Happiness

I saw some video segments from 60 Minutes on Yahoo News this morning that are very informative about happiness. They are interviews of Tal Ben-Shahar, a Harvard psychology professor and lecturer. The link below will bring up the Yahoo News video player and should play the videos (and a few commercials :) automatically in succession:

Yahoo News Videos
We Can't Have It All
Happiness Defined
Why Americans Are Unhappy
He Practices What He Preaches
Five Easy Steps

According to Tal, in our materialistic society there is a lot of pressure from high expectations. However, wealth does not create happiness. We need to have realistic expectations. We can't have it all but we can have a lot.

He also says it is difficult to define happiness. It is an experience of meaning (importance) and pleasure. Meaning can be achievement, contributing to community, or enjoyment of friendship or a relationship. What is pleasure and meaning will vary over time and by culture and from one person to another. Below are Tal's suggestions for happiness:

* Simplify - more is not always better

* Exercise is important - improves mood

* It's OK to experience painful emotions - give yourself permission to be human

* Appreciate what we have - give thanks and grow and learn both in regard to our relationships and our surroundings

I would add that maintaining good health by eating a good diet is also very important for happiness. It's more difficult to be happy if you're not healthy and many drugs and medications can cause depression. Too much sugar in your diet may also lead to depression, as well as lack of general good nutrition.

Also, below is a YouTube video of a funny interview of Tal Ben-Shahar by Jon Stewart on the Daily Show:



Tal Ben-Shahar has written a book called "Happier", which I have not read but looks interesting and is highly rated on Amazon Books.

I'm happy because I have the day off for President's Day today :)

Health Food

You know the old saying - one person's food is another person's poison - really is true. We are all different, and because of these differences, there is no ideal healthy diet that is optimal for everyone. On the other hand there are definitely some aspects to diet that we all need and some aspects that can be less than optimal for everyone's health.

Many people eat simply to stop the hunger pangs and to enjoy the pleasure of eating, with little thought about what the body needs to stay healthy. Convenience and cost also play a large role in what people eat. In our fast-paced society many people are in a hurry and want their food quick, convenient, and cheap. Hence the rise in popularity of "fast food" including fast food restaurants and fast microwave convenience foods. Most people have a vague notion of what might be healthy, primarily based on the constant barrage of advertising, mainly for fast cheap convenient foods. But much of this advertising is intentionally misleading to sell products. Consequently, many people have become brainwashed into believing that some fast foods are actually "healthy choices". Most of these foods are not so bad that they will quickly make you sick - or they wouldn't sell and would soon drop out of the market. But most of these factory processed-packaged foods are loaded with flavor enhancers and even addicting chemicals to entice and capture customers, often at the expense of their long-term health. They also have lost many of their nutrients during processing and are loaded with chemicals or ingredients that make them less expensive - but are not good for optimal health.

So what are the additives that are likely to be harmful to everyone's long-term health? They include flavor enhancers like monosodium glutamate (MSG) and addicting refined sugar, cheap oils full of rancid polyunsaturated omega-6 fats and/or trans-fats, food colorings, processing additives and conditioners that make foods cheaper to mass-produce, and preservatives to extend shelf-life. These are the ingredients that make fake convenience foods cheap and make them look and taste more like real food so they sell, but at the expense of our long-term health. So, the moral to this story is simple: it's time to get back to eating real food.

What nutrients do we need from our food? We all know about vitamins and minerals. So, why not just take a multi-vitamin and mineral supplement and be done with it? One good reason is that most multi-vitamin and mineral supplements are made from refined chemicals that often may not be properly absorbed or utilized to fill our nutrient needs. Our bodies have evolved to absorb and utilize complex matrices of nutrients from foods, not refined or artificial nutrient analogues from pills. It is also likely that science has not yet discovered all of the healthful nutrients in foods nor all of the synergistic effects of natural nutrients working together. So, what is packaged for convenience in a pill is not likely to fully meet our nutritional needs.

