Superfoods contain high concentrations of the nutrients that are essential for our wellbeing. By increasing your superfood consumption the inevitable result is a more nutrient dense, lower calorie, health promoting diet.
Have you seen the boxes and boxes of juicy clementines in your grocery store? How about all the luscious grapefruit and aromatic oranges?
These superfruits are delicious in the morning and the afternoon, or even as an after dinner snack . Not only are they sweet, low in calories, high in fiber and very portable, but they also are an excellent source of vitamin C, flavonoids, folate and pectin - all of which are crucial to a healthy body.
Our cells need constant replenishment of vitamin C. Our bodies don't make our own vitamin C and, for somewhat complex reasons, what we get from the food that we eat doesn't last long in our systems. Unfortunately, 20 to 30 percent of Americans have low levels of vitamin C in their blood, and 16 percent are actually deficient in this vital nutrient.
You may not realize how many different ways this important vitamin is crucial to health. For instance, vitamin C protects all of our cells by neutralizing free-radicals. DNA and cells damaged by free-radicals can lead to cancer and heart disease.
Citrus is rich in flavonoids. Among other things, they are antioxident, anti-inflamatory, antiallergenic, antimicrobial and antimutagenic. This means the flavonoids in citrus help prevent cells from mutating and initiating one of the first steps in the development of cancer and other chronic diseases.
When you eat citrus, don't skip the pulp and whitish pith interlaced with the juicy fruit part. The pulp has twice the concentration of vitamin C than the peel and 10 times the amount in the juice. There is a great amount of pectin in the white pith lining of citrus. Pectin is dietary fiber which helps reduce cholesterol and also contributes to stabilizing blood sugar. Citrus fruits don't ripen after picking. Whole citrus fruits can be stored in the refrigerator or on the counter. Just make sure you take them out of the bags or boxes so they don't become moldy.
Source: www.superfoodsrx.com
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
Crack open some secrets about nuts
Great info on various nuts and their benefits from Nuts For Life....
Almonds are rich in Vitamin E, with just a handful (30g, about 20 nuts) providing 85% of the Recommended Daily Intake (RDI) for Vitamin E. Vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin and antioxidant. So it’s important to include in the diet foods rich in healthy fats such as nuts to maintain heart health[i]. Bitter almonds contain prussic acid (also known as hydrogen cyanide). Extract of bitter almond was once used medicinally, but even in small doses effects are severe and in larger doses can be deadly. Fortunately the almonds we eat are considered “sweet” almonds[ii].
Brazil nuts are an excellent source of selenium, a vital mineral and antioxidant that may help prevent heart disease[iii]. Just two Brazil nuts can provide your entire daily intake of selenium[iv]. They’re called Brazil nuts because they’re the seeds of a very large tree from the Amazon rainforest. Brazil nuts for international trade come entirely from wild collection rather than from cultivated nut farms[v].
You will never see cashews sold in the shell. The nut is surrounded by a double shell that contains a caustic phenolic resin, urushiol, a potent skin irritant and toxin also found in poison ivy[vi]. Cashew nuts however are a firm favourite and with good reason – cashews are a source of magnesium, needed for strong bones. Count 15 cashews in a handful.
Hazelnuts are referred to in a manuscript found in dating from 2838 BC. At that time, the hazelnut took its place among the five sacred nourishments God bestowed on humans[vii]. Maybe no longer sacred, but certainly very worthy. Hazelnuts contain significant amounts of B group vitamins including folate and Vitamin B6. Plus, they are the highest in fibre of all the nuts. An average handful contains 20 hazelnuts. Macadamias - the Australian nut - are brimming with healthy monounsaturated fats and have been found to lower blood cholesterol[viii]. Fifteen macadamias make one handful, and be careful to keep dogs at a safe distance – macadamias may cause muscle weakness[ix]. With a number of essential nutrients pecans are a great all round snack for the health conscious. They have also been shown to reduce blood cholesterol[x]. Feast on a handful or 15 pecans. “Pecan" is apparently from the native North American Algonquin word meaning "a tough nut to crack”[xi]. Indeed they are, so best to use a nut cracker. Pine-nuts, for Ancient Greeks and Romans, were believed to be an aphrodisiac. Whether for that reason or not, the pine-nut continues as a standard ingredient in today’s Italian cuisine. Pine-nuts are the edible seeds of pine trees, removed from pine cones. They contain nutrients including useful amounts of zinc, niacin, manganese and the amino acid or protein arginine. An average serve is two tablespoons of pine nuts.
