Black Women: Health & Fitness

Keys to Happiness--5 Things You Can Do

Here are five things that research has shown can improve happiness:

1. Be grateful - Some study participants were asked to write letters of gratitude to people who had helped them in some way. The study found that these people reported a lasting increase in happiness - over weeks and even months - after implementing the habit. What's even more surprising: Sending the letter is not necessary. Even when people wrote letters but never delivered them to the addressee, they still reported feeling better afterwards.

2. Be optimistic - Another practice that seems to help is optimistic thinking. Study participants were asked to visualize an ideal future - for example, living with a loving and supportive partner, or finding a job that was fulfilling - and describe the image in a journal entry. After doing this for a few weeks, these people too reported increased feelings of well-being.

3. Count your blessings - People who practice writing down three good things that have happened to them every week show significant boosts in happiness, studies have found. It seems the act of focusing on the positive helps people remember reasons to be glad.

4. Use your strengths - Another study asked people to identify their greatest strengths, and then to try to use these strengths in new ways. For example, someone who says they have a good sense of humor could try telling jokes to lighten up business meetings or cheer up sad friends. This habit, too, seems to heighten happiness.

5. Commit acts of kindness - It turns out helping others also helps ourselves. People who donate time or money to charity, or who altruistically assist people in need, report improvements in their own happiness.

Lyubomirsky has also created an iPhone application, called Live Happy, to help people boost their well-being.

Read the rest of this article here:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20100222/sc_livescience/5thingsthatwillmakeyouhappier

Study shows Mediterranean diet cuts depression risk

THANK YOU! KR for this important article.  I think that we really need to put much more attention on the diets of black women. In this case, I mean the usual eating patterns, content, or types of food that AA women usually eat.  This Mediterranean diet is really just a commonsense diet. We can control so much about our health and mental states with diet and enough exercise. So this is valuable information.

Study shows Mediterranean diet cuts depression risk

Tue Oct 6, 2009 1:46am IST
 
LONDON (Reuters) - People who follow a Mediterranean-style diet rich in vegetables, fruits, nuts, whole grains and fish are less likely to become depressed, scientists said on Monday, but the reasons are unclear.
 
Spanish researchers studied 11,000 people and found that those who followed the Mediterranean diet most closely had a more than 30 percent reduction in the risk of depression than those whose diet had few of the crucial Mediterranean elements.
"The specific mechanisms by which a better adherence to the Mediterranean dietary pattern could help to prevent the occurrence of depression are not well known," said Almudena Sanchez-Villegas and colleagues at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and the University of Navarra, Spain.
 
But the researchers suggested that elements of the diet may improve blood vessel function, fight inflammation and repair oxygen-related cell damage -- all of which could reduce the chances of developing depression.
 
The study, published in the Archives of General Psychiatry journal, adds to an existing body of evidence showing the health benefits of a Mediterranean diet, including reduced risks of health disease, diabetes, asthma and cancer.
 
The study used data from Spanish people who reported their dietary intake on a food frequency questionnaire.
 
The researchers worked out how close their eating habits were to the Mediterranean diet based on nine components: A high ratio of monounsaturated fatty acids to saturated fatty acids; moderate intake of alcohol and dairy foods; low intake of meat; and high intake of legumes, fruit and nuts, cereals, vegetables and fish.
 
"Individuals who followed the Mediterranean diet most closely had a greater than 30 percent reduction in the risk of depression than whose who had the lowest Mediterranean diet scores," they wrote.
 
(Reporting by Kate Kelland)

The Healthiest Foods are Unprocessed Foods

Thanks, KR for this article.  Bw must continue to strive to eat healthy.  Yeah, sometimes we all take a dive into trashy, unhealthy foods.  I definitely do sometimes. It's not an always or nothing situation.  I believe that as long as we eat as healthy as possible at least the overwhelming most of the time, it's okay to "fall off the wagon."

 We then have to climb out of the trash and get back on track to eating healthy.

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The Healthiest Foods On Earth
Jonny Bowden, 07.07.09, 04:00 PM EDT

The most important consideration in constructing a healthy diet: Eat whole food with minimal processing. These 12 foods do the trick.

In Depth: The Healthiest Foods On Earth

What is the best diet for human beings?
Vegetarian? Vegan? High-protein? Low-fat? Dairy-Free?

Hold on to your shopping carts: There is no perfect diet for human beings. At least not one that's based on how much protein, fat or carbohydrates you eat.

People have lived and thrived on high-protein, high-fat diets (the Inuit of Greenland); on low-protein, high-carb diets (the indigenous peoples of southern Africa); on diets high in raw milk and cream (the people of the Loetschental Valley in Switzerland); diets high in saturated fat (the Trobriand Islanders) and even on diets in which animal blood is considered a staple (the Massai of Kenya and Tanzania). And folks have thrived on these diets without the ravages of degenerative diseases that are so epidemic in modern life--heart disease, diabetes, obesity, neurodegenerative diseases, osteoporosis and cancer.

