healthykitkat-blog

[healthykitkat-blog]

the end. (11.25.19)

Hi everyone. I hope you’ve been having a healthy and happy week. It is with great ambivalence that I’m announcing the end of this blog. As the semester comes to an end, and I’m no longer obligated to write these blog posts, I’ve decided that this extended time on social media isn’t even really all that healthy to me and that there is no reason to continue this blog. But don’t fret! It was fun while it lasted. This blog has been an excellent way to expand my knowledge and flex my writing muscles. I believe that being given a platform to allow me to write how I want about a number of interesting topics, such as self-help books or health app reviews gave me an outlet to practice writing for a more casual audience, while still keeping a professional voice. Plus, it’s fun being able to write somewhat academic pieces that don’t entirely stifle your personality, like most other essays and assignments do.

Making a blog itself was quite difficult. This is actually a reincarnation of another blog I made on a completely different website, hence, the dates at the top of each post. I had to copy a lot of posts over from the last one due to issues with the website deleting posts or not formatting them correctly. The hardest thing is finding a (free) website that matches my aesthetic and intentions with this blog. The second hardest thing is making time to write. With so many other things going on in my life, what once seemed like a fun activity turned into a bit of a chore. That is a matter of mindset, though, and had I adjusted it to match the enthusiasm I feel when I do write, it would have been much less of an issue. Still, I’ve never been much attached to social media and the internet, so this blog will still be abandoned. How fun that this small corner of the internet will represent the entirety of my first semester as a writer.

That’s all for now, and all for the foreseeable future. Remember to lead a healthy life by being a conscious consumer, taking care of yourself, and of course, drinking lots of water. Have a great rest of the year!

[healthykitkat-blog]

a rant for the ages (11.15.19)

Hi everyone, hope you have been doing well. Today I think I’m just going to rant. It’s always healthy to get it out of your system. I have a bone to pick with the dining hall at the lovely college I go to. The University of Southern California.

I just think it is so so funny that they make us students pay about $3,000 a semester for an unlimited meal plan, and then don’t even give us the opportunity to get our money’s worth. Hilarious how the dining hall continually closes at inconvenient hours, like 9pm on weekends, leaving me to buy groceries to eat instead of using the meal plan I was forced to buy. I think it is just so great that they serve the same meals every single day and expect me to be satisfied with that. It just cracks me up how, because we’re all forced consumers, dining hall staff don’t actually care about the conditions we eat in. Utensils go missing for half an hour, not one person can find a fork to eat with, the lines become ridiculously long, plates are still crusted with food when they’re put back in the plate dispenser, the “fresh” fruit is frozen or browned, the salad dressing is empty or mixed together, the tables are sticky and disgusting. And why should they care? It’s not as if this blessed, beautiful university even pays them enough money to care. Freshman fifteen? More like freshman negative fifteen, since I’m losing weight with how little I eat at these dining halls. Not to mention that I pay how much money to eat here, and they won’t even let us take food to go? My friends at Oregon State rave about how their reusable container system lets them “check out” containers of food to go, and then they just return them within the week. This allows them to take and eat dining hall food whenever and wherever they want! They don’t have to buy groceries, because they can just take the food they don’t want to eat now and eat them later! 

I think it’s so funny that our school puts an emphasis on healthy living and makes it nearly impossible to do so. How are we expected to eat healthy when the dining hall serves nothing but french fries, pizza, and pasta over and over again, day after day? Their salads always have meat in them, and the salad bar is always cold and dry and frozen. Why eat at the dining hall again? Oh yes, because all freshmen are required to purchase the Cardinal Plan, a lovely $3,000 that could be used to buy groceries I would actually enjoy and eat, down the drain for dining hall food that is cold and underseasoned. I love it, I love it so much!

[healthykitkat-blog]

why are self-help books so popular? (11.1.19)

Self-help is a very popular genre of literature. Thousands of books exist on a number of different topics from mental health and body image to business and time management. The sheer number of self-help books on the market must be an indication that they are worth something, right?

