Archive for Wellness
Nutrient density & weight loss
Posted by: | CommentsHealth benefits of raw food
Posted by: | CommentsHealth and longevity biomarkers
Posted by: | CommentsThree categories of human biomarkers, from the Longevity Diet: Discover Calorie Restriction – The Only Proven Way to Slow the Aging Process and Maintain Peak Vitality, by B. Delaney and L. Walford, 2005 (p. 6):
1. Functional Age: Vital capacity, breath holding time, maximal oxygen consumption (VO2 max), kidney function (creatine clearance), diameter of pupil of eye, visual accommodation, hearing, level of DHEA hormone in, tests of mental function .
2. Predictive Value for Remaining Life Expectancy: Vital capacity, heart size, systolic pressure, hand-grip strength, presence or absence of autoantibodies in, immune-function tests, reaction time.
3. Segmental Aging (Aging if individual parts of, or systems in, the body) and/or disease Susceptibility: Glucose-tolerance test; levels of cho9lesterol, LDL, HDL, triglycerides, and homocysteine; systolic pressure; level of parathyroid hormone.
These measurements are good indications not only of health (and absence of disease) but also of one’s longevity potential (and “relative” aging versus one’s chronological age.)
I highly recommend this very sensible and practical “guidebook.” Of course, I have always been a big fan of Dr. Roy Walford’s work (The 120 Year Diet), from which this table has been adapted from. IMHO, Dr. Walford’s book, and Dr. Fuhrman’s Eat to Live are the best references one can read (and re-read) relating to nutrition and health.
Installing the “infrastucture” of wellness: experiments in deep work-life balance
Posted by: | CommentsThe medical “business model” in a nutshell
Posted by: | CommentsIn an eight-year study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, high levels of myeloperoxidase (MPO) were closely associated with the early development of heart disease. MPO is a protein secreted by white cells. It signals inflammation and releases a bleach-like substance that damages the cardiovascular system. Its predictive abilities were independent of classic risk factors such as high cholesterol, high pressure and diabetes.
“A high MPO reading now indicates that the physician should concentrate on reducing known risk factors, but MPO itself could eventually become a target of treatment, according to Dr. Stanley L. Hazen, head of the section of preventive cardiology and cardiac rehabilitation at the Cleveland Clinic.”
How absurd is this??
Why will the marker be the target of the treatment? Why would a healer merely try to fix the symptom? The profit model involved here is quite clear. Find a “quantifiable” symptom. Create a chemical that controls the level of the symptom. Sell the chemical. Make money.
Why can’t we focus on the the cause of the high MPO in the first place?
This is really no different from the cholesterol-statin profitability dynamic. “High cholesterol levels are correlated to cardiac problems. Ergo, control the numbers by giving the patient a cholesterol lowering substance .” Why not just attack the root cause of the high cholesterol itself — i.e., a faulty diet and a lifestyle of sustained overconsumption and imbalance?
Be very careful about supplements
Posted by: | CommentsScary stuff from the Johns Hopkins University health reports:
“… vitamin E supplements in dosages of 200 IU or greater raise the risk of death. The Hopkins team analyzed data from 19 studies involving nearly 136,000 participants that compared vitamin E supplements with placebo. They found that increasing amounts of vitamin E were associated with a greater risk of , and the risk was especially great in people taking more than 400 IU of vitamin E daily. It is important to note that it is impossible to consume this much vitamin E from food alone. The typical American diet supplies just 6 to 10 IU daily; the recommended daily allowance for vitamin E is about 22 IU daily.
Much of the fanfare for antioxidant supplements came from the largely unregulated industry that manufactures and sells them. But many doctors recommended antioxidant supplements because of the recognized dangers of free radicals and because some benefits were reported from observational studies of people taking antioxidant supplements and eating antioxidant-rich foods. The trouble with such observational studies is that 1) they could not tell whether antioxidant supplements caused the benefits; 2) people may not accurately report what they eat; and 3) the health-conscious people who usually take part in such research may be less likely to smoke and more likely to practice other good health habits. These factors — or a combination of them — may be responsible for the protective effect attributed to antioxidant supplements. So these benefits may only be a perception — not real.
Meanwhile, test-tube studies have found that high doses of antioxidants can turn into pro-oxidants, in other words, produce free radicals. Antioxidant supplements, unlike the nutrients found in food, may somehow upset the balance of antioxidants absorbed into the body. Carefully controlled clinical trials, the gold standard in medical research, have not yet found any positive evidence for antioxidant supplements.”
Here’s the bottom line based on the studies:
“… not to spend your money on vitamin E or C, selenium, or beta carotene supplements, or on any of the antioxidant tails on the market. To help your body fight aging and disease caused by free radicals, your best course of action is to eat a diet rich in fruits, vegetables (especially leafy greens), and whole grains. Nuts, in moderate amounts, are an excellent addition. … A healthy diet should be your chief source of vitamins, minerals, and other life-giving nutrients.”
