General Health Articles

Monitoring Your Child's Diet

Childhood obesity is constantly on the rise, so as parents we need to be sure that we are always monitoring our children's fat intake.  In order to help your child maintain a healthy lifestyle, be sure to establish good eating habits like the following:

• Children with a family history of cholesterol and heart disease should drink 2 percent milk.
• After their 2^nd birthday, all kids should drink 1 percent milk.
• Serve your child lean meats and fish.
• Limit your child's cheese intake.
• Limit fruit juice intake to 4 to 6 ounces per day.
• Offer low-fat snacks like yogurt, pretzels or fresh fruit.
• Prepare foods using low-fat methods like broiling, steaming or roasting.

 Get Rid Of Your Belly!

Have you been battling the belly bulge for way too long and are ready to finally fight it off?  Well then you need to start by ditching these food and lifestyle choices and say goodbye to your belly once and for all!

• Eating out too often.  If you are eating out too often then you are definitely eating too many food items that are battered, breaded, fried and generally unhealthy for you.  You are also more than likely using far too much of condiments than you would if you were eating at home.
• Drinking diet drinks.  It may be calorie-free, but studies show that people who drink diet sodas intake more calories in a day than those who don't indulge in diet drinks.
• Stress eating sugar.  Stress increases cortisol levels in the body, causing sugary and fatty cravings.
• Smoking.  Smokers have a larger waist circumference than non-smokers. Plus smoking is all-around bad for you!

Healthy Living - Manic Monday?

What Successful People Do on Mondays

You have seen all of the memes on social media that wage war on a “case of the Mondays” and declare that it is the worst day of the week. But, did you know that Monday is actually the most critical day of the entire work week?

Experts say that because you took a two-day break from the trials and tribulations of your work week, Monday is your chance to make the entire week a memorable one.

Not everyone hates Mondays, though. Many of the world's most influential and successful people welcome Monday's with open arms and look forward to starting their week anew.

If you are looking to make your work week a more profitable one, starting with Monday, then follow what many successful leaders do:

• Wake up early.
• Exercise
• Eat a healthy breakfast.
• Arrive at work early.
• Clear your desk and desktop.
• Carve out time for unexpected projects and tasks.
• Greet your team and boss.
• Update your to-do list and weekly goals.
• Visualize the success of the week.
• Screen emails for urgent requests.
• Tackle the tough challenges first.
• Make an extra effort to smile.
• Add a “blanket of humanity” to your emails. (Reread them for friendliness and clarity before you send them.)
• Be able and learn to say “No”.
• Stay focused.
• Remember that there is “Tuesday”.

Perfectly Plum

Plums are the delicious fruit that come from the same fruit family as cherries and peaches.  But plums are about more than just great taste, they are chock full of nutritional value.

Plums, and their dried version known as prunes, are very high in phytonutrients, which function as an antioxidant and provide much benefit to the body.

Eating plums helps in the production and absorption of iron in the body, thereby leading to better blood circulation leading further to the growth of healthy tissues.

Consuming plums on a regular basis will help prevent macular degeneration and other eye infections. Researchers have also found that plums contain anti-cancer agents that prevent the growth of cancerous cells and tumors.

Because plums contain blood cleansing agents that help keep the blood pure, plums can help you reduce the risk of contracting heart disease.

Plums are also high in vitamin C, meaning they help to protect the body against conditions like asthma, colon cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis.

Recipe: Chicken Breasts with Plum Salsa and Basmati Rice

1 ½ cups of water

1 cup uncooked basmati rice, rinsed and drained

¾ pound plums, pitted and chopped

½ medium red onion, minced

3 habanero peppers, seeded and minced

3 tablespoons fresh minced cilantro

1 teaspoon sugar

¾ pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, minced

Salt and pepper to taste

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

Place water in medium saucepan and stir in rice. Bring to boil.  Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat, cool and fluff with fork.  In a bowl, mix the plums, peppers, onions, cilantro and sugar. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.  Season chicken with rosemary, salt and pepper.  Heat vegetable oil in skillet over medium-heat. Place chicken in oil and brown 1 minute per side.  Reduce heat to medium, and cook for 5 additional minutes per side.  Serve over rice with plum salsa.

Recipe: Fresh Summer Fruit Salad

½ cup water

2/3 cup sugar

3 cups thinly sliced rhubarb

15 seedless grapes, halved

½ orange, sectioned

10 fresh strawberries, hulled and halved

1 apple, cored and diced

1 peach, sliced

1 plum, pitted and sliced

15 pitted Bing cherries

¼ cup fresh blueberries

Bring water and sugar to boil in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Stir in the rhubarb, turn heat to low, cover and simmer until rhubarb is soft, 10 to 15 minutes.  Mash and chill in the refrigerator about one hour.   To serve, mix the grapes, orange, strawberries, apple, peach, plum, cherries, and blueberries with 2/3 cup of the rhubarb sauce.  Stir gently, but thoroughly to coat.  Refrigerate for at least two hours for all of the flavors to blend well.

