For years, people with gout have been shamed for causing their own pain. It was thought their poor diet elevated uric acid which contributes to painful crystals in joints, like the big toe. Now we know there’s more to the story.

Your body needs cholesterol to make hormones and vitamin D, help you digest your food — not to mention it’s like brain food. But once your body has enough cholesterol to do what it needs to do, the rest is just superfluous. This is where HDL comes in…

Forget the ‘Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ drama. There are tons of good reasons to eat almonds regularly. Maybe you want to improve your waistline, or like almost 4 million Americans, you want to ‘go’ regularly and enjoy the benefits of a healthy gut this tiny nut provides.

In spite of all their health benefits, nuts like almonds still get “bad press.” You’ll often hear that snacking on them leads to weight gain, because of the calories that come from their fat content. What if we told you that when you eat that handful of almonds, you’re really not absorbing all those calories?

When you’re craving a snack, you have two choices. You can reach for something salty, crunchy and processed (like potato chips) that won’t do your heart health any favors. Or you can reach for something that’s just as satisfying that significantly improves your cholesterol, blood vessel health and cardiovascular disease risk…