HaveHealthNow Blog by Wellness Mike

Five Best Snacks To Get You Through Those 12-hour Shifts BY SCRUBS STAFF • FEBRUARY 1, 2016 As a nurse, you’re probably working long shifts. Whether you love them or hate them, one thing is for sure: 12-hour shifts make for a long day or night. To get through your shift, proper nutrition is essential to maintain the energy and mental sharpness. In addition to eating a healthy lunch or dinner, snacks also play an important role in helping you have the stamina you need. Snacking also can prevent you from overeating at meals and help keep your metabolism fired up, but choosing the right snacks is the key. Although soda, candy, and surgery coffee drinks may give you a quick boost, they are not your best bet when it comes to keeping your blood sugar levels steady and getting the right nutrients. Consider some of the following snacks to get you through your next 12-hour shift: Nuts: There may be times when you crave a salty snack, but chips and pretzels are high in carbohydrates and low in

BENEFITS OF CHOCOLATE Calling all chocolate lovers: chocolate offers sweet benefits besides satisfying a craving. We've created a list of six benefits you get from eating chocolate. There are compounds in cocoa beans known as flavonoids; these are plant metabolites that have antioxidant effects in the body. The flavonoids found in chocolate are called flavanols. There are multiple types of flavanols, each offering different antioxidant effects. Dark chocolate has the highest content of flavanols with 40-80 percent, and milk chocolate much less with 5-7 percent. The loss of flavanols in chocolate is due to the amount of processing the chocolate goes through. Dark chocolate has the highest content of flavanols with 40-80 percent, and milk chocolate much less with 5-7 percent.The more processed the chocolate — the less benefits it has. Before moving into the benefits, there are a couple of basic ideas to keep in mind before you consume. The darker the better-milk chocolate has a

Tips For Better Eating Habits Considering the Bulging Waist Lines of 66% of The Population it is obvious that sticking to a healthy eating plan is a challenge for many people . If your are having problems sticking with that resolution that you set in January, here are some simple tips to help you start to create new and healthy eating patterns Calories count. It's not low fat vs. low carb. You can eat fewer calories by eating less food (which is why you can lose weight on any diet that restricts entire categories of foods or limits portion sizes), but you may get hungry and gain it back. Fat has 9 calories per gram, but protein and carbohydrates have only 4 calories per gram. This means that when you eat less fat, you consume fewer calories without having to eat less food. Eat less fat and fewer simple carb. To achieve a one pound weight loss per week, 3500 calories should be subtracted from your normal weekly caloric intake. To do this, reduce your normal daily caloric consumpt

Easy Weight Loss Plan: A Weight Loss Plan for Success The formula for losing weight is simple: eat less and exercise more. But, it's not really all that simple, is it? Long-term weight loss is impossible, but you do have to be committed. Having a weight loss plan for your success is a good start. Here are ten items that should go into your weight loss plan. 1. Eat breakfast. This keeps you from getting too hungry later and then losing control over what you choose to eat later in the day.  2. Stock your refrigerator and pantry with healthy foods and snacks and limit high-fat, high-salt snacks such as potato chips and cookies.  3. Fill up on Fiber. Eat foods like fruits, vegetables and whole grains. The fibers in these foods will fill you up leaving less room for unhealthy choices.  4. Don't fall into bad habits on weekends. Many people will follow a strict diet on weekdays only to fall back into eating more (unhealthy) on the weekends as a reward for "bei

Boswellia Boswellia , also known as boswellin or "Indian frankincense," comes from the Boswellia serrata tree that grows in the dry hills of India. For centuries, traditional Indian healers have taken advantage of the anti-inflammatory properties of the tree bark's gummy resin, called salai guggal.  Boswellia  is a significant herb in the Ayurvedic system of health and healing. Ayurvedic medicine is a Hindu-based system of individualized healing that has been practiced in India for more than 2,000 years. It is a complex system that recognizes different human temperaments and body types. Each of these types have different qualities that affect the health and natural balance of the person. The active compound in Boswellia sap is boswellic acid, and it has been shown to have anti-inflammatory effects. Boswellic acid is thought to exert anti-inflammatory effects by preventing the breakdown of connective tissue, and by increasing the blood supply to joint tissues. In one st

