Daily Healthy Living Tip

Come back daily for a new healthy living tip!

July 24, 2008
Straight out of the can, peanuts are one amazing health food. But you may get more antioxidants if you buy them in the shell and do this: boil 'em. In a recent study, peanuts boiled in their shells had a significantly higher concentration of disease-fighting phytochemicals -- more than their raw, roasted, or oiled counterparts.
Nutrition in a Nutshell
The hulls of peanuts are loaded with polyphenols, and the skins are packed with flavonoids. Researchers suspect that boiling peanuts in their shells releases these heart-healthy antioxidant compounds into the water, and the amped-up water is in turn absorbed by the nuts. The result? One powerfully healthy peanut.

July 23, 2008
You use it for cooking, cleaning, gardening, and a hundred other household chores. But for your blood sugar? You bet. Seems vinegar -- the tart stuff in tasty vinaigrettes and marinades -- may help clamp down on blood sugar spikes from eating starchy carbs like potatoes and pasta.
Keep It Steady
Keeping blood sugar from surging may cut down on diabetes risk in the long run. But stabilizing blood sugar can do good things instantly, too -- like stymieing hunger pangs, keeping your energy up, and keeping pounds off. To get the blood sugar benefit of vinegar, try pairing starchy foods with vinegar-based sauces or dressings. Or start a meal with a salad dressed in oil and vinegar.

July 22, 2008
When you’re looking for a tip-off to how your eyes are doing, here’s one big clue: Check your night vision. Count how long it takes your eyes to recover from bright lights you see at night, especially when driving. Longer than usual? Say, 7 seconds, as opposed to 3? Might be time for a visit with your eye specialist.
2 More Do-It-Yourself Exams
If you don’t have any risk factors for eye disease and you’re under 60, you can probably get by with seeing the eye doc every 2 years (annually if you’re over 60). But go sooner if your eyes are giving you problems.

July 21, 2008
A cool wedge of watermelon on a hot summer day? Refreshing, for sure. But watermelon is more than just a seasonal treat. Here are three great health reasons to dig into this juicy fruit:

1. It's loaded with lycopene. Watermelon juice actually gave tomato juice a run for the money in a recent study of lycopene levels. That’s good news for your body, because early research suggests that lycopene may be a cancer crusher.
2. It can make your skin pretty. Watermelon is loaded with a key compound credited with helping skin's healing and regenerative processes. Say no more -- bring on the melon!
3. It's practically calorie-free. With fewer than 50 calories in every cup, watermelon is one smart way to satisfy a sweet tooth. And with a whopping 141 grams of water per cubed cup, watermelon will keep you hydrated, too.

July 18, 2008
Wise man say 'he who runs behind car gets exhausted.'

July 17, 2008
A sponge is like the back row in study hall -- it attracts all the bad elements. So here’s what you should do with it: Toss it, suggest YOU docs Mehmet Oz, MD, and Michael Roizen, MD. Instead, buy 10 cheap dishcloths and 2 buckets. Put the clean cloths in one bucket and the dirty cloths in the other bucket along with some diluted bleach. Wash all the cloths once a week.
More Sanitary Solutions
Sponges actually grow bacteria. But if you simply can’t part with your sponges, run them through the dishwasher once a week. You can also microwave damp sponges for a minute to kill germs. But use extreme caution: Wet the sponge thoroughly, and use tongs to take it out of the microwave.

July 16, 2008
Could something a little sinister-sounding, like bacteria, actually be a boon to allergy sufferers?
Seems so. Eating foods laced with "good" bacteria -- probiotic milk or yogurt drinks -- could help clamp down on sniffling and sneezing.
It’s That Old Bacteria Magic
When people with seasonal allergies drank a daily probiotic beverage as part of a research study, good things happened. Their immune systems produced less of the substances that set off allergy symptoms and more of the ones that control them. And that, of course, could translate into much-hoped-for allergy relief.

July 15, 2008
If the pounds you dropped in time for summer are working their way back on, there’s a time-tested gadget that might help halt the creep. It’s your bathroom scale. Research shows that people who weigh themselves regularly after reaching a goal weight do a much better job of keeping the lost pounds off.
Maintaining Your Losses
When you’re trying to lose weight, a bathroom scale may not be your best friend. It doesn’t always tell the whole story. But if you’re trying to keep lost weight off, a scale could be just the thing to keep you from backsliding. Researchers asked people who had lost weight over a 2-year period to weigh themselves daily for 18 months. The result? People who regularly weighed in were more successful at keeping the weight off for the long haul.

July 14, 2008
Creamed, whole kernel, or on the cob, corn’s got something that can really sweeten your health. It's a potent phytochemical called ferulic acid. And new research shows the compound could help you skirt a host of chronic conditions, from Alzheimer’s disease to cancer.
Substance Superpowers
You’ll also find the super phenol in tomatoes and rice bran, and it does a ton of good things for your body, like scavenging cell-damaging free radicals, preventing inflammation, and diminishing plaque buildup in artery walls. And if all of that isn’t enough -- it may help fight aging, too.

July 11, 2008
There may be a newly discovered bonus to good blood sugar control: better recall.
Turns out that Alzheimer’s disease and the #1 blood sugar disorder, diabetes, share something in common -- something that wreaks havoc on normal brain function: lack of insulin.
Not All in the Genes
A long-term Swedish study revealed that too little insulin ups Alzheimer’s risk. Men with low insulin secretion at age 50 had a significantly greater risk of the mind-robbing disease -- as well as other types of dementia -- later in life. One caveat though: The link was strongest in men without the gene that predisposes people to Alzheimer’s.

July 10, 2008
Any fan of Mexican food is familiar with cilantro. But here’s something you may not know about it: The pungent green could fend off gut-cramping illness. Potent compounds in cilantro appear to be quite a match against a strain of salmonella common in food poisoning.
Bacteria Busters
When salmonella invades your gastrointestinal tract . . . well, we won’t go into graphic detail. Suffice it to say that it can quickly spoil a summer outing! But chopping some cilantro into your pool-party salsa just might keep the dip safer, thanks to the strong antibacterial action of substances in the green. And add extra onions to your salsa for good measure. They help battle salmonella, too.

July 9, 2008
So you grabbed a bag of chips, and a short while later, you were down to the crumbs. How’d that happen? While you’re figuring that out, here’s how you can stop it from happening again: Practice mindful eating. There’s a growing army of slim people singing this savor-the-moment practice.
Your Mantra: Relax, Focus
To teach yourself how to eat mindfully, start with a raisin. Take a deep, relaxing breath as you pick it up. Look at it for a few seconds. Smell it. Place it in your mouth and roll it around on your tongue. Feel the wrinkles. Now bite. Note the chewy, gritty texture -- the sweet, fruity, astringent taste. Extract all the flavor before you swallow. That’s kind of the idea with mindful eating -- to savor the look, smell, texture, and taste of every bite. And it works! It had a huge impact on curbing chronic binge eating in a recent study.

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