Month: November 2022

The Best Meals to Lower Your Triglyceride Levels

Triglycerides are fatty substances in your blood similar to cholesterol that, in high levels, can put you at greater risk for high blood pressure, stroke and heart disease. Luckily, your diet can help: Creating a meal plan to lower your numbers can support overall health and prevent disease.

Image: GMVozd/E+/GettyImages

Triglycerides are the most common type of fat in your body and come from fatty foods like butter and oils, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM). Eating too many calories or too much sugar, smoking, drinking and certain conditions like thyroid disease can all elevate your levels.

The best way to balance your triglycerides is by limiting processed foods, saturated fats and alcohol. Regular exercise and quitting smoking can also help.

Here’s a meal plan to help you lower your triglycerides.

What’s a High Triglyceride Level?

According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute:

  • ​Healthy triglycerides:​ Less than 150 mg/dL
  • ​​High triglycerides:​ 200 mg/dL and above

Breakfast

Eating meals full of high-fiber foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains and beans can help you manage triglycerides. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recommends adults eat 14 grams of fiber per 1,000 calories, which typically amounts to about 22 to 42 grams of fiber per day.

Kicking off your morning with a fiber-rich breakfast can also keep you fuller throughout the day, which may support healthy triglyceride levels by helping you eat fewer calories overall. Fibrous breakfast foods can also help lower high cholesterol, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Try one of these triglyceride-friendly breakfast recipes, which may also help lower your cholesterol:

As you’re crafting breakfast ideas to lower triglycerides, some foods to skip first thing in the morning (and the rest of the day, for that matter) include:

  • Refined grains like white bread and white rice
  • Starchy carbohydrates like potatoes or corn
  • Pastries
  • Sugary cereals
  • Sugary drinks like processed fruit punches and sweetened tea
  • Processed meats like sausage

Tip

Estimate your daily calorie needs with the help of this Dietary Guidelines for Americans chart, which breaks down how many calories you should eat per day based on your age, sex and activity level. You can then use that number to determine how many grams of fiber you should eat.

Lunch

Come lunchtime, make sure to include healthy fats in your meal plan for high triglycerides, per the Cleveland Clinic. Fat, along with protein, provides your body with lasting fuel so you feel satiated and don’t overeat, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Many fat- and protein-rich foods also contain niacin, or vitamin B3, which helps reduce triglycerides and cholesterol. They’re also good sources of omega-3 fatty acids, which may likewise help lower your numbers. Some examples include:

  • Meats like chicken and turkey
  • Fish like tuna, halibut and salmon
  • Nuts and seeds
  • Legumes like beans, lentils and peas

Here are lunch recipes to lower triglycerides that incorporate those and other healthy ingredients:

However, limit or avoid the following foods high in trans and saturated fats, which can contribute to high triglycerides, per the Cleveland Clinic.

  • Red meat
  • Whole milk
  • Butter
  • Fast food or fried food
  • Packaged baked goods like cookies and cakes

How Much Fat and Protein Should You Eat?

  • Fat should make up 20 to 35 percent of your daily calorie intake, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
  • Eat 5 to 7 ounce equivalents of protein per day, per the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Ounce equivalents refer to what “counts” as an ounce in the protein group, per the USDA. Examples include an ounce of meat, poultry or fish; one egg; a tablespoon of peanut butter; a quarter cup of cooked beans and a half ounce of nuts or seeds.

Dinner

Much like breakfast and lunch, eat plenty of fiber, fat and protein at dinner. Consider adding meals like these into your diet plan to lower triglycerides:

Snacks

Your snack foods can also help lower triglycerides: Eating a variety of plant-based options that include fiber, healthy fats, protein, vitamins and omega-3s can help you get all the nutrients you need to lower your numbers and support overall health, per the Cleveland Clinic.

Simple snack options include:

Steer clear of processed snacks like chips and cookies, which often contain trans and saturated fats that can drive up your numbers. These products also typically have added sugar, which has no nutritional value and may contribute to excess calorie consumption.

Tip

Work with your doctor or a dietitian to create a personalized diet menu to lower high triglycerides.

Dessert

You don’t have to go without dessert. Just remember to limit or avoid processed, high-sugar treats like ice cream, candy and baked goods, per the AHA.

