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 LACE UP TO LOWER BLOOD PRESSURE
Just 25 Minutes
Three Times a Week Can Cut Risk
Have high blood
pressure? Walk it off! Researchers at Japan's National Institute of
Health and Nutrition found that by walking just 1 hour and 15
minutes a week -- equivalent to three 25 minute walks -- subjects in
their 205-person study group were able to lower both systolic and diastolic blood pressure by 12
points and 8 points, respectively. For those whose blood pressure is
high enough to place them at disease risk, this change could be
enough to get them back in the safety zone and possibly off
medication.
THE ITTY-BITTY BITE MAJIGGIE
Mouth Device to
Minimize Bite Size
In an age when everything is
super-sized -- including our waistlines -- could it be that you are
biting off more than you can burn? The theory behind the Dental Diet
System is that by reducing the capacity of your mouth, you'll learn
to take smaller bites, eat more slowly and thus give your brain
time to receive messages from your stomach to push back from the
plate.
The product of behavior-modification research from the
Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the
gizmo is now available for purchase through Scientific Intake.
LARGE LUNCHES = LARGE PAUNCHES
Mega-Midday Meals
Hike Daily Calorie Count
If you've been thinking
that lunchtime largesse won't lead to weight gain -- think again.
Overeating at noon adds up to more calories overall. Researchers at
Pennsylvania State University found that women who eat big at lunch
end up consuming 56% more total calories throughout the course of
the day. Study authors speculate that the large midday meal had
little lasting effect on evening appetites.
So follow a bit
of old-fashioned advice: Eat like a queen at breakfast, like a
princess at lunch and like a pauper at dinner, to make sure you cut
a regal figure and enjoy royal health!
LIVING IN A STATE OF MOTION?
Looks like the
northwestern states are beating out their southern cousins when it
comes to fitness levels. In a national ranking of residents'
activity levels, Wyoming came out on top with the highest percentage
of adults who exercise three to five days a week (55.8%). Other top
exercise states include Washington, Vermont, Alaska and
Idaho.
When it comes to logging lazy-boy time, Louisiana
brought up the (rather large) rear with 35.8% of adults saying they
don't exercise at all. The confederacy of couch potatoes also
includes Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky and Oklahoma. Not
surprisingly, lower levels of activity correlate with higher levels
of obesity -- click here to see where your state stands.
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 MEN'S HEALTH WEEK
With both Father's Day and
National Men's Health Week (June 14 to 20) falling in the middle of
June, wishes of wellness for all those wonderful men in our lives
have inspired us to unilaterally declare the entire month Men's
Health Month! So help us celebrate by getting your guys wise to what
they need to eat and do to ward off disease and keep vital and
vigorous for the long run.
Men Need Their
Nine
Men are dying from a terminal though highly
preventable disease: ignorance. According to the National Cancer Institute: "Men are
significantly less likely than women to recognize the health
benefits of fruits and vegetables, such as their role in reducing
the risk of many cancers, heart disease, high blood pressure and
diabetes."
Maybe this is why only 4% of men are eating their
recommended nine servings of fruits and vegetables a day. In fact,
the average male consumes just three a day -- and we bet at least
one of those is french fries. Bad! Especially since men have higher
rates of diet-related diseases than do women -- and thus forgo those
healthy, fiber and phytochemical-containing fruits and veggies at
their peril. For example, did you know ...
Men have one-and-a-half times the death rate from heart disease
as women.
Men have one-and-a-half times the death rate from cancers as
women.
Men have one-and-a-half times the death rate from colorectal
cancer as women.
Men who eat the most fruits and vegetables have sex more
often.
OK, we made the last one up, but let's face it: Health
is sexy, so eat better to look and feel your
best.
Exercise: The Natural Viagra?
Now this
we did not make up. Men who exercise vigorously are 30% less likely to
develop erectile dysfunction (ED) than their inactive peers,
according to researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health.
Three hours of aerobic activity (equivalent to a 30-minute run six
days a week) conferred the benefit, though even a brisk walk each
day may lower men's risk by 15%.
