A recent article I read says that coffee might have some healthful benefits. I think we knew all along that coffee was good for you one way or another.

As it is, more than half of all adults in the U.S. drink coffee. And coffee has been on the minds of research companies for quite a while. Research over the past few years shows that coffee drinking doesn’t have any serious health effects.

Although regular coffee drinking isn’t bad for most people, that may not be the case for pregnant women. There’s a link on research to miscarriage with caffeine consumption of 200 mg or more per day.

Typically, a cup of coffee has about 150 mg of caffeine.

For men with a high daily intake of regular or decaffeinated coffee, there’s up to 60% lower risk of advanced prostate cancer. Coffee contains chemicals that lower blood sugar. Research has been done between coffee and type II diabetes. A report from the University of Sydney in Australia said that drinking 4 cups of coffee per day reduces the risk of diabetes by up to 35%.

Coffee has also been shown to help heart attack survivors and may help to reduce cardiovascular disease. Another study says that drinking coffee lowers the risk of premature death especially in women. Women who drink 6 cups a week or so, had a death rate that is 26% lower than those that don’t drink coffee.

So, with this good news, enjoy your next cup of coffee!

Here are a few things you can do to improve your health and are not too time-consuming.

Getting that Morning Coffee
Are you a coffee drinker? If you get your morning coffee at your favorite shop and find yourself waiting in line as usual, here’s what you can do while you’re waiting. Focus on good posture while standing in line. Straighten your back, keep your chest out and shoulders back. Hold your head high, take a deep breath, inhaling and exhaling. Now don’t do this last one too loudly or it will appear you’re impatient while waiting to place your order. You’re not, right? Practice this every day and get into the habit of better posture and more vitality.

Coffee Alternatives
When you place your order, how about mixing it up once in a while and getting some green tea instead? This drink helps cut your risk of cancer, keep your blood pressure healthy, protect your memory, as well as reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke. I drink a cold version of green tea at work, which is a tasty drink I discovered at my nearby Costco.

Ride Your Bike to Work
If it’s practical for you, which it won’t be for everyone, consider trading the car on some days for the bike when commuting to work. Now that’s easy for me to say, since I only live just over 2 miles from work, so the choice is easy. But if this can work for you too, it’s sure a nice change of pace, and a healthy alternative.

Make To-Do List
It only takes a few minutes to put one together. A to-do list prepared at the beginning of the day will help keep you on track for the rest of the day. It’s so easy to get bogged down in small details that can hurt your productivity. Just check your list as you go along and make sure things are getting done. You’ll likely deal with less stress during the day and make more time for yourself to enjoy your coffee, or tea!

Feel free to contribute a comment on this article, thanks.

What kind of foods should you be eating?

There are so many different reports and studies out there; it can be confusing. The best foods to eat come down to a diet that is plant-based, rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. It’s also good to keep a watch on the calories to avoid excessive intake. Exercise always comes into play as a complement to a healthy diet and lifestyle.

Here are eight tips for eating the right foods:

• Choose good carbs, or carbohydrates, which provide the body with the fuel it needs for physical activity – whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and greens.

• Choose protein-rich foods and watch what comes with that protein (as with red meat and saturated fat). Good vegetable protein sources are beans, nuts, and whole grains. Good animal protein comes from fish and poultry.

• Eat healthy fats, minimize the saturated fats, and avoid the trans fat. Plant oils, nuts, and fish are the best sources.

• Get plenty of fiber from whole grains, vegetables, and fruits. Most adult women should get over 20 grams per day and men should get over 30 grams of fiber per day.

• Eat 9 servings of fruits and vegetables per day, which comes out to about 4 1/2 cups total.

• Keep up your intake of calcium, and not just from milk. Good, non-dairy sources include baked beans, soy milk, collard and bok choy.

• Drink alcohol in moderation. It can boost cardiovascular health, but can also increase the risk of colon and breast cancer.

• Take a daily multivitamin.

Was this information helpful? Feel free to leave me a comment – thanks.

Ah summer, the time of year when strawberries are plentiful! Just today I used them in my cereal, as well as adding them to a smoothie that I took with me to work.

Strawberries get their bright red color from antioxidant compounds called anthocyanins. These help the body to reduce inflammation and counteract the effects of muscle damage from exercise.

A cup of strawberries cut into halves has only 49 calories and more vitamin C than an orange.

Since strawberries are highly perishable, they are best within a couple days of getting them from the store. If I get a large supply of these, I’ll cut out the stems and freeze them. Then I can take them out whenever I need for my next smoothie. Salute to the strawberry!

Do you enjoy strawberries? Let me know by leaving a comment.

To a greater or lesser extent, a lot of people experience some form of joint discomfort. It’s not a bad idea to look at the nutritional needs of cartilage and ligaments as you get older.