With that recognisable green colour pistachios are the only edible nuts that don’t need to be shelled before roasting. Related to the almond, peach and nectarine family – or drupes - pistachios are split down the middle[xii]. They’re rich in protein for active bodies and contain the antioxidant Vitamin E. Split 60 pistachios for an average serve of 30g.
Walnuts are understood to have first been cultivated more than 4000 years ago, however fossilised shells have been found in South West France dating back 8000 years. The modern name walnut comes from the German ‘wallnuss’, meaning foreign nut. While ancient in name, walnuts are essential for health. They contain the highest source of natural plant omega 3s called alphalinoleic acid – ALA . Eating walnuts is like wearing a seat belt for your heart. Enjoy 10 whole walnuts in an average serve.
References [i] Strahan TM. Nuts for cardiovascular protection. Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2004;13(Suppl):S33 [ii] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almond#Sweet_and_bitter_almonds [iii] Gemma Flores-Mateo et al. Selenium and coronary heart disease: a meta-analysis. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2006;84(4):762-773 [iv] Nuts for Life Ready Recknoner – In a Nutshell, 2005 [v] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil_nut [vi] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cashew [vii] http://www.hazelnutcouncil.org/about/background.cfm [viii] Hiraoka-Yamamoto J, et al. Serum lipid effects of a monounsaturated (palmitoleic) Fatty Acid-rich diet based on macadamia nuts in healthy, young Japanese women. Clin Exp Pharmacol Physiol. 2004 Dec;31 Suppl 2:S37-8. [ix] Hansen SR et al. Weakness, tremors and depression associated with macadamia nuts in dogs. Vet Hum Toxicol. 2000;42(1):18-21. [x] Rajaram S et al A monounsaturated fatty acid-rich pecan-enriched diet favorably alters the serum lipid profile of healthy men and women. J Nutr. 2001 Sep;131(9):2275-9. [xi] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pecan [xii] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pistachio
source: www.nutsforlife.com
Almonds are rich in Vitamin E, with just a handful (30g, about 20 nuts) providing 85% of the Recommended Daily Intake (RDI) for Vitamin E. Vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin and antioxidant. So it’s important to include in the diet foods rich in healthy fats such as nuts to maintain heart health[i]. Bitter almonds contain prussic acid (also known as hydrogen cyanide). Extract of bitter almond was once used medicinally, but even in small doses effects are severe and in larger doses can be deadly. Fortunately the almonds we eat are considered “sweet” almonds[ii].
Brazil nuts are an excellent source of selenium, a vital mineral and antioxidant that may help prevent heart disease[iii]. Just two Brazil nuts can provide your entire daily intake of selenium[iv]. They’re called Brazil nuts because they’re the seeds of a very large tree from the Amazon rainforest. Brazil nuts for international trade come entirely from wild collection rather than from cultivated nut farms[v].
You will never see cashews sold in the shell. The nut is surrounded by a double shell that contains a caustic phenolic resin, urushiol, a potent skin irritant and toxin also found in poison ivy[vi]. Cashew nuts however are a firm favourite and with good reason – cashews are a source of magnesium, needed for strong bones. Count 15 cashews in a handful.
Hazelnuts are referred to in a manuscript found in dating from 2838 BC. At that time, the hazelnut took its place among the five sacred nourishments God bestowed on humans[vii]. Maybe no longer sacred, but certainly very worthy. Hazelnuts contain significant amounts of B group vitamins including folate and Vitamin B6. Plus, they are the highest in fibre of all the nuts. An average handful contains 20 hazelnuts. Macadamias - the Australian nut - are brimming with healthy monounsaturated fats and have been found to lower blood cholesterol[viii]. Fifteen macadamias make one handful, and be careful to keep dogs at a safe distance – macadamias may cause muscle weakness[ix]. With a number of essential nutrients pecans are a great all round snack for the health conscious. They have also been shown to reduce blood cholesterol[x]. Feast on a handful or 15 pecans. “Pecan" is apparently from the native North American Algonquin word meaning "a tough nut to crack”[xi]. Indeed they are, so best to use a nut cracker. Pine-nuts, for Ancient Greeks and Romans, were believed to be an aphrodisiac. Whether for that reason or not, the pine-nut continues as a standard ingredient in today’s Italian cuisine. Pine-nuts are the edible seeds of pine trees, removed from pine cones. They contain nutrients including useful amounts of zinc, niacin, manganese and the amino acid or protein arginine. An average serve is two tablespoons of pine nuts.
With that recognisable green colour pistachios are the only edible nuts that don’t need to be shelled before roasting. Related to the almond, peach and nectarine family – or drupes - pistachios are split down the middle[xii]. They’re rich in protein for active bodies and contain the antioxidant Vitamin E. Split 60 pistachios for an average serve of 30g.
