Marry someone smart for your health

If you're a guy and interested in living longer you may want to read this.

Marry a smart woman. I'm not throwing in a man card here but according to an article on Times Online, Swedish scientists have discovered that men married to smart women tend to live longer. Before we go further, it should be noted that this article was written by a woman or at least with somewhat anti-male sentiments. So this entire article could be bogus, but no one ever says, "hey i want to marry a girl who who is so dumb that if you asked her to boil an egg she would not know to add water first. Yes you can laugh cause this happened to a friend of mine who married girl like this just cause she was hot. Hot diminishes, stupid can last forever.

There is an interesting point although this article gives absolutely no research to back it up, but rather goes on a bit of a rant of having to look after a man.

Basically, a smart woman keeps her man in check. She makes sure he eats right, exercises properly (for example suggesting yoga over doing bench presses), and keeps warm in the winter while not doing too many stupid things like lighting fires in a tent.

There is some soundness to the argument. I would weigh bets more heavily that forcing a healthier diet on her husband is the main reason while keeping him out of trouble comes far behind as second.

A healthy diet is everything, and from being around some smart woman myself, we (yes I'm going to include myself in this one) do try to eat right. Our habits may not always come out as so, but we do know a lot about proper nutrtion. I'd bet you could pick any educated female off the street and ask her why fiber is important in our diet, and she'd be able to tell you. Ask a guy the same question, there will be some who can answer it, but there's a probably a good chunk out there who could care less.

Not to make any sweeping generalizations, but I think better educated people in general make better health choices.

So are females really that much better at making healthy decisions than men? Or are they just more cleaver at getting us to do stuff and we are not aware of it until it's done?

Fun will make you lose weight

If you are on the 8 Weeks to a healthy you program right now, somewhere along Week 2 or Week 3 I will insist you have fun while exercising. We all like fun, so why not couple it with something good for us. Kind of along the lines of feeding a kid who doesn't want to eat, you "trick" him or her by airplaneing the food -with all the sound effects in tow - straight into his mouth

Fun distracts us and lets us do things longer. I have a friend who regularly attends these exercise classes known as Recess. It's basically what the name suggests. A group of people gather together to play children's games like 4 square, catch, whatever it may be that gets the body going and moving. It's imitating the fun and exercise you had as a child during recess then applying to our lives as adults.

I think this is great. I have been a fun advocate for years, and believe it or not, there are anti-fun people out there. There are people who think to be successful you must work hard, which is true, but also that you can't have fun while you do it, which is not true. Working out or working hard, neither has to be a chore.

There's a great viral video on YouTube right now about the Fun Theory. We all know that people are too lazy to take the stairs even if there is a crowded line for the escalators. These fun theorists decided to make taking the stairs fun by turning it into a walking, full-out keyboard. Watch the video, it's quite entertaining and it restored my faith in humanity a little bit. So, if things are fun, it will make people do it.

If you aren't looking forward to exercise, go find something you can enjoy.

What represents fun in your life?

Change Your Mind Change Your Life

Super Foods for Super Health and Longevity

David Murdock, Chairman of Dole Foods, has decided to let us in on the 33 best foods for longevity. Don't think you can just get away with eating healthy, though, he also mentions that he does 50-60 minutes of cardio and strength training a day.

Here are some of the great foods he's put on his list: pineapple, blueberries, red bell peppers, broccoli, tomato, butternut squash, zucchini, cauliflower, and the list goes on.

If you're interested in taking a look, go here: 33 of The Healthiest Foods on Earth. I found the article quite interesting. We've all heard that the Japanese Okinawans on average live the longest out of all other humans. They easily reach a hundred. One of their tricks is pushing away food before they are full. So not only should we all be feeding our bodies right and exercising, we should never eat until we're full. I find this extremely difficult.

One of my tricks is to drink 2 big glasses of water 20 minutes before I eat. This helps me feel fuller than I really am.

Another food which made the list was cranberries. Most ladies are aware this can help UTIs, but it also helps alleviate prostate pain for the men. Why there would be pain? That I'm not so sure about. Kiwi combats wrinkles and bananas burn fat. I think I just found some new food favorites.

Here's the list below if you'd rather not go and check out the link above:

