Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Top 10 Health and Wellness Books

By Donna Seaman (first published in Booklist)

While the battle over health care rages on, and each news cycle delivers unreliable health do’s and don’ts, these outstanding books offer clarity and reading pleasure in lively descriptions of microbes beneficial and otherwise, solid analysis, and inspiring stories of caregivers.

Alzheimer’s in America: The Shriver Report on Women and Alzheimer’s (Maria Shriver and the Alzheimer’s Association) - Peabody Award–winning journalist Shriver presents a comprehensive, heartbreaking account of what it’s like to be an Alzheimer’s patient or caregiver in the U.S. today.

Beautiful Unbroken: One Nurse’s Life (Mary Jane Nealon) - A poet and a nurse, Nealon draws on her passion for words and preternatural “way” with patients to create an extraordinarily graceful medical memoir and song to caregiving.

Becoming Dr. Q: My Journey from Migrant Farm Worker to Brain Surgeon (Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa and Mim Eichler Rivas) - As a teenager in Mexico, Quiñones-Hinojosa was determined to pursue a better life in the U.S., never imagining that he would become a neurosurgeon, professor, and brain-cancer research scientist.

Changing Planet, Changing Health: How the Climate Crisis Threatens Our Health and What We Can Do about It (Paul R. Epstein and Dan Ferber) - Health and global environment expert Epstein and award-winning science journalist Ferber report on how climate change is already causing an epidemic of epidemics, including malaria and cholera.

Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All (Paul A. Offit) - Infectious-disease expert Offit intensifies his crusade to encourage parents to trust the scientific data proving the safety and efficacy of vaccines.

Doctor, Your Patient Will See You Now: Gaining the Upper Hand in Your Medical Care (Steven Z. Kussin) - Physician Kussin’s primer on how to get the best possible medical care is dramatic, realistic, and potentially life-saving.

One Hundred Names for Love: A Stroke, a Marriage, and the Language of Healing ( Diane Ackerman) - With her signature brilliance and empathy, Ackerman (The Zookeeper’s Wife, 2007) tells the affecting story of how her husband, writer Paul West (The Shadow Factory, 2008), reclaimed language and mobility after a severe stroke.

A Planet of Viruses (Carl Zimmer) - Zimmer’s information-packed, superbly readable look at virological knowledge awakens readers to the fact that not only are viruses everywhere but we couldn’t live without them.

Remedy and Reaction: The Peculiar American Struggle over Health Care Reform (Paul Starr) - Pulitzer Prize winner Starr explicates the controversial Affordable Care Act and questions whether Americans can “summon the elementary decency toward the sick that characterizes other democracies.”

The Wild Life of Our Bodies: Predators, Parasites, and Partners That Shape Who We Are Today (Rob Dunn) - Biologist Dunn explains that we need the microscopic critters, or tiny “wildlife,” that live in our bodies, and that our fanatic antibacterial efforts make us more, not less, vulnerable to disease.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

The Real Thanksgiving: The 10 Best Native American Harvest Dishes

In the spirit of the holiday (whatever that means), we've decided to highlight truly traditional American cookery with this week's list. In no particular order...

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Nativecookbook.com
Dearly beloved by Native Americans, but not by deer.

10. Sobaheg

In Wompanoag society, women would tend the fields and the hearth, while the men hunted plentiful wild fowl and hoofed forest beats. What they would make with a day's game: sobaheg, a rib-sticking meat stew. Grits, squash, and powdered seeds and nuts helped thicken this artichoke-laden soup.

9. Cornbread

Most Native Indian tribes prepared dough from maize, since it grew throughout the Americas. The Wompanoag did too. At the first Thanksgiving, it is possible that this starchy staple came served with curds -- a dairy product similar to modern-day cottage cheese.


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Seth Anderson / www.flickr.com/photos/swanksalot
Gourds are good.

8. Baked Squash and Wild Onions

Another dish, besides corn, that's often found at American Indian harvest festivals. Many versions of roasted gourd still wind up on the Thanksgiving table -- making it one of the only traditional dishes that has been preserved in popular American cookery.

7. Wild Rice and Cranberries

This tart, red fruit comes from the Northeast. A favorite way to prep it?
American Indians would blend cranberries with wild rice, sometimes adding other fruits or nuts. Variations of this dish -- which reflect the plants of a region -- can be found throughout the Americas.


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Robert Sietsema
Nice rice.

6. Chippewa Wild Rice

This casserole boasts strips of beaten wild fowl, eggs, and chunks of smoked meat. Typically, wild boar bacon gets used in this dish, but smoked deer meat also works. Garnish with wild chives.

5. Wild Salmon Poached in Sea Water

Many Native Indians in the Pacific Northwest prepped red salmon steaks in a willow basket cooked at a bare boil. They then spiced the filets with chiles and herbs.


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Robert Sietsema
Children of corn, birthed by mothers of maize.

4. Roasted Sweet Corn in its Husk

A favorite of southern tribes, Indian corn cobs cook slowly in their vegetal shells, preserving moisture. Said to be tastier than straight-up boiled or grilled corn, the damp charred husk perfumes the air with a sweet scent.

3. Zuni Green Chili Stew

This lamb stew simmers in a fresh, local chili puree. Juniper, green onions, and wild garlic add flavor to the broth.


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Heather Culligan / Flickr
Lookin' fry.

2. Fry Bread

Also a palate-pleaser with Native Americans, this crispy, flattened dough has the vibe of a beignet. Fry bread gets served as a side dish, or as a beef-topped main or honey-drizzled dessert.

1. Pinon Soup

A toasted pine-nut soup with a lamb-bone, wild bird, and milk broth, have hearty and hot components, owing to red chile powder, coriander, mint, and plentiful scallions