Be Healthy and Relax

Archive for December, 2007

Many of us have heard of magnesium, but probably only from some crazy high school science class years ago. What many people do not know is that it is vital for the health of our body and its proper functionality. There are many forms that magnesium can be found in so we can easily balance our diets. Check out some of this important information that you’ve probably never known about magnesium and your body.

What is it? About 50% of it is found naturally in our bones, but the rest is located all around our bodies: muscles, tissues, organs, and blood. The body works to try and keep a healthy level and balance of natural magnesium in our system through our blood.

What does it do? There are no solid, agreed upon reasons of why we sometimes experience muscle cramps, but some speculate that it is caused by the dehydration in muscles and lack of vital nutrients after a difficult workout. Magnesium is a bone-building nutrient that is thought to help calm and relax muscles during these times. It’s believed that without the proper amount of magnesium, it will cause muscles to contract and spasm more often than not.

What you should do. If you workout intensely or don’t exercise at all, magnesium is right up your alley. Magnesium is vital for everyone, but deficits can be noticed if you are putting your body through strenuous exercises. Your muscles are prone to cramps and uncomfortableness without a proper amount of magnesium. Intake magnesium daily in one of its various forms to prevent injuries like this from occurring.

Magnesium is essential to over 400 various enzyme reactions and other daily bodily functions. Unfortunately, research has shown that many American diets are deficient in a proper daily amount of magnesium.

Magnesium aids the body with:

• Nerve conditions
• Muscle contractions
• Bone and tooth formation
• Protein metabolism
• And more importantly, heart and circulatory health

How much should you receive per day? It is recommended that a male over 19 years old should consume around 400 mg of magnesium per day. Women of the same age are said that they should eat roughly 300 mg per day. A deficiency of magnesium in a diet can occur and some pretty obvious results could show from it. Some of these are feeling fatigued, a loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, and weakness. If the deficit continues, it can lead to various muscle contractions, spasms, cramps, numbness, abnormal heart beats, and even a change in personality.

Where can I find magnesium in food? Green vegetables are normally the best and easiest place to eat magnesium in foods. Beans and peas, various nuts, and unrefined grains are also great sources. Sticking to unrefined grains, such as whole wheat foods are much higher in magnesium than flour or white bread products. Some excellent food sources are listed below:

• Halibut (90mg)
• Dry roasted almonds (80mg)
• Soybeans and spinach (75mg)
• Cereal and oatmeal (65mg)
• Baked potatoes (50mg)

Are there other ways to consume magnesium? There sure are!

• I have recently begun to consume magnesium in a liquid form. This is generally much quicker to digest and gets to areas in the body much quicker. I mix mine in water and drink it pretty quickly since the taste isn’t the best, but not anywhere near unbearable. I have chosen this method because it aids my aching muscles much quicker and effectively.
• Pill form. Calcium/Magnesium supplement pills are normally the most popular on the shelf in a nutritional store. They come in this combination because the two work hand-in-hand with each other. As the magnesium helps with muscle relaxation, calcium helps rebuild muscles and control muscle contractions after workouts and other daily activities.
• Powder form is also available. This isn’t nearly as popular, but if used, it can be mixed in with a drink, very similar to the liquid magnesium form.

Photo credit: brokenchopstick

When was the last time you’ve been able to get away from work and have a really good vacation? I’m not talking about a simple weekend out of town, but more like a week or two where you can completely release all worries of work and normal day-to-day life. If this sounds like something you’re in desperate need of, please read on…

Our lives are all made of routines that we do everyday. Sure, sometimes these routines can be very simple, but a combination of them each day can begin to weigh on you very heavily. Without a simple break from the action, our minds become bogged down and slow our normal performance in everyday life. These are the times that we feel overwhelmed and lose the love and passion for what we have centered out lives around. These sorts of situations can occur in our work-life, spousal and friend relationships, and our inner-selves. None of these parts of our lives are lost causes, it just might mean that we need to step away from the action for a little bit and rekindle the thoughts and mindset that we previously had.

Vacations are key

As stress builds throughout the work-year, a lot of us look forward to taking time off during the holiday season. Unfortunately, there are many out there (including numerous people at my work) that insist that they work all the way through. The need for money is normally a cause for such a decision. Sure, this might seem like a very understanding statement, but how could money overvalue the feeling of your body? Without taking these key moments to go on a vacation and release our built up tension, our emotional and physical well-being turns very detrimental.

Those who take regular vacations more often:

• Have less strain on the heart, which leads to a lessened chance of heart disease
• Are much less stressed and have a clearer mind emotionally
• Have much more energy
• Spend much more time with spouses and are happier with their relationships
• Have a much better relationship with their children
• Are more interested and productive when they return to work

Try mini-vacations

A thought that my girlfriend and I have had is to take mini-vacations or getaways on the weekends. Our thought is to take a trip out of town once a month to wherever. This doesn’t need to be anything expensive or elaborate, just something that will get you out of town to free your mind from your typical everyday life. If it’s simply a one night’s stay camping in the mountains, or in a motel, or wherever else, as long you can getaway to release the week’s built-up worries. These trips can be easily saved up for just by putting in about $20 a week by both of you; that shouldn’t break the bank.

