Your Guide to Healthy Life

5 Surprising Health Benefits of Resveratrol

Whether you know it for its reported ability to build muscle, alleviate symptoms of anxiety and depression, or fight free radicals, there’s no denying resveratrol is booming in popularity.

Before we dive into five of the biggest health benefits of this powerful antioxidant, let’s break down what it actually is, explore where it occurs in nature, and take a quick look at the best ways to incorporate it into your diet.

What is Resveratrol?

Resveratrol (also known as 3, 5, 4-trihydroxy-trans-stilbene if you want to get technical) is a naturally occurring polyphenol belonging to the stilbenes class of phytochemicals. It’s also classified as a phytoalexin—a type of compound produced by plants when they are under attack.

Polyphenolic substances have two phenols—organic compounds characterized by their hydroxyl (-OH) groups, circular rings connected by an ethylene bridge.

Stilbenoids are a subclass of polyphenols and represent a group of naturally occurring compounds that are produced by plant sapwood and leaves as stress metabolites to fight off fungal infections and ionizing radiation.

In nature, resveratrol has been found in over seventy plant species, where it is called on when the plant is harmed or under threat of attack from fungi or other bacteria.

While resveratrol is a natural phytochemical produced to combat infections, mechanical injury, and UV irradiation, its diverse range of biological and cellular activity make it beneficial to humans.…

Proof that Lifelong Cholesterol Reduction Prevents Heart Disease

Nutrition

“It is well accepted that coronary atherosclerosis is a chronic progressive disease that begins early in life and slowly progresses over several decades” before symptoms arise. However, the average age in cholesterol-lowering drug trials is 63; therefore, people have already been exposed to a lifetime of circulating LDL cholesterol. It’s no wonder pharmaceutical therapies typically reduce cardiovascular disease risk by only 20 to 30 percent.

We know LDL, the so-called bad cholesterol, plays “a central role” in the “initiation, development, and progression” of our number-one killer. In fact, more than 100 prospective studies involving more than a million people have demonstrated that those with higher LDL levels are at higher risk.

“It seems reasonable to assume, therefore, that if lowering LCL-C [cholesterol] levels beginning later in life can slow the progression of advanced atherosclerotic plaques…then keeping LDL-C levels low, beginning much earlier in life” might prevent our arteries from getting clogged in the first place.…

Air Fryer Falafel

Healthy Food

This easy Falafel recipe is made quicker and healthier in the air fryer with canned chickpeas – no deep frying!

Air Fryer Falafel

Falafel is a delicious Middle-Eastern vegetarian dish made with chickpeas, a mix of onions and different herbs and spices. They are shaped like meatballs, but there’s no meat in them. I wanted to create a falafel recipe that was quick and easy, made from canned chickpeas and didn’t require frying. Solution, air fryer to the rescue! You can see more air fryer recipes here!

Protein packed, nutritious and light – these un-fried falafels will delight your palate. Perfect on days you want to go meatless or just include more plant based foods in your diet. Serve them in a pita, over hummus, with couscous, or over rice – you decide! Also great for meal prep!

What are falafels made out of?

Falafel balls are usually made out of chickpeas (also called garbanzo beans), but you can find other variations depending on where you buy your falafel.…

10 Tips from Marketing Pros to Get More Online Reviews for Your Business

Fitness

Did you know that 91 percent of young consumers say they trust online reviews? Did you know that the same is true for 79 percent of consumers aged 35–54 and 61 percent of consumers over the age of 55?

If you want your target clients to trust your business and hire you for health coaching or personal training, online reviews can be incredibly helpful. It’s not always easy to get your current clients to leave reviews for your business, though, even if they are happy with the help you’ve given them.

Read on to learn 10 tips from marketing pros that will help you get more online reviews and grow your health coaching or personal training business.

Why Do Reviews Matter?

Online reviews play a major role in helping businesses grow in the digital age. This is especially true for health coaching, nutrition coaching, and personal training businesses.

There are so many different options out there for these kinds of services, and it can be easy for your business to get lost in the shuffle.…

7-Day Weight-Loss Meal Plan (February 24-March 1)

Healthy Food

posted February 22, 2020 by Gina

A free 7-day, flexible weight loss meal plan including breakfast, lunch and dinner and a shopping list. All recipes include calories and updated WW Smart Points.

7-Day Weight-Loss Meal Plan

This week I added some Asian inspired favorites to the meal plan including a new Tofu recipe! I love tofu, but if you’re not a fan you can sub it out with chicken.

WW has changed their plan to now include a Blue, Purple and Green Plan. All the recipes on my blog are updated for the Blue plan. I’ve been updating all my recipes (over 2000) and have completed 2019 with the other two colors, and I am working my way down so please be patient.

