You may be saying to yourself, Ewwwwww! and what is she TALKING about now? – I just had lunch!
Yes, I said it. A Parasite. The thought of this may be unpleasant, or your worst nightmare. And I’ll admit, it’s downright disgusting, but here’s the thing…

Having a parasite is WAY more common than you think. And it could be related to many other seemingly unrelated ailments. Depending on the type of parasite, an infection can cause massive inflammation, brain fog, digestive troubles, chronic fatigue, and a variety of other issues. Parasitic infections are an often overlooked, yet can be a crucial step in overcoming chronic health issues. Especially in stubborn cases where someone just can’t seem to get well, or move the needle on their health challenges. Put another way, when nothing else is working, think Parasite!

WHAT IS A PARASITE?

Parasites are organisms that live inside your body and feed off of the food you eat, and even parts of your body. Some examples include roundworms, tapeworms, hookworms, pinworms, lice, Giardia, Blastocystis hominis, Toxoplasma gandi, liver flukes and Schistosoma. Some are visible with the naked eye. Some are microscopic. Some eat the food you consume, others can leave you anemic by chowing down on your red blood cells. Some lay eggs that can cause itching and insomnia, like pinworms. Some are responsible for bad hair days and the errant chin hair that appears out of nowhere when you are least likely to be within reach of a tweezer. They come in many shapes and sizes and can live inside of you for YEARS without you knowing it. So rude.

HOW DO YOU GET A PARASITE?

Having a parasite is no longer just from visiting an underdeveloped country on an exotic vacation. This is something you can get from your friendly neighborhood dog or cat. How about the local eatery? Maybe some not so well filtered water. It is far more common than expected. Some of the more common ways to contract parasites include:

• Drinking contaminated food and water
• Eating undercooked meat
• Consuming unclean or contaminated fruits and vegetables
• Walking barefoot outside in the dirt
• Swimming in infected lakes, ponds or creeks.
• Handling animals
• If someone is infected with a parasite, they can then pass it on to others if they don’t wash hands after using a bathroom and leave little eggs on anything they touch, like a phone, a door handle, a menu!! It just gets better and better people.

The point is, it is very easy to catch and transmit parasites even in this day and age of indoor plumbing, water purification, toilet paper and Netflix. Yeah Netflix. It’s not relevant yet I felt the need to include it for completeness. Other risk factors for contracting parasites:

• Poor sleep
• Overuse of antibiotics
• Poor diet
• Owning pets. Even Chia pets (kidding people, Pets, yes. Chia Pets, no!)
• Not washing your produce effectively.
• Traveling to underdeveloped countries. Like New Jersey.

WHAT ARE SOME SIGNS THAT YOU HAVE A PARASITE?

There are many different kinds of parasites that can lead to an assorted array of symptoms. Here are some clues that you may have a parasite:

1. You have unexplained constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating, nausea or have been diagnosed with IBS (irritable bowel syndrome). What I find interesting is that most doctors don’t necessarily check patients for these infections because just like you, they think of parasites as not “first world” problems. And even if you were tested, most likely the local routine lab test wouldn’t show anything helpful. Standard stool cultures and microscopy tests are basically worthless at catching intestinal infections. It may be helpful to run more sensitive testing like the GI MAP to find out if your gut symptoms are related to unwanted trespassers. Please note that even better quality testing may not identify parasites in your system.
2. You traveled internationally and got traveler’s diarrhea on your trip — like this NEVER EVER HAPPENS. Wake up people!! This is like every trip right? How do YOU know what kind of craziness happens on planes and restaurants and hotels? Or heaven forbid your crazy hoarding aunt Harriet with the 12 cats?
3. Past food poisoning: You had food poisoning and your digestion has not been the same since. This is classic. After the initial event, you continue to experience some level of gut distress. Why, do you ask? Because You. Are. Not. Alone!!!! (On a positive note, you can at least tell your mother that you’re “dating” —Ed.)
4. Insomnia: You have trouble falling asleep or you wake up multiple times during the night. This may be because the parasite causes physical discomfort or because it’s a nocturnal beast.
5. Anemia: This is commonly related to blood loss through the stool or from the parasite actually eating your red blood cells. It’s like the cast of the Walking Dead. Except…no apocalypse, no zombies. And you don’t have to wear the same clothes for 90 episodes.
6. Skin irritations or unexplained rashes, hives, rosacea or eczema. Are you chronically itching, rashing and hiving without significant improvement with treatment?
7. Bruxism: You grind your teeth in your sleep. By the way, toxins released by intestinal parasites can also lead to anxiety. These toxins interact with your neurotransmitters leading to mood swings, nervousness and grinding of the teeth at night.
8. Joint and Muscle Pains: Why? Because these parasites can actually invade the joint space, release inflammatory toxins and impact movement and range of motion.
9. Brain symptoms – Examples include: fatigue, exhaustion, mood changes, depression, personality shifts, headaches and memory issues. This is partly related to anemia. But is also due to toxins released by the parasites that alter brain neurochemistry. You can totally use “the parasite made me do it!” as an excuse for anything. It totally works. I got a free Dunkin’ Donuts coffee once. They also told me never to come back, so…..you win some, you lose some.
10. Appetite changes: You never feel satisfied or full after your meals, especially if this is accompanied by weight loss. On the flip side, nausea and gas are common symptoms that can reduce hunger levels.

