Personal Space for the Individual Member
We're working on "Personal Space," an area of the Alliance Web site that is dedicated to wellness for physicians and medical families. We'll provide you with stories and information about how to stay healthy -- both physically and emotionally -- statistics, the latest resources available, advice on personal health and wellness, work/life balance and updates on what the AMA is doing on the topic.
AMA Alliance Virtual Book Club
Check out the new Virtual Book Club for those dedicated readers. Read our list of recommendations, reviews by Alliance members or join the discussion and review a book.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American society has become "obesogenic," characterized by environments that promote increased food intake, nonhealthful foods, and physical inactivity. Policy and environmental change initiatives that make healthy choices in nutrition and physical activity available, affordable, and easy will likely prove most effective in combating obesity.
The Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity (DNPAO) is working to reduce obesity and obesity-related conditions through state programs, technical assistance and training, leadership, surveillance and research, intervention development and evaluation, translation of practice-based evidence and research findings, and partnership development.
Click below for related topics:
Overweight and Obesity
- Defining Overweight and Obesity
- Causes and Consequences
- Data and Statistics
- Childhood Overweight and Obesity
- Recommended Community Strategies and Measurements to Prevent Obesity in the United States.
- Surgeon General's Vision for a Healthy and Fit Nation 2010, including fact sheets and more.
- The Surgeon General's Call to Action to Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity, 2001.
Other Overweight and Obesity Topics
Weight of the Nation Conference Materials
On July 27-29, 2009, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity, hosted its inaugural conference on obesity prevention and control, Weight of the Nation, in Washington, D.C. Weight of the Nation provided a forum to highlight progress in the prevention and control of obesity through policy and environmental strategies framed around four intervention settings: community, medical care, school, and workplace.
http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/index.html?s_cid=govD_dnpao_029
Tips from Medical Economics magazine
Click on the links below for some great financial and tax planning tips for physician families, as well as a good article about adopting electronic health records from the perspectives of 10 practice-all from the latest issue of Medical Economics magazine-the leading business resource for office-based physicians, providing the expert advice and shared experiences doctors need to successfully meet today's challenges in practice management, patient relations, malpractice, electronic health records (EMR / EHR), career development, and personal finance.
10 EHR lessons from 10 practices
http://www.modernmedicine.com/modernmedicine/Modern+Medicine+Now/10-EHR-lessons-from-10-practices/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/655757?contextCategoryId=40158
How to choose the 'right' electronic medical record system
http://www.modernmedicine.com/modernmedicine/Modern+Medicine+Now/How-to-choose-the-right-electronic-medical-record-/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/655762?contextCategoryId=40158
Have a strategy for the ICD-10 transition
http://www.modernmedicine.com/modernmedicine/Modern+Medicine+Now/Have-a-strategy-for-the-ICD-10-transition/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/652949?contextCategoryId=40158
How to run a cash-only practice and thrive
http://www.modernmedicine.com/modernmedicine/Modern+Medicine+Now/How-to-run-a-cash-only-practice-and-thrive/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/652945?contextCategoryId=40158
Keep Those Resolutions All Year Long
The start of a new year often means the start of new habits. Eating healthier food and becoming more physically active is often on the top of many people's list, but it's easy for these new expectations to become overwhelming. Set realistic goals for yourself this year! A healthy diet and regular physical activity can easily be achieved by making some of these easy, conscious decisions:
Eat breakfast every day. When you don't eat breakfast, you are likely to make up for the calories you saved by eating more later on in the day. Choose a quick, healthy breakfast option such as yogurt with fruit or toast with sliced banana and a bit of peanut butter. Many people who maintain long-term weight loss eat breakfast daily.
Drink water. Make water more appealing by keeping it cold in the fridge or adding a slice of fruit for flavor. Choosing water keeps you from drinking something else that may be loaded with calories and sugar. People who drink sugar-sweetened beverages tend to consume more calories.
Eat smaller food portions. When eating out, save some of your meal and take it home to make another meal or split one meal between two people. At home, try putting only the amount you want to eat in a small bowl and don't go back for more. People eat more when confronted with larger portion sizes. For more, see How to Avoid Portion Size Pitfalls to Help Manage Your Weight.
Maintain your physical activity routine. Regular physical activity is an important part of maintaining weight loss. Keep up your good habits before, during, and after the New Year. If you need extra encouragement, be physically active with a friend or relative or start an activity that may have always interested you, such as gardening or bicycling. For more, see Physical Activity for a Healthy Weight.
Prepare a healthy lunch at home and take it to work. Taking your lunch to work helps you avoid last-minute lunch choices, which often result in selecting high-fat and high-calorie options. Think about healthy lunches before your next trip to the grocery store, and stock up on healthy food items so that making your lunch will be easy.
Be Active Your Way Quiz
Click here to take the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service's Be Active Your Way quiz. This easy and fun widget can even be added to your web site or blog. Add the quiz to your iPhone by navigating to the healthfinder.gov Web site on your iPhone and select "Add to Home Screen."
