Issue 134

ISSUE 134

THIS THANKSGIVING REMEMBER TO THANK THOSE SERVING IN OUR COMMUNITIES

EDITOR IN CHIEF

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Brianna Connors

Aviana Roth

LEAD JOURNALIST

DIGITAL MEDIA DIRECTOR

Riley George

Hannah Townes

PROJECT COORDINATOR

SOCIAL MEDIA SPECIALIST

Lillian Myers

Lauren Rider

PODCAST COORDINATOR

MARKETING DIRECTOR

Justin Miller

Derek Archer

CONTRIBUTORS

Millie Wright, Yuko Tabasa, Ionuț Raicea, Gaye Newton, Louisa Emhof, Nathan Pipkin

A WORD FROM THE EDITORS Leading a healthy, well-balanced life is a challenging undertaking for many of us. New advancements in lifestyle or nutrition come to life daily, and the busy rhythm of our lives often prevents us from keeping up with what's fun and fresh.

Here at Top Doctor Magazine, we are on a mission to bring these advancements to your attention and become a source of inspiration for those who want to live their lives to the fullest. Our contributors will constantly keep you up to speed with fresh, entertaining, and reliable content, from nutrition and travel to lifestyle choices!

We hope that our handpicked ideas will guide you towards self-realization, selfimprovement, and willingness to help those around you better themselves.

- Derek & Brianna

T H A N K F R O N T L I N E

Y O U H E R O E S

TOP DOCTOR MAGAZINE

• ISSUE 134

•

Running the Marathon: A Conversation with Pediatric Psychiatrist Dr. Jennifer Goetzl

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Easy Ways to Avoid Holiday Weight Gain

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Stressed about the Holidays?

Try These Anti-Stress Techniques This Holiday Season

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Healthy & Delicious Recipe Alternatives for your Thanksgiving Meal

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Putting the Kid in Kidneys: An Interview with Dr. Ray Bignall

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Looking Beyond the Science: Caring for Underserved Communities with Dr. Imani McElroy

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3 Ways You Can Stay Active This Thanksgiving

TABLE OF CONTENTS

01

RUNNING THE MARATHON

By Adam Rauhauser Running a marathon is often used as a metaphor for endurance. This analogy might be familiar for some, yet it is ubiquitous for a reason. To succeed in a marathon, you need more than athleticism and a quick start; you need the strength to keep going even after you've covered many miles. We call this ability to push through "endurance," a character trait as useful in the medical industry as it is on the running track.

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Top Doctor Magazine / Issue 134

A Conversation with Pediatric Psychiatrist Dr. Jennifer Goetz

Helping the Vulnerable

Marathons for a Cause The physical discipline of running has become a source of tenacity for Dr. Goetz. "I started running in college," she tells us. "I don't know what spurred me to run a marathon; but this year, I was like, I'm doing it."

Running guides Dr. Goetz through the streets of Baltimore, a city she loves despite its bad reputation. "Baltimore gets a bad rap. It's actually quite beautiful; it's a really fun city, and it should get more positive attention," she says.

Though Dr. Goetz finds this work rewarding, the experience often leaves her drained, as she labors to come alongside children and their families in their time of desperate need. In addition, her patients struggle with various forms of severe behavioral issues, including serious mood disorders, psychotic disorders, and previous suicide attempts. The stakes at Johns Hopkins are high on a daily basis, something Dr. Goetz knew when she began her work there in April 2020. However, all the challenging work at Johns Hopkins and with family has only been exacerbated by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although Dr. Goetz specializes in treating children with eating disorders, her work at Johns Hopkins encompasses a much broader range of mental health issues. "I specifically work with kids and teens and their families in psychiatric crises who get admitted to the inpatient unit at Johns Hopkins," she explains.

"It's really an honor and a privilege to get to work with them during such a difficult period because I think being invited into family's lives during these times is really meaningful."

COVID's Impact on Child and Adolescent Mental Health Typically, the world of child and adolescent psychiatric care experiences a period of downtime during the summer, when the number of new cases perceptibly decreases. Healthcare professionals rely on this downtime to recover from the stresses of busier periods.

However, with the onset of COVID-19, that downtime disappeared completely, leaving Dr. Goetz to rely more heavily on the strengths she's honed through in her running.