Pineapple	Speeds post-surgery	Promotes joint health	Reduces asthma inflammation
Blueberries	Restore antioxidant levels	Reverse age-related brain decline	Prevent urinary tract infection
Spinach	Helps maintain mental sharpness	Reduces the risk of cancers of the liver, ovaries, colon and prostate	Top nutrient density
Red Bell Pepper	Reduces risk of lung, prostate, ovarian and cervical cancer	Protects against sunburn	Promotes heart health
Broccoli	Reduces diabetic damage	Lowers risk of prostate, bladder, colon, pancreatic, gastric and breast cancer	Protects the brain in event of injury
Tomato	Reduces inflammation	Lowers risk of developing esophageal, stomach, colorectal, lung and pancreatic cancer	Reduces cardiovascular disease risk
Apple	Supports immunity	Fights lung and prostate cancer	Lowers Alzheimer’s risk
Artichoke	Helps blood clotting	Antioxidant Superfood	Lowers “bad” cholesterol
Arugula	Lowers birth defect risk	Reduces fracture risk	Protects eye health
Asparagus	Nourishes good gut bacteria	Protects against birth defects	Promotes heart health
Avocado	Limits liver damage	Reduces oral cancer risk	Lowers cholesterol levels
Blackberries	Build bone density	Suppress appetite	Enhance fat burning
Butternut Squash	Supports night vision	Combats wrinkles	Promotes heart health
Cantaloupe	Bolsters immunity	Protects skin against sunburn	Reduces inflammation
Carrot	Antioxidants defend DNA	Fights cataracts	Protects against some cancers
Cauliflower	Stimulates detoxification	Suppresses breast cancer cell growth	Defends against prostate cancer
Cherries	Alleviate arthritic pain and gout	Lower “bad” cholesterol	Reduce inflammation
Cranberries	Alleviate prostate pain	Fight lung, colon and leukemia cancer cells	Prevent urinary tract infection
Green Cabbage	Promotes healthy blood clotting	Reduces risk of prostate, colon, breast and ovarian cancers	Activates the body’s natural detoxification systems
Kale	Counters harmful estrogens that can feed cancer	Protects eyes against sun damage and cataracts	Increases bone density
Kiwi	Combats wrinkles	Lowers blood clot risk and reduces blood lipids	Counters constipation
Mango	Supports immunity	Lowers “bad” cholesterol	Regulates homocysteine to protect arteries
Mushrooms	Promote natural detoxification	Reduce the risk of colon and prostate cancer	Lower blood pressure
Orange	Reduces levels of “bad” cholesterol	Lowers risk of cancers of the mouth, throat, breast and stomach, and childhood leukemia	Pectin suppresses appetite
Papaya	Enzymes aid digestion	Reduces risk of lung cancer	Enhances fat burning
Plums & Prunes	Counter constipation	Antioxidants defend against DNA damage	Protects against post-menopausal bone loss
Pomegranate	Enhances sunscreen protection	Lowers “bad” cholesterol	Fights prostate cancer
Pumpkin	Protects joints against polyarthritis	Lowers lung and prostate cancer risk	Reduces inflammation
Raspberries	Inhibit growth of oral, breast, colon and prostate cancers	Antioxidant DNA defense	Lower “bad” cholesterol levels
Strawberries	Protect against Alzheimer’s	Reduce “bad” cholesterol	Suppress growth of colon, prostate and oral cancer
Sweet Potato	Reduces stroke risk	Lowers cancer risk	Protect against blindness
Watermelon	Supports male fertility	Reduces risk of several cancers: prostate, ovarian, cervical, oral and pharyngeal	Protects skin against sunburn
Banana	Increases Fat Burning	Lowers risk of colorectal and kidney cancer, leukemia	Reduces asthmas symptoms

Table above provided by The Huffington Post.

YOUNG PEOPLE ARE UNHEALTHY

When we're 18 or under, most of us lived in our parent's home. Living in your parent's house meant home-cooked meals, bedtimes, and generally no smoking or drinking allowed. After, when we finally head out to college, our habits change.

You may have heard of the dreaded "Freshman 15" which basically declares that most people in their first year of college gain 15 lbs. The main reason being binge drinking, not exercising, and having to feed ourselves for the first time. According to USA Today, young people age 18-29 are staying static in their health or are getting unhealthier than they were 10-15 years ago. So our unhealthy habits seem to be following us out of college as well.

If you're young, this probably doesn't come as a surprise for you. Being young means being untied down, typically with no mortgages, spouses, or kids to worry about. Where does all that extra cash go? Eating out or partying at the bars. The study claims that among young men, almost 1/3 smoke cigarettes and a 1/4 binge drink.

On top of that, a 1/3 of young people are obese AND 1/3 are overweight. By my calculations, that only leave another third in good standing. 30% also don't have health insurance, but I'm not sure how. If you have a job, you generally have benefits. So perhaps a 1/3 are unemployed?

When you're young your metabolism ifs flipping out. There is no need to have an extra 10-15 lbs added to your body.

So the point is, young people have bad health habits which is likely to translate to health problems when they're older. It also seems that men are more prone to bad habits than women as well.

Young people, especially in their 20's, have an invincibility mentality, and sometimes that can mean disregarding their health.

What can be done to get young people to care more about health? I don't have the answer, all I can draw upon is my own motivation for being fit. Mine starting with insecurity at a young age. All I wanted to do was get big and strong and that I did. Then at age 35 I began to look at health being more important than big muscles. So will maturing and growing emotionally bring healthy choices like exercise and eating better into our lives? Or will it take something and emotionally driven event to create a healthy well-balanced habit ?

What is skinny fat?

So what is skinny fat? It's a person who looks thin but is unhealthy in their habits. Usually this means they eat an array of unhealthy foods and do little to no exercise. And for those who are the thin and healthy, they're known as skinny fit. It's weird to think there are so many terms for the kinds of ways a person can be skinny. It just proves how body-obsessed we can all be.

Being skinnyfat, in general, means having good genes but being higher in fat than you should be for over-all health. This means your muscle to fat ratio is out of balance…where your body is flabby, loose. The size of your body is not the main factor, the size of your jeans doesn’t designate your health.

If you are a thin person who eats what you want and still looks skinny or becoming injury due to being weak, then good for you. But can you lift a heavy box or run up the stairs without panting? Physical exercise such as aerobics is a small way to measure fitness. The bigger factor is over-all muscular balance and healthy muscle to fat ratio. So even if you are thin, moving around a bit with resistance training never hurt anyone.

And stop trying to convince others you're fit and healthy just because you're skinny. That's the same as an over-fat person hiding themselves with big clothes or a towel around their waist at the beach. Just because you hide it doesn't mean it's not there anymore or that you're fit.