It Only Takes 5 Minutes a Day to Keep Your Brain Healthy

By Lori Rochino

Starting in your 20s, your brain starts to wither—but you can change that. Here’s how to breathe your way to a healthier brain.

With so much to do in so little time, it’s hard, seeming next to impossible sometimes, to squeeze in some TLC. But, especially for the on-the-go types, creating Zen space is not only good for de-stressing, it’s also good for maintaining good brain health.

A recent study shows that starting from the mid- to late 20s, the brain begins to wither and starts losing some of its functionality. “The brain starts to get smaller from the mid-20s onward,” says Dr. Florian Kurth of UCLA’s Department of Neurology. “It’s probably not something that we notice for a long time. People start to notice this later in life when they start to forget things.”

Meditation changes the brain after eight weeks; a scan image showed increased thickening of four brain regions.

His team, headed by Dr. Eileen Luders, ran a test between 50 meditators against a control group of 50 non-meditators. The meditators beat out the non-meditators in keeping their brain mass, whereas the non-meditators showed less brain mass in the scanned images.

Harvard Medical School neuroscientist Dr. Sara Lazur and her team also did a longitudinal study on meditation. It showed that meditation changes the brain after eight weeks. A scan image showed increased thickening of four brain regions in the non-meditators after just eight weeks of participating in the meditation program.

A healthier brain is good reason to start a meditation practice if you haven’t begun already. So what first steps can you take?

1. Find a meditation style and make it a habit.

“Meditation has been associated with improved cognitive abilities and reduced stress levels,” Kurth says. “While we may not immediately notice the long-term protective effects of meditation on normal brain atrophy, one may still get these quicker benefits from meditating.”

He suggests finding a style that works for you (whether that be something like Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction [MBSR] or yoga) and keep up the practice rather than find a perfect style and not keep it up. Lazur mentions doing even a little every day is a good thing, and some studies suggest 5-10 minutes a day.

Try meditation—your way.

2. Schedule time for it.

As busy as we are, who has time to meditate? Think of it like brushing your teeth—you take five minutes to brush every day so your teeth won’t decay. In the same way, think of it as a way to preserve your brain’s health. You can spare a few minutes either at your desk, in your car, on quick walk outside or sitting on a park bench. Think of spaces in your schedule where you can take a few minutes off.

Find out how to squeeze in some meditation time at work.

3. Start with these simple exercises.

Certified Yoga and Meditation Instructor Alexis Pierce suggests breath awareness helps focus the mind and concentration over time. “It's incredibly effective to gently bring the mind back to the breath and the body. It connects you to this moment, which allows you to release the stressand anxiety of the past and future. You may discover calmness, feelings of lightness and elation, and a quieter mind.”

See just how you can benefit from meditation.   

Ready to get started? These calm meditative techniques can be done in five minutes or less:

V-Shaped Breath Exercise

Close your eyes. Focus on the point between your eyes and imagine air coming in and out in the shape of a wide “V.” Bring it above the forehead, and as you’re inhaling the breath in, have it come wide across the forehead as a “V.” Then exhale it down across the forehead to that point between the eyes.

By starting and ending at this point between the eyes you’re activating the command center calming along the frontal lobe, which is responsible for decision-making. You’re getting oxygen to that area and helping it feel calmer by focusing on the point between the eyes.

3-Part Breath

Close your eyes. Start inhaling deep in the belly, air rising to the chest then upper chest near your upper collar bone. Hold briefly, then exhale three counts out the upper chest, chest and belly.

Feel the air moving into the belly, chest and upper chest as you’re breathing in and out through the nose. Relax and feel all the movements. Do this for a few minutes, feeling the breath pass throughout the body, similar to an ocean wave moving then receding as the body softens. (Watch how to do it.)

Taken from an article in Success.com (https://www.success.com/article/it-only-takes-5-minutes-a-day-to-keep-your-brain-healthy)

Meal Prepping for weight loss: Lunch & dinner

See if these healthy recipes help you to save some time, and some weight !!

