Why Is Greek Yogurt So Delicious?

What Is Greek Yogurt?

When you are shopping at a supermarket, there are several varieties of yogurt, including Greek yogurt. This type of yogurt is strained with filtering devices to remove the whey. This process leads to a thicker yogurt that still has a distinctive flavor. Some Greek yogurt manufacturers also add powdered milk, butterfat or other ingredients to this food to give it a thicker texture. A processing plant may boil milk to reduce its moisture content in order to make a thick variety of Greek yogurt. 

Greek Yogurt Contains Less Lactose and Sugar 

There are several additional benefits from Greek yogurt, including a reduction in its lactose. Many individuals are sensitive to lactose, leading to digestive problems or intestinal distress, so they are eager to buy a yogurt that contains less of this ingredient. The straining process will also reduce the yogurt’s sugar content, but some food manufacturers add sugar to certain types of Greek yogurt. 

You Can Use Greek Yogurt As a Substitute Ingredient

It is possible to use Greek yogurt as a substitute ingredient in some recipes that require sour cream. Some varieties of Greek yogurt have reduced amounts of fat, making it an excellent substitute when someone is on a diet. With its lower amount of lactose, anyone who is sensitive to this type of sugar is still able to prepare her favorite recipes. The removal of the whey from this type of yogurt leads to a richer consistency that you might enjoy, and food manufacturers typically add fruit or vanilla to the Greek yogurt products. 

Greek Yogurt Has Less Whey Protein 

Some individuals are also sensitive to whey protein, making it impossible to consume regular types of yogurt. Whey protein can cause an assortment of health problems, including: 

• Liver damage
• Kidney dysfunction
• Osteoporosis 
• Risk of diabetes mellitus
• Headaches
• Higher cholesterol levels
• Abnormal heart rhythms 
• Acid reflux

If you can’t consume high levels of whey, then Greek yogurt is a great option to ingest protein, calcium and iron. In addition, Greek yogurt contains probiotics that can improve the health of your digestive tract. Probiotics are helpful bacteria that can increase the health of your immune system to prevent foodborne illnesses, urinary tract infections and inflammatory bowel disease. 

The Health Value of Eggs vs Egg Whites

You do your level best to remain as healthy as you can. You keep track of your calories, exercise on a regular basis and throw away your egg yolks to make a vegetable omelet. Wait, you throw your egg yolks away? Did you know that whole eggs do not necessarily reduce your risk of heart disease? In fact, it may be far worse for your health not to eat your egg yolks. 

Egg yolks and all other sources of saturated fat and cholesterol were first given a bad rap in the early 20th century. Nikolai Anichkov, a Russian pathologist, performed an experiment in which he fed rabbits high levels of pure cholesterol. The arteries of the rabbits became clogged with plaque, leading Anichkov to surmise that cholesterol leads to heart disease. However, it is widely known that the liver makes about 75 percent of the body's cholesterol. This vital nutrient is required by every single one of your 37.2 trillion cells to create their protective membranes. There is a very small flaw in Anichkov's theory: the cholesterol he fed his test subjects was synthetic. Also, rabbits and humans are fundamentally different in their make-up. As vegetarians, rabbits do not consume cholesterol in their natural diet. 

Despite these facts, the research performed by Nikolai Anichkov and Ancel Keys spurred the start of a witch hunt geared toward demonizing foods containing saturated fats. After studying the eating habits of seven different countries, Keys claimed that those who consumed the greatest amounts of animal fat all died from heart disease. Although his data did show a correlation between fat consumption and heart disease, he was unable to prove that the relationship was causal. Also, while mortality rates for heart disease were higher, deaths from nearly every other cause were significantly lower, resulting in longer life expectancies. 

More recent findings regarding egg whites and egg yolks have shed additional light on the subject. A set of 21 studies collected and published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition stated that saturated fat was not associated with an increase in the risk of heart disease. Instead, the true risk comes from the inflammation caused by chronic stress and regular consumption of vegetable oils and processed foods. 

