Avocado Only 1% of avocado samples show any detectable pesticides. Plus, their skin is so thick that the meat inside is safely protected. Give them a good rinse before slicing open, for good measure. Sweet Corn It takes a lot of fertilizer to grow, but the layers sheathing the kernels protect the cob from pesticide residue. Tropical Fruit Pineapples, mangoes, papayas, and kiwis all have tough skins that we don’t consume....

Don’t worry: We’re not going to suggest that the key to wanting sex again is a long walk on the beach, lighting scented candles, or making dinner reservations for two. A lukewarm libido could actually be caused by a very real health or behavioral issue—and all the romantic clichés in the world aren’t going to get the job done. But the good news is that there are also very real fixes to match the underlying problems....

Sheila’s Story At 47, Sheila had a good life. She’d been married to a great guy for almost 20 years and had two athletic, well-adjusted teens. She was a graphic artist, accustomed to working long hours at the computer. But when she turned 42, she began feeling pain in her back, neck, elbow, and knees. Nothing she tried helped. Sometimes, the pain became so intense that it interfered with her life....

30: The percentage drop in systolic blood pressure for regular apple eaters

ThinningTry: Minoxidil “It’s a bit like fertilizer for the hair,” says Paradi Mirmirani, MD, a fellow of the American Academy of Dermatology. “Minoxidil has been well studied, and there’s good evidence that it increases the diameter of each strand, the density of hair, and the rate at which hair grows.” Find it in Pantene Hair Regrowth Treatment for Women ($40, amazon.com), a scent-free serum. Slow growthTry: Anti-dandruff shampoo Even if you don’t have flakes, research suggests that the pyrithione zinc in anti-dandruff shampoo may promote hair growth, especially if you’re dealing with buildup or scalp scaling, Dr....

“Stress is a very healthy thing, because it gives you the energy you need to live life,” says Jacob Teitelbaum, MD, medical director of the national Fibromyalgia and Fatigue Centers and Chronicity and author of Real Cause, Real Cure. “Without it, you wouldn’t have the energy you need to take action.” Consider adrenaline junkies who seek out stressful situations in order to reap a physical and emotional high. Those anxious feelings trigger a fight-or-flight response that releases cortisol and adrenaline for a surge of energy that pushes you to react when you need to (such as moving fast if you’re about to be hit by a car) while offering protective health benefits such as enhanced immunity....

Remember the BP Oil Spill? [Huffington Post] If you’re like most Americans, the oil spill is probably a distant memory, but shortly after its anniversary, Hurricane Issac made sure we remembered. The recent storm washed globs of oil onshore two Louisiana beaches. State officials closed a 13-mile stretch of Elmer’s Island Beach due to the large “tar mat." The plus side, if there is one, it thatthe storm unearthed burried oil, making it easier to clean up....

Going where no exercise research has gone before, Hassan Elsangedy, PhD, professor in the department of physical education at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, and his colleagues allowed participants to select their weight loads for strength training workouts. This in an effort to see whether women choose challenging loads that will improve muscle fitness. Turns out that the women were skimping on the weight! ”Our findings indicated that inactive older women self-selected an exercise intensity during resistance training below the recommendation for improvements on muscle fitness in apparently healthy older adults, set forth by the American College of Sports Medicine,” says Elsangedy....

Curl and Press Muscles worked: trapezius, biceps, forearms, deltoids, triceps. Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Remember to breathe. Don’t scrunch your shoulders.Don’t move your arms back as you lift overhead.Don’t bend your head forward or back.Don’t arch your back.Don’t bend your wrists. Your Program Sessions per week: 2 or 3; allow at least 1 day of rest between arm exercises. Repetitions: 8 to 12 lifts are considered a set....

You know the feeling: tight, itchy skin that leads to irrational urges to throw yourself into a vat of body lotion. Though some people struggle with dryness year-round, it’s more common when the thermometer drops. Flakes often cluster where we have the fewest oil glands: hands, feet, elbows, and knees. Why it happens Skin is hydrated through diet and by absorbing water from the air. But when the humidity drops and dry heat cranks, there’s less moisture available....

Yep, you read that right. Vampire face-lifts are the latest in a long line of anti-aging treatments that involve women getting injected with their own blood. Specifically, doctors withdraw blood from a patient, isolate platelets, and then add thrombin or calcium chloride to essentially make plasma-rich platelets (PRP), says Timothy Morley, DO, medical director of Women’s Healthy Hormones, a brand and resource that focuses on hormonal balance. When the PRPs are injected into wrinkled areas, they release growth factors that firm and rejuvenate skin....

In a world where sexual affairs sell reality television and scandal dominates the evening news, an honest face can be a boon—and knowing whom to trust is a skill just as valuable. But does the color of their eyes tell the entire story? Probably not, but it might very well be a key factor in how we perceive them, according to a new study published in PLoS One. Researchers asked 238 college students to rate the trustworthiness of 80 faces, some with brown eyes and others with blue ones....

More and more studies hint that BPA, a common chemical used in some plastics, store receipts, and canned food liners, could be causing widespread damage to human health. The latest evidence? Researchers at the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health found a connection between early childhood exposure to bisphenol A, or BPA, and asthma. “Asthma prevalence has increased dramatically over the past 30 years, which suggests that some as-yet-undiscovered environmental exposures may be implicated,” says lead author Kathleen Donohue, MD, an assistant professor of medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and an investigator at the Center for Children’s Environmental Health....

While your body’s systems can slow down with , you’re also likely to be following a different lifestyle. “People with depression aren’t as active—you might be lying in bed all day,” says psychiatrist Wendy Levine, MD, of St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport, CT. “You may be eating more carbs or eating more—or less—in general; a change from your regular, balanced diet.” Moving less and eating more, especially comfort foods that are low in fiber, can spell gut trouble....

If you’re wondering how such a thing can even be, it’s been a long time coming. Since 2002, a team of Italian researchers has been working to degrade the gluten in wheat flour through the process (or should we say magic?) of sourdough fermentation: By exposing wheat flour to Lactobacilli bacteria and fungi, the hungry bugs work to eat up and digest the flour’s gluten proteins. The result: a type of wheat flour in which the gluten has already been predigested, so the digestive systems of people with celiac disease don’t have to do any of the work....

Let’s look at the first one. By taking a 15-minute brisk walk, you could reduce that craving, according to recent research published in the journal Appetite. The benefits: diminished cravings means less calorie intake and you expended some calories. A win-win on the weight loss front. Now, consider option two. If you give in to that chocolate craving and do so with dark chocolate, it may lower your blood pressure and, in theory, improve your blood flow....

The study team tracked the health outcomes of roughly 44,000 statin users—all free of Parkinson’s at the start of the decade-long study. Compared to people who stopped taking statins, those who continued swallowing fat-soluble forms of the drug, which include simvastatin (Zocor) and atorvastatin (Lipitor), were 58% less likely to develop Parkinson’s, the research shows. Fat-soluble statins were even more protective in women and the elderly. On the other hand, water-soluble statin users were more than twice as likely to develop Parkinson’s than their friends on fat-soluble ones....