With that in mind, I have recently started experimenting with a new vegetable I found called Moringa. Moringa is a plant that has many different nutritional properties and can be prepared in a multitude of ways. Almost every part of the Moringa tree can be eaten, from the bark to the pods, leaves and flowers—and each part of the plant provides all the essential amino acids and many vitamins.

Moringa leaves have more vitamin A than carrots and more calcium than milk (though some of the calcium is in the form of calcium oxalate crystals, which isn’t available to the human body). The leaves are often used to replace spinach in recipes, and it’s no wonder why, because Moringa leaves have more iron than spinach itself does. The leaves of the plant contain more potassium than bananas and more vitamin C than oranges, and the protein level in the Moringa plant is equal to that of milk and eggs.

It’s more common in places like India, where people eat every part of the plant, similar to how Native Americans would eat the entire buffalo. It’s becoming more popular in the United States though, and there are many great recipes that include this super food. Here are a couple different ways to use Moringa as a healthy snack.

The leaves are often used like spinach, but they can also be dried and crushed, creating a type of powder that can be used on top of salads or in soups, sauces and dips. The pods (usually called drumsticks) can be prepared like green beans—but they taste more like asparagus.

One of the easiest snacks though is to take out the seeds from the pods and eat them like you would nuts. Once the seeds are dried, you can roast them, or you can sauté them or eat them raw. If you roast them, they’ll last a lot longer and you can snack on them for some time.

A healthy morning snack is to put about 2-4 teaspoons of Moringa powder in your smoothie. I prefer to use ionized water, but tap or bottled will work equally well. The taste blends really well with berry smoothies (think strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries) rather than with fruits like apricots or oranges.

For a little bit more inspiration, try out these steamed Moringa muffins, where you can either dry out your own leaves to crush into powder, or simply buy the powder itself. The muffins will turn out a bright, vivid green, which is a great excuse to call in the kids from playing on the swing set to enjoy a healthy colorful muffin.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup powdered milk (skim, if you want to be more healthy)
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons Moringa powder
• 2 eggs
• 2 ¼ cups water
• 2 tablespoons vanilla

Directions:

Mix all the dry ingredients before adding in the wet ingredients. Mix until there aren’t any lumps. Pour mixture into a muffin tin, filling the molds ¾ full. Steam (not bake) inside a steamer for 10-12 minutes.

When you find yourself reaching for a snack, keep Moringa in mind as a healthy alternative to store-bought, packaged foods.

Back in the 1970s, the average American was expected to live to about age 71. Thanks to improvements in health sciences and nutrition the average life expectancy today is around 77 and is expected to be about age 85 by the year 2030. But what can you do to beat the average?

There are lots of health crazes today. All sorts of self-anointed gurus are recommending and endless amount of untested nutritional supplements and diet plans. While many of these plans offer good solid advice others may actually be harmful for you. The best course of action is to follow what is actually established as good health and nutrition practices. Only follow health advice that is backed up with empirical research.

Of course we don’t just want to live longer, we will live better longer. By adopting a healthier lifestyle now you can enjoy a better quality of life in your golden years. We will share some tried and true things you can do right now to get on the right track to extend your active life expectancy, but let’s look at some recent health-related trends.

Antioxidants

It seems like everywhere you turn today some food manufacturer or nutritional supplement company is talking antioxidants. Foods like pomegranates, which are high in antioxidants, are touted as the fountain of youth. How much do we really know about antioxidants?

Scientists have determined that antioxidants protect our cells from free radicals. Free radicals are created when our cells convert food and oxygen into energy. The growing body of evidence suggests that free radicals have a negative impact on DNA and can trigger the growth of cancer cells. So it seems to make sense to increase the amount of antioxidants in your diet to reduce your chances of cancer, but it has yet to be proved to work. Many studies seem to suggest that a diet rich in antioxidants is good for cell health, but it hasn’t been shown to work for humans yet. We have yet to see large-scale human studies on how antioxidant supplements affect health.

