Drinking fruit juices reduces risk of developing Alzheimer's disease
So good to hear a piece of news that people can act on, and make a real difference to their health. Research published today in the American Journal of Medicine, reveals that drinking fruit or vegetable juices more than three times a week, reduces the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease by 76%. This is true even for people who have a genetic disposition towards this devastating illness.
Do fresh fruit and veg really matter?
Five brothers in their 80s claim never to have eaten fresh veg. 'They're a pain,' said one, who never eats peas because he can't get them on the fork. So is medical science wrong? Are fresh fruit and veg a waste of time? All the evidence says no - perhaps these siblings have particularly strong genes, and aren't predisposed to the cancers which fruit and veg protect against. I'm not giving up my five portions for anyone - quite apart from doing some good, they just taste fantastic.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Get More Fresh Fruit and Vegetables
* Breakfast ideas
Slice banana on to cereal, or sprinkle over a handful of berries. Fruitify muesli with half a chopped apple, or some chopped dried apricots or prunes – yes, dried fruits count. Spread mashed banana on to wholewheat toast. Have a glass of fruit juice. Make it more interesting by mixing two types. Whiz up a fruit smoothie with fresh fruits and yoghurt, for a quick, gluggable breakfast.
* Snack sense
Carry fresh fruit and vegetables to cope with snack attacks. Firm varieties, like apples, travel well, or you can pack vegetable sticks – carrot, celery, pepper – or mini fruits like cherries into a little airtight box or ziplock bag. Dried fruits work well, too. A handful of raisins, or a couple of dried apple rings can keep hunger at bay.
* Lunch time suggestions
If you're at home, whip up a quick healthy soup. It takes only a few minutes, and tastes fantastic. Never make a sandwich without adding some salad to it. Put together a nice big mixed salad. Give it substance with avocado, or some cold roasted vegetables. Make your dessert a whole piece of fruit – a succulent pear, a perfectly ripe banana. Try something exotic – a kiwi, a slice of fresh pineapple, a handful of kumquats. Or finish lunch with a crisp slice of watermelon, or a rich and sumptuous piece of mango.
* Dinner time
Add extra fruit and vegetables to meals you already serve. A few tablespoons of sweetcorn on a pizza, steamed broccoli florets on pasta, fruit slices – oranges, peaches – added to salad. Liven up veg by combining two colourful types – baby carrots with peas, chopped cucumber and tomato mixed. Serve raw vegetable sticks as an appetiser, with a low fat dip or homemade hummus. Try some easy healthy apple recipes. If you're in a hurry, buy read-prepared fruit and veg from supermarkets. Fresh fruit salad makes a great dessert, and kids love fruity kebabs.
* Eating out?
You can get fresh fruit and vegetables at restaurants, but watch that they aren't drenched in high-fat dressings or creamy sauces. Look for vegetarian options, or seek out vegetable soups, paninis or wraps. Choose the salad or veg option, rather than the fries, and when you go to the salad bar, pile the veg high, but go easy on the rice and pasta salads, and don't overdo the dressing.
How Much Fresh Fruit and Vegetables to Eat?
Fresh fruit and vegetables are the cornerstone of a healthy diet. Why? Because there's more and more research to show that they contain essential nutrients to protect your health.
But because fresh fruit and vegetables have such a huge range of long-term health benefits, both the UK and USA governments advise people to eat a minimum of five servings or portions a day. It's important to give five portions a day to kids, too.
People are sometimes confused about the size of a fruit and vegetable serving. It's not always that large, and often you can combine two or more portions in a salad, or sandwich filling. Whatever you choose, it's best to go for seasonal fruit and vegetables if you can.
What are the health benefits of fresh fruit and veg? The vitamins and minerals in fruit and vegetables can help reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease and high blood pressure, and type 2 diabetes. People whose diet is rich in fresh produce have more energy and are less likely to gain weight. And fruit and veg also help reduce the effects of ageing.
But because fresh fruit and vegetables have such a huge range of long-term health benefits, both the UK and USA governments advise people to eat a minimum of five servings or portions a day. It's important to give five portions a day to kids, too.
People are sometimes confused about the size of a fruit and vegetable serving. It's not always that large, and often you can combine two or more portions in a salad, or sandwich filling. Whatever you choose, it's best to go for seasonal fruit and vegetables if you can.
How Much Fresh Fruit and Vegetables to Eat?
Fresh fruit and vegetables are the cornerstone of a healthy diet. Why? Because there's more and more research to show that they contain essential nutrients to protect your health.
But because fresh fruit and vegetables have such a huge range of long-term health benefits, both the UK and USA governments advise people to eat a minimum of five servings or portions a day. It's important to give five portions a day to kids, too.
People are sometimes confused about the size of a fruit and vegetable serving. It's not always that large, and often you can combine two or more portions in a salad, or sandwich filling. Whatever you choose, it's best to go for seasonal fruit and vegetables if you can.
What are the health benefits of fresh fruit and veg? The vitamins and minerals in fruit and vegetables can help reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease and high blood pressure, and type 2 diabetes. People whose diet is rich in fresh produce have more energy and are less likely to gain weight. And fruit and veg also help reduce the effects of ageing.
