What's up your nose?

Via the Consumerist,
Isaak was sick for three years with terrible sinus problems from ages 3 to six.  The doctors assumed that it was bacterial and prescribed antibiotic after antibiotic but this never solved the problem.

Then one physician looked outside of the box (outside of the nostril?) a bit and noticed that there was some kind of foreign object up the child's nose. Did [Isaak] remember putting anything up there? ["I put some spaghetti up there, but that was a long time ago," Isaak told the doctor.]  A specialist removed the obstruction, which turned out to be a "ball of fungus" surrounding a tiny, flexible LEGO tire. The child's health problems abruptly disappeared.

According to Isaak's dad , "I asked him, ‘Dude, how did that even get in there? We think he bent it in half — it's pretty flexible — and that it opened up once it got into his sinuses."

Food to prevent Heartburn?

The exact opposite from yesterday's post, here are 13 foods that fight acid refluc according to Health magazine.

1. Oatmeal  (I recommend steel-cut, not flaked or instant)
2. Ginger (in moderation).  very surprised this is viewed as calming instead of inflammatory
3. Aloe Vera - i've used it on cuts but never tried eating it
4. Salad - (hold the onions and tomatoes, fatty cheese & creamy dressing) - I have found my stomach did well with a lot of salads
5. Bananas - low acid value great for 99% of GERD sufferers. I used to eat a banana a day and stopped recently for a low carb diet. Now my GERD is acting up. Perhaps I need that daily banana.
6. Melon
7. Fennel - I had some for lunch today
8. Chicken & Turkey (skin free)
9. Fish & seafood (never fried)
10. Roots & Greens (Cauliflower, broccoli, asparagus, green beans, etc)
11. Celery - boring but filling
12. Parsley - "For thousands of years, parsley has been used as a medicinal herb to settle the stomach and aid digestion".  We grow this outside. I'll have to eat more of it.
13. Couscous & rice - I do find I do better with rice

Food that cause Heartburn?

I'm not sure I agree with the list of Food To Avoid to Control Acid Reflux at About.com. I understand that acidic foods are a problem. But personally I've never noticed a problem with meat or dairy. Each person is unique ...

Food Group	Foods To Avoid
Fruit	• Orange juice • Lemon • Lemonade • Grapefruit juice • Cranberry juice • Tomato
Vegetables	• French fries • Onion, raw
Meat	• Ground beef, chuck • Marbled sirloin • Chicken nuggets • Buffalo wings
Dairy	• Sour cream • Milk shake • Ice cream • Cottage cheese, regular
Grains	• Macaroni and cheese • Spaghetti with sauce
Beverages	• Liquor • Wine • Coffee, decaffeinated or regular • Tea, decaffeinated or regular
Fats / Oils	• Salad dressing, creamy • Salad dressing, oil & vinegar
Sweets / Desserts	• Butter cookie, high-fat • Brownie • Chocolate • Doughnut • Corn chips • Potato chips, regular

Food Group	Foods To Avoid
Fruit	• Orange juice • Lemon • Lemonade • Grapefruit juice • Cranberry juice • Tomato
Vegetables	• French fries • Onion, raw
Meat	• Ground beef, chuck • Marbled sirloin • Chicken nuggets • Buffalo wings
Dairy	• Sour cream • Milk shake • Ice cream • Cottage cheese, regular
Grains	• Macaroni and cheese • Spaghetti with sauce
Beverages	• Liquor • Wine • Coffee, decaffeinated or regular • Tea, decaffeinated or regular
Fats / Oils	• Salad dressing, creamy • Salad dressing, oil & vinegar
Sweets / Desserts	• Butter cookie, high-fat • Brownie • Chocolate • Doughnut • Corn chips • Potato chips, regular

Food Group	Foods To Avoid
Fruit	• Orange juice • Lemon • Lemonade • Grapefruit juice • Cranberry juice • Tomato
Vegetables	• French fries • Onion, raw
Meat	• Ground beef, chuck • Marbled sirloin • Chicken nuggets • Buffalo wings
Dairy	• Sour cream • Milk shake • Ice cream • Cottage cheese, regular
Grains	• Macaroni and cheese • Spaghetti with sauce
Beverages	• Liquor • Wine • Coffee, decaffeinated or regular • Tea, decaffeinated or regular
Fats / Oils	• Salad dressing, creamy • Salad dressing, oil & vinegar
Sweets / Desserts	• Butter cookie, high-fat • Brownie • Chocolate • Doughnut • Corn chips • Potato chips, regular

Food Group Foods To Avoid For Acid Reflux

Fruit
Orange juice
Lemon
Lemonade
Grapefruit juice
Cranberry juice
Tomato

Vegetables
French fries (too much fat?)
Onion, raw

Meat
Ground beef, chuck  (I love hamburger)
Marbled sirloin
Chicken nuggets
Buffalo wings  (too spicy?)

