Holiday tips for people with irritable bowel syndrome

Some of us are blessed with a well behaved bowel. However, there are those who need to do a little bit more disciplining. Here some of the guidelines to keep your bowel in shape.

1. Eat several small meals a day, instead of three large ones, to allow your bowel to work more at leasure.
2. Keep meals low in fat, and high in carbohydrates.
3. Some common food triggers that put you into pastures include:

• Alcohol
• Artificial sweeteners
• Coffee
• Dairy
• Egg yolks
• Fried foods
• Oils
• Red meat
• Shortening

4. Bananas, beans, broccoli, cabbage, garlic and onions may all cause gas-read bloating.
5.Taking more soluble fiber may help with the symptoms. Some easy source for soluble fiber include:

• Brown rice
• Oatmeal
• Pasta
• Psyllium husk (Metamucil)
• Raisins
• Sourdough bread
• Soy

6. Some people are just sensitive to these food:

• Sorbitol (Sugar substitute)
• Fructose (found in fruit juice and dried fruit)
• Lactose (found in milk), caused by lactose intolerance.
• Wheat bran

7.Acidophilus helps maintain the 'good' bacteria in your gut, and easily found in yogurt that contains live culture. I'm not trying to advertise for them but Yakult and Vitagen are good and easy source for acidophilus.

5 ways to beat holiday weight and still keep you sane

Exercise.
Yes, you are busy, you couldn't care less, there much better think to do and so on. Before you start complaining, think about it this way, be creative (read my previous article on creative holiday workout). You are just going to have to make time because working out definitely help you reduce holiday stress (yep, holiday can be very stressful ordeal) AND help you keep extra holiday pounds from all that party food at bay. Instead of trying to fit an hour a day for exercise, try to break it into manageable segments by finding 15 minutes 2 to 3 times throughout the day. Do quick workout, it could be walking the stairs up and down, looking for your missing belt or running through the mall for last minute shopping-whatever works !. Also, instead of concentrating on one body part each exercise, why not do compound exercise where you target more than one body part at a time. You'll enjoy the holidays a lot more if you are relaxed, stress-free and feeling good about yourself.

Relax
No matter how busy your schedule is, always find time to cool down. Chilling out could make the holiday whirlwind much easier to face. Try taking a relaxing bath, reading your favorite book, doing some yoga or do some deep breathing. Even deep breathing can help keep your stress hormones in check. While sitting straight on a chair or floor, breath in deeply through your nostrils allowing your belly to bulge out with the inhale, then exhale through your mouth very slowly, contracting your abs at the end. Repeat this a few times.

Indulge moderately
Special occasions offer things we don't usually indulge in like pies, sweetcakes, fattening drinks, and those butter cookies... Its easy to get caught up and overindulge yourself. So the best way is to plan ahead (refer to Holiday Eating). Eat healthy snack beforehand to keep you full and grab a glass of water when you get there to fill up and keep you hydrated.

5 ways to beat holiday weight and still keep you sane

I know, I know, holiday is a lot of fun, and you want to enjoy yourself to the fullest. Think about this, do you want to carry over extra pound to next year, thanks to your late nights and late foods?

Read through these if you would rather be slim for new year celebration:

Eat
Its easy to blow your diet by skipping meals and hitting the vending machine for sustenance. I know, you are busy and all, yes, I also know you are doing double duty and just don't have the time to prepare a good meal. Before your ultra-busy days come, prepare some healthy foods nearby-nutritionbars, oatmeal, cereal, lots of fruits-anything that's easy to prepare and will keep at the bottom drawer of your desk.

Sleep
How will you ever get anything done if you are dragging-butt all day long, everyday day? Think of a good night sleep as a necessity-much like oxygen, you can't live with it could you?-to keep you sane and prevent you from violent thoughts towards your family and friends as you spiral into stress-mode. Whatever happen during the day, out aside enough time for an 8 hours sleep, and start winding down 30 mins before your bedtime. Trust me, you will thank me later when you wake up with great skin. Also, just to remind you, lack of goodnight sleep inhibits concentration and makes us less efficient and more irritable.

Holiday Fitness

Get into group activities
Challenge your relatives into a rousing game of football or touch ball in the backyard. If adults fails you, turn to the kids, they are one source of everlasting energy. Join them in a game of freeze tag or dodge ball and you'll be sure to shed off that meat pie you had last night. Also, avoid being a wallflower at events where dancing is the focus, dancing is also known as a good exercise and fun to do too !!
Take a twirl around or do a shimmy-either way, you'll burn a few calories and enjoy yourself at the same time.

However, whatever you do, plan activities that requires you to take more steps and move your body as much as you can. If possible, use a pedometer and accumulate 10 000 steps a day.

Holiday Fitness

Keep your activity level high even when you're at the backyard of your grandma's house.
Worried that you might get out of shape while you are basking under the sun? Fret not-all you need is determination and creativity to keep yourself in shape when you're away from home.

