Hydration and Cold Weather

It’s important to keep drinking water in cold weather, even though we feel abut 40% less thirsty. Breathing cold drier air dehydrates us faster than in the summer. We exhale 100% saturated air, losing water with every breath.

How much of you is water? Turns out, less than I originally thought. Babies are born at about 78% water, though at year 1 this drops to 65%. Healthy adult females are at about 50-55% whereas adult males are at about 60% (women have more water-exluding adipose tissue). Water proportions are broken down as such: blood plasma is mostly water at 92%, lungs are 83%, muscles and kidneys 79%, brain and heart 73%, skin 64%, and bones 31%.  

Water’s body functions involve shock absorption, lubrication, temperature regulation, digestion, and dissolves and transports every nutrient and waste product in your body. 

If your blood volume drops because you are dehydrated, the heart has to work harder to circulate the blood thus increasing your blood pressure. Be careful of dehydrating drinks such as alcohol, carbonated soda (sparkling water is fine) and  more than your usual amounts of caffeinated drinks. Try room temperature or warmer water for increased absorption. Amounts are about 6-8 cups or 2 liters a day for most healthy adults. More if you are exercising, and even more if you are exercising outside in the cold.


Fantastic Flax

Flax seeds have a  host of nutrients that are helpful to our bodies. There are both brown and gold flaxseed, and they can be used interchangeably.  Flax contains lignans – a class of nutrient that when broken down in our body have many beneficial actions. 1) anticancer agents, 2) phyto (plant-derived) estrogens that could be an alternative  or additive to soy in peri- and menopausal support, 3) antioxidants preventing free-radical tissue damage and 4) Lignans have a cardio-protective LDL-lowering and HDL-increasing effect. Flax also contains soluble and insoluble fiber, so much so that it’s advisable to take it with liquid. Just put a tablespoon of ground flax seed in a glass and add 2 tablespoons of water and watch what happens! It can be even be used as an egg-replacer if you run out of eggs, or are cooking for someone with an allergy!

Flax seeds contain fiber and precursors to omega-3 fatty acids, which can expire or become damaged, so it’s best to buy smaller amounts to maintain a fresher supply. Flax oil will not give you the fiber benefit, and also has a higher probability of going rancid and so must be refrigerated. Flax seeds last in fridge 12 months in an opaque container, or 6 months pre-ground in the freezer. But it’s probably best to buy a little coffee grinder at Reny’s for $12.99 and grind your own fresh. Serving size: 2 tablespoons a day, or 1/4 C three (or more) times a week, ground and sprinkled on salads, whipped into smoothies or soups. Grind it, or it will pass right through, giving you no nutritional benefit. (link to Dr. Andrew Weil’s thoughts).  Some have been concerned about cyanide content of flax, but studies have shown that it’s about the same level as cashews, almonds and some other plant products and that the human body breaks it down harmlessly if not overconsumed (more than 8 T a day).


Michael Pollan's Food Rule: Avoid Food Products that make Health Claims

"This sounds counterintuitive, but consider: For a product to carry a health claim on it's package, it must first have a package, so right off the bat, its more likely to be a processed rather than a whole food. Then, only the big food manufacturers have the wherewithal to secure FDA-approved health claims for their products and then trumpet them to the world. Generally, it is the products of modern food science that ake th boldest health claims, and these are often founded on incomplete and even bad science. Don't forget that margarine, one of the first industrial foods to claim it was more healthful than the traditional food i replaced, turned out to contain trans-fats that give people heart attacks. The healthiest food in the supermarket - the fresh produce - doesn't boast about its healthfulness, because the growers don't have the budget or the packaging. Don't take the silence of the yams as a sign that they have nothing to say about your health." From the book by Michael Pollan: Food Rules.
(BTW, Michael Pollan rules IMHO. He's the one who coined the 7 word mantra to live by: "Eat Real Food, Not too much, mostly vegetables". )

Is “Low Fat” healthy?

First off, we need fat to survive. It’s one of the macronutrients along with protein and carbohydrate. How much depends on your lifestyle, but about according to the Mayo Clinic, about 20-35% of your daily caloric intake should be fat. Approximately between 40-78 g/day with less than 22g being saturated fat. I tablespoon of peanut butter has about 8 g of fat, a tablespoon of olive oil, 14g. So the normal daily intake is actually quite reasonable, (if you are not eating the Standard American Diet and lots of deep fried things).

