Results tagged “health”

You’ve likely seen products like “spelt spaghetti” or “quinoa spirals” while perusing the pasta section of your grocery store. These alternatives to refined white pasta typically provide more nutrients and fiber and impart unique tastes and textures. When consumed in moderation, pasta has its place in a nutritious diet. A healthy serving of pasta is generally about ½ cup cooked, or about ¼ of your plate, which is a whole lot less than what we typically consume. Think of pasta as a great side dish to accompany lean meat or fish and a big helping of veggies. Here is a quick run-down of some commonly sold alternative grain pastas.

Most of us have little time, or desire, to scrutinize food labels. Not to mention doing so can perplex even the most astute shopper. But the ability to quickly interpret a food label, and weed out key information, is requisite to healthy eating. So leave your calculator at home, enter your grocery store armed with patience and a satisfied belly, and consider these key points to efficient label reading.

For the squash novice, we recommend trying the Acorn variety. They are firm, dark-green, and about the size of a cantaloupe. Here are two methods of preparing Acorn squash.

Chicago is overflowing with fantastic food, a majority of which is not conducive to maintaining a healthy weight or preventing cholesterol from clinging for dear life to the inside of our arteries. Contrary to the reputation of a dietitian, we cannot easily conjure the name of a single food that we would forbid from touching our lips. That said, eating a healthy diet is necessary to preventing disease, avoiding weight gain, and feeling happy and energetic. Here are a few strategies to help you navigate your way around Chicago’s equally glorious and treacherous culinary landscape.

Cities like New York, Philadelphia, Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles are lauded for their street food scenes, and rightly so. Here in Chicago we have the Maxwell Street Market, the tamale men, sno cones, elotes, a couple vendors at farmers markets and the stray hot dog cart. Otherwise what constitutes street food here is sorely lacking. As with most things, city ordinances restrict what food carts and trucks can and cannot do, limiting their presence to not much more than roach coaches serving warmed and pre-cooked product.

South Loop Wine Cellar is one of our favorite wine stores and we attend their tastings often. They often host creative events, presenting wine in innovative combinations with other foods - cupcakes, chocolates - or with other small businesses in the area. However, when we got the September event email, we did a bit of a double take. Instead of a tasty pairing of a California cab and a nice bite of flank steak, customers at the September 17th tasting can sample… a flu shot. At the “Vaccine and Vino” event, a payment of $40 will include both the wine tasting and the vaccine.

There's been a backlash against high fructose corn syrup in recent years as the sweetener has been linked to a litany of health problems. But when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. Or, if you're the soft drink industry, you make sodas loaded with sugar and market it as both a better-tasting product and a healthier alternative to HFCS.

Last week, we mentioned the children of the state are getting fatter. Now, another study says that Illinois' adults are, too. According to data released by the CDC, 26.4 percent of Illinois adults are obese. Overall, the Southeast has the highest rates with Mississippi and Alabama coming in at #1 and #2, respectively. (Way to go, SEC country, making me proud of my homeland). But, seriously, the new results show a very troubling trend. As the Trib explains:

The Chi-Town Daily News continues to be the best source we've seen covering the county's current mental and health care crisis. Establishing an oversight committee and having a pre-approved hospital vendor lists are just a few of the goals the new Cook County Health and Hospital Systems CEO wants to tackle. In his first public board meeting, CEO William Foley gave his three-, six- and 12-month goals for the health system Friday morning. Giving a time line for each plan, Foley said by Sept. 1 the health system will have reached an agreement "with a group purchasing organization, which provides pre-approved vendors from which the hospital can buy supplies," Chi-Town Daily News reports.

The University of Illinois-Chicago’s cites Illinois’ budget crisis and a lack of Medicare reimbursements for closing a Pilsen medical center this June.

Now in its third year, UNICEF's Tap Project has grown from a New York-specific one-off to a national event. Through Saturday restaurants throughout the country will ask customers to donate $1 (or more) to UNICEF for something — tap water — some of us may take for granted.

Remember that amendatory veto Blagojevich put together a while back? The one that would have required insurance companies to cover up to $36,000 a year in occupational, physical, speech and behavioral therapies in addition to psychiatric and psychological services, and an unlimited number of doctor visits for autistic kids until they turn 21?

Illinois had more cases of measles than any other state this year, and according to the CDC, most of the people infected were unvaccinated children who are homeschooled. According to Cook County Public Health Department's Catherine Counard, not vaccinating a child affects more than just one person. "[Parents are] making a choice for the entire community. Because they're putting others at risk. And if their children become infected and expose a newborn infant who then dies, thats a pretty serious consequence." [WBEZ]

A new study published in the Chicago-based Archives of Surgery says that 57.4 percent of the general public and 19.5 percent of medical professionals "believe that divine intervention could save a person when physicians believe treatment is futile." [AP]

The city will be spraying the Far South Side with mosquito killer tonight around 8pm, so if you live within city limits but south of 95th street, between Halsted and Longwood Drive, keep your windows closed this evening. According to the Chicago Department of Public Health, bugs carrying the sometimes fatal West Nile Virus have been trapped in the area, and the city needs to take "quick and decisive action to protect the public health." [ABC, CDPC]

