Relieving Knee Pain, Happier You, and Exercises For Heart Health

Nutrition Corner

Nutrition meets cancer therapy: How gut microbiome and diet impact immunotherapy success.

IFT First: Understanding sugar reduction as a key food process in improving nutrition.

Recipe for The Day

The Sweet Breakfast Treat That Can Help You Lose Weight: While this recipe is great to share with friends, it's just as delicious if you're eating solo. Simply divide all the ingredients by four for a single-serving portion.

Lifestyle & Fitness Focus

How to Improve Your Gut Health in 5 Easy Steps

• Sleep More, Stress Less: While a no-brainer for allover health, getting adequate sleep and controlling stress play a pivotal part in keeping your gut in check.

• Add Probiotics to Your Diet: Probiotics are live “good” bacteria and yeasts that keep your digestive system balanced and your body functioning properly. There are probiotic-rich foods, from cultured veggies, like sauerkraut or kimchi, to fermented drinks like kefir and kombucha.

• Try a Gut-Resetting Cleanse: If you want to upend your diet in one fell swoop but find yourself in need of professional help, a targeted meal-delivery plan may be the answer.

• Drink More Water and Decaffeinated Tea: Our bodies need water for skin health, immunity, and energy, but also to push things along through digestion.

• Exercise Regularly—But Especially When You’re Bloated: According to a recent study conducted by researchers in Italy, exercise can enhance the number of beneficial microbial species and enrich microflora diversity in the gut, improving overall health and preventing disease in the long run.

4 Types of Exercise for Heart Health

• Brisk Walking - There may be no friendlier exercise for the heart than walking, simply because it’s convenient, low-impact, easy to do with friends, equipment-free, and literally free. All you need is a supportive pair of walking shoes and a safe place to walk.

• Yoga - Yoga has been shown to lower blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol levels, and heart rate.

• High-Intensity Exercise - The most common form of high-intensity exercise is interval training, which involves alternating between periods of hard, heart-pumping work and recovery.

• Strength training - Not only does it build and maintain muscle mass, which can decrease with age, lifting weights can also reduce your risk for heart attack or stroke.

Six wellness tips for a happier and healthier you

• Find an exercise routine that works for you: Physical activity helps blood circulation, improves the immune system, and stabilises mental health. Not every exercise routine works for everybody, so ma

• Practice good sleep habits: It is crucial for the body to repair itself physically and mentally, and getting regular and restful sleep plays a critical role in achieving this.

• Schedule regular checkups: Visit your healthcare provider regularly, even when you feel healthy. They will evaluate your physical and mental health, assess any illness symptoms and identify potential risks during your visits.

• Eat well: When grocery shopping, purchase fresh produce, lean proteins, nuts and seeds, and whole grains. Be sure to avoid processed and sugary snacks. Instead, choose healthier alternatives like fruits, yoghurt, oatmeal, or nuts.

• Take time for self-care: Prioritising your mental health is essential, especially when life feels overwhelming. Taking time for yourself and practising self-care can help reduce mental and physical stress.

• Maintain A healthy gut: Adding probiotics to your diet can assist in achieving this goal. To ensure optimal gut health and minimise the chances of infections, include probiotics in your diet. Probiotics are live bacteria that promote a balanced microbiota in the gut, enhancing the digestive process.

5 Simple stretches to relieve knee pain

Every age group is susceptible to knee pain, which impairs mobility and interferes with everyday activities. Thankfully, easy stretches can bring about long-lasting comfort and enhance knee health. Use these stretches as part of your routine to increase knee mobility and promote general knee health.

• Quadriceps stretch - The quadriceps femoris group, a collection of four muscles at the front of the leg, is the main focus of the quadriceps stretch. These muscles are essential for both leg stability and knee extension. The quadriceps can be stretched to increase flexibility, lessen muscular tension and relieve knee pain.

• Hamstring stretch - The semitendinosus, semimembranosus and biceps femoris muscles are among the back of the thigh muscles that are targeted by the hamstring stretch. These muscles are crucial for hip extension and knee flexion. Hamstring stretching eases stiffness, improves flexibility and eases pressure on the knee joint.

• IT band stretch - The iliotibial (IT) band, a substantial band of connective tissue that runs down the outside of the thigh, is the goal of the IT band stretch. Inflammation or tightness in the IT band may be a factor in knee pain. Increasing flexibility, releasing stress and enhancing knee mechanics are all benefits of IT band stretching.

• Calf stretch - The gastrocnemius and soleus muscles of the calf are the focus of the calf stretch. These muscles support the knee joint when engaging in weight-bearing exercises and are crucial for ankle mobility. Calf stretching helps to loosen up the muscles, improve flexibility and take some of the pressure off the knee.

• Glute stretch - The gluteus maximus and gluteus medius muscles, which are essential for hip stability and general lower body mechanics, are the focus of the glute stretch. Knee discomfort may be exacerbated by tightness or muscular imbalance in the glutes. Stretching the glutes improves hip mobility, eases knee pain and helps to relieve tension in the muscles.