Encouraging Health

www.RealAge.com tells about this spice:

pepper.

Red pepper, when eaten early in the day, decreases food intake later in the day. Try adding a little to your egg-white omelet in the morning. Here’s how it helps control hunger.

Capsaicin Catalyst
The capsaicin in red pepper may get the credit for decreasing appetite. The heat-giving ingredient appears to stop sensory information in the intestine from reaching the brain. It basically kills — or stuns — the message that you’re hungry. Capsaicin may also give your metabolism a boost.

For a breakfast that will really fire you up, add cayenne, hot red peppers, or jalapeno peppers to a frittata. These hotties all contain capsaicin.

weight loss, red pepper, capsaicin

weight loss, red pepper, capsaicin

The pictures from Omaha’s Festivals from last weekend are almost at a close. The sunburn I received is finally peeling, which means it’s healing, slowly. On to the pictures:

More pictures from car themes.

Close up of one of the tiki statues (not really sure, but its cool).

Whichever company that had this one did a really good job. All the sculptures had so much attention to detail.

Another one that had great attention to detail, an a treasure island chest.

Another angle.

The rowboat and oars with treasure in the background.

One of the O!’s in sand this time. Very Clever!

Omaha woodman tower and stadium in minature, I think.

Those are it for today, the last batch tomorrow afternoon!

From www.WebMD.com:

Looking to lower your blood pressure? You may want to add foods containing omega-3 fatty acids to your diet.

Such foods — which include flaxseeds, walnuts, and fatty fish such as salmon — may help lower blood pressure, a new study shows.

The findings “lend modest support to current recommendations to increase ingestion of omega-3 fatty acids,” write Hirotsugu Ueshima, MD, and colleagues. Ueshima works in the health science department of Japan’s Shiga University.

Ueshima’s team studied 4,680 men and women in Japan, China, the U.K., and the U.S.

Participants, who were 40-59 years old, met with the researchers four times over three weeks. In each session, they got their blood pressure checked, provided a urine sample, and reported everything they had eaten and drunk in the past 24 hours.

The researchers calculated each person’s intake of omega-3 fatty acids. Japanese participants had the highest intake of omega-3 fatty acids.

Ueshima and colleagues also considered other factors, including participants’ age, gender, alcohol consumption, physical activity, dietary restrictions, supplements, and medications.

Participants with the highest intake of omega-3 fatty acids tended to have the lowest blood pressure. That pattern was particularly strong in people who didn’t have high blood pressure and who weren’t already on restricted diets or medications to control their blood pressure.

Omega-3 fatty acids didn’t appear to drastically slash blood pressure. But every small reduction in blood pressure counts, and including foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids as part of a healthy diet may have blood pressure benefits, note the researchers.

The study appears in the journal Hypertension.

omega-3, blood pressure

omega-3, blood pressure

More pictures from Last weekend’s adventures in downtown Omaha’s waterfront “Taste of Omaha”, “Sand Sculptures”, and Farmers Market. With no further ado:

There were quite a few entries on a race car theme.

Another angle.

This was a clever one! Statues of either Easter Island or African Native art.

A Fantastic Spiderman Theme.

Omaha’s Woodman Tower, in the Downtown Omaha Skyline. Very nice attention to detail.

Large Blocks.

A Teddybear in the same sculpture as the Blocks.

A piggy bank, I believe.

They were all great examples of patience and dedication. More pics to come tomorrow!

Taste of Omaha, Omaha Sand Sculpture

Taste of Omaha, Omaha Sand Sculpture

WebMD.com talks about Smoking and Kids’ Hearts.

From the Article:

Even small amounts of exposure to secondhand smoke can negatively impact the cardiovascular health of children, new research confirms.

Kids exposed to tobacco smoke showed evidence of blood flow restriction in the study, with those exposed to the most smoke experiencing the greatest effect.

Researcher Katariina Kallio, MD, says it is increasingly evident that secondhand smoke exposure poses a significant health risk to children.

“This certainly suggests that there is no safe level of exposure,� she tells WebMD. “We don’t know what this means for their future, but studies in adults suggest these changes may not be totally reversible.�

Cardiovascular Impact
Kallio and colleagues from Finland’s University of Turku measured levels of the nicotine marker cotinine in the blood of children between the ages of 8 and 11 to determine their exposure to environmental tobacco smoke.

They assessed blood vessel health using an ultrasound testing method previously used to measure artery function in adults.

Of the 402 children enrolled in the study, 229 showed no evidence of exposure to secondhand smoke, while 134 showed evidence of low exposure and 39 showed evidence of high exposure.

Ultrasound testing revealed that exposure to environmental tobacco smoke negatively affected artery function and that the effect grew with increased exposure.

The study is published in the latest issue of the American Heart Association (AHA) publication Circulation.

“There is already a lot of evidence that secondhand smoke is harmful to children,� Kallio says. “Hopefully, parents who are still smoking around their children will stop.�

Read more by clicking above.

