Self Care Strategies for Your Busy Lifestyle

According to Jack LaLanne, who still works out for two hours a day and eats at least 10 fresh, raw vegetables daily, "Exercise is king, nutrition is queen, and if you put them together you build a kingdom!" Here are a few ways you can build your own "kingdom" even in the midst of your hectic, stressful life.

Challenge Your Body: Higher levels of physical fitness reduce the risk of heart disease and early death. Try to achieve a burn rate of greater than 10 calories per minute. If you go to the gym two to three times a week and spend 30-60 minutes per session, you can focus on 10-minute high-intensity sessions on your off days

Feed Your Body: Nine servings of vegetables are recommended per day. Boost the health benefits by eating different colors of produce. This is called the "technicolor" plan. Additional healthy eating suggestions include:

1. Eat more cold-water fish like salmon for the benefits of omega-3s. These lower the risk of heart disease, lower blood pressure, improve mood and concentration, and are good for the brain.

2. Drink red wine or eat grapes. The resveratrol in dark grapes is being studied for its effect on extending life, which it seems to do for almost every species studied.

3. Eliminate sugar. Sugar's effect on hormones, mood, immunity, weight, and possibly even cancer cells is enormous – and it's all negative. To the extent that you can remove sugar from your diet, you will be adding years to your life and life to your years.

Rest Your Body: Insufficient sleep depresses the immune system, making you susceptible to colds, upper-respiratory infections, low energy, weight gain, a tired appearance, and other complaints like feeling irritable. Proper sleep hygiene involves getting uninterrupted sleep, in the dark, without the television on, in a relaxing environment.

The overall goal is to get you in the best shape of your life without spending considerable time doing it – because after all, how much of that do you have these days?

Have a great hump day.

Dr. G

Tips for a quick recovery after whiplash

A car crash—even a "minor" one—can be a huge disruption in your life and can cause months of pain and disability. With proper treatment, however, you can be back to your normal activities much faster and reduce the chances of chronic problems.

Staying Active

One of the first things to remember after an auto injury is to stay active. When injured, the body tenses the muscles and creates inflammation around the injured area to "guard" the injury from further harm. Unfortunately, this protective mechanism can cause problems down the road. If left untreated, the "guarded" area will lose motion and flexibility. This can result in reduced function and premature degeneration of the discs in your neck and back.

The effects of early intervention are dramatic. A study conducted in Sweden compared patients who were treated within four days of their auto injury to those who waited two weeks. The authors found that patients who received prompt treatment that used gentle neck exercises early after the injury had much improved functioning three years after the collision.

There are many reasons why active, early care helps after whiplash:

1. Staying mobile helps overcome your fear of motion or re-injury.
2. Activity increases blood flow to the injury and improves healing.
3. Movement prevents the formation of scar tissue at the injury site.

Chiropractic Care

Chiropractic also serves the same function, by carefully targeting the injured segments of your spine and increasing mobility in those areas. By combining chiropractic with home exercises, you can get you back on the road to health!

Dr. Guevara

Get Fit By Jumping Rope

Can't afford to pay for a gym membership or feel like there's not enough time in the day to exercise? Well I have a cheap piece of equipment that can get you back in shape with just 10 minutes a day! Professional boxers use it to get in top shape and it's not just for kids anymore. It's the old fashioned jump rope.

Jumping rope is one of the best forms of aerobic exercise. It burns a
lot of calories, is easy and fun, and can be done at home without
expensive equipment.

A regular jumping rope routine will help you develop your fitness
coordination and agility. It targets your calves, thighs, and buttocks.
It also makes an excellent addition to a cross training program, in
which a variety of aerobic and resistance activities are combined to
create a complete cardiovascular workout to achieve all around fitness.

Buying the Right Rope

The most important thing when buying a jump rope is to make sure
that it is the right length. It is usually possible to adjust the
length if the rope is too long. Stand with both feet in the center of
the rope and pull up the ends. The handles should reach to your
armpits.

Start slow

If you have not jumped rope for some time, you may find a normal
training level too hard. To build up stamina, jump initially for 2
minutes, or if this is too much, for 30 to 40 jumps, and then rest for
30 seconds. Repeat twice. At each subsequent session, reduce every rest
interval by 5 seconds, until you have eliminated all of them.


There's no excuses folks. Find something you like to do that gets you moving and just do it!

Dr. Guevara, Miami Chiropractor

Exercise and control diabetes

If you take control of your diet and exercise, you really can grab a hold of your diabetes and make your whole life a lot better. Exercise has specific benefits for people with diabetes and the best part about it is that it does not require a prescription from your doctor. In this article we'll discuss what exercise does for diabetics and how it does it.

Working your muscles into action instantly boosts the demand for fuel, glucose. Once your muscles exhaust their own supply of glucose, they clean out the stores in your liver, then draw glucose straight from the bloodstream, lowering your blood sugar. When you're done exercising, your body gives top priority to replenishing glucose stores in the liver and muscles rather than the blood, which means that your blood sugar will stay lower for hours, sometimes for as long as a couple of days, depending on how hard you worked out.

Exercising regularly may actually lower your level of insulin resistance. That's because exercise forces muscles to use glucose more efficiently by making cells more receptive to insulin. It's as if getting physical gives your cells a kick in the pants. If they must have more glucose, they'll work harder to get it. Exercise also boosts the number of insulin receptors. Do it regularly and you'll habituate good blood sugar control. In fact, the effect won't entirely fade away unless you go for about 72 hours without a workout. Even if you've been a couch potato for years, you can ratchet up your insulin sensitivity with exercise in as little as one week.


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Power Nap

In a recent study scientists have found that a power nap, at least three times a week, can lower the risk for cardiovascular diseases by 30%. In this study, the scientists studied the famous siesta that is usual in the Mediterranean and several latin-american countries. These areas have a very low mortality due to heart problems. This is the first extensive study where all the participants were healthy when the study began. This is also the first study that controls all risk factors as diet and physical activity.

Scientists at Harvard School of Public Health and University of Athens Medical School in Greece performed this study on power naps. 24,000 participants living in Greece took part in this study. They differed in age from 20 to 86 years. None of them had any heart problems, stroke or cancer when the study began. The study lasted over six years. During this time 792 participants died. Of them, 113 died from cardiovascular diseases.

