Encouraging Health

It may not get the fanfare that other nutrients do, but this mineral is a stress-fighting superstar: magnesium.

As your freak-out level rises, your need for magnesium jumps as well, according to Amy Wechsler, MD, RealAge skin expert and author of The Mind-Beauty Connection. Get at least 400 milligrams a day to soothe an overactive stress-response system.

Mighty Magnesium
You can get the magnesium you need from foods like soymilk, black beans, poultry, and halibut — or you can pop a supplement. If you don’t get enough magnesium, it may elevate your levels of substance P, a chemical that promotes pain and also plays a role in your skin’s stress response (yes, stress attacks your skin, too). So the bonus of getting enough is that you’ll feel better and look better.

Another Stress-Fighting Hero
Along with magnesium, zinc is another workhorse nutrient you need to zap stress and look and feel your best, notes Wechsler. And you may not be getting enough if you are a vegetarian, take calcium or iron supplements, or are trying to lose weight. You want at least 12 milligrams per day, but no more than 15. A possible sign that you’re low: itchy and flaky skin.

Are You Thinking Zinc?

Getting enough zinc in your diet can help boost your antioxidant levels.

Research suggests that zinc may help ward off cancer, macular degeneration, and other chronic conditions by functioning as an antioxidant. Get your RealAge Optimum dose of zinc — 12 milligrams per day — by filling up on zinc-rich foods such as enriched bran flakes, dark turkey meat, and black-eyed peas.

Got a cut or a deep scrape? Make sure you’re getting enough zinc. Your body needs zinc to form new cells, an especially important process if you’re recovering from a flesh wound. The RealAge Optimum dose for zinc is 12 milligrams, which is higher than the U.S. government recommended daily dose of 11 mg per day for men and 8 mg per day for women. Too much zinc can be toxic, however, so don’t go overboard. Some early evidence suggests taking zinc lozenges may shorten the duration of colds, but more research is needed to confirm the effect. In a recent study, researchers determined zinc has potent antioxidant powers as well. Zinc is found in beans, nuts, whole grains, fortified breakfast cereals, yogurt and other dairy products, meats such as turkey, ham, and chicken, and seafood such as oysters and lobster.

Does cancer or any other disease run in your family? Then get with this 3-step program.

Step 1: Eat right. That means a plant-based diet like this:

Getting Off the Cow
Reducing the amount of red meat in your diet can be easy with these tips.

Cutting back on red meat makes good health sense and makes your RealAge younger. Studies show that eating too much red meat can increase your risk of many chronic health conditions. But what kind of nutrition hole is created when you limit red meat in your diet? The truth is, it’s easy to miss out on important nutrients when you cut back on a major food source. So, when you cut back on red meat, make a balanced eating plan to help ensure you don’t shortchange yourself on important nutrients such as protein, vitamins B12 and D, calcium, iron, and zinc.

Step 2: Walk on. Clock at least 30 minutes a day. Here’s an easy way to get started.

Walking Off Fat — Fast!

How the simple act of walking can get your waist where you want it — and quickly

Saying you’re too heavy to exercise is like saying you’re too skinny to eat. Your body needs exercise just the way your body needs food. And walking may be one of the best-kept secrets of weight loss. Many people who have succeeded in losing a lot say that walking every day was a key factor.

No matter how overweight you are, you can do something to start the process of losing fat, strengthening your bones, and relieving your joints of the load that they’re carrying. Just follow our six steps to the perfect walking program, and you’ll be walking off the fat in no time.

Step 3: Decompress. Spend 60 minutes a day destressing. And weekly talk therapy may be key, too. Here’s how to decompress:

1. ID the source of your stress. Some sources of stress are easy to point the finger at, but are they really what’s bothering you? Lashing out at your kids, for example, may be a reaction not to what your kids just did but to an extra assignment piled on at work. The first step to managing stress: pinpointing the true culprit.

2. Focus on the moment. Being mindful — really paying attention to the present, not the past or the future — can help you manage stress. Spend some time every day noticing the things most people tend to ignore — like breathing, bodily sensations, and emotions.

3. Look after your health. Stress is much more manageable when the other aspects of your life — from general health to sleep patterns to eating habits — are in good order. When you don’t get enough sleep, for instance, your body produces more stress hormones, making you more vulnerable to the damaging effects of stress. Evaluate what areas in your life need attention, and work on fixes.

4. Do a Workout. Or walk for 30 minutes, stretch, do yoga — just get up and move! Exercise is one of life’s greatest stress relievers. Try it.

