Life is stressful. Life is noisy. Our brains suffer from major information overload (at least mine does!). Stress does nasty things to our health, and particulary our heart health.

Meditation is a way to help your body achieve total relaxation. Meditation helps you get rid of all the “noisy” thoughts and images raging in your mind, while instilling in you a sense of peace and serenity.

While Meditation is looked upon as a spiritual practice, it also has many health benefits. First of all, we inhale oxygen deeply. This nourishes our body and exhaling helps us to release toxins stored in the body. Meditation techniques are also being taught to people with life threatening diseases to help them relax and cope. It is very relaxing and nurturing to meditate for 10 to 15 minutes each day. The calm that comes over ourselves during meditation carries over to our other daily activities.

Some of the health benefits of meditation are:

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Side effects of stress. Oh my. Just the word “stress” is enough to stress you out.
Stress is something that we live with constantly in the 21st century. All the wonderful technological advancements haven’t done anything to lessen the stress anxiety in our lives. If anything, the stress has increased to almost unbearable levels. And the side effects of stress are many.

Did you know that one of the side effects of stress for women is to increase food consumption (surprise, surprise)? In research that was done it was found that about 20% of women eat more when stressed. Not only that, stressed out women were found to have more fat around their middles than other women. This is attributed to the hormone cortisol, which is released during stress. It was found to direct the fat to central storage depots in the body.

The immunity system is also know to weaken during times of stress. Stress causes certain “fighter cells” in the body to be released in order to fight the imaginary enemy. When this happens these immune cells are not around to help fight invasion of bacteria. Our immunity goes down and we get sick with colds, flu and much worse diseases.

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We want to be healthy. That’s a given.

Optimum nutrition is what we want to aim for. It’ll never be perfect nutrition because we don’t live in a perfect world. But we want to achieve optimum nutrition in a nurturing way.

So, what are some ways that women can NURTURE ourselves? We spend our entire lives being giving creatures. We take care of our kids, our husbands (well, some of us do), our friends etc. We give and give and give. Sometimes we feel like we are just empty and can’t give anymore. That’s what happens when we let things downward spiral into a crisis situation.

But, don’t we have to take care of ourselves foremost so that we will be able to take care of others? You know how in the airplane, when the flight attendant is giving the little speech about what to do in times of crash landings etc. he/she always says that if the oxygen masks come down from the ceiling, FIRST a parent must put on their own oxygen mask and only then can they put one on their child. WE COME FIRST. Many of us mommies forget that.

Does this sound familiar? You sit down to a nice meal you prepared for yourself. Your child wanders into the kitchen and wants your food. You give it to him and feel like a martyr. Guess what? I don’t give my children my food! If someone is hungry before meal time they can take a fruit or other snack. My food is my food. That is sacrosanct. Mommy has to have a full tummy in order to take care of everyone else.

So, getting back to nurturing. We all want to lose weight, right? Well, most of us. Is there a way that we can work on this without feeling like we are giving up the only good things left in life that are legal? Do we have to have this long list of all the “bad” foods and avoid them totally? Or, can we change our FOCUS. Maybe we can avoid having lists of “forbidden” foods and instead, focus on the nutritious, healthy stuff that we can add in to our daily food plan. How about if we focus on eating more fruits and vegetables. Don’t think about it as eating less crackers. But, if you’re hungry think to yourself, “What can I eat now that will nurture my body?”. Hey, we only get one chance - one body and one lifetime in which to really take care of this body.

What are ways that we can nurture ourselves with food?
More fruits. Trying to eat every color vegetable every day (good trick, huh?).

Think about it - RED peppers, YELLOW peppers, GREEN cucumbers, RED tomatoes (good old lycopene), PURPLE cabbage. Each one of these colors is good for your body in another way. Have you ever thought about what all those colors do for you?

Let’s take a look.
Blue/purple - contains antioxidants which delay cellular aging and prevent blood clots. Eat lots of blueberries, purple grapes and beets. Wine is good too!

Orange - Carrots, winter squash (YUM), mangoes, sweet potatoes all contain alpha and beta carotene which are known to fight cancer and protect skin.

Yellow/orange - fruits like peaches, nectaris and papaya have beta crytothaxin which may help prevent heart disease (betcha didn’t know that!)

Green/yellow - spincach, green peas, avocado, honeydew, collards and corn have substances in them which are likely to reduce cataracts and macular degeneration (a leading cause of blindness).

Green - broccoli (the number one most healthy vegetable), cabbage and brussel sprouts all have cancer blocking chemicals.

White/Green - Onions, garlic, celery and asparagus all have anti tumor properties.

After having a look at this list, how can you NOT eat more fruits and vegetables?
And besides, they look so nice when they’re nicely cut and presented on a plate!

