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Savvy Senior: Does Medicare Cover Weight-Loss Treatments?
Narration provided by Wondervox.
By Jim Miller
Dear Savvy Senior,
Does Medicare cover any weight-loss treatments for overweight retirees? I just turned 65 and need to lose about 100 pounds and would like to know if Medicare can help.
Overweight Owen
Dear Owen,
Yes, traditional Medicare does indeed cover some weight-loss treatments like counseling and certain types of surgery for overweight beneficiaries, but unfortunately it doesn’t cover weight-loss programs or medications. Here’s what you should know.
Who’s Eligible
For beneficiaries to receive available Medicare-covered weight-loss treatments your body mass index (BMI), which is an estimate of your body fat based on your height and weight, must be 30 or higher.
A BMI of 30 or above is considered obese and increases your risk for many health conditions, such as some cancers, coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke and sleep apnea. To find out your BMI, the National Institutes of Health has a free calculator that you can access online at nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educational/lose_wt/BMI/bmicalc.htm.
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Cathy’s Wealth of Health: Healthy Digestion In Times of Stress
Narration provided by Wondervox.
By Cathy McNease, Dipl CH, RH
It is a familiar problem: stressful events occur and our digestion goes to hell. For some it means loss of appetite, others will resort to binges on comfort foods. Diarrhea, constipation, bloating and indigestion are other common reactions to stress. I fall prey to all of these as well, and over the decades have figured a few things out to help. First, minimize stress as much as you can. Second, don’t allow the stress to send you off the rails in your food choices.
If we can minimize the increase in stress hormones being produced, that is a step in the right direction.
Maintaining an anti-inflammatory diet, as much as possible, is a good start. The following tips will reduce cortisol and adrenaline, which increase with stress. Limit as much as you can these foods: added sugars, processed foods, dairy products, gluten, too much meat, and refined oils. Rely more on non-starchy vegetables. Also watch your intake of coffee and alcohol.
If GERD (gastro-esophogeal reflux disorder), heartburn, or indigestion are the issue, here are a few suggestions. Foods that increase stomach acid problems include very spicy foods, deep fried foods, tomatoes, onions, chocolate, citrus, carbonated drinks, cocktails, caffeine, and mints, especially peppermint, which relaxes the valve between the stomach and esophagus, allowing acid to come up to the throat. Also, limit canned and vitamin C enriched foods.
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The Twist Podcast #252: Taylor Triumphant, Joltin’ Jodie Foster, and Some Twist Podcast Predictions for 2024
Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose we we toast Taylor Swift’s conquest of the world, give mad props to Jodie Foster, and makes some fun Twist Podcast predictions for the coming year.
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Health Beat: The Importance of Stretching for Older Adults (Includes Video)
Health Beat is a feature at LGBTSr promoting health and well-being.
By Mark McNease
I’ll confess – I’m not good at taking my own advice when it comes to stretching, but the older I get, the more obvious the need for it becomes. I can feel my muscles, especially in my legs, contracting and in need of get a good stretch. Maybe knowing there’s a problem is the first step in addressing it! This year my objectives including losing 50 pounds, and listening to my body when it speaks to me, which is daily.
Stretching is a simple and effective way to improve our health and well-being, especially for older adults. As we age, we tend to lose flexibility, range of motion, and balance, which can lead to various problems such as pain, stiffness, injury, and reduced mobility. In my case, I was diagnosed with Restless Leg Syndrome. I’m convinced that stretching would be a better remedy than medication, but for now I’ll do both.
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On the Map: Cruising the Caribbean on the Anthem of the Seas (Includes Slideshow and Video)
Narration provided by Wondervox.
By Mark McNease
On the Map is a feature at LGBTSr offering travel reviews and experiences.
If you know us, you know we love to cruise, and we’ve been doing it for the 17 years we’ve been together. Now that we’re both retired from the 9-5 world (I prefer the word emancipated), we’re cruising even more. We went to Canada last October, with stops in Boston, Portland, Bar Harbor, Halifax and St. John. We’re heading on another cruise in May, but in the meantime … we just did an 11-nighter to the Caribbean, on Royal Caribbean’s Anthem of the Seas.
Cruising is one of the most popular ways to travel and relax at the same time. Cruises offer a variety of benefits that make them appealing to people who like just chilling out at sea, and people who love visiting ports and taking excursions. You can get it all on a cruise, and it’s one of the most affordable getaways available. If you didn’t want to spend any extra money for food, you wouldn’t have to. It’s included! We like going to some of the specialty restaurants, and I enjoy eating locally for lunch, but there’s food available on the ship 24/7.
Five ports in five days!
I love sea days, when we have the entire day and night just to relax, do activities on the ship, encounter people we’ve made friends with on the cruise, and … nap! I’m a big napper. If I can’t get an hour’s sleep in the cabin, I’m happy to recline in a chaise on deck or by the pool, and settle in for a good read and a snooze.
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Mark S. King Among Playwrights Featured with National Queer Theater’s ‘Write It Out’ at New York’s LGBT Center
Donja R. Love (seated center) and the playwrights of Write It Out! 2023. Photo courtesy of My Fabulous Disease Reprinted with permission from Mark S. King’s My Fabulous Disease
The Emotional Triumph of Playwrights Living with HIV
You should know the end of the story first, because the ending demands to be heard. It took place last month in the largest event space at The LGBT Center in New York City, where hundreds of people were excitedly greeting each other, grazing at the food table or sitting in rapturous anticipation for a unique evening of theater.