Fat became vilified  in the 60′s and 70′s when a link was found between dietary fat, heart disease and weight gain, so the knee jerk reaction was to reduce ALL dietary fat. The mantra became fat = bad, carb = good. We now know that it’s much more complicated than that. We don’t need large amounts of fat, but we definitely need it for healthy skin, hair, hormones, cell membranes, and many other things.

So what is a Low-Fat food anyway?  “Low-Fat” foods have been processed and modified to chemically or physically remove naturally occurring lipids. High in energy, fat also tastes good. It dissolves a lot of flavor molecules, so things that have large amounts of fat tend to make taste buds happy. If you take fat out of a food, you have to add something back in so that it’s palatable; sugar and artificial flavors., The mantra became fat = bad, carb = good. Perceived caloric deficit of low-fat food was met with a frenzied no-holds-barred increase in overall food intake, so instead of losing weight, US’ers gained weight, died of heart disease more than ever, and also more diabetic. Whoops.

Processing of foods creates fats that can cause inflammation in our systems: trans-fats, elevated omega 6′s (very readable article here) which manifest in atherosclerosis and obesity. The final most recent outcome is that low-fat has been shown to be low-health. Reasonable amounts of fat from real food (nuts, seeds, avocados, fish, plant oils) is part of a healthy food paradigm. As usual, the solution is not rocket science, it won’t sell tons of books, nor is it a magic bullet diet or pill answer. Eat reasonable amounts of real food. You knew it all along.

Define “Healthy”

Merriam Webster defines healthy as; 1) free from disease or pain,  2) showing physical, mental, or emotional well-being, 3) beneficial to one’s physical, mental, or emotional state. I would go further in this definition of healthy to include “beneficial to one’s environment and community”, because that so immediately surrounds and influences us (think food, air, mental and emotional state etc.).

Let’s examine this definition in terms of “healthy food”, which has been completely obfuscated and upended by mixed messages from media, the medical community and other non-medical entities that want you to not trust what you already know, and therefore sell you things. But you know what healthy food is. It’s simply real food. Don’t let people who want to sell you unneeded things confuse you. The more confusion, the more money can be made selling magic bullets, diets and programs. Writer Michael Pollan has summed up my approach on healthy food succinctly: “Eat Real Food. Not too much. Mostly vegetables”.

Break it down…

Real Food = less processed. Processed means chemically treated in a way that prolongs its shelf life and therefore it’s inedibilty to microorganisms, which, by the way also live inside you and help you digest your food. Processed food is found in the center of the grocery store , usually encased in plastic or cellophane or other types of packaging and has lots of sugars, preservatives, and trans fats to disguise the flavor of the shelf-life prolonging chemicals.

Not too much = moderation and portion control. Basically eat slowly, chew a lot, and stop when you’re full. Drinking water helps too.

Mostly vegetables = Foods that have excellent mixtures of fiber, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, proteins and phytochemicals mixed with lower amounts of carbohydrates to sustain healthy human bodies and lower disease risk. “Mostly vegetables” also means fats and proteins have a place, but they are just not center stage in a healthy diet.

Eating this way means lower amounts of sugar (in all forms, pure, simple and complex carbohydrates), fat and salt, and also means higher amounts of food that will allow your health span to equal your life span.

***my pet peeve: as per AHD: “Some people insist on maintaining a distinction between the words healthy and healthful. In this view, healthful means “conducive to good health” and is applied to things that promote health, while healthy means “possessing good health,” and is applied solely to people and other organisms. Accordingly, healthy people have healthful habits.” I use healthy and healthful interchangeably. In fact I never use the word healthful. I find it too precious. But that’s just me.

The soothing scent of Lavender

Lavender is a lovely scent that has now been shown to act on parts of the brain that reduce anxiety. Linalool (lin-a-loh-ol) is a prime component in lavender scent and when wafted at a bunch of stressed mice, they calmed down. Lavender- treated mice acted differently than ones treated with anxiety-reducing drugs, they didn’t seem to experience any side-effects and were generally happier. If the mice couldn’t smell, they did not experience the beneficial effect, which points to the complex interaction that odors have on the brain. It is a common experience to be transported by a familiar or comforting smell, or to have a vivid memory triggered by particular odors. Lavender, being associated with relaxation might be a great gift for the holidays, so here are some ideas that could be used to send out comfort into the world.

