I told you all I was going to start putting a lot of focus on diet and exercise.  I came across this great little video (very quick) of a few ab exercises you can do from home.

I’m all for, fast exercises that do the trick, so I thought I would share.

If you are having a lot of back pain during your 2 wk hell time this may bother you some, however, if you can do a little and more during your good times, you will benefit.

Watch the video.

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I know I harp on everyone about how important exercise is in addition to getting good sleep, taking your vitamins, living a stress free life, and more.

Believe me, having 4 kids makes it difficult for me to keep up with it all too, especially the sleep. :) So, when I’m screaming it from the rooftops at you, it’s a reminder to me too.

PMDD is not a disorder that you can just pop a pill and instantly you’re cured. As a matter of fact, as most of you already know, there isn’t a cure. This is why I am constantly sharing how important it is to take care of yourself. All we can do is learn how to manage PMDD, and even if you have surgery like I did to alleviate PMDD, you are still going to most likely take HRT (hormone replacement). This still means healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle are going to play a huge role in your life.

Example: when your body isn’t making estrogen it’s important to do some sort of strength training in addition to your cardio. You need to keep your bones strong to prevent bone loss and osteoporosis.

I found an article here that discusses why Energy & Weight Loss go together and how to optimize both.  I don’t know about you, but I’m always looking for healthy ways to get more energy (without caffeine craziness) and with summertime weather here, ways to lose weight and tone up.

Jayson over at Prograde Nutrition states:

Your level of energy every day is determined by how much ATP your mitochondria create so that the proper enzymes can be activated to make our bodies move and function properly.  This can effect your healthy weight loss since you may not have the energy to commit 100% to your exercise for calorie burning workouts.

Continue reading here

Stay tuned for more articles, tips and tricks – I’m learning to exercise more, eat right (w/o getting bored w/ recipes) and take care of myself right along with you.

Stef Prose, PMDD Advocate & Coach

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While there aren’t any books on PMDD and exercise, I was catching up over at fibrohaven.com, they were talking about a Yoga for Fibromyalgia book.

For anyone that doesn’t know what fibromyalgia is, here is the wiki definition:

“is a medical disorder characterized by chronic widespread pain and allodynia, a heightened and painful response to pressure.^[1] Fibromyalgia symptoms are not restricted to pain, leading to the use of the alternative term fibromyalgia syndrome for the condition. Other core symptoms include debilitating fatigue, sleep disturbance, and joint stiffness. Some patients^[2] may also report difficulty with swallowing,^[3] bowel and bladder abnormalities,^[4] numbness and tingling,^[5] and cognitive dysfunction.^[6] Fibromyalgia is frequently comorbid with psychiatric conditions such as depression and anxiety and stress-related disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder.^[7][8] Not all people with fibromyalgia experience all associated symptoms.^[9] Fibromyalgia is estimated to affect 2-4% of the population,^[7] with a female to male incidence ratio of approximately 9:1.^[10]“

Yes, PMDD and fibromyalgia are so different, however, there are a couple of things that are similiar and stop us from exercising.  Exhaustion, depression & pain.  So, for anyone struggling with working in an exercise routine during their 1-2 week hell time, or for that matter- any time, this type of yoga for fibromyalgia would be perfect.

Fibrohaven has broken down the book into different categories and explains why it is excellent for anyone with fibromyalgia.  Check it out, I think you will agree that this would also be an incredible book & workout program for any Woman living w/ PMDD.

Read about yoga for Fibromyalgia here.

You can find the book here, along w/ a couple of others.

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OK ladies,

As I said above, I am stepping up the game here at Redefining Life w/ PMDD Network~! I am adding an accountability section, and YES! I expect everyone to participate. :)
You will benefit from this if you do, I promise.

I have said it over and over again, you can NOT just pop some magic pill to cure PMDD, there isn’t a pill and there isn’t a ‘cure’ though some have had incredible results from a hysterectomy, others not so much.

