Health Benefits

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Easy Tips to Stay Healthy for Life

At every meal, eat produce: Make produce the main focus of your daily eats. This mantra is mentioned all the time, but there’s a reason for it—fruits and veggies are easy on the waistline, and are chock-full of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other health-friendly micronutrients that help keep you free of disease. And when it comes to tomatoes, tomato products are rich in the age-defying antioxidant, lycopene.

“Hug” those heart-healthy fats: Amp up your intake of mono- and poly-unsaturated fats to keep your heart health in-check. Healthy monos are found in olive and canola oil, sesame oil, peanut butter, avocado, and many other nuts and seeds. Polys include the essential heart-friendly fatty acid, omega-3, and are found in fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel, herring and trout. Other sources include walnuts and sunflower seeds and flaxseeds. Just remember, portions still count!

Fill up on fiber: Foods like brown rice, quinoa, oatmeal, broccoli, sweet potatoes, beans, blackberries, tomatoes, strawberries—basically, foods from plants are a fabulous source of fiber that can help you achieve your goal of 20 to 30 grams of fiber per day (with men towards the higher end of the spectrum). Getting in your daily dose of fiber has shown to help reduce the risk of developing heart disease, type 2 diabetes, diverticulitis (inflammation of the intestine), and constipation.

Watch the added sugars and sodium: Limit processed packaged foods and sugary drinks, the biggest sugar and sodium hitters, and opt for foods that you can actually recognize. When you choose foods in their whole form compared to the processed form, you’re automatically—and drastically—reducing the sodium and sugar content of the foods you nosh. This allows your heart to work more efficiently and you to take in more essential nutrients.

Go light on protein and dairy: Choose lean cuts of poultry and meat. When it comes to meat, leaner cuts include rounds, loins, and roasts. If you can, opt for grass-fed meat too. It’s lower in total and saturated fat, slightly higher in omega-3s, and higher than grain-fed and finished meat in vitamin A and E—antioxidants that help prevent disease. And don’t forget about beans and lentils. They’re fabulous sources of fiber and protein that will help you stay fuller longer. When it comes to dairy, pick low or non-fat options. This way you’ll keep your heart and waistline in-shape while still getting in calcium and Vitamin D.
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Benefits of Pecans

Pecans are from a Native American tree that is part of the hickory family. They were an important diet to the Native Americans of the central and southern regions of North America. And pecans are a good source of oleic acid, vitamin B1, E, and A, thiamin, magnesium, ellagic acid, protein, phosphorus, zinc and folic acid. So, not only do pecans taste great, but they are a good for you! Here are the most important health benefits of pecans.
The Amazing Health Benefits of Pecans
The Health Benefits of Pecans to Your Nervous System

Pecans have been found to help the nervous system by delaying the progression of age-related motor neuron degeneration, and they contain the antioxidant Vitamin E and other phenolic substances, which helps in conjunction with the nervous system to fight disease such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Antioxidants are important to help protect against cell damage.

There are different types of antioxidants in vitamin E called tocopherols. Gamma tocopherols are significantly prevalent in pecans, and people who consume pecans show to have doubled amounts of gamma tocopherols.
Nuts Such as Pecans Help Lower Cholesterol and Control Weight

Statistics have shown that the consumption of pecans lowers LDL by 16.5 percent and total cholesterol by 11.3 percent. With the increase of gamma tocopherols from the consumption of pecans and other nuts, there is a lower oxidation of LDL cholesterols because pecans remove oxygen free radicals, which helps to prevent coronary heart disease. The oxidation of LDL cholesterol inflames the arteries leading to cardiovascular disease.

Not only have pecans helped fight against cholesterol and heart disease, but eating pecans and other nuts help to increase metabolism. They are a great source of energy, and the fats in pecans are 60 percent monounsaturated, 30 percent polyunsaturated and these unsaturated fats are found to be heart healthy. Also, pecans are sodium free, which makes them a good diet for those who need to consume a low sodium diet. Nut eaters have a lower BMI because they contain healthy fat and they stay full longer because of the protein.

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Drinking Before Bed – What to Drink?

Drinking before bed – water, milk, tea or juice!?
1. Drinking water before bed

Drinking water before bed is one of the best ways to keep your body healthy. By drinking water before bed, you keep your body hydrated throughout the night. Water also keeps your hormones, energy levels and muscles balanced at night. Studies have shown that people who drink water before bed sleep more soundly and consistently. It is suggested to drink up to one glass of water before going to bed.

2. Drinking milk before bed

There are many reasons why drinking milk before bed is good for your body. Milk is high in protein and your body will absorb the maximum amount of protein while you are sleeping. By drinking milk, you also reduce your snack related cravings. Milk also contains tryptophan, which is sleep inducing amino acid. Just keep one thing in mind – scientifically it is not proven that milk helps you to sleep better.
3. Drinking chamomile tea before bed

Chamomile tea can be beneficial if you have troubles of sleeping. Chamomile contains chemical called chrysin. It relaxes muscles, relieves anxiety and leads to better and deeper sleep.

4. Drinking cherry juice before bed

Studies have shown that drinking one or two classes of cherry juice before bed improves your sleep quality. Cherry juice increases the level of melatonin in your body. Melatonin helps your body to regulate sleep cycles.