Wellness beyond weight loss
Posted by: | CommentsAn incredibly useful book to read is Ultraprevention, by M. Hyman and M. Liponis. Its one of the most intelligent books I’ve come across because it takes a systemic and proactive approach to wellness — “a method of thinking, evaluation, and treatment derived from the study of health.” It identifies the five major forces of managing one’s health, and establishes in easy-to-understand language how illness can be traced back to a rupture in one or more of these forces or systems:
1. Malnutrition (sludge)
2. Impaired metabolism (burnout)
3. Inflammation (heat)
4. Impaired detoxification (waste)
5. Oxidative stress (rust)
The book begins with a dissection of the current anomalies in the thinking and practice of medicine, exposing the myths and ideas embedded in the health care system that compromise/endanger a patient’s life. The second part of the book focuses on the “five forces” as the pivotal concepts in thinking about health and disease. It articulates how things can go wrong long before clinical symptoms begins to appear (read: pain). More importantly, it emphasizes that these are interrelated “systems” that can go out of whack by adopting seemingly benign habits/behaviors that can then slowly cause premature (and entirely preventable) disease and suffering.
When ignorance is abetted by environmental and societal pressures (e.g., “overconsumptive undernutrition” primarily generated by social trends, advertising and/or misinformation of the public), things can go out of control without us being aware that it is happening. The Principle of Cause and Effect holds true: for example, elevated homocysteine, or insulin levels, may not cause symptoms, but certain effects such as strokes, heart attacks, cancer, dementia are bound to happen.
“True health is not the absence of disease. Just because you have not been diagnosed with a disease doesn’t mean that your body is functioning well. But if you wait until a disease has progresses to the stage when a doctor can find and diagnose it, that disease may already have advanced to a potentially fatal level.”
Here’s a sample of Hyman and Liponis’ take on Malnutrition (aka Sludge):
Over 80% of Americans are malnourished: too many calories, too few nutrients. The main areas of malnutrition are: (a) essential fatty acids, (b) essential minerals (Magnesium, Zinc, Calcium, Selenium), (c) folic acid and the B-complex vitamins, and (d) antioxidants. Furthermore, not only is the right kind/s of food necessary for health, it is also imperative that we have properly functioning digestive and absorptive processes to utilize the food we take into our bodies.
So herein lies the conundrum: what causes failure in our digestive and absorptive processes (e.g., Celiac disease, diverticulitis, liver and gallbladder problems) in the first place? Is it genetics, or is it what we eat and do to our bodies? Simple question, maddeningly complex problem to solve. Ultimately, for each individual, there are several avenues to escape from “the vicious cycle.” Whether it is exercise, mindbody practice (such as yoga or chi gung), nutritional excellence, or informed supplementation, (or all of the above) one has to start somewhere.
It always starts with a single step. And it is learning and knowledge that propels us to take this first step.
The China Study, cliffnotes version
Posted by: | CommentsHere are the key points of Dr. C. Campbell’s The China-Oxford-Cornell Diet and Health Project aka The China Study. This is the most comprehensive study ever done on the relationship between diet and disease.
1. Do not obsess about single nutrients, food, or supplements. By eating from the proper food groups (i.e., whole foods like vegetables, legumes, fruits, nuts and seeds) you will have a nutritionally excellent diet.
2. What you eat is as important as how much you eat. The least active people in rural China consumed 30% more calories per pound of body weight. Yet had a 20% lower body mass index than average Americans.
3. What you eat plays a vital role in your overall health. This even extends to specific immunity to viral infections.
4. A nutrient rich diet and physically active lifestyle reduces the risks for several diseases at the same time. One observation was that diseases cluster together in the same geographic regions and for the same populations, which suggests that they may have a common cause.
5. Cholesterol is a strong predictor not only of heart disease risk, but also of cancer. Furthermore, diet is strongly linked to cholesterol levels. The best foods for disease prevention: unrefined, plant-based foods.
6. Breast cancer is not just a function of fat intake. There is a complex biochemical network that determines risk of breast cancer and other cancers. Focusing on one nutrient at a time is unlikely to result in any special benefit. It is much more advantageous to simply eat the right types of whole, unrefined foods and let your body take care of the rest.
7. You can virtually eliminate the risk of heart disease, by combining a nutritionally excellent diet with an active lifestyle. In some populations in China, heart disease is almost nonexistent.
8. Type I diabetes, (which strikes young children) is strongly linked to cow’s milk consumption and premature weaning. For infants, the best food is human breast milk.
9. Eye diseases commonly associated with old age, including cataracts and macular degeneration, are linked to diet. Antioxidants found in fruits and vegetables protect against these diseases. The best foods for your eyes are dark, green, leafy vegetables like spinach.
10. Bone health is strongly related with the ratio of vegetable to animal protein intake. Eating more nutrient rich plant foods and less animal foods result in better bone health. Populations that consume mostly plant foods and lead more physically active lifestyles have much lower rates of hip fracture than we do in America, even if they don’t consume dairy foods or calcium supplements.
