Obesity Increases Deadliest Forms of Cancer

Obesity early in life increases the risk of acquring pancreatic cancer later in life.

It goes without saying that any cancer diagnosis is bad news, but some diagnoses are worse than others.

Virtually all cancers have good survival rates, so long as they’re diagnosed early, but some are hard just plain hard to pinpoint, which means that by the time they are diagnosed and pinpointed, they’ve already advanced past the point of no return.

Among the worst of these cancers is pancreatic cancer.  Lung cancer may be the deadliest form of cancer in the United States, but pancreatic isn’t far behind (fourth deadliest).  And what makes pancreatic cancer really standout is its survival rate – or lack there of.

Again, while lung cancer is the deadliest form of cancer, its five-year survival rate is 15 percent (in other words, 15 percent of people who are diagnosed with lung cancer survive for five years).  That’s an exceptionally low number, but those chances of survival are downright ambitious in comparison to pancreatic cancer – a 5 percent five-year survival rate!  In fact, it metastasizes so quickly, statistics indicate that most people die within six months of diagnosis.

All that said, it is with great concern and worry that I report to you the following:  People who are obese early in life increase their chances of developing pancreatic cancer by as much as 60 percent (a BMI index level over 30).

This chilling discovery was made by researchers from the University of Texas at the M.D Anderson Cancer Center.  In coming to these conclusions, researchers had their group of participants – about half of whom had already been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer – fill out detailed questionnaires that questioned their current health and weight status, how much they weighed in past years, and also some family background information.  This background information was important, as it helped the researchers control for contributing factors (ethnicity, history of pancreatic cancer in the family, smoking prevalence, etc.).

After taking these contributing factors into account, they found several linkages to pancreatic cancer and weight.  One of them was that those who were obese in their teens and 20s were about 60 percent more likely to have pancreatic cancer than those who were thin at that age.

Another interesting fact they discovered was weight being tied to how early on in life one is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  For instance, those who were obese in their early adult years were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer around the age of 59 on average, while those who were of normal weight were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer around the age of 64 on average.

The study’s published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

That obesity increases the risk of cancer is not the news here.  That’s been known for a while, and this study confirmed that (there was a higher percentage of people obese and diagnosed with pancreatic cancer than those who were of normal weight and diagnosed with pancreatic cancer).  What is the news is that just being obese, no matter what stage of life, increases the risk of one of the deadliest forms of cancer – and increases that risk more than smoking does!

If that’s not a glaring indication of how risky obesity is, then nothing is.

Sources:
sciencedaily.com
reuters.com
lung-cancer.emedtv.com

Did Painkiller Popping Kill King of Pop?

Was Demerol, a prescription painkiller, a contributing cause to Michael Jackson's death?

Around 5:45 p.m. this past Thursday evening, people the world over received news so shocking, so earth shattering, it could very well could have registered on the Richter scale:  Michael Jackson had died.

Within hours, fans of the King of Pop descended on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, lighting candles and adorning his star with flowers, pictures, and cards.  Amazon.com and other retailers were flooded with orders for his DVDs and CDs, and thousands of Web sites sprang up devoted to his memory.

Just hours before Jackson’s death, another pop culture icon died, Farah Fawcett, after undergoing several months worth of chemotherapy treatment.

Since then, it’s been all Jackson, all the time on the 24-hour news cycle (some Fawcett coverage too, but to a far lesser extent).

The ubiquity of coverage isn’t a surprise, as both Fawcett and Jackson are symbols of American pop culture.

And as more and more information comes to the forefront regarding Jackson’s puzzling death, the missing pieces are coming together and illuminating what was once a mystery.

The presumed culprit in Jackson’s death is a well-known painkiller called Demerol. 

For those unfamiliar with Demerol, it’s toxicity and characteristics are best summed up by Dr. Patrick Annello, an anesthesiologist that works at the St. Francis Hospital in New York (on Long Island).  As he told FoxNews.com, “[Demerol] can cause rapid heart rate, arrhythmias and – when given in high doses – it can cause respiratory depression or shallow breathing.”

He prefaced this laundry list of side effects by warning that Demerol has “a tremendous number of side effects.”

