How many walnuts are in an ounce?

Q: You’ve written about the value of eating walnuts to lower inflammation. It's hard to know how much of something you are recommending when you use phrases like "incorporating moderate quantities of walnuts" or "1 to 2 ounces of walnuts a day." I’d bet many of us don't have a way to measure ounces and everyone's interpretation of "moderate quantities" could be different. Can't you ever just give us a number of walnuts per day?

A: Walnuts don't always come in a perfectly standard size. We found on the California Walnuts website, walnuts.org, that ¼ cup of walnuts is approximately 1 ounce. That amounts to between 12 and 14 halves. If you buy walnut pieces, as we often do, the quarter-cup measure might be the easiest.

Q: I had good success using Archway Coconut Macaroons for chronic diarrhea. Other brands do not seem to have the reliability of Archway. However, that product seems to have disappeared from the market.

Archway is now owned by Synder's-Lance and they say they are making all the same products as Archway, but no explanation is made for the absence of the coconut macaroons. Do you have any information about them?

A: Cracker maker Lance acquired Archway in December 2008. The company merged with Snyder's of Hanover in 2010 and then was acquired by Cambell's (of soup fame) in 2018.

It seems that the parent company is now making fewer of Archway's distinctive cookie varieties. We have searched unsuccessfully for Archway coconut macaroons.

However, we can offer an alternative if you are at all handy in the kitchen. A reader shared her simple recipe for coconut macaroons, and we have included it in our book "Recipes & Remedies From The People's Pharmacy."

Combine 22/3 cups shredded coconut, 2/3 cup sugar, ¼ teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon almond extract and 4 egg whites. Drop by teaspoonfuls on greased cookie sheets and bake 20 minutes at 325 F. Remove cookies immediately from the cookie sheet when they are done.

If the idea of food as medicine is appealing, you might enjoy the "Recipes and Remedies" book. It and all our other publications are available at a 20 percent discount this month in the bookstore at PeoplesPharmacy.com.

Q: I read in your column that hot peppers could help heartburn. My gastroenterologist told me to eat hot chiles, the hotter the better, for my acid reflux. The capsaicin in the chiles cuts down the inflammation in the esophagus and it helps neutralize the acid.

It does work. If I’m having a flare-up, I will take a teaspoon of Tabasco. The relief is almost instantaneous.

He also told me to avoid mint and citrus in addition to chocolate because they can make heartburn worse.

A: Most physicians and patients would find this approach to indigestion odd, at the least. Many people can't tolerate spicy food. But some people report that eating hot peppers every day can control reflux symptoms (Journal of Neurogastroenterology and Motility, April 2010). Repeated exposure to capsaicin, the hot stuff in chiles, desensitizes the receptors that react to it (World Journal of Gastroenterology, Feb. 7, 2020).

Most lists of foods that make heartburn worse include both mint and chocolate. Well-controlled trials, however, are lacking. That said, people should pay attention to how their own bodies react to foods and avoid those that cause discomfort.

Contact the Graedons at peoplespharmacy.com.