Growing up in front of the eyes of the public isn’t something Malia Obama is not familiar with. Being the daughter of the former president of the United States, Barak Obama, she has spent her life under the limelight, and even today, the media is interested in her every move.

The 25-year-old just presented her directorial debut, The Heart, at the Sundance Film Festival. In the Sundance Institute’s “Meet the Artist” spotlight video, Malia Obama revealed she was going by the name Malia Ann, thus ditching her moniker.

Malia, who was born Malia Ann Obama on July 4, 1998, has her middle name honoring her paternal grandmother, who died from ovarian cancer at the age of 52 in 1995, and now, she has dropped her last name in favor of her middle name.

Speaking of the short film for which she served as both director and screenwriter, Malia said. “This is an odd little story, somewhat of fable, about a man grieving the death of his mother after she leaves him an unusual request in her will.” Further, in the YouTube clip of the short film, she wrote, “The film is about lost objects and lonely people and forgiveness and regret, but I also think it works hard to uncover where tenderness and closeness can exist in these things.”

The Heat isn’t her first attempt into the profession. Previously, the Harvard grad worked in the writers’ room on Donald’s Amazon Prime show Swarm, co-writing the fifth episode, “Girl, Bye.”

“She’s a very professional person,” Swarm‘s co-creator Janine Nabers said Malia in a January 2023 Vanity Fair interview. “She’s an incredible writer and artist. She made significant contributions… She’s very, truly committed to her craft.”

Swarm‘s executive producer Stephen Glover also spoke of Malia. “We can’t be easy on her just because she’s the [former] President’s daughter,” he told Vanity Fair. “No, she is really down-to-earth and cool. So it’s not an issue at all.”

Malia Obama isn’t the first celebrity who made the decision to ditch their family name. Other celebs have done that before, including Nicolas Cage, who changed his last name from Coppola, and Angelina Jolie, who dropped her surname, Voight.

For her directorial debut, Malia looked cozy, with minimal makeup, her curly hair down with small braids scattered throughout.

Known as the People’s Princess because of her nurturing and compassionate nature, as well as love for the ordinary citizens, Lady Di will forever be remembered as the woman who changed Britain and the Monarchy.

This incredible Princess rose to prominence upon her engagement to Prince Charles, Queen Elizabeth II’s eldest son and heir apparent to the British throne. Ever since the world learned of her, she was under the spotlight. The paparazzi followed her every move, and according to many, pushed her to her death

The following photos show a different side of Diana and remind us once again why we all loved her so much.

A ski trip with her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry.

Unlike the rest of the engagement rings of the British royals, which are custom made, Diana’s 12-carat sapphire ring surrounded by 14 solitaire diamonds set in white gold was ordered from a Garrard jewelry collection catalog. Upon her passing, the ring went to Kate Middleton after William proposed to her with it.

On her wedding day, Diana was so excited and even confused that she called her future husband Philip Charles Arthur George instead of just Charles Philip.

