Dr. Jonny Bowden

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  • Physical Activity Prevents Cognitive Decline

    Physical Activity Prevents Cognitive Decline

    The next time your partner complains about washing the dishes, remind him or her doing them could help prevent cognitive decline.

    A new study in the journal Neurology found any kind of physical activity, including household chores, could reduce your risk for Alzheimer’s disease and other brain-related deterioration.

    According to lead researcher Dr. Aron S. Buchman, exercise and “other activities such as cooking, washing the dishes, and cleaning are associated with a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease.”

    You’re probably thinking, Really, another study that shows exercise works!? After all, you don’t hear about too many studies that show exercise doesn’t work.

    But this one proves significant for two reasons. One, it was the first study to objectively measure physical activity.

    More specifically, researchers asked 716 people with no dementia to wear an actigraph, which measured their activity and non-activity for 10 days.

    The actigraph measured any kind of physical movement, including cooking, playing cards, and even operating a wheelchair. If these participants moved, the actigraph measured it.

    Participants reported their physical and social activity, but they also wore the actigraph to validate those claims, since many people overestimate or misjudge how much exercise they do otherwise.

    Over the three-and-a-half year study, 71 participants developed Alzheimer’s disease.

    The take home: movement counts, but intense movement matters more.

    • People who engaged in the least amount of physical activity were over twice as likely to succumb to Alzheimer’s than those who engaged in more physical activity.
    • People who exercised less intensely were almost three times more likely to get Alzheimer’s than people who did exercise intensely.

    Oh, the other significant detail worth mentioning: the average age of these participants was 82.

    Now, Alzheimer’s is a complex, multi-factorial disease, and experts lack any easy solutions. One thing we know for sure: a major player for any degenerative disease is inflammation.

    And exercise can reduce it. A study in the Journal of Applied Physiology for instance, showed that exercise protects against chronic inflammation and disease.

    I agree with Dr. Buchman’s conclusion that exercise is certainly a modifiable risk factor for neurological decline. You can’t change your genes, but you can certainly step up your physical activity.

    Here’s the deal:

    To be beneficial, exercise should be hard.

    For too many people, hours on elliptical machines and aerobic classes become social hour rather than a workout.

    You might as well take it to a bar and have a cocktail… at least the ambiance will be better!

    I also hear people say they walk 30 minutes a few times each week and call it exercise. Walking is good for a zillion other things, but it’s not strenuous physical activity.

    To really get exercise’s numerous benefits, including burning fat and preventing brain deterioration, you’ve got to step it up. You should push yourself to maximum intensity and be a little breathless when you’re done.

    A study in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise for instance, found intense exercise for 45 minutes boosted metabolism for 14 hours post-workout and helped participants burn an additional 190 calories after that workout.

    The good news is that you don’t need 45 minutes. After all, you could spend an hour on the treadmill and not get much of a workout.

    I often talk about burst training, my favorite form of exercise that gives you an intense workout in just four minutes a day »

    Combine burst training with weight resistance, and you’ve got the best exercise combo on the planet to burn fat, boost metabolism, build muscle, and prevent disease. In just minutes a day.

    Trust me, if you’re doing it right you will feel the burn and get results that benefit your brain and waistline.

  • Fast-Food Ad Familiarity Making Kids Fat?

    Fast-Food Ad Familiarity Making Kids Fat?

    Research recently presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Boston revealed familiarity with fast food commercials can increase the likelihood young adults will be overweight.

    If you ever got one of those annoying jingles stuck in your head, you know exactly how powerful advertising can be. Fast food restaurants spend billions a year, and guess what? Those ads aren’t aimed at you; they’re mostly targeted at children and adolescents.

    “This study links obesity in young people to familiarity with this advertising,” said lead author Dr. Auden C. McClure, “suggesting that youth who are aware of and receptive to televised fast-food marketing may be at risk for health consequences.”

    Researchers here surveyed a national sample of over 3,000 15 – 23 year olds.

    Among the questions researchers asked included how much participants exercised, how many sugary drinks they consumed, how often they ate fast food, how much TV they watched, and whether they snacked while watching TV.