Dairy
Sour cream
Milk shake
Ice cream
Cottage cheese, regular

Grains
Macaroni and cheese (? is it the dairy or the grain?)
Spaghetti with sauce (acidic)

Beverages
Liquor
Wine
Coffee, decaffeinated or regular
Tea, decaffeinated or regular

Fats / Oils
Salad dressing, creamy
Salad dressing, oil & vinegar

Sweets / Desserts
Butter cookie, high-fat
Brownie
Chocolate
Doughnut
Corn chips
Potato chips, regular

Six Surprising Superfoods

An article by Men's Health magazine reminds me of Woody Allen's movie Sleeper. When he wakes up from frozen sleep he learns that the foods he thought were unhealthy, like steak and chocolate, are actuallyvery healthy. Everything he knew about food & nutrition was wrong!

Here are six food that you might think are "bad" but probably are not

1. Full-fat cheese: "one of the best muscle-building nutrients you can eat" and "even when men ate 10 ounces of full-fat cheese daily for 3 weeks, their LDL (“bad”) cholesterol didn’t budge."

2. Iceberg lettuce: famous for having NO nutritional value but in reality"half a head of iceberg lettuce has significantly more alpha-carotene, a powerful disease-fighting antioxidant, than either romaine lettuce or spinach."

3. Mushrooms:I saw a sign at an Asian grocery that described mushrooms as the vegetable that does not taste like a vegetable. The fungi metabolites "have been shown to boost immunity and prevent cancer growth"

4. Pork chops: "contains almost five times the selenium—a mineral linked to a lower risk of prostate cancer—of beef and twice that of chicken"

5. Red Pepper flakes: "consuming a gram of red-pepper flakes—about half a teaspoon—30 minutes prior to a meal reduced calorie intake by 16 percent."

6. Vinegar: "when people consumed 2 tablespoons of vinegar with a high-carb meal, their blood sugar was 23 percent lower"

12 Confusing Foods

"You heard that eggs can be high in cholesterol, so you dutifully switched to whole grains for breakfast. Next, you swapped out red meat for fish—only to later learn that fish can contain dangerous levels of mercury...and eggs may not harm your heart after all. 'With all of the different reports and headlines, it’s no wonder that many people get confused,' "

So begins an article by Prevention Magazine on 12 Confusing Foods.

1. Coffee - Prevention notes that coffee has antioxidants and other minerals that are good for you. Of course one could argue that cigarettes with added vitamin D would be "healthy". I disagree with Prevention here and suggest one needs to look at the whole food effect and not just a few favorable components.
2. Wine - as with coffee above, wine has antioxidants. But here Prevention is more clear - at most one glass a day because wine also has negative effects. They fail to note that grape juice can provide many of the same health benefits.
3. Potatoes - is healthy food often served in unhealthy ways (fried, with butter, etc)
4. Cheese - great for calcium but high in fat calories. Depending on your diet this may be a good thing.
5. Fish - "benefits far outweigh the risks" However, the FDA advises that young children, pregnant women, nursing mothers, and women trying to become pregnant steer clear of fish that contain the most mercury, including swordfish, shark, king mackerel, and tile fish. [What's a tile fish?]
6. Chocolate - dark chocolate is good for the heart according to recent studies. Eat in moderation.
7. Red Meat - "Go lean. Look for cuts with “loin” and “round” in the name—and limit yourself to 18 ounces a week. That translates into around six 3-ounce servings (imagine a deck of cards)."
8. Nuts - "Ounce for ounce, nuts pack in more calories than most other snacks. But the surprising truth is that nuts are one of the best foods for weight loss."
9. Beer - see wine
10. Soy - a healthy food in "healthy people" but causes hormone-like effects (Estrogen) that may raise the risk of breast cancer. Ask your doctor before consuming large amounts of soy.
11. Eggs - a great food but limit to one a day
12. Margarine - Avoid any product with the words “partially hydrogenated” on the ingredient list.

Bottom Line

Honestly, after reading the Prevention article, I'm still confused. Food X is packed with good stuff but limit to one a day? What kind of advice is that? There's no shortage of "safe" foods that are packed with vitamins and minerals, for example spinach. I'm reminded of Stock Analysts that NEVER say sell; it's always but or hold a stock. Somehow they can never find anything bad to say about a stock. Or Entertainment News shows that flatter celebrities because they do not want to be denied access to the stars. Is Prevention afraid of losing sponsors if they say don't eat this or don't drink that?

