Show All » NEWSLETTER ISSUES » Fitness & Nutrition
Thursday, July 08, 2010Feeling Hot-Hot-Hot!
The heat wave that most of us are experiencing at the moment is
quite unusual. Extreme situations call for extreme measures, and so I
went to my friend and colleague Christa Smedile, RD, LDN to give us advice for
this week's issue.
Here's what Christa had to say:
As Dr. Andrew Weil says, "Water is a basic necessity, needed to maintain a healthy body, a clear mind, and a good balance within your tissues." Most people I talk to are completely dehydrated on a normal day, never mind in this heat!
Drinking plain water can energize us, flush out toxins and impurities, and act as an appetite suppressant. Not drinking enough water can result in fatigue, dry skin, headaches and constipation; over the longer term, every function in the body will degrade more quickly.
Choose filtered or spring water at room temperature and steer clear of tap waters to avoid chlorine, fluoride, and toxic substances. Distilled water should also be avoided because it has the wrong ionization, pH, polarization and oxidation potentials, and can drain your body of necessary minerals.
Enjoy 8-8oz glasses of water each day. Try adding some citrus fruits, fresh mint or ginger to spice up the taste.
Fun fact: most food cravings are due to dehydration, so drinking more water can help you shed a few unwanted pounds.
Lastly, most people are most dehydrated first thing in the morning. This week, try drinking a big glass of water when you get up and see if it helps you stay cool in the heat. Posted By: Marie-Josée Salvas Shaar @ 7:17:49 PMTop
Show All » NEWSLETTER ISSUES » Balance & Fulfillment
Monday, June 28, 2010Relax - It Will Help You Be More Effective
Between your endless work responsibilities, your kids' extracurricular activities, yourspouse's requests, and maybe also your aging parents, time to relax probably seems like an extravagant indulgence that ranks pretty low on your list of priorities.
But what if I told you that 10-20 minutes of real relaxation each day can make you more effective at work and elsewhere?
People who do take time to truly relax enjoy numerous effectiveness-boosting benefits, including:
- Decreased anxiety: stress reduces productivity, and less of it has the reverse effect.
- Better moods: far from being irrelevant, being in a good mood enhances your creativity, insight and capacity to innovate.
- Increased energy: people with high energy can accomplish more in less time, so this one is a no-brainer.
- Improved sleep: sleep deprivation is a brain impairment that leads to lesser decision-making ability and higher mistake rates. Improved sleep produces the opposite effect.
- Improved health: feeling ill definitely slows you down - whether it's through absenteeism or presenteeism. Strong health on the other hand helps you be alert, engaged, and effective.
All things considered, maybe a little R&R is worthy of your busy schedule, isn't it? And before you ask, no, TV watching does not qualify as "true relaxation"!
Curious to see if this can work for you? No need to be a meditation guru. Just try to find a quiet environment, get in a comfortable position and close your eyes. As you breathe deeply, focus on your breath or on letting go.
I suggest you try it for a few days, and see if it helps you feel better and work smarter!
Posted By: Marie-Josée Salvas Shaar @ 12:07:11 PMTop
Show All » NEWSLETTER ISSUES » Balance & Fulfillment
Thursday, April 29, 2010Easiest Cancer Prevention Tip You'll Ever Hear!
I know, I know. You read my articles for my good tips on sleep, food, mood and exercise versus productivity, and cancer prevention does not exactly fit in my usual topics (although quite a productive thing to do just the same!). But this tip is so easy yet powerful, I felt it was my duty to pass it along.
Here are the punch lines issued from research by Nobel Prize Winner biochemist Dr. Otto Heinrich Warburg:
- Shallow breathing leads to stale air in our bodies, and stale air is fertile grounds for tumor cells to proliferate.
- Conversely, cancer cannot live in well-oxygenated cells.
What does
that mean to you concretely? It means that deep breathing is a good ally
in cancer prevention. In fact, you might want to take formal
breathing breaks a few times a day.
Strategy doesn't get any simpler than this, so let's try together: deep and full inhale through the nose - send this crisp and purifying air to your belly - hold it - and out through the mouth as if you were blowing your birthday candles. Repeat as often as you can.
For those interested in taking the breathing practice further, I recommend trying yoga (I had to add some exercise in there somewhere!). I personally practice yoga regularly, and find it truly beneficial on many levels!
Posted By: Marie-Josée Salvas Shaar @ 10:24:48 AMTop
Show All » NEWSLETTER ISSUES » Fitness & Nutrition
Saturday, April 24, 2010Breakthrough Strategy to Reduce the Damage of Fast Food
If the constant demands of modern life make fast food a convenient and
nearly unavoidable solution for you every now and then, this article is a must
read for you. But before I give you all the juicy details, let's first
understand what's so bad about fast food in the first place.
