Lauren Badger: President of UGA's Student Dietetic Assocication

Some college students do the bare minimum for their major by just attending classes and taking tests. However, some students take every opportunity to immerse themselves in all aspects of their major. Lauren Badger, Student Dietetic Association president and a senior at UGA, is one of those students.

As president of the Student Dietetic Association (SDA), which has about 60 members, Badger has lots to do to keep everything running smoothly. She wears many hats as president, as a spokesperson for SDA, leading meetings, setting up committees, and developing service projects, to name a few. While Badger stays busy running SDA, she modestly notes that she couldn’t do it without the officers, which she delegates tasks to so that no one gets too overwhelmed.

Badger got involved with SDA after it was recommended to her the summer before college. Most dietetics majors are in the organization, which Badger has been a member of since freshman year. However, Badger did not just step into this leadership position. She was prepared for the role after being secretary of SDA for two years and notes that “it’s nice to finally be at this point.”

The SDA has three main goals that they fulfill through their meeting and events: networking, social, and service. While networking is important in every field of study, it is vital for dietetics majors, who are required to have an internship after they graduate to become certified. Speakers from around the state come to SDA meetings to help students learn more about the field and internships. The organization also has a social aspect, as members get to know each other and a social event is held each semester. In addition, SDA has about three service projects per a semester, including making PB&Js for the homeless in Athens and bake sales at Tate Student Center to benefit projects of the American Dietetic Association. SDA combines different aspects of dietetics to give members a well-rounded experience.

As President, Badger has goals for where she would like SDA to be in the future. Among them, she would like to see more interaction between students on campus and SDA. In addition, she would also like SDA to educate students, both at UGA and around Athens. These goals for the group stem from the reasons why Badger chose dietetics as a major.

Badger chose her major by combining her interest in nutrition with her passion for helping people. With a major in dietetics, she could help lots of people. Badger seems more than satisfied with her major by saying, “I think it was a great choice because I’m happy here.”

After Badger graduates this May, she plans to attend graduate school to get her Master’s Degree of Public Health. While in graduate school, she will also do an internship to become a Registered Dietician. In the future, Badger hopes to work for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) or Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to provide food assistance to low-income areas. She is particularly interested in the nutrition of mothers and children and more preventative nutrition. After she graduates, Badger will continue her leadership and service through her future plans.

Cucumbers for Bad Breath?

Vitamin G (Glamour): Cucumbers are refreshing and loaded with vitamins, but as an added bonus they also fight bad breath! Who would have known? Read this post for more info on the benefits of cucumbers.

A Slimming Snack

Vitamin G (Glamour): For a slimming snack after Thanksgiving, try grilled fruit (pineapple, pears, apples) with fat-free plain yogurt mixed with honey. This healthy snack sounds delicious and refreshing!

Low-Acid Eating

Well (NY Times): Before reading this post, I had never heard of low-acid diets. For better bone health this post describes a low-acid diet with lots of fruits and veggies, but less acid-producing proteins and cereal grains. For those concerned about osteoporosis, this may be something to look into!

Why Some Germs are Good

Vitamin G (Glamour): This post explains why some germs can be okay and even healthy! For germaphobes like me, this is refreshing news that I need to be reminded about. So if this fits your profile, you may want to read this too!

Dangers of Hot Tubs

While hot tubs are usually thought of as relaxing and fun, there are many dangers associated with them. Here are some stats from a NY Times article to think about the next time you take a dip:
• Between 1990-2007, 80,000 people went to the emergency room for hot tub or whirl pool injuries (74% of these injuries happen at home)
• Since 1990 there have been 800 hot tub associated deaths (90% were children under 3)

While hot tubs can be dangerous, they can still be fun if you take some precautions:
• Only use the hot tub for 10-15 minutes
• Do not set the temperature above 104 degrees
• Supervise children in areas around hot tubs!

