13 Brain Boosters

1. Eat dark chocolate
The task: dark chocolate to your Add some diet.
The reason: When you eat dark chocolate, you activate the system in your brain that pump out dopamine, an important brain chemical that transmits messages among nerve cells. These systems enable learning and memory and help keep your brain sharp and fit.

2. Visit a Museum.
The task: Go on guided tour of museum or a site of interest. Pay careful attention to what the guide says. When you get home, reconstruct the tour by writing an outline that includes everything you remember.
The reason: Research into brain plasticity (the ability of the brain to change at any age) indicates that memory activities that engages as many levels of brain operation as possible- receiving, remembering, thinking – help improve brain function and prevent its decline.

3. Memorize a song
The Task: Choose a song with lyrics you enjoy but have not memorized. Listen to the song repeatedly until you have written down all lyrics. Sing along. Once you’ve mastered one song, move on to another.
The reason: Developing better listening habits will assist you in understanding and in remembering. Reconstructing a song requires close attentional focus and an active memory. When you focus, you release the neurotransmitter called acetylcholine, a brain chemical that enables plasticity and animates memory.

4. Exercise your peripheral vision.
The Task: Sit in place outside your house, such as park or a café. Stare straight ahead and don’t move your eyes. Concentrate on everything you can see without moving your eyes, including the ones in your peripheral vision. When you have finished, write a list of everything you saw. Then try again and see if you can add to your list.
The reason: Scientist say that acetylcholine, which is crucial to focus and memory, declines with memory loss and is almost absent in Alzheimer’s patients. This activity helps you revitalize the release of acetylcholine in your brain.

5. Do a jigsaw puzzle.
The task: Do challenging jigsaw puzzle with no fewer than 500 pieces.
The reason: Mundane though they may seem, jigsaw puzzles help your brain. Completing one requires fine visual judgment about where pieces belong. It entails mentally “ rotating” the pieces , manipulating them in your hands, and shifting your attention from the small piece to the big picture. Besides, its fun when you find the right pieces.

6. Turn down the TV.
The task: Set your television volume a little lower than your accustomed setting. Observe if, by concentrating, you can follow what you are watching as well as when the volume was higher. As soon as you get used to the lower setting, turn it down another notch.
The reason: Many people raise the volume because their listening has become “detuned”- a little fuzzy. Matching TV volume to a conversational level can help you catch every word when talking with others.

7. Learn to play a musical instrument.
The task: If you ever considered learning to play an instrument or relearning an old one, now is the time!
The reason: Playing an instrument helps you exercise many interrelated operations of brain function, including listening, control of refined movements, and translation of written notes (sight) to music (movement and sound).


8. Eat Fish.
The task: Add fish especially fatty fish like salmon- to your diet.
The reason: studies suggest that a diet rich in fish can sharpen your cognitive processes.

9. Step it up a notch
The task: Find an activity you like doing alone, e.g., completing a crossword puzzle or knitting. See if, by concentrating and giving more effort to the activity, you can do it better or more quickly.
The reason: There is limited value in working at an activity that does not require close attention. Always strive to raise it to a more demanding level to reengage the brain’s learning machinery.

10.Catch some ZZZs
The task: Get a goodnight’s sleep. If you have trouble falling asleep, make sure your bedroom is quite and dark, learn some deep relaxation techniques, and avoid alcohol and other stimulating drinks after 7p.m.
The reason: Our brain consolidates learning and memories during sleep. Studies show that people who don’t sleep enough have more trouble learning new information. Sleeping well after learning something new helps the brain effectively process that information into long-term memory.

11. Have a ball.
The task: practice throwing and catching a ball up in the air. Better yet, take up juggling.
The reason: Mastering sensory guided movements can hone your brain’s visual, tactile, and hand-eye coordination responses, with positive impact on the brain.

12.Take the rocky road.
The task: Take a walk on a cobblestone path.
The reason: Scientist believe that walking on uneven surfaces like cobblestone improves the vestibular system of the inner ear, which plays a central role in balance and equilibrium. The result is better balance- the key to preventing serious falls.

