7 Surprising Benefits of Chewing Gum

Hubba Bubba has a soft texture and long-lasting flavor

For much of my adult life, I've been a gum chewer often craving a stick after dinner. Why I really don't know ... out of habit? Another piece of personal trivia: I have yet to need a root canal and I asked my dentist if chewing gum somehow prevented my ever having to have a root canal. He said, nope. There's no proven cause and effect relationship, but cavities do thrive in a dry mouth so chewing gum does help to keep your mouth lubricated, which may be beneficial. Drinking water helps prevent cavities.

It turns out that human beings have been chewing gum since the beginning of time ... starting with tree sap. The phrase "Chewing the fat" derives from an old Eskimo practice of chewing whale blubber like bubble gum, which takes a long time to dissolve. Nowadays chewing gum is made of elastomers (rubber-like substances), resins (plant or synthetic), waxes, oils, flavorings, and sweeteners ... and chewing it may have 7 Surprising Health Benefits:

1. Chewing gum can reduce stress and drowsiness when people are working or studying for exams. There's evidence to suggest the activity can lessen anxiety and depression. Perhaps similar to exercise, movement in general, diverts and channels your immediate worries, plus keeps you alert!

2. It has been shown to boost memory in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) tests by increasing blood flow to your brain.

3. Chewing gum increases salivation to clean food particles off your teeth and fight plaque, and your saliva also carries phosphate and calcium to help strengthen enamel.

4. An ingredient in gum, xylitol, a sugar alcohol with antibacterial properties, seems to prevent ear infections in children. Brands that contain xylitol include Pur, Spry, Xylitol, Stride, Orbit, Pure, Mentors, Icebreakers, and some Trident varieties. Yet be wary of too much of a good thing: Over 50 grams of xylitol may cause diarrhea or gas in some people, and the ingredient is toxic to dogs.

5. A stick of gum after dinner can lower the acid levels in your esophagus and thus help reduce acid reflux and heartburn.

6. In 10 studies using 1,659 participants, chewing gum helped to jump-start digestion and intestinal function after surgery.

7. A small research study with 46 adults found that chewing gum improved eye focus and so helped the participants see more clearly, however, scientists will tell us it's too small of a sample to be conclusive. It is very interesting.

Dentists like the xylitol, often an ingredient in sugarless gum. They also prefer chewing sugarless to sugared gum, but say if you chew gum containing sugar make sure you chew long enough to clean the sugar off your teeth. 

I tend to carry a few packs of gum when I travel in case I'm someplace where I can't brush my teeth after a meal. Who likes to have food particles in between your teeth? Nobody, it's safe to say!

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How Many Grams Of Protein Should You Eat?

Photo: iStock free images

Since childhood, we've been told proteins are the main building blocks of the body. Every body part you can think of from muscles and organs to skin, nails, enzymes, and hormones is made of protein. And, what makes up protein? Smaller molecules called amino acids that link up to form chains. These chains of proteins link into longer chains to fold into complex shapes forming organs, muscles, hair, etc. (Source: Healthline.)

According to Healthlne, the best sources of protein are meats, fish, eggs, dairy products, quinoa, legumes, and nuts.

Aminal sources of protein are complete proteins as they contain all 20 amino acids. Many plant sources like legumes have some, but not all 20 amino acids and need to be combined with whole grains (or a glass of milk) thereby also becoming excellent sources of complete proteins. Bean soup with cornbread, peanut butter on slices of whole grain bread, and hummus on pita bread are tasty combinations forming complete proteins. 

So how many grams of protein do people need to eat each day to stay healthy? Well sources differ on the amounts, but a general consensus seems to be to get at least .36 grams of protein per pound of body weight; therefore a 130 pound woman would need about 46 grams of protein, while a 160 pound man would need about 57 grams of protein per day. Another recommendation is to eat 3 meals a day with each meal consisting of 30% - 35% of your daily protein requirements.

