Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

HEALTHLINE

BAYFRONT MEDICAL CENTER and BayWalk will host Just BEAD It!, which stands for Breast Education and Detection, an event that uses beads to correlate the size of the breast lump with three detection methods: mammograms, breast self-exam and clinical breast exam. Beads will demonstrate how these three detection methods, when used routinely and together, can reduce breast cancer deaths. Experts will be available to answer questions about breast cancer and early detection. The event take place from 5 to 9 p.m. every Thursday in October at BayWalk, corner of Second Avenue and Second Street N in downtown St. Petersburg. The event is free, and the first 50 women on each night will receive a free Beads for Life key chain. For information, call Dawn Jones, community relations manager, at (727) 893-6895.

By STAFF WRITERS
Published October 11, 2005

BE A FRIEND to cancer research with PursePal, a sturdy hook and medallion that lets women secure their handbag to nearly any restaurant table. A rubber pad eliminates slipping, and the brass construction lets PursePal hold up to 10 pounds. Throughout October and the rest of the year, PursePal will donate $5 to the Susan G. Komen and Evelyn Lauder foundations for every sale of its Pink Ribbon design. PursePal comes in two sizes: Day Bag $34.99 and Evening Bag ($29.99) and is available at www.purse-pal.com or by calling toll-free 1-866-347-8773. Five other designs, each with a charitable beneficiary, are also available.

SLIMMING DOWN DOESN'T mean a complete overhaul of everything you eat. Sometimes the simplest tweak can lead to significant weight loss over the course of a year - and a lifetime.

Here are some strategies for taking off the weight from Family Circle. You decide which ones work best for you:

- Have an English muffin rather than a bagel - Dense and doughy, a bagel can pack as many as 400 calories; an English muffin offers the same satisfaction for only 135 calories.

- Eat an orange, skip the juice - Though both are nutrient powerhouses, offering high doses of vitamin C, potassium and folate, orange juice has 110 calories per 8-ounce glass, but an orange has only 60 calories and offers some bonus fill-you-up fiber.

- Wraps have become all the rage - and for good reason. They slim down a sandwich's calories if you choose one instead of a large roll. A whole wheat wrap has 130 calories, compared with a roll's 250.

A FEW WORDS ABOUT: Celiac is an immune disorder that affects the lining of the small intestine. When people with celiac ingest gluten, a protein in wheat, rye and barley, it irritates the digestive tract and causes pain and diarrhea. Left untreated, the bowel becomes inflamed and loses its ability to absorb nutrients from food. The treatment? Avoid foods that contain gluten for the rest of your life. That's the only way the intestinal tract can heal itself. Unfortunately, the gluten-free diet is not easy. Wheat, rye and barley and all byproducts of these grains must be avoided. Because there is no perfect way to analyze the gluten content of foods, there is a huge gray area of what is and isn't allowed on a gluten-free diet. Some say oats are fine, others say not. That's because oats may pick up wheat gluten from other grain products during milling and processing. To ease some of the frustration, lawmakers recently passed the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act of 2004 governing the labeling of foods as "gluten free." In addition, beginning in 2006, any food that contains wheat products or other major food allergen must be clearly labeled as such.

[Last modified October 10, 2005, 17:06:02]