Researchers aren’t sure as to the reason behind the correlation.  However, they do speculate as to some possible reasons.  First, your blood pressure is higher when you’re awake.  If you spend more time awake than you should, then your average blood pressure may be high enough to cause some hardening of your arteries.  Another possible reason may be due to stress.  Stressed out people tend to sleep less, eat poorly, and exercise less.  All of these things also contribute to artery hardening.  Stress also increases blood pressure and levels of a hormone called cortisol which has been shown to cause similar effects.

Whether or not this study is repeated later–it was a very small study that definitely needs some more work–getting enough sleep is a very important aspect of being fit.  Inadequate sleep has been linked to health problems such as heart disease, diabetes, and obesity.  Health benefits aside, I like to get enough sleep for one simple reason.  I like to sleep!

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Way back in the introduction, the book gives a bunch of stats and research about various topics relating to the American diet and micronutrients that I wanted to share with you. How’s this for scary:

The foods you eat every day…are doing much more than making you fat or thin. Their effects on your body are making the difference between the development of chronic disease and a vigorous extended life. They can prevent or greatly reduce your risk of vision problems, stroke, heart disease, diabetes, and a host of killers. These are not just vague promises; they are facts that are now supported by an impressive and irrefutable body of research.

The doom and gloom continues with a list of 11 “disastrous developments” that ruin the health of most of the modern industrialized society. Here are just a few of the ones that I found most salient to my life:

1. Increased portion sizes
2. Decreased energy expenditure (NO EXERCISE)
3. Increased consumption of processed grains
4. Decreases consumption of fruits and vegetables
5. Increased consumption of refined sugar as an overall percentage of caloric intake
6. Decreased whole food consumption
7. Decreased consumption of anti-oxidant and calcium intake

The rest of the list mainly dealt with fats and the types of fats we’re eating as a society now.  I don’t spend a lot of time worrying about fats (maybe I should).  Mostly I think that if I’m eating a varied diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole foods, lean meats and low-fat dairy, then the fat problem takes care of itself.

Of all the items on the above list, the one that I find the most interesting is #7.  Just what is an “anti-oxidant” anyway?  We hear the word all over the place–it’s quite the buzzword in the health magazines and on the nutritional blogs that I sometimes read.  Superfoods Rx does a pretty decent job at describing what an antioxidant is and does.  Basically, an they are molecules, found in high concentrations in many of the superfoods that we’re supposed to be eating. Their main job is to defend the body from other molecules called free radicals.  Free radicals are very unstable because they’re missing an electron.    Searching for a replacement electron, they target other molecules in the body such as enzymes, DNA, important proteins, and cell membranes.  Now, instead of the free radicals being unstable, the important physiological systems in your body are weakened because they’ve lost electrons.  Free radicals are generated by the body’s own nutritional processes and introduced into your system from the environment.  Basically, an anti-oxidant is a sacrificial lamb that gives up electrons to free radicals so that your bodies important molecules don’t have to.  The more antioxidants in your body, the less damage that free radicals do to it.  Obviously this is a very simple explanation of a very complex process.  I hope it helps you to understand the importance of a diet rich in anti-oxidants.

I want to wrap up the superfoods conversation with how I plan on incorporating the superfoods plan into my diet.  I’ve never been good at following a specific diet plan.  I like to take information I read from all kinds of nutritional sources and meld them together into “Mac’s plan.”  I already eat lots of beans, berries, salmon, spinach, tomatoes, nuts and yogurt.  That’s half of the 14 superfoods.  I think it would be very easy to incorporate tea, broccoli, oranges and turkey as well.  I’m contemplating replacing half of my morning coffee with tea.  My kids love oranges, and I love a good turkey sandwich with avocado.  As for the other three superfoods (pumpkin, oats, and soy) I’ve got a little bit of work to do.  But if I manage to incorporate 11 of the 14 superfoods, that’s pretty darn good.

Also, In the back of the book, there is a ton of great information on how to eat more superfoods.  For example, there’s a section full of recipes that I’d like to try.  But even more helpful is a shopping list that has brand name foods that you can find in the grocery store that contain lots of superfoods.  Just pick one off the shelf at the supermarket and your good to go.

