• Questions to Ask Your Doctor about Metabolic Syndrome
    Healthy Living

    Questions to Ask Your Doctor about Metabolic Syndrome

    One thing to realize about any health condition is that even though our bodies seem the same, everyone is different. Because of this, medications and diet affect everyone differently. Here are some questions to ask your doctor about Metabolic Syndrome. Be sure to also ask specific questions about your case as they arise. 1. What Are the Complications of Metabolic Syndrome? – Everyone is at risk for different types of consequences and complications from metabolic syndrome. They could range from heart disease to diabetes to stroke. 2. Are There Any Genetic Influences for Me That I Should Be Concerned About? – Each family is different, so you’ll likely need to…

  • Heart Health,  Weight

    Questions about Metabolic Syndrome

    It’s important to get answers to any questions you may have about metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome, or syndrome X, is a metabolic disorder that can cause a variety of serious health conditions including hypertension, insulin resistance, obesity, heart attack and stroke. It’s characterized by having excess belly fat, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and poor cholesterol ratios. Poor cholesterol ratios usually refers to HDL that is too low and LDL that is too high. If you believe you’re at risk for this syndrome, you would be wise to have a list of questions to ask your health care professional. Here are a few questions to get you started with…

  • Is metabolic syndrome inherited?
    Healthy Living

    Is Metabolic Syndrome Inherited?

    Is metabolic syndrome inherited? Epigenetics, your best friend or your serious enemy? Are you someone, or do you know someone who says, “Everyone in my family is overweight” or “Everyone in my family is diabetic”? Did you know, regardless of your gene pool, you have control over whether your genes manifest as disease or not based on your food and your environmental choices? Sometimes you end up with the tendency to develop metabolic syndrome through no fault of your own due to the genetics you inherited from your family. Occasionally, you inherit health challenges by learning unhealthy behavior too – especially those that are diet related. For example, if your…

  • Clean Eating,  Healthy Living

    Emotional Stress Eating

    Do You Turn to Emotional Stress Eating? I was talking to a friend the other day, and I asked her what her biggest challenge was relative to healthy eating and keeping her weight under control. She didn’t skip a beat and immediately said, “emotional stress eating”. When she’s bored or worried or under stress, she finds she tends to grab a bag of chips or cookies without realizing it. If you tend to eat when you’re feeling down or stressed to help yourself feel better, you may be an emotional eater. Emotional Eating is also known as Comfort Eating. It’s the act of responding to stressful situations by turning to…

  • Clean Eating,  Healthy Living

    Stress and Food Choices

    Stress and Food Choices There is an aspect regarding managing stress that relates to food in a big way. Some stress actually originates from the foods and drinks we choose to consume. An awareness of which foods amp up your stress levels and which will pour balm on the stress waters will help you manage stress in a big way. It’s important to think about stress and food choices. When you’re under stress, you can eat too much or too little or you can simply eat the wrong foods that actually harm you by increasing your stress levels during an already stressful episode. The first truth to remember is that…

  • Heart Health

    Health Benefits of Walnuts

    Health Benefits of Walnuts I like walnuts although my husband does not. I had no idea about all the health benefits of walnuts! Because I do the food prep for both of us, going forward walnuts will be included; we’ll just hope they are an acquired taste! There’s an interesting article I came across I want to share with you from the Harvard Gazette about the health benefits of walnuts. They are impressively healthy little nuts, and it’s worth taking the time to read this. The article says, in part: A newly developed machine learning algorithm has uncovered information about how eating walnuts can lead to significantly lower risk of…

  • Complications of Metabolic Syndrome
    Clean Eating,  Heart Health

    Inflammation and Heart Health

    Inflammation and Heart Health Inflammation affects just about every aspect of your health and wellness. Today I want to discuss inflammation and heart health. Very simply, inflammation is your body’s natural response when attempting to protect itself from injury or disease. When inflammation is acute, it can save you by protecting your body from infection. In the short-term, it rids your body of harmful intruders and restores you to health. It’s when inflammation stays with you on a slow burn that it becomes “chronic inflammation”. When this occurs, it puts your body at greater risk particularly when considering the functioning of your heart and arteries. As an aside, medical professionals…

  • Healthy Living,  Self Improvement

    Improve Memory Function

    Can you Improve Memory Function Once You Have Started to Lose it? It’s understandable to think that once you begin to lose your memory, you might not be able to improve memory function. However, in most cases there are practices or solutions for dealing with memory lapses, and you can actually improve your memory. You may want to consult your health care professional to receive an accurate diagnosis and a recommended treatment. A doctor may be able to determine the cause of your memory loss. Memory loss can be reversed, depending on the cause. A few of the types that can often be reversed are caused by depression, thyroid problems,…

  • Depression

    The Positive Effects of Vitamin D on Mood

    The Positive Effects of Vitamin D on Your Mood  If you struggle with bouts of sadness or depression, I have good news for you. There may be a simple solution to help you feel more uplifted and more positive. Studies have shown a link between vitamin D deficiency and mood. Vitamin D is a vitamin your body actually doesn’t store. Each day you need a source of it or you will become deficient, and the odds are pretty good that deficiency will have a negative effect on your health, both mental and physical. The good news is that getting enough vitamin D each day is relatively easy. The Vitamin D…

  • Clean Eating,  Healthy Living

    My Husband’s Cholesterol Ruined Our Vacation

    How My Husband’s Cholesterol Ruined Our Vacation How would you feel if you flew 3000 miles for vacation and spent it watching your husband sleep off the side effects of a prescription cholesterol medication? It was 2012, and we had come out to California for my niece’s wedding. After the event, we headed down to San Diego to enjoy a few days of vacation before heading back home to New England, but my husband’s cholesterol ruined our vacation. This one particular day, we had decided to walk around San Diego. It was hot and gorgeous, with that California sun beating straight down much as we remembered it did in Italy.…