Friday, May 29, 2009

Diet Funnel Cake: The 100 Calorie Series

Summertime is upon us and there is one thing that can tempt us all. Funnel Cake. However, this crunchy sweet snack is an unhealthy food. Did you know that a typical funnel cake can be as much as 800 calories (with powdered sugar)? This is almost HALF of your daily caloric intake. If you get a chocolate or strawberry topping, forget it. You probably have eaten most of your daily calories.

FEAR NOT

I have created a healthy alternative for you as part of the 100 Calorie Series. Let me know how I did...

HEALTHY FUNNEL CAKE

Makes 4 servings

You will use a waffel iron or skillet using zero calorie cooking spray (Pam). Do not use a fryer, because it defeats the purpose.


Ingredients
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp sunflower oil
1/4 cup milk, full cream
2 egg white
1/4 cup water
Splenda (or other zero-calorie sweetner)

Directions
Mix the first 3 ingredients. Add the rest of the ingredients. Mix well.
Pour 1/4 cup batter onto skillet/waffel iron prepared with cooking spray. Remove cooked waffel
Lightly spray each side of waffel (this is so that the splenda can stick). Sprinkle each side of waffel with Splenda and remove excess.


Calories: about 90

LAZY ALTERNATIVE RECIPE :-)
Toast a frozen waffel. (Calories will be whatever the waffel is, because splenda and cooking spray are zero calories).

New hospital gown warms patients

Parental Rights in Health Care

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Can't I have my vitamin and eat it too...?

I came across another patient today who did not know herbs and vitamins can adversely react with medications. So, I was compelled to explain pharmacovigilance.

From Wikipedia:

Pharmacovigilance (PV) is the pharmacological science relating
to the detection, assessment, understanding and prevention of adverse effects,
particularly long term and short term side effects of medicines.[1]
Generally speaking, pharmacovigilance is the science of collecting, monitoring,
researching, assessing and evaluating information from healthcare providers and
patients on the adverse effects of medications, biological
products
, herbalism and traditional
medicines
with a view to:

  • identifying new information about hazards associated with medicines
  • preventing harm to patients.

Meet Google Health

Kindle vs. Apple Computers Mediapad

Whenever I think about Apple Computers releasing a "mediapad," I start to get misty-eyed. There are many technologies that medical professionals use, but an all-in-one device, like a large iPhone, could replace patient charts, radiographs, ...

Okay! I know I am overshooting my expectations, but such a device could be used for patient education by displaying video demonstrations of procedures. If this device is a tablet and uses a digital pen, a medical office could decrease paper usage. HOW GREEN!

If this device has 3G or 4G capabilities, it is possible to finally use Google Health in a more seemless way. Apple's Conference WWDC up and coming... Its a nail biter.