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<p>Red Fruits Benefits<br />Liz Weiss, CN* Medical Correspondent<br />The natural plant pigments that give berries, watermelon and cherries their ruby red color are also powerful anti-oxidants that help to keep us healthy when we eat them.<br />Unidentified Female<br />You should try to get two servings of red fruit a day.<br />Weiss<br />And here’s why. It turns out that cherries contain anthocyanins, and research shows these compounds may ward off inflammation.<br />Unidentified Female<br />For a person with inflammation from osteoarthritis, if they eat 35 cherries a day, that is going to give them the pain relief that they would get from getting a dose of aspirin.<br />Weiss<br />Cranberries protect against urinary tract infections, but may also lower cholesterol levels. And berries contain ellagic acid, which some studies show may fight cancer.<br />Even watermelon, once considered to be a lightweight in the produce aisle because it contains 92 percent water, is now highly respected for its possible role in protecting against certain cancers.<br />Watermelon and pink grapefruit are teeming with Lycopene, shown to reduce the risk of porstate cancer.<br />“Natural Health” magazine’s Cheryl Redmond gives Gazapacho a fun new twist with watermelon. She also uses frozen berries, which, by the way, do retain their anti-oxidant powers in a frozen fruit smoothy. So if you thought red fruit had little more than water to offer?<br />Unidentified Female<br />I don't know if I connect the reds with being healthy.<br />Weiss<br />But greens you do?<br />Unidentified Female<br />I do.<br />Weiss<br />Then remember, the deeper the color, whether green, yellow, orange, or red, the healthier it is.</p><p>Exercises Reduce Stress<br />Liz Weiss, CN* Correspondent: Exercise offers all of the obvious benefits, bigger muscles and a healthier heart. But it also calms our nerves.<br />Unidentified Male: It's a great way of getting your tensions out and really getting a good night’s sleep.<br />Rob Smith, PH.D, Psychologist: And when you exercise, your body is releasing endorphins. And that’s something that’s like a natural morphine like substance that pumps through your body, and that helps to relax you.<br />Weiss: All forms of exercise help people to lighten up, but Smith says aerobic exercise may be the most effective.<br />Smith: That would include things like jogging, using the treadmill, biking.<br />Unidentified Female: For me I am a runner, so that’s the best thing for me to reduce stress.<br />Weiss: You don’t have to break a major sweat to chill out with exercise. Experts say just 30 minutes of brisk physical activity most or all days of the week can offer a powerful benefit.<br />Unidentified Female: Upward as you inhale, and downward as your exhale. <br />Weiss: For a change of pace from the workout room, Healthpoint in Waltham, Massachusetts offers no sweat, big gain, a relaxation class where participants can detox from the day.<br />Unidentified Female: Besides, you know, pumping iron, it’s nice to relax. <br />Unidentified Female: Since I am a type A person, it’s very difficult for me to relax. I am intense, and I have to really work at it.<br />Unidentified Female: Deep breath up.<br />Weiss: Relaxation and regular fitness are simple tools for getting a grip on stress.<br />Unidentified Male: It’s just an opportunity to leave it all behind, put your cell phone in your gym locker and focus on yourself.</p><p>Healthy Holiday<br />Gupta: Turkey, stuffing, string beans, sweet potatoes and pie are all part of the great American Thanksgiving tradition. Unfortunately, most of these delicacies are hardly low fat or heart healthy, but it doesn't have to be that way. Here are some ideas for cutting back on calories without cutting back on taste.<br />Settlers learned of corn from their Indian neighbors. After the first Thanksgiving in 1621, Edward Winslow wrote: “ Our corn did prove well, and God be praised. We had a good increase of Indian corn.” Since then, corn has become a Thanksgiving staple. <br />Unidentified Female: The more colorful your corn, the better it is going to be for hyou. So try to turn corn that is really bright yellow, if you can find it.<br />Gupta: So the more colorful the corn, the healthier. Works for yet another staple, probably not present at the first Thanksgiving dinner: the sweet potato.<br />Unidentified Female: Sweet potatoes are really rich in beta carotene, and bet carotene is a carotenoid that has been linked to help fighting cancer. It might help prevent heart disease. There’s a lot of benefits of having more carotenoids in the diet. But try to use the skin. As in all fruits and vegetables, the more you can use the skin, the more you’re going to get the nutrient benefit.<br />Gupta: Thanksgiving was made official by proclamation in 1863. Abraham Lincoln stated: “The year that is drawing towards its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies.” The fruit perhaps most linked to Thanksgiving is the cranberry. <br />Unidentified Female: Cranberries have been shown in several studies to be the highest in antioxidant activity. And we know that antioxidants help prevent heart disease, cancer and all kinds of diseases associated with aging.<br />Gupta: Cranberry sauce, one of my favorites. How does this compare to that?<br />Unidentified Female: You get the same nutrients and same fido-chemical benefits in the sauce as you do---it’s actually released probably more in processing, some of these beneficial fido-nutrients.<br />Gupta: And what about the turkey? The tradition dates back to the first Thanksgiving. Historian William Bradford remembered his feast this way: “And besides waterfowl, there was a great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many.” So on to the main course. I love turkey. But there are certain parts of it that are better parts, right?<br />Unidentified Female: Definitely. The breast is the leanest part of the turkey, and the skin is really where all the fat is. so no matter what part you’re going to eat, take the skin off, because I know a lot of people like it, but unfortunately is where all the fat is, and it’s harmful, saturated fat as well.</p><p>Job Stress<br />Gupta: Stress is another factor that can lead to illness. It’s not that stress causes cold or causes a flu per se, but it can lower your body’s resistance by depressing the immune system. For many, a major source of daily stress is their jobs, and stress levels can be particularly high in a big city emergency room, like this one. And unfortunately catching a cold is the least of a stressed-out worker’s worries.<br />Gupta: Some industries are notoriously anxiety ridden, such as stock brokering in today’s market, being a surgical resident in a high volume hospital and, of course, TV news. While some people thrive in a pressure cooker, many will either crash and burn or have a heart attack.<br />Dr. Charles Raison, Emory Mind-body Program: There is a lot of evidence to suggest that people who have a lot of stress in their job are more likely to develop cardiac problems. <br />Gupta: In fact, a recent study of workers in Finland illustrates Dr. Raisons point. They followed more than 800 workers since 1973 and found that workers under high pressure with little control over their jobs and poor rewards for their efforts were twice as likely to die from cardiovascular disease. <br />Raison: There’s good evidence that it’s a big contributor, job stress, to musculoskeletal problems, carpal tunnel, the feelings of a lot of problems in your upper body, headaches, a lot of non-specific medical symptoms. There’s good evidence that people are under job stress are more likely to develop hypertension. And then there’re a lot of interesting findings showing that the immune system is also affected by job stress.<br />Gupta: The physical harm caused by job stress, especially heart disease, is so well acknowledged that in New York and several other states it is considered a work related injury. The emotional harm can also be severe.<br />Raison: Major depression is about 10 times more common now than it was, say, 50 years ago, and rates of self-reported happiness in the United States have also, have dropped. And it's interesting that this correlates with a time period in our history where there’s been a huge increase in the number of hours worked per week by the average American, such as that now, in the last five or 10 years, we have surpassed even Japan and are now the world’s leader in terms of number of hours worked per week.<br />Gupta: Government researchers list three situations that cause the most job stress---unrealistic deadlines, low levels of support from supervisors, lack of worker involvement in decision-making. They claim the best work environments benefit both employees and the company’s bottom line.</p> |
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