elnathan Blog

Got a bloated belly? There’s a tea for that. And also one for the jitters, insomnia, even crippling period cramps. It turns out that herbal brews can help remedy more than a few common health complaints. Read on to find the right sip to ease your discomfort. For bloat Fennel tea is a hero to the digestive tract: It contains a compound that relaxes gastrointestinal spasms, allowing gas to pass and relieving bloat, according to  Health ‘s nutrition editor, Cynthia Sass, MPH, RD. For a pesky cough Marshmallow tea, made from the leaves and roots of this medicinal herb, has been used for hundreds of years to quiet coughs and sooth irritated throats. For nerves Chamomile tea may help calm your jitters before a stressful event. Certain compounds in the herb bind to the same receptors in the brain as drugs like Valium. A study done at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center found that people who suffered f...

From deep-fried foods to healthy salads, cooking oils play a part in the flavor profile and healthiness of many meals. With such a huge range of nut, seed, and flower oils on the market to choose from, all boasting their own array of nutritional and superfood benefits, it can be hard to know where to start. Consider the smoke point when selecting an oil to cook with. The temperature at which a type of oil begins to smoke and burn will play a huge factor in the dishes you should use it in. Will you be cooking your food hot and fast? If that’s the case you might want to avoid the delicious and flavorful extra virgin olive oil, which begins to smoke at 320 degrees F, and instead opt for an oil with a higher smoke point, like avocado oil, which smokes at a searing 520 degrees F. Then there’s your waistline and general health to consider. It’s no secret all oils contain fats, but consulting our list will teach the levels of mono-saturated, mono-unsaturated, and poly-unsat...

The emotional stress that causes chest pains and breathlessness can occur in moments of joy as well as anger, grief and fear, a Swiss study suggests. Three-quarters of cases of takotsubo cardiomyopathy , a change in the shape of the heart's left ventricle, which can be fatal, are caused by stress. The University Hospital Zurich study, in the European Heart Journal , suggests about one in 20 cases is caused by joy. The condition is normally temporary and people are generally fine afterwards. In the study of 1,750 patients, researchers discovered heart problems caused by: a birthday party a son's wedding meeting a friend after 50 years becoming a grandmother a favourite rugby team winning a game winning a casino jackpot a computerised tomography (CT) scan giving the all-clear from another condition The study also suggested most cases were in post-menopausal women. Dr Jelena Ghadri, one of the researchers, said: "We have shown that the triggers for takot...

Oatmeal, particularly the slow-cooked kind, is generally healthier than Cheerios. Both are made from whole oats, but the difference comes down to processing. Unprocessed whole oats, like those in steel-cut oatmeal, take a while for the body to digest. With Cheerios and other processed cereals, “you basically have rapidly digested sugar mixed with bran and germ,” said Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. “It provides fiber and minerals, but also digests in the mouth almost immediately.” That gives you a quick spike in blood sugar, but no energy for later. One 2013 study, for instance, found that people who ate oatmeal felt fuller and had better appetite control than those who ate the same number of calories of processed cereal. Both oatmeal and Cheerios are whole grains, which puts them ahead of cereals like Corn Flakes and Special K, in which the bran and germ have been removed, Dr. Mozaffar...

By Smitha Mundasad Health reporter More lives could be saved if doctors considered giving blood pressure drugs to all patients at high risk of heart disease - even if their blood pressures are normal, a study suggests. The report calls for a move away from current guidelines which recommend pills only be prescribed if blood pressure is above a certain threshold. But experts acknowledge lifestyle factors also have an important role to play in bringing blood pressures down. The study appears in the Lancet. High blood pressure has long been linked to a higher risk of heart disease and stroke. Current guidelines - issued by England's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence - suggest patients should only take medication when their blood pressure levels reach 140 mmHg. Until this point even those at highest risk, for example people who have had strokes, are offered monitoring but not pills. Now a global team of experts are calling for doctors t...