Tag: Healthy Body

7 Tips to keep your bowels healthy

When it comes to keeping your bowels healthy, your lifestyle and the choice of different foods plays a crucial role. Simply put, what you like to eat can also substantially affect the way that your body digests food.

The more important things that can help you maintain a healthy digestive tract include drinking lots of water and adding a substantial amount of fiber into your daily diet. Besides dietary changes, regular exercise can also contribute to the wellbeing of your digestive tract too.  Let us check out a few tips that can keep your bowels healthy.

o  Eating a diet rich in fiber content

According to leading nutrition consultants across the globe, eating food items with high fiber content can substantially improve your overall digestive health. This includes the different whole grains, legumes, vegetables, and fruits.

Just about any kind of high-fiber diet can help your body’s digestive system to keep the food ‘moving’ throughout your digestive tract. In the long run, this will also make you markedly less likely to become overly constipated. In fact, a high-fiber diet can also help you prevent and treat a myriad of different digestive problems and conditions, such as hemorrhoids, Diverticulosis, and the annoying irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). And there is a bonus as well here. Once you start consuming foods rich in fiber, you can achieve and maintain your dream weight in the long run.

o  Try to include both insoluble and soluble fiber in your daily diet

One should consume both types of fiber because they help improve your digestive system in a variety of different ways. For example, the most common types of “Insoluble fibers” colloquially known as roughage cannot be digested by the human body. They help add a substantial amount of bulk to the stool.

On the other hand, the different types of the highly soluble fiber draw in lots of water and thereby help prevent watery stools at the same time.  Good sources of insoluble fiber include different vegetables, wheat bran, and whole grains. Besides these choices, you can get highly soluble fiber from nuts, seeds, oat bran, and even legumes.

  • Always try to limit those foods that are way too high in fat content

This is because fatty foods slow down the whole digestive process completely. Foods with high-fat content make a man (or even a woman for that matter) prone to periodic bouts of high constipation. Remember that it is equally important to add at least some amount of fat in your daily diet. And there is a certain way of going about doing it.

For instance, pairing the fat-rich foods with high-fiber foods items can make them a lot easier to pass through your entire digestive system.

o  Lean meats are the way to go!

When you prepare a meal, always keep in mind that protein is an essential part of just about any healthy diet. But, you should be careful to understand that fatty cuts of meat that you consume can also lead to uncomfortable digestion. This is why, whenever you consume a lot of meat, always go to the meat shop and only select the lean cuts, such as skinless poultry, or sirloin steaks.

o  Maintain a schedule if you can

Meal times have been an integral part of our collective lifestyle since time immemorial. Our bodies are attuned to eating at certain times of the day and night. This is why making a schedule and keeping to it, more or less rigidly can also help your digestive system with reference to your bowel movements. After all, it stands to reason that the more regular your meals, the steadier will be those bowel movements as well. If you really want clean and healthy bowels, then maybe you should consider sitting down at roughly the same time periods for all your major (and also minor) meals of the day, such as breakfast, lunch, dinner and a light supper, before going to bed.

o  The seminal importance of drinking water

As mentioned earlier, staying well hydrated is important. The thing is that drinking plenty of fresh water is really good for your overall digestive health. And when you mix your hydration plans with a high-fiber diet, then all that fiber will pull in the water and help you pass your stools easily.

o  Skip all those the bad habit if you can and also exercise regularly

Ok here is the thing. Excessive smoking, excessive caffeine, and alcoholic beverage consumption is terrible news for your digestive tract. In fact, hard liquor, coffee, and even cigarette smoking can easily throw a spanner in the works when it comes to the effective functioning of your entire digestive system. And it is not just your bowels that will be affected, but rather other parts of your digestive system such as stomach (ulcers) and heartburn (Esophagus reflux).

Apart from the above, exercise also goes a long way in taking care of your bowel movements. And the good news is that it doesn’t have to be a high-intensity workout. Even a simple cardio workout at homeis effective. To get into the mood for an awesome workout, invest in trendy active wear and stylish accessories such as sports bra and butt lifterpanties.

o  Conclusion

In the light of the above, it can easily be seen that taking care of your bowels is really not that hard, provided you follow these simple tips.

Author Bio:

Judy Robinson is a passionate health and lifestyle blogger. She loves to write on healthy lifestyle, fitness 101 and DIY related topics. Follow @judyrobinsonfor more updates.

 

Everything You Want to Know About Meditation

Meditation has different meaning for different people. For me, its a soothing effect on my mind, body and soul. I don’t practice it regularly but whenever I do, it surely helps me declutter. I will admit that it takes a lot to meditate. It doesn’t come easy and even now I am not a pro. It really takes months and years of practice, because merely closing your eyes and deep breathing is not meditation. Meditation is like a connect with your own soul, to hear your innermost voice and to feel each and every breath that you take. Its difficult, but once you are able to do so, the peace is unmatchable.

