Health Watch October 26, 2014

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OCTOBER 2014

IN THIS ISSUE• Containing disease

As Ebola grabs headlines, health officials prepare ..................................... page 2

• On the record Online portal helps patients and doctors communicate ..................... page 6

• Heart Health Area foundation to focus on improving heart health .............. page 10

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2 Sunday, October 26, 2014 The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes com

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Public Health ready to battle contamination in NE Georgia

BY ELISE [email protected]

With American nurses having recently contracted Ebola after treating a patient with the disease, the question of safety has been brought to the attention of the American public: How ready are our health care departments to handle a virus that is killing thousands in Africa?

While there have been no Ebola cases in Georgia to date, patients with the virus have been transferred to Emory Hospital in Atlanta for treatment, which in turn has raised the alarm for some throughout the state.

“For the last decade we’ve been preparing plans for a disease outbreak,” said Dave Palmer, District 2 Public Health spokesman.

Palmer said the same plans for preparing for an influenza outbreak can be altered to prevent the spread of the Ebola virus.

“The risk for Ebola is fairly low in our area. It’s transferred through bodily fluids,” Palmer said. “Here in Northeast Georgia the risk is low unless someone comes in contact with it through an infected patient, or is traveling from West Africa.”

District 2 Public Health serves 13 counties in the northeastern part of the state and while news continues to break about Ebola in America, there is a low risk that anyone would come into contact with the virus in our area. Regardless, containment has been brought into question as more cases are reported.

“We would double bag and seal any waste and have it picked up as hazardous medical waste,” Palmer said about the process in place for patients with infectious diseases like Ebola. “Almost the same protocol as needles and sharp instruments disposal.

“As far as if someone vomited or had diarrhea in the toilets, the Centers for Disease Control has said the virus doesn’t live in water for a long period of time,” Palmer continued. “That water would kill the virus.”

The public health department has been continuously updating procedures and following the guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, making adjustments to plans in case someone exhibiting symptoms of the virus did seek medical treatment.

“If they had a suspected case, we would isolate them in an exam room. Personnel would put on personal protective equipment and continue to question the patient to decide if it was Ebola,” Palmer said. If the patient’s symptoms were determined to be Ebola-like, then the appropriate steps would be taken to quarantine the area, ensuring the safety of everyone in the building.

“We keep trying to proactively plan and be prepared if some contagious disease happens at any of our clinics,” Palmer said.

Each of the health departments in the area have been supplied with the appropriate protective gear for all

personnel, from goggles to the correct gloves that would prevent contamination.

“We’ve been sharing information with hospitals in our area, and making sure it goes to the hospitals and (emergency) departments and other care providers,”

Palmer said. It is essential that all the health care providers be prepared and up to date on how to handle not just Ebola, but any threat of a highly contagious disease.

“We want to be as ready as we can be.”

BRYNN ANDERSON | Associated Press

A licensed clinician sanitizes his hands after a simulated training session Oct. 6 in Anniston, Ala. The Centers for Disease Control and Pre-vention has developed an introductory training course for licensed clinicians. According to the CDC, the course is to ensure that clinicians intending to provide medical care to patients with Ebola have sufficient knowledge of the disease.

‘We keep trying to proactively plan and be prepared if some contagious disease happens at any of our clinics. ... We want to be as ready as we can be.’Dave Palmer, District 2 Public Health spokesman

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Sunday, October 26, 2014 3gainesvilletimes comThe Times, Gainesville, Georgia |

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Fainting a common occurrence, though usually not serious

BY CARLY [email protected]

Pretend for a moment that you are standing on stage as a choir member, knees locked and voice singing loud and clear. Everything is going well, with raucous audience applause after every song. Your confidence increases as you keep belting out what you believe to be the performance of your life.

Then, your vision begins to narrow as a bout of lightheadedness overcomes you. You sway back and forth a little, and then everything goes black as you faint.

“What the problem is that there is a decrease in the blood flow to the brain that causes somebody to pass out,” explained Dr. Holmes Marchman, physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist with The Longstreet Clinic in Gainesville. “There’s typically a trigger, like someone sees some blood or they get scared or have an anxiety (attack) or see something that they don’t like.”

He added a person can also faint if they’re straining during physical activity or have been standing for a long time, particularly if they’ve locked their knees.

