Some people call pomegranates nature’s perfect fruit.

Some even call it a superfood.

In either case, it’s definitely worth taking a closer look at pomegranates and what they have to offer us.

They are fresh in the fall, and other times of the year you can find pomegranate foods in markets and restaurants.

It seems like in the past few years we’ve seen pomegranate used in juices, yogurt, beverages and supplements.

The pomegranate comes from the Mediterranean and in America from California and Arizona.

Compared to other fruits and green tea, pomegranate has the highest concentrations of antioxidants. Antioxidants protect cells and repair damage caused by free radicals.

Although pomegranate research is in its infancy, early findings look promising in a few different areas.

In cardiovascular disease, consuming a daily cup of pomegranate juice for three months improved blood flow through the arteries.

In people with type 2 diabetes, drinking pomegranate juice decreased total cholesterol and reduced oxidative stress.

Some studies have shown that topical application of pomegranate preparations are effective for controlling oral inflammation, bacteria and fungus in periodontal disease, and Candida-associated denture infections.

The edible fruit from one medium pomegranate (5 ounces) contains about 110 calories, 1.5 grams protein, 26.4 grams carbohydrate, and 9 milligrams vitamin C.

Pomegranates are picked ripe, so choose the heavy ones and do not to buy them if they have cracks or splits.

For several days they’ll keep well at room temperature.

They can be refrigerated up to three months. Fresh pomegranate juice can be refrigerated for three days or frozen for up to six months.

To eat them, cut them in half.

You can either take all the seeds out and then eat them all at once, or do as I do. Dig in and break off a chunk and eat the seeds from that chunk. Then eat another chunk until you’re done.

While the research hasn’t given us a clear picture yet as to the role of pomegranates in disease prevention and treatment, if you enjoy the sweet and tart taste of this exotic fruit, then by all means add it to your nutritional plan.

If you’ve got any special recipes that include pomegranates, let me know and I’ll post them on the blog!

shelli

Caffeine seems to be everywhere these days, not just in beverages or foods.

I’ve seen it in soaps and personal hygiene items as well. It’s even in the fireplace log currently in my fireplace!

Caffeine is America’s drug of choice and it seems like the whole world is hooked as well!

More than 90% of Americans admit to regular caffeine use, and up to 30% of them ingest 600 milligrams or more each day. That’s about six cups of coffee a day!

As for what caffeine promises to deliver, it’s quite a list……

–general performance enhancement
–better calorie burning
–ability to ward off sleep
–improved athletic performance
–decreased pain and fatigue
–improved memory
–enhanced mood.

What’s interesting though, is that when asked, most users do not consume caffeine for these benefits.

They drink it to avoid the withdrawal symptoms: those agonizing headaches.

It’s easy to see why the whole world is on a caffeine binge.

Caffeine is readily available and while some of the benefits are indeed real, the problem seems to be that most people go from using it for an occasional pick-me-up to becoming dependent on it.

As their tolerance to caffeine increases, withdrawal symptoms increase in intensity, and benefits diminish. It becomes a stimulant rollercoaster.

If you want to use caffeine, the idea is to moderate consumption to optimize these benefits and minimize potential harmful effects.

Caffeine enters your blood stream rapidly, and within an hour reaches all your organs, inducing physiological changes that will last for up to six hours. Due to its chemical structure, it easily crosses the blood-brain barrier and a whole host of chemical reactions in your body begin.

An exaggerated stress response takes hold so your adrenal glands produce adrenaline, the “flight or fight” hormone.

Heart rate increases, blood flow shunts to the muscles, blood pressure rises, muscles contract, and the liver releases extra glucose into the blood stream, thereby sparing muscle glycogen.

Quite A LOT of influence this caffeine has over our nervous system, wouldn’t you say?

It is true that caffeine enhances athletic performance, and nearly 70% of athletes in one study I read reported regular caffeine use.

One year while running a marathon, I carried a Gu product with caffeine in it in case I needed a burst of energy towards the finish line. I consumed my caffeinated Gu and felt like I had been shot out of a cannon! That was quite an experience.

Interestingly enough though, the performance enhancing benefits of caffeine are stronger in NONUSERS than in regular users.

The brain adapts and its effects are lessened with the same dose producing fewer desirable physiological changes.

Many people, when they see their tolerance increasing, consume more caffeine, continuously pursuing the jolt. This only serves to increase what can be severe consequences.

I’ve read studies of what happens to people who binge on caffeine and it’s not a pretty picture.