In Depth: The Healthiest Foods On Earth

The only thing these diets have in common is that they're all based on whole foods with minimum processing. Nuts, berries, beans, raw milk, grass-fed meat. Whole, real, unprocessed food is almost always healthy, regardless of how many grams of carbs, protein or fat it contains.

All these healthy diets have in common the fact that they are absent foods with bar codes. They are also extremely low in sugar. In fact, the number of modern or ancient societies known for health and longevity that have consumed a diet high in sugar would be ... let's see ... zero.

Truth be told, what you eat probably matters less than how much processing it's undergone. Real food--whole food with minimal processing--contains a virtual pharmacy of nutrients, phytochemicals, enzymes, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, anti-inflammatories and healthful fats, and can easily keep you alive and thriving into your 10th decade.

Berries, for example, are phenomenally low in calories, high in fiber and loaded with plant compounds that improve memory and help fight cancer. Studies have consistently shown that nut-eaters have lower rates of heart disease. Beans are notorious for their high fiber content and are a part of the diet of people--from almost every corner of the globe--who live long and well.

Protein--the word comes from a Greek word meaning "of prime importance"--is a feature of every healthy diet ever studied. Meat , contrary to its terrible reputation, can be a health food if--and this is a big if--the meat comes from animals that have been raised on pasture land, have never seen the inside of a feedlot farm and have never been shot full of antibiotics and hormones.

 

Ditto for raw milk, generally believed to be one of the healthiest beverages on the planet by countless devotees who often go to great expense and inconvenience to obtain it from small, sustainable farms. Wild salmon, whose omega-3 content is consistently higher than its less-fortunate farm-raised brethren, gets its red color from a powerful antioxidant called astaxathin. The combination of protein, omega-3s and antioxidants makes wild salmon a contender for anyone's list of great foods.

Another great food: eggs--one of nature's most perfect creations, especially if you don't throw out the all-important yolk. (Remember "whole" foods means exactly that--foods in their original form. Our robust ancestors did not eat "low-fat" caribou; we don't need to eat "egg-white" omelets.)

There are really no "bad" vegetables, but some of them are superstars. Any vegetable from the Brassica genus--broccoli, cabbage, brussels sprouts, kale--is loaded with plant chemicals called indoles, which help reduce the risk of cancer.

In the fruit kingdom, apples totally deserve their reputation as doctor-repellants: they're loaded with fiber, minerals (like bone-building boron) and phytochemicals (like quercetin, which is known to be a powerful anti-inflammatory and to have anti-cancer properties). Some exciting new research suggests that pomegranate juice slows the progression of certain cancers. Other research shows it lowers blood pressure and may even act as a "natural Viagra."

Tea deserves special mention on any list of the world's healthiest foods. The second most widely consumed beverage in the world (after water), all forms of tea (black, oolong, white, green and the newer Yerba Matte) are loaded with antioxidants and anti-inflammatories. Some types (green tea, for example) contain plant chemicals called catechins which have decided anti-cancer activity

Finally, let's not forget members of the Alliaceae family of plants--onions, garlic and shallots. Garlic has been used for thousands of years for its medicinal properties; hundreds of published studies support its antimicrobial effects as well as its ability to lower the risk of heart disease. A number of studies have shown an inverse relationship between onion consumption and certain types of cancer.

A healthy diet doesn't have to contain every one of the "healthiest foods on earth," but you can't go wrong putting as many of the above mentioned foods in heavy rotation on your personal eating plan.

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Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., CNS, is a board-certified nutritionist and the author of seven books on health and nutrition, including The 150 Most Effective Ways to Boost Your Energy and The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth.

In Depth: The Healthiest Foods On Earth

http://www.forbes.com/2009/07/07/healthiest-foods-nutrition-lifestyle-health-healthiest-foods.html?partner=popstories

Obesity Stats

State-by-state obesity statistics in US show blacks have the largest waistlines
Provided by: Canadian Press
Written by: Mike Stobbe, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jul. 16, 2009

ATLANTA - Nearly 36 per cent of black Americans are obese - much more than other major racial or ethnic groups - and that gap exists in most states, a new federal study finds.

About 29 per cent of Hispanics and 24 per cent of whites are obese, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.

Racial differences in obesity rates have been reported before, and health officials were not surprised to see larger proportions of blacks tipping the scales.

But the new CDC report is the first to look at the gap on a state-by-state level, finding blacks had much higher obesity rates in 21 states, and had rates about as high or higher than other groups in an additional two dozen more states.

Health officials believe there are several reasons for the differences. People with lower incomes often have less access to medical care, exercise facilities and more expensive, healthier food. In many places, minorities are disproportionately poor.

But attitudes about weight also are believed to be a factor, said Dr. Liping Pan, a CDC epidemiologist.

"Black and Hispanics are more accepting of high weight," she said, adding that heavy people who are satisfied with their size are not likely to diet or exercise.

Obesity is based on the body mass index, a calculation using height and weight. A 5-foot, 9-inch (1.75-meter) adult who weighs 203 pounds (92 kilograms) would have a BMI of 30, which is considered the threshold for obesity.

