10 Tips to Start Living Now

Do you dream about being in a relationship, but your weight isn't ideal so you choose to hibernate? Do you long to make a career move, but are paralyzed by the fear of making the wrong decision? Do you want to have a family, but feel your life needs to be in "perfect" order first? Do you wish to visit a particular destination, but put it off because feel the trip is too indulgent? Now ask yourself this: If tomorrow were your last day on Earth, would you have any regrets? Are you living in the future and ignoring the present?

"Live for the moment" is a statement we have all heard, and it is usually followed by, "because you never know if it will be your last." When we hear this we usually pause, reflect and resonate with this statement. We might even vow to change a certain behavior or act on a particular goal, but usually this is short-lived and we resort to our old habits, fears and motivations. Then we feel stuck and full of regrets. But why?

We live in a world with to-do lists, goals that may not be our own and responsibilities that may outweigh our wants and needs. Oftentimes, we are taking care of others before we even acknowledge our own desires. To make matters worse, fear tends to rise to the forefront and it may present itself as the "rational" decision, when instead it is just the safe choice. You may want to leave your job, but fear tells you it is not the reasonable choice. The key is to drown out the negativity and strike a balance between the "shoulds" and the wants. It is one thing to be a responsible person, and another to be living your life for someone else entirely or waiting for the perfect set of circumstances for your life to truly begin.

I have a holistic health practice, and I work with clients on their physical and emotional health. I have a client who has an incredible heart and many gifts, but she was unable to recognize them or even utilize them. She was waiting for marriage for her life to begin and as a result, she was not nurturing her gifts -- working with children and art. She ignored her creative side and her giving nature and instead made dating and husband-hunting her priority. She had a preconceived notion that her career would not be financially lucrative, and she needed a partner to share the burden. As a result, her career was on hold, she was meeting the wrong men, her health was suffering and her spirit was empty. We worked for several months on recapturing her passion and taking action steps to live in the now. She went back to school for art therapy and guess whom she met there? Her husband.

Many times we don't believe that it is possible to have our dream life, or we feel we don't deserve it. We make plans, but we rarely take action today. We even talk ourselves out of our vision because it seems easier to coast along a stream rather than risk a potential current.

But living in the future does not ensure a happy life today. Too often, we spend time planning our goals and we forget to be happy now. As a result, we save all of our joy for a day in the future that is not yet guaranteed.

When you think about your wish list for your life, are you living it now? Does everything have to happen in a particular order? Are you holding onto a certain set of beliefs that no longer suit you? What messages are you sending out into the universe -- are you asking for something, but then finding reasons why it shouldn't happen now?

Vow to begin today with no regrets. Commit to showing the world why you are here. Promise to live with passion. Spread your wings, stretch your spirit and learn to soar. After all, tomorrow is a present to be lived today.

Why Do My Eyelids Twitch?

Why does your eyelid go through twitching phases?
-- Anya

Myokymia, or involuntary eye twitching, is a condition that many of us are familiar with. And it seems everyone has an opinion on what triggers it: Is it fatigue? Eye-strain? Stress?

"Most of the time, myokymia is idiopathic, which is a fancy way of saying we have no idea why it happens," says Dr. Andrea Thau, an associate clinical professor at SUNY Optometry and a spokesperson for the American Optometric Association. "It’s such a benign condition, and tends to resolve on its own, so there's little incentive to research it."

Essentially, myokymia is a twitch -- an involuntary muscle spasm in the upper eyelid muscle that causes a fluttery sensation. The trick to stopping it, according to Thau, is to "break the twitch." She recommends trying alternating hot and cold compresses, which can soothe the overactive nerve that's causing the spasm. If that doesn't work, "try drinking a glass of tonic water," she recommends. "The quinine helps nerve impulses."

Some doctors will prescribe antihistamines for particularly stubborn or enduring eye twitches. If eyes are a bit swollen -- due to low-grade allergic reaction -- that can cause the nervous system to overreact and trigger a twitch.

