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8 Little Tricks to Make Your Life Healthier
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Everybody wants to be healthier, but did you know that just by making some simple, everyday combinations of certain things, you can improve your health without even trying. It doesn’t get much easier than that! Want to bulk up? Reduce your risk of having a stroke? Protect yourself from heart disease? You can do all that with almost no effort just by adding these simple combinations to your life.
Although at times they seem quite random, these sometimes unusual combinations are the latest findings from an emerging field called synergistic medicine. This practice pairs health improving strategies from neuroscience, dermatology, even kinesiology, with amazing results. So check out our list of cool combinations that can kick disease, weight gain, fatigue, and many others to the curb for good!
1. The Combo: Cardio + Caffeine
The Benefit: Dodge Skin Cancer
Several research studies have shown that both caffeine, as well as cardio exercise, has anti-cancer properties. When you combine these two, they can provide you with some powerful protection from skin cancer. That’s right, skin cancer. Studies done at Rutgers University showed that this combination increased an animal’s ability to actually destroy skin cancer cells by up to 4 times more than animals that did not get this combo. Scientists suspect that it’s the caffeine that blocks a genetic pathway that keeps damaged cells from self-destructing. Both exercise and caffeine lower body fat, which helps cells to deconstruct. So enjoy that cup of Joe, then head out for a good walk or run. Drink coffee one hour before your exercise program for maximum results.
SEE MORE: Common Mistakes People Make Who Want to Get Healthy
2. The Combo: Green Tea + Lemon
The Benefit: Protect Your Heart
A recent study that involved more than 40,000 Japanese women and men had them drink 5 or more cups of green tea daily. Those who drank the tea had the lowest risk of dying from either stroke or heart disease than those who drank fewer cups of tea or none at all. This is due to the powerful antioxidants in green tea.
The trouble here is that less than 20 percent of these antioxidants compounds survive the digestive process. To get more of the antioxidants into your body, squeeze in lemon juice. The vitamin C in lemons help your body absorb up to 13 times more antioxidants than from just plain old tea. So sip away to your heart’s content. If you add lemon juice, you need only drink one or two cups per day to get the same benefits as those who drank 5 cups in the study. Be sure to drink freshly brewed tea, either hot or iced. No milk, though, as it blocks the absorption level you are looking for. Oh, and those ready to drink bottles of green tea? Worthless as far as antioxidants are concerned. Find out why drinking warm water with lemon is beneficial,
3. The Combo: Curcumin + Black Pepper
The Benefit: Improve Your Memory
You may have heard that curcumin has anti-cancer properties, but this compound that is found in the spice turmeric, is causing a ruckus in the area of Alzheimer’s research. Alzheimer’s patients, who took 1gram of curcumin, either as a supplement or mixed in with their food, had a drastic buildup in the plaque on their brains. Unfortunately, curcumin is poorly absorbed by the body, so you need to mix it with black pepper to increase your body’s ability to absorb it by almost 2,000 percent.
So get ready to spice up your meals! Although turmeric has been used for countless centuries in Indian dishes however, the taste can be quite potent if you are not used to it. Start with just a half teaspoon daily and once you are more accustomed to the flavor, add black pepper to make a great tasting rub for your chicken or fish dinners.
4. The Combo: Exercise + Music
The Benefit: Boost Your Brainpower
It took a brief 21 minutes of exercise to improve the moods of patients in a cardiac rehabilitation center at the Ohio State University study. However, when the doctors added music into the headphones during exercise, patients performed dramatically better on verbal tests afterwards. It’s thought that exercise improves cognitive ability by stimulation of the central nervous system. The addition of music may help the body organize its thoughts better.
Now although these tests were not performed on healthy individuals, it certainly won’t hurt you to exercise along with your favorite music.
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5. The Combo: Salad + Avocado
The Benefit: Save Your Eyesight
Although spinach is really good for your eyesight, adding avocado to the mix makes it even that much more effective. Ohio State University found that when subjects ate a salad consisting of lettuce, spinach, and carrots, those who had 3 or more tablespoons of avocado mixed into their salad absorbed more than 8 times the amount of alpha-carotene, almost 14 times more beta-carotene, and 4 times more lutein than those who did not add avocado to their salad. You don’t need to add more than 3 tablespoons, though, as the study showed that more than that amount did not change its overall effectiveness.
6. The Combo: Strength Train + Stretch
The Benefit: Build More Muscle
You probably didn’t realize that doing weight training actually builds strength by causing small tear in the muscles, which then quickly repairs itself, thereby making it bigger and stronger. If you want to build more muscle more quickly, you need merely add static stretching, which means you hold a stretch position for 10 to 30 seconds. Several studies show that when adults stretch either between or immediately after doing their strength training routine, they developed 20 percent more strength than those who lifted weights only.
To make this work, rest for one minute between sets and use that time to stretch the muscle you just worked. Hold each stretch for at least 20 seconds for maximum results.
7. The Combo: Mediterranean Diet + Nuts
The Benefit: Avoid the Dreaded Metabolic Syndrome (Read more how to pump up your metabolism)
Metabolic syndrome is a condition where people have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar levels, and excessive belly fat. A Mediterranean style diet, which is high in fruits, vegetables, beans, fish, and olive oil, has been shown to help with numerous problems including weight loss, heart disease, and Parkinson’s disease. Eating a Mediterranean diet can help with metabolic syndrome and recent research has shown that just by adding one serving of mixed nuts to the plan, they can reduce the symptoms even further. Researchers believe it’s the omega-3 fatty acids; fiber, potassium, and magnesium that help regulate blood sugar levels, blood pressure, as well as reduce inflammation.
8. The Combo: Eggs + Orange Juice
The Benefit: Reduce Fatigue
When the body does not get sufficient levels of iron it tends to feel sluggish. Your body can easily absorb the iron from meats but only between 2 and 20 percent of the iron found in veggies, beans, and eggs can be used by the body. The booster that works? Vitamin C. Vitamin C keeps iron as much as 6 times more soluble, meaning that it makes it available to the body for use.
So “C” to it that you get enough iron. Drink orange juice with your morning omelet and feel the power!
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