Tag: Healthy

The Man with the Healthiest Lungs!

Our lungs play a huge role in keeping us healthy and well, but we do not see the relevance until we experience problems with breathing. That is why, just like the rest of our body, the lungs need daily care and attention.

When we breathe, we feed oxygen to every cell in the body. Because of this, you aren’t prone to health problems such as respiratory illnesses, heart diseases, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, among others. For this reason, if you want to have healthy lungs, you need to be more attentive to its overall condition.

Who has healthy lungs?

The man with the healthiest lungs is probably Constantine Karnazes.

People who have never had any issues with their breathing, or those who have never inhaled air in polluted places have healthier lungs than those that grow up in polluted areas. The man with the healthiest lungs is probably an ultramarathon runner who spends hours and hours training his lungs while running. By working the muscles that contract and expand the lungs, you can train your lungs to be strong. It isn’t too late for anyone to build healthier lungs. You just need to know the things that you should and shouldn’t do. Here are some of the do’s and don’ts that you can follow:

Do’s:

Diaphragmatic Breathing

If you’re thinking of how to keep lungs healthy naturally, then the breathing technique that you can use is diaphragmatic breathing. This is often used by people who experience lung problems such as asthma and chronic bronchitis.

Diaphragmatic breathing makes use of the diaphragm muscle by concentrating on it as you breathe in. It will result in a much deeper inhale.

You can see this technique also being used by professional singers to increase their lung capacity.

Exercise As Much As You Can

Regular exercise will take you closer to the path of someone having healthier lungs. When you exercise, the heart beats faster, and the lungs work harder—according to research, breathing increases from at least 15 times a minute to 40 to 60 times a minute. This will mean that your lungs will definitely be having a workout and would quickly exchange oxygen for carbon dioxide.

Counting Your Breaths

Another simple way to improve your lung capacity is by increasing the length of your inhalations and exhalations. It can be done by counting how long your natural breath takes. After knowing the count for the average breath, you’ll add one more count to each inhale and exhale. This will conveniently extend the length of time that it’ll take to fill and empty the lungs, resulting in stronger lungs.

Don’ts:

Smoking

It is widely known that smoking is the major cause of lung cancer and COPD. It narrows the air passages and causes swelling in the lungs. As you smoke continuously, the lung tissue would be destroyed over time and may trigger effects that can result in cancer.

So, if you smoke, this is the time to stop now and let your lungs breathe in clean air.

Exposure to Indoor Air Pollutants

Many indoor air pollutants can result in lung

problems. From dust, VOCs, mold, secondhand smoke, and radon, all of these will prevent you from achieving your goals of having healthy lungs. That’s why make sure to have filtered and ventilated rooms for easier breathing.

Exposure to Outdoor Air Pollution

Air pollution is something that we often experience every day. The air quality outside is usually unhealthy to breathe, be it due to traffic congestion or factory buildings spewing up smoke. These things are bad for our lungs. That is why one of the ways to avoid them is by wearing face masks, which can minimize the risks that they bring.

Thus, remember all of these do’s and don’ts, and you will be on the right track to successfully being a man or woman who has the healthiest lungs!

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How to Give Your Children Extra Olive oil, Avocado, Broccoli or White Wine – these 3 Delicious Ways

Changing the way food looks might be your only solution when your children don’t want to eat their vegetables. Offering them fresh vegetables is a great way to get them to try the healthy food you want them to eat, but only if it tastes good to them. Having raw broccoli for example, paired with a delicious pesto or scrumptious humous might be a good way to convince them that they are eating delicious food.

We all know how difficult it is to make children eat healthy food. Most of them don’t like the taste of vegetables. However, we do know the various health benefits that healthy food gives them as they grow older. So, what is the easiest way to make them eat these kinds of foods? Well, to make them delicious, of course.

The healthiest meals contain vegetables rich in nutrients. You can prepare food that tastes bland or boring in many different ways with tasty flavors. You can prepare each dish with ingredients such as olive oil, avocado, broccoli, or white wine to enhance the amount of nutrients and vitamins per meal. These are specifically essential if you want your children to have healthy lungs.

Eating healthy food is a great alternative to protecting the lungs. These 5 vegetables contain vitamins, carbs, protein, and fibers that can help boost lung ability and capacity. For example, broccoli contains fiber and important vitamins like A, B, C, and K. Avocado, on the other hand, has vitamin E, potassium, natural antioxidants, and healthy fats. Thus, below are a few dishes that have everything your children will need.

If your child’s favorite food is pasta or potatoes, there are easy ways to add broccoli with basil as a pesto form, or drizzle olive or avocado oil on the dish after it’s cooked. What this does is keep the oil uncooked, which is far healthier than when it has been heated.

3 Healthy Broccoli Avocado Salad Recipes

Here are 3 recipes we have collected to help you out with your meals:

From  Simple Nourished Living, this is an easy-to-do salad of lightly cooked broccoli and avocado that is tossed with vinaigrette.

Ingredients:

  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 teaspoons Herbs de Provence
  • 1 tablespoon chopped Italian parsley
  • 1 large avocado, cubed
  • 4 cups broccoli, lightly cooked
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
How to make it?
  1. Whisk lemon juice, olive oil, mustard, and Herbs de Provence in a large bowl.
  2. Steam or boil the avocado for under 5 minutes.
  3. Mix the avocado and broccoli into the whisked mixture. Stir gently and then season with salt and pepper.
  4. Serve the salad immediately or store it in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours.

Another broccoli and avocado recipe is from Kidspot Kitchen. This is a mix of crunchy broccoli and smooth avocado with a touch of lemon dressing and toasted almond slivers.

Ingredients:
  • 500g broccoli florets, cut into small pieces
  • 2 avocados
  • 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 tbsp lemon juice
  • sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/3 cup slivered almonds
How to make it?
  1. In a heatproof bowl, place the broccoli in boiling water and then set aside to blanch.
  2. Dice the avocado and place it in a serving bowl. Drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice. Add a sprinkle of salt and pepper and then toss gently.
  3. For the almond slivers, toast them in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Toss gently.
  4. Drain the broccoli and add it to the serving bowl. Toss them all with the dressing. Sprinkle the almond slivers and serve.

The last recipe for this list would be the broccoli salad with creamy avocado from Delice Recipes. It is a light and nutritious salad that complements any kind of meal.

Ingredients:

1 broccoli

2 avocado

1/2 red onion

10 cherry tomatoes

1 pinch salt

1 pinch pepper

3 tbsp soy sauce

3 tbsp toasted sesame oil

3 tsp olive oil

How to make it?

  1. Use a skillet and simmer the broccoli with 3-4 tbsp of soy sauce for at least 4-5 minutes.
  2. Cut the red onion, ripe avocados, and tomatoes.
  3. Toss all of the ingredients together and season with a pinch of salt, pepper, olive oil, and toasted sesame oil. Serve immediately.
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