Here is everything you wanna know about Meditation

Osteoporosis: Understanding The Bear Bones Of This Condition

Many people have heard the term osteoporosis, but do they really understand what it means, and the effect it can have on their health? Probably not, and that is why my post below outlines the basics of the condition, as well as what can be done to prevent and alleviate it. Keep reading to find out more.

What it osteoporosis?

Osteoporosis is a bone condition. It occurs when the structure of our bones lose density. Something that means the spaces within the bone structure get larger and the actual fibers of bone get smaller. This is often described as them being porous.

 

Image link

Unfortunately, the symptoms of osteoporosis are often not detectable until the damage has been done. This is because it is a largely silent and gradual disease, and only when it reaches an advanced stage where breaks and fractures become much more likely does it start to be noticeable. That is why it is often associated with older people. Obviously, bone breakage is painful and can be debilitating, meaning it’s something that is best to avoid if at all possible. Especially if it is frequently occurring, as can present with this condition.

Picture

Over time osteoporosis can cause major problems in any of the bones in the body, and especially the spine. This is because individual vertebrae can fracture, something that is known as kyphoscoliosis. This causes pain and a hunched over appearance that makes mobility very difficult.

What causes it

Believe it or not, our bones are not static elements of our body. In fact, old bone is reabsorbed into our system throughout our lives, and new bone is created. However, if there is a disruption or imbalance in this process, it can lead to osteoporosis because not enough new bone is created to support the body.

This imbalance is more common in people with a calcium deficiency as this is an essential nutrient to help develop bone growth. It is also common in women because hormonal changes after the menopause cause a rapid loss of bone density which is often never completely balances out, causing them to more at risk of this disease.

Treatment and prevention

Obviously, if you have developed, or been identified as being at risk of osteoporosis, your doctor will advise you on the best course of treatment to stay well.

Image here

However, there are some things that you can do that will minimise your risk of suffering from this condition in the first place. Ths includes using supplements, calcium in particular, as this can help to increase bone density.

Although some folks do have concerns about the safety of putting nutrients into their body in such high quantities. That is where consulting with your doctors and doing your research comes in as you can find out more about this in the AlgaeCal safety study on Pubmed. There you will find all the facts you will need to help you decide whether calcium is the right supplement to help you in your quest to prevent osteoporosis.

Takeaway: So in summary osteoporosis is a condition where the bones aren’t dense enough. It’s caused by a lack of calcium and an imbalance in bone production and reabsorption. Also in addition to medical treatments, calcium supplements may be helpful in preventing this condition.

 

 

 

 

 

Does A Healthy Body Really Equals A Healthy Mind?

There’s a common saying that having a healthy body means having a healthy mind, and while some people believe this, others aren’t so sure. Is mental and physical health that closely linked or is it just a myth? Well, that depends on who you ask, but there is a lot of evidence that suggests that our physical health has a huge impact on our mental health and vice versa.

The ancient Greeks, one of the most advanced civilizations during their time, understood the importance of taking care of your mental health as well as your physical health, which could be why their civilization thrived. ‘Sound mind in a sound body’ was the credo of their civilization, and it worked wonders. It’s clear that in the past a healthy body equalled a healthy mind, but what about today?

Photo from Pexels

It’s time to explore whether, in modern day life, a healthy body equals a healthy mind. For everything that you need to know, read on.

Regular exercise reduces stress

It’s no secret that exercise is good for our bodies, but what about our minds. Various studies have shown that regular exercise can help to relieve stress because working out acts as an outlet for stress and worry. While activities like running, cycling and swimming can be great stress relievers, meditation-based exercise can also work wonders. Take pilates and yoga, for instance, these two activities are made to reduce stress while toning and conditioning the body and its muscles. It’s amazing how you can put on some yoga clothes, grab a mat, and begin to practice this ancient form of exercise, and instantly start to feel happier and less stressed. A bonus of which is that the less stressed you are, the less likely you are to fall foul of anxiety or depression.

Being healthy boosts self-esteem

Did you know that it is scientifically proven that being healthy boosts self-esteem? When you are regularly active and take steps to feed your body with healthy foods, you feel better for it, which then helps to boost your confidence. Being healthy can help to foster your sense of self-worth and boost your strength and power. By meeting your health and fitness goals, you will begin to feel better about your appearance.

People who are more active, sleep better

Obviously, the more active you are, the better you sleep. But what you may not know is that a lack of sleep is linked to many mental health problems, such as depression, post-natal psychosis and post-natal depression, and anxiety. By regulating your sleep patterns, you can help to ensure that you get plenty of sleep, and thus you are mentally healthier. Referring to your physical health, when you don’t get enough sleep, your body sufferers as a result, with your immune system being impacted the most.

