Allergies • Aromatherapy • Beauty • Bone Health • Cancer • Caregiving
Children's Health • Colds & Flu • Complementary & Alternative Medicine
Cooking Tips • Dental Health • Detoxification • Diabetes • Digestive Health
Environmental Concerns • Exercise • Eye Health • Food Storage
Headaches & Migraines • Healthy Foods • Heart Health • Herbal Medicine
High Blood Pressure • Immune Protection • Inflammation • Menopause
Music Therapy • Organic Living • Pain • Pet Health • Prostate Health
Shakes • Sinus Troubles • Skin Protection • Sleep • Stroke • Supplements
Tea • Weight Gain • Weight Loss • Women's Health
Make War on Mold
Anywhere you find high humidity you might find mold, a major allergen. If you have a damp basement, be sure to run a dehumidifier and thoroughly air out rooms that can become humid, such as bathrooms and kitchens, on a regular basis. Also check around pipe fittings for leaks, and vigorously scrub or replace any moldy surfaces.
Define a Room with Diffused Scent
One of the best ways to spread essential oils around is to use a diffuser, which can be as simple as a stoneware platform over a votive candle, as elaborate as a piece of artfully executed glassware or as high-tech as an ultrasonic nebulizer. No matter which diffuser you choose the principle is the same—to let your nose delight in your favorite aromas.
Find a Pro
One big advantage to aromatherapy is that it can combine with a do-it-yourself approach to health. However, if you are facing a significant health challenge and would like some help, visit the National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy at www.naha.org (membership directory link) to find an aromatherapist in your area.
Baby Your Eyes
The tender skin around your eyes needs special pampering, especially if it’s swollen from too little sleep or too much pollen (or a cathartic cry). “I have always found the use of a good clay- or mud-based mask to be very effective in reducing under-eye swelling,” says beauty expert Rachel Perry, author of Reverse the Aging Process of Your Face (Avery/Penguin). Perry also favors eye gels or creams that feature such nourishing nutrients as calendula, beta-glucan, elastin, sea algae and sage. And don’t forget the moisturizer!
Brighten Bloodshot Eyes Herbally
Have too many late nights left your peepers looking bleary and bloodshot? Try taking tea in compress form: Brew up some eyebright or raspberry leaf tea, letting it steep at least 10 minutes. After it cools, dip in a cotton ball, place between two pieces of cloth and place on your eyes for 10 to 15 minutes. Here’s looking at you clearly!
Feed Your Skin Olive Oil
Not only is olive oil beneficial for the skin when taken internally, applying it externally after sun exposure may help provide protection. Extra virgin olive oil contains strong antioxidants that combat the oxidizing effects of the sun on skin, reducing the signs of damage and aging.
Give Your Skin Ginkgo
Ginkgo biloba is a Chinese plant best known in the West for its ability to sharpen cognition. But now it turns out that this ancient herb may help your skin look its best as well. Ginkgo’s antioxidant compounds can help protect against inflammation provoked by free radicals, the toxic molecules generated by the sun’s damaging UV rays among other sources. And early studies have indicated that it may help even out skin tone.
Invite Your Skin to a Tea Party
If you really want to reap the benefits of green tea in your skincare regimen, try the following trick recommended by Kat James, author of The Truth About Beauty (Beyond Words Publishing): After making a cup or pot of green tea in the morning, save the tea bags in a closed glass container in your refrigerator and use them as cleansing pads for your face the next morning. James says they’re perfect for exfoliating the skin, and the tea has anti-inflammatory properties.
Style Your Hair Simply
A flattering haircut can go a long way to completing your look. But strenuous styling—such as dyeing, perming and excessive teasing—can harm your hair and make it more susceptible to weather damage. So stick to simple cuts; if you must color, try one of the plant-based solutions available at your health food store.
Veg Out to Build Bone
To strengthen your skeleton, load your plate with vegetables and fruits. According to a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, women from teens to seniors who ate the most produce had the densest bones. Upping intake is especially important for the younger set, who are also the most apt to avoid veggies.
