Empower Your Health

Taking control of your health may be easier than you think.  Here are some easy and effective ways to stay well.

Annual Checkups

The absolute best way to take control of your health is to be proactive. Getting your yearly checkup is the first line of defense for keeping your body healthy and free from illness. You can not only test for and monitor any health issues but also update vaccinations and talk to your doctor about questions or concerns you may have.

Of course, there’s more to your annual checkup than just seeing your regular physician for some blood pressure and cholesterol screenings. The American Cancer Society recommends that women protect against breast cancer by getting yearly mammograms starting at age 45. The American Cancer Society has also updated their guidelines for colon cancer screenings. Now it’s recommended that everyone get a colonoscopy at age 45 instead of 50. And the Skin Cancer Foundation suggests that you see a dermatologist once a year for a professional full-body exam to check for early indications of melanoma—more often if you have a history of sunburns or are otherwise at a higher risk of skin cancer.

Adopt a Healthy Meal Plan

Life is busy, and sticking to a healthy diet can be challenging, to say the least. When schedules get busy, fruits and vegetables are often the last things to make it onto your dinner plate. But a recent study shows that meal planning and preparation are associated with greater fruit and vegetable intake and lower body mass index (BMI).¹ So prepare parts or all of meals before the week starts, and make good use of your freezer. That way you can enjoy all the benefits of healthy home-cooked meals without having to spend a lot of time and energy in the kitchen.

Watch Your Weight

A surefire way to health empowerment is through weight loss. Losing weight can have a wide range of effects on your physical health and outlook on life. Though reducing body fat can be easier said than done, there’s good news: You don’t have to lose much for benefits to kick in. A modest amount of weight loss—about 5 to 10 percent of your body weight—can improve all sorts of health concerns, including type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and low HDL (good) cholesterol levels.²

Regular Exercise

Consistently elevating your heart rate can work wonders for your health perspective. Exercise has been shown to provide seemingly unlimited health benefits, both physical and mental. Regular activity doesn’t just help with weight management and improve cardiovascular and musculoskeletal health; exercise can also reduce feelings of depression, anxiety, and stress while boosting self-efficacy and self-esteem.³ Fortunately, you don’t have to join a gym to fit in some fitness into your days. Look for opportunities to be physically activity. Take the stairs instead of the elevator, kick the ball around with the kids, or take the dog out for a walk around the neighborhood.  No dog? Take yourself out for a nice walk.

Daily Supplements

A few key nutrients can have a big impact on your well-being. Reinforce your health with one or more of these daily supplements.

Green nutrients. Greens like arugula, kale, and spinach are packed with vitamins A, C, and K, as well as calcium, iron, magnesium, and potassium—nutrients that every woman needs. But, while salads, soups, and smoothies are a great way to get your greens, who has time? For those days when a stint in the kitchen just isn’t in the cards, consider reaching for a powdered drink mix for a quick and convenient boost of nutrients. Brimming with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, products like Kyo-Green Powdered Drink Mix a great way to start the day or as an afternoon pick-me-up. To fortify your immune defense, Kyo-Green Harvest Blend combines ancient grains, plant-based nutrients, prebiotic fiber, and herbal extract phytoactives to support and maintain proper immune function.

Aged Garlic Extract. We like to say “garlic is good but aged garlic extract is better”. Studies show that Aged Garlic Extract (AGE) delivers a number of health benefits, especially for your cardiovascular and immune systems. Published studies document that AGE can reduce blood pressure in patients with uncontrolled hypertension and improve arterial stiffness, inflammation, and your gut microbial profile.⁴ AGE supplementation also modulates immune cell function, helping to reduce the duration and severity of colds and flu.⁵ Typical dosage of 600 mg of Aged Garlic Extract daily supplies strong baseline support for your heart and immune health.

Vitamin D + calcium. Bone loss can lead to osteoporosis, a condition of weak brittle bones that break easily. However, the Women’s Health Initiative trial showed that taking calcium and vitamin D together can substantially reduce the risk of bone fracture in postmenopausal women.⁶ Adequate vitamin D levels have also been shown to benefit muscle function and prevent injurious falls requiring hospitalization in older community-dwelling women.⁷

Omega-3s. Men may be more likely to suffer from heart disease, but women have a higher mortality and worse prognosis after an acute cardiovascular event.⁸ A recent review shows that omega-3 fatty acids docosahexaenoic (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) can reduce the of risk of cardiovascular episodes, including fatal heart attacks.⁹ What’s more, another study showed that omega-3s are positively associated with decreased frailty and improved mobility and cognition in older people.¹⁰

Don’t let your well-being slip away. Going to your annual checkups, making a few tweaks to your lifestyle, and using a proven supplement are all you need to really take control of your health.

1. Hanson AJ. Cooking and Meal Planning as Predictors of Fruit and Vegetable Intake and BMI in First-Year College Students. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2019;16(14):2462.
2. Ryan DH. Weight Loss and Improvement in Comorbidity: Differences at 5%, 10%, 15%, and Over. Curr Obes Rep. 2017;6(2):187–94.
3. Stivers A. The Impact of Exercise on Mental Health: The Use of Exercise as Prevention and Treatment for Mental Health Disorders. UNI Scholar Works. 2023.
4. Ried K. The Effect of Kyolic Aged Garlic Extract on Gut Microbiota, Inflammation, and Cardiovascular Markers in Hypertensives: The GarGIC Trial. Frontiers in Nutrition. 2018;5.
5. Percival SS. Aged Garlic Extract Modifies Human Immunity. J Nutr. 2016;146(2):433S–6S.
6. Prentice RL. Health risks and benefits from calcium and vitamin D supplementation: Women’s Health Initiative clinical trial and cohort study. Osteoporos Int. 2013;24:567–80.
7. Sim M. Association between vitamin D status and long-term falls-related hospitalization risk in older women. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2021;69(11):3114–23.
8. Gao Z. Gender differences in cardiovascular disease. Medicine in Novel Technology and Devices.2019;4:100025.
9. Kris-Etherton PM. Recent Clinical Trials Shed New Light on the Cardiovascular Benefits of Omega-3 Fatty Acids. Methodist Debakey Cardiovasc J. 2019;15(3):171–8.
10. Strike SC. A High Omega-3 Fatty Acid Multinutrient Supplement Benefits Cognition and Mobility in Older Women: A Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled Pilot Study. The Journals of Gerontology: Series A. 2016;71(2):236–42.

This article is for informational purposes only. This article is not, nor is it intended to be, a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment and should never be relied upon for specific medical advice.