Experiencing an unusual discomfort in your chest, behind your breast bone? Or a bitter, unpleasant taste in your throat and mouth? Are nausea, regurgitation, vomiting, and bloating occurring more frequently? If you’ve answered a “yes” to all three questions, then you are certainly experiencing heartburn and/or GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease) like millions of people in the country do every month. Heartburn is a trigger of acid reflux from your stomach back into the esophagus and is quite common for most people. GERD, on the other hand, is a more severe condition that you experience when you leave acid reflux unattended for a long time. Here’s an opportunity to go shopping for the right ingredients and substitute the things in your pantry with the following foods to prevent heartburn and GERD. Keep away from citrus fruits like oranges, lemons, limes, tomatoes, peaches, pineapples, grapes, and plums. Include more alkaline fruits like bananas, berries, apples, pears, melons, and other such fruits in your breakfast or snack portions. Replace tomato sauce as a side dish for sandwiches and french fries, and in your salsa and pasta. Try healthier, less acidic options like greek yogurt and dill dip, or pesto sauce. The same principle goes for abstaining from raw onions in salads, mayonnaise, vinegar, and lime juice.

Do you have a challenging time feeding your kids with healthy veggies? Well, it’s always great to make the veggies more interesting to them. Here are healthy alternatives to regular party snacks for kids that are normally rich in calories, refined sugar, and sodium. When you have kids over next time, for a birthday party, a game night, for a sleepover, or any other celebration, try out these healthy and easy party snacks. Skewered fruits Simply add a rainbow of colors on a skewer. Kids will enjoy eating healthy foods especially when they look attractive. You add colorful fruits like strawberries, raspberries, clementine oranges, pineapple, kiwi, green grapes, red grapes, blueberries, muskmelon, and bananas on decorative skewers, This easy party snack will surely be a huge hit with the bunch of kids in your home. Pair it with a yummy yogurt dip made with Greek yogurt, vanilla extract, and honey. Sweet potato bake Use small sweet potatoes to make this delicious bake as a party snack. Wash and slice the potatoes, keeping the base intact. Microwave these potatoes until they turn crisp. After they cool down, top them with Greek yogurt, add some spring onion greens, sprinkle a little kosher salt, and freshly crushed black pepper.

A healthy, nutrient-dense traditional Mediterranean diet is known to maintain ideal levels of blood sugar in the body and prevent, or reduce, the risk of type 2 diabetes. An assortment of various foods from countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, this diet is a medley of many food groups, some in increased amounts, others in moderation, and some others in negligible proportions. Given below are some benefits of a Mediterranean diet, particularly for diabetics. Fresh vegetables like aubergine, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, lettuce, cucumbers, spinach, green beans, and onions that are rich in vitamins provide not only a healthy but also a very appetizing meal simply with the variation in their colors and textures. They are packed with fiber, so it helps you feel full without loading on unnecessary calories. You can have generous servings, about 4-5 cups of vegetables every day. Adequate servings of low carb fruits like berries, apples, avocados, apples, cherry, grapefruit, kiwi, orange, grapes, pear, and strawberries meet daily nutrient requirements. They provide soluble fiber that prevents sharp spikes in blood glucose levels. Have at least 3 or 4 servings of fresh fruits every day. Legumes, beans, nuts, and whole-grain rice, bread and pasta are laden with nutrients like fiber, protein, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals.

Apart from medical reasons, a person’s diet is the main cause of the rising instances of Type 2 diabetes. About 90 to 95% percent of Type 2 Diabetes is caused by an unhealthy diet and a sedentary lifestyle. This means that one of the most obvious ways of being healthy is also through diet. If you look at the list of things you have to avoid, you would probably be heartbroken – all the things you had liked and had been enjoying until your diagnosis will be on the list. It is hard to make a transition to a more regimented and carefully planned diet. But you have to start right away. Make gradual changes one meal at a time, gradually, removing foods that should be avoided if you have Type 2 diabetes. Sugar Sugar is the first thing that you have to avoid if you have Type 2 diabetes. The sugar that the body needs can be sourced from natural food like milk and fruits. Any form of sugar or sugary foods can cause sugar levels to spike. You must remember that until your sugar levels come down to normal levels, you are advised to be off sugar. The sugar ban is not permanent as it could be for Type 1 diabetes.

In 2018, cancer was the cause of death for 9.6 million people worldwide. In the country, cancer is one of the leading causes of death, second only to heart disease. However, the death rate due to cancer has significantly dropped in the last 25 years in the country. Do you know why? Advancements in medical technologies now enable early detection and treatment of the disease. More importantly, though, is the willingness of the general population to make dietary and lifestyle changes to reduce the risk of this illness. One should keep in mind that there is no strong evidence to prove a direct relationship between eating certain foods and developing cancer, but there is quite a strong association between people leading unhealthy lifestyles, undergoing chronic emotional and mental stress, eating poor diets, and being diagnosed with cancer. Data gathered from cancer patients around the world authenticate the fact that a combination of risk factors could work together to trigger malignant cells. This article focuses on three foods that may contribute to the risk of cancer. Fruits and vegetables: Don’t be surprised, first on this list is fruits and vegetables. Especially those that are not organically grown. Farmers tend to use a concoction of pesticides and herbicides to keep pests away, increase their yield, and produce a large beautiful-looking yield.

