21-Day Challenge
My husband, daughter, and I are embarking on a 21-Day Challenge to eat cleanly. My daughter has tried it before -- for my husband and me, this is all new, but we consented to give it a try, all in the name of family harmony. Given my recent podcast with Michael Farrington on nutrition for junior tennis players, I thought I would expand on that theme and share some recipes and menu ideas that you can adapt to suit your family's needs. At the beginning of January, Emma returned to Atlanta for a 3-month stint, testing the local acting waters. She has been living in the Los Angeles area since leaving for college back in 200...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - February 23, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news

2016 Moon Shot for Cancer: Focus on Prevention
It is now 2016, and Americans hope for a brighter, healthier new year. Are Americans healthier today than they were last year or the year before? Will there be fewer people diagnosed with cancer? According to the American Cancer Society, it is projected that in 2016 there will be 1,685,210 new cancer cases and 595,690 deaths due to cancer. This is an increase over previous years. While it is true that the death rate for several cancers has decreased (due mostly to better screening and earlier diagnosis), it is also true that several cancers are on the rise, including cancers of the thyroid, liver, pancreas, kidney, small i...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - February 1, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news

Are We Oversimplifying the Sugar Debate?
A recent study published in The Lancet, appropriately titled "Obesity: we need to move beyond sugar," argues solving the obesity crisis demands more than simply slapping a tax on the sweet stuff. Let's backtrack a minute. Unless you've been living on another planet during the past few years, you know sugar has deservedly earned a bad rep. "Over the past 30 years, adult consumption of added sugars in America has increased by more than 30 percent," writes Dr. David Samadi. "On average, Americans consume about 100 pounds of sugar per year, or almost 30 teaspoons a day." Dr. Mark Hyman claims that number is even higher, wi...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - January 27, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news

Bite By Bite: A Guide to Applying the 2015 Dietary Guidelines
As a registered dietician, it is often my job to translate research and guidelines into step-by-step recommendations that are easy for anyone to follow, so I was delighted to find that the newly released 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans are simple and easy to manage and aim to help Americans make healthier eating decisions. In order to reduce the risk of chronic disease for everyone from toddlers to seniors, the updated Dietary Guidelines help us include foods we love by recommending healthy eating patterns. Working to create a healthful pattern of eating, instead of focusing on individual foods or nutrients, a...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - January 11, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news

6 Food Trends To Help You Eat Better In 2016
Some of the trendiest foods that are popping up on Pinterest and appearing on 2016 food trend lists may just help you eat better in the year ahead. Here are six food trends to get on board with in 2016: 1. Power bowls Bowls are the new plates. All sorts of creative one-dish meals are being served in a bowl with various monikers – protein bowls, Buddha bowls, broth bowls, quinoa bowls and globowls – for globally inspired bowl meals. The same rules apply to breakfast bowls, which are being dubbed smoothie bowls, acai bowls and Banzai bowls. Just do a search on Pinterest, and you'll be bowled over. For lunch and ...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - December 27, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news

Ask JJ: Joining a Gym for Fat Loss
Dear JJ: I feel like my gym is capitalizing on the New Year's resolution weight loss thing, but isn't weight loss something like 80 percent diet (or is that just an urban legend)? If eating healthily becomes that tipping point, why do gyms make it sound like you just need to exercise to lose weight? If you want to lose weight, stop focusing on exercise. You read that correctly. I am not saying don't exercise. I adamantly advocate regular workouts. Trust me, no one is more pro-exercise than I am. But for weight loss, you cannot out-exercise your way out of a crappy diet. The end. You can stop reading now (or please conti...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - December 22, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news

10 Tips to Supercharge Your Health This Holiday Season
'Tis the season for overeating. The weeks leading up to Christmas and New Year's are filled with lots of social gatherings and food festivities. Food is everywhere, whether the office party, family events, buffets, cocktail parties or holiday candy gifts. It is also a stressful time for many people which, in and of itself, can lead to additional overeating. With some advance planning, and smart pointers, however, you can come out healthier and more rejuvenated, and maybe even a few pounds thinner in time for the New Year. To help you avoid gaining weight this season and reduce "food-related" stress, below I offer stra...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - December 20, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news

I've Stuck to My Plant-Based Diet for Seven Years By Doing These Seven Things
For seven years I've eaten primarily plants. Now, sticking to ANY healthy habit for seven years is a major accomplishment (heck, sticking to any healthy habit for seven days, or even seven HOURS can be a major accomplishment!), but sticking to a healthy habit that's centered around food is not always a piece of dairy-free, gluten-free cake. Because of temptations! And inconveniences! And dang ice cream cravings. But it's true, I've eaten almost exclusively fruits, veggies, nuts and seeds without meat or dairy for over half a half-decade and I haven't become a "health nut hermit," a total social outcast, a pain-in-the-butt ...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - December 15, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news

