The Best and Worst Foods For Your Skin

First impressions are everything, which is why it’s so important to put your best face forward. The latest research shows it’s not just what you put on your skin that matters—it’s what you put in it. Eating habits can either make or break your complexion, which is why you should be more cognizant about your diet. Here are my top recommendations for foods to consume more of and foods to avoid entirely.

Eat more:

1. Fish

Want to keep wrinkles and redness at bay?  Then it’s time to make fish a staple in your diet.

Due to being rich in omega-3 fatty acids, fish is powerful ally when it comes to reducing inflammation and promoting hydration. Dr. Leslie Baumann, certified board dermatologist and founder of Baumann Cosmetic & Research Institute, recommends consuming wild fish as opposed to farm-raised fish whenever possible, since it is higher in omega-3s.

2. Berries

Most of you will be delighted to see that berries made the list. Not only are they sweet and nutritious, they’re also highly nutritious. Berries are loaded with antioxidants, which are known for combating free radicals. Several studies have linked free radicals to accelerated aging. 

3. Green Tea

While we’re on the topic of antioxidants, green tea is a potent source of polyphenols, an antioxidant with powerful anti-inflammatory properties.

"Of all the antioxidants known to mankind, the components of green tea are the most potent," says Dr. Hasan Mukhtar, a professor and director of research in the dermatology department at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. "Antioxidants are those agents which can counteract the effects of oxidant radicals."

Steer clear of:

1. Dairy

I know, hard to believe, considering most of us grew up with the ever-so-popular “Got milk?” commercials. But it turns out, that was just clever marketing.  

New evidence has emerged that shows a link between dairy and several inflammatory skin conditions, including acne, rosacea, and psoriasis. Researchers are still unsure as to whether it’s due to the naturally occurring sugars that are present within dairy or the hormones that go along with it. Either way, this is one food group you want to avoid.

2. Refined Sugar and Processed Carbs

Even if you can eat donuts, bagels, cookies, and French fries without putting on a pound of weight, you’re still damaging your skin at the cellular level.  That’s because refined sugar and processed carbs cause an immediate spike in insulin. When that happens, it sends your body into overdrive, which translate to inflammation, irritation, and a loss of skin elasticity. What your body needs is a slow, steady release of energy. Ditch the sweet treats and white bread and instead opt for whole grains and fresh fruit.

3. Alcohol

While there’s research to suggest that a glass of wine a day is healthy, at the end of the day it’s still poison. Your body treats it as a toxin and as such, actively has to work to get rid of it. Some people can see the effect this has on the skin immediately, in a reaction known as flush. But even if you don’t see the effects right away, you will years down the line.

One word of note: I realize that there are situations in life that make it next to impossible to avoid one or two of the bad food groups listed. My suggestion is to make exceptions only on special occasions (a new job, a birthday, a family get-together). In the effort to stay healthy, don’t neglect your mental health by trying to adhere to too strict of a diet.

Good luck on your vibrant skin journey!

Signs of Sexual Abuse in Childhood

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If you think you may have been molested, raped, or sexually exploited as a child, there’s a good chance that you were. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), as many as 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys are sexually abused before the age of 18.

But here’s the tricky part: adults who suffered sexual trauma in their childhood may not recall any specific instances of abuse. That’s because the brain has the ability to repress memories that are extremely stressful or unpleasant. Psychologists call this dissociative amnesia.

Here are common signs of sexual abuse in childhood.

1. Withdrawal

Along with repressing memories, victims of sexual abuse may dissociate from reality as a way to cope with their experiences. They may daydream, obsessively read, or partake in other activities that distract them from the pain of their every day life.

2. Risky behavior

Self-destructive habits are another tell-tale sign. Promiscuity, drug addiction, and/or alcoholism are common in people who have suffered from sexual abuse. 

3. Personal neglect

Sometimes, victims will intentionally make themselves physically unattractive as a means of protecting themselves against future abuse. This may come in the form of excessive weight gain, a lack of person hygiene, and/or wearing unflattering clothes.

