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14 Secrets of the Reishi Mushroom
Welcome to flu season! As your coworkers cough and sniffle through work despite their misery, you are left to ponder the real question at stake: when are YOU going to get sick? It’s time for you to bow out of flu season altogether. To that end, I humbly introduce to you the reishi mushroom, also known as the best anti-flu medicine you’ve never heard of. What is Reishi Mushroom Reishi mushrooms are tough, woody fungi whose medicinal use originates in ancient China. You may have also heard them called Lingzhi, which is an older word that combines a Chinese term that means “miraculous,” “divine,” “spirit,” and “effectiveness” (ling) with a…
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5 Easy Ways to Loose Belly Fat Fast
Fat is one of those things that everyone knows about, but which nobody really knows how to explain. How to loose belly fat fast? On a person, it’s that flubby stuff hanging off of your waist that you can grab with your hands. In cooking, it’s an important part of making food tasty, or even edible. Think butter or olive oil. But the bottom line on fat comes from chemistry: fat is a kind of molecule that’s slippery, has a low melting point, and is actually quite important for your health. It’s true! Everyone knows that too much fat in your diet can lead to high cholesterol and triglyceride levels in…
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Low Calorie Foods
You’ve heard about calories. Every package in the grocery store lists them on the back of the package. All the ads you hear about food dwell on their low-calorie appeal. Calories are bad…right? Actually, the skinny on calories is a lot more complicated than that! It’s true that excess calories can be awful for your body. But without calories, you couldn’t enjoy daily life, go to work, or do much of anything! Most of all, understanding calories gives you a powerful tool in your nutrition and health maintenance toolbox. Read on. Low Calorie Foods Technically, any food can be “low calorie.” You just have to eat it in…
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Meal Prep
How can you win the fitness battle without firing a shot? Meal prep will allow you to have fun while implementing a new habit. Meal planning is one of the simplest, most effective steps you can take to gain control of your health. What’s meal planning? Why, planning what you’ll eat, of course! If you know what every meal will be, you can prepare in advance instead of scrambling during the week. It’s fun, easy, and good for your body! Meal Prep Breakfast Sandwiches Skipping breakfast isn’t great for your health. Weirdly, it’s been associated with higher rates of obesity among kids and adults! Kids who don’t eat…
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What the DASH Diet – Does Not Do
Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. A.K.A, the “DASH” diet. What the DASH diet doesn’t do? – this is not a weight loss diet (such as the Keto diet). However, the 2018 U.S News and World Reports “Best Diets Rankings” placed the DASH Diet as #1 out of 40 other diets evaluated by a panel of experts. Some major factors in the rankings are – long and short term weight loss, easy to follow, and overall health benefits. Director Kathy McManus – Department of Nutrition at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital states; “it has all the attributes of a diet that promotes overall health” What do you eat on the…
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Running Tips for Beginners
Running is extremely good for you. That’s not my opinion as the writer of a health blog…that’s science! Jogging just ten minutes a day can reduce your likelihood of dying from a heart attack. Obviously, running helps you lose weight, too. You’ll breathe better and enjoy lower cholesterol and triglycerides if you run regularly. Still not convinced? How about the fact that running is also an effective treatment for depression? If you can’t imagine yourself running, then it’s time to expand your mind. Humans are superb runners. Our long legs give us an efficient stride. We can run long distances without overheating. And no matter what shape you’re in, your…
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Pescetarian
There’s some pretty good research out there to support vegetarianism. Vegetarians are 25% less likely to die of heart disease, for example. Now the news about being Pescetarian. There are some risks associated with full vegetarianism. It can be hard to get enough protein on a strict vegetarian diet. It can also be hard to eat out. Some people are attached enough to meat that just giving it up can seem too difficult. That’s why some vegetarians opt to make an exception for fish. This practice is called pescetarianism. Pescetarianism Pescetarianism is the practice of eating fish in addition to a vegetarian diet. In other words, if you’re…
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What Happens When You Quit Sugar
It’s no secret that sugar is bad for you. Studies show that too much of the sweet stuff causes diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and kidney disease. This isn’t a small problem! The average person should only have a few teaspoons of sugar per day. Women should stick to 25 grams, or six teaspoons, and men can only have up to 38 grams, or nine teaspoons. However, the average American consumes 82 grams (19.5 teaspoons) of sugar per day! With sugar abuse being such a problem, it’s not unreasonable to suggest a drastic solution: giving up sugar completely. It’s not as hard as it sounds! No Sugar Diet It’s…
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Vitamin D Deficiency
You’ve probably heard of vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D is famous for being a nutrient you can get from the sun, making it a great excuse to go to the beach! You can get it from some foods, too, including egg yolks and fish. If you have enough, your bones will be healthy and strong. But in this age of office work, obesity, and prepackaged food, it’s easy to develop a deficiency. What happens when you don’t get enough vitamin D? And how can you avoid developing a vitamin D deficiency? Vitamin D Deficiency Let’s start with the basics. Vitamin D is a fat-soluble steroid.…
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GABA
If you’ve been reading my blog, then you know that there are a lot of different factors that feed into good health. Your physical condition is the most obvious one, mostly because you can see how you’re doing by looking in a mirror! One of the big players in mental health is a chemical called GABA. If your brain is making this substance normally, then you’ll be able to relax, sleep, and move normally. But if your GABA levels are low, you may find yourself feeling tense, unable to rest, and achy. It’s easy to eat right and exercise and that’s all that most people think about. But your health goes…