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memory-related stories

Low-Fat Cornbread

Recipe Rehab with Tanya Zuckerbrot, Nutrition & Supplements

cornbread

Recipe may vary from photograph.
Photo: Photodisc


We all love cornbread, but even a small piece can contain up to 300 calories -- and that's without the butter! A reader who remains anonymous is searching for a healthy cornbread recipe so that she can enjoy it along with her family and friends, rather than pretending not to care for it because of it's high calorie content.

Traditional cornbread is usually full of butter and sugar. I am replacing sugar with a dash of Sun Crystals, which contain half the calories of regular sugar. I am switching out the butter for fat-free Greek yogurt. Greek yogurt is high in calcium and protein and low in lactose, making this suitable for people who are lactose intolerant. I am also adding a cup of canned corn to provide fiber and texture to the dish, by doing this I am also cutting the fat per serving since corn is naturally low in fat. Corn also contains B vitamins, which have been shown to help improve memory and aid in reducing the risk for colon cancer and heart attack. Corn also contains zeaxanthin and lutein, which aid in eye and heart health.

Try this delicious cornbread recipe!

This Kind of Exercise May Make You Smarter

Fitness

woman reading
Photo: jupiterimages
If the Sunday Times crossword gives you a severe inferiority complex (or panic attack), try giving it the old college try after a 20-minute jog. Aerobic exercise does a body good, but ongoing research suggests that it's a boon for the mind as well, reports The New York Times.

It's been 10 years since the Salk Institute in California found that exercise stimulates the production of new brain cells, but the real questions are: What kind of exercise should we be doing and how much and how hard do we have to go?

According to a preliminary study published in the American College of Sports Medicine, aerobic exercise has a larger impact on reaction time, accuracy and memory compared to resistance training. In fact, resistance training seems to have no effect on cognition at all.

Toxic Beauty, Heartbreak Cures and Memory Snatchers - Links We Love on AOL Health

Diet & Weight Loss, Reviews & Products

We at "That's Fit" and "AOL Health" know that you've got a lot going on in your lives besides staying in great shape, and we know that a lot more than diet and exercise goes into feeling your best every day. That's why we thought we'd share some of the exciting reporting going on at "AOL Health."

For your love life, soap opera star and author Catherine Hickland shares insight on how to deal with getting dumped and finding love again in her "30-Day Heartbreak Cure."

For your your best beauty routine, "AOL Health" turned to Julie Gabriel, author of "The Green Beauty Guide" for her savvy shopping tips. (Bonus: Discover a danger lurking in your deodorant.)

And if you're feeling more forgetful, scattered and mentally taxed than ever,
check out this photo gallery of surprising memory-stealing culprits. (Tip: Your diet and cell phone could be to blame.)

Happy Hour is Good For Your Health

Diet & Weight Loss, Nutrition & Supplements

Used to that guilty feeling you get when you head straight to the bar after work on Fridays? Don't beat yourself up -- apparently, a healthy happy hour habit is actually good for your health.

No, really. According to this article from Women's Health, drinking can lower your risk of heart disease by 25 to 50 percent, it can help improve your memory and it can help you lose weight (if you choose the right drink.)

But, bear in mind, this is moderate drinking we're talking about. Chugging a litre of tequila is not going to help your memory or your waistline (the opposite, in fact, as you might already know), so try to take it easy next time you hit up your local drinking establishment.

Source

Low Carb Diets Cause Memory Problems

Nutrition & Supplements

Going low carb is a fast and effective way to shed some of those extra pounds, but is it safe? The jury's still out on that one, especially considering the recent publicity this kind of diet is getting. Apparently, cutting out carbs can cause memory loss.

The explanation is pretty simple: Your brain needs a constant supply of glucose, and glucose can't be stored. According to Professor Holly Taylor of Tufts University, "The brain needs glucose for energy and diets low in carbohydrates can be detrimental to learning, memory and thinking."

Staying away from carbs? You might want to reconsider. That's not to say you should binge on white bread -- a few servings of healthy whole grains per day is all you really need. So go on, eat a piece of bread and don't feel guilty about it.

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Vary Your Workout for Maximum Results

Fitness

Exercise and routine -- those are two words you frequently see paired together. It's a good thing to make a habit of exercise and to schedule time in your day for your workout. But you shouldn't make your routine too, well ... routine.

Think of it like this. If you knew how to play the piano, you might find a particularly challenging piece of music. At first, playing it would be difficult but as you practiced, it would become easier and easier and eventually you'd be able to play it by memory. Your muscles are no different -- a workout that was once very challenging can become easy after time; muscles have a memory of sorts.

But if you vary your routine, you can keep your body guessing and working as hard as you want it to. Divine Caroline has some great suggestions for varying your workout. Variety in your exercise program will prevent your body from hitting a plateau and, as an added bonus, variety also prevents you from getting bored.

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Tweak your training for real results

Womens Health, Diet & Weight Loss

Having a consistent workout routine is a good thing. Never budging from it though, can be a bad thing. Our bodies tend to adapt and become mighty efficient if we tell it to do the same thing over and over. We're a smart species! What can I say?

The October issue of Women's Health magazine has a great little section on various ways you can tweak traditional exercises to make them challenging once again. Give them a looksy and then give them a try. A little difference goes a long way.

Tweak Your Training(click thumbnails to view gallery)

Bench PressDumbbell SquatPush-upLat PulldownWomen's Health

Chewing gum might do wonders for waistline

Nutrition & Supplements


Chewing gum might help you remember names, whiten your teeth, relieve your stress, and make you thinner. What? Yep, the sticky stuff holds so much promise as a health food that the Wrigley Company last year formed the Wrigley Science Institute to fund gum studies around the world. Is it that good, really? Seems it could be.