    Then researchers showed these young adults 20 still images from fast-food TV ads. They digitally removed the brands, so participants had no written cues what fast food restaurant these commercials advertised.

    Participants responded whether they liked the ad, if they recall seeing it before, and whether they could name the restaurant brand.

    You probably aren’t shocked to learn young adults most vulnerable to weight gain were more likely to recognize these ads.

    Even after researchers controlled study variables, participants who recognized the most TV ads were over twice as likely to be obese compared with participants who couldn’t recall as many ads.

    Now, here’s the thing. These young adults also viewed alcohol ads, but researchers didn’t find any connection there.

    In other words, whether the young adults were overweight or not didn’t factor into their recognition for alcohol ads, but it sure did for fast-food commercials.

    Additionally, how often participants ate fast food didn’t factor into their chance of being overweight.

    Nope, simply recognizing these commercials proved the key factor whether young adults had a weight problem.

    “After accounting for overall TV time,” Dr. McClure concluded, “TV ad familiarity was still linked with obesity suggesting that this finding is not simply due to increased sedentary time or an effect of TV programming.”

    I realize familiarity with TV fast-food ads is simply one piece of a complicated puzzle to understanding obesity in high school and college aged kids. Numerous factors contribute to this (pardon the pun) ever-growing problem, including peer pressure, stress, and inactivity.

    But this study shows advertising also powerfully impacts the food choices teenagers make. Advertisers know this too. Otherwise, why would they invest such ridiculous amounts of money into silly jingles and TV commercials?

    I know how hard it can be to encourage young adults to eat healthy, particularly when they’re on the go and fast food often provides quick, delicious, peer-approved sustenance.

    You can’t control what your adolescents eat when they’re not at home, but you can set a positive impact with a pantry and fridge stocked with healthy on-the-go foods.

    Hint: don’t make the boxes of Pepperidge Farm cookies available and they won’t grab them.

    Celebrity nutritionist and fitness expert JJ Virgin often talks about lateral shifts. Rather than depriving your kids of their favorite foods, you upgrade to something equally satisfying but more nutrient rich and lower in sugar. I’ll leave you with seven easy-to-incorporate lateral shifts:

    1. Swap peanut butter for almond butter – a more nutrient-rich alternative with no added sugar or trans fat.
    2. Swap sugary sodas for seltzer water – your kids will get that same satisfying fizz without the soda’s sugar. Buy lemon or lime if they need some flavor.
    3. Swap cheeseburgers and fries for grass-fed burgers and sweet potato fries – just as satisfying as a McDonald’s meal but far more nutritious.
    4. Swap candy and chips for nuts – you get the same crunch with more nutrients and less sugar.
    5. Swap breakfast junk food for a protein smoothie – rather than grabbing a pastry or bagel, you can keep protein powder, berries, and coconut milk to fix a fast, filling breakfast.
    6. Swap candy bars for dark chocolate – sure, it’s an acquired taste, but your teens will get less sugar and more antioxidants in the darker stuff.
    7. Swap frozen entrees for leftovers – keep lean protein and green vegetables in containers that your kids can warm up when they’re hungry.

  • The Most Delicious Anti-Inflammatory Drink on Earth

    I’m a big believer in supplementation, but I’m also a big believer in using food as medicine. I also believe inflammation is a significant factor in just about every degenerative disease known to man. So I’m always looking for dietary and supplement strategies to lower inflammation. Foods like wild salmon, grass-fed beef, apples, onions, berries, papaya, and supplements like Omega-3’s, quercetin, resveratrol and curcumin.

    And pineapple!

    Pineapple contains a very potent anti-inflammatory enzyme called bromelain, which is also great for digestion. Everyone talks about the bromelain in pineapple, but what they forget to tell you is that most of it’s in the skin. (How much is in the actual fruit is anyone’s guess. We assume the fruit contains some bromelain but the mother lode is definitely in the skin everyone throws away.)

    The other day Michelle came home with a bag full of pineapples, which were on sale in our neighborhood at the ridiculously low price of 2 for $3.

