Vaginal Steam Bath Trend Opens Discussion On Vaginal Health

We’re not much for jumping on a wellness trend just because the celebrities are doing it, but when we heard about Gwyneth Paltrow’s blog promoting the benefits of a recent V Steam – aka vaginal steaming – our eyebrows did raise … and there may have been a dropped jaw or two. But then the questions began: Is there any merit to using herbs and steam in the vaginal area, as described on the holistic Los Angeles spa’s website, for things like helping fight infections and protecting the uterus from tumors? Does the vagina really need our help? Isn’t it pretty self-sufficient? To help us answer these questions and a few others, we enlisted the help of Dr. Anna Cabeca, a board certified gynecologist and obstetrician and expert in women’s health. “My first instinctual response was ‘Oh Lord, what are those crazy Californians doing now?” jokes Cabeca from her home in Georgia. “Then as I thought about it, I thought, ‘Fantastic – that vagina needs a lot of TLC, some at
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Can Gender Role Equality Be a Reality?

Women make up more than half the US labor market and have been outpacing men in post-secondary degrees for a number of years now. Why then, are they still struggling to achieve income parity with their male colleagues and comparable rates of promotion to management positions? If the question isn’t if women really want equality, then perhaps it is whether they want it more than what they may ultimately be forced to sacrifice. Be Careful What You Wish For In a recent study by Marianne Bertrand and Emir Kamenica of the University of Chicago and Jessica Pan of the National University of Singapore, the authors posit that married women may in fact downplay their job market potential in ways such as accepting positions with pay that is beneath their actual earning potential or even leaving the workforce entirely, in order to conform to conventional gender norms and appear less threatening to husbands who prefer to be the breadwinner. This is particularly so in cases where the wife’s earn
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Monarch Butterfly Day Highlights the Importance of This Declining Population

Mile Square Regional Park in Fountain Valley just held its 6th Annual Monarch Butterfly Day on Saturday, Feb. 7. The event continued this year with its goal of educating and informing the community about the monarch butterfly population and how to help it thrive – especially during its current decline. The monarch butterfly is known for its unique migratory patterns; it is the only type of butterfly that makes a two-way migration in the same fashion as birds. Those on the eastern parts of North America migrate all the way down to the Sierra Madres in Mexico (a journey that can be up to 3,000 miles), while those from the Rocky Mountains come to Central and Southern California in the winter (not a bad choice). Unfortunately, the monarch butterfly population is declining rapidly. The butterflies have a symbiotic relationship with milkweed: They can only lay eggs on milkweed, and caterpillars solely eat milkweed. According to a recent report from the Center for Food Safety, milkweed is
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Yoga Can Boost Brain Power

Yoga has been proven over time to be successful at increasing flexibility, strength and overall health, but it might also give you a bit of a mental boost. According to research conducted by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, when comparing 20 minutes of yoga to 20 minutes of aerobic running or walking, the yoga showed better results for improving memory and allowing the user to block out distractions and stay focused. After performing a standard aerobic exercise routine, the 30 female undergraduates participating in the study showed no signs of improved mental capabilities. The reasons behind the improved memory from yoga may stem from yoga being more mentally involved than simply running or walking down a path or on a machine. The researchers don’t have a scientific answer as to why, but Neha Gothe, the head researcher, says in a statement that it could be a variety of factors giving the brain a mental boost. Enhanced self-awareness that comes with meditational exerci
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Bee Conscious: Small Decisions, Big Consequences

Did you know that much of the food we eat depends heavily on pollinating insects? Our lives and our ecosystems would be drastically different if bees and other pollinators cease to exist. Put it this way, an estimated one-third of the world s crops are dependent on honeybees for pollination. They are responsible for one in every three bites of food we consume. If bees stopped pollinating our agricultural goods, we will no longer have: broccoli, asparagus, cantaloupes, cucumbers, pumpkins, blueberries, watermelons, almonds, apples, cranberries, cherries, and many more. Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan says, There is an important link between the health of American agriculture and the health of our honeybees for our country s long term agricultural productivity. Current evidence suggests that a sixth major extinction of biodiversity is underway. Due to the loss of habitat, pest invasion, pollution, over-harvesting, and disease, the Earth is losing between one
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The GMO Fight Continues

