Welcome to our first issue! If you have received this email, that means you're on the Bella Vita's mailing list for this periodical installment, brought to you by The Bella Vita, A Beautiful Life Psychology Group, Inc. We hope you enjoy the articles contained in this, and we intend for them to be useful and informative for those who want to live a healthy lifestyle.

Enjoy!

Healthy Apple Recipes

Part of the purpose of our periodical newsletter is to promote good health and wellness through the spread of positive information and helpful hints for healthy living. In this first issue of ours, we'll share some appetizing, yet delightfully healthy, apple dishes for you and your family to enjoy.

Baked apples

6 McIntosh apples
1/3 cup brown sugar
¼ cup raisins
¼ cup walnuts
1 tsp. lemon peel
½ tsp. nutmeg
¼ tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. ginger

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Core apples through the top, leaving ½ inch of core remaining at the bottom.  This will act as a reservoir for the juice.  Place apples in a shallow baking pan.  They should stand up without touching.

Combine brown sugar, raisins, walnuts, lemon peel and spices.  Spoon this mixture into the cored apples.  Pour any remaining mixture into the pan.  Pour the apple cider into the bottom of the pan.  Cover tightly with aluminum foil or a lid and bake for 25 minutes.  Remove lid/ foil and baste.  Bake for 10-15 minute more, until apples are tender, but not mushy.  Put the apples on a serving dish and spoon liquid from baking dish over the top.  Serve warm.

Calories = 176        
Percent calories from fat = 19%
Protein = 1.22 grams
Carbohydrates = 38 grams
Fat = 3.73 grams
Saturated fat = 0.426 grams
Fiber = 3.3 gram

Fresh apple-pear chutney

1 medium Red-Delicious apple, unpeeled
1 Granny Smith apple, unpeeled
1 medium Bartlett pear
½ cup raisins
1 Tb. grated orange rind
2 ounces (¼ cup) fresh orange juice
¼ tsp. vanilla extract
¼ tsp. cinnamon
5 fresh mint leaves, finely chopped

Core the apples and the pear.  Dice the apples and pear into ½ inch cubes and place them in a medium size bowl.

Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.

Cover the mixture and place it in the refrigerator for about 3 hours.  Serve chilled.
Serves 8

Calories = 50.8       
Percent calories from fat = 4%
Protein = 0.361 grams
Carbohydrates = 13.1 grams
Fat-total = 0.247 grams
Saturated fat = 0.034 grams
Fiber = 1.41 gram





Relaxation Techniques

Ahh!  Relaxation!  You’ve had a hectic day.  You feel stressed from head to toe and have anxiously awaited the moment to finally take time to really relax and let go of the day’s worries and concerns.  You kick off your shoes, change into comfortable clothes, and go to your spot in your home.  Suddenly your head starts in—“What did my boss mean when he said that?”  “Did I complete the project correctly?”  “I really messed up in that situation.”  “What about tomorrow?”  “And what about three weeks from now?”  “What about the kids.”  “What did so and so mean when she said…”  “If only I had…” “What about next year?”  “How am I going to handle ....”  And the thoughts go on.  So much for relaxation!  If you find that this scenario is pretty typical of  “relaxation time,” you might want to try the following techniques.

Relaxation Techniques.  They are like exercise—the more you practice them, the stronger your mastery.

Your ability to stay focused and deepen your level of relaxation will increase with practice.  Be patient with yourself and start with smaller amounts of time, perhaps three to five minutes initially. 

• Write down anything and everything that is concerning you.  Affirm to yourself, “I will take care of these things, however, during this relaxation time, I will set these things aside.  If thoughts float in to your mind while you’re relaxing, just acknowledge them and gently let them float away, bringing your focus back to the relaxation process.  This will become easier to do with practice.
  
  
  
• Some people find it helpful to play a tape or disc with the sounds of nature, i.e., the ocean, or soothing music.
  
  
  
• Find a comfortable spot where you can sit or rest comfortably and not be distracted by noises.
  