You MUST take care of yourself and while it may not seem ‘fair’, it is what it is.  We need exercise daily, if not daily then start with 3x/week, adequate amount of sleep, healthy diet, vitamins & for some medication.

I am adding a daily and a weekly accountability section, under the healthier living category.  If it’s too hard for you to remember what you did, how long and when, print a calendar and mark it.

Goal: Workout at least 3x/week, post what you did (no matter how small), how long you did the activity, and when.

I WILL be keeping a printed chart of this to make it easier for me to keep up with all of you, individually.  I mean business here, ladies. :)

Again, doesn’t matter how big or small the physical activity is, it’s about getting up off that couch and doing it.  I will also be posting ideas for anyone that needs a little help along the way.

C’mon ladies, let’s give that PMDD a punch in the face!

Reply to this if you plan on joining in the fun!

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I know in my household I am the one that makes doctors/dentists appointments, not for just myself and my 4 kiddos, but also my husband.  Not just appointments, but if any meds are needed, I distribute, if follow ups are demanded, I make sure they are met.

I make sure my husband gets in for a yearly check up, just like me- Oh yeah, he’s so lucky, isn’t he! :)

This is a great article about how Women are the healers, the one’s that keep the family (& a lot of the times relatives), healthy.
I’m proud to be one that watches over my family and their health.

Make sure you are watching over your family and make sure you are teaching them healthy habits now.

Lady Madonna
By Jeffrey Kluger Thursday, Apr. 15, 201
www.time.com

A sudden interruption turned what started as a routine press conference into a revealing anthropological dance. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was addressing the media when NBC newscaster Chuck Todd loudly sneezed — a scary sound in a crowded room during the H1N1 flu pandemic one day last September.

“Bless you,” Sebelius said. Then she did a double take and widened her eyes in reproach, an expression anyone who ever had a teacher or a mother recognizes — and fears. Todd had sneezed into his hand rather than using the approved into-the-elbow method for limiting flu transmission. “What is that about?” Sebelius asked sternly and then demonstrated the proper technique. “We’ll have to get Elmo to give Chuck a special briefing,” she added, a reference to a Sesame Street ad that shows kids how to sneeze hygienically.

The Cabinet Secretary was kidding — mostly — but Todd’s red face and uneasy squirming looked awfully real. And while the newsman might have reacted the same way if he’d been called out by Mike Leavitt or Tommy Thompson or any of the other male HHS Secretaries who came before Sebelius, it’s hard to picture. For humans, there has always been something about a health message coming from a woman that gives it special authority. The father may traditionally have been the head of the home — and the family doctor may traditionally have been male — but it was the mother who saw to it that the kids got vaccinated, Grandma made it to her heart specialist and Dad stayed on his blood-pressure meds. And while much about family life has changed over the decades, that part hasn’t.

Women make the primary health care decisions in two-thirds of American households. They account for 80 cents out of every dollar spent in drugstores and are likelier than men to choose the family’s health insurance. Even when both parents work, wives shoulder 75% of domestic responsibilities, including making the kids’ doctor appointments and getting them there on time. “Women are the main brokers of health care in the United States,” says Dr. William Norcross, a family physician and faculty member at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine. “This has long been the case and is probably true elsewhere in the world too.”

It is, and the rule is not limited to mothers. In the 1990s, when Nepalese children faced an epidemic of vitamin-A deficiency, which can be deadly, and health experts needed someone to help distribute supplements, they recruited the nation’s grandmothers, knowing they had both the time to get the pills out and the moral authority to make sure kids took them. By 2005, 48,000 grandmothers were distributing vitamin A to 3.5 million kids.

“Global development agencies are cuing into this kind of thing too,” says anthropologist Sarah Blaffer Hrdy of the University of California at Davis. “When you give resources or money to women, more winds up in children’s health. When you give it to men, it’s likelier to wind up going for things like tobacco.”