Wellness Trends: Global Summit Identifies the Top 10
The Global Wellness Summit (GWS) which recently took place in Mexico City, was the largest, most diverse, cross disciplinary conference in its 9-year history, attracting 470+ delegates from over 40 countries. The theme of the summit was Building a Well World. GWS Chairman and CEO, Susie Ellis. called the Mexico City Summit "A watershed moment" as great minds from a variety of sectors including medical (e.g., the Mayo and Cleveland Clinics, Harvard and Duke Universities), workplace wellness worlds (e.g., Johnson & Johnson and Zappos) in addition to economics, government, technology, travel, spa/wellness, education, nutri...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - December 8, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news

4 Things to Add to Your Diet to Lose Weight and Feel Better
In our nutrition practice, and in our personal eating practices, we focus on getting enough of the great stuff more than limiting the not-so-great stuff. If we put this into the context of activities for the day and said, "You cannot walk on the grass today. You also can't run through the sprinklers. You also can't fly a kite." That would seem like a real bummer and you'd feel limited. But if we said, "You can take a beautiful hike today. You can meet up with friends for tea. You can sit by the beach and read." That would make you feel like you had some really awesome options. The same goes for the way you approach healthy...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - December 7, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news

The Most Important Test Your Doctor Won’t Order
I’ve been getting a lot of mail from readers asking a similar question. Most are like this one from MK in Philadelphia: “I’m going for an annual checkup with my doctor soon. I want to make sure I’m getting the right tests. What’s the number one anti-aging test I should ask my doctor for?” It’s a great question. The problem is your local doctor has probably never even heard of the top anti-aging test I recommend. You see, I want to know what’s going on with you at the cellular level. And that’s why I think it’s essential to measure your telomeres. Telomeres are an important part of human cells that af...
Source: Al Sears, MD Natural Remedies - December 7, 2015 Category: Complementary Medicine Authors: Al Sears Tags: Anti-Aging biological age DNA telomeres Source Type: news

Nutrition shortcuts when you live alone
I learned early on in my career that loneliness affects the dinner table. I was a young TV news anchor at the time, and one day, an elderly woman walked up to me in a store and said, “I live alone, but I eat dinner with you every night.” It was the first of many times that I would hear those words. It was always humbling, and it instilled an extra sense of responsibility in me at 6 o’clock every evening. Now that I have elderly loved ones who live alone, I see that they’re coping with an empty table and little interest to cook or even eat. It’s a common problem. “They’re missing companionship,” says Melani...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - December 2, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Heidi Godman Tags: Health Healthy Aging Healthy Eating Source Type: news

Nurturing The Mind: My Path To True Health And Wellness
“Life is not meant to be a struggle.” I had heard these words so many times, but the true magnificence of this statement wasn't fully clear until I welcomed its insight into my life -- and began to experience a significant positive shift in my overall health as a result. For years, my body had been trying to tell me that something was off. Unbeknownst to me, chronic fatigue, persistent anxiety and intestinal pain were all physical manifestations of the absence of contentment and ease in my mind. What I needed was to empower my mind so that I could deeply heal my body. By finally acknowledging that I had the capacity ...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - November 12, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news

Simple Tips for Staying Healthy This Cold and Flu Season
As we head into fall, many Americans are getting the flu shot to prepare for the winter ahead. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), up to 20 percent of the U.S. population will get the flu. Moreover, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) estimates there are nearly one billion cases of the common cold each year in the U.S. Aside from washing our hands, what else can we do to boost our immune system? Let's explore some important and simple tips that can help you stay healthy during the winter season. Don't Overdo Vitamin C When you come down with the flu, most people think large doses of vi...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - October 30, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news

Better Health by Cutting Sugar for Just 10 Days
This study is further proof that reducing added sugar to more reasonable amounts benefits kids at risk of metabolic syndrome and diabetes. Dr. Lustig often warns about the dangers of fructose, emphasizing that glucose isn't the problem. In practicality, since added sugars are almost always at least 50 percent fructose, the sensible advice it to cut all added sugar. Sugar in large amounts is definitely associated with weight gain, and likely also independently with diabetes and metabolic and heart disease. Reducing it (even without intentional caloric restriction) usually leads to weight reduction, and to improved health ...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - October 28, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news