Therapy was Part of the Preparation

The All-Around Gold Medal Gymnastic winner told Good Morning America, “Staying on my weekly therapy sessions and even whenever I was here, I was scheduling appointments with my therapist that could work, whether it was early in the morning for me or early in the morning for her,” Biles said, speaking about how she’s balanced everything at the Games. “Staying on top of that meant the world to me, but also it helped me with my performances.”

Dr. Marcia Faustin (aka Dr. Marcy) was one of the women supporting the USA Gymnastics Team.

You might remember the scandal involving the doctor who was supposed to be the medical advisor to the Olympic gymnasts. The new team comprises Dr. Ellen Casey and Dr. Marcia Faustin, who share the USA Gymnastics Team Doctor title. Dr. Marcy looked after Bile’s calf issue during the qualifying round. She also helped Lee get appropriately diagnosed and find treatment for her kidney issues. But this kind of support helped the team get to the gold.

 Pretty was Not Integral to the Performance

When Biles received criticism about her hair, it seemed reminiscent of Gabby Douglas’s judgment when she competed. Douglas was sixteen in 2016, and those comments went straight to her heart. Biles is 27, a seasoned competitor who responded, “The next time you want to comment on a Black girl’s hair, JUST DON’T.”

Celebrating Sisterhood Beyond Borders

The 2024 Gymnastic Floor Exercise Medal Ceremony was an International Black Girl Magic Moment for the ages. Because it was spontaneous, genuine, well-deserved, and an example of sisterhood. Rebecca Andrade delivered a flawless performance, and Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles knew they were part of a historic moment. It needed to be acknowledged.

A Balanced Career: Athlete and Healthcare Pro

When you see Gabby Thomas race, you can’t imagine she has time for anything else. However, the 200-meter sprinter who has already taken home gold from this year’s games and won two previous medals in Tokyo still makes time to work part-time in health care. Thomas has an undergraduate degree in neurobiology from Harvard and a master’s in public health from the University of Texas Health Science Center. Thomas volunteers her time at a clinic for uninsured people. The sprinter told CNBC, “The way I became successful in track and field was running track part-time,” she said. “And I think that’s really important for my mental health, just having other things in my life that helped fulfill, you know, my goals and make me feel fulfilled.”

Break Your Own Records

In the 400-meter hurdles, 25-year-old Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone isn’t racing against anyone else on the field. She is trying to beat the clock. McLaughlin-Levrone had already shattered the world record five times. She kept her eye on the hurdles in this race and left the field in the dust. She broke her world record for the sixth time by completing 400 meter hurdles in 50:37 and Won Olympic gold for the second time.

 A Golden Redemption

Almost four years ago, long jumper Tara Davis-Woodhall struggled with body image issues and bouts of depression so debilitating it was difficult for her to get out of bed. Although she had been an athlete since childhood, she no longer wanted to train. “Mentally, I was in a dark place,” Davis-Woodhall said at a media roundtable in New York earlier this year. “I just didn’t want to be here anymore.” The domino effect of transferring schools to COVID-19, recovering from a fractured back, and trying to connect with her new teammates had taken its toll.

“She also said this spring that she got more comfortable with her body image, embracing the more muscular arms and shoulders she used to hide under a hoodie in high school.”

“I couldn’t be myself for a while, and it sucked. It sucks not being able to just be free,” she said. “And now that I am, I am not going back.”

By being herself, Davis-Woodhall won her first Gold medal jumps 22 feet, 9 inches, 23-1 3/4, and 23-3 1/2.

It’s Hammer Time

We must shout Annette Echikunwoke for her strength and skill in throwing the hammer. This is a track event in which athletes throw the “hammer,” a ball attached to a grip by a steel wire. But she is the first American to ever medal in this sport—she won gold!

Black Women are Integral to Creating Winning Teams

We are excited that four Black women, anchored by Sha’Carri Richardson, won gold in the 4×100 relay. It’s the 12th time we’ve won, but we know sisters from other countries are on our heels. However, including Gabby Thomas in the runners’ lineup increased their likelihood of securing a win.

Black women are integral to team wins throughout the Olympic Games from gymnastics to swimming. But to see us represented in events like fencing, where Lauren Scruggs, the first Black woman to win an individual medal in foil, is indeed magical. She won a silver medal in the finals against her teammate, Lee Keifer. Then, Scruggs was the anchor when the team played against Italy and helped them win gold. She’s 21 and a first-time Olympian, to boot.

Let’s continue to take our magic and talents to new horizons and conquer them.

The post Olympics 2024: Black Girl Magic in Paris & Mental Wellness Matters appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Fred Newhouse’s Road to the Olympics

In 1976, while working at Exxon and simultaneously competing in track and field, Fred won Olympic Gold and Silver Medals at the Montreal Olympic Games. He has been involved in track and field in some capacity for his entire life and currently serves on the Meet Management Teams for national and international competitions.

Newhouse has earned a lot of success in the sport, but it was not easy by any means. Even just making it to the Olympics was a process. He tried out for three Olympic teams in 1960, 1968, and 1972 before he was ultimately selected in 1976. Newhouse says that going through the adversity of making it to the Olympics is all part of the process. But it was his drive that helped him persevere.

The Olympic Preparation Process

“Unfortunately, like in any other sport, some days are better than others. And our system is designed around one day for track and field for each event,” he said. “And you know well in advance what that day will be, and you prepare. So it doesn’t matter what you do all the other days. What you do on the day of the Olympic trials matters. So it’s all about you.”

The Olympics’ preparation process differs from that of other sporting events. Most sports operate seasonally, with a scheduled offseason for the athletes to recoup. But the training for the Olympics is nonstop. Newhouse says that for him and many other Olympic athletes, the preparation for the event begins as early as high school.

“Preparation takes years and years and years for most athletes. And it starts, for most, me included, in high school, if not before. That’s when they first realize that they have the potential to be an Olympic athlete. And that is where it begins—and it’s every day for years,” Newhouse said.

“After that, a competition is staged where the 16 best runners in the country are invited to try out for the Olympic team. Of those, 16 will make it to the finals. There are three rounds of competition: prelims, quarterfinals, the semifinals, and the finals. And then the top three are who go on to represent the country at the Olympic Games.”

Putting His Olympic Experience to Use

Fred could have taken his experience as an Olympic gold medalist, rode off into the sunset, and retired. However, he knew he had so much knowledge to offer in the sport and wanted to share that with other athletes.

He used that experience to found the Northwest Flyers Youth Track Club in Houston, where he coached until 1996.

Fred already had previous experience as a track coach. While earning his MBA at the University of Washington, he was the track team’s graduate assistant and coached sprinters, jumpers, and quarter-milers.

However, the catalyst for his founding the Northwest Flyers was when his daughters noted unfair treatment at the initial club they joined. Then, Newhouse and his wife decided to bet on themselves.

“My daughter says, ‘We don’t like this coach because he doesn’t even put the best girls on the relay team in the track club,” Newhouse said. “And my wife looked at me and said, ‘Why don’t we have a track club?’ ‘So we know there’s no bias in the process.”

Newhouse’s club has employed as many as 100 athletes simultaneously. Simply put, the Flyers gave him purpose.

“It was just the joy of my life. To provide an atmosphere where these kids could grow and enjoy each other. We tried to, again, continue to expose them to different things,” he said. “And we always did. And that gave them exposure to other parts of the country. We traveled to a lot of different universities. They got to see things that they only saw on television. And we figured out a way to do it.”

The Life Lessons He Wants Them to Remember

As a former Olympian, Newhouse possesses a rare knowledge of what it takes to be successful in track and field competition. He instilled some of those same principles into his Northwest Flyers athletes.

“We “encourage our athletes to recognize their assets and liabilities and manage them all appropriately. And you know them when you see them and know what to do. Do them humbly, with courtesy and respect for others, because you have to do them,” he said. “The sooner you start learning how to manage them, the better. Because later in life, when it takes a much larger effort, you’ll do better at it.”

Newhouse’s coaching goes beyond just telling athletes what to do. It is also about teaching them what not to do. He wanted to prepare athletes in his club to avoid making the same mistakes he did on his come-up, mainly how to avoid distractions.

“The main problem I see as an athlete’s biggest battle is all the distractions vying for their attention during that process. They have to be ready to manage additional things on top of their competition,” he” said. “The most difficult part is staying focused on the why. Why are you doing this? Because you’ve got so many distracting things around you.”

Measuring His Successes

Not every athlete will make it to the Olympic Trials. However, Newhouse says that even the athletes from his club who don’t have Olympic careers are successful in other areas of life, such as graduating from college or starting a business. That was his vision when he started the club, which remains a success today.

“We’ve got something extraordinary going on, and we’re going to continue because we know we’re making a difference in people’s lives. We know we are,” he added.

“We’re not bragging about it. We’re happily doing it. Right. And while it started as a selfish thing with our children, it also made a difference in their lives. Because they developed friendships, relationships that have lasted for 40 years.”

The post Fred Newhouse: Instilling the Olympian Champion Spirit into Future Generations appeared first on Black Health Matters.

1. Breathe Again: Go with Breathable Fabrics

Natural fabrics like cotton, linen, and bamboo are great because they are breathable fibers that allow air to circulate, letting your skin breathe and keeping you cool and comfortable all day.

Cotton is soft and breathable, while linen is super airy. Think breezy maxi dresses and loose, oversized tops from Madewell and Banana Republic for eye-catching silhouettes that are equally cool on the body and the budget.

Care tip: Fine linens range from lightweight to heavyweight, with quality linens having a more substantial weight and drape. Check the care labels, as some linen styles may require hand washing or dry cleaning.

2) Loosen Up: Wear Loose-Fitting Clothes

It’s time to put those skinny jeans away (you can always come back to them in the Fall). Tight clothes trap heat, making you feel hotter, but loose-fitting ones allow air to circulate, keeping you cooler.

Anthropologie and Zara are favorites for their collections of fabulous, flowy dresses and comfy yet flattering trousers—perfect for summer BBQs or picnics in the park.>

3) Stay Sun Smart with UPF Clothing & Accessories

Clothing and accessories with a high UPF (Ultraviolet Protection Factor) protect the skin from harmful UV rays, reducing the risk of sunburn and skin cancer.

Most of us are familiar with UV-blocking sunglasses, but brands like Eleven by Venus Williams and Athleta feature stylish pieces like casual tanks, skirts, and dresses to shield you from harmful UV rays. Protect your skin and wear yours to those weekend street fairs or rooftop day parties.

4) Stay Dry: Embrace Moisture-Wicking Fabrics

Wear fabrics that pull moisture away from the skin and wick away sweat. They are great for your skin and your overall health!

The Spacedye Squared Bra from Beyond Yoga features moisture-wicking material and a 4-way stretch to keep you dry and comfortable. It is ideal for active days like outdoor workouts or family days at the amusement park. Complete the look with the matching Spacedye In The Mix Biker Shorts.

5) Cool Tech: Keep it Chill with Cooling Technology

Clothing designed with unique cooling technology helps to regulate your body temperature, making them super light and airy.

And for outfits that require a little more support, shapewear brands like Maidenform and Thigh Society are leveling up, offering lightweight, hi-tech shapewear designed to keep you smooth and cool in the sweltering heat. These are perfect under-dress and skirt selections for those outdoor garden or dinner parties!

6) Lighten Up: Opt for White or Light Colors

If you haven’t already been to a white party this Summer, you know the invitations are coming! Besides being a cultural mainstay in our community, wearing whites, pastels, and other light colors is better for your hot weather. They reflect sunlight instead of absorbing it, helping you stay cool.

If you need new options, Nigerian-born designer Damie Idowu’s label, Mie, offers elegant white dresses and separates that transition seamlessly from balmy days to breezy summer nights. Wear them along with your summer brights to outdoor concerts and festivals alike.

7) Accessorize Wisely.

Along with your UV-protective sunglasses, keep a cool head in wide-brimmed hats or scarves to protect your skin and hair from excessive heat. Pair your looks with breathable sandals or espadrilles to maintain the cool vibes from head to toe.

Hairbrella’s All-Weather ‘Sun Hat’ is perfect for whatever weather conditions the day may bring. And don’t miss the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale for hot deals on some of your favorite footwear brands.

No matter where your summer adventures take you – be it the beach, the boat, or just chilling with friends and family in the sun, staying cool and stylish is all about making smart wardrobe choices. Mix and match these tips for fresh, vibrant looks. Wearing comfortable and appropriate clothing can also boost your mood and reduce stress. Let’s make this summer season your most stylish and comfortable one yet!

The post 7 Ways to Dress Cooler This Summer appeared first on Black Health Matters.

What is Pickleball?

Pickleball is a sport where two or four players use a paddle to hit a plastic ball over a 34-inch-high net. The ball remains in play until one side cannot return it or commits a rule infraction.

The sport began to see an uptick in popularity in 2021. Not too long after the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Major League Pickleball (MLP) advertises itself as “the standard-bearer for the fastest-growing sport in the United States.” The league consists of 24 teams — 12 in its “Premier Level” and 12 others in its “Challenger Level.” It is similar can to England’s soccer system within the Premier League.

What is the Difference Between Pickleball, Badminton, and Tennis?

Although the sport combines elements of tennis, badminton, and ping-pong and features a paddle and a ball, it is not the same.

Pickleball differs from tennis and badminton in several ways. For starters, the court on which it is played is smaller than in the other two sports. The net is also lower than in tennis, which makes a big difference in gameplay.

In addition, pickleball uses a different type of ball and paddle. Regarding gameplay, Pickleball is generally slower-paced than tennis and requires less running. The game also emphasizes accuracy and strategy compared to tennis, which values power and speed.

What Level of Skill Do I Need to Play Pickleball?

One of the best things about pickleball is that you don’t have to be astronomically physically gifted to play the sport. It is a sport that people of all ages and abilities can play. Pickleball utilizes smaller courts and has a reduced pace compared to tennis. Because of this, the sport is easier for beginners to take on. Once novices reach an advanced level, they can level up with more complex strategies and techniques.

Do I Need to be at a Certain Level of Fitness to Play Pickleball?

You do not need to be at a peak fitness level to play Pickleball. If you work out at the gym often, you are in good enough shape to play the sport. Pickleball is a low-impact sport. It is much less strenuous on your joints and muscles than higher-impact activities like running. It also provides a full-body workout that can help improve your cardiovascular health, strength, and endurance.

What Equipment Do I Need to Play Pickleball?

Another benefit to playing pickleball is that you don’t need extensive equipment to get started—a complete contrast from other sports such as hockey and football. The gist of what is needed is a court, net, paddle, and ball.

Even better is that the equipment is pretty reasonably priced. Most paddles are about $50 on the cheap end. However, you can pay up to $250.00 for a higher-quality paddle. And you can get a pack of balls for around $30.00 or less.

Franklin Activator Wooden Pickleball Paddle Set $34.99 Dick Sporting Goods

Pickleball nets tend to be on the more expensive side. A good quality net starts at around $300. But it is much more feasible for you to find a court to play on. Websites such as the USA Pickleball website allow you to look up multiple locations to play based on your geographical location.

Now that you know everything you need about the sport, the only thing left to do is start!

The post Yes, Black Folks Play Pickleball! Here’s Why It’s a Great Workout appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Probiotics and prebiotic beverages have increased in popularity in recent years. Several companies have begun offering over-the-counter probiotic and prebiotic products boasting benefits ranging from digestive improvements and improved mental health to cardiac wellness and clearer skin. Some even theorize that they can curb the likelihood of contracting common viruses.

Emphasis on gut health has swept the wellness world by storm. There are even lines of celebrity supplements with probiotic and prebiotic SKUs. People fill their coolers with brightly covered wellness drinks thinking they are a cure-all, but their advantages are complicated.

A 2020 article from Foods clarified that “The term” “health “benefit,” (often” stated on the label) is not a regulated specificity, nor has a clear medical meaning.” This has not stopped consumers from chasing after them by purchasing probiotics and prebiotic beverages (like Oilpop, Culture Pop, and Poppi). They are the cornerstone of the functional beverage market, joining protein shakes and collagen concussions as perceived miracle potions.

“The public awareness of diet-related issues and ever-increasing evidence about probiotic health benefits have increased consumer interest in probiotic foods,” according to a 2023 article in Frontiers in Microbiology.

That article expressed the importance of probiotics being administered in “adequate” quality.” Poppi,” a major player in the beverage industry, is facing legal challenges for their health claims in the form of a class-action suit that alleges that they did not infuse an adequate amount into each of their cans. Still, the amount of “adequate” can vary for each person.

The market has swelled to over ninety billion dollars despite this. “From an”industrial perspective, there are always challenges related to adding health-enhancing components, including probiotics, to food matrix,” according to Foods.

Not only are the benefits of probiotic beverages difficult to determine but there are potential risks associated with prebiotics and probiotics being examined by researchers. These can potentially be increased in select marginalized publics like those late in their pregnancies, immunocompromised individuals, and chronically ill children.

Dr. Janese S. Laster, a board-certified doctor in Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology, Obesity Medicine, and Nutrition and the founder of Gut Theory Total Digestive Care in Washington, D.C., explained that probiotics and prebiotics are best introduced to a regimen that includes physicians.

She also said that more information is coming to the public about probiotics and prebiotics as efforts to design and execute productive studies are expanding.

We don’t have enough data and so there’s a bunch of research going on,” explained Dr. Laster. “But right now, we don’t have enough information to make a determination.”

What do you need to know about probiotics and prebiotics before using them?

Their usage affects everyone differently.

“We don’t know what that perfect makeup is. The only thing we know currently is that people who tend to be the healthiest people, people who have no GI symptoms, tend to have a really, really high diversity of all types,” said Dr. Laster. “We don’t know which is the perfect one each person needs. So that’s the big issue and what we’re trying to figure out and determine.”

There are different kinds of probiotics.

“Not all of them are created equal,” said Dr. Laster. “Most things won’t make it through to your small bowel where they can actually have some effects.”

Research the strain you are considering and discuss it with your doctors before working it into your diet.

Probiotics can be affected by heat.

The way you store your probiotics matters. Research best practices for how to store the probiotics you are taking so that you can obtain the most benefits from them.

Probiotics don’t outweigh a poor diet.

Chugging probiotic-infused soft drinks will not undo the damage caused by an unbalanced diet. (Think about integrating these 10 prebiotic foods into your diet.)

Dr. Laster declared that foods that are high in fiber, like certain fruits and leafy vegetables, are still crucial to achieving one’s health goals. “These are things that we know actually change the microbiome,” she said.

“If you put fertilizer on the ground with Cheetos, nothing’s growing,” she said. “But if you put it there with apple seeds, you’ll get an apple tree at some point. So it’s about sort of what you’re feeding your gut, and just having a probiotic on top of a diet that is completely processed isn’t going to do anything.

It’s difficult to tell what probiotics you lack.

Tests claiming to identify the perfect probiotic cocktail for you might not be entirely accurate. “There’s no real good ways to test that at this point,” said Dr. Laster. She noted that it’s important to understand that many of these tests have legal disclaimers explaining that they can not be used for medical management.

“People will go online and come and see us and say oh, I got this test done that I wasted $700 on, now you tell me what to do with it.”

The post Probiotic & Prebiotic Drinks Like Poppi Soda: Are They Worth The Hype? appeared first on Black Health Matters.

The American Council on Exercises says it best, “Fitness myths have always and will likely continue to plague the industry and confuse even the most experienced fitness fan. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”

Myth 1: Wearing a waist trainer or plastic suit helps you lose weight.

While waist trainers can temporarily slim the waist, they don’t cause permanent changes or lead to meaningful weight loss. Any weight loss may be due to sweating out fluids instead of fat or because the trainer compresses your stomach and makes you eat less. This is not a viable, sustainable way to lose weight. Waist trainers can also cause breathing difficulties, digestion issues, and organ damage if worn long-term. However, Harvard Health says that waist trainers can be helpful if a doctor recommends temporary use after certain surgeries to help rebuild core muscles.

According to Boxing Science, wearing a sauna suit won’t increase your metabolism, especially while resting. When you wear a sauna suit you will sweat to maintain your body temperature and possibly lose water weight, but you won’t burn any more fat than without it.

FACT: Waist trainers/sauna suits will make you sweat, but they do not help you lose fat.

Myth 2: Lifting heavy weights makes you bulky.

According to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), “Nothing could be further from the truth.” Research confirms that women can and should lift weights (including heavy ones) without fearing becoming more than healthy, toned and strong.”

Women have lower testosterone levels than men, making it harder to build muscle mass. The key is to focus on lifting heavy weights with low reps. This type of lifting activates muscle growth without triggering the release of excess testosterone. Unlike cardio, building strength and lean muscle mass increases your metabolic rate at rest, your body’s ability to burn more calories.

Fact: Lifting heavy weight does increase muscle mass, strength, and size. However, excessive body fat is to blame for men’s and women’s “bulky” looks. Heavy weight training helps build muscle, increase metabolism, and lose body fat.

Myth 3: Crunches/Sit-ups (or spot training/targeted workouts) help you lose belly fat.

As much as we want to believe it, you cannot target fat loss in specific areas of your body. When you lose weight, you lose it from all over your body, not just one specific area. Exercises targeting a specific area, such as crunches for abs, can help strengthen and tone that part of your core, but it will not necessarily reduce fat in that area.

There’s a saying: Abs are made in the kitchen, not in the gym. It’s simply impossible to “burn off” fat in one body part by exercising.

If you want to reveal hidden abs, your best bet is to reduce your body fat percentage through sustainable healthy eating habits and a strength training exercise routine. You will have to do various exercises that target muscles around your entire trunk, including in your core, abdominals, and back.

FACT: Crunches are a popular exercise for strengthening your core, but they are not the best way to get those fab abs. Doing too many crunches can lead to back pain and poor posture.

Myth 4: Muscle weighs more than fat.

Lean tissue weighs more than fat tissue is a common misstatement. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), 1 lb of lean muscle tissue weighs 16 oz, as does 1 lb of fat tissue.

FACT: Muscle tissue is dense; fat tissue takes up more space or volume than muscle, but their weight is the same.

Myth 5: My muscle turns to fat if I stop working out.

Nope. Muscles do not turn fat when you stop exercising. Simply put, muscle and fat cells are entirely different tissues. More specifically, muscle tissue is more metabolically active than fat tissue and functions differently in the body.

The National Association of Sports Medicine (NASM) helps clarify this common misconception. “Without consistent regular strength training and proper nutrition to build muscle, there is a much greater chance of body fat increasing. This is not because your muscles turned to fat. It’s because the ideal environment was created for fat stores to grow and the worst opportunity for the muscle to develop.”

FACT: When you stop exercising, your muscles can shrink and weaken (atrophy), leaving room for fat tissue to replace them. It can cause a shift of fat-to-muscle ratio in your body, but the muscle does not become fat.

Myth#6: Early morning is the best time to work out.

This myth that early morning exercise is the gold standard is compelling. But if you’re more of a night owl than an early bird, having the energy output for an effective morning may not be best for you.

The most important part of developing an effective exercise routine is to find a time of day that works for you and stick to it.

The NIH explains that consistent exercise timing, especially morning exercise, may facilitate greater exercise intensity, help to protect your exercise time, make planning easier, and foster good exercise habits.

While few studies definitively prove that exercising in the morning increases your metabolism more than other times of the day, some people choose to start the day with a workout for the myriad health benefits: body & mind, elevate their mood, reach step goals or because it just makes them feel great for the rest of the day.

FACT: The best time to work out is the time that works for you.

Myth 7: Squats are bad for the knees.

Squats are highly effective at strengthening the knee joint and surrounding muscles when executed with proper form and without pain. Lower body strength can help prevent and recover from common knee injuries.

However, squats can be painful and irritating for people with conditions like a runner’s knee, osteoarthritis, or meniscus tears. Poor execution can also increase the strain on your knees and lead to injury.

NASM breaks it down for us. “Although many variations of the squat exist, some truths will always prevail – maintain your knee/foot alignment, ensure hinging and timing of forward knee translation, facilitate adequate ankle mobility to avoid dysfunction, maintain a rigid pelvis (sacrum, thoracic spine, and head) and aim to achieve parallel alignment between your tibia and trunk.”

Finding the best squat for you is what’s important. Consider gradual progression from seated squats to ball or wall squats to develop the strength required to perform the stand-alone version.

FACT: Squats are not bad for your knees. Improper squat form is bad for your knees.

Myth 8: Running will make you fit.

The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) defines health-related physical fitness as a set of attributes people have or achieve that allow them to perform physical activity. It also includes the ability to perform daily activities with vigor and alertness, without undue fatigue, and with enough energy to enjoy leisure activities and handle emergencies.

Running is an excellent way to improve cardiovascular health and burn calories efficiently, but just running won’t necessarily make you fit.

Not only that, running is not for everyone and not the only way to achieve whatever your definition of being fit may be.

FACT: Running or other cardiovascular activities combined with strength training and a proper nutrition plan create a well-rounded fitness routine for optimal fitness.

Myth 9: Stretching before a workout will prevent injuries and soreness.

Are you surprised? It turns out that stretching a healthy muscle before exercise does not prevent injury or soreness. Harvard researchers found no evidence that static stretching before or after a workout prevented injuries or sped recovery (or did anything useful).

Theoretically, stretching before exercises should make the muscles more pliable and less likely to tear. However, studies that compared injury or muscle soreness rates in people who stretch before exercise and those who don’t found little benefit to stretching. Studies suggest stretching a cold, tight muscle could lead to injury.

FACT: The most effective type of stretching before a workout is a dynamic series of exercises involving the whole body, large muscles, and multiple joints. The goal is to activate the muscles you will use during the workout. It is worth mentioning that there is no evidence that static stretching at the end of the workout, during the cool-down portion, does any harm.

Myth 10: Longer workouts are more effective than short ones.

The quality of a workout is more important than its length. Pushing yourself to do longer workouts can lead to overtraining, which can cause injuries, imbalances, and a loss of motivation.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a combination of vigorous and moderate aerobic activity and two or more muscle-strengthening workouts weekly.

FACT: A consistent, balanced approach to fitness that includes strength training, cardio, rest, and recovery is critical to achieving your personal fitness goal.

The post Stop Believing These 10 Exercise Myths appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Kelly Larson, Injury Prevention Lead at Bloomberg Philanthropies, says, “The increase in drowning deaths in the United States, as well as drowning being the leading cause of death among 1-4 year-olds, led us to expand our investment to include drowning, prevention efforts here.” The focus will be on data collection in the ten states that make up half of the drowning tragedies: Alaska, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, New York, Oklahoma, and Texas.

