• as much Vitamin C as cup of blueberries
• as much iron as a cup of spinach
• as much calcium and Vitamin D as a glass of milk
• as much Vitamin A as an 8 ounce glass of tomato juice
• as much fiber as a bowl of oatmeal
• as much Vitamin E as two glasses of carrot juice
• as much Vitamin B-12 as a cup of cottage cheese and fruit

I got a ton of comments. I still get a ton of comments. They go from calling me a stupid hippie to saying that the cookies are evil and I’m awesome for pointing out how much they suck. I never like to respond to people who call me, and I quote, “annoying” and “crazy” and “a food Nazi.” (While I will approve 99 percent of comments, I don’t feel the need to post every nasty comment that comes in, especially those laced with epithets.) However, the fact that I seem to get at least one of these comments a day, I will explain in a little more detail why I don’t like these cookies. I will use an example out of our food history.

Remember when low fat food came out? And people gobbled up low fat or no fat snacks and drinks? Remember when those people started gaining weight? Well, that’s sort of how I see these cookies. Parents tell their kids that they are eating “healthy” cookies and then kids think that cookies are somehow good for them. They get the wrong message.

My kids absolutely, 100 percent eat cookies. We especially love Whole Foods 365 Organic animal crackers. We like these caramel cookies we buy at Trader Joe’s. They love homemade oatmeal raisin cookies that my mother makes. They like cookies. That said, they know, as Elmo once said, that cookies are “sometimes” foods. That there is nothing inherently “bad” about cookies, but that they are not providing that many of good things that their bodies needs. They taste good, though. And that’s what they should think. Cookies taste good and are okay to eat in moderation. They know they get their Vitamin C from blueberries and oranges, iron from spinach, and calcium from cheese and yogurt and milk. The way nature intended it. So no, I am not a fan of WhoNu cookies. Understand? Good.

From the University’s press release: “Adults who consumed chocolate more frequently had a lower BMI than those who consumed chocolate less often.” This finding was especially interesting because the chocolate-eaters did not exercise more and actually took in more calories. Chocoholics like me (meaning people who ate at least five servings of chocolate weekly) weighed between five to seven pounds less than those who ate none, according to the study author, Beatrice A. Golomb, M.D., Ph.D.

The fact that chocolate is healthy isn’t surprising to me — or to researchers. Last year different researchers found that “high levels of chocolate consumption might be associated with a one third reduction in the risk of developing heart disease,” according to a study published on bmj.com. A March 2010 study in the European Heart Journal found that “just one small square of chocolate a day can lower your blood pressure and reduce your risk of heart disease.”

Researchers point to the multitude of antioxidants, polyphenols, and flavanols in the cocoa plant, which is a fruit in case you were wondering! So for anyone out there who is reading this and dreaming about chocolate: Go ahead, in moderation. Good news for all of us.

Although my troop always forgoes the incentives so we can earn an extra $.05 per box, there’s still an opportunity to earn Girl Scout store gift certificates by selling 300, 600, or 900 boxes. Big Girl, who spent a little time perusing the catalog, decided she wanted to earn a $75 gift certificate. It was a tall order, I told her. Selling 300 boxes of cookies on her own would be difficult and require a lot of hard work. She said she wanted to do it, and I am so glad she did because in addition to that gift certificate, she also racked up confidence, poise, marketing know-how, and sales skills. She even overcame her shyness and got better at making eye contact, two things that have stymied her in the past.

Me, I didn’t care so much about the gift certificate or the money for the troop. I just wanted to get rid of extra cookies. My troop had a few booth sales. My cookie mom was laid up, so I was the cookie holder. If Big Girl would sell cookies, I could free up space in my trunk. Our first location was outside a local supermarket. The first sale was rough to put it mildly. Big Girl looked like she was being tortured. She wouldn’t speak up. She wouldn’t make eye contact. In all honesty, Little Girl was the one doing all the selling. “Girl Scout cookies! Wanna buy some cookies?”

Still, we sold 43 boxes, and Big Girl got a taste of what it felt like to be successful. Our next sale was unintentional. We were at a local sandwich shop. It was packed. I asked the manager if we could walk table-to-table selling our cookies. She said yes, and we were off. This time Big Girl’s selling skills were marginally better. She actually had three people tell her that she needed to look them in the face if she wanted them to make a purchase. She held it together, though, and started making occasional eye contact and speaking loud enough for people to hear her. We sold 20 boxes within 15 minutes. Soon after, we walked around in our town. A few days later we visited my old hometown. We also hit three local railroad stations, and poked our heads in bars, pizza joints, and delis. With every sale, Big Girl got a little more confident. She hit her stride when, at the new Moe’s by our house, the owner told her he would buy whatever she had left if she could do the math. (It was 14 boxes. She did the calculations in her head and got it right.)

