11 Shortcuts to a Healthier You By Sandra Prior At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

Living longer and feeling better doesn’t have to be drudgery. Armed with the right tools, a man can completely protect and preserve his own body. What you’re about to read is your own personal toolbox. Top to bottom it contains all the right know-how you need to avoid a disaster down the road.

Prevent Colon Cancer

Swap the chips for a snack that may save your life: Brazil nuts. They're the top food source of selenium, a mineral that one study showed may reduce the risk of colon cancer by as much as 60 percent. It looks promising as a way to help prevent colon cancer. A couple of Brazil nuts a day will help you hit the target amount of 200 micrograms of selenium.

Ulcer Proof your Stomach

If a type of bacteria called H pylori is the firebug that ignites most ulcers, then a serving of broccoli sprouts is your edible sprinkler system. In a study sponsored by the US's National Academy of Sciences, sulforaphane - a phytochemical in the sprouts - killed off any H.pylori that was exposed to it. Try folding sprouts into your omelet’s or using them in a sandwich. (Regular broccoli contains some sulforaphane, too.)

Beat Bad Breath

Gargle with nature's mouthwash: green tea. When researchers at the University of British Columbia tested different strategies for eliminating bad breath, they found that green tea was most effective at wiping out the germs and the volatile sulfur compounds (VSC) that cause stench mouth. (Chewing gum and mints actually increased the amount of VSC.) Make green tea at home and give it a good swish around in your mouth before swallowing.

Protect your Prostate

Blueberries are the fruit with the most antioxidant firepower, but plums may be the real nukes against prostate cancer. Preliminary research at Texas University found that phyto-chemicals in red-fleshed plums inhibit prostate-tumor cell growth in the laboratory by 80 percent - 20 percent more than blueberries do. The research is still in the early stages, but there's definitely no downside to eating plums.

Stop a Heart Attack

Harvard medical school researchers found that drinking one or more cups of black tea a day was associated with a 45 percent decrease in heart attacks. The flavonoids in the tea may reduce the build-up of fatty deposits in the arteries. And it doesn't have to be any fancy tea; Lipton or Five Roses will do the artery-clearing trick just as well.

Stop Sweating

Put on your antiperspirant at night, before you go to bed. Even after you dry off from your morning shower, your pores still hold enough water to dilute the antiperspirant. By comparison, your skin is completely dry by the time you're ready to hit the sack, allowing the antiperspirant to concentrate in the pores. If you need peace of mind, apply antiperspirant in the morning, but it isn't necessary; the active ingredients- aluminium chloride or zinc chloride - are good for 24 hours.

Prevent Diabetes

Whip up a peanut-butter-and-jam sandwich. In a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers found that those people who ate peanut butter just once a week had a 16 percent lower risk of developing type-2 diabetes than those who didn't eat any. One explanation may be the fats in peanut butter. Previous studies have shown that a high intake of mono-and polyunsaturated fats improves insulin sensitivity.

Start Losing Weight

A 250ml yoghurt (the light kind) contains 400mg of calcium, almost half of the 900mg research shows you need to eat each day to keep the obesity gene turned off. If you don't get enough calcium, the body stores fat more readily. Plus, yoghurt has eight to 10 grams of protein, which helps suppress appetite and may boost the activity of Leptin, a hormone
that plays a key role in kilojoule burning.

Short-Circuit a Headache

Try pinching the webbed area between your thumb and index finger (either hand) for 30 seconds. It's called acupressure, and while researchers haven't carried out a randomized, placebo-controlled study on the strategy, the theory is that it stimulates nerve impulses to the brain and reverses blood-vessel dilation. Expect your head to stop throbbing in about 5 minutes.

Save your Eyesight

Carrots have the rep, but go with mangoes. They're loaded with beta-carotene and vitamins C and E, three antioxidants that protect your eyes from vision-altering, free-radical damage. We know that these antioxidants help decrease vision loss in patients with age-related macular degeneration.

Avoid a Stroke

Chug 500ml of orange juice. In a 10-year study of 2 400 men, Finnish researchers found that the men taking in 200 milligrams (mg) of vitamin C a day, had a lower stroke risk than those taking in only 40mg of C. Researchers attribute the reduction in risk to vitamin C's ability to minimize artery damage from free radicals, reduce blood pressure and help control cholesterol.

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