Dr.Dreams A Health,Medical & Wellness Blog » Exercise

5 Healthy Reasons to Eat Valentine’s Day Chocolate

Sean Duffy — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:07:13 +0000

It’s almost Valentine’s Day, and that may mean you’ve got chocolate on your mind. Though you may be fearing the amount of calories in those heart-shaped boxes, there are many reasons to love Valentine’s Day sweet treats. In fact, here are five healthy reasons to eat dark chocolate. It helps you exercise longer: A recent study found that eating a tiny amount of dark chocolate before a workout helps fight fatigue , which means you can go that much further during your workout. The amount that worked in the study was tiny - just half a square, but if it’s good quality chocolate, a small square will go a long way. It’s stress-relieving: And not just when you’re PMSing. A study found that when highly stressed participants ate an ounce and a half of dark chocolate (the equivalent of a Hershey’s bar) a day for two weeks, the level of stress hormones in their bodies, dropped significantly . While eating a candy bar a day can contribute to a whole new set of stresses if you’re watching your weight, it’s nice to know that dark chocolate has a measurable effect on stress levels. Read on for three more reasons to eat dark chocolate.

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5 Healthy Reasons to Eat Valentine’s Day Chocolate

A Reader Recipe: Lemongrass Chicken Soup

Sean Duffy — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:19:06 +0000

Chilly Winter weather calls for body-warming soups. Reader CheesePlease whipped up this Thai lemongrass chicken soup using easy-to-find ingredients. She posted a pic in our Healthy Recipe group . This flavorful lemongrass soup gives you a taste of an authentic Thai or Vietnamese recipe, but without using all the hard-to-find ingredients. Find the full recipe at the blog Cheese Please and don’t forget to post your own recipes in our Healthy Recipe group !

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A Reader Recipe: Lemongrass Chicken Soup

Kiwi Fruit Revelations

Dr Joe — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 23:55:14 +0000

Nutritionists often advocate more fruits and vegetables in the average person’s diet. This is good, albeit incomplete advice. It’s kind of like saying, “Walking is a great form of exercise”. However, walking in a lush park is far more advisable than walking alongside a polluted downtown street. Likewise, increased consumption of just any fruits and Related posts: Kiwi Fruit and Heart Disease Fruit and Vegetable Supplements Reflexology Revelations Food Revelations Echinacea Revelations

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Kiwi Fruit Revelations

5 Surprising Health Benefits of Being a Sports Fan

Martin Neumann — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:19:15 +0000

We are excited to share one of our fave stories from Prevention here on FitSugar! By Cristina Goyanes, Prevention It’s no wonder your friends aren’t available to hang out on Sundays in the Fall and Winter – according to a 2005 Gallup Poll, 64 percent of Americans claim to be professional football fans, and as of 2010, women make up 44 percent of the NFL fan base. Being a sports fan doesn’t mean you’re expected to know all the players and stats of your hometown teams and destined for a beer gut – it’s about coming together in the name of good times as part of a community. “Bonding over sports – the highs and lows of the game – strengthens ties, helps us feel supported, and makes it easier for you to open up about personal things,” says Renee Clauselle, PsyD, who runs a private psychology practice in Long Island, NY. Seventeen Unexpected Side Effects of Exercise Rooting for the same team creates an immediate sense of family, says Daniel Wann, PhD, a Murray State University professor who has been studying the psychology of sports fans for over 20 years. “If you identify with a local team, you build an instant connection to others around you,” he says. Beyond the bonding aspects, watching sports can motivate you to pump up your own workouts – and even burn a few extra calories when you jump, cheer, and clap during the highlights of the game. Find out more ways being a sports fan is a winning situation for your health. Keep reading to learn how being a sports fan benefits your health.

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5 Surprising Health Benefits of Being a Sports Fan

A Reader Answers: Can Exercise Help With Migraines?

