Oh Great: Cookie Dough May Now Be Contaminated With E. Coli

As serious as it is, the amount of food contamination issues hitting this country is getting to be laughable. First spinach, then peanut butter, and now cookie dough. Great. The important health warning from the FDA …

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I know that healthy eating is our thing here on Vitamin G, but when I asked you if you ever ate raw cookie dough, you answered overwhelmingly: yes! Over eighty percent of you, in fact.

So my dear cookie-dough eaters, you better toss any packages of Nestle Toll House prepackaged, refrigerated cookie dough, warns the FDA in an announcement today. The product has been recalled by Nestle and may be contaminated with E. coli. Since March, 66 people have gotten ill from the cookie dough in 28 states. Twenty-five people were hospitalized; 7 with a severe complication called Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome. No one has died.

What if you don’t eat the dough, but just bake the cookies? The FDA still advises that you toss it. While baking is likely to destroy the E. coli bacteria, you could contaminate your hands and kitchen surfaces, which could make you sick.

Do you happen to have an Nestle cookie dough in your fridge right now? Or any other variety?

Oh No–My Clothes Are Getting Tight! How Do You Deal With A Weight-Loss Slip?

Those of you who’ve kept up with my weight-loss journey (I was the Body By Glamour blogger for over a year, starting in January 2008) followed my ups and downs as I worked to deal with the weight I was simply desperate to lose.

In the end, I had more ups than downs and lost about 75 pounds. Once I did, I was able to maintain that weight loss for about a year. Lately, however, I’ve noticed a return to some of the bad habits that brought me to my top weight: My priorities have shifted again, and somehow, I seem to have put myself near the bottom of a list I of things I need to take care of. I’m working too late, not sleeping enough, half-assing my workouts, eating frozen yogurt all the time (even though I know that eating sugar only triggers me to want more sugar)–and worst of all, because I don’t feel good about my body lately, I see myself starting to isolate from people again too. I’m just plain embarrassed. And so uncomfortable in my clothes. (Seriously, if I could sit at my desk with my skirt unzipped today, I would!)

Of course, I’m not surprised that all of these aspects of self-care have started to fall apart together: I totally believe in string theory–pull on one thread and it all unravels. Which means I also believe that taking one right action can have a domino effect. In the article I wrote for Glamour, I talked a lot about how, in the beginning, before I decided to change what I was eating, the only thing I changed about my lifestyle was that I started to exercise. This had huge ripple effects on the rest of my life: I started to feel better about my body, so I wanted to make better food choices, and eventually got to bed earlier so I could get up–and really push myself–at the gym the next morning.

Morning Walks For Leading a Healthy Life

Hey, all you late risers, wake up, look outside, it is a beautiful new day. The sun is bright and the leaves and flowers are looking fresh. Get up and go out and take a walk in any park near your home. If you do not want to exert too much, take a gentle stroll through the park. If you are feeling a little more energetic, why not try a slightly brisk walk.

The health benefits of a morning walk are so many that it is surprising that everyone does not indulge in one. Your body is relaxed and much more responsive to external stimulants than at any other time of the day. It is able to exert much more at this time than at any other time of the day. Hence you are likely to burn more calories now than at any other time with the same amount of effort.

But much more than this is the beneficial effect on your mind. The air is clean, since the pollution levels around the city are at their lowest at this point. Your body breathes in more oxygen and there is a certain level of detoxification that happens now. There are fewer sounds around you, and you can hear the chirping of the birds and the occasional rustling of the leaves. Research has proved that nature’s sounds help to relax the mind and de-stress the body.

So what are you waiting for? Get up, wear a nice pair of walking shoes and just step out on the road to the park or the garden. You will love it.

Oh Great: The FDA Warns That BPA Could Be a Health Threat–Now What?

Health watchdogs have long worried about the chemical BPA (which is basically EVERYWHERE, gals) and how it could impact our health in negative ways. But now, after a long silence on the matter, the FDA has gotten on board, warning that BPA may actually be a health threat after all. So, what’s a health-conscious gal to do? Here’s my interpretation of this concerning news …

I’ve written about BPA here in the past (Bisphenol A, commonly known as BPA)–first about water bottles, then about canned foods. Truth is, I’ve been suspicious of this chemical for a long time. So it’s not exactly surprising to hear, via a CBS News report, that the FDA is now acknowledging that BPA could be bad for us–most notably bad for pregnant women, babies and kids.

