There's a lot of confusing messaging when it comes to health, nutrition, and weight loss . Imagine my surprise when I read that several foods listed under the headline 30 Foods Never to Eat After Age 30 were also in a story called 10 Foods to Boost Libido. As a thirtysomething woman, I really wondered if the wellness industry was trying to tell me something.

(Whatever it is, you can tell it to my medicine cabinet full of antiaging skin-care products and my armoire of sex toys . Yes, I have a literal armoire. Who needs a list of libido boosters anyway?)

With all the conflicting information floating around the Internet, its no wonder we have so much confusion about what we should eat, how much of it, and how to stay healthyand why we're convinced that some foods are good, some are bad, and some you absolutely shouldnt eat.

The easy answer is that you shouldnt eat raw chicken , anything that you have a diagnosed allergy to, and any overpriced magical brew claiming it will detox you . Other than that, if you want to know how and what to eat for health, you can learn about the basics and figure out from there what works for you.

In the scientific sense, a calorie is the unit of energy needed to raise 1 gram of water 1 degree Celsius. When you think of calories, think of them like that: as energy. The stuff that keeps you going. Dont overfill your tank and flood the engine, but youre going to have a lot of problems trying to run on empty.

Calories come from three main macronutrients: protein, carbohydrates, and fats. Everything you eat is some combination of macronutrients (except maybe mushroomsand whatever Gwyneth Paltrow lives on). They all have uses in the body in appropriate amounts, even cholesterol , which is a type of fat, and sugar, which is a carbohydrate. Each macronutrient can be used as an energy source, and technically each produces the same unit of energy per calorie. That being said

The macronutrients all have very different chemical structures and complex sets of jobs in your body. Let's take a look at each one.

At 4 calories per gram, we generally think of carbohydrates mainly as a source of energy, and thats pretty accurate. Theyve gotten a bad rep in the last few decades or so, but your brain lives on sugar . Remember eating Cocoa Pebbles before big exams? Fine, maybe that was just me, but it actually was based on sound science. If youre active, carbs are a great source of energy. The "problem" with carbs, which isn't actually a problem, but rather just a question of math, is that when you're not active, or you eat way more simple carbohydrates than your body can use for energy, it gets stored as fat. And the truth is, yeah, a lot of us eat a lot more carbs than our bodies need.

You also may have read recently that sugar is as addictive as cocaine, which sounds bad, but actually isn't the case. While the lure of sugar can be strong for some people, current science just doesnt seem to support that headline-friendly notion. Really, when was the last time someone sold their possessions for a cronut? A 2014 study from the University of Edinburgh found that people could show addiction-type patterns around eating, but that sugar and fat themselves did not promote addictive behavior. So enjoy carbohydrates in the right amount for your activity level.

Fat has multiple uses in the body. Its used in cell wall repair, hormone regulation, and storage of fat-soluble vitamins. An extreme lowfat diet can impede any one of these. The reason why fat gets a bad reputation is that it packs 9 calories per gram, and a lot of high-fat foods are not extremely nutrient-dense. You dont need to be scared of bacon (because bacon), but moderation is key when it comes to keeping your caloric intake from fatty foods in line with what your body needs for fuel.

And speaking of bacon, lets talk protein, that thing were never quite sure if were getting enough of but are strangely lured in by if we see the number of grams of it on a label. Protein is responsible for a lot of the little repairs your body needs done on a daily basis and, of course, building muscle. Like carbohydrates, protein has 4 calories per gram. But unlike carbs, a huge advantage of protein is that its the best macronutrient for satiety, according to a meta-analysis from a 2016 study from Purdue University. A lot of people worry about getting enough protein , but all reports show that youre getting plenty of it just by eating a varied diet. Dont be dragged in by the labels that say added protein unless youre trying to grow biceps on your biceps.

Yes , but your body can also convert protein and fat into sugar. When needed, there are pathways for each calorie source to be converted to a usable form of fuel. Conversely, every calorie source can be converted and stored as fat if you have an excess of calories in your system. Busting a related myth, you do not convert fat into muscle when you lose weight. You can lose fat and gain muscle simultaneously giving the impression that this happens, but fat deposits cannot be converted directly into muscles.

It really depends on your caloric needs, but in general terms foods that we consider healthy tend to have a high ratio of micronutrients (i.e., vitamins and minerals) per calorie. Vegetables, lean meats, fruits, berries, whole grains, and lentils are all examples of foods that easily meet this criteria.

