Healthy and Hale

If you think that frozen foods couldn’t be synonymous with healthy ones, you are quite mistaken! It’s true that many foods that are frozen are simply not good for you. If you eat nothing but pot pies and hot pockets every day, your cholesterol will probably shoot through the roof!

But frozen vegetables and fruits can actually be good for you. In fact, in some cases they are better than fresh vegetables, as their nutrients are frozen right after picking rather than lost a bit in transport. They’re also considered much better for you than canned veggies and fruits as well. So nix the cans this March and go for the frozen foods aisle! Here are some ideas to help you out. Read more

Healthy FoodAs reported in the LA Times:

"Having a big butt, wide hips and full thighs is generally thought to come with a lower risk of heart disease, diabetes and other health problems, while having a high proportion of belly fat increases that risk. We know this, right?"

But do we believe it?  
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Soda Tax?Yesterday, TED posted a talk by Jamie Oliver about the importance of school children knowing about balanced meals and healthy diets, which has been a passion of the chef for quite some time. Today, the NYT had an article about proposals to tax soda pop as a way to help alleviate the costs of health care reform. Read more

Would you shop at Wal-Mart Organic?I’m pretty sure that Seattle was one of the first cities in the United States to grasp the importance of eating organic foods. Of course, since the advent of “Whole Foods”, organic foods have hit a good portion of the rest of the country, too, which is probably the reason that Walmart is actually now competing in the organic food industry.

If you think that sounds a little weird, so do I. I just came across an article written in the Atlantic comparing the food aisles of Whole Foods and Walmart in a Boston suburb- and guess what? If the writer is to be trusted, the organic produce in Wal-Mart is not all that bad.
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With recent studies declaring that sitting is bad for your health, period, those of us who make our living on our butts are in a heap of trouble. Could sitting really be as bad as smoking? Apparently it’s the truth. People who sit at a desk all day (like yours truly) are at an increased risk for heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, and obesity, among other diseases.

What’s even scarier is that people who work sitting and still workout aren’t making a difference to their own health. Two hours of exercise a day wouldn’t even make a dent in 22 hours of sitting. So what the hell are we supposed to do? Quit our jobs and become bricklayers? I would so suck at that. Read more

RelaxWe have become the “pop a pill” society in which the first, and often only, solution to any problem is the latest designer drug. But what if you are not quite ready to become the latest victim, I mean customer, of the pharmaceutical mega empire of the modern age? There are several natural ways that you can tackle anxiety without the harmful side effects of anxiety medication. Read more

Another highly appropriate holiday centered around Valentine’s Day—National Condom Month! You already know that condoms can help prevent pregnancy and STDs if used properly; now test your Condom Quotient and see if you know the answers to the following condom trivia questions.

True or False? The United States sells 200 million condoms a year.

False—the number is much higher. Condom sales are over 500 million per year.

True or False? Condoms are electronically tested to make sure they are effective.

True. Every single condom goes through this test.

True or False? The best place to store condoms is next to where you’re going to have sex. Read more

Next week is Women’s Heart Week, a time to remember to take care of our tickers. Heart disease is one of the top killers in America. Here are 6 ways you can help celebrate this week.

6. Eat a Healthy Meal

And then eat another, and another… Make healthy eating a good habit. Just start with one today—replace your bacon and hash browns with some oatmeal. Or use one of these heart-healthy ideas. Whatever you do, just keep it up and you’ll be surprised at how quickly it becomes a part of your normal routine.

5. Move It, Move It Read more

When I was a little girl, I always knew something was wrong with me. I could never properly see the chalkboard, my dad would always wonder aloud why I couldn’t see what he could (he has better-than-perfect vision), and I would much rather read books close to my face than bike outdoors where things always appeared so blurry when not up close. I don’t know how I managed to get so far in elementary school without them, but I wasn’t diagnosed with nearsightedness and given my first pair of glasses until I was in the fifth grade. Read more

It's winter, which means it's cold and flu season. Ergo, at least one out of every eight of you readers are experiencing some kind of viral misery at this very moment. It also means that TV commercials and Internet banner ads are doing their best to sell you some kind of tincture, pill or spray that promises to make your life while sick a breeze, if not outright cure you. Sorry, folks. If there was a cure for the common cold it'd be in lockdown in some billionaire's heavily fortified mansion waiting for customers who are willing to pay a small fortune for the convenience. For the rest of us, battling that blasted rhinovirus requires some time, a little know-how and some positive thinking. Here are some tips to put you on the mend as fast as modern technology will allow. Read more