Self-help books can be seen as the definition of modern American culture. Moving away from the rigid hierarchal structures that Europe once had and the rise of the American dream means that the process of self-improvement and growth, to become better than one’s parents and one’s past, is a major reason for the success of this genre. People want to help themselves be better, and these books are an easy, private, and accessible way of doing so.

Studies have found that the majority of people who read self-help books are women in their 20s-40s, usually with above-average income and some form of higher education. It seems likely that women would buy self-help books at a higher rate than males, due to different societal pressures placed on the two populations. Women likely buy self-help books about dieting, weight-loss, and parenting at a higher frequency than males, and it is also safe to assume that they buy more than one book about these topics as well. Additionally, gender roles make it difficult for men to seek outside help for their problems. Even if they recognize that something in their life is wrong, and they need to take steps to change it, they’re more likely to attempt to handle the situation themselves, rather than seek outside help. Publishers also know this, and specifically target women with the covers and titles of their self-help books, even though the primary authors of self-help books are men. This, however, might be because women read more than men do on average.

[healthykitkat-blog]

why dale carnegie is the worst person in the world (10.25.19)

Hi everyone, I hope that you all are having a sweet and easy week. For my next writing assignment, I have to evaluate a self-help book and determine whether or not that book teaches a healthy way of living. And in case you couldn’t tell from my somewhat scathing book review, I chose to read How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. This book was the biggest waste of my time, so I’m wasting more time writing an essay about it. Carnegie, who wrote this book during the end of the Great Depression, obviously lived through a difficult time in American economics. This, however, is not a justification for a book that sold millions of copies worldwide and damaged the altruistic nature of an entire society. Carnegie’s book looks at people as a business transaction. Play your cards right, win their trust and belief in you, and use that to influence them to do things for you. Gone are the simple acts of kindness, every move you make has to be cool and calculated. In a way that reminds me much of Patrick Bateman, readers are encouraged to do things such as smile and remember others' names, in order to build these personal relationships and trust, for use in later psychological manipulations. Even the way that the book is written convinces the reader that this is in no way mean or fake, look at how Abraham Lincoln used this principle in real life to win a war! Surely there is no way that Lincoln’s plight to end slavery and your desperate bid to climb up the corporate ladder are completely different situations! It is so obvious to me how negative the impacts of this book is. The death of altruism comes from widespread beliefs that building relationships with other people should only be done with the intention of gaining from it, and Carnegie perpetuated this falsehood to millions of people across the world. How to ruin kindness and influence others to see their fellow humans as vessels for personal and economic gain. 

[healthykitkat-blog]

how to win friends and influence people, the sparknotes version (10.16.19)

Hi everyone, I hope you’re having a great week and staying hydrated. I recently went ahead and read a self-help book this week in an attempt to understand all the buzz around them. Knowing that I was going into this a self-help newbie, I decided to start with one of the classics. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie is a best-selling self-help book designed to teach people how to be better friends and business associates, and use those tactics to build a repertoire with clients, potential or otherwise. The book is broken down into several sections, with sections such as "Fundamental Techniques in Handling People" and "Six Ways to Make People Like You" promoting the use of psychology and slight manipulation to help you get what you want. The book itself is somewhat of an interpersonal nightmare. Carnegie uses personal anecdotes and short history lessons to drill into the reader’s head that each interaction they have is transactional in nature and needs to be thoroughly calculated in order to maximize the gain from each relationship they build. This is a very negative way of looking at interpersonal relationships, and this transactional method of looking at people will likely lead to unhappiness and dissatisfaction in one’s life. 

[healthykitkat-blog]

defining self-help (10.11.19)

Hi y’all, sorry this post hasn’t gone up on time like the other ones have. Sometimes life gets in the way of the things you want to do, and tasks start slipping through the cracks. Today I’m going to be defining the concept of self-help.

