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Category: Health
Biking is the best way to get somewhere fast while getting in shape
By Sarah Laskow, Grist
One of the fringe benefits of living car-free is that you end up exercising more, as a matter of course, as you bike to work or sprint to the bus stop as you see the last, late bus coming around the bend. But say you wanted to up your game, burning the most calories possible while getting around. What mode should you choose? Should you bike? Walk? Run?
If the New York Times is to be believed, you probably should just be running everywhere:
According to broad calculations from the American College of Sports Medicine, someone weighing 150 pounds who runs at a brisk seven minutes per mile will incinerate about 1,000 calories per hour. That same person pedaling at a steady 16 to 19 miles per hour will burn about 850 calories. Meanwhile, walking requires far fewer calories, only about 360 per hour at a 4-mile-per-hour pace.
But, as Noah Davis reported a while back for Outside, running everywhere isn’t really feasible:
There are definite advantages, but huge disadvantages, too. Mostly, they involve showing up everywhere dripping with sweat.
Biking will probably get you there faster, too. Also, the New York Times says, it’s better for your knees.
Native American chef shares cultural cuisine with Bay Area
By Terray Sylvester, Oakland North
On a sunny afternoon, Oakland chef Crystal Wahpepah is measuring her success in many portions: a scoop of walnut pudding, a hunk of salmon with roasted zucchini, a ladleful of summer squash stew in a plastic cup. The occasion is the opening of a new Native American Health Center office in Richmond, and the food is the fruit of Wahpepah’s five-year effort to build a business.
Her catering service, Wahpepah’s Kitchen, specializes in traditional Native American cuisine, particularly recipes from her Pomo and Kickapoo heritage.
“Right now it’s a good time for my menu because it’s harvest time,” she says, handing a piece of pumpkin fry bread to a guest. “I like to know where 90 percent, maybe 100 percent of my food comes from.”
In fact, she’d picked the pumpkins over the weekend at a garden she keeps with friends in Sebastopol.
Wahpepah has been passionate about cooking since she was a child, when she would visit the Kickapoo Nation in Oklahoma and help her grandmother make meals of sweet corn, bison, summer squash and pumpkin. She also recalls the recipes she learned in the home of her uncle, who was active in the American Indian Movement in Oakland and hosted visitors from tribes across the nation.
“Those are the best memories of my life,” she said. “I learned what food the Sioux made, what the Apaches made.”
Native American-owned businesses are a rarity in the Bay Area, making up just 0.9 percent of the firms in the region. In Oakland, where Native Americans are less than one percent of the population, the number of businesses they own is low enough not to register in Census Bureau tallies.
The lack of Native American eateries is particularly striking given the diversity of the Bay Area food scene, which places a premium on local and ethnic foods. So far, Wahpepa says, she knows of no one else who’s making dishes like her savory potatoes wrapped in seaweed from the Pacific Coast, or her lemongrass tea from the Great Plains.
According to Tracy Stanhoff, president of the California American Indian Chamber of Commerce, the dearth of Native-owned business is due in part to a catch-22: when few Native Americans run businesses, would-be Native entrepreneurs struggle to find people who can offer them advice or financial help.
“There is a lack of mentors and a lot of first-generation business owners who are scraping to get by,” she said.
But Stanhoff doesn’t think urban Indian entrepreneurs face significantly different obstacles than other ethnic minorities. On tribal lands, tangled property laws and an absence of financial institutions mean that credit and collateral are often in chronically short supply. But in cities, Stanhoff says, the situation is not the same.
“There are barriers, but in urban areas it’s not too much different than for a regular small business,” she said. “We’re generally an underserved population and lack access to capital, but it can be done.”
Wahpepah grew up in East Oakland and studied marketing at American Indian College in Phoenix, Ariz., and, briefly, cooking at the California Culinary Academy. But with little in the way of capital, she struggled to get her business off the ground until she was accepted into La Cocina,an incubator program in San Francisco designed for low-income entrepreneurs.