By our last sale — at the local railroad — she was unstoppable. “Get your Girl Scout cookies,” she barked. “I’m down to my last eight boxes. These are going fast!” And they did. She sold cookies to the last five people she approached. I was even more impressed when she forgot to hand over a box after a sale and, when the guy reproached her, she held it together even though she was completely embarrassed. A few years ago something like that would have sent her into a crying jag.

Sure, there were some glitches. At the supermarket sale, for instance, she started hyperventilating when someone asked her to recite the Girl Scout Promise. Imagine my surprise when she not only said it at a railroad sale a few days later, but smiled the whole time.

So how do I feel about Girl Scout cookies? I feel pretty good. All the sales and marketing materials tout how good Girl Scouts are for the girls. Until now, I sort of poo-pooed that. However, my kid is a shining example of what a kid-run sale can actually do. Would it have been easier for me to post on Facebook and get my husband to bring her order form to work? Sure, then I would have missed out on seeing my child beaming with pride from her accomplishment.

Cons: Contains seven grams of sugar, which is on the high side for something marketed as a “healthier” cereal.

My Big Girl is in an anti-cereal phase. She won’t eat her Joe’s Os anymore. She doesn’t like Puffins, she says. I like her to eat something in the morning, so I’ve been on a quest for a new cereal, buying anything I think she might like. I saw Crunchy Vanilla Sunrise during my last trip to Whole Foods and picked it up. I was wrangling Little Girl at the time, so I only gave the box a quick look, but I liked what I saw. The front clearly stated it was organic and contained three grams of fiber, two grams of protein, and 11 percent of the daily recommended allowance of omega-3s. I also liked what was missing: preservatives and artificial colors and flavors. Its sodium content wasn’t too bad, either. Just 130 milligrams.

When we got home, I showed Big Girl my find, offering her a bowl of the stuff. She was skeptical. It doesn’t look like other cereals, she said. She’s right. It’s not uniform in size, shape, or color. In fact, it’s what I’d call a fun mix of shapes and textures. (Thanks to the ancient grains like quinoa and amaranth.) Big Girl, however, wouldn’t try it.

The cereal has puffs and flakes and pieces.

Not wanting to waste a box of cereal, I poured myself a bowl for lunch the next day. It was quite yummy. The cereal has a nice crunch to it, and all those different shapes and sizes make for a different experience in every spoonful. As for the taste: The vanilla is very subtle, but it is pretty sweet overall. So sweet, in fact, that after I took a second bite I had to give the label another look. That’s when I saw that sugar (evaporated cane juice to be exact) was the second ingredient. Here’s the full list of ingredients:

Whole corn meal, evaporated cane juice, brown rice flour, yellow corn flour, inulin, quinoa puffs, flax seeds, natural vanilla flavor, buckwheat flour, quinoa, sea salt, amaranth, molasses, tocopherols (natural vitamin E)

When you consider that four grams of sugar equals about a teaspoon of sugar, that means every bowl of Organic Crunchy Vanilla Sunrise has almost two teaspoons of the stuff. While it’s not a deal-breaker for me, I do wish it had a little less sugar. On the plus side — and what’s frightening — is that the sugar content is relatively low when you compare it with other cereals.

This past December the Environmental Working Group (EWG) assessed breakfast cereals and found some were 55.6, 51.9, and 48.3 percent sugar by weight. (The offending cereals were Kellogg’s Honey Smacks, Post Golden Crisp, and Kellogg’s Froot Loops Marshmallow, respectively. Organic Crunchy Vanilla Sunrise, by comparison, is 23.3 percent sugar by weight.) You can look at the rest of the 10 Worst Children’s Cereals here.

There are a few issues when you add sugar to breakfast cereal. Littler kids especially have issues when sugar content creeps up. From an EWG press release:

“Studies suggest that children who eat breakfasts that are high in sugar have more problems at school. They become more frustrated and have a harder time working independently than kids who eat lower-sugar breakfasts. By lunchtime they have less energy, are hungrier, show attention deficits and make more mistakes on their work.”