"Our unit has been at nearly full capacity for the last 18 months. Kids have been coming in sicker than they've ever been before," she tells us.

Dr. Goetz views the pandemic's unique set of pressures as the source of the resulting mental health crises. Previous strategies that individuals, including children and adolescents, relied on to relieve the stress of life have been removed, isolating them from friends, family, and comforting daily rhythms. Stripped of their usual defense mechanisms and subjected to new stressors, people increasingly find themselves at their breaking point. "It's been really hard on our staff, who've not had a break, and who are constantly working with patients who are at a very high acuity level. It's been challenging," she tells us.

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Finding the Joy Every Day

What can be done to stem the tide of this mental health crisis? Dr. Goetz recommends identifying something that brings you joy. Making a little time each day for this source of joy can go a long way. "It could be anything. It could be taking a walk every day. It could be doing a puzzle with someone in your family," she says.

Avoiding unnecessary isolation can also help prevent mental illness for children and adolescents. While Dr. Goetz acknowledges that the health concerns associated with the pandemic often make isolation necessary, she urges parents to find sources of social activity for their children, as this is often an essential outlet. "I think the mental health repercussions of the pandemic are going to be with us for years to come," Dr. Goetz tells us. To deal with these repercussions, we must make use of available resources, including parents and friends, as well as innovations such as telehealth. The latter, Dr. Goetz warns, should not be overused as in-person counseling is often the best treatment for mental illnesses.

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Advice for Aspiring Medical Professionals Aside from her work with children, Dr. Goetz also works as an assistant professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Goetz has plenty of experience advice for those currently working to enter the medical industry. "Keep an open mind in medical school, in regards to all of the different specialties. Keep your eyes and ears open because you will learn on every rotation, no matter what you're interested in," she says. Your priority during this season of life should be identifying where you thrive. If you have a passion for children’s mental wellness, you might consider specializing in child and adolescent eating disorders, akin to Dr. Goetz.

A Parting Reminder Child psychiatry certainly requires tenacity and endurance, traits that Dr. Goetz possesses in spades.

Whether running on the streets of Baltimore or working to free a child from an eating disorder, Dr. Goetz never gives up. "It's a very hard road, right? It's rigorous. The pandemic has shown a lot of holes in our systems of care, particularly in behavioral health. But I still love what I do because I love the people I get to work with." Indeed, we all have something to learn from this diligent mentality. If you would like to read more about Dr. Goetz and her work, take a look at her profile on the Johns Hopkins website!

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An Interview with Dr. Ray Bignall Written by Yuko Tabasa

Putting the Kid in Kidneys

An Interview with Dr. Ray Bignall Dr. Ray Bignall, or Dr. Ray, as his patients would like to call him, is a board-certified Pediatric Nephrologist currently residing in Columbus, Ohio. Originally from Nashville, he received his medical degree at Meharry Medical College, then moved to fulfill his residency at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, where he stayed for seven years.

In that time, Dr. Ray was also able to complete his postdoctoral research for the National Institute of Health on kidney health disparities between adults and childcare. Now, Dr. Ray is the Director of Kidney Health Advocacy and Community Engagement in Nationwide Children’s Hospital, where he caters to kids with kidney problems and brings awareness to this often overlooked health issue.

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THE FIVE FUNCTIONS OF THE KIDNEY

When we think of the kidney’s function in our bodies, we might say that all it does is make us run for the bathroom every few hours. However, Dr. Ray says that our kidneys have many more vital roles in keeping our bodies healthy.

Take a look at the five primary functions of the kidney, according to Dr. Ray:

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Kidneys regulate your body’s fluids, which also involves the maintenance of your electrolyte balance. “This is what allows you to avoid blowing up like a balloon or shriveling up like a raisin,” Dr. Ray explains.

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Kidneys control the balance of minerals and bone components of your bone metabolism. According to Dr. Ray, bone health has a lot to do with kidney health, as the former helps regulate vital bone-building vitamins and minerals such as Vitamin D, calcium, and phosphorus.

#4

#5

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Kidneys clean your blood of toxins and waste. They filter your blood and remove all the things that don’t belong there.

Kidneys produce blood-regulating hormones, which help control your blood pressure.

