This quick Southern dish contains no added fat and very little added salt in its spicy tomato sauce.

• non-stick cooking spray as needed
• 4 medium chicken breast halves, skinned, boned, and cut into 1-inch strips*
• 1 can (14 oz) tomatoes, cut up**
• 1 cup chili sauce, low-sodium
• 1½ cups green peppers, chopped (1 large)
• 1½ cups celery, chopped
• ¼ cup onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp fresh basil or 1 tsp dried
• 1 Tbsp fresh parsley or 1 tsp dried
• ¼ tsp crushed red pepper
• ¼ tsp salt

1. Spray a deep skillet with non-stick spray coating. Preheat pan over high heat.
2. Cook chicken in hot skillet, stirring, for 3-5 minutes, or until no longer pink. Reduce heat.
3. Add tomatoes and their juice, low-sodium chili sauce, green pepper, celery, onion, garlic, basil, parsley, crushed red pepper, and salt. Bring to boiling; reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes.
4. Serve over hot cooked rice or whole wheat pasta.

*For convenience, you can use uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breasts.
**To cut back on sodium, try low-sodium canned tomatoes.

Yield: 4 servings
Serving size: 1½ cups

Each serving provides:
Calories: 274 - Total fat: 5g - Saturated fat: 1g

Source: Health.gov

Although this is the first human study to indicate such an association, it’s still unclear if the anesthesia is the culprit, or if some other factor is at play.

“We don’t want to alarm parents,” said Dr. Robert Wilder, lead author of a study appearing in the April issue of Anesthesiology. “We have an association here between kids who received two or more anesthetics in surgery and an increase in learning disabilities, but we don’t have clear causality that it was the anesthetics that caused the learning disabilities.”

“Even if I knew for a fact that anesthesia might be increasing the risk for learning disabilities, my advice would still be, if your kid needs to have surgery done, they’re better off having the anesthetic,” added Wilder, who is a consultant in anesthesiology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and an associate professor of anesthesiology at the Mayo Medical School. “Of course, you don’t want to submit your kid to any unnecessary surgical or medical procedure, but that would have been my advice before studying this.”

Prior animal studies have suggested that anesthesia drugs might affect the developing brain.

One study last year found that youngsters under the age of 3 who had hernia surgery showed almost twice the risk of behavioral or developmental problems later compared to kids who hadn’t had surgery. Researchers suspect that exposure to general anesthesia during these operations might have played a role in the jump in risk.

Other studies have demonstrated a similar link. Still, the authors of this study said it’s unclear if anesthesia really affects this risk in children.

One expert noted that the issue is of utmost concern to anesthesiologists.

“This is more information on an area that has been of intense interest to anesthesiologists,” said Dr. Randall Clark, chairman of the American Society of Anesthesiologists committee on pediatric anesthesia and chairman of anesthesiology at Children’s Hospital Denver. “We’re all very concerned about this and working hard to see if has implications for human infants, but we don’t have any clear evidence that that’s the case yet.”

“Research is this area is ramping up dramatically, and we are working with the FDA [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] to get answers to these questions,” he added.

And, Clark noted, “very little of total elective surgery is done in the age ranges where we think children might be of risk. These are needed procedures and, to the best of our knowledge, the need for the procedure would outweigh what we now know are potential risks.”

The authors of this latest study scoured the educational and medical records of all 5,357 children born in five towns in Olmsted County, Minn., between 1976 and 1982, and who had lived in the same county at least until the age of 5.

Generally, the children who had been under anesthesia had received halothane and nitrous oxide (laughing gas). Halothane is no longer available in the United States, according to the study, but it has been replaced by newer drugs, although these work by similar mechanisms. Nitrous oxide is used widely in this country.

Children’s brains are still rapidly developing during these early years of life and are therefore very vulnerable to insults, the researchers noted.

The team said that just one exposure to anesthesia did not up the risk of developing a learning disability before the age of 19. Two exposures, however, increased the risk by 59 percent, while three or more exposures increased the risk by a factor of 2.6. Children who stayed under anesthesia for longer periods of time also faced a greater degree of risk.

But the association could also be due to the stress from the surgery itself or to the fact that children who undergo multiple surgeries at such a young age are sicker and therefore more likely to develop learning disabilities in general, the study suggested.