But because fresh fruit and vegetables have such a huge range of long-term health benefits, both the UK and USA governments advise people to eat a minimum of five servings or portions a day. It's important to give five portions a day to kids, too.
People are sometimes confused about the size of a fruit and vegetable serving. It's not always that large, and often you can combine two or more portions in a salad, or sandwich filling. Whatever you choose, it's best to go for seasonal fruit and vegetables if you can.
How Much Exercise Do You Really Need?
You may have heard about the U.S government recommendation that healthy Americans get 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise a day. But another government report urges twice that amount. So, which plan is for you?
The answer, of course, is "it depends." We'll break that down momentarily. But first, here's some background. The 30-minutes-a-day mandate comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the hour-a-day plan from the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005, published jointly by the departments of Health and Human Services and Agriculture.
The CDC's recommendation is intended to help people achieve and maintain adequate fitness. The Dietary Guidelines have the same goal — as well as to help prevent gradual weight gain.
Health and fitness
Regular exercise can improve overall health and decrease risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and other maladies. To reap such benefits, adults should strive for 30 minutes of activity on most days of the week.
For the sedentary, the main challenges are getting started and sticking with exercise long enough to see progress.
"You can start with a few 10-minute periods in the first week and then work up to 30 minutes of continuous activity over 2 or 3 weeks," says Bill Kohl, Ph.D., lead epidemiologist and team leader of the CDC's Physical Activity and Health Unit.
And don't expect an instant transformation of your physique. It will take at least a few weeks for you to notice fat loss or muscle tone improvements. But by starting to exercise, you are laying the foundation for that betterment and taking the all-important first steps.
Exercising for weight maintenance and loss
So far, so good. Now it gets stickier. It's a safe bet that most people fear gradual weight gain. And it's an even safer wager that most of us will not find an hour a day to exercise. We don't dispute the logic in the Dietary Guidelines, but here's a more manageable piece of reality. You can lose weight with less than hour a day of exercise. But how much weight you lose depends on that annoying constant in weight management — how much you eat.
To shed fat, no matter what your exercise level, you must burn more calories than you consume. Shoot for a deficit of around 300 calories a day. That's a safe level that won't leave you gnawing at your coat sleeve or passing out from a lack of nutrition.
Never too old
Elderly people should strive to meet the 30-minutes-a-day mark, says Wojtek Chodzko-Zajko, Ph.D., head of the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Those of advancing years may have issues — like low bone density or stiff joints — that limit activity. So, they should adjust their routines to avoid injury. But no matter what the rest of their regimen looks like, older folks should incorporate balance and strength exercises to help lessen their risk of falling.
Just like other newbies, older adults who are sedentary should start out slowly with a moderate-intensity activity like walking. They should begin with 2 or 3 sessions a week that last 10 minutes each.
"The goal is to build activity into their daily lives and get used to that," Chodzko-Zajko says. "Then they can add other components such as strength training and flexibility."
Examples of strength-building activities for older adults include light weight lifting, training with resistance bands and even household chores such as scrubbing the floor. (Not that we're suggesting your floor needs cleaning.) To improve flexibility, older adults should seek activities that lengthen their muscles, like swimming, yoga or basic stretching programs.
Setting the pace
"Moderate intensity is when you feel yourself beginning to perspire, but you could still carry out a conversation," Chodzko-Zajko says. You could achieve this in any variety of activities, from brisk walking, gardening and tennis to house cleaning, swimming and bicycling.
But be honest with yourself about how hard you're working. A light walk around the block or a saunter through the tomato patch that prompts neither sweat nor a quickened heart rate doesn't count as "moderate."
If you're already hitting the 30-minute, moderate-intensity benchmark, you can further boost your fitness — and burn more calories — by bumping up the intensity or extending the length of time of your workouts.
Vigorous activity — one that results in an elevated heartbeat and difficulty in carrying on a conversation — puts more oxygen demands on your body, which means that more calories are mobilized to help shuttle oxygen to your muscles.
We know high-intensity exercise sounds hard — and it is. But the upside is that you can achieve real benefit in less time than if you were working out at a moderate intensity level. For example, take that 30-minute light jog you've been doing. Kick it up a notch, and you're done in 20 minutes. But there's one important caution here. You shouldn't go hard every workout. Varying your workouts — both intensity and range of activities — gives your body the appropriate time to recover and keeps exercise more interesting for you. And once you've established an exercise routine, you should take one full day per week to rest.
Fitting it in
Don't feel you have to block out all your exercise time at once. Numerous studies show that activity in bouts of as little as 10 minutes each — like doing a couple laps up and down the stairs at work — burns calories and enhances fitness. Ideally, you'll do enough to add up to your daily target. But even if you can't, any activity is better than none. Even on the most harried weeks, try to get some exercise on most days. This will help establish a habit, and before long you'll feel antsy on the days you don't exercise.