“The blood vessels in the legs will enlarge — they dilate — so you pool blood there, and then your heart rate slows down. There’s not enough pressure to get blood

to the brain and so you have a temporary loss of just enough pressure to pass out.

“Typically, that restores it in a minute.”Typically, Marchman said, fainting in

itself isn’t a symptom of a larger problem. An occasional episode with certain triggers — like standing with locked legs or seeing something shocking — is no cause for alarm, “particularly in a younger person.”

“There are other things that are not so simple that cause people to faint,” he said. “One, is having a heart condition where, say, it’s beating too slow or the rhythm is off … so it doesn’t move as much blood as it should.”

A doctor may “check out the heart, check out the blood vessels within the neck that go to the brain, that sort of thing. Also, too, medications can cause people to faint, as well,” Marchman said.

There are some warning signs that a person is about to faint. They may feel clammy or develop tunnel vision. The best thing to do is find a place to rest; if unable to stretch out, place your head between your knees.

“The bottom line is, you’re not getting enough blood to your brain and there’s lots of reasons for that to occur,” Marchman said.

Times intern Tyler Bennett contributed to this report.

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Fainting isn’t typically a symptom of a larger problem. If you feel faint, experts suggest rest.

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NGMC also offers patient navigator services to help take cancer care beyond the clinical level – to the emotional level. A patient navigator helps schedule tests and appointments; communicates with healthcare staff and providers; addresses logistical issues such as transportation needs; and helps patients understand complex medical terms and treatment options. NGMC is the first and only hospital offering a turnkey approach to cancer – from diagnosis to treatment to rehabilitation.

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October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

The Importance of Taking Time for Your Health – Breast Cancer Awareness

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Online database simplifies sharing of medical records

BY JESSIKA [email protected]

Medical practitioners’ phone lines may grow quiet in the wake of a new online database allowing easier access to patient records for both patients and providers.

HealtheConnection allows 24/7 access to medical history, allergy tests, lab results and much more. Patients can check the details from doctors’ visits, ranging anywhere from a regular checkup to the critical results of CT scan, as well as schedule future appointments and exchange nonemergency emails with their physicians.

“The whole vision … was part of the Community Healthy Alliance of Gainesville, which is comprised of several of the larger health care providers in Gainesville,” explained Alan Wills, executive director of HealtheConnection. “They all came together as part of this Chamber organized

initiative. They started talking about how we could collaborate as a community together to provide the highest quality of health care that we can in Gainesville, and an underpinning of that is that we have to be able to share information about our patients.”

Along with the more timely nature of the program, HealtheConnection provides the perk of less paperwork.

Instead of showing up early for an appointment just for an endless barrage of questionnaires, all patient information can be taken from the database. Nurses can gather patient background information from the database.

Good News Clinic Executive Director Cheryl Christian sees the main benefit coming from the doctor-to-doctor accessibility.

“If our patient goes to the emergency room on a weekend,” Christian said, “a physician there can have access to the

patient’s chart here. Many of our patients don’t have a list of their medications and may not be able to adequately explain what they’re being treated for, so that’s a huge benefit for the patients.”

The program also offers patients access to their records at all hours.

“There’s two parts of our program,” Wills explained. “There’s what we call the clinical

portal, or the clinical application, which is really for doctors’ offices. It’s the sharing of data between providers. And then the second part of our application is what we call the patient portal.

“This is where, utilizing our application, patients can log in to our application and get access to certain records — it’s not a complete medical record — but certain test results and certain records associated with the care that’s been provided to that patient.”

The constant accessibility of Healthe-Connection can significantly reduce the stress of waiting for the weekend to pass just to receive news from your doctor. The anxiety that comes with waiting for important test results is nearly eliminated since the program is open on the weekends, even when your doctor is off the clock. This also lightens the burdens

‘I think it’s all positive. It helps the patient. It helps the other physicians who may be seeing our patient. ’Cheryl Christian, Good News Clinic Executive Director

� Please see RECORDS, 7

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of some doctors; because medical practitioners are also free to make use of HealtheConnection, if a patient needed help or there were a patient in need outside of normal office hours, physicians can simply log online and immediately retrieve patient information.

“I think it’s all positive,” Christian said. “It helps the patient. It helps the other physicians who may be seeing our patient. Soon, patients can email and ask for a prescription refill.

