How to Relieve Heartburn

“Heartburn” sounds like you’re a minute away from dying. And for those who have suffered from it can swear that the feeling does give you a similar sense. However, heartburn isn’t really tied to your heart. It’s caused by stomach acids somehow getting to your esophagus. Here’s how you can relieve heartburn.

Avoid. Certain food and activities do readily cause heartburn. Avoid those that can aggravate it. Things like alcohol, tobacco, certain drugs (like aspirin) and gassy and acidic foods would only make it worse.

Eat smaller meals. Large meals prompt your stomach to produce lots of acid to facilitate the breakdown of food. By limiting your portions, you also minimize the production of stomach acids.

Trim down. Added weight (or even tight pants and belts) cause pressure on the end of the esophagus making stomach acids more liable to get there.

Keep upright. If you are prone to heartburn, try keeping upright for hours after meals. Gravity will keep the food and stomach acids down.

Down antacids. You can always take over-the-counter antacids to neutralize your stomach acids. These also help protect your stomach and esophagus linings from the acid.

If you pain isn’t relieved by antacids or if other symptoms like pain and numbness in hands or a stiff neck manifests, get help immediately. That can already be a heart attack!

Meal on a Budget: Pasta

The typical college experience will not be complete unless one has undergone a budget meal phase. And if you ask former co-eds, they shall agree that there certainly are foods that are considered as college budget meal staples. And we’re not talking about mac and cheese out of the box here. And we’re not talking about some pricey Italian concoction. Here’s why you can enjoy pasta even on a budget.

Unless you’re into some fad diet where it states as a rule that carbs are evil, pasta is one food item that can be counted on as reliable in both nutrition and budget.

Aside from being a source of complex carbohydrates which provides time-released energy for the active co-ed, pasta is also abundant in folic acids. Nutritionists would say that this is something good for the nervous system.

Budget wise, pasta is relatively low in price. It is also quite versatile as pasta comes in many shapes, forms, and ingredients. There are the ever-popular spaghetti, fettuccini, lasagne, macaroni, and linguini to name a few. There is pasta that is made with milled potato, and some added with vegetables such as spinach.

Preparation is easy as long as you follow the directions on the package religiously. Mostly, all it takes is to boil about 6 quarts of water (for one pound of dry pasta). Throw in the pasta when water boils, stirring it occasionally during cooking. Test the pasta. Take one piece and bite at the end. It should be “al dente,” which makes it firm yet cooked through. One unorthodox way of testing its doneness is to fling a piece of pasta to a wall. If it sticks, it’s cooked. If it bounces off, it still has a few more minutes to cook. Drain the pasta and halt the cooking process by plunging it in an ice bath (bowl of water filled with ice).

If you need to cook it with its sauce, skip the ice bath and you have the option to undercook it by 1/3 of the cooking time stated in the package directions.

Sauces can be as easy as heating canned sauce. You can experiment with whatever is in your refrigerator. I, for one, used to sauté garlic and onion in a little oil to which I add a can of tuna and a can of tomato sauce. I throw in salt, pepper, and dried herbs and voila!

As for storage, just store uncooked dry pasta in your cupboard. It can last to a year as long as cupboard is cool and dry. If you have some extra cooked pasta, drizzle it with a little oil (to avoid sticking) and place the leftovers in an airtight container. This can last 3 to 5 days. If you want to freeze pasta, the best pasta to do so with are jumbo shells, ziti, and manicotti.

How to Rescure Failed Dessert

Attempted to bake a fruit pie but only to find out that it was a dessert disaster? Don’t worry. A little ingenuity and some innocent-looking smiles afterwards can turn your disaster into dynamite!

Dessert Rescue 1. Rescue the fruit filling, let’s say apple or peach. Layer graham cracker crumbs, the fruit filling, whipped cream, fresh fruit slices, and even a dusting of cocoa powder or chocolate shavings on top. Voila – the perfect parfait!

Dessert Rescue 2. Always keep wonton wrappers in your fridge in case of emergencies. As usual, keep the pie filling. Lay wonton wrappers on mini muffin tins. Melt some butter and brush it on the wonton wrapper. Put a teaspoon of the filling inside the muffin tin. Bake in the oven for about five minutes. This is great as kiddie party h’orderves (if you have enough).

Dessert Rescue 3. If the pie bottom is intact and not burnt, scrape the filling and set aside. Put in scoops of vanilla ice cream. Top with the fruit filling, some nuts, whipped cream, and chocolate syrup.

Dessert Rescue 4. Store the fillings in an airtight jar. Leave in the refrigerator. You can use this as pancake or waffle toppings for breakfast.

