In February we celebrate National Wear Red Day to help promote prevention of heart disease in women.

Let us make healthier choices to beat heart disease. It can be prevented with the right lifestyle – the food you eat, the exercise you do, and the lifestyle you lead.

Let us celebrate Go Red for Women Day every day by adding red healthy heart-healing foods to our meals.

• Try to incorporate more beets into your diet to strengthen the heart, improve circulation, purify/detox the blood, lower blood pressure. Beet Salad Recipes
  
• Try to eat more pomegranates and water melons, and drink more tomato juice to lower your blood pressure. Watermelon and Strawberry ice Cream Recipe
  
• Try to eat half a red grapefruit before every meal, or at least in the morning, before breakfast to lower your cholesterol. Studies show that it helps to loose weight too. Grapefruit and Walnut Salad
  
• Try to add raw red onions (cook with white onions) to all your salads, spreads, side dishes, etc. to cut bad cholesterol. Roasted Vegetables Recipe
  
• Try to eat more red legumes, such as adzuki beans, red lentils and kidney beans rich in both tryptophan (to reduce stress and fight seasonal depression) and heart-healing fiber to reduce your blood pressure, detox your colon and give you more energy. Lentil Recipes
  
• Try to eat red (purple) cabbage to get rid of constipation, which ultimately canlower your blood pressure.
  
• Try to eat more red salmon and red apples (any color) -foods rich in Magnesium to reduce stress.
  

Let us be heart smart, shall we?

Breathe, smile and be happy.

© Irina Wardas, HHC

Women’s Holistic Health and Nutrition Coach and Relationship Expert

Do you like to try new eggplant recipes?  Eggplant nutrition is good for us women; here are some reasons why:

* The purple peel of eggplant contains proanthocyanidins and anthocyanins  (like in elderberry, persimmon, tart red cherries and purple grapes, beets, and purple cabbage), which are compounds that can help protect against brain aging, heart disease and various women’s cancers.

* Eggplant is an excellent source of fiber, a mild laxative and diuretic, which can help you with weight loss, keeping blood pressure under control, diabetes, and cholesterol reduction and arteriosclerosis.

*Eggplant is one of the alkaline-forming vegetables, which can be used to strengthen the immune system to keep you healthy and in balance (acidity creates inflammation, puffiness, weaken our immune system which can lead to heart disease, etc.)

P.S. If you suffer from arthritis, foods in the nightshade family, such as tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and some citrus should be avoided.

P.P.S. Eggplant should be eaten in moderation by pregnant women.

Healthy Ratatouille Recipe with Eggplant and Zucchinni

Eggplant is considered to be one of the most energizing and soothing. foods for women, and zucchini is helps with elimination and to keep your skin healthy and glowing.

• 3 medium zucchini, chopped
• 1 medium eggplant, chopped
• 2 onions chopped
• 2 tbsp extra virgin oil
• 1 tbsp garlic
• ½ tbsp basil
• 1 tbsp dill and parsley
• 1 cup diced tomatoes (fresh or canned)
• sea salt and black pepper to taste

Sautee onions in olive oil for 3 minutes, add garlic and spices, cook for a few minutes more. Add tomatoes, eggplant and zucchini. Cook until vegetables are soft. Serve with couscous, or basmati rice.

Bon Appetit!

Breathe, smile and be happy.

©Irina Wardas, HHC

Women’s Holistic Health and Nutrition Coach and Counselor

Do you know your Body Mass Index?  Are you skinny, overweight or obese? We know already that obesity leads to high blood pressure, heart attacks and stroke, type 2 diabetes, some types of cancer, etc. But what is the difference between overweight and obese? How do you know that you have already crossed that dangerous line from being overweight to becoming obese?

“Whether you want to be thick or thin is a matter of taste” –Daniel Worona

Studies (published in the medical journal The Lancet ) show that it is important not only to know your weight but also your body fat, because Body Mass Index is crucial. Obesity can shorten your life by about three- four years (death because of high blood pressure leading to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, kidney and liver problems), but if you are very obese, it might be shorten by eight – ten years according to new study.

I teach them not to be obsessed with their weight loss or gain but be healthy weight smart.

The first sign of your gaining a couple of pounds is always your tight clothes. But it is always easier to maintain the weight you want if you know about your extra pounds as soon as you gain them. I don’t believe in a sudden extra 20 pounds gain. How can it be possible to gain 10 – 20 pounds without knowing it? Of course, it takes time, and if you are not alert, if you don’t weight yourself, don’t watch what you eat (I don’t like the word “diet”), you might get in trouble. Sometimes it can be too late, and it means you cross the line from being healthy to being at risk.  What’s the take away – weight your self regularly to make sure that you have not fallen off the “wagon” – but don’t obsess about it.

How to Find Your Perfect Weight and Live Longer

Body Mass Index is a ratio of weight to height to estimate body fat and obesity. It is better than only using your scale, even it is not very accurate for those who have a lot of muscles.

Click here to calculate your Body Mass Index, Body Fat and Activity / Calories Used

Taking your age into consideration:

Under 35:

recommended:  18 -24; overweight:  25 + ;  obese:  30+

35 and over:

recommended:  19 -26;  overweight:  27 + ;  obese:  30+

No matter what, let us be BMI smart

And don’t be too skinny either: several reports say that underweight women have a lower life expectancy than people who have an average or healthy weight.

Breathe, smile and be happy.

Irina Wardas, HHC

Women’s Holistic Health, Nutrition Coach and Counselor