Too Much Winter

If you are anything like me, you are getting pretty sick and tired of all this snow and cold weather. This week in my area we're getting warm- I swear it's gonna be a heatwave with temps in the 50's and 60's! Summer here we come! Okay not quite yet, but you get my point. Let's think warmth! I was going through my inbox and found an issue of Healthy Living that focuses on dumping the junk. I'm gonna help you feel the warmth with this article on spring cleaning. Maybe if we get a head start we'll start getting warm weather? Hey it's a thought.

What is clutter? It's anything you own but no longer use, need, or love. It's everything from unread magazines to clothes that don't fit anymore to gifts you received but feel guilty about throwing out. And most of our homes are filled with this stuff!

Here are some simple steps to help you banish the clutter in your life:

1. Ask yourself, "Do I really need this [fill in the blank]?"
Do I use it/read it/wear it/listen to it? Will I ever use it again?" If the answers to these questions are no, it's clutter.

Put it in a box.

You can donate the items you dispose of to charity, give them away, recycle them, or sell them. Just as long as you get them out of your home as soon as possible — otherwise they'll end up back where they were.

Go step-by-step.

You can't declutter your entire home in a weekend. Start off small — your desk or underwear drawer, for example — and go on from there. Build your momentum with smaller jobs before you tackle the garage, basement, or attic.

Cut yourself some slack.

If your heart breaks at the thought of losing something, keep it. But if it's a sweater that you detest, why not lighten your load and get rid of it?

2. Tackle one "clearing clutter" project.
Choose an area of your home that needs it — the junk drawer in your kitchen, or your linen closet — and give yourself 30 minutes to do as much as you can. You'll be amazed at how much progress you can make in a short time.

For more tips, click here.

Why are food allergies on the rise?

By Elizabeth Landau, CNN

August 3, 2010 1:39 p.m. EDT

 

 

Ethan Wily, center, is allergic to certain nuts. His parents, Preston and Jen, are concerned about their next child.

 

(CNN) -- Two-year-old Ethan Wily had a cold recently, so at first it wasn't surprising that he started coughing last week after eating some pistachio gelato.

But he started coughing up mucus, and then gasping for air. His parents gave him an antihistamine, but it didn't stop the reaction. By the time the boy's parents brought him to their local hospital, he could barely breathe.

"His face was really swollen. He looked like an alien," said Ethan's father, Preston Wily of Lehi, Utah. "We didn't have any idea an allergy could be so bad."

He said the child had shown only a somewhat mild reaction to peanuts before this.

It seems like more and more children in the U.S. are developing food allergies, and there's data to back that up. The number of kids with food allergies went up 18 percent from 1997 to 2007, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 3 million children younger than 18 had a food or digestive allergy in 2007, the CDC said.

Scientists are still trying to figure out why food allergies seem to be on the rise, especially in industrialized countries such as the United States. Are children not getting exposed to enough bacteria? Should they eat common allergens such as nuts and shellfish at an earlier age?

Video: Guarding against food allergies

A recent study in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology found that visits to the emergency room at Children's Hospital Boston for allergic reactions more than doubled from 2001 to 2006. Although this is just one hospital, the findings reflect a rise in food allergies seen in national reports, said Dr. Susan Rudders, lead author and pediatric allergist-immunologist in Providence, Rhode Island.

Researchers took a look at thousands of cases in the emergency department. They did not rely on the diagnosis given at that time, but made their own determination about whether an allergic reaction had occurred based on symptoms such as hives. That means the rise in reactions probably did not have to do with an increased awareness among doctors, Rudders said.

This also suggests that previous reported numbers of allergy-related hospital visits are underestimates, Rudders said. For all adults and children in the U.S., there are 30,000 ER visits because of food allergies each year. But that is based on a report that is about 10 years old, and this figure is likely higher now, Rudders said.

Doctors in other parts of the country have also noticed an increase in children coming in with severe food allergies. Dr. Ronald Ferdman at the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles said his hospital has seen a rise of these cases, based on anecdotal evidence.

Dr. Joseph Zorc at the Children's Hospital at Philadelphia cautioned that there may have been situational factors that influenced the Boston hospital's experience -- for example, if another hospital in the area stopped taking cases, resulting in more people at Children's Hospital Boston. But he agreed that food allergies are causing more significant reactions in U.S. emergency departments in general.

One theory is that the Western diet has made people more susceptible to developing allergies and other illnesses.

A study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences compared the gut bacteria from 15 children in Florence, Italy, with gut bacteria in 14 children in a rural African village in Burkina Faso. They found that the variety of flora in these two groups was substantially different.