There are a lot of variables that explain the mom-as-health-czar phenomenon. As with so many things, it begins with evolution, but it doesn’t stop there. Females of nearly all species expend far more time and energy producing young than males do and are thus far more motivated to protect that investment. “I could count on two hands the number of species in which males are primary caregivers,” says Hrdy.

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Eating is a part of life. Your body gets its nutrients from food. Sometimes we can go overboard with our eating habits and it can result in gaining weight. One issue with food is emotional eating.

The problem of emotional eating may end with the scale but it begins in the mind. Stress takes its toll on your life. When your defenses are compromised your health takes a hit and so do your emotions.

Everyone has good days and bad days. How we deal with the bad ones brings emotional eating into play. You look for comfort for your hurts. People who turn to food for comfort find a coping mechanism that won’t judge them, hurt them or tell them “no.” To complicate the issue, eating pleasurable foods can stimulate the release of endorphins just like exercise. So, after you eat, you feel better.

Emotional eaters use food to relieve stress. They hide behind the food instead of seeking solutions to the problems. This is not uncommon when the stressor is something horrible such as physical abuse or a death.

But, how do you know you are using food in this way? The first sign is obvious. You will gain weight if you eat too much. In light of the weight gain, examine other areas of your life:

* Have you been under stress lately at work or at home?
* Has anything traumatic happened in the last year?
* Are you dealing with a problem but haven’t found a solution?

Answering “yes” to any of these questions could mean that you are an emotional eater. You eat but you are not necessarily hungry at the time. The foods that you choose are what we term “comfort foods”:

* High fat foods like French fries, fried foods
* High carb foods like macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes
* Sugary foods like ice cream, donuts, cookies, cake

There is help for emotional eaters. The first step is recognizing that you have a problem. You’ll experience feelings of helplessness and guilt. The guilt is over potentially ruining your health and the helplessness lies in the fact that you don’t see a way out.

Secondly, seek counseling. There are many types of counselors out there that can meet your need. Emotional eating has nothing to do with dieting or changing your eating habits but gaining control over your emotions.

A counselor might suggest things like visualization, practicing problem solving skills, relaxation techniques and family support. Visualization helps you to see your problems in a realistic way and not blown out of proportion. You will also learn to see food as nutrition for the body and not an emotional crutch.

Thirdly, your family can learn your triggers for stress and be on the lookout for changes in your eating habits. They can help you be aware of the foods you are eating, assist you in making healthy food choices and exercise along with you. Proper diet and exercise increases immunity, blood flow and positive thinking. Yoga enhances the mind/body connection so you don’t eat when you aren’t hungry.

Finding new ways to solve your problems and deal with stress will push food out of the equation. You’ll feel good about finding solutions which will replace the dependence on food.

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A lot of you have been asking different questions about the best diets with regards to PMDD and while I answer I know it’s usually pretty general.  No red meat, No processed foods, No caffeine, etc… and although some of the PMDD triggers like the red meat one will be different for us than for others, I believe we can take it steps further.  Learning more about ourselves, as individuals.

I have come across a new site called, Balanced Existence, and I believe that you can really gain a lot by checking out some of his nutrition & diet articles.  He talks about how diets are not ‘one size fits all’.  I have to agree with him on these first 2 articles that I found.  This is part 2, but if you start with it you will be fine.  Check out his site for more articles.  He speaks about over all well-being which as we all know living with PMDD requires us to find balance in EVERY aspect of our lives.

He is not a stranger to illness, he had heart surgery in his early years and lived with chronic fatigue.

Signs Your Diet is Right for You – Part 2

Jul.14, 2009

In the first part of this article I introduced the idea that our medical systems are sick systems not health systems. They are systems in which disease and death are studied furiously. However, studying illness, sickness and disease tells us very little about good health. It tells us very little about what the healthiest amongst us do that helps them to remain that way. So today I would like to share with you the key signs you can look for that will tell you that your current eating habit (diet) is right for you.

