He who has health has HOPE. And he who has HOPE has Everything..
courtesy realage.
The Root of Bad Breath
Does a whiff of your breath make Fido roll over and play dead?
If you're brushing and flossing twice a day but still sensing there might be a problem, try changing your diet. Your mouth is only the porthole for bad stomach odors. Think of it as a sewer main breaking: You may smell it aboveground, but the actual problem comes from underground.
Garlic, onions, cabbage, cheese, and coffee are common culprits in bad breath. So is anything your body has particular trouble digesting. As the bacteria in your stomach break down foods, they release odors into and out of your mouth.
More ways to fight bad breath:
See your doctor. Sinusitis, bronchitis, respiratory infections, kidney and liver conditions, and diabetes are just a few of the medical problems that can cause bad breath. Could you have diabetes?
Nibble on fresh parsley, mint, or ginger. These are natural breath fresheners.
Too Skinny to Be Fat?
True or false: You can have a normal weight and BMI and still be "obese."
It's true. Even if you're no bigger than a minute, you could still be at risk for cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome if your fat mass is greater than 30 percent of your body weight. It's called "normal-weight obese syndrome."
Overall weight and BMI are a good start when estimating health risks, but they don't tell the whole story. What's more important is how much fat you have relative to your overall weight and where that fat is on your body.
| The higher your percentage of fat mass -- and the more fat you have bunched around your middle -- the more proinflammatory cytokines you have racing around in your blood. What's so bad about that, you ask? These chemicals signal inflammation, and the more inflammation you have in your |
body, the greater your health risks. Cytokines also affect the way your body uses insulin and contribute to hardening of the arteries.
Once the inflammation ball gets rolling, your risk of obesity, cardiovascular disease, and metabolic syndrome go up. Which helps explain, in part, why skinny people can still get heart disease and may pack on pounds after a certain age.
To lower your percentage of body fat, use the triple threat: cardiovascular exercise, weight training, and a balanced diet. No time to exercise?
And don't throw out your scale or ignore your BMI altogether. They still provide important information about your overall health.
Laughter is good for both body and soul.
Laughter is good for both body and soul. It can thwart stress, boost the immune system, and help protect against the flu and even cancer. In a study, men who watched a favorite funny video had lower levels of stress hormones and higher amounts of growth hormone, both of which bolster the immune response. And study participants had more of the natural killer cells that target tumors and viruses.
Just anticipating a chuckle or guffaw can keep you healthy and reduce stress. In another study, people who knew in advance that they would be watching a funny movie had elevated levels of growth hormone and more beta-endorphins (feel-good brain chemicals that block pain and help you relax). And these levels held steady throughout the hour of viewing as well as afterwards, for up to 24 hours. A mere 30 minutes of comic relief may be all you need for similar health benefits.
So go ahead, laugh often and out loud. It's your -- and your friends', family's, and cronies' -- best medicine.
4 Herbs for High-Powered Salad
Turn your salad into an overachieving super salad by adding fresh herbs and spices.
Fresh herbs add extra cell-protecting phenols to salads. To boost the nutrition in your bowl -- and your belly -- add sage, rosemary, marjoram, and thyme. In a recent study, these herbs added the most antioxidants to a salad (fresh marjoram leaves more than doubled the antioxidant value). For spices, cumin soared up the salad chart. Second to cumin: fresh ginger.
Which vegetables pack the strongest antioxidant punch? Artichoke, beetroot, broccoli, garlic, a variety of leek, a type of radish, and spinach were top produce picks in a recent study. Adding onions also upped the antioxidant ante.
Dressing gives you another opportunity to increase the antioxidant quotient of your salad. Extra-virgin olive oil shines brightest. For a healthful and low-fat alternative, try apple or wine vinegars.
What about the leaves? Try some crunchy (and slightly bitter) red chicory with your romaine. Its pigments contain antioxidant flavonoids.
Your Skin Loves Carrots
For healthy, glowing skin, make like a rabbit and eat your carrots.
The crunchy snack and Bugs Bunny prop is loaded with vitamin A -- a good-for-your-eyes antioxidant that appears to be great for skin, too. It helps balance the pH of the skin's surface, making it slightly acidic. That's good news, because slightly acidic skin fends off bacterial invaders.
In addition to getting enough vitamin A in your diet, keep an eye on how much fat you eat. A recent study suggests that eating too much fat will suck moisture from your skin, which means fine lines and wrinkles have no place to hide.
Should you drink more water? It can't hurt. Water provides your skin with more moisture, and it helps balance pH. But there's no reason to overdo it.
So what kind of pH do you want, when it comes to your skin? Ideally, it should be slightly acidic: A pH ranging from 5.4 to 5.9 is good. When skin pH is outside this zone, it can interfere with normal skin functions, such as protecting against bacteria and repairing or protecting itself against damage.
Other nutrients that might affect skin acidity: calcium and beta cryptoxanthin -- but only in men, according to a recent study. Researchers speculate that hormonal differences between genders may be the reason certain nutrients affect men's skin, but not women's.