Health - This Week's Health Tips

Feeling Blue? - A general tendency is to brush past whatever is making you upset, ignore it and move on. Don’t do this!

Subdue Stress by drinking Tea – Discover the benefits.

High-Calorie Catastrophe - When you overdo it and gulp down a day's calories in just one sitting, your body's inflammatory processes go into overdrive. But here's a way you might counter it…

Stay-Slim Secret - It's a fact of life: We all tend to gain weight as we get older -- at least half a pound a year.

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Feeling Blue?

A general tendency is to brush past whatever is making you upset, ignore it and move on. Don’t do this!
In a study, people with intact memories and people with amnesia were shown sad movie clips. The facial expressions of amnesic patients remained sad for up to 30 minutes later, even though they had no memory of what they'd seen. In comparison, people with intact memories returned to normal much more quickly.

The key to this is: Remember and Let Go!
Knowing what's making you sad is the key to dealing with it, learning from it, and letting go. If you don't process what you're going through, sad thoughts may continue to linger, and sad signals may even get stored in your body. That's exactly what researchers suspect happened to the people with amnesia in the recent study. So the next time you feel down but don't know why, make an effort and figure it out. You'll feel better if you do. Understanding the source of your sadness can be key to moving on.

Subdue Stress by drinking Tea

It's calorie free and full of disease-fighting antioxidants, and it can also help turn your simmer-down switch from "frenzy" to "phew." How does tea subdue stress? Could be the theanine, a type of amino acid found in tea that has a reputation for alertness-making and mind-relaxing. So put your tea kettle on! And enjoy great tea-drinking benefits.

High-Calorie Catastrophe

When you overdo it and gulp down a day's calories in just one sitting, your body's inflammatory processes go into overdrive. But here's a way you might counter it: Drink orange juice.

In a recent study, people who had eaten a supersized fast-food breakfast experienced a much milder inflammatory response in their bodies when they drank orange juice with the meal.

Whatever you do, don't pair that overindulgence with a soda. When researchers compared the effects that three different beverages had on the way bodies process big, fatty, inflammation-triggering foods, sugar water was the worst of the bunch. It seemed to exacerbate the inflammatory response. Plain water fared somewhere in between orange juice and sugar water, but it has the added benefit of being calorie-free.

What makes orange juice so good at clamping down on the inflammation and oxidation that big, fatty meals cause? The two important flavonoids found in oranges -- naringenin and hesperidin. These powerful antioxidants help tamp down body processes that can damage blood vessels and lay the groundwork for big health problems, like heart diseases.

Stay-Slim Secret

It's a fact of life: We all tend to gain weight as we get older -- at least half a pound a year. Over time, that adds up to increased pants sizes and health risks. But in a study, people whose meals most closely resembled Mediterranean-style dishes were 20–25 percent less likely to gain weight as the years passed. What's so great about eating like a Greek? Well, for one, Mediterranean meals tend to be high in fiber, so you're more likely to feel satiated right up to your next meal. For another, Mediterranean eats help keep your metabolism steady, so you burn calories evenly throughout the day and don't feel the need to reach for a quick sugar fix.

So how can you make your meals more Mediterranean? For starters, include a couple of servings of vegetables or fruit at each meal. And choose whole grains over white or refined grains, olive oil over butter, and fish over red meat. That's a good beginning!