3 Tips to Healthy Living

I am so gonna do this...


Healthy Living
Saturday, June 28, 2008
3 tips for how to live to 100

by Glamour Magazine, on Thu May 15, 2008 2:43pm PDT


Your behavior now makes a difference, says new research. Experts recommend these habits:

Get creative at work.
On average, a woman with a creative job has the cardiovascular fitness and other health attributes of someone six years younger, according to a recent study. What does “creative” mean? Acting, writing or painting are obvious picks, but any job can count as long as you find it interesting and it lets you develop new skills, experts say.

Make sure you cover the basics.
Eating five servings of fruits and veggies a day, being active, not smoking, and drinking in moderation could add 14 years to your life, according to new British research. Too tall an order? Tackle just the exercise part: A recent study by the National Cancer Institute found that older people who got at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise most days of the week were less likely to die over the next seven years than those who didn't.

Do something fun.
Women who are feeling “happy, excited or content” have lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol, as well as C-reactive protein and interleukin-6—two markers of inflammation linked to heart disease, a University College London study found. It may not take a Ph.D. to figure out that being happy is good for you, but this is one of the first studies to pinpoint a biological reason. So the next time you're feeling frazzled, make plans to do anything that'll get you smiling.
—LISA MULCAHY

When they say about Creative job here, I believe its not only at your job, but also something recreational outside your job, like a hobby, etc. In my case, maybe blogging...

Health Nugget - Take the Cheapest Supplements You Can Find?

Early in my career, I remember telling my patients who were set on taking supplements to just take the cheapest ones they could find. The reason I made this comment was that I really did not believe that supplements had any value anyway, so why not just buy the cheapest ones? At least, they would not cost my patients too much money. In contrast, now that I realize all of the health benefits my patients can receive by taking supplements, I want to be sure that they receive high-quality products. One of the greatest frustrations in becoming a specialist in nutritional medicine is that I work with such an unregulated market. The FDA looks at nutritional supplements the same way it looks at foods. This entire industry is really not regulated, and a nutritional company can pretty much put any amount of nutrients in their tablets. In other words, the amount stated on the label is not necessarily what is in the tablet. Unless a nutritional company voluntarily produces its nutritional supplements in a pharmaceutical-grade method, the consumer has no assurance that what is on the label is in the tablet. Why sell your health to the lowest bidder? Taking high-quality, complete and balanced nutritional are the least expensive health insurance policy you will ever purchase.

Health Nugget - You Can Get Everything You Need from a Healthy Diet

I told my patients for years that they did not need to take supplements and that they could get everything they needed by eating a healthy diet. When I began to realize that RDA's had nothing to do with the types of diseases I was trying to prevent, I had to rethink my decision not to recommend supplements. As I mentioned earlier, the optimal level of vitamin E is 400 IU. Why just not have my patients eat 400 IU of vitamin E. They would only need to eat 33 heads of spinach or 28 pounds of butter or 5 pounds of wheat germ each day to get that much vitamin E. The optimal level of vitamin C is about 1000 to 2000 mg daily (the RDA is only 60 mg). My patients would only have to eat 18 large oranges or 80 avocados to get that amount of vitamin C from their diet.

I certainly believe that we must supplement a healthy diet with 8 to 12 servings of fruits and vegetables along with those good fats and good proteins. However, there was no way my patients could receive health benefits from optimal levels of nutrients without supplementing their diet. It became very obvious to me that my patients needed to supplement their diet with high-quality, complete and balanced nutritional supplements for the best protection against chronic degenerative diseases.

6 ingredients for a green, clean home

By Valerie Rains

Sure, it’s great to find that one magical product that solves a very specific household problem. (The Gonzo Pet Hair Lifter a multiple-cat-owning friend received as a Christmas gift truly has no equal.) But the truth is, you need little more than the following six ingredients—baking soda, borax, lemon juice, salt, olive oil and white vinegar—to clean just about anything in your home (pet hair excluded). Here are just a few of the many uses for these, well, magical multi-taskers:

1. Baking soda: Acts as a scrub to remove hard water stains; polishes metal; deodorizes pretty much anything it touches (try stashing some in the fridge).

2. Borax: Mixed with three parts water, it makes a paste for cleaning carpet stains; mixed with ¼ part lemon juice, it cleans stainless steel and porcelain. (Note: although borax is a natural substance, you still shouldn’t eat it—and neither should your kids or pets.)

