Improve Bone Health With Strength Training

There are cells in the bones called osteoclasts and osteoblasts that are responsible for this process. It is a process that is dependent on hormonal signals. When you perform weight bearing exercises, like strength training, your body sends and receives signals that tell your bones to bulk up too. After all, they need to be able to support your activity.

Study after study has shown that strength training is one of the best exercises to not only build bone density before age 30 but to reduce bone loss after 30 and well into your final years. In short, start strength training today and plan to continue for the rest of your life to maintain healthy bones.

Relax – You Don’t Have to Go to the Gym

You don’t have to go to the gym to enjoy strength training. You can perform it right in the comfort of your own home. Begin with bodyweight exercises like push-ups and squats.

Create a simple home program with body weight exercises and focus on that for a month or two. When you begin to feel more confident, or perhaps bored with your routine, you can add small dumbbells or buy plates at your sporting goods store.

Ease Into It

Strength training is safe when you perform the movements properly and when you take it slowly. You don’t want to try to press your body weight when you’ve never performed an overhead press before. Take it slowly and gradually increase your weight.

Get Feedback

One of the benefits of going to a gym or taking a course is that you get feedback from a trainer. They’ll help you improve your form and may be able to give you a program that you can do on your own. Also, when you sign up for a class, you’ll be amongst others who are beginners just like you. It can be a fun and supportive environment.

Strength training is fun and it’s an exceptional way to build and maintain strong and healthy bones. If you’ve never considered it, give it a try. Don’t worry about getting bulky. Unless you have the genetics for it and lift weights several hours a day, that’s just not going to happen. You will, however have the reassurance that you’re doing the very best for your body and your bones.

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Improve Bone Health With Strength Training

Lower Cholesterol Naturally

Here are a few available herbal remedies that may improve the health of heart and blood vessels. By adding herbs into your daily diet, you may prevent illness and feel better. See below for nine herbal foods that may naturally lower cholesterol.

Image: wikimedia.org

Keeping your heart and blood vessels healthy prevents many serious illnesses and enhances longevity. Many factors influence the heart and the circulation. Unfortunately, the stresses of modern life, coupled with poor nutrition and inactivity, put us at risk for several heart and blood vessel problems. As a result, heart attacks, strokes and other life-threatening cardiovascular conditions abound. Herbs may be used as a very important part of a wellness plan to enhance the health of your heart and blood vessels.

Cholesterol and Triglycerides

Low density lipoprotein cholesterol, also known as LDL or bad cholesterol, begins as a sticky substance that builds inside the walls of blood vessels. It hardens over time, creating rough surfaces and inflexible blood vessels. As a result, blood vessels harden and contribute to high blood pressure, blood clots, heart attacks and strokes. Blood flow throughout the entire body is impaired.

High density lipoprotein cholesterol, also known as HDL or good cholesterol, protects the heart and blood vessels from damage due to LDL buildup and other factors.

Triglycerides are other kinds of fats in the blood. Many experts believe that elevated triglyceride levels are a more important predictor of cardiovascular disease than elevated levels of LDL cholesterol.

Several herbs which are used to reduce harmful cholesterol and triglyceride levels are right in your own kitchen. Others may be grown easily or gathered from the wild.

Herbal Foods With Cardiovascular Benefits

1. Shiitake mushrooms

2. Flax seed

3. Garlic

4. All peppers

5. Black pepper

Wild Herbal Remedies for Heart Health

6. Hawthorn

7. Motherwort

8. Kudzu

9. Dandelion leaf

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Lower Cholesterol Naturally

Quote of the Day 2

Quote of the Day 2

Magnesium - Benefits for Health

Magnesium is important in the body. It regulates our nerve and muscle function. It also is instrumental in regulating blood pressure as discussed in the article below. Do you get enough magnesium in your diet?

Food Sources of Magnesium

A meta-analysis of 22 human magnesium supplement trials concludes that magnesium can lower both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. A new animal study shows that magnesium can help clear out arterial calcification while reducing damage to the vascular system.

In the human blood pressure trials the best results occurred with doses from 370 mg up to 970 mg magnesium per day. The higher the dose the better the response. The study is important because magnesium deficiency is common in the United States, especially among people who struggle with ongoing health issues.

