BOOMERRANG

4 SIMPLE HABITS

Picture courtesy of MedicineNet. For more information on Heart disease

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=92881

Harvard researchers found that four healthy habits regularly will help middle aged women live longer.

Studies show that the women have a 71 percent lower risk of premature death than those who had none of these healthy habits.  The healthy women also lowered their risk of cancer death by 65 percent and fatal heart disease by 87 percent.

• Eat right
• Excercise
• Don't smoke
• Maintain a healthy weight

 The researchers found that the worst habit is smoking.  Those who smoked 1-14 cigarettes a day had a 94 percent higher risk of early death.  This finding may change as obesity becomes more common.

Sleep Wrecker

I opened my email this evening after a long day at work.  I found an email titled, “Sleeping through Menopause”.   I chuckled to myself at the thought of my own journey of enlightenment into that mysterious phase known as menopause a few years ago.  I had no preparation for this concept of exchanging one’s fertile years for a redistribution of one’s weight.   I never thought about what it would be like as the signs of aging began to firmly grip my body and mind.  My mother never shared her own journey and so I was left to trial and error.

It was several days ago that I had a conversation with my boss about menopause.  Seems she is what doctors would call “perimenopausal,” or in other words, just beginning this cycle of her life.   She is frustrated with the never ending hot flashes that leave you clinging to the edge, and constantly feeling as if you dressed after showering without drying off.  This cycle is not interrupted by sleep, but rather the sleep becomes a hostage of the hot flashes.

I shared with her my discovery of natural progesterone.  That I had been on artificial hormones and had gained 30 pounds, was completely fatigued all the time, and had begun to have a headache every single day.   A friend of mine had given me a book written by Dr. John Lee that truly provided me with my own liberation.  I immediately stopped the artificial hormones and began doing natural progesterone twice a day.  In two days I lost five pounds, no longer had a headache, and once again had energy.  I slept better at night, and began to live again.

After our conversation she picked up a tube of natural progesterone at a health food store.  After about a week she shared that she didn’t think it was working.  She was using way less than the recommended dosage amount as she was concerned that she might have adverse effects if she used too much progesterone.  She did also consult with a pharmacist friend of hers, who told her to increase the amount of progesterone  and that she also might want to get a prescription and have it compounded, which would give her a stronger dose.

This email I received was titled “Menopause and Sleep”.  The very first sentence reads, “Did you know that estrogen and progesterone are sleep-promoting hormones?”

As we progress through menopause, estrogen and progesterone decline, affecting our ability to sleep and our ability to fall asleep.

Here are some tips provided in the email from “Real Age”.

• Get on a schedule.  Your body runs best when you sleep and rise at about the same time every day.
• Change your temperature.  The ideal temperature for sleeping is a cool dark room.  Lower your thermostat or remove a layer of clothing.
• At night eat foods that contain melatonin, a substance that helps regulate your body’s inner clock.  Foods such at oats, sweet corn or rice.  A complex carbohydrate that has sleep encouraging serotonin, such as vegetables, or whole grain pasta.  If all fails try the classic remedy – warm milk.
• Getting 6 to 8 hours of sleep a night can make your real age appear as much as 3 times younger.

Don’t forget to put on your progesterone cream, it is in the blood stream in 10 minutes and lasts for about 12 hours.  It really does help level out  the hormone drop experienced during sleep.

Metabolism and Burning Calories

If you Google the word metabolism you will get about 45 million hits on how to speed up your metabolism.  Of course we all know that what really works is burning more calories than we take in, and knowing when to push the plate of food away.

My 40 year old daughter-in-law, decided that she did not want to be the overweight mother walking across the football field the night of her son’s Senior Night.  So she joined one of the many weight loss organizations.  She started her program in March and as of today she has lost 50 pounds.  Here is the basic premise of her weight loss program:

• She walks three or four times a week.
• She limits her intake of carbs.
• She focuses on protein, fresh fruits and vegetables.
• She drinks 64 oz. of water a day.
• She drinks a protein drink between meals and before bed.

My 13 year old niece just started an exercise program one week ago with her WII Fit.   The WII FIT program has a series of games such as snow boarding and hoola hooping.  It also includes yoga and strength building exercises.  It measures your BMI and does a walking test.   She has lost a total of 3 pounds.  Here is the premise of her weight loss program:

• She does a routine using her WII FIT 6 days a week for 1 hour a day.
• She has cut back on the amount of food she eats in a day.

I started my weight loss program 2 months ago.  Being over 50, I did find that I had begun to plateau after about a month into my program so I made some minor tweaks.  I have gone from a 46 inch waist to 39 inches and a 10 pound weight loss.  Here is the premise of my weight loss program:

• I work out, 5 times a week, in the morning for 30 minutes on an elliptic machine.
• I work out 3 times a week using the ab rocker – about 5- 10 min.
• I limit my intake of carbs.
• I focus on protein, fresh vegetables and produce.
• I drink 48 oz of water a day.
• I drink a protein drink between meals and before bed.

Here are some key facts that the experts have provided:

·        At age 40 we burn two to five percent fewer calories with each decade, which results in 1 pound of weight gain a year

·        Capsaicin, the bioactive compound in chili peppers that exude heat, can turn up your metabolism a notch.  It also enhances the feeling of fullness and reducing hunger.

·        One tablespoon of chopped red or green chili pepper (30 mg.) results in a temporary 23 percent boost in metabolism.

·        Easting more protein will rev up your metabolism.

·        Lifting weights boots your metabolism more than a cadio workout.

·        Tea revs up your natural calorie burn.

·        Your body burns more calories digesting ice-cold beverages.

What other calorie burning information do you have?