Tag: diet

My mother wasn’t an expert on nutrition, but she was often spot-on—for instance, her commitment to eating salad. As she saw it, raw vegetables provide "roughage," which helps to keep you regular. Today, this component of plant foods is commonly called insoluble fiber and my mother was right: It bulks up stools, preventing constipation and other digestive problems.

Plant foods provide various types of fiber, which contribute to benefits like keeping blood sugar or cholesterol under control. Scientists now understand that the body functions as a complex ecosystem. That means the food you eat can activate biological pathways in every part of your body.

Have you and your partner decided you’re ready to be parents—or have another baby?

According to Baby Center, 85 percent of couples who actively try to get pregnant will conceive within about one year, or 12 menstrual cycles. If they are not able to conceive after one year, it is recommended at that time that they may want to consult a fertility expert. (This time period is reduced to six months before seeing an expert if the woman is over 35 years old.)

Regardless of whether you’re in the early stages of trying to conceive or have been trying for a while, here are a few science-backed tips that may help get your body primed for fertility success.

When you’re a health nut and your significant other is... well, not so much, it can be easy to want to change them. And, of course, your heart’s in the right place. You want them to be healthy so they stick around with you for a very long time.

However, nagging and using a lot of "should" statements is only going to make them want to do the opposite. It’s pretty basic human behavior: tell someone they have to do something and they’ll resist.

So, let’s agree on a couple of ground rules to keep our relationships in good standing while making changes to improve the health of both partners:

We all know people who follow calorie-restricted diets without losing weight or others who always have room for dessert but never gain an ounce. When scientists finished mapping the human genome, many felt that genes held the answers to this conundrum. Researchers identified the first gene variant linked with obesity in 1997; subsequently they discovered more than 50 additional variants impacting weight.

Unsurprisingly, diets based on eating for your genes looked promising. Put to the test, however, they didn’t measure up.

No mom wants to become a short order chef, especially when the complaining eater isn’t a kid, but a husband.

If you relate, you are not alone.

Very often it is one partner who wants to get healthier, while another likes meat and potatoes; or one partner who has a food allergy, while one can eat anything; or one partner hates vegetables while the other is a vegetarian.

When two adults have very different food cravings or food upbringings, and kids are involved, it makes mealtime even more complicated; and it makes it much harder to raise kids who will eat everything.

Here are some ways to shift mealtime, so you can agree on what to eat.

Society views weight gain as the enemy yet waging a war on your weight guarantees more weight gain. Your body senses the stress you feel and turns on cortisol to keep you fit for this war. What if your body used weight gain to get your attention? Weight gain clues you to something being out of alignment. Luckily, getting back into alignment can be fast when you follow these 5 steps for eating foods that nourish your body and soul while satisfying your taste buds.

Poor wheat.

It seems the golden grain has lost much of its luster, thanks to the gluten-free movement (now a $16-billion-a-year industry) and a broad-brush bashing that has painted it as the latest food demon.

Wheat has been found guilty without a fair trial! The grains you choose are critical to keeping your blood sugar stable, your weight down and your heart healthy.