Walnuts are understood to have first been cultivated more than 4000 years ago, however fossilised shells have been found in South West France dating back 8000 years. The modern name walnut comes from the German ‘wallnuss’, meaning foreign nut. While ancient in name, walnuts are essential for health. They contain the highest source of natural plant omega 3s called alphalinoleic acid – ALA . Eating walnuts is like wearing a seat belt for your heart. Enjoy 10 whole walnuts in an average serve.
References [i] Strahan TM. Nuts for cardiovascular protection. Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2004;13(Suppl):S33 [ii] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almond#Sweet_and_bitter_almonds [iii] Gemma Flores-Mateo et al. Selenium and coronary heart disease: a meta-analysis. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2006;84(4):762-773 [iv] Nuts for Life Ready Recknoner – In a Nutshell, 2005 [v] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil_nut [vi] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cashew [vii] http://www.hazelnutcouncil.org/about/background.cfm [viii] Hiraoka-Yamamoto J, et al. Serum lipid effects of a monounsaturated (palmitoleic) Fatty Acid-rich diet based on macadamia nuts in healthy, young Japanese women. Clin Exp Pharmacol Physiol. 2004 Dec;31 Suppl 2:S37-8. [ix] Hansen SR et al. Weakness, tremors and depression associated with macadamia nuts in dogs. Vet Hum Toxicol. 2000;42(1):18-21. [x] Rajaram S et al A monounsaturated fatty acid-rich pecan-enriched diet favorably alters the serum lipid profile of healthy men and women. J Nutr. 2001 Sep;131(9):2275-9. [xi] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pecan [xii] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pistachio
source: www.nutsforlife.com
Friday, October 16, 2009
SuperFood - Blueberries
Now here is a SuperFood that you can take to the bank! Native to the North American landscape, blueberries are truly an All-American food.
For many years nutritionists and researchers ignored the tiny blueberry because of its relatively low vitamin C content. However, what these people did not know was that the healthful benefits of blueberries stem mainly from their incredibly high levels of antioxidant phytonutrients.
Phytonutrients are non-vitamin, non-mineral components of food that have significant healthful benefits. There are literally thousands of different types of phytonutrients, and each phytonutrient is unique in both its physical characteristics and its function. Research has shown that phytonutrients help the body cells communicate with each other more efficiently, prevent mutations at the cellular level, prevent the proliferation of cancer cells, and there is still much more that we are learning about the powers of phytonutrients everyday.
Blueberries are so rich in phytonutrients that even though they are not filled with the antioxidant vitamins C and E, they still provide as much antioxidant protection to the body as 1,733 IU of vitamin E and more than 1200 milligrams of vitamin C.
Blueberries and Your Brain
The research that really put blueberries on the map brought exciting news that this fruit seemed to slow and even reverse many of the degenerative diseases that are associated with the aging of the brain, including dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. This is important information, considering that by the year 2050 over 30% of the American population will be over the age of 65.
Research done on aging rats has produced intriguing results, as these rats, when fed the human equivalent of 1 cup of blueberries per day, showed improvements in both balance and coordination. These improvements are due to better cell communication in the brain cells of these rats. Because blueberries are rich in phytonutrients, especially polyphenols and flavonoids, these findings should come as no surprise. Recall that phytonutrients have been shown to improve the efficiency that our body’s cells communicate with each other.
By helping our brain cells communicate more efficiently, blueberries are actually helping to halt the progression of the degenerative diseases that are associated with the aging of the brain. This is because the primary reason that humans develop age related degenerative brain diseases, such as dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, is because as we age our brain cells become less and less effective at communicating with each other, as the signals that these cells send out to the neighboring cells weakens over time. When these signals become too weak to allow effective communication between cells, neurological pathways are lost and brain function is thus diminished.
Blueberries and Cancer
New and exciting research has now linked the consumption of blueberries (as part of a regular diet) with the prevention of cancer. Once again it is the high phytonutrient content of blueberries that is responsible for this health benefit. In this case, the major phytonutrient responsible for producing this effect is ellagic acid. Ellagic acid, is also found in high quantities within other berries, including:
• Black and red raspberries
• Blackberries
• Marionberries
• Boysenberries
This phytonutrient tends to be located in the seeds of these berries, making the afore mentioned berries three to nine times more potent sources of ellagic acid than other good sources, such as strawberries, walnuts, and pecans. Various studies on ellagic acid have demonstrated that people who consume foods that are high in ellagic acid are three times less likely to develop cancer when compared to those who consume very little or no dietary ellagic acid.