In addition to toxicity at high doses, when combined with other substances like alcohol, ephedrine or anti-inflammatory medications, even moderate caffeine use can be dangerous.

Chronic caffeine use can also contribute to:

–high blood pressure
–high blood sugar
–decreased bone density in women
–jittery nerves and sleeplessness
–withdrawal symptoms like headaches, irritability, fatigue, difficulty concentrating and decreased energy.

Here are some ideas if you want to moderate your caffeine consumption to optimize its advantages while averting dependence and withdrawal:

1–If you are going to taper off caffeine, choose a period of relatively low stress. It may cause tiredness so get plenty of sleep—7-8 hours would be great.

2–Keep track of how much caffeine you take in each day. Be honest. This will help you see the importance of tapering down.

3–Start substituting a caffeine-free beverage for one caffeinated beverage every day. Each week add one more substitution. You want to get down to 100 milligrams per day. This is the level below which dependency is unlikely to occur.

4–Next try going cold turkey for three days. The research suggests that withdrawal occurs approximately three days after quitting for new users, and as quickly as 12 hours in regular users. If you feel the caffeine headache, your baseline dose is not low enough. Continue to taper to a 25 mg maintenance dose. You can choose to endure the headache and within a few days you will likely have control over your habit.

5–You do not need a caffeine boost to get you through every deadline, every day or every life event. Choose wisely.

It is possible to have your relationship with caffeine be transformed from an annoying habit driven by the fear of a nagging headache into an occasional performance-enhancing and concentration-boosting one.

I hope this information has been informative and useful.

Even if you are not a caffeine user or you already have a healthy relationship with caffeine, there is always something we can learn from the general understanding of how our systems work when we introduce chemical changes into the picture.

You want your experience with java to be joyful rather than stressful and addictive!

Life is stressful and menopause can be stressful as well.

We are all seeking ways to manage stress and handle fear and anxiety during this time of life.

Many women have turned to Yoga in their search for something to alleviate that stress and achieve serenity.

Even after only a short time of attending Yoga classes, you’ll notice the stress reduction benefits.

Because Yoga is non-competitive and the focus is on yourself, it appeals to many women.

In Yoga you do what you can in each asana (yoga posture) using your breath and awareness to stay focused in the present moment.

The health and fitness benefits of Yoga are now being confirmed by scientific research, even though for centuries anecdotal evidence was abundant.

Stress and pain relief are two of the benefits of Yoga.

Yoga reduces the physical effects of stress on the body by encouraging relaxation and lowering the levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

Other related benefits are the lowering of blood pressure and heart rate, improving digestion and boosting the immune system, along with easing symptoms of anxiety, depression, fatigue, asthma and insomnia.

According to Yoga Alliance, studies have shown that practicing Yoga postures also reduces pain for people with conditions such as cancer, multiple sclerosis and auto-immune diseases, as well as arthritis, back and neck pain and other chronic conditions.

Here’s what else the Alliance says about Yoga:

– Yoga can lead to better breathing and flexibility, teaching people to take slower, deeper breaths, helping to improve lung function and triggering the body’s relaxation response.

–Yoga helps to improve flexibility and mobility, increasing range of movement and reducing aches and pains.

– Yoga increases strength. Yoga asanas use every muscle in the body, helping to increase strength from head to toe. Yoga also relieves muscular tension.

– Yoga can aid weight control efforts by reducing cortisol levels and by burning excess calories and reducing stress. It also encourages healthy eating habits and provides a heightened sense of well-being and self-esteem.

– Yoga helps to improve circulation and more efficiently moves oxygenated blood to the body’s cells.

– Even a gentle Yoga practice can provide cardiovascular benefits by lowering resting heart rate, increasing endurance and improving oxygen uptake during exercise.

– Yoga helps to improve body alignment, resulting in better posture and helping to relieve back, neck, joint and muscle problems.

– Yoga helps individuals to focus on the present, to become more aware and to help create better health. It opens the way to improved coordination, reaction time and memory.

Many of the benefits mentioned here will also serve to ease your menopausal symptoms and optimize your health for the rest of your life.

I’ve been teaching Yoga for 10 years now, and while it’s not for everyone, it has much to offer.

Find a class and teacher that you feel comfortable with and give it a try.

If you already have included Yoga in your self-care program, I’d enjoy hearing from you and learning about the benefits you’re receiving!

Is menopause a laughing matter?

Maybe, maybe not.

Depends on your sense of humor, right?

One thing is certain, though.

