Parish Nurse

Parish Nurse

Blood Presures Checked After Each Mass The 2nd Weekend of Every Month

Nurses Corner

Eat Healthy & Wise

Zucchini Bake

*6 small Zucchini, *1 cup herb-seasoned bread crumbs, *1/4 cup chopped onions, *1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes

*1/8 teaspoon salt, *1/2 teaspoon paprika, *2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Scrub zucchini and discard stem ends. Cook in boiling water for 4 minutes. Slice each zucchini lengthwise. Hollow out centers. Chop pulp and mix with 1/4 cup bread crumbs and all other ingredients but oil. Fill zucchini with mixture. Place in baking dish. Mix 3/4 cup bread crumbs with oil, sprinkle over tops of zucchini. Bake 30 minutes at 350 dgrees F.

Nurses Corner Your Lungs 8 steps to quit smoking.

1) Make sure you really want to quit. It takes strong personal reasons to stop smoking. 2) Pick a quit date. By telling other people about your commitment, you’re more likely to follow through. 3) Take it one day at a time. Just think about not smoking today. Don’t worry about tomorrow until it arrives. 4) Change your habits. If you have always had a cup of coffee with your cigarette, switch to green tea or fruit juice. 5) Keep some sugarless gum, hard candies, or other low-calorie snacks on hand that will help you satisfy the oral craving for a cigarette. 6) Stay active. Exercise helps reduce stress, keeps your mind off smoking, and helps prevent weight gain. 7) Ask for help-from the American Heart Association or American Cancer Society. Join a quit-smoking support group. 8) Consider nicotine replacement therapy. Nicotine patches, gum, nasal spray, inhalers, and prescriptions medicines are possibilities.

Nurses Corner Your bones. Preventing osteoporosis. To prevent your bones from becoming thin, brittle, and more breakable as you age…*Get enough calcium. Teens need 1,300 mg a day. Adults 19 to 50 need 1,000 mg; and if you’re 51 and older, get 1,200 mg every day. Along with calcium, make sure you’re getting these other bone-building nutrients as well (in food supplements): at least 400 mg of magnesium, 400 to 800 IU of vitamin D and 80 mcg a day of vitamin K.

*Get weight-bearing exercise—like walking, jogging, and weight-lifting on most days of the week. Walking and jogging help maintain the bone mass you have, while lifting weights can actually build bone. *If you smoke, quit. *Don’t go overboard on caffeinated beverages, soda pop, salt, protein, or refined/processed foods. These can deplete calcium stores. And when your body runs short on calcium, it will pull this essential mineral from the bones.

Nurses Corner Your Eyes. What you can do now to protect your sight. The two most common vision robbers in the U.S. are cataracts and age-related macular degeneration. But what you eat and how you live now may help keep your sight sharp well into your senior years:

*If you smoke, stop. Among other things, smoking wreaks havoc on blood vessels, including those in the eye. *Eat lots of brightly colored fruits and vegetables, especially dark leafy greens (e.g. spinach, collard greens, kale). They contain lutein and other antioxidants that are important for eye health. *Keep saturated fat to a minimum. *Keep your blood pressure at or below 120/80 (high blood pressure damages blood vessels, even in your eyes). *Always wear sunglasses when you’re outdoors. *Get regular eye exams. Schedule an initial exam by age 20. Get an exam every two to four years between age 40 and 60, and after 60, every one to two years. During these screening exams, the doctor will, among other things, check for signs of glaucoma, which has no early symptoms. Eye damage can usually be prevented with medication.

Nurses Corner Your brain. Depression. Are you sad or anxious? Do you feel hopeless, worthless, or helpless? Are you tired or irritable? Have you lost interest in hobbies and activities that you used to enjoy? If you answered yes to most of these questions, and these feelings have lasted more than two weeks, you may be depressed. Depression affects millions of Americans, young and old. What can you do: Talk therapy with a mental health professional and/or an antidepressant medication are two options. But if your depression is mild to moderate, you might want to try some of these self-help measures first: *Don’t blame yourself or feel guilty because you can’t “snap out of it.” *Establish regular routines. *Get some brisk exercise every day. *Eat a healthy, balanced diet that has as little refined and sugary food as possible. *Include relaxing activities in your day, such as yoga, deep breathing, massage, and soothing music. *Talk to friends, relatives, or a mental health counselor. Join a support group. * Write down your thoughts is a journal.

Nurses Corner Your Bones. Preventing osteoporosis. To prevent your bones from becoming thin, brittle, and more breakable as you age…*Get enough calcium. Teens need 1,300 mg a day. Adults 19 to 50 need 1,000 mg; and if you’re 51 and older, get 1,200 mg every day. Along with calcium, make sure you’re getting these other bone-building nutrients as well (in food or supplements): at least 400 mg of magnesium, 400 to 800 IU of vitamin D, and 80 mcg a day of vitamin K. *Get weight-bearing exercise-like walking, jogging, and weight-lifting on most days of the week. Walking and jogging help maintain the bone mass you have, while lifting weights can actually build bone. If you smoke, quit. *Don’t go overboard on caffeinated beverages, soda pop, salt, protein, or refined/processed foods. These can deplete calcium stores. And when your body runs short on calcium, it will pull this essential mineral from the bones.

Nurses Corner .YOUR EARS. Save your hearing. Loud noise can slowly-but surely-cause hearing loss. The younger you are, the more important it is to protect your ears from loud noise. That’s because once damage is done, you’ve lost that little bit of hearing forever—and hearing damage is cumulative. Avoid exposure to loud noises as much as you can. When you can’t avoid loud noise, take these precautions: *Alternate noisy activities with periods of quiet. For example, if you work in a noisy job, avoid a Friday-night concert. *Use earplugs or safety ear muffs. *Limit long periods of loud noise exposure. For example, exploding fireworks can top 130 decibels and exposure to 105 decibels for 1 hour can begin to damage your hearing. *Keep the volume down on TV’s, stereos, and headphones. *Cover your ears with your hands when you’re surprised by a sudden loud noise like a siren.

Send mail to Webmaster with questions or comments about this web site. Last modified: 10/11/07

Send mail to Webmaster with questions or comments about this web site.
Last modified: 10/11/07