'tips' posts

Chicken soup and orange juice are popular home remedies when a cold or flu strikes. But can certain foods really make us feel better, or is it just folklore?

“There is no clear consensus about whether or not certain foods can help us ward off or relieve illness,” explains Richard Lindquist, M.D., Medical Program Director at Swedish Weight Loss Services. “However, certain foods do contribute to overall health, and that can help us withstand exposure to illnesses.”

The body needs energy to fight off illness, and good foods like healthy proteins, and antioxidant-rich, bright colored fruits and vegetables, provide that energy. And what about Grandma’s chicken soup? 

“Although a Nebraska Medical Center study did conclude that chicken soup appeared to help participants fight off colds, I wonder whether or not other factors like a healthy diet or regular hand washing contributed to these outcomes,” says Dr. Lindquist. “However, chicken soup combined with plenty of rest and fluids can’t hurt when you’re feeling under the weather.”

One thing we can be sure of is that eating the wrong foods can certainly contribute to us become ill. “If we are deficient in protein, vitamins and nutrients, our bodies are less able to fight off illness,” explains Dr. Lindquist. “Additionally, foods that cause us to put on extra weight are detrimental to our immune system. Excess fat tissue causes inflammation in the body, which compromises our immune system and makes us vulnerable to viruses.”

Even if we’re eating the right foods and avoiding the wrong ones, cold and flu viruses are highly contagious and can attack even the healthiest individuals. For this reason, it’s a good idea to take other steps to protect yourself. “The best thing you can do to prevent illness is to avoid exposure to infectious sources,” advises Dr. Lindquist. “The next best thing is making sure your immune system is up to par, and that includes good nutrition.” Some tips for avoiding, or at least decreasing, your exposure to illness include:

It is that time of the year when we get together with family and friends at Thanksgiving to eat heaping platefulls of turkey with greasy gravy, green bean casserole and rich pumpkin pie with whipped cream. How about seconds! This can be a difficult scenario for someone with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). People with GERD may be bothered with very troublesome symptoms after ingesting large amounts of rich food.

What is GERD?

Gastroesophageal reflux disease or GERD, as it is commonly called, is a condition where you are bothered by burning chest pain behind their breast bone. This commonly occurs after meals or during the night. You also may experience regurgitation of gastric contents up into the throat, causing coughing and difficulty breathing. It may be common for many people who usually do not have GERD problems to have some GERD symptoms following a large Thanksgiving meal. Other people, however, may have these symptoms on a much more frequent basis.

What causes GERD?

With the swallowing process, food ...

Your mental and emotional health are just as important as physical health—it’s difficult to have one without the other. As we here in the Pacific Northwest face a very apparent shift in seasons from summer to fall, the concept of change and adjustment is all around. Learning to adjust to the change in weather offers important lessons in dealing with the continual changes we face in life.

If you’re a native or adopted Washingtonian, seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is probably not a new concept to you. This type of depression occurs during the fall and winter months when there is less natural sunlight. It is a yearly affliction that is slowly creeping up on many of our friends and neighbors. Treatments like light therapy and anti-depression medication can help, but what if your changes in mood isn’t SAD? What if your changes in mood aren’t from changes in season?

As we all know from our own personal life experiences, change happens and whether we know it or not, it’s happening all the time. Some changes are small and we are able to “go with the flow;” other times, change can really throw us for a loop. So how do you deal with life-altering change and make the most out of it?

Change ...

Perhaps a recent flip of the calendar and a gentle drop in the thermometer has reminded you that it’s time to transition from the hassle-free and spontaneous raw meals of summer to the grounding and planned dishes autumn warrants. Despite claiming that we enjoy this season of change and appreciate the opportunity to readopt routines and schedules, most likely we will get lost in our obligations, stretch the limits of our clothing seams, let the darkness of the early setting sun bury our guilt for abandoning the gym, and then collectively and excitedly gear up for fabulous health resolutions when the clock strikes midnight on December 31. Kidding. In all seriousness, I hope you can utilize the following tips and suggestions for transitioning to fall foods while successfully avoiding the seamstress.

Fall Favorites

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No, that’s not a typo. Flu season is upon us. As summer vacations end, kids go back to school and work picks up again, things can get a little cuckoo. The added stress tied with more contact with people as we head indoors to escape the cooling weather mean that we are more likely to get sick.

Germs like the flu love two things: weaker immune systems (thanks, stress!) and people in close contact with each other.  Schools and offices (two of the most cuckoo places this time of year) are ideal breeding grounds for the flu, which still kills tens of thousands of people every year. The bright side of this is that the flu is preventable!

Here are the top four ways to keep from getting sick this season:

In celebration of Halloween, let me share with you some of the freaky foods finding their way into my kitchen!

Foods that go ‘boo’ – Kombucha (kom-BOO-cha)

“Whoa” shrieks the clerk as the checkout belt delivers a frightening surprise before him. “That’s absolutely disgusting. Is that a brain?” Since I couldn’t stop laughing to explain to this nauseated clerk what exactly was living in the glass jar in his hands, let me at least take a stab at convincing you that it’s really not that freaky, and in fact might be pretty good for you.

• What it is: Kombucha is ....

A voice is an amazing thing.

With our voice, we convey information, express emotion and provide entertainment. We each have our own unique vocal ‘fingerprint’ that allows our friends to recognize us when we call them on the phone. We rely on our voice to win a debate, negotiate a contract, reassure a frightened child, and to celebrate a victory. Our tone conveys honesty, anger, happiness and fear. A song can inspire a spectrum of emotions, and recall past memories.

So how does our voice work? And what do you do when it doesn’t work?

Voice is produced when air is pushed up from the lungs to the level of the vocal cords. The vocal cords vibrate, producing sound. The vocal cords tense, lengthen and stretch to produce different frequencies. The sound is then shaped by the upper airway to add resonance and articulation resulting in speech or song.

The vocal cords themselves are thin bands of tissue over muscle. They sit within a framework that has a complex nerve supply and multiple paired muscles that allow very nuanced changes in vibration of the vocal cords, well demonstrated in professional singers.

Subtle differences in vibration or movement can ...