7 Very Important Reasons To Take A Nap Right Now

Sleep is very, very good. And while it's essential to get a solid seven to nine hours per night, when you occasionally miss the mark, a nap can help a great deal. Hey, it's still a good idea even if you do get enough sleep.

As it becomes increasingly popular to nap in the workplace, there's really no excuse not to nap -- especially when there are so many health benefits.

Here are seven reasons why you should take a nap right now:

1. It'll increase your patience

Feeling frustrated? According to researchers at the University of Michigan, who published a study recently in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, you should probably take a nap. Participants were asked to complete a particularly frustrating task -- drawing geometric designs on a computer screen. Those who took an hour-long nap before the exercise were able to draw for about a minute, compared to a control group who watched a nature documentary instead of napping. They gave up after 45 seconds.

2. You'll be more alert

Whether you're on a long drive or trying to get through a difficult task at work, napping is a great way to increase alertness if you're feeling foggy. A NASA study found that after napping for forty minutes pilots were more alert, and a smaller study found that after just ten minutes participants felt more alert.

3. Just thinking about taking a nap can lower your blood pressure

While an actual nap is certainly beneficial, so is the time before you take one. One British study found that participants' blood pressure dropped before they even fell asleep -- just anticipating the nap they were about to take was enough.

4. It helps you remember more

A study conducted by researchers in Germany found that taking an hourlong nap can dramatically improve our ability to remember information. For the study, participants were asked to remember specific words and pairs. Then, half the participants watched a DVD while the other half napped. When asked about their memory of the words, the nap group performed five times as well as the DVD group.

5. It can improve creativity

If you haven't been feeling too imaginative lately, it's probably time to hit the hay. A study conducted by psychiatrist Sara Mednick out of the University of California, San Diego, found that people who take REM naps -- the deep sleep state where you're dreaming -- were more creative when it came to problem solving than non-REM nappers.

6. Regular naps may prevent heart disease

One study of 23,000 Greek adults found that people who took midday naps -- a.k.a. "siestas" -- were over thirty percent less likely to die of heart disease, according to The Washington Post.

"Napping may help deal with the stress of daily living," Michael Twery of the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute said, according to the Washington Post. "Another possibility is that it is part of the normal biological rhythm of daily living. The biological clock that drives sleep and wakefulness has two cycles each day, and one of them dips usually in the early afternoon. It's possible that not engaging in napping for some people might disrupt these processes."

7. Taking a ten minute rest is beneficial, too

Don't think you can actually fall asleep? It may not matter all that much. A 2007 study, which took a look at the effects of napping versus resting, found that simply lying down for ten minutes improved mood regardless of whether or not the person fell asleep.

What are you waiting for? Get snoozing and dream on!

Courtesy of:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/07/15/reasons-to-nap_n_7715732.html?ir=Healthy%20Living&utm_campaign=071515&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Alert-healthy-living&utm_content=Title&ncid=newsltushpmg00000003

Sausage, Cheese and Veggie Egg Bake

www.skinnytaste.com
Servings: 8 • Size: 1 square
Calories: 230 • Fat: 13.5 g • Carb: 7 g • Fiber:1 g • Protein: 19 g • Sugar: 2 g
Sodium:  496 mg • Cholesterol: 216 mg


Ingredients:

• 7 oz (2 links) sweet Italian chicken sausage, removed from skin
• olive oil spray
• 1 3/4 cups part skim mozzarella, shredded (for gf, check labels)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/3 cup chopped shallots
• 5 oz sliced shiitake mushrooms
• 1 cup chopped roasted red bell peppers (from a 12 oz jar)
• 1 1/2 cups finely chopped broccoli florets
• 8 large whole eggs
• 4 large egg whites
• 1/4 cup fat free milk
• 2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish with oil. Place half of cheese into the baking dish.

Spray a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray, cook the sausage over medium heat breaking up as it cooks until browned and cooked through. Set aside.

Add the oil to the skillet with the shallots and mushrooms and saute until vegetables are tender, about 5 to 6 minutes. Add the roasted peppers, broccoli and return the sausage, cook 1 minute; mix well and remove from heat. Spread evenly over the cheese mixture.

In a large bowl combine the eggs, egg whites, milk, parmesan, salt and pepper and whisk well. Slowly pour over the vegetables in the baking dish and top with remaining cheese.

Bake until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean, 32 to 35 minutes. Let stand 8 to 10 minutes before cutting into 8 pieces.