A better approach is to look at diets of healthy people around the world to look for foods that favor health. We can also look for dietary factors that are detrimental to health. The classical work of Weston Price is a good start. He searched around the world to find people eating their native diets and compared their health to that of their contemporaries who had switched to canned and processed commercial foods loaded with refined flour and sugar that were becoming popular in the early 1900's. He consistently found that the people who continued to eat their native diets were healthier than those who switched to more modern commercial diets. He found that the healthiest groups included animal seafoods, and/or organ meats, and/or dairy in their diet. He also found that these people ate a wide variety of plant foods and prepared them in ways that optimized their health benefit. These are the foods that should be the foundation of a healthy modern diet. The challenge today is to find these foods uncontaminated by modern pollution.

Ideal Foods

Buy local foods to help preserve our environment and keep it clean. Buy organic foods to help keep our environment and foods free of pesticides. Buy wild animal foods from clean environments or foods from pastured animals that are humanely raised without antibiotics or hormones and fed natural organic diets. Avoid large fish, which accumulate methyl-mercury from the food chain, and minimize or eliminate factory-farmed animal foods. Include fatty fish and shellfish or organ meats or dairy depending on which of these foods are most appealing and well tolerated. Avoid all processed dairy and choose raw, cultured, and fermented dairy if tolerated. Make bone broth to use in soups, stews, and gravies. Choose a variety of organic vegetables and fruits to suit your taste and appetite. Include some lacto-fermented vegetables if they are tolerated. Grow your own foods if possible. Include whole-grain foods and small amounts of nuts if they are appealing. Soak or sprout grains, nuts, and seeds for optimal nutrient availability. If you are overweight, avoid starchy/sugary vegetables, grains, and fruits.

Use your senses to judge the quality of real foods. If a food is not appealing, don't eat it. Also notice how you feel after eating foods and avoid those foods that do not leave you feeling well. But don't trust your senses to judge the quality of deceptive fake foods - avoid them as much as possible.

To make sure that you are getting a balanced diet, you can use online nutrition calculators or if you have Excel you can try my Dietary Nutrition Calculator to estimate your dietary nutrient intake. These estimates are crude at best, because of the sometimes large variability of some nutrients in foods and because of the variability in how well these nutrients are absorbed and utilized from one individual to another. But at least you can get a rough idea if your diet is providing adequate nutrients for good long-term health.

Taking the time and effort to find and prepare good quality food is a worthy investment for health. What better investment can you make?

Exercise and dementia

Exercise and dementia
Older adult who regularly walk fro exercise may help lower their risk of vascular dementia, the second most common form of this disorder after Alzheimer’s disease.

In group of 749 adults who were 65 years of age or older, Italian researchers found that those who regularly walked or got other forms of moderate exercise were less likely to develop vascular dementia over the next four years.

Compared with their sedentary counterparts, active adults had about one quarter the risk of developing vascular dementia. Vascular dementia is caused by an impaired blood flow to the brain.

Blockages that narrow the blood vessels supplying the brain or complete blockages that cause a stroke, may also lead to vascular dementia.

People with conditions that damage blood vessels throughout the body – such as high blood pressure or diabetes – are also at increased risk. The new findings built on evidence that lifestyles habits are important in dementia risk.

A number of studies have suggested that the same habit s that are good for the heart such as a healthy diet and regular exercise – may benefit the ageing brain as well.
Exercise and dementia

We Are All On Drugs

On a lighter note - Weezer video (high speed):

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Yahoo music (click arrow lower right for full screen):



Maybe this song should be the new U.S. national anthem? With so many people taking prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs, recreational drugs, and illegal drugs, it might as well be. And if you count caffeine and refined sugar as drugs like I do - even more so.