    So we sliced them up and then put them through the juicer, skin and all.

    This is the juicer I use.  It’s the Breville Juice Fountain and it’s terrific.  It’s just the juicer I’ve been using for years and I think it’s great. I’m not the only one… check out all the great feedback on Amazon.

    To make this drink even more potent and even better tasting (if that’s possible), we added a drizzle of Barlean’s Omega Swirl Pina Colada. This adds 360 mg of EPA and 360 mg of DHA, the two omega-3’s found in fish oil, and significantly boosts the anti-inflammatory power of the drink, since omega-3’s are among the most anti-inflammatory molecules on earth.

    And because fish oil is fat, adding it to the pineapple juice brings down the glycemic impact of the pure juice. The pina colada taste punches up the naturally citric sweet and sour taste of the pineapple. It’s really terrific.

    The pineapple slices (with skin) juice easily, and here’s what the drink looks like:

    So for less than the price of a Starbucks (a lot less), we had two glasses of the most delicious, refreshing, anti-inflammatory drink you can imagine.

    Try it and let me know what you think!

  • This Antioxidant Can Protect Against Parkinson’s in Men

    This Antioxidant Can Protect Against Parkinson’s in Men

    A new Harvard study published in the journal Neurology found men who ate flavonoid-rich foods reduced their risk for Parkinson’s disease.

    The study looked at almost 130,000 people. Within the 20-year follow-up, over 800 of them had developed Parkinson’s.

    Researchers analyzed their diets, accounted for other factors, and discovered men in this study who ate the most flavonoids were 40% less likely to develop this progressive neurological condition than those who ate the least.

    Now, unfortunately these stats didn’t apply to women. But flavonoids provide numerous other benefits, so stay with me.

    Several studies over the past few years, in fact, show flavonoids can benefit cancer, high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, and other problems.

    A 2011 study in the Journal of Environmental Science and Health Link, for instance, concluded flavonoids could help prevent cancer.

    But this was the first study in humans to show that flavonoids can protect neurons against Parkinson’s and other brain diseases.

    More specifically, researchers here found that a subclass of flavonoids called anthocyanins offers many of these neurological benefits.

    Anthocyanins give plant foods their pigment molecules. They make blueberries blue and red cabbage red. So really, most color-saturated fruits and vegetables contain some degree of anthocyanins.

    Foods rich in anthocyanins include blueberries, strawberries, cherries, red grapes, cabbage, and eggplant.

    Cinnamon also contains anthoyanin, which is another reason you should sprinkle this spice in your coffee and wherever else you can.

    Tea has anthocyanins. Even red wine has a little bit, though it’s nothing to write home about (and certainly nothing to start drinking it if you currently don’t).

    Aesthetically appealing as these colors are, nature didn’t just add anthocyanins for their beauty. Like most things in nature, they serve a purpose.

    For example, the bright red and purple in flowers helps attract pollinators. A bright red apple skin can also attract animals, which would then eat the fruit but discard the seeds. Anthocyanins can even act as “sunscreen” in leaves and stems to protect against light damage.

    Anthocyanins also protect you. Most notably, they offer powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits.

    A study in the journal Biochemical Pharmacology found anthocyanins had the strongest antioxidizing power of the 150 flavonoids that researchers studied.

    Inflammation contributes to pretty much every degenerative disease you can think of. Eating foods rich in anthocyanins provides a powerful anti-inflammatory wallop.

    For instance, anthocyanins inhibit the compound cyclooxygenase – found in several forms, including COX-1 and COX-2 – that your body uses for signaling pain and inflammation.

    Arthritis drugs like Vioxx and Celebrex also inhibit COX-2. But unlike these drugs, anthocyanins have no side effects.

    And a study in the journal Phytomedicine found that anthocyanins’ COX-inhibiting ability in cherries provided comparable benefits to ibuprofen and naproxen.