“I see nothing but positives. I think it will help the patient themselves and also help the providers and the hospitals serving them.”

The only thing a patient needs to gain access to HealtheConnection is an Internet connection and a log-in. HealtheConnection serves 19 counties in Northeast Georgia, including Hall, and also operates in North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Staff writer Carly Sharec contributed to this report.

� Continued from 6

A screenshot of a program that assists doctors in giving patients the best care possible.

RECORDS: Patients only need Internet

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The pulse of tomorrowArea foundation to focus on improving heart health

BY KRISTEN [email protected]

Every 34 seconds, a person in the U.S. has a heart attack.

For every minute that goes by without proper response, that person’s chance of recovery decreases 10 percent.

Dr. Jeffrey Marshall wants to change those statistics. Marshall, a cardiologist with The Heart Center at Northeast Georgia Medical Center, recently established the North Georgia Heart Foundation with the help of area cardiovascular experts. The foundation aims to increase research, education and hope for heart health.

“The primary reason for this is to reduce cardiovascular death in North Georgia, with the eventual goal of stamping out heart disease,” Marshall said.

Marshall’s first step in forming the foundation was finding like-minded people with a passion for reducing the instances of cardiac arrests and deaths.

The purpose of educating the public on

these issues is to increase the likelihood that if someone has a heart attack in North Georgia, that person will be within reach of someone who knows CPR.

“There are certain cities in the U.S. you don’t want to have a heart attack in,” Marshall said. “Of the major metropolitan areas, Detroit is the worst and Seattle is the best. I’d love North Georgia to be the Seattle of the South.”

Counte Cooley, Electronic Sales Co. president, knows how crucial it is to be within reach of a CPR-certified person.

Cooley suffered cardiac arrest due to ventricular tachycardia, or elevated heart rate, after a game of racquetball at LA Fitness in Buford. He was within 25 feet of an automated external defibrillator and near three CPR trained individuals.

Their quick response meant he experienced no brain or heart damage.

“The doctor at the emergency room told me, ‘That is as good as it gets,’” Cooley said.

Cooley, who said he is a “poster child

of sorts” for successful recovery efforts, was approached by Marshall to help with donation and participation in the foundation.

“I told him I would help in any way possible because I owe my life to the folks that saved me with AED and resuscitation,” Cooley said.

Dr. George Ordway, physiologist recently retired from the Northeast Georgia Heart Center and chairman of the board, is currently directing the educational efforts for the foundation.

Ordway said he hopes to create an environment or culture in North Georgia where knowing CPR is the norm. To start, he and the foundation have focused their attentions on educating youth.

They recently held a CPR training course for more than 300 students at Gainesville High and another at Chestatee High. They’ve also held CPR training for all Lakeview Academy students.

“We learned that we can actually train large groups in a relatively short amount of time,” Ordway said. “It only takes about a

half hour to train someone in hands-only CPR, which can be extremely effective in helping save someone who’s had a sudden cardiac arrest.”

Marshall said the board looks to the nation’s leaders in heart health research and aims to be like them in the future.

The Framingham Heart Study in Massachusetts is one such leader. Marshall said the community in Framingham got together and said, “We have a high instance of heart disease. Let’s try to figure out what’s causing it.”

Marshall said he hopes the North Georgia community will be able to do the same through the foundation.

“We’re trying to spread the whole gambit, from diet, to exercise, to CPR,” he said. “Hopefully one day North Georgia Heart Foundation will be the Framingham of the South.”

North Georgia Heart FoundationFounded by cardiologist Dr. Jeffrey Marshall, the foundation aims to eradicate cardiovascular disease through local research and education.Contact: 678-928-3328More info: pulseoftomorrow.org

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Arthritis can be diagnosed at any age.

BY ANDI [email protected]

With more than 100 different forms of arthritis, it’s easy to understand why a large majority of people suffer from the chronic condition.

Most commonly caused by general overuse of the joints, arthritis can be diagnosed at any age. In fact, two-thirds of people with arthritis are under the age of 65.

Dr. Tracy Lovell of Northeast Georgia Diagnostic Clinic gives insight to diagnosing the condition.