And this is precisely the problem with prescription drugs like Demerol – they offer way more side effects than they do benefits.  Michael Jackson is the latest exhibit of the deadly toll prescription drugs like Demerol place on the body.

Doubters of Demerol’s deadly deeds will chalk Jackson’s death up to happenstance, the occasional instance of prescription drugs taking the life of someone.  A classic case of “That may have happened to him, but what are the chances that will ever happen to me?”

The doubters will justify its use further by suggesting that the abuse of Demerol is not the nature of the drug itself, but rather the nature of people – that some people are just more prone to addiction and want to feed their addictive personalities. 

Whether Michael Jackson had an addictive personality is beside the point.  He was likely put on Demerol by his doctor because he was, indeed, experiencing legitimate pain.  But his doctor did him a profound disservice because one of the known side effects of Demerol is that it’s addictive – whether someone has an addictive personality or not. 

His doctor could have pointed him to alternative treatments that alleviate pain naturally and that aren’t addictive.  Instead, his doctors gave him a license to: take something that highly trained athletes have become addicted to and sought treatment for (like Brett Favre), take something that killed one of the most bright, entertaining and up-and-coming movie stars of our era (like Heath Ledger), and take something responsible for ruining professional wrestlers careers (though their matches may be scripted, their falls or “bumps,” to use wrestlers’ lingo, are quite real), including Chris Benoit, Andrew “Test” Martin, and the “British Bulldog” Davy Boy Smith, just to name a few.  All of them took painkillers, got hooked on them, and died as a result.

As untimely a death as Jackson’s was (no matter what your thoughts on Jackson and his personal exploits, there’s no denying he was an incredible entertainer and  revolutionary performer), a positive to take away from all this is that Demerol is finally getting its fair share of negative publicity.  Perhaps now the public will be wary of painkillers and whether or not they want to prescribe their life away – quite literally.

On the negative side, though, Michael Jackson’s cause of death will detract from Farah Fawcett’s cause of death.  It won’t be focused on at all; in fact, it will be chalked up as inevitable. Her cancer just got progressively worse, and that’s that. 

But just as Michael Jackson was victim of the things he put into his body, so too was Farah Fawcett. Their deaths were hastened by their treatments – Demerol in Jackson’s case, and chemotherapy in Fawcett’s.

To quote NaturalNews.com’s Mike Adams, “Had [Fawcett] chosen natural remedies, she could have skipped all the pain and suffering, restored her immune function, reversed her cancer, and gone on to live a much loner and more abundant life.”

Death is a part of life, but these deaths didn’t have to happen so soon.  They were taken from the earth far too early.

Farah and Michael’s memories live on through their acting and singing.  But to use a few lines from Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror,” we can all “make the world a better place,” by “taking a look at ourselves and making a change” in the way we perceive the pharmaceutical industry, knowing that the pills they peddle aren’t in our best interest.  

(Note:  While speculation of Michael Jackson’s cause of death centers on his use of Demerol, it remains just that – speculation.  Toxicology reports won’t be released for several weeks.  That said, what do you think?  Was Demerol the cause of Jackson’s death, or was it something else entirely?  Leave your comments below.) 

Sources:
Fox News
Natural News

Correcting the ‘Chubby’ Headlines on Lifespan Claims

Misleading headline suggests it's good to be overweight!

I’ve found in my writing of articles over the years that misleading headlines are becoming more and more commonplace. I wonder if I shouldn’t make it a weekly feature, something like, “The Latest Head‘lie’.”

It’s almost as if the goal of headline writers is to get people to read the article, not to accurately reflect the content of what the article is about.

Come to think of it, given the economic state of newspapers and the lack of readership, perhaps this isn’t such a bad idea (half-joking).

Seriously, though, it’s SO important to look beyond the headlines when you see or hear a story, particularly when it comes to health.

The latest example of headline beguiling says this:  “Study:  Chubby People Live Longest.”  This is what one of the most popular Web sites in the world, the Drudge Report, lists as the takeaway of the study, a Web site that garners 23 million page views in the average 24-hour period.

Talk about misleading the public!

I say that because the focus of the study was not on the fact that chubby people live longer, but that people who are severely underweight tend to have a shorter lifespan.

