The the new season will reportedly feature lots of celebrities including First Lady Michelle Obama, new store fronts, and new characters but people continue to wonder the most about this veggie monster.

It seems that in an initiative to help curb childhood obesity and promote better health towards children, the cookie monster will no longer always munch on those delicious but fat filled snacks, replacing them with sweet and crunchy fruits and veggies. This change of course has stirred mixed feelings among nostalgic fans with letters and comments for and against the change stating that it’s the parents responsibility to teach their children proper eating habits.

In the end it is the job of the parents to teach wrong and right in all aspects of life, but it’s a nice change to see networks and corporate entities doing their part in encouraging healthy lifestyles for children and adults alike.

The cookie monster will though, continue to be the cookie monster and continue to love cookies, he will just show his appreciation for tasty veggies as well which is a life lesson in it self.

The big question though is does this type of stuff really work? Well it can’t hurt. And since the “veggie monster” started veering away from cookies the show has seen no decline in ratings because of the change and parents are much more happy to hand their child slices of apples to stuff their faces with when mimicking one of their favorite TV icons instead of  chocolate chip cookies in the afternoon.

Tempted by Cookie

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It’s a horrible thought that someone would use this entertaining holiday to do abominable acts to unsuspecting children and adults, but those people are out there and it’s important to take steps to ensure your family’s safety this Halloween.

By following these simple tips your sure to have a happy, entertaining, and safer Halloween.

Halloween Tips to Keep your Kids Safe While Trick Or Treating

• Make sure your children know not to eat any candy until they get home and you’ve had a chance to inspect it.
• Halloween may be about ghosts and goblins but make sure they have on some kind of bright clothing, reflectors, or carry a flashlight. (Glow sticks are a fun way to accomplish this.)
• Plan a safe route for them.
• Only accept candy from known neighbors, friends, and family.
• Buddy system – if your kids are at an age where they will be out by themselves make sure they plan on doing their mischievousness with at least two other friends.
• Bring a cell phone – In this day in age staying in touch is easier then ever so hand over one of your cell phones to keep track of the little rascals. (Note to readers, even I cringed at the thought of this but it is helpful.)
• Masks, although fun, can impair vision so keep that in mind when purchasing.
• Never, Never enter the house of a stranger.
• Your child will be exposed to fire in every pumpkin they encounter, so make sure there costume is as fire resistant as possible. (Many makeups, hair colors, silly string, and props can be quite flammable.)
• Fill them up before they go. If they’re hungry they are much more likely to secretly munch on candy before getting back home. (Anything will do, you know the basics-worms, eyeballs, bat wings.)
  
• Finally go over the basics with them. Look both ways before crossing the street, don’t talk to strangers, don’t except gifts from strangers, don’t play with fire. (Wow Halloween is scary…)

How to Check Your Child’s Halloween Candy for Tampering

If your child or children will be going to unknown homes this year for bags of free candy it’s important to inspect their bounty before they move on to sugar induced rampages and late night stomach aches.

We’ve come up with some tips and tricks to help you identify any possible issues and what to look for.

• Home made treats should be discarded.
• Fruit although delicious and nutritious should also be discarded. (Probably won’t see any complaints from this one.)
• Any open, torn, or unpackaged treats should be discarded.
• Check the packaging thoroughly for pinholes.
• Check the packaging thoroughly for rips or tears.
• Discoloration can be sign of not only being old and outdated but may have been submerged in something.
• Look for the possibility of foreign objects in the treats such as needles, pills, or chocking hazards.
• Look for powders or dusts on the candy and wrappers.

While the possibility of your child’s candy being tampered with it has happened before and when it comes to your loved ones you can never be too careful.

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The researchers at INSERM, the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research in Toulouse, followed 608 people with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease for four years, testing their memory and thinking skills twice a year.

There were 63 participants with diabetes that started with the same average score of 20 on the test of thinking ability. There was an average overall decline of 1.24 points on that test every six months. But the decline in the thinking ability scores was 0.38 points greater every six months for those without diabetes.

Dr. Robert Friedland, chair of neurology at the University of Louisville said the differences seen in the study “are very minimally significant, less than a point on a 30-point scale,” “The difference in many of the mental state examination scores was very small. It was statistically significant, but clinically meaningless.” He mentioned several reasons why this effect may have been.

The medications taken for diabetes to help control blood sugar level could have a beneficial effect on the brain, patients with diabetes have more vascular disease in the heart as well as the retina, and some of their impairment might be due to that, so it was progressing more slowly,”

“It’s not clear from this study and others what the relationship is,” said William Thies, chief medical and scientific officer of the Alzheimer’s Association.

What is clear, Thies said, is that having diabetes increases the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease — a relationship acknowledged in the first sentence of a report on the French study in the Oct. 27 issue of Neurology.

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The FDA has recently approved a new vaccine manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline called Cervarix™ to accomplish just that. The vaccine, similar to it’s predecessor and competitor Gardasil™ manufactured by MERCK, is effective against 70% of pre-cancerous lesions caused by the human papillomavirus.

HPV, with over a hundred strains, has been known to infected up to 80% of women by the end of their lives. The vaccine protects women against two of the most prevalent cancer causing types (16 & 18). Many strains of the virus show no signs or symptoms in both men and women yet can be extremely dangerous which is why vaccines such as Cervarix™ and Gardasil™ are shing lights in yet otherwise dark clouds.

“It has the potential to save lives from cervical cancer as well as reduce the need for biopsies and invasive procedures associated with the necessary follow-up from abnormal Pap tests.” said Dr. Karen Midthun, acting director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.

The vaccine is approved for girls and women between the ages of 10 and 25. It comes in three injections over the span of months and with annual paps can drastically reduce your chance of developing cancerous cells.

Cervarix Side Effects

• Pain, redness or swelling at the injection site.
• Headache.
• Muscle pain (myalgia).
• Fatigue.
• Disturbances of the gut, such as nausea and vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain.
• Skin reactions such as rash, itching or hives.
• Fever.
• Joint pain (arthralgia).
• Dizziness.
• Infection of the nose, throat or windpipe.
• Hard lump or tingling sensation at the injection site.

While there is controversy about the moral obligations of the vaccine it is suggested that all women get this life saving series of shots. It shouldn’t be used to replace proper sex education or the use of protection and only prevents cancerous types of HPV no other STDs or even the strains of the virus that cause genital warts.

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Your not alone in these feelings, depression effects over 20 million adults every year and unfortunately many of these people don’t seek treatment not knowing that they don’t have to feel this way.

October is National Depression Screening day and it’s the perfect opportunity to give it a shot. Depression isn’t always a text book example, many people feel down and don’t realize their symptoms may be a form of depression and can be treated.

All across the U.S. the National Institute of Mental Health is sponsoring free depression testing at thousands of sites including online testing. If your feeling down and it’s interfering with your everyday life this may be the perfect opportunity to get a free professional opinion on your condition.

You don’t have to consider these feelings as just a part of life. You can get treated and have a far better quality of life. Contact your local health department to find out where you can find free depression screening in your county or find out here.

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