'health' posts

Perhaps a recent flip of the calendar and a gentle drop in the thermometer has reminded you that it’s time to transition from the hassle-free and spontaneous raw meals of summer to the grounding and planned dishes autumn warrants. Despite claiming that we enjoy this season of change and appreciate the opportunity to readopt routines and schedules, most likely we will get lost in our obligations, stretch the limits of our clothing seams, let the darkness of the early setting sun bury our guilt for abandoning the gym, and then collectively and excitedly gear up for fabulous health resolutions when the clock strikes midnight on December 31. Kidding. In all seriousness, I hope you can utilize the following tips and suggestions for transitioning to fall foods while successfully avoiding the seamstress.

Fall Favorites

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No, that’s not a typo. Flu season is upon us. As summer vacations end, kids go back to school and work picks up again, things can get a little cuckoo. The added stress tied with more contact with people as we head indoors to escape the cooling weather mean that we are more likely to get sick.

Germs like the flu love two things: weaker immune systems (thanks, stress!) and people in close contact with each other.  Schools and offices (two of the most cuckoo places this time of year) are ideal breeding grounds for the flu, which still kills tens of thousands of people every year. The bright side of this is that the flu is preventable!

Here are the top four ways to keep from getting sick this season:

In celebration of Halloween, let me share with you some of the freaky foods finding their way into my kitchen!

Foods that go ‘boo’ – Kombucha (kom-BOO-cha)

“Whoa” shrieks the clerk as the checkout belt delivers a frightening surprise before him. “That’s absolutely disgusting. Is that a brain?” Since I couldn’t stop laughing to explain to this nauseated clerk what exactly was living in the glass jar in his hands, let me at least take a stab at convincing you that it’s really not that freaky, and in fact might be pretty good for you.

• What it is: Kombucha is ....

A voice is an amazing thing.

With our voice, we convey information, express emotion and provide entertainment. We each have our own unique vocal ‘fingerprint’ that allows our friends to recognize us when we call them on the phone. We rely on our voice to win a debate, negotiate a contract, reassure a frightened child, and to celebrate a victory. Our tone conveys honesty, anger, happiness and fear. A song can inspire a spectrum of emotions, and recall past memories.

So how does our voice work? And what do you do when it doesn’t work?

Voice is produced when air is pushed up from the lungs to the level of the vocal cords. The vocal cords vibrate, producing sound. The vocal cords tense, lengthen and stretch to produce different frequencies. The sound is then shaped by the upper airway to add resonance and articulation resulting in speech or song.

The vocal cords themselves are thin bands of tissue over muscle. They sit within a framework that has a complex nerve supply and multiple paired muscles that allow very nuanced changes in vibration of the vocal cords, well demonstrated in professional singers.

Subtle differences in vibration or movement can ...

The days are getting shorter, the jackets are coming out and a rainbow of leaves covers the ground. It is fall and even though it might be a bit rainier, it is still gorgeous here in the Pacific Northwest. Of course, as the temperature drops, for many of us, so does our motivation to exercise. But don’t let the shorter daylight hours and cooler weather keep you from giving your body what it needs.

In the United States and in many countries around the world, we rely heavily on our cars to get around, especially when they promise the comfort of heat on cold days and shelter when it rains. This often means we have to deal with more traffic, too. So why not take time this season to rediscover the power of your own two (booted) feet, and avoid the traffic?

Neighborhoods in cities around the country have a “walk score” that rates how easy it is to walk to places like grocery stores, banks and schools. The higher the walk score, the easier and safer it is to get places on foot. The easier and safer it is to get places, the more people walk! The more people walk, the healthier they are.

In fact, people who live in areas with higher walk scores ...

Did you know that the bacteria that live in our intestines account for over two pounds of our body weight? And that there are 10 times the number of bacterial cells in our body than human cells? Some bacteria play a beneficial role in a normal gastrointestinal (GI) tract and are known as probiotics.

Probiotics have a variety of functions in the GI tract including aiding the intestinal immune system and the intestinal nervous system, breaking our food into nutrients, blocking the bad bacteria, and promoting a healthy intestinal lining. With so many important tasks, it is no surprise that probiotics can be used to treat some common GI conditions. Though studies of probiotics are small with considerable variability, there is evidence supporting probiotic use for prevention of diarrhea caused by antibiotic use and treatment of infectious diarrhea, ulcerative colitis, clostridium difficile, and irritable bowel syndrome.

What you should know:

The U.S. FDA considers probiotics as dietary supplements, so their production is not tightly regulated and quality can vary widely. In addition, insurance companies do not cover probiotics, and the cost adds up quickly.

Should I ....

SEATTLE, Oct. 23, 2012 – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is investigating a multistate outbreak of fungal meningitis and joint infections. It appears the outbreak is due to the contamination of an injectable steroid medication called methylprednisolone acetate produced by the New England Compounding Center (NECC). Swedish has never carried the methylprednisolone acetate product produced by NECC.