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Health Benefits of Breathing Deeply

Health Benefits of Breathing Deeply

woman-deep-breathing-200-300“Take a deep breath.” It’s something we say to each other—and even to ourselves—when the going gets rough and we need to get our emotions under control. But it turns out that this bit of advice isn’t only useful in helping us recover our composure. When practiced on a regular basis, deep breathing can have real physical and mental health benefits.

Many health researchers and clinicians recommend controlling your breath as an easy way to improve your health. The benefits of slow, deep breathing include decreasing inflammation, reducing anxiety, improving heart health, reducing pain, and boosting your immune system. In addition, people with migraines and irritable bowel syndrome may also experience benefits from deep, consistent breathing.

How does it work?

Deep and slow breathing stimulates the vagus nerve. This nerve connects the brain stem with the abdomen, and it is part of the parasympathetic nervous system. This system is responsible for so-called “rest and digest” activities. For example, it causes the heart rate to decline when we exhale. The sympathetic nervous system, on the other hand, controls our “fight or flight” responses.

The vagus nerve is activated when we slow our breathing to around 5 to 7 breaths per minute (our usual pace is around 12 to 18 per minute). In addition to slowing our heart rate, the vagus nerve controls the release of various neurotransmitters, such as acetylcholine. Acetylcholine slows both our heart rate and digestion and has anti-inflammatory properties. In fact, for people with severe conditions such as epilepsy, there are devices available that can stimulate the vagus nerve.

How can we learn to breathe more deeply?

Deep breathing is often taught in meditation and yoga classes. Experts say it is important to breathe in through the nose and exhale through the mouth, ensuring that the exhale is longer than the inhale. Breathing should focus on the abdomen, particularly on the inhale, rather than the chest and shoulders.

To help people become more aware of their own breathing patterns, a San Francisco startup company has developed a wearable device called Spire, which helps users track their breathing and know when to slow down and take a deep breath. The basic idea is that you don’t have to stop what you are doing in order to shift into a calmer, more healthful breathing state. This device may be particularly useful for some computer users, whose breathing seems to change significantly while they’re doing their work. At one end of the spectrum, some individuals tend to hold their breath—a condition known as “screen apnea”. At the other end of the spectrum are the rapid breathers. A small study by Neema Moraveji, co-founder of Spire and director of the Calming Technology Lab at Stanford University, showed that people working on a computer took an average of 16.7 breaths per minute, versus 9.3 breaths a minute when relaxed.

However we choose to approach our own breathing, whether through meditation, yoga, or wearable devices, there’s growing evidence that becoming more mindful—and taking greater control—has real health benefits. So take a deep breath and get started!

Ever Wonder Who’s Really Responsible for Your Healthcare? You Are!

Ever Wonder Who’s Really Responsible for Your Healthcare? You Are!

 

medical help
girl-with-white-bear

It’s hardly surprising that people take different approaches to healthcare depending on their situation. After all, being in an auto accident creates a different set of priorities than expecting a first child. And discovering that you have a chronic medical condition is different from recovering from a fall down the stairs. However, the themes of prevention and early intervention are becoming more and more important as society addresses the healthcare costs associated with longer lifespans and so-called “lifestyle diseases”.

Need evidence? At the level of national healthcare policy, the Affordable Care Act places a new emphasis on preventive care by requiring that certain services be covered. Many private insurers and healthcare systems are taking an even more active role in advising their subscribers about what types of tests they should get at various ages and how to manage medications for the best results. Even employers are introducing or expanding workplace wellness programs aimed at preventing common health problems.

With all of these public- and private-sector organizations involved in healthcare with a capital “H”, it’s tempting to view health and wellness as an institutional challenge—a problem for someone else to solve. But this misses a very, very important point. No one has a greater stake in your own health and wellness than YOU do! This means that no one has a stronger interest in prevention and early detection.

Reasons Your Musculoskeletal Health May Need More Attention than You Think

A variety of injuries and health conditions can compromise your musculoskeletal system, resulting in pain and reduced function of bones, muscles and joints. And the regular wear and tear we associate with aging can also reduce our strength, stamina, balance, flexibility and coordination over time. For this reason, many people simply accept the onset of back, neck and joint pain as an inevitable result of getting older. But the truth is that we do have some control over how well our musculoskeletal system ages. By adopting healthy lifestyle habits related to nutrition, exercise, sleep and regular chiropractic care, we can avoid or delay certain types of common health problems.

