Home is the place where we expect to feel safe, comfortable, and happy. Of course, we all take basic steps to make our homes safe and comfortable, but have you ever thought about just how much of an impact your living space has on your overall wellbeing? A home that has fresh air and plenty of light not only keeps you healthier physically, but it also boosts your mental health. Because our homes play such a major role in how we live, it makes sense that improving your home can boost your health and wellbeing even more. 
 
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Get Outdoors More
Healthy living certainly starts at home, but that doesn’t mean always being indoors. Being outside is actually one of the best things you can do for your health. Research has linked time spent in nature to all kinds of physical health outcomes, including better heart health, a lower BMI, and less fatigue. On top of these physical health benefits, being outside also boosts your mental health and cognition. Not to mention, when you’re surrounded by natural beauty, you don’t need research to know that being outside is worthwhile!
 
As nice as it is to walk through a park or spend a day at the beach, it’s easier to spend time outside more frequently when you have an outdoor oasis in your own yard. Think about what you enjoy doing outside and ways you can make that space even better. Maybe you’d enjoy a flower garden or the addition of a privacy fence so you can relax in peace with a good book. 
 
These projects don’t have to be expensive, and you can get even more out of them by researching how to make your budget stretch to fit your goals.

​At times, it may seem impossible to get and stay healthy, as there is conflicting information about “the best” eating and exercise plans. While health experts may have differing opinions about certain foods, meal plans, portion sizes, and so on, almost all agree on a few key principles for a healthier life. If you want to be healthier from head-to-toe, keep reading.
 
Eating a Variety of Foods
 
The “fat-free” diet craze of the 1990s left many people questioning the validity of wide-spread health advice. One day something is good for you, the next day it isn’t. How can you know what’s true? To put it simply, there is no perfect diet. However, people who eat a lot of vegetables, pure proteins, and whole grains, are often healthier than those who do not. Instead of jumping into a short-term diet, make little changes each day to incorporate more healthy foods into your meals. Instead of cutting out unhealthy foods you love, search for healthier replacements. Instead of sugary cereal, try oatmeal. Instead of white pasta, try zucchini noodles. Over time, these small changes will make a big difference.

​It often seems like there’s not enough time in the day to accomplish our tasks, so we skip lunch, stop going to the gym, neglect our relationships, etc. in order to keep up with life’s demands. This ultimately leads to us feeling the negative effects of stress, burning out, losing focus, and many other consequences that lessen our quality of life. Self-care is critical for good mental health, so making space for it in your life is a must if you want to live fulfilled.
 
Mindfully Committing
 
Do you hate saying no to people? No one wakes up and thinks, “I really hope I can let someone down today.” Nonetheless, that’s what saying no feels like sometimes. However, the reality is that when we say yes to everyone and everything, we let more people down than when we say no. None of us has the capacity or time to appease everyone, and overcommitting eventually leads to unhealthy stress, inefficiency, and disappointment. Whether it’s saying no to working overtime or deciding to stay in over the weekend to recuperate, make mindful commitments so that you can give them the necessary attention and energy.

Nutrition is the process by which the body utilizes food, and involves eating the appropriate kinds & amounts of foods for the body’s needs, digestion of foods so the body can use the nutrients, absorption & use of theses nutrients, and elimination of wastes. If there is disruption in any of these processes, it can affect nutritional status over time.
In order to provide adequate nourishment for our bodies, we need to get all the nutrients for the body’s needs. Nutrients are substances obtained from food, which provide nourishment and assists the body in its growth and development. The six nutrients are:

1.       Protein – Builds and repairs body tissues, builds antibodies to fight infection, and supplies energy,
2.       Carbohydrates – Supplies energy, helps the body to use fats and provides fibre.
3.       Fats – Supplies energy, acts as an insulator, helps the body to absorb fat soluble vitamins.
4.    Vitamins – Assists iron absorption, helps to fight infection, promotes normal growth and development, maintains healthy teeth, gums and blood vessels.
5.      Minerals – Helps build bones and teeth, promotes healthy nerves, transports oxygen to the body, and helps to prevent anemia 
6.      Water – The only nutrient that everybody needs every day to help maintain hydration, transport nutrients and waste products, aid in the regulation of body temperature and maintain blood volume.​

Diabetes is a complex, chronic (long standing, Long term) illness that requires continuous medical care with many factors coming into play for risk-reduction strategies beyond just controlling the rise and fall of blood sugar. Ongoing patient self-management education and support are very important to preventing serious complications and lowering the risk of long-term complications.
Diabetes can be classified into the following general categories:
1. Type 1 diabetes occurs when the immune system destroys cells in the pancreas called beta cells, these cells are the ones that make insulin. Insulin is a hormone that helps move sugar or glucose from the food you eat into your body’s tissues so your cells can use it as fuel for energy. When the beta cells in the pancreas are destroyed, the glucose does not move into your cells because there is no insulin to do it. As a result the sugar builds up in your blood leaving your cells to starve, and ultimately resulting in high blood sugar (hyperglycemia).
2. Type 2 diabetes (due to a progressive loss of insulin secretion on the background of insulin resistance). It was previously referred to as “non–insulin-dependent diabetes” or “adult-onset diabetes,” and accounts for 90–95% of all diabetes. This form of diabetes is mostly found in older age, obesity, physical inactivity, family history of diabetes, history of gestational diabetes and certain ethnic groups such as Blacks and Hispanics. Type 2 diabetes however, has been increasingly diagnosed in children and adolescence. With Type 2 diabetes the pancreas is usually producing enough insulin but for unknown reasons the body cannot use the insulin effectively (insulin resistance). Over the years the production of insulin decreases, and unique and similar problems result as in type 1 diabetes. Some of the symptoms include:

Here is a simple presentation on how anemia affects pregnant women.

