Say NO to STRESS!!

What is STRESS?:Stress is part of everyday life - and never more so than in todays' society. Stress is not just about anxiety and panic. It is the everyday experience of strain, time, and pressure and attempts to cope with the demands placed upon us t work and at home.

Some stress is good, a natural part of life. Without it, life would be extremely boring. It gets us out of bed in the mornings and keeps us going at work during leisure time or even sporting activities.

The Effects of Stress:
Stress has tangible effects on your body. The way you cope with stress, by smoking, eating unhealthily, or not finding the time to exercise, for example can have a huge negative effect on your health and your heart.

Learning to relax and control your stress will not only help you enjoy life more, but it will be better for your health in the long term.

Managing Stress:

There are many ways to reduce your stress levels. As with most things in life - practice makes perfect!

Stress Busting Tips:

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  List all the things that "trigger" your stress. Is it work colleagues or traffic jams? Recognising the triggers of stress is a huge step forward. Try to relax when you encounter these situations.
  
  
  
  
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  Are you physically active? Do gentle cycling, brisk walks or swimming is an ideal way to reduce the tension caused by stress, in addition you'll sleep much better.
  
  
  
  
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  Make time to socialise and relax! Chat to your friends. Take the time to unwind even if it is ten minutes. Read, take a lovely bath or do something that you are passionate about. (If you work just make sure it is in your lunch break or after hours.)
  
  
  
  
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  Try simple breathing and stretching exercises. You can do them anywhere even at your desk or in your car.
  
  
  
  
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  Stop multi-tasking. Put your jobs in order of priority. Plan ahead instead of doing everything at the last minute.
  
  
  
  
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  Learn to say NO to more work or demands that placed you on.
  
  
  
  
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  Take the time to eat and drink healthily.
  
  
  

How can I tell if I am stress?

If you "yes" or "no" to the following questions:
Do you feel guilty when relaxing? Uneasy if not on the go?
Do you lie awake worring about tomorrow?
Are you tense.. does your neck feel "knotted"?
Are you impatient or irritable?
Do you feel you have a lot on your mind and have difficulty concentrating?
Do you frequently feel like you just don't know where to start?
Are you smoking and drinking more?
Do you eat in a hurry?
Does life seem full of crises?
Do you find it difficult to make decisions?
Do you frequently experience a butterfly stomach, a dry mouth, sweaty palms or heart pulpatations?
Do any of the above experience sound familiar? If you answered yes to some of these questions, it is quite possible that your stress levels is a little to high.

Why Do You Need Proteins?

When learning about healthy eating, one of the most important nutrients is protein. Of course, all nutrients are crucial for our bodies to be as healthy as possible, but without protein in our diets every single day, our bodies will not be as strong as they should be. Protein can be found in a number of food sources, so if you’re interested in eating a healthier diet, you should consider learning more about protein.

We need to eat foods rich in protein every day because, unlike some other nutrients, it cannot be stored in the body. That means that if you eat more protein than necessary, your body will simply cause it to pass through your system. Therefore, you really can’t eat too much protein! However, because protein cannot be stored in the body problems may arise surrounding this nutrient as well. If you don’t get enough protein on any given day, your body has no back-up plan for producing protein on its own or using reserved protein from previous days. Therefore, protein is very important to consider when you are planning your meals.

Essentially, protein builds muscles, which is why you will see bodybuilders especially concerned with protein. When you lift weights to work out, your body makes tiny tears in the muscles. Proteins are then used to repair these healthy tears in the body, building the muscle slightly bigger with every workout. Even if you do not work out, your body’s muscle deteriorates, as you body needs the energy. Muscle provides energy, just like fat. Having protein in the body helps you to rebuild any muscle lost.

Protein also helps a person’s body in other ways, mainly with the maintenance of hormones. Hormones in the body do a number of things, such as regulate organ function, account for stimulation, create metabolism, and affect mood. Proteins are used in the making of some of these different hormones, so if you go more than a day or two without eating foods rich in proteins, your entire body will suffer.

