Health Benefits

The CTA on Tuesday graduated 33 new bus drivers as part of its hiring push for next year's Red Line overhaul project. Mayor Emanuel was on hand Tuesday at the 77th Street bus garage in Chatham to congratulate the new drivers, who will start as part-time employees and transition to full time as other drivers retire or leave the CTA. The drivers will initially operate the shuttle buses that will substitute for the southern portion of the Red...

EAT HEALTHY INDIAN COOKING CLASS Bombay Spice Grill 450 N. Clark St. 312-477-7657 Spice up your Saturday with chef Sunil Kumar, who demonstrates marinating techniques for chicken tikka and recipes for chickpea hummus, kale tofu stir fry and sweet mango lassi - all made with Indian spices linked to health benefits - in this hands-on class where you finish by dining on the low-calorie results. 2-4 p.m. Saturday. $45. Phone RSVP required. CHICAGO CHEF WEEK 2013 Various locations The week-long food fest featuring three-course prix-fixe lunches ($22)

Can we be honest with each other? I've been hitting it a little hard recently. From heavy "celebration" on Halloween to eating things covered in cheese, gravy or barbecue sauce (or all three, on special occasions), my body hasn't been feeling the way it should. It's one thing to cut back on beer and eat a ton of salad, but I don't believe in moderation. So I decided to try a cleanse - you know, one of those programs that's supposed to purge all of the nasty stuff from your system and leave you feeling healthier and more energetic.

The CTA on Tuesday graduated 33 new bus drivers as part of its hiring push for next year's Red Line overhaul project. Mayor Emanuel was on hand Tuesday at the 77th Street bus garage in Chatham to congratulate the new drivers, who will start as part-time employees and transition to full time as other drivers retire or leave the CTA. The drivers will initially operate the shuttle buses that will substitute for the southern portion of the Red...

EAT HEALTHY INDIAN COOKING CLASS Bombay Spice Grill 450 N. Clark St. 312-477-7657 Spice up your Saturday with chef Sunil Kumar, who demonstrates marinating techniques for chicken tikka and recipes for chickpea hummus, kale tofu stir fry and sweet mango lassi - all made with Indian spices linked to health benefits - in this hands-on class where you finish by dining on the low-calorie results. 2-4 p.m. Saturday. $45. Phone RSVP required. CHICAGO CHEF WEEK 2013 Various locations The week-long food fest featuring three-course prix-fixe lunches ($22)

SLUT. It is an ugly little word we've seen pop up with increasing viciousness in the past year. Whether it is being spat through radio airwaves at college students on birth control, tweeted at tweens' favorite cheating celebrities or sneered in high school hallways everywhere, the word is quickly becoming synonymous with a girl we don't like or a woman we don't want heard. But at 11 a.m. Saturday, Chicagoans are gathering at the Thompson Center to say "enough with the name-calling already!"

Two years ago, Howard Brown was in trouble. Serious, we-might-have-to-shut-off-the-lights-lock-the-doors-and-cancel-the-electricity trouble. The Uptown health care facility, which serves thousands of LGBT and HIV-positive clients, was being investigated for mismanaging millions in federal grant money. The situation was dire, with change coming in the hiring of a young, successful Chicago lawyer to lead the organization out of its troubles. What that CEO, Jamal Edwards, accomplished in the time since is nothing short of miraculous, observers say. From a huge...

Feel the need to push the reset button on your diet? Plenty of people want to start the new year with a clean slate, and some turn to detoxes for help. From over-the-counter colon cleansers to celebrity-endorsed juices to luxurious spa treatments, detox diets are supposed to cleanse the body of toxins and help you gain energy and lose weight. But nutritionists, dietitians and physicians caution against such programs, particularly if they are touted as a way to lose weight. "For a healthy person, you really do not need to have a special detox," said Dawn Jackson Blatner, a registered dietitian...

Here's basically what happened: I was at a 4 th of July party well on my way to having a great time, when I somehow found myself in an argument about Medicaid and the Medicaid expansion in health care reform with a few young doctors who I felt had totally eye-popping worldviews about access to health care for the poor. At some point in this argument this hypothetical was proposed to me: “What do you do for a living? A writer? How would you like it if the government told you you had to write some specific thing.

Can we be honest with each other? I've been hitting it a little hard recently. From heavy "celebration" on Halloween to eating things covered in cheese, gravy or barbecue sauce (or all three, on special occasions), my body hasn't been feeling the way it should. It's one thing to cut back on beer and eat a ton of salad, but I don't believe in moderation. So I decided to try a cleanse - you know, one of those programs that's supposed to purge all of the nasty stuff from your system and leave you feeling healthier and more energetic.