  
  
• Gently close your eyes.  Begin by taking five to seven deep, cleansing breaths.  Breathe in deeply through the nose, filling the lungs a tiny bit more than you think you can. Hold the breath a moment and then release the air through the mouth as if you were letting air out of a balloon, letting the body collapse as you do.  Get a long-loose feeling in the jaw and drop your shoulders.  Imagine them going closer to the spine.
  
  
  
• Now imagine a soothing, relaxing liquid filling your entire body.  Start with the scalp and feel it move slowly through your face, your throat, down into your shoulders, arms and hands.  At this point you may feel a hand signal in your fingertips, a warming or tingling, which is telling you that the periphery of your body is receiving more oxygen as you allow your body to relax.  Continue to let the relaxation flow into your chest and allow is to travel down your spine.  As it does, let it send out waves of relaxation, like waves at the ocean.  Let it move into your stomach, pelvic bowl, buttocks, thighs, lower legs, ankles, feet and toes.
  
  
  
• Now imagine your self on a nice warm beach, or floating on a cloud, feeling very relaxed and comfortable.
  
  
  
• At this point, if you wish, you can take yourself into a deeper relaxation, a trance state, by counting from five down to one, and with each number acknowledging to your self that you are going “deeper and deeper.”
  
  
• Now you can begin creating a sanctuary—a place that is all your own, that is safe, that allows you to become balanced and healthy, that gives you a deep sense of serenity.
  
  
  
• If you are using this technique at night to help you get to sleep, you can tell yourself before you begin that you will go into a deep, restful, and calm sleep, and will awaken in the morning feeling refreshed and joyful.

Hydration And The Athlete

With the summer months upon us, the need for more fluids both while training and at rest comes to the forefront of any healthy exercise regimen.  Athletic performance relies heavily on drinking enough fluid before, during and after a workout.  In this column we will look at symptoms of dehydration, how much fluid to drink, when to drink it and what type of beverage is best for your climate, sport and how long you exercise.

Both recreational and professional athletes have reported having to drop out of a competition due to inadequate fluid replacement.   In fact, dehydration is the #1 reason athletes fail to finish a competition. WNBA New York Liberty player Vickie Johnson, knows all too well the consequences of dehydration.  She has had to stop playing more than once because she wasn’t drinking enough fluids. Vickie began feeling sick halfway through last season.  “At every practice and game I felt nauseous, and sometimes I actually got sick” Johnson explains, “I was always tired and sore”. 

She requested a visit with the team doctor. “The doctor pinched my skin, and it didn’t relax,” says.   A common sign of dehydration is a puckering of the skin. “She also looked at my eyes, which were very white, with no red.”  Johnson was so dehydrated the veins in her eyes had shrunk.  The doctor immediately replenished her with two liters of intravenous fluid.  She needed another liter a few days later.  After the IV’s she felt remarkably better.  Her symptoms, which included headaches, weakness, fatigue and vomiting, are common signs of dehydration.  Other symptoms of dehydration are:

• Thirst
• Loss of appetite
• Reduced urinary output
• Dry mouth
• Increased effort during exercise
• Sleepiness
• Nausea
• Difficulty concentrating
• Increased heart rate
• Dizziness
• Muscle spasms
• Inability to balance with eyes closed

Cramping and stomach distress are also signs of dehydration.  Ellen Coleman, RD, MA, MPH and author of two books (Bull Publishing)The Ultimate Sports Nutrition Handbook (1996) and Eating for Endurance (1997) finds that preventative measures are the best way to avoid cramping during exercise.  “Drink often and early,” advises Coleman, “Once you’re to the point where you are experiencing cramps, you can never catch back up on hydration during that exercise bout.”  The stomach distress that is caused by the dehydration actually has an effect that prevents you being able to catch back up on fluids:  It inhibits fluid absorption. Not a good thing.

