Sven Gustafson

Sven Gustafson is a senior writer in the Office of the President at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. He enjoys food, running, soccer and exploring Detroit and Michigan at large.
Fitness

Fearful of the coming holiday gluttony? Why not try a running streak?

Update: 8 things I learned from my holiday run streak If my math is correct, this year there are 35 days between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day — a period…

Fisherman's Island
Fitness

#MITrailsWeek: Fisherman’s Island State Park

While most people are drawn to the beaches and campsites of Fisherman’s Island State Park, near Charlevoix, I come to run the varied, wooded trails.

cantaloupe
Food and Recipes

Cucumber Cantaloupe Salad

Try this refreshing salad with delicious, in-season cucumber and cantaloupe! This recipe is a crowd pleaser – the health benefits are just a plus.

Food and Recipes

How to minimize the high cost of eating healthy

My wife and I try hard to put healthy foods on the table for ourselves and our children. We prioritize fresh, organic and humanely raised food over fare that is…

Food and Recipes

These Scandinavian slaw-style side salads are easy, tasty, healthy and fresh

In my family, Christmastime means Swedish food. Our gatherings feature plenty of hearty and heavily spiced fare — like pickled herring, meatballs and plenty of…

Fitness

How to choose the right gear for running in colder weather

Most runners I know all say the same thing about fall: This is the best time of year to run. The oppressive summer heat and humidity has given way to crisp air…

Food and Recipes

Study finds organics may be no more nutritious than conventionally grown foods. Should you care?

It’s no secret that organic food costs more than conventionally raised fruits, vegetables and meat — sometimes a lot more. So should it come as a shock that a…

Food and Recipes

#AHMRecipes: Green chile corn chowder

There’s something pretty magical about corn and green chiles. Maybe you’ve had authentic enchiladas verdes from someplace in, say, New Mexico…

feet running up stairs outside
Fitness

5 ways to get lean outside the gym

Five great outdoor workouts that can burn fat and sculpt your body.

Community

‘Unreal’: Ann Arbor ALS swimmers break world record for 2-way English Channel crossing

A couple of weeks ago, we wrote about a group of six Michigan women who were attempting to break the world record for a two-way crossing of the English Channel…

Food and Recipes

Foods you don’t need to buy organic

There are plenty of great reasons to buy organic produce — supporting sustainable, small farms; avoiding pesticides, fungicides and antibiotics…

Grilled fennel
Food and Recipes

7 things you never thought you could grill (but should)

Tired of grilling burgers? Here are 7 new foods to try on the grill.

Food and Recipes

What you should take away from the pro-vegan documentary ‘Forks Over Knives’

The documentary “Forks Over Knives” has captured the attention of an ever-growing list of celebrities, including Kristen Bell (a Michigan native), Ozzy Osbourne…

Home and Family

6 great Michigan beaches to take the family to this summer

When the temperature climbs during summertime in Michigan, the Great Lakes elicit a powerful psychic pull — as well as welcome relief from the heat.

StirFry
Food and Recipes

8 essential ingredients for a flavorful, healthy stir fry

It's not hard to make a stir-fry full of flavor with these eight healthy ingredients.

Food and Recipes

7 Ways to Avoid Throwing Out Perfectly Good Food

Food waste is a serious problem in the world today, and in developed countries, it’s practically inexcusable. Americans threw away 33 million tons of food in…

Food and Recipes

Pink Slime: What Parents Need to Know

The news that hamburger and other ground beef has for years contained so-called pink slime has caused plenty of public outrage, disgust — and misplaced fear.

Home and Family

#WellnessWeds: 11 Things You Can Do Together as Active, Healthy Families

Parents will recognize this scenario: You’re sitting around the house and the kids are absolutely bouncing off the walls, driving you nuts. You want to find…

Food and Recipes

6 Recipes That Take Peanut Butter on a Healthy Spin

Let us ponder for a moment the wonders of peanut butter, a food staple of American childhood. Who doesn’t occasionally crave the simple pleasures of a sweet-and…

Prevention

Patient Safety: Arm Yourself Against Medication Errors With These Printable Reminder Cards

Medication errors are one of the most common types of preventable medical mistakes that occur in hospitals. The Institute of Medicine estimates that these…

Prevention

5 Things You Can Do to Be an Informed, Safe and Activated Patient

Health care in the United States is a study in contradictions. On the one hand, Americans benefit from some of the finest care available in the world.

Food and Recipes

#WellnessWeds: Good-bye King Size Candy Bars, Hello Better Health?

Fun-size and king-size: One of these will soon hit the novelty dustbin after Mars Inc., the maker of Snickers, Twix, Mars bars and M&M’s…

Community

Winter Fest Part of Grassroots Effort to Revitalize Detroit’s Palmer Park

Whether or not Mother Nature cooperates, the organizers of this weekend’s Palmer Park Winter Fest see the inaugural one-day festival fitting into a larger…

Prevention

#WellnessWeds: Sleep Deprivation Can Bring Wide-Ranging Health Consequences

Who doesn’t love sleep? Climbing into a soft, warm bed and temporarily letting go of noise and distractions for a night of rest can be one of life’s simple joys.

Food and Recipes

Warm Up This Winter with This Recipe for Venison-Red Lentil Curry

Deer hunting season in Michigan may be over, but if you or a friend or family member hunts, chances are you have some venison lying around in a freezer — and…

Food and Recipes

12 Days of Holiday Recipes Day 4: Swedish Red Cabbage

Today’s recipe is a traditional Swedish dish of braised red cabbage commonly found as part of a julbord, or a Christmas Smorgasbord. In Sweden…

Mind

5 Ways to Beat Holiday Stress & Depression

The holiday season can cause quite a bit of stress but with these tips you'll be able to get to the new year stress-free.

Food and Recipes

12 Days of Holiday Recipes Day 1: Ginger-Spiced Hot Cocoa

Let’s face it: Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa can inflict gastronomic carnage on the most disciplined of healthy eaters this time of year. If you need proof…

Nice-11 27
Food and Recipes

Healthy Thanksgiving Recipe Day 5: Cranberry Confit

This recipe, which comes via my mother, is my favorite of all the variations on cranberry sauce that I've tried. Despite the addition of golden and dark raisins…

Food and Recipes

Healthy Thanksgiving Recipe Day 4: Braised Collard Greens

Today’s recipe brings a soul food twist to the Thanksgiving table, but without all the extra calories and fat. It comes from The Culinary Studio…

Food and Recipes

#WellnessWeds: 7 Days of Healthy Thanksgiving Recipes Starts With Butternut Squash Soup

Thanksgiving Day, perhaps the biggest eating day of the year, is fast approaching, and we’ll be counting down the days by posting a recipe each day for the next…

Food and Recipes

#WellnessWeds: Do You Read Nutrition Facts Labels When Shopping For Food?

Does the placement of Nutrition Facts labels and ingredients lists on the sides of packages of food make it less likely that consumers read that information?

Home and Family

‘The Art of Roughhousing:’ Anthony DeBenedet on Why Parents Should Play Physical With Their Kids

During his presentation at TEDx Detroit last month, author Anthony DeBenedet delighted many of the parents in attendance with his discussion of the importance…

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