Healthy News

If you work from home, chances are that you spend a lot of time at your computer. This can take a toll on your health. Here are some helpful tips:

-Set up your desk with ergonomic guidelines. Be sure you have a comfortable and supportive chair and that you are positioned well for typing.

-Don’t eat at your desk. Not only will your desk be filled with bacteria but it’s certainly healthier to get away from the desk for periodic breaks. Try vacuuming your keyboard once in a while and consider wiping your mouse and keyboard with cleansing wipes regularly as well.

-Take breaks. If you are getting sore wrists, RSI / carpal tunnel could be setting in. Doing wrist exercises and wearing a supportive brace could help as well as buying a gel keyboard rest.

-Take a day off once in a while. People who have their own home based businesses are more likely to work seven days a week. Your body and your mind need rest and you’ll not just feel better with occasional days off but it’ll help you rejuvenate your mind as well.

Who doesn’t love a BBQ? Barbequed meat and grilled veggies tantalize our senses and are the epitomy of summertime. When you hear that bbq’d meat contains carcinogenics, it can be saddening and leave you with the urge to pretend you hadn’t heard. But is it truly safe to do a lot of barbequing?

Experts say that when you grill that meat to a mass of charred flesh, it’s more dangerous than lightly grilling. Varying meats and the temperature as well as the time spent cooking are all risk factors. Cooking the meat with cherries or in certain marinades (such as turmeric or teriyaki) is said to lessen production of some of the dangerous chemicals.

Helpful Resources:
http://www.worldhealth.net/news/barbecue_meat_chemicalsgrilling_and_canc
http://ihealthbulletin.com/blog/2009/07/02/barbecue-tips-how-to-grill-less-cancer-risk/
http://www.usaweekend.com/01_issues/010701/010701eatsmart.html

If you’re looking to gain weight, here are some things you can eat that can help you.

-Switch to whole milk
-Add powdered milk to your foods as a thickening agent and put extra milk powder in shakes and smoothies
-Increase your consumption of nuts. Lots of protein and lots of good fat
-Eat healthy oils like olive oil
-Eat avocados. High calorie & good fat. Bring on the guacamole!
-Trail mix (raisins, nuts, other dried fruit)
-Peanut butter
-Juice. Drink plenty of fruit and vegetable juices

It’s not advisable to simply eat a lot of unhealthy food to help you gain weight as it can result in unhealthy results for your whole body so increase your portions with healthy high calorie foods instead.

I’m a bzzagent. This means that I get to hear about new products and sometimes I get to try them for free. I create buzz (aka bzz) about the product and report back to The Hive to report to the company what people think of their products. It’s pretty cool.

DanActive is a current campaign that I thought was worth mentioning here on this health blog because it contains loads of health benefits such as: LCasei Defensis—which helps to strengthen your natural defenses.

Probiotic yogurt is healthy for your digestive system and your immune system and this is a yogurt drink which makes it easy to grab one for breakfast or as a snack and do your body some good. Flavours are: cranberry raspberry, strawberry, and blueberry and there’s only 90 calories per bottle plus it is low in fat.

Worried you might not tolerate it well due to lactose intolerance?

According to Danone, some people who normally have problems digesting dairy can have an easier time with DanActive due to the fact that “live cultures help break down the lactose”.

Sensa is a new product that’s designed to work naturally with your body so that you are less likely to overeat. That’s the problem with dieting, really—we are only good until we get comfortable with our new size and often the old habits will rebound and before we know it, our scale numbers are creeping upwards again.

This product is said to work to help you naturally be satisfied sooner working with senses like taste and smell. It’s sprinkled on your food as if it is salt and pepper and signals to your hypothalamus so that you don’t overeat. As we wrote about last week, a lot of the food we eat (such as high fructose corn syrup, which exists in a LOT of foods) blocks the hypothalamus’s ability to do its job which results in overeating.

Have you tried Sensa? What were your results?

