Issue 3, 1999

Topics: Becoming Physically Active Drinking Green Tea for Your Health Lasting Solutions for the Same Old Resolutions Self-Confidence Can Improve Exercise Performance Healthy Lifestyle News Tip The Skinny on Apples

Becoming Physically Active

Regular physical activity has many benefits. It helps reduce your risk of coronary heart disease, aids in taking off extra pounds, helps to prevent and control high blood pressure, boosts the level of “good” HDL-cholesterol, and helps prevent diabetes. Furthermore, regular physical activity strengthens the lungs, tones the muscles, keeps the joints in good condition, improves balance, and helps many people cope better with stress and anxiety.

The good news is that to reap the benefits from physical activity, you don’t need to train for a marathon. You need only to engage in about 30 minutes per day of moderate-level activity on most days.

Some activities that can help you become physically active are brisk walking, bicycling, housecleaning, raking leaves, and gardening. You can engage in any of these activities for 30 minutes at one time, or you can do them in shorter periods of at least 10 minutes each.

Drinking Green Tea for Your Health

Tea, after water, is the most widely consumed beverage in the world. Having been around for almost 5,000 years, it is also one of the oldest. Now, a growing body of evidence suggests that tea may also be one of the healthiest of all beverages.

Both green and black tea leaves contain naturally occurring substances called polyphenols. In the plant world, phenols ward off viral infections, act as antioxidants to scavenge free radicals, and serve as building blocks for plant cell structure.

Because the first tea studies were performed in Japan and China, where green tea is favored, more evidence exits for the health benefits of green tea verses black tea. However, some researchers believe that black tea health benefits will eventually prove equal to those of green tea.

The health benefits linked to consumption of green tea are a reduced risk of certain types of cancer, a role in helping to prevent heart disease, and promotion of the growth of “good” bacteria in the intestine.

On the cancer issue, a number of population studies have shown that the polyphenols in green tea appear to fight cancer by activating defense mechanisms against cancer-causing agents, inducing detoxifying enzymes, trapping carcinogens and speeding them out of the body, thus preventing the kind of DNA damage that leads to cancer. Also, when certain kinds of cancer cells form, polyphenols either prevent them from multiplying or slow down their replication.

In animal studies, Chinese researchers have demonstrated that the polyphenols found in green tea have lowered serum and liver cholesterol and increased the HDL (good) total cholesterol ratio in mice.

Additionally, some research has shown that the consumption of green tea polyphenols changes the bacterial flora of the intestine, promoting the growth of normal bacteria and making it difficult for abnormal bacterial to grow.

To get enough of the active ingredients for protection against disease, most experts recommend drinking four to seven cups of green tea a day. However, let the tea cool off a bit before you drink it. So far, the only adverse effect associated with tea consumption is an increased risk of esophageal cancer linked to the regular consumption of boiling hot liquid.

Lasting Solutions for the Same Old Resolutions

The new millennium is just around the corner. Is one of your vows for the next century to lose weight? If it is, you won’t be alone. As each new year approaches, Americans promise to set goals and make changes. But since this isn’t just any new year, it is the perfect time to decide, once and for all, to stop struggling with your weight. Managing your weight takes some time and attention. It takes a lot to change old habits. It requires a day-to-day effort of unseating old patterns of behavior. Happiness isn’t measured in pounds, so guard against the tendency to put your life on hold while you work on losing weight. Eat consciously, care for yourself, and aim for your best personal weight. If you’re ready for a permanent weight change, consider the following strategies for success.

Stop Dieting. Think about the way we pursue weight loss. We “start a new diet” or “go on a diet,” implying from the beginning that, at some point, we’ll be done with it. The word “diet” is defined as “what a person usually eats and drinks.” We’re on a diet everyday! We have to make daily choices about what to feed ourselves. These choices are what make weight control difficult or easy.

Forget about Perfect Eating Habits. People with very good eating habits sometimes eat too much or splurge on a rich dessert. That is your choice, not a lack of willpower. It’s what you eat most of the time that really matters.