The data comes from national telephone surveys of hundreds of thousands of Americans in the years 2006 through 2008.

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On the Net:

CDC: http://www.cdc.gov

Inline Skating--Great Workout

Inline skating is a GREAT fitness workout!  It's so much fun and ladies, you can wear such cute outfits. LOL!  I love doing it and the calories burn off at a fast rate!!  Article re Inline skating  If you decide to do it, just be sure to wear protective gear!!     

 Take it from me, the couple in this pic are experienced skaters. I'm pretty good at this, but I always wore the helmet, knee pads, elbow pads, and most important: WRIST GUARDS when I first started skating. Wrist injuries are the most common injury and the most devastating because you can break your wrists, hand(s) and fingers! This is because you will instinctively put your hands out to break your fall, if you fall.  Sometimes now, I don't wear any protective gear except for the wrist guards, depending on whether it's hot or whether I want to be bothered with the other gear.  But you won't catch me out there without the wrist guards. THANKS Nikki and Lorraine for this article!

Decide: Lower your Cholesterol

This section is for black women who have **DECIDED** to eat healthier and improve their fitness.  What does "making a decision mean?"  When you really "decide" something, that means that your thoughts and actions--the vast majority of the time--are going to be in line with the decision you've made.

So if you've made this decision, you're the type of woman who knows you can become healthier and fitter if you make wiser decisions about eating and about how much physical activity you make sure to include in your life--starting TODAY!  And most importantly, you're determined to put this knowledge to work for you MOST of the time.

I've talked a lot throughout the Ezine for the last 2 years about how your decisions from moment to moment **determine** the quality of your life. So you are in charge of MOST of your life. You, as a human being, have been given the ability to make decisions.  Doesn't it give you a great feeling to know that?  It does for me because it makes me feel more powerful, more energized, more focused, and more determined.  Knowing this tells you that you can PLAN how much physical activity you will make sure to include in your day. You must have a plan. When you get ready to eat, you can DECIDE what you're going to eat.  You can DECIDE what you put into your mouth. Don't just let the day "happen" to you. Don't just let eating "happen" to you.  YOU are in charge.

Keep that in mind as you read this article with informative tips re choices you can make to lower your  LDL cholesterol.

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Both Western and Chinese medicine alike recognize the importance of diet when battling high cholesterol, and eating improper foods can trigger the digestive system to build up the amount of low-density lipoproteins (LDL) - which are also known as bad cholesterol - in the blood. This can then lead to life-threatening illnesses such as heart attacks, strokes, and, of course, clogged and hardened arteries.

Cholesterol, however, is a tricky condition. A person with high amounts of LDL cholesterol in their blood may have inherited the condition from a genetic predisposition, and it may not seem like changing the diet can't in any way help. Happily for your health, this isn't true, and I have had tremendous success treating patients with very high cholesterol that simply needed a change to their diet and lifestyle to improve their health. Keep in mind that this change in diet does not have to be an all-or-nothing overhaul of deprivation and starvation. If you have high cholesterol, start simple!

Try incorporating the following five foods into your diet. High in fiber and low in cholesterol, they will not only help to lower your LDL cholesterol levels, but also benefit your body's health in general.

1. Apples: A study was conducted in Finland to determine whether or not eating apples can lower cholesterol. The results of this study determined that eating three apples a day for three months can help you drop your cholesterol level by twenty points. This is a result of apple's high amount of pectin, which is a source of dietary fiber that will draw LDL out of your system. Also, quercetin, an antioxidant, helps to inhibit the amount of LDL in the bloodstream. As autumn is a time for apples, be sure to take advantage of all of the tasty varieties that the season offers.

2. Spinach: Spinach, along with other green leafy vegetables, contains a carotenoid known as lutein. Lutein has been associated with the prevented buildup of cholesterol in the blood. With a little help from one or two helpings of fresh spinach, you'll be on your way to low cholesterol levels in no time!

3. Oats: There are few things as satisfying as a warm bowl of oatmeal in the morning. Whole grain oats, like whole wheat, are a high-fiber grain. While whole wheat is helpful in lowering cholesterol, oats contain more soluble fiber and therefore are more likely to reduce the levels of LDL cholesterol in your system. When eating foods containing oats, however, be sure to always eat whole grain oats, because the oats found in processed foods like granola bars often don't contain soluble fiber.

4. Homemade orange marmalade: Who would guess that this delicious fruity spread would also be good for lowering LDL cholesterol? Orange marmalade includes orange rind - which contains compounds known as polymethoxylated flavones (PMFs). PMFs are found in the pigment of orange peel and are responsible for cholesterol-lowering actions, yet don't reduce the level of good cholesterol. You can use orange rind in your cooking, as well.

5. Green tea: Green tea is beneficial for many conditions and ailments, and high levels of LDL cholesterol is no exception. Drink one cup of green tea daily and you may find that your high LDL cholesterol levels will say their final farewell.

Lowering your cholesterol starts with the foods you eat - and the foods you choose not to eat. Be sure to eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Eating the right foods can help you on the way to a long, healthy life. As always, talk to your physician before beginning a new health regime.