The study, appearing in the
Annals of Internal Medicine, also found that men who were
overweight had a much higher incidence of ED, as did those who
watched more than 20 hours of television per
week.
Prostate Protection: Less Meat & Dairy -- More
Veggies for Lower Risk
Using food and drink intake
information from over 50 countries, independent researcher William
Grant investigated which dietary factors correlate most highly with
prostate cancer risk -- and which most significantly reduce risk.
What he found was that animal products such as meat and dairy were
the strongest risk factors for the disease, while fruit and vegetable consumption were among the
strongest risk reduction factors.
Health-smart men have
long known that lycopene can help prevent prostate cancer. Men
who eat 10 or more 1/2 cup servings of lycopene-rich foods such as
tomatoes (including sauce and juice), watermelon and sweet red
pepper had a 35% reduction in the incidence of prostate cancer,
according to one landmark study.
But a new study published in
the British Journal of Urology International suggests that lycopene may help men recovering from
prostate cancer as well. How does lycopene do this? Two ways.
First, by neutralizing cancer-causing free radicals; second, by
stimulating the expression of a gene (connexin 43) that inhibits the
growth of cancer cells.
Onions and garlic consumption also may cut
prostate-cancer risk by as much as half, according to
researchers with the National Cancer Institute. In a survey of 238
men with prostate cancer and 471 men without the disease, those who
ate the most allium-containing vegetables (e.g., onions, scallions,
chives, garlic) had a 50% lower risk of having prostate cancer than
those who consumed the least.
Other research suggests that
the trace mineral selenium may inhibit prostate-cancer-cell
growth. One University of Arizona study of 974 men compared
those who took 200 micrograms of selenium with a placebo-control
group and found that the selenium-takers developed 63% fewer cases
of prostate cancer!
It seems that selenium works
synergistically with a natural enzyme in the body that helps to
block free radical damage. (Sound familiar? Refresh your knowledge
of the body's antioxidant defense systems from the June 7th Director's Corner.) Also, test-tube
studies suggest selenium may help regulate cell turnover, inhibiting
them from turning to the dark side (malignancy).
The richest
source of selenium is, believe it or not, brazil nuts: Just a couple
contain 140 mcg. Other sources include cod, tuna and
turkey.
Finally, guys, go easy on those zinc lozenges and
supplements. Men who took more than 100 mg of zinc daily had double the risk of advanced prostate cancer,
according a large-scale analysis of the health records of 47,000
subjects done by the National Cancer Institute. Stay in the pink by
keeping zinc intake under 40 mg a day.
MEAN BEAN ANTIOXIDANT MACHINE
The piping-hot
news on the phytochemical research front may have nothing to do with
the price of beans -- but it sure has a lot to do with their
nutritional value! Black beans have an antioxidant value equal to or higher than
equivalent servings of other well-known superfoods, such as grapes
or cranberries, a recent study found. In fact, a 3.5 ounce serving
of black beans contains ten times the antioxidants of an equivalent
amount of oranges. Reap the health benefits of these black beauties
by checking out this issue's featured recipe: Caribbean Black Bean
and Fruit Salad.
What's more, two to four cups a week of
cooked beans of any variety can cut your cardiovascular disease and cancer risk,
according to a study at Michigan State University in East Lansing.
Beans also provide protein and dietary fiber with no saturated fat,
no cholesterol, and are good sources of calcium, iron and folate.
The fiber helps you feel full longer, promotes regularity, lowers
blood cholesterol levels and stabilizes blood sugar levels.
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 THE REALITY DIET
Change Life to Lose Weight,
National Study Proves
"A is A. All the pain has come
from the effort to evade the fact that A is A."
These are the
words of John Galt in Atlas Shrugged, summing up the core
tenet of the objectivist philosophy pioneered by the novel's author,
Ayn Rand. If you have to ask "Who is John Galt?" then clearly you
haven't read the book. Or then again, maybe you have.
