Diabetics, like air force pilots when flying, need to be slightly paranoid. Always on the lookout for potential danger. But whereas a flight ends after several hours in the skies, a diabetic must be in constant awareness of blood sugar levels.

An article in the New York Times touts vinegar, of all foods, as a potential aid in the battle for low blood sugar. Adding vinegar to your dinner

… seems to help slow the absorption of sugar from a meal into the bloodstream, apparently because vinegar helps block digestive enzymes that convert carbohydrates into sugar. read more…

What you need to know:

The word “vinegar” derives from the Old French vin aigre, which literally means sour wine. It is made by fermentation of wine/beer/cider/fruit juice/other and creates a highly acidic liquid that has been used in kitchens across the globe for ages.  The acetic acid in vinegar is what gives vinegar its pungent smell and strong acidic flavor.

A study in Italy found that healthy people who ate a meal with an addition of said acetic acid versus a control group that did not, had a lower level of glycemic response. The 4 teaspoons of vinegar was added as a salad dressing together with olive oil.

Diabetics can try for themselves to see if vinegar helps, according to Sue McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the American Diabetic Association.

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Here’s an interesting story from Italy, posted Thursday on GlobalPost:

“From lands freed from the Mafia,” reads the light blue pack of penne rigate pasta on display among dozens of other products in a dedicated shop in Via dei Prefetti 23, in the heart of Rome. To understand that label, travel 250 miles as the crow flies south, to Sicily.

Turns out that lands confiscated from mafia members have been turned to good use -  an agricultural cooperative is selling products such as pasta, olive oil, tomatoes an wine, all from fields not far from the town of Corleone, Sicily.

Get the full story from global post here.

Speaking of the mafia, how come there are no good mobster outfits for kids to wear when trick or treating. They’d sure get a larger bounty than with those goofy monster costumes.

Happy Halloween and don’t forget to brush your teeth when it’s all over…

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The word salad conjures, for most people, mounds of iceberg lettuce, a few other veggies, and a hefty ladle of dressing. As with many things, the US did not invent it, but in the last 50 years we have elevated salad dressing to a billion dollar industry with hundreds of varieties awaiting us in a special condiments aisle in the supermarket. You know something is big when it has its own trade organization.

In southern Europe and the Mediterranean, a salad is dressed by mixing some fresh lemon juice, a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper, and drizzling on top of a freshly cut salad. It seems that here, though, folks cannot complete that basic task and therefore gladly pay $3.00-$4.00 for a bottled solution. The price paid isn’t just monetary, as there are ingredients in some commercial dressings that are better kept away from our bodies.

Read more…