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First let’s look at exercise then diet for a healthy heart. The hardest part of any  exercise routine is getting started. However, once you’ve set on a routine, you’ll find yourself following it. So, how do you get started? Your doctor can recommend the specific kinds of exercise for your own individual needs. Generally, however, these guidelines should get you going.

As we know, exercise will only become a habit if it’s fun. Pick something you will enjoy doing. If you like being with a group of people, try a team sport like basketball or soccer. You don’t have to be a super athlete. Anyone can exercise. Social activities like dancing and mall-walking are also good. If you’re more of a loner, try bicycling or swimming.

Don’t kid yourself. Be honest about what you realistically think you can do. If you have always hated to climb stairs, step aerobics probably isn’t for you. Maybe a walk around the neighborhood would be more pleasant. Many people today are walking toward fitness. Consider your current state of physical fitness. If you haven’t exercised in years, you’ll definitely want to start with some modest activities. As you get adjusted, you can increase your activity.

Consider your schedule. Are you a morning person? Then plan to exercise in the morning. If you’re addicted to your snooze button, plan to exercise in the evening. Start with just a small block of time, maybe fifteen minutes. As you get into your routine, you probably won’t mind increasing to twenty, and then thirty, minutes. In order to be effective, you’ll need to repeat your exercise routine 3 or 4 times per week. Exercise should improve your health, not risk it. You also need to consider your diet.

If you learn to eat for a healthy heart, you’ll find that your priorities change. The way your body feels after a healthy meal will become more important to you than the instant pleasure of having something loaded with fat or sugar. You’ll also enjoy healthy food. You can live without chips and sodas and you’ll gladly give those things up once you experience how your body feels after healthier meals. You’ll still be able to enjoy your favorite foods. But, instead of having it several times a week, you might indulge once or twice a month. You’ll get rid of the guilt. By not indulging every time you want a treat, you’ll savor it even more. You’ll see food in a different light. It will start to mean something different to you. Food becomes fuel rather than something that controls your life. If you exercise, you’ll learn very quickly how food affects your workouts. Eating a heavy, fatty meal makes you tired and your workouts suffer. Soon, you’ll want better workouts which will motivate you to eat better. You’ll also become more adventurous. Eating healthy often opens the door to more options than you usually give yourself. You’ll try new vegetables and grains and experiment with herbs and flavors you’ve never tried. Your friends and family will benefit. Even if you’re the only one eating healthy, those habits rub off on others. Being a good role model for your kids or co-workers is one way to teach them how to live healthy.

Finally, you’ll have tools to deal with temptation. Healthy eaters are much better at avoiding the usual pitfalls like party foods or overloaded buffets. They make an effort to eat regular meals so they’re not starving, fill up on healthy foods first to eat less of the bad stuff, and choose a few quality treats to enjoy instead of everything in front of them.

These changes in exercise and food consumption come over time, sometimes weeks, months or years of slowly working on your habits and choices. Allowing yourself this time is crucial for permanently changing how you look at food and healthy eating.

Avocados are a very strange food. There is some confusion about whether they are a vegetable or fruit of just what they are. Also, there has been some confusion about whether or not they are healthy or bad for you. Let’s take a closer look at this fascinating food and you can decide if it’s right for you.

Unlike many fruits, avocados are not sweet – but they are indeed a fruit. In fact, they are a berry! Why aren’t they like a blueberry or raspberry and full of juices? That may take a degree in ‘fruitology’ to understand. Let’s look at some other aspects. They grow on trees in Southern California, Mexico, South America and also are found in Indonesia. They are high in fiber and potassium and vitamins. They are also high in the good kind of fat, so they are quite a healthy fruit.

Avocados are an important part of the Mexican diet and are a delicious part of many foods. In Southern California, people take whole avocados and mash them up with salt and lemon juice, onions, tomatoes and cilantro to make a tasty dip called guacamole. In Mexico they often add sour cream to this treat and this gives it a more creamy texture and a lighter color. The richest tasting avocados are called ‘Hass’ and are rich in creamy inside. They are also used in burritos and tacos to give a creamy and rich taste. In Indonesia, they are blended with chocolate in a blender to make a creamy drink you will never forget. The first thing many people do when they get to Indonesia is order an avocado shake.

Here are some interesting facts about the Hass avocado. The Hass avocado is today the most common of all types. It produces fruit year-round and accounts for 80 percent of cultivated avocados in the whole world. All Hass avocado trees descended from a single ‘mother tree’ raised by a mail carrier named Rudolph Hass, of La Habra Heights, California. Hass patented the productive tree in 1935.

When it comes to trading in avocados, the USA has played some dirty tricks on its Mexican neighbors. The United States imposed an embargo to Mexican avocados in 1914. The embargo was put in place to prevent the alleged introduction of pests via imported avocados. In reality, it was to protect growers in California. After NAFTA went into effect in 1994, Mexico tried exporting avocados to the US. The US government resisted, claiming that the trade would introduce fruit flies that would destroy California’s crops. The Mexican government responded by inviting USDA inspectors to Mexico, but the U.S. government declined, claiming fruit-fly inspection was not feasible. The Mexican government then proposed to sell avocados only to the northeastern US in the winter (fruit flies cannot withstand extreme cold). The US government balked, but gave in when the Mexican government started throwing up barriers to US corn.