The headline suggests that it’s actually good to be overweight, but when you actually take time to read  the article, that’s not an accurate representation. You don’t have to take my word for it, though; take the words of one of the study’s lead researchers, Shinichi Kuriyama, from Tohuku University in Japan:  “It’s better that thin people try to gain normal weight, but we doubt it’s good for people of normal physique to put on more fat.”

That statement alone illustrates how misleading the headline is.  It’s not that chubby people live longer; it’s that people who are malnourished need to try and gain a normal weight.

Does this finding really come as a surprise, though?  After all, when someone is underweight (below 18.5 on the body mass index), their immune system is compromised, and the body’s organs aren’t given the proper amount of protection that quality muscle and fat stores provide as insulation.

Further, even though I’m not a proponent of chemotherapy because of all the side effects that come along with it, it’s well-known that chemotherapy adversely affects people who are underweight more than it affects people of normal weight or those who are overweight (for the same reasons as listed above).

What the headline ought to have read is something to the effect of “Underweight Have Shorter Lifespan.”  But because this isn’t much of a surprise and it isn’t “attention-getting,” headline writers fudge the truth and fill headline space with words that entice, don’t accurately inform.

But who knows?  Perhaps the misinforming of these articles will inspire people to actually read the article – the whole article – who can then determine for themselves that the story doesn’t accurately reflect its title.  But given the average person’s attention span – which is seconds, not minutes – I’m not too optimistic people will read much beyond the headline or the opening paragraph, both of which are misleading (You have to get to the ninth paragraph of an 11-paragraph story before reading the doctor’s proviso on weight gain quoted above).

Source:
breitbart.com

Study:  Together, Antioxidants and Exercise Fight Osteoporosis

Exercise and antioxidant supplementation help fight osteoporosis

When it comes to bone health, we typically think of two nutrients that are particularly bone-friendly:  calcium and vitamin D.  But the results of a new study should cause the mind to think of a new bone-building bloc:  antioxidants and exercise.

A recent report from a Canadian university shows that women who supplemented with antioxidants and exercised over an extended period of time saw no bone loss in a six-month period, while those who did not exercise and received a placebo saw “detrimental” bone loss.

The study comes out of the University of Sherbrooke, located in Quebec, Canada.  It involved approximately 35 women (average age: 66) randomly assigned to one of four groupings:  exercise and an antioxidant supplement (vitamins C and E), exercise and no supplement, a placebo and exercise, a placebo and no exercise.  The length of the study was six months.

At its conclusion, the researchers examined all of the women’s bone density levels, measuring in places like the hip and spine, two areas of the body that are essential to maintaining a healthy range of motion.

The researchers found that only the group that had no exercise and supplemented with a placebo showed “detrimental” bone loss, while the exercise and antioxidant supplement group was the only group that saw no bone loss whatsoever.  This suggests that the combination of exercise and antioxidant supplementation is what seems to have an impact on bone loss or bone strength maintenance.

Why exercise improves bone health is pretty straightforward:  Just as a muscle strengthens the more it’s used, so too does a bone.

What isn’t so straightforward is antioxidants’ role in bone strength.  Past research performed by researchers from Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts suggests carotenoids have bone-building characteristics.  Carotenoids are a specific type of antioxidant, which have been shown to promote healthy immune system function, and to work as a bulwark against free radical dominance of the body’s reproductive processes, particularly among females.

Unfortunately for women, osteoporosis affects them much more than it does men (80 percent of osteoporosis diagnoses are women).  An estimated 75 million people are stricken with it in the United States, Europe and Japan combined (10 million of that number being Americans), with 50 percent of all women over the age of 50 breaking a bone as a result, according to the National Osteoporosis Foundation.

It’s estimated that every 20 seconds someone breaks a bone because of osteoporosis , so time really is of the essence when it comes to reducing one’s susceptibility to bone breakage.

The Canadian study was a trial one, so their loath to make any dosage recommendations until more in-depth studies can be conducted.

In the meantime, look for foods rich in carotenoids – the antioxidant believed to be key in bone strengthening.  These include fruits and vegetable-based products with intense colors, like the orangey orange of sweet potatoes and carrots, the ravishing red of tomatoes and tomato sauce, or the garish green of kale and spinach.

