All of these things can lead to serious deficiencies of certain essential vitamins and minerals that you need to stay healthy, including iron, calcium, vitamin B12, folate, and vitamin D. Here’s why these vitamins and minerals are so important to maintain optimal health — and what you can do about any deficiency. 1. Iron Deficiency Can Leave You Tired and Dizzy Iron deficiency can happen to people with Crohn’s because of blood lost through bowel movements or because inflammation makes it hard to absorb the nutrient....

Using insulin can lead to extra pounds for several reasons, explains Don McClain, MD, PhD, a professor of internal medicine, endocrinology, and metabolism and director of the Center on Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. At first, the insulin may reverse your body’s inability to use glucose from food for energy. As you become rehydrated and regain the ability to build muscle and start to store calories that used to spill out in the urine, you may “bounce back to the weight you were before the illness — or even more,” Dr....

“My mind’s response was to numb itself to these feelings by emotionally shutting down,” he says. For others, such as lawyer Dan Lukasik of Buffalo, New York, and business owner Loralee Hutton of Vancouver, British Columbia, it was a relief. “I finally had a medical diagnosis for what was wrong with me,” Lukasik says. “It wasn’t just ‘in my head.’ I needed medical attention and medication.” Unfortunately, many people neglect to face depression head on and seek help, or they make decisions when they’re first diagnosed that they later regret....

To make it easier for you, we did the research to find the best online therapy platforms to fit your budget. Engaged in ongoing independent researchMystery shopped each of the brandsContacted the brands’ customer service teams to ask questions and gauge responsivenessBecame customers of online therapy providers ourselvesReviewed academic research into the efficacy of online therapy versus in-person therapyRead hundreds of verified customer reviews from trusted third parties such as the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and Trustpilot...

The root vegetable is higher in fiber than its tuberous cousin. Fiber cannot be digested by the human body, so it provides bulk without adding calories and helps you feel full for longer. “Sweet potatoes have many health benefits,” notes Sylvia White, RD, CDCES, a certified diabetes care and education specialist in private practice in Nashville. “They are anti-inflammatory and have antioxidants that help prevent diseases. This includes heart disease, the number one cause of death in people with diabetes....

Depression relapse or recurrence is common, although these two terms aren’t the same thing. First, it’s helpful to know how recovery is defined: It’s when you’ve been free of depression symptoms (in remission) for at least four months. In clinical terms, a relapse is when depression returns after you’ve reached remission but before you’ve reached recovery. A recurrence is a new episode of depression after a recovery. Whether it’s a relapse or a recurrence, about half of people who’ve had one episode of major depression go on to have another, says Deborah Serani, PsyD, a psychologist in Smithtown, New York, and author of the book Living with Depression....

Part of the trouble in setting the record straight on this humble bean has to do with the unique challenges of researching it. Certain variables in soy studies can dramatically affect their results, according to the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Soy’s plant estrogens, which are known as isoflavones, and soy proteins may function differently, depending on the state of people’s hormones, the type of food consumed, and whether the studies are conducted on animals or humans....

“Better pricing options may exist for those products that use less labor and energy to get to the grocery store shelf,” says Scott Brown, PhD, an associate extension professor at the University of Missouri’s College of Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources in Columbia. Encouragingly, he also expects the growth in the CPI for food to slow by late fall this year. Until then, try these grocery trade-offs that will benefit your body as much as your bank account (prices may vary by region and change at any time)....

With Darren Barnes, the Director of Fitness for MS Fitness Challenge, I have developed what we call the NaturalBody HD Training System: H=Hypertrophic (building muscle)D=Definition (losing fat) We created this exercise method through a trial-and-error process of working out together as I trained to overcome MS. Over the past eight years, we have adapted it for all types of disabilities or challenges people face in the gym or at home in trying to get fit....

A Primer on Type 2 Diabetes Type 2 diabetes is a disease in which the body can’t effectively use the hormone insulin to transport blood sugar (glucose) to cells and muscles for energy. This phenomenon, known as insulin resistance, causes glucose to pile up in the blood at unhealthy levels, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). Of the more than 34 million Americans with diabetes (about 1 in 10), about 90 to 95 percent have type 2 diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)....

