The Truth About Food Expiration Dates
ICYMI, Tiger Woods made a “joke” to Justin Thomas last week, passing him a tampon after out driving him at a golf tournament to insinuate that Justin “plays like a girl” 🙄.
Let’s just say, if Tiger knew anything about periods, or had to play golf with period pain that felt like a heart attack – he’d realize his tampon maneuver is actually more of a compliment.
- Maggie Ruvoldt & Stephanie Majercik
The Tasting Menu
Food Expiration Dates
Eating Disorder Facts
Hello, Menopause. Goodbye Gyn? Not So Fast!
Food Expiration Dates
We’ll admit it. This piece is mainly to settle an ongoing debate in Maggie’s house about the dates on various foodstuffs. Specifically, what do these dates actually mean?
In a “What the Health?” moment we found out that there is no standard set for these dates.
Date information such as Sell-by dates and Best-by dates are created by the manufacturers. They are estimates on when the food is best not a date by which it would expire. In fact, Sell by is mainly so retailers can manage inventory!
Even the Use-by date is about quality not about safety - with the important exception of infant formula. Freeze-by is also a quality date, not a safety date.
So what do we do with this information? You want to balance not being wasteful with not eating food that’s past an actual expiration date. We’ve got some tips and resources for you.
Acidity in food matters in canned foods. If the acid is high, as with pickles, 12 to 18 months is fine. Other lower-acid foods can last for over 2 years
Can condition matters. Swelling or rust is a sign to toss the food
Storage after opening matters. Most foods that were canned will last 3-4 days in the fridge. Higher acid foods like tomatoes will last 5 to 7 days
When in doubt - toss it
(Maggie is now very sad, having lost this debate. She is, however keeping it to herself. Let’s see who in her house is reading this!)
Resources:
USDA Product Dating Information
5 Facts About Eating Disorders
Going to venture a guess that many of you are aware of eating disorders. They come in many different forms, but ultimately relate to eating behaviors that can have a negative impact on your health. It’s now widely known that eating disorders are not the result of lifestyle choices, but a mental illness brought on by a number of factors, which includes, but is not exclusive to cultural factors.
Teenagers and young adults are the most at-risk for eating disorders, but they impact people of any age, race or ethnicity, weights, and genders.
Here are 5 facts we know about eating disorders:
There are 5 main types: Anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, avoidant restrictive food intake disorder, and other feeding or eating disorder
Anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating are the most common. Avoidant restrictive food intake disorder is when you fail to meet daily nutrition requirements by avoiding foods with certain textures, colors, smells, or taste
Eating disorders will affect 28.8 million individuals at some point in their life
After opioid use disorder, eating disorders have the second highest mortality rate of any mental illness
Eating disorder research is the least funded of all mental health research
1 in 10 people with an eating disorder receives treatment
Next week, from February 27-March 5, is Eating Disorder Awareness Week. If you’re concerned that you or someone in your life is suffering with an eating disorder, the National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA) has a short screening tool, appropriate for anyone 13 and up. Eating disorders can be successfully treated, and NEDA has several resources available so you can best help those in your life.
Hello, Menopause. Goodbye Gyn? Not So Fast!
The arrival of menopause (12 months after your last period) is not the end of your relationship with the gynecologist. While you may consider switching to a gynecologist who concentrates on menopause care, there are important reasons to continue seeing a specialist in women’s health:
Pap smears and HPV tests are recommended until at least age 65. The average age for cervical cancer diagnosis is 50 but 20% of cases occur over 65
Post-menopause pelvic exams are still needed. They can detect conditions such as uterine fibroids or symptoms of gynecological cancer
Hormone therapy and checking of hormone levels will ease symptoms
A gynecologist is better trained to address a healthy sex life than a general practitioner
The changes you experience from perimenopause through postmenopause may impact the enjoyment of your sex life - and can be addressed!
Menopause can accelerate bone loss. Your general practitioner may not be on the look out for it routinely
Medical Term of the Week
Hot flashes and pregnancy together? Yup, that can happen.
Vasomotor Symptoms (VMS) result from constricting and dilating blood vessels. During perimenopause through postmenopause and pregnancy, these symptoms can be hot flashes and night sweats.
Since estrogen plays a role in thermoregulation (a fancy term for maintaining body temperature), these symptoms aren’t surprising. But they are annoying and disruptive.
Have a quick question for your medical provider? Sure, send an email - for a fee (From The New York Times)
We never thought diversity in clinical trials should be a nice to have. Well, the FDA is finally considering making it a requirement. (From PharmaVoice)
Really, this is where we draw the line in advertising and the app store? At women’s health? (From Beauty Independent)