Health Tips for the New Year
THE NEW YEAR BRINGS A TIME TO REASSESS HEALTH HABITS. New Year’s goals and resolutions are often focused on weight loss or exercise. Although these are important indicators of health and happiness for many people, maintaining overall health is important, too. Registered dietitian, author and nutrition consultant Manuel Villacorta offers these tips to start the new year with a healthy routine:
Create a Meal Plan
For well-balanced meals, think ahead and plan a weekly menu that matches your taste preferences to stay interested. When you feel like you’re on a diet or being forced to eat something, you’re more likely to stop following the plan. It’s helpful to make something to enjoy together with family or friends and make sticking to a meal plan easier. Manuel suggests:
A balanced diet is key to overall health, including your heart and brain health. In fact, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics released a first-of-its-kind recommendation to eat 400 to 600 milligrams of flavanols daily to support cardiometabolic health. Flavanols are bioactive compounds found in plant-based foods like cocoa, tea, apples, berries, cacao, and green tea; however, levels can vary across foods, and it can be difficult to get everything you need from food alone.
If you want a quick fix there are supplements that can fill in your food gaps like CocoaVia. The flavanols in CocoaVia are clinically proven to promote cardiovascular and brain health for the long-term, supporting a strong heart and better memory. Each Cardio Health product serving provides 500 milligrams of cocoa flavanols in two capsules or one powder scoop. Additionally, Memory+—containing 750 milligrams of cocoa flavanols per three-capsule serving—is ConsumerLab.com’s Overall Top Pick for cocoa products with the highest concentration of flavanols. Only CocoaVia is made with Cocoapro cocoa extract, the most concentrated and clinically proven flavanol extract ingredient on the market.
Try adding CocoaVia capsules to your routine or a scoop of Cardio Health powder to smoothies, coffee, or this Cocoa Blueberry Smoothie Bowl. Learn more at CocoaVia.com.
Fuel for Energy
Not having enough energy can impact performance at work and the gym. What you eat can impact your energy levels. Manuel suggests eating small amounts every three to four hours and including all three macronutrients—carbohydrates, protein, and fat—at mealtimes.
For example, many people eat salads with greens and protein, but you can bulk them up with broccoli and carrots for a heartier mix. Aim for meals packed with vitamins, minerals, and nutrient-dense foods like grains and starchy vegetables that provide energy.
Be careful of dressings which can add a great deal of calories and unnecessary sugars to your meal. Trying spraying or drizzling olive oil and balsamic or lemon juice instead.
Make Fiber a Focus
Fiber is a nutrient often overlooked. Soluble fiber helps maintain glucose levels, which are important for your brain to function at its best. Oats, beans and avocados are all good sources of soluble fiber. Including fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and whole grains can increase your fiber intake and benefit your gut health.
Be Strategic About Stocking Your Kitchen
Making several weekly grocery trips is time consuming and better spent on things like physical activity. Try strategies to get most of what you need in the fewest trips possible like buying bulk beans, grains, and pasta. Remember, not everything has to be fresh. Frozen and canned produce are often stored at their peak freshness to offer many of the same nutrients. Choose low-sodium, canned options when possible and rinse before eating.
GET FIT WITH THE HELP OF TECH
Committing to getting fit and actually doing it aren’t always one and the same but relying on tech devices can be an effective way to tackle your fitness goals. From watches and phones to earbuds and virtual reality headsets, technology can make it easier to track your progress and create a more enjoyable workout experience.
WELLNESS YOU CAN WATCH
Powered by the Snapdragon 4100+ Wear Platform, the Fossil 6 Wellness Edition watch provides the speed, power and performance you need to efficiently track your health, all with extended battery life, Bluetooth 5.0 LE connectivity, rapid charging and more features to elevate your experience. The watch detects movement and starts a workout for you. In addition, not only does it allow you to monitor how hard your heart is working and provide estimated blood oxygen measurements so you can see how well your body is circulating oxygen, but it also measures your cardiorespiratory fitness, allowing you to track the amount of oxygen your body utilizes during exercise. In addition to keeping tabs on your active hours, the watch also helps you understand more about your sleep habits, including sleep quality and history, restfulness and progress against sleep goals.
A SMART WORKOUT BUDDY
If you’re always on the go, a powerful smartphone is a smart way to get in a streamlined workout. An option like the OnePlus 10T 5G delivers on multiple levels. Driven by the powerful Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 mobile platform, this is a phone built to evolve beyond speed. It has Qualcomm FastConnect 6900 for premium Wi-Fi connectivity and a Kryo CPU for unbeatable performance, ideal for multitaskers and power users. The charging system delivers a day’s power in 10 minutes. What’s more, the antenna system, featuring a total of 15 antennas, provides a 360-degree closed-loop system to avoid blind signal angles, while simple and textured visuals help you focus and move seamlessly between work, rest and play.
SOUND TO MOTIVATE MORE MOVEMENT
An energizing workout requires a soundtrack to get you pumped up and moving. Enhance your listening experience with LG Tone Free T90 wireless earbuds, which feature Dolby Head Tracking and Snapdragon Sound. These earbuds identify the location of sound as you turn your head, recalibrating to enable a more natural sound experience so you’re always in the center of the scene. The speaker driver is made of a strong, lightweight material that delivers better overall audio clarity and reduced vibration so you can hear every sound come alive. Exceptional audio combines with superior connectivity for music, movies, crystal-clear voice calls, gaming and a low latency fit for aptX Adaptive compatible devices.
PLAY YOUR WAY TO FITNESS
If your workout regimen needs an infusion of playful fun, the Meta Quest 2 virtual reality headset may be just the ticket. This VR headset is your ticket to the metaverse (and so much more), whether you’re working out, gaming, meeting up with friends or going on a virtual field trip. Industry-leading graphics and immersive audio put you in the middle of the action. The portable device is ideal for workouts on the go, and you’ll find a wide range of apps that let you work out amid stunning scenery, compete against friends and participate in challenges. The immersive experiences break up the monotony of a boring, basic workout, making exercise fun and playful.
TRACK YOUR PROGRESS
Setting fitness goals starts with a plan and achieving them requires strong work ethic and, just as importantly, the ability to track progress so you can enjoy the success. The ultimate expression of ultra-portability and versatility, the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook is powered by the Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 Compute Platform. Slim and sleek, this 2-in-1 features a detachable keyboard to transform from a tablet to a laptop so you can keep an eye on your fitness goals whether you’re working out at home or on the go, and 15 hours of battery life means you can enjoy usage from day to night.
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