    Summer means farmers markets and fresh produce, and I can’t think of a better time to eat more berries and other foods rich in anthocyanins. Some of my favorites include:

    • Frozen cherries in unsweetened Greek yogurt
    • Frozen grapes (they taste like little balls of sherbet)
    • Strawberry shake – fresh strawberries, coconut milk, and ice. Blend
    • Toss blueberries and cinnamon into your protein smoothie
    • Sautee eggplant and other colorful vegetables in olive oil and garlic
  • Understand Brain Chemistry to Burn Fat & Beat Cravings

    Understand Brain Chemistry to Burn Fat & Beat Cravings

    A new study in the journal Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism shows your brain finds cheap, high-calorie foods especially rewarding.

    Researchers here studied brain activity to better understand how your appetite works and, more importantly, how your brain associates reward with the foods you eat.

    As you might guess, brain chemistry is an incredibly complex science, and every piece of the puzzle can help in scientists’ understanding about obesity.

    “[T]here has been great interest in looking at the brain for the source of vulnerability to overeating in a world of cheap, abundant, high-calorie food,” said researcher Dr. Alain Dagher. “As a result of this research, differences between lean and obese individuals are starting to emerge.”

    Dr. Dagher discovered obese people have brains more “activated” to sweet foods. So eating a bowl of Chunky Monkey ice cream would be more rewarding than, say, a bowl of Brussels sprouts.

    Studies like these help scientists better understand brain signals that motivate you to overeat and how different things – edible or not – stimulate reward areas in your brain.

    What I want to focus on is how anticipation fuels your brain’s reward mechanism and your tendency to overeat.

    To better understand this, I want you to recall memorable events in your life. Maybe it was a first kiss, or a big vacation, or an exquisite five-course dinner at a Michelin-rated restaurant.

    Whatever pleasurable activity you recalled, I’ll bet the idea of doing those things actually provided your brain more euphoria than doing them.

    Don’t get me wrong. That kiss or vacation or dinner certainly provided pleasure, but anticipation offers its own gratification.

    The same thing happens with food. Anticipating eating certain foods and actually eating these foods involve separate mechanisms in your brain.

    Let’s say you’re at the mall, you’ve just had lunch, and you pass by one of those gourmet cinnamon bun places. Even though you’re hardly hungry, the wafting smell instantly makes you think I want a cinnamon bun…

    Suddenly, everything else – finding a bargain at the Gap, for instance, and trying to figure out what color towels to buy your aunt for her birthday – takes a backseat to that craving.

    Your anticipation to eat a hot cinnamon bun plays a key role in your desire to overeat.

    A brain chemical called dopamine contributes to this process. Dopamine controls pleasure and aids your brain’s “reward circuitry.”

    There’s nothing wrong with dopamine and anticipation. It’s how we evolved as a species, after all. But problems arise when you associate pleasure with the wrong stimuli or when the system breaks.

    At that point your reward circuitry becomes hijacked, your “enough!” switch becomes blunted, and addiction is all too often the end result.

    Ultimately, that hot cinnamon bun fails to satisfy. Even though it doesn’t taste great, you find yourself visiting the mall much more often to get your fix.

    For some people, a hot cinnamon bun is a one-time enjoyable experience. But if every time you visit the mall you immediately think hot cinnamon bun, the reward connects to the substance.

    Two things happen. You strengthen the association between the cue (hot cinnamon bun) and reward (that dopamine blast). And the cue itself (the thought or sight of a hot cinnamon bun) ignites dopamine circuits, where you have little control over your behavior.

    Dopamine is what fuels your drive to get that hot cinnamon bun when it feels like nothing else will satisfy you, and when you certainly know you don’t need (or even want) it.

    Pair that cinnamon bun with a powerful emotional stimuli—say, wonderful memories of your grandmother baking them—and those powerful associations release so much dopamine that your reward circuits become hijacked.

    Next time you notice a powerful craving for something sweet, stop and become aware of what’s going on in your brain. Is the anticipation of eating it more rewarding than actually eating it?

    Then determine if something else would equally satisfy you. Maybe take your dog for a long walk in the sunshine, for instance, or a hot bath.

    Chances are, once you engage in that non-food activity, the craving will dissipate.