Consider Radon Testing
Radon, a colorless, odorless gas released by some underground rock formations, can concentrate to hazardous levels indoors; the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that it causes 21,000 lung cancer deaths annually. Not every locality is subject to radon buildup, though. Before having your home tested, visit the EPA’s website (which includes a county-by-county radon map) at www.epa.gov/radon, or call the Indoor Environments Division at 202-343-9370.
Keep the Kids Covered
It’s excess sun exposure in youth that’s the most hazardous. Your kids, of course, don’t really care about all that, but they’ll be sorry when all those UV-fueled creases and crevices—to say nothing of potentially hazardous growths—show up years from now. So get them into the habit of slathering on the sun protection every time they head out the door. They’ll thank you later.
Keep the Kids Covered. It’s excess sun exposure in youth that’s the most hazardous.
Know Your Colorectal Cancer Risk
Although screening for the general population is recommended to start at age 50, those with an elevated risk need to start testing earlier. High-risk people are those with either a parent, child or sibling who have had colorectal cancer or polyps before age 60, or who have had two or more first-degree relatives diagnosed with colorectal cancer or polyps at any age. If you believe you may be high risk, ask your healthcare practitioner when you should start screening.
Protect Your Breasts by Not Lighting Up
It’s not like you really need another reason to not smoke, but here’s one anyway: Studies have tied smoking to breast cancer, especially if you start early. Canadian researchers have found that women who started smoking within five years of their first menstrual cycle run an 80% higher risk of developing breast cancer by age 50. And avoid breathing in other people’s tobacco fumes, which, according to the California Air Resources Board, may also fuel cancer development.
Get Some Help
If you feel ill-equipped to tackle the challenge of caring for someone who is seriously ill, getting some formal instruction may help you feel less stressed. The American Red Cross (202-303-4498, www.redcross.org) has developed training programs for family caregivers; check with your local chapter to find out if there are classes in your area. Other community-based resources that may offer classes include your local hospital, home care agencies, area agency on aging, county and state departments of health and organizations for specific diseases.
Find a Holistic Pediatrician
If you want to care for your children naturally, your first stop for information should be the Holistic Pediatrics Association (www.hpakids.org). Among the many useful features of the HPA site is a health professional directory that lists the nearest affiliated doctors and a page dedicated to upcoming pediatric seminars.
Help Your Child Avoid Diabetes
The best way to protect your kids from obesity and the diabetes it fosters is by teaching them how to stay in shape for a lifetime. Modeling beneficial eating and exercise patterns at home is only a beginning; since much of your child’s day is spent at school, become an involved parent as well. Urge administrators to offer wholesome options in the lunchroom instead of letting students graze out of vending machines (for more information visit www.healthyschoollunches.org) and to emphasize fitness-based activities in gym class instead of competitive sports (that’s what varsity teams are for).
Use Multis for Nutrition Insurance
Despite all your best efforts, it isn’t always easy to ensure that your kids meet all their nutritional requirements through diet alone. That’s where a good multivitamin comes in; look for one that combines nutrient amounts carefully tailored to a child’s needs with a taste that will make youngsters look forward to their daily supplement.
Don’t Be an Office Hero
So you wake up achy, miserable and running a fever...and head to work anyway. Well, don’t. You not only won’t get much done—staring blankly at the computer does not qualify as being productive—but you’ll infect your colleagues to boot. For their sakes and yours, stay home!
Make Thyme to Calm a Cough
Are you plagued by coughing fits? Then reach for thyme, which has been used as an expectorant for centuries. Just crush some leaves of this pungent herb, mix into a rich vegetable or chicken broth and enjoy!
Complementary & Alternative Medicine (CAM)
Be Honest with Your Practitioners
If you’re among the 40% of all US adults who use complementary and alternative therapies (CAM), then the government wants to make you talk—to your healthcare provider. That’s the idea behind Time to Talk, a new program designed to foster an open dialogue about CAM usage between patients and practitioners. Visit http://nccam.nih.gov/timetotalk or call 888-644-6226.
