Why gardening is the best medicine
My first glimpse into the power of urban gardening was not through bucolic farmer ’s markets or verdant nurseries, whose beauty I only came to after medical school. My introduction was in our small suburban backyard of clay soil. My dad planted silvery, wild-armed globe artichokes, because they could produce flower buds and leaves we could […]Find jobs at Careers by KevinMD.com. Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now. Learn more. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - August 18, 2020 Category: General Medicine Authors: < span itemprop="author" > < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/john-la-puma" rel="tag" > John La Puma, MD < /a > < /span > Tags: Physician Primary Care Source Type: blogs
With a little planning, vegan diets can be a healthful choice
Recently there has been much discussion and many questions about vegan diets. Are vegan diets — which exclude meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, and dairy — healthful? Do they provide complete nutrition? Should I try one? Will it help me lose weight?
Many people around the world eat plant-based diets for a variety of reasons, some because meat is not readily available or affordable, others because of religious convictions or concerns about animal welfare. Health has become another reason people are moving to plant-based diets. And research supports the idea that plant-based diets, including vegan diets, provide health benef...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - February 6, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Katherine D. McManus, MS, RD, LDN Tags: Healthy Eating Source Type: blogs
How Creating Balance in Your Gut Can Help Alleviate Anxiety
Most of us are pretty familiar with how anxiety feels in our body. When you have anxious thoughts, your body responds with a tightening in the stomach, nausea, gas, heartburn, and indigestion. The connection between your brain and your gastrointestinal tract goes the other way as well. If your digestive system is disrupted, it can send signals to your brain that may cause you to become anxious. This bidirectional connection is called the gut-brain axis.
We are still learning a lot about the digestive system’s effect on the body and the mind, but what is coming to light through scientific research is that your gut is tru...
Source: World of Psychology - October 26, 2019 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Psych Central Guest Author Tags: Anxiety and Panic Publishers Spirituality & Health Digestion gut balance healthy gut healthy gut microbiome Immune System Source Type: blogs
Tennessee Department of Health Appears to Have Deliberately Blamed E-Cigarettes for a Death It Knew Was Caused by THC Carts
Yesterday, I revealed that the Tennessee Department of Healthreported its first death from vaping-associated respiratory illness as follows: "The Tennessee Department of Health has reported one death in a patient with serious respiratory disease associated with use of electronic cigarettes or other vaping devices. This is the first such death reported in Tennessee. "As it turns out, it appears that this death was not caused by electronic cigarettes, but byTHC vape carts.I suggested that the health department ' s reporting of the death as being associated with the use of " electronic cigarettes or other vaping devices " wou...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - October 18, 2019 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs
Try These 6 Vegetables for Ultimate Body & Mind Health
It seems unlikely that our digestive tracts would be a major intersection of body and mind—but recent research has shown that they are.
The makeup of the microbiome in your gut—all the bacterial flora in your digestive tract—turns out to be a major player in overall health. And when we say health, we mean everything, from cognition and emotional wellbeing to cardiovascular fitness and the prevention or reduction of chronic disease.
It’s thought that your body’s microbiome is largely established in the first thousand days of life. But because this system gets so much input every day from you—and because differe...
Source: World of Psychology - October 6, 2019 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Psych Central Guest Author Tags: Health-related Publishers Spirituality & Health Cognition digestive tract Emotional Wellbeing gut bacteria Inflammation microbiome Source Type: blogs
Fiber-full eating for better health and lower cholesterol
The American Heart Association and the FDA recommend that we all eat at least 25 grams of dietary fiber per day. But what is it, how do we know how much we’re eating, and where did that number come from, anyway?
What are the types of fiber?
Dietary fiber is a good carbohydrate, also known as roughage, found in plant foods (not supplements). There are two kinds, soluble or insoluble, and both are really good for us. Soluble fiber becomes a thick gel in our intestines, which slows digestion (which keeps blood sugars from spiking) and traps fats so they can’t all be absorbed (which lowers cholesterol levels). Sources of s...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - June 24, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Monique Tello, MD, MPH Tags: Food as medicine Healthy Eating Heart Health Source Type: blogs
Phytonutrients: Paint your plate with the colors of the rainbow
Did you know that adding color to your meals will help you live a longer, healthier life? Colorful fruits and vegetables can paint a beautiful picture of health because they contain phytonutrients, compounds that give plants their rich colors as well as their distinctive tastes and aromas. Phytonutrients also strengthen a plant’s immune system. They protect the plant from threats in their natural environment such as disease and excessive sun.
When humans eat plant foods, phytonutrients protect us from chronic diseases. Phytonutrients have potent anti-cancer and anti-heart disease effects. And epidemiological research sug...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - April 25, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Katherine D. McManus, MS, RD, LDN Tags: Health Healthy Eating Source Type: blogs
5 Ways To Increase Your Intelligence Every Day
In conclusion, when you ingest the proper foods, vitamins and nootropic nutrients which facilitate neurogenesis in the brain, aid in the stabilizing of neurological structures, and increase the brain’s capacity for memory retention, you allow the brain to grow physically. If you then incorporate the use of techniques which allow the brain’s memory retention and neuro-connectivity to increase, and facilitate the growth of both hemispheres of the brain, you will inevitably increase your intelligence dramatically! For as your brain tissue grows and the neuro-connectivity increases, the information storage and cognitive ca...
