Cervical Health: An Overview
According to the American Cancer Society, of the 13,400 annual cases of cervical cancer, 4,290 patients (>33%) will die from the disease. This high mortality rate is due to the symptomatic complexity of cervical cancer, which can allow the cancer to spread and worsen before a diagnosis is made and treatment administered. In an effort […]
What is Dietary Fat?
Fats are a type of essential nutrient. The fats you consume provide your body with essential fatty acids called linolenic acid. They are called “essential” because your body cannot make them itself or function without them. Your body needs fats for a number of different reasons, including brain development, controlling inflammation, and blood clotting.1-3 Dietary fats […]
Unrefined vs. Refined Cooking Oils
After an oil is extracted from fruit or seed, it can either be immediately bottled (termed unrefined) or further refined and processed (termed refined). Unrefined oils, such as extra virgin or virgin olive oil or cold-pressed canola oil, tend to retain their nutrients as well as their distinct colors, flavors, and smells; however, they have […]
Know Your Cooking Oils
These days, there are a number of different cooking oils available at the average grocery store—some of which are very familiar to us (e.g., olive oil) while others less so (e.g., palm oil). For the purposes of this article, the term cooking oil refers to oil that has been mechanically extracted from the fruit or […]
Superfood Spotlight: Beans
Turns out…a hill of beans is worth quite a lot! Members of the Fabaceae family, beans are leguminous plants with a rich history.1 In fact, beans have been cultivated for nearly 6,000 years in North and South America,1 but they are considered a worldwide dietary staple. In the United States, the most common types of […]
Superfood Spotlight: Cranberries
They may be sour, but cranberries make sweet in the myriad of potential health benefits they may provide our bodies. At a glance, cranberries comprise nearly 90 percent water, with the remaining 10 percent consisting primarily of carbohydrates and fiber;1 perhaps unsurprisingly (due to their sharp taste), the sugar content is naturally very low for […]
The Basics of Mindful Eating
The holidays offer opportunities to gather with loved ones, exchange sentiments of gratitude, and fill our stomachs to the brim with delicious foods. Though an occasional indulgence is innocuous enough, many people carry these habits with them throughout the year. And with the quotidian distractions of a fast-paced world, remaining present while obtaining sustenance has […]
Probiotics and Prebiotics: Different Players on the Same Team
Inside the human intestinal tract live a vast collection of microorganisms, termed gut microbiota, comprising bacteria, archaea, and eukarya that have been estimated to number in the quadrillions. Hundreds of distinct bacterial species have been identified in the human gut alone, and together they play a critical role in keeping our immune and metabolic systems […]
Prevention and Treatment of Urinary Tract Infections and Other Urinary Health Maintenace Tips
Infection of any part of the urinary system, including the kidneys, ureters, bladder, and urethra, is known as a urinary tract infection (UTI), but most cases typically involve the bladder and urethra.1 A UTI can occur when bacteria enters the urethra and then bladder and propagates there. If untreated, it can spread to the ureters […]
Sleep: What It Is and Why It’s Important
Despite spending nearly one third of our lives sleeping, the exact reason why we do it is still a mystery.1,2 There is ample research surrounding sleep: why we need it, how much we need, and the effects of its deprivation. But when it comes to pinning down exactly what sleep is and why we need […]
Get Creative with Kombucha
Originating in Northeast China,1 kombucha is a fermented tea, enriched with probiotics and antioxidants, that has been around since approximately 200 B.C. Though kombucha is said to harnesses the same benefits as tea, the main differences between tea and kombucha are the addition of certain strains of bacteria, yeast, and sugar and the fermentation processes. […]
Food Product Dating: What Does It All Mean?
What Does It All Mean? Ever wonder about those food dates you see stamped on food packaging. For example, there’s “best if used-by/ before,” “sell-by,” “use-by,” “freeze- by,” and “expires by” (or sometimes just “exp”), followed by a day and a month, and, in many cases, also a year. What’s the difference between these terms? […]
