Secrets of Longevity: Blue Zones Quest
February 14, 2008
Dan Buettner refers to them as Blue Zones — geographical locations people reside that appear to give them an advantage when it comes to living longer, active, healthier lives. Buettner has been traveling the globe in search of these locations in order to learn the secrets of longevity from the residents who live there. In his quest thus far, the writer and avid adventurer has traveled to Costa Rica, Sardinia,Okinawa and Loma Linda, California.
In profiling the residents, Buettner states he has discovered both unique and common characteristics of people who not only live much longer than most of us, but are defying the stereotype of what it means to age. They are healthy and active well into their 80s, 90s, and beyond.
What are the secrets to longevity? Buettner shares his observations at Blue Zones:
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Health insurance company asks doctors to rat out patients
February 12, 2008
Of all the reasons to vote for universal health care, this one makes the very short list. The Wall Street Journal is reporting Blue Cross of California is looking for loopholes when they sent out a letter to doctors asking doctors to report medical conditions the patient may have failed to report when applying for health insurance. Health insurance companies are allowed to cancel policies for people who do not list all medical conditions when applying for health insurance coverage.
Blue Cross insists the method of sending a doctor the patient’s application for coverage so the doctor can add any medical conditions the patient may have left off the health coverage application is necessary to keeping health insurance costs down.
Thank goodness, doctors are not joining this Sherlockian activity where patient trust would surely be broken. According to California Medical Association president Richard Frankenstein, “We’re outraged that they are asking doctors to violate the sacred trust of patients to rat them out for medical information that patients would expect their doctors to handle with the utmost secrecy and confidentiality.”
Diet soda weight gain
February 11, 2008
Don’t mess with the real thing. Have you been drinking artificially sweetened diet soda on the assumption that it will help you lose weight? It might be time to reconsider that notion. Diet soda causes weight gain, according to researchers. A recent study where rats were fed yogurt sweetened with a simple sugar similar to table sugar gained less weight and body fat than rats fed yogurt sweetened with zero calorie saccharin.
Purdue University’s Ingestive Behavior Research Center researchers explained, "Breaking the connection between a sweet sensation and high-calorie food, the use of saccharin changes the body’s ability to regulate intake. That change depends on experience. Problems with self-regulation might explain in part why obesity has risen in parallel with the use of artificial sweeteners."
Saccharin appears to trick the body in not registering artificially sweetened drinks and foods as sugar. As a result of this thwarted response, people tend to have more trouble controlling the amount of food they eat and maintaining a desired body weight. Sweetened foods provide a stimulus, and digestive reflexes gear up for that intake, however, when artificial sweetened drinks and foods are not followed by many calories, the body gets confused. Therefore, people can eat more or expend less energy than they might if they were consuming naturally sweetened drinks and foods.
Researchers admit that this news will not be welcomed by human clinical researchers and healthcare practitioners, who often recommend low or no calorie sweeteners as a means of controlling weight gain.
Delta Burke: Designing Women star in Psychiatric Ward
February 6, 2008
Best known for her role as Suzanne Sugarbaker in the television series Designing Women, tv, stage and film actress Delta Burke checked into a psychiatric hospital because her medications were not working in the treatment for severe depression, obsessive compulsive disorder and an excessive hoarding disorder.
According to a taped conversation with Burke published on the TMZ blog, Ms Burke shared they suspect she has not been properly diagnosed. Of her mental suffering, Burke spoke most about wanting to get her hoarding issue under control.
She explained, "Okay — have you seen those shows where they don’t find the body for days and they go in to clean up and it’s stacks of newspapers up to the ceiling? That’s hoarding and I hate it."
Ms Burke was voted Most Likely to Succeed in high school. She went on to win Miss Florida. Of the Designing Women cast members, Ms Burke received two Emmy nominations for Best Actress as Suzanne Sugarbaker. She has a recurring role on Boston Legal as Bella Horowitz, a former love interest of William Shatner’s character Denny Crane. Currently, it is reported she is reprising her role as Noleta in the upcoming 2008 Del Shores’ TV series Sordid Lives: The Series.
Delta Burke has been married to actor Gerald McRaney for nearly twenty years. We wish Ms Burke and her family all the best.
