Your Healthy Family: Eating healthy at a summer BBQ – KOAA.com | Continuous News | Colorado Springs and Pueblo – KOAA.com Colorado Springs and Pueblo…

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COLORADO SPRINGS -

Ahead of those 4th of July BBQs or picnics this summer if they are one of the times you simply go for it, then enjoy. However if a new healthy lifestyle is important to you these special occasions can often derail your new routine.

Brent Hagedorn is a weight loss coach and trainer with Metabolic Research Center in Colorado Springs who says eating healthy at a special occasion like a 4th of July BBQ boils down to planning ahead and applying a few simple strategies.

Eating something before you go or having a bit of water is key, so you're more full before you get there. Then you're more in control when it comes to making choice. If you show up hungry and then everything looks so good, its hard to say no and its easy to get carried away. Also visualizing your success ahead of time, and what its going to look like as in what you want to do, so visualize yourself saying no thank you to unhealthy choices."

Another strategy is to bring something healthy with you, like a veggie tray or fruit salad and that way you are sure to have a good choice in front of you.

Brent says, "Bring something along with you. We have a ton of amazing recipes on Pinterest and our website that you can take to these different parties and events and nobody's going to know that it's super healthy for you, they taste that good."

Finally above all else Brent says focus on hydrating before the BBQ, for a couple of reasons. "Water water water, I preach a lot about water intake, especially if you are going to be drinking. Drinking alcohol can dehydrate you so you need at least double your ounces of water for the alcohol consumption to rehydrate the body and stay hydrated."

And if you do fall off the wagon dont let it get you down and derail your efforts. Get right back on track the next day.

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Your Healthy Family: Eating healthy at a summer BBQ - KOAA.com | Continuous News | Colorado Springs and Pueblo - KOAA.com Colorado Springs and Pueblo...

Honey Nut Cheerios Now Comes In Heart Shapes – Long Island Weekly News

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Limited-edition cereal is a fun and important reminder to live a happy, heart-healthy lifestyle

One of Americas most iconic cereals is getting a new look in time for National Heart Health Month this February.

To help bring the heart health conversation to the forefront in a fun, lighthearted way, limited-edition boxes of Cheerios now contain heart shapes along with the iconic O for the first time.

Honey Nut Cheerios is on a mission to inspire happy hearts, Liz Mascolo, vice president of marketing for Cheerios, said. We want to remind people that living a heart-healthy lifestyle can be joyful, easy and delicious, and Honey Nut Cheerios can help to fuel that journey. We hope the new heart shapes not only put a smile on peoples faces, but inspire them to find new, fun ways to take care of their hearts.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for one in every four deaths annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). High blood pressure, high blood cholesterol and smoking are key risk factors for heart disease. About half of Americans (47 percent) have at least one of these three risk factors, according to CDC research.

Several other medical conditions and lifestyle choices can also put people at a higher risk for heart disease,including unhealthy diet and physical inactivity. To help inspire Americans to live a heart-healthy lifestyle, Honey Nut Cheerios is also encouraging people to adopt simple behaviors that get them active, such as walking the dog, playing with kids or joining a group fitness class. Eating three grams of soluble fiber daily from whole grain oat foods, like Honey Nut Cheerios can help lower cholesterol as part of a heart-healthy diet, according to its parent company General Mills.

The new heart-shaped marketing campaign brings the importance of heart health to the forefront with a new commercial, box design and social campaign. The ad spot, which debuted in December, features the brands iconic Buzz the Bee announcing the limited-edition Cheerios with happy heart shapes and touting the cereals heart-healthy benefits.

The limited-edition, heart shapes have already begun to appear on store shelves in boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios and original yellow-box Cheerios and leading into National Heart Health Month in February.

Additional information provided by General Mills

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Honey Nut Cheerios Now Comes In Heart Shapes - Long Island Weekly News

7 proven benefits of Yoga and Meditation for your mind and body – Times Now

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7 proven benefits of Yoga and Meditation for your mind and body 

New Delhi: Yoga and meditation both have huge impacts on the mind and the body. When done on a regular basis, they not only make your physique more attractive, flexible and balanced but give you spiritual benefits as well. Mediation helps to keep the mind sharp, stress-free and clear. It improves overall well-being of a person.

Wanna know what all benefits yoga and meditation can give you? Here is a list of some of them:

Treats back pain

Believe it or not, doing a few yoga poses throughout the week can help with chronic back pain. Studies have shown that stretching exercises and poses improve spinal flexibility and help ease lower back problems in people after just one week of practice.

Helps with rheumatoid arthritis

Iyengar yoga, which is a type of yoga that uses blocks, belts, and other positioning props, has been shown to help people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Hot yoga, like Bikram and gentle yoga, has proven benefits because of its slow, easy-paced poses and movements that benefit the joints, bones, and muscles.

