Review: This is a great article on the different types of fats in the foods we eat. It’s important for us to take notice, and become aware of the differences so we can eat right and stay healthy each and every day.  Erika Marquardt

Want to boost your health?  Add some fat to your diet.  It’s especially good for your heart. “Fat is not a bad word,” say Marc Gillinov, MD, and Steven Nissen, MD, authors of Heart 411: The Only Guide to Heart Health You’ll Ever Need (Three Rivers Press). “The idea that fat is bad for your heart is simply incorrect.”

What matters is the type of fat that’s on your plate.  Good fat — the unsaturated kind — helps lower your total cholesterol, and “bad” LDL cholesterol levels and boost your “good” HDL cholesterol.  Here’s a rundown of fats, from the best to the worst.

Best Fat: Monounsaturated

When it comes to heart health, monounsaturated fat is the best fat.  In a Canadian study, volunteers who replaced 13% of carbohydrates with monounsaturated fat lowered their LDL cholesterol by 35% and improved their HDL cholesterol by 12.5% in just 4 weeks. Smart sources of monounsaturated fat include olive oil, canola oil, nuts and nut oils, avocados, and sesame oil.

Among monounsaturated fats, olive oil is an amazing elixir for your heart health.  “It’s associated with decreases in triglyceride levels, inflammation, and blood clotting, and better blood vessel function,”  Gillinov and Nissen note.  In particular, extra-virgin olive oil may increase good-guy HDL cholesterol while lowering harmful LDL.

Good Fat: Polyunsaturated

Polyunsaturated fats aren’t quite as potent for heart health as monounsaturated fats, but they’re still powerful in helping manage your cholesterol.  Fatty fish is an outstanding source of polyunsaturated fats, say Gillinov and Nissen.  Why? Coldwater fish, including salmon, sardines, halibut, and tuna, are rich in the omega-3 fatty acids eicosapentaenioc acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).  EPA and DHA may help lower nasty triglycerides, raise beneficial HDL cholesterol, prevent blood clots, tame inflammation, and make your blood vessels function better.  Walnuts, flaxseeds, and canola oil are also good sources of polyunsaturated fat.

Bad Fat: Saturated

Too much saturated fat drives up total cholesterol and artery-clogging LDL cholesterol. Overall, limit saturated fat to no more than 7% of your daily calories.  That’s 11 to 14 grams for women and 14 to 17 grams for men.  “Most Americans eat nearly twice this amount,” Gillinov and Nissen say.  Skip red meat, butter and other full-fat dairy products, coconut oil, palm oil, and shortening.

Processed meat — bacon, pastrami, and the like — is especially bad for your heart.  It’s as high in saturated fat as other types of red meat, but it’s also high in sodium, which can boost your blood pressure, and nitrates, which may mess with your body’s glucose tolerance and raise your risk of heart disease and diabetes.  The equivalent of a couple of slices of deli meat or a hot dog a day is linked to a 42% higher risk of heart disease and a 19% greater risk of diabetes.

Worst Fat: Trans Fat

Trans fat is created when a liquid fat is infused with hydrogen and becomes solid at room temperature so it has a long shelf life.  That’s why you’ll find it in processed food — everything from commercial baked goods, stick margarine, and shortening to fast food. This bad-guy fat increases triglycerides, total cholesterol, and LDL cholesterol, and decreases HDL cholesterol — all bad for your heart.

“There’s no safe quantity of trans fat,” Gillinov and Nissen advise.  “Our recommended intake is as close to zero as you can get.”  Some cities and states have banned trans fat, and the Food and Drug Administration requires food manufacturers to include trans fat content on Nutrition Facts labels.  But watch out for foods labeled “trans fat free.”

“Foods may be listed as ‘zero trans fats’ if they contain less than 500 mg of trans fat per serving,”  Gillinov and Nissen warn.  Even that small quantity of trans fat might be bad for your heart, they say.  Their advice: Check the ingredient list.  If it includes “partially hydrogenated vegetable oils,” you know it has trans fat even though the Nutrition Facts claim otherwise.

 

By CAROL LANDAU | iVillage Canada

Review by:  Erika Marquardt

1. Don’t Compare Your Life to What You See on TV
Here’s how TV depicts the lives of women between the ages of 25 and 35: Trendy apartments, cool roommates and dream jobs. Here’s the reality: Small living space or living with parents, an unpaid internship, no clear direction.

