Easy Habits to Keep You Healthy

Swap for raw:

Now you don’t even need to cook it! The golden rule here is if it’s raw, it’s better for you (no, this does not extend to meats). Out with greasy and sugary snacks and in with the fruit and vege, make sure you’re getting your 5+ a day by grazing on the right stuff. It’s also a good idea to include a side salad with your meals to sneak those veges in and indulge in favorite fruits like yummy berries for desert!

Eat when you’re hungry, not when it’s ‘time’:

Your mum wasn't actually right when she made you sit at the table until you finished your meal. While we have a strong convention surrounding the breakfast, lunch and dinner meal times, there’s no point actually eating then if you’re not hungry. You’re body will let you know when you need food so learn to listen to it rather than stockpiling on extra calories you don’t need. Same rule applies when eating a meal; don’t feel like you have to finish everything on your plate if you're full!

Get a walk in

It’s important to get moving at least a little bit everyday. Even if you’re stuck in a desk job, there are some sneaky little ways you can get your walk on. If you struggle to get out of bed in time for a morning stroll or feel too tired when you get off work, then use up every other opportunity you can during the day. This could mean getting off the bus a couple of stops early, not catching the bus at all, parking a bit further away or doing the old trusty stairs-over-lifts trick.

Watch what you drink

We’re not telling you not to indulge every now and again, but stick to the tried-and-true water option as much as you can.

This means that in between drinks at the bar, grab a water (this is also a bit of a cash saver), when you go to get your daily coke, grab a nice cool water instead and so on. On a different note, a nice cup of green tea will do you a lot better than a coffee and a glass of red will be kinder on you than a white wine.

Relationship Healthy

Sometimes it feels impossible to find someone who is right for you and who thinks you're right for him or her! So you want to maintain this feeling well. But it is hard to do because of different personalities, background and habits. If you want to keep your love everlasting, the following tips may help.

Always accept the unexpected. That is a great secret to everlasting love. To enjoy your love life, you should give thanks every moment and learn to appreciate the small problems we experience. Do not always expect the best from your beloved. And keep a right attitude towards the unexpected happenings. To experience how it feels to have everlasting love, you need create time for each other as lovers.

Giving the required space for each other is another factor that plays a decisive role in maintaining healthy love relationship. Previously in a relationship between the opposite sexes the man invariable emerged stronger, taking the role of a decisive force.

Mutual respect is essential in your love life. Respect in a relationship means that each person values and understands the other. Never challenge the other persons' boundaries.

The norms of any relationship demand understanding and consideration. But love relationship demands a lot more than togetherness as it also implies sharing of responsibilities and decisions. While you are into a love relationship you can really claim enough authority on each other' life and decision, but bear in mind that show your understanding and consideration. Try to give advices on the standpoint of the other.

In a healthy love relationship, everyone needs to make compromises, which doesn't mean you must lose out on being yourself. When you started going out, you both had your own lives and that should not change. And you also should feel free to keep developing new talents or interests, making new friends, and moving forward.

Good communication plays a very important role in keep a healthy love relationship. Never keep a feeling bottled up because you're afraid it's not what your boyfriend or girlfriend wants to hear or because you worry about sounding silly. And if you need some time to think something through before you're ready to talk about it, the right person will give you some space to do that if you ask for it.

Biking, walking to work

We've heard it all before: the keys to staying healthy are a good diet and plenty of exercise. But just when are we supposed to make time for physical fitness in our busy lives?

Walk to work. Or bike. People who ride a bike or walk to work are more fit, less fat and have healthier triglyceride levels, blood pressure and insulin levels, according to a new study in this week's issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill studied about 2,300 men and women between 2005 and 2006 and recorded the length of their commute, how they got there and assessed their fitness levels with a treadmill test.

Both men and women who biked or walked performed better on fitness tests but men tended to have even healthier body mass index numbers, and better blood pressure and insulin levels. Researchers weren't sure why women didn't reap all the same benefits as men, but said perhaps women did not exercise as intensely or commuted shorter distances.

Even people with the most hectic of schedules can benefit from just 60 minutes of brisk walking a day, researchers concluded.

Still, for all its supposed benefits, few Americans bother to bike or walk to work -- just 17 percent, the study found. With many cities lacking proper bike lanes and so many people living in far flung suburbs, it's no wonder. The researchers hope the study leads to policies that make neighborhoods safer for biking.

The authors call it "active commuting," but to me it may as well be called the Dutch model. I took a trip to Amsterdam this spring and was amazed at the sheer number of people going about their daily activities on two wheels -- commuting, grocery shopping, in rain or shine. There, biking is ingrained into the culture. Any signs of that happening here? Do you walk or bike to work?