I’m really glad that the SuperFoods Rx book fell into my lap.  I don’t think it’s the be all end all to my diet solution.  I don’t think there is one.  But, it did provide me with a lot of information about food that I should be eating that I actually like to eat.  And to me that’s the biggest part of the diet battle.

Blueberries are a wonderful source of phytochemicals, true, but so are grapes, apples and other berries. Many phytochemicals (but not all) are antioxidants, so that is good… And why focus on just walnuts? Peanuts (actually legumes) are a wonderful source of protein and good fat; all forms of nuts are great, though Almonds are actually some of the *best*, nutrition-wise. This diet seems to hugely exclude other foods that have a wider array of nutrients, and so you would be limiting your intake of these other nutrients.

One of the points (that I should have mentioned earlier) of the Superfoods Rx is that the 14 superfoods all have substitutes called “sidekicks.” Sidekicks are beneficial for a number of reasons. Maybe you hate blueberries and refuse to eat them. That’s fine, eat other types of berries. The 14 superfoods listed were deemed to be the best of best, but that doesn’t mean you have to eat only those–go ahead and vary your diet.

What I really wanted to write about today are the guiding tenets of the SuperFoods Rx. The plan was designed to be a simple one that rests on several important principles:

Superfoods Rx is the “best diet in the world.”
The superfoods Rx guiding goal is to “identify the best, buy the best, and eat the best!” The research for this book can be broken down into two general categories: analysis of the diets of the “healthiest societies in the world”, and analysis of foods that were proven to reduce the amount of free radicals in the body.

It’s been argued that two of the healthiest societies on the planet are the people of Okinawa and the people of the Mediterranean. The people of these societies actually have similar diets on the nutrient level.

• They are primarily plant-based.
• They contain a number of protective substances (such as selenium, glutathione, resveratrol).
• They have a good balance between omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids.
• They have high amounts of fiber, folate, antioxidants, vitamin C and  Vitamin E.

Dr Pratt analyzed these diets and identified foods that showed up repeatedly.  But he also contacted dietitians and food scientists from all over the world in an effort to identify which foods were proven to be the best health promoters.  After combining his two areas of research, the 14 categories of superfoods were announced.

Superfoods are whole foods.
Just what is a “whole food” anyway? There are many definitions of the word, but for the purposes of the superfoods diet, a whole food is one that “is unprocessed, or processed minimally and in such a way that none of their nutritional characteristics have been intentionally modified.” But why are whole foods important? Whole foods contain the precise balance between phytonutrients, fiber, vitamins, minerals and other substances. Since there hasn’t really been much research on the required amounts of these substances, it’s best to let nature provide them in the right amounts without us altering them in a processing factory. Theoretically, it is the balance between these chemicals that makes superfoods so effective at promoting health and fighting cancer. Supplements and processed foods have their place, but one shouldn’t rely on them to keep you totally healthy.

Superfoods Rx equals synergy
Food synergy is the ability of separate micronutrients found in the same food to work together, providing a health benefit that neither could provide without the other. There are many chemicals found naturally in food that we have little understanding of. Surely they play a role in nutrition and health. By eating a diet that contains as much whole foods as possible, you’re ensuring that your body can deal with these chemicals the way that nature intended.

Superfoods are simple; Superfoods are positive
Many diets fail because they’re too complicated. Superfoods is simple. Many diets fail because they concentrate on what you can’t do (a negative)–superfoods concentrates on what you can do ( a positive). The book is full of ideas about how you can incorporate these 14 foods into your diet every day. If you eat lots of superfoods, then don’t worry about the foods you eat that aren’t on the list. Eat well, get lots of exercise, and your body will pay you back in the long run.

• 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans
• Be Active Your Way: A Guide for Adults
• An activities toolkit for communities and organizations
• The advisory committee report for health professionals and researchers

For the first time, Americans are encouraged to do both aerobic activities and strengthening activities.

The guidelines recommend at least 2 hours and 30 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise every week (moderate aerobic activity as in “I can talk while do them but I can’t sing”) or 1 hour and 15 minutes of vigorous physical activity every week (vigorous activity as in “I can only say a few words without stopping to catch my breath”).

Adults are also encouraged to do muscle strengthening activities at least two days a week. The two guidelines for these types of exercise are:

• Include all the major muscle groups such as legs, hips, back, chest, stomach, shoulders, and arms.
• Exercises for each muscle group should be repeated 8 to 12 times per session.

