National Wear Red Day – Friday, Feb 2, 2007

Jan 31st, 2007

On February 2, 2007, women and men across the nation will
wear red to support their mothers, daughters, sisters and
friends in the fight against heart disease.Why you should be concerned

♥ Cardiovascular disease kills more women each year than the next five leading causes of death combined.
♥ 64% of women who die from coronary heart disease have had no previous vidence of the disease.
♥ 1 in 2.6 women will die from cardiovascular disease or stroke.
♥ African-American women have greater risk of developing heart disease than Caucasian women of the same socioeconomic status.
♥ Smoking is the single most preventable risk factor for heart disease.
♥ Every minute a woman dies from cardiovascular disease.

Risk Factors

♥ Do you smoke?
♥ Is you blood pressure 140/90 or higher, or has your doctor told you that you have high blood pressure?
♥ Is your total cholesterol 200 mg/dl or higher, or your HDL less than 50 mg/dl or your LDL higher than 160 mg/dl?
♥ Are you overweight?
♥ Do you have diabetes?
♥ Do you get less than 30 minutes of moderate physical activity most days of the week?

If you answered yes to any of the above questions you are at increased risk for heart disease. Each of these is a risk factor you can control or change.

Ideas for Go Red Events in your community

♥ Host a Go Red event or party.
♥ Encourage your co-workers to participate in Go Red Day.
♥ Create a display with a red dress and information about women and heart disease.
♥ Partner with local organizations such as health centers, extension offices, fitness centers, churches, 4-H or other youth groups to host and support events.

Resources

www.goredforwomen.org
www.cdc.gov
www.whitehouse.gov/firstlady/initiatives/womenandheartdisease2.html
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/hearttruth/

New Year's Evolution – Audio & Worksheets

Jan 30th, 2007

We had a great turnout for the first free teleclass of 2007.  If you missed it, you can still get the goods. I’m posting both the audio of the teleclass and the worksheets so you can work through the theme generation exercises on your own.

Here are the worksheets.

Here is the audio:  

Hey and at the comments box below, tell us what you thought of the program and what your 2007 theme is. We want to hear from you. Cheryl

Holistic Indigestion Relief

Jan 23rd, 2007

Cindy Hebbard from the Wisdom of Healing has this to say about this digestive upsets:

Indigestion, acid reflux, acid indigestion, GERD; upper GI troubles go by many common names, but the problem is huge and growing! That ‘purple pill’ has been in the top five best selling prescription medications for years, grossing $5.7 billion in 2005, according to Forbes.

And it doesn’t have to be this way.  She recommends several holistic ways to support digestive health.  And she includes a description of several herbs and nutritional supplements that may provide digestive relief.  Her article even includes a couple of simple home tests to see if you have too much or not enough stomach acid.  Read her article here.

Three Exercises for a Tighter You

Jan 16th, 2007

Got time for just three exercises?  Chances are if you don’t take time for fitness . . . you may take time for just three exercises.

Find out which three here

Cardio vs. Weight Training

Jan 16th, 2007

If you’ve ever wondered about whether you should do cardio exercise or weight training, you’ll enjoy reading about the benefits and risks of each.  >>read the article

National Body Challenge – F R E E Membership

Jan 8th, 2007

Haven’t registered for the Challenge yet? There is no better time to join the Discovery Health’s National Body Challenge. It’s a FREE, eight-week, comprehensive fitness and weight-loss challenge that provides the tools and inspiration, online and on television, to get in shape, shed extra pounds and adopt a healthier lifestyle.

Since you participated in a previous year, we encourage you to register for this year’s National Body Challenge. It couldn’t be easier to get started on discovering a thinner, fitter, healthier you!

Once you register, you can take advantage of these FREE benefits:

• 8-week membership to Bally Total Fitness®*
• Customized online meal plans with over 1,000 healthy recipes
• Multiple chances to win $1,000,000**
• Expert weight loss, fitness and healthy lifestyle information

Register Now

7 Foods to Never Eat

Jan 6th, 2007

By Jaclyn Johnson
eDiets.com Staff Writer
visit www.ediets.com

There will always be those fattening foods that are easy to make, easy to get, and easy to crave. You think “OK, I know this is bad but it can’t be that bad!” Think again. Here are the top seven foods you should never ever feed your family or yourself!

1. Doughnuts It’s hard to resist the smell of a Krispy Kreme doughnut, which is why I never step foot in the store. Doughnuts are fried chock-full of sugar and white flour and loads of trans fat.

According to the Krispy Kreme website, an average 3.5-ounce sugar doughnut weighs in with about 400 calories and contains few other nutrients besides fat. These sugary treats may satisfy your craving but it won’t satisfy your hunger as most of the calories come from fat.

“Eating a lot of refined sugar contributes to blood sugar ‘swings’ or extreme fluctuations,” eDiets Chief Nutritionist Susan Burke said.

