Posts made in December, 2019

It’s a cold January day in Forest Lake, Minnesota. The temperature is about 17 degrees, and that’s without the wind chill. People are shoveling their driveways and sidewalks, twisting their bodies into all sorts of positions, many of which aren’t good for their already bad backs. You can hear complaints all around these parts of Minnesota this time of year… “I don’t want to go to work today,” “I hate this winter weather,” and “I wish...

Imagine, for a minute, you could shrink yourself and somehow manage to get inside a person’s body and travel through the various systems. Wouldn’t it be fascinating to see how all those tunnels and organs work? It’s hard to even imagine all the amazing processes going on, right now, inside the body. If you think of the inside of your body as a series of highways with blood and/or brain messages flowing down these highways to make...

People with high cholesterol are often given drug prescriptions from their doctors. Typically, statins are prescribed to lower the level of cholesterol in the blood by reducing the production of cholesterol by the liver. Basically, statins block an enzyme in the liver that helps make cholesterol. Keep in mind that cholesterol is a good thing because it helps the body’s cells function normally. However, when a person has high...

Agave has been used as an ingredient in food for thousands of years. The Aztecs used to use the liquid from its core in order to flavor food and drinks… and the nectar from the agave plant is known in Mexico as “honey water.” Agave is commonly known for its role in making tequila. So what actually is agave? It’s a large, spiky plant that has four edible parts, including its flowers, leaves, stalks and sap. Often found in the volcanic...

Osteoporosis is a big word that translates to “porous bone.” In other words, the density and quality of bone is reduced, such that the risk of fracture increases. Bone loss occurs silently. Most people don’t know they have “bad bones” until a fracture occurs. Typically, osteoporosis is common in women over 65, though anyone can get this disease at any stage in their lives. If you’ve been wondering how your own bones are doing, you...