The results from this study showed that the participants who took a power nap (siesta) for 30 minutes three times a week had a 37% lower mortality rate than those who didn’t take a siesta. Those who occasionally took a siesta had 12% lower risk, but this wasn’t statistically significant. The siesta had a more protecting effect on men who were working. They had 64% lower risk for heart problems. For working women there were too few deaths to come to any conclusions. The power nap had a very little effect on retired people and those who didn't work.

The scientists behind this research stated that the relation between retired people and workers reflect the different stress levels in these groups.

So go back to your college days and reward yourself with a much needed siesta.


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Go nuts!

Everyone nowadays is going nuts for nuts. That's because while they are relatively high in fat, they're high in unsaturated fats, including omega-3s, and also high in fiber. In recent years numerous studies have linked eating nuts to better heart health and improved cholesterol levels.

In August 2002 a study published in Circulation, a journal of the American Heart Association, found that when 27 people with high cholesterol ate one or two handfuls of almonds daily for a month, they reduced their LDL levels between 4.4 and 9.4 percent. Another study found that two handfuls of pecans a day for four weeks lowered LDL by 10 percent. And when it comes to walnuts, researchers found that eating 1.6 ounces a day for six weeks lowered LDL and total cholesterol, and also decreased dangerous low-density LDL 27 percent.

Some nuts may be better for lowering your cholesterol than others. Thus far the best evidence of heart-health promoting properties has been generated for walnuts, followed by almonds.

Nuts can be included in many dishes so feel free to use your creativity when eating them:

* Toss them on salads.

* Toast them to bring out their full flavor.

* Sprinkle them on cereal.

* Grind them and use as a coating for cooking salmon or chicken.

* Stir them into low fat ice cream.

Yes, nuts do have calories but studies show that people who eat nuts actually tend to be thinner than those who don't, perhaps because nuts are so filling that eating them helps you eat less of other foods.

But don't go overboard. Aim for 1 to 2 ounces of nuts (1 ounce is about 7 shelled walnuts) as a daily average, and try to eat them instead of other sources of calories, rather than as an addition.


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Move it!

Sitting for long periods of time, such as during long car rides and airplane trips, has been known to trigger problems with blood clots. A new study, published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine (2008;101:237–43) provides new evidence that prolonged sitting at work is no exception.

The maximum number of hours sitting at work during a 24-hour period and the maximum number of hours sitting at work without getting up, were both linked to an increased risk for the development of blood clots in the legs…a condition known as VTE (venous thromboembolism). For every additional hour seated, the risk increased by 10%, and for every additional hour seated at work without getting up, the risk increased by 20%.

The study’s co-author, Professor Richard Beasley at the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand concluded that, “measures to reduce both of these factors may be important from an occupational health perspective.”
Here are their recommendations:

1. Stay hydrated. Drink plenty of water and avoid over-consumption of alcohol and caffeine.

2. Wear loose clothing that does not restrict the waist or legs.

3. Flex and extend the ankles regularly while sitting to encourage blood in the veins of the lower legs to continue flowing.

4. Stand up and move around at least once every hour, and try to restrict total sitting to less than eight hours per day.

BOTTOMLINE: According to the Ethnicity and Disease study cited above, “exercise, as part of a comprehensive lifestyle-modification program including weight loss, low-salt diet, diets rich in fruits and vegetables and low in saturated fats, has beneficial effects on blood pressure. This is what we’ve been saying for years…the cause and solution to most health problems is more related to lifestyle than to treatment. Why wait for a problem, change to a healthier lifestyle now!

How much sleep is good for you?

Scheduling a good night's sleep could be one of the smartest health priorities you set for yourself and your family. Documented potential health consequences of getting too little or poor sleep involve the cardiovascular, endocrine, immune, and nervous systems. In addition to letting life get in the way of good sleep, between 50 and 70 million Americans suffer from chronic sleep disorders that affect daily functioning and negatively impacts health. Here’s some research:

1. The 04/08 issue of the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine found that children with insomnia or short sleep duration are more likely to have behavioral issues like ADHD.

2. Oddly enough, you may also make bad food choices. A 10/15/08 study in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine found that people with restless sleep patterns ate a diet higher in cholesterol, protein, total fat, and total saturated fat. Women were especially affected.

3. Diabetes may become more likely. A 2005 study in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that people getting 5 or fewer hours of sleep each night were 2.5 times more likely to be diabetic, while those with six hours or fewer were 1.7 times more likely.

4. A 2007 report in the New England Journal of Medicine noted that ~20% of serious car crash injuries involve a sleepy (independent of alcohol) driver.

BOTTOMLINE:
Lifestyle is in the Health News again and again and again. The importance of living a healthy lifestyle to both avoid unnecessary illness and to promote health and wellness seem to be in the news on a daily basis. Yet, the decision or personal choice to change one’s life by changing one’s lifestyle seems to continue to take second place to “I’ll deal with the problem after if occurs.” This approach has led to a deterioration of our individual and family health status.


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Green Tea Benefits

Help with your weight
Overweight or obese exercisers burned off three more pounds and 7 percent more belly fat when they drank green tea instead of another beverage with the same calories, according to a new multicenter study.

Protection against cancer
Regular drinkers were 12 percent less likely to develop breast cancer than nondrinkers, according to research in 6,928 Chinese women.

Reduced risk of stroke
A UCLA review of nine studies found three cups a day cut the risk of stroke by 21 percent (black tea was protective too).

Healthier gums
In a study of 940 men, the more green tea a man drank, the less likely he was to have gum disease.


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Açaí - Nature's Perfect Fruit

Studies have shown that this little berry is one of the most nutritious and powerful foods in the world! Açaí (pronounced ah-sigh-ee) is the high-energy, highest antioxidant berry of a special Amazon palm tree.

Açaí tastes like a blend of berries. Hidden within its royal purple pigment is the magic that makes it nature's perfect energy fruit. Açaí is packed full of antioxidants, amino acids and essential fatty acids. You can find it in several health food stores in juice form.

Here are some the contents and benefits of this wonder fruit:

(1) A remarkable concentration of antioxidants that help combat premature aging, with 10 times more antioxidants than red grapes and 10 to 30 times the anthocyanins of red wine.