How can you make sure that you re getting enough proteins? Simply, look for foods with protein as a key component on the label. Some great foods to consider include chicken, beef, pork, eggs, and fish, although vegetarians can also get proteins into their diets by eating nuts, beans, soy products, and a variety of other foods. You should have some of these foods in your diet every single day to ensure that you are providing your body with the proteins it needs to stay healthy.

Eating Right for a Healthier Heart!

It is time for a serious heart to heart. Eating the right amount of the right types of fat is

positively good for your health. Fat also has a host of valuable functions in the body.

Why you need fats:

Are an important source of energy;

Protect your vital organs;

Provide essential fatty acids that cannot be made by your body;

Help you absorb the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K.

Fats and Heart Health:

Fats have a different effect on cholesterol. Saturated and trans fats are "bad" fats because they increase cholestrol levels. Unsaturated fats are "good" in the sense that they are lower in cholestrol levels. By replacing "bad" fats with the "good" fats your are lowering your cholestrol levels and looking after your heart.

Losing weight is a good step towards a healthier heart. All fats are high in calories. If you are trying to lose weight, take particular care to moderate your overall fat intake. However, it is the quality or type of fat that is most important.

Omega 3 and Omega 6 polyunsaturated fats, or "good" oils, are particulary very good for your heart health.

Essential Fats:

Your body cannot make essential fats, therefore you must get them from the Omega Oils in your food. These fas are important for normal growth and development, formation of hormones and general health and well being.

Type of Fat: Saturated Fats
Effect on your heart: Bad
Food Source: Meat, Butter, Full Fat Dairy Products, and Tropical Oils.

Type of Fat: Trans Fats
Effect on your heart: Bad
Food Source: Cakes, Pasteries, Fast Foods.

Type of Fat: Polyunsturated Fats (Omega 6):
(Omega 6 oils reduce cholesterol levels and are found mainly in plant foods)
Effect on your heart: Good
Food Source: Sunflower seeds, Sesame Seeds, Canola oil, soybean oil, walnut oil, corn oil, and spreads that are made from them.

Type of Fat: Polyunsturated Fats (Omega 3)
(The plant form of Omega 3 is found in walnuts and flaxseed, canola and vegetable oils. A more complex form of Omega 3 is found in fish, particularly oily fish like kippers, mackerel, herring and salmon.)
Effect on your heart: Good
Source: Oily Fish, Vegetable Oils (flaxseed/linseed oil; soya bean oil; canola oil) Nuts and Spreads that are made from them.

Type of Fat: Monounsaturated Fats
(They help to control cholesterol levels simply by taking the place of some "bad" fat in the diet.)
Effect on your heart: Good
Source: Olive oil; Canola oil; Peanut oil and Avocado oil.

Fats you need less of...

Saturated Fats:
Butter, lard, fatty meats, meat products like sausages and burgers, full fat milk, cheese and diary products, as well as pastries are the main sources of saturated fat. It is not necessary to cut these foods out completely, but it is a good idea to choose a lower fat option where possible and to cut down your portion sizes.

Trans Fats:
Trans fats are formed during the partial hydrogenation of unsaturated fats to make them more solid. Trans fats are often used in commercially produced cakes, pastries and biscuits. It is also found in butter, whole milk, beef and mutton.

Use Food Labels:
We can see the fats and oils we use for cooking and spreading, but almost three quarters of the fat we consume comes from foods like cakes, biscuits, savoury snacks and meat products where the ft is not visible. Read food labels like those on spreads and oils will also tell you the types of fas they contain.

Remember to choose those high in good polynsaturated and monounsaturated fats, and low in bad saturated and trans fats.

