Cormet de Roselend is one of the more beautiful climbs in the Alps. But remember, the best route is not via the main Route des Grandes Alpes road that climbs the north and south sides. Instead, take the 3rd way up via Col du Pré, like the Critériun du Dauphiné will on June 5th.
Col du Pré is a challenging beautiful climb with 26 hairpins and high mountain views in all directions. And just beyond the summit is one of the great views in the Alps down towards Lac de Roselend. And best of all? To get to Cormet de Roselend you must ride over the lac de Roselend dam! Damn!
The climb to Col du Pré starts immediately in Beaufort. But it’s after the village of Arêches where all the hairpins begin.
Lac de Roselend is still not quite full, so not quite as beautiful as in late summer. But the views from Col du Pré are amazing.
At the summit of Col du Pré is a brilliant gravel road that leads much high to La Passage de la Charmette. See this old post for details of the south side of Cormet de Roselend and then this gravel adventure with towering views of Lac de Roselend.
Unpaved road to Passage de la Charmette – 2014
But back to the current ride: I had my drone and tried to take a few different angles crossing the dam.
After the dam, the route rejoins the main road at Col du Mérailet (1605m) and runs along the edge of the lake.
La Chapelle de Roselend:
The road then leaves the lake and heads higher.
There was still a fair amount of snow along the last couple of kilometres, but the road is well cleared and fine for road bikes.
Cormet is a local word for col. Above Arêches on the route to Col du Pré the road splits and one can head to another lake/dam: Lac de St Guérin – See here for ride details. And above that is Cormet d’Arêches at 2100m. I believe it is still gravel above the lake, but it’s now fully paved on the far side. See here for a ride idea that goes far above Col d’Arêches to a couple of cols, one that overlooks Lac de Roselend. And see here for an old ride that reaches Cormet d’Arêches after visiting a bunch of high gravel cols.
Finally, as shown on the maps below, I descended the main Route des Grandes Alpes road that goes directly to Beaufort. But there is some sort of construction that caused a detour that required some climbing. But it’s a scenic, quiet hair-pinned route. Not a bad detour although my legs were tired.
What a great day. I can’t recommend this route enough. Woohoo!
Hi friends! New podcast episode is live. Friendly disclaimer: we talk about binging and emotional eating in this episode. If you feel like this would be a triggering topic for you, please use your discretion. xo
158: Using tapping to overcome weight loss struggles and finding balance with Brittany Watkins
Here’s what we chat about:
Why You Self-Sabotage Your Weight Loss Efforts with Emotional Eating and Binge Eating
How tapping works and how it impacts your body and brain
The Difference Between Cravings and Emotional Eating
Subconscious Weight Loss Blockers
Why You Overeat or Overdrink at Parties
and so much more.
Here’s more about Brittany and her background:
Brittany Watkins is a renowned speaker, author, and creator of The Echo Tapping Method™, a groundbreaking technique in Food Psychology. Recognized as a leading expert in Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT or Tapping), especially for weight loss and emotional eating, Brittany has built a remarkable career over the last 15 years. She has changed the lives of over 100,000 women by addressing their food cravings, emotional eating, and self-sabotage. She focuses on finding and fixing the root causes of these issues quickly. She developed The Echo Tapping Method™, an innovative approach that rapidly speeds up the healing process. This unique psychology biohacking modality has been shown to provide the benefits of ten years of therapy in just a few sessions. Brittany’s core professional dedication has been to provide quick and lasting change. Brittany has also trained more than 400 medical professionals, therapists, and counselors in her method, who are helping thousands of patients every year. Her work has been recognized in major publications like Psychology Today, Shape, and Women’s Health and Fitness Magazine. Plus, her techniques have reached over 10 million women worldwide via Facebook and YouTube, establishing her as a key figure in psychological healing for emotional eating.
Join us for Fit Team! This is my online fitness community and you can try it free for 7 days.
I love love love the meals from Sakara Life! Use this link and the code XOGINAH for 20% off their meal delivery and clean boutique items. This is something I do once a month as a lil treat to myself and the meals are always showstoppers.
If any of my fellow health professional friends are looking for another way to help their clients, I highly recommend IHP. You can also use this information to heal yourself and then go one to heal others, which I think is a beautiful mission. You can absolutely join if you don’t currently work in the health or fitness industry; many IHPs don’t begin on this path. They’re friends who are passionate to learn more about health and wellness, and want to share this information with those they love. You can do this as a passion, or start an entirely new career.
I’m still obsessed with my sauna blanket. This is one of my favorite ways to relax and sweat it out. I find that it energizes me, helps with aches and pains, I sleep better on the days I use this, and it makes my skin glow. Link to check it out here. You can also use my discount FITNESSISTA15 for the PEMF Go Mat, which I use every day, and the red light face mask, which is a staple in my weekly skincare routine.
Get 20% off Organifi with the code FITNESSISTA. I drink the green juice, red juice, gold, and Harmony! (Each day I might have something different, or have two different things. Everything I’ve tried is amazing.) I’m currently obsessed with the shilajit gummies!
Thank you so much for listening and for all of your support with the podcast! Please be sure to subscribe, and leave a rating or review if you enjoyed this episode. If you leave a rating, head to this page and you’ll get a little “thank you” gift from me to you.
Does it matter whether you buy vaccinated or unvaccinated baby chicks to create or grow your backyard flock of egg-laying hens?
With Easter just a couple of weeks away, I thought I would pen a few words about buying chicks for your kids this Holiday.
