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In no way am I try­ing to ruin Thanks­giv­ing, but we have to talk about one lit­tle cul­prit that makes the hol­i­days a lot less heart-healthy. Salt added to food is a com­bi­na­tion of sodi­um and chlo­ride, and this small crys­tal has a huge effect on our health. Too much salt can raise blood pres­sure and lead to dan­ger­ous flu­id reten­tion, espe­cial­ly in those with dis­eases like kid­ney dis­ease or heart fail­ure. The biggest prob­lem is rarely the salt shak­er, but rather foods found on gro­cery store shelves or at restaurants.

With March being Nation­al Kid­ney Month, now is the per­fect time to give your kid­neys some love and atten­tion. One of the best ways to do this is through prop­er nutri­tion. Ang­ie Zanger-Geisel­man is the Dial­y­sis Coor­di­na­tor at Quin­cy Med­ical Group (QMG) and a Reg­is­tered Dietit­ian spe­cial­iz­ing in renal health.

Cold and flu sea­son has arrived, bring­ing with it a resur­gence of myths and old wives’ tales regard­ing reme­dies and pre­ven­tions. You may have come across some of these time-hon­ored pieces of advice hand­ed down through gen­er­a­tions, but how much truth do they hold? To help us nav­i­gate the facts and fic­tion, we con­sult­ed Dr. Ernest Wal­lace, a physi­cian with QMG Now Urgent Care at Quin­cy Med­ical Group.

Feb­ru­ary is Amer­i­can Heart Month. It’s the short­est month of the year, but this top­ic should extend to every day of our lives. I’d like to explain a lit­tle about how what we eat affects our hearts. I even have a few tips on health­i­er habits that won’t make you miserable.

World AIDS Day is rec­og­nized each year on Decem­ber 1. The recog­ni­tion offers an oppor­tu­ni­ty for peo­ple world­wide to unite in the fight against HIV, show sup­port for those liv­ing with HIV/AIDS, and to com­mem­o­rate those who have died.

A diag­no­sis of breast can­cer comes with a range of emo­tions and deci­sions for patients. Dr. Chris­t­ian Zwick, of Quin­cy Med­ical Group, spe­cial­izes in the treat­ment of breast can­cer patients and pro­vides options that improve both the well-being and qual­i­ty of life for women seek­ing recon­struc­tive options.

Most peo­ple think of Botox as a treat­ment to fight the appear­ance of facial wrin­kles. How­ev­er, you may be sur­prised to know that Botox actu­al­ly has med­ical uses for oth­er health con­di­tions, includ­ing migraines.

An esti­mat­ed 15 mil­lion Amer­i­cans have undi­ag­nosed thy­roid prob­lems. To help with ear­ly detec­tion and in some cas­es help you find lumps or enlarge­ments in the neck that may point to a thy­roid con­di­tion, you can per­form a sim­ple Neck Check self-exam. Here is a step-by-step guide from thy​roidaware​ness​.com

Age-relat­ed mac­u­lar degen­er­a­tion (AMD) is a prob­lem with your reti­na. It hap­pens when a part of the reti­na called the mac­u­la is dam­aged. With AMD you lose your cen­tral vision. You can­not see fine details, whether you are look­ing at some­thing close or far, but your periph­er­al (side) vision will still be nor­mal. For instance, imag­ine you are look­ing at a clock with hands. With AMD, you might see the clock’s num­bers but not the hands.

QMG Car­di­ol­o­gy Nurse Prac­ti­tion­er Hope Owens lists heart dis­ease risk fac­tors, shares pre­ven­tion tips, and explains the all-impor­tant lipid pan­el — or cho­les­terol test — an easy test admin­is­tered in rou­tine care by your pri­ma­ry care provider to deter­mine if your cho­les­terol is nor­mal or falls into a bor­der­line, inter­me­di­ate, or high-risk category.