The diet that is best for your unique genetic makeup that evolved out of very specific environmental pressures is one that plays to your genetic strengths and not your genetic weaknesses. Evolution is the paradigm that governs biology and we are biological organisms. Therefore, evolution is the only way in which correct nutritional decisions make sense. However, while we may all be as different on the inside as we are on the outside the signs of a correct diet remain constant.

The Signs
If you’re eating the right foods for your unique body put together in the right meal combination you should be able to go for approximately four hours between meals without feeling hungry. Throughout your day you should experience a consistent sense of mental clarity and enjoy good steady energy levels. When stress comes your way your capacity to handle that stress should be quite a bit better than most of the people you observe around you. If your diet is right for you then after workouts you should recover quickly with minimal soreness. You should have no cravings. You should eliminate one foot or 30cm of solid waste (poop) from your body each day. In general you should enjoy a general sense of wellbeing.

Tips
Some dead simple tips you can implement right away include eating some sort of protein with every main meal. That could be raw nuts such as walnuts (good source of OMEGA-3 fatty acid), fish, free range or organic chicken, eggs, grass fed beef and so forth. While you’re doing that make sure you rotate your food to simulate the conditions of diverse food sources our nomadic ancestors evolved under. Remember evolution governs nutrition and physiologically humans haven’t changed in 100,000 years. That means you’re a modern woman or man walking around in a cave woman or man’s body.

Farming has only been around for less than 6,000 years. If you eat the same thing every day eventually it will make you sick. This is one reason why allergies are such a big problem today. Everything on the supermarket shelves has peanuts, soy, wheat and yeast extract in it. Also organic sugar even though it is organic is still junk. Have some berries in organic plain sugar free yogurt instead. Or have an apple. If you have cravings eat some protein. It’s the most satiating type of food available. Don’t be afraid of fat if it comes from good natural sources like animals that have lived the way nature intended them to. Drink the right amount of good clean water.

What to Do Now
Now that you know what to look for from a diet that is right for you can begin to experiment with your diet. Change something and pay attention to what your body tells you. Tweak something else and listen. This is the path to good health as in most cases diet is the single biggest stress your body experiences each day. Diet is a simple way to exponentially improve the quality of your life.

I know from long hard life experience that without your health you are very likely to watch your dreams pass you by. Yet, with good health anything is possible. It’s not hard or difficult. Simply begin today to listen to your body and make small adjustments. Stay positive, keep learning and learn to stop struggling through life. Realize that this is the only game in town. Soon the small drops fill the bucket.

I’ve written a lot about diet in the past so you might want to take a cruise through the archive page. If you enjoyed this one I’m sure you’ll find lots of posts there which you will find interesting and informative.

By: Stephen Cox, BalancedExistence

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You know you should be getting some sort of exercise, you know of all the health benefits that come with a more active lifestyle. You’ve tried the whole Gym thing, but it just wasn’t for you. The temptation to just sit in front of the TV, curl up with a good book, or to spend a little extra time at your computer is just too big. Who wants to head to the gym right now anyway?

There are many other options to get more physically active that don’t include jogging, weight lifting or other “traditional” ways to work out.  Here are a few ideas to get you moving.

1) Chase your Kids around the Yard

You’d be surprised at how much of a work out you’ll get playing catch with your kids. Time will fly while you are having fun and your children will enjoy the extra time with you. Just get out there and play.

2) Turn up the Music and Dance around the Living Room

While you’re dusting, putting up dishes, straightening up the kids’ rooms, or after you’ve been sitting around for too long, just play some of your favorite upbeat music and dance around in the house.  Not only will you get your heart rate up, but you’ll also have more fun doing some of those chores.

3) Plant some Flowers

When the weather is nice, just get out there and plant some flowers. Or you could start a little vegetable garden, trim some hedges, cut the grass, or plant a tree. You get the idea. Just get out there, enjoy the sunshine and fresh air, and play in the dirt. Yes, this actually counts as exercise in our book.

