From Oprah.com
Ancient Greek physicians prescribed garlic. Egyptian herbalists favored licorice. For Oprah, the cold-fighting concoction of choice is the juice of freshly crushed cranberries.
Cranberries are rich in health-boosting antioxidants, including vitamin C and flavonoids (which can act as anti-inflammatories). And fresh cranberry juice offers all its nutrient content with none of the high-fructose corn syrup and other additives found in many store-bought brands.
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Jillian Michaels, the hardcore personal trainer from NBC’s Biggest Loser teaches TIME what to eat at the office while on a diet
What you eat, everything from your meals to snacks, can have a huge effect on how your day goes. Here are some tips from Men’s Health Magazine to eat and sip your way to a successful day!
Breakfast
Eat This: Bacon or ham and fried eggs (Protein that will leave you feeling satisfied)
Benefit 1: Fullness and energy
Benefit 2: Relaxed blood vessel (i.e. lower blood pressure)
Not That: Pancakes, or a bagel with cream cheese
These carbohydrate-loaded options will send your blood glucose skyward and then crash! Leaving you hungry too soon.
Extra tip: Eat now at home, not later on the road.
A University of Massachusetts study found that eating breakfast out instead of at home more than doubles your odds of obesity.
Dealing with Stress:
Try This: Chewing gum
Benefit: Stress relief
Not That: Coffee
Caffeine can trigger a spike in the stress hormone cortisol.
Having Trouble Concentrating at Work
Drink This: Peppermint tea
Periodic whiffs of peppermint increase people’s concentration and performance on tasks requiring sustained attention.
Not That: Soda
Sugary drinks have proven to make people drowsy
Lunchtime
Eat This: Grilled salmon
Benefit: Alertness
Add This: Spinach or arugula salad
Benefit: Improved mood and memory
Not That: Tea with milk (Mixing milk (protein) with tea cancels out the health benefits)
Continue to complete your perfect day of eating menu.
The Girl Scout Cookies are looking out for your health this year.
The popular classics like Samoas, Thin Mints, Tagalongs, Do-Si-Dos, Trefoils, All Abouts and CafM-i Cookies — are still on the menu, but all with a healthier twist. All of the cookies have been reformulated to be free of trans fatty acids- the fats responsible for bad cholesterol. They have even created sugar-free brownies for those who need to cut back on their sugar intake.
Wouldn’t your day seem so much easier if you didn’t have to deal with fatigue?! Here are some tips from Mens Health to energy that will last all day long!
7 a.m.: The Morning Fog
Fill it up. Make your morning meal a bowl of instant oatmeal prepared with skim milk. Tufts University researchers recently found that people who ate one packet of instant oatmeal spiked with 1/2 cup of skim milk received a steady glucose infusion, which increased their alertness all morning and improved their ability to process information. And if you aren’t already jolting yourself with java, start; a University of Pennsylvania study shows that a dose of caffeine can combat sleep inertia.
1 p.m.: The Lunchtime Letdown
Order a combo meal. If you can’t (or won’t) limit your lunchtime carbohydrate consumption, work in extra fiber to slow your digestion and the release of insulin, says Susan Kleiner, Ph.D., R.D., owner of the consulting firm High Performance Nutrition. For example, if your noon nosh includes a baked potato, make sure you eat the skin, which is dense with a type of fiber called pectin. “Pectin slows everything down in the gastrointestinal tract,” says Kleiner.
3 p.m.: The Afternoon Slump
Expose yourself. As in, give yourself a shot of sunlight. The sun’s rays will provide a boost to your circadian clock that should solve your afternoon slump—if you time things right. “The key is adequate exposure to sunlight very quickly after you wake up in the morning,” says Michael Terman, Ph.D., a professor of clinical psychology at Columbia University medical center. “As you move into the middle of the day, the same amount of light exposure doesn’t affect the circadian clock at all.”
6 p.m.: The Preworkout Conk-Out
Snack before you sweat. Schedule a small snack roughly an hour and a half before your postwork workout. The ideal mini meal totals 250 calories and consists of 25 to 35 grams (g) carbohydrates, 10 to 15 g protein, and up to 5 g fat, says Kleiner. Two handfuls of pretzels and two slices of cheese fits the nutritional bill, as does a Myoplex Lite bar.
8 p.m.: The Prime-Time Torpor
Rock yourself awake. First, do not stretch out on the couch or recline in your easy chair. “Underlying sleepiness becomes more apparent when we put ourselves in sleep-conducive positions, such as lying down,” says Wright. And instead of turning on the TV, power up your iPod. “To increase the perception of energy, listen to a piece of music that is upbeat and familiar, and use that song to get you going,” says Andrea Scheve, director of the University of Pittsburgh medical center music-therapy program.
Shut It Off
It would be funny if it weren’t so frustrating: You spend the entire day fighting fatigue, only to slip into bed, shut your eyes, and suddenly realize that you now have too much energy. This is due to doing too many other activities, other than sleeping, in your bed. Which means the fix is what sleep researchers have recommended all along: no books, no Leno, and definitely no laptop when you’re under the covers. Sex is fine—it is, after all, nature’s perfect sleep aid.
According to Mens Health
SIGG water bottles have been the latest must have accessory with celebrities after the swiss brand became the best alternative to plastic water bottles.