“Anyone can develop arthritis, whether it is autoimmune like rheumatoid arthritis, or it can be from general overuse and age such as osteoarthritis,” Lovell said. “It gets concerning when there is joint swelling or if one has prolonged stiffness and pain for more than 30 minutes at a time in the mornings.”

A number of things can cause arthritis. Periods of inactivity are detrimental to your joints because they become stiff and unused to activity. Fatigue is also a common symptom.

Many are wary of taking prescription medication due to the harsh side effects like taking a toll on your digestive system. Lovell offers alternative methods.

“Exercise and weight loss can alleviate pain but weight loss can be especially helpful for any pain coming from the lower back to the feet,” she said.

Prescription medications include Cymbalta, commonly used to treat depression, but can also be used to treat chronic pain disorders. Enbrel and Humira treat rheumatoid arthritis as well.

“Tylenol is the most basic form of medication you can use for treating pain,” Lovell said, “but depending on what type of arthritis and underlying health conditions one has, other medications can be used.”

Northeast Georgia Diagnostic Clinic features three physicians on their rheumatology staff: Dr. Tracy Lovell, Sylvia Dold and Alok Sachdeva. Their office hours are 8:30 a.m.–5 p.m. at each location in Gainesville, Braselton and Athens. To schedule an appointment call 770-536-9864.

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Health care costs continue to changeRetirees face biggest out-of-pocket costs yet

By Mark MillerMcClatchy-Tribune News Service

The cost of health care is one of the biggest out-of-pocket costs facing retirees — and for some, the challenge is getting tougher.

Fifteen million retirees on Medicare get supplemental health insurance coverage from their former employers — and another 2 million retirees not yet eligible for Medicare receive primary coverage from their former workplaces, according to research by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

For retirees age 65 and older, employer coverage typically supplements gaps in Medicare’s coverage — paying for vision or dental care, capping out-of-pocket costs, or covering prescription drugs. For retirees younger than 65, some employers provide primary health insurance.

But the number of employers covering retirees has declined sharply over the years,

to just 28 percent in 2013, compared with 66 percent in 1988, according to KFF.

The declining coverage levels reflect changes in the economy, notes Tricia Neuman, senior vice-president at Kaiser and director of the foundation’s Medicare policy program.

Health-care cost inflation has been quiet lately. Fidelity Investments, which publishes an annual report on retiree health-care costs, reported last month that a 65-year-old couple retiring this year will need to have saved $220,000 to meet health-care expenses during their retirement—the same estimate the company made last year.

Still, it’s a fair bet that many retirees with benefits from former employers can expect to bear a bigger share of costs in the years ahead. Here are some strategies that can help counterbalance the increased burden.

1. Save with tax-efficiency. One savings vehicle shaping up to be

especially well-suited for building a health-care nest egg is the health saving accounts. Access to these accounts usually comes alongside high-deductible insurance plans, which are rapidly gaining popularity among employers.

2. Work longer.It’s not an option for everyone, but a

few additional years of work means fewer net years paying Medicare premiums and more years on your employer’s health insurance plan. If you work past age 65, your employer’s coverage remains primary if you work for a company with 20 or more employees; at smaller firms, Medicare’s coverage is primary.

3. Delay filing for Social Security.You are eligible to file for benefits as

early as age 62, but your benefit amount will be increased roughly 8 percent for every 12 months that you wait, up until

age 70. Filing later means higher annual income for life, which can be a great hedge against high health-care expenses — not to mention the risk of running out of money in old age.

4. Choose Medicare plans carefully.

Medicare offers two basic coverage options: traditional fee-for-service or Medicare Advantage, which is a managed-care alternative that offers all-in-one coverage for hospitalization, outpatient services, and (often) prescription drugs.

5. Watch out for premium “brackets.”

High-income households pay more for Medicare — and for policies bought through the ACA exchanges. In both cases, careful income planning can save you money on insurance premiums.

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Established in 1994, the Gainesville Heart & Vascular Group, formerly known as the Gainesville Heart Group, is recognized as the first cardiology practice dedicated to the care of heart patients in Gainesville and surrounding areas.

Its founder, Dr. David P. Johnson is a Gainesville native who had a dream of providing full-time and full-service cardiac care to the community. He and his partners played an integral part in bringing the Open Heart Surgery Program to Gainesville in 2002.

Our staff has a reputation of applying a personal touch to our care and cherishing the relationship we have with our patients. Our staff, including physicians, enjoys residing and being an active part of the Hall County community.

