Health News

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Running with purpose

Participants in the City-to-City 5k and One Mile Fun Walk On your mark, get set, go! The runners were ready, the onlookers were excited, and the race was on. The Polk Training Center held its annual City-to-City 5K race and One Mile Fun Walk on Saturday, February 18. With check-in and registration starting at 7:15…
Eating wisely at work

Tips for increasing healthy food options Your work environment may be laden with temptation in the lunchroom and break room. Frequent office birthday parties, business lunches at swank restaurants, or staff meetings sweetened by coffee and donuts, can be peril for your waistline. But there are ways to eat wisely. “You’ve got to plan,” advises…
The holistic approach to weight loss

A method that gives hope Although most of us are aware that being overweight contributes to chronic diseases, we may also discover that diets do not work. Dieting can even exacerbate weight issues by slowing thyroid and metabolic function, leading to weight gain, or may make us prone to nutritional deficiencies that cause other unwanted…

Editor’s Dose: Tips for minimizing back-to-school stress

IF YOU ARE LIKE ME, then come early July you were already thinking about preparations for the new school year. Parents and children in the community this year are getting ready extra early because Polk County public schools moved up their calendar by one week — day one of school is August 15.
Making the choice to breastfeed

THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH in Polk County (DOH-Polk) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) recognize August as Breastfeeding Awareness Month. This is a wonderful time of year to promote breastfeeding as a vital health activity and discuss the health benefits breastfeeding provides. Although every woman has their own…
Editor’s Dose: Keeping kids’ bodies and minds active this summer

WHEN I FIRST had the twins, my mom would say, “Have a schedule for them, or they’ll have a schedule for you.” Basically, she was cautioning that I’d better keep those little minds and bodies active, or chaos would inevitably ensue. Being a mother of eight children, I think she was speaking from personal experience.…