Most people with ulcerative colitis find the right diet plan by eliminating certain foods that aggravate their symptoms. Some foods are known to be common triggers for ulcerative colitis. A low fiber diet or low residue diet is such a diet. If you are experiencing a flare-up of symptoms, this diet would be ideal for you. Low fiber diets are easy to digest — they help in slowing your bowel movements and restrict the occurrence of diarrhea. This diet allows you to eat a lot of foods. At the same time, it would keep your fiber consumption to around 10 to 15 grams a day. This low fiber diet also includes the necessary amount of proteins and minerals that the body needs along with fluids and salt as well. One should consume these foods if they are on a low residue diet: Dairy products: You can consume up to 2 cups of milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, or pudding per day. Grains: Foods like refined white bread, crackers, dry cereals, and pasta are recommended if they have less than half a gram of fiber per serving. Vegetable: Cucumbers, zucchini, raw lettuce, cooked spinach, pumpkin, seedless yellow squash, carrots, potatoes, eggplant, green beans, and onion.

Most often, healthy, balanced, and lifestyle changes fail to have an impact on symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). Only certain specific dietary changes can help. What you eat affects your symptoms. Hence, making changes to your diet will help you manage your symptoms. One can make changes to their diet by modifying the intake of the below-mentioned foods. Caffeine: Caffeine in your diet should be reduced, as it stimulates activity in the colon. This worsens symptoms of pain and diarrhea. Do not have more than three cups of coffee or tea a day. If you consume freshly brewed coffee, limit it to two cups a day. Filter coffee or freshly brewed coffee contains more amounts of caffeine (140 mg) compared to instant coffee (100 mg) and tea (75 mg). Alcohol and fizzy drinks: Alcohol and fizzy, carbonated drinks should be limited in your diet as they worsen symptoms of diarrhea caused by IBS. Symptoms will improve when the intake is limited. Try to aim at having at least two alcohol-free days per week and on the other days limit your intake to not more than two units per day. A measuring unit of alcohol is one 25 ml shot of spirits.

Many adults around the world deal with high blood pressure, which is also known as hypertension. Besides medication, lifestyle changes help in treating the condition. This article provides some dietary tips for lowering blood pressure. By adding certain herbs and spices in your diet, you will be able to maintain your blood pressure at optimal levels. Some of the herbs and spices that help are given below: Garlic – Garlic is a popular ingredient for treating high blood pressure. It can be added to various meats and curries. It contains allicin, a substance that has antibacterial, antioxidant, and antihypertensive properties. Garlic helps the blood vessels to relax and dilate, which allows blood to flow more freely in the body. Fresh garlic is better and more effective to reduce blood pressure than tinned or processed garlic. It is recommended to have about 4 grams of garlic a day to notice a remarkable reduction in blood pressure readings. Add fresh garlic to your favorite recipes. If you definitely cannot eat garlic then opt for a supplement. Turmeric – Turmeric is gaining popularity because of its medicinal values. Curcumin, in turmeric, is a powerful antioxidant with anti-inflammatory properties. It helps lower blood pressure by lowering the excess platelet aggregation.

Superfoods are known to have a high concentration of a particular nutrient that can help in improving a certain health condition. Most food items are a combination of multiple nutrients, and to treat a condition you need to take lots of it to notice any change or improvement. As far as Bipolar disorder is concerned, you need a diet that can help improve mood, relieves depression, helps you sleep, and reduces anxiety. You should include these superfoods as much as possible on your menu, based on your dietary recommendations. Given below are some dietary tips to manage bipolar disorder symptoms. Legumes and beans Analysis of people with bipolar disorder has shown that many of them had a severe deficiency of Folate or Vitamin B9. Some foods that are packed with folate are beans and legumes. Include beans, like chickpeas, in your diet twice or thrice a week. Make hummus or soup with beans. Add to a salad, or roast them as a snack. Avocado Healthy fats are crucial for good brain health as about 40% of the brain is made of fat. Avocado helps the brain to be more receptive to serotonin, which is a mood stabilizer. Good fat lowers cholesterol and reduces the risk of weight gain.

Food allergies are common issues that affect pets as well. A food allergy is an adverse immune response to a particular food type. You might find it difficult to detect the symptoms and triggers for food allergies in pets, so here are some signs and symptoms of food allergies to help you manage the condition better and ensure that your pet is comfortable: Itchy skin, red underbelly, and dull coat Itchy skin is also known as atopic dermatitis and is the most common type of allergy. Pets have itchy and irritated skin and will itch or scratch constantly without any relief and might also lose some hair from the affected patches. You might notice the skin underneath the hair getting pink, dry, and inflamed. Hives Hives resemble itchy red bumps that are warm to touch. A pet with hives will scratch, bite, and lick the affected skin. Constant scratching can lead to broken skin, and there are chances that it could get infected. Additionally, scratching can lead to hair loss. Tummy trouble Food allergies can trouble the gut as well, and allergens can cause gastronomical issues like gas, vomiting, constipation, and diarrhea. This results in loss of appetite and, eventually, the pet loses weight, making them weak and irritable.