Get Saucy with Tomatoes
Good old tomato sauce is actually good for you. That’s because tomatoes contain lycopene, which helps support prostate health, and cooking tomatoes with a little olive oil helps release the lycopene, making it more available to the body. Of course, if you want to make your pizza or pasta really healthy, go for a whole-wheat variety—and be sure to include some veggies.
Don’t let childhood memories of boiled-to-death veggies keep you from serving green stuff to your kids. Be creative: call broccoli “little trees,” invite them to watch spinach practically melt into spaghetti sauce—anything that makes these superfoods easier for young palates to accept.
Know Your Chili Peppers
Unless you’re a hardcore chilihead, you might want to build your tolerance to capsaicin, the stuff that gives chilies their zing. Habaneros and Scotch bonnets are among the hottest, jalapeños and cayennes less so. Removing the inner ribs along with the seeds will tone down the heat somewhat.
Savor Succulent Sweet Spuds
If you love potatoes, switch from white to sweet—the latter contain more age-fighting nutrients and are less likely to rile your blood sugar. Don’t be fooled by terminology; the moist, orangy tubers often labeled “yams” and the drier, yellower ones generally called “sweet potatoes” are both varieties of the same plant. Don’t douse your sweets in syrupy concoctions, either; noted alternative practitioner Andrew Weil, MD suggests baking the moister varieties in a 350° oven until fork-tender, or pan-frying them in a spot of olive oil. He says both types can be oven-roasted—just peel, cube, toss with olive oil, salt and pepper, spread in a baking pan and roast in a 450° oven (stirring every 10 minutes) until nicely browned. Enjoy!
Select Fresh Fish
For quality, shop for fish the day you cook it. Among signs that the fish you’re selecting is truly a fresh catch are a shiny luster and moist surface; sturdy flesh with a little bounce; scales that are clear, bright, intact and attached to the fish; and bright, not-sunken eyes. Oh, and a fresh, mild odor, naturally.
Spice Up Your Diet
How do you flavor your food without a ton of butter, mayo and other high-fat items? The answer is as close as your spice rack. According to the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR), many common spices—including oregano, rosemary and turmeric—contain health-enhancing phytonutrients. When using fresh herbs, be sure to choose healthy-looking leaves and store them in the fridge for four days, tops. The AICR website contains a wealth of well-spiced recipes, in addition to tons of other terrific nutritional advice; see for yourself at www.aicr.org or call 800-843-8114.
Unfry Your Chicken
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts can be made as tasty as fried chicken, but without all the oil and fat, says Wilbert Jones, author of The New Soul Food Cookbook (Citadel Press). Coat the chicken with a mix of flour, seasoning and nonstick cooking spray, bake, and the result is a chicken dish just as crunchy and tasty as the old favorite.
When Buying Olive Oil, Go for the Cold.
The best olive oil for salads is extra virgin, taken from the first pressing. Look for a cold-pressed variety, which will retain the oil’s full taste and health benefits.
De-Stress Your Teeth
Stress can contribute to dental disease because it depletes the body of precious nutrients and lowers immunity. Oral health problems associated with anxiety disorders include bruxism (teeth grinding) canker sores, dry mouth, mouth ulcers and burning mouth syndrome. Be sure to tell your dentist if you have an anxiety disorder and what medications you may be taking.
Drink to Detoxify
Cleansing tonics can help rid your body of toxins and take undue stress off of your liver. A good one to try, courtesy of Esme Floyd, author of 1001 Little Health Miracles: Shortcuts to Feeling Good, Looking Great and Living Healthy (Ulysses Press): 7 ounces of spring water, a lemon’s worth of fresh squeezed juice, a pinch of powdered ginger, 1 tablespoon of flaxseeds and 1 teaspoon of psyllium powder. Salud!
