Author: HealthyWay Staff Writer

8 Gross Everyday Habits You Have to Stop Doing In Public

Post author By HealthyWay Staff Writer
Post date May 5, 2017

Generally, we’re not afraid of germs.

However, when we’re out in public, we can’t help but notice people with disgusting habits—habits that could easily make them (and other people!) sick, given the right set of circumstances.

Habits are hard to break, but some clearly warrant making the effort to quit. We’re talking about stuff like..

1. Trimming Your Nails

You’re waiting for your train stop, and you’ve got a few spare seconds. You pull out some clippers and try to discreetly trim your fingernails. What’s the harm?

Well, our fingernails are pretty disgusting. The nail’s basically holding in hordes of germs. One 1988 study described the space right under the fingernails as an “important site” for harboring bacteria, so if you’re cutting far enough, you might actually be releasing infectious agents in the world.

Oh, and your clippings are going everywhere. Nobody wants to get hit by flying bits of disease-ridden keratin.

While we’re at it, don’t bite your nails, either. That’s basically injecting your mouth with a big dose of bacteria.

2. Painting Your Nails

Okay, well, you won’t trim your nails; you’ll just paint them.

Obviously, that’s more obnoxious to the people around you. Nail polish fumes probably aren’t great for the human body; the New York Times reports that “of the 20 common nail product ingredients listed as causing health problems in the appendix of a safety brochure put out by the Environmental Protection Agency, 17 are hazardous to the respiratory tract, according to the agency.”

The same report notes that overexposure can cause “burning throat or lungs,” along with “labored breathing.” Granted, that’s mainly an issue for health care workers, but even limited exposure to nail polish fumes can be dangerous for people with respiratory conditions.

Some of the chemicals in nail polish can also leach into your body, according to HuffPost, so that’s another reason to avoid certain polishes. A 2015 study found that one of the chemicals commonly found in nail polishes can affect hormones in zebra fish—so if you’re a zebra fish, you definitely want to avoid nail polish.

3. Eating While You’re at Your Desk

Here’s the main issue with eating at your desk: You’ll probably touch your keyboard in between bites. Your keyboard is pretty disgusting.

One study found that computer keyboards contained more bacteria than an average toilet seat. Although we’re not sure how the researchers chose an “average” toilet seat, the results were pretty alarming. Toilets contained about 5,400 bacteria per swab, whereas keyboards contained around 7,500 per swab.

And some of the bacteria on the keyboards were of species commonly found in the human digestive tract, including E. coli. Go ahead and ponder that for a minute before taking the next bite of your sandwich.

Of course, you can clean your keyboard by lightly swabbing it with isopropyl alcohol, and you can use compressed air to clean between the keys. Let’s be honest, though, you’re not going to do any of that. Instead, don’t eat in front of your computer—unless you’re pairing your meal with a nice course of antibiotics.

4. Making, Ahem, “Adjustments”

You think that nobody’s watching, so you quickly adjust your underwear. Hey, it needed to be done.

That’s fine, provided that you didn’t make a big deal of it—but make sure you wash your hands. Your underwear are relatively filthy, since they’re in frequent contact with sweatier parts of your body, and that sweat tends to feed bacteria on your epidermis. Hey, science can be disgusting sometimes.

Of course, your outerwear might also harbor bacteria. One study found that typical laundry temperatures aren’t sufficient to kill E. coli, staphylococcus, and other potentially dangerous bacteria.

“If you wash a load of just underwear, there will be about 100 million E. coli in the wash water, and they can be transmitted to the next load of laundry,” said Charles Gerba, professor of microbiology at the University of Arizona.

Detergents don’t really help, either, but bleach (or very hot water) can help to sanitize your laundry.

5. Brushing Your Hair

Your hair can be home to staph bacteria, although the minute amounts on a typical strand of hair won’t be enough to pose a serious health risk. The more important reason to avoid brushing your hair in public: It’s rude. You’ll end up showering nearby strangers with loose hair and dandruff, and even if you think that your hair is gorgeous, it’s not so alluring to strangers who are sitting behind you on the subway.

Guys, you’re guilty of this, too; fiddling with your beard is somewhat gross, as beards are covered in bacteria. One study from a local news station showed that some beards contain more bacteria than the average toilet, although again, we’re confused as to where this “average” toilet concept came from. In any case, fiddling with your beard is bad form, especially if you’re in a conversation with someone.

But even though loose hair can be disgusting, it’s worth noting that many of us eat a bit every day. Some food manufacturers boil hair in hydrochloric acid in order to extract L-cysteine, a common food additive used in bread-making.

6. Putting Your Purse or Bag on the Dinner Table

You arrive for a lunch date and put your purse on the table. That’s a major faux pas, since your purse (or handbag) probably rested on the ground several times on the way to the restaurant.

In a study helpfully titled “A study to investigate the importance of purses as fomites,” Susheela D. Biranjia-Hurdoyal and colleagues noted that “Purses hardly get washed and are discarded, mostly, when they are no longer usable.” As the title suggests, the study aimed to determine whether bags act as fomites—carriers of infectious organisms.

Go ahead and guess the results.

“Purses from both men and women are potential vectors for transmission of diseases across the community,” the study writes. “The use of synthetic purses should be discouraged, as they contribute to increased bacterial colonization.”

The study noted that 95.2 percent of purses were “contaminated.” (Shudder.) By the way, the study also notes that men’s purses seem to have higher rates of bacterial growth than women’s purses, so make of that what you will.

7. Sneezing Into Your Hands.

This is an especially common and disgusting habit, and the implications are pretty obvious.

You probably know that your body sneezes to get rid of germs. A typical sneeze travels at 100 miles per hour—fast enough to spread germs through a small space in a fraction of a second. Your sneezes contain relatively high viral and bacterial loads, so they’re potentially dangerous if you’ve been sick. If you’re going to sneeze, you’ve got to cover your mouth with something, or you’ll risk infecting the people around you.

But whatever you do, don’t use your hands. Public health officials recommend against this practice—you’re supposed to sneeze into your arm—but many adults don’t seem to know that.

Former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius even called out a reporter for sneezing the wrong way in 2009, offering the reporter an Elmo video that taught the proper method. Ouch.

8. Using Hand Sanitizer

Okay, we’ve basically concluded that everything in your life is covered with a fine layer of germs. Better stock up on the hand sanitizer, right?

Nope. Germs are everywhere, which is exactly why you shouldn’t freak out about them. Although there’s some chance that you’ll get E. coli from your keyboard or a staph infection from your beard hair, either scenario is unlikely.

And hand sanitizer certainly isn’t the answer. One recent study from the University of Missouri showed that hand sanitizers may increase absorption of bisphenol A (BPA), a harmful chemical. Several studies have also shown that hand sanitizers can be too effective, killing off the majority of bacteria but leaving super-strong germs free to propagate.

Ultimately, you should avoid the behaviors on this list to be polite to the people around you, but you shouldn’t really worry about the latest viral story (pun intended) about how “everyday objects are as dirty as toilets.” Germs are everywhere—get used to them.

Tags 50022301, care, hemingway

Wellbeing

8 Dark Secrets Nobody Told You About Food At The Supermarket

Post author By HealthyWay Staff Writer
Post date April 27, 2017

When you visit the supermarket, you’re in a comfortable place.
That’s by design. Grocery stores carefully control the experience by mapping out their aisles, playing serene music, and even pumping in scented air. The goal, plain and simple, is to keep you shopping.

We can’t blame them—every company has its secrets—but some of them are pretty surprising. Read on to learn more about bananas engineered to be a specific shade of yellow, “meat glue,” and all the other wily ways supermarkets and food manufacturers bend reality.

1. When it comes to shopping carts, bigger is better (for supermarkets).

Have you ever realized that you always fill up your shopping cart? Well, supermarkets have taken note.
The Consumerist reports that shopping cart sizes have grown dramatically over the past few decades, and for good reason: When carts doubled in size, consumers purchased 40 percent more, according to marketing consultant Martin Lindstrom.

“No problem,” you’re saying to yourself, “I’ll just grab a basket instead of a cart.”
Not so fast. Some researchers hypothesize that you’ll be more impulsive if you use a basket. Why? They suggest that since you’ll be flexing your arm muscles, you’ll feel healthier and you’ll be more likely to buy unhealthy items as a result. (In other words, humans are really innovative at justifying their own pleasure-seeking behaviors.)