Instead, try some healthier dessert recipes to lower triglycerides, such as:

Tip

Remember: Lowering high triglycerides can take months or longer. Committing to healthy habits — like eating nutritious foods and exercising — can help you achieve and maintain healthy triglyceride levels in the long term.

Article By Jill Corleone, RDN, LD Updated August 27, 2021 Medically Reviewed by Janet Renee, MS, RD

Source: https://www.livestrong.com/article/387551-meals-to-lower-triglycerides/#page=2

Sudoku Puzzle #2 – Easy

Sudoku puzzles are solved with logic and don’t require you to have any math skills (well, besides being able to count to 9). All of the sudoku puzzles are 9×9 grids. To solve them you have to fill in the empty cells. Each column, row, and region must contain the numbers 1 to 9 exactly once.

Ready, set…Go!

readersdigest.com©

How To Save Ferns – Keeping Ferns Indoors Over The Winter

Looking for a way to save your beautiful ferns over the winter and keep them around to grow again next summer? Then today’s article is just for you!

Ferns are one of the most popular plants of all for summer decorating. With their gorgeous, bright green canopy of cascading foliage, they are perfect for bringing life to patios, porches – or any area where shade is more prevalent than pure sunlight.

Ferns truly are the ultimate multi-purpose plant. Not only do they look great in hanging baskets, they are right at home in containers or when planted directly into shaded flowerbeds. Even better, they are extremely low maintenance, requiring little care beyond water to thrive.

One of the most difficult things for gardeners to watch is their once beautiful fern dying off in late fall. Not only is it sad to watch, it can be quite expensive having to repurchase new ferns every spring. But here is the good news – it’s actually quite easy to save your ferns.

How To Save Ferns – The Simple Steps To Success

One thing is for sure, if you allow your fern to get hit by a hard frost, it’s usually too late to bring it back. The first key to saving ferns begins with getting them out of harms way before the bitter cold sets in.

Ferns can handle a bit of chill, and even a light frost for that matter, but not a hard frost or freeze. As temperatures begin to drop in mid to late fall, plants need to be covered or brought indoors on nights when a heavy frost or freeze is expected.

With that in mind, it is a good idea to start preparing your fern for life indoors long before that first blast of cold arrives. And that preparation begins with shaping up your fern for indoor life.

Cutting Back / Pruning

The first step to success in overwintering your fern indoors is pruning. Ferns can can certainly grow quite large through the warm summer months. So large, in fact, that at full size, they can be nearly impossible to find space for indoors.

If your plant is of moderate size, it can be pruned back and kept whole. However, if your fern has grown to massive proportions, you may need to divide it before bringing it inside. If that is the case, we have included instructions for dividing at the end of the article.

For plants you will not be dividing, begin by cutting back any large strands of foliage to create a more manageable plant indoors. Don’t be afraid to take off several inches of growth or more if needed. If indoor space is really limited, you can even cut the plant back entirely, it will still come back in full next spring with proper winter care.

Once pruning is complete, it’s time to give your plant a good washing off. The best way to do this is with a spray from your garden hose. Not only will this remove any clippings, it will also hose off any pests that might try to hitch a free ride into your home.

Be sure to lift the foliage and spray the plant down entirely. Beyond any pests that might be present, this can also help wash off the eggs of pests that may be lying in wait. Once the plant has dried off, you are ready to bring it indoors!

Bringing Indoors – How To Save Ferns

If your fern is good to go without splitting, allow it to thoroughly dry out before bringing indoors. We actually hang ours from our clothesline in the afternoon sun to help dry them out completely.

Now it’s time to find the best location for overwintering indoors. For best results, you need to find a location that is cool, but protected from freezing conditions. For many, a basement works great, but a garage, or even a corner in a cool room in the house works well too.

Ferns do not require full sun or bright light to survive through the winter months. In fact, too much light through a window can actually burn the plant’s foliage. That is why it is important to keep them away from southern facing windows, as the rays can still provide too much light.

Ferns survive with ease with simple occasional ambient light from a garage window, or even a basement well window. Less light is always better than too much.

Winter Care – How To Save Ferns Indoors

Ferns do not require much at all to survive the winter indoors. There is no need for fertilizing – really all that is needed is an occasional watering. Check the soil every 5 to 7 days, and water only when the soil has completely dried out.

It is important to remember at this point you are not trying to grow a beautiful plant indoors. Instead, you are simply overwintering and saving the fern until it can once again thrive in the warm summer months.

