4 New Yogurts to Try That Aren’t Greek

There’s no denying our big fat Greek yogurt obsession. (It accounted for nearly half of all yogurt sales in 2013!) But the options are growing far beyond the Mediterranean. These four countries offer great alternatives to Greek yogurt, while packing comparable health benefits (and tasting good in the process).

RELATED: 7 Delicious New Ways to Enjoy Yogurt

From Iceland: Skyr, Siggi’s, Smári

Made from milk strained to remove the whey, it’s thicker than Greek, plus it packs more protein.

Photo: Siggi’s

From Australia: Noosa, Wallaby, Yulu

The milk is typically cooked slower than the milk in conventional American yogurt for a smooth, velvety texture.

Photo: Noosa

RELATED: What Can You Make With Greek Yogurt?

From India: Gopi

Lassi, a drinkable yogurt, is traditionally made with a plain yogurt and mango, flavored with salt and spices.

Photo: Gopi

From Vietnam: Tarte

Caramelizing the milk and sugar together before culturing gives it a dessert taste, minus the added sweeteners.

Photo: Tarte

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Healthy, nutrient boosting smoothies

Get your daily dose of nutrients with one of these healthy smoothies, each unique and delicious in their own way.

FOR FAT LOSS
HERO: Matcha (powdered green tea)

TIP: Unlike many ingredients with weight loss claims, green tea won’t overstimulate your adrenal glands.

If your goal is fat loss, a low-energy smoothie (500 to 750 kJ) is ideal. A smoothie with a low GI level, and high protein and fibre counts, will keep blood glucose levels steady and promote satiety, curbing your hunger for longer than a high GI snack or meal. As a base, try green tea, which has been found to assist with weight control. “Green tea increases general health and improves body weight by increasing the metabolism and the body’s ability to burn fat,” says Dr Joanna McMillan, resident dietitian at NuYu. A study in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reported that green tea extract was found to boost energy expenditure by around four per cent for each 24 hours.

What you'll need
Matcha, or green tea powder, makes a great base for fat loss smoothies. The high-protein, low carb merits of natural yoghurt keep conversion to glucose under control to stave off recurrent hunger, while chia seeds add fibre for digestive health and satiety. For a great fat loss smoothie idea try:
•    1 tsp of matcha green tea powder
•    ½ cup of ice
•    ½ cup skim milk
•    ½ cup natural yoghurt
•    1 tsp chia seeds soaked in 60ml of water

ENERGY BOOSTING

HERO: Coffee

TIP: To make caffeine smoothies work double time, try one before a workout, as it can help to stimulate lipolysis, or release of fat from cells.
Caffeine tends to get a bad rap for sending alertness soaring before leaving you groggy as the adenosine receptors hijacked by the drug once again connect with sleepiness substance adenosine. Yet Dr McMillan says that caffeine can be beneficial for a quick energy boost. “An espresso-based smoothie can provide a really effective energy boost, increasing your exercise level and brain performance,” she says. Caffeine can also temporarily raise your resting energy expenditure (REE), meaning you can burn more calories while doing zilch. Just don’t be seduced by commercial or café iced coffees, which are often loaded with sugary syrup and lack the nutrient profile of an espresso smoothie.

What you'll need
Cycle through different coffees until you find one that starts a party in your mouth. Experiment with different bean types, roasts and origins – there are literally hundreds of varieties.
•    1 ½ cups ice
•    ½ cup cooled coffee
•    ½ cup skim milk
•    1 tsp honey
•    ½  banana

WORKOUT FUEL
Before a workout, Dr McMillan recommends a banana smoothie made with a base of slow-release protein such as casein. Unlike whey protein, casein digests slowly, providing a steady supply of amino acids to sustain a workout. Carbs are also on the menu pre-workout according to Dr McMillan. Eating carbohydrates before exercise has been shown to increase available energy, enabling higher-intensity exercise. For recovery in the half hour following a gym session, however, switch to a whey protein smoothie, which will rush amino acids for recovery into your muscles.

