Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Living Well

LECTURE SERIES OFFERED

The Cooperative Extension Service invites you to take better care of your health by participating in our health and wellness lecture series called Sandwich-in- a-Healthier-Life. This series will be offered the third Monday of every month, 12:05 p.m. at the Extension office.

November's topic is `Dining Thin.' Do not let work keep you away -- bring your lunch. Drinks will be provided.

HELP FROM CHILDREN

Can adult children give too much help to elderly parents?

Recently, researchers inquired whether lots of social support from children and grandchildren would improve or damage the mental health of older parents.

The researchers found that support from adult children is psychologically beneficial at moderate levels, but is psychologically harmful at higher

levels. Elderly parents felt better when children and grandchildren stayed in touch and provided help, but only to a certain point.

Beyond this point, greater involvement seemed to make elderly adults less happy.

They also found that if the elderly parent lives alone he or she is more

apt to be drastically affected by having either too much or too little help from children.

While it may be obvious as to why too little contact and help would

damage the mental health of elderly parents, why would lots of care and support be hurtful?

The researchers concluded that it has to do with the personal independence that Americans prize so much. Too much support from

children may make elderly parents feel too dependent upon their children.

So, what is an adult child to do?

First, maintain the emotional tie with your parents. Don't make them guess if you love them. Contact on a regular basis is important.

Second, become sensitive about how much help is really needed. Don't push help onto a parent who does not need it. Don't assume more responsibility for an elderly parent than you must.

Remember that your parent guided you toward independence by standing by and letting you learn. Now it is your time to be patient. Support your parent's wish to be as independent as possible, but be ready to assist when necessary.

GARAGE REFRIGERATORS

NEED TLC TOO

The refrigerator in the garage __ how often does it come in handy?

In the winter it is used for storing foods that go on sale or as a space to temporarily house the extra dishes for holiday get-togethers. In the summertime, it's a way to keep kids from running in and out for soda on a hot, humid day.

What would you do without that refrigerator in your garage? Seems to be a season-less question.

But keeping a refrigerator in the garage can be tough on the appliance. Some refrigerators are designed to operate properly at room temperatures of 55 degrees F or above, and it is not recommended that you place refrigerators in unheated garages, where temperatures greatly fluctuate.

If you do have a garage refrigerator, the following tips may help extend its usefulness:

+ If the appliance has an anti-sweat switch (power saver/ energy saver), it should be in the ON position in the summer for reducing moisture and OFF

in the winter.

+ Check the temperature in both compartments of your refrigerator as the seasons change to verify accurate storage temperatures.

To get an accurate reading in the refrigerator, put the thermometer

in a glass of water on the middle shelf of the refrigerator section. Leave the thermometer in the unopened refrigerator overnight. Read the thermometer the next morning immediately after opening the refrigerator door the first

time.

The recommended internal refrigerator temperature is 33 degrees F to 40 degrees F.

To measure the temperature in the freezer, place the thermometer

securely between two packages of firmly frozen food items. Close the freezer door and wait 30 minutes.

Recommended internal freezer temperatures are -5 degrees F to 5 degrees F.

Here are some food storage tips:

+ Rotate food storage in the garage refrigerator into your kitchen refrigerator as soon as space is available. Use the first in, first out rule to ensure food is used in the order it was purchased.

+ Store delicate, temperature- sensitive foods, like ice cream and meat, in your kitchen refrigerator. Winter conditions result in increased temperature fluctuations in food packages due to less frequent product cycling in unheated garages.

In some cases frozen food can begin to thaw when garage temperatures are very cold.