If you have been avoiding egg yolks for fear of endangering your heart, you are missing out on a world of nutrition. Egg yolks are an excellent source of vitamin A, a nutrient that is critical for healthy and vibrant skin. Other nutrients include B vitamins and choline. The saturated fat present in egg yolks is needed for balanced hormone production and vitamin/mineral absorption. 

Egg whites contain the largest percentage of the protein found in an egg. One egg white, on average, contains the following:

• 4 grams of protein
• 1.3 micrograms of folate
• 6.6 micrograms of selenium
• 2.3 milligrams of calcium
• 53.8 milligrams of potassium

Egg yolks, on the other hand, contain the following nutrient profile:

• 2.7 grams of protein
• 30 micrograms of selenium
• 21.9 milligrams of calcium
• 18.5 milligrams of potassium

The yolk itself has more nutrition than the white, but consuming the whole egg will give you a more complete nutrient profile. Eggs are among the most nutritious food on earth. Because eggs provide all the nourishment needed to grow a chick, this statement makes perfect sense.

As long as you maintain the overall number of calories you consume each day, eating whole eggs will not affect your weight. Remember to check with your health care provider or a nutritionist for more information on how to balance fat levels and fitness goals. 

Tips to Protect Yourself from Ticks and Bedbugs

The weather may be getting warmer so you want to spend more time outdoors. Spring and summer are fun-filled days for humans, but they're also a prime time for bugs too. Insects thrive in warm weather because they're coldblooded; they depend on the warmth to loosen up their bodies for reproduction purposes. In particular, ticks and bedbugs tend to be common in most parts of the United States. Learn how you can protect yourself from these bugs as you head outdoors to enjoy the weather.

Keep Clutter to a Minimum

Both ticks and bedbugs look for hidden areas to hide and reproduce. Your home's exterior should be free of any clutter, such as mounds of wood or rusted items. Ticks will replicate in these areas and possibly hop onto you. Bedbugs also look for such opportunities in furniture and linens within the home. Between mattresses is the most common location for bedbugs where they can hide during the day and emerge at night. Removing and disturbing any cluttered areas simply forces the population to be found and eradicated. 

Vacuum Your Furniture

Vacuuming is one of the single most important things to do when ticks and bedbugs are in season. Consider a household-wide cleaning session of every upholstered item. Vacuuming physically removes a large population of bugs. You may not eradicate every bug, but it's still effective.

Spraying insecticides instead of vacuuming an area can actually be counterproductive. You might kill off many bugs, but they'll eventually become immune to the chemicals. Vacuuming removes them without giving them a chance to evolve from a chemical perspective.

Inspect Your Animals

Your home might be filled with furry friends, including both dogs and cats. These animals tend to be transports for ticks and bedbugs. On a regular basis, take a close look at your pets' furry bodies. Pull back the fur in several places so that you can see the skin below. If you notice any ticks, remove them one by one. Bedbugs are more difficult to visually pinpoint. Look for any reddened areas on the pets' skins in order to narrow down a possible infestation traveling on your furry friends.

Wear Pants

A simple yet effective way to protect yourself from any bugs is by wearing pants outdoors. As you walk through any brush or grass, bugs can latch onto your legs. By wearing pants, they don't have access to your skin. Be sure to shake or wipe the pants off before you go indoors, however. Once indoors, the bugs might detach and hide in other areas. Protecting your skin is the easiest way to avoid any bites.

Apply DEET Products

For an added level of protection, wear repellents with at least 20 percent of DEET. This particular chemical is safe for humans, but wards off most bugs. Be aware that it needs to be reapplied in a timely fashion. Bugs that come into contact with it will refrain from biting you entirely. If you miss a skin area, however, the bugs will make use of this opportunity. Be thorough about your application so that the bugs simply look for other targets.

You may be inclined to scratch your bites, but refrain from doing so. As you grow older, your wounds at the bite site may become infected if you scratch the area too much. Gently rub around the bite if you must, and apply an anti-itch cream. In most cases, the bites will fade away in time.

Is Running Good or Bad for the Joints?

You might wonder if running is a good type of exercise for your joints, and the answer to that question depends on your age and overall health. As you get older, your body’s joints will begin to degrade, making running more difficult. If you have been running for most of your lifetime, then running may not bother your joints’ components. However, if you are a baby boomer who has never exercised, then beginning a running exercise program is not a good plan. Running is also not recommended for anyone who is overweight or for someone with an arthritic condition. 