(2) Monounsaturated (healthy) fats, dietary fiber and phytosterols to help promote cardiovascular and digestive health.

(3) An almost perfect essential amino acid complex in conjunction with valuable trace minerals, vital to proper muscle contraction and regeneration.

The fatty acid content in açaí resembles that of olive oil, and is rich in monounsaturated oleic acid. Oleic acid is important for a number of reasons. It helps omega-3 fish oils penetrate the cell membrane, together they help make cell membranes more supple. By keeping the cell membrane supple, all hormones, neurotransmitter and insulin receptors function more efficiently. This is particularly important because high insulin levels create an inflammatory state and inflammation causes aging.


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Interval training works!

Interval training or high-intensity interval training, has been around for decades but is experiencing popularity as its benefits are publicized and the evidence continues to mount that shorter bursts of activity with small rest periods in between is one of the most effective ways to burn fat throughout the day. Interval training can include sprinting, bicycling, rowing, jump roping, etc., be as creative as you want to be with it.

I personally do interval training and it has helped me maintain a lean body while getting an excellent cardiovascular workout. I run uphill sprints twice a week and it is a very challenging workout that has no room for boredom. It's you against a hill. The hill usually wins but after about 15 minutes of sprinting uphill my body is completely exhausted. Not only is this a great workout, it is very time efficient, and burns more fat than traditional cardiovascular exercises. This technique should help just about everyone who uses it, just be sure to start out at your own pace.

So make sure you start incorporating interval training and strength training into your exercise routine. As with many things in life, when it comes to exercise, having some variety built in will help you to get the most comprehensive results for your mind and body.

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Sleep enough to prevent diabetes

Over time, depriving yourself of sleep each night may increase your risk of developing diabetes.

In a study, after following more than 70,000 diabetes-free women for a 10-year period, researchers found that women who slept 5 hours or less every night were 34% more likely to develop diabetes symptoms than women who slept for seven or eight hours each night. The same could be said for subjects who slept 9 hours or more each day.

Researchers were not certain why sleeping too much or too little might be linked to diabetes, though one theory involves leptin, a hormone that may play a role in signaling the body to stop eating.

Too little sleep may reduce levels of leptin, possibly causing people to gain weight and develop diabetes. When researchers removed factors such as overweight and obesity, too little sleep was not linked to diabetes, which suggests that sleep may indirectly affect diabetes by promoting weight gain.

One theory why too much sleep may increase diabetes risk is that people who sleep a lot tend to have poorer health in general. They may also have sleep apnea, a condition that may prevent restful sleep and cause people to sleep more overall due to feeling tired.

Tips to a Good Night's Sleep

Listen to white noise or relaxation CDs
Some people find the sound of nature sounds, such as the ocean or forest, to be soothing for sleep.

Avoid before-bed snacks, especially grains and sugars
This will raise blood sugar and inhibit sleep. Later, when blood sugar drops too low (hypoglycemia), you might wake up and not be able to fall back asleep.

Sleep in complete darkness or as close as possible
If there is even the tiniest bit of light in the room it can disrupt your circadian rhythm and your pineal gland's production of melatonin and seratonin. There also should be as little light in the bathroom as possible if you get up in the middle of the night.

Avoid caffeine
In some people caffeine is not metabolized efficiently and therefore they can feel the effects long after consuming it. So an afternoon cup of coffee (or even tea) will keep some people from falling asleep.

Put your work away at least one hour before bed
This will give your mind a chance to unwind so you can go to sleep feeling calm, not hyped up or anxious about next day's deadlines.

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Learn to Lose and Win

We all know being overweight significantly increases your risk of heart disease, diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure, and the list goes on and on. The weight loss formula is simple, burn more calories than you consume. So why is there so much obesity if it is that simple and we know all these problems arise from the extra pounds?

Most diets and weight loss plans fail because they are treated as a quick fix. You lose a few pounds on a diet, then gain them back when you get off of it. What people need is a lifestyle change. If healthy habits become part of your lifestyle, then there is no hard way to lose weight. Doing simple things on a daily basis until they become habits such as eating more fruits, increasing physical activities, drinking more water, etc., should get your scale moving in the right direction.


Water is your friend
Drink water throughout the day. Not only is water necessary for your body to remain hydrated and carry vital functions, it is also calorie-free. On average, a person consumes an extra 245 calories a day from soft drinks. That's 89,000 calories a year or the equivalent of 25 pounds.


Eat one less (insert junk food here) a day
Eat one less cookie, drink one less can of soft drinks, and skip the burger joint down the road from the office. Doing so will save you calories which add up over the course of time. That will help you from gaining unwanted pounds without trying to hard.


Read the label
Avoid food that lists sugar, fructose, or high fructose corn syrup among the first four ingredients on the label. Look for sugar free substitutes.


Eat nutritious snacks between meals
Snacking between meals helps stave off hunger and keeps your metabolism high. Good choices include baby carrots, almonds, berries, and peanut butter.


Get out more
We live in a world where we're always inside; whether we're in the office or once the workday is done we're at home. Go out for a 30 minute walk everyday to help relieve some stress and burn off some calories. Have some family time and take your folks with you as well.

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Stay happy through tough times

Follow these tips to help you cope with a bad economy and increase your bursts of happiness throughout the day

Avoid Overthinking
You could spend a lot of time ruminating,but that just makes you feel even more pessimistic, more out of control, and affects your self esteem. Your relationships will suffer and your job performance will suffer.

Get rid of pessimism. One of the most effective ways to cope when things are difficult is to adopt a positive thinking strategy. What can I learn from this? Times are tough, I've been layed off from work, but I can spend more time with the kids, adopt a new hobby, or learn a new set of skills.


Practice Acts of Kindness
Now more than ever we need each other to survive. Doing good things for friends, family, or strangers can make you happier. Think of practical, everyday gestures that can make someone's life a little bit easier.

For example, maybe now many of us can't afford to take a cab to the airport, so offer to give a friend a ride.


Focus on Your Relationships
You don't need an expert to tell you that relationships are critical to happiness. Not being the bread-winner anymore or not being able to fulfill your kid's needs can weigh down hard on your family life. But the trick is to stop feeling guilty and focus on nurturing your loved ones.

People are talking about the effects of this economy on families and how parents can't afford to buy their kids luxuries like toys anymore, but what they don't realize is that kids don't care about toys. What they care about is parents being grumpy and taking it out on them.