2. Cheeseburger with fries The age-old classic may be delicious but think twice before sinking your teeth into that Big Mac. The saturated fat found in cheese burgers has been linked to heart attacks, strokes and some types of cancer.

“In fact, fast-food portions are gargantuan, almost double the calories per meal compared to 20 years ago,” Susan says. “Twenty years ago the average fast-food cheeseburger had about 300 calories. Today’s BK Whopper with cheese has 720. To burn the excess 420 calories, you’d have to run for 40 minutes. For example, in 1985 a medium French fry had 240 calories, 2.4 ounces. Today’s ‘medium’ is 6.9 ounces and 610 calories.

“This fast-food meal of cheeseburger and fries has way too many calories and fat grams, not to mention grams of saturated fat, trans fat and cholesterol and sodium.”

Let’s break down this meal. First, take the white-flour bun (refined carbohydrates), then add some processed cheese (saturated fat and trans fat, plus lots of additives and preservatives) and then top off with fried red meat (cholesterol and saturated fats). And let’s not forget about the condiments such as the always fattening mayonnaise.

Not sounding so appetizing anymore, huh? Oh, and let’s not forget about the infamous side dish. You cheeseburger will most likely come with a side of French fries, which is sadly the most popular vegetable dish in the U.S. Don’t kid yourself, French fries are not vegetables, they are extremely high in fat and contain a tiny amount of nutrients.

3. Fried Chicken and Chicken Nuggets With the recent class-action lawsuit between The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) and KFC, the health risks posed by fried foods are becoming more public. The CSPI is suing the food chain for their use of cooking oil containing unhealthy trans fats. The lawsuit seeks to order KFC to use other types of cooking oils and to inform customers how much trans fats KFC’s food contains.

Foods cooked in highly heated oils (most notably partially hydrogenated oil) have been known to cause cancer, weight gain and other serious health risks if ingested regularly. A 10-piece chicken McNugget from McDonald’s has 420 calories, 24 grams of fat and 1120 milligrams of sodium. One Extra Crispy Chicken Breast from KFC has around 420 calories and eight grams of saturated fat. So unless you want to super size yourself, it’s best to make a clean break with fried foods.

4. Oscar Mayer’s Lunchables Sure they are convenient and easy, but boy are they unhealthy! These kid-marketed lunches are loaded with saturated fat and sodium. They usually contain highly processed meats and cheeses, white flour crackers and sugary treats. Lunchables get two-thirds of their calories from fat and sugar. And they provide lopsided nutrition since they contain no fruits or vegetables.

“They insidiously promote obesity by making kids think that lunch normally comes in a cellophane-wrapped box,” Susan says. “Parents are promoting their children’s obesity by buying these items. They’re expensive, too. Pack a sandwich and save dollars and health.”

5. Sugary Cereal Not all cereals are created equally. And while your kids might beg for the latest cookie or marshmallow chocolate surprise cereals, it is a safe bet they are about as healthy as a dessert. Keywords to look out for are puffed, dyed and sweetened.

Most kids’ cereals are so highly processed they no longer look like the grains they were originally made from. A healthy alternative is oatmeal. Although, if you are buying pre-packaged oatmeal make sure to check the label and see how much sugar it contains, you might be surprised.

“A little sugar isn’t a problem but when the first ingredient on the box is sugar, then watch out,” she said. “There is no fruit in Froot Loops. But the unsweetened original Cheerios or Rice Krispies are fine, and you can sweeten them naturally with blueberries and strawberries.”

6. Processed Meats. What falls under the category of processed meats? Hot dogs, sausage, jerky, bacon, certain lunch meats and meats used in canned soup products. Almost all processed meats have sodium nitrite added as a preservative.

A recent study conducted at the University of Hawaii found that sodium nitrite can act as “a precursor to highly carcinogenic nitrosamines — potent cancer-causing chemicals that accelerate the formation and growth of cancer cells throughout the body.” So eliminate these meats from your diet before they eliminate you!

7. Canned soup. Sometimes regarded as a healthy food, soups can be very deceiving. You must stay on your guard because many canned soups have high levels of trans fats, sodium and artificial preservatives such as MSG. Just one serving (which is roughly one cup) can have almost 1,000 milligrams of salt. Also, steer clear of soups that are cream-based, they can be high in calories and fat.

Susan says it is important to “read labels from back to front. Ignore the health claims, and instead focus on the ingredients and serving size. Watch out for hydrogenated fat (trans fat) and sodium. If you’re buying bread to go with you soup, the first ingredient should be whole grain — either whole wheat, rye or other grain. If it just says ‘wheat bread,’ that doesn’t mean whole wheat.”

We all want our family to be healthy and happy, so steer clear of these foods.

Cheryl’s comment:  Or eat them on occasion.  Never say never is my motto.