Eat More Chocolate, Weigh Less?

 

Whoa! Not so fast. Despite what you might have heard, use your common sense

 There’s potentially good news to share with readers in the fight against an incurable disease that affects as many as 5.4 million Americans. A new drug candidate may be the first capable of halting the devastating mental decline of Alzheimer’s disease, based on the findings of by scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, Calif.

When given to mice with Alzheimer’s, the drug – known as J147 – improved memory and prevented brain damage caused by the incurable disease. The new compound could be tested for treatment of the disease in humans in the near future, according to researchers.

Because of the broad ability of J147 to protect nerve cells, the researchers believe that it also may be effective for treating other neurological disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease and Lou Gehrig’s disease, as well as stroke.

 Home Instead Senior Care has several web resources to help.www.HelpforAlzheimersFamilies.com we also offer specialized training for our CAREGivers called CARE. ( Changing Aging Through Research and Education) This program also includes free Family CAregiver Training!

For more on “Potential Alzheimer’s Drug,” check out the April 2012 Senior Advisor.

The American Cancer Society* recommends eating a variety of plant-based, fiber-filled foods as one way to help prevent diseases such as colon cancer. We recommend that men get 38 grams of fiber per day and women get 25 grams. Find out which foods are high in fiber:

Why is fiber important?

Eating a high-fiber diet is thought to help prevent development of pouches (diverticula) in the colon. It may lower blood pressure, improve cholesterol levels, and help control blood sugar levels. And it may help with reaching and staying at a healthy weight.

What is the recommended daily amount of fiber?

The daily adequate intake amount for fiber has been calculated by the Institute of Medicine. Men 19 and older should strive for 38 grams a day and women 19 and older should aim for 25 grams a day.

How can you get more fiber?

Fiber is in many foods, including beans, peas, other vegetables, fruits, and whole grain products. You can figure out how much fiber is in a food by looking at the nutrition facts label. If a food has fiber, it will be listed under the total carbohydrate on the label. The food label assumes the daily value (DV) of fiber is 25 grams a day (g/day) for a 2,000 calorie diet.

Be sure to increase the amount of fiber in your diet slowly so that your stomach can adjust to the change. Adding too much fiber too quickly may cause stomach upset and gas.

Some doctors recommend adding bran to your diet to help boost the fiber content. If you do this, start slowly with 1 teaspoon a day. Gradually increase the amount to several teaspoons a day.

Are there any risks from fiber?

Some people who have diverticulitis avoid nuts, seeds, berries, and popcorn (because of the hulls). They believe that the seeds and nuts may get trapped in the diverticula and cause pain. But there is no evidence that seeds, nuts, and berries cause diverticulitis or make it worse.³

Does fiber help digestion?

If your diet is high enough in fiber, your stools should become softer, larger, and easier to pass.

• Changing your diet may relieve constipation, but it may not help relieve abdominal pain.
• If you don’t have any improvement within a week or two, talk to your doctor about your diet.
• Talk to your doctor if constipation continues or gets worse. Another medical problem or a medicine may be causing constipation.

Drink lots of fluids every day to help keep your stool soft. High-fiber diets need lots of fluid in the body to work properly.

 Omaha Business Hall of Fame

Committed to Quality Care
In an effort to monitor and improve the experience of all of the Home Instead Senior Care network’s clients, the network has commissioned J.D. Power and Associates, a globally-recognized independent market research firm, to conduct periodic surveys of all of its valued clients.

J.D. Power and Associates conduct surveys with clients (or their designated family members) to monitor our progress as we continuously strive to better serve you – and any future clients you might refer to Home Instead Senior Care.  These telephone surveys are conducted twice per year: once in January, and again in July.

The telephone surveys are brief (about 4 minutes) and may be completed during the weekdays, weeknights, or weekends – whichever is most convenient.  And if you would like to provide more detailed feedback, provide the telephone interviewer with your e-mail or mailing address and you will have the opportunity to complete a comprehensive survey via the mail or e-mail – at your convenience.

we encourage you to participate again – this helps us understand whether we’re still on track!

We truly appreciate your candid and honest feedback.  Please understand that these surveys are exclusively for research purposes only.  No one will try to sell you anything as a result of your participation in this research.