• From the "DUH!" Files: Apparently fast food meals aren't good for kids. The Center for Science in the Public Interest released a report this week that concluded that kids meals at fast food chains exceed the 430 calories-per-meal limit. Among the worst offenders, Chili's makes the list twice with kids meals at or over 1000 calories each. [via MenuPages Chicago]
• "Rock Star Chef City" alert: BOURDAIN is in town through next week finally filming for the No Reservations Chicago episode. He's got the venerable Louisa Chu in tow, who'll be escorting him to Calumet Fisheries, Burt's Place in Morton Grove and L2O, among other places. We're so stalking this weekend. [Food Chain]
• Lori Barrett writes about cold soups. [Drive Thru]
• An argument for frozen fish [Washington Post, via]

Tomatoes are safe again, but now a specific jalapeño (we like to pronounce it "jha-LA-pen-yo," just for kicks) has been identified as contaminated with salmonella. The contaminated pepper was found in a packing plant in Texas. [Trib]

Governor Blagojevich used his amendatory veto power Sunday to expand House Bill 4255, which requires public employee health plans to cover preventative physical therapy treatments for multiple sclerosis and to expand autism coverage. The legislation comes from Senate Bill 1900, which did not pass earlier this year, despite broad bi-partisan support. Insurance policies in Illinois will now be required to cover up to $36,000 a year in occupational, physical, speech and behavioral therapies in addition to psychiatric and psychological services, and an unlimited number of doctor visits for autistic kids until they turn 21. "Since most insurance companies do not cover the cost of treating autism, families can be torn apart and sent to the brink of financial ruin trying to care for their child," Blagojevich said Sunday.

Six kids in the northwest suburbs have contracted measles, so the Cook County Department of Public Health is reminding everyone that "vaccinations are the safest and most effective means to prevent serious illness."

A third rabid bat was found in Waukegan last Sunday, and a fourth bat found in Deerfield, resulting in the Lake County Health Department urging residents to avoid contact with bats. So not cuddling of bats, people!

I'll mention upfront that I'm afraid of fish, which may affect how disgusting I find this story, but the line "thousands of bloody, hemorrhaging fish" should gross out even the steeliest reader. Thousands! Gaaaah. They washed up on shore near Milwaukee.

The Chicago Department of Public Health announced today that nine salmonella cases around Chicago have been linked to tainted tomatoes served at Adobo Grill, both at its Wicker Park and Old Town venues.

It's a near certainty that people who eat at McDonald's on a regular basis, like Morgan Spurlock or Little Stay-Puf in the photo, can gain weight and have other potential health issues. But can someone eating nothing but McDonald's lose weight?

A Cary woman was maybe bitten by a rabid bat, so McHenry County officials are warning people stay the eff away from the flying mammals. Bat bites can be so tiny they're almost impossible to detect, so people who've been around bats are often given rabies vaccines as a precaution. This is the 15th report of a rabid bat in Illinois so far this year; 113 were reported last year, but there hasn't been a case of rabies in a person in Illinois since 1954. According to the CDC, tens of thousands of people are treated for possible rabies exposure every year, but a few still die.

WGN didn't lead off last night's 9 p.m. newscast with more Clinton/Obama drama. Instead, they started the newscast with Jackie Bange's discovery of an advanced rodent civilization in Terminal 1, Concourse C of O'Hare Airport.

] Alabama native and karate expert Ron Werstler has spent the past week breaking wood blocks with his hands outside of Harpo Studios in a attempt to get Oprah's attention and assistance in raising awareness for cystic fibrosis. Werstler's son has the fatal disease, which prompted him to go on an 18-month tour of board-breaking to raise money to help families cover the costs of treatment.

Items worth thousands of dollars were stolen from the South Side home where five people were murdered last week. A flat-screen TV, diamond jewelry, several watches and a pair of earrings are among the stolen items. So far, the police don't have any suspects. [Trib]

Math cookies?! Thank you, internet, for continuing to make my dreams come true. [Evil Mad Scientist]

Well, Lou was already gonna be at The Pitchfork Music Festival (July 18-20) anyway since Dinosaur Jr is playing that Sunday, but now he'll be there opening night as well, leading Sebadoh through Bubble and Scrape! Other new additions are: The Hold Steady (squee!), Elf Power, Caribou, Icy Demons, Boban Markovic Orkestar, Titus Andronicus, Bon Iver, Times New Viking, HEALTH, High Places, and Mahjongg.

It’s no secret around here that we love dogs. But what we love even more are dogs with jobs. (Not to be confused with dogs that pretend to have jobs.) Seeing Eye dogs are the most well-known service dogs but seizure- response dogs are becoming more in demand for people who suffer from epilepsy. Seizure-response dogs are trained to get help when their owners have a seizure (so it’s not just a clever name) and can sometimes even warn their owner a seizure is coming by recognizing the scent that epileptics often give off before an episode. Seizure response dogs are carefully screened, take over a year to train and can cost nearly $19,000 to purchase.