Big Surprise: New Study Says Energy Drinks May Be Bad for Your Heart

Categories: Health Hazard
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Flickr creative common
We all know someone who drinks so many energy drinks that you'd imagine the noxious stuff has supplanted their actual blood. Hopefully, it's not you. Maybe it is.

Well, according to research presented at the American Heart Association last week, energy drinks may have negative effects on the heart. We know: shocking.

See also:
- Hippocrates Health Institute: Why Sea Vegetables are a Valuable Source of Nutrients
- New Study Says Beer is Good.. For the Economy

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Duck Feathers, Insect Coffee, and Pink Slime: Who the Hell Cares Anymore?

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Mostly Dans via Flickr Creative Commons
You like ducks? That's good, because you are eating their feathers.
Starbucks late last week announced that its stores would begin phasing out the use of food coloring made from crushed insects. Well, that's nice. The kerfuffle over the revelation of the nonvegan, and somewhat stomach-turning, ingredient's inclusion in some of the chain's  beverages is just one of many public food freakouts this nation has experienced in recent months.

Despite being ground to an unrecognizable slush, the "pink slime" story has legs. The reconstituted-beef revelation continues to bang the gross-out drum, causing even those with steely stomachs to give their favorite burger the ol' hairy eyeball. Pescetarians weren't immune from pink slime panic as news leaked recently of a "pink slime of sushi" involving a not-so-appetizing method of tuna prep that will have you shunning your spicy tuna roll for the foreseeable future.

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Trend Alert: You Want Fries on That?

Categories: Health Hazard
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Are French fries the next add-to-everything item? Just as eggs have become the latest haute garnish on burgers, fried rice, pizza, you name it, it seems French fries are making an appearance as a topping rather than a side. Here are five things I've seen recently that signal an oncoming trend. 

5. French-fry eggs
Here we have a combination of the two most oft-added ingredients as of late: French fries and eggs. We could make this truly decadent by adding chili and/or poutine cheese curds -- which I've seen Food Network star Teddy Folkman make at his restaurant -- but I haven't seen it down here yet. Perhaps that's too decadent for folks trying to keep their figures for year-round beach weather. 

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Liberal Media Taste-Tests Rush Limbaugh's Iced Tea

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Don't Rush to Get Limbaugh's Tea
Under normal circumstances, you should probably avoid putting anything Rush Limbaugh related in your mouth.

But the conservative firebrand did recently release a Paul Revere-themed beverage, Two If By Tea, so Clean Plate Charlie decided to risk life, limb, and sanity to review the oxy-chaser summertime drink.   

Before you say the review can't possibly be fair because New Times is a liberal rag, as some media personalities and blog commentators on the right have surely claimed, know that Clean Plate Charlie went the extra step to make sure the writeup was apolitical and objective. ("Fair and balanced," as you people put it.)

To do that, seven New Times staffers participated in a blind taste test of four sweet teas: Two If By Tea, AriZona, Publix, and Betty's Soul Food brands. Participating New Timesers were given a slip of paper, where they wrote their political affiliation at the top, followed by their immediate impressions of each tea.

The results might shock you -- if you can find the time to put down your dog-eared (daresay, sticky-paged) copy of The Federalist Papers, that is.

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Florida Researcher Uses UV Rays to Zap Allergens From Peanuts

Categories: Health Hazard

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Allergic to peanuts? Zap 'em with UV rays!
Are you tired of signs everywhere saying "This cookie/ice cream/coffee/hamburger/goat stew has been processed in a plant that uses peanuts"?

So are we, which is why we got so jazzed up about a new technique developed by a University of Florida researcher that might just get rid of peanut allergies forever.

According to The Southeast Farm Press, "Wade Yang, an assistant professor in UF's food science and human nutrition department, used pulsed ultraviolet light, or PUV, to reduce the allergenic potential of peanuts by up to 90 percent".

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Ten Ways to Ruin Easter Dinner


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Tricia Woolfenden
This lumpen bunny cake mess is a great start to ruining Easter Dinner for everyone!
Have you been saddled with hosting Easter dinner when you'd much rather spend the day kicking back your misanthropic heels and hiding from the family? Below are ten ways that can all but guarantee that you will never again be asked to host -- or possibly to attend -- a holiday meal with your loved ones:

10. You know a fun surprise that people love? Being asked, on the spot, to say grace. Your older sister's new atheist boyfriend will especially enjoy this honor.


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Congressman Dennis Kucinich Sues Restaurant Over Olive

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Donkey Hotey
Watch those Olives!
Congressman Dennis Kucinich of Ohio is suing the operators, owners and suppliers of the House of Representatives cafeteria in Washington, DC for selling him a sandwich wrap that had an unpitted olive in it back in 2008.

The lawsuit claims the Congressman bit into an olive pit hidden in the wrap and afterward needed multiple dental surgeries and procedures. The lawsuit also claims Kucinich  suffered significant pain, suffering and loss of enjoyment (not sure we want to know what oral enjoyment he lost).

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Did You Get Your DIY Gastric-Bypass Kit Yet?

Categories: Health Hazard
'Cause if you didn't, you're out of luck, bub.

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​Up until yesterday, for about $265, you could order one on Amazon. They work great. Anyone can install one in seconds with a penknife and some packing tape.

Actually, the kit contained a scalpel, a syringe, and some other medical-like doodads. And, apparently, easy-to-follow instructions.

But after doctors started their obligatory hand-wringing, saying the kit somehow wasn't "safe" and could put your "life in jeopardy" and all that other Chicken Little crap they always spew, they ruined the party. 

The real reason for the bypass backlash?

Surgery, especially abdominal surgery, is hella-fun. And these so-called surgeons want to keep all that fun for themselves.

Because a gastric bypass operation is about as complicated as putting together an IKEA coffee table! First, you just
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Instead of Resolving to Lose Weight This Year...

Categories: Health Hazard
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flickr.com; alancleaver_2000
We here at Charlie enjoy a snarky blog here and there, and we like to poke fun at the South Florida dining scene. Joking aside, there is a growing epidemic resulting from unhealthy relationships with food. 2011 has just begun, and many of us are making resolutions to lose weight. But what happens when well meaning self-improvement goals turn into obsessive, disordered behaviors? 



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Health Inspectors Crack Down on Unlicensed Restaurants

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Better check yourself before you wreck yourself, eateries. Inspectors seem to be cracking down more and more on what they deem unlicensed activity, which could be as simple as not properly displaying licenses to serving food without a license at all. Two local digs were shut down last week for that reason; two others brought vermin into the mix. 

Here are the dirty details.

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