Spring Pasta!
Confession: I love pasta. I could eat pasta twice a day, every day. I could prepare a decadent bolognese or creamy alfredo sauce. But the truth is–these are neither very healthy choices for an already high-carb/low-protein meal. So, with spring (and summer!) around the corner, I set out to find a healthier, guilt-free option.
I started with my favorite pasta, orecchiette — which means “ear” in Italian and is shaped as such. I found this recipe from the … [more]
post-surgery priority: watching March Madness on television
There has long been contention in the medical research community as to whether vasectomy procedures affect a man’s risk of prostate cancer. And since an average of one in six men over 35 years of age decide to get a vasectomy — a procedure that leads to sterility by means of severing and tying a man’s vas deferentia to prevent the release of sperm — the topic deserves attention. Yet even data and … [more]
the 'sand-in-your-toes' kind of happy
Advice from “The World’s Happiest Person”
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Could there really be a “happiest person in America”?
After the research polling group Gallup created their Well-Being Index to understand elements of a happy life, the New York Times came to Gallup asking if there was one single happiest person.
This hypothetical profile, Gallup reported back, is a man: ”He’s a tall, Asian American, observant Jew who is at least 65 and married, has children, lives in Hawaii, … [more]
food germs!
Everyone’s done it: drop food on the floor, pick it up, eat it, enjoy it. Oh–and, ignore the fact that it was on the floor…
Even I am subject to such behavior, especially if I drop food in my own home. Here in my kitchen, something about the floor and germs being my floor and germs, I feel less hesitation in eating dropped food.
Perhaps that should be a habit of the past, after I just read an … [more]
Channel the Inner You
Researchers at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas have recently reported unique findings for prostate cancer subjects.
The study, whose findings were published last month, examined various forms of support for prostate cancer subjects undergoing radical prostatectomy — which, while highly successful at eliminating cancer, is known to take an incredible toll both mentally and physically.
Specifically, researchers divided subjects into three groups:
… [more]
NYC Restaurant Score Card
Sometimes ignorance is bliss. Perhaps not so much when it comes to where you eat out…
I just heard about a useful new website — DontEat.at — that synchs your Foursquare check-in location (if you’re not tech-y, see below where I explain what this means) with the NYC Department of Health’s sanitation score for the restaurant you’re about to eat at. If the restaurant you’ve checked into received a “C” grade or worse, DontEat.at will text … [more]
tip: relaxing under soft light before bed may make your sleep more well-rested
We wake up to the sun. We go to work under bright fluorescents. We come home and turn the lights on. In fact, the only time we turn the lights off is to fall asleep every night. But if you’re one of the nearly 70 percent of Americans who have sleep problems, one trick to a better rest might just be found in the dark…
Yes–keeping the … [more]
caution: wash hands after use!
HEALTH ALERT: Be sure to wash your hands after using public ATM services.
News broke this week that ATMs can be as dirty as public toilets. The study was based on heavy-traffic areas of England with germ and bacteria samples from ATM machines and public restrooms.
direct Vitamin D!
Headlines can be misleading — and recent news about how much Vitamin D we all need is a perfect case in point.
Here’s one headline from the Wall Street Journal: “Triple That Vitamin D Intake, Panel Prescribes.” And another from the New York Times: “Extra Calcium and Vitamin D Aren’t Necessary, Report Says.” While these are just a couple of headlines that may confuse readers, which would you trust?
First, one easy takeaway is that we should … [more]
Kombucha flavors
Not the first, but certainly most recent: the New York Times’ T-magazine posted a new lifestyle article on the growing Kombucha trend.
What is Kombucha? Well, it is a strange fermented, effervescent tea concoction made through a process of 1) adding bacteria and sugar to black or green tea and 2) letting the mix ferment for several weeks.
Once before, in the mid 1990′s, Kombucha gathered a following heavy with do-it-yourself types who made the tea themselves. (Not … [more]
