Tips for heart health in social situations


With family gatherings, office parties and festival celebrations, we can still enjoy ourselves while practicing a healthy lifestyle. Listed below are tips to maintain heart health when at social gathering.

1. Appetisers anyone?
Among the most heart healthy starters are raw vegetables, particularly broccoli, cauliflower and whole grains because of their high fiber content. Among the most heart healthy dips are hummus, which contains good monounsaturated fats.

2. Carbs beget carbs.
Eating simple carbohydrates doesn't make us feel as full as eating fat, so if you are overzealous in avoiding fats you may overindulge in total calories. When snacking, stick with carbs that contain vitamins and fiber (e.g. oats) rather than those without nutritional value. Consider healthy fat sources including avocados, walnuts and almonds.

3. Choose fish over red meat.
Include fish in your year-end celebration menus. Cold-water fish contain protective omega- 3s, which have been shown to reduce the risk of sudden cardiac death. Among your best choices are wild salmon, sardines and herring (without the cream sauce). Whatever meat you choose, have the gravy or sauce served on the side and limit table salt.

4. Colour is everything
The more colorful the vegetable, the more heart-protective antioxidants contained within. Steaming is better than using the microwave for preserving nutrients. However, over-steaming or boiling will remove many of these heart healthy elements.

5. I'll drink to that.
Red wine and dark beer contain more protective antioxidants or flavonoids than other alcoholic beverages. You can get maximum heart protection with up to 60ml of alcohol daily, the equivalent of two, 300ml glasses of wine, a regular bottle of beer, or 2 shots of spirits.

6. Don't come to the party starving
You'll overindulge. Eating one meal a day slows down the rate at which we burn calories. That is especially important to keep in mind as we age, because our metabolic requirements are reduced by an average of 5 calories daily. Therefore, eat frequently throughout the day but in small to moderate quantities.

7. You can have your chocolate and eat it too!
That is, if it's dark. Pure dark chocolate contains a very high amount of catechins (a heart healthy antioxidant). Enjoy it with black grapes and wash it down with a beverage containing natural cocoa powder or tea, additional excellent sources of these heart healthy compounds.

8. Get in your exercise
Try to work off those extra holiday-season calories. While aerobic activity has been emphasized for maintaining cardiovascular health, recent studies show that walking is also quite effective. One fun way to keep track of your daily activity is to purchase a pedometer. There are about 2,000 steps per mile. Take 6,000-10,000 steps daily to maintain heart health.

9. Have a hearty laugh
Very few things in life are better than a good laugh and it turns out that laughing heartily is good for the heart. One recent study even demonstrated that laughing during mealtime reduces the surge in blood sugar levels. May you enjoy the lighter side of life with family and friends this holiday season.

Breathing Healthy Air

Breathing Easy
Indoor air pollution contaminates the air we breathe every day. Since you draw about 9 out of 10 breaths indoors, it's easy to see why indoor air quality is a top health concern. You typically inhale about two tablespoons of airborne particles a day. These pollutants put stress on your immune system, which can lead to other health problems. The effects of poor indoor air quality on an individual can vary greatly based on age and relative health. However, in general, poor indoor air quality leads to allergy symptoms, respiratory problems, and weakened immune systems. Children are especially susceptible to the health risks of polluted indoor air since their lungs are smaller and they have to take more breaths throughout the day.

Tips to improve indoor air quality
You may not realize it but the air quality in home or business may be worse than you think, especially during the winter months. In the winter, windows are rarely opened and the same stale warm air is usually reticulated throughout the building. Air quality is so poor in fact that some studies have shown that indoor air quality during the winter months is 10 times worse than during other seasons. If you'd like to improve your health, you should start with the air you breathe. Here are 10 things that can improve your indoor air quality.

Decorate with live indoor plants
Plants are nature's way of cleaning air. There are many chemicals which can contribute to poor indoor air quality and many of the chemicals that make us sick are the ones that plants thrive upon and convert to fresh air.

Don't smoke indoors
This tip seems to be a pretty obvious one, but can provide challenges for regular smokers. But there are hundreds of dangerous chemicals in smoke that can be harmful to your health. To protect the quality and freshness of your indoor air you should tell anyone that smokes, to do so outside. Some business's especially bars and restaurants now have areas with ventilation fans that pull contaminants out of the air.

Don't use aerosols
Aerosols can cause respiratory distress in those people with lung disease or asthma. Instead, substitute aerosols with other products that do not disperse themselves into the air or that use a spray bottle instead of using compressed air in a can.