Huffpost Wellness Editor Patricia Fitzgerald has observed clinically -- which is to say, in an observational, rather than a scientifically rigorous research setting -- that patients of hers have mentioned fatigue and stress in connection to eyelid twitching. Fitzgerald finds that many of her patients' twitches are resolved by acupuncture.

In very rare instances, eyelid twitching can indicate a more serious condition, like the beginning stages of multiple sclerosis or a lesion on the brain stem. Those conditions typically begin with a host of symptoms, and in this circumstance the eyelid twitch soon moves to the facial muscles, as well. It's so rare, in fact, that Thau says she's never seen it in clinic herself.

There is another condition that affects the eyelid muscles, a rare disorder called blepharospasm, in which the eyelids involuntarily close. This can take the form of brief, excessive blinking or squinting and can progress to full eye closure, according to Mary Smith of the Benign Essential Blepharospasm Research Foundation. Blepharospasm affects about 60,000 Americans, and is more likely to affect women and those over 40, Smith says. "It can be problematic, if you don’t know when your eyes are going to shut, you may walk into things or fall," she says. "It’s definitely debilitating."

There's a genetic component to blepharospasm and also a trigger -- sometimes trauma, a secondary condition like dry eye or even external factors like bright or rapidly changing lights. It is most commonly treated with regular Botox injections and, interestingly, blepharospasm was among the conditions listed during Botox's first FDA approval in 1988, according to Smith.

If you experience occasional eye twitches, chances are it's a benign. But it's important to get your eyes checked each year by an ophthalmologist or doctor of optometry to rule out any other problems. Even if it's simply eye strain or stress causing the twitch, it could indicate a need for glasses.

Adult Acne: Why Does It Happen?

I'm a 61-year-old woman who has hardly had a pimple my whole life, til now. Lately, I've been getting these huge, what I call, under-grounders. They hurt like the dickens but never come to a head. They appear around my mouth, near my nose or on my forehead. What is going on?
-- Jane 

A pimple occurs when sebum -- the lubricant that naturally moisturizes our skin and hair -- is trapped under dead skin cells and debris in a hair follicle, according to the Mayo Clinic. Typically, sebum rises to the surface, where it is able to condition the skin. If it gets trapped, it creates an ideal circumstance for bacteria to grow. What Jane calls "under-grounders" are actually pockets of sebum and bacteria that are trapped further down along the hair shaft, deep within the follicle.

Adult acne is common -- about 30 percent of women and 20 percent of men between the ages of 20 and 60 have breakouts, according to WebMD. So why would a person develop acne later in life? Very often, it's related to hormones.

"When adult women experience acne outbreaks, hormones are usually the primary culprit," dermatologist Dr. Diane S. Berson said in an interview with Medical News Daily. "Hormonal acne can be particularly frustrating because it may not respond to the same over-the-counter treatments that worked for some women during their teenage years."

At 61, menopause, hormonal treatments or a growing ratio of androgen (male) hormones like testosterone may be contributing to the sudden emergence of acne, according to an explainer by the American Academy of Dermatology. Research shows that testosterone, for example, causes increased production of sebum by the sebaceous gland.

Other causes of adult acne can be medication related -- some psychotropic medications, like lithium, or steroids or hormonal medications can contribute to acne breakouts, according to the Mayo Clinic.
The best course of action may be to talk to a doctor about having your hormone levels checked and to speak with a dermatologist about proper skincare. Since many acne medications and special soaps are geared towards teenage skin, which is thicker and less dry, picking the right skin care regimen for an adult requires greater care.

Who Decides Serving Sizes?

