Posted by
Anni
on
Friday, May 11th, 2012
Image source: Widbox.com
Every pregnant woman is told to take prenatal vitamins. I’ve written before about how challenging that can be, especially during the delightful morning sickness of the first trimester. Most prenatal vitamins are huge and chalky, difficult to swallow under the best circumstances. They also often have a strange taste to them, something between fish and sour milk. There are hundreds of choices out there—from the whole-foods vitamin with 300% of everything to the cheap store brand vitamin with the bare minimum of synthetic ingredients. How does a girl choose? Well, first she should go with her gut.
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Posted by
Anni
on
Thursday, May 10th, 2012
It’s clear that we have a lot to learn about supplements and how they work. We all want to take care of our bodies, to protect ourselves from the consequences of aging: to keep our bones strong, our skin youthful, our vessels clean, and our minds clear. In many cases, we don’t know exactly what supplements help, and that can be confusing and frustrating. It almost feels like I need to hire a private investigator! This is why I get so excited when we do have good science to go on. When it comes to fish oil, the benefits are becoming very clear.
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Posted by
Anni
on
Wednesday, May 9th, 2012
Image source: Holisticchineseherbs.com
As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, we don’t have all the answers when it comes to vitamins. In some cases, the research simply hasn’t be done. In other cases, biochemistry is so complex we can draw only rough conclusions about which formulations help or harm our bodies. There is a lot of media hype surrounding “bioavailability.” This is the idea that only naturally occurring vitamins actually help our bodies. It makes intuitive sense, but intuition and science are two separate beasts.
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Posted by
Anni
on
Tuesday, May 8th, 2012
Image source: Mnn.com
The world of vitamin supplements is vast and overwhelming. Visit any grocery store in the US and you’ll find shelf after shelf of competing products. The average consumer (me) has no clue. I don’t know if ester-C is better than Emergen-C or Vitamin C Gummi Chews or good old-fashioned orange juice, and the science isn’t solid on the subject. I don’t have a degree in nutrition or a spare week to research my options, so I rely on the bottles. This means I rely on advertising to sell me vitamins. Admittedly, this strategy has a few problems.
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Posted by
Anni
on
Monday, May 7th, 2012
Image source: Veganfilmmaker.com
The raw food diet has been around for a very long time—since before our ancestors discovered fire—and that is often used as an argument for its healthfulness. We assume, if people have been doing something for a very long time, that thing must be good. To that I say: people have also been dying young for a very long time. Dying young: not so good. I’m not saying raw food diets are mortally dangerous. I don’t think they are. But the idea that they’re better—that somehow the vitamins, minerals, and enzymes in raw foods are lost when those foods are cooked—that idea is not based in scientific fact.
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Posted by
Anni
on
Friday, May 4th, 2012
Image source: Sabotagetimes.com
When I was in college, I was a vegan. I’d been a vegetarian for years before that. Like Lisa Simpson, at ten I decided it was wrong it eat animals. It seemed cruel and unnecessary: we can get all of the nutrition we need from plant-based materials and dairy products. I was right, in as much as I grew up strong and never developed a vitamin deficiency. But I was also naïve: avoiding meat and avoiding all dairy products are two very different things.
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Posted by
Anni
on
Thursday, May 3rd, 2012
I’ve written about this particular affliction before but, considering how common and chronic it can be, I think it’s worth revisiting. It’s embarrassing to have a problem you can’t talk about. I mean, some people do but it’s not the politest of topics for conversation. Sometimes, when I’m with a group of women, I wonder how many of us are experiencing constipation. Since women have it far more often then men, chances are good that some of us are. Chances are extremely good that I am, since I seem to have a constant, unstoppable case.
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Posted by
Anni
on
Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012
Image source: Gastricbypasshairloss.com
I have a very good friend named Susan. Susan has been obese her whole life. When we were growing up, she was always the butt of jokes and the center of negative attention. We’ve been friends since we were about five years old and I’ve watched her struggle with her weight for decades. It’s heartbreaking. Susan is compulsive about food. She was just born that way. On top of her compulsion, she has an excruciatingly slow metabolism. It’s a very dangerous combination.
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Posted by
Anni
on
Tuesday, May 1st, 2012
Image source: Thebreakingstory.com
If there’s one great thing about being female, it’s feeling reasonably secure about my hairline. Yes, some women do experience hair loss, and it’s uniquely terrible, but for the most part, baldness is the purview of the men in our lives. While there have been some advances in the search for a “cure,” most men alive today will probably have to live with inherited hair loss. My brother started going bald at 23. It was awful for him. He struggled with low self-esteem for years. I don’t think there is a single picture of him from ages 23-30 where he isn’t wearing a hat. We don’t realize how important our hair is for our overall self-confidence until it’s gone.
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Posted by
Anni
on
Monday, April 30th, 2012
Image source: Sciencephoto.com
When most people think of ear infections they think of red, bacteria-laden ear drums; pus; fever; and pain. They think of screaming babies clutching at their tiny heads. They think of ear tubes and antibiotics. But ear infections come in many forms and bacteria causes just one. Fungus is a less common but much more persistent culprit, to which my little sister can attest.
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