Archive for October, 2009
Trick-or-Treat-Give Me Something Good to Eat
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It’s that time of year again, the beginning of the season for consumption of all things sweet. Halloween marks the start of the holiday season that extends until the beginning of January. The tendency to overindulge in sweet treats rises, the sugar rush ensues, and waistlines expand. Considering the rise in childhood obesity, here are some ideas to curb the sugar rush, and still keep the kids happy and healthy.
For the ghosts and goblins that come knocking: Select dark chocolate options for trick-or-treaters. Dark chocolate has health benefits such as antioxidants. Give out granola bars, 100% fruit chews, and yogurt or carob covered raisins. Look for the fun or mini size candy options for the ghouls and goblins; the smaller the better. Or, avoid candy altogether and hand out coloring books and crayons, glow sticks, or stickers.
And for your little pumpkins, avoid all unnecessary sugar on the day of Halloween. Omit soda, fruit drinks, certain cereals and other sugary stuff since you know they’ll be eating candy. Feed them a healthy meal before they go out roaming the neighborhood. The hungrier they are, the more candy they will eat along the way. Get them exercising! Throw in a Thriller mix and have a little zombie dance party. Also, have them walk from door to door.
Do you have any tips for healthy treaters?
Close to Last Place and Still a Winner?
Posted by: | Comments“Close to last place” isn’t exactly a phrase we associate with accomplishment. In fact, very little in life, it seems, counts much at all if you don’t “hit the nail on the head.” Well, it would seem that this may not be an absolute when it comes to living longer. As a chiropractor in San Jose, who has many middle-aged patients and who is also fully dedicated to encouraging my patients to exercise at every age level, I was very interested in the following study.
Researchers found that of the “least-fit” versus the “slightly more fit” in a recent study of nearly 4,400 healthy U.S. adults, roughly 20 percent with the lowest physical fitness levels doubled the risk of dying over the next nine years as the 20 percent with the next-lowest fitness levels. (In other words, those 20 percent who were nearly at the lowest fitness levels.) This is the familiar “bad news/good news” type of result. It is obviously bad news if you are a confirmed couch potato. However, it is genuinely good news for those who haven’t quite hit rock bottom in the sedentary lifestyle department but are not, by any stretch of the imagination, “exertive.” Apparently, those individuals who stay just moderately fit as they age may have greater longevity than those who are entirely out-of-shape, the study suggests.
Between 1986 and 2006, researchers assessed the fitness levels of 4,384 middle-aged and senior men and women during exercise treatmill tests. For approximately nine years thereafter, the researchers observed the study groups progress. The study considered such factors like obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes. This, in and of itself, highlights the importance of being physically fit. In an email to Reuters Health, lead researcher, Dr. Sandra Mandic of the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, stated: “Our findings suggest that a sedentary lifestyle, rather than differences in cardiovascular risk factors or age, may explain the two-fold higher mortality rates in the least-fit versus slightly more fit individuals.”
Nearly two-thirds of the least-fit study participants were not getting the minimum recommended amount of exercise, which is at least 30 minutes of moderate activity (like brisk walking) five or more days a week. “These results emphasize the importance of improving and maintaining high fitness levels by engaging in regular physical activity,” Mandic said, “particularly in poorly-fit individuals.”
After dividing the participants into five groups based on fitness levels, the researchers discovered that 13 percent of those who were in slightly better shape had died during the study period. However, 25 percent of the least-fit participants had died during the same period. Only 6 percent of the most-fit group (i.e., the ones who “hit the nail on the head,” so to speak) had died during the follow-up period.
The compelling finding was that overall, the five fitness-level groups showed little dissimilarity in their reported exercise routines over their adult lives, but where they contrasted was their activity levels in recent years. “Since it is recent physical activity that offers protection,” Mandic said, “it is important to maintain regular physical activity throughout life.”
And, naturally, imagine the health benefits we could all obtain if we sought to achieve the higher levels of fitness.
SOURCE: Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, August 2009.
Meatless Monday
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What’s for dinner at your house tonight? How about a meat–free dish? Just by reducing animal protein in your diet, you could lessen your risk of heart disease, cancer, obesity and diabetes. Many people have found that reducing animal protein consumption can help with low energy and sugar cravings. You can also improve the health of our environment by preserving natural resources like water and fossil fuels.
Join a growing number of people all over the country in the Meatless Monday movement and pledge to eat meat-free once a week. What will you eat in place of your meat entrée? Try incorporating more vegetables into your meal, which are high in fiber and will make you feel full and satisfied. Beans, peas, lentils, nuts and seeds are also a great meat alternative. They are high in protein, iron and magnesium and contain little to no saturated fat.
You’ll also reduce your carbon footprint by cutting back on meat just once a week. According to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, the meat industry generates nearly 1/5 of the man-made greenhouse gas emissions that are accelerating climate change worldwide. Our precious water resources are exhausted daily and the demand continues to grow. Approximately 1,800 to 2,500 gallons of water go into a single pound of beef. This total far surpasses the amount of water needed for vegetables and grains.
People are confused about how to start making improvements to their health, let alone make sizable changes to the environment. Start with what you put on your dinner plate. Start today. You don’t have to become a vegetarian to make a difference. Michael Pollan recently stated on the Oprah show: “Even one meatless day a week — a meatless Monday, which is what we do in my household — if everybody in America did that, that would be the equivalent of taking 20 million mid-size sedans off the road.”
Need recipe ideas? Check out Meatless Monday’s recipe page. Just think about the health message you’re starting today and how you can extend it for the rest of the week. Go meatless and the possibilities are endless!
Good Hydration is the Key to Good Health
Posted by: | CommentsChiropractors are determined to educate their patients about the importance of drinking a sufficient amount of water everyday. The positive repetitive stress is on “Hydrate! Hydrate! Hydrate!” Water, second only to air, is an essential requirement for human survival. It would appear reasonable, then, that drinking a healthy amount of water would be as instinctual as breathing in enough air, but an astonishing seventy-five percent of individuals in this country have mild, constant dehydration. (Most individuals are not breathing enough either, but one issue at a time.) You you cannot maintain or regain good health without drinking an adequate amount of water. Drinking plenty of water benefits every cell, tissue, and organ in the human body and keeps all its systems functioning. Your saliva, and the fluids surrounding your joints, are primarily water. Your blood is kept circulating and your body temperature and metabolism are moderated by water. The improvement of nutrient absorption and toxin removal, as well as the reduction of heartburn, hypertension, exhaustion, and headaches have been associated with staying well-hydrated.
When it comes to problems generated by dehydration, athletes are particularly at risk. Researcher, Susan Yeargin, assistant professor of athletic training in Indiana State’s College of Nursing, Health, and Human Services, said of athletes,”Physiologically, their core body temperature could be higher than it should have been if they were hydrated. Their heart rate will be higher, and they’re going to perceive that they’re working harder than they actually are.” A high percentage of collegiate and professional athletes begin the season dehydrated, putting their health at risk even before they begin strenuous workouts, according to researchers at Indiana State University. In fact, Pre-season physical examinations, in fact, found that 80 percent of football players displayed symptoms of.
Confused about how much water is enough water? Chiropractors, like the majority of other health care professionals, advise no less than eight, 8-ounce glasses of water every day for most patients, but for our patients who are athletes, or for those who carry around excess weight or exercise or work where it’s hot, we advise even more. There is a fairly simple way for you to make certain that you’re drinking enough water. Your urine color is a good guide. You’re well-hydrated if it is a light, pale yellow!
