Food & Nutrition: Culinary Techniques, Diets & Metabolic Health

Nutritional health is achieved through the therapeutic use of whole foods, safe culinary preparation, and understanding the metabolic impacts of specific dietary frameworks and ingredients.

old woman hand pouring pills from a pill reminder box

Expensive Vs. Cheap Vitamins

With so many vitamin options on shelves and online, it’s hard to know which one is right for you. When it comes to the bottom line, according to Carol A Rice, Ph.D., R.N., cheap vitamins are just as good as expensive vitamins.

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Cranberry juice on old wooden table

Do Cranberries Stain Your Urine?

Urine can become discolored due to certain foods, food dyes and supplements you consume. Berries, including cranberries, can stain your urine. Your level of hydration and what else you ate with the cranberries will vary the color of your urine.

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Fresh carrot juice

Can Carrots Change the Color of Your Urine?

In certain instances, what you eat and drink can change the color of your urine. Certain foods, such as carrots, rhubarb and juices can influence the color of your urine. Urine normally has a yellow hue but some foods, and even vitamins, can cause your urine to turn yellow, dark brown or fluorescent green.

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Biofuel or Corn Syrup sweetcorn

Does Corn Syrup Work as a Laxative for Adults?

Corn syrup was once a common home remedy for infant constipation. Added to an infant’s bottle it would prompt a bowel movement, but medical authorities no longer consider this treatment to be an effective remedy -- for infants or adults.

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rock candy

What Foods Should I Avoid if I Have Laryngitis?

Laryngitis describes the inflammation of your larynx, or voice box. When you have laryngitis, your voice will gradually reduce to a whisper or completely halt. You may even have to resort to writing notes to friends and family and avoid phone calls until your voice returns.

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Garlic pills

Do Garlic Supplements Make You Smell?

Garlic is known to have an odor whether you’re chopping it, cooking with it or just taking a whiff of it. The smell of garlic can linger on porous surfaces, clothing, your body and your breath. Unpleasant body odor and bad breath can cause embarrassment and make you not want to be around others.

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Coconuts on banana leaf

Coconut Oil & the Gallbladder

Your gallbladder is a fairly small but important organ. It holds and empties bile, which is necessary during the digestion process because it breaks down fats. Produced in the liver, bile is comprised of water, bile salts, cholesterol and lecithin, a special kind of fat.

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Breakfast table

Can Skipping Breakfast and Lunch Harm Your Body?

Your body needs food for energy and strength. When you don’t eat, your body relies on stored fat for energy and the nutrients it needs. This might sound like a good thing if you are trying to lose weight. But if you go too long without food or do it on a regular basis, your body begins to break down muscle for energy.

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Can Taking Supplements Delay a Period?

Taking certain medications, such as birth control pills, can delay your period, but not any particular supplements that you can purchase over the counter. Some supplements, such as iron, can actually help your menstrual cycle if you have anemia.

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Young woman eating orange on beach

Can Vitamin C Delay Menstruation?

Vitamin C helps your body function in multiple ways, but it has no influence or relationship with your menstrual cycle. A number of factors could delay your period, but vitamin C is not one of them. If you’re concerned about your vitamin C levels, talk to your health care provider.

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white sugar in a bowl

Is Sugar Bad for Diverticulitis?

Diverticulitis is a serious disorder of the bowels that causes pockets to form along the walls of the large intestine. The pouches bubble out, much like a weak spot on a tire, and become inflamed. When your condition worsens, you may experience diarrhea, bloating, abdominal tenderness and bleeding from your rectum.

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white cream on a spoon

Gas & the Side Effects of Activia

Activia, which is manufactured by the Dannon Co., is a fermented yogurt that contains probiotics, according to the official Activia website. Activia contains a variety of bacterial cultures, including lactobacillus.

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Cool Cola Drink With Lemon and Ice cube

Can Diet Soda Cause Dizziness, Headache & Nausea?

If you’ve gone on a diet, you may have tried switching to diet soda because it has fewer calories. Diabetics will sometimes drink diet soda because it’s made with sweeteners rather than sugar. Just because diet soda doesn’t contain real sugar and has fewer calories, it doesn’t make it healthy.

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Can Too Much Vitamin C Cause Headaches?

Vitamin C is necessary for healthy skin, ligaments, tendons and blood vessels. It also helps heal wounds and form scar tissue and helps repair and maintain bones, teeth and cartilage. Vitamin C fights free radicals, which are harmful substances that can damage parts of your body, such as air pollutants or radiation.

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Bottle with pills

Can Iron Supplements Make You Sick?

Your body needs iron to make blood cells. Without iron, your body would not be able to produce or carry many proteins that are essential for blood cells. You may need an iron supplement if you develop an iron deficiency such as anemia. Never take supplements or vitamins without consulting your health-care provider.

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Pimenta Jalapeño Jumbo

Can Spicy Foods Affect the Prostate?

The prostate is part of the male reproductive system. It’s responsible for producing semen, which carries sperm during ejaculation. The prostate surrounds the urethra, which is the tube that allows urine to pass out of the body.

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Female tennis player drinking water

What Does It Mean to Crave Water?

You might crave water for a variety of different reasons. It could just be a very hot day outside, and nothing but water will quench your thirst, or you could be suffering from a serious medical condition.

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Risk of Eating Moldy Bread

Moldy bread may not be what you would consider for lunch, but for some people — young college students and the homeless — it is an option, according to CNN Health. Eating moldy foods, including bread, can be dangerous because you could be eating mycotoxins, or fungal poisons.

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Why Is Your Urine Clear When You Drink Alcohol?

Alcohol itself does not directly affect the color of your urine. The color, whether it’s dark or clear, depends on how hydrated or dehydrated your body is. Drinking alcohol may cause you to urinate more frequently, especially if you’ve consumed a large amount, since it is a diuretic, according to Mayo Clinic.

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Close-up of a piece of broccoli and a fork

Broccoli & Indigestion

Foods such as broccoli can cause indigestion or make indigestion become worse. Broccoli can cause gas, bloating and belching. Broccoli contains many nutrients such as vitamins A and C, as well as calcium, iron and protein. One cup of broccoli contains approximately 6 grams of carbohydrates.

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