Get Tested
When doing a detox, it helps to know exactly what you’re up against. A number of labs test blood, saliva, hair and other bodily products for toxins; one of the best known is Geneva Diagnostics (formerly Great Smokies) in Ashville, North Carolina: 1-800-522-4762, www.genevadiagnostics.com.
Get Educated
Many insurance companies will cover visits to a certified diabetes educator (CDE) if you obtain a referral from your doctor. To find one in your area, contact the American Association of Diabetes Educators at www.diabeteseducator.org or call 800-338-3633.
Get Thee to a Dentist
Do you keep putting off your time in the dentist’s chair? Stop procrastinating—especially if you have blood-sugar issues. High glucose levels can hamper the immune system, which can lead to tooth-threatening periodontal disease...which can turn right around and play havoc with glucose control. Also make sure to brush and floss on a daily basis, using a toothpaste that employs herbs like tea tree and neem for their anti-microbial activity. (Your mother would be so pleased.)
Go to Glycemic College
To learn more about the glycemic index, which rates foods on how they affect blood sugar, visit www.glycemicindex.com. In addition to an extensive database, this site allows you to access a valuable newsletter and to find helpful books on the subject.
Keep Your Feet Happy
Diabetic nerve and circulation damage can leave your feet prone to infection. Always wear well-fitted shoes and nonbinding socks. Thoroughly dry between your toes after showering and report skin changes to your practitioner pronto.
Send Your Child to Diabetes Camp
If your child has diabetes, you know how difficult it is to find a camp that can meet his or her special needs. That’s why you should check out the program run by the American Diabetes Association, which allows your child to have all the fun you remember from your own childhood in medically supervised safety. To learn more, go to www.diabetes.org and enter “camp” into the search engine or call 800-342-2383.
Energize Digestion with Enzymes
A wide variety of supplemental enzymes are available, including plant-based helpers such as papain and bromelain along with animal-sourced pancreatic enzymes. Take them with meals to promote proper digestion and between meals to take advantage of their inflammation-fighting properties.
Bag the Use of Plastic Bags
Did you know there’s so much plastic in the ocean that it kills 100,000 sea mammals—and 10 times that number of seabirds—each year? Fortunately, one way to help cut the carnage is also one of the simplest: Stop taking plastic bags from retailers. You can also take part in beach cleanups; see www.50simplethings/ocean. To learn more, visit Ocean Conservancy at www.oceanconservancy.org or call 800-519-1541.
Clean Without Chlorine
Chlorine, a common ingredient in bleach and other cleansers, is bad business as far as water purity is concerned. Use greener cleaners, including bleaches based on oxygen or hydrogen peroxide. To get involved in clean water activism, visit www.50simplethings.com/water. There you can find links to such grassroots groups as Food & Water Watch: www.foodandwaterwatch.org, 202-683-2500.
Green Your Household Energy
Fossil fuels energize not only our cars but our lives in general—more than 70% of all electricity generated in this country comes from coal, gas or oil. Fight the fossil power by buying green energy, such as that generated via wind or solar; if your utility doesn’t offer that option you can purchase renewable energy certificates (RECs) to offset your usage (www.50simplethings.com/renewables). To learn more, contact the Union of Concerned Scientists: www.ucsusa.org, 617-547-5552.
Look Up Your Local Air Quality
Keeping track of what pollutants are passing through your skies is easier with the Pollution Outlook Map. This interactive service from the Environmental Protection Agency provides the Air Quality Index (AQI) daily for five major pollutants: carbon monoxide, ground-level ozone, nitrogen dioxide, particulates and sulfur dioxide. See it for yourself at http://cfpub.epa.gov/airnow.
Start! Walking
You know you should exercise, but there’s so many reasons not to (“I need to pay the bills/mop the floor/wash the dog/etc.”). Stop with the excuses and get on board the American Heart Association’s Start! program, which will let you track your progress, find “sole-mates”...and finally achieve that 30-minutes-a-day goal. For more information, visit www.heart.org/start.
