tips

The Importance of Clean Eating
Researchers at Washington University (St. Louis, MO) have found bacteria in the intestines play a key role in weight gain. Many factors affect those who tend to gain weight, including genetics, lack of exercise and bad food choices. A study now shows a high-fat, high-sugar diet changes the composition of bacteria in the intestines and makes excess weight easier to gain and harder to lose. The findings show the change can happen in as few as 24 hours, so do not go all out with those cheat meals. This is all the more reason to eat clean regularly to stop accumulation of those unwanted pounds of fat. If you have not already, check out Eat-Clean Diet for Men, a great book full of health and nutrition information with easy recipes for great-tasting – and non-fattening – meals that can help with muscle gains. Visit www.cleaneatingmag.com for more information. Source: Science Translational Medicine

Keep Your Heart Happy with Cinnamon?
Researchers have discovered cinnamon has potent antioxidant properties. Help protect yourself against heart disease by indulging in a cup of hot chocolate, latte or mulled cider with ground cinnamon sprinkled on top. For the nutritionally challenged, antioxidants provide powerful protection against disease and aging. They counteract free radicals that damage cells and DNA. Eat a varied diet with many different kinds of colorful fruits, vegetables, spices and nuts to ensure you get enough. If fresh produce is not always an option, frozen, dried and canned foods can provide antioxidant nutrition as well. Source: Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

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The percentage of your daily vitamin C (and 100% of your RDA for manganese) that comes from one cup of pineapple.

Keep Working for Better Health
According to a nationwide study, people who transition from full-time work to part-time, semiretired hours have better health (physically and mentally) than people who retire and stop working altogether. Researchers call this “bridge employment” during the transition between working and retiring. Those in “post-retirement jobs” experienced fewer major diseases and less functional limitation than people fully retired. The difference was significantly greater with people who continued to work in their related field of expertise.