Updates Blog

A WebMD article 10 Lifestyle Tips for Cancer Prevention recommends these dietary and lifestyle actions to reduct the risk of cancer:

1. Be lean, but not underweight
2. Be physically active
3. Avoid or limit sugary and/or high-calorie foods
4. Eat a variety of vegetarian food
5. Limit red meats and avoid processed meats
6. Limit alcohol to two daily drinks for men and one drink for women
7. Limit salt consumption
8. Don’t use supplements protect against cancer
9. Mothers should exclusively breastfeed their babies for up to six months
10. Those who survive cancer should follow these and their doctor’s recommendations

The article goes on to give details, and says the most important by far is to be as lean as possible within a healthy weight range, followed by (2) staying active and (3) replacing meats with vegetarian foods. The one recommendation that may be mistaken is the one about not taking supplements:  in particular, Vitamin D supplements may lower risk of some cancers.

A RealAge.com article 8 Hours To Healthier Cells reveals that your body does important healing while you sleep.  If you have trouble sleeping, this article shows some ways to get better sleep. The RealAge doctors say “getting 6 to 8 hours of sleep per night can make your RealAge as much as 3 years younger.”

A WebMD.com article What’s Zapping Your Energy? lists 11 drains on your energy, some of which you may not even be aware of.

1. Sugar
2. Caffeine
3. Exercise (too much or too little)
4. Dehydration
5. Lack of sleep
6. Poor attitude
7. Disorganization
8. Not enough food
9. Stress
10. Low self-esteem
11. Saying “yes” too much

Read the article for explanation and tips on how to zap these energy-zappers.

A WebMD article Top 6 Myths About Bottled Water exposes some myths about bottled water:

1. “Bottled water is better for you than tap.” Not necessarily — plus, you can get a filtration pitcher for about $25 that improves the quality of tap water.
2. “Purified water tastes better.” Actually, pure water with all minerals removed tastes flat.
3. “Bottled water with vitamins or other additives is healthier.” That’s somewhat true, but they really don’t add much that a daily vitamin already gives you.
4. “You need eight 8-ounce glasses of water daily.” Actually, eleven glasses are recommended, but water from juices and foods counts towards that amount.
5. “After intense workouts, drink bottled water.” Sports drinks work better — although for light workouts, regular water is good.
6. “Water bottles don’t harm the environment.” There are still environmental costs for trucking, manufacturing and everything else that goes into marketing and the necessary supply chain.

Nearly everyone should get an annual flu shot. People with weak, under developed or impaired immune systems need flu shots the most. Infants, the elderly and those who are seriously ill, are all vulnerable to virus attacks. People under chemical or radiation treatment for cancer also need flu shots because their medication and lines of treatment severely hampers their body defense systems. Similarly, people with AIDS need flu shots most. The protection of flu shots lasts for about a year, so the jab is an annual event for most of us.

People with histories of severe allergic reactions to vaccines and those with a disease of the nervous system known as the Guillain-Barre syndrome cannot take flu shots. Doctors are trained to diagnose such conditions, and this is one of the main reasons why lay people should not rush around trying to get flu shots on their own. Flu shots are grown in eggs, so you cannot take one if you are allergic to this product. Your allergy to eggs is not something doctors may know, so it is up to you to tell them if you know. Such allergies show up early in life, so most people would know if they are allergic to eggs. There are tests available to confirm this if you have a suspicion of egg allergy.

Flu shots cost around $15 each, and they are almost painless.

• Nasal spray versions are available, but people below 5, over 49 and the pregnant have to bare their arms for shots.
• Primary Care Physicians should prescribe flu shots and they should be administered by qualified medical personnel. You could lose health insurance benefits if you take flu shots on your own, and could fall sick if injected by an unauthorized person.
• Influenza is known to associate with pneumonia, a bacterial infection of the lungs. Doctors sometimes combine flu shots with vaccination against pneumonia. The pneumonia protection is for life, so you need to be injected just once.
• Your local Government Health Clinic is the best place to get flu shots, and some all-purpose convenience outlets offer the facility as well.

When to get flu shots

The sooner in the fall season, the better! Your immune system needs plenty of time to gear up for the increased threats during the coming months. Most people need about 60 days for their flu shots to take full effect.

Those who work with influenza patients, travel abroad or who take medicines which deplete the immune system, cannot afford to wait for the peak US season for influenza to take their flu shots. They should be vaccinated at regular intervals as long as they run risks of exposure.