Dr Dreams — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:52:16 +0000

FitSugar reader JessicaSmithTV wanted to know: can exercise help with migraines? She asked an expert and posted the answer in our Fit Community . Today’s post comes to us from special guest contributor and medical expert Paul Rizzoli , MD, Assistant Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School: When you’re prone to migraines you’re forced to think through whether or not something you do will invite a headache into your life. Exercise is definitely one of those things. Should you skip a workout because you feel a migraine coming on? Or is it better to push through in the hopes a little sweat will make you feel better? Most headache specialists recommend exercise and an increase an overall physical activity to their patients. However, to date, there’s skimpy evidence to support the idea that working out actually guards against migraine attacks. A few studies have shown that taking regular exercise can reduce the severity, though not the number of headaches. Keep reading to see what studies say about exercise and migraine relief after the break!

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A Reader Answers: Can Exercise Help With Migraines?

5 Easy Ways to Eat More Fruit

Sean Duffy — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 08:57:13 +0000

Luscious, juicy, sweet-as-candy fruit is one of the healthiest foods you can eat. It’s full vitamins, fiber to keep you full, water to keep you hydrated, and the natural sugars make it a healthier alternative to sugary treats. You should aim to eat three to six servings of fruit each day, but if that seems like a lot, here are some ways to sneak fruit into your diet. Add fruit slices to sandwiches. Sliced pear, apple, and watermelon add a unique texture and unexpected flavor to run of the mills sammies. Mix pureed fruit into plain yogurt. When comparing six-ounce containers of Greek yogurt, plain offers 18 grams of protein for 100 calories, and strawberry is 140 calories with 14 grams of protein. Instead of buying the premade flavors, make your own by adding pureed fruit to plain yogurt. You’ll save money, avoid added sugars, and can customize the flavor to wow your taste buds with distinct combos like blackberry peach or strawberry pear. Add fruit to baked goods. We’ve all made banana bread, but that’s not the only fruit-based treat you can whip up. Lower the fat in just about any recipe by replacing oil with applesauce, or get creative with muffin recipes by adding diced strawberries, or mix bits of dried apricots into cookie dough. Cut up fruit and store it in the fridge. It takes effort to wash and cut fruit, enough to make you reach for something easier (and less healthy) instead. Make fruit as accessible as a bag of chips by storing cut up fruit in containers in the fridge. Eat fruit for dessert. Save calories and skip the refined sugars by enjoying nature’s dessert. Here are ways to make fruit even more decadent and enticing – the almond butter and granola filled dates are one of my faves.

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5 Easy Ways to Eat More Fruit

How Halftime Queen Madonna Stays Healthy and Fit

Sean Duffy — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 11:07:06 +0000

When people think of Madonna , usually two things come to mind – music and muscles. The famously fit singer always makes exercise and healthy living a priority, and it shows. Whether she’s entertaining thousands or just being photographed by paparazzi, Madonna’s fit body is always in full view. Her Super Bowl halftime performance will be no different. Before you watch her on stage, learn how she works for that toned body! View Slideshow ›

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How Halftime Queen Madonna Stays Healthy and Fit

Your Run Burned How Many Calories?

Sean Duffy — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 04:13:27 +0000

Whether you run on a treadmill and glance at the display, or keep track of your run outside with a device, it’s nice to know how many calories you’re burning, especially if weight loss is one of your goals. Here’s a nifty chart to let you know what your pace and workout time translates to in calories burned. It can also help you figure out how intensely and how long you need to exercise in order to negate the cupcake you savored at lunch. Do you know how many calories you burn after a moderate 20-minute jog at a pace of 10 minutes per mile? Find out when you after the break.

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Your Run Burned How Many Calories?

