Blog for Friday, February 26, 2016

Good evening, folks! Hope it's been a healthy, prosperous week for you! We're getting closer and closer to springtime, and if you're like me, you can't wait! Today's articles will focus on the diets of young people/millenials, ask:are you eating too much soy?, and tell you about some fermented foods that can increase your gut health! The first article looks at the lack of education on healthy eating available to young people. Since many diseases, like heart disease, have their roots in young adulthood, knowing how to eat healthily is something people should learn at a young age. The article also mentions how some universities lack a course on eating disorders and addictions. If universities aim to create better people as a whole, and not just more educated people, taking more of an interest in their well-being would seem to be included. Now, for article two,  which discusses a study that looked at the mental health of adolescents who live in household with "food insecurity". Food insecurity, for those unfamiliar(who included me, until recently!) is a state of having limited or uncertain access to nutritious foods at home. Teens who lived in homes that had "food insecurity" were 2.3 times as likely to have mental health problems, as reported from phone interviews with their parents. The impacts of your diet are broad, and it's never too early to start eating well. Up next, an article  that asks the question: Are you eating too much soy? For me, the answer is clearly no. But many people use soy as a substitute for meat, and there are many forms in which one could ingest soy. Problem is, many of the health claims that have been made about it have since been backpedaled. In addition, high amounts of soy ingestion can greatly impact estrogen levels, as well as estrogen- sensitive systems in your body. Some women have eaten so much soy that it shut down their menstrual cycles! So, as with most anything, moderation is key. Lastly, this article tells you about 5 fermented foods that can improve your gut health. As has been discussed rather frequently, the health of your gut and its healthy bacteria is very important to your health, and new discoveries of its impact are made often. The foods mentioned in the article all have probiotics in them to help boost your gut health. (They might take some getting used to, but your health will thank you!) That's it for February, folks! Hope you learned something during American Heart Month, and that your healthier now than when it started. I'll be back at this again in March! Be healthy, my friends!