My dad likes to say how great he looks for his age. I like to compare myself to people ten and twenty years younger than me. I've been into exercise and good diet (on and off) for over thirty years, and am darn glad that I have. It's one reason I feel good, and it just makes sense that it's one reason I look good.
From News-Press:
Healthy aging starts with overall wellness and positive lifestyles choices. Eating a well-balanced diet, incorporating physical exercise into our daily routine and adopting positive wellness habits are all important steps to healthy aging.
The American Heart Association's campaign to educate women about heart health is in full swing this month as the focus is on the Go Red for Women initiative. The little red dress lapel pins have successfully branded this important campaign.
According to its website, the message is simple for women in later life. "The prevention prescription in your 60s is the same as it's always been - healthy diet and exercise."
An important first step is to know your numbers. Monitor your blood pressure, cholesterol and sugar levels and be aware of what is considered normal compared to numbers that should elicit attention.
The Go Red for Women website contains a helpful chart to refer to important numbers that affect heart health. Visit the website at goredforwomen.org.
It is never too late to adopt healthy lifestyle choices. If you smoke, now is a good time to stop. If you live with a smoker, take steps to help them eliminate the habit - their secondhand smoke is equally detrimental to your health. Recognize the effects that alcohol use has on heart health and consciously make an effort to consume alcohol only in moderation.
Pledge to focus on healthy eating and incorporate regular exercise into your schedule. This will help to achieve and maintain a healthy weight, which goes a long way toward the goal of heart health and overall wellness.
To get off to a good start, start your day with a nutritious breakfast including fruit such as cherries and blueberries. Follow this positive step with a 30-minute walk around your neighborhood. Within an hour, you will have incorporated two important steps to healthy aging in your daily routine. Before you know it, healthy lifestyle choices will become a natural part of your day.
Finally, focus energy on reducing stress. Surround yourself with people who make you laugh and elicit positive feelings. Slow down and take time to enjoy the moments you have to spend with friends and family. Take deep breaths. Accept the things you cannot change and try to eliminate whatever you can on your worry list. Get a good night's sleep. Give back by volunteering for a cause dear to your heart.
Maryjeanne Hunt: Ditch the diet, use common sense
Duh. If you need to be told to use common sense, maybe you just don't have any. Still, for those always seeking that magic pill or easy diet, here's some sound advice that you should read.
From The Utica Observer Dispatch:
Annual winter rumblings about failed diets and thwarted weight loss have become a cultural post-holiday ritual, so I suppose I ought to just wave the white flag now and call it a day.
Yes, it's upon us once again. Publishers have pumped out books about diets with real gusto this year –– "The Amen Solution," "The Carb Lover's Diet," "Cinch!" "The New Sonoma," "The New Atkins," "The Lean Belly Prescription" –– and guess what? They all work, and they all fail.
Why? Because they drench us with so many visions of our next meal that we forget life exists outside the imprisoning circle of this year's food rules.
I'd love to know why something as pure and uncorrupt as finding pleasure in life-sustaining nourishment had to become so complex or so evil. (Don't answer that; I know the answer and so do you.)
Naturally we're eager to hear the newest research about carbs or what the temperature of food has to do with burning body fat. If the information turns out to be true, it's pregnant with promise. Therein lies the caveat: IF it turns out to be true.
We're confused. And we're desperately hungry … for the truth.
While I must confess I haven't opened a single one of the 2011 diet books to learn what new earth-shattering secrets I might be missing, I'm confident that a little common sense will go a long way in managing our weight (not to mention our physical and psychological well-being).
So please allow me, once again, to help you wade through the plethora of diet confusion.
From The Utica Observer Dispatch:
Annual winter rumblings about failed diets and thwarted weight loss have become a cultural post-holiday ritual, so I suppose I ought to just wave the white flag now and call it a day.
Yes, it's upon us once again. Publishers have pumped out books about diets with real gusto this year –– "The Amen Solution," "The Carb Lover's Diet," "Cinch!" "The New Sonoma," "The New Atkins," "The Lean Belly Prescription" –– and guess what? They all work, and they all fail.
Why? Because they drench us with so many visions of our next meal that we forget life exists outside the imprisoning circle of this year's food rules.
I'd love to know why something as pure and uncorrupt as finding pleasure in life-sustaining nourishment had to become so complex or so evil. (Don't answer that; I know the answer and so do you.)
Naturally we're eager to hear the newest research about carbs or what the temperature of food has to do with burning body fat. If the information turns out to be true, it's pregnant with promise. Therein lies the caveat: IF it turns out to be true.
We're confused. And we're desperately hungry … for the truth.
While I must confess I haven't opened a single one of the 2011 diet books to learn what new earth-shattering secrets I might be missing, I'm confident that a little common sense will go a long way in managing our weight (not to mention our physical and psychological well-being).
So please allow me, once again, to help you wade through the plethora of diet confusion.
- Most important, be as vigorously active as your life will allow while doing what you love.
- Eat food that looks the way the earth gave it to us as often as possible. (Mother Earth did not create granola bars.)
