The Center for Disease Control estimates that 76,000,000 Americans get sick from food borne illnesses each year. Over 300,000 are hospitalized resulting in 5,000 deaths. To help protect yourself and your family from the food that you eat, follow these simple steps:

• Wash all cooking and eating utensils with hot, soapy water.
• Inspect and choose your food carefully, looking for damaged packaging and obvious signs of spoilage.
• Cook well, a minimum of 160°C internal temperature for beef, veal, eggs and most other foods; 170-180°C for poultry.
• Store properly, either refrigerator or freeze both cooked and fresh foods that do not contain preservatives and observe shelf life labeling for packaged foods. Most food poisonings in the home result from improper food handling and storage.

Help For Heartburn

• Many people suffer from frequent heartburn.
• Activities like eating, sleeping and exercise can be aggravators of the symptoms.
• Improving your diet can sometimes be beneficial.
• Avoidance of particular foods may help alleviate your symptoms.
• Keep a list of the foods you eat for a week or two and note when symptoms arise. This might help identify foods that aggravate your symptoms. You should be aware of these foods when tracking your occurrences of heartburn. Onion and other spices, drinks like coffee, tea, carbonated and alcoholic beverages, fatty foods and chocolate.
• Also, don't snack within 3 hours of bedtime. Raising the head of your bead up 3 to 6 inches might help too.

NuVim Health Tips for Controlling Asthma

• As many as 17 million people in the U.S. have asthma and the number of people affected is increasing.
• Asthma is a chronic lung disease that cannot be cured as yet, but it can be controlled.
• Many of us have seen or experienced an asthma attack and the coughing, wheezing and difficulty breathing is disconcerting at the least.
• During an attack, the sides of the airways in the lungs are inflamed and swollen, the muscles surrounding the airways constrict, the airways narrow, and mucus is produced.
• We do not know why certain people develop asthma or why it is becoming more common.
• We know much more about the factors that cause asthma attacks and use this knowledge in controlling asthma and preventing attacks.

Some common triggers that aggravate asthma and need to be managed carefully or avoided are:

• Allergic reactions to pollens, animals, dust mites, and mold
• Environmental pollutants such as smoke, dust, and fumes
• Cold air
• Exercise
• Respiratory infections
• Drugs such as aspirin
• Sulfite preservatives in foods and beverages
• Stress and fatigue
• Poor eating habits
• With a doctor's help and a plan of treatment that is followed carefully, asthma can be controlled and life can be symptom-free most of the time.