Staying Goal Oriented and the Secrets to Breaking Bad Habits. Photo by Peter Lazaravich.

Many people try to start off the new year on the right foot in vowing to (fill in the blank). Some are successful, others are not. Some may find themselves attempting to kick old habits that just won’t die, year after year.

That is the case for some ASU students. Instead of coming up with new resolutions, some are still trying to keep with the old ones.

Global studies junior Ethan Jeffers says his goals include trying to stay in shape, eat healthier and be a better person. But this is nothing new.

“I don’t really know if I’ve created any new ones, just trying to stick with ones I’ve made in the past,” Jeffers says.

Recent transfer student Chris Lambson says his goal was to go back to school. “I didn’t do an official resolution. I haven’t been to school in four or five years, so my goal was to go back to school this year,” Lambson says while waiting to go to class on the first day of spring semester classes.

Although Lambson, a computer science and engineering junior, was successful in getting back to school, quitting smoking has been an on and off challenge for him.

So what does it take to really break bad habits and to form better ones? ASU psychology professor Richard Lanyon says it’s all a process. Lanyon has done a considerable amount of work in the area of behavior therapy, which essentially helps people change undesired behaviors for a more desirable outcome.

“The whole trick in changing [bad habits] is to spot what’s triggering them and/or what is maintaining them,” he says.

Lanyon says once this happens, it is easier to come up with solutions of how to change it. “The first thing you have to do is be aware when you do it so you can do something about it when you do it,” he says.

Lanyon says the next step is to develop some sort of procedure to change it. He suggests finding some sort reward or incentive that will reinforce the desired behavior.

Nothing but net. Know how to reward your successes. Photo by Peter Lazaravich

A few options may include:

• A chart to track progress
• Involving family and friends in the process to help with accountability
• Finding an alternative behavior that has less negative consequences to replace the bad habit
• Getting rid of friends or avoiding situations that enforce the bad habit
• Self encouragement
• Rewarding self along the way

Lanyon stressed it is important to find what works best for an individual personally because different things work better for different people, and it may include some trial and error to find what works best.

Some factors can make breaking a habit even more difficult including anything that induces a physiological reward, such as smoking cigarettes. Lanyon says it is more difficult because it is not just a mental thing, and the person will need to find something that will interfere with that physiological response in order to break it.

Lanyon also says if a habit has been in place for an extended period of time, it has become more a part of the person’s life and additional steps must be taken to overcome it.

Though habits can be hard to break, it’s never too late. Lanyon says once a person masters the process and figures out what works well for him or her, that same process and those same incentives can be applied throughout a lifetime.

“The principals are the same, it depends on the behavior,” Lanyon says.

Additional tips from Lanyon:

• Be realistic, just as saving money takes time and planning, so does making and breaking habits.
• The planning is important, but the implementation of that plan is equally as important.
• Ensure the goal is understood and is serving some purpose.
• Practice makes perfect — the same goes for habits. The more a person practices getting into the habit of doing something, the better he or she will become at it.
• There is no particular step that will ensure success. He says just as each part in a car engine serves a purpose or function, so does each part of the process of trying to make and break habits.

Sound Off

SPM spoke with several students about their habits, New Year’s resolutions and their tips on kicking bad habits. Here’s what they had to say:

1. Biochemistry senior Catherine Lee

• Lee’s resolution: “To have a better semester academically.”
• Lee’s habit: “Procrastination is my, kind of, Achilles’s heel, and I definitely need to work on that.”
• Lee’s tips: “Definitely, setting future goals … and just little things like study habits. Sometimes if I study by myself at home I get more productive.”

2. Global studies junior Ethan Jeffers

• Jeffers’ habit: “I used to bite my nails, but I got rid of it. It was rough.”
• Jeffers’ tips: “Surround yourself with good friends who help you out and look out for you as well.”

3. Sociology and family studies senior Jade Noble

• Noble’s resolution: “It’s my last semester, so study more I guess and be better about handling money.”
• Noble’s tips: “Setting aside more time for the study thing and then for the being better about money I haven’t figured that out yet.”

4. Computer science and engineering junior Chris Lambson

• Lambson’s habit: “Usually quit smoking is my New Year’s resolution but it hasn’t happened yet, but I tried to.”
• Lambson’s tips: Planning out the goal and how to achieve it.

5. Secondary education biology freshman Kirill Corte

• Corte’s New Year’s Resolution: “Lose weight.”
• Corte’s tips: “I have a little calender of things that I can eat once a week, twice a week, but I’ve been going to friends parties and gatherings, so I haven’t been able to keep up to it as well as I want to.”
• Corte’s tips: Keep a calender with you, and be better about scheduling things.

Contact the reporter at nicole.ethier@asu.edu

Buff up Before Break.

Spring Break is quickly approaching, especially for those wanting the perfect bikini body  in time to spend a week out of school and in the sun. Running on the treadmill and doing sit ups can get old fast, so here are some different ways to get fit and have fun.

Hybrid Training

Tires, sledgehammers, ropes; is this a construction site or a new way to work out? At The Bar Fitness in Phoenix, owner Brad Rogers and his staff lead workout junkies as they rotate from station to station, doing different workout drills. Participants are kept on their toes while they jump on a tire holding a weight, do sit ups while lifting a sledgehammer above their head, and walk on the treadmill — sideways. “Hybrid training concentrates a great deal on core work, overall body development and is a cost effective way of getting in shape,” according to The Bar. Interested? For $149/month, you can have unlimited access to hybrid workouts.