Running Can Damage Your Knees With Wear and Tear Injuries

There is new research that reveals that running is good for an individual’s knees, but this study was performed with test subjects who had been running for many years. If you have lived a couch potato lifestyle but want to begin an exercise program, then running is not the best choice because it will lead to having pain in your hips, knees and ankles. To understand why running is not a good form of exercise for everyone, it is important to learn more about your body’s joints.

What Are the Joints In Your Body?

Your body has over 350 joints, but most of those are not weight bearing joints. The joints that are most susceptible to damage from running include the joints in your feet, ankles, knees and hips. Joints are composed of several materials, including:

• Fibrous tissue
• Cartilage tissue
• Synovial fluid

How Physicians Diagnose Joint Problems

If a bone has a problem, then a nearby joint might be the primary cause of the problem, or the joint might have a secondary problem. Each type of joint is unique and complex, making it difficult for a physician to determine what is wrong with it when you are in pain. In order to diagnose a problem with a joint, a physician will perform a physical examination and request an X-ray along with other diagnostic tests.

You Can Damage Your Joints By Running Incorrectly

Some individuals will run for exercise for many years and have no joint injuries, but other individuals may incur one or more joint injuries that will sideline them from the sport. Running incorrectly by using the wrong form or wearing poor-quality footwear can damage the joints in your lower limbs. It is important to warm up with stretches before running to get your body’s tendons, muscles and ligaments ready for running. In addition, running is a high-impact sport, but if you have stronger ligaments, muscles and tendons, then you are less likely to damage a joint’s cartilage.

How To Protect a Joint That Has a Previous Injury While Running

If you have had a previous joint injury, then you may need to wear a supportive brace. You can find elastic compression braces in a drugstore, or a specialist can make customized devices. A personalized brace is made from durable materials, and it is molded to support a joint precisely to prevent a new injury.

Instant Pot Watermelon Rinds

Summer always inspires the most creative of us to make all kinds of delicious drinks and treats. Whether you are interested in enjoying something cold or sweet, there are all types of recipes that you can enjoy with your friends and family on a hot summer day. Instant pot watermelon rinds are some of the most delicious snack options you can make. They can be perfect by themselves, or you can change up the recipe to add a little something extra to the original composition.

To make this delicious recipe, you just need to pick up a few key ingredients. Make sure that you have a small watermelon for a basic serving. Have four lemons, each sliced thinly with all of the seeds removed. Also gather four teaspoons of salt and sugar, and make sure that you have two teaspoons of your favorite hot sauce. You can always add more hot sauce to taste, depending on what type of rinds you want to make. Keep around additional flavorings and ingredients as well, such as strawberries, if you are interested in changing up some of the flavor. 

Once you are ready to begin, do your best to peel the watermelon. This can seem like a daunting task, but using a Y-shaped peeler can be all that you need to be left with the rinds. Once the watermelon has been properly peeled, make sure to quarter the melon and run the blade where the pink meets the white. Slice as deep and as far as it is possible. Once you have done as much as you can, proceed to use a spoon against the rind, scraping off as much of the fruit as you can. You can reserve the watermelon flesh for later recipes, but you should be left with the rind when you are done.

Once all of that is done, you can slice the rind into different-sized strips according to what you and your company may prefer. Make sure to remove the stem ends and then place the strips into an Instant Pot or inside of a pressure cooker. Set them there with your lemon slices and then sprinkle with sugar, salt and hot sauce. When ready to begin, cook this mixture at a high pressure for about 10 minutes before manually releasing. The combination of ingredients should be ready now! Pour all of the contents into the appropriate lidded container and then let sit to cool. When done, eat the watermelon and keep the lemon around as a condiment or snack for later. You can also shake the brine over ice for all types of dishes in the future. Invite your friends over to make this dish for a special occasion!

.Taking Care of Your Kidneys

What Are Your Kidneys?