Kidneys produce hormones that stimulate blood production. These hormones trigger the generation of red blood cells in your bone marrow which are then released and help circulate oxygen in our bodies.

Top Doctor Magazine / Issue 134

DR Dr. Ray wants to clarify that our kidneys do not make waste. Instead, the waste (or urine) is only a by-product of the many magnificent things our kidneys do to maintain balance in our bodies.

“Homeostasis is the medical term for it. It's your kidneys that are chiefly responsible for achieving and maintaining balance in your body,” he says.

He goes on to say that about 20% of our body’s circulating blood volume goes to our kidneys every day.

“Your kidneys are that important,” Dr. Ray emphasizes.

Taking Proper Care of Your Kidneys With all those heavy and crucial duties, it seems like our kidneys might be a bit of a high-maintenance organ. However, Dr. Ray assures us that, “Your kidneys are a lot smarter than we are, so when it comes to maintaining good kidney health, there’s not a whole lot that we need to be doing.”

Dr. Ray advises that as long as we drink our water, get plenty of rest, exercise regularly, maintain good cardiovascular health, and eat a balanced and nutritious diet, those without a family or personal history of congenital or acquired kidney disease should have nothing to worry about in terms of kidney health.

Common Causes for Kidney Disease in Children We hear of adult patients with kidney diseases all the time, but what we don’t hear of quite often is a seven-year-old child with kidney failure. Dr. Ray shares that many of the kids he treats have kidney disease as a result of genetics.

“Some kids are just born with congenital malformations of their urinary tract that result in kidney disease, chronic kidney disease, and kidney failure. Sometimes they have autoimmune conditions that result in damage to the kidney tissue itself, and that kidney tissue damage is what we nephrologists will try to treat and manage in order to preserve as much healthy kidney function for as long as possible,” he says.

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r. Ray adds that other times, children develop kidney injury due to taking required medications for another disease. One example of this is when children get kidney injury as a result of chemotherapeutic medications. He says, “These are kids with cancer who require these very nephrotoxic medicines to treat their cancer, which is of course of utmost importance for their health, but the unfortunate side effect of it is that it can sometimes result in permanent kidney damage because of the toxicity of those drugs that have to be used.”

And so, Dr. Ray often finds himself counseling his young patients and their parents on better lifestyle choices that promote kidney health, such as exercising and eating clean.

He also works closely with his colleagues from other specialties like oncology, cardiology, and infectious diseases to seek less kidney-damaging medication therapies for patients at risk of kidney injury.

Different Treatments for Kidney Disease Aside from giving doctor’s orders to children and their parents, Dr. Ray also administers a wide array of treatments (from blood pressure medications to immunosuppressant drugs) for various types of kidney diseases. However, Dr. Ray raises one alarming issue which makes him fear for his young patients, and yes, you guessed it: it’s the coronavirus.

“Not only are many of my patients, children, who [may or may not be] authorized to receive the vaccine based on their age, but many of those children are also immunosuppressed because they either have a kidney transplant and require immunosuppressant medications to prevent rejection of their kidney.

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r some have an autoimmune condition that requires immunosuppressant medications to prevent ongoing damage to their kidney,” Dr. Ray explains. That’s why he has been taking extra steps to ensure that all his patients are getting the proper treatment and are being carefully protected from COVID-19 exposure. For patients who require therapy for end stage kidney disease, Dr. Ray says that dialysis and kidney transplantation are the only two treatments.

Dialysis is essentially a process wherein a machine replaces the function of your kidney and is used when a person’s kidney has permanently failed or when they are significantly injured. However, dialysis is not a long-term solution for patients with kidney failure. When Dr. Ray’s patients are far past the point of kidney recovery, a kidney transplant becomes the only treatment option left.

Although kidney transplants are complex, Dr. Ray describes them as an extraordinary circumstance. “It's really remarkable to think that from either a loved one or sometimes just an altruistic stranger -- our patients will be given the gift of life in the form of an organ for transplant. And when a living donor is not available, someone's posthumous gift through the donation of their organs allows our patients to go on living, allows that kidney to go on living in someone else, which is also just kind of an incredibly remarkable thing to think about.”

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r. Ray shares that one of the most heartwarming parts of his job is when he gets to call a family and tell them their kid will receive a kidney transplant.