How Doctors of Chiropractic Help Reduce Back Pain and Restore Mobility

The spine is a complex structure that is made up of bones, joints and the surrounding musculature. Doctors of chiropractic use specialized manipulation and mobilization techniques (often referred to as “adjustments”) to restore proper spinal alignment, thereby reducing pain and restoring mobility.

Taking a Holistic View of Health and Embracing Prevention

Although your immediate motivation in visiting a chiropractor may be to get pain relief without the risks of drugs or surgery, chiropractic treatment can also improve your overall health and longer-term quality of life. Chiropractic physicians are trained to take a holistic view of health and place a very high value on prevention. In part, this is because we recognize that our patients’ day-to-day decisions and behaviors have a cumulative effect on their musculoskeletal health as well as their general well-being. Prevention is something you can do for yourself!

  • Eat a healthy diet.
  • Keep moving and live an active lifestyle.
  • Lose weight if needed.
  • Maintain proper posture while sitting and standing.
  • Avoid high-heeled shoes, heavy backpacks and purses.
  • Lift correctly, using your legs instead of your back. Never lift anything that is heavier than 25% of your body weight and do not twist while lifting.
  • Get enough sleep.
  • Don’t use tobacco.
  • Moderate your use of alcohol.
  • Be proactive in obtaining chiropractic care for your back and overall health

Taking responsibility for your own health—and healthcare—means learning everything you can about your options and taking action. Call or visit our office today. We can help!

Why Better Nutrition Alone Won’t Stop the Obesity Epidemic

Why Better Nutrition Alone Won’t Stop the Obesity Epidemic

Girl on the couch
Girl on the couch

It’s no secret that many Americans’ eating habits have taken a turn for the worse over the past 20 years in terms of the quantity, quality and combination of foods we eat. A number of diet-related trends have converged to help create a perfect storm of expanding waistlines:

  • Beginning in the mid-1970s, government nutritional guidance (backed by the limited scientific data that was available at the time) triggered a nationwide shift away from foods with saturated fat (such as milk, eggs and meat). However, it also inadvertently ushered in the age of “fat-free” marketing that gradually drove Americans toward a diet high in complex carbohydrates.
  • The rise of convenience-oriented packaged foods made home cooking seem unnecessary. As a result, a generation (or maybe two) grew up without planning meals, shopping for ingredients or preparing food. While it’s easy to focus on the loss of these basic skills, something else was lost, too—control over the contents of the food itself. In adopting diets built on ready-made meals, American ouseholds left decisions about fat, sugar and salt as well as chemical additives to the chefs in corporate kitchens.
  • A new culture of snacking evolved that made eating a sort of parallel pastime—something that was done almost without thinking alongside other day-to-day activities. Plus, grab-and-go packaged food meant that the dining room was now anywhere you happened to be.
  • Supersize portions, value meals and double desserts slowly changed Americans’ ideas about how much food should be eaten at a single sitting. For much of the population, the new normal included many more calories than would have been common in the 1970s or 1980s.

But for all the evidence that the American diet has played a prominent role in the current obesity epidemic, there is also evidence that another factor may be even more important.

On average, Americans are LESS PHYSICALLY ACTIVE THAN AT ANY OTHER TIME in our history. Sweeping changes in the kinds of work we do and the way we do it, along with changes in how we get from place to place and how we spend our leisure time have meant that much of the population just doesn’t move around very much. We increasingly lead very sedentary lives.

A recent study published in the American Journal of Medicine drives home this point. According to researchers at Stanford University who analyzed 20 years of data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a very sharp drop in leisure-time physical activity may be responsible for the general upward trend in obesity rates.

Dr. Uri Ladabaum, Associate Professor of Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine and lead investigator, noted that total daily calorie, fat, carbohydrate and protein consumption hasn’t actually changed much over the past 20 years but that the general level of physical activity has. “At the population level, we found a significant association between the level of leisure-time physical activity, but not daily caloric intake, and the increases in both BMI and waist circumference.”