Knowing this, realize the plant will not look it’s best. The leaves will indeed turn more pale until spring arrives one again. Some will also fall off to the ground. The fern at this point is really in more of a hibernation state than anything – but it will survive.

As warm temperatures return, it’ time to get your fern back outside to regain it’s strength, vigor, and color. Once again, be sure to protect it from spring freeze and frosts too. The more it can be outside, the faster it will come out of its resting state and begin to grow new foliage.

Repotting & Dividing Large Ferns In The Fall – How To Save Ferns & Keep Them Over The Winter

If your ferns are exceptionally large or have outgrown their pots, early Autumn is the best time for dividing and replanting. If you would like to keep the same size fern for next year, a good rule of thumb is to split the fern to a third of its size from its current container.

When splitting and dividing plants, it is best to cut all of the foliage off down to within an inch or two of the base of the plant. Once split, repot into a container, filling in the sides with a regular potting soil mix.

You can also repot the other divisions at this time as well for even more plants. The ferns will regrow a bit overwinter from the cuttings, but will return in full once they are outdoors.

For complete instructions on dividing, check out our article on our sister site This Is My Garden : How To Divide Overgrown Ferns. Here is to keeping those ferns around for another season, and to saving on that gardening budget too! Happy Gardening – Jim and Mary.

Source: https://oldworldgardenfarms.com/2022/09/11/how-to-save-ferns/

12 Foods That Cause Excessive Mucus In The Body (and 14 Foods That Eliminate It!)

If you suffer from a chronic cough that won’t go away, wake up with puffy and crusty eyes in the morning or you have bad breath throughout the day, then you may be suffering from excess mucus production. In fact, there are over 12 foods that cause excessive mucus in the body, some that may come to a surprise and others not so much.

Excessive mucus is a sign that the body is in a state of agitation. It can come from toxins, pollutants, allergies, and food additives, and often involves the lymphatic system, gastrointestinal tract and respiratory system.

The Role of Mucus in The Body

Mucus is produced in order to protect the mucous membranes where they are found. The problem occurs when there is excess mucus production, which can be stimulated by irritants like dust, smoke, other pollution, chemicals, bacteria and viruses, food additives, and food allergens. Excess mucus is produced to capture these particles and shuttle them out of the body – meaning more coughing, stuffy noses, a harder time breathing, and more.

Too Much Mucus and Health Issues

If you suffer from too much mucus production, you may experience, one or more of the following symptoms:

You suffer from a chronic cough that won’t go away
– You are currently experiencing mucus from a cold and/or flu
– You wake up with puffy and crusty eyes in the morning
– Bad breath throughout the day (even after brushing your teeth)
– You have a constant stuffy nose
– Your senses are dulled (you requires lots of salt to make food “taste good”)
– Your senses are not sharp – your mind is foggy and thinking clearly is difficult

These symptoms are often a result of a sluggish digestive tract, respiratory system and lymphatic system, which could be caused by excess mucus production. Although excess mucus production can come from allergies (aka. pollen, pet dander, smoke, dust), household chemicals, pollution, or bacteria and viruses, a major cause of mucus production is from the diet.

Mucus and Your Diet

Certain beverages and foods can trigger excessive mucus production in the body. Two main foods that cause excessive mucus build-up are dairy and wheat. Casein in dairy products (milk, yogurt, cheese, etc.), and gluten in wheat require strong stomach acids for digestion.

To be a little more specific, here is a long list of foods that create mucus in the body:
– Dairy products (yogurt, milk, sour cream, cottage cheese, ice cream, butter, ghee)
– All corn products
– Eggs
– Sugary treats (cookies, cake, pies, pastries)
– Wheat (bread, pretzels, buns, bagels, muffins, etc.)
– Deep fried foods
– All soy products
– Safflower/sunflower oil
– Jams and jellies
– High-fat red meat
– Alcohol
– Caffeine

Eliminate Mucus and Treat Your Body Right

Eliminating foods that cause mucus is key to helping the body function at an optimal pace. Raw fruits and vegetables are one of the best mucus-cleansers out there. When I switched to a high-raw plant-based lifestyle, my mucus issues subsided and my health improved 10-fold.