On the weekends that you aren’t traveling out of town, try to take a day adventure of your choice. A passion that we both have is to go hiking. Since there are various trails in San Diego, we have a large disposal of day hikes to spend our weekends on. Other good ideas are day drives to a different part of town and then eating lunch, or heading down to the beach to spend a lazy afternoon. The point here is to get you out of your element to experience something new and exciting. Each of these should prove to help any anxiety and hardships that you might experience at work or in your personal life.

Some scary statistics

• In 2005, Americans threw away or sold back nearly 415 million vacation days. This equates to 1.6 million years of unused vacation time!
• Strokes, heart disease, and early mortality have all been linked to overworking and stressing out while on the job.
• Americans put in more hours than the rest of the world. This is a huge hint to start spending those vacation days. For example, the French work 35-hour workweeks, and actually stick to that number.
• Germans work roughly 500 hours over the year. That’s nearly 12-and-a-half weeks less than us in America. They have the right idea!

Try and make vacations a part of your life. Many of us forget about our own time because we’re so used to dedicating the time we have to work for others. There’s a time and place for everything, so choose yours wisely, it will greatly affect your life.

Photo credit: januszbc

Do you often spend far beyond too much time trying to fall asleep? Or, are you never fully calm as you lay in your bed, waiting for those Zzz’s to come?

Many people experience this same sort of problem each and every night. Not being able to fully feel comfortable in bed can be a result of various things. More often than not, stress and anxieties in our lives is what stops us from feeling at peace in the one definite spot that we should. As we get into bed, many think about the problems they’ve experienced over the day, or the list of to-do’s that are needed to be done the next day. Check out what I had to say about keeping stress and work out of your bed from my guest post on DietHack. As our minds travel at a million miles per hour when we’re anxious and stressed, the rest of our body also feels the same tension, if not more. It’s not often realized, but during this time our muscles tense up beyond belief all night long when we feel like this. The end result of this is waking up in the morning feeling very tired and even more stressed throughout the day. Try some of these simple methods to help ease your body when it comes to getting some solid shut-eye…

It’s all in the breathing

When laying down into bed, focus on taking few, but deep and pleasant breaths. Breathe in through your nose, while holding it in for a bit, and then exhaling slowly out of your mouth. While doing this, focus on the slightly cool air passing through your nose, and then the warmer air smoothly rolling out of your mouth. Steve at Brip Blap has a great article that further explains this breathing process, with a slightly different spin. After fully focusing on these deep and slow breaths, you should feel much more eased and grounded. Just as you would take these types of breaths before a speech or any other type nervous situation, they will help settle your nerves and calm your body.

Never forget body control

As you are doing your slow and deep breaths, also take this time to focus on the various muscles all throughout your body. First, begin by thinking of the muscles that make up the face and head region. With a breath in, concentrate on tightening and then relaxing the muscles in your face, tongue, neck, and jaw. After focusing on each of these single muscle groups, exhale, letting go of the deep breath that was within. Continue with this technique throughout the rest of your body, starting from the top and all the way down. Work to tense the muscles and then slowly letting them go to a relaxed position. After extending this exercise to your fingertips and toes, continue the process by adding positive thoughts and surroundings to help put your mind and body at peace.

Remembering how to sleep

To help enhance what you have already done to ease your body, begin to think of the times you’ve had your best night’s sleep. These could be times from your childhood, with your partner you love, or from a vacation spot that was far beyond relaxing. As we spend our times trying to slip into slumber, we often feel even more anxious because of the time that it takes. Use these previous images and memories as anchors to ease the fear of insomnia. While putting the first two steps together, your body should feel much more at home with itself, with the least amount of worry. If you ever feel even the slightest twinge of worry or anxiety enter your mind, quickly erase it with these positive and soothing thoughts from the past.

Watch the food and drinks

Having the proper type and amount of food in you as you go to bed is equally important. It’s never a good thing to go to bed hungry, so that’s beyond the most important tip here. More often than not, the reason why we go to bed with a slight hunger is because we ate an early dinner and then skipped a midevening snack. Without eating this small night snack, our blood sugar level drops and sparks anxiety. Many times this can happen in the middle of the night when your body feels the most hungry, so you will find yourself awakening from sleep. As not every type of food is the best before sleep, try focusing on these simple types:

• A serving of fresh fruit, such as an apple or orange.
• A low-fat yogurt or cottage cheese.
• Any high-carbohydrate, high-protein favorite.

These foods will help relax your mind and body before even entering bed. Your emotions will calm and your whole state of mind will become much more mellow. Although, along with these foods, we must keep in mind of the foods that we would better not have right before jumping into bed:

• Any coffee, tea, or other caffeinated beverages within 4-5 hours before bedtime.
• Any alcoholic drinks within 3-4 hours. We might think that alcohol helps slow the mind, but as it does this, it also throws off our normal brain-pattern of sleep. This can result in frequent awakenings in the middle of the night with difficulties in getting back to sleep.

