HCE Blog

This year, the influenza virus has run rampant throughout the country. Most states in the South— including Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma— have suffered from a high density of outbreaks of the virus. Typically, the strain of influenza encountered at the beginning of the flu season is influenza A. This year, however, more cases of influenza B have been reported. Influenza B is more lik...

It starts off as just an unfortunate case of the flu, but instead of feeling better you start to feel worse. You have violent chills and break out in a cold sweat. Your chest aches with pain each time you cough. Your fever keeps climbing and climbing. 100. 101. It spikes. 104. You feel hot and cold all at the same time, and you didn’t even know that was possible. You can barely breathe. What’s...

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...

I’m sure you’ve all heard that once you get chicken pox you’ll never get it again, and while that’s true if you came down with chickenpox in the past it’s possible that you may eventually find yourself with a case of shingles. Shingles is most common in the elderly but can develop in children and young people if they have had chickenpox. The chickenpox virus stays dormant in your body even afte...