4) Go for a Walk with a Friend

Take a walk and invite a friend to come along. I’ve had some of the best conversations while on a walk. Getting to chat with a friend makes the time fly by and before you know it you’ve been walking for 30 minutes.

5) Listen to some Music or an Audio Book while you Walk

Again, keeping your mind on something else will make the time fly by and you’ll get some extra fun out of your walk. You may even want to consider getting an MP3 Player. You can easily add what you want to listen to and go for your walk.

6) Sign up for a Yoga or Pilates Class

Consider starting a yoga or Pilates class. Both of these workouts are pretty low impact and won’t leave you sweaty and sore (mostly). You may also enjoy meeting some new people in the class.

7) Take some Dance Lessons with your Partner

Ok, here is the tough part: Convince your partner to take some dance lessons. Dancing will give you quite the workout and it’s just plain fun and of course romantic. Think about all your options here. You can pick from anything from Ball Room Dancing, to Line Dancing, to Latin etc. Pick something that sounds fun to you and go for it. You’ll enjoy the extra one on one time with your partner as well.

8) Go for a Swim at Your Local YMCA or Aquatic Center

Swimming makes for some great exercise. It is low impact and easy on your joints. Start by swimming a few laps, or play in the pool with your kids.

9) Go for a Bike Ride

Take the entire family on a bike ride. You can ride through your neighborhood in the evenings or plan a longer trip for the weekend. Pack a picnic for extra fun and start peddling.

10)  Go for a Hike

Look for some hiking trails in your area and go for a hike. This could be a fun activity for you and a friend, or take the entire family along. Start with some easy trails and work yourself up to some longer or steeper trails.

Go ahead, pick one or two of the activities and get moving. I’m sure you’ll come up with plenty of versions of your own. The most important thing is to find something you enjoy, so you’ll stick with it. Get out there and get moving today.

Your Secret Weapon for a Healthy Eating Lifestyle

Need help with your grocery list? Join the Healthy Menu Mailer today. Get 7 healthy dinner recipes a week with a grocery list to go along with it. They make menu planning easy.

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From Womens Health Mag:

By Matt McMillen The fountain of youth has yet to be found, bottled, and sold for $3.99 at Whole Foods. But that doesn’t mean the secret to living a long, healthy life can’t be bought at the supermarket. “By eating right, you maximize the probability that you won’t develop conditions like diabetes or Alzheimer’s,” says James Joseph, Ph.D., a neuroscientist at the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University. Beyond choosing the best foods, new and intriguing evidence shows that eating less — less than you probably think — can reduce the toll time takes on your body.

We pored over the latest research on how food affects your life span and found seven no-fail food rules. Follow them — plus the detailed eating plan we created — and you’ll have the best possible chance of blowing out 100 candles on your birthday cake. Not to mention keeping your much older self out of the rocker and on the dance floor, yoga mat, mountain bike — or wherever else you want to be.

RULE 1: Go For Color
The biggest anti-aging breakthrough in recent history comes from new discoveries about the power of antioxidants. For those who have heard the word but are fuzzy on the details, here’s a crash course. As the cells in our bodies metabolize oxygen, unstable molecules called free radicals form. These cause cell damage that has been linked to age-related illnesses like Alzheimer’s and heart disease. Many scientists think that all symptoms of aging are the direct result of free radicals attacking our cells.

Antioxidants (cue the superhero music) neutralize free radicals, preventing them from doing any damage — and thereby slowing the aging process. “Antioxidants can even reverse damage to our cells,” says Bonnie Taub-Dix, R.D., a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. While there’s ongoing debate about how many of the large variety of food-derived antioxidants our bodies can actually use and how efficiently we can use them, a convincing pile of research points to a strong connection between foods loaded with antioxidants and a longer, healthier life.

Luckily, spotting foods high in the amazing stuff is easy, thanks to a handy trick of nature: They’re the ones bursting with color. Berries have tons of antioxidants, and according to Dr. Joseph’s research, they help maintain cognitive and motor functioning as we age. Pomegranates have been found to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke. And results recently published in the British Journal of Cancer show that broccoli and brussels sprouts — which will probably taste better to you now than they did when you were 5 — contain compounds that help prevent breast cancer.

