I’ve reported on the merits of xylitol before, and now it seems you can add yet another reason to incorporate this sugar substitute made from the fiber of fruits and veggies into your life. Sounds good to me.

This has been your Healthbolt Easy Health Tip of the Day! That is all.

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Guys, this one’s for you (although I’d imagine the findings would hold true – or at least be similar – for womenfolk as well.)

Harvard scientists have found a cheap disease-fighter that you probably (hopefully) already do: Flossing your teeth!

In their research, they found that out of 50,000 guys, those with gum disease had a 30% to 50% greater risk of kidney, blood or pancreatic cancer. Why? Possibly because the inflammation caused by gum disease can egg on the growth of cancer cells.

The key, of course, is to floss daily. And brush, too. Ahem.

This has been your Healthbolt Easy Health Tip of the Day. Go forth with fresh breath and shiny teeth, m’friends.

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According to the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, stoking up a vanilla-scented candle can reduce anxiety by 63%. That’s a ton!

While vanilla was the scent of choice in this instance, researchers acknowledge that scent is handled by the same area of the brain as memory, so smelling any aroma that brings back good feelings for you can have the same effect.

So if relaxation, calmness and optimism are on your To-Do list today, grab your Bic and light that wick.

This has been your Happy Living Tip for the day. Enjoy.

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Bloody noses – a staple in the lives of kids, sports-playing teens and allergy-ridden adults – are not to be treated by tipping the head back as once was thought. Instead, you are to lower and tip your head forward, catching any wayward bleeding in a tissue.

Why is this? Because tipping the head back will send blood down into the esophagus and potentially into the stomach, which can be irritating and possibly cause vomiting. But by leaning the head forward, you can avoid such issues.

Other treatment tips? Pinch the meaty party of your nose on the sides just below your bridge to help ease bleeding. Also be sure to keep your nose above heart level, which can also help slow things down.

If the bleeding hasn’t stopped within 20 minutes or your trauma was caused by a blow to the head, be sure to see your doctor. Otherwise, leaning forward should do you well.

This has been a Healthbolt Easy Health Tip.
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Here’s the scoop: Joanne G. Gould, M.A., R.D., of the OMS Wellness Institute says that by using our flair for making our homes lovely, we could cut our daily caloric intake by a cool 200 calories a day – that’s enough to melt 20 pounds in a year! Sounds like a plan. You with me?

Our assignment is this:

Ditch the red and orange paints/pillows/cushions in lieu of blue.

Why? Bright colors stimulate hunger by firing up a stress response within us (hm, no wonder so many restaurants are ga-ga for those red and mustard color schemes). Instead, opt to deck out a room in blue. Because aside from healthy blueberries, there are so few foods that are blue, your mind will subconsciously think of things other than eating (like sunny skies or ocean waves, perhaps?)

Turn off the tube.

Why? Research shows that when people chow down in noisy places, they are apt to eat more. The distractions around us keep us from really acknowledging how much we’ve actually consumed, making it far too easy for those fifteen extra chips to pass through our lips. Instead, hide the TV remote and pick up the one for the stereo instead. Soothing music makes you feel relaxed, mellow and more mindful of your surroundings (including those chips).

C’mon Baby, Light My Fire.

Well, not my fire, but a fire. Like on a candle. A vanilla-scented one to be exact. Filling your home with beautiful and tantalizing candles and lighting them before a meal will not only boost your mood, but will also curb your hankering for dessert. How’s that for a redecorating benefit? See, the vanilla scent tricks your brain into thinking you’ve already indulged in the sweets, making a smaller portion of dessert sufficient for satisfaction. Yes! A legitimate reason to add “buy more candles” to the top of my To-Do list.

Reach for the stars…and the cookie jar.

Finally, sweep that cookie jar (no matter how cute) off your kitchen counter and into an out-of-the-way cupboard. Doing so will not only give you more space to prep some healthy meals (ahem), but will also cut down on your between-meal snacking. I guess it’s that whole, “Out of sight, out of mind” thing. I call it another good reason to spring for more candles – to fill up the now-empty space!

So, have you tried any of these tactics? Do you plan to? Drop us a comment and let us know.

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Did things get a little crazy with the chocolate lips and conversation hearts this Valentine’s Day? Or maybe raiding the kids’ candy stash is an hourly occurrence for you (surely I can’t be the only one.) If your dietary efforts seem thwarted by the sheer amount of candy carcasses piling up around you, take heed…and save those wrappers as cold, hard evidence.

Why? A new study from Cornell University has found that those folks who save candy wrappers as a visual reminder of their treat consumption eat about half as many candies over the course of a few hours as those who do away with the evidence. Your eyes settling on the wrappings helps your brain to process how much you’ve actually eaten and keeps you honest. And since humans are generally visual creatures, this might be just the trick you need to keep your candy habit under wraps. Get it? Wraps. Ha!

Don’t go thinking candies are the only offenders, however. A similar study showed the same type of outcome when diners indulged in a chicken wing extravaganza. Those who had the bones removed from their sight underestimated how much they actually wolfed down by about 50 percent!

I guess instead of blaming the Smarties carcasses piled up next to my computer on my kids, I’ll give this candy wrapper/wing bone-veiwing thing a try. Surely, I’ll look like Heidi Klum’s body double when all is said and done.

What? It could happen…

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