I was 28 when I heard the words that changed my world forever. “You have breast cancer.” At the time I was working full time, finishing my graduate degree, and living a healthy life. My diagnosis completely knocked my life into a new reality that was dark and frightening. I did not look or feel sick, …
Tag: Health
Dec 07
Quiet Health Concern – Iron Deficiency Anemia
I was a junior in high school and 17 years old when I first heard the term anemia. In California, where I live you have to be at least 110 pounds to give blood, I finally got to that weight and was energized to give blood and give back to the community. So the blood …
Aug 23
BGI Web Series – Interview with Health Equity Initiative
Health is a basic human right. Health equity, by definition, is providing every person with the same opportunity to stay healthy, regardless of their race, gender, age, economic conditions, social status, environment, and other social determined factors. It’s a huge goal that people everywhere are working for. Health Equity Initiative (HEI) is a nonprofit organization …
Aug 02
The Health Risks of Climate Change
Climate change is always a controversial topic. People and politicians continue to debate the existence of this phenomenon and the effects it might having on our planet. It always seems like something distant and abstract. Most scientist however are pretty certain that climate change is happening, and recently expressing more and more concern about its …
Jul 19
Taking a Lesson from the Junk Food Industry
Have you ever seen a Coca-Cola commercial? No, I mean really seen one. What are they selling? A refreshing beverage? Hardly. Coca-Cola sells happiness. Proof is provided by the closing image of the commercial below (“open happiness”). And this message is almost anywhere you look. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ts_4vOUDImE If you just watched the above commercial, you might …
Jul 12
“Multisectoral” Health
If you’re a public student, or you read, hear, talk or even just care about public health you’ve most likely come across the term “multisectoral”. It’s thrown around a lot when discussing things like community and population health or health disparities. But what does multisectoral mean? And why is it so important to the public …
Jul 05
Violence Against Women isn’t a “Women’s Issue”
Let me first start of by clarifying that yes, violence against women is about women and in that sense makes it a “women’s issue,” but in terms of the what the true problem is, it is anything but. If you missed my last post about the effects of intimate partner violence on women’s health, give …
Jun 28
Obesity as a Disease
We all hear about the obesity epidemic a lot. I, for one, have done several previous posts on it myself. People are always discussing the causes or how to fix it and it seems like this epidemic is something that continues to plague the minds of the medical world. No pun intended. Just recently, the …
Jun 26
My Fight for the Preservation of the Cookie Jar
My mom and I have had an ongoing debate for oh… approximately twenty years or so. About what exactly, you might be asking yourself? Nutrition. Childhood nutrition, to be exact. Our debate mainly rests on the question – when it comes to childhood nutrition, is restriction really the best way to go? Let me set …
Jun 21
Intimate Partner Violence and Women’s Health
I’ve been thinking about writing a post on domestic violence for a while now. And I decided that this week I would finally sit down and do it. I’m not sure why it took me so long, maybe it’s just one of those things where I have so much to say that I never …