    And even if it doesn’t, you’re one step closer to understanding your brain mechanism to curb your overeating.

  • Sluggish Metabolism or Thyroid Issues? Reach for the Fish Oil!

    Sluggish Metabolism or Thyroid Issues? Reach for the Fish Oil!

    Fish oil has become all the rage.

    If you don’t believe me, check out a recent study in the Journal of Food Science which had researchers infusing fish oil in goat cheese (of all things) to help people get adequate amounts of the two essential fatty acids EPA and DHA.

    Even mainstream manufacturers are getting in on the act. Jif, for instance, recently introduced peanut butter with omega 3s, so you can get a little fish oil with your trans fat and added sugar.

    All joking aside, if you’re read any of my books or followed my blog – heck, if you’ve followed health news at all over the past two decades – you know fish oil can fight inflammation, boost your brain power, and improve about a zillion other things in your body.

    You might never have considered fish oil, though, for a sluggish thyroid. But a study in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry  showed that omega 3s could increase thyroid hormone signaling within your liver.

    What’s the connection between your thyroid and liver? Let me explain.

    Your thyroid gland produces two hormones – T3 and T4 – that regulate your metabolic rate in your cells, including of course your liver cells. These two thyroid hormones, then, determine how effectively your liver metabolizes carbohydrates, protein, and fat.

    When fish oil flips on your thyroid switch, it also cranks up your metabolism. Put another way, fish oil boosts thyroid hormones within your liver cells to burn fat.

    When your cells have adequate amounts of essential fatty acids, thyroid hormones – particularly T3, your active thyroid hormone – work much more effectively at burning fat.

    This becomes especially important if you have hypothyroidism, when your thyroid produces inadequate levels of these thyroid hormones.

    According to the National Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases Information Service hypothyroidism affects about 5% of Americans, most of them women.

    Among the many side effects of hypothyroidism include fatigue, low libido, menstrual irregularities, brain fog, constipation, depression, and perhaps most frustratingly, weight gain.

    When your thyroid gland isn’t making enough hormones, metabolism comes to a crashing halt. Your body can’t effectively metabolize food, which frequently results in weight gain.

    Fish oil, then, might be your ticket to crank up your fat-burning metabolism by boosting the efficiency of thyroid hormones.

    If you think you might have hypothyroidism, ask your doctor to run a full panel of thyroid tests, including thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), free T3, and thyroid antibodies.

    Elevated TSH, for instance, often indicates hypothyroidism. On the other hand, high levels of thyroid antibodies can suggest an autoimmune condition.

    Whether or not you have hypothyroid, fish oil is a great supplement to add to your fat-burning arsenal.

    Consider two studies, both from The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. One study concluded a moderate dose of omega 3s for two months helped women with type 2 diabetes burn fat, boost insulin sensitivity, and reduce inflammation.

    The other study found that fish oil, combined with regular exercise, burns fat and reduces your risk for heart disease.

    You’ve got to do both – exercise and take fish oil – to get those effects. Likewise, don’t think you can eat McDonald’s cheeseburgers, swallow some fish oil, and magically melt away the fat.

    But combined with a lower-carb diet and effective exercise, fish oil might provide that extra push to boost your metabolism and ditch those last stubborn pounds.

    This is the fish oil I take every single day.

    The fish oil I take everyday is Barlean’s Double Potency Epa-DHA Fish Oil. It is the purest form of fish oil on the market in an ideal dose/ratio of EPA to DHA Omega-3

  • Raisins Reduce Blood Pressure

    A new study showed eating raisins three times a day could significantly lower your blood pressure if you have mild hypertension.

    Researchers presented this not-yet-published study – which they claim is the first to scientifically support raisins’ blood pressure-lowering effects compared to other snacks – at the American College of Cardiology’s 61st Annual Scientific Session.

    It is often stated as a known fact that raisins lower blood pressure. But we could not find much objective evidence in the medical literature to support such a claim,” said Dr. Harold Bays, the study’s lead investigator.

    “However, our study suggests if you have a choice between eating raisins or other snacks like crackers and chocolate chip cookies, you may be better off snacking on raisins at least with respect to blood pressure.”

