Category Archives: Health

Healthy Lunch Alternatives for College Students

Many things can cause an unhealthy lifestyle while in college. Late night cramming, grabbing junk food, running to and from classes and heavy homework loads may contribute to unhealthy weight gain. This can cause students to eat on the run or not eat at all.
www.freshman15.com/healthy-eating-guide.php

Keep in mind that going without eating is one of the unhealthiest things you can do to your body. Make healthy food choices throughout the day and always have healthy snacks on hand. Lunch is important during the afternoon, because this is when energy in the body starts to plummet. By eating lunch, you are telling your body that you need energy for the remainder of the day. If all your classes are in the afternoon, this makes lunch even more important. Stick to whole grains, fruits, and vegetables so that you retain energy longer. Healthy snacks are okay to eat a couple of times a day, as long as you are staying within a reasonable portion.

Instead of grabbing a sub or sandwich from a fast food restaurant, make something of your own. This way, you are saving money, time and making your sandwich the way you want. Choose cheese that is low in fat but keep it to a minimum. According to the USDA food guide pyramid website, by switching to whole wheat from white bread in your lunch, you will gain added fiber and essential vitamins such as vitamin B6 and vitamin E.
www.mypyramid.gov

Many teens and young adults crave deep fried foods–especially if they are under pressure or stress. French fries are a popular food among college students. If you are a french fry fan, choose healthy alternatives such as baked fries or baked sweet potatoes. Season them up with vinegar, garlic and pepper and stay away from salt which promotes bloating and water retention.
www.freshman15.com/healthy-eating-guide.php

Make your own tuna and chicken salad at home, ahead of time. Replace mayonnaise with a low fat salad dressing. Wrap your salad in a large lettuce leaf or low fat sandwich wrap. Enclose in a reusable container that will prevent excess waste.

Many college students enjoy potato chips alongside their favorite sandwich. A healthy replacement may be 10 to 12 small pretzels or 100 calorie low fat chip packs. A cheaper option would be to buy low fat snacks in large bags and portion control the right amount into small snack size baggies …

What You Can Do to Cut Health Care Cost

The rising cost of health care is making headlines on a daily basis. It seems everyone from politicians to news anchors have a “solution”. Most of the solutions will have big impacts on the current group plans that employers offer. I don’t know what the solution is, but I do know that I am trying to do my part to cut my health care cost. Since I have been faced with a mountain of medical bills for one of my children due to bad health, I’ve learned some valuable lessons.

The first step is to be informed. You need to educate yourself on what your health insurance covers, what your deductibles, co-pays, and co-insurance is. Another important figure is your “Out of Pocket Maximum”. Go through your booklets and evidence of coverage on all your benefits to find this information. You shouldn’t assume that something will be covered, or have the same co-pays. Certain treatments and conditions will be covered differently.

If your employer offers more than one insurance option, and you have to pay for a portion of it, don’t necessarily go with the least expensive option. That option could end up costing you quite a bit. You need to plan for your situation. If you are single, and rarely go to the doctor, and have a good savings set aside, perhaps you can afford to take the option that has a $5000.00 deductible before it kicks in, but if you are covering a family with little ones, or planning on having a little one, then you might want to go with a plan that covers a bit more up front.

You also need to be informed of how insurance works, and what the different options mean. An HMO is a Health Management Organization, where you have to see one doctor, and any specialist of alternate doctors have to be approved by the insurance and your primary physician. A PPO is a Participating Physicians Organization, and you get to choose between a group of participating doctors who are under contract with the insurance company. You have the option under most plans to see an “Out of Network Provider” with lowered benefits (more out of pocket cost to you). Understand that your co-insurance is higher under most plans for seeing an out of network provider. This is because the in network providers have signed contracts to reduce their rates …

How to Make Healthy Meals Even If You're Busy

Most people nowadays are not able to control what they eat. They gain extra pounds due to eating out too much, and with it are some spending issues. But when you have an extremely hectic schedule, no one can blame you for having such eating lifestyle. Or is it really the case?

There’s still hope for you and your family to have a healthier lifestyle, even if there isn’t much time for you to plan about it. Here are six suggestions that can help you:

1. If you don’t have any budget to go out to eat, the next best thing you can do is do an online search for “top secret recipes” or “copy cat recipes”. Doing some brand-name foods at home with the use of common ingredients will save you a lot of money and your cravings will always be met.
2. If there are dishes you can do on your own, then you shouldn’t be tempted to buy entire meals of take-out. You can prepare an inexpensive homemade dish and then stop by your local restaurant and order something you may not be able to prepare at home. It’s a great way to save some money and time to enjoy a great meal.
3. Look for a family in your neighborhood who would agree for a weekly meal exchange. It’s a fun way to save some extra cash and at the same time to get to know your neighbors better. Give it a try for a couple of months. You will eventually see the time and energy you are able to save, only that you have to prepare more than what you used to. Just make sure to plan about the expenses first before starting.
4. Ever heard of meal preparation services? It’s a new trend right now, where you are able to prepare a meal someplace else, and not at your home. Dream Dinners, which is now in 37 states, claims to eliminate your menu planning, prep-work, shopping and cleanup. Although it may cost more compared to preparing meals at home, it is still significantly cheaper compared to eating out. The cost shouldn’t worry you too much though, as the meals are much more nutritious.
5. Meal planning may be something you can hardly squeeze in your schedule, but getting organized can be of great help. Find out if you can possibly prepare a double batch of something and freeze half

Six Ways to Keep Your Feet Healthy

Are your feet suffering from neglect? If so, revive them now through basic care. In just a few minutes a week, you can improve their current condition and keep them healthy. Remember, you need your feet to be in good shape, so they can take you where you want to go for years to come.

1- Clip your toes properly. Clip your toes properly in order to prevent hangnails and discomfort. Cut them straight across and don’t round out the edges. Then, follow-up with a file to smooth out any jagged ridges.

2- Slough off the rough edges. Got cracked feet? Keep your feet healthy by smoothing them out by sloughing off the rough edges with a pumice stone. Rub the edges and bottoms of your feet with this accessory right after you take a shower or bath, when your feet are moist and dead skin easy to remove.

3- Wear shoes with wide ends. Pointy shoes are cute and stylish, but they don’t do your feet justice. Because of the lack of room, you can get corns and further aggravate foot defects like hammertoes. So, opt for shoes with wide ends; enough room for your toes to breathe, move and spread out. These kinds of shoes aren’t always fashionable, but they will extend the life of your feet.

4- Invest into Dr. Scholl’s gels. Dr. Scholl’s has been keeping their customers feet healthy for years. This company has a variety of products that fit into your shoes and give you extra support. One of them is their massaging gel inserts. Slide these inserts into your shoes and feel like you’re walking on air. They make up for poorly shod shoes and low arches.

5- Slather your feet with lotion. Take care of the dry skin on your feet that makes them prone to redness and itchiness with moisturizing lotion. Spend money on an expensive brand created just for your feet or save money by missing a cheap brand with Vaseline. Then, rub in vigorously in order to penetrate your skin.

6- Address any issues immediately. Keep your feet healthy by addressing any issues with them immediately. If your feet start to hurt suddenly or have bulges in the wrong place, see a podiatrist. You could have a medical condition that when addressed right away could be reversed. Therefore, don’t wait to get treatment because the more time that …

Eat Healthy for Less: Using Coupons and Bargain Shopping Does Not Mean Forgoing Healthy Options!

Using coupons and shopping sales at your local grocery store does not mean you have to forego healthy options. There are plenty of ways to eat healthy foods and save money at the same time. Don’t fall into the fallacy that to eat cheap is to eat unhealthy. Sure you can get a ten pack of hot dogs for $.99 and boxes of macaroni and cheese for $.59. But, you can find healthy foods at great prices as well. Here is how you can save money at the grocery store and still make healthy choices.

Coupons, Coupons, Coupons! Coupons exist for great healthy foods as well as the not so healthy ones. Brands such as Cascadian Farms, Stonyfield Farms, Organic Valley, Horizon Organic, and many more feature coupons in Sunday circulars or have printable coupons on their websites. Don’t assume that organic and health food aisle foods don’t have coupons. Many of these healthy brands do offer coupons and when combined with a store sale can allow you to get these products for a great price. Also, be sure to sign up for coupon offers with your specific local grocery story. Large grocery store chains such as Kroger regularly send out special coupons just for organic items, dairy products, and produce.

Buy Sale Produce Only. Instead of planning your grocery list around your meals, try planning your meals around what produce you can find on sale at your local grocery store. Each store has a few produce items each week that are on super sale. Purchase these items and save a lot of money, then plan your meals around the items you have purchased. Only pay full price for produce on the extreme occasion that you are preparing a special dish.

Seek Out a “Bent and Dent.” Many areas have surplus grocery stores, often called “bent and dent” retailers. These small, often messy and unorganized, stores have overstock items, items that have been slightly damaged, and items that were shipped from stores that closed. Often shoppers can find great deals on organic and difficult to find grocery items at these stores. Don’t be turned off by the poor outward appearance—these places can be a gold mine for savvy shoppers. Just make sure you read the expiration dates carefully before purchasing.

Shop More Often. While shopping more often isn’t always an option for busy families, hitting the grocery store twice a …

7 Healthy Habits to Help You Live Longer

It would seem that now days people are living longer and longer. At the same time there also seems to be a lot of issues that could hinder one’s living to a ripe old age. There are several things you can do to help improve the odds of getting to that ripe old age. Nothing is fool proof of course, but it is definitely worth it to do what you can to live the best life you can.