In any
case, the more immediate question is: How does this maxim apply to
diet and nutrition? As follows: Poor diet, overeating and inactivity
lead to excess weight and obesity. Excess weight and obesity lead to
pain, both physical, in terms of an almost endless list of related
ailments, and emotional (and financial). And as John Galt so
eloquently put it, pain results from efforts to evade the fact that
A is A.
In other words, reality is reality -- not what you
want it to be -- and attempts to circumvent some of reality's more
challenging aspects will lead to even less pleasant consequences
down the road. The more challenging aspect of diet that so many seek
to avoid is that losing weight requires effort. Try to circumvent
this and you invite either failure or negative health
consequences.
Now, telling people that losing weight requires
effort may be true, but it's a lousy marketing strategy. The
way to make diet books and weight-loss products fly off the shelves
is to promise something for nothing. Fad diets, particularly the
current low-carb craze, perpetuate the fantasy that some kind of
metabolic magic will melt away pounds without requiring any real
effort on the part of the dieter.
While some of these diets
may produce short-term results, they almost always doom the dieter
to regain the lost weight, and then some, over time. Why? Because
they do not require the dieter to confront the lifestyle factors
(overeating, excessive portion size, poor food choices, inactivity)
that led to weight gain in the first place. The result is rebound
dieting, which not only wreaks havoc on self-esteem, but also has
serious long-term health consequences.
A study published in
the Journal of the American Dietetic Association links yo-yo
dieting with decreased immune function. Women who had lost and
regained weight more than five times in the past 20 years had lower
natural killer cell activity -- a deficiency that has been linked to
increased cancer rates and a higher incidence of colds and
infections.
The reason fad diets fail is simple: They shield
dieters from the reality that successful, long-term weight
management will require a fundamental change in habits, and habits
are hard to change. But as the old adage goes: Sow a thought, reap
an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a destiny.
It's that creation of new, healthier habits that will allow people
to take control of their dietary destiny.
Such was the
conclusion of a recent 10-year study called the National Weight
Control Registry, which tracked more than 5,000 participants to find common keys to successful weight loss among the
long-term losers (and better-health winners). "The magic bullet
is hard work," observed Dr. Rena Wing, director of the Weight
Control and Diabetes Research Center and lead author of the study.
"It's changing your whole lifestyle, to a healthier eating and
exercise approach to living. And that's the only magic bullet we
have for long-term weight loss," Wing said.
Those in the
study lost weight in a variety of ways, but those who kept it off
shared a few things in common: a low-fat, low-calorie diet and a
significant commitment to regular exercise. Again, it takes effort:
Most successful losers report doing close to an hour of physical
activity a day.
More evidence in favor of the reality diet:
Those who maintained their weight loss step up to the scale on a
regular basis. They don't use scale-avoidance and elasticized
waistbands to allow themselves to slip into denial. By weighing in
at least once a week, successful losers force themselves to face
facts -- and take immediate action if they see their weight creeping
back up.
Another way in which the weight-loss winners
eschewed magical thinking in favor of the A is A approach to eating:
They don't cheat. By that I mean they don't play games with
themselves by dieting most of the week and then giving themselves a
day or two "off" to indulge. Says Dr. Wing: "Perhaps you may start
giving yourself some breaks on the weekend, then maybe on Friday,
and then maybe on Thursday, and little by little you [have] a
problem."
A favorite reality-avoidance technique employed by
many of the long-obese is to blame their weight problems on their
parents -- i.e., it ain't willpower, it's in the genes. But the
National Weight Loss Registry study puts the lie to that old canard
as well. Even though half of the people in the registry were heavy
as kids and two-thirds had an overweight parent, they were still
able to lose the pounds and maintain their losses.
Weight
loss is hard for most people, harder still for those with a genetic
predisposition to gain weight and possibly harder today than at any
other time in human history. Dieters must stand firm in the face of
a toxic food environment that aggressively markets a mind-boggling,
mouth-watering bonanza of unhealthy, high-calorie, low-nutrition
foods. No wonder a recent analysis by the National Health and
Nutrition Examination Survey found that one-third of calories consumed in the American diet
come from junk food.