Like many parents, I purchased baby chicks for my kids at Easter, who quickly grew within a few weeks to egg-laying birds that we kept in a backyard coop.
As I’ve been a backyard poultry keeper for many years now, I thought I would opine on my experience with vaccinated versus vaccinated birds over the years!
Does it really matter? The answer might surprise you.
Most Hatcheries Vaccinate Chicks While Still in the Egg
Vaccination in the hatchery has always been considered by the industry to be the “best case scenario” for baby chicks. (1)
For many years, only a few vaccines were administered. These included:
Marek’s disease (MD)
Infectious bronchitis (IB)
Coccidiosis
Newcastle disease (ND)
Swollen head syndrome (SHS)
In recent years, new developments in chick vaccination have occurred with vaccination by eye drop, coarse spray and fine spray, subcutaneous injection at day old, and the increasingly popular ‘in-ovo’ injection a few days before the chick hatches. Below is a video of the process.
This has allowed many more injections to occur.
Vaccinated Hens Don’t Lay As Long!
In my experience keeping egg-laying hens, those that were vaccinated as chicks do not tend to lay eggs very long.
While they seem to lay normally for the first year to year and a half, after that, egg production declines sharply compared with unvaccinated hens.
By comparison, unvaccinated hens I’ve kept over the years will lay regularly until they are 5-6 years old!
Vaccinated Hens Are Sickly
Another problem with hens that were vaccinated as chicks is that they tend to be much more sickly.
To give you some idea, out of a batch of 6 vaccinated chicks I raised a little over 3 years ago, only 2 remain (and one of those is currently sick and has only ever laid deformed eggs).
Some of you might be wondering why I got vaccinated chicks to begin with.
The reason is that I was under the impression that the feed store where I bought them had unvaxed chicks. Unfortunately, this was a mistake on my part.
This mistake, however, gave me a perspective for comparison, which I am now sharing with you!
Weaker Hens Preferred by Predators
Another thing I’ve noticed over the years is that the vaccinated hens are targeted more by predators.
For example, over the last 5 years we’ve increasingly experienced hawk attacks in our neighborhood due to some heavy development in a rural area to the north of our community.
Without exception, the hens that have fallen prey to the hawks were vaccinated.
Predators instinctively know which animals are the weakest and sickest. They tend to go for these animals as it provides a higher rate of success.
Is it just a coincidence that every single hen I’ve lost to a hawk over the last few years was vaccinated? Perhaps, but given that they were more sickly anyway, I doubt that it was happenstance.
Always Insist on Unvaxed Chicks!
My recommendation to those who keep backyard hens is that it is worth it to spend the time seeking out unvaccinated chicks.
You spend a lot of time raising these babies into adults, and sickly birds that don’t lay as long are not a good investment in my experience.
In addition, who knows what the decreased nutritional value of their eggs might be due to this medicalization?
For example, one of my vaxed hens consistently lays deformed eggs (and always has). I’ve never had an unvaxed hen lay this type of egg.
Even if the egg looks normal, however, are the yolk and white actually the same? We have no idea at this point. I haven’t found any research that has looked into it.
Where to Get Unvaccinated Chicks
There are three ways to ensure that the baby chicks you select for your family to grow up into egg layers are unmedicalized.
Feed Store
Some feed stores will have unvaccinated chicks.
Hint: These establishments will almost always be independently owned.
However, some locally owned feed stores will have vaccinated chicks too, so be sure to ask and don’t assume (which was my mistake!).
Hatcheries
While fewer and fewer hatcheries are offering unvaccinated chicks, there are still a few around.
Hoover’s Hatchery is the one I recommend looking into (you select vaccination status at checkout).
The minimum purchase is 15 chicks, so buying with a friend or two is a good idea if you only want a few chicks at a time.
We got a large, formidable, and yet gentle cockerel from a local rooster sanctuary. You don’t even have to raise them from a chick if you don’t want to.
Note that hatching chicks laid from unvaccinated hens is going to produce the best results!
Have you noticed a difference at your house between the health and egg-laying capacity between vaccinated and unvaccinated hens?
This entry was posted on Feb 26, 2024 by Charlotte Bell.
Most of us would probably agree that our lives are filled to the brim. When we’re super busy, what often drops off our schedule are the very things we need most, like our yoga practice. Running through a few quick Sun Salutations (Surya Namaskara) is certainly better than no practice, but it won’t necessarily sustain and restore your energies. We also need rest to balance busyness. Standard Yoga Bolsters are one of the key tools for calming agitation and renewing our energies.
B.K.S. Iyengar originally developed Restorative Yoga as a therapeutic practice to heal specific physical imbalances and to regenerate spent energy. Restorative Yoga specialist Judith Hanson Lasater learned about restorative practice directly from Mr. Iyengar. She has since developed and refined the practice and now teaches workshops and trainings worldwide.
What sets Restorative Yoga apart is that all its asanas are supported. Restoring our energies requires that we spend as little energy as possible. Setting up poses with Yoga Bolsters, Blankets, Blocks and Straps allows our bodies to be completely supported. Then we can simply relax and breathe without expending our energies.
Essential Tools for Restorative Yoga
Probably the best investment you’ll ever make for your Restorative Yoga practice is a yoga bolster. Hugger Mugger originally designed their Standard Yoga Bolsters in the 1980s, according to specs from the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute in Pune, India. One of the Standard Yoga Bolster’s unique features is its flat surface. This makes these bolsters comfortable and stable in many poses.