5 Reasons to Have Sex Today!

1. Sex boosts your immune system. “Honey, I have a headache,” may now be the best reason to have sex! A startling number of physicians are now recognizing how sexual and emotional health affect our entire well being. In other words, how our brain directly impacts our immune system. “We know that people who enjoy a regular, satisfying sex life (i.e. regular orgasms) are less stressed, less depressed and generally more well physically, mentally and emotionally,” says Wendy Strgar, loveologist and CEO of Good Clean Love. In a recent article, Dr. Paul Pearsall, director of Behavioral Medicine at Detroit’s Beaumont Hospital, concludes that many of his patients had experienced sexual dissatisfaction prior to a heart attack. He also claims that sexual contentment leads to less severe headaches and reduced discomfort from arthritis in both genders.

2. Sex burns calories. Oh yeah, forget those fad diets and get busy gettin’ busy. A mere 30-minutes of sex burns 90 calories and while that may not sound impressive, at an average of three times a week, you’re burning 5 pounds in a year! Or, according to Forbes magazine, having sex just twice a week for a year will burn off the equivalent of seven huge spaghetti dinners. Seconds, anyone?

3. Sex relieves pain. Orgasm is one serious narcotic! Oxytocin, a naturally occurring chemical in the body surges during and after climax while working in conjunction with a few other endorphins to make sure you feel no pain. In his book, How to Treat Arthritis, rheumatologist Carter V. Multz asserts that sex can reduce pain, swelling, and inflammation associated with arthritis, headaches and menstrual cramps.

4. Sex decreases aging. “Use it or lose it” has never been more applicable. Regular sex releases a plethora of “happy” chemicals into your bloodstream, including testosterone. As we age, our testosterone levels decrease. Sex is a wonderful way to build your reserves back up, helping build new bones and muscles while putting a youthful glow on your face. According to a study by Dr. David Weeks, a clinical neuropsychologist at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital in Scotland and co-author of Superyoung, men and women who reported having sex an average of four times per week looked approximately 10 years younger than they really were.

5. Sex is great for depression. “The release from orgasm does much to calm people. It helps with sleep, and that is whether we talk about solo sex or sex with a partner,” says Jennifer Bass, the head of information services at the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction in Bloomington, Ind., in a recent MSNBC article. Researchers believe that sex helps the brain produce serotonin which, in turn, prompts new neurons to grow. Most chemical, antidepressant medications, like Zoloft, work to increase serotonin levels. These drugs take three to four weeks to begin working–about the same amount of time required for new neurons to form. One reason these drugs could be an effective treatment is because they increase cell growth–just as sex does.

Healthy & Green Living

What would Valentine’s Day be without an opportunity to mention the three-letter word that gets everyone so riled up? Yes, you guessed it–I’m talking about at a little S-E-X. So, let’s chat, shall we? Beyond being just one-heck-of-good-time, medical studies report that an active sex life contributes to a longer and more fulfilling life. So come on, everybody’s doing it (or at least the lucky ones), and here are five reasons for you to join in:

Getting Connected

There is an actual, physical chunk of brain that runs your emotions called the limbic brain. You can trace its development back a hundred million years. You can see it on an MRI. Every second you spend with other people, your limbic brain is tuning in to them, being changed by their moods, and changing theirs in turn. It's a constant, life-affirming limbic dance.

Experimental psychologists have known for decades that we share moods. If you don't believe me, just think of the people who make you feel better simply by walking into a room. These sorts of interactions feel so good (directly and unconsciously) that we would wither away without them. This is why you should never underrate the emotional side of your life.

Women are better than men at keeping the limbic dance going by working to ensure that families stay connected as the years go by and by building lasting friendships and deep connections from the many different aspects of their lives. High school and college friends, friends from work, friends from raising children together, from neighborhood committees, from shared vacations -- sure, some of these bonds and friendships fall away as part of the natural cycle of growing and changing, but most women find new friendships to replace them. Women who don't find close friendships, who have trouble keeping up connections, need to make an effort to change those patterns.

Hundreds of research studies confirm that isolation hurts us and connection heals us through the same physical mechanisms as exercise and healthy diet. Blood vessels are measurably more elastic, the heart's ability to respond to extraordinary demands is higher, cardiac inflammatory protein levels are lower, and blood pressure response to exercise is better in more connected people. Their stress-hormone blood profiles are also measurably healthier than those of isolated peopl

Reasons to Have Sex Today!

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