The fall-off in physical activity over the past two decades is truly striking:

  • During the 1988-1994 period, the number of female American adults reporting no physical activity was 19.1%. During the 2009-2010 period, it was 51.7%.
  • The percentage of American men reporting no physical activity grew from 11.4% in the 1988-1994 period to 43.5% in the 2009-2010 period.

Over the same time frame, the incidence of obesity across the country has grown. While the average BMI has increased across the board, the most dramatic change has been among woman between the ages of 18 and 39.

An earlier study reported in the December 2013 Mayo Clinic Proceedings painted a similarly grim picture. Based on two years’ worth of data collected from sensors attached to 2,600 people, investigators concluded:

  • Men and women of normal weight exercised vigorously (think jogging or a brisk uphill hike) for less than two minutes a day. They engaged in moderate exercise (yoga or golf, for instance) about 2.5 to 4 hours per week.
  • By contrast, the average obese American man gets only 3.6 hours of vigorous exercise per YEAR, and the average obese American woman gets only ONE hour of vigorous exercise in the same period of time.

What’s happening here?

According to Edward C. Archer, a researcher at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, “We’ve engineered physical activity out of our daily lives and that’s causing the health disparities that we have in this country.”

There is a very clear relationship between physical activity and your health—including your musculoskeletal health. But it’s also true that there’s a link between your musculoskeletal health and your ability to lead an active lifestyle. If you’re suffering from back, neck or joint pain, it can be very difficult to exercise. This in turn raises your risk of weight gain as well as your risk of other health problems.

We can help relieve musculoskeletal pain and restore your mobility. Just call or visit our office today!

 
Additional Resources

Lack of exercise, not diet, linked to rise in obesity, Stanford research shows. http://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2014/07/lack-of-exercise–not-diet–linked-to-rise-in-obesity–stanford-.html

U.S. mothers, 1965 to 2010: More TV, less housework leading to a more obese population. http://www.sph.sc.edu/news/mothers_inactive.html

‘Get Up!’ or lose hours of your life every day, scientist says. http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-get-up-20140731-story.html

 

 

 

 

Top 5 Exercises for Increasing Range of Motion in Your Neck

Top 5 Exercises for Increasing Range of Motion in Your Neck

girafe réticulée 06Pain and stiffness can significantly reduce your neck’s range of motion. Although a decreased range of motion in your neck may not seem like a major problem, it can actually contribute to a number of unpleasant conditions, including headache, fatigue, irritability and sleep loss. Like any other part of the body, our neck can become stronger and more flexible through exercise. Following are some useful exercises that can help to increase the range of motion in your neck.

All these exercises should be done while sitting comfortably in a chair with your feet flat on the floor and your neck in a neutral position. Your neck should be positioned right above your spine (in other words, be sure your head is not jutting forward or back), and you should be looking straight ahead. If you feel pain (rather than just discomfort) while doing any of these exercises, stop immediately and do not resume them until you have consulted with your chiropractor.

1) Neck rotations – Keeping your head level, gradually turn your head to the right as far as you comfortably can, looking over your right shoulder, and hold for 10 seconds. Then slowly turn your head to the left, looking over your left shoulder, and hold for another 10 seconds. Repeat 5 times.

2) Neck tilts – Tilt your head to the right, bringing your right ear as close to your shoulder as possible, and hold for 10 seconds. Do the same on the other side, tilting your head to the left, again holding for 10 seconds. Repeat 5 times.

3) Neck flexion and extension – This is simply bending your head forward and back. Beginning in a neutral position, gradually bend your head forward, letting it hang with your chin close to your chest, and hold for 10 seconds. Then slowly bring your head up and back so that you are looking at the ceiling. Repeat 5 times.

4) Half circles – Start by tilting your head toward your right shoulder as far as possible, then slowly swing it to the left in a fluid half-circle, moving your head forward and down until your chin is close to your chest, continuing until your head is tilted to the left with your left ear above your left shoulder. Then repeat the movement in the other direction.