Why You Shouldn't Trust Calorie Count

Yes, it’s possible to lose weight eating only Twinkies, provided that your calories in are less than your calories out. And it’s that logic that leads many people to conclude that calories are simple math. Even astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson tweeted, "A weight-loss book by physicists would be one sentence long: 'Consume calories at a lower rate than your body burns them.'" Trouble is, things are not that straightforward.

Calorie counts are everywhere these days, from fast food menus to fitness trackers. You might even be able to rattle off the calories in a cup of spinach. But what exactly is a calorie?

In short, it’s a measurement of energy; the “calories” seen on nutrition labels describes the amount of energy needed to heat up a gram of water by one degree Celsius. But the energy in the cranberry muffin you just ate doesn’t go to heating up water; instead, it provides fuel for a number of processes in the body, including staying alive and breathing. So figuring out how many calories are in that muffin is a bit more complicated.

How Calories Are Measured

To determine the total energy content of a food, scientists use a fancy-pants piece of scientific equipment known as a bomb calorimeter. Into this device goes our muffin, which gets completely incinerated. During that muffin-burning process, the bomb calorimeter measures the heat produced. This number represents the total amount of energy—or what is known as the “gross energy”—of the muffin.

But gross energy isn’t very helpful in indicating how much energy humans can actually get out of foods, because human digestion isn’t as efficient as a bomb calorimeter. Our digestive systems produce waste products and can’t completely break down all foods, which means that not all of the gross energy in food goes to fueling our bodies.

When you’re looking at the calorie count on muffin’s nutritional label, you’re not seeing the gross energy. What you’re seeing is the amount of energy that’s up for grabs by your digestive system, or metabolizable energy (ME). Since this is tricky to measure, we have to rely on estimates, which have been approved by the FDA as accepted ways that food manufacturers can calculate the calories posted on food labels.

One way to estimate ME involves taking the gross energy and adjusting that number downward to account for waste and digestive inefficiency. Foods containing fats and simple sugars, (like doughnuts) are fairly easy for your body to digest, so their metabolizable energy is pretty darn close to their gross energy. However, other foods with complex carbs and fiber (think a whole-grain bran muffin) take a bit more digestive power to break down, hence their ME is much less than their gross energy.

The most common method used for calculating ME is known as the Atwater System. This method uses a series of factors derived from 19th century experiments to give an approximation of the energy per gram of protein, fat, carbohydrate, and alcohol. To calculate total calories in a muffin, food manufacturers count up the number of grams of fat, protein, carbohydrate, and alcohol; multiply each by its respective factor (nine calories per gram of fat, four calories per gram of protein, four calories per gram of carbohydrate, and seven calories per gram of alcohol); and add up the totals.

Where ME Gets Murky

Though the original system remains in widespread use more scientific research has been done since Atwater’s original experiments to come up with “specific factors” for particular food groups such as dairy products.

Scientists are learning that calories calculated from the Atwater factors are more accurate for certain diets and certain foods than others. One study found that the Atwater general factors overestimated the energy content of a low-fat, high-fiber diet by 11 percent .

More recently, USDA researchers discovered that Atwater factors overestimate the calories in a serving of raw almonds. Food labels typically list a calorie count of 160 to 170 calories per ounce of the nut, but this study showed that our bodies only absorb about 129 calories.

But this may not apply to almond butter since less-processed foods give up their energy less readily. Whereas nut butter is already ground and therefore kind of “pre-digested,” our digestive systems have to work a lot harder to break down whole almonds. Same goes for cooked foods: Raw foods, ounce-for-ounce, take more energy to break down than cooked foods (one reason some people embrace a raw food diet).

In addition to these factors, scientists are also exploring others that may impact the accuracy of the almighty calorie, such as gut bacteria, the immune system, and certain genetic variations.

While it’s a tricky business to calculate the calories in food, figuring out the other side of the equation may make busting a sweat on the treadmill or powering through a heavy weightlifting session seem easy.

Measuring calorie expenditure, like measuring the calories in foods, is pretty convoluted. While there are a couple of methods that are pretty darn accurate for determining a person’s daily burn, these are very expensive and/or involve some specialized equipment—not very practical for the average person .

So we have to turn to easier, albeit less accurate, ways to tally daily energy expenditure. The Mifflin St. Jeor equation, which takes into account age, height, current weight, and sex, is the go-to for registered dietitians and weight-loss apps to estimate your caloric needs. The equation spits out a number that gives a rough estimate of a person’s resting daily energy expenditure (REE, or the energy required to simply exist, couch-potato-style). This is multiplied by a physical activity factor (such as multiplying by 1.2 for someone who does no physical activity and up to 1.9 for someone who has an intensely physical job) to calculate a rough guess of how many calories a person expends on a daily basis—but it’s only a guess.