If you would like any additional information regarding J.D. Power and Assoc., please visit their website at jdpower.com.

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Happy Birthday to the King!

If you think about rock and roll then the first person that
comes to mind is Elvis Presley. We know him as the “King”
– his voice, looks, and moves have captivated us all.  
January 8 is Elvis Presley’s birthday.  Here are some
interesting facts that you may not have known about this
legend.

1. Elvis had an identical twin brother, who was stillborn.
2. Elvis received a guitar for his eleventh birthday; he was
    disappointed; he was hoping for a bike.
3. In the eighth grade, Elvis received a “C” in music.
4. Elvis was six feet tall.
5. The Cleveland Browns was Elvis’ favorite football team.
6. Elvis’ natural hair color was blond (in his early years) and light/dirty brown;
    he dyed it black.
7. Elvis was awarded two medals while serving in the Army, one for marksmanship,
    the other for sharp shooting.
8. Elvis held a black belt in karate.
9. Elvis wore a cross, a Star of David, and other religious symbols around his neck,
    explaining “I don’t want to miss out on heaven due to a technicality.”
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The Elvis Sandwich
Ingredients
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 8 slices white bread
• 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
• 1 large, ripe banana, sliced
• 1/4 cup honey
• 12 slices bacon, sautéed until crispy
• 
Directions
Spread the butter on 1 side of each slice of bread. On the other side of half of the slices spread peanut butter. Place banana slices on top of peanut butter. Drizzle honey over bananas. Place 3 bacon slices on top of the banana, then place the remaining buttered bread slices on top, butter-side-out.

Place sandwiches on a preheated grill pan or griddle. Flip them over when they become golden brown and crispy. When the sandwiches are browned on both sides, remove to plates. Slice in half and serve immediately, ENJOY!!!! 

Seasonal Affective Disorder or Sad…

Seasonal affective disorder (also called SAD) is a type of depression that occurs at the same time every year. If you’re like most people with seasonal affective disorder, your symptoms start in the fall and may continue into the winter months, sapping your energy and making you feel moody.

Treatment for seasonal affective disorder includes light therapy (phototherapy), psychotherapy and medications. Don’t brush off that yearly feeling as simply a case of the “winter blues” or a seasonal funk that you have to tough out on your own. Take steps to keep your mood and motivation steady throughout the year. Symptoms may start out mild and become more severe as the season progresses.

Winter-onset seasonal affective disorder symptoms include: Depression, Hopelessness, Anxiety, Loss of energy, Heavy, “leaden” feeling in the arms or legs, Social withdrawal, Oversleeping, Loss of interest in activities you once enjoyed, Appetite changes- especially a craving for foods high in carbohydrates, Weight gain, and Difficulty concentrating.

 If your seasonal depression symptoms are severe, you may need medications, light therapy or other treatments to manage seasonal

affective disorder. However, there are some measures you can take on your own that may help. Try the following:

 Make your environment sunnier and brighter. Open blinds, trim tree branches that block sunlight or add skylights to your home. Sit closer to bright windows while at home or in the office. 

Get outside. Take a long walk, eat lunch at a nearby park, or simply sit on a bench and soak up the sun. Even on cold or cloudy days, outdoor light can help — especially if you spend some time outside within two hours of getting up in the morning.

 Exercise regularly. Physical exercise helps relieve stress and anxiety, both of which can increase seasonal affective disorder symptoms. Being more fit can make you feel better about yourself, too, which can lift your mood.

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ScienceDaily (July 29, 2011) — Hospice services substantially improved the provision of care and support for nursing home patients dying of dementia and their families, according to an analysis of survey responses from hundreds of bereaved family members. The research comes as hospice funding has received particular scrutiny in the debate over Medicare spending.

“People whose loved ones received hospice care reported an improved quality of care, and had a perception that the quality of dying was improved as well,” said Dr. Joan Teno, a BrownUniversitygerontologist and the lead author of the study published online in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. “This is one of just a few studies out there that has examined dying with dementia where the predominant site of care is a nursing home and can report the benefits of hospice services. As just one example, for nursing home patients not in hospice, one in five family members reported an unmet need for shortness of breath while that was only 6.1 percent for people in hospice.”