5) Levator scapulae stretch – Tilting your head to the right over your shoulder, turn and drop your head slightly so that your nose is pointed toward your elbow, and hold for 10 seconds. You should feel the stretch in the muscle connecting the back of the left lower neck to your shoulder blade. Repeat on the other side.

Keys to Strengthening Your Immune System

Keys to Strengthening Your Immune System

Three girlfriends in white T-shorts jump having waved hands
Three girlfriends in white T-shorts jump having waved hands

We are bombarded daily with all sorts of microbes that can cause illness. Interestingly, if we are exposed to a wide range of these microbes as children, studies have shown that we will have a lower risk of asthma and allergies as well as a stronger immune system. There are a number of factors that influence the health of our immune system, including diet, stress, exercise and aging. Following are some strategies you can use to help strengthen your immune system.

Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables – These are high in the vitamins, minerals and trace elements you need to help keep you healthy, particularly those high in vitamin C (red bell peppers, strawberries, broccoli, citrus fruits) and zinc (nuts, seeds, wheat germ).

Reduce stress – Chronic stress has been shown to inhibit the production of interleukins and cytokines, which are responsible for stimulating the action of white blood cells. Chronic stress also causes the stress hormone cortisol to be continually released into the bloodstream, which in the long term suppresses the production of pathogen-fighting T cells and antibodies.

Get out in the sun – Insufficient vitamin D has been linked to greater susceptibility to infection. Approximately one out of three Americans is deficient in vitamin D. Try to get out in the sun in the summer months wearing minimal clothing and no sunscreen for 5 to 10 minutes two or three times a week between the hours of 10 am and 3 pm. This will provide you with sufficient vitamin D without increasing your risk of skin cancer. You can also take a supplement in the winter months or if you live in a place without much sun.

Get sufficient sleep – Sleep deprivation increases inflammation and inhibits the immune response. One study found that people who habitually slept less than seven hours each night were nearly three times more likely to catch a cold than people who slept eight hours or more.

Exercise – Moderate exercise has been shown to decrease stress and boost the immune system. Thirty minutes of moderate exercise each day, such as a brisk walk, raises the body’s levels of leukocytes, which are cells that help guard against infection.

Eat probiotics – Perhaps even more important than antibiotics in the fight against infection are probiotics, beneficial bacteria that live in the gut and upper respiratory tract. They boost the immune system by encouraging the production of certain T cells. You can find probiotics in yogurt, sauerkraut and kimchi, or you can take a probiotic supplement.

Avoid sugar – Even 100 grams of sugar, the equivalent of a 24-oz soda, depresses your immune system by reducing the ability of white blood cells to combat bacteria. This effect can last for a few hours after sugar ingestion, so if you are trying to stay healthy, keep away from the sweets!

Do We Really Get Sick More Often During the Winter?

Do We Really Get Sick More Often During the Winter?

i`m ill seriesAlthough your mother may have admonished you when you to bundle up when you went outside during the winter to avoid getting a cold, science shows that this advice is actually pretty ineffective. While it seems to be true that people tend to get sick more often during winter, it has nothing to do with getting a chill. Scientists do have a few alternative explanations for this phenomenon.

First of all, we tend to spend a lot more time indoors when it’s cold outside. Germs are spread far more easily in a crowd or within enclosed spaces. The more people in an enclosed space with a sick person, the more people with an opportunity to become infected. However, this doesn’t explain why children in crowded classrooms get sick more often during winter months, even when the number of students present in the classroom may not change much (or at all) from season to season.

One aspect of winter conditions is that the air is colder and drier. Dry air dehydrates our nasal passages and makes it more difficult for the mucus membranes in our respiratory system to trap and sweep away pathogens, which it typically does more effectively in a warmer, more humid environment. This is one reason why travelers often become ill after enduring a long plane flight– the atmosphere of the cabin is very dry. Add this to the combination we talked about before (lots of people in an enclosed space for a prolonged period of time), and it’s easy to see why a cold virus or flu virus would have a much easier time infecting more individuals in this sort of situation.

In addition, a study has shown that the flu virus in particular survives far longer in cool, dry conditions than in warm ones. Peter Palese and colleagues at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York conducted an experiment on guinea pigs. They found that when guinea pigs were exposed to the flu virus they infected each other quite easily in cool, dry air, but when the temperature was 86°F the guinea pigs could not infect one another at all.