The hypothalamus tells us when we’re full. Eating certain foods like those with high fructose corn syrup can actually block the hypothalamus so that you overeat before you actually ‘know’ that you’ve had enough.

Read Nutrition Labels!

If you see high fructose corn syrup within the first 5 foods on the food ingredients list, it’s probably a good idea to avoid eating that food (or at least ensure you eat it as a ‘treat’ instead of constantly).

You don’t need to join the gym to get fit. Ok, so you don’t love exercise either so it isn’t just about going to the gym but working out at home can make exercise a bit more bearable. A lot of people would prefer to work out in the privacy of their own home. There are a lot of things you can use at home to help you get fit but not everyone has room for a Bowflex (even though the new Bowflex is smaller) a treadmill or a regular size elliptical machine. Don’t dismay, there are some great portable workout equipment options as well. Check out some portable workout equipment, buy a yoga mat and some resistance bands, plus a stability ball and a rebounder and you can set up a workout space that helps you get fit and toned.

Another idea is to buy some workout DVD’s. Wear a pedometer so that you can see how many steps you’re taking a day. Each step you take is a step closer to a healthier you!

It’s January 6th, are you still sticking to your health-related new year’s resolutions? Whether you’ve decided to quit smoking, lose weight, , eat better, exercise, take your vitamins, etc, etc, it’s not futile to attempt new and improved habits every year. January is a new beginning and new health resolutions just might stick.

Some of the above resolutions might seem hard to stick to but here are some you can definitely try to do all year long or just once to benefit you all year long!

-exercise more. Even just a few extra walks around the block are helpful
-take care of your teeth. Add flossing or 2 dentist appointments per year to your schedule
-add more colour to your plate. Natural colours, that is. We’re not talking Froot Loops. Eat your veggies!
-Eat breakfast. Even if you’re not a breakfast person, try doing it for the rest of January and chances are, your body will start to want it and it’ll be easy to keep up with as a habit
-Schedule a physical/pap test, etc. Doing this one thing will benefit you for the rest of the year!

Happy New Year!

What’s the Brat diet?
The BRAT diet is an acronym for the following foods:

- Bananas
- Rice
- Apples
- Toast

This is an ideal diet for someone who has diarrhea, is vomiting or has a general feeling of malaise. If diarrhea is present these foods can be helpful and binding.

Comforting a sick child

When a child is ill, it can be difficult to comfort them. Having a pajama day in front of the tv with favourite movies can be helpful with plenty of liquids, a bowl in case of being sick, tissue and lots of hugs.

What if medicine is thrown up?

When a child has been throwing up medicine, it’s not a good idea to simply re-administer the pain relief or anti-nausea medicine in case they have consumed some. If this is a case of medication for other purposes such as a serious health condition it’s best to call your doctor’s office, the local ER or your pharmacy for advice about the need to re-administer.

When should you resume a regular diet?

As soon as your child is feeling well enough to resume a regular diet, they can. If your child is young and taking infant formula or being breast fed it should continue to be offered even in the presence of diarrhea. If symptoms continue to worsen do be sure to seek medical advice. The situation is mostly likley going to be a stomach bug or food poisoning but could also be something more serious so if symptoms worsen do seek help.

Cereal diets are popular for people trying to lose weight quickly. Most people do them for 2 weeks and eat cereal 2 times a day and a healthy meal for the third daily meal with healthy snacks in between.

It’s not a good idea to do this diet long term although the typical range is about two weeks for an average weight loss of about 5-6 pounds.

Here is what a typical menu might look like for a day during a cereal diet

-special K cereal with fruit for breakfast
-extra piece of fruit for mid-morning snack
-raisin bran with fruit for lunch
-vegetable sticks and cereal bar for a mid afternoon snack
-sensible dinner such as grilled lean meat and vegetables plus a small amount of a starchy item such as potato or pasta
-late evening snack: fruit and cereal bar

Be careful to never follow any fad diet for too long and listen to your body’s cues about whether or not you’re tolerating the diet well. If in doubt about your health, have your doctor give you the green light before you start a fad diet.