Tips for low cholesterol cooking

A diet makeover is an effective way to cut down bad cholesterol (low-density lipoprotein). By avoiding certain foods high in trans and saturated fats, you can lower your cholesterol level drastically.

But, the secret to a balanced heart-friendly diet doesn't here. Lowering bad cholesterol must start from your very kitchen with the help of healthy cooking methods. By practicing easy-to-follow cooking tips, you can deal with high cholesterol woes while making sure that all essential nutrients remain intact. Here are 8 important tips for low cholesterol cooking...

Employ low-fat cooking methods: Try low-fat cooking methods like broiling, grilling, stir-fry, braising and steaming. These methods are much better than batter coating and deep frying as they help retain all the essential nutrients and flavours of the ingredients. Fried foods, on the other hand, should be strictly avoided because most of them contain high levels of saturated and trans-fats. Moreover, when oil is heated to very high temperatures, a toxic compound called acrylamide is formed which is a neurotoxin and carcinogen. Hence, to maintain heart health and lower bad cholesterol, use these health cooking methods.

Use lean cuts of meat: Another healthy cooking method is using more of lean cuts of meat and poultry as they are lower in fats. Lean cuts of pork include loin chops and tenderloin while that of beef includes chuck, sirloin and round. Also, while cooking chicken meat, use boneless breast pieces or trim the excess fat with the help of kitchen scissors.

Remove visible meat fats before cooking: While cooking meat and poultry, trim all visible fats from the pieces. This includes oils, butter and fats on the meat. The skin also harbours a lot of fat and calories and hence, it is advisable to always remove it. You may leave the skin on while cooking but remove it prior to eating.

Use pure vegetable oils instead of fats: Use more of olive oil, sunflower oil and canola oil for cooking instead of opting for lard or butter. These cooking oils are a very good source of unsaturated fatty acids required for maintaining a healthy heart. While olive oil is a good source of mono-unsaturates, pure vegetable oils like sunflower oil are high in polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Avoid fatty favouring additives: For a low cholesterol diet, try more of organic spices like basil, cilantro and oregano rather than fatty additives for flavouring. Instead of leaning more towards sour cream and butter to liven your dish, you can reach for these spices to remain healthy and fat-free.

Cook meat dishes in advance: While cooking stews, soups and boiled meat, try and cook a day in advance and then keep it inside the refrigerator. This is because as the dish chills, the fat present in it hardens at the top. This can be removed easily and the remaining low-fat dish can be used.

Remove or drain fat after cooking: Another cooking recommendation that will help lower the cholesterol content is by draining the fat after cooking. Once the meat or poultry pieces are cooked properly, you can remove the excess oil in the pan and then rinse the pieces in hot water. Following this, you can remove the water from the cooked meat with the help of a paper towel.

Eat foods with high fibre content: For cooking low-cholesterol foods, opt for ingredients that have high fibre levels. Fibre foods can be categorized under two distinct sectors - soluble and insoluble fibre foods. Insoluble fibre foods include green leafy vegetables, nuts and grains while soluble fibres are found in bananas and oatmeal.

Source http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/health-fitness/diet/Tips-for-low-cholesterol-cooking/articleshow/10216409.cms

Top Five Healthy Habits

Being healthy is not something that can be achieved overnight. You really have to dedicated yourself into doing it. There is not really any magical formula or crazy technique for this. Any books, diets, or special techniques out there that work are all really doing one thing: causing you to develop a habit of doing healthy actions.
They offer encouraging words, and prove to you results...and really, they re more or less motivating you to become healthier. Why do those, pay money, when you can simply develop your own good habits? So I ve done some research and found out some of the habits of healthy people. Here are the ones I feel are Top 5 habits of healthy people.


1. Eat Breakfast Everyday

Eating breakfast is healthy because they tend to take in more nutrients: vitamins, minerals, less fat, less cholesterol. In fact, having breakfast helps hold of hunger pangs till lunch, and you re less prone to buy high calorie foods from the local vending machine. Studies have shown kids who eat breakfast perform better. There s even research that shows breakfast eaters have a lower rate of diabetes, less chance to become obese, when compared to those who do not eat breakfast.

If one of your excuses to not eat breakfast is time, then maybe adjusting it to fit your schedule would be better. For example, some people may wake up not feeling hungry, and would prefer to be able to sleep in; they can bring their breakfast with them when going to work, and eat it while reading their morning emails.

2. Fish and Omega 3

The AHA recommends at least two servings of fish each week. Fish are known to be high in omega 3 fatty acids. Omega 3 is known to be very healthy for the heart, and there s even evidence that it can soothe an overactive immune system; there seems to be a link between more omega 3 in your diet, and lower symptoms of allergies, asthma, eczema, and other autoimmune disorders.

3. Sleep

Most people actually don t get enough sleep; something like two thirds of adults suffer from sleep problems, and many don t get enough hours of sleep to stay awake/alert. Getting enough sleep is extremely vital for your emotional and physical well being. People who don t get enough sleep are more likely to develop psychiatric problems. Lack of sleep also negatively affect memory, learning, and logical reasoning.

