~ firefly-dreaming a virtual home to learn (or teach!) alternative methods of solving problems we find facing us each day. By sharing ideas & knowledge on living with less stress, more joy & embracing tolerance & compassion we are working towards building a sustainable future for all living beings.
Welcome to the Health and Fitness weekly diary. At RiaD's kind invitation, this diary will be cross posted from The Stars Hollow Gazette on Wednesday mornings. As it is at Stars Hollow, it is an open thread for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Also an opportunity to share and exchange your favorite healthy recipes.
Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can't, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.
You can now find past Health and Fitness News diaries here and on the right hand side of the Front Page of The Stars Hollow Gazette.
Welcome to the Health and Fitness weekly diary. At RiaD's kind invitation, this diary will be cross posted from The Stars Hollow Gazette on Wednesday mornings. As it is at Stars Hollow, it is an open thread for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Also an opportunity to share and exchange your favorite healthy recipes.
Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can't, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.
You can now find past Health and Fitness News diaries here and on the right hand side of the Front Page of The Stars Hollow Gazette.
Spring vegetables aren't here quiet yet - and if the weather doesn't improve soon, they may not arrive for a while. Until then, there's a fine alternative: Swiss chard.
This leafy green, hearty enough to withstand the cold but more delicate in flavor than kale and collards, has been finding its way into all sorts of comforting dishes in my kitchen, from pastas to soups to stir-fries. It's the most versatile of greens, and an excellent source of calcium and potassium, vitamin C, vitamin A and beta-carotene.
Welcome to the Health and Fitness weekly diary. At RiaD's kind invitation, this diary will be cross posted from The Stars Hollow Gazette on Wednesday mornings. As it is at Stars Hollow, it is an open thread for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Also an opportunity to share and exchange your favorite healthy recipes.
Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can't, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.
You can now find past Health and Fitness News diaries here and on the right hand side of the Front Page of The Stars Hollow Gazette.
If you avoid eggs because you think they're bad for you, you should reconsider. It was never clear that dietary cholesterol had a significant impact on heart health; saturated fat in the diet is thought to be a bigger culprit (how big is also a matter of dispute these days). The government's new dietary guidelines acknowledge as much, advising that eating an egg every day will not affect blood cholesterol or cardiovascular health.
Welcome to the Health and Fitness weekly diary. At RiaD's kind invitation, this diary will be cross posted from The Stars Hollow Gazette on Wednesday mornings. As it is at Stars Hollow, it is an open thread for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Also an opportunity to share and exchange your favorite healthy recipes.
Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can't, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.
You can now find past Health and Fitness News diaries here and on the right hand side of the Front Page of The Stars Hollow Gazette.
Welcome to the Health and Fitness weekly diary. At RiaD's kind invitation, this diary will be cross posted from The Stars Hollow Gazette on Wednesday mornings. As it is at Stars Hollow, it is an open thread for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Also an opportunity to share and exchange your favorite healthy recipes.
Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can't, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.
You can now find past Health and Fitness News diaries here and on the right hand side of the Front Page of The Stars Hollow Gazette.
Welcome to the Health and Fitness weekly diary. At RiaD's kind invitation, this diary will be cross posted from The Stars Hollow Gazette on Wednesday mornings. As it is at Stars Hollow, it is an open thread for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Also an opportunity to share and exchange your favorite healthy recipes.
Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can't, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.
You can now find past Health and Fitness News diaries here and on the right hand side of the Front Page of The Stars Hollow Gazette.
The muffins available in most coffee shops and cafes are like oversize, unfrosted cupcakes: too sweet and too big. But muffins don't have to be cloying - a bit of natural sweetener is all that's required to make them taste like a treat. And they don't have to be calorie-laden confections.
This week, you'll find it's possible to make muffins with a number of nutritious ingredients, particularly whole grains. Muffins made with buckwheat or cornmeal offer great taste and nourishment - without the feeling that you're chewing on rocks.
Even if you don't think of yourself as a baker, take a stab at this week's recipes. They're easy and come together quickly.
Welcome to the Health and Fitness weekly diary. At RiaD's kind invitation, this diary will be cross posted from The Stars Hollow Gazette on Wednesday mornings. As it is at Stars Hollow, it is an open thread for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Also an opportunity to share and exchange your favorite healthy recipes.
Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can't, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.
You can now find past Health and Fitness News diaries here and on the right hand side of the Front Page of The Stars Hollow Gazette.
Survey Suggests Many People Call an Ambulance for Minor Medical Emergencies
Feb. 22, 2011 -- One in three people don't understand when an ambulance is not necessary to deal with common medical situations, a survey indicates.
