Healthy Topic Blog
The top 10 reasons people turn to food:
- Anxiety
- After you’ve been frightened
- Anger
- Frustration
- Sadness
- Insecurity
- Rivalry
- Boredom
- Stressful moments
- “You fill in the blank”
Ask yourself why you are eating or over-eating, especially when you are not hungry? You can diet and exercise to lose weight or to get healthy – but you need to address emotional eating in order to maintain that weight loss.
Though there are numerous books and diets touting various ways to get a flat belly the truth is that you need to lose your belly fat in order to have a flat stomach, and certainly to showcase your abdominal muscles. Though making choices like healthier MUFAs (mono-unsaturated fatty acids) can help you to get healthier – they do not promote a flat belly. All fats have 9 calories per gram so if you eat too much of even healthy fats – you will gain weight or keep that belly pooch. A balanced diet, low in sodium, added sugars and unhealthy fats is your best bet, couple with daily exercise.
Some easy tips to help you shed extra pounds:
- Drop all beverages that have calories
- Measure your whole grain portions (drop the white processed breads and grains) and know how many servings you should have daily in a balanced diet
- Eat high fiber fruits and vegetables to fill up
- Drink adequate water daily
- Finish your last meal by 7 pm and only allow yourself tea or a piece of fruit at night – creating a mini-fast till the next morning will help you stay on top of calories
- Do calorie burning aerobic exercise daily and do crunches correctly ( a certified personal trainer can show you how)
Quick dining out tips to keep the taste in – the pounds off
- Substitute a side of black beans for potatoes
- Choose a spicy red sauce for pasta dishes
- Always get dressing on the side and measure in teaspoonfuls
- Replace bleu cheese for feta cheese and measure with a teaspoon
- Substitute mayo-based sauces with balsamic dressing or mustard
- Get the bread basket off the table
- Always share dessert with 2 other people

The average medium corn-on-the-cob has about 110 calories. Grill it with a bit of calorie free/low calorie olive oil spray and you’ll have a healthy carbohydrate serving chock full of fiber and folate. A neat trick is to then squeeze a bit of fresh lime over the grilled corn for some tart to accompany the natural sweetness of corn.
Another grilling tip – Pre-cook meats in the oven and finish them on the grill. Continue to marinate and turn the meats to avoid charring and creating dangerous nitrosamines, cancer-causing compounds. Never burn the meats.
It also promotes stronger bones and joints. Starting today, add brisk walking, jogging, hiking, lifting weights or step classes to your week.
Need some low calorie snack ideas? Here are a bunch of choices, most under 130 calories:
- 1 cup frozen green grapes or blueberries
- 1 stick of low fat string cheese plus ½ a banana
- Half an English muffin with a tablespoon of tomato sauce and 1/8 cup shredded low fat mozzarella cheese
- ¼ cup of hummus dip plus a cup of cut up carrot/celery sticks
- 1 hard-boiled egg plus 4 medium size strawberries
- 1 cup of skim milk, ¼ cup of orange juice, ¼ cup berries and ice blended up
- 1 - 8 ounce glass of skim milk + 1 teaspoon Hershey’s chocolate syrup
- 1 small non-fat 5 ounce yogurt plus 2 tbsp. Bare-Naked granola
- ½ cup portion of most sorbets (check the label)
- 6 ounces of low fat (1%) chocolate milk
Experts are still in disagreement regarding even timed amounts of sun exposure for vitamin D benefits, and skin cancer dangers. Why not use food as your primary source of vitamin D and then get the rest of your daily needs from a calcium supplement?
Best food sources include:
- 3.5 ounces of fresh salmon
- Vitamin D fortified milk (after age 1 most kids and adults should drink skim milk)
- Vitamin fortified orange juice (1 cup per day)
- Vitamin D fortified cereal
- An egg
If you have had gastric bypass surgery do not use calcium carbonate supplements as your supplement of choice due to absorption issues.
Rinse berries in very hot water in order to reduce the possibility of mold developing quickly in the refrigerator.
Free antibiotics are available at Giant Food, Stop and Shop and Publix.
Fish with the lowest level of mercury – albacore tuna from US or British Columbia, fresh water Coho salmon, farmed mussels, farmed oysters, Pacific sardines that are wild caught, farmed Rainbow trout, Wild salmon caught in Alaska.
Organic milk tends to be higher in anti-oxidants.

An important aspect to understand is that what works for somebody else may not always work for you, and vice versa. However, sometimes trying something NEW can work some muscles or spread some nutrients that your body has never used before!
During the Dr. Oz Healthy School Challenge, Isaira was showing off a cheerleading exercise where you must kick very high at the end of the repetition. For the guys in the group, it was something we have never really tried but the benefits were shown after about 5 minutes. Gradually, our kicks got higher because the muscles streched out farther then they ever had before, giving us a much greater range of motion. Simple stretches like forward bends, lunges, and squats can really help your muscles build strength while also increasing your flexibility.
If you do an exercise that has worked great for you, show one of your friends how to do it! You can gain a workout buddy while also impressing them with your incredible health knowledge! Sharing is Caring!
This entry is intended for the more mature readers of the Get Healthy blog. Younger readers should check back next Monday for a Healthy Monday tip. Other readers should continue reading.
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Now that we have your attention – Safe sex can be safe and sexy. So steer clear of STDs and HIV/AIDS by using a condom each and every time.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Amy Hendel is a Registered Physician Assistant and a medical journalist, blogger, health host and author. She's been a guest on Today, The Early Show, Fox News and Rachel Ray. Her book, The 4 Habits of Healthy Families will release in May 2010.
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