Musiccosmos

On busy mornings, we dream of the triple-cheddar melty goodness in this make-ahead breakfast burrito! Thanks to our sponsor Cache Valley Creamery for helping make these breakfast burritos a part of your morning routine!  Lifesaving Make-Ahead Breakfast As much as I’d love to serve my kids gourmet breakfasts on school mornings, most of the time that just can’t happen. Mornings are so busy! But making sure my kids eat a balanced meal before they head off to school is incredibly important to me. The best way I know how to reach this goal is make-ahead breakfasts. (You might call it batch cooking, meal prep, or food prep… the basic idea is the same.) We’re talking low-effort, big-impact recipes that deliver a week of meals or more, so you can eat great food later with minimal effort. How awesome is that? Breakfast burritos are one of our favorite make-ahead breakfasts.  They’re nutritious, they freeze incredibly well, they taste amazing, and they’re super filling. So today...

It’s a sweet idea, isn’t it? — The idea that there is someone out there who is a perfect match; who understands you completely, totally accepts you for who you are, is emotionally stable and sexually exciting, and with whom communication is so easy and natural that you never have conflict. Yeah. It’s a sweet idea. It’s also an idea that causes unrealistic expectations and disappointment in love. Believing it sends people on a search that is bound to fail. Even when people find someone they believe to be the mate of their soul, they are more often than not disappointed once they truly get to know them. Think about it: If there is only one someone out there who is your perfect match, the chance of finding him or her (or of that person finding you) is almost impossible. There are billions of people in the world. Who’s to say that your soul mate doesn’t live in another city or country? Maybe the perfect person for you is 20 years older or 8 years younger or not the gender you think you...

August is a popular time for many of us to take vacations. That’s what summer is all about, right? Many of us look forward to this summer vacation time all year. But what if you have obsessive-compulsive disorder ( OCD )? How does going on vacation, planning a vacation, or even thinking about a vacation, affect you and those around you? When my son Dan’s OCD was severe, he could barely move, let alone go on a vacation. But when his obsessive-compulsive disorder improved to a moderate level, he planned a trip to Canada with a friend for his winter break. He was excited about going, and from all accounts had a great time exploring and trying out exciting new activities such as dog sledding. He wasn’t able to leave his OCD behind completely on this trip, but still managed to enjoy himself most of the time. I, on the other hand, was worried the whole time he was gone. I was concerned about the stress of him traveling (he flew), the change in environment and routine, the absence of the...

Have you ever found yourself caught in a downward spiral of negative thoughts? It’s as if your mind is like a funnel with thoughts racing towards the bottom only to get stuck in the neck. The more you try to think your way out of the funnel the more distressed you become because there appears to be no way out. Negative thoughts can be overwhelming, and if we are not careful, they create pathways in our mind from which we draw . Unfortunately, thoughts rarely occur without emotions. When we add emotions to our negative thoughts, we try to think our way towards a solution yet as we spiral downward, a solution seems out of reach . So much so, that we start to panic . It may look something like this. (Figure 1) Picture a funnel, wide at the top, narrowing at the bottom. Consider the thought, “I feel grumpy today.” Now, put this thought into your funnel. This thought is worrisome but not distressing. However, what would happen if more worrisome thoughts followed? “I’m usually not ...

Mindful eating: The key to effortless weight loss What if the rise in obesity was directly correlated with the rise in our modern distractions?  After all, we are more distracted than ever.  Never before in human history have we been eating with so many things competing for our attention.  As a result, we are eating more calories than we could ever need.  We can’t even eat a meal without checking our phone.  Simply reconnecting with your food and eating without distraction can result in eating less food, while being MORE satisfied. For years, I’ve wanted to write about my own weight loss journey on this blog, but there were so many things holding me back. For one, I don’t like to talk about adult weight loss, on a platform for kids.   It’s a struggle for me to balance my personal physical goals with parenting.  I don’t ever want my kids to see me “obsess” about my weight, or have them misinterpret my weight loss efforts as being unsatisfied w...

Lunch foods you can make ahead and freeze! I am all about things that save you time when it comes to food prep.  The morning rush can be overwhelming to kids.  Especially, if you are like me, and require your kids to pack their own lunches. If they find it difficult to wake up, or leave too many things to do in the morning, ! Anything you can do to save time in the morning to get the kids out the door is a must!  For the same reason we all love freezer meals, you will love these ideas for freezer lunches.  The other reason freezing foods for school lunch is great is because you have to have a way to keep things cold until lunch.  I think the typical solution is an ice pack, right?  I just read a really interesting study about keep packed school lunch safe The study was published in the Journal of Pediatrics.  They looked at meat, dairy and vegetable items in packed lunches from preschool children (ages 3 to 5). After measuring the temperature...