Doctors also note: A high protein diet can help dieters by decreasing their hunger and thus food intake and calories per day. Older people may benefit by eating as much as 50% more than the recommended daily grams for an average man or woman. Pregnant women and people recovering from injuries also seem to need more protein than the average person.

Although it was once speculated that too much protein could damage one's kidneys, this notion was never supported by science, and the benefits of consuming more protein far outweigh any feared harm.

When it comes to selecting foods to eat to meet your daily protein needs, follow your tastes and preferences and mix it up. Variety is the spice of life, and by rotating food you'll likely consume all the nutrients your body needs.

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A Cautionary Tale: Toe Nail Fungus

Here's a cautionary tale: A savvy friend did a bad thing because she had a momentary lapse of good judgment. At T.J. Maxx she slipped her bare feet into a pair of very cute toe-shaped water shoes. Well, nobody is perfect, however, this one and only time is all it took to catch a nail fungus (a/k/a onychomycosis). She says she never tries on shoes in stores barefooted, but since the water shoes were shaped like real feet, she made an exception because her sock didn't fit into the shoes and she was unsure whether to go up 1/2 size. Still, she knew better! 

Her nail fungus began on the big toe of one foot, but since she had zero experience with this disease, at first she didn't know what was the matter with her big toe ... and so repeatedly soaked her feet in a moisturizing foot bath to treat it, thereby spreading her nail fungus from one big toe to all 20 of her digits, fingers and toes. Yikes!

Her doctor says there is no quick cure for nail fungus, and it is very contagious! If the fungus is on the skin or in-between the toes, it is called Athlete's foot.

The remedy to heal a nail fungus is to swallow a prescription drug called Tervinafine, one tablet per day, for 6 months or longer. Although rarely, Terbinafine can cause liver damage. While taking it, a patient must have a blood test monthly to ensure the drug isn't affecting the liver. Holy Moly!!

My friend recommends also painting a coat of liquid solution with 25% undecylenic acid plus sprinking foot powder containing 2% miconazole nitrate on the nail fugus extra remedies before sticking your feet into socks or sandals.

Geeze! A second of error ... 6, 8, 9, ??? months of medicine and doctor visits to cure it. Is it worth it? No.

As of yesterday, this savvy friend who had a momentary lapse of good judgment is not experiencing any problems with Terbinafine, but golly, let the example of her momentary lapse of good judgment stop the rest of us from trying on rack shoes barefooted that other people may have tired on! I'm sure I've done so a couple of times over the years myself. Boys and girls, just don't do it! Never, ever, um, um, um!! Our moms were right!!!

Other safe practices to keep foot/nail fungus away include: Always walk around public pools or gyms in flip-flops. Use a disposable foot bath moisturizing boot only once, then toss it out. Reusing it is not worth the money saved. 

Many thanks to my friend for sharing her story. The lapses of our friends remind us not to suspend our own good judgment. As my father (quoting Sam Levenson) always said: "Learn from other people's mistakes. Life is too short to make them all yourself!"

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Dried Plum Pudding/Fruit Spread

With 3 pounds of dried plums (don't ask😁) I'm looking at plum recipes. One for prune pudding from Southern Living looks promising. It's more of a topping or fruit spread than a pudding, and I used dried plums, not dried prunes ... but close enough! Prunes are dried Italian plums ... not as juicy or round as regular plums. You see both at the grocery store. Below is the tweaked recipe.

Dried Plum Fruit Spread (or pudding if you will:)

Ingredients:

1 cup dried plums, tightly packed

2/3 cup sugar (I used 1/3 cup of this Stevia mixture.)

1 star anise

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

3 tablespoon cornstarch

Juice of 1 lemon (I cheated with 2 tablespoons of bottled lemon juice.)

Directions:

1) Soak the cup of dried plums in a saucepan with 2 cups of boiled hot water for 1 hour. They plump up.

2) Next turn on the heat, bring to a boil and simmer for 8 minutes.