Cures hangovers

While you may not want to move or get out of bed when nursing a hangover, experts say that doing yoga can detox your system and get you feeling fresh much faster. Yoga poses like bow, plow, or shoulder stand work on the thyroid gland, which improves the metabolism and kicks those toxins out of your system. By reversing the blood flow and bringing more circulation to the brain, your body will create balance and spring back to life. Not only it helps to get rid of the hangover faster but also blasts the fat and cellulite.

Improves heart health

When it comes to heart health, Baby Boomers need to be wary and maintain a healthy lifestyle as much as possible. Keeping your heart healthy is easy, thanks to yoga and meditation. Studies have shown that yoga is linked to a reduced risk of heart disease because of its cardiovascular benefits that eliminate arterial plaque. Meditating once a day for ten minutes can help you relax, reduce stress hormones, lower your blood pressure, and allow for better blood flow.

Helps with asthma

If you suffer from asthma then you might want to take up yoga. According to a research, adults with mild to moderate asthma who did an eight-week session of yoga combined with their regular meds saw a marked improvement. With the help of Pranayama, a yoga asana which focuses on breathing have shown effective results for asthma.

Helps you sleep better

You need to get enough rest in order to live a healthy and balanced life. Yoga greatly improves your sleep quality if you are suffering from insomnia or lack of sleep. Research has shown that doing yoga regularly improves your sleeping pattern, reduces stress and lowers anxiety. Mediation and breathing techniques also help in clearing your mind so you can relax and slow down your thoughts, allowing you the peace of mind to get a good nights sleep.

Makes you a happier person

Practicing yoga and meditation makes you a happier person. Yoga makes your skin glow from within and calms your mind. Mediation gives you inner peace and the power to control your mind and thoughts. In todays competitive world, people forget to be happy. Give some time to yourself. Practice yoga and meditation, you will automatically feel the difference.

There are many more benefits of yoga and meditation - once you start practicing it, you will feel the change within yourself.

Sohan Singh is a guest contributor. Views expressed are personal.

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7 proven benefits of Yoga and Meditation for your mind and body - Times Now

‘I was tired, irritable and anxious’ – how to recognise a thyroid issue – Independent.ie

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'I was tired, irritable and anxious' - how to recognise a thyroid issue

Independent.ie

'Around 3pc to 5pc of the population will experience an issue with the thyroid, usually meaning that the hormone level has gone high or low," says Dr Carla Moran, consultant endocrinologist at the Beacon Hospital.

https://www.independent.ie/life/health-wellbeing/health-features/i-was-tired-irritable-and-anxious-how-to-recognise-a-thyroid-issue-38760637.html

https://www.independent.ie/incoming/article38764116.ece/48b26/AUTOCROP/h342/N-Gemma-OHalloran-1.jpg

'Around 3pc to 5pc of the population will experience an issue with the thyroid, usually meaning that the hormone level has gone high or low," says Dr Carla Moran, consultant endocrinologist at the Beacon Hospital.

She's talking about the small butterfly-shaped gland at the front of the neck that secretes several hormones, collectively called thyroid hormones. The main hormone is thyroxine, also called T4, and these hormones act throughout the body, influencing metabolism, growth and development, and body temperature.

"Nodules within the gland is a separate problem and is even more common - that could be up to 50pc of the population, but 90pc of those are benign and most people don't even know they have them."

Low hormone levels indicate hypothyroidism. "That is where the gland isn't making enough hormone and we can pick that up quite easily through a blood test," says Dr Moran. "GPs would be very familiar with checking for that. The most common cause for hypothyroidism is an auto-immune condition called Hashimoto's thyroiditis, whereby the body has recognised part of the thyroid gland as a foreign object, and mounts an immune response to it that, in time, destroys the cells that make the thyroid hormone."

It's a condition that is more common in women, at a ratio of about 8:1, and can happen at any stage, but is more common in the 20s and 30s.

This can be detected by a simple blood test - "we pick up that thyroid hormone levels have gone low, and we can also often pick up a protein called thyroid auto anti-body, a tiny little protein that the body has made against part of the thyroid gland." The causes, she says, are unknown, "although it's probably a combination of genetics and an environmental trigger, sometimes related to stress, sometimes after pregnancy, sometimes after a viral infection."

The symptoms people describe when their hormone levels go low are a constellation, and include fatigue, weight gain, dry skin, hair loss, loss of hair at outer edge of eyebrows, constipation, and feeling cold.

"It's like your metabolism slows down," says Dr Moran. "And it's usually quite insidious. Often, it has been going on for quite a while before people realise they don't feel right. Hypothyroidism is easily picked up by a GP, and the patient will be put onto replacement thyroxine, taken daily. In most cases where the gland has failed, this is irreversible, so they stay on the replacement for life. But, it is very safe to take, doesn't have side effects if given in the right doses, is safe in pregnancy and safe for children. And it's effective - generally, patients feel much better."