4. Issues with intimacy

An inability to form emotional bonds with others is also a common sign. Because sexual abuse often leaves a person feeling objectified and dehumanized, they often have a hard time trusting others.

5. Nightmares

Although the victim may not remember the abuse, he or she may have nightmares about a friend, family member, or acquaintance displaying inappropriate behavior.

6. Depression

Unexplained bouts of sadness or a generalized feeling of discontent is also a major symptom. Trauma often leaves its imprint in the form of emotional and psychological disorders.

7. Anxiety

Living in a state of fear is a symptom that most all victims of sexual abuse report having. It’s understandable, given the pain they have been subjected to.

If you believe you have been sexually abused, help is out there. If you would like to speak to someone about your experiences or concerns, please call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.

New Year, New Diet?

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It’s early January, and for those of you who have gym memberships, you know that means dealing with a lot more people. A new year spurs New Year’s resolutions, one of the most common of which is to lose weight. Part of that process obviously involves the gym… hence the million-and-one extra people every night getting their treadmill on.

But the other, perhaps more important, aspect of shedding the pounds is diet. Because, unfortunately, no amount of exercise can offset the amount of calories, sugar, and fat I can personally consume in doughnuts. Or cheesecake. Or cookies. Or… well, you get the point.

So what’s the best diet? That really depends on the individual. The key is establishing a lifestyle that is both healthy and sustainable. For me, that means generally eating lots of veggies, fruits, and lean meats while moderating my intake of things like sugar, dairy, and gluten. I don’t completely cut anything out of my diet; rather, I choose to savor those foods by eating them only occasionally.

One of the unexpected bonuses of eating more veggies and less sugar is that I actually eat more food. That’s because the foods I consume are often less calorie dense but more nutrient dense than things like chocolate doughnuts. For those of you who are calorie counters, you likely already know that consuming more vegetables, fruits, and lean meats allows you to eat a lot more food than when consuming sugary treats like soda and candy bars.

  

This year, U.S. News & World Report’s best ranking diets overall (as rated by food and health experts) include the Mediterranean Diet, the Dash Diet, and the Flexitarian Diet. The lowest ranking diets? The Keto Diet and the Dukan Diet, which were rated as too hard to follow and therefore unsustainable. The Weight Watchers diet scored the top slot for Best Commercial Diets and Best Weight-Loss Diets.

Women’s Health Magazine recently shared a fun video that shows what 1,200 calories looks like for three popular diets: paleo, Mediterranean, and vegan. Which one looks the most appealing to you?



Do you follow a particular diet? Or are you more of a diet sampler like me, simply keeping to an overall “healthy eating” lifestyle?

Elder Care Can Be Confusing, But These Services Are Here to Help

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As Baby Boomers reach their elder years, an unmet need is reaching critical mass: What happens when senior citizens get to the point in their lives when they need extra help? How do you navigate the maze of possibilities for assisting your elderly relatives—in-home care, retirement communities, assisted living facilities, memory care facilities, full-staff nursing homes—and find the right option for your senior family member?

Fortunately, there are services that can help. Elder care referral services can help you navigate the ball of confusion and find the best possible place for the elders in your life.

A Place for Mom

Probably the best known among elder care referral services, A Place for Mom has received endorsement from no other than author, journalist, and TV host Joan Lunden. It has also received funding from a number of private equity firms, including General Atlantic and Silver Lake. 

“A Place for Mom sits at the critical intersection of a number of exciting trends across the information technology and healthcare sectors, including the continued shift in consumer research from offline to online channels,” said Anton Levy, General Atlantic Managing Director and Head of Global Internet & Technology. 

A Place for Mom’s advisors provide referrals for an array of services from in-home caregivers to memory care facilities. It serves the entire U.S. 

Eldercare Consulting

Patricia Throop founded Eldercare Consulting in 2006 after dealing with the many complexities of moving her elderly mother to Seattle. After she connected with the best professionals in the industry and built a network of trusted vendors, Throop’s organization opened for business in 2010. Eldercare Consulting provides a free one-hour consultation to identify the challenges people are facing when locating elder care services in their area and to connect them to organizations and people that can help. Eldercare assists not only with arranging care but also with connecting people to trusted professionals from yard workers to elder law attorneys. Eldercare Consulting also serves the entire U.S. 