Healthy Tips
Here are some healthy tips that you can use when buying and preparing blueberries:
• Keep dried blueberries on hand, as they are a great addition to oatmeal. Add them in the last minute of cooking
• Frozen blueberries are great for mixing into yogurt, pancakes, muffins, and smoothies
• When buying blueberry juice or any other juice at the grocery store, make sure that it is 100% juice. This label can usually be found right above the nutritional facts
• To reduce your caloric intake from the consumption of juice, mix one-half 100% fruit juice with one-half seltzer for a delightful sparkling fruit juice beverage
Here is a delicious summer treat for kids of all ages:
Frozen Yogurt Blueberry PopsMAKES 12 POPSYou will need:
• 12 paper or foil baking cups, 2 1/2-inch size
• Zest and juices of 1 small lemon
• 2 cups plain nonfat yogurt
• ¼ to ½ cup sugar
• 1 pint blueberries
• 12 Popsicle sticks
Line twelve 2 ½ inch muffin pan cups with fluted paper baking cups. In a bowl, blend the lemon zest, lemon juice, yogurt, and sugar until smooth. Stir in the blueberries. Divide the mixture among the paper-lined muffin pan cups. Freeze for 1 ½ hours, or until almost firm; insert a Popsicle stick in the middle of each pop. Freeze until firm, about 2 hours. For longer storage in the freezer, cover with plastic wrap. To serve, peel off the paper liners from the pops; let stand at room temperature 4 to 6 minutes to soften slightly for easier eating.
Source: www.superfoodsrx.com
For many years nutritionists and researchers ignored the tiny blueberry because of its relatively low vitamin C content. However, what these people did not know was that the healthful benefits of blueberries stem mainly from their incredibly high levels of antioxidant phytonutrients.
Phytonutrients are non-vitamin, non-mineral components of food that have significant healthful benefits. There are literally thousands of different types of phytonutrients, and each phytonutrient is unique in both its physical characteristics and its function. Research has shown that phytonutrients help the body cells communicate with each other more efficiently, prevent mutations at the cellular level, prevent the proliferation of cancer cells, and there is still much more that we are learning about the powers of phytonutrients everyday.
Blueberries are so rich in phytonutrients that even though they are not filled with the antioxidant vitamins C and E, they still provide as much antioxidant protection to the body as 1,733 IU of vitamin E and more than 1200 milligrams of vitamin C.
Blueberries and Your Brain
The research that really put blueberries on the map brought exciting news that this fruit seemed to slow and even reverse many of the degenerative diseases that are associated with the aging of the brain, including dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. This is important information, considering that by the year 2050 over 30% of the American population will be over the age of 65.
Research done on aging rats has produced intriguing results, as these rats, when fed the human equivalent of 1 cup of blueberries per day, showed improvements in both balance and coordination. These improvements are due to better cell communication in the brain cells of these rats. Because blueberries are rich in phytonutrients, especially polyphenols and flavonoids, these findings should come as no surprise. Recall that phytonutrients have been shown to improve the efficiency that our body’s cells communicate with each other.
By helping our brain cells communicate more efficiently, blueberries are actually helping to halt the progression of the degenerative diseases that are associated with the aging of the brain. This is because the primary reason that humans develop age related degenerative brain diseases, such as dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, is because as we age our brain cells become less and less effective at communicating with each other, as the signals that these cells send out to the neighboring cells weakens over time. When these signals become too weak to allow effective communication between cells, neurological pathways are lost and brain function is thus diminished.
Blueberries and Cancer
New and exciting research has now linked the consumption of blueberries (as part of a regular diet) with the prevention of cancer. Once again it is the high phytonutrient content of blueberries that is responsible for this health benefit. In this case, the major phytonutrient responsible for producing this effect is ellagic acid. Ellagic acid, is also found in high quantities within other berries, including:
• Black and red raspberries
• Blackberries
• Marionberries
• Boysenberries
This phytonutrient tends to be located in the seeds of these berries, making the afore mentioned berries three to nine times more potent sources of ellagic acid than other good sources, such as strawberries, walnuts, and pecans. Various studies on ellagic acid have demonstrated that people who consume foods that are high in ellagic acid are three times less likely to develop cancer when compared to those who consume very little or no dietary ellagic acid.
