Your health: An easier heart-rate monitor
Heart upgrade
It's Valentine's Day, so let's talk hearts.
Heart-rate monitors deliver important information, but they can be complicated to use and a pain to wear while exercising.
The new ePulse2 ($130 on Amazon.com) fixes that: You strap it around your forearm, where it reads your pulse by monitoring the blood moving through the big veins there. You can program it to calculate calories burned and other data — all without a chest strap, says The Washington Post. Find more information at impactsports.com.
When you exercise or shovel snow, the American Heart Association recommends you stay between 50 percent and 85 percent of your maximum heart rate, which you can estimate by subtracting your age from 220.
Foil the flu
February is often peak season for influenza in the United States.
Experts say that frequent hand-washing, keeping your fingers away from your face, eyes and mouth and steering clear of people who are coughing and sneezing might help keep you healthy, according to The Washington Post. But the best way to avoid flu altogether is to succumb to a shot, which is recommended for everyone age 6 months and older.
The vaccine takes about two weeks to become effective, but it's not too late. Supplies remain plentiful and available at such locations as pharmacies and grocery stores. The CDC provides a Flu Vaccine Finder at cdc.gov/flu/protect/keyfacts.htm. Two points to remember: Influenza's not just a bad cold; it can be deadly. And you cannot catch it from the vaccine.
Produce picks
What's the best bet in the produce section this month? Try something orange.
Clementines, persimmons, sweet potatoes and butternut squash are among the fruits and vegetables that are at their prime in wintertime. Tiny, low-calorie clementines are bursting with vitamin C, while persimmons, sweet potatoes and butternut squash are rich in vitamins C and A.
400-calorie fix
Counting calories gets tedious. Plus, it's hard to know how best to divvy up your daily allotment. One new solution: Think in 400-calorie chunks. The book “400 Calorie Fix” by Liz Vaccariello gives examples of 400-calorie meals. A sample breakfast: a whole-wheat English muffin with butter, low-fat yogurt with honey and strawberries. Put four meals together for a healthful, weight-friendly 1,600-calorie day.