However, Luk Warlop, professor of the Department of Marketing at BI Norwegian Business School, isn’t convinced.
“Compare a shopping cart with a much smaller shopping basket,” Warlop tells HealthyWay. “Suppose you go into the store for only a few things that would fit in the basket (but it would be quite full). If the basket is filling up while you tour the store, you might use it as a signal that you have bought enough. That signal is absent (or comes after many more purchases) when you use the shopping cart.”

So, can a cart make someone spend more, or are baskets the true threat?
“Both might be true for different subgroups of customers,” Warlop says.

2. They might change expiration dates.

What’s more…it’s not really a big deal, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). To all of the expiration date–obsessed shoppers out there: Don’t be lulled into a false state of comfort by the label, friends.

The powers that be are powerless to stop stores from selling food past its “best by” date, and some supermarkets simply change the listed dates. (Before you start chucking all your recent buys, you should know that, in many cases, that’s completely safe, since those original “best by” dates weren’t so accurate to begin with. Kind of makes you wonder who’s steering that ship, though.)
As the FDA writes on its website: “With the exception of infant formula, the laws that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) administers do not preclude the sale of food that is past the expiration date indicated on the label. FDA does not require food firms to place ‘expired by’, ‘use by’ or ‘best before’ dates on food products. This information is entirely at the discretion of the manufacturer.”

However, the store does need to remove a food item if it’s potentially dangerous, so spoiled products shouldn’t make their way in your cart. If they do, you can always get a refund. Alternatively, you can simply avoid many of these products by checking for overlapping labels. And, of course, always rely on your senses: if something smells or tastes foul, don’t risk it.

3. The butchers might glue meat together.

Many supermarkets use a substance called transglutaminase to bind pieces of meat together, essentially creating large steaks with smaller chunks of beef. The substance is sometimes called “meat glue,” which, in addition to being a great band name, is a fairly unappetizing combination of words.
Naturally, some consumers were outraged to learn that their $5 sirloins were Frankenmeats, but in many parts of the country, supermarkets aren’t legally obligated to label their glued meat products.

Unfortunately, it’s very difficult to identify glued meat, as it looks just like normal meat with marbling. You might not even taste the difference. In fact, you might have had eaten pounds of the stuff, and until labeling laws change, you can expect to eat quite a bit more.
As unsettling as the notion of cobbled-together ribeye sounds, food and agriculture correspondent for Mother Jones, Tom Philpott, pointed out that perhaps there are meat industry happenings more concerning than an enzyme that’s naturally found in blood being used to bind proteins together. Like, for example, livestock being fed…themselves?
“Every year, dairy and beef cows are fed around 2 billion pounds of chicken litter—chicken [poop] dead chickens, and leftover feeds, which contains cow protein,” Philpott wrote. “Cows being fed chicken [poop] is deeply gross; cows eating cow protein is downright scary.”
We have to agree.

4. Even the yellow of your banana was engineered to pull you in.

As National Geographic noted, supermarkets pay big money to study the psychology of shoppers. High-end supermarkets know how to carefully frame their fruits and vegetables in the perfect amount of light to attract interest; they understand that when customers walk through the produce section first, they’re more likely to make impulse purchases later.

That’s why every supermarket guides you through the fresh produce before dropping you off at the cookie aisle.
Essentially, supermarkets are planned to persuade you to make those impulse purchases. A classic example is the banana.
At some point, marketing analyses revealed that customers preferred bananas of the 12-0752 shade (the numerals correspond to the Pantone color scale) over the brighter 13-0858. Banana farmers responded quickly, growing their crops under conditions that would produce the 12-0752.

There was no taste difference, of course, but soon every supermarket was overflowing with the 12-0752.

5. The entire layout of a grocery store is designed to make you spend more money

Even if you know what you need before you go to the store, and even if you only go down one aisle, you are still going to walk past a plethora of tempting items that you can’t help but add to your basket.
As our video below details, grocery stores tailor their layouts specifically to ensure you buy more than you intended—and it works.
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6. Once you make it to the cookie aisle, all bets are off.

So, let’s say that supermarket psychologists succeed in delivering you to the Isle of Delicious Temptations—because, honestly, once you find yourself there, isn’t it kind of like everything else disappears except you and those temptations?—you’re on your own, my guy, like Jesus in the desert.
The flesh is weak. Food manufacturers know this, and that’s why they’ve invested so much in creating the sultriest foods imaginable: We’re talking scientifically-engineered-to-get-you-hooked combos of luscious fat, salt, and sugar.
The ideal levels of certain essential tasty features in a product maximize consumer cravings, and this is known in the food industry as the “bliss point.” These hyper-palatable items keep us coming back for more.
“Regardless of the terminology we use to describe the effects of these stimuli on our brains, the point is that food—and especially food that is layered and loaded with sugar, fat, and salt—holds great sway over us,” wrote Dr. David A. Kessler in his book The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite. “This is simply how we are wired to respond.”

7. About that water that sprays on the “fresh” produce…

Well, in some cases. Some greens do require frequent misting. However, many fruits and vegetables don’t require additional hydration when they get to the store. So…why waste the water?

Well, the water gives the produce a nice shine. The misting also helps to build the case that the food is fresh, even when it’s not. Many produce items are stored in climate-controlled rooms, where the oxygen is sucked out to stop the spoiling process, produce industry blogger Lori Taylor told HuffPost. Some fruits are six months old by the time they hit the shelves (they taste fine, though).

Back to the mist: That’s just normal water, not special disinfectant water. By the time you choose your fruits and vegetables, a bunch of other people have walked by the same display—and some of them probably picked up your apples and oranges before deciding on a different purchase. That means that produce is pretty filthy, so you should always wash it before eating.

8. Fish are often mislabeled.

You can’t sell chicken and call it pork, but you can certainly sell certain types of seafood as other types of seafood.

Oceana, an ocean conservation advocacy group, released a report with an analysis of 25,000 seafood samples purchased from various locations worldwide. The report showed an average “seafood fraud” rate of 30 percent. More disturbingly, 58 percent of those fraudulent samples were from fish species that could potentially cause health risks for people with certain allergies.

The advocacy group is hoping to prompt the United States government to exercise tighter control over seafood sales, because right now it’s something of a free for all. In the European Union, strong regulations have dramatically reduced fish fraud over the past several years.
“Some grocers provide traceable fish, and if people ask, hopefully managers will learn people want to know where their seafood comes from,” said Kimberly Warner, report author and senior scientist at Oceana.

9. Supermarkets can fail inspections without getting shut down—and that’s gross.

Like restaurants, grocers face regular health inspections. They can lose points for operating unclean stores, especially if inspectors find mice, insects, or other pests contaminating the stock. You might reasonably assume that a failed inspection means a total shutdown for the offending grocer.

Here’s what happens if a supermarket fails an inspection: pretty much nothing. Fox 29 found one grocery store in Florida that had failed three separate inspections but remained open. CBS 42 in Atlanta found a butcher that failed its inspection but remained open (the store was eventually re-tested and received a passing grade).
Why? Well, inspectors are more concerned with restaurants, and in many jurisdictions, they simply don’t have the power to shut down massive grocery stores. You can typically find the inspection reports for your local supermarket, but depending on where you live, this might be a difficult process.

So choose your supermarket wisely. And, once you’re inside, remember that there is a way to beat the system: Make a list. A 2015 study found that people who make shopping lists are much more likely to make healthy choices, because they’re thinking through their purchases at home—without the temptation of supermarket staging, end caps, flexed arm muscles, and all of that other stuff.

Tags 50021266, balance, hemingway

Wellbeing

8 Gross Things That Are Keeping Us Healthy

Post author By HealthyWay Staff Writer
Post date April 27, 2017

As John Mayer helpfully pointed out, your body is a wonderland.

A disgusting, gross wonderland, that is.

If your body’s functioning properly, it’ll produce quite a bit of disgusting stuff—waxes, oils, and various other secretions, not to mention a tremendous amount of hair.

But all of that stuff serves a purpose. For instance…

1. Sweat protects you from heat (and doesn’t really stink).

You’re probably aware of the primary function of sweat: It keeps you cool through the process of evaporation. It also helps with grip strength and expels salts from your body.

“It also stinks,” you probably just said. Well, you clearly didn’t read the headline. Most sweat doesn’t actually stink, since it’s just salt and water. But it does interact with bacteria on your skin. Certain bacteria will feed on the salts and oils, creating odors.

However, some people don’t have the gene that allows these bacteria to exist. That means that some people truly don’t need deodorant. Are you one of them? Well, there’s only one way to find out: Stop wearing deodorant. Godspeed.