Laughter and humor do MATTER and seeing what you’re experiencing through a humorous lens will make it easier and perhaps even fun.

I know some of you have seen this joke when you read your free report, 7 Simple Strategies You Can Use Today To Feel Better and Optimize Your Health During Menopause, BUT please read it again. It never fails to make me laugh!

Question: How many women with MENOPAUSE does it take to change a light bulb?

Answer: One! ONLY ONE! And do you know WHY? Because no one else in this house knows HOW to change a light bulb! They don’t even know that the bulb is BURNED OUT!

They would sit in the dark for THREE DAYS before they figured it out. And, once they figured it out, they wouldn’t be able to find the #&%!* light bulbs despite the fact that they’ve been in the SAME CABINET for the past 17 YEARS!

But if they did, by some miracle of God, actually find them, 2 DAYS LATER, the chair they dragged to stand on to change the STUPID light bulb would STILL BE IN THE SAME SPOT!

AND UNDERNEATH IT WOULD BE THE WRAPPER THE FREAKING LIGHT BULBS CAME IN! BECAUSE NO ONE EVER PICKS UP OR CARRIES OUT THE GARBAGE!

IT’S A WONDER WE HAVEN’T ALL SUFFOCATED FROM THE PILES OF GARBAGE THAT ARE A FOOT DEEP THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE HOUSE!

IT WOULD TAKE AN ARMY TO CLEAN THIS PLACE! AND DON’T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON WHO CHANGES THE TOILET PAPER ROLL!

I’m sorry. What was the question?

What makes YOU laugh time and time again?

For me it’s Rowan Atkinson, the British actor who plays Mr. Bean. He makes me laugh.

It’s also my friend Victoria and my friend Ariel. Whenever I spend time with either of them, there are bound to be a few deep-belly-can -barely-catch-my-breath kind of laughs.

It’s also the Who’s On First, What’s on Second comedy routine by Abbott and Costello.

Recently, I attended the memorial service for my brother, who passed away not too long ago. Not what you’d usually think of as a humorous experience, right?

The Abbott and Costello piece was one of his favorites, so in his honor two of his friends performed this routine.

These two men had never met before and had never performed before. It was hilarious and kept us all laughing. It was a fitting tribute to my brother, whose sense of humor was as wacky as it gets.

It got me thinking.

I would be totally pleased if at my funeral people stood up and said, “We’ll miss Shelli because she had a great sense of humor and made us laugh!”

So is menopause a laughing matter?

You tell me!

If you feel like I do that life is lived best with a sense of humor and menopause is part of life, then YES, menopause is a laughing matter!

shelli

I’m a golfer.

I know, so many sports, so little time.

In fact, I’m a very good golfer.

During the past few years I haven’t gotten out there very much, but these past few months I’ve started playing again and I’m really enjoying it.

I had a real menopause AH HA on the course that I’d like to share with you.

I think you’ll find it both amusing and instructive.

If I don’t have anyone to play with I play alone. I enjoy the time to myself, and focusing on my game and not chatting with anyone while I play allows me to relax.

The third hole on this course (which I’ve played many times before) is not a particularly long one (par 3), but it’s uphill all the way.

I pulled out the club I’ve always used on this hole, and REALLY MISS-HIT my first shot off the tee. It flew into the trees and almost on to another fairway.

Here’s where the menopause AH HA begins!

There’s something in golf called a mulligan.

A mulligan is basically a do-over shot.

When you miss-hit your first shot off the tee and you take another shot, it’s called a mulligan.

I don’t take mulligans!

That’s why I can play 18 holes of golf in under 2 hours!

In fact, one time the guy in the golf pro shop noticed how quickly I played my round of golf and he said, “You don’t take mulligans, do you?

My attitude about mulligans is rare.

Most golfers do take them, and some take them on EVERY HOLE and anytime they hit a bad shot. This can drive a golfer like me CRAZY!

I’ve seen golfers drop balls in the middle of the fairway or play two or three balls at the same time.

I want to scream, “Hey, this ISN’T the driving range!” What’s the point of taking the same  shot over and over on the course; you’ll never improve that way.

Where was I? Oh yeah, golf and menopause!

So, I’m watching my shot go way off track and I think to myself (for a fleeting moment), do I take a mulligan here?

And my answer comes back NOPE. Play it where it lies.

I walk to my ball and I see that I’ll have to hit it over a tree and uphill to land it on the green.

I grab a 7 iron and hit the most beautiful shot. I watched it land softly on the green. If you could have seen my face, I suspect I was grinning from ear to ear.

