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Gail Monaghan shares her addiction to Dosas, the wafer-thin oversized crepes from South India. I can attest they can be addicting. What I didn’t know is how easy they are to make, and customize. Had to post as a reminder to make up a batch.The recipe was from the Wall Street Journal.
By Anya Martin, MarketWatch These changes could not come at a better time for corporate road warriors. Those who travel more than 20 days per month are likelier to suffer from obesity and other health problems, according to a study of 13,000 workers by Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. Here are seven new health trends to watch for when deciding where to check in. Healthy Break-Outs and Team-Building
Event planners have booked Lambert’s Wellness Kitchen classes as elective programming during conferences, as networking opportunities and even executive team-building sessions, she said. Many Hyatt resort properties also offer wellness-minded break-out options for meeting groups such as yoga in a chair, led by spa staff, or 10- to 15-minute neck, back and shoulder massages, Carucci said. Allergy-Free RoomsWhile most hotels have 10% or fewer smoking rooms, you may end up in one if you arrive late and all nonsmoking rooms are booked. To avoid that risk, check FreshStay.com which lists more than 5,000 completely smoke-free member hotels including the entire Marriott MAR -0.03% and Choice chains.
About 250 hotels in North America, including many familiar chains, offer PURE rooms, which cost about $20 to $25 more per night, said Brian Brault, chief executive of Pure Solutions North America LLC, which developed the product. That’s a fivefold increase since early 2010 when only 50 hotels embraced the concept, he said. The most frequent PURE room guest is a male business traveler with allergies or asthma, according to a company study. Paraben-Free Amenities
A type of chemical often used as a preservative and antibacterial agent in personal-care products, parabens may trigger skin allergies in some people and have been found to mimic estrogen, which plays a role in the development of breast cancer, in some studies. Over the past few years, driven by consumer concern, some cosmetics manufacturers have removed the chemicals from their products. Organic, Locally Produced FoodBeyond low-calorie, low-fat choices, hotels also are incorporating more locally produced, natural and organic ingredients into their restaurant and room-service menus.
In-Room Fitness EquipmentAbout 21% of luxury hotels, 17% of upscale hotels, 15% of midprice properties, 7% of economy and 4% of budget hotels offer in-room exercise equipment, according to a 2010 American Hotel & Lodging Association survey of 8,500 hotels nationwide.
In-room options are especially appealing to women travelers, who may have security concerns about exercising alone in a hotel gym late at night or worry about being seen in workout clothes without make-up by colleagues and clients, he said. For example, Hilton Garden Inn guests can check out a Stay Fit kit, including a Pilates band, yoga mat, strap and bricks, an eight-pound abs ball, hand weights and a resistance rope. They can also purchase on demand work-out video programming. At Omni Hotels Resorts, their Get Fit Kits feature dumbbells, floor mat, stretch cord, mini-AM/FM headset and water bottle; or you can book a Get Fit Room with a treadmill. Smartphone Apps
Complimentary GPS armbands help runners monitor their heart rate, course and distance, and find their way back to the hotel. “We try to provide two different routes, a 2-mile route and one … up to 7 or 8 miles,” she said. Staff Nutritionists and Wellness CoachesSome hotels have personal trainers in their gyms; others employ wellness coaches or nutritionists. You can book a class or individual counseling session with Paulette Lambert, a registered dietician and nutrition director of the California Health & Longevity Institute at The Four Seasons Westlake Village, near Los Angeles. In the hotel’s Wellness Kitchen, Lambert teaches guests tips for healthy travel, plus how to prepare heart-healthy dishes when they return home, such as miso grilled salmon with bok choy or roasted beet salad with avocado and asparagus.
Anya Martin, based in Decatur, Ga., writes for MarketWatch.