Smoking, Adult Second hand smoke, kids hearts

Smoking, Adult Second hand smoke, kids hearts

A sculpture/fountain on the waterfront where there was more food vendors from “Taste of Omaha” and where the entertainment stage was at.

On our way to waking towards the sand sculptures, we saw the Omaha RiverBelle (I think thats what it was called). A dad and son waved to us from the deck, of course, we waved back.

Another pic of the paddle boat

Omaha commissioned artists to create/decorate these huge O!’s around Omaha. See the Omaha blog here on the 451 network for more information.

Another pic of the O! with someone standing near, for perspective.

The first sand sculpure is that childhood game “Operation”

The Scupture. It’s a bit blury, but was taking it with my Nokia 9500.

The bits and bobs you take out.

Thats it for today. If you’re enjoying these, let me know!

Taste of Omaha, Omaha Sand Sculpture

Taste of Omaha, Omaha Sand Sculpture

RealAge.com has this great article:

Lining up that colorful pile of prescribed pills each day may seem like a hassle, but think of them as your lucky poker chips.

And they increase your odds of a longer, healthier life — research confirms it. People who follow their doctors’ medication orders to a “T” could cut their mortality risk in half.

Is It the Pills?
Although people who comply with their medication programs appear to live longer than people who don’t, it’s not entirely clear if the pills make the difference or if pill takers just have a healthier lifestyle overall. Researchers suspect that faithful pill poppers also do other good things for themselves, like eat right, exercise, and get their recommended screening exams.

To read more, click above.

[tag]pills, health[/tag

This past weekend Omaha had several events in the downtown area. For those of you who follow my writing blog will know what those events were.

For those of you who are thinking “What writing blog” (see http://360.yahoo.com/cwbybrick), I posted there about these events last Friday. Every afternoon post this week, I’ll post several pics and try to describe what they are.

This is the little park in Omaha’s downtown area, very beautiful with tree-lined sidewalks up above on all four sides.

This another view from one walking bridge to another across the lake to the far end.

This is the south side tree-lined sidewalk I was talking about. A friend and I were extremely lucky to find a great parking space downtown on a saturday morning.

This arch has nothing to do with the festivals, I just thought it was a great piece of architectural history from Omaha’s past.

This edifice-enhancing piece was attached to the side of a buildind in the middle of the Farmers Market. If you look closely, there is a stream of water spouting out of the lions mouth. Very chic, lol.

This the front to the ConAgra campus (Omaha is ConAgra’s HQ). A great omen to the Omaha Food Festival!

This is heiffer is to announce the Roberts Dairy tent (which had a great frozen mocha-cookies & cream shake).

Thats it for today! More coming tomorrow afternoon.

What’s in a name?

RealAge.com has this litle article about the heart-healthy benefits of this little gem:

Some Say Prunes, Some Say Dried Plums

Either way, this is one wrinkle you want in your morning oatmeal.

Why? To give heart troubles a one-two knockout punch. Fiber-rich oatmeal protects your heart by helping control blood fats, and it seems dried plums have heart-friendly attributes, too.
Plum Choice
You might know dried plums best for their ability to get your bowels moving. But they can help your heart and arteries work better, too. They’re chock-full of antioxidants (phenols) that have a reputation for stopping bad things from happening in your

arteries — like plaque ruptures that could lead to a heart attack or stroke.

More to Love
Prunes also abound with fiber, potassium , and boron and copper. The sugars in prunes also appear to be safe for blood-sugar watchers.

Recipe Corner
Dried plums aren’t just for breakfast. Try them in this Wild Rice Salad, a tasty recipe from EatingWell.

Prunes, Dried Plums, Heart health

Prunes, Dried Plums, Heart health

Smaller portions over a longer mealtime, is the key, according to the French to lose weight and keep it off.

From msnbc.com:

Obesity is far less common in France than in the United States, and some researchers contend that smaller French portions are a key reason.

Some Americans might assume they will feel deprived with smaller portions, but cross-cultural studies suggest we might find portion control surprisingly easy if we adopted some French eating customs and philosophies.

The contrast in obesity between France and the U.S. is dramatic: 32 percent of American adults are obese compared to 11 percent of French adults. The French are more physically active than Americans, which may account for part of this weight difference, but smaller portions in France also lead to lower calorie consumption.

Petite portions
Studies at Penn State University and Cornell University have demonstrated repeatedly that when we are served larger portions, we eat more. Paul Rozin, a psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania, has completed several preliminary studies comparing portion sizes in Paris and Philadelphia. Rozin and colleagues set up comparisons of restaurants in the two cities, matching restaurants by location, price and type of food. The restaurants compared were either the same chain or parallel types, including fast food, Chinese, pizza, bistros and ice cream. Researchers weighed portions of similar foods served in each restaurant. In 10 out of 11 restaurants, French portions were smaller than Philadelphia portions by an average of 25 percent.

Read more by clicking above.

weight loss, French eating habits, American Obesity

weight loss, French eating habits, American Obesity