Page 22 - Florida Sentinel 8-19-16 Online Edition

Health
Got fiber? Love it or hate it, dietary fiber or roughage is an essential part of a healthy diet. Although much harder to tally than counting calories, according to study findings, increasing your daily fiber intake by 10g can cut your risk of premature death by 10%.
Here’s how:
1. Heart disease, the leading cause of death among African Americans, drops 9% for each 7g of fiber consumed daily.
2. Eating more than 21g of fiber a day lowers your risk of developing kidney stones by 22%.
3. Cut your risk of having a stroke by 7% when you con- sume just 7g daily.
4. Eating more fiber aids digestion by balancing levels of healthy bacteria.
5. Fiber slows the body’s absorption of glucose, controlling blood sugar spikes; in turn reducing your risk for diabetes.
6. Increasing your daily fiber intake to 30g or more can re- sult in some serious weight loss.
7. Dietary fiber soothes systematic inflammation and may slash your risk of developing inflammatory diseases like COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), a group of lung diseases that block airflow, making it difficult to breathe.
So where can you find fiber?
Whole Grains
Whole wheat spaghetti, 1 cup, 6g
Cooked barley, 1 cup, 6g Bran flakes, 3/4 cup, 5 1/2g Medium oat bran muffin, 5g Instant oatmeal, 1 cup, 4g
Fruits and Vegetables
Even if you haven’t seen the movie, Limitless, the premise is that a “super pill” can help you become smarter, think quicker, react faster and overall be a genius. Even though that’s Holly- wood and there’s no real magic pill to do that, we do have mother nature to look to if we want our brains to perform better.
Here’s five quick concoc- tions that will make you get you ready for your day and
make you look like a rockstar at work.
Blueberry Juice
Remember the age old saying: the darker the berry the sweeter the juice? Well, not only has eating more darkly pigmented fruits like blueberries been associated with a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s, but some stud- ies show that eating them can actually boost concentration and memory up to 5 hours
later.
Also, try adding them to
your morning oatmeal or af- ternoon salad.
Peppermint Tea
Even without caffeine, this tasty brew can perk up your brain. Studies have found that the scent of pep- permint is associated with re- duced anxiety and fatigue, and enhanced motivation and performance.
Beet Juice
Beet roots are veggies loaded with dietary nitrates that are converted into ni- trites in the body, which in- crease blood flow and oxygen to the brain. If you’re like most people you either love beets or hate them. If you need a little extra help con- vincing yourself to try beet juice, then try... roasting them to bring out their natu- ral sweetness, or whip up a Blueberry Beet Almond Smoothie (2 cups almond milk, 1 cup blueberries, 1/2 cup beets, handful of al- monds) to take with you to work or to the gym.
Water + Lemon
Water is life and a little infused water may be all you need. Studies show that de- hydration can mess with memory and overall brain functioning big-time, while other research has found that the scent of lemon improves performance on tasks that re- quire a great deal of concen- tration.
Coffee + Cinnamon
Sure, it might seem obvi- ous that coffee would perk you up and help you focus, but did you know that two to three daily cups have been linked to both long- and short-term improvements in memory? Bolster its brain- boosting effects even further by adding a few dashes of cinnamon—a 2009 study found that even just the smell of this spice can lead to in- creased feelings of alertness and decreased frustration.
PAGE 10-B FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, AUGUST 19, 2016