Healthy Tips
Here are some healthy tips that you can use when buying and preparing blueberries:
• Keep dried blueberries on hand, as they are a great addition to oatmeal. Add them in the last minute of cooking
• Frozen blueberries are great for mixing into yogurt, pancakes, muffins, and smoothies
• When buying blueberry juice or any other juice at the grocery store, make sure that it is 100% juice. This label can usually be found right above the nutritional facts
• To reduce your caloric intake from the consumption of juice, mix one-half 100% fruit juice with one-half seltzer for a delightful sparkling fruit juice beverage
Here is a delicious summer treat for kids of all ages:
Frozen Yogurt Blueberry PopsMAKES 12 POPSYou will need:
• 12 paper or foil baking cups, 2 1/2-inch size
• Zest and juices of 1 small lemon
• 2 cups plain nonfat yogurt
• ¼ to ½ cup sugar
• 1 pint blueberries
• 12 Popsicle sticks
Line twelve 2 ½ inch muffin pan cups with fluted paper baking cups. In a bowl, blend the lemon zest, lemon juice, yogurt, and sugar until smooth. Stir in the blueberries. Divide the mixture among the paper-lined muffin pan cups. Freeze for 1 ½ hours, or until almost firm; insert a Popsicle stick in the middle of each pop. Freeze until firm, about 2 hours. For longer storage in the freezer, cover with plastic wrap. To serve, peel off the paper liners from the pops; let stand at room temperature 4 to 6 minutes to soften slightly for easier eating.
Source: www.superfoodsrx.com
Monday, July 27, 2009
More Studies Show Support Key to Success
Do you have a Plan for Health?
Read article below for more studies on how support is key to success.
Mary
Support: Increase your success
The research keeps coming in on the benefits of support when it comes to creating and maintaining our health - the following articles highlight this.
You’ve Got Mail — Now Get Moving...
Studies find that regular nudges help keep fitness on track.
Kimberly Thomas-McPherson likes to walk for exercise. But as a single mother of two who works a full-time job at night and goes to college during the day, physical activity isn’t always high on her priority list.
So when Thomas-McPherson, 43, of Atlanta, heard about a pilot study aimed at getting people to stick to their exercise routine, she signed up — and was pleasantly surprised when it gave her program a boost.
What was the secret? E-mail.
In what cynical couch potatoes might view as a whole lot of nagging, Thomas-McPherson received e-mails every other day reminding her of all the benefits of exercise and why it should rank among her top priorities. She didn’t see the messages as nagging, though, more like friendly nudges.
“During the crush of the semester, I was slacking off but the e-mails were very helpful,” she says. "It was just a little push, that, OK, I need to get back on track … It’s kind of like having a virtual support group.”
If an e-mail reminder of your slug-like existence seems about as welcome as spam, consider this: Research is starting to show that some surprisingly simple positive reinforcements — quick e-mail messages and short phone calls — can motivate people to get moving.
The study Thomas-McPherson participated in involved 172 sedentary adults who were followed for six weeks. For two of those weeks, one group of volunteers received no intervention while two other groups received persuasive e-mail messages. One of the latter groups also received e-mail images of healthy-looking people exercising who were the same age range and race as the participant.
“The idea was to try to personalize the message to help the person realize, ‘This can be me,’” says Matthew Parrott, an assistant professor of health and fitness management at Clayton State University in Morrow, Ga., “and it turned out to work pretty well.”
At the beginning of the study, participants reported being physically active an average of two times a week. During the intervention period, the group that received both the positive messages and images reported exercising a little more than four times a week, while the group that received only the text messages was exercising almost 3.5 times a week. The control group was exercising three times a week, so even thinking more about exercise because of study participation seemed to help.
A month later — with no more e-mail reminders — the groups that had received encouraging messages still were exercising more than before the study, but were starting to lose some momentum. Parrott says that’s not unexpected and suggests people need constant reinforcement to keep moving.
A Call to Exercise
Another study, which was presented along with Parrott’s at a recent meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), also found encouraging results with telephone-based coaching for a particularly tough crowd — pregnant and postpartum women. The women who received weekly or biweekly phone calls from an activity coach dispensing advice and pep talks roughly doubled their amount of physical activity over three months.
“It’s really about making activity a priority,” says study author Beth Lewis, a psychologist and exercise researcher at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
Clearly, though, prioritizing exercise is no easy task for Americans, most of whom are sedentary. While some people thrive on exercise and need no nudging to get moving, most don’t find exercise all that fun and need ongoing encouragement, such as from a coach, friend and/or family member, says ACSM spokesperson Walt Thompson, a professor of kinesiology and health at Georgia State University in Atlanta.
The more we surround ourselves with people and programs supporting exercise, the more likely we are to succeed, says Thompson. Even he benefits from having a fitness cheerleader — his wife.
Keep it Positive
The key, though, is that the messages be positive, experts say. As Parrott puts it: “It’s better to reinforce than to tear down.”