Staying Fit During Thanksgiving

Fit Bottomed Girls: While Thanksgiving may be a holiday centered on eating, this blogger gives four tips to stay fit during the holidays. I've highlighted some of her tips, but read the blog to learn more!
1. Every bit of exercise counts, so squeeze in what you can
2. Pack compact exercise equipment for travel
3. Make exercise a fun family event
4. Portion control!

Living with Type 1 Diabetes

Well (NY Times): This blog post gives a greater look into life with diabetes through the eyes of a woman who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes during college. She discusses how diabetes has impacted her life and how she hopes for a cure for diabetes.

Improve your health...for free

WSJ Health Blog: This blog talks about four free ways you can improve your health: getting enough sleep, spending more time in the sun, volunteering, and exercise. While this sounds easy enough, we could all add a little more of each of these things to our lives!

Be Positive!

Paging Dr. Gupta (CNN): In this post Dr. Gupta talks about adding a positive attitude to your New Years resolutions. While this may sound like simple advice, thinking positive can help your health and overall well-being.

Spoon Sizes & Portions

Vitamin G (Glamour): This blogger decided to test out two sets of her spoons to see whether a teaspoon really measured a teaspoon and if a tablespoon really measured a tablespoon. While she found her spoons were accurate, spoon sizes vary and how much you try to fit in your spoon matters too.

Nutrition Labeling Pt. 2

Fox Health Blog: This blog post talks about nutrition labeling, with an emphasis on % daily value and label claims. For those baffled by labels on food, this is a must-read!

Nutrition Labeling Pt. 1

Fox Health Blog: This post gives a simple guide to decode nutrition labels. While labels can be confusing for most shoppers, this guide will help you the next time you go to the store.

Required Fitness Class to Graduate

Vitamin G (Glamour): Lincoln University in Pennsylvania is requiring obese students (those with BMIs 30 and above) to take a fitness class before they graduate. While this newsy topic is controversial, the university is just trying to help the overall well-being of their students.

Vegan Cooking for Thanksgiving

Well (NY Times): With a variety of guests attending your Thanksgiving meal, sometimes you have to create new dishes to fit their dietary needs. This post discusses creating vegan dishes (without any animal products--butter, cheese, milk or eggs) for your Thanksgiving meal.

Play Sounds While Sleeping To Aid Memory

A NY Times article says that a new study has shown that playing certain sounds while you are sleeping can help you to remember things you studied before you went to sleep. While I have always been skeptical about theories such as these, this study seems to be onto something.
The idea in this theory is that sound cues during your sleep help you to rehearse ideas you learned during the day. This rehearsal helps you to remember more.

Although this study seems legitimate, some sleep experts are still not convinced due to the lack of evidence. The study was fairly elementary, for example, showing participants a picture of a cat and having a cat meowing in their sleep. While playing sounds during sleep may not help your memory for all topics, this could be helpful with memorizing some things. A greater variety of research on this topic will help us to learn more.

Mammogram Debate

Fox Health Blog: As the mammogram debate continues, Dr. Coomer weighs in on when women should be screened and guidelines. One of her main points in the post is how screening is important to save every woman's life possible and this means screening women starting at 40.

Crib Recall

The World Newser (ABC): This post talks about the largest crib recall that has happen in U.S. history. The Stork Craft cribs were recalled due to the drop-side feature, but all parents of young children should check for possible recalls of products their children use.

Tax on Cosmetic Surgery?

WSJ Health Blog: This post discusses the Senate's proposed 5% tax on elective cosmetic procedures in the health care bill. Many people are fighting this tax, mainly by using the argument that this discriminates against women. While the tax is not in the House bill, it is an interesting element of the health care bill to follow.

Surgery Mistakes

WSJ Health Blog: This post talks about new survey results which shows that 9% of surgeons say they have made a "major medial error" in the past three months. These results are astounding and the article continues to discuss possible reasons and overall quality of life of surgeons.

