Welcome to Baby Boomer Health Care

This app is so handy to use. It’s compatible with iPhone, iPod touch and the iPad and there is an Android app you can download. The company also states they are currently working on making it possible to download the app from other phones.  I’ve downloaded it to my iPhone.  When I go to the grocery store, I look at the ingredients on the back of every box and every can, before I put it into my grocery cart. It used to be very time consuming and sometimes the print is so small I can barely read it.

But now my life has been made a lot easier, at least when it comes to grocery shopping.  Now when I go to the store, I go to my app “Fooducate” and when I look at a box of cereal I scan it with my iPhone and Fooducate tells me about the cereal.  I find out how much sugar is in a serving, if it is really healthy for me or not and actually has an “alternative” cereal that is more healthy for me.

I’m always amazed at how deceiving a food product really is.  The name of the product will make you think it’s really good for us.  For instance,  the cereal  may contain the words “whole grain” in its title but, in reality, it isn’t 100% whole grain.  There may be a small quantity but I would have thought it was 100% whole grain. With this app I can find out what it is really made of and how much of the “good stuff” is in there and how much of the “bad stuff” is in there.  It tells me if it contains trans fat and/or BHT.  Fooducate will even rate the food for you. 

The app has about 160,000 products and they update it continuously.  It was initially created by dieticians and concerned parents. It appears to be a totally objective analysis.  The company claims it is not associated with any food manufacturers and the company doesn’t sell any pills, supplements or diets.

I really recommend trying this app out.  I have been amazed at how wrong I am about certain products I’ve been buying for years and the app has done all the hard work.  I love this one.   

Well, it looks like we care more about certain health concerns and not enough about the biggest threat to baby boomer’s health – being obese.  I actually thought we were thinner than the generation above us and certainly thinner than the the generation younger than us.  But, 36% of us are obese and  we are 10% heavier than the generation below and above us.  There are 36% of us who fall in the “overweight” category.  That means there are only 28% of us who aren’t overweight.  Those are pretty incredible statistics.

I know how hard it is to lose weight.  I have had to diet almost my entire life.  But, I know one thing I did that made it a lot easier.  Instead of changing what I eat I just cut down on the amount.  I don’t eat a lot of bad foods and I love vegetables and salads.  But, I also love breads, pizza and fattening sauces.  So, when I have bread, I just eat one slice instead of two.  I eat about one-third less than I used to and I lost 10 pounds and have kept it off.  I didn’t give up anything.  I just eat less of it.

According to the article, which was taken from a study reported in Medical News Today, not only does being obese cause some cancers, it also increases the likelihood of a cancer recurring or being an aggressive cancer.  It could cause sleep apnea, respiratory problems, liver and gallbladder disease and, of course, high blood pressure and diabetes.

The article goes on to state that obese baby boomers will cost 34% more than those who aren’t obese.  However, the article also went on to say that one third of us are trying to do something to improve our health.  Those statistics are encouraging but we need to raise the numbers of baby boomers trying to improve their health.

What i am trying to say is we have to help each other.  If you need to lose a few pounds.  Find a partner to do it with.  It’s easier when we have someone to “share” the experience with and it doubles the  accomplishment because there are two of us losing weight, not just one.  We have gone through so much in our life; from assassinations of a president, presidential candidate, Martin Luther King, Viet Nam, etc., etc. We owe it to ourselves to be our own best friend.  We all deserve to enjoy our “sunset” years and I am here to help in any way I can.

I am going to partner with my husband to lose my next five pounds.  Good luck ya’ll.

Dr. David Brailer was recently interviewed by the Wall Street Journal regarding the idea of individuals having access to their own electronic health (EHR)records.  If you look around our website you will find  many EHR articles directed to healthcare professionals regarding setting up their offices with EHRs.  The government is even providing a cash incentive for those healthcare providers who set up an EHR system and follow specific guidelines set up by the government to reach “meaningful use.”  

What does this mean for us babyboomers?  There are definite advantages and perhaps some disadvantages.  A couple of the advantages are that we could obtain access to our medical records so that we will have information regarding medications, lab reports, x-rays, etc., no matter where we are.  It also means the possibility of going to an office who is unfamiliar with your situation yet would be able access all your records with a couple of “clicks” on the keyboard.

The negative of this is probably obvious.  The security and privacy aspect.  There are some concerns regarding information being hacked into but, this is also true of paper chart keeping. So, it isn’t an issue to be feared only if your records are kept electronically.

The Wall Street Journal refers to Dr. Brailer as  America’s first digital health czar and from my listening to the interview,  it appears he is very supportive of having medical records available to us electronically and he added that he felt it would be us babyboomers who push the EHR’s through the system to become as commonly used as emails.  

I think it is a great idea and I believe it would cut down on mistakes made by healthcare professionals. What do you think about it?

Thanks for coming to visit Baby Boomer Healthcare. We’re just getting started on the website, but we’ll be posting soon about all the various tools that a Baby Boomer can use for their healthcare needs. At least initially we’re likely going to focus on the various online tools that are out there to help baby boomers with their healthcare needs.

We’re passionate about the needs of Baby Boomers and we’ll be writing from the perspective of a baby boomer working to navigate this ever changing online world.

We’ll be looking at various cell phone applications that can help you find and receive better care. We’ll look at websites which can help you manage your healthcare in a more active way. We’ll do our best to be a one stop shop for all your baby boomer healthcare needs.

If you have ideas on what we should cover, have questions or want to participate in the site, please let us know in the comments below.