The children in the African village live in a community that produces its own food. The study authors say this is closer to how humans ate 10,000 years ago. Their diet is mostly vegetarian. By contrast, the local diet of European children contains more sugar, animal fat and calorie-dense foods. The study authors posit that these factors result in less biodiversity in the organisms found inside the gut of European children.

The decrease in richness of gut bacteria in Westerners may have something to do with the rise in allergies in industrialized countries, said Dr. Paolo Lionetti of the department of pediatrics at Meyer Children Hospital at the University of Florence. Sanitation measures and vaccines in the West may have controlled infectious disease, but they decreased exposure to a variety of bacteria may have opened the door to these other ailments.

"In a place where you can die [from] infectious diseases, but you don't get allergy, obesity, asthma, inflammatory bowel disease, autoimmune disease, the flora is different," Lionetti said.

This study only looked at a small number of children, but the findings support the widespread notion of the "hygiene hypothesis" -- the idea that cases of allergies are increasing in number and severity because children grow up in environments that are simply too clean.

"That our immune system is skewed away from fighting infections, and toward fight things that it's not supposed to be fighting, like things in the environment or foods -- that's one thing that people think may be in play," Rudders said.

Still, this is only speculation.

Another theory is that children need to get exposed to common allergens, such as nuts and shellfish, from a much earlier age, to avoid developing allergies. Some doctors have been recommending waiting until 2 or 3, but Ferdman at Children's Hospital Los Angeles is a proponent of giving kids nuts very early.

An oft-cited 2008 study in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology compared peanut allergies among Jewish children living in Israel and the United Kingdom. Peanut allergies were more common among the children in the U.K. than in Israel. This was associated with the fact that 69 percent of the Israeli children received peanuts by 9 months of age, compared with 10 percent of the infants in the U.K.

This pitfall, however, is that it was not a controlled experiment, and other factors may have influenced the allergies. More research needs to be done to support giving peanuts and other common allergens to infants. But according to Ferdman, more doctors are questioning recommendations to delay these foods.

These issues about when to introduce allergens are crucial for Preston Wily and his wife, Jen, who are expecting a second child next month. The parents are planning to wait on introducing nuts until their daughter is old enough to get tested for allergens, Preston said.
But hearing about recent research does make the father wonder whether delaying nuts could have influenced Ethan's allergies.

The boy isn't the only one in his peer group with allergies. Ethan goes to a nursery program at church where there's a wall of children's photos with each kid's personal list of food allergies. The teacher has been trained in how to use an epinephrine auto-injector in case of emergency.

Ethan's father knows now to administer an epinephrine injection as soon as the child begins to have a sign of anaphylaxis.

"There are a lot of kids here with allergies -- everywhere. It just seems more common now than when I was little," Wily said.

Beat The Heat This Summer

Recipe: Make Your Own Popsicles

                                                                 

As a kid, summertime consisted of the beach, riding bikes, catching fireflies, and eating popsicles. As long as you have popsicle sticks, and a freezer, making your own popsicles is pretty simple. I found some recipes to appeal to any type taste, including fruity, coffee, or even chocolate based flavors. You can also find popsicle molds at most places like Target, or Walmart. Basically you just whip up one of these mixtures spoon into the mold. 
*If you don't have a mold, you can make a thicker mixture, place wax paper on a plate or tray lay out the sticks and spoon mixture onto the stick. Lay flat and let freeze.
Now eat up and enjoy your very own homemade popsicles! *They taste so much better than store bought ones too.
Fruit-Based Popsicles Piña Colada: Puree pineapple chunks with coconut milk, sugar to taste, a little nutmeg, cinnamon and vanilla.

Blueberry: Puree blueberries with just enough water to make the mixture pourable, a little pepper, ground allspice and sugar to taste.

Peanut Butter-Banana: Puree bananas with a couple of tablespoons of peanut butter, milk and a little vanilla.

Peaches and Cream: Puree peeled fresh or canned peaches along with sugar to taste, some water, a little half-and-half, a pinch of salt and a touch of lemon juice.

Watermelon-Chocolate Chip: Puree several cups of watermelon. Fold in mini chocolate chips and spoon into popsicles molds.

Creamy Banana: Puree bananas with a splash of lime juice and enough milk to make it thick but pourable. Add a little chopped banana for texture and add sugar to taste.

Cranberry-Orange: Puree canned cranberry sauce with enough orange juice to thin mixture to a thick pouring consistency. Add sugar and ground ginger to taste.