In one 2002 study, gum-chewers performed better than non-chewers on memory tests. The act of chewing gum apparently causes your heart to pump more blood to your brain, which results in more oxygen.

Another study, this one in 2006, suggests chewing gum results in less snacking and fewer calories consumed throughout the day. It might minimize cravings for sweets too.

Don't get your hopes up too high just yet -- research is still in the early stages and sometimes different studies turn up different results -- but try a stick or two a day and see what gum does for you. At the very least, it should help you fight cavities and bad breath. Just make it sugar-free and remember that chewing gum will never be a suitable replacement for good nutrition and exercise.

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Brawny and brainy

Healthy Aging, Womens Health, HealthWatch, Diet & Weight Loss, Fitness, Men's Health

We spend hours upon hours each year working out our bodies, yet we frequently forget to give our brain a good workout. Just like your biceps and your quads, challenging the brain helps keep it in proper shape.

To keep your mind sharp, try some of these brain-boosting techniques, which were sourced from MedicineNet.com and the Cleveland Clinic:
  • Go over in your head what it is you want to remember, and be habitual in your tasks. Put things in the same place, for example.
  • Get plenty of social interaction, sleep and regular physical exercise.
  • Reduce stress whenever possible.
  • Challenge yourself with activities. Try a crossword puzzle, take a class, or build something.
  • Try to avoid distraction when learning something new. Give it your full attention, and use all of your senses to become familiar with it.
  • Break an activity into multiple steps, and stretch it out over several days. For example, take a few days to learn how to program a new electronic device.

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Remember to drink your coffee

Healthy Aging, Womens Health, HealthWatch, Diet & Weight Loss, Fitness

Do you remember how many cups of coffee you drank yesterday? If you do, your recall ability may be due to the fact that you drank those cups in the first place. Allow me -- better still, allow researchers who published their study findings in the peer-reviewed journal Neurology -- to explain.

In a study of over 7,000 older adults, researchers discovered that women age 65 and older who drank at least three or more cups of coffee (or any other caffeinated beverage) per day experienced less memory loss than women who drank only one cup or less per day.

Although it appears that caffeine does not prevent dementia, it may delay some age-related memory loss in older women.

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A quiz for a better brain and longer life

Diet & Weight Loss, Fitness

Practicing activities that make you think (like crossword puzzles) could do a lot more than just improve your memory -- they just might lengthen your life a little too.

Any activity or game that requires you to concentrate will do the trick so you can pretty much take your pick, but if you're looking for something fun to practice on right now try taking this brain quiz and see how you do. An example from the quiz:

  • Say "silk" six times. What do cows drink?
...

...

How did you do? Cows drink water, by the way, not milk (yeah, I totally fell for that one...). Happy concentrating!

Best brain foods(click thumbnails to view gallery)

Whole grainsGarlicHealthy fatsTeaFruits and Veggies

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Boys and girls experience different benefits from breakfast

Healthy Kids, Nutrition & Supplements

My son has ADHD and I know how important a good breakfast is for him. When he gets a nutritious breakfast -- preferably with some whole grains -- and gets good exercise in the morning, he's always more focused and better able to control his behavior. Previous research has confirmed what I (and probably every other parent) knew: Breakfast does a kid's body -- and mind -- good.

A new study supports this previous finding and takes it one step further. It turns out that, while beneficial for all, the benefits of breakfast vary in boys and girls. Researchers had half of students in the study eat a standardized breakfast while the other half didn't eat breakfast. All students later took a test to measure cognitive ability and mood. A week later, the test was repeated except the previous non-breakfast eaters ate a morning meal and vice versa.

While there was measurable improvement in focus, all of the students who ate breakfast reported feeling more alert. In addition, boys reported having an elevated mood and the boys performed better on visuospatial memory tests.

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Exercise your mind

Diet & Weight Loss

red question markI'm reading Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen right now. In one of the beginning chapters, the main character discusses how when you're a child you can pinpoint your age to the exact month, when you're in your 20's your age springs to mind rapidly when asked, but when you hit your 30's sometimes you think of yourself as a year or two younger than you actually are. Denial? Maybe. Or maybe it's just the beginning stages of your mental fitness starting to slip.

Exercising your mind is just as important as your physical fitness. If you want to check your mental prowess, try out this fun brainteaser quiz on Good Housekeeping. The test is adapted from a Mensa quiz and it's not easy. But it's a good workout for your mind.

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Workplace Fitness: 3 fast ways to improve your memory

We've all experienced "brain failure," that embarrassing moment when you can't remember something totally mundane and regular -- like how to spell a simple word or where you parked your car. Having a better memory is something pretty much everybody would enjoy, especially when it comes to doing your best at work. Giving your noodle a boost is something you can do in as little as 30 seconds, so there's really no reason you can't fit an exercise or two into your daily routine. Try one of these exercises from Natural Health to get started:

Take your vitamin
Time it takes: 30 seconds (do it at your desk!)
Taking a quality multivitamin is a good idea for most people but if you're looking to gain more memory power taking citicoline specifically might be the answer. Citicoline is a form of the B vitamin choline and helps replenish the nutrient called phosphatidyserine that is believed to enhance memory.

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Fish for the brain

Celebs & Entertainment, Nutrition & Supplements

Fish really is brain food. A recent European study of elderly men and women found that those who regularly ate seafood did way better on cognitive tests than those who ate little or none. The more fish these old folks ate, the better they did on their tests. Effects were more pronounced for non-processed lean fish and fatty fish.

If you can't imagine eating a lot of fish, try to think outside the box. You don't have to consume only fillets and steaks. Try some smoked salmon with your eggs or dose a healthy salad with some canned tuna. Like anchovies? They count too.

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