The Wall Street Journal: How To Enjoy The Holidays—Without Gaining Weight
At this time of year, many revelers overdo it at the holiday table, unwilling to forgo the turkey or ham with fixings that mark the season. While many Americans serve their Thanksgiving meal in the afternoon, around 3 p.m. to 4 p.m., a giant food-fest at that time of day may not be optimal. Lauri Wright, the director of the Doctorate in Clinical Nutrition Program at the University of North Florida’s Brooks College of Health, dishes on midday dining and why a healthy breakfast may be the key to indulging in a big meal without guilt. (Mitchell, 11/21)

The Mercury News: Flying This Holiday? Here’s The Best Way To Avoid Getting Sick
So you’re headed to grandma’s house in Cleveland, and that jerk in 15C is hacking up a lung. With the cold and flu season in full gear, how are you — and millions of other Americans — supposed to protect yourself while flying the germ-ridden skies this holiday weekend? Good luck, if you haven’t already got your flu shot. The vaccine takes about two weeks for your immunity to fully build up against the virus. If you got your shot in time, nice going. Your odds of getting the flu — and not infecting your fellow passengers — are cut by about half. (Seipel, 11/21)

California Healthline: This Thanksgiving, Carve Out Time For Lively Discourse On End-Of-Life Wishes
The roast turkey and pecan pie may be the same as always, but growing numbers of families plan to add a tradition to their Thanksgiving holiday this week: a frank talk about their wishes for end-of-life care. Paul Malley, president of Aging with Dignity, the agency behind Five Wishes, a popular living will, says requests for the documents that guide decisions surrounding serious illness and death typically surge starting now. (Aleccia, 11/22)

Orange County Register: Does Household Income Change A Child’s Brain Development? UC Irvine Researchers Trying To Find Out
Does the brain develop differently in children depending on household income? That’s the question researchers at UC Irvine are hoping to answer after a 40-month study that will examine 1,000 families in four cities — Omaha, New York, Minneapolis and New Orleans. And they’ll do it with a $7.8 million five-year grant received recently from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. (Bharath, 11/21)

In other public health news —

Los Angeles Times: L.A. May Try To Block Reopening Of Oil Drilling Site Blamed For Health Problems
Los Angeles City Councilman Gil Cedillo is pursuing an unusual plan that could thwart the reopening of a South L.A. oil drilling site that suspended operations after a public outcry over nosebleeds and other health problems reported by neighbors. Cedillo, who represents the area near the Allenco Energy Inc. site, wants the city to use a rarely exercised power under its municipal code to cancel "oil drilling districts" where drilling is allowed. (Reyes, 11/21)

The Modesto Bee: Man Suffers Heart Attack On Cross-Country Flight. Fellow Modestan Helps Save His Life.
Nurse first, CEO second. That's how Gia Smith said she views herself. So when a fellow passenger on a cross-country flight suffered a heart attack Sunday and the crew asked for any medical professionals on board, the Modesto woman jumped right in. The six-plus-hour United Airlines flight from New Jersey to San Francisco was about 2 1/2 hours under way when a fellow Modestan, as Smith learned later, was struck by severe chest pain and began vomiting. (Farrow, 11/21)

Los Angeles Times: Self-Harm Rises Sharply Among Tween And Young Teen Girls, Study Shows
For girls navigating the straits of adolescence and young adulthood, there are new signs of serious emotional trouble. From 2009 to 2015, the nation's emergency rooms saw a sharp rise in treatment of girls 10 to 24 who intentionally injured themselves. But inside that increasing trend of girls and young women harming themselves — a yearly hike of 8.4% in ER visits over six years — lies an even more alarming statistic: Among girls 10 to 14 years old, rates of ER visits for treatment of self-harm surged 18.8% yearly between 2009 and 2015. (Healy, 11/21)

The Bakersfield Californian: State Fines Six Employers For Exposing Workers To Valley Fever In Monterey County
Six construction outfits working on a solar project in Monterey County were fined more than $240,000 this week for failing to protect their workers from valley fever, an insidious respiratory disease caused by a fungus that grows in the soil throughout the Southwestern United States. California Division of Occupational Safety and Health officials could not say how many people got sick — or whether they were hospitalized — after a whistleblower reported their employer in May while working on the California Flats Solar Project, which promises to convert 2,900 acres of Cholame Hills farmland into a sprawling energy field that would power 100,000 homes annually. It’s possible that hundreds of workers were exposed, said Cal/OSHA spokeswoman Erika Monterroza. (Pierce, 11/21)