Our office has a wide variety of services, including general cardiology consultation, electrocardiography, echocardiography / 2-D Doppler, stress echocardiography, nuclear stress testing and ankle brachial pressure index. Our physicians are staffed round the clock, 365 days a year, at the Northeast Georgia Medical Center. Cardiac catheterizations, including coronary and peripheral artery stenting, stress testing, transesophageal echocardiography and pacemaker devices are performed at the Northeast Georgia Medical Center.

• Adult Consultative Cardiology• ECG, Holter and Event Monitoring• Exercise Treadmill Testing• Echocardiography• Transesophageal Echocardiography• Stress Echocardiography• Myocardial Perfusion Imaging (Nuclear Scans)• Peripheral Vascular (claudication) Testing• Cardiac Catheterization (leg and wrist access)

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At Gainesville Heart & Vascular Group, we believe that the patient is the center of our practice. We are committed to providing At Gainesville Heart & Vascular Group, we believe that the patient is the center of our practice. We are committed to providing the best possible care through diligent clinical evaluation and appropriate use of state-of-the-art technology. Guided by the best possible care through diligent clinical evaluation and appropriate use of state-of-the-art technology. Guided by compassion for each individual, we strive to provide convenience and peace of mind to our patients by providing most compassion for each individual, we strive to provide convenience and peace of mind to our patients by providing most

services under one roof. Our ultimate goal — help our patients achieve a better quality of life.services under one roof. Our ultimate goal — help our patients achieve a better quality of life.

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MAGNETIC STIMULATION

Depression treatment gains tractionBy John Keilman

Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO — A machine that sends magnetic pulses into a patient’s brain has become the new frontier of depression treatment, promising to ease symptoms for those who have found little relief from medication or talk therapy.

The treatment, known as transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS, is part of a wave of technologies that attempt to jolt the brain back to health. It caught on quickly after the Food and Drug Administration approved its use six years ago, and more than 25 Chicago-area hospitals and psychiatrists now use TMS devices.

Though some have questioned the technology’s effectiveness, more insurance companies are starting to cover it, helping with a price tag that can reach $10,000 for six weeks of treatment.

“What this does is raises (your mood) up to normal,” a 55-year-old woman from the western suburbs said after fi nishing a treatment session at Linden Oaks at Edward

in Naperville. “You can operate.”Stimulative brain therapies have been

around for decades, the best known being electroconvulsive therapy, a technique that uses an electric current to cause a seizure. It was portrayed as a mind-erasing menace in the movie “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” though psychiatrists say the procedure is safe today.

Other methods use implanted devices to send electrical pulses to the vagus nerve — a transmission line that carries messages to the brain’s mood center — or to the brain itself. Some studies have found that these techniques help to elevate the moods of people with severe depression.

Dr. Mark George, a South Carolina psychiatrist who edits the medical journal Brain Stimulation, said TMS produces similar effects without the need for surgery.

A patient sits in a chair that resembles something from a dentist’s offi ce as a device containing the magnetic coil is placed on his head. When it’s activated, George said, magnetic pulses penetrate the skull and stimulate nerve cells — the Linden

Oaks patient described the sensation as “having a woodpecker sitting on your head” — provoking a therapeutic response.

George acknowledged that the technology doesn’t work for everyone. Early studies, which relied on subjects who had been taken off their medications, found that only about 15 percent saw their depressive symptoms go away.

But later research that allowed subjects to stay on their meds, which George called a more true-to-life test, found that 40 percent had complete relief from their symptoms, while 60 percent got at least somewhat better.

That’s not as effective as electroconvul-sive therapy, which has full remission rates of around 60 percent, but George said that treatment requires patients to be anesthe-tized and is known to cause memory and cognitive problems in some.

TMS, by contrast, requires no sedation, and its biggest complication appears to be discomfort where the magnets are placed on the head.

“It’s a highly effective treatment and has

only trivial side effects,” said Dr. Jesse Viner, medical director at north suburban Evanston’s Yellowbrick psychiatric health care center. “There’s no persistent adverse effect. You can have a little bit of a headache or facial pain, but that quickly subsides, and in our experience, by the time people have their third or fourth treatment, they’re OK.”