In a small scale trial, based at North Sichuan Medical College and Hospital in China, 52 patients who had suffered traumatic brain injuries, and who were being treated in the intensive care unit (ICU), were either treated as usual or had their nutrition supplemented with probiotics. Suppression of the immune system can be measured by an alteration of helper T-cells (Th) from Th1, which stimulate the action of macrophages to fight infection, to Th2. Th2 cells recruit B-cells which in turn are involved in antibody production. This switch from Th1 to Th2 leaves patients vulnerable to infections including ventilator-associated pneumonia and sepsis. Researchers involved in this trial monitored the TH1/Th2 switch by measuring levels of the Th1-associated signaling molecules (cytokines) IL-12 and interferon gamma (IFNy). No differences were found between the groups of patients when they began the trial, and throughout the study all the patients had lower levels of IL-12 and IFN? than uninjured healthy controls. However by day 15 the patients who received the probiotics had significantly higher levels of both IL-12 and IFNy than the control patients. They also showed a decrease in the Th2-associated factors IL-4 and IL-10. Prof Jing-Ci Zhu, the supervisor of this study from the Third Military Medical University School of Nursing in China, explained, “Probiotic treatment appeared to swing the Th1/Th2 balance back towards normality and, in our study, had beneficial effects. Possibly due to the small size of our study there was no significant difference in the number of infections between the groups (9 for the probiotic group, 16 for the control patients). However probiotic therapy reduced the number of infections occurring after seven days, reduced the number of different antibiotics needed to treat infections, and shortened the length of time the patients were required to stay in ICU.”
The Study Researchers led by Prof. Graessel, from Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen, included in their study patients with dementia from five nursing homes in Bavaria. After random selection, half the patients were included on the year-long MAKS ‘intervention’ consisting of two hours of group therapy, six days a week. In addition all patients maintained their normal treatment and regular activities provided by the nursing home.
After 12 months of therapy the MAKS group maintained their level on the Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale (ADAS) and, even more importantly maintained their ability to carry out activities of daily living, while the control group all showed a decrease in cognitive and functional ability. Prof. Graessel explained, “While we observed a better result for patients with mild to moderate dementia, the result of MAKS therapy on ADAS (cognitive function) was at least as good as treatment with cholinesterase inhibitors. Additionally we found that the effect on the patients’ ability to perform daily living tasks (as measured by the Erlanger Test of Daily Living (E-ADL)) was twice as high as achieved by medication. This means that MAKS therapy is able to extend the quality of, and participation in, life for people with dementia within a nursing home environment. We are currently in the process of extending these preliminary results to see if this prevention of dementia decline can be maintained over a longer time period.” Full bibliographic information Non-pharmacological, multicomponent group therapy in patients with degenerative dementia: a 12-month randomised, controlled trial, Elmar Graessel, Renate Stemmer, Birgit Eichenseer, Sabine Pickel, Carolin Donath, Johannes Kornhuber and Katharina Luttenberger, BMC Medicine (in press). When I first saw this I couldn’t wait to try it. Now for those of you who don’t cook and remain unimpressed after watching, stay with me on this. It’ll be worth your while. For my friends and all of us who love to cook – and crowds are perfect for this trick – I couldn’t wait to try this at home as they say. I was dismayed to learn that I didn’t have two identical large steel bowls. Do not underestimate the importance of this. The escape velocity needed to separate the cloves from the peels falls off dramatically as you decrease bowl size. That’s physics for you. After trying all sorts of vessel combinations that really didn’t work all that well, (or sound like island marimbas) , I resigned myself to using two 8″ steel mixing bowls. That’s all I had that matched and I could still keep hold of. This video takes place in Saveur Magazine’s test kitchen. I only mention it out of jealousy and the urge to remodel our kitchen. The video is only a minute. With 8″ bowls, you will get an aerobic workout. Not counting checking the bowl every 45 seconds for over 5 minutes before I stopped counting, I’d say don’t try this at