Healthy Foods Can Help You With Your Weight Loss Goals

By Joseph Papabuadoo

We have said that eating healthy foods will definitely help you lose weight. And someone may ask what constitutes healthy foods? My personal definition of healthy foods is the green vegetable foods and fruits. These I also call the clean foods as they are clean, low in calories and do not have any residues after eating them. Unlike the high calorie foods and its fatty cousins which always leave bad residues of waste in your system, fruits and vegetables do not leave such residues that are why I see fruits and vegetables as healthy foods. On the meaty side, clean foods include foods like chicken, turkey and fish.

These meats are lean on fat and calories compared to raw beef. Lentils, dry beans and peas are also passing as clean foods. When one starts eating from the green vegetable and lean meat foods listed above, they will start losing weight because of the fact that fruits, vegetables and whole grain foods have high concentration of complex carbohydrates and fiber in them which the body can slowly absorb them and thus cause our hunger pangs to be satisfied quickly and efficiently.

The case against processed foods is that because their nutritional values are low and the fact that they do not make us feel full easily like the natural foods, they do not make us feel satisfied and this like addiction causes us to want to eat more of it when we know for sure that it is against our weight loss or maintenance goals. I once read a book about natural foods and the author said in that book that bad foods like drugs leave behind their unhealthy residue of waste behind after eating them so that as the residues stay in our system, it causes us to want to eat more to cover up the poisoning effect of that residues. You see, when we are not eating, our stomach gets into the mode for cleansing and when that happens, the poisons are all bubbled up from the tissues of our stomach into the surface. 

When that happens we start feeling sick or weak and this I have found out that when it happens will cause people to eat more foods to stop the stomach's cleansing work thus stopping the poisons from coming up to the surface and with this stopping comes our relief from the weakness that the food residues now turning into poison causes us to feel. Usually, people who undergo long periods of fasting for detoxification purpose experience this effect but even if you are not fasting one can still experience a mild form of this experience which even that is not convenient. This explains why people who eat junk food tend to eat more and that as already mentioned above is to stop them from getting sick or weak from the poisons in their stomachs that the stomach is trying to evict at ever chance of not eating for a few hours of time.

Even though manufactures of food argue that there is a need to include preservatives into our foods to preserve them and make them last longer, the side effect of such practice is not good as it has caused many of industrialized world's health to deteriorate as it stands now. Perhaps our biggest nutritional mistake has been turning away from foods in their natural state. We have replaced them with processed foods that have been modified to last longer, be easier to manufacture and distribute, and be more convenient to store and use.

For example, when I go to the grocery store, I see apple Juice that has no fiber at all and then when I go to a health food store, I see apple Juice with the fiber in them. Unfortunately the apple Juice with the fiber in them are expensive and they are not found any where except in health food stores so a great majority of the population do not get access to the healthy apple Juice except the one that has been heavily processed and all the fiber taken out from them. The apple Juice with the fiber in them are the good ones because they are full of fiber and are able to help aid weight loss and good health. The apple Juice with no fiber is usually full of added sugars and they tend to contain more calories than the regular apple or the apple Juice with the fiber. This is to say that process foods are not good that is why they are usually less expensive than the healthy unprocessed equivalents.

Natural foods are good for our health and can easily aid us in losing weight and staying healthy. It is full of vitamins, minerals and fiber and contains cancer fighting antioxidants that are contained in natural unprocessed foods. These foods help reduce the risk of suffering from diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer and even help us to reduce weight and stay fit and healthy.

The foods that are processed may be added to what I call the bad foods as they are usually not healthy for us and contain lots of salt, sugars, preservative, saturated and Trans fats. Most nutritionist will tell you that the outer skin of foods in general are more nutrients than even the part that we think we must eat but unfortunately the outer parts of foods is what is thrown away as unfit for food. Take potato for example, the outer skin is more nutritious than the inner food but yet most people will throw out the outer skin and eat the starch within it. Since processed foods do not have fiber in them and are

full of additives and food dyes for color they are not healthy for us and in most cases can make one sick.