Pick a Goal
If you find a happy person you will find a project. Happy people all have goals they care about.

Commit yourself to a project, whether it is a business you want to start or a dance you want to learn. But it's also important to remember to be flexible in these times. Don't get frustrated if circumstances are stopping you from meeting your goals. Adopt and change!

If your spouse has lost their job you might have to change your goal. Or you might have to learn a whole new skill for a new job.


Take Care of Your Body
When times are tough, it's easy to skip your regular workouts in favor of moping in front of the TV and eating a bag of chips. Your thinking is "I have more important things to worry about right now than looking good."

But carve out a small part of your day to give your body some TLC. It will go a long way in boosting your happiness. Even if you can't afford to go to the gym take time out to exercise at home or meditate.

For more free information about living and staying healthy visit www.premierhealthwellness.com and look under the Wellness section.

Keep Your Stress In Check

BLOW OFF SOME STEAM
A recent Swedish study found that when stressed out health care workers got together with others in similar situations to vent, they significantly reduced their levels of work-related stress and burnout. In other words, while friends and family are good for unloading, the best stress relief comes from talking smack about your job with someone who has experienced the same type of stress.

ORDER A LARGE COFFEE

But don't drink it! You may be able to de-stress by simply sniffing the aroma. When Korean researchers gave a bunch of sleep-deprived, stressed-out rats a whiff of java, it sent the levels of stress-related activity going on in their bodies plummeting. Already have a daily caffeine habit? Pop the top off your cup to really free up that relaxing coffee scent.

BUY GOOD HEADPHONES

Research has repeatedly shown that violent video games increase stress levels in players. But Canadian researchers made an interesting finding recently. When they had gamers turn off the sound while playing, their brains produced significantly lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol — meaning the noise of the game is what may have been setting off the stress response. Work in a noisy, super loud office? Crank up your iPod or find some other way to block the noise, and your stress may ease up as well.

JOIN A YOGA CLASS

Indian researchers found that regular yoga sessions can help improve your mental health — and reduce some symptoms of stress — in as little as 10 days.


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Habits for a solid midsection

Wake Up to Water
Imagine not drinking all day at work, no coffee, no water, no diet soda. At the end of an 8-hour shift, you'd be pretty parched. Which is precisely why you should start rehydrating immediately after a full night's sleep. From now on, drink at least 16 ounces of chilled water as soon as you rise in the morning. German scientists recently found that doing this boosts metabolism by 24 percent for 90 minutes afterward. (A smaller amount of water had no effect.) What's more, a previous study determined that muscle cells grow faster when they're well hydrated.


Eat Breakfast Every Day
A University of Massachusetts study showed that people who skip their morning meal are 4 1/2 times more likely to have bulging bellies than those who don't. So within an hour of waking, have a meal or protein shake with at least 250 calories. British researchers found that breakfast size was inversely related to waist size. That is, the larger the morning meal, the leaner the midsection. But keep the meal's size within reason: A 1,480-calorie smoked-sausage scramble at Denny's is really two breakfasts, so cap your intake at 500 calories. For a quick way to fuel up first thing, I like this recipe: Prepare a package of instant oatmeal and mix in a scoop of whey protein powder and 1/2 cup of blueberries.


As You Eat, Review Your Goals . . .
It's important that you stay aware of your mission. University of Iowa scientists found that people who monitored their diet and exercise goals most frequently were more likely to achieve them than were goal setters who rarely reviewed their objectives.


. . . Then Pack Your Lunch
My personal Igloo cooler just celebrated its 5th anniversary. I started carrying it with me every day back in college. This habit should be as much a part of your morning ritual as showering. Here's what I recommend packing into your cooler.

• An apple (to eat as a morning snack)
• Two slices of cheese (to eat with the apple)
• A 500- to 600-calorie portion of leftovers (for your lunch)
• A premixed protein shake or a pint of milk (for your afternoon snack)

By using this approach, you'll keep your body well fed and satisfied throughout the day without overeating. You'll also provide your body with the nutrients it needs for your workout, no matter what time you exercise. Just as important, you'll be much less likely to be tempted by the office candy bowl. In fact, my personal rule is simple: I don't eat anything that's not in the cooler.


Exercise the right way
Everyone has abs, even if people can't always see them because they're hidden under a layer of flab. That means you don't need to do endless crunches to carve out a six-pack. Instead, you should spend most of your gym time burning off blubber.

The most effective strategy is a one-two approach of weight-lifting and high-intensity interval training. According to a recent University of Southern Maine study, half an hour of pumping iron burns as many calories as running at a 6-minute-per-mile pace for the same duration. (And it has the added benefit of helping you build muscle.) What's more, unlike aerobic exercise, lifting has been shown to boost metabolism for as long as 39 hours after the last repetition. Similar findings have been noted for intervals, which are short, all-out sprints interspersed with periods of rest.

For the best results, do a total-body weight-training workout 3 days a week, resting at least a day between sessions. Then do an interval-training session on the days in between.


Skip the Late Shows
You need sleep to unveil your six-pack. That's because lack of shut-eye may disrupt the hormones that control your ability to burn fat. For instance, scientists recently found that just 3 nights of poor sleep may cause your muscle cells to become resistant to the hormone insulin. Over time, this leads to fat storage around your belly.

To achieve a better night's sleep, review your goals again 15 minutes before bedtime. And while you're at it, write down your plans for the next day's work schedule, as well as any personal chores you need to accomplish. This can help prevent you from lying awake worrying about tomorrow, which can cut into quality snooze time.


For more free information about living and staying healthy visit www.premierhealthwellness.com and look under the Wellness section.

5 Nutrients Your'e Not Getting Enough Of

Vitamin D

This vitamin's biggest claim to fame is its role in strengthening your skeleton. But vitamin D isn't a one-trick nutrient: A study in Circulation found that people deficient in D were up to 80 percent more likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke. The reason? D may reduce inflammation in your arteries.

Hit the mark: First, ask your doctor to test your blood levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D. You need to be above 30 nanograms per milliliter. Come up short? Get out in the sun for 30 minutes and enjoy the outdoors or take 1,400 IU of vitamin D daily from a supplement and a multivitamin.


