Welcome to the Stars Hollow Gazette‘s Health and Fitness News weekly diary. It will publish on Saturday afternoon and be open for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care issues, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Also an opportunity to share and exchange your favorite healthy recipes.
Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can’t, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.
You can now find past Health and Fitness News diaries here.
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Rikki Snyder for The New York Times
Why is it so hard to find good fajitas?
That’s a question I found myself asking recently as I went on a fajitas crawl in Los Angeles, where I live, to check in on that essential and once fashionable Tex-Mex dish. The sizzling platters that arrived at my table never varied; they came bearing the requisite grilled strips of skirt steak, chicken or shrimp, usually overcooked, with seared onions and peppers that were greasy and underseasoned. Alongside were the predictable bowls of grated yellow Cheddar cheese, sour cream, guacamole and salsa. [..]
I decided to head into my kitchen and change things up. I wasn’t interested in altering the dish in any profound way, but I did want my versions to have more flavor and less grease than restaurant fajitas. I stuck to steak, chicken and shrimp, and I bumped up their flavor with a rub for the beef (chile powder, cumin, salt), chipotle adobo for the chicken and shrimp, and a citrusy marinade and lots of cilantro for all.
The accompanying vegetables are now on equal footing with the proteins. I sear a generous mix of peppers and onions and season them with fresh green chiles, garlic and cumin. When they’re just about ready to come off the heat, I add a few tablespoons of the marinade mix, held back from the meat or shrimp, which flavors the vegetables and deglazes the pan. I added zucchini and corn to the onions and peppers for the shrimp fajitas.
~ Martha Rose Shulman ~
Skirt steak is the traditional cut used for fajitas. It used to be inexpensive, but now it’s not so cheap; oftentimes flank steak costs less. Either will be a good choice.
The sauce has enough heat, so I don’t use the canned chipotles, though you could add one if you wanted. I hold back a couple of tablespoons of the marinade and use it to finish the vegetables and deglaze the pan.
Shrimp Fajitas With Peppers and Zucchini
Shrimp fajitas are quickly thrown together. The shrimp are tossed in a mix of lime juice and zest, adobo sauce from a can of chipotles, olive oil, cumin and garlic, and don’t need to be marinated for longer than 30 minutes
This quick fresh tomato salsa will always be best when tomatoes are in season. But you can pump up the flavor with a little lime juice if the flavor of your tomatoes is a little dull.
I roast the tomatillos under the broiler before blending them to get a deep, toasty flavor. You can also roast the chiles if you want a deeper roasted-spicy flavor, as opposed to grassy-spicy flavor.
FDA: Side effects of antibiotics outweigh benefit for some infections
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has ratcheted up its warning about the potential side effects of a class of commonly-prescribed powerful antibiotic, including the drug known by the brand name Cipro.
In a safety announcement issued Thursday, the FDA said the potential side effects of fluoroquinolone anti-bacterial drugs often outweigh their benefits when it comes to treating people with bronchitis or basic sinus or urinary tract infections. As a result, the FDA says doctors should use these types of drugs only if they have no alternatives.
The drugs have been sold for more than 20 years, and are now sold mainly as generics.
FDA warns sweetener used in chewing gum can be deadly to dogs
The FDA is ramping up warnings about a common sweetener that can be toxic to dogs.
Xylitol, a type of sweetener found in many sugar-free gums and other products, can have devastating consequences if ingested by a dog, the agency said in a statement issued Thursday.
Over the past several years, the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine has received a number of reports of dogs being poisoned by xylitol, sometimes with deadly consequences, the agency said.
Recalls this week: Pacifier holders, rattles
Infant pacifier holders and rattles sold at Hobby Lobby are being recalled this week because they pose a choking hazard. Other recalled consumer products include faulty bedside infant sleepers and baby carriers.
Why Gluten-Free Diets May Not Be Best For Healthy Kids
Individuals with celiac disease are advised to veer away from foods with gluten because it causes gut problems for them. However, some individuals shift to gluten-free diet just because it is a popular choice or they think it is a healthier option.
Due to the growing popularity of gluten-free products, sales are expected to balloon to as much as $24 billion by 2020.
The sense of being “healthy” is driving the industry, which concerns experts who believe that gluten-free diet when given to healthy kids may cause more harm than good.
IBM researchers identify macromolecule that could fight viruses and prevent drug resistance
As one of medicine’s largest challenges, viral infections often escape vaccines due to their natural ability to mutate rapidly and develop drug resistance easily. Many viruses, such as Zika, Ebola and dengue fever, have grown into major global health epidemics with great human and economic toll. This week, IBM Research and Singapore’s Institute of Bioengineering, Nanotechnology (IBN) announced they have identified a new breakthrough macromolecule that could help prevent deadly virus infections with a unique triple-play mechanism that can also help prevent viral drug resistance.
The research is published in the journal, Macromolecules.
Lots of Fruit May Lower Teens’ Breast Cancer Risk
Teenage girls who consume large amounts of fruit may lower their future risk for breast cancer, a new study suggests.
Conversely, women who drink more alcohol over time might increase their breast cancer risk, although they could also lower their chances of heart disease, a second report found.
In the fruit study, consumption of apples, bananas and grapes during adolescence was strongly associated with a drop in breast cancer risk. Roughly three daily servings of such fruits was linked to a 25 percent drop in risk by middle age, compared with consuming just a half-serving per day.