healthkicker's Healthkicker

Advice: How to Avoid Retaining Water

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 01:45:00 GMT

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This comes from our Advice column!

From im_amelia@xanga: "I'm on a diet and my arms and legs have started to retain water.. How do you avoid that?"

Share your tips on how to avoid retaining water!: "How to avoid retaining water."

Nutritional Info for Your Favorite Irish Beers!

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 22:45:00 GMT

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Thinking about splurging on this famous drinking day? Well, unless you have the luck of the Irish on your side today, chances are you're going to pack on a few hundred calories by drinking your favorite Irish beers.

But there's nothing wrong with splurging every now and then!

Here is the nutritional information for some of your favorite Irish beers:

Guinness: Alcohol content: 4.0%; Calories: 125; Carbs: 10
Harp: Alcohol content: 4.55%; Calories: 142
Murphy's Irish Stout: Alcohol content: 4%; Calories: 150
O'Hara's Irish Stout: Alcohol content: 4.3%; Calories: 140; Carbs: 0
Killarney's Red Stout: Alcohol content: 5.0%; Calories: 197; Carbs: 22.8
Killian's: Alcohol content: 4.9%; Calories: 163; Carbs: 13.8

So if you're anything like me, you'll enjoy a good Irish brew on St. Paddy's Day... but now you know the caloric expense!

Is drinking beer and splurging on the calories on your To-Do list for St. Patrick's Day?

How You Can Make a Healthy Corned Beef and Cabbage Dinner!

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

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Are you looking for a healthy meal for St. Paddy's Day? Look no further!

Corned beef, when bought in a lean portion, can be a healthy meat! Add a hefty helping of mixed vegetables and a side of potatoes in order to have an authentic - and HEALTHY - Irish meal.

Corned Beef and Cabbage

Ingredients:

1 3 lb. low-sodium corned beef brisket, trimmed of all fat
4 large carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
2 large onions, peeled and sliced
8 small potatoes, washed
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. orange zest
2 cups apple cider or apple juice
3 Tbsp. Dijon mustard or horseradish mustard
1 small head of cabbage, cut into quarters

Directions: More Here...

The Healthier, Whole-Wheat Irish Soda Bread Recipe!

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 14:30:00 GMT

If you have ever had Irish Soda Bread before, you know just how delicious - and yet hearty and dense - this Irish treat can be.

Thanks to EatingWell.com, here is a great and healthier recipe for Whole-Wheat Irish Soda Bread!

Ingredients:

2 cups whole-wheat flour
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups buttermilk

Directions: More Here...

Dear Abby? How about Dear Healthkicker?!

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 04:25:00 GMT

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Do you have an embarrassing health question that you're too nervous to talk to your friend about? Are you trying to figure out what not to eat to keep your water weight down? Well let us help!

While we do suggest consulting a professional before engaging in any major diet, exercise or lifestyle change, Healthkicker's readers are some of the best people to ask when it comes to health advice!

Some of our Healthkickers are wondering ...

What is the healthiest, easiest soup to make?

When's the best time to workout?

Which is better: Tylenol or Advil?

So do you have an answer? Or do you have a question!? Swing by our Advice page and ask away (or help others find the answers)!

The Combination to a Successful Diet

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 02:45:00 GMT

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The way we combine foods can make or break a diet. This is not some mumbo jumbo food combination secret that eating two foods together causes you to burn more fat. This is a way to NOT sabotage your own weight loss by the way you combine foods. Some food combinations cause us to eat more, crave more and thus lose less.

Think about these examples. Would you ever sit down and eat three ounces of plain cream cheese? Most people wouldn't, but many people will gladly consume a big old slice of cheesecake, which contains 3 oz cream cheese. Few would sit down and eat a couple tablespoons of sugar, but in the form of cheesecake, a can of soda or a slice of birthday cake, they don't even think about it. Plain roasted peanuts are a tasty snack, but people tend to eat two or three times as much when they are salted and honey coated.

We simply wouldn't eat as much of these same foods on their own, but when we combine them they turn into diet destroying dynamite. Our brains react differently to an apple than to a slice of apple pie. More Here...

Alcohol Detox - How I Survived

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:45:00 GMT

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Everyone on Earth at sometime or another has had some bad times and has had stress in their lives. Some of us can handle these bad times, and then there are the ones, including myself, who turn to a different source.

Unfortunately, these sources can lead up to alcohol and drug abuse. We start out just trying to relieve our stress, and try to feel a little better about what is happening in our life, so we turn to Alcohol or Drugs to fix the problem.

As we continue to drink to relieve our stress, we start to get used to how our problems seem to disappear while under the influence. At this time our bodies start to become used to this pressure release, and we have now gone from abuse to now addiction.

I can say this because this is what happened to me. More Here...

Do You Trust Health Information from the Internet?

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 22:30:00 GMT

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Being physically and mentally healthy should be at the top of every individual’s priority list—and this is for obvious reasons. Primarily, being ill affects one’s productivity whether at home or at work. This is why more and more health professionals come up with innovations to improve health care. Currently, health advice is no longer just available in clinics and hospitals but also online.

E-Health, as most people would call it, involves new technologies to better distribute and administer services on health care. Health care communication or health advice is now available to anyone; with just a single click of your mouse, you have numerous access to physicians and health care providers online. Perhaps the development of this type of health care provision was fueled by the growing number of people who have a different way of thinking or a state of mind when it comes to the delivery of health advice. Most traditional folks would disagree, though, and there are good reasons why they don’t jump into the modern bandwagon called e-Health. More Here...

Advice: Stretching and Flexibility

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 20:30:00 GMT

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This comes from our Advice column!

From LadyinRed@datingish: "How long do you have to hold each stretch for? And how many times a day must you stretch? Before and after a workout?"

So what do you know about stretching? Share your advice!: "How much do you have to stretch to become more flexible?"

The Green Tea and Weight Loss Connection

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:30:00 GMT

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In recent years, studies have uncovered a connection between green tea and weight loss causing its popularity to increase substantially. With this increased popularity has come an increase in the diversity of products available. Green tea comes in many forms, there are tea bags, supplements and powders.

The recent popularity is well founded – and why not, if it is possible to lose up to 7 pounds each year simply by drinking the recommended amounts of green tea, who wouldn’t give it a try? But how much is enough? Scientists have determined that in order to draw benefit from green tea consumption, one must have between 3-5 cups each day.

There are an abundance of antioxidants in green tea. Polyphenols and catechins (such as ECGC) have been shown to increase metabolism. Not only are these antioxidants effective in helping us to lose weight, but they are also said to be powerful cancer fighters. Drinking green tea daily can help to prevent cancer, which seems to be at epidemic levels. More Here...