One nice thing about the Body for Life method is that following it allows a person to essentially meet these requirements. (Not exactly, though. If you do Body for Life by the book, you only get an hour of aerobic exercise per week, and you only exercise each muscle group 1.5 times.)

So, surprisingly enough, I’m meeting the Federal guidelines for physical activity. A year ago, I was a couch potato. That’s progress!

[U.S. Department of Health & Human Services: Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans]

That being said, I think I’ve found a diet that contains enough foods that I like that could make me stick to it. Recently, one of my friends loaned me a copy of SuperFoods Rx: Fourteen Foods That Will Change Your Life. I’m sure that most of you have heard the term “superfoods” and could probably name a few of them. But do you know all of them and why they’re good for you? Below is a list of the fourteen superfoods, some of the key nutrients that make them superfoods, and how many servings of each you should aim for per week if you’re following the diet.

What I found most surprising, was that I already eat a lot of these foods on a daily basis, that I like almost every one of these “diet foods,” and how much of them I’m supposed to eat every week. There’s no way I plan on eating 14 cups of blueberries per week, or 7 cups of broccoli. The point is, the more superfoods that you eat every week, the more your body will appreciate it. In the coming weeks, I plan on writing a few posts about this book. I’d like to write about the nutrients in these foods that make them so super, as well as some of the ideas that I found most interesting while reading it. Keep in mind that I’m am in no way advocating that you follow this diet–I don’t plan on doing so. But I did find some of the topics very thought provoking and I want to share some of them with you.

Push-ups

I started Week 5 of my pushup program on Monday. I failed miserably. At the end of the 4th week, I did my exhaustion test and completed 43 push-ups. This is a big improvement from the 20 I did in my initial test or the 34 that I did at the end of week 2. However, to be 2/3s through the program and be less than half my way to 100… it hurts. Worse yet, I when I went to week 5, I found that by just more than 40, I was put into a column that made me start with 40… and then do another 32 after a minute of rest… and another 95 over the 3-4 minutes. Let’s not even get to day 2 and 3 when you have to three more levels added (and less time) – at least the repetitions go down. I’m at the point of being all push-upped out and the only thing that is the least been interesting to me is that I can more than twice as many as when I started.

Body Stats

When I measured myself today, I had the following stats:

• Weight: 170.5 pounds
• Body Fat: 19.8%

I think is pretty much in line with where I’ve been in the past. I’m pretty disappointed by this number as well, since I’ve been swimming and eating right for the most part.

Nutrition

I think I’ve been well in this area. It’s not perfect, and is far off from some my best weeks. However, after following the nearly 700 comments on my MonaVie article, I’ve realized that I should adds some pomegranite-blueberry-acai juice and other similar things. Since there are still a lot of liquid calories, I have 4 ounces in the morning and 4 ounces in the evening – mostly as a way to just boost my antioxidant levels. I also have a small piece of dark chocolate with it. I’ve been mixing in some good old fashioned fruit and a glass of red wine as well. The rest of my food I try to get from lean protein like chicken. I have slip-ups and they are usually in the form of one side dish a day.

Exercise

With the pushups really getting me down, I haven’t been doing them as much. I did get 60 laps of swimming in a couple of days this week. I usually do more, but one day the pool wasn’t heated. Another day it was just extremely cloudy and I wasn’t sure it was safe for swimming.

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For this review, I chose the Neutrogena Healthy Defense Moisturizer with SPF 45 from this line. There are a few others, such as hand cream, but I decided on this all purpose moisturizer since it had a broader appeal. First off, the texture of the product is quite nice. It’s not chalky like a lot of sunscreen moisturizers and it didn’t flake off once it was applied.

The Helioplex term refers to the Neutrogena’s use of both Avobenzone and Oxybenzone, which are approved by the FDA for blocking both UVA and UVB rays. Since these are both quite dangerous, it’s nice to see a sunscreen combine both. Typically, Avobenzone can do the job, but doesn’t hold up well after a few hours or so in sunlight. By adding Oxybenzone, the protection will last longer and you’ll have more luck at blocking all of the harmful rays.