I have digressed completely. Again, this cereal falls below the suggested eight grams of sugar per bowl, so since I’m eating it — and loving it, I might add — I’ll keep buying it. Will I give it to my 3-year-old? Probably not, but if Big Girl, who is eight wanted to try it, I’d probably happily pour her a bowl. And since I do like this cereal, I’m definitely checking out some of the other Nature’s Path offerings, which made it on to the EWG’s list of best cereals (meaning they are lower in sugar) including Optimum Cranberry Ginger, Corn Puffs, Kamut Puffs, Millet Puffs, and Rice Puffs.

How does your breakfast cereal stack up? Take a look at the EWG’s analysis of 84 popular cereal offerings if you’re not sure.

This week, The Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine Mainely Moms and Dads confirmed the chemical is still out there, and it can be found in many of the foods we’re giving our babies and toddlers. From the organization’s news release:

“The Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine sent fifteen containers of food to Anresco Laboratories for analysis in January and released the results today. BPA was found in 11 of the 12 sampled containers of baby food manufactured by Beech-Nut, Gerber, Earth’s Best Organic and Shaw’s Wild Harvest brand. It was also found in all three of the canned foods sampled including Campbell’s Disney Princess SpaghettiOs, Dora the Explorer soup, and Chef Boyardee macaroni and cheese.”

This is pretty scary. In case you haven’t seen the data: Teams of independent researchers have found that BPA isn’t as safe as once though. The reason: It acts as an endocrine disruptor, mimicking human hormones like estrogen. People have linked it to increased risk of breast cancer, thyroid issues, lowered male fertility rates, decreased birth weight, and wheezing, among other ailments and issues. Another October 2011 Harvard School of Public Health study found BPA exposure in the womb is linked to behavioral and emotional difficulties in girls. Of course the folks who bring us this plastic and resin say it’s perfectly fine. Me? I’m thinking that all those researchers can’t be wrong, which is why I limit my family’s BPA exposure as much as possible.

The smart folks in Maine are asking manufacturers of food intentionally marketed or sold to children under three to replace BPA or disclose how much BPA is in their packaging. They say a second phase will ask for a complete ban of the substance. It’s a start, I guess, but I’d rather see our governments come out and ban BPA in all food containers as well as anything that might be ingested by kids or adults. What do you think?

Big Girl loves popcorn. LOVES it. She doesn’t get it very often because I have completely stopped using microwave popcorn. The reason: The chemical that coats the bags — perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) — is a likely carcinogen and will actually be phased out of all microwave popcorn bags completely by 2015. In my way of thinking if something is so dangerous that it’s being phased out, why should I take the chance of using it today, but I digress as usual. (You can read more about PFOA here.) My other alternative — making stovetop popcorn — didn’t work. It was sort of a pain. Popcorn made in a regular pot, in my opinion, always came out chewy and gross. Too much steam, I think.

Anyway, this holiday season I went in search of a popcorn machine with a few criteria:

• It had to be plastic-free
• It had to be simple to use and clean
• It had to be compact so it could be stowed away in my regular pots and pans drawer
• It had to be made anywhere EXCEPT China

I found what I was looking for with the Whirley-Pop Stovetop Popcorn Popper. The unit comes in two pieces: an aluminum pot and a vented lid that has a stirring mechanism. The mechanism is connected to what looks like an upside down T shaped wire that extends from one side of the pot to the other. When you turn the crank, the wire spins, moving the popcorn so it doesn’t burn.

Before using it the first time, the instructions said to season the pot by heating a tablespoon of oil, letting it cool, and wiping it out. When it was time to actually pop popcorn, we followed the directions, adding one to three tablespoons (we added two) in addition to 1/2 cup of popcorn. The process was extremely easy and fun. We heated the pot on medium-high using an electric stove. (FYI: The directions say it works equally as well on a gas range.) As soon as we placed the pot on the stove, we started turning the handle. Soon after, the popcorn started popping. The entire process was done within three minutes — it was actually faster than using microwave popcorn, I think!

When the popcorn was done, we emptied it by lifting up what I call the pour flap and spilling it into a bowl. I was pleasantly surprised to see that every kernel popped, and none of the popcorn was burned. And how did it taste? The steam vents at the top of the lid let just enough steam out and kept just enough in so the popcorn was light, fluffy, and extremely tasty. (Note: We used Trader Joe’s Organic Popcorn kernels.)