So it’s probably not going to help if your spouse continually nags you to get off your lazy butt and lose some weight. But it may help if your spouse offers to help you achieve your fitness goals by keeping the kids busy a few times a week so you can hit the gym, or suggests the two of you spend some couples time together by taking tennis lessons on Saturday mornings. Having a workout buddy who motivates you and keeps you accountable can be a big plus.
Tim Wiseman has both virtual and “real-world” helpers to keep him active. He consults over the phone and through e-mail with a coach and also sees a personal trainer at the gym.
With a demanding job as a business consultant that requires long hours and a lot of travel, Wiseman, 39, of Colorado Springs, Colo., says that while he had good intentions, he just couldn’t make fitness happen on his own. “The excuses would pile up more than the execution,” he says.
So he had an initial phone conversation with his health coach late last year to get his program started. Now, he communicates a couple times a month with the coach, usually through e-mail, to make sure he’s still on track with his two- or three-day-a-week regimen, which mostly consists of biking, walking or hitting hotel gyms.
“It has really helped keep me accountable in a very supportive way,” he says. “I don’t respond well to the drill sergeant format.”
And Wiseman says his program is getting results. He’s lost 15 pounds in the last nine months and feels stronger, too.
The costs of coaching can range from nothing to $50 a month on up, depending on how intensive and individualized the services are. But do your homework before shelling out money. The best services offer one-on-one coaching and provide individualized rather than canned advice.
Ever since the e-mails stopped, Thomas-McPherson has been missing her “virtual support group” – and her exercise program has suffered a setback. “I haven’t done as well since the study ended,” she admits.
But she’s striving to walk at least two days a week, because she remembers those e-mails touting all the good reasons to exercise. And for this overscheduled woman, there’s one key benefit that she knows first-hand: “It’s a stress-reliever.”
Source: MSNBC, Jacqueline Stenson
Read article below for more studies on how support is key to success.
Mary
Support: Increase your success
The research keeps coming in on the benefits of support when it comes to creating and maintaining our health - the following articles highlight this.
You’ve Got Mail — Now Get Moving...
Studies find that regular nudges help keep fitness on track.
Kimberly Thomas-McPherson likes to walk for exercise. But as a single mother of two who works a full-time job at night and goes to college during the day, physical activity isn’t always high on her priority list.
So when Thomas-McPherson, 43, of Atlanta, heard about a pilot study aimed at getting people to stick to their exercise routine, she signed up — and was pleasantly surprised when it gave her program a boost.
What was the secret? E-mail.
In what cynical couch potatoes might view as a whole lot of nagging, Thomas-McPherson received e-mails every other day reminding her of all the benefits of exercise and why it should rank among her top priorities. She didn’t see the messages as nagging, though, more like friendly nudges.
“During the crush of the semester, I was slacking off but the e-mails were very helpful,” she says. "It was just a little push, that, OK, I need to get back on track … It’s kind of like having a virtual support group.”
If an e-mail reminder of your slug-like existence seems about as welcome as spam, consider this: Research is starting to show that some surprisingly simple positive reinforcements — quick e-mail messages and short phone calls — can motivate people to get moving.
The study Thomas-McPherson participated in involved 172 sedentary adults who were followed for six weeks. For two of those weeks, one group of volunteers received no intervention while two other groups received persuasive e-mail messages. One of the latter groups also received e-mail images of healthy-looking people exercising who were the same age range and race as the participant.
“The idea was to try to personalize the message to help the person realize, ‘This can be me,’” says Matthew Parrott, an assistant professor of health and fitness management at Clayton State University in Morrow, Ga., “and it turned out to work pretty well.”
At the beginning of the study, participants reported being physically active an average of two times a week. During the intervention period, the group that received both the positive messages and images reported exercising a little more than four times a week, while the group that received only the text messages was exercising almost 3.5 times a week. The control group was exercising three times a week, so even thinking more about exercise because of study participation seemed to help.
A month later — with no more e-mail reminders — the groups that had received encouraging messages still were exercising more than before the study, but were starting to lose some momentum. Parrott says that’s not unexpected and suggests people need constant reinforcement to keep moving.
A Call to Exercise
Another study, which was presented along with Parrott’s at a recent meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), also found encouraging results with telephone-based coaching for a particularly tough crowd — pregnant and postpartum women. The women who received weekly or biweekly phone calls from an activity coach dispensing advice and pep talks roughly doubled their amount of physical activity over three months.
“It’s really about making activity a priority,” says study author Beth Lewis, a psychologist and exercise researcher at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
Clearly, though, prioritizing exercise is no easy task for Americans, most of whom are sedentary. While some people thrive on exercise and need no nudging to get moving, most don’t find exercise all that fun and need ongoing encouragement, such as from a coach, friend and/or family member, says ACSM spokesperson Walt Thompson, a professor of kinesiology and health at Georgia State University in Atlanta.
