Do you ever grab chips when you intended to go for carrots? Instead of feeling guilty or giving up, remember: Nobody’s perfect. Improvement, not perfection, is a realistic, sensible, and far more effective goal. Fact is, there’s no such thing as a “perfect” way to eat or stay active. Your best approach is all about
Can good nutrition help aging skin? Perhaps a little. Your skin is genetically programmed to age. The rate depends on your genes, as well as your lifestyle and health. With age, you lose some fat padding under your skin’s epidermis (top layer), and skin cells replace themselves more slowly. Less collagen and connective tissue in
What’s cooking on your grill? Chances are, burgers—at least for one meal or another. How do you grill the perfect burger? You can’t judge doneness by its color. The middle may be brown before your burger’s fully cooked, especially if you mix a dark sauce into raw ground meat. For safety’s sake, do away with
Enjoy the pool? Cool! No doubt, the pool is a great place to de-stress your life. But swimming—or aquatic exercise—also can give you a great, low- or no-impact workout. A 1-hour aquatic workout can be a calorie burner: up to 400 to 700 calories, depending on the intensity. It’s great for strength training; the natural
Good in soups and stews, hearty and healthful, barley’s got lots to offer. Like other whole grains, barley supplies plenty of complex carbs, yet little fat. It’s also a good fiber source—soluble fiber to help lower blood cholesterol levels and reduce heart disease risk, and insoluble fiber to help your intestine work normally and perhaps
A trivia question for June, National Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Month: What vegetables top the U.S. 10 best-seller list? (Potatoes, head lettuce, tomatoes, onions, carrots, celery, corn, broccoli, green cabbage, and cucumber) Now, reach beyond those to meet the day’s goal for fruit and vegetable servings: five to nine a day. In the vegetable category
School’s out! If you have kids at home—or if you want to enjoy time with a niece, a nephew, grandkids, or young friends—why not share kitchen time this summer? Kitchen experiences teach kids all kinds of facts (about foods and science) and skills (measuring, counting, reading, following directions). Kitchen time helps develop self-confidence, independence, self-esteem
Wonder if there’s any truth to the suggestion that shark cartilage or lecithin may help prevent or cure disease? Here’s what health experts say: Lecithin and arthritis (or other health problems): Your body makes lecithin. So taking more doesn’t seem to offer any benefits. Synthetic lecithin isn’t absorbed well, anyway. Shark cartilage and cancer: Limited
What comes to mind when you think of Japanese food? Rice, sushi, tofu, vegetables? An artfully presented tray of all those things? Beyond beauty, Japanese eating is healthful eating. It’s mostly low in fat and low in calories, with most food energy from carbohydrate-rich foods, such as rice and noodles. It features plenty of fish
Just peachy. Plum good. Top banana. Peaches ‘n’ cream. Think about it. In our everyday expressions, fruit connotes good things. Peaches rank in consumers’ “top fruit 10.” Along with nectarines (very close cousin), a peach’s yellow flesh contains antioxidants—beta carotene, flavonoids, and some vitamin C—which may protect against ongoing health problems, such as heart disease