Larson points out that children under five are at the highest risk of drowning. In the U.S., they have focused their swim education efforts on an older demographic. “In the United States, we plan to provide swim instruction to 20,000 children ages 6-15, being very diligent in identifying local organizations who can offer swim lessons to those who need it most,” the Prevention Lead says. “Bloomberg Philanthropies will support the CDC Foundation in partnership with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to work in select, high-burden states to provide basic swim and water safety skills instruction in most affected populations. We are working with local organizations in these communities to offer the lessons.”

The $60M investment is expected to fund programs globally through 2027. “As part of this commitment, we are also evaluating safety policies, including pool fencing and personal flotation devices here in the United States, to see how we may advocate for stronger laws,”  Larson says. “We recognize that drowning is the leading cause of death for 1-4-year-olds and want to take a hard look at some of the drowning prevention policies in each state. We want to understand better what policies are in place and identify opportunities to strengthen policies that will reduce drowning.”

The post Bloomberg Philanthropies Donates $60M to Prevent Drownings appeared first on Black Health Matters.

The exercises, which include walking, jogging, dancing, planks, lunges, and squats, work directly on bones in the legs, hips, and lower spine to slow bone loss and offer the following benefits:

Muscle strength

These exercises help build and maintain muscle strength, which is essential for overall physical function and preventing injuries.

Balance and coordination

By challenging your body’s balance and coordination, weight-bearing exercises can improve your stability and reduce the risk of falls.

Cardiovascular health

Many weight-bearing exercises improve heart health, lower blood pressure, and reduce the risk of heart disease.

Bone health

Weight-bearing exercises can help strengthen bone density, reduce the risk of osteoporosis, and prevent bone loss as you age.

Remember that, as we get older, diminished bone density can lead to osteoporosis. The National Council on Aging finds that although Black women have a lower prevalence of osteoporosis overall, we experience worse outcomes after fractures caused by osteoporosis.

If we have lupus or sickle cell anemia, we are more likely to have a higher osteoporosis risk.

Ready to incorporate these exercises into your routine? Our fitness experts help you get into action:

The ultimate combo

DC-based certified personal trainer David Franklin reminds us that exercise is essential for strength, mobility, flexibility, and balance. Exercise cannot undo a bad diet. Too much exercise can increase one’s appetite and lead to overeating.

“When you lose weight, you lose muscle and fat. That is why you want to exercise while you are losing weight, Franklin explains

Remember that it is easy to put the fat back on. Muscle requires a lot more effort. Exercise and eat right for optimal health. Focus on your behavior, and the results will come”.

Mind over matter

It’s never too late to get up and get moving. And no, you don’t have to dive into a high-intensity workout, says celebrity fitness guru and lifestyle coach Kacy Duke. She adds, “I think it’s important to remember that weight-bearing exercises are not just about physical appearance, but about feeling empowered, resilient, and fully equipped to conquer life’s hurdles. So seize those weights, step into the gym, and reveal your strength – inside and out!”

Get moving

The experts agree that the best way to keep bones strong is to do both weight-bearing and muscle-strengthening exercises. Just as a muscle gets stronger the more you use it, a bone gets stronger and denser when you place demands on it. Two types of exercises can help you maintain or increase bone health: weight-bearing and resistance exercise. Combine walks with at least two 20-minute strength training sessions. (See below for how many squats and planks you need each week.)

Safety first.

Always consult your doctor before you start an exercise plan. Once they give you the OK, you can start with a walking program. Franklin adds, “I recommend consulting with a fitness professional if you are new to exercise and need guidance. Safety should be your primary goal. Beware of bodybuilder types, pushing extreme fitness and diet programs unless your goal is to compete as a bodybuilder”.

The gym doesn’t have to be a destination.

Gyms have equipment, group classes, pools, saunas, and personal trainers. Some people like gym environments, while others do not. There is nothing magical about a gym membership, Franklin, www.DLFfitness.com chuckles. His suggestions? Consider an online trainer, which you can find through word of mouth or watch videos on various platforms. Three for free: Nike Training Club on Netflix and Android and iOS apps; FITON-Free Fitness Workouts on Roku; and the National Institute of Aging’s 15-minute Workout for Older Adults on YouTube.

Challenge me.

New trends and techniques can always provide fresh challenges and benefits. Some recent developments in weight-bearing exercises include incorporating unstable surfaces like balance pads or exercise balls to engage more stabilizer muscles and integrating functional movements that mimic real-life activities for improved overall strength and mobility, says Duke, the owner of Kacy Duke Fitness Inc.,  and exploring different forms of resistance training such as using resistance bands, kettlebells, or suspension trainers for variety and versatility in workouts. It’s always a good idea to stay updated on the latest trends and techniques in weight-bearing exercise to keep your routine engaging and effective.

Make it fun.

Remember, exercise is a mood enhancer that helps soothe a racing mind. Duke, the OG of fitness trainers, says,” Embrace the challenge, conquer your doubts, and unleash the warrior within! Let’s lift, push through the sweat, and smash those goals with unwavering determination and heart!”

What are you waiting for?

Put your phone down, mute the television, and take ten minutes two to three times a week to run through this old-school set:

Squats.

Stand with your feet hip-width apart and hands on your hips. Bend your knees and lower yourself into a sitting position; at the same time, raise your arms straight out in front of you, level with your shoulders. Slowly straighten your legs to a standing position. Work your way up to three sets of eight to 10 reps per set.

Here, Britnee Babe demonstrates how to do a proper squat:

Then, when you are ready to level up to a challenge, check out Kacy Duke’s Squat Trifecta.

Plank.

Lie face down on the mat. Push up so you’re balanced on your elbows, forearms, and toes. Keep your back and body straight, your hips level, and slightly tuck in your tailbone. Breathe. Start by holding the position for 10 seconds and work up to 60 seconds.

@Fit and Fabulous with Maddy Owens demonstrates a few ways to do a plank.

The Prone Plank

The Full Body Plank

Supported by an educational grant from Novo Nordisk Inc. 

The post Move It and Improve It! Why Weight Bearing Exercises Are Essential to Your Weight Loss Plan appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Snowden, age 45, recalls that starting in seventh grade, she began this cycle of losing weight and gaining it back and losing it and gaining more back. “Then, one day, I looked up and was about 350 pounds. I am a tall woman, 5’10”, so my weight stretches out a bit,” she says. “So, when I was getting bigger and bigger, I didn’t notice until it was fast forward, a little too late.”

It Started with a List

The former deputy mayor was unhappy, but she could not figure out why. Because she is a Type A personality, she first looked for answers in books, reading every self-help advice tome on happiness she could lay her hands on. But something within told her to write down why she was unhappy.

“There were four things that made me unhappy. I hated my job, and I wanted to quit. I was working for a major corporation, and it was not feeding my spirit. I wanted to change neighborhoods. I was living in the ‘hood and raising my two boys, and it was getting dangerous, and I didn’t want to raise them there. I wanted to lose weight. And I wanted to start therapy.”

How Therapy Helped

Snowden quit her job, launched her government affairs firm, Blueprint Strategy Group, and purchased and renovated a home. She began preparing for weight loss surgery for the fourth time. This time, Snowden decided to go through the gastric sleeve procedure in 2020. And the mother of two found a therapist. “The hardest thing to do was therapy,” she says.

“Yes, surgery jump-started it, then therapy helped. Because I got to process that I am an emotional eater. When I’m happy, I eat; when I’m sad, I eat; when I want to celebrate with people, I eat. The first thing I do when I hear somebody dies is buy a chicken and take it over there; that is how we love, right?” she explains. “What therapy also did was interrupt a harmful pattern and allow me to get a clear one on normal eating habits.” Before getting a handle on her problems with food, Snowden had been losing and gaining the same 25 to 40 pounds.

Snowden also wants to debunk any misconceptions that weight loss surgery is easy. “Getting the surgery is a process. It is a six-month commitment that some people might consider severe,” she explains. “But like anything else, it is a tool. I’m committed to doing what I am supposed to do: eating a protein-heavy diet with vegetables, trying to keep sugar to a minimum, and working out regularly.

Committing to A Healthier Lifestyle

In 2017, Snowden purchased a Peloton bike as a present after having her baby boy to ensure she got her body together.

“I was an athlete in high school and college and had let that part go substantially. But in my early 20s, I had taken on spinning but did not have time to do it anymore,” Snowden says. “I’ve got a grown-up job with a lot of responsibility. So, when I bought my Peloton, I was the city’s deputy mayor. I thought if this works. It will allow me to fit fitness into my life in a way I could not before.”

“That little seat hurt my first time on the bike at 340 pounds, and I had many reasons not to do it. But you know what? It got better,” she says. “Historically, I would have beaten myself up for not being successful. This is the other thing, particularly since Black women are used to succeeding at many things. And sometimes, the thing that we are the least successful at is taking care of ourselves.”

That same year, when Snowden wanted advice on preserving her freshly blown hair, she asked for advice on the official Peloton FB page, which had over 100,000 members. She got lots of advice she couldn’t use, but a few Black women sent her direct messages with the information that could help her.

Snowden saw the page as a microcosm of the world and thought Black women could benefit from a safe space. “I said, there is something here. I emailed people I knew had Pelotons who had contacted me about my hair post and said, ‘Hey, if I start this thing, would you jump in?’ So, I started Black Girl Magic, The Peloton Edition, with five or six people,” she said. “By the time George Floyd died in 2020, we were at 6,000 members. The reason I remember that is I invited the CEO to have a Fireside chat with me in the Facebook Group. The company rolled out their equity commitments to us live.” she recalled.”Now we are at 35,000 Black women globally.”

“I would not have been able to get a full handle on this without the full combination of the surgery and the commitment to working out.” Snowden has shed 165 pounds and has kept it off for three years.

A big part of her success is the BGM community, which has grown beyond Facebook to discussions on Clubhouse, class takeovers at Peloton studios, and in-person events. Because there are so many members, there are strict rules of engagement, like no solicitation, and all posts need to be approved by one of the three moderators. Still, Snowden is in the group interacting multiple times daily. She recently hosted a book event discussion on perimenopause, menopause, and weight loss at her home. And the group support of one another goes beyond fitness.

Resetting Her Life

Reflecting on her journey over the last four years, Snowden can’t help but think about how it coincides with the COVID-19 pandemic. “Lots of terrible things happened during the pandemic for many people. But one of the best things that happened is that many of us reset our lives,” she says. “I had an opportunity to focus on health and fitness. I could not have been as successful with my fitness and wellness journey any other time in my life.”

This story is made possible by an educational grant from Novo Nordisk.

The post Courtney Snowden’s Winning Weight Loss Formula appeared first on Black Health Matters.

For her historic win, The Athletic says, the award-winning gymnast received an engraved silver belt buckle. That’s just a token because she’s earned a spot at the Olympic trials later this summer. Paris would be her third Olympic games.

Consider that Gabby Douglas won her first gold medal at 16. And until this week, had her eye on Paris as well. Dominique Dawes was a member of the US Olympic team from 1992-1996, winning four medals.

Simone Biles is now 27 years old, and she continues to defy the odds. But she has also had her share of challenges. In 2021, when she withdrew from the Tokyo Olympics with the twisties, “an athlete’s terms for the sudden loss of air awareness during a routine.” Many thought her career was over. But Biles persevered and made her way back. But has kept her plans closely guarded.

When she stepped out of the Tokyo Olympics, her friend, Jordan Chiles, now 23, stepped up. Afterward, Chiles joined the UCLA gymnastics team, and she and Biles have been training hard for Paris together, according to Fox News. Chiles finished fifth in the nationals. But the next generation of Black gymnasts is already here, and she came in second at nationals. Her name is Skye Blakely from Frisco, Texas.

The post Simone Biles Makes History With Her 9th Win of the US Gymnastics Championships appeared first on Black Health Matters.

The post Spring Clean Your Fitness Routine: 5 Essential Moves appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Brittne Babe – @brittnebabe

Wildly known for her toned legs and abs, Brittne’s workout routines are the pinnacle for becoming summertime-ready. She is also a certified personal trainer and fitness model, so you know she has IT. Her Instagram and YouTube channels are filled with workout videos and photos of her in action—everything from the best plank exercises to the building strength ab workouts. You’ll be sure to lift and trim toward your body goals.

Follow her on Instagram or subscribe to her YouTube channel.

 E2M Fitness (Eager 2 Motivate Fitness)

Eager 2 Motivate Fitness (E2M Fitness), founded by Jeff Witherspoon, is not your traditional fitness content creator. E2M Fitness doesn’t just focus on the physical aspect of improving your body on the outside but also on the inside. Health and wellness are more than just about how we look; it is also about how we think about our bodies and what we consume. E2M Fitness does just that. They are all about helping you become the best version of yourself inside and out. E2M Fitness offers a variety of workouts, from HIIT to yoga, and even has a podcast where they discuss topics like mental health and body positivity. In addition, they run a virtual 8-week weight loss program through which more than one million pounds have been shed. Check out our podcast interview with Jeff Witherspoon here to learn more about their work.

You can follow E2M Fitness on Instagram or subscribe to their YouTube channel.

Nataleebfitness – @nataleebarnett_

Someone once said, “Thick thighs save lives”. This quote takes on a prophetic meaning when you see Natalee B’s fitness routine. She rose to social media fame with her ‘Savage Thicker Thighs Workout’ video. With over 2.4 million views, Natalee B Fitness has proven to be a go-to resource for helping girls gain more confidence in their bodies. Outside of being a fitness model and influencer, Natalee is the CEO and founder of The Girl Spot Gym, a women-only gym providing a safe space for women to get fit, minus the wandering eyes.

Follow NataleeB Fitness on Instagram @nataleebarnett_, and check out the Girl Spot Gym at thegirlspotgym.com.

Taliyah Joelle – @bodiedbytna

If you enjoy a slower pace to your workout routines, Taliyah Joelle is the fitness influencer you need to check out. On her YouTube channel, you will find beginner-friendly how-to videos that can simplify any workout. But just because her videos are easy to follow, that does not mean that they won’t make you sweat. She will show you how to build muscle and lose fat while prepping your weekly meals.

Follow Taliyah Joelle on Instagram @bodiedbytna.

Jeanette Jenkins – @msjeanettejenkins

Jeanette is a personal trainer and health coach with over 30 years of experience. Her at-home workout videos on Instagram are an excellent alternative for those who don’t have workout equipment inside their home. Jeanette has worked with celebrities such as Alicia Keyes and Nia Long. Jeanette will get you more than just fit; she also delivers a dose of wisdom about health and fitness. She is the author of “The Hollywood Trainer Weight-Loss Plan: 21 Days to Make Healthy Living a Lifetime Habit”. She has a variety of programs for healthy eating and fitness. Follow her on Instagram @msjeanettejenkins.

The post Do You Need Fitness Motivation? Follow These 5 Black Influencers appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Your healthcare provider may have referred you to physical therapy if the pain was acute. But now, stretch therapy studios are popping up nationwide to help those who need to improve flexibility and mobility. We talked to Michael Okech, co-founder of New York Stretch, about the value of stretch therapy and how it can improve the quality of our lives as we age.

 Stretching Essential for Good Health

Our day-to-day aches and pains, including shoulder and neck discomfort and lower back pain, impact our mobility. Okech, a Postural Restoration practitioner, says, “When you don’t have good mobility, you can’t move well. It can decrease the quality of your workouts. reduce your activity levels and affect your cardiovascular health and blood sugar,” he explains. “In our sessions, we work on increasing joint mobility and improving tissue health.”

Decreased mobility also increases the physical signs of aging. “Mobility is a big marker for age. The key things that I look at are cardiovascular health, mobility, and muscle and bone density,” he says. “But if someone moves well, you probably will think they are younger.”

When We Don’t Have Good Mobility, We Compensate in Other Ways

The areas most needing stretching are the lower back, hips, neck, and shoulders, which sometimes causes migraines. But Okech points out that when there’s dysfunctional movement elsewhere, you tend to compensate by using your lower back.

But we often overlook our feet. “There’s a lot of tightness in the ankles and feet because we use them a lot,” he explains. “Wearing shoes and boots, especially in winter, will lock your feet and ankles. You get less sensation and strength.”

What to Expect During a Stretch Therapy Session

Stretch therapy is also known as table-based assisted stretching. You wear workout clothes for the session, but unlike physical therapy, this is a passive experience (you don’t do anything). Okech explains that practitioners start with an assessment with the client on their back. They look at their client’s range of motion. Then, they measure what they see versus how their clients describe their feelings and restrictions before beginning the session, which could last up to one hour.

Okech says stretch therapists use certain principles or techniques during the session:

• Traction, which involves pulling on the body to create joint space. It calms the nervous system and prepares the body to relax.
• Oscillation Shaking is another technique that calms the body.
• Circumduction moves the limb in circular patterns, which gets the joints to relax further.
• Full-body three-dimensional stretch.

“When I say three-dimensional, we’re looking at every range of movement,” Okech explains. “We view the body as a spiral. We are trying to unwind it and get the tissue to almost massage itself.”

One Session Won’t Get You Lasting Results

Okech notes that stretch therapy is like working out or making nutritional changes to your diet. It is a long-term, continuous wellness practice. How often you want to do it could depend on your age and willingness to supplement the assisted stretching with at-home practices. So, while stretch therapy sessions are passive, you must do the homework.

“For the work to stick, you must do a lot on your own,” he says. “The goal is to build your own program.”

But if you are looking for a place to start before you get to assisted stretching, Okech recommends walking as a starting point to improve function. “We’re born to walk and run,” he says. “It’s simple, it’s cheap, it’s free. The more you move, the more range of motion you have.”

The post 4 Things You Should Know About Stretch Therapy appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Moore says it is important to do your homework and zero in on your “why” before jumping into the “what” of any big goal.

What Are You Willing to Do?

“One of the first things I do when working with a client is to address why they want to make this change and their level of commitment,” Moore says. “We can agree that working out or changing up your diet is a good thing for your health or losing weight, but if you aren’t fully committed and focused, you aren’t going to stick with it,” she says.

“If your commitment and what you are willing to do consistently isn’t at a nine or a ten, you need to keep digging,” Moore says. She suggests that If you aren’t willing or able to focus on your big goals fully, ask yourself what smaller things you are willing to do to chip away at them. Moore uses the example of a person who says he or she wants to lose 20 pounds. “Dig in deeper with questions about your commitment, like what are you really willing to do?”

She says it is more than chasing a number on the scale. “What will losing 20 pounds do for your life or what will it allow you to do that you can’t do now?”

The next step, Moore says, is to address the barriers that have held you back when you tried to reach your goals in the past. Whether it is weight loss, stress management, or even career goals, you need to be able to see and address the big rocks and the small ones in your path. Look at the things that got in your way and what you are committed to doing to move forward, even after a stumble.

Use Your “Why” As Motivation

“Once you can understand the “why” and prioritize its importance, it gives you a focus and power,” Moore says. “If losing 10 pounds or 20 pounds allows you to play with your grandchildren without hurting yourself, you have a reason to push forward.” According to Moore, “it is never just about the numbers. It’s about how the work and results can benefit your life and what you want to do in the future.

Moore, who has worked with athletes, entrepreneurs, and others with many goals, works with them from a holistic perspective. “It’s never just about lifting weights or cardio, but about how you integrate these changes into improving your life.

Set Realistic Benchmarks

Moore says it is also important to benchmarks along the way. “If you want to run a 5k if you have never run before, start off learning to run a mile,” Moore says. She encourages checking in on the benchmarks at strategic intervals, say six weeks or eight weeks out.

“Equally important is to remember that you can’t, I mean, you can’t outrun bad nutrition. They both go hand in hand,” Moore says.

There are many reasons to work on health and wellness, including having good cardiovascular health, having good mobility, solid mental health, and building good relationships with other people. “That’s the holistic part,” she adds.

Consider Your Personal Preferences

Dr. Tyeese Gaines is a Florida-based emergency room physician who prioritizes her fitness goals. “When I make a new fitness goal, I try to think through what that will look and feel like at least the week prior,” Gaines says. “Do I need to get new running shoes? Do I need to go to the grocery store? Preparation is key. “

She agrees with Moore that working around your pitfalls is the most important part. “For example, I know I am not a morning person. So, creating a goal of waking up at 5 am to go run a few times a week is unlikely because I hate getting up a minute earlier than I have to,” she says. “Just because it’s a new year doesn’t mean I will become a new person. Learn to work within your preferences and quirks.”

As a physician, Gaines says, ” My goals probably sound very similar to my patients, friends, and family. We are all in this struggle together.

This Framework Applies to All Your Goals

But not everyone’s goals are focused on fitness. Award-winning author of Black Joy: Stories of Resistance, Resilience and Restoration, Tracey Michea’l Lewis- Giggetts says that kind of focus is important in her goal setting, as well.

“Nowadays, I have to consider so much more when setting my writing goals, including family time, other entrepreneurial projects, rest, soul care, etc. I wasn’t thinking about any of that in my 20s,” she says.

“I know that my brain needs space and safety to run optimally,” she added. “ So when I set a writing goal, I have also to make sure that it is something I want to do, something I have the time to do and something that is safe to do and is the content too heavy for wherever I am in my life at the moment.”

Lewis-Giggetts says that all of those things give her the things will give her the incentive to show up to the page consistently. “I also can run back those answers on the days I don’t feel much like going after my goal.”

Schedule Time for Joy and Play

Lewis-Giggetts’ strategy includes making her goals more about weaving in joy and play. “ I try to write joy into my day, onto my to-do list, as it is an absolute necessity for me,” she says. “I’m strategic about how I incorporate joy into my day. I’m acutely aware that when my nervous system is off, when my body is off because of grief or rage or pain or anxiety, then it will be very difficult for me to do my work, and goals will not be met.”

She says that play and joy help her manage her body and brain. Things like movement, including dancing or even getting on the swings at the playground, and laughter help her discharge anxiety. “All of that means I’m more likely to meet my goals because I’m well,” Lewis-Giggetts explains.

8 Things to Remember

1. Ask yourself the tough questions about your “why?”
2. What are you willing to commit to and focus consistently to make it happen?
3. Start small. Don’t start with a goal of walking 10 thousand steps right away. If you haven’t done it in a while, start with a mile or maybe 15 minutes, and consistently work your way up.
4. Anticipate the obstacles. New Year’s goals kick off in January when the weather can sideline you. Figure out what you can do in the house to get your physical activity in. Also, a cold or illness can slow you down. Plan for getting back on your plan.
5. Treat it as an important business appointment in your planner. If your goal is to eat healthier, make an appointment with yourself to prepare healthy meals to have ready. That includes snacks.
6. Sleep for health and focus. A lack of quality sleep can sabotage your health goals without a plan. Track your hours of sleep.
7. Check-in with your goals on a daily or weekly basis. Know where you stand and when you need to get back on track.
8. You can get a do-over. Maybe you didn’t get your meditation in for the week. Don’t just start. Take the time to remind yourself why this is a priority and what the benefits are.

The post 8 Things You Need to Know to Crush Your Goals All Year appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Researchers in London discovered that a specially designed meditation program enhanced the mental health of adults 65 and over. The study consisted of two nine-month modules, the first on mindfulness and the second on loving-kindness and compassion. Weekly group sessions and at-home practices supplemented these modules.

According to the researchers, those who completed the course “experienced considerable improvements in well-being, particularly in areas of awareness, connection, and insight.”

These improvements fostered a sense of calm, deep satisfaction, enhanced relationships, and a positive outlook.

How These Practices Can Help Our Community

We talked to Ananda Leeke, a Thriving Mindfully Coach and Human Design Doula, to better understand meditation, mindfulness,  loving kindness, and compassion and provide insight on how older adults, or any of us, can incorporate these practices into their lives. “Meditations is one of the greatest mindful self-care gifts you can give and receive. I define meditation as befriending your mind,” Leeke explains.

“It is an invitation to practice your birthright of mindfulness by paying attention to what’s happening in your mind, spirit, heart, body, and life.”

But what’s the difference between meditation and mindfulness?

Leeke explains that the two are connected. “Mindfulness is your birthright. It is the ability to be aware of what’s happening inside and outside yourself,” she explains. “It becomes a practice when you choose to use it. Meditation is a mindful practice.”

Loving kindness and compassion are additional mindful practices. Leeke calls them self-care vitamins you can use daily to nurture yourself and navigate change in your life on every level. Think of it as treating yourself with gentleness and nonjudgement. You can see compassion as never giving up on yourself, even when you recognize the negative emotions and feelings within yourself.

How Do We Put These Concepts into Practice?

Are you ready to get started with mindfulness practices? Leeke suggests the following:

A Daily Mindfulness Practice

• Slow yourself down. Get still. Find a posture that feels right for your body in the moment. (You can sit, stand, or lay down). Close your eyes or lower your gaze if you prefer to keep them open.
• Begin to notice the sensations in your body. Start with your feet. Become aware of how they are resting on the surface.
• Bring your attention to your heart. Place one or both hands on your heart. Observe the sensations of the heartbeat.
• Next, bring awareness to your breath and how it feels moving in and out of your body. Shift your attention to how the breath sounds. Is it soft or loud? Focus on the space between each breath.
• Appreciate your breath and body. Give thanks for all they do to keep you alive and function in life.

Leeke recommends doing this for at least one minute. “We each get 1,440 minutes every day. You can take one of them to care for yourself with meditation.”

Practicing Loving Kindness and Compassion

Leeke suggests taking the following steps for a mindful moment break:

• Slow down and take three to five breaths.
• Touch your heart with one or both hands.
• As you touch your heart, ask yourself where to give yourself more loving kindness and compassion in your life, relationships, and career.
• Hug yourself for 20 seconds or more, and send loving kindness or compassion to the areas of your life you have identified.
• Repeat the same exercise and ask yourself who you need to give loving kindness or compassion to. As you hug yourself, identify one way to offer the person loving kindness or compassion.

Suppose you want to engage your parents or other older adults in these practices. In that case, Leeke suggests incorporating it into a prayer before a meal or a mindful moment before or after you have a conversation with them. You can also add the practice as part of gift exchange during the holiday season.

If you want to learn more, Leeke hosts the podcast Thriving Mindfully and suggests her episode on meditation, loving-kindness, and compassion.

Ananda Leeke is a Thriving Mindfully Coach, artist, Human Design Doula, and author of Love’s Troubadours, That Which Awakens Me, and Digital Sisterhood.

The post How Meditation Benefits Older Adult’s Mental Health appeared first on Black Health Matters.

