elnathan Blog

A tracing of an artistic representation of the Maya sun god found on the north side of the Diablo Pyramid at El Zotz, an archaeological site in Guatemala. Stephen Houston Are you ready for the end? Or perhaps a new beginning? Either way, buckle up, because today marks the one-month countdown until the 2012 Mayan Apocalypse, set for Dec. 21. That date corresponds to the end of the 13th b'ak'tun, or 144,000-day cycle, on the Maya Long Count calendar, marking a full cycle of creation, according to the ancient Maya. This milestone has triggered both fear and excitement in some subcultures, particularly online. Some believers see the day as a true doomsday, when the Earth will be destroyed in a planetary collision or other major disaster. Others see it as a day marking a new dawn of peace and unity. All of this excitement stems from two ancient texts found in Central America and dating

A dangerous trend: Kids and teens using steroids By Dr. Manny Alvarez Published November 19, 2012 FoxNews.com A new study shows that about five percent of middle and high school students have used anabolic steroids to put on muscle, and that as many as one-third of boys and one-fifth of girls have used protein powder or shakes. Between five and 10 percent admitted to using non-steroid muscle-enhancing substances like creatine. I was shocked to read these numbers. This is a brewing epidemic and parents need to become aware. We live in a complex world, and just like the war on drugs, we have make this a priority when it comes to our children. Many kids see steroids as a tool to speed up the process of achieving their ideal body type and enhancing their athletic performance. And of course, this keeps them preoccupied with an image that they feel the need to achieve at any c

As Thanksgiving nears, we tend to think of holiday foods. Thanksgiving is a bad day for turkeys for sure, but the typical holiday meal, with squash and other healthy ingredients, is a favorite time for many. One of the regular features of a Thanksgiving dinner is cranberry sauce, and that brings us to the healthy benefits of this remarkable berry. Native to North America, most cranberries are wet harvested. The berries, which ripen on low-growing perennial dwarf shrubs, are cultivated in bogs, where they are beaten off of the branches of the plant, and float until they are collected. Cranberries were introduced to colonial settlers by Native Americans, who used the berries which they called Sassamanash, in the concentrated food pemmican. A blend of fat, nuts, and dried fruits, pemmican provided a lot of energy, and travelled well. A colonial setter named Henry Hall is widely regarded as the first non-native to plant and grow cranberries. Cranberries, with their tart

Deadly epidemic: Are you at risk for diabetes? Published November 13, 2012 FoxNews.com Wednesday is World Diabetes Day, so it’s important to educate yourself on one of the fastest-growing health epidemics across the globe. But for millions of people, diabetes doesn’t have to be a fact of life – it’s avoidable – with some simple diet and lifestyle changes. Type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease, is linked to excess weight. Fat damages the body’s ability to use insulin – the hormone which controls blood sugar. "At some point, the system breaks, and you get diabetes,” said Dr. Ronald Tammler, endocrinologist at Mount Sinai Diabetes Center in New York, told Fox News. “It causes all kinds of damage in the blood vessels, leading to heart attack, stroke, kidney disease, blindness and amputation." It is estimated that 26 million people in America have diabetes. Of those, 95 percent have Type 2, and 7 million more are un