Pack Light: health

In the soft dusk, we could see all the family lined up ashore. They flashed their headlights and honked their horns, jumped up and down and waved madly, and we did the same. Slowly we drifted farther and farther away with the wind. We were both sad to have to leave so soon, but grateful that the weather had afforded us those precious 24 hours spent there. After half an hour had passed, we saw the lights of the cars heading home and turned to take on the passage ahead.

Time with family is a precious gift! Regardless of our lineage, I hope we will learn to treat each other like the One Great Human Family that we are!! One Love!

Dirtbag Diaries Podcast: Be Mine

Head Over Heels (video)

Bad sleep 'dramatically' alters body (James Gallagher)

The activity of hundreds of genes was altered when people's sleep was cut to less than six hours a day for a week.

What Happens to Your Body During a 30-Minute Run? (Jaylin Allen)

Our Common Waters: Every living thing has the right to clean water (Patagonia)

Steph Davis: Learning to Fly

When my marriage and my career unraveled simultaneously, I found myself slipping into a downward spiral of anxiety, fear and loss of faith as my world fell apart around me.

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Who doesn't want to be happy? True, there is more to life than being happy. Much more. But I think most of us, if given the choice, are in favor of being happy.

Here are "10 Things Happy People Do Differently" (Psychology Today). Prana offers this list of suggestions, which seem to get at "happiness" from a number of directions. The Mayo Clinic gives their recommendations. And WebMD has a thought list as well. And what about the economics of happiness?

We all know we'd be happier if we didn't compare ourselves to others (the birth of envy), but it's so hard to quit. And we're told that buying experiences and spending money to build relationships make us happier than buying things for ourselves:

Buying New Experiences, Not Things, Tied to Happiness (Psych Central, 2012)
Get Happy Spending Money…Just Not on Yourself or Buying Stuff (Life Edited, 2012)
For Happiness, Spend Money On Experiences (NPR, 2009)

Finally, don't forget that happiness kills.

Monday, January 14, 2013

|Heart Health -- Summary (UPDATED)

I recently posted two collections of resources on healthy hearts:

I also asked some people for their thoughts, and this is what they shared. First, a comedian, I mean, physician wrote:

So the heart is an incredibly important organ. Actually so important that without it working, the average person would die. This may be able to be proved in studies, the NIH is still considering funding for this kind of groundbreaking research.

As you have demonstrated, there are many voices giving recommendations on what is heart healthy. Very little can be proved or disproved. I do find it fairly compelling that a Mediterranean style of eating is associated with a lower risk of heart disease (nonstarchy veges, olives/olive oil, avacado, legumes, almonds, etc).

I agree with exercise being important. The hardest issue for most people is just doing it. I recommend at least 30-35 minutes a day, if it can be done together for a sustained heart rate effect, all the better.

My reading of, The China Study, would lead me to suggest that animal-based proteins, such as in eggs, milk, cheese, or delicious meat, may be more problematic than the cholesterol content. This may especially be true for cancer promotion.

What you feed your heart is important, but of course ultimately the most important is Who lives in your "heart." A merry heart is good medicine. No matter how many years your heart beats on earth, your "heart" can be filled with His Spirit.

Exercise--yes. Eat heart-healthy foods--yes. Sleep 7.5 hours a night--yes. Laugh--yes. Lose weight if needed--yes. Trust in God--yes.

A family member shared:

I purchased an ebook on walking. They said there is not a lot of difference in health between walking 30 or 60 minutes, six days a week, but a huge difference between none and 30.... The best straight supplement for the heart, most say, is Co-Q10.... Also, turmeric and vitamin k-2 are both for helping the blood system. Turmeric prevents (among many other things) atheroschlerosis and k-2 takes the calcium from the blood vessels and redeposits it in the bones where it belongs.

A medically-trained individual recommended these two films:

Neal Barnard, "Kickstart Your Health."
Michael Greger, "Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death." [notice the differences between his findings and what I posted on the "eggs" page. this is a good example of the various findings that confuse non-scientists/non-nutritionists like me.]

A PA (physician's assistant) shared:

A good book is "Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease" by Caldwell Esselstyn, Jr. MD. His ideas are slowly catching on, but many consider him possibly too extreme. I doubt it, but, maybe a little in my estimation.

And a compatriot recommended Dr. Joel Fuhrman.

I also value Michael Pollan's advice: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

And I've appreciated most of these (and hope to see the others soon) that cover personal, community and planetary health:

I originally watched them with a general interest in health. Now I want to watch them again with a bit more urgency.

This TED Talk by Dan Buettner also has wisdom--How To Live To Be 100+. More on Blue Zones here.

BONUS:

Portlandia: Pasta addiction (from the episode Winter in Portlandia)
Portlandia: Shopping bags
Portlandia: Chicken dinner

Friday, January 11, 2013

|Heart Health -- Exercise

Click on article titles for more details:

Pulse and Target Heart Rate (Cleveland Clinic, no date). "You gain the most benefits and lessen the risks when you exercise in your target heart rate zone. Usually this is when your exercise heart rate (pulse) is 60 to 80 percent of your maximum heart rate."

