While food is certainly necessary to keep the body going, it is insulin, a hormone secreted by the pancreas, that provides the link between food and energy the cells can use. But type 2 diabetes disrupts this link. Normally, the body breaks down the sugars and starches from food into glucose, and insulin takes glucose from the blood into the body's cells.

With type 2 diabetes, glucose cannot enter the body's cells because insulin levels are too low, or insulin is just not recognized. In either case, this disruption causes blood glucose levels to skyrocket to dangerous levels.

Continue reading "The Truth Behind Type 2 Diabetes" »

Just five years into his Sprint Cup Series career, Carl Edwards of Roush Fenway Racing has already shown he can win races.

He's also shown that he's one of the fittest drivers in the sport.

After all, when is the last time Dale Earnhardt Jr. or Jeff Gordon did a backflip off the top of their cars after a race victory as Edwards did after winning at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn in 2007?

Continue reading "Fitness in the fast lane" »

Sounds silly, but the nose knows. Your sniffer can distinguish between 10,000 scents that waft their way to your limbic system. The what system? The limbic system -- the part of your brain that controls your moods, emotions, memory and learning. So it makes sense that aromatherapy, or treatment using scents, can have powerful applications for your state of mind and well-being.

Continue reading "Make sense of scents" »

That kid from "Jerry Maguire" was right: The average human head weighs around 8 pounds. Add the base of the neck and the area includes more than four dozen muscles. And that doesn't touch the 100 billion neurons that make possible our every thought, movement and memory. Suffice it to say, a lot goes on up there. We decided to focus on what can be seen and felt.

Continue reading "Cover story: Your head" »