Weekly Wellness
Issue 299
Featured Article
Food Substitutes -- A few simple food substitutions could dramatically reduce some of the fat and calories from holiday eats!
Fitness Tip
Evening Stretch
By mid to late evening, your body temperature is inching toward its uppermost reaches, warming your muscles, ligaments, tendons and joints. You will get the most out of stretching at this time of day when your tissues are more pliable and less injury-prone. Plus, stretching helps relieve built-up tensions in your muscles that developed throughout the day, will feel great and may even give you a better night's rest. Just a little goes a long way. Learn a few simple stretching exercises! Check these out: Wall Push,
Palm Touch,
Toe Touch
Nutrition Tip
Cranberries
Cranberries may bring you an unexpected bonus: protection for your gums. Canadian research finds that cranberries have strong anti-inflammatory and antibiotic activity that forms a teflon like barrier between P. gingivalis bacteria and gum tissue. Because the bacteria cannot adhere, they cannot cause an infection that leads to severe gum desease, or periodontitis. Peridontal disease is the primary cause of tooth loss in adults and affects about 1 in 3 adult Americans.
Quip or Quote of the Week
Quip:
Fresh cranberries may be frozen for up to a year.
Quick Recipe
Vanilla Sugar
Here is a simple recipe used in pastries, desserts and even tea or coffee. You can use this to sprinkle on French toast or grapefruit. You will use less sugar and save on vanilla by using it in place of regular sugar and vanilla.
8 cups sugar
Two beans of vanilla, fresh
Pour sugar into airtight container. Shove vanilla beans down into sugar. Cover and let flavors develop for at least a week. Add new sugar as needed. Replace vanilla beans every two months.
Tidbit(s)
Dishing up Weightloss
Research suggests the color blue serves as an appetite suppressant, so your favorite blue bowls might help you eat less. And serve your main course on a salad plate: You will be less inclined to overeat.
Food Facts
Chopped fruit and nuts will disperse more evenly in cake batter if they're lightly floured before adding them.
Make a New Ice Cream Flavor: Stir pumpkin into softened low fat ice cream -- vanilla, caramel swirl or butter pecan flavors work particularly well for this new dessert flavor.
To smooth lumpy gravy give it a whirl in the blender. (Release some of the steam that accumulates in the blender container so that the pressure does not force off the lid and spatter hot liquid.)
More Cooking Tips and Quick Cooking Tips on the Web site!