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Recent reports of illness caused by fresh produce have upped awareness on the need to wash before eating. Each of the basic rules from the U.S. Department of Agriculture is “equally important,” says Robert Buchwald, environmental health supervisor with a branch of the Virginia Department of Health. “It’s just good to see the message being put out in different places where people can come across it.”

Wash everything. That includes prepackaged products—even if the label says “pre-washed” or “ready to eat”—and the outer rinds and skins of all produce (although you may not eat that layer, you can transfer dirt, germs, mold and pesticides inside fruits and vegetables when you cut or peel them).

At some point—perhaps when I was busy planting organic basil in my window box—shopping became our nation’s No. 1 patriotic activity. It’s the economy, goofball: When U.S. consumer spending is up, our economy is growing. When we stay home, grill turkey burgers and play Monopoly in comfy old jeans, we’re just not doing our part.

OK. I get it. So this week I’m encouraging you to join the tens of thousands of consumers who spend an estimated $4 billion annually on home exercise equipment. There are huge end-of-year sales now on treadmills, elliptical cross trainers and, my personal favorite, the stationary bicycle. Do it for Uncle Sam. Better yet, do it to improve your health, drop some pounds and reclaim your energy without a shot of Red Bull.

If the Internet buzz about a pain-free, radiation-free alternative to mammography sounds too good to be true, there’s a reason for that.

Breast thermography—recently touted as the “best breast test” by Oprah favorite Dr. Christiane Northrup, writing in the Huffington Post—has never been proven effective for routine breast cancer screening in a large-scale, randomized study, experts say. The FDA has never approved it for that purpose and in 2009 issued a warning letter accusing an Idaho health care provider of marketing thermography as a mammogram replacement.

Say you’re out to lunch with girlfriends, and craving a burger but everyone orders a salad—would you order a salad too? A study published last in BioMed Central’s open access International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity suggests you would.

Kylie Ball, associate professor at Deakin University’s School of Exercise and Nutrition Science, worked with a team of researchers to survey 3,610 Australian women. The women, ages 18-46, were asked to rate how much they agreed with statements like “I often see other people walking in my neighborhood” and “Lots of women I know eat fast food often.”

Ingredients

1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 pound boneless pork loin chops thin cut
4 cups (2-inch) cut green beans (about 1 pound)
2 teaspoons dark sesame oil
Cooking spray
1 to 2 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
2 cups hot cooked rice
1/4 cup chopped unsalted cashews, toasted

Donations have climbed to more than $4 million in an effort to fund both the St. Clare Health Clinic in Crown Point and a neonatal intensive care unit at St. Anthony Medical Center, fundraising campaign chairman Joe Allegretti said.

The hospital’s capital campaign is nearing its $4.5 million goal before an anonymous donor’s dollar-for-dollar contribution offer ends December 31, and comes despite a weakened economy, Allegretti said. “Most campaigns start at the top and get the people who give a lot and then work down from there,” Allegretti said. “We started with one large donation and then worked from the bottom up. There’ve been a lot of nickles and dimes.”

Sarah Demmon conquered her fear of water by joining Indy Survivoars, a group of breast cancer survivors that race dragon boats. The group's mission is to provide breast cancer survivors with a strong message of hope. (Photograph provided.)

For Sarah Demmon, the toughest time during her bout with breast cancer was the interim period between the initial diagnosis and getting the test results back which would tell her how far the cancer had spread.

“It’s very emotional,” says Demmon, a 1988 graduate of Crown Point High School who works as senior research scientist at a pharmaceutical company in Indianapolis. “You don’t know what to do and what to expect.”

As a breast cancer survivor, Demmon decided she wanted to help other women who were diagnosed with the disease. “My whole intent is to help in a very frank and honest way,” says Demmon, who has written Thanks for the Mammaries: A Breast Cancer Survivor’s Story (Strategic Publishing 2010; $11). “I have a dry sense of humor and can be sarcastic.”

Capitalizing on its distance from the BP Refinery and the number of steel mills in the area, a new medical practice will focus on family care and industrial/occupational medicine.

“Our location fits the need,” said Shyam Patel, the office manager of the recently opened OccuMed Express Medical Clinic.

The clinic, located at 2230 Indianapolis Boulevard in Whiting, eventually will offer work physicals and physical therapy, Patel said. At the moment, the clinic is accepting patients and also caters to walk-ins and emergency care with a family practitioner, pediatricians, internists and general surgeon on staff.

Patel said the practice’s four partners saw a need in the area and also were enthused about addressing the needs of the nearby industries.

The practice is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. For more information, call 219.659.0333.

These classic, crispy Pecan-Cinnamon Wafers are made with 100 percent whole-wheat pastry flour and are laced with healthy, monounsaturated fat-rich pecans. (AP Photo/Larry Crowe)

More so than most holiday desserts, cookies are the perfect portion controlled treat that—when enjoyed in moderation—can be a better option than a big wedge of pie or cake. But in case you plan on eating more than one, there are some strategies for baking a healthier holiday cookie.

For starters, you can add fiber and nutrients by replacing some or all of the white flour with whole wheat. In most cases, up to half of the all-purpose flour can be replaced with whole wheat without significant changes to flavor and texture.

A new report from British scientists suggests that long-term, low-dose aspirin use may modestly reduce the risk of dying of certain cancers, though experts warn the study isn’t strong enough to recommend healthy people start taking a pill that can cause bleeding and other problems.

In a new observational analysis published online Tuesday in the medical journal Lancet, Peter Rothwell of the University of Oxford and colleagues looked at eight studies that included more than 25,000 patients and estimated that aspirin use cut the risk of death from certain cancers by 20 percent.