Anyone who’s ever played a sport is familiar with the agony of defeat. But many athletes — whether they be weekend warriors or marathon masters — are also familiar with another kind of very real agony: the sports injury. During activities in which we move unpredictably at high speeds, collide with other human beings, leap, spin, and swing, the chance for something to go wrong [...]
You might think of spring training as something only professional athletes go through as winter gives way to kinder days. Yet, many of us embark on a spring training program every year as the realization comes that in just a few months we’ll no longer have sweaters and jackets to hide our pale and possibly paunchy bodies. Along with this realization often comes another: “I [...]
Food poisoning is a nasty illness to come down with, especially when it is serious and/or if you are away from home when it happens. You may encounter this disease when you eat or drink food or water that has been contaminated by viral, bacterial, or parasitic agents. Much of the time, food poisoning can be treated with home-care measures, but sometimes, medical intervention may [...]
Even though yoga is over 4,000 years old, studies about how it improves health are still relatively new. The work that has been done in the field however, has shown that the practice can lower blood pressure, reduce stress, and increase muscle tone, strength and flexibility. It can also help reduce or eliminate chronic pain and let you get a better night’s sleep. While you [...]
It usually starts with a tickle in your throat and a slight feeling of being “unwell.” But within only a day or two, it becomes a full-blown invasion of your upper-respiratory tract, complete with a raging-fire sore throat, oozing, inflamed sinuses, and a nasty cough. If severe enough, it can even lead to a secondary infection of the sinuses or lungs (pneumonia), disrupting your life [...]
No matter how you might try to get around it with fad diets and cleanses, eating more raw vegetables is one of the very best ways to improve your health and diet. And, like it or not, leafy green salads are probably the fastest and easiest ways to consume your veggies. But salads consisting only of an anemic pile of greens and low-fat dressing are [...]
When choosing the best winter food to tide you over for the long winter, there are a few important criteria to look for. For one, the food should be in season, and if possible, locally grown, so it will be at its freshest and most delicious. Winter food should also keep you warm and give you energy to help you get through the darkest days [...]
Whether you’re considering trying to get pregnant for the first time, or you have been trying to conceive for a while without success, it is a good idea to review some tips that can increase your likelihood of conceiving. Besides helping you conceive, many of these tips, such as getting the right nutrients and reaching a healthy weight, also help set the stage for a [...]
Right now, you’re probably thinking, “Um, duh, fresh is always better than frozen!” Actually, that’s not true. Even though we are programmed to think that fresh fruits and vegetables are by default the best option, they’re not always superior to frozen or canned produce. While everyone can agree that fresh produce is more visually pleasing and easier to prepare, frozen produce actually contains a much [...]
If you are at all interested in health or nutrition, you probably know some basic facts about the healthfulness of common foods. For example, you’ve probably heard that omega 3 fats found in fish and nuts are good for your brain, and that eating a lot of saturated fat from animal products is bad for your heart. But did you know that an ingredient found [...]