We are all on drugs, yeah
Never getting enough
We are all on drugs, yeah
Give me some of that stuff

And the best of your days
Will all vanish in the haze
When you're on drugs

And you wish you could quit
Cause you're really sick of it
But you're on drugs

Give it to me!
Just say no to drugs, yeah
Let food be your medicine
Just say no to drugs, yeah
Let food be your medicine ... woooo!

Will this be your fate?

(credit to Close to Home)

OK, back to reality now :)

Antibiotics - Probiotics

Modern medicine has conjured a deep fear of microbes that has led to gross over-use of antibiotics, most commonly for sinus and ear infections. Antibiotic literally means "against life", but is largely used to refer to medications that kill bacteria. Many of these medications are derived from mycotoxins produced by fungi for the purpose of killing competing bacteria. What most doctor's don't tell you is that many of the antibiotics they prescribe kill not only harmful bacteria, but also health promoting bacteria. Not only that, but when bacteria are suppressed, fungi can go into a feeding frenzy and multiply like crazy. And most fungi are not beneficial. What's worse, antibiotics also depress our immune system, allowing unaffected microbes to flourish. And furthermore, over-use of antibiotics creates antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria that can take advantage of any depressed immune system. Consequently, antibiotics should be reserved for only the most severe bacterial infections.

Most people don't realize there are many more microbes in our bodies than human cells, by at least a factor of two or three. We are really symbiotic cultures of human cells and microbes. Most of these microbes are in our digestive system and can weigh as much as three or four pounds. When we are healthy, most of the microbes are beneficial bacteria that help us digest our food and even add nutrients to our system and help support our immune health. This is "symbiosis". Taking powerful antibiotics greatly damages this symbiotic system by killing the beneficial bacteria and allowing harmful microbes, mainly fungi and resistant bacteria, to multiply, causing "dysbiosis". These unfriendly microbes can damage the mucosal lining of the intestines allowing undigested harmful proteins and chemicals to enter the body and the bad microbes can also generate toxins that are absorbed into our body. Dysbiosis often leads to food allergies and may trigger auto-immune diseases, which are malfunctions of our immune system. Dysbiosis may also cause or contribute to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

We are born without beneficial microbes in our digestive system, but mother's milk provides a host of beneficial microbes that quickly colonize our infant digestive systems. The microbes change in composition over time, influenced largely by the foods we eat. These beneficial microbes serve as our first line of defense in combating harmful microbes. When they are healthy, they can out-compete undesirable microbes and may even kill them directly. So, it is imperative to eat foods that promote the beneficial microbes. These can be foods that feed the microbes or foods that actually have live beneficial microbes to re-enforce the supply in our system. Foods with live beneficial microbes are called probiotic, which literally means "for life". Some of the best probiotic foods are raw dairy, fermented dairy such as kefir and yogurt, fermented beverages such as kombucha and beet kvass, and lacto-fermented vegetables such as traditional sauerkraut and pickles (unpasteurized). Foods that benefit the good microbes are called "prebiotic" and include vegetable foods with oligosaccharides. Foods high in refined sugar and refined carbohydrates may in quantity promote microbes that are not beneficial. Maintaining proper digestion is critical to our health.

So what can we do to avoid antibiotics? Ideally keep our immune system as healthy as possible to avoid infections in the first place. That means eating plenty of nutrient dense foods and minimizing dietary sugar, refined carbohydrates, and omega-6 fats that can hamper immune function. Also, eating foods with good saturated fats, such as pastured animal and dairy fats and coconut oil, helps to boost immune function. And consuming probiotic foods helps to maintain beneficial bacteria in the digestive system, which in turn helps to boost immune function. Choosing fresh organic foods and staying away from factory processed/packaged foods loaded with harmful food additives, preservatives, and pesticides also helps to reduce the burden on our immune system.

When infections do manage to bring illness, we need to boost the functioning of our immune system - preferably by diet as much as possible. Taking additional probiotic foods and/or supplements may help against many infections, especially gastro-intestinal infections. Herbal medicines may also provide help against many infections. Consult a naturopathic physician or herbal medicine practitioner for diagnosis and prescription. Bone broth is a traditional remedy that can also help our immune system fight many infections, Broth is Beautiful.