Recognize that Change Causes Stress
Moving away from home or the structure of college, interviewing for your first job and trying to establish new friends is exciting but stressful. And stress can trigger depression. In fact, the average age for a first depressive episode for women is 24. And many women continue to struggle with depression that may have started when they were teens.

RELATED: The best thing you can do to target mild depression

3. Appreciate Your Freedom
The 20s and early 30s are full of new beginnings, and you have more autonomy and choice. You can start fresh relationships, free of the constraints and social pressure of high school or college. You can spend time examining your own values, goals and creative possibilities.

4. Be Thankful when Parents Can Help
If you are still living with your parents or had to move back in with them for financial reasons, be grateful that your parents are able and willing to help you. And concentrate on saving money for the future.

RELATED: How to Navigate Uncomfortable Money Situations

5. Establish Autonomy
Just because you live with your parents doesn’t mean you can’t have privacy or autonomy. But you may have to schedule a family meeting to discuss your needs. Your parents will probably welcome the opportunity to share their concerns with you.

6. Cultivate Friendships
Being able to make new friends and maintain old relationships is crucial to good health. It means you will always have someone to support you when coping with change, facing an illness or even losing weight. Search out new friends at work, in your neighborhood, at the gym or through volunteer or political activities. Use social media like Facebook and Meetup to find people with similar interests, or use iVillage message boards and forums to connect with people online. If you’re shy, motivate yourself by focusing on the positive emotions you feel in a friendship.

RELATED: Online Dating: Is There Still a Stigma?

7. Don’t Forget Your Old Friends
Avoid withdrawing from old friends because you’re too busy or feeling sheepish about emotional or financial difficulties. Remember, a friend is someone who loves and accepts you for who you are, not who you should be. Use email, social media, or the telephone, letters and cards to stay in touch. You will feel better and discover that many of your friends share similar concerns.

8. Stay Upbeat About Work
Even if you didn’t get the job you wanted after career training or college, the situation is not hopeless. Instead of bemoaning your current employment, find a mentor, join a career-related networking site, take a course at night and keep your eye out for any possible entrée into your chosen field. If you focus your energy on something you can do effectively rather than what you don’t have, you will feel better about moving toward your goals.

RELATED: Dating in Your 20s: Why You Can’t Plan Love

9. Explore Your Options
If you’re still looking for that dream job, find one that allows you to make enough money to get by and spend any extra time taking courses and talking to people in a variety of careers. If there is a career you think you want that requires additional school or training, find someone who will let you “shadow” him or her for a few days so that you can see all aspects of that career before making a decision.

10. Stay Healthy
Coping with life in this decade is much easier if you’re in good health. Stay active and eat healthfully. If you gain too much weight in this decade, it will be very difficult to lose it later.

RELATED: The Best Post-Workout Snacks for To Energize Your Body

11. Find a Good Doctor
Look for a primary-care physician or nurse (before you get sick or injured) to help you maintain preventive health. If you can’t afford healthcare, find a Planned Parenthood clinic or a practice affiliated with a medical school that offers healthcare for young women on a sliding scale.

12. Party in Moderation
Too much alcohol or other drugs, too many late nights and not enough sleep or exercise is a recipe for illness. Plus, these behaviors may put you at risk for making bad choices — behaving in way you will regret at a work party, developing a long-term substance-abuse problem or having an unwanted pregnancy.

13. Enjoy Life
You don’t need to establish a career, make a long-term commitment to an intimate relationship and buy a condo or house before you’re 35. There is no rush. Simply enjoy whatever you have and work toward your goals. If you feel yourself getting antsy or envious of those lives you see on TV, try some meditation, yoga or another contemplative process. It can help you appreciate whatever you do have now

REVIEW:  Great article with some interesting and valid points.  My thoughts: Don’t compare yourselves to others;  Do the best you can, and then strive even higher;  Find things that keep you happy!  Be good to yourself;  Model people you admire and who are where you want to be;  Don’t go it alone, ask for help when you need it.   Erika Marquardt ivillage canada.com is a good resource for you!

and CHECK OUT www.stressmgmtsecrets.com The Ultimate place with ANSWERS to stress management, health and wellness concerns.

(Maxppp /Landov)

Ludovic Masciave, 36, was driving his car through the Arly Gorge in the French Alps when a 20 ton boulder crashed onto the roof of his vehicle. Amazingly, Masciave survived the crash and is recovering in a local hospital, according to Landov.

