Go crazy on spinach!

While not many people willingly pile spinach on their plates, this vibrant green vegetable is packed with anti-oxidants, minerals and vitamins, that are great for your health. Thought to have originated in ancient Iran, spinach flourishes in temperate climates. Health benefits of spinach include... Nutrients in spinach called glycoglycerolipids help protect the lining of the digestive tract from damage related to inflammation.  Some studies suggest that spinach helps protect against prostate cancer. It also contains phytonutrients like flavonoids and carotenoids (lutein, betacarotene and zeaxanthin), that protect your body against certain illnesses. Benefits of spinach include protecting you against inflammatory and oxidative stress-related problems, and even cardiovascular and bone related ailments. The phytonutrient content in spinach has different flavonoid compounds that work as anti-cancer agents. The vitamin K present in spinach is especially beneficial for bone health. Powerful antioxidants help fight the onset of osteoporosis and high blood pressure and even protect your eyes from cataracts and agerelated macular degeneration. Want to improve your immunity? The vitamin A in spinach protects and strengthens your mucous membranes, respiratory, urinary and intestinal tracts, and also help fight against infection.  Spinach is great for skin — it promotes healthy skin by boosting moisture retention and even fights skin problems like psoriasis, acne and wrinkles.  DID YOU KNOW? Nutrients found in spinach include vitamin K, vitamin A, manganese, folate, magnesium, iron, vitamin C, vitamin B, calcium, potassium, vitamin B6, tryptophan, vitamin E, fibre, copper, vitamin B1, protein, phosphorus, zinc, omega-3 fats, vitamin B3 and iron.

Make time fly at the gym Here are some tips to prevent your workouts from dragging

We've all been there and experienced it. Time seems to come to a standstill when we are at the gym, especially the treadmill. It's a classic case of relativity as the genius Albert Einstein put it, "When you sit with a nice girl for two hours, you think it's only a minute. But when you sit on a hot stove for a minute, you think it's two hours."      When this happens, we keep dragging ourselves throughout the workout. Here's a list of tips to keep you motivated from start to finish:  Update your playlist      Why subject yourself to the mercy of radio or music that's not to your liking being played at the gym? Make a special playlist for the gym with up-tempo tracks. Lookout for list of songs online that work perfectly well for gymming.  Take short breaks      Working out continuously seems like an arduous task, if you're not fully charged. Taking short breaks will certainly help break the monotony. Besides, pushing your body to its maximum and giving it short recovery periods, aids in faster weight loss. Also, as you're concentrating on switching your pace, resistance and incline, you won't realise the time.  Watch your favourite TV shows      If health doesn't seem like a motivating enough factor to head to the gym, then perhaps, catching your favourite show just might do the trick. When you are engrossed watching your show, you won't realise how time flies on the treadmill.  Get yourself a gym buddy      How about going to gym along with your partner or friend? Working out won't seem such a boring task when you have company. You can amplify the intensity of your workout by challenging and competing with each other. Also, if you do feel lazy to go to the gym alone, the lure of company should be motivating enough. In fact, you can motivate each other, if either of you is lagging behind.

