healthy heart

🍎 Today’s Health Tip ~ Does Sunscreen inhibit Vitamin D Production?

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Are You Getting Enough Vitamin D if You Use Sunscreen?

Sunscreen can reduce the sun’s adverse effects, but there are concerns that it might inhibit the body’s production of vitamin D. In a new British Journal of Dermatology study, however, investigators recorded an increase of vitamin D in participants during a week of cloudless weather, with very high UV index, even when sunscreens were used properly and prevented sunburn. . . .The [studies] findings indicate that the benefits of sunscreen use can be obtained without compromising vitamin D levels.

“Sunlight is the main source of vitamin D. Sunscreens can prevent sunburn and skin cancer, but there has been a lot of uncertainty about the effects of sunscreens on vitamin D,” said lead author Prof. Antony Young, of King’s College London. “Our study, during a week of perfect weather in Tenerife, showed that sunscreens, even when used optimally to prevent sunburn, allowed excellent vitamin D synthesis.”

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🍎 Today’s Health Tip ~ Don’t Let Stress Negatively Impact Your Health

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Your body is hard-wired to respond to stress. Its “fight-or-flight” response system is designed to kick in when you’re faced with a threat. However, modern humans encounter a constant barrage of stressors that your body can misinterpret as threatening. That can keep you on edge. Over time, stress can negatively impact your mental and physical health.

Healthline provides 10 tips to reduce stress. Check it out.

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🍎 Today’s Health Tip ~ Don’t Take a Pass on Breakfast

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Breakfast. Research shows that [breakfast] is the most important meal of the day—and there is plenty of science to support it. Still, more than half of us do not eat breakfast everyday. . . .Breakfast-eating kids and adultsget more fiber, calcium, vitamins A and C, riboflavin, zinc, and iron in their diets than breakfast-skippers. It’s no wonder when you consider that nutrient-rich foods such as whole-grain hot and ready-to- eat cereals, fat-free and low-fat milk and yogurt, and fruit and 100 percent fruit juice are popular breakfast picks.

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🍎 Today’s Health Tip ~ Are You Getting Enough Vitamin B12?

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Do you get enough vitamin B12? You’ll want to make sure that you do, in order to stay healthy. . . . Vitamin B12 does a lot of things for your body. It helps make your DNA and your red blood cells, for example. Since your body doesn’t make vitamin B12, you have to get it from animal-based foods or from supplements. And you should do that on a regular basis. You can get vitamin B12 in animal foods, which have it naturally, or from items that have been fortified with it.  Animal sources include dairy products, eggs, fish, meat, and poultry. If you’re looking for a food fortified with B12, check the product’s Nutrition Facts label. You can also get vitamin B12 deficiency if you follow a vegan or vegetarian diet. In both of those cases, you can add fortified foods to your diet or take supplements to meet this need. 

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🍎 Today’s Health Tip ~ Is Napping Good for You?

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Take a Siesta Today

The 3 p.m. slump: It happens to everyone at some point. You’re at work, post-lunch, it’s warm and you’re feeling drowsy. But you’ve still got a few hours to go before you can log out and head home. Many people reach for a cup of coffee or an energy drink when such feelings set in. But it could be that a brief nap would be a better intervention to help you power through the afternoon productively.

Dr. Peter A. Fotinakes, medical director of the Providence St. Joseph Hospital Sleep Disorder Center in Orange County, California, says this afternoon lull is a great time to get some shuteye, as it fits in with an overarching cycle of sleep-wake that most people naturally experience.

“Napping is a healthy part of our sleep cycle. Within our 24-hour sleep cycle, we enter into two sleep phases – a long phase that occurs during the night and a shorter 30- to 45-minute phase in the afternoon,” says Fotinakes. “We become physically sleepy during these two periods, which encourages and promotes sleep.”

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🍎 Today’s Health Tip ~ Potatoes Done Right are a Great Choice

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Prepared the right way, potatoes can make a delicious, satisfying, and healthy dish. . . .Potatoes are a good source of fiber, which can help you lose weight by keeping you full longer. Fiber can help prevent heart disease by keeping cholesterol and blood sugar levels in check. Potatoes are also full of antioxidants that work to prevent diseases and vitamins that help your body function properly. . . .The fiber found in potatoes is a special type called “resistant starch,” which has the health benefits of both soluble fiber and insoluble fiber and causes less gas than other types of fiber. You can up the amount of resistant starch in potatoes by cooking them a day ahead of time and cooling them in the fridge overnight. Feel free to reheat them before you eat.

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🍎 Today’s Health Tip ~ Foods that Mess With Your Brain

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5 Foods that Mess With Your Brain

  1. Alcohol – While a single glass of wine or beer is unlikely to mess with your mind, alcohol directly affects the brain’s communication pathways. The more you drink, the more difficult it may be to process new information or remember things.
  2. Sugary Sodas & Drinks – Research has found that people who drink a lot of soda, sweet tea, and other sugary beverages are a lot more likely to have memory trouble.
  3. Diet Sodas – Research finds that people who sip at least one diet soda a day are nearly three times as likely to have a stroke or develop dementia. Scientists think that artificial sweeteners may be the offending ingredient.
  4. French Fries & Fried Foods – These guilty pleasures cause inflammation, which can damage the blood vessels that supply the brain with blood and hurt the brain itself.
  5. Red Meat – It’s high in saturated fat, which is bad for your heart as well as your brain.

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🍎 Today’s Health Tip ~ Did You Eat a Banana Today?

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Bananas are Great for You

One large banana is about 8- to 9-inches long and equal to one serving of fruit. It has about 120 calories and 490 milligrams of potassium. That’s 19% of a woman’s daily potassium needs and 15% of a man’s. This nutrient can remove sodium from your body and relax blood vessel walls, which helps manage blood pressure. The golden fruit is also a good source of vitamin B6, which is essential for your immune system, nervous system, and brain.

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🍎 Today’s Health Tip ~ Potential Benefits of Wheat and Oat Bran

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Wheat Bran & Oat Bran – 2 Winners

Wheat bran is particularly helpful for digestive issues, because the insoluble fiber can help bulk up your stools and limit your risk for constipation and other digestive issues. Oat bran, with it’s high soluble fiber content, may help you better control your blood sugar levels. A study published in the “European Journal of Clinical Nutrition” in September 2011 found that consuming 6 grams of soluble fiber per day from oat bran may help you lower your cholesterol and triglyceride levels and also limit the amount of energy you absorb from your food, potentially making it easier to maintain a healthy weight.

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🍎 Today’s Health Tip ~ Popcorn Can Be a Healthy Snack

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Health Benefits of Popcorn

Popcorn contains lots of fiber and antioxidants, which can help prevent some serious health conditions. In addition to being high in fiber, popcorn also contains phenolic acids, a type of antioxidant. Popcorn is a whole grain, an important food group that may reduce the risk of diabetes, heart disease, and hypertension in humans. popcorn has a low glycemic index (GI), meaning that it may help you maintain your blood sugar levels more easily and avoid fluctuation associated with foods high in GI. Diets with a lot of low-GI foods can help people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes improve their glucose and lipid levels. Eating popcorn without a lot of added salt or butter may help you lower your blood pressure or lower the risk of developing high blood pressure.

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