2. Earwax actually cleans your ears for you.

There’s nothing grosser than a big glob of earwax. However, earwax—also known as cerumen—is one of the most effective cleaning tools your body has. It stops microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, and viruses) and macroorganisms (insects and arachnids—try not to think about that too much) from making their way through your ear canal.

Without earwax, your ears would be prone to constant infection. That’s not to say that cerumen is always a good thing; too much of it can cause hearing loss. But if you have an excess buildup, you should always visit a doctor for “irrigation.” Don’t use cotton swabs, as they can actually cause the earwax to become impacted, which will make the problem worse.

So, what is earwax, exactly? It’s a blend of skin cells, sebaceous secretions, ceruminous secretions, and cholesterol, among other things. Yep, it’s pretty gross, but it does an extremely important job.

3. The bacteria in your gut could kill you (but it keeps you alive instead).

Let’s get something straight: Scientists hate it when we describe something as “good” or “bad,” as every person’s body is different. That’s why we’re not going to say that there are good bacteria in your gut. There are certainly beneficial bacteria, but whether they’re helpful or harmful depends on the environment.

Escherichia coli (E. coli), for instance, can make you very sick if you consume it, but it’s probably living in your gut right now. Many other species of bacteria aid in digestion but would quickly begin feeding on your organs if your body didn’t have defenses to keep them in place.

There’s even some evidence that your gut flora—the community of microorganisms living in your digestive tract—could influence how you think and feel. It’s an exciting field of research, but it’s far from complete. The one thing we know is that we rely on bacteria a lot more than we’d previously thought.

4. Without mucus, you’d get extremely sick.

We’re talking about all types of mucus here, from the mucus in your nose to the mucus in your throat to the mucus in the corners of your eyes. It’s all similar stuff, although it goes by different names—”phlegm” is the mucus of the respiratory system, whereas “nasal mucus” is the mucus of the nose, and “eye mucus” is the…well, that one’s sort of obvious.

Your body produces from 1 to 1.5 liters of mucus per day, but you don’t notice most of it unless there’s a problem. It’s filled with antibodies, which fight potentially harmful viruses, bacteria, and fungi. It can also coat particles, allowing your body to easily expel them with a quick cough or wipe of a tissue.

When you get an infection, your body produces more mucus, which might turn different colors depending on the type and severity of the infection. It’s not pretty, but it’s effective.

5. Your nostril hair is your body’s first line of defense.

Nasal hair stops foreign particles from entering your body. That’s especially important if you have allergies or respiratory conditions; one 2011 study found that having only a “few nasal hairs significantly increased the risk of developing asthma.”

Why’s that? Well, the hairs hold the allergens outside of your body, where they can’t really do any harm. The allergens are then encased in mucus and turned into boogers. Hey, we never said that it was a sexy process.

As the study points out, “Increased hair density provides an improvement in the filtering efficiency of the nose, while reduced amounts of nasal hair cause a decrease in its efficiency.” If you’ve got a ton of nose hair, be thankful.

In any case, trimming your nose hair isn’t usually a big deal, but plucking out or waxing nose hair can actually put your body at risk. Additionally, removing hair can create a risk of infection, since ripping out the follicle will create another entrance point for microorganisms.

6. Your skin oil is another layer of protection.

Sebum is the oily substance on the surface of your skin. It can be a breeding ground for bacteria, including the microorganisms that cause acne. Sebum can give you greasy hair, smelly skin, and an overall feeling of unpleasantness. When you shower, the soap washes a layer of sebum away…and your body quickly replaces it.

However, sebum also stops bacteria from entering your body. It stops water from leaving, and it stops salts and waters from entering your body through the skin (which is one of the reasons that Epsom salt baths probably don’t do anything to relieve muscle pain).

As you age, your body produces less sebum, which may be one of the reasons that older people are more susceptible to some viruses and bacteria. Although your body can certainly produce too much skin oil in some cases, it’s an incredibly important (if disgusting) substance.

7. Eye gunk is just your eyes getting rid of contaminants.

Call it what you want: sleep dust, eye boogers, or rheum, if you want to get scientific (and we do). It’s gross.

Rheum is made up of skin cells, mucus, oils, and the various contaminants that your eye catches as you go about your day. Your tear ducts work constantly to lubricate your eye, and that lubrication allows dirt, dust, and other debris to travel to the corners of your eyelids, where they’re expelled.

But before they’re expelled, the oils and mucus from your eyelids build up around the contaminant. If you’re awake, you’ll also be blinking regularly, which will help to move the contaminant away from your eye. If you’re asleep, however, that gunk will keep building up.

Excess rheum can be a sign of an infection, but a small amount is perfectly normal. Seems like a fair trade-off for healthy eyesig
ht.

8. Pus is made from fallen soldiers who died defending your body from invaders.

Okay, we’re being a little romantic, but white blood cells do tremendous work. When your body notices an infection, it sends thousands of white blood cells—also called leukocytes—to fight off the invaders. These helpful little soldiers fight until they die, at which point they just sort of pile up at the site of the infection.

Pus is mostly made of white blood cells, and it’s rich in protein. It looks frightening, but it’s completely normal. In fact, if your body isn’t producing pus, it might not be fighting the infection—or the dead leukocytes are simply being re-absorbed into the bloodstream.

Still, if you notice a large amount of pus, tell your doctor. It could be a sign that your body’s having trouble fighting an infection, particularly if you’ve recently had surgery.

Tags 50021156, body, hemingway

Lifestyle

Natural Ways To Repel Pesky Insects This Summer

Post author By HealthyWay Staff Writer
Post date April 26, 2017

Ants, moths, and mosquitoes are some of the summer’s most persistent uninvited guests, yet they keep coming back, year after year, don’t they? Follow the following tips and you’ll be telling the bugs of summer, “Not this year suckers!”

For starters, when it comes to bugs, staying tidy really pays off.

Do you know what ants love? That bit of sugary drink you spilled on your counter. Clean up your messes right away!

Mosquitos love standing water! These sinister blood suckers can lay eggs in as little water as a bottle cap. Make sure you don’t have any standing water in your yard.
Moths like it when you don’t do your laundry. These fluttering figures are attracted to your lingering BO and clothes that go unwashed for too long are giving moths time to lay their eggs in there. Wash your clothes.

If you’re anti-ant, try this trick.

Ants hate cinnamon essential oil.

In 2014, Malaysian scientists with MARA University of Technology studied cinnamon essential oil’s ability to repel—and even kill—ants.
“In both repellency and insecticidal activity of ants,” the wordy scientists wrote, “cinnamon essential oil shown a positive result which can repel and kill ants at certain concentrations. The highest concentration of cinnamon essential oil gave the highest mortality and repellency percentage and will be the effective and environmentally benign agents in ants control.”
That means this oil will kill ants but not you.

Mix a few drops of cinnamon essential oil with about a cup of water and dip a cotton ball in the solution, rubbing it along places that you think ants might be trying to get it. After a few days of application, the solution should deter ants from coming into your home.

Moths hate smells most humans like.

There are three easy, nice-smelling ways to keep moths from gobbling up your favorite winter clothes during the summer months.
Moths will avoid the scent of cedar, mint, and lavender.

Look for natural cedar blocks, mothballs, or cedar shavings. Alternatively, you can put dry mint leaves directly in your clothes, or put them in a bag where their smell can ward off the moths. Finally, you can look for lavender essential oils, putting a few drops on a cotton ball, or just go for dried lavendar, similar to how you’d use the dry mint.

Make mosquitos mad with this tip.

Even the CDC is coming around to recognizing that lemon eucalyptus oil is an effective ingredient for keeping mosquitoes at bay. If you want an effective bug spray but you don’t want to mess with intense chemicals like DEET, picaridin, and IR3535, look for a brand that has oil of lemon eucalyptus as the active ingredient.
Alternatively, you can use this essential oil to make your own repellant candle.

In a mason jar, combine sliced lemon and lime with two sprigs of rosemary and about 10 drops of lemon eucalyptus oil. Fill the jar with water and gently place a floating tea candle atop the water and enjoy the pleasant smell without being harassed by those thirsty bloodsuckers!
Not this year blood suckers!

Tags 50024976, body, hemingway

Motherhood

9 Of The Best Books From Your Childhood That All Kids Should Have

Post author By HealthyWay Staff Writer
Post date April 21, 2017

Get ready for a nostalgia overload.

When you were a kid, there was nothing better than curling up with your favorite book. Now that you’re older, and you’re a parent (or an aunt, uncle, or teacher), why not introduce the next generation of readers to a few of the classics?