Aim for Moderation, Not Deprivation. Nothing makes a food more tempting than a “forbidden” label. You don’t have to eliminate foods you love, as long as you use common sense about how much and how often.

Eat Less Fat. Eat more fruits, vegetables, grains, beans, fish, and skim milk products. Beware that low-fat products often contain just as many calories as the foods they replace, yet it’s tempting to eat them as if they were calorie-free.

Eat Healthy, Regular Meals. In general, try to eat when you feel hungry and stop before you get too full. But on a busy day, it may be smarter to eat when you have the chance, even if you’re not extremely hungry, to avoid being so famished later that you seek out a vending machine

Slow Down and Savor. By eating at more leisurely pace, you’ll tend to eat less, but feel more satisfied.

Learn from Lapses. Your response to a lapse is much more important than the incident itself. Rather than decided you’ve completely blown it, see what you can learn from the experience. What was the trigger? What could you have done differently? Think or lapses as opportunities to fine-tune your skills.

Don’t Use Food for Comfort. Few of life’s problems can be resolved by eating. Don’t worry about having a serving of your favorite comfort food, but be completely honest with yourself about why you’re doing it. Then seek out the counseling, information, or support you need to find real solutions to difficult issues.

Get Active. Exercise is just part of the care and feeding of the human body no matter what your weight. So, no more complaining. Just thirty minutes a day of moderate activity on five days of the week is all it takes, and you won’t be sorry.

Monitor Yourself. Of all the methods available to help people change their behaviors, self-monitoring stands above the rest. The act of recording what you eat increases your awareness of food choices and portion sizes, usually causing you to eat less. It also helps you see patterns in your eating habits. Yes, it takes time and effort, but this proven strategy is crucial in helping you reach your personal best weight.

Self-Confidence Can Improve Exercise Performance

In a study sponsored by the National Institute on Aging, 46 low-active women were given fitness tests. The women were then randomly divided into two groups. Regardless of how they performed on the test, the members of one group were told they had scored in the highest fitness category, while the other group was told they had scored in the lowest fitness category. All the women were then asked to work out on a Stairmaster. Those who had been told they scored well on the fitness exam reported less fatigue and a greater sense of well-being from the exercise than the group who had been told they did poorly on the fitness test. Although this was a small study, the implications are important. If you have confidence in your fitness potential, you are more apt to live up to your expectations.

The Skinny on Apples

It seems that most people enjoy eating apples... the average American consumes 120 apples a year. Despite its popularity, the apple is not the nutritional standout of the fruit bowl. Still, if an apple is eaten as one of the recommended 2-4 servings of fruit a day, it will provide you with respectable amounts of fiber, some vitamin C and beta carotene ( if you eat the peel ), potassium and boron. The fruit is fibrous, juicy, and nonsticky, making it a good tooth-cleaner and gum stimulator. Apples are also widely available, and they store well compared to many other fruits. Lastly, a raw apple (2 in. across) contains only 60 calories.

Applesauce Oatmeal Coffee Cake 3 cups oats (quick or old fashioned) 1 cup whole wheat flour 1 1/2 cups unbleached flour 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 1 tsp. allspice 2 tsp. baking powder 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar 2 cups unsweetened applesauce 1 cup skim milk 6 Tbl. oil (canola) 1/2 cup egg substitute (equal to 2 eggs) Topping: 2 Tbl. firmly packed brown sugar, 1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine first eight ingredients. Mix next four ingredients and add to the dry ingredients. Stir until just moistened. Pour into a 9-inch by 12-inch baking dish that has been sprayed with non-stick coating. Sprinkle topping ingredients over batter. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. Alternatives: For muffins, bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes. The recipe makes about 24 muffins. One muffin is one serving.

Yield: 24 servings
One serving: 1 piece
Calories per serving: 170
Fat: 4 grams
Exchanges: 2 starch, 1/2 fat