Our entire market staff, members of
Pathfinder Adult Day Services, wish you and yours a very happy holiday season
and New Year. We’ll be reopening our
fresh market on Thursday, January 9 for your shopping convenience.
***
The close of the year is always an appropriate time to reflect
on the news in health and nutrition, especially as our society addresses the pervasive
consequences of bad health and poor eating/fitness habits. Here are a few stories that have caught my
attention:
· Impulsivity Eating: How many times have you had overwhelming
cravings and eaten something when you weren’t hungry, just because you saw or
smelled food or were triggered in some other way? A team of researchers led by
Emily Noble, an assistant professor at the University of Georgia’s College of
Family and Consumer Sciences, has identified a specific circuit in the brain
that alters food impulsivity. Studying this neural pathway may lead to
therapies to address overeating (and perhaps other addictive or impulsive
behaviors).
· Addictions
& Loneliness: I confess to being hooked on podcasts --although I don’t
get to listen to all the TED Talks I’d like to, I do like to listen to NPR’s TED
Radio Hour. In one recent segment, Neuroscientist Rachel Wurzman Ph.D., the director of the
nonprofit SeekHealing, spoke on the ways her
organization creatively connects to build communities resilient to addiction.
Her complete TED Talk is here. There is a growing body
of research that is building the case for social connections to curtail the bad
health effects of isolation, and how creating communities
is a net positive.
· The Ugly
Comeback of Measles: As a youngster, I would sometimes wonder
about the inch- round scar on my Grandma’s arm. Later, as an adult, I
recognized it as an inoculation
scar, probably for smallpox (I have a scar too, but it’s smaller).
Today, I think about how increased medical knowledge and vaccinations have
really reduced the high rates of deaths and lifelong injuries from what were
once common childhood diseases – whooping
cough, rubella, polio, and so on.
Although we had boldly declared it eradicated here in 2000, this was the year that measles made a comeback in the U.S. The disease is particularly dangerous to newborns, older people, and others with suppressed immunity. Sadly, around the globe, the virus is causing deaths, and other severe consequences (pneumonia, encephalitis, deafness, cognitive disabilities). According to one website, anyone who received the vaccine between 1962 and 1969 should consider being re-immunized with the current vaccine. I’ll be making a call to my doctor to follow up!
Other stories that have had a staying presence in the news
include the opioid crisis and
deaths and serious injuries from unregulated vitamin E
acetate-laced vaping fluids.
In closing, the story that I am saddest to list is reminiscent
of the tale of Ebenezer Scrooge in the opening scenes of Dicken’s “A Christmas
Carol”: The Administration’s plans to cut back on SNAP
eligibility for the unemployed. A means-tested program, SNAP provides
important nutritional support for low-wage
working families, low-income seniors and people with disabilities
living on fixed incomes.
More information on the cuts are here: while
the cuts are targeted to “able-bodied adults without dependents,” it should be said
that in today’s non-traditional family environment, some of these individuals
contribute their benefits to their non-dependent children who live with other family members.
Unfortunately, there won’t be any holiday miracle for affected SNAP recipients;
the changes are set to go into effect on April 1, 2020.
Until next time, eat well and be well. Best wishes for the holidays!
Lori