Typical fast foods - burgers, fried chicken, French fries and the like - are
high in fat and/or sugar. They create oxidative and inflammatory stress in
your blood vessels. Overtime, the stress they cause can lead to insulin
resistance and diabetes, atherosclerosis, obesity, even heart attacks.
A
new study led by University of Buffalo endocrinologists shows that the
powerful antioxidants of orange juice can limit the impact of the inflammatory
agents in fast food. In other words, drinking orange juice with your
burger and fries can reduce the arterial damage of that meal.
But here's the catch: concentrated forms - which is what most fast food joints
serve - won't work. Only the real deal (not-from-concentrate) can save
your arteries. So next time you consider hitting the drive-through, make
sure you get to a grocery or convenience store first.
Now this is no license to eat as much fast food as you'd like. Orange
juice can only do so much to save you from yourself! To be precise, it can
reduce the damage of any given splurge by about 15%. It is of significant
help, but it is no cure-all!
Top
Show All » NEWSLETTER ISSUES » Fitness & Nutrition
Tuesday, April 06, 2010Please Stand Before You Read
Between your commute, your day at
This is an important question, because its answer may influence your health and
waist line as much as your formal exercise program (or lack thereof) does.
A series of research projects from 2005 to 2009 showed that uninterrupted
sitting is bad for you for two main reasons:
- Sitting requires minimal effort and movement, thus burning next to no calories.
- Sitting slows down your metabolism, thus making you burn fewer calories once you get moving.
As a result, people who sit for long periods at a time are more likely to suffer the consequences of being overweight. For example, heavy sitters tend to have higher blood pressure and blood sugar levels - 2 health consequences that are really damaging to your system long-term. They are also more likely to suffer from heart diseases - something you want to run away from - not sit with!
In light of this info, try to find any and every reason to move as much as you can throughout the day. Here are a few suggestions:
- Walk to your colleague's desk as opposed to sending an email
- Walk rather than drive to the coffee shop down the street
- Stand up when you speak on the phone with a client
- Sit on a Swiss ball as opposed to a regular chair when using your home computer - the small movements you'll make to keep yourself balanced add up and make a difference
- Watch less TV, and when you do, rock yourself in a chair rather than sink into the couch so that your calf muscles are active.
Top
Show All » NEWSLETTER ISSUES » Business & Leadership
Wednesday, March 24, 2010Active Leisure Can Make You More Productive at Work
People in general love what I have to say about how good sleep, food,
mood and exercise not only make us feel better, but also help us do better at
work.
But one of the objections I hear most often from prospective clients is that
wellness at work is costly, and we aren't too sure if it adds value to the
bottom line.
In response to this objection, I'd like to point out a new finding, issued from
research headed by Nico Pronk,
The cost of productivity loss (including absenteeism and presenteeism)
for employees who have poor food habits, are physically inactive, smoke and
overuse alcohol is about 5 times higher than that of employees who adopt the
reverse, healthier habits.
-AND-
Turning 1 of these 4 behaviors from unhealthy to healthy decreases the associated costs by an average of $790!
This is very concrete evidence that lifestyle hygiene impacts your
productivity. Employers, wouldn't these cost savings give you plenty of
budget for a few healthy and uplifting wellness initiatives?
And it doesn't have to be formal exercise! Go for a walk, play outside with the kids, de-clutter a corner, manually wash the car or work on your front lawn. This new habit will simultaneously improve your mood, body and productivity. Enough of the excuses - they are unsexy and unproductive. Time to get moving! Posted By: Marie-Josée Salvas Shaar @ 10:03:14 AM
Top
Show All » NEWSLETTER ISSUES » Fitness & Nutrition
Wednesday, February 17, 2010Stop Fussing Over Your Weaknesses!
Do you feel defeated when it comes to implementing healthier food
habits? If so, this article will give you empowerment.
You see, people who have poor eating habits tend to focus on their
weaknesses. They keep repeating to themselves "I know I shouldn't
have X (make it your preferred guilt-inducing food: chocolate, chips,
fries, bacon)." And so the cycle of fleeting pleasure, remorse, and
short-lived determination repeats itself.
Try Another Source of Motivation
Einstein once said that the definition of insanity is to keep repeating the
same behaviors over and over while expecting different outcomes. So if
obsessing over your food habits has led you to no avail in the past, don't
expect it to be a fruitful endeavor moving forward.
Rather than count on your already over-solicited mental
- Physical: Rather than give in to that brownie, put on your sneakers and go for a
walk. Research shows that people who can best resist tempting food are
those who divert their attention. Other research also shows that when a
tempting stimulus is not available, our brain activity related to it diminishes
considerably.
