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The Cabbage Soup Diet
2007-10-12 19:54:00
The cabbage soup diet consists of eating nothing but cabbage soup for seven days. Much like the hard boiled egg diet, the cabbage soup diet restricts dieters to just one kind of food for a set amount of time. It's a fad diet that has been around for years in different variations. Does it work? You'll lose weight on any very low calorie diet. It doesn't matter what you eat as long as the calories consumed are less than the energy expended. The reason diets like the cabbage soup diet work is that, for many people, restricting themselves to just one food makes it easier to diet than allowing themselves freedom choice. By taking away choice we constrain ourselves mentally and are less likely to fall off the diet wagon. Many claim one can lose ten pounds in one week on this diet. However, most of the weight lost will be water. As soon as you return to your normal diet most of those pounds will return. Also, as with any crash diet, you might be so hungry at the end of the ...
More About: Diet , Soup , Cabbage

The Hard Boiled Egg Diet
2007-10-09 21:38:00
There's a rumor going around the net that Adrian Brody ate nothing but hard boiled eggs for a month in order to lose weight for his role in The Pianist. He lost 30 pounds in six weeks and his effort earned him an Academy Award. Because of this rumor, a lot of people are curious if eating nothing but eggs is a good way to lose weight. I searched the web to verify this and it turns out it isn't true. Here is what Brody ate in his own words: "I had two boiled eggs, and then I had nothing for about five hours, then a small piece of chicken, grilled, and then four or five hours later a small piece of fish and a few steamed vegetables." He says about the experience: "There is an emptiness that comes with really starving that I hadn't experienced ... I couldn't have acted that without knowing it. I've experienced loss, I've experienced sadness in my life, but I didn't know the desperation that comes with hunger." There is much talk on the web about eating nothing but hard b...
More About: Diet , Hard

How Much Seafood Should Pregnant Women Eat?
2007-10-05 09:16:00
There's a new report by the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition which says that pregnant women should consume at least 12 ounces of seafood per week. However, some are questioning this advice given that the National Fisheries Institute has given money to the organization. ... the National Fisheries Institute funding constitutes a conflict of interest, according to Caroline Smith DeWaal, who directs nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. "It's very troubling that the National Fisheries Institute is essentially paying for a public health message," Smith-DeWaal says. The recommendation to eat at least 12 ounces per week goes against government recommendations that pregnant women not eat more than 12 ounces per week because of the risk of consuming too much mercury and other contaminants often found in seafood. It's important for pregnant women to get Omega-3s but caution should be used when it comes to mercury and a growing fetus. Kee...
More About: Women , Pregnant , Seafood

10 Health Benefits of Apple Cider Vinegar
2007-10-03 23:25:00
Apple cider vinegar, or cider vinegar, is one of the most popular alternative health remedies in use today. It has been used since ancient times as a remedy for many different ailments. Hippocrates is said to have used it as an antibiotic. Most of the health benefits of apple cider vinegar are anecdotal and have not been scientifically confirmed. We make no claims about any of the health benefits listed below but offer them up as a starting point for further research on your part. 1. When diluted with water 50/50 it is often used as a toner for the face. Caution should be used when applying as cider vinegar is very dangerous to the eyes. 2. A bath of apple cider vinegar is said to reduce the effects of sunburn. The vinegar soaked on a cloth and applied to sunburn may also be used. 3. Many women have tried a douche of apple cider vinegar as a remedy for yeast infections. However, many others claim that vinegar causes or worsens yeast infections. Some say it depends on ...
More About: Health , Apple , Benefits , Vinegar , Cide

Flexitarians
2007-10-03 20:25:00
Yesterday I wrote about orthorexia, an eating disorder characterized by an unhealthy obsession with eating healthy food to the point of malnutrition and starvation. Orthorexics will not put foods they consider unhealthy into their mouths even if it means not eating at all. There's another group of eaters called flexitarians. Flexitarians are sometimes referred to as semi-vegetarians or almost-vegetarians. The American Dialect Society defines a flexitarian as "a vegetarian who occasionally eats meat." Unlike orthorexics, flexitarians are health-conscious eaters who are willing to break their healthy diets once in a while for social, nutritional, or purely pleasurable reasons. They do not have an all-or-nothing attitude when it comes to food. They are, like the name obviously implies, flexible. Flexitarians usually eat a vegetarian diet but might have the occasional piece of meat in a social setting or when vegetarian fare is just not available, such as while traveling i...
More About: Lexi

Orthorexia Nervosa - Healthy Eating or Eating Disorder?
2007-10-03 06:59:00
Orthorexia nervosa is a term that refers to an eating disorder in which people are obsessed with eating healthy food. The term was coined in 1997 by Dr. Steven Bratman. Ortho comes from the Greek "orthos," meaning "correct or right." Bratman published a book called Heal th Food Junkies: Orthorexia Nervosa - the Health Food Eating Diso rder. According to Bratman, orthorexia arises when a person is so obsessed with eating only "pure" and healthy foods that they become malnourished. Many medical professionals have criticized the concept of orthorexia, saying that an interest in eating only healthy food does not indicate that the person has a mental illness or eating disorder. Bratman says the test of whether a person is orthorexic is to ask the following question: "Do you care more about the virtue of what you eat than the pleasure you receive from eating it?" However, some would argue that eating only for pleasure is disordered eating, whereas choosing foods wisely and "eati...
More About: Healthy