The size, shape and combination of surface softness with a solid core make these bolsters very versatile. They are soft and comfy, but also stable and supportive. These yoga bolsters are handmade in Hugger Mugger’s Salt Lake City facility, and I can vouch for the fact that they will give you years, if not decades, of service. I still have—and use—bolsters from the very first batch made in the 1980s!
3 Ways to Use Standard Yoga Bolsters
Here are three poses that will help familiarize you with the joys of Standard Yoga Bolsters:
Supported Supta Baddhakonasana (Bound Angle Pose)
The picture at the top of this blog may be the best-loved pose in the restorative canon—at least by my own students. This pose confers many benefits. It can ease abdominal distress and is unsurpassed for general relaxation. Neither a backbend nor forward bend, it has a neutral effect on your spine. Like all restorative poses, you can improvise with the props you have. For example, you can use just the standard bolster and the block that’s holding it up, along with either the blocks under the knees or the strap. If you don’t have extra blankets on hand, you can let your arms rest on the floor. The essential parts for this version of the pose are: the Standard Yoga Bolsters, supported by a Yoga Block; several Yoga Blocks or a Yoga Strap to support the leg position. For more info on setting up this pose, visit this blog.
Supported Upavista Konasana (Seated Angle Pose)
Seated forward bends are inherently relaxing—unless your hamstrings are tight. Seated forward bends are most beneficial when you’re able to rest. When your body is just hanging out in space with no support, the effort to resist gravity actually spends, rather than restores, energy.
A slanted Standard Yoga Bolster can provide support that allows for complete relaxation. Feel free to pile blankets on top of the bolster if it’s not high enough. Also, sitting on an extra folded blanket can help tilt your pelvis forward for a healthier forward bend. If your head doesn’t reach the bolster, even with extra blankets on top, no problem. Simply rest your arms on the bolster. Any support that lessens your resistance to gravity will help you relax. Here’s a post that explains restorative forward bends in more detail.
Supported Savasana (Corpse Pose)
Many people need extra support when lying supine. The right support under the knees can make the difference between a restless Savasana and a peaceful one. There are many ways to create this support, of course. But I have a crush on this way of setting up that I learned the last time I studied restorative practice with Judith Lasater. I like it because the legs are supported evenly. There’s no part of the leg that’s pressing too firmly into the bolster or blanket. All you need for this is a Standard Yoga Bolster, a Yoga Block and a rolled-up blanket or Pranayama Bolster (as shown in the photo). If you want more detail, read this post.
Note that while there are plenty of poses that utilize a bolster lying flat on the floor, the three I’ve chosen all employ a ”bolstered” bolster. By that, I mean the Standard Yoga Bolster is slanted using the support of a block underneath. Hugger Mugger’s bolsters are uniquely suited for these poses because of their solid core that doesn’t collapse when you slant them over a block.
About Charlotte Bell
Charlotte Bell discovered yoga in 1982 and began teaching in 1986. Charlotte is the author of Mindful Yoga, Mindful Life: A Guide for Everyday Practice and Yoga for Meditators, both published by Rodmell Press. Her third book is titled Hip-Healthy Asana: The Yoga Practitioner’s Guide to Protecting the Hips and Avoiding SI Joint Pain (Shambhala Publications). She writes a monthly column for CATALYST Magazine and serves as editor for Yoga U Online. Charlotte is a founding board member for GreenTREE Yoga, a non-profit that brings yoga to underserved populations. A lifelong musician, Charlotte plays oboe and English horn in the Salt Lake Symphony and folk sextet Red Rock Rondo, whose DVD won two Emmy awards in 2010.
Who doesn’t love chocolate for breakfast? This chocolate baked oatmeal can be prepped ahead of time in just 10 minutes and makes for an easy make-ahead, one-bowl breakfast. Loaded with cocoa powder, chocolate chips, and peanut butter, this oatmeal can be enjoyed for breakfast, a snack, or even dessert!
Why I Love This Recipe
If you’ve been around the blog, you know I am a huge fan of baked oatmeal.
With its hearty texture, it’s both satisfying and delicious, plus it’s so easy to make with whatever ingredients you have on hand.
It comes together in just ten minutes, making it a tried-and-true make-ahead breakfast that the whole family can enjoy throughout the week.
I don’t know about you, but I love taking the guesswork out of what to eat for breakfast and find that having something ready to serve takes the edge off the hectic morning routine.
This chocolate version is a dessert lover’s dream breakfast. It’s loaded with cocoa powder, gooey peanut butter, and melty chocolate chips. If you’re craving something warm and sweet in the morning, this is the breakfast you need.
But hey, if you’re not in the chocolate mood and are craving something a little more fruit-forward, check out my Peach Baked Oatmeal and Apple Baked Oatmeal recipes.
Ingredients You’ll Need
Notes on Ingredients
peanut butter: adds a creamy consistency. Feel free to swap for any other nut or nut-alternative butter you have in your pantry.
egg: helps to bind all of the ingredients together.
maple syrup: provides a touch of sweetness.
vanilla extract: also for sweetness and is a flavor enhancer.
milk or non-dairy milk alternative: any type of regular cow’s milk or non-dairy milk alternative will work. I like using almond milk for it’s mild, neutral taste.
old-fashioned oats: old-fashioned rolled oats work best in baked oatmeal because they are large and retain their texture well with baking. To make this recipe gluten free, be sure to grab certified gluten-free rolled oats.
cocoa powder: creates the primary chocolate flavor.
baking powder: allows the oats to rise in the oven and also lightens the texture.
salt: essential flavor enhancer.
chocolate chips: no explanation needed! I use semi-sweet chocolate chips but you can substitute for dark chocolate chips, chocolate chunks, or any chopped up chocolate bar.