SIGG was not only the best green option, but also a healthy alternative to theplastic bottles that contained bisphenol-A (BPA), “a controversial chemical used to harden plastics, which some studies have linked to diabetes, premature puberty in girls and reduced sperm count in men.”
Many SIGG lovers are reeling used after “the company has been outed for failing to tell the public that its bottles were not BPA-free, at least not the ones that were manufactured before August 2008. ”
The word ‘pandemic’ conjures a scary picture, and to an extent the idea of an illness spreading through humans on a large scale is daunting. However these types of sicknesses are constantly present, and the H1N1 virus is no different. There is a chance that your office will be affected by the virus, and so contingency planning ahead of time is vital in order to deal with the possibility that an entire department is out sick. In this video, WatchMojo.com learns more about pandemics, and discusses the issue of planning in case your office is hit with the swine flu bug.
They’re our choice of drink to wake us up or to keep us up when we’re planning for all nighters- but are energy drinks safe?
Here’s what Shape found out:
Common Ingredients
1. Taurine
This naturally found amino acid is typically offered as a dietary supplement, but it’s also found in fish and meat. Some sources suggest that you can take up to 3,000 milligrams of this supplement a day, however you should always be weary of consuming high doses. So far, the attitudes towards this acid are inconclusive, yet positive. “Taurine’s effective role in energy drinks alone requires more study, as it’s usually one of several ingredients that commonly tout a variety of claims, from decreasing sleepiness to improving concentration, mood and memory,” says Marisa Moore, R.D., spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association.
2. Caffeine
This stimulant has been at the center of heated debates for years. The results are always mixed: Caffeine may protect against ovarian cancer, but it also raises the risk of a miscarriage. A study of energy drinks conducted at the University of Vienna, Austria, found that combining caffeine and taurine improves mental performance of drinkers. That being said, caffeine can become addictive when taken regularly and should be consumed cautiously.
Are They Safe?
Energy drinks contain so many different herbs and supplements that they create a murky broth with unknown effects. Ginseng and ginkgo biloba, which are also common ingredients, can affect other medications you’re taking. “Gingko biloba may increase the risk of bleeding, which is a real caution for those who take blood thinners or who have a surgery or dental procedure scheduled,” says Moore.
The best thing to do is limit your consumption of these drinks, or even better, go au naturel. “If you feel the need for energy to fuel a workout or something during snack time, try a banana, granola bar or other whole grain energy bar,” adds Moore.
This is not new information for most of us, but it’s always nice to be reminded of the benefits of our healthy habits or a reminder of why we should develop these habits.
Celebrity trainer and former body builder Rich Barretta shares the four healthy-eating rules his clients swear by, which you too can easily adopt with Shape Magazine.
1. Cut back on booze
If drinking is a big part of your social life, your waistline may suffer. Not only is alcohol loaded with carbs and empty calories, but people tend to make bad food choices when they’re buzzed. A couple sugary cocktails can easily add up to a thousand calories (half of the average person’s daily need), so Barretta advises avoiding alcohol altogether. If you are going to indulge, opt for a glass of wine or slim down your drink with smart swaps like trading tonic for club soda.2. Just say “no” to fried food
“Grill it, bake it, broil it, steam it, just don’t fry it,” says Barretta. Frying something perfectly healthy, such as chicken, takes away nutrients, while adding fat and calories. Plus, by eating fried foods at restaurants that still use trans fats, you run the risk of raising artery-clogging bad cholesterol and lowering fat-clearing good cholesterol3. Avoid carbs at night
There’s no need to deprive yourself of carbs, but you should be conscious of when you eat them. By consuming high-carb foods (potatoes, rice, pastas and breads) early in the day, you have more time to burn them off. At night, carbs are more likely to go unused and be stored as fat. Barretta’s rule of thumb: Stick to lean protein and veggies after 6pm.4. Pass up processed foods
We all know that fresh foods are better for us, but often reach for processed products out of convenience. While it’s challenging to cut out processed foods entirely, there are certain ingredients Barretta suggests you steer clear of, including high-fructose corn syrup, MSG, white flour and processed sugar. Your best bet is to shop around the perimeter of the grocery store, where you’ll find fresh meats and produce.
Orthorexia is the latest love-hate relationship that has developed between mainly women and food.
Orthorexia is “a fairly new classification of eating disorder characterized by an utter obsession for healthy eating. For the orthorexic, disavowing cheese, fat, meat and bread is a way to feel pure and healthy. But their fascination for food choices quickly becomes an unhealthy fixation.”
This eating disorder is easily masked as a food allergy unless you know what to look for. Here are some questions from MSN.Health to ask yourself to be sure your friend or loved one isn’t disguising her disordered eating with a food allergy:
• How does she look?
Those living with food allergies become adept at managing their diets so that their nutritional needs are met. Their health doesn’t necessarily suffer. Orthorexics, on the other hand, become so obsessed that malnutrition and even emaciation can result.
• Does her story change?
Women with food intolerances have a finite list of items to avoid. Those with eating disorders will change their tune to fit the social situation; orthorexics will continually add to their list of restricted foods.
• Are there other symptoms?
Sufferers of eating disorders often become compulsive about not only what they eat but also how they eat it (how the food is arranged on the plate, which utensils are used, where they sit). Food-allergy sufferers, on the other hand, are simply happy to be able to eat.
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