“I remember the impact of the rock,” Masciave told French newspaper Le Parisien. “I’d been driving slowly at between 40 and 50 kilometres [25 to 31 miles] an hour when suddenly there was a terrible shock which brought the vehicle to a sudden halt. I immediately lost consciousness.”

Analyzing the photo, it’s nearly impossible to imagine how Masciave escaped from the vehicle alive. The entire vehicle appears smashed under the weight of the 20 ton rock. The Daily Mail reports that the vehicle was so damaged that rescue workers couldn’t even determine the make and model of Masciave’s vehicle. Naturally, they assumed the driver didn’t survive.  And yet he lived, despite injuries that include flattened lungs and several broken ribs.

Fortunately, Masciave is expected to make a full recovery. He says he plans to sue the local government for not removing the boulder earlier. He was flown to a local hospital in Albertville, France where he is still scheduled to undergo several operations before being released.

“The space was very restricted. It could be measured in centimeters,” Masciave told Le Parisien, referring to the inside of the car. “All I was thinking about was stopping the pain. When firefighters were able to open the door I was finally relieved of the huge pressure of the rock.”

If you’re Feeling Stressed out these days…..  Check out www.stressmgmtsecrets.com

By David Zinczenko with Matt Goulding
 

Review: by Erika Marquardt

America has a drinking problem.  No, not booze.  I’m talking about soft drinks.  According to the Beverage Marketing Corporation, the average American guzzles 44.7 gallons of the sweet stuff every year.  Not sure what 44.7 gallons looks like?  It’s about what you’d need to fill a small kiddie pool.

But the truth is, you don’t need me to tell you that soda isn’t healthy.  We all know that America’s drink of choice contributes to our country’s ever-expanding obesity problem. But, as Rodale.com writer Leah Zerbe discovered, love handles are just the beginning. Read on for her report on three shocking soda facts that will have you saying “Just water, please” from now on.

Shocking Soda Fact #1:  Soda Fattens Up Your Organs

A recent Danish study revealed that drinking non-diet soda leads to dramatic increases in dangerous hard-to-detect fats.  Researchers asked participants to drink either regular soda, milk containing the same amount of calories as regular soda, diet cola, or water every day for six months.  The results?  Total fat mass remained the same across all beverage-consuming groups, but regular-soda drinkers experienced dramatic increases in harmful hidden fats, including liver fat and skeletal fat.  The regular-soda group also experienced an 11 percent increase in cholesterol compared to the other groups!  And don’t think switching to diet varieties will save you from harm: Artificial sweeteners and food dyes have been linked to brain cell damage and hyperactivity, and research has shown that people who drink diet soda have a higher risk of developing diabetes.

Read out about the 7 biggest food label lies.

FIX IT WITH FOOD: The average American drinks 450 calories a day.  By switching to water as your go-to beverage, you’ll make room in your diet for these 40 Foods with Superpowers—foods that, even in moderation, can strengthen your heart, fortify your bones, and boost your metabolism so you can lose weight more quickly.

Shocking Soda Fact #2: Soda Contains Flame Retardants

Some popular soda brands, including Mountain Dew, use brominated vegetable oil—a toxic flame retardant—to keep the artificial flavoring from separating from the rest of the liquid. This hazardous ingredient—sometimes listed as BVO on soda and sports drinks—can cause bromide poisoning symptoms like skin lesions and memory loss, as well as nerve disorders. If that’s not a good enough reason not to “Do the Dew,” I don’t know what is. (We reveal more insidious ingredients hiding on supermarket shelves in the 15 Scariest Food Additives).

Are you addicted to diet soda? Find out now!

DRINK DISASTERS: Soda isn’t the only dubious drink you have to watch out for. Many bottled beverages pack enough sugar and calories to foil your get-fit plans in one fell sip. Protect yourself by avoiding the 11 Worst Beverages in the Supermarket!

Shocking Soda Fact #3: Drinking Soda Makes You a Lab Rat

Many American soda brands are sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup, a heart-harming man-made compound derived mainly from genetically engineered corn. The problem?  Genetically engineered ingredients have only been in our food chain since the 1990s, and we don’t know their long-term health impacts because the corporations that developed the crops never had to test them for long-term safety.  Case in point: Some recent findings suggest that genetically engineered crops are linked to digestive tract damage, accelerated aging, and even infertility!

