Unfortunately for wheat or gluten intolerance sufferers, many wheat and gluten-free food products just don’t taste as good as the real thing. Substitute flours like rice flour can leave your pasta and bread tasting strange and have an unusual texture that can be hard to get used to. Fortunately, there are many wheat and gluten-free products that do taste great, and have additional health benefits...
Iodine is an element that is needed in very tiny amounts in the diet, but without it, it can cause some serious complications. Iodine is used in the body to make two hormones – thyroxine and triiodothyronine, together called the thyronine hormones – which are secreted from the thyroid gland and together help to regulate metabolism. Too little iodine in the diet causes decreased production of...
Colon cleansing, which is thought to date back to ancient Greece, is the practice of ridding the bowels (large intestines) of a build-up of undigested fecal matter. It is an ‘alternative’ therapy that is thought to help prevent toxins from building up in the intestines, which could eventually lead to diseases such as colon cancer. There are essentially two ways that colon cleansing can be done. 1...
As well as being a vital organ for talking and eating, the tongue can also be an indicator of our overall health and wellbeing. Here are some common conditions that can manifest in the tongue. Furry tongue A whitish, or grayish, and fuzzy-looking tongue can be a sign that you have a build-up of bacteria in the mouth, and these can in turn cause an unpleasant taste in the mouth, bad breath, and...
With its crunchy, celery-like texture, and unique, licorice taste, fennel is one of the most underrated vegetables on the grocery store shelves. With an edible bulb, stalks, leaves and even seeds, fennel is a perfect partner for salmon and shellfish, and is most often used in Mediterranean cooking where it adds texture and depth of flavor to salads, pasta and vegetable dishes. Apart from its...
Poor Brussels sprouts – often despised, the only thing left on the Christmas dinner plate, inspiring little culinary imagination, and a bad reputation for causing flatulence! But did you know that Brussels sprouts are really very good for you? Here are some reasons why! 1. Brussels sprouts are high in vitamin C Just one cup of Brussels sprouts contains more than 100% of your recommended daily...
Bruce Willis, Marilyn Monroe, Nicole Kidman – what do these three people all have in common? You might be surprised to learn that, as well as all being famous Hollywood actors, all three of these people suffered from a stammer in childhood. Stammering, or stuttering, is a condition whereby the sufferer has trouble in enunciating spoken words in a normal, smooth, fluent manner. It most often...
If you have ever suffered with motion sickness, you’ll be familiar with that queasy feeling in your stomach, the dizziness, and the vomiting – it can be very unpleasant to experience! Usually, our sense of balance is determined by sensory information passed to the brain via our skin, muscles, eyes, and by the fluid found in cavities inside our ears. As we move around, stand up, sit down, lie down...
Weight is an issue that many women struggle with at some point in their lives – whether they weigh too much, too little, or just think they have a weight problem, many women (I admit, myself included!) always seem to be on a diet in pursuit of the perfect look and the ideal weight. In theory, achieving and maintaining an ideal weight is simple: consume the same number of calories as you burn...
Whether you are hoping to get pregnant, or hoping not to be pregnant, taking a pregnancy test can be a stressful time. But how do home pregnancy tests really work? Human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) First, a bit of biological background. Once an egg has been fertilized in one of the Fallopian tubes, it will move into the uterus. Here, the embryo will embed itself into the thickened lining of the...
Lisa Martin is a qualified biology teacher and experienced freelance science writer from Warwickshire in the UK. She is fascinated by how the human body works and is particularly interested in writing about new research and discoveries in science and medicine.
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