May 2017 - Elite Care Family Medicine

Copyright: jk1991 / 123RF Stock Photo Gluten-free is everywhere right now. Gluten-free cereal, gluten-free bread, gluten-free cupcakes! Unfortunately, as Jimmy Kimmel has pointed out on his late night show, most people don’t know what gluten is and why or if it’s bad for them. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye products. Normally, the body breaks down gluten just as it would any other protein, but in some people, this isn't the case. For people...

A Woman’s Wellness exam is a one year visit to your medical care provider to assess and care for your general health. Depending on a woman’s age and medical needs, it may or may not include a breast exam, a pelvic exam and a Pap smear. In the past, all women age 21 and older were advised to undergo a yearly screening for cervical cancer via a Pap smear. A Pap smear is an exam where a small sample of cells is scraped from the bottom of the uterus to be examined...

The kids will be out of school soon. First, they’ll be elated. Then after about a week or two the novelty of the summer break will wear off and you’ll hear that dreaded “b” word. “We’re bored!” When the weather is hot and humid, it can be tempting to let your kids just eat junk food and play video games all summer long. but that’s not the memories you want them to have of their childhood summers. Even though we live in a rural area like Northeast Mississippi,...

For many people, food is tied to emotions. Whether we turn to food when we’re happy, sad or stressed, we don’t always eat to satisfy hunger. Sometimes, our food cravings are for emotional needs rather than physical. After all, it’s called “comfort food” for a reason. While using food as a pick-me-up occasionally isn’t always a bad thing, it can turn into a very unhealthy habit called emotional overeating. Emotional overeating causes you to feel powerless...