Posts Tagged ‘advice’
Eat On Exam Day
Monday, November 9th, 2009Healthy eating is probably the last thing on the minds of the more than 200,000 school students preparing for exams this month. But according to Australia’s leading nutrition organisation, eating the right food is one of the keys to exam success.
Clare Evangelista, Spokesperson for the Dietitians Association of Australia (DAA) said eating a balanced diet can help improve concentration.
‘What we eat has a big impact on mental performance, so we need to give our brain the right fuel to help it perform at its peak. Eating energy bars, lollies and chocolates will give students a short-term spike in energy, but this doesn’t last,’ said Ms Evangelista, an Accredited Practising Dietitian.
Clare has these top five tips for improving energy and concentration levels on exam day:
Eat breakfast – Stick with familiar foods and serve sizes on the morning of an exam as this is not the time to try anything new. Breakfast provides your brain with carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. Try: – A bowl of cereal with reduced-fat milk, topped with chopped fruit and a sprinkle of almonds – Wholegrain or wholemeal toast with reduced-fat cheese and tomato, and a small fruit juice.
Eat regularly throughout the day – Eating energy-sustaining foods at meals and snacks will help to fuel the brain, maintain energy levels, and avoid dips in concentration. Try: – Sandwich, roll or wrap filled with salad vegetables, reduced-fat cheese, lean meat or tinned tuna – Fruit smoothies made with reduced-fat milk and/or yoghurt – Fruit (fresh, tinned or dried) or fruit and nut snack packs – Crackers with tomato and reduced-fat cheese, toast and spreads, fruit bread, cereal with reduced-fat milk.
Drink plenty of water – This will hydrate your body, help reduce fatigue and help your brain work. If possible, take a water bottle in to the exam with you.
Limit excess caffeine – Limit coffee, caffeinated soft drinks or guarana-containing drinks. Caffeine can act as a mild stimulant, boosting alertness and staving off fatigue, but too much can make you feel nervous and restless, and may affect how well you sleep.
Exercise – Schedule in some physical activity before or in between exams. Exercise can help reduce stress, clear your mind and improve sleep patterns.
The Best Areas to Visit in Manhattan
Sunday, November 8th, 2009I’m a native New Yorker, and I never plan to leave this city. Having grown up outside of Manhattan, I was lucky enough to move into this borough a few years ago, and I’ve really enjoyed my time spent here.
I’ve lived in a few neighborhoods throughout the city, and I plan on spending time in more as time allows me to. My favorite thing about Manhattan is that you could relocate by something as small as ten blocks, and you’ll be in a completely different world.
I try to get to each corner of the city as often as possible, but I still find myself yearning for more free time. There are literally tens of thousands of restaurants and bars.
This article is going to hone in on some of my favorite neighborhoods in this great city. While all of them are great, here are the ones that I enjoy most.
The first neighborhood that I’d like to bring up is the East Village. This area is home to some of my favorite restaurants and bars in the city.
Catered to a younger crowd (think 20s and 30s), there are so many different styles of food, bars, lounges, and clothing shopping, all immersed in one area no bigger than a square mile at most. The East Village morphs into the Lower East Side as you go down, and the areas are very similar.
If you want to try something a bit more subdued, the West Village is very similar in terms of its offerings, but a little more laid back. The tree lined blocks here add a lot of character to the neighborhood, and it’s one of the city’s most scenic areas.
If you prefer something a bit less Bohemian and more scenic, have a look at the Upper West Side. With Central Park in the backdrop, this is an excellent blend of nature, combined with the rest of what you’d come to expect in traditional Manhattan.
As you can see, there’s so much to do in this great city. What’s scary is that I’ve only mentioned a few of the many wonderful places to choose from.
Truths Every Health Freak Needs To Hear
Sunday, November 8th, 2009Every once in a while you just have to vent. I had to get the following off my chest;
You can’t spot reduce. If you could, people who chewed gum would have skinny faces and Jillian Michaels wouldn’t have “kankles”.
Stop telling us that all fat isn’t bad like you just discovered penicillin. Calories matter: They always have, they still do and they always will. Creatine is still the best performance supplement on the market. The “next creatine” is still creatine.
Dear gym guy: Please stop doing the following; Bicep curls in the squat rack Any exercise other than the bench press on the bench press Resting for 8 minutes between sets and not letting others “work in” Leaving your weights all over the floor The “secret” to fat loss is good nutrition and hard work. That’s it.
Don’t ask me about intermittent fasting, macro-patterning, cyclical ketogenic diets or meal replacements if you aren’t eating enough vegetables. Learn to prioritize if you can do 45 hard minutes on the elliptical while still easily belting out every song on your iPod but crumple under the weight of mauve-colored dumbbells – focus more on weight.
