Sculpted Legs, Soothing Heartburn, and A Mother's Diet

Nutrition Corner

Get past its spines and reap health benefits from the prickly pear cactus

A Mother's Diet Can Protect Her Grandchildren's Brains: Genetic Model Study

Recipe for The Day

Anti-Inflammatory Breakfast Smoothie: This mango green smoothie gets bright tart flavor from frozen passion fruit, and inflammation-fighting benefits from fresh kale. Dates add natural sweetness without added sugar. While cilantro may not be a typical smoothie ingredient, we love the herbal notes it adds to this smoothie. Feel free to leave it out if that's not your thing—it's just as delicious without.

Lifestyle & Fitness Focus

6 Ways to Sit Less and Move More Each Day

• Use Your Phone to Add Activity at Work: One easy way to reduce your sitting time is to set an alarm on your phone to remind you to stretch at your desk for a few minutes every hour.

• Make Counting Your Steps Easy: Tracking your steps with your phone, a no-frills pedometer, or a fitness tracker.

• Take the Stairs Up or Down: If you want a NEAT activity that really pays dividends, take the stairs whenever possible.

• Make Chores More Fun by Dancing: Amp up the calorie burn by turning on some music to add extra pep to your step as you vacuum, iron, and tidy up around the apartment or house.

• Carry Your Groceries Home: Combine strength training and errands on your next trip to the store: If you live within walking distance of your market, see whether you can carry the groceries in your arms rather than a cart.

• Fidget With Your Feet: Toe tapping and raising your heels while seated are not only NEAT exercises, they also work the muscles in the lower legs, and may even help prevent arterial disease.

3 mental health tips for extra hard days

• Find a therapist or mental health professional: Mental health professionals said finding a trusted mental health therapist is the first step.

• Identify healthy coping strategies that work for you: For some people, coping may look like running a marathon, and for others, it might be binge-watching a show in bed.

• Know your adverse childhood experiences: Many people have experiences in childhood that include traumatic events, neglect, or abuse that may have contributed to mental health diagnoses later in life.

6 stomach-soothing steps for heartburn

• Eat smaller meals, but more often: A full stomach puts pressure on the lower esophageal sphincter (LES), a valve-like muscle that keeps stomach acid from backing up into the esophagus.

• Eat in a slow, relaxed manner: Wolfing down your food fills your stomach faster, putting more pressure on the LES.

• Remain upright after meals: Lying down increases pressure on the LES, which makes acid reflux more likely.

• Avoid late-night eating: Eating a meal or snack within three hours of lying down to sleep can worsen reflux and heartburn symptoms. Leave enough time for the stomach to clear out.

• Don't exercise immediately after meals: Give your stomach time to empty; wait a couple of hours after eating before exercising.

• Stay away from carbonated beverages: They cause belching, which promotes reflux of stomach acid.

4 Best Calf Exercises For Strong, Sculpted Legs From Trainer

With a little consistency, you can build strength and increase your calf size.

• Calf Raise: Calf raises are a simple classic exercise that you can do anywhere and are great for targeting the gastrocnemius muscle. Plus, calf raises are a great way to improve your balance since they work on building ankle strength and stability.

• Squat To Heel Raise: This move is a great option for warming-up since it requires you to turn the foot outward which helps to wake up the calves and legs in a different movement pattern. Adding external rotation can also be healthy for us because most people only ever exercise in a sagittal plane.

• Isometric Calf Raise: An isometric calf raise makes us hold at the top to feel the burn which gives us better results. If you’re looking to level-up, try increasing the time you hold the move at the top, to make it a time under tension exercise, which is a super effective way to push through a plateau and build your body awareness.

• Turned Out Calf Raise: Just like the squat to raised heel exercise, this move forces external rotation of the foot but also increases the difficulty by forcing us to raise up off the floor. Additionally, the external rotation is great for stability in the foot.