Coleman likes to use the time length of a workout to determine which fluids to recommend in order to replenish lost water and/or electrolytes.  “If someone is working out under an hour I recommend water,” says Coleman, “If the athlete is working out over an hour I recommend sports drinks, like Gatorade.”  She finds the carbohydrates in Gatorade can enhance performance, the sodium helps them with rehydration, which will in turn help the athlete to retain the fluids that they are drinking.  They also taste better, so you are likely to drink more fluids in comparison with plain water.  The benefits of Gatorade are also supported by research studies.  It is readily available, and reasonably priced.

There are different recommendations for the needs of particular sports as well as recommendations that take into account for variations in climate.  Somebody circuit training in the gym is not going to have the fluid losses that an endurance athlete who is running or cycling for several hours may experience.  Since the endurance athlete will be training with a higher intensity and duration they will lose more fluid through sweat and breathing.  The following are recommendations for before, during and after exercise:

Before Exercise

To avoid dehydration, it is best to begin drinking fluids BEFORE you exercise.  The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends drinking 500 ml or 17 ounces of fluid two hours before exercise.  This will hydrate the athlete and allow time for the excess fluid to be eliminated.  It will also be helpful to drink an additional 8-16 ounces 5-10 minutes before beginning your training.  Eight ounces is recommended if the temperature is under 80°F, and 16 ounces if the temperature is above 80°F.

During Exercise

During exercise you should drink 6-8 ounces of fluid every 15-20 minutes.  In hotter, more humid climates, 10 ounces every 15 minutes is recommended.  It’s a good idea to drink liquids that are cold.  When fluids are cooler than the ambient temperature, absorption is increased.   If exercise is longer than 90 minutes, fluids should have 80-100 calories in every 8 ounces, to help replenish energy and electrolytes and also increase endurance.

After Exercise

The ACSM guidelines recommend that you should drink a minimum of 24 ounces of fluid for every pound of body weight lost.  This will help to compensate for sweat, breathing and urine losses.  Dan Abdalla, the head coach of University of Las Vegas’s (UNLV) women’s soccer team, takes painstaking precautions to protect his players from dehydration.  He weighs the team both before and after a practice or game.  The players then follow the aforementioned ACSM guidelines to replace their lost fluids.  “We start our pre-season practices in August when the temperature can be 90°F-105°F and practices will last from 1 ½ to 2 hours,” declares Abdalla.  He makes water and All-Sport sports drink available to the players.  “We also have trainers walking the field constantly, offering the players water and All-Sport,” explained Abdalla, “And we also educate the girls and let them know what the hazards are if they are not rehydrating themselves.”

Grilling is known as a dry-heat method of cooking, similar to broiling.  Grilling can use wood or charcoal, or an electric grill pan.  It adds a smoky flavor to the food.  There are also specialty types of wood that create specific flavors, such as hickory or mesquite. 

On a healthy note, grilling fish poultry or meats preserve more vitamins that a moist heat cooking method, such as stewing or braising.  Over-grilling meat, or burning the food until it resembles a charcoal briquette may alter vitamin retention adversely.  It is best to cook the food a little farther away from the flame for a longer period of time.  If it burns on the outside, and is not heated to a proper temperature on the inside the chances of food poisoning increase.  A meat thermometer can be used to ensure safety.  According to the Food and Drug Administration, proper internal temperatures are as follows


Hamburgers - 160 degrees
Steaks - 145-160 depending on medium rare to well done
Chicken - 170 degrees
Fish - 170 degrees
Pork - 160-170 degrees

This will ensure the safety of your grilling and destroy harmful bacteria.

Grill pans are reported to be a healthier cooking alternative than frying.  The claim is that the grilling ridges in the pan allow the fat to drain away, thereby reducing the saturated fat in the meat.  Consumer Reports tested four different grill pans and one frying pan while cooking hamburgers.  After cooking the burgers were analyzed for fat content.  There were no differences between the grilled burgers and the fried burger.  The only difference were the grill marks on the grilled burger.  Grill pans cost between $30-$100 and can be found at most major department stores