I believe that self-help is defined as a constant need to improve oneself and the steps that are taken to do so. Self-help can be as little as deciding to walk up the stairs instead of taking the elevator, or as big as deciding to quit smoking or losing 30 pounds. Whatever it is, self-help is recognizing that one is dissatisfied with some aspect of their life, and taking steps to change that. This is why self-help books, podcasts, and programs are so popular. Many times, people know why they are dissatisfied with their lives, and have an idea of their end goal, but don’t know what steps to take to initiate these changes.

These self-help products break down the steps that people need to take in order to do things such as lose weight, gain business success, or free themselves from their vices. They make use of those SMART goals we were always taught about and break the big task up into a bunch of smaller, more manageable tasks. Be prepared to hear more about self-help as a concept, and self-help books in general, as they are going to be popping up more next week. Remember to stay healthy and drink water! See you all next week.

[healthykitkat-blog]

a look into the recent vaping epidemic (10.4.19)

Hi everyone, I hope you all are doing swell. Today we’re going to talk about every millennials’ favorite hot button issue. Vaping! We all know someone who does it! Some of us might do it now! Recently, however, vaping has become a massive issue in the media. With 47 recent deaths linked to vapes laced with THC, and upwards of 1,000 injuries, vape companies, such as Juul, have recently come under fire for the way that they've marketed their products and the lack of research into the dangers of vaping. The products are incredibly appealing to younger users, with flavours like fruit medley and mango, their sleek design, and ease of use.

Juuls and other e-cigarette products were originally said to be a healthier alternative, because the vape juice doesn't contain the carcinogens that exist in 'analog' cigarettes, and can be used to help quit smoking. Although Juul claims this to be their only marketing point, a recent ad study done by a team of researchers working with Stanford Research Into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising found that Juul's ads specifically targeted a younger audience, drawing terrifying parallels to old Malboro ads for the same demographic. The company teamed up with social media influencers to promote their products, launched an ad campaign featuring fun and flirty 20-somethings with their little e-cigs in hand, and promoted themselves on college campuses. Doesn't sound like a company trying to help the older population quit smoking, huh?

Of course, the backlash began. With the rising rates of young people using Juuls socially, the company decided to remove its flavoured pods from retail stores, shut down its social media pages, and adopt a new slogan, "Make the Switch," as a way to market itself for its original purpose, smoking cessation. But it was too late. The damage had been done. Vaping is now a social activity among the younger population, and the rise of off-brand Juul pods have just endangered young people even more. Black market Juul pods containing THC are suspected of causing the vaping deaths, although the cause isn't confirmed, and about 1/3 of those who have the vaping-related illnesses are under 21. Juul has, of course, decided to take a step back from its marketing, pulling all ads. Additionally, the CEO of the company, Kevin Burns, has stepped down. None of this really matters though, because his replacement is KC Crosthwaite, the chief growth officer of big tobacco giant Altria, meaning that Juul will likely keep feeding on the naivety and innocence of young people in order to keep making money. And that, without government intervention, the rates of vaping-related illnesses and deaths will continue to rise. Some states are taking matters into their own hands.  Massachusettes placed a 4-month ban on the sale of vapes and vaping products, a highly controversial move. At the height of the Great Vape Controversy, its only a matter of time until big changes are made surrounding vaping, its legality, and the public opinion on them.

[healthykitkat-blog]

a response to another blog’s post (9.27.19)

Hi guys, today I’m responding to a fellow blogger’s post. Christine has a super cute blog with lots of interesting posts here, and today I’m responding to this post that she wrote about logic or emotion. Be sure to check her out!

