In India, hair is traditionally seen as a sign of strength and beauty, which is why many people of the Sikh faith leave at least part of their hair uncut. However, unlike in the West, the hair and scalp are oiled first before washing in India. This simple, inexpensive treatment just involves massaging 1-2 tablespoons of coconut oil (it can be diluted) into the scalp and through the hair, which is then left for an hour or even overnight.
While you’re chowing down on all those healthful fresh fruits and vegetables (hopefully), don’t forget to eat plenty of protein, too. A growing pile of research is finding that people who eat higher levels of protein stay slim and trim compared to those who don’t.
There’s Big Pharma, Big Ag, and now Big Sugar – all industries too sweet on the smell of money to be truthful about their products to the public. New information has come forth that proves the sugar industry knew their products would cause dental and health issues since the 1950’s, but they worked with our government agencies (cigarette-ad-campaign-style) to make sure we wouldn’t know the true damage sugar could cause until we were all addicted.
Extra virgin olive oil has become fashionable in health circles because it’s the predominant fat used in the Mediterranean diet, a diet shown to reduce risk of death for all causes. Italian extra virgin olive oil is considered the best, and it is the most highly sought.
The fat you choose to use in cooking can make the difference between a meal that supports health and a meal that throws off free radicals (thought to be a primary cause of the degeneration we refer to as aging). The higher the cooking heat, the more likely you are to be bombarded with free radicals, set off by breaks in fatty acid chains. There are only a few fats that can defy oxidation and its cousin, rancidity. What’s the determining factor? It’s the stability of the fatty acid chain.
A recent study has found that consuming more nuts was associated with decreased overall and cardiovascular disease mortality – associated with death rates cut by as much as a fifth.
The study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, involved 71,764 people living in the southern US and 134,265 Chinese people – one a cohort of men, the other of women – living in Shanghai, China.
The research showed that nut intake was linked to a lower risk of total mortality (death from any cause), and death from cardiovascular disease.
With the back-to-nature movement of the 1970’s came a whole slough of New Age health prescriptions. One of those was the blanket recommendation to drink 8 glasses of water a day. While drinking more water can help greatly to improve health, drinking too much water can actually be hurting many.
Is there a link between soda pop consumption and obesity? Sure there is, but that’s just the beginning of the story. If the threat of obesity isn’t enough to make you put down that Coke or Pepsi, here are 6 other health threats you might want to consider.
For those who bother to grow their own food – a ‘radical’ act that has almost become necessary due to the GMO-laden land around us – the idea of consuming boosted plant nutrients is wildly appealing. Growing specific varieties of vegetables and fruits which are rich in phytonutrients, including anthocyanins, quercetin, lutein, and lycopene, for example, can help to prevent cancer, help us age more gracefully, and boost energy levels.
Does eating fat really make you fat? Is butter bad for you? Store shelves are still loaded with low-fat and-fat free products, so it seems that many people are on board with this notion. But recent evidence is showing that we’ve been told a big fat lie, and that eating fat does not cause weight gain or disease anymore than eating chicken can turn you into a bird.
