Dear Healthy Friend,

In Health Bytes last week Thursday I briefly mentioned New Year's resolutions and how I would not be changing my commitment to bringing you a better, healthier future. Today, I'd like to share some changes you could make in reaching this goal.

Keep reading to see how to tweak your life...

In the name of good health,

Taryn Strugnell
Managing Editor of Nutrition & Healing

P.S. When I read today's Q and A to some of my colleagues, I was surprised to hear that two out of the six of us actually suffer from "floaters". And no, it isn't what you think it is... see below to find out more.

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Ten bite-sized changes that can turn you into a happier and healthier ‘you’
Francois Lubbe
Editor of Daily Health

I am sure we all spent New Year’s Eve with loved ones and friends gathering around to share in the festivities and to wish everyone a happy 2010. Then as expected, someone in the conversation probably started on the topic of New Year resolutions... We all know where those end-up... long forgotten promises to ourselves that just don’t come to fruition and by the end of March we’ve changed very little if anything at all.

The group of friends I spent New Year’s eve with were rather frank about their resolutions: None of them had any and none of them planned to commit to any. Simple. This got me thinking: What if we made manageable ‘bite-sized’ New Year resolutions. You know, the type of small things that we can actually commit to...

Below are a few suggestions, in no particular order. Pick just one or two (maybe three) of these, allow a month or two to feel the benefit of your new habits and if you are up for a further challenge, you can always add more healthier habits as the year progresses.

1. Drink water
Staying hydrated has a profound influence on vitality and energy levels, including mental energy. Drink enough water to keep your urine pale yellow throughout the course of the day. Put a bottle and or glass on your desk or carry a water bottle with you as you go out and about during the day.

2. Start exercising
If you’ve never been keen to exercise, promising yourself you’re going to spend an hour in the gym, four times a week, may just be raising the bar a bit too high for yourself. If you really are quite inactive, how about committing to a 10 minute walk each day? Once you’ve reached a comfortable level of fitness, you can always increase the duration of your exercise and add more exercises to your routine.

3. Eat mindfully
In our fast-paced world, there can be a tendency to eat while distracted and ‘shovel in’ more food than we need. Eating mindfully can be very beneficial to your health. A recent study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, found that individuals who engage in regular yoga were less prone to weight gain. This didn’t seem to be related to dietary or exercise patterns. It was argued that it may have something to do with the fact that those who practice yoga were more likely to eat mindfully.

A follow-up study explored this argument and discovered that this indeed was the case. For example, they tend to eat when they need to and not just because they are anxious, stressed or bored. They also tend to know when they are full and stop eating at that point. It also helps to be conscious of how much food you’re putting into your mouth. If you’re stacking your fork or piling your spoon high with food, you might want to rethink this. Make a conscious effort to keep each mouthful small and manageable.

4. Chew thoroughly
Part of mindful eating is chewing your food thoroughly, which at the very least will enhance the body’s ability to digest food efficiently. It can also help with any symptoms of indigestion or acid reflux. The chewing movement emerged in the 19th century with the claim that chewing each mouthful 32 times helped digestion - the action of enzymes in the mouth help kick start the digestive process (amylase and lipase start the digestion of carbohydrate and fat respectively). Not only this, but slower eating (and more thorough chewing) can help you to eat less and in turn lose weight.

However, the mechanical effect of chewing is also important. Thorough chewing increases the surface area of food that ends up in the stomach, and this aids digestion. Imagine dropping two ice cubes into water but crushing one first. Which one melts more quickly? The crushed one, right? It’s the same with food in the stomach.

5. Sleep
Sleep has the ability to optimise mental and physical energy, and optimal levels of sleep (about 8 hours a night on average) is linked with reduced risk of chronic disease and improved longevity. One simple strategy that could help ensure you get optimal amounts of sleep is to go to bed earlier. Getting into bed a 10 or 10.30 pm (rather than 11.30, say) is not a waste of time, but a potentially useful investment in terms of your short and long-term health.

6. Eat a primal diet
Common sense and a stack of science dictate that the best diet for us is one based on foods we’ve been eating the longest in terms of our time on this planet. If you know nothing else about diet, this nutritional ‘nugget’ will help you cut through the marketing hype and dietary misinformation, and allow you to make healthy food choices (if you so wish) quickly and confidently.

Records suggests that for the vast majority of our time here the human race survived on a diet made up of animal foods (e.g. meat, fish and eggs), fruit, vegetables, nuts and water. The exact make-up of the diet would have varied according to precise location and environment (e.g. relatively more animal and less plant food further from the equator). What our ancestral diet most certainly did not contain was piles of grain and dairy products, along with things like refined vegetable oils, refined sugar, artificial sweeteners and processed, trans fats found in many foods including margarine.

7. Snack healthily
Snacking tends to have a ‘bad’ reputation and at least some of this is based on the fact that many snack foods (e.g. biscuits, confectionery, crisps/chips) are far from healthy. However, going for too long between meals (especially between lunch and dinner) can cause the appetite to run out of control, which could lead to the overconsumption of unhealthy food and drink later on. Quelling the appetite with something healthy (e.g. a handful of nuts) can do wonders to help us maintain our healthy eating habits will minimal effort.

8. Get more sunlight
Sunlight and the production of vitamin D by the skin has a myriad of benefits for body and brain. While sunburn should be avoided, getting as much sunlight exposure as possible for optimal health benefits is essential.

9. Make time
Some new habits (e.g. exercise) can take time, which some of us believe we already don’t have enough of. Yet, I am sure that if you look at exactly how you spend your time you will find many hours wasted. I know for instance, I don’t need to watch two hours television every night or spend hours surfing the net when I could easily be doing something more constructive or pleasurable, like playing a board game with my family or reading.

10. Appreciate more
It occurs to me that many of us live in societies that are hugely aspirational and as a result we can easily find ourselves chasing an ever-growing list of goals, many of which can be materialistic. To be frank, many of us could do with spending more time focusing not on what we don’t have, but on what we do – in its broadest sense. So, in addition to whatever material things we may want to give thanks for, we might also feel appreciation for the other ‘things’ in our lives like the people, pets, our health, a beautiful landscape or sunset or whatever the ‘small’ things we often overlook.

So let's all make little changes in our lives that could lead to bigger rewards...

Decoding "floaters"

Q: I don't know if I should be worried about this or not. I often see black spots moving across my field of vision. Should I be concerned? Is there anything I can do?

Dr. Wright: While you should schedule an appointment with an ophthalmologist to rule out any serious problems, it sounds like you may have what are known as "floaters". Floaters aren't dangerous, but they can be bothersome if they happen frequently.

Years ago, the Physician's Desk Reference (PDR) outlined a treatment for floaters using three specific nutrients - choline, inositol and methionine. It may not eliminate them altogether, but in my experience, this combination reduces the severity of floaters in most of the people who try it, although it can take several months to notice a difference.

I generally recommend 1,000mgs of choline, 500mgs of inositol and 200mgs of methionine daily.