Your genes are not your destiny. However, your genes are one of the primary factors that determine your health and risk factors for certain conditions. One particular gene that’s been getting a lot of press recently is MTHFR (methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase), with curiosity steadily rising as at-home genetic testing has boomed. But as with most things related to health, there are a lot of misconceptions about it.

We talk a lot about gut health over here at WellBe, and rightfully so! After all, it impacts every single aspect of your well-being, both mental and physical. But often, when we speak about gut health, we focus only on the bacteria in your gut. While the balance of good and bad gut bacteria is crucial to gut health, other microbes have an impact as well. One of those important microbes is candida, a form of yeast that supports various bodily functions in small amounts — but when there’s too much yeast in the body, things go haywire. Read on to learn about the signs of candida overgrowth, the best candida overgrowth treatment, the candida overgrowth diet, and more.

When it comes to getting and staying well during cold and flu season, your top defense is with the food you eat. At our panel on Nov. 9, 2017, we talked to board-certified internist,  functional medicine doctor, and author of “The Happy Gut,” Dr. Vincent Pedre, health coach and author of “The Real Food Grocery Guide,” Maria Marlowe, and INDAY founder Basu Ratnam (they hosted!) about their best tips for eating for immunity.

The keto diet, the paleo diet, Whole30, veganism...there are a lot of diets out there. In this guide, WellBe looks at the 6 most popular diets right now, and the benefits and drawbacks of each.

We’re looking at ways to reverse and prevent chronic inflammation. Start by eating organic fruits, vegetables, and healthy fats, and cutting out inflammatory foods like artificial sweeteners, dairy, and gluten.

In the WellBe Guide to natural antivirals, we explain the difference between viral and bacterial infections, and explore natural virus killers like antiviral herbs, infrared saunas, and more.

The WellBe Guide to Different Types of Sugar looks at how sugar affects your body, and which types of sugar are best (and worst) for your health.

Most of us probably don’t think of ourselves as someone who has lived through trauma like abuse, abandonment, or some kind of tragic accident. Yet the more we learn about the concept of “trauma,” the more scientists are beginning to understand that in early childhood, much more subtle events can cause trauma and affect your long-term chronic disease risk as well as your ability to heal symptoms in the short term. The craziest part is that we don’t even know about most of these traumas that have such a huge impact on our lives — or they’re buried so deep that our conscious minds can’t see how much they affect us. Thankfully, there are ways to pull them to the surface (as painful or uncomfortable as that may be), and then release them. Read on to learn how repressed feelings affect your health, proven techniques for releasing emotions, how to heal emotional trauma through EMDR trauma therapy, and more.

The umbrella of complementary and alternative medicine is large. Underneath it you’ll find everything from acupuncture to herbal tinctures to infrared therapy and beyond, all of which are founded upon deep tradition, robust research, or both. But one field of alternative medicine that’s been less studied and explored is that of prayer for physical healing. Given how many people pray for specific health outcomes, it’s quite notable how little is actually known about the healing power of prayer — but we do know some things. Read on to learn what the research says about prayer, spirituality and health.