Theres no morality with food or calories. The food simply is, and its up to you to make intelligent choices with the food and your health and once in a while, with your taste buds, because godammit, cronuts exist. Moderation, but get the veggies first!

A lot of that comes down to personal preference. Nobody is great at tracking calories not even registered dietitians because we all tend to incorrectly estimate our intake. So how do we manage this? Find what works for you. Long term, theres no advantage to a low-carb diet versus a lowfat diet for weight loss, because both work the same way: by inducing a caloric deficit. For every story like Supersize Me , theres a guy who loses 56 pounds eating nothing but McDonald's while meticulously counting calories. Every diet plan will work if you stick to it because, no matter what, diets work by inducing a caloric deficit. Truly, the best diet plan is one that you can stick to. (Not that sticking to a diet is an easy featit isn't, and dieting can be a complicated journey. But that's another story.)

Fruits and vegetables are mainly carbohydrate, fiber, and water. Lentils are protein and carbs. Meats are protein and fat. And processed foods, well, read the labels and find out. But theres nothing intrinsically wrong with any of them, not even candy. Theyre all just combinations of calories. If you want to enjoy something thats a dense source of calories, enjoy it. If youre trying to lose or maintain your weight, just keep track of it. And never let an online list tell you that there are caloriesor anythingthat youre too old to enjoy.

Yvette d'Entremont holds a B.S. in chemistry,B.A. in theatre,and a master's degreein forensic science with a concentration in biological criminalistics. She worked for eight years asananalytical chemist before her blog focused on debunking bad science, scibabe.com , turned into a full-time job in science communications. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook .

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Are All Calories the Same? - SELF

E. Martin Maida, MD, an MDVIP-affiliated internist in Livingston, has been named a Top Doctor in Livingston, New Jersey. Dr. Maida is an attending physician at RWJ Barnabas Health Center. Top Doctor Awards is dedicated to selecting and honoring those healthcare practitioners who have demonstrated clinical excellence while delivering the highest standards of patient care.

Dr. E. Martin Maida is a highly experienced internist, having been in practice for nearly three decades. His long and successful medical career began in 1985, when he graduated from the School of Medicine and Surgery at the University of Torino, Italy. He completed an internship, residency and served as chief resident at Saint Barnabas Medical Center, where he has attending privileges

With his wealth of experience as an internist to call upon, Dr. Maida diagnosis and treats a wide range of conditions for patients ages 18 to 100+. He is certified in bariatric medicine, helping patients lose weight and improve their overall health. He is also certified in the Bale Doneen method of cardiovascular prevention as well as anti-aging medicine including the use of bioidentical hormone replacement therapy. Dr. Maida also continues to practice what he advocates, as a long time practitioner of the martial arts (7th degree black belt), that exercise is crucial to overall well being.

As an MDVIP physician, Dr. Maidas practice focuses on wellness and prevention and is noted for its patient centric approach, finding tailored solutions for each individual patient. As the Director of the Livingston location of the Center for Medical Weight Loss, he offers medically supervised weight loss programs as an adjunct in the goal to maintain health and wellness for his patients. Just recently, Dr. Maida became certified in the technique of CoolSculpting, an FDA approved fat loss technique that requires no down time.

About Top Doctor Awards

Top Doctor Awards specializes in recognizing and commemorating the achievements of todays most influential and respected doctors in medicine. Our selection process considers education, research contributions, patient reviews, and other quality measures to identify top doctors.

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Respected Internist, E. Martin Maida, MD, is to be Recognized as a 2017 Top Doctor in Livingston, New Jersey - PR NewsChannel (press release)

Posted on June 13, 2017, 6 a.m. in Women's Health Botanical Agents Sleep

Study confirms the benefits of fennel in reducing postmenopause symptoms such as sleeplessness, hot flashses, vaginal dryness, and anxiety.

A recent study has confirmed that fennel helps minimize postmenopause symptoms. This herbal medicine is rapidly growing in popularity as it has helpedcountless women across the globe manage their postmenopause symptoms. Women love the fact that fennel doesnot have any serious side effects.

About Fennel

Fennel is an herb commonly used in cooking. It has an anise flavor that is quite pleasing to the palate. The herb has long been valued for providing an array of health benefits for all sorts of issues ranging from digestion problems to premenstrual symptoms. Fennel has essential oils and phytoestrogenic properties. Similar to estrogen-like chemicals found in plants, phytoestrogens are used to successfully treat myriad menopause symptoms.