Start a Walking Club
If your job keeps you nailed to your chair eight hours a day, form a lunchtime walking club. Walking with an officemate or two not only makes that daily trek more pleasant, but having a walking partner can also motivate you to get out and move.
Visit a Virtual Ballroom
Gotta dance for fitness but don’t got a partner? Then let your fingers boogie over the keyboard to www.ballroomdancers.com (800-357-5358), where you can find someone to samba with in addition to learning new steps, buying a CD of hot tunes...even browsing the classifieds for that perfect steppin’-out outfit.
Ease Your Aching Eyes
If your eyes suffer from all those hours staring at a screen, take a refreshing mini-break: Rub your palms together until they’re nice and warm, then place them over your closed eyes for 30 seconds. Repeat as needed during the day.
You Gotta Wear Shades!
If you are at risk for cataracts, protect your eyes from UVA and UVB sun radiation. But not just any pair of sunglasses will do the job. Special-purpose shades (which should carry the Skin Cancer Foundation’s seal) block at least 99% of UVB and at least 60% of UVA rays. They should wrap around the head and deflect light coming from above, below and both sides of the glasses.
Store Chocolate Properly
You don’t want to eat that entire box of chocolate at once, now do you? The good news is that chocolate never spoils. However, old chocolate can taste dry and chalky due to repetitive heating and cooling. Keep your quality dark chocolate in an airtight container at a consistent temperature of no more than 68 degrees F. Chocolate can also be kept in a cellar with wine.
Keep Olive Oil Fresh
All olive oil should be stored in a cool, dark place for up to six months; it can also be refrigerated, in which case it can last up to a year. Take note that chilled olive oil becomes cloudy and too thick to pour, but will clear and become liquid again when brought to room temperature.
Depict Your Migraine Pain
While there’s no tested connection between susceptibility to migraines and an artistic temperament, it’s true that many creative people—including poet Emily Dickinson, painter Salvador Dali and composer Gustav Mahler—have suffered from them. In fact, the excruciating pain and odd sensations associated with these excruciating headaches has given rise to striking creative output (for examples, visit www.migrainepage.com and click on the Art & Poetry link). If you are so inclined, take pen or brush (or computer mouse) in hand to express how you feel—it may help your loved ones understand what you’re going through.
Massage Away Headaches
Before you take another aspirin, try this tip from Healing Massage by Daphne Roubini (Cico Books): Add two drops of either bergamot (if irritable), lavender (if frazzled) or rosemary (if exhausted) oil to a carrier oil such as sunflower or sweet almond and massage into your head and neck. Ahh!
Pick Your Berries
Berries, nature’s smallest fruits, pack a huge health wallop: In studies, these tiny marvels have battled the oxidative stress that researchers believe plays a key role in chronic disease development. Add fresh or frozen berries freely to your meals and for extra protection turn to berry-based supplements and drink mixes.
Start Your Day With Soy.
Many folks have a real problem with breakfast—not the concept, but finding the time for it. Soy can help. Here’s some suggestions:
Splash some soymilk over a whole-grain breakfast cereal.
Stack soy yogurt and sliced fresh fruit in a parfait glass.
Scramble some soy “sausage” together with an organic egg or two.
Whip up a meal-to-go soy shake, using ice to add a creamy texture.
Lose LDL By Giving Stress the Slip
As if you needed another reason to reduce your stress load: Scientists now think that stress, in addition to increasing heart rate, can also increase your LDL levels. The risk is especially high if you’re one of those folks who overreact to pressure (you know who you are). Find a way to unwind and stick with it.
Raise Female Heart Awareness
The American Heart Association is attempting to make women aware of their heart disease risk through their Go Red For Women campaign. For more information, and a red dress pin, call 800-242-8721 or visit www.goredforwomen.org. You can also find those stylish pins—along with news, support groups and advocacy opportunities—at WomenHeart, the National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease; visit www.womenheart.org or call 202-728-7199.