The AMA Prevention and Healthy Lifestyles department announces its latest resource for physicians and other health care providers. The new Healthy Lifestyles e-Letter provides information and tools that can assist in offering patients counseling on the four key lifestyle behaviors and their health consequences:
- Poor diet
- Physical inactivity
- Tobacco use
- Excessive or risky use of alcohol
In addition to the e-letter, clinicians can access other programs designed to promote healthy lifestyles and public health at www.ama-assn.org/go/publichealth. These include AMA Healthier Life StepsTM, Educating Physicians on Controversies and Challenges in Health (EPoCH), and Secondhand Smoke Initiative.
Read the first issue and subscribe.
Healthy Connections - Making Sense Out of Health Headlines
Making Sense Out of Health Headlines - Summer Connections 2009
The stories are ubiquitous. Whenever the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA or another peer-reviewed medical journal publishes the results of a study, no matter how small or obscure, consumers and health professionals alike are bombarded by media reports with "sexy" headlines that interpret (or misinterpret) the results. How can physician families and members of the public make sense of often contradictory study results? Click here to read more...
Obesity Campaign with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
From_the_AMA_Alliance_and_Centers_for_Disease_Control - E-Connection August/September 2009
Fast Food Facts
For many people eating on the go is a great alternative for a busy lifestyle. But these types of foods often are high in calories, served in larger portions, full of flavor but low in nutritional value...Click here to read more...
Environmental Factors Contribute to Obesity Prevalence Among Low-Income Children
A report from the CDC found that the prevalence of obesity among low-income children is widespread due environmental, social and educational factors. Click here to read more...
Proximity of Fast Food Restaurants and Adolescent Obesity
For adolescents and teens, healthy eating is often determined by two factors -- convenience and proximity. Click here to read more...
Finding a Balance
More than one third of U.S. adults are obese. Weight gain occurs when you consume more calories than your body uses. Reaching and maintaining a healthy weight will help you prevent and control many diseases and conditions. The key is FINDING A BALANCE in your lifestyle that includes healthy eating and regular physical activity.
CDC-TV has just released a new video in its "Health Matters" series "Finding a Balance" providing expert perspectives on caloric or "energy" balance and personal stories of how individuals have made changes in their lives to achieve this balance. The video builds upon resources available from CDC'S Healthy Weight Website. Click here to watch or download the video.
Quick Links:
Get Active, Healthy and Happy!
Make a goal with a friend to achieve the new Physical Activity Guidelines! Visit CDC's Physical Activity for Everyone for details including guidelines for adults, children and older adults.
CDC's Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity
Visit the CDC's Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity which is working to reduce obesity and obesity-related diseases with resources for health professionals and everyone.
CDC Information for Family Health
Check out the latest CDC information for family health. You can add the "Five Minutes or Less Health Widget" to any Web site, so you and your visitors can learn how to stay safe and healthy in five minutes or less. The widget is updated with a new five-minute tip each week. Add This Widget to Your Website.
AMA Toolkit for Physician Health
Check back for the new "Physicians' Health Guide," now being created. In the meantime, check out AMA's Healthier Life Steps toolkit at www.ama-assn.org/go/healthierlifesteps. Physicians will be eligible to receive CME credit for reading the Health Guide and completing an online post-test and evaluation
Web MD
A popular well-designed site with general information about Health Conditions (A -Z), Drugs and Supplements, Living Better, Healthy Eating and Diet, Parenting and Pregnancy, and Mental Health, plus an inter-active symptom checker, message boards, RSS Feeds and plenty of personal health assessment tools.
http://www.webmd.com/
Women's Health
Women's Health: Gender-Based Medicine - Spring Connections 2009
Most people know what makes a man and woman different, whether they use the
explanation of reproductive organs or X and Y chromosomes, the reasoning is pretty clear-cut. But the medical differences that exist between the two sexes have been somewhat blurred for centuries. It is only in the last 20 years or so that there has been major efforts put forward on behalf of research and medical discoveries relating to diseases, illnesses and symptoms and how they affect each sex differently. Click here to read more...
Plus...
Visit CDC's Women Health Web site for information about women's health. Topic areas include Science and Research, Health and Wellness, Programs and Partnerships and Conferences and Events.
www.cdc.gov/women
CDC's Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity (DNPAO)
Take a look at DNPAO's Web site. It contains a wealth of information on achieving a healthy weight, nutrition, physical activity and the rise of overweight and obesity in America.
http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpao/index.html
Emotional Health
The 21st Century Medical Family
An excerpt from "21st. Century Medical Families: Engaged, Enlightened, and Empowered," the popular presentation from Alliance Immediate Past President Sandi Frost.
Healthy Connections - Springs Connections 2009
The Sandwich Generation
The Sandwich Generation: Caught in Between - Spring Connections 2009
You finally find the missing shoe strategically hidden under your kid's backpack as you rush him to school. After dropping him and his siblings off, you drive over to your mother's place to check on her and pay some of her bills and get a little yard work done. Then you head to your local Alliance meeting to plan next weekend's fundraiser. Back to school to pick up the kids and drive them to karate and soccer. You finally head home to have the kids help stuff fundraiser invitations and call the in-laws to check on them. Click here to read more...
Financial Fitness
Check back to view tools and advice on prevailing financially in these lean economic times.
We're working on this section of the site to make it useful and interesting to you, so check back often to see what we come up with, or email us now and tell us what you would like to see: amaa@ama-assn.org.