How do they decide what a serving size is?
-- Gina

Believe it or not, we decide what a serving size is. The unit we see at the top of our nutrition labels (eight cookies, 100 grams, half a bottle, e.g.) comes from the average amount that Americans over the age of four consume in a single seating. And that average comes from federal food surveys. When nutrition labeling on packages became standardized in 1994, a U.S. Department of Agriculture task force used answers from the two previous Nationwide Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (known as the NHANES) to determine how much a typical person eats at one time. These averaged amounts are known within the industry as "reference amounts customarily consumed per eating occasion."
In other words, the current serving size on your bag of chips is a reflection of your fellow citizens' eating habits -- as they were between 1978 and 1988, when the two NHANES data were released.
But let's back up for a moment and discuss what a serving size actually is -- and is not. A serving size is a measurement that allows food manufacturers to create accurate and uniform nutrition labels across brands. It is not a prescriptive size that relates to health. "You’ve got servings related to the nutrition facts panel and then another issue is a reasonable portion of food to build a healthy eating pattern," says Dr. Robert Post, executive director of the USDA's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion. "That may be a little bit different. The serving size might be bigger than what we’d use in the nutrition world to promote good habits."

Instead, Post -- who previously worked for the task force that helped determine serving size -- recommends ignoring that measure when determining a reasonable portion size. "It's really an industry regulation tool," he tells HuffPost Healthy Living.
Serving sizes are also occasionally unrealistic. For example, a serving size of potato chips is ten chips. But when a family size bag is opened, we all know what happens -- half the bag disappears.
At this point you may be wondering what we starting wondering as we spoke to Post and investigated the industrial regulations on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's website. What about foods that have been created since the labeling regulations were put in place? When a manufacturer wants to bring a new food to market, they must classify their food -- say, a "snacking cracker" (as opposed to a non-snacking cracker, a category that includes ice cream cones) -- and then look up the reference amount on a large database. The FDA and USDA share regulation, splitting jurisdiction by food group. The FDA, for example, is responsible for ensuring serving size accuracy for things like bread and yogurt; the USDA regulates things like meat, poultry and some egg products.
Of course, most of us do not have a new and innovative food to label -- we simply want to know how much snacking we can do to maintain a healthful diet. In that instance, you may be better off talking to a nutritionist or looking at the USDA's MyPlate guidelines. But it's always good to know where your health information comes from -- and it's a major advance for healthy eating that we have a tool through which we can equally measure different brands and versions of the same products.

Eat Before A Workout: Is It Necessary?

Honestly, when working out first thing in the morning, do I really need to eat before? Especially if I'm just doing a quick 30-minute run or elliptical?
-- Alicia, 26, Shreveport, Louisiana

With all of the marketing of sports drinks, bars, gels and powders, this is an excellent question to ask. There's certainly no harm in eating -- and it might help you meet your fitness goals by giving you more energy during the actual run or elliptical workout.
"It's a contradiction, but you really do need the calories to perform well," Barbara Lewin, R.D., L.D., a sports nutritionist who works with professional and Olympic athletes, said in an earlier interview about sports drink alternatives. "The calories are what's enabling you to work out at your best. If you're not well-fueled, you're not going to work out as hard."
And certainly, if you're planning an endurance training session, you must eat. According to Andrea Hacker Thompson, M.S., R.D., of the American College of Sports Medicine, endurance athletes should eat even when they aren't hungry. She wrote:

A race car never starts a race without new tires and a full tank of gas, so an endurance athlete should not start a workout without fueling. Eating before a workout guarantees that the body starts with a full tank of glycogen.

