Sipping News

Water intake used to be aquick and easy 8 glasses a day. But in reality, the required daily hydration depends on several things like intensity of physical activity, body weight, and overall body health, temperature and humidity. It is recommended to drink 1/2 to 3/4 cup every 15-20 minutes of moderate exercise. But drinking water is important pre-andpost-exercise too. A good rule of thumb is that water be at least one-half of all the fluids you have in a day.

Are You Chicken?

High blood pressure has reason to fear the traditional chicken soup. If you sip broth made of collagen-rich chicken feet and bones, you could have lower BP after two hours. After six hours, it could drop as much as 50 mmHg.

Natural Born Killers

Another reason to go green: Avocados may wipe out oral cancer.

Researchers applied an avocado extract to both normal and precancerous oral cells. The extract caused the precancerous cells to die but didn't harm the normal ones. Phytonutrients- the compunds that give fruits and veggies their color-may be responsible. For a sandwich spread that offers cancer-crushing benefits without blowing your diet: Mash half an avocado with low-fat cream cheese.

Dressing For Success

A spoonful of oil could make the scale go down. Adding about one tablespoon of safflower oil to your diet per day may shrink your belly and increase lean muscle mass. The high linoleic-acid content may encourage the body to store less fat.

How do you cope with cravings and urges?

The keys to coping with cravings and urges are time delay and distraction. One simple strategy is simply to postpone the decision. We recommend that people do something else first and make the decision about the food they crave afterward — and to keep doing that as often as they need to until the craving passes. It sounds straightforward, and it is, but sometimes it's hard to sustain the effort needed in the face of a craving. It's not about trying to make the perfect decision in the moment — it's about making the next decision. For example, if I tell someone to meditate instead of eating pizza, the pizza is going to win. But if I tell that person to do a three-minute deep-breathing exercise first and then make the decision about the pizza, he or she can probably do that. It's a matter of fighting one battle at a time. Who knows — after the relaxation exercise, the craving may have passed. If not, the person can do one more thing before reaching for the pizza.

Delay can come in many forms, including going for a walk, listening to music, taking a bath, and talking on the phone with a friend. Too often, people want an easy answer to the problem of cravings and urges. But the solution is to follow the whole healthy eating program, which reduces the likelihood of having those cravings in the first place. Keep in mind that a "whole" program includes eating well-spaced meals, managing stress, and developing coping strategies. It all comes together and chips away at the cravings, day by day.

source: everydayhealth.com

Is Food Diary Effective?

Well, it is up to you actually. If you would like to keep a food diary to keep track your calorie intake and if you believe you can religiously write down your eating habits, perhaps you could give it a try.

Generally, food diaries are meant to be kept for at least a week or two, but studies have shown that even keeping track of what we eat for a day or two can help us make positive changes to our diets.

Some people keep a food diary indefinitely to help them maintain a healthy weight range once it's helped them achieve their ideal weight.

How long we keep a food diary is going to be a matter of personal choice, the most important thing is to start using one and when we feel that we don't need to anymore, we can stop.

Cut calories inch by inch

Here are some ways to cut calories that won't leave you hungry:

* skim milk instead of creamer in your coffee (2 creamers = 45 calories; skim milk = negligible calories; plus, it adds calcium)

* butter spray instead of a pat of butter on your potato or bread (45 calories)

* 1% milk instead of whole (50 calories)

* low-cal wheat bread instead of regular (~ 40 calories)

Even these little calorie-cutting adjustments can add up a lot.