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Tag: health

  • The Big Move

    The Big Move

    It goes without saying that starting university is an exciting time in a student’s life. So many changes, new faces, challenging studies, busy schedules…and then there’s the whole issue of possibly living away from home for the first time!

    The thought of living away from your parents is likely one that seems appealing, particularly when it’s combined with the fun of university. However, sometimes the reality may not be as good as the fantasy; It can not only lead to homesickness, but even some more major conditions and concerns. Students living away from home for the first time will likely face challenges and situations that they may not have even considered. Even the so-called “little things” – eating regular meals, getting adequate sleep, exercising – can all be forgotten when left to your own resources, particularly if you’re surrounded by people who may not see these things as priorities.

    Here, some tips to help you with your first time away from home!

    •Make a budget – and stick to it! The fact that the student budget is usually minimal is even more reason to spend what you have wisely. Prioritize – it is possible to still have money for entertainment while making sure all the essentials are covered. It’s a good idea to sit down with your parents before school starts to figure out a budget or take advantage of the school’s financial advice services.

    •Eat regular meals. Sounds simple right? Unfortunately, this can be one of the biggest problems for students away from home for the first time, especially when you have to actually buy the food and cook for yourself! Your schedule will be busy with the addition of extra studies and activities, but forgetting or not bothering to eat on a regular basis will not only be detrimental to your well-being in terms of maintaining a healthy weight, but lead to digestive complications, disordered eating, problems with concentration and lack of immunity. At the very least, start the day with breakfast.

    •Exercise on a regular basis. Exercise is important but it doesn’t have to be boring or become something to dread. The beauty of campus life is that usually there is a whole range of clubs and sports groups to join, whether the idea is to get involved with an activity you may have enjoyed in high school or take the opportunity to learn something completely new. The added bonus of this is that this can be a great time to meet like-minded people and socialize in a healthy way.If joining a group isn’t your thing, even just incorporating more movement into your schedule – walking or biking to class, to the store etc. – is all great for your physical and emotional well-being.

    •Which brings us to the subject of stress. While university has a reputation for being a fun and relatively carefree time of life, the often harsh reality is that you will be taking on a much larger work load than you may be used to. While some students handle the added pressures with ease, it is not uncommon to feel ‘bogged down’ with it all. Some stress can be beneficial – it keeps you alert and can even give you the kick you need to get work done on time. What is essential is to recognize in yourself when ‘good’ stress becomes harmful – trouble sleeping, panic attacks, negative thoughts and unexplained illnesses can all be signs. The fact that this is so prevalent in college students is why most schools offer excellent counselling services. Don’t feel embarrassed to take advantage of this – it could be the difference between finishing school with your sanity intact or dropping out due to pressure.

    One of the most important things to remember during your time at school, which can certainly be one of the best times in your life, is that there are always people to help and guide you. In addition to academic studies, university teaches us how to become independent. You worked hard to get here and it will shape a large part of your future – you owe it to yourself to stay healthy and happy.

  • It’s Natural To Be Healthy

    It’s Natural To Be Healthy

    It’s amazing how our bodies regenerate. We get hit and bruises form as blood leaks into tissues. Over time, the dark blue colour is diluted, and may move before disappearing. Even broken bones will heal and return to full strength. And skin, our largest organ, is a miracle layer. It keeps the rest of us inside and everything else outside. It wards off infections, sheds water, cools us in hot weather, and repairs itself.
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    Still, viruses, bacteria, and parasites are ever-alert for opportunities to penetrate our protective layer. As well as frequent nicks and cuts, we have natural openings like mouths, ears, noses, anuses, and genitals, each with its own protective mechanisms. If an invading organism gets inside, we have an incredible barrier, our immune system, constantly generating new proteins to fight off infections we’ve never even encountered. We have a defence system that recognizes and fights against any cell with a genetic makeup different from our own (which is why it’s so difficult to transplant organs, tissues, or cells). Yet, pregnant women support a foetus that is genetically different for nine months.

    Thanks to evolution, our bodies have powerful ways to ward off illness and infection and enable us to live long and healthy lives. Why, then, do health costs continue to climb at unsustainable and frightening rates? Part of it is that medical care has become so sophisticated that doctors are able to treat more problems. Another part is the ever-increasing cost of drugs. And with a medical system, people are more likely to seek help. Still, health-care costs can’t continue to rise forever. Governments are always looking for ways to reduce costs, often by offloading a greater share of the burden onto patients.

    We must pay greater attention to keeping our bodies and minds healthy and able to heal. Yet we are making it difficult for our defences to work. We allow things to be sold that should not be called food. Many have no nutritive value and lead to obesity, salt imbalance, and allergies. We spew chemicals into the environment by the millions of tonnes. Molecules pour into us through air, water, and food, overwhelming or weakening our protective immune systems. According to Harvard University doctors Eric Chivian and Aaron Bernstein, “Our behaviour is the result of a basic failure to recognize that human beings are an inseparable part of nature and that we cannot damage it severely without severely damaging ourselves.”