Another theory advanced by some scientists is that in winter our bodies are often low in stores of vitamin D due to a lack of sunlight. Vitamin D deficiency has been shown to cause a reduction in immunity. Given that much of the population in the developed world lives at latitudes where even direct sun is often weak in winter and that these same people are more likely to use sunscreen, it’s not surprising that many don’t have enough vitamin D. Studies show that flu season in different parts of the world correlates with cold weather and short hours of daylight. In the northern hemisphere, cold and flu season runs from November to March, and in the southern hemisphere from May to September. Meanwhile, the tropics have no cold and flu season at all.

Another contributor to a lowered immune system is sugar intake. Around the holidays, people not only find themselves gathering in large groups more frequently (think about office festivities, family celebrations, crowded shopping malls, etc.), but there are also more sweets to be had, which also works to suppress our immune system.

According to health experts, the best thing you can do to avoid winter colds and flu is to wash your hands frequently, since germ-covered hands are the most common way we infect ourselves. It’s not necessary to keep your house at tropical temperatures, but a humidifier may help reduce the drying out of your respiratory passages. Finally, taking a vitamin D supplement and keeping the sweets to a minimum may help reduce the number of times you get sick each year.

Keys to Strengthening Your Immune System

Keys to Strengthening Your Immune System

Three girlfriends in white T-shorts jump having waved hands
Three girlfriends in white T-shorts jump having waved hands

We are bombarded daily with all sorts of microbes that can cause illness. Interestingly, if we are exposed to a wide range of these microbes as children, studies have shown that we will have a lower risk of asthma and allergies as well as a stronger immune system. There are a number of factors that influence the health of our immune system, including diet, stress, exercise and aging. Following are some strategies you can use to help strengthen your immune system.

Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables – These are high in the vitamins, minerals and trace elements you need to help keep you healthy, particularly those high in vitamin C (red bell peppers, strawberries, broccoli, citrus fruits) and zinc (nuts, seeds, wheat germ).

Reduce stress – Chronic stress has been shown to inhibit the production of interleukins and cytokines, which are responsible for stimulating the action of white blood cells. Chronic stress also causes the stress hormone cortisol to be continually released into the bloodstream, which in the long term suppresses the production of pathogen-fighting T cells and antibodies.

Get out in the sun – Insufficient vitamin D has been linked to greater susceptibility to infection. Approximately one out of three Americans is deficient in vitamin D. Try to get out in the sun in the summer months wearing minimal clothing and no sunscreen for 5 to 10 minutes two or three times a week between the hours of 10 am and 3 pm. This will provide you with sufficient vitamin D without increasing your risk of skin cancer. You can also take a supplement in the winter months or if you live in a place without much sun.

Get sufficient sleep – Sleep deprivation increases inflammation and inhibits the immune response. One study found that people who habitually slept less than seven hours each night were nearly three times more likely to catch a cold than people who slept eight hours or more.

Exercise – Moderate exercise has been shown to decrease stress and boost the immune system. Thirty minutes of moderate exercise each day, such as a brisk walk, raises the body’s levels of leukocytes, which are cells that help guard against infection.

Eat probiotics – Perhaps even more important than antibiotics in the fight against infection are probiotics, beneficial bacteria that live in the gut and upper respiratory tract. They boost the immune system by encouraging the production of certain T cells. You can find probiotics in yogurt, sauerkraut and kimchi, or you can take a probiotic supplement.

Avoid sugar – Even 100 grams of sugar, the equivalent of a 24-oz soda, depresses your immune system by reducing the ability of white blood cells to combat bacteria. This effect can last for a few hours after sugar ingestion, so if you are trying to stay healthy, keep away from the sweets!