Some children’s books have aged remarkably well. We’re talking about titles like…

1. The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales

Published in 1992, this compendium of off-kilter fairy tales benefits from the brilliant wit of writer Jon Scieszka and the postmodern illustrations of Lane Smith. It retells famous fairy tales but adds in strange twists.

For example, the Frog Prince isn’t really a prince, just a frog who wants a kiss. The title story features the Stinky Cheese Man, who has the opposite problem of the Gingerbread Man: Nobody wants to get anywhere near him.

This classic captures a kid’s sense of humor without getting too gross, and it’s worth it for the illustrations alone.

Get a hardcover copy of The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales here for $9.

2. Corduroy

You might know it as “Corduroy Bear,” but the official title of this Don Freeman book is simply Corduroy.

Published in 1968, it’s the story of a teddy bear in a department store with a button missing from his overalls. A girl named Lisa asks her mother to buy the bear, but the mother refuses, because the bear is imperfect. Naturally, the bear comes to life at night and sets out on a mission to find his missing button, hoping that he’ll be able to get Lisa to buy him.

He is unable to find his button, but Lisa comes back the next day with money from her piggy bank. After taking the bear home, Lisa replaces the lost button, and they share a hug. There’s a decent message about friendship, and the artwork is absolutely adorable. Freeman followed Corduroy with a sequel, A Pocket for Corduroy, which is just as enchanting if you’re familiar with the original.

Get a paperback copy of Corduroy here for $6.

3. Frog and Toad Are Friends

Published in 1970, Frog and Toad Are Friends tells the story of a frog and toad who are friends. Who says that you can’t judge a book by its cover?

Author and illustrator Arnold Lobel tells five stories about the titular characters eating cookies, looking for buttons, reading stories, and writing letters.

It’s light on the drama but heavy on the charm. Although this is a picture book, it’s got enough text to challenge younger readers.

Get a hardcover copy of the Frog and Toad Storybook Treasury here for $8.

4. James and the Giant Peach

Really, we could have chosen any of Roald Dahl’s books, as they’re all childhood classics. Once your child reads one, they’ll want to read the rest.

James and the Giant Peach
is the fantastic tale of an English orphan who flies around on a massive peach with seven magical garden bugs. They must deal with mischief from the Cloud-Men and James’ cruel aunts, but they eventually triumph, navigating the peach to New York City (where it’s eaten by hungry children).

A breathtaking work of imagination, James and the Giant Peach references other Roald Dahl books, engaging young minds and bringing them into a rich world of fantasy.

Depending on which version you had as a kid, the illustrations of your copy were probably done by one of two illustrators. Get a copy of the Quentin Blake–illustrated version (top picture) here for $8 or the Lane Smith–illustrated version (bottom picture) for $8.

5. Charlotte’s Web

Although Charlotte’s Web might not be appropriate for the youngest readers—it contains a death, so it’s not entirely free from drama—this 1952 novel is one of the greatest children’s books of all time.

The story starts when a little girl rescues a piglet named Wilbur. Years later, Wilbur is brought to a new farm, where he quickly makes friends with a spider named Charlotte. The farmers intend to slaughter Wilbur (again, not the best story for younger kids), but Charlotte saves him by weaving messages into her web. While Wilbur is saved, eventually Charlotte dies of old age, but not before she leaves behind a sac of eggs.

It’s hard to imagine a more charming story involving a spider and a pig. E.B. White’s beloved tale has delighted generations, and it still packs a surprisingly emotional punch. It’s been produced as a musical, a film, and even a video game, but the book is still the best way to experience the journey.

Get a hardcover copy of Charlotte’s Web here for $8.

6. The Giving Tree

What, exactly, is the point of Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree? This is one of the few children’s books that leaves its message up to the interpretation of the reader, and that’s one of the reasons why it’s so timeless.

In The Giving Tree, a boy grows up with an apple tree, playing on her branches and eating her fruit. As he grows older, he visits the tree less often, but still stops by for things that he needs. The tree allows him to sell her apples, build a house from her branches, and make a boat from her trunk. When the boy grows into an old man, he returns to the tree, which is now a stump. He rests on the trunk, and the book ends by noting that the tree is happy.

Whether you interpret this as an environmental message, a statement on parent–child relationships, a religious allegory, or all of the above, it’s one of those books that you can’t get out of your head.

Get a copy of The Giving Tree here for $8.

7. The Velveteen Rabbit

The Velveteen Rabbit is speeding toward its 100th anniversary, and although it was written in 1922, it has aged remarkably well.

The story is about (shocker) a velveteen stuffed rabbit that is given to a boy at Christmas. The boy prefers other toys, but the rabbit slowly becomes his favorite. Meanwhile, the rabbit learns that the love of children can turn toys into real animals.

Tragedy strikes when the boy becomes sick with scarlet fever. Doctors order that all of his toys should be quarantined and burned; the rabbit is left in a sack while he awaits his fate. Thinking of his friend, he cries a single tear and becomes a real rabbit with the help of a magical fairy.

He later returns to look at his human friend one more time, and of course the boy notices that the rabbit looks something like his old stuffed toy. Even the synopsis is enough to make us tear up.

Get a copy of The Velveteen Rabbit for $6.

8. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

There are two versions of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. One features the terrifying artwork of Stephen Gammell, whereas the other has decidedly less scary illustrations from Brett Helquist. Although Helquist does a perfectly adequate job, you’ll want the version with Gammel’s nightmarish ink drawings; they’re the ones you remember from your childhood.

The Scary Stories series features American folklore, original tales, and urban legends, often told with a grim sense of humor. The first book was published in 1981 then followed up by two more anthologies, More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones.

Buy all three, and you’ll have 82 terrifying tales accompanied with some of the most fear-inducing artwork ever created. Granted, any kid who reads through these will have at least a few nightmares, but that’s part of the fun.

Get a set of all three books illustrated by Gammell here for $15.

9. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

Kids love Laura Joffe Numeroff’s If You Give a Mouse a Cookie because of its circular story. When you’re only a few years old, it blows your mind.

In the book, a boy gives a mouse a cookie (so you get what you paid for right away on the first page). The mouse asks for milk, then a straw, then a mirror, then nail clippers, then a broom.

Pretty soon, the boy is telling the mouse stories, tucking him into bed, and helping him draw pictures. The mouse asks to display his picture on the refrigerator, and when the boy obliges, the mouse realizes that he’s thirsty. He asks for a glass of milk, then a cookie, and…well, the story starts over again.

Yes, it’s sort of an allegory for the parent–child relationship, but really, it’s just a cute little story about a mouse and cookie. What’s not to love?

Get a copy of the classic If You Give a Mouse a Cookie here for $11.

Tags 50020946, hemingway, parenting

Wellbeing

The Baby Products You Don't Need To Waste Money On (And The Ones To Buy Instead)

Post author By HealthyWay Staff Writer
Post date April 21, 2017

Parenting can be really tough sometimes. The pacing, the lack of sleep, and the seemingly endless loads of laundry that pile up. Add to that the stress of the cost of raising a kid in the 21st century.

According to a report of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the average middle-income family will spend more than $12,500 per year on child-related expenses. Many of these expenses come from buying products that are supposed to make parenting easier—or your baby happier. Sometimes they’re great; other times they’re not. As a parent, it’s so frustrating to spend money on something (and get excited about what it offers) only to find that it doesn’t live up to its claim.

Let us help you save time and money! If you’re in the middle of “baby central,” or if you’re preparing for it, here is a list of must-have products (according to other parents) that will put your hard-earned money to good use—as well as a few hyped-up “solutions” that you can, and should, skip.

Don’t Buy: Pacifier Sanitizing Wipes

We understand why these make sense for a first-time parent. First-time parents tend to religiously scrub the first-born’s pacifier every time it hits the floor (which is often). By the time kid No. 2 or 3 arrives—or maybe just after two or three months—parents usually start to relax. A little floor dust never hurt anyone, after all.

We know terrific moms who actually lick their kids’ pacifiers clean. Others give them a once-over with their sleeves. Unless your pediatrician specifically tells you to use sanitizing wipes, you can probably get by without them.

Do Buy: The NoseFrida “Snot Sucker”

This is, on the other hand, an absolute must to have on hand. Since you can’t protect your little one from every single germ, it’s only natural they’ll pick up a bug and feel a little gross for a few days. One bad baby cold and you’ll realize the reason why this product is a necessity.

This brilliant invention provides a gentle suction to clear your baby’s nasal passages, painlessly and effectively, so they can breathe—and you can breathe easy. Yes, it might seem a little gross, but it’s hardly the ickiest part of parenting.
Pick one up here for $20.