It actually feels and functions like a moisturizer which was surprising considering the amount of SPF. With a lot of similar products, you feel like you’re actually drying out right after you apply it, so this was a pleasant surprise. The product didn’t ball up either, which was another bonus. There is a bit of a fragrance, but it’s more of a generic sunscreen smell. It was decent and non-threatening so it passed this test. A lot of moisturizers in this category smell like a garden hothouse in summer, so I was pleased that this had a neutral scent. Plus, my wife really hates the typical sunscreen smell.

My main issue with this product was that it was not waterproof. If you are a heavy sweater or you will be in the water, you’re going to need to frequently reapply. Given the overall price for the product, this may get expensive for some buyers, especially if you are very active.

All of this aside, what is really important is whether or not the sunscreen works. I found that it held up well and reduced burning significantly, even on fair skin. The biggest improvement was a reduction in freckling and that sun baked wrinkle look. It does well on its own and my wife said it worked under makeup. It is a little pricey, especially for someone as frugal as me. However, at the end of the day, it did the job and protected our skin. When compared to similar department store or higher end moisturizers, it performed just as well at about half the cost. We would definitely purchase it again and recommend it for those that aren’t worried about reapplying.

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It started on Sunday night. My wife said, “Honey, I think I’d like to try that 100 pushups thing as well. We can do it together. Will you wait for me to do it?” I had suggested it to her way back when and this seemed to be a reasonable request, so I agreed. Monday came along, and I did my typical swimming routine in the morning. I got a little lost in my work and looked up to see my wife had come back from her Body Pump class at the gym. Now I knew she wasn’t going to be in any condition to do her push-ups, but I asked to make sure. I was right, she would have to start the program another day. As far as health goes, if you are going to skip exercise for more exercise, that’s hard to argue with.

So there was the change-up… I had switched my swim and push-up routine. That lead to the sinker… I had used up so much energy swimming that I couldn’t complete Day 7 of the program.

Maybe it wasn’t the swimming. When I look at the program I think there might be a flaw. At the end of week two, I did 34 push-ups in my exhaustion test. That set me up for a week three, where I start off with a set of 25. That 25 in the first set took it’s toll by the 4th set when I could barely do ten. There was no hope of me finishing off with another 25. It got me thinking. What if during my exhaustion test, I had been able to do 26 push-ups? That would have put me in the range to do 25 and the start end, pretty much the maximum effort I would give if I just had to do one set.

Where do I go from here?
It makes little sense for me to go to Day 8 today. Instead, I will repeat Day 7. If I get Day 7 down, I’ll move to Day 8 on Friday. Next week, I’ll restart this week again in hopes of doing days 7, 8, and 9. If successful, I’ll move onto Week 4.

I’m pretty disappointed have to repeat this week 3. At the same time, I realize the benefit of building up a stronger base that will help carry me through the rest of program.

Photo Credit: Doug Greenberg

“Don’t be scared.” At least, that’s what I told myself. In truth, I was scared. I hate medical appointments. I have an overwhelming fear of needles. If you couple that with a fear of the unknown, a colonoscopy is a scary experience. That’s why many men don’t have them early, or often enough.

And so I say: don’t be scared.

My journey to colonoscopy started about a year-and-a-half ago. Yes, a whole year-and-a-half of delaying the inevitable test. Around January 2007 I started feeling discomfort in my abdomen. I blamed it on indigestion, stress, etc. That got rid of the cognitive dissonance for awhile. Then, after many months, I needed a muscle relaxant to cope with the cramps during the day. I realized that something was wrong, so I finally started to see my doctor, who referred me to a gastroenterologist.

I was first tested for food allergies. The tests were negative.

Then around November of 2007, I had a Barium swallow test. This test is worse than a colonoscopy, in hindsight. You drink “flavored” chalk and lie around for hours while a radiologist takes picture of you in compromising positions. It’s not fun.

And that was negative. After about ten tests, all that was left was a colonoscopy. Every other test had been negative. We were working under the assumption that I had what’s called irritable bowel syndrome, a catch-all term that essentially means “your intestinal nerves are out of whack and we don’t know why and we can’t really help you”.

When one of my co-workers was diagnosed with a severe case of stomach cancer, the little justification man in my head ceased to exist. I buckled down to get my colonoscopy. And here’s where it’s not so scary.