Cleanup was a snap. Once the pot cooled down, I took a paper towel and wiped the pot as well as the lid and stirring mechanism. The manufacturer recommends wiping it out either every time or every four or five uses. You can also clean it with warm, soapy water, but the paper towel seemed to work fine for us.

My one complaint is that there’s no way to melt butter other than using the microwave or a separate pot on the stove. (And keep in mind that the manufacturer specifically notes that you should not use butter to pop corn since it can discolor the pot.) Butter aside, I would highly recommend the Whirley-Pop unit to anyone who is a popcorn fanatic or just likes making popcorn more than once or twice a year.

• About 10 percent of the juices that CR sampled (from five brands) showed arsenic levels that “exceeded federal drinking-water standards. Most of that arsenic was inorganic arsenic, a known carcinogen.”
• 25 percent of samples had lead levels “higher than the FDA’s bottled-water limit of 5 ppb. As with arsenic, no federal limit exists for lead in juice.”
• We’re getting a large portion of our arsenic exposure from apple and grape juice. CR called the juices, “a significant source of dietary exposure to arsenic,” according to its analysis of federal health data from 2003 through 2008.
• Kids are drinking a heck of a lot of juice. According to a CR parents poll, 25 percent of kids under five drink more juice than their pediatricians recommend.

Consumer Reports says the source of the arsenic and lead is contaminated apple orchards. Soil is contaminated due to a number of reasons, For example, arsenic-based pesticides that were used in the past are still hanging around. Plus, there’s plenty of arsenic and lead in the environment from things like the production of pressure-treated wood.  Even more significant, I think, (and something the CR article points out, too) is the fact that much of our apple juice is made from concentrate that comes from China, a country that still uses arsenic-based pesticides.

I have always had a few rules about juice. First, anything my kids drank had to be 100 percent juice — no high fructose, sugar-added junk for us. Second, it had to be organic. Finally, juice was an occasional thing. We drink it sparingly at playdates, at mommy-and-me classes, and always watered it down in a 2-to-1 ratio of water to juice.

These rules, I assumed, would keep my girls healthier. We would avoid pesticides and reduce our risk of obesity. After all, juice is way better than the other options out there — aside from water, of course. Two separate 2010 studies out of Louisiana State University Agricultural Center and Baylor College of Medicine seemed to support my theory.

One study found that children between the ages of two and five who drank 100 percent fruit juice had “significantly” higher daily intakes of vitamin C, potassium, and magnesium and “significantly lower intakes of added sugars compared to non-fruit juice consumers.” Juice drinkers, for some reason, also ate more whole fruits and whole grains. The other study — of children ages six to 12 — had similar results. Kids who drank juice took in more key nutrients and ate more dietary fiber, according to the study. In addition, “overall diet quality, as assessed by the Healthy Eating Index — a measure that evaluates conformance to federal dietary guidance — was higher in all fruit juice consumers assessed.”

Great. Juice is good for adults, too, as studies have found that it can reduce the risk of some cancers and is beneficial to cardiovascular health. Except, of course, when the juice contains carcinogens. So what’s a parent to do? I plan on sticking to water or orange juice for a while, or limiting my purchases to apple and grape juices that are organic and clearly marked, “Made in the U.S.A.” How about you?

My reasons are both health- and conscience-related. On the health side of things, organic turkeys are free of antibiotics and growth hormones that are commonly found in conventional turkey. (Check out this great blog on the subject from Green Talk.) As for the whole doing-the-right-thing thing, well, I think it would probably be much smarter and easier to let one of the experts I’ve interviewed do the talking instead. Here is the interview I did with Sharanya Krishna Prasad, U.S. Programs Officer with the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) about the very topic:

KB: Why is organic turkey so expensive?

Krishna Prasad: Organic turkey is currently more expensive for various reasons. Intensive agriculture is highly subsidized by the U.S. government, and the price of products from intensively raised animals does not consider the true environmental, human health and animal welfare costs associated with producing and consuming factory farmed meat. As the demand for more humane meats increases, and when industry standards for all animal-derived products are raised, the cost of these products will become more competitive.

KB: There are so many different options out there. If I can’t afford organic, what are some of the more acceptable labels I should be looking for?

Krishna Prasad: When shopping for a turkey, look for labels such as “Pasture Raised,” “USDA Organic,” “American Humane Certified,” “Animal Welfare Approved,” or “Certified Humane.” These labels mean animals should have been raised under more humane standard where they were given access to sunlight and fresh air and had freedom of movement. They were also spared non-therapeutic antibiotics and growth-promoting hormones. Avoid misleading labels like “Natural” or “Naturally Raised.” While “Naturally Raised” ensures animals were not given antibiotics or hormones, this label does not mean the animals have freedom, fresh air or sunlight. The term “Natural” has no relevance to animal welfare and merely indicates that the product doesn’t have artificial additives.