RULE 2: Rely On Real Food, Not Supplements
Given all the hype about antioxidants, your local health-food store is probably already shilling an antioxidant pill with a label covered in promises. Well, stroll past it. Supplements have nothing on fresh, whole foods. Case in point: the massive Iowa Women’s Health Study. Researchers found that among the 34,492 women participating in the study, those who ate foods rich in vitamin E, such as nuts, lessened their chances of suffering a stroke. Vitamin E supplements, on the other hand, provided no protection.

Natural foods contain “thousands of compounds that interact in complex ways, and if you take one out, there’s no predicting how it will function on its own,” says Frank Hu, Ph.D., associate professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health. He points out that large-scale trials of individual antioxidant supplements have been largely disappointing.

RULE 3: Avoid Processed Foods
Processed foods — those full of preservatives, chemicals, and added colors — simply aren’t as nutritious. And every time you eat a highly processed food, you’re bypassing another food that actually can help delay the effects of aging.

The classic example is whole-wheat bread versus white bread. Whole wheat is proven to fight heart disease, thanks to its abundance of fiber and other nutrients. White bread isn’t. “Many nutrients are taken out during processing, and few are put back,” says Lisa Hark, Ph.D., R.D., director of nutrition education at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

Your body also typically digests whole food more slowly than processed food, which keeps blood sugar and insulin levels from fluctuating rapidly. “In the long term, this may help you avoid diabetes,” Dr. Hu says. And because whole foods pack fewer calories per gram, they ward off weight-related illnesses like heart disease and stroke.

RULE 4: Don’t Be Afraid Of (Good) Fats
Fat is not a four-letter word. “Unsaturated fats from vegetable oils, nuts, avocados, and fish improve insulin sensitivity and reduce blood lipids,” Dr. Hu says. That translates into lower risk for heart disease, diabetes, and stroke.

Healthy fats help make the Mediterranean-style diet — consisting mostly of vegetables, nuts, beans, olive oil, and fish — so superior. The Harvard School of Public Health and University of Athens Medical School found that this type of diet reduces the risk of death from heart disease and cancer by 25 percent. And a recent Columbia University Medical Center study reported that it can lower the risk of Alzheimer’s disease by 40 percent.

Treating yourself to salmon and other fish that deliver omega-3 fatty acids two to four times a week, along with a small handful of nuts a day, may reduce your risk of heart disease by 30 percent and lower your cholesterol as well, according to research from Harvard. Your looks will benefit too: Early evidence suggests that omega-3s will have your grandkids crooning, “Grandma, what soft, wrinkle-free skin you have!”

RULE 5: Sip Red Wine
Another revelation of the Harvard/Athens study was the benefits of red wine. Drinking one glass a day, four to five times a week (preferably with a meal), has been shown to reduce the risk of heart attacks, diabetes, and other life-threatening illnesses. Part of the credit goes to the alcohol, which helps soothe inflamed arteries. But specific to red wine — especially pinot noir — are antioxidants called flavonoids which are particularly good free-radical fighters.

Consuming wine conservatively (pace yourselves, people) will help you reap all the heart-healthy benefits, but you should go easier on the bottle as you age: Alcohol consumption has been linked to increased risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women.

RULE 6: Guzzle Green Tea
Packed with powerful antioxidants — this time called catechins — green tea may be the single most life-prolonging substance you can put in your cup. A mug a day will decrease your chance of developing high blood pressure by 46 percent. (A good thing, since 35 million women are currently hypertensive.) Drink more and reduce your risk by 65 percent.

Enough studies have shown green tea’s ability to inhibit the growth of cancer cells that the National Cancer Institute is conducting trials on both a tea-based pill and a topical ointment to treat cancerous skin growths.

