Benefits of Vitamin B2

Vitamin B2, also known as riboflavin, helps to preserve the health of your skin, the lining of your digestive tract, and your blood cells.

Riboflavin is recommended to help improve immune function, boost energy levels, maintain healthy skin, hair and nails, and treat certain types of anemia.

It is also important in producing energy and hunting down harmful free radicals by promoting the body’s recycling of the powerful antioxidant glutathione.

Therapeutically, riboflavin is associated with a lower risk of developing eye cataracts and a reduction in the frequency of migraine headache attacks has been seen in those taking vitamin B2 supplements.

There is never any concern about getting too much riboflavin, as any excess is quickly excreted in the urine.

Interesting Facts About Vitamin B2

An interesting fact about riboflavin is that vitamin B2 supplements will turn urine bright yellow. In fact, the “flavin” part of the word riboflavin comes from the Latin word for yellow, flavus.

Have you ever noticed that eating asparagus will turn your urine yellow? Asparagus is rich in riboflavin.

Riboflavin is even used as a food coloring because of its distinctive yellow color. Because it is fluorescent under UV light, riboflavin is used in some industrial applications to detect leaks.

Vitamin B2 Deficiency

Riboflavin deficiency shows up as painful inflammation and skin rashes on the tongue, throat, lips, corners of the mouth and genitalia. Other signs you’re not getting enough riboflavin include itchy, bloodshot eyes and anemia.

Because it is removed during the milling process, vitamin B2 is included in enriched flour products in the United States and other countries. This helps to prevent deficiency in places where enriched flour is widely used.

Riboflavin is damaged by exposure to light. Store dairy foods and other foods high in riboflavin in opaque containers to protect this important nutrient and get the most value from your food..

Food Sources of Vitamin B2

Some of the best sources of vitamin B2 are daily products. Milk, cheese and yogurt are all excellent ways to get your daily dose of riboflavin.

Non-dairy sources include spinach and other greens, asparagus, eggs, and mushrooms. For a meal rich in riboflavin, have a cheese omelette, a salad with chopped hard-boiled eggs, or asparagus with cheese sauce.

Liver and kidneys are good meat sources of riboflavin.

Want a fast, easy serving of vitamin B2? Have a cup of yogurt or a handful of toasted soybeans. A quarter cup of almonds is also a good source of riboflavin.

Benefits of Vitamin B1

Vitamin B1, also known as thiamine, is a key player in the body’s production of energy. Thiamine takes the energy in carbohydrates and fats and helps to regulate the process of converting that energy into a form that is usable by your body.

Vitamin B1 is especially vital to the proper functioning of the brain and nervous system. Your brain is constantly burning energy.

Vitamin B1 Deficiency

Because your whole body needs energy, vitamin B1 deficiency can affect how your whole body functions. In addition to the nervous system, areas that are particularly sensitive to lack of B1 include the heart and digestive system.

Vitamin B1 deficiency, though rare in developed countries today, was once widespread due to over-processing of foods.

Beriberi is a thiamine deficiency disease that affects the heart and nervous system particularly. Historically, beriberi has appeared in countries that are dependent on rice in their diet. Polishing the rice in an attempt to preserve it removes the thiamine rich outer coating and puts those who eat only polished rice at risk for thiamine deficiency.

Alcohol abuse plays a huge role in vitamin B1 deficiencies. Metabolism of alcohol robs the body of thiamine and puts heavy drinkers at risk for the same type of nervous system and heart damage that occurs in severe vitamin B1 deficiency.

As we get older, it becomes harder for the body to properly metabolize thiamine, making elderly people particularly at risk for vitamin B1 deficiency.

Food Sources of Vitamin B1

Thiamine is present to a small degree in most of the foods that we consume. As with anything else though, some sources are better than others.

The best dietary sources of B1 include whole grains such as oatmeal, brown rice, and whole grain wheat flour and rye flour.

Because processing removes the thiamine rich outer coating of the grain, processed white flour is required to be fortified with thiamine and other nutrients before being sold in the United States and other countries.