Don’t Buy: Floor Seats

Most infants can’t sit up on their own until they’re a few months old. That is fine. They’ve got their whole lives to sit up and stare at screens. Why rush into it?

Floor seats prop up babies who can’t actually sit yet, as if they needed that. There’s even a safety belt so your kid can’t escape. Save your money and let your baby’s musculoskeletal system do the work. (Though if the ease is still attractive to you, consider that these seats were recalled a few years ago because of the risk of injury they posed to children when not used “properly.” Why risk it?)

Do Buy: Boppy Pillow

This product is extremely useful, and its function changes as your baby grows older. Moms use it during the infant stage to elevate their baby during breastfeeding. It can also act as a support for a little one to lie on.

Once baby is past 6 months of age, the pillow can prop them up to ensure proper seating (and that the baby doesn’t fall over).
Get the original here for $40.

Don’t Buy: Wipe Warmers

Didn’t Freud say something about adult depression being caused by contact with freezing cold baby wipes during infancy? No, he didn’t, because the idea is absurd.

Unless you store your baby wipes in the refrigerator, there’s no good reason to heat them up before using them for their disgusting and necessary purpose. If you do store baby wipes in the fridge, though, let us know; we’ve got an idea for a $450 baby wipe cooler we’d love to discuss with you.

Do Buy: Boudreaux’s Butt Paste

If you’ve never taken care of a baby who’s having a bad case of diaper rash, you’re lucky, because it’s just awful—and something that you’ll do anything to avoid ever happening again.

This cream has zinc oxide to protect your precious little one’s rear end from diaper rash, which can be incredibly, blisteringly painful. It can also soothe the skin when babies have allergic reactions to wipes or diapers.
Get a 16-ounce tub here for $16.

Don’t Buy: Baby Food Makers

We come from a proud tradition of collecting kitchen gadgets that we’ll never use. With dedicated puree machines, you can get your young one started on this tradition early.

Baby food makers are basically just blenders with a little fancy packaging. If there’s a blender in your kitchen, you’re already there. A baby food cookbook is probably more worth your while, and will definitely cost a lot less. On the other hand, you can just go the super-easy route with baby-led weaning, where you just give them small bits of the food you’re already cooking for your own meals (provided they’re age-appropriate, of course).

Do Buy: Munchkin Fresh Food Feeder AND/OR The Spuni

Babies can’t eat certain foods because the size or shape of the item might make them choke. Even certain purees have lumps that can get caught in an infant’s throat.

Not only does this product allow your baby to eat foods that normally wouldn’t be safe, but it also provides hours of entertainment as your baby sucks and plays with their food. (P.S. the clean up is worth it!)
Get two of them here for $7.
Spuni has a unique design that promotes the natural latching instinct that a baby develops during breast and bottle feeding.

Spuni is the perfect tool to help your baby transition to solid food.
Get one here for $11.57.

Don’t Buy: Thermometers Made for the Bath

While we’re on the subject of bathing, you might see some cute thermometers that are designed to warn you when the bath water is too hot. You actually already own a product that can do this. It is your elbow.

Stick your elbow in the water. It should feel just slightly warm, but not hot. Too cold? Don’t put the baby in. Too hot? Don’t put the baby in. That should do the trick.

Do Buy: Puj Tub

The sink always seems to be the most comfortable and convenient place to bathe a newborn. The problem is that most baby tubs are huge, bulky, impossible to store between baths, and might not even fit in your sink anyway. The Puj Tub makes washing your baby in the sink (any sink!) a lot easier, and it won’t fill up your entire closet when bath-time is done.

Unfold it and hang it flat for easy drying. You’ll never struggle to find a place to store a tub again.
Get one here for $45.

Don’t Buy: Walking Helpers

Unless your doctor specifically orders you to use one of these portable harnesses, there’s no real reason to invest in one. They’re supposed to help your kid learn to walk, but learning to walk is a natural process that doesn’t really need fancy new devices to take effect.

On the other hand, if you’re going to keep your kid (literally) on a leash until they’re like 12, this product provides some nice training.

Do Buy: Baby K’tan Baby Carrier

This wrap-style carrier is a big hit among parents of newborns, babies, and toddlers up to 35 pounds. It offers the comfort and flexibility that parents love in wrap carriers but avoids the messy, complicated “over” wrapping.

It’s also super portable and easy to throw in a diaper bag or backpack.
Get the original here for $50. (Multiple sizes and colors are available, but prices may vary.)

Don’t Buy: Super-Fancy Bedding Sets for a Crib

There’s a whole cottage industry based on the human need to make nurseries as cute as possible. You know what’s really cute, though? Your baby. You can spend thousands on a chic, perfectly matched bedding set. Or you could spend a few bucks at the thrift store. Either way, your baby won’t know the difference.

We’re not saying you shouldn’t pay out the wazoo for the comfiest, softest infant sheets known to man. We’re just saying that you shouldn’t think it will make a difference to your baby—that stuff is for you, Mom.
Another reason you shouldn’t drop a bunch of money on all this stuff? Your baby can’t sleep with it anyway. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that babies sleep on their backs on a tight-fitting sheet in a crib that is free of blankets, crib bumpers, pillows, toys, or stuffed animals. Why even bother buying something you can’t use?

Do Buy: Summer Infant SwaddleMe Original Swaddle

Most babies love to be swaddled! But we challenge you to find an overwhelmed new parent who can do it effectively and without frustration.

That’s what makes this product so awesome. Its comfy fabric and foolproof swaddling mechanism will make even the most sleep-deprived caretaker a pro.
Get a three-pack here for $24. (Other patterns are available, but prices may vary.)
Now that you know what you should and should not need, head over to the Amazon Baby Registry where you’ll find all these essentials and more.

Tags 50021976, balance, hemingway

Wellbeing

7 Myths (Almost) Everyone Believes About The Human Body

Post author By HealthyWay Staff Writer
Post date April 20, 2017

We like to think that we understand our bodies fairly well.

Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. Many of the “facts” we learn about our bodies are actually myths, and the truth can be somewhat counterintuitive.
For instance, humans have far more than five senses, depending on the methods you prefer for categorization. Spicy foods don’t usually cause peptic ulcers, eating before swimming won’t give you life-threatening cramps, either, and swallowed gum doesn’t take seven years to digest.

And we’re just getting started. For instance…

You won’t ruin your eyesight from sitting too close to the television.

At one point, this myth held some truth. Before the 1950s, some televisions had radioactive components, so sitting too close could cause eyesight issues, according to a report in The New York Times.

However, modern televisions have sufficient shielding to prevent this type of damage. Sitting close to a TV may cause eyestrain, which isn’t pleasant, but it’s not permanent, either.
The American Academy of Ophthalmology notes that children can focus at closer distances than adults, which is why they often sit closer to television sets, but there’s no evidence that this practice damages eyesight in either children or adults.

Children usually grow out of the habit as they get older, but in the meantime, they’re not taking any serious risks by sitting a little closer.

Baby teeth are actually important.

They’re just holding a place for adult teeth, right? Don’t worry about washing them—don’t even pay attention to them until your child starts getting his real teeth.

But in reality, baby teeth (or primary teeth, to use the American Dental Association’s terminology) serve several vital functions. They help children eat, speak, and smile, and if a baby loses a primary tooth too early, they may have problems with their permanent teeth later on.
Plus, there’s no reason you shouldn’t start kids on good oral health habits early. Parents should brush their kids’ teeth regularly and book dental appointments as soon as the first primary tooth appears.

Your diet won’t detoxify your body (much).

Sometimes, your body just doesn’t “feel right,” and that’s when about 50 million websites and supplement dealers will tell you it’s time for a cleanse. Maybe you try a “raw food detox.” Maybe it’s a “juice cleanse.” You might even go for something as out-there as the “cabbage soup diet,” which is pretty much what it sounds like.
Before you bust out the juicer, though, there’s something you should know: Your body already has a pretty good detoxifying system built in, and it is called your liver. In fact, extreme diets like many of these “cleanses” can do more harm than good.

That’s according to no less an authority than the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, a branch of the National Institutes of Health. You’d think complementary health advocates would be all about the detox. Not this authority.
“There isn’t any convincing evidence that detox or cleansing programs actually remove toxins from your body or improve your health,” the NCCIH writes on their website.

Meanwhile, the risks of, say, an all-juice diet include insufficient nutrition, serious problems for people with kidney disease, and absolute disaster for diabetics. If you feel “off” and find yourself tempted to embark on a detox diet, talk to your doctor instead. They can help you find a healthy way to get your system back on track.
Meanwhile, don’t worry so much about toxins. As long as you’re healthy, your liver’s on the case.