At La Cocina, she learned about loans available through Kiva Zip, an offshoot of the successful micro-loan website Kiva.org. With an endorsement from Oakland’s Native American Health Center, she secured a $5,000 interest-free loan to help her pay for business permits, cooking space, equipment and other start-up costs.
“It helped tremendously,” she said of the Kiva Zip loan, which she received in December 2012. “I love Kiva because you can express yourself. Instead of looking at your credit, they look at your passion.”
She currently supplements her catering by teaching classes on Native American foods.
“The dream is to make Native Americans and non-Native Americans aware of how beautiful our food is, and how healthy too,” she says. “We should be proud.”
Community Walk for Suicide Awareness, Sept 10
On September 10th the World unites to remember loved ones lost to Suicide during World Suicide Prevention Day. This year Tulalip will participate with a “Walk for Life” from the Tulalip Health Clinic parking lot to the tribal gym where we will have a potluck and candle lighting.
Suicide is a difficult subject to talk about for many people; but the most important thing we can do for prevention is break the silence, reduce the stigma and share. Please see the attached flyer, print it, give it to family members, create walking teams and help loved ones you know who may still be grieving, healing or living with suicidal thoughts themselves to come out and unite for this evening of Love, Acceptance and Remembrance.
This is an ALL COMMUNITY event, employees, friends, spouses, tribal members and everything else in between J
See you Tuesday September 10th, 6pm at the Health Clinic Parking Lot. (there will be rides back to your car afterward).
Study offers early look at new health law’s premiums
ROGELIO V. SOLIS, FILE — AP Photo
WASHINGTON — The No. 1 question about President Barack Obama’s health care law is whether consumers will be able to afford the coverage. Now the answer is coming in.
Published: September 4, 2013
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR — Associated Press
The biggest study yet of premiums posted by states finds that the sticker price for a 21-year-old buying a mid-range policy will average about $270 a month. That’s before government tax credits that act like a discount for most people, bringing down the cost based on their income.
List-price premiums for a 40-year-old buying a mid-range plan will average close to $330, the study by Avalere Health found. For a 60-year-old, they were nearly double that at $615 a month.
Starting Oct. 1, people who don’t have health care coverage on their job can go to new online insurance markets in their states to shop for a private plan and find out if they qualify for a tax credit. Come Jan. 1, virtually all Americans will be required to have coverage, or face fines. At the same time, insurance companies will no longer be able to turn away people in poor health.
The study points to the emergence of a competitive market, said lead author Caroline Pearson, a vice president of the private data analysis firm. But it’s a market with big price differences among age groups, states and even within states. A copy was provided to The Associated Press.
The bottom line is mixed: Many consumers will like their new options, particularly if they qualify for a tax credit. But others may have to stretch to afford coverage.
“We are seeing competitive offerings in every market if you buy toward the low end of what’s available,” said Pearson, a vice president of Avalere.
However, for uninsured people who are paying nothing today “this is still a big cost that they’re expected to fit into their budgets,” Pearson added.
The Obama administration didn’t challenge the study, but Health and Human Services spokeswoman Joanne Peters said consumers will have options that are cheaper than the averages presented. “We’re consistently seeing that premiums will be lower than expected,” she added. “For the many people that qualify for a tax credit, the cost will be even lower.”
With insurance marketplaces just weeks away from opening, the Avalere study crunched the numbers on premiums filed by insurers in 11 states and Washington, DC.
Eight of them are planning to run their own insurance markets, while the federal government will run the operation in the remaining four. There were no significant differences in premiums between states running their own markets and federal ones.
The states analyzed were California, Connecticut, Indiana, Maryland, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia and Washington. No data on premiums were publicly available for Texas and Florida — together they are home to more than 10 million of the nation’s nearly 50 million uninsured people — and keys to the law’s success.