Cleaning your shower curtain and humidifiers
Moist environments encourage the growth of mold. You should replace your shower curtain if it has a large amount of mold on it. If the mold is minimal, you can remove the shower curtain and scrub it with a household cleaner and rinse before re-hanging.

Check plant's soil for mold
If the potting soil your plant is growing in has mold you should repot it. Such mold usually appears as white fuzz. This will help to improve your indoor air quality. To prevent it in the future, be sure not to over water your plants.

Change air filters
To improve indoor air quality, air filters should be changed on a regular basis. It doesn't take long for the filters to fill with dust and other particles. But every particle caught by your filter is one less you'll have to breathe in.

Use ventilating fans
Ventilation fans exist for a reason and that is to ventilate the areas where they exist. They are usually found in kitchens and bathrooms. It couldn't hurt to install them in any area with smoke or fumes such as a garage. In fact lots of billiard halls use them. They should pull unclean air out of your house or building.

Vacuum and dust
It's obvious to vacuum carpets but you should also vacuum other areas such as your furniture and drapes. For these things it might be best to get a smaller hand held vacuum. You should also dust weekly to keep the dust mites at bay. You might want to wear a dust mask while vacuuming because it can actually kick dust up temporarily.

Groom and clean after pets
Shedding hair can be a problem to your air quality, but with better vacuuming and regular grooming you can solve most of the problems. You should also regularly bath your pets and clean their areas or cages. For cats, it might help to move your litter box into an area with less human traffic, like the garage.

Let some fresh air in
It might not be the most pleasant thing to do in the winter, when it's cold outside, but maybe you could open the window while you take a quick trip to the store. You'd be surprised out how big of a difference it makes.

If you follow these steps the air quality of your indoor air will improve dramatically, which will result in you enjoying the indoor environment of your home or business more and the improved health that comes with better air.

Happy Breathing !!

Fighting Depression

Depression is a persistent low mood which makes one feel unable to cope with or face everyday life or the future. Often people feel anxious, worthless, fatigued, irritable and unhappy in situation where they would have been happy, hopeful and optimistic otherwise. These feelings may become more severe, with depression preventing the sufferer from coping with normal life. The good news is that exercise can be as effective in controlling depression as drugs or counseling.

How Exercise Helps
All forms of activity are thought to help, so you need not join a gym or go to a class; walking is a potent medicine, cycling blows the cobwebs away and even gardening is thought to have a huge positive impact on reducing depression. Try to find something you enjoy, jogging, swimming or even dancing, because you're more likely to keep going with it. When you do these, your body produces endorphins or feel-good chemicals which make you feel instantly better and happier.

Exercise removes the build-up of stress hormones which can otherwise cause depression. The benefits of exercise last longer than quick-fixes such as comfort-eating, smoking, or drinking tea or coffee, all of which may contribute to the problem. Exercise gives a feeling of release from problems and gives you a focus by abandoning responsibilities and concentrating on the purely physical.

Diet tips to fight depression
Diet can have a profound effect on physical and mental health, and certain foods have been shown to combat depression. Good nutrition also eases stress and improves sleeping patterns. Here are some tips:

• You should avoid food with lots of sugar and caffeine; they may give you a burst of energy, but they later bring about anxiety and tension because they upset the blood sugar levels in your system.
• Eating the wrong food can bring on the wrong mood.The following can help lift your mood: Avocados are a great source of the mineral selenium, which is full of stuff to stop you feeling depressed. Kiwi fruit has Vitamin C which is important for boosting your immune system. Bananas increase the levels of the chemical serotonin in your body to combat depression. Capsicum stimulates the body, improves the circulation and also releases feel-good endorphins in the brain.
• Dehydration causes tiredness, which is one of the factors that can easily throw people into a depressed state. It stops you feeling hungry. Many people tend to think they're hungry, when they're actually thirsty. Eating when you're dehydrated will cause you to become overweight and people who are overweight are more likely to suffer from depression. Ideally, you should aim to drink at least two liters of water – that's about eight glasses – a day. If you get bored with water, try the odd cup of green tea. It contains high levels of antioxidants that help fight depression and it won't dehydrate you like normal tea, because it contains no caffeine.
• Getting important vitamins and minerals into your body that you might be lacking in can help a lot. A cod liver oil tablet will not only boost your vitamin D levels, but also help your immune system. B vitamins are also crucial for your mental health. B6 is needed to process serotonin, which is the chemical that produces the happy feeling; melatonin, that helps sleeping and dopamine that is vital for your nervous system. A lack of B3 (niacin) can bring on anxiety, while not enough B5 can cause severe depression. Zinc and iron also help to produce serotonin. Fish oil, a source of Omega-3, can help depression, so taking a supplement that contains any, or all of these could lift your mood.