13.Start exercising.
The task: Get on your bicycle, swim regularly, or take up an exercise you enjoy.
The reason: New research indicates that exercise has positive benefits for the hippo-campus, a brain structure important for learning and memory. Exercise can even help your brain create new cells. HT

Why Take Vitamin C?

Vitamin C is a must take notrient to maintain good health and well-being. Man, through the ages, lost the capacity of his body to produce its own Vitamin C. Therefore, man has to get it from food. When life on earth was simple, good sources of Vitamin C was not a problem.
However, as progress came in, changes in the environment, ways of farming, food processing and cooking,made amount of Vitamin C in food very low if not zero. These situations require us now to take Vitamin C in the form of supplements.
Due to our presents lifestyle, there is a big gap between what our body needs and the amount it is getting in terms of Vitamin C. This result in the development of more chronic degenerative diseases even among the young. People, in order to attend to these health concerns, are now moving away from drug based therapies and more towards natural remedies.

Dining Out the healthy Way

Dining Out the healthy way

Healthy dining out-Yes, its possible if you make careful choices!!!!!!!

Instead of home-cooked family meals, more and more people are eating outside their home nowadays This trend continues to increase as a factor that makes an impact on one’s health. In America, statistics show that the average household spends 40 percent of its money eating away from home.

According to researchers at the University of Minnesota Medical School, families whose meals frequently consist of fast foods are more likely to have unhealthy eating habits, poor access to healthy foods at home and a higher risk of obesity.

Eating out is an important part of daily life in the busy schedule of employees, students, and working parents. However, it is hard to control cholesterol, fat, sodium, sugar and calorie intake when eating out because somebody else is preparing your food. Yet, the choice is still yours. As a customer, you have the control of what you eat. With the following tips, you can dine out the healthy way.

Choose restaurant with healthy food choices
Have your gravy, sauces, and dressing on the side or on a separate serving dish instead of spreading on top. This way, you have control over how much or how little you add.
When ordering pasta dishes, choose tomato-based sauces rather than cream-based ones which are higher in fat and calories. In addition, the tomato sauce can count as a vegetable!
“Eat-all-you-can” restaurants entice you to overeat. Stop eating when you are full. Listen to body cues to stop. If you choose buffet dining, opt for fresh fruits, salads with low-fat dressing, broiled entrees, and steamed vegetables.
Order vegetable pizzas. Vegetable are low in calories and fat and rich in phytochemicals.
Pay attention to the descriptions on the menu. Choose the lower calorie, low-fat cooking methods- steamed, broiled, boiled, garden fresh, grilled, baked, poached, blanched, and roasted.
Be aware of foods with added calories and fat because of their cooking methods-buttered, creamed, fried, crispy, tempura, marinated (in oil), and breaded.
Choose foods made from whole grains. Example include whole wheat bread and brown rice.
Don’t hesitate to make special requests. Most foods on most menus will probably fit into a healthy diet if prepared with low-fat and less salt ingredients. Ask if the cook can alter preparations to meet your needs.

by: Mirriam R. Estrada,RND,MPH

What's in a nutshell?

In a nutshell

Hold the nut! Nuts are among the most common causes of allergies, and eating nuts during pregnancy may increase the risk of your baby later developing asthma. A dutch study recorded how frequently 4,146 pregnant women ate a variety of foods in the last month of their pregnancy. Later, 2,832 of their children were observed closely for eighty years. The study showed that children of women who said they ate nuts almost daily were 42 percent more likely to have wheezing, 58 percent more likely to have breathing difficulties, 47 percent more likely to have symptoms of asthma, and 62 percent more likely to use steroid inhalers. However, more studies need to be undertaken before dietary modification in pregnancy are prescribed for those with strong family history of respiratory allergies.

