health +
Canned vegetables
Photo illustration by Sachiko Miyakawa
Pass the salt: Canned vegetables have high sodium levels, but you can dilute your veggies for a healthier side dish.
Cutting onions can make you cry. Peeling potatoes or carrots can create a mess in the kitchen.
Canned vegetables seem like a good solution to simplify your vegetable preparation. You can preserve them in your pantry. If you use canned tomatoes, it's easy to make pasta sauce or chile even from scratch. But are canned vegetables good for your health?
Canned vegetables are nutritious, but they are higher in sodium, says Ann Chapman, dietitian for Student Health Services. She suggests rinsing off vegetables before cooking them to prevent your body from taking in too much salt. If you have high blood pressure and sodium is an issue, frozen vegetables can be as nutritious and lower in sodium, she says.
Canned fruits can be also healthy. For example, canned peaches are as nutritious as the fresh. Chapman says. Avoid canned fruits that are packed in heavy syrup, though. Choose the ones packed in their own juice or water.
Carmex
Have you ever put Carmex on your lips and then thirty minutes later craved more? Could Carmex be addictive? Some say it contains fiberglass and salicylic acid for the purpose of continually drying out users' lips.
"I used to use Carmex all the time. It really felt like I was addicted to the stuff," says Lauren Gross, Wichita senior."Then someone told me it was addicting and didn't actually moisturize your lips. It just kept you wanting more."
Gross stopped using the lip balm.
Photo Illustration by Megan Weltner
nervous she was getting scammed. De-chap those lips: Carmex contains the same ingredients of other However, David Kaplan, dermatologist at Adult and Pediatric Dermal safe lip balms. Don't be fooled by the myth that Carmex is addictive.
tology in Leawood, says that this rumor is an urban myth.
"People who use strong lip balms like Carmex tend to have extremely dry skin already." Kaplan says. "They assume the lip balm will continue working for days and days, and that is not the case."
Carmex has no harmful ingredients and Kaplan even recommends the lip balm to his patients.
"I see nothing wrong with the balm, but you would be amazed at how many patients refuse to use the stuff," Kaplan says.
VERDICT: GOOD FOR YOU with proper preparation
— Sachiko Mivakawa
For all of you who are still skeptical of the balm, the ingredient list mirrors that of many other lip balms on the market today: menthol, camphor, alum and wax. All are completely safe.
VERDICT: GOOD FOR YOU
Megan Weltner
January 29, 2009
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