• Layers are your friends. When it’s cold, your body diverts blood away from your fingers and toes and directs it to your core. This can open you up to frostbite. The solution? Layers. Start with clothing made of moisture-wicking material and cover with warmer layers. Your outer layer should be a waterproof jacket to protect you from elements like snow. Avoid cotton (it holds moisture from perspiration); wear gloves and a hat. As your body heats up from activity, you can take off layers.
• Sunscreen is still a must. Cover all exposed skin, including your lips. Try Unsun Mineral Tinted Face Sunscreen SPF 30.
• Protect your eyes. Winter sun can be a beast, especially when it bounces off snow on the ground. Wear shades.
• Treat your lungs gently. Breathing in cold air while exercising can cause airway constriction, which can cause shortness of breath or a full-blown exercise-induced asthma attack. Throw a scarf around your nose and mouth to trap moist air.
• Stay hydrated. Even if you don’t feel thirsty, drink water before and after your workout.
• Choose a clean, dry path. Are you a ride-or-die runner? Keep striding. But check for icy patches and adjust your speed as necessary to avoid falling, which could result in an injury. Steer clear of puddles, too. Wet socks and shoes can contribute to frostbite.
• Monitor your body. If you start shivering, your body is signaling your core temperature has dropped below a comfortable level. Kick up the intensity of your workout to create additional body heat.
• Check the forecast. We know you’re trying to stay on track for that half-marathon in April, but exercising in whiteout blizzard conditions or 30-degree temps is crazy—and unsafe. Take your workout indoors.
• Always tell someone where you’re going and when you’ll return.

The post Exercising Outdoors in Winter? Here’s How to Stay Safe and Warm appeared first on Black Health Matters.

RE-THINK EXERCISE  & GET CREATIVE

Clean up. Yes, cleaning counts as a workout! Play upbeat holiday hits and get to work! Engage your core to protect your lower back. Activate your total body using broad strokes to vacuum or mop. Move swiftly to the next tasks. Take breaks, then get back to it.

Dance like no one (or everyone) is watching! Shake your groove thang to five of your favorite feel-good tracks, get into the holiday spirit and celebrate your body’s ability to move!!

MAKE EVERY MINUTE COUNT

Combining strength training & heart pumping cardio for most workouts is a great way to spike your heart rate, increase mobility, and feel the burn.

Try a HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) workout at home. Set a timer for 30-45 seconds; go at your own pace and keep moving until the time is up. Rest, hydrate, and begin the next exercise (HIIT workout below).

Prefer the gym? Steer clear of distractions to focus on your workout. Consider leaving your phone in the locker or silence alerts until your workout is complete. Incorporate 15-30-second sprints during cardio and lift enough weight that your last two reps are challenging.

GET OUTDOORS

There’s nothing like a brisk walk (or run) outside to jumpstart your day! Breathe in fresh air and soak up some vitamin D multiple times daily. The holidays are about connecting with friends and family. Invite them to celebrate the season with fitness & fellowship.

GEAR UP

Have your workout wear styled out, laced up, and ready to go. Stay prepared for exercise! Charge your fitness tracker and gather your gear ahead of time. Searching for your favorite sports bra can be stressful and delay or cut short your workout.

KEEP IT SIMPLE

Avoid setting unrealistic goals or stressing about scheduling a workout. Enjoy some downtime this holiday break. Early workouts are only for some. When you find yourself with ENERGY, USE IT! Don’t overthink; move- to the gym, the park, or to a workout DVD/YouTube video you’ve been meaning to try and haven’t! The benefits of exercise are cumulative. So, get 10-15 minute workouts in throughout the day— those minutes add up!

PRIORITIZE SLEEP

You may already know that consistent quality sleep is crucial in supporting our immune system and regulating metabolism. Healthy sleep hygiene reduces stress, allows your body to recover, and promotes the energy and mental clarity you need to spread love and joy.

ACKNOWLEDGE YOURSELF

In your (gratitude) journal or cell phone, write a quick note (or text) acknowledging yourself for getting your workout in!  Express gratitude for the ability to move and honor that you made time to strengthen your mind, body, and spirit. Use powerful self-affirmations and declare, ‘Tis the season for self-care!

HIIT Workout

Set a 30-45 sec timer and perform these exercises, hydrating and resting 15-20 secs between each move.

Jumping Jacks (modification-step & reach, alt sides)

Squat Kicks  (modification-standing high kicks alt L/R legs)

Any style push-ups (modification-wall push-ups: place hands on the wall at chest level, step back 2-3 ft from the wall, maintain a neutral spine and bring the chest to the wall, then push back to starting position)

Squat to oblique crunches, alternating L/R knee-ups (modification-Standing oblique crunches)

Squat jumps, landing with knees bent, hips back, weight in heels (modification -Squat then elevate to balls of your feet, lower hips back down, weight in heels, repeat).

HYDRATE, REST, REPEAT SEQUENCE 1-2X

Optional: Use light to medium free weights in each hand when performing the exercises in the next round(s), except for the pushups.

Nicole Brewer has been a Brooklyn-based personal trainer & group fitness instructor for 15 years. A deejay at heart with a passion for fashion, she makes fitness accessible for every body at every age. 

The post 7 Holiday Fitness Hacks appeared first on Black Health Matters.

While seeking therapy is met with skepticism by some members of our community, it is time to reconsider our opinions about it, especially because it can be an essential element in helping Black boys and men to feel worthy and achieve wholeness. Dr. Smith says, “Therapy is a safe place to overhear the inner conversations you have with yourself every day.”

Vance says his therapist asked him, “Are you willing to sit in the mud until the water becomes clear?” In other words, the work Black men must do to heal will neither be quick nor pretty, but the clarity they get will be worth it.

To learn more, check out Courtney B. Vance and Dr. Smith in conversation with Tony Cornelius at the session, The Invisible Ache: Black Men Identifying Their Pain and Reclaiming Their Power, at our Fall Summit in Los Angeles.

Courtney B. Vance and Dr. Smith’s book, The Invisible Ache: Black Men Identifying Their Pain and Reclaiming Their Power is out now. 

The post Courtney B. Vance Gets Real About Black Men’s Mental Health appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Fall is here, and winter will be upon us before we know it. Since the temperature has dropped, it’s also time to drop into those bulky sweaters, some comfort food and those television marathons. If, however, you want to finish the final month of the year with that “get fit” resolution you set last January, then these tips can help you enjoy the changing season without changing up your health for the worse.

1. Dress to impress. Maybe I have a bra on, maybe I don’t. Maybe I still have my pajamas on under this oversized sweatshirt. No one will ever know. Sound familiar? Well, for many of us, fall and winter are synonymous with oversized clothes, high boots and leggings. The danger in dressing in these camouflage options, however, is that come spring, you may find that the new season also requires a new size.

So if you want to avoid this size surprise, I recommend that you cross-dress this fall and winter. As in, opt to wear nonseasonal pieces and colors from time to time. The way we dress affects the way we feel, so literally brighten the mood with a colorful scarf or vibrant top, or try swapping out that onyx mani for a softer spring color. Dark colors naturally make us want to hibernate, while brighter hues do the opposite, so ward off the winter blues with these simple switches.

2. Chase the sun. The way you start your day can make a huge difference in the way you feel, so tell this seasonal slump what’s up and rise with the sun. The lack of sunlight that results from winter’s shorter days disrupts our internal body clocks. But the degree to which this takes place largely stems from some combination of other factors—your geography, genetics and individual brain chemistry. In fact, according to recent studies, the winter blues affect only 1 percent of Florida residents, compared with about half of those living in colder climates in the U.S. So if relocating is not an option, make a point to rise early. Take 30 minutes to get out for a brisk walk or jog and soak up some of that vitamin D.

3. Take a step in the right direction. Speaking of that morning workout, don’t let the fact that the clock falls back to get you off track. Shorter days make squeezing in a daily workout challenging, so activate your fit life with a bit of technology. In 2013, 1.6 million fitness trackers were sold; in 2014, 8 million; and an estimated 23 million are expected to be sold by the end of 2015. So either squeeze in a little bit with Fitbit, stay on track (and stylish) with Jawbone or drop the price of your lunch to drop a few pounds with Pivotal Living (its tracker is only $12 and yet works just as well as those of competitors). The key is to aim for 10,000 steps daily, since many people get an average of 3,000 steps per day naturally with daily activity. A little goes a long way, so take a step in the right direction.

4. Think healthy comfort food. Baby, it’s cold outside. Read: Bring on the comfort food. Comfort foods are named appropriately. They bring back warm memories, tantalize our taste buds and soothe our souls. Since most comfort foods, however, are deep-fried, covered in cheese or packed with sugar, they can also completely throw off our weight loss or maintenance game. But there’s good news: You don’t have to skip this season’s savory and sweet treats.

With a little swap here and there, you can definitely indulge without the bulge. For instance, try a butternut-squash-inspired mac and cheese to slash half the fat, explore a flourless dessert, or try a broth-based stew instead of a heavy cream-based soup. The little changes will make a big difference, I promise.

5. Lay off the leggings (sometimes). Key word: “sometimes.” Leggings are too cute nowadays to eliminate entirely, but I do recommend inviting an actual waistband to your wardrobe every once in a while. Not only will this help keep your waistline in check, but your entire style game will get an upgrade, too. So dust off your jeans, pencil skirts and actual trousers this season for sure.

By trying on your best-fitting staples every few weeks, you’ll be able to monitor any sneaky waist expansion taking place. I did this last year, skipped the scale entirely, and come spring I was literally skipping into the new season the same size I was the year before. This is a major winter win, considering that many surveys show that most of us gain an average of 5 to 7 pounds in the winter.

6. Get it in while you tune in. You may have been wondering how you’re going to get away with watching much television while keeping your weight in check. Well, you can if you fit in fitness while you tune in. Commercial breaks are a great time to break a sweat. Or take it a step further and vow to reserve watching your favorite hour-long drama for your cardio days at the gym. This will make scheduling your workouts easier and keep your health happy. Need some binge-watching workout ideas? Check out my RAD Couch Potato Workout.

7. Stay social. Finally, I know colder temperatures can lead to hibernation, but no matter how many layers you have to throw on, I highly recommend keeping it social this season. Force yourself to go to parties and maintain your favorite social activities. Having a Hulu marathon on your couch feels good in the moment, but in the long run, hanging with your homies will brighten your mood far more.

Speaking of your homies, save up your vacation time for the winter months and take a trip to a warmer climate, like Florida or California. Or, if you like the snow, hit up a cabin and master the slopes with a winter sport like skiing or snowboarding. Bottom line: Just get out of town and get active while you’re there.

Republished with permission from The Root

The post 7 Ways to Stay Fit in Winter appeared first on Black Health Matters.

The Genesis of “Girl Dinners”

@danielle.fewings

Girl dinner to the extreme #girldinner #girldinners #girldinnersong

♬ original sound – Karma Carr

Originally, the “girl dinner” trend served as a tongue-in-cheek response to societal expectations. Users began posting videos of their simple, sometimes unappealing dinners with captions emphasizing that the meal was, indeed, their dinner. This trend offered a candid view into real-life dinners, free from the pressure of perfection or the need to curate a social media-friendly image. It was a reminder that not every meal is a gourmet feast and that’s perfectly okay.

Health Concerns?

This “girl dinner” trend, characterized primarily by its showcasing of sometimes minimalistic meals, has stirred conversations on its potential health implications. While the trend is a counter-reaction to the typically aesthetic and often overly curated meals on social media, there are concerns regarding its nutritional adequacy. Some of the meals presented under this trend are usually not balanced, lacking in the essential nutrients, vitamins, and minerals that are crucial for overall health.

Nutritionists and health professionals emphasize the importance of a well-rounded diet, which includes a balance of protein, carbohydrates, fats, and a variety of fruits and vegetables. The sporadic “girl dinner” meal, which may consist of just a handful of chips or a slice of cheese, is far from this ideal. Over time, consistently consuming such limited meals can lead to nutritional deficiencies, impacting various bodily functions and potentially leading to more significant health issues.

However, it’s essential to understand the context of this trend. While the showcased meals might not always be nutritionally complete, they might not represent an individual’s entire daily intake. Users could be sharing these meals for comedic or relatability purposes, not necessarily as dietary recommendations. Nonetheless, given the influential nature of TikTok, especially among younger audiences, there’s a call for more awareness and responsible sharing regarding food trends.

Delving Deeper Into The Connections to Food Culture

The evolution of the “girl dinner” trend saw a shift when some Black creators began to use the platform to showcase traditional meals from Black culture. These dishes, while sometimes labeled as “simple”, are steeped in history and tradition. They tell stories of resilience and a rich cultural heritage that spans continents. For Black communities, food has always been more than sustenance. It is a form of expression, a tie to ancestry, and a means of community bonding. Through the “girl dinner” trend, the wider TikTok community was offered a glimpse into some of the deeply rooted traditions of Black culinary practices, as well as those from other cultures.

The Impact and the Takeaway

The influence of the “girl dinner” trend extends beyond the confines of TikTok. It serves as a potent reminder of the diversity of culinary practices and the rich tapestries of culture that they represent. In an era where social media often showcases idealized versions of reality, this trend is a welcome nod to authenticity. No matter the race or culture, everyone has a traditional “girl dinner” from their family’s recipe book.

The trend may raise eyebrows over health concerns but socially underscores the importance of recognizing and respecting the cultural origins of food. For many  TikTok creators, the “girl dinner” trend became an opportunity to educate and share stories, ensuring that the rich history of their family’s diet isn’t lost amidst the ever-changing landscape of internet trends.

While seemingly simple, this newfound social media trend serves as a lens into broader discussions on authenticity, cultural appreciation, and the significance of food as a cultural touchstone. It is a testament to the platform’s power in spotlighting and celebrating diverse narratives, reminding users of the stories behind every dish and the communities they represent.

The post Hunger Games: Are “Girl Dinners” on TikTok A Cause For Concern? appeared first on Black Health Matters.

With his commanding presence and infectious enthusiasm, DaShaun led the crowd through a series of dynamic exercises, showcasing his unrivaled knowledge of abdominal training. From intense core-focused movements to innovative routines, he pushed participants to their limits, challenging them to redefine their fitness goals. His dedication to promoting health and wellness within the Black community was truly inspiring, making this workout a memorable highlight of the Black Health Matters summit.

The post Workout with the Guru of Abs! appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Go ahead, sneak one of the candy bar minis from your child’s Halloween haul. Just make sure to check this list* to find out how much exercise you’ll need to burn off those stolen calories:

• Butterfinger (85 calories) 10 minutes of Zumba
• Heath bar (77 calories) 12 minutes of aerobics
• Hershey’s milk chocolate bar (67 calories) 15 minutes of dancing
• Kit Kat (70 calories) 10 minutes of moderate rowing
• Milky Way, Mounds, Snickers, Twix (80 calories each) 9 minutes on the elliptical
• York Peppermint Patty (60 calories) 25 minutes of yoga
• Mr. Goodbar (90 calories) 13 minutes of hiking
• Plain M&M’s (67 calories) 9 minutes of jumping jacks
• Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup (110 calories) 7 minutes of jogging
• 3 Musketeers (63 calories) 26 minutes of Pilates
• 100 Grand (95 calories) 10 minutes of kickboxing

*calorie counts based on a 130-pound woman

The post Treat at Your Own Risk appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Unfortunately, the highly coveted sneaker isn’t an easy snag. Only current students with their school ID can purchase the shoes with a limit on purchases. Earlier, WishATL held a raffle for former panthers, but you must be in Atlanta physically. However, the exclusive kicks are expected to drop sometime during the middle of the week (Oct 12th) via SNKRS.

Hail CAU

In 1988, Clark College and Atlanta University consolidated, forming Clark Atlanta University. Established in 1865 by the American Missionary Association, Atlanta University was the nation’s first institution to award African-American graduate degrees. Founded in 1869, Clark College was the nation’s first four-year liberal arts college to serve African-Americans primarily. Today, CAU is the largest institution and only university in the Atlanta University Center (AUC). In addition, it is the largest of the 37-member UNCF institutions.

The post Nike Drops Nike Dunk Low ‘CAU’ appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Tangela discusses how to treat headaches located in different regions of the head. There are several types of headaches. And the ones Tangela talks about are:

• Forehead
• Back of the head
• Top of the head
• Front of your head (Sinus Headache)
• Tight band (Tension Headache)
• Pain around the eye (Cluster Headache)

Let’s check out the ways to relieve these headaches below!

Nurse Tangela’s Advice for Different Types of Headaches

@nurse_tangela_crna

DON’T LET A HEADACHE GET YOU DOWN#compressionsocks #legacycompressions #nursetok #nursesoftiktok #headacherelief #headachehacks

♬ original sound – Nurse Tangela CRNA

Do any of these headaches sound familiar? Nurse Tangela’s advice is perfect if you don’t want to take medication to relieve your headache. Sometimes all it takes is sleep, food, or reduced screentime to relieve your headache. Most headaches go away with simple treatments – OTC medicines, etc. Always consult your doctor if your headache lasts longer than 48 hours or intensifies.

What is one lesson that you learned from social media and used regularly? Comment below!

The post Nurse Teaches How to Identify & Relieve Different Types of Headaches appeared first on Black Health Matters.

“Everybody has gone through their own trauma in their own way, and to me, ‘Traumazine’ is me facing the things that I’ve been running from about myself,” she said. “It’s comforting to know that other people are going through the same thing that you might be feeling.” August.

Megan’s Mental Health Website

An animated video of “Anxiety” greets users when they visit the website. “Bad B—-s Have Bad Days Too” was announced via a tweet shared by a fan named Shea Jordan Smith. In the Twitter thread, Smith included Megan’s message: “Hotties! You know how much mental wellness means to me, so I created a hub with resources that can help when you might need a hand.”

The post Rapper Megan Thee Stallion Launches Mental Health Website appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Antioxidants – polyphenol antioxidants called flavanols that come from cacao. These antioxidants lower blood pressure, improve blood flow and fight cell damage.

Electrolytes – sodium, potassium, and magnesium to support nerve and muscle functions, regulate fluid balance, and hydrate the body during rigorous sports.

Vitamins – B12 and D3 support energy, physical performance, and functionality.

While Amoo worked in sports and training youth, he realized a problem in the sports drinks industry – most sports drinks were high in sugar, lacked nutritional value, and used artificial ingredients. Unfortunately, daily consumption of these drinks could lead to poor athletic performance, weight gain, and overall long-term health issues. Therefore, Amoo wanted to address those concerns for athletes of all ages. Amoo credits one of his dreams for the idea. In August, Amoo launched his crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo to bring AMO to market.

Benefits of Cacao in AMO

Most people don’t think about sports drinks when they hear the word cacao. It is used in AMO for antioxidant support. However, the sugar-free drink doesn’t taste like a chocolate drink. Most people wouldn’t even know it contains cacao. It tastes natural fruit flavors and possesses the exact texture of an ordinary sports drink.

Cacao also contains magnesium, iron, calcium, potassium, and phosphorous. Cacao helps with the following:

• Heart Production
• Stress
• Improved digestive system
• Lower risk of diabetes
• Improved cognitive function

You can support Amoo’s campaign by donating at www.igg.me/at/amo.

The post Howard Alum Launches AMO A New Generation Sports Drink appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Here are five natural ways to manage your dry eyes at home.

1. Limit screen time – dry eyes are the most common reason behind digital eye strain. On average, a person blinks 12 times per minute, but we only blink five times while using our computers. As a result, our wide-open eyes are more prone to dryness, experiencing eye strain, developing headaches, and irritation. Try practicing the 20-20-20 rule, which allows your eyes time and space away from the screen.
2. Warm compress – Using a warm compress helps treat symptoms of many eye conditions. Additionally, it may also stimulate the meibomian gland to produce more tears. It’s also a chance to close your eyes and allow them some rest.
3. Humidifier – If the room is dry, it might affect your eyes. A humidifier adds moisture into the air and can ease symptoms caused by dryness.
4. Clean Eyes – Keeping your eyelids, eyelashes, and ocular area clean is essential in protecting your eye health. It can prevent the buildup of bacteria which can cause eye conditions or eye diseases to develop.
5. Better sleep – Sleep is crucial for resting your mind and body. It’s the only time your eyes stay closed for an extended time, giving them protection and rest. Sleep is crucial if your dry eyes result from an immune disorder, as sleep regulates inflammation. Adults need 7-9 hours of sleep per day.

Knowing these home remedies is crucial for management. However, your optometrist can help you find more options if your symptoms progress. How do you manage your dry eyes? Comment below!

The post Dry Eyes And How To Defeat Them appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Vitamin C is an essential nutrient primarily found in fruits and vegetables. The best sources of Vitamin C include foods like oranges, strawberries, bell peppers, tomatoes, cantaloupe, and more. Since fruits and vegetables are common, Vitamin C deficiency is rare in the U.S. However, individuals with dietary restrictions or specific gastrointestinal issues can benefit from a Vitamin C supplement.

Vitamin C supplements come in various forms, from capsules, gummies, or even powder. Each offers a different amount of Vitamin C and may contain other vitamins for a more significant health boost. But which one is right for you? Here are seven of the best Vitamin C supplements for 2022.

Top Vitamin C Supplements

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), most people need 75-90 mg of Vitamin C daily.

1. Best for vegans: Care/of Vitamin C
2. Best for a multivitamin: Ritual Postnatal
3. Best for most dietary requirements: Persona Vitamin C with Bioflavonoids
4. Best for a liquid vitamin: Pure Encapsulations Liposomal Vitamin C Liquid
5. Best for a powder vitamin: Life Extension Buffered Vitamin C Powder
6. Best for a chewable vitamin: NOW Supplements Orange Chewable Vitamin C-500
7. Best for a gummy: Nordic Naturals Vitamin C Gummies

This list is a great start to jumpstart your Vitamin C supplement journey. Always consider the quality of the ingredients, the dosage needed, and potential interactions. In addition, a Vitamin C dose of over 2,000 mg per day may cause the following side effects:

• diarrhea
• nausea
• abdominal cramps

How do you get your recommended amount of Vitamin C? Comment below!

The post 7 Of The Best Vitamin C Supplements appeared first on Black Health Matters.

1. Hugging can reduce inflammation. Inflammation is a physiological response to an illness. Higher inflammation scores are indicative of your body trying to fight off infection. In one study, 20 adults recorded the number of hugs they received in 14 days. The results showed that those who received more hugs had less inflammation.
2. Hugging promotes the “cuddle hormone.” This one is pretty self-explanatory. We all possess the “cuddle hormone” or Oxytocin. Oxytocin is associated with happiness and less stress. Levels rise when we hug, touch, or sit close to someone. In a study of 34 married couples, increased hugging between spouses over a four-week study was related to increased scores of oxytocin.
3. Hugs reduce stress. Research proves that giving another individual support through touch reduces the stress of the person being comforted. It also helps reduce stress for the individual who is doing the comforting.
4. Hugs help reduce the severity of a common cold. In a study of 404 adults, the number of hugs over 14 days reduced the effects of interpersonal conflict on the severity of the common cold infection. The hugs worked as a stress buffer.

We are seeing how powerful a hug can make them even more valuable. Not only do they benefit our physical health, but they improve our mental health as well. Have you hugged someone today?

The post Hug Your Way To A Healthier Life appeared first on Black Health Matters.

“There’s research to support the decrease in the incidence of chronic pain with the addition of exercise,” says Christopher Bise, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. “Exercises that are going to balance the body front to back [such as mobility training] are going to be the ones that help over time.”

One form of bad posture most of us deal with is computer slouching. Computer slouching is hunching over computers, tablets, and laptops, which causes your head to come down and forward and your shoulders rounded. You probably slouch without realizing it, especially if most of your day is behind a computer. Computer slouching causes bad posture because the muscles in the front of your shoulders become tighter and shorter, and the muscles in the upper back become overstretched and weaker.

Here are Pham’s top exercises to prevent and relieve computer slouching pain.

Top 4 Exercises to Prevent and Relieve Computer Slouching Pain

Rotate Your Spine – This movement seeks to relieve that stress and encourage flexibility by mimicking the natural movements of the spine — side bending, bending backward, and rotating.

Floss Your Spine – This exercise also helps to relieve the stress of the slouch position you may find yourself in a while working at your desk. But instead of rotating your spine, as you did in the last movement, you’re going to move your upper torso forward and backward — exposing your spine to the opposite motion of hunching over.

Teach Your Body How to Bend Safely – This exercise aims to protect the lower back from those movements by mobilizing your hamstrings and your sciatic nerve, which runs from your lower back down your hips and hamstrings.

Extend Your Big Toe – This exercise, called the Big Toe Extension, aims to relieve or guard against discomfort you might feel in your foot and calf.

The post 4 Exercises That Can Prevent And Relieve Pain From Computer Slouching appeared first on Black Health Matters.

“Intermittent standing breaks throughout the day and after meals reduced glucose on average by 9.51% compared to prolonged sitting. However, intermittent light-intensity walking throughout the day saw a greater glucose reduction by an average of 17.01% compared to prolonged sitting,” Aidan Buffey, a doctoral student in the physical education and sport sciences department at the University of Limerick in Ireland.

Benefits of A Short Walk

Will you add a two-minute walk as an after-meal activity? Comment below!

The post A 2 Minute Walk After Eating Can Improve Blood Sugar appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Sometimes we find that our lives are running on autopilot. We can get stuck in our mental loops, to-do lists and daily routines without taking a minute to pause and check-in to see if we’re living in alignment and accordance with our heart’s desires.

When faced with a major decision or any level of indecisiveness, I encourage you to stop whatever you’re doing.

Take a deep breath.

Place your hand over your heart and ask yourself:

What do I really want?

Allow yourself to take a moment to reflect, clear your mind and live with intention. Here are some practices you can consider:

• Meditation
• Journaling
• Vision boarding
• Sitting, walk or run in silence
• Taking regular breaks from technology and electronics

Follow your heart,

Francesca Eva

The post Self Check-In appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Maybe that means allowing yourself to dance or sing or binge your favorite sitcom on Netflix or eat a really rich chocolate bar or cry or pray or laugh or connect with your family or give back to your community.

I can’t tell you what wellness looks like for you, that’s something you have to ask yourself. Here are some prompts to help get you started:

I feel grounded and centered when …
I feel joy and pleasure when …
I feel strong and confident when …
My heart feels full of love when …

Through Black Health Matters, I look forward to being your partner in wellness this month.

Be Well,

Francesca Eva

P.S. – Watch this if you’d like to take a look at my own personal wellness journey.

The post What Is Wellness? appeared first on Black Health Matters.

• one papaya
• Strawberries
• Coconut Water (or water)

Remember, if you do not have a juicer, you can use a blender and strain the juice before consumption. And don’t forget to save your papaya seeds for future recipes.