Beware of These Snacking Habits

Prevention magazine warns of six Bad Eating Habits to Break,

"For too many of us, snacking has become so automatic that our brains barely register the hand-to-mouth motion. ... A 2010 study from the University of North Carolina found that most of us eat nearly 600 calories a day—roughly a third of our food—in snacks rather than meals."

1. You're Good All Day But Pig Out At Night
   This may be because you're starving yourself by day. Eat a real breakfast and a filling lunch and try to save calories on dinner instead.
2. 2. You Stuff Your Face Before Dinner
   Are you starving when you get home from work and just cannot wait for dinner? Find healthy snacks like raw veggies or sugar snap peas. Drink water or have a clear broth soup.
3. You Can't Stop Eating In The Car
   Don't eat in the car!!! Avoid the temptation of drive thrus. If you must nibble on something, try gum or carrot sticks.
4. You Work At Home
   Keep a log of your daily activities, including every time you get up to eat. You may be surprised at how much time you're wasting. Also keep work and home separate by eating ONLY at the kitchen table, not in your work area.
5. You Graze At The Office
   I do this too much. Keep natural snacks like nuts at hand and avoid the "healthy" snack bars, etc, in the vending machines.  Force yourself to get up and eat your snack in the lunchroom or somewhere not at your desk. Drink more water.
6. Your Kids' Snack Habits Are Contagious
   Kids burn a lot of calories. When I look back I'm amazed at what I could eat in college and not gain weight. As an adult stick with real foods and avoid munching on cookies, oreos, pop-tarts, that your kids enjoy.  

Home Remedies

Woman's Day magazine recommends Eight Home Remedies that really work (though they don't always know why).

1. Duct Tape to Remove Warts - just don't expect an overnight cure. Two months of duct tape with a weekly pumice stone scrub was 85% effective. Freezing was only 60% effective.
2. Vapor Rub to cure Nail fungus - apply once or twice daily. This will also remove the infected nail and a new one will grow back.
3. A 15 minute soak in finely ground oatmeal for Eczema (skin inflamation)
4. Yogurt to cure bad breath
5. A spoonful of sugar to cure hiccups
6. Gently biting a pencil to cure a tension headache
7. Olives for early stages of nausea from motion sickness
8. Salt water gargle for sore throat.
   1 tablespoon salt to 8 ounces of water, but more salt is better than less.

Bottom Line

Have any of these cures worked for you?

Oh shit! Eat more Fiber?

One of the remedies frequently recommended for constipation is "eat more fiber". This always seems odd to me. If my stool is too hard, why would I want to eat something fibrous and non-digestible that adds yet more bulk to my waste?

The theory is that more bulk helps to push "food" through the colon more quickly as the body. The longer food stays in the colon, the more water is pulled out of it, and the harder it gets. Foods with little fiber, like white bread, form a squishy lump that resist the muscular contractions of the colon - imagine trying to squeeze jello through a tube.

Many years ago our large German Shepard ate some flour that I used to coat chicken. A few days later he started to bulk up - his stomach was expanding. A Vet determined that the dog's intestine was blocked by a lump of dough. He opened the dog up, messaged his gut, the lump became unstuck, and everything started to flow again. Afterwards the dog was fine but our checkbook sure took a hit.

Bottom Line

From WebMD,

"The average American gets about 11 grams of fiber daily, much less than we need, according to the American Dietetic Association. Women should aim for 21 to 25 grams of fiber daily. Men should aim for 30 to 38 grams of fiber daily. The American Academy of Family Physicians recommends eating at least nine servings (four 1/2 cups) of fiber-filled fruits and vegetables each day, including apples, oranges, broccoli, berries, pears, peas, figs, carrots, and beans. Some people get stomach cramps and gas when they increase their intake of fiber. Change your diet gradually and increase fluids to reduce these discomforts."

EverdayHealth.com recommends:

• Fruits: pears, apples, berries, oranges, tangerines
• Vegetables: broccoli, Brussels sprouts, carrots, squash, potatoes
• Legumes: beans, lentils, peas
• Grains: whole-wheat breads, brown rice, bran, oatmeal
• Nuts and seeds: almonds, peanuts, sunflower seeds, walnuts

Do you wash your hands correctly?