I entered the outpatient center at 730AM on a Friday morning, after a day of a liquid diet and drinking the most foul tasting “citrus ginger” laxative. (I suppose medical science will never invent chalk that actually tastes like a banana or a laxative that tastes like oranges and ginger slices.)

Dressing down, I was on my bed, waiting to go into the room. I was scared about the needle for the sedation. They do now sedate colonoscopy patients, and I would stress that if you aren’t offered that option, to go somewhere else. My doctor explained the procedure, and that I would be out of the facility by 9AM. The colonoscopy itself would take 20 minutes. Twenty years ago, it took several hours. I was less scared.

Wheeled into the small operation room, the anesthesiologist engaged in banter and tricked me about the needle. I barely felt the small prick in my wrist. The most painful part of the experience was the slight pain sensation of the painkiller entering my wrist.

Thirty minutes later I woke up. My doctor was soon by my bedside, informing me that I had an excellent colon, and that there were no more tests.

There was absolutely nothing to fear about the procedure. I felt silly that I had put it off for months. I was lucky there were no consequences, and I can say that there’s absolutely no reason not to have a colonoscopy done quickly if your doctor recommends. It’s not scary at all. And it’s the only time you can eat massive Chipotle burrito afterwards and not feel full.

A blog entry by Mark Cuban helped me to get over my fear of the operation. Don’t put off a test just because you’re afraid of needles, the unknown, or whatever reason. Having a colonoscopy taught me a lot of lessons.

J.D.’s note: My family has a history of cancer. My grandmother died of colon cancer when I was a boy, and a 46-year-old cousin died of colon cancer last summer. My father and his brother both died of other forms of the disease. Though I’m only 39, I feel like I should have a colonoscopy. My doctor isn’t convinced. “You don’t need one until you’re 50,” he tells me. But my father and cousin were dead by 50. I feel like I should have a colonoscopy.

As scary as these stats seem, there’s another set of stats, from a different age group that scares me even more. As a parent–a fat parent of thin kids–I worry a lot that my kids will turn out fat as well. If you’re a regular reader here, you’ll know from my introduction that one of my main reasons for getting fit slowly is to be a better example for my two children.

You’d think it would be hard for kids to get fat. They have high metabolisms, grow a lot, and are generally very active. But the numbers aren’t good:

In 1971 only 4% of 6-to-11-year-old kids were obese; by 2004, the figure had leaped to 18.8%. In the same period, the number rose from 6.1% to 17.4% in the 12-to-19-year-old group, and from 5% to 13.9% among kids ages just 2 to 5. And as with adults, that’s just obesity. Include all overweight kids, and a whopping 32% of all American children now carry more pounds than they should.

Since I’ve been worrying about this of late, I’ve come up with a list, that is by no means complete, of some ideas to help parents help their kids maintain a healthy weight. I’d love to hear more ideas from those of you who are parents and have ideas that work for your family.

• Limit “Screen Time”–Television and the internet make it real easy to be lazy. Most American kids spend an average of three hours per day in front of the computer or TV–and that’s after they’ve been stuck behind their desk in school all day.
• Make the family meal a priority–With soccer and ballet, karate and PTA meetings, it’s tough to find the time to eat dinner together with your kids. But if you don’t provide a nutritious meal, and be around to eat it with them, they’re going to fall back on unhealthy choices.
• Be an active family–Everyone likes to go to the movies. But don’t forget about all the fun you can have outdoors. Go for a hike, a bike ride, or play soccer at the park. Weed the garden, mow the lawn, or trim the bushes together. Get the whole family out of the house as often as possible and you just might talk more too

My kids are still real young, but already I see in them the allure of TV and the internet. My daughter loves to watch “Sesame Street” Clips on Youtube. She also enjoys taking digital pictures and reviewing them on the computer. She would watch as much TV as I let her. But she also loves being outside, playing with her friends, and riding her tricycle. It’s up to me to help her make the right choices that will keep her healthy and active. I’m not a perfect example for my kids. I’m still overweight and I still watch more TV than I should. But I’m getting smaller, and exercising in front of them often. I can only hope that what they see me doing now will help them develop a love for being active and healthy.

The statistics and photo for this post was taken from an article entitled: How America’s Children Packed On the Pounds.