That stubble isn’t your fault.

This myth took off because it feels so true; wouldn’t that be just like reality to make a “solution” turn into a greater problem? Well, reality is actually on your side this time. Shaving your body hair doesn’t do a single thing to affect the thickness, texture, color, or growth-rate of all those whiskers.

Jonas Sickler is director of operations at ConsumerSafety.org, an online hub for safety information about food, medication, and products. He tells HealthyWay that the myth of thicker growth post-shave is “all just an illusion.”
“Your hair tapers as it grows, and shaving it exposes the thicker middle of the hair shaft, which makes the hair appear to be darker,” Sickler says. “Short hair is also more rigid, which is why stubble feels so coarse.”

So if you want a hairless patch on your face or your body, feel free to break out the razor. Shaving is a temporary solution, but it’s not going to make matters worse.

Your fingers don’t prune up for the reason you think they do.

It seems obvious: Fingers and toes get all wrinkly in the bath because they’re absorbing water, expand, and fold like raisins along the whorls of your fingerprints. But the simplest explanation is not always the most accurate.
In fact, researchers realized in the 1930s that only healthy fingers wrinkle when wet. When people have nerve damage in their fingers, their tips remain smooth as ever, even after a nice, long bath. So, what does that tell us?

“No one knows for sure,” Sickler says. “But scientists believe that our fingers shrivel when wet to help us grasp slippery or submerged objects.”
That’s the hypothesis behind a 2013 study published in the journal Biology Letters. The researchers suspected that bath-time pruning is an evolutionary adaptation that developed to help us keep hold of objects in wet conditions. They had participants try to hold and manipulate wet and dry objects, with both water-wrinkled and dry, unwrinkled fingertips.

In the end, the participants with pruney fingers were able to move submerged objects from one tank to another 12 percent faster than their smooth-fingered counterparts.
“Our results are clear experimental evidence for the hypothesis that water-induced wrinkles improve the handling of submerged or wet objects,” the researchers concluded. Isn’t the human body amazing? And kind of gross?

Your mother was wrong about cracking your knuckles.

Didn’t your mother tell you not to crack your knuckles? Not only is it a disgusting habit, but according to your parents, too many cracks can increase your odds of getting arthritis later in life.

We’re pretty sure some secret cabal of moms made this one up to get their kids to stop what they consider an ugly routine, because the truth is, studies show cracking your knuckles doesn’t cause any damage at all, and it might even provide benefits.
When you crack your knuckles, “the two bones that make up the joint are not hitting each other,” Dr. Jessica Rosner, a chiropractor at Wholebody Solutions in Quincy, Massachusetts, assures HealthyWay. “When a knuckle or any joint in the body ‘cracks’ or ‘pops,’ it is the synovial fluid found between those joints that is releasing gas.”
Rosner describes a study conducted by Dr. Robert Boutin, a radiology professor at the University of California Davis, in which Boutin and his team examined 30 patients who regularly cracked their knuckles and 10 who didn’t. The knuckle-crackers didn’t show any ill effects from their habit.

In fact: “Typically, after a joint cracks, it has better range, which is beneficial and not harmful,” Rosner says.
There’s more research to be done in this area. Doctors can’t say for sure that cracking your knuckles definitely doesn’t have any harmful effects, just that this study didn’t reveal any. But they’re just as unsure about other possible benefits.
“A larger study will help determine if there are longer-term hazards or benefits of joint-cracking, but we’re excited we have found a way to answer some longstanding questions about the safety of this common habit,” Boutin said in a press release about his study.

For now, though, if popping your knuckles every now and then gives you a distinct sense of satisfaction, there’s no need to stop—unless, of course, your mother’s in the room.

Fingerprints are mostly unique, but fingerprint analysis isn’t perfect.

What’s the first thing that cops do when they enter a crime scene? They dust for fingerprints. Duh. If you can find a criminal’s fingerprints on something, you’ve got all the proof you need that they were at the scene—fingerprints are, after all, unique.

Well, sort of. While scientists believe that fingerprints are essentially unique, errors in fingerprint analysis might be relatively common. Very few studies have set out to determine the statistical estimation of fingerprint individuality, and because fingerprint analyzers are human, they make mistakes. One 2011 study found a false positive rate of 0.1 percent, which might seem low unless you’re on trial for a serious crime.
Adding to the difficulty: Some people are born without fingerprints. Medical conditions like Naegeli-Franceschetti-Jadassohn syndrome can make the lives of fingerprint analysts much more difficult (and it’s not a fun condition for spelling bee contestants, either).

Finally, fingerprint analysis is likely much more difficult than you’d think. Fingerprint analyzers look at minutiae, which can include everything from the endings of fingerprint ridges to the location of specific pores in the skin. The minutiae can be so complex that the same finger can leave two prints that seem almost entirely different.

Tags 50020721, body, hemingway

Nosh

12 Everyday Cooking Myths We Need To Stop Believing

Post author By HealthyWay Staff Writer
Post date April 19, 2017

Everything you know about cooking is wrong.
Well, okay, not quite everything. If you think you need to preheat the oven before popping in the turkey, and that exact measurements are crucial when it comes to baking, you’re absolutely right. But there are plenty of persistent kitchen myths out there, and chances are you’re falling for at least one of them.
We’re here to debunk these food prep mistakes and take your culinary skills to the next level. If you’ve heard any of these common misconceptions, it’s time to rethink your next big meal.

1. Milk makes scrambled eggs softer.

Scrambled eggs truly aren’t that hard to make, and they only require a few simple ingredients. But if you’ve been adding milk or cream to yours, you’re doing it wrong. Extra dairy can make your eggs thinner before cooking, which can then make it easier for them to get overcooked, since you’ll have to keep them over heat longer to let the mixture set.

If anything, just add some butter to your eggs or mix in a little sour cream when they’re almost done cooking. Kitchen Conservatory’s Chef Anne Cori suggests adding heavy cream when the eggs are almost cooked for a richer, fuller flavor.

2. Flip steaks frequently for even cooking.

Steak aficionados have been debating this one for ages. In one camp, you have the single-flippers. They believe you should put a steak on the grill and leave it alone until you’re ready to flip, because this method will help the meat develop a good sear.
However, in recent years, the multiple-flippers are gaining traction. They say you can still achieve the perfect steak even if you flip it more than once. They say the multiple flips will help cook the meat more evenly, too.

Annette Zito, cookbook author and creator of the recipe site KitchAnnette, comes down squarely on the side of the single flip. Cori agrees. You don’t need to fret over your meal on the grill, they say, both firmly of the opinion that the best steaks are only flipped once.
“Let the steaks cook on one side for the desired/necessary time, flip them, and let them cook until they are at your preferred doneness,” Zito counsels.

3. Oil makes boiling pasta less sticky.

Pasta is a meal that most everyone enjoys, but things can literally get a bit sticky, literally, during the preparation. To combat a mop of noodles, many people add oil to the pot, but it turns out that’s a big mistake as far as flavor goes. The video below explains why:
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4. Peppers’ heat lies in the seeds.

Many recipes that call for hot peppers suggest you can lower the dish’s heat level by removing the pepper seeds. However, the seeds actually contain very small amounts of capsaicin, the substance that gives peppers their heat.
The highest concentrations are found in the membranes of the peppers.

“The pith—or white inner fibers—that have all the heat,” says Zito.
The seeds themselves aren’t hot, but they’re often coated in capsaicin because they sit within the membrane. If you really want to dial back the heat, remove the seeds and the pith before adding peppers to your dish.

5. Steel-cut oats reign supreme.

At some point around 2010, steel-cut oats emerged as something of a fad food, at least in the neighborhood surrounding the offices of Mother Jones magazine in San Francisco. Rolled oats just seemed so basic. But are the slow-cooked variety of oats really all that different from their rolled cousins?

While steel-cut oats have a slightly lower glycemic index number, the only difference between the two products is how they’re processed. That’s right; steel-cut oats are just rolled oats in a different shape.
The name rolled oats is pretty accurate, as they’re just oats rolled flat, whereas steel-cut oats are chopped oat kernels. It’s ultimately up to your taste buds which you like better, but, for our money, rolled oats win in every category—they take less time to cook, they’re creamier and softer, and they’re usually cheaper.

6. You can soften butter in the microwave.

What do you do when you forget to take the butter out of the fridge so it can soften before you add it to your baking dish? The quick and obvious solution is the microwave, but softening butter in the microwave could actually be messing up your recipes.