Calorie Restricting and Fasting

Some laboratory research has shown that restricting calories can extend life expectancy. Some test subjects that were subjected to severe calorie restrictions nearly doubled their life expectancy! But before you try starving yourself to immortality it’s important to take a close look at that research. Those “test subjects” that doubled their life expectancy are in fact, tiny little roundworms. When food is scarce for the worms they go into a sort of hibernation rather than starve to death. We humans don’t work that way. What might work for protozoa, mice, worms and fruit flies doesn’t necessarily work for humans. A starvation diet might actually be harmful to your health.

Right now scientists are studying the impact of a restricted diet on primates and if that is shown to be promising it might be extended to human trials. But until the data is collected and the evidence is compelling we don’t recommend chasing this fad.

Healthy Senior Living

If you want to extend your life expectancy and live stronger and healthier as a senior citizen there are only a handful of things you must know.  First, get more active. This doesn’t mean you have to take up marathon racing, weight lifting and aerobics it just means get off your duff! Get out of the house, go for long walks several times a week. Take-up of fun activity like golf that allows you to socialize and get some physical activity on a regular basis. Secondly, eat better foods. Stay away from processed foods whenever possible and enjoy more fresh vegetables and fruit. Generally speaking, this simple or your food is a healthier it will be. Processed foods tend to be more fattening and contain chemical additives in addition to unhealthy levels of salt and sugar.

Before  starting any type of physical fitness program, especially advanced age, always consult with your medical doctor first. For senior citizens who are going to take up walking, be sure to carry a reliable cell phone or emergency medical alert system in the event you need assistance.

To learn more about living healthier in your senior years and caring for elderly loved ones checkout ElderKind.com.

1. Boost Your Immune System – Feeding your body right can play a major role in helping you fight off diseases like the flu, keeping you healthy all winter long.  Provide your body with enough fluids (green tea is a healthy drink that will keep you warm, too!)  and limit your alcohol intake to stay hydrated.  Foods like yogurt, chicken, garlic, and colorful or leafy vegetables have all been proven to boost your immune system, making them crucial to a healthy winter diet.
2. Be Aware of Weather Conditions – Wind chill and snow are two examples of weather conditions that can prove harmful to both your workout and your immune system.  Wind chill can get through any heat that your clothes provide, and in extreme cases, can cause frostbite.  Likewise, cold, wet conditions lower your body temperature and make you more vulnerable to illnesses.
3. Warm Up – Warming up before a winter workout decreases the likelihood of twisting or spraining any part of your body.  Warming up indoors is the most effective way to prepare your body for the exercise to come.
4. Dress Smart – If you’re going for a run outside, don’t think you can wear just anything.  Dressing in layers is key for cold exercise conditions.  It’s also important to dress in clothes that will keep you dry–this means no cotton!  Cotton holds in moisture that is especially present in snowy or rainy weather and can give you a chill when it’s against your skin.  Dressing in bright colors is another important factor in safe winter exercise (or night exercise during any season); it gets darker earlier in the winter, so wear bright colors to increase your visibility if you are running anywhere near cars.
5. Protect Extremities – Your ears, fingers, toes, and nose are the parts of your body that are most likely to get cold first.  To keep them warm, invest in warm winter socks and be sure to wear gloves or mittens when you exercise.
6. Get Health Insurance – Ice and snow make roads slick, increasing your chance of slipping and getting hurt if you exercise outdoors.  Getting health insurance provides you the peace of mind that you’ll be covered for any unexpected winter injuries.  It’s also smart to get a check up before you start a new winter exercise regimen, and with health insurance, you’ll be covered for any health problems you weren’t aware of before.  Health care providers such as Michigan Health Care offer single and family plans for anyone not covered by their employers.
7. Exercise Inside – If exercising outside during the winter isn’t your thing, don’t worry!  There are plenty of other options to stay in shape that don’t involve dealing with the weather at all.  Joining a gym is one option, but if your budget is tight, you can watch workout DVDs or play exercise video games in the comfort of your living room.  Doing stair workouts is another great way to stay fit without spending money.
8. Take Care of Yourself – If you become incapacitated in any way this winter, whether it’s the flu or simply an aversion to the cold weather, it’s important to cut your body some slack.  To make sure you don’t push your body more than it can take, find shortcuts for your daily errands.  One such shortcut is getting mail order prescriptions instead of trekking through the snow to the pharmacy, allowing your body to get the rest it needs.  Ordering your prescriptions also helps you remember to take important things like vitamins on time, keeping you healthy and off the roads in bad weather.