Hey Christine, great post! Your blog is super cute. While I agree with some parts of your post, there are other things that just don’t sit right with me. Being logical doesn’t necessarily make you not empathetic, and there are definitely a lot of fields of medicine where emotions can cause more harm than good. I also did some rotations at Providence St. Vincent’s hospital in Portland, and some of the rotations I was in needed impartial, clear-headed doctors in order to be able to save patients’ lives. Someone working in an emergency room has to be able to put their feelings aside, good or bad, in order to do the best that they can for the patient. Also, some patients don’t want to build an emotional connection with their doctor, and continually attempting to do so will end up alienating them. I know a lot of people who see going to the doctors as a sort of business transaction and don’t want to get caught up in “how do you do”s and pleasantries. They are there to check up on their health, they have other things to do, and they know they won’t be seeing their doctor again for at least 6 months, so why go through all the motions when it's meaningless? I totally understand your point though about how emotion is a really useful tool to have when dealing with chronically ill patients. When you’re dealing with people you see every day, sometimes being too logical can make them feel like test subjects rather than people. Also, especially in situations where doctors have to come up with treatment plans for patients, having a good relationship with them can allow for easier discussion and understanding of where they are coming from in terms of the decisions they’re making. Still, at the end of the day, lots of people see healthcare professionals as just that-- strangers doing their jobs, and feel as though they have nothing to gain from somebody pandering to their emotions for the sake of it. Overall, I think you make a lot of interesting points, and that your blog is really well-put-together!

[healthykitkat-blog]

logic and emotion in healthcare (9.16.19)

Is it more important for a caregiver to act on logical or emotional impulses when treating patients?

Hi all, today we’re going to be discussing an interesting topic in medicine. Logic, or emotion? Should doctors and healthcare professionals act on logic or emotion when making decisions?

I believe that it's more important for a caregiver to act on logical impulses when treating a patient in certain situations. If doctors are too attached to a patient or get too overwhelmed, they may show bias in care and be unable to provide equal, high-quality care to everyone. Additionally, thinking logically allows doctors to be able to solve many problems they encounter in their work. For example, surgeons need to be able to logically navigate the human body in order to understand what’s going on within the patient. They need to be able to make connections and think critically. They can’t just go in there, open a patient up, and act on their emotions. Emergency medicine doctors can’t afford to start breaking down and making rash decisions because the patient is someone they know. They need to be unbiased in their healthcare, calculating in their moves, because they’re dealing with lives that are at stake.  

However, saying that it’s more important to act logically than emotionally in all situations. Other types of caregivers, such as those who care for terminally ill patients or work in acute elderly facilities, need to be able to empathize and create emotional bonds with their patients. Yes, they need to consider a logical side to things, but these patients especially need someone who can listen to the illogical side of things. Death and dying can be difficult to grasp, even for the elderly or the terminally ill, and being too logical may result in these patients feeling invalidated and stupid. Being empathetic to their plight is an important part of caregiving.

I think logic is more important in the medical field when you’re attempting to diagnose and treat something. These types of doctors need to be logical and not emotional in order to provide unbiased care and do everything that they can for their patients. In end-of-life or hospice care, these caregivers aren’t trying to diagnose and heal. They’re trying to provide comfort and support in the final stage of a patient’s life. Being too logical will only alienate yourself from your patients and vice versa. These caregivers must be emotional and empathetic to their plight and be able to emotionally support them.

[healthykitkat-blog]

a review on myfitnesspal (9.13.19)

Hi everyone! I hope you’ve had a wholesome and healthy week. Today, I decided to review one of the biggest health apps on the market. MyFitnessPal (website|app store|google play store) is an app that allows you to track your calories by logging what you eat. By answering a few easy questions about your lifestyle, your fitness goals, and your activity level, the app calculates the daily recommended number of calories you should consume, as well as the proportion of protein, carbs, and fats you should eat each day. The app also lets you log your weight, so you can monitor your losses or gains, and has an activity feed where you can view your friends’ updates and stay motivated. Today I’m going to be looking at how healthy these apps really are, 

Health apps have been a staple in the modern-day health industry. Ever since the beginning of smartphones, there have been ways to track your eating, your exercise, your diet, and your steps. In many cases, these apps can benefit those using them. People on lots of medication or special medical diets can use them to remember what they’ve taken or eaten. Those trying to lose weight can use these apps for motivation and workout plans. However, apps like MyFitnessPal have a much darker side to them. These weight-loss apps make it easy for young and impressionable people to restrict their calories and obsess over their weight. MyFitnessPal, as a whole, is a good app for tracking calories. It has an easy to understand layout, with fast and simple ways to add food. You can add your friends via FaceBook and see what they track as well. 