In the animal study researchers tested the effect of magnesium supplements on calcification of arteries. They found that magnesium relieved the degree of calcification with higher doses, offering better protection. They concluded that magnesium “plays a role in the pathogenesis of vascular calcification by reducing vascular calcification and decreasing vascular injury.”

Magnesium is involved with many enzymes and other factors associated with cardiovascular function. Refined foods and magnesium depleted soils have placed the entire American population at risk of deficiency of this key mineral. It is nice to see that supplementing with magnesium can make such a difference.

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Magnesium - Benefits for Health

Is Orange Juice a Health Drink?

Here’s an interesting story of how orange juice came to be known as a health drink. Do you drink orange juice for vitamin C? After reading this article, it doesn’t sound like it is as healthy for us as we are led to believe. See for yourself in the article below.

As many nutritionists now point out, the negative health consequences of the high amount of sugar in orange juice far outweigh any benefits from its vitamin content.

The history of how orange juice became mistakenly touted as a health drink is the focus of a recent article by reporter Adee Brown in The Atlantic.

It’s a remarkable tale of corporate-marketing ingenuity — and consumer gullibility.

And the fact that we’ve continued to believe the health claims about orange juice for almost a hundred years, long after they’ve been discredited, demonstrates just how difficult it is to change ingrained beliefs about dietary health.

It started with ‘vitamania’

As Brown points out, consuming oranges in any form became an urgent public health matter during the 1920s with the advent of “vitamania,” the idea, almost single-handedly popularized by the American biochemist Elmer McCollum, that everybody’s health is threatened by an insufficient amount of vitamins.

McCollum (who later became a paid spokesperson for many processed food manufacturers) “ignited a panic over a nebulous condition called acidosis: an excess of acid in the bloodstream which supposedly caused fatigue and lassitude,” explains Brown. “He claimed the ailment was brought on by consuming meat, eggs and bread, which were acid producers. His advice: Eat lots of citrus fruit and lettuce. These foods rather counterintuitively were transformed from acid into alkaline in the stomach.”

The California Fruit Growers Exchange jumped on this idea, of course, and quickly began extolling the daily consumption of oranges for their “health-giving” vitamins and “rare salts and acids,” as Harvey Levenstein explains in his book “Fear of Food: A History of Why We Worry About What We Eat.”

The growers were trying to sell orange juice during this period as well, but with less success. For, as Brown explains, before World War II, orange juice was boiled and canned. Needless to say, its taste didn’t catch on with consumers.

A frozen sensation

By 1934, acidosis as a widespread illness had been thoroughly debunked by scientists, so citrus fruit growers focused their health claims on vitamin C. But it wasn’t until after the war — with the invention of frozen concentrated orange juice — that sales of orange juice really took off.

“By 1949,” writes Brown, “Florida’s orange processing plants were churning out 10 million gallons of concentrated orange juice which was, rather deceptively, marketed as ‘fresh-frozen.’ Consumers finally had an affordable, ‘tasty,’ convenient and vitamin-C rich product, and they gulped it down.”

Throughout the 1950s, frozen orange juice was also touted as a way of saving housewives hours of “drudgery” in the kitchen. (No need to hand squeeze the oranges.)

“But the idea that something processed could also be ‘fresh,’ was provoking questions,” reports Brown. “By 1960 the FDA was becoming concerned with the misrepresentative ‘fresh’ labeling of commercial orange juice. Not only was it far from fresh, but sugar and water were being added. Federal standards and regulation ensued.”

Those concerns remained, however, even after the 1990s, when cartons of “not from concentrate” orange juice began replacing frozen concentrated orange juice on the grocery shelves.

“Most commercial orange juice is so heavily processed that it would be undrinkable if not for the addition of something called flavor packs,” writes Brown. “This is the latest technological innovation in the industry’s perpetual quest to mimic the simplicity of fresh juice. Oils and essences are extracted from the oranges and then sold to a flavor manufacturer who concocts a carefully composed flavor pack customized to the company’s flavor specifications. The juice, which has been patiently sitting in storage sometimes for more than a year, is then pumped with these packs to restore its aroma and taste, which by this point have been thoroughly annihilated.”