The Power of Gratitude

The Power of Gratitude

Water crystals

 

Research done by Japanese scientist Dr. Masaru Emoto with water crystals is fascinating but his research teaches some important health lessons as well. Dr. Emoto has studied the effects of positive energy and negative energy on water. Some of his research has included music and some of his research has included messages given to water. What does that have to do with us – with you and me? Our bodies are 70-80% water. So what holds true for water also holds true for us. For example, Dr. Emoto and his colleagues found that water droplets would form widely different crystalline patterns after being exposed to different kinds of music. Exposure to acid rock would result in a very disrupted crystal while a Mozart symphony would result in a beautifully formed crystal. Below, we have included a blog post written by Dr. Sabrina Chen-See written about Dr. Emoto’s work as well. We hope you will read her blog post and then think about what you are surrounding yourself and your life with and what affect your attitude and gratitude can have on your health. If you would like to learn more about Dr. Emoto’s work, you can read his book Hidden Messages in Water.

Want to know the secret to changing your mental state, your luck, your future and life for the better? It’s simple… it’s by expressing gratitude.

As seen in Dr. Masaru Emoto’s water crystal research, exposing distilled water to the words “Thank You” overnight resulted in a physical change to how the molecules behave. Water exposed to positive words like, “Love”, “Kindness”, “Peace” and “Joy” formed beautiful, intricate snowflake-like water crystals. When exposed to negative words like, “I will kill you”, “War” and “Stupid”, the water crystals would be dark, asymmetrical, ugly blobs.

Gratitude has incredible healing properties. Microwaved water will not form crystals. However, after being blessed, it will then form beautiful crystals. This is scientific proof that the energy of our food is better in meals that are made from scratch with love and in meals that are blessed before consumption. Dr. Emoto concluded the first round of research with this summary:

“If thoughts can do this to water, and we’re 70-80% water, then what is the effect of thoughts on us?”

How do you harness this power of gratitude and channel this power into transforming your life? For lasting change, consider starting a gratitude journal. My gratitude journal is a pocket book with pretty designs throughout. Each morning, write a positive affirmation or quote for the day, such as:

“Always end the day with a positive thought.”

“No matter how hard things were, tomorrow is a fresh opportunity to make it better.”

As the quote says, end the day with something positive. In the gratitude journal, write out 5 things you are grateful for, or something/someone you love. The last thoughts you have before falling asleep repeat themselves 20, 000 to 40, 000 times per night. Journaling like this can make changes to your outlook immediately, and lets the universe know that you are open to abundance. Keep it up for 30 days to ingrain it as a daily habit and continue the rest of your life for ongoing healing of your mind, body and spirit.

To supercharge the power of gratitude, you must take action and show your gratitude each and every day. I’m not talking about making a show of gratitude for recognition. I’m talking about letting the source of what you’re grateful for knowing that they are appreciated, and supporting their efforts. If someone was kind to you, thank them directly. Written thanks (ever notice pretty “Thank You” cards?) are more lasting than a verbal “thanks”. If it was a stranger you’ll never see again, pay it forward with a kindness to another stranger. If you’re grateful for a beautiful sunset or clean air, do what you can to support our environment, to preserve or improve it for future generations. If you’re grateful for your wife/mother preparing meals for you each and every day, support her by setting the table, washing dishes, etc. The key is to help out because you’re grateful, not because you’re obliged to do it. If you’re going through health challenges, you can still be grateful for all your body is doing to heal itself. Support your body by loving it, feeding it good food, resting, chiropractic care, exercising and positive thoughts. If you’ve been blessed with talents and special gifts, show your gratitude by developing them and using them for the betterment of yourself, your family, society, humankind and the planet. – Dr. Sabrina Chen-See

Is It Really Possible to “Re-train” Your Taste Buds to Prefer Healthier Foods?

Is It Really Possible to “Re-train” Your Taste Buds to Prefer Healthier Foods?

child-eating-apple
child-eating-apple

The modern American diet is laden with over-salted, over-sugared and over-processed foods. Sodas, fast food and pre-packaged feasts are all contributing to an epidemic of weight gain and poor health, including chronic cardiovascular and metabolic conditions (such as high blood pressure and diabetes) as well as chronic musculoskeletal problems (such as knee and low back pain).

Most of us recognize that eating a well-balanced, nutritious diet is necessary for maintaining optimal health and managing your weight. But the unfortunate truth is that most of us still crave a juicy cheeseburger or candy bar over a salad. In fact, unhealthy foods can actually be habit-forming for some people, making it difficult for them to make necessary changes.