According to her brother Charles Spencer, Diana had a hard time wearing the tiara at the beginning because it caused her headaches.

“In the evening we all went to a sort of semi-private party and she was there and I just remember she had a cracking headache also since she wasn’t used to wearing a tiara all morning,” he said in an interview.

As much as it was very special, Diana’s wedding dress caused her some trouble as the designers of the 25-foot train failed to take into an account how challenging it would be to walk in. When she entered the carriage, Lady Di’s dress slightly crushed and appeared wrinkled as a result.

When asked whether they were in love with each other shortly after their engagement, Charles replied, “Whatever ‘in love’ means,” to Diana’s “Of course.”

Diana is shown the sketches of her gown which were later torn apart in case someone wanted to get a peek.

The wedding gifts Charles and Diana received were perfectly unique. The Reagans, for one, gifted them a handcrafted porcelain centerpiece and an engraved Steuben glass bowl. They also received gloves made of 100-year-old silk and a timepiece set with diamonds and sapphires, among the rest.

Once the wedding took place, it was exposed with the public that Charles and Diana shared a common ancestor in Henry VII of the Tudors. They were 16th cousins once removed.

Charles and Diana are photographed on their honeymoon. A lip reader said at the time that during their conversation, the newlyweds said, “The honeymoon was the ideal time to catch up on sleep…”

This photograph was taken in 1980, before Diana became a Princess.

Diana on her trip to Angola in 1997 where she visited landmine victims.

With her son Harry, wearing matching outfits as he points out his tongue to the crowd.

Princess Diana pictured with her stepmother whom the media dubbed “wicked stepmother” because of her turbulent relationship with Diana.

Diana enjoys a holiday with her partner Dodi Rayed. She died mere days after this photo was taken.

The Princess is having a blast at the beach while wearing an animal print bathing suit.

She was dubbed “The People’s Princess” because of her love for her people, her generosity, and her big heart.

Diana is pictured in Australia’s Northern Territory, at Alice Springs.

Accompanied by her husband, Princess Diana leaves the hospital after giving birth to her first son, William.

One of the most famous photos of Prince Charles and Princess Diana taken at Buckingham Palace right after they announced their engagement on Sunday, February 24, 1981.

Charles and Diana first greet the crowds as a married couple.

Their first kiss as a married couple.

Family portrait taken on October 6, 1984, at Kensington Palace.

Family time!

Prince William’s christening.

The princess addresses a supporter.

Photo of the happy couple and their son William.

When this photo found its way to the media, everyone agreed that Princess Diana was breathtakingly beautiful. So claim this is one of the most beautiful photos of her ever taken.

Late Princess Diana was truly one of a kind. She will forever be missed.

Recently, the sexiest man alive, 57-year-old actor Patrick Dempsey, made a red carpet appearance with his wife and his children.

The Dempsey family stepped out in style for the movie premiere of Ferrari, and as everyone agreed that they all looked incredibly stylish, one particular member of the family stole the spotlight, one of the actors twin sons, 16-year-old Darby.

Why this young man made many talking is his striking resemblance to his handsome dad.

Fans couldn’t help but comment how much Darby looks like his dad. “OMG! His son, the one on the right side of the photo, is his clone! 😳😳,” one person wrote.

Another fan likened the young man to his dad’s character on Grey’s Anatomy and dubbed him “the next McDreamy.”

The truth is that good looks run in the Demspey family.

Patrick and wife Jillian first became parents in 2002 with the arrival of their daughter, Talula, 21. A few years later, they welcome their twin boys, Darby and Sullivan, 16.

Speaking of being a dad of three, Patrick revealed that having a bigger family made things easier for him and his wife.

“I love having a big family. I think it’s easier, oddly, in some ways, having three children as opposed to one. And it’s been great for my relationship with my wife and our life and everything,” the Grey’s Anatomy alum said in 2008.

However, when his children turned teenagers, he revealed that things were now harder because raising teens required a lot of energy.

“Because you need to be around, but they don’t want you around because they’re fighting for their independence, which they should,” he told People in 2023. “They need to find out how they interact in the world, they need to learn those boundaries, they need to make mistakes. And you need to be there for them and allow them to learn from that.”