Prepare baking dish. Grease 9-inch square or 11×7 baking dish and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Combine wet ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk peanut butter, egg, maple syrup, vanilla, and milk until combined.
Stir in dry ingredients. Add rolled oats, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt and 1/4 cup chocolate chips and stir until combined.
Add to baking dish. Pour mixture into prepared baking dish and top with remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips.
Bake and serve. Bake until center of oatmeal is just set, about 35-40 minutes. Allow oatmeal to cool for at least 10-15 minutes on a wire rack before serving.
Expert Tips
Bake oatmeal according to your desired texture. For a softer, chewier oatmeal, bake oatmeal until just before center is fully set, closer to 35 minutes. For a drier, crispier oatmeal, bake until fully set, about 40 minutes.
Make this a make-ahead breakfast! Mixture can be made ahead of time (like on a Sunday!) and stored overnight in the fridge. Let sit out at room temperature while the oven preheats and stir mixture before baking. Bake in the morning and you’ve got breakfast for the entire week!
For extra flavor and staying power, garnish with a generous dollop of peanut butter or Greek yogurt. The extra protein and fat from the peanut butter or Greek yogurt will help keep you fuller longer!
Storage and Preparation
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Reheat in microwave for one minute with a little splash of almond milk or milk.
Baked oatmeal is also freezer-friendly. To store in the freezer, bake as directed, let cool completely, then store in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months.
If you like this recipe, please be sure to comment and give it a 5 star rating below. If you make it, share it on Instagram and tag me @karalydonrd and I’ll re-share it with my followers! If you want to save this recipe for later, be sure to pin it on Pinterest!
Who doesn’t love chocolate for breakfast? This chocolate baked oatmeal can be prepped ahead of time in just 10 minutes and makes for an easy make-ahead, one-bowl breakfast. Loaded with cocoa powder, chocolate chips, and peanut butter, this oatmeal can be enjoyed for breakfast, a snack, or even dessert!
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1 egg
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups milk or non-dairy milk alternative (I used unsweetened almond milk)
2 cups old-fashioned oats
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips, divided
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 9-inch square or 11×7 baking dish.
In a large bowl, whisk peanut butter, egg, maple syrup, vanilla, and milk until combined.
Add rolled oats, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt and 1/4 cup chocolate chips and stir until combined.
Pour mixture into prepared baking dish and top with remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips.
Bake until center of oatmeal is just set, about 35-40 minutes.
Let cool for at least 10-15 minutes on a wire rack before serving (oatmeal will continue to set while it cools).
Notes
For a softer, chewier oatmeal, bake oatmeal until just before center is fully set, closer to 35 minutes. For a drier, crispier oatmeal, bake until fully set, about 40 minutes.
For extra flavor and staying power, garnish with a generous dollop of peanut butter or Greek yogurt!
All eyes are on healthcare organizations. How will they adjust their approach to cybersecurity in the wake of the recent attack on Change Healthcare? Data, used effectively, is an invaluable tool for improving healthcare. But data’s immense value attracts the attention of hackers. There are vulnerabilities in this increasingly interconnected industry, where outside vendors are relied on heavily to assist with the goals of both payer and provider organizations. Healthcare organizations must devote significant resources to assessing their current security efforts.
For healthcare organizations to avoid being victims of the next attack, their executives will need to consider the organization’s positions and preparedness. Healthcare organizations rely heavily on both legacy and modern systems. These systems have been put together piece by piece to address the comprehensive workflows of the organization and the connections between them. Truly strengthening cybersecurity requires an exhaustive look at the exposure of each system and the vulnerable connections between them.
So, how does a company make sure it’s not next? It’s an impossible question to answer. Every organization is different. There is no one anti-hacking service that guarantees complete protection from every potential cyber security threat. However, there are four areas where organizations can implement meaningful changes to strengthen their cybersecurity.
Considerations in assessing current cybersecurity risks
Single point vs. platform solutions: Many organizations will begin to address risk by moving away from single-point solutions and adopting more platform-based solutions. For example, payer organizations can have hundreds, if not thousands, of systems across their enterprise. If an updated solution can consolidate 40 independent products into a single platform, it will strengthen security and streamline monitoring of that one platform, reducing the number of vulnerabilities.
Interoperability: Healthcare organizations adopting industry-accepted interoperability standards reduce risk. The industry moves toward compliance with shared interoperability standards and encryption mechanisms. These standards also allow vendors who sell security software to invest in protecting endpoints and access points, strengthening an organization’s potential vulnerabilities.
Dreaded silos: Without a holistic approach or shared enterprise strategy, different departments tend to come up with their own siloed solutions. Anytime two parts use different processes, there’s a lack of coordination, leading to additional risks. When organizations take a holistic approach and develop an enterprise-wide strategy, understanding how each part fits together, they’ll find more success in minimizing their risk.
Don’t expect a regulatory solution anytime soon: The industry should not wait for government intervention or market trends to respond to recent events. Instead, an immediate focus should be reviewing current practices and evaluating an organization’s risks. Following industry standards and best practices for cybersecurity is essential, but there is no “perfect” approach or “ideal” technical infrastructure. Every organization has unique needs, so there is no one-size-fits-all solution.
