Having Heart Surgery? Consider Getting a Pre-Op Nutrition Test

The critical role that nutrition plays in staying healthy, including recovering from surgery, is well known. Vitamin C, for example, may be an important nutrient to speed up wound healing. But while medical specialties such as oncology, gastroenterology and pediatrics routinely include identifying and remedying nutritional deficiencies as part of their treatment plans, this has not always necessarily been the case with cardiac surgery.

What Is Agoraphobia? How Can We Be Proactive?

Recently, Kim Basinger shared with the world her mental health condition – agoraphobia.

Want to Reduce Body Fat? Try Resistance Training!

While aerobic exercise may indeed burn off more calories per workout, the real secret to reducing your body fat over the long term is resistance training.

Opioids Not Your Best Option for Dental Pain - Here’s Why

Given that your dentist may at some point offer you a prescription for an opioid painkiller after a procedure, there are some things you should keep in mind before heading to your local pharmacy.

Top Tennis Player Naomi Osaka Puts a Needed and Timely Spotlight on Social Anxiety

The sports world was stunned recently when four-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka withdrew from the French Open for mental health reasons. Osaka revealed that she has battled depression and social anxiety, the latter of which was exacerbated by the media conferences and interviews that players are required to do when they compete in these types of tournaments. She said she felt “vulnerable and anxious” and that she decided for “self-care” to skip the post-match press conference. After being fined for doing so, and seeing the commotion this step caused, she decided to leave the tournament all together.

Help Your Skin Recuperate From a Year of Video Calls, Stress and Neglect

No, it’s not your imagination. The unfortunate reality is that the pandemic has also taken a toll on our skin, making many of us seem to age faster than we otherwise would have. While the pandemic has been with us for 18 months, we may easily look 24 or even 36 months older than we did when it started. While disconcerting, this apparent rapid aging is understandable given the challenges we all have faced to one degree or another. Video calls, staying home and doing home office, juggling family and work, being more sedentary than usual and opting for more convenient but less nutritious foods all conspire against having healthy, supple skin.

For Better Overall Oral Health, Make Sure to Get Enough Zinc!

Everyone has heard about “superfoods,” such as kale or quinoa, that pack a ton of nutritional punch in literally every bite. There are also what I like to call “super minerals,” such as magnesium, that offer a variety of benefits. One of these “super minerals” that it is important to know about, and to make sure you are getting enough of, is zinc. In addition to supporting a variety of bodily processes, it is perhaps one of the best nutrients for supporting your overall oral health. Given that it helps protect your teeth, gums and inside of your mouth from a variety of diseases, as well as promote healing, it truly deserves the moniker of “super mineral.” Some may even call it the superhero of oral health!

Here’s When You May Need to Take Blood Pressure Medication

Blood pressure (which is the pressure of blood pushing against the walls of your arteries) is one of those highly valued health markers, for good reason. High blood pressure (hypertension) increases our risk of developing heart disease and stroke - two of the leading causes of deaths among Americans.

Do Antinutrients Get a Bad Rap?

The latest foods to find themselves portrayed as dietary “villains” are those that contain what are known as antinutrients. The word itself is almost enough to make any health-minded person run in the other direction avoid them at all costs. After all, by definition antinutrients are compounds found in plant and animal foods that inhibit our bodies’ ability to absorb these and other foods’ various nutrients.

Despite Global Efforts to Eradicate it, Tuberculosis is Still a Leading Cause of Death

While public health measures and modern medicine have greatly reduced the incidence and mortality rates of TB, the disease still kills between 1.5 and 2 million people around the world ever year. To give you some perspective, this is about the same number of people who have died from Covid-19 disease over the past year.

Like Your Meat Rare? You May Want to Reconsider

Meat purists insist that the only way to really enjoy meat is to have it rare. Some go so far as to only eat it raw as carpaccio or tartare. They argue that anything else ruins the flavor and even reduces the nutritional value of the meat (which is not true – there is no nutritional difference between a steak that is cooked medium rare versus one that is well done). Some may also say it is just a matter of personal taste. The reality, however, is that eating raw or very undercooked meat carries significant health risks. And is being considered a beef “connoisseur” really worth getting sick or risk dying for?

Do You Smell That? If Not, You May Be Zinc Deficient Or Have COVID-19

Some medical professionals believe that the coronavirus “...is using the olfactory nerve to transfer across the skull into the brain,” according to one report. The olfactory nerve is essentially the “smell nerve.” It is also possible that COVID-19 attacks sensory cells in the nose and causes inflammation of nasal tissues, which affects sense of smell.