4. Great Friends and Family

Your friends can save your life. How? Four things: They can provide information on any of your symptoms, which can prompt you to see a doctor, they offer emotional support when ever you need it, they can help provide physical support for you when you need to visit doctors...and of course, they help offer a sense of belonging.

5. Exercise!

Do I really need to outline the benefits of exercising? We ve all heard it: the myriads of health benefits, the reduction in various diseases (obesity, diabetes, etc), increased general well being, both mentally and physically. This one is a no brainer really. Exercise is key in losing weight, and it s also key in reducing heart disease. The only problem is it requires commitment.

Some tips to beat the heat wave

"Cool it!"

That's the advice going out Wednesday night from the Broome County Health Department, especially to the elderly, and parents of infants and toddlers.

That's because they're the ones most likely to suffer from a heat-related illness over the next few days.

The guys rebuilding Johnson Avenue on Binghamton's West Side are on a tight schedule.

No waiting for cooler weather.

But they're not taking chances in this heat.

They are taking this advice from Dr. Chris Ryan, Medical Director of the Broome County Health Department.

"You should drink lots of water." advises Dr. Ryan.

Sports drinks are o.k. too, as long as they don't have too much sugar or caffeine.

What else?

"Try to spend time in cool, air conditioned environments." said Dr. Ryan

Not an option for the construction crew.

But it's exactly what the Loyal D. Greenmun Senior Center is offering, weekdays 10 to 4.

"Even several hours each day spent in a cool, air conditioned environment is a good idea, is protective." said Dr. Ryan

For the duration of the heat wave, the center's welcoming even non members.

"You don't have to be a member to come in and sit. And it's nice and cool in here so I'd advise it, if somebody wanted to get out of the heat to come in. " said Mitz White

And, you don't have to just sit.

"We have crafts here. We have pool downstairs. We have 4 pool tables. We have shuffleboard here. We have the Wii game, we can get things going here, activities for people." said White

Of course this is the activity most people think of when the temperature hovers around 90.

A way better option than huddling inside around a fan.

"If it's less than 95 and you feel better with a fan blowing, that's great but don't count on that to be protective against heat-related illness." tells Dr. Ryan

When the fan stopped making a difference at the Lindsley's home, Mom, Dad, and 19 month-old Mason headed for the nearest public pool.

"Yes, yes, it's too hot at home. The fans aren't even working. No air conditioning, so we came here." said Ashley Lindsley

And with no letup for a few days, they'll probably be back.

Source  http://www.wicz.com/news2005/viewarticle.asp?a=19398

Tips for staying healthy in hot temperatures

With the arrival of summer and hot weather upon us, Dr. Ron Chapman, director of the California Department of Public Health, is encouraging California residents to follow these top-10 helpful tips to stay safe this summer:

• Reduce exposure to the sun from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. when UV rays are strongest, and keep physical activities to a minimum during that time. When working outside, drink plenty of water or juice even if you are not thirsty, and take rest breaks in the shade.

• Wear a wide-brimmed hat to cover the face and neck, and wear loose-fitting clothing to keep cool and to protect your skin from the sun and mosquitoes.

• Wear sunglasses that provide 100 percent UVA and UVB protection. Chronic exposure to the sun can cause cataracts, which left untreated, can lead to blindness.

• Liberally apply sunscreen (at least SPF 15)

15 minutes before venturing outdoors and re-apply at least every two hours — sunscreen prevents skin cancer, the number one cancer affecting Californians and prevents premature aging.

• Never, EVER leave infants, children or frail elderly unattended in a parked car. It can take as little as 10 minutes for the temperature inside a car to rise to levels that can kill.

• To prevent overheating, use cool compresses, misting, showers and baths — if you or someone experiences a rapid, strong pulse, feels delirious, becomes unconscious or has a body temperature above 102, call 911 immediately.

• Prevent children from drowning by providing adult supervision at all times and having a safety barrier that surrounds a pool or spa. Drowning is the leading cause of injury deaths for children under five.

• Make sure that your doors and windows have tight-fitting screens to keep out mosquitoes. Some mosquitoes carry West Nile Virus, which can mimic influenza symptoms such as fever, body aches and eye pain.

The virus can cause serious health complications and in rare cases, death.

• Apply insect repellent containing DEET, picaradin, oil of lemon eucalyptus or IR 3535 according to label instructions.

Mosquitoes usually bite in the early morning and evening so it is important to wear repellent during those times.

• Eliminate all sources of standing water on your property, including flower pots, old car tires, rain gutters and pet bowls — mosquitoes breed and lay eggs in standing water.

For more tips on staying cool in the summer sun, go online to www.cdph.ca.gov.

Source http://www.hidesertstar.com/articles/2011/06/29/the_desert_trail/sports/doc4e0b9d8aab378652657286.txt

Keep Your Kids Eating Healthy

Fast food is a big part of modern life these days, making it very hard to teach a child how he or she should eat healthy. The cheapest and easiest foods are those that are normally the least healthy. If you give your child the choice between healthy food and junk food, you normally won't like the results.