If you can bench press 350lbs (or could in high school) but can’t walk up a flight of stairs without coughing up radial snow tires – mix in a bike ride or a hike in place of your 4th “chest day” of the week.
If you can put your knees in your ears – quit stretching and build some strength and stability. If you are “bench press guy” from above and have posture that would make Quasimodo cringe, add some mobility and postural work. (Sorry to pick on bench press guy again but) if you can bench press small buildings but can’t deadlift your birth weight – try deadlifting. You won’t likely be able to out-exercise a poor diet.
If you are losing weight by diet alone – you will look like a different kind of crap. Your way isn’t the “best way” it just may be the best way for you. You can live a very healthy life eating both vegetarian and Atkins and most things in between provided you are eating healthy, mostly un/minimally processed foods that provide adequate nutrients.
The most likely reason you aren’t getting results: Trying to “fix” something that requires a lifestyle makeover that starts with changing habits. Have a beef about health trends? Rant away!
My Common Sense Weight Loss Routine
Sunday, November 8th, 2009I’d like to share a quick story with you, now that you’re here. This has been a really interesting year for me, full of ups and downs.
Unfortunately, the company I work for went out of business last year. I was left in a situation where I couldn’t find a job, so I spent most of my time online, pursuing some hobbies and looking for jobs. Unfortunately, I gained a lot of weight during this time.
Not knowing what to do, I realized that it had subtly happened as I snuck in some extra snacks and soft drinks each day. I decided to go cold turkey on a few things, combined with a disciplined fitness regime, and I’ve already lost half of that weight in about 60 days’ time.
Fortunately, I’ve turned things completely around. I’ve lost so much weight and I have some great results to show for it. Most importantly, I feel better than I have in years.
The biggest thing that I did was the fact that I eliminated any and all sodas from my every day drinking habits. I don’t care if it’s a diet cola that has no calories, I still think it’s bad.
Additionally, I took a closer look at the foods I ate and decided to do away with sugar altogether. The only sugar I’d have from here was the sugar that’s found naturally in fruits, which happens to taste pretty good.
Next, I make it a point to run at least 4 times weekly. I really try for 5 or 6 when I can, but 4 should do the job, especially if you aim for a faster speed each time.
Third, I simply don’t eat fried foods anymore. Hard to give up, but it feels great after a few weeks.
Why To Eat Nuts
Saturday, November 7th, 2009Nuts are tasty, loaded with good fat, protein, fiber, nutrients and phytochemicals that are heart healthy and potentially good for the waistline. Barring allergies, there aren’t many reasons not to include nuts in your diet. Let’s take a look at some interesting studies, tips and tidbits about nuts.
Nuts and the Heart
A study of 31000 Seventh Day Adventists that ate nuts more than 4 times per week were half as likely to die of a heart attack than those who ate nuts less than once a week. The Iowa Women’s Health Study came to a similar conclusion: Women who ate nuts or seeds 4 times per week were 40% less likely to die from heart disease than similar women who didn’t eat nuts. The Nurses’ Health Study showed that those who ate at least 140g/week of nuts were 35% less likely to be diagnosed with heart disease than those who ate less than 30g/month. Nuts and Weight
Most studies have shown that adding nuts to the diet does not cause people to gain much weight, if any at all. As an example, researchers gave participants 45-70g of almonds every day (320 calories worth) and gave them no further instructions about food intake. After 6 months, participants gained a very miniscule amount of weight (.2 lbs in women, 1.4 lbs in men). This study was funded by the almond industry.
There aren’t many studies that show nut consumption to help people lose weight, but one study showed that a low calorie diet that included almonds led to greater weight loss than an equal calorie diet that did not include almonds.
The Seventh Day Adventist and Nurses Health Study showed that those who regularly ate nuts weighed less than those who did not.
The Best Nuts
Are some nuts better than others when it comes to health benefits? All nuts contain good fats, fiber and proteins, but different kinds of nuts have different nutrient profiles.
Almonds are richest in vitamin E (35% recommended daily intake) and calcium (8%) per 1 oz. (30g) serving. Brazil nuts are highest in selenium with just 1 supplying a days worth. Cashews are richest in copper and zinc Peanuts (technically a legume) contain the antioxidant resveratrol, and are highest in protein and arginine content Walnuts have the most alpha linolenic acids (plant-based omega-3’s) How much?
Nuts are healthy but are a dense source of calories. 1oz/30g of nuts supply about 170-180 calories. Here is a chart that shows how many nuts are in 30g.