Altogether, a person’s daily energy expenditure looks like this:

basal energy expenditure + physical activity + non-exercise activity thermogenesis + thermic effect of food = total daily energy expenditure

If that formula reads like Greek, don't worry. Let's walk through each of these components.

1. Basal Energy Expenditure (BEE)

This is basically REE, but it's measured in a slightly different way. BEE is by far the largest part of your daily burn, accounting for 45 to 70 percent of total daily energy expenditure (TDEE). It’s mostly determined by how much lean body mass you have (your total weight minus fat mass), and age, sex, genetic variations, and certain conditions (such as thyroid problems) also factor in. And yes, your body does slow the burn when in “starvation mode,” which can be triggered by too few calories and/or too much exercise. It’s your body’s way of protecting itself by pumping the breaks on losing more muscle mass .

2. Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT)

The neat thing about NEAT is its ability to bump up your burn without the sweat factor. NEAT, which includes energy spent on daily activities from fidgeting to cooking to Xbox-ing, can differ between individuals by up to 2,000 calories per day . Fidgeting alone can burn up to 350 calories a day, and some scientists have hypothesized that lack of NEAT has contributed to America’s obesity epidemic .

3. Physical Activity

Here’s what most of us picture when we think “calories out”: purposeful physical exercise, like Spinning class or a pick-up soccer game. While this contributes to TDEE, it varies between individuals. For most people, it’s a small chunk of daily caloric burn, but for mega-endurance athletes, it can be a pretty big piece of the pie.

4. Thermic Effect of Food (TEF)

Strangely, food itself can contribute about 10 percent of total daily energy expenditure. The thermic effect of food (TEF) is the work expended by the digestive system to digest food. Fats require relatively little energy to digest, while proteins and complex carbohydrates require quite a bit more.

Despite lots of hype to the contrary, there’s no evidence that eating smaller, more frequent meals will bump up caloric burn or help with appetite control . Instead, it’s how much and what we eat that determines the energy expended by TEF.

The Takeaway

In short, the “calories in versus calories out” equation works, however it's pretty much impossible for an individual to measure either with precision. So do what works for you.

Given the inaccuracies, counting calories may seem like a waste of time, but plugging your foods into a calorie-tracking app isn’t completely pointless for everyone: There’s some evidence that writing down food intake can contribute to weight loss because food diaries help people pay attention to their choices and provide a sense of accountability. For the more numerically inclined, tracking calories, quality of foods, and weight changes will give a big picture of how meals and snacks translate into weight changes, even if calorie labels aren’t foolproof.

And if you like crunching numbers but question the whole calorie-counting thing, there are several alternative tools, such as the NuVal and Orac scales, that can help you judge the healthfulness of foods without relying on a running tally of calories.

For others, for ignoring calories completely and instead focusing on consuming whole, nutritious foods may be better. In addition to providing tons of good-for-you nutrients, these kinds of foods typically take more work to digest. If you’re looking to lose weight, try playing with proportions—bump up the fraction of unprocessed foods in your diet and see what happens.

Courtesy of: http://greatist.com/grow/why-you-should-not-trust-calorie-counts?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily_newsletter_2015-06-29_mails_daily_new_header

Southwestern Black Bean Salad

Skinnytaste.com
Servings: 13 • Size: 1/2 cup
Calories: 79.5 • Fat: 3.5 g • Carb: 12 g • Fiber: 3 g • Protein: 3 g • Sugar: 1 g
Sodium: 127 mg (without the salt) • Cholest: 0 mg

Ingredients:

• 15.5 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 9 oz cooked corn, fresh or frozen (thawed if frozen)
• 1 medium tomato, chopped
• 1/3 cup red onion, chopped
• 1 scallion, chopped
• 1 1/2 - 2 limes, juice of
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp fresh minced cilantro (or more to taste)
• salt and fresh pepper
• 1 medium hass avocado, diced 
• 1 diced jalapeno (optional)

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine beans, corn, tomato, onion, scallion, cilantro, salt and pepper. Squeeze fresh lime juice to taste and stir in olive oil. Marinate in the refrigerator 30 minutes. Add avocado just before serving.

Makes about 6 1/2 cups.

How Many Rest Days Do I Really Need?

With the exception of people named Bruce Banner, muscles need a certain amount of rest in order to strengthen and grow. But while some sources suggest muscles need 48 hours or more to recover from exercise, there might not be a one-size-fits-all timeline.

Whether they’re in it for health, happiness, or an upcoming vacation, many gym-goers want to look and feel a certain way—and fast. But in the process of strengthening the legs, chest, or any other muscle group, rest is just as important as reps. And for many individuals, not taking an occasional rest day could lead to overtraining, which can mean decreased performance, elevated blood pressure, decreased immunity, disturbed sleep, and more.

