You’ve heard the familiar adage: “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” But how does that saying also apply to an avocado, given that 80% of its calories come from fat, versus only 3% in an apple?

Medical experts agree: if you don’t drink, you don’t need to start drinking alcohol to protect your heart. If you do drink, stay within the recommended limits of moderate alcohol intake: one standard drink every 24 hours for women, two standard drinks every 24 hrs for men.

Intake enough water and other fluids throughout the day to keep your urine pale yellow (shade 4 or less), unless your doctor has told you otherwise. In order to help you do that, drink water throughout the day and eat more whole fiber-rich fruits, vegetables, beans and cooked whole grains, like oatmeal, brown rice and quinoa. In addition to all their many health-promoting nutrients, phytochemicals and fiber, these foods contain an abundance of water.

Fruit has long been touted as part of a healthy diet, and, yet only 1 in 10 adults eat the minimum recommended amount of fruit per day: 1½ to 2 cups.

Our friends at Harvard have suggested 6 Tips for proper walking form so you can get the most benefit out of the time you spend walking.

In order to optimize your health, enjoy 1-2 one-ounce servings of nuts most days of the week, unless your doctor tells you not to.

The best kind of physical activity you can do is the kind you enjoy doing, because if you don’t enjoy it, you won’t do it over the long term. If you haven’t discovered your favorite activities, please consider walking.

A good night’s sleep is increasingly being recognized as important as healthy eating and being physically active.

To maximize the nutritional benefits from produce and to decrease exposure to pesticide residues and toxic metals, choose organic produce whenever you can.

Compared to the standard American diet, it would seem prudent to practice a Mediterranean-style eating pattern where beef (and all meat) is enjoyed less often, in smaller portions, as research links high intakes of red meat with an increased risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and colon cancer. Additionally, the World Health Organization has declared that red meat is a probable human carcinogen.(9) The nutritional benefits of beef can be maximized by consuming grass-fed and/or organic over conventionally-raised beef whenever possible.

The easiest way to accomplish a health goal may be through the adoption of tiny or micro habits.

It is advisable to wash ALL fruits and vegetables before you eat them to ensure they are clean.

According to experts, people that live longer, healthier lives eat almost 4 times the amount of beans that we do as Americans.

Read the article and get the recipes in the Ardmoreite.

There are times we can benefit from levels of nutrients that are difficult to obtain by eating whole foods (sometimes you just can't eat enough whole food to obtain the level of needed nutrients).

Never has the old adage: the best defense is a strong offense, been more timely. The best  defense against various infections is a well-tuned immune system, and there’s a lot we can do to keep it that way.

What do walking, cooking, and positive nighttime rituals have in common? They are all activities that strengthen the immune system. There is a lot of scientific evidence to indicate that healthy habits can give your immune system a boost.