Magnesium

This lightweight mineral is a tireless multitasker: It's involved in more than 300 bodily processes. Plus, a study in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition found that low levels of magnesium may increase your blood levels of C-reactive protein, a key marker of heart disease.

Hit the mark: Fortify your diet with more magnesium-rich foods, such as halibut and navy beans. Then hit the supplement aisle: Few people can reach 400 mg through diet alone, so ingest some insurance in the form of a 250 mg supplement. You want a product that uses magnesium citrate, the form best absorbed by your body.


Vitamin B12

Consider B12 the guardian of your gray matter: In a British study, older people with the lowest levels of B12 lost brain volume at a faster rate over a span of 5 years than those with the highest levels.

Hit the mark: You'll find B12 in lamb and salmon, but the most accessible source may be fortified cereals. That's because the B12 in meat is bound to proteins, and your stomach must produce acid to release and absorb it. Eat a bowl of 100 percent B12-boosted cereal and milk every morning and you'll be covered.


Potassium

Without this essential mineral, your heart couldn't beat, your muscles wouldn't contract, and your brain couldn't comprehend this sentence. Why? Potassium helps your cells use glucose for energy.

Hit the mark: Half an avocado contains nearly 500 mg potassium, while one banana boasts roughly 400 mg. Not a fan of either fruit? Pick up some potatoe, a single large spud is packed with 1,600 mg.


Iodine

Your thyroid gland requires iodine to produce the hormones T3 and T4, both of which help control how efficiently you burn calories. That means insufficient iodine may cause you to gain weight and feel fatigued.

Hit the mark: Sprinkling more salt on top of an already sodium-packed diet isn't a great idea, but iodine can also be found in a nearly sodium-free source: milk. Animal feed is fortified with the element, meaning it travels from cows to your cereal bowl. Not a milk person? Eat at least one serving of eggs or yogurt a day, both are good sources of iodine.


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Prevent Diabetes

If you're at risk for diabetes, here are some helpful strategies for decreasing your odds of getting it.

DIET
Monitor your diet
For most people, carbohydrates (especially complex carbohydrates that are high in fiber) should form the bulk of the diet. Protein foods (meat, soy foods, and dairy) should make up 10 to 20 percent of daily calories. Choose protein foods that are lower in fat, especially saturated fat. That means emphasizing fish, poultry, beans, and low-fat or no-fat dairy products.

Stick to a schedule
Avoid delaying or skipping meals and binge eating, all of which can play havoc with blood-sugar levels.

Shed some pounds
At least 80 percent of people who develop type 2 diabetes are overweight. Slim down and you may avoid the disease. Even if you can't get to your ideal weight, a 10-pound loss can dramatically lower blood-sugar levels.

EXERCISE
Move it
Exercise improves your body's sensitivity to insulin, aids glucose control, and can help you lose weight. Brisk walking an hour a day could cut your risk of developing diabetes in half.

MEDICAL OPTIONS

Get a diabetes test
In order to determine whether or not a patient has pre-diabetes or diabetes, health care providers conduct a Fasting Plasma Glucose Test (FPG) or an Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT). Either test can be used to diagnose pre-diabetes or diabetes. The American Diabetes Association recommends the FPG because it is easier, faster, and less expensive to perform.

With the FPG test, a fasting blood glucose level between 100 and 125 mg/dl signals pre-diabetes. A person with a fasting blood glucose level of 126 mg/dl or higher has diabetes.

In the OGTT test, a person's blood glucose level is measured after a fast and two hours after drinking a glucose-rich beverage. If the two-hour blood glucose level is between 140 and 199 mg/dl, the person tested has pre-diabetes. If the two-hour blood glucose level is at 200 mg/dl or higher, the person tested has diabetes.

NATURAL HEALTH
Protect yourself with E
In a study, men with the lowest blood levels of vitamin E were found to be about four times more likely to develop diabetes than men with the highest levels. Some experts recommend taking a supplement of 200 to 400 mg of vitamin E daily.

LIFESTYLE
Lower your stress
Excess stress, in combination with poor coping skills, can raise your blood-sugar levels.

Fight Stress

Some days it seems as if life throws you stress left, right, up, and down. It can drain your energy, destroy your good mood, and challenge your outlook. Those are the obvious mental repercussions.

Science has shown that stress causes your body to release hormones that raise blood pressure, speed up your heart and breathing, halt digestion, cause a surge in blood sugar, and more. When stress is constant, such as the stress caused by money problems, bad relationships, or a burdensome job -- this constant physical reaction can significantly raise your risk of colds, diabetes, heart disease, back troubles, and almost every other major health concern. Indeed, stress is emerging as one of the principal contributors to poor health in modern countries.

There's more, stress often leads to unhealthy habits. A really bad day pushes you to the nearest doughnut or ice-cream store. It saps your willingness to exercise or eat well or have fun. It causes you to tune out the world, to sit in front of the television and ignore your relationships.

And yet stress can be relatively easy to manage. All it takes is a mental commitment to it and an open mind. These approaches to stress management work. Give several a try.


Schedule six to eight hours of free time each week
Use the time to daydream, read a novel, take a nap, see a movie, or generally relax in whatever way feels best to you. This is your time. Guard it as closely as you do your PIN code for the ATM.

Walk the stress off
Stress hormones prepare your body for a physical response. A healthy way to respond to a rush of stress, then, is to get physical. Go for a brisk 15-minute walk and burn off your nervous energy. Use the time to think through the issue and return to a positive, peaceful frame of mind.

Switch exercises
If exercise isn't helping to lower your stress level, switch from a repetitive type of exercise to a type that engages your mind. Sometimes workouts are not effective at reducing stress because we use the time to think about all the stressful things we have going on. Step aerobics, very active spinning classes (where you change positions a lot), and circuit training or interval training (where you alternate different activities) prevent your mind from drifting, providing the mental break you need. A good option at home is dancing. Play your favorite music, and really get into it. Involve your whole family to benefit one and all, and add a great bonding experience into the bargain.

Take on just one new activity at a time
When you try to master too many new activities at once, you can easily feel overwhelmed. Both at work and at home, take on new commitments with care. When your job is pushing the envelope, don't do more at home. Don't buy a new house and simultaneously take on higher car payments. When your home life is stressful and changing, don't quit your job or change careers.