The more we surround ourselves with people and programs supporting exercise, the more likely we are to succeed, says Thompson. Even he benefits from having a fitness cheerleader — his wife.
Keep it Positive
The key, though, is that the messages be positive, experts say. As Parrott puts it: “It’s better to reinforce than to tear down.”
So it’s probably not going to help if your spouse continually nags you to get off your lazy butt and lose some weight. But it may help if your spouse offers to help you achieve your fitness goals by keeping the kids busy a few times a week so you can hit the gym, or suggests the two of you spend some couples time together by taking tennis lessons on Saturday mornings. Having a workout buddy who motivates you and keeps you accountable can be a big plus.
Tim Wiseman has both virtual and “real-world” helpers to keep him active. He consults over the phone and through e-mail with a coach and also sees a personal trainer at the gym.
With a demanding job as a business consultant that requires long hours and a lot of travel, Wiseman, 39, of Colorado Springs, Colo., says that while he had good intentions, he just couldn’t make fitness happen on his own. “The excuses would pile up more than the execution,” he says.
So he had an initial phone conversation with his health coach late last year to get his program started. Now, he communicates a couple times a month with the coach, usually through e-mail, to make sure he’s still on track with his two- or three-day-a-week regimen, which mostly consists of biking, walking or hitting hotel gyms.
“It has really helped keep me accountable in a very supportive way,” he says. “I don’t respond well to the drill sergeant format.”
And Wiseman says his program is getting results. He’s lost 15 pounds in the last nine months and feels stronger, too.
The costs of coaching can range from nothing to $50 a month on up, depending on how intensive and individualized the services are. But do your homework before shelling out money. The best services offer one-on-one coaching and provide individualized rather than canned advice.
Ever since the e-mails stopped, Thomas-McPherson has been missing her “virtual support group” – and her exercise program has suffered a setback. “I haven’t done as well since the study ended,” she admits.
But she’s striving to walk at least two days a week, because she remembers those e-mails touting all the good reasons to exercise. And for this overscheduled woman, there’s one key benefit that she knows first-hand: “It’s a stress-reliever.”
Source: MSNBC, Jacqueline Stenson
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Summer will be a breeze....
when you have on hand the right tools for the things that bug you, burn you, bruise you... or just plain wear you out!
After strenuous yard work, playing outdoors, hiking or biking, using therapeutic grade essential oils can assist in bring relief to overused muscles, insect bites, sun burn, bruises, scraps and scratches.
Because essential oils contain many active compounds, "super germs", MRSA and new viruses do not develop resistence to the essential oils like has happened with antibiotics.
After strenuous yard work, playing outdoors, hiking or biking, using therapeutic grade essential oils can assist in bring relief to overused muscles, insect bites, sun burn, bruises, scraps and scratches.
Because essential oils contain many active compounds, "super germs", MRSA and new viruses do not develop resistence to the essential oils like has happened with antibiotics.
Truessence Tea Tree is basic to your first aid kit as it is antiviral and antifungal. It is also one of the most powerful disinfectants, and most valued as a natural antibiotic.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Can Exercise Help People Learn?
It’s an exciting idea, and one that’s being tested in the U.S. and Canada. One pilot program took place in the spring of 2008, when Saskatoon teacher Allison Cameron put her Grade 8 students on treadmills during class. She tracked their results, not just in behavior, but in academics, and the results were astonishing. Find out about her experiment, and much more on this subject, by clicking on this link: http://www.cbc.ca/national/blog/special_feature/brain_gains/
Here is an edited excerpt from Dr. John Ratey, clinical associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School in which he explains how sustained aerobic exercise promotes learning.
The First Way
The first big way that exercise is very important for (students at City Park Collegiate in Saskatoon) is that it helps address the systems of the brain; the attention system, the impulse control system, the memory and learning system, and the part of the brain that’s involved with learning and memory, the part of the brain that’s what we call the executive functioning area of the brain, or the frontal cortex. Exercise really activates this area of the brain. So what you see, and what you get, are people who are sharper. They’re more attentive, they’re less impulsive, they’re less fidgety. They can sustain their attention longer, and it promotes their ability to sort through information and take it in.
The Second Way
The second big way that exercise works on the brain is it promotes the internal environment of the brain, of our hundred billion nerve cells that are swimming around in this soup, if you will. Exercise causes a release of all kinds of good things that are known as neurotransmitters, as hormones, as growth factors that actually make our cells more ready to do their job. And our brain cells’ major job, in terms of learning and memory, is to change - adapt we call it. And that means grow. Exercise promotes the best optimal environment for us to do this, to change and grow.