20 Health Benefits of Turmeric
2007-10-02 08:36:00
Turmeric is one of nature's most powerful healers. The active ingredient in turmeric is curcumin. Tumeric has been used for over 2500 years in India, where it was most likely first used as a dye. The medicinal properties of this spice have been slowly revealing themselves over the centuries. Long known for its anti-inflammatory properties, recent research has revealed that turmeric is a natural wonder, proving beneficial in the treatment of many different health conditions from cancer to Alzheimer's disease. Here are 20 reasons to add turmeric to your diet: 1. It is a natural antiseptic and antibacterial agent, useful in disinfecting cuts and burns. 2. When combined with cauliflower, it has shown to prevent prostate cancer and stop the growth of existing prostate cancer. 3. Prevented breast cancer from spreading to the lungs in mice. 4. May prevent melanoma and cause existing melanoma cells to commit suicide. 5. Reduces the risk of childhood leukemia. 6. Is a nat...
More About: Health , Benefits , Turmeric , Heal

Debate Over Gatorade and Other Sports Drinks in Schools
2007-09-27 23:38:00
There's a debate raging over whether sports drinks and "energy" drinks like Gatorade, Powerade, and VitaminWater should be sold in school vending machines and snack bars. It should come as no surprise that the companies that manufacture these sweetened drinks are lobbying to keep them in schools. With sodas being phased out of schools by 2009, they are counting on these sports drinks to keep the money flowing in. The trade group representing Coca-Cola, Pepsi and other bottlers, whose annual sales of sports drinks reached $7.5 billion last year, counters that sports drinks and sweetened waters are lower in calories, "appropriate" for high school students and "essential" to young athletes. Gatorade contains high fructose corn syrup (it's called glucose-fructose syrup on the label). Since when is high fructose corn syrup "essential" to young athletes? Before Gatorade was invented in the 1960s were athletes unable to perform? The idea that sports drinks are necessary for p...
More About: Sports , Schools , Drinks , Debate , Ports

A High-fat, Sugar-Free Diet May Fight Cancer
2007-09-19 02:25:00
At the Wurzburg hospital in Germany, two researchers have been conducting clinical studies on cancer patients by feeding them a diet that eliminates most carbohydrates and sugar and includes high-fat plant oils, soy, and animal fats. Their study is based on research by Nobel laureate Otto Warburg, who found that cancer cells feed on sugar. The theory is simple: if most aggressive cancers rely on the fermentation of sugar for growing and dividing, then take away the sugar and they should stop spreading. Meanwhile, normal body and brain cells should be able to handle the sugar starvation; they can switch to generating energy from fatty molecules called ketone bodies ? the body's main source of energy on a fat-rich diet ? an ability that some or most fast growing and invasive cancers seem to lack. Several patients dropped out of the trial because they couldn't give up sugar and sweets. One of the researchers said, "We didn't expect this to be such a big problem, but a consid...
More About: Diet , Cancer , Sugar , Free , Fight

Does Garlic Cause Strange Dreams and Nightmares?
2007-09-14 21:23:00
The other day, a friend of mine told me that consuming garlic causes both he and his sister to have nightmares. I decided to do some Googling to see if "garlic nightmares" were a commonly experienced thing. I didn't find much, but there were a few people who claim garlic affects their dreams. One person mentioned a possible connection between garlic and the strange dream she'd had the night before, saying "I think I had too much garlicky pesto for lunch yesterday. Perhaps I've inherited the garlic/nightmares connection from my mother." On a forum about MSG, someone said: "I have been looking for a link between food and my having nightmares for a while now. However, I have not found MSG to be my problem but have found it to be garlic instead." Someone else says, "Garlic causes me to have weird dreams and lousy sleep." Spicy foods, chocolate, and fatty foods in general are believed to cause nightmares if consumed before bed, but garlic isn't usually named as a food to avoi...
More About: Dreams , Strange , Nightmares , Tran

Dairy Products and Prostate Cancer
2007-09-06 03:53:00
Over the past 50 years, a number of studies have been done examining the link between dairy products and prostate cancer. While some believe the calcium in dairy products is to blame, other studies have found a link between bovine insulin growth factor (IGF-1) in dairy products and prostate cancer. The Harvard School of Public Health has this to say: "A diet high in calcium has been implicated as a potential risk factor for prostate cancer. In a Harvard study of male health professionals, men who drank two or more glasses of milk a day were almost twice as likely to develop advanced prostate cancer as those who didn't drink milk at all." A review of 12 studies done between 1966 and 2005 concluded that consumption of dairy products increased the risk of prostate cancer by 11% and consumption of calcium increased the risk of prostate cancer by 39%. Several studies have found a link between prostate cancer and high levels of growth factor IGF-I in the bloodstream. IGF has also be...
More About: Products , Cancer , Prostate Cancer , Dairy , Prostate

Diet Soda Linked to Heart Disease
2007-07-24 00:18:00
Those of you who drink diet soda may not be avoiding the heart health risks of those who drink regular soda. A new study has found that people who drink just one diet soda per day have the same increase in risk of heart disease as those who drink regular soda. The researchers found those who drank more than soda per day _ diet or regular _ had an increased risk of metabolic syndrome, compared to those who drank less than one soda. Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of symptoms that increase the risk for heart disease including large waistlines and higher levels of blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol and blood fats called triglycerides. One interesting theory mentioned at the end of the article suggests the caramel color contained in both diet and regular sodas may increase insulin resistance. Over time, I think the dangers and risks of artificial colorings are going to be much worse than anyone has previously realized. Study: Diet Soda Linked to Heart Risks
More About: Disease , Heart Disease