When you first open up the app, you’re asked several questions about your height, weight, lifestyle, and fitness goals, and then the app creates a daily caloric and nutritional goal for you. There’s a barcode scanner you can use to scan storebought food and a recipe tab where you can find out the calories in one serving of your favorite homecooked meal.

It’s obvious that the app only has good intentions. However, this app has become a tool for many disordered eaters to use in order to restrict themselves. Before a recent update, MyFitnessPal would project your weight after you finish logging meals for the day, regardless of how many calories you’ve consumed. Many people used this to estimate how fast they can lose weight, depending on their calorie deficit. The app only recently updated to allow for the projected weight loss calculator to appear when the person logging food has eaten more than 1,000 calories. However, this is still under the recommended number of calories for both women and men. According to the Institute of Medicine, the average 18-year-old woman who lives a sedentary life should eat a minimum of 1,800 calories every day, and the average man 2,400. MyFitnessPal requires its users to be 18 years old or older to accurately calculate their daily caloric needs. Additionally, the app doesn’t put much emphasis on nutrition. Occasionally, when you log a healthy food, it gives a little indication that the food is high in a specific vitamin or protein. But for the most part, the app emphasizes counting and restricting your calories, an unhealthy and sometimes ineffective way of considering your food. 

I believe that although MyFitnessPal has only good intentions, the developers don’t take enough steps to promote a healthy diet and prevent the rise of young girls and boys using the app to heavily restrict their diets. The app helps promote diet culture through its social feed, and it doesn’t do enough to stem the rising rates of eating disorders among the youth. Its ease of use and emphasis on the restriction of calories to lose weight is unhealthy and toxic, and the app can only really be recommended to those who have a healthy body image or need to count their calories for medicinal reasons. 

That’s it for this week, everyone! I hope you consider how this app, and other calorie counting apps like these can have positive and negative effects. Health comes from more than just an app, health comes from your own self-confidence and healthy state of mind. Have a good rest of your week and remember to drink water! 

[healthykitkat-blog]

grey’s anatomy pilot review (9.6.19)

Hi you guys, today I’m writing a review on Grey’s Anatomy, one of the most popular medical shows on television. I streamed my episode on Netflix, so if you want to watch and form your own opinions. you could watch it there, or you can catch it on ABC! Anyways, let’s get started. 

Meredith Grey, a surgery resident at Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital, is beginning her 7-year long surgery residency with a 48-hour shift.  Meredith’s assigned patient, a teenage girl named Katie who keeps having grand mal seizures without any obvious cause, is giving her a difficult time. Throughout the 48 hours, we watch Meredith and the other residents, George, Izzie, and Cristina as they go through their shift and their patients.

Grey’s Anatomy does a poor job of properly representing doctors and the medical profession. In several scenes, the residents spend a large amount of time sitting around in spare hospital beds and generally lounging about. Attendings ask interns outwardly to go on dates with them, and doctors fail to maintain professionalism when dealing with difficult patients, parents asking questions, or performing routine exams. They struggle to assert themselves to patients and are allowed to continue practicing on one, even when they have requested to have someone else continue with the patient’s case. Nurses are looked down upon by doctors because they didn’t go to medical school for 4 years (even though nursing school is also 4 years, and doctors would be a mess without nurses). These scenes and moments in the show make out doctors to be confused, unprofessional, undertrained, and weak, in a sense. However, Grey’s Anatomy also does a good job of showing how confusing and difficult being a doctor can be. It seems like when we think of doctors, we think of type-A personalities, cold and calculating, always put together. After all, their job isn’t easy and requires someone who can maintain calm under pressure and perform at a moment’s notice. However, doctors are just people, and they also get overwhelmed, stressed, and mess up. In one scene, Meredith’s seizure patient begins having another grand mal seizure, even though she was supposed to be under Meredith’s care. The attending yells at her for not monitoring her patient well enough, and she runs outside to throw up before collecting herself and continuing her shift. This scene does a great job of making her appear to be more human. At the end of the day, people want to relate to the character, and by showing her going through these difficult times, it can change the way people perceive her and doctors in general, portraying them as people who struggle just like everyone else. 