For exercise, aim for 30 minutes that’s low to moderate in intensity.  Even though non-weight bearing activities are good for joints long-term, moderate amounts of weight-bearing exercises are important as well, as the bones need to work to maintain strength.  Great forms of weight-bearing exercises include hiking, walking, tennis, and light jogging.

Sources:
whfoods.org
nutraingredients.com
cdc.gov
nof.org

Why Dads Need to Be Drinking More Green Tea

Green tea may slow the growth of prostate cancer.

This past Sunday was pretty eventful day on the calendar.  Not only was it the first day of summer, but it was also Father’s Day.  And in an effort to honor the most influential man in most of our lives, Major League Baseball and the boys of summer wore baby blue wristbands and ribbons to raise awareness for prostate cancer.  Prostate cancer is second only to lung cancer in its prevalence among men – with 240,000 new diagnoses expected this year alone.

As great and admirable as this was, MLB teams could have taken the honorific a step further by filling those Gatorade coolers in dugouts with some iced green tea, as a recent study suggests it may slow the progression of prostate cancer.

There are of course lots of changes that take place in the body after prostate cancer diagnosis.  One of them is found in the blood’s serum.  There are several types of serums, all of them with alphabet-soup names like hepatocyte and endothelial.  These serum levels – or what are often referred to as “biomarkers” in assessing the degree to which prostate cancer has infected someone – are high in people who are diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Researchers wanted to see how green tea might impact the aforementioned serum levels of approximately 26 men who were diagnosed with prostate cancer by having them consume green tea capsules for varying amounts of time over the study period (the median time of supplementation was 34.5 days).  The men ranged in age from 41 to 72 years old.

Results indicated that all the men showed reductions in these “biomarkers,” with some of the serum levels dropping as much as 30 percent!

The active ingredient in green tea believed to play a role in reducing these biomarkers are green tea’s polyphenols – specifically Polyphenon E.

More details of the study are published in the journal Cancer Prevention Research and it was conducted by professors and researchers from Louisiana State University’s Feist-Weiller Cancer Center.

What makes this study so significant is two-fold: 1) It gives further justification of why so many people are gaga for green tea (second only to coffee as the most popular drink in the world) and 2) Its another avenue people have in delaying a cancer that can spread very quickly when not detected early.

Anything that can help delay a virulent strain of cancer should be shouted from the rooftops, especially if it’s natural.  But green tea can do more than just delay its progression.  As the study’s lead researcher himself said, James A. Cardelli, “There is reasonably good evidence that many cancers are preventable [emphasis added], and our studies using plant-derived substances support the idea that plant compounds found in a healthy diet can play a role in preventing cancer development …”

As always, more studies need to be done, as the LSU researchers say this study wasn’t randomized, thus somewhat precluding the reliability of the findings.  But the results of this study are similar to one conducted by another research team, which was randomized, and that one was a year in length.  And this study contributes to the smorgasbord of studies and literature involving green tea, all of which show advances in health, vitality and disease avoidance when supplemented into one’s daily diet.

Sources:
sciencedaily.com
usatoday.com

Popular Cold Remedy Can Ruin Sense of Smell

Zicam nasal gel may damage sense of smell.

As many of you know by now – and as I’ve written in the past – I’m not exactly the president of the Food and Drug Administration’s fan club.  In fact, I just recently criticized them for not cracking down on the prevalence of GMOs in food, something that many within the FDA were trying to crack down on in the 1990s, but apparently gave up on.

But just as every cloud has its silver lining, the FDA occasionally casts that ray of sunlight on drug companies that are all too often shrouded in mystery as to their side effects (though they’re now required to state the side effects in commercials).

So it is with Zicam, a supposed-cold reliever that’s taken to alleviate symptoms associated with nasal congestion.

And “supposed” is the operative word here, because while it takes away the congestion, Zicam takes it a step further:  it takes away your sense of smell!!

According to a multitude of complaints filed to the FDA, Zicam Cold Remedy nasal gel has caused serious problems for a lot of people who’ve used it.  Many of them are no longer able to smell quite like they used to prior to their using it, and in some cases, can’t smell at all!  And those who’ve lost their sense of smell entirely lost it after their first dosage.

