Count your cookies
Even though you might have a holiday tomorrow, your diabetes doesn't. But you can still enjoy holiday foods in moderation. The experts at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles offer a few tips to help you have a healthy Christmas.
• Pass up everyday foods like crackers and dip. Instead, take small portions of special holiday items.
• Drink water or diet sodas rather than alcohol.
• If you don't have an hour to exercise, work 15-minute brisk walks into your day.
• Take care that your meals are nutritious and balanced. If you have a treat, make sure you substitute it for an equivalent item in your regular menu.
• Remember to monitor your blood glucose level and be sure you don't skip meals.
Santa safety check
If scanning your child's collection of new gifts this holiday leaves you filled with lead-based dread, here's a Web site to keep in your favorites list. At www.cpsc.gov you can search for recalled toys and other product information. You also can sign up for e-mail notification of recalled items.
According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the biggest risk to kids is toys with tiny magnets, which can attract each other through intestinal walls and cause fatal injuries. Other big dangers are furniture and televisions that tip over onto children; windows and window coverings that pose fall and strangulation risks; and pool and spa drains that could entrap a child.
Toothpaste alert
If you received dissolvable stitches after oral surgery, avoid toothpaste that contains peroxide. That includes most "whitening" and baking soda varieties.
University of Texas researchers found that dissolvable sutures fell apart in peroxide within a few days.