Your Top 10 Superfoods

When it comes to ditching unwanted pounds, these key ingredients are as powerful as they are tasty. Add them to your plate to lose weight!

Wild Salmon

Slimming superpowers: The fish's omega-3 fatty acids could help you fight flab more effectively. They alter the expression of certain genes, shifting your body to burn fat rather than store it.

The amazing proof: In a study analyzing the diets of 35,000 women, published in Public Health Nutrition, those subjects who ate oily fish such as salmon two to four times per week had the lowest basal metabolic indexes, a common measure of body fat.

Apples

Slimming superpowers: This fruit's 4 to 5 grams of fiber not only are filling but also help ferry out some of the fat and calories you take in from other foods.

The amazing proof: People who ate an apple 15 minutes before lunching on cheese tortellini consumed 187 fewer calories in total than those who snacked on nothing beforehand, a study from Penn State University in University Park determines. How about them apples?

Quinoa

Slimming superpowers: A complete protein, quinoa has all the essential amino acids needed to build metabolism-revving muscle.

The amazing proof: Reduced-calorie dieters eating about 115 g of protein daily lost 22 percent more fat after four months than those who ate 70 g per day, The Journal of Nutrition reports.

Lentils

Slimming superpowers: These legumes are rich in resistant starch (RS), a carbohydrate that may encourage fat burning and shrink fat cells.

The amazing proof: When study participants enjoyed a meal with 5 g of RS—about what you get from 3/4 cup cooked lentils—they burned 23 percent more fat over 24 hours than when they had a meal without the starch, researchers at the University of Colorado in Denver say.

Olive Oil

Slimming superpowers: Healthful monounsaturated fats found in olive oil could potentially switch on genes related to fat burning and storage.

The amazing proof: Dieters on a low-cal plan emphasizing monounsaturated fats, protein and complex carbs lost almost double the weight that dieters who ate the same calories but less total fat and protein and more carbs lost, a study in the Archives of Internal Medicine reveals.

Eggs

Slimming superpowers: The breakfast staple is loaded with choline, a compound known to help block fat absorption.

The amazing proof: After eight weeks, dieters who ate two eggs, toast and jelly for breakfast five days a week lost 65 percent more weight than those who had a same-calorie bagel breakfast without eggs, according to a study in the International Journal of Obesity.

Yogurt

Slimming superpowers: Lowfat and nonfat Greek and regular yogurts contain 20 percent or more of your daily calcium needs. The mineral slows production of cortisol, a hormone that encourages belly-flab buildup.

The amazing proof: People on a low-cal diet that included yogurt lost 81 percent more belly fat than those on a similar but no-yogurt plan, a study from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville concludes. This dairy is a must-do.

Sweet Potatoes

Slimming superpowers: These spuds have RS, the same carbs found in lentils that may turn up the body's fat-scorching furnace. RS may also increase production of peptide hormone compounds that signal the brain to stop eating.

The amazing proof: After a breakfast and a lunch containing RS, subjects ate about 10 percent fewer calories over the next 24 hours compared with when they had similar meals with a placebo, research from the University of Surrey indicates.

Kiwifruit

Slimming superpowers: A large kiwi has 84 milligrams of vitamin C—more than a day's quota. C helps form carnitine, a compound that transports fat into cell mitochondria, where it's burned for energy during exercise.

The amazing proof: People with low blood levels of C burned 10 percent less fat per pound of body weight while walking than did those with normal levels of C, a study at Arizona State University in Mesa shows. But when subjects got a dose of C, their fat burning increased fourfold.

Edamame

Slimming superpowers: The green soybeans supply 17 g of protein per cup, and your body torches more calories digesting protein than it does processing carbs and fat.

The amazing proof: Researchers from the Federal University of Vicosa found that people burned about 70 more calories per day when their A.M. meal contained soy protein versus other types of protein. Cool beans!

[via Self]

7 totally organic ways to beat fear and anxiety

Stress and Worry Are Human Creations

The best explanation of stress we’ve ever heard comes from Stanford neurobiologist Robert Sapolsky, PhD, the author of Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers. “If you are a normal mammal,” he notes, “stress is the three minutes of screaming terror on the savanna after which either it’s over with or you’re over with.”

If you’re a human mammal, stress comes not from fear of being eaten but worry about somebody eating your lunch. Unlike other animals, we have a large brain relative to our body size—a brain that worries. And now our worry is triggered by the passive-aggressive boss, the weight of a 30-year mortgage, and the job of caring for children and ill parents at the same time.

No wildebeest would understand these fears, but the perceived threats spark the same bodily survival responses that crocodile attacks do. And they last way longer than a croc’s lunchtime. But you can do something about stress. Search and destroy. Here’s where stress typically strikes and how to strike back.

