10 Ways to Shop Smarter for Better Health

Healthy living and good nutrition starts with the shopping list. You can’t cook a healthy meal if the ingredients are anything but. It all starts with smart decisions in the store and foregoing some of your favorite snacks.

How exactly are you supposed to shop smart for a healthier life? Shopping in itself is a daunting task and making smart decisions about the right food to buy for you and your family is even more challenging. With a little care and guidance though, you can learn to make better decisions pertaining healthy foods and start shopping for healthy living.

Here at Bellaire emergency room, we understand that shopping for food is a critical part of anyone’s health and have put together a list of tips which you can use to make smarter choices when shopping for a healthier life. Here are the tips;

10 Smart Ways to Shop for Better Health

Always make a shopping list

One of the most important ways to ensure that you are shopping for better health, is to make a comprehensive list of all the foods that you are looking to buy. By making a list, you will be able to gauge how balanced the resultant diet will be.

If there are any nutrients which you feel are not sufficient in the diet, you can then add the source foods to the list. Making a list also means that you won’t impulsively buy and will therefore be saving lots of money while at it.

Understand the supermarket or store where you are going to shop upfront

The other smart way of ensuring that you shop healthy for better life, is understanding the store at which you intend to shop. Understanding the store will not only make it easy for you to pick up the supplies but will help you reduce interaction with the sections that have the tempting junk food which you are trying to avoid.

Shop for low fat everything

Most animal products have a low fat option. Be it cheese, yoghurt, salad dressings, milk and even gravies, there is always a low fat option and this is what you should always look to buy. Incredibly, low-fat products are cheaper than their counterparts. You’ll therefore be eating healthy for less.

Buy leaner cuts of meat and skin off chicken

Another smart tip which very many people are not aware of, is leaner meat and skin-off chicken are healthier than their counterparts. To know if the meat you are purchasing is lean or not, look out for the Heart Foundation tick of approval.

As for chicken, the skin off option is healthier because the skin contains a lot of calories and raw saturated fat. Skinless chicken is therefore healthier and saves you time when chopping up the pieces.

Buy groceries and other perishables last

This is a tip which most people are aware of but almost always forget when they are out shopping. Shopping for groceries and other perishables last, means that you will spend as little time as possible with the shopping before refrigerating it.

Check expiry dates

Sounds obvious, doesn’t it? Well, expiry dates might seem obvious but incredibly millions of Americans end up stocking expired foods. Always check the expiry date on every foodstuff that you are buying and make sure that its sell by date is still months or even years away. This applies especially if you are planning to shop for a month’s long supplies or even longer.

Avoid the center aisles of stores

The architecture of all stores is almost the same. The perimeter of the grocery store is stocked with fresh foods like fruits, dairy products, vegetables and similar products. The center aisles are laden with junk foods and the snacks which any person that cares about their health should avoid.

Junk food and snacks are packaged to attract you and the best way to avoid temptations, is by not interacting with them. Avoid the center aisles-be smart.

Avoid multi-ingredient foods

Foods that have more than 3 ingredients should be avoided at all costs. Natural foods with their nutrients still intact are way better than processed foods which are laden with different ingredients some of which are artificial.

Avoid shopping branded foods

Don’t let the branding and packaging fool you. Your health shouldn’t be dictated by the TV commercials. Take time to understand the ingredients in all the foods you intend to buy before actually picking them up. This way, you will be shopping for a better life.

Let Bellaire advise you on diet

If you are in Bellaire and are looking for experts to advise you on the best shopping techniques for a healthier lifestyle, talk to our experts here at Bellaire Emergency Room. Give us a call or come down to our emergency room and we will gladly be of service to you.

Why be an emergency room nurse

As a nursing student, a time will come when you will have to choose the most appropriate working place for you. Although fate sometimes dictates where you will end up, you sometimes have a choice on the most ideal place to offer your nursing services in and today, we want to give you a reason to work in an emergency room as a nurse.

Why be an emergency room nurse

Emergency rooms are some of the best places if not the ultimate place of work for ambitious nurses. The emergency room is fast paced, handles a plethora of medical conditions and is staffed by multidisciplinary emergency care experts making it perfect for any ambitious professional.

As such, there are very many benefits of working as an emergency room nurse and we want to review some of them and give you a reason why you should join other ambitious nurses working in emergency rooms;

Benefits of working as an emergency room nurse

Speed of service

The regular doctor’s office offers a steadier pace of work while the emergency room requires you to be always on your feet. The schedules in the regular doctor’s office are more consistent and you can almost predict what is going to happen. Rarely will you be required to attend to emergency unplanned for cases.

The emergency room on the other hand is a fast paced working environment with no dull moment. You can never anticipate what form of injury or medical condition is going to storm right through the door and this is quite thrilling.

This speed of service trains you to always be on your feet and manage your time properly. You will need to get everything done on time otherwise you will be caught up with time in your endeavors. This improves you even in your daily life and helps you to get things done right and in the shortest time possible.

Sociability

The other perk of working as an emergency room doctor is that you will be required to be very sociable and be able to quickly and amicably communicate with not just the patients but the other practitioners within the ER.

