health education | wellness

Tag: Healthy lifestyles

Reasons to Eat More Green Foods

Keeping track of what to eat and what to avoid can seem like a full-time job, particularly when you are preparing meals for an entire family. That is especially true in this day and age when so many processed foods and unhealthy choices are on menus and grocery store shelves. But one of the ways to simplify all of that is to always include plenty of green foods in your diet or with your meals.

Nature has basically given us a color-coding system to help us make smarter food choices. Select the fresh green vegetables and you really cannot go wrong, because they are one of the single most important parts of a healthy diet. Not only are they low in calories and sugar-free, but they contain concentrated amounts of helpful vitamins and minerals.

Why Green Foods?

Why are green foods like kale, spinach, romaine lettuce, asparagus, and peas so reliably healthy and good for us? For starters, they are all green for a reason, because they are high in chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is the agent that turns plants green and is essential to the process of photosynthesis. In grade school, students learn that photosynthesis helps purify the air and produces oxygen.

Likewise, eating green foods boosts your body’s oxygen supply so you have more energy and a stronger immune system. Without an adequate amount of oxygen, on the other hand, your blood is weaker and the heart, lungs, kidneys, and other vital organs have to work overtime. Your muscles need oxygen, which is why strenuous exercise makes you breather harder, and the brain actually uses about three times as much oxygen as the muscles do. So eating greens makes you both stronger and smarter.

Green foods also contain important cellular salts, digestive enzymes, and essential minerals like potassium. Eating more greens is also a way to improve your digestion!

July 16, 2015
Super Easy Mind-Body Techniques for Hospital Workers

Hospitals are a culture unlike any other. In many ways they function just like any other workplace environment. But anyone who even visits a hospital can quickly recognize that the work done there by staffers requires a special kind of person and an extraordinary commitment to the health care profession. The rest of the population shows up at hospitals to receive acute care, potentially life-saving treatment, or reassurance that they and their loved ones are properly looked after, 24/7.

That puts a huge demand and responsibility on the shoulders of hospital workers, who must maintain a calm, patient, highly professional demeanor – even when under great duress. So here are some helpful mind-body techniques that are very easy to do and can give you wonderful relief from the stress you may experience on the job.

Super Easy Mind-Body Techniques

Remind Yourself to Breathe!

Whenever you feel your blood pressure rising and the stress accumulating, remember to breathe. Pay attention to your diaphragm, breath slowly and deeply. That simple act can instantly help you find your “center” and feel grounded and calm.

Use Visualization Techniques

As you breathe those calming breathes visualize all of the stress you feel on the in-breath. Then, as you slowly exhale, visualize all of that tension and mental agitation leaving your body and evaporating. It may sound very “new age,” but even Navy SEALS use this kind of effective technique.

Nourish Yourself with Solitude

Wherever you work, find a personal sanctuary. Maybe it’s in the hospital chapel or on the roof, or just a quiet corner of a stairwell. Retreat there when the chaos becomes too much and treat yourself to a few precious minutes of pure solitude.

Calm Down Your Diet

You are what you eat, so to ensure healthier mind/body alignment eat a balanced, nutritious diet. But avoid the sugars and caffeinated drinks because those can cause irritating spikes in blood sugar, dehydration, and an elevated heart rate – all of which make you antsy and less able to stay cool, calm, and collected.

As the old saying goes, “physician, heal thyself.” Whether you are an actual physician or work in a hospital setting in some other capacity, you need to take care of yourself – for the sake of your own wellness and work/life balance. So consider incorporating these mind-body techniques into your lifestyle as a daily habit. You’ll feel better and be able to perform at your best for the betterment of your entire hospital team and the patients whom you serve.

July 15, 2015
Healthy Diet Can Create A Healthier Gut Microbiome

There are colonies of bacteria or microbiome inside our digestive tract that can aid in good digestion and better overall health. In fact, there are more bacteria living in our intestines that our own human cells! The so-called “good bacteria” can also be cultivated by making better dietary choices and create a healthier gut microbiome.

Microbiome responds to diet

In 2014, Scientific American published an article describing research that showed that the gut microbiome can respond within just a matter of days to changes in your diet. Researchers at the University of Chicago specializing in gastroenterology, discovered that the body is highly sensitive to dietary changes, and they reiterated that the connection to diet and health is critical. By paying closer attention to what we eat, we can avoid many common ailments and help to minimize problems such as indigestion, inflamed bowels, and even obesity and anxiety.

Dietary fiber is thought to promote this healthy microbiome, and some researchers say that by following a diet that contains too little fiber, it may be possible to starve that bacteria. With nothing else to subsist upon, the bacteria may attack the lining of the intestines. That can cause discomfort, irritation, and illness. But when the microbiome is healthy, it contributes to the digestive process and helps us make the most from our nutrition. Some of the best fiber comes from vegetables, so extra servings of fresh vegetables as a daily habit is recommended for most people.

A healthier gut microbiome with probiotics

Eating fermented foods is an an easy way to introduce healthy probiotics to the diet. A few examples of fermented foods include naturally-made yogurt (without added sugars or artificial ingredients), miso soup, kimchi, and sauerkraut. Some evidence indicates that probiotics have a positive effect on the composition of our gut microbiome, which is why many health providers recommend probiotics supplements or fermented foods after taking a course of antibiotics.

While antibiotics are important for certain infections, they may also wipe out colonies of good bacteria in the process, and restoring the balance of our microbiome is an essential step in the healing and restorative process.

When it comes to creating healthy digestion and a healthier gut microbiome, everyone’s body is unique, and we all have individual dietary needs that should be thoughtfully addressed in order to ensure our health and well being.

June 28, 2015
Reverse Obesity in 5 Simple Steps

Obesity is a serious problem and a primary contributor to risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer. Because so many young people are too obese to join the military, top-ranked generals at the Pentagon even consider the obesity epidemic a threat to America’s national security. The CDC also reports that more than one out of every three people in the USA are obese. Follow these steps to reverse obesity now.

Stay Active to Reverse Obesity

Not only does being physically active help burn calories to ensure that you can do a better job of managing your weight, but it has other benefits as well. Cardio exercise can be a natural mood enhancer and help you sleep better at night.

Avoid Processed Foods

Dieting is hard enough when you know what you are eating. But if you buy prepared packaged foods you may have no idea what was used in the recipe. In many cases, processed foods include exorbitant amounts of sodium that is bad for your health and increases unwanted weight gain. So cut down on processed foods to help reverse obesity.

Satisfy Your Hunger

Many people who are obese eat all the time but still have hunger pangs, because they are simply not getting enough nutrition. You can eat tons of junk food and still be hungry, whereas eating a healthy, balanced diet of nutrition-rich foods curbs your diet by giving your body genuine nourishment and real sustainable energy.

Educate Your Children

One of the main contributors to epidemic obesity is that people are not knowledgeable about proper food choices or healthy habits like daily exercise. So share your knowledge of those things with children so that they will grow up healthier, smarter, and less susceptible to obesity.

Get a Good Night’s Sleep

While it may sound counter intuitive, sleeping at least eight hours a night can help you control your weight reverse obesity. That’s because a lack of proper sleep disrupts the body’s metabolism and interferes with proper digestion. So get enough sleep and that will actually help you fight unwanted weight gain.

June 28, 2015