Medical Marijuana

WSJ Health Blog: With the growing use of medical marijuana, new legislature comes in waves. There are now around 1,000 medical marijuana stores in L.A. alone, with other stores popping up around the city and other parts of the state. However, this post brings up issues of medical marijuana and taxation, which is a growing debate.

Pap Smear Debate

WSJ Health Blog: After my earlier post about the new mammogram guidelines and the debate that has stirred, I found this post interesting about new pap smear guidelines. During the health care debate, these stories about women's health are interesting and important to follow.

Swine-Flu Update

WSJ Health Blog: This post gives an update on what is happening with swine-flu around the world. It talks about resistance, mutations, declines, and H1N1 in China

E. Coli Outbreak

Recently in my News Writing lecture we had a guest speaker from the NY Times who told us about a story they had written about an E. Coli contamination and how a young women had become paralyzed from bad ground beef. While E. Coli outbreaks happen from time to time, I've never thought much about any programs that may arise from having a hamburger. However, once again, there has been an E. Coli outbreak in ground beef that has left 2 dead and 28 sick, to date. While the contaminated meat was only distributed in 8 states, it is possible that the contaminated meat was sold in potentially any state, because stores distribute products among themselves.

If you have purchased ground beef from the following stores, your beef could potentially be contaminated: Trader Joe's, Price Chopper, Lancaster and Wild Harvest, Shaw's, B.J.'s, Ford Brothers, and Giant Food Stores.

For more information on the subject and on recalls visit CNN.

BPA Concerns in Name-Brand Canned Foods

On afternoon in college my mom called me to say that she had thrown out my Nalgene water bottle collection from high school informed me that I should throw out the ones I had at school with me. The reason? BPA. Concerns were made when a chemical used in hard plastics, bisphenol A, was found to potentially cause reproductive abnormalities, breast and prostate cancers, diabetes, and heart disease. While the FDA and CDC claim that low levels of BPA are not dangerous, this chemical has not been studied enough to truly know everything about its potential harm.

After the frenzy of replaces water bottles and baby bottles, many people, including myself, thought everything was under control. However, a new study found 19 name-brand foods contained BPA from their plastic linings.
Foods with highest levels of BPA:
• Del Monte Fresh Cut Green Beans Blue Lake
• Progresso Vegetable Soup
• Campbell's Condensed Chicken Soup

While BPA in small amounts is not shown to be harmful so far, it is a good idea to know how much BPA your products contain and how much you are potentially ingesting. For more information read Study Finds Plastic Chemical BPA in Name-Brand Canned Foods - Children's Health - FOXNews.com

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Mammograms: The debate on when to get tested

While most health professionals agree that mammograms are important in detecting cancer early, there is debate on when women should be screened. Most doctors say that women below 40 and above 70 who are not at a high risk for breast cancer do not need to be screened, but some doctors say that women who are not at risk really only need to be screened between the ages of 50 and 60.

Women who are a higher risk for breast cancer include women who:
•have a sister or mother with breast cancer
•are taking hormones to treat menopause symptoms
•have a history of biopsies
•have not been pregnant before 30
•have dense breast tissue

While there is a debate on when women should be screened, 40,000 women in the U.S. die each year from breast cancer, so it is important to find out if you are at a greater risk and consult your doctor on when to be screened. For more information on mammogram research read this NY Times article.

Swine Flu Vaccine

Swine Flu has been a hot topic this year. Who's got it, who had it, and how to not get it. Now what's being discussed is the H1N1 Swine Flu Vaccine to prevent being infected. While no vaccine is 100% effective or completely safe for everyone, after reading about the vaccine it seems to be a good idea to me. While there may be minor side effects from the vaccine for some people, possible side effects seem like a much better option than being infected with swine flu. It's your choice this season, but if you'd like to read more WebMD has some great information about myths and facts associated with swine flu.

Is the H1N1 Swine Flu Vaccine Safe?