Tactical steps to strengthen an organization’s cybersecurity approach
How can an organization translate these elements into its own approach? Use a strong set of principles to design around its unique needs—this will help identify the appropriate characteristics a company needs in its infrastructure—its systems, its people, and the process pieces that are unique to it. Strengthening cybersecurity is a journey, not a destination. Expand current focuses, assess strengths and risks, and consider adopting key tactical approaches in an organization’s unique approach.
Expand cybersecurity prevention efforts to include strategies to identify, detect, and mitigate threats. While many organizations prefer to approach cybersecurity from a prevention perspective, it can lead to blind spots that create vulnerability. Don’t just look for strategies that keep attackers out—threats will only become more sophisticated, and organizations must be prepared to respond. Model scenarios to fully understand the implications and potential responses to attacks, such as ransomware. Cybersecurity strategies must focus on the ability to identify, respond, and mitigate threats. With that framework in place, organizations will be better positioned to minimize the velocity and disruption of a potential attack.
Look to industry standards to strengthen a cybersecurity approach. Undertake a full assessment of the organization’s current security – look at the security status of its systems, networks, software, services, and information, and assess its capacity to detect, mitigate, and respond to cyberattacks. Many organizations will look to HITRUST assessment and certification, and companies just beginning to think about security would be wise to become familiar with the approach. HITRUST is a comprehensive security and risk management framework that provides a roadmap for organizations to achieve compliance with security requirements and manage risk. The assessment is resource-intensive because it’s specifically tailored to a healthcare organization’s unique systems, processes, policies, and people.
Recognize and address threats inside an organization. Healthcare organizations must prioritize people, processes, and tools to improve their security position, as internal actors are more likely to cause data loss than external ones. According to a Stanford University study, most data loss in cyberattacks is due to internal employees – whether individuals fall victim to phishing attempts or make intentional or willful data breaches. It is vital to ensure an organization has training, policies, and monitoring in place to address internal threats.
Limit access to sensitive information. Common strategies include adopting new policies and procedures to limit risk exposure by minimizing access to protected information. Consider using ‘least privilege’ access as a default—only give system users the least amount of access needed— making anonymized or de-identified systems the standard and minimizing the number of users with access to sensitive information. Also, consider an anonymized-data-first strategy. Many companies can conduct performance and operational reporting and other workflows with anonymized or de-identified data sets.
The healthcare industry will continue to be the victim of cyberattacks. The organizations that make up this industry would be wise to focus on a comprehensive set of assessments and attributes for improving cybersecurity—not a specific map or a specific combination of tools. Create an enterprise-wide strategy for achieving security and minimizing risk. Keep in mind that it’s not just an infrastructure problem to solve. Achieving strong cybersecurity is a vast, interconnected web that must incorporate the correct software, procedures, and workflows and take into account the human element across an entire organization. Cybersecurity perfection does not exist, but a strong defense does.
Photo: JuSun, Getty Images
Ryan Hamilton, the CTO of MacroHealth, is a recognized healthcare IT leader, with a clear vision of the future of digital healthcare and a unique understanding of the challenges associated with the current and emerging delivery models of healthcare in both the U.S. and international markets. He has extensive experience guiding healthcare technology enterprises with innovative and disruptive business models to allow organizations to lead the transformation within their MSAs. Most recently, Ryan served as the Chief Architect for Cerner’s commercial product offerings and platforms covering the full healthcare continuum, including core electronic medical record management, revenue cycle, device integration, population health management, and consumer solutions. Prior to that, he served as the SVP of Strategic Growth and SVP of Population Health during a period of massive growth at Cerner.
Veteran John Bollinger has been driving adapted vehicles ever since he became paralyzed in 1969 while serving in the US Navy. In March of 2022, John and his wife were involved in an accident that totaled their accessible Toyota Sienna. They both managed to escape uninjured, but without his van, John was housebound. Working with two of our stores in different states, our teams were able to get John back on the road quickly so he could head back home to Virginia.
John had traditionally worked with the MobilityWorks team in Beltsville, Maryland, now located in Laurel. Because the team was so familiar with John and his mobility needs, they were able to get the ball rolling on a solution for him even from several states away.
“They were very familiar with my case and the people at the VA in Washington, DC, that help me with the VA’s part of it,” he said. “They took the bull by the horns and started things going.”
Meanwhile, the MobilityWorks store in Fort Myers was able to secure a rental van for John as they helped him search for a replacement vehicle that would work for his needs. Once they found the right vehicle, the two offices worked together to order and install the additional equipment he needed in order to get back home.
“I was worried at that time I might not get home until August or September. Thanks to the team in Fort Myers, they turned the screws and made it happen. I’m not sure how, it was pretty magical, but they were able to get the parts and get the car customized for me,” John said.
After a few months with his new vehicle, John decided that the accessible Honda Odyssey would be a better fit for his lifestyle. He worked through our Alexandria, Virginia, location for that purchase and says that his experiences with each of these locations was a positive one.
“People probably usually just deal with one office – I’ve dealt with three, and I’ve had good experiences at all three. If I extrapolate a little bit, it must mean the rest of the MobilityWorks offices across the country are probably doing as equally a good job,” he said.
