Most Americans love to eat out! Many of us eat out, often at fast food establishments, a few times a week.

The American Dietetic Association (eatright.org) is a good source of information on how to eat healthy when you eat out. Here are their suggestions:

• If you are going to begin the day by eating out, build a better breakfast sandwich by replacing sausage or bacon with Canadian ham or regular ham and have it on whole grain toast, or bagel or English Muffin.
• If you are going to eat out at a sandwich shop, choose lean beef, ham, turkey or chicken on whole grain bread. Use mustard, ketchup, salsa or low fat spreads. in place of fries or chips, choose a side salad or fruit, or if you must have fries, share with someone else.
• If you are at a salad bar, pile on the leafy greens, then choose carrots, peppers and other fresh veggies. Go lightly on choosing mayonnaise-based salads and high-fat toppings.
• Eating in a restaurant? Eat your low calorie food first, filling up on salad and soup followed by a light main course. Have all sauces and dressing on the side, for dipping, not pouring. Order one dessert and forks  for sharing with companions.
• Avoid all you can eat buffet and unlimited salad bars if you know you tend eat too much at these venues.
• Take size into consideration when ordering muffins, bagels, croissants and biscuits. Jumbo sizes mean jumbo calories and lots more fat.
• Does your eat out mean grabbing dinner at the hot table in the supermarket or the deli section? If so, choose rotisserie chicken, salad in a bag and fresh bread. Another good choice-lean roast beef, onion rolls potato salad and fresh fruit.

If, for you,  eat out means eating at your desk at work, keep single serving packages of crackers, fruit, peanut butter, soup, or tuna in your desk.

During Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I am stepping out of my role as creator and writer for “Can Do Street, and stepping into my breast cancer survivor advocacy role. As a survivor of two primary breast cancers, 10 years apart, I’m asking you to consider what you know about your risks for breast cancer.

First, let me share that I am here today because of annual mammograms that found my cancers when they were still small and easy to treat. I didn’t need chemotherapy for either cancer because both were caught very early, before they spread beyond my breasts.

A few years after my first breast cancer, in 1999, I accepted a position as director of  the American Cancer Society’s NYC Patient Navigator Program. During the years I  was with the program, I met with thousands of women and several men diagnosed with breast cancer. Many believed the myths I share below; as a result they did not bother with comprehensive breast exams or, if over 40, annual mammograms.

From 2010 to 2014, I published a breast cancer blog. This experience continues to bring me in contact with women and men newly diagnosed with breast cancer, many of whom felt they had nothing to worry about as a result of believing one or more of the myths that circulate about breast cancer.

Sometimes we embrace myths about breast cancer rather than deal with the realities of the disease. Unfortunately myths can paralyze us and put us in danger. Here are some myths about breast cancer, that many accept as facts:

1. Breast Cancer Doesn’t Run in My Family, I’m Safe – Eighty to eighty-five percent of women who get breast cancer have no family history of the disease.

2. I’m Too Young for Breast Cancer – Breast cancer can affect women of any age. While the disease is more common in post-menopausal women, 5% of women diagnosed are between the ages of 20 and 39 years.

3. Breast Cancer Is a Death Sentence – When caught early, up to 98 percent of women survive at least five years.

4. All Breast Lumps Are Cancerous – Most breast lumps are not cancer, but all lumps should be checked thoroughly by a doctor.

5. Herbal Remedies and Dietary Supplements Can Help Treat Breast Cancer – No herbal remedy, dietary supplement or alternative therapy has been scientifically proven to treat breast cancer.

6. My Breast Lump is Painful, So it Must Not be Cancer – Not true; there’s no correlation between whether the lump is painful and whether it’s cancerous. Any lump needs to be checked by a doctor.

7. Breast Cancer is a Punishment from God- no, it is a disease

8. Stress Causes Breast Cancer – it doesn’t

9. Breast Cancer Jumps from one Breast to the Other – it doesn’t

10.Touching yourself in performing a breast exam is wrong- no, it can save your life

11. Men don’t get breast cancer– yes, they do

12. Mammograms hurt-not as much as childbirth

Risk Factors:

• Having breast tissue
• Aging
• Genetic factors – BRCA gene mutations
• Being significantly overweight
• Having dense breasts
• Moderate to heavy drinking
• Taking hormone replacement therapy

Additional Facts:

• Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in the United States, other than skin cancer
• One in eight women will get breast cancer in her lifetime.
• Today there are more than 2.9 million breast cancer survivors in the United States.

Until we can prevent breast cancer, early detection is critical to surviving !

• If you are under 40, with no known risk factors, get a comprehensive breast exam when you get your annual pap test. If you are over 40, get an annual mammogram. Make it digital!
• Don’t let being uninsured keep you from getting a mammogram or a pap smear. Call your local Dept. of Health and ask them to guide you in accessing services from the Federal Center for Disease Control’s National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP),

Please share these myths, facts and risks about breast cancer with the women in your life.

Sources: American Cancer Society and the National Institutes of Health

As parents we all know that going to bed can be the toughest time of day for young children because it means separation from us and things they enjoy doing.

Bed time can, and often does, become the toughest time of our day as parents. Trying to get our children to bed on a regular schedule for their sake and for our ours can be a real challenge. They need a routine to insure a good night’s sleep. We need down time…our own time to unwind or get to things we can’t do when our children are up and need our attention.