    For this study, researchers gave 46 men and women with pre-hypertension raisins or an equivalent-calorie snack (such as cookies or crackers) three times a day for 12 weeks.

    Raisins significantly reduced systolic blood pressure, whereas the other snacks did not.

    According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 28% of Americans have pre-hypertension, which they define as a systolic pressure from 120 to 139 mm Hg or a diastolic pressure from 80 to 89 mm Hg.

    In other words, pre-hypertension is a condition several steps away from becoming full-blown hypertension.

    While the study didn’t show how raisins lowered blood pressure, researchers pointed out they’re packed with antioxidants, fiber, potassium, and other nutrients that could reduce hypertension.

    Now, full disclosure: the California Raisin Marketing Board funded this study. I’m not arguing it was biased or anything, but it’s always good to know who funds these studies.

    I’m a fan of raisins, particularly if you snack on them rather than M & Ms or other junk food.

    When you were a kid, you might have made raisins for a science experiment. As you might remember, when you put grapes in the sun to dry, they lose water and eventually become raisins.

    But rather than sun-drying grapes, modern-day processing mechanically oven-dries them to speed up the process.

    Now for the not-great news: raisins have the highest pesticide residue of any fruit. So if you eat raisins, go organic.

    Raisins are affectionately known as nature’s candy. They’ve also gotten a bad rep in some circles for being too concentrated in sugar.

    Now, these are definitely not an all-you-can-eat food. And if you have any kind of insulin resistance or want to lose weight, you might want to forego or at least minimize raisin snacking. You most definitely don’t want to gorge on three servings a day like people did in this study.

    But not so fast with criticizing raisins. A study in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition found that raisins were second highest of all dried fruits in antioxidants.

    Raisins offer boron, a mineral that’s important for bone and joint health. They’re also a great source of flavonoids.

    If you’re talking fruit hierarchy, raisins don’t rank anywhere near, say, blueberries on the health scale. Whereas blueberries are the valedictorian, raisins would be getting by with a solid B-.

    If you want to reduce blood pressure and don’t have weight issues, enjoy organic raisins three times a day. If fat loss is your goal, however, opt for more nutrient dense, lower-sugar choices like blueberries and strawberries.

  • Study Shows Fast Food Leaves You Depressed

    A new study in the journal Public Health Nutrition showed people who frequent drive-thrus and load their shopping cart with Entenmann’s and Twinkies suffer more depression.

    The study looked at 8,964 people who had never been diagnosed with depression or taken antidepressants. During the six-month study, 493 of these people were diagnosed with depression or began taking antidepressants.

    Researchers here found people who ate commercial baked goods and fast food suffered higher rates of depression than those who forewent these foods.

    More specifically, compared to those who maybe occasionally or never have fast and processed foods, those who regularly indulge are 51% more likely to develop depression.

    While small amounts of these foods significantly increase your risk of depression, researchers found the more you eat, the more you risk becoming depressed.

    Researchers also found people who eat McDonald’s and processed foods more likely to be single, less active, and eat lesser amounts of healthy stuff like nuts, fish, vegetables and olive oil.

    Fast- and processed-food frequenters are also more likely to work more than 45 hours a week and smoke cigarettes.

    It doesn’t add up to a very happy picture.

    These findings are nothing new. A study last year in the journal Preventive Medicine found that middle-aged women who indulge in fast food are more likely to suffer depression and increase their risk for numerous diseases.

    The conclusions prove grim: despite Happy Meals and cute smiley-face logos, fast food detours and Little Debbies can leave you fat, sick, and really unhappy.

    I’m a big fan of Paleo, lower-carb eating. That includes plenty of lean protein like grass-fed beef and wild salmon, copious green vegetables, low-glycemic fruits, and nuts and seeds. Your ancestors evolved on this diet, and it’s the one best suited for you to burn fat and enjoy abundant health.

    That said, sometimes airport fast food and gas station snacks will be your only options. You’ve got to do the best with what you have. I want to show you how to make smart decisions in those circumstances.

