10 Ways to Change Your Life in 10 Seconds
Got 10 seconds? That's all you need to start slimming down, shaping up, and getting healthy once and for all. Think of it as a virtuous spiral: You make a change here, a different food choice there--simple stuff that fits into your life. Pretty soon you're making even more great healthy swaps. You're eating, sleeping and feeling better and you can't imagine going back to a life when you didn't feel or look this good. Here, ten of the easiest tweaks you can make to get started on a path to the healthiest you.
Drink Your Milk Think you're getting a nutritional boost from your morning cereal? Up to 40 percent of the vitamins in fortified cereals dissolve in the milk. If you don't drink the leftover cow juice, you're not getting the fancy-pants nutrients!
Ice It, Ace It Drink a few glasses of ice-cold water before and during exercise. Studies show that the cold stuff can improve endurance by about 23 percent. And ice water forces your body to expend calories warming it up, boosting your metabolism as well.
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Lift, Damn It Verbally expressing emotion while lifting increases muscle strength by up to 25 percent. (Of course, it also increases your risk of being tossed out of the gym by the same percentage…) Or get someone to scream at you: You'll be able to lift 5 to 8 percent more weight if you get verbal encouragement from a trainer or workout partner.
Bribe Yourself Fit Bet a colleague (like the one who's not so secretly gunning for your job) 50 bucks that you can stick to your workout program for 6 months. Studies show that those who do achieve an average 97 percent success rate. Alternate plan? Schedule your workouts, then put a few bucks in a jar for each one you make. Pledge the money toward something sweet, like a new bike or a trip to Vegas.
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Pick The Red One Red cabbage has 15 times as much wrinkle-fighting beta-carotene as green cabbage. Red bell peppers have up to nine times as much vitamin C as green ones.
Spear a Hangover To reduce the severity of a hangover, order a side of asparagus. When South Korean researchers exposed a group of human liver cells to asparagus extract, the extract suppressed free radicals and more than doubled the effects of two enzymes responsible for metabolizing alcohol.
Listen To Your Feet If you can hear yourself running, you're setting yourself up for injury. Pounding the pavement comes from bad form. Keep your feet close to the ground and use a quick, shuffling stride.
Don't Buy Wheat Bread Huh? Isn't it good for me? Actually, "wheat bread" is often just white bread dyed with molasses to make it look dark. Look instead for "100 percent whole wheat" or "whole grain." Even better: rye bread. Swedish researchers found that 8 hours after people ate rye, they felt less hungry than those who noshed wheat bread, thanks to rye's high fiber content.
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Cheat With Your Weights Lift a weight as many times as you can. Then, when you can't complete one more repetition, use your free hand (or a workout buddy) to help push your weighted hand through another rep. Once you're at the top of the move, remove your free hand and slowly lower the weight. Studies show that negative resistance exercises like this are more effective at muscle building than standard exercises.
Dry Off Head To Toe After a shower, you'll prevent a chill by drying your head and neck first. You'll also reduce the risk of anything nasty from the shower floor making its way up your body.
***Excerpted fromThe Women's Health Diet: The 6-Week Plan to Shrink Your Belly and Sculpt Your New Body.
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