Find an Herbalist
Some herbs—chamomile and mint come to mind—are time-trusted home remedies for relatively simple ailments. But if you want to use herbs to help you face a significant health challenge it’s best to consult a trained herbalist. To find one, contact the American Herbalists Guild at www.americanherbalists guild.com or 203-272-6731.
Take an Herbal Time Trip—Online.
One of the few herbal manuals from the first half of the 20th century, A Modern Herbal was published in 1931 by Maude Grieve, a fellow of Britian’s Royal Horticultural Society. You can read Mrs. Grieve’s opus by visiting www.botanical.com.
Take an Herbal Time Trip. You can access a 1931 herb manual online.
Stay Connected to Your Spouse.
If you figured that job stress is the biggest driver of high blood pressure, guess again: A rocky relationship can really send your pressure climbing, while a good marriage can help ease the effects of work strain. In a hectic world, keeping lines of communication open at home can be tough. But it’s crucial for both your happiness and your health.
Be a Social Butterfly
If you know more about what’s going on in Oprah’s life than in the lives of your family and friends, it’s time to get out more: Scientists have found that the lonelier you are the weaker your immune system becomes. So don’t vegetate in front of the tube again tonight. Whether you prefer to play poker or sing hymns, an active social life can help give your immunity a lift.
Skirt Past Secondhand Smoke
All sorts of environmental stressors can get inflammation going—and tobacco smoke, with its slew of immune response-provoking irritants, is right near the top of the list. Not only should you not be smoking yourself, but it’s also a good idea to avoid other folks’ smoke as well.
Breathe Yourself Cool
Slow, deliberate deep breathing may take the edge off of hot flashes. The next time Mother Nature turns up the thermostat, try lying down in a quiet room with your hands over your abdomen. Inhale slowly, feeling your hands rise, hold for a few seconds, then exhale slowly, feeling your hands fall. Repeat for five minutes or so.
Find a Music Therapist
Music hath charms to help ease a number of physical and emotional conditions. If you think a music therapist might be able to help with what ails you, call the American Music Therapy Association at 301-589-3300 or go to their website at www.musictherapy.org.
Get the Gunk Out of Your Water
A simple way to get healthier tap water is to use a filter. Options abound, from a standalone pitcher to a unit integrated into the main line. You also have a choice of technologies, including carbon filtration and reverse osmosis.
Look for the Organic Label
Attention shoppers: The USDA’s green-and-white seal ensures that what you’re getting meets the government’s organic standards. For updates and other information on the National Organic Program, call the USDA at 202-720-3252 or visit www.ams.usda.gov/NOP.
Sniff Out Sweet Relief
Aromatherapy’s delicate botanical scents can help ease aching joints. Use wintergreen to cool off inflammation, either clove or cinnamon to provide a warming reprieve in damp, drafty weather and rose to lift a pain-weary spirit. Essential oils can be dispersed through a room diffuser, but are even more effective against arthritis when blended into massage oil, added to bathwater or used directly in a hot compress. Ahh!
Find a Holistic Vet
If you’re looking for a veterinarian who employs alternative therapies, look into the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association. The vet finder on their website (www.advma.org; 410-569-0795) lets you search by state and type of treatment (Chinese herbs, for example); you can also find someone who specializes in birds or exotics—even a vet who makes house calls (who knew?).
Get Your Pets Moving
Becoming a classic couch potato is no better for your pooch or kitty than it is for you. If you don’t have a big yard, take Bowser to the local park for a brisk game of fetch or Frisbee. And stimulate Fluffy’s play instincts with any of the many stick-string-ball toys on the market.
Soothe Your Pet Naturally
Pets have troublesome feelings just like we do—but they can’t go to therapy or a support group. What you can do for your stressed-out or nervous companions is give them Bach Flower Essence Rescue Remedy, a combination of five essences that has been known to keep both people and their pets cool, calm and collected. Try it before taking your dog or kitty to the veterinarian, or after a trauma or accident to help your loved one (and you) stay on an even keel.
