It may be shocking to hear that according to a new study, having just one fizzy drink a day raises women’s risk of a stroke by a huge 80%!
Researchers at Osaka University found both regular and low calorie soft drinks raise the chances of an ischaemic stroke – a life-threatening condition.
Try sipping on ginseng or green tea for a natural high instead.
A flabby mid-section is notoriously hard to shape up, and it often comes down to stress. Even if you eat well and exercise, leading a stressful lifelstyle can stop you losing inches.
When the body is under long-term physical stress, levels of the hormone cortisol shoot up, which can cause your body to hold onto fat around the waistline.
Cortisol effects appetite, causing you to crave sugary, high fat foods. These foods stimulate the brain to release neurotransmitters such as serotin and dopamine which, although soothe stress, are bad news for your body.
To counter the effects of cortisol, get yourself some consistent, solid sleep (ideally seven to nine hours a night) to allow your body to relax and recuperate.
You can also try stress-soothing foods such as oily fish, which helps regulate cortisol, or turkey, which boosts serotonin.
And, if that isn’t enough to make you want to chill-out and put your feet up, a recent study by Columbia University Medical Centre found the effects of stress are as damaging to your heart as smoking five cigarettes a day!
It seems Popeye was on to a winner with his diet of spinach, as this super vegetable is a powerhouse of nutrients.
Just 125g of fresh spinach will provide you with more than 20 nutrients, including more than your recommended daily allowance of vitamins K and A, almost all your daily requirements of folate and around 40% of your daily magnesium needs. Even better you get all this for around just 30 calories.
There are many benefits of these rich green leaves, but the most interesting from my point of view, is the fact that spinach is a super workout food.
Research has shown that spinach may help reduce oxidative stress caused by regular exercise and protect against muscle damage.
It may also make the body more efficient, as it contains a compound called nitrate, which has been shown to boost the mitochondria (the microscopic part of cells that generates most of your energy), meaning your body will need less oxygen when exercising.
So let’s take a leaf out of Popeye’s book and top up on spinach. However, rather than canned, why not try using it in a salad, lightly cooked or even in a juice!
When we workout and begin to sweat, we need to ensure that we recognise the signs of dehydration early to prevent upsetting the balance of minerals, including salts and sugar, in your system. Even a small amount of fluid loss can cause your body to work less efficiently.
Feeling thirsty, light-headed, tired, headachey, a dry mouth and lips are all signs of dehydration. Take a look at this top 5 list of drinks to help your body keep hydrated.
1.Water
Water is the perfect hydrator. You should aim to drink at least 1.2 litres of fluid (six to eight 250ml glasses) a day and increase this to 2.5 litres in hot weather, when you lose more fluid through sweat.
2. Squash or diluted fruit juice
If you find water boring, try highly diluted squash or fruit juice.
3. Sports drinks
Sports drinks don’t necessarily hydrate your body as fast as water, but they do provide a quick energy source. Only have energy drinks, or ‘hypertonic’ drinks, with a higher level of carbohydrate, after doing very high levels of exercise, to quickly replace muscle glycogen stores.
4. Tea
Drinking up to four mugs of black tea with milk a day is just as hydrating as drinking the same quantity of water. However, the caffeine in tea starts acting as adiuretic (increases fluid loss by causing you to pass more urine) when you exceed around five cups a day, so go easy or switch to herbal teas.
5. Coconut water
Fresh coconut water is naturally isotonic, with a 330ml serving containing more potassium than two bananas plus five other naturally occurring electrolytes. It has one-fifth of the sugar found in fruit juice, plus a little fibre.