5 Natural and Organic Beauty Treatments

A lot of grooming products out there boast of being organic and natural. Well, if they are, then why don’t you just take some stuff around your kitchen. Matter of fact, why not, right? Here are some effective beauty treatments that you can do with materials that can be found in your kitchen at home:

Red Wine Bath. Nothing fancy. Just save leftover red wine from the bottle you opened for dinner last night and pour it into your bath water. Soak in your tub and let the resveratrol (an antibiotic-like substance found in grapes that makes skin firm yet more elastic) do its job.

Lemon Wash. Good for the folks with oily skin. A lemon facial wash will leave your skin feeling clean and refreshed. What you need is the juice of two to three lemons. Combine with warm water and two tablespoons of honey in a jug and shake it. Use this as a face rinse.

Milk Skin Spritz. Pour equal parts of whole milk and water in a small cosmetic spritzer bottle. Shake and spray on face and arms throughout the day, when your skin starts to feel dry. The amino acids in the milk soothe and moisturize skin.

Olive oil nail bath. Soak hands for ten minutes or so in a basin of warm water that has been with a few drops of olive oil. Good for both the nails and the skin.

Strawberry teeth. Puree about 3-6 pieces of strawberries. Swab with cotton on teeth after the usual cleaning (brush and floss). Leave the strawberry paste on for ten minutes then rinse off with water. Do this once or twice a week as a natural teeth-whitener.

5 Slump-Busters to Jolt Your Sleepy Body

Oftentimes, we feel low in energy whether at work, or just at home. Here are a few quick energy zappers to help you:

Walk around. It’s a warm quiet afternoon and you’re stuck in your office cubicle. Your mind seems to wander and you feel ever so sleepy. Snap out of it by walking around the office for awhile. If you have something important to ask an officemate, don’t call, walk to their cubicle to energize yourself.

Choose your snacks wisely. During break time, stay away from the donuts, stick to high fiber foods such as fruits and protein foods such as lean chicken, or turkey.

Read the label. When you shop for your daily diet, learn to read the labels. This will help you in the long term. Check for hydrogenated oils and trans-fat and steer clear from them. They do not provide the fuel you need for your daily activities.

Learn how to listen to your body. Some people tend to oversleep when they should have woken up earlier. This ultimately dulls their day. They feel sluggish throughout. Some people start fresh by waking early for a quick jog. But you don’t necessarily have to force yourself if you’re not a morning person. A few stretching moves will do if you regularly do it for at least 30 minutes any time everyday.

And, of course, coffee is always a good idea. Before, coffee was labeled as bad, but nowadays coffee is getting good rep due to the antioxidants it contains and the stimulation it provides for your neurons. Drinking two cups of coffee not only keeps you from energy slump, it keeps you healthy.

Controlling Your Sugar Intake

People say diabetes can’t kill you. But its complications will. You think eating candies the way you eat popcorn is not harmful? Think again. Your body does not need the extra sugar. So if you don’t watch just how much you’re getting, your body is definitely not getting the care it deserves.

Insulin is your hormone which controls your blood sugar. It helps your cell use sugar for nutrition. It makes possible the formation of fat and muscle, it stores glucose in glycogen form so you can have strength even when you starve for a little while and it stops breakdown of protein.

When your body cannot produce insulin, your glucose will build up in dangerous levels. When your blood sugar reaches above 10.0 mmol/l, it makes your urine sweet. So be very conscious of your sugar intake.

Here are a few symptoms of diabetes - You pee more often than average and you feel dehydrated. You feel stressed out and tired which is the case when you need more insulin in your body. You lose weight but in an unhealthy way. Lack of insulin will cause the body to break down and you lose muscle tissue. Among women, there might form an infection in the vagina because of bacteria and fungi buildup on blood with high sugar levels.

Definitely, a condition of diabetes should be consulted with no less than a specialist, but just so you know what you can do for your own body, adopting a healthy diet as well as regular physical exercise will help your body get through this illness.

So be sure to be wary of how much sweets you take in. If you have a sweet tooth, it might be about time that you train yourself to tune down the sugar. Try to appreciate the natural flavor of things. Sure, they might be a bit bland but at least your glucose levels won’t spike up.

One way to cut back on sugar is to cut back on carbonated drinks. Instead of putting in two lumps of sugar in your coffee, try just one. Turn down dessert if you’re already full.

Using artificial sweeteners is an option though there are a lot of controversies surrounding them.