Aside from that, however, there are also certain foods that can relieve excess mucus. These include:
– Radishes (red, daikon, horseradish, you name it – one of that best mucus-cleansers out there!)
– All leafy greens and herbs
– Cauliflower and broccoli
– Garlic
– Celery
– Asparagus
– Bamboo shoots
– Onions
– Ginger and turmeric
– Citrus fruits (lemons, limes, grapefruits, oranges, kumquats, etc.)
– Pineapple
– Berries
– Brussels sprouts
– Hot peppers

Source: https://livelovefruit.com/foods-that-cause-excessive-mucus/

Cyber Monday 2022

Sorry, I almost forgot. Today is cyber Monday, or as most people call it…Monday. Isn’t every day cyber-something? Oh wait. Here’s what makes it “special”:

Cyber Monday falls as the first Monday after Thanksgiving and the first Monday after Black Friday. This day is a day that Americans go back to work and buy things on their computer or online thus the name Cyber Monday. Most of the major online retailers have their biggest discounts offered on this day. Where Black Friday is focused on Brick and Mortar businesses that are physically located in local communities throughout the United States, Cyber Monday is focused on online sales.

However, don’t get fooled by the low prices!

https://www.calendardate.com/

I am a True Sagittarius 

(Truth be told, I don’t believe in astrology, however, my Sagittarius sign advised me to post this article today.) Besides, it’s my birthday so…

https://www.tarot.com/daily-horoscope/sagittarius

Born between November 22 and December 21, Sagittarius is a Fire sign. Its planet; Jupiter blesses this exciting sign with courage and a lot of optimism. 

Sagittarius loves adventure and travelling, so much so that it’s impossible for these natives to sit quietly at home and do nothing. The truth is, this sign constantly needs to be on the move and in action. Whether adventurous or down to earth, Sagittarius will never be in contemplation and will always look to move forward to their next destination, as a result, these natives look for someone who drives and excites them. If you are an Aries or a Leo, you are amongst the perfect matches for this zodiac sign because you have lots in common.

Yeah, that’s me! To learn more about us, follow me on Pinterest.

Prince William and Kate Middleton are headed to America

Prince William and Kate Middleton are traveling to Boston this week for the Earthshot Prize Awards Ceremony on Friday ― and Kensington Palace just announced that royals have added a few more engagements to their diary. 

The two are visiting America for the first time since 2014 ― and the very first time as the Prince and Princess of Wales, titles they received following the death of Queen Elizabeth in September. 

On Wednesday, the Prince and Princess of Wales will head to Boston’s City Hall, where they will meet with Michelle Wu, the mayor of Boston, and Ambassador Caroline Kennedy for a special kickoff to the awards ceremony. 

The next day, William and Kate will visit Greentown Labs, the largest climatetech incubator in North America. Shortly after, they will visit Roca Inc., an organization that is focused on young adults aged 16-24 years who “have experienced extensive trauma and are the primary victims or drivers of urban violence.” 

On Friday, the prince and princess will undertake separate engagements before the awards show. Kate will visit The Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, in keeping with the royal’s work focusing on early childhood development, while William will once again reunite with Ambassador Caroline Kennedy and visit the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

Then, it’s off to the awards show for the two’s final Boston engagement. 

What will the awards show look like? 

The ceremony will take place at the MGM Music Hall at Fenway, which is where the five Earthshot winners ― out of the current fifteen nominees ― will be announced. 

If the event is anything like the inaugural ceremony last year, it will have a green carpet instead of a traditional red carpet ahead of the show. Last year, the then-Duke and Duchess of Cambridge recycled previously worn looks, as attendees were encouraged to “consider the environment when choosing their outfit.” 

Earlier this year, Earthshot Prize CEO Hannah Jones told HuffPost that the organization is also focused on creating a sustainably produced awards show, and gave some insight on how they plan to do that.  

“We’re very ambitious about how we really want to walk the talk,” Jones told HuffPost in September at the Plaza Hotel in New York. “So thinking about ‘What is our footprint, and how do we mitigate it and how do we avoid having a bigger impact.’”

“We won’t be perfect. Nobody’s perfect,” Jones added. “This is the journey of sustainability ― it’s about a journey of progress. But our objective is to always make sure that we’re embedding sustainable thinking into everything we do.” 

The royals attend the Earthshot Prize 2021 at Alexandra Palace on Oct. 17, 2021, in London. The Earthshot Prize, created by Prince William and The Royal Foundation, is an environmental prize awarded to the most inspiring and innovative solutions to environmental challenges facing the planet.

© Provided by HuffPost

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