Let’s all make a serious attempt to put more of those colorful things that grow from the ground into our daily diets. We’ll probably find ourselves eating less crackers LOL. And, hey. Maybe we’ll almost achieve “optimum nutrition”.

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Do you get daily exercise?
Alot of people groan when they hear the dreaded words “daily exercise”. I know Iused to. Who can be bothered, right?

But the thing about daily exercise is that it doesn’t have to be boring. And it doesn’t have to be HARD. Some people love to get out in the fresh air and take a good, brisk walk. Do that for 45 minutes a day and you’ve got it “made in theshade”. Personally, I hate walking outdoors because there is nothing nice to lookat near where I live and the weather is atrocious, especially in summer.

Some people love to play games. Competitive ones. If you are one of those people get out and play tennis, volleyball or whatever causes you to HAVE FUN!!!Many of us adults haven’t actually played a game since we were in school.. But, this is a great way to get daily exercise and have fun too. I used to play volleyball before I was married and it was so much fun to just play!

Some people love the water. Swimming is an ideal form of exercise. It providesextra resistance to your muscles without putting a strain on your joints.Swimming is also terrific for people with back trouble (especially swimming onyour back). Lots of people find swimming loads of fun. That’s another one that I hate because I don’t like getting water in my ears.

I, on the other hand, adore doing water aerobics. Water aerobics is a form of exercise that is usually performed in chest-high water. You don’t get all sweated up even though you are giving your body a real work out (and you don’t get water in your ears). It’s cool and refreshing because you are in the water. And, socially, it is a blast because you can work out with a group of friends (in my case - women) and chat while doing the exercise. Can you tell I LOVE water aerobics?

Last but not least, I wanted to mention going to the gym for daily exercise. I am one of those people who just loves going to the gym. At the gym there are different machines for aerobic exercise like the treadmill, various types of cross trainers and exercise bikes. There is also an array of weight machines, each one targetting a different set of muscles. I love the feeling of building up my resistance and strength in the different parts of my body. I like to do interval training, where I do 2 minutes on a cardio machine like the treadmill and then 2 minutes of weight training, on a low resistance - as many repetitions as I can. Then I go back to a cardio machine for another intensive 2 minutes. I keep doing this back and forth between the weight machines and the cardio until I finish my routine. Usually takes about 40 minutes and I get a fantastic workout.

Socially, I also love the gym because I meet all my gym buddies and we have a good time socializing between machines. Another advantage the gym has for me is that it’s air conditioned! That’s a big plus for me. Also, I can vary my routine if I find myself getting bored. All in all, it’s a great way for me to get my daily exercise.

And you know what? Every since I’ve started doing this seriously, it’s hard for me to miss more than a day at the gym. My body (and my mind) needs it almost like oxygen. The body gets used to the stimulation and gets disappointed if it doesn’t get any…

The benefits of exercise are really many.

Psychologically, it is well known that the brain releases endorphins while exercising. Endorphins are known as the “feel good” hormone. The first thing people suffering from depression are told is to get aerobic exercise every day. See all those people walking around your neighborhood? Many of them were told to by their therapists/psychiatrists!!

Physically, daily exercise is such a boon to the body. You burn fat, build muscle, increase your stamina, lower blood pressure, increase HDL (the “good” cholesterol) and so much more. You’ll even be burning more calories when you are in resting mode. The body just keeps burning fat way after you finish your workout.

Sure, diet is important for heart health. But, I would venture to say that daily exercise is equally, if not MORE important. Do yourself a favor and get moving.

It’ll change your life!!!

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Today I want to talk a tad about cholesterol since high cholesterol is one of the risk factors for heart disease.

I’ll bet you know that there are two different kinds of cholesterol.

LDL is the “low down”, “bad” cholesterol which is purported to clog our arteries and cause heart disease. LDL stands for Low Density Lipoproteins. These lipoproteins are made up of mostly fat and a little protein.

HDL, on the other hand, is made up of mostly protein and just a little fat. HDL actually prevents the cholesterol from building up along the walls of the arteries by escorting it to the liver which filters it out of the body. HDL is usually called the “good cholesterol”.

According to the medical journals and cardiologists the preferred numbers of cholesterol in the blood are as follows:
LDL: less than 100mg/dL.
HDL: 60 mg/dL or higher.

Many people are confused by the numbers. It is good for the total number of cholesterol to be under 200 but the total number of cholesterol in the body is not as important as the ratio between LDL and HDL. What is desirable is a high level of HDL and a lov level of LDL. The higher the ratio - the better off you are.

The doctors usually are anxious to get us to lower our LDL but, raising the HDL in the blood can prove just as effective (assuming the LDL numbers aren’t sky high).