When something unexpected such as a traffic accident happens, it’s hard to know where to turn first. Because of John’s relationship with the team in Maryland, he immediately found the support and guidance he needed to help him get back home. Through MobilitySelect, you too can get connected with your very own point of contact at the location closest to you. They will be there for you to schedule appointments, provide flexible service options, and answer any questions you might have along the way!
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Today we introduced the most consequential security product in Cisco’s history: Cisco Hypershield. It’s a cloud-native, AI-powered approach to highly distributed security for AI-scale data centers that’s built into the fabric of the network.
It’s the most radically different security innovation I’ve been a part of in my career. Part of the Cisco Security Cloud, Cisco Hypershield literally turns the network security model upside down, bringing the power of hyperscaler security and connectivity to the enterprise.
Security for the Age of AI
AI is ushering in an era of digital abundance. When every person in every job function has AI assistants and organizations are moving at machine scale, our world of 8 billion will feel like we have the capacity of 80 billion.
To accommodate the additional digital capacity required, our public and private data centers are being reimagined. And Cisco is at the heart of how data centers are being reimagined: how they are connected, how they are secured, how they are operated, and how they are scaled.
And data centers are changing in two major ways. Infrastructure is changing: CPUs are being supplemented with GPUs and DPUs that specialize in functions like AI workload processing and I/O operations at throughput levels that modern AI-scale data centers need. And applications are changing: they’re being broken into thousands of microservices that run in different containers and clouds – highly distributed, all talking to each other.
In this new world, we need to reimagine security at AI scale. And we need to do it now, because this evolution of data centers and applications isn’t waiting for us.
How can we reimagine security?
Billions spent on cyber security, and we are still falling behind in many ways.
The fact is, securing everything is hard. And the unprecedented scale of modern applications, AI workloads, and devices just makes everything harder. For instance, I was recently in India and the country is rolling out 250 million smart power meters, each of which has the potential to be exploited. This is just one example of scale that creates tactical challenges for securing everything. Consider the challenges:
Segmentation is hard when applications become hyper-distributed and are continually changing.
Patching is hard because it takes a long time to test, schedule, and deploy a patch to remove a vulnerability. And it’s getting harder to keep up because attackers are compressing the time between when they know about a vulnerability to when they start exploiting it; it might take just a few days or even less.
Upgrades are hard because, like patches, they involve manual testing and deployment. Upgrades are especially hard when they involve mission-critical infrastructure like an oil rig or a medical robot, some of which can’t even be upgraded.
Now, imagine you had a solution that could understand everything your applications are doing. Then you could have AI define granular segmentation rules for you and keep them updated as things evolve.
Imagine you had a way to find vulnerabilities and automatically shield them from being exploited. You’d be protected even before you get the chance to patch.
Imagine your security infrastructure could upgrade itself. You’d save countless hours and eliminate the coordination and downtime of upgrade testing and deployment windows.
We designed Cisco Hypershield to do all this and more. It is built for the age of AI, for the cloud, in software, and with a distributed architecture that means you can put security wherever you need to….in the cloud, in the data center, on a factory floor, or a hospital imaging room.
Cisco Hypershield is built on modern building blocks like eBPF, hardware acceleration, and AI.
Co-created by our new teammates from Isovalent along with Meta, eBPF allows a lightweight agent to peer into the heart of the operating system, without actually being there. It sits in the user space but has a kernel-level effect. This gives Cisco Hypershield full visibility into every software process and every I/O operation your distributed applications are running in any Kubernetes container or VM. It’s the default mechanism for connecting and protecting cloud-native workloads used by the hyperscalers.
Hardware acceleration. Cisco Hypershield takes advantage of DPUs and other hardware accelerators in servers and other network infrastructure. This means you can place high-performance security control points not just in distributed containers and VMs, but in hardware that sits close to the workloads they’re protecting.
By designing Cisco Hypershield from the ground up to leverage the power of AI, it’s orders-of-magnitude more autonomous than other security solutions. With this AI-first focus in mind, we’re excited about our partnership with NVIDIA. We are working together to co-create security-specific AI models, and we’re optimizing our Cisco Security products for NVIDIA’s technology.
Bringing security to the workloads
What the Cisco Hypershield architecture delivers is a coordinated fabric of thousands of distributed security enforcement points throughout your entire environment, across both public and private clouds. It brings security to the workloads, not the other way around.
And this architecture allows us to do some truly incredible use cases that weren’t possible until now, such as:
Autonomous segmentation that draws upon ongoing visibility of network flows, process behaviors, and application changes to define granular segmentation rules that can protect against lateral movement. And as things change over time, Cisco Hypershield refines and updates these rules dynamically.
Distributed exploit protection that determines if you have a high-risk vulnerability in your environment and delivers a compensating control that can be deployed to block attackers from exploiting the vulnerability – before you have a chance to patch, and maybe even before you know about the vulnerability.
Self-qualifying upgrades that use a shadow data path to test upgrades and policy changes against a mirror of live traffic, compare and confirm the results using AI, and move all the flows to the latest version – all without any downtime.
I’m incredibly excited about the launch of Cisco Hypershield. I’m so proud of our team for delivering this incredible innovation that will help make the world a safer place.
To learn more about it, please read Tom Gillis’ blog about the technology and the key customer use cases we’re solving for. And keep your feedback coming!
Tax season is never fun. But some tax filers this year face an added complication: Their returns are being rejected because they failed to provide information about Affordable Care Act coverage they didn’t even know they had.
