Blog Posts by EmpowHER

By Susan Schade

Stealing is wrong. We know it. We teach it to our kids. Do you feel that reporting the act of stealing is a moral obligation?

Picture this situation:

You are in a grocery store with your young child. You are sitting at the deli/café area which is located at the front of the store, near the large, glass automatic doors.

You are sharing a sandwich for lunch and sipping cold lemonade drinks. You and your smiling son start to play a game of "I Spy" and look around the store at the wide selection of items that can be used for the guessing game.

As you look around, you notice a man who seems to blend in with the other customers. There is nothing about him that stands out except for his unusual behavior. Although the store contains a fair amount of people, you seem to be the only one to notice that he looks around the area with shifty eyes.

He stands near the rotisserie chicken display, at first appearing to be greatly interested in the rolls displayed near the chicken

By Dr. Daemon Jones

This week I decided to write about the rising number of depression and anxiety cases being diagnosed in the last several years. My intention was to write about adults and depression. However the article, I found, was about the rising rate in children.

I think that children being diagnosed with depression and anxiety is a disturbing commentary on the state of our mental health in this country.

The last 50 to 70 years have produced children, adolescents, and young adults (in high school and college) that are diagnosed with depression and anxiety. The reasons have been attributed to change in goals and the decrease in play for children.

According to this study, children and adolescents feel like they have less control over their lives than all previous generations. The shift has been attributed to a move from intrinsic goals to extrinsic goals.

Intrinsic goals are related to personal development creating a meaningful purpose for their life. Extrinsic goals are

By Jody Smith

In the early days, the name was a perfect fit. We were babies, and we were part of a boom the likes of which our country had never seen before.

All these many years later, the name is a bit ... off. Let's face it, none of us Boomers have been babies in a very, very long time.

We were born between the years 1946 and 1964, the result of the explosion of fertility after World War ll. In 2012, we Baby Boomers range from our mid-4os to our mid-60.

Soldiers came home after World War II embracing once again the American way of life, and in the process setting off the Baby Boom.

The number of births per year went from 2.8 million up to 4.3 million, and then dropped back down to 3.14 million.

The Baby Boom spanned two decades, and there's alot of difference between an old Boomer born in 1946 and a young Boomer born in 1964. But they were all part of the long tidal wave of births.

Baby Boomers are a force to be reckoned with in the United States, with 75 million making

By Dr. Carrie Jones

The 2012 London Olympics has proven to be quite exciting over these two weeks with many successes, shockers and "spoiler alerts" in the news.

If watching the Olympics has inspired you to start an exercise routine or break out of the rut you've been stuck in, then keep reading in the name of your health.

1. As the motto goes, you have to play to win.

The same goes for exercise, diet and a healthy body. Watching the Olympics reinforces the idea that you can't do it "part-time" and expect amazing results.

If you are looking to lose weight, tone up, feel healthy, have more energy, then you have to give 100 percent. Telling yourself you will start tomorrow or making excuses to skip your work-out will not earn you the goal you are trying to achieve.

2. Already giving 100 percent but stuck in a rut? Trying switching it up.

Look to the Olympics for ideas on new routines. Start swimming laps or take a water aerobics class. Find an aerials class and let your

By Joanne Sgro

There is much talk in the fitness world about resistance stretching to not only improve flexibility but to also build muscle. This type of stretching is used by Olympians and other professional athletes.

According to Shape.com, "Resistance stretching uses tension on the muscle while it's in an elongated position, not just when it's being contracted like in typical weight lifting." This type of stretching allows for much more increased range of motion.

But as many Pilates teachers like myself know, the root of much of resistance training can be found in the works of Joseph Pilates. According to PilatesMethodAlliance.org, "Pilates is a method of exercise and physical movement designed to stretch, strengthen, and balance the body."

There is a system of exercises done on a mat as well as on specialized equipment. In fact the creator of Pilates, Joseph Pilates, has been noted as saying "you will feel the changes in your body in ten sessions, see the changes in 20 sessions

By Vonnie Kennedy

Choosing a new physician can be tough whether you've moved or if it's time for a change.

A good way to start is to ask for recommendations from people you know, but that doesn't always work out. Selecting the right doctor is an individual choice only you can make.

Unfortunately, your choices may be narrowed down by your insurance plan, so make sure you ask for a list of doctors from your insurance before you begin the search.

When calling for an appointment, asking essential questions that concern you will help rule out many issues later on.

Here are eight important questions to ask when seeking out a new doctor:

1. Payment Method

Even if the practice accepts your insurance, it's important to know up front whether you are expected to pay at the time of the visit, after your deductible is met, or if you will be billed after the insurance payment has been collected.

If you don't have insurance, ask if the office accepts payment plans. It's better to know before

By Lynette Summerill

They're all around us -- images of fatty foods, desserts dripping with sugary calories, and those must-have salty snacks. You can't turn on your television or flip through a popular magazine without confronting it, and it's even on the Internet.

Mass-media messages not only saturate our world, they wield tremendous influence over our behavior, and that's just what food companies intended.

In 2004, food makers spent $11.3 billion peddling their products, while the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees national nutritional recommendations, spent only $268 million - 2 percent of the total that was funneled into food marketing - on nutritional education.

That got Dr. Michael Mink, a public health researcher at Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah, Ga., thinking about mass media's influence on public health.

What nutritional behaviors are being endorsed by television?

In other words, if we only ate what we saw on television, would the

By Dave Balch

If you're like me, you have too many things on your to-do list. Just looking at the list is stressful! How are you going to get everything done?

Here are some things to think about for each item.

1. Are you sure that YOU have to do it?

We all like to have things done in a certain way, and we usually don't allow much wiggle room.

Those of us who fall into that trap find it very stressful to have so much to do, and equally stressful to have someone else do things for us because they may not do them "just right."

Big mistake.

You probably don't even realize that you are thinking this way. Something new comes up that has to be done and you automatically feel your gut tighten because YOU have to do it.

It doesn't even have to be a large task. Even something as simple as a phone call can get your stress level up if it's a call you don't want to make.

Has it ever occurred to you that you could ask someone else to do it for you?

Your husband, your wife, your son or