    You know, for instance, that at fast food joints, vegetable options are limited. So I want you to travel with Barlean’s Greens to get those alkalinizing greens you probably aren’t getting at fast food places.

    You can always get a grilled chicken sandwich at these places and trash the bun. Some fast food places also do gourmet salads. Just skip anything fried or crunchy, and get the lowest-sugar dressing they offer. (Some of those packaged dressings come loaded with sugar and trans fat.)

    More “upscale” fast food restaurants like Chipotle will customize your salad, so stick with those places whenever possible. I would suggest loading up a big salad with grilled chicken, avocado, salsa, and maybe some black beans with an olive oil and vinegar dressing.

    My point is, you can make fast food work if you know how. I’m not suggesting you eat it every day, but if it’s your only option, you don’t have to succumb to the Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese Extra Value Meal. (Which is maybe an extra value to your wallet, but not to your health.)

    Same deal with snacks. If you’re at a gas station and need something to tide you till dinner, bypass the candy and chip aisles for a bag of raw almonds or other nuts or seeds.

    I see more gas stations carry healthier options like apples, hard-boiled eggs, string cheese, and nitrate-free jerky.

    These provide smart, satisfying options to stay in fat-burning mode and not give in to junk foods that can trigger diabetes, depression, obesity, and lots of other health problems you most definitely don’t want.

  • Reduce Your Heart Attack Risk 50% with Water

    Reduce Your Heart Attack Risk 50% with Water

    A study in the American Journal of Epidemiology found that guys who drank five or more glasses of water had only a 46% chance of having a fatal heart attack, and women had only 59% risk, compared to people who drank two or less glasses of water daily.

    It gets even better (or worse, depending on how you look at it). Women who drank two or less glasses of something other than water – such as tea, a soft drink, or juice – had a 147% greater risk for a fatal heart attack than women who drank five or more glasses of water. (Guys, you had a 46% greater risk if you skipped the water for another drink.)

    Now, if those stats confuse you, I’ll sum it up: drink more water and reduce your risk for a heart attack.

    Even after researchers adjusted for other risk factors, these numbers still held intact.

    Researchers here looked at coronary heart disease and fluid intake stats in 8,280 male and 12,017 female participants. Overall, these participants had 246 “coronary heart disease events” (128 in men and 118 in women) over the six-year follow-up period.

    More than any other factor in this study, water intake determined fatal heart disease risk.

    According to lead researcher Dr. Jacqueline Chan, this was the “first study to record the association between high water intake and reduced risk of coronary heart disease… [B]y drinking more plain water, healthy people… reduced their risk of dying from a heart attack by half or more.”

    Chan notes there isn’t much evidence about the eight-glasses rule. She still wants people not to rely on tea, coffee, and other diuretics that can raise blood viscosity, and focus instead on plain water.

    Consider the statistics and you’ll understand her position.

    Your body is about 83% water, your brain and muscles are about three-quarters water, and even your bones pack 22% water. Water contributes to every single metabolic process in your body, including absorbing nutrients and removing toxic waste.

    Dehydration, on the other hand, can elevate at least four independent risk factors for heart disease: whole blood viscosity, plasma viscosity, hematocrit, and fibrinogen. Heart attacks occur more frequently in the morning, when your blood is thicker because of water loss while you’re sleeping.

    I don’t know about you, but that’s enough reason for me to crank up my water quota.

    Maybe you’re not concerned about a heart attack. But I bet I’ll get your attention when I say that not drinking enough water can make you fat.

    That’s because even when you’re mildly dehydrated, you can raise your stress hormone cortisol 1 – 2%. Among the many things cortisol does is store fat and break down muscle.

    Now, you’re going to hear naysayers claim the dehydration issue is overhyped. They argue there’s no double-blind, placebo-based study to show you need eight glasses of water every day.

    Others claim you get enough water from the tea, coffee, and Diet Coke you drink, so there’s no need to bother with boring water.

    Nonsense, I reply to these critics.