Did you ever hear a quote, mantra or phrase that really hit you? It summed up your deepest thoughts and wishes in a few words. Recently, I was watching a reality show when a new father said about his baby’s mother, “She was built to be strong.” These words spoke to me. I think of it any time I’m confronting a challenging situation. But there are others. In this post , a writer lists 20 Carl Jung quotes including this: “ Depression is like a woman in black. If she turns up, don’t shoo her away. Invite her in, offer her a seat, treat her like a guest and listen to what she wants to say.” And this: “Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.” Do any of these speak to you? If they hold a modicum of truth, write it down and return to it when you need hope, encouragement and assurance that you’re not alone in you’re experience. The Difference Between an Emotionally Neglectful Parent and an Emotionally Attuned...

How to get back to your sleep schedule, to help kids be successful at school! As summer comes to a close and we prepare our children to head back to school we’ll load their backpacks with crayons, pencils and notebooks.  As you get your little one prepared for the upcoming school year, don’t forget about one back to school necessity that is often overlooked: Healthy sleep is essential for back to school success.   Children need sleep in order to learn at school.   It’s during the REM component of the sleep cycle that little minds solidify the learning of the previous day.  Memory consolidation also happens during sleep which means it’s much more difficult to file away new knowledge without a good night’s sleep.  On top of all that, children who are sleep deprived are more likely to be inattentive and forgetful at school. OUR LATEST VIDEOS Children need sleep in order to behave appropriately at school. MRI studies have shown that when people a...

 “Just be ’med-compliant’ and you’ll be okay.” That’s the message that hundreds of thousands of mentally ill people hear every day from society and their treatment teams. The message is simple: as long as you take your medications as prescribed, you’ll be fine, healthy, happy, and symptom free. But, is that actually how it works? Is something as serious as bipolar disorder or schizophrenia so easily treated that doctors can just dole out pills and *poof* — recovery? If it really is that simple, why are so many people suffering? The obvious answer is that no, it’s not that simple. In this episode, Gabe talks about the sexual side effects of his medications, Michelle discusses her reasons for initially refusing medications, and both hosts share the good, the bad, and the ugly about being “med-compliant.”       “What does severe mental illness look like?” – Gabe Howard   Highlights From ‘Psychiatric Medication’ Episode [0:00] We have been nominated f...

Oatmeal makes a delicious granola bar We went on a trip to Lake Powell with my sister in law’s family one year. We brought oatmeal to make for breakfast for us and the kids thinking it was an easy meal to pack.  My nephew, who was probably 9 or 10 said, “What are you eating?” I said, “Oatmeal.” He said, “Oatmeal for Breakfast???” I said, “Of course! Don’t you have oatmeal?” and he said, “Yeah, for cookies, but not for breakfast!” According to “The World’s Healthiest Foods,” Oats are the most nutrient-rich out of all the grains.  That’s great because they are so versatile too.  So why oats?  Excellent source of manganese, good source of fiber and vitamin B, high in protein, helps lower cholesterol, stabalizes mood by maintaining blood sugar, and they are available year round. How can we get our kids to eat more oats? OUR LATEST VIDEOS Hot oatmeal oatmeal cookies granola granola bars Added to baked goods like breads, cakes, muffin...

If you are like me, you may feel like this summer has flown by! My family just finished our back-to-school supply shopping and are gearing up for another year. As I passed through the rows if gel pens, disinfecting wipes, hand sanitizers and glue, I was reminded of how many calls we fielded in the Drug and Poison Information Center (DPIC) last year related to accidental exposures at school. As a pharmacist at DPIC, these are the things I think about often. Overall, the American Association of Poison Control Centers gets around 29,000 calls about school exposures every year. While some of them may occur due to dares or pranks, most (76%) are unintentional and avoidable. Licking hand sanitizer, chewing on pens, drinking nicotine liquid , and swallowing items like parts of a fidget spinner, are some examples of exposures that typically happen during school hours. I’d like to give a little more information about the types of calls we received related to exposures that take place at s...