However, Pearson said she’s confident the premiums in the study will be “quite representative” of other states, because clear pricing patterns emerged. Official data for most other states isn’t expected until close to the Oct. 1 deadline for the new markets.
The study looked at premiums for non-smoking 21-year-olds, 40-year-olds and 60-year-olds in each of the 11 states and the District of Columbia.
It compared four levels of plans available under Obama’s law: bronze, silver, gold and platinum. Bronze plans will cover 60 percent of expected medical costs; silver plans will cover 70 percent; gold will cover 80 percent, and platinum 90 percent.
All plans cover the same benefits, but bronze features the lowest premiums, paired with higher deductibles and copays. Platinum plans would have the lowest out-of-pocket costs and the highest premiums.
Mid-range silver plans are considered the benchmark, because the tax credits will be keyed to the cost of the second-lowest-cost silver plan in a local area.
The average premium for a silver plan ranged from a low of $203 a month for a 21-year-old in Maryland to a high of $764 for a 60-year-old in Connecticut.
The silver plan premiums for 40-year-olds were roughly $75 a month higher than for 21-year-olds across the states. But the price jumped for 60-year-olds. The health law allows insurers to charge older adults up to three times more than younger ones. That’s less of a spread than in most states now, but it could still be a shock.
“It’s striking that the curve increases quite dramatically above age 40,” said Pearson. “As you get older and approach Medicare age, your expected health costs start to rise pretty quickly.”
But older consumers could also be the biggest beneficiaries of the tax credits, because they work by limiting what you pay for health insurance to a given percentage of your income.
For example, an individual making $23,000 would pay no more than 6.3 percent of their annual income — $1,450 — for a benchmark silver plan.
That help tapers off for those with solid middle-class incomes, above $30,000 for an individual and $60,000 for a family of four.
The study also found some striking price differences within certain states, generally larger ones. In New York, with 16 insurers participating, the difference between the cheapest and priciest silver premium was $418.
Youth Produce Suicide Prevention Video for Policy Makers
Source: Indian Country Today Media Network
Youth involved in the University of New Mexico’s Honoring Native Life initiative want to be heard. The Native American Suicide Prevention Clearinghouse, a resource to tribes in New Mexico for suicide prevention and suicide response, today helped their voices reach far and wide with the release of a video directed toward tribal leaders and policy makers.
“What we need from our tribal leaders and policy makers is more sympathy towards the different generations that exist in our communities—the elders, parents, adults, youth, adolescents,” says a participant in the video. “Something that will bring those groups together but also recognize their differences.”
The video, which can be viewed at http://honoringnativelife.org, is meant to direct attention to the needs of Native American youth and strengthen tribal leadership and tribal policy makers’ involvement in suicide prevention.
The video was created at the recent Honoring Native Life Summit, an event specifically focused on addressing suicide in Indian Country. The Summit included involvement from the Pueblos of San Felipe and Zuni; Navajo Nation; Mescalero Apache Nation; Albuquerque Area Indian Health Service; New Mexico Indian Affairs Department; White Mountain Apache Tribe of Arizona; and several other tribal communities throughout the State.
“The message that we are hearing from tribal youth is that they want a voice, and in that respect, they want to feel like a priority to leaders and policy makers,” said Sheri Lesansee (Pueblo of Zuni), UNM, Department of Psychiatry, Center for Rural & Community Behavioral Health.
More than 30,000 people in the U.S. die by suicide every year. It is this country’s 11th leading cause of death. New Mexico consistently ranks among the top five states in the U.S. for its suicide rate, which is 1.5 to two times the national average. Suicide is the 9th leading cause of death for New Mexicans.
Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/08/30/youth-produce-suicide-prevention-video-policy-makers-151099
Increasing number of kids stricken by arthritis
BY JOSH KERNS on August 30, 2013
When Lucy Jackson was just 2-and-a-half years old, she seemed like a perfectly normal, healthy youngster. But that all changed on Thanksgiving day in 2007 while the Mill Creek family vacationed in Florida.