The New Study

The study referenced above confirms fennel is quite effective in managing postmenopause symptoms like anxiety, sleeplessness, hot flashes, irritability, depression, joint discomfort and vaginal dryness. The study results were recently published in The North American Menopause Society (NAMS) online journal Menopause.

Women have made use of alternative and complementary medicine for menopause symptom management across the past decade-plus. There has been a steady movement away from hormone therapy (HT) as it has its fair share of side effects. Though HT is a highly effective means of treating the majority of menopause symptoms, women are turning to herbal medicine in droves. Some are not candidates for HT while others are fearful of the side effects.

The study was conducted in Tehran, Iran. Women who live in Tehran reach menopause at a younger age (48.2 years) than women who reside in the United States (51 years). Soft capsules with 100 mg of fennel were provided to Iranian women between the ages of 45 and 60. The capsules were consumed two times per day over an 8-week period. The study was comprised of 79 women, some of whom were in a placebo group.

The intervention and placebo groups were compared at the following intervals: four, eight and 10 weeks. A major statistical difference was noted. Fennel proved to be an effective and safe means of decreasing menopause symptoms without inducing major side effects. This is one of the first clinical studies to determine if the benefits of fennel for the management of menopause symptoms had merit. Fennel was previously studied to determine if it was effective in managing premenopause symptoms. It was determined that fennel helped in managing these symptoms.

The Findings

The study determined that consuming fennel two times per day alleviated the severity of menopause symptoms. The placebo had minimum effect. It is still necessary to conduct a longer and larger randomized study yet these findings make it clear that fennel is quite effective for reducing postmenopausal symptoms.

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Fennel Reduces Postmenopause Symptoms - Anti Aging News

According to Greek mythology, when you consume ambrosia, the blood running through your veins is replaced with ichor, a golden fluid. Ambrosia, consumed only by gods and goddesses, grants immortality.

Ambrosia is also the name of a startup that aims to combat aging. Rather than golden fluid flowing through the veins of gods, the company's product is the blood of the young actual blood, donated by adults up to age 25 which it will inject in customers 35 and older who have $8,000 to spare.

The question remains: Do young blood injections actually work? Are we just a needle prick away from sweet, fresh-faced longevity?

"I know what you're thinking," said Ambrosia founder Jesse Karmazin in an interview. "Is it all just, like, Silicon Valley tech people?"

It's true: Silicon Valley has a fascination with immortality. Investors have poured billions into longevity research and startups. Venture capitalist Peter Thiel, the billionaire Facebook board member and adviser to Trump, has invested millions into anti-aging medicine. Ambrosia hasn't raised any capital yet, and Karmazin told me that the company has no affiliation with Thiel.

Actually, Karmazin said, Ambrosia's client base is "a real mix of different types of people."

Karmazin said that it's mostly Americans currently undergoing the treatment, with slightly more men than women. He said the company has treated doctors, lawyers, biotech CEOs, someone with a theater background and other individuals from a variety of different industries.

A quote from Jesse Karmazin

Ambrosia currently has two clinics, one in Florida and one in San Francisco. "The treatment is large: It's two liters, which is a pretty significant amount of blood. It's like four pints if you use the American measuring system."

Still, for $8,000 a pop, blood injections are meant for customers who tend to have a little more disposable income. Ambrosia may not be affordable for everyone, but the pricing is reportedly at cost for now; Ambrosia isn't making any money from it yet.

The company gets its spritely plasma from blood donors. It buys blood from blood banks, an industry Karmazin noted is both heavily regulated and expensive.

Karmazin said that the company has both subjective and objective evidence that its treatment is conclusive. He mentioned clients who looked younger after the treatment, as well as people having more energy, sleeping better and feeling stronger. He also noted that people have had "dramatic improvements in Alzheimer's disease."

From an objective standpoint, Karmazin said the Ambrosia treatment can improve cholesterol, amyloid levels plaques in the brain and cancer risk.

"I want to be clear, at this point, it works," Karmazin said. "It reverses aging. We're pretty clear at this point. This is conclusive. We are probably done with the clinical trial. It worked so well, we're going to start treating people. We're pretty amazed with this. Yeah, no, it works, there's really no question whether it works or not."

"I want to be clear, at this point, it works," Karmazin said. "It reverses aging. We're pretty clear at this point. This is conclusive. There's really no question."

But the lack of science casts doubt on Karmazin's confidence.