HERO: Casein

TIP: To get the energy perks without potential gym-nausea, make sure the drink has left your stomach before you start training. Keep fat content low with minimal fibre, as fibre slows the rate at which your stomach empties.

What you'll need
•    1 ripe banana
•    1 cup skim milk
•    ¼ cup plain natural yoghurt
•    1 tbsp honey
•    ¼ tsp ground cinnamon

HANGOVER CURE

HERO: Coconut water

TIP: Add a slow-release carbohydrate such as mango to help stabilise your blood glucose.
If you wake up feeling seedy, a dash of coconut water may help. Coconut water contains five essential electrolytes, including potassium, to restore the toasted body’s water balance. Its lauric acid can also help with stomach cramps.

What you'll need
•    2 cups unsweetened coconut water
•    2 cups ripe mango (or frozen)
•    2–3 tbsp fresh lime juice
•    ½ cup of ice
•    2 sprigs fresh mint

NEXT >> Visit our recipes section for more healthy food ideas and guilt-free treats.

Photo: iStock

 

 

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Sports Illustrated Releases its Most Body-Positive Swimsuit Issue Ever

Photo: Courtesy of Sports Illustrated

For the first time in 52 years, the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue has crowned three cover models—and they have three totally different body types.

The trio includes fashion model Hailey Clauson, size-16 body-positive activist Ashley Graham, and MMA fighter Ronda Rousey.

One word: Wow!

Graham, the sultry beacon of body positivity, is the first plus-size model to appear on the cover. “I thought Sports Illustrated was taking a risk by putting a girl my size in the pages,” Graham told People after the cover reveal on Saturday. “But putting me on the cover? They aren’t just breaking barriers; they are the standard now. This is beyond epic.”

RELATED: 5 Rules for Loving Your Body from Model Ashley Graham

Rousey, who shows off her strong and sexy physique coated in body paint, is the first athlete to be featured on the cover. On Instagram, she wrote, “Such an honor to share the cover with @theashleygraham and @haileyclauson for @si_swimsuit’s issue celebrating women of all body types.”

SI Swimsuit managing editor M.J. Day described the long-limbed, sunny-haired Clauson as “the definition of a modern bombshell.”

RELATED: Why Ronda Rousey Is the Body Image Role Model We Need

“The three covers of Hailey, Ronda, and Ashley celebrate the new SI Swimsuit,” Day said. “All three women are beautiful, sexy and strong. Beauty is not cookie cutter. Beauty is not ‘one size fits all.’ Beauty is all around us and that became especially obvious to me while shooting and editing this year’s issue.”

All three covers land on newsstands Monday, Feb. 15.

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A Valentine’s Kiss Is Just a Kiss — Or Is It?

SUNDAY, Feb. 14, 2016 (HealthDay News) — This Valentine’s Day, when people lean in for a kiss, the way they tilt their head may reveal a lot.

That’s the finding from new Canadian research that suggests people turn one way or the other, depending on whether the recipient of an affectionate kiss is a relative or a romantic partner.

Researchers Jennifer Sedgewick and Lorin Elias, of the University of Saskatoon, noted that prior research has already shown that people tend to turn their head to the right when kissing a romantic partner.

But what about when a person plants a peck on his or her child’s cheek?

To find out, the research duo analyzed hundreds of photos of parent-child kisses and compared them to pictures of romantic parent-parent smooches. The photos came from websites such as Google Images, Pinterest and Instagram.

They found that the moms and dads tended to turn their head to the left, not the right, when kissing their kids.

Why? Sedgwick and Elias theorize that the preference may be due to the fact that parents often cradle babies in their left arm and therefore kiss them in the same direction. That pattern probably continues even as the children get older, the researchers said.

And what about the right-hand turns for romantic smooches? According to the two investigators, prior research has shown that people in new relationships tend to have heightened activity in certain “reward regions” on the left side of the brain.

Turning right while kissing may boost the activation of these areas, the researchers theorized, pointing out that long-term couples tend to continue to turn right while kissing.

Sedgewick and Elias believe the new findings show that the direction the head is turned during a kiss is not only influenced by emotion, but also by the preference a person has for one side of their body — and learned behavior.