In addition to whole grains, other good sources of vitamin B1 include asparagus, sunflower seeds, leafy greens such as spinach, cabbage and kale, and brussels sprouts and broccoli. Legumes such as dried beans and green peas are also good sources of thiamine.

Advantages of Raw Food

Vitamin B1 is very sensitive to heat. Cooking has been shown to destroy 50% or more of the thiamine content in foods.

Be sure to consume at least some of these thiamine rich foods in their raw forms. A Caesar salad, containing raw Romaine lettuce or coleslaw with fresh cabbage would be good sources of vitamin B1.

Want a fast, easy serving of vitamin B1? Eat a handful of sunflower seeds. A quarter cup of sunflower seeds contains almost half of your daily recommended intake of vitamin B1.

Benefits of Vitamin A

Vitamin A is the vitamin most often associated with good eyesight. More than one generation of children have been told to eat their carrots so that they could see in the dark.

It turns out, connecting good vision to eating carrots isn’t far off the mark. Vitamin A, plentiful in carrots and other orange vegetables, is indeed beneficial for the eyes.

Vitamin A helps the various parts of the eye, including the cornea, the retina, and the membranes, function as they should.

In addition to aiding vision, vitamin A is good for your immune system and reproductive system. It is also vital to the normal development and growth of cells in our bodies.

Vitamin A deficiency has been linked to viral infections, high child mortality rates, and blindness.

Types of Vitamin A

There are several different chemicals that function as what we call vitamin A. Vitamin A from animal sources comes under the heading retinoids. Retinoids include retinol, retinal, retinoic acid, and retinyl esters.

The second type of vitamin A comes under the heading carotenoids and includes the beta-carotene found in carrots.

Under certain conditions, some carotenoid forms of vitamin A can be converted into retinoid forms  by the body as needed.

For most people, though, the best option is to consume both animal and vegetable sources of vitamin A to ensure a good supply of retinoids and carotenoids.

Vitamin A is considered a fat-soluble vitamin, and should be eaten with foods that contain fat so that it can be absorbed properly.

Food Sources of Vitamin A

In addition to carrots, vitamin A is found in sweet potatoes, winter squash, spinach and other greens such as collard greens, turnip greens, kale and Swiss chard. Animal sources include shrimp, fish, milk, cheese, eggs and yogurt.

The best sources of vitamin A for good eye health are leafy greens such as spinach and kale. These are rich in lutein and zeaxanthin, the carotenoids that have been found in the human retina.

All those looking to help prevent age-related macular degeneration or other eye diseases would be wise to include dark leafy greens in their meals.

Fruits containing vitamin A include cantaloupe, papaya, and pink or red grapefruit.

Since many adults and children fail to eat enough vegetables, researchers estimate that one-third of the adults in the U.S. fail to get the required amounts of vitamin A in their diets.

Want a fast, easy serving of vitamin A? Eat a handful of dried apricots. They are portable and a great way to ensure that you are getting your daily supply of vitamin A.

Prepared baby carrots, or carrot sticks that you made ahead yourself, are also great for on the go vitamin A.

How to Get Back on the Health Track in 2016 part 8

What Your Next Step Is

We almost all do it. We make New Year’s resolutions to get healthy, to exercise more and to live a more happy and positive life. Then, as they say, life happens. We fall off the ball and eventually we’re right back where we started a year ago.

Sometimes it’s just a matter of losing our motivation to continue. Reaching the goal might be taking longer than we hoped or harder than we anticipated. But there are things we can do to boost our motivation along the way.

Tell other people about your goal or invite them to join you.

Work on taking small steps every day that leads you towards your goal.

Celebrate your success at preset milestones.

Work on changing your thought patterns as you work on the new behavior. If you don’t change how you think about eating healthy, you will likely have trouble maintaining it.

Have fun and laugh at yourself when you slip. But get back on track as soon as you can.

The statistics are scary. If only eight percent of people setting New Year’s resolutions are able to achieve them, then why do so many attempt them year after year and fail? It’s not because they are lazy. Often it’s simply because we set too high a goal or try to achieve too many resolutions at once.