Some of these suggestions may seem like common sense but you would be surprised on just how many people ignore common sense. Some may not think these things make a big difference but it does. Most people know it will make a difference but choose to do, or in some cases not to do, them anyways.

My first suggestion on a healthy habit perhaps entails you quitting a habit. That is the habit of smoking. If you don’t smoke then that is great! If you do, now is the time to quit. Smoking seems to be one of those habits that we all know is bad but some choose to do it anyways. It is never too late to quit smoking. Even if you have been smoking for 40 years. Quitting now is better than never quitting. It can drastically reduce your risk to life threatening illnesses.

Eating healthy is another one of those common sense things that most of do not pay much attention too. Eating more fruits and vegetables and staying away from high fat foods will greatly improve your chance of living a long and healthy life. There are so many things out there today that we need to stay away from. A few examples are high fructose corn syrup, aspartame, MSG, and a host of other things. When you have the time I urge you to just do a Google search on the above mentioned things. You may be shocked at what you find out.

In today’s busy world most of us do not get as much sleep as we should. Proper sleep is so important to our health and overall well being. When you miss out on much needed sleep it can take you days to catch up. In fact, you may never catch up. Sleep is one thing that needs to be high on your priority list.

Next you need to get moving! Yep, I mean …

Hearty and Healthy Feel Good Meals

These soups can be eaten as a start of a dinner or with salad and bread as a meal. These soups are hearty, delicious, healthy, and vegetarian. The stew is not vegetarian, but is a hearty alternative to chicken soup. The stew is particularly good when you have a cold or your allergies are acting up.

Mushroom- Barley Soup

Cook ½ cup of raw pearled barley in 1 ½ cups of stock until tender. Add 5 more cups of stock, 3- 4 tbsp. of tamari (soy sauce), and 3-4 tbsp. of dry sherry. Sauté 2 cloves of minced garlic and 1 heaping cup of chopped onion in 3 tbsp. of butter. When soft add 1 lb. of sliced fresh mushrooms and ½- 1 tsp. of salt. When tender add to barley. Simmer 20 minutes, covered, over lowest possible heat.

Spicy Tomato Soup

Sauté 1 ½ cup of minced onion and 3 cloves of crushed garlic in 1 tbsp. of butter and 1 tbsp. of oil. in a kettle or large saucepan. Cook 5 minutes, until translucent, then add 1 tsp. of dill weed, 2 lb. can of concentrated, crushed tomatoes and 2 cups of stock or 6 cups of chopped canned tomatoes and their liquid and 1 tbsp. of honey. Cover and simmer at least 45 minutes on low heat. Whisk in sour cream 5 minutes before serving. Garnish with chopped scallions.

Zucchini Puree

Place 7 cups of chunked zucchini (3 medium), 1 cup of chopped onion, 2 cups of stock or water and 1 ½ tsp of salt in a saucepan and cook until the zucchini is just tender. Puree in a blender. Put in a pot and whisk in ¾ cup of dry milk, ¼ cup of sour cream, a pinch of celery seed, and ½ tsp. basil. Heat until hot enough to serve and top with scallions.

Chicken Stew and Dumplings

stew: in a large pot gently boil boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 1 per person you are feeding) totally covered in water (6-8 cups) for ½ hour. Add 2-3 chicken bouillon cubes, around 4 scrubbed, chopped potatoes, 1 chopped onion, 3-4 chunked carrots, and 1-2 chopped celery sticks. Cook 45 minutes to an hour or until the potatoes are cooked. In a separate container whisk together 1 ½ cups of milk and 12 tbsp. of flour. Add to the chicken mixture, stirring well. Add 1 cup …

Top 8 Tips to a Healthier Mane

Your hair frames your pretty face and it is important to keep it looking shiny, healthy, and sexy. With the changes of season comes damage it bring to your hair. From being frizzy over the winter to being sun-bleached during summer, your hair takes a lot of stress from the extremes. Combine it with a hectic lifestyle, unhealthy habits, UV rays, and pollutants – your hair will definitely scream if it can do so. How do you keep it vibrant and healthy amidst all of these?

Secrets to a Sexy, Shiny and Healthy Hair

1.  Love Natural

Go for natural shampoos and conditioners that won’t strip away nutrients and vital oils from your hair. Avoid anything that contains cancer-causing paraben.

2.  Shampoo Every Other Day

It can feel icky, but shampooing your hair everyday makes it limp, lifeless, and brittle. You can dry your hair and scalp with too much washing. You may use a dry shampoo instead if you want your hair smelling clean.

3.  Use UV protection

Who says that only your eyes and skin needs protection from the harsh heat of the sun? Try to find products with UV protecting elements, specially if you have colored or highlighted hair.