A bigger problem

But orange juice has another problem, one that has nothing to do with how it’s packaged. As many nutritionists now point out, the negative health consequences of the high amount of sugar (fructose) in orange juice far outweigh any benefits from its vitamin content. It’s much, much better, they say, to get those vitamins by eating a whole orange. You’ll then ingest not only the fruit’s healthful nutrients, but also its healthful fiber, most of which is lost when the fruit is juiced.

In Britain, government health experts have begun warning people to swap their morning glass of orange or other fruit juice for a piece of the real fruit instead. They are also calling for fruit juices to be taxed.

But here in the United States, the negative health consequences of drinking too much sugary fruit juice doesn’t seem to be high on the list of concerns among government health officials, says Brown. Consumer concern does seem to be growing, however. Commercial orange juice sales are at their lowest level in 15 years.

Yet, millions of Americans continue to drink orange juice every morning with their cereal or eggs. “Though the acidosis scare may be long forgotten,” Brown writes, “most of us still like to think we can find health in a glass of orange juice — at least more health than in a can of soda.”

But “maybe,” she adds, “that classic breakfast isn’t so balanced after all.”

You can read Brown’s article on The Atlantic website.

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Is Orange Juice a Health Drink?

Human Brains Are Amazing

The human brain is amazing. Here is an article discussing some of the wonders of what the human brain can do:

Nature has made some awe inspiring and wonderful living things and their organisms that control their functions. Of these living things, a human being is considered to be the best of all because of its brain power which has led it to development since its origin. The human brain is undoubtedly the most intelligent organism in the universe considering its innumerable uses and features. The imaginative power of human brain astounds all and the scientists have worked on discovering the abilities, powers and capabilities of the brain in their researches.

Apart from being the most intelligent organ, the brain is the most complicated organism as well. All the great inventions made by the human race thus far are the result of the capabilities of human brain because creativity and innovation are the most salient features of human brain. It is the storage device in the human body which keeps in it years old memories and many other information. It is the powerhouse of all the motions in the human body. In addition, the brain is the command centre of the CNS (Central Nervous System) which gives a number of cognitive and physical abilities to the human body.

There are many fascinating facts about the human brain apart from all these vital functionalities. Some of which are described as under:

• Human brain is the command and control centre of all the functions of the human body which are lead by CNS (Central Nervous System). Despite of this fact, the brain lacks nerves like other body organs and because of this it cannot feel any pain.


• The human body consumes a lot of energy of which the largest part is consumed by the human brain. This consumed energy is very important to fuel the nerve impulses and to maintain healthy brain cells.
  
  
  
  
  


• There are around 100 billion neurons present in the human body which are there to increase the processing ability of the brain. 100 billion is a huge number which accounts for more than 15 times of the total human population on planet earth. Moreover, there are 1000 to 10,000 synapses per neuron in the human brain.


• Human brain is the fastest organ in the human body because it controls all the functions of the body and transmits the signals through the nervous system to different organs in the body within fractions of a second.


• The human brain is comprised of 60% of fat which is the highest level of fat present in a single organ of a healthy human body.


• Water carries on and regulates many important functions of the brain throughout the body in a very fast and effective way. Water comprises 75% of the total mass of the human brain.


• The human brain is made up of 76% of neocortex, a vital portion of the brain which is used to carry the language and consciousness functions in the human body. The huge quantity of neocortex in the brain mass makes it largest in comparison with other living beings.


• A human brain consumes around 25 watts energy which is sufficient to illuminate a light bulb and the average weight of a human brain is 3Lbs.


• Of the cardiac output of the blood, around 20% is directed to the brain every minute which makes around 750ml.


• In a pregnant woman, during early stage of pregnancy the neurons multiply very rapidly at an approximate rate of 250,000 neurons per minute which is a huge quantity.


• The human brain is comprised of two matters, white and gray matter. Of these, the white matter is consisted of axons and dendrites which make for 40% of the brain. On the other hand the gray matter is consisted of neurons which make for 60% of the brain.


• The brain is consisted mostly of cerebrum which makes around 85% of the human brain. In addition, the entire human brain is used to carry on different functions by a human, contrary to the misconception which states it to be used only 10%.