Now that you’ve learned how to stay healthy and in shape this winter, you have no excuse to hibernate for the rest of the season!  It’s easy and absolutely possible to stay in shape throughout the whole year, no matter what the weather.  Just be sure to make smart and safe health decisions—your body, especially your waistline, will thank you!

First, The core muscles refer to the muscles which wrap around your mid-section, including the abdominal muscles, Obliques, and back muscles including the Lats (latissimus dorsi), Middle Back (rhomboids), Lower Back.

Benefits of working your core muscles include more functional workouts that translate into daily life activities, improved performance in sports, reduced risk of injury, better ability to function each day, and helping to keep your body stable and balanced and help you bend twist and turn.

Now on to working these core muscles. As mentioned, simply doing a few crunches from time to time won’t efficiently work your core and you definitely will not see any visible improvement on your mid-section if you continue to work them out this way.

Research conducted at the University of San Diego by use of electromyography machine showing the electrical impulses that muscles send out when they contract, researchers have singled out the three best exercises for core specifically the abdominals. These exercises are:

Roman chair leg raises

Place your back against the roman chair machine and support your weight between your forearms. Allow your body to hang freely, this is your starting position. Keeping your legs straight, exhale and raise your legs slowly until your body forms an ‘L’. Pause for a moment and lower your legs slowly to the starting position.

Bicycle Crunches

Lay flat on the ground with your hands behind your head, with your torso slightly elevated and your legs stretched out also slightly elevated, this is your starting position. Exhale and bring one knee in slowly towards your chest, without moving the other leg, while simultaneously twisting your torso to make your opposite elbow meet your knee, without letting your arm fold across your face. Lower your torso and leg back into the starting position and repeat with the opposite leg and opposite elbow.

Reverse crunches

Adjust an ab bench to a slight incline of about 45 degrees. Lay on the bench so that your head is on the higher end of the bench, your head and back flat on the bench, your hands over your head gripping the pad or bar behind you. Extend your legs so that they are parallel to the floor, this is your starting position. Exhale and slowly bring your knees into your chest as close as they can go, pause for a moment and lower slowly back into the starting position.

The core muscles are best worked when performed in a circuit, picking 3 to 5 exercises and doing 10-20 reps of each exercise one right after the other with no rest then taking no more than a minute’s rest and repeating the circuit 3 to 4 times, this circuit workout should be performed 2 to 3 times per week. Also when working the abs it is vital to keep a clean diet composed primarily of lean protein, complex carbohydrates, fruits, vegetables and lots of water.

Jeff covers health and fitness related topics for the Term Life Insurance blog because living a healthier lifestyle is one of the best ways to save on life insurance.

The number one cause of heart disease in the United States is inactivity, which accounts for 39.5% of Adults with heart disease in the United States. In other words, the number People who live an inactive or sedentary lifestyle are at high risks for developing heart disease.

Not only does living an inactive lifestyle increase your risk of heart disease, but it also increases your chances of developing other __ such as obesity, and high blood pressure, which further increase your risk of developing heart disease along with other problems including: Heart disease and stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, gallbladder disease and gallstones, osteoarthritis, gout, breathing problems, such as sleep apnea and asthma.

A sedentary lifestyle, or inactive, lifestyle is clearly a risky and unhealthy one, which leaves you a risk of many health problems. We can avoid running a high risk of these diseases and associated health problems by simply living a healthier, more active lifestyle.