While the concern about unscrupulous brokers enrolling unsuspecting people in ACA coverage has simmered for years, complaints have risen in recent months as consumers discover their health insurance coverage isn’t what they thought it was.
Now such unauthorized enrollments are also causing tax headaches. Returns are getting rejected by the IRS and some people will have to pay more in taxes.
“It’s definitely gotten worse over the past year. We’ve helped three to four dozen people this year already,” said Erin Kinard, director of systems and intake for the Health and Economic Opportunity Program at Pisgah Legal Services in North Carolina, which helps low-income families enroll in ACA plans and get tax help.
Neither the IRS nor the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which oversees the federal Obamacare marketplace, responded to questions about the problem.
The IRS did, however, issue an FAQ in February instructing consumers on what to do if their electronically filed returns are rejected because of ACA issues.
Unauthorized sign-ups can happen in several ways, Kinard and others said. Some rogue agents troll online enrollment portals that are accessible only to brokers but are integrated with the healthcare.gov website. When those agents open a new policy or switch an already enrolled policyholder to a different plan, they garner the associated monthly commissions. Other consumers unwittingly sign up when they respond to advertisements touting gift cards or government subsidies then are transferred to agents who enroll them in health coverage. It’s happening even after new rules were put in place requiring agents to get written or recorded consent from clients before making changes.
CMS has not released details on how many consumers have been affected or how many agents have been sanctioned for participating in such schemes.
There’s also no public tally of how many taxpayers are facing problems as a result. And the tax consequences can come as a surprise.
“Many people are finding out when they go to e-file their taxes and it bounces back and the IRS says it can’t accept your return,” said Christine Speidel, an associate professor and the director of the Federal Tax Clinic at Villanova University’s Charles Widger School of Law.
Returns are rejected if the IRS has information indicating the taxpayer has ACA coverage but the returns don’t include forms that help determine whether premium tax credits paid on the policyholder’s behalf to insurers were correct. If their income was misstated by the rogue broker who enrolled them, for example, they might not have qualified for the full amount paid. Or, if they had affordable employer coverage, they would not have been eligible for ACA subsidies at all.
Ashley Zukoski, an ultrasound technologist in Charlotte, North Carolina, had employer coverage but now faces a tax bill for an ACA plan she said she never signed up for. She reached out to KFF Health News after it reported on such unauthorized plan enrollments.
Unbeknownst to her, she said, a broker in Florida enrolled her family in an ACA plan in late February 2023, even though Zukoski had coverage starting that January through her job. The broker listed an income that qualified the household for a full subsidy, so Zukoski never received a premium bill.
Her first inkling that something was amiss came early in 2024 when she received a special form, called a 1095-A, which showed she had an ACA plan. After reporting the problem to the federal marketplace, she sought to get the 1095-A voided so she would not be liable for the plan’s premium subsidies paid by the government to the insurer.
But, because Zukoski’s pharmacy had billed the ACA plan instead of her job-based coverage, her request was denied. She plans to appeal.
In the meantime, the family has filed an extension on their taxes.
“Instead of getting a $4,100 refund, we now owe almost $700 in taxes based on the 1095-A and premium tax credit applied,” Zukoski said.
With the April 15 federal tax filing deadline upon us, there are some important steps for affected consumers to take, tax and insurance experts said.
First, because it could take weeks to get corrected forms, experts recommend filing for an extension to buy more time. When consumers file for that extension, they should also pay any taxes owed to avoid penalties and interest.
In general, consumers who at any point in the year think they are victims of an unauthorized enrollment or plan switch should report it immediately to the relevant federal or state ACA marketplace and request a corrected Form 1095-A. But move fast. Appeals to cancel coverage retroactively must be made within 60 days of discovering the fraudulent enrollment, Speidel said.
Consumers can ask for help filing a complaint with federal or state regulators by contacting their own insurance agents or seeking help from assisters or “navigator” programs, which are government-funded nonprofit groups that help people enroll or deal with insurance problems.
Navigators and assisters are fielding many such cases this year and can submit what are called “complex case forms,” which help federal officials investigate such complaints, said Lynn Cowles, program manager for Prosper Health Coverage, a navigator program in Texas.
KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.
Welcome spring with these healthy spring recipes for kids and spring nutrition tips featuring plant-based spring produce.
Spring is here, and it’s a perfect opportunity to plunge into healthy plant-powered eating for the whole family. After all, this is the time that crisp carrots, sweet peas, and leafy greens burgeon forth to greet the sunnier, warmer days. Getting your children to enjoy more healthy plants—vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and legumes—is a wonderful way to increase their intake of fiber, vitamins, and minerals, as well as antioxidant compounds. So, I asked some of my favorite dietitian friends and colleagues to give me the scoop on their best nutrition tips for spring cleaning kids’ diet with more spring produce. Plus, I’m sharing healthy spring recipes for kids, healthy spring snacks for kids, and nutrition tips for kids.
Including more healthy plant-based foods is a great way to spring clean your young child’s diet. (Photo from Vegan Nutrition Kids.)
Healthy Spring Recipes for Kids + Spring Nutrition Tips
Welcome spring eating to your kids plate by focusing on more whole seasonal produce (think carrots, peas, strawberries, and asparagus), as well as minimally processed whole staples, such as whole grains (whole wheat, oats, and quinoa), nuts (almonds, walnuts), and seeds (pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds). “Serve mashed fresh fruit in place of canned fruit or fruit snacks. Serve 100% whole grain breads and cereals to encourage a solid base. Be a role model! Make sure you’re choosing veggies and fruits, too. Encourage kids to help in the kitchen and try new foods,” says Lisa Cicciarello Andrews, RDN, owner of Sound Bites Nutrition.
