Nutrition Corner

12 high-fat foods you should avoid and 12 you should eat regularly: Looking at nutrition labels can be confusing, as foods with high amounts of total fat won’t necessarily make you fat.

Fatty food before surgery may impair memory in old, young adults: Eating fatty food in the days leading up to surgery may prompt a heightened inflammatory response in the brain that interferes for weeks with memory-related cognitive function in older adults.

Recipe for The Day

A Healthy Dalgona Coffee Recipe This Nutritionist Loves: Registered dietitian and plant-based diet specialist Cynthia Sass shares her healthy dalgona coffee recipe with vegan and dairy-free ingredients, like oat milk, coconut sugar, and maple syrup.

Lifestyle & Fitness Focus

Tips to get more sunlight in the morning

• Rise with the sun: Waking up around sunrise can be a game-changer for your sleep. Aim to wake up early and catch the first rays of sun to help regulate your circadian rhythm.

• Open your curtains and blinds: One easy way of maximizing natural light in your home is to open your blinds and curtains. This allows the sunlight to provide a natural wake-up signal for your body.

• Do outdoor activities in the morning: Whether it's going for a brisk walk or just stretching on your patio, exposure to natural light and physical activity can help you wake up naturally.

• Eat breakfast by a window: If your time is limited in the morning and you just can't find 15 extra minutes to get sunlight, try having your breakfast or coffee near a window.

4 Health Benefits of Spinach

• Protects against diseases: Spinach has a variety of antioxidants, including carotenoids like beta-carotene and lutein. These natural chemicals (phytochemicals) protect plants — and you — from bacteria, fungi, parasites and viruses. Antioxidants minimize the damaging effects of free radicals.

• Lowers blood pressure: The high potassium levels in spinach (two-thirds of a cup has close to 600 milligrams) relaxes blood vessels and lowers blood pressure. Potassium also helps your kidneys get rid of extra sodium. High blood pressure and excess sodium can lead to heart disease, stroke and kidney damage.

• Boosts brain health: Spinach can keep your mind sharp. One study found that eating a half-cup serving of cooked spinach or other leafy greens every day slows age-related memory changes. The high levels of antioxidants, folate and phylloquinone (a form of vitamin K found in leafy greens) help protect brain cells.

• Improves gut health: Two-thirds of a cup of raw spinach has close to 2 grams of insoluble fiber. Your body can’t easily break down this type of fiber, so you feel full longer. Fiber also adds bulk to stools, helping prevent constipation.

Science-Backed Tips For How To Wake Yourself Up

• Wake Up Easier - the Circadian Rhythm—Chronotype Cycle: Your circadian rhythm, or biological clock, controls how you operate best within a 24-hour period. It also influences your chronotype. (2) It also moderates the timing of your natural inclination to sleep and how alert you are when awake. Various behavioral, environmental, and genetic factors may determine chronotypes. (3) Once you know yours, not only will waking up be easier, but your productivity may also improve.

• Upgrade Your Alarm Clock: Research ebbs and flows as to the benefits of alarm clocks, but most of us still rely on them to get up on time or avoid sleeping in on the morning of a big presentation. Although alarms are considered one of the more reliable ways for adhering to a schedule or how to wake up early when we need to, they don’t have to be annoying.

• Skip the Snooze Button: Hitting the snooze button is stressful for the cardiovascular system and doesn’t promote sleep quality. Those extra minutes don’t allow for a complete sleep cycle, often leading to waking up more tired or groggy as the sleep cycle was incomplete or in the middle of REM sleep. This grogginess you feel immediately after waking is called sleep inertia. It usually lasts 30 minutes to an hour.

• Splash Your Face With Cold Water: A brisk rinse first thing in the morning increases circulation in your face, boosts oxygen levels, and prompts more alertness. This might also be helpful when you’re slipping into an afternoon slump.

Want A Toned Stomach In 2024? 5 Exercises Trainers Say Work Better Than Crunches

• Planks: You may dread them, but let’s face it: they’re highly effective. Any fitness expert will praise the power of a good old plank. Planks engage the entire core, including the deep abdominal muscles, improving posture and stability. So fight through the burn and hold that plank—it will be worth it in the end!

• Russian Twists: If you’re bored of crunches, it might be time to kick things up a notch with some Russian twists. This exercise targets the obliques and helps develop rotational strength, contributing to a toned and defined midsection.

• Leg Raises: Leg raises are another fantastic choice to add to your fitness routine if you’re working towards a flatter belly and toned abs. This is an especially optimal exercise when compared to crunches, because, leg raises primarily work the lower abdominals, an area often neglected by traditional crunches. And those lower abs are important!

• Bicycle Crunches: Okay, so this one does technically have “crunches” in the name, but it’s a special variation that can take you so much closer to your fitness goals by ensuring you work all parts of your abdominals. Bicycle crunches provide a comprehensive abdominal workout, targeting the upper abs, lower abs, and obliques.

• Mountain Climbers: This one can really get your heart pumping, but the results are well worth it when you make mountain climbers a regular part of your workout routine. They’re especially good for aiding weight loss so that you can blast fat while toning your abs. Mountain climbers are a great cardio move that also intensely targets the core, increasing heart rate and burning calories while strengthening abdominal muscles.

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