75 Ways to Keep You and Your Family Healthy

 


Since 1937, we've spoken to thousands of healthcare experts to get the best, most timely advice (and so much of it still applies today). Here, the top tips you need to protect the well-being of everyone you love—including your pet!
 

Your Health

September 2007

6 Things Your Patient Advocate Wants You to Know

 
Recognize your needs before you call us.

Some patient advocates specialize in navigating you through the maze of medical bills and insurance; others focus on advising patients through (or even overseeing) treatments for a chronic condition or illness. The trick, says Ken Farbstein, a patient advocate and author of Getting Your Best Health Care, is trying to identify what you need. For support specific to one ailment (e.g., choosing a breast cancer treatment, handling an employer who doesn't understand lupus), contact an association that focuses on that ailment. Many of these groups have free or low-cost patient advocates, often available by phone. To see someone in your home, search the directory at AdvoConnection.com, clicking on the options you need (legal help? bedside care?). Be sure to get references! Prices range from $40 to $200 an hour.
 

Negate What You Ate: Pizza

Oh, no! You just had 830 calories, not to mention 46 grams of fat and 2,110 mg of sodium!


 
To burn it off, you’ll have to:

SHOP for 5 hours and 8 minutes
BIKE for 3 hours and 5 minutes
COOK for 4 hours and 38 minutes
WALK for 2 hours and 48 minutes
DO JUMPING JACKS for 1 hour and 31 minutes
 


Next time, make it heathier:


Pick just one meat.

The over-the-top combo of pepperoni, ground beef and ham is why this pizza packs so many calories in just 6 inches. If you absolutely want meat, ham is the way to go to cut back on calories and sodium. You'll save 225 calories, 21 grams of fat and 850 mg of sodium.

How I Lost 132 Pounds*

I've always loved sweets, fast food and junk food. Basically, my eating habits have never been all that great. But I was able to offset them with exercise until after college, when I started working (and stopped moving). I knew I was getting fat, but I ignored it. When friends and family commented on my weight, I would hear what they said, feel bad and vow to myself to get back in shape. Yet I did nothing. As I got heavier, I was also diagnosed with depression and started taking medication.

The turning point

By the time 2009 came, I was over 300 pounds and eating was my only coping mechanism when tough things happened (like six months of unemployment). My self-esteem was at an all-time low, and I avoided social situations because I was embarrassed—even walking through the parking lot to go to a movie was exhausting. At a routine medical checkup, I got more bad news: I was diagnosed with diabetes. When I went in for the follow-up, my doctor had already ordered medication, but I told him that I didn't want to take it. Much to my surprise, he said that I could hold off on the diabetes pills if I lost weight and changed my eating habits.

America’s Top Trainer Says It’s Time To Reject 'Skinny' And Get Strong

As part of Eating Disorders Awareness Week, SparkPeople’s award-winning fitness expert, Nicole Nichols, is opening up about her own struggles with disordered eating.

SparkPeople’s fitness expert "Coach Nicole" is passionate about changing the image of “fit and healthy.” Named America's Top Personal Trainer to Watch by the American Council on Exercise and Life Fitness in 2011, Nicole soon after celebrated the launch of her newest DVD, 28-Day Boot Camp. In addition to teaching Spinning and Pilates, she runs half-marathons, practices yoga weekly, and strength trains regularly. At 29, she’s proud to be a role model for those aspiring to take control of their health—without letting the scale and fitness take control of them.

What sets Nicole apart from many other fitness experts is her "real life, real people" attitude. She believes that the images we see every day of models, actors and personal trainers set an unattainable standard, one that she hopes she and her DVDs are changing.

Nicole is the happiest and healthiest she’s ever been, but she’s quick to say she’s not at her thinnest—and that’s just fine by her. Thin is not a synonym for healthy, she says, and skinny is not the same as strong. In college, she wasn’t yet convinced. Nicole spent hours in the gym and maintained a strict diet, as a way to emulate the models and trainers she saw in the media. Nicole was chiseled, but she was also suffering from an eating disorder.

How Two Valentines Lost 285 Pounds Together*

Editor's Note: Want to read more about Dani's story? Pick up a copy of the latest issue of First magazine, which features Dani and The SparkPeople Cookbook! Her story was also featured on Yahoo Shine this week.

Weight loss may not be the first topic that comes to mind when you think of Valentine's Day.  But there's really no better way to say "I love you" than resolving to get healthier, live longer and look better for your spouse, significant other, child or someone else close to your heart.  In the case of couples, several studies show that it's easier to lose weight with your partner as well as for them.  I should know.  My husband Rich and I lost a combined 285 pounds together.

We've been together almost 16 years now.  We've been through some hard times, especially losing family members and working long hours at multiple jobs to pay the bills.  We've always done it together though, which has made the load easier to bear.

But about three years ago, we looked down and realized we were both at our heaviest weight ever. I had put on a ton of weight after my mom passed away. We worked too much, took terrible care of ourselves, and weren't spending quality time together.  

So we made a commitment to each other and our marriage to make better choices.

3 Surprising Diet Mistakes

You might think it’s what you eat off your fork—not the size of your utensil—that’s causing you to pack on the pounds. But new research suggests otherwise. Read on to get the scoop on this and other eating habits that can tip the scale.