Overall, although Grey's Anatomy misrepresents the job and the way a hospital functions, the show still helps humanize a group of people who are notoriously seen as put-together and almost robotic, when in reality, they're just normal people like the rest of us. I don’t think I’m personally going to continue watching the show. I think I would become too irritated with the lack of accuracy within the show. However, I understand the appeal and why so many people watch it, and I think it doesn’t hurt to have some humanizing depictions of doctors on T.V.

I’ll see you guys next week with another post, and remember to stay healthy and drink lots of water!

[healthykitkat-blog]

why did i make this blog? (8.30.19)

This blog serves as a way to explore health in both personal and professional aspects. I love reading up and coming research about conditions that affect people on a global level, such as Alzheimer's, cancer, and HIV/AIDS. I plan on reading articles about new research being done in these fields, including links, and discussing the ways that these new findings could revolutionize the way we treat patients. Additionally, many of these new studies give us a better insight into the personal choices we can be made to lengthen our lifespans and prevent these diseases. Through this blog, I'll be posting links to all the new research I find, as well as personal health goals and opinions that I have along the way. By giving myself a space to blog about a variety of new research and health-related topics, I'll be able to educate myself (and others) in an active manner about the changes and decisions I make now that will affect me later in life. Additionally, I want to understand how marketing has an effect on consumer health. Does the use of paid promotions on social media apps affect the way consumers think about their health? Does the rise in prescription medication commercials change how prescribers treat their patients? By studying research about the media's effect on patient care, as well as keeping up with new research about diseases and prevention, I'll be able to create informed opinions on the state of global health and healthcare rights.

(also here’s a photo of me and my friends in high school, all ready for our hospital rotations!)

[healthykitkat-blog]

about me (8.28.19)

Hey there! My name is Kat, and I'm from your Writing 150 class. I'm a bio major from Portland, Oregon, and I’m pre-med, just like a lot of you. Feel free to chat with me in class, I know I always look sad, but really I'm just tired a lot! I'd also like to apologize in advance for the fact that I talk like a preschool teacher, I don’t know where it comes from. I have the vocabulary of a character on Full House. 

I spend a good amount of time when I'm not doing homework hanging out with friends or reading books. My favourite authors are Margaret Atwood and Laurie Halse Anderson. I also love watching movies and TV shows, specifically cult classic movies from the 80s and crime shows like Narcos. Back at home, I liked to bake and cook food for my family and friends, but now I've been cut off from kitchens since I live in a dorm :-( One of the things I miss most about Portland is my sweet little cat. Her name is Minnie and she's 4 years old. I got her in my freshman year of high school when she was 5 months old. She hasn't stopped following me around since we got her, so I'm pretty sad about having to leave her for what seems like the first time ever, especially since she won't understand that I'm coming back. However, I'm just crossing my fingers and hoping she remembers me when I come back for fall break! Here’s a photo.

I’m starting this blog for two reasons. The first being that I have to do this for a writing class in college. The second being that health has always been something I’ve been interested in. I want to work in emergency medicine as of right now, but I’ve known that I want to work in a hospital since I was 14. Medicine and anatomy have always been big interests to me, and I want to learn skills that can be used to help others. I even want to volunteer with Doctors Without Borders later in my life. 

I’m meant to post a new blog post every week, so keep an eye out for what’s in store! That’s all for now, talk to you all later!