Approximately 130 people have reported this nasal puzzle since 1999.  But that’s a very unofficial number, as those are only the cases that have been reported to the FDA.  Who knows how many people suffer from anosmia overall, thanks to Zicam’s zany “remedy.” (anosmia is the medical term used for loss or impaired sense of smell).

Matrixx, the maker of Zicam, denies these claims, saying the links made to anosmia and Zicam’s use are “misleading” and “scientifically unfounded.”

Their denials weren’t enough to salvage their stock price, though, as shares of Matrixx took a nosedive, falling 55 percent in a single day (closing at $8.56).  Trading is now halted on Matrixx shares per the FDA’s warning.

See, occasionally, the FDA bites the bullet and clamps down on dangerous over-the-counter drugs.  They could be doing more, but I suppose it’s only fair that I give them credit when it’s due.

If you really want to combat a cold, arm yourself with what I like to call “The Mangano Common Cold Defense Arsenal.” You can find more in-depth information on this cold-weaponry here, but the arsenal includes zinc, vitamin C, Echinacea, goldenseal, and garlic.

Successful battles are won with a great defense, and when it comes to “cold war” battles, these defense mechanisms will have cold symptoms raising the white flag of surrender.

This report shows why it’s important to steer clear of Zicam and other over-the-counter drugs that so often do more harm than help; sapping your sense of smell is just the latest example.  You’ll never find that with natural supplements like these.

The only thing they’ll sap is a cold’s ability to wreak havoc on your immune system.

Sources:
money.cnn.com

Study:  On Little Sleep, Older Folk Outperform Young in Brain Function

Lack of sleep affects brain function in young people, researchers conclude.

As the school year comes to a close and finals make their ignominious return to young people’s lives, millions of high schoolers will be burning the midnight oil this week, hoping to cram in as much information as possible to nail that chemistry quiz, that English exam, and that economics essay.  In the process, many of them will sacrifice sleep.

But no big hairy deal, right?  Who amongst us hasn’t spent a night cramming for a test?  And after all, they can always make up for their “sleep debt” over the weekend, because young people – who haven’t logged as many hours on their bodies or their minds as those more advanced in years – are resilient

Right?

Not so much, according to a study that was presented at the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies last week in Seattle, Wash.

While it’s true, young bodies are certainly more able than older bodies to handle endurance activities without resting, that’s not the case for the mind.  In fact, it’s older minds that have a greater ability to perform when operating on little sleep.

The researchers from the University of California-San Diego found that among 33 older adults (ages ranged from 59-82) and 27 younger adults (ages 19 to 39), the older adults were far better at performing memory-related tasks, verbal recognition tests and reacting to certain stimuli.

On it’s face, this may seem counterintuitive.  But when you stop and think about the amount of sleep a newborn baby has – which progressively grows shorter as he or she gets older – it makes more sense.  And as I wrote in a previous article on sleep, the brain doesn’t really stop growing until around the age of 25.  Nothing revitalizes the brain for repair and development than sleep.  Brain exercises are important, sure – which you can find online simply by searching “brain exercises” – but no exercise comes close to what sleep provides for improving the brain’s overall functioning prowess.

The most sage sleep advice with regards to studying came from my mother.  In my high school days of cramming for courses, my mom always advised that instead of cramming my head with information when I was dead-tired, it was far better that I go to bed early, and wake up early so that my mind would be refreshed.

Her advice epitomized the “Mother Knows Best mantra,” as I always wound up doing better on tests when my brain was rested, rather than riddled with worry and weariness from those dreaded all-nighters.

So if your son or daughter is tempted to burn the midnight oil for finals, that oil will burn far more efficiently in the wee-hours of the morning after a good night’s rest.

Source:
sciencedaily.com

Weight Loss Procedures May Thin Bones, Increase Fracture Risk

Bariatric surgery may put patients at risk of bone fractures, researchers conclude.

When it comes to losing weight, there are no quick fixes.  It all boils down to diet and exercise:  increasing the activity levels, and decreasing the caloric levels.  Everything else either doesn’t work or is riddled with side effects.  Not even surgery is void of side effects.

