HOLIDAY EATING Mindful Eating for the Holidays

Mindful Eating for the Holidays

Written by Jennifer Yoon RDN, LDN, IBCLC

The Holiday Eating Season is upon us, and with cele-

brations, food, and treats continually at hand, maintaining healthy eating habits can be very difficult. Mindful Eating techniques are based on listening to your body, eating when hungry, enjoying food, and stopping when satisfied. Mindful Eating can help you enjoy the holidays while maintaining healthy habits. • Enjoy the special treats you really want. Really enjoy them. Eat them slowly and without distraction. And when you are satisfied, stop. Pass on treats that you can have any time of year. • Avoid going to events and gatherings hungry. Don’t skip meals. Eat small, light meals prior such as fruit, yogurt, a small salad, veggies and hummus, or some soup. • Stand away from the food tables at parties and family gatherings. • Take a small portion of favorite dishes. Go back for another small portion if needed. • Holiday meals are often heavy on high calorie starchy foods. Roasted vegetables or a green salad loaded with veggies are healthy additions to the holiday table and are much lower in calories. • Eat slowly and drink water throughout the meal. • Avoid the misery of feeling overly full. Stop eating when you are satisfied. • Take a container with you to take some favorite foods home to enjoy later. • Adults should use alcohol in moderation. Alcohol calories add up fast, and can derail normal hunger and satiety signals resulting in over indulging. • Avoid having tempting treats easily accessible. Store away or freeze sweets received as gifts. Pull out small amounts as needed to take to gatherings or enjoy for months to come. • If treats and goodies are in abundance around the office, choose a small portion of a favorite to have for dessert. • Have a few easy meals on hand for busy nights. A frozen pan of pasta or containers of soup that can be reheated in a pinch can prevent unhealthy fast food runs. If take out is necessary, avoid fried foods. Choose establishments that offer salad, whole grains, vegetables, and baked or grilled proteins.

Physical activity is an important part of a healthy lifestyle and part of Mindful Eating practices. Use these tips to achieve or maintain beneficial mind and body movement through the holidays. • Prioritize your exercise routine during holiday busyness for a feeling of health and well-being. • Be active with family during holiday gatherings. Take a walk, play tag, throw a Frisbee, organize a family football game. • Take the emphasis off of the food. Plan a craft, look at family photo albums, play a card game or charades. • Build new habits. Manage the stress and busy-ness of the holidays without using food. Try meditation, breathing exercises, rest, or exercise to cope with stress.

Restrictive diets and regimented eating will lead to stress, frustration, and feelings of failure- especially over the holidays. Learn to listen to your hunger, honor your food desires without over indulging, and stop when satisfied. Move your body regularly and get adequate rest. Be well this holiday season.

Flu Vaccine in Kids — 2020/2021

Written by Divna Djokic, MD – Bloomfield Office

This year more than ever, medical providers,

American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are recommending for all people older than 6 months of age to get vaccinated against flu.

Incidence of Covid-19 disease, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), is on the rise all over the world. Doctors and public health experts expect that coinfection with influenza virus might result in more severe and complicated cases from either virus. The Influenza virus is a common virus in cold months, with the highest incidence from November through March each year in the Northern Hemisphere. Symptoms of the flu may vary from mild, self-limiting cold symptoms, to several days of high fever, cough, and severe body aches. Some people experience unfortunate complications like pneumonia (directly from the flu virus or secondary to bacterial superinfection), inflammation of the heart (myocarditis), brain (encephalitis) or muscle (myositis, rhabdomyolysis), multi-organ failure (respiratory or kidney failure) and death. Young children and patients with chronic medical conditions are especially at risk of having complications with flu disease. Below is a graph from the CDC with yearly pediatric deaths from flu complications from the past three seasons. The best way to reduce the risk of flu infection is to get the flu vaccine. The vaccine can lessen symptoms of flu even when a vaccinated person gets sick. Getting the vaccine and preventing influenza illness is important in healthy individuals since it could be the only way to protect loved ones who are at risk for severe infections but can’t get a vaccine, like infants younger than 6 months of age. Children with flu infections are highly contagious and can easily transmit the virus to other family members who could get sick and develop unpredictable complications. Typical flu symptoms are bad enough without complications: high fever, headaches and body aches, and cough forcing both patient and caregiver to stay at home, unable to go to school or work

More than any other vaccine, adults often hesitate on getting flu vaccines for themselves or their children. The reasons for hesitance are multifactorial, even as every parent wants the best for their children. Some parents worry about side effects, of which injection site pain and low-grade fever are most common and of short duration.

Some parents worry about effectiveness which depends on predicting which flu type will be circulating. Even if there is a mismatch, illness with influenza is usually milder in a vaccinated person. There is a common misconception held by some parents that the flu vaccine can actually cause the flu. In fact, injectable flu vaccines contain viral particles, not the whole virus, that stimulate the immune system to produce antibodies that will protect us. Live attenuated flu vaccine contain virus that was inactivated, so it’s still able to stimulate an immune response without producing flu symptoms.

In my practice, I’ve had parents report that the flu vaccine makes them sick with the flu. But multiple studies have shown that those symptoms are likely due to being infected with the flu virus prior to getting flu vaccine. Because it takes 1-2 weeks to produce protective antibodies after the flu vaccine, it is recommended to start giving it prior to start of the flu season, before the virus begins to circulate in the community.

Quadrivalent influenza vaccines are currently recommended for the coming 2020-2021 flu season. The composition of the vaccines for this year was updated to include new A and B strains of influenza: A(H1N1)pdm09, A(H3N2) and B/Victoria. The B/Yamagata strain is unchanged from last season. There are several inactivated quadrivalent influenza vaccines (IIV4) and one live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV4) that can be used for vaccination in children. The CDC and the AAP have no preference of one over another as long as there are no contraindications.

Please schedule an appointment with your medical provider as soon as possible to discuss different flu vaccine options and the best flu vaccine for you and your family.

Now that Pediatric Alliance is part of Allegheny Health Network, we’re moving from Patient Portal to MyChart.

MyChart is a secure online platform that gives you a quick and easy way to connect with our office: • Book appointments • View test results • Communicate with our care team • Request prescription refills • Review your child’s health history • Pay bills and view statements Follow these steps to register for MyChart now: 1. Visit mychart.ahn.org and click “Sign Up Now.” 2. On the next screen, under “No activation code?” click “Sign Up Online” and f ollow the onscreen prompts. 3. Once you’re logged in, click “Profile” in the top right and then “My Family Access.” 4. Based on your child’s age, follow the instructions to get proxy access.