But as difficult as the battle of
the bulge may be, it can be won, as long as dieters are willing to
face the reality that the war on waistlines will take effort -- lots
of it. It's worth remembering that, as challenging as reality may be
to face today, it will be even tougher to face when the symptoms of
heart disease, cancer, diabetes and other excess weight-related
ailments begin to set in. Or as another rationalist philosopher,
John Locke, once observed: "Hell is truth seen too late."
So
take a fearless look in the mirror, a frequent look at the scale, an
honest look at the statistics and a searching look at your life. The
changes you make today will turn into well-worn habits in time,
which will, in turn, give you many more years to enjoy your newfound
health and active lifestyle.
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CARIBBEAN BLACK BEAN AND FRUIT SALAD
Prep:
15 minutes
Makes: 4 servings
1 can (15 oz.) black
beans, drained
3 tablespoons prepared salsa
2 tablespoons
chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon finely chopped red
onion
1/2 teaspoon grated orange peel
1 tablespoon lime
juice
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
Red leaf lettuce
1 oz. feta
cheese, crumbled (optional)
1 large DOLE Banana, sliced
1 DOLE
Orange, peeled, sliced
Combine beans, salsa, cilantro,
onion, orange peel, lime juice and cumin in large bowl. Spoon onto
lettuce lined platter.
Sprinkle cheese on top of salad, if
desired.
Arrange banana and orange slices alongside salad.
Squeeze additional lime juice over bananas.
129 calories,
1 g fat (0 g sat.), 0 mg cholesterol, 363 mg sodium, 29 g
carbohydrate, 9 g protein
For more information on black
beans' amazing antioxidant benefits, see the item under Nutrition
News, to the left and below.
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GOTTA LOVE THIS JOB!
DNI divas Cheryl Walsten and
Jennifer Grossman had a party testing Dole Spa Beauty Recipes this
past week in the Dole Test Kitchen. After working with a
dermatologist to ensure the safety and effectiveness of the
formulas, we wanted to take them out for a test drive. Jennifer
loved the Indian Mangocado Body Scrub -- not only did it work
beautifully to exfoliate, the leftovers were delicious with lunch.
Cheryl tweaked the ingredients of the Good Morning Mask described
below. "Whatever you don't use on your face, you can throw into your
smoothie!" said the DNI's Communications & Public Liaison. What
better way to start your day and get both an inner and outer
glow!
GOOD MORNING MASK
Strawberries, yogurt and
O.J. -- perfect ingredients for a beauty breakfast for your face!
The antioxidant vitamin C in the berries and juice is essential for
maintenance of collagen -- the most important component of the
connective tissue underlying your skin. When applied topically,
these same foods have a mild exfoliating effect.
Strawberries
are relatively high in salicylates, a beta-hydroxy acid whose large
molecule size allows it to clean up dead surface cells without
penetrating too deeply into the skin. Thus primed, the skin is able
to receive full benefit of the alpha-hydroxy acids in orange juice,
which are then able to more thoroughly break down pore blockages and
clear the skin surface of epithelial debris.
Think of the
process like scraping food off dishes before washing them. After
scraping (beta-hydroxy), rinsing and soaping (alpha hydroxy), the
strawberry seeds act like the brush scouring off all remaining dirt
and residue. This is a good mask for treating blemishes, encouraging
skin cell turnover and improving
circulation.
Ingredients:
1 cup ripe strawberries, leaves
and stem removed
1 tablespoon plain yogurt (full fat variety
works best)
1 teaspoon orange juice
Directions:
Blend
or mix together strawberries, yogurt and O.J. until smooth. Massage
into face and neck, using circular fingertip motions. Allow to sit
for 10 to 20 minutes. Use a warm, wet towel to wipe off, splashing
face with water to remove all traces of the mask. Try following up
with green tea toner, then moisturize per your usual skin-care
routine.
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