Include more kid’s favorite meals that include beans, such as this easy recipe for Black Bean Corn Chili.
2. Encourage More Beans
Include more beans in your children’s diets as a plant-powered source of protein and other nutrients. “Beans are a great source of protein, iron and B vitamins, and a staple in most plant-based diets. However, not all kids like to eat them. What I like to do in my own home, and recommend to vegan or vegetarian families, is to blend or mash neutral flavor beans, like cannellini or garbanzo beans, and mix them into risottos or sauces for additional nutrition and added creaminess,” says Jessica Spiro, RD.
Make your own kid-friendly nut butters, starting with this easy recipe for Homemade Pistachio Butter.
3. Start with the Flavors Your Kids Like
Make the most of your children’s favorite flavors to encourage more spring produce in their diets. “If they love peanut butter, then use it as a dip for new fruits and veggies, like apples or celery. Give foods fun names, like green monster smoothie, and let your children chose between a couple options so they feel they have some control. Eating battles often are all about control, so if they choose between broccoli ‘trees’ and asparagus ‘swords’ they might feel more on board with eating veggies,” says Pamela Fergusson RD, PhD.
“Familiarity is key. It can be scary for a kid to see a strange food on a plate that he or she is suddenly expected to love. It’s great to pair the unfamiliar with a familiar item. If you are trying to get your kid to try carrots, be sure they are seated next to something they have eaten dozens of times, like peanut butter or pasta. It’s also effective to have the foods you are trying to get kiddos to try in their sight frequently without any demand, or “request” or plea”, to eat them. The more a child is exposed to a new food, the less spooky it becomes. It can often take 10 times of offering a new food to a kid or just having it on the table before he or she finally gives it a sniff and pops it in his or her mouth,” says Mary Purdy, MS, RDN.
Hummus is a great way to get kids to eat anything! Try this recipe for Hummus with Green Peas to serve with spring veggies.
4. Keep Spring Produce Handy
Keep your spring produce on the ready so that kids can easily incorporate them into their meals, from family recipes to lunchboxes and snack time. “Wash and cut fruit, slice or dice onions, clean mushrooms, chop vegetables, and/or mince garlic. Keep all of these items in a container in the fridge until you can eat or use them. You’re more likely to reach into the fridge and grab a few strawberries to eat if they’re already washed and stemmed, right? Are you more likely to eat an apple if it’s sliced? I noticed that sometimes my son’s apple would come back in his lunchbox whole, but if I sliced it, it never did. You’d be more likely to eat a salad if the ingredients were already prepared, right? I always keep sliced onions in my fridge. 50% of the time I have sliced cucumber and carrots too. I like to slice my veggies using a mandolin so it’s quick and uniform,” says Megan Mannina, RDN of The Green Beet Blog.
The best way to get kids to eat spring produce is to help them grow it themselves! Research shows kids are much more likely to eat produce when they are involved in gardening. And spring is the perfect time! Check out my free gardening toolkit to get grown. “What I’ve seen work for my picky eating patients with a veggie aversion is teaching them the ‘farm to fork’ concept. When kiddos get to grow their own little seeds straight from a veggie of their choice, they tend to be more curious about vegetables in general. Make it a learning experience and encourage favorite veggies first if your household already has a picky eater, then move on to different tastes and gardening adventures!” says Jennifer Rodriguez, RDN, LDN.
Let your kid be part of the planning process, such as topping their avocado toast just the way they like it.
6. Embrace Creativity!
Instead of focusing on “pickiness,” take advantage of the creative tastes your child brings to the table. Let them be part of the process! “If they aren’t overly picky, having opinions and expressing likes and dislikes can be a good thing. It may help boost creativity while building their confidence in speaking up. You can also let them be part of the decision process in building healthy meals and snacks,” says Lauren O’Connor, RDN of WellSeek. I love this tip, as parents can help encourage a true love for produce by encouraging kids to be part of the process in shopping and planning meals to include more colorful fruits and vegetables.
Make sure to include a range of healthy recipes—from salads and soups to main dishes and side dishes—featuring spring produce, beans, and whole grains at meal time. And not just for the kids’ plates! “Kids learn by watching their parents, so the more parents can eat these kinds of foods in front of their children, the more likely it is that they will take an interest in them. If you are picky about what you eat, chances are your kid may be,” says Mary Purdy, MS, RDN.
Include some new spring produce pics in kid’s favorite meals, such as this recipe for Spicy Hummus Veggie Tacos.
8. Encourage New Foods
With the variety of new spring produce in farmers markets, encourage your kids to try some new fruits and vegetables, such as asparagus, artichokes, snap peas, and leafy greens. “I got my daughter to try new veggies by having her taste them while I was prepping them. We would talk while I prepped the salads and she would get curious about the raw veggies and ask to taste them. I also found that introducing a new veggie was a whole lot easier when she was ready for dinner and hungry, so less snacking before dinner really helps. Now my 10-year-old has a healthy curiosity about food and understands that a cooked carrot might taste different than a raw carrot and she’s open to trying new things!” says Danielle Omar, RDN of Food Confidence.
Supported Upavista Konasana (Seated Angle Pose)
Supported Savasana (Corpse Pose)