The Sleep Foundation (http://www.sleepfoundation.org) shares information and sleep tips that may make nightly separation and a good sleep a regular happening and not a sometime thing.

Knowing that preschoolers often have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep, parents will have the most success if the stick to a regular bed time and a consistent bed time routine.

The bed time routine needs to be relaxing and have a calming effect. Storytellings, a lullaby, a bit of gentle cuddling are often successful in preparing a child for sleep.

Children need to get comfortable with their sleep environment. They need to sleep in the same sleeping environment every night. The room needs to be cool, quiet and dark, There should be no TV or computer game viewing equipment in the room.

School age children (5-12) need to unwind from the demands and stimulation of school, doing homework, and after school activities that can make it difficult to fall asleep. Research on sleep disturbances for this age group has found that consuming caffeine beverages, such as colas, extensive TV viewing, playing online computer games or surfing the net close to bed time are  major contributors to sleep problems.

Inadequate sleep is a blue print for daytime difficulties such as irritability, poor academic performance in school and social and behavioral problems.

This age group needs to understand the importance of good sleep. Parents and children need to talk about the need for a consistent bed time routine and stick to that routine whenever possible.

Just as with younger children, a winding down time is helpful: listening to soft music, reading a suitable book, working at a quiet hobby are all good choices.

The bedroom needs to be cool, dark and quiet and free of a TV, computer or any electronic game viewing equipment.

Establishing and adhering to bed time routines is not easy. It often takes much effort and patience. But, helping our children develop and maintain good sleep habits is a wonderful life-long gift that only we can give. It makes going to bed much easier.

Courtesy of Norwegian Cruise Line

 In 2018, several cruise lines will introduce new cruise ships with features that make them resorts at sea, appealing to the child in all of us. While most cruise ships have been family-friendly for several years, the new ships bring activities  to cruising only seen before in land resorts and amusement parks. 

Here’s a peak at what these new resorts at sea cruise ships will be offering:

Carnival Horizon cruise ship will sail out of Miami to ports in the Eastern and Western Caribbean, and feature a Dr. Seuss water park; the Sky Ride where you strap in and zip safely around a suspended two-lane bike course high above the deck of the ship, and an IMAX Theatre .

Celebrity Edge, the latest of the Celebrity cruise ships will sail to the Eastern and Western Caribbean out of Port Everglades starting in December 2018. It’s most amazing amenity, the  Magic Carpet, is the world’s first cantilevered, a floating platform that reaches heights of 13 stories above sea level, so passengers can soar over the open ocean.

ms Nieuw Statendam, the newest member of the Holland America cruise ships will  have a 270 degree LED screen in the theater as well musical themes such as Billboard Onboard, Lincoln Center Stage, and B.B. King’s Blues Club.

Norwegian Bliss,will sail to Alaska and the Caribbean The Observation Lounge will be the perfect spot to watch bald eagles soar over glaciers or dolphins splashing in the Caribbean. The  Bliss will offer the largest race track at sea, and water slides that round the side of the ship.

Symphony of the Seas,  one of the Royal Caribbean cruise ships will be the largest cruise ship ever built when it goes into service in the Spring of 2018. and will accommodate 6,000 guests.  It will feature a 10 story slide, robot bartenders, an ice skating rink, an aqua theater, and have 20 restaurants on board. It will sail to the Caribbean from Miami, Florida after a season in the Mediterranean.

Viking Spirit – Viking’s fifth ocean cruise ship will have an aft infinity pool, thermal suite with snow room (complimentary),and  two story explorer’s lounge. Every stateroom will have a private veranda. Wi-Fi, specialty restaurants, thermal suite, laundry room, and 24/7 room service will all be complimentary.

Each of these new cruise ships will feature a number of new amenities in addition to the ones described above, as well as all the family-friendly amenities described in detail in our fist cruise article, “What Makes a Cruise Family-friendly?“

A few weeks ago we featured an article, Down-in-the-Mines at 9, by Ned Campbell, about young boys working in the coal mines; this article, also by Ned Campbell, is about the Bobbin Girls, the young girls who worked long hours in the textile factories.

In the early 1900’s America was industrializing rapidly and one industry that was very profitable was textiles. Textiles are the fabric that will make clothing. Weaving the threads of cotton or wool together in large steam powered machines would produce the fabric. Women worked the mills and young girls, often their own daughters, worked at keeping the machines well supplied with bobbins of thread.

The above picture is of one of the spinners in a Cotton Mill. She has been in the mill one year. Sometimes she works at night, and makes 48 cents a day. Out of 50 employees, there were ten Bobbin Girls  about her size.

Website – http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/childlabor/

 The noise of the looms

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OES84dRCLM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qi32teGBOXA

The Industrial Revolution: A Boon to Industry, A Bane to Childhood

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHmqEqJN59o

Before child labor laws were enforced in this country, the Bobbin Girls worked long  days, in unhealthy conditions, in the textile mills.

Source: 

Ned M Campbell is a West Point graduate and former U.S. Army Officer, who also teaches United States history at a public high school in Brooklyn, NY. He is a published writer, and a volunteer contributor to “Can Do” Street blog for kids and parents. In addition, he is the voice of Coach Campbell in the “Can Do” Street program.