The Ultimate Tea Diet: Speed metabolism, decrease appetite, lose weight
January 13, 2008
Drinking tea is good for calming the mind, good for improving health, and according to The Ultimate Tea Diet, an excellent way to lose weight and trim your waistline. As owner of Dr Tea’s Tea Garden & Herbal Emporium and The Ultimate Tea Diet author Mark Dr Tea Ukra points out, research has proven antioxidant-rich tea:
• Strengthens immune system
• Prevents tooth decay
• Slows the aging process
• Lowers blood sugar
• Lowers cholesterol
• Decreases high blood pressure
• Lessens arthritis
• Sharpens mental focus and ability to concentrate
The health benefits of tea are more than sufficient reason to drink tea. Of course, tea is not a magic elixir on its own, but as part of an overall healthier lifestyle, tea is a healthy choice in beverage.
For weight loss, The Ultimate Tea Diet offers recipes for making a pot of tea and cooking with tea. Included are recipes for each meal of the day, as well as snacks and sweet treats.
How does tea help a tea drinker lose weight?
“Tea’s ability to encourage weight loss comes from the synergy of its three main ingredients: caffeine to stimulate, L-theanine to neutralize the harmful side effects of caffeine and act as an appetite suppressant, and EGCG, which causes you to burn fat faster and more efficiently. In other words, tea reduces your appetite and stimulates your metabolism.” — The Ultimate Tea Diet
Flat Belly Diet: MUFA foods trim waist without exercise
January 11, 2008
According to Flat Belly Diet authors Prevention editor in chief Liz Vaccariello and nutrition director Cynthia Sass, eating foods high in monounsaturated fat (MUFA) will melt away inches from your waistline without the need to break out in a sweat from exercise.
For followers of the Flat Belly Diet, claims include:
- You can lose up to 15 pounds in one month.
- You can eat and never feel hungry.
- Tackle and overcome emotional eating.
- Never do stomach crunchs for flat abs.
And, eating MUFA foods will trim your waist and flatten your belly, once and for all.
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Handwashing 101: How to prevent a killer cold or flu
November 16, 2007
Of the 51 types of adenoviruses that cause the common cold, a new and more deadly strain of adenovirus appears to be linked to the deaths of at least ten people who came down with the virus, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The concern among health officials is that this new virus can cause serious and potentially life threatening illness in otherwise healthy young adults. Reported cases of the new deadly cold virus has been identified in New York, Oregon, Washington and Texas.
The very young, the very old and those with compromised immune systems are always at risk of developing complications from the run of the mill cold, but this new more deadly strain has health officials are on alert. There are steps one can take to prevent getting a cold and spreading virus germs to others. The most important tip involves the simple practice of effective hand washing.
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Living to 100: Eat less drink red wine but no sex?
November 11, 2007
102 year old Esther MacKay attributes her longevity to three lifestyle rules — no smoking, no drinking and no sex. MacKay is featured in the CBS News Sunday Morning segment Could We Live Forever? Or Even Come Close?
Centenarians are often asked the secret to living to 100 and beyond. The answers vary between the complete abstinence of habits such as smoking and drinking to daily drinking and smoking. Think George Burns. For those fortunate to live to 100 and beyond, popular thought has been it is all in the genes. Genes must play a role but it might not be the only factor determining the last birthday we celebrate.
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Plague Prevention: Plague still poses death threat
November 10, 2007
An otherwise healthy 37-year-old wildlife biologist who worked at the Grand Canyon National Park was discovered dead in his home from the plague. Health officials investigating the death of Eric York believe he contracted the plague after performing an autopsy on a dead mountain lion. Several days after handling the plague-infected mountain lion, York developed flu-like symptoms.
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Four Thieves Vinegar: Plague prevention
November 10, 2007
Following trade routes, vicious plagues episodically swept through the 14th to 17th centuries of Europe. Millions died from the plague during this span of time. Death was swift, coming within four days from the first sign of illness. The rich elite and powerful royalty could obtain proper exit papers to flee the crowded cities. The poor, who could not afford to relocate, or acquire the proper exit papers, remained behind. Many of the poor were lost to the plague.
Once a member of a household was afflicted, the home was quarantined. No one could leave and with the exception of nurses and physicians, no one could enter. Fear, superstition and false belief in the cause of this sickness spread as fast as the plague itself. The unscrupulous profited in the sale of remedies said to be effective when they were anything but healing.
Physicians and nurses who cared for the ill and did not become ill, were said to use herbal potions, fumigations and inhalations for protection. Women healers who used herbs and potions to successfully treat the ill were, amazingly, later accused of being witches and sentenced to death.
Perhaps the most famous story regarding the use and protection of herbs against this illness, concerns the four thieves of Marseilles who, during the 17th century plagues of Toulouse, France, were caught robbing the dying and the dead without succumbing to the illness themselves.
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