ingridsturgis.com Blog

I
took to the streets to find out which scents made the guys swoon and which just
made then yawn. The clear winner?  Sean
John Unforgivable Woman. The guys all
seemed intrigued by the elegant floral scent.  Philip Oliver, an administrator for a Washington, D.C.-based
non-profit o
rganization, sums it up, ” Wow! Now that’s a classy scent!  It’s a nice floral but it isn’t
overpowering.”

The evaluation is “an opportunity to perform better by going into
the future with it,” Jefferson explains. Below, the five steps he
believes employees should take after a less-than-desirable review.

1. Assess your feelings.Take inventory of how you’re feeling after
   receiving a bad review. Are you angry? Confused? Sad? These are the
   questions Jefferson says you should ask yourself. During this step,
   assess whether you can still do the job, and determine if anything has
   changed since you took the position. Are there fewer resources
   available, did a work team decrease in size or did the velocity of your
   work increase and you were not ready, able or capable of doing the
   work? This is the period where you are determining what may have
   contributed to the negative review.
3. Analyze differences you and your supervisor(s) have about your
   job performance. Write down any discrepancies between how you thought
   you=2
   0were performing and what’s expressed in the review. It is important to
   close the gap between what your employer thinks and what you believe
   about your work performance. Be completely honest with yourself. The
   two of you could not jibe over something such as punctuality or meeting
   deadlines.
5. Consider your options. Now that you’ve completed a
   self-assessment of your feelings and outlined the performance gaps,
   it’s time to determine what you’re prepared to do in response to the
   review. Do whatever helps you prepare for a time of reflection–whether
   it’s meditating, sitting alone or re-reading the review. “It’s not
   about the job; it’s about you. It may take a few hours (to figure this
   out); it may take a day,” Jefferson says. During this stage weigh your options and “come up with a whole
   laundry list of things you need to consider.” This is where you should
   ask yourself whether you find a mentor, coach or sponsor, or consider
   additional education to help you perform better at work, or if you need
   to look for a new job. You may even decide your current line of work
   isn’t fulfilling your life’s purpose and opt to switch to a new
   industry. Be honest with yourself and trust your spirit. Don’t allow
   fear to keep you imprisoned in your current position if your spirit is
   pointing in another direction.
7. Create an action plan to impro
   ve your performance or plan to make an exit. “What action are you
   willing to take?” Jefferson asks. If you had trouble meeting deadlines,
   get clarity from your manager on when projects are due. If punctuality
   is an issue, the action plan would say you’re going to arrive 10
   minutes earlier for work. If you are planning to resign from your
   position, take the proper steps to find new employment or income stream.
9. Commit to improving. This is for two people: yourself and your
   supervisor. “It’s a decision to surrender to the decision to make a
   com­mitment to improve,” Jefferson says. “If you made a commitment to
   leave, you need to commit to your decision. If you’re going to stay,
   put all of your actions into your improvement.”  

 

Ninth-grade teacher Danna L. Kiel enjoys popping over to her son’s
school in the middle of the day just to say hi. Ali, 6, enjoys visiting
his mom’s classroom and writing on the chalkboard. Both very simple
things, but both very meaningful moments to the single mother, who
traded in a writing career in Tinseltown to give her son a consistent
and predictable schedule.

The health care industry, Spencer says, is another great
field for single moms. It has incredible shortages in the workforce and
unlimited opportunity. Home health care offers a great deal of
flexibility because it’s based on the hours the care provider selects.
Occupational therapy, physical therapy and X-ray imaging are also
viable areas. And if you’re interested in working in an office, try
medical practice management, which focuses on billing, risk management and human
resources.

But Spencer warns people not to get locked on new job excitement
and the salary offer. “In this economy, be cautious making a move in
order to ensure it’s going to be a good long-term fit,” she says. Learn
about tuition reimbursement, student-loan repayment, teleworking,
onsite daycare centers, paid leave, company culture, health insurance
deductibles, per-visit payments, how often the family can go for well
visits and whether the company has flex spending accounts and 401(k)
matching programs.

“It’s really important to do a complete balance sheet before you
accept the offer,” Spencer says. “It has an impact on both your
finances and your quality of life.” 

 

– Kennedy Spencer is an Atlanta freelancer.

• (888) 995-HOPE (4673) This hotline is available to any homeowner
  having trouble paying her mortgage. It is in operation 24 hours a day,
  7 days a week.  The sponsors are two well-respected, non-profit housing
  organizations, Homeownership Preservation Foundation and Neighborhood
  Works America.
• Department of Housing and Urban Development This federal
  agency’s hotline provides help and a link to a list of HUD-approved
  housing counseling agencies. The toll-free number is (800) 569-4287.
• National Foundation for Credit Counseling The NFCC is another source for homeowners trying to avoid foreclosure.
  The toll-free help line, (866) 845-2227, offers links to NFCC-certified
  housing counselors or assistance online at housinghelpnow.org.
• Foreclosure Prevention Resource Center This Web site, sponsored by the Mortgage Bankers Association, offers basic information on the process of foreclosure as well as links
  to helpful sources for homeowners in trouble.
  Homeloanlearningcenter.com will take you to a link for foreclosure
  assistance. 