When butter gets to a certain temperature, it doesn’t cream as well as it should.
“Never [microwave butter] as you might break the emulsion,” explains Cori. A microwave won’t heat the butter evenly, and this will affect the way it holds up in a recipe.
It’s always best to simply remember to set your butter out for a recipe before hand. But if you’re in a pinch, follow this video’s easy tip for usable butter.

Alternatively, you can pound the butter into a thin sheet or use a warm water bath to soften the butter needed.

7. You can skip searing meat for stew.

Most stew recipes call for you to brown the meat before adding any other ingredients, but not all at-home chefs understand why this step is so important.

If you’ve ever been told to skip this step, forget that advice—it actually adds a ton of flavor to the dish that you can’t try to fake by adding other ingredients.
“Not only does it add flavor to sear before, if you don’t, then you’ll have steamed chunks that will not be appetizing,” says Zito.

8. Sandwich bread makes good French toast.

Ultimately, you can make French toast however you’d like, and if all you have is white sandwich bread, it might end up satisfying your craving. This is pretty much the worst bread to use for French toast, however, because it’s too “fresh” and soft.

The point of French toast is to use up old stale bread that you have around because it soaks up the egg mixture, making it soft again. Using bread that’s already soft will just result in a mushy mess, even if it has a good flavor.
Zito says that “stale or dried bread (you can do a low-and-slow 10 minutes in the oven to keep the bread’s flavor which gets lost with stale) will be better to absorb the egg mixture and not fall apart.”

9. You can make guac ahead of time.

Guacamole doesn’t take a ton of time to make, but it can be tempting to prepare anything ahead of time when you’re trying to get ready for an event. Guacamole should never be one of those things, though, because all the lime juice in the world won’t stop the avocado from slowly oxidizing.

If you must make it ahead of time, invest in a good, air-tight container, and pack the guacamole in as tight as possible (so as little air as possible remains between the dip and the lid.) You can also cover the top with a little bit of lemon juice and press cling-wrap to it, again keeping any air from reacting with the avocados.

10. Marinades tenderize meat.

Cooks use marinades to infuse flavor into their meat before cooking, but some also believe it can make the meat more tender. This really isn’t true, though, as most marinades will not sink into a piece of meat deep enough to have that much of an effect on the texture.

“Marinades are for flavor,” Cori explains. “The only marinades that tenderize are marinades that use yogurt or papaya.”
Your best chance at getting the tenderest piece of meat is to cut it correctly before you serve it, or to slow cook it so all of the connective tissues break down.

11. Cooked pasta should be rinsed.

Those who rinse their pasta after cooking typically do so because they either don’t want it to get any softer or because they’re using it for a cold pasta dish. Regardless of the reason, it’s not a good idea no matter how you’re using it.

It may not actually cool down the pasta as quickly as you’d think it would, and it also removes much of the starch on the outside of the pasta. Whether you’re using it hot or cold, this means that your sauce isn’t going to stick to the pasta and the dish might not taste as good.

12. Cooking produce removes nutrition.

Common wisdom holds that eating raw fruits and vegetables is the best way to consume produce, because cooking removes all of the nutrients.
However, the reality is a whole lot more complex than that. While various cooking methods may change a vegetable’s nutrient profile in various ways, not all of the changes are losses. Some nutrients, such as lycopene, become more available in cooked produce. Others, such as C and B vitamins, tend to degrade with the cooking process.

Ultimately, though, the only healthy vegetable is one that you’re willing to eat. Maybe it’s time to worry less about how we prepare our fruits and vegetables and more about how to get them into our diets.

Tags 50020726, fuel, hemingway

Wellbeing

8 Ways Our Bodies Are Scarier Than Any Horror Movie

Post author By HealthyWay Staff Writer
Post date April 18, 2017

The only reason that we’re not horrified by our own bodies is that we’re used to them.

Take an alien’s point of view, and you can see how disgusting we truly are. We’re big sacks of oil, water, skin, and bacteria, and our bizarre biology gets even stranger when you look closely.

For instance, you might not have known that…

1. Your body can attack its own senses.

Our immune systems are amazing, but sometimes they’re a little too amazing. Take autoimmune inner ear disease (AEID), a condition in which the immune system starts attacking the inner ear.

The condition is rare but can eventually lead to permanent hearing loss—all because the body assumed that our ears were working against it (presumably after you turned on that Nickelback song). The immune system can also attack the eyes, nerves, and joints—and in many cases, doctors aren’t really sure why it happens.

We do know that the incidence of immune system disorders seems to be increasing, but it’s possible that we’re simply recognizing more cases. As it turns out, our bodies are often their own worst enemy.

2. We’re constantly shedding skin.

We shed from 0.001 to 0.003 ounces of skin flakes every hour, according to a study in Environmental Science & Technology. At this rate, we shed our entire outer layer of skin every two weeks.

That means that much of the dust you see coating the surfaces of your home comes from your own body (or the bodies of the people you share your home with). While that’s gross, the good news is that those skin flakes also contain oils, which seem to reduce ozone levels in your home. Ozone can irritate your eyes, nose, and throat, so in a way, your skin dust is doing some good.

Still, you should probably dust occasionally. As your dead skin cells accumulate, they attract dust mites, which eat skin cells and create “approximately 2,000 fecal particles” over their 10-week life span. Oh, and they look like this.

3. Eye mites are also a thing.

These mites are thought to be less problematic than dust mites, but they’re no less disgusting. They live on your eyelashes or in the pores of your face, coming out at night to reproduce. We’re not sure what they eat, but given that they live on your face, they probably eat your face. Hey, we’re just saying.

There are two species of eye mites, and one species doesn’t have anuses. That means that they gradually get fuller until they die—then the built-up waste degrades on your face.

The good news is that they don’t seem to cause any harm, although some scientists have suggested that eyelash mites may cause involuntary twitches. They also might be linked to skin inflammation, but only when they’re over-populated.

So, to recap: Eye mites live in your pores, come out at night, reproduce, lay eggs, then die in an explosion of poop. If you don’t feel like washing your face right now, you’re an incredibly disgusting person.

4. Baby teeth are pretty much something out of a Cronenberg movie.

Aw! Junior lost a tooth! Isn’t that adorable?

Well, yeah, if you can’t see Junior’s skull.

Baby teeth are also known as deciduous teeth, and they start to grow when a baby is an embryo. They gradually “erupt” as a child ages, but around age 6, they’re ejected by the primary teeth in a process called exfoliation. Think about that the next time you’re scrubbing your face.

Given that exfoliating teeth are pretty confusing, it’s no surprise that so many cultures believe that something magical happens to the child. In the Western world, we’ve got the tooth fairy, but in Brazil, China, and in many other cultures, the discarded baby teeth are tossed on the roof of the house for luck. In Korea, kids throw their baby teeth at crows while reciting a song.

That might sound ridiculous, but remember: At least parents in these cultures aren’t shelling out cash for their kids’ gross baby teeth.

5. Pregnancy is beautiful but also pretty horrific.

Look, we’re not trying to say that motherhood is terrifying; it’s a natural, beautiful process and one of the most important things that a human can do.

It’s also terrifying. Sorry.

Take, for example, how fetuses can taste some of the foods that their mothers eat, or how those same fetuses repeatedly pee in the womb (and, uh, consume their own urine). How about how pregnant women will often lactate when they hear a baby crying?

We could go on, and we will, because we don’t have any shortage of weird pregnancy facts. A pregnant woman’s uterus can grow to 500 times its normal size during a pregnancy, and her feet can grow a shoe size (they can also stay that big, by the way).

Pregnant women are more likely to suffer broken bones, thanks to hormonal changes, and after giving birth many women will experience sudden hair loss. All of which is to say that mothers are basically superheroes for what they put their bodies through (and babies are basically parasites—incredibly cute parasites, but parasites nonetheless).

6. We’ve got as many bacterial cells as human cells in our bodies.

Scientists used to believe that there was a 10:1 count of microbes to human cells, but recent research suggests that it’s probably a 1:1 ratio. As one scientist noted to Nature.com, “It’s good that we all now have a better estimate to quote, but I don’t think it will actually have any biological significance.”

That’s because the point is that we’re made up of as much bacteria as anything else. What’s more, we absolutely depend on that bacteria to stay healthy. Bacteria help us digest, of course, but they also synthesize vitamins and help us fight off disease.

That’s not to say that they’re all good, of course. In fact, scientists have gradually moved away from calling bacteria “good” or “bad,” since some can be both.