Turn your downtime into your exercise time
Avoid the temptation of becoming sedentary between activities and all those meals.
Instead, sneak away to the spare room and turn it into your mini gym. When going on a trip, pack a few extra items into your suitcase: exercise mat, hand weights, resistance bands or a jump rope and perhaps one or two of your favorite exercise video. Though in a small space like a spare room, you could still do yoga or pilates to keep active.

Take advantage of local offerings
Do a little research of your destination before you head down there. Is your health club part of a worldwide network? You might be able to visit the branch if its the case for free or a minimal fee. Also many hotels boast of excellent health facilities now, book your room at a hotel that offer these services. No matter what are your favorite holidays activities, check out National Park Service Web site for a listing of parks and their attractions. This way, you might utilize the local park for a quick exercise. Pack your hiking boots as well or a mountain bike to take advantage of local first-rate trails.

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Merry Christmas!!!

Its Holiday Again - Enjoy Eating

Remember portion control.
The a look at everything being serve on the buffet table before deciding what to put on your plate. It is advisable to use this ratio for your plate: 1/2 vegetables, 1/4 protein, and 1/4 grains.This way, most of the space on your plate are taken up by veggies which pack lower calories. Try choosing veggies that are not cook with a lot of fat. Alternatively, if you’d rather not make a heaping plate of food once in the day, it is also recommended to eat small portions frequently to avoid being overly hungry at any point.

Learn from Volumetrics.
People tend to eat the same volume or weight of food every day.To cut down on calories and not be hungry, eat more food with low calorie density. Food that has low calorie density has a lot of water bound to it, so vegetables, fruit, and puffy grains such as rice or couscous are perfect choices to help you feel full faster.

Choose wholesome and healthy over high-fat and processed.
When the holiday season draws nearer, it will bring with it the temptation of delectable (read: high-fat and high-sugar) dishes, which could mean disaster for your health. So, if you want to enjoy food that has high calorie density, just try to choose something wholesome like nuts and dried fruits, which are flavorful and nutrient-packed alternatives to highly processed foods that offer no healthy benefits.

Put things into perspective.
The upcoming annual weekful of feasting shouldn’t get you down about your diet. Instead remember that you have 51 more weeks in the year to eat healthy, so it’s OK allow yourself flexibility and some treats. Enjoy the spirit of the holidays and not focus on food so much, since it is not the main point of the gathering anyway. By doing that, chances are, you'll eat healthier because you are less worried.

Its Holiday Again - Enjoy Eating

Just because you're going on holiday doesn't mean your healthy eating habits have to do the same.
The season for savory dishes has arrived, but maintaining nutritious eating habits shouldn’t be daunting. Take these ideas and you might find the happy medium between being a diehard dieter and a guiltless gorger, happy eating!!!

Say so long to strict rules.
People who are too strict about their diet during the holidays generally don't get to enjoy the celebration and tend to rebound later - thats it, by eating more to compensate.

Prepare and set goals for gatherings.
Eat a snack or a serving of salad before you head to the infamous afternoon feast. You are less likely to overindulge on the mouthwatering dishes if you take the edge of your appetite. Once there, try to keep track of your calorie intake, and limiting your alcohol intake to one beverage and drinking sparkling

Keep on partying - the smarter way Part 2

Curb your option
Some people say varieties add spice to your life, but when it comes to buffet, its the recipe for overeating. Research showed that, those who take small amount of every kind of food on the table, eats more than those who take larger amount of only a few kind of food on the table. When you take small portion of everything, it's harder to determine how much have you actually eaten. It is better to bunding food with similar flavors together, for instance, put only meaty food on your plate at once. The idea is that you'll tired of the food sooner and ending up feeling satisfied on fewer calories.

Pace yourself
Research sows that people who eat at slower pace tend to it lesser too. This simply because, when you eat slower, you feel full much sooner. So take your cue from slowest eater when dining with your friends. When dining with friends we kind of just get along with them when they are asking for second or third serving, so when you take your cue from slow eater, you'll eat considerably less. However, if you are surrounded by fast eater, take a sip of water between bites to slow down your pace.

Drink slimmer
Alcohol weaken your resistance when it comes to eating not to say the calories in drinks add up rapidly. So, if you want to be a slender drinker, drink out of slender glass. Research also showed that people tend to drink more from short fat glasses, so try this optical illusion, use a white wine glass instead of a goblet.

Slip, don't slide
Always learn from your slip up. If you already ate three helping of mashed potatoes and a whole barrel of beer, don't just say you blew it and decide you might as well polish off the whole cake. Instead, do a self analysis, did you arrived at the party hungry? Did you end up hiding behind the buffet table because you knew no one? Next time, ensure you are not starving when you get to a party, get to know someone new and start a conversation far far away from the danger zone (the buffet table, may I remind you !)... lets your next time start today.

