Managing Diabetes is an Uphill Climb

Posted on January 18, 2022January 17, 2022 by Shield Insurance Agency

Giving support to those you love can make all the difference.

Diabetes affects millions, but its impact goes far beyond that.

It affects everyone—family, friends, and loved ones.

When a family member, especially a child, is diagnosed, it sends an emotional shockwave. What are the medical costs? What about getting proper care? How can you help manage diabetes at school? Suddenly, you have the world on your shoulders. But you also have support. There are countless ways to help your loved ones live a healthy, happy life. Reach out and ask for help: we have it for you here.

Talk to a health care provider

Too often, it can be hard to know where to start when you find out someone you love has been diagnosed with diabetes. Ask your healthcare provider what you can do to keep your loved one safe and healthy. Reach out to other parents or family members who have been impacted by this disease. You are now part of a worldwide community. And asking for help is the first step in supporting your loved one’s journey to health.

Parents: it’s a challenge you can meet head on

Hearing that your child or loved one has diabetes can be a shock. But after that shock wears off, know that there are plenty of things you can do to help along the way. Sure, daily life with diabetes can be a challenge, but it’s a challenge you can meet head on.

With planning and preparation, you can get back to daily life and resume your routine activities. You can help make physical activity part of every day. You can create a balanced eating plan for your loved one—one that everyone can live with and thrive on. Throughout it all, know that diabetes can’t keep your loved one from doing whatever they want or achieving their highest goals. There are Olympic athletes with diabetes, as well as professional football players, politicians, actors, rock stars and CEOs. So, take a deep breath. You can do so much to make sure the people you love are thriving as they manage their diabetes.

Keep them safe at school

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Georgia’s youngest farmer, Kendall Rae Johnson, is only 6 years old, and she loves ‘playing in the dirt’

Posted on January 14, 2022January 23, 2025 by Shield Insurance Agency

By Lee Alexander and Chiamaka Ofulue, CNN

Updated 9:53 AM ET, Sun January 9, 2022

(CNN) At just 6 years old, Kendall Rae Johnson is making history as the youngest certified farmer in Georgia. Kendall Rae says her love of farming comes from her great grandmother Kate Johnson. “She taught me all kinds of stuff about gardening. Like, how collard greens grow — you start with a stem and put it in the dirt and it grows,” the young girl said.

A 2-year-old from California is the youngest American to become a member of Mensa

Ursula Johnson, her mother, has only encouraged Kendall Rae’s love of gardening.

“When we found out that she really enjoyed this whole process of putting a seed in and seeing something come out of it, we were like, ‘Okay we have her interest,’ ” she said. So, for her fourth birthday, Kendall Rae’s parents built her a small patio garden at their home in Atlanta and threw her a garden party.

Two years later, Kendall Rae’s patio garden has grown into a small backyard farm that produces carrots, sweet potatoes, strawberries, okra, tomatoes, blueberries and even Carolina Reapers. “It’s a scary name for a pepper,” Kendall Rae said, “because it makes your mouth real hot.”

For Kendall Rae, who is home schooled, the backyard farm also doubles as her classroom. “She’s learning hands-on and then she’s able to bring it into the house and do school work, because she still needs to know her a-b-c’s,” her mother said. “There is always a lesson in digging in the dirt.””I like playing in the dirt because it makes me happy. It makes me want to garden and share it with my friends,” Kendall Rae said.

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Healthcare Enrollment Ends Soon

Posted on January 13, 2022November 18, 2022 by Shield Insurance Agency

The Deadline to register for healthcare ends January 15th. | Healthcare Enrollment

Let Carlos with Shield Insurance Agency get you signed up and covered.

You can call or text 616.777.3017 or email Carlos and get covered today!

Need other insurance? Shield Insurance Agency is locally owned and operated for over 20 years and can help with all your insurance needs!

Healthcare Enrollment

You can call or text 616.777.3017 or email Carlos and get covered today!

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6 Anti-inflammatory Foods You Should Be Eating

Posted on January 11, 2022February 14, 2025 by Shield Insurance Agency

HowStuffWorks.com | By: Alia Hoyt | Updated: Feb 11, 2021 | Anti-inflammatory Foods | Shield Blog

You’ve probably heard that anti-inflammatory foods are good for you, but why? And how can they help you anyway?