3) Let cool down and transfer to a food processor or blender, add another cup of boiled hot water and pulse a few times to break the plums down, leaving some chunks. Return to the saucepan.

4) Remove 1/3 of the mixture and put it into a separate bowl to make a cornstarch slurry. This step is to avoid cornstarch lumps in the sauce.

5) To 1/3 of the plum mixture, add the juice of one lemon and stir it together. Next add 3 tablespoons of cornstarch and mix until smooth. Set aside.

6) To the main pot of plum mixture in the saucepan add 2/3 cup sugar, cinnamon, cardamom, and star anise. Stir to combine. Turn the heat back on and simmer for 5 minutes.

7) While it's simmering, pour the cornstarch slurry into the main plum mixture in the pot and continue stirring. After it thickens, remove the star anise and let the pudding/fruit spread cool. 

Store in a canning jar and use it on toast or whatever else you like. The plums will give you fiber, vitamin C, and heart-healthy phytochemicals to lower inflammation.

Although not an English cake (which the Brits call pudding), plum pudding/fruit spread seems very European with subtle flavors! Stay tuned for other plum recipes as my kitchen becomes plum city for a while.💜

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Introducing Saffron

In gourmet food stores, as well as T.J. Maxx, I see a spice that has intrigued me for years: Saffron, and yet I leave it on the shelf. As it turns out, saffron is the most expensive spice in the world, costing between $500 - $5,000 a pound. Unsurprisingly then that so little of it is always in the jar. The reason for its high price tag is the spice is very labor-intensive to harvest. Saffron derives from the Crocus sativus flower and the tiny thread-like flower blossoms (called stigmas) are each picked by hand. It takes 75,000 stigmas to make a pound of saffron.

Recently as I placed a Walmart order for spices Badia's Sazòn with Saffron (a salt) popped up on the screen, so I decided to put it in my online shopping cart (at $2.99!). Like the saffron flower blossoms, the salt is bright orange. 

After it arrived, I dicovered I've tasted this spice in Maxican cuisine and like its distinctive flavor in meat, rice, potatoes, stew, and soup. 

Saffron is thought to have several health benefits. It contains plant compounds that act as antioxidants to fight free radicals. It seems to reduce depression, PMS symptoms, and anxiety. There are claims the spice makes people more amorous. Not only can saffron alter mood in the brain, but it also reduces inflammation in the body. Research (that requires further studies) suggests it may have some cancer, heart attack, and Alzheimer's prevention properties also. And, it may reduce appetite to help with weight loss.

When eating a normal amount of the spice in food, saffron has no known side effects. Consuming too much of any good thing is bad, but with the cost of saffron, it's unlikely to be a practice in most households.

Next on my list of tastes to try is another expensive condiment I've never had, namely truffles. Several days ago, I saw dried truffle in the spices at our newly opened Trader Joe's for a few bucks. There's my chance!😁

What would you like to try?

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Fermanted Foods Boost Our Immune System

Photo: 1,2,3RF

After years of reading about the power of fermented foods, I now drink 1/2 cup of homemade kombucha daily ... or try to eat kimchi, sauerkraut, yogurt, or pickled vegetables (includes green pickles, i.e., baby cucumbers) -- alternating them into a given week of meals. Cider vinegar contains a few probiotics and can be turned into a delicious vinaigrette salad dressing. Fermented foods, a source of natural probiotics, help to rev up our immune system by keeping our gut microbiome healthy and balanced.

According to Dr. Vincent Pedre, author of 'Happy Gut,"and quoted in Better Nutrition magazine, "Seventy percent of our immune system is located in our gut lining." It's the area where ''the immune system is programmed," he states in the article (October 2021 issue). 

Fermented foods introduce good bacteria that fight the bad bacteria (microbes), which can also live in our gut microbiome. We carry about 4 pounds of microbes in our gut to help us digest our food. 