3. Lemon: Deodorizes and cuts grease on counter tops; rubbed on cutting boards, it bleaches stains and disinfects; combined with baking soda, it removes stains from plastic food storage containers.

4. Salt: Another natural scrubber—sprinkle it on cookware or oven surfaces, then rub; add citrus juice to turn it into an effective rust remover.

5. White vinegar: Deodorizes and disinfects; combine with water (and a little liquid soap—I know, it feels like cheating) to clean windows, mirrors, and floors; use at full strength in a spray bottle to fight mold and mildew.

6. Olive Oil: Mix two parts oil with one part lemon juice and use as a natural wood polish. (Save the really good stuff for dinner.)

One added bonus of using natural cleaners: as part of your spring cleaning regimen, you can now clear out all those bottles of specialized (and possibly toxic) potions.

Can Eggs Make You Smarter?

Our Most Popular Tips »
Like your poached egg and whole-wheat toast in the morning? Your brain might enjoy it, too.

Eating selenium-rich foods -- like eggs -- could help keep your memory sharp and your brain speed on high as you age.

Your Brain on Selenium
In rural China, researchers found that elderly people who got at least the U.S. recommended daily value of selenium (about 55 micrograms per day) had cognitive test scores that put them in a league with people 10 years younger. Test your mental acuity with this quiz and see how you match up for your age.

Super Sources
You can get your daily dose of selenium by eating whole-wheat bread (10 micrograms per slice), eggs (14 micrograms per egg), tuna (63 micrograms per 3-ounces), Brazil nuts (270 micrograms per half ounce), and many other foods. In other words, you don't have to go overboard with eggs -- and probably shouldn't -- to get your fill.

Will These Foods Make You Smarter?

The trend to fortify foods with the omega-3 DHA.

One of the reasons nutrition experts recommend eating fish twice a week is that they are a good source of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), an omega-3 fat that has heart-healthy benefits. Now preliminary studies suggest that DHA may help boost brain power too. It makes sense: DHA comprises much of the cell membranes in our brains. And food producers are taking the concept and running with it—they’re adding DHA to foods like yogurt, soy milk and eggs, then marketing them with "smart" slogans. But do these products really maximize mental performance?

Supporting evidence: Some research links higher intakes of DHA with reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease and the cognitive decline that precedes it. In a 2003 study in the Archives of Neurology, people aged 65-plus who ate at least one (DHA-rich) fish meal per week had a 60 percent reduced risk for Alzheimer’s. And growing evidence suggests DHA supplementation during pregnancy and early infancy may result in superior cognitive performance of the child. This past June, a randomized clinical trial in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition revealed that nine-month-old babies of mothers who’d eaten DHA-fortified cereal bars (about 200 mg of DHA daily) during the last trimester of their pregnancies demonstrated better problem-solving skills than those whose mothers consumed "placebo" cereal bars.

Cons: Currently, there is no research to show that eating DHA-rich foods improves mental function in healthy adults. "It remains to be seen whether initiating DHA later in life has an important effect on the brain," says Joseph Quinn, M.D., associate professor of neurology at Oregon Health & Science University.

Our verdict: Eating inherently healthful foods like yogurt that have been fortified with DHA, along with foods like salmon and tuna, is a good way to increase intake of DHA, says Elizabeth Somer, R.D., author of Food & Mood (Henry Holt & Co.). And research does indicate that boosting DHA intake to about 200 mg per day—about three times what the average American gets now—may have some mental benefits. That said, don’t expect these fortified foods to help you land a spot on Jeopardy!

Omega3 Fatty Acid Lowers Heart Disease

Omega-3 fatty acid intake associated with lower heart disease risk
Increased consumption of omega-3 fatty acids in the diet is associated with lower levels of inflammation and endothelial activation, according to results from a study at Harvard. Dysfunction of the endothelium, which is the inner lining of the blood vessel wall, is an early event in the development of atherosclerosis and subsequent heart disease. Food frequency questionnaires completed in1986 and 1990 by 727 participants in the Nurses' Health study were evaluated for levels of the omega-3 fatty acids alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Alpha-linolenic acid consumption was found to be inversely associated with several plasma markers of inflammation, while EPA and DHA intake was inversely related to platelet aggregration. Results of this study indicate that in addition to reducing triglycerides, platelet aggregation and heart arrhythmias, omega-3 fatty acids may also reduce the body's production of hydrogen peroxide, which is involved in the inflammatory process. J Nutr 2004 Jul;134(7):1806-11