Prevention Magazine

The ladies in my weight loss group have been doing a month long healthy lifestyle challenge where we really just worked on stepping up our efforts.   One of the challenges we had was to purchase a health related magazine and then a reflection on some things we read.

I purchased Prevention magazine that I think is for an "older audience" but I still like it.   There is an article in there called "Surprising News about Anger" and it states that PEOPLE WHO REPRESSED THEIR ANGER HAD ELEVATED LEVELS OF THE STRESS HORMONE CORTISOL AND WERE 31% MORE LIKELY TO SUFFER FROM HEART ATTACK, CANCER, OR HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE.  The cancer part was a shocker to me but if there is anything I'm learning right now [and throughout this very trying school year] is that stress is no bueno on the body.   It really isn't.   When I'm stressed out it shows on the scale.    The article talks about the powers in venting whether it is on paper or verbally.   It also suggests punching something [not someone] as a physical release.

A second tid-bit in this magazine I enjoyed reading was about boosting your metabolism for people age 40+.   I really don't see why this couldn't work for us.   Basically, it's suggesting more protein and also recommended green tea.  However, it suggests VARYING the protein so pairing a low with a high.   And not eating the same thing each night.  

Low protein foods include avocado, asparagus, walnuts, almonds, spinach, quinoa and hemp seeds [eat, don't smoke] Medium protein foods include cheese and milk, black beans, chickpeas, edamame, tofu, eggs and cottage cheese.    High protein foods include tempeh, Greek yogurt [not blueberry though, right Jen?  ;)], Whey protein, fish, poultry, pork and leaner beef like bison.

And lastly there was an article on "the wild side" about choosing foods you can grow to help your body.   I loved the mentioning of garlic because Mark takes a garlic supplement for his blood pressure and cholesterol and his numbers have been phenomenal and no longer uses an actual Rx.   He takes garlic and ginger daily.    It even noted that when you microwave garlic you are destroying about 90% of the antioxidants.