The study was published recently in the journal Laterality.

More information

For tips on keeping the romance in your relationship, head to the American Psychological Association.

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Sleep Loss May Be Tied to Raised Diabetes Risk in Teen Boys

SATURDAY, Feb. 13, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Teen boys who get too little of a particular type of sleep may be at risk of developing type 2 diabetes, a new study suggests.

The research focused on “slow-wave sleep” — an important stage of sleep that helps people store memories and recover after sleep deprivation. This type of sleep is also associated with lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol and reduced inflammation, the study authors explained.

For the study, 700 children were assessed between the ages of 5 and 12. Just over half of the participants were boys. The investigators followed up with about 420 of the kids eight years later.

Boys who lost a greater amount of slow-wave sleep between childhood and the teen years had a higher risk of developing insulin resistance than those whose slow-wave sleep totals remained fairly stable over the years.

Insulin resistance increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, and is also linked to more belly fat and attention problems, the study authors noted. The investigators found no link between amounts of slow-wave sleep and these problems in girls.

“On a night following sleep deprivation, we’ll have significantly more slow-wave sleep to compensate for the loss,” study author Jordan Gaines, a doctoral candidate in neuroscience at Penn State University in College Park, Pa., said in a university news release.

“We also know that we lose slow-wave sleep most rapidly during early adolescence. Given the restorative role of slow-wave sleep, we weren’t surprised to find that metabolic and cognitive [mental] processes were affected during this developmental period,” Gaines added.

The association seen in the study does not prove a cause-and-effect relationship. More research is needed to confirm the findings and determine whether there is a link between reduced amounts of slow-wave sleep and increased risk of insulin resistance in other age groups, the researchers said.

“In the meantime, we can use these findings as a springboard for future work on the sleep-health connection. The best thing we can do for ourselves today is keep a consistent sleep schedule, so as not to deprive ourselves of any more slow-wave sleep than we’re already naturally losing with age,” Gaines said.

The study was scheduled for presentation Saturday at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, in Washington, D.C. Research presented at meetings should be considered preliminary until it has been published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases has more on insulin resistance and prediabetes.

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Obsessed Athletes More Likely to Approve of Performance-Enhancing Drugs: Study

SATURDAY, Feb. 13, 2016 (HealthDay News) — The more obsessed that college athletes are with their sport, the more likely they are to approve of using performance-enhancing drugs, a new Canadian study finds.

Two types of passion are associated with sports, the University of Waterloo researchers explained. “Harmonious passion” involves feelings of enjoyment, and the sport blends with the athlete’s life. “Obsessive passion” means not being able to disconnect from a sport and having feelings of guilt when not participating.

The researchers surveyed nearly 600 male and female varsity/all-star athletes at four universities in the province of Ontario.

“We found that regardless of gender, athletes who reported higher obsessive passion indicated more lenient attitudes towards [performance-enhancing drugs], while athletes who reported higher harmonious passion held more conservative attitudes towards them,” study author Wade Wilson, a lecturer on the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, said in a university news release.

“These results suggest that the closer an activity or sport is linked to our identity, there is an increased possibility we might do anything to maintain that identity,” he added.

The study, published recently in the Journal of Intercollegiate Sport, is the first to show how passion can affect varsity athletes’ views about performance-enhancing drugs, according to the researchers.

“Passion is often associated with positive words, such as love and dedication, but research suggests that it can control us as well,” Wilson said. “Awareness of the motivations and thought processes that may contribute to negative behavior is important, and has the potential to lead to effective interventions and informative workshops for athletes.”

The researchers hope their findings will help coaches and others better identify athletes at risk of using performance-enhancing drugs.

It’s also important for coaches to emphasize the enjoyment of sports and other positive aspects, and to avoid a winning-at-all-costs mentality, the study authors said.

More information

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency has more about performance-enhancing drugs.

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Reliable Weight-Loss Programs May Be Hard to Find: Study

By Kathleen Doheny
HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, Feb. 12, 2016 (HealthDay News) — For people who need to lose a lot of weight, it might be tough to find a program in their community that meets nationally recommended guidelines for shedding pounds, researchers suggest.