Evidence on the Ambrosia website includes a handful of links to both human clinical trials and mouse experimental studies. Of the six total human clinical trials included, one is sponsored by Ambrosia. The study was first received in June of 2016. The longest trial dates back to September 2014. The trials aren't yet completed. Some of then haven't even started enrolling yet. And they're small one has just 18 people. Phuoc V. Le, an assistant professor in the school of Public Health at University of California Berkeley and associate professor of Internal Medicine at UC San Francisco School of Medicine, said a clinical trial of this size is "minuscule" and just a first step to make sure there aren't any adverse reactions.

"Something like this needs to have large clinical trials for years before they can make claims as hefty as what they're making," Le told Mic. He added that "this is years and years away" and that that is something consumers need to be aware of. "This is an unproven remedy."

A quote from Phuoc V. Le

Nir Barzilai, a professor of endocrinology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the director of Einstein's Institute for Aging Research, also agreed that Ambrosia's treatment can't be called conclusive just yet.

There would have to be clinical trials where some elderly participants receive infusions of something else rather than the blood from younger people because the placebo effect in such trials is high, he said.

Derek Huffman, assistant professor of molecular pharmacology and medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, said in an email that the willingness to treat individuals with transfusions for aging at this point is, in his view, "a distortion of the studies it is based on, and an example of an idea getting too far ahead of the science." He added that "this is not to say that this burgeoning area of science is not promising, and that related strategies will not one day come to fruition to successfully target aging, but they will require a much more targeted and fine-tuned approach than is being suggested here.

Le noted that for vulnerable populations, such as people suffering from stroke or early-onset Alzheimer's or dementia, they can't and don't want to wait, so it's dangerous for Ambrosia to make promises of reversal or amelioration of their conditions that are inconclusive, and at a considerable cost.

"For example, if I had early-onset dementia and I lived in Palo Alto and I'm a retiree and I'm living off of social security but I saved up $8,000, and I've seen my parents die of dementia, and saw how bad it was, I might consider spending essentially my savings on something that is unproven," Le said. "Although they are selling it as, not a cure-all, but potentially life-altering and so I worry that it's clearly not coercion but I worry that that people will fall into this trap of spending big bucks and not getting approving benefits."

It's also important to consider the ethical implications of companies like Ambrosia. As Karmazin mentioned, the company gets it plasma by purchasing blood from blood banks. If this type of treatment were to scale up, and companies had millions of people using it, the demand for young blood would be astronomical.

"Could we see a day when young people are selling their blood on the open market for companies like Ambrosia?" Le hypothesized. "And then what do we do in terms of balancing the public good? Meaning, if I were a patient in a hospital and I required plasma because I have a really bad medical condition, but maybe the Red Cross can't get any, because people would rather sell their blood to a company than to donate their blood because it's a limited public good."

Le compared this commodification of blood to the organ black markets in developing countries, noting how this can disproportionately coerce and hurt the poor while benefiting the wealthy. Someone can donate their kidney to a rich person and, as he noted, the type of individual to do this is someone extremely impoverished.

If large clinical trials do bear out, great. But Le believes there could be more benefits yielded from that type of research than just an outpatient elective treatment like Ambrosia. He said that we should f
igure out what is in plasma that actually confers the benefits, and potentially try and isolate that.

Le said that perhaps medical experts can make plasma synthetically, from animals or in a way that doesn't commodify a public good like blood. That way, it "can provide benefit not just to the rich or to the extremely desperate but also make it available equally to all people."

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Inside Ambrosia: Could infusions of millennial blood make you young again? Scientists have doubts. - Mic

Theres no better place to confess indulging in weird or off-the-wall beauty treatments than in the presence of Gwyneth Paltrow at the Goop Health Summit. Miranda Kerr did just that over the weekend when she sat on a star-studded panel of beauty and lifestyle expertsincluding Cameron Diaz, Nicole Richie, Tory Burch and Paltrow herselfand spoke about her experience with leech therapy.

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Ive had a leech facial, said Kerr. I kept the leeches, theyre in my koi pond. Youre not allowed to reuse them, and if you dont take them home, then she kills them, and I didnt like that idea. The model and KORA Organics beauty brand owner also admitted to using leech therapy on her tailbone.

Surprisingly enough, Paltrow, the queen ofbizarre beauty treatments(including bee sting treatments and vaginal steaming) confessed that even she hadnt tried leeches yet. Wow! I thought I was batscrazy!, she said.

