|
Is Your Diet Making You More Susceptible to Cervical Cancer? |
This post will be the first in a monthly series focusing on the health of both the female and male reproductive organs. My goal is to provide insight regarding the steps we can take to promote and maintain cellular health and organ reserve, as well as to prevent the illnesses and diseases of these organs that can arise through the aging process.
|
|
Coconut: Just a Craze or a Superfood? |
It’s safe to say that coconut water led the charge to take advantage of coconut, the ingredient technically known as a “fibrous, one-seeded drupe,” yet often casually referred to as a fruit, a nut, or a seed. Regardless of the naming trope, whenever we can attribute health benefits to a natural, widely available substance such as coconut, the marketing and commerce will begin. In this case, however, the lovely coconut has earned its new identity as a superfood many times over.
|
|
Fighting Flu with Food |
Hippocrates, the father of medicine, stated, “Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.” Hippocrates had a clear understanding of the power of food to preserve health and prevent illness. There is no nutritional supplementation that can fully equal the wellness powers of a healthy diet.
|
|
Baking Love in the Kitchen |
In celebration of that special someone, get creative, skip the token treat, and create some heat in the kitchen with some tempting, bite-size indulgences. These recipes are not only sinful and delicious but are also appropriately “heart healthy” as we celebrate National Heart Month.
|
What is Mindfulness? |
According to a 2014 article in Time magazine, mindfulness meditation is becoming popular among people who would not normally consider meditation. The goal of this blog is to de-mystify mindfulness, share its many benefits, and show you how to incorporate mindfulness into your daily life.
|
Put down your screens for better sleep! |
In her recent book, Reclaiming Conversation, Dr. Sherry Turkle, the Abby Rockefeller Mauze Professor of Social Studies of Science and Technology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), argues convincingly that technology is replacing our natural ability to connect with one another through everyday face-to-face conversation. Rather than looking someone in the eyes and asking about his or her day, we turn to our phones, and in the process, we are losing out on conversation, which is, as Turkle calls it, “the most human—and humanizing—thing we do.” The arguments for putting away your smart phone and turning off your other screens to improve the quality of your interpersonal relationships are very strong.
|
|
January is Cervical Health Month—Time to Make Nutrition a Priority |
As our journey into the new year begins full steam, amid resolutions, renewed energy, and determination, we are reminded that January is Cervical Health Month. We are bombarded with information about cervical cancer, screenings, tests, vaccines, and statistics—all important information. Yet, despite what we have learned from the media, the risk of cervical cancer goes beyond the human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. In fact, epidemiological (population observation) studies have revealed that nutrition is important, not only for maintaining the health of the cervix but also for having a suppressive effect on HPV infection.
|
|
Risk Factors for Sleep Disorders |
As described in a prior post, insufficient and disordered sleep are very common across the population, with serious consequences for health and well-being. Approximately one-third of adults are not getting sufficient sleep at 7 hours per night and up to 70 million Americans suffer from a sleep disorder (1). Yet, not all people are equally likely to have trouble with their sleep. In this post, I highlight some of the dimensions in which sleep varies across various sociodemographic subpopulations.
|
|
How to Navigate Through Holiday Binging |
We all love this holiday time of year — the decorations, the music, the social gatherings, the baking, the cooking, etc. The air is simply charged with a sense of contagious excitement. But, there is a flipside to all the fun… I’m talking about the wear and tear on our health. The assault of toxins, sweets, fats, calories, alcohol, stress, all add up to a veritable sin-city of challenges to our wellness! And by the time we reach New Year’s Day, and the reality of our folly sets in, with Winter upon us, we then often resolve to detox and commit to a pristine way of living to shed the excesses of the holiday season.
|
Winterize Your Skin- Easy Tips that Really Protect! |
If you are one of the millions of people suffering from the dry skin dilemma, then you are not alone. Dry skin is a common, yet highly bothersome malady that can occur as a result of many different internal or external causes and often presents in a variety of forms where the common element is of course, dry skin. The commonest cause of dry skin is temperature extremes, more specifically harsh wintry climates with low humidity levels. Perhaps that is why it is popularly known as ‘winter’s itch’. As I’ve mentioned in my previous articles, as we age, our skin tends to become dry (an alteration or reduction of natural oils) and sensitive, add a blast of winter air to the equation and we are left with severely dry and cracked skin that is very difficult to manage- a term known as the 7th age itch. It might or might not be accompanied by a non-itchy or itchy rash that might progress into a painful dry fissuring eczema if not properly managed.