home. Why are they still laughing at me? For those who don’t cook and your still with me after watching the video, then you’re probably wondering just how far a little garlic can take you. So let’s just say you don’t cook yet. I predict that you will. You do like to eat though, don’t you? Garlic has been integral in cultures and cuisines throughout the world. You probably have a favorite garlic dish or a restaurant to go to for a garlic fix. You’re remembering tasting it right now, aren’t you? There”s even a garlic festival for people like you – willing to be seduced by how far they can take this garlic thing.. Tasty is a very good place to start. But what if you just want to be popular or come off your meds and you’re not quite ready to make a serious garlic commitment just yet?. Not to worry. Here’s the Nutrition News 5 Step Guide To Dating and Garlic.. Step One is modeled on following the lead of the party hopper in the taco bell party pack commercial. Only you’re gonna kick it up a notch adding your personal touch by bringing two large steel bowls and a bunch of garlic bulbs to your next party. I guarantee you’ll be noticed! That’s the first step to getting a date, a job or being popular for that matter. (And you won’t be nearly as lame as the guy in the commercial who brings plastic food to a party). Yeah, that’s pretty scary but not as scary as the 60% of our food supply that’s processed and uses unlabeled genetically modified organisms, on industrial farms that use the vast majority of antibiotics now leaching into our water topped by the growing number of chemicals and food additives the FDA says is “safe”. If you’re still on track, Step two is reprise the one minute garlic video. (Tip: I assume if you’re gonzo enough to hunt down two large steel bowls, you’ll practice at home. Nuf said.). When the applause dies down and you’re the envy of everyone in the room -(think most interesting man in the world, you know the one women want to dine with and men want to grill with? Ok maybe we’re getting off track). Step three is to ask the crowd for favorite garlic recipes. Everybody who has one is in. At this point you’re home free. That’s your garlic tribe. You’ve just created a movement in three minutes or less. Congratulations on playing the “Is It Healthy?” Game. Step four, acknowledge the brilliance of the crowd with a “Let’s Go” while promenading toward the kitchen. Don’t worry! Your tribe will be comfortable in the kitchen. Step five is to preside as garlic master of ceremonies. After the stunt you just pulled, no one will expect you to do anything other than what you want to anyway. So just relax and be cool. Watch and learn. Ask questions. To help turn you into a polished garlic aficionado, here are some interesting facts and garlic lore.(Warning: No garlic vampire connections). One of the most interesting stories about garlic involves an incident that has been referred to as the first labor strike. Egyptian records show that in 3748 B.C. the slaves stopped work on the pyramid of Cheops because they had not received their garlic ration. They believed they needed it for strength and courage. (Evidently the situation was rectified by management). Garlic has been part of the we are the 99% for millennium!! Tasty, cross cultural touch points connecting us to each other through our food, plants, nature and place.You get all that from a few cloves and you’ve just seen how quickly at hand they can be had! You probably expected us to lead with the health benefits of garlic.You could spend a career investigating garlic’s chemistry and unique antioxidant properties and many have. No one has seen a compound, synthetic or natural react so quickly as a powerful antioxidant.When garlic’s active ingredient, alicin breaks down it yields sulfenic acid. When sulfenic acid touches radicals, the antioxidant effect is as fast as it can get. It’s limited only by the time it takes for the two molecules to come into contact. Garlic is like antimatter to free radicals. If you don’t cook you probably don’t eat much garlic. If you’re still resisting cooking, there are a variety of garlic formulations available as nutritional supplements. So let’s recap the benefits of garlic: 1- cause of the first recorded labor strike. 2 – Cool kitchen trick. 3 – New way to meet your future spouse. 4 – zillions of tasty garlic recipes. 5 – massive health benefits including the fastest acting known antioxidant, anti-candida, anti-cancer properties. What’s not to love? Garlic is the king of herbs. Go with a winner. Still unconvinced? I didn’t think so. So how far do you think you can take this garlic thing anyway? Post your replies and suggestions. That’s how easy it is to play the “Is It Healthy?” Game. |
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When Destination Hotels & Resorts launched its 