Let’s look at how avocados are enjoyed in other places in the world. In Brazil, Indonesia, Vietnam, and south India, avocados are frequently used for milkshakes and occasionally added to ice cream and other desserts. In Brazil, Vietnam, and the Philippines, a dessert drink is made with sugar, milk or water, and pureed avocado. Chocolate syrup is sometimes added.

In Ethiopia, avocados are made into juice by mixing them with sugar and milk or water, usually served with Vimto and a slice of lemon. They also serve layered multi-fruit juice in a glass made of avocados, mangoes, bananas, guavas and papayas. Avocados are also used to make salads.

In Brazil, the traditional preparation is mashed with sugar and lime, and eaten as a dessert or snack. This contrasts with Spanish speaking countries, such as Mexico or Argentina. In Australia and New Zealand, you will find avocado in sandwiches, on toast, or often with chicken. In Ghana, it’s often eaten alone in sliced bread as a sandwich. In Sri Lanka it is a popular dessert once well ripened, flesh is thoroughly mashed with sugar/sugar and milk or a local syrup

In Central America, avocados are served mixed with white rice, in soups, salads, or on the side of chicken and meat. In Peru avocados are eaten with tequeños as mayonnaise, served as a side dish with parrillas, used in salads and sandwiches, or as a whole dish when filled with tuna, shrimp, or chicken. In Chile it is used as a puree in chicken, hamburgers, and hot dogs; and in slices for celery or lettuce salads. In Kenya, the avocado is often eaten as a fruit, and is eaten alone, or mixed with other fruits in a fruit salad, or as part of a vegetable salad. Avocado slices are frequently added to hamburgers, tortas, hot dogs, and carne asada. Avocados are also found in Japanese food called a ‘California Roll’.

In case you’re still not sure if avocados are right for you, in the USA and in Iran, avocado is even used as a facial mask to rejuvenate the skin. So, this fruit with 60% more potassium than bananas plenty of B vitamins, as well as vitamin E, vitamin K, high fiber content and a fantastic taste is hard to beat. If you haven’t had an avocado yet, you must try it!

So many foods taste better when grilled, but there are concerns about cancer causing agents from barbequing. The good news is that these risks can almost be eliminated if you know the cause and the tricks. The two main factors are an unclean grill and using a good a marinade. Let’s look at the details.

The two main chemicals that cause the trouble are: Heterocyclic Amines and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons. These chemicals are formed by putting food, primarily meats, in contact with intense heat and flame. Because they are cancer causing agents, you want to keep their formation to a minimum. Now grilling isn’t the only thing that creates these chemicals. They can be created anytime you have meats and some other foods in contact with intense heat and flame. They do come mostly from fat. Either the fat is heated to extreme temperatures or the smoke created by fat burning. Since the build up from the bottom of your grill can come in contact with direct heat, this gets the hottest and creates the bad stuff.

What can you do to avoid this?  Keep the grill clean, it’s more hygienic anyway. Since it is mostly the fat causing the problem, trim excess fats from foods. Use marinades based on olive oils and/or citrus juices. This is a great solution – more on this later. Have you seen a bbq catch on fire from burning fats on the coals? Avoid that. It causes overcooked foods. It’s the blackened and charred bits on foods that have the bad chemicals in them, so if you have charred sections of meat cut them off. Use herbs like Basil, Mint, Rosemary, Thyme, Oregano, and Sage to add flavor. This cuts back the bad chemicals. In fact, a marinade containing olive oil and/or citrus juices can reduce the formation of these chemicals by as much as 99% and marinades tenderize meats and make a much better meal. Herbs of the Lamiaceae family (Basil, Mint, Rosemary, Thyme, Oregano, and Sage) used in marinades reduced the bad chemical formation dramatically.

So, remember, there are many ways you can turn your grilling not only into a flavorful and fun way to cook, but also into a healthy way to eat. By choosing foods that are low in fat, high in nutrients and full of flavor you can get great meals that are also healthy. Use marinades not only to add extra flavor but also to reduce the formation of cancer causing substances on foods. If you follow these rules not only will you greatly reduce the risk of these cancer agents but you will reduce the fat in meats that you grill. Of course grilling is a great way to reduce fat, but this takes it even farther. If you buy lean cuts, use light marinades and serve up your grilled foods with a good helping of fruits and vegetables then you will really be grilling healthy.

Along with grilling some veggies which must always be done at low heat and picking lean cuts of meat and less processed meats like hot dogs, grilling can be a very healthy way to go. Don’t let the reports stop you from having meat the tasty way. Follow the above advice and fire up that grill for delicious and healthy eating.

So many sources recommend 8 glasses of H20 per day. Not soda. Not juice and not tea. Water only. Do we really need all that water? Do we need it to detox or stop us from dehydrating? What about special ionized and ‘blessed’ waters?

Some people charge that all this hype is mostly from the companies that sell bottled water. It’s a multi-billion dollar per year industry. And it’s growing. Another interesting fact is that over a billion people on earth have no access to clean water – they drink it dirty from whatever source they can find.

Dehydration is real. You need enough water to live. If you work outside or you lose a lot through perspiration you need to replace that water so you body will run efficiently. It’s recommended that you carry a bottle with you if you are at risk of getting too thirsty. Water is the source of life. We’re not doctors here, but be sure to get all the clean and pure water your body needs. But don’t go overboard. It’s been said that trying to keep quotas can just be a strain on your system, so consult your doctor if you have water issues. Stay in touch with your own body and use common sense. Avoid the hype.