You know the drill – when you have blood drawn, they put the tourniquet in place around your upper arm and tell you to clench your fist a few times to get the blood flowing.  Turns out that may NOT  be the best idea, since fist clenching can create falsely high potassium levels, a finding that could lead to unnecessary further tests and treatment for impaired kidney function.  A better technique is to gently close your hand when the needle is being inserted and then open it.  Close, don’t pump, your fist.  The tourniquet, (more…)

On your way to 120/80 or lower, make sure you’re getting an accurate blood pressure reading at your doctor’s office.  It’s bad enough that 30% of machines in doctor’s offices are not calibrated correctly and just being there makes you nervous.  Sitting on the examining table with your feet dangling, arms hanging down, with sleeves on, chatting up the nurse – all of these are NO-NO’S.  Wear short sleeves, always use the same arm, and keep your arm raised and bent so your elbow is as high as your heart – the blood draw chair is great for this.  Relax with deep breaths when you sit in that chair with your feet on the ground and sit quietly without talking until the cuff comes off.  Request a second reading at the end of the visit if the first one was high. Speaking of the cuff, did you ever notice that all upper arms (more…)

Remember the Sex and the City when Samantha died her pubic hair to hide the grey and the result was Bozo Red?  Well, now there’s no-drip, good-for-your-skin classic colors to transform that faded patch or match it to your new hair color – to make the rug match the drapes, so to speak.  It’s called Betty, Color for the Hair Down There, and it’s available at BettyBeauty.com and BeautyDeals.net. 

 

Plastic bags use 70% less energy to produce, they generate 80% less waste, they take 91% less energy to recycle, and they generate 79% less greenhouse gas.  Use reusable sacks, reuse bags, or at least recycle at the supermarket.  Dishes or paper plates?  Use dishes and wash them in the dishwasher.  Even with an extra rinse cycle, the dishwasher uses 3 X less water than hand-washing or pre-rinsing!  Paper plates require trees to be cut down and will end up in landfills. 

You HAD to wonder when fiber started showing up in water, yogurt, juice, and ice cream – is all fiber the same?  The inconvenient truth is NO.  You really want “intact” fiber from foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and nuts, whole foods that contain both soluble and insoluble fiber.  The Fiber in foods like Fiber One Chewy Bars and Kellogg’s All Bran Drink Mix come from “isolated” fibers like maltodextrin, polydextrose, or inulin (sometimes listed as chicory root extract).  They may add some bulk, but these isolated fibers don’t have the food co-factors that help your body absorb and use fiber.  Bottom line: inulin, maltodextrin, and polydextrose – never mind.