If future research does point to the anesthesia as the guilty party, new anesthesia agents may mitigate the effect.

But, Wilder pointed out, “even though finding new drugs might be the holy grail, that won’t be easy.”

More information

Visit the American Society of Anesthesiologists
By Amanda Gardner
HealthDay Reporter

(SOURCES: Robert Wilder, M.D., Ph.D., consultant, anesthesiology, Mayo Clinic, and associate professor, anesthesiology, Mayo Medical School, Rochester, Minn.; Randall Clark, M.D., chairman, American Society of Anesthesiologists committee on pediatric anesthesia, and chairman, anesthesiology, Children’s Hospital Denver; April 2009, Anesthesiology)

TUESDAY, March 17 (HealthDay News) — National guidelines urge all Americans to engage in “moderate physical activity” at least 2.5 hours a week, but what does that mean if you’re out for a stroll?

A new study provides the answer: It’s equivalent to a brisk walk, or about 1,000 steps every 10 minutes.

“Now we know what moderate is,” said the study’s lead author, Simon J. Marshall, an assistant professor of exercise and nutritional sciences at San Diego State University. He suggests that people use pedometers to figure out if they’re exercising at a high enough intensity.

The U.S. formerly recommended that people get 30 minutes of moderate exercise at least five days a week. But last fall, Marshall said, officials changed the guidelines to simply say that people should exercise 150 minutes a week.

“They dropped the per-day recommendation because there wasn’t a compelling argument that people who exercised four days a week were any worse off than those who exercised five days a week,” Marshall said.

For walkers, however, it was not quite clear what “moderate” activity meant, although some exercise specialists suggest that people walk 10,000 steps a day.

“Most people are familiar with the recommendation to get 30 minutes of exercise most days,” said Dr. David Katz, director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University School of Medicine. “Fewer people know that needs to be moderate intensity, and fewer still know what that means.”

In the new study, researchers enlisted 58 women and 39 men, with an average age of 32, to walk on treadmills while a machine measured their energy expenditure. The idea was to determine what level of activity was in the moderate range.

The findings of the study, which was funded by the federal government, appear in the May issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

The researchers found that moderate exercise amounted to 92 to 102 steps a minute for men and 91 to 115 steps a minute for women.

“It’s a bit like a brisk walk,” Marshall said. “If you can imagine you’re late for a bus, you’re in a hurry. It’s not a leisurely stroll, it’s a brisk walk.”

People may find it easiest to use a pedometer to measure their walking speed because it can be difficult to count steps and walk at the same time, Marshall said. “When you get above 50, you’re trying to focus on what you’re doing and where you’re going.”

There’s one caveat though: The study found that about half of the pedometers on the market aren’t accurate. Marshall said he would still recommend that people use them, however. Japanese-made models appear to be the most reliable when it comes to accuracy, he said.

The researchers said that three 1,000-step walks in a day, five days a week, would meet national exercise guidelines.

“Even walking below that threshold will usually have some benefit to your overall cardiovascular balance sheet,” Marshall said. “But for reducing your risk of cardiovascular disease and other complications, the 30 minutes of moderate exercise seems to be important.”

Katz said he suspects that some people will discover that they “need to take it up a notch.”

“On the other hand, our advice has long been that ‘moderate’ is a pace that noticeably increases heart and breathing rate while still leaving you capable of speaking in full sentences,” he said. “That is still about right. No pedometer required.”

SUNDAY, March 15 (HealthDay News) — Two new reports show that food allergies can be a burden on a family’s finances and even its vacation plans.

The studies, expected to be presented in Washington, D.C., at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, demonstrate how these common conditions can have a wide impact on a family’s quality of life.

In looking at the lives of thousands of caregivers to children, researchers at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Arkansas Children’s Hospital Research Institute in Little Rock found that caregivers with a food-allergic child were more likely to stop working, reduce work hours or incur financial problems.

This appeared most often at a critical juncture, often when the child was not receiving necessary medical care, such as prescriptions or help from a specialist. As a result, food-allergic children had twice the chance of not getting proper specialist care, the study found.

The study’s authors suggested that the financial burden caused by food allergies might be diminished if children with food allergies and their families received needed support and care.

