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"  You can spot-treat your carpet, nip out the weeds in your flower bed, and patch a leaky tire\u2014why not apply some of that same bite-size strategy to your health? We&amp;#039;ve consulted top experts and pulled together the latest research to create a part-by-part guide to keeping your body running at optimal levels. The best bit? Like your body, all these tips work together, so every little move will give your whole system a boost. Read on for the easiest approach to good health yet\u2014top to bottom! ABOVE THE NECK  Head Chill out\u2014 literally. A new study led by Harvard researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center found that for every rise of 9\u00B0F on a given day, your risk of getting a killer headache also goes up. If you&amp;#039;re at home and feel a headache coming on, keep the thermostat down and, wherever you are, ice your forehead or drink something cool\u2014 it can actually lower your body temperature by a few degrees.  Hair Get your zinc on. What you&amp;#039;re eating can have a huge effect on how lustrous your hair is looking. &amp;quot;Zinc is essential in helping your hair grow,&amp;quot; says Tanya Zuckerbrot, MS, RD, author of The F-Factor Diet. &amp;quot;It also helps keep the oil glands around the health middle ground healthy head to toe 23 clever ways to protect your body follicles working properly, meaning no dandruff and just the right amount of gloss.&amp;quot; Get zinc from foods such as lean beef, chicken, peanut butter and chickpeas (these also contain hairstrengthening protein).BONUS Your gums will stay healthy. Zinc acts as an anti-inflammatory and helps stop plaque buildup.  Brain Enrich your meals with omega-3s. Time and again, studies show that people who eat diets rich in these fatty acids (found in salmon and nuts) test high for mental sharpness.  Ears Set aside a chunk of time during the day for silence. An hour is ideal, but if that&amp;#039;s not possible, start with 10 minutes and work your way up. Constant exposure to sounds over 85 decibels\u2014noise that&amp;#039;s loud, but through which you can comfortably have a conversation, like in a busy restaurant\u2014 can, over time, lead to hearing loss.BONUS Your skin will glow! &amp;quot;Anything you do to take your day down a notch will slow the production of stress hormones and help clear your complexion,&amp;quot; says David Colbert, MD, founder of New York Dermatology Group in New York City.  Eyes Eat your greens. Leafy ones like spinach and kale contain the nutrients lutein and beta-carotene, which are critical to vision retention as we age.BONUS Dark-green foods are also high in folic acid, which research shows can help reduce long-term hearing loss.  Gums Make sure you&amp;#039;re getting vitamin D. It&amp;#039;s a major player in the battle against gum inflammation and periodontal disease, which have also been strongly linked to heart disease. &amp;quot;Don&amp;#039;t forget that sunlight makes your body produce natural vitamin D,&amp;quot; says Zuckerbrot.  &amp;quot;Spending just 15 minutes outdoors twice a week, plus eating D-rich foods like milk and tuna, will keep your gums healthy.&amp;quot;  Teeth Watch out for acidic foods and drinks like soda, wine and citrus fruits. They do a number on your tooth enamel, eroding it and making teeth discolored, more sensitive and susceptible to decay. A few easy tricks to minimize their effect: Try to eat acidic foods only when you&amp;#039;re having an entire meal, so you&amp;#039;ll produce more saliva and neutralize the acids. Chewing sugar-free gum (a saliva stimulant) right after having acidic foods and drinks also helps. Drink through a straw whenever you can; that way less of the liquid comes in direct contact with your teeth.  THE MIDDLE GROUND  Skin Before sunscreen, prime your skin with vitamin C and hyaluronics. &amp;quot;We&amp;#039;re discovering that to optimize sun protection, the best approach is to multilayer,&amp;quot; says Dr. Colbert. &amp;quot;The right ingredients will help enforce the shield you&amp;#039;re building with sunscreen.&amp;quot; Start with a thin layer of vitamin C cream to help replenish the collagen that sun exposure tends to wear down, then add lotion containing hyaluronic acid\u2014a natural substance that locks in the moisture. (Check out the derma e line, available at drugstore. com) Finish up with sunscreen and you&amp;#039;ll be set to take on the elements. Or you can start with a hyaluronic acid lotion, then add a moisturizer/ vitamin C/sunscreen combo.BONUS No more tired eyes. Both vitamin C and hyaluronics have a plumping effect, which will help lighten those dark undereye circles.  Back Muscle up. &amp;quot;The stability of your spine is 80% due to muscle strength,&amp;quot; says Jorg Blech, author of Healing Through Exercise. Focus on your core muscles, which support your back, by doing exercises like sit-ups (as many as you can do comfortably) twice a week. A 2008 study at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, for example, showed that core exercises were an especially effective remedy for lower back pain.BONUS You&amp;#039;ll burn more calories. The more muscles you have, the faster your metabolism.  Breasts Get on a regular exercise schedule. Time and time again, research is showing that exercise plays a role in reducing breast cancer risk. One study showed that as little as 1 hour and 15 minutes to 2 hours and 30 minutes per week reduced risk by 18%. Women who exercise regularly often have less body fat and lower levels of circulating estrogen, which may help reduce breast cancer risk. Aim for 45 to 60 minutes of any physical activity (walking, biking, yoga) about five times a week.BONUS Your mood will improve. New research shows that as little as one hour of low-impact exercise (like walking) per week had a significant positive effect on people&amp;#039;s moods.  Hands Deep-moisturize. All that hand washing to avoid germs really sucks the moisture out of your skin, which, if left untreated, can develop eczema, a condition that causes itchy, dry, flaky patches. Moisturize frequently with a cream or lotion thick enough to form a protective layer, says Eric Schweiger, MD, clinical instructor of dermatology at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City.  