How to Get and Stay Mentally Healthy

Karen Bermel LIMHP, MC

As you can see by this blog’s title, our topic is about getting and staying healthy from a mental-health perspective. Quite often, we hear about how to stay physically healthy – good nutrition, decent sleep, some exercise – those types of things really do help us all work toward or maintain good physical health. What’s really interesting to me is that some of the very same things that help us stay physically fit can help us stay mentally fit. Good nutrition, decent sleep, and some reasonable exercise can help each … Continue reading

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A Little Dessert (recipe included)

Toni Kuehneman

May is a busy month for families. So many happy events occur during the month; with first communion, confirmation, graduations, Mother’s Day and Memorial Day, many families gather with extended family and friends to celebrate. The most frequent question that I hear throughout the year, but especially in December and May is, “Do you have a healthy dessert?” That question puzzles me every time. For me the word healthy means health-promoting.  A food filled with nutrients like protein, carbohydrate, fiber, vitamins and minerals. So for me, the healthiest dessert is … Continue reading

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Conflict is Normal, Bullying is Not

Karen Bermel LIMHP, MC

I had many great suggestions this week regarding what to blog about. For those who recommended I blog about grief and loss, PTSD, marital struggles, and other topics I give you a big thank you! I will do my best to write on those topics in the near future. The topic of bullying, however, came up quite a bit this week – so that’s where this blog is headed. Conflict, as most of us know, is a normal part of life. As adults, we are often faced with various frustrations … Continue reading

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Eating seafood: there’s a catch (recipe included)

Toni Kuehneman

Whenever I quote the latest recommendation from the American Heart Association (AHA) or the USDA concerning seafood, I am met with the same statement, “I do not like fish”. Sometimes I wonder how this could be true. During the Lenten season, the social halls at the local Catholic Churches are filled with happy customers eating fried or baked fish and all the trimmings. Maybe it is simply that people do not like to prepare and cook seafood at home. Did you know that the AHA and the USDA recommend eating … Continue reading

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Adolescents, Depression, and Warning Signs

Karen Bermel LIMHP, MC

Alegent Health is blessed to have several excellent medication providers and therapists who work with adolescents. As you can imagine, there are so many challenges to being in junior high and high school these days: grades, friends, dating, sex, family situations – there are so many internal and external influences. Anyone who is the parent of an adolescent knows exactly what I’m talking about. Adolescence can be a very rich and rewarding time for our kids. They are making changes physically and mentally, and preparing to enter into the world … Continue reading

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