Eat Fish For a Healthy Brain
July 29, 2008
Category Lifestyle, Health
A recent study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology examined the relationship between what women ate while they were pregnant and the cognitive test scores of their children three years after birth.
The study results revealed that women who ate fish while pregnant gave birth to babies who by age 3 had significantly better cognitive and fine-motor skills than those whose mothers didn’t eat fish during pregnancy.
The 3-year-olds from the women who reported eating more than 2 servings of fish per week performed better than average on tests that assessed receptive vocabulary and visual-spatial, visual-motor, and fine-motor skills.
Sex Shockers
July 18, 2008
Category Sex
We can all recite the mantras of modern sex advice: Tell your partner what you want; focus on how your body feels; relax. Since it’s only natural, goes this idea, great sex is a matter of getting over your hang-ups, loving your partner and “letting go.”
The Most Sugar-Packed Foods in America
July 18, 2008
Category Health
Think your sweet tooth is harmless? Well, it just might bite you back. The average American is wolfing down 460 calories from added sugars every day. That’s more than 100 pounds of raw sugar per person per year. (That’s enough to make 3,628 Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups!)
What’s at risk with all this sugar intake isn’t just another cavity; refined carbohydrates cause spikes in your blood sugar levels, tell your body to store fat, and put people at increased risk for diabetes. And that’s another way of saying that it puts people at increased risk of blindness, sexual malfunction, heart attack, and premature death.
All that from a simple candy bar or soda? Not exactly, but consider this: A dollar will buy you about 75 calories’ worth of fresh broccoli, but food manufacturers can use that same dollar to purchase 1,815 calories of sugar. And thanks to government subsidies, high fructose corn syrup - the synthetic sweetener found in so many of the foods in our grocery stores - is even cheaper. It should come as no surprise, then, that added sugars are sabotaging nearly ever packaged and prepared food we put in our bodies — pasta sauces, smoothies, even whole grain breads.
Living Within Your Means
July 9, 2008
Category Lifestyle
When we purchased our first house we put down a large down payment. Our realtor was surprised to find out we didn’t have any other debt. Getting the loan was no problem as we bought quite a bit less house than what the banks said we could afford.
Several years later the realtor stopped by to say hi. He said, “You and your wife were really an inspiration to me. We’ve started paying off our debt and trying to get our living expenses under control.” Evidently his normal customers weren’t people who lived beneath their means.
When you spend less than you make, you are buying flexibility and freedom. You gain the ability to change jobs or move to another area of the country. You are buying the ability to say yes to the things that matter because you save on the areas that aren’t as important to you.
This isn’t something most people do. If all your friends spend every penny they make it is easy to feel like you are doing well by just not going broke. There are people who are quite wealthy even if you’d never know it. They have chosen financial freedom over financial exhibitionism.
Good management of your finances can have one of the biggest impacts on your productivity because it determines how efficient you convert your time into money into the things you need. On Wednesdays we are discussing the financial aspect of productivity. Watch for more Wednesday financial posts in the future.
7 Ways to Build the Exercise Habit
May 28, 2007
Category Health
You’ve probably tried it several times. You’re fed up with your skinny look or overweight body. You decide to finally do something about it. So you take a gym membership. Some friends decide to join you. After a few weeks however, your friends don’t show up anymore. Then you end up alone. And eventually you quit.
Yeah I know, this happens all the time. I’ve seen it over and over again. I know what you’re thinking. How come some people can stick with it and others not? What is their secret?
9 Little Known Ways To Sleep So It Counts
May 16, 2007
Category Lifestyle, Health
“If you can’t sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there worrying. It’s the worry that gets you, not the lack of sleep.”
- Dale Carnegie
Can’t sleep? You may have tried medication. You know you have to stay away from bad guys like caffeine, alcohol and nicotine. And you’ve probably heard it’s not wise to exercise too vigorously or eat too big a meal a couple of hours before bedtime. Perhaps you’ve even tried to stick to a regular sleep-wake schedule. Still have problems getting a sound sleep? Try these snooze tips you may not have heard before.
1. Let go of your concerns and worries.
Anxieties often seem magnified in the still of the night. Dealing with them can help you sleep. Write down your worries and possible solutions before you go to bed, so you don’t need to ruminate in the middle of the night. A journal or “to do” list may be very helpful in letting you put away these concerns until the next day when you are fresh.
Fitness and Good Health: The Tricks That Work
May 5, 2007
Category Health, Fitness
How is it possible that every year Americans spend more money on diet and weight loss aids and, research shows, every year we get fatter?
Something is not working. So let’s stop doing it. Stop buying every new weight loss remedy. Stop eating low-fat, low-carb, sugar-free and so on, because there are no free lunches, so to speak. None of this is calorie-free. Stop saying you’ll exercise tomorrow.
7 Ways to Wakeup in the Morning
May 3, 2007
Category Lifestyle
Your method of waking up is the first thing that starts your day. I’m not saying that waking up to an annoying alarm will ruin your day, but it probably isn’t going to help anything.
Here are a few ideas for waking up:
- Wake up to a CD. Many stereo’s have a build in alarm clock that will start the CD at a certain time. (This can also be the basis of a nice college dorm prank.)
- Wake up to the radio. Most clock radios let you wake up to whatever is being broadcast instead of the normal alarm.
- Wake up to light. A simple outlet timer, hooked to a bright light can be a great way to wake up because the light will help tell your body that the day is starting. (You might want to set a backup alarm when trying this for the first time.)
- Wake up to cool air. In highschool I concocted an elaborate mechanism for waking up that I would tinker with each night. On of the more interesting things I tried was hooking up a fan at the bottom of the bed sheets. It would come on and start blowing cool air under the covers.
- Wake up to your cell phone. Many cell phones have alarm clocks and the ringing of your cell phone might be much more pleasant than the buzz of your regular alarm clock. You might even be able to set it to vibrate and then just sleep with it under your pillow.
- Wake up to coffee. I hate coffee so waking up every day with the thought “what is that awful smell?” isn’t my idea of a good way to wake. However, I’m told other people like to wake up to coffee, so a pot with a timer might be a good option.
- Wake up to your iPod. iPods have alarmclock functionality built in. You can set them to play a particular playlist at the appropriate time. I don’t recommend sleeping with headphones, but if yo have external speakers of some type this can be a nice way to wakeup. One of the advantages of this over a CD player is that the CD player will make a “spin up” noise when it starts, so if you are a light sleeper you may wake up to the spin noise instead of the music. (As a side note the best piece of music to wake up to is the music from the ballet Appalachian Spring. The worst music to wakeup to is anything played on a harpsichord.)
So do you have a creative way to wake up? What do you use presently? What things have you tried in the past?
10 Things You Never Knew About Women
May 1, 2007
Category Lifestyle
1. All the women are actresses, and those, who are pretending that it bear no relation to them, - especially are.
2. Your readiness for a deed is more important for a woman than a deed itself.
3. If a woman decided to seduce you, it’s only a question of time.
What Do 300 Calorie Meals Look Like?
April 29, 2007
Category Fitness
Here is a selection of meals that are in the 300-400 Calorie range. The visual representation gives an idea of portion size.
Breakfast - 290 Calories
1 whole wheat English muffin
2 pats low fat butter
1 hard boiled egg
1/2 cup of fruit
8 oz fruit juice
8 oz water