{Although not qualified to know having not gone to medical school, I wonder if some of the people who have irritable bowel syndrome would benefit from eating fermented foods. For sure, it won't hurt them and possibly balance their gastrointestinal tracts.}

Paraphrasing the article, fermented foods increase the variety "of microbes in the gut and decrease levels of 19 inflammatory markers in the blood." Dr. Pedre claims good bacteria helps to ''protect us from having a runaway inflammatory immune response" if we get an infection. In addition, eating fiber helps to maintain good gut bacteria and improves its performance.

As Dr Pedre explains, the combination of eating fermented foods and a high fiber diet gives us the best defense in fighting off colds, flu, and even COVID-19.

If not already eating fermented foods, consider including them in your diet ... but start slowly (for example, consume 1/2 cup of kombucha or 2/3 cup of pickled vegetables or 1 cup of yogurt in a meal -- mixing it up over a week). Let your digestive system adjust to the addition of fermented foods to your diet. Don't suddenly shock your gut with a ton of probiotics by eating too much of a good thing in a single day. Over time, you can increase your intake of fermented foods without the side effects (i.e., having to run to the bathroom).

Getting your probiotics by eating fermented foods is better and less expensive than taking probiotic pills. Food gives you organic probiotics in the right amounts.

On occasion, I make kimchi, less often yogurt, and pickle my own black olives; and now regularly I make kombucha. It's surprisingly easy ... as well as, interesting to learn how, so give it a try.

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Diet: Safe, Simple And Sustainable

Photo: New York Times

When it comes to dieting I'm with Dr. Jen Ashton, a doctor on ABC News, who says, "A diet should be safe, simple and sustainable." Such sage advice! In my own life, I find if a meal consists of 30% protein I don't suffer with hunger, and I try to mix up the foods I eat over the course of a week. 

By habit, I eat 3 meals per day and a snack at night. I try very hard not to snack in-between meals, yet haven't be able to give up my nightly snack!

Photo: UNC Lenoir

Ideally, we're supposed to eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper, but that order doesn't work for me. My order is eat breakfast like a pauper, lunch like a prince and dinner like a king. I suffer and starve if I eat dinner like a pauper! If in Europe I think I could adapt to eat lunch like a king and dinner like a prince, but never dinner like a pauper! It's easier for me to eat breakfast like a pauper.

Photo: Beauty on Raw

Another habit of mine is to alternate between different colors of fruits and vegetables each day, so for example, if I eat carrots and a banana one day, I have broccoli and a peach the next, followed by green beans and a pear on the 3rd day and cauliflower and an apple on the 4th. Strawberries, blueberries and raspberries are free food ... I can eat them as many times and days in a row as I desire.

Carbohydrates, such as bread, potatoes, rice, pasta and corn I hold off eating until dinner. The reason I do this is the more carbs (or starches) I eat, the hungrier I get. I hate being hungry in-between meals, as I'm sure everybody is! Younger, I made the mistake of consuming pretzels around 4 pm, which did nothing for me, but increase my appetite. Nowadays I'll have coffee or tea with milk if needed in the afternoon to prevent daytime snacking. This usually stops me from getting hunger until dinner.

Go to Healthline: eat and avoid

Yes, I eat sweets and drink wine, but not daily and not too often. They are treats. The wine I might have twice a month; and sweets (2 bites of chocolate; or an ice cream cone) perhaps twice a week. Luckily I'm more of a salt and/or cheese snacker, which I think is easier to incorporate into a meal. 

My cheat food, French fries, I eat every time I order a burger or fried fish platter regardless of time of day. No French fry gets left behind!🍔🍟🐟

This summer, I'm eating smaller servings of meat than in the fall and winter and more plants. We'll see how it goes. I'm also leaning towards ketogenic foods (i.e., a keto diet) and will see what that does for me. I use the term leaning towards, because I need all my food groups to feel satisfied, but I'll eat the "avoid foods" in smaller amounts like one piece of bread, not two. A 3/4 cup of corn, not 1 1/2 cups; and no banana or rice (triple dipping) on the same day as bread, corn, or potatoes, etc. You get the idea! I select one starchy food per day; and cow's milk stays on the menu. 