Setting a New Year’s resolution is a lot like taking a long trip. You wouldn’t set out without a plan on how you were going to get there, where you’d be staying or even what you planned to take with you.

So when you do make your resolutions this year, and you find yourself slipping, take the time to reassess and revamp the plan on how you are going to reach that health goal. Hit the gym, turn down that piece of cake and eat less processed foods. Give yourself a reward, and then get out and do it all over again tomorrow. It’ll be worth it when you finally achieve it.

How to Get Back on the Health Track in 2016 part 7

What to Do If You Feel You’re Slipping or Get off Track

Sometimes we have the best intentions but still slip and get off track. Is it a mindset problem? Or was the goal too big? Did you not have enough support? No matter what the reason, don’t give up! You can return to working on your resolution.

Decide if the goal really means something to you, and if it does, you’ll want to follow this simple process to get back on track.

• Review your plan. Did you set your goal a little too high? For example losing 50 pounds in 3 months? Aim a bit lower. Set your target goal to a more attainable one. So for this example, losing 10 or 15 pounds in 3 months or changing what you eat and scheduling exercises would be a better resolution.
• Break down your goal if your original goal is too large to accomplish easily. If your goal is to lose 50 pounds this year, then break it down into smaller tasks. In this example, 50 pounds a year is less than a pound a week. Then set up an eating and exercise plan to lose a pound a week.

• ­Focus on one resolution at a time. Choose the most pressing one – losing weight, eating healthy, changing your mindset—and concentrate on it until you achieve it. Trying to change more than one habit at a time can be overwhelming.
• Get an accountability partner. Enlist the help of a friend or professional to keep you accountable who can advise you on what you need to be doing.
• Be flexible and willing to change how you approach your resolution. Lengthen your timeline if necessary.
• Work on smaller goals at a time that lead to your ultimate goal.
• Create new milestones if you feel like you’re just too far off track. Modify your original goal for a new more attainable one that fits in the remaining time. That way, at least you’re making some progress towards your original goal.
• Get more specific if you created a very broad and grand resolution. Maybe your goal was to get healthy. That’s great, but it is without an action plan and specific definition of what healthy means to you. Does it mean eating clean foods? Or exercising three times a week?

Just because you’ve started slipping away from your New Year’s resolution doesn’t mean you have to totally forget about it. Use the above tips to get back on track and get your momentum going again.

How to Get Back on the Health Track in 2016 part 6

How to Live with Positivity and Limited Stress Every Day

 Worry and negative thoughts lead to stress. One way to have less stress is to live with positivity. Learning how to live with a positive attitude can be challenging but with practice every day it will become a habit.

Here are ten ways to stay positive every day:

1. When you catch yourself saying what-if or imagining the worst case scenario, take control by turning those thoughts into positive ones. Instead of worrying, think of the best possible outcome.
2. Use breathing techniques to keep you centered. When you’re really stressed, take at least three deep breaths to calm yourself before you take action or start overanalyzing the situation.
3. Don’t compare what’s happening now with what happened before. It’s difficult to not compare changes, especially negative ones, with what happened in the past. Don’t wish things would go back to the way they were if you’re facing negative problems. Instead find a positive solution and consider why you’re facing difficulty.
4. Focus on solutions rather than the problems. There is less stress when you are working toward solving a problem.
5. Learn how to treat others well. Treat others the way you’d like to be treated. Be kind. Smile.
6. Focus on self-improvement. It’s easy to blame others for our problems. But positive people know that won’t get them anywhere. Instead, find ways you can improve yourself and build your skills and mindset into a person who can overcome the obstacles, instead of blaming external factors for your lack of success or problems.
7. Laugh at yourself. Everyone makes mistakes and messes up sometimes. Learn a lesson from the mistake and laugh it off. Take yourself lightly.
8. Work on whatever you are capable of achieving. It’s never too late to accomplish what you want in life. Quit obsessing over what you should have done sooner. Take steps every day toward what you want to accomplish.
9. Reach out to others. Form new connections and reach out to old connections. Whenever possible, network with others in a positive way.
10. Start each day with a happy thought. Remind yourself of your strengths, your goals, and the things that make you happy. Feel gratitude for the things you do have. Focus on the positive experiences you have every day. It might be as simple as a cuddle from your puppy to getting a new client. Use daily affirmations.

