RealAge Tip

Control Your Appetite with This Scent

By RealAge

You may be able to get some extra willpower against the munchies by following your nose.In a study, inhaling the scent of peppermint every couple of hours helped people eat less overall -- and eat better.

The Nose Knows
By the end of the 2-week study, the people who had sniffed peppermint every couple of hours during the day had also consumed fewer calories and eaten less fat, less saturated fat, and less sugar than the nonsniffers did. Bonus: Peppermint also reduces feelings of hunger. Here's another scent that may help curb your appetite.

The Weight Is Over
A healthy weight and trim waist keep blood pressure down and lower your risk of lots of things you don't want -- like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and certain types of cancer. And although there are plenty of tips and tricks for helping you eat less, a calorie-controlled diet and regular exercise remain the mainstays of weight control. But when you need a shrink-my-waist boost, try some of these ideas on for size as well:

· Ask yourself why. Most behavioral psychologists agree, finding out why you eat is key. Take this "why" test to find out your motivation for overeating. (See below on this page)

· Try pen and ink. Studies prove that food diaries really do work. Find out how much more weight people lose with a food diary.

· Put money on it. Or some other reward. Discover how much more weight people lost when they were paid to do it.

Reading these can help you lose weight, too.

RealAge Benefit:

Maintaining a constant desirable weight can make your RealAge 6 years younger.

Follow your nose, it always knows. And here's a way to get your subconscious in on it, too. Pick up a couple of packs of diffusing reeds and some bottles of peppermint essential oil. Place the reeds in the oil and set a bottle in your home, your kitchen, and your office. Your nose will be happy, and you'll eat less without thinking about it.

Sleep Better with This Simple Schedule Switch

By RealAge

Next time you plan supper, think about having it a little earlier. You could be rewarded with sweet dreams.

That's the advice of Dr. Maoshing Ni, PhD, author of Second Spring. He notes that late-night dinners may disturb your sleep because they divert your body's resources to digesting when you need to be resting.

Time for Supper!
Ni suggests eating no later than 7 p.m. to help free up your liver to perform its daily detox duties while you get a good night's rest. So put aside those work e-mails and get home in time for dinner. Long workdays and an endless list of personal obligations are two of the biggest culprits in erratic mealtimes.Another nifty way to get more sleep: Stretch.

More on Meals
What and when you eat affects not only your sleep but also your energy levels. To help keep energy levels steady throughout the day, Dr. Ni recommends eating five small meals instead of three large ones. And don't forget to exercise daily. It's one of the best ways to combat fatigue. Get an intro to the ancient practice of chi-gong in this video.

Posted in: YOU Docs Daily

The Good Egg

July 18, 2009 3:58 PM by RealAge |

Get thin, get smart. One little oval package helps make both happen, and you don’t even have to get a prescription for it (yes, it’s legal).

Eggs were reinstated as a health food a while back, when major studies cleared them of increasing heart attack and stroke risk. Now there's evidence that people who scramble, boil, or poach one for breakfast -- versus eating a bagel with the same number of calories -- bypass junk-food cravings and eat fewer calories for at least 24 hours. Without even trying. While eggs are a good source of nutrients and protein, for reasons that aren't completely clear, it turns out that they make your body feel fuller longer.

Watch this video to learn how to poach eggs perfectly.

Not only are you smart, waistwise, for eating them; they’re good brain food, too. Eggs are packed with selenium, a nutrient that can help keep your memory sharp and your thinking fast. In fact, people who get at least 55 micrograms (mcg) a day of selenium have cognitive test scores that put them in a league with people 10 years younger. An egg (14 mcg) on whole-grain toast (10 mcg) gets you almost halfway there. Round out your day with some albacore tuna (63 mcg for 3 ounces), turkey (27 mcg for 3 ounces), or Brazil nuts (a mother lode at 270 mcg per half ounce). Repeat the next morning.Find out why eating eggs in the morning can help you wake up faster.

You know that line about "the incredible, edible . . ."? Looks like the jingle writer had a clue.

Try making this easy Southwestern Omelet Wrap recipe for breakfast.

All About YOU: The "Why" of Weight Loss

By RealAge

You struggle to drop those unwanted pounds, but the weight returns like a bad sitcom you thought had bitten the dust. Time to take a new approach to weight loss.

If you could figure out why the weight keeps coming back, maybe it would be gone for good. So take the "why" test. Here's how.

"Why" Questions to Ask
To make sustainable changes and get off the weight on-again, off-again roller coaster, you need to know what's prompting you to abuse your body and engage in unhealthy eating habits. (Answer these questions to see if your eating habits are healthy.)

So start asking yourself "why" questions. Here's an example of how this might play out:

Why do I want to lose weight? Because I'd have more confidence.
Why do I want more confidence? Because I'm hoping to start a new relationship.
Why do I want to start a new relationship? Because I'm feeling lonely.

Ah-Ha Moment
The questions stop when you can link the first question to the last answer. In the example above, you want to lose weight because you're lonely. And the likely cause of your weight gain is the very same thing. (Learn more about the psychology of overeating in the YOU: On a Diet Center.)

Feel satisfied all day by registering to use the YOU: On a Diet online meal planner.

RealAge Benefit:

Maintaining your weight and body mass index at a desirable level can make your RealAge as much as 6 years younger.

Nature's Answer to Sleep Drugs

Whatever's been keeping you awake at night -- the neighbors, the price of gas, the thought that maybe pro wrestling is rigged -- you can get a good night's sleep. And you don't have to solve the world's problems. All you need to do is stretch. When a group of women did a simple stretching routine every day, they fell asleep more easily than nonstretchers. Why isn't clear, but who cares, if you're out like a light? A basic yoga routine's probably perfect, but just stretching out the day's knots slowly and soothingly should do the trick.

If stretching is too subtle for you -- or if you're going to do something physical, you want to torch some calories while you're at it -- consider moderately intense exercise. But do it in the morning. Women who did a.m. workouts for a total of at least 3 hours and 45 minutes a week (about half an hour a day) also joined the better-sleep club.

But shorter morning workouts didn't help much. And women who worked out that much at night didn't see sleep benefits, though that's no surprise: Exercising within 2 hours of bedtime can leave you wide-eyed.

Another candidate for natural Ambien: tai chi. People who did an hour of tai chi three times a week for 6 months fell asleep about 18 minutes faster and slept almost an hour longer than a control group.

There's a bonus to all this ZZZ time: Better sleep not only makes you feel good but also reduces overeating, arterial aging, and heart attack risk. So get moving and go to bed.

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Control Your Appetite with This Scent

RealAge Benefit:

Sleep Better with This Simple Schedule Switch

The Good Egg

All About YOU: The "Why" of Weight Loss

You struggle to drop those unwanted pounds, but the weight returns like a bad sitcom you thought had bitten the dust. Time to take a new approach to weight loss.

RealAge Benefit:

Nature's Answer to Sleep Drugs