Link Love: Free Teeth Cleaning in November

Check out Ms. Cheap's article on how to get free teeth cleaning this month! This is an excellent opportunity for self-maintenance especially if you lack insurance or if money is tight!

Link Love: Great Nutrition Links!

Someone recently asked me what I like to read. I realized then that my choices in preferred reading was quite extreme. When I have the time (not often) I can usually be found reading sappy historical novels (brain candy) or scientific medical books like the history of plagues (which made me into a true supporter of immunizations). Thus, I like to also read current research on nutrition. Here are a few great articles you also might like:

6 Cancer Fighting Snacks

Aspirin Slashes Colon Cancer

The Multiple Nutrient Needs of Bones

Astaxanthin Benefits and Dr. Oz's show about Astaxanthin

Link Love: Harvard Study Supports Coffee's Anti Diabetes Potential

Another great reason to drink coffee (as if I needed another)! Check out this study about the anti-diabetes benefits coffee provides.

Link Love: Top Five Killers of Men

HERE is a great article concerning men's health. It has some great tips in improving the health of the man that is important to you!

Link Love: Study Confirms Cancer-Targeting Ability of Broccoli Nutrient

HERE's another reason to eat broccoli! Check out the article describing a recent study that showed Sulforaphane, one of the primary phytochemicals in broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables that helps them prevent cancer, has been shown for the first time to selectively target and kill cancer cells while leaving normal cells healthy and unaffected. The study concentrated specifically on prostate and breast cancer.

Link Love: 11 Foods for Faster, Easier Weight Loss

I like to keep current on the latest nutrition news. For a great article, "11 Foods for Faster, Easier Weight Loss" go here!

Link Love: The Importance of Fever

In this time of more colds and flus, I found this article, The Importance of Fever very informative. I did learn something very interesting. You should avoid white refined sugar when you are ill. Here is the text:

Avoid white, refined sugar. It has been documented that refined white sugar can suppress the immune system. In a study reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition as far back as 1977 reported the adverse that sugar has on the immune system. Blood was drawn from subjects and the activity of the white blood cells that neutralize viruses and bacteria was observed and calculated. The white blood cell activity was calculated before and after subjects were given various doses of sugar: 6, 12, 18 and 24 teaspoons, respectively. Each subsequently higher dose of sugar created a corresponding decrease in the activities of the subject’s white blood cells. The group that had consumed the largest amount of sugar had essentially no functioning white blood cells within an hour after consuming the sugar. The immunosuppression occurred for up to two hours after consuming that sugar, but the adverse effects of no blood cell activity persisted in some instances for up to five hours. REF: Am J Clin Nut 1977;30:613 “Depression of lymphocyte transformation following oral glucose ingestion.”

Link Love: Cranberry Juice Could Block Staph Infections

Here is a great reason to make cranberry juice a staple in your household. This study was primarily aimed at the affects cranberry juice had on UTIs. However, the researchers also threw in a test on Staph and found that the affects of cranberry juice on this illness "showed the most significant results in this study." Go HERE to read the article.

Good Reason To Eat More Garlic and Onions

I just love these food/vitamin studies, especially when it concerns things I really like! Apparently, "consuming garlic or onion with cereals increased the uptake of iron by about 70 percent, and zinc by to 160 percent, according to new results published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry that could offer opportunities to tackle two of the globe’s major deficiency concerns." Check out the whole article HERE.

So have your cereal and a Caramelized Garlic and Onion Omelet with Cheese!

Discounted Eyeglasses

One of the ladies at my sons' after school program was discussing how one of her kids kept breaking their glasses. I remembered that Frugal in Franklin once posted about a great site that you can get very inexpensive eye glasses. The site is Zenni Optical. Zenni sells single vision poly carbonate lenses and frames for as low as $8 a pair. At a that price, my online friend tried them out. Here is her follow-up. So to the wonderful lady who takes care of my kids, you may want to give this a shot!

Another Good Reason to Eat Your Green Leafy Veggies

Another study has linked the consumption of green leafy vegetables and highly colored vegetables to eye health. Check it out HERE.