Hospice care was a great comfort to Bartley Block, ofProvidence, when he lost his wife, Janet, to dementia in October 2010. He and Janet received service from Home and Hospice Care of Rhode Island on and off for about a year as her condition wavered, and then ultimately declined. Block said that even after his wife began struggling to eat, she still would get up and walk. Hospice workers would help the couple take walks at the nearby Tockwotton Nursing Home and patiently feed her food that they’d puree.

“It meant a great deal to her and to me,” Block said. “It not only was able to calm her, but it was calming to me. There were spiritual sessions for me. They did so much for her to make her life easier.”

That kind of experience is reflected in the responses of hundreds of families in the survey. In all, Teno’s team asked 538 family members of nursing home patients who died of dementia to reflect on the care and support they experienced and observed at their loved one’s end of life. Of that group, 260 received hospice care and 278 did not. Among the report’s key findings:

Family members of hospice recipients were 51 percent less likely to report unmet needs and concerns with quality of care. They were 49 percent less likely to report an unmet need for management of pain. They were 50 percent less likely to have wanted more emotional support before their loved one’s death. They rated the peacefulness of dying and the quality of dying more positively than families whose loved ones did not receive hospice care.

The survey also found that people who felt their loved one received hospice care “too late” had stronger concerns about care and support in almost every one of the survey’s many measures. They felt worse off than people who had no hospice care at all.

“These are people who get slammed around the healthcare system in the last days of life,” Teno said. “These are people with transitions who go from an acute care hospital to a nursing home in the last 24 hours. They are reacting to a set of circumstances that shouldn’t have occurred.”

Dementia is a particularly important area to study, Teno said, because the untreatable condition has only recently gained recognition as being terminal illness. The unpredictability of its progress, however, has led to a large number of dementia patients staying in hospice for longer than people with other conditions. That has made dementia a focus for scrutiny in discussions of cost.

But the study provides new evidence that hospice provides a meaningful benefit to nursing home patients with dementia and their families, such as the Blocks, Teno said. Policymakers should therefore factor in that evidence as they discuss the future of Medicare funding.

“It is a terminal illness,” Teno said. “As we do payment reform we should preserve access and quality of care for those persons dying of dementia.”

In addition to Teno, other authors of the paper are Pedro Gozalo, Ian Lee, and Sylvia Kuo of Brown, Carol Spence of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, Stephen Connor of the Worldwide Palliative Care Alliance, and David Casarett of the University of Pennsylvania.

The National Institute of Aging funded the research.

Depression is not a normal part of aging, but when older adults do have depression, it may be overlooked, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Seniors may show different, less obvious symptoms and may be less inclined to experience or acknowledge feelings of sadness or grief. The winter months can be especially challenging because some seniors experience seasonal affective disorder (SAD), a depressive illness triggered when there is less natural sunlight.

The Geriatric Mental Health Foundation says that an elderly person who may be depressed should see a medical professional. Talk to a client’s family or doctor if you suspect a senior is depressed.

For others, keep the winter blues at bay by using these ideas to inspire ways you can cater to each client’s interests with your personal spin:  

• Eat something new – Tackle a new recipe or re-invent a traditional one. Invite family and friends once a week for dinner and take turns preparing meals. Host a potluck dinner or an evening with international cuisine.
• Exercise the mind – Try a jigsaw puzzle or solve riddles. Discuss our question of the week
• Indulge – Enjoy a healthy dessert or sip a hot drink.
• Go for a walk – Invite family members and friends for an evening stroll. During bad weather, complete laps inside a local mall or community center.

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TurkeyNoodle Soup

• 5 quarts water
• 1 cup celery, chopped
• 1/2 cup celery leaves, chopped
• 1 cup onion, chopped
• 7 chicken bouillon cubes
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, ground
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 cup fresh peas or 1 cup frozen peas
• 1 cup carrot, sliced
• 1 cup cut green beans, fresh or frozen
• 4 cups fine egg noodles (8 Oz)
• 1/4 cup butter or 1/4 cup margarine
• 1/4 cup flour
• turkey carcass, from a 15-20 pound turkey

Directions:

In an eight quart kettle or Dutch oven place turkey bones, water — down through to and including the bay leaf.  Heat to boiling; reduce heat, cover and simmer for 1 hour.  Remove the bones to a platter and let cool.