“Just hearing the joy in that family's voice, who's probably been dealing with a child with kidney failure, and maybe on dialysis for quite some time. To be able to get that news is really exciting,” he says.

It’s crystal clear to us here at Top Doctor Magazine that Dr. Ray’s passion for helping families is not waning anytime soon. When asked what his future looks like, Dr. Ray says that he will continue advocating for child health and kidney health equity in communities. “And if someone were to tell me at the end of my career, ‘Ray, you’ve done amazing work in advocating for kids.

You’re an excellent pediatric nephrologist,’ I think that would be awesome,” he shared.

Putting the “Kid” in “Kidneys”

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health

EASY WAYS TO AVOID HOLIDAY WEIGHT GAIN Written by Louisa Emhof

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olidays are filled with family, friends, cheer, and good food. It is a time to gather with loved ones and enjoy fun and fellowship. However, holidays can also be stressful. As you head into the holiday season, thinking about all of the delicious foods that you will make and eat becomes a common stressor.

Although this is a joyous time for most people, some of us can get a little anxious about putting on a few pounds of that classic holiday weight gain. With all the good food around, it is easy to overeat and end up regretting it later. But don't worry, holiday weight gain is totally manageable and even avoidable! Here are some simple lifestyle changes that you can make to help manage that dreaded holiday weight gain.

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f you want to maintain a healthy weight all year, don't forget to look into intuitive eating. This lifestyle choice can help you avoid holiday weight gain and maintain a healthy body and mind.

Intuitive eating focuses on allowing your body to communicate its needs. Eating when you are hungry and stopping when you are full are some of the basics of intuitive eating.

There are significant psychological and physical benefits to intuitive eating, including a lower BMI (body mass index) and a healthier relationship with food. Studies have shown that intuitive eating effectively maintains weight levels, making it an effective approach to avoiding holiday weight gain. As you navigate the stress of avoiding holiday weight gain, slow down and pay attention to what your body says. Eating what you want in moderation is a great way to maintain a healthy body and mind and stay away from holiday weight gain.

Food Recommendations We talked above about some lifestyle changes that you can implement to help circumvent holiday weight gain. However, there are also some great options of new foods or even classic favorites that you can try out this holiday. One great way to keep holiday weight gain in check is to eat fiber-rich, satiating foods. These will not only keep you satisfied longer but will also slow down your body's absorption of calories.

Fruits, veggies, and whole grains are the best way to ensure you're getting enough fiber to maintain satiety and keep off holiday weight gain.

Here are some incredible holiday dishes featuring vegetables curated by Martha Stewart. These tantalizing dishes will allow you to enjoy delicious food during the festivities while getting around holiday weight gain. Thankfully, fruit pies are already a staple of the holiday season.

You can knock out getting your fiber through fruits with recipes like this tasty apple pie. Since you can manage holiday weight gain by getting your holiday staples and eating healthy ingredients, add this delicious cornbread stuffing to your holiday cooking repertoire.

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here are plenty of nutritious holiday favorite alternatives to choose from if you still want to evade holiday weight gain. Having some classic alternatives with lower calories may reduce your stress levels this holiday season while still ensuring that you get to eat all of your holiday favorites.

A Parting Reminder Our Top Doctor Magazine team hopes you have found this guide to navigating holiday weight gain helpful. Remember that an essential aspect of a healthy lifestyle includes your attitude and perspective towards food, which includes how you approach holiday weight gain. Although this can be a stressful subject, we hope that you have learned some valuable concepts and gotten some fun new recipes to try out this holiday season. If you have specific health concerns regarding your weight, we encourage you to check out our Lifestyle publication!

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Caring for Underserved Communities with Dr. Imani McElroy Written by Gaye Newton

LOOKING BEYOND THE SCIENCE: CARING FOR UNDERSERVED COMMUNITIES WITH DR. IMANI MCELROY Written by Gaye Newton

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eople's health and well-being are heavily influenced by the communities in which they live. Ideally, people have ample access to medical services and the resources to pay for them. However, this is not always the case for underserved communities.

According to the Health Resources & Services Administration, numerous communities have a shortage of doctors, a high rate of poverty and infant mortality, and a high population of older adults.

Therefore, when doctors bring their expertise and passion to these areas, they heal not only individual patients but also entire communities.