The human body needs clean environment to stay healthy and eating foods doused with foreign chemicals and ingredients will not help us at all but will make people worse off. But as suggested above, eating healthy natural foods with high natural fiber and nutrients are good for us and can help us to lose weight and remain healthy and thin. It will cause you not to be hungry needlessly but will help shield you from the hunger pangs and cause you to stay slim, healthy and enjoy your life fully. Always remember that it is not about taste or quantity of food that matters but it is the quality of the food and the health it promotes that matters and with no food residues left in our system will also mean that craving for the bad foods will be eliminated or drastically reduced.

Losing and maintaining weight is so important that one cannot play with it. This has lead me to write the above article to alert people who are health conscious that the benefits of eating healthy foods out smarts the benefits of food taste and quantity. On my website located at: [http://www.howtolooseweightips.com], you will find incredible information about weight loss and maintenance to help you with your weight loss goals.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Joseph_Papabuadoo/521793

Easy + Healthy Recipes to Lose Weight!

Try these at home and see if they help you achieve your goals!

Ideas for Quick and Healthy Breakfast Recipes

By Ellen E Gray

Looking for healthy breakfast recipes that you can make quickly and easily? While most people have heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, many still don't take the time to eat breakfast in the morning. If you skip breakfast on a regular basis, you probably are familiar with the slight headache and the attack of weakness that occurs halfway through the morning. The reason this happens is because you didn't eat breakfast.

Why is Breakfast So Important?

So why is breakfast so important anyway? When you sleep at night, you are going for about eight hours without having water or eating. This means you are slightly dehydrated when you wake up, and your blood sugar is probably on the low side as well. For this reason, you don't have a lot of energy. However, it's time to rush around and get ready for your day, so you skip eating. When you skip breakfast, you continue to let your body stay dehydrated and your blood sugar can dip even more throughout the day. Then you end up feeling horrible and extremely hungry later in the day. In many cases, it's easy to overeat later because you do feel so hungry.

Beyond the Cereal

Some cereals can be a great choice for a quick and healthy start to your day. Of course, you need to avoid cereals that are high in sugars. Whole grain varieties that pack in fiber and protein make great choices. Be sure to read the label, though - many so-called "healthy" cereals are packed with sugar.

Many people, though, don't like having cereal in the mornings. The good news is that there are plenty of other quick and healthy recipes that you can use for a great breakfast. If cold cereal isn't your thing, consider warm oatmeal or even cream of wheat for breakfast. Making your own oatmeal from scratch doesn't take much more time than using "instant", flavored oatmeal packets - and it is much cheaper and healthier. Add some berries and milk and you have a wonderfully tasty breakfast that doesn't take too much time to make.   

Fast Breakfast Options

If you have really busy mornings, you may need some breakfast recipes that are fast and easy to make. One great idea is to make preparations for your breakfast the night before. Make a breakfast casserole. On a day when you have some extra time, make a big batch of pancakes or waffles. Freeze them. Later in the week, all you'll have to do is pop them in the   toaster for a quick and tasty breakfast. Or whip up a batch of healthy bran muffins at the beginning of the week and enjoy them all week long without a hassle.

More Breakfast Ideas

There are many other great quick and healthy breakfast recipes that you can try in the morning as well. Consider poached eggs, boiled eggs or perhaps a toad in the hole. A quick omelette with veggies is a great option. Smoothies can be wonderful breakfast options. Mix yogurt and fruit together, blend in the blender, and you can drink it on the go for a healthy breakfast. Fruit and cheese makes a well-rounded morning meal that you can toss in a bag and take with you on the go.  

Consider non-traditional foods for breakfast, too. How about a slice of leftover pizza? A bowl of lentil soup? Some rice pudding? There are no rules here. Any healthy food that seems appealing to you in the morning is a perfectly good breakfast food!

Ellen Gray has more healthy breakfast recipes and ideas for healthy quick meals on her site at Healthy-Quick-Meals.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Ellen_E_Gray/909819

7 Healthy Breakfast Ideas For The Entire Week

Try these at home - you'll love the quick and easy ideas!

Tips for Starting a Healthy Lifestyle!

Why not get started today on a better you!