In a new study, almost 200 weight-loss programs were evaluated on whether they included five key standards: high-intensity intervention of at least 14 sessions in six months; an evidence-based diet; physical activity guidelines; self-monitoring tools such as food tracking, and a recommendation against the use of nutritional supplements, said study author Dr. Kimberly Gudzune. She is a weight-loss specialist at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, in Baltimore.

Those standards are agreed upon by the American Heart Association, the American College of Cardiology and the Obesity Society, Gudzune said.

But very few programs in the study met the standards, the researchers found.

“There is very little oversight [of weight-loss programs], and it’s hard for consumers and medical professionals alike to tell what is effective, reliable and meets guidelines’ standards,” Gudzune said in a statement.

Her team found 191 weight-loss programs in the Maryland, Washington, D.C. and Virginia areas. “We used the Web to identify weight-loss programs in those areas,” she said, because that is how most people who want to lose weight would start their search for help.

The researchers then searched the websites of those programs for what information there was on the five widely recommended criteria for effective weight loss.

“Only 1 percent of the programs even mentioned all those [five] criteria on their website,” Gudzune said. And only 9 percent actually adhered in some way to the guidelines, she said.

Next, the researchers interviewed the organizers of 52 weight-loss programs by telephone. They graded 6 percent of the programs as highly adherent to criteria based on website information, but 19 percent were graded high after the telephone interview. That suggests that calling the programs or visiting is crucial to determine how well they are run, Gudzune said.

The findings, published Feb. 10 in the journal Obesity, indicate that more oversight is needed for weight-loss programs around the country, Gudzune said.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission regulates the weight-loss and supplement industry by checking advertising claims, but Gudzune said that oversight should be expanded, requiring weight-loss programs to disclose practices and how well they meet widely accepted weight-loss standards.

One expert said that doctors also need to do their part.

“Regulation might improve what is on the websites, but the important role of physicians diagnosing obesity is referring their patients to reputable professionals in their community,” said Connie Diekman, director of university nutrition at Washington University in St. Louis. That, she said, “is something that can be done through medical partnerships, health insurance companies or universities.”

The findings on the lack of information on the websites did not surprise Diekman. “Websites are not designed to provide all the information about their product or programs, since that would make it easy for individuals to find a reason to avoid ‘making the call,’ ” she said.

More information

To learn more about losing weight, visit the American Heart Association.

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Can Meditation Trigger Panic Attacks? The Weird Effect Making News

Photo: Getty Images

Meditation is often touted as one of the best things you can do for your health. But it may not be right for everyone. A recent article in The Guardian reported that some people actually have an adverse reaction from practicing mindfulness techniques. The writer, Dawn Foster, describes her own troubling experience, during a group meditation, like this:

No matter how fast, slow, deep, or shallow my breaths are, it feels as though my lungs are sealed. My instincts tell me to run, but I can’t move my arms or legs. I feel a rising panic and worry that I might pass out, my mind racing. Then we’re told to open our eyes and the feeling dissipates. I look around. No one else appears to have felt they were facing imminent death. What just happened?

RELATED: 25 Surprising Ways Stress Affects Your Health

For days after, Foster was on edge, with a constant headache, she says. After a little digging she discovered that her experience wasn’t unique.

In her piece for The Guardian, she references a small-scale 1992 study conducted by a professor at the University of California, Irvine, in which 63% of participants who meditated experienced at least one negative side effect, while 7% reported “profoundly adverse” effects like panic, depression, and anxiety.

Oxford psychologists Miguel Farias, PhD, and Catherine Wilkhom discuss this so-called dark side of meditation in their recent book, The Buddha Pill ($15, amazon.com). “Since the book’s been published, we’ve had a number of emails from people wanting to tell us about adverse effects they have experienced,” Wilkhom told Foster .

RELATED: 10 Signs You Should See a Doctor for Depression

The Guardian article also describes the experiences of three other women who had traumatic reactions similar to Foster’s. Thirty-seven-year-old Claire went on a three-day meditation retreat in an attempt to unwind from her job, only to suffer a “depressive breakdown with psychotic elements.” For Louise, a woman in her 50s, a retreat triggered psychotic depression. And 34-year-old Rachel says a series of guided meditations lead her to develop severe anxiety and panic attacks.

