If you grew up with a mother like mine, you would have been grown up with the thought that chewing gum is bad. And of course, as you advanced in years, you would have tried chewing gum yourself and perhaps even picked up the habit of chewing one constantly. I do like chewing gum every now and then but I have never taken to it like some people do. There is something that you should know about chewing gum, though. According to a recent study conducted jointly by the Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, chewing gum may help people lose weight! The study had people chew gum and offered an eat all you can snack table. The snacks were categorized into simple sugars and sweetened food. The results ...

The next time someone tells you that you have gained weight, point them to this blog post. A recent study conducted in Canada has yielded some interesting results with regard to being overweight. According to a story ran by The New York Times, the study was done on over 11,000 Canadian adults. The results showed that people who are a bit overweight, but not obese, are less likely to die than those who are not overweight (READ: NORMAL weight). The category of overweight covers people who have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 25 to 29.9. In addition to this, people who are underweight – those who have a Body Mass Index of less than 18.5 – are more likely to die than the people who weigh normally. Obviously, this finding is going to be well-received by ...

Lately, I have been experiencing pain in my feet – the soles to be exact. While I think that it is probably due to my weight gain over the year, I still went ahead and researched on the topic. Guess what I found out? More than being overweight, there may be other reasons for aching feet! Some of them could actually be serious so aching feet should not be left alone, thinking that it is only due to age. In the Health section of the New York Times, they featured this topic recently and presented some questions that can help you analyze the cause of your pain. Here are some of them. Are you diabetic? I didn’t realize this but poor blood circulation can cause feet pain due to the distance between the lower limbs and the ...

Botox is known to most everyone. Celebrities and the rich are always suspected of going to their doctor to get a shot to make them look better and younger. Whether or not these people actually do get Botox shots, the fact remains that this drug is usually associated with cosmetic applications. But did you know that it can also be used to treat other conditions? I didn’t! I just read a story about how an Australian stroke victim was able to walk again because of Botox. Russell McPhee, 49, has been paralyzed for the past 23 years. He had a stroke that was so severe that his doctors told him that he would never be able to walk again. Or so they thought. So how did this happen? Botox, or botulinum toxin, actually ...

Have you ever heard of the Slow Food Movement? I heard about it a year ago but I did not really pay attention to it. I just thought that it would be a good thing to share the idea with you guys, as many of you might want to adopt this movement. So what is the Slow Food Movement? Their philosophy is: Slow Food is good, clean and fair food. We believe that the food we eat should taste good; that it should be produced in a clean way that does not harm the environment, animal welfare or our health; and that food producers should receive fair compensation for their work. Their mission is: Slow Food works to defend biodiversity in our food supply, spread taste education and connect producers of excellent foods with co-producers through events and initiatives. ...

We all know that alcohol is not good for the health, at least too much of it. Every time I think about this topic, I remember that line from an old Star Trek book I read as a teenager; something about alcohol being a poison that man imbibes voluntarily. I think it was from the book about Spock dying…. Anyhow, this knowledge has not sunk in for so many people. Even with hard scientific facts, hard drinking seems to be prevalent in many nations. There is even this recent study about how heavy drinking is the cause in 1 out of 4 cases of dementia. MSN Health has the story: Three UK newspapers, The Daily Mail, The Telegraph and The Guardian, reported on Monday that excessive alcohol consumption could be to blame for one in four ...

At this point, most everyone I know is a bit paranoid about the swine flu. Even the slightest sign of the sniffles gets some of my friends alarmed. And why not? With even the Center for Disease Control saying that there might be more than 100,000 cases of swine flu all over the country, it is but understandable that people would be quite cautious. But this is what the experts say: there is nothing like good hygiene to keep you safe from the outbreak. You see, as this strain of the flu is very new, there really is no vaccine against it. Even if you had the flu shots earlier this year or last year, it really is not a defense against swine flu. So here are some tips to keep it at bay: *Be aware. ...

That’s not an alarmist type of statement – it is true. This figure actually comes from the experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which estimates the real number of cases all throughout the country as about 100,000. The fact is that they only have about 4,700 documented or reported cases as of Friday. As for the number of deaths, only five so far have been reported and attributed to swine flu. The good news is that experts also say that this recent outbreak of swine flu is not as bad as it could be, and is in fact quite mild. AJC has this report: Most cases of swine flu occurring in the United States appear to be mild, health officials said. In fact, "estimates of the confirmed and probable cases in the United States is ...

Breastfeeding has long been championed by doctors and other health professionals for many reasons, the main reason being that the baby needs the nutrients from the mother’s milk. A recent study has shown that more than benefiting the baby, breastfeeding can actually bring about some good things for the mother as well. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have conducted a study which yielded the following data: -Breastfeeding can lower the risk of heart attack and other related diseases -Breastfeeding can lower the risk of stroke. These benefits might be had if a mother breastfeeds for a year. More than these two major illnesses, however, breastfeeding can also have a positive effect regarding other conditions such as diabetes, high cholesterol levels, and high blood pressure. As you may have surmised by now, these conditions are closely related to heart attacks ...

Every now and then we hear of diseases that are deadly and have the potential to become widespread. I think it’s that time of the year again, and this time, we are facing a potentially serious threat from swine flu. In fact, the World Health Organization has already stepped in and has declared a public emergency. The current strain of swine flu originates from Mexico and is said to be different from the previous ones that we have encountered. In Mexico, it has been reported that 81 people have died from the disease and that more than 1,000 people are currently infected with it. Swine flu, as the name implies, is transferred from infected pigs to humans. Humans who contract the disease exhibit the normal signs of flu – fever, respiratory problems, fatigue, and the like. However, ...