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.

Cheese platter

Can Calcium Be Absorbed Without Magnesium?

Your body can absorb calcium without magnesium. But these two minerals work together in your body to maintain fluid balance and transmit messages between nerves and muscles.

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Assortment of healthy protein source and body building food

Iron Supplement Alternatives

The body needs iron for the production of hemoglobin -- the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. Without sufficient iron intake, the level of hemoglobin drops, leading to a decrease in the number of functioning red blood cells and a condition known as iron-deficiency anemia.

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Salt shaker

Does Sodium Make You Stay Awake?

The human body needs sodium in order to function, making it one of the essential minerals. Sodium supports muscle contraction and nerve function, keeps the heart beating rhythmically and helps balance the amount of fluid in the body.

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The Effect of Calcium on the Liver

Calcium is the most abundant mineral in your body. Although the bones contain 99 percent of the calcium, the remaining 1 percent in the blood must remain within a very narrow concentration range to support vital physiological functions.

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Fluoxetine and Caffeine

Fluoxetine, a prescription medication, affects the chemical balance in the brain. Caffeine can interact with fluoxetine, causing similar side effects and increasing the risk of seizures when taken in excess.

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Hands holding orange half

Does Vitamin C Help You Stay Awake?

Today’s world requires you maintain a constant energy level. Between juggling work, family, fitness and health you cannot afford to feel tired. Many foods and beverages advertise they help you stay awake, but they fill you full of sugar and caffeine.

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Bread from rye

Can Being Gluten Intolerant Make You Gain Weight?

Gluten intolerance describes a condition that occurs when the body mistakenly attacks the cells lining the small intestine in response to gluten, the protein found in wheat, rye and barley. Doctors refer to gluten intolerance as celiac disease or celiac sprue.

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Does Trans Fat Leave the Body?

Before the 1990s, doctors and public health officials warned against consuming saturated fats, prompting food establishments to switch from lard, an animal fat, to new partially hydrogenated oil products made from vegetable oil.

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Measuring blood sugar

Iron Deficiency & High Cholesterol

Your body needs iron for the production of hemoglobin, the specialized protein that gives red blood cells their red color. Hemoglobin carries oxygen in the blood, making it vital to the function of all cells.

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Group of white pills

Excedrin & Caffeine

Excedrin is an over-the-counter medication marketed by the pharmaceutical company Navartis as a pain reliever. Although originally formulated to treat headache pain, Excedrin now includes a family of medications to target other types of pain.

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Organic Hard Boiled Eggs

Eggs & Triglycerides

Since the inception of the National Cholesterol Education Program in 1985, Americans have become more aware of the effects of high blood cholesterol on overall health. Doctors and scientists initially believed that eating foods high in dietary cholesterol, like eggs, caused high blood cholesterol levels.

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Almonds

Phytic Acid in Almonds

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Pyramid recommends you include nuts as a source of protein in your diet. Almonds, classified as a tree nut, contain many vital nutrients, which has fueled the craze for almond food products such as almond milk and almond butter.

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Cholesterol test

What Are the Three Types of Lipids?

Lipids are a group of biological molecules that all share two distinct characteristics: they are insoluble in water, and they are rich in energy due to the number of carbon-hydrogen bonds.

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Salmon, spices and condiments

Vitamin B12 & Salmon

The American Heart Association recommends eating two 3.5 oz. servings of fatty fish, such as salmon, per week to ensure adequate intake of omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids play a vital role in brain functions and may help to reduce the risk of chronic diseases, such as heart disease.

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Various nuts in hands

What Is the Correct Serving Size for Nuts?

Most nuts belong to the family of tree nuts with the exception of peanuts, which botanists classify as legumes – defined as the fruit of a plant that grows as a pod that splits into two halves.

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High-Fiber Cereal for Kids

Children choose cereal based on the latest television advertisement or the cute yet useless toy that comes in the box. As a parent, you want them to eat a cereal that offers vitamins and minerals and sends them off on their day feeling full.

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close-up of a young woman brushing her teeth

Common Uses of Sodium Fluoride

Sodium fluoride is a chemical that consists of a combination of positively charged sodium ions and negatively charged fluoride ions. It exists as a white powder that easily dissolves in water.

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Vitamins Not to Mix With Calcium

Calcium performs many vital functions in the body. The majority of calcium can be found in your bones and teeth making them strong, but calcium also carries messages between the nerves and the brain, helps muscles move, aids in the flow of blood and releases hormones and enzymes.

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