The location of the flu shot could feel sore for a few days, and there may some mild body ache with a low fever. A doctor should keep watch in case these symptoms do not wane quickly and disappear altogether in a few days.

There are a few cases in which flu shots cause severe allergic reactions such as dizziness, rapidly escalating body temperature and make it difficult to breathe. It is best to lie down in a quiet place of the doctor’s office for a few minutes after taking flu shots.

The most disturbing aspect of flu shots is that they may not work in all cases. Flu shots reduce the chances of influenza, but do not rule out the possibility of the disease altogether. A major issue is the insidious ability of a virus to change form and evade a body’s defenses by deceit. More than 50% of the elderly may show signs of influenza even after flu shots. The efficacy of flu shots in the total population does not exceed 90%, which means that one in every 10 people with flu shots will still fall ill. Nevertheless, it is worthwhile for people who are especially vulnerable to viral attack to take flu shots.

What if you still get the flu? Influenza is relatively easy to treat provided that you see a doctor in time. The first two days after infection are most important for quick and complete action from medicines. The latter have a series of potential side-effects, so they can only be taken under medical supervision.

You can reduce the chances of viral attack by preventing people coughing and sneezing in your face, and by wiping faucets and knobs in rest rooms dry before you touch them. Keep your hands dry and clean as well. Balanced nutrition, regular exercise and avoiding excess stress are generally enough to keep your immune system in top gear. A simple total blood count can tell a doctor if there are any concerns on this account.

Alternative medicine providers boast of a number of herbal agents for which there are some anecdotal reports of efficacy. None of these have been evaluated for safety by modern scientific standards or have US FDA approval. Regulatory controls on their production are poor, especially if they are made abroad. Who knows what they may contain! A personal decision to try some of the products that are promoted on the Internet and at some stores could entail untold risks. It could also jeopardize your health insurance benefits.

Explore Your Happiness: The Happiness Inventory is a questionnaire by the authors of How We Choose to Be Happy, Rick Foster and Greg Hicks. Anyone can read about areas of their lives that they can improve upon to achieve greater happiness. The authors say “as a start, try improving your happiness level a little at a time and you will find that, in fact, you will be able to choose to be happy!”

Here’s a very special topic for you this post:  we’ll try to answer the question “is there really a fountain of youth?!”  Longevity is part of that quest, and feeling vital and optimistic about life is even more important.

The closest that modern science has come to a modern-day “fountain of youth” may very well be the RealAge health-planning site!  It was founded by Dr. Michael F. Roizen, an often-featured speaker on public television who has written several bestsellers about health including YOU:  The Owner’s Manual.

His site at RealAge.com gives you a free step-by-step health plan that actually can help you live longer and feel younger if you heed its very well-researched health advice.  I’ve been using just parts of it for a few months now, and I can attest that it’s made me feel much, much better.  I experienced a wonderful improvement after one month, with more significant improvement each month since.  Here’s what the experts have been saying about it:

“Great solutions, simple solutions, something everybody can do.” — CNN

“An incredibly simple, research-based plan now proven to reverse the aging process…” — Women’s World Magazine

“It will absolutely, positively change how you look at your health… It will be one of the best investments of your time you will ever make.”
– Real Solutions Magazine

Here’s a list of Dr. Roizen’s top dozen tips.  The numbers aren’t meant to be exact, but they do generally fit the findings of scientific medical studies.

