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Common Pantry Staple Could Fight Deadly Disease Without Antibiotics, Study Suggests

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Cholera can quickly become life-threatening, but the best defense might be sitting in your pantry.

New research from UC Riverside in Southern California reveals that a high-protein diet can effectively “disarm” the bacteria, slash infection levels by 100-fold, and stop the disease in its tracks before it turns fatal.

Published in the journal Cell Host and Microbe, the study found that diets rich in casein, the main protein in milk and cheese, along with wheat gluten, could limit cholera bacteria in the gut.

Cholera is a bacterial disease spread through contaminated water and food, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The disease can cause severe diarrhea, dehydration and even death if it goes untreated.

The research team aimed to determine whether harmful bacteria would respond to dietary changes in the same way as other bacteria. (Read more from “Common Pantry Staple Could Fight Deadly Disease Without Antibiotics, Study Suggests” HERE)

A Unique Seed Has More Protein Than An Egg And Can Help You Sleep (But There’s A Catch)

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Protein plays a key role in many of your body’s functions, including building muscle, serving as chemical messengers, and producing antibodies that fight off infection. Although your protein needs vary according to your age, activity level, and weight, it’s best to spread your protein intake throughout the day rather than eating a ton of protein at night. You could start your day with eggs to help you feel a little more full until lunch and add some healthy high-protein snacks to keep your blood sugar from spiking.

Pumpkin seeds are a great snack option, and registered dietitian Angel Luk tells Health Digest that a serving of pumpkin seeds provides more protein than an egg. “In a quarter cup of pumpkin seeds, there’s about 10 grams of plant-based protein,” she said. “In one large egg, there’s about 7 grams of animal-based protein.” However, Luk noted that pumpkin seeds don’t have enough of the essential amino acids to be considered a “complete” protein. Yet pumpkin seeds surpass eggs in two nutrients that can help you sleep.

Luk says that an ounce of pumpkin seeds has 168 milligrams of magnesium compared to the 6 milligrams in a large egg. Magnesium may help improve the duration and quality of your sleep, according to a 2023 meta-analysis in Biological Trace Element Research. Observational studies (where people report their magnesium intake and sleep) suggest that magnesium is linked with sleep quality, but experimental studies using magnesium supplements have shown conflicting results on sleep disorders.

Even though pumpkin seeds don’t have all of the essential amino acids that an egg has, both pumpkin seeds and eggs have the amino acid tryptophan. Tryptophan helps your body make serotonin and melatonin, two neurotransmitters that contribute to better sleep. A 2020 review in Nutrients found that after eating tryptophan-rich foods, healthy adults slept longer, fell asleep more easily, and woke up fewer times throughout the night. When you’re depleted of tryptophan, you’ll spend less time in restorative sleep and experience more sleep disruptions. One egg provides 84 milligrams of tryptophan, but an ounce of pumpkin seeds has 163 milligrams per ounce. (Read more from “A Unique Seed Has More Protein Than An Egg And Can Help You Sleep (But There’s A Catch)” HERE)

Why Raw Food and Paleo Dieting May Be the New Eating Disorder

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Photo Credit: Daily Mail

Photo Credit: Daily Mail

Orthorexia nervosa, the ‘health food eating disorder’, gets its name from the Greek word ortho, meaning straight, proper or correct.

This exaggerated focus on food can be seen today in some people who follow lifestyle movements such as ‘raw’, ‘clean’ and ‘paleo’.

American doctor Steven Bratman coined the term ‘orthorexia nervosa’ in 1997 some time after his experience in a commune in upstate New York.

It was there he developed an unhealthy obsession with eating ‘proper’ food.

‘All I could think about was food,’ he said. ‘But even when I became aware that my scrabbling in the dirt after raw vegetables and wild plants had become an obsession, I found it terribly difficult to free myself. (Read more from “Why Raw Food and Paleo Dieting May Be the New Eating Disorder” HERE)

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New Year Diets Destined to Fail: Women Describing Themselves as ‘Fat’, ‘Heavy’ or ‘Chubby’ are Doomed Before They Begin

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The latest research has revealed that women are literally talking themselves fat with eight in ten women saying they believed a positive attitude was the key to losing weight but over half using self critical words when starting a diet.

The research revealed over two thirds of women use the word ‘fat’ to describe an area of their body although six in ten say it makes them feel more negative about themselves than more positive words such as ‘curvy’.

It seems many women also start off with a mindset destined for failure with only a third of women actually starting a diet believing they will lose weight and three quarters having daily negative thoughts about their body. However, over two thirds of women said when they have successfully lost weight in the past they recalled having a positive attitude and ‘talked themselves up’.

Self help author and life coach Janet Thomson, who specialises in weight loss, said: ‘When women are looking to lose weight they want to change something about themselves and of course are more likely to use words such as “fat” for this reason. ‘However what they don’t realise is this sort of negativity can become a self-fulfilling prophecy so it is important to channel positive feelings about themselves and their goals when trying to lose weight as it gives them a much better chance of success.’

According to the research, four in ten said they also talked more negatively about their body when they were with friends with a quarter admitting these open ‘flaw exposing’ coffee shop conversations bring them down. However four in ten women said they felt more motivated if a friend had lost weight or had a more positive attitude to their body.

Read more from this story HERE.

New Weight Loss Approach: Watch a Scary Movie!

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It’s the weight loss advice you never thought you’d hear: To burn as many calories as a 30-minute walk, sit on your sofa and watch a movie.

The catch? The movie has to be scary and the scarier it is the more calories you’re likely to use.

Scientists at the University of Westminster tested ten people as they watched a selection of classic horror films. They monitored the viewers’ heart rate, oxygen intake and carbon dioxide output to work out how much energy they were using.

The scientists found that on average the participants used up a third more calories watching the scary films than if they had been sitting in front of a blank screen.

Read more from this story HERE.