Check Out Charmaine’s Juice Recipe Below:

@wellnesswithcharms

Juice for HEALTHY HAIR #tropicaljuice #coldpressedjuices #naturaljuices #juicerecipe #juicingforhealth #juicingtutorials #foodtutorialhowto #healthycookingforyou #foodismedicine

♬ Stranger In Town (In Dub) – Gregory Isaacs

Strawberries have a rich combination of antioxidants, ellagic acid, and vitamins that could help with hair loss, dandruff, and dry hair. The compounds in papaya, including lycopene, shows a potent hair growth stimulating activity.

I cannot wait to try this recipe! What is your favorite juicing recipe? Comment below!

The post Juice for Healthy Hair appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Don’t worry if you are a beginner! We have curated a list of nine easy poses for women over 50. These poses will make you feel better and help improve your flexibility.

9 Best Yoga Poses For Women Over 50

1. Downward Facing Dog – This downward dog yoga pose will help stretch your back, arm, and leg muscles. It’s an easy pose and is commonly used in most beginner yoga classes.
2. Triangle Pose – The triangle pose will give you a full-body stretch. It is a great pose to stretch out your ankles, hips, legs, and back.
3. Tree Pose – The tree pose is another good balance pose. If you can hold the pose for at least 30 seconds, you will feel it in your abdominal muscles because it works your core. Your hips and legs will also enjoy a nice stretch.
4. Child’s Pose – The child’s pose will give you the ultimate relaxing stretch as it’s an excellent way to stretch your entire body and relieve tension.
5. Seated Forward Bend Pose – This yoga pose will increase your legs and body circulation. It stretches your hamstrings and hips, which will help you work out any kinks or discomfort you may feel when you walk.
6. Bound Angle Pose – This classic yoga pose stretches your hips, legs, and back. It’s simple to do and will help relieve groin strains and knee pain.
7. Warrior Pose – The Warrior pose is another familiar yoga pose stretching your legs and hips. Make sure to focus on your breathing when you do it.
8. Cobra Pose – The Cobra position is probably one of the best poses if your back is tense and tight. This pose will also tone your arms and your abs.
9. Corpse Pose – After your yoga session, relax and breathe deeply in the Corpse pose to eliminate any tension you have left and to center your mind to proceed with your day. You can do this any time you feel tense and anxious.

The post Best Yoga Poses For Women Over 50 appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Tia’s page is dedicated to creating low-carb, sugar-free versions of our favorite sweets. She has recipes for mini red velvet bunt cakes, coconut cake, and more. In addition, her banana pudding cookies are a part of her Juneteenth series.

Check Out The Banana Pudding Cookies Recipe Video  Below

@tias.sweet.kitchen

Claiming this as my new mantra #themproblem #trend #bakingtiktok

♬ Thats a THEM problem – Jamison Bethea

Ingredients Needed:

• Butter – 4 Tbsp
• Granulated Monkfruit Sweetner – 1/3 C (80g)
• Sour Cream – 1/4 C
• Egg – 1
• Vanilla – 2 tsp
• Almond Flour – 2 Cups (200g)
• Oat Fiber – 1 Tbsp
• Baking Powder – 1 1/2 tsp (6g)
• Kosher Salt – 1/2 tsp
• Cinnamon – 1/4 tsp

1. Add dry ingredients and sweeter to a bowl. Mix
2. Add softened butter and mix until it reaches a crumbly texture
3. Add egg, sour cream, and vanilla. Mix
4. Chill dough for 2 hrs.

*Preheat oven to 350F (180C)

If you prefer not to use actual bananas, add 1/4 tsp – 1/2 tsp banana extract to the pudding.

This recipe will be a hit for everyone at the next family and friend gathering. Let us know if you plan on giving this recipe a try!

What is your favorite dessert to make (or eat) on Juneteenth? Comment below!

The post Keto-Friendly And Sugar-Free Banana Pudding Cookies appeared first on Black Health Matters.

The primary vitamins you should look for are Vitamin A and B3. Vitamin A, also known as retinoids, help clear acne as they help regulate skin cell turnover, which prevents pores from clogging. The second key player is Vitamin B3 because it possesses anti-inflammatory properties and can help reduce oil production.

Here are our choices for the top 10 vitamins that support clear skin. There is something for every budget and vitamin taker. Who knows, you might already have a few in your cabinet.

Top 10 Vitamins for Clear Skin

1. Best Overall: MegaFood Skin, Nails & Hair 2
2. Best Budget: Nature’s Bounty Extra Strength Hair, Skin & Nails 
3. 2nd Best Budget: Olly Flawless Complexion 
4. Best Vegan Option: Solgar Hair Skin and Nails 
5. Best Gummy: HUM Nutrition Glow Sweet Glow 
6. Best Organic: Garden of Life mykind Organics Women’s Once Daily Multi
7. Best Powder: Amazing Grass Greens Superfood Detox & Digest
8. Best With Vitamin C: Thorne Vitamin C
9. Best With Vitamin E: NOW Wheat Germ Oil 
10. Best Blend: Nordic Naturals ProOmega-D 

So, did you end up having some of these supplements on hand? It is also important to remember that supplements should be used in addition to a nutrient-rich diet and not replace the nutrients from foods.

The post Top 10 Vitamins That Support Clear Skin appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Check Out Chef Lovely’s Hot Girl Summer Wellness Shot Recipe Below:

@cheflovely

Summertime Fine #health #wellness #HotGirlSummer #LoveYouLetsEat

♬ Move Your Body (Future House) – Tchami & Marshall Jefferson

Super simple, right? And if you don’t have a juicer, then a powerful blender with a touch of water works just fine. Once blended, you’ll need a strainer or cheesecloth to strain the liquid.

Why Wellness Shots Are Good For Us

Wellness shots are the perfect way to start your mornings for our immunity. They are a quick and easy way to deliver antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. For instance, there are so many benefits for one of the ingredients – ruby red grapefruit. Grapefruits reduce lipid levels, reduce the risk of prostate cancer, and are low in calories. Another powerful ingredient Chef Lovely uses are ginger. Ginger keeps your mouth healthy, calms nausea, eases arthritis pain, and so much more.

You can prepare your wellness shots in a large batch the night before or days in advance. They can last in your refrigerator for up to a week, or you can freeze them. In addition, most wellness shots can be consumed daily and sometimes multiple times a day. However, the recommendation is to take it once daily and monitor how you feel after adding them to your diet.

What is your favorite wellness shot recipe? Comment below!

The post Chef Lovely Is Keeping Us Summertime Fine With Hot Girl Summer Wellness Shot appeared first on Black Health Matters.

We have gathered the top 10 walking shoes for women of 2022, and yes, we included wide-foot friendly shoes. Get your shopping carts ready!

Top 15 Walking Shoes for Women

Our list thinks about every type of foot you can think of – narrow, wide, flat, etc. Plus, great pair of walking shoes can prevent damage to your feet, such as blisters. And by preventing blisters, you can ensure that you’re walking workouts are consistent.

1. Best Overall: Adidas Ultraboost 22
2. Best for Everyday Walking: Nike React Infinity Flyknit 2
3. Most Breathable: APL Techloom Pro
4. Best for Plantar Fasciitis and Bunions: Vionic Tokyo sneaker
5. Most Durable: New Balance 840 V2 Walking Shoe
6. Best for Flat Feet: Asics’ Gel Quantum 180
7. Best for High Arches: Hoka One One Clifton 8
8. Best Affordable: Ryka Devotion Plus 2
9. Best Hybrid Walking Shoes: Altra Rivera
10. Best for Ankle Support: Vans Sk8 Hi-Tapered Shoes
11. Best for Wide Feet: Nike Revolution Wide 5
12. Best for Narrow Feet: On’s Cloud Nexus
13. Most Supportive: Saucony Echelon 8
14. Best for Balance: On Cloud X
15. Best for Standing All Day: Reebok Adara 3

How To Find The Perfect Walking Shoe For You?

It is recommended to find a pair of walking shoes with good arch support, cushioning, and thicker soles. Unfortunately, you will cause your legs and feet to work harder without the proper support. Of course, the best way to find a pair is to go on and try them on in the store (trust me, I empathize with the online shoppers). Think about your feet’s needs and shoe recommendations, and go from there.

Lastly, it is advised to replace your walking shoes at least once per year. They lose their cushioning and support over time with constant use. The rule of thumb is to purchase a new pair every 300 to 400 miles. However, if you’re not sure if you surpassed that mile mark, then replace them when the soles begin to wear down.

What is your favorite walking shoe brand? Comment below!

The post Top 15 Walking Shoes for Women of 2022 appeared first on Black Health Matters.

In addition, it is an excellent addition to your Cinco de Mayo dishes, and everyone will not be able to get enough!

Kardea Brown’s Low Country Nachos Recipe

Here is everything you need to make the BEST low country nachos! And we have listed great ingredient alternatives for our lactose intolerant readers or anyone who wants to cut down on the calories.

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (vegan Ghee)
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (add a cornstarch or arrowroot slurry to omit flour)
• 1 cup whole milk, plus more if needed (vegan milk – almond, coconut, etc.)
• 1 1/2 pounds white American cheese, diced (Daiya Cutting Board Cheddar Style Shreds)
• 8 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, diced (Daiya Spicy Monterey Jack Style Vegan Cheese Shreds)
• 2 teaspoons seafood seasoning
• 1/2 jalapeño, seeds and ribs removed, flesh minced
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 
• 2 pounds medium shrimp, peeled and deveined 
• 2 cloves garlic, minced 
• 12 ounces lump crabmeat, drained and picked over to remove any shell or cartilage 
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• One 13-ounce bag tortilla chips (blue corn tortilla chips)
• 1/2 cup sliced green onions 
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro 

You can check out all the steps in her recipe here. Are you going to give these nachos a try? Comment below!

The post Kardea Brown Puts A Low Country Twist On A Classic Dish! appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Dr. Jessica B. Harris‘ oatmeal cookies are delicious yet straightforward for any oatmeal cookie lovers! She is an award-winning culinary historian, cookbook author, and journalist specializing in the African diaspora’s food and foodways. Dr. Harris married an old-time classic with a family secret that adds a bright twist – lemon extract.

Dr. Jessica B. Harris’ Gluten-Free Oatmeal Cookie Recipe

• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2/3 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 dash lemon extract
• 2/3 cup uncooked rolled oats

Why Oatmeal Cookies Are Perfect

Did you know the foundation of this beloved cookie provides multiple benefits? Outside of being a household staple, oatmeal is considered a superfood packed with multiple health benefits. Some of those benefits include:

1. Great for the gut
2. Reduces cholesterol
3. Oats are packed with antioxidants

They can satisfy your sweet tooth without all of the guilt because of how nutritious they can be. In addition, these cookies can truly be a blank canvas allowing you to add anything such as nuts, craisins, or in Dr. Harris’ case, coconut.

What is your favorite oatmeal cookie recipe? Comment below!

The post These Gluten-Free Oatmeal Cookies Are The Perfect Treat for #NationalOatmealCookieDay appeared first on Black Health Matters.

“Our work focused on people who chose to sleep less,” explained study author Dr. Virend Somers, a professor of cardiovascular medicine with the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Rochester, Minn. “It wasn’t about insomnia, so much as, say, a student in college who decides they find it necessary to sleep less for a while in order to get their work done.”

“But what we found is that when a relatively young, healthy, and lean person is sleep-deprived and has unrestricted access to food, he or she eats 300 more calories per day,” said Somers. Luckily, the extra snacks didn’t lead to a considerable weight gain, but it did lead to an 11% increase in visceral fat. “That’s the fat that wraps around the belly and the internal organs,” he noted. “The fat which you really can’t see. But it’s the most dangerous fat.”

Lack of Sleep Leads to Visceral Fat

Visceral fat is fat stored deep inside the belly and wrapped around the organs. Unfortunately, that type of fat can lead to blood vessel and heart disease, including hypertension, high blood sugar, and high cholesterol. Somers and his colleagues noted that more than a third of American adults fail to get enough sleep. They explored the impact of sleep loss on fat accumulation by conducting a controlled lab. The team found that participants’ protein intake rose 13%, and fat intake increased 17% during the sleepless phase.

We should all think twice about choosing non-essential activities over our sleep! Are you guilty of putting your sleep last? Comment below!

The post Lack Of Sleep May Increase Your Waistline appeared first on Black Health Matters.

One cook has figured out the magic that soul food needs and even bottled it up. Thomas Mulzac created MealZac Seasonings to mobilize soul food flavor. “During my freshman year of college, I surrendered to my long-standing allure to food. I turned my childhood dream into something tangible while also making respect for our planet and our bodies my top priority.” And it was no surprise to learn that his biggest inspiration in the kitchen was his late grandmother. The way she cooked and fed the souls (metaphorically) around her made Mulzac want to do the same. Now, you can find his soulful recipes on his Instagram page – @MealZac.

The Love for Soul Food Influenced MealZac Seasonings

One dish a follower could appreciate is his baked chicken recipe, which paid homage to his late grandmother. It was a heartwarming video showcasing her grandmother’s beginnings and cooking journey. Anyone can appreciate the love behind his meals and his will to show that anyone can live a long, healthy life while still enjoying soul food.

In November of 2021, I lost my dearest culinary inspiration. Everyday that I I follow this path, I become closer to the person I want to be, and make the impact I want to have on this Earth. My grandmother never had to dream about having a cooking show or being the best chef out there. Each day was a chance for her to embody the the life and passion of a chef leaving little to be dreamed about. Her work uplifted, supported and nourished those around her, much like her words. I chose to have that same approach toward my work @mealzac and it feels amazing to know that I am LIVING MY DREAM. Thank you Grandma and all the amazing women, chefs and people that worked hard so to elucidate the world of cooking for African Americans. I owe my vision and clearer outlook on the future, to you.  #thiswashardtodo

via @MealZac

After thoroughly cleaning his chicken, Mulzac uses his MealZac chicken blend, organic adobo, organic sazon, and garlicky seasonings. Later, he adds a neutral oil and honey before baking to juicy goodness. You can check out this recipe and more on his website.

The post Thomas Mulzac Mobilizes Soul Food Dish Flavors Through His MealZac Seasonings appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Ice-T and Cheerios Hit Us With the Facts

Unfortunately, African-Americans are three to four times higher than whites to pass away from heart disease and hypertension. Therefore, the “SVU” actor wants African-Americans to take their heart health seriously. “I’m a player from the streets,” he said. “They told me the two most important things are your health and your freedom.”

“When Cheerios called and said they wanted to work together, I said ‘why?’ said Ice-T. However, he understood how important it is for African-Americans to take control of their heart health. Ice-T mentioned how many of us are traditionally taught to eat everything on our plate but implores that we “push away.” And what does that mean exactly? “When you get older, you can’t eat everything on that plate. You’ve got to push it away.”

Another reason health is so important to the rapper is that he has a young daughter he wants to be around in the future. In addition, if he practices healthy-heart habits, he can teach his daughter to do so as well.  “The people we’ve lost are gone,” he said. “But we’ve been given a chance to see what’s important and make better decisions, knowing how fragile life is.”

Cheerios’ Heart

 

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A post shared by ICEMFT (@icet)

The post Ice-T Teams Up With Cheerios To Get America Moving appeared first on Black Health Matters.

If you’ve tried everything, from counting sheep to reading James Joyce novels, but you’re still tossing and turning, fight insomnia by giving these sleep-inducing foods (they contain serotonin, a hormone that promotes sleep) a try:

• Lean proteins. Think low-fat cheese, chicken, fish, and turkey, all high in the amino acid tryptophan, which tends to increase serotonin levels. Avoid high-fat cheeses, chicken wings, or deep-fried fish. These take longer to digest and can keep you awake.
• Complex carbohydrates. Lean toward whole-grain bread, cereals, pasta, crackers, and brown rice. Stay away from simple carbohydrates, including white bread, cake, cookies, pastries, and other sugary foods.
• Heart-healthy fats. Unsaturated fats do double duty: They boost heart health and improve serotonin levels. Examples include peanut butter (make sure peanuts are the only ingredient) and nuts such as walnuts, almonds, cashews, and pistachios.
• Fresh herbs. Some herbs, such as basil and sage, reduce tension and promote sleep. But you’ll want to avoid red pepper or black pepper at night; they are stimulants.
• Beverages. Drinks that encourage sleep include warm milk (Grandma was right) or herbal tea such as chamomile or peppermint. Try not to have anything with caffeine after 2 p.m.

Now snuggle under the covers and have sweet dreams!

The post Eat These Foods For a Restful Night’s Sleep appeared first on Black Health Matters.

TEA
According to research, we’re drinking more tea than ever before. But if you take your tea with a splash of milk, you’re lowering the drink’s heart-healthy properties. And the proteins in milk can bind with the catechins in tea, making it difficult for your body to absorb the beneficial plant compounds.

STRAWBERRIES
These aren’t just juicy summer treats; they’re also full of fiber, antioxidants and vitamin C. But if you slice your berries as soon as you get home, you expose them to light and oxygen, which kills some of the nutritional value, especially the vitamin C. To get the the most complete health benefits, avoid cutting strawberries for as long as possible. Or opt for frozen; they retain most of their nutrients.

GARLIC
Unlike vitamin C, allicin—the cancer-fighting enzyme found in garlic—thrives when exposed to air. So let your chopped garlic sit out for about 10 minutes before throwing it into whatever dish your preparing so the enzyme is fully activated.

WHOLE, UNREFINED GRAINS AND DRIED BEANS
These foods contain antioxidant compounds called phytates, which can bind to vitamins and minerals in food and prevent them from being absorbed by the body. Soak whole grains that still have the outer layer—farro, freekeh, sorghum, wheat berries—in water overnight to help release the phytates.

GREEK YOGURT
That watery substance that you find on top of your Greek yogurt is whey, and it contains protein, vitamin B12, calcium and phosphorus. If you’ve been pouring the whey off the top, stop. Instead, stir the whey into your yogurt so you retain all the health benefits.

The post 5 Foods You’re Eating All Wrong appeared first on Black Health Matters.

It’s our body’s way of saying, “slow down!” This doesn’t mean we need to overhaul our lives completely, though. Sometimes we just need to stop with the overstimulation and learn to simplify.

Try these six ways to simplify your life:

1. Unplug. With the 24-hour news cycle at the end of our fingertips, we are constantly deluged with disasters, political shenanigans, mass shootings and more all at once. And, according to experts, that’s messing with our mental health. Should you know what’s going on? Of course. We just don’t have to follow everything at every hour. Choose one or two times a day to check the latest headlines or watch a recent broadcast, such as in the morning with your coffee or just before bed.
2. Focus on quality of relationships not quantity. Family, friends, neighbors, even coworkers all enrich our lives. But the pressure we put on ourselves to maintain these relationships can be overwhelming. You’re not required to attend every gala or eat every brunch. When you’re overextended, say no.
3. Get some sleep. Sometimes when we’re unfocused and out of sorts, we just need to press pause and get some shuteye. If you’re having trouble sleeping, try a sleep meditation to relax.
4. Create a peaceful environment. Remember that feeling you get when you’re relaxing on the beach or curled up by a fire in a cabin by the lake? You may not be able to take a trip to Hawaii or go on a Swiss ski holiday, but can create an environment that fosters contentment in your daily life. Put plants in your office or spruce up your house with a new coat of paint—anything that gives you calm.
5. Celebrate personal achievement. Did you take on that challenge just because it’s a challenge or because it’s meaningful to you? Focus your time and energy on tasks in which you find enjoyment, even small ones like learning to play an instrument or finishing that 5,000-piece puzzle; that’s where the real rewards may lie.
6. Check in with your emotions. When we’re stuck on busy, we tend to slip into auto-pilot, burying how we feel. But just going through the motions puts us at greater risk of burnout. The solution: Carve out some time to try journaling to check in with your emotions as often as possible. Ask yourself: What’s making me anxious? What do I find exciting? This will help you better manage how you feel right now, as well as keep your anxiety from spiraling out of control later.

The post 6 Easy Ways to Simplify Your Life appeared first on Black Health Matters.

A good laugh has great short-term effects. When you start to laugh, it lightens your load mentally and induces physical changes in your body. Laughter can:

• Stimulate many organs. Laughter enhances your intake of oxygen-rich air, stimulates your heart, lungs and muscles, and increases the endorphins released by your brain.
• Activate and relieve your stress response. A rollicking laugh fires up and then cools down your stress response, and it can increase and then decrease your heart rate and blood pressure.
• Soothe tension. Laughter can also stimulate circulation and aid muscle relaxation, both of which can help reduce some of the physical symptoms of stress.

Laughter isn’t just a quick pick-me-up, though. It’s also good for you over the long term. Laughter may:

• Improve your immune system. Negative thoughts manifest into chemical reactions that can affect your body by bringing more stress into your system and decreasing your immunity. By contrast, positive thoughts can release neuropeptides that help fight stress and potentially more serious illnesses.
• Relieve pain. Laughter may ease pain by causing the body to release its own natural painkillers.
• Increase personal satisfaction. Laughter can also make it easier to cope with difficult situations. It also helps you connect with other people.
• Improve your mood. Many people experience depression, sometimes due to chronic illnesses. Laughter can help lessen depression and anxiety and may make you feel happier.

Afraid you have an underdeveloped sense of humor? No worries. Humor can be learned. In fact, developing or refining your sense of humor may be easier than you think.

• Put humor on your horizon. Find a few simple items—think: photos, greeting cards or comic strips—that make you chuckle. Hang them up at home or in your office. Keep funny movies, books or magazines on hand for when you need an added humor boost. Look online at joke websites. Go to a comedy club.
• Laugh and the world laughs with you. Find a way to laugh about your own situations and watch your stress begin to fade away. Even if it feels forced at first, practice laughing.

Consider trying laughter yoga. In laughter yoga, people practice laughter as a group. Laughter is forced at first, but it can soon turn into spontaneous laughter.

• Share a laugh. Make it a habit to spend time with friends who make you laugh. And then return the favor by sharing funny stories or jokes with those around you.
• Knock, knock. Browse through your local bookstore or library’s selection of joke books and add a few jokes to your list you can share with friends.
• Know what isn’t funny. Don’t laugh at the expense of others. Some forms of humor aren’t appropriate. Use your best judgment to discern a good joke from a bad or hurtful one.

Give it a try. Turn the corners of your mouth up into a smile and then give a laugh, even if it feels a little forced. Once you’ve had your chuckle, take stock of how you’re feeling. Are your muscles a little less tense? Do you feel more relaxed or buoyant? That’s the wonder of laughing at work.

The post Got a Joke? Laughter Relieves Stress appeared first on Black Health Matters.

But experts agree. Eating right is essential for brain health.

“Of all the organs in our body, the brain is the one most easily damaged by a poor diet,” said Dr. Lisa Mosconi, director of the Women’s Brain Initiative and an associate professor of neuroscience in neurology and radiology at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. “From its very architecture to its ability to perform, every aspect of the brain calls for proper food.”

Mosconi, who has written books about the science of food and the brain, said many people have misconceptions about what “proper food” might be. One of the biggest fallacies she’s been hearing lately is the idea that a very high-fat diet is somehow helpful to the brain.

“This is not what most research shows,” she said.

Dietary supplements are another area where people get misled, said Dr. Kristine Yaffe, professor of psychiatry, neurology and epidemiology at the University of California-San Francisco. Except when someone is deficient in a specific nutrient, vitamin supplements don’t seem to improve brain health, she said.

Similarly, supplements that contain omega-3 fatty acids and fish oil have gotten a lot of attention. But while they might help certain heart patients when prescribed by a physician, research has not confirmed benefits for brain health. “There have been a number of trials, and they haven’t borne out,” said Yaffe, who was a co-author on a 2017 American Heart Association advisory on brain health.

So, what does work?

“We still have a lot to learn about that,” Yaffe said. But certain foods do seem to help when they’re part of an entire dietary pattern. And that diet looks similar to the ones physicians recommend for heart health.

A Mediterranean-style diet—heavy in fruits, vegetables, fish and nuts—lowers stroke risk in women and may lead to better cognitive ability in old age, studies have found. A 2018 study Mosconi led estimated it provided 1.5 to 3.5 years of protection against the development of biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease. Another science-backed eating plan that limits red meat, sodium and added sugars and sweets, called DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension), may reduce stroke risk.

Mosconi highlighted some nutrients – antioxidants, such as vitamin C, vitamin E and beta-carotene, and anti-inflammatory B vitamins and omega-3 fatty acids – that she said are important for the health of neurons.

But neither Yaffe nor Mosconi is a fan of singling out something as the perfect brain food.

“I don’t believe in ‘superfoods,’ or that any one food or food group is key to brain health,” Mosconi said.

And not that there’s anything wrong with blueberries, Yaffe said, but “you wouldn’t want to be thinking, ‘If I only eat blueberries, that’s going to do it.'”

It’s also important to think of foods that are potentially harmful to brain health, Mosconi said. Saturated fat, especially from animal sources, is associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease, she said. And some research also shows it increases the risk of cognitive problems.

“When we eat a fatty, sugary meal and experience symptoms like sluggishness, brain fog and drowsiness—these symptoms originate not in the stomach but in the brain,” Mosconi said.

And the effects aren’t necessarily temporary.

Research indicates a poor diet may cause the loss of key structural and functional elements in the brain, she said, along with “a higher vulnerability to brain aging and dementia.”

A 2018 report from the Global Council on Brain Health, an independent group convened by the AARP, noted that foods and diets that are good for heart health are also good for brain health.

Yaffe, a member of that brain health council, said the mechanisms of the brain are complex, but it stands to reason that “if you’re eating a dietary pattern that is heart-healthy, it’s probably also healthy (for) the vessels in the brain.”

She acknowledged that some people have a hard time seeing the connections between brain health and their diet—or with other activities such as smoking, sleep and exercise.

Mosconi, also a member of the AARP brain health council, put it this way: “Day after day, the foods we eat are broken down into nutrients, taken up into the bloodstream, and carried up into the brain. Once there, they replenish depleted storage, activate cellular reactions and, finally, become the very fabric of our brains.

“Consider that the next time you reach for a brownie. Its ingredients will actually become part of your brain.”

From American Heart Association News

The post The Best Foods for Brain Health appeared first on Black Health Matters.

1. Stop putting yourself down. Given the anti-black women sentiment circling out there, it’s not too hard to internalize the negativity. But remember: Every time you tell yourself you’re not good enough, skinny enough, talented enough or pretty enough, you’re slowly killing your spirit. Stop being your own worst enemy and start loving you. Most important: Never lose sight of the fact that you truly are magic!