A Spoonful of Bad Health? UCSF Researchers Slam Sugar

Dr Dreams — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:48:50 +0000

Tobacco, alcohol … and sugar? A new commentary published in Nature argues that just as the first two substances are regulated in various ways by government authorities, so should be sugar. While acknowledging that food, unlike alcohol and tobacco, is required for survival, the authors say taxes, zoning ordinances and even age limits for purchasing certain sugar-laden products are all appropriate remedies for what they see as a not-so-sweet problem. The authors of the piece, Robert Lustig, Laura Schmidt and Claire Brindis, are all from the University of California, San Francisco. Lustig has been a particularly harsh (and longtime) critic of the impact of added sugars on health — here’s his widely viewed 2009 lecture on that topic. (Lustig was also a central character in a New York Times magazine piece on this subject last year.) Note that they are talking about sugar added to foods. No one is arguing that we should spurn fruit, for example, because of the naturally occurring fructose. “We believe attention should be turned to ‘added sugar,’ defined as any sweetener containing the molecule fructose that is added to food in processing,” the authors write. (And they argue the current dietary “bogeymen” — saturated fat and salt — deserve less scrutiny than the sweet white stuff.) They’re talking about foods sweetened with sucrose — about half fructose and half glucose — and high-fructose corn syrup, which despite its name is mostly used in formulations that are 55% and 42% fructose. The authors write that sugar is more than just empty calories — that growing evidence links fructose overconsumption with health problems including hypertension and diabetes. “Early studies” link it to cancer and cognitive decline, they write. They also argue that like tobacco and alcohol, “it acts on the brain to encourage subsequent intake.” So, what’s a country to do? The authors propose taxing processed foods containing any kind of added sugars, including drinks and cereal. In addition, they suggest tightening licensing requirements on vending machines and snack bars selling sugary drinks in schools and at work, instituting zoning ordinances to restrict the number of fast-food restaurants and convenience stores in low-income neighborhoods and near schools, and even instituting an age limit for purchasing sugary drinks such as soda. And they want the FDA to consider removing fructose from the list of ingredients deemed Generally Recognized as Safe . (Douglas Karas, an FDA spokesman, says that step is not currently being considered.) The Sugar Association, not surprisingly, found a lot to dislike in the commentary. In a response published on its website , the industry group says that USDA stats show people are consuming about 425 more calories per day now than 40 years ago, with caloric sweeteners accounting for about 38 of those calories. Meantime, the group contends that consumption of cane and beet sugar has been falling even as obesity rates have been rising. “We consider it irresponsible when health professionals use their platforms to instill fear by using words like ‘diabetes,’ ‘cancer,’ and even ‘death,’ without so much as one disclaimer about the fact that the incomplete science being referenced is inconclusive at best,” the association says. The obesity problem “originates from the combination of overconsumption of all foods and lack of exercise. To label a single food as the one and only problem misinforms, misleads and confuses consumers, and simply adds to the problem,” the association says. The National Confectioners Association, meantime, said that the group “supports realistic advice to Americans that accommodate all foods including occasional treats in moderation. There is a place for little pleasures, such as candy, in an overall lifestyle that supports health, wellness and happiness. In fact, helping the public understand how to incorporate little pleasures in their diet may well play the most important role in achieving and sustaining recommended dietary behaviors.” If you do want to keep an eye on your sugar intake, the nutrition facts panel that appears on food packages now does not break out added and naturally-occurring sugars. But you can certainly see how many total grams of sugar you’re consuming. Image: iStockphoto Update: This post has been updated with comment from the NCA.

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A Spoonful of Bad Health? UCSF Researchers Slam Sugar

Healthy Dose Link Time: Kristen Bell’s Favorite Exercise Move

Martin Neumann — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:40:55 +0000

Kristen Bell reveals her all-time favorite exercise move – Self No ocean needed! A review of the new SurfSET workout – HuffPost Healthy Living Everything you need to start half-marathon training – The Fitnessista Top fitness experts reveal the best ab exercises of all time – Shape Natural and healthy ways to give your body a detox – Fitness A fiber-filled spiced apple protein shake – Oxygen Magazine Brad Pitt admits that he lets his kids drink soda – Blisstree

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Healthy Dose Link Time: Kristen Bell’s Favorite Exercise Move