When drinking milk, tea or cherry juice before going to bed, remember two things:

don´t drink too much, one or maximum two classes are enough

wash your teeth afterwards.
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Foods that Relax Your Nerves

Milk
The first food that relax your nerves is milk. Milk can be used as a mind relaxation food because it produces a calming effect on its subjects. Milk is known to contain tryptophan which helps to produce serotonin, which is a sleep inducing hormone, that is why health specialists recommend that you take a glass of milk before you go to bed, to help you get a good night’s rest. So if you are feeling a little bit anxious or you need to relax your nerves, just grab a glass of cold milk and wait to see effects.
Soup

Soup is also among the best foods that relax your nerves. This works well because it helps to get rid of foreign bodies and infections from your body which are the main things that get many people uneasy. You should go with soups that contain vegetables like tomatoes, green peppers, carrots and you can also add garlic, spinach, thyme and many other ingredients that you could use to improve your well being.
Honey

This is a food that many people know and even many use but many don’t know that it can be used to relax the body and the mind. Honey is known to contain high in tryptophan and as stated before, this supplement helps to reduce anxiety and relax the nerve. Apart from this, honey is also known to be rich in potassium which has a soothing relieve on the brain and also the body. Potassium help to fight off stress hormones in the body and acids to relax the nervous system.
Dark Chocolate

Dark chocolate helps to reduce stress levels in the brain and this can be done because it contains serotonin, endorphin and dopamine, which are great hormones for the mollifying of stress level in the brain. There are many foods that you can find that are great source of dark chocolate. It also enhances nervous and hormonal system function.
Seafood

Seafood are another great set of food that relax your nerves because of their ability to release calming hormones in the brain. Seafood contain magnesium, zinc and selenium which are known to help increase the mood of the brain, also seafood contain omega-3, which is a fatty acid which also helps to produce calming hormone for the brain.
Banana and Avocado

There are two things that are involved in these two foods that relax your nerves, the first thing is that they are rich in potassium and the second thing is they contain the essential vitamins and minerals that your body requires for effective functioning. These different food class help to release some hormones in the body that help in fighting stress hormones.
Brown Rice

Brown rice which is a complex carb help to release insulin which is a sleep inducing amino acid that help to relax the brain and produce relaxing hormones like serotonin and melatonin for the relaxation of the brain and the nervous system. Once you take brown rice, you will notice that you will start to feel drowsy, that is because of the various relaxation hormones it produces.
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Easy Tips on Keeping your Face Fresh

As Summer slowly transitions to Fall, we must perform our yearly rituals such as grabbing the rake out from the shed and stocking up on some delicious hot cocoa. But what is also important is preparing your skin. It is your body’s largest organ and needs to be taken care of.
Munching the right foods
Believe it or not, eating the right foods is one of best ways to take care of your skin. Drinking plenty of water and adding fresh ingredients such as vegetables, fruits, and other raw foods encourages healthy skin.
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Migraines: An Overview

A migraine is a neurological syndrome characterized by painful headaches that last anywhere from a few hours to a few days. Migraines are often accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and increased sensitivity to light and sound. They are also sometimes accompanied by sensory symptoms such as flashes of light, blind spots, or tingling in an arm or leg.
Migraines can greatly reduce the quality of one’s life. The pain is debilitating, and one simply cannot perform complex tasks or even concentrate at times during a migraine attack. Work, academic study, and even social lives can be affected. To make matters worse, the unpredictability of migraines and their onset can cause chronic sufferers to become paranoid and afraid to go out or do any tasks lest they experience an attack.
Symptoms

Migraines are chronic conditions that typically begin in childhood or adolescence. A typical migraine produces some or all of the following symptoms:

Moderate to severe pulsing or throbbing pain, usually affecting one side of the head but sometimes affecting both sides.
Pain that worsens with physical activity and that interferes with routine activities.
Nausea.
Vomiting.
Increased sensitivity to light and sound.

In addition to these symptoms, migraines can also be accompanied by auras. These auras take the form of perceptual disturbances such as flashes of light or the feeling of pins and needles in an arm or leg. Other senses of premonition that a migraine sufferer might experience before an attack include:

Feelings of elation
Intense energy
A craving for sweet food
Thirst
Drowsiness
Irritability
Depression

Migraines typically last from four to 72 hours, and the frequency with which they occur varies from person to person. They also tend to occur more often in women than in men. Most migraines go undiagnosed and untreated, as a migraine sufferer may write them off as more mundane headaches.
Migraine Triggers

Although there is much that isn’t understood about migraines and their causes, there are a number of things that may trigger them:

Hormonal changes in women, such as those that occur during a period, pregnancy, or menopause.
Certain foods, most commonly alcohol (especially beer and red wine), aged cheeses, chocolate, aspartame, caffeine, and monosodium glutamate (or MSG). Fasting and skipping meals can also be triggers.
Stress, both at work and in the home.
Sensory stimuli such as bright lights, sun glare, loud noises, and strong smells.
Changes in sleeping habits such as sleeping too much or not enough.
Intense physical exertion.
Environmental changes.
Certain medications.

There is no known cure for migraines, but there are medications that can reduce their frequency and severity. Pain-relieving drugs such as NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs), triptans, ergotamine (Ergot), anti-nausea medications, and opiates have proven to be effective when taken when symptoms appear. It is also best for sufferers to avoid common migraine triggers, get plenty of exercise, and (for women) reduce the amount of medications that contain estrogen.
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