Exercise and Cardiovascular Health (Jonathan Myers, Circulation, AHA, no date). "The prevailing view in these reports is that more active or fit individuals tend to develop less coronary heart disease (CHD) than their sedentary counterparts. If CHD develops in active or fit individuals, it occurs at a later age and tends to be less severe."

American Heart Association Guidelines for Physical Activity (AHA, no date). "We suggest at least 150 minutes per week of moderate exercise or 75 minutes per week of vigorous exercise (or a combination of moderate and vigorous activity). 30 minutes a day, five times a week is an easy goal to remember, however you will also experience benefits even if you divide your time into two or three segments of 10 -15 minutes per day."

The Heart Smart Workout Plan (Jennipher Walters, Spark People, 2011?). "Fortunately, it doesn't take hours in the gym to reap the heart-healthy benefits of exercise. As little as 30 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise, such as walking, most days of the week can substantially reduce your risk of heart disease, enhance your mental well-being, help you manage your weight, and improve your blood pressure and blood lipid (cholesterol) profiles."

Exercise for a Strong, Healthy Heart (Paige Waehner, About, 2008). Exercise. Moderate intensity. 20-30 minutes. Most days of the week.

5 Best exercises to improve heart health (Michele Borboa, She Knows, 2011). Brisk walking. Running. Swimming. Cycling. Interval or circuit training.

10 Heart Healthy Exercise Tips (Heart.com). "According to Jennifer Mieres, M.D., American Heart Association (AHA), 'to get heart-healthy benefits, you need to get your heart rate up' there are dozens of activities you can do to help your heart. Whether it is a structured exercise program or just part of your daily routine, all physical activity adds up."

Exercise for a Healthy Heart (WebMD, no date). "In general, to achieve maximum benefits, you should gradually work up to an aerobic session lasting 20 to 30 minutes, at least three to four times a week. Exercising every day or every other day will help you keep a regular aerobic exercise schedule."

Heart Failure: Exercise for a Healthy Heart (Medicine Net, no date).

Healthy Hearts -- Physical Exercise (The Franklin Institute, no date).

SEE UPDATES ON THE SUMMARY PAGE.

|Heart Healthy Foods & Diets

FOODS

Top 5 Foods for a Heart Healthy Diet (Charles W. Bryant, Discovery Fit & Health, no date). Whole grains, legumes, alcohol, nuts, fish.
7 Heart-Healthy Foods (Health, no date). Oatmeal (soluble fiber), salmon (Omega-3), nuts (mono- and polyunsaturated fats), extra virgin olive oil (monounsaturated fats), berries (lower inflamation), legumes (beans/lentils), green veggies (broccoli/kale/spinach; anti-inflamatory).
25 Top Heart-Healthy Foods (Jeanie Lerche Davis, WebMD, no date). Salmon, ground flaxseed, oatmeal, black or kidney beans, almonds, walnuts, red wine, tuna, tofu, brown rice, soy milk, blueberries, carrots, spinach, broccoli, sweet potatoes, red bell peppers, asparagus, oranges, tomatoes, acorn squash, cantaloupe, papaya, dark chocolate, tea.
Nutrition and Health: Foods for Your Heart (Shereen Jegtvig, About, 2013). "Dietary advice for reducing heart disease risk includes eating a balanced diet with less saturated fat from red meat; more fresh fruits, vegetables, fiber, and fish; less sugar and sodium..." Eat: salmon, olive oil, oats, apples, nuts, red wine, whole grains, green leafy vegetables, tomatoes, and soy protein.

DIETS & APPROACHES

Ornish Diet (US News & World Report, no date).
Healthy Heart Diet (The Franklin Institute, no date).
Heart-healthy diet: 8 steps to prevent heart disease (Mayo Clinic, no date; click link for many more details). 1. Control portion size. 2. Eat more vegetables and fruits. 3. Select whole grains. 4. Limit unhealthy fats and cholesterol. 5. Choose low-fat protein sources. 6. Reduce sodium. 7. Plan ahead: Create daily menus. 8. Allow yourself an occasional treat.

SEE UPDATES ON THE SUMMARY PAGE.

|The Egg or Not the Egg

I have been wondering about the benefits and risks of eating eggs. Here's a bit of what I've found.

[1] Time To Put Eggs Back On The Breakfast Menu (The Princeton Longevity Center Medical News, no date).

Dietary intake of cholesterol is likely to be a minor contributor to blood cholesterol levels. Most of the cholesterol in your blood is produced internally by the liver and is not from the diet. Other dietary and environmental factors can influence the amount of cholesterol the liver produces. Cholesterol levels are likely to be affected more by a high intake of saturated or trans fats, lack of exercise, smoking and other factors than by dietary levels of cholesterol. [COMPLETE ARTICLE]

[2] Eggs and Heart Disease (Harvard, no date).

