10 Strange Long term Health Clues

Posted by: Curt | Under: 40's/fit, 50's/fit, Diet and Weight Loss, General Fitness, Health, Ladies/fit, Prime/fit, Seniors/fit, Supplements, Travel/fit | Add Comment

Some of these are pretty weird, but there is science behind them. MSNBC has the whole list, but here are a couple-

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Older adults who couldn’t identify the scent of bananas, lemons, cinnamon, or other items were five times more likely to develop Parkinson’s disease within 4 years, according to a 2008 study in the Annals of Neurology. The researchers believe that the area of the brain responsible for olfactory function may be one of the first impacted by Parkinson’s disease — somewhere between 2 and 7 years prior to diagnosis.

Prevent it: Take fish oil supplements. Omega-3 fatty acids can boost your brain’s resistance to MPTP, a toxic compound responsible for Parkinson’s.

Multiple studies show that linear wrinkles in one or both lobes may predict future cardiovascular events (heart attack, bypass surgery, or cardiac death.) A crease on one lobe raises the risk by 33%; a crease on both lobes increases it by 77%, even after adjusting for other known risk factors, found a study in The American Journal of Medicine. Though experts aren’t exactly sure, they suspect a loss of elastic fibers may cause both the crease and the hardening of arteries.

Prevent it: Keep your heart healthy in other ways: Slim down, and lower your cholesterol and blood pressure.

Coffee and Tea may reduce diabetes case

Posted by: Curt | Under: 40's/fit, 50's/fit, Diet and Weight Loss, General Fitness, Health, Ladies/fit, Prime/fit, Quick Tips, Seniors/fit, Sports, Supplements | Add Comment

Coffee

This is good news and bad news- the good news is that there is pretty convincing evidence that coffee and tea consumption reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The bad news is that millions of people who do get diabetes consume lots of coffee and tea. So the reasons behind the evidence are unclear. Like with most things, there is probably more than one factor at work. It’s possible that coffee and tea drinkers have different life-style traits that influence the effects of caffeine or the other ingredients in coffee and tea. It’s also possible that coffee and tea drinkers burn more calories from the effects of the caffeine. But all in all, at the very least, we can put aside the warnings of years gone by that they are bad for you. In general, unless you are very sensitive to caffeine, there is no problem with drinking coffee and tea. So, if you like coffee and tea, enjoy. But please don’t use this as an excuse to over eat and not exercise. There is no doubt at all that the best way for most people to avoid developing diabetes is with a good diet and exercise.

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People who drink the most coffee and tea, even decaffeinated versions, can dramatically lower their risk of diabetes, researchers reported on Monday.

“Every additional cup of coffee consumed in a day was associated with a 7 percent reduction in the excess risk of diabetes,” Rachel Huxley of The University of Sydney in Australia and an international team of colleagues wrote in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Strength and Diet

Posted by: Curt | Under: 40's/fit, 50's/fit, Diet and Weight Loss, General Fitness, Health, Ladies/fit, Prime/fit, Sports, Supplements, Youth/fit | Add Comment

Or big and ripped, or as Andrew over at MPF calls it “the holy grail of fitness”. The basic idea that has been floating around for years is that you can’t gain size and strength while at the same time lose fat and get lean- at least not without pharmaceutical help. That is sort of true, but not completely. Years ago, in my bodybuilding days we used to do the bulk up, diet down plan for getting ready for shows. One thing I noticed over the years is that each successive competition got easier to diet for and after the show, I stayed just a little bit leaner. So while there are some basics to gaining strength and and/or dieting, our bodies are extremely good at adapting. You aren’t going to make your best gains in size and strength while dieting, but you can still make gains. One time, about 10 years ago, I was getting ready for the Mr. Georgia and dieting fairly strictly. I was also still squatting and deadlifting at my max levels even while losing weight. So there is a balance and it isn’t easy to find, but when you do find it, it is great.

So to my mind the Holy Grail of Fitness IS a system that effects a good amount of fat loss–or perhaps, more accurately, control of fat–and, simultaneously, good gains in strength and muscle mass.  Compromise.  True, you’re not going to get HUGE and, depending on how you eat, you’re probably not going to get SHREDDED, but you’re going to look and feel good.

The Benefits of Exercise for the Mind and Spirit

Posted by: Curt | Under: 40's/fit, 50's/fit, Children/fit, Diet and Weight Loss, General Fitness, Health, Ladies/fit, Prime/fit, Quick Tips, Seniors/fit, Spiritual/Emotional, Sports, Travel/fit, Youth/fit | Add Comment

walking in the woods

We often think that when it comes to diet, exercise and health that the latest is the greatest. We also tend to think that no one before us could possibly have the insight and clarity that our current generation has. But that is of course a fallacy and falls under the category of “chronological snobbery” as CS Lewis calls it. So here is a quote from the famous 19th century preacher Charles Spurgeon-

He who forgets the humming of the bees among the heather, the cooing of the wood-pigeons in the forest, the song of birds in the woods, the rippling of rills among the rushes, and the sighing of the wind among the pines, needs not wonder if his heart forgets to sing and his soul grows heavy. A day’s breathing of fresh air upon the hills, or a few hours, ramble in the beech woods’ umbrageous calm, would sweep the cobwebs out of the brain of scores of our toiling ministers who are now but half alive. A mouthful of sea air, or a stiff walk in the wind’s face, would not give grace to the soul, but it would yield oxygen to the body, which is next best.

So head out and get oxygen! It will be good for you body, mind and spirit.