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4A Daily News – Monday, December 19, 2011 Vitality & health The real truth about those kitschy sayings (MCT) — Maybe you had a granny whose raspy voice you still hear rattling around your head every time you feel a cold coming on. "Feed a cold, starve a fever." Or, wait, is it the other way around? Maybe every time you stick a hand in the fridge, foraging for something yummy, you hear that ringing won't-go-away rhyme, the one about the apple-a-day and the doctor. And before you let the incessant rhyme out of its cage, you slam the door and run for the cookie jar. So here's the burning question: What's with all those aphorisms anyway? Is there any truth to the bits of medical folk wisdom we all know by heart, if not by practice? We dialed up a wise and jolly family physician, Dr. Jeffrey Cain, who happens to be president-elect of the American Academy of Family Physicians and chief of family medicine at Children's Hospital Col- orado. He not only patiently ticked through the truth behind a slew of what he called "folk wisdom," he made us feel not so silly for believing in a few. We'll take it one by one: "Feed a cold, starve a fever." The skinny: This one has medieval roots, the good doctor tells us, first appearing in print in a 1574 dictionary. And it's basic common sense: "When people have a fever, they don't want to eat," says Cain. "There's no science behind it, but there's no harm behind it either. The most important thing, though, is to give your body a rest; let it heal." "Sweat it out." The skinny: "Sometimes when someone has a fever they think that if they pile on the pajamas, and get under lots of blankets, they will sweat out the virus. There's no science to it. When you break a fever, you will sweat, and as your fever goes down, you'll get chills. But you can't sweat out a virus," says Cain, who has practiced family medi- cine for 26 years. "Another interpretation is that it means to be sure to exercise when you have a cold or fever. What we know from research is that regular exercisers have fewer colds. It gives our body a boost. But once you're sick, there's no data that exer- cise will help you. In fact, it might hurt you. If you've just got a cold, you might feel better if you exercise, but go easy. If you have a fever or the flu, don't exercise. Your body needs to reserve its energy for healing." "Walking is the best exercise." The skinny: This goes back to that ol' healer, Hippocrates, who would have flunked the Athenian P.C. Exam since he claimed it was "man's best exercise." Says the mod- ern-day Cain: "When people ask, what's the best exercise, the answer is, 'The one you'll do.' Walking is great, it's easy and you don't need any equipment. It's two special benefits are that it's almost as good for you as jogging, but it won't hurt joints." "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." The skin- ny: "We know Americans don't get enough fruits or vegetables," says Cain, "so I'm all for an apple a day. If you want to take it up a notch, try, 'Be sure your plate is filled with lots of colors, flavors and tex- tures.' Stick to whole foods, in forms as close to all- natural as you can get." AKRON, Ohio (MCT) — When it comes to mat- ters of the heart for chil- dren, growing up doesn't necessarily mean a patient outgrows the need for specialized medical care. National guidelines recommend about half the adult survivors of com- plex congenital heart dis- ease receive lifelong care from a physician who spe- cializes in heart defects that were present at birth. However, a study recently published in the national professional journal Pedi- atrics found many parents don't realize the need for their children to get ongo- ing care from a specialist into adulthood. Akron Children's Hos- pital was among nine pediatric cardiology cen- ters nationwide that par- ticipated in the study, led by Children's Hospital Boston. The researchers sur- veyed parents of patients with complex heart prob- lems — the type in which lifelong care would be recommended. Although the majority realized their child would need lifelong care, less than half (44 percent) thought the care should be provided by a cardiologist specially trained to treat adults with congenital heart defects. Thanks to medical advances, children born with complex heart defects that would have been fatal decades ago are surviving into adulthood, said Kathy Ackerman, nurse manager for the Heart Center at Akron Children's Hospital and one of the study authors. An estimated 1 million adults are living with con- genital heart defects nationwide. "Adult cardiologists would know how to fix a heart that was in bad shape because you ate too much, didn't exercise and smoked all your life," Ackerman said. "Those are acquired things." MCT photo Kathy Ackerman, nurse manager of the Akron Children's Hospital Heart Center, reads in the hospital's library on Dec. 7 in Akron, Ohio. However, she said, adult survivors of congen- ital heart disease can face unique problems and needs because of their condition and the surgery they underwent years ear- lier. "It's so important that the message gets out and people get the care they need," she said. As an adult survivor of a congenital heart defect, Denise Edington of Doylestown, Ohio, knew the importance of contin- uing specialized care for her son, Scott, who was born with a complex heart problem 23 years ago. Her son has had two heart operations and con- tinues to be seen regularly by a congenital heart spe- cialist at Akron Children's Hospital. "The