But even for those of us who aren't trying to run an ultramarathon, if we plan a rigorous session of 90 minutes or longer, getting a bit to eat beforehand is a good idea. To understand why, it's important to know how our bodies use energy during a workout. When we exert ourselves, we burn glycogen -- the cache of glucose we keep stored in our muscle and liver cells. After we've gone through that store of carbohydrates, we can start to feel fatigued. As Thompson explains for the ACSM, the body can store about 2,000 calories in glycogen. If you plan to go over that amount (and, wow, that's quite a workout if you do!), you could begin to get light-headed, weak or just plain exhausted.
But for a 30 minute treadmill session? You probably don't have to make a concerted effort to eat enough. You do, on the other hand, have to keep hydrated. Water is fine for a half-hour run, but any workout over an hour may require some electrolyte replacement -- such as a sports drink or a piece of fruit.
Beyond the question of whether or not to eat, there are other considerations. It's important not to eat too much -- or too little. And to know when to eat it. The Mayo Clinic provides a guideline, suggesting a small snack about an hour before exercising or a medium meal two hours before a gym session. For a full meal, they recommend giving yourself a three to four hour time period between eating and hitting the gym. Overdo it, and you could give yourself stomach cramps or even diarrhea.
Most of all, it's important to note your own reaction to food and figure out an eating plan that's right for you. Feel fine during a morning run, even without that yogurt? Skip it. But if you need a little something for extra energy, there's nothing wrong with starting with a snack.

Losing The Last 10 Pounds: Why Does Weight Loss Get Harder?

"Why is it so hard to lose the last 10 pounds? And why is it harder to lose weight the smaller I get?"
-- Tamara

Anyone who has tried to lose weight knows about those frustratingly immobile final five or 10 pounds. And while there are a lot of suggestions (just Google "last 10 pounds" and you'll enter an echo-chamber of weight loss advice, scientific half-truths and can-do enthusiasm), the truth is that several pretty straight-forward reasons can explain that unshakeable weight.
The first is easy to fix, but also the most psychologically daunting: it could be something called "diet fatigue," in which the repetitive behaviors dieting requires -- keeping a food journal, weighing portion sizes, skipping that glass of wine -- become arduous, hard to manage and, frankly, boring.
"Dieters become less careful, they are not taking the precautions they did in terms of knowing what they ate, how much," says Carla Wolper, Ed.D., R,D., research faculty at the Obesity Research Center at St. Luke’s and assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia Medical Center. "They may not realize they’re not as careful anymore."

That's not an invitation for blame -- it can happen insidiously and there's an easy solution. If the scale needle slows its descent, simply write what you eat down in a food journal. "Keeping food records is always recommended," says Wolper. "Studies show that people will lose weight, even if they don’t do anything different to their diet but simply start writing it down."
There is also the possibility that it's time to recalculate. When a person begins to lose weight, their metabolic rate drops. In other words, they need fewer calories to meet basic functioning and requirements. While a 150-pound woman might have a certain basic metabolic rate, that rate may drop when she becomes a 130-pound woman. That's why it's a good idea to reevaluate caloric needs after more than 10 pounds of weight loss, according to Wolper.
"People who are normal weight tend to eat fewer calories than people who are overweight, every day, forever," agrees Rebecca E. Lee, director of the Texas Obesity Research Center and a professor of nutrition in the Department of Health and Human Performance at the University of Houston. "It takes fewer calories to maintain a lower body weight. This doesn't necessarily mean that they eat less volume -- they might, but they also might eat more nutrient dense foods that have fewer calories, like vegetables, fruits, lean meats, etc."
There's an additional consideration regarding metabolism: something called "metabolic adaptation."
"When dieting, your body is forced to work on a reduced number of calories per day. Eventually your body adapts and trains itself to live on whatever calories it gets -- without losing weight. This built-in survival mechanism is your body’s way to protect you against starvation," says Dr. Caroline J. Cederquist, a metabolic expert and board-certified medical weight management specialists. "Once you have hit this point, you may manage to lose a few bonus pounds, but they will come off much more slowly and, before you know it, the weight you lost may start to come back on!"
So what can you do? Interestingly, the answer is not exercise. (Which is not to say you shouldn't exercise. Please exercise!) Very often we're told that building muscle mass will help rev up our metabolisms because muscle tissue burns more calories per hour than fat tissue does. But, as Wolper explains, the difference in caloric burn rate is minor. Fat tissue burns about two calories per pound per day, while muscle tissue of the same weight burns seven calories per day. If someone made a significant change -- transformed two pounds of fat into two pounds of muscle, that would amount to a difference of 10 more calories burned per day.
"The truth is that skeletal muscle doesn’t burn that much more than fat. Our brains burn the most calories. In fact, the lean tissue that burns a lot of calories is our heart, lungs, liver and brain. About 60 percent of the calories that are burned come from those four sources," says Wolper.
Exercise may help create a greater calorie deficit and that will help further along weight loss or help maintain sustained weight loss -- but it won't make a big metabolic difference.
Instead, in addition to redoubling food journal efforts and recalculating caloric intake for one's new size, Cederquist recommends something she calls a "metabolic adjustment phase." Instead of reducing calories, she suggests a two-week period of increased meal sizes. "During this phase, the goal is not to lose weight, but to readjust your body’s ability to metabolize an increasing number of calories, by increasing portion sizes and bumping up caloric intake."
Most of all, it's important to evaluate one's goals. Have you reached a healthy weight? If so and if continued weight loss is a huge struggle, it may be time to consider entering a maintenance phase. "Focus on the benefits of maintaining your weight loss," says Cederquist. "And remember that maintaining is as important as losing."