Frankly I wish we didn't have to put so much damn thought into what we eat, but as we move into the different decades of our lives we do! A trifle of pie for the pie hole, less cake to partake!😄 The weight is just too darn hard to get off, so it's better we don't put too many extra pounds on. Despite our more mindful eating habits, we still aren't as skinny as we once were when we could eat whatever the hell we liked! Yet, I refuse to give up and let myself go, and you should too. It's a matter of health and vanity. Yes, both ... I won't lie. Middle age spread begone! Don't come around here no more!!!🎵♩♪

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Photo: Shot of Prevention

Luckily I had a great primary care doctor a few years ago who was proactive and started me on the road of proactiveness! He retired and was replaced by another good doctor, a female this time, who I now see. I go for an annual physical, which you should not forget to do despite our fears and heightened focus on COVID-19. 

Of course you get your vitals taken and your blood drawn, but equally important, I receive excellent preventative care. One year my old doctor gave me a tetanus shot, which I had no idea I had to continue getting as an adult. The next year, he said his new target was childhood disease antibodies, and I'm sending your blood to the lab to see which ones you've had. Sure enough the report showed I had never had the mumps, so off I went to get vaccinated against it. Mumps ... if your listening, you're wasting your time as I've got the mumps' antibodies in my system now that will annihilate you without ever having been sick!

Photo: uhc.com

Several middle aged people I know who had chickenpox as a child, got shingles as adults, also called herpes zoster, an acute and painful inflammation of the nerve ganglia, with a skin eruption of blisters. It is caused by the same virus as chickenpox and lives in your body until it decides to rear its ugly self to make you sick again!

Eckkk! It's such a creepy-looking illness, you should google it. I can't bring myself to upload the image here. And more seriously, getting shingles has the possibility of leaving a few lingering aftereffects. If the rash breaks out close to your eye, it has the ability to blind you. Some people report ongoing sensitive or painful nerves in their bodies after the rash, itself, is gone.

If COVID is doing anything positive, it reminds us of the wonder and importance of science. How lucky are we to have available vaccines to avoid many infectious diseases that in earlier times killed many people, including children, and left others with lingering complications. Who the hell needs it???

Photo: cdc.gov

Go get your vaccines people if you haven't already. First for COVID and while waiting for the necessary time period to pass for its optimal effectiveness, make an appointment with your primary care doctor, so together you can determine what other preventitive vaccines to get next. Know what lies ahead of you so you're on top of your health. Invest the time in your health, dear readers! It's cheaper and a smart way of insuring a good quality of life! Nobody wants to get sick when they don't have too! 

Also, if you don't have a trusted primary care doctor, find one! Start by checking with your health insurance (online perhaps?) to bring up a list of providers who accept your policy. We all need gentle nudges to stay aware and healthy.

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How To Protect A Pinky Toe?

 

Sorry ... in no way will the following blog be sexy. It's about how aging changes your tootsies when once upon a time, they never gave you any problems.

Ouch! My feet are getting battered, and I don't know what to do about it. We walk everywhere in New York City on hard, unforgiving concrete.

But I'm on top of it! I always wear structured shoes (brands like Merrell and Vionic) with good arch support and stabilized heels. Round, roomy toe boxes, and my shoes seem to be the right size. Supportive flats, not high heels (except perhaps once a year), plus I'm not walking as much as I did before the pandemic. Yet my feet are taking a real beating, especially the inside of the pinky toe on my left foot! Short of wearing band-aids, what can I do to protect it?

Once in a while, I experience painful arches, or an ache in the front part of my foot also, but not often nor severe enough to worry yet. Not quite yet!! If such a pain in the front of of your foot is severe and frequent, then it's time to think about a condition called Morton's Neuroma, which 1 in 3 people have. Women can get it from wearing high heels or a narrow toe box which I have rarely done!