“I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people.” –  Isaac Newton Schizophrenia is madness in motion. When I am psychotic — when I see and hear things others do not — it seems as though the buzz of atoms, the molecular bonds that hold things together, reveal themselves as tiny humming grains beneath the appearance of my surroundings. It took me a while to learn my illness isn’t like other ways of being sick: it knows everything I know. It uses my brain against me and the more active and operational one’s brain, the more powerful the disease: the more tools it has at its disposal. When I learn new coping methods so does the disease, which in turn seeks to undermine them. As I say, it knows everything I know. That is why a lot of the time I choose to blunt my brain: with drugs, with alcohol, with sleep . For a long time I existed in a dysfunctional zombie-like haze before I learned to manage a rough, teetering balance between sedation and awaren...

Europe’s counterpart to the US Food and Drug Administration is temporarily scaling back activities as it anticipates greater-than-expected loss of staff when it relocates due to Brexit. The European Medicines Agency said Wednesday that it would scale back or suspend certain activities through next year so that it can focus on evaluating and supervising medicines ahead of a planned move from its current home in London to Amsterdam, set to take place by the date Brexit occurs, on March 30, 2019. The cutbacks will take place on Oct. 1 “at the latest.” The EMA will cut back international collaboration in areas like harmonizing global regulations, in which the agency said it will take only a reactive role. On issues like antimicrobial resistance and vaccines, it will maintain activities “as long as possible,” but review them on a case-by-case basis. Clinical data publication, development and revision of guidelines, working parties not related to products and other activities will be s...

CareCloud is dipping its toes into a variety of areas within the healthcare realm. The Miami, Florida-based company offers practice management, EHR, revenue cycle and patient experience solutions to physician practices. All the tools are in the cloud. The organization was founded in 2009 and secured its first client in early 2010. Initially, it was more heavily focused on the practice management and scheduling side, CEO Ken Comée said in a phone interview. But since its inception, the medical landscape has been changing. Along the way, the company had its own developments as well. In 2015, CareCloud announced $15 million in new funding, as well as the appointment of Comée as CEO. The next year, it raised $31.5 million in a Series C round led by Blue Cloud Ventures. PNC Financial Services Group, First Data Corporation, Norwest Venture Partners, Intel Capital, Tenaya Capital and Adams Street Partners also participated. Today, the healthcare industry is shi...

Stanford Medicine hired Dr. Tait Shanafelt as chief wellness officer last year, not so much for the well-being of the patients — but of the physicians. An oncologist and hematologist by training, Shanafelt, 46, has become a national leader in the movement to end  physician “burnout”  — the cumulative effect of years of stress that can compromise patient care and cause doctors to leave medicine. After 12 years at the Mayo Clinic, Shanafelt now heads up Stanford’s  WellMD Center , dedicated to physician health. He also serves as an associate dean of the Stanford University medical school. He lives in Portola Valley, Calif., with his wife, a nurse, who works part-time, and their four children, ages 4 to 13. Dr. Tait Shanafelt (Julie Greicius/Stanford School of Medicine) Shanafelt’s goal is to address the systemic problems in medicine — long hours, a culture of blame, endless record-keeping — and find solutions that go far beyond  yoga classes  or  free...

In the annals of the pharmaceutical industry, it’s hard to find an event more infamous than the thalidomide scandal. The drug, originally developed by German drugmaker Gr ü nenthal , was marketed in 1957 in Europe, Australia and parts of South America to treat morning sickness in pregnant women. But soon thereafter, it was blamed for severe birth defects in more than 10,000 babies across dozens of countries and an untold number of miscarriages, leading to a 1961 ban. Meanwhile, the US, the Food and Drug Administration did not approve it, and FDA scientist Frances Oldham Kelsey, who played a key role in keeping the drug from reaching American shores, died in 2015 at the age of 101. Despite the drug’s notoriety, the underlying mechanism for its infamous fetal toxicity had been poorly understood. But now, a team of researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston may have resolved the question. In addition, their research may also point the way forward in the development of ...

It came as something of a surprise when Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar announced that the administration was  exploring the importation of prescription drugs  to fight high domestic prices. Azar and Scott Gottlieb, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, who  also endorsed  the new proposal, had previously opposed the idea. But drug prices in the U.S. have continued to rise and more than 80 percent of Americans say the government should take action. President Donald Trump has said drugmakers are “ getting away with murder ” and has angrily  tweeted at companies  about individual price hikes. Although the candidate Trump supported the idea of allowing patients to import medicines, since he was elected he has not mentioned that option — which is strongly opposed by drug companies. Now, determined to explore more avenues to curb price hikes, the administration is signaling that it is willing to consider what the industry regards a...