Things go by in a flash and without proper coordination and communication between the relevant departments it is very easy for tragedy to arise. It therefore calls for ER nurses to be able to communicate well and effectively and those who work in ER hone these skills over time.

Minimal paperwork to deal with

If you are freaked out by records and the massive day to day paperwork, then you’d better apply to become an emergency room nurse. Nurses in the emergency room, handle very little or no paperwork at all.

Nurses working in a regular doctor’s office have to handle tons of paperwork and handle all matters pertaining insurance. In the ER your primary concern is helping the physician with administering medication and ushering in patients. Paperwork will be handled by someone else although you might be required from time to time to lend a helping hand.

Professional experience

The emergency room provides a better opportunity to work with various types of illnesses and injuries of different intensities. This means that you will need every bit of your medical expertise here in the emergency room. Dealing with that many medical conditions only serves to improve your expertise and medical experience.

In an emergency room you also get to interact with more professionals than in a doctor’s office. This interactions will help you understand how to correlate with these professionals and this will make your future nursing experience very easy.

The thrilling experience of saving lives

As earlier mentioned, there is never a dull moment in the ER. Whether you are rushing a patient to theatre or are waiting outside the ER to receive a patient being brought in by an ambulance, there really is never a dull moment in the ER.

The experience of working in the ER is thrilling and it is also very satiating knowing that you are saving lives, left, right and center. Nobody wants to work in a very boring, eventless environment with little or no action, or do you?

All in all, no work place is better than the other. The choice really depends on your interests and abilities. It is always wise to pick a specialty that challenges you and brings the best out you without becoming overly choosy. This way, you will enjoy a rewarding nursing career.

Emergency rooms like us here at Bellaire Emergency rooms are prime career destinations for ambitious nurses who are looking to advance their careers to the next level by serving the locals who need their skills and dedication. If you were undecided about your future in nursing, then consider working as an emergency room nurse and take your career to the next level.

Why become an emergency room doctor

In a demanding career such as medicine, it is imperative for doctors and graduates to find the best fit for their careers for them to be as productive as possible. There is a wide range of areas of specialization in the world of medicine and it is important for one to choose in the area they feel most comfortable.

One of the most demanding yet satisfying area of specialty in medicine, is working in an emergency room. Emergency rooms are fast paced working environments full of surprises and working thrills. All this make up for a very rewarding and satisfying career which doctors in the other areas of specialization don’t get to enjoy.

So, what are the perks of working as an emergency doctor? What are some of the benefits of working as an emergency room doctor? We talked to some of our best physicians here at Bellaire Emergency Room about their careers and they had plenty to say about the benefits of working in such an environment. Here are some of the benefits of working in emergency medicine and why you should become an emergency room doctor;

Why become an emergency room doctor

Milks the best out of you

There is no area of specialty in medicine which gets the best out of a medical doctor quite like the emergency room does. See, working in an emergency room as a doctor, means that you will encounter literally every form of medical condition there is out there.

You never know the next condition that you will be summoned to handle and this means that you will always need to be at your best to handle the patients therein. The vast nature of medical conditions which you will be handling from time to time will mean that all you expertise and skills learnt in med school will be put to good use.

Gives you valuable professional experience

The ups and downs, together with the numerous medical conditions which you encounter on a daily basis will give you valuable professional experience which you will need in your life. There is a popular saying in medicine which says that if one manages to work in an emergency room, then he or she can work in any other area of medicine.

Whether you are a graduate looking for valuable experience to kick start your career or are a seasoned doctor looking to get the best day to day experience, then the emergency room is the place to be.

Requires good time management skills

The other perk of working in an emergency room is that you will be required to always be on your toes and ready for any eventuality. This demands good time management skills and the ability to get things done in the shortest time possible.

It is also important to note that working in an emergency offers some degree of flexibility to doctors. Contrary to the popular opinion that emergency doctors work round the clock, they actually work in shifts and in any typical day, they will be required for just about 5 hours.

Make an impact in society

Although all branches of medicine have a direct impact in society, no area of specialty has quite a direct and almost palpable impact as emergency medicine does. You literally will be required to save lives in most of the situations that you will be faced with.

Sociability

The other perk of working as an emergency room doctor is that you will be required to be very sociable and be able to quickly and amicably communicate with not just the patients but the other practitioners within the ER.

Things go by in a flash and without proper coordination and communication between the relevant departments it is very easy for tragedy to arise. It therefore calls for ER nurses to be able to communicate well and effectively and those who work in ER hone these skills over time.

Opportunities elsewhere

Thanks to the flexible schedule in the ER, it is possible for emergency room doctors to venture into other professional opportunities. This is a perfect opportunity for one to further their career and achieve bigger things in life.

Some people opt to open their private clinics while others offer services as consultants when they are not working in the emergency room.

Choose emergency room medicine for a rewarding career

Want a rewarding career full of thrills and memorable experiences? Well, emergency medicine is the perfect place to work in. You will interact with other professionals, build good relationships with the patients whose life you will have saved and get compensated handsomely for all of it.

Choose to work in emergency rooms like us here at Bellaire emergency room and you will have nothing short of a scintillating career with very good fruits. Choose emergency medicine for the best experiences as a medical doctor.