Over the course of the next two hours, seven pairs of actors would take turns on stage, presenting individual scenes filled with insight, humor, and moments of joyful, sometimes painful truth.
The night was a triumph. There was laughter, emotional silences, nods of recognition and roars of approval. Those roars were only multiplied when, after the final scene, the playwrights who wrote the seven scenes were invited to the stage.
The playwrights were new to this. Some had never before written a theatrical scene. Some had traveled across the country to be there. And each and every one of them was living with HIV. They stood together, holding hands, while the packed audience cheered thunderously. It is a sound that would ring in the grinning playwrights’ ears for days to come.
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The Twist Podcast #251: Rick’s Big Birthday, Caribbean Cruise Memories, and an Interview with Hollywood Hustle Author Jon Lindstrom
Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose for a recap of Mark’s Caribbean cruise, party hat hurrahs for Rick’s big birthday, and Rick’s interview with Hollywood Hustle author Jon Lindstrom.
Winston Greene, a has-been film star, wakes one morning to find his six-year-old granddaughter at his bedside—traumatized, unattended, and gripping onto a thumb drive. She comes bearing video proof that her mother, Win’s troubled adult daughter, has been kidnapped by a murderous gang demanding all his “movie money” for her safe return. But what they don’t know is…his movie money is long gone.
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Podcast: Where Do Gays Retire? National Capital Region – District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia (DMV) with Jim Hansen
CLICK TO LISTEN AT THE WEBSITE
Listen up for another great episode of the Where Do Gays Retire? podcast with host Mark Goldstein. It’s perfect timing for me, since my last day at the part-time job is next Wednesday. More time for LGBTSr, more time for writing, more time for everything. How does anyone have time for a job?
Enjoy Mark’s conversation with Jim Hanson, who fills us in on life in DC, Maryland, and Virginia.
Jim Hansen
He was born in Pensacola, Florida in 1965 and raised in a military family. By the time he graduated from high school in 1983 in Newport News, Virginia, he had attended 9 different elementary and secondary schools. He can legitimately say he has lived in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Washington D.C., New York, Germany and now Maryland. Until he moved to the Washington metro area in 1989, he had never lived in one town/city for more than 3 years.
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Podcast Pick: LGBTQ History Alive, with Ronni and Kelly (First Up: Kate Ullman, Activist and co-founder of The L-Fund)
If you haven’t listened yet to Ronni Sanlo and Kelly Watson’s LGBTQ History Alive podcast, fasten your headphones!
LGBTQ History Alive with Ronni and Kelly
“LGBTQ+ people have a long rich history. It offers hidden stories that we never learned in school, and it acknowledges that the LGBTQ+ community is far more diverse than we ever imagined! Our sheros, heroes and they-roes call us to remember. Dr. Ronni Sanlo and Dr. Kelly Watson share the history with guests who’ve made that history happen. Join us each Monday where LGBTQ+ History is ALIVE! Courses and books may be banned in other places but not here. Our history will NOT be hidden, not with us two old lesbians on guard!
Meet the two old lesbians – us!
Ronni Sanlo , Ed.D., is a retired UCLA professor and LGBTQ Center director, founder of the award-winning Lavender Graduation, and editor of the four volume This Day in LGBTQ History. Kelly Watson, Ph.D, DDS, is a retired recovery center director and business professional, and still and always involved with 12 step recovery.”
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Savvy Senior: How to Fight Back Against Age Discrimination in the Workplace
Narration provided by Wondervox.
By Jim Miller
Dear Savvy Senior,
What are the steps to take to fight against age discrimination in the workplace, and where can I turn to for help if I think I’ve got a case?
Passed Over Paul
Dear Paul,
If you believe your age has cost you in the workplace – whether it’s a job, a promotion, or a raise – you have options for fighting back. Here’s what you should know along with some steps to take against this illegal workplace activity.
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The Twist Podcast #249: 2023 in the Rearview
Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose with a look back at an incredible year – the good, the bad and the meh.
Enjoy The Twist on Libsyn, iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, and TheTwistPodcast.com.
Copyright 2023 MadeMark Publishing
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The Weekly Readlines December 23
New logo, new year (almost)!
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Trump cannot be on the primary ballot because he incited and supported the January 6 insurrection, in violation of Article 3 of the 14th Amendment. SCOTUS will have to decide the issue, and it’s nobody’s guess how that will go.
Wisconsin’s Supreme Court threw out the GOP-gerrymandered maps that had given them an undemocratic lock on state government.
Americans remain pessimistic, blaming it on President Biden because … why not? Many of them hope an unhinged, maniacal dictator will heal their booboos and bring sunshine upon the land. The clock is ticking!
And morning people probably have Neanderthal genes, something I’ve always believed about myself as I hurry out of bed at 5:00 a.m. Merry Christmas.
GRAB BAG ‘O HEADLINES
In Russia, Parents Are Having Gay Children Abducted To Be ‘Cured’
Washington PostFrom Drag Bans To Sports Restrictions, 75 Anti-LGBTQ Bills Have Become Law In 2023
BBC News