Source: PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement - March 25, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Yellowstone Wolf Tags: featured self improvement brain food nootropics pickthebrain Source Type: blogs
Foods rich in prebiotic fibers
Prebiotic fibers are essentially the “water” and “fertilizer” that nourish your bowel flora.These are fibers that you ingest but cannot digest, leaving them for microorganisms in the intestines to consume. Some call prebiotic fibers resistant starch since they are impervious to human digestion and digested by microorganisms. Getting prebiotic fibers is crucial to your health and the success of your diet.
Don’t confuse prebiotic fibers with the more commonly recognized cellulose fibers from bran cereals, bran muffins, and whole grains, not too different from wood fiber. Cellulose is not metabolized by you or by bo...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - July 5, 2017 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: Undoctored Wheat Belly Lifestyle Source Type: blogs
April in Paris: Voyager Avec Enfants (Day Three)
So, Day 3!We let the kids sleep in a bit because we ’d had a late night the day before and not any time-sensitive itinerary for the day anyway. While they were sleeping, I headed out to pick up some stuff to make breakfast at home—baguettes at a nearby boulangerie called Le Champ des Délices, and some basic groceries at a small chain market on t he corner called Franprix. The cashier was, I think, somewhat annoyed that I didn’t speak French, which…fair enough. People in the States get irrationally pissed at those who don’t speak English, and I suppose I could have brushed up a bit before we made our trip. Despit...
Source: the underwear drawer - April 5, 2017 Category: Anesthesiology Authors: Michelle Au Source Type: blogs
What to Expect During Your Second Trimester
Congratulations you are at the beginning of your second trimester!
“At the beginning of the second trimester, babies are about 3 1/2 inches long and weigh about 1 1/2 ounces. Tiny, unique fingerprints are now in place, and the heart pumps 25 quarts of blood a day. You’re likely to feel kicks and flutters soon if you haven’t already.”
Week 14
This week you baby is more fluid in his/her movements as they reposition their arms. Your baby’s intestines are producing meconium, the waste that will make up your baby’s first bowel movement after birth.
Your baby is now the size of a peach!
Week 15
This week, your baby...
Source: Cord Blood News - March 13, 2017 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Maze Cord Blood Tags: babies parents pregnancy second trimester Source Type: blogs
9 Steps to Treat Depression Naturally
Ever since I started an online community for treatment-resistant depression — depression and anxiety that don’t respond to psychotropic medications — I’ve been inundated with mail from desperate people who have tried 30 to 40 different kinds of antidepressants, and feel no relief. I repeatedly hear from family members of folks who have tried everything, and are not getting better. I sense the utter frustration and despair in their words, and it pains me. I, too, felt hopeless after trying countless medication combinations and sitting through years of psychotherapy sessions, only to continue my death ob...
Source: World of Psychology - September 14, 2016 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Therese J. Borchard Tags: Alternative and Nutritional Supplements Depression Mental Health and Wellness Motivation and Inspiration Self-Help Treatment Alternative Medicine Bipolar Disorder homeopathy Immune System Mood Disorder Omega-3 fatty acid Sleep st Source Type: blogs
Late Night Dinner at Five & Ten in Athens, Georgia
At first, I was really, really upset that my flight to Atlanta was delayed, making us miss our 8:30 dinner reservation at Five & Ten in Athens, Georgia.
This was no ordinary dinner reservation. My brother Joe and wife Rachel had arranged a special tasting meal for us with Five & Ten’s executive chef, Jason Zygmont, who they originally met when Joe stopped into the kitchen one day last year unannounced to borrow preserving salt for some charcuterie he was making. Joe returned a few weeks later to give Jason some of the duck proscuitto he had cured, expecting to quickly drop it off with the busy chef...
Source: The Blog That Ate Manhattan - May 5, 2015 Category: Primary Care Authors: Margaret Polaneczky, MD Tags: Restaurant Reviews Travel Athens Georgia FIVE & TEN Hugh Acheson JAson Zygmont Source Type: blogs
Is Yacon Syrup A Healthy Sweetener?
Yacon syrup is a natural vegan sweetener derived from a root that is grown in the Andes Mountains of Peru. Yacon is a food that has long been eaten by the indigenous Andeans in the same way that potatoes are eaten; it even looks much like a sweet potato, but is more closely related to chicory and Jerusalem artichoke (sunchoke) than potatoes or sweet potatoes(1).
It truly is a natural sweetener that is processed in much the same way maple syrup is, so you can rest assured that it’s not a highly-processed chemical-laden artificial food. In fact, yacon syrup requires such a small amount of processing that some companies hav...
Source: Immune Health Blog - January 6, 2015 Category: Alternative Medicine Practitioners Authors: Kerri Knox, RN Tags: Digestive Health Food and Nutrition Reviews superfoods #review yacon and ketosis yacon benefits yacon syrup Source Type: blogs
Dead Again! Best, Worst, Predictable and Shocking from Natural Products Expo West 2014
By Crabby McSlackerSo as you may recall from the first Dead-Blog of Natural Products Expo West 2014, we've established that I'm too lazy and greedy to "live blog" a trade show like most sensible bloggers. The whole "reporting" thing tends to get too much in the way of Eating Free Samples As Fast as You Can Snarf Them Up. And it's the same deal today! I'm in and out with clients to talk to and shelter cats to visit and Other Shit to do, and can't get it together to post all the pictures and impressions at once. Plus there are lots of "healthy" snacks left to sample and I can't do it all in one sitting or I'...
Source: Cranky Fitness - March 12, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Crabby McSlacker Source Type: blogs