Unclench your muscles
Until you do this exercise, you won't even know how tense you really are. It's called progressive relaxation and it works like this: Starting with your toes and working your way up, clench each muscle for 10 seconds, then thoroughly relax them. The whole exercise shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes, and you'll feel as if you've just undergone a massage.

When you're ready to rip out your hair, phone a friend
People who have strong social ties live longer. A conversation with a close romantic partner, friend, or family member helps prevent stress hormones from triggering high blood pressure and other health complications.

Every night before bed, take five minutes to look over your day
Instead of asking yourself, "How did my day go?" ask "How did I handle my day, and how does that compare with six months ago?" Focusing on what you can control, your response to stress, will help you feel more in control.

Healthier Kids

For both boys and girls, it is important to engage in exercises that require walking, jumping, running, skipping, hopping, catching, and climbing to aid in developing their balance, agility, and coordination. Movements such as these will also allow for their natural growth spurts and patterns to occur.

A minimum of 4 days per week of cardiovascular activities are recommended. Kids should move for 30 minutes per day, and up to 7 days a week is acceptable. These activities can be done through group sports or as general play.

Check your local YMCA and park districts for classes and events. Whatever activities you choose, supervision and proper instruction are always recommended. It's okay to ask your children what they like to do - discover what they consider to be fun. This is also a way of finding out what sports or activities they might naturally excel at. Watch out for those future Olympians! If they can't decide, feel free to suggest a daily activity and provide them with the necessary environment.

Family Exercise

At one time during the week, everyone in your family should participate in one family activity for 30 minutes.

Generally, you can do whatever you want for your weekly family fun as long as it involves the entire family and is healthy, and you have a good time. It should be something easy that puts the family together and begins to reinforce good habits around this weekly event.

Go to a park with a soccer ball and have a family soccer game. Regardless of where you live, there are plenty of park areas where you and your entire family can meet and do lots of things. If you can't find any goals, use some trashcans or plastic cones to make goals, and have a blast. Everyone loves to kick a ball.

Spend as much time as you like playing, but no less than 30 minutes. Have scoring contests with one another, or have a parents versus kids game. Be creative, and you will have fun and lots of laughs. And don't forget to give yourself and your family small rewards for their healthy efforts; maybe a trip to the movie theater or some extra time staying up on the weekends. It will go a long way.

If it's raining or too cold outside, find an indoor rock climbing wall and have the whole family try to climb. Rock climbing develops hand grip and all upper body muscles, and it's a great confidence booster. Climbing on an indoor wall is safe and fun for the whole family, but be sure to have proper instruction before starting.

The earlier children are introduced to physical activity, the more inclined they will be to make exercise a part of their personal lifestyles as they grow and mature.

The Power of Sleep

Millions of chronically sleep-deprived Americans are putting their health, quality of life and even length of life in jeopardy. New evidence shows why getting enough z’s may trump all your other priorities.

Live Longer and Healthier

About 40% of Americans get less than 7 hours of shut-eye on weeknights and for many of them it’s taking a toll. The link between sleep and health, and bad sleep and disease is becoming clearer and clearer. For example, sleep duration has declined from a median of eight hours in the 1950s to seven in recent years. At the same time, high blood pressure has become an increasing problem. Blood pressure and heart rate are typically at their lowest levels during sleep; people who sleep less tend to have higher blood pressure. The association between hypertension and sleep duration could explain other findings linking lack of sleep to increased risk of heart attack, diabetes, weight gain and other problems.

Sleeping better may help you fight off illness. When people are sleep deprived, there are higher levels of stress hormones in their bodies and an increase in inflammation, both of which can decrease immune function.

Simply stated, people who sleep well live longer. So say good night sooner and it may help you stay active and vital even when you're old.

Look Better, Feel Better

People limited to only 4 or 5 hours of sleep a night for several nights not only experience more physical ailments, such as headaches and stomach problems, but also undergo changes in metabolism similar to those occurring with normal aging. It’s no wonder we look terrible after a sleepless night.

One of the reasons may be growth hormones. They’re essential to keeping us looking good as we get older. Levels of the hormone drop dramatically between the ages of 20 and 60. When you have high levels of the hormone, you have muscle mass, better skin—you look good. You want to keep your growth hormones as high as possible, and the number one best way to do that is sleep. When you don’t look good, you don’t feel sexy, and your relationship can suffer. So getting more sleep can rev up your love life too.

Be Happier, Less Stressed

More than half of adults surveyed by the National Sleep Foundation in 2005 said they experienced insomnia at least a few nights a week. People with insomnia produce higher rates of stress hormones than others. This puts their bodies in a hyperaroused state that can make it difficult for them to wind down and sleep. The inability to sleep causes more stress, which can have a devastating impact.

People who don’t sleep get depressed, and depression causes insomnia, so it’s a vicious cycle. But we know the inverse is true: that more and better sleep can make you feel happier.

Lose a Few Pounds

It should come as no surprise that the trend toward shorter sleep duration in this country has coincided with an increasing trend toward obesity. Recent studies suggest that people who get inadequate amounts of sleep are more likely to gain weight. With sleep deprivation, we see a reduction in metabolism and an increase in appetite. Inadequate sleep lowers levels of leptin, the hormone that causes you to feel full, while increasing levels of ghrelin, the hormone that makes you feel hungry.

Sleep deprivation influences your food choices, making you crave high-carb and high-sugar foods. This is because sleep loss decreases insulin sensitivity, putting the sleep-deprived at higher risk for developing type 2 diabetes. So sleep more and it may be easier to fight that cookie craving, and wake up a whole new you.

"Health" foods that aren't

Chicken Caesar Salad
Caesar salads suffer the consequences of two natural disasters: a flood of fatty dressing and a ton of Parmesan cheese and croutons. Even a Caesar side salad before a meal can cost you up to 500 calories. Instead, make a grilled chicken breast tossed in a bed of mixed greens tossed with a balsamic vinaigrette. The vinaigrette is a vast improvement over the Caesar dressing, and the absence of Parmesan means that you'll save nearly an entire meal's worth of calories by making this simple swap.

Granola Bar
Ever wonder what keeps a granola bar together? They use mostly high-fructose corn syrup as their glue, which in turns quickly raises blood sugar and cancels out any of the potential benefits you might otherwise get from the oats. By switching over to good old-fashioned cheese and crackers, you swap out sugar and calories for protein and fiber.