Vitamins: A General Overview

There are many different kinds of vitamins that can help your body. These vitamins, along with the essential minerals, which can also be called micronutrients, are things that your body needs, in small amounts, which promote good biochemical reactions within your body and within your cells. They make you grow right, help you digest your food, make you more mentally alert and more mentally sound, help you to be resistant to infectious diseases, and help your body to use carbohydrates, proteins and fats. Also, vitamins and minerals are catalysts in your body, which speed up or initiate chemical reactions. The difference between the vitamins and the proteins you get from food is that you don’t burn up the vitamins, so you can’t use them for energy.

Because your body does not make most vitamins and minerals directly, you have to get them from food sources or from vitamin supplements. If you aren’t getting enough of a certain vitamin or mineral for a long period of time you can get a specific disease or condition. This will usually be fixed when the vitamin or mineral is re supplied to your body.

Basically, there are 13 vitamins. Four of them are fat-soluble and nine of them are going to be water soluble. The ones that are fat-soluble can be stored in your body fat and also stored in certain organs such as your liver. The water-soluble vitamins do not get stored in your body in large amounts.

The vitamins that are fat soluble, which means that you can store them in your body for a long time, include A, D, E and K. These dissolve in lipids and require bile in order to be absorbed. They are also stored in tissues, and if you have too many of them they can be toxic to you.

The water-soluble vitamins are going to be C and eight of the B vitamins. These are thiamine, which is B1, Riboflavin, which is B2, niacin, pyridoxine, which is B6, pantothenic acid, which is B5, vitamin B12, biotin and folic acid. These dissolve in water, so if you are cooking or washing, the vitamins might actually be washed out of the food. They are easily absorbed and excreted, and are not stored very much or often in your tissues. These vitamins are seldom going to reach toxic levels.

All of these vitamins are found in food, but if you aren’t able to get the food that you need in order to get the vitamins, you are going to have to turn to nutritional supplements to make sure that you are getting all of the vitamins and minerals that your body is going to need.

Essential Nutrients Your Body Needs.

Healthy eating requires you to eat a number of nutrients every day. In fact, there are 40 different nutrients you need to ingest in order to keep your body healthy. That’s a lot of nutrients you need to know about! Luckily, you can break down all of these nutrients into smaller categories in order to keep them organized in your mind and make sure you get all of the foods you need.

First and foremost, everyone needs water in order to live a healthy life. Without water, we become dehydrated, and eventually die. You lose water when you sweat and through daily bodily functions, so water must be replenished. Drinking about 8 glasses a day is recommended. Of course, water is found in food as well as in drinks, so you can get your 8 glasses by eating foods like watermelon.

Of course, we need much more than water every day to survive. Another group of nutrients we can’t do without is proteins. Proteins are found in foods such as meat, eggs, and soy products. They provide the amino acids needed to build muscle tissue as well as help make some of the hormones in our bodies. Red blood cells and hair is also made from protein.

Along with proteins, a body also needs adequate amounts of fats and carbohydrates in order for us to have enough energy during the day. Fats are primarily used for energy during intense activity, like exercising, while carbohydrates are primarily used for energy during less intense activities, like standing, sitting, and other movements. Both the fats and the carbohydrates that we eat in a day can be stored for later use as fat, so it is important to eat enough for energy, but also important to regulate intake in order to stay slim and healthy. In the event that you are not eating enough fats and carbohydrates, your body can also provide itself with fuel from proteins.

Vitamins and minerals are also important nutrients for our daily lives. We get these from fruits, vegetables, milk, and most natural sources of food. Some of our foods, such as bread products, can even be enriched so that we get more vitamins and minerals in our bodies. There are dozens that you need to ingest regularly, such as iron, thiamine, vitamin C, and vitamin D. If you are eating a healthy diet, you can most likely get enough vitamins and minerals from your foods, but you can also take vitamin supplements to make sure that you are getting the right amounts you need to maintain body function. Supplements may also be available to help with other nutrients as well, so if you are worried, talk to your doctor about how you can be sure to be eating a healthy amount of nutrients.