The best of the best? A recent study in the Journal of Food Science found that, of all 77 U.S. brands tested, Stash Darjeeling Organic Green Tea delivers the greatest number of catechins — 100 per gram.

RULE 7: Eat Less
Want proof that staying slim is linked to a longer, more enjoyable life? Just look around: The 90-somethings running after their grandkids on the beach or dancing at weddings aren’t the overweight ones.

Science backs this up. Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health found that women who stayed closest to their weight at 18 — yes, 18 — throughout their lives had a 66 percent lower risk of developing heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and gallstones compared with women who put on 11 to 22 pounds by middle age. Another study found that women who gained 60 pounds after age 18 were up to three times more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer.

Of course, as we age, extra pounds seem to materialize out of nowhere. “If you keep the physical activity the same and food the same, you will put on a pound or two a year,” says Walter Willett, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health and one of the lead researchers of the study. Thanks to a natural decrease in hormones that help maintain muscle mass, “those muscles shrink, you burn less energy, and you accumulate fat,” he says.

There’s a two-part solution. First, start weight training, if you don’t already, and keep it up through the years to retain calorie-burning muscles.

And, more important, start cutting calories — while keeping nutrients. In 2004, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis reported that people who consistently ate 10to 25 percent fewer calories than the average American, while still keeping a balanced diet, had remarkably low blood pressure and low levels of bad cholesterol and triglycerides — too much of which can spell “heart attack.” Reduced calorie intake has also been linked to lower risk of cancer and Alzheimer’s.

The National Academy of Science has several theories about why eating less makes such a difference. While we often strive to boost our metabolism to stay slim, some researchers believe we need to do the opposite to live longer: A low-cal diet slows your metabolism, and a slow metabolism produces fewer free radicals. When you eat less, you also produce less glucose, which has been linked to cell damage. And low-calorie diets reduce your body’s core temperature and its response to insulin, both of which may increase longevity in humans.

Okay. If you start skipping snacks, how many years will you add to your life? Doctors aren’t sure — but studies have shown that calorie-restricted rats live 30 percent longer than rats that eat normally.

This rule is the toughest one of all to follow. But if it makes you feel better, Sergei Romashkan, M.D., Ph.D., chief of clinical trials at the National Institute of Aging, says that eating 25 percent less than usual caused very little crankiness in his study subjects. “Our participants were quite happy and full,” he says.

And that’s the best news about the longevity diet — there are enough filling, delicious, life-saving foods out there that you can stay happy and satisfied. Does knowing this make resisting ice cream any easier? Probably not. But if you find something that does, let us know.

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Dine Without Whine is Perfect For…

* Busy families who never seem to have time to sit at the dinner table together
* Families that want to dine at home without resorting to take out or the drive-thru.
* Families with picky kids.
* Families on a budget.

Meal Planning Benefits:

* Members can use every day ingredients, easily found in the cupboard, fridge or grocery store.
* Save money by planning ahead (DWW does the work for them) and using basic ingredients.
* Save time by having all the planning done and all means take an hour or less to prepare.
* Recipes that are kid-approved. The whole family will love these dishes.

Mealtime Together Benefits:

There are numerous studies (and the DWW sales page includes information/citation on these) that show that frequent mealtimes together have the following benefits:

* Important in the development of vocabulary of young children.
* Reduce likelihood of children smoking, drinking and using marijuana.
* Reduces depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts.
* Better grades for children between 11-18 years old.
* Reduced risk of eating disorders in adolescent girls.

Included Weekly in Membership:

* Daily main dish recipes.
* Suggested side dish recipes.
* Brunch ideas for Saturday and Sunday.
* 2 dessert recipes
* Categorized grocery list

Bonuses:

* Grocery-saving guide
* Entertaining guide

Extras:

* No risk to try. First week is only 1 cent.
* 14-day money-back guarantee.
* Save money on memberships by choosing 3, 6, 12 month or even lifetime options.

photo credit: byte

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