50 Ways to Improve Your Life
Your Body From Food To Floss: How To Keep It In Good Shape in 2006 And Beyond: Fight Colds by Staying Warm
Mom always said, "Bundle up or you'll catch your death." Scientists have scoffed. But a study published in November will make your mother smile. Ninety people stuck their feet in chilly water for 20 minutes; 90 more kept their feet warm and dry. In the wet set, 13 reported cold symptoms afterward; only five warm-footers did. The thought, says study author Ron Eccles of the Common Cold Centre at Cardiff University in Wales, is not that cold creates a cold (a virus does) but that nasal constriction brought on by cold brakes the immune response and turns people carrying the virus with no symptoms into sniffling sneezers. Cold may indeed weaken the immune system, notes Larry Fields, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians. But he has another tip for a cold-free winter: Shun sneezers.
Your Body From Food To Floss: How To Keep It In Good Shape in 2006 And Beyond: Everyone Should Be Illuminated
A pedestrian is four times as likely to be struck by a car and killed at night as in daytime. For those who walk in the dark, there's a "magic" solution, says Michael Flannagan, who researches driver vision at the University of Michigan's Transportation Research Institute: a light or reflector. And a new generation of products for runners works fine for pedestrians. From the Brooks NightLife collection, reflective gloves ($28; brookssports.com ) make you stand out, while the magnetic LED light ($15) easily attaches to whatever you wear. And from Road Runner Sports, a neoprene armband with flashing red lights ($9, roadrunnersports.com ) makes you visible from half a mile away. And don't forget an LED collar ($14.50, sahalie.com ) for Fido.
Your Body From Food To Floss: How To Keep It In Good Shape in 2006 And Beyond: You Will Be Cross If You Do Not Floss
Stop me if you've heard this before: You should floss. Many studies have found links between disease of the gums and disease in the rest of your body. Gum disease increases the risk of cardiovascular disease. Pregnant women with gum disease are more likely to have low-birth-weight babies. And diabetics with gum disease have more trouble controlling their disease. Still not enough incentive? Picture yourself gumming grits in old age.
Your Body From Food To Floss: How To Keep It In Good Shape in 2006 And Beyond: Go for the Power of Whole Wheat Flour
Imagine serving muffins, cookies, and bread made with straight whole wheat flour and no one's suspicious. 100% White Whole Wheat Flour by King Arthur, from a supposedly less bitter tasting grain than regular whole wheat, and Ultragrain by ConAgra, milled to mimic the taste of white flour and coming to stores in '06, aim to do just that--deliver the appealing flavor of white flour with the nutrition of whole wheat.
I put them to the test, baking pizza, waffles, peanut butter cookies, and coffeecake. Tasters liked the milder, less distinct flavor of Ultragrain but preferred the crisper texture of King Arthur. In more flavorful baked goods like coffeecake and cookies, White Whole Wheat still shone while its otherwise distinct (though not unpleasant) wheaty flavor was not as prominent.
Why the difference in brands? Powdery Ultragrain often requires more liquid, which may account for its less than crisp texture; King Arthur's more granular texture explains the stronger wheat flavor. Both can be subbed cup for cup in most recipes.
This story appears in the December 26, 2005 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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