2. Remove toxic people from your world. Whether it’s online or in person, toxic people bring nothing to your life except self-doubt, anger, anxiety and sadness—all the opposite of healthy and happy. So go ahead and live your best life by cutting miserable folks out of your life. Relationships are complicated, especially if the toxic people are family members. Instead of going cold turkey, start slowly and reduce the time you spend around their nonsense.

3. Hit the gym. Getting your sweat on does more than help you lose weight and strengthen your heart; it’s also good for your mind. Because working out releases endorphins (feel good hormones), it also helps improve your mood and lowers stress levels. Even better: Studies suggest exercise can also sharpen your memory, build your confidence and help you catch more ZZZs at night. Go hit up that treadmill or dance class STAT!

4. Find your joy. What puts a smile on your face? Spending time with the fam? Shopping? Dancing in the kitchen in your underwear? Whatever it is, do it as often as you can. And make sure to schedule in that joy, because your life can’t just be about work. It also has to be about play.

5. Learn to say “no.” Black women have been socialized to give everything of ourselves to others—work, kids and partners—and very little to ourselves. While helping others can bring you joy, it also can run you physically and emotionally ragged. So for the sake of self-preservation, start saying “no” to folks more often and “yes” to yourself.

6. Take a break from social media. Facebook and Twitter can be fun, especially when Black Twitter is involved. But whether it’s fighting abusive trolls or Trump news overload, social media can seriously impact your mental health. Studies also suggest constantly comparing yourself to others on the Gram can negatively affect your self-esteem. So go ahead and take a break from the computer or smartphone and live in the moment.

7. Channel your inner kid and start coloring. Who knew coloring could make you feel better? Well, it definitely does, and it’s all the rage right now. According to the American Art Therapy Association, adult coloring books help “explore feelings, reconcile emotional conflicts, foster self-awareness, manage behavior and addictions, develop social skills, improve reality orientation, reduce anxiety and increase self-esteem.”

8. Give back to others. One way to feel better is to put things into perspective, and volunteering can help. Studies have shown giving back to others can help you feel more socially connected and ward off loneliness and depression. It also can relieve stress and help reduce high blood pressure. Take the time to sign up to feed the homeless, read to the elderly or whatever else can make a difference in your community.

9. Get your om on! The proof is in the pudding: Meditation can help you stay centered and focused, invoke heightened self-awareness, help your heart health, increase your happiness and encourage you to live a healthier lifestyle. And no, it doesn’t conflict with your religion or relationship with God. Even better: It’s free! All you need is a space to sit where you can breathe deeply and clear your mind.

10. Start seeing a therapist. Hanging out with loved ones, taking a Zumba class or praying won’t solve every mental health issue we may encounter. There are times when you might need the help of a professional to work through your past and current trauma, and there’s nothing wrong or shameful about it. What’s shameful is suffering in silence.

From Hello Beautiful

The post 10 Ways to Improve Your Mental Health appeared first on Black Health Matters.

We know what we should be eating—dark green, leafy veggies; legumes; fruits; whole grains and low-fat dairy products—but only about one-fourth of us make these healthy eating choices. Instead, our diets are chock-full of added sugars, refined grains, saturated fats, sodium and a boatload of calories. In fact, Americans are eating more calories than ever, according to a report from the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, and the high percentage of the population that is overweight or obese (more than two-thirds of all adults and nearly one- third of all children and youth in the U.S. are overweight or obese) suggests this overconsumption is the culprit.

Just what are we eating that’s so high in calories? Check your grocery list to see if any of the items you just bought are on the no-no list, below.

Top 10 sources of calories in the U.S. diet:

1.     Grain-based desserts (cakes, cookies, donuts, pies, crisps, cobblers, and granola bars)
2.     Yeast breads
3.     Chicken and chicken-mixed dishes
4.     Soda, energy drinks, and sports drinks
5.     Pizza
6.     Alcoholic beverages
7.     Pasta and pasta dishes
8.     Mexican mixed dishes
9.     Beef and beef-mixed dishes
10.     Dairy desserts

The post How Many Calories Are You Eating? appeared first on Black Health Matters.

The difference might come down to perception. You’re less apt to exercise when the endeavor feels isolating, painful or unlikely to deliver visible results such as weight loss. By comparison, those who enjoy their exercise of choice are more inclined to stay active—even after setbacks. That’s what University of Michigan researchers learned after conducting focus groups with women about what motivates (and undermines) exercise. The results were published in May in BMC Public Health.

The key takeaway: Fitness is fluid. “People don’t think they have choices,” said Michelle Segar, director of the University of Michigan Sport, Health, and Activity Research and Policy Center and a co-investigator in the study. “But when you’re flexible with what you do, you’re able to integrate physical activity into the normal ebbs and flows of life.” The work, funded by the National Cancer Institute, surveyed women ages 22 to 49 in the Washington, D.C., area. Although the women were categorized as “high active” and “low active” based on their fitness habits, both groups shared similar core values that made them feel happy and successful, such as connecting with and helping others, feeling relaxed and free of pressure and achieving goals.

The low-activity women in the study struggled to embrace exercise because workouts felt too intense or time-consuming and failed to deliver weight loss—a disconnect that hurt their emotional well-being. That, Segar said, ought to shift the conversation about what it means to exercise. In other words, embrace that any movement you can do is worth doing, no matter for how long. Likewise, focus less on marathons or bodybuilding and more on simple, anytime activities such as walking, yoga and in-line skating—and foster a more forgiving attitude.

After all, exercise has all kinds of health benefits that extend well beyond weight. “We need to get this knowledge through people’s belief systems,” said Segar, who shared four main conclusions relevant to anyone.

4 REASONS TO RETHINK YOUR FITNESS GOALS:

Exercise should make you feel good. Many people, regardless of ability, have a lifelong perception that a workout requires pain, sweat and endurance to be effective. Not true, said Segar: “Physical activity can be an escape.” And, as evidenced by the high-active women in the U-M survey, viewing fitness as a complement—and not a chore—makes the prospect easier.

Those who have negative thoughts about the gym needn’t worry. “Countless studies have shown that physical activity that takes place outside is really, really effective,” said Mark Peterson, Ph.D., a U-M assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation who wasn’t involved with Segar’s review. So put on some sunblock and try a nature hike or a Frisbee game instead.

Exercise is a great way to socialize. It’s tougher to dodge or delay a workout when you are doing it with a friend or co-worker. That’s why so many basement treadmills double as a laundry drying rack, joked Peterson, who beyond his solo gym trips schedules group exercise several times a week. “I like it so much more when my friends show up,” he said.

The value is real: A 2017 study that followed the exercise patterns of more than 1 million people found that friends hold sway. Still, the low-active women in the U-M analysis voiced concerns that exercise detracts from interpersonal obligations. Countered Segar: “Movement is a great way to be with and give to your friends and loved ones. Instead of having a coffee catch-up, how about a walking catch-up? Or you can play outside as a family.”

Exercise affects all parts of your life. Want to improve your sleep, sharpen workplace performance and reduce stress? Fitness plays a role in all of that—and it has long-term benefits such as slowing cognitive decline. Perks also can be instant. “Research shows people can walk for just a few minutes and boost their energy,” Segar said. “Who doesn’t want that?”

Conversely, your body goes through noticeable changes when you stop exercising, even if the break lasts only a short time. “Cardiovascular fitness and strength deteriorate within weeks; it does happen pretty quickly,” said Peterson. Among the other potential downsides to inactivity are increased blood pressure and blood sugar. Memory benefits can decrease, too.

Exercise can take many forms—and lengths. Once considered a gold standard, a half-hour workout is no longer the bare minimum. Physical activity can be done in small increments. “Many still don’t understand that you can accumulate movement in pieces, but it’s one of the keys for busy people to sustain a physically active life,” said Segar.

That said, Peterson noted that diversity of activity is key, not only for sustaining motivation but also for good health. Beyond aerobic activity such as walking and swimming, people should incorporate weekly resistance training. Weights aren’t always necessary, especially when just starting out: Consider push-ups, pull-ups, squats and climbing stairs. Even playing with your kids on the jungle gym works your muscles.

From Michigan Health

The post Good News! Exercise Doesn’t Have to Be as Long (or as Painful) as You Think appeared first on Black Health Matters.

But those instructions aren’t always clear because too many of us try to satisfy thirst with food instead of water. So nutritionists recommend you drink half your body weight in ounces every day. That means if you weigh 150 pounds, aim for 75 ounces of water a day. Drink more when it’s hotter or if, after you finish a run, you have salt streaks on your skin.

How do you know if you’re drinking enough water? Your urine will be the color of pale lemonade. Clear urine means you’re drinking too much water. If it’s the color of apple juice, drink more. Here’s another formula: Weigh yourself naked before your run and again after. Keep track of how much fluid you consume during the run and add it to the amount of weight you lose. For every pound of body weight you lose, drink an additional 16 ounces of fluid.

How do you know if you need to drink more than water? Sometimes you need the nutrients found in sports: electrolytes, such as sodium and potassium, which you need for proper nerve and muscle function (and which are lost through sweat), and carbs for energy. Consider reaching for a sports drink if:

• You run for more than an hour. If you run for an hour or more, refuel on the road with 30 to 60 grams of carbs per hour. If eating on the run messes with your stomach, sports drinks are an easy alternative.
  It’s hot and humid outside. When you sweat, you lose electrolytes. Sports drinks will help you restore electrolytes and hold onto fluids, so you can keep running.
• You’re a salty sweater. If you notice white streaks on your skin after your run, it means you’ve lost a lot of sodium through sweat. You’ve probably also lost potassium, magnesium and calcium. Sports drinks will help you replenish these.
• You’re doing two workouts close together. If you’re running twice in less than 15 hours or doing two workouts in one day, rehydration is key to helping you power through the next workout. Complete rehydration means replacing both fluid and electrolyte losses. After your run, drink 24 ounces of fluid for every pound of weight lost. Water is fine if you’re also eating salty, solid foods. A protein shake with electrolytes will provide protein, carbs and fluids for rehydration and recovery. But if you can tolerate only fluids and don’t have time to digest a protein shake before your next workout, grab a sports drink.

The post Are You Drinking Enough Water During Your Workout? appeared first on Black Health Matters.

• Relief from anxiety and depression.
• Improved quality of life, particularly for people with chronic health conditions.

Smaller studies suggest that aromatherapy with lavender oil may help:

• Make needle sticks less painful for people receiving dialysis.
• Improve sleep for people who are hospitalized.
• Reduce pain for children undergoing tonsillectomy.

Essential oils used in aromatherapy are typically extracted from various parts of plants and then distilled. The highly concentrated oils may be inhaled directly or indirectly or applied to the skin through massage, lotions or bath salts.

Aromatherapy is thought to work by stimulating smell receptors in the nose, which then send messages through the nervous system to the limbic system — the part of the brain that controls emotions.

Many essential oils have been shown to be safe when used as directed. However, essential oils used in aromatherapy aren’t regulated by the Food and Drug Administration.

When oils are applied to the skin, side effects may include allergic reactions, skin irritation and sun sensitivity. In addition, further research is needed to determine how essential oils might affect children and how the oils might affect women who are pregnant or breast-feeding, as well as how the oils might interact with medications and other treatments.

If you’re considering aromatherapy, consult your health care provider and a trained aromatherapist about the possible risks and benefits.

The post The Benefits of Aromatherapy appeared first on Black Health Matters.

You’ve heard the myths (and may have even bought into some of them): Do 100 crunches a day to get six-pack abs. It doesn’t matter what you eat as long as you exercise. No pain, no gain.

Exercise can do a lot of things, including hold diabetes at bay, help maintain a healthy weight, reduce the risk of heart disease, even lower your risks for some cancers. But if you buy into the myths, it can prevent you from getting the the workout you need.

Here, we separate exercise fiction from fact (and help you get the results you want):

Fiction: Stretch before you work out to prevent injuries.

Fact: Stretching after you exercise, when your muscles and joints are warm, can improve performance and flexibility, and help you maintain a healthy range of motion in your joints. Stretching is also good for reducing stress and improving circulation. But if you try to limber up before your workout, it doesn’t do much for you. In fact, studies show pre-workout static stretching—where you stay in place and try to touch your toes—doesn’t cause or prevent injury.

Fiction: You can target what part of your body burns fat.

Fact: Working out regularly reduces overall fat, but you can’t control what part of your body burns the most fat. Your body use fat as fuel when you exercise, but it uses fat from all over your body, not a targeted part.

Fiction: Crunches are the best way to get that six-pack.

Fact: Crunches don’t get rid of belly fat. If you want flatter abs, increase your cardio workouts and add resistance training that targets your core. This will decrease your overall body fat content, including the area around your midsection

Fiction: If you have a six-pack, it means your core is strong.

Fact: A six-pack is a sign of leanness, not a strong core. A strong core involves your abs, hips, glutes and lower back working together. The lower back, especially, tends to be the forgotten part of your core.

Fiction: Lifting weights makes women bulk up.

Fact: You won’t look like a bodybuilder because you lift weights. Women have low levels of testosterone so they don’t naturally build massive muscles. Lifting weights tones and shapes your body, while preventing loss of muscle mass. Pumping iron also helps build bone density and increases the rate at which your body burns calories to keep you at a healthy weight.

Fiction: When you stop strength training, muscle turns to fat.

Fact: Muscle doesn’t turn into fat. Fat can’t turn into muscle, either. They are two different types of tissue. What will happen when you stop strength training, however, is that you lose muscle mass and your metabolism slows. A sluggish metabolism means your body is burning fewer calories at rest; that can lead to weight gain.

Shoot for at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity each week, like brisk walking or swimming. If you choose more robust activities, like running or bicycling, you should do those for at least 75 minutes each week.

Additional reporting from Nichele Hoskins.

[Photo: Depositphotos]

The post Fact vs. Fiction: We Debunk the Biggest Exercise Myths appeared first on Black Health Matters.

It’s not just death that can cause grief over the holidays. In fact, it’s likely most people are coping with a variety of losses this year, from the loss of a job to a loss of a relationship as a result of being geographically distant or feeling isolated from people they love.

Starting around Thanksgiving, many people who have lost loved ones experience sorrow as they’re reminded of memories from those who are no longer near. Holiday traditions meant to bring joy, like trimming the Christmas tree or listening to holiday music, can trigger feelings of intense grief as we remember holidays past and wonder how to celebrate the festive season without the people we love.

Grief is complicated and looks different for everyone. Sometimes, it’s surprising. Whether your loss is fresh or you’ve lost someone decades ago, unexpected feelings of sadness and loss can surface that aren’t necessarily attached to a specific memory. For some, these moments of grief can appear out of nowhere. For others, grief over the holidays is expected and dreaded. This year, the public health crisis that has affected all of us in different ways may result in added grief on top of an already emotionally loaded time of year.

There’s no right way to grieve, but there are things you can do to try to cope over the holidays while acknowledging and expressing your sadness.

How to deal with grief over the holidays:

1. Accept the emotions that you’re feeling. The holidays can generate exaggerated feelings as the pressure to be merry collides with the reality. Grief can present itself in a variety of emotions, from sadness or anxiety to irritability or anger. Everyone grieves differently. But that can be difficult when you’re around family members who expect you to show sadness in the same way—or even hide it. But, you’re human and allowed to feel a wide range of emotions, including both grief and joy. Sometimes you may even feel happy and sad within a few minutes. It’s healthy to acknowledge your emotions and accept how you’re feeling rather than try to escape it.

2. Show yourself kindness. It may sound simple, but self-care is one of the best ways to deal with grief over the holidays. Think about how you would care for others in your life experiencing loss, then apply the same measures of compassion and grace to yourself. When grief hits hard, try to find things to do that help you feel supported and restored, whether that means getting outside for some exercise, meditating or journaling.

3. Find ways to incorporate memories of your loved ones into holiday traditions. One way to deal with grief over the holidays is to memorialize the legacy of someone you’ve lost and keep their memory alive. Whether you incorporate them into existing traditions or establish new celebrations, it can be therapeutic to remember the lives of those who’ve died. Here are a few ways you can honor the life of loved ones over the holidays:

• Set a place for them at the table
• Tell stories about them related to the holidays
• Create an altar with favorite pictures and mementos
• Write them a letter or email
• Prepare a lost loved one’s favorite holiday dish
• Light a candle in their memory

4. Talk to someone. Experts know grief needs to be heard and witnessed. Try to find someone who you know is a good listener and admit to them when you’re having a hard time. Healing can begin when we’re able to speak our grief into existence. And, when you’re in the listener’s role, remember it’s not up to you to fix it. There’s no fixing grief. Instead, listen without judgment and remember that anything they’re feeling is OK.

This is especially true for parents of kids who may also be grieving. Kids need permission to feel all kinds of emotions, even if their grief manifests differently than yours. If you can help them normalize their feelings, whether that’s joy amidst sorrow or guilt coupled with happiness, you can help them to work through the grieving process in a healthy way.

5. Seek additional help. If you don’t have anyone to talk to, or you’re experiencing overwhelming grief for weeks or months, it may be helpful to seek counseling services from a therapist or psychologist. It’s healthy to ask for support, even if it’s outside of your inner circle. A professional counselor can serve as an active listener who can help you find healthy ways to cope with your grief, especially over the holidays.

Whether your grief is new this holiday season, or you struggle with sadness this time every year, know you’re not alone. And those feelings won’t last forever. While the holidays may never feel the same, time and support can help you make it through to the New Year a little bit easier.

The post 5 Ways to Handle Grief During the Holidays appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Are you feeling overwhelmed by all the changes the pandemic and its aftermath has brought to your life? 

Or do you sometimes feel like you just can’t catch a break? You know—the truck that cut you off, the weird feedback you got from your boss, the grocery item you need but is never on the store shelf? Do you sometimes feel negative and cynical?

Sure, we all do this a little, but doing it a lot can lead to depression, which is linked to poor heart health, more inflammation and even a weaker immune system. Yikes!

Some neuroscience experts think our brains focus on negative information as a way to remember pain so we can avoid it in the future. They call this the “negativity bias.”

To balance out this natural tendency, we can practice gratitude.

“Gratitude is good medicine,” says Robert A. Emmons, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis and author of The Little Book of Gratitude.

“Clinical trials indicate that the practice of gratitude can have dramatic and lasting effects in a person’s life. It can lower blood pressure and improve immune function. … Grateful people engage in more exercise, have better dietary behaviors, are less likely to smoke and abuse alcohol and have higher rates of medication adherence.”

Dang, being grateful is the gift that seriously keeps on giving, right? Who couldn’t use all these benefits right now?

Here’s a simple way to get started:

Write these down before you go to bed or share them around the dinner table. In five minutes, you can practice gratitude from the heart.

1. Health: What did your body do for you today? Did you know you take about 8 million breaths a year? Your feet can take you up a mountain; your arms can hold someone you love. Take a minute to marvel at the finely tuned machinery of your body, and thank yourself for the steps you take every day to keep it safe and healthy.

2. Eat: What did you feed your body to nourish yourself today? Was it an old favorite, something you made or something new and different? If you eat three meals a day, you’ll eat about a thousand meals this year! Take a minute to savor an especially yummy meal.

3. Activity: What did you do that you really enjoyed today? Did you give it your all when exercising today, or find a quiet moment while sitting in traffic to reflect? Take a minute to think back on one particularly awesome moment.

4. Relationship: Whom do you look forward to connecting with? Is it someone who sets your heart on fire, always has a smile for you, has your back or makes you laugh until you cry? Take a minute to smile as you think about this special person. Then make plans for a virtual meet-up.

5. Time: What are you doing right now? Every single day you wake up with 24 brand new hours. The past is history, the future is a mystery and today is a gift. That’s why they call it the present! Take a minute to be thankful for the gift of time, including any extra time you have right now for your family or yourself.

From American Heart Association News

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Although marketers may tout honey as a healthy alternative to regular sugar because of its antioxidant content, experts warn against adding any extra sugar to your diet.

“Added sugars in the diet are definitely something that people should keep low, regardless of the source,” said Maya Vadiveloo, assistant professor of nutrition and health sciences in the College of Health Science at the University of Rhode Island in Kingston. “Holistically speaking, I would not say consuming large amounts of added sugars—whether it be from honey, sugar, maple syrup or corn syrup—is a good thing.”

Honey is the sweet, syrupy substance made when bees collect nectar from flowering plants, consume it and regurgitate it in their hive, intending to use it as a food source. Beekeepers remove it from waxy honeycombs in the hive. It’s often processed before it’s sold, but it can be consumed raw.

It’s high in antioxidants, such as phenolic acids and flavonoids, which may support better health. Small studies in humans show honey’s antioxidants could help improve cholesterol levels, which could help decrease the risk for heart disease, although larger long-term studies are needed to confirm those findings.

Because of these qualities, honey often is touted as a better option than refined sugar, especially for people with diabetes.

However, honey itself is another form of sugar, and it should be consumed only in moderation, experts say.

Studies show added sugars can be empty calories that increase the risk for obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure and cavities. An advisory committee responsible for proposing revisions to the federal Dietary Guidelines for Americans, updated every five years, suggested in a July report that added sugars be cut to just 6 percent of daily calories, down from the current 10 percent.

A single tablespoon of honey contains 64 calories, with no fiber, almost no vitamins and very little protein.

Although not ideal for daily consumption, honey has been found to provide some specific medicinal benefits. Research shows it may be a good alternative for treating kids’ troublesome nighttime coughs, though it is not considered safe for children under 1 year old.

Honey also can be used to heal wounds and burns. It may be more effective than using traditional treatments such as gauze and linen, thanks to its antibacterial and anti-inflammatory qualities.

Some manufacturers contend that local honey lessens the symptoms of seasonal allergies, but research hasn’t borne that out. Medical experts say there is no way to know which types of pollen are in any particular batch of honey, and seasonal allergies usually are caused by pollen from weeds, trees and grass—not flowers.

But those who do eat honey still may find other benefits from choosing locally. “Whether it’s supporting the local economy, reducing carbon footprints, maybe reducing packaging in certain ways, there may be a lot of reasons,” Vadiveloo said.

One way to safely incorporate a taste of honey into your diet, she said, is to add it sparingly to an unsweetened product, such as yogurt.

“You’d be more likely to add less sugar than you would get when you buy it sweetened,” Vadiveloo said. “The more you can be in control of any added sugar you put into your body, the better.”

Another way to use honey sparingly as part of a healthy diet, she said, is to add a small amount to a healthier food that you are less likely to consume without the extra flavor. As an example, she suggested adding a mixture of one part honey and one part Sriracha sauce to roasted Brussels sprouts to give them a little kick.

“It could be a way of making some of these foods that people maybe don’t eat as readily a bit more palatable,” she said.

“The big thing is that if someone is adding a tablespoon of honey throughout the day, they need to be cognizant of that … (and) replace the cookie that they would normally have after dinner.”

From American Heart Association News

The post Is Honey Healthy? appeared first on Black Health Matters.

This six-step plan can help you manage stress at any age:

Identify your triggers. Once you know what’s stressing you—work, a relationship, kids, a health issue, caregiving—you can sometimes reduce or prevent the stress. Identify practical steps to improve the situation. Even if changing the trigger isn’t possible, a shift in perspective may help mitigate stress. For example, if a friend is aggravating you, step back and adjust your expectations so you can keep this bond. 

Stay active. Physical activity releases feel-good endorphins. Take short (think 10 minutes) walking breaks several times a day; these breaks can be a powerful tool to channel stress. If solo exercise isn’t your thing, join a yoga, salsa or kickboxing class.

Stay connected. Maintaining healthy relationships with supportive friends and family promotes resilience. If your family is far away, build connections with neighbors, a faith family or even pets to help you feel positive and energetic.

Schedule fun. The daily rush shouldn’t consume your life. Plan your short-term and long-term fun. Make a date to binge a favorite program. Plan a monthly game night with friends and ask them to bring goodies. Identify the activities that make you smile and schedule them.

Press pause. After experiencing major change, high demand or significant loss, stop and rest. Creating time and space for rest means saying no to invitations and requests for help, at least temporarily. Consider spending quiet time every day. Contemplation, reflection and breathing creates calm.

Reframe how you think about stress. Stress responses—faster heart rate and breathing—evolved to improve our performance during stressful situations. Acknowledging stress’ evolutionary value may improve your performance and, paradoxically, reduce feelings of stress.

The post From Stress to Bliss in 6 Steps appeared first on Black Health Matters.

But for all of the benefits that come in these colorful, somewhat uncommon fruits, it may be their relative obscurity that makes them an even more valuable addition to a daily diet.

Typically in season from September through December, persimmons pair well with both sweet and savory foods—and they offer a nutritious alternative for people who may grow weary of the same everyday fruits, such as apples, oranges or bananas.

“They have different nutrient profiles and bioactives, and it just takes the boredom out of eating the same old, same old,” said Penny Kris-Etherton, a nutrition professor at Pennsylvania State University. “If you have some new fruits and vegetables to try, it makes it more exciting, and I think a lot easier to adhere to dietary recommendations.”

Sized somewhere between a plum and a peach, these autumn orange fruits typically resemble acorn-shaped tomatoes. They are known for their sweet taste when fully ripe, and they are typically eaten on their own as a snack or mixed into salads or breads.

Persimmons have been grown in China and Japan for 2,000 years, and there are hundreds of varieties worldwide, but they have been in the United States only since the late 1800s—and just two types are available commercially: Fuyu and Hachiya.

Fuyu are non-astringent, meaning they are sweeter and can be eaten fresh. The more bitter-tasting Hachiya are used more often in cooking. “They’ll suck the moisture out of your mouth, which is not very pleasant,” Kris-Etherton said. “The tartness goes away as the fruit ripens, but I don’t think it goes away completely.”

Persimmons pack a powerful mix of vitamins and minerals in a small serving. One persimmon contains 6 grams of fiber and 55 percent of the recommended daily intake of vitamin A, among other nutrients.

Their colorful appearance indicates the presence of beta-carotene, a carotenoid antioxidant that has been linked to a lower risk of heart disease. They also contain flavonoid antioxidants, which have been linked to better heart health and lower blood pressure, inflammation and “bad” LDL cholesterol.

A single fruit also contains more than 20 percent of the recommended daily intake of vitamin C, which has been shown to reduce inflammation and is linked to other health benefits from its antioxidant properties.

To make the most of the nutrition benefits that persimmons have to offer, Kris-Etherton said, it’s important to pair them with the right kinds of foods.

“We know that cooking fruits and vegetables makes the ingredients more bioavailable and if you eat them with other foods, it enhances the absorption of certain nutrients,” she said.