If you walk into any grocery store in the United States, you have a pretty good idea of what you’ll find. Bins of fresh produce. A cold cereal display. Maybe an express checkout lane reserved for shoppers buying 15 items or less. What you probably won’t see is labels identifying genetically modified organisms. More than half the nation has legislation on the table that will require companies to label foods that contain genetically modified ingredients. But until then, it can be difficult navigating those grocery store aisles if you’re trying to avoid GMOs. So how can you be sure you’re keeping them out of your diet? Founder of the Institute for Responsible Technology and GMO expert Jeffrey Smith says the first sure way to avoid GMOs is to go organic. But, “not everyone has access to organic, not everyone can afford it,” says Smith. Which leads to the second way. “There’s a third-party verification called Non-GMO Project and you’ll find a little seal called Non-GMO Pr
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You Are What You Eat and You Eat What Your Friends Eat

When Functional Nutrition Coach Alexandra Jamieson co-created the Super Size Me documentary with Morgan Spurlock, she was featured as his real-life vegan girlfriend. “People around the world, both vegan and meat-eaters alike, began following me for recipes, health advice and inspiration to get healthy,” says Jamieson. “I was welcomed into the vegan community, wrote three vegan cookbooks and spoke to audiences around the country on my experience of healing my body from candida and hormone trouble with a vegan diet. Half of my friends were vegan, even while I helped everyone use food to get healthy, no matter what diet worked for them.” But things changed in Jamieson’s body and she realized meat was what she needed, so two years ago she “came out” as no longer vegan with an explanation to her friends and followers. “The viral backlash was overwhelming,” she says. “Thousands of comments from anonymous trolls and friends alike poured into my blog, Twitter feed and Fac
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Fasting for Better Health – Should You Do It?

In the East, the act of fasting has been performed for thousands of years as a tool to reach new states of consciousness. Over the past few years, people in the West have started embracing intermittent fasting to take advantage of its numerous health benefits for both mind and body. It may not be for everyone, but for those whose bodies are capable, it can be a powerful tool for regular recalibration. The Benefits Increased Insulin Sensitivity Insulin is a hormone released by the body when food is consumed, and it is responsible for the uptake of nutrients into muscles, fat cells and the liver. Various factors, including overeating, have led a majority of us to have poor insulin sensitivity. Poor insulin sensitivity has been linked to increased risk of diabetes and cancer, as well as a decreased ability to absorb nutrients and burn fat. Practicing intermittent fasting can help boost your body’s sensitivity to insulin. Increase in Growth Hormone One study showed that 24-hour fasts t
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Major Retailers Accused of Selling Fraudulent Supplements

Do you take herbal supplements regularly? If yes, you might not be getting what you ve paid for Americans spend an estimated $5 billion each year on questionable herbal supplements that promise everything from boosting mental clarity and increasing brain power to curing Ebola. Consumers can usually tell when a product seems fishy, but fraudulent labeling can definitely get the best of us. The New York State Attorney General is demanding that four major retailers — GNC, Target, Walgreens, and Walmart — pull some of their private label herbal supplements from their shelves after DNA tests found that four out of five of their products did not contain any of the herbs on their labels. Instead, the tests discovered that the so-called herbal pills often contained cheap fillers such as powered rice, asparagus and even houseplants. In some cases, the products that were tested contained hazardous ingredients that could be dangerous to those with allergies. Supplements at Walmart, whic
http://bit.ly/1CtiVZ1

Major Retailers Accused of Selling Fraudulent Supplements

Do you take herbal supplements regularly? If yes, you might not be getting what you ve paid for Americans spend an estimated $5 billion each year on questionable herbal supplements that promise everything from boosting mental clarity and increasing brain power to curing Ebola. Consumers can usually tell when a product seems fishy, but fraudulent labeling can definitely get the best of us. The New York State Attorney General is demanding that four major retailers — GNC, Target, Walgreens, and Walmart — pull some of their private label herbal supplements from their shelves after DNA tests found that four out of five of their products did not contain any of the herbs on their labels. Instead, the tests discovered that the so-called herbal pills often contained cheap fillers such as powered rice, asparagus and even houseplants. In some cases, the products that were tested contained hazardous ingredients that could be dangerous to those with allergies. Supplements at Walmart, whic
http://bit.ly/1Ctb4uu