You have two kidneys inside your body that are designed for filtering your blood before manufacturing urine. By releasing this urine, you are removing the toxins and excess water from your body. These bean-shaped organs are located on the right and left side of your upper abdominal area. 

Conditions That Affect Your Kidneys

Kidney disease is common, but you can protect these organs in several ways. Some of the conditions that can affect your kidneys include:

• Urinary tract infections
• Kidney stones 
• Chronic disease
• Renal cysts
• Cancerous tumors

If you have a problem with your kidneys, then it can be a temporary condition that is treatable, or it can become a chronic problem that is irreparable. In some cases, your kidneys will malfunction, requiring you to undergo dialysis to remove the toxins from your blood. 

Six Ways To Care For Your Kidneys

There are several ways to care for your kidneys to avoid developing a health problem that requires dialysis, medication or an organ transplant. Here are the ways to care for your kidneys.

1: Reduce Your Sodium Consumption

If you consume a lot of sodium, then your kidneys must work harder to remove the substance from your blood. Sodium also increases your blood pressure leading to water retention, and both of these problems can also damage the functions of your kidneys. 

2: Maintain Your Body’s Cholesterol Levels 

When you have a high cholesterol level, this sticky substance collects on the interior surfaces of your blood vessels, making it more difficult for your kidneys to remove toxins from your blood. 

3: Control Your Blood Glucose Levels

Researchers believe that high blood sugar is the most common cause of chronic kidney disease. If you have diabetes mellitus, then you must control your blood glucose levels by consuming the right foods along with injecting insulin appropriately. 

4: Take Your High Blood Pressure Medication

When your physician prescribes high blood pressure medication, make sure you take it to protect your kidneys. If you have high blood pressure, then it damages your body’s blood vessels. As your blood vessels harden, your body struggles to transport blood through your kidneys. 

5: Don’t Gain Weight

When you are overweight, you will have excess fat, making it more difficult for your kidneys to function properly. If you are obese, then you are more likely to have other health problems that lead to kidney disease, including diabetes mellitus, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease. 

6: Protect Your Heart 

To prevent kidney disease, you must protect your heart because your heart pumps the blood that travels through the blood vessels to reach your kidneys. If your heart is not working correctly, then your body’s blood may not reach the kidneys so that the excess water and toxins are removed. 

Vegan Chocolate Mousse and How to Make It

Veganism is a great way to lose weights, and if you believe books like "The China Study," to potentially extend your lifespan and prevent illness. If you grew up vegan or come from a culture that cooks food that lends itself to vegetarianism (there are great Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, Southeast Asian and Indian dishes that fit the bill here), then making the switch to a fully vegan diet may be a simple matter of making a few dietary tweaks or of dropping a few of your recipes off of your list. If you have grown up in a meat and potatoes family, the concept of a vegan diet may seem very restrictive and difficult to maintain. Luckily, it's not as hard as it might appear to be, and the changes you make can be fun.

It can take some work to learn how to cook new food, but it needn't mean that you never get to eat anything fun. Just because you have decided to go vegan doesn't mean that you have to get rid of your most favorite, decadent foods. There are a number of foods that can serve as substitute staples. Tofu makes a great cream substitute, and soy and almond milk can work as milk. Xantham gum can be a binder that works like eggs and jackfruit is a great meat substitute. 

Chocolate Mousse is one recipe that you can easily make with vegan substitutions. This recipe traditionally calls for cream and eggs. Instead, it uses silken tofu and almond milk. Chocolate chips are one item that you won't need to substitute if you go with dark chocolate; in many cases, chocolate chips are already vegan. Read below for one great recipe adapted from Food.com: 

What You Need
12-ounce package of firm or extra firm silken tofu
3/4 cup of almond, coconut, or soy milk
1 cup of vegan chocolate chips 
1 tsp of vanilla extract

Optional enhancements
chili powder
mint leaves 
peppermint oil
coconut oil and shredded coconut

Step 1: Heat milk and chocolate
You can do this on the stovetop or in the microwave, so long as you are stirring constantly as you warm. Either stir over a low stove or microwave for about 2 minutes at a time, stir, and add a bit more time. The exact amount will vary with the time out of the microwave and the power of your oven. You should have a rich chocolatey milk when you are done. Let this cool before proceeding to step 2. 