Depending on their ripeness, persimmons mix well with yogurt or oatmeal. Adding frozen persimmons to smoothies—with a handful of blueberries, perhaps—adds more nutrition to your recipe and presents an opportunity to enjoy the fruit even if it’s slightly out of season. Dried persimmons, which can be made in the oven or purchased online, also may make for a healthy snack or serve as an ingredient in homemade bread or muffins.

Even adding persimmons to a salad that includes avocados, Kris-Etherton said, will help with the absorption of carotenoids, a class of fat-soluble plant-based nutrients that can help health by protecting against cell damage.

“Because there’s vitamin A or carotenoids in persimmons, if you eat them with a source of (healthy) fat, you’ll get greater absorption and greater health benefits.”

From American Heart Association News

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Virtual races are a great way to boost cardiovascular health. Training can help you stay motivated, but they require different planning and preparation, particularly when it comes to hydration and nutrition.

Races during normal years include hydration and nutrition aid stations at regular intervals along the route. With virtual races, it is up to you.

Follow these tips for an effective virtual race day:

Practice race fueling plan in advance. Don’t try something new on race day. Practice your nutrition and hydration plan while you’re training, especially with a run similar to your race intensity effort.

During your training period, experiment with different gels, bars and other whole foods, water, sports drinks and electrolyte beverages to see what your body tolerates best. Note that your body digests nutrition differently on an easy run versus a harder effort. Simulate your race in terms of exertion and distance as close as possible to leave nothing to chance on race day. Practice simple things, such as opening your gels while running. Or consider ripping your gels or other food items in advance so you can open them easily while running.

Your event might be virtual, but you can still reach for your personal best by keeping your body hydrated and ensuring you have enough energy to finish.

Plan ahead. As you train for a virtual race, consider how your route and your hydration and fuel factor in. Unlike in a physical race, you will need to carry your own supplies. This can be achieved several ways, including using a running vest or belt to carry drinks and gels. You also can coordinate your race route to pass your house. A looped course starting at your house allows for multiple passes for a nutrition and hydration station set up in the driveway.

Or involve family and friends. They can wait for you at predetermined locations along your route to hand off nutrition and hydration.

Don’t skip fueling. Whether a race is in person or virtual, it’s critical not to skip fueling. Your body needs energy to keep going, especially if you’re a new runner. Long-time marathoners typically run for a shorter time and use less fuel; the opposite is true for most novice racers.

Take in 30 to 60 grams of carbohydrates every hour if you run for longer than one hour. Begin carbohydrate intake shortly after the start of your race and continue to consume at 15- to 20-minute intervals for the rest of your run.

Staying hydrated is also important. If you lose just 2 percent of your body weight through dehydration, you can severely impair performance and add extra time to your race. Plan to consume one cup of fluid every 10 to 20 minutes during your race. If you run for longer than an hour, incorporate an electrolyte drink. You can choose the brand and flavor, but make a choice that provides a balance of carbohydrates, sodium and potassium to replace losses.

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In addition to social unrest, you may be experiencing a high-pressure job, financial stress or poverty, being a caregiver, raising children, chronic illness or death of a family member or friend.

You may be wondering what’s next or what else you will have to endure. As these events unfold, you may begin to feel unwell and irritable, and struggle to concentrate and motivate yourself. You may not even know what is causing how you are feeling. You can feel trapped or stuck. You’re emotionally exhausted.

What is emotional exhaustion? When stress begins to accumulate from negative or challenging events in life that just keep coming, you can find yourself in a state of feeling emotionally worn out and drained. This is called emotional exhaustion. For most people, emotional exhaustion tends to build slowly over time. Emotional exhaustion includes emotional, physical and performance symptoms. 

Emotional symptoms include:

• Anxiety
• Apathy
• Depression
• Feeling hopeless
• Feeling powerless or trapped
• Irritability
• Lack of motivation
• Nervousness
• Tearfulness

Physical symptoms include:

• Fatigue
• Headaches
• Lack of appetite
• Sore muscles or muscle tension

Performance symptoms include:

• Failing to meet deadlines
• Lower workplace commitment
• More absences
• Performing work duties more slowly

Emotional exhaustion can be treated by recognizing the stressors you are able to minimize or eliminate. When you are unable to change a stressor because it is out of your control, it is important to focus on the present moment. In your present, there are many neutral or positive events occurring. When you focus on these types of events, it gives perspective about what is happening around you.

Stress often is interpreted as a threat to survival. When this happens, it increases the release of stress hormones from your brain, further contributing to your experience of emotional exhaustion. When you are able to focus on small neutral or positive events, your brain is able to understand that the threat is not as dire as it may first seem. The amount of stress hormone released is decreased so you are able are able to feel more emotionally balanced.

Other strategies to reduce emotional exhaustion include:

• Eliminate or minimize the stressor when possible
• Eat a healthy, balanced diet
• Exercise
• Get enough sleep
• Practice mindfulness to engage in the present moment

Talk with a mental health provider if you believe you are suffering from emotional exhaustion. They can help you sort through the causes and symptoms you are experiencing to determine a plan that will help you regain a sense of well-being.

The post Managing Emotional Exhaustion During Times of Unrest appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Six months into the twin calamities of a pandemic and a tough economy, this may be a good time for a resilience workout.

Resilience is the ability to withstand, bounce back and grow in the face of stressors and changing demands. “For a long time, people believed resilience was kind of a trait, something you have or you don’t,” said Vanessa Downing, a psychologist in Wilmington, Delaware. “Now we know it really is much more a set of skills that can be taught and learned.”

Downing, who worked for many years to help heart patients and caregivers become more resilient, now directs the ChristianaCare Center for WorkLife Wellbeing, part of Delaware’s largest health care system. As colleagues have struggled to cope with COVID-19, she said, “We have really doubled down on the importance of understanding what resilience really means, and what it takes to create lasting resilience. It’s a huge issue, especially at a time when there’s so much facing people, whether they work in health care or not.”

Dr. Abby Rosenberg, an associate professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, agreed.

“The time you really need to dig deep and activate your own resilience is when life seems hard,” said Rosenberg, a pediatric oncologist at Seattle Children’s Hospital. She specializes in promoting resilience among young patients with serious illness and their families.

“It’s the process of harnessing the resources we need to get through that tough time and maintain our well-being. Resilience gives you the ability to say, ‘Yes, it’s hard, and this is how I’m going to get through it.'”

The benefits are not just psychological. Resilience helps to lower stress, and chronic stress is linked to health consequences that include high blood pressure, depression and heart disease.

A study published last year in the Journal of the American Heart Association indicated that African Americans living in neighborhoods more conducive to resilience—specifically, neighborhoods with better aesthetic quality, healthy food availability and a lack of violence—had less cardiovascular disease than their counterparts with the same level of cardiovascular risk factors who lived in other areas.

A 2018 study published in Psychological Science found people who reported higher levels of lingering negative feelings from daily stressors had more chronic conditions almost a decade later.

So, how do we become more resilient?

Take care of yourself. “That means ensuring our own basic needs are met,” Downing said. “Things like getting enough sleep, trying to eat nutritious meals and making sure our social connections are there even when we have to be physically distant. That may require a lot more work than in our pre-COVID way of living.”

And with so many people now working from home, it’s important to set healthy work boundaries to prevent overworking and burnout. Maintain a regular work schedule and allow time for lunch and breaks.

Reflect on problems you’ve overcome before. “What have you done in the past when things were hard?” Rosenberg said. “That can help people think about which particular resources they need now, and to be able to ask for help.”

Focus on gratitude. “Our brains are hard-wired to notice the negative, and that’s what sticks with us more,” Downing said. “You have to take proactive steps to balance the scales.”

To put that into practice, she said, “At the end of each day, record one or two good things that happened. Take a moment to open a window and simply let the air brush over your skin. Find a way to notice the moment rather than rushing through it to worry about the future.”

Don’t go it alone. “Some people think about resilience as a Lone Ranger, pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps kind of mindset,” Downing said. “What really helps us get through challenging times is having people in our life to help us meet our needs.”

Practice. “It’s easier to say and harder to do,” Rosenberg said. “But it’s like any skill. If you want to learn to ride a bike, you have to practice. And you may fall down a lot. You have to pick yourself up and keep trying.”

Hang in there. Part of the resilience journey is sometimes just getting through the day, Rosenberg said. “The longer this (pandemic) drags on, the more the uncertainty can weigh us down. But it doesn’t mean we’re not going to get through it.”

The post Focus on Resilience appeared first on Black Health Matters.

If you can’t stomach dairy products but are concerned about your calcium intake, stop worrying. Milk and cheese aren’t the only calcium-rich foods.

Here’s what else you can toss in your shopping cart to get your daily calcium requirement (1000 milligrams for adults ages 19 to 50):

• Smear some almond butter on your toast. Two tablespoons  contain 111 milligrams of calcium.
• A half cup of amaranth, an ancient, cholesterol-lowering whole grain used to make cereals, breads, muffins, crackers and pancakes, contains 135 milligrams of calcium.
• One stalk of raw broccoli contains 115 milligrams of calcium.
• There’s more calcium in a cup of collard greens (350 milligrams) than in a cup of milk (300 milligrams).
• Stock up on dried figs. One dried fig has 13 milligrams of calcium; a cup of the dried fruit provides 300 milligrams.
• One cup of kale, the dark, leafy green superfood on everyone’s dance card these days, provides 111 milligrams of calcium.
• Need a different side dish? Give navy beans a try. A half cup of these beige-colored beans provides 63 milligrams of calcium.
• Satisfy 130 milligrams of your calcium requirement with two tablespoons of tahini (sesame seed paste).
• A half cup of cooked soybeans is worth 130 milligrams of calcium. 
• One cup of cooked spinach contains 240 milligrams of calcium. If you’re like us, you down two or three cups of Popeye’s favorite veggie in one sitting, which means you could rack up half your day’s calcium needs at one meal.
• One can of sardines, small, whole fish preserved in oil or water, loads you up with calcium—35 percent of your daily recommended value, in fact. That can of sardines also contains 23 grams of protein, 15 percent of your daily recommended value of iron and 44 percent of the vitamin D you should have each day, which you need to help your body absorb the calcium.

The post Dairy a Problem? Try These Calcium-Rich Foods appeared first on Black Health Matters.

1. Skip the health claims on the front of a package. This is typically marketing copy, not nutrition information. Go to the nutrition label for what’s actually inside the box.
2. Choose whole grains. Refined grains (think: cornflakes) have been stripped of nutrients. Whole grains, such as corn, brown rice, oats and wheat, provide many of the vitamins and minerals your body needs, and they reduce the risk of heart disease. Bonus: Whole grains take longer to digest, so you feel full for longer periods. The first ingredient should say “100% whole” type of grain, and you should see a yellow stamp from the Whole Grains Council on the box.
3. Watch out for sugar and salt. Some cereals pack as much sugar in one serving as that found in three chocolate chip cookies. Too much sugar increases glucose levels too quickly. Aim for cereals with 10 grams or less per serving. And though you usually can’t taste the salt in cereal, you may be surprised by the amount of sodium in some brands. Look for brands that contain 220 mg or less per serving.
4. Go for high fiber. Studies show a diet high in fiber can cut your risk for both heart disease and type 2 diabetes, but most of us get only about 16 grams of fiber a day. The recommended amount is 38 grams for men and 25 grams for women. Select a cereal that has at least 5 grams of fiber per serving.
5. Add protein. Top your cereal with nonfat Greek yogurt; it has enough protein to help you feel full. If dairy is a problem, soy yogurt is a good alternative. 
6. Heat it up. Hot oat bran, steel-cut oats, millet and quinoa are full of fiber, and the unflavored versions have no sugar.
7. Mind your portions. A cereal serving size can vary from 1/2 cup to more than one cup, but most of us have much more than that in one sitting. Don’t try to eyeball a serving; use a measuring cup.

The post 7 Ways to Choose a Better Breakfast Cereal appeared first on Black Health Matters.

The study highlights how Americans’ outlook and emotional health compare to nearly 50 years of trends in public opinion data from the General Social Survey, an ongoing project which NORC at the University of Chicago has conducted since 1972.

The new COVID Response Tracking Study is an effort to examine the social, psychological, and economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on American society. This is the first wave of the longitudinal study, which will include re-interviewing respondents at various points following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The historical context reveals unique effects of the COVID-19 outbreak on public sentiment: An all-time low in people saying they are very happy, combined with an all-time high in people saying they are satisfied with their family’s financial situation.

These contrasting findings suggest that people are comparing their happiness to their own psychological well-being before the pandemic while assessing their finances in relation to the millions of fellow Americans who have lost jobs, wages, or investments following the outbreak.

The results also illustrate how Americans are reacting differently to the coronavirus pandemic compared to previous national tragedies. For example, fewer Americans report crying or feeling dazed than after either the John F. Kennedy assassination in 1963, or the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001—but more report having lost their temper or feeling bored during the pandemic.

With many social distancing guidelines in place, about twice as many Americans report feeling isolated at least sometimes compared to two years ago. Since 2018, fewer people are also now satisfied with their social relationships, and more are reporting a fair or poor ability to carry out their social activities.

People who live in a county with a high number of COVID-19 deaths are lonelier than those living in less affected counties. In addition, those in high-impact counties are more likely to say they are not happy than are those living in less-affected counties.

Other key findings from the study include:

• Among Americans, 42 percent believe their children’s standard of living when they are older will be better than their own standard of living—a sharp decline from 57 percent in 2018 and the lowest level of optimism for the next generation since first measured in 1994.
• The percentage of Americans who feel they often lack companionship has risen from 10 percent in 2018 to 18 percent in May 2020.
• Compared to after 9/11, fewer Americans report feeling on top of the world or like things are going their way, and more Americans feel depressed.
• More Americans say they have lost their temper more often after the COVID-19 outbreak than said the same after 9/11 or the Kennedy assassination.
• More Americans currently report that they often feel anxious, depressed, or irritable compared to two years ago.
• Those who say they have likely been exposed to someone with the coronavirus are nearly twice as likely to feel like difficulties are piling up so high that they cannot overcome them.

From Futurity

The post American Happiness Reaches 50-Year Low appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Try these five tips to get out-of-shape you back to strong:

1. Don’t glamorize the past. You didn’t start off at the finish line during your fitness heyday; in fact, getting there took a lot of hard work. It will likely take that same hard work to get back into that shape. Start where you are. Don’t evaluate your progress for 30 days. It’s easier to settle into a regular routine when you’re not being critical of your performance.
2. Start small. Trying to pick up where you left off five years ago could lead to injury. You brain may think you can still run a marathon, but your body is no longer there. Build up your confidence by signing up for a 5K, and then make a reasonable plan to get there. Once you’ve trained for and run that 5K, you can kick up the volume. Not a runner? Hire a trainer to give you regular homework or attend group fitness classes two or three days a week.
3. Find a new reason for fitness. You’re in a different place than you were when you last had a rock-hard body. So it makes sense that your motivation for wanting to get in shape again is also different. Perhaps now you want to stay healthy for your family (instead of to fit into that mini-skirt), or you want to be able to toss a football with your son. Focusing on these new reasons will help you accept the shift in your fitness identity. Use this to stay motivated.
4. Work on strength and flexibility. A good strength routine will support your other training. Plus, if you haven’t been active in a long while, you’ve probably lost flexibility. That means tight high flexors and quads or weak hamstrings, which can create imbalances across your joints, causing pain. Working on flexibility and strength is critical to building yourself back up.
5. Enjoy yourself. Have fun during the process, not just the day you reach your ultimate fitness goal.

The post Out of Shape? appeared first on Black Health Matters.

While medications and regimens might be necessary to help manage symptoms and improve quality of life, running is free! Moreover, people who run often do so in social communities. There are many clubs and groups you can join to socialize and make new friends while improving your health.

How can running help with these four health conditions? Read on:

1. High blood pressure. Exercise, such as running, can help lower your blood pressure. Regular physical exercise can make your heart stronger, and a stronger heart can pump blood more easily, lowering your blood pressure. Furthermore, regular exercise can prevent your blood pressure from rising as you age and help keep your weight under control–another important way to avoid hypertension. With these benefits in mind, remember that exercise must be a done consistently to positively impact your blood pressure long term.

2. High cholesterol. Exercise can help raise good cholesterol, or high-density lipoprotein. Studies have shown that physically active people have higher levels of HDL cholesterol than those who are sedentary. Additionally, when combined with a healthy diet, exercise can help lower your total cholesterol numbers.

3. Type 2 diabetes. Exercise is an important part of the treatment plan for individuals with type 2 diabetes. Staying fit and active throughout life can help people control their diabetes and keep their blood glucose  levels in a healthy range, which is essential to preventing long-term complications, such as kidney disease and nerve pain.

Exercise can even help prevent blood glucose from rising to begin with. Exercise causes the muscles to contract, and it also increases insulin sensitivity–both of which help your cells use glucose for energy, rather than continuing to store it in the blood.

4. Depression symptoms. “Runner’s high” is a term that refers to the mental benefits of running. When you run, the brain releases endorphins, or chemicals that make you happy. This is a much better energy spike than consuming high-sugar products.

Running or brisk walking can help reduce some symptoms of clinical depression, according to studies. This benefit is likely due to the body releasing endorphins along with other factors, such as:

• Occupying your mind elsewhere
• Raising self-confidence
• Getting more social interaction

It’s important to remember that running isn’t a replacement for medical care. But it’s a good way to compliment what you’re already doing to manage ongoing health conditions while actively reducing the risk for others.

Running doesn’t require a lot of material commitment–just a good pair of shoes. Running can be an effective form of medicine and a fun, easy way to improve your health. Some people are a bit intimidated by running, especially in a group setting. Focus on finishing your goal, whether it’s running for half a mile or three miles. Don’t worry about how long it takes you or what people think, just relax and focus on your health.

The post 4 Conditions That Running Treats appeared first on Black Health Matters.

The caricature has persisted to the present day, even though there’s ample evidence we eat less watermelon than all other races. 

But since we also have higher rates of heart disease and high blood pressure, largely due to our unhealthy eating habits, we say embrace the watermelon! 

It’s hard to imagine summer and a backyard barbecue without watermelon’s sticky-sweet goodness. Tasty enough to be a dessert substitute, they’re packed with health benefits.

Don’t let the name fool you. Though watermelon is 91 percent water (thus helping you stay hydrated on sweltering days), it’s more than just water. A 10-ounce wedge will spot you about a third of the recommended daily value of vitamins A and C, as well as a small amount of potassium (9 percent of the daily value), which helps lower your blood pressure. It has dietary fiber, which is good for digestive health, and contains more lycopene—associated with a reduced risk of developing certain cancers—than raw tomatoes.

 At just 46 calories per cup (84 per wedge), recent studies show watermelon also:

• soothes sore muscles. A study in the Journal of Agricultural Food and Chemistry found drinking watermelon juice can ease sore muscles after a grueling workout. Athletes who consumed a little more than 16 ounces an hour before exercise had less muscle soreness the following day. That’s because watermelon is rich in an amino acid called citrulline, which helps relax blood vessels and improve circulation.
• helps your love life. Improved circulation can benefit more than sore muscles, as Texas A&M University researchers have pointed out. In fact, they say citrulline has Viagra-like effects. But you’ll need to eat the rind, too, where citrulline is concentrated.
• helps heart health. A Florida State study of postmenopausal women found they experienced improved heart health after six weeks of taking watermelon extract supplements containing citrulline and arginine. An earlier study of these supplements showed they helped alleviate high blood pressure in obese, middle-aged adults.

Choosing a ripe watermelon is fairly easy. If you’re looking for a whole melon, check the bottom of the fruit where there’s a lighter spot where the watermelon rested on the ground while it grew. As it ripens, the spot will turn from a light green or white color to a pale yellow or cream color. If you’ll be eating it soon, choose a watermelon with the pale yellow or cream-colored spot. Store it at room temperature until you slice it.

If pre-cut watermelon is more your speed, the chunks that look red and juicy are ready to eat. Cut watermelon will stay good in the fridge for about three days, as long as it’s in a sealed container.

The post Why Watermelon? appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Fitness and pediatric experts recommend that healthy children stay active all day, getting at least an hour of moderate-to-vigorous activity. This will help them maintain a healthy weight and keep their bodies healthy.

We know an hour a day sounds like a huge chunk of time, but there are many ways to incorporate activity into your family’s routine. And every little bit adds up. Try some of these ideas:

• Schedule family playtime. Take a walk, have a dance-off or play a family game of tag after dinner. Pick activities that require movement.
• Enjoy outside. Schedule a time each day for an outdoor activity with your children. Even as the coronavirus pandemic still necessitates social distancing, you can hike a local nature trail or ride a bicycle path.
• Limit screen time. Experts suggest one to two hours of screen time a day is best for children, but some are logging more than double that amount, especially while distance learning is the new norm. Still, try to set boundaries. Keep the television and electronic media out of your child’s bedroom and limit computer usage to school projects.
• Choose active toys. Give children toys that encourage physical activity, such as jump ropes, kites, balls and skateboards.
• Plant a garden. Caring for plants gives your children a reason to get outside each day. Learning how to grow a garden teaches about the food system, and sampling the produce encourages healthy eating habits.
• Chip in with chores. Do home-maintenance projects—raking leaves, spreading mulch, cutting grass, shoveling snow—as a family. Improve your house’s curb appeal and your family’s health—win-win!

The post Keep Your Family Moving! appeared first on Black Health Matters.

On the go? If you’re hungry, you’ll eat whatever’s available, even if that means fast food. Keep these quick picks on hand to tamp down the munchies:

• 1 banana
• 5 olives 
• 1/4 cup hummus, 3 carrot sticks 
• 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds, in shell 
• 10 frozen grapes 
• 10 strawberries rolled in confectioners’ sugar 
• 1 cup low-fat chocolate milk
• 3/4 cup mango tossed with lime juice and red pepper flakes

Recipe Alert: Guacamole-Stuffed Eggs
6 large eggs
1/2 cup Quick Guacamole (recipe below)
Kosher salt and cracked black pepper, to taste

Quick Guacamole
3 avocados, diced (about 3 cups)
1 cup salsa
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt

Place eggs in a single layer in a saucepan; cover with water. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low and cook at the barest simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, pour out hot water and run a constant stream of cold water over the eggs until completely cooled. Cut each egg in half; remove and discard yolks. Fill each half with 2 teaspoons guacamole. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Serves 6

Nutrition analysis: 55 calories; 3 g fat; 0 mg cholesterol; 2 g carbohydrates; 4 g protein; 1 g fiber; 223 mg sodium; 48 mg potassium

Go protein packed to take the edge off hunger pangs and for an energy boost:

• 2 pieces of string cheese
• cheese and crackers
• wholegrain, unsweetened cereal with soy or skim milk
• apple slices with peanut butter
• 1 snack roll-up (1 slice low-sodium turkey, Dijon mustard, 1 slice of reduced fat Swiss cheese)
• low-fat cottage cheese with diced cucumber, radishes and dill
• boiled edamame

Recipe Alert: Feta and Herb Dip
(Serve with baby carrots, bell peppers, radishes, snow peas)
1 15-ounce can white beans, rinsed
3/4 cup nonfat plain yogurt
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint
1/4 cup chopped fresh chives

Place beans, yogurt, feta, lemon juice, garlic salt and pepper in a food processor and puree until smooth. Add herbs; puree until incorporated. Chill until ready to serve. Serves 8

Nutrition analysis: 32 calories; 1 g fat; 4 mg cholesterol; 5 g carbohydrates; 0 g added sugars; 2 g protein; 1 g fiber; 167 mg sodium; 77 mg potassium

Fight a sweets craving with a healthy snack:

• sugar-free pudding with a graham cracker for dipping
• 1 square of dark chocolate
• pear slices with crumbled blue cheese
• low-calorie (or frozen) yogurt
• watermelon wedges
• 1 whole-grain bagel with honey and sliced banana

Recipe Alert: Baked Kale Chips
1 bunch kale
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon seasoned salt

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees. Line a non-insulated cookie sheet with parchment paper. With a knife or kitchen shears carefully remove the leaves from the thick stems and tear into bite size pieces. Wash and thoroughly dry kale with a salad spinner. Drizzle kale with olive oil and sprinkle with seasoning salt. Bake until the edges brown but are not burnt, 10 to 15 minutes. Serves  6

When you want something crunchy, instead of grabbing a bag of potato chips, reach for these alternatives:

• baked blue corn chips with salsa
• 1 small handful of walnuts or almonds
• veggie sticks with low-fat dip (yogurt blended with curry powder and lime juice)
• whole-grain cracked with low-fat cream cheese and smoked salmon
• air-popped popcorn sprinkled with chili powder, cumin and lime juice

The post Our Healthy Snack Guide appeared first on Black Health Matters.

• Chop vegetables. Dice the onions, peppers and celery you’ll need this week. This simple tasks saves a lot of time during the dinner rush.
• Cook grains or lentils. Brown rice and dried lentils take about 30 to 45 minutes to cook. Let them simmer while you watch a movie on Sunday.
• Make a sauce. An already prepared, flavor-packed sauce in your fridge is like money in the bank. Withdraw it on a busy night for a quick, flavorful meal. Do the same with salad dressing, too! You’re likely to eat more salad with ready-made ranch on hand.
• Roast one vegetable. Some ideas to try: butternut squash, carrots, parsnips, cauliflower or beets. Then add roasted vegetables to salads and grain bowls all week.
• Cook a protein. If you prepare salmon on Sunday, you’re halfway to salmon cakes or salmon Nicoise salad on Tuesday. A Sunday roast, chicken or turkey as your protein is a good idea, too. Stretch them by simply adding leftovers to tacos and salads.

The post 5 Weekend Tasks for a Week of Healthy Eating appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Do you start the day strong, but run out of steam a couple of hours after lunchtime? 

We all get fatigued at times. As long as you’ve been to your doctor to rule out any serious medical reason for your lack of energy, there are some things you can do to recharge:

Fuel up. But be smart about it. A donut from the snack cart can deliver a jolt of energy (and with it plenty of calories), but it’s short-lived because your body metabolizes the sugar quickly, letting you with low blood sugar and more fatigued than before you ate that sweet nothing. Maintain steadier energy by eating lean protein and unrefined carbohydrates; think low-fat yogurt sprinkled with honey, nuts and raisins. Your body will take in the carb-fiber-protein mix more gradually. 

Don’t skip meals. Your body needs a certain number of calories to make it through the day. Spacing out your meals helps your body gets the nourishment it needs throughout the day.

