Nutrition For Life

Makes 4 servings

TOTAL TIME: 25 minutes
Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce contribute a rich smokiness to this quick orange-infused barbecue sauce. Read more…

How is food allergy diagnosed?

To diagnose food allergy, a doctor first must determine if the patient is having an adverse reaction to specific foods. The doctor makes this assessment with the help of a detailed history from the patient, the patient’s dietary diary, or an elimination diet. He or she then confirms the diagnosis by the more objective skin tests, blood tests, or food challenges.

History: The history usually is the most important diagnostic tool. The physician interviews the patient to determine if the facts are consistent with a food allergy. The doctor may ask the following questions:

* What was the timing of the reaction? Did the reaction come on quickly, usually within an hour after eating the food?

* Was treatment for allergy successful? For example, if hives stem from a food allergy, antihistamines should relieve them.

* Is the reaction always associated with a certain food?

* Did anyone else get sick? For example, if the person has eaten fish contaminated with histamine, everyone who ate the fish should be sick. In an allergic reaction, however, only the person allergic to the fish becomes ill.

* How much did the patient eat before experiencing a reaction? The severity of the patient’s reaction can sometimes relate to the amount of the suspect food eaten.

* How was the food prepared? Some people will have a violent allergic reaction only to raw or undercooked fish. A thorough cooking of the fish destroys those allergens in the fish to which they react, so that they then can eat it with no allergic reaction.

* Were other foods eaten at the same time as the food that caused the allergic reaction? Fatty foods can delay digestion and thus delay the onset of the allergic reaction. Read more…

Before developing the serious health condition of type 2 diabetes, a person will almost always be pre-diabetic beforehand. But pre-diabetes is a condition without symptoms, meaning that many people can have it without even knowing it. Left unchecked, pre-diabetes can lead to full-blown type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke. Luckily, pre-diabetes can be diagnosed with a simple test, and treatment can prevent many health problems and complications. Here’s what you need to know to control pre-diabetes before it gets control of you.

Diabetes Basics
Under normal circumstances, the glucose (sugar) levels in your blood rise after you eat a meal or snack. In response, your body produces a hormone called insulin, which takes on the job of converting the glucose in your bloodstream into usable energy. But if insulin isn’t available, or if the body isn’t using it correctly, your blood glucose will remain elevated, and that can be harmful to your body. This is a condition known as diabetes. People who have higher-than-normal blood glucose levels that aren’t quite high enough to be diagnosed as type 2 diabetes are considered pre-diabetic.

Who’s at Risk?
Over 50 million Americans over the age of 20 have pre-diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association. If you have any of the risk factors for type 2 diabetes, including uncontrollable factors like age and race, and/or controllable risk factors like obesity and physical inactivity, then you are also at risk for pre-diabetes.
Most of the time, pre-diabetes is asymptomatic (shows no symptoms), but some people will experience some general diabetes symptoms like extreme thirst, frequent urination, fatigue and/or blurred vision. Read more…

Makes 4 servings, about 1 1/2 cups each

TOTAL TIME: 20 minutes
The flavors of Italy are best expressed in simplicity: a dash of spices, a little oil and dinner’s on the table in minutes—especially if you use frozen spinach and frozen ravioli or tortellini. Read more…