Stress spot: The brain

Chronic secretion of the stress hormone cortisol damages memory centers, including the hippocampus. When dendrites in the hippocampus shrivel excessively, we can be caught in perpetual stress, triggering anxiety disorders, depression, and margaritas at lunchtime.

The Fix: Don’t be so damned conscientious. A Canadian study of 2,737 workers found that when people thought their poor job performance could have a serious impact on their coworkers, their company, or the environment, job stress increased. Responsible workers who saw their jobs as careers tended to say their jobs were highly stressful, while people who were satisfied with their jobs or who didn’t think of them as careers were less likely to report stress. The lesson: Take a day off. The company won’t go under if you’re out for nine hours. (Note: This does not apply to air-traffic controllers.)

Bonus Instant Feel-Good Fix: Swear. Researchers at England’s University of East Anglia Norwich looked into leadership styles and found that using swear words can reduce stress and boost camaraderie among coworkers.

Stress spot: The neck, head, and back

Pituitary, hypothalamic, and adrenal hormones flood the body, focusing your attention and alertness, sharpening vision, and preparing muscles to take action against a threat. When the perceived danger does not go away, you lose the ability to return to equilibrium.

The Fix: Create a three-legged life. Add balance to your home, your work, and yourself to create a buffer against stress. “If one leg of the stool goes down, you have others to hold you up,” says Munir Soliman, MD, director of the Center for Wellness & Personal Growth at the University of California, San Diego.

Stress spot: The hair

Researchers from the University of Western Ontario may have found a biomarker to measure chronic stress. It’s hair. They took follicle samples from about 100 men, half of whom where hospitalized for heart attacks, and found that hair cortisol was highest in the heart patients. Since hair grows about 1 centimeter a month, researchers used 3-centimeter samples to provide a record of stress levels over the previous three months. Scientists believe the findings bolster the theory that chronic stress may contribute to heart attack just as acute stress does.

The Fix: Focus on somebody besides numero uno. “People who have a problem with anxiety often get lost in measuring and judging themselves,” says Mel Schwartz, a Connecticut-based psychotherapist. “The critical voice is enslaving.” Try focusing on others. Showing respect and appreciation for others has an amazing ability to diffuse obsessive thoughts and behavior caused by preoccupation with the self.

Stress spot: The sympathetic nervous system

A release of norepinephrine causes the heart to beat faster, blood pressure to rise, sweat to stain your shirt, and breathing to quicken to deliver more oxygen and glucose to muscles and tissues. Endorphins make blood vessels constrict to reduce bleeding in case of attack. This is what causes the hairs on the back of your neck and skull to stand on end. While stress hormones help us cope with danger, prolonged pressure can harm the heart and suppress the immune system, which may make us more vulnerable to everything from colds and flu to cancer.

The Fix: Twist yourself into a pretzel and laugh. Laughter Yoga practitioners swear that combining yogic breathing and stretching techniques and forced laughter helps them cope better with life stress. Studies show that, separately, yoga and laughter do stifle stress. For example: Two studies presented at the 2009 American College of Sports Medicine’s annual meeting found that the blood vessels of people who watched comedy films were more pliable and experienced improved blood flow for up to 24 hours after the chuckles started.

Stress spot: The gut

Increased acids from stress churn your stomach and loosen your bowels (hence the soiling-yourself stress reaction). It can even alter the way the body processes fat, causing you to store more of it in your abdomen.

The Fix: Give yourself a hand. Try acupressure for a quick stress release. Massage the fleshy part between the thumb and index finger of one hand for 30 seconds with the thumb and first two fingers of your other hand. A study at Hong Kong Polytechnic University found that acupressure with lavender oil can reduce stress by up to 39 percent. Two other reports in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine identified 58 clinical trials showing that massage therapy and tai chi practice significantly reduce salivary cortisol, heart rate, blood pressure, and depression.

Stress spot: Your DNA

Yes, stress can screw with your DNA, too! Chronically flooding your body with stress hormones can cause telomeres to shorten. Telomeres are genetic structures that protect the ends of our chromosomes from deterioration, and, if they shorten to a critical length, cells will no longer be able to multiply.

The Fix: Meditate. A recent Harvard Medical School study found that the physiological response from mindful meditation, yoga, tai chi, breathing exercises, or even repetitive prayer can counteract cellular damage from chronic stress. Breathing lesson: When you feel anxious, disengage your mind by focusing on breathing deeply through your nose so your belly rises before your chest does, then exhale through your mouth. Do this for 5 minutes, concentrating only on your breath.

Stress spot: Your sex life

Women who are distracted and stressed out often can’t orgasm or even enjoy sex. Men may suffer erectile dysfunction when under stress.

The Fix: Unleash the oxytocin. Kissing, hugging, even holding hands can reduce stress because it raises levels of oxytocin, the hormone associated with bonding and love, say researchers at the University of North Carolina.

(via Rodale)