The Third Way
The third way that exercise helps with learning and with the brain to grow and to learn better, is it promotes a process which we call neurogenesis, or growing new brain cells. There’s nothing that we know of that does that better than exercise. We do it anyway, and there are drugs and there are ways of increasing it when we stress our brains, by learning or by stressing them in a variety of ways, that promotes the growth of new brain cells. However exercise does this better than anything else that we know of.
Conclusion
So the three ways help the learner learn better. We improve the environment for the cells to grow and change and cement in the information. And we also add more brain cells specifically in the area of the brain that has to do with learning and memory, an area called the hippocampus, which we think of as Grand Central Station for memory. And this is the area that adds cells every day anyway. When we learn, we add more cells, but when we exercise, we add many, many more cells than any other activity that we’re aware of. Exercise is the best stimulus for the brain to be ready to learn and grow.
Now the biggest problem with our new world, with the cyberworld, is it allows us to sit. We are a sedentary culture. The top ten reasons why we die are contributed to greatly from our sedentary living. Also, by not moving, by sitting, our brains are not as active, and they start to erode much quicker. Just for instance, if middle-aged people are sedentary, and they begin to exercise three to four times a week, they will stave off cognitive decline later in their life by ten to fifteen years. And some studies suggest that if they do this, they will cut the risk of Alzheimer’s disease in half, just if they begin to get moving. Now for our kids, it’s even more important that they try to optimize their brains as much as possible, so that they can be much more well adjusted and ready to take on the new information that they are presented.
You can learn more about Harvard University psychiatrist Dr. John Ratey, an expert on brain function and exercise, on his website: http://www.johnratey.com/newsite/index.html
Here is an edited excerpt from Dr. John Ratey, clinical associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School in which he explains how sustained aerobic exercise promotes learning.
The First Way
The first big way that exercise is very important for (students at City Park Collegiate in Saskatoon) is that it helps address the systems of the brain; the attention system, the impulse control system, the memory and learning system, and the part of the brain that’s involved with learning and memory, the part of the brain that’s what we call the executive functioning area of the brain, or the frontal cortex. Exercise really activates this area of the brain. So what you see, and what you get, are people who are sharper. They’re more attentive, they’re less impulsive, they’re less fidgety. They can sustain their attention longer, and it promotes their ability to sort through information and take it in.
The Second Way
The second big way that exercise works on the brain is it promotes the internal environment of the brain, of our hundred billion nerve cells that are swimming around in this soup, if you will. Exercise causes a release of all kinds of good things that are known as neurotransmitters, as hormones, as growth factors that actually make our cells more ready to do their job. And our brain cells’ major job, in terms of learning and memory, is to change - adapt we call it. And that means grow. Exercise promotes the best optimal environment for us to do this, to change and grow.
The Third Way
The third way that exercise helps with learning and with the brain to grow and to learn better, is it promotes a process which we call neurogenesis, or growing new brain cells. There’s nothing that we know of that does that better than exercise. We do it anyway, and there are drugs and there are ways of increasing it when we stress our brains, by learning or by stressing them in a variety of ways, that promotes the growth of new brain cells. However exercise does this better than anything else that we know of.
Conclusion
So the three ways help the learner learn better. We improve the environment for the cells to grow and change and cement in the information. And we also add more brain cells specifically in the area of the brain that has to do with learning and memory, an area called the hippocampus, which we think of as Grand Central Station for memory. And this is the area that adds cells every day anyway. When we learn, we add more cells, but when we exercise, we add many, many more cells than any other activity that we’re aware of. Exercise is the best stimulus for the brain to be ready to learn and grow.
Now the biggest problem with our new world, with the cyberworld, is it allows us to sit. We are a sedentary culture. The top ten reasons why we die are contributed to greatly from our sedentary living. Also, by not moving, by sitting, our brains are not as active, and they start to erode much quicker. Just for instance, if middle-aged people are sedentary, and they begin to exercise three to four times a week, they will stave off cognitive decline later in their life by ten to fifteen years. And some studies suggest that if they do this, they will cut the risk of Alzheimer’s disease in half, just if they begin to get moving. Now for our kids, it’s even more important that they try to optimize their brains as much as possible, so that they can be much more well adjusted and ready to take on the new information that they are presented.
You can learn more about Harvard University psychiatrist Dr. John Ratey, an expert on brain function and exercise, on his website: http://www.johnratey.com/newsite/index.html
Monday, April 6, 2009
Natural Sweetener
Have you tried Suncrystals? 100% natural sweetener using stevia and cane juice. Get free samples or coupons at www.suncrystals.com.
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