KB: Is it worth buying organic over pasture-raised or the other non-organic labels you just mentioned?

Krishna Prasad: WSPA has developed an easy-to-use humane classification system where labeling claims have been designated as ‘Good’, ‘Better’, or ‘Best’ depending on the level of animal welfare required by the claim standard. Under this classification system, both USDA organic and pasture-raised fall under the same category — ‘Better.’

For turkeys, the best labels to look for are Animal Welfare Approved, American Humane Certified, and Certified Humane. If products with these labels are unavailable, we recommend choosing from one of the ‘Better’ or ‘Good’ category labels such as USDA organic, pasture-raised, or free range. If a turkey doesn’t have one of these labels, it was raised without the consideration of animal welfare, and buyers may be paying a premium for products that likely don’t meet their expectations in terms of the impacts on animals.

KB: How can I get my store to carry the “Better” or “Good” categories of turkey?

Krishna Prasad: Consumers should request humane food products from their retailers by speaking with the purchasing manager of the stores they frequently shop at. Studies have shown that it only takes a few customers to request a product before a store will carry it. In addition, WSPA’s website www.EatHumane.org has a postcard that consumers can print and drop off at the comments and suggestions box at their store to request more humane products.

KB: Does organic turkey taste different than the Butterball everyone might be used to?

Krishna Prasad: While some studies have been conducted on the taste of meat from organically-raised turkeys versus meat from intensively raised animals, to my knowledge they have not been conclusive. WSPA has noticed a trend among gourmet restaurants featuring more locally sourced, humanely-raised products on their menus. Chefs are probably taking in to account both the better care and fewer resources it takes to raise animals humanely. But I am sure they are considering the good taste as well. Today most food offered for sale in major U.S. supermarkets is from animals raised under intensive confinement on large factory style farms. These animals are typically denied fresh air and sunlight, and given very limited freedom to move and express their natural behaviors. Polls have shown that a large majority of Americans think the way farm animals are raised is important to them. Consumers who choose humane turkeys can be assured that the animals were given more natural living conditions and are typically given access to fresh air and sunlight, and freedom to move and express their natural behaviors.

So there you have it. Will this affect the way you shop for meat this holiday season? Was I insane for spending so much on a turkey that was gone in less than 20 minutes? I’d love to hear your feedback.

My husband's cast iron skillet: The grosser it looks, the better it is to cook on!

First, a little background. You and I call it Teflon, but what we’re really talking about is perfluorooctanoic acid (or PFOA), which is what manufacturers use to make all your brownie pans, frying pans, and turkey roasters non-stick. You can also find the chemical, which is sometimes referred to as C8, inside of packaged foods containers such as microwave popcorn bags and in many other consumer products. (The Environmental Protection Agency has a page dedicated to PFOA that’s got a lot more information. It’s certainly worth a read. You can find it here.)

Here are the problems that the EPA had with PFOA, taken directly from its site:

• PFOA is very persistent in the environment; it doesn’t break down and go away.
• It is found everywhere. You can see very low levels both in the environment and in the blood of the general U.S. population
• It sticks around inside of us for very long time, too. Once you ingest it or breathe it in, it’s in there.
• It has been found to cause “developmental and other adverse effects in laboratory animals.” (And in humans, too!)

If you’re like me, the last item in the list might be the one that’s giving you pause. What kind of adverse effects, you might want to know. Well, according to research studies PFOA can be linked to:

• Lower birth rate and size: Researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that babies with higher concentrations of the chemical had smaller heads and lower body weights. Read the study here.
• Infertility: Women with higher levels of PFOA took longer to get pregnant, according to a study out of the UCLA School of Public Health.
• Elevated cholesterol: Kids with higher levels of PFOA have higher cholesterol levels, according to a study in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
• Thyroid disease: A “study revealed that people with higher concentrations of PFOA in their blood have higher rates of thyroid disease. The researchers analyzed samples from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s nationally representative National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES),” according to researchers.
• ADHD: In this study, Boston University School of Public Health researchers found “increased odds of ADHD in children with higher serum PFC levels.” (PFOA is one of the PFCs they tracked.)

