HCE Blog

Those with diabetes know just how important managing what they eat and portion control is. Eating too much or too little can throw your blood glucose levels out of whack. It’s a careful balance that is individual to each person, depending on the severity of the disease. If you’re diabetic and have been eating healthily but have still been dealing with fluxes in your blood sugar, maybe your port...

Not all foods are created equal!  You may not think about it when putting your groceries away, but each food you buy has a place it should go in the fridge to preserve its freshness for as long as possible— especially animal products, such as milk, eggs, and meat!  Milk Don't store your milk in the fridge door, since temperatures in that area can fluctuate! This causes dairy to spoil faster....

Not sure which pears to grab at the grocery store? It can be difficult to find a pear that’s at the perfect ripeness to snack on. There’s an easy way to check the ripeness of a pear when you’re at the store.  Gently press a finger into the top of the pear where the stem is located. If there is a small amount of give there, the fruit is ripe! The rest of the fruit should be firm. If it’s soft a...

Afraid your pears are ripening faster than you can eat them? You can store them in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator to keep them fresh for a few weeks.  Take a large zip-top bag and puncture small holes into it. Dampen a paper towel and place it in the bag. Place a few pears into the zip-top bag and place them in the crisper drawer of your fridge. This should keep your pears tasty and h...

Are your pears taking too long to ripen? Put them in a paper bag with some other type of quick-ripening fruit! If you place a pear in a paper bag with a ripe banana or an apple, it should ripen faster.

Want an easy way to remove the core from a pear? Try a melon baller!  To do this, place a melon baller on top of the core of the pear and push it in. It should be easy to scoop out! Once you remove the core, your pear should be good to eat without any hassle! 

There are so many strange toppings that people put on pizza. If you’re a fan of pineapples on pizza, then you may want to try out pears on your pie! We know it sounds strange, but this combination packs a sweet punch to your savory meal. Adding pears to your pizza also gives you a healthy dose of vitamins and minerals to help you feel a little less guilty about indulging in a portion of unhealt...

Need a healthy energy booster before you go work out? Try eating a pear!  Pears are a surprisingly good pre-workout snack. They are high in fiber and nutrients that can help fuel you through your entire workout. A medium-sized pear contains 5.5 grams of fiber! That’s enough energy to keep you going to the end of your workout.

If you’re like most people, your diet is likely filled with sodium-heavy processed foods. Too much sodium can lead to high blood pressure and many other issues. The best way to fight these high sodium levels is to stay hydrated and to increase your potassium intake. Besides bananas, many other fruits are high in potassium. Pears, specifically, have 200 mg of potassium per serving! Potassium he...

Let’s admit it, many of us don’t clean our children’s toys as often as we should. Some of the most neglected toys, though, are often the ones that need it most. And what toys are those? Bath toys, of course! It’s easy to think, “Oh, I don’t have to wash those! They’re always in soap and water, so they’re perfectly clean!” But sadly, that’s not the case. Bath toys are perfect breeding grounds f...