Recently my wife & I enjoyed soup sampling at ChowdaFest at a middle school in Westport, CT. In the restroom of this public school I saw sign on how to wash your hands, aimed no doubt for the young students. What struck me about the sign was the length of time to wash, sing the Alphabet song twice, it suggested. That means about 20 seconds of hand washing. This is longer than advice I gave a few years ago, sing the Happy Birthday song twice, for about 10 to 15 seconds of washing.

Today we accept hand washing as good hygiene, but this was not always the case. Before germs were discovered and defeated, bad air or demons were blamed for illness. We know better now and yet we still get hand washing wrong.

Here's the right way to wash according to the Mayo Clinic.

• Wet your hands with running water.
• Apply soap.
• Lather well.
• Rub your hands vigorously for at least 20 seconds.
• Remember to scrub all surfaces, including the backs of your hands, wrists, between your fingers and under your fingernails.
• Rinse well.
• Dry your hands with a clean or disposable towel or air dryer.
• If possible, use your towel to turn off the faucet [and open the bathroom door]

Bottom Line

Always wash your hands after:

• Preparing food, especially raw meat
• Using the toilet or changing a diaper
• Touching an animal, animal toys, leashes, or animal waste
• Blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing into your hands
• Treating wounds or caring for a sick or injured person
• Handling garbage, household/garden chemicals, or anything really dirty like soiled shoes

Update: was watching the Tonight Show and guest Tim Allen mentioned handwashing and the Happy Birthday song. Jay responded, with yes, about 21 seconds?

Diet Mistakes

Yesterday my wife & I ordered a slice of pizza; there was pepperoni (which everyone knows is bad for you) and a chicken with veggies. My wife was favoring the "healthy" chicken until I noticed that the calories were listed and the chicken slice was the more caloric. Why? Perhaps more fat & cream in the white sauce used? It wasn't obvious.

Often we think we are eating healthy but make the wrong choice. Here are six diet mistakes from Prevention magazine:

1. Dunked veggy sticks - carrot & celery sticks are a great snack, until you dip them in peanut butter or ranch dressing, or blue cheese. If you must dip, try Greek yogurt, salsa, humus, or black bean. Also try vegetables with more zing like jimaca or radish.

2. Sweet potato fries - yes sweet potatoes are healthier than normal spuds but don't eat them fried (ditto for zucchini). Try a baked sweet potato instead.

3. Too much Olive Oil - extra virgin olive oil is healthy, but not in excess. Use just a mist or wipe of oil while cooking instead of pouring it in.

4. High Calorie Salad - salads can be healthy but not when loaded with cheese, nuts, dried fruit, croutons or high-cal dressing.

5. Coffee with extras - coffee, black, is a classic diet drink. But whipped cream, milk, syrup and the million of other things you can add at any coffee shop make the drink a calorie landmine.

6. Marinades - chicken by itself is healthy, when covered with BBQ sauce, not so much.

Bottom Line

You have to look at the whole dish when on a diet. Any food can pack on pounds when eaten to excess or with accompanied with high calorie flavorings.

What a Pain in the Butt!

"...my problems are all behind me"
Hall-of-Fame baseball player George Brett, after hemorrhoid surgery during 1980 World Series

I've heard the term "piles" but had no clue that it meant hemorrhoids; nor did I really have a clear idea of what hemorrhoids are. So I've done some reading on this pain in the butt topic.

The MayoClinic says, Hemorrhoids (HEM-uh-roids), are swollen and inflamed veins in your anus and lower rectum that may result from straining during bowel movements or from the increased pressure on these veins during pregnancy [or from being overweight]. ... By age 50, about half of adults have had to deal with the itching, discomfort and bleeding that can signal the presence of hemorrhoids.

WebMD says, normally, tissue inside the anus fills with blood to help control bowel movements. If you strain to move stool, the increased pressure causes the veins in this tissue to swell and stretch.

Symptoms include

• Bleeding during bowel movements with streaks of bright red blood on toilet paper
• Anal Itching
• Rectal pain when sitting or wiping your bottom

If you are younger than 50 your doctor may just examine your rectum with a gloved finger or use a short, lighted scope to look inside. If older than 50 or there's not an obvious hemorrhoid the doctor may recommend a colonoscopy because bleeding can also indicate colon-rectum cancer.

Bottom Line

For most hemorrhoids, home treatment is sufficient - eat more fiber, drink more water, and use over-the-counter ointments for a limited time to stop itching. Get more exercise, especially walking to reduce constipation. You might also use stool softeners to reduce straining.

For painful internal hemorrhoids a doctor may tie off the hemorrhoids with rubber bands or scar the tissue around the hemorrhoids to reduce the blood supply and make them shrink or go away.

