Feel the Burn With These 6 Low-Impact Workouts

Whether you’re recovering from an injury or simply looking to begin a workout routine from scratch, low-impact workouts are often just as beneficial as more explosive styles. Here are a few low-impact workouts that will take it a bit easier on your body while still showing major results.

  1. Kettlebell swings. Any exercise that burns up to 600 calories in just 30 minutes should be on your list, and that’s just what you’ll get with kettlebell swings.
  2. Swimming. If your gym has an indoor or outdoor pool, try swimming some simple laps to get in a great cardiovascular exercise that burns fat without putting much impact on your body.
  3. Barre classes. This trendy, ballet-inspired workout actually lives up to the hype. Barre’s sequences of pliés, squats, and repetitive arm movements are proven to burn major calories, and they also go easy on your joints.
  4. Cycling. If you love running but simply can’t handle the strain that it puts on your knees and ankles, try cycling instead. The average hour-long class burns between 600 and 750 calories.
  5. Power yoga. While all types of yoga are beneficial to your health, more traditional styles don’t particularly burn a lot of calories. If you’re looking to lose weight, try a power yoga class instead.
  6. Fast-paced walking. Speed up your usual walk to torch calories without going too hard on your joints.

Low-Impact Exercises That Burn Major Calories [SparkPeople]
8 Low-Impact Workouts That Still Burn Major Calories [Shape]
8 Low-Impact Workouts That Torch Calories [Prevention]

Easy Ways to Incorporate More Potassium Into Your Diet

While most people think of bananas when they think of sources of potassium, there are actually a wide variety of other foods that contain even more of the beneficial mineral. Potassium helps to keep your heartbeat regular and your muscles, kidneys, and other organs working to their fullest potential, and it’s even been proven to work better than sports drinks at providing energy before a workout. These great foods can help to ensure that you get enough all-natural potassium.

  1. Sweet potatoes. Along with their numerous other health benefits, sweet potatoes are also very high in potassium. Just one average sized potato contains an impressive 646 milligrams, making it one of the absolute best sources of this mineral. At just 131 calories per sweet potato, they also make a low calorie side dish that won’t derail your diet plans.
  2. Tomato sauces. The zesty marinara sauce that you toss on your linguine is an even better source of potassium than a fresh tomato. Just 1/4 cup of tomato paste contains 664 milligrams of potassium, and plain old tomato juice offers over 400 milligrams.
  3. Beans. Whether you prefer fresh green beans or kidney and lima beans, all types of these beans are wonderful sources of potassium. Half of a cup of white beans contains just about 600 milligrams of the necessary mineral, and they’re good for your heart as well.

Top 10 Foods Highest in Potassium [Healthaliciousness]
15 Foods That Are High in Potassium [Health.com]
Foods With More Potassium Than a Banana [Huffington Post]
Potassium and Your CKD Diet [National Kidney Foundation]

Feel a Cold Coming On? Load Up on These Surprising Vitamin C-Rich Foods!

If you feel a cold coming on, there are few better natural remedies than to eat foods that are high in Vitamin C. Orange juice is a popular option, but you can also take advantage of the high levels of Vitamin C in a wide variety of other fruits and vegetables. Here are just a few of the best sources of Vitamin C for the next time you’re feeling a bit under the weather.

  1. Papaya. Papayas are just as sweet and refreshing as oranges, and they contain 95.6 milligrams of Vitamin C in just one small fruit. Papayas are also rich in Vitamin A and dietary fiber. To get even more of this valuable vitamin, mash enough papaya to fill one cup; it provides about 140 milligrams of Vitamin C.
  2. Broccoli. Whether you toss it into a stir fry or eat it raw as a snack, broccoli is another great source of beneficial Vitamin C. One 148-gram serving provides about 132 milligrams of C vitamins that boost your immune system and prevent illness.
  3. Kale. Kale isn’t just a trendy so-called “superfood,” it actually does provide a whole slew of health benefits. Just two cups of chopped kale offers 160.8 milligrams of Vitamin C, as well as large amounts of Vitamins A and K, phytonutrients, and fiber.

Surprising Sources of Vitamin C [Berkeley Wellness]
7 Surprising (and Delicious) Sources of Vitamin C [Care2]
7 Foods With More Vitamin C Than an Orange [Huffington Post]

Memorize These Cooking Terms Before Tackling That New Recipe

One of the first steps in becoming an expert in the kitchen is having a thorough understanding of each cooking term on a recipe. After knowing your ingredient, being able to read and follow a recipe correctly is important in how the dish turns out. Here are four must-know kitchen terms to help you out.

  1. Meuniere. This term refers to an ingredient, like poultry or fish, being dredged in flour, then sauteed in butter.
  2. Hull. When preparing a fruit salad, you may be asked to hull the berries, which means to remove the green stems and leaves.
  3. Macerate. Soften and sweeten fruits by macerating them, which means to cover them with lemon juice or liqueur until they have absorbed the flavor.
  4. Proof. Before baking bread, you may need to proof the yeast. This tests if the yeast is still active by dissolving it in warm water with sugar or honey for five minutes to see if it foams or bubbles.

The Basic Kitchen: Glossary of Cooking Terms [Le Petites Gourmettes]
Glossary of Cooking Terms [Better Homes and Gardens]
Cooking Terms [Recipe Goldmine]
Glossary of Cooking Terms [Cookery]
Culinary Terms: Food Dictionary and Glossary of Cooking Terms [Culinary Arts About.com]

Did You Know You Can Substitute These Foods for Butter?

You likely already know that butter isn’t the healthiest food out there, but it is a staple ingredient in many dishes. If you want to continue eating the foods that you love without adding the fat and calories of butter, there are a number of ways to cut back. Here are some of the best butter substitutes.

  1. Applesauce. Though they seem like two very different foods, butter and applesauce are actually interchangeable in many recipes. It works best in cake-like dishes, and all you need to do is replace half of the butter in the recipe with that much applesauce to cut the calories in half. You can also replace all of the butter with applesauce, provided that you don’t mind the moist, dense texture that it produces.
  2. Avocado. In both savory and sweet dishes, avocado makes a wonderful alternative to fattening butter. Replacing half of the butter with avocado makes your dish healthier and gives it a chewier taste.
  3. Greek yogurt. Reduce calories and saturated fat by replacing half of the butter in any recipe with full-fat Greek yogurt. You can also experiment with the ratio of Greek yogurt to butter to adjust the taste and consistency.

Substitutes for Butter [Fit Day]
5 Common Butter Substitutes [Recipes by Answers]
Surprising Butter Substitutes to Save Calories and Fat [FitSugar]

Public Domain/Public Domain

The Facts About Dietary Supplements

Even if you try to eat a varied diet, it can be hard to get all the necessary nutrients. Many people turn to dietary supplements to fill in the holes. Are they safe for you? Here are some things you need to know about dietary supplements:

  • A dietary supplement can be a vitamin, mineral, herb, amino acid, or enzyme.
  • Dietary supplements are not drugs; they should not be used to treat a disease. They may claim to help with a certain ailment but are not actually approved to do so.
  • Eating a healthy diet is the best way to get all the nutrients you need. Taking a supplement is not a replacement for a healthy diet; supplements only aid in meeting the requirement.
  • It's important to do your research before taking any type of supplement. Some supplements should not be mixed with certain types of medication.
  • Just as it is not good to get too little of a supplement, it can also be bad to take in too much of something, especially iron, vitamin A, and vitamin D.
  • Remember: Claims on the label have not been certified by the FDA. 

Dietary Supplements: What You Need to Know [U.S. Food and Drug Administration]

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