You need to watch it for a minute or so until the middle guy (Doug) starts laughing, then you won’t be able to stop…

Check it out at The New Editor.

Microscopic flecks of vegetable, squishy chewy bit of “meat” and enough salt to exceed your daily recommended value hardly make for a healthy comfort food.

Soup stocks, on the other hand, are a great way to make your own soup. Open a box of chicken or beef broth, throw in some fresh veggies, meat and noodles and you’ve got a quick and nutritious meal.

Soup stock is pretty basic stuff — there’s not much more that needs to go in beyond water, chicken or beef bits, a few veggies and some herbs.

A can of Campbell’s Herbed Chicken with Rice soup has more than 66% of the daily value for sodium. Their Tomato with Cheese and Portobello Mushroom Ravioli soup has over 70%. (Add a few crackers, and you’ve met or exceeded your sodium daily value with just the one meal!)
Compare that to their Chicken Broth, which for roughly the same amount of liquid, will give you only 20% of the daily sodium value.

My typical chicken veggie soup recipe will feed about four adults.

• Chicken broth — 1 box (900 ml)
• Brocolli — as much as you want
• Carrots — as much as you want (whole baby ones , or slided)
• Chicken — about four breasts (cut into small pieces and browned before adding to soup)
• Baby potatoes — as much as you want (halved)
• Udon noodles — two packs (you can use regular pasta, too.)
• Fish sauce — 1 tbsp
• Oregano — to taste
• Cook everything except the noodles for about 30 mins, add the noodles and cook for another two to five minutes.

Not necessarily, according to the Jan/Feb 2007 issue of the Nutrition Action Healthletter.

This article provides summaries of studies that have looked at the effectiveness of Vitamin C, Cold-Eeze, Cold-fx, Oscillococcinum, orange juice and Echinacea.

There’s also some good information in the article on what you should do once you catch a cold. According to cold expert Jack Gwaltney of the University of Virginia, “At the very first hint that a cold is starting, take a first-generation antihistamine and an NSAID every twelve hours and keep taking them even if you feel better.” He adds, “That won’t stop the cold, but it will lessen the symptoms.” Further information on this is available at www.commoncold.org.

Nutrition Action Healthletter is published by The Centre for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a non-profit health-advocacy group.