Electric Shock Therapy For...Potatoes

Here are some scientists with nothing better to do.

They decided if we can boil them, mash them, back them and even make them into hash, why not zap them with a jolt of electricity?

Japanese researchers did just that, and they found that the current boosted the antioxidant levels, potentially providing a new way to make potatoes more nutritious. The electricity seems to mimic environmental stresses that normally push the potato plant to produce antioxidants and prevent oxidative damage to its cells.

Thanks Alice Park at TIme

Migraines and Magnesium

So many people suffer from migraines. There seem to be as many causes – or potential causes as there are sufferers. Most of which doctors and patients can never identify. I figure it can never help trying something that might potentially work.

This month in Men’s Health, I read that a drop in magnesium can cause migraines. Alexander Mauskop, M.D., director of the New York Headache Center says blood vessels in your brain constrict, and receptors in the feel-good chemical serotonin malfunction. The result can be a migraine.

He recommends 250mg daily in addition to magnesium in your diet. Foods rich in magnesium are very healthy – leafy greens, whole grains, pumpkin seeds, coffee and nuts.

Destinations "Calories for a Cause" - Workout Fundraiser for SAFE in Hunterdon - Get Involved!

On September 23, Destinations is hosting “Calories for a Cause” Workout Fundraiser to Benefit SAFE in Hunterdon.

Sign up to participants and collect pledges and donations. Workout sessions are available from early morning throughout the day and into the evening. The 55 minute workouts will be in a small team training format. Destinations’ world-class trainers will donate their training time and skills to this effort. There will be live music from local musicians.

Themed T-shirts are available for purchase for $15.

Local businesses can contribute through sponsorships, pledges, and by encouraging their employees to participate in exercise sessions.

Participants should sign up in advance for a workout session time by calling 908.782.6555 or emailing caloriesforsafe@destinationspfc.com. Pledge applications for individuals and information about corporate sponsorship are available at either Destinations or SAFE and can be downloaded from the Internet at www.destinationspfc.com. All proceeds go to SAFE.

Hot Showers and Dry Skin?

I knew that conventional soaps slough off skin cells that trap moisture and wash away important skin oils – enter the era of body washes.

It now seems even the hot temperature of the water could be doing more harm than good.

What is recommended -quick lukewarm showers using an emollient rich cleanser. Pat yourself damp dry (like some clothes dryer setting) to let your skin absorb some of the remaining moisture and apply a moisturizer.

Gives new meaning to a cold shower. :)

Thanks Isaac Neuhaus, M.D. assistant professor of dermatology at the University of California at San Francisco

Help Support An Important Local Non-For-Profit Win $20K With an Online Vote

YOUR Vote Can Help the South Branch of the Watershed Association win $20K!


Tom's of Maine voted for SBWA in their “50 States For Good” program - now you can too. Your vote will help put SBWA in the running to win $20,000!

So just by voting, you can contribute to SBWA without having to open your wallet!

Tom’s of Maine selected 41 organizations from across the nation as finalists in their “50 States for Good” program. Five of those organizations will receive $20,000, based on the number of votes they get from the public. Won’t you help us be one of those five?

All you have to do is go to www.sbwa.org and click on the green “VOTE NOW” button. You are encouraged to vote every day until September 10, so please do! Your show of support will help us continue to protect and enhance the water resources of the South Branch of the Raritan River.

Share with all your friends!!! Thank you!

The Dreaded After Dinner Mint

Just like Monty Python said, it might not be great to eat that after dinner mint. It seems they may trigger heartburn. After a large meal, pressure builds in your stomach. Mint is a muscle relaxant and man induce acid reflux by flipping open the sphincter between your stomach and the esophagus.

Avoiding heartburn: Slim down your portions and eat slowly.
Eat those mints at your own risk! :)

Thanks to Scot Lewey, gastroenterologist at Rocky Vista University

A Thick Wallet Can Lead to Back Issues and More

Sitting on a thick wallet can stress your back and cause pain. The wallet forces you to elevate your pelvis on one side, which bends the spine. You compress the sciatic nerve, which runs behind your hip. This can not only cause lower back pain, but problems down your leg and up to your shoulder. With all the other things we do that cause back issues, this is an easy one to solve.

Thanks Stuart McGill, professor of spine biomechanics at the University of Waterloo, Ontario.

More on Sunscreen

I love this topic. My son has the skin of an albino so I am constantly worrying about burns. Research has shown a direct correlation between sunburns as a child and skin cancer. That being said, I don’t think it is possible to go through a summer let alone a childhood without some seriously red sunburns!