    I believe more water is better. Ideally, I would like you to drink half your weight in water ounces. So if you weigh 200 pounds, you need to drink 100 ounces of water a day. No kidding.

    If you’re shaking your head that doing so is impossible, I’m going to give you an easy tip to meet your water quota.

    Buy a liter-sized Sigg, Klean Kanteen, or other stainless steel water bottle. Fill it up three times, and sip on it, throughout your day.

    Bam! You’re done. See how easy that was?

    You’ll save money, the environment, and you won’t even have to worry about those pesky chemicals leaching from plastic bottles.

    Best of all, you’ll stay hydrated and provide the countless benefits water provides for your body.

  • Low-Glycemic Diet Burns Fat & Keeps You Fuller

    A recent presentation at the Institute of Food Technologists’ Wellness meeting showed that eating a low-glycemic breakfast could prevent blood sugar spikes and crashes. It might even help you put the brakes on your late-morning Krispy Kreme detour.

    One study that researchers presented here looked at how low-glycemic almonds for breakfast steadied blood sugar and helped people stay full and focused all morning.

    The study, which appeared in the journal Nutrition and Metabolism, showed that people who ate whole almonds at breakfast felt full longer and had steady blood sugar levels compared to people who ate a high-glycemic breakfast like, say, a Pop Tart with orange juice.

    As an added bonus, researchers also found that eating a low-glycemic breakfast means you eat less food the rest of your day.

    You’ve no doubt heard about the glycemic index, which ranks how much a particular food raises your blood sugar levels.

    Your body rapidly absorbs high-glycemic foods, which spike and crash your blood sugar to leave you hungry and tired.

    High-glycemic foods also raise your insulin levels. Elevated insulin levels contribute to diabetes, heart disease, and aging.

    Insulin is also a powerful storage hormone, and it stores one thing really well: fat.

    You get my point. High-glycemic foods are not your friend for fat loss, increased energy, or overall health.

    Lower-glycemic foods, on the other hand, create a steadier rise in blood sugar and insulin levels. Because you’ve got balanced insulin levels, you burn (rather than store) fat and maintain steady energy.

    Let’s say you choose Special K with skim milk, a banana, and orange juice for breakfast. It’s almost entirely fat free and low in calories, so it’s got to be healthy, right?

    Nope.

    The high-glycemic carbohydrates, in fact, will raise your blood sugar, which triggers an insulin response. So as you know, you’re going to store fat.

    And once insulin pulls your blood sugar back down, you’re hungry again. That hunger will most likely strike late morning when you reach for one of those 100-calorie packs of cookies, where after you’ll create the same blood sugar roller coaster.

    You see how a high-glycemic breakfast sets you up for disaster. You also understand how people who scrupulously count calories, despite their best intentions, struggle with fat loss.

    On the other hand, having a higher-protein, low-glycemic breakfast – say, an omelet or a protein smoothie – keeps your blood sugar levels steady all morning.

    Now, the glycemic index is useful to a point, but it doesn’t take into account portion size. That’s what the glycemic load does. So whereas carrots, which still get a bad rep in some circles, are high on the glycemic index, when you take into account how many you actually eat, they have a very low glycemic load.

    In other words, you’d have to eat a ton of carrots – something you’re unlikely to do – to significantly raise your blood sugar.

    Experts debate the glycemic index’s usefulness. Some people find it confusing and tedious.

    Critics point out an important flaw: it looks at foods in isolation, whereas in reality you’re eating foods in different combinations that the glycemic index couldn’t possibly account for.

    I think the glycemic index is useful to a point, and that the glycemic load is a little more comprehensive and accurate. But you can lose weight and stay healthy just fine without ever consulting a glycemic chart.

    Don’t want to deal with numbers and measurements? I’ll make it really simple. Eat less sugar, less processed foods, and fewer foods that convert to sugar in your body.

    If you want to simplify that even further, stick with a low-carb diet, which reduces or eliminates sugar and processed foods.

    Eat the diet your ancestors ate – lean protein, fruits and vegetables, good fat, nuts and seeds – and you’ll be eating a low-glycemic diet without worrying about the numbers.