Sumit Yoga

There are many different types of yoga, each offering its own unique benefits. The basic concepts of yoga include stretching, holding and meditating.

Pick your Pain. The Various work out machines available at The Bar Fitness.

If you’re interested in these same concepts, but want a more intense workout, give Sumit Yoga a try. These “hot yoga” studios around the Valley incorporate music with what founder Sumit Banerjee calls the “yoga dance,” along with many poses that reflect Bikram Yoga.

John Mayer, Beyonce, and Train are just a few of the many artists that are commonly played throughout the Sumit Yoga experience.

The one hour 20 minute class is held in a room that ranges from around 95 to 100 degrees, making a post-workout shower a requirement. According to Sumit, “In a yoga class, you practice poses that require stretching and compression of the joints, muscles, ligaments and other supporting structures of the body. Your body naturally protects itself from physical exertion by generating heat from the inside muscles outwards.”

Sumit offers a two-week unlimited trial for just $20. All you need is a yoga mat and a water bottle.

Kickboxing

Everyone has  those days where all they want to do is hit something.

Kickboxing can be a perfect way to let out emotion, while getting a good workout.  “Kickboxing Fitness sessions improves endurance, strength, muscle tone, coordination and flexibility,” says Christopher Terry, owner of 1 on 1 Boxing Fitness. “It also builds lean muscle and burns fat.”  Not only is kickboxing a challenging way to get in shape, but it also teaches self-defense skills. A typical boxing workout, which lasts 50 minutes, consists of skills training and conditioning.

Interested? 1 on 1 Boxing Fitness offers one session for $20, or eight sessions for $120.

Boot Camp

Want to get in shape, but cannot find the time between work, school and a social life?  Boot camp can be a perfect option, if you can stand rising before the sun three times a week.

More and more personal trainers are starting boot camps at parks around the Valley. The average boot camp starts at 5:30 a.m., and lasts anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour. While this may sound like a version of torture, getting a jump start in the mornings can improve sleep patterns, and make for a much more productive day.

Personal trainer Troy Anderson holds a boot camp every Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings at Hanger Park in Tempe. Between 10 and 15 early risers participate in his 45 minute work out, which changes each month.

Anderson tries to switch things up by playing an unusual sport (i.e. handball, Ultimate Frisbee) at the end of boot camp each Wednesday. He has also included scavenger hunts to different workout stations, and other competitive workout “games” to keep clients motivated and having fun. Interested in testing your college alarm clock? Anderson offers the first month of boot camp ( four weeks, three times a week) for $49.

Contact the reporter at mkthornt@asu.edu

ARAMARK's veggies. Photo by Branden Eastwood

At the northern end of the Valley of the Sun, nestled at the feet of the San Tan Mountains, lie fields of trees with dainty jade leaves and gnarled, ancient-looking trunks. These are olive trees, and the fields belong to Queen Creek Olive Mill. The farm grows nine types of olives, all of which make extra virgin olive oil. Some of this oil is bottled, packaged and trucked off to ASU.

Local food contracts (like ASU’s with Queen Creek Olive Mill) are handled by ARAMARK, ASU’s campus food provider.  The Philadelphia-based company is “committed to providing a wide variety of healthy menu options to meet the needs and preferences of the ASU campus community,” says Krystal Nelson, marketing manager for ARAMARK Higher Education.

As a result of recent trends in sustainability, health and “local” awareness, students and staff are increasingly interested not only in the provider of food on campus, but in the specific sources of the ingredients that end up on trays and in stomachs across ASU. So we ask, “What’s on your plate?”

Choices, Choices and More Choices

Campus dining services are present on every ASU campus. The Downtown, Polytechnic and West campuses all have a main dining hall and several restaurants. The Tempe campus has four dining halls: Hassayampa, Pitchforks at the Memorial Union, Manzanita and Barrett, the Honors College. Besides the dining halls, there are several convenience stores and restaurants, including the Hassayampa Market and Engrained.

The dining halls provide a variety of options. Each varies in the degree of selection, but most satisfy the typical college student diet: pizzas, burgers, salads, sandwiches and desserts.

Sitting in a campus dining hall finishing her lunch, business and communications freshman Caitlin Eberle talks about her typical diet. “I like salads, Mexican food and steak – pretty much anything. I try to eat healthily, but it doesn’t work most of the time,” she says. “My will power’s not so strong.”

Eberle does feel, however, that unhealthy foods should be served in the dining halls. “I think it should be up to the individual.”  Pike agrees, expressing that numerous choices make the dining halls more appealing. “We get to select what we want,” she says. “We can make sandwiches. Things aren’t pre-made.”

Gabriela Rosales, psychology junior is a student employee in ARAMARK’s Human Resources Department. She says, “ARAMARK is really trying to bring more sustainable and healthy services to the whole campus.” She says it can be difficult to please the masses because everyone’s tastes can’t be satisfied with one meal. If something is made at Pitchforks, not everyone will like it. ARAMARK tries to remedy this problem by providing students many options to choose from and the opportunity to customize their meals.

Be Healthy

Lasagna and orange juice... the typical college meal? Photo by Branden Eastwood

ARAMARK also tries to provide options to students with allergies, special health concerns and specific dietary lifestyles.