There have also been studies linking PFOA to cancer, although most of the research has been on the effects of PFOA released into the environment as a byproduct of manufacturing. No matter, the research is so compelling that, way back in 2006, the EPA asked manufacturers to phase out the chemical. Eight large non-stick manufacturers complied. The voluntary ban will be achieved by 2015, but that doesn’t do anything for all the folks who have non-stick cookware in their homes already unless they proactively get rid of everything non-stick they own.

That’s exactly what we did. Despite the fact that my husband loved his non-stick griddle, we tossed it along with four frying pans, a brownie pan, cake pans, cookie sheets, and a roasting pan. We actually threw it in the recycling bin rather than donating it to make sure it wasn’t going to be around to potentially make someone else sick. Today, we use either cast iron or stainless steel when we cook, bake, or fry, and I didn’t spend a fortune to make this happen.

My husband, for instance, got a $30 cast iron griddle to replace his beloved non-stick one. (No, he did not like it in the beginning, but has grown to love it.) I bought it from my local Target, and was thrilled to discover it was actually made in the United States, which is a rarity these days. Target also carries a number of other cast iron Lodge products including loaf pans, skittles, and fryers. (Note: I have nothing to do with Target or Lodge and am not being paid to say that. I just like the products.) I picked up some really inexpensive Pyrex brownie and cake pans at the Pyrex outlet. I got my stainless stuff as hand-me-downs, and was actually pleased to find that I had a plain stainless cookie sheet already sitting in my cabinet as well as a nice stainless frying pan.

From a cooking perspective, I love the fact that the glass and stainless stuff cleans up really easily. It’s also adding some extra flavor to my baking since I am forced to grease and flour my cake pans and butter up the brownie pan. The cast iron griddle, which is fully seasoned now, gives off a warm, homey smell when things are cooking on it. Plus, I love the extra boost of iron the entire family gets with our pancakes and eggs. (The American Dietetic Association confirms that cooking foods in or on cast iron increases the amount of iron in foods.)

Of course, most people aren’t going to be able to toss all their non-stick cookware into the garbage like I did, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do something. I challenge everyone to replace one pan — the one you use the most — by the end of the year since it can make a huge difference in your PFOA exposure. Ready to give it a shot?

This post is how I am participating in this week’s Real Food Wednesdays and Fight Back Fridays, two awesome blog carnivals dedicated to promoting the use and consumption of — what else? — real food.

My beautiful neti sitting in my bathroom.

Little Girl came home on Monday with her first preschool cold. No sniffles, just a cough. She’s actually really good about covering her mouth with her elbow, but she’s also only three. Sometimes she coughs on Mommy.

Yesterday I started getting that tell-tale burning in my sinuses as well as a pain behind my left eye that always leads to a cold. I do not have time for a cold. I have dinner out tonight with friends and a play with the girls tomorrow and a six-page white paper to write. I do not have time to be sick. I went into preventative action.

My first order of business: Using my neti pot. Don’t know what a neti is? Check out this post — one of the first I ever wrote — about the proven scientific benefits of using a neti pot, which is essentially a little teapot that you use to pour water through one nostril so it can come out the other. Since I first wrote that post, there’s been more research data to support the use of neti pots including this one proving its effectiveness for children from the University of Kansas School of Medicine and this one from the University of Padova in Padova, Italy. The Italian study actually that found that using a neti eliminated the bacteria staphylococcus aureus (better known as staph) in study subjects’ noses. Okay, so I used it and, I will not lie, because I wasn’t feeling good it was not a pleasant wash. It burned.

I also made sure I ate lots of cold-fighting foods yesterday. I had two bowls of soup, which has been found to have cold-fighting properties. I went with a tomato-based chili for lunch. (Tomatoes are high in vitamin C.) I had chicken soup for dinner. I also loaded up on garlic, adding two cloves to the chili I made.

This morning I feel better. It’s amazing, really. Was it the neti? Was it the food? Was it a combination of the two? I’m not sure, but I’m hoping that it sticks. Just to be on the safe side I am going to neti again this morning. It can’t hurt, right?

What’s your favorite cold-fighting cure? Have you ever used a neti pot? Even more important: Do you have a good chili recipe? Mine came out blech but I ate it because I couldn’t stand the thought of throwing out all that expensive organic chicken and beans. By the way, this post is how I am participating in this week’s Real Food Wednesday and Fight Back Friday, two awesome blog carnivals dedicated to promoting the use and consumption of — what else? — real food.