Anti-inflammatory Foods

First, it’s important to understand what bodily inflammation is, and why it can be harmful. In fact, there are actually two types: acute and chronic. The former is nothing to get too worked up over. “Acute inflammation is part of healing and is a normal, healthy response to injury or infection,” says registered dietitian Jean LaMantia in an email interview.

Basically, whenever your body recognizes something that is foreign – such as a microbe, pollen or a chemical, it goes to work to get rid of it. It does this by activating your immune system which triggers a process called inflammation. Inflammation helps to get rid of the offending organism.

But sometimes this inflammation continues even when there isn’t a foreign invader. That’s called chronic inflammation.

Anti-inflammatory Foods causes problems

“Chronic inflammation starts out as acute, but then doesn’t shut off. This creates a new environment at the area of injury, as the inflammatory messengers tell the body’s cells to die off and replace themselves with new cells,” says LaMantia. “With this rapid cell turnover, there is greater likelihood of a cell with a genetic defect to appear.” Chronic inflammation is linked to a higher risk of cancer, diabetes, asthma, depression, metabolic syndrome and atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), among other problems, she notes.

Chronic inflammation can also have a pretty big impact on the simplicities of daily life. “Excess internal inflammation plays a key role in a host of problems including joint pain, lethargy, weight gain, autoimmune disease, sleep problems, headaches and much more,” emails Dr. Candice Seti, a licensed clinical psychologist, certified personal trainer and certified nutrition coach.

The typical diet that many Americans follow is loaded with foods that are processed and high in saturated fats, trans fats, sugars and tropical oils. These foods are not good for your heart and studies have associated eating a lot of these “pro-inflammatory” foods with an increased risk of cancer and death. Inflammation is an underlying mechanism for many diseases, including cancer, diabetes and heart disease.

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How to Have More Fun — and Why It Matters

Posted on January 10, 2022February 14, 2025 by Shield Insurance Agency

Advice from the author of ‘The Power of Fun’ on living a more joyful life

by Catherine Price, AARP, December 14, 2021 | Have More Fun | Home Insurance | Start a Quote Today!

En español

There is a common belief among people of all ages that the main obstacle standing between us and a joyful existence is the lack of free time. We tell ourselves that if we had more leisure time — whether through retirement or a vacation or even just an unscheduled long weekend — we would be happier, with no thought or effort required.

You already may have discovered this yourself: You work extra hours to “earn” your vacation, only to spend your time at the beach restlessly checking your email. Or you finally retire and are surprised to find that the lack of regular interaction with colleagues leaves you feeling lonely rather than relaxed.

In extreme cases, you might even find yourself experiencing what psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl described, rather dramatically, in his 1946 book, Man’s Search for Meaning, as “Sunday neurosis” — namely, “that kind of depression which afflicts people who become aware of the lack of content in their lives when the rush of the busy week is over and the void within themselves becomes manifest.”

The problem is that most of us haven’t learned how to use our leisure time effectively — and so it ends up feeling boring or unfulfilling rather than satisfying and joyful. So how, exactly, can you learn how to use your leisure time more effectively and avoid falling into an existential void?

You focus on How to Have More Fun

I know that might sound counterintuitive, but hear me out. Despite how often we use the word, most of us have not put much thought into what “fun” actually means — let alone how to have more of it.

As a result, we often fill our leisure time (and, for that matter, our internal voids!) with activities that have been marketed to us as fun but that, upon reflection, often leave us feeling numb or empty — which is not what most of us are hoping to feel at any time, let alone during supposed leisure.

The TV Trap and How to Have More Fun

In 2020, Americans over the age of 65 watched an average of more than 4.5 hours of television a day, while people ages 55 to 64 averaged about 3.2 hours.

If you assume that the average person spends about eight hours asleep, this means that many Americans are spending a full quarter of their waking lives watching TV. Add in the amount of time we spend on our phones and other devices, and it’s not unreasonable to conclude that many people are spending the majority of their waking lives passively consuming content on a screen.

