Nutrition & Wellness
From learning about the health benefits of turmeric to staying up-to-date with the latest superfood trends, discover the best diet tips to improve your health.
A new way to prepare eggs as an antiviral
Preventative medicine is the low-cost, common-sense way of avoiding big and often expensive acute medical incidents. We don’t smoke so we don’t get cancer. We eat healthily and drink coffee in moderation to avoid bad cholesterol. Now, we could reduce the spread of viruses with simple household Read More...
How healthy is sushi?
Sushi is even more popular outside of Japan than in Japan, and it's pretty popular there too. Traditional sushi is stuffed with fresh fish and vegetables, ingredients usually praised for their health profiles. “Sushi has this halo of being healthy,” says Katherine Zeratsky, a professor of Read More...
Mice aboard the ISS show why astronauts get kidney stones
Humans are terrestrial creatures. We adapted and evolved to the environments of Earth, and, needless to say, things can get complicated for us when we venture beyond our atmosphere. In addition to the myriad other concerns astronauts have, they also have a high chance of developing kidney stones Read More...
Food forests and regenerative agriculture
Feeding an urban population in ever-growing cities around the world is a big challenge. The growth of these concrete jungles can lead to food deserts: areas of urban land that have insufficient access to grocery stores. Supermarkets in some urban areas can’t meet the needs of a growing Read More...
How healthy are garlic and onions?
Onion and garlic are the savory staples of many dishes. For pasta, curries, or stews, these delicious veggies add depth and flavor to our food. Do we ever stop to wonder, though, what nutritional benefit these are bringing to our meals? What are the nutritional benefits of onions and Read More...
Research finds your brain health now could affect your balance later
It should be our goal, everyone’s goal, to live long and to live well. Investing in your later years doesn’t just mean putting away and investing money or buying a house. It means strengthening our relationships, staying mentally and physically active, and utilizing preventative health care. As Read More...
Psilocybin therapy can positively change our thinking patterns
Mushrooms are "magic" in more ways than one. They improve long term brain health, they can break down plastic waste, and they afford incredible neural communication between forest plant systems. Another benefit of mushrooms, with a growing body of research, is how certain types can help fight Read More...
From the Supreme Court to smoothies: 5 favorites from our optimist editor-in-chief
The Optimist Daily is all about solutions — those that make big impacts in the world as well as those that enhance our daily lives. As solution-seekers, news readers, and good-for-the-world-and-soul product searchers, we often feature discoveries that promise to make our lives better. This week, Read More...
The scoop on matcha tea
If you’re not familiar with matcha, it’s a finely ground powder from dried green tea leaves. Because the matcha leaves grow in shaded bushes, they have increased levels of chlorophyll so they can absorb as much sunlight as possible. This gives the leaves and the drink their eye-catching color. Read More...
Five health benefits of argan oil
With time and real-world experience, humans often discover multiple uses for a single plant or vegetable. Okra is a delicious and highly nutritious vegetable that goes great in a variety of spicy dishes, and the gooey compound it excretes can be used to extract microplastics from water. A Read More...