Pay Attention to Your Family History

Knowing your family medical history is critical to creating a wellness and fitness plan for your life.While it is not guaranteed that you will develop heart disease or diabetes, know that the likelihood is greater if there is history of these diseases in your family. Often, it is the repetition of a pattern of behaviors that leads to illness. Making healthy lifestyle changes can greatly improve your odds of breaking the cycle. So, if you want to be healthy and fit, then you must do what healthy and fit people do.

Here are some simple tips for ensuring good health:

*Get plenty of fiber from whole grains, fresh fruits, and vegetables.
*Eat lean protein including beans, seeds, and quinoa.
*Consume healthy fats from foods like salmon and olive oil.
*Avoid refined (packaged) foods like white bread, white rice, sugar, grits, and desserts.
*Get regular exercise most days of the week for at least 30 minutes per session.
*Maintain a healthy weight.
*Women waistlines should be at or below 35" and men should stay below 40".
*Practice stress management techniques like meditation and yoga.
*Drink 8-12 glasses of water daily.
*Sleep 7-8 hours per day.

Be good to yourself! More next time...

Detoxing the Body with Pomegranate Juice

Here is an excerpt from an article I wrote for Workout Healthy Blog entitled, "Detoxing the Body with Pomegranate Juice". In researching this subject, I learned that pomegranate juice is great for the heart, too. Check it out!

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To detox the body means to remove toxins and waste from the bodily systems. Because the small intestine absorbs needed nutrients, vitamins, and minerals from foods and releases them into the bloodstream, it is sometimes beneficial to drink juices when nourishing and/or detoxing the body. Pomegranate juice contains high amounts of vitamin C, antioxidants, and healing properties which make it ideal for cleansing the body.

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (formerly known as the American Dietetic Association) defines an “antioxidant” as:

“…dietary substances including some nutrients such as beta carotene, vitamins C and E and selenium, that can prevent damage to your body cells or repair damage that has been done.

“Antioxidants work by significantly slowing or preventing the oxidative – or damage from oxygen – process caused by substances called free radicals that can lead to cell dysfunction and the onset of problems like heart disease and diabetes. Antioxidants may also improve immune function and perhaps lower your risk for infection and cancer.” (Team, 2006)

Read the entire post.

Be good to yourself! More next time...