Healthy Eating

Healthy Eating

For healthy eating that’s easy and enjoyable, follow these tips:

Choose variety- A key to healthy eating is to source a variety of foods from a wide range of food groups.
Eat more cereals, bread, legumes, fruits and vegetables. These foods should make up the bulk of each meal you take. For snack, choose fresh fruits and unsalted nuts.
Select healthy fats, such as olive, sunflower, canola, and peanut oils. Choose margarine, not butter. Opt for low-fat milk and yogurt or soy products with calcium added. Eat fish at least twice a week and pick lean meats when you’re shopping.
Go slow on salt and Alcohol. Stick to two or fewer drinks of alcohol a day. Avoid eating a lot of salty foods, such as commercial sauces, snack foods , cured meats, and fast foods.
Stay within a healthy weight. Don’t go for crash diets. Balance your level of regular activity with healthy eating instead.

How Remove Toxins To Our Body

Herbal Antioxidants

“Free radicals” are dangerous substances, chemical compounds, and toxins found within the body. Herbal antioxidants help rid the body of these toxins and help people live healthier lives.

The body uses oxygen and nutrients to make energy. Oxygen also helps the immune system fight disease and harmful substances. Oxidation is a process that uses byproducts formed from oxygen fighting disease to create molecular agents that react with body tissues. Unfortunately, this process can form “free radicals” that cause cell damage. Antioxidants help reduce the number of free radicals that form in the body, lower the energy levels of existing free radicals, and stop oxidation chain reactions to lower the amount of damage caused by free radicals.
Free radicals are believed to be one of the causes of over sixty health problems, according to various scientific and medical groups. These problems include cancer, aging, and atherosclerosis. By increasing antioxidant intake and reducing exposure to free radicals can help lower health risks and problems.
Antioxidant enzymes are also produced by our bodies and include catalase, superoxide dismutase, and glutathione perixidase. These enzymes also fight against free radicals. The enzymes are available in supplemental forms, but it is believed that taking the building blocks of the enzymes in supplemental form is more effective. Zinc, selenium, copper, and manganese are some of the building blocks.
Minerals and vitamins are also often antioxidants. Vitamins including lutein, cysteine, beta-carotene, vitamin B2, vitamin C, vitamin E, and coenzyme Q10 and herbs such as bilburry, aloe vera, green tea, turmeric, ginkgo, grape seed or pine bark extracts, milk thistle, and cascara sagrada also help protect the body from health problems caused by oxidants. Many fruits also contain antioxidants like mangosteen.
The best way to fight against free radicals is to intake a variety of antioxidant minerals, enzymes, herbs, and vitamins

Healthy Diet

Strategies for a healthy diet

Here are some tips for how to choose foods that improve your health and avoid foods that raise your risk for illnesses while creating a diet plan that works for you.
Big picture strategies for healthy eating
Eat enough calories but not too many. Maintain a balance between your calorie intake and calorie expenditure—that is, don't eat more food than your body uses. The average recommended daily allowance is 2,000 calories, but this depends on your age, sex, height, weight, and physical activity.
Eat a wide variety of foods. Healthy eating is an opportunity to expand your range of choices by trying foods—especially vegetables, whole grains, or fruits—that you don't normally eat.
Keep portions moderate, especially high-calorie foods. In recent years serving sizes have ballooned, particularly in restaurants. Choose a starter instead of an entrée, split a dish with a friend, and don’t order supersized anything.
Eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes—foods high in complex carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins, and minerals, low in fat, and free of cholesterol. Try to get fresh, local produce
Limit sugary foods, salt, and refined-grain products. Sugar is added to a vast array of foods. In a year, just one daily 12-ounce can of soda (160 calories) can increase your weight by 16 pounds. See suggestions below for limiting salt and substituting whole grains for refined grains.
Don’t be the food police. You can enjoy your favorite sweets and fried foods in moderation, as long as they are an occasional part of your overall healthy diet. Food is a great source of pleasure, and pleasure is good for the heart – even if those French fries aren’t!
Get moving. A healthy diet improves your energy and feelings of well-being while reducing your risk of many diseases. Adding regular physical activity and exercise will make any healthy eating plan work even better.
One step at a time. Establishing new food habits is much easier if you focus on and take action on one food group or food fact at a time