Cardio Or Weights First? Exercise Order Sometimes Matters

"Is there an order to working out? In other words, should I do weights first and then cardio?"
-- Karen 

Working out is always good for you. The good news is that, whether you do it before or after weight training, cardiovascular exercise like running, swimming, biking or machine-work will improve everything from your heart health to your mood to your chance of avoiding many cancers. And lifting weights helps with everything from bone density to metabolism.
But according to exercise physiologists and personal trainers we spoke with, the order of operation can change depending on a person's goal.
"This question is one of the biggest questions on people's minds when they go to the gym," says personal trainer and HuffPost blogger Jeff Halevy. For those who are seeking weight loss, cardio should come first, but if gaining muscle mass is the goal, it's time to hit the weight room first. But why?

Let's start with the muscle-building scenario. "Doing cardio first will induce fatigue that may compromise technique and possibly increase risk of injury," explains Fabio Comana, director of Continuing Education for the National Academy of Sports Medicine. Exhausting oneself with a big run right before weights and resistance training doesn't just up the risk of injury, it also means you'll have less energy to throw into a really good weight training session.
On the other hand, if you're looking to lose fat, Halevy recommends doing interval cardio training before getting started on weights. As he explains, the cardio will deplete your body's supply of glycogen -- the stored form of glucose in muscle cells and a primary material in our energy storage. Once glycogen is depleted, the body turns to more long-term storage sources, like fat.
"If your goal is strictly a lean body -- not to be strongest, or most powerful, but achieve maximal leanness -- I always recommend implementing high-intensity interval training at the beginning of each workout," says Halevy.
But that doesn't mean weights aren't important for fat loss. In fact, when it comes to analyzing the percentage weight loss that's comprised of fat versus lean tissue like muscle, weights have cardio beat overall.
"Resistance training should always be a consideration," explains Comana in an email. "Mother nature will help us lose lean tissue naturally (23 percent in women between ages 30 and 70), that we need to preserve. Diet and cardio also results in lean tissue losses (68 percent fat, 22 percent muscle / lean tissue). Whereas diet and resistance leads to 97 percent fat loss, and only 3 percent lean tissue loss."
There may be other reasons for doing cardio first. As Comana points out, many more people are familiar with cardiovascular exercise, so it will seem less intimidating and is thus more likely to happen. If the weight room is daunting enough to prevent a workout session, it's worth getting started on cardio and working your way up. And if another health goal -- say Type 2 diabetes or hypertension prevention or treatment -- is the priority, Comana recommends cardio over resistance. "Some diseases are better managed with cardio first, then introducing resistance training later," he told Healthy Living.
It's important to get the opinion of a doctor and certified personal trainer or exercise professional before proceeding, but the takeaway is simple: if you're exercising, no matter the order, you aren't doing anything wrong. Depending on your goal, you may want to choose one type of exercise over the other. Of course, you could alternate days and avoid the question entirely.