Pump Up Prostate Health with Yoga
One way to help your prostate stay out of trouble is by striking a pose—a yoga pose, that is. Yoga experts say certain poses, or asanas, help promote circulation and support healthy pelvic muscles. The best prostate-aiding poses include the Boat, Bow, Hero and Widespread Plow. If this all sounds like Sanskrit to you, find a local yoga studio and check it out for yourself.
Drink Your Superfruit
While you should always keep your kitchen stocked with a tasty variety of fresh fruit, the best way to get the power of the superfruits into your daily diet is through whole-food powdered concentrates. Toss with some ice and soymilk into a blender and voila!—you’ve got a great smoothie.
Shake It Up
Looking for non-meat sources of protein? Why not try a soy protein shake? Easy to make with just a simple can of protein powder and some soymilk from your local health food store, shakes are a quick, convenient, low-fat way to get your necessary protein. Available in practically any flavor you dream up, you can custom design your protein shake to add more nutritional punch. Throw in your favorite fruits and enjoy some antioxidant benefits, too.
Practice Sinus Self-Healing
Have a sinus headache or blockage that just won’t go away? Try this at-home acupressure tip: Find the small dent at the inner corner of each eyebrow, right next to the bridge of your nose. Then press inward for 30 to 60 seconds two times.
Save Your Sinuses While Traveling
One of air travel’s hazards for sinusitis sufferers is breathing dry, stale, germ-laden air for hours at a stretch. Robert Ivker, DO recommends having a light meal before you leave for the airport (take 100 mg of grape seed extract at least 20 minutes before eating). Right afterwards, he says to take a multivitamin, 2,000 mg of vitamin C, 400 IU of vitamin E, 100 mg of alpha lipoic acid, 200 mg of garlic extract and another 100 mg of grape seed. If you eat en route repeat the vitamin C and garlic, and take more grape seed on an empty stomach either during or right after your flight. Finally, follow your first post-trip meal with all the supplements you took just before you left home. Bon voyage!
Allergy-Prone? Stay in the Shade
You may have to curtail your fun in the sun if you are subject to itchy eruptions, since allergy-prone skin is often sensitive to Old Sol’s rays. Shades, a wide-brimmed hat, and long-sleeved and -legged outerwear are recommended; before using sunscreen, check with your practitioner and be very careful to test anything on a small patch of skin first.
Ease Anxiety for Better Sleep
Perpetual anxiety may be shortchanging your sleep. Researchers have found that a substance called GABA puts the brakes on brain activity and that reduced amounts of GABA have been linked to anxiety and sleeplessness. If you’re plagued by both conditions, speak with a nutritionally aware health practitioner.
Get Some Natural Shuteye
Lying awake night after night doesn’t do your body any favors. If you find sweet sleep to be elusive, try going to bed at the same time every night in a dark, quiet room (no late-night TV!). Need a little extra help in drifting off? Try taking chamomile or passionflower tea before bed to end the evening on a calm note. Supplements that promote relaxation include the herb valerian and lactium, the ingredient in warm milk that helps babies sleep, well, like babies.
Get Help for Stroke NOW
A lot of long-term stroke damage could be avoided if the victim got medical care within three hours. The American Stroke Association (ASA) describes the warning signs:
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Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body
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Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding
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Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
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Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
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Sudden, severe headache with no known cause
If you see someone suffering from such symptoms, ask the person to smile, raise both arms and speak a simple sentence coherently (like, “It is sunny out today”). If he or she has trouble with any of these tasks, call 911 immediately. As the ASA says, time lost is brain lost.
Be Sure to Get Your Bs
Your personal power plant can’t run efficiently without the vitamin B complex, which assists in the enzymatic reactions that create energy within cells. Stay stoked with Bs by eating a wide variety of whole foods, including organic produce, unprocessed grains and lean animal proteins, and by taking a comprehensive B supplement.
Fatten Up CoQ10 Absorption
CoQ10, a supplement used to boost energy production and heart health, is soluble in fats instead of liquids. That’s why you should take supplemental Q10 either with food or with a healthy fat such as flax seed oil, or in a product especially formulated for easy absorption, such as liquid or chewable CoQ10.