Alcohol is not a nutrient, it is a general term used to describe a group of organic chemicals with common properties. It is a clear volatile liquid that burns easily. It has a slight characteristic odour and is very soluble in water.

When looking at it physiologically (how it functions in the body) it is a sedative and central nervous system depressant. When alcohol is consumed, it passes down the oesophagus (food pipe), through the stomach and into the small intestine. Nearly all the alcohol ingested is metabolized (broken down) in the liver, but a small amount remains unmetabolized and can be measured in breath. The lungs exhale 5 percent of alcohol, which can be detected by devices such as Breathalyzer. Alcohol is also eliminated through sweat, feces, breast milk, and saliva.

The liver can metabolize only a limited amount of alcohol per hour, no matter how much is consumed. A healthy person can eliminate ½ ounce (15 milliliters) of alcohol per hour. Alcohol is metabolized more slowly than it is absorbed, and it takes about one hour to metabolize one standard drink. Drinking slowly can help to prevent the accumulation of alcohol in the body, and in-turn prevent intoxication.


Factors Influencing Absorption and Metabolism

Food – Presence of food in the stomach slows absorption of alcohol. Dietary fat delays emptying time of the stomach and consequently slows absorption of alcohol.

Gender – Men and women absorb and metabolize alcohol differently. Women have high blood alcohol content (BAC) after consuming the same amount of alcohol as men. A woman absorbs 30 percent more alcohol into her blood stream than does a man of the same weight. One drink for a woman could potentially have the same effect as two drinks for a man. Women are also more susceptible to alcohol liver disease, heart muscle damage, and brain damage. These differences can be attributed to smaller amounts of body water in women's bodies and a lower activity of the enzyme which acts on alcohol in the stomach (alcohol dehydrogenase), causing more of the ingested alcohol to reach the blood.


Effects of Acohol

Because it is distributed so quickly and thoroughly in the body, alcohol rapidly affects the central nervous system. If a large amoun of alcohol is consumed over a short period of time, a person may lose consciousness or even die.

Alcohol and Medication – the use of prescription or over-the-counter medications can increase the effects of alcohol.

Alcohol and Urine Output – Alcohol blocks the antidiurectic hormone (ADH), which is responsible for regulating urine production. ADH works by causing the kidneys to conserve fluids. When this hormone is blocked, urine output increases considerably because the kidneys are not properly absorbing fluids. This leads to significant water loss and eventually dehydration.

Impact of Alcohol on Nutrition – If you are a light drinker, in good health and otherwise well nourished, the occasional consumption of alcohol will perhaps have little effect on your nutritional status. The biggest risk to you will come from the additional calories that alcohol provides, which may promote unwanted weight gain.

Health Benefits of Alcohol – Drinking moderate amounts of alcohol appears to be safe for healthy people who do not have alcohol abuse or dependency problems.
People who have one to two drinks daily have lower mortality rates than non-drinkers. Alcohol like any other drug has a beneficial dose and a level that will cause harm.

Alcohol and Cardiovascular Health – Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. The protective effect of alcohol is the result of increased levels of high-density lipoproteins (HDL) cholesterol. Alcohol also inhibits blood from forming clots, reducing the risk of death from heart attack.


Personal Nutrition – Marie A. Boyle, Sara Long.

Sodium is one of the body’s three major electrolytes that help to control the fluids going in and out of the body’s tissues and cells, the other two are potassium and chloride.

Sodium is part of sodium chloride, which is ordinary table salt and is also a seasoning and a preservative. The recommended adequate intake for sodium is set at 1500 milligrams for young adults, 1300 milligrams for adults aged 51 through 70, and 1200 milligrams for older adults (Personal Nutrition - Marie A. Boyle, Sara Long).

Although sodium is essential for the body’s functions, too much can be harmful for people with kidney disease or hypertension (high blood pressure).
Your body needs some sodium to function properly. Sodium:

• Helps maintain the right balance of fluids in your body
• Helps transmit nerve impulses
• Influences the contraction and relaxation of muscles
• Your kidneys regulate the amount of sodium kept in your body. When sodium levels are low, your kidneys conserve sodium. When levels are high, they excrete the excess amount in urine.
• If your kidneys can't get rid of enough sodium, the sodium starts to build up in your blood
• Because sodium attracts and holds water, your blood volume increases.
• Increased blood volume, in turn, makes your heart work harder to move more blood through your blood vessels, increasing pressure in your arteries. Here we can also see how sodium can affect blood pressure, leading to hypertension

 Maintaining Stability During exercise/workout Maintaining a stable (balanced) body is necessary to ensure safety during exercise execution. Stability also helps produce the desired results when using free weights.
The basic principles of stability are simple: The larger your base of support, the greater your stability. This is why you should most often assume a position with the feet at least shoulder width or wider. Standing with your feet together results in a very small support base, which will not give you the foundation needed for stability when doing heavy lifts, especially overhead lifts.
Another way of increasing stability is to bend your knees in order to lower your center of gravity (where your weight is concentrated). The lower your body is, the more stable you become. Foot placement also plays an important role. If your feet are parallel and shoulder-width apart, the weight should be close to you or overhead. This is the preferred stance in most exercises because you have good stability in a left to right direction. When lying on a bench, always place the feet on the floor. This increases side-ward stability

As we approach the festive season, many of us will be eating to our heart's content and will not be too mindful of what and how much we eat. Food has a way of bringing us together to share, and to reunite. Let us look briefly on how we can incorporate healthy eating into our daily lives, as we make our new year's resolution for 2016.

Please see the presentation below.