Pick up your copy of the October/November Heart & Soul for additional foreclosure assistance.

Staying healthy with diabetes means taking small steps each day to keep body, mind and spirit strong. Here are the basics:

1. Commit. Diabetes can be handled only with the help of a medical
   professional. You cannot do it alone. Your team should include an
   endocrinologist (diabetes specialist), podiatrist (to keep feet healthy
   and avoid complications), eye doctor, a nutritionist and an exercise
   expert to help you manage weight. Call (800) DIABETES to get a free
   copy of the American Diabetes Association’s guide “A Doctor Visit
   Planning Tool.”
2. Control. To manage diabetes, you have to know your body and know
   your numbers:  Normal blood sugar after random testing ranges from 70
   to about 120. If you’re between 150 or 200 you have pre-diabetes and are at high risk.
   Higher than 200, you probably have diabetes. Your A1C test should be
   done every three months. It tells your blood sugar levels over time and
   helps keep watch for heart disease and other risks.  
3. Learn. The more you know, the more control you have over
   diabetes. To read about the disease, find support groups, understand
   medication, go to: diabetes.org or cdc.gov/diabetes and look at all of the great resources available to you. 
4. Move. Being sedentary dramatically increases your risk of diabetes and makes it tougher to manage the disease. Aerobic exercise helps your body use insulin, so make sure you get at least 30 minutes a day (60 to lose weight). 
5. Relax. Some studies show stress may increase your risk of developing diabetes, and it may make the disease worse. So find a way ease tension and
   anxiety. Meditate, pray, do yoga–whatever it takes to make time for you. — Sheree Crute

At first, the lump in Jasmine’s left breast was so small she
didn’t even feel it. Her doctor discovered it last summer during a
physical prior to her freshman year at Florida A & M University. We
were told that, particularly among African-American teens and young
adults, small lumps in the breast (called fibroadenomas) are fairly
common. But as the months progressed and Jasmine’s lump grew from half
a centimeter to more than 3 centimeters, my daughter and I realized
something had to be done. After consulting a few doctors, we decided to
have the lump surgically removed. Jasmine was 18 years old.

Whatever our age, all of us need to take care of “our girls.”  ”If
you look in the mirror and see the breast or the nipple is changed in
some way, get examined,” says Fannie Gaston-Johansson, Ph.D., professor
of nursing at Johns Hopkins University. While the majority of lumps and
bumps will prove to be non-cancerous, it’s better to err on the side of
caution. Here are some other things to keep in mind on your journey
toward breast health.

• Good health starts with your decision to take control. 
• Give yourself monthly BSEs (breast self examinations); go to breastcancer.org, click on screening and testing, then click on breast self exam for directions.  
• Get annual mammograms if you’re older than age 40, and tell the radiologist if
  you are taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) or birth control
  pills. These medications can make breasts denser and hinder your
  doctor’s ability to read the mammogram.
• If breast cancer runs in your family, avoid HRT and schedule annual mammograms after the age of 30. 
• Lack of health insurance is no excuse to let mammograms slide;
  the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program can
  help. To learn more, call (800) CDC-INFO (232-4636).

• Medicinenet.com reports that fibrocystic breast condition
  (characterized by lumpiness and discomfort) affects more than 60
  percent of women between the ages of 30 and 50, so it is important to
  know what your body considers normal. 
• Some have lumps, tenderness or pain in the breast before and during menstruation, but they usually stop by period’s end. 
• Some pregnant women experience breast lumpiness as their milk glands increase and get larger. 
• During menopause, changing hormone levels can make breasts feel denser or lumpier than before. 
• If you have doubts about what you’re seeing or feeling, contact a doctor.

Deborah Gordon, M.D., co-author of Breast Health the Natural Way,
believes vitamin D is effective in reducing the risk of myriad
diseases, including breast cancer. “I think there is a high rate of breast cancer in
African Americans because of vitamin D deficiency,” she says. Taking
2,000 IUs of vitamin D3 per day may lessen your likelihood of getting
breast cancer. And check this: The American Cancer Society reports only
5 to 10 percent of breast cancers are due to heredity; the vast
majority of cases are due to environmental, diet or lifestyle factors.
Some cancer-fighting steps you can take include: 

• Introducing more raw fruits and vegetables, nuts, whole grains and dried beans into your diet;
• Eating 30 grams or less of fat a day;  
• Avoiding fried foods, salt, sugars, animal products, tobacco and white flour;
• Eliminating caffeine (coffee, tea, chocolate); and
• Limiting alcohol to one drink a day.

Studies indicate even moderate exercise–3.2 hours of running or 13
hours of walking per week–lowers the risk of breast cancer by 23
percent, so… 

• Exercise, exercise, exercise. 
• Maintain a healthy weight.
• If you have fibrocystic tendencies, avoid wearing push-up or
  tight bras; if you must wear a bra, wear sports bras and not for more
  than 8 hours a day. 
• Don’t smoke. 

