General Nutrition

Locally-grown goodies await you at farmers' markets across the country. While you're picking up staples like green beans, tomatoes and strawberries, consider trying other nutritious, farm-fresh fare thats new to you.

It can seem overwhelming to lose weight or get fit, but it doesn't have to be. How you approach behavior changes to help you reach your health and wellness goals can make a big difference. A key is to gradually change your habits.

It's a bit of a taboo topic, but regular elimination of poo is a basic human necessity. Constipation can result in abdominal discomfort, bloating, hard stools, straining and hemorrhoids. Some people may turn to fiber supplements for help. That shouldnt be your initial approach though. Fiber supplements don't provide the good nutrition of fiber-containing plant foods important for overall health.

A chief consideration in safety of cutting boards is how easy they are to clean. Cutting boards made of a nonporous material, such as plastic or tempered glass, can be easily washed in the dishwasher. Those made of solid, hard wood with a tight grain (such as maple) might do OK in the dishwasher but over time that may encourage cracking and splitting.

Pine nuts are edible seeds of certain species of pine trees and are used in a variety of foods including Italian pesto sauce and pignoli cookies. Pine nuts (gymnosperms) are evolutionarily separated from flowering plants (angiosperms) to which all other nuts belong (peanut and tree nuts such as, walnut, hazelnut, cashew and pistachio).

Think a claim like "low sodium" or "low fat" means a food is healthy? Not necessarily. Scientists looked at more than 80 million food and beverage purchases over a four-year period made by more than 40,000 US households.

One in three US adults has prediabetes. Delaying or preventing progression to type 2 diabetes through dietary and lifestyle changes could help keep money in your pocket (and protect your health), finds a study published in Population Health Management.

Theres no need to shun the sugars in whole fruits. In a study of 4,908 Australians, those with dietary patterns characterized by higher intakes of fruit were 12% less likely to be obese than those with lower fruit intakes. But, people who had a diet higher in sugary soft drinks and chocolate were about 9% more likely to be obese.

Dislike healthy foods like legumes (beans)? Maybe you just haven't eaten them enough. "A primary factor that determines whether people like a food or not is their previous exposure to the food - in other words, if it's a regular part of their diet," says Megan McCrory, PhD, a clinical associate professor of nutrition at Boston University and senior author of a new study on the topic in the journal Foods.

Each carrot type will have varied health effects because of these colored compounds. A healthy dietary pattern contains a variety of fruits and vegetables, which carrots of multiple colors can be a part of.