Working While Sick

If your office is like mine, there are quite a few people at this very moment sniffling, coughing, wheezing, and otherwise sharing their cold germs with co-workers. It's flu season and, while I hope you got your flu shot and are protected from the flu, sadly there is no protection from the common cold. Yes, there are the preventative steps of isolation, hand washing, and wearing a facemask but no shot or pill will kill the cold virus that gets past these barriers.

Ideally you would stay home and rest when sick but you might not have that choice. If must work, here are 7 tips for working while sick from the blog Mind Your Decisions.

1. Get as much rest as you can. Get to bed early while sick.

2. Reschedule meetings and phone calls that you conduct. The idea is that you want look and feel your best when making a business presentation or conducting business. I would argue that you should not be in a small room with others when sick. Use the phone instead.

3. Work in short shifts.  You'll tire quickly when sick so work in short bursts and try to recuperate in between.

4. Do mindless tasks. Now is not the time for accounting or detailed work; you'll make way too many careless mistakes. Catch up on email, clean the desk, plan future assignments.

5. Use Home remedies to feel better:  soup, tea, healthy foods.

6. Ask for help. Delegate

7. Be considerate of co-workers.

"Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze, throw the tissue in the trash after using it, and wash your hands frequently. And do not share your food or drink!"

Bottom Line

For remedies that work and those that don't check out the Mayo Clinic at www.mayoclinic.com/health/cold-remedies/ID00036

Carb Substitutes

“Man does not live by bread alone, even presliced bread.” - D.W. Brogan

Today I found an excellent list of carb substitutes on myThirtySpot.com and this fits in so well with yesterday's topic of Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load.

1. Use summer squash for hash browns.
2. Replace mashed potatoes with pureed cauliflower. If the taste bothers you, try mixing cauliflower with potatoes to lower the carb count. Parsnips also mix well with potatoes but there's very little carb reduction with parsnips.
3. Use sliced zucchini for pasta noodles. This one I've used and it works great. My wife uses a mandolin with a Julienne cutter and then sautee the zucchini strips and pours spaghetti sauce on top.
4. Use spaghetti squash for spaghetti. Very easy to make and when the cooked squashed is scraped with a fork, the result is spaghetti like strands.
5. Cottage cheese pancakes? I never noticed this one when I used the South Beach Diet plan. Mix cottage cheese, oatmeal, eggs & a few spices in a blender for a "pancake" batter. What I have tried is almond flour and chick-pea flour for pancakes. The taste was fine but the texture was not the same.
6. Use Tempheh for Scalloped Potatoes
7. Make Mac n Cheese with diced vegetables
8. Use less pasta and more beans or veggies in a pasta salad
9. Use low-fat string cheese for chips? Slice & bake for "chips"
10. Use Portobello mushrooms as a mini-pizza crust - YUM. This does work But don't overcook, portobellos will lose liquid and collapse when overcooked.
11. Use sliced eggplant in place of lasgna noodles
12. Use lettuce (napa or romain) as a wrap instead of bread for sandwiches

Bottom Line

See myThirtySpot.com for the full recipes. Bon Appetit!

A carb is a carb is a carb?

"I was gaining weight very rapidly and read about the idea of restricting carbohydrates as an alternative to going hungry. I had a big appetite, so that was the only thing I would even consider."
- Dr Robert Atkins

In diet books the total calories in a food item is calculated by Fat * 9 + Protein * 4 + Carbs * 4 when each is measured in grams. This assumes the body is a perfect food processing machine that will convert the entire food into energy. But that's not true. Some foods digest quickly, some slowly, some perhaps not at all.

In 1980 at the University of Toronto, Dr David J Jenkins and colleagues decided to test real food on real people to see what effect each food had on blood sugar so they could give better advice to diabetics. They fed volunteers 50g of carbohydrate from one type of food and measured the blood glucose level over the next two hours. The total area under the glucose curve was called the Glycemic Index. Foods with a high GI are digested quickly and give a sugar rush or spike that is often associated with weight gain and high insulin demands for diabetics.

High GI: white bread, most white rice, corn flakes and most breakfast cereals
Medium GI: whole wheat products, basmati rice, sweet potato, baked potato
Low GI: most fruits and vegetable, legumes, beans, whole grains, nuts

The GI was quickly put to use in new diet plans like the South Beach Diet which my wife and I used and did lose weight (for a awhile). This was a refinement over the Atkins plan which banned all carbs completely.

But critics soon pointed out flaws with the GI tables.
1. The tests examined one food at a time. Not food combinations. It was later discovered that adding vinegar, for example, will lower the GI. The presence of fat or soluble dietary fiber can slow the gastric emptying rate, thus lowering the GI.