One doctor with a passion for serving these communities is Dr. Imani McElroy, MD, MPH, a surgical resident at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Her passion began in childhood. "My mom ran a temporary placement shelter for foster youth. I wanted to continue that tradition," she says.

After earning an undergraduate degree from the University of California at Irvine, she earned her MD from the Charles R. Drew/UCLA Medical Education Program, which she calls "life-changing. Its mission is to serve and uplift underserved communities. That was directly aligned with my life mission." She received her MPH from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, which also focused on public policy and communities' access to healthcare. At Massachusetts General Hospital, "They found ways to create opportunities that support me and my career goals," Dr. McElroy shares.

In the United States, minority groups often suffer higher rates of illness, poor outcomes, and death. Studies show differences in treatment and availability of services for minority and low socioeconomic status populations. Dr. McElroy understands the need for change and is dedicated to finding solutions. She says,

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INEQUALITIES & DISCRIMINATION IN MEDICINE We need to be truthful about history—how this country, and medicine as a whole, has not always been the beacon of pride that it should be.We need to rectify that. We have to acknowledge and own our past and truly move forward.

To that end, the American Medical Association has created guidelines to address discrimination and systemic racism in the medical field.

Also, the federally funded National Health Service Corp gives scholarships to students in exchange for providing medical care in underserved communities. This program has provided 63,000 healthcare professionals to communities across the United States. These are two examples of essential steps, but there is much more to be done.

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Research & Insight

r. McElroy has gained enough experience through her education and residency to reach her goals. "I did a study that looked at readmission work across the board. I assessed readmissions as a possible way to look at whether or not surgical populations were being well served. It was a great way to get a better understanding of how to do really directed research towards underserved communities," she says.

Another important experience is her role as the Massachusetts General Physicians Organization Administrative Fellow.

"Massachusetts General clearly had looked beyond my application and looked to see what I was interested in. I sit in with the hospital administration, and I really get an understanding of how hospitals are, how our institution is run, and how we come to the policy decisions that we make. We’re figuring out how to not only be a leading institution in healthcare, but also to really push the paradigm and look at how we practice. And so this has been an invaluable experience to me and getting to work with different types of doctors," she explained.

LOOKING FORWARD Dr. McElroy believes that the work cannot stop there. The next step is to use that research to speak out, act, and effect change.

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She says, "I've been able to not only do research that pushes practice paradigms but I've also been supported in my efforts to speak up about inequalities in discrimination within medicine."

Participating in local events and being visible in the community is a great way to connect doctors and underserved populations. Events such as toy drives and fundraisers bring much-needed help and build relationships.

When Dr. McElroy was class president at her university, she organized multiple events for local communities. She did food drives for children at a homeless shelter, held numerous health fairs, and conducted community awareness events every year.

Five Years from Now

Dr. McElroy recognizes her good fortune in having a platform that empowers her to follow her passion for resolving medical inequality."It’s about being a part of and working for the community, really pushing for equity in health disparities, and creating change. I am forever grateful to be able to be at a place where the faculty, staff, and administrators are all supportive of those goals. They want to be a part of that change," she says.

We are confident that Dr. McElroy will continue to be a clear voice in the journey toward equity in currently underserved communities. For those who may be following a similar career path, Dr. McElroy offers this valuable advice...

In as much as we know that there is unfair treatment when it comes to race, what do the next five years have in store for doctors seeking to address medical inequality? Dr. McElroy optimistically states, "I think there's definitely a new understanding of the importance of looking beyond the science of our patients—understanding why they present with disparities and creating interventions. A more diverse workforce will understand that our system right now is not equal and that we have a lot of work to do.

They will be willing to do that work."

LOOKING FORWARD

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"Be kind to yourself. This journey is hard but worth it.

Give yourself grace; you are human. Build a support network and reach out for help. This journey is not meant to be done alone."

Dr. McElroy

Stressed About the Holidays?

Try These Anti-Stress Techniques This Holiday Season

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By Adam Rauhauser

s the air becomes crisp and the leaves change color, the delicious scents of apple cider, and pumpkin spice once again fill the air. The beginning of the holiday season delights the senses and reminds us that many weeks of cooking, hosting, and shopping are just around the corner. Selfcare should not be neglected while you prepare for this wonderful time of celebration and friends.