“She woke up and couldn’t walk,” says her mom Katie. She was in serious pain.
Lucy had been perfectly healthy up to that point in her young life. At first, her parents thought she’d possibly been bitten by a bug or something and went to the emergency room. There, the doctor couldn’t find anything wrong, except for some indicators she might have some inflammation in her joints. He mentioned the possibility of juvenile arthritis.
“We thought he was crazy. We just had no idea. We’d never even heard of juvenile arthritis,” she says.
When they got back home, doctors at Seattle Children’s Hospital confirmed the diagnosis. Lucy had juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA).
JRA is just one of more than 100 different diseases or conditions that fall under the umbrella designation of arthritis – a complex family of musculoskeletal disorders that destroy joints, bones, muscles, cartilage and other connective tissues, hampering or halting physical movement – according to the Arthritis Foundation. The word “arthritis” literally means joint inflammation, but can involve the eyes, skin and gastrointestinal tract as well.
In Lucy’s case, it is often painful and debilitating.
“I think she pushes through things she shouldn’t, but she limps a lot, her joints are sore at the end of the day,” says Katie.
“It is very hard because it hurts,” says Lucy.
At first, she had to get joint injections several times a year and take various medications. But as she’s gotten older, the arthritis has spread through her body, affecting a number of joints. Some days the pain, and stiffness, gets so bad she has a hard time moving. Now, she has to get weekly injections and take daily medications, which often cause serious side effects.
“She gets tired, nauseous. It just knocks her out,” says Katie.
Lucy’s not alone. Children’s Hospital estimates nearly 300,000 kids in the United States have some sort of arthritis. Unfortunately, there is no cure. The goal of treatment is to relieve inflammation, control pain and improve a child’s quality of life.
“This is a tricky disease, it doesn’t have clear boundaries,” Katie says.
While it can be overwhelming, luckily Lucy’s family doesn’t have to manage her arthritis alone. The Arthritis Foundation is there to help her and the one in every four Washington residents who struggle every day with this serious health epidemic.
“Our goal is to help reduce the unacceptable pain, disability and other burdens of arthritis and related diseases. We offer information, events, research funding, advocacy activities and other vital programs and services,” says Dr. Steven Overman, a nationally renowned Seattle-based rheumatologist and Arthritis Foundation of Washington board member. “We believe the heavy toll arthritis takes is unacceptable, and that arthritis must be taken as seriously as other chronic diseases because of its devastating consequences.”
For Katie, the Arthritis Foundation has been a “blessing” for the entire family. “It’s opened up a community of people that were going through similar stuff that we were. It helped us connect and feel normal because they knew what it felt like. It felt like a family,” she says. “It is a blessing. They are such kind people. And their goal is so narrow focused. They want a cure. I love that they have this optimism and they have a plan.”
“I hope they can come up with a cure because I want to be a veterinarian,” Lucy says hopefully.
There is no cure on the immediate horizon. But with increased research, more doctors focusing on arthritis and advances in treatment, Dr. Overman says the goal is to reduce by 20 percent the number of people suffering from arthritis-related physical activity limitations. But they can’t do it alone. The Arthritis Foundation needs your help, whether it’s donating to one of their fund-raising events or volunteering.
“Not only will you make a world of difference now in the lives of people who are disabled by arthritis. You will also be paving the way for a future free of arthritis pain,” Overman says.
“I would love my daughter to grow up and not have this pain anymore. I would love for her to be able to share her story and have it be a recovery story,” says Katie.
That’s why KIRO Radio 97.3 FM, 710 ESPN Seattle, AM 770 KTTH, Les Schwab Tire Centers and Carter Subaru are proud to recognize The Arthritis Foundation of Washington as our Charity of the Month. You can learn more and how to help here.
You Can Expect to Pay Over $85,000 If You Suffer from Diabetes
Source: Native News Network
ATLANTA – Researchers have figured out how much a person with type 2 diabetes can expect to pay over a lifetime. At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, Xiaohui Zhuo ran a computer model based on national data.