Of course the main reason to explain what is happening is, my feet are aging right along with the rest of me. Regardless of how sensible our footwear, our parts start to wear out! As we grow older (beginning around the age of 45 or so), we lose the fat padding on the bottoms of our feet that protects them from daily pounding, which is why we can't walk barefoot on hard floors anymore without foot pain. 

Years ago I also learned I must buy leather shoes (skipping manmade materials) to avoid many shoe, i.e., foot problems. So let's check that solution off.

What's more, nearly all of my shoes have insoles to provide extra padding. So gezz-Louise, what more do I have to do on a daily basis? After my little toe became so raw and inflamed it felt like it would fall off, I began wearing band-aids, as well as, protective gels to buffer it from my other toes. After years of peaceful living side-by-side, the 4 bigger toes no longer play nice with the little one!

You know, I'd like to walk out of my apartment without too much fanfare. Must I start wrapping my pinky toe every day now!?! 

I've stepped outside of science and am trying 15 minutes of yoga toes each day too in an effort to save the pinky toe! I'm out of ideas.

Do you have any ingenious products to help prevent foot problems? Help ...

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Avocados The Healthy Snack

As most of us know, an avocado is considered a superfood. A powerhouse of nutrition, the fruit (not a vegetable) is actually a berry with a creamy texture and mild flavor. It consists of unsaturated good fats. Good fats help the body metabolize vitamins A, D, E and K. 

The pear-shaped fruit, itself, provides dietary fiber and nearly 20 vitamins, minerals, and healthy phytonutrients (a substance found in some plants believed to prevent disease), including vitamins E, C, K, B1, B2, B6, niacin, folate, phosphorus, magnesium, zinc, copper, manganese and pantothenic acid.

Photo: Target

I did not grow up eating avocado and when I first tried one in college, didn't think much of its mild flavor. Back in the day, avocados were also expensive! Luckily nowadays, we regularly import them from Mexico, making avocados plentiful and relatively cheap. I can find them for about $1 each, and I could eat big bowels of avocado in the form of guacamole until it comes out of my ears. But! At 240 calories per avocado, they are not low in calories. However due to their health benefits, not to mention deliciousness, they are not to be skipped.

If I want to limit myself to half an avocado, I simply cut one and eat the half with a spoon topped with hot salsa or Louisiana hot sauce. If I decide to make a meal out of it, I will make guacamole and have it with saltine crackers or tortilla chips. 

Here is my recipe -- double, triple, or quadruple etc. as needed:

Guacamole

Photo: Williams-Sonoma 

Ingredients:

A ripe avocado, smashed

1 tablespoon of finely diced onion

1 plum tomato, smashed and finely diced

a squirt of lime (or lemon) juice

red pepper flakes to taste (or a fresh jalapeno pepper roasted 1st and diced)

a sprinkle of garlic powder

Salt and pepper to taste

Optional: A squirt of extra virgin olive oil is tasty, very healthy but more calories. You decide.

Directions:

1) In a bowel, squirt the lime juice on the finely diced onion and tomato and let it marinate for 15 - 20 minutes. Taking this extra step makes better guacamole.

2) Toss the remaining ingredients into the bowl and throughly mix using a fork. Blend well leaving the consistency a bit rustic. It's that easy!

Avocado toast is popular, though I never make it. Linked below are dishes and ways I use avocado especially as we move into a warm climate. 

On a hot summer evening, a glass of red wine combined with guacamole, olives and a cheese platter is one of my favorite weekend dinners! Include celery, carrot and bell pepper sticks for a satisfying smorgasborg of textures and tastes. Although you don't have to cook to eat healthy be mindful of portions!! Low-calorie, crunchy, raw vegetables help in this effort!🥑😁

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Take a look at a snack I love too much, so will pause buying it at Target for a while:

When in my panty, it tortures me until every last cracker is eaten. That's not nice after welcoming it into my home!😠

Note to self: Eat more avocados not cheese crackers!🙂

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