Make sure these don’t factor into your lifestyle Diet plans

Here's busting that myth, and 6 more that guys believe helps them shed kilos, build muscle. Make sure these don't factor into your lifestyle plans     You may be making some positive changes in your diet and workout programme, but it's important to bear in mind that there are health myths circulating to which you could be falling victim. Here are the top 10.      EGG WHITES ARE A      SMARTER OPTION  The belief is that eggs are too high in cholesterol to be part of a regular diet, but this isn't true.      The fact is that the yolk is the nutrient powerhouse of the egg, containing half its protein. So chucking it out of the diet not only means missing out on a number of vitamins, you're also letting much of the egg's nutritional value go to waste.      Doctors say as long as you don't have any cholesterol issues, it's perfectly fine to include one or two eggs as part of your daily diet. Only if you are consuming more than that, then go for egg whites.  CUTTING CALORIES MAKES YOU LOSE FAT  The calorie restriction diet myth suggests you will win the fight against flab. While losing weight does come down to how many calories you consume, it's the types of foods you eat that will determine how you feel as you lose weight and the kind of weight you will lose. If you have a poorquality diet — counting calories but eating junk food — chances are you'll lose muscle rather than fat, and thus, suffer from slow metabolism.  REAL MEN DON'T DIET  It is not that men don't diet. They just do it differently. They tend to include more saturated fat in their diet, while women tend to completely avoid them. Nutritionists explain, as long as they keep their intake lower than 15 per cent of their total daily fat intake, saturated fat isn't harmful. In fact, small doses of saturated fat can help them avoid testosterone depletion.  MORE PROTEIN MEANS MORE MUSCLE  While it is true that protein is needed to build muscle, fitness experts point out, once you meet your daily requirements, excess protein is not going to lead to extra muscle definition. The body can build only so much muscle each day. Beyond that, any extra protein consumed will either be converted into fat or used as energy.  GET RID OF SALT  Many men shun salt, believing it will do their body harm. In reality, salt is required for vital body functions. However, if you consume high amounts of salt, consume plenty of potassium. This will keep your sodium-potassium levels stable, reducing the harmful effects of a higher salt intake.  MUSCLE MASS LOSS IS INEVITABLE WITH AGE  Think muscle mass loss is something you'll just have to face as you get older? Think again. The primary reason men lose muscle as they age is complacency. If you stay busy with your intense muscle-building workouts, signaling to your body that it needs to keep that tissue intact, your chances of seeing muscle loss are extremely low.      So in addition to a regular strength-training plan, make sure you're eating well, as that's another key factor to maintaining lean muscle tissue.  YOU CAN CATCH UP ON SLEEP ON WEEKENDS  Many men think they can just forgo their eight hours of sleep during the week and catch up on the weekends. They believe that a good 10-hour sleep on Sunday will make up for a few hours during the week.      While it will help, it's not going to eliminate your sleep deprivation. That apart, doing this will throw off your natural sleep-wake cycle so it could end up doing more harm than good. Not only can the right food aid sleep, it works the other way too — better sleep promotes weight loss. Lack of sleep, however, has been found to stimulate production of hunger hormone ghrelin, which makes us overeat.

BRAIN EXERCISE For mind power, do 20min of yoga

Washington: A single, 20-minute session of yoga can significantly improve brain function, a new study led by an Indian-origin researcher has found. 

    University of Illinois student Neha Gothe and her colleagues found that a 20-minute session of Hatha yoga improved participants' speed and accuracy on tests of working memory and inhibitory control, two measures of brain function associated with the ability to maintain focus and take in, retain and use new information. 
    Participants performed significantly better immediately after the yoga practice than after moderate to vigorous aerobic exercise for the same amount of time. 
    The 30 study subjects were young, female, undergraduate students. 
    "Yoga is an ancient Indian science and way of life that includes not only physical movements and postures but also regulated breathing and meditation," said Neha Gothe, who led the study while a graduate student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 
    "The practice involves an active attentional or mindfulness component but its potential benefits have not been thoroughly explored," said Gothe, now a professor of kinesiology, health and sport studies at Wayne State University in Detroit. PTI

Could eating yoghurt help treat depression?

Anew research reveals that probiotics found in natural yogurt could help boost a person's mood because they affect brain function. Previous studies have shown that beneficial bacteria affected the brains of rats, but no research has confirmed that the same occurred in human brains. The study found that those who ate probiotic yoghurt twice daily for a month showed altered brain function, both in resting brain activity and in response to an 'emotional attention task', which was designed to monitor how the brain responded to certain emotions.      It has also been known that the brain sends signals to the gut (stomach), which is why stress and other emotions can contribute to gastrointestinal symptoms.      "Our findings indicate that some of the contents of yogurt may change the way our brain responds to the environment," said study author Kirsten Tillisch. "Time and time again, we hear from patients that they never felt depressed or anxious until they started experiencing problems with their gut. Our study shows that the gut-brain connection is a two-way street," she said.      The researchers added that what we eat alters the way our gut bacteria breaks down food and also suggested that specific probiotic strains in yoghurt could havehealth benefits such as relieving anxiety, stress, and other mood symptoms over time. It is possible that changing the composition of gut bacteria could lead to treatments for chronic pain disorders as well as symptoms of brain conditions like autism, Parkinson's, and Alzheimer's disease.      IANS Specific probiotic strains in yoghurt could relieve anxiety