Be warned though, ignoring symptoms is dangerous. Hormone levels will get lower and lower and, in really extreme circumstances, people can go into a coma, although "we hardly ever see that any more," says Dr Moran.

Then there's the opposite - hyperthyroidism - where the thyroid makes too much hormone. "This is less common than hypothyroidism, and can come on more suddenly. People will notice over the course of a few weeks to a month that everything speeds up. They lose weight, they feel too warm, they can feel tremulous, they can have palpitations - heart racing - they have poor sleep, they feel on edge and irritable. Sometimes the gland itself gets bigger - visible as a swelling in front part of the neck, a goitre."

The most common cause of hyperthyroidism is Graves' disease, named for the Irish doctor who first described it, where the body manufactures an anti-body directed against the thyroid gland that tells it to keep making thyroid hormone.

This too usually affects women, in theirs 20s, 30s and 40s, and can also be detected by a blood test. Here, patients need medication to lower their hormone levels: anti-thyroid drugs. "Usually, they will go on a course for about 18 months. Hormone levels will come down to normal within some weeks, but they need to stay on the drugs for about 18 months to make the condition go away. At that stage, about 50pc will have normal thyroid function into the future. The other 50pc, where the condition comes back - which usually happens within the first year - go back on the drugs but we would think about treatment that is more permanent, because it is likely to keep coming back through their lifetime. More permanent treatments are radioactive iodine, given as a pill, or surgery to remove the gland."

Dr Moran points out that, although iodine deficiency is the number one cause of an under-active thyroid gland globally, in countries like Ireland, it is very rare. "We get iodine from dairy products, and fish products. Most people meet their requirement through dairy." She also highlights that, "although I would recommend a healthy lifestyle, in terms of good diet and exercise, I wouldn't recommend supplements containing iodine, as some have too much. Too little iodine is bad but too much is also bad."

There is, she says, some controversy around hormone replacement. "Mostly, we use thyroxine which is pure T4, which is then converted in cells to T3, the active form of thyroid hormone. But the gland also makes a small amount of T3.

"The controversy is whether people should be replaced with both T4 and T3. A small number of patients who go onto T4 replacement therapy still report feeling very tired, and some of those have reported feeling better on thyroxine and T3 combined. However, T4 works for the vast majority of people.

"Before considering T3 in such a case, I would first make sure they are taking thyroxin correctly and are on the right dose. Then, look for other causes in case we had missed something, another auto-immune condition. Only then would I consider the addition of T3."

Case study: Gemma O'Halloran

Everything was going well," says 36-year-old Gemma O'Halloran. "I was enjoying my new home in Gorey, running my business and celebrating the arrival of my gorgeous new niece. With hindsight, I did feel a bit tired and listless in the weeks before the main symptoms showed themselves, but nothing out of the ordinary. A thyroid problem was the last thing on my mind, even when some hives - a previous health issue - reappeared."

Gemma continued on "until one day I was in the supermarket and I knelt down to get something from the lowest shelf. I found I couldn't get back up again. I was stuck and simply didn't have the strength to rise. I had to sit on the floor and get up one leg at a time."

Within days, Gemma visited her GP. By then, "my hands were shaking, I was short of breath, my heart felt like it was beating out of my chest, I had no strength in my legs, I had some difficulty swallowing. As I spoke to the GP, I started connecting other dots and knew that something was really wrong."

The GP immediately suspected a thyroid problem, and scheduled a blood test. "She specifically mentioned hyperthyroidism, an overactive thyroid, and if that was the case, I would need to see an endocrinologist."

"I immediately began researching," Gemma says with a laugh. "That's me, I'm an event manager, I like to get things done. There are times to be patient, and there are times to act." By the time her blood results came back - now clearly indicating that she needed urgent attention - Gemma had found Dr Moran at the Beacon Hospital, who carried out further blood tests and diagnosed Graves' disease.

Gemma's GP had already put her on medication to slow her heart-rate and stop the shaking of her hands - "it took me six a
ttempts to get the tablet pack open that first day, because they trembled so much," she vividly recalls - and Dr Moran prescribed additional medication to bring her actual hormone levels down.

"It takes a while for the medication to kick in," Gemma says. "It takes weeks, not days. And in the meantime, I still had all these symptoms. As well as the physical symptoms including tiredness, weakness, hives, weight loss - I lost 9lb even though my appetite was massive - and an enlarged thyroid gland, or goitre that made swallowing difficult, I had emotional and cognitive symptoms too.