Bariatric surgery procedures – where morbidly obese men and women go under the knife and have their stomachs minimized in one of several ways, like with a lapband – have boomed in popularity over the years.  Approximately 20,000 weight loss procedures were performed in 1995, 104,000 were performed in 2004, and over 200,000 have performed in the last year alone!

While bariatric surgeries have been successful for the majority of those who’ve undergone the belt-squeezing procedure, many haven’t been so lucky.  Some have undergone the procedure, only to re-gain the weight lost just months after the procedure (see Charlie Weis, head coach of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team).

And even though the majority of people have seen positive results, becoming veritable shells of their once hefty selves, their bone strength really takes a hit.

According to Joy Silverburg of Columbia University, there’s been precious little attention paid to the toll bariatric surgery puts on patients’ bone health.  As she said, the surgery is being billed as a “panacea,” a cure-all for losing weight, but people need to be aware of the fact that their bones can turn brittle if not properly provided with bone-saving supplements like calcium.

The Mayo Clinic is currently looking at approximately 300 people who’ve either lost weight the natural way or through bariatric surgery.  After reviewing about 150 cases, a quarter of those who underwent bariatric surgery had some sort of fracture within a few years!

This jibes with Silverburg’s assertion that bone density diminishes by about 10 percent in just 12 months after the procedure.

Because the research is still underway, researchers can’t be sure if it’s the surgery that’s causing the fractures, or if people are being too ambitious with their new found bodies and are putting their bones under stress too quickly for the body to compensate.

I’m inclined to believe it has something to do with the surgery, but I’ll let the study finish before making any definitive conclusions.

In the meantime, surgery should be an option of last resort.  If possible, try and lose weight through the traditional method:  moving a little more, eating a little less.

There’s no short-cut to a healthy weight, not even through surgery.

Sources:
msnbc.msn.com
bariatric-surgery.info

University of Chicago Study Links Hypertension to Lack of Sleep

Proper amount of sleep may bring blood pressure levels down

With the recent release of my book The Blood Pressure Miracle in stores across the country and the amount of work I’ve done recently to promote it, my attention is immediately grabbed whenever I see a headline that links anything to high blood pressure.  And so it was when I read this recent report that links sleep to high blood pressure.

Lacking a good night’s sleep can sometimes be attributed to the person; in other words, the person is not getting enough sleep simply because he or she isn’t biding their time well and chooses to stay out late or stay up late.  But for others, like the 70 million Americans who are affected by a chronic sleep disorder, it’s an unfortunate part of their reality that they must cope with night in, night out.

While tossing and turning is certainly inconvenient and frustrating, leaving people cranky and testy the next morning, it frustrates blood pressure levels as well, according to a new study that investigated the links between high blood pressure and sleep.

The study involved approximately 600 middle-aged adults of varying ethnicity and gender and was spread out over a five-year period.  The University of Chicago researchers tracked these men and women over the years, noting the average amount of sleep they got each night and keeping track of their blood pressure levels throughout the process.

The results?  Pretty galling.

I say “galling” because we all know that we ought to be getting seven to eight hours of sleep a night, the eighth hour being the most important hour for proper thinking and memory function.  We know this, yet only one percent – one percent! – got the recommended eight hours of sleep.  The majority of those involved in the study got around six hours of sleep a night (which is estimated to be the average amount the average American gets).

And as the researchers showed in their study, there was something of an inverse relationship between the hours slept and whether that person developed high blood pressure.  For instance, when researchers compared people who got six hours of sleep with those who got an average of five hours of sleep, the five-hour folk increased their risk of hypertension development by 37 percent!  One hour difference had that big of an impact!

The researchers say that more studies need to be done before it can be said with any definitiveness that more sleep can bring blood pressure levels down, as there are lots of variables that go into high blood pressure development (e.g. diet, exercise, ethnicity, family history, etc.).

In times like these, it can be just plain hard to sleep, even if you don’t have a sleep disorder.  In a poll conducted by the National Sleep Foundation, one-third of Americans lose sleep every night because of the country’s current economic situation.