Step 2: Blend with remaining ingredients
Take all of the ingredients plus the optional enhancements of your choosing and blend them together. Make sure you taste this when you are done. If you still taste tofu, you can add a splash more of an enhancement or more melted chips, but don't add more milk or it won't properly set. 

Step 3: Chill to set
This is the final step in the recipe. Pour the mousse into a bowl (or a set of smaller, individual ramekins for best results) to set. Let it chill in the fridge for 2-3 hours. When it is done, you can garnish with your favorite items: mint leaves, shaved vegan chocolate, sea salt, candied flowers, and cinnamon are all great choices. 

While it takes some work and some reteaching of your culinary skills to learn to cook delicious vegan food, learning some basic retakes on your favorites will go a long way toward having a successful vegan diet. 

The Amazing Benefits Of Intermittent Fasting

By now, the positive health benefits related to intermittent fasting are firmly well-established. For most of the past century, the mainstream medical community showed little interest in the benefits of fasting. Although fasting is a traditional practice in many religions and cultures, some would argue that fasting goes against the grain of the "more is better" ethos of our modern, technology-focused lifestyle. Fortunately, more and more people are learning firsthand about the incomparable benefits of intermittent fasting. 

Although there are several different types of intermittent fasting, they are all based around the idea of alternating short periods of fasting with periods of normal eating. One good method is to eat normally one day and eat nothing but a light breakfast on the following day. Weight loss is one of the most visible and striking effects of intermittent fasting. However, this is far from the only benefit of fasting this way. When you avoid eating for a while, some of your fundamental physical processes start to change for the better. Firstly, your blood insulin level drops, which immediately causes you to burn fat at a faster rate. Your body starts to repair your cells by eliminating cellular wastes. Almost immediately, your body begins emitting more human growth hormone (HGH), which is quite beneficial. Temporarily, the HGH production in your body can expand by 500 percent. 

In addition to the aforementioned benefits, fasting can spur changes in your gene expression. This can benefit your whole-body health and increase your longevity. Although human testing is still in its early stages, researchers have clearly demonstrated that when they limit the amount of calories that research mammals eat, the mammals live for much longer than one could reasonably expect. This effect is quite pronounced when you cut the subject's calorie consumption by 50 percent. Of course, this is too much of a calorie reduction for most ordinary people. Nevertheless, it is reasonable to assume that you can increase your longevity by reducing your calorie intake by at least 20 percent.

Beyond simply lengthening your life, it seems clear that fasting can improve your quality of life. For example, fasting can reduce your chances of suffering from diabetes. Oxidative stress and inflammation are two things that can contribute to your risk of experiencing a wide variety of diseases. 

During your periods of intermittent fasting, your metabolism increases by as much as 14 percent. According to available research, intermittent fasting doesn't merely cause you to lose weight. This type of fasting seems to cause disproportionate fat loss in your waist or abdominal region. Muscle loss is less pronounced than in nonstop calorie restriction plans. Particularly for older people, it can prove quite difficult to lose abdominal fat under ordinary conditions. All in all, the benefits of fasting are wholly remarkable. Collectively, the effects of intermittent fasting deserve serious recognition from ordinary people and the mainstream medical community.

The Tiny Implantable Drug that's Taking on the Fight Against HIV

Historically, a gin and tonic consumed daily was a means to help protect British soldiers from catching malaria in tropical environments. It was a prophylactic that helped prevent the disease from taking hold. Quinine is the active ingredient that kills malaria, and it is quite bitter. So, British soldiers began adding water, sugar, gin and lime to cover the taste. Thus was born the modern cocktail.

This same general principle of prophylaxis is being applied today to the prevention of HIV/AIDS. Since this disease cannot be cured, prevention is a primary focus of new research. This strategy is called pre-exposure prophylaxis or PrEP for short. It involves daily doses of medications known to protect against the infection. When taken consistently, it can substantially reduce the risk of catching HIV and subsequently developing AIDS.