Tamarind: Combine about 2 cups of tamarind pulp (with pits) with 4 cups of water and simmer until the pulp has separated from the pits and the mixture is flavorful. Add sugar to taste and push through a sieve; discard pits.

Strawberry-Raspberry Yogurt: Puree strawberries with seedless raspberry jam until smooth. Add plain low-fat yogurt, vanilla, and sugar to taste and whirl until combined.

Mango-Chile: Puree fresh mango with a little lime juice, a touch of chipotle chile powder and a pinch of salt.

Pineapple: Puree chunks of pineapple (fresh or canned) with pineapple juice, a little grated fresh ginger, lime juice, and sugar to taste.

Sour Cherry Crisp: Puree a couple of cups of pitted fresh or canned sour cherries with light brown sugar to taste, a few tablespoons of toasted oats (toasted in a 350 degree F oven for 10 minutes), a little ground allspice, a touch of ground cloves, and a teaspoon of vanilla extract and enough orange juice to thin.
Juice-Based Popsicles Grapefruit-Grenadine: Combine pink grapefruit juice with honey to taste, and grenadine to give a nice blush.

Orange Julius: Combine orange juice, just enough half-and-half to make it creamy, vanilla, and sugar to taste.

Spiced Carrot Cake: Gently heat carrot juice and add sugar to taste, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Stir in some ground ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, and a pinch of salt.

Key Lime Pie: Combine sweetened condensed milk, a little grated lime zest, lime juice, and a little vanilla extract.

Lemonade: Prepare your favorite lemonade making it extra strong; pour into popsicle molds and freeze.

Pomegranate Sangria: Stir together pomegranate juice, orange juice and a little lime juice. Add sugar if needed.
Coffee And Chocolate Popsicles Mocha: Prepare hot cocoa using 2 heaping teaspoons of unsweetened cocoa powder and 2 tablespoons semisweet chocolate to 1 cup of hot coffee; sweeten to taste with brown sugar. Add a splash of milk and freeze.

Chocolate Malt: Melt a 1/2 cup of semisweet chocolate in a cup of milk. Add a tablespoon or two of malted milk powder and freeze.
Adventurous Popsicles Cucumber-Mint: Combine 3 cups of peeled and seeded cucumber, 1/2 cup sugar, 3 to 4 tablespoons of lime juice and 2/3 cup fresh mint leaves and puree. Push through a strainer and freeze.

Margarita: Combine lime juice, tequila, agave nectar to taste and a little orange juice.

Hibiscus: Steep several red zinger tea bags in boiling water until flavorful. Add sugar to taste, stirring until dissolved.

Lemon-Lavender Buttermilk: Make a sugar syrup of 1/3 cup sugar, 3 tablespoons water and 1/4 teaspoon lavender; heat just until sugar has melted. Let steep until cold. Strain and stir in 3 tablespoons lemon juice and 1 cup buttermilk.

Toasted Coconut: Gently warm coconut milk, add lemon, orange, and lime zest, cover and steep until cool. Meanwhile in a 350 degree F oven toast angel flake coconut until golden brown. Strain and remove zest from coconut milk, then stir in toasted coconut and sugar to taste.

Rice Pudding: Puree some cooked white rice with sweetened rice milk. Add a little cinnamon and nutmeg, pour into popsicle molds and freeze.

Thanksgiving Pops: Place a can of pumpkin puree in a blender along with light brown sugar to taste, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger, a touch of cloves and enough milk to make a pourable mixture,

Vanilla-Caramel Pops: Combine 2/3 cup sugar and 1 tablespoon lemon juice in a skillet and cook over low heat until sugar has caramelized. Off heat add 2 cups milk (be careful, it will sputter). Return to heat and stir until sugar has melted. Stir in 2 teaspoons vanilla extract and freeze.

Butter-Pecan: Saute 3/4 cup of chopped pecans in 3 tablespoons butter until golden brown and fragrant. Add a couple of cups of milk and light brown sugar to taste and heat just until warm. Cover and let sit 30 minutes. Push through a strainer, stir in a teaspoon of vanilla extract and freeze.

Gingerale: Thinly slice enough fresh ginger to get 2 cups (no need to peel). Cook in 4 cups of water until nice and spicy. Add sugar to taste, and bring to a boil. Strain and freeze.

The Perfect Popsicle Maker?

 

I found this bad boy, the Quick Pop Maker

 

on Zoku.

For $50, it makes popsicles in as little as seven minutes, without using electricity. You can make six regular pops, striped pops, yogurt pops and more. You can take it anywhere and use it at anytime--delicious and way cool.

Would you pay $50 for a popsicle maker?