Summer is here and while frolicking outside is fun, if your body isn’t ready for the heat it can be a bit of a downer, or even dangerous. If you find yourself feeling light-headed, an unexpected friend in the kitchen can help you out. It sounds counter-intuitive, but a few pinches of salt may be just the trick. [More]
health
Walgreens "Sorry" They Gave Patient 10x Recommended Dosage
By 6.15.11
She was hit with incredible pain and muscle spasms in her chest so bad that Arizona woman thought she was going to die. The strike was so severe she would turn red and purple. Sometimes she would have a hundred of these attacks each day, each time thinking that this would be the one that would kill her. Now Walgreens tells ABC15 that they’re “sorry” for refilling her prescription with 50mcg pills. She was only supposed to get 5mcg ones. [More]
German Sprouts Not Deadly E.coli Culprit, Initial Tests Show
By 6.6.11
German sprouts are not the cause of the deadly e.coli outbreak that has killed 22 and sickened over 2,000, according to initial tests of samples from a farm that a German agriculture minister had earlier named as the epicenter. The retraction is only the latest in a series of confusing finger-pointings and “cucumber slurs,” and has left European consumers afraid to eat a salad. [More]
Make Your Own Peanut Butter At Home
By 6.6.11
You can save $1.37 a jar making your own peanut butter at home. It’s actually really easy, fun, and it won’t contain a bunch of that extra nonsense you find from big name brands. [More]
"Super-Toxic" E.Coli Strain Kills 18 In Europe
By 6.3.11
A virulent strain of antibiotic-resistant E.coli has left 18 dead in Europe, left over 1,800 sick, and touched off a continent-wide scare against all produce, suspected to be the source of the infection. [More]
"Nutrition Plate" Replaces "Food Pyramid"
By 6.2.11
It was announced this morning that the much-derided USDA “food pyramid” has gone the way of the Pharaohs and will be replaced by a simpler “nutrition plate” that for the first time emphasizes vegetables over all other food groups. [More]
Buncha Lead Found In Ceramic Cultural Crockery
By 5.27.11
While traveling you might be tempted to pick a neat piece of handmade tableware, like a bright red spoon in a Chinatown shop or a wonderfully molded Mexican jug. But besides memories, you might be bringing back home an unexpected stowaway: lead. [More]
$10M Awarded After Child Got Skin Burns On 85% Of Body After Taking Motrin
By 5.27.11
A jury has awarded the family of a child $10 million after she developed skin burns on 85% of her body after taking Children’s Motrin. [More]
Lame Settlement Reached In Kinoki Foot Pad Class Action Lawsuit
By 5.20.11
If you purchased Kinoki Foot Pads and were totally shocked when they didn’t “suck out” toxins from your body, have heart. Thanks to a recent class action settlement, you can get ten bucks in cash if you can show your receipts. You can also instead opt for twenty bucks worth of gift products from the same maker for each box of Kinoki Foot Pads you purchased. That sounds like a better deal to me, especially considering one of the alternate products is the “Criss Angel Money Printer.” [More]
United Healthcare Decides You Only Needed Second Of Two Procedures
By 5.20.11
The good news is that after having two procedures on her spine last fall, Jackie is able to walk again. The bad news is that even though the two procedures were identitcal, United is only paying for the first one and not the second, and won’t actually explain why. She has appealed the decision, but things don’t look promising. [More]
Is That "Organic" Egg A Good Egg?
By 5.19.11
Not all organic eggs are created equal. While different cartons of eggs might all have the same “Organic! Yay!” label slapped on them, standards for what that means can vary from farm to farm. One might meet minimum USDA or Federal standards while another has no real outdoor access for the chickens to speak of. To help you navigate the bedeviling array of options, The Cornucopia Institute has created an Organic Egg Scorecard to rate farms on a 5-egg system. Small farms with lots of pasture for the chickens to frolic in rate highly, while eggs put out by Trader Joe’s, Kirkland, and Price Chopper only get a one egg rating. [More]
For Variety, Eater Of 25,000 Big Macs "Sometimes Eats Them Upside Down"
By 5.18.11
Yesterday Don Gorske set a new world record by eating his 25,000th Big Mac in his lifetime. The news reports are full of charming anecdotes surrounding this man and his accomplishment. My favorite is the one where his brother recounts how he once asked Don, doesn’t he ever get tired of eating the same thing over and over again? Don reportedly replied, “Sometimes I eat them upside down.” Turning the burger over 180 degrees is enough to rearrange the order in which the flavors enter his mouth. Here are some other fun facts about this story: [More]
Man To Eat His 25,000th Big Mac Today
By 5.17.11
At 4pm Eastern, Don Gorske, 57, will have eaten his 25,000th Big Mac, reports Wisinfo. He has timed the event to coincide with the exact anniversary, down to the hour, of the very first time he ate, and fell in love with, Big Macs 39 years ago. Despite daily doses of Big Macs consisting of “90% of his solid food intake,” Gorske is not obese and he runs in races. How is this possible? [More]
Snake Oil In The Grocery Aisle
By 5.16.11
One of the biggest trends in food marketing are so-called “functional foods.” These days it’s not enough that food imparts nutrition and makes you not hungry, it has to perform jumping jacks. Yogurt for your digestive system, milk for your brain, and crisped rice cereal for your immune system. Food packagers don’t outright say that they cure or prevent disease, they can get away with using words like “supports” and “promotes” to make their claims, as long as there’s a little bit of believable science to back it up. But are they really about health, or hype? NYT investigates. [More]
Make Your Own Veggie Chips At Home
By 5.16.11
Veggie chips are a healthy and tasty alternative to potato crisps but they can be kinda pricey. Not to mention that the ones in the stores are often deep-fried and might not be any better for you than popping open a bag of regular potato chips. But if you make your own veggie chips at home you can have better control over the ingredients and preparation, save some money, and have fun doing it! Chow has got some great recipes for carrot chips, sweet potato crisps and even kale chips. Of course, for an even lower-cal version, it’s hard to beat flavored paper chips… [More]
SNL Spoofs Smarmy Corn Syrup Ads
By 5.16.11
SNL this week parodied those ridiculous and condescending “truth about corn syrup” ads the industry put out last year. You know, the ones where a person tells another person, “oh, that’s corn syrup, you know what that’s about” and then is unable to back up the claim with any data. They then promptly crumble under the other person’s withering logic and stream of facts about how corn syrup is awesome. [More]
There's A New Kind Of Oreo, And It's Coming For Your Face
By 5.13.11
Hear that? That was another one of the seven seals breaking. Nabisco is set to unleash a brand new kind of Oreo this summer, the “Triple Double Oreo.” [More]
Fight Sweat Stains
By 5.11.11
As the temps turn up, so do the faucets located in your armpits. This can lead to unsightly and embarrassing sweat stains that can ruin your life, or so I’ve been led to believe by those Sure commercials. So how do you ward off and fight the sweat stains? [More]