In other news from across the state —

The Modesto Bee: Suspect Arrested After Carjacking Attempt At Hospital, Assault On Security Officer
As Modesto police were close by investigating a double shooting, a carjacking attempt was made outside Doctors Medical Center on Monday afternoon. At about 2:15, a woman was at a stop sign in front of the Florida Avenue medical center when Alejandro Cortez Calderon attempted to gain entry into her vehicle, said police Lt. Martha Delgado. (Farrow, 11/21)

San Francisco Chronicle: Last Stop For Cannabis Advertising On Muni Buses, Trains, Stations And Stops
As the cannabis industry takes shape in California, one place it won’t be able to advertise is on San Francisco’s public transportation. The Municipal Transportation Agency’s Board of Directors on Tuesday banned ads for cannabis businesses from the transit system’s buses, trains, cable cars, stations and bus stops. The ban was a response to concerns that such ads are inappropriate for young Muni riders and might promote marijuana use among children. (Cabanatuan, 11/21)

San Francisco Chronicle: Mayor Lee Wants To Pull 1,000 Homeless People Off SF Streets This Winter
San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee has set his sights on the ambitious goal of pulling 1,000 homeless people off the streets this winter and, to kick-start that effort, he wants to open two new homeless Navigation Centers. Getting that many people housed will take the combined labor of several city agencies, including the police, Public Health Department and Homelessness and Supportive Housing Department. But Lee told The Chronicle on Tuesday that he wants to “make a big move while it’s raining and cold.” (Fagan, 11/21)

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles —

KPCC: Notoriously Hard-To-Open Homeless Shelter Welcomes People Out Of Extreme Weather
Los Angeles officials are opening up a second winter shelter in the Antelope Valley in the hopes of bringing more homeless services to an area left reeling after the closure of a shelter earlier this year. The L.A. County Board of Supervisors is expected to vote on funding a range of emergency shelter programs for the upcoming cold season at their meeting Tuesday, including a 24-hour space at the High Desert MAAC, a county-owned space near Lancaster. (Palta, 11/21)

The Washington Post: Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski Announces Support For Repealing Individual Mandate, A Potential Boost To Tax Overhaul
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said she would support repealing the Affordable Care Act’s individual insurance mandate, giving a potential boost to the Republican effort to pass a massive tax cut package next week. “I believe that the federal government should not force anyone to buy something they do not wish to buy, in order to avoid being taxed,” Murkowski wrote in an opinion piece published Tuesday by the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. (Paletta, 11/21)

Politico: Murkowski Says She Backs Obamacare Mandate Repeal
Sen. Lisa Murkowski says she supports GOP efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate, the Alaska Republican wrote in an op-ed for a local newspaper Friday. "I have always supported the freedom to choose," Murkowski wrote in her op-ed for the Daily News-Miner, an Alaska newspaper. "I believe that the federal government should not force anyone to buy something they do not wish to buy, in order to avoid being taxed." (Diamond, 11/21)

The Hill: Murkowski Backs Repealing ObamaCare Mandate In Boost To Tax Reform
Murkowski, a key moderate swing vote, wrote in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner that she supports giving people additional freedom by repealing the mandate, which requires people to have insurance or pay a fine. "Repealing the individual mandate simply restores to people the freedom to choose," Murkowski wrote. "Nothing else about the structure of the ACA would be changed." (Sullivan, 11/21)

The Hill: Actuaries Warn Congress Mandate Repeal Would Increase Premiums
The American Academy of Actuaries is warning Congress against repealing ObamaCare’s individual mandate in tax reform, saying the move could lead to higher premiums and insurers leaving the market. The group warned in a letter to Congress on Tuesday against repealing the mandate in tax reform, as Senate Republicans propose. (Sullivan, 11/21)

Modern Healthcare: Looming Senate Tax Bill Vote Making Healthcare Leaders Uneasy
Health system leaders face post-Thanksgiving indigestion as Senate GOP leaders race toward a floor vote on their sweeping tax-cut bill before the end of November. Not-for-profit executives are concerned the Senate bill would hurt hospital capital financing by prohibiting advance re-funding of prior tax-exempt bond issues, which made up about 25% of the municipal tax-exempt bond market in 2017. (Meyer, 11/21)

The New York Times: Obamacare Sign-Ups Are Surging, But There’s A Twist
Despite the Trump administration’s efforts to scale back the health law, about 300,000 more people have signed up for health insurance in the Affordable Care Act marketplaces in the first weeks of this enrollment period than last year. (Park, 11/21)