Top Twelve Tips:	RealAge Benefit:	How It Works:
1. Become a Lifelong Learner.	Up to 2.5 years	People who maintain a healthy intellectual curiosity throughout their lives have a RealAge as much as 2.5 years younger.
2. Fill Up on Fiber.	2.5 years	Dr. Roizen states that eating 25 grams of fiber per day makes your RealAge 2.5 years younger than those who get only 12 grams of fiber per day (men may need even more than 25 grams).
3. Wear Your Seatbelt.	Up to 3.4 years	Wear your seat belt and drive safely to safeguard against crippling injury or even death, making you up to 3.4 years younger.
4. Be Active.	5 years	Even minor exercise — two 20-minute walks per day — can make you nearly 5 years younger.
5. Laugh a Lot.	Up to 8 years	Laughter reduces stress, strengthens your immune system, and can make your effective RealAge as much as 8 years younger.
6. Take Your Vitamins.	6 years	Dr. Roizen recommends that you regularly take vitamin C (1200 mg/day), vitamin E (400 IU/day), calcium (1000-1200 mg/day), vitamin D (400-600 IU/day), folate (400 mcg/day), and vitamin B6 (6 mg/day).
7. Floss Your Teeth.	6.4 years	Flossing and brushing every day helps your oral health, in effect making you younger. Bad oral health is a frequent pathway for germs and viruses to attack you in other parts of your body.
8. Quit Smoking and Avoid Passive Smoke.	8 years	Quit smoking to become about 8 years younger. Avoid second-hand smoke as well.
9. Monitor Your Health.	Up to 12 years	People who proactively seek high-quality medical care and attentively manage chronic conditions can live up to 12 years longer than those who do not.
10. Know Your Blood Pressure.	Up to 25 years	Low blood pressure (~115/75 mm Hg) can make you as much as 25 years younger than if you have high blood pressure (higher than 160/90 mm Hg).
11. Reduce Stress.	Up to 32 years	High stress makes you vulnerable to heart attacks and strokes, effectively making you as much as 32 years older than your calendar age. If you have a strong social support network and adopt some stress-reduction strategies, Dr. Roizen says you can erase 30 of those years that can be taken away by stress!
12. Take the free RealAge Test.	26 years	By taking the RealAge Test, over your lifetime your RealAge will be as much as 26 years younger.  “That means that you will live younger every day, and live longer with as much health and energy as possible” says Dr. Roizen.

Back to the original question: is there a modern-day Fountain of Youth?  In my opinion, the answer is the same as it’s always been:  “you’re as young as you feel!”  The more you do what you love, the better you’ll feel and the longer you’ll live.

Dr. Roizen’s RealAge Makeover is a great tool to help you get there.  Click the button labeled “Take The RealAge Test” on their home page.  They’ll ask you to register with your email address and password (which they will keep private.)  Then you can sign in and get your own RealAge Makeover. It takes about 10 minutes to answer their health quiz and you’ll receive the results in your inbox in about an hour.

How would you like some candy that’s actually good for you? I personally noticed a better, healthier feeling along with increased energy after eating the fudge made from this recipe:

    1/3 cup Promise buttery spread (good omega-3 fats)
    1 tsp. vanilla
    3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (a mood enhancer)
    5 tbsp chocolate whey protein powder* (excellent protein)
    1.5 tbsp canola oil or olive oil (good omega-3 content)
    3/4 cup xylitol (dental benefits, doesn’t have sugar’s drawbacks)
    Nuts optional (up to 3/4 cups)

   *Note: A little scoop usually comes in the can of whey powder that equals 5 tbsp.

Eating sugar often makes you feel worse: after a “sugar high” that lasts a few minutes, there’s usually a longer “sugar crash” period. It really does happen, most people just don’t notice it because it comes on so gradually. One third of Americans are projected to develop diabetes from overconsumption of sugar, and even those who avoid that dread disease are having their health slowly eroded by this nutritionless sweetener.

Xylitol is better. It’s a sugar substitute that occurs naturally in the human body, and is refined from naturally occuring sources such as corn cobs. It metabolizes only about 15% as fast as sugar, and has about 60% of sugar’s calories, so you’ll really feel better for a longer time, and you’ll gain less weight. And xylitol is not something bacteria can feed on, so it doesn’t cause tooth decay. In fact, you’re likely to save enough money on your dental bills to more than pay for xylitol’s higher cost (about $5 per pound.) Other sweeteners don’t have these important health benefits, they don’t taste as good, and most of them have some health concerns.

Not only that, all the other ingredients in this recipe are premium healthy ingredients. Chocolate is known to be mood-enhancing and has nutritious anti-oxidants. Whey is the best protein you can get, in fact it’s often used by bodybuilders. The Promise spread and olive oil both have omega-3 oils that are good for heart health, according to the American Heart Association.

Directions: Mix the Promise, vanilla and canola oil. Microwave on high for 1:30 minutes or until melted. Add in xylitol next, then stir in whey and cocoa. Microwave on high for 1:30, then stir well. Keep microwaving on high for 15 seconds and then stirring (to mix it evenly), until the mixture fluffs up to about 50% more than its starting volume (the fluffing up means the fudge won’t crystalize much at all when you pour it out.) Be careful not to overcook it, because this will partially burn the chocolate and that won’t taste good and isn’t good for your liver.