“A lot of dining halls have designated vegetarian stations that are separate from those serving meat,” says campus nutritionist Lexi MacMillen, “though ARAMARK can’t guarantee against contamination of vegetarian foods because dining services is such a gigantic operation.”

She says ARAMARK is in the process of labeling everything so consumers have complete control over the food items they eat. MacMillen says, “We have standardized recipes, and I review them to avoid all allergy and vegetarian concerns.”

She also adds that, as always, students with special needs and concerns should seek out the manager on duty with questions in order to ensure their health is addressed. “If there is any question about the ingredients of a food item, we encourage customers with food allergies not to consume that food item,” she says. “We will make every effort to point out alternative items to the customer.”

Andrew Lacyshyn, executive chef at the Barrett Dining Center, says quality is a top priority for dining services. “The chefs at ASU strive to bring the finest ingredients available to them in the market,” he says. “The recipes are rewritten every semester with an emphasis on innovation, quality, acceptability and ASU student, faculty and staff requests.”

MacMillen’s role on campus is generally focused on ensuring that all students are provided with an “adequate and healthy diet.” She has spoken with several student organizations concerned with varying diet concerns, such as vegetarian groups.

“I try to provide them with information and methods they can use to adhere to their diets.” She says that she tries to be a resource to anyone with a special diet, anyone with special health concerns or anyone who simply wants input on his or her diet. Her recommendations for healthy diets include “superfoods” — foods she says contain many health benefits. She lists soy, nuts, berries, vegetables and whole grains as such superfoods.

Photo by Branden Eastwood.

Sustainable Food

ASU prides itself on being a global leader in sustainability, so it follows that the food served on campus should promote sustainability. Ideally, the food would be grown without harmful pesticides, hormones or carbon-spewing machinery, within a 100 mile radius from campus.

According to ARAMARK sustainability manager for ASU, Katrina Shum, one of ARAMARK’s goals is to provide as much locally-grown food as possible to the University.

“We have worked closely with our food distributors to better identify where produce is actually grown,” she says. “Our chefs aim to design menus that reflect the seasonal availability of items grown in farms around Tolleson, Wilcox and Yuma, Arizona.”

Seasonal availability is reflected in the menu at Engrained, the campus poster child for sustainable food. According to an Engrained flyer, ARAMARK has “six intentions” in operating a sustainable restaurant. These intentions include buying food originating within 150 miles of campus, using food that promotes positive ethical and environmental practices, reducing fuel emissions, reducing the use of finite resources such as paper, supporting meaningful local causes and minimizing waste products through conservation and recycling. Engrained strives to provide as many organic items as possible.

The coffee served is Fair Trade, the beef is free range, the eggs and chickens are cage free and the seafood is sustainable. A list of farms that provide ingredients used at Engrained and other campus dining locations, such as Queen Creek Olive Mill and Seacat Gardens, can be found on the Engrained Web site.

Jerome Fressinier, chef at Engrained, says Engrained serves fish from the Pacific Coast, originated anywhere from Alaska to Monterey Bay. Currently, the salmon is coming from the Aleutian Islands, an archipelago stretching between Alaska and Russia. He says the restaurant is careful to find the freshest fish and to only purchase fish caught through ethical methods.

He specifically mentions avoiding fish caught by gigantic drift nets. “We use a very grass-roots approach,” he says. “With this information, you can go to a grocery store, campus restaurant or other restaurant and ask about the food served. By asking, you’re letting restaurants know what their customers want.”

Dining services on campus try to utilize the various fruit producing trees growing on campus by harvesting Seville oranges, Medjool dates and olives as they come into season and incorporating them into dining hall recipes through the Campus Harvest Program. Engrained’s Web site and flyers say “roughly 12 tons of Seville oranges” are harvested between December and March, allowing ARAMARK to provide students with fresh orange vinaigrette and “Devil-ade,” a uniquely tart and orange-version of lemonade.

However, even with ARAMARK’s efforts to provide fresh and organic produce for students, Eberle says there have been several times she has been unimpressed with the freshness of the apples she has gotten in the dining halls and convenience stores. “Sometimes they look a little iffy and bruised,” she says. “I would like fresher fruit.”

Old McDonald Had a Farm

It can be much safer to get meat that is raised locally or organically because one can speak directly with farmers about how their animals were raised and processed. Through serving free-range beef and cage-free chickens and eggs, ARAMARK strives to connect customers with the farms on which their food was raised, providing consumers with knowledge of what they are eating.

Nelson says meat served on campus is safe and healthy. “We use USDA Choice and Select Beef products sourced from our approved suppliers who meet our high quality standards,” she says. “ARAMARK conducts a rigorous evaluation process before partnering with a supplier to evaluate whether they meet our standards for food safety and quality.” She says vendors are required to have an excellent reputation with food safety and must have a documented, “track-able” product safety and recall program.

Orange You Glad You Paid Attention?

Back in Queen Creek the olives are still growing, as are some vegetables on South Mountain. Moos can be heard at various dairy farms across the Valley, proving “happy cows” don’t only come from California.

Learning about food doesn’t have to be difficult. It can even be fun. The olive mill gives tours, sells bottles of olive oil and even has a Tuscan-style eatery. Take a ride, enjoy the desert scenery and end the day walking through olive groves and enjoying fresh Tuscan cuisine. Or take a walk around campus and look at the signs on some of the trees. It might be a surprise to notice that there are orange trees, grapefruit trees, date palms, and yes, olives.