First Choice Advisory Services

Founded in 1993, First Choice Advisory Services serves six metro areas in the Pacific Northwest. The company provides personalized referrals for senior housing, senior care, and in-home care services. They also provide assistance with the sale of the elder’s home and even with moving to a facility, whether that’s a retirement community, assisted living facility, or nursing home. A free consultation begins the process, and once the care advisor has found out what the client’s needs are, they help to locate appropriate elder care options. First Choice offers a complimentary printed resource directory as well. 

How are these companies funded? Typically through fees paid by care facilities and in-home care organizations once arrangements are successfully made through the companies. Typically, these services require that care facilities or in-home care be paid by private funds or long-term care insurance benefits rather than Medicare or Medicaid. Veterans’ benefits can also provide funding for elder care services.

Have you used an elder care referral service? How did it work out for you? Please share your experience in the comments!

Just What's In That Gerber Can?

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Granted, Halloween is coming up, but this may not be quite the fright you're looking for: A recent study by the Clean Label Project found that many of the most popular baby foods out there tested positive for arsenic—including 80% of all infant formulas.

The study looked at 500 infant formulas and 60 brands of baby food products. Each product was scanned for over 130 toxins, including heavy metals, BPA, and pesticides.

For a little added legitimacy, the Clean Label Project had the products reviewed by a third-party chemistry lab to check their work and look at other possible problems such as environmental contaminants.

Details on each brand reviewed can be seen on the Clean Label Project website's brand report cards.

Now granted, the Clean Label Project didn't publish their work in a peer-reviewed journal, so it's worth taking with a grain of salt. However, their findings are pretty concerning: 65% of the brands tested positive for arsenic, 36% for lead, 58% for cadmium, and 10% for acrylamide. Some tested as high as 600 parts of arsenic per billion.

The brands in question include Gerber, Enfamil, Plum Organics, and Sprout.

Naturally, Gerber has responded with doubt regarding the study. In an email to USA Today, Gerber said the study is generating "unnecessary alarm," adding that they "want to reassure parents that the health and safety of babies is our number one priority…all Gerber foods meet or exceed US government standards for quality and safety."

So what's a good parent to believe, let alone do? Speaking to Mercury News, Dr. Keith Fabisiak, Assistant Chief of Pediatrics at Kaiser Permanente's Campbell Medical Center, offered one solution: make your own baby food.

"When parents ask me the question, 'What is the best brand of baby food to feed my baby?' my answer is always home-made," Fabisiak said. "Even the baby foods that are labeled as 'organic' or 'all natural' can still contain significant amounts of contaminants like lead and arsenic, so the best baby food is the one that you make yourself."

Obviously that's not going to work for all parents, so luckily there are other things you can do, like increasing your child's intake of fruits and vegetables and cutting back on juice (or cutting it out altogether).

Some contaminants are just part of our environment and can't be entirely removed. But it also behooves a parent to learn as much as they can about the food their baby is consuming. Hopefully government regulations around contaminants in food will continue to improve with new studies and data as well.

The Avocado You Didn't Know You Needed Is Here

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Was anyone actually looking for a low-fat avocado? Even if not, the option is now here—well, in Spain, anyway.

Eurobanon's Isla Bonita has released a "light" avocado that has 30% less fat than the regular kind. According to the company, it's also milder in flavor with a juicier and lighter pulp. Additionally, it has a slower oxidation rate, gets ripe faster than traditional varieties, and is available year-round.

If you're looking for details on how (and maybe why) this fruit was developed, you're out of luck. Isla Bonita has said they won't release the exact location of the avocados' cultivation, though they do admit that they're grown somewhere other than Latin America, where most avocados on the market today come from.

While a low-fat food can be a great thing, particularly for those wanting to eat healthy, nutritionists are already questioning this development. After all, avocados, though high in calories and fat (322 calories and 30 grams of fat), also contain vitamins B, C, and E, as well as minerals like potassium and folate. They're low in sugar, high in fiber, and contain monosaturated "good" fat that can help lower cholesterol. You want to eat them in moderation, but they can easily be part of a healthy diet.