5. Do the opposite. Every emotion has an “urge to act” that goes with it. When we feel afraid or anxious, we avoid things; when we’re depressed or sad, we withdraw; when we’re angry, we’re tempted to lash out or yell. Unfortunately, each of these behaviors actually makes things worse. But if you can do the opposite action, you may make things better. Worried about something? Tackle it instead of ignoring it. Angry at someone? Don’t lash out, be empathetic. Depressed? Go out rather than shutting yourself in.

6. Focus on your muscles. By tensing and relaxing your muscles, you can help relieve some of the physical stress that’s stored in your body. Start at the bottom: Tense the muscles of your feet and then relax them. Tense and relax the different muscle groups of your body one at a time — your legs, stomach, back, neck, arms, face, and head. And breathe.

Live near a busy intersection? Dig your downloaded iTunes? Then lowering your blood pressure (BP) may be as easy as shutting the window or turning down your player.

Too much noise exposure correlates with a steady rise in blood pressure. Makes sense. Loud sounds are known to stimulate the pituitary-adrenal cortical system.

Lay Off the Loudness
Heart rate basically soars in response to sudden loud sounds, like slamming doors or honking horns. But a gradual rise in noise hurts, too. In a study of assembly plant workers, the higher the volume got, the higher their blood pressure rose. Simple earplug use was enough to drop systolic blood pressure as much as 5.5 mm Hg. So just imagine what turning down your car stereo could do!

3 More Blood Pressure Points

Noise isn’t the only thing that can boost your blood pressure. Here are some other culprits to attend to:

Squishiness. Yeah, you know what we mean. Ward off high blood pressure with this easy buff-body workout that uses your own body as the gym. See the workout HERE!

Potato chips. You aren’t doing your blood pressure any favors with high-calorie, nutrition-poor snacks that pack on pounds.

Recent research shows that a diet with ample amounts of vegetable protein, such as the protein found in sunflower seeds, may help keep blood pressure down. A diet high in animal protein offered no such benefit in the study. Stock up on sunflower seeds, cashews, and kidney beans to get your fill of blood pressure-lowering veggie protein.

Increasing your intake of fresh vegetables provides you with fiber and disease-fighting nutrients. Vegetable-rich diets may help reduce the risk of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and certain types of cancer. Results of a new study suggest eating a diet high in vegetable protein may help lower blood pressure, though it’s not known how vegetable protein creates this effect. The unique protein composition or mineral content of vegetables may play a role. Exercising regularly, reducing stress, and limiting salt intake if you are salt sensitive will help you get a handle on your blood pressure as well.

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Getting older really gets a bad rap. It turns out you’ll have a lot to smile about.

That’s because you’ll actually be happier, despite gray hairs or wrinkles. A three-decades-long survey confirms it: Your odds of scoring well on a happiness scale increase about 5 percent every decade.

With Age Comes . . .
There’s one major advantage to getting older (at least for most of us!), and that’s maturity. Researchers suspect that it’s maturity that enriched people’s lives and boosted their happy factor in a recent study — even when faced with health concerns or lost relationships. Know what else helped ensure happiness in the study? Education.

Why Wait!

But you don’t have to wait until you’re gray to get happy. Put yourself on the love-your-life path today with some simple life changes:

Sweat it. Yep, working that body of yours turns the fretting volume waaay down.

Train yourself to think good thoughts. Your attitude affects your health.

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Despite a likely travel slowdown, millions take to the roads for Fourth

High gas prices and the hassles of air travel may put a damper on many vacations this summer, but don’t expect the Fourth of July weekend to fizzle out. Despite the likelihood of a long-term travel slowdown, millions of Americans are taking to the roads and skies over the holiday.

According to AAA’s annual forecast, 40.45 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more over the Fourth. That represents a 1.3 percent drop from last year and the first decline in 10 years.

The decline, however, may be muted because the Fourth falls on a Friday this year, making this a true holiday weekend. Instead of travel getting split between the weekend before and after a midweek Fourth, much of it will be concentrated in a single extended weekend.

Hitting the road — just not as hard
According to AAA, more than 34.2 million Americans (almost 85 percent of the total) intend to travel by automobile, a 1.2 percent decrease from last year. That follows on the heels of the organization’s Memorial Day forecast, which predicted that the number of Americans traveling by car during that holiday would drop by nearly one percent.

Meanwhile, gas prices have climbed only higher since then. On Thursday, the average retail price for regular gas was $4.10 per gallon, according to AAA. That’s not only up 16 cents from Memorial Day, but $1.13 higher than this time last year. The federal Energy Information Administration projects the price will peak at $4.15 in August — which is not to suggest that people won’t travel, but rather, that they’ll modify their plans to counter rising costs.

What are your plans for this weekend and today?

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