Contact the reporter at klepain@asu.edu.

Yoga Nirvana studio. Photo by Peter Lazaravich

Everyone has a different routine to de-stress, whether it’s taking a break to spend time with friends, running a few miles at the SRC, or digging into a pint of Ben & Jerry’s (and it better be Chunky Monkey).

But could one ever imagine that holding a series of poses would allow relaxation and provide a heart-pounding, satisfying workout?

Far from the average 30-minute workout, yoga provides a wealth of health benefits that go beyond speeding up one’s heart rate. With finals around the corner (or tomorrow), yoga can act as a “kill two birds with one stone” activity, providing students with a satisfying cardiovascular routine while reducing any stress or fatigue.

So what’s stopping students from bending over backward (literally) for a yoga class?

“I’ve been wanting to try a yoga class for a while now,” says junior psychology major Chase Wright. “But I’m a little hesitant to try because I don’t know what to expect.”

According to a poll by Yoga Journal, the main reason for not attending a yoga class cited by men is fear of embarrassment. Thirty-one percent of men who participated said they didn’t think they would get a good enough workout, and 34 percent admitted they weren’t interested in the non-competitive aspect of yoga. The remaining 10 percent said they weren’t aware that yoga was an option for health and healing.

“Anything you haven’t done before, you’re not going to be good at,” says Jim Keegan, yoga instructor and owner of Yoga Nirvana, a new yoga studio just minutes from ASU’s Tempe campus, which opened this September.

“When I started yoga, I couldn’t touch my toes,” Keegan says. “Now there are very few poses I wouldn’t be able to do.”

A good idea for students who were nervous about taking a class for the first time, explains Keegan, would be to look up the “Sun Salutation” series online and become more familiar with a few of the poses.

Keegan says practicing yoga is not all about stretching and breathing, but that there is a strength-coordination factor as well. He also says yoga does not have to be a spiritual experience for everyone who takes a yoga class. “Yoga is not a religion,” he says. “It is not a cult, or just sitting around and chanting,” he adds. “Yoga is as spiritual as you make it.”

If you go…

Yoga Nirvana
1801 S Jentilly Lane
Yoganirvanastudio.com

*Mention this article and receive two free weeks of unlimited classes.

Contact the reporter at wesmith1@asu.edu.

Turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce galore — ‘tis the season to be tempted.

Before the Halloween candy has a chance to settle, retail stores are hanging tinsel and adorning their window displays with fluffy fake snow. The holidays have arrived, bringing parties full of seductive, sinful snacks. Don’t be fooled! These short-term stimuli can result in bloating, fatigue and extra pounds that become the targets of New Year’s resolutions

Dr. Jeffrey Hampl, associate professor in ASU’s nutrition program, says people are usually drawn to seasonal favorites around Halloween.

“They remind us of happy memories, or we think, ‘I only get to eat this once a year so it’s now or never,’” Hampl says.

For holiday health, Hampl suggests:

• Don’t starve yourself — Not eating all day will only increase your hunger and cause you to overeat later
• Make better choices — When you are eyeballing the buffet table, try to choose things that will satisfy cravings but pass up foods you can go with out.
• Slow down — Take your time eating and give your body time to digest.

“Eating healthy during the holidays isn’t at all impossible,” Hampl says. “Like other components of our lives, we need to balance self-restraint with our desires, which, in this case, is enjoying the pleasure we should get when eating with friends, family, and loved ones.”

Contact Reporter at javega1@asu.edu

For years vegetarianism has been viewed as a healthy alternative lifestyle in a fast food frenzy society ripe with double-bacon burgers and processed frozen dinners. However, a study published in early 2009 by the Journal of the American Dietetic Association challenges that very notion, raising concerns about the safety of such a diet.

Printed in the journal’s April issue, the report examines the link between a vegetarian diet and an increased likelihood to develop an eating disorder, such as binge eating or bulimia.

Led by Ramona Robinson-O’Brien, an assistant professor at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University in Minnesota, the study examined over 2,000 men and women of high school and college age who considered themselves to be either current, former or never vegetarians.

The skinny on fruits and veggies. Photo by Branden Eastwood

Vegetarianism is originally an eastern tradition that traces back to ancient Greece. The guidelines for its followers include restrictions of all meat products inclusive of beef, poultry and often seafood. However, differing types and degrees of vegetarianism exist, from vegans (who do not eat animal by-product) to pescetarians (who do eat fish).

O’Brien and a team of researchers in Minnesota drew their results based upon weight status and frequency of what the study refers to as “unhealthful weight-control behaviors,” compared to nutritional intake. The results determined a link that until this time had been pure speculation: “current vegetarians are more likely to experience binge eating with loss of control, while former vegetarians may be at increased risk for extreme unhealthful weight-control behavior.”

While current and former vegetarians were less likely to be overweight than life-long carnivores – 17 percent (as compared to 28 percent), researchers found that 25 percent of current vegetarians ages 15 to 18 and 20 percent of the remaining group had used extreme dieting techniques from pills to vomiting.

Furthermore, about 27 percent of former vegetarians ages 19 to 23 reported engaging in such behaviors, which not only implies that adolescents have a higher tendency to have an eating disorder, but that vegetarians are more apt to develop one as well.

Rachel Curry, a sociology senior and recovering bulimic, says that anorexia and bulimia are the result of both psychological predisposition and environment.

