Heart Healthy Choices

A healthy diet is recommended to prevent heart disease, and there is a growing consensus on what a heart-healthy diet looks like. Certain foods are being explored for their potential cardiovascular benefits. While much of the research is in the earliest stages, some of these foods may make tasty additions to your regular grocery list. 

Skin cancer is highly treatable if it is caught and treated early. You know your body best, so you are the best one to look for and notice changes. The Skin Cancer Foundation recommends you examine your skin from head-to-toe every month. Skin cancers appear in many shapes and sizes, and you are the best person to determine if something on your body is new, changing or unusual. Self-exams are a powerful way to look at yourself with the focus of saving your own life. 

While we never know how serious flu season will be, it’s always important to get an annual flu shot. With the continued risk of COVID-19, it’s even more crucial. Since the symptoms of COVID-19 and the flu are quite similar, it can be difficult to know which virus you have. What’s more, the flu shot can help prevent you from catching both viruses at the same time, which could be quite dangerous.

Over time, many patients find that they have saved a lot of medications used to treat headaches, colds, coughs and infections. This collection can grow and become dangerous if you don’t check it regularly to make sure the medicines are still needed and not expired.  The expiration date on a drug is the date a manufacture can guarantee the full potency and safety of the drug. If the expiration date has passed and you want medicine that is 100% effective, you may need to consider taking something else.

Diabetes (also called high blood sugar) can lead to eye problems that cause vision loss or blindness. Everyone with diabetes should have regular eye exams. The longer you have diabetes, the more likely you will have eye problems. By the time you notice vision problems your eyes may already be seriously damaged. Early treatment may help protect your vision. A complete exam can check for common eye problems that develop over a period of years and help treat symptoms early.