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This tangy mayonnaise is based on a French sauce called gribiche, typically served with cold cuts of meat, chicken or fish.

The mayonnaise base is made with cooked egg yolks (good for anyone who won’t or can’t eat raw eggs), with the finely chopped egg whites being added to the sauce at the end.

Chopped pickles are added along with fresh and dried herbs and the sauce is finished off with lemon zest.

Asparagus needs little or no cooking when in season, but as the season is now coming to an end, steam it very briefly until tender, but still a little crisp – about 4 to 6 minutes depending on the thickness.

Prepare more sauce than needed for this recipe; it goes with so many dishes and keeps well in the fridge for 2 to 3 days.

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The ketogenic diet is a high-fat, adequate-protein, low-carbohydrate diet that in medicine is used primarily to treat difficult-to-control (refractory) epilepsy in children. The diet forces the body to burn fats rather than carbohydrates. Normally, the carbohydrates contained in food are converted into glucose, which is then transported around the body and is particularly important in fueling brain function. However, if little carbohydrate remains in the diet, the liver converts fat into fatty acids and ketone bodies. The ketone bodies pass into the brain and replace glucose as an energy source. An elevated level of ketone bodies in the blood, a state known as ketosis, leads to a reduction in the frequency of epileptic seizures. Around half of children and young people with epilepsy who have tried some form of this diet saw the number of seizures drop by at least half, and the effect persists even after discontinuing the diet. Some evidence indicates that adults with epilepsy may benefit from the diet, and that a less strict regimen, such as a modified Atkins diet, is similarly effective. Potential side effects may include constipation, high cholesterol, growth slowing, acidosis, and kidney stones.

The original therapeutic diet for paediatric epilepsy provides just enough protein for body growth and repair, and sufficient calories to maintain the correct weight for age and height. The classic therapeutic ketogenic diet was developed for treatment of paediatric epilepsy in the 1920s and was widely used into the next decade, but its popularity waned with the introduction of effective anticonvulsant medications. This classic ketogenic diet contains a 4:1 ratio by weight of fat to combined protein and carbohydrate. This is achieved by excluding high-carbohydrate foods such as starchy fruits and vegetables, bread, pasta, grains, and sugar, while increasing the consumption of foods high in fat such as nuts, cream, and butter. Most dietary fat is made of molecules called long-chain triglycerides (LCTs). However, medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs)—made from fatty acids with shorter carbon chains than LCTs—are more ketogenic. A variant of the classic diet known as the MCT ketogenic diet uses a form of coconut oil, which is rich in MCTs, to provide around half the calories. As less overall fat is needed in this variant of the diet, a greater proportion of carbohydrate and protein can be consumed, allowing a greater variety of food choices.

In 1994, Hollywood producer Jim Abrahams, whose son’s severe epilepsy was effectively controlled by the diet, created the Charlie Foundation for Ketogenic Therapies to further promote diet therapy. Publicity included an appearance on NBC’s Dateline program and …First Do No Harm (1997), a made-for-television film starring Meryl Streep. The foundation sponsored a research study, the results of which—announced in 1996—marked the beginning of renewed scientific interest in the diet.

Possible therapeutic uses for the ketogenic diet have been studied for many additional neurological disorders, some of which include: Alzheimer’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, headache, neurotrauma, pain, Parkinson’s disease, and sleep disorders.

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The Mediterranean-style diet has fewer meats and carbohydrates than a typical American diet. It also has more plant-based foods and monounsaturated (good) fat. People who live in Italy, Spain, and other countries in the Mediterranean region have eaten this way for centuries.

Following the Mediterranean diet may lead to more stable blood sugar, lower cholesterol and triglycerides, and a lower risk for heart disease and other health problems.

How to Follow the Diet

The Mediterranean diet is based on:

• Plant-based meals, with just small amounts of lean meat and chicken
• More servings of whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, and legumes
• Foods that naturally contain high amounts of fiber
• Plenty of fish and other seafood
• Olive oil as the main source of fat for preparing food. Olive oil is a healthy, monounsaturated fat
• Food that is prepared and seasoned simply, without sauces and gravies

Foods Not in the Diet

Foods that are eaten in small amounts or NOT at all in the Mediterranean diet include:

• Red meats
• Sweets and other desserts
• Eggs
• Butter

Possible Health Concerns

There may be health concerns with this eating style for some people, including:

• You may gain weight from eating fats in olive oil and nuts.
• You may have lower levels of iron. If you choose to follow the Mediterranean diet, be sure to eat some foods rich in iron or in vitamin C, which helps your body absorb iron.
• You may have calcium loss from eating fewer dairy products. Ask your health care provider if you should take a calcium supplement.
• Wine is a common part of a Mediterranean eating style but some people should not drink alcohol. Avoid wine if you are prone to alcohol abuse, pregnant, at risk for breast cancer, or have other conditions that alcohol could make worse.

