Cheerios is a Drug??

No kidding … a drug. That is, according to the FDA. In fact, General Mills has been told to change the marketing of its popular Cheerios whole grain cereal, as the health claims it currently uses classify it as an unapproved drug. The food giant has until next week...

Mediterranean Diet Lowers Blood Pressure

The Mediterranean Dietary approach can help lower blood pressure. This, according to this report published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, adherence to this way of eating was associated with lower blood pressure. This adds to the data indicating that the consistent health benefits of this approach. For...

Acupuncture (who knows why?) Eases Back Pain

This really makes no sense. Sticking needles into your skin along the “meridians” that allegedly course through your body. But here’s the issue: knowing WHY something works is not a prerequisite to it working. And, if we don’t understand it yet, if it does not fit with any of...

What The World Eats

This series of pictures is stunning. It shows both WHAT the people of the world eat, and HOW MUCH they eat in one week. You have GOT to see this. Food QualityPlease note the healthy nature of the foods in ethnic cultures, compared to the traditional fare of the...

Blueberry Sauce

  Yields 2 cups   You’ll Need · 2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (thawed if necessary) · ¼ cup orange juice · ¼ cup water · 2 Tablespoons sugar · 1 Tablespoon cornstarch · 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg · 1/8 teaspoon salt · ¼ teaspoon grated orange peel...

Fresh Fruit Dip

  You’ll Need: · 8 ounces plain yogurt · 1Tablespoon honey · Grated peel of a half an orange Directions In a small bowl, combine yogurt, honey and orange peel. Serve as a dip with fresh sliced fruit of choice. Tips If serving apple or banana slices you can...

Robo Calls Actually LOWER Blood Pressure?

Normally your blood pressure shoots up when you answer your phone to hear a campaign ad or sales call for something absurd. But the American Heart Association is now telling us that an automated calling system can help people with hypertension be more aware of the potentially disabling or...

Swine Flu Lessons

Swine flu. Yes, definitely heard of it. But, what is it, really? Should I be worried, really? Dr. Charles Ericsson gives this primer — everything you needed to know — about the swine flu outbreak. It turns out that we have come a long way since the last incident....

Lavender Lemonade

Yields Approximately Ten One Cup Servings You’ll Need 2 ½ Tablespoons dried lavender 1 tray of ice cubes 2 cups boiling water ½ cup sugar The juice from 8 lemons 5 cups cold water (you may want to add more to adjust for personal taste) Directions Place the ice...

Salt By Stealth

Eat less salt, lower your risk of heart failure. We know this, but are often not coached very well on how to achieve it. For example, in this research report, researchers found that patients THINK they are lowering their salt by having a few less shakes on their food...

Boring News

Yawn. Ho-hum. Here it is again. Another study to confirm that the Mediterranean diet basically rules. Now the Archives of Internal Medicine weighs in to show that the Mediterranean diet “is the only dietary pattern associated with a lower risk for heart disease.” Faux foods, on the other hand,...

Hard News For Soft Drinks

We have it on good authority …. The Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) is calling for a new era of beverage formulation. We need less sugar in our drinks. Why didn’t we know this already? Just asking. Harvard has called for beverages to have less than 1 gram...