2. Each test required 50g of carbs in the food consumed. Watermelon, which is mostly water with a little sugar, has a high GI but there are only about 8g of carbs per 100g serving size. To get 50g carbs for the test, volunteers had to eat nearly 7 servings of watermelon. Compare this to white bread which is half carb by weight and just two slices equal 50g carbs.

To address this second point, Harvard University created a new standard called the Glycemic Load that takes serving size into account. The GL is the GI * (carbs per 100g) /100.  Under this system, watermelon gets a low GL score.

Under the GL system white bread is very high, bananas on the boarder of medium and low and carrots very low.

Bottom Line

A detailed list of GI and GL values can be found at http://www.mendosa.com/gilists.htm 

Foods with a high GL should be eaten sparingly. Fill up on low GL items.

Fight Bad Breath with Hydrogen Peroxide?

“A sad soul can kill quicker than a germ.”
-John Steinbeck

In our home we always keep a bottle of Hydrogen Peroxide for cuts, especially cat scratches. Even after washing with soap & water, the cat scratches I get from our two furry friends will turn red and leave a scar unless I apply Hydrogen Peroxide (H.P.) because cats have really dirty toenails. It never occurred to me that H.P. could have other uses. The label on the bottle suggests using it as a mouth wash? Yuck!

H.P. is a powerful germ killer and whitener. BargainBabe.com lists many ways for putting this to use:

1. Soak your toothbrush in H.P. to keep it germ free
2. As a mouthwash it kills the germs that cause bad breath (but will my tongue forgive me?).  May also help against gingivitis (gum disease).
3. Makes a toothpaste when mixed with salt and baking soda
4. As a cleaner for kitchen counters, cutting boards, lunch boxes
5. Dilute 1/4 cup of H.P. with a sink of cold water to wash fruits & vegetables
6. Dilute it even more (1 part in 32) when watering plants to stop root rot
7. Dab on pimples
8. Soak feet in H.P. for calluses & corns & foot fungus
9. Use 1 cup instead of beach to brighten white clothes when washing (it's a main ingredient of OxiClean)
10. Spritz on hair to bring out natural highlights?
11. Fights mold on the shower walls and curtain

Bottom Line

See more ideas at BargainBabe.com like killing fungi in your fish tank (without killing the fish I hope). Please try these at your own risk. I'll vouch for cuts but have yet to try out the other suggestions above.

When to toss Leftovers?

"Leftovers make you feel good twice. First, when you put it away, you feel thrifty and intelligent: ‘I’m saving food!’ Then a month later when blue hair is growing out of the ham, and you throw it away, you feel really intelligent: ‘I’m saving my life!’"
– George Carlin

Question: "When do I throw out leftovers"?

TasteOfHome.com has a simple answer, "If in doubt - throw it out". 

Don't rely on taste or smell or looks. Food may contain an unhealthy level of bacteria yet give no clue after several days.

A more detailed answer is, "it is best to eat leftovers within 2 days. Some items may still be safe after 3-5 days."

Raw foods from potentially dirty environments have a higher risk of contamination. These include fresh poultry & fish & other seafood (shrimp, scallops, squid, and shucked clams, mussels, and oysters). Don't keep these items in a fridge for more than a day (two at most).  Fresh (raw) ground meat and chopped meat (stew chunks) are equally at risk with more surface area exposed for bacteria growth.

Cooked foods will usually keep for 3 days (5 at most).

There are some foods that are are designed/created for a slightly longer shelf life:
hard cheese: 3 to 4 weeks
soft cheese: 1 week
yogurt: 1 - 2 weeks

Advice for Storing Leftovers

Begin with a clean container with an airtight seal. For items still hot, use shallow containers or divide the food into smaller portions so the center of the leftover can cool quickly. Some experts suggest waiting until steam has stopped rising from food before putting it into the refrigerator so that you don’t heat up your refrigerator. But don't wait too long.

"If food has been left out for longer than 2 hours, don’t put it back in the refrigerator, and don’t keep it for later. It’s not safe to eat." - TasteOfHome

"If food is left at room temperature for more than two hours, (one hour in hot weather) bacteria can grow to harmful levels, making it unsafe to eat." - European Food Information Council

Other experts discourage cooling leftovers on the kitchen counter but instead recommend putting warm leftovers quickly in the fridge. Bacteria are like Golilocks and love warm food (not too cold and not too hot) and grow quickly at a temperature that's "just right". My mother is a stickler when it comes to food safety. My wife & I were surprised when she took the hot bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken we had purchased for a picnic, transfered it to tupperware, and then put that in a cooler with ice, because it would take us a few hours to reach the picnic site.

