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Welcome from Vantage Business Support & Insurance Services
As an added benefit to our customers and associates VANTAGE is publishing a semimonthly newsletter with information, interactive tools, podcasts and other resources to help you live healthier. We will explore topics on total health and resources for you and your family, including fitness, nutrition, mental and physical health, weight management and more.
Thank you for being part of the VANTAGE family.
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Please view our products list in the right sidebar.
This is just a sampling of what we feel would be important to you. We have much more to offer. If you have any questions or need more information please contact us at 877-886-8277 or click the link below.
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A key to heart health: habits adopted early
Heart disease and stroke remain two of the top causes of death in the U.S. Many think they don't have to worry about their heart health until well into their 50s, but in reality, millions are at risk for these diseases starting as early as childhood.
Here is a guide to living a heart-healthy life at different stages:
IN YOUR 20S
Heart problems can begin surprisingly early, so establishing a healthy routine early on is critical. It is much easier to build healthy habits at a younger age than to try to develop them later.
Establish a healthy exercise routine. Figure out what exercise works best for you and commit to it on a daily or weekly basis. Bottom line, keep moving.
Eating habits play a significant role in heart health. Maintain a healthy body weight, and consume fruits and vegetables regularly. Choosing whole grains, high-fiber foods and fish, along with lean meats and low-fat or fat-free dairy products is a healthy dietary practice. A person needing 2,000 calories per day should consume less than 16 grams of saturated fat, less than 2 grams of trans fat, and 50 to 70 grams of total fat, and limit cholesterol to no more than 300 mg each day.
Your lifestyle choices today will affect your health tomorrow. If you smoke, quit. Any amount of smoking, even if occasional, damages the heart and blood vessels and increases the risk for heart disease and related conditions.
By age 20, you should know your family's medical history and make sure you have a thorough physical exam with lab work. You will want to know your numbers, specifically your blood pressure,
cholesterol, and blood sugar. Your doctor can evaluate your medical history and the test results to best advise you on maintaining a long life of heart health.
IN YOUR 30S
Chances are your life has changed by this point - everything from marriage to kids to finishing school, or all of the above. It's a time of adaptation.
Changes can bring on stressors that can directly affect the heath of your heart. What matters is how you react to those stressors. You may think about adopting new routines such as meditation, yoga or jogging -anything to relieve the stress.
You are more prone to weight gain at this stage, which places strain on your heart. Bumping up your physical activity, with the addition of cardiovascular exercise such as walking, treadmill and step machine use and swimming, is recommended during your 30s. This will help you maintain a healthy body weight, which, if not monitored, can put you at increased risk for developing heart disease, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes.
You may be getting less sleep. Sleeping fewer than five hours per night can put you at risk of heart disease. Strive to get an average of six to eight hours of sleep every night, and go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, even on weekends.
IN YOUR 40S AND LATER
Although you are likely comfortable with your routines at this stage, it's probably time to re-evaluate your lifestyle.
If you have strayed from your healthy routines, such as daily exercise and a healthy diet, it's never too late to get back in the game.
Visit your doctor regularly to monitor key health indicators such as blood pressure, cholesterol, and triglycerides. Monitor these levels as you age and take preventive measures if necessary.
As you enter your 50s and beyond, it becomes even more critical to find out what you can do to take control of your health.
If problems arise, consider a heart disease risk assessment and participate in screening tests to give you a better understanding of the best course of action. That may consist of medication, additional tests, or procedures such as angioplasty or stents.
If your cardiologist determines you need heart surgery, new and innovative procedures including minimally invasive and robot-assisted options may be suggested.
It's important to ask the right questions to determine what is best for you.
At any age, you have to look at your body as a machine, and what you put in is what you get out. If you treat it well from the start, you will see long-lasting effects.
SOURCE: John D. Baker, MD, FACC,
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DID YOU KNOW???
Brussel Sprouts
 11 Health Benefits of Brussels Sprouts
Like many of its vegetable brethren in the cruciferous family, Brussels sprouts contain not only essential nutrients for our bodies, but also a few more health benefits that make eating them that much more enjoyable.
Here are eleven reasons that make Brussels sprouts taste even better.
Cholesterol The high fiber content (over 15% of our RDA) of Brussels sprouts lowers our cholesterol by binding with bile acids that the liver produces from cholesterol for digesting fat. Because many of these bile acids are coupled with fiber, the liver is charged with producing more bile acid to digest fat, and therefore requires more cholesterol to do so, ultimately lowering the cholesterol amount within our bodies.
