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The DASH Diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) has been proven to significantly reduce a women’s risk of coronary heart disease and stroke. Now, I know that many of us hate the word diet let alone the actual dieting itself. However, this diet is not nearly as scary as some out there.
The DASH Diet recommends that you increase not only your consumption of fruits and vegetables, but consume low-fat or non-fat dairy products regularly. The goal of this diet is to significantly reduce your consumption of starchy foods. The best part of the DASH Diet is that you are not starving yourself. You are mainly cutting certain foods out of your diet and replacing them with healthier ones.
The DASH Diet offers a book that contains recipes and guidelines for successfully adapting to the diet. There is also an on-line listserv that you can join to chat with others who are on the diet or just starting out, like you.
If you are like millions of women who want to lead a healthier life, but can’t find a diet that is right for you, check out the DASH diet.
As a matter of fact, March is National Nutrition Month®. The American Dietetic Association created this campaign to raise awareness and education about eating healthy. This program helps people make healthy diet choices, while encouraging them to raise their physical activity level. “It’s a Matter of Fact” is this year’s NNM’s slogan and means just what it says. Get the facts about nutrition and get on your way to a healthier, happier you.
Obesity is an increasing health issue in America. According to WebMD, 30 percent of the population is obese and 65 percent are overweight or obese. Obesity can lead to very serious, and sometimes fatal, health conditions including Type II Diabetes and heart disease.
WebMD offers two calculators on their site. The first will give you an estimate of how many calories you are burning during physical activity. This will help if you want to lose weight and have to lower your caloric intake and increase your physical activity level.
The second calculator will give your estimated body mass index (BMI). A BMI of 29.9 or over indicates a very high risk of serious health problems.
With the information from the American Dietetic Association and the help from WebMD’s calculators, you no longer have an excuse. Get the facts, get healthy and stay happy.
With a seemingly endless busy schedule, who has time to go to the gym? Or go for jog? Or even eat heathly? Not many of us have the time or the energy at the end of the day to do any of those things.
What if there were little things you could work into your daily routine that would help curve your appetite or burn a few calories without even thinking about it? Well, there are.
In a recent article on WebMD, they explain that infusing healthy habits into your routine will help you stay energized, healthy and even help you lose weight. Instead of taking an elevator, take the stairs. Insead of grabbing a candy bar on your way out the door, grab a piece of fruit. When you are at the mall or grocery store, walk briskly in between stores or aisles. Treat yourself to a candy bar once in awhile instead of treating yourself to a healthy snack once in awhile. It has been proven that over time, these little steps toward a healthier you will work.
“If you let yourself make small changes, they will add up to meaningful changes in the quality of your diet, your physical activity pattern, your capacity to deal with stress, and in your sleep quality — and those four things comprise an enormously powerful health promotion that can change your life,” says David Katz, MD, MPH, director of Yale University’s Prevention Research Center and of the Yale Preventive Medicine Center.
This is not to say that you should NOT go to the gym or go for a jog. If you have the time and resources, take advantage of them. For many, time is always an issue and when we finally do get a chance to sit down and relax, exercise is the last thing on our minds. These little additions to your routine are mindless, stress-free and beneficial.
Never having tried Yoga, I was thinking today, while being stressed out, that maybe I should. Some people that I know who have done or do Yoga, swear by it. It seems impossible to me that in the stress-filled life, where we never have time to do anything, that this method of fitness and relaxation can actually work and work good.
Yoga originated in India and for supposedly thousands of years, has given people the solution to stress and fatigue. Among other things, Yoga helps you control your breathing, which in turn relaxes your body and your mind. It also rejuvenates your energy levels, giving you more opportunity to do things that you have to do without becoming fatigued.
One aspect of Yoga focuses on meditation. Meditation allows for self-actualization and clears your mind of daily stresses. Yoga entangles exercise, meditation and breathing to create what I think everyone should at least experience once. Draw your own conclusions.
Visit ABC of Yoga. (Picture courtesy of abc-of-yoga.com)