After years of being a runner-up, Patrick finally received the well-deserved title of “Sexiest Man Alive.”

“I’m glad it’s happening at this point in my life. It’s nice to have the recognition,” the actor said.

Tom Cruise and his third wife, actress Katie Holmes, with whom he shares daughter Suri, divorced some 15 years ago.

Before Holmes, The Top Gun star was married two times. He and Academy award-winning actress Nicole Kidman, whose marriage lasted for a decade, adopted son Connor Cruise, 25, and daughter Isabella “Bella” Cruise, 27, when the two were just months old.

However, after his split with Holmes, the public hasn’t really known much about Cruise’s private life and whether he had been romantically involved with someone or not.

Being a celebrity of his kind, it doesn’t come as a surprise that the media is interested in Cruise’s love life. Recently, his name was mentioned along that of pop star Shakira, who has recently split from her boyfriend of 11 years, football star Gerard Piqué, with whom she has two sons. Except for Shakira, the media speculated of Cruise’s alleged close relationship with Mission: Impossible co-star Hayley Atwell, but the rumors seem to be just that, rumors.

He, however, is apparently dating someone new. His fans could spot him with the 36-year-old ex-wife of a Russia oligarch.

The Daily Mail claim reports that the Hollywood star was recently sighted at a party in Mayfair, London with 36-year-old Elsina Khayrova, daughter to a Russian MP. Khayrova who was previously married to Dmitry Tsvetkov.

“They were inseparable, clearly a couple,” a guest who attended the party told Daily Mail. “He seemed to be besotted with her.”

Cruise and Khayrova’s appearance at the event sparked excitement at the rest of the attendees.

“Cruise was very friendly – he kept being asked for pictures and politely declining,” the Mail’s source added.

“Eventually, the DJ had to make and announcement in Russian that Mr Cruise didn’t want any photos.

“He spent most the night dancing with Ms Khayrova, but at one point he was just throwing himself around in the middle of a group of women.”

Khayrova divorced her tycoon husband earlier this year. She’s a former model who holds a British citizenship.

She became known to the public after her name hit the headlines in 2022 when she appeared in court and was being ordered to pay a hefty fee to the tune of £117,000 ($149,500) to a company who had installed fountains in one of her and her ex-spouse’s homes.

A man named Jason has been working as a pilot for many years. During the course of his career, he’s faced plenty of unexpected situations which required quick-thinking in order to be resolved.

One particular situation, however, made him a hero.

During a flight which had just taken place, the plane Jason operated was suddenly attacked by a colossal flock of birds that were creating bangs on the plane’s windows.

The sight was so unusual that it left Jason in a state of shock. However, knowing that the lives of the passengers were in his hands, he tried to find a way and escape the angry birds, which wasn’t as easy as he through it would.

As he tried to convince everyone on the flight that everything was going to be just right, he prayed that the birds don’t damage the engine.

Sadly, the birds were only getting more and more aggressive, leaving Jason wondering what to do next in order to get rid of them.

He called for flight control assistance but the control tower was silent.

Unable to maintain control of the plane, he made a decision to return to the airport but the attacks became even more aggressive that he was eventually forced to attempt a maneuver he had never tried before; water landing.

No matter how crazy that sounded, it was the only reasonable option that came to this pilot’s mind.

Despite the rough landing, no passenger was injured.

Rescuers arrived at the scene and tugboats were dispatched to pull the plane out of the water. Each of the passengers was taken to safety, but it took some time for this rescue operation to take place since the attacks by the birds continued. The rescue services tried to frighten them, but the birds were persistent, and nobody knew why.

An investigation finally revealed what triggered the flock of birds to attack the plane. It turned out that one of the passengers was trying to smuggle some birds and was involved in the illegal trade in exotic birds.

When everything ended and Jason realized everyone was safe, he felt relieved and cried tears of joy. Not only he avoided a catastrophe, but he exposed a criminal trade.

This is yet another example of the challenges people who are part of the aviation face.

Jason was praised for his action and his ability to stay calm and focused on ensuring the safety on every passenger on board.

It was all thanks to this man that the illegal business that caused the birds’ strange behavior to be brought to an end.

