Easy Way to Stay Trim and Slim

Drinking Water Keeps You Energized

Self magazine had some very important information in their latest issue that is definitely worth sharing. Dehydration can cause you to feel fatigued and sluggish, and it forces your brain to work harder than it would otherwise to perform the same tasks, explains Matthew J. Kempton, Ph.D., a postdoctoral researcher at King's College London. "Cells must have water to function," Kempton says. "If they can't get enough water, they can't do their jobs properly."


Strengthen your Bones with out Dairy

Not a milk lover? Drinking mineral water may help up your calcium intake and prevent bone loss, says Joseph Lane, M.D., who studies bone health at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. Filtered and spring waters have minimal amounts of the bone builder, but Dr. Lane's research shows mineral water contains an average of 208 milligrams of calcium per liter. That's about one fifth of the recommended daily intake for women younger than 50, who should get 1,000 mg per day.


Curb the Creep

Drinking water cooled to 37.4 degrees may lead to a slight increase in calorie expenditure for an hour after you quaff it, a study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism finds. (The cool liquid forces your body to work to maintain its internal temperature.) And a glass before a meal—chilled or not—may curb your appetite slightly, helping cut calories.

Happy Heart

When a National Institutes of Health–funded study tracked 34,000 people for 14 years, it found that men who downed five to six glasses of water a day were nearly 70 percent less likely to die of a heart attack. The correlation wasn't as strong in women, but "it's a very intriguing finding," says study director Gary Fraser, M.D., a cardiologist at Loma Linda University Medical Center in California. "We are now following 96,000 men and women in another study and will see if the preliminary results hold."

Water has zero calories, helps keep us hydrated and healthy, and is more important for survival than food is.  So indulge, especially with this hot weather ahead J

Energy Make-Over

Noticing a trend?  My last entry was about the benefits of napping, and this entry is about how to keep energy levels high, safe to say I’m really getting exhausted. This morning, as I heard my alarm go off I almost started crying, and I hadn’t even gotten out of bed!

There is so much to do in day.  There are meetings in the morning, meetings in the evening, and classes in between.  How does one not carry a pillow pet with them to class and snooze?  It’s because of energy.  While reading Fitness magazine, I came across an entry that really has helped me lately and it is advice worth sharing.  

Put the coffee down people! Follow these tips insteadJ

Step 1: Boost Your Brain -- Turn Off the Tube

Instead of numbing your mind as a way to rejuvenate, stimulate it. Take a walk along a scenic trail; spending time in nature helps restore people's energy and focus, a 2008 study in Psychological Science found. What to skip when you're low on energy? The mall. You'll get more mental stimulation than you bargained for, which will leave you exhausted.

Step 2: Avoid the quick fix

It's no surprise that the food on your plate can be the deciding factor between a sluggish and a supercharged day. But more often than not, you don't need a total diet overhaul; small adjustments can go a long way toward optimizing your energy intake, says Ashley Koff, RD, a nutritionist in Los Angeles and FITNESS advisory board member. For starters, don't ditch caffeine. "A small cappuccino, tea with honey, and dark chocolate, all of which contain caffeine and sugar, are perfectly legitimate 'energy Band-Aids' when you need a lift in a hurry," Koff says. "The trouble comes when people rely on them daily. Spiking and plunging blood-glucose levels create an unhealthy cycle of energy highs and lows."

Step 3: Stick with your work out

Expending energy on exercise actually creates more for you to use. "Research shows that physically active people feel more energetic overall than sedentary people," says Patrick O'Connor, PhD, director of the University of Georgia exercise psychology laboratory in Athens. In one Australian study of 40,000 women, the more weekly physical activity they did, the more they reported feeling revved up. "It's likely that exercise stimulates neurotransmitters, such as dopamine, and this creates feelings of greater energy," O'Connor says. Aim for 20 to 40 minutes of cardio four or five times a week.  It’s starting to get warmer so get outside and take a walk if your bored of the same routine.

The Healthiest Thing to do in an Afternoon

Nap is a word that has nothing but good memories to me.  I have to say I am quite the “nap person.”  If a bear during hibernation and I were to have a nap off, I already know I would win.   So it is safe to say that I love to nap.  Imagine how thrilled I was to read in Self magazine that napping is the healthiest thing one can do for themselves.  But why?

The benefits of getting enough sleep (7-9 hours per night, depending on the person) are immeasurable: The well-rested are thinner, healthier, less stressed and better able to concentrate and learn.  Not to bad, huh?

A nap is essential for a happier you, unless you’re the lucky kind that always gets their 8 hours.  Not only do naps provide similar perks to getting enough sleep at night, but they also keep your brain activity high throughout the day, whereas non-nappers suffer from declining activity as the day goes on, according to a study by the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. 

Feel groggy after a long nap? Try a cat nap, a good twenty minutes. 

It allows enough time for your heart rate to go down and for your body to relax.  Another perk? As long as you own a bed or couch of any kind, napping is free J

Happy naptime!