Orange Juice

Most people have heard the recommendations from doctors that say to drink eight glasses of water a day. However, there are so many exceptions to this rule that really confuses people. Like, when you are sick or sweating a lot, you should drink more than eight glasses. Or, if you drink too much water, there is a possibility to dilute vital nutrients from you diet. There are so many confusing exceptions that you need not worry about if you want to stay healthy by drinking water.

It is really this simple: replace all beverages in your diet with water. Every doctor will tell you that water is the best drink out there. Soft drinks, juices, and other beverages are what I like to call “hidden calories”. So you drink a bottle, or even a few bottles, of Snapple or Gatorade or something like this. Bam, you just consumed over 200 calories just by drinking! Did that beverage fill you up? I doubt it.

Ok, let’s say you replace every beverage with water, as per your doctor’s recommendation. Hypothetically, let’s say you usually drink two cans of Pepsi, a glass of orange juice, a glass of milk, and a Snapple iced-tea everyday. Here’s the breakdown on calories:

Two cans of Pepsi – 300 Calories
One Snapple Iced Tea – 250 Calories
One 12 oz glass of O.J. – 183
One 12 oz glass of Milk – 183

This brings us to a whopping total of 916 calories a day. That’s 6,412 calories a week; 25,648 calories a month; 307,776 calories a year!

Now imagine your doctor tells you that you need to lose weight. Now, without dieting or exercise and simply drinking only water, you can cut out 307,776 calories a year! Figuring that roughly 3,500 calories equals a pound, you could lose up to 87 pounds just by drinking only water!

Of course you could argue that you could drink diet beverages and not ingest any calories as well.  That may be true, however, there are major health concerns regarding artificial sweeteners that are just not worth it, i.e. cancer, central nervous system damage, and other unknown long term risks. While the United State Government and several other countries say the risk of cancer caused by artificial sweeteners is highly unlikely, I personally would rather not take my chances. How many times has the government said “Oops, we were wrong, sorry”? I’ll trust my doctor who says water is the best beverage to drink.

Ok, so here are some of the benefits of water:

•    Reduced risk of heart attack – a study published in 2002 suggests that drinking five glasses of water a day can reduce risk of heart attack by 41%.
•    Hydration – yes, this is an obvious one, but dehydration is the culprit of many common ailments, including headaches, fatigue, dry skin, digestive problems, depression, etc.
•    Reduced risk of cancer -drinking plenty of water a day has been shown to reduce the risk of colon cancer, bladder cancer, and potentially breast cancer.

This list can go on and on. Now, listen to your doctor and switch over to drinking water instead of mass marketed beverages that claim to be “healthy”. All you need is a tall glass of water and your body and doctors bills will thank you.

Health

As we all know, today’s modern medicine costs A LOT.  There’s the cost of insurance premiums, co-pays, doctor fees, medication costs, and so on and so on. It seems the costs of seeing a doctor is increasing exponentially. According the National Coalition on Health Care, the nation’s health spending is expected to reach $2.5 trillion in 2009. And by 2018, national health care expenditures are expected to reach $4.4 trillion; more than double 2007 spending.

So what can an individual do to avoid expensive doctor and hospital visits? Prevention. Preventing costly health conditions is something every indivdual should be doing everyday. We all know to eat right and exercise, the foundation of good overall health, however, there are some very simple ways to prevent major health problems, and expenive visits to your physician, emergency trips to the hospital. Here are the simpliest preventative health care tips to help you avoid costly doctors visits.

1. Walk- For all of those out there who able to walk and are not under doctors orders to stay off their feet: Walk! It is the simpliest way to exercise, increase your heart rate, and get yourself moving. Try a quick 10 – 20 minute walk in the morning, during lunch, and/or after dinner. Walking after dinner is a great way to burn off excess calories and get rid of that “too full” feeling from eating. Experts will tell you to walk for 45 minutes to an hour, but really, if you only have twenty minutes, it’s perfectly acceptable. Try to incorporate walking into your routine in creative ways. For instance: instead of driving a half a mile to the deli for lunch, walk it. Little things like this will keep your weight steady, increase your heart rate with exercise, and keep your joints working and agile, thereby preventing trips to the physician. Plus, walking is a great way to get yourself outside and enjoying some fresh air.

2. Take the Stairs- Where there are stairs, there are usually elevators or escalators that take so much less energy for you to use. Instead of taking the lazy way out, simply take the stairs and burn more calories! As a result of simply taking the stairs, you are getting exercise, keeping your weight in check, and keeping your body mobile. Such a simple way to avoid the doctors office.

3. Breath- This sounds so simple, but did you know that the average human inhales and exhales about 20,000 times a day! Think about it: When you are excited, stressed out, or exercising, you breath more quickly. When you sleep or are in a relaxed state, you breath more slowly and deeply. Every human emotion and mental state causes changes in the breath. The beauty of breathing is that you can either be concious or unconcious of your breathing. The more concious you are of your breath, the more in control of your emotions and mental state you can be. Doctors will rarely bring this fact up during your doctor’s visit. Here’s what you can do. First, try to become concious of your breathing throughout the day. What causes you to breath faster, slower, deeper, shallower, etc.? Next, try to manipulate your breathing patterns. For instance, when you are stressed and find that you taking fast, shallow breaths; focus on inhaling slowly and deeply, and then exhaling at the same rate. After a few minutes, you will notice your mood has changed to match your breathing pattern. As a result, by simply focusing your awareness on your breath, you will find yourself less stressed out, tired, emotional, etc. In this way, you can help lower your blood pressure, decrease or increase your heart rate, promote your body’s overall health, and prevent future trips to the doctor.