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Healthier Heart, Hot Yoga Benefits, and An Overhyped Diet
4 Best Thigh Exercises You Can Do at Home for Amazing Results
As Dry January ends, what's next? Here's what to consider about drinking again, staying sober for good, or just extending your break.
— CBS News (@CBSNews)
3:30 AM • Feb 2, 2024
Nutrition Corner
12 acai bowl benefits that will make you want to eat this everyday: Acai bowls, with their fruit and granola content, are a great source of this essential nutrient.
9 High-Fiber Snack Ideas That Are Healthy and Satisfying: There's no time like snack time for eating more fiber.
Recipe for The Day
Cucumber Salmon Bites Are a Quick Snack You'll Want to Make Again and Again: Look no further for your impromptu snack—these 3-ingredient cucumber salmon bites are a surefire hit.
Lifestyle & Fitness Focus
Butternut Squash: Benefits
Promotes Eye Health: You may remember being told to eat carrots to protect your eyes as a kid, but carrots aren’t the only food that supports your eye health. Butternut squash shares similar nutrients beneficial for your eyes, particularly vitamin A in the form of beta-carotene. It’s what gives butternut squash its orange color.
Reduces Chronic Disease and Cancer Risk: Butternut squash is a plant food packed with fiber, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. As a result, it may help prevent against chronic disease. Fiber is a nutrient many Americans don’t consume enough of, yet it’s associated with a decreased risk of cardiovascular disease and better blood sugar control.
Supports Skin Health: The antioxidants in butternut squash, particularly vitamin C, are also essential for skin health. Eating enough vitamin C is key because a vitamin C deficiency can cause fragile skin, poor wound healing, and bleeding gums. Furthermore, vitamin C works with vitamin E to protect your skin against harmful UV rays. It’s also necessary to form collagen—a protein that gives your skin its structure and elasticity.
Promotes Digestive Health: One cup of butternut squash contains 10% of the daily value (DV) of fiber. Fiber is linked with better gut health and bowel regularity, and most Americans could stand to eat more of it.4 Eating enough fiber and prebiotic-rich foods can also help foster a healthy gut microbiome.
3 Benefits of Hot Yoga:
It makes you more flexible: The temperatures are usually up to 105 degrees Fahrenheit, and the warmer room will make it easier for your muscles to stretch. The steamy temps allow you to increase their range of motion and stretch deeper within each pose since heat makes muscles more pliable.
It’s intense, in a good way: As an added challenge, the heat in a hot yoga studio will make your heart pump way faster, because it needs to push more blood toward the skin in an effort to keep you feeling cool. And more heart-pumping means a better cardio workout than you'd get doing the same yoga sequence in a cooler setting.
It helps kick stress to the curb: Okay, yeah, regular yoga practiced in air conditioning can help you chill out, but the heat’s an added bonus. Usually, hot yoga makes you focus on your breathing more since it’s sweltering in those rooms. Plus, breathing deeper is key to relaxation and stress-relief.
You Can Actually Drink Kava Root And Here's Why You Should
Kava root can reduce stress and excessive alcohol consumption: Kava root is known to promote feelings of euphoria and full-body relaxation. The active ingredients in kava root, called kavalactones, stimulate the same areas of the brain that anti-depressant and anti-anxiety medications target. Although there is still much research to be conducted, kava root offers a unique holistic approach to treating depression and even chronic pain and insomnia.
Euphoria: The sensation one feels when drinking Kava is what we like to call diet euphoria. Due to the kavalactones, which have slight psychotropic effects, you will undoubtedly find yourself in an airier mindset—it might even seem like a slight haze
Anxiety: Kava may help with anxiety, particularly kava extracts that contain 70 percent kavalactones.
4 Best Thigh Exercises You Can Do at Home for Amazing Results
Glute bridge with Bands and Abduction: This movement is a great way to activate the hamstrings, glutes and core without putting extra pressure on your lower back.
Side Squat with Elastic Bands: This banded exercise will activate your glutes, your quadriceps and of course your thigh.
Sumo Deadlift: This is a popular variation on the conventional deadlift because the wider stance and foot placement target the inner thighs.
Kettlebell Swing: It is one of the most popular kettlebell exercises. It is ideal for working your legs and thighs.
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