Cool, fresh drinking water. Westerners turn the faucet on and take it for granted that good water will flow out, but in many countries fresh water is a treasure, gained by hard work. In rural villages all over the globe, people – usually women and children – fill buckets and jerry cans from a communal […]
Soy has been touted as a source of perfect protein for decades. It was believed that soy prevents breast cancer and heart disease. Women built soy into their diets as a nutritional shield against breast cancer. Soy-based baby formula was hailed as a convenient and healthy alternative to mother’s milk. In 1999, the FDA authorized […]
I confess: my first thought when I wake up in the morning is, “Yay, coffee!” It’s only one cup every day, but I feel grumpy until I get it. The good news is, the daily cuppah fills me with energy and and a good mood.The bad news is, I’m addicted. As addicted to my one […]
Sugar scrubs refresh and moisturize your skin, leaving a lovely fragrance behind. And why should you pay for a commercial product if you can make your own scrub at home? The ingredients are inexpensive, and you probably already have them in your pantry. After all, a sugar scrub is only sugar, a good oil, and […]
Considered an invasive weed in some parts, mallows are yet a valuable edible and medicinal herb. And bees love mallows flowers; that’s crucial in a world that becomes less friendly to those important pollinators by the day.
Part IV in a series of 4 on eating and healing with roses. Rosewater is the fragrant liquid left after steaming has extracted roses’ essential oils. Rose essential oil is most expensive – sometimes more costly by weight than gold. Thankfully, rosewater’s price is affordable even to ordinary budgets. Rosewater has been a resource in […]
Those convenient bags of prepared salads are breeding grounds for bacteria, so say scientists from Britain’s University of Leicester. The best defense against inadvertent food poisoning is a hearty and immediate appetite: researchers advise consumers to eat bagged salad as soon as possible after opening the package. The study, published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology, found that […]
I’m going to thank Donald Trump Jr. for providing a simple way to visualize our decisions regarding human refugees. He said that we should pretend that “those people” are skittles, not someone we could ever imagine being a loved-one– capable of thought, compassion, joy and loss as we believe of ourselves. In junior Trump’s analogy, […]
A liquid formula that goes down easy and provides you enough nutrients for the day. Would you ever start eating soylent?
Ah…a cold glass of orange juice, first thing in the morning. Gives you energy, vitamin C and zest to start the day. Right? Is that glass of juice really good for you? Maybe. What’s for sure is that juice gives you lots and lots of sugar. To start with, the vitamin C content in orange […]
Terrorists and Houthi pirates probably come to mind long before honey when people think of Yemen, but the raw Yemeni honey Balqees had for sale at the recent Masdar Festival in Dubai we visited was far and away the yummiest honey I ever put in my mouth.
Green Prophets burn lots of calories trying to make the planet a better place, but you can’t do much do-gooding if you’re dead. I’ll share a day in my week as a cautionary tale (and offer a peek into Amman’s excellent, and sometimes culturally surreal, medical system).
There are two good reasons for cooking with turmeric. The first one is that the spice’s attractive yellow color and pungent flavor satisfy the sense of having eaten real food. The second, as folk wisdom has always known, is that it’s good for you. Our previous post on turmeric vs. arthritis offers a wide view […]
A particularly virulent strain of stem rust that first struck Uganda’s wheat crops in1999 before it spread up into Sudan and Yemen, Ug99 might have met its match in a 5,000 year old weed.
Artificial sweeteners in soda and gum may have some complicated side-effects or contra-indications for people with existing health effects. But artificial sweeteners could help people beyond losing weight, cavity prevention and reducing blood sugar: a new study from Israel has found that mannitol, widely used in chewing gum, could slow down the effects of Parksinson’s […]