P.S.
The quote at top comes from a George Carlin routine called Ice Box Man which I recommend.

What is food Poisoning?

"Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died."
-Bombeck, Erma

Despite the name, food poisoning does not mean that someone has slipped hemlock or arsenic into your meal. Food poisoning usually means that you ate something containing an infectious agent like a virus, bacteria or parasite. But it can also mean poisoning in the real sense if you consumed a toxic agent like a poisonous mushroom or pesticide.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) there are more than 250 known diseases that are caused by "bad" food. In the United States each year 1 in 6 people (48 million) become sick from a food-borne illnesses resulting in 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths.

Common symptoms include diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramping, fever and chills that occur within 30 minutes to 48 hours after consuming a contaminated food or drink. Most food poisoning is not serious and will run its course in 24-48 hours.

When to Seek Medical Care

Contact your doctor if

• You have a sick child under age 3
• You cannot keep any liquids down
• You cannot keep down prescribed & necessary medicine because of vomiting
• You are pregnant
• Symptoms last for more than two days
• You have a low-grade fever
• Symptoms begin after recent foreign travel
• There is an outbreak where others who ate the same thing are also sick
• You have a weakened immune system (HIV/AIDS, cancer/chemotherapy, etc)

Go to the nearest emergency room if:

• The sick person passes out, becomes dizzy & lightheaded, or has problems with vision.
• You have a fever higher than 101 F (38.3 C) along with the abdominal symptoms
• You have sharp or cramping abdomen pains do not go away after 10-15 minutes (might be appendicitis which can be deadly)
• Your stomach or abdomen swells
• Your skin and/or eyes turn yellow (possible liver failure?)
• You are vomiting blood or having bloody bowel movements
• You stop urinating, have decreased urination, or have urine that is dark in color
• You have problem breathing, speaking, or swallowing.
• One or more joints swell or a rash breaks out

Bottom Line

No food is every germ free so illness is not caused by consuming a single bacteria but rather from eating something with a concentration of infectious agent too numerous for the body to defeat quickly. When you buy deli meat or cook a meal, the food is safe. But as the leftovers sit in the fridge the few bacteria multiply, slowly to sure, but surely. If the leftover is completely reheated to 160 F or so the new bacteria are killed. But if you eat a week-old item cold, like cold cuts in a sandwich, then your stomach may be in for a rude shock.

When you really gotta go

“You do live longer with bran, but you spend the last fifteen years on the toilet”
-Alan King

I was surprised when I looked-up "Diarrhea" on WebMd and it described it as, "very common and usually not serious. Many people will have diarrhea once or twice each year." That may be true in America but in developing nations diarrhea has been the #1 cause of deaths in infants due to dehydration. Today campaigns to educate mothers about Oral Re-hydration Solution (a mixture of salts, sugar, and water) has knocked diarrhea down to the #2 slot for infant mortality with pneumonia as the current top killer.

I was also surprised by the once or twice a year claim. But then I suffer from irritable bowel syndrome which the article does mention as an exception. I learned that many things can cause diarrhea like chewing gum. Gum?!

"dietetic candy" or "chewing gum" diarrhea, in which a sugar substitute, such as sorbitol, is not absorbed by the body but draws water from the body into the bowel

Other causes include:

• "Stomach flu": a virus that infects the gut, usually lasts for two days
• Infection by bacteria (food poisoning)
• Infections by other organisms
• Eating foods that upset the digestive system
• Allergies to certain foods
• Medications
• Radiation therapy
• Diseases of the intestines
• Malabsorption
• Hyperthyroidism
• Some cancers
• Laxative abuse
• Alcohol abuse
• Digestive tract surgery
• Diabetes
• Competitive running
• Following constipation, especially for people who have irritable bowel syndrome [I'll vouch for that]

Treatment

For a mild case, just let it run its course. Or use over-the-counter medicines like Pepto-Bismol, Imodium A-D, and Kaopectate. Follow the instructions on the package.

In addition, drink at least six 8-ounce glasses of fluid per day like fruit juice without pulp, broth, or soda (without caffeine), chicken broth (without the fat), tea with honey, and sports drinks.

Instead of drinking liquids with your meals, drink liquids between meals. Drink small amounts of fluids frequently.