On a side note…

I have been very fortunate to be included in three very well-informing help carnivals this week. Please visit each one and read what the many others have to say.

• Total Mind and Body Fitness Blog Carnival 28
• Carnival of Healing #116
• Weight Management and Fitness Forum – 7th Edition

Photo credit: hamed

Hey all. It’s Saturday and coming up to crunch time for shopping for the holidays. If you’re starting to feel the pressure, don’t worry, you still have a little bit of time to get that perfect gift. Check out some places online if you’re running out of ideas. See what Matt, over at HowIWillBeRich suggested for some great gifts that won’t break the bank. You can still get those babies shipped quick, so act now!

I know I’m a little off topic for this site, but I’m in the mood to do some relaxing this weekend and taking a breather for the stresses of the past few weeks for me. I’ve been meaning to post this great excerpt from great old TV show, “Cheers” for a long time, more as a joke than anything. I would like to say it’s an awesome theory, but only if it were true. If you’re not a beer drinker, I’m sure you can get creative and apply this to something else in your life.

Ahh, the Buffalo Theory…

“Well ya see, Norm, it’s like this… A herd of buffalo can only move as
fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the
slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural
selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and
health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the
weakest members. In much the same way, the human brain can only operate
as fast as the slowest brain cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, as we
know, kills brain cells. But naturally it attacks the slowest and weakest
brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates
the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient
machine. That’s why you always feel smarter after a few beers.”

Well there you have it. Don’t get too crazy out there this weekend, but have some fun. Have a good one!

Photo credit: mandj98

It seems to be the new buzzword in the natural food industry. Bottles are labeled with phrases like, “antioxidant superjuice” and “powerhouse of antioxidants”. Advertisers make it appear that nothing, and I mean nothing, is more important than getting some antioxidants in your system. With such strong claims, it seems that there is a cause for concern; Are you getting enough antioxidants? How can one boost their antioxidant intake? And why are antioxidants important to begin with?What is an antioxidant?Free radicals are a naturally occurring by-product of cellular oxygen use; Free radicals are very reactive molecules that cause oxidative stress within the body by means of an unpaired electron. This solo electron looks to snatch an electron away from other chemicals, thus damaging cells. An antioxidant protects cells from these damaging free radicals. Antioxidants sacrifice an electron to the free radical, slowing, preventing, and sometimes repairing damage caused by free radicals.Why are antioxidants important?Oxidative stress caused by free radicals is linked to nearly all chronic diseases, including heart disease, macular degeneration, diabetes, and various forms of cancer. Free radicals are especially linked to problems associated with aging, such as dulling of the skin and hair. Over time, theoxidative stress builds up and without antioxidants to protect cells, the damage can lead to chronic problems.Where are antioxidants found?Antioxidants are found in fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, whole grains, fish, meats, and spices, as well, as supplements. It seems simple to get enough with a list like this, right? Unfortunately many foods lose their antioxidant richness in process, so stay close to nature. You can’t beat eating the original source!There are numerous foods that are naturally high in antioxidants, some of which are known as superfoods: grapes, pomegranates, tomatoes, berries, dark-leafy greens, flax seed, oatmeal, and walnuts.If you are not the type to eat bowls of raw fruit and veggies all day, there are products out there to help you supplement your antioxidant intake:As mentioned in prior posts, the acai berry of the Amazon rain forest is delicious as a smoothie; Zola Acai and Amazon Acai by ONE are both great options for adding the superfood to your diet. Tahiti Trader’s Noni juice is another high potency nutritional supplement known for its antioxidant kick and detoxifying abilities.If you an looking for antioxidants in a less tropical flavor, products like Kagome or First Blush Grape Juice, might be up your alley. First Blush boosts the antioxidant power of varietal grape juice. Purple grape juice has a higher oxygen radical absorbency capacity than white grape, apple, or orange juice. Kagome is 100% pure blend of vegetable and fruit juices, providing a balance of a wide variety of antioxidants in one serving.How much is enough?The more oxidative stress, the more antioxidants you should take in to protect your cells. There is currently no official minimum daily requirement established, although it is likely to be determined in the near future. Eating a balance diet founded in fruits, veggies, and whole grains should be a solid foundation to protect against the free radicals unleashed during the standard metabolic functioning of the body. In the modern world, additional stress is put on the body in the form of environmental pollutants, such as cigarette smoke, car emissions, mass alcohol consumption, and bacterial, viral, and fungal infections; this leads to the production of more free radicals and causes a need for more antioxidant protection.Taking a supplement, such as grape seed extract or CoQ10, is beneficial for those who live in the city or participate in activities that induce additional oxidative stress.Check out this website that offers you some free acai tester products and a subscription to Fitness magazine.Photo credit: crystalflickr