Keep on partying - the smarter way

Keep on partying - the smarter way

So we have covered the drinking part, now, the eating part. Yeah I know, good food that we girls can't afford to eat too much. But perhaps these eat-smart tips can help us with a little indulgence this season without gaining weight.

Be a food snob
Always pick the special items that have lots of effort poured into them, if possible take just a small amount and savour every bite. Skip on blase fare like chips or cracker.

Step away from the table
(kinda hard to do, but we are strong aren't we?)
Put your food on a plate so you know how much you are eating. The worse thing to do is to keep on dipping into the bowl.

Veg out
Pile up the greens and veggies on your plate, leaving only a little space for anything else. Those who ate most fruits and veggies were the least likely to be obese, even when they ate more food overall. hmmm....

Pare down those portions
Choose the smallest plate possible and avoid taking thise big plate, cause, the bigger your plate or bowl the more you eat,

Don't talk with your mouth full
First of all, you'll look pretty gross. Even if you might help some of us reduce our appetite after seeing you talking, when you eat and talk at the same tie, you're not paying attention of what you are eating and how much. Thus encouraging you to eat more.

more tips to come tomorrow...

Get on partying !!! It's christmas

Holiday season is around the corner, with Christmas another week to go, and new year coming up very soon. Some of us are blessed with perfect complexion and can survive partying night after night. But some of us, including me, won't last that long.

Here are some tips to party smart to enjoy the holidays without getting blitzed.

Holding a glass of wine in one hand while kissing under the mistletoe? romantic.
Making out on the sofa after getting trashed on rum and coke? uh uh, very very bad.

A recent Australian study suggests that liquor combined with an artificially sweetened mixer raises your blood alcohol levels more - read,very very bad and it will hit you harder-than the same drink made with a regular mixer.

So, you've been thinking, why?
According to Robert Swift,MD,PhD,associate director of the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies at Brown University, sugar in a drink makes the liver get rid of the alcohol faster. So you may prefer to not to take natural sugar to save on the calories, but you won't appreciate feeling like you want to blow your head after a drunken visit to the supple closet.

In fact, if you are so worried about your calories, just skip the alcohol altogether. Calories contain in natural sugar is just a mere figure if you compare with your favorite alcoholic drink.

So, you must be thinking I'm a prude now eh?

Here are more things to enjoy drinking without flopping out.

Sip in moderation, and I mean moderation with big capital M. So, what is moderation? For woman, moderation means only one standard drink per hour if you don't want to get tipsy, 5 to 6 ounces of wine, 12 ounces of beer, or one mixed drink.

Switch off. No, not your mobile. It means, if you have more than one drink, alternate alcohol with water or juice. I'll stick to juice if I were you, keep your complexion really nice you know.

Drink on a full stomach. Why? On my layman understanding, when your stomach is full you drink less. But according to Dr. Swift, high eating slows down alcohol absorption, and high-carb foods like pasta work best.

Who Should and Shouldn't Detox

Detoxification is a great way to gain your health. If you are

1. overweight
2. tired all the time
3. have headaches or other aches and pains
4. frequent colds and flus
5. constipation or digestive problems
6. high blood pressure
7. PMS
8. allergies or sensitivities

There are some exception though, only underdo detoxification with the help of a qualified health care practitioner if you are

1. young children
2. elderly
3. chronically ill
4. suffering from a serious disease
5. addicted to drugs or alcohol
6. been exposed to dangerous chemicals, heavy metals or radioactive material.

However, pregnant women and nursing mothers shouldn't undergo detoxification.

How do I start to detox

First thing first, to lighten up your toxin load
These act as toxin in your body, so cut down if possible eliminate on the intake of

1. alcohol
2. coffee
3. cigaretters
4. refined sugars
5. saturated fats
6. minimized the use of chemical based household cleaners and personal care products (cleansers, shampoos, deodorants and toothpaste)
   

Your body and toxin

How does toxin effect our body? In short ...

Body Toxins - The Human Toxic Burden
"Pollution affects everything from the air we breathe, to the water we drink, the food we eat and the quality of life we enjoy. Today, pollution, this century's black plague, the curse of rapid industrialization fueled by population growth, is everywhere and the toll on world health is staggering. The impact of the environment and human health is a central component of naturopathic medicine and is becoming more of more of heart of the science of medicine."
Dr. Walter Crinnion

And how does detoxifying your body could improve your life? this is one of the simplest report on body toxin ever written.

The benefits

1. Restored vitality
2. Better mental clarity
3. Clear skin
4. Stronger immune system

How does it works?

1. Cleansing the blood
2. Remove impurities from the blood in the liver through kidneys, intestines, lungs, lymph and skin

One of the simplest methods to detox your body is by drinking a lot of clear water and cut down on caffein.

Want more on this topic?

A detoxification program can help the body's natural cleaning process by:

1. Resting the organs through fasting
2. Stimulating the liver to drive toxins from the body
3. Promoting elimination through the intestines, kidneys and skin
4. Improving circulation of the blood
5. Refueling the body with healthy nutrients.