Living with positivity on a daily basis leaves less room for stress in your life. Positive people are calmer, work towards what they want and achieve their goals better than those who continually worry, and find the negative in any situation.

How to Get Back on the Health Track in 2016 part 5

How to Incorporate Exercise into Your Daily Lifestyle

 You set a New Year’s resolution to exercise every day. If you are new to exercising or you haven’t done it for a while, the best way to begin incorporating it into your life is to begin with small steps.

• Set your mind to the idea of moving more. Remind your body to get more movement every day by standing more or taking the stairs more often. Other ways to get more movement in are to do stretches in your chair, squat to pick something up from the floor or park farther away from the door.
• Commit to regular activity by setting a specific time each day. Schedule it in your appointment calendar and treat it like a commitment. Set a time to take a leisurely walk if exercise is new to you. Or set a time to take a fitness class, swim a few laps or join in a dance class.
• Move more. Find ways to move more in your regular daily activity.
• Find your favorite exercise. You’ll be more likely to stick to it if you enjoy it. To find one you’ll enjoy, think about what you played as a kid. Did you enjoy team sports? You might be more of a group or class person, so try a spin class or sign up for an adult sports league. Did you enjoy playing alone? Try running, tennis or a marathon. Rent an exercise video to experiment with different types of exercise.
• Vary your routine and activities if you get bored easily. Try cardio three days a week and strength training twice a week and yoga twice a week. Try working out in the morning part of the time and in the evening part of the time.
• Exercise at the right time of day for you. The best time to exercise is whatever works for your schedule. Mornings might be ideal if you’re a busy professional. Fit in a gym session on your lunch hour or after work if that works best for you.

Incorporating exercise into your daily lifestyle can be as simple as waking up thirty minutes earlier for a quick walk or doing stretches at your desk. No matter what type of exercise you do, look for simple ways to add more movement to your day.

How to Get Back on the Health Track in 2016 part 4

How to Incorporate Healthy Eating into Your Daily Lifestyle

You made a resolution to eat healthy this year. You were doing great for about two weeks or so. Then wham. Life happened. You were hit with temptations for sweets at work, for eating fast food for lunch or simply craved potato chips. It happens.

But you can get back on the right track.

Here are 4 ways to incorporate healthy eating into your daily lifestyle:

1. Don’t sacrifice a nutritious breakfast. You’ve probably heard the old adage “breakfast is the most important meal of the day”, and it’s true. But not just anything will do. Skip the sweet Danish for a more nutritious breakfast. Keep plenty of healthy breakfast foods on hand.
2. Enjoy easy, healthy snacks. Healthy snacks keep you from getting too hungry and overeating at your next meal. Keep foods such as yogurt, nuts, fruit and veggies such as washed apples, carrot sticks, and grape tomatoes, cottage cheese or sliced turkey on hand for a quick snack.
3. Cook more than you can eat. This tip saves you time and money while allowing you to eat healthier. Cook extra to refrigerate or freeze for your next day’s lunch or dinner. When you know you already have a nutritious meal waiting for you, you’re less likely to grab the high-calorie, high-fat junk food at the drive-through on your way home. Some good options include chicken, veggies, soups, and grains, including quinoa and brown rice.
4. Eat as many colors as you can every day. Opt for a range of nutritious vegetables and fruits every day. Keep a variety of colors on hand and make it a point to see how many different colors you can eat a day. Eat red peppers, spinach, sweet potatoes and blackberries one day and the next eat green peppers, yellow squash, blueberries and bananas.

It takes time to make these changes, but if you keep trying every day, you’ll eventually begin to see it’s become a habit to eat healthier.