There are ways to raise the HDL.

One way is to increase consumption of Omega 3 oils. These oils are present in oily fish like salmon, tuna, mackerel and herring. If you don’t like fish you can go for the capsules which have omega oils in them. It’s important to be careful, though, to choose a brand which is know for processing the oils well and removing the poisons (which are rampant in the ocean, believe it or not).

Another way to increase HDL is by exercising 3 - 5 times a week. An average of 1/2 hour of aerobic exercise has been found to raise HDL levels.

Cutting out the trans fatty acids in the diet can also help raise HDL. These are the bad fats that are present in almost every commercially baked product on the market.

Alcohol - Believe it or not, one or two alcoholic drinks a day have been found to increase HDL.

Quit Smoking- Here the smokers have an “advantage”. They can raise their HDL just by quitting!

Add two servings of soluble fiber to your daily diet. Soluble fiber can be found in oatmeal, apples, strawberries, carrotes, brown rice and legumes. This wonder-fiber both reduces LDL and raises HDL.

Weight loss also helps raise HDL but I would imagine that the weight loss will be a side product of adding the above, healthy foods into the diet.

I’m the kind of person who would rather concentrate on the “positive” than on the “negative” and all the so called “forbidden” foods. When you forbid me to eat something, I just want to go right out and eat it!!! That’s why what works for me is trying to think in terms of nurturing my body and increasing consumption of tasty foods that will help me to become healthier. Hey, the more healthy food I eat, the less junk food I will consume. AND THAT’S A FACT!!!

For more information on lowering cholesterol naturally visit http://lowercholesterol.blogspot.com

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According to recent research, one out of 4 women in the U.S. is suffering from some form of cardiovascular disease. Heart disease is actually the number one cause of death of women in the U.S.

It’s better to prevent heart disease than to have to treat it once it’s diagnosed.
Once the disease is diagnosed it could potentially be too late. Often the first (big) symptom of heart disease happens as a result of a stroke or heart attack.

There are several risk factors that contribute to heart disease. If a woman is not careful about eliminating or reducing these factors throughout her life, she will be more likely to have problems with her heart. The risk factors that increase likelihood of heart disease include high cholesterol, smoking, high blood pressure, lack of exercise, obesity, use of birth control pills and diabetes. Additional risk factors over which we have less control are genetics, menopause (and its effects) and age.

The more knowledge a woman has about the risk factors and how to reduce them, the better equipped she is to prevent and/or cope with heart disease.

Basically, it is important to make changes in lifestyle. These changes include eating healthy, quitting smoking (of course!!), taking up some form of exercise and, last but not least, reducing stress levels. Stress is literally a killer and most of us women don’t take a serious enough look at how to reduce stress in our lives.

These lifestyle changes are important for prevention of heart disease and most of the other diseases that are so prevalent today.

Empowered with knowledge of what causes heart disease and how to reduce the risk, women can take measures which will greatly reduce their risk of being stricken with the disease.

Here are two examples of how good nutrition can help prevent heart problems:

Did you know that apples are loaded with pectin - a substance that has been found to limit the amount of cholesterol that our bodies can absorb?

Did you know that potassium is very important for the health of the heart muscle and for regulating proper fluid balance in the body? You probably know that bananas are a great source of potassium (they also prevent leg cramps, by the way).

There are many other foods that are helpful in preventing heart disease.

This blog will provide current and up to date information for women about the different risk factors and how to reduce them. The focus will be on natural methods as opposed to medications, which bring along their own host of problems. We’ll talk about how to lose weight naturally, without crash diets, how to eat healthfully and nutriciously (without compromising on taste), how to keep blood pressure down, how to lower cholesterol, dealing with stress levels and much more.

Please come back soon!икони

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Women take alot of flak from doctors and health practitioners for being even slightly overweight. The weight usually takes the blame for every possible ailment, from high cholesterol to back or knee pain. Generally, the recommendation is to lose weight in order to lower cholesterol, lower blood pressure and ease the pressure on all the body’s joints and limbs. It’s ok to recommend weight loss but it’s not okay to blame everything on weight. There are plenty of sickly, thin people and plenty of healthy, hearty, overweight people.

But, it sure wouldn’t hurt to take off the weight, as long as it’s done healthfully and not compulsively. Generally, weight that is taken off in a punitive manner comes back with a vengeance. When I say “punitive”, I mean weight that is taken off via a very strict diet. Many dieters have a tendency to rebel, and after the weight comes off and the dieter comes off the diet, binges have a tendency to happen!!

So, the trick to achieving and maintaing weight loss for a healthy heart is to do it naturally, not compulsively and with a focus on health as opposed to weight loss.

More on that next time!

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