Across Everyday Health and its businesses, digital accessibility is a core priority for us throughout our design and development phases. Our improvements include the addition of alt-text, navigation by keyboard and screen reader technology, closed captioning, color contrast and zoom features, as well as an accessibility statement on each site with contact information so that users can alert us to any difficulties they have accessing our content. To have the best user experience, we recommend utilizing the latest available versions of web browsers and assistive technology....

For the study, researchers examined government data on more than 31 million U.S. cancer cases between 2001 and 2018, as well as national survey data on screening and vaccination for cervical cancer. During the study period, a total of 29,715 patients were diagnosed with advanced cervical cancer, according to study results published in the International Journal of Gynecological Cancer. Diagnosis of advanced cervical cancer increased by 1.3 percent annually during this time frame, even as diagnosis of early-stage cases declined by 1....

As media reports began to emerge in 2017 that a small number of women with the same implants had developed a rare cancer of the immune system, Bailey went in for testing. She did not have the cancer, but she did have a buildup of fluid and enlarged lymph nodes. So she went under the knife again, this time enduring a four-and-a-half-hour-long surgery to have the implants removed. Last week, Allergan announced it is voluntarily recalling those textured breast implants under pressure from the U....

Herbal cigarettes are sometimes touted as a safe, non-addictive alternative to tobacco smoking. After all, herbal cigarettes contain no tobacco and therefore no nicotine, the drug in cigarettes that causes people to become addicted. Many people even smoke herbal cigarettes as an aid to stop smoking regular cigarettes. The Dangers of Smoking Herbal Cigarettes In fact, herbal cigarettes are as harmful as tobacco cigarettes, because any vegetable matter that’s burned produces tar, carbon monoxide, and other toxins....

But does the research on ashwagandha live up to the hype? Here’s a look at some of the most common claims about the plant and what the science shows so far. What Is Ashwagandha? Ashwagandha, also known as Withania somnifera, winter cherry, and Indian ginseng, is a shrub that grows in India, the Middle East, and areas of Africa. The plant, including its roots and berries, has been used for thousands of years in Ayurveda, India’s system of traditional medicine, but its popularity has recently spiked in the U....

Dr. Schleeter’s Philosophy I believe that my primary job as a physician is to make every interaction with a patient helpful and meaningful to them. If you’re giving me the honor of being your physician, then I need to do everything in my power to partner with you so that you can be as healthy as possible. Rather than be discouraged by that reality, I find it motivating. It means we really need to work on the things that we can fix....

Rule number one: Don’t push through the pain. “Pain should be respected and unchallenged,” says John Indalecio, MOTR/L, CHT, an occupational therapist who specializes in hand therapy at Orthopedic ONE in Columbus, Ohio. A better choice is to use RA-friendly tools and gadgets to do the work for you, which eases strain on your joints. Specific products have received the Arthritis Foundation’s Ease of Use Commendation — which means they have been tested and approved for people with arthritis....

The study detailed case reports for 21 children and teens hospitalized in Paris with some symptoms of Kawasaki disease over a two-week period. Most of these youth had signs of a recent COVID-19 infection, and it’s possible they were experiencing a delayed immune response to the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, the study team wrote. Most patients developed what’s known as myocarditis, a condition caused by inflammation of the heart muscle that makes it harder for the heart to pump blood and can cause a rapid or abnormal heartbeat....

Body-weight exercises are great for boosting your fitness, metabolism, and endurance, according to the Mayo Clinic. And an article published in the American College of Sports Medicine’s Health and Fitness Journal found that using only body-weight moves during high-intensity circuit training is an efficient way to decrease body fat, improve insulin sensitivity, and improve maximal aerobic capacity (VO2 max) and muscular fitness. A small study published in Physiology & Behavior in October 2016 confirmed that muscle growth can happen even if external resistance isn’t applied....

I’m not afraid of wildfires encroaching on where my family and I live, down in the Sacramento Valley: We don’t have the forests that serve as fuel. But for almost two months now we’ve contended with unending smoke, which can be so dense and thick that, for days on end, we’re unable to go for a short walk in the park or open our windows. The unhealthy levels of particulate matter have became a menace both to body and mind....