“We’ll justify how we’re acting,” Curry says. “When it starts to define us, then it’s a disease. [It] enables us to lie for ourselves and we can’t differentiate between what’s real and what’s not. We think it’s true.”

By examining this behavior in conjunction with the study, this could be the reason why some bulimics would disguise themselves as vegetarians: by pretending this behavior is vegetarian, they become vegetarian and avoid active admission of having an eating disorder.

“Adolescent and young adult vegetarians may experience the health benefits associated with increased fruit and vegetable intake and young adults may experience the added benefit of decreased risk for overweight and obesity,” according to the study. “However … it would be beneficial for clinicians to inquire about current and former vegetarian status when assessing risk for disordered eating behaviors.”

“When guiding adolescent and young adult vegetarians in proper nutrition and meal planning it may also be important to investigate an individual’s motives for choosing a vegetarian diet,” the research concludes.

Deanne Wilson, a dietitian for ASU’s Campus Health, agrees.

Becoming a vegetarian can be a way for students to contribute to things they think are important. For many vegetarians, that means prevention of animal cruelty, raising awareness about global warming, and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

However, this is not always the case.

“Despite their ethical reasons, for the most part they are wearing leather or consuming other animal products,” Wilson says of vegetarians. “Look at your own consistencies. I think there are actually more proactive ways to protect ethical treatment of animals instead of limiting diet.”

The study proposes that those who continue to describe themselves as “vegetarians” long into adulthood are subscribers to the diet for reasons other than weight control. Yet the issue then becomes differentiation between an actual strict vegetarian lifestyle and an eating disorder disguised as vegetarianism.

Eating disorders are complex in nature, Wilson says. Though there are many contributing factors (including life events, social pressures and genetics), there is not one specific behavior that will lead to one.

“It’s not that being a vegetarian means you have an eating disorder,” says Wilson, who has a background in eating disorders, having worked with affected teens and adults. “It works itself into an eating disorder. It’s a way to be restricted that is socially acceptable. It’s becoming the norm, particularly on the college campus. It’s a fad.”

Natalie Lew, a pre-med psychology junior and co-president of the ASU club VegAware, disagrees with Wilson and says she became a vegetarian to better her eating habits.

“I believe that eating meat as part of your diet is unnecessary, but there are some essential amino acids that your body cannot make, which many vegetarians lack but you can get these things from other foods like whole grains, legumes and things like avocado,” Lew says in an e-mail.

“One of the biggest misconceptions about vegetarianism is that you can’t eat hearty meals, but there are a lot of different variations of the foods that you already love without all the bad stuff that’s in meat,” she adds. “I can eat at a lot of the same restaurants, I just order different healthier things that make me feel better.”

Still, Wilson says that a trying a vegetarian diet without preparation can have negative consequences. Vegetarians often lack sufficient protein, and mineral intake is especially important. Be proactive by meeting with a nutritionist and knowing what alternative foods you can eat, she adds. If you don’t have the time to do it properly, don’t do it at all.

“Taking on a more challenging diet is a stretch for students,” Wilson says. “For most college students I would not recommend being a vegetarian. College students that become vegetarian don’t become healthier.”

Contact the writer at janessa.hilliard@asu.edu

ASU Campus Health is developing a plan to deal with an influx of flu and H1N1 symptoms on campus. Photo by Sebastien Bauge.

ASU Campus Health originally ordered 20,400 H1N1 vaccines. As of Oct. 30, they have received 50.

Dr. Allan L. Markus, Co-Chair ASU Pandemic Executive Committee, says that the 50 doses of the vaccine were first distributed to medical staff who would be dealing with students the most, as well as a few athletic trainers. There were 15 doses left over which were given to students notified over CarePass, a web based health alert system used by Campus Health.

ASU Students are at high risk for contracting the H1N1 virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC has identified individuals aged 6 months to 24-years-old as one of the initial target groups for the vaccination. This differs from the standard influenza virus vaccine, which normally is targeted towards those younger than 2 and older than 65. The CDC also reported that, unlike the common form of influenza, 90 percent of the deaths associated with H1N1 have occurred in individuals younger than 65.

Even with high susceptibility to the virus, students seem reluctant to get the vaccination.

“About 25 percent of students said they would be willing to get it,” Dr. Markus says. It was that number plus staff and faculty predictions that lead to the 20,400 vaccines ordered by ASU. The problem is the vaccines haven’t arrived.

As of Oct. 28, the state of Arizona has only been shipped 332,800 vaccines according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. So if ASU had received its full order, it would have accounted for 6.1 percent of all vaccines for the entire state.

So where are the vaccines Arizona has already received going? Even though students are a priority group, the vaccination is being administered to the individuals that have the greatest risk of getting sick like children and medical professionals.

“There are high risk groups that are even higher in the high risk groups,” Dr. Markus says.

Once ASU does receive the complete shipment, Dr. Markus says that the ASU Pandemic Executive Committee will probably have “a triage mass-vaccination tent” set up right outside of Campus Health Services in Tempe.

The problem is that the swine flu is already here. Though it has slowed down over the last two weeks, Campus Health has been experiencing a sharp increase in the number of people coming in with flu-like symptoms (a contrast to six months ago).

“It’s still like we are in the middle of flu season,” Dr. Markus says.

If you already received a seasonal flu vaccination, the CDC says it will not protect you from getting the swine flu (H1N1). Both shots are recommended by the CDC.

