October 2009 Newsletter

Events in October

13th Annual Eli’s Cheesecake Festival 10/3 & 10/4 ♦ To benefit local charities!
10th Annual Chicago River Flatwater Classic 10/4 ♦ The Chicago River’s only canoe and kayak race ♦ www.ChicagoRiver.org
Bucktown 5K Race 10/4, 8:30am ♦ Starting at Marshfield & Wabansia ~ www.Bucktown5K.com
Statesville Haunted Prison 10/2-Halloween ♦ Voted #1 Haunted House in Chicago for the past 8 years ♦ Tickets start at $30; groups of 12+ for $21 ♦ visit www.Statesville.org
Clark/Belmont Music Fest 10/10 Noon-11pm ♦ 3200 N Clark ♦ www.ChicagoEvents.com
Bank of America Chicago Marathon Sunday, 10/11 ♦ Starting and ending at Grant Park on Columbus Drive
Columbus Day Parade Monday, 10/12, 12:30pm ♦ Parade marches along Columbus Drive from Balbo to Monroe
45th Annual Chicago International Film Festival 10/8-10/22 ♦ North America’s oldest competitive film festival with a focus on international work ♦ www.ChicagoFilmFestival.org
Beer Festival 10/14 8pm ♦ Sample more than 40 local and international beers and appetizer pairings at Brasserie Jo @ 59 W Hubbard
Pug Party 10/17 Noon-5pm ♦ Over 400 pugs expected to attend, so arrive early at Zella’s for the celebration @ 1983 N Clybourn
Casting Call for “America’s Got Talent” 10/17 9am ♦ McCormick Place @ 2301 S Lake Shore
Fashion Focus Chicago 2009 10/22-10/25 ♦ The season’s hottest new looks are being spotlighted at various venues throughout the city ♦ www.ChicagoFashionResource.com
Fall Fireworks Cruise Fri & Sat nights, now thru Halloween ♦ www.ShorelineSightseeing.com
13th Annual Halloween Franken Plaza 10/23-10/31 ♦ Every day at Daley Plaza ♦ www.Chicagoween.us
22nd Annual Trick or Treat Trot 10/25 ♦ Come for the 5K Run, 10K Run, 5K Walk and Monster Mash Junior Dash in the lakefront park at Montrose Avenue ♦ www.caprievents.com/trick/
Pumpkin Carving at The Boundary 10/27 ♦ Pumpkin carving goes better with a candy apple buffet and a beer ♦ 1932 W. Division
Chicago Scene Dead Man’s Ball 10/30 9pm ♦ Best costume wins a free trip to Las Vegas at Crobar @ 1543 N Kingsbury


Stay Healthy This Season
Your Common Cold Questions Uncovered

Vitamin C
♦ Vitamin C is water soluble, so the body will get rid of any excess taken in.
♦ How much C can the body absorb and retain? According to studies, 500mg of Vitamin C twice a day is the dose that will keep the average healthy adult well saturated.
♦ There does not appear to be a harmful dosage of Vitamin C; common daily dosages in “immune system boosting” products can suggest using up to 4000mg. However, for daily maintenance, there is no viable reason to be taking more than 1000-1500mg in a day.
♦ Vitamin C certainly improves your system’s immunity, but once you have actually caught a cold, extra Vitamin C does not help.

http://www.nytimes.com/1996/10/07/business/with-winter-whisper-away-question-much-vitamin-c-should-person-take-each-day.html

Echinacea
First and foremost, Echinacea is not a product that should be taken daily. Many people make the mistake of taking an Echinacea supplement as part of their daily supplement routine. The philosophy behind this dosing method is, because Echinacea raises the immune system, using the product daily will help fight against contracting a cold. But this is not really the most effective use of Echinacea. This type of preventative measure is much more successful when using antioxidants like vitamins A, C & E.

Echinacea is most effective when you first notice that you have a cold coming on. In this case, your body has already begun to produce additional white blood cells to combat the cold. Taking Echinacea at this time helps to increase the number of white blood cells the body is producing. The resulting effect is that the increased numbers of white blood cells overwhelm the cold, eliminating it from the body.

Using Echinacea means being in tune with your body and how you’re feeling. Most people, who use Echinacea exclusively when they have a cold, still do not use the product properly, not in that they take too much, but that they take too little. Here are some examples of usage so you can start to get the most out of this incredibly effective supplement.

When you first feel a cold come on start by taking two Echinacea supplement pills. Wait a few hours and reassess how you are feeling. Do you feel better or worse than before you took the Echinacea? If you feel better, it’s a good bet that the Echinacea has already been successful defeating the cold. If you feel worse, the cold is stronger than current white blood cell count trying to fight the cold. At this point you should double the amount of Echinacea you take. You took two earlier so now you should take four. Wait a few more hours and reassess how you are feeling. If you are feeling worse than the before you should double the amount of Echinacea you take again. You took four last time so now you should take eight.

And you keep repeating this process until you physically can tell that the cold has started to subside. Think of the cold and your immune response as two bar graphs standing side by side. As the level of the cold increases you need to up your intake of Echinacea to increase the immune response to not just meet the level of the cold but to surpass it.

But winter colds are fighters, which is why you may need to keep doubling your Echinacea intake as to continually surpass the level of the cold in the body. As the level of the cold increases, increasing Echinacea helps raise the immune response to keep the cold at a lower level than the immune response.

Side effects of using Echinacea are few and mild, but some users have reported symptoms like nausea, dizziness and rash. With any supplement you should check with your doctor if you have any preexisting condition or if you have question about whether using Echinacea is right for you.
http://www.chicagoathome.com/detail.aspx?dct=54&id=6404&mid=2509&loc=rss