Four Mushroom Soup

Ingredients: 1 onion (yellow or white), chopped 1 T. olive oil 2 baskets white mushrooms 2 portobello mushrooms, cubed 1 oz. dried wood ear mushrooms 1 oz. dried oyster mushrooms 2 lg. potatoes, large cubes 1 sm. yam, large cubes 4 c. water 1 T. McKay’s Chicken-style Seasoning juice of 1 lemon 1 1/2 c. […]

Buckwheat Pancakes

Ingredients: 1 cup water 1/8 t. salt 1 t. oil 1/4 apple 1/2 cup buckwheat flour 3/4 cup oats egg replacer to equal 1 egg nonstick cooking spray Directions: Blend the first four ingredients until the apple is well blended. On low speed, add the last three ingredients, increasing the blender speed as necessary until […]

Pizza Dough

Ingredients: 1 package active dry yeast 1 cup warm water 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons sugar 2 teaspoons oil 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour Directions: 1. In a large bowl, combine yeast and water. Let sit for 5 minutes. Add salt, sugar, and oil. 2. Add flour and whole-wheat flour. […]

Focaccia

Ingredients: 2 T. fast-acting yeast 2 cups lukewarm water 2 T. sugar 2 T. olive oil 1/3 cup vegetable oil 1 t. salt 5 1/2 cups white-wheat flour 3 cloves garlic, crushed 2 T. olive oil for topping 1 T. whole rosemary 2 t. kosher salt for topping Directions: Dissolve the yeast in water. Add […]

Rx: BFF

Recently when my schedule was particularly hectic, a friend sent me a greeting card advertising a hotline for stressed-out people. To reach this hotline one dialed 1-Need-to-Cope, and the following automated menu came on the line:

To hear a primal scream, press 1.

To record your own primal scream, press 2.

To play it back, press 3.

For a list of ideas on how to get revenge, press 4.

To order a stress survival kit for $500, press 5.

When I opened the card, it read “To reach a friend who’ll understand, dial my number.” Under my friend’s signature was his phone number.

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Natural Help for Fibromyalgia

Natural Help for FibromyalgiaWe all get tired. Most of us have experienced sadness or mild depression at times. And who doesn’t feel achy and stiff every now and then, especially after a weekend of sports or yard work? But for those with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS), these debilitating symptoms occur daily for months to years on end, and are relentless, causing poor quality of life.

What is Fibromyalgia Syndrome?

Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is a complex rheumatic-type disorder characterized by widespread pain, decreased pain threshold, and incapacitating fatigue. These symptoms affect millions of Americans, mostly women ages 25 to 60. In fact, women are 10 times more likely to get this disease than men. While there is no specific laboratory test or abnormal X-ray finding to diagnose fibromyalgia, the symptoms of the disease can be successfully treated once a proper diagnosis is made by a physician.

Years ago it became apparent to doctors that patients (usually women) who told of having muscle pain, achiness, fatigue, disordered sleep, anxiety, and depression were harboring a distinct syndrome, or collection of symptoms, that make a disease. Yet in test after test the results were always normal. Even in recent years doctors simply sent these patients home.
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Forever Young

In a recent U.S. News and World Report article titled “10 Health Habits That Will Help You Live to 100,” sandwiched between suggestions to floss your teeth and stay connected with your friends, was a piece of surprising advice: “Live like a Seventh-day Adventist.”

Not long before that article was published, the national best-selling book The Blue Zonesrecognized Loma Linda, California, as one of the world’s longevity “hot spots” because of its high concentration of Seventh-day Adventists.

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Simple Creative Salads

Salads at home once meant iceberg lettuce topped with a few carrots and perhaps a tomato. A salad was just a bland diet food or a precursor to a meal. Not so today. With all the varieties of greens now available at the supermarket, it has never been easier to make a healthy and tasty salad.

To turn a plain-Jane salad into a spectacular dish, just pick a blend of greens and add your favorite ingredients. It’s that simple and the possibilities are infinite when it comes to the delicious and healthy salad creations you can make. So let these recipes inspire you to get creative in the kitchen and enjoy a great salad every day.

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How to Make–and Keep–Healthy New Year’s Resolutions

It’s a new year, and it’s that time again for making resolutions. Most of the popular picks for yearly resolutions are related with health.

Many people are motivated as the New Year begins, yet once again they eagerly set goals and objectives only to be faced with disappointment. Why is it that resolutions fizzle out, and come and go like the fad of the latest pair of jeans?

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Thinking About Drinking Milk?

As scientific investigators have traced the causes of heart disease, cancer, arthritis, migraines, and digestive problems, the least likely suspect had to be milk. We poured it on our cereal, pushed it on our children, and couldn’t imagine it to be anything but healthful. But more and more researchers now view milk with skepticism about its benefits and concern about its risks. They are linking the epidemics of prostrate cancer, digestive problems, and other ills to our habitual consumption of specific foods including-and especially-milk.

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