Small Changes For Health

Did you know that something as simple as washing your hands is the number one way to protect yourself against common illnesses, like the common cold or flu?  Regular and frequent hand washing according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the number one way to prevent catching the flu or the common cold.  During the winter months, many bacterial infections, like strep throat, and viruses, like the flu, thrive as people spend more “quality” time with each other indoors.  Bacteria and viruses are spread when one infected person coughs, sneezes, or touches their face or body with their hands and then proceeds to touch other surfaces, like doorknobs and handrails.  When you touch those same doorknobs and handrails the same germs are now passed to you and are on your hands.  Then when you touch your face with your hands you have now introduced those germs to the inside of your body.  By simply washing your hands frequently and often with warm water and soap, you can help prevent bacteria and viruses from entering your body. Read the rest of this entry »

In 2008, Americans consumed 14 billion gallons of soft drinks (soft drinks include regular soda, energy drinks, sports drinks, fruit drinks, ready-to-drink teas, and vitamin waters).  That equals 506-12 ounce servings of soft drinks for every man, woman and child each year.  Soft drinks are nothing more than empty calories providing just a lot of sugar.

Although soft drinks can help keep you hydrated (critically important to one’s health), at more than 1 serving per day they also contribute up to 210 empty calories.  Empty calories are calories we consume but provide no nutritional value and do not satisfy us.   Consuming too many empty calories leads to obesity, which can lead to a slew of other health problems. Read the rest of this entry »

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle!  Three of the easiest things we can do to help preserve natural resources and the earth’s environment.  Whether you believe in man-made global climate change or not, there is strong evidence that shows that the earth’s environment is changing.  Natural resources, like oil, minerals, and wildlife are disappearing.  Someday in the not so distant future, we may not have enough trees to make paper or cardboard, oil to make plastic, or space to dispose of the tons (and tons) of waste we generate each year.  The simplest ways to conserve resources are to reduce, reuse, and recycle resources.  It is true that many of you may already do these steps, but the change for this week is asking you to do just a bit more.  Recycle more, Reuse more and Reduce more. Read the rest of this entry »

A healthy lifestyle is one that includes a healthy diet and EXERCISE!  Both are critical pieces of the puzzle called health! In 2008, the Department of Health and Human Services released their first set of exercise guidelines. The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans state that at a minimum Americans need to be exercising for at least 30 minutes 5 days a week. In the spirit of Small Changes, this week’s change only asks that you exercise 30 minutes 3 times this week.  If you already exercise more than 30 minutes 3 times a week, then your change for this week is to simply exercise more by adding another day of exercise or adding time to your workout routine. Read the rest of this entry »

Your Small Change for week 3: Make sure that you eat a fruit or vegetable from all five color groups daily.

Research suggests that phytochemicals, pronounced “fight-o-chemicals”, work together with other nutrients found in fruits and vegetables to help slow the aging process and reduce the risk of many diseases, including cancer, heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, cataracts, osteoporosis, and urinary tract infections.

One of the many advantages of consuming fruits and vegetables is that the brightly colored skins contain a variety of phytochemicals not presently found in supplements. The color groups include red, green, white/brown, blue/purple and yellow/orange.

The different colored skins on fruits and vegetables provide different health benefits. This is why it is important to eat a wide variety of fruits and vegetables.
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