Number of Nuts in 30 grams (1oz)
Almonds: 20-24 Brazil nuts: 6-8 Pecans: 18-20 (halves) Cashews: 16-18 Pine Nuts: 150-157 Pistachios: 45-47 Walnuts: 8-11 Hazelnuts: 18-20
Severe Liver Disease In Offspring
Saturday, November 7th, 2009Scientists have discovered a previously unknown link between a mother’s diet in pregnancy and a severe form of liver disease in her child.
In a study, published in the journal Hepatology, researchers at the University of Southampton found that a high fat diet during a woman’s pregnancy makes her offspring more likely to develop a severe form of fatty liver disease when they reach adulthood. The findings are another piece in the jigsaw for scientists who believe diets containing too high levels of saturated fat may have an adverse effect on our health.
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a condition associated with obesity and caused by the build up of fat in the liver. The condition advances in some people and it is important to understand the factors that contribute to disease progression. Until recently, NAFLD was considered rare and relatively harmless but now it is one of the most common forms of liver disease that may progress to cirrhosis a serious life threatening chronic liver disease.
Professor Christopher Byrne, with colleagues Dr Felino Cagampang and Dr Kim Bruce, of the University’s School of Medicine and researchers at King’s College London, conducted the study, funded by the BBSRC. Prof Byrne explained: “This research shows that too much saturated fat in a mother’s diet can affect the developing liver of a fetus, making it more susceptible to developing fatty liver disease later in life. An unhealthy saturated fat-enriched diet in the child and young adult compounds the problem further causing a severe form of the fatty liver disease later in adult life.”
The next stage of this research, also funded by the BBSRC, will be to understand, more precisely, the reason why fatty liver disease develops and to intervene to prevent the fatty liver disease occurring.
The University’s School of Medicine has a worldwide reputation for its pioneering research into the relationship between mothers’ diets in pregnancy and future health problems in their offspring.
3 Easy Dessert Ideas
Wednesday, November 4th, 2009Everyone loves a good dessert. What better way to top off a nice meal than by finishing it with a sweet, guilty pleasure?
Whether it’s cake, cookies, ice cream, or something a bit more gourmet, a good dessert is the best part of many meals. There are so many different variations on so many traditional dishes, yet when it comes to our own, we’re often lost for ideas.
I’m going to help you out by giving you a few suggestions that I believe will appeal to you. Take a look at these, and look online for different ways to make these, as I know there are a ton of them.
The first dessert that I’ll recommend is a mousse, but a white chocolate one at that. I’m sure you’ve had the traditional rich chocolate mousse with dark chocolate shavings, but going white is a great way to mix it up.
While it tastes great on its own, it never hurts to add some more ingredients here, as things like caramel, syrups, and more all go really well with this dish.
2. Ice cream martini in a glass. This is another creative idea that has more to do with presentation than anything else. This will look like a top of the line dessert for your guests.
The best thing to do here is to add some ingredients that essentially make it look like a parfait would look. From there, you have an ice cream sundae in a much more refined dish.
Lastly, there’s the mango rose filled with ice cream. This has it all. It has the aesthetics, the great taste, and even some fruit for health benefits. Believe it or not, it’s pretty easy to shape the mango as you need to here.
Fill it up with ice cream or sorbet. Whether it’s vanilla or something more adventurous, you’ll have a sweet, tasty treat on your hands. Highly recommended for anyone who likes a mango.
Nostalgia And Uk Food Market Growth
Wednesday, November 4th, 2009Nostalgic and ‘retro’ foods have helped drive continued sales value growth in the UK food and beverage market even as the country entered recession, according to a new report from Leatherhead Food Research.
The global movement toward comfort eating has grown as the economic climate has worsened and many food companies have sought to cash in on the trend by reintroducing discontinued product lines and expanding in categories like frozen foods and desserts.
Market research manager at Leatherhead Chris Brockman told FoodNavigator.com: “The nostalgia trend has intensified this year: People are going back to comfort foods and emotional eating. Canned foods have been doing quite well and sales of things like jellies and frozen desserts are performing well.”
Leatherhead’s UK Food and Drinks Report 2009 covers market information from 2004 to 2008, so although it reports three percent annual sales value growth during this time, the full effects of the recession may not yet be apparent.
“Clearly the recession intensified at the beginning of this year so the figures are likely to get worse,” said Brockman.
Comebacks
However, products that hark back to better times have proved popular with cash-strapped consumers.
Brockman gives the example of Birdseye’s Arctic Roll, a frozen dessert which was popular in the UK during the 1970s and 80s, but lost fans in the early 1990s, leading the company to discontinue the product. It was reintroduced in December.
In addition, he said that consumers are treating themselves to chocolate and confectionery products, even as they are choosing private label products and cutting back on non-food luxuries.
