More health for all

To look and feel your best at every age, it’s important to make smart lifestyle and health choices. Here are six simple things that women can do every day (or with regularity) to ensure good health: Health Tip #1: Eat a healthy diet.  “You want to eat as close to a natural foods diet as you can,” says Donald Novey, MD, an integrative medicine physician with the Advocate Medical Group in Park Ridge, Ill. That means a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables and fewer processed foods. Eat whole grains and high-fiber foods and choose leaner cuts of meat, fish, and poultry. Include low-fat dairy products in your diet as well — depending on your age, you need between 800 and 1,500 milligrams of calcium daily to help avoid osteoporosis, Dr. Novey says. Avoid foods and beverages that are high in calories, sugar, salt, and fat. Healthy eating will help you maintain a proper weight for your height, which is important because being overweight can lead to a number of illnesses. Looking for

Uric acid and the uric acid blood test A uric acid blood test, also known as a serum uric acid measurement, determines how much uric acid is present in your blood. The test can help determine how well your body produces and removes uric acid. Uric acid is a chemical produced when your body breaks down foods that contain organic compounds called purines. Foods and beverages with a high purine content include: liver anchovies mackerel dried beans beer wine Purines are also created through the natural process of cell breakdown in the body. Most uric acid is dissolved in the blood, filtered through the kidneys, and expelled in the urine. Sometimes the body produces too much uric acid or doesn’t filter out enough of it. Hyperuricemia is the name of the disorder that occurs when you have too much uric acid in your body. High levels of uric acid are associated with a condition called gout. Gout is a form of arthritis that causes swelling of the joints, especia