It works much the way a gin and tonic was thought to protect against malaria. It prevents the virus from taking hold and successfully spreading throughout the body. When taken consistently, it can reduce the risk of infection with HIV from sex by upwards of 90 percent. However, missing a single dose can lower the effectiveness.

In sub-Saharan Africa, it is an unrelenting epidemic. According to statistics from 2013, there were 24.7 million people living with HIV in that part of the world. They accounted for 71 percent of all HIV cases in the world.

For a long list of reasons, consistent use of medication is a big challenge in this part of the world. Thus, a current focus of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is a tiny implantable drug pump from a Boston-based company called Intarcia Therapeutics. The pump is the size of a matchstick, yet can hold either a six- or twelve-month supply of PrEP medication.

It can be implanted under the skin in a physician's office. The procedure is said to be painless. Since it is an outpatient procedure, it is also relatively quick and easy. Once done, the patient is protected for the six months or one year that it lasts.

There are still many details to work out. It will be some years before it is available on the market. The intent is to make it as easy to use as possible in order to try to curb the current epidemic, especially in less developed parts of the world. Simply containing the epidemic and preventing further spread is the best hope at this time.

The pump may eventually be used as a delivery mechanism for other drug therapies aimed at other serious medical conditions. In fact, Intarcia is currently working to get FDA approval for a variation of the pump intended to provide treatment for type 2 diabetes.

A new high tech drug pump the size of a matchstick is currently being developed as a means to consistently deliver prophylactic medication to protect against HIV. This pump would allow people to see a doctor once or twice a year to get the protection they need from this currently incurable dread disease.

How Researchers Used Frog Mucus to Fight the Flu

New research has identified a peptide named urumin found in the mucus on the skin of a specific frog species. This peptide is showing promise as a potential drug treatment for certain strains of flu.

Long ago, it was found that dropping live Russian Brown frogs into milk would prevent the milk from going sour. This long-standing fact led researchers in 2012 to wonder what the exact mechanism was for preserving the milk. 

They discovered that when frogs are stressed, they secrete peptides via their skin and in the mucus that coats them. According to Louise Rollins-Smith, associate professor of pathology, microbiology, and immunology at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, "Amphibians, especially certain groups of frogs, produce and store large amounts of antimicrobial peptides in specialized granular glands in the skin." She also said "When the skin is injured or the frog is alarmed, they release large amounts of the peptides to protect the skin."

These peptides have antimicrobial properties. They can kill various bacteria, viruses and even fungi. These findings have led to more recent research into the specific peptides secreted by a small orange frog named hydrophylax bahuvistara found in southern India.

They identified 32 distinct peptides secreted by this little orange frog. To their surprise, they found that four of them can successfully kill certain strains of flu virus. This has been demonstrated under a microscope and in lab mice. The next trials will likely involve ferrets. If that goes well, human testing could come soon after.

This study found that urumin specifically targets H1 flu viruses. The three other peptides were found to be harmful to human red blood cells. Thus, those three peptides are not currently deemed to be good candidates for developing a flu drug. But, so far, urumin has not been found to be harmful to human cells. Thus, the next stage of studies is being tentatively planned.

The effect of urumin on specific H1 flu viruses is fairly dramatic. It makes the individual flu particles simply fall apart. Unlike currently available drugs, the urumin peptide specifically targets the hemagglutinin. One researcher said "It just blows it up. It makes the virus particle fall apart."

One of the challenges still standing between our current understanding and a potential drug treatment is a good delivery method. In lab mice, the urumin peptide was delivered through their noses. They also exposed the mice to the flu viruses via the same pathway. But this may be ineffective as a treatment protocol. Researchers believe they may need to develop something injectable in order to deliver it to the human blood stream.

At the moment, the next step is simply to try to replicate their success with mice in a study using ferrets, which are often used for flu virus research. If the ferret studies are a success, human studies are likely to follow.

Every year, flu epidemics kill between 250,000 and 500,000 people. Developing an effective treatment, even if it only works for a specific subset of flu viruses, could save millions of lives.

There is an exciting new breakthrough holding out hope for future flu treatments. Research involving a small orange frog has led to the identification of a new peptide called urumin that dramatically causes some flu strains to simply fall apart when exposed to it.