1. You drink a lot of diet soda.

Yes, it’s calorie-free, but it might lead to an expanding waistline. People who drink even one diet soda a day have larger waist circumferences compared with non–soda drinkers, according to research from the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio. One possible reason: “People think that they’re ‘saving’ calories by choosing diet soda, so they eat more to make up for it,” says study coauthor Sharon Fowler, MPH. Another theory: Artificial sweeteners may increase your cravings for other sweet foods like candy.

Either way, the calories can really add up, so try to quit the diet soda and reach for water or seltzer instead. If going cold turkey is too difficult, limit yourself to one soda just two or three times a week.

Is Your Weight Loss Puzzle Missing a Crucial Piece?

When it comes to succeeding at weight loss, knowing what to do is only half the battle. The real challenge is sticking with your healthy lifestyle in the midst of all the other responsibilities you have on your plate. Even with hard work and self-discipline, it's easy to get tripped up by pitfalls like emotional eating, waning motivation and erratic weight fluctuations without a good game plan.

On your road to weight loss, you will encounter a few major triggers that can be thought of as the three Os: overwhelm, overload and overeating. The first two Os—overwhelm and overload—create incredible challenges for new habits and lifestyle changes by triggering the third O, overeating. When you are stressed, your biochemistry makes you hungry. When you don’t take the time to care for yourself in other ways, food can tempt you as an easy-to-reach stress relief, or as a way to “energize” and keep going.

Here’s what you need to know.

Get Trim and Toned in 10 Minutes

Work Up a Sweat

No time? No problem! This workout from health and fitness expert Bob Harper can burn up to 300 calories. Do the full circuit twice.
 

Standing Kicks

Speed Squats

'I Lost 97 Pounds and Found a New Hobby!'*

After reaching 230 pounds post-college, a group rock-climbing trip inspired Angela Kalal (STATIC) to drop 97 pounds! Find out how she did it over at Fitness magazine!

*Weight loss results will vary from person to person. No individual result should be seen as a typical result of following the SparkPeople program.

Negate What You Ate: Nachos

What would it take to burn off a heaping plate of Nachos?


To burn it off, you’ll have to:

• Walk for 5 hours and 40 minutes at a moderate pace.
   
• Climb stairs for 3 hours and 4 minutes.
   
• Ballroom dance for 8 hours and 7 minutes.
   
• Shovel snow for 4 hours and 4 minutes.
   
• Play the piano for 8 hours and 54 minutes.

What Alternative Cold Remedies Really Work?

Cold Cure-All?

  
Airborne

Want to Fit Back Into Your Wedding Dress (or Tux)? Take REDBOOK's Challenge

From our friends at REDBOOK magazine

Still have your wedding dress tucked away in the back of your closet? What would it take for you to fit into it again? If you’re thinking a tub of Vaseline and some Spanx, you aren’t alone. That’s why REDBOOK is kicking off the Wedding Dress Challenge.
 
Over the next few months, we’re getting back to our best bodies—and putting it all online so you can take part, too. Just go to www.redbookmag.com/wdc to find all the information you'll need to get back into wedding-dress form.
 
Please note: This challenge is NOT just for women; for those hubbies who can’t get into their tuxes, encourage the men in your life to get on board the REDBOOK fit train.
 
We know getting back into shape is easier said than done, so for additional support, REDBOOK is launching a ‘Wedding Dress Challenge’ tab on its Facebook page  so readers can connect with other participants to vent, offer advice, share stories, and keep each other motivated to cross the finish line together.
 
So what are you waiting for? Take REDBOOK’s Wedding Challenge and get your fit, healthy bride body back!  And while you're at it, join the Wedding Dress Challenge SparkTeam to chat and convene with other SparkPeople members taking or following the challenge!
 
The countdown to National Zip-Up Day (exact date coming soon) STARTS now!
 

Sleep Better Tonight

Think the solution to your fatigue is an earlier bedtime? Getting enough sleep is important, but it’s also the quality that counts—and there’s more to it than just a comfy bed. Also complicating things: As you get older, your sleep patterns change, making it harder to fall (and stay) asleep. But that doesn’t mean you’re destined to be sleep-deprived. You can improve your slumber without tacking on hours in bed—and it’s not hard to do. Just turn the page to get started.

Every little habit—from what you eat and drink to when you exercise and watch TV—can impact your sleep. Here’s a sample day that shows you what you can do to get the best zzz’s possible. (Adjust it for your wake and sleep times.)

6:30 A.M. - Skip the snooze button. It’s tempting to turn over and squeeze in an extra 10 to 15 minutes of shut-eye when your alarm goes off, but doing that can actually make you more tired. “You spend so much energy going back to sleep and waking up again that you don’t get any additional deep sleep,” says Kathryn Lee, RN, PhD, professor and associate dean for research at the University of California San Francisco School of Nursing. And you’re more likely to wake up groggy. “So you’re using more energy but not sleeping more to make up for it.”

7:30 A.M. - Exercise. Not only does it give you a shot of energy that’ll help you power through the day, but exercising in the morning may also decrease levels of stress hormones, making it easier for your body to wind down and fall asleep faster, says Scott Collier, PhD, director of the Vascular Biology and Autonomic Studies Laboratory at Appalachian State University. In a recent study led by Dr. Collier, people who got 30 minutes of moderate exercise at 7 a.m. (compared with 1 p.m. and 7 p.m.) significantly improved the quality of their sleep that night, spending 75% more time in deep sleep.

75 Habits for a Healthier Life

We scoured every issue of Woman's Day since 1937 for our best health information. Here, our favorite (and easiest) live-longer tips.

Eat Healthy

February 1998

June 2004