So there you have it, a healthy body does equal a healthy mind, or at least in most instances, it does. Admittedly, there is no way to completely prevent mental health problems from occurring. However, that being said, if your body is healthy, then the chances of developing mental health problems is much lower.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eat Yourself Happy: Foods Scientifically Proven To Beat The Winter Blues

Image by Max Pixel

In case you haven’t noticed, the summer is well and truly gone and with the turning of the leaves and the graying of the skies, something more insidious is creeping in with the longer nights. Many of us find ourselves unaccountably experiencing low mood, depression, lethargy and in some cases increased irritability. As fall sets in and eventually concedes to winter, an increasing number of us start to experience Seasonal Affective disorder (aptly abbreviated to SAD). This can not only sap our mood and make us feel depressed and lethargic (even if objectively our lives are great), but also drain our will to eat healthily and live active lifestyles. It can make us want to oversleep and cause us to crave unhealthy foods, especially starchy refined carbohydrates and sugars, resulting in weight gain which only feeds the cycle of inactivity. “Why bother?” we ask ourselves, before grabbing a candy bar and settling down on the sofa.

If the coming of the fall season makes you want to wrap up in a duvet, grab a bag of potato chips and hibernate then you desperately need a pick me up.

Fortunately, with a little know how, you can chomp the blues away while improving your overall health. But first…

Exercise… It’s non-negotiable

On a dark, cold and drizzly morning, going to the gym or out for a jog is probably the last thing you feel like doing which is exactly why it’s the first thing you should do. The benefits of exercising first thing in the morning are many and various. It can raise your energy levels and mood while leaving you secure in the knowledge that the rest of the day is yours to do as you wish. It can also give your brain a much-needed endorphin boost, raising your mood and also boosting your metabolism.

Even a 20 minute jog is a great way to start the day. If that sounds like a nightmare, give yourself a reason to enjoy your jog. Take your phone and listen to some music, a podcast or an audiobook as you jog. Check out this flipbelt review for an alternative to carrying your phone in your pocket. The last thing you want is to start your day with a dropped and broken phone.

Image by Pixabay

Mood boosting foods

After starting the day with a brisk workout, you’ve earned a delicious breakfast. Now’s the time to capitalize on this natural mood booster and load up on these nutritious mood boosting foods:

  • Avocado- Avocados are full of healthy fats to stabilize your appetite and reduce cravings but they’re also great for balancing your hormones and keeping your serotonin levels
  • Nuts- A great post-workout food, nuts are full of healthy fats, fiber, antioxidants and protein as well as being full of serotonin.
  • Strawberries- They’re tasty, they’re versatile and they’re rich in vitamins and nutrients to facilitate stable brain chemistry.
  • Sesame seeds- Great for sprinkling and snacking, sesame seeds are rich in the amino acid tyrosine which naturally increases the brain’s production of dopamine naturally boosting your mood while also helping your body to assimilate their protein.

 

 

The Health Checks You Can’t Afford To Miss Out On

Keeping tabs on our family’s health can feel like lot’s of appointments that span over the year. It can be easy to forget where you have been, and what needs to be booked. It’s understandable, after all, we only want to do the best by our family and to make sure everyone is healthy and happy. Keeping yourself organized is the key to success. So I thought I would share with you some of the family health checks that need to happen. If you aren’t on top of any of them, then get them booked in as soon as possible.

Image source

Dentist

Our dental hygiene is important. We only get one set of adult teeth in our lifetime. So it’s important that we encourage good dental health in our children from an early age. Even though they dislike cleaning their teeth so much. Regular checks with the dentist will keep those teeth in check. It’s vital you book in with a dentist as soon as your child’s teeth come through so that you start the regular check ups going forward. While it may not be a pleasant experience for all when you attend, you will be happy you did as time goes on and you have good dental hygiene.

Eye Checks

Our sight is one of the greatest senses we will regret losing if we don’t take care of it. Some of us see better than others, but without having them checked, we wouldn’t know. We may struggle to read small print or see long distance. These things can affect our reaction times when it comes to playing sports and even driving a car. So it’s vital we keep tabs on their condition. However, it isn’t just about general eye care, but sometimes we can struggle with issues with our eyes. This is when Ophthalmologists could identify issues that you may not have known you were struggling with. Thankfully, there are locations all over that can ensure that you take better care of your eyes.

Hearing tests

Our hearing is another important part of the body that we need to keep track of. It can get affected mostly if, as adults, you work or have worked in a place with loud noises. Children can also be prone to problems if they have been around sharp noises and even ear infections. Keeping tabs on your ear and hearing health will make sure that you have perfect use of them as time goes on. Some adults and children won’t even realise they may have a problem until they get checked. Things like hearing aids can transform your lives without you even realising you needed them.

General health checks

Keeping on top of our general health is important. Attending a general health check will mean your weight and body mass index are checked. Alongside things like blood pressure. You could even have blood tests to make sure that cholesterol levels are normal, and you have good iron levels. All things that can cause you problems as time goes on. It’s still very important to make sure that they are not overweight. Obesity is a real problem in the world at the moment.

I hope this helps you get on track when it comes to your family’s health.

Theme: Overlay by Kaira Copyright @ikreatepassions 2020
Goa, India