Physical exercise, from lifting weights to running intervals, damages muscle fibers, and can create a feeling of soreness (and dread at the sight of stairs). But during rest periods, muscles have time to reconstruct (or recover) in stronger formations and increase in size. Yep, turns out that strength and muscle gains actually occur outside the gym, during periods of rest, not inside the weight room.

Some research suggests that because muscle soreness can peak two days post-exercise, a minimum of 48 hours of rest is optimal to allow recovery and prevent injury—at least among the competitive athletes who were studied. Other experts suggest resting up to 72 hours between workouts if you're an exercise newbie, while some say eight hours of good sleep is enough for your body to recover.

Finally, one meta-analysis determined that for optimal strength development, one to two rest days between sessions is ideal for beginners training three days per week and experienced exercisers training two days per week.

Still, there are other factors to consider when it comes to determining adequate rest. Those who are older, for instance, may experience slowed muscle recovery and growth. Other factors include how intensely you work out, how often you work out, what you eat, and the duration of exercise. With so many mixed messages out there, one thing's for sure: Some amount of rest in your exercise routine is crucial to enhance muscle growth, and to keep symptoms of overtraining at bay.

Still, your muscles may not need to take a total break from movement in order to fully recover. One study found low-intensity post-workout exercise—such as swimming laps or taking a walk—can increase muscle relaxation, which benefits recovery. Other research suggests muscles can work to full capacity even while in the recovery stage. And keep in mind that "recovery" doesn't necessarily mean sitting on your couch all day either: Yoga, Pilates, light jogging, or swimming can be considered "rest day" activities, depending on your fitness level.

You can also look to more mellow treatments to speed recovery, including icing, heating, static stretching, and massage therapy. (Don't forget about the trusty foam roller!) Another way to speed recovery: Pay attention to proper post-workout nutrition, including adequate amounts of protein.

The bottom line: There’s no magic formula for optimal days of rest. Take your fitness level, intensity, frequency, and duration of activity into account, and look for signs that the body needs a break, like chronic muscle or joint soreness and impaired physical performance. Be sure to recognize the difference between pain and soreness, and most of all, don’t be afraid to take some time off.

Originally published November 2011. Updated June 2015.

Courtesy of:  http://greatist.com/fitness/do-my-muscles-need-two-days-recover?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily_newsletter_2015-06-29_mails_daily_new_header

Buffalo Turkey Burgers with Blue Cheese Broccoli Slaw

Skinnytaste.com
Servings: 5 • Size: 1 Burger
Calories: 358 • Fat: 15 g • Protein: 38.3 g • Carb: 22.7 g • Fiber: 5.6 g • Sugar: 5.9


Burger and slaw only - (no bun, no cheddar cheese):
Servings: 5 • Size: 1 burger w/ slaw • Old Points: 5 pts • Points+: 6 pts (no slaw, 5)
Calories: 208 • Fat: 9.5 g • Protein: 24.3 g • Carb: 6.7 g • Fiber: 1.6 g • Sugar: 1.9 g

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups broccoli slaw
• 1/4 cup skinny blue cheese dressing (see below)
• 1.25 lbs 93% lean ground turkey
• 2/3 cup grated carrots (grate in food processor) 
• 1/4 cup seasoned whole wheat breadcrumbs 
• 1 clove garlic, grated 
• 1 tbsp red onion, grated
• 1/4 cup Franks Hot Sauce
• salt and fresh pepper
• oil spray
• 5 slices reduced fat cheddar
• 5 whole wheat burger buns 

Directions:

In a medium bowl combine broccoli slaw and skinny blue cheese dressing. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine ground turkey, carrots, breadcrumbs, garlic, onion, hot sauce, salt and pepper. Makes 5 equal patties, 5.5 oz each.

Heat a large skillet on high heat. When hot, lightly spray the oil. Add burgers to the pan and reduce the heat to medium-low.

Cook on one side until browned 4-5 minutes, then flip. Cook another 4 minutes or until burgers are cooked all the way through (keep heat medium-low to prevent burning); top with cheese and place on a toasted burger buns topped with broccoli slaw.

If grilling, clean grill well before cooking and spray with oil spray to prevent sticking.


Freezer Tip: To freeze raw, place them on a baking sheet with wax paper in between, when frozen transfer to ziplock bags.

To freeze cooked, you can fully cook them, then freeze in ziplock bags for quick meals; to re-heat you can microwave or thaw first then place on a skillet.