11. Type 2 diabetes can be reversed in patients simply by changing to a nutrient-dense, mainly plant-based diet.
12. Many studies have consistently shown that dairy intake is linked to prostate cancer . A high dairy intake is one of the “most consistent dietary predictors for prostate cancer in the published literature.”
13. People always worry about getting enough protein. The real danger really lies in overconsumption of protein, especially an over reliance on animal protein.
Inspirational wellness model: “The Other Dr. Ruth”
Posted by: | Comments
Ruth Heidrich, Ph.D. is a six-time Ironman Triathlon finisher, holder of more than 900 gold medals from every distance from 100 meters to ultramarathons and triathlons. She has completed more than 60 marathons all over the world and has held three world fitness records in her age group at the Cooper Clinic in Dallas, Texas. She was named one of the “Top Ten Fittest Women in North America” in 1999. When she was seventy years old, Heidrich had the bone mass density of a woman in her early thirties and a resting heart rate of forty-four. Since being diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of forty-seven, she has won more than nine hundred athletic trophies and medals and has been cancer-free for more than twenty years. She is the author of A Race For Life, The Race For Life Cookbook, and Senior Fitness: Empowering Your Golden Years. She has been vegan for 25 years and a daily runner for 39 years.
Here’s her daily (vegan) meal plan:
Breakfast:
”Served in a LARGE bowl. All items are raw.
Lots of greens for the base: 3-4 leaves of Romaine, 1 stalk kale, 1 stalk of celery, 10 sprigs of parsley or cilantro. Slice and add 1 large carrot, 1/2 mango, 1 large banana, and half dozen large, seeded Globe grapes. Top off with 1 rounded Tbl of B12-fortified nutritional yeast, and 1-2 Tbl of blackstrap molasses.Because I eat this after my daily workout, this is served late and I eat no midday meal.”
Supper:
“Lots of greens for the base: 3-4 broccoli florettes, 2-3 stalks of kale, 1 stalk of celery, 1/4 unpeeled English cucumber, 1/4 head of green or red cabbage, 1 large carrot, 1/2 red (or orange, green, or yellow) bell pepper, 1/2 large field tomato, half a head of garlic (about 6 cloves) Half of a yam or sweet potato, raw.On top of the above ingredients, to 1-2 cups of prepared salsa (mild, medium or hot), add 1 Tbl of regular mustard, 1 Tbl of flax seed, freshly ground.”
Dessert:
“A base of blueberries (fresh or frozen, depending on availability and season) – 1/2 cup; 1/2 cup of a second fresh fruit (e.g. strawberries, bananas, grapes,); top with a small handful of walnuts, and 1Tbl. blackstrap molasses.”
Snacks:
“For those times when the hunger pangs strike, I eat carrot or celery sticks, grapes, dates, and in the evening, plain air-popped popcorn.”
Welcome to Weight Loss Sherpa!
Posted by: | CommentsAs your weight loss guide, I will be exploring three key topics that affect our success in losing weight and maintaining a healthy lifestyle: Food, Body, and Mind. My interests are the pursuit of nutritional excellence and how we use food as the key source of health and energy. How we approach training the body, as a system, to serve our larger goals. Lastly how we can use the mind in integrating, improving, and making meaning of our continuing struggle to remain sane and healthy in today’s times.
I would like to approach this blog as a place to share what I have learned about the process getting lean, healthy, and fit. I think of it as a “practice journal” not only about nutrition, eating, and food, but also about training both body and mind.
More significantly, I would like to focus on the intersection (i.e., the relationships) between food and mind, food and body, mind and body. I believe that the success or failure of our efforts (in our personal goals of health, personal relationships, or even our life’s work) intimately depend on how we manage these fundamental “intersections.”
Creating a healthy relationship with food requires both correct knowledge about nutrition, but more importantly, the ability to manage the emotional “gestalt” that gets in the way of recognizing and responding to true “physiological hunger.”
Food affects mood. Mood affects food. What comes first? And how do we break the negative dynamics that ultimately lead to disease? How does food affect the body? What happens to the systems (structurally, physiologically, energetically) when we do not sustain it with proper nutrients, overloading it beyond its capacity to repair and regenerate itself? Lastly, how do we move towards integrating the fracture between our body as a physical system, and the emotional/mental/spiritual objectives that define the pursuit of “a good and meaningful life?”
How do we get clear about right action? What actions should we do to obtain clarity in our lives?
We are what we eat. Food is a portal to the body-mind. It is both dependent and independent variable. Simultaneously, interdependently, con/sequentially, each one negating or supporting the other. Food. Body. Mind.
How do all these relate to weight loss? Simple. Being overweight means that at least one of these “systems” (or more likely, all three) are not in balance.
To lose weight, we first need to know what we don’t know. This is the beginning of the path.