Heart Grab some grapes. They contain a powerful antioxidant called resveratrol, which can significantly reduce your risk of heart disease. It&amp;#039;s also found in wine (part of the reason a glass of red wine can be good for your heart), but drinking more than about one 4-oz glass a day can raise the risk for other diseases, including breast cancer. But you can eat grapes every day.  Quitting smoking can reduce your risk of dying from heart disease by 50%.  Lungs Go Mediterranean\u2014 with your diet, that is. According to a recent Harvard study, it turns out that people eating diets rich in vitamins C and E, betacarotene, flavonoids and omega- 3s\u2014all nutrients you&amp;#039;d get a lot of from a Mediterranean diet\u2014 were significantly less prone to breathing problems like asthma and chronic bronchitis. Researchers think that the antioxidants may protect the lungs from stress, while the omega-3s helps reduce inflammation.BONUS A 2008 study in the British Journal of Cancer\u2014the largest of its kind\u2014reinforced the idea that the diet also cuts cancer risk.  Kidneys Stay clear of processed foods. They&amp;#039;re loaded with salt, a big cause of kidney stones, which are on the rise in women, says Spencer Long, MD, a Pennsylvania urologist. A second way to stay clear of stones: Drink lots of water, especially in the summer months, when we&amp;#039;re sweating a lot and most cases of kidney stones occur.BONUS Reduce your chances of a heart attack. Research shows that reducing your salt intake by just 3 grams a day could lower your odds of having a heart attack by 8%.  Liver Go easy on the acetaminophen and try some selenium. A recent study in The Journal of the American Medical Association found that even at recommended doses, just four days of using acetaminophen may cause short-term liver damage. On the other hand, selenium\u2014a mineral found in turkey, eggs, oatmeal, fish and mushrooms\u2014has been shown to boost liver function.BONUS Lower your lung cancer risk. Studies show that selenium also protects the lungs and may help improve asthma symptoms.  Stomach Trim some serious fat from your food. People who are heartburn-free eat about 10 grams less fat daily than those who get that uncomfortable sensation in their chest regularly, according to a recent study. A few little fat-reducing tweaks, like switching from whole milk to skim and eggs to egg whites, trimming the skin off chicken and going with 90% lean meat, really add up.  Pancreas Rest up! Getting a good night&amp;#039;s sleep is one of the best things you can do for your pancreas, the organ that&amp;#039;s responsible for producing insulin (which you want to keep low). &amp;quot;Losing sleep for even one night is associated with spikes in insulin resistance the very next day,&amp;quot; says Rubin Naiman, PhD, clinical assistant professor of medicine at the University of Arizona&amp;#039;s Center for Integrative Medicine. The more resistant your body becomes to insulin, the harder your pancreas has to work. As time goes on, this puts you at greater risk for type 2 diabetes.BONUS Reduce wrinkles. &amp;quot;Our muscles are at their most deeply relaxed when we&amp;#039;re dreaming, and that happens during the REM stage of sleep, which you&amp;#039;re in more during the latter third of the night,&amp;quot; says Dr. Naiman. &amp;quot;By letting our muscles rest for a few hours each night, we&amp;#039;re easing out lines and wrinkles.&amp;quot;  BELOW THE BELT  Intestines Have a cup of coffee and a handful of almonds. Recent research shows that both can up the levels of &amp;quot;good&amp;quot; bacteria in your digestive system, helping ward off illness and aiding good digestion.  Colon Amp up your calcium intake. According to a 2009 study in the Archives of Internal Medicine, a diet that&amp;#039;s high in calcium may actually help ward off colon cancer in women. The best-off? Women who got an average of 1,200 mg each day. (That&amp;#039;s about as much as the recommended daily intake for dairy, which you can get by having 1 cup of reduced-fat milk, two slices of cheese and 1 cup of yogurt.)  Ovaries Stay away from trans fats! Fortunately, many food manufacturers are no longer using these in their products, but check nutrition labels on packaged foods to be sure (look for partially hydrogenated oils or fat).  You already know that they&amp;#039;re bad for your heart; now there&amp;#039;s another reason to ban them from your diet: The landmark Nurses&amp;#039; Healthy Study II (involving more than 18,000 women) found that for every 2% of calories women ate from trans fats instead of monounsaturated fats (the healthy kind found in nuts and avocados), their risk of infertility due to ovulation problems more than doubled. If you consume 1,800 calories a day, 2% from trans fats equals just 4 grams\u2014not a lot.  Cervix Steer clear of cigarettes and secondhand smoke. They raise your risk for just about every disease, and now research shows that smoking ups your risk for cervical cancer by approximately 50%, according to the American Cancer Society. The toxins in nicotine travel through the bloodstream all the way to the cervix (among other places), where they damage cervical cells.  Knees Walk! As little as 10 to 15 minutes of walking (or even running) a day can help stimulate your knee cartilage and protect it from degeneration and osteoarthritis.  Feet Give them a rinse down\u2014with dandruff shampoo\u2014 and a massage. Washing your feet with a shampoo containing selenium sulfide two to three times a week can help prevent foot fungus. (Try Head and Shoulders Intensive Solutions.) And get this: Nearly 80% of Americans have experienced foot pain, says the American Podiatric Medical Association. Much of this is thanks to\u2014big surprise\u2014spending too much time in uncomfortable shoes. Show your feet a little love by giving them a massage daily, using long strokes from the ball of your foot down to your heel. Or if you&amp;#039;re lucky, convince a very good friend (or husband) to do it!  Your feet are more injuryprone than any other body part. So treat &amp;#039;em right! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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