A second study found that most families that have members with food allergies limit their vacation destinations because of the condition, with 90 percent saying it causes them to vacation only in the United States.

In studying questionnaires filled out by 410 people with a food-allergic family member, researchers found that 68 percent of participants limited where they went and more than a third avoided certain types of transportation, such as ships and planes.

Concern about having adequate medical care at a vacation spot was the most common parameter on vacation location, the researchers found, suggesting that tourist spots may want to have better access to medical care and arrange for special accommodation for those with food allergies.

Nearly all participants said they would not vacation in a remote location. Japan, India, China, Africa and beach resorts in foreign countries topped the list of places those surveyed said they doubted they would visit.

When they did travel, about half said they would eat most meals in their room, and more than 80 percent would ask for special meals if their vacation spot could accommodate them. When preparing to go, most also packed extra emergency medicines and allergen-free food, and almost half researched the location of the closest hospital to their destination.

Our friends at Diet Success Secrets have put together an A-Z guide to diets and meal plans so you can select one that will suit you best.

A-Z Guide to Diet and Meal Plans

Here are 5 easy steps that you can take to help you lose weight and stay healthy;

1. Make sure you commit to your eating and exercise habits. 2. Eat regularly. 3. Don’t over eat. 4. Don’t eat after 8:00PM 5. Do take your vitamins

Staying healthy is common sense. If you eat 4 hamburgers, a slice of pizza, 2 liters of pop, etc. for supper every night YOU ARE NOT GOING TO LOSE WEIGHT.

Some people say to eat 5-6 small meals a day, but in all honesty who has the time to plan out that many meals and find the time to eat them? Unless you’re on some sort of training program this is unrealistic for the average person. You are best to stick with the old 3 meals a day plan, hey if it worked for our parents and their parents, etc. then I’m sure you can do it too.

Here is an example of what you should be eating
in order to “start” to lose weight. I do say start mainly because once you do get down to the last 10-20 pounds that you want gone the only way to get rid of this extra flab and tone up is exercise, but I’ll talk about that in my next article. Here is a very general, basic daily meal plan; Breakfast (7:00AM-8:00AM) – Must be eaten within 1 hour of waking up in the morning. Items – Cereal, Toast, a bagel, peanut butter sandwich, instant breakfast mix or an energy/protein bar Lunch (12:00-2:00) – Eaten no more than 5-6 hours after breakfast. Items – Basically anything goes for lunch just try not to over do it and have the whole pizza or the supersize meal with an extra burger. You want to try and look for something that has a fair amount of protein in it but fewer carbohydrates than what you had for breakfast. Less than 40g of carbs or there abouts. So anything with chicken, steak, hamburger, spinach, broccoli. Pasta is ok too but try to switch it up, pasta one day, chicken the next. Dinner (5:00-7:00) – This is where you have to really watch what you eat. The top 4 things you want to stay away from are: Potatoes, Pasta, Bread and Rice. These are all high carb foods and you don’t want to eat anything with a lot of carbs in it before you go to bed. This is the hardest part of the day since this is where most of the meals contain those top 4 things. If you can refrain from eating carbs at night YOU WILL LOSE WEIGHT.

Explanation: Carbohydrates are are better consumed in the morning as the average person will burn them off by simply doing normal day to day activities, such as taking the stairs and walking. If you can limit the amount you eat before you go to bed then you will continue to burn them off naturally and they won’t turn to fat.

The hardest part of any life change is sticking with it. If you can create the habit by maintaining these healthy choices for two weeks you will see a change. It’s not a diet, it’s not a miracle weight loss program, this is a lifestyle change not a miracle diet cure. Of course any lifestyle needs flexibility, so if you find yourself in a situation where you may have to carbs for dinner, cut them out at lunch that day or the next to make up for it. The most important step for success is to treat yourself. Do not deprive yourself of that bowl of ice cream you have been craving once a week set aside a day for a treat. You won’t be sorry. With this basic plan you will feel and look better in no time!

Author: Brad Lyon

• Wash your hands frequently or, better yet, use an alcohol-based hand cleaner.

• Exercise at least four days a week. Regular moderate exercise boosts your immune system and helps to prevent infections. Intense exercise, on the other hand, can suppress your immune system and increase your risk of infection.

