Islam y libertad personal

8 ounces (225 g) whole, raw almonds ½ teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon (5 ml) olive oil

Pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)

PREPaRatIOn anD uSE:

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C, or gas mark 4). Spread the almonds across a glass baking dish. Add the salt and olive oil and stir to com- bine. Roast for 10 to12 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and add the cayenne, if using, for extra zing. Let cool for an hour.

YIELD: aBouT a Dozen hanDfuLs

How it works: Almonds, walnuts, and other

nuts are rich in soluble fiber, keeping choles- terol from absorbing into the blood. They also contain heart-healthy fats. Cayenne has been seen to lower cholesterol, too, and protects it from oxidation.

fact or myth?

wHItE BREaD Can BE BaD FOR YOuR HEaLtH.

Yes. Its refined carbohydrates quickly raise blood sugar, which can increase blood tri­ glycerides, or fats, and elevate blood pres­ sure. Like high cholesterol, high triglyceride levels are a risk factor for cardiovascular disease.

Lifestyle Tip

Substitute olive oil for butter. Olive oil is high in monounsaturated fat, which helps increase HDL cholesterol and lowers your risk of heart disease. Butter, on the other hand, is high in saturated fat. as in red meat, the saturated fat in butter and other full-fat dairy products increases both HDL and in LDL cholesterol. while HDL is con- sidered protective, LDL contributes to arte- rial disease.

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colds

Few people make it through the winter without the familiar symptoms—sniffles, sneezes, and scratchy throat. The average adult catches two to four colds a year. Kids get at least twice that many colds. A chief reason is that the more than two hundred viruses that cause colds can survive on surfaces for hours. You push that grocery cart, borrow a pen, put away your kid’s toys and then touch your finger to your nose or eyes, and—presto, you’ve inoculated your- self. Or someone sneezes or coughs a cloud of airborne viruses in your direction. Unless your immune system is in tip-top shape, symptoms follow in two to three days.

Fortunately, you have plenty of healing allies. The strategies outlined in Part I of this book will bolster your immune defenses. And once you get sick, those pillars will support your recovery. Eat well. Unless you don’t feel up to it, you can continue to exercise, which provides natural decongesting relief. Sleep is a great healer, though a stuffy nose can interfere. To reduce the risk of picking up other peo- ple’s cold viruses or spreading yours to others, wash your hands often.

Although over-the-counter cold medica- tions can decrease congestion, they don’t cure the infection and may, in fact, prolong it. They can also create undesirable side effects. For instance, antihistamines dry and thicken secre- tions in your nose and elsewhere and make you feel even drowsier. To avoid a sinus infection, the goal is actually to thin respiratory mucus so it’s easier to clear.

The good news is your kitchen holds a num- ber of feel-better remedies. First, turn on the tap and drink a tall glass of cool water. Drink at least seven more glasses of warm liquids over the course of the day. Warm liquids are soothing, help increase blood circulation to the throat (and blood brings with it infection- fighting white blood cells), and speed clear- ance of respiratory mucus.

Next, put a kettle of water on to boil. Once it does, you have several options for recipes. You may want to try them all.

Chapter

22

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History

Long, long ago, humans were on to the fact that “colds” came in the colder part of the year, from fall to midspring. No matter the latitude or lon- gitude, from the Sahara to Greenland, the respi- ratory distress came with the colder weather. Hence the name.

But so far, experiments have failed to show that getting chilled or being exposed to cold has anything to do with susceptibility to infection. (Prolonged cold exposure is, however, stressful, which can ultimately impair immune function.)

In the eighteenth century, Benjamin Franklin, while looking into the causes of the common cold, came closer to the truth. He concluded that “peo- ple often catch cold from one another when shut up together in small close rooms, coaches . . . when sitting near and conversing so as to breathe in each other’s transpiration.”

The cause of the common cold was identified in the 1950s (though the well-known symptoms have been with us since antiquity and described in the oldest medical text, the Ebers papyrus written before the sixteenth century BCE). In 1946 in Salisbury, England, the Medical Research Council set up a group called the Common Cold Unit. Through its work, the rhinovirus was isolated in 1956 and subsequently found to be a large family of some one hundred strains—and the pri- mary cause of the so-called common cold. Other families of viruses that cause the common cold include coronaviruses, adenoviruses, parainflu- enza viruses, and more.

Given the large number of viruses that cause the common cold and the frequency with which they mutate, a cold vaccine is not very likely any- time soon. Hence humankind is still stuck with coming up with ways to cope—but happily there are quite a few!

The ease with which colds are spread remains a bit of a mystery. A prominent theory since 1984 is that people spread the virus on their hands (after wiping their nose). Starting around 2002, researchers linked low blood levels of vitamin D —a vitamin made when skin is exposed to sun- light, which occurs least during the short days of winter—with increased rates of the common cold and other respiratory infections. Since then, stud- ies indicate that adequate vitamin D intake may decrease the risk of such infections.

Traditional herbal remedies such as pep- permint (somewhat decongesting), ginger (decongesting and good for coughs), yarrow (anti-inflammatory), elderflower (antiviral and makes you sweat), sage (drying), and echinacea (immune enhancing) also help.

And don’t forget the chicken soup.

fact or myth?

YELLOw naSaL DISCHaRgE MEanS YOu’vE DEvELOPED SInuSItIS.

Actually, nasal mucus normally starts out clear and thin and becomes yellower as your immune system kicks in. The yellow comes from shed white blood cells and cells lining your nose and other debris. Furthermore, most people with colds do have, as evidenced by CT scans, sinus in­ flammation. Some people may subsequently develop bacterial sinusitis. (See Chapter 54, on sinusitis, for more information.)

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Colds

155

RECIPES tO tREat COLDS