care provider is the best way to prevent serious health issues down the road. In order to make our primary care services as accessible as possible for you and ease this transition, we are taking the following steps to offer the convenience you have come to expect: Extended office hours in the Kent Island Pavilion for same-day sick appointments. When you’re sick or suddenly don’t feel well, you want to see someone right away. To accommodate this need, we’ll be offering same-day sick appointments during extended hours starting Dec. 11, 2018. This will include additional evening hours Monday-Thursday and Saturday morning. Kent Island Primary Care and Eastern Shore Primary Care are both located in the AAMC Kent Island Pavilion. New primary care providers on the Shore. We have a new primary care provider starting in the pavilion on Dec. 12, 2018 and are actively recruiting for additional primary care providers to the Kent Island Pavilion and other locations on the Eastern Shore. With five primary care offices located in Kent Island, Centreville, Easton and St. Michael’s, we are still able to offer you convenient access to care, close to home. You can call your preferred office to make an appointment and your records from Kent Island Urgent Care will transfer automatically. If you need help finding a provider or location, please call 443-481-5555 or visit askAAMC.org/Findadoc. In addition, we have plans to renovate the current urgent care space in order to bring a new AAMG Physical Therapy clinic to Kent Island. We anticipate that clinic opening within the next 18-24 months. We know you have choices in health care providers. It’s our privilege to serve you and we hope you’ll continue to choose Anne Arundel Medical Center services for your health care needs. Learn more about Kent Island Primary Care and Eastern Shore Primary Care.
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