Check out H1N1 student testimonials, as reported by State Press Television:

Contact the reporter at sbauge@asu.edu

Tweezed, plucked, trimmed, waxed…threaded?

The Thread. Photo by Peter Lazaravich

I first heard of threading while walking through the mall and saw a shop dedicated to it. It looked strange, and for some reason the words ‘threading’ and ‘eyebrows’ just sounded painful together. A few weeks later I heard girls at  my work talking about it and they swore by it. So for the sake of journalism and my own curiosity, I decided to give it a shot.

I showed up to my appointment, eyebrows a mess, ready  for my transformation. I took a seat and the stylist began began to work her magic. After plucking away stray hairs, she took a thread to my face. The string was anchored in her mouth and twisted and dragged across my eyebrows. I hardly felt anything it all, just a slight scratch. Before I even had a chance to register that this wasn’t so bad after all, the whole thing was over. I was handed a mirror to look at the results. Brilliant. There were no stray  hairs or gaps, just a pair of really great eyebrows.

You may have seen kiosks pop-up around the mall and stores offering this exotic service. However, eyebrow threading is simply another way of removing hair by using a thread as opposed to the traditional wax, or tweezers.

Threading has been all the craze among Indian communities for centuries and has recently become part of the mainstream culture.

Rambha Singh, an eyebrow threading specialist at Ragtops Day Spa and Salon in Tempe says she has noticed eyebrow threading has recently become very popular.

“I see a lot of clients who used to wax and [now] have very sensitive skin,” Singh says.

And it’s true, though waxing has been the preferred way to shape eyebrows, it can do a lot of damage to the skin. Aside from the usual irritation and redness of the skin, side effects of waxing include loss in elasticity and suppleness. “Waxing causes more wrinkles,” Singh says.

Threading, in its magical way, is not harmful to the skin at all. The procedure is actually quite painless and less intimidating than it sounds, no ‘threading’ is actually done. 

The process is done by twisting and rolling a 100 percent cotton thread across the the surface of the skin. This intertwines the hairs and they are pulled out from the follicle, making it a natural and less harmful way to shape those brows.

“I actually never waxed because I was terrified,” says family studies senior Betsy Woulard, “‘and with plucking, I couldn’t get the ideal arch.”

Plucking the eyebrows, though more precise, can be a little tricky and a lot more irritating. Sometimes plucking one hair, becomes plucking four. It can lead to an over-plucked brow, or (gasp!) a bald spot.

“With threading,” Singh says, “if I want one hair, I take one hair. If I want a lot, I take more hair.”

Using threading to clean and shape the eyebrows creates a cleaner, more precise arch. Woulard says ever since she was introduced to threading she hasn’t used any other method. “I’ve been addicted to eyebrow threading ever since,” she says.

The result is said to last longer too. Woulard says she goes about once a month to get her eyebrows done, as long as she maintains her brows by plucking stray hairs with a tweezer.

It takes all of five minutes if you go to someone with experience. It is inexpensive, running about $5 to $12 depending on the salon. One thing that is certain though is the result; more shapely, clean, face-framing eyebrows.

“Eyebrows can make a huge difference in your appearance,” Woulard says. “I get so many compliments on my eyebrows now.”

Contact the Reporter at Javega1@asu.edu

The doctor visit is over and the assistant behind the counter promptly asks, “How will you be paying today?” There’s a slight pause — a shift in eye contact.

The costs of health. Illustration by Branden Eastwood

Attention is drawn to the total dollar amount blinking on the screen. Breathe.

If there is health insurance coverage, an upfront payment of a smaller co-pay is in order… But wait, what the hell is a co-pay? (Check out our Health Care Reference Guide to find out…) And if there is no health insurance, what do all those other numbers mean?

Family health care plans often cover students until graduation or up to a certain age. Yet with graduation dawning, some students are quickly discovering that their parents’ health insurance is no longer going to cut it. Breathe again.

SPM has the tools to help discuss, discover and decode health care coverage for upcoming grads, or students who just don’t quite grasp what all the numbers really mean.

Still in College

For those lucky enough to still be in school but who are not covered under someone’s health insurance, there are a couple affordable options.

Dr. Allan Markus, the director of ASU Campus Health Services, says the Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR) has an Aetna plan available for current students.

“That plan is pretty close to a full plan. What it does is it allows students to have a full health plan at a low cost (at $1,523 per year),” Markus says. “It can be pretty expensive to get a comprehensive plan that gets you all the stuff we offer through the ABOR plan.”

According to ASU student health coverage, students can go to any campus health location at ASU and have access to health and counseling services.

There is also the Bridge Plan, which is a discount health care program for ASU students. This is not health insurance but it can cover the cost of some health expenses, such as a general medical visit, specialist/consultant, basic X-ray and laboratory tests.

From Aug. 16 to Jan. 15, the Bridge Plan costs $96 and from Jan. 16 to Aug. 15 it costs the same. Services range from $10 to $30 with the plan, as compared to up to $200 without the plan. However, his plan only applies to the Tempe, Polytechnic and West campuses according to the ASU student health coverage Web site.

For the Downtown campus, there is the Nurse Care Health Plan program, which is for students without health insurance.

There is a 50 percent discount rate for certain services, but individual students must pay $50 per year. For the first office visit, the cost is $67 with the plan as compared to $135 without the plan. Also, members don’t have to pay for in-house lab tests, such as a urine pregnancy test, strep screen or a routine urinalysis according to the Web site.