Got the Flu? Here are Some Medicine Printables

Our house has been running through all the back-to-school crud. I suspect we are not alone so I wanted to share some coupons for medicine. While I prefer to buy everything when it is on sale, sometimes you just need a certain product. At least there are coupons!

Wyeth Special Offers including Children and Adult Advil and Alavert
Healthy Seasons printables including a variety of Tylenol, Benadryl and Zyrtec
$1/1 Alka Setzer Plus
$2/1 Children's Claritin
$2/1 Claritin D
Save $2.00 on Sudafed OM Nasal Spray
Save $1.00 on Sudafed PE Day & Night Cold
Save $1.00 on any 1 Cold-EEZE® Product
Save $1.00 on Aleve, 20ct. Or Larger
Save $1.00 on Aleve Cold

Don't forget, you can get free antibiotics at Publix!

Dr. Mom's Health Care Plan

I generally don't like to delve into political topics. However, this is one that has affected and will affect so many people's pocket books that I wanted to address this topic with a few ideas. My first job out of college was working in Washington DC when Hillary was tackling the health care issue. I watched all the intensity put forth toward this topic and its eventual failure. The current desire to drastically change health care appears to be following in the footsteps of Hillary's attempt. Is there a way to improve what we have without throwing out our entire system? And not putting our entire health in the hands of the government? Here are my ideas.

You have to start with the problem. From what I see, there are two major problems. First, the people who need health insurance the most can't get it because of pre-existing conditions. Second, health care costs too much (people wouldn't need massive amounts of insurance if it did not cost so much).

How to improve the problem:

1. Make it illegal for insurance companies to question a person about pre-existing conditions or to drop a person from insurance because of pre-existing conditions. It's illegal to ask potential employees about certain things (married, children, etc.), why can't we do the same thing here?

2. Have a top 20 (or 50 or 100) government mandated maximum price list for most used medical services. A medical provider could not charge more than what the government mandates. Insurance companies/doctors would have to compete by lowering their administrative costs which are known to be outrageous compared to other nations. How would you get the service prices? There are two places I would look first. What do the insurance companies pay on average now with their discount and what are the standard prices in other countries' socialized medicine? Somewhere in between there would be my starting point. I think it is a shame that people without insurance have to pay some outrageous price just because they don't have an insurance company negotiating the prices down.

On a side note, I actually hate that I suggested this idea. I am a true believer in competition and its affect on lowering prices. However, with the intervention of insurance companies, competition for health services has all but disappeared. People appear to be more concerned with the cost of health insurance and not with the constant increase in service costs. At the very least, make the cost for a service be the same for the insured vs. the non-insured and a portion of competition will return. For those of you with insurance, think back to your last health visit. Do you know what the total cost of the visit was (not just the co-pay)? We no longer shop for the best/cheapest doctor which is a mechanism of competition. We shop for insurance.

3. What about the service not on the list for the more rare ailment? Provide a large tax incentive for doctors that donate 5 - 10% of their services to people without insurance and are unable to pay. We currently have a tax incentive to make donations, these would be just a different type of donation. The government has historically used tax incentives to influence actions of its population.

This would not fix our system, but it could be a vast improvement without putting our children's future finances on the line to pay for a lumbering government insurance program. It is my desire to see the government be the rule maker not the provider.

Any ideas?

Publix Has Free Antibiotics

You may already know this, but since it is the beginning of cold/flu season, I wanted to remind you of the great deal that Publix has. With one child in daycare and two in elementary (cesspools of germs), our pediatrician has gotten to know us really well over the years. Publix gives away eight varieties of antibiotics. I take the list into my pediatrician's office and tell him to pick from the list if at all possible when the situation warrants an antibiotic. This works at the veterinarian's office as well. Just take your prescription to your local Publix and they will give it to you for free. You can also print the $4 prescription list that Walmart provides and take that to your pediatrician if the Publix free list is too limiting.

The list of Publix antibiotics is as follows:
-Amoxicillin
-Cephalexin
-Sulfamethoxazole/Trimethoprim (SMZ-TMP)
-Ciprofloxacin (excluding ciprofloxacin XR)
-Penicillin VK
-Ampicillin
-Erythromycin (excluding Ery-Tab)
-Doxycycline Hyclate (capsules only)