References

Eckel RH, Jakicic JM, Ard JD, et al. 2013 AHA/ACC guideline on lifestyle management to reduce cardiovascular risk: a report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on practice guidelines. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2014;63(25 Pt B):2960-2984. PMID: 24239922 www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24239922.

Prescott E. Lifestyle interventions. In: de Lemos JA, Omland T, eds. Chronic Coronary Artery Disease: A Companion to Braunwald’s Heart Disease. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2018:chap 18.

Thompson M, Noel MB. Nutrition and family medicine. In: Rakel RE, Rakel DP, eds. Textbook of Family Medicine. 9th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier Saunders; 2016:chap 37.

Victor RG, Libby P. Systemic hypertension: management. In: Zipes DP, Libby P, Bonow RO, Mann DL, Tomaselli GF, Braunwald E, eds. Braunwald’s Heart Disease: A Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine. 11th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2019:chap 47.

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Sept. 17, 2019 – A 10-year-old Texas girl has died due to Naegleria fowleri, also known as brain-eating amoeba, 8 days after getting a headache and fever.

Lily Mae Avant started feeling ill Sunday, Sept. 8. Her doctors thought it was just a virus, but when she became confused and unresponsive, her family whisked her to an emergency room. She was flown to Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth, where a spinal tap, a test that takes a sample of fluid around the spinal cord, determined that she’d been infected by the amoeba, according to a Facebook page started by her family. She died there Monday.

Although it’s uncertain where Lily contracted the amoeba, KCEN-TV reported that she had gone swimming Labor Day weekend in the Brazos River near her home outside Waco.

Naegleria fowleri can be found in warm freshwater – lakes, rivers, and hot springs – as well as soil. While the amoeba is common, infections are rare. Between 2009 and 2018, only 34 cases were reported in the U.S., most in Southern states. Nearly all came from recreational water, but a few people were infected after using contaminated tap water for nasal irrigation. One person’s infection came after playing on a backyard slip-and-slide with contaminated tap water.

Infections happen only when water containing the amoeba gets into the body through the nose. The amoeba can travel from the nose up to the brain, where it destroys tissue. Drinking contaminated water won’t cause an infection, and it can’t be passed from one person to another.

When infections do happen, they’re very deadly: Since 1962, just four people have survived. “Since it’s so rare, we don’t know why a few people get sick while millions who swim in natural bodies of water don’t,” Chris Van Deusen, of the Texas Department of State Health Services, says in a statement. “Because the organism is common in lakes and rivers, we don’t recommend people specifically avoid bodies of water where someone has contracted the illness.”

He offered some measures that may help:

• Stay out of warm freshwater when the water temperature is high and water levels are low.
• Avoid putting your head under the water in hot springs and other untreated thermal waters.
• Hold your nose shut or use nose clips when you’re in warm freshwater lakes, rivers, or hot springs.
• Avoid digging in or stirring up sediment when you’re in shallow, warm freshwater.
• Use only sterile, distilled, or lukewarm previously boiled water for nasal irrigation or sinus flushes.

Symptoms of an infection are similar to bacterial meningitis. If you have a sudden fever, headache, stiff neck, and vomiting days after swimming in warm freshwater – or anytime – seek medical help right away.

Source here.

Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemporary music, the festival hosts dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret, and other arts. Leading pop and rock artists have headlined, alongside thousands of others appearing on smaller stages and performance areas. Films and albums recorded at Glastonbury have been released, and the festival receives extensive television and newspaper coverage. Glastonbury is now attended by around 200,000 people, requiring extensive infrastructure in terms of security, transport, water, and electricity supply. The majority of staff are volunteers, helping the festival to raise millions of pounds for charity organisations.

Regarded as a major event in British culture, the festival is inspired by the ethos of the hippie, counterculture, and free festival movements. It retains vestiges of these traditions, such as the Green Fields area, which includes sections known as the Green Futures and Healing Fields. After the 1970s, the festival took place almost every year and grew in size, with the number of attendees sometimes being swollen by gatecrashers. Michael Eavis hosted the first festival, then called Pilton Festival, after seeing an open-air Led Zeppelin concert at the 1970 Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music. The festival’s record crowd is 300,000 people, this record was set at the 1994 festival, when headliners the Levellers performed a set on The Pyramid Stage.

Glastonbury Festival was held intermittently from 1970 until 1981; since then, it has been held every year, except for “fallow years” taken mostly at five year intervals, intended to give the land, local population, and organisers a break. 2018 was a “fallow year” and the following festival took place from 26 – 30 June 2019.

Image and text from Wikipedia.