Maximize B Team Chemistry
Processing and cooking foods destroys vulnerable, water-soluble B vitamins more than you might think. Vitamin B6 content, for example, is reduced up to 80% in canned vegetables, up to 50% in frozen vegetables and up to 95% in processed grain products. In addition, alcohol, sugar and caffeine all deplete B vitamins in the body, creating an increased need for Bs. Eat more raw, whole foods and supplement with B vitamins to compensate for B-depleting lifestyle and dietary choices.
Pick the Perfect Supplement Form
It’s not a spoonful of sugar, but the right form can indeed make the supplement go down easier. The basic formats are capsules, dried material in gelatin-based containers, and tablets, powder that’s pressed and coated to preserve freshness; a high-quality tablet will be pressed with enough pressure to hold together but still dissolve within the body. Other options include chewables, ideal for bulky dry supplements such as calcium formulations, and softgels, often used for lipids such as vitamin E. More and more supplements are also available in liquid form, which are easy to swallow and mix well into beverages, including smoothies.
Supplements Matter
We’d never tell you to not eat your veggies, but produce ain’t what it used to be. Biochemists have found that nutrient levels in fruits and vegetables have fallen over the past 50 years, thanks to fast-growing varieties that don’t have time to accumulate such health necessities as vitamins B-2 and C from the soil. That makes downing a high-quality multivitamin every day even more essential.
Enjoy an Herbal Cup
If you’re looking for tea-drinking options other than good old Camellia sinensis, explore the vast world of herbal teas (known technically as tisanes, if you want to get picky). Herbs offer an expanded palate of (mostly caffeine-free) flavors to explore, along with health benefits unique to each. Some of the more popular ones are rooibos, a South African import with a citrusy, vanilla-like taste that’s brimming with vitamin C; chamomile, a gentle-tasting herb that offers calm relaxation; peppermint, a snappy-flavored favorite that soothes the stomach; and yerba maté, a caffeine-containing plant that is a South American staple. Bottoms up!
Look for Caloric Liquids
Would-be weight gainers need to hydrate like everyone else. But plain water, with its zero calories, is not your friend and caffeine-containing beverages, which help hasten weight loss, are even worse. Go with sports drinks, shakes and smoothies, milk or fruit juice.
Find a Weight-Loss Buddy
Eating smart and exercising regularly are much, much easier if you’re not going it alone. That’s why you should find someone who can take this challenge on with you: your spouse, your best friend, even a cooperative co-worker. Having a partner gives you someone to call when temptation strikes or when the couch is calling you away from the gym. Buddy up!
Make It Fun
Not wanting to get sick and die before your time may seem like a good enough reason to eschew fattening foods, but that can only take you so far. Instead, fight off that craving for barbecued wings by concentrating on the good stuff that comes with losing weight: more energy, greater well-being, a better sex life...and feeling damn good about that thinner you in the bathroom mirror.
Sweeten Your Coffee with Stevia
Often it’s what people use to flavor their daily java that makes it so unhealthy, like loads of sugar or synthetic sweeteners. If straight black coffee isn’t your thing, try the herbal sweetener stevia, which has no calories and is 10 times sweeter than sugar. Stevia can have an herbal aftertaste, so use it sparingly or try a flavored variety.
Find a Holistic Gynecologist
Holistic gynecology combines the best of both worlds: the latest technological knowledge that conventional medicine has to offer, especially in the area of diagnostics, along with a range of complementary and alternative treatments your average MD is only beginning to learn about. But there’s a catch: There is no one association to which all such practitioners belong. This is where the Internet comes in handy; typing “holistic gynecology” into a search engine will bring up a number of individual doctors’ websites. Be sure to ask about the therapies that each individual is familiar with and if they are board-certified in holistic gynecology. (Getting word-of-mouth referrals from family and friends can’t hurt, either.)