• Get plenty of sleep. The average adult needs seven to eight hours per night.

• Lighten up and laugh. Laughter seems to enhance immunity while stress dampens it.

• Recent data suggest that vitamin D is important for immune system function. Be sure to take 800 to 1,000 units per day. (Some people may need more, but check with your doctor first.)

• Gargle! A study published in 2005 showed that the simple act of gargling with plain water at least three times a day not only reduced the incidence of upper respiratory tract infections by 36 percent but also reduced symptoms in people who did get a cold.

If, in spite of your best efforts at prevention, you find yourself coming down with a cold or the flu, here are a few other things that may help:

• The herbs echinacea and astragalus may each help to reduce the symptoms and duration of a cold, though the data are mixed. Try just one at a time and go for a standardized product whenever possible. _Take vitamin C; 250 to 500 milligrams twice daily may reduce the duration of symptoms by a day or less. The herb elderberry, sold as Sambucol, may help to reduce the symptoms of influenza.

And of course, if you have any persistent or worrisome symptoms, be sure to check in with your doctor.

Source: Health Club List

The Pros:

As mentioned, creatine has been reported by many to be an effective supplement in muscle growth and bodybuilders are among the top consumers of this product. Because creatine is able to make energy readily available for muscles during workouts, it enable bodybuilding enthusiasts to workout for a longer duration and this has help in the rapid muscle gain.      Beside this, creatine has also been reported to be beneficial in some medical illnesses.

1. Creatine is found to improve muscle strength, and lean body mass in people suffering from neuromuscular disorders, which are characterized by muscle weakness, and wasting.

2. Creatine may also help in lowering cholesterol level in people with abnormally high concentration of lipids in their blood

3. There are some preliminary studies, which suggests that taking creatine as a supplement along with the usual medical care for congestive heart failure patients had significant improvement in their symptoms and a marked increase in exercise capacity compared to those on placebo.

4. Creatine also seems to help relieve muscle weakness in arthritic patients.

The Cons

There are certain side effects of creatine reported which include nauseous, vomiting, gastrointestinal disturbance like diarrhea, gastric upset, muscle cramps and dizziness. However, some studies done have shown that these so-called negative effects of creatine is caused mainly by improper consumption of the creatine.      Also, there is lacking evidences to support its use on a long-term basis and many are thus wary and hesitant to take creatine long term.

Author: John Decker

1. Watch portion sizes. Your craving will likely be satisfied after you have finished a small order of fries, and you’ll save over 100 calories when compared with the supersized order. The same holds true for sandwiches. Order the regular version or even a kid’s meal for yourself.

1. Seek out deli-style fast food chains where you can order a sub or sandwich on whole wheat bread or a wrap, a lower-fat and lower-calorie option than fried food.

1. Many fast food chains now offer healthy sides in place of the ubiquitous French fries. Take the healthy option. Or, if you can’t bear to give up the grease and salt, get the healthy side order too.

1. Always order a side salad when eating at traditional fast-food outlets. You will be less likely to fill up on only the unhealthy items, and the salad will provide some fiber and vitamins to balance an otherwise unhealthy meal.

1. Remember that chicken isn’t always a healthy choice. Many fast food chains offer fried breaded chicken sandwiches on white bread that are actually richer in fat and calories than a burger. Grilled chicken is a better option.

1. Make it a habit to eat a piece of fruit, a bowl of cereal, or some lowfat yogurt before you set out to run errands. Regular eating can help you feel full and avoid temptation.

1. Stock your car with bottled water and healthy snacks. Have a small snack before the cravings hit, and you’re less likely to pull into that drive-through fast food outlet.

1. Consider a supermarket for your fast food break. You can pick up precut and washed fresh fruit or vegetables, yogurt, or lowfat cheese. Many supermarkets also offer sushi or other healthy prepared items.

1. Hold the mayo. A tablespoon of regular mayonnaise has almost 100 calories!

1. Don’t add a sugary, calorie-rich drink to an already unhealthy meal. Water is available everywhere and is good for you. Drinking a large glass of water with your meal will help you feel fuller earlier.

Medical Author: Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD
Source: medicinenet.com