Ready to switch to water for good? Thought so. Here’s a foolproof way to Cure Your Soda Addiction!

REVIEW:  Good case in point.  I rarely drink soda pop, as I know it’s not good for you!  This just proves my point.  And we wonder why people these days are obese, and kids have attention deficient disorder, and hyperactivity.  They can’t concentrate, we have memory loss, and digestive problems, diabetes, and I wonder how much more there is that we don’t know about yet!  Switch to water, pure, crisp and clean.  Refreshing and healthy for you!  Thanks for sharing the article Erika Marquardt.

The many fragrant warming herbs and spices available from the around the world are not only fabulous for flavouring our recipes, but they also have wonderful healing properties. Look to them to nourish both your organs and your soul while making comforting meals and recipes taste even more delicious.

Here are six warming spices you should include in your recipes this winter, both for their delicious flavours and for their health benefits:

1. Cinnamon: Sweet and pungent, pleasant and warming. In Chinese medicine cinnamon is used to support the spleen and the pancreas, stomach, bladder, kidney, and liver meridians. Cinnamon aids in digestion and circulation, and helps to treat diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and menstrual cramps. This spice is also well known for its blood-stabilizing abilities.  Related: Eight immune-boosting nutrients to keep you healthy through flu season

2. Ginger: This popular root has a peppery and pungent taste. It is warming, stimulates digestion, and boosts circulation, respiration, and nervous system function. Ginger is useful for colds and fevers and alleviates motion sickness and nausea. It is also an anti-inflammatory and destroys intestinal parasites.  Related: Cutting calories: 22 tips that don’t sacrifice flavour

3. Turmeric: This yellow-coloured spice is the highest known source of beta carotene. It tones the spleen, pancreas, liver, and stomach, and strengthens the immune system and enhances digestion and helps to dissolve cysts and gallstones. Turmeric is antibacterial and may help diabetics control blood sugar.  Related: Five health benefits of clementines

4. Cardamom: This spice, common in Indian recipes, is sweet, pungent, and warming. It also acts upon the spleen, pancreas, stomach, lung, and kidney meridians. It aids in digestion, relaxes spasms, and cuts mucus, making it useful in lung tonics. It also eases coughs, breathlessness, burning urination, incontinence, and hemorrhoids.  Related: A healthy diet can help lower genetic risk factors for heart disease

5. Cloves: Cloves are bitter, spicy and warming. They tonify the kidney, spleen, pancreas, and stomach. Cloves also aid digestion, and treat nausea, hiccups, and vomiting.

6. Cumin: Similar in colour to turmeric, cumin is pungent and bitter. This super spice aids the digestive system, improves liver function, promotes assimilation of other foods, and relieves abdominal distention, gas, and colic, as well as migraines and headaches.

RECIPE: Coconut Vegetable Curry

Ingredients:
1 Spanish onion
1-2 teaspoons sea salt
¼ cup coconut oil
1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into ¾-inch cubes
1 medium butternut squash, peeled and cut into ¾-inch cubes
1 medium cauliflower, cut into bite-size florets
1 cup shelled peas, cooked
½ red cabbage
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup water
(vegetables can be roasted)

Curry blend:
1 teaspoon coriander
2 teaspoons cumin
½ teaspoons turmeric
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
¼ teaspoon fenugreek
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon cardamom seeds, no pods
¼ teaspoon mustard seeds
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon fresh minced ginger, grated

Directions:
1. In a large skillet, sauté onions, with one teaspoon salt in oil until they begin to soften and brown. Add squash and cook ten minutes more. Add sweet potatoes and curry blend and continue sautéing another five minutes, stirring often.

2. Add cauliflower to the top of the squash and sweet potatoes, being careful no to stir the mixture. Add water and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer until vegetables are tender (15-20 minutes).

3. With a wooden spoon, smash some of the squash in the curry mixture against the sides of the skillet to thicken the sauce. Stir in the peas and season to taste with salt.

Marni Wasserman is a culinary nutritionist in Toronto whose philosophy is stemmed around whole foods. She is dedicated to providing balanced lifestyle choices through natural foods. Using passion and experience, she strives to educate individuals on how everyday eating can be simple and delicious.

Review:  Love this article.  It shows you how to incorporate spices into your daily cooking for yummy recipes and dining.  Thanks for letting us know which spices help with which related health conditions.  You really can use things around your kitchen to benefit your health.  Well done, Thanks for sharing!  Erika Marquardt.

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