I love it when things like that happen when I don’t take the easy way out and I reap the rewards of facing the challenge.

I felt uplifted the whole day.

For the rest of the day I couldn’t help but see how what I had experienced on the course was a metaphor for menopause and middle age.

On the one hand, by the time we reach menopause there are choices we’ve made and roads we’ve traveled that simply cannot be done over.

Mulligans don’t apply, so we’re best off making peace with what IS.

In a sense though, menopause does present us with an opportunity to take mulligans. It can be a time of do-overs.

If we take a more spiritual approach to life, every moment, every hour, every day can be seen as mulligan time. But I was thinking more about the bigger picture.

If we see menopause as a time to take stock and play it (life) where it lies, then there are many USEFUL ways to take mulligans.

We can do over how we’ve been eating and the nutritional choices we make each day.

We can take a mulligan and start an activity program that really motivates and energizes us, doing what we enjoy (like me playing golf again) and doing less of what we don’t enjoy.

We can do over relationships that aren’t working well or embrace new ones to fill in the gaps.

Here’s what I encourage you to do.

At the end of your day or at the end of the week, take some time to write (or at least mentally go over) about how you spend your days and what choices you’ve made and see where mulligans would come in handy.

That’s a great first step.

Call it your MMT….Menopause Mulligan Time!

Keep me posted on whether or not you’re taking mulligans and what metaphors your sporting life is presenting for you.

Me?

Believe it or not, in an hour I’m off to play that same course. Who knows what’s in store for me today!

We all need to handle the stress we experience and meditation is a great stress reliever.

Just what does meditation mean?

It can mean many different things to different people, but no matter what the meditation style or technique, during meditation people sit quietly, witnessing internal thoughts and external stimuli without getting caught up in them.

Some of the practice forms are ancient and they come from numerous sources.

Concentration practices found in Transcendental Meditation and mindfulness meditation are perhaps the best known meditation techniques.

TM is a technique from Hindu traditions that promotes deep relaxation through the use of a mantra. A mantra is a sacred word or sound that is used to focus attention or concentration.

Mindfulness meditation uses a process of intentionally paying attention to what is happening in the present moment, both internally and externally, without being distracted by what has already happened or what may happen.

Mindfulness meditation trains the practitioner to be an observer without passing judgment.

What does modern science tell us about meditation?

Modern science has developed tools to explore meditation for clues about how it affects our body and brain. A wide variety of studies on different approaches to meditation show that we can exercise some degree of control over things we didn’t think we could change, and gives us new possibilities for self-healing.

The relaxation response described by Herbert Benson MD, in his book, The Relaxation Response, cites four basic elements common to eliciting a relaxation response: a quiet environment, a mental device like a word, a passive attitude, and a comfortable posture.

This relaxation response is the opposite of the flight-or-fight response.

This relaxation response includes:
-decreases in oxygen consumption
-decreases in CO2 elimination
-decreases in respiratory rate and volume
-decreases in heart rate and blood pressure
-decreases in muscle tension.

Because of its physiological benefits, relaxation response meditation is used in most stress reduction programs.

Other relaxation methods such as prayer, guided imagery and hypnosis are not categorized as meditation.

That’s because they keep the practitioner focused on the mind, body and senses, whereas meditation allows one to quiet the mind to ultimately go beyond it. This can be achieved only without engaging the senses and thoughts.

According to the National Institutes of Health, about 12% of adults in the U.S. use deep breathing exercises and 8% use meditation as complimentary to their health care.

What Happens In Your Brain During Meditation?

Let’s look more closely at what happens in your brain when you meditate.

Imaging advances have lead neuroscientists to reject the view that the brain is fixed early in life and does not change in adulthood, replacing it with a belief that the brain can adapt and change, a concept called neuroplasticity.

Some of the earliest studies mapping the brain during meditation recorded the electrical activity of the brain during meditation. These studies reported increased alpha waves which are associated with relaxation of the entire nervous system.

Theta waves have also been recorded during meditation, indicating a deeper state of mental silence and pleasant experiences.

There have been many studies over the past 16 years that have shown that meditation increases clear thinking and creativity and that we can train the mind to influence and change the structure and connectivity of the brain.

Data have shown a thicker cerebral cortex (the area playing a critical role in decision making) in people who meditated 40 minutes a day compared with those who did not.

This may have positive applications related to aging and memory enhancement.

Many studies have shown the benefits of meditation on various disorders and diseases. Examples include:

*affective disorders like depression and anxiety
*sleep disturbances
*chronic pain
*fibromyalgia
*immunity
*stress.