For sunscreen: Check the expiration date on your sunscreen. If it’s too old, it won’t work no matter how much you use. Choose a fresh bottle that contain Mexoryl SX, zinc oxide, or titanium dioxide as the active ingredient. Avoid those with retinyl palmitate: They might actually increase your risk of skin cancer.

Thanks to Adnan Nasir – director of dermatology at Wake Research Associates

The Secret of Joint Pain - Exercise

Joint pain: it throbs, aches, and hurts. Quite likely, it makes you think twice about everyday tasks and pleasures like going for a brisk walk, lifting your grandchild or some grocery bags, chasing a tennis ball across the court, or driving a golf ball down the fairway. Sharp reminders of your limitations arrive thick and fast, practically every time you move.

What causes joint pain? Very often, the culprits behind joint pain are

osteoarthritis
old injuries
repetitive or overly forceful movements during sports or work
posture problems
aging
inactivity.
How exercise can help


Ignoring the pain won't make it go away. Nor will avoiding all motions that spark discomfort. In fact, limiting your movements can weaken muscles, compounding joint trouble, and affect your posture, setting off a cascade of further problems. And while pain relievers and cold or hot packs may offer quick relief, fixes like these are merely temporary.


By contrast, the right set of exercises can be a long-lasting way to tame ankle, knee, hip, or shoulder pain. Practiced regularly, joint pain relief workouts might permit you to postpone-or even avoid-surgery on a problem joint that has been worsening for years by strengthening key supportive muscles and restoring flexibility. Over time, you may find limitations you've learned to work around will begin to ease. Tasks and opportunities for fun that have been weeded out of your repertoire by necessity may come back into reach, too.

Beyond the benefits to your joints, becoming more active can help you stay independent long into your later years. Regular activity is good for your heart and sharpens the mind. It nudges blood pressure down and morale up, eases stress, and shaves off unwanted pounds. Perhaps most importantly, it lessens your risk of dying prematurely. All of this can be achieved at a comfortable pace and very low cost in money or time.

Why weight matters

Being overweight raises your risk for developing osteoarthritis in a weight-bearing joint like the knee - and even in the hand, according to some research, since inflammatory factors related to weight might exacerbate this condition. Simply walking across level ground puts up to one-and-a-half times your body weight on your knees. That means a 200-pound man will deliver 300 pounds of pressure to his knee with each step. Off level ground, the news is worse: each knee bears two to three times your body weight when you go up and down stairs, and four to five times your body weight when you squat to tie a shoelace or pick up an item you dropped.

Fortunately, strengthening your quadriceps (the muscles on the fronts of the thighs) changes the equation, and so does losing weight. Each pound you lose reduces knee pressure in every step you take. One study found that the risk of developing osteoarthritis dropped 50% with each 11-pound weight loss among younger obese women. If older men lost enough weight to shift from an obese classification to just overweight - that is, from a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher down to one that fell between 25 and 29.9 - the researchers estimated knee osteoarthritis would decrease by a fifth. For older women, that shift would cut knee osteoarthritis by a third.


From Harvard Medical School's HEATHbeat

BPA More Places Than I Thought

Most of us know to avoid BPA (bisphenol A) that pesky chemical used since the 1960s in common types of plastic, but it also is used to line food and beverage cans. From there it leaches into our food and drinks and has hormone-disrupting properties that may lead to weight gain and even heart disease and cancer. I knew it was in plastic water bottles with the number 7 on the bottom, but I was not aware that it is in 42% of soda cans, and tons of canned foods. One hundred percent of canned pastas, 89% of canned soups and 50% of canned tuna were found to have BPA by the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group. Eat fresh and stay away from cans. (Stats from Heather Patisaul, PHD North Carolina State University, Ben Court of Men’s Health)

New Rules for Sunscreen in the Works

This comes from Harvard Medical School and worth reading.

In 1993, the Food and Drug Administration proposed new regulations for sunscreens. Significant delays have occurred as the FDA wrestled with changing science, the finer points of testing and labeling requirements, and a flood of public comments. New rules were finally scheduled to go into effect in May 2010, but the FDA postponed the target date to October 2010.

Here are a few of the proposed changes:

Companies would test and rank UVA protection, not just UVB. The invisible ultraviolet light that affects the skin is divided into two categories, ultraviolet A (UVA) and ultraviolet B (UVB). UVB is the main cause of sunburn and the more carcinogenic of the two, although both contribute to skin cancer. UVA, which moves at a longer wavelength and is more penetrating, is responsible for tanning and contributes to skin aging.

Many sunscreens currently on the market promise “broad spectrum” protection against both UVA and UVB, but the manufacturers can use whatever tests they want to back up that claim.