Here’s what he found:
“Persons with diabetes pay on average over $85,000 treating the disease over his or her lifetime.”
This includes treatment for diabetes such as insulin, and treatment for conditions that grow from diabetes, such as kidney disease, heart disease and stroke.
Unfortunately, American Indians and Alaska Natives have alarming statistics when it comes to diabetes. American Indians and Alaska Natives have the highest prevalence of diabetes among all United States racial and ethnic groups, according the Indian Health Service.
The following statistics relating to diabetes among American Indians and Alaska Natives are staggering:
- 2.3 times higher – Likelihood of American Indian/Alaska Native adults to have diagnosed diabetes compared to non-Hispanic whites;
- 9 times higher – Likelihood of American Indian/Alaska Native youth aged 10-19 to have diagnosed type 2 diabetes compared to non-Hispanic whites;
- 1.9 times higher – Incidence rate of kidney failure due to diabetes in American Indian/Alaska Natives compared to the general United States population and
- 1.6 time higher – Death rate due to diabetes for American Indian/Alaska Natives compared with the general United States population.
Even with the dismal statistics, Type 2 diabetes is preventable and can be managed through eating healthier meals and increasing physical activity.
Drop the Can! 3 Soda Substitutes After Pop Linked to Aggression in Kids
Dale Carson, ICTMN
Five-year-olds who consume four or more sodas daily are more than twice as likely to attack others, fight with them or destroy their property, according to findings from a study by the Children’s Hospital Medical Center, published August 16 in the Journal of Pediatrics.
Many studies have confirmed a relationship between adolescents’ soft drink consumption and aggression, depression and suicidal thoughts; but this is the first time scientists have identified this association between soda and young children.
RELATED: Pop Goes the Waistline! A Daily Soda Puts Kids on the Obesity Train
Can Drinking Soda Give You Cancer?
And the New Mountain Dew Flavor Is … Diabetes?
Will Bloomberg’s Ban on Big Gulp Sodas in NYC Lower Obesity Rates?
USDA Study: Taxing or Increasing Cost of Sugary Beverages Can Lower Obesity Rates
We’re talking little kids here; scary!
The long-term effects of soda consumption manifest in adults, who suffer from diabetes, obesity, stroke, depression, tooth decay, and all kinds of ailments—also linked to poor diet and processed junk foods heavy in salt, preservatives and color additives. These types of foods provide little to no nutritional value. Processed foods and sugary drinks are making this country unhealthy.
It’s common knowledge that soda, diet soda, energy drinks and other “liquid refreshments” are chock-full of sugar, caffeine, and color additives. But what about juice?
I once gave my babies sweet, sugary apple juice in their bottles, thinking it was good for them. Apples are a fruit, aren’t they? Fruits are good for you, right?
Wrong. Not store-bought apple juice. It’s full of sugar, which causes tooth decay, especially on young pearly whites. We live and learn.
RELATED: Native Food: Crabapple Jelly With Sumac (Check out Dale’s homemade recipe for Apple Cider Vinegar!)
For years, I drank what I thought was a healthy tonic daily of V-8 vegetable juice, the juice of one-half lemon (way too much) and a couple of drops of Worchestershire sauce. My dentist said that probably accounted for the substantial loss of enamel on my teeth.
There just isn’t a drink much better for you than water. Good ‘ol water instead of soft drinks and other liquids.
One of the first things the New England settlers noted about the indigenous peoples of Turtle Island was that they typically drank water—cold or hot, and oftentimes flavored. The Ojibwa (Chippewa) of the western Great Lakes typically boiled their water with vegetables, twigs and leaves, explains Frances Densmore in her 1974 book How Indians Use Wild Plants for Food, Medicine and Crafts.
All Natives regularly drank broths and stocks. The Iroquois, for instance, would drink the water they used to boil cornbread, as well as the water they used to boil nuts when separating oil, writes Arthur C. Parker in his 1968 book Parker on the Iroquois.