Meditation is becoming more accessible, and I have seen more and more class offerings for learning how to meditate and incorporating it into a healthy lifestyle.

Many hospitals and recovery programs utilize meditation as part of their treatment protocols.

The National Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine considers meditation a “mind-body” method, a category of complementary and alternative medicine designed to facilitate the mind’s capacity to affect bodily function and symptoms.

That sounds like a lot of fancy words woven together to simply say, “Try meditation, it’s good for you and just might be a key to undoing some of the stress you are feeling!”

What’s been your experience with meditation? Did it help?

shelli

Does food ever speak to you?

I was in my kitchen the other day and I heard the eggs, butter and milk yell out, “Hey, you’ve written pieces on chocolate and coffee, how about us?”

Well, I hate to disappoint food that’s talking to me, so without further delay, here we go.

The first thing to remember when thinking about food is that the food is only as good as what the food that produced the food ATE.

I know, it’s confusing so read that last line again!

Eggs, butter and milk are not typically thought of as “superfoods” (they are not green vegetables or fruit) but if you’ll keep reading, perhaps I can convince you that they do indeed belong to the superfood category.

The Incredible Edible Egg!

Eggs have been called nature’s most perfect food.

They are loaded with vitamins and minerals that are good for your eyes, brain and heart and one of the best sources of protein, containing all nine essential amino acids.

People avoid egg yolks because they are afraid of the cholesterol, but the choline in the egg yolk helps prevent the accumulation of cholesterol and fat in the liver. The high sulphur content of eggs promotes healthy hair and nails.

Buy eggs from chickens that are high-quality, cage-free, free-range and organically fed. I know that it’s hard to find out if the chickens are truly free-range, so make a call to the company to check this out if you have any doubts.

Or better yet, get your eggs from someone you know who has chickens!

I frequently eat my eggs raw. If you buy eggs from the sources I recommend, eggs from healthy chickens are rarely contaminated with salmonella.

As for cooking eggs, you want to have the yolk exposed to oxygen as little as possible to prevent the cholesterol from getting oxidized. So, the less you scramble eggs the better. Think about poaching them or boiling them instead.

BUTTER/GHEE

Butter from pasture-fed, organically raised cows is a wonderful healthy food.

Whether you’re surprised to hear me say that or not, please keep reading!

I’ve written about fats before, so to understand what makes butter a healthy food you have to relearn much of what we’ve been told about saturated fats.

SOME saturated fat is good for us and necessary in our diets.

It is an unwise choice to remove healthy foods like butter, avocado, and eggs from the diet because they contain saturated fat.

Butter is a rich source of vitamin A, which is needed for optimal functioning of the immune system and for maintaining good vision. Butter also contains all the other fat-soluable vitamins–E, K, and D.

Eating animal products from healthy grass-fed animals gives you the benefit of the animal’s diet. So butter from these cows is rich in healthy omega-3 fats. You also get CLA (conjugated linolenic acid) which has anticancer properties.

Mary Enig, Ph.D., one of the country’s most respected lipid biochemists, points out that butter has been used for centuries and that 30% of the fat from butter is from monounsaturated fat (the same kind that’s in olive oil).

Ghee is clarified butter, which means it’s basically butter with the milk solids removed. Ghee has been used for its healing and health-giving properties for thousands of years in the Ayurvedic medicine tradition. Ghee is believed to strengthen the ojas, our vital energy cushion at the root of our well-being and immunity.

Use ghee for cooking. I also put ghee in tea. It will not go rancid. Make it yourself and keep a container of it out on your counter and dip into it for a spoonful every day!

MILK

Milk that comes from cows treated with antibiotics, steriods and hormones is not good for us humans. It’s likely even baby cows wouldn’t drink that stuff.

Cows that are fed corn and grain in today’s factory farms can be called “modern efficiency leading to nutritional deficiency.”

Remember, what our food sources eat and are injected with gets passed along to us. What is sold as milk is void of its potentially healthful properties.

Raw, certified organic milk–unpasteurized and unhomogenized–is a true health food.

It’s a great source of protein and calcium, contains healthy fats and tastes really good. When it’s not subjected to the high heat of pasteurization, the good bacteria and enzymes are not destroyed.

Raw milk comes from grass-fed cows so the healthy fat content of the milk is totally different than when the cows are factory-farmed and fed grain. Raw milk has a bad reputation (remember to follow the money on these issues).