Dried Fruit
The dehydration process sucks most of the volume from the fruit, allowing you to eat cups of the stuff, and 600 calories later, still not feel any fuller. More troubling, though, is the fact that companies like Sun-Maid and Ocean Spray almost invariably add a ton of sugar to the fruit, making Craisins closer to candy than Mother Nature’s original intention. Stick to the real stuff.

Fruit Smoothies
Many fruit smoothies contain added sugars and high-fructose corn syrup, which means they're more milkshake than smoothie. The key here really is in the name: A 100% fruit smoothie made with plain yogurt instead of ice cream or sherbert will contain nearly half the calories and significantly less sugar, plus it will provide all of the vitamin and antioxidant capacity that a smoothie is supposed to have.

Stick to your workout

A recent study by the National Center for Health Statistics found that only 19% of the population regularly engages in high levels of physical activity. That's defined as three intense 20-minute workouts per week.

Another 63%, about the same percentage as that of Americans who are overweight, believe that exercising would make them healthier, leaner, and less stressed, but they don't do it. At the root of this problem is motivation, or the lack thereof.

Here are some tips to help you stick to your workout:

Tie Exercise to Your Health
Check your cholesterol. Then set a goal of lowering your LDL cholesterol by 20 points and increasing your HDL cholesterol by 5 points. You'll decrease your risk of heart disease while providing yourself with a very important, concrete goal. Ask your doctor to write a prescription for new blood work in a month. You'll just have to go to the lab, and the doctor will call you with the results.

Switch Your Training Partners
Working out with a partner who will hold you accountable for showing up at the gym works well for a while. But the more familiar you are with the partner, the easier it becomes to back out of workout plans. Close friends and family members don't always make the best training partners because they may allow you to slack off or cancel workouts. To keep this from happening, find a new, less forgiving workout partner every few months.

Compete
Find a sport or event that you enjoy and train to compete in it. It adds a greater meaning to each workout.

Strike an Agreement with Your Mate and Kids
The rule: You get 1 hour to yourself every day, provided that you use it for exercise and reciprocate the favor. So there's no pressure to do household chores, play marathon games of any board game. Since it's for your health, it's a contract they can't refuse. And that will allow you to exercise guilt-free while acting as a role model for your children.

Don't Do What You Hate
Whenever you start to dread your workout, do what appeals to you instead. If you dislike going to a gym, try working out at home. If you despise the treadmill, then jump rope, lift weights, or find a basketball court. Bottom line: If you're sick of your routine, find a new one.

Plan Your Workouts in Advance
At the start of each month, schedule all of your workouts at once, and cross them off as they're completed. For an average month, you might try for a total of 16 workouts. If any are left undone at the end of the month, tack them on to the following month. And make sure you have a back up plan for bad weather and unscheduled meetings. You're about 40 percent more likely to work out if you have strategies to help you overcome these obstacles.

Tips to create a sleep sanctuary

Buy a New Mattress
Don't even try to comparison shop. Every mattress in every store has a different name. And every owner of every mattress shop says that the mattresses in his shop are different and better than every other mattress shop on the planet. The truth is that the right mattress for you is the one that you try in your home for 30 days. Find a mattress shop that offers that option, pick out the mattress that you and your partner think is the most comfortable, make sure it has a guarantee, and buy it. Don't worry about coils and foam and luxury toppers. The mattress that allows you to sink into a deep, natural sleep and wake up in the morning without aches and pains is the one you want.

Chill Before Bed
Lower the temperature of your bedroom before you climb into bed. Lower temperatures signal your body it's time to sleep.

Soak
A hot bath also helps you lower your body's temperature. Yeah, your temperature goes up while you're in the bath, but your body's response to the heat will be to drop your temperature way down low.

Schedule a Massage
Massage interrupts the neurohormones connected with sleeplessness and almost manually imposes sleep on you. If you can't afford a massage, go to a massage school. You can get one there for $15.

Shut the drapes
You sleep better in the dark. If your eyelids flutter open as you move from one stage of sleep to another, even streetlights or a full moon can wake you up.

Ditch the night lights
You can also get rid of the clock radios with lighted displays. It turns out your brain can misinterpret even such dim lights and wonder if it should wake you up. Dark inhibits the brain's biological clock. It tells your brain it's time to sleep.

Pull on socks
There's no solid explanation for it, but studies have found that wearing socks to bed helps you sleep. It may be that warming your feet and legs allows your internal body temperature to drop.

Foods that fight cancer

Spice it up
The right spice can make the meal and block the tumor. That's what University of Illinois researchers discovered when they pitted turmeric against 19 different strains of H. pylori, the ulcer-inducing bacterium that's been linked to colon and gastric cancers. In every case, turmeric took the teeth out of H. pylori.

Turmeric didn't necessarily reduce the bacterial load, what it did was reduce the chronic inflammation caused by H. pylori. And it's this inflammation that has been associated with the development of cancer.

The best way to increase your intake of turmeric? Eat Indian food. Specifically, try dining on curry, which is rich in turmeric and often contains additional cancer suppresors, such as garlic and onions.

Another option: Slather extra mustard on all your sandwiches, the bright yellow variety is loaded with turmeric.


Fish
A recently completed 12-year Harvard study of nearly 48,000 men determined that those who ate fish more than three times a week were 40 percent less likely to develop advanced prostate cancer than those who hit the surf only twice a month. It's those amazing omega-3s again, though they don't deserve all the credit. Fish also contains vitamin A and vitamin D, which may help prevent prostate cancer.

Salmon, mackerel, and herring have the best balance of omega-3s, vitamin A, and vitamin D. Don't wait until the weekend to go fishing. Space your fish consumption out over the week so you consume a steady supply of these compounds.


Add Zest to Life
Fresh squeezed OJ contains all the health benefits of oranges except one: the cancer protection in the peel. People who regularly consume citrus zest reduce their risk of squamous-cell skin cancer by 30 percent, according to a recent University of Arizona study. Even lab rats live longer on the stuff; animal studies suggest that citrus zest can actually shrink existing tumors.

Turns out the oils in the peels of oranges, lemons, and grapefruit contain powerful compounds that stimulate the body's production of a detoxifying enzyme.

