One more round of quick things you can do to improve your overall health. Whether you’re looking to reduce your risk of serious disease, get in shape, or just feel better, these quick health boosters can help!
- Build muscle strength in sixty seconds by stretching. Stretching improves flexibility, but it also can increase strength. You’ll enjoy a larger range of motion AND more muscle power.
- Neutralize harmful free radicals in sixty seconds by eating dried figs. Free radicals are the molecules to blame for some kinds of cancer, signs of aging, and other health issues. Just 1.5 ounce of dried figs can improve your body’s ability to neutralize free radicals by nearly ten percent.
- Keep your body healthy by eating the entire rainbow of fruits and veggies. Eating any fruits and vegetables is good; mixing fruits and veggies of different colors is better. Mixing your fruits and veggies gets you five times the antioxidant power you’d get from a solo fruit or vegetable. This can help put a huge dent in your risk of developing some form of chronic disease.
- Reduce inflammation in sixty seconds by eating whole grains. Make sure your diet contains eleven (or more) servings of whole grains each week and you’ll find that your risk of inflammatory disease (like diabetes, asthma, or heart disease) drops by a third. Why? Whole grains contain the biologically active parts of the plant. The things that keep the plant alive are the same things that can help keep you healthy. Try oatmeal, brown rice, whole grain breads and cereals, and popcorn to get your whole grain fix.
One last quick fix just for the ladies: cool a hot flash in sixty seconds by doing some deep breathing. Slow abdominal breathing can reduce the frequency of hot flashes by as much as fifty percent! The deep breathing will help you manage stress — stress can compound your body’s reactions to estrogen withdrawal.