Left untreated, Lyme disease can cause chronic health problems. Check out this article for more on what causes Lyme, its symptoms, and how to get tested.
The post Your Comprehensive Guide to Lyme Disease appeared first on Chris Kresser.
27 Primal Lunchbox Ideas
Packing a lunch day after day saves money and helps you stick to your health goals, but it requires some regular inspiration. From simple no-cook Bento box lunches, to layered Big-Ass salads, to big-batch recipes that provide dinner and lunch the next day, we’ve got you covered. Pack something good every day of the week with these go-to Primal lunchbox ideas.
Big-Ass Salads
Put together several Big-Ass salads and store them in glass mason jars so you can grab the pre-made salads for lunch throughout the workweek. Dressing goes in the bottom of the jar and the salad ingredients are layered on top. This keeps everything crisp and fresh, even if you pack the salad a few days in advance. When you’re ready to eat lunch, dump the contents into a bowl and voila! You’ve got yourself a Big-Ass salad.
Tips For Packing Jar Salads:
- Use quart-sized jars for main course salads and pint jars for side salads
- Wide mouth jars are easiest to pack
- Most mason jar salads can be packed up to 3 days ahead of time
- Pour 2 to 4 tablespoons salad dressing in the bottom of the jar
- Layer ingredients from firmest in texture to lightest, so the salad doesn’t get soggy
- Greens are the last ingredient to go in the jar. Tear larger leaves into bite-sized pieces. It’s okay to pack the greens in tightly.
Mason Jar Big-Ass Salad Inspiration:
Greek Salad: Thinly sliced red onion, cooked ground lamb or sliced lamb , large diced cucumber, feta, Kalamata olives, spinach
- DIY Dressing: Dill Vinaigrette
- Primal Kitchen® Pairing: Greek Dressing
Nicoise Salad: Canned olive oil-packed tuna or sardines, cold potatoes, hard-boiled egg slices, green beans, halved cherry tomatoes, romaine lettuce
- DIY Dressing: Parsley Dressing
- Primal Kitchen Pairing: Italian Vinaigrette
Chopped Chicken Salad: Leftover cooked, shredded or sliced chicken, thinly sliced red bell pepper, grated carrots, chopped green onion, slivered almonds, shredded cabbage
- DIY Dressing: Asian Dressing
- Primal Kitchen Pairing: Sesame Ginger Vinaigrette
More Delicious Jar Salads:
Harvest Bowl with Honey Mustard Vinaigrette
Bento Box Lunches
Bento box lunches offer a variety of flavors and foods with very little effort. The trick is keeping your kitchen well stocked with healthy whole foods that require little or no prep time. Just open your fridge and pantry, pull a few things out, and pack up your bento lunch box.
Bento Lunch Box Inspiration:
- Canned olive oil-packed tuna with Primal Kitchen Mayo + Sweet mini bell peppers + Olives + Fresh berries with coconut butter
- Smoked Salmon + Cucumber + Avocado + Green beans drizzled with sesame oil + Dried Seaweed (nori or SeaSnax)
- Primal-approved jerky (no sugar or additives) + Hard-boiled egg + Carrot slices with Primal Kitchen Ranch Dressing + Apple slices and nut butter
- Primal-approved cooked sausage (no sugar or additives) + Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese shavings + Cherry tomatoes with fresh basil (or pesto) + Raw Almonds
Other Bento Box Ingredient Ideas:
- Greek Yogurt
- Macadamia Nuts
- Cooked Bacon
- Meatballs
- Chicken Drumsticks
- Cooked Sweet Potato Slices
- Primal/Keto Muffins
- Peanut Butter Protein Cookies
For more kids’ bento box ideas, check out this post.
Leftover Lunches
Not sure what to pack for lunch? The answer might be in your fridge already. It’s called “leftovers.” Packing lunch is always easier when there are dinner leftovers in the fridge. These 9 recipes make big batches of food, providing both dinner and lunch the next day.
Chicken Cacciatore
Tender chicken thighs are cooked in a rich sauce made from tomatoes, mushrooms, bell peppers and garlic. Packing fresh garnishes in your lunch box like basil, grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and black olives will give leftover chicken cacciatore fresh, bright flavor.
Sheet Pan Shrimp and Broccoli
This simple sheet pan meal is just as good the next day eaten as a shrimp and broccoli salad. Buy a bag of baby spinach to toss with the leftover shrimp and broccoli for lunch and don’t forget to dress the salad with Primal Kitchen Sesame Ginger Vinaigrette.
Sweet Potato Chili
Chili tastes better a day or two after it’s made, which means it’s a perfect leftover for lunch. With a simple list of ingredients and a short cooking time, this smoky sweet potato chili is sure to become a regular weeknight dinner that also provides lunch the next day.
Instant Pot Short Ribs With Sesame Ginger Slaw
These short ribs are so good you’re going to be counting down the minutes until lunch so you can eat them again. And the short ribs are tasty hot or cold (especially with the cool and sweet tasting slaw), so you’re good to go without reheating.
Layered Taco Casserole
A pan of casserole in the fridge is always a welcome sight. Especially when it’s Primal taco casserole. Pack this layered taco casserole with an avocado and small containers of salsa and sour cream and you’ll have a filling and delicious lunch.
Buffalo Chicken Casserole
Traditional buffalo chicken flavors are baked into this gluten-free, low-carb casserole. Better yet, this recipe is from Meal Prep on Fleek, which provides step-by-step instructions for meal prepping four meals from this one recipe.
Honey Mustard Chicken
Leftover chicken thighs for lunch? Yes, please! These thighs are flavored with a sweet and buttery mustard sauce that’s Whole30-Approved and Paleo friendly.
