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What's the Deal With: Alkaline-Producing Foods
You eat to maximize your fiber. You eat for omega-3s. Well, there's another way to figure out what to put on your plate and what to avoid: the pH your food produces.
What's the Deal With: Leptin
I have come across the word "leptin" a lot recently and instead of just skimming over it and knowing it is vaguely related to weight, I thought I'd do a bit more research.
Leptin (from the Greek word leptos meaning thin) is a hormone that helps control appetite and metabolism. In a normal weight person, when body fat increases, leptin levels rise which signal the brain that it needs to speed up metabolism and decrease appetite.
What's the Deal with: Tendonitis?
Injuries are a serious bummer, especially when they prevent you from doing the things you love. One common injury is tendonitis, and I bet you already figured out that it involves your tendons, which you remember are those tough, yet flexible bands of tissue connecting muscles to bones. When a tendon becomes inflamed or irritated, that's tendonitis (or sometimes spelled tendinitis).
To Ice or to Heat? That is The Question
If you have a pain or you hurt yourself, do you ice it or heat it? Good question for all of you weekend warriors.
Apply ice no longer than 20 minutes:
- If you've hurt yourself in the last 48 hours (sprained your ankle or hammered your thumb instead of the nail).
- If the area is swollen - ice will decrease the inflammation around the injury which will help control the pain.
- After surgery to reduce swelling, bleeding, and bruising.
- To chronic injuries suffered by athletes, such as overused joints like runner's knees - these areas should be iced after the activity to reduce inflamation.
- If you have chronic pain, such as sore, stiff, nagging joint or muscle pain - the heat brings new blood to the area to help loosen the tissues and help them to relax.
- To chronic conditions, such as a tight hamstring before you exercise to improve elasticity.
Sty In My Eye
"Oh my - I'll try not to cry but there's a sty in my eye."
I used to say that all the time when I was in junior high; my hey day of sharing eye liner and mascara. One too many styes made me wise up and use my own make-up.
Other Search Results
Shoulder joint inflammation
Back HEALTH GUIDE REFERENCE FROM A.D.A.M An inflammation of the shoulder joint can cause pain and restricted joint movement. Review Date: 3/9/2007 Reviewed By: Thomas N. Joseph, MD, Private Practice specializing in Orthopaedics, CamdenBone & Joint, Camden, SC.Retroperitoneal inflammation
Overview- Definition
- Alternative Names
Organ Lessons: The Pancreas
It's time to take some organ lessons, but not the musical kind. I'm going to teach you about your internal organs, starting with the pancreas.
November is National Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month, devoted to educating people about the disease that took the life of Patrick Swayze earlier this year.
Food Review: Code Blue Recovery Drink
I must admit I'm not big on special fitness drinks, especially recovery drinks. They're often full of extra calories, and I usually opt for water since most exercise physiologists believe you don't need to worry about replacing electrolytes, carbs, and protein unless you have been working out and sweating for more than an hour. I often think a lot of these drinks have added coloring and chemicals, so when I saw Code Blue marketed as an all natural post-workout drink I was curious to try it.
Another Reason to Love the Med Diet: It Fights Depression
We've been touting the benefits of the Mediterranean diet for a while now — it reduces allergy symptoms, helps with weight control, supports longevity, and is good for vision and heart health. A new study gives us yet another reason to go the way of Mediterranean: it may protect against depression.
Researchers studied a pool of 11,000 Spanish adults over a four-and-a-half-year period and found that those who stuck closely to a Mediterranean diet were 30 percent less likely to develop depression than those that didn't.
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