Also, I’ve witnessed many health challenges clear up when someone who thinks they have an intolerance for milk switches to raw milk.

It’s what’s in the milk that causes the problems, not the milk itself.

It is hard to find raw milk because only a few states sell it. A great source for locating raw milk in your area is www.realmilk.com.

Sometimes when I can’t locate raw milk I’ll purchase goat’s milk. It is easily digested and has a higher protein and calcium content than cow’s milk.

I think food itself is neutral. That neutrality changes depending on the source of the food and what we do with it.

I’ve used eggs, butter and milk to demonstrate this.

Eggs, butter and milk are such wonderful providers of so many nutritious and beneficial properties. You can do your own research on these “superfoods”.

I encourage you to see for yourself what eating eggs, butter and milk can provide for you in the way of superior health.

And when food talks to you……..listen!

I just did and it led to this conversation with you!

Sugars are a big category and in general are harmful to the body.

Sugar is an anti-nutrient that provides none of its own nutrients. In order for us to metabolize sugar it robs our bodies of nutrients that we actually need for other functions.

It is also a major contributor to the inflammatory process in our bodies that is the precursor to many disease processes.

There are the “ose” sugars–sucrose, lactose, maltose, fructose.

We eat far too much of these. For the next few hours after we eat these our immune systems and our white blood cell counts are depressed.

Let’s look at some natural sugars.

Maple syrup is thought of as a natural sweetener. It is boiled however, so it becomes very processed.

If you use honey, make sure it is unheated and unfiltered.

Agave is slower to convert into blood sugar than honey, but don’t overdo agave as it is still sugar.

Many drinks are being advertised as being better for you because they are sweetened with fruit juices like pear or grape. They are still heavily boiled and full of sugar.

A 12-ounce glass of orange juice, for instance, has 10-14 teaspoons of sugar. That’s as much as a 12 ounce can of soda!

Stevia is an herbal extract and probably the best of the natural sugars. Yes, I know it has a strange taste and aftertaste so try different brands and find one that’s palatable.

Artificial sweeteners like aspartame should be avoided.

Studies show that switching to artificial sweeteners did not affect weight loss, so you are taking in poison to help you lose weight, but it doesn’t help. There
are also damaging neurological effects from the artificial sweeteners. You can research this topic on your own. One good video on this topic is called “Sweet Misery.”

Another whole group of non sugar foods quickly convert into sugar after you eat them.

One of these groups is flour in all its many forms. Wheat, which has been hybridized so much, is another.

Grains are not a nutritionally required food group, so if you use them eat whole multi-grained sources.

Gluten is in all grains but not in rice, so if gluten is an issue for you rice is an option. With breads, remember that they are 80% starch and 20% protein/fats. Beans are also 75-80% starch.

So when you think about your carbohydrate choices focus on the ones that are not starch/sugar based.

Vegetables and some fruits are great choices.

It’s an individual choice so learn just how much sugar you can tolerate.

Fats and proteins won’t make you fat, so as I remind people, when it comes to starchy carbohydrates you either use them or wear them!

We all have a sweet tooth and our sweet zone on our tongue is front and center, so we are all faced with satisfying our need for a sweet taste.

It comes down to wanting optimal health. To me that means an optimal life span, preventing disease and having abundant energy.

We definitely improve our health when we educate ourselves and utilize nutritional
information. 

Here’s to your sweet success!

shelli

Summer is a “sweet” time of year, and if you’re like me and spending as much time in the ocean as you can, it’s a “salty” time of year as well.

In honor of this sweet and salty time of year, let’s talk about salt and sugar.

I find there are misunderstandings about these two because of all the erroneous marketing and other media sources of health information. Let’s see if we can clear up some things and provide you with accurate, usable knowledge.

Salt or sodium first.

You probably know that in ancient times salt was precious and was traded as a valuable commodity. In that era it was seen as important to survival, yet today people are salt phobic.

While our lifestyles have changed from ancient times, our human biochemistry and physiology have not changed much, so the need for the most important electrolyte in our body has not changed.

There’s an expression, “Follow the money.”

As far as I can tell, the anti-sodium campaign was about selling different foods under the guise of making them healthier. Accuracy in advertising aside, what works in advertising takes precedence.

As consumers internalized this advertising campaign, they started believing that low-sodium was good and salt in general was bad. Actual scientific information was pushed aside.

In fact, sodium is needed for human health, performance and physiology.

Unless someone has a specific and serious condition which precludes them from taking in salt, salt intake does not produce negative health problems. Only 10% of hypertension cases have a known cause, and almost all of them are genetic or stress related.

If you are a high-performance athlete do not avoid sodium. You need adequate amounts daily to prevent negative metabolic consequences and to ensure maximum performance.

One of sodium’s jobs is to regulate blood volume and blood pressure.

When you exercise, the body is better served by a higher blood volume thereby ensuring better oxygen and nutrient delivery to working cells, as well as an efficient removal of toxins when you are fatigued.

Sodium is linked to potassium. Potassium depends on sodium to be effective.

Potassium’s job is primarily the regulation and control of skeletal and cardiac muscles. The vagus nerve, which controls heartbeat, is totally dependent on potassium.

In order for potassium to do its job it needs to be aided by sodium because it is sodium that delivers potassium inside the cell.

For optimum cell integrity and optimum potassium delivery there MUST be ample sodium present.

The primary avenue for the loss of sodium is through sweat glands.

If there isn’t enough sodium there won’t be enough potassium so you’ll experience muscle weakness, cramps, listlessness and lethargy. A prolonged lack of sodium intake will be problematic.

The body is a complex computer system programming itself for survival.

Because of this your body will retain sodium in order to keep the electrolyte balance it requires. Water always follows sodium so this leads to water retention.

Excess sodium will be excreted with water so it’s important to have enough sodium to function properly and let the rest be excreted.

The easiest way to ensure ample sodium intake is through salty condiments such as sea salt, ketchup, mustard, pickles. Be wary of MSG.

And remember I am talking about sodium proper, not table salt.

Sodium chloride is table salt (40% sodium and 60% chloride).

Use sea salt instead. Think REAL sodium and don’t worry about “too much” since the excess will be excreted.

Let’s look at sugar now, so stay tuned for the sweet segment!

shelli

This was the joke of the day that appeared on my calendar this past week.

Two men were hiking through the forest when they heard a bear approaching. One man dropped his hiking gear and searched through it until he found his running shoes. Watching the man put on the running shoes, the other man said, “What are you doing? You can’t outrun that bear!” The man said, “I don’t have to outrun him. I just have to outrun you.”

Whether you run for your health, to lose weight, or the joy of taking it on the road, calling yourself a runner is a badge you wear with pride. I know I certainly do!

Take a moment and ask yourself why you run or fitness walk.

Here are the answers I get most often when I ask women this question.

*It’s good for my health
*I want to lose weight/control my weight
*Anyone can run, so there’s nothing I have to learn
*It helps me handle my stress
*I like to run and like the way I feel when I’m done.

I’m thinking for most of us those answers would rank high on the list. So let’s consider each of these answers and whether or not they are indeed the benefits of running.

1. It’s good for my health and helps me handle stress: maybe, maybe not.

Aerobic training increases adrenal stress, which can make you fatter and produce other undesirable health consequences. Adrenal fatigue is a very important factor which I’ll address more in depth in another piece.

For right now though, know that when you do too much continuous aerobic exercise the adrenal glands are stressed in a way that disrupts your hormonal balance causing adrenal fatigue.

This leads to tiredness, allergies, frequent colds and flus, arthritis, anxiety, reduced memory, insomnia, feeling worn out and the INABILITY to lose weight even after extensive effort.

So while you are gaining cardiovascular and respiratory benefits, which I believe are the health benefits we think of when we say “we run for the health benefits,” please be aware that TOO much of a good thing can be stressful.

Remember, being fit and being healthy are not the same.

It’s important to bring a level of self awareness to your running so you know when you are dipping into an unhealthy stressful state.

Also, when thinking of how to blend health and fitness, think of becoming generally athletic and then taking that general athleticism into whatever exercise or sport you play.

In other words, you want to move well, REALLY well.

The idea is to be active throughout your life and discover your own pathway to enjoying a physically active lifestyle.

Adapting a philosophy towards sports/movement and health/fitness like the one I’m suggesting might take a paradigm shift for you. I encourage you, however, to be open to what I’m saying.

Running has its place but it’s far from the only activity we should be doing if we’re looking to be healthy and handle our stress!

2. Best way to lose weight and burn fat: NOPE.

Not steady state running at least. Going for miles and miles or for hours and hours is not the best way to burn fat.

Will you burn calories? Of course.

Want to burn fat? Listen up.

Remember, we are talking about CONTINUOUS aerobic exercise called LSD (long slow distance running) or steady state cardio.

There are other ways to train that are more effective and take less time.

We unfortunately have been brainwashed with the idea that to burn fat you have to do continuous aerobic work.

It is not the most effective choice and I think it’s a good idea to match what you choose to do with the reason for doing it.

In order to lose fat you need to stoke the body’s furnace to burn up fat reserves. To do this you need intense oxygen-depriving anaerobic exercise.

This does two things:
1-It increases the percentage of calories and fat burned as compared to the percentage of carbohydrates burned.
2-It raises your metabolic rate, which helps you burn off even more calories when you are at rest. This is called EPOC, and we’ll go into this more in a minute.

Intensity (% of your max Heart Rate) is what’s important in the number of calories burned per minute. The kind of running that is most effective for fat loss is called interval training.

You alternate minutes of high intensity exercise with low to moderate intensity exercise. You will more effectively burn fat and improve both aerobic and anaerobic fitness.

EPOC stands for excess post-workout oxygen consumption, and some in the fitness field assign great meaning to it, so it’s something you should be aware of.

There is a higher increase in caloric expenditure that occurs during the EPOC phase after resistance or anaerobic exercise versus aerobic exercise. And the EPOC over the 12-24 hour period following your exercise session can be from 10-150 calories.

Not a huge number but worth noting.

Also, let’s consider something else with steady state running and fat burning/calorie expenditure.

If you are economical and mechanically efficient when you run, you will expend LESS calories than if you are unskilled and utilize unnecessary movements during physical activity.

At first you might think, great I don’t (run, swim bike ) well so I’ll burn more calories, but remember, inefficiencies increase musculoskeletal stress and lead to overuse injuries.

So it’s an interesting Catch-22.

Though it takes time to develop efficient running mechanics, your economy will improve over time and you’ll be able to prolong the activity and get a greater total energy expenditure, but that means running for longer and longer time periods.

This may not be what you want: longer runs to burn the same number of calories.

As for a fitness view on all this let’s look at what Charles Poliquin, a well known strength and conditioning coach, has to offer when he talks about why aerobic work can be counterproductive. He includes many of the things we have already mentioned.

-Continuous aerobic work plateaus after 8 weeks of training so anything more is counterproductive.

-Aerobic training worsens your power locally and systemically, making you slower. This is important if you play team sports needing speed or jumping power.

-Aerobic training increases oxidative stress which can accelerate aging. Oxidation is a process that forms free radicals in the body.

Normally we use antioxidants to neutralize them. If there is an excessive build up due to excessive aerobics your body will be challenged to handle all the free radicals. This will change your metabolism and can accelerate aging.

-Aerobic training increases body fat in stressed individuals by contributing additional stress.

Again, stress to an already stressed organism actually adds body fat as it messes with your hormone balance.

-Aerobic training worsens testosterone/cortisol ratios which impede your ability to add fat burning lean muscle. Adding lean muscle will help increase the caloric expenditure that you need to lose fat.

3. Anyone can run, so there’s nothing I have to learn…NOT!

Yes, running will burn calories, and you can ease joint stress and move with less effort if you take the time to learn how.

And running can be learned by anyone. It involves understanding physics, physiology and your anatomy.

Too often though, what I see published in articles is something that says “if you can walk, you can run.”

This is not the case and I surely would not want most of the people I see walking to take their walk into a run!

Everyone needs exercise, yet why do so many people interpret this to mean all you need to do is RUN.

Unfortunately, I see too many people who have never given credence to the idea that it is important to learn good biomechanics for running.

I see bobbers, swayers, shufflers, prancers and clompers, all of whom think they are doing something good for themselves by running.

A lot of people out there running look miserable and in pain and as I often say, “Running is something we do in the name of good health that can make us miserable.”

Biomechanics–technique–how we move as runners–is easy to address. It is, after all, under our control. Yet it is often forgotten.

Runners need to understand it’s not just about WHY you run, but also about HOW you run.

The injury rate amongst runners is alarming and changes all the time so I won’t give you an exact number. I can say that I’ve never read a study that quoted less than 50% of all runners having had an injury during the year.

Learning how to run with correct form will make running less punishing so your fitness efforts won’t be constantly derailed by injury.

You can be comfortable while you run!

Correct running form is not second nature for most of us, and contrary to what many people think, it is not just stepped-up walking.

What I wanted to do in writing this was to have us look at the exercise we do, in this case running, and ask ourselves why we are doing it, and are we in fact getting the results we seek.

Mindlessly doing anything, and particularly running, can do just as much harm as good and we need to know the difference between whether running is helping us or hurting us.

shelli