Instant Pot Coconut Ginger Pork Shoulder
A big cut of meat means you’ll get several meals from one recipe. This shredded pork flavored with coconut milk and ginger is easy to make, since all the cooking is done in an Instant Pot.
Instant Pot Brisket with Potatoes
Sliced brisket with potatoes is the type of leftover lunch that makes coworkers envious. Pack a few sprigs of fresh parsley to scatter over your meal, plus a little sea salt and a wedge of lemon to perk up the flavors of the meat and potatoes.
Thoughts or other ideas to add to the mix? Share them below, and have a great end to the week, everyone!
The post 27 Primal Lunchbox Ideas appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.
Kidney stones: What are your treatment options?
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If you’ve been diagnosed with kidney stones (urolithiasis), you may have several options for treatment. These include medical therapy, extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL), percutaneous nephrolithotripsy (PCNL), and ureteroscopy.
A brief anatomy of the urinary tract
The urinary tract includes
- kidneys (two organs that filter waste and extra water from the blood)
- ureters (two tubes bringing urine from each kidney to the bladder)
- bladder (organ that collects urine)
- urethra (a single tube through which urine in the bladder passes out of the body).
The evaluation for kidney stones
If your symptoms suggest kidney stones, imaging is often the first step in an evaluation. For many years the standard of care was a type of abdominal x-ray called an intravenous pyelogram (IVP). In most medical centers, this has been replaced by a type of computed tomography (CT) called unenhanced helical CT scanning. In some cases, such as when a person has impaired renal function or a contrast dye allergy, renal ultrasound may be used as an alternative.
You will also have blood tests, including tests for renal function (creatinine, BUN). Your doctor may suggest other blood tests as well. A urinalysis will be obtained and if infection is suspected, a urine culture will be sent.
Keeping kidney stone pain under control
If you are experiencing the intense discomfort of kidney stones (renal colic), pain control is a top priority. A 2018 analysis of multiple randomized trials looked at different pain relief medicines given to people treated in the emergency department for acute renal colic. It compared nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs, such as aspirin, ibuprofen, or naproxen) with paracetamol (similar to acetaminophen) or opioids. The study found NSAIDs offered effective pain relief with fewer side effects than paracetamol or opioids. NSAIDs directly inhibit the synthesis of prostaglandins, which decreases activation of pain receptors and reduces renal blood flow and ureteral contractions.
Medical therapy for kidney stones
Most evidence suggests that stones less than 10 mm in diameter have a reasonable chance of passing through the urinary tract spontaneously. You may be offered medical expulsive therapy (MET) using an alpha blocker medication, such as tamsulosin. It’s important to understand that this is an off-label use of the drug. Rarely, tamsulosin causes a condition called intraoperative floppy iris syndrome that can complicate cataract surgery.
Not all experts feel MET is worthwhile, and its use remains controversial. Discuss your options with your doctor or a urologist.
Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy
All shock wave lithotripsy machines deliver shock waves through the skin to the stone in the kidney. Most but not all of the energy from the shock wave is delivered to the stone.
Stone size is the greatest predictor of ESWL success. Generally:
- stones less than 10 mm in size can be successfully treated
- for stones 10 to 20 mm in size, additional factors such as stone composition and stone location should be considered
- stones larger than 20 mm are usually not successfully treated with ESWL.
Stones in the lower third of the kidney can also be problematic because, after fragmentation, the stone fragments may not be cleared from the kidney. Due to gravity, these fragments don’t pass out of the kidney as easily as fragments from the middle and upper thirds of the kidney.
Obesity also influences whether ESWL treatment will be successful. The urologist will calculate the skin-to-stone distance (SSD) to help determine whether this treatment is likely to be effective.
The possible complications of ESWL include:
- Injury to kidney tissue, such as bruising (hematoma), can occur in a small number of cases, but usually heals without additional treatment.
- Fragmented stones may accumulate in the ureter and form an obstruction. This is known as a steinstrasse (“street of stones”). A ureteral stent often minimizes any problems associated with steinstrasse. The stent is removed in a few days or weeks.
- A small percentage of patients undergoing ESWL develop hypertension, although the mechanism is not well understood.
- An increased risk of diabetes mellitus following ESWL has also been reported. However, these results were not confirmed by a large population study done at the same institution.
Percutaneous nephrolithotripsy
Using ultrasound or fluoroscopic guidance, a surgeon gains access to kidney stones through a small incision in the lower back during percutaneous nephrolithotripsy. A power source, such as ultrasound or laser, breaks the stones into fragments, which are flushed out of the kidney through an external tube or internal stent.
This treatment is usually considered for larger kidney stones (2 cm or more), complex stones, or lower pole renal stones larger than 1 cm. Possible complications may include bleeding, infection, and injury to surrounding organs.
Ureteroscopy
During ureteroscopy, a surgeon places a tube through the urethra and bladder into the ureter, possibly going all the way up into the kidney. Ureteroscopy employs either semirigid or flexible instruments through which the surgeon has an excellent view of everything inside the urethra. The surgeon then uses a power source threaded up through the ureteroscope to fragment the stones under direct visualization. A postoperative stent can be placed for a few days at the discretion of the urologist.
Complications are infrequent, but may include injury to or narrowing of the ureter, as well as sepsis.
The post Kidney stones: What are your treatment options? appeared first on Harvard Health Blog.
Swapping short car trips for walking or biking could achieve as much health gain as ongoing tobacco tax increases, according to the first study to model the improvements in health impact, health system costs and greenhouse gas emissions, associated with increasing active transport in New Zealand.
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