4.  Deep Condition

Once a week, you may pamper your hair with deep conditioning treatments that you can buy cheap in your local drugstore. If your hair is super dry, you may use a hair mask, instead of conditioning your hair daily.

5.  Moisturize

When using conditioner, apply more to your hair roots which is prone to dryness. After swimming in a pool filled with chlorine, use a clarifying shampoo to wash your hair thoroughly and seal it with a moisturizing conditioner. Chlorine can dry your hair real fast so wash your hair as soon as you get out of the pool.

6.  Use Styling Products Properly

Don’t blow dry too close to your scalp and don’t keep the nozzle in one place. The last thing you want is to fry your hair. If you are using heated stylers like your flat iron, always put on a heat-protectant spray to avoid damaging your hair with the intense heat. All those anti-frizz serum helps prevent frizz, making your hair shine more, but NEVER apply it before heat-styling.

7.  Massage Your Scalp

Stimulate hair growth and shiny hair by massaging your scalp or using natural boar bristles to comb your hair. If you have a curly hair, …

Infrared Portable Sauna – Health on the Go

We all want a healthy lifestyle. But with the hectic schedules, time will not simply permit us to get that regular exercise and even that relaxing visit to the spa and sauna. The benefits of saunas have been proven and widely documented. Surely there is a sound reason why humans have used sweat baths as early as the Stone Age! Sweating will not only keep the skin soft and smooth, it also flushes out toxins and promotes an overall health improvement. However, there are major drawbacks for sauna enthusiasts, and this is the accessibility and convenience of scheduling a sauna visit (unless you have one at home). With the availability of Infrared Portable Sauna in the market, saunas nowadays have been more than accessible; you can even take it anywhere.

Like its namesake infrared portable saunas is heated using an invisible light, Far Infrared (FIR). Far Infrared, uses the same heating mechanism as the sun, unlike any other heat source warms people and other objects without warming the air molecules around. Far Infrared’s heat passes through body tissues, effectively promoting better blood circulation and digestion, healing and breaks down dangerous toxins.

There are 2 kinds of portable saunas available in the market today, the folding box-like apparatus that one person can use and sit in. The other being is the pre-made, pre-built into your home that you can take if and whenever you decide to move into a new home, but not take it on a weekend getaway.

The folding sauna easily collapses into a manageable compact package and can be set up as easily in any place as well. With no need for special set-ups, plumbing or electrical wiring, the foldable portable sauna is so far the most practical, manageable, and economical infrared portable sauna you can get in the market today. Another advantage is the ingenuity of this sauna itself. You will only have to sit down on it with your hands and head protruding from the unit since the device has integrated slits for your hands and head. Giving you access to do some other stuff you normally cannot do in a regular sauna.

Meanwhile, a pre-built sauna gives you the effect of being in a “real” sauna. But since you can have this kind of infrared portable sauna installed in your very own home, office or place of choice, it saves you the hassle of having …

The Health Effects of BPA Go Back to the Womb

Bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical used to make the plastic items people use everyday, has been in the news recently as people express concerns about its health effects. It’s hard to completely avoid BPA since it’s found in plastic bottles and containers used to store food – and even lines the inside of metal cans. Now, a new study shows that the effects of bisphenol A on health could go way back – all the way back to the womb.

The Health Effects of BPA

In a study published in the journal Hormones and Cancer, researchers discovered that mice exposed to BPA while in the womb produced higher levels of a protein called EZH2 – which increases the risk of breast cancer in humans. They also found that DES, another chemical, caused a similar increase in expression of this protein.

Like BPA, DES is an endocrine disrupter; a chemical that alters the reproductive hormones produced naturally by the body and increases the risk of abnormalities of the reproductive tract and cancer. When exposure to endocrine disrupters occurs early in life when the endocrine system is still developing, the damage can be permanent.

In this study, once mice were exposed to the effects of bisphenol A in the womb, their mammary glands continued to produce higher levels of the EZH2 protein that increases the risk of breast cancer – even when they reached adulthood. Researchers believe that exposure to endocrine disrupters such as bisphenol A and DES early in life, even while in the womb, alters breast architecture in such a way so as to predispose an animal, and possibly people, to developing breast cancer later on.

Even though this study was done in mice, the results were compelling enough that experts are suggesting that women who could have been exposed to BPA in the womb be monitored more closely for signs of breast cancer.

Endocrine Disrupters are Everywhere

It’s hard to escape the effects of endocrine disrupters such as BPA. The health effects of BPA have only recently started to be recognized. When you consider the widespread use of plastic bottles, containers, and cans containing bisphenol A are, you can assume that most people have had a significant amount exposure to this chemical. BPA and DES aren’t the only endocrine disrupters. These hormone disrupting chemicals are found in many consumer products including cosmetics, in household products, pesticides, and in the …