Medical Version of Slow Food Movement

Those of us accustomed to Slow Food know that cooking, nutrition, and eating are best as intentional, mindful, and substantive activities.? We believe the process is as important as the product, and avoid fast food or processed foods, for the benefits to our bodies and the environment.? A similar concept is growing in the medical community:? a response to industrialized, hyper-technological and often unnecessary medical care that drives up costs in addition to leaving patient and physician frazzled and unsatisfied.

One advocate of slow medicine, Victoria Sweet, believes in the value of low-tech, high-touch medical care, incorporating the medieval view of the human body as a garden that needs tending, not as a machine that needs fixing.? With this in mind, as with the Slow Food movement, Slow Medicine involves a lifestyle change, releasing habits that are destructive to health and well-being.? Read more about the doctors involved here.

What Causes Rising Incidents of Strokes in Pregnant Women?

Dr Lisa Leffert, chief of obstetric anesthesia at Massachusetts General Hospital, in her recent report states that pregnancy-related strokes are “rare and deadly and increasing.”? Due to increasing obesity and inactivity among women of childbearing age, both of which contribute to hypertension, instances of stroke are rising.? The new study, published in the journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, documented a 61.5 percent increase from the mid-1990s to 2010-2011, of strokes in women during pregnancy or after childbirth.? Hypertension is the number one risk factor in strokes, and is preventable.? Women who are thinking about getting pregnant should be counseled on risk factors and health practices to prevent the occurrence of a stroke.? To read more about causes and concerns, click here.

Non-Profits Struggle to Fill in the Gap

A year ago, in November 2013, the 2009 Recovery Act’s temporary boost to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) ended, resulting in a benefit cut for nearly every SNAP household.? According to Maura Daly, spokesperson for Feeding America, the largest network of food banks in the country, says that for struggling families, food tends to be one of the largest expenses, but also an “elastic” one.? Families who have experienced cuts in the SNAP benefits, must now chose between food to eat or paying their utility bill.? Anecdotal evidence across the country, and locally, have indicated that food pantries, soup kitchens, local churches and synagogues, and communities are picking up the slack.? Learn more about what’s going on in New York state and at your local level, click here.