Low Fat Creamy Blue Cheese Dressing
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: 8  • Serving Size: 2 tablespoons
Calories: 46.8 • Fat: 3.0 g • Protein: 2.8 g • Carb: 2.2 g • Fiber: 0.3 g 
 
Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
• 6 oz fat free Greek yogurt
• 1 tbsp light mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

In a small bowl, mash blue cheese and yogurt together with a fork. Stir in mayonnaise, lemon juice, vinegar, and garlic powder until well blended. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Makes 1 cup.

The One Question That Finally Changed How I Approach My Health

Last year, I was a judge for the Miss America pageant. That meant a full week of driving back and forth between Atlantic City and my home in New York—and a lot of gas station snacking. On one of those fateful trips, I walked into a convenience store on the Jersey Turnpike with a mission: Buy a delicious snack to get me through a busy afternoon. In the past, I wouldn’t have thought twice about grabbing a big bag of pizza-flavored Combos, those chip-cracker hybrids that were designed in a snack lab to be unquestionably delicious (and addictive). The bag would have been empty in minutes.

But that day, I knew better. I knew those pizza Combos had to be tremendously terrible for me. Out of curiosity, I took a look at the nutrition label: nearly 800 calories in one bag. I’ll pause for a moment while you pick your jaw off the floor.

Two months before, I made a major life change and hired Mike Vacanti, a personal trainer, to help me think about my health differently. Mike isn’t the type of personal trainer who I meet up with at the gym a few times a week. He oversees the food I eat and plans and runs my daily workouts. I turned to him in the gas station and said, “Mike, if you weren’t here, I would have eaten the whole bag.”

Instead, I grabbed what had then become my go-to snack: beef jerky. High-protein and low-calorie, it was one of the first big swaps I made in the early days of changing my lifestyle.

That moment in the gas station was significant because it showed me that I was changing how I thought and how I reacted to decisions about health.

But it wasn’t the moment I knew I had to change.

That moment came during a routine checkup six years ago. I stepped on the scale in the doctor’s office and realized I had gained 13 pounds. I was 33 at the time, and I finally realized my body wasn’t going to do the work for me anymore. It was time for me to take action. My body had treated me well, but I knew that wasn’t going to last forever.

Even with that wake-up call, it took me five years to really start making healthy changes. I just couldn’t get into a rhythm, no matter the diet or training schedule I tried. I was frustrated with myself for realizing I needed to change what I ate and how much I exercised but not finding anything I could stick to. I remember sitting on a plane and just saying, “Fuck it. No more excuses. No more giving up. I’m going to change.”

I decided to be really honest with myself. I asked myself: What is really going to work? What is going to keep me on track? To me, the answer was obvious: I needed a babysitter. I met Mike, and I knew he wouldn’t let me get away with anything. The decision was made.

These days, my health is a top priority. I owe it to my family, and I owe to the businesses I’ve worked hard to establish. My health was the first thing I encountered in my life that didn’t come naturally to me. And that was a very hard pill to swallow.

It’s been a long road to finding the healthy lifestyle that works for me. And I hesitate to say you should follow my path because what’s worked for me might not work for you. But there is one thing you can do that will change how you think about yourself and your health: Know yourself. Audit yourself. Become as self-aware as you possibly can. Understand what you need to do to make those changes.

I got to a place financially that allowed me to afford what I needed, but I also know that hiring a trainer to follow you around is not going to be in the cards for most people. The cool thing is I know friends and family who achieved the same results I did after finding the perfect app or following the right people on Twitter. It provided them the motivation and community they needed to stay on track.

Now all I ask is that you're equally honest with yourself when you answer: What will it really take for you to make the change?

I figured out exactly what I needed by being brutally honest with myself: I needed someone to babysit me. Now all I ask is that you're equally honest with yourself when you answer: What will it really take for you to make the change?

For some, money still may be the bottleneck. To that I say this: Nothing is more important than your health. So before you buy that next 42-inch TV, go on an extra vacation, or buy season tickets to your favorite sports team, it might be worth taking a step back and seeing how you can make a strong financial commitment to your health. I am the extreme. It’s not practical for everybody to go out and hire a personal trainer, but gym memberships are becoming more affordable, fresh produce is attainable, and YouTube has hundreds of free workouts.

Take the time to really sit down and be honest with yourself. That’s the first step. From there only you know what has to be done. Make health a priority. Not because it’s the right thing to do. Not because it will make you better at your job. Because you owe it to yourself. Starting now could mean 20 extra years of doing what you love. Isn’t that reason enough?

Courtesy of:  http://greatist.com/connect/one-question-to-change-your-health?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily_newsletter_2015-06-26_mails_daily_new_header