Snacks don't have to be junk food. With the right choices, you can make snacking a healthy part of any diet. Snacking may also help control the symptoms of certain health conditions and can even help you lose weight. Snacking on fresh fruits or...
Eating healthily requires you to meet, but not exceed, your body's need for food. When you're hungry, your body signals through hunger pangs that it's ready for nutrients. Once your body recognizes your stomach is full, it signals you to stop and...
Providing heart-healthy unsaturated fat, protein, fiber and several important minerals, sesame seeds are a healthy choice as part of a meal or snack. The nutrients found in sesame seeds have been shown to help maintain the health of your heart and...
The National Institutes of Health defines satiety as a feeling of satisfaction or fullness after eating. It is a huge part of successfully following a diet and managing to lose weight and keep it off over time. Different nutrients and types of...
Tryptophan is an amino acid that you obtain from food. Some tryptophan is converted in your body into 5-hydroxytryptophan, or 5-HTP, which is a precursor to a neurotransmitter called serotonin. Serotonin is important in determining your mood,...
A sensation of fullness following a meal is a normal part of the digestive process. Signals from your gastrointestinal tract to your central nervous system serve as a means to ensure you consume enough calories to meet your energy needs, while...
Gastroparesis, literally meaning "stomach paralysis," occurs when the stomach empties its contents too slowly. It results from damage to the vagus nerve that controls peristalsis --- the wave-like propulsions that move food along the...
A healthy breakfast is important in a well-rounded diet. In fact, skipping this meal can have negative effects on a child's body. It slows down the metabolism and makes it tougher for your child's body to process food properly and turn it into...
One of the nutritional problems facing older adults is a condition dubbed "tea and toast syndrome," in which the elderly consume inadequate diets. There are many reasons for this, ranging from social issues like depression, to medical issues...
With over 21,000 new cases diagnosed annually in the United States alone, ovarian cancer is the leading cause of gynecologic cancer death and the fifth leading cause of cancer death in women. Women with early ovarian cancer, often called a "silent...
In ovarian cancer, approximately 70 to 90 percent of women will have a recurrence of the disease at some point following treatment for the original diagnosis, according to the Johns Hopkins pathology department. After initial treatment, 40 to 50...
Stomach polyps, also called gastric polyps, are small growths that collect along the interior lining of the stomach. This condition is rare, affecting only about 1 percent of people who have their stomach lining examined by a doctor during a...
The spleen is an organ on the left side of the body in the upper abdomen near the stomach. It filters blood cells and plays a role in the body's immune system. A dysfunctional spleen is usually due to an underlying disorder. Improper function of...
A liver, or hepatic, hemangioma is a benign tumor that is formed of abnormal blood vessels. A hemangioma is the most common type of noncancerous liver tumor, and is most frequently diagnosed in people between the ages of 30 and 50, according to...
MayoClinic.com states that gastric bypass surgery is the most commonly done weight loss surgery in the United States. Among the many available bariatric, or weight loss, surgery options gastric bypass is generally considered to offer long term and...
Food allergy and food intolerance, while often lumped together because they elicit side effects after the ingestion of certain foods, occur by different mechanisms physiologically and cause a variety of symptoms. Food allergy suggests an...
Neuropathy (sometimes called peripheral neuropathy) is a condition in which one or more nerves in the human body are damaged. Nerve damage can interfere with the communication between parts of the body, resulting in a wide range of possible...
MedlinePlus says that abdominal pain is a type of pain that people experience from the groin to the chest. Abdominal pain can be dull, sharp, boring or aching in nature. In fact, the pain can affect the entire stomach, or it can just affect one...
People with cancer and other diseases often lose excessive amounts of weight due to lack of appetite. If you have one of these conditions, you can't afford to lose weight because you need protein and nutrients to recover from or to stabilize your...
There are several forms of fiber beneficial to health. Overall, the recommended intake of fiber is 25 to 30 g per day for health and wellness. All plant-based foods, such as fruits and grains, are considered dietary fiber. These are further broken...
Fad weight-loss diets have been popular at least since the 1970s. Most fad diets allow people to eat only certain foods, and dieters usually lose weight by following a fad diet, but they almost always have difficulty keeping it off. The grapefruit...
Gastric emptying occurs when the stomach contracts to empty its partially digested contents into the small intestine to move food down the intestinal tract. Damage to the vagus nerve, which controls these wave-like contractions, causes...
Delayed gastric emptying, otherwise known as gastroparesis, is the inability of the stomach to efficiently empty its contents into the intestines. Consuming a high-fiber drink or diet can exacerbate the symptoms of gastroparesis by further...
More frequent in men over age 40, gastric cancer is the medical term for cancer of the stomach. Your stomach is responsible breaking down food and absorbing vital nutrients such as calcium and iron. If you have gastric cancer, you may require meal...
Gastric bypass surgery is a procedure used in the treatment of obesity. In the January 20, 2010, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, Dr. Katherine Flegal reported that 68 percent of adults in the United States are overweight...
Cancer patients have special circumstances under which getting adequate nutrition may become problematic. Stanford Medicine Cancer Center says that treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation can cause nausea, vomiting, taste alterations,...
Destruction of the stomach's protective mucosal lining from stomach ulcers may cause mild to severe symptoms. This condition, called peptic ulcer disease, or PUD, is usually caused by the common bacteria Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori). Abdominal...
Many diseases can affect the liver and cause it to function abnormally. When this occurs, a liver function test will reveal abnormal liver enzyme levels. Once the underlying cause of disturbed liver functioning is found, steps can be taken to help...
Maintaining optimal nutrition while undergoing chemotherapy proves to be quite challenging. Chemotherapy can change the way foods taste, cause nausea, vomiting and loss of appetite. Weight loss during treatment is unhealthy, and it is imperative...