- Eat an entire rainbow of colors each day (the deeper the color, the better).
- Eat often, but not to fullness.
- Drink water when you're thirsty (not strictly to satisfy some arbitrary number of ounces).
- Eat whole fruit instead of packaged juice whenever possible.
- Save the white stuff (flour) for making things like play dough for your kids. Use whole grain flour instead.
- Enjoy the food you choose. (If you hate celery sticks, don't promise yourself to eat them for lunch every day.)
- Fat is not a foe, but the kind you pour (like olive oil) is better than the kind you spoon (butter). And I encourage you to substitute the word "poison" for words like "hydrogenated" or "trans" fats.
- One final word about sugar (in any form): Our planet gives us all kinds of sweetness. You might be surprised at how sweet foods like veggies, whole grains and fruits taste once your taste buds get a break from sugar. Sugar is really just another pollutant to the body.
Vegetable Diet: The Best and Worst Vegetables to Eat
From HuffPo:
If the phrase "eat your vegetables" echoes from your childhood memories of suppers gone by, then rest assured your mother was right. One of the best ways to improve your health is to eat plenty of high quality vegetables -- ideally raw, locally grown and organic.
It sounds like a tall order. It takes time to get a bounty of fresh vegetables together and eat them every day.
The good news is, it's easier than you think. For example, one way to maximize your intake of veggies is to juice them -- something I highly recommend to patients in our health clinic who are working to restore or improve their health. I'll discuss juicing a little later in this article, but first, let's explore what makes vegetables "high quality," so you will be prepared to make the best choices possible in any situation.
The Importance Of Choosing Organic
The best quality produce means organic, because USDA Organic farmers (and many small, local organic farms working without certification) must use different standards than conventional commercial farmers. These standards include never using:
• Pesticides
• Synthetic Fertilizers
• Sewage sludge
• Genetically modified organisms
• Ionizing radiation
Making sure your vegetables are pesticide-free is especially important.
Did you know the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers 60 percent of herbicides, 90 percent of fungicides and 30 percent of insecticides to be carcinogenic? Most pesticides can damage your nervous system and are associated with numerous health problems such as neurotoxicity, endocrine dysfunction, immunosuppression, impaired reproductive function, miscarriage, and even Parkinson's disease.
This information alone should be an impetus for buying local, organic produce. But there is another important factor to consider: Organic vegetables are more nutritious than conventionally farmed vegetables.
But what if you can't find everything you want organic? How do you tell which conventional veggies may be safe? An investigation of 43 different fruit and vegetable categories by the Environmental Working Group showed sweet bell peppers, celery, lettuce, spinach and potatoes had the highest residual pesticide loads, making them the most important to buy organic.
In contrast, broccoli, eggplant, cabbage, asparagus, sweet peas, sweet corn (frozen) and onions had the lowest residual pesticide load, making them the safest bet among conventionally grown vegetables.
The next step in ensuring your vegetables are high quality is to purchase locally grown produce whenever possible. This increases the chances they are fresh and not wilted.
Now, on to juicing -- another way to help your body absorb more nutrients from a wide variety of vegetables.
Juicing Your Way To Extraordinary Health
First of all, juice only vegetables you enjoy eating whole. That way, your juice will have a familiar flavor that appeals to you. Once you are used to that you can gradually incorporate healthy deep green vegetables like kale and collard greens and moderate their bitterness by juicing some fresh limes.
Also, juice foods you know your body can tolerate -- your stomach should feel good all morning long. If it is churning or growling or generally making its presence known, you probably juiced something you shouldn't be eating.
You can also add certain foods to make your juice more palatable, like fresh or unsweetened shredded coconut, cranberries, lemons and limes -- or even a little fresh ginger root, which has fantastic cardiovascular benefits.
But, whether you're munching them raw or juicing them, some vegetables contain more health building nutrients than others. The following tables detail some of the best and worst vegetables for your health.
If you decide to go the juicing route, I highly recommend first reviewing my information about Nutritional Typing, where you'll learn there are different approaches to juicing depending on whether you are a "veggie type" or a "protein type," or "mixed."
Finally, I'd like to encourage you to obtain as much nutrition as possible from whole food sources, rather than relying on supplements, which can actually have negative health consequences.
A reasonable starter goal is to shoot for eating at least one-third of your foods raw. But I want to emphasize that eating any vegetable is better than eating none at all, so don't get discouraged if you're able to juice only a few times a week.
Even if you need to start slowly, soon you'll begin noticing increased feelings of well being and a new spring in your step! When you begin flooding your body with the nutrients it craves, you might just be amazed at how chronic ailments and aches and pains begin fading away.
If the phrase "eat your vegetables" echoes from your childhood memories of suppers gone by, then rest assured your mother was right. One of the best ways to improve your health is to eat plenty of high quality vegetables -- ideally raw, locally grown and organic.
It sounds like a tall order. It takes time to get a bounty of fresh vegetables together and eat them every day.
