Recently, a 111-year-old man had a really weird health tip to share – he recommended the eating of chicken brains (I didn’t think those stupid birds possessed any, but never mind that). And maybe this really did work for him. After all, there are several other weird ‘health tips’ that do seem to work as well:
Dexter Kruger is the oldest Australian ever at age 111. He believes that eating chicken brains once a week is the secret of his long life. His 74-year-old son believes it was his healthy lifestyle as a rancher that is the secret. Maybe both are right. Right now Kruger is writing his autobiography and his nursing home manager claims that he is one of the sharpest residents there.
There is a concept called the hygiene hypothesis in the west – their too-clean environments prevent proper development of the immune system and kids grow up with all sorts of allergies. The incidence of allergies is far higher in the west than in countries such as India that are, well, less clean. When I had my first baby, my grandmother told me – let her play in the mud. Those were wise words.
I can testify to this myself – when I am feeling low energy and disspirited towards the end of the day, a brisk walk with a podcast, swim or bike ride with some good music revives me. I am pleasantly tired, but feeling more energetic; the mood uplifted and feeling far more positive. Presumably a bunch of hormones doing the work there!
Even if you're trying to lose weight, cutting fat out of your diet may not necessarily help. Very often it's carbs that are the culprit; which prevent weight loss. Don’t go for those ‘healthy’ snacks that claim to be ‘baked not fried’ or the foods that claim to have ‘zero sugar’. Those so-called ‘healthy foods’ may well be extremely unhealthy in other ways; packed with artificial sweeteners, hydrogenated fats, salts, preservatives and so on. So if you want to get healthy, avoid the ‘health foods’ – opt for fruit or some nuts instead.
Coffee has caffeine and it will keep you awake, right? So how does this work? Many health experts recommend drinking coffee when one is sleepy and then having a nap right away. It takes about half an hour for the caffeine to kick in, so why the time you wake up after your 20 or 30-minute nap, you're feeling fresh and alert and fully awake.
You may feel bloated and that you're retaining water from time to time. This may actually be because of mild dehydration, say some experts. The body feels that there is a need to conserve water, leading to that bloated feeling. So drink water – it helps mobilise the gut and will relieve that feeling of bloating.
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