The survey shows most people know when to call an ambulance for life-threatening medical emergencies like a heart attack, but many don't understand when an ambulance is not needed for less urgent situations like a woman going into the early stages of labor.
Here's a quick look at this week's selection of grains:
LUNDBERG WEHANI This reddish-brown whole-grain rice has a slightly chewy texture and a nutty, savory flavor. To cook, combine 1 part rice with 2 parts water and salt to taste ( ½ to ¾ teaspoon per cup of rice). Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer 50 to 60 minutes until the rice has absorbed all the water. Turn off the heat, remove the lid, place a towel over the pot and return the lid to the pot. Let sit 10 minutes, and then serve.
For a nuttier taste, before adding the water sauté the rice in 1 tablespoon olive oil or canola oil until the rice smells toasty. A cup of raw rice yields about 3 1/3 cups of cooked rice.
LUNDBERG BLACK JAPONICA RICE A combination of medium-grain mahogany rice and short-grain black rice. Cook it like Wehani rice, above. A cup of raw rice yields about 3 ¾ cups cooked rice.
RUBY RED JASMINE RICE This red long-grain rice is distributed by a company that specializes in fair-trade products. The package says to cook 1 part rice in 2 ½ parts water, but I found a ratio of 1 to 2 worked better. Cook like the Wehani rice, above. A cup of raw rice yields about 3 cups of cooked rice.
PURPLE PRAIRIE BARLEY This hearty dark purple barley originated in Tibet. It takes 1 ½ hours to cook - 1 hour if you soak it overnight, which I recommend. Cook 1 part grain in 2 ½ parts water with salt to taste. Place a strainer over a bowl, and drain the soaked rice. Combine the soaking water (you don't want to lose the pigment in it) with more water to make 2 ½ parts. Add salt to taste ( ½ to ¾ teaspoon per cup of grain), and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer 1 hour or until the barley is tender and beginning to splay. A cup of cup raw rice yields just under 4 cups of cooked rice.
AMARANTH Amaranth is the tiny seed of a green native to the Americas. In Mexico, both the seeds and the greens are eaten. It's very nutritious: high in protein, and very rich in the amino acid lysine, which most grains lack. Cook 1 part amaranth in 3 parts water, and stir often.
Welcome to the Health and Fitness weekly diary. At RiaD's kind invitation, this diary will be cross posted from The Stars Hollow Gazette on Wednesday mornings. As it is at Stars Hollow, it is an open thread for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Also an opportunity to share and exchange your favorite healthy recipes.
Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can't, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.
You can now find past Health and Fitness News diaries here and on the right hand side of the Front Page of The Stars Hollow Gazette.
Welcome to the Health and Fitness weekly diary. At RiaD's kind invitation, this diary will be cross posted from The Stars Hollow Gazette on Wednesday mornings. As it is at Stars Hollow, it is an open thread for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Also an opportunity to share and exchange your favorite healthy recipes.
Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can't, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.
You can now find past Health and Fitness News diaries here and on the right hand side of the Front Page of The Stars Hollow Gazette.
At the recent Worlds of Healthy Flavors conference, sponsored by the Harvard School of Public Health and the Culinary Institute of America, two prominent researchers called for an end to the use of the term "low-fat."
Dr. Ronald Krauss, director of atherosclerosis research at Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute, and Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, have been involved in numerous studies measuring the effects of dietary habits on health. Few of those studies, they noted, have turned up reliable associations between one's total intake of dietary fat and such diseases as cancer and heart disease. Nor have they turned up meaningful associations between total fat intake and obesity.
As most of us now know, it is the type of fat that matters most to health. A diet in which saturated fats are replaced by polyunsaturated fats, found mostly in plants, nuts and seafood, and monounsaturated fats, present in olive oil, may help protect against heart disease.
On the other hand, trans fats, created during the hydrogenation process, seem to increase heart disease risk. And saturated fats - found mostly in meat and dairy products, and in coconut and palm oils - raise blood levels of L.D.L., or "bad" cholesterol, also a risk factor for heart disease.
Welcome to the Stars Hollow Health and Fitness weekly diary. It will publish on Saturday afternoon and be open for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care issues, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Also an opportunity to share and exchange your favorite healthy recipes.
Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can't, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.
You can now find past Health and Fitness News diaries here and on the right hand side of the Front Page.