Under the new rules, sunscreens would be required to undergo two types of assessments of their UVA-blocking power: a test of the sunscreen itself and another one that compares how fast skin tans with and without the product on. There would be no SPF-like rating, instead, sunscreens would be ranked as providing low, medium, high, or highest UVA protection, with corresponding stars (one for low, two for medium, and so on). Sunscreens won’t be required to block UVA, but the label would have to say “No UVA protection” if the product didn’t.

SPF tops out at 50+. The SPF is a comparison between the time it takes the skin to turn red with and without sunscreen. The number is calculated like this: if a person normally experiences the onset of redness on unprotected skin after 10 minutes of exposure, an SPF-15 sunscreen would provide protection for 150 minutes. Several years ago the FDA said the data it had received supported SPFs up to 50, so it proposed a cap of 50+. That cap may go up in the final rules. Originally the agency was going to draw the line at 30+.

Sun protection factor gets a new name. The term “sun protection factor” is misleading because it’s a measure only of sunburn and UVB protection, not protection against the entire UV spectrum. The proposed rules acknowledge the misnomer and would change the name to sunburn protection factor.

UVA and UVB get equal billing. The FDA is proposing to require that the sunscreen label have a statement that mentions the importance of both UVA and UVB protection. In addition to the SPF number, UVB protection will be described as low, medium, high, and highest, so it matches the new UVA rating system. The agency is also proposing that the information about UVA and UVB be printed in the same font and type size.

Generous and liberal use still encouraged. Most people use less than half the amount of the sunscreen required to get the SPF protection on the label. So far, the FDA has rejected suggestions that would change SPF testing so it would reflect more realistic amounts of sunscreen. Another suggestion was to have the label on the bottle spell out quantities per application. But under the rules as proposed, the label would continue to say that sunscreen should be applied “liberally” or “generously” before sun exposure.

Reapplication emphasized. Even a fairly weak sunscreen can provide protection in intense sunlight if it’s reapplied often. The new rules would tighten up the reapplication language. The label on many sunscreens would suggest reapplying sunscreen at least every two hours and after swimming, sweating, or drying off with a towel.

Consumers get a new warning. The FDA wants to get rid of an optional “sun alert” and replace it with a mandatory one that will be labeled as a warning. This is the proposed wording: “UV exposure from the sun increases the risk of skin cancer, premature aging, and other skin damage. It is important to decrease UV exposure by limiting time in the sun, wearing protective clothing, and using a sunscreen.”
No skin aging or skin cancer claims allowed. Despite the new warning, sunscreen makers would not be allowed to claim their products reduce skin aging or prevent skin cancer. As of this writing, the FDA had taken the position that such claims would be misleading because of the lack of data showing that sunscreen alone prevents skin aging or cancer. The agency has also said prevention of sunburn or certain kinds of cellular damage can’t be extrapolated to prevention of skin cancer.

Post-Workout Recovery Demystified and Simplified

There is so much mystery around the best post-workout food and drink that companies are making a killing selling fancy stuff we just don’t need. As Men’s Health said this month “aisles of supermarkets and pill palaces like GNC are awash in products that claim quick recovery.” After your workout, your body does needs protein, carbohydrates – best a simple sugar - and yes, fat. Best to give your body something within an hour after your workout. What is natures’ natural answer to this – yogurt or healthy chocolate milk. It has been found that milk is more effective than water or sports drinks at rehydrating the body.

More News About the Importance of Sleep

What am I always telling you about the importance of a good night's sleep for fat loss and general health? Others agree. A new study from Wake Forest University sited in Men’s Health discovered too much or too little sleep can add extra pounds.

Researchers tracked participants for 5 years. In the under 40 age group, people who slept 5 hours or less each night gained nearly 2 ½ times as much abdominal fat as those who slept 6-7 hours.

Why? People with sleep deficits tend to eat more and use less energy because they are tired.

Can you believe it is nearly as bad if you sleep longer? Those who slept 8 hours or longer added nearly twice as much belly fat as the 6-7 hour group.

Why? Those who slept longer than 8 hours may be less active.

I want to stress the “tend” and “may” in these findings. Everyone is unique and we all need different amounts of sleep. How you feel when you wake up is the very best indication of if you are getting too little, too much, or just right (Goldilocks anyone). If you feel exhausted, or drugged when you wake up try changing how much you sleep and see if you feel a difference.

A lot of people I know have problems sleeping and how much and how well they sleep is beyond their control. Don’t despair. YOU totally control your activity level! So see you at the studio!!
Susan

Hey All!

Welcome to my new blog. I figure this way I can cut down on the constant emails to you all. However inspiration they are, I don’t want to clog up your inbox.

Also, I will be able to share facts and statistics and neat things I learn, but forget before seeing you the next day at the studio. (Unfortunately, tests have shown that exercise does nothing for short term memory loss!)

So, join up and join in!

Susan