For an in depth and well-referenced discussion of dysbiosis read:
"The causes of intestinal dysbiosis: a review"

Choose The Right Weight Loss Program

For some people a formal weight loss program isn't necessary. They can summon the willpower, do the research and carry out the needed actions all on their own. Others will benefit from support, guidance and a helping hand.

When seeking out that weight loss program there are a number of important questions the second type will want answered.

The most essential, and therefore the first question are: What are the facts about diet, exercise and weight loss? There are dozens of food diets, special exercise regimens and all manner of junk science surrounding the subject.

Anyone with common sense and some persistence can fairly quickly find one or more sources of reliable information. Scientific studies don't stand in isolation; they either support or contradict others. Similarly, it is also helpful to find knowledgeable and experienced people at fitness and nutritional centers. Most people can distinguish between those who are trying to give wise counsel and those who just want to sell something that may or may not have any value. People deserve to be paid for their services, but offering something worthwhile is fundamental.

Once find a gym or nutritionist that can offer a good guidance and moral support, people can get added benefits. Such people can help remind, when the going gets tough, of why chose to make the effort in the first place. It's difficult to adhere to a long term program when the progress is slow.

Any wise diet and exercise program needs be oriented toward lifestyle changes that will help lose the weight and keep it off, and keep healthy and fit. One thing that can help to take the first step towards a true lifestyle change is a clean, toxin-free body. Counseling provided by fitness and nutrition professionals can also help to stick to a nutritional program. Nutritional counselors can help unlearn bad habits and learn better ones.
There is a need to monitor the progress, and need to ask where and what are the tests and tools to do that. There is a for need food charts for measuring calories and types of nutrients. Also need a BMI calculator and other tools.

Some of those tools are as simple and inexpensive as a scale, a flexible tape measure and a mirror. Others may be a heart rate or pulse monitor, a device that measures body fat percentage and other things that often accompany a treadmill.

Sugar - a Toxin?

YES! And it's also a very addicting DRUG!

OK, now you think I'm really crazy :)

But let's take a look at the definitions. A toxin is a chemical produced by living organisms that causes harmful effects on the body at high enough concentration. Sugar easily meets that definition. It is plant derived and there are numerous studies that show a variety of harmful health effects from excess dietary sugar. Below are the definitions from Wikipedia.

Toxin:
A poisonous substance produced by living cells or organisms.

Poison:
In the context of biology, poisons are substances that can cause damage, illness, or death to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organism.

Drug:
A drug, broadly speaking, is any substance that alters normal bodily function. Recreational drugs are chemical substances that affect the central nervous system, such as narcotics or hallucinogens. They may be used for perceived beneficial effects on perception, consciousness, personality, and behavior. Some recreational drugs can cause addiction and habituation.

OK, is sugar a drug? If you've ever had a feel-good high immediately after eating sweet "comfort" foods, it's a psycho-active drug. If you've ever had a "craving" for something sweet, it's an addicting psycho-active drug.

So, my point is that we need to start thinking of refined sugar as a toxin and drug. That makes sugar by far the most common and abundant toxin and drug in the modern food world!

The body needs small amounts of sugar to function properly. But the body can make all the sugar it needs. There is no minimum daily intake requirement for sugar or even for carbohydrates. There are many nutrients that in small amounts are necessary for good health, but in excess are detrimental. Zinc,copper, iron, iodine, and vitamins A and D are examples. Likewise, sugar in small amounts is necessary for health, but in excess causes problems.