Healthy eating tips
A healthy diet should include a good variety of nutritious foods. These include breads, pastas, fruits and vegetables. Eating breakfast is also an important part of a healthy diet.
Healthy diets contain a variety of foods
In general, we should all eat:
- A wide variety of nutritious foods
- Plenty of breads and cereals (particularly wholegrain), vegetables, legumes (such as chickpeas) and fruit
- Low salt foods, and use salt sparingly
- Small amounts of foods which contain added sugars.
A good balance between exercise and food intake is important, as this helps to maintain a healthy body weight. About 30 minutes of physical activity, such as walking, is recommended every day.
Keep fat to a minimum
Adult diets should be low in fat, especially saturated fat. Saturated fat, which is the predominant fat in animal products, is more easily deposited as fat tissue than unsaturated fats. Saturated fat can also be converted into cholesterol and cause blood cholesterol levels to rise.
Small amounts of polyunsaturated and mono-unsaturated fats may have some health benefits when they are part of a healthy diet. Polyunsaturated fats are generally thought to lower blood cholesterol levels. Polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids, which are found in fish, are thought to have an anti-clotting effect on blood and may lower blood pressure.
Eat less high kilojoule foods
The total amount of energy-dense (high kilojoule) foods you eat may be as important as the total amount of fat in your diet. To reduce the energy density of your diet, you need to increase the amount of plant foods you eat. This will provide essential nutrients, help to make you feel ‘full’ and also reduce the amount of fat in your diet.
Eat foods rich in calcium and iron
It is important for all Australians to eat foods which contain iron and calcium. In particular:
- Calcium – is important for infants, women and girls.
- Iron – is important for women, girls, vegetarians and athletes.
A healthy diet can include a moderate amount of alcohol (men should drink less than two standard drinks per day and women less than one standard drink per day). Alcohol should not be given to children.
Healthy diets for babies and children
Follow these guidelines to help encourage a healthy diet for your infant or child:
- Babies – encourage your baby to breastfeed for the first year of life. In most cases, breastfeeding should be the only source of food in the first six months. If you use formula, be careful not to overfeed or underfeed your baby.
- Sugar – children should eat only a small amount of foods that contain sugar.
- Low fat diets – these are not appropriate for infants and young children under two years of age. A diet low in fat, especially saturated fat, may be considered for older children.
- Drinks – infants and children should be encouraged to choose water as their preferred drink.
Children who skip breakfast generally have below average nutrition. Their diets contain less:
- Calcium
- Iron
- Dietary fibre
- Vitamins such as riboflavin and niacin.
Tips for easy breakfasts
Here are some easy-to-prepare, healthy breakfast ideas:
- Fresh fruit with wholegrain breakfast cereal and reduced fat milk. Toast with a thin spread of margarine (polyunsaturated or mono-unsaturated).
- Toast with cheese and tomato. Hot or cold reduced fat milk.
- Rolled oats with sultanas and reduced fat milk. Toast with a thin spread of margarine (polyunsaturated or mono-unsaturated). Orange juice.
- Baked beans on toast. Orange juice.
- Calcium and iron are important nutrients in our diets.
- Infants and young children should not be placed on low fat diets.
- Encourage infants and children to choose water as their preferred drink.
- Children will have better nutrition and do better at school if they eat breakfast.
How to Make Exercise Fun
If you're new to exercise, it may not cross your mind that working out is something you'll look forward to. During the first few weeks of exercise, your body and mind may rebel against your new workouts and you may wonder if you'll ever get the hang of it.
Like healthy eating, however, exercise actually becomes easier over time and, eventually, you even look forward to it. Here's what can happen when you make exercise a regular part of your life:
- You'll start to appreciate your body. It doesn't take much time to see improvements in strength and endurance when you start exercising. As you feel that strength grow, you may get excited about your workouts, wondering how much you'll lift next time or how fast you'll walk or run.
- Everything gets easier. Carrying groceries, taking care of kids, going up and down stairs - all of these things get easier and you may even get more done with your new found energy.
- Your confidence grows. The more you work your body, the more your body can do and following through on your exercise goals lets you know you can trust yourself. That self-trust is a key ingredient to a healthy life.
- You'll try things you never imagined. I've seen my clients go from being couch potatoes to running races, hiking up mountains and just enjoying life more. The stronger you get, the more confidence you'll have to branch out.
- You'll be inspired to change other areas of your life. This is exemplified by one of my clients in his 40s. When I met him, he worked up to 16 hours a day. As he started exercising, he looked at other bad habits that affected his energy and stress levels. He cut his hours, hired more people and started to enjoy his family and his life.
- Your health improves. Exercise can help with diabetes, heart disease, depression, anxiety and high cholesterol, as well as protect your body from some types of cancer.
- Your sex life gets better. Ooh la la! Studies have shown that exercisers have more satisfying sex lives than non-exercisers.
- Your children will have a better chance at being healthy. As with healthy eating, being a good role model when it comes to being active gives your kids the know-how to be active themselves.
- You'll have more energy. You be more alert, focused and an annoyance to all those people in the office who are dragging towards the end of the day.
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