Use caution when storing leftover rice

Rice, the whole grain, is known for its durability and performance. After harvesting, it can be stored for months, and a single cup delivers 15 percent of the niacin, 21 percent of the magnesium and 88 percent of the manganese you need every day. Plus, a little over 2 pounds of uncooked rice can feed 25 people. No wonder it’s a staple food for half the world’s population.

But Great Britain’s National Health Service recently issued a warning: You need to be careful about how, and for how long, you store rice once it’s cooked. They discovered that leftover cooked rice can give you food poisoning.

Here’s how that happens: Uncooked rice may contain spores of Bacillus cereus, which can survive the cooking process. When rice is left out even for a little while after cooking, the bacteria can multiply and produce toxins that will make you sick. You may experience nausea and diarrhea one to five hours after eating the rice; symptoms usually last about 24 hours. Even if you put it in the fridge as soon as mealtime is over, you should use it up within 24 hours and reheat it only once. So enjoy, but don’t count on using leftovers.

Prescribe yourself some nature

Stressed-out city dwellers need to reconnect with nature, and it needs to be done in peace and quiet.

Researchers from the University of Michigan recently published a study of 36 city dwellers who were prescribed a “nature pill,” and had their levels of the stress hormone cortisol measured before and after they took the stress-busting prescription.

Reporting results in Frontiers in Psychology, the scientists said that when participants put themselves in an environment where they interacted with nature for 20 minutes at least three times a week, their stress-hormone levels dropped significantly. Stretch that to 20-30 minutes? Cortisol levels decreased the most. Adding more time didn’t cause as big a drop.

So, talk to your doc about getting a prescription for this free and easy way to help manage high blood pressure, headaches, inflammation, insomnia and moodiness. Or prescribe it for yourself! Either way, you choose the location, time and duration. Remember to take the dose of nature in daylight ; don’t do any aerobic exercise (just a gentle stroll); don’t use social media, your phone or the internet ; and don’t do anything that interrupts your solitude.

Email questions for Mehmet Oz and Mike Roizen to youdocsdaily@sharecare. com.