    The medical literature tells us that the most effective ways to reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and many more problems are though healthy diet and exercise. Our bodies have evolved to move, yet we now use the energy in oil instead of muscles to do our work.

    In 2007, the World Health Organization concluded that environmental factors contribute to 36,000 deaths and 13 per cent of the disease burden in Canada annually. The Canadian Medical Association claims air pollution causes more than 20,000 premature deaths a year. And according to author and environmental lawyer David R. Boyd, scientists estimate that environmental factors affecting heart and respiratory disease, cancer, and birth problems contribute to anywhere from 10,000 to 25,000 deaths, 78,000 to 194,000 hospitalizations, 600,000 to 1.5 million days in hospitals, and other problems totalling $3.6 billion to $9.1 billion in direct and indirect costs each year.

    It’s easier, more effective, and cheaper to let healthy bodies fight off disease and infections than to weaken those defence mechanisms and then compensate for them medically. If we want a stable health system, we must put more resources into reducing pollution and environmental degradation and creating a way of life that keeps bodies and minds happy and in good health

  • A College Students’ Guide to Smart Foods

    A College Students’ Guide to Smart Foods

    With Halloween fast approaching, it is more tempting than ever to indulge in candy and sweets – especially when they all go on sale November 1 so stores can make room for Christmas stock! So how can you avoid these temptations and ensure you keep up your energy with healthy foods?

    I once had a math teacher who would tell us about his college days – the mistakes he made, his strange professors, and, what stood out the most, his diet. He consumed Pop Tarts and Coke every day for a whole year! Though it is a fast and delicious choice, you would not be doing yourself any favours. College is a whole new world for everyone. If you are dedicated, you will have little time and energy to make healthy meals like the ones we’d get at home. Here are a few quick and easy tips to boost your energy levels and stay healthy as a busy college student.

    1. Morning Banana: Holy benefits, Batman! Bananas are packed with nutrients and vitamins everyone can use. They are a natural mood booster, protect your eyesight (due to the combination of vitamin C and carotenoids), aid your digestion and keep your bones healthy. Smoker? Bananas can help! Bananas contain vitamins B6 and B12 as well as potassium and magnesium which help the body recover from the effects of nicotine withdrawal. In the stressful life of a college student, our body’s potassium levels will drop as the stress goes up. Bananas are a great, natural way to re-balance your potassium levels. It’s Bananas!

    2. Nut case: With monounsaturated fat, vitamin E, folic acid, magnesium, copper, protein and fiber, nuts are rich in antioxidant phytochemicals. Nuts are generally high in protein and therefore a great snack for hungry, on-the-go college students. Try almonds, walnuts and pecans (avoid the ones drenched in sugars and salt!). Choosing a cereal containing nuts is also a great way to bust hunger.

    3. Hello Blueberry! Blueberries improve memory, motor skills and reverse age-related declines in balance and coordination. Add a few brainberries, I mean blueberries, to your daily diet to keep your mind sharp and clear all year!

    4. Hot Cocoa! A study from Cornell University showed that two tablespoons of pure cocoa powder has almost two times the antioxidant power of red wine, 2-3 times the power of green tea and 4-5 times the power of black tea. The antioxidants in hot cocoa protect brain cells from “oxidative stress” that can lead to Alzheimer’s disease and other disorders. So warm up a cup of cocoa, snuggle up and STUDY!

    Stay away from greasy junk foods that drain your energy and ultimately do you no good. Try making your own meals or packing healthy snacks. If you find yourself eating in a cafeteria, try to choose something like a salad or wrap with veggies. Pizza, burritos and hot dogs are not your friends. Good luck and stay smart!

  • Will an apple a day keep the Doctor away?

    Will an apple a day keep the Doctor away?

    How many people have heard the saying that an apple a day keeps the doctor away? I think just about all of us have heard that. Is it the vitamin C in the apple that keeps the doctor away? I think that just might make sense.

    Let’s look at why is vitamin C important? Vitamin C is so central in many chemical reactions in the body, that without it, life is simply not possible.

    Vitamin C was first isolated in 1928 by Albert Szent Gyorgi. Since that time, the most widely known and acceptable form of Vitamin C has been ascorbic acid. Humans are one of the few in the animal kingdom that do not produce their own Vitamin C and this has left humans at a distinct disadvantage.

    Mr. Jay Patrick, who is known as a vitamin C expert in the U.S., has completed several studies for the Commitee of  World Health with some interesting results. Mr. Patrick’s research proves that most animals who produce their own vitamin C tend to live at least seven times their period of maturity. In other words a dog matures at two years and lives at least seven times his period of maturity or 14 years. Humans mature at 20 to 25 years, so 7 x 20= 140 years, which if his theory is correct and if we could produce vitamin C in our own bodies we should live to be 140 years old.