Performing regular exercise for about 45 minutes to an hour a day- 4 to 6 times a week can do wonders for your overall health and decrease your chances of heart disease dramatically. Performing aerobic exercises best work the muscles of the heart and lungs. The best aerobic exercises for your heart are:

• Swimming
• Jogging/Treadmill running
• Cycling/Stationary bike
• Rowing/Rowing Machine
• Elliptical Machine

These are all excellent workouts which provide great aerobic exercise. These exercises are all low impact activities which will be easy on the joints and muscles.

According to webmd.com some benefits, among others, that you will reap from doing one or more of any of these exercises include:

1. Strengthen your heart and cardiovascular system.
2. Improve your circulation and help your body use oxygen better.
3. Improve your heart failure symptoms.
4. Increase energy levels so you can do more activities without becoming tired or short of breath.
5. Increase endurance.
6. Lower blood pressure.
7. Improve muscle tone and strength.
8. Improve balance and joint flexibility.
9. Strengthen bones.
10. Help reduce body fat and help you reach a healthy weight.
11. Help reduce stress, tension, anxiety, and depression.
12. Boost self-image and self-esteem.
13. Improve sleep.
14. Make you feel more relaxed and rested.
15. Make you look fit and feel healthy.

Performing one or more of these exercises regularly, 4-6 times a week for 45 minutes to an hour along with a balanced diet will greatly strengthen your heart and dramatically reduce your risk of heart disease while toning muscles, loosing fat and getting in shape.

Jeff writes about health related topics for the Term Life Insurance blog. His tips will hopefully help readers save money on life insurance through improvements to their health.

Fitness

Getting enough exercise is a very important part of being healthy or realizing weight loss goals. Gyms offer a variety of exercise aids including classes, equipment and instructors, but they can also be cost prohibitive. Find ways to get exercise away from the gym.

Walk or bike to class – Whenever possible, walk or ride a bicycle to class rather than driving. For someone who commutes, try to park a certain distance away from class and then walk the rest of the way.

Play a team sport –Get a group of friends together to form an intramural sports team and schedule practices. Not only will this provide exercise, it will allow for some additional quality time among friends or the opportunity to make some new acquaintances.

Use school facilities – Some schools may include access to a recreation center as part of tuition. This center can serve as a gym and offer a variety of possibilities, including equipment, a pool and sports courts. Take advantage of this as often as possible. Perhaps there is an outdoor track available for running or jogging. If nothing else, jog around the school’s grounds.

Use what’s available – Even within the limiting confines of a dorm room, there are possibilities for exercise. Pushups use a person’s own body weight to build the muscles of the arms and chest, as well as working the abdomen. Sit ups or crunches will also work the abs.

Nutrition

Exercise is only one part of effective weight loss. Eating right and proper nutrition is just as important, but can be hard to do on a budget.
Don’t skip meals – While this can seem counterproductive to weight loss, eating on a regular basis prevents binge eating later. Instead, try to eat smaller portions more often.

Use protein – Eating protein helps build muscle, which increases the metabolism and helps the body burn more calories, even when at rest. Nuts, beans, chicken and cottage cheese are all good sources of protein.

Fruits and vegetables – Eating plenty of these not only provide the body with lots of important vitamins, they also are good sources of fiber and make the body feel “full” faster. Their calorie content is usually fairly low.

Hydrate – Drink lots of water. Carry a reusable water bottle whenever possible. Staying hydrated can help stave off hunger pains and will also prevent the body from feeling run down while exercising.
Reaching weight loss goals does not require paying high gym fees and starving the body. Even students on a budget can get healthy and lose weight by eating right and finding ways to exercise.
Christina writes for a site that advises students how to get different types of free grants, from college grants for African Americans to master’s student grants. She enjoys writing about money-saving tips for students and believes it is possible to eat well and stay fit on a limited budget.

Failing maintain good health invites a good lot of complications that can further ruin your image and confidence in front of your admirers. So, if you are not willing to pay loads of cash for your medical bills, you must not make the blunder to ignore your health. In this respect, doing exercises, maintaining proper diets, enrolling in weight loss programs, consuming nutritious supplements and relaxing at spas can certainly help you regain your health standards.