Lavender sachets for clothes drawers, or eye pillows. If you are a sew-er, make a lavender sachet for a clothes drawer. Zip up a square of fabric and fill it mostly with rice and throw in a teaspoon of dried lavender flowers before you close it up. Make an 8 x 4 rectangular version for a lavender eye-pillow. Non-sew sachets: just take a square of fabric, put the flowers inside, gather the edges and tie it up with a pretty ribbon.  If you are in the kitchen, throw some lavender flowers into a steaming pot of water on your stove to infuse the air with a gentle scent as well as some humidity as the air seasonally cools and dries. And I’m definitely going to try to make a happy version of these flourless chocolate-lavender cupcakes.  I’ll keep you posted!

Healthy Hallowe’en

So if you are like me, you avoid Halloween. But if you just can’t, here are some ideas that might help you put your money where your healthy ideals are: Carabiners (Maine Hardware), bouncy balls (Dollar store), glow bracelets or necklaces (not thrilled about the landfill, but they are pretty cool plus keep little trick or treaters illuminated), mini keychain flashlights, fake mustaches, little tubes of bubbles,  themed cookie cutters, fruit leather, Packets of pretzels along with trail mix or salty roasted almonds depending on how nut-avoidant you wish to be. If you absolutely must go with candy, try  an organic supplier - organic candy, or little Clif brownies bars. If you are parents and wish to avoid the post Halloween diabetic surge: 1) buy them out. Yep, a pure and simple bribe. Exchange money for the candy. Unless you know they’ll just buy more candy. Another option – barter the remainder of the candy they bring home for the thing your kids have REALLY wanted recently (not a puppy), or a really cool T-shirt or experience. Win-win! Unless you opt for the puppy.

Familiar cooking oils – what to use when

Fats are important macronutrients; we need them to survive. Its important to not be intimidated by fats, to know how to use them for the best nutrition outcome as well as facility in the kitchen.

Having a variety of cooking oils on hand is important because they have different “smoke points”, or temperatures at which they burn. The smoke point is determined by where the oil comes from, how much processing the oil has received and how long they will be subjected to heat. Less refined oils burn more easily, but have more flavor and nutrition. Use these in recipes that require no or cooler cooking. Examples would be Extra Virgin Olive Oil, affectionately known as ‘evoo’, which has great flavor and a low smoke point of 325F. Walnut oil or pumpkin seed oils also have low smoke points (320F) and are best not cooked at all – use these less refined flavorful oils in salads, drizzles, dips and marinades.

Butter has a low smoke point, 325F, due to it’s protein content, but has great flavor. If it won’t be long in the pan, butter can be used. It’s counterpart, clarified butter or ghee is very stable up to 450F. I have both in my kitchen.

I also use coconut oil, which has a higher smoke point of 350-400F and could be used for sautéing or stir frying and imparts a delicious coconut flavor to stir fried vegetables or shrimp. Canola oil is quite refined with almost no taste. It has a smoke point of about 425F  and will not affect the flavor of the dish you are creating. So does refined or ‘light’ olive oil. Peanut oil is refined and has a high smoke point of 450F. Use it when making popcorn or frying foods for longer than 1-2 minutes. I use it mostly when stir frying. Other high smoke point oils are safflower and soybean, but these are usually very refined and I don’t do any deep frying, so they are not part of my kitchen. I have recently fallen in love with a crispy chick pea recipe that requires about 5 minutes of sautéing. I usually choose coconut and watch over it at over medium heat.

Sleep – A macronutrient

We all need sleep. In fact if we don’t get it, things get mighty peculiar. There are some strange folks who seem to need less sleep, and those who need more. How much do we really need, and how do sleep patterns affect our lives?

Why we need sleep remains elusive and many theories abound. The most logical to me is the replenishment and repair theory. During physical downtime, housekeeping molecules such as hormones are manufactured and topped up, and infrastructure like muscles and bones are mended since the body is not using them while we sleep.

In terms of metabolism and weight, sleep influences the hormones leptin (satiety/fat-burning) and ghrelin (hunger/fat-storing). Adequate sleep boosts leptin and diminishes ghrelin at the right times, balancing your energy intake with activity requirements. Sleep deprivation results in mismanaged timing and levels of these hormones such that we feel hungry when we aren’t really, and store energy as fat when we should be burning