Easy Exercises You Can Do Before & During Work
Guest post provided by James Hundson
You love your job? Yes, you do! This is one of the main reasons that may keep you so determined and focused on working that you tend to keep aside your own health issues and fitness. The working schedule that most of us are made to follow does not allow us to move. It is difficult for an individual to move out of their place and workout. Sitting and spending hours in front of the computer is found to be one main reason why people are now gaining weight rapidly. We all need to realize that it is we who have to take care of our own bodies before it is too late.
Excess weight gain causes obesity and then results into the most critical illnesses that would require stronger medication. Are you earning so that you can spend it later on medication? Don’t you want to utilize it for a better cause? A little thought now would help you save your future. Just a few basic movements while you are preparing to go to work, or even while you are at work, will help you avoid those extra pounds to get counted.
Workouts before Leaving For Work
It is understood that it is difficult for us to take out an hour for working out. But, just a few 15 to 30 minutes of workout before you leave for work will help you feel fresh throughout the day. This will not leave you feeling drowsy and also avoid the stressed out feeling that might frustrate you during the day.
- Stretching: Have you seen a cat or a dog immediately after they wake up after a relaxing sleep? The first thing that you will find them doing is “stretching”. Stretching is a great exercise that can be done in the mornings. You can simply stretch any part of your body and thus get your muscles worked up. This will ease your muscle movements and strengthen them to stay fresh the entire day.
- Walking: A simple walk around the neighborhood in fresh air will help in keeping your legs worked out along with a few body movements that it imposes. Walking in the garden will also help you intake a good amount of fresh air that is needed after a night long sleep.
- Up and Down the Stairway: This is a great exercise that will help you workout your leg muscles, especially the thighs and also the other parts of the body. A few trips up and down the stairs will refresh your mind and will keep you ready to face the daily stress.
- Yoga: Yoga is an ancient workout that has been proved and thus trusted. People have worked wonders by simply adapting yoga. A few yoga movements in the mornings will help you refresh your body, mind and soul. You need not be an expert in yoga. Just a few basic movements while you are a beginner would help. You can gradually make use of more complicated movements.
Ingredients Currently Trending for Better Health – Polyphenols
Jonny Bowden, a nationally known expert on weight loss, nutrition, and health, has answered a few questions on ingredients currently trending in the health world.
Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS, (aka “The Rogue Nutritionist”) is a board-certified nutritionist with a master’s degree in psychology and the best-selling author of 14 books on health, healing, food and longevity, including three best-sellers, “The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth”, the award-winning “Living Low Carb” and his latest book, co-written with cardiologist Stephen Sinatra and featured on the Dr. Oz Show, “The Great Cholesterol Myth”.
Lisa Nelson, RD: What would you say is the easiest prescription in the world for good health?
Dr. Bowden: “I have met many who are skeptical of every dietary supplement on the market. But their eyes light up when they hear one word: Polyphenols. These are powerful compounds found in plants that have all sorts of health benefits from reducing inflammation to having anti-cancer properties. There’s no downside to them.”
Lisa Nelson, RD: Are polyphenols particularly difficult to add to your diet?
Dr. Bowden: “Here’s the good news. You only have to remember three things related to polyphenols: Green tea, dark chocolate and pomegranate juice. I came home from a symposium not too long ago, and told everyone in my family: “Drink three cups of green tea, eat one square of dark chocolate and drink one glass of pomegranate juice a day. These three foods in particular are simply loaded with polyphenols as well as with other healthy nutrients.”
Lisa Nelson, RD: Are there any guidelines for choosing foods made with these ingredients?
Dr. Bowden: “You need to be choosy. If you introduce something into your diet for your health, you don’t also want to be introducing toxins into your body.”
Lisa Nelson, RD: Let’s start with green tea. What are the benefits of its polyphenols?
Dr. Bowden: “Green tea is probably the most researched of these three super foods. It contains Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), which has about 20 times the antioxidant power of vitamin E. EGCG helps slow the aging process. Green tea has even been shown to help people lose weight.”
Lisa Nelson, RD: Are there any cautions to adding more green tea to your diet?
High Fructose Corn Syrup or Table Sugar: Which is Better?
Do you think of honey or agave nectar as being more “natural” than other types of sweeteners? You might be surprised to learn that most sweeteners go through very similar forms of processing.
High fructose corn syrup, fruit juice concentrate, table sugar (sucrose), and agave nectar all undergo extraction, filtration, enzyme treatment, and concentration.
Since processing methods are similar between these types of sweeteners, don’t assume you need to select one over another because one is more “natural” or less processed.
Digestion and Absorption of Table Sugar vs. High Fructose Corn Syrup
The molecular structure of table sugar (sucrose) and high fructose corn syrup do differ; however, this difference is eliminated in the small intestine when the glucose-fructose bond in sucrose is broken. Therefore, once the two sweeteners reach the blood stream any difference has been eliminated.
When they reach the blood stream they are providing the same sugars at the same ratios to the same tissues/organs within the same time frame.
Despite the similarity in digestion and absorption, media coverage might have you questioning potential health concerns related to fructose and high fructose corn syrup. This steams from the possibility of small percent, ~3-5%, of fructose being converted to fatty acids in the liver.
Our Habits Reflect On Our Health
Our habits reflect on our health. Our habits and lifestyle determine whether we live a heart friendly life or invite disease. Heart diseases is the No.1 killer in the United States. It is our choices that impact whether or not we live with reduced risk for heart disease or not
Good Habits for keeping heart diseases at bay
Breakfast – Every Morning
The most important meal of the day. It is the recipe for a healthy heart. On the contrary a person who regularly skips breakfast faces issues, such as high cholesterol, blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol and stands 27% higher risk of death from coronary heart disease.