Even though it isn't possible to get a child to like all healthy foods, there are some ways to get your child to try and hopefully like at least a few of them. You can be as creative as you like, as getting kids to eat healthy foods can be a little harder than you may think.

- Sneak the healthy food in. Even though it would be great if your kid understood the importance of fruits and vegetables, this isn't always possible. If you can't get them to eat good food willingly, there are ways to sneak them in, such as making muffins out of bananas or apples, or pizza with spinach on it.

- Call fruits and vegetables by funny names. You can refer to broccoli as "trees", making them more fun to eat. There are many different names you can call fruits and vegetables, even making up your own if you prefer. Most kids prefer to eat foods that sound fun.

- Make the foods taste better. Ranch dressing is great for broccoli, while peanut butter is a great topping for celery. There are several combinations for vegetables that can make them taste much better. You can let your child pick a topping for a vegetable, even if it's something you wouldn't normally like yourself.

- Dress the vegetables up. Just as much as calling them names help kids eat healthy foods, making them look funny also helps. You can do this by making funny designs on the plate, or setting them up to look like people. Although some parents don't like their kids playing with their food, sometimes it helps to get them to eat healthier.

There are several ways to make your kids eat healthier, but to make them enjoy it also has to be fun as well. This isn't always an easy task, because kids normally don't like foods that are good for them. It can however, be done with a bit of creativity. Hopefully, doing this will help your child develop a love of healthy foods for the rest of their lives.

Stroke prevention and getting enough sleep

Health tips for Wednesday include a healthy diet to prevent stroke, and getting ample sleep for both adults and children!

Strokes are probably one of the more debilitating and disabling health downturns we could have, if we survive one at all.

Healthy weight and healthy eating lower our risk, but now, one thing we can have in our diet could protect us from stroke, that comes from an encouraging report to be published tomorrow in the Journal of Neurology.

The Mediterranean diet is a healthy way to eat and very beneficial for our hearts.

It comprises of fruits, vegetables, fish, whole grains and includes olive oil. In this study of over 7 thousand people who reported they used lots of olive oil, the researchers also found a 41 percent lower risk of stroke when compared to the people who used no olive oil.

So olive oil might be the protector against that awful attack to our brain vessels that's called a stroke.

So what I tell people is that olive consumption is good but to keep in mind that we don't know how much you should take and that olive oil is a fat. However it is a good fat so we encourage people to substitute bad fats with good fats

In another story, we have more information on women's sleep out today from sleep experts.

Many of us, both men and women, use weekends to try to catch up the snooze we didn't get enough of during the week. And while we may feel more rested, sometimes it's not enough, because our brain functions don't recover totally.

But one study reported today finds that women don't suffer the effects of sleep deprivation as much as men do.

The researchers think that is because women, when they do sleep, get "deeper" sleep and that is what protects them more when they're deprived of sleep.

That's one for the women.

And another sleep study reported today looked at pre-schoolers and what happens when they don't get enough sleep. The study involves about 6,860 children with analyses controlled for gender, ethnicity and family income

While most moms can probably tell you what happens, this scientific research found this: Kids not getting enough sleep at home might make them more likely to be hyperactive and inattentive in Kindergarten.

"ADHD is usually diagnosed during the school age years, but the onset of hyperactivity and impulsivity starts much earlier", said the researcher.

Doctor's recommendation: toddlers to age 3 should get 12 to 14 hours of sleep , and preschoolers and kindergarteners need to get 11 to 13 hours. So doctor's orders: see that those little ones get their sleep.

Source http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/health&id=8192612

Health tips for pregnant women dealing with diabetes

We all know that the condition of pregnancy can be difficult for any women but it can be more challenging if the woman has Diabetes. So if any of you is about to get pregnant then there are many precautions that you need to take care of and bad habits like smoking or drinking should be avoided. Here are certain health tips that help you out in dealing with pregnancy and diabetes at the same time:

Maintain a healthy weight

Maintaining a healthy weight can help you in avoiding injuries and keeping a check on the blood sugar level. It is very easy to maintain a healthy weight by performing routine exercise designed for pregnant women. Loosing excess weight and taking prenatal vitamins can assist in keeping blood sugar under control.

Women who are dealing with diabetes type 2 are more at risk for PCOS, which is also known as polycystic ovary syndrome. In this complex situation, it is very difficult for a woman to get pregnant. However, there are certain medications that can assist in stimulating the ovulation like Clomid and Serophene.

Constant checkups

Woman dealing with pregnancy and diabetes at the same time deal with complex problems quite often, that is why it is very important for her to undergo regular checkups with her doctor. Regular monitoring, blood sugar level checkups and ultrasounds with the doctor can be of great help in detecting any sort of problems earlier on before it gets late. It is very important to keep the blood sugar under control by regular blood glucose monitoring so that your diabetes does not create problems in pregnancy stages.

Source http://www.womencitizen.com/health/3261-health-tips-for-pregnant-women-dealing-with-diabetes.html