Health
Finding good health news amidst a pandemic can be quite daunting. That’s not the case with The Optimist Daily, where positive news is in high supply. Our Health section covers the latest good news from the health sector, featuring solutions ranging from mental and physical health to immunity, nutrition, and cutting edge medical research.
Plant-based foods now have a lobbying voice in Washington
America is full of lobby organizations. The dairy and meat industries, for example, are making sure that their voices are well heard in Washington D.C. But, as science keeps confirming, their missions to maximize meat and milk in the American diet are not in the best health interests of the people. Read More...
Whole Foods and startups see potential in ‘ugly foods’
Produce is supposed to be perfect. Giant watermelons ripen on the field but won’t make it to market—too big to fit in the fridge. The same fate befalls curvy cucumbers or apples and tomatoes that exceed the width of a burger bun. Recently European supermarkets have adopted the ugly foods Read More...
Factory farming divestment follows success of pulling investments away from oil
After the success of campaigns to get investors to divest from fossil fuel companies (some 400 institutions have committed to pulling money from coal, oil and gas companies to tackle climate change), factory farming is the next target. Fast food chain Subway is latest to join the backlash against Read More...
A vegan diet 'could cut the risk of developing prostate cancer'
Leading a vegan lifestyle can cut the risk of prostate cancer by 35 per cent, a new study has suggested. A vegan diet is void of all animal products and is instead based entirely on plant foods, including fruit, vegetables, nuts and grains. The US researches behind the findings used data on over Read More...
Better than organic: America’s first vegan-certified farm
This kind of farming is so right that, so far, only one farm qualifies for certification. Metropolis Farms in Philadelphia is a “vegan-certified farm”. It’s a step beyond organic, using no pesticides, herbicides, GMOs, animal manure or fertilizers like bone meal (a blend of slaughterhouse Read More...
Turning Americans' bad food waste habit into renewable energy
America has a bad habit. About 40% of food purchased ends up in the trash each year, but in some cities, they have found a way to turn this waste into energy. As food decomposes, it release methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that’s fueling climate change. What cities are doing is diverting that Read More...
Britain is building special new towns to tackle the obesity crisis
LONDON — Ten new "healthy towns" designed to get people to exercising more, eating healthily and live independently during old age are to be built across the country, NHS England announced on Tuesday. The towns — comprising more than 76,000 affordable homes — will include fast Read More...
An ambitious genome sequencing project is tackling Africa's nutrition crisis
Malnutrition affects 40% of children in Africa. Part of the issue is that the staple crops in the formal food system lack the nutrients needed to properly feed a person. Traditional foods like amaranth, okra and breadfruit are incredibly healthy, but these have never been grown in agriculture Read More...
Practicing mindfulness can help us have healthy glucose levels, study shows
Mindfulness is helping us having a sense of mastery over our own thoughts and feelings. That's how it could help us protect against diabetes. Researchers wanted to find out if people practicing higher degrees of mindfulness are better able to motivate themselves to exercise, resist cravings for Read More...
The future of healthcare is self-care and the future is now
As a boomer, it has become evident that the only way to remain healthy in this toxic world is to take responsibility for my own health. I confess, sometimes I enjoy over indulging in some of the sinful stuff, like too many glasses of red wine, or a mindless binge on organic chips and salsa at my Read More...