Women's Health by the Decades

Women of all ages need to make sure to stay healthy and most experts break down women's health routines by their age.  Here are some different checks and measures that should be met as women age, through their 60s.

In your 20s,

1. Kick your unhealthy habits.  Sure we all drank too much, ate too much, and maybe smoked too much during our college days, but those days should be left at college. Many habits that you form in your 20s stick with you throughout your life, so let go of the bad ones!
2. Plan for an annual physical.  Schedule an annual check-up into your life and stick to it.  You will thank yourself and will be assured that you are doing as well as you feel.
3. Get your fill of calcium and vitamin D.

In your 30s,

1. Keep an eye on the scale as many women begin to deal with weight struggles in their 30s.
2. Get your sleep : all eight hours : if you can!
3. Pay attention to irregular periods as they can be telling you something about your ovaries or thyroid as you age.

In your 40s,

1. Get a mammogram.
2. Have a diabetes screening done, as your chances of having Type II diabetes is more common in your 40s.
3. Try to get at least 20 to 30 minutes of exercise in per day.

In your 50s,

1. Pay attention to your heart and your risk factors like cholesterol and blood pressure.
2. Schedule a colonoscopy.
3. Get the flu vaccine every year.

In your 60s,

1. Have a bone density test done.
2. Make sure to increase your intake of vitamin B12, which helps to produce healthy red blood cells.
3. Inquire about getting a shingles vaccine and be careful of your risk factors for catching pneumonia.

Quick Tips for Improving your Memory

Memory lapses may be unavoidable after some time when aging sets in. Other factors may worsen memory problems such as diet, and other external factors. But exercising your brain, exercising your body and taking the right nutrients might help you conquer some memory problems.

Here are some quick tips you can use to improve your cognitive functioning as well as your memory.

1. Sleep. Sleeping right and sleeping at the right length of time can rejuvenate your mind and can keep you thinking straight. Memory lapses sometimes can be caused by fatigue. Your abilities to think properly and solve problems can be compromised by grogginess and can be a recipe for disaster.
2. Exercise. Exercising your body can help in proper blood circulation, well worked out muscle and better system functioning. Your brain then can have a proper supply of oxygen which lets you avoid memory loss. Exercising daily for the rest of your life can keep you sharp, aside from the fact that it can keep you healthy. A routine activity can harness your brain chemicals and make it work well.
3. Keep Social relationships good. According to research, meaningful relationships and good support system can keep your mental functioning healthy as well as your emotional health. In a Study by Harvard School of Public Health, researchers found out that people who have the most active social life has paved better against mental decline.
4. Eat right. You are what you eat. Eating brain boosting foods is recommended by most experts. It can keep dementia away and reduce the likelihood of brain and memory decline. Now what are those brain and memory boosting foods?

• Omega-3 rich food. Like your tuna, mackerel and herring. They are oily fishes. Omega-3 is known for its capacity to boost brain health and keep your heart healthy. It can also be found among flaxseeds, walnut and Chia seeds.
• Green tea. Green tea is filled with anti-oxidant Polyphenols which protects your brain from damage.
• Drink some wine. In moderation, a wine can help improve memory as well as cognition. Red wine is rich in resveratrol that can boost blood flow in the brain. It can help stop Alzheimer's too.
• Fruits and vegetables.
• Avoid unhealthy fats.

5. Take Supplements. Supplements such as omega-3 fish oil and calamari oil can be an alternative if you can't consume the natural foods mentioned above.
6. Avoid Stress. Stress can strain your brain and memory. So breathe in and breathe out. When stressed out for a reason, use a stress ball to keep it away or go and see your friends and laugh.
7. Exercise Your Brain. Some little puzzles and challenge can keep your brain working and can keep it from being rusty. You can also have hand-eye coordination challenging activities such as tennis o do some needle work. OR try playing instruments or try answering quizzes.
8. Concentrate. Always concentrate. Sometimes you easily let go of some things and some memories because you are not paying much attention to it.
9. Use some Mnemonics. Mnemonics device is one way to keep you remembering things. Or have some acronyms, rhymes, alliteration when you are trying to memorize things.
10. Involve your senses.
11. Relate information always with what you already know.

These are just tips though. Sometimes there are things that can't be controlled by the things you can do. Like for example your genes, if you have family history that speaks of dementia, then the best you can do is to try to prevent it. And as always, prevention and early intervention are always what works best.