We have been hearing about Ketosis or Keto diet recently. It becomes increasingly popular especially on weight-loss programs. Is it healthy or not? Do the benefits outweigh its side effects? And if indeed it does, what should we do to achieve it? Ketosis – it is a process that happens when the body does not have enough carbohydrates to burn for energy. Instead, it burns fat and makes things called ketones, which it can use for fuel. How does it work? In normal circumstances, the body’s cells use glucose as their...

What is a Urinary Tract Infection? UTIs or Urinary tract infections are caused by microbes such as bacteria overcoming the body’s defenses in the urinary tract. They can affect our kidneys, bladder, and the tubes that run between them. They are one of the most common types of infection and account for around 8.1 million visits to a doctor every year. The urinary tract can be divided into the upper urinary tract and the lower urinary tract. The upper urinary tract consists of the kidneys and the ureters, and the...

Why is it crucial to keep our kidneys and liver healthy? And how do we know if they are healthy? The liver and the kidneys are some of the most essential and hardworking organs in the body. They carry out numerous functions such as excretion of waste, metabolism of many substances, hormonal regulation, proper digestion, as well as proper coagulation (the process by which blood changes into a solid state to form a solid seal). The kidneys -- a pair of bean-shaped organs remove waste products from the body, maintain...

More often, when we talk about hydration, the first thing that comes to mind is WATER. And yes, water helps a lot in keeping our body hydrated. It is the fastest, simplest and easiest thing to grab whenever we feel dehydrated. However, after a while, water can get boring. Don’t you think? And based on a Study from Scotland’s St. Andrews University, water is not the most hydrating beverage around. According to Ronald Maughan, a professor at St. Andrews' School of Medicine and the study's author, the reason has to...

Getting to know the “inner you” is simpler than most people think. Like most things you’d like to achieve, you have to start with the basics and move forward one step at a time: know your pH, maintain a balanced diet, keep a physically and mentally healthy state. Know your pH Potential of Hydrogen or pH is a scale used to specify the acidity or alkalinity of a certain solution. Testing acidity and testing alkalinity is done with the use of a pH test strip; you will be able to...

Alkalinity means that something has a pH higher than 7. The term pH stands for “potential of hydrogen” which is the measure of hydrogen ions in a solution. A pH scale measures how acidic or alkaline a substance is and ranges from 0 to 14. Seven is neutral. Below 7 becomes increasingly acidic while above 7 is increasingly alkaline. In the human body, the pH level varies for many reasons. For example, the skin and vagina should be slightly acidic–to help keep unfriendly bacteria away. Saliva is more alkaline, while urine is normally more...

When some people hear the word “calorie”, it is often associated this with weight gain or weight loss. But do you really know and understand what calorie is? Understanding exactly what a calorie is, and why we count them, can help you make better dietary decisions! CALORIE DEFINED Calorie is a unit of measurement specifically defined as the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree Celsius. However, when "calorie" is used in reference to food, people are usually talking about the amount...

Are you on a diet or did you ever consider dieting? Then you know just how confusing it can be with all the conflicting advice. But it doesn’t have to be so complicated. We must understand that being on a diet takes discipline and some diet strategy may work better for you than them. So here is another interesting type of diet that might just work for you… What is really a KETO diet? KETO or KETOGENIC diet is an effective way to lose weight, lower risk factors for disease...

Did you know that urine is normally sterile? This means, it is completely free of bacteria and only has in it waste chemicals from all of the millions of chemical reactions that happen in your body all the time. But in some conditions chemicals that shouldn't normally be there get through the filtering systems in your kidneys and get into your urine. This is where the urine dipstick testing comes in. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT URINE DIPSTICK A urine reagent strip or dipstick is a firm plastic strip...

Kidneys are essential to having a healthy body. They impact on most of our body functions that if left untreated, can lead to death. So, what makes kidneys so important and how do they work? The major function of kidneys is the removal of wastes and extra fluid from the body. Kidneys also remove acid that is produced by the cells of the body and maintain a healthy balance of water, salts, and minerals—such as sodium, calcium, phosphorus, and potassium—in the blood. Without this balance, nerves, muscles, and other tissues in our body may...