OMG Digital Magazine OMG Issue 267 13th July 2017 COMPLETE | Page 28

OMG Digital Magazine | 267 | Thursday 13th July 2017 • PAGE 28
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The 6 Best Things
You Can Do for
YOUR BODY
Avoid Thinking of Exercise as Exercise
My team did a cool study in which we took people on
a walk for a mile and told some it was a workout and
others it was scenic and fun. Afterward, everyone ate
lunch, and the scenic group consumed 35 percent less
dessert than the workout group. If you think of physical
activity as fitness, you tend to want to reward yourself.
But if you see a workout as something else, like personal
time, you don’t have that same tendency. Now when
I exercise, I think of it as a celebration. I say to myself,
“You know, many people like you who are in their 50s
couldn’t do this.”
—Brian Wansink, PhD, director of the Cornell Food
and Brand Lab and author of Slim by Design: Mindless
Eating Solutions for Everyday Life
Eat Dark Chocolate
“When I’m feeling sluggish or craving something sweet,
I reach for dark chocolate that’s 70 percent cacao—it
contains heart-healthy flavanols, and the high cacao
content means there’s less sugar. Plus, I get some
energy from the caffeine.”
—Mehmet Oz, MD
Feed Your Skin Vitamin C
“I use a face moisturizer that has vitamin C, which can
help prevent the oxidation in skin that damages elastic
tissue and collagen. Look for a product with a vitamin C
content of 10 percent—just enough for you to see the
benefits without being too harsh. And make sure the
product is stored in an opaque, airtight container so the
vitamin C doesn’t get oxidized. If that happens, it’ll lose
its effect.”
—Judith Hellman, MD, New York–based dermatologist
total. Win-win!”
—Traci Mann, PhD, founder of the Health and Eating
Lab at the University of Minnesota and author of Secrets
from the Eating Lab
Put Sleep First
Meditate
“I used to have a difficult time meditating. No matter
how hard I tried, I couldn’t clear my head. Even the
master Deepak Chopra tried to teach me, but it seemed
my mind was too cluttered. Then I met Dr. Herbert
Benson, who founded the Benson-Henry Institute for
Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital.
He gave me a valuable piece of advice: Initially, the key
isn’t to make your mind go blank, but to focus on a
single thing that you personally find calming. For me it’s
the word gentle, because it evokes all sorts of calming
images, like running water and beach scenes. Once I
start focusing on that word, my mind begins to clear. I
can now meditate for up to 15 minutes.”
—Sanjay Gupta, MD, neurosurgeon and CNN chief
medical correspondent
Have a Vegetable Course
“When vegetables are in the company of other foods,
they often go untouched, so at dinner I eat vegetables
before I put any other food on my plate. We tested the
strategy with college students, too, and they not only
ate more vegetables, but also consumed fewer calories
“Data on how sleep affects the heart suggest that lack of
adequate rest (less than six or seven hours) can increase
risk of cardiac problems like heart attack and stroke. As
someone who works, has a child, and wants to stay fit, I
know it can be difficult to get a good night’s sleep. But I
make it a priority to get at least seven hours, even if that
means skipping the gym to sleep in on some mornings.”
—Tara Narula, MD, cardiologist and CBS This Morning