Showing posts with label find. Show all posts
Showing posts with label find. Show all posts
Saturday, March 7, 2015
How Old Is Your Heart Take A Quick Test To Find Out!
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| Is your heart older than you are? Follow Foods For Long Life on Facebook and Pinterest. |
Is Your Heart Older Than You Are?
I read an article this morning in the Wall Street Journal about a web-based tool that calculates the biological age of your heart developed by Unilever. Its based on the Framingham Risk Score and uses standard risk factors for heart disease and stroke.
I was very excited to take it (it took less than 2 minutes) because Ive always suspected that my heart was younger than my 65 year chronological age. Every time I enter my age in my treadmill or exercise bike it sets a really low target heart rate for me. So when my heart rate barely starts to rise, it tells me its too high when, in fact, I feel like I can push myself a lot harder.
The Test
The first two questions asks for your age and gender. After inputting this, it immediately told me that the average woman my age has a heart that is biologically 7 years older than their chronological! So now Im starting to sweat it. What if my heart is actually older than I am? Do I have a 72 year old heart?
It goes on to ask about smoking, current medical conditions, and if your parents have ever had heart problems.
Height, weight, and waist measurements are next. It then asks for total cholesterol and HDL cholesterol levels as well as your systolic blood pressure (the higher, top number).
A few quick questions follow about blood pressure meds and whether or not you have diabetes. And then, voila- the results.
Diet and Exercise Make a Difference
My results were great! Although Im a 65 year old female, my heart is only 46 versus the average woman my age whose heart is 72 years old. Next time I have to input my age in my exercise equipment, I will enter 46!
My 55 year old husband took the test and has the heart of a 47 year old, despite his family history. His father had a major stroke at the young age of 49. The average 55 year old male has a heart of a 62 year old.
I can only assume that a plant-rich diet and lots of exercise has helped me have a heart that is 26 years younger than the average 65 year old woman and my husband to have a heart that is 15 years younger than the average 55 year old male, despite his family history.
TAKE THE TEST to find out the age of your heart!
More than 700,000 Americans have heart attacks each year and a quarter of all people in the U.S. die from heart disease. If your heart is older than you are, work with a good naturopath on a heart-healthy diet and exercise program.
Diet
I dedicate my life to developing and sharing heart-healthy recipes on this blog and I hope you will make these for yourself and your family or share them with loved ones who need to improve their diet. For less than $10, you can download my eBook, Health Begins in the Kitchen, for 160 healthy vegan recipes, available on iTunes and Amazon. These recipes are the very ones we enjoy each day and you can see they have resulted in us having young and healthy hearts!
Exercise
There are several posts I have written that might help motivate you to "get moving." You can take the One Million Steps, One Hundred Days Challenge. Or, read Lose Weight, Get Fit and Increase Your Activity Level with a Pedometer.
Its never too late to improve your health and lower the age of your heart so TAKE THE TEST and get started!
Thursday, March 5, 2015
Happy Earth Day 2011 How To Find Earth Friendly Companies!
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| Clip art courtesy of Bobbie Peachey Follow Foods For Long on FACEBOOK ! |
Voting with your Wallet!
How would you like to cast a vote about things you strongly believe in each and every time you make a purchase? Wouldnt you like to support socially conscious companies - companies that display a code of ethics, use renewable energy, protect animals, pay fair wages and give back to their local communities? And wouldnt you like to avoid companies that use child labor, pollute the environment, factory farm and discriminate? Seems impossible to do but thanks to a man named Ellis Jones who spent 5 years investigating 1,000 different companies with regards to these issues, its not difficult at all!
Dr. Jones created a website, Better World Shopper, that provides all the information you need. A big thanks to my son, Vaughn, for turning me on to this great site. Now Id like to share it with you! Pass it along to your friends!
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| This is how Better World Shopper ranks companies |
Better World Shopper
This site ranks companies from airlines to wine.
For example:
* Seventh Generation has the highest rating for baby care products while Nabisco, Gerber, Nestle, Luvs and Pampers have the worst.
* Natures Path and Barbaras are among the highest ranked for cereal while Kraft, Nabisco and Back to Nature are dead last.
* For the best chips Barbaras is the best ranked with Garden of Eatin, Terra and Kettle chips close behind while Pringles and Nabisco are the worst.
* Endagered Species, Rapunzel, Equal Exchange, AlterEco and Divine are the best ranked chocolates while Nestles, Perugina, Toblerone and Crunch are at the bottom of the list.
* For the best cleaning products, Seventh Generation, Oxo Brite, Earth Friendly, Method and Dr. Bronners are ranked the best while the worst ranked include household names like Soft Scrub, Joy, Procter & Gamble, Ivory, Swiffer, Dial, Mr. Clean and Dawn.
* Highly ranked coffees include Thanksgiving, Cafe Human, Equal Exchange while the worst ranked include Maxwell House, Gevalia and Sanka. The omnipresent Starbucks got a B+.
* OK girls, Ive got to cover cosmetics too. Aveda (thank goodness, my favorite), Aubrey, EO, Zia, Body Shop, Colorganics, Kiss My Face and Pangea are on top with Dr. Hauschka close behind. Max Factor, Olay and Covergirl are on the bottom!
* Getting back to food, Organic Valley and Nancys are ranked the highest for dairy alternatives but some of our favorites like Wildwood, WholeSoy, Stonyfield Farm and So Delicious are close behind. Cool Whip and Carnation are dead last!
* We all resort to an energy bar now and then. Clif, Luna and Alpsnack are at the top of the list with Nutiva, Natures path, BumbleBar, Optimum, Larabar, Raw Revolution and Health Valley close to the top. On the bottom you will find Balance, South Beach and the ever popular PowerBar!
* For meat alternatives, Amys, Fantastic Foods, Wildwood and Sunshine Burgers are highly ranked while Boca was on the bottom! This was disappointing - I like Boca burgers. My other favorites, Primal Strips, got a "C".
* Kettle is the highest ranked peanut butter and jelly with Cascadian Farms, Maranatha, Arrowhead Mills and Woodstock near the top. Peter Pan and Knotts are on the bottom with the popular Skippy almost failing with a "D+".
* For the best ranked pizza, Amys is on the top with American Flatbread a close second while Tombstone, Stouffers, DiGiorno, California Pizza Kitchen and Boca all getting the lowest grades.
* Honest Tea, Tao of Tea, Choice, Traditional Medicinals and Equal Exchange are the top ranked teas with Numi, Zhenas Gypsy, Guayaki and Republic of Tea very near the top tea companies. Nestea is on the bottom and Lipton is pretty far down also with a "D+".
* As an owner of a small vineyard, I cant forget to mention wine! For the best ranked wine, visit your local vineyards! Frey, Fetzer, La Rocca are also near the top. There were no "F" grades given but Sterling got a "D".
These are just a few examples and I only included the companies at the very top and the very bottom for each categy, so you should check out the complete rankings.
For Convenience, Buy the Guide
For a small guide you can carry with you when shopping, buy The Better World Shopping Guide. I just did!
Happy Shopping and Happy Earth Day!
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