The good news is, it's easier than you think. For example, one way to maximize your intake of veggies is to juice them -- something I highly recommend to patients in our health clinic who are working to restore or improve their health. I'll discuss juicing a little later in this article, but first, let's explore what makes vegetables "high quality," so you will be prepared to make the best choices possible in any situation.
The Importance Of Choosing Organic
The best quality produce means organic, because USDA Organic farmers (and many small, local organic farms working without certification) must use different standards than conventional commercial farmers. These standards include never using:
• Pesticides
• Synthetic Fertilizers
• Sewage sludge
• Genetically modified organisms
• Ionizing radiation
Making sure your vegetables are pesticide-free is especially important.
Did you know the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers 60 percent of herbicides, 90 percent of fungicides and 30 percent of insecticides to be carcinogenic? Most pesticides can damage your nervous system and are associated with numerous health problems such as neurotoxicity, endocrine dysfunction, immunosuppression, impaired reproductive function, miscarriage, and even Parkinson's disease.
This information alone should be an impetus for buying local, organic produce. But there is another important factor to consider: Organic vegetables are more nutritious than conventionally farmed vegetables.
But what if you can't find everything you want organic? How do you tell which conventional veggies may be safe? An investigation of 43 different fruit and vegetable categories by the Environmental Working Group showed sweet bell peppers, celery, lettuce, spinach and potatoes had the highest residual pesticide loads, making them the most important to buy organic.
In contrast, broccoli, eggplant, cabbage, asparagus, sweet peas, sweet corn (frozen) and onions had the lowest residual pesticide load, making them the safest bet among conventionally grown vegetables.
The next step in ensuring your vegetables are high quality is to purchase locally grown produce whenever possible. This increases the chances they are fresh and not wilted.
Now, on to juicing -- another way to help your body absorb more nutrients from a wide variety of vegetables.
Juicing Your Way To Extraordinary Health
First of all, juice only vegetables you enjoy eating whole. That way, your juice will have a familiar flavor that appeals to you. Once you are used to that you can gradually incorporate healthy deep green vegetables like kale and collard greens and moderate their bitterness by juicing some fresh limes.
Also, juice foods you know your body can tolerate -- your stomach should feel good all morning long. If it is churning or growling or generally making its presence known, you probably juiced something you shouldn't be eating.
You can also add certain foods to make your juice more palatable, like fresh or unsweetened shredded coconut, cranberries, lemons and limes -- or even a little fresh ginger root, which has fantastic cardiovascular benefits.
But, whether you're munching them raw or juicing them, some vegetables contain more health building nutrients than others. The following tables detail some of the best and worst vegetables for your health.
Finally, I'd like to encourage you to obtain as much nutrition as possible from whole food sources, rather than relying on supplements, which can actually have negative health consequences.
A reasonable starter goal is to shoot for eating at least one-third of your foods raw. But I want to emphasize that eating any vegetable is better than eating none at all, so don't get discouraged if you're able to juice only a few times a week.
Even if you need to start slowly, soon you'll begin noticing increased feelings of well being and a new spring in your step! When you begin flooding your body with the nutrients it craves, you might just be amazed at how chronic ailments and aches and pains begin fading away.
New dietary guidelines, boiled down
From The Washingon Post:
Are you as excited as I am about the release yesterday of the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010?
Probably no one is more excited, or perhaps relieved, than the folks who have been working for years to craft the new document. They've had to sort through lots of scientific evidence and consider the opinions of everyone from the National Cattlemen's Beef Association to the pro-vegetarian Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, and come to some consensus as to what the document should advise about how Americans should eat.
The 100-plus-page brochure (available here in PDF form) offers guidance on everything from fish consumption (everyone, including pregnant women, should eat more) to improving Americans' access to healthful foods. It all boils down to two key messages. Americans should:
That, you can almost hear the authors conceding, may be about all the guidance many of us can absorb.
But just think: What if we all just took these basic baby steps? I will if you will.
Are you as excited as I am about the release yesterday of the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010?
Probably no one is more excited, or perhaps relieved, than the folks who have been working for years to craft the new document. They've had to sort through lots of scientific evidence and consider the opinions of everyone from the National Cattlemen's Beef Association to the pro-vegetarian Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, and come to some consensus as to what the document should advise about how Americans should eat.
The 100-plus-page brochure (available here in PDF form) offers guidance on everything from fish consumption (everyone, including pregnant women, should eat more) to improving Americans' access to healthful foods. It all boils down to two key messages. Americans should:
- Maintain calorie balance over time to achieve and sustain a healthy weight.
- Focus on consuming nutrient-dense foods and beverages.
Dietary Guidelines 2010
Selected Messages for Consumers
Take action on the Dietary Guidelines by making changes in these three
areas.
Choose steps that work for you and start today.
Balancing Calories
• Enjoy your food, but eat less.
• Avoid oversized portions.
Foods to Increase
• Make half your plate fruits and vegetables.
• Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk.
Foods to Reduce
• Compare sodium in foods like soup, bread, and frozen meals -- and
choose the foods with lower numbers.
• Drink water instead of sugary drinks.
But just think: What if we all just took these basic baby steps? I will if you will.
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