When natural sugars are ingested unrefined, as in fruits or dairy, the amounts are generally low enough not to cause problems. However, when the sugar is refined and concentrated as a food additive, it is easy to get too much. Because of it's addicting and feel-good qualities, sugar is often added in large quantities to processed/manufactured foods to make them sell better. So, if you eat a lot of processed/manufactured or restaurant foods, it is very easy to get too much sugar. People eating a lot of these foods commonly get as much as 20 to 30 percent or more of their calories from sugars. What's worse is that most of that sugar is now in the form of high fructose corn syrup, which is even more harmful than table sugar. Most healthy primitive diets had only small amounts of sugar, mainly from raw dairy or from fruit when in season.

Too much dietary sugar certainly won't kill you right away, but it does have short-term harmful effects, like suppression of the immune system, even with relatively small doses. That leaves you more vulnerable to infectious diseases and cancer. One study showed that ingestion of 100 grams of sugar caused about a 40% reduction in white blood cell activity against pathogens and found that it took about five hours for immune function to return to normal.

Over many years, too much sugar can lead to metabolic syndrome diseases, including obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. These are the diseases of aging and that's exactly what too much sugar does - speeds up the aging process.

So, how much sugar should we allow in our diet? Probably no more than about 5% to 10% of total daily calories and the less, the better. That means if your normal dietary intake is 2,000 calories per day, you should not get more than 200 calories from sugar. Since sugar has 4 calories per gram, that means no more than about 50 grams (2 ounces) of sugar per day on a 2,000 calorie diet. And that's total sugar from all sources. Here's the amount of sugar you get from single servings of some common "comfort" foods, listed in grams, to the left of the food name (from NutritionData).

Grams of sugar:
96 cake (1/8 slice 9 inch white with coconut icing)
57 candy (4 oz Snickers)
56 milk shake (11 oz vanilla)
39 soft drink (12 oz cola)
39 yogurt (8 oz low fat strawberry Breyers)
37 coffee (12 oz caramel mocha Starbucks)
34 apple juice (12 oz Starbucks)
32 pie (1/8 slice 8 inch pecan)
30 ice cream (1 cup chocolate)
29 orange juice (12 oz McDonald's)
28 muffin (101 g blueberry Starbucks)
24 donut (5 inch)
21 brownie (56 g large chocolate)
18 granola (2/3 cup low fat fruit Nature Valley)
15 cereal (1 cup frosted flakes Kellogg)
07 hamburger (105 g McDonald's)

For comparison - grams of sugar:
19 apple (3 inch with skin)
15 peach (2 3/4 inch)
12 orange (2 7/8 inch navel)
12 grapes (15 red or green seedless)
07 strawberries (1 cup whole)

Breaking the Sugar Addiction
To break your sugar addiction, eliminate foods with added refined sugar and reduce intake of other refined carbohydrates. Increase intake of foods with good quality animal or dairy fat, preferably from pastured animals, and add probiotic foods. Also, try coconut oil. And be sure to eat a variety of foods to get good nutrition. If you have Excel, try out my dietary nutrition calculator. Dropping sugar may seem difficult the first few weeks, but after a few months of abstinence from refined sugar and with intake of more good fat, probiotics, and nutrients, you should lose any cravings for sweets. If you still have difficulty, another tool to try is the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), a type of accupressure that employs tapping instead of the needles used in accupuncture. Once you have broken your addiction, you can still allow occasional sugary foods, but not very often or you run the risk of becoming addicted once again. You may also find that sugary foods that used to be "treats" no longer taste as good - they're too sweet!

If a food does not taste good without adding sugar to it, then either learn to like it without the sugar, or find other foods that you like that don't have added sugar. You may find as you lose your sugar addiction that many foods that formerly did not taste sweet enough now taste good. Sour and tart foods may become more appealing. You may even develop a new appreciation for all of the wonderful flavors in nature!

Update 12-20-08
Fructose appears to be the worst dietary sugar for causing long-term health problems from excess consumption. Fructose is 50% of table sugar (sucrose) and typically 55% of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Read this interesting editorial from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition: How safe is fructose for persons with or without diabetes?