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Simple Habits For A Healthier Lifestyle Starting Today

Published on 03/01/2023

You don’t have to make drastic changes to be healthier. Here are some simple habits worth making a daily routine.

Simple Habits For A Healthier Lifestyle Starting Today

Maintain Friendships

Why It’s Worth It: Research has shown that strong social bonds through friendship, family and community contribute significantly to our physical and mental well-being – while loneliness and social isolation are known risk factors for health problems. Studies have found that feeling lonely can increase your risk of stroke, heart disease, depression and dementia.

Pay Attention To Your Sleep Quality

Why It’s Worth It: The importance of our sleep can’t be underestimated. Between 6 and 9 hours of sleep per night is recommended. This allows our body and brain to regenerate and recover. Not only does restful sleep boost the immune system, but it also helps maintain a healthy weight, increases fertility, and promotes mental well-being. Poor sleep on a regular basis, on the other hand, increases the risk of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, obesity and depression.

Bring Movement Into Your Everyday Life

Why it’s worth it: There’s strong evidence that at least 2.5 hours of moderate exercise a week can help reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke. Physical activity has countless positive effects on our health – from maintaining a healthy body weight to better mental health to longer life expectancy. The challenge is to incorporate regular exercise into our daily routine. Start with 30 minutes: Just half an hour of moderate exercise a day can have a positive effect on your health. You should also avoid sitting too much. So try walking more, standing up for work, or just dancing to your favorite music.

Eat More Colorful Things

Why it’s worth it: In general, the more colorful the selection of food, the more nutritious the diet. So-called phytonutrients, which have an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effect, ensure the variety of colors. It has long been known that the colorful Mediterranean cuisine, which is characterized by a high proportion of fruit and vegetables, nuts, whole grain products, fish and healthy fats (olive oil), is healthy. A study now proves that the “Mediterranean diet” ensures a longer life expectancy for over 65-year-olds. In countries with a Mediterranean diet, there are fewer cardiovascular diseases, high blood pressure and obesity.

Stay Curious

Why It’s Worth It: This habit isn’t easy to form, but it’s important. It’s about doing more of the things that make you feel valuable, that you belong, that you’re part of something. This not only makes you happier and more joie de vivre, but can also help reduce your risk of health problems such as stroke and depression. Make a list of all the activities that make you feel good or that you enjoy spending your time on. Mark the things that you want to prioritize more in your life.

Make The Ultimate Green Smoothie

Published on 01/26/2020

Make The Ultimate Green Smoothie

When you’ve gone to the gym, one of the most important things to do afterward is replenish your body. Aside from drinking enough water, it’s important to eat something rich in protein and carbs. The reason for this is eating foods full of protein and carbs right after a workout – within half an hour or so – will help increase muscle growth and also aid your body with recovering from the workout. If you’re looking for a quick and easy post-workout meal to eat, a smoothie is the perfect solution. Not only is it super simple to make, but it has all the nutrients your body needs to replenish your energy after exercising. You might be wondering which smoothie to have – there are seemingly endless options around. Well, we found the ultimate smoothie that will make a great post-workout meal. The ingredients in this recipe have all the nutrients you need to recover properly from your workout. The fruits have plenty of carbs along with vitamins and minerals, while the protein powder, obviously, has the amount you need. To top it off, the spirulina is full of antioxidants and the almonds will help you feel full for longer.

What You’ll Need

To make this delicious and nutritious smoothie, you’ll need:

1 banana – fresh or frozen
1/2 cup mango – fresh or frozen
A handful of fresh leafy greens – spinach or kale
1 green apple
1 cucumber
1 tbsp protein powder
A handful of almonds
1/2 tsp spirulina (optional)
1/3 cup liquid of choice (almond, soy, coconut, or regular milk, etc.)

How To Make It

This part is simple: cut up all the fruits and veggies and put everything in a blender. Then, blend it all until smooth! The trick is putting in the fresh and soft fruits first followed by the frozen fruits for it to blend more easily. Serve and enjoy!

Introduction

Nearly 7% of the world population is obese¹ and about 66% of the adults in the United States are overweight or obese.² Obesity is associated with a number of adverse medical conditions including increased risk of gallbladder disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus, coronary heart disease (CHD), osteoarthritis, cancer death and reduced life expectancy.³^–⁸ Obesity is also associated with adverse social and psychological consequences, including bias, discrimination and decreased quality of life.⁹^,¹⁰

More effective treatment strategies are urgently needed for obesity management. The total caloric intake or energy density of one’s diet appears to be associated with obesity¹¹^–¹⁴ and a diet that induces a negative energy balance continues to be an important part of obesity management. Strategies to achieve the difficult task of eating less than desired include reduction of the energy density of foods by increasing food volume by the addition of fluids,¹⁵^,¹⁶ bulk¹⁷^–¹⁹ or their combination;²⁰ or by increasing satiety by various anorectic drugs or macronutrient combinations of high satiety value.

Satiety is positively associated with the protein, fiber and water content of foods and negatively with fat and palatability ratings.²¹^,²² However, within food groups, there may be as much as a twofold difference in satiety values, suggesting that certain foods promote greater satiety independent of macronutrient content or energy density. An egg is an example of such a food that has a 50% greater satiety index compared to white bread or ready-to-eat breakfast cereal.²¹ Compared to an isocaloric bagel breakfast of equal weight, an egg breakfast had a greater satiating effect, which translated into a lower caloric intake at lunch.²³ The resulting decrease in energy consumption lasted for at least 24 h after the egg breakfast.

This study was undertaken to exploit the short-term satiating benefits of an egg breakfast²³ for weight loss in a longer-term trial. The objectives were to determine if the incorporation of an egg breakfast in the diet by overweight or obese subjects would (1) induce reduced energy intake and unintentional weight loss, even when not attempting weight reduction; or (2) enhance weight loss when following a reduced energy diet. We compared the effects of an egg vs isocaloric bagel breakfast of equal weight on weight loss, indices of body size and composition, dietary compliance, food cravings and health-specific quality of life.Materials and methods

The study was approved by the institutional review boards at Pennington Biomedical Research Center and at Saint Louis University. Written informed consent was obtained from the participants. We certify that all applicable institutional and governmental regulations regarding the ethical use of human volunteers were followed during this research.

Participants

Of the 160 participants enrolled, 8 did not complete the trial. The final study sample included 152 participants (131 women and 21 men; mean age 45.0±9.4 years; black participants 47.7% and white participants 52.3%). Demographic characteristics of the participants are provided inTable 1