Chart of the Day: Nutritional Comparison of Cow’s Milk and Unflavoured Plant-based Beverages

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The Coup in the Dairy Aisle . . . . .

Dark Chocolate Brownies with Peanut Butter Filling

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter
8 oz semi-sweet dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1/8 tsp salt

Filling

3/4 cup peanut butter
1 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp milk

Method

1. Melt butter and chocolate in saucepan over low heat or in microwave on high in 20 second intervals. Stir to combine.
2. Meanwhile, using mixer, beat peanut butter, icing sugar, vanilla and milk together on medium speed to form a thick crumbly mixture. Set aside.
3. Pre-heat oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a 9-inch square pan with parchment paper.
4. Whisk both sugars into the melted and cooled chocolate mixture. Add eggs one at a time, whisking well after each addition. Whisk in vanilla. Fold in flour, cocoa powder and salt.
5. Spread half of brownie mixture into pan. Take large chunks of the peanut butter filling and flatten with your hands. Lay flattened pieces in a layer on top of the brownie mixture in the pan. Spread remaining batter mixture over top.
6. Bake brownies for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack. Slice into squares or desired shapes.

Makes 16 squares.

Source: Manitoba Egg Farmers

M&M’s Introduces Three New Flavours for 2019

The new flavours are all internationally inspired and they include Mexican Jalapeño Peanut, English Toffee Peanut, and Thai Coconut Peanut.

Fungal Infections – Protect Your Health

Have you wondered about your chances of getting a fungal infection? Here are 10 questions you can use to understand fungal infections, learn how you can get sick, and know what you need to do to stay healthy.

Fungi are everywhere. There are millions of different species of fungi on Earth, but only about 300 of those are known to make people sick. Fungal infections are often caused by microscopic fungi that are common in the environment. Fungi live outdoors in soil and on plants and trees as well as on many indoor surfaces and on human skin.

Mild fungal skin infections can look like a rash and are very common. For example, ringworm is a skin infection that’s caused by a fungus, not a worm! Fungal infections in the lungs can be more serious and often cause symptoms that are similar to other illnesses, such as the flu or tuberculosis. Fungal meningitis and bloodstream infections are less common than skin and lung infections but can be life-threatening. Because the symptoms of fungal infections can be similar to other illnesses, proper diagnosis and treatment are often delayed. The more you know about fungal infections and your chances of getting one, the better prepared you can be to protect your health.

10 Questions to Help You Learn Your Chance of Getting a Fungal Infection

1. Where do you live and travel? Fungi that can cause serious infections are more common in some parts of the United States and world. For example, the fungus that causes Valley fever (also called coccidioidomycosis) is found mainly in the southwestern United States. Histoplasmosis and blastomycosis occur most often in the eastern United States. These infections usually cause a lung infection that is often mistaken for flu or a bacterial infection.
2. What types of activities are you doing? Harmful fungi can be found in air, dust, and soil. Histoplasma grows especially well in soil that contains bird or bat droppings. Activities like digging, gardening, cleaning chicken coops, and visiting caves can result in you breathing in fungi that may cause infection.
3. Do you have a dog or cat? People can get ringworm from their pets. Dogs and cats with ringworm sometimes have circular, hairless patches on their skin or other types of rashes. Adult animals do not always show signs of ringworm infection.
4. Have you recently taken antibiotics? Antibiotics can make women more likely to get vulvovaginal candidiasis, also known as a vaginal yeast infection. Women who are pregnant and have weakened immune systems also are more likely to get this condition. Men also can get genital candidiasis.
5. Are you taking any medications that affect your immune system? Medications used to treat conditions like rheumatoid arthritis or lupus may weaken your immune system and increase the chance of getting a fungal infection.
6. Are you living with HIV/AIDS? People living with HIV/AIDS may be more likely to get fungal infections. Two well-known fungal infections associated with HIV/AIDS in the United States are oral candidiasis (thrush) and Pneumocystis pneumonia. Worldwide, cryptococcal meningitis is a major cause of illness in people living with HIV/AIDS.
7. Will you be hospitalized? In the United States, one of the most common bloodstream infections in hospitalized patients is caused by a fungus called Candida. Candida normally lives in the gastrointestinal tract and on skin without causing any problems, but it can enter the bloodstream during a hospital stay and cause infection.
8. Have you recently had a transplant? People who have recently had an organ transplant or a stem cell transplant have a greater chance of developing a fungal infection while their immune systems are weakened. Doctors prescribe antifungal medication for some transplant patients to prevent fungal infections from developing.
9. Are you receiving chemotherapy or radiation treatments? Cancer treatment, such as chemotherapy and radiation, weakens your immune system and may increase the chance you will get a fungal infection.
10. Do you have symptoms of pneumonia that are not getting better with antibiotics? Fungal infections, especially lung infections like Valley fever, histoplasmosis, and aspergillosis, can have similar symptoms as bacterial infections. However, antibiotics don’t work for fungal infections. Early testing for fungal infections reduces unnecessary antibiotic use and allows people to start treatment with antifungal medication, if necessary.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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Fungal Diseases . . . . .

Waist-to-chest Ratio Helps You to Calculate How Much Dangerous Belly Fat You Are Carrying

Miranda Larbi wrote . . . . . . . . .

Belly fat is the most dangerous kind because it can smother and put pressure on our vital organs.

But how can you tell if you’re carrying too much of it or not?

Forget your BMI and waist-to-hip measurements, you need to start calculating your abdominal obesity index (ABOI), according to a new study by the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine at Seton Hall University, New Jersey.

Why isn’t BMI any good?

Weight is a notoriously inaccurate measurement; loads of factors can affect how much we weigh, such as bone density, hormones and muscle mass. It’s just a measurement of your gravitational pull…nothing else.

And that means that even though it’s pretty good for a rough estimate, using the body mass index scale is increasingly being poo-pooed.

BMI has traditionally been used to work out if someone is underweight, normal, overweight or obese.

Unless you do a tonne of exercise or you’re naturally super-slim, the chances are that your BMI calculation will give you a ballpark idea of where you sit in terms of being a healthy weight.

But there are better tools to use if you want to know how much fat you’re packing.

Doesn’t waist-to-hip tell you all you need to know?

What is ABOI and how do you calculate it?

The waist-to-hip (WHR) radio has long been considered an important and easy way of finding out if you’re carrying too much dangerous belly fat, but it doesn’t consider body shape.

The WHR tends to underestimate obesity of pear-shaped people, while overestimating it for those with apple-shapes.

What’s a healthy ratio?

Men ideally want their waist circumferences under 40in and for women, that’s under 35in. Anything above that is associated with things like type 2 diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure.

And the point is that it’s not concerned with your total body weight, height or body shape – it just focuses on central obesity.

To determine its validity, scientists recruited 282 people aged between 20 and 90 to have their ABOI and BMI calculated.

And they found that there was no strict relationship between someone’s ABOI and BMI scores – particularly when it came to being classed as “obese” with a high BMI.

Scientists now believe it’s most useful when combined with your WHR.

If your waist-to-chest is smaller than your waist-to-hip ratio, you’re carrying too much weight up top.

And if your waist is wider than your chest or hips, that’s an obvious sign that you’ve got a stack of belly fat.

Source: The Sun

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