I usually substitute 1 tablespoon of cream cheese in place of part of the buttery spread (it doesn’t melt evenly, so I use an eggbeater to stir it in.) Two other substitutes you might try are cocoa butter and coconut butter, which usually are found only in natural-foods stores.

Now pour it out onto wax paper. It’s best to pour it into fudge circles, about 1 tablespoon per circle. Spread it thin so the circles will dry faster.

Then put it all into the refrigerator or freezer. I’m not sure which one would dry it faster, so why not try both? It will dry unevenly into fudge over about 24 hours. It may dry faster in the southwestern part of America, and slower in the humid eastern states. The drier it gets, the better it will actually taste. Because it has butter in it, it should be stored in the freezer when it’s all dried out.

There are a few cautions with xylitol:

1. Although the FDA has approved xylitol and hasn’t set a limit to how much you can eat, be aware that eating large amounts can have a laxative effect.
2. While most people can start eating xylitol right away, some people are sensitive to it and need to build up tolerance by eating only small amounts at first.
3. The main cooking limitation to xylitol is that it’s incompatible with yeast, which will not rise.
4. Perhaps it should not be a late-evening snack because it takes a long time to metabolize, which might interfere a little bit with your night’s rest.
5. Like chocolate, xylitol is harmful to dogs so don’t let them near it.

Are “Vampiric Victuals” Devouring America?! That may sound alarmist… until you consider these really alarming statistics!  Here’s just one example: one in three Americans are predicted to become diabetic, costing America over a hundred billion dollars per year. Even worse, junk consumables such as tobacco products, illegal drugs and excessive alcohol are actually consuming American consumers (oh, the irony!)   All these combined problems are slowly ruining our bodies, to the tune of over $500 billion dollars in extra health costs each year. Ingesting even some of that junk makes us feel less vital, shortens our lives, and makes us more vulnerable to disease.

Your Super Benefits: The benefits of improving our diet are many. (1) The most immediate benefit is that you can actually “get high” on eating great food: When you get all the powerful nutrients your body wants, you’ll get a steady feeling of well-being that lasts all day. Contrast that to the temporary “high” of drugs, followed by the inevitable crash afterwards. (2) We’ll strengthen our immune systems, which slashes our chances of developing cancer and many other health problems. And (3) As you keep eating healthier, your body will slowly build itself up: You’ll notice within days or weeks that you have much more energy, and over the coming months you’ll continue to feel better and more energetic.

What To Do: If you’ve got any unhealthy habits you’d like to quit, some of the best online resources are: QuitNet.com to quit smoking, DrugFree.org to learn about illegal drugs, or ACA-USA.org to refuse the booze (although most experts say it’s okay for non-alcoholics to have a daily drink or two of alcohol.) For the best chance of success in quitting, it’s a great idea to form a “buddy system” with a friend, or join a support group: Very, very highly recommended. Good nutrition isn’t rocket science: experts recommend that we: Take a daily vitamin; Eat lots of fruits and vegetables; Eat “healthy fats” found in nuts, cold-water fish like salmon, and healthy oils (e.g. olive and canola); Eat whole grains and brown rice instead of processed foods like white bread; Get protein from eggs, dairy, beans and lean meat; Eat “healthy desserts” such as fruit pies; and Avoid bad fats and minimize sugars. Best online resources: Visit EverydayChoices.org for more nutritional information, and/or RealAge.com to get a customized health plan. And really, you’re your own best resource for nutrition: When you choose to experiment with a lot of different ideas for healthy foods, sooner or later you’re sure to come across some nutritious foods that really “hit the spot” for your own particular tastes, so you won’t often be tempted to go back to junk food.

“The greatest wealth is health.” ~ Virgil (BC 70-19), Roman Poet

I turned on the radio while I was driving today and a doctor’s show was on, hosted by Seattle’s Dr. Jerry Mixon who has been on the air for over five years now (definitely not one of those infomercials that only exist to try to sell you something.) He believes that 80% of dementia cases such as Alzheimer’s can be prevented — amazing! He also stated that it’s much more difficult to reverse it after it has started. For more information on this topic, see this article Prevent Dementia: Keep Brain Young, Tips for a healthy mind from Consumer Reports on Health, and/or search Google for more articles on preventing dementia.