Chew on This Daily: A Shitake Mushroom and a Pomegranate-Date-Date Pit Cocktail Can Also Keep the Doctor Away

A daily dose of pomegranate juice and dates can do wonders for the heart. Archive photos.

YOU know the old saying, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.”

But if you’re tired of eating that Red Delicious or Royal Gala, chew on a shitake mushroom. Or how about a cocktail of pomegranate juice and dates? According to two, separate studies the aforesaid can keep the medicine man at bay, too.

First, the shitake mushroom. Essentially, the study showed that by eating one, four-ounce serving of the Asian fungus a day, 52 healthy adults between the ages of 21 and 41 had a stronger immune system. Of course, a stronger immune system makes a body less susceptible to illness because it can defeat many and various strains of viruses that might take it upon themselves to attack.

Incidentally, the researchers disqualified vegans and vegetarians from the study. They also required participants to restrict their intake of alcoholic beverages because alcohol suppresses the immune system. Further, they asked participants to avoid foods, supplements and probiotics that strengthen the immune system.

In short, a shitake can be good to you and possibly better for you than you thought. To that end, gussy it up a la Shitake Mushroom Brown Rice from Aaron McCargo Jr. of the Food Network show, Big Daddy’s House. Or soup it, sauté it, sprout it, or sandwich a shitake mushroom to your hearts delight. (see video above; http://www.bit.ly/1LqyjHy)

Shitake Mushroom Brown Rice
1 tablespoon sesame oil, for frying
6 shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced
1 cup brown rice
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup mushroom broth
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/4 cup scallions, sliced

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large cast iron pan add 1 tablespoon oil over medium heat. Add all the remaining ingredients and combine. Cover with a lid and place in oven for 30 minutes. Fluff rice when ready to serve.

For dessert, consider a four-ounce glass of pomegranate juice, three dates and their pits. That daily quantity is the precise amount that will decrease the likelihood of hardening of the arteries, another team of researchers discovered.

Hardened arteries can cause a heart attack or stroke, and high cholesterol is one of the causes of hardening of the arteries.

Shitake Mushroom Brown Rice. Yum! Photo courtesy of Food Network Web site.

In this second study, one of the researchers asked a “what if” question to reach a life-saving discovery. Taking into account that both pomegranate juice and dates have cholesterol-fighting antioxidants, what would be the outcome if these two Middle Eastern foods were combined.

And EUREKA! The two different strains of antioxidants worked better as a team than they did individually in lowering cholesterol.

Drink up! Eat up!

Visit http://www.bit.ly/1JdyIfV to learn more about the mushroom study; visit http://www.rsc.li/1NtVSCK to learn more about the pomegranate-date study.

How to Really Treat Them, Now That Toenails Are Out and About

Toenails can be everything from whimsical to demure, but they should always be healthy. Archive photo.

FOR the next few months, toes will be front and center. Whether turned out in nude or a full riot of color, toenails should look good.

Like fingernails, which are exposed year-round and are generally less an afterthought, toenails should also look healthy and be healthy – even under four coats. A true professional – podiatrist Coleen Napolitano – discloses how this can be achieved.

An associate professor at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, CN says toenails, unlike fingernails, should be kept short for good reason. Toenail contact with the a of the shoe can cause an escalating series of problems: discoloration, blisters, infections and – yikes!, ouch! – toenail loss. (See video below).

“By following a few simple guidelines, you can keep your toenails healthy while also looking great in sandals,” says CN.

For instance, since the toenail should extend no farther than the end of the toe, cut so that only a sliver of white is left at the end of the nail. Go shorter, if you do high-impact activities such as running and Zumba classes.

Nail salon professionals always advise using a base coat to preserve the manicure / pedicure. Another reason that goes to aesthetics is to avoid discoloration. This is especially good advice to heed for those who favor bright colors like Heartbreaker red from the new company, Chrome Girl, launched last year by Melissa Ravo and Jaime Boreanaz.

Chrome Girl's Heartbreaker and other bright nail polishes should go on after the base coat. Photo from Chrome Girl Web site.

Incidentally, Heartbreaker and all Chrome Girl product are 5-free. That is, sans the harmful, harsh and dangerous Camphor, DBP, Formaldehyde, Formaldehyde resin and Toluene.

Ever wonder why technicians ususally cut the nails when they are wet? Because they are softer, thus more pliable. In other words, easier to cut. For home pedicures, a cut is ideal after a bath or shower.

CN recommends cutting nails with clippers that look like wire pliers because they don't leave jagged edges or cut deeply like those old clippers that often come in nail care kits. Any beauty supply store would carry the plier type.

Now that the nails are cut use an emery board to smooth edges and be sure to file in one direction instead of back and forth. OK, clear away nail dust and get ready to coat and polish.

Keep toenails short to avoid blisters and other problems. Archive photo.

So you rely on a nail salon for the care of your toes, do you? Then you won't be doing any polishing. For salon jobs, CN offers some common-sense caveats:

* Patronise only salons that are clean. If you have doubts about cleanliness when you walk through the door, turn around and walk back out;
* Ask management what method is used to clean the salon's instruments. The best is autoclave, a high-pressure steam process. A solution is fine, too, as long as instruments are sterilized after each use;
Plier-shaped nail cutters do the best job. Archive photo.* Do not use the whirlpool footbath if you have open sores;
* Let salon management and staff know if you are a diabetic or are taking a blood thinner.

Now, it's toe and tell time.

Visit http://www.chromegirl.com/index.php?route=common/home to learn more about Chrome Girl products.