Indeed, in both age groups, the time spent watching TV adds up to more than twice the total amount of time that people reported spending on socialization and communication, relaxation and thinking, playing games, reading for personal interest, and participating in sports, exercise or recreation.

Of course, some of our television watching may be genuinely enjoyable and relaxing. But the disproportionate amount of time devoted to TV suggests some of its appeal is due to its convenience and accessibility. After all, it’s much easier to allow our time to be filled than it is to figure out how we ourselves want to fill our time, and the platforms that stream our favorite programs are deliberately designed to encourage us to binge. (The CEO of Netflix, Reed Hastings, once famously said that the company’s main competitor is sleep.)

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Mental Health and the Benefits of Journaling

Posted on January 7, 2022February 14, 2025 by Shield Insurance Agency

Diabetes.org | Mental Health | Shield Health Insurance

Journaling has been recommended for years as a way to reduce stress, anxiety, and depression—but mood journals are unique.

Unlike regular journals, which are usually meant for chronicling your day-to-day life, mood journals are a place to focus specifically on your feelings and emotions. They’ve become increasingly popular, as apps and online mood trackers have emerged on the Internet. But they are more than just a trend: Research shows they can be effective tools to help people manage chronic health conditions.

A study published in the journal JIMR Mental Health looked at 70 adults with various medical symptoms who also experienced anxiety. Participants were asked to keep a web-based journal for 15 minutes a day, three days a week, for 12 weeks. Those who did so reported less stress and better moods. People with diabetes are often bothered or stressed out by experiences or challenges in our lives, and this can crowd out or displace positive experiences, thoughts and reflection. Journaling allows you to refocus on more positive topics, such as good experiences or strong relationships. That, in turn, can tamp down stress hormones that affect overall health.

A landmark study published in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology found that people who wrote about past traumatic experiences had lower blood pressure and heart rates, as well as increases in T-cells, which help fight disease, compared with those who wrote about superficial things.

Mental Health Feelings to the Forefront

A mood journal gives you a place to release thoughts and feelings that you may not be acknowledging. For many, the problem with our emotions is not the emotions that we have but the fact that we don’t know how to express them. For example, have you ever been frustrated when you couldn’t find the right blood glucose test strips or another diabetes supply you need at your local pharmacy and noticed your blood glucose go up along with your anxiety?

It’s not surprising. As levels of stress hormones such as epinephrine (adrenaline) rise, more glucose is released from the liver. But at the same time, cortisol levels rise, which causes body tissue (both muscle and fat) to be less sensitive to insulin. The result: more glucose in your bloodstream.

The good news is that lowered stress can lead to other health benefits. When you feel better about yourself, you’re more likely to stick to healthy habits, such as getting enough sleep and regular physical activity.

Writing down your thoughts may also help you break not-so-healthy patterns. Say, for instance, potato chips have become your go-to snack. Jot some notes about how you’re feeling and include what happened right before. You may realize that you got into an argument with someone or were late to a meeting and were so upset from those events that you turned to comfort food. Catching yourself at the time and actually writing down your feelings can give you the information you need to understand your motivation and make a different choice.

How to get started to Improve your mental health

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10 Ways to Make Your Loved One Feel at Home and Independent

Posted on December 30, 2021February 14, 2025 by Shield Insurance Agency

Support an aging family member with household upgrades, new products

by Sarah Elizabeth Adler, AARP, December 15, 2021 | | Loved One| Shield Insurance Blog | Start A Quote Today!

Is your loved one aging in place? Part of helping someone do that successfully involves limiting risks — but at the same time allowing for Mom, Dad or another family member to maintain independence. Consider these smart choices around the house for added safety, autonomy and a sense of connection.

1. Smart speakers

These multipurpose devices function like voice-controlled virtual assistants: Ask to listen to music, set medication reminders, hear the weather forecast or even control compatible home fixtures such as a smart thermostat with the sound of your voice.

2. Nonslip rug grips

Slippery area rugs pose a fall risk and can be tricky to navigate for those who use mobility aids like a walker or cane. If you don’t want to remove area rugs altogether, consider adding a nonslip layer for safety: Opt for a nonskid carpet pad under each rug, or use adhesive corner grips or double-sided carpet tape to secure edges and keep corners from curling.