Why Should Everyone Meal Plan?

Meal planning is a great way to organize your meals for the week ahead. You also save time and money in the supermarket!…

Kung Pao Tofu

Healthy Food

Kung Pao Tofu, a lighter, healthy (and vegetarian) take on one of my favorite Chinese takeout dishes! So good and loaded with veggies!

Kung Pao Tofu

I love Chinese takeout, but I don’t love all the extra calories. That’s why I like to take classic Chinese dishes and make lighter versions. You should also try my Kung Pao Chicken Zoodles, Orange Chicken and Chicken and Broccoli Stir-Fry makeovers. Kung Pao Tofu would awesome served with my take on Wonton Soup. The only thing better than eating one of your favorite Chinese meals is eating a healthier version so you can enjoy it more often!

In this recipe, I’m keeping it vegetarian with tofu as the main protein in the dish, but shrimp or chicken would also work great. I wanted to use easy to find ingredients but still get that authentic flavor, which I think we nailed it. It’s so good!…

All Children Should Have Their Cholesterol Checked Between Ages 9 and 11

Nutrition

Coronary artery disease does not magically appear. The disease begins “during early childhood and progress[es] unrecognized for several decades to its often final and unexpected endpoint of chest pain, disability, or premature death.”

As I discuss in my video Should All Children Have Their Cholesterol Checked?, “we need to remind ourselves that atherosclerosis begins in childhood as fatty streaks” in the arteries, which “are the precursors of the advanced lesions that ultimately” kill us. By the time we’re in our 20s, 20 percent of the inner surface of the artery coming off the heart is covered in fatty streaks, as you can see at 0:58 in my video. Fifty years ago, pathologists began raising the question of whether heart disease is best handled by cardiologists or by pediatricians.

“By their 30s, many young adults already have advanced coronary atherosclerosis,” so, in reality, intervention during our 30s and beyond “is actually secondary prevention, because advanced atherosclerosis is likely already present.” Indeed, intervention is just trying to mediate the ravages of the disease rather than prevent the disease itself.…

The Health Benefits of Lycopene & How to Incorporate it Into Your Client’s Diet

Fitness

Most of us already know or have heard of antioxidants and the role they play in reducing oxidative stress in the body. They do this by improving the efficiency with which the body neutralizes reactive oxygen species or, as they are commonly referred to, free radicals.

These free radicals are produced as waste products during normal cell metabolism, and when they accumulate, they can cause damage to the body. And that’s where antioxidants come in as scavengers of free radicals to help minimize or slow down the damage caused.

While most people are familiar with the common antioxidants, such as vitamins A, C, and E, very few know about lycopene—the focus of our guide. Stick around as we delve deeper into what lycopene is, its health benefits, and where you can find it.

What is lycopene

Lycopene is a phytonutrient, a plant-based nutrient that occurs naturally and belongs to the carotenoid family.…

Sesame Encrusted Chicken Tenders

Healthy Food

If you like the taste of sesame seeds as much as I do, you’ll love these Sesame Encrusted Chicken Tenders coated with sesame seeds, panko and a hint of soy sauce. Bake them or make them in the air fryer!

Sesame Encrusted Chicken Tenders

Chicken tenderloins are so convenient for weeknight cooking! The kids love these pickle brined chicken tenders, or these tortilla encrusted chicken tenders for a Mexican twist, but for an Asian twist these sesame ones are just perfect!

I like to serve them over some hot, steamed rice with a drizzle of soy sauce, and broccoli on the side but this would be great with cauliflower fried rice or quinoa fried rice with some stir fried vegetables.

How To Make Encrusted Chicken Tenders

Start with a mix of sesame seeds and panko as your breading and put that in a shallow dish.
Rather than dipping the chicken in egg, I mix sesame oil with soy sauce in a shallow bowl and use it to coat the chicken before pressing my crumbs on.

…

What Not to Do When You Handle Receipts

Nutrition

The plastics chemical bisphenol A, commonly known as BPA, was banned for use in baby bottles in Canada in 2008, in France in 2010, in the European Union in 2011, and in the United States in 2012. Then, in 2015, France forbade the use of BPA in any food or beverage packaging, something the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had decided was not warranted. But, what about the more than 90 studies “reporting relationships between total BPA in [people’s] urine and a wide array of adverse health outcomes, including a significant increase in the likelihood of developing cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, obesity, impaired liver function, impaired immune and kidney function, inflammation, reproductive effects in women…[and] in men…, altered thyroid hormone concentrations, and neurobehavioral deficits such as aggressiveness, hyperactivity, and impaired learning”?

Only a very small minority of studies appear to support the U.S. government’s assertions that there were no effects of BPA at low doses.…