Pace yourself. If you’re a type A eager beaver, you probably put your shoulder on the wheel and keep grinding. But don’t risk overtaxing yourself. Instead of burning through your battery life before noon, spread it out among morning tasks, afternoon duties and evening activities—with rest and meals in between.

Take a walk. A short power nap in the afternoon can be so satisfying when you’re feeling worn out. But if you have trouble sleeping at night, naps can make your insomnia worse. So shake a leg instead. Talk a walk around the block, or get up and dance for 10 minutes. If you don’t suffer from insomnia, however, go ahead and grab that 20-minute power nap.

Pass on most supplements. You may have heard about energy-boosting supplements, including DHEA, B vitamins and iron, but there is no evidence they work. The B vitamins (B1, B2, B6, B12) do help your body convert into energy that cells can burn, but boosting your stores of them doesn’t replenish your batteries. Iron works only if you are deficient, which your doctor can check with a blood test. Otherwise, it doesn’t help and too much can be harmful. Despite years of research, there’s no evidence that DHEA offers any real benefits on the energy front, and there are still major questions about the side effects.

The post 5 Ways to Recharge Your Batteries in the Afternoon appeared first on Black Health Matters.

“More and more people report using meditation practices for stress reduction, but we know very little about how much you need to do for stress reduction and health benefits,” said lead author J. David Creswell, associate professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon University.

For the study, researchers had 66 healthy individuals aged 18 to 30 years old participate in a three-day experiment.

Some participants went through a brief mindfulness meditation training program. For 25 minutes for three consecutive days the individuals were given exercises to help them monitor their breath and pay attention to their present moment experiences.

A second group of participants completed a matched three-day cognitive training program in which they were asked to critically analyze poetry in an effort to enhance problem-solving skills.

Following the final training activity, all participants were asked to complete stressful speech and math tasks in front of stern-faced evaluators. Each individual reported their stress levels in response to stressful speech and math performance stress tasks, and provided saliva samples for measurement of cortisol, commonly referred to as the stress hormone.

The participants who received the brief mindfulness meditation training reported reduced stress perceptions to the speech and math tasks, indicating that the mindfulness meditation fostered psychological stress resilience. More interestingly, on the biological side, the mindfulness meditation participants showed greater cortisol reactivity.

“When you initially learn mindfulness mediation practices, you have to cognitively work at it—especially during a stressful task,” Creswell said. “And, these active cognitive efforts may result in the task feeling less stressful, but they may also have physiological costs with higher cortisol production.”

Creswell and colleagues are now testing the possibility that mindfulness can become more automatic and easy to use with long-term mindfulness meditation training, which may result in reduced cortisol reactivity.

The post 25 Minutes of Meditation Eases Stress appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Surely you know someone who has a sunny outlook on life; they look on the bright side of even the worst situation. The truth is, however, that most of us remember negative things more strongly—and in more detail.

The reason for our more negative focus is because our brains are hardwired to hold onto unpleasant memories and emotions more tightly than positive ones. When we process negative emotions, we learn how to avoid similar situations in the future. As a result, we tend to dwell on unhappy events. One study even suggests that this negativity bias is most likely an evolutionary mechanism. Being more aware of bad things may have protected us from danger in the past, and these instincts stuck, becoming part of our genetic makeup.

But negative thinking comes at a price. You know how much your mental health can affect your body if you’ve ever experienced knots in your stomach. Well, a growing body of research suggests that being negative and pessimistic can do more than cause tummy trouble; it can actually make you physically sick. A 2009 study of nearly 100,000 women found that the most cynical participants were more likely to have heart disease. They also had a higher chance of dying during the study period.

As research continues, theories abound. One suggests that feeling bad increases your cortisol levels, making your immune system less able to control inflammation and more disease prone over time. Another theory is that stressed people are more likely to engage in risky behaviors, such as smoking, drinking alcohol, having unprotected sex or avoiding exercise, all of which can have an adverse affect on health.

You can direct your mental health, however, by focusing on what’s going well. “Three Good Things,” a simple, free exercise designed by Martin Seligman, director of the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania, suggest that you can increase your long-term happiness by almost 10 percent.

Here’s how: For the next week, every night before you go to sleep, write down three things that went well that day and why. The things don’t have to be big; they can be simple (your son’s soccer team won a game), or more complicated (your best friend just gave birth to a healthy baby girl)—just make sure to answer the question, “Why did this happen?”

That’s all you have to do. In Seligman’s study, participants were 2 percent happier than before after one week of the challenge, and their happiness kept increasing, from 5 percent at one month, to 9 percent after six months. And though they were only asked to keep their Three Good Things journals for a week, many of them continued the practice for far longer. 

The post Focus on the Positive appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Studies have shown regular physical activity can help relieve depression and may even lower your risk of developing it. But what if you’re not the active type, are older or have physical limitations? You can still add healthy movement to your life.

The National Institutes of Health describes yoga, a 5,000-year-old, mind-body practice, as a total mind-body workout that combines strengthening and stretching poses with deep breathing and meditation or relaxation. It involves specific postures and movements combined with mental focus, breathing techniques, and meditation or relaxation. Other forms of fitness like running, dancing or hula-hooping can also be done mindfully as a form of meditation.

What’s in it for you? The intensity of your workout depends on which form of yoga you choose (there are literally hundred of types). Some techniques, like hatha and iyengar yoga are gentle and slow, while others—think bikram or power yoga—are faster and more challenging. Some research studies have suggested practicing mindful movement activities like yoga may help:

• manage stress, depression and insomnia
• improve heart health including body mass index, blood pressure, cholesterol and heart rate
• improve balance and stability
• relieve chronic pain
• improve quality of life and mood in people with heart disease, cancer and other chronic illnesses
• motivate you to exercise more and eat healthier

More research is needed on the health benefits of yoga, but it’s clear the practice is becoming more popular. In the last 10 years the number of Americans practicing yoga has nearly doubled. It’s now practiced by more than 21 million adults and more than 1.5 million children.

Yoga and other mindful practices can be gentle and may be done by just about anyone, anywhere, with no special equipment needed. Look for instructional videos, books and websites.

Whatever way you choose to get active, you’ll be taking a step toward being your best you. And you may find yourself feeling happier and more relaxed, too.

The post Yoga: Good for Body and Mind appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Buttered Leeks and Radishes

    1 tablespoon olive oil

    1 tablespoon unsalted butter

    3 scallions, cut into 2-inch pieces

    1/4 pound radishes, quartered

    3 leeks, white and light green parts only, cleaned and thinly sliced crosswise

    1/2 cup chicken broth

    1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

    1 teaspoon lemon juice

    2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

 Heat oil and butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add scallions and cook until golden, about 3 minutes. Add radishes and cook another minute. Remove scallions and radishes from the pan and set aside. Add leeks, chicken broth, salt and lemon juice and cook, stirring occasionally, until the leeks are softened, about 5 minutes. Add parsley, scallions and radishes and toss well. Serves 4

Nutritional Analysis: 107 calories, 7 g fat, 8 mg cholesterol, 220 mg sodium, 12 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 2 mg protein, 60 mg calcium, 2 mg iron

The post The Rewards of Radishes appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Though the experts say we’re supposed to drink eight glasses of water each day, many of us can’t manage that much liquid. The good news is that you don’t have to lug around that gallon jug because we get roughly 20 percent of our hydration through food, especially fruits and vegetables. 

Drinking water is still important—particularly during the dog days of summer—but you can supplement your water intake with one of these foods, all of which are at least 90 percent water by weight, making them the perfect option to help keep you hydrated. 

• Cucumbers (water content: 96.7 percent) have the highest water content of any solid food. Eat slices dipped in hummus or add them to your salads. Or pump up cucumber’s water quotient by blending it with nonfat yogurt, mint and ice cubes to make chilled cucumber soup. 
• Iceberg lettuce (water content: 95.6 percent) is the red-headed stepchild of the lettuce family when it comes to nutrition. Nutritionists suggest choosing darker greens like romaine lettuce or spinach, which have higher amounts of fiber, folate and vitamin K. But when it comes to water content, iceberg wins the lettuce wars hands down. Use iceberg leaves instead of hamburger buns and tortillas to wrap your burgers and tacos. 
• Not only is celery high in water (water content: 95.4 percent), but it’s also a very low-calorie food, coming in a six calories per stalk. This pale veggie is also high in fiber, folate, and vitamins A, C and K. You can also eat celery to quell acid reflux because it neutralizes stomach acid. 
• Spicy-sweet radishes (water content: 95.3 percent) add crunch (and color) to your summer salads. Better yet, these crunchy root veggies are loaded with antioxidants such as catechin (they same one found in green tea). Give coleslaw a healthy boost with slices of radish.
• Tomatoes (water content: 94.5 percent) are perfect in salads, on sandwiches and as a sauce. And the cherry and grape varieties make excellent water-filled snacks.
• All bell peppers have a high water content, but green peppers (water content: 93.9 percent) have the highest. And they are just as antioxidant laden as slightly sweeter red, orange and yellow bells. Had your fill of celery and carrots on veggie trays? Slice up a green pepper for an after-dinner snack.
• Cauliflower (water content: 92.1 percent) may be pale, but it’s packed with vitamins and phytonutrients that lower cholesterol levels and fight cancer. Add florets of this low-fat, sodium-free veggie to your summer salads.
• Watermelon (water content: 91.5 percent) is loaded with water, as well as lycopene, a cancer-fighting antioxidant found in red fruits and vegetables. In fact, watermelon has more lycopene than raw tomatoes—about 12 milligrams per wedge. Serve slices as dessert at summer barbecues or drop cubes into a pitcher of cold water. Yum.
• Spinach (water content: 91.4 percent) is rich in fiber, folate, lutein and potassium. And one cup of raw leaves contains 15 percent of your daily intake of vitamin E, which helps fight off free radicals. 
• Garnish your salad with the tropical star fruit (water content: 91.4 percent). It comes in sweet and tart varieties and is loaded with antioxidants, especially epicatechin—a heart-healthy compound found in dark chocolate, green tea and red wine. If you have kidney problems (and we’re more likely to suffer from kidney disease than other races), however, you should avoid star fruit because of its high levels of oxalic acid. 
• Berries are good for hydration, but strawberries (water content: 91 percent) beat out blackberries (88.2 percent water) and raspberries and blueberries (both about 85 percent water). Help ward off heart disease by blending them in smoothies or capping them and making a snack out of the raw berry.
• Broccoli (water content: 90.7 percent) adds so much more than crunch to a salad. Loaded with fiber, potassium, and vitamins A and C, this cruciferous vegetable contains sulforaphane, a potent compound that flushes cancer-causing chemicals out of your body. 
• Grapefruit (water content: 90.5 percent) can help lower cholesterol and shrink your waistline. Researchers say compounds in this citrus fruit help stabilize blood sugar, reducing cravings. If you take medication for high blood pressure, talk to your doctor about eating grapefruit; it interacts badly with some medicines.
• Believer it or not, baby carrots (water content: 90.4 percent) have a higher water content than full-size carrots (88.3 percent water). Plus, these bite-sized babies are ready-made snacks! 
• Just a six-ounce serving of cantaloupe (water content: 90.2 percent) provides 100 percent of your recommended daily intake of vitamins A and C—for only 50 calories. And this is one versatile melon. Eat it as a dessert, blend it with yogurt and freeze it for a refreshing sherbet or puree it with orange juice and mint to make a summer soup. 

The post Eat Your Hydration appeared first on Black Health Matters.

How much protein you need depends on your sex, age, how much you weigh, how active you are and other things. Men usually need more than women. An average-size man needs about 56 grams of protein a day, while women need 46 grams. If you’re like most Americans, you get what you need, which should be about 10 percent to 35 percent of your calories every day. Your activity level also determines how much you need. Athletes tend to need slightly more than non-athletes to repair and rebuild muscles.

Good sources of protein include almonds, beans, eggs, oats, peanut butter, whole milk and yogurt, but beef and other meats are sure-fire bets. Unfortunately, meat is high in saturated fat, which can lead to elevated cholesterol and heart disease. If you choose red meats, opt for the leanest cuts and be smart about portions. It’s best to limit red meat to 18 ounces a week, and avoid processed meats, like bacon, lunchmeat and sausage.

Some studies show replacing carbs with protein might help with weight loss. This is because high-protein foods move more slowly through your digestive system, helping you feel full fuller longer; they also can help you avoid hunger pangs by keeping your blood sugar levels steady. But don’t rush out and eat a burger every day. We still don’t know the long-term effects of such diets.

The post Are You Getting Enough Protein? appeared first on Black Health Matters.

We feel you, so here’s our gift to you: These are the best exercises for weight loss based on calories burned during a workout. The calorie burn is based on a 185-pound person (the more you weigh, the more calories you burn). Also note that with a slight modification to each workout, you can continue to crush calories even after you finish the activity and go about your day. This is known as the afterburn effect.

Burn now; thank us come spring!

1. Jumping rope. What little girl didn’t like skipping rope at recess? If grown-up you performs 120 skips per minute, you can burn 990 calories per hour. Pick up a weighted rope and you’ll engage your arms and shoulders, too.

2. Running. Torch 839 calories an hour by running a 10-minute mile. Get the after burn effect by adding short bursts of sprints into your run.

3. Kettle bell intervals. Maximize your time by switching between upper- and lower-body movements. Do a set of kettle bell swings, squats and push presses without stopping to rest between each move. After completing all three moves, rest for 20 seconds, and then start the circuit again. Burn off 822 calories an hour, and keep the after burn going for up to 36 hours.

4. Kickboxing. Kick and jab for 90 seconds; rest for 30 seconds. Repeat. Wipe out 864 calories an hour. Bonus: You don’t have to go to a kickboxing class. You can spar alone in your living room.

5. Stationary bike. Done at a vigorous pace, the stationery bike can blast 738 calories an hour. Vary your ride between hills and flat stretches. Start with 10-second sprints and 50 seconds of rest. Ramp up to 15 seconds of sprints with 45 seconds of rest, followed by 20 seconds of sprints and 40 seconds of rest. Don’t forget to turn up the resistance as your endurance improves!

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The American Cancer Society recommends at least 150 minutes of vigorous exercise a week for survivors. This is news that should be taken to heart by many black cancer patients because they have a higher risk of dying from their disease than other racial or ethnic groups. But, researchers said, black cancer survivors have lower levels of physical activity.

“Identifying barriers to participation in regular exercise and developing interventions to reduce these barriers in African American cancer survivors will be critical for improving outcomes in this population and minimizing cancer health disparities,” said lead author Jennifer Beebe-Dimmer in a news release from the journal Cancer.

Beebe-Dimmer is co-leader of the Population Studies and Disparities Research Program at Karmanos Cancer Institute and Wayne State University School of Medicine, both in Detroit.

This study included 1,500 black survivors of the four most common cancers (lung, breast, prostate and colon) who completed a survey with a follow-up a year later. Of those, 60 percent reported regular physical activity, but only 24 percent said they got at least 150 minutes per week. There were no differences by gender. Prostate cancer survivors in the study were the most likely to report being physically active; lung cancer survivors reported the least amount of physical activity.

Survivors who got exercise regularly reported higher health-related quality of life, as well as lower rates of depression. Increases in physical activity during the study also correlated with better quality of life.

Overall, the average amount of moderate-to-vigorous activity rose from 76 minutes at the start of the study to 110 minutes a year later. Only 25 percent of survivors met ACS recommendations at the beginning of the study, compared with 34 percent at the one-year follow-up.

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Though the reason why we cry isn’t quite understood, some experts believe its main role is to release emotions. For this study, 60 people watched two tearjerker movies. Nearly 50 percent of the study’s participants cried during both films. All participants were asked how they felt immediately after the movies, and again after 20 minutes and 90 minutes.

Immediately after seeing the movies, the mood of the non-cryers was unchanged, but the criers felt more blue. Within 20 minutes, those who shed tears had recovered to previous mood levels. After 90 minutes, their moods were even better than before they watched the movies.

The drop and subsequent return of emotions to previous levels might make you feel you’re in a much better mood after you shed your tears, said lead author Asmir Gracanin, of the Netherlands’ University of Tilburg. “After the initial deterioration of mood following crying, it takes some time for the mood not only to recover, but also to be lifted above the levels at which it had been before the emotional event,” Gracanin said in a release.

In addition to lifting our mood, here are four other reasons shedding tears is good for us:

1. It zaps bacteria. Tears contain lysozyme, an antibacterial and antiviral agent that fights off about 95 percent of the nasties we pick up on shopping carts and in public bathrooms in roughly 10 minutes.
2. It helps us see. Tears lubricate our eyeballs and eyelids, while also preventing dehydration of our various mucous membranes. Without this lubrication, our eyesight wouldn’t be nearly as good.
3. It removes toxins. One study found that emotional tears–the kind we cry during grief or distress–contain more toxic byproducts than tears of irritation (the kind we shed when we peel an onion). When we cry, we rid our bodies of those toxins.
4. It lowers stress. Tears remove some of the chemicals built up in our body from stress, like the endorphins leucine-enkaphalin and prolactin. The opposite is also true: Holding back tears increases stress levels and contributes to diseases aggravated by stress, like high blood pressure and ulcers. Think of crying as a cheaper form of therapy!

So go on and have a good cry!

The post Cry If You Want To appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Want great glutes? Squats can make it happen. Here’s how:

Squeeze squats into your regular routine. Squats are the perfect exercise to tone your glutes and legs, plus they provide functional strength (they improve our ability to carry out everyday activities like running, biking and climbing stairs). So don’t wait until you’re in the gym to amp up your squat game. Do it while you’re folding laundry, brushing your teeth, watching TV or cooking dinner.

It’s all about the beat. The best music to squat to should have about 120 beats per minute.

Perfect your form. Pretend you are sitting down onto a chair and as you touch the seat, push yourself back up again. As you rise, drive from your heels, rather than leaning forward to push from your toes. To target your glutes, stand with your feet slightly outside your hips, and then pivot your heel and toe to take the squat wider.

Work your abs. Switch on your core with every squat so your upper back is supported properly and your butt is forced to do the work.

Add some weight. Squatting with just your body weight will get results, but extra resistance makes every squat teaches your body to work a little bit harder. Increase the benefits for your muscles and your heart by adding light weights. Recent research shows you burn more calories when lifting lighter weights for more repetitions than you do lifting heavier weights for a few reps.

Don’t overdo it. Complete four sets of 20 repetitions with a 30-second rest between each set. When that gets too comfortable, bump up to 30-rep sets, and do three to four sets. 

The post Great Glutes! appeared first on Black Health Matters.

“Stress touches everyone. Unfortunately, many of those feeling the most stress get trapped in cycles that can be very unhealthy,” said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, M.D., president emerita and former CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.  

Stress wreaks major havoc, with 1 in 5 Americans saying they experience stress so extreme it causes heart palpitations and depression. Stress is so unhealthy, in fact, that it can have a significant impact on emotional well-being, sleep patterns, decision making and critical thinking, and it is the source of about 75 percent of doctor’s visits.

“If we are going to build a culture of health in America, one big step we can take is recognizing the causes and effects not just of our own stress and the stress of those closest to us, but of others we encounter in our day-to-day lives,” Lavizzo-Mourey said. “That recognition can go a long way in helping us create healthier environments in our homes, workplaces and communities.”

Part of a healthier, stress-free environment includes ways to manage stress. The experts recommend regular exercise and a full night’s sleep to reduce stress. Poll participants who experienced the highest stress levels over the past month managed that stress by:

• Spending time outdoors
• Practicing a hobby
• Hanging with family and friends
• Praying or meditating
• Eating healthy foods

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Are you long, lean and wiry with a fast metabolism? Do you have a larger bone structure, store fat easily and struggle with weight loss? Or is it easy to gain and lose weight from your muscular frame? Endomorph, ectomorph, mesomorph—every one of us is typically a blend of two body types, with one type being more dominant. And each body type requires different exercise plans to achieve overall health and fitness goals.

If you look more like a model than a swimmer, and you have difficulty putting on muscle mass, you are most likely an ectomorph. Defined by thin bones, long limbs and small joints, ectomorphs appear skinny, but often have a higher body fat than people expect. They have trouble adding muscle mass because of their fast metabolism.

Ectomorphs are at a disadvantage when it comes to building muscle, and they tend to excel at endurance activities, like running marathons. In fact, many of them prefer cardio over strength training, but they can benefit from a solid, consistent weight-training program. The key to stimulate muscle growth is to do the minimal amount of cardio required for general health (30 minutes three times a week), while adopting a weight-training routing using heavy weights. Focus on completing three to five sets of approximately eight to 12 reps for each muscle group using heavier weights.

If you have a larger bone structure and struggle with weight loss, you are most likely an endomorph. Recognized by their short limbs and fat distribution through the lower abdomen, hips and thighs, endomorphs (some famous ones: Beyoncé and Jennifer Lopez) have a more difficult time losing weight and are at a greater risk for developing diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, some forms of cancer and infertility. With a well-round fitness program, they can achieve positive results.

Endomorphs must commit to a lifelong program without overtraining. Building muscle is fairly easy for an endomorph, but a slower metabolism and extra body fat make it harder for them to stay lean. That’s why exercise is essential to boost metabolism and must include weight and cardio training. Maintaining lean muscle mass and losing body fat, while also revving up the metabolism, is the focus for endomorphs during weight-training sessions. They should focus on large muscle groups (legs, back) and high repetitions (15 reps), and do circuit training with very little rest time between sets. The cardio component of their fitness plan, designed to burn calories, should incorporate 30-minute, high-intensity interval training two to three days a week.

If you have a naturally muscular, moderate form with medium-sized bone structure, you are most likely a mesomorph. Well-proportioned with wider shoulders and a narrow waist, mesomorphs tend to have low body-fat levels. Of the three body types, mesomorphs are the best for bodybuilding because they are naturally strong and have the ability to lose or gain weight easily. But because they are prone to weight gain, they need a well-rounded training program to maintain a lean physique.

To avoid putting on too much fat, mesomorphs should concentrate on consistent cardio sessions—30 to 45 minutes three to five times a week. For the best results, cardio interval training or high-intensity interval training is recommended two to three times a week, along with one to two sessions of steady-state cardio. Because mesomorphs have thick, dense muscles moderate-to-heavy weights, with limited rest in between sets, five days a week, is ideal to stimulate muscle growth. They should perform eight to 12 reps of three to four exercises for each muscle group. Complete at least three sets of each exercise and rest 30 to 90 seconds after each set. Switching up the weight training routine by using higher reps with lighter weights, adding in body-weight exercises and techniques such as super sets and circuit training, can stimulate strength and stamina without building muscle mass.

The post Train for Your Body Type appeared first on Black Health Matters.

1. Experience something new. You know that rush of endorphins some of us get when we go shopping? Unfortunately, that happy high quickly fades. Studies show people tend to receive more pleasure from experiences than they do things. Instead of buying that pair of shoes, go on an adventure. For the cost of a tank of gas and a few snacks, grab a friend and take a short road trip to explore a new place. More introvert than intrepid traveler? Try a new form of creative expression, listen to music you don’t normally vibe to, or cook a dish you’ve never made before. These experiences will provide happiness in the here and now while also creating memories that can make you feel happier in the future when you dust off memories.

2. Find a reason to be thankful. Why is gratitude so important? Studies show your brain has a gratitude “muscle” that can be exercised and strengthened. In other words: the more of an effort you make to feel gratitude one day, the more the feeling will come to you spontaneously in the future. Try thinking of three things you’re grateful for as soon as you wake up—before you check your phone and savor that first cup of coffee. What you’re thankful for can be as simple as comfy slippers or as complex as your relationship with your significant other. This practice has a positive effect on your mood and can make you feel happier the rest of the day.

3. Exercise regularly. A workout gets your blood pumping, increases your energy, and can help clear your mind of mental clutter and negative emotions. It also increases endorphins, also known as happy hormones. You don’t an expensive gym membership to get physical. Walk around your neighborhood or go for a hike on a local trail. Doing your exercise outdoors serves double duty for your happiness, because exposure to nature can help boost your mood. But don’t skip a workout if the weather is bad or you have to work late. An indoors workout works, too.

4. Meditate. Meditation doesn’t have to mean silently sitting alone in a quiet room. In fact, it can be done  any place, any time. Be mindful of your breath, clear your thoughts and realize that no matter what is going on, you have everything you need in this moment. You’re breathing, you have a pulse, and that’s what matters. Meditation can reduce stress and increase happiness. Sit with your back straight and close your eyes. Inhale slowly through your nose and exhale through your mouth. Do this for as long as you want. Even one minute of meditation can refresh your mind and bring you back to the moment.

5. Give back. There’s plenty of evidence to show the more we give away, the more satisfied we feel with ourselves. Monetary donations are helpful, but volunteering at a local charity strengthens your sense of community. It also helps you see your life differently by highlighting how much you have to be thankful for. If you really want to make yourself happier, start by doing things make other people happy. Happiness really is contagious.

The post 5 Ways to Make Happiness a Habit appeared first on Black Health Matters.

1. Build lean muscle. The best way to do this is through lifting weights, but that doesn’t mean being a slave to the gym. “At the supermarket choose a hand basket instead of a cart,” says Atlanta dietitian Marisa Moore. “Do bicep curls while waiting in the checkout line. While watching TV, do calisthenics instead of bingeing on snacks.”
2. Stand. Recent research points out the health dangers of sitting for more than six hours a day. And, Moore says, we burn 25 percent more calories when we’re on our feet. So stand up while you’re on that phone call.
3. Eat breakfast. “Everybody knows breakfast is the most important meal of the day,” Moore says, “but it plays a vital role in increasing our energy level and keeping our metabolism at a higher level throughout the day.” But that first meal doesn’t have to be a full-blown, sit-down affair. Try a banana and a handful of almonds.
4. Drink plenty of water. “Evidence shows when we don’t get enough water, the body tends to be slightly dehydrated which can make metabolism sluggish,” Moore says. 
5. Go green. Green tea, that is. Polyphenols in green tea (not the sweetened kind) have been shown to boost metabolism, but only when combined with caffeine. Find green tea bitter? Moore suggests trying kinds flavored with mint or vanilla. 

Bottom line? “People have to be aware that there’s not any one food that’s a silver bullet when it comes to boosting metabolism,” Moore says. “You have to really work on being physically active and building lean muscle. With that you even burn calories while you sleep!”

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Escaping the situation is often only half the battle. Once you get away from your abuser, 9 percent of people still have to deal with the consequences of being exposed to trauma. Lesia Ruglass, a clinical psychologist and associate professor at Rutgers University, said these victims are diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, a mental health condition quite often associated with veterans.