This week's gratins are made with a couple of pounds of a cooked vegetable, seasoned and bound with eggs, milk and a small amount of cheese. (In Provence, rice is also used to help bind the mixture.) Gratins are a great way to use both fresh and leftover cooked vegetables. . . .
Casseroles need not contain eggs or dairy products. And baked beans, exceptionally creamy after their long simmer in the oven, can be made into perfect vegan fare. Add vegetables of your choice and you'll have a perfect one-dish meal.
Welcome to the Health and Fitness weekly diary. At RiaD's kind invitation, this diary will be cross posted from The Stars Hollow Gazette on Wednesday mornings. As it is at Stars Hollow, it is an open thread for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Also an opportunity to share and exchange your favorite healthy recipes.
Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can't, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.
You can now find past Health and Fitness News diaries here and on the right hand side of the Front Page of The Stars Hollow Gazette.
By sweet potatoes, I mean the orange-fleshed tubers with brownish skin that growers and supermarkets often mislabel as "yams." The two varieties at my local farmers' market are jewel yams and the darker-skinned garnet yams, both sweet and moist.
In fact, actual yams have starchier, light yellow flesh and a rough, brown skin; they are native to Africa and Asia, and an important staple in the Caribbean and in parts of Africa. But they don't have the impressive nutritional profile of real sweet potatoes.
Welcome to the Health and Fitness weekly diary. At RiaD's kind invitation, this diary will be cross posted from The Stars Hollow Gazette on Wednesday mornings. As it is at Stars Hollow, it is an open thread for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Also an opportunity to share and exchange your favorite healthy recipes.
Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can't, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.
You can now find past Health and Fitness News diaries here and on the right hand side of the Front Page of The Stars Hollow Gazette.
Winter Root Vegetables
Root vegetables in the brassica family - like turnips, kohlrabi and rutabaga - contain many of the same antioxidants as cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and kale. Kohlrabi and rutabaga also are excellent sources of potassium and good sources of vitamin C. Parsnips provide folate, calcium, potassium and fiber, while carrots offer beta carotene. All of these vegetables are high in fiber.
Root vegetables can seem daunting. I had not worked with kohlrabi until putting together these recipes, but I found it enjoyable raw as well as cooked. Remember that for many of this week's dishes, especially those calling for turnips, kohlrabi or rutabagas, the vegetables are interchangeable.
Welcome to the Health and Fitness weekly diary. At RiaD's kind invitation, this diary will be cross posted from The Stars Hollow Gazette on Wednesday mornings. As it is at Stars Hollow, it is an open thread for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Also an opportunity to share and exchange your favorite healthy recipes.
Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can't, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.
You can now find past Health and Fitness News diaries here and on the right hand side of the Front Page of The Stars Hollow Gazette.
This week the New York Times did an insightful article about the first responders and Emergency Room staff at the University Medical Center in Tuscon, AZ with interviews of the Paramedics and Trauma Surgeons. It is graphic and may make some a little squeezy but it gives the reader a new perspective on what we, in Emergency Medicine, are often confronted with and the split second decision making that's involved. It is well worth reading. I congratulate them on a job well done.
Whole grains have higher fiber content than pasta and white rice, and because they're slowly digested, they have less impact on blood levels of insulin than refined grains. They also bring more nutritional value. So if you're mulling over ways to get more grains into your diet, think soups.
Even light soups can be transformed into more of a main dish with the addition of whole grains. Add quinoa to your garlic soup or bulgur to chicken broth. You can cook the grains separately and add them to the soup, or cook them right in the broth with the other ingredients. The grains will be particularly tasty, as they'll absorb the flavors in the broth.
Welcome to the Health and Fitness weekly diary. At RiaD's kind invitation, this diary will be cross posted from The Stars Hollow Gazette on Wednesday mornings. As it is at Stars Hollow, it is an open thread for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Also an opportunity to share and exchange your favorite healthy recipes.
Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can't, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.
You can now find past Health and Fitness News diaries here and on the right hand side of the Front Page.
Health experts keep telling us to eat more fish, but fish can be expensive . If you love seafood and you're trying to eat more of it, this week's pasta dishes provide a solution. The amount you'll need is about half what you'd buy if you were serving seafood on its own. Even better, most of these dishes also incorporate vegetables, making for perfect one-dish meals.
And they're easy: Usually the fish accompaniment takes no more time to make than it takes to boil the pasta water. Most of this week's recipes call for fresh fish and shellfish, but you can also use canned varieties high in omega-3 fats, like sardines, smoked trout and smoked herring.
Welcome to the Health and Fitness weekly diary. At RiaD's kind invitation, this diary will be cross posted from 