Thinking about anything distressing is a nightmare for sleep.  Do your best to put all distressing thoughts out of your mind when your head hits the pillow by thinking “happy thoughts,” like lying out on the beach, or a particularly pleasant past experience.  Here are three other tips to follow, as suggested by National Sleep Foundation:

• Exercise, but don’t exercise too close to bedtime.  Exercise tires the body physically (conducive to sleep) but it revs up the brain (not conducive to sleep).

• Caffeine’s fine to drink in moderation, but not around bedtime.  Not even a little.  Put the lid on caffeine at dinnertime; keep it limited to a morning cup or in your afternoon brew.

• Just as a handyman can’t function without his tool belt, Mr.  Sandman can’t be summoned without a quality bed.  Your sleeplessness may be a function of improper “tools.”  Try out a new mattress.

Sources:
msnbc.msn.com
sleepfoundation.org

Atkins to Promote Plant-based Proteins as the New Key to Weight Loss, Heart Health

Atkins is now advocating plant-based proteins for weight loss.

Remember the Atkins Diet?  The diet that said you could splurge on pretty much any and all protein sources – no matter how fatty it was or how congested with cholesterol it happened to be?

For many people, this form of dieting worked. People reigned in their troublesome tummies, and did it without having to sacrifice strips of bacon, slabs of steak or plates full of pork rinds.

One problem, though:  Their cholesterol levels spiked.

As many of you know, you don’t have to be morbidly obese to have high cholesterol levels – as unhealthy levels can ravage the “lose a few” crowd or the rail thin folk.  Because when you consume red meat and fatty protein sources on a regular basis, all that saturated fat gets stored, slowly but surely blocking your body’s blood flow from normal circulation.

And a smorgasbord of health hazards result after that, chief among them the nation’s leading killer:  heart disease.

That said, Atkins has seen the err of its ways and is on the verge of unveiling a new diet plan that keeps a premium on protein, but shifts the emphasis to plant-based proteins.

As the country is becoming more eco-friendly, so too is Atkins.  In fact, the research on plant-based proteins that’s published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine has dubbed this new take on weight loss as the ‘Eco-Atkins’ diet.

Researchers from St. Michael’s Hospital and the University of Toronto had 50 participants partake in a study that randomly assigned some of them a high protein diet derived mainly from plant-based foods, like soy, gluten, nuts, fruits and vegetable oils.  The other half consumed a high carbohydrate, low fat dairy diet, but the carbohydrates were all from healthy sources (whole grain).

With the participants following these rather regimented diet plans for four weeks, the researchers found that those on the Eco-Atkins Diet lost slightly more weight than the high carbohydrate dieters, but their blood cholesterol levels were significantly lower. What’s more, their blood pressure levels dropped (a topic that’s near and dear to my heart, for those of you who’ve read “The Blood Pressure Miracle” already know).

More research needs to be done before researchers sign off on this latest Atkins incarnation, as the study was small in scope and short in length.  I have no doubt that the benefits will translate outward, though, as consuming more plant-based protein foods are always a better option, in that they’re void of harmful chemicals that meat products are often pumped with for preservation purposes (which is why I’m such a fan of grass-fed bison, but that’s a topic for another day).

As I’ve written in the past, I’m not a vegan and I don’t play one on television.  However, I’m definitely someone who advises that your meals be taken up primarily by high quality fruits and vegetables primarily, ones that have the appropriate balance of fats and proteins.

Some of the best sources for protein among vegetables include alfalfa sprouts (one cup= about 1.5 g of protein), artichokes (one medium=about 4 g of protein), and asparagus (eight spears=about 3.1 g of protein).

The aforementioned are virtually void of any plant-based fats, but avocados make up the difference (4.5 g of fat in a one-ounce serving).  And while we should generally keep our fat intake relatively low, we all need fat to ensure that the vitamins we eat get properly absorbed.

That said, an avocado has about .60 grams of protein in a one-ounce serving (which is the equivalent of two tablespoons, one-fifth of a medium-sized avocado, or two to three thinly cut slices).

None of these are eye-popping protein numbers, I grant you, but they’re the best nature has to offer.

(Interesting fact:  California avocados pack more protein per ounce than Florida avocados:  .60 grams vs. .45 grams.  Who knew?)

Sources:
nutraingredients.com
fatfreekitchen.com
avocado.org