Following in the footsteps of our ancestors, here are some tips to spice up your water and make it your go-to thirst quencher:
1. Fruit (or Herb) Water
Frothy, homemade strawberry tea (Flickr/trekkyandy)
Keep a large jar in the fridge filled with water and fruit for flavor. Try lemon, orange, watermelon, peaches, or even herbs. I like cucumber, fresh ginger and mint! The taste is subtle but refreshing, and a nice break from the ordinary.
The Iroquois regularly prepared blackberry-infused water, particularly in winter with dried blackberries. It was believed to frighten away the cold, Densmore writes in her book.
RELATED: The Original Finger Food (All about berries; includes the recipe for Dale’s mouth-watering Strawberry-Rhubarb Slump.)
Strawberry Fields Forever (Try Dale’s recipe for a strawberry summer salad.)
2. Tea
Try icing some juniper tea, green tea, sassafras tea or white pine bark tea for the kids. Sweeten with honey.
RELATED: It’s Time for Fall Foraging and Hunter’s Moon Tea (Includes Dale’s recipe for Hunter’s Moon Tea.)
A Traditional Story of Picking Strawberries, Redheads and Love (Includes Dale’s recipe for strawberry leaf tea.)
Summer’s Signature Scent (Includes a recipe for strawberry basil lemonade.)
3. Maple Water
For something sweet, make a refreshing drink with organic maple syrup. It is said that the original ice cream cone was simply maple syrup poured over snow that was stuffed into a birch bark cone.
RELATED: Harvesting Maple Sap Is Worth Tasting the Sweet Nectar (Check out Dale’s Maple Apple Pudding recipe!)
The Sticky, Sweet History of Making Maple Syrup (Includes Dale’s recipe for Maple Barbecue Sauce! Yum.)
Dale Carson, Abenaki, is the author of three books: New Native American Cooking, Native New England Cooking and A Dreamcatcher Book. She has written about and demonstrated Native cooking techniques for more than 30 years. Dale has four grown children and lives with her husband in Madison, Connecticut.
Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/08/27/3-substitutes-soda-new-study-links-pop-aggression-kids-151044
Dozens of summer chinook stolen from Chief Joseph Hatchery
by K.C. Mehaffey The Wenatchee World
Aug. 30, 2013
BRIDGEPORT — Two months after the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation opened the Chief Joseph Hatchery, thieves made off with dozens of summer chinook being held for broodstock.
Losing an estimated 42 adult fish that were ready to produce more than 73,000 young salmon for later release was bad enough.
But even worse, tribal officials are warning that whoever took the fish have exposed themselves to a cancer-causing chemical.
The fish, in a broodstock pen below the hatchery, were treated with Formalin and should not be handled or eaten, a notice posted on the Colville Tribes’ website says.
“If you believe you have consumed or handled these fish, then it is recommended that you should immediately seek medical attention,” it says.
Colville Tribal Police are offering a $500 reward for information leading to conviction of the poachers.
Tribal Chairman said he people are cautious of any salmon that may have come from an unlikely source to be wary, and contact tribal officials.
“We’ve done all we can on our end to try to educate the public that those fish aren’t safe,” he said.
The loss of these fish is also significant to the tribes’ effort to bring more fish to the upper Columbia River for both tribal and non-tribal fishermen.
“There’s no doubt it’s going to set us back,” Finley said.
Salmon are collected all season and held until they’re ready to be spawned. To get a good sampling of salmon that are likely to return at different times of the spring, summer and fall, the adults from which the eggs are taken should also be gathered from different times of the spawning season, he said.
“We literally have to wait until next year” to get salmon that will return at the same time, he said.
Tribal police are investigating the case, and the tribe will close the North Shore Access Road at Chief Joseph Hatchery at sunset every day due to the theft.
Anyone with information can contact tribal police at 634-2472.