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Substitutes Are a Nicotine Patch
You can forget the debate about which sugar derivative or substitute is “less bad for you.” Anything that makes your food or drink taste sweet leads you to crave less healthy foods later. So even if you believe that the latest organic, safe-for-diabetics sweetener is okay for your health, it will still work against you in the long run. Once a sweet taste hits your tongue, it sets a cycle in motion, and you consume even more sugar by the hour.
I used to add a sugar substitute and creamer to my coffee every morning. After a few cups, I would crave sweet tastes later in the day as well. On most days, I would have a couple of diet sodas and a sugary snack in the afternoon. Then a few years ago, I decided to eliminate the artificial sweetener from my coffee. I also replaced the sweetened creamer with unsweetened coconut milk, which eliminated any sweet taste from my morning routine. This made it remarkably easy to avoid diet soda and sugary snacks later.
Look at your own daily routine. Consider what you could do to curb sugar cravings early in the day. The ingredients to watch out for on labels include: agave nectar, aspartame, corn syrup, dextrose, fructose, fruit juice concentrates, high fructose corn syrup, honey, maltitol, saccharine, sorbitol, stevia, sucrose, sucralose, and sugar. While some of these options are probably better than others, the more you avoid any added sweetener, the fewer subsequent cravings you will have for sugary foods.
If you consume fewer sugars and substitutes, your body will see a rapid benefit. New research shows how reducing the amount of fructose you consume can lead to major changes in as little as two weeks. As you reduce this biological desire for sweet tastes over time, you will need significantly less willpower to pass on the cake.
The act of sitting literally makes your backside bigger. When researchers studied MRI images of muscle tissue, they found that sitting around for long periods of time could put pressure on cells and cause the body to produce 50 percent more fat than it usually would. This research suggests that when force is placed on a specific area in the body for an extended time, it causes fat tissue to expand. So even if you exercise regularly, sitting for many hours encourages fat cells to congregate near your rear.
When you have no choice but to sit for several hours a day, at least break it up. If you sit for hours on end, your blood sugar and insulin levels will spike to dangerous levels. However, taking regular breaks can counterbalance these spikes. In experimental settings, even two minutes of leisurely walking every 20 minutes was enough to stabilize blood sugar levels.
Don’t worry about breaks every 20 minutes ruining your focus on a task. Contrary to what I might have guessed, taking regular breaks from mental tasks actually improves your creativity and productivity. Skipping breaks, on the other hand, leads to stress and fatigue. As one management professor described, mental concentration is akin to a muscle that gets fatigued with prolonged use. It needs a period of rest before it can recover. Getting up for the sake of your body may yield as much benefit for your mind.
Also examine your surroundings and think about how you can prevent sedentary time. We’ve built our lives around convenience, so anything we need is within arms’ reach. This translates into sitting for longer periods without having to get up, move, and interact with other people. Instead, organize your home and office to encourage movement over convenience.
Giving Your Immune System a Boost
Judge Food by the Color of Its Skin
The benefit of a diet rich in fruits and vegetables is so well-documented it hardly bears repeating. Eating the right natural foods wards off disease, enables you to live longer, makes you look better, and gives you additional energy. Yet most people fail to eat enough fruits and vegetables but consume large quantities of unnecessary foods.
However, we do not have a quick way to determine what foods are the healthiest. We receive conflicting advice from different sources. Then we face countless choices every time we go shopping at a grocery store or place an order at a restaurant.
An efficient mental shortcut is to judge a fruit or vegetable by the color of its skin. Generally speaking, produce with dark and vibrant colors is your best bet. Green means go. Broccoli, spinach, kale, bok choy, celery, cucumbers, peppers, zucchini, and other dark leafy greens are net positives for your health. Also look to red or blue fruits and vegetables as good nutritional sources. Apples, peppers, raspberries, strawberries, tomatoes, and almost any fruit or vegetable with vibrant skin tone makes for a better choice.
The next time you are in a grocery store, start by shopping in sections with dark-colored fruits and vegetables. Spend as much time as possible in the produce section before loading up on other foods. When you get home, prepare your plate with dark and diverse colors. When you dine out, ask for greens instead of grains. Order what you would normally put on a sandwich on top of spinach or romaine.
What if someone told you there was finally a vaccine for the common cold? One experiment suggests a good night’s sleep may be the answer. Participants in this study reported their sleep quality for 14 consecutive nights. Then they were quarantined and given nasal drops containing a rhinovirus (common cold). Researchers monitored participants for the next five days to see if they developed a cold. This experiment revealed that the participants who typically had less than seven hours of sleep before being exposed to the rhinovirus were nearly three times as likely to develop a cold.
Even though you cannot see it, a sound night’s sleep alters what is going on inside your body. Sleep deprivation raises blood pressure, increases inflammation, and boosts the risk of heart disease and stroke. These outcomes suggest sleep is an even higher priority when you are likely to catch a cold or the flu.
During cold and flu season, for example, your immune system may need enough sleep to ward off the latest strain
