Beans, Beans, the Magical Food
Despite the childhood rhyme, I’m doubtful anyone ever believed beans qualified as a fruit. But are they magical? Perhaps… Growing up in a small Midwestern town, the only beans I remember devouring were either in chili, smothered in brown sugar and ketchup as baked beans, or covered in cream of mushroom soup and fried onions […]
Life’s A Peach
Finding a perfectly ripe peach while growing up in Ohio was like finding a needle in a haystack. In the Midwest in the 1980s, my family often canned peaches or turned them into jams as the few peaches we got often went bad before we could enjoy them. In the winter, I vividly remember racing […]
To Grill or Not to Grill: That is the Question
Memorial Day weekend will soon be upon us. Millions of Americans will hang their flags and clean up their grills for celebrations with family and friends. As long as you choose lean meats, grilling is a healthy choice, right? If you are concerned about fighting high cholesterol or heart disease, that may be true; however, […]
Strawberries: The Very Merry Berry
Strawberries are one of my favorite fruits, likely due to the happy memories they evoke of my mom and me heading to the strawberry patch each year after school was out to pick berries. I ate more than I picked in those days, but I loved the whole experience and the rewards of our endeavor, […]
Rethinking Mother’s Day: Give the Gift of Health
I’m not a mom (well, only to a dog), but like all of you, I have a mother and had two grandmothers. Both of my grandmothers died from cancer. Interestingly enough, I’m not sure either could have done much more to reduce her cancer risk intentionally. Neither of them used tobacco or drank alcohol. They […]
Probiotics & Cancer: Pro or Con?
By now you have probably heard of the term “probiotics.” You may even take probiotics daily – knowingly in the form of capsules, or unknowingly in foods like yogurt or kefir. But what exactly are they? And should you be taking them? Many diseases in our gut are the result of an imbalance of good […]
Easter Candy: Handy But Not So Healthy
Whether you celebrate Easter in the religious or secular sense, this Sunday you and your family may be bombarded with baskets of chocolates and marshmallow treats from the Easter Bunny. If you happen to avoid this temptation on Sunday, you may still come face to face with racks of Easter candy on sale next week. […]
Fighting Cancer Fatigue
Eating during cancer treatment can be challenging, to say the least. Nausea, taste changes, constipation, and loss of appetite can all make food rather unappealing. Aside from the loss of interest in food, sometimes it’s a struggle just to find the energy to prepare and chew food, even something as simple as a sandwich. I […]
Multivitamins & Cancer Treatment
The question of whether a patient should take vitamins comes up frequently in our clinics. Through this simple question, the patient is often truly asking two more important questions: 1) Can I or should I take vitamins with my cancer treatment? 2) Will taking multivitamins protect me from dying of cancer? At the end of […]
Soup Packed with a Punch
Rarely do I follow a recipe to make soup. It’s literally an experiment every time, and no two batches are ever the same. I guess that’s part of the fun of cooking! My goal when making any soup – whether it’s chili, bean soup, vegetable soup, or potato soup – is to find a clever […]