So whats so special about leeches? Although the Food and Drug Administration approved them as medical devices in 2004, their primary use in medicine has been in reconstructive surgery and microsurgery to help severed veins regain blood flow. Leech therapy has been around for a very long time, but the use of leeches as an anti-aging treatment is a rather recent, celebrity-driven trend (Demi Moore and The Real Housewives of Orange Countys Heather Dubrow are also fans). The idea is that when leeches bite their prey, they feed on the blood while simultaneously injecting numerous substances with a variety of bioactive peptides.

We asked Greenwich, CT, dermatologist Lynne Haven, MD, if leech facials are effective and if they can really make a difference for your skin. According to Dr. Haven, there are far better ways to anti-age than employing the use of blood sucking leeches. Historically, leeches have been used because they have an anticoagulant, so theyve been used for bloodletting, or to increase blood flow to a skin flap or graft, she says. If youre a normal, healthy person there is no medical reason to use a leech. And I think that leech facials dont make any sense.

If youre looking for the best anti-aging treatments, Dr. Haven says youre likely to achieve better results with some tried-and-true skin care services that dont involve slimy, blood sucking creatures: I would not recommend a leech facial, some people can have an allergic reaction to the anticoagulant they produce called hirudin. Theres really no proven benefit and we have so many proven techniques, therapies and topicals with science behind them, that theres really no reason to follow this fad. For overall anti-aging, I would prefer a fractionated laser, topical retinoids, antioxidants and other proven treatments that have been shown to really make a difference in lines and wrinkles.

Original post:
A Top Dermatologist Weighs in on Miranda Kerr's Leech Facial - NewBeauty Magazine (blog)

Demand for a form of traditional Chinese medicine is putting the donkey population at risk in South Africa and other parts of the continent.

In recent years, the market in ejiaoa product made from boiled-down donkey skins mixed with herbs and other ingredientshas grown massively in China, putting millions of donkeys at risk of slaughter or poaching.

In South Africa, poor farmers who rely on donkeys as beasts of burden and modes of transport have reported having their animals stolen, only to later find their skinless carcasses.

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South Africas Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has confiscated more than 1,000 donkey hides en route to China in the past year, chief inspect Mpho Mokoena told Voice of America (VOA). Mokoena fears that the growing trade in donkey skins could signal the extinction of the animal in South Africa. In two years there wont be [any] donkeys in South Africa, she told VOA.

Donkey skins dry in the sun at a licensed specialized slaughterhouse in Baringo, Kenya, on February 28. The trade in donkey skins is legal in some countries, but is putting donkey populations in parts of Africa at risk. TONY KARUMBA/AFP/Getty

The slaughter of donkeys and trade in their skins is on an upward trend in other parts of Africa, too. A January report by U.K.-based charity the Donkey Sanctuary found that demand for donkeys in Africa has risen so much that, in the West African country of Burkina Faso, the cost of a single animal almost doubled from 60 ($76) in 2014 to 108 ($137) in 2016.

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The global donkey population stands at around 44 million, the vast majority of which are working animals, but the Donkey Sanctuary report estimated that global demand for donkey skins is between 4-10 million, with at least 1.8 million donkey skins being traded per year.

Four African countriesBurkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Senegalhave banned donkey exports, as well as Pakistan. The consumption of donkey meat is also considered haram (forbidden) in Islam, meaning that the slaughter of donkeys in many countries with large Muslim populations is frowned upon.

Donkeys are under threat largely due to the rise in popularity of ejiao, according to the report. In China, some believe that ejiao has various health benefits, from anti-aging properties to boosting sex drive, and it is even marketed as a gynecological treatment that can reduce reproductive diseases in women. Demand is so high that ejiao can sell for up to 300 ($382) per kilogram, according to the Donkey Sanctuary report.

Traditional medicine in China and other parts of East Asia is associated with the decline of other animal populations and wildlife agencies have said that wild rhinoceros could be wiped out within a decade as a result of increased poaching. Rhino horn can sell for up to $60,000 per kilogrammore valuable by weight than gold or diamondsdue to myths that it can solve a wide range of medical ailments, including cancer and hangovers.

Tiger bones are also reputed to be a remedy for arthritis in traditional medicine, while ivory from elephant tusks is also used in some medications, as well as being prized for ornamental purposes in China.

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Chinese Medicine is Using Donkey Skins to Boost Libidoand Africa's Animals Are at Risk - Newsweek