The effectiveness of TMS came into question in 2007 when the FDA was considering its use as a depression treatment. The Washington-based advocacy group Public Citizen, which often tangles with the agency over what it considers lax standards for medical devices, claimed the study the FDA relied on was unreliable.

The data at fi rst showed that TMS was not signifi cantly superior to a “sham treatment” that didn’t subject patients to the magnetic pulses, the group said: Better results from TMS were evident only when some subjects were removed from the trial, and even then the difference was small.

Health Watch16A



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DIET DETOUR

The many ways people can sabotage weight loss efforts

By Emily DwassChicago Tribune

With two-thirds of American adults considered overweight, a lot of people are trying to shed pounds. It can be a challenging journey, and many folks find that they get tripped up by a major obstacle: themselves. Here are some common ways dieters sabotage their own efforts:

All or nothingWe tell ourselves we’re either dieting

or not, and we veer from starving to overindulging.

“The more you live in the extremes of all or none, good or bad, the more likely that’s going to get you into difficulty,” says Gary Foster, chief scientific officer for Weight Watchers International. “The key is that this is a lifestyle. When it’s an on-or-off diet or a boot camp mentality, that’s a short-term behavior. It’s destined not to work out very well.”

The lost weekendSometimes when we overeat on a Friday

night, we figure we’ve blown the entire weekend. This inevitably leads to a very remorseful and grumpy Monday morning. Is there a better way?

“I have my patients picture meals as individual bubbles throughout the day. Pop them as you go along. One isn’t dependent on the other, and you can keep your overall plan in place,” says Kelly Allison, associate professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Weight and Eating Disorders.

No chocolate chip cookies ever“When it’s a forbidden food, you’re more

likely to overeat once you do have it,” says Foster. A different approach is to figure out a way to incorporate that food into your life in moderation. Keeping a stash in your kitchen may not work. Even if, say, the cookies are double-wrapped in the freezer, they’re going to call out to you when you’re most vulnerable. Instead, when a craving hits, try another tactic such as visiting the best bakery in town and savoring one or

two cookies with a good cup of coffee. “If you give yourself permission, but in

reasonable portions and frequency, that’s where you strike a nice balance,” says Foster.

Crash dieting for a big eventThere’s nothing like a wedding or a

school reunion to inspire a diet. Often, however, as soon as the event is over, we go back to an unhealthful eating pattern.

“These short-term changes produce short-term weight loss. Typically they involve more extreme forms of food restriction that cannot be maintained, a sprint instead of a marathon, which is what a healthier lifestyle really is,” says Allison.

Letting the scale mess with your mind

You’re doing all the right things, but when you stand on the scale, the number makes you feel like a failure. The solution here is simple: Weigh in only once a week.

Your weight can fluctuate for a variety of reasons, and checking it every day may not give you an accurate assessment. Are your clothes getting looser? Do you have more energy? These are positive indicators that you are succeeding.

“Let the scale be a guide, but it’s not a judge. It’s not an arbiter of your success, especially in the short term,” says Foster.

Getting too little sleepBeing sleep-deprived appears to change

how our brains respond to food. “Judgment and decision-making

‘Let the scale be a guide, but it’s not a judge. It’s not an arbiter of your success, especially in the short term.’Gary Foster, chief scientific officer for Weight Watchers International

� Please see DIET, 17

HealthWatch17A

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brain regions become blunted by sleep deprivation when making food choice decisions,” says Matthew Walker, a psychology professor and sleep expert at UC Berkeley. He explains that with too little sleep the brain structures that control our impulses and desires get out of whack.

Believing you don’t like veggies“Leave behind the old-fashioned notion of

plain, steamed, undressed vegetables as the best way to go. That’s boring and borders on punitive,” says cookbook author Mollie Katzen (“The Heart of the Plate: Vegetarian Recipes for a New Generation”). She advises being creative: Brush veggies with olive oil and singe them on the grill or roast in the oven. Flavor them with sauces made from pulverized nuts, herbs or roasted red peppers. Add caramelized onions, fresh lime juice, garlic or chile peppers for more fl avor.

“Food needs to be delicious and desirable. If the emphasis is simply on ‘healthy,’ people who are skeptical won’t be pulled in,” says Katzen.