DNA Recent studies have shown that certain compounds in Brussels sprouts block the activity of sulphotransferase enzymes that can be detrimental to the health and stability of DNA within white blood cells.
Antioxidants A host of antioxidant ingredients are found in Brussels sprouts, including Vitamins C, E, and A, as well as the mineral manganese. Furthermore, flavonoid antioxidants like isorhamnetin, quercitin, and kaempferol also serve well to protect against oxidative stress on the body's cells.
Inflammation Glucobrassicin, a glucosinolate particularly abundant in Brussels sprouts, has been shown to fight inflammation on a genetic level once converted into the molecule indole-3-carbinol, or ITC. Furthermore, one and a half cups of Brussels sprouts contain about 430 milligrams of omega-3 fatty acids (about ⅓ of the daily recommended amount) that are an essential part of our body's anti-inflammatory messaging molecules. Finally, the wealth of vitamin K found in Brussels sprouts has been shown to effectively regulate our body's inflammatory responses.
Cancer Prevention Glucosinolates in Brussels sprouts and their detox-activating isothiocyanates are shown to fight against and even prevent various cancers, including bladder, breast, colon, lung, prostate, and ovarian cancer.
Cardiovascular Support Brussels sprouts contain the isothiocyanate sulforaphane made from glucosinolates. This powerful compounds not only triggers anti-inflammatory activity in our cardiovascular system but may also prevent and even possibly help reverse blood vessel damage. By regulating inflammation within the body, Brussels sprouts can fight against the onset of heart attacks, ischemic heart disease, and arteriosclerosis. Furthermore, the lowered cholesterol mentioned earlier may also lessen the possibility of arterial blockage.
Digestion and Diet One cup of Brussels sprouts contains four grams (16% of the RDA) of dietary fiber, which can aid in digestion, prevent constipation, maintain low blood sugar and check overeating. The sulforaphane found in Brussels spouts also protects our stomach lining by obstructing the overgrowth of Helicobacter pylori, a bacteria that can lead to gastric cancer.
Vitamin K Brussels sprouts are especially high in vitamin K (one cup contains 273.5% of the RDA), which promotes healthy bones, prevents calcification of the body's tissues, serves as an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent, and is essential for proper brain and nerve function.
Vitamin C The nutritional benefits of vitamin C (one cup contains over 161% of the RDA) found in Brussels sprouts ensure a healthy immune system, ward against hyper tension, lower blood pressure, fight lead toxicity, combat cataracts, and serve as a powerful antioxidant that prevents "cellular rust," which can lead to atherosclerosis, heart disease, stroke and cancer. Vitamin A Brussels sprouts also contains over 20% of the RDA of vitamin A that boosts immunity, protects eyes against cataracts and macular degeneration, maintains healthy bones and teeth, prevents urinary stones, and is essential to our reproductive organs. Folate A biochemical event called the methylation cycle relies on folate to properly transcribe DNA, transform norepinephrine into adrenalin, as well as transform serotonin into melatonin. Furthermore, folate suppresses the amino acid homocysteine that has been shown to contribute to heart disease. One cup of Brussels sprouts contains a healthy dose of folate (almost 25% of the RDA) and the health benefits associated with it.
SOURCE: www.healthdiaries.com |
Here's your "QuoteAction" for this issue:
"Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it."
The Dalai Lama
Your action for today is to reflect on one of your successes. What did you have to give up to achieve this?
Have an extraordinary day!
SOURCE: Betty Jo Waxman
Productive Learning & Leisure, LLC |
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Disclaimer of Liability
Our firm provides the information in this e-newsletter for general guidance only, and does not constitute the provision of legal advice, tax advice, accounting services, investment advice, or professional consulting of any kind. The information provided herein should not be used as a substitute for consultation with professional tax, accounting, legal, or other competent advisers. Before making any decision or taking any action, you should consult a professional adviser who has been provided with all pertinent facts relevant to your particular situation. Tax articles in this e-newsletter are not intended to be used, and cannot be used by any taxpayer, for the purpose of avoiding accuracy-related penalties that may be imposed on the taxpayer. The information is provided "as is," with no assurance or guarantee of completeness, accuracy, or timeliness of the information, and without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to warranties of performance, merchantability, and fitness for a particular purpose.
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| Health & Wellness Products |
VANTAGE has a wide range of products designed to aid in health & wellness for both your personal and business life.
These products include:
Health Insurance Exchange
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Life
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Small Business Tool Box
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Employee Theft
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Umbrella Policy
Property
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Start-up Assistance
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Legal Assistance
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| CONTACTS |
Please contact one of our VANTAGE professionals for assistance or click on the help picture. Paul White 510-595-0904
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