As the waters released by Hurricane Katrina enveloped Joyce
Taylor’s home, she and husband Leroy were already on the road to Baton
Rouge.  New Orleans natives, the Taylors knew when folks said a storm
was coming, it was time to go.  ”We live between a lake and a river in
East New Orleans–almost like a little island,” Joyce explains.  ”Our
area was the first to be hit.”       

Like so many of her neighbors, family members and friends, the
storm was just the beginning of years of displacement and loss for
Joyce. Still, as she packed her bags and considered the struggle ahead,
she knew there was one thing she absolutely had to do–control her
diabetes no matter what else happened. “I was going through one
catastrophe, I didn’t want another crisis caused by diabetes,” says
Taylor, who left home with a month’s worth of diabetes medication and
her blood sugar monitor in her bag.  

While living day to day in a Baton Rouge hotel, she got creative.
  “I’d take the stairs at the hotel and walk up and down the block [to
maintain most of the 100- pound weight loss from a few years earlier].
 I had to eat in restaurants, so IE2d order baked and broiled chicken
and lots of vegetables, and I stayed away from my weakness–soda and
sweets.”  

Taylor also met stress with prayer. “Our faith gave us strength,”
says Taylor, 55, a retired teacher whose husband is a minister.   

It would be more than two years before she could move back home,
and while her mom and daughter survived the storm, both of them passed
away before the ordeal was over, leaving Taylor a full-time mom to her
4-year-old grandson. 

Yet through it all, she kept the diabetes under control. “You see
people lose limbs,” Taylor says. “Things like that motivate you to take
care of yourself.” Back home since last December, and with her blood
sugar down to a healthy 118 and her weight in check, she’s finally
ready for a happier chapter of her life. 

Diabetes and Black Women 

Millions of African-American women are not as fortunate as Taylor
when it comes to handling diabetes.  While diabetes is increasing in
every American population, the number of cases among African-American
women rose 69 percent between 1989 and 2005–the highest rate among any
group in this country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC).  Millions of black women older than 20 also have the
disease, yet one-third has yet to be diagnosed, the American Diabetes
Association reports. Am
ong older black women, one in four older than 55 have the disease.  

Left unmanaged, diabetes will ruin your health and eventually take
your life. “Diabetes is the No. 1 cause of adult blindness, kidney
failure and lower limb amputation,” says Ann Albright, Ph.D., director
of Diabetes Translation at the CDC. “And it is a huge contributor to
heart disease.”  It is also the fourth leading cause of death for
African-American women.

This situation has become so serious, experts say, because many of
us just do not realize that in many cases, diabetes can be prevented.
And even if you have the disease, it does not have to threaten your
life. 

Sugar and Your Health

Beating diabetes means understanding it. The disease develops when
your body is unable to properly use the sugar we take in every day when
we eat carbohydrates. Once you eat a carbohydrate–bread, for example–it
becomes sugar (glucose) that travels through your bloodstream and
enters the cells of your body to be used as energy. “To get into your
cells, sugar needs the help of a hormone called insulin,” Albright
says. Insulin is made in a gland called the pancreas.  

Without enough insulin, the sugar builds up in your blood and
damages your blood vessels by making them thick and inflexible, cutting
off the blood supply to your heart, kidneys, eyes and other
organs.20Nerves can be damaged as well, causing numbness and other
problems. 

In type I diabetes–an autoimmune disease most often diagnosed in
children–the immune system attacks the pancreas and stops insulin
production. Type I is inherited. In type II diabetes–the type most
common in African-American women–the pancreas makes some insulin, but
not enough and cells are insulin resistant.  

Stop Diabetes Before It Starts

Every African-American woman should know type II diabetes is
preventable in many cases. “The most important thing for anyone to know
is that [excess] weight creates insulin resistance,” says Larry Deeb,
M.D., immediate past president of medicine and science for the American
Diabetes Association. 

In addition to being overweight (especially abdominal fat), if you
have a parent or sibling with diabetes or develop it during pregnancy
(gestational diabetes), you’re at risk. “That risk also increases as
you age, so prevention is a progressive process that you should begin
as early as possible,” Albright adds.       

“If you have diabetes in your family, you don’t have to get it and
we can help,” says Michelle Owens, head of the Women and Diabetes
Initiative at the CDC.  ”Through our program, The Power to Prevent, we
give people the tools they need to reduce their risk.”  For free
materials you can use at home, log=2
0onto www.yourdiabetesinfo.org or call (800) 860-8747.

Living Well With Diabetes

The best news about diabetes is that there’s tons of great advice
and new research about the best way to eat, the benefits of exercise
and the proper way to use medications. And free information and support
groups can be found just about anywhere in the country.  Staying
healthy with diabetes is a challenge, but it’s definitely one you can
meet.  ”I’ve lived with type 1 diabetes for 41 years,” Albright says.
“There are many things you can do to live a long and healthy life.”    

Sheree Crute is a Heart & Soul contributing editor.

For more living with diabetes information, visit http://diabetes.palmbeachpost.com.