5 Natural Common Cold Remedies  The aptly named common cold hits nearly every one of us on a regular basis and once a single family member has it, it can spread quickly and viciously. While the cold itself is relatively harmless it still presents almost crippling symptoms. The common misconception is that you can fight a cold, essentially getting on with your life and trying to ignore the problem. This is much more likely to prolong the agony as a pose to beating it. Rest The misconception that exercise will help to sweat out a cold is misleading. The body needs to be able to fight the cold infection and by exercising or being excessively active you are reducing its capability to do this. Resting allows the body to fully combat the cold virus. The immune system and various immune functions within the body are strengthened or generated during sleep. It is these that will help your body beat the cold. Water When suffering from a cold the body is susceptible to becoming dehydrated. In

Whatever the season or time of the year, your immunity should be in the best possible shape to keep you protected from avoidable infections and illnesses. It is possible to keep immunity in top shape through exercises, enough sleep and keeping stress levels down, but your diet plays a huge role in just how healthy you remain. Fortunately, there are so many vegetables and fruits you can include in your diet to boost your immunity levels because they have all the right properties. When looking at the vegetables and the fruits the richer and deeper the color the higher the antioxidants hence the more beneficial the fruit or vegetable. Sweet potatoes - Sweet potatoes that have an orange hue are high in beta carotene. This is an antioxidant that gets converted into Vitamin A by the body and it is an essential disease fighting nutrient. Sweet potatoes are some of the best fresh sources when looking for immunity boosting properties. Garlic - It has been in use for years as a remedy for a

People are casual with snacks, as if they don't matter. People also treat snacks as if they're different from meals. Case in point: When I give nutrition presentations, I outline a simple method for creating meals with a good balance of foods and nutrition. Someone almost always asks, "What can we have for snacks?" The answer is: Whatever you have for meals, just less. Does Everyone Agree About Snacking? Some say snacking keeps energy levels high throughout the day. That prevents the low energy and excess hunger that can lead to overeating later. Others - particularly weight-loss programs - stress eating precisely three meals per day. Snacking encourages overeating. With too many chances to choose food, we have too many chances to give in to temptation. Let's assume here that Snacks Happen, so we might as well be wise about them. The Quick Energy Question Clients often ask me what to eat for "quick energy." Maybe they're hoping I'll s

In the quest for greater health and the prevention of disease, people are looking more and more to the quality of the foods they eat. Fast food, fried food, sweets, and foods made with genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are being replaced by healthier options. Research studies are showing that food is more than mere nutrition to fill the stomach - it can ward off specific illnesses and lengthen one's life. The first of the three healthiest foods is almonds. A recent study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition has found that eating 1.5 ounces of lightly salted, dry-roasted almonds each day (about 35 almonds) reduces overall hunger, does not affect body weight, and helps people to meet their ideal daily intake of Vitamin E. Another study that was published on consuming nuts appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine. It showed that people who eat nuts live longer than those who don't. The study included 76,464 women and 42,498 men and found that the m

1. Studies have associated high intakes of dietary fiber and the consumption of whole grains with a reduced risk for coronary heart disease. Fiber can help lower levels of LDL (bad cholesterol) in the blood. Fiber has also been shown to reduce other risk factors associated with Coronary Heart Disease including obesity, blood pressure and elevated cholesterol. 2. Research has shown that people who eat high-fiber diets are less likely to have diabetes. High fiber diets may play a significant role in preventing diabetes or halting the progression of pre-diabetes to diabetes. Current evidence suggests that a daily diet with 30-50 grams of fiber results in lower glucose levels than a low-fiber diet does. http://www.HaveHealth.org