I’ve been babysitting a one-year-old and a three-year-old on a regular basis this year, so I’m constantly on the lookout for choking hazards. You’re probably familiar with the obvious ones like hot dogs, seeded grapes and marshmallows, but I was surprised when the children started coughing and choking on apple slices, french fries, and beans. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, you can prevent choking by making sure your little ones sit up while eating and not giving them food while they’re in the car or stroller. Kids are still developing their swallowing skills up until they’re 24 months old, so keep this in mind when introducing solid foods. Read more

My husband and I try to eat seafood at least twice a week and look for what is fresh at the market. But the labeling can be confusing and is often misleading. In fact, if you eat a lot of seafood, there’s a pretty good chance you’ve eaten mislabeled fish in the past 12 months. Seafood fraud is a common problem, according to the nonprofit group Oceana, which conducted an investigation across the United States last year. Over six months, Oceana collected 400 samples from seafood markets and found that about 21 percent of them were mislabeled. Read more

In addition to being top rated for quality and customer satisfaction, Diamond Certified companies are known for providing Helpful Expertise®. This is especially true for companies whose owners and managers have become Diamond Certified Expert Contributors by sharing their industry expertise via articles and videos on the Diamond Certified website. In 2018, the number of Diamond Certified Expert Contributors continued to grow, bringing another abundant harvest of Helpful Expertise®. In this post, we’ve published a handful of highlights from this year’s Expert tips. Read more

“About one-third of women experience hair loss (alopecia) at some time in their lives; among postmenopausal women, as many as two-thirds suffer hair thinning or bald spots.”—Harvard Women’s Health Watch

In Western society, we often don’t talk about female hair loss, but the fact is that approximately 40 percent of hair loss sufferers are women. And with so much of our identity literally tied up in our hair, it’s important to get all of the facts. If you’re a woman concerned about hair loss, we have some answers and some help. Read more

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If you’re going to be laid up for a couple of weeks with the flu, the Bay Area is a good place to do it. A remarkable number of services and conveniences are a phone call or swipe away.

For example, take-out food and grocery delivery services are a godsend when you’re sick. During a recent illness, I couldn’t leave the house for almost a week (my husband was out of town) and needed some basic groceries. The first delivery service brought canned chicken noodle soup, eggs, juice, bananas, ginger ale and a dozen other things in less than 90 minutes. I used a second grocery delivery service for a larger order, placed 24 hours in advance. Read more

As the year comes to a close, many of us have money on our minds. Maybe you’re mulling how much to spend on gifts or how much to donate to your favorite charity. As you draw up your end-of-year accounts, one thing to consider is your health insurance benefits. If you’ve been putting off seeing your physician, optometrist, dentist or chiropractor, you may want to make an appointment before January. There are two reasons why December is a crucial time to plan for health care costs: 1) deductibles will reset in January and 2) it’s your last chance to use any money you’ve put in a Flexible Spending Account (FSA). Read more