Click here for a Q&A with Denise Link, Associate Dean for Clinical Practice and Community Partnerships

The costs of health. Photo by Branden Eastwood

Health Care Reform: Proposal

As a new health care bill proposal was introduced Sep. 16 by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., it seems there are more questions than answers.

With the $856 billion 10-year plan, the main question is: Who will pay for it?

The first draft of “Chairman’s Mark: America’s Healthy Future Act of 2009″ is 223 pages long. Fortunately, the New York Times has a PDF version of the proposal.

Although a lot is covered in 223 pages, one of the more controversial issues is revenue. The proposal has to get money from somewhere, and it does this by budget cuts and new taxes.

The proposal states on Page 199 that there will be an “excise tax on insurers if the aggregate value of employer-sponsored health coverage for an employee exceeds a threshold amount.”

There will be a 35 percent excise tax on insurers who offer individual plans of $8,000 and family coverage of $21,000. Basically, the most expensive health insurance plans will be targeted for the tax. Although the insurers are supposed to be taxed, it is assumed that the cost of the tax will trickle down to consumers and raise premium prices for those with the costly insurance plans or possibly even anyone who has a plan with the insurer who offers high-priced plans, according to CNNMoney.

Health Care Reform: What’s  Really Going on?

With all the proposals and new information coming out every day, it’s hard to keep track of what’s actually going on.

Jenessa Cordes, an interdisciplinary studies senior, says she is uncertain about the specifics of the new bill proposal on health care reform but thinks reform does need to happen over time.

“Taking your time would obviously be best…It’s such a huge change,” Cordes says.

As the economy is in a hard spot at the moment, it is unclear whether spending more money on health care would be a good decision — even if the overall amount is less than in the past.

“It would be worse to spend more money now obviously,” Cordes says.

She added that she doesn’t know how spending more on health care would really affect her personally yet.

“Overall, I’m not too worried about it right now,” Cordes says.  ”Again, I’m still a student so I’m not really in the real world yet.”

She says she is currently on her father’s health plan and thinks she will be fine after graduation, since she will be participating in a certified nursing assistant program. She will work in a hospital as a nurse assistant and she will go through nursing school.

“I expect to be under my father’s insurance still,” Cordes says. “I don’t think that’s going to change at all.”

Generally, health care issues need to be explained more, low-income families need to have cheaper (but not free) health care and something needs to be done, she says. “I do know that the health care system is really messed up and it needs to get fixed,” Cordes says. ”Something needs to happen. I’m glad that something is happening now. It may not be the right thing to do, but at least it’s change…because of Obama.”

Hard Times

Tina Drury is a 44-year-old single mother with a bachelor’s degree in psychology from ASU’s New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences. She is working on entering a graduate school program in the spring, has an 8-year-old daughter and works for ASU West professor Jose Nanez.

Drury also lives off food stamps from the Department of Economic Security, has Mercy Care medical insurance (health insurance for those with little or no income), receives donations for cutting hair, and collects a paycheck for her work as an assistant.

“I did work-study for the first five years of my undergraduate experience but found I could not concentrate on my school so had to drop out of the program for my final year,” Drury says in an e-mail.

She says she returned to school when she was 25 and almost finished her administrative business Associate’s degree when she was hit by a semitrailer.

“…I was hit by a semi in 1993 and ha[d] to teach myself how to read, write, walk [and] talk again with only physical therapy,” Drury says. “At that point I did not think I could go back to college. I could only find workbooks up to the sixth-grade level.”

However, Drury went on to finish two Associate’s degrees and eventually decided to go to ASU with her new-found confidence after she was “actively recruited for leadership roles” at the community college level. Not everyone can suffer a potentially fatal accident and use the experience to come out on top in even better shape academically than before. And Drury even wrote an instructional booklet in dog training in 2002.

“I had scholarships, grants and loans along with work-study to assist me through the undergraduate level,” she says.

From school and work to caring for a child and elderly parents, health care wasn’t an easy option.

“There was a time when I didn’t even have running water, electricity or health insurance,” Drury says.

Other circumstances, such an abusive and unsupportive father for Drury’s child and the downfall of the economy made the situation worse.

“It’s interesting to try and keep a positive attitude in front of your child while you feel like screaming because the stock market crashed and left you penniless…,” Drury says.

She says that her circumstances have helped her learn to use her voice.

“The only thing I can say for certain is that if I don’t speak up, I won’t get heard in any system, whether it be state assistance, educational or even job related,” Drury says. “I would have to say that having my child gave me the strength to do that; speak up, I mean.”

Like many students, especially those who are covered under their parents’ health insuance or who have discounted student rates, Drury says she is not preoccupied with the current health care system.

“Until I see our government trying a health-care system modeled from a country with a higher rating than ours, I don’t think much about it,” Drury says. “I just try to work in the system that exists and will change if our system changes.”

From the Insurance Side

BlueCross BlueShield of Arizona is one of the health insurance companies that graduating students can choose from when considering an individual or group plan. Some employers also offer health insurance from this company, depending on the job a graduated student takes.

“BlueCross BlueShield of Arizona offers individual health insurance, which has a gamut of different options, so there’s a lot of different types of individual health insurance options that have a variety of benefit plans, variety of deductibles [and a] variety of co-insurance payments,” says Andy Wagner, senior communications specialist for BlueCross BlueShield of Arizona.