The good news is that you really can learn to crave more healthful foods while curbing your desire to gobble up junk.

Try, try again.

Although the body does naturally seek out salty and sweet flavors, you didn’t exit the womb needing potato chips for survival. This was a food you tasted and decided you enjoyed. Some foods are an acquired taste—think coffee, tripe or caviar. Chances are you didn’t immediately love any of these foods the first time you tried them (and maybe you still don’t).

Most people need as many as 10 tastes of a single food item to get used to the flavor. This means you don’t have to eat 10 whole plates of Brussels sprouts, just taste a tiny forkful of someone else’s from time to time. With each bite, your taste buds will know what to expect and you will be less likely to react with pursed lips. And, yes, eventually you may even learn to enjoy it.

It takes time.

You can’t learn to play the piano in one evening, and you probably won’t learn to love a tofu stir-fry that fast either. Take comfort in the fact that you will eventually come to enjoy healthy foods such as fresh fruits and legumes.

In a 2014 study by Tufts University in Massachusetts, researchers scanned the brains of adults who were eating a diet high in protein and fiber, which is found largely in fruits and vegetables. The study found that after 6 months of healthful eating, the area of the brain often cited as the “reward center” became activated when participants viewed images of healthy foods. And that’s not all—their brains became less “turned on” by unhealthy foods such as chips or candy.

Get creative with your cooking.

No food is exciting to eat when it’s boiled plain or zapped in a microwave. Instead, try roasting, sautéing or grilling your vegetables and proteins (chicken, fish or even buffalo, for example). Longer, slower forms of cooking work to caramelize the foods. This draws out the food’s naturally occurring sugars and enhances the flavor.

Choosing the right seasonings can also dress up an otherwise bland course. Try a pinch of ancho chili powder or sriracha sauce if you’re looking for spice, or sprinkle on a little cinnamon or turmeric for some exotic flair.

Top 5 Ways to Improve Your Digestion

Top 5 Ways to Improve Your Digestion

Couple enjoying lunch at cafeA well-functioning digestive system is crucial to maintaining your body’s overall health. Without it, you are likely to have bowel problems and suffer from digestive upsets, not to mention a host of other conditions that can result from not getting enough nutrients from the food you eat. The digestive system affects all the other systems of the body, so it’s important to do what you can to be sure it’s working the way it should. Following are the top 5 things you can do to help improve your digestion.

Eat more fiber – Soluble and insoluble fiber are both essential for moving food through the digestive tract. Soluble fiber, such as that found in oatmeal, beans, nuts and apples, turns to a gel in your intestines and slows digestion, helping to maintain stable blood sugar levels. It absorbs water, softening the stool, and promotes the health of the good bacteria in your gut. Insoluble fiber, such as that found in the skins of fruit and vegetables, speeds digestion, adds bulk and passes primarily intact through the digestive tract. Both are important in preventing constipation and can improve conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

Drink more fluids – Insufficient water intake can harden the stool, increasing constipation. You should be sure to drink at least 1.2 liters of fluid per day, which is about 6 glasses. Some people need more, based on their activity level and the ambient temperature. However, do not drink more than about 6 ounces of liquid during a meal (taking the occasional sip), as it can dilute your stomach acid, making digestion more difficult. Aim to get most of your fluid intake 15-30 minutes before a meal or at least an hour afterward.

Take probiotics – Probiotics such as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria are the good bacteria that populate our digestive tract. Eating yogurt with a variety of helpful live cultures as well as fermented foods like sauerkraut, kombucha and kefir can help promote the production and health of these beneficial bacteria.

Eat more fat – Although increasing your fiber intake can improve your digestion that fiber does not move through the digestive tract so easily if you are not getting enough fat in your diet. Good fats will not raise your cholesterol and in fact are a healthy part of your diet when eaten in moderation. Some healthy sources of fat are olive oil, coconut oil, butter and avocados.

Reduce stress – When you are under stress, your digestive system slows down and circulation to the digestive tract is reduced, lowering your body’s ability to efficiently break down and utilize the food you eat. Do not rush through meals, and be sure to sufficiently chew and savor your food when you eat. If you must eat while under stress, be sure you eat foods that are simple to digest, such as broth or yogurt.