“People are trading down to own label versions but they are always buying treats as well. There is still quite a good market for that,” said Brockman. “We always say that chocolate does very well in a recession, and it has done.”
He said that Mars in particular has done well – and it has also tapped into the trend for nostalgia, by bringing back Treets, its brown-shelled chocolate-covered peanuts, for a limited time, even though it discontinued them in 1988.
Meanwhile, there are marked differences across Europe when it comes to which sections of the food and drink market are doing well.
For example, while the retail sales value of carbonated soft drinks increased in the UK by a modest 5.3 percent from 2004-2008, it shot up in Spain by 22.7 percent. And the sales value of ice cream fell by 10.9 percent in the UK during the period, while it grew by 7.1 percent in Italy.
Researchers Map The First Complete Human Epigenome
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009Although the human genome sequence faithfully lists (almost) every single DNA base of the roughly 3 billion bases that make up a human genome, it doesn’t tell biologists much about how its function is regulated. Now, researchers at the Salk Institute provide the first detailed map of the human epigenome, the layer of genetic control beyond the regulation inherent in the sequence of the genes themselves.
“In the past we’ve been limited to viewing small snippets of the epigenome,” says senior author Joseph Ecker, Ph.D., professor and director of the Genomic Analysis Laboratory at the Salk Institute and a member of the San Diego Epigenome Center. “Being able to study the epigenome in its entirety will lead to a better understanding of how genome function is regulated in health and disease but also how gene expression is influenced by diet and the environment.”
Their study, published in the Oct. 14, 2009 advance online edition of the journal Nature, compared the epigenomes of human embryonic stem cells and differentiated connective cells from the lung called fibroblasts, revealing a highly dynamic, yet tightly controlled, landscape of chemical signposts known as methyl-groups. The head-to-head comparison brought to light a novel DNA methylation pattern unique to stem cells, which may explain how stem cells establish and maintain their pluripotent state, the researchers say.
The emergence of epigenetics has already changed the way researchers think about how disease arises and how physicians treat it. Epigenetic changes play a crucial role in the development of cancer and some drugs that directly interact with the epigenome have been approved for the treatment of lymphoma and lung cancer and are now tested against a number of other cancer types. “Unless we know how these drugs affect the entire epigenome, we don’t really understand their full mechanism of action,” says Ecker.
Recognizing the central role of the epigenome in many areas of biology and medicine the National Institutes of Health launched a five-year Roadmap Epigenomics Program in 2008. The San Diego Epigenome Center, headed by Bing Ren, Ph.D., Professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and head of the Laboratory of Gene Regulation at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, is an integral part of the five-year, $190 million push to accelerate research into modifications that alter genetic behavior across the human genome.
The current study, to which Ren and additional members of the Center located at the University of Wisconsin and the Morgridge Institute for Research in Madison, Wisconsin, also contributed, is not only the first complete high-resolution map of an epigenome superimposed on the human genome, but also the first study to be published as a direct result of the Roadmap Epigenomics Program.
Obese Children Don’t Want Surgery
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009Despite the well documented physical emotional toll that obesity takes on the self-esteem of children and teens – the majority of those surveyed would not want weight loss surgery.
Professor Paul Gateley, who leads the Carnegie Weight Management program, surveyed 100 clinically obese children (aged 8-17). Here is what he and his team found;
60% felt surgery was cheating. 71% felt weight loss surgery was dangerous. 61% believed there were easier ways to lose weight. 29% of the children saw eating too much junk food as the cause of their problem. 59% claimed that managing portion sizes was the main reason for their heavy weight. 60% feel that they get no support in overcoming their weight issues at school. 42% say they have been subjected to bullying. 58% think their body weight will prevent them from getting a boyfriend/girlfriend. A similar percentage worried that their weight would prevent them from pursuing their dream career. What we can learn from this
Youth obesity is easily one of the most pressing health concerns of the developed and developing world. Understanding the fears, concerns and mindsets of these kids is crucial to developing successful interventions to reverse this trend.
It all starts at home: parents need to take control of their children’s health by role-modeling healthy behaviours and providing a home environment whereby they set their children up for success. More often than not, obese children have obese children. This is an opportunity to get healthy as a family.
Government/school boards need to do their part: Providing healthy fare at schools and access to healthy foods for low income families is imperative. On the education front, physical education should be a staple in all schools. Further, classes on living a healthy lifestyle should be included in the curriculum of schools. The fact that only 29% of children saw eating too much junk food as being responsible for their weight problem is surprising.
Reversing this worrying trend will be neither easy nor quick. Massive paradigm shifts take time, persistence and the dedication of many individuals and organizations banding together towards a common purpose.