Physical Activity
A sedentary lifestyle increases your risk for heart disease.
Relax – To Beat Stress
Unmanaged can leads to complications, which include high blood pressure, irregular heartbeats, heart disease, chest pain etc.
Reduce Stroke Risk with Vitamin E Derived from Palm Oil
Dr. Joseph Keenan retired as a Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Minnesota. He holds a joint professorship in the University of Minnesota School of Food Science and Nutrition. Dr. Keenan is considered one of the leading national experts in the field of nutritional supplement research and cardiovascular disease. He is now practicing emergency medicine, and continues teaching and consulting is his areas of research interest which include preventive cardiology.
Lisa Nelson, RD: What is white matter, and how is it related to stroke?
Dr. Keenan: “About 50 percent of your brain is made of white matter, which provides connections to the various other brain centers and thus is important for learning and memory. This is also the area of the brain most often affected by “mini strokes”, also called lacunor strokes, which often cause no overt symptoms. But as they accumulate over years, they can affect function and memory.”
Lisa Nelson, RD: What are white matter lesions?
Dr. Keenan: “White matter lesions (WMLs) are abnormal regions in the brain that can be detected by MRIs. They are often found in elderly people, and are associated with atherosclerosis in the small blood vessels of the brain, hypertension and diabetes mellitus. If the condition worsens, WMLs may result in cognitive impairment and dementia.”
Lisa Nelson, RD: Is there any way to weaken the progression of these lesions?
Dr. Keenan: “Results of a two-year human clinical study published in the American Heart Association journal, Stroke, show that vitamin E tocotrienols derived from Malaysian palm oil may be helpful. This is the first study that provides solid evidence of tocotrienols’ neuroprotective benefits in humans.”
Lisa Nelson, RD: The benefits of tocotrienols and stroke have been in the news before, haven’t they?
Dr. Keenan: “Yes. Previous animal studies have reported that vitamin E tocotrienols derived from palm oil are capable of preventing damage to white matter during a stroke, and improved circulation to the damaged part of the brain after a stroke.
Lisa Nelson, RD: Why are healthcare professionals so excited about this study?
Dr. Keenan: “Many other compounds have been shown to display neuroprotective effects in animal models of stroke. But they failed in human clinical trials. This may be because the human brain has so much more white matter (about 50 percent) than rats (about 10 percent), for example.”
Lisa Nelson, RD: How was this study conducted?
Dr. Keenan: “This was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial conducted by leading tocotrienol researchers at the University Science Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia. They followed 121 volunteers for two years. Each volunteer underwent MRIs to confirm the presence of WMLs. One group received 200 mg. of mixed tocotrienols twice daily for two years, while the others received a placebo. All volunteers were instructed to maintain their regular diets and physical activity levels. MRIs were performed at entry into the study (baseline), and then repeated after one year and again after two years. At two years of supplementation, the mean WML volume of the placebo group increased whereas those who received palm tocotrienols remained unchanged.”
Lisa Nelson, RD: Are there other reasons to be concerned about white matter lesions, in addition to stroke?
Dr. Keenan: “Brain white matter lesions are also known to be linked to development of other neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.”
Lisa Nelson, RD: What is your recommendation, after reviewing this research?
Dr. Keenan: “This study shows that taking palm-derived tocotrienols daily may be an easy way to be proactive about your brain health, especially if you are at high risk for stroke.”
Dr. Keenan says that palm tocotrienols are well researched for their heart-health benefits. Additional studies can be found at www.palmoilhealth.org.
Learn how to make Heart Healthy Changes into Lifelong Habits at http://hearthealthmadeeasy.com.
All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD
Image courtesy of Praisaeng / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Sunlight to Lower Blood Pressure
Let me begin by pointing out this finding is based off a small study of only 24 volunteers, but if the findings are accurate…what a relaxing way to promote a lower blood pressure!
High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, exerts force against artery walls. If the force is high, it’ll cause microscopic tears that turn into scar tissue. This scar tissue promotes the accumulation of plaque in their artery walls causing arteries to narrow and harden.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, 67 million American adults have high blood pressure. Or to state another way…that is 1 in every 3 American adults.
Why this happens is still unknown.
It’s speculated that nitric oxide plays a role. The skin contains nitric oxide metabolites. It is hypothesized that UVA exposure mobilizes the nitric oxide into circulation resulting in beneficial cardiovascular effects.
Researchers speculate this may play a role in why those in the “darker north”, such as Scotland, have higher death rates associated with heart disease. Incidence of high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease rises in the winter and in relation to latitude.
The 24 volunteers in the study obtained the equivalent of 30 minutes of natural sunlight at noon on a sunny day in Southern Europe. Just in case lower blood pressure is caused by warming, the volunteers were protected from this warming effect. Researchers found volunteers blood pressure reduced by about five points with the effects lasting a half hour.
That doesn’t mean potential negative effects associated with too much sunlight, such as skin cancer, should be ignored in favor of this potential cardiovascular benefit. However, it be worth exploring a healthy balance of time in the sun against preventive measures to protect your skin.
If you are working to lower your blood pressure, access the free e-course 7 Natural Ways to Lower Blood Pressure at http://lowerbloodpressurewithlisa.com.
All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD
