November 23, 2009
For many people the holiday season is a high stress affair. But what if you could alter your brain to make it more biochemically and molecularly calm? That almost sounds like a wonder drug, doesn’t it?
For years is has been known that exercise enhances our mood and makes us better able to handle stress. This interesting article from the New York Times discusses several research projects that help explain why.
In studies performed on rats, it has been shown that running creates new brain cells, and that these new cells are better equipped to handle stressful situations. Moderate exercise also appears to dampen the effects of oxidative stress, which can kill brain cells.
What these different studies seem to suggest is that the positive stress of exercise prepares cells and structures and pathways within the brain so that they’re better equipped to handle stress in other forms. Unfortunately all of the researchers agree that these changes don’t happen overnight.
It took about six weeks for the rats, but it is unclear how this would relate to humans. We also don’t yet know how intense the exercise needs to be, nor do we know if other forms of exercise besides those that build aerobic endurance have the same effect (I guess it’s hard to get the rats to lift weights).
The one thing that is clear is that endurance exercise is one of the best thinks you can do for your brain. You may not feel different overnight, but the molecular changes are very real and their effects can help you navigate through the stressful times of your life.
November 20, 2009
With all the parties and family gatherings during this time of year, it’s easy to throw back an extra cocktail or two. If you’re trying to avoid that extra 5 lbs we all seem to gain between now and the end of the year, watching what you drink can make a significant difference.
As I pointed out yesterday, there are some health benefits associated with daily alcohol consumption. So rather than depriving ourselves, let’s look at developing a plan we can follow and making smarter choices.
First let’s look at the calorie counts of some of the more basic adult beverages:
* 1 can (12 oz) Beer – 135-145 calories
* 1 can (12 oz) Light Beer – 101 calories
* 1 glass (3.5 oz) Red or White Wine – 70-75 calories
* 1 shot (1.5 oz) Gin, rum, vodka or whiskey – 97 calories
* 1 glass (6 oz) Cosmopolitan – 143 calories
Nothing to get too worked up over there, and most of us could fit a couple of these into our daily caloric intake without it having a huge impact. But when we start looking at a couple of the seasonal holiday specialty drinks, things look very different:
* Hot Buttered Rum – 418 calories
* Eggnog (8 oz. not including any added liquor) – 350 calories
* Creamy liquors like Baileys, Kahlua, etc. – 100 calories per ounce
Those are some numbers that will add up in a hurry. So what are the options if we want to get into the “holiday spirits” but avoid the calorie bombs listed above? Here are a couple of guilt-free suggestions for getting into the festivities:
* Champagne or sparkling wine – 100 calories per flute
* Wine Spritzer (3 oz. wine & 3oz. club soda) – 60 calories
Of course the best advice is to plan ahead. Choose not only what you’re going to drink, but how many drinks you’re going to have. Alternate your alcoholic drinks with a glass of water or club soda. It’s simple strategies like these that can help you enjoy the festivities and still win the battle of the “holiday bulge”.
November 19, 2009
What’s the best post-workout beverage? Ask that question and you’re likely to get a lot of different answers. A lot will depend on your goals…are you trying to build muscle or seeking an increase in endurance? Do you want to lose weight or are you trying to build mass? Or maybe none of those things really matter to you, perhaps you’re just exercising to stay healthy.
If avoiding heart disease and living a longer life are on your agenda, there’s a growing body of research out there that a little alcohol can have a big effect on your overall health. According to an article outlining the results of a Danish study, the combination of moderate physical activity and alcohol consumption reduces the risk of heart disease by up to 50% (exercise alone reduced the risk by over 30%).
A recent article from the BBC involving a Spanish study confirms that alcohol consumption has a positive effect on protecting us from heart disease, especially for men. It found that there was no real difference in the type of alcohol consumed, and that moderate to high intake was actually more beneficial than drinking just a little. Drinkers who put away up to 3-11 shots of vodka a day had less heart disease than those who limited themselves to just one.
Researchers are quick to point out this doesn’t give people the green light to start binge drinking. The heart is only one organ in the body, and excessive amounts of alcohol have been shown to have negative effects on some of those, like the liver and brain. The daily consumption of large amounts (3 glasses of wine or 6 pints of beer) has been shown to triple the incidence of stroke. So in effect it becomes a balancing act, and as usual, moderation would seem to be the key.
In the UK, the recommendation is no more than two to three units of alcohol a day for women – the equivalent of one standard glass of wine – and three to four units for men. They also suggest trying to abstain from alcohol a couple of days per week. That might be difficult for some of us considering the wine-ccentric culture that surrounds us, but it does give us some guidelines to keep in mind.
November 15, 2009
There will be an informational meeting today at HealthQuest for potential participants in the 2010 Miss Napa County contest. Click here for more information.
November 6, 2009
You know the drill, Friday is always a “food” post to whet your appetite as we head into the weekend. A word of warning though—just reading this article could be enough to trigger a massive coronary . With that disclaimer out of the way, it’s now time to explore the ultimate creation in “swine dining”, the Porkgasm.
Don’t let his cute looks fool you…this pretty piggy packs a wallop. There’s close to 15 pounds of sausage, bacon, pork shoulder, hot dogs, smoked jowls, and ham in this concoction. It’s all lovingly assembled and artfully crafted to resemble a whole hog when it’s finished. Then it spends a few hours in the smoker and comes out looking quite spectacular.
But the real genius of the Porkgasm is only evident when it’s time to dig in and eat. When cut into slices, it looks just as realistic on the inside as it does on the outside. It’s a rare dish that can give you both nightmares and a stomach ache, but this one just might do it!
If you’re ready to tackle this project, you can get a complete set of instructions here, courtesy of the fine folks at Porktopia.com.
November 5, 2009
Gym pet peeves…we’ve all got our share. Locker room exhibitionists, cell phone yakkers, excessive perfume wearers, sweaty people who don’t wipe up after themselves. There are a myriad of ways our fellow exercisers find to get on our nerves, and I found this extensive list on the PeerTrainer forums site. Here’s a few of the more entertaining posts:
I’ve got the ultimate grunter at my gym – on a par with Monica Seles, but the kicker is he’s only on a freaking elliptical! Dear god, this same ridiculous man also cheers himself on for the last 5 minutes of his stint on the machine in a way that sounds an awful lot like wake-the-neighbors sex: “oh yeah! that’s it! go go go, almost there baby! yeah, that’s what I’m talking about, bring it home!”
I’m peeved by people staking out large amounts of real estate at the gym – draping their towels over one bench, putting their water bottle on the incline bench all while using the ball NEXT TO the benches. Out of courtesy I asked a woman, “Are you using this (unused!) bench?” She quickly moved over from what she was doing and said, ‘Yes.’ Then she moved both benches together as if to say, “MINE!” Grrrrr…..
“i have no problems w/ sweaty non-wipers or cellphone yakkers at my gym. but my pet peeve is the gym mirrors make me look about 20 lbs heavier than my mirror at home…”
Usually these peeves have a direct effect on us–we’re bothered by smells, distracted by sounds, or someone else just gets in our way or disrupts our plans. It’s easy to see why these things irritate us. But it’s interesting how we can sometimes let what other people are doing bother us, even when it plainly has no impact on us at all.
I know that I have an issue with people who, for lack of an official term, I will label “show-off cheaters”. These are the guys that load massive amounts of weight on a machine and then use incredibly poor form to do their reps. Sure, it looks impressive when you put 1000 pounds on the leg press machine…but who are you really fooling when you only lower it 3 inches. Here’s an idea—cut the weight in half and press through the full range of motion!
So what about you? Anything entertaining or unusual that your fellow HealthQuest members do that you find irritating? Here’s your chance to rant, let’s here it!
November 4, 2009
A couple of day ago I wrote about how bad science leads to many of the conflicting news reports we so often see. Today I was reminded about another way the news we get becomes distorted—-misleading headlines.
Here’s a real beauty from an article on the NY Times Wellblog: \”Why Doesn’t Exercise Lead to Weight Loss?\”. Does that statement have your attention? Has all the past research been wrong, is working out really a waste of time? Lets dig a little deeper and see if we can make any sense of this. Before you finish the first paragraph we learn this:
In the study, 58 obese people completed 12 weeks of supervised aerobic training without changing their diets. The group lost an average of a little more than seven pounds, and many lost barely half that.
So according to the study, they didn’t change their diet, they exercised, and they lost weight! Of course to bolster their claim that the exercise didn’t help, they were quick to point out that some people actually lost less than the average. Uh, forgive me if I’m wrong, but wouldn’t that mean quite a few people lost more than the average? Isn’t that how averages work?
There seems to be an inference that a seven pound loss over 12 weeks is insignificant. But is 30 pounds over the course of a year a bad thing? Considering they’re still eating the same diet that got them obese in the first place, I’d say those results are pretty darn amazing. But I guess not many people are going to stop and read an article titled “Exercise Leads to Weight Loss”. We’ve seen that one before.
In all fairness the majority of the article does point out the many health benefits of staying physically fit. And it’s true that cutting caloric intake is an important part of any good weight loss strategy. But whoever wrote that headline was more interested in attracting attention than disseminating useful information.
For many people the holiday season is a high stress affair. But what if you could alter your brain to make it more biochemically and molecularly calm? That almost sounds like a wonder drug, doesn’t it?
You don’t have to go to the circus to see a strongman (or woman), you can catch their show at HealthQuest almost every day. Read about the power-lifting team here in this Napa Valley Register article: 