great thing is that there are now ways that these children can sur- vive," she said. "They just need to have follow-up care that is appropriate. It is crucial to have that edu- cation." In fact, she said, he thinks the care is so important that he's in his second year of medical school at the University of Toledo. His plan: to become a cardiologist who specializes in con- genital issues. YAHOO REVEALS TOP SEARCHES Great expectations apparently are on the minds of many online users. Pregnancy symptoms were the most-searched health symptoms for 2011, according to a new release from search engine Yahoo. Rounding out the top 10 most commonly searched health symp- toms this year are: No. 2 diabetes, No. 3 gall blad- der, No. 4 gout, No. 5 thy- roid, No. 6 lupus, No. 7. shingles, No. 8 depres- Ho, ho, uh-oh (MCT) — If ever you need incentive to wash the dish- es after a holiday feast, consider what a little sudsing might do for your hips. Activity — whether through the gym, sports or house- hold chores — is your best friend during the gluttonous holidays, the key to indulging in pumpkin toffee cheese- cake without looking or feeling like one yourself. The American Council on Exercise a few years ago estimated the average holiday dinner packs 3,000 calories and 229 grams of fat. Add in the snacking and drinking you do throughout the day, and you've ingested about 4,500 calories, the council said — a sure path to weight gain, as 3,500 calories makes a pound, and the average person hoping to maintain their weight is supposed to con- sume 2,000 calories (for women) or 2,500 (for men) a day (though that varies by height, weight and activity level). So what does it take to burn it off? Here's a list of some popular holiday fare, with the amount of exercise you'd have to do to burn it off. The per-serving nutritional information is based on recipes on the Better Homes and Gardens website (bhg.com). The exercise calculations are from everyday- health.com/calorie-counter.aspx and assume a 150-pound person; it takes longer to burn off the same number of calories if you weigh less. Every Wednesday December 7, 14, 21 & 28 Pine Street Plaza 332 Pine Street, Suite G Red Bluff, CA Stacy L. Garcia Hearing Aid Dispenser Lic. #7440 (800) 843-4271 Note that the meal here has a total of only 2,081 calo- ries. Better Homes uses low-calorie and fat-free substi- tutes in most of the recipes, so your own homemade ver- sions may have higher calorie and fat content, especially when you reach for second helpings. Chef and registered dietitian Rebecca Cameron, owner of hautenutrition.com, offered ideas for making each of these holiday favorites healthier. EGGNOG Calories: 201 Fat: 13g (7g saturated) Sodium: 71mg Burn it off: 23 minutes of touch football or 47 minutes of bowling Health tip: If you're buying from the store, a soy nog or light eggnog trims calories and fat considerably. If you're making from scratch, find a recipe that uses nonfat milk, fat-free half-and-half and fewer egg yolks. You can com- pensate with a thickener like cornstarch or vanilla pudding mix and a flavoring agent like vanilla extract, citrus zest and cinnamon or nutmeg. ROAST TURKEY AND STUFFING Calories: 392 Fat: 19g (5g saturated) Sodium: 343 Burn it off: 35 minutes of running (6 mph, a 10-minute mile) or 53 minutes of brisk walking Health tip: Remove the skin and stick to white meat, which will reduce the fat by about 3 grams per 3 ounces of meat. For the stuffing, try substituting half the butter with applesauce, and instead of pork sausage try turkey sausage. MASHED POTATOES AND GRAVY (Made with butter-flavored sprinkles instead of real butter) Calories: 201 Fat: Burn it off: 23 minutes on the elliptical trainer or 54 minutes of vacuuming Health tip: Cook potatoes in chicken broth instead of water for more flavor, or try a more flavorful potato like Yukon Gold, caribe or purple potato. Save calories by using half mashed potatoes mixed with half pureed cauli- flower. You can also increase flavor when reducing calo- ries by adding ingredients like garlic, white pepper, fresh herbs, scallions or caramelized onions. CANDIED YAMS Calories: 398 Fat: 9g (5g saturated) Sodium: 103 mg Burn it off: 39 minutes on the stair-stepper or 61 min- utes of light freestyle swimming Health tip: Try reducing the butter and swapping out some of the sugar for orange juice, light maple syrup or sugar substitutes like Splenda. Add flavor with pineapple, apples or cranberries. CLASSIC GINGERBREAD MAN COOKIE Calories: 58 Fat: 2g (1g saturated) Sodium: 41mg Burn it off: 5 minutes of jumping rope or 40 minutes of sexual activity Health tip: You could replace some of the butter or shortening with applesauce or prune puree. Or try slightly lighter gingerbread biscotti. Or just have a cookie and watch your portion size. sion, No. 9 herpes and No. 10 menopause. 1 IN 10 'SEXTING' As many as 9.6 percent of preteens and teens acknowledge they have sent sexually suggestive images on their cell phones or over the Inter- net, according to a study published in the January edition of Pediatrics. A total of 1,560 youth ages 10 through 17 were surveyed for the study, which found 2.5 percent have shared sexually explicit images of them- selves or other minors. The incidence of "sex- ting" was almost 10 per- cent when the definition was expanded to include sexually suggestive images. Most of the kids who admitted sexting said it was done as a prank or while in a relationship. About 31 percent said alcohol or drug use was involved. fitness Children don't outgrow specialized care