How to Get Back on the Health Track in 2016 part 3

How to Approach Your Journey to Health Instead

Now that you know why your fail at achieving your New Year’s health resolutions, let’s dig into how to approach the journey to better health instead. It begins with having a plan.

• Rev up your can-do. Start with five minute changes. Instead of making a big unclear resolution, pinpoint one small, meaningful step you can take towards change that you can do in five minutes. For example, maybe your resolution is to eat healthier. Take five minutes to make a grocery list that includes more fruits and vegetables. Or make small tweaks in what you eat every day by eliminating one sugary drink a day. Small changes keep you moving toward your goal and help you get unstuck when you begin to fall off track.
• Stay motivated. One way to do this is to get an accountability partner or mentor. Another way is to create a vision board of what healthy looks like to you. Include images of you succeeding and living the life you want.
• Go for 10. Use the rule of 10, which simply means do something for 10 minutes instead of 30, or change 10% instead of 100%. So if you want to get healthier by getting fit, make your goal to do 10 minutes of exercise every day. You can work up to longer periods, but getting started is the hard part. With only doing 10 minutes of something you are more likely to do it. The same can be said for healthy eating. Instead of completely changing the way you eat all at once, add more fruit or vegetables or cut out 10% of sugar intake a day (like 1 donut), gradually decreasing until you’ve eliminated sugar from your diet.
• Make pre-commitments. Piggy-back what you want to change onto something you’re already doing. One way to do this is to add one more vegetable to your plate each day.
• Try the proximity trick. This works well if you are trying to add exercise to your daily routine. The trick here is to place your sneakers and workout clothes next to your bed each night. That way, when you wake up they’re the first things you see.
• Create a list. Make a list and cross off a task as you do it. This boosts your motivation. According to Brian Tracy, author of Eat That Frog!—21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time, the dopamine or the motivation chemical is released whenever you “do something life-enhancing, such as completing a task.”

You want to approach the journey to a healthy life like you would any other important goal. Create lists, work on small steps at a time, and find ways to stay motivated along the way.

Kettlebell Training for Work-at-Home-Moms

If you are a work-at-home mom and you badly need to develop an exercise regimen that will allow you to burn calories in a short amount of time then the kettlebell is exactly what you’re looking for. Doing KB exercises will speed up your metabolism, tone your body, relieve stress and increase your energy levels. If you are ready to get started, check out the kettlebell exercises below that will help you reshape your body in its best form ever!

workout at gym

-The Swing

You can use this move to lose weight, build lean muscles and tone your body. To do the swing, strand straight with your legs shoulder width apart and lean forward while keeping your back straight. Don’t arch your back as this may cause injury. Bend your knees mimicking a semi squat.

Your arms should hang loosely and then raise the kettlebell with both hands over your head and inhale. Now swing the weight in between the legs towards the back as you breathe out. Do 10 sets of 20 to 50 repetitions and pause for a minute between each set.

– Deadlift

The deadlift is great for toning the back and butt. When doing this exercise, you have to keep your back straight and use your body’s force to lift the weight, not your arms. Start with the standard standing position. The kettlebell should be on the floor centered between your legs.

Bend your knees and squat over the weight. Remember to keep your spine straight and abdominals tight. Reach down and grab the kettlebell with both hands. Lift it with your entire body and not just your arms.

The power of the lift should come from your abs and hips. Bend your elbows out open as you raise the weight to your mid chest. Slightly bend your knees as you lower the weight. Repeat this move for 25 times before putting the kettlebell back to the floor.

-Lunge Press

This is one of the easiest kettlebell exercises that a woman can easily do. To start, stand with your feet shoulder width apart and hold the sides of the kettlebell handle with both hands in front of your chest.

Your elbows should be bent by sides with your palms in. Now lunge forward using your left leg and press the weight up using both hands. Stand back up while you bring the kettlebell back down.

Repeat the exercise using the other leg. The lunge press targets the shoulders, back, arms, abs, legs and butt. Make sure you keep your back and shoulder blades straight when doing this move.