Poor health often leads to severe hair loss in both men and women. However, hair experts opine that the continuous loss of hair might take place for many reasons. For instance, women lose hair to a good extent after pregnancy. Moreover, hormonal complications, genetics and stress are the prime factors that lead to extreme hair loss in men. Although baldness is common among men, it can be checked in time if proper hair treatments can be adopted after a diagnosis.

So, what you must do to keep yourself fit and presentable:

• Relaxation & Sleep – Well, you can’t bid farewell to tensions. They are bound to haunt you at each and every phase of your life. For this, you can either meditate or relax by simply reading a story book. A restful sleep is extremely important for one to live happily.
• Drink a minimum of 6 glasses of water per day – There cannot be a better substitute than water that can keep your digestive system strong.
• Eat green vegetables – Avoid junk food and rather consume more and more green vegetables. Our body is always in want of antioxidants. These keep us healthy and make us look younger.
• Use branded hair products – If you want to look stylish, clean your hair on a daily basis with the help of a branded shampoo. This will not only make you look good but help you get rid of hair loss problems.

You can’t help but think “how do I get those?” or “Man they must spend hours a day working out to get those.”

In fact it’s actually not that hard to get those nicely toned legs you’re dreaming about. Here are a few simple workouts that by spending some time doing everyday you’ll have those legs in no time!

• Lunges- This is the best leg exercise because it works all the muscles in your legs with one simple move.  Standing with your feet shoulder width apart take one giant step forward with your right foot. Place your hands on your hips for balance. Now, lower your body straight down until your back leg forms a right angle at the knee. Remember to keep your back straight and breathe. Now raise yourself up using only your legs muscles and repeat on the left foot. Do 3 sets of 30 repetitions on each leg.

• Heel raises- The best thing about this exercise is that it can be done anywhere at anytime without people looking at you funny. These you don’t have to do as often as the others because your calf muscles respond to exercises much faster than the others. Stand with your feet about shoulder length apart place your hands on your hips for balance and rise up to your tiptoes and hold for 3-5 seconds and slowly go back to normal flat position. Repeat this exercise for 3 sets of 40 reps. Once you’re ready for a challenge perform this exercise on stairs and allow your heels to hang and then do the raises for al ultimate calf workout.

• Plies- This exercise targets the inner and outer thighs. It can also be as intense or moderate as you need. You may also know this exercise if you’ve taken Yoga it’s called the Warrior Pose. Stand with your feet slightly more than shoulder width apart and take a small step out with each foot and turn your foot out to the side. Place your hands on your hips for balance if you’re a beginner or over your head if you’re a bit experienced. Lower your body slowly down and raise it back up slowly. Repeat 3 sets of 30 reps.

• Box Jumps- For this exercise you want to perform on a sturdy bench or plyometric box. Always start small with the bench or box little below your knees. Stand in front of your bench or box bend your knees and push down with your legs to get height to jump onto your box. Do 2 sets of  30 reps. If you happen to get tired you can also perform step ups and alternate between each leg.

• Not so ordinary workout- Depending on the time of year either go ice skating or rollerblading.  You must have balance and control when doing either of these activities and it not only works out your legs but it also helps strengthen your core and back because you are trying to find your center at all times.

Although these sound pretty easy don’t underestimate the powers of a good workout session. Just remember to keep pushing and most importantly breathe. Your muscles need oxygen and if you’re constantly holding your breath you are going to be one sore person the next day.

Jeff writes about how living healthier helps reduce insurance premiums for the term life insurance blog.

While most people have made a conscious decision to exercise more, they forget that even if they are spending time at the gym, what they eat plays as much – if not more – of a role when it comes to weight loss.

This infographic from JTXFitness does a great job of showing you just how long it takes for the body to burn of the calories you consume when it comes to some typical meals:

More from JTX Fitness can be found at their site http://www.jtxfitness.com/