This message is from the healthfinder-l listserv, one of the free government e-mail newsletters featured on FirstGovhealthfinder® is a Web guide to reliable health information, developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  You can unsubscribe at any time.


healthfinder® logo

Healthy Ideas for Change from www.healthfinder.gov

healthfinder® has a new look this month! We hope the changes will make the site even easier to use-and a more helpful tool for taking care of your health. All of the site's most popular features, like News and Online Checkups, are still there, but a new main search combines relevant news, Web pages, and organizations into one screen so you can locate the best links more quickly. You can also e-mail health news stories to relatives or friends right from the story page. In the Health Library, you'll find new quick reference guides for diseases, conditions & injuries and diagnostic & surgical procedures. Under Organizations, you can browse for key resources in new ways as well.

We spend a lot of time at healthfinder® gathering the best health information for you. However, Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona wants you to gather some information for yourself this month-he has launched the Surgeon General's Family History Initiative and declared Thanksgiving 2004 to be the first annual National Family History Day. Whenever families gather, the Surgeon General encourages them to talk about, and to write down, the health problems that seem to run in their family. Tracing the illnesses suffered by your parents, grandparents, and other blood relatives can help predict the disorders for which you may be at risk and spur action to keep you and your family healthy.

Because family health history is such a powerful screening tool, the Surgeon General has created a new computerized tool to help make it fun and easy for anyone to create a sophisticated portrait of his or her family's health. This new tool, called "My Family Health Portrait," can be downloaded for free and installed on your own computer. The tool will help you organize your family tree and help you identify common diseases that may run in your family. (You can download a printable copy and use good old-fashioned paper and pencil, too!)

Web sites and family histories can provide information-but only you can take a healthy idea for change and make it happen. Thursday is the Great American Smokeout and quitting smoking is the best change you or people you know can make for better health. Don't smoke yourself? Then pass this along to help a friend quit.

HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson announced this week a new national quitline number (1-800-QUITNOW) that puts users in touch with programs that can help them give up tobacco. In addition, a new HHS Web site (http://www.smokefree.gov/) offers online advice and downloadable information to make quitting easier. You can also visit the Great American Smokeout page sponsored by the American Cancer Society to see personal stories of people who knew it was time for a change and how they did it. You'll find a guide to quitting and a quiz to help you match your smoking habits to your best bet for success in stopping.

We all know, though, that quitting smoking is only one of the things that all of us should do to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Healthy eating and regular physical activity are also important. The American Cancer Society knows both can also help prevent cancer.  ACS is featuring new holiday recipes packed with 5-a-day nutrition, including a pumpkin mousse with just 2 grams of fat per serving. The President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports (we all remember them from school, of course) offers The President's Challenge Web site to help you develop a plan for regular activity.

So on Thanksgiving Day, while you're sitting around the table enjoying your lowfat pumpkin mousse, you might engage Aunt Jo or Uncle Bob in a conversation about Grandpa's health and then sign all your relatives up to a group physical activity challenge so you can help each other stay active even after the holiday is over.

This Thanksgiving, we encourage you to try out our new site, to stop smoking if you do, to share your new recipes and your family history, and to make time to be active with family and friends. As always, thanks for your interest in and support for the healthfinder® site.

Please visit www.healthfinder.gov any time you have a health question.  And just a reminder that you also can sign up to receive daily health news headlines by e-mail.  Daily health news articles are featured on the healthfinder® Web site, with 1-year searchable archives in English and Spanish. 


You are subscribed to the healthfinder-l listserv, one of the free government e-mail newsletters featured on FirstGovhealthfinder® is a Web guide to reliable health information, developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. To change your listserv settings at any time, please visit http://list.nih.gov/archives/healthfinder-l.html

The Web address for healthfinder® is http://www.healthfinder.gov/. If you are new to the site, please take a minute to visit our page for first time users.

healthfinder� is a free Web guide to reliable health information, developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Each month, we choose a few exciting new resources and announce them through the healthfinder-l listserv.

The Web address for healthfinder� is www.healthfinder.gov. If you are new to the site, please take a minute to visit our page for first time users at http://www.healthfinder.gov/help/firstvisit.htm.

At this time, the healthfinder� is an announcement-only list and not a general discussion list. If you wish to suggest an announcement, please send an e-mail message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with complete information about the new online health information resource and the sponsoring organization.

Please review our selection guidelines at http://www.healthfinder.gov/aboutus/selection.htm if you have any questions about the type of resources that healthfinder� will consider for an announcement. Please note: As a U.S. government Web site, healthfinder� does not accept advertising or endorse any commercial products or services.

To change your listserv settings at any time, please visit http://list.nih.gov/archives/healthfinder-l.html

<<attachment: image001.gif>>

<<attachment: image001.gif>>

Reply via email to