Nutrition Corner

Top Health Benefits of Eating Watermelon: Watermelon is a delicious low calorie treat with numerous benefits.

Brown Rice - Nutrition, Calories, and Benefits: Brown rice is a whole grain that is healthy for your heart and helps regulate blood sugar.

Recipe for The Day

Avocado egg salad sandwich: This filling is great on whole wheat pitas, on top of a salad or on its own. Stuck in a lunchtime rut? This savory sandwich has just the right amount of umami to add some excitement to your midday meal.

Lifestyle & Fitness Focus

TOP BENEFITS OF CUCUMBER IN SUMMER

• Treats heat stroke: There are very few things as cooling as a cucumber during extreme weather conditions. It is used as a home remedy for heat stroke patients to reduce the heat of their body. Slices of cucumber are kept on head of the people with heat stroke for relief.

• . Weight loss: Cucumber is an excellent snack during summer season being low in calorie and rich in fibre. It can also help nourish the body with a variety of antioxidants and flavonoids.

• Soothes eyes: If your eyes are tired due to heat or they are puffy, keeping a cucumber slice for 10-15 minutes can relieve the strain and help your eyes feel refreshed.

• Hydration: Considering it is high in water content, having cucumber can prevent dehydration and also provide give relief from the summer heat.

Introducing Galangal, Ginger's Super-Spice Cousin That Helps Lower Inflammation

• Includes Antioxidants: Galangal is particularly rich in a group of antioxidants called polyphenols that studies have linked to helping with cognition by improving memory and lowering your LDL cholesterol (that's the bad kind), which helps to combat heart disease and also helps to lower blood sugar, which combats the onset of diabetes.

• Contains Anti-Inflammatory and Antifungal Properties: Galangal also has been shown to have both anti-inflammatory and antifungal properties, meaning it helps to lower inflammation that leads to joint pain in the body while also protecting the body against harmful microorganisms and bacteria.

• Helps Improve Male Fertility: Some research suggests that consuming galangal root may also boost male fertility. However, existing research has come from animal or test-tube studies and there currently are very few published studies directly tying galangal root to these benefits in humans. Therefore, more robust scientific research is necessary to draw any firm conclusions.

• Contains Active, Cancer-Fighting Compounds: Test-tube studies have found that galangin, a type of flavonoid found in galangal root, as well as other properties present in the spice, has some promising anti-cancer effects on a number of different types of cancer, including melanoma, pancreatic cancer, hepatoma, colon cancer, and more. It may also have an antiproliferative effect on leukemia.9 More research conducted on humans is needed to determine whether these active compounds do in fact help prevent and stop the spread of certain cancer cells.

4 Tips for Exercising When You're Not in the Mood to Work Out

• Dig Into Your Why — Particularly the Immediate Payoff: It bears repeating: If you’re only exercising because you think you should, you’ll rarely be in the mood. But paying attention to the tangible and more immediate gains (like a lifted mood or feeling a sense of accomplishment or more energized) compared with the longer-term ones (even the very valid ones, like longevity, disease prevention, and weight management) can mean that you’ll be motivated to work out more often than not because you’ll likely reap those benefits during the exercise itself, some research suggests.

• Ask Yourself, Why Not?: Saying you’re not in the mood to work out is often a guise for procrastination, Chertok says. So ask yourself: What am I trying to avoid? Physical discomfort? Judgment from others at the gym? The necessity of showering once it’s over? Once you can name the real reason you’re not in the mood, you can address it. Maybe you remind yourself that progress only comes from discomfort, plan to wear something that makes you feel more confident, or simply invest in dry shampoo.

• Prioritize Workouts You Genuinely Enjoy: If someone is struggling to come to class consistently, it’s often because that particular workout doesn’t light them up, explains Cesar Vasquez, a NASM-certified personal trainer and Les Mills national presenter based in Somerset, New Jersey. “I may direct them to something they enjoy,” he says, like a dance class instead of strength training or a mindfulness-centered workout like yoga instead of high-intensity interval training.

• Focus on Just Getting Started: Identify the first few steps to get started with your workout and commit to them. Maybe you tie your shoes, do a few jumping jacks, or start the car. “Play music from your favorite playlist or have a pre-workout snack that you enjoy,” Ryan says. “Build a habit that signals your body into action, staving off the necessity of calling upon willpower.” Once you get started, you’ll likely want to continue. “The reality is that motivation often comes after starting something, not before,” Chertok says.

Tips for How to Lower Your Resting Heart Rate

• Exercise Consistently: Engaging in regular physical activity, especially aerobic exercise, makes your heart stronger. Cardio workouts like walking, running, swimming, and cycling improve cardiovascular health and your baseline fitness.

• Try Mind-Body Exercise: Mind-body exercises like yoga and tai chi won’t strengthen your heart muscle in the way that more vigorous exercise does, but these forms of movement are valid ways to lower your resting heart rate. Such exercises have been linked to improved heart rate variability and lower blood pressure, at least in the short term. A long-term mind-body practice may reduce daily stress, which in turn may reduce your resting heart rate.

• Spend Time Outdoors: Spending time in nature is associated with a variety of improved mental and physical health markers, including heart rate. In fact, even watching videos of nature has been shown to improve heart rate variability and reduce stress, according to a 2022 study in Frontiers in Psychology. Getting outside for a walk is a great way to strengthen your heart and enjoy the relaxing properties of nature.

• Minimize Caffeine and Nicotine: Caffeine and nicotine both act as stimulants. A stimulant is a type of drug that amps up the nervous system and causes several physiological responses, including an increase in heart rate. Research suggests that large doses of caffeine can cause your heart to beat faster temporarily. However, if you’re in otherwise good heart health, you may not have to worry if you’re not exceeding a maximum daily dose of 400 milligrams.

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