Healthy Living Section
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Tempted and terrified Signal Staff Writer Karen Elowitt recently enrolled in the Tobacco Cessation Program at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital. An off-and-on smoker for more than 20 years, she has half-heartedly tried quitting many times but decided to get serious this year. She hopes that after eight weeks in the program she will be able to quit for good. Her column, The Quitting Chronicles, will run every other week during that time so that our readers can follow her experiences - and maybe get inspired to quit, too. I'm about to smoke my last cigarette, and I'm terrified. Yes, I finally decided to quit, ... |
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Bulimic — and back My life was consumed with body image and an obsession called bulimia for over 30 years. (Bulimia is a chronic cycle of binging and purging that allows victims to prevent weight gain.) After diagnosing the causes of my disorder through counseling in my 20s, but not finding recovery, I sought and found an alternative path based in Eastern philosophy and realized we are designed to self-heal. Contrary to popular belief, counseling and medication may not be the solution to eating disorders. My healing was so powerful I had to share my story. My book "It Started With Pop-Tarts - An ... |
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Project Dogway now underway Like many California girls, Candy is blonde, buff and beautiful. All she needs now is a place to strut her stuff. Candy, a six-year-old pit bull, is one of 75 dogs residing at Agua Dulce's the Brittany Foundation, a non-profit humane organization dedicated to the rescue, care and placement of homeless dogs. While Candy and many of the Brittany Foundation dogs reside in a spacious 12 foot by 12 foot kennel, what the organization hopes for next is a 130 foot by 75 foot, fenced run area to allow the pooches a place to play and stretch out in the ... |
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Six Flags Hurricane Harbor tickets benefit charities Santa Clarita Valley Appreciation Days 2008 will be held at Six Flags Hurricane Harbor on May 3 and 4. The Valencia theme park makes 4,000 tickets to Hurricane Harbor available to schools and non-profit organizations at $3 each, which the organizations sell to the public at $10 each. This is still a significant savings over the regular admission price (up to $19.99 per person) - and serves as a fundraiser for these organizations. Organizations currently selling these tickets to the public at $10 are: SCV Boys and Girls Club; Santa Clarita Community Center; Wiley Canyon PTA; Sky Blue Mesa PTA; ... |
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Chivas teams up with Hoefflin Foundation The Chivas USA soccer team showed its winning talents when 10 players from the team joined the Michael Hoefflin Foundation for Children's Cancer's ninth annual Benefit Dinner in late March. The dinner, held at the Valencia Hyatt, raised more than $44,000 to support the foundation's work with children and families touched by pediatric cancer in the Santa Clarita Valley and surrounding valleys. "Access Hollywood" weekend co-anchor and correspondent Tony Potts hosted the event. Potts is also the Michael Hoefflin Foundation spokesperson and opened by sharing a story of his parent's upcoming 50th wedding anniversary celebration and how their commitment in ... |
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Teen drinking: A deadly rite of passage Nationally, the month of April is designated as Alcohol Awareness Month. Alcohol Awareness Month began in 1987 as a way of reaching the American public with information about the disease of alcoholism. The disease of alcoholism affects young and old alike. While I believe education is key to changing behaviors, I don't believe that one month a year is enough education. I truly believe that there are teachable moments every day, especially for our young. I hope you use this column as a tool for one of those teachable moments for you and your teen. Tales of caution * It began ... |
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Smoking: Quitting for quits If you are one of the 46 million Americans who smoke, you've probably thought about quitting more than once. You may have even tried to on a few occasions, possibly without success. According to the American Heart Association, about 23 percent of all adult men smoke and about 19 percent of women do. Roughly a quarter of those people say they want to quit, and approximately 1.3 million of them actually do every year. Though the success rate for quitting is low, it is imperative that people at least try if they are at all concerned about their health, experts ... |
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Coping with loss "Laugh and the world laughs with you, cry and you cry _____." If you're like most people, you're conditioned to respond "alone." If you've suffered a devastating loss, such as death of a loved one, divorce or breakup, you may be trying to cope with these and other unspoken rules. Here's another one: "The way to get through grief is to just keep ____." Did "busy" come to mind? These types of phrases bring up almost automatic responses. They are pieces of information stored in our belief systems from childhood. When we encounter life's inevitable losses, such as moving, menopause, ... |