For many, the holidays can be a challenging time of year. 80% of people report moderate to severe stress by the time New Year’s Day finally arrives. Contrary to expectation, research indicates that people find the season of good cheer as stressful as asking for a raise!

Today, we will explore the best strategies for mitigating this seasonal anxiety. As you consider potential strategies, always remember that you should seek help if you need it. If the symptoms you experience do not change or worsen, consider reaching out to a psychologist or personal counselor.

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‘Tis the Season?

Some Reasons Why Holidays Are Stressful When considering the sources of seasonal pressure, remember that a certain amount of stress is an inevitable part of life. Good mental health is not about eliminating stress; rather, it’s about learning to respond in a healthy way.

Scientists think a certain amount of stress actually helps make our lives fulfilling.

With this in mind, it’s evident that the holidays involve many taxing activities such as hosting guests, cooking meals, shopping for presents, and cleaning your living space will likely pop up on your to-do list more often than usual.

Unfortunately, the marketing surrounding holidays does little to mitigate this workload, contributing to the tension by creating an artificial sense of built-up anticipation. Add to that the ever-present social challenge of balancing between excessive and insufficient togetherness with friends and family, and you’ve got one tricky time of year.

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Relaxation Responses: Cultivating Mindfulness According to Dr. Herbert Benson, a Harvard Medical School cardiologist, the body’s initial response to stress is physicalthe heart rate and breathing increase, and the muscles tighten. These physical responses initially developed as a survival mechanism.

Dr. Benson recommends developing a “relaxation response” mechanism to deactivate natural stress. Learning a relaxation response equips you to start confronting your stress from the comfort of your own home.

The most common relaxation response discipline is breath focusing. You attempt to empty your mind of distracting, upsetting thoughts by fixating on long, slow, deep breaths. Breath focusing functions as a cornerstone for several other relaxation response disciplines, such as mindfulness meditation, which trains the mind to contemplate presentness rather than the past or the future, and yoga, which challenges the body’s flexibility to calm the mind.

It’s All about Outlook Psychiatrist Dan Siegel says that successfully fighting back stress boils down to “priming” your brain for positive responses throughout the day. Therefore, set your intention on enjoying the holidays as much as possible, and take a moment to notice when things are going well. Fred Bryant, a researcher at Loyola, found that dwelling on a positive emotion for just 15 to 30 seconds increases neural connections and makes a lasting positive memory possible.

When things go wrong, take a moment to acknowledge your feelings and their causes - whatever those may be. Think of this as “emotionally taking stock.” If you’re still upset about the situation, write it down.

Start with what you’re grateful for.

However, only afterward make a list of the sources of your stress.

Healthy Body, Healthy Mind Now that we understand how a natural defense mechanism intensifies stress responses, it should come as no surprise that biological causes also contribute to holiday stress. Consider tweaking your lifestyle a bit as you attempt to decrease seasonal stress. To begin, take stock of your habits. Reduce your caffeine intake if you find yourself consuming an excess of five cups of coffee per day, as high doses of this energizing chemical produce jitters and anxiety. Exercise regularly to counteract stress hormones in your brain with positive endorphins, and eat a healthy snack before scenarios where you might be tempted to gorge yourself on junk food. Top this regimen off with a dietary supplement or two - lemon balm and kava kava possess beneficial antianxiety properties - and you’ll be feeling better in no time!

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Ways You Can Stay Active This Thanksgiving

Written by Riley George Holidays make us lazy especially once we stuff down those heavy meals consisting of turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie... Let’s stop right there before you get too hungry! The problem is that these foods may hold the power to halt your healthy lifestyle of activity. So why not make a new tradition of saying things you’re thankful for at dinner then doing something active with your group?

You may even end up with something new to be thankful for- fitness!

Let’s look at some ways to get your group into this new tradition of activity during Thanksgiving celebrations.

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Take a walk together Set a time after dinner to go on a group walk! Enjoy the fall weather and the company of your family as you take a stroll after dinner. According to the Better Health Channel, walks result in an increase in cardiovascular and pulmonary fitness, reduce your risks of heart diseases and strokes, promote stronger bones and balance, and reduce body fat. Adding a walk into your Thanksgiving activities can create a healthy environment with your family and a healthier body for yourself!