While it's pretty common for people to look for low-fat alternatives, professionals say this "light" avocado may not be the best route. 

"Being that fresh avocados are pretty much a perfect, creamy, dreamy, and delicious produce pick, I'm a tad skeptical about fussing with something that's not broken," said Joy Bauer, founder of Nourish Snacks. However, she admits a potential upside: "If this new product has all of the same nutrient attributes—without any suspect add-ons needed to reduce some of the fat—perhaps this will be a new way for those looking to lose a few pounds to enjoy avocado."

Other nutritionists are far more negative. 

"This sounds like an awful idea to me!" said Keri Glassman, MS, RD, CDN. "It reminds me of low-fat peanut butter, which I say is about as good as eating vitamin-free vegetables! Foods should be eaten in their whole real form."

The "light" avocado will be launched at the October Fruit Attraction trade fair in Madrid and is already being sold in supermarkets and specialist stores in Spain. Its nutritional make-up has been verified in lab tests, and it's received the Spanish Health Foundation's Food Health Programme approval.

We'll have to wait a bit for it to be released in the US, as it's only available in Spain right now. But when the time comes, it will be interesting to see how quickly American consumers pick up on it.

Sharing Your Genetic Information Could Save a Life

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No one likes to be the bearer of bad news, but if you have a genetic disease like Lynch Syndrome or other kinds of cancer, you can save the lives of your family members by letting them know and encouraging them to get tested. There are a variety of resources to help you do this, including sites like Kintalk.org and IHaveLynchSyndrome.org.

Kintalk, “an educational and family communication site for individuals and their families with hereditary cancer conditions,” is one example of the way technology is making it easier for families to talk about genetics. Funded in part by Silicon Valley businessman Thomas Weisel and run by a board of directors including Dr. Jonathan Terdiman, Kintalk helps families confidentially share information about hereditary cancers and keep up with screening opportunities. There’s also a forum where visitors can share information and support.

Then there’s IHaveLynchSyndrome.org, an educational and awareness organization created by Georgia Hurst, who has tested positive for Lynch Syndrome herself. That diagnosis—along with the death of her brother from cancer—has put Hurst on a mission to connect patients and healthcare professionals—especially genetic counselors. Using tweet chats, blog posts, podcasts, and more, Hurst’s organization gives sufferers and their families access to all the information they need to make informed decisions about their care.

The big question when it comes to this sort of thing is how much (if anything) you tell your family. On the one hand, your genetic information could very well save their lives; on the other hand, you might be scaring them unnecessarily.

In Hurst’s case, she decided to let her family know—with mixed results. A cousin got tested and came out negative. Other family members refused to get tested and, Hurst says, were angry that Hurst was “trying to scare them.”

It’s particularly tough if you want to let your children know. “Whether to tell children and when and how to tell them is one of the most common reasons people seek support in the process of genetic testing,” says Karen Hurley, a clinical psychologist who specializes in hereditary cancer risk.

This is particularly true when it comes to breast cancer.  Do you let your daughter know about her potential risk even she hasn’t reached puberty yet? Dr. Jill Stoller, a pediatrician who carries a BRCA mutation (which means she’s more likely to develop breast cancer) decided to tell her daughter Jenna. When Jenna was 18, she chose to get tested. “She told me that the stress of not knowing was worse than knowing,” Stoller said.

On the other hand, Massachusetts special ed teacher Ann Little decided not to tell her 13-year-old daughter when Ann learned she had the BRCA gene—though she did tell her older children. “It would be a huge, dark cloud hanging over her,” Little said about her decision.

It’s a tough choice to make—deciding whether or not to tell your family about a genetic predisposition for cancer. Definitely a downer. At the same time, though, by sharing information—particularly through an online option like Kintalk or IHaveLynchSyndrome.org—you give your family a fighting chance at early diagnosis and treatment. In this case, ignorance definitely isn’t bliss.