Making Fast Food Just a Bit More Healthy

Sometimes, it’s quite difficult to resist fast food. It’s probably the grease and the salt that makes it so yummy. Especially if you’re hurrying for some quick lunch and you don’t have any choice but a hamburger and fries. Then again, those clog up your arteries and kidneys and bloat you up making you coffin-ready before you even hit 30. Despite this, you can still have a relativelyhealthier meal if you just follow these tips.

There are fast foods out there that also cater to vegetarians by havingvegetable variants of their menu. Why not limit your choices to these food items?

Request for less fatty cheese when ordering pizza or burgers. Or you can opt for a single cheese burger rather than the more calorie-laden double-cheese burger. If you can do without it altogether, then the better it is.

Choose chicken or fish products rather than beef or pork.

Avoid fries or onion rings for your side dishes. If there is a salad choice, then you would be better off with that instead. You may also want to satisfy yourself with plain salad anyway.

Try to stay away from deserts altogether or at least keep it in moderation if you are that tempted.

As for beverages, don’t even think about carbonated drinks such as cola. Ask for low fat milk, iced tea, or fruit juice. Or better yet, some bottled water would be fine.

Book Review: How Misleading Labeling of Omega-3 Foods Undermines American Health

We hear of illnesses and disabilities all the time and yet most of the time, we don’t really care. However, when reality strikes us hard and fast and we wake up on the other side of the equation, we suddenly feel vulnerable, mortal, and most of all, conscious. We start paying attention to every single detail in the way we live our lives.

Still, no one needs a rude awakening to start being health conscious. Take it from Lois Smithers in her book “The Food Industry’s Greed: How Misleading Labeling of Omega-3 Foods Undermines Health – Inflammation and Omega-6.” Smithers personally suffered from inflammation brought about by fatty acids found in Omega-6. On the positive note, a product of that ordeal is this amazing research on food labeling and Omega-3 foods.

We see those Omega-3 foods in stores and supermarkets and propaganda may have influenced us to consume them since they’re “good for the heart.” But beyond those claims, Smithers provides us with clear and easy to understand information on those details obscured by marketing and advertising schemes.

If you’re joining the health-consciousness bandwagon, then you might want tograb a copy of this book. A quick but a very informative read.

Cooking with Wine

Looking for a sizzling idea to spice up your cooking? If you’ve experimented with herbs and are ready to take on something more daring, how about using wines in your next recipes? Cooking with wine is something that’s definitely worth trying. If you’re new with this idea, and you’ve only seen it on TV, let these tips guide you into your new style.

Why use wine? Wine is enlisted in some recipes because wine brings out special flavors. If you’re strictly following a recipe, you have to follow the exact measurement, but you can add more depending on your taste buds. It’s also great for deglazing the pan while adding more snap to your dish.

Pay extra attention. If you left your cooking boil too long, most of the alcohol will evaporate. Don’t try flaming the dish too, unless you’ve got the hang of it. You don’t want to have singed eyebrows, do you?

If you’re not sure which wine to cook, use the mainstream wine. For white wine, it’s safe to use Sauvignon Blanc and for red wine, you can use Cabernet Sauvignon. Also, it is wise to not use wine which flavor you hate. Wines which are a bit fruity will make your cooking, er, fruity. So unless this is your intention, choose your wine carefully.

Don’t boil the wine when using it with meat dishes because it will make the meat tough and undesirable. You’re going for warm wine so watch the flames.

Serve the same wine. Drink the same bottle you used for cooking so the flavor will not clash. Cheers!

Throwing a Potluck Party

If you’re craving for a variety of food but you only have a budget for one dish, why not call for a potluck party? Potluck is a good way to do parties. Aside from being practical, it also has less party hassles what with all the preparations you the host have to do before the party. Let these potluck suggestions help you organize your very own potluck party. And see for yourself how easier it is.

Everyone should be given a food assignment so that they can prepare the dishes in advance. Call for a meeting and tell them that everyone will have to bring a ready dish. It means that cooking in the kitchen is not allowed. Also, handing out food assignments would prevent some of those cheap bastards to spring for the easiest ones to make.

Discuss the food preferences. The usual food during potluck parties are casseroles, cookies, pasta, and some cakes. Make sure everyone brings something delightful and special.

Appreciate the effort. So not everyone is a natural cook who can whip up a most fantastic dish. But hey, it’s a potluck party. Avoid berating any dish. Just thank everyone for bringing their food assignment.

Make sure to get everyone’s contact details before the last goodbyes. The secret to holding good parties is in establishing new friendships with new people. Your friends are most likely to bring new guests. Maximize the night by making new contacts so the next time you hold your party, you’ll have more guests, and more food bringers!

Enjoy your potluck and make sure everyone has a good time. And I bet everyone will, since all preparation is done with equal contribution.