Category: Nutrition and Health

Lessons Learned from Being an ER Patient in Two Countries

Family, friends, and I have been patients in emergency rooms (ER’s) many times. I work in Quality and Patient Safety in a large hospital, and my office overlooks the ER parking lot. My recent experience in a French ER for a dislocated finger has allowed me to reflect on how all ER’s can treat patients …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2016/09/12/lessons-learned-from-being-an-er-patient-in-two-countries/

Ouch

Friends, this looks worse than it actually is. Yesterday we went to a medieval village called Les Baux. The views of the valley were stunning, and the site had numerous artifacts, such as battering rams and trebuchets. Just as we were about to exit, I slipped and fell. The only thing damaged was my left …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2016/09/09/ouch/

Di-Zoster!

Last month I suffered through my first (and, I hope, last) bout of shingles. As you all know from watching the commercials featuring Terry Bradshaw, the chickenpox virus (Herpes zoster, not the Herpes simplex that causes cold sores) hangs out in your central nervous system until you get a bit stressed. Then it comes out …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2016/04/02/di-zoster/

Feeding Between the Lines, Holiday Edition

An additional food allergy land mine has appeared among our friends. The youngest member of the Friday night crew has been diagnosed with gluten intolerance and egg allergy. This is indeed problematic, since many gluten-free bread recipes rely on egg protein to provide a semblance of structure. And meringue cookies are now verboten for the …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2015/12/19/feeding-between-the-lines-holiday-edition/

Measure for Measurement

Julian was making a recipe tonight and started on a rant: “What do they mean by a clove of garlic? These cloves are of wildly differing sizes. And how much chorizo (Spanish sausage) is one chorizo? You can buy chorizos of different sizes. You should write a blog post about this.” Okay, dear, here it …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2015/12/13/measure-for-measurement/

The Food Safety Cop

When I was teaching introductory nutrition, Thanksgiving week was always food safety week. I wasn’t obsessive that the students know the specific microbes and the incubation periods for food-borne illnesses, I just wanted them to understand how to reduce their risk of getting sick. These days every new outbreak gets a banner headline in the …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2015/11/25/the-food-safety-cop/

Swimming as a Social Activity

At first glance, swimming is the ultimate introvert exercise. It’s just you, the water, and the clock (or your waterproof digital activity monitor). For most of us, swimming means sharing a lane in a public pool with other people and showering in a shared locker room. This is where the socializing comes in. When I …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2015/08/29/swimming-as-a-social-activity/

More Words to Live by

Life is too short to eat bland food. I didn’t come to this conclusion early in life. My upbringing was strictly meat and potatoes. It was only when I moved to Dallas and got exposed to Mexican and spicy Asian cuisines that my palate was piqued by peppers. Luckily, Julian is also fond of spicy …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2015/08/16/more-words-to-live-by/

Diets to Live By

Every so often I’m asked by people who know my nutrition background, “What diet should I be on?” Some are fishing for validation of how they’re currently eating; others want to pick a fight about the virtues of gluten-free, Paleo or Atkins diets. Then there are folks who’ve been told they have to clean up …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2015/07/25/diets-to-live-by/

An American’s Take on the French Paradox

We ate and drank very well while we were in France. Yet neither of us gained any weight while we were on the trip. How’d we manage that? We did do a lot of walking around Paris and southern France, sure. However, I think a bigger reason was the concept of assez (enough); in other …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2015/07/18/an-americans-take-on-the-french-paradox/

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