Wagner says recent graduates or anyone who needs an individual health plan will have to consider many different factors when choosing the right one.

“Not all health plans have the exact same benefit offerings,” he says. “So, for example, we have a health plan that’s very popular with young people that is called the BlueEssential plan.”

Here are some of the need-to-know details of the BlueEssential plan (and others) which could be an option for some graduates, though there are plenty of other insurance plans from other companies to compare:

• Provides coverage for up to six office visits a year with a small co-pay (BlueValue individual plan)
• Office visits include internal medicine, family practice, general practice and pediatrics
• The yearly deductible can range from $250 to $10,000
• Preferred provider organization (PPO)
• Pre-existing conditions have an 11-month waiting period
• Group plan covers dependents up until age 25 who are going to school (other restrictions, like not being married, apply)
• Individual plan covers dependents up until age 30

Although it seems like a lot of money to have to pay before being more fully covered, Wagner says the $10,000 deductible option is perfect for most healthy college graduates who are not covered by their employer.

“The reason someone would choose a $10,000 deductible is because they don’t often use their health plan,” Wagner says. “They don’t have a lot of office visits. They know based on their behavior that if they don’t really need it, what they really want protection from is something catastrophic happening to them, like what would require hospitalization for a week…which would be, in a lot of cases, much more than $10,000.”

The $10,000 deductible BlueEssential plan still allows for the six office visits a year, so accident coverage and a low monthly payment, or premium, is not the only benefit, he says.

The costs of Health. photo by Branden Eastwood

Health Care Reform: Medical Personnel

Terry Olbrysh, the director of marketing and communications for the College of Nursing and Health Innovation, says that one of his main concerns in health care reform is the lack of primary care physicians, which can be family doctors, pediatricians and internists, and provide broad and basic care.

“There are shortages which, quite frankly, most people outside of the health care profession haven’t paid a lot of attention to,” Olbrysh says.

He says there are 47 million uninsured people in the United States and an extra 24 million who don’t have adequate insurance.

“If that population were to have access to health care…there aren’t enough primary health care physicians to take care of the increase of those patients,” Olbrysh says.

He said he thinks that if nurse practitioners have full-practice authority, which means they can provide the same services as family care physicians, then there would be an offset to the shortage of  physicians.

“It takes eight to 12 years to educate a physician…for a nurse practitioner, and this is for a doctoral degree too, it takes six to six and a half years,” Olbrysh says.

Depending on the state, nurse practitioners may require physician involvement. For 23 states, physician involvement is not required in diagnosing and treating patients and in 12 states no physician involvement is required in prescribing, according to the Pearson Report from The American Journal for Nurse Practitioners, which was published in Feb. 2008.

Therefore, in certain states the increase of nurse practitioners may not truly offset the primary care physician shortage, since there are too many restrictions currently. Arizona has no requirements for physician involvement in diagnosing, treating or prescribing for nurse practitioners.

Basically, there needs to be reform in this arena, especially by allowing full practice for nurse practitioners in all states and promoting the education of nurse practitioners, physician assistants and primary care physicians.

Contact the reporter at reweaver@asu.edu

A continuation of Health Care: Now and the Future

Q&A With Denise Link, Associate Dean for Clinical Practice and Community Partnerships

Q: What do you suggest for students who are graduating for health insurance?
A: I do highly recommend to students that they get some kind of health care coverage. There’s a lot of products on the market. Probably if they’re a relatively healthy individual…they could probably do best by going to a company and just purchasing a very simple package or a service that would just cover them in the event that they were, god forbid, involved in an automobile accident or had to be hospitalized for some reason. That’s the thing that’s going to protect them from these high medical bills. Those are the things that are pushing people into bankruptcy these days. It’s not the $45 or $50 office visits that they need because they have an earache…that kind of stuff you can pay for out of your pocket… You can’t forsee an accident. That is the original intent of insurance. It really was never intended to be this kind of a thing where you cover the everyday routine kinds of health maintenance things.

Q: Do you think ASU’s health plan is better than going to a regular doctor, quality wise?
A: It’s probably the same…the advantage of it is you know what it’s going to cost you.

Q: Since the health clinic is open to the public, do students get more of a discount than the general public?
A: We offer the same plan, whether it’s the students or whether it’s the public. [This is for the Downtown campus]

Q: How do you think the current health care situation will affect students in the future?

A: I think it’ll affect them the same way it affects everybody else. I’m hoping that they get some sort of health bill passed. It’s sort of still iffy whether it’s going to be a health care reform bill and how health care is delivered or is it going to be a health insurance reform bill. The different bills are taking a different focus. Both areas have lots of room for improvement. We need to do a better job at helping people stay healthy and making those opportunities available to them…a little less focus on only helping them when they’re sick. And that’s what we have right now. The type of health care that people need now is very different [from] the type of health care they needed, say, 30 or 40 years ago. We have many, many more people now that their health problems are more of the long-term nature.
The health care delivery piece has to be addressed and how we deliver health care to people has to be approached in a different way. And then how we help people to afford it…so that more people can afford coverage, more people share the cost of that coverage.
People need to be able to move in and out of the system..and not be blocked because the situation changed or because they changed employers. That stuff’s got to stop. And it can if everybody’s in…if you say everybody has to be insured…you have to have some exceptions…but for the most part, in general, everybody has some skin in the game.