Active Games for the Group Games can be made active for the whole family to move around to get the blood pumping. Large gatherings can play games like flag football or other sports. Moving your body around on a holiday when eating is the main event has many benefits for your health and well-being. Games are a fun, competitive, and interactive way to get the group moving around this Thanksgiving.

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Help Clear the Table After Supper Something as simple as cleaning up after dinner can be both beneficial to your health and make for a happy host! Carrying heavy items and walking across the kitchen a few times can make for some calorie burning time without much effort. This is yet another simple way to move your body during Thanksgiving.

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& ACTIVE

HEALTHY

These are just three easy ways to keep your body healthy and active this Thanksgiving. There are so many other opportunities to explore during the holidays to keep your body active while still having that quality time together.

Whatever your Thanksgiving looks like, keep in mind that your health is vital to pay attention to during the holidays that are full of rich foods and sitting for long periods of time. Stay healthy and happy this Thanksgiving!

Healthy & Delicious Recipe Alternatives for Your Thanksgiving Meal Written by Riley George

Thanksgiving is full of rich foods and heavy calories. This year try focusing on healthy alternatives and recipes that make your body happy and your mouth satisfied! The following recipes are for you to try this Thanksgiving feast that can save you on the fats and calories that are normally in Thanksgiving dishes.

Overeating and gorging on foods high in calories and fats is a typical task during Thanksgiving meals. But is your stomach happy afterward? Odds are, you have experienced overeating at Thanksgiving in the past and your stomach is not happy in the time that follows the meal. Dividing your plate into three sections can help with portion control. One large section is for vegetables, one medium section is for protein, and one small one is for carbs. When you begin eating your sections, eat the vegetables first, that way you may be filled with nutritional foods first and then follow with the other sections.

As you go to your Thanksgiving activities, remember that life is all about balance. One piece of pumpkin pie is not going to ruin your health, and one spoonful of gravy is not going to kill you. Holidays should be enjoyed and are not meant to be pressured by calorie deficits or crazy health dieting.

Enjoy yourself and the foods you eat but always remember to listen to your body! If your stomach is full, stop eating, and if certain foods are causing sickness, pause for a bit to let your stomach digest. If you listen to these tips, you are sure to have a happy and healthy Thanksgiving!

See our recipes on the next pages for some healthier alternatives to popular Thanksgiving dishes!

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Savory Roasted Sweet Potatoes Ingredients 2lbs Sweet Potatoes 2 tbs Olive Oil 1 tsp Brown Sugar 1 tbs Cinnamon 1 tbs Cumin Salt to taste Black pepper

Directions Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Wash and peel sweet potatoes and then dry them with a towel.

Dice sweet potatoes into 2 inch cubes.

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread onto baking sheet, drizzle with 2 teaspoons of olive oil, and sprinkle with garlic powder, salt, and black pepper.

Toss to coat.

Bake at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until crisped, flipping once halfway through to make sure that both sides get crispy. Turn broiler on low for 60 seconds at the end if needed to get crispy.

Healthy Oatmeal

PUMPKIN

Muffins

Ingredients ▢ ½ cup oat flour ▢ 1 cups all-purpose flour ▢ 1 teaspoon baking soda ▢ 1/2 teaspoon baking powder ▢ 1/2 teaspoon salt ▢ 2 teaspoons cinnamon ▢ ½ teaspoon allspice ▢ 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger ▢ 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg ▢ 2 large eggs ▢ ½ cup coconut sugar ▢ ½ cup brown sugar ▢ 1/4 cup non dairy milk ▢ 1 1/4 cup pumpkin puree ▢ 1/4 cup vegetable oil ▢ 2 teaspoon vanilla extract

PUMPKIN

Instructions 1. Preheat oven to 425F 2. Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and spices to a large bowl then whisk together and mix thoroughly.

3. In a separate bowl add the oil, milk, eggs, vanilla, and sugars together and then whisk together. Add in the pumpkin puree and mix once more until smooth.

4. Pour the wet into the dry and mix until just combined. (Don't over mix your batter) 5. Transfer the batter to your lined muffin tin filling each paper about 3/4 the way up.

6. Bake at 425F for 5 minutes then reduce temperature to 350 and bake an additional 15-20 min or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

MUFFINS