What Is Metabolism: How Long After I Eat Is Weight Added To My Body?

"How long does it take for the food I ate to add weight to my body?" -- Bunter122 

Today's question comes from a reader who would prefer to stay anonymous, but it is certainly a thought that many people have had. Given that we all have different metabolic speeds, what is the average amount of time it takes food to be digested and then shunted off to its various purposes?
"We have a pretty good indication about the timeline from the sequence of ingestion, digestion, and egestion. The whole thing plays out over a span of roughly 12 hours on average," says Dr. David Katz, a HuffPost Healthy Living contributor and director of the Yale University Prevention Research Center. "By the time the residual waste of food is passing out of us, the useable parts have all been put to use -- for energy expenditure, as heat generation, or placed into storage, as either glycogen [from carbohydrate], or fat."
After you eat, the food passes through your stomach and small intestine in about six to eight hours, according to the Mayo Clinic. Then, it enters the large intestine where it is further digested. Putting it as delicately as possible, Mayo Clinic gastroenterologist Dr. Michael F. Picco writes: "Elimination of undigested food residue through the large intestine usually begins after a total of 24 hours. Complete elimination from the body may take several days."
For a complete understanding of what the body does to digest food, the National Institutes of Health has a great explainer. For our purposes, it is essential to understand that as food is digested, enzymes and hormones are secreted by the stomach and small intestines (as well as fat cells) and work to break down the carbohydrates, protein and fat we've eaten into usable material for our cells.

A growing number of endocrinologists -- those who study our hormone system -- are beginning to see the hormone response as far more complicated than previously thought, as well as far more individualized: there is a wider variance in how people respond to food, they suspect.
"While the question posed seems extraordinarily simple, I don't think that there can be a simple answer to it," says Dr. Kaveh Ashrafi, an associate professor of physiology at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine who studies fat metabolism. "The prevailing view essentially considers feeding behavior/exercise as the sole determinants of body weight. For this to be true, one has to assume that the body itself is simply an inert vessel; if you put more food in it, it must get fat, if you move it, it must lose weight."

Foods For Longevity

Broccoli For Cancer Protection

Broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables are full of sulforaphane and other antioxidants that help to protect healthy cells from damage caused by free radicals.
But when it comes to the veggies, raw may be better: recent research has found that boiling in water has a "leaching effect."

Whole Grains For Cardiovascular Health

Whole grains offer a variety of antioxidants and vitamins, and are packed with fiber, known to help protect against high cholesterol and regulate blood sugar levels, which can safeguard against diabetes.

And one type of whole grain in particular -- oats -- has a unique antioxidant called avenanthramides that can offer additional protection against cholesterol.

Berries For Brain, Bone And Brawn

Not only are berries good for extending life -- they improve the quality of later years. Berries are chock full of antioxidants that help protect against free radical damage, but as Whole Living reported, one antioxidant in particular -- anthocyanins -- is particularly useful for brain function, balance and muscle retention.

Dark Chocolate For Anti-Inflammation

Dark chocolate is full of inflammation-reducing flavonoids, a compound that also has antioxidant properties and helps prevent blood clots.
But reducing inflammation is its real longevity trick, as research shows that molecular inflammation may be responsible for much aging and cell death.

Tomatoes For Cancer Prevention

Tomatoes are a great source of lycopene, the fat-soluble nutrient that helps to protect against some types of cancer, like prostate, lung and stomach cancers.

Beets For Betaine Power

Beets are rich in betaine, a compound associated with lower markers of inflammation, according to the latest research in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Walnuts For Lower Cholesterol

Walnuts are a great source of alpha linolenic acid (ALA), which is a type of omega-3 fatty acid associated with reduced inflammation