It is recommended that adults consume up to 1,000 mg of calcium per day for optimal health. Instead of buying expensive supplements, you can make your own eggshell calcium powder in the comfort of your own kitchen!

Eggshells contain calcium and 27 other nutrients including glucosamine and hyaluronic acid. These ingredients improve joint health and decrease bone loss. Postmenopausal women who are at a high risk of developing osteoporosis would be well-served to give this homemade supplement a try. Eggshell powder has been proved to decrease pain levels associated with joint pain as well.

In this video, you will learn how to rinse, boil, and bake a dozen eggshells, and then grind them into a powder you can take with or without food. The featured text explains that it’s best to use eggs from healthy chickens. However, if this is not possible for you, then you can still get some benefit from regular store-bought eggs. The end result is a digestible powder that packs 400 mg of calcium per half teaspoon.

If you suddenly found a confusing red dot on your skin, put your mind at ease. An angioma is a small benign tumor that consists of blood vessels. The most common kind of angioma is the cherry angioma, also known as Campbell De Morgan spots or senile angioma. They are cherry red papules on the skin containing an abnormal proliferation of blood vessels.

Daniel Radcliffe has stepped out with his newborn baby, two months after becoming a dad for the first time.

The Harry Potter star, 33, and his long-term partner Erin Darke, 38, were spotted in New York’s West Village on Father’s Day, where Radcliffe was seen holding their child in a baby carrier.

The ultra-private couple are yet to reveal a name or gender for their child, whom they welcomed in April, but the baby was spotted wearing blue socks and a sage bucket hat during the casual outing.

Daniel Radcliffe and his longtime partner Erin Darke spotted out for a Father’s Day stroll with their baby.

It was only revealed in March – eight months into Darke’s pregnancy – that the pair were expecting, when paparazzi snapped photos of them with Darke’s bump on display.

Radcliffe and Darke, who started dating in 2012, have only walked a couple of red carpets together during their decade-long relationship, more recently at the premiere of The Lost City in March last year.

Their baby was wearing blue socks and a sage hat.

They met on the set of the movie Kill Your Darlings (2013) – in which they have a sex scene.

“It’ll be a hell of a story to tell our kids one day because of what our characters do with each other,” he reminisced in an interview with People TV in April 2019.

“Our characters are meeting and flirting with each other, so there is this kind of sweet record of us just meeting for the first time and flirting.”

He also quipped that there was “no acting going on” while shooting the scene.

“Not from my end, anyway,” he told Playboy in October 2015, adding, “There’s a moment when she makes me laugh, and I’m laughing as me and not as my character. She was incredibly funny and smart. I knew I was in trouble.”

Erin Darke and Daniel Radcliffe have been together since 2012.

Radcliffe joins his Harry Potter co-star Rupert Grint in the parenthood club, with the latter welcoming a baby girl, Wednesday Grint, with his long-term partner Georgia Groome in 2020.

Despite their respective levels of fame, the leading Harry Potter trio, including Emma Watson, have kept boundaries around their personal lives.

Grint and Groome, also an actor from Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging fame, have been together since 2011, but keep an extremely low profile and have never publicly spoke about their relationship.

Watson, for her part, last starred in the 2019 film Little Women, before going “underground” – retreating from acting and the public eye.

Rupert Grint, Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe have all managed to keep an element of privacy around their personal lives.

The British actress had more than a year’s break from social media up until late 2021, in which her bio during this time read, “Emma’s official Instagram page is currently dormant and is not being updated”. Her agent went on to say the star “wasn’t taking on new commitments”.

It was reported in early 2021 that Watson was living in Europe with her then-boyfriend Leo Robinton, though they split later in the year.

After reuniting with her co-stars in the televised 20 year Harry Potter reunion special in 2022, Watson has gradually re-entered the spotlight, returning to Instagram and public events. She also made headlines last month for splitting with her boyfriend of 18 months, Brandon Green.

While she has no current acting projects that have been announced publicly, Watson, who is a climate change activist, told Financial Times last month she “absolutely” plans to step in front of the camera again.

“But I’m happy to sit and wait for the next right thing,” she added. “I love what I do. It’s finding a way to do it where I don’t have to fracture myself into different faces and people. And I just don’t want to switch into robot mode any more.”