• The brain organization is increased by music and if a person is having stress, than it alters the brain functions and cells. A brain produces on average 70,000 thoughts per day.


• The human brain is believed to stop its growth when it reaches 18 years of age. Moreover, a human brain is comprised of 100,000 miles of blood vessels.


• A person cannot tickle one’s own self because the brain recognizes one’s own touch. Similarly, dreaming requires more brain activity than any other function carried by a human brain.

The human brain preserves the learning it receives and uses it during the course of life to enable the effective functioning of human body. It can easily be labeled as the most hard working and continuously functioning organ in the universe. All the awe inspiring fascinating facts about the human brain make it an incredible body organ in a human being. It requires utmost care to keep going in processing many vital functions in a human body.

Human Brains Are Amazing

Healthy Mind - Control your Thoughts

Don’t let your mind control your thoughts. You need to be in control. Below are seven strategies to help you control your thoughts to have a healthy state of mind.

Our mind does not often switch off (and, by the way, that is a good thing!) We think, and we think a lot. This is something we do naturally, and I want to focus on this as it is critical for you to learn how to control your thoughts as opposed to your thoughts controlling you.

What happens when something happens? You start thinking, right?, and when that something is bad, you start thinking bad, right?

We get a thought, and then another one, and then another one, and it is a continuous process. And, it happens over and over again, like a race track. Worrying is a common behaviour; even according to the Wikipedia definition, a small amount is healthy as it prompts us to take precautions (e.g., fastening your seat belt).

BUT:

What happens when your thoughts are keeping you awake?

What happens when your thoughts are keeping you in a state of fear?

What happens when your thoughts are negative, repetitive, distorted, and intrusive?

Simply put, there are destructive; they affect you, they impact your results, and your success. All starts with your thoughts.

And, I want to focus on these moments. Those moments, where we become addicted to our thoughts, addicted to our negative thoughts, and we obsess, we worry, we live in fear, we stay awake… Can you relate?

Here are my top strategies to overcome this. Remember, we can interrupt any of our behaviours; we are powerful, our mind is our best asset and we can learn how to control it for the best, and these strategies will help you interrupt this behaviour, and have a positive impact on your life.

Each of these strategies work, when, and only when, you apply them. You might like one better than the other, and by applying them all, you will find out which one is the best fit for you; this will be an individual choice. Also, you might do one after the other, and stack them, till you reach that positive and happy place.

So, a negative thought comes in…

You can ignore it; although, I would not suggest it, as this means you are not dealing with it, and suppressing it, does not make it disappear, and you are still letting it hold space, and control you.

When you start obsessing and looping, face, and apply these seven “S…” strategies to interrupt that behaviour:

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Stop

You are the boss, so as simple as this sounds, the first thing you can do is to send a command to yourself, say Stop (STOP!). A direct command, given with a firm order tone, will interrupt the behaviour, like stopping you in your track.

Swap

You can replace a negative thought by a positive one; I like to do a double swap, so, not only swap one for another one, but swap one for 2 other ones. Keep a list of positive, happy, healthy, constructive thoughts, and swap away.

Store / Share

You can store it AND this is only half of the strategy; remember, you do not want to store it, as in ignore it, you want to store it, and re-access later, by sharing it with a supportive person: a friend, a colleague, a coach, a mentor. Someone with an outside perspective, an objective one, who will help you move forward.

Switch

You can do something else: call a friend, watch a movie, go for a walk, a run… there are so many things you can do; here you want to select an activity that you can do straight away, once the negative thought comes in.

Shhh

You can go to sleep or meditate, to free your mind; you can either meditate on your own, in silence, or have your favourite music on, or thanks to a relaxation cd /track or, a visualisation, guiding you to think of something else and relax.

Speculate

This comes from Dale Carnegie, who said in his ’How To Stop Worrying And Start Living’ book, “First ask yourself: What is the worst that can happen? Then prepare to accept it. Then proceed to improve on the worst.” So, ask, accept and proceed.

Scribe

You can start writing; from head to paper, write about what you are thinking to free your thinking place. Whatever is it that you are thinking as long as it stays in your head, it is a jumbo-mumbo mess (!), so write it down; and write it exactly as you are thinking it.

 

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Healthy Mind - Control your Thoughts