3. Digital photo frames

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Mood Disorder: Employers Have Employees Suffering

Posted on December 29, 2021February 14, 2025 by Shield Insurance Agency

Employers: More Likely Than Not, You Have an Employee Suffering from a Mood Disorder. How You Respond Matters

With the pandemic negatively impacting the mental health of 36% of U.S. adults, according to a recent NAMI study, providing support at work is now a business imperative.

If a silver lining can be found in the collective impact the world has experienced throughout the pandemic, perhaps greater awareness around mental health would be it.

“One of the positive things that came out of the pandemic is the de-stigmatizing of mental health,” Dr. Geralyn Datz, president and clinical director for Southern Behavioral Medicine Associates confirmed.

“It’s become okay to talk about mental health; you’ll even hear people say, ‘I’m anxious today’ or ‘[I’m] down today’ or what have you.”

Having the space to be more open about our moods, especially in the workplace, can even be a step toward prevention, as Dr. Ann Hawkins, founder and chief innovation officer for 24hr Virtual Clinic, noted.

It’s not just a matter of occasionally feeling happy, sad, cranky or upbeat. Moods can be “the precursor for many behavioral or mental health situations,” Hawkins said.

Overwhelmingly, U.S. adults are aware of the impact that one’s mood and mental health has on various facets of life. Eighty-six percent of adults who participated in a recent study by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) agreed that “mood disorders can significantly interfere with thoughts, behavior, activity, and physical health.”

Examining the feedback from over 1,500 U.S. adults without a mood disorder, the study aimed at exploring today’s general perceptions on mood disorders, as well as the lived experiences of more than 2,000 U.S. adults diagnosed with a mood disorder and over 500 of their caregivers.

For over two decades, global and domestic studies have steadily confirmed that mood disorders, such as depression, account for the largest disease burden impacting workplace performance and safety.

The NAMI survey added to the body of evidence with 25% of adults with a mood disorder reporting a significant number of lost days at work or a loss of employment.

With 36% of U.S. adults confirming that the pandemic has had a negative impact on their overall mental health, and 25% reporting the pandemic having negatively impacted their productivity at work, helping people navigate their mental health at work is no longer optional for businesses looking to manage health-related costs.

“In this past year, mental health support went from a ‘nice-to-have’ to a business imperative,” Datz confirmed.

Costly Symptoms of Mood Disorders

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Teens Build Bus Stop Shelter for 5-Year-old Wheelchair User, Protecting Him From Harsh Weather

Posted on December 27, 2021January 23, 2025 by Shield Insurance Agency

GoodNewsNetwork | By Ailsa Ross | Dec 20, 2021

Teenagers have built a bus stop shelter for a five-year-old boy who uses a wheelchair after noticing he got wet while waiting for the school bus in winter.

Five-year-old Ryder Killam has had to battle rain, wind, and snow for about 15 minutes every day, using only a patio umbrella as protection.

But after hearing about his problem, local students in Bradford, Rhode Island, got to work and built him his own bus shelter for the bottom of his driveway during their construction lessons.

Ryder’s father Tim said, “Ryder uses it every day before school and his nurses wait inside it every day while they await his return home.

“He does like to go hang out in it from time to time as his fort as well.

“This project brought out community together a bit, it showed that there is still so much good in this world and town!”

Bus Stop Shelter

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Shield Insurance is helping Roslyn & Maddox by donating $25 to the family for each non-client who gets a quote from Shield

Shield’s Referral Program is Changing Lives in the Local Community!

Posted on December 23, 2021August 9, 2023 by Shield Insurance Agency

Shield Referral Program Supports Local Sparta, Michigan Family

Your referral can make a difference for Roslyn and Maddox who both have a form of Arthrogryposis Multiplex Congenital. Shield Insurance is helping this Sparta, MI family by donating $25 for each non-client who gets a quote from us.

No purchase is necessary!

CLICK HERE to get a quote and we’ll donate $25 to them! (Be sure to mention Roslyn and Maddox in the comment section!) You can also call or text the office (616) 896-4600 and one of our agents will take a few minutes of your time to offer up a quote. Don’t forget to mention Ros and Maddox