Bottom Line

"Contact your doctor if you have prolonged diarrhea or a fever that lasts more than 24 hours. Also see your doctor promptly if vomiting prevents you from drinking liquids to replace lost fluids." - WebMD

Resolve to get your Mammogram

I have to admit, like so many women, I always knew there was a chance. But like so many women, I never thought it would be me. I never thought I'd hear those devastating words: 'You have breast cancer.'
-Debbie Wasserman Schultz

I have two friends that have been diagnosed with breast cancer in the past month or two. Both were caught early and the prognosis is excellent. I decided to do some research on the topic and was surprised to learn that the American Cancer Society (ACS) is a bit skeptical about BSE (Breast Self Exams).

"Breast cancers that are found because they can be felt tend to be larger and are more likely to have already spread beyond the breast. In contrast, breast cancers found during screening exams are more likely to be small and still confined to the breast."

Here are the ACS recommendations:

• Women age 40 and older should have a screening mammogram every year and should continue to do so for as long as they are in good health.
• Women in their 20s and 30s should have a clinical breast exam (CBE) as part of a periodic (regular) health exam by a health professional, at least every 3 years. After age 40, women should have a breast exam by a health professional every year.
• Breast self exam (BSE) is an option for women starting in their 20s.  ... Doing BSE regularly is one way for women to know how their breasts normally look and feel and to notice any changes. The goal, with or without BSE, is to report any breast changes to a doctor or nurse right away.
• Women at high risk (greater than 20% lifetime risk) should get an MRI and a mammogram every year. Women at moderately increased risk (15% to 20% lifetime risk) should talk with their doctors about the benefits and limitations of adding MRI screening to their yearly mammogram. Yearly MRI screening is not recommended for women whose lifetime risk of breast cancer is less than 15%.
  
  High risk includes

• Have a known BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation
• Have a first-degree relative (parent, brother, sister, or child) with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation
• A family history with high risk

The ACS seems of two minds on Breast Self Exam technique. It notes that sometimes, women are so concerned about "doing it right" that they become stressed over the technique. And yet the ACS also recommends that women who choose to do BSE should have their BSE technique reviewed during their physical exam by a health professional. So ask your doctor about the right way to do it but don't get stressed out over it.

The ACS addresses concerns over mammogram radiation.

To put dose into perspective, if a woman with breast cancer is treated with radiation, she will receive around 5,000 rads. If she had yearly mammograms beginning at age 40 and continuing until she was 90, she will have received 20 to 40 rads [total].

How much is 20-40 rads? It's equivalent to eating a banana (.0036 rads) or two every month from age 40 to 90.

Bottom Line

Read the entire article at http://www.cancer.org/cancer/breastcancer/detailedguide/breast-cancer-detection
It might save your life.

Mama always said, "Eat your Vegetables"

“Green Eggs and Ham was the story of my life. I wouldn't eat a thing when I was a kid, but Dr. Seuss inspired me to try cauliflower.”
-Jim Carrey

Yesterday I discussed how only 56% of Americans are eating the recommended five daily servings of fruits and vegetables. I also discussed why it might not be a good idea to address this shortfall by drinking more fruit juice or eating more fruit. An apply a day (as they say) keeps the doctor away but five apples a day may add pounds to the waistline.

What Americans really need to do is eat more vegetables. Fruit gets great commercials and is so easily available but vegetables outperform fruit in many ways. I think of bananas for potassium (467 mg per medium size banana) but an artichoke has more (595 mg). And that's nothing compared to a cup of beet greens with 1309 mg of potassium. Did you know that a cup of cooked broccoli has more vitamin C than an orange (101.2 mg vs 95.8 mg)!

Here are some ideas from Rodale.com for including more vegetables in your diet:

1. Jazz them up with hummus, low-fat dip, or sauteed with spices
2. Carry a bag of baby carrots as a quick snack
3. Stock up at farmer's markets and ask their advice for cooking vegetables that are new to you
4. At meals, half of your plate should be filled with vegetables so you'll get 2 servings each at lunch and dinner. 
5. Enjoy veggie soup
6. Add veggies to items you cook like casseroles, pasta, (carrot) muffins, (zucchini) breads, etc
7. Wash and eat the skins of fruits and vegetables (Do they really need to add, except for bananas and pineapples?)
8. Frozen vegetables are very healthy and may be cheaper than fresh
9. My boss has started using a juice press to make vegetable drinks. My wife used to press wheat grass for her mother but it's an acquired taste (ick!)
10. Use more salsa!
11. When eating out, start with a salad instead of a calorie-ridden appetizer.
12. Try grilling vegetables on your BBQ.

Bottom Line

Vegetables can be fun. Try it!

(after trying a bite)
"Say!
I like green eggs and ham!
I do!! I like them, Sam-I-am!"
-Dr Seuss