"Some of my key strengths are strategic thinking and planning. I found my thinking was a lot slower. I was forgetful. My concentration and focus were impacted too. Emotionally, I experienced anxiety brought on by the hormone imbalances, I felt irritable, and regularly had to take deep breaths to stay calm. I was still working, but I did scale it back for a while. Throughout all this I had amazing support from my family, friends, doctors, colleagues and clients and I thank all of them for it."

Gemma tried to be as present and pro-active in her own treatment as possible, engaging in the process alongside her doctors. Within three weeks, blood tests showed that her hormone levels were moving in the right direction, and by five weeks she was back in the normal range.

"Once that happened, the treatment changed and focused on maintaining the new levels and ensuring that hypothyroidism didn't develop.

"I have a blood test every few months, and that will continue for a couple of years, but I feel better now. It shows in every aspect of my life. My strength has returned, my brain is clear, my emotions are back on an even keel. I'm back to myself. The silver lining has been a new perspective, something I think anyone who has been ill and recovers, gains. I'm more aware now of the people in my life, what I mean to them and them to me, and that is something I'm very grateful for."

Health & Living

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'I was tired, irritable and anxious' - how to recognise a thyroid issue - Independent.ie

Achieve a better you with these healthy resources – PhillyVoice.com

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Have you already given up on your New Years resolution? Dont sweat itin reality, only eight percent of people stick with their New Years goals.

Despite our best intentions, changing our lives for the better isnt easy. But, there are resources that can help you be a healthier you.

Have you considered your health plan? If you have an Independence Blue Cross (Independence) plan, you can receive personal support and resources to help you stick with your healthy lifestyle changes 365 days a year.

Just taking the first few steps toward improving your health can be daunting. To help make it easier to start, Independence members can call a Health Coach 24/7 at 1-800-ASK-BLUE (1-800-275-2583). These health care professionals can answer members health-related questions and address concerns, empowering them to make important decisions about wellness and preventive health.

Many Independence members are also covered for six free annual visits with a registered dietitian. Nutrition counseling with a registered dietitian can help you eat healthier, lose weight, and better manage chronic conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure.

The good news is, even if your efforts to change have gotten off track, the new year is still young! Its not too late to start now (or start again). This time next year, youll be glad you did.

Independence members have access to Achieve Well-being, an online tool that helps you identify your goals and create a plan to reach them.

A quick 15-minute survey will give you a private and personalized report with recommended focus areas. You can earn badges and tokens for completing activities, plus you can easily track your progress and sync with other mobile apps and health trackers youre using.

Achieve Well-being breaks down your health journey into small, manageable steps that make it simple and fun to achieve your health goals. Get startedby logging in at ibx.com.

With Healthy LifestylesSM Solutions* reimbursements, Independence members are rewarded for taking small steps every day that can lead to big changes in their health. This includes up to:

Plus, members can also take advantage of valuable discounts on health-related products and services from leading national companies, like fitness gear and weight loss programs, to help you save money while doing something thats good for you.

Ready to achieve a better you? Log in at ibx.com and get started today!

*These are value-added programs and services. They are not benefits under an Independence Blue Cross health plan, and are, therefore, subject to change without notice.

Information on this site is provided for informational purposes and is not meant to substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professional. You should not use the information contained herein for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing any medication. If you have, or suspect that you have, a medical problem, promptly contact your health care provider.

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Achieve a better you with these healthy resources - PhillyVoice.com

Living A Healthy Lifestyle – Know The Cause – 1st Episode (9843) – Video

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Living A Healthy Lifestyle - Know The Cause - 1st Episode (9843)
http://www.knowthecause.com http://facebook.com/knowthecause Show Summary Living A Healthy Lifestyle - 1st Episode (9843) Season 2015 Host: Doug Kaufmann Guests: Kristin Kons Dr Greg ...

By: Doug Kaufmann

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Living A Healthy Lifestyle - Know The Cause - 1st Episode (9843) - Video

7 Essentials for Healing and Preventing Breast Cancer with Dr. V – Video

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7 Essentials for Healing and Preventing Breast Cancer with Dr. V
http://dranh.com/002 Dr. V is an incredible woman who had a successful chiropractic practice for over 30 years and lived a healthy lifestyle, eating organically even before it came in vogue....

By: Dr. Anh Nguyen, PharmD

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7 Essentials for Healing and Preventing Breast Cancer with Dr. V - Video

Healthy Lifestyle Facts And How To Balance Them Out With My Life – Video

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Healthy Lifestyle Facts And How To Balance Them Out With My Life
http://www.Fitabolize.com It #39;s helpful to get motivated to workout by meeting a friend at the gym and go to a workout class together! To get motivated to maintain a healthy lifestyle, make...

By: Liz Cortes

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Healthy Lifestyle Facts And How To Balance Them Out With My Life - Video