MaoBah - Interesting Health Topics, Celebrity News and Informational News

One of the things that leads to stressful, unhealthy living is when people gobble down their meals. Because lots of us have hectic lives and have things that need to be done within the day, we tend to hustle all the time. What people don’t know, though, is that eating slower have plenty of benefits.

A growing number of studies confirm that eating slower can make us consume fewer calories - enough to lose 20 pounds a year, actually. It takes about 20 minutes for your brain to register that you’re full, and if you eat fast, you can continue eating past the point where you’re actually full.

Enjoying your food can be hard if it goes down your stomach right away. Take time to chew and let your taste buds savor the moment for a while; make your meals a gastronomic pleasure instead of rushing between stressful events. If you eat slower, you’ll chew your food better and this can lead to better digestion. Digestion starts in the mouth, so the more time you take in chewing, the less you work there’ll be in your stomach.

Eating slowly and paying attention to our eating can be a great form of mindfulness exercise. Be in the moment rather than rushing through a meal thinking about other things you need to do after.
Rebelling against fast food and fast life can do more good than you thought. A hectic, fast paced and chaotic life leads to eating in fast food restaurants. We all know that this can be very unhealthy (think of what happened to the guy in Supersize Me.)

Some baby foods contain as much sugar and saturated fats as cheeseburgers or chocolate cookies. A survey of more than 100 foods for babies and toddlers found examples that were 29 percent sugar and others that contained trans fats which have been linked to heart disease.

The Children’s Food Campaign examined the nutritional content of 107 baby and toddler foods. Only half the products were low in saturated fat, salt and sugar. Organic baby food isn’t even your safest choice. Katharine Wroth was curious about her organic baby food options and took a look at several types of baby food.

She found that Earth’s Best had an extensive selection but also had high sodium levels. Gerber Organic was easy to find but came in plastic containers. Organic Baby was hard to find although it came from a good company.

Plum Organics had BPA-free packaging but a high price and limited flavor options. Happy Baby had the same problems and advantages. Other brands she found came from companies that uses local ingredients and does not ship outside the region it was manufactured in.

In the final analysis, the frozen baby foods tasted better than the jarred ones. They also noted that the only affordable, tasty and healthy option was making your own at home.

Honey is very effective in killing bacteria in all its forms, especially the drug-resistant biofilms that often make treating chronic rhinosinusitis difficult.

A study found that in eleven isolates of three separate biofilms, honey was significantly more effective than commonly-used antibiotics in killing both planktonic and biofilm-grown forms of the bacteria.

The findings may hold important clinical implications in the treatment of refractory chronic rhinosinusitis, which affects 31 million people each year in the United States alone, and is among the three most common chronic diseases in North America.

Before you rush to the drugstore to buy an over-the-counter sleep medication, try one of the following natural sleep remedies. They are safer and have fewer side effects. Many of these can not only help you fall asleep and stay asleep, but they can also promote muscle relaxation.

Magnesium and calcium

Valerian is one of the most common sleep remedies for insomnia. Numerous studies have found that valerian improves deep sleep, speed of falling asleep, and overall quality of sleep. However, it’s most effective when used over a longer period of time. Keep in mind that about 10 percent of the people who use it actually feel energized, which may keep them awake. If that happens to you, take valerian during the day. Otherwise, take 200 to 800 milligrams before bed.

A study shows that eating two eggs for breakfast as part of a reduced-calorie diet, helps overweight adults lose more weight and feel more energetic than those who eat a bagel breakfast of equal calories.

This study supports previous research which showed that people who ate eggs for breakfast felt more satisfied and ate fewer calories at the following meal. Compared to the subjects who ate a bagel breakfast, men and women who consumed two eggs for breakfast as part of a reduced-calorie diet:

* Lost 65 percent more weight

* Exhibited a 61 percent greater reduction in BMI

* Reported higher energy levels

The egg and bagel breakfasts provided the same number of calories.

Recent studies found out that it’s best to leave earwax alone. It’s actually protective because it has lubricating and antibacterial properties and that is according to one ear specialist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.

The guidelines are the first comprehensive clinical recommendations meant to help health-care professionals identify patients with impacted wax and treat them properly. Panel members reviewed scientific studies and sought expert opinion to create the guidelines.

They conclude that if the ears are functioning well, then the presence of ear wax does not require anything. They added that using a swab can actually drive excess wax in further and it would complicate things because then medical attention is often needed to remove it.

Certain people need to pay more attention to their ear wax status. Those who wear a hearing aid, are much more likely to develop problems with ear wax. That’s because the hearing aid prevents the ear from doing its job which is to clean out excess ear wax naturally.

As people age, ear wax problems are more common, too, he said, with those over age 65 more likely to have problems than younger people.

Ear wax is beneficial and self-cleaning. Hearing aid wearers should get their ears cleaned once or twice a year by a health-care professional to avoid wax buildup, which can cause hearing aid feedback or even damage the device. When ear wax blocks 80 percent or more of the ear canal diameter, it can result in reversible hearing loss.

About 12 million people in the United States seek medical care each year for impacted ear wax, according to the guidelines. The panel advises the use of wax-dissolving agents such as water and saline to dislodge it by a professional. Irrigation, manual removal with special instruments or ear syringes are other options.

The guidelines advise against the use of cotton-tipped swabs, oral jet irrigators and ear candling (the use of cone-shaped candles that are lit to draw out the wax).

The new guidelines make sense, said Dr. Chester Griffiths, an ear specialist at Santa Monica–UCLA Medical Center & Orthopaedic Hospital, and an assistant clinical professor of surgery at the University of California, Los Angeles, David Geffen School of Medicine.

Eating a few portions of  broccoli every week can actually protect men from having prostate cancer later in their life. Researchers believe that a substance called isothiocyanate in the broccoli sparks hundreds of genetic changes, activating some genes that fight cancer and switching off others that fuel tumors.

Prostate cancer kills more men than any other kind except for lung cancer. Each year, 680,000 men worldwide are diagnosed with the disease and about 220,000 will die from it.

The benefit derived from broccoli would likely also be available from other cruciferous vegetables that contain isothiocyanate, including Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, arugula, watercress and horseradish. So stop setting those green vegetables aside, because they can do wonders for your health more than you think.

1. Do Less. Learn to reduce the amount you do — perhaps you could choose three important things to achieve each day, the ones that will have the most impact on your life.

2. Start the day with a relaxing shower or bath. This will get you in a relaxed mood, which is much better than starting the day stressed out.

3. Get in some morning exercise. It will relax you, and gives you a sense of well-being and accomplishment.

4. Create a clutter-free environment. Clutter-free surroundings create a peaceful working environment.

5. Turn off the distractions. This includes phones, email notification, instant messaging, anything that will break into your focus.

6. Take breaks and stretch. Get up, stretch, massage your shoulders, neck and head; it will keep you relaxed throughout the day.

7. Roll with the punches. There will always be things that go wrong. When things get overwhelming, take a step back to get some perspective.

8. Work when it’s quiet. This may be early in the morning, during your office lunch hour, or late at night — choose whatever works for you so that you can get some solid work in without distractions.

9. Cut back on your commitments. Choose four to five things that are absolutely essential, and then eliminate the rest over time.

10. Focus on the present. Rather than worrying about what you have to do in the future, or reliving things that happened in the past, focus on what you’re doing right now.