Add the parsley through to green beans.  Heat to boiling; reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.  Meanwhile, scrape meat from carcass and return meat to soup pot. Add liquid if required.  Heat to boiling; add noodles and cook uncovered for 10 minutes.

Melt butter in a small frying pan; stir in flour.  Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the flour browns.  Stir into boiling soup.  When the soup returns to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.  Serve hot.

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Holiday Card Project

Pressed Flowers/Leaves –

Pick fresh flowers or leaves from a walk. Remove any wilted petals and leaves. Try not to let flower parts overlap. Leaves should lay flat. Choose a heavy book and line the inside pages with 2 or 3 sheets of paper to protect the book. (Using paper towels might turn the whole thing to mush). Carefully lay the flowers/leaves on the paper, and cover with another 2 sheets. After closing the book I stack another couple of books on top. Or you can also place the book in your microwave and “cook” it for 30 seconds. You’ll have to repeat it a few times, checking to see if the flowers/leaves are almost dried. Then I let the book sit for at least another two weeks before opening.

Use the dried flowers and leaves to make holiday greetings for family and loved ones. Take a moment to arrange the flowers on your card, taking note of how and where you want to position them.  The pressed flowers can be mounted directly on the card itself, or you may want to adhere a background of fabric, or handmade paper to the card stock first before gluing the flowers down.  Hold the pressed flower, apply a very small amount of glue to the back of the flower, position it on the card, and gently press down.  Do the same with the stems and leaves.  Once you’ve finished adhering your pressed flowers/foliage, it’s a good idea to place the card under a heavy book for a few minutes.  The firm pressure will ensure that your pressed flowers will dry flat.

Hope you enjoy our holiday kick off of fun things to enjoy this  time of year!

Fight the flu

“A flu shot is your best protection against catching the flu,” says Randy Bergen, MD, pediatric infectious disease specialist at Kaiser Permanente. The flu virus changes often. The protection given by the flu vaccine only lasts for about a year, so you need to get a flu shot every year, preferably in the fall.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that children 6 months and older, and every adult, get vaccinated against the flu. Children and adults who have a chronic health condition or weakened immune system, adults 65 or older, or smokers who are between 19 and 64 should also get a pneumonia vaccine. When you come in for your flu shot, ask if you need a pneumonia vaccine.

Flu shots are safe and won’t give you the flu .

What to do if you get the flu

1.Don’t ask for antibiotics, which won’t help because the flu is caused by a virus.
2.Stay home to help avoid spreading the flu to others.
3.Wash your hands often and avoid touching your face.
4.Use home remedies or over-the-counter medications, but don’t give any cough or cold products to children 6 years old or younger.
Protect yourself and family

The flu is more serious than the common cold, so do everything you can to prevent it. A flu shot (or nasal spray) is your best defense. The vaccine is safe, won’t make you sick, and generally has few side effects.

The flu virus changes often, and the protection from the vaccine only lasts for about a year. That’s why you should get a flu shot every year, preferably in the fall.

Who should get a flu shot?
The CDC recommends everyone 6 months and older get a flu vaccination every year.

The flu shot helps prevent you from getting the flu and from spreading it to others. Even healthy people can develop serious complications or even die from the flu — so protect yourself and your loved ones by getting vaccinated.

Vaccination is especially important for:

*people 50 years and older
*children 6 months through 4 years old
*women who are or will be pregnant during flu season
*people with chronic medical conditions or weakened immune systems
*people who live in nursing homes and other long-term care centers
*health care workers
*people who live with or care for anyone at high risk for flu-related complications
*Complications of flu can include bacterial pneumonia, ear infections, sinus infections, dehydration, and worsening of chronic medical conditions, such as congestive heart failure, asthma, or diabetes.

Why kids should get a flu shot
Children can spread the flu easily to adults and other children. Getting vaccinated also helps protect infants (who cannot receive a flu shot), pregnant women, the elderly, and people with chronic conditions.

Make sure your children get all recommended vaccinations on time. Check your child’s immunization record.

Flu shots will be available beginning in early fall 2011.  They are available from your health care provider or at local CVS drug stores & local Safeway stores! Do you have a primary care physician to help you if & when you do get the flu? Dr. Thomas Yatteau is a wonderful physician here  in Sonoma County who offers Concierge medicine.

 Dont forget  or delay- Get your flu shot today!