PTSD can, in fact, develop after experiencing or witnessing a major life-threatening event, like war or sexual assault. PTSD sometimes prevents a survivor from living life to the fullest potential because he or she is in constant fear. The person may worry about facing an abuser again, fending off another attack or bringing shame to his or herself.

“For women, there is a lot of self-blame that prevents them from moving forward with treatment,” Ruglass said. “A lot has to be done around reducing stigma and increasing access to help.”

Let’s be clear, not every person who experiences trauma will develop PTSD. Ruglass said it often depends on risk and protective factors such as how severe the trauma was or whether the person received emotional support during or after the traumatic event.

Here are seven signs for those who aren’t completely sure if they or a friend is suffering from the debilitating effects of PTSD and the steps to take for a more peaceful life.

1. Intrusive memories. It can be difficult going about your daily routine if your surroundings are constantly reminding you of an unwanted memory. According to Adwoa Akhu, a licensed clinical psychologist, people can be triggered by things they are not consciously aware of, like scents. If the victim one day smells the cologne that his or her abuser wore, it could lead to an unpleasant flashback. The person may suddenly feel as though she/he is in the situation again, Akhu said.

2. Angry outbursts. Some times those flashbacks can trigger angry outbursts. Akhu believes the person may even become aggressive toward loved ones, which could, in turn, push family and friends away from a victim who needs social support the most.

3. Avoidance. People who are exposed to trauma try to avoid anything that reminds them of that painful time, said Ruglass, which can include people or places. Akhu added that it is very important for people with PTSD to have a support system. “It’s often a challenge to have social support for people with PTSD because sometimes the spouse or partner isolates the victim from the rest of the family,” he said. Long after the abuse, victims may still choose to isolate themselves by staying away from family, friends and work when that network is critical to their recovery.

4. A way out. Experts say domestic abuse survivors may deal with depression. One way that people try to avoid the pain and sadness they feel is with substance abuse, Ruglass said. It is the body’s way of trying to cope when it’s in distress.

5. Changes in perception. Ruglass believes a traumatic event will often lead to victims altering how they perceive themselves, others and the world. “They may feel shame or guilt. They may think the world is unsafe and no one can be trusted,” she said leaving them often with an inability to feel positive emotions.

6. Hyper-vigilance. “After a person escapes an abusive situation, he or she may still react as though they are still in harm’s way,” Akhu said. “They have this overwhelming need to protect themselves in situations that may not require that.” It can be extremely taxing on the mind and body to view the world as a threat.

7. Problems with sleep. The anxiety people with PTSD feel at times throughout the day can lead to nightmares. However, when the mind is still racing late at night, some may have difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep. Insomnia, can be a troubling reality for many suffering from PTSD.

Now that you’ve discerned whether you or a loved one may be suffering in silence from PTSD, you can take the steps to get help. There are several types of therapy available. Most recently, Adku said more doctors are trying a new type of psychotherapy called Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, or EMDR. While therapy certainly helps, Ruglass pointed out that regular self-care is also important to deal with PTSD signs. That includes eating, sleeping and having a solid support system.

From the Grio

The post 7 PTSD Signs (and How to Find Help) appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Basil. Steeped as a tea, this herb is packed with cortisol-reducing compounds that can calm your mind, or eat it and watch its high iron levels increase your energy levels. When applied topically, it has anti-aging properties and can prevent several skin conditions. Alleviate inflammatory conditions, such as arthritis, by eating it regularly.

Chives. Boost your brain health and your eyesight, while lowering blood pressure and cholesterol. Make your immune system stronger, while making your digestive system happier.

Dill. A tablespoon of seeds contains more calcium than one-third cup of milk. Seeds and leaves can replace your mouthwash as a breath freshener, as well as calm both your brain and your body. Steep the mashed seeds into a gut-benefiting tea.

Oregano. This herb contains high levels of omega-3 fatty acids, which boost heart health, and compounds though to prevent breast cancer. Brew it into tea to promote healthy liver function, or apply it topically as an anti-bacterial.

Parsley. Steep the roots into a tea and help reduce fluid retention. High concentrations of calcium in parsley can help prevent osteoporosis.

Peppermint. When brewed into a tea, peppermint can unclog nasal congestion and reduce nausea. It is also known to ease indigestion and, applied topically, to control acne and lessen pain.

Rosemary. Brew it into a tea to freshen breath. Smell the oil in aromatherapy and increase memory or reduce migraine symptoms.

Sage. Used in aromatherapy, sage can aid in focus. With powerful anti-inflammatory properties, sage tea can ease arthritis and psoriasis, as well as soothe a sore throat.

Thyme. This herb contains a wealth of vitamins that promote eye health, relaxation and a healthier immune system. The high levels of potassium and iron contribute to a healthier heart when part of your regular diet.

The post Don’t Sleep on the Health Properties of Herbs appeared first on Black Health Matters.

“Since there’s no single food or nutrient that can prevent depression, consuming a variety of vegetables, fruit, lean protein, low-fat dairy, and whole grains will ensure adequate intake of vitamins and minerals, which are necessary for good health,” Brown says.

To get some of their feel-good benefits during the winter, Nay and Brown say to consider incorporating the following list of mood boosting nutrients into your diet:

1. Tryptophan. You’ve probably heard turkey makes you sleepy. That’s not a complete myth. Tryptophan, found in turkey, is an essential amino acid, meaning your body cannot produce it and you must obtain it from dietary sources. Tryptophan is a precursor to serotonin, an important neurotransmitter the brain produces that plays a role in sleep, appetite and impulse control. Higher levels of serotonin help elevate mood, but serotonin production is limited by the availability of tryptophan. If you don’t like turkey, you can find tryptophan in nuts, milk, salmon, eggs, soy products and spinach.
2. Magnesium. Not only does spinach contain tryptophan, but it’s also high in magnesium, which can support sleep and play a role in reducing anxiety, Nay says. Other sources of magnesium: nuts, whole grains and legumes.
3. Phytonutrients. Foods high in sugar can elevate your blood sugar briefly. But, when your blood sugar drops, so can your mood. Instead of a high-sugar dessert, Nay suggests choosing fruit or dark chocolate (in moderation).“Berries contain phytonutrients, which help protect the brain from the impact of stress,” says Nay. “Dark chocolate also contains cocoa flavanols, an antioxidant that’s been shown to reduce inflammation and inflammation has been linked to depression.”
4. Omega-3 Fatty Acids. Like phytonutrients, omega-3 fatty acids found in fatty fish like albacore tuna, salmon, sardines and trout, can also help reduce inflammation in the body. The American Heart Association recommends eating fish twice a week, but if you don’t like fish, Brown says flax seeds, chia seeds and walnuts also contain this healthy fat.
5. Polyphenols. Beverages, especially those containing caffeine, are another part of your diet that can secretly affect your mood. “Caffeine is a stimulant, and it can affect each individual differently,” Brown says. Although it can interfere with sleep or contribute to feelings of anxiety, in moderation caffeine may help boost your mood. Coffee, tea and wine all contain beneficial plant polyphenols, which are powerful antioxidants that can decrease inflammation in the body.

Bonus: Drinking more water can also help your mood, since even mild dehydration can make you feel down in the dumps.

The post 5 Mood Boosting Nutrients appeared first on Black Health Matters.

The players supporting Autism Speaks this season are:

• Chidobe Awuzie, Dallas Cowboys
• Kendrick Bourne, San Francisco 49ers (honoring his uncle)
• Tyus Bowser, Baltimore Ravens
• Chris Cooper, Atlanta Falcons (honoring his cousin)
• Duron Harmon, New England Patriots (honoring his brother-in-law)
• Gabe Jackson, Oakland Raiders
• Mike McGlinchey, San Francisco 49ers (honoring his brother Jimmy)
• Brian O’Neill, Minnesota Vikings (honoring his sister Lorraine)
• Isaiah Prince, Miami Dolphins
• Aldrick Robinson, Minnesota Vikings
• Daniel Ross, Dallas Cowboys
• Donovan Smith, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
• Eric Smith, New York Giants
• Mike Weber, Dallas Cowboys

Interested in bidding on one of the Autism Speaks My Cause My Cleats campaign cleats? Head to the NFL auction page.

The post NFL Supports Autism Speaks With My Cause My Cleats appeared first on Black Health Matters.

For the study, the researchers enrolled 59 people with an average age of 49 and asked them to take an additional 2,000 extra steps per day—roughly equivalent to a mile—every week over the course of four weeks. Participants wore Fitbits to track their activity.

“Middle-aged or older adults are not always able to engage in high-impact exercise, and these age groups are more likely to have poor sleep,” said Alycia N. Sullivan Bisson, first author of the study and a doctoral candidate in psychology at Brandeis University. “So, we wanted to see if something more feasible like walking could make a difference.”

As reported in the journal Sleep Health, people who took more steps over the course of the one-month study rated their sleep quality better than less active people did. Women reported bigger improvements in sleep quality than men. Bisson said more research is necessary to understand this difference.

Compared to the days when they were less active, participants said they slept longer and better on the days when they walked more.

Between 50 and 70 million adults suffer from a sleep disorder. More than nine million adults over 30 rely on drugs to fall asleep, even though some of these medications have been linked to addiction, cancer, and other negative health effects.

“Recommendations for increasing daily steps could be a feasible way to improve sleep … as most Americans have a fitness tracker or smartphone with the capability of measuring steps,” the authors wrote in the paper.

From Futurity

The post Walk More for Better Sleep appeared first on Black Health Matters.

The key is to be prepared for the three-month period that begins with Halloween treats and winds up with New Year’s festivities.

“We go from work, to the parties after work, to home, from October to Jan. 1. It just doesn’t stop. And that, for a lot of us, presents lots of roadblocks,” said registered dietitian Annessa Chumbley.

To avoid the average holiday weight gain of up to 3 pounds, people need to be mindful of what they’re consuming.

“I like to encourage people to stay true to their goals, but to also live in the moment,” said Chumbley. “What we don’t want to do is the destructive mindset of, ‘It’s the holidays, so I’m not going to abide by anything.'”

Thinking ahead can keep you out of a food fog later.

“Do a little bit of mental preparation,” she said. “Know what flavors you like best, so that way you can enjoy the things that you want to enjoy in a small amount, then move on and not feel guilty.”

For example, if you love pumpkin pie, there’s nothing wrong with having a slice. But she cautions against eating it all season long. Instead, go for healthier options with the same pumpkin flavor like a pumpkin spice smoothie or homemade pumpkin pie granola. Or, spoon canned pumpkin into Greek yogurt with toasted pecans, she said.

To slim down other favorite seasonal flavors, follow these tips:

• Like eggnog? Fill your glass mostly with low-fat or skim milk and add a small amount of eggnog to get that noggy flavor but with fewer calories.
• If cocoa is your drink of choice, use low-fat or fat-free hot chocolate mixes with low-fat or nonfat milk or hot water.
• Halve your cocktails by having a glass of water or sparkling water between each alcoholic drink. This will leave less time or room to overindulge.
• What part of the bird do you like best? If you reach for the lighter pieces of meat, they have fewer calories that the darker ones. And, taking off the skin reduces fat and calories.
• You can still complement your meal with some dressing. But, make sure to limit it to about 1/4 cup.
• Want your cake (or pie) and eat it too? Use the buddy system. Split your dessert with someone or try bite-sized or half portions.
• Compare the labels of your holiday ingredients. Choose items with lower sodium, saturated fat and added sugars. And use low-fat or nonfat milk instead of whole milk or heavy cream.
• Replace salt with herbs and spices. Replace butter with a healthier vegetable oil (Chumbley prefers avocado or algae oil) or substitute equal parts unsweetened applesauce when baking.
• Use half wheat and half white flour in your baking recipes to work in more healthy whole grains.

Also, don’t forget to keep moving all season. Activity can help make up for eating more than usual.

But perhaps most important, Chumbley said, is to incorporate healthy habits year-round.

“The problem isn’t Thanksgiving Day or Christmas Day,” she said. “If we’re getting Thanksgiving-full 365 days a year, that’s what the issue is.”

From American Heart Association News

The post Enjoy Seasonal Flavors Without Derailing Health appeared first on Black Health Matters.

What’s so special about foam rollers? They’re easy to use. Place your target body part on top of the roller and roll back and forth. That’s it. This simple movement targets the myofascia, the mesh-like fibers that form around your muscles in response to damage caused by both working out too much (injury and inflammation) and being inactive. When myofascia get stuck on your muscles, they cause pain and prevent normal muscle movement.

What else is there to love about your new best friend? The effects are immediate. With no stretching, after using foam rollers, you’ll notice changes in your mobility and posture. One study, published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, found foam rolling the quads increased participants’ range of motion by as much as 10 degrees.

Plus, regular foam rolling reduces muscle soreness. A Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise study found participants who rolled post-workout experience peak muscle soreness 24 hours after exercising; those who didn’t roll saw their pain peak at 48 hours.

The foam roller rocks everywhere, but it’s particularly successful on these common trouble spots:

• Half of all Americans say they experience lower back pain. The muscles are either too tight or too weak, causing spasms. Sitting at a desk all day and sleeping on the wrong mattress at night don’t help. Tight hamstrings, hip flexors or glutes—or imbalances in these muscle groups—can also affect your lower back. The solution: Take a foam roller to your lower back.
• Your glutes stabilize and mobilize your hip joint. If this muscle isn’t strong, you’re likely to experience loads of hip pain. The solution: Foam rolling this large muscle group activates the muscles you sit on all day, every day.
• Many folks experience knee pain, which often occurs because the kneecap is subjected to a lot of force when you do high-impact activities like running. The truth is this isn’t actually a knee problem. It’s usually a muscle imbalance, tightness or bad conditioning in the quads and hips. If the quad is imbalanced, it pulls the kneecap too far in one direction, causing pain. The solution: Roll the quads and hip flexors to correct this imbalance.

So if you’re active (you are, aren’t you?), the smart move is to roll with a foam roller. Of course, we recommend you consult with your physician or physical therapist before starting a foam roller program. (Most people will be cleared immediately, and your doctor will probably encourage the practice.) “If you only buy one piece of exercise equipment for the rest of your life,” said Jordan D. Metzl, M.D., author of The Exercise Cure and The Athlete’s Book of Home Remedies, “make it a foam roller.”

The post Have Back Pain? Get a Foam Roller! appeared first on Black Health Matters.

Metformin, a prescription drug used to control high blood sugar in patients with type 2 diabetes, is just the latest medication suspected to contain the carcinogen N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA). Over the past 18 months, some high blood pressure and heartburn medications have been recalled for containing NDMA.

Janet Woodcock, director of FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said the FDA is investigating whether metformin in the United States contains NDMA, and whether it exceeds the acceptable daily limit of 96 nanograms. Though other countries have recalled the drug, no such recalls affect the U.S. market at the moment.

“The agency will also work with companies to test samples of metformin sold in the U.S. and will recommend recalls as appropriate if high levels of NDMA are found,” Woodcock said in an agency statement.

She cited several reasons why impurities can be present in drugs, including manufacturing processes or even the conditions in which they are packaged or stored. “If as part of our investigation, metformin drugs are recalled, the FDA will provide timely updates to patients and health care professionals,” she said.

While the FDA investigates metformin, the agency recommends doctors continue prescribing and patients  continue taking the medication. “It could be dangerous for patients with this serious condition to stop taking their metformin without first talking to their health care professional,” Woodcock said.

The post Diabetes Drug Metformin May Contain a Carcinogen appeared first on Black Health Matters.

You know you should eat as many greens as you possibly can. Why? They have a ton of benefits: They supply your body with vital vitamins and minerals, they are key to a healthy digestive system and they have phytonutrients that help fight cancer. They can give you glowing skin glow, fill you up without making you fat—even improve your sex life!

But if you’re sick of boring salads and steamed broccoli makes you want to hurl, here are a few simple ways to trick yourself into getting more greens into your diet:

• Stir-fry: It’s so easy to pack green veggies into stir-fries that this one is almost a no-brainer. Toss in bok choi, sugar snaps, Swiss chard, snow peas, asparagus or green beans.
• Sandwiches: Ask the deli guy to double the greens on your sandwich. Bonus: This adds more fiber to your diet, too, which is good for lowering blood glucose and cholesterol levels.
• Muffins: Puree greens and add them to muffins. You won’t notice spinach mixed with with other ingredients, like blueberries. This works with brownies, too, but don’t be tempted to eat the whole pan.
• Fresh juice: Toss a handful of cabbage, celery or a shot of wheatgrass into your sweet (think apple or carrot) juices. You won’t taste the greens (though they will change the color of your drink).
• Kale chips: These tasty chips are a party favorite, and they have more nutrition than carb-packed potato varieties.
• Smoothies: A handful of spinach in your fruit smoothie won’t change the taste at all.
• Soups: Jazz up canned chicken noodle or your homemade orzo with a handful of arugula. Simmer for about a minute.
• Black beans: Stirring in a couple of cups of chopped, blanched greens like chard or kale at the tail end of cooking your beans adds flavor, color and texture.

The post Easy Ways to Eat More Greens appeared first on Black Health Matters.

That’s a shame, nutrition experts say, because cranberries deliver a bundle of health benefits. And they’re quite efficient: A cup of raw cranberries carries just 50 calories.

So why aren’t they more of an everyday food? It may come down to taste.

“They’re a little bit more bitter than blueberries or other berries that have those phytochemicals—and a little bit crunchier,” said Maya Vadiveloo, an assistant professor in the Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences at the University of Rhode Island.

“I think you can start to get used to almost any flavor over time, but I think we may have this bias that all fruit needs to be sweet,” she said. “It might just be that people have not really thought that much about cranberries, unless it’s around Thanksgiving.”

Among the health benefits associated with cranberries:

• The vitamins and minerals they contain boost the body’s digestive health and antioxidant system and promote good heart health—even possibly improving blood pressure and cholesterol.
• They are high in fiber. But contrary to common perception, the most recent research has not definitively shown that cranberry products help prevent or treat urinary tract infections.
• In laboratory studies, they’ve been linked to a lower risk of certain types of cancer.
• They contain chemicals that may combat norovirus and other food-borne illnesses.

“Cranberries may be a little underutilized,” Vadiveloo said. “They’re not nearly as expensive as many other berries, and at Thanksgiving, the greater variety of fruits and vegetables that you have around—things like stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy—if you’re balancing your plate with a little bit of everything, you tend to eat less of all the things and still feel very satisfied.”

One popular way to work cranberries into a daily diet all year long is by adding dried cranberries to a salad. And while cranberries may taste better when they’re dried than when they’re raw, that sweetness comes at a high cost.

Nutritionally speaking, dried cranberries may be closer to candy than they are to fruit. A 1/3-cup serving of dried cranberries carries 123 calories. Worse, most of the nutrients found in raw cranberries are nowhere to be found in the dried version.

One cup of chopped raw cranberries, for example, contains 14.6 mg of vitamin C per serving, while one cup of dried cranberries contains 0.3 mg.

“If you start to think that one of the snack-size Halloween candies is 60 to 110 calories, you could have two cups of raw cranberries for that amount—and feel fuller, and have a lot of the beneficial effects,” Vadiveloo said.

Similarly, sweetened cranberry sauce, a Thanksgiving staple, contains 418 calories with just 5.5 mg of vitamin C per one-cup serving.

“For almost any food, the preparation matters,” Vadiveloo said. “Most foods can be healthy, especially in their raw form. But when we start doing things to them, we need to be more concerned about the health effects. If you’re trying to start eating more cranberries, even if you’re planning to add sweetener, doing it yourself versus buying something that’s already pre-processed is better.

“People tend to add far less of their own sweetener than what’s in commercially prepared food.”

Another popular way people may try to add cranberries to the diet is by drinking them. Cranberry juice is often combined with other fruit juices, such as grape or apple, for a better flavor.

As with any juice, it’s important to consider the amount of sweetener that’s added. Unsweetened cranberry juice contains 116 calories and 23.5 mg of vitamin C per one-cup serving. Also, it’s worth noting that cranberry juice may interact with certain medications.

And of course, cranberries are popular in muffins. But depending on how they are made, muffins aren’t necessarily a nutritionist’s favorite choice, Vadiveloo said: “We don’t want to see a muffin claim health benefits just because it has cranberries, you know?”

From American Heart Association News

The post Oh, Give Thanks for Cranberries! appeared first on Black Health Matters.

A Saturday night at the movies can clean out your wallet—and pack on the pounds. Movie theaters now are required to post calorie counts on their menus. The FDA’s rule applies to food establishments with 20 or more locations, including movie theaters, fast-food chains, amusement parks and bowling alleys. While this may take the guesswork out of how many calories you’re consuming while you watch the latest thriller, studies show that even armed with this information, many adults still don’t change their caloric intake.

So we’re providing a few facts you might not know about movie snacks:

• The average small movie popcorn with butter has about 600 calories, more than a quarter-pound cheeseburger, which has 550 calories. You could have three slices of thin-crust cheese pizza or three milk chocolate candy bars for about the same number of calories. And here’s more food for thought: A slice of cheesecake has about 410 calories.
• You can have a meal of two large pieces of fried chicken (800 calories), a cup of mashed potatoes (230) and a 16-ounce soda (200) or the average large movie popcorn with butter, which is about 1,270 calories. Here’s another comparison: Two cups of spaghetti with meat sauce and a slice of garlic bread total roughly 800 calories, while a small thick-crust pepperoni pizza with a 10-ounce can of soda has about 940 calories.
• Grab a large combo—a 48-ounce soda and a large popcorn with butter—and you’ll consumer about 1,700 calories, accounting for 85 percent of the daily allowance, based on a 2,000-calorie diet.
• An average small movie soda is about 23 ounces and has about 14 teaspoons of sugar and a little more than 200 calories. An average large movie soda is 47 ounces has almost 30 teaspoons of sugar and about 450 calories. But these numbers can vary wildly, depending on the chain. One theater chain’s medium soda can be 32 ounces, while another’s is 44 ounces. A small can vary even more: One chain’s small soda might be 16 ounces, while another’s is double that. The same holds true for popcorn, where the size of a medium tub of popcorn can vary by as many as 10 cups. One chain’s version of a medium popcorn might contain 10 cups, while another’s might have up to 20.
• An average small popcorn contains about 450 milligrams of sodium, about 20 percent of the recommended daily amount for adults and 30 percent of the recommended amount for children and adults who are older than age 51 or African American, or who have hypertension, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease.
• Choose your chocolate carefully. A 3.5-ounce bag of chocolate-covered raisins has 420 calories, a 4.8-ounce bag of chocolate-covered mints has 570 calories and a 4-ounce bag of chocolate-covered peanut butter pieces has 580 calories. If you simply must have chocolate, your best bet may be the 3-ounce bag of chocolate-covered caramels, which comes in at 370 calories.
• If you split a small unbuttered popcorn with a friend, you’ll each get about the same number of calories as you would from an 8-ounce container of flavored whole-milk yogurt, about 230. For comparison purposes, a hard-boiled egg has about 80 calories, half a cup of cottage cheese contains 110 calories and 18 cashews have 165 calories.
• To make date night at the movies healthier, eat dinner before the movie; this can help curb hunger. If watching a movie isn’t the same without the popcorn, split a bag with a friend and ask that it be plain, meaning unbuttered and unsalted. Some theaters offer more healthy snack options, including bottled water and trail mix, so check your options before ordering.

The post Pump the Brakes on Movie Snacks appeared first on Black Health Matters.

He’s a mean one, alright. If the Grinch has stolen your holiday spirit and good intentions, try some of these tips to reclaim your ho-ho-ho.

1. Keep up healthy habits. Make a pact with yourself during the holidays. For example: “For the next three weeks I will move more and do something active every day, have a healthy breakfast and limit the sweets, and get at least seven hours of sleep each night.” If you don’t completely give up your healthy habits, you won’t feel like you have to start over once the holidays are in the rear-view.

2. Beware of party perils. Special holiday events often serve up extra helpings of less-than-healthy foods.  If you’re a guest, eat a healthy snack before you go to avoid overdoing it at the event. If you’re the host, challenge yourself to offer some delicious and healthier options using our recipes and cooking tips. Your guests will thank you.

3. Stay active—even in the hustle and bustle of the season. A full holiday social calendar might lead to some missed workouts. Instead of beating yourself up about it, sprinkle some healthy activities into your daily routine. For example, if the weather isn’t too frightful, ride your bike to work or school. If dinner is going to be a feast, opt for a light lunch, then take a vigorous walk. And keep the family moving. When the kids are home from school, squeeze in some active chores and trips to the park.

4. But not too active. Give yourself the gift of peace. When the invitations pile up, don’t be afraid to say no to some of them. If you need some down time to recharge for the next big party, declare a me-treat and do something that relaxes you. Try yoga, meditation, or spending time in nature.

5. Make a plan for the new year. Your poinsettia’s pooped and the gifts are all gone. Now what? It’s a great time to reset for the new year—but don’t go dashing through your to-do list too fast or you might not stick to your plan. Lay out realistic, sustainable steps for the months ahead. For example, start a daily walking routine and sign up for your local Heart Walk before you set your sights on that marathon!

From American Heart Association News

The post 5 Ways to Tame Holiday Stress appeared first on Black Health Matters.

You’ve heard the recommendation: Adding more fruits and vegetables to your diet—seven to nine servings a day—is good for your health.

But did you know that not all fruits and vegetables are created equal, especially if losing weight is your goal? A recent study, from researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, suggests different produce items can have dramatically different effects on weight loss.

The study analyzed diet information for 117,918 people during four-year intervals over 24 years, starting while the participants were in the 30s and 40s. Though increasing daily servings of fruits and vegetables led to losing weight across the board, some foods correlated better with dropping pounds than others.

For example, though higher fruit intake led to an average weight loss of .53 pounds per additional daily serving over a four-year period, berries led to more than a pound of weight loss. Pears and apples had a similar effect, leading to weight dips of 1.24 pounds per extra daily serving.

Cauliflower and tofu/soy were the weight-loss winners in the vegetable category. An increase in vegetables overall led to about a quarter-pound of weight loss per daily serving, but bulking up on tofu/soy caused the average person to drop nearly 2.5 pounds, while cauliflower led to 1.37 pounds of weight loss.

Some vegetables were actually associated with weight gain. “Increased intake of starchy vegetables, including corn, peas and potatoes, was associated with weight gain,” the study authors said.

Americans consume a lot of fruit juices and potatoes, but they might not be the best options. “There are many fruits and vegetables that may be better choices—apples, pears, berries and nonstarchy vegetables,” said lead author Monica L. Bertoia.

The post The Best Fruits and Veggies for Weight Loss appeared first on Black Health Matters.