A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of the Sciences has revealed that females have a younger metabolic brain than males on average. The study looked at PET scan images of over 200 normal adults aged 20 to 82 years of age. A decline in brain metabolism is part of the normal aging process in humans, however, the rate of this decline varies from individual to individual due to several factors. It seems from this study that sex is one of these biggest factors. An algorithm was applied to the data to calculate the metabolic brain age of all the participants and compared that result with the individuals actual age. Overall, the typical female brain was more youthful by several years than that of their male counterparts, regardless of actual age. The reasons behind this observation is not yet clear so more studies on a larger scale would be needed to further understand this phenomenon. One suspected reason is that females show heightened brain glycolysis,...

Do you take any multivitamins or dietary supplements? If so, you are among the three quarters of Americans who do and the growing number in the rest of the world. The supplement industry is estimated to be worth $40 billion in the US alone. Although so many people are routinely taking these supplements, they are not really regulated. In fact, the last major legislation regulating supplements in the US was nearly 25 years ago with the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA). This Act essentially formally defined a dietary supplement, required ingredients to be listed and for a disclaimer to be present that the FDA had not evaluated any claims of the product. Unfortunately, not all supplements and vitamins are as they seem. They could contain less (or more) than what they claim or even include harmful ingredients or contaminants. I recommend checking out Labdoor.com to find out which supplements are actually what they claim. Labdoor tests a bunch of products at a ...

This recipe is one of my favorites and it can be modified to add more or less spice or swap out the pasta for zoodles! Serves 4-6 ~30 min Ingredients: 1 pound linguine pasta (you can swap the pasta for zoodles - spiralized zucchinis. One zucchini equates to about one serving) 1 pound shrimp 1 pound andouille sausage sliced or similar sausage  1/2 cup chicken stock or broth 1/2 cup heavy cream 1/2 yellow onion diced 1/2 green bell pepper diced 3 Tbsp cajun seasoning - we usually have Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning on hand 2 cloves garlic minced 4 Tbsp butter red pepper flakes to taste Directions:  Boil a large pot of water and cook the linguine al dente. (*side note - have you ever tried throwing a piece of pasta at the cabinets to see if it sticks? Supposedly it's done if it sticks). If you want to use only one pot, drain the pasta and set aside. Otherwise, get another pot and begin cooking the other stuff. If you are using zoodles, cook them in a pan...

I've come to love guacamole and it's an easy way for me to get healthy fats more often. I used to hate it, but it was because the kinds I had tried previously were chunky or the recipes weren't quite right. I still don't really like sliced avocado because of the texture, but love this guacamole since it's mashed up completely and mixed with other tasty things like jalapeños and cilantro! Without further ado, here's the recipe we usually stick with: 3 avocados mashed - it's much easier when you let the avocados ripen and get softer before making the guac. I use a potato masher. 2 small jalapeños seeded and diced - you can add more or less to your taste, but we like it with more of a kick. For a different kick, try 1/2 a poblano pepper instead! 1/4 cup cilantro finely chopped - again, you can add more or less to your taste but we love cilantro! 2 roma tomatoes diced 1/2 red onion 1 juiced lime 1 clove garlic minced pinch of salt Mix it all up ...

Popular health journal, The Lancet,  has launched a commission and lengthy report calling out obesity, undernutrition and climate change as creating a global syndemic (think pandemic, but multiple large-scale risks all occurring at the same time).  Obesity and undernutrition will be the focus of this post. It may seem odd that two seemingly opposites are such large problems. We may think that obesity is associated with developed countries and undernutrition with developing countries, but both are really affecting the whole world. Someone can be obese while also being malnourished if they are not consuming nutrient dense foods. In fact, obesity is estimated to affect over 2 billion people world wide. That's over a quarter of the entire global population. Furthermore, obesity and it's affects are the 3 out of 4 leading causes of non-communicable diseases around the world. (1) All of this is nothing new and groups and governments have tried and failed to address these iss...