CHECK IN  ATTRIBUTES: This hardy, cold-season perennial is one of spring’s first edible harvests in the Inland Northwest. An ancient vegetable that is more like a fruit, rhubarb has been used in Chinese medicine since 2700 BC. Rhubarb’s tart, astringent taste invigorates the palate.  Read More>>

FROM THE EDITOR  The last few months have brought a slew of reports on a lot of things that are apparently bad for us. I got a newsletter from a nutrition organization telling me to eat rice no more than twice a week — the arsenic in there is bad news. And stay away from canned foods — BPA in the lining may disrupt our hormones. Sugar is demonized — “It’s toxic,” declared the New York Times’ Mark Bittman. Salt consumption? It’s now linked to autoimmune disorders.  Read More>>

CHECK IN   ATTRIBUTES: Kale is high in fiber, calcium, iron and vitamins A, K and C. It also contains numerous carotenoids.

SUPER POWERS: It has the broadest range of antioxidants in the health-enhancing cabbage family. It has been found to fight inflammation, promote heart health and aid in regularity. Kale may also reduce the risk of breast and colon cancers. Read More>>

CHECK IN  You started out as a nurse. What part of your patient care experience do you bring to this job?

What’s important for me is I never forget what it was like to be at the bedside. I saw so many different people’s eyes. It gets into your soul — the pain and the suffering that people go through, how frightened they become. Read More>>

CHECK IN  Getting in touch with the unique needs of cancer patients guided the design of CANCER CARE NORTHWEST’s $15 million facility that’s now under construction in Spokane Valley.

FROM THE EDITOR   Here at InHealth, we’ve been working for the last couple of months on a revamp of the Inland Northwest’s only healthy living magazine. Finally, here it is! Read More>>

COOKING   The holidays can be magical and all, but bitter cold and lack of sunlight coupled with an in-law invasion could easily drive anyone to drink. And that’s no lie: The Distilled Spirits Company of the United States reports that a quarter of liquor companies’ profits are made in the stretch between Thanksgiving and New Year’s alone. Read More>>

FROM THE EDITOR   As I have watched my skin return to its normal skim-milk pallor after a summer of probably ill-advised, but glorious exposure to sunlight, a study came across my desk. It seems researchers in cloudy old Scotland, where any number of my pasty ancestors hailed from, noticed the general pallor of their citizenry and wondered whether anything — anything at all — might bring a luster to their cheeks. Being Scots, they set about investigating it. Read More>>

LIVING FEATURE  Adrenal function often gets blamed for low energy levels. If you start investigating causes for fatigue, it won’t be long before you’ll come across “adrenal fatigue.” Google that term and you’ll get 2.5 million results, many of them links to websites urging consultations, diet modifi cations and a slew of supplements. So what are the adrenals and can they really get tired? Read More>>

FROM THE EDITOR  Grab your mug and fill it up. Just in time for the chilly mornings coming our way, a new study of more than 40,000 healthy Germans confi rms, yet again, that drinking coffee has health benefi ts. In this study, those who drank at least three cups a day of regular or decaffeinated coffee were about 25 percent less likely to develop diabetes over the next nine years as people who drank little or no coffee. Hallelujah! A cup, or three, of coffee each day is one health habit I can wholeheartedly endorse. While coffee has already been found to offer some protection from Parkinson’s disease and gallstones, most of us aren’t drinking it because it’s so healthy. We simply need it to rev up our sleepy selves for the day ahead. Read More>>

LIVING FEATURE   The search for pets that won’t leave susceptible family members with watery eyes and sneezing fi ts has brought fame — and big bucks — for breeds like the labradoodle and a number of other fl uffy little pups touted as hypoallergenic. Even the First Family settled on Bo, the Portuguese water dog, because he was supposed to be sneeze-free.

A quick search online for “hypoallergenic pet” reveals there’s no shortage of breed lists, and even websites promising the dog or cat of your dreams, without all the allergies. One company called Allerca claimed to have bred not one but two lines of “hypoallergenic” cats — pick your color! — and a small dog as well. Hyped by Time magazine, National Geographic and the New York Times, Allerca seemed to be the real deal. But as the Columbia Journalism Review reported last fall, no one noticed that the company’s owner had no training in genetics, “but he does have a well-recorded background in running scams.” Read More>>

FROM THE EDITOR   THERE’S NOTHING TO me that says summer more than the Great American Road Trip. From buying gloriously nutrition- free snacks at middle-of-nowhere convenience stores, to looking for state license plates, I love it all.

But for teen drivers, summer is a season of peril. In fact, Mothers Against Drunk Driving calls the period between Memorial Day and Labor Day the year’s “100 Deadliest Days.” Read More>>

LIVING FEATURE  A growing chorus of parents, health professionals and child development experts say it’s time for coaches, even those who are “just” volunteer parents, to be certified.

In Spokane Public Schools, although coaches are required to attend an annual rules training and complete online lessons in concussion protocol, there is no requirement for any sport-specific certification. The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association establishes some standards for training coaches after their third year of coaching, but the requirements are basically voluntary, far from standardized and only require “80 percent” of coaches in a school to be in compliance. For most youth sports leagues, simply passing a background check is enough. Read More>>

LIVING FEATURE  On a crisp October day in bucolic Maple Valley, Wash., Zach Lystedt took the fi eld with his middle school teammates like they would for any other game. But this wasn’t just any other football game for Lystedt — or for the wider world of sports.

Lystedt, then 13 years old, suffered a concussion that went undetected; he returned to the action and played at full tilt for the entire second half. Just after the game, Lystedt lost consciousness and was rushed to the hospital. He ultimately needed two brain surgeries just to stay alive.

That was 2006, and as Lystedt’s story got out — all the way up to the Washington State Legislature and even the National Football League — it shook the way America thinks about concussions. Read More>>

LIVING FEATURE  John Abraham Lodwick has been living and breathing basketball for nine years — five in Pullman (including one as a red-shirt) and four in high school in Bend, Ore., before that. He’s lived what every kid dribbling away the hours in the driveway dreams about — a chance to play under the bright lights of the NCAA.

Lodwick was kind of the consummate Coug — scrapping for playing time, earning 23 minutes a game in both his junior and senior years. He even landed on the PAC-12’s all-academic team this year. Read More>>