Not drinking enough waterBrenda Davy, a nutrition professor at

Virginia Tech University, conducted a study with 48 middle-aged and older adults, dividing them into two groups on low-calorie diets. One group was instructed to drink two cups of water before meals.

“We were interested in whether or not that would help them eat less and lose more weight over 12 weeks. And in fact, it did,” says Davy. That group lost about 5 more pounds than the other group.

Joining the clean plate clubMost of us were taught to clean our plates

when we were kids, and the pattern has continued into adulthood. A recent Cornell University study found that adults eat nearly all the food they serve themselves. At restaurants, ask for a to-go box right when the meal is brought to the table and save half the food for another time. At a buffet, sample mini portions of a variety of dishes. At home, consider using a smaller plate. You can fi ll it up and eat everything — without guilt.

Letting others steeryou off-course

Sometimes, the people you live with and love are not thrilled when you start losing weight. They might be afraid that your relationship will change. If someone is tempting you with trigger foods you need to speak up, says Allison.

“Is there anybody who is bringing home doughnuts and waving them in front of your face? How can you address that? If they want those foods, they can have them outside of the house.”

Nighttime noshing“There is some evidence to suggest

that we don’t want to be eating a lot late at night, but that is very different from saying you cannot have a snack,” says Allison. However, she cautions that eating after dark may lead to a slippery slope.

“Emotionally and physically, we’re tired at night and we’re looking for comforting things. We’re more likely to choose the higher-calorie foods than we are during the day. Thinking ahead and portioning them out becomes really important.”

ROSTISLAV SEDLACEK | Fotolia/MCT

Not drinking enough water can sabotage healthful eating plans.

DIET: People are their own obstacles � Continued from 16

HealthWatch18A


Beauty blogger transformed by cancerBy Lolly Bowean

Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO — Over the last five years, Meechy Monroe has built a reputation and international following among black women who turned to her for hair care tips and inspiration as they turned from chemically treated hair to natural styles.

Through her blog, social media and YouTube channel, Monroe won tens of thousands of followers who longed to know just how she twisted, twirled, patted and puffed her signature, textured Afro into an elegant, bouffant-esque style. Her YouTube channel piled up more than 2.4 million views. She gained 36,000 followers on Instagram and reached thousands more through Twitter and her blog.

But recently, the 29-year-old Chicago resident has been diagnosed with a rare brain tumor that affects just 1 percent of cancer patients in the U.S. The disease, along with the radiation and chemotherapy necessary to treat it, has changed everything for Monroe. She lost her ability to write clearly. Her speech became halting.

Added to those huge losses was another one: her hair, the glorious, dark black, curly mane that helped catapult her to icon status within the natural hair community.

“This is who I am now,” said Monroe, in an interview in her home.

Once tall and lean with striking hair, Monroe is now bald and has a circular scar on the left side of her scalp from two surgeries. Her medication has added 40 pounds to her frame.

As she has battled her cancer, she has found a new mission: teaching women that beauty is not all about hair.

“It’s just a new journey for me,” she said. “I’ve learned to be pretty confident in my skin. Chubby cheeks. Bald head. It’s beautiful. I have to show other women — no matter what, you’re still beautiful.”

Monroe’s real name is Tameka Moore, but online she is known by the nickname her sister gave her in high school. She grew up on the South Side of Chicago and graduated from Southern Illinois

University in Carbondale in 2008. After college, she returned to Chicago to work for a marketing firm.

In 2009, after receiving an unflattering cut at a salon, she decided to chop off all her chemically treated hair and start fresh with a short Afro. As her soft, curly hair began to grow and she experimented with styles, she said she often was stopped on the street by women asking for tips. She happily gave them advice.

Eventually she got the idea to start a blog and post videos demonstrating how she’d get her hair to hold its shape and look glossy and textured. She taped herself, at first in her father’s bathroom in the basement of their modest home, edited the videos and posted them online.

Quickly, they became popular.“Meechy had always been

shy and an introvert,” said her sister, Vaughn Moore. “But on her videos, her personality shined through. When she taped them, it felt like it was one-on-one. But she was speaking to hundreds and thousands of people.”

As her popularity and fan base grew, so did the opportunities. She was still working full time, but on the side she was spending hours creating her videos, testing new styles and writing about her newfound craft. She upgraded

her equipment and paid more attention to details — what she was wearing, what products she was using.