According to the report: “The FDA announced, on the basis of new studies that can test for ‘subtle effects’ that, while BPA is still considered safe, it now has ‘some concern’ about the potential effects of the chemical–especially on the ‘brain behavior and prostate glands in fetuses, infants and young children.’

Let me see if I got that right: So it’s “safe” but it could also mess up your kids’ health? Thanks FDA!

How convinced are (non-radical) scientists that BPA is a health threat? “I and other colleagues of mine at an NIH (National Institutes of Health) meeting said, with a very high level of confidence, we think Bisphenol A is a threat to human health,” said Fred Vom Saal, a professor at The University of Missouri, to CBS.

So, what are we supposed to do? First, don’t freak. Seriously, BPA is EVERYWHERE–even in receipts and some recycled pizza boxes. You have it in your bloodstream right now. We all do. But, here’s what you can do to limit your exposure:

Monitor Your Sleeping Hours

Sleep is such an important part of our lives that we spend approximately 1/3rd of our lives sleeping. It is an integral part of our existence, and it is only when we are unable to sleep well, or do not get enough time to sleep, that we realize how much of our well-being depends on it.

Sleep deprivation has been tabulated as being the cause of many accidents. If you are deprived of sleep, you will be tired and drowsy, your reactions will have slowed down and you will be highly stressed out. This will lead to an inability to cope with daily stresses and strains and to an overall feeling of tiredness.

In order to avoid situations like these it is important that you monitor the amount of sleep you are getting. On an average most of us get about 6.5 hours of sleep every day. The recommended amount is 8 to 8.5 hours for an adult.

For your general well being and in order to lead a healthy life, it is essential that you regulate your sleep hours. The body is a slave to routine; it likes to wake up at a certain hour and go to sleep at a certain time. For the sake of your body, it is important that you try and adhere to a consistent timing; do not think that if you miss some sleep today you can make up for it later. That is not likely to happen.

Once you settle into some kind of regulated sleep routines, you will realise how much better you feel, and how you will wake up feeling refreshed and ready to face the world.

Living A Healthy Lifestyle

Do you want to live a long life? Do you want to continue to feel healthy as you grow older each day? “Living healthy” means more than keeping away from junk food. It means taking the initiative to say “I care enough for my self and my family that I am going to make sure I am there for them”.

Living a healthy life means you are making choices daily that effect your health in positive ways.

EAT HEALTHY

Eating is one the most-loved experiences of human existence. We live to eat and eat to live. But watching what you put in your body is important. Eating healthy is easier when you plan your meals and chose the right food groups. Don’t avoid the vegetables! They are an important part of keeping you healthy. If you need help planning healthy meals, you can find plenty of healthy recipes on many different websites.

MANAGE YOUR WEIGHT

Be in control of your weight. Make conscious decisions on whether to lose or gain weight. It’s not healthy to look like a twig, but being just 20 pounds overweight places your body in a position where it asks you to shed those pounds. If your body could talk, it would explain that you need to choose how much you will weigh and for that choice to be healthy.

MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!

Get up and move! Get off the couch, away from the computer, game console or any other electronic “toys” that hold your attention… and GET ACTIVE. But… it’s not enough to move… you need to exercise daily: take walks, run, jog, bicycle, etc. Exercise is often easier to do when you have a friend willing to do it with you… even if that only means taking a daily walk together.

Love Yourself, The First Step to Improving Yourself

What do you think of yourself?

Are you a good person? Do you feel inferior or do you suffer from low self esteem? Do you feel that there is a lot you can improve in yourself?

There is always something that we can do to improve ourselves. But before we do that, let us begin to understand our good points. Let us realize that we are fine human beings and we do not need to underestimate our own good points.

The first step towards improving yourself is to do a realistic appraisal of yourself. If you are honest, you will realise that you are a valuable being, you are worthy of love and before anyone else loves you, you have to love yourself.

Now, look at the areas that could be revamped a little bit. Do not think negatively, think positive. OK, I need to improve my physical appearance slightly – that is the easy part.

I need to be less critical – that is also not difficult. If you are positive about yourself, you will feel positively towards others also.

I need to have a little more self-confidence – well once you love yourself, this comes automatically.

These are but a few simplistic processes – but they only follow the first step – Love yourself.