\

©iStockphoto.com - Floortje

People continue to be sick even after following the gluten free diet scrupulously. Problem for those who are celiac can lurk in unexpected places, like the glue used on the envelopes and mailing labels, which is made from the wheat. You can use a damp sponge, self sticking envelopes and stamps, or simply let somebody else in the family do this job.

Some celiacs  are sensitive to gluten as well as to some chemicals. Those with dermatitis herpetiformis, a skin reaction to gluten, should be careful while using craft kits, paste and spray waxes and cleaners. If you cannot avoid using these, only do so wearing a mask and in well ventilated area. Celiacs with highly sensitive skin must avoid wheat germ oil in cosmetics and in personal care products like skin creams and lotions, toothpaste and false teeth fixatives. Ask your dentist which is the best toothpaste for you. (continue reading…)

ⓒ iStockPhoto - CagriOner

The recall of eggs potentially tainted with salmonella has been expanded to affect more than 500,000,000 eggs. Aside from the health hazards of salmonella poisoning, half a billion eggs is a lot of wasted food. The recalled eggs, out of their shells, could:

• Fill 11.8 Olympic-sized swimming pools
• Cover about nine city blocks 1 foot deep
• Fulfill the caloric needs of the entire state of Florida for a day

With raw leafy greens, fresh produce implicated in foodborne illness outbreaks alongside eggs, dairy and meat, avoiding the foods that may carry pathogens doesn’t allow for a healthy diet. Paying attention to where your food comes from, not just what you’re eating and feeding your family, can greatly reduce the risk of exposure to foodborne pathogens. (continue reading…)

ⓒ iStockPhoto - CagriOner

Allergen warning labels are everywhere. I once came across a transparent plastic bag of whole cashews bearing the warning “May contain cashews” and couldn’t help thinking to myself that, labeling aside, a person with a life-threatening allergy really ought to be able to identify the whole, intact form of his or her allergen. In my kitchen now, I have a tin of “Jumbo Hand-Cooked Virginia Peanuts” with a boldface warning “Contains Peanuts” and a box of nonfat dry milk powder with the “Contains milk ingredients” warning, which I mentally put in the same category as the warning label not to use my snow thrower on my roof or put my electric waffle iron in an automatic dishwasher.

There are practical business (really, legal) reasons for putting warning labels on products where allergen is an intended ingredient rather than a contaminant, like “Contains wheat” on the jar of wheat germ. With the way industrial food goes these days, the line of what’s an “expected” ingredient in anything is getting harder to find. Cool Whip, long engineered as a bastion of dairy-free fluffiness, actually has milk in it now (well, sodium caseinate, which was once part of milk). Given the litigious society we live in, companies may find a few obvious warning labels preferable to defending a lawsuit, so they develop a blanket policy of allergen advisories on all of their products that contain common allergens, whether it’s an intended ingredient or a cross-contaminant.

There’s a down side to the proliferation of allergy warning labels. People are ignoring them. A 2007 study in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology found a drop of 10% in the attention paid to food allergy warning labels between 2003 and 2006. The surveys the study was based on were conducted at patient conferences for the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network; if anyone were to need to pay attention to allergen warnings, those are the folks, mostly parents of children with serious food allergies. (continue reading…)

ⓒ iStockPhoto - luchschen

Consumer Reports recently published an expose on nutritional supplements contaminated with ingredients not on the label, and promoted for health claims based on dubious evidence, or occasionally in the face of evidence that the substances could be harmful. The magazine singled out weight loss and bedroom-enhancing supplements as particularly problematic, but any herb or supplement can cause problems with unwise supplementation.

While the science behind the Consumer Reports supplement report isn’t rigorous enough to indicate a red-flag health threat, the report is a reminder to be as mindful with nutritional supplements, vitamins and herbs as you would be with any medication or food. “Natural” or “herbal” doesn’t necessarily mean “safe,” especially when marketing consultants get involved with packaging a product. Green Diva Mom has four simple things to keep in mind when considering and taking herbal or nutritional supplements. (continue reading…)

©iStockphoto.com - coloroftime

The role of sun and its ultra-violet rays is a little more complex than what we think, and it may also give us an insight how do we age. The sun acts sort of like one of the machines that shoots out tennis balls. But the sun’s tennis balls comes in form of ultra-violet rays that are torpedoed down to Earth. Now, one type of ultra-violet rays, UVC, is blocked by the atmosphere before it reaches us, so this type of UV has very little effect. The rays that constantly affect you are the UVB rays and the UVA rays. Blocking all kinds of rays is not possible. UVB rays are stopped at the topmost levels of the skin, but they still penetrate inside and cause burning and skin cancer. They cause tanning as well.

On the other hand, UVA rays penetrate deeply in the skin to cause burns, wrinkles and skin cancer. To top it off, sunlight also destroys the reserves of folic acid, also known as folate or vitamin B9. Folate is required by the body to replicate DNA properly. The rays can also damage the eyes. (continue reading…)

The Environmental Working Group has put out the 2010 Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen guide to the best and worst produce when it comes to pesticides. Better yet, for iPhone and iPod Touch-toting moms, there’s an app for that, too! In addition to the wallet card, you can keep the list in your phone (right next to the grocery list).

The full list of 49 fruits and vegetables, ranked for their pesticide residue levels, is available at the Environmental Working Group’s website. Check out the handy video guide from Dr. Andrew Weil after the jump. (continue reading…)

©iStockPhoto.com - iofoto

Regular physical activity can  help with both weight loss and lowering cholesterol. Exercise  increases HDL , the good cholesterol while lowering your LDL -the bad cholesterol. The American Heart Association recommends 30 minutes of exercise on most days of the week.If you are new to exercise or haven’t been active in awhile, start slowly and increase your workout time and intensity as you get stronger. A good starting point is 20 minutes of aerobic activity, 3 times per week. Examples include walking, swimming and biking. The best activities to do are the ones you enjoy and will stick with. Eventually, the goal is to work up to 45-60 minutes, 5 times per week. It is also important to let your body warm up and cool down gradually during each exercise session (5-10 minutes each).

Always talk to your doctor before beginning an exercise program. Underlying health conditions, such as uncontrolled blood pressure, can make certain types of exercise unsafe.

A few healthy dietary habits can help lower the cholesterol level in your blood: (continue reading…)