Cartilage is a protein that acts as a padding between the bones of the joints. As we age, the water content of cartilage increases while the protein decreases. It’s important to supply the joints with essential nutrients to keep them functioning properly.

Similar to many other health issues, there’s a strong connection between nutrition and joint health. Certain foods and nutrients can improve joint function, such as:

• Antioxidants – These nutrients fight free radicals. Some of the foods they are found in are berries, broccoli, tomatoes, red grapes, garlic, spinach, tea, carrots, soy, and whole grains.
• Fatty Acids – certain ones, such as omega-3s promote joint health and flexibility. Some great food sources include salmon, sardines, herring, as well as assorted vegetables, nuts, seeds and whole grains.
• Sun Chlorella – this superfood contains essential fatty acids as well as other nutrients and phytonutrients like protein, fiber, amino acids, B vitamins, lutein, and folic acid. It also contains calcium and vitamin D for bone and joint health.

To your good health!

Several days ago, a friend gave me a unique gift of something I had only heard of before. I got 2 bottles of Mona Vie Acai Blend juice. At first I thought, since this is juice, you drink it liberally and it’s gone in only a couple of days. But it’s actually best taken in small doses. It’s more like a food supplement to be taken 1 or 2 ounces at a time, then twice a day.

All this time, I had been pronouncing this product the wrong way. It’s pronounced “ah-sah-yee”. As it turns out, these bottles are pretty pricey, so this is like liquid gold in a bottle. I’m almost through one bottle now, then onto the next. The question is, will I get hooked on it? If so, it’ll be an expensive habit to keep. And it tastes so good!

This juice has phytonutrients and antioxidants you need to maintain a healthy and active lifestyle. It includes the Brazilian acai berry, as well as grape, apple, acerola, cranberry, passion fruit, and several other juices. This could indeed be a true superfood.

Have you tried this before? Let me know what you think of it.

As we get older and hormone levels decline, our healthy bones lose their structure. Our bones provide a framework supporting the muscles, skin and nerves as well as protecting the organs and other functions.

Osteoporosis is a disease of the bone that can lead up to a fracture. This is most common in women after menopause, but can also occur with men. This can be prevented by keeping the body healthy through exercise as well as getting enough calcium and vitamin D. The vitamin D helps in the absorption of calcium.

Some factors that increase the risk of getting osteoporosis are excess alcohol consumption, a vitamin D deficiency, smoking, low calcium intake, being physically inactive, as well as a family history of bone-related problems. Some diseases can also increase the risk of bone loss by impacting calcium absorption

Since the body can’t produce its own calcium, it’s important to consume enough of this each day. Calcium is lost through the skin, sweat, and other bodily functions. If we don’t replace what we use, the difference comes out of our bones.

The National Osteoporosis Foundation recommends the following guidelines for adults:
Adults under age 50 need 1,000 mg of calcium and 400 – 800 IU of vitamin D daily.

Adults 50 and over need 1,200 mg of calcium and 800 – 1,000 IU of vitamin D daily.

A cup of milk provides 300 mg of calcium and 100 IU of vitamin D. I try to get my daily intake of milk with my cereal in the morning, with lunch, then some at night with a meal or sometime afterwards. Milk tends to go pretty fast in my house so it’s a challenge sometimes to keep the refrigerator stocked up!

This morning when the time came to have some cereal, I spotted an unfamiliar box among the collection of familiar favorites. Organic Weetabix was in the front, so I took it out and gave it a try. The colorful yellow package got my attention, but the cereal itself comes in large-size biscuits. Not the usual pouring of cereal in the bowl and having at it. Turns out, my son bought this box, something a little different from the other cereals.

I took out a biscuit, broke it up, added some milk and it turned out to be pretty good after all. These whole grain biscuits include fiber and wheat germ. Each one has only 1 gram of sugar, which is considered a half-serving. Of course you can add sugar, but I tried it without today. Weetabix was a nice, healthy start to my day today.

Pomegranates sure have come a long way just recently, When I was a kid, in the back of my yard was an old neglected pomegranate tree. We never watered it, but it usually had some fruit on it at any given time. It was never harvested by us to eat. Instead, we’d occasionally pick the fruit and use them for anything from one-time baseballs to exploding stain bombs. Just pulling one of these apart, taking the seeds between your fingers, and pinching the juice at your friends was part of the fun. It left a lasting impression in the form of a stain on your white t-shirt that was hard to get out.

But now, the pomegranate is in the spotlight with its various health benefits. In fact, it was ranked recently as one of the healthiest of fruit juices. This is in part to its excellent antioxidant properties; it has most of every type of antioxidant. It also plays a role in protecting against some cancers as well as being healthy for your heart. So, if you haven’t tried it, it’s time to give some pomegranate juice a shot!