Escherichia coli (E. coli), for instance, is an important part of your body’s bacterial biome, but it can be deadly if it’s in your food.

7. When you die, your body starts to digest itself.

For the most part, we have a mutually beneficial relationship with our bacteria, but those bacteria get the last laugh. When your immune system stops functioning, the bacteria can spread to other organs, and they do that within a few minutes.

Your stomach also plays a role. While you’re alive, your body creates a bicarbonate solution that prevents the stomach from essentially digesting itself. When you stop producing this bicarbonate—due to, oh, say, death—there’s nothing to protect you. Your stomach acid starts eating through your body pretty quickly.

Meanwhile, your cells’ acidity increases when they stop receiving oxygen, and all tissues
start to break down. It’s a pretty fascinating process from a scientific perspective, and forensics specialists even maintain “body farms” with dozens of corpses decomposing in the open air. The idea is to watch how decomposition changes due to various factors.

Stumbling into one of these parks might ruin your picnic, but they provide vital data for the people who solve crimes and create medicines.

8. Oh, and your corpse might also turn into a bar of soap.

Sort of. Okay, not really, but it’s an interesting image.

There’s a phenomenon colloquially known as “corpse wax,” and if that’s not descriptive enough for you, well, strap in. Under certain very specific conditions, decomposing bodies can create a substance called adipocere, described by Atlas Obscura as having “a soft, greasy gray appearance when it starts to form.”

Over time, it hardens and turns brittle, preserving the body for future generations (provided that there’s enough of the stuff). Yes, your body can essentially mummify itself, provided that it’s left in a “warm, damp, alkaline” environment. Not only do you have a skeleton inside you (spooky), but you might have a mummy as well.

Look on the bright side: From the time your mother carried you around until well after you’re dead, you’ll be grossing people out. Not a bad deal, right?

Tags 50020406, body, hemingway

Motherhood

12 Household Cleaning Tricks Every Parent Should Know

Post author By HealthyWay Staff Writer
Post date April 17, 2017

When you’re a parent, you don’t have much time for cleaning.

To be fair, you also don’t have much time for cooking, sleeping, working, or crying silently in the shower, but you do all of those things anyway because you’re an expert at time management. You cut out unnecessary steps, find shortcuts, and do what you have to do to make the most of your time.

The next time you need to clean house, try a few of these essential homemaking hacks, and you just might have a few extra minutes to spare.

1. Need to get crayon stains off walls?

Ah, the classic parental cleaning challenge. Don’t worry, it’s actually not too difficult.

Simply apply mayonnaise—yes, mayonnaise—to the crayon marks, then let it sit in place for a few minutes. Wipe with a damp cloth, and the marks should disappear.

If that doesn’t work (or if you’re a vegan), you can also use WD-40. We’d recommend spot testing, however, as WD-40 can damage some types of paint.

2. Clean the oven overnight by making a baking soda paste.

This is an essential hack to have in your back pocket for when your kids help you bake. For some reason your oven inevitably ends up coated in batter and grease—which quickly turn to charred black gunk.

Mix baking soda and water in a spray bottle, spray liberally all over your filthy oven, then leave it overnight. Take a second spray bottle and fill it with vinegar and water; spray this on the baking soda paste to break it up. Wipe out your oven, and you’re done.

3. Get bad odors out of your kids’ shoes with this Reddit user’s recipe.

Redditor steveq76 recommends a mixture of 70 percent rice, 15 percent salt, and 15 percent baking soda. Fill old socks with the mixture, then place them in damp, smelly shoes, allowing them to sit overnight.

The baking soda is a base, so it neutralizes the acids that cause smells, and the rice and salt soak up odor-causing agents.

4. Blast the carpet stains from your kid’s spilled juice.

Kids drink Kool-Aid and grape juice and any number of brightly covered fluids, and they do it over the carpet. Eventually you’re going to need some industrial-strength stain remover.

Or do you? Parents all over the internet are claiming that a simple two-ingredient hack can remove the toughest stains your 4-year-old can throw at you.

All you need are two common household ingredients: hydrogen peroxide and lemon essential oil. Combine one part hydrogen peroxide to two parts water. Then add five drops of lemon oil.

Shake to mix, fill a spray bottle and soak the stained carpet. You can’t really use too much of this stuff. Let it work its magic for a few minutes, then hit the stain with a scrub brush. Finish by blotting with a dry rag.

You might have to repeat this whole process a few times, but trust us. It will work. Now if we could only get the kids to keep their beverages in the kitchen!

5. Use a lint roller to clean up after craft time.

Lint rollers are wonderful for picking up every last speck of glitter. Say goodbye to those annoying little sparkles that you keep glimpsing out of the corner of your eye.

If you don’t have a lint roller handy, duct tape can work reasonably well, but you’ll probably want to hit the area with a hand vacuum before rolling out the tape.

6. Toothpaste can get permanent marker off a hardwood floor.

Simply apply, then rub using circular movements to work the marker out of the floor. Wipe with a damp cloth to finish up.

Toothpaste is actually a remarkably versatile cleaner. It has enough grit to cut through stains, so it’s also a good choice for whitening the rubber on tennis shoes, getting caked-on soap off sinks, and handling other simple tasks that require a bit of elbow grease. Just be sure to spot test it before using it on any fabrics—many toothpastes have whitening ingredients that don’t play well with clothes.

7. Clean up chewed-on Lego bricks in the washing machine.

Moms of junior architects tend to spend a lot of time stepping on Legos in bare feet, then fighting to contain a stream of language that no kid should hear.

While you have your own struggles with Lego blocks, though, have you ever stopped to consider how dirty those things must be? Add to that the fact that Legos will almost inevitably end up in your kid’s mouth at some point, and you’ll understand why we insist on thoroughly cleaning our kids’ Legos every few weeks.

Fortunately, this task couldn’t be simpler. All you need is a mesh laundry bag. Fill it with your kid’s filthiest Legos and wash them in soap and laundry detergent.

You won’t believe the racket this task will make, but trust us, it’s worth it. Don’t worry about the washing machine; it might get pretty loud, but it can handle a bag of Legos.

When you’re done, spread the Legos out on a towel to dry and give them back to your little builders, germ-free!

For even more hacks to clean your kids’ toys, check out the video below!

8. Let your dishwasher do the scrubbing when you need to clean baby toys.

As soon as babies start to crawl, they start collecting germs. Then they play with their toys, and the next thing you know their favorite plastic race car has become its own little germ factory.

It’s a good idea to disinfect your child’s toys every so often. For help, turn to your old pal the dishwasher.

Note that not every toy is a good candidate for dishwasher disinfecting. Don’t include stuffed animals or wooden toys. Definitely don’t include electronic toys or anything with a battery.

For most big plastic baby toys, though, this is the easiest clean-up in the world. Fill both racks as full as you dare. Then add your detergent and set your machine on its gentlest cycle.

Pro tip: Turn off the hot dry cycle. We learned that one the hard way, with a melted pony and tears.

9. Clean pee stains out of your mattress with hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and dish soap.

Every kid has accidents. Bedwetting is no big deal—as long as you have a quick, easy, and effective way to clean up the mattress.

Well, here’s a cleaning trick that will get rid of stains and odors alike. Even better, you probably have everything you need in your pantry already.

Start by mixing 8 ounces of hydrogen peroxide with 3 tablespoons of baking soda. We like to mix directly in the spray bottle we’ll use for application. Finish the pee-destroying potion with a generous dollop of liquid dishwashing soap.

We like to scent the concoction with a drop of lavender oil; it helps with the odor, and it helps us relax! Substitute your kid’s favorite essential oil if desired.

Once you have your secret weapon mixed together, spray it generously on the pee stains. Don’t be shy. Really soak that mattress.

Let the mixture dry on the mattress for a full hour, then vacuum up the residue. That’s all it takes!

10. Pick up small toys with a dust pan.

This is a helpful hack if you’ve got company coming over and your kid has dragged out every Lego, Lincoln Log, and doll accessory in existence.

Simply wedge the dustpan under the toys and scoop. Make sure it’s a clean dustpan (duh).

11. White chalk gets out grease stains.

We have no idea why this works, but it does. White chalk seems to soak up grease.

Rub it over the stain, then let it sit overnight. Marvel at your kids’ grease-free clothes (although you’ll probably only have a few minutes before they stain them again).

12. Stop your kid from getting too much soap when washing up.

Want to stop running through bottles of liquid soap? Put a rubber band around the base of the pump.

Your child won’t be able to pump it all the way, and they’ll get the perfect amount of soap.

Tags 50020486, hemingway, parenting