Why does this happen? Kate Williams, PhD, a researcher at the University of Manchester, explained to Foster that the self-exploration that meditation requires has the potential to bring up negative emotions. And in extreme cases, it can “induc[e] paranoia, delusions, confusion, mania, or depression,” she said.

RELATED: The 12 Worst Habits for Your Mental Health

Before you cancel your retreat, it’s important to note that most people have very positive experiences with meditation. And there’s a long, compelling list of studies that link the ancient practice to a slew of health benefits. It’s been shown to help reduce mild depression, and anxiety. Other studies have found that meditation helps people sleep better, quit smoking, maintain a healthy brain, ease irritable bowel syndrome, cope with hot flashes, concentrate better—and the list goes on.

It may even alleviate pain. In a study published in the Journal of Neuroscience, researchers found that meditation lessened the pain intensity participants felt by 27% and their emotional pain by 44%. (For comparison, previous research has suggested that opioid morphine reduces pain by 22%.)

RELATED: How Two Patients Control Their Pain Through Meditation

But if it turns out mindfulness isn’t your thing, you’ve got options, of course. There are plenty of other ways to stay calm and grounded, as Foster has found, like “reading, carving out more time to spend with friends, and simply knowing when to take a break from the frenetic pace of life.”

 

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Hospital Performs Surgery on Wrong Baby

credit: Getty Images

A Tennessee hospital performed a minor surgery on the wrong infant, People reports.

Jennifer Melton said she thought doctors were taking her newborn son Nate for a typical exam, “checking blood-type, weight gain, that type of thing.” But the day after Nate was born, a physician at University Medical Center in Lebanon, Tennessee mistakenly asked for Nate and performed a “tongue-clipping” surgery that was supposed to happen to another baby.

The operation is called a frenulectomy, and is meant to remove tissue that connects the tongue to the floor of the mouth. Melton said she noticed speckles of blood under his tongue and it was discovered that her son had undergone the unnecessary procedure. “The pediatrician explained to me that he had accidentally asked for the wrong child, and performed the surgery on Nate by mistake,” Melton said. “He said he was sorry for what had happened, but that Nate would be fine and that ‘he didn’t even cry that much during the surgery.’”

Melton is considering legal action. Read more at People.

This article originally appeared on Time.com.

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These GIFs Show What It’s Really Like to Have Glaucoma and Other Eye Problems

Photo: Getty Images

Picture for a moment what it would be like if the lens of your eye was cloudy, all the time. Or if you saw dark spots or strings floating across your field of vision. For anyone who’s never experienced eye problems, the symptoms are hard to image. That’s why the UK site Clinic Compare has created four GIFs that let us see through the eyes of the visually impaired. The clips below drive home home the importance of wearing sunglasses, eating plenty of leafy greens, and generally taking the best possible care of your peepers, so you can keeping seeing clearly for decades to come.

RELATED: Should You See an Eye Doctor?

Cataract

GIF: Clinic Compare

Cataracts tend to develop when the tissue in the eye’s lens changes with age, or because of an injury. Seeing with a cataract can be like looking through a foggy or frosty window.

Age-related macular degeneration

GIF: Clinic Compare

According to the National Eye Institute, age-related macular degeneration is the leading cause of vision loss among people 50 and older. The disease blurs the sharp, central vision you need for activities that require looking straight ahead, like reading and driving.

Glaucoma

GIF: Clinic Compare

Glaucoma damages the nerve the links the retina to the brain, and can eventually lead to tunnel vision. It’s typically caused by a build-up of fluid and pressure inside the eyes.

RELATED: All About the Eye Diseases Stealing Roseanne Barr’s Sight

Diabetic retinopathy

GIF: Clinic Compare

Diabetic retinopathy is linked to chronically high blood sugar, which can damage the tiny blood vessels that feed the retina. The eye then attempts to grow new blood vessels, but they tend to leak and interfere with vision.

 

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