-
Emotional: Learn to look at that slice of pizza differently. Rather than see
the comforting flavors, envision the cholesterol deposits it will leave in your
arteries, the rising blood pressure that will ensue, and that sweaty and
out-of-breath feeling that you might experience just trying to walk up a flight
of stairs over a lifetime of pizza slices. Yuck!
Next time you want to avoid a certain food, save your mental
Top
Show All » NEWSLETTER ISSUES » Balance & Fulfillment
Monday, February 08, 2010Is Your Busyness Keeping You Up at Night?
I know, there aren't enough hours in the day, and you have too much to
do. If you find yourself shortening your night sleep to try and get more
done only to wake up in the middle of the night, this one is for you.
When you pack your daily schedule with one thing after another, your body
remains on high alert throughout the day. It produces stress hormones
which prompt your heart to beat quicker. As your blood circulates faster,
your body burns more energy, and you grow increasingly more tired.
Elevated levels of stress can also cause you to be more impatient,
irritable and insensitive to others, thus causing you to be even more depleted
by the end of the day. It can also erode connections between nerve cells
in your brain, thus not only causing grief today, but also in the future.
So
how can you fit a strategy that will break the cycle of depletion into your
busy day? Simple. Breathe deeply, trying to exhale for twice as
long as you inhale. Slow your breathing down by inhaling for 1 count,
exhaling for 2. Then inhale for 2, exhale for 4. Keep progressing
until you are inhaling for 5 and exhaling for 10, and do so 3 or 4 times.
Repeat the full exercise 2 or 3 times each day, more if you
can.
Taking a few long belly breaths will activate your parasympathetic system,
which is responsible for slowing down bodily processes (such as heart
rate). It will also pause your production of cortisol for a few minutes.
As you decrease your stress hormone levels, you'll be able to preserve more
energy throughout the day and sleep better at night.
Take it easy!
Top
Show All » NEWSLETTER ISSUES » Fitness & Nutrition
Wednesday, January 27, 2010How to Stick to Your New Year Resolutions
About half of us have been either brave or foolish enough to make New
Year resolutions for 2010. And of those who haven't made a resolution,
quite a few just gave up before they tried, thinking it probably wouldn't work
anyway.
But what if I told you that a simple tip could significantly enhance your
ability to be successful this year? Keep reading, it's coming!
New research published last October in the European Journal of Social
Psychology found that people who were asked to adopt a confident posture
(back erect, chest out) before they expressed an idea were more persuaded than
people who were asked to slouch as they shared their thoughts.
Equally
interesting, in a series of 2006 studies, Dr. Roy Baumeister had already
demonstrated that working on your posture can help you in other self-regulation
endeavors (such as following a budget, eating healthy, exercising more
regularly, or pretty much anything else you might have picked for your 2010
resolution!).
These two findings are quite relevant at this time of the year. If you
can remember to sit and stand tall as often as possible, you may be improving
both your confidence in and your ability to stick to your new year resolution.
Easy strategy, lots of impact! Not to mention, you'll look better and
avoid back pain in the process!
So go for it! Head above shoulders, shoulders above hips, tummy in...
looking good! :-)
Top
Show All » NEWSLETTER ISSUES » Fitness & Nutrition
Thursday, December 10, 2009How to Avoid Feeling Lazy and Dull This Holiday Season
Yep! Holiday season is started. With endless party opportunities,
chips, mashed potatoes, gravy and creamy desserts will almost be a daily
occurrence for the next few weeks. Other
than the few pounds you might gain,
are there other consequences to this temporary change of diet?
There are - and they might be quite more significant than
you think.
New research shows that after just a few days
of high-fat diets, our muscles get lazy and our memories get worse.
Here's how this was discovered. Lab rats were assigned to one of two
conditions: low-fat versus high-fat diets.
Only 4 days into the experiment, the muscles of the rats in the
high-fat
condition became less able to use oxygen, making their hearts work
harder and
discouraging them to be physically active.
Equally important, these rats made significantly more mistakes while
finding their way out of a maze they knew, showing that their memory
was also weakened. In other words,
eating too much fat impedes high physical energy and impairs cognitive
abilities.
"It's
nothing short of a
high-fat hangover," said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The
Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
Journal."
That being said, there is no need to become a low-fat
freak (in fact, I have a few
convincing arguments against it!). So
here's the bottom line: pay attention. If you know there will
be nachos and cheese dip this afternoon, make a point to avoid fatty
meals and
snacks the rest of the day. And remember: fats that harden in the
fridge (like butter) and trans fats are the worst ones
for you.
There
is an important connection between what we eat, how our brains function, and
how our bodies perform. The link is
direct and tough to ignore - unless of course, you've already eaten so much fat
in the past few days that you can't think straight!
Top
Next » |
Last »» |
Records 1 to 10 of 32 |