Grate the colored portion of the peel and add the pile of zest to soups, salads, and salsa, or sprinkle it on chicken or fish.


White Tea
Green tea grabs all the headlines as a tumor-taming brew, but the white kind surpasses it at preventing colon cancer. When researchers at Oregon State University's Linus Pauling Institute tested the two teas' abilities to block colon-polyp growth, the white beverage was about 10 percent more effective. In fact, it stopped polyps as effectively as sulindac, a powerful anti-inflammatory drug.

While prescription anti-inflammatories can cause internal bleeding and ulcers, "tea is pretty much guaranteed not to cause side effects. The study used Exotica white tea, 3 cups a day may be enough to cut your cancer risk.


Berries
Researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles have confirmed that cranberries contain a trove of tumor-blocking compounds, including phenolic acids, glycosides, and anthocyanins.

These phytochemicals are effective at preventing cancer down below—in the colon and prostate—as well as up top—on the head and neck. They force cancer cells to die or they inhibit their unregulated growth.

To hit your daily cran quota, down a small glass of cranberry juice (the type that lists at least 27 percent juice on the label) at breakfast and snack on Craisins (sweetened dried cranberries) throughout the day.

Live a stress-free life

Sneak a workout in
Eveyone has those days: no exercise time. Compensate with active bursts throughout the day. Drop and give yourself 20 pushups at intervals throughout the day. Do that 10 times throughout the day and you'll be surprised how many you've done at the end of the day. Or even mix it up with crunches, squats, whatever.

Adopt a simple philosophy
Some of life's biggest stressors are the remains of self-destructive things you do. Don't hold grudges, do things right, and don't cheat to get them done. Don't owe anybody anything and if you do pay it off as soon as possible.

Keep away from avoidable disasters
Whether it's in business or your personal life, if you've got positive, like-minded people around you, then your systems are in place.

Know what you don't know
Fighting to prove you know something when you don't wastes time and sucks energy. The amount of time you can save just by saying you don't know is huge. We're brought up to be know-it-alls. I don't know can be perceived as a weakness, but instead see it as a sign of intelligence. Then you can experience something so you do know. How else will you ever learn something new?

Always schedule pleasure in your day
We all know pleasure is good for you. You might be saying, well that's obvious. But wait a minute: How much pleasure do you really allow yourself to have every day? There are some people who are so strict that they become a slave to their healthy lifestyle, a slave to working out, a slave to eating just the right foods. You have to be more flexible and enjoy having things. You don't go to a friend's barbecue and say, I'm sticking to salad. Who's going to enjoy that? Lighten up! It's your lifestyle, not your life.

Overcome the reasons you don't workout

New Relationship
Sure, you already have the girl, but adventurous activities can help you keep her. Buy a pair of mountain bikes or a pair of tennis rackets. Sharing new experiences mimics the brain's response to falling in love.

Major injury
Set a goal. You'll allow yourself to let go of your immediate disappointment and look beyond the injury. Depending on your rehab progression, aim for a mile swim or a 5-mile hike 6 months from the date of your injury.

New job
Identify the office athlete. You're more likely to maintain a fitness routine if the responsibility doesn't rest entirely on you. Approach the lunch-hour runner or the after-work gym fiend and adopt aspects of his routine until you develop one of your own.

New Baby
Cut your fitness program in half. Do shorter, more intense exercises, and you'll be less likely to quit working out altogether. Swap your hour long jog for half an hour of sprints, for example, or condense your lifting routine with supersets.

New Neighborhood
Join a new gym before you pack the moving van. You'll create a subconscious commitment to exercise regardless of geography. Use internet search engines ahead of time to chart new running routes and to search for a fitness center by zip code.

Vacation
Enjoy your time off. A couple weeks of rest gives your muscles and mind a chance to heal and restore. Afterward, ease back into your workout. Cut your number of sets and reduce the weight you lift by 20 percent for a week before blasting back to your routine.

Avoid sleeping with stress

Finding yourself wide awake after a few hours of sleep or waking often at night is call parasomnia. It's much more common than people think according to a 2005 National Sleep Foundation poll, which found that 75% of adults frequently have symptoms of a sleep problem.

The root of most sleep problems is STRESS. If you go to bed worried you're probably going to wake up in the middle of the night, only to go through the next day feeling like hell. We're overwhelming our body's ability to relax. Our nervous system is built for a sprint, but we're living in a stress marathon every day.

After an action packed day our brains need some time to wind down. Take 15 minutes to sit quietly, meditate, pray, or just listen to yourself breathing and allow your mind to slow down. Establish a routine before bed and you'll notice the repetition will condition your brain and body for sleep.

Nap time

Napping works wonders for a stressed brain. Napping 20 to 30 minutes gives you enough restorative power to perform better and does not interfere with falling asleep at night. The key is to nap early and keep it short.

Foods to Increase Your Brain Power

Your brain depends on key nutrients to keep itself balanced. Instead of downing a gallon of ice cream or drowning yourself in beer next time you're feeling down, give your body the fuel it needs.

Whatever your mood is, here are some snacks that will provide your brain the boost to get you through even the toughest situations without sacrificing your waistline.

Anxiety
The Meal: Half a grilled chicken wrap, hold the mayo

Here's why: Eating between 4 to 5 ounces of protein helps your brain create dopamine and norepinephrine, neurochemicals that keep you alert.


Stress
The Meal: A handful of sesame seeds or almonds

Here's why: Stress hormones can deplete your body's supply of magnesium, reducing your stress coping abilities and increasing your risk of developing high blood pressure.


Restlessness
The Meal: Nonfat popcorn half an hour before you go to bed

Here's why: The carbs will induce your body to create serotonin, a neurochemical that makes you feel relaxed, but make sure it's fat free or the fat will slow the process of boosting serotonin levels.


Depression
The Meal: Grilled salmon or sushi for dinner

Here's why: People who eat more fish are 31% less like to suffer from depression, according to a recent study in Finland. Also skip out on sweet, simple carbs because the sugar crash can deepen depression.


Confusion
The Meal: Pineapple chunks or a cup of berries

Here's why: Your brain consumes tons of oxygen, allowing oxidants to do heavy damage there. Antioxidants found in colorful fruits and veggies help pick off free radicals that wear away at your memory.