A solid body of research shows that for most people, cholesterol in food has a much smaller effect on blood levels of total cholesterol and harmful LDL cholesterol than does the mix of fats in the diet. Recent research has shown that moderate egg consumption—up to one a day—does not increase heart disease risk in healthy individuals (1, 2) and can be part of a healthy diet. [COMPLETE ARTICLE]

[3] Myth #8. Cholesterol in eggs is bad for the heart (Mother Nature Network, 2012).

The perceived association between dietary cholesterol and risk for coronary heart disease stems from dietary recommendations proposed in the 1960s that had little scientific evidence, other than the known association between saturated fat and cholesterol and animal studies where cholesterol was fed in amounts far exceeding normal intakes. Since then, study after study has found that dietary cholesterol (the cholesterol found in food) does not negatively raise your body’s cholesterol. It is the consumption of saturated fat that is the demon here. So eat eggs, don’t eat steak. [COMPLETE ARTICLE]

[4] Sunny-Side Up: In Defense of Eggs (The Atlantic, 2012).

Are we to increase our consumption of egg yolks as Seneff suggests or completely eliminate them as Spence advises? What we need are clear guidelines, not influenced by industry, that present a straightforward approach to weight loss and a healthy body. The simplest answer currently available is to eliminate processed foods from our diets -- the saturation of processed foods into our diets tracks most closely with the rise in obesity and diet-related disease in this country. So when presented with confusing dietary advice or questions while food shopping ask yourself this simple question: What's my least processed option? Take that one. [COMPLETE ARTICLE]

[5] A prospective study of egg consumption and risk of cardiovascular disease in men and women (PubMed, 1999).

These findings suggest that consumption of up to 1 egg per day is unlikely to have substantial overall impact on the risk of CHD or stroke among healthy men and women. The apparent increased risk of CHD associated with higher egg consumption among diabetic participants warrants further research. [COMPLETE ARTICLE]

[6] An egg a day won’t increase your risk of heart disease (WebMD, 2013).

Given that eggs are high in cholesterol, it’s not clear why they don’t increase the risk of heart disease. Researchers think it might be because your cholesterol levels may have less to do with how much cholesterol you eat, and more to do with your general diet, such as how much saturated fat you eat.

[7] Unscrambling Egg Science (Huffington Post, 2012).

The study most recently in the headlines -- just published in the journal Atherosclerosis -- suggests not only that egg ingestion increases the risk of heart disease, but also that the association is as strong as that for cigarettes. I don't believe either is true. [COMPLETE ARTICLE] [MORE & MORE]

[8] 8 Fatty Foods with Health Benefits (Mens Health, no date).

In a recent review of dozens of scientific studies, Wake Forest University researchers found no connection between egg consumption and heart disease. [COMPLETE ARTICLE]

[9] No more than 6 (About, 2008; correlational study).

A Harvard study of over 21,000 male physicians found that men who ate up to 6 eggs a week had no increase in their rate of death. But once they ate a seventh egg, their risk of death went up 23%. [COMPLETE ARTICLES]

[10] Eggs: Dietary Friend or Foe? (MedicineNet, no date)

Finally, some scientists at the Harvard School of Public Health looked at a population of 117,000 nurses who had been followed for eight to 14 years and found no difference in heart disease risk between those who ate one egg a week and those who ate more than one egg a day. [COMPLETE ARTICLE]

[11] Are chicken eggs good or bad for my cholesterol? (Mayo Clinic, no date).

Chicken eggs are high in cholesterol, and a diet high in cholesterol can contribute to high blood cholesterol levels. However, how much the cholesterol in your diet can increase your blood cholesterol varies from person to person. Although eating too many eggs can increase your cholesterol, eating four egg yolks or fewer on a weekly basis hasn't been found to increase your risk of heart disease. [COMPLETE ARTICLE]

[12] Eating Eggs: A Near Dozen Reasons For and Against (EmaxHealth, 2013). [COMPLETE ARTICLE]

CONCLUDING REMARK
Eggs aside, this line from #4 above stood out to me, and is in harmony with Michael Pollan's book In Defense of Food: "So when presented with confusing dietary advice or questions while food shopping ask yourself this simple question: What's my least processed option? Take that one."

SEE UPDATES ON THE SUMMARY PAGE.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

|Recovery and Rebirth

Stories of athletes recovering from injuries or finding new life given new constraints speak to me. They encourage me to do a better job of responding to my own changes and to live each day more fully.

Diane Van Deren (seizures; video)
Bhava Ram (back; article)
Sarah Watson (knee, video)
Craig DeMartino, The Season 2.6, 2.11, 2.14, 2.20 (various; videos) + Climbing Mag Article
Murderball (various; documentary)

These three documentaries also relate to health, but they address lifestyle issues rather than injuries or adventure.

Sunday, November 06, 2011

#7 TED: Dan Buettner, "How to live to be 100+"

Monday, April 26, 2010

|Medical Tourism

A professor from Australia told me, "You Americans just don't realize how broken your health care is."

Here's an example of the costs side of the problem--medical tourism:

'I can't afford surgery in the U.S.,' says bargain shopper (Sabriya Rice, CNN, 26 Apr 2010)