    The question now is, what is the actual amount of vitamin C do we require on a daily basis? This has been a matter of debate for quite a while. We’ve all heard stories of early sailors whose journeys had to be cut short ecause of scurvy. Time at sea was limited until the British discovered that scurvy could be avoided by carrying citrus fruits onboard.

    Today we are not too worried about scurvy and extremely interested in improving the duration and quality of life. The question is why has the RDA been set so low for humans? The answer is directly related to the form of Vitamin C with which we are most familiar, ascorbic acid.

    Ascorbic acid is known to drop the body’s pH level to a level of 4-4.5, whereas mineral ascorbates which are mineral salts of ascorbic acids and come in the form of sodium ascorbate, calcium ascorbate, magnesium ascorbate, zinc ascorbate, molybdenum ascorbate, chromium ascorbate and manganese ascorbate change the pH very little. Vitamin C, when taken in ascorbate form, has proven much more bioavailable.

    Vitamin C is also required for the production of collegen, that inercellular glue that skin, lungs, arteries, the digestive tractand all organs in tact. It is a potent anti-oxidant protecting against free radicals, pollution, carcinogens, heavy metals and other toxins. It is strongly anti-viral and mildly anti-bacterial. Energy cannot be made in any cell (brain or muscle) without adequate vitamin C. The adrenal glands have a high concentration of vitamin C essential for stress hormone synthesis.

    So, will an apple a day keep the doctor away? Yes and take a 1000 mg of Vitamin C in the for of the ascorbates described above and take care of your health this season!

    the wellnessdiva.net

  • 10 Tips For Healthy Eating

    10 Tips For Healthy Eating

    1. Start Your Day With Breakfast

    Breakfast fills your “empty tank” to get you going after a long night without food. Eating a good breakfast can help you do better in school. Easy to prepare breakfasts include: cold cereal with fruit and low-fat milk, whole-wheat toast with peanut butter, yogurt with fruit, whole-grain waffles or even last night’s pizza.

    2. Get Moving

    It’s easy to fit physical activities into your daily routine. Walk, bike or jog to see your friends. Take a 10 minute activity break every hour while you read, do homework or watch TV. Climb stairs instead of taking an escalator or elevator. Try to do these things for a total of 30 minutes every day.

    3. Snack Smart

    Snacks are a great way to refuel. Choose snacks from different food groups – a glass of low-fat milk and a few graham crackers, an apple or celery sticks with peanut butter and raisins, or some dry cereal. If you eat smart at other meals, cookies, chips, and candy are okay for occasional snacking.
    4. Work up a sweat

    Vigorous work-outs, when you’re breathing hard and sweating, help your heart pump better, give you more energy and help you look and feel your best. Start with a warm-up that stretches your muscles. Include 20 minutes of aerobic activity, such as running, jogging or dancing. Follow-up with activities that help make you stronger such as push-ups or lifting weights. Then cool-down with more stretching and deep breathing.

    5. Balance your food choices – don’t eat too much of one thing

    You don’t have to give up foods like hamburgers, french fries, and ice cream to eat healthfully. You just have to be smart about how often and how much of them you eat. Your body needs nutrients like protein, carbohydrates, fat, and many different vitamins and minerals such as vitamins C and A, iron, and calcium from a variety of foods.

    6. Get fit with friends or family

    Being active is much more fun with friends or family. Encourage others to join
    you and plan one special physical activity event, like a bike ride or hiking, with a group each week.

    7. Eat more grains, fruits, and vegetables

    These foods give you carbohydrates for energy, plus vitamins, minerals, and fibre. Besides, they taste good! Try breads such as whole-wheat, bagels, and pita. Spaghetti and oatmeal are also in the grain group.

    8. Join in physical activities at school

    Whether you take a physical education class or do other physical activities at school, such as intramural sports, structured activities are a sure way to feel good, look good and stay physically fit.

    9. Foods aren’t good or bad

    A healthy eating style is like a puzzle with many parts. Each part, or food, is different. Some foods may have more fat, sugar or salt, while others may have more vitamins or fibre. There is a place for all these foods. What makes a diet good or bad is how foods fit together. Balancing your choices is important. Fit in a higher-fat food, like pepperoni pizza, at dinner by choosing lower-fat foods at other meals. And don’t forget about moderation. If two pieces of pizza fill you up, don’t eat a third.

    10. Make healthy eating and physical activities fun!

    Take advantage of physical activities you and your friends enjoy doing together and eat the foods you like. Be adventurous – try new sports, games, and other activities as well as new foods. You’ll grow stronger, play longer, and look and feel better! Set realistic goals – don’t try changing too much at once.