Fans labeled her signature look the ‘Meechy twist-out,’ because she’d section her hair in bunches, twist it at night, and by morning her hair would fluff into a soft, textured, vibrant Afro.

Last year, she was asked to serve as the brand ambassador for a hair steamer.

Not only did that mean her face was placed on packaging and in print ads, she was flown to Paris and Amsterdam to talk about her hair care regimen.

“I was immediately struck by how genuine and passionate she was about hair and beauty,” said Ken Burkeen, the founder and CEO of Huetiful, a chain of hair salons that has trademarked the steamer and also sells hair care products. “She was really caring, really supportive. She was positive and uplifting.”

As he got to know her work, Burkeen was impressed.

“I don’t think she saw herself as a cover girl,” he said. “But she is both relatable and aspirational. She’s the girl next door. She’s the South Side Chicago girl, and she looks like she lives down the street from you. At the same time, women around the world say her look and style is one they want to

emulate.”Just as her career was reaching

new heights, Monroe woke up one April morning feeling confused and having trouble concentrating. She went to the hospital but was sent home when doctors couldn’t find anything wrong.

A few days later, Monroe woke up and one side of her face was drooping. Doctors determined that she had suffered several minor strokes. She underwent rounds of tests and exams.

In May, when doctors conducted surgery, they found a brain tumor — one that normally forms in other places on the body and rarely appears in the brain, said Dr. Leslie Schaffer, her neurosurgeon at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.

“It’s very rare and it’s not easy to treat,” Schaffer said. “Sarcomas don’t respond to radiation very well, and they don’t respond to chemotherapy very well.”

Schaffer has surgically removed part of the tumor. Monroe has completed radiation and is currently undergoing chemotherapy even though the treatments are often unsuccessful.

Monroe will learn later this year if the cancer is in remission.

“Only time will tell how she responds to treatment and how the tumor behaves,” Schaffer said.

Nearly every day, Monroe is relearning to speak with punch, to write with precision and pull herself together with vigor. She is pushing herself to regain her stamina, her poise and the eloquence that made her a force online.

She’s also coming to terms with everything that she has lost.

“At first, I couldn’t talk at all,” she said. “I’ve been making drastic improvements. The muscles in my jaw are building up. I couldn’t move my hand at first, and I can now. I’ll see more changes real soon.”

Recently, Monroe was only a few minutes into her speech therapy session in a cramped hospital office when she began pressing her therapist to challenge her more. She wanted to try tougher exercises that would help her regain her skills.

But as she read over a worksheet asking her to dissect a

family tree, tears rolled down her face. She tucked her chin to her chest, and her hands trembled as she struggled with her emotions.

“Can we do this later?” Monroe asked, her voice shaking. “I’m not comfortable.”

“This is a challenge, I know,” said her therapist, Michelle LaMantia. “I know you’re doing your best. We’ve made a lot of gains lately. We don’t want to just be on easy street here.”

When she was at her best, Monroe saw her mission as inspiring other African-American women to embrace themselves in their most natural state. These days, as she battles cancer, her followers and fans have given her inspiration, she said.

When she got sick, she disappeared from the Internet. Rumors floated and many of her followers tweeted and posted messages looking for her. With help, she decided to write a post about her challenges.

“Who knows how strong you have to be until you are faced with so many life-changing decisions,” she wrote.

Since she disclosed her illness on her blog, she has received hundreds of cards, letters and emails. Her followers have sent her hats and turbans, books and poems and have even raised money to help with her medical bills.

“I know we’ve never met ... but continue being a fighter. God has your back,” wrote one follower from Metairie, La.

“Many prayer warriors are praying for you,” wrote a woman from Gary who knows her from social media.

Shortly after she posted about her illness, the hashtag #GetWellMeechy trended both on Instagram and Twitter.

On a Sunday morning, as she prepared for church, Monroe looked through her box of cards and letters. She patted her heart as she read them over and tried to hold back her tears.

“That’s the sweetest part of it all,” she said. “They don’t have to do this, but they feel it in their hearts. People have been so kind and I’m thankful for it.

“I can’t do it alone.”

NANCY STONE | Chicago Tribune/MCT

The Monroe family: from left, parents Alexander and Patricia along with two of their daughters, Alexandria, 24, and Tameka, 29.

HealthWatch19A

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Health Watch October 26, 2014

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