I was surprised at how much I like my doctor. He’s my age and my build and has similar interests. He also just cut through my guff, getting to the heart of the problem. After listening to me describe the pain in my thigh and in the side of my leg, he had me lay down so he could manipulate my leg. When he was finished, he gave me the diagnosis.

“The good news,” he said, “is that you can run. There doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with you that would make running a problem. You might have some discomfort for the first mile or two, but that may fade. As long as it doesn’t increase, you’re fine running on that leg.”

I smiled with relief.

“The bad news,” he said, “is that you need to stretch. A lot. I have two-by-fours at home that have more flexibility than you do. You need to stretch at least three times a day, preferably more.” He showed me a variety of stretches I should do and explained that I should hold each pose for fifteen seconds, and do three sets every time I stretch.

I asked if I could resume my marathon training. “Yes,” he said, “but ease into it. You haven’t run in several weeks. You ran thirteen miles on the last training run? What did you run the week before?”

“Twelve miles,” I said.

“Start back with twelve miles this weekend,” he said. (Though after talking with Coach Pam, I’m going to ease back to ten miles, actually.)

“But really,” the doctor said, “you need to stretch. Your flexibility is terrible.”

So what was my injury? Turns out I had two problems, which was part of why I was so confused. “I think that on your 10k run, you probably tore your quadriceps a little,” the doctor said. “That’s an acute injury. You were pushing yourself hard and you were running downhill. When you run downhill and you don’t shorten your stride, your muscle wants to both elongate and contract at the same time. That’s not good.”

“As for the pain on the side of your leg, that’s your iliotibial band. The IT band is a mass of tissue on the side of your thigh. Other muscles connect to it. That’s a chronic injury. It’s a result of ongoing overtraining. You need to be careful that you don’t increase your mileage by over 10% each week. You’re a man. You want to do stupid things. Just take it easy.”

The doctor suggested that I continue biking, but that I get fitted so that I have proper form, especially if I plan to do long rides. He also wants me to begin doing interval runs at least once a week. “Those are just as good as lifting weights,” he said, “probably even better.”

Finally, he told me that he could write me a referral to a physical therapist. “If you find you can’t figure out how to do the stretching, or if you’re not doing it as much as you should, then a physical therapist can keep you motivated.”

I admit that I’m the world’s worst stretcher. It takes patience I just don’t have. But you know what? If stretching will help to prevent injury and will allow me to run again, I’ll do it.

1. Stop Smoking

If you smoke or chew tobacco, one of the best ways to improve the health of your heart is to quit. There is no healthy amount of smoking and no way to be a “healthier smoker” even with smokeless tobacco or light cigarettes. Dubbing cigarettes “light” is just the cigarette company’s way of targeting conscious but un-informed smokers and making them believe they are being healthier, but they are not. Especially if you have heart disease in your family, quitting it the best thing you can do for yourself.

2. Exercise

Exercise is one of the best ways to improve the heart. Especially cardiovascular exercise will improve the condition of your heart. Regular physical activity including jogging, running, swimming, tennis, basketball or other activities that raise your heart rate, all can reduce your risk of a heart attack or other heart diseases by nearly 25%. This is a very significant reduction in risk.

3. Eat “your heart-out”

But in a good way. A heart healthy diet is very important for cardiovascular health. In fact, just eating a good diet can lead to lower blood pressure and can help lower your risk for heart disease. The best foods to eat for your heart are antioxidant foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low fat dairy products, and legumes. Eating foods that are nutrient rich means foods that aren’t necessarily high in calories, but have excellent sources of nutrients. It is also important to avoid certain foods. Especially ones that are high in trans or saturated fats. These clog the arteries.

4. Stay Slim

Maintaining a healthy weight is crucial for heart health. Obesity seriously increases your risk of heart disease. Following the steps above will help you maintain a healthy body weight. Consult a physician about weight loss if need be. It’s working for Weight Ladder.

5. Get checkups

Even though I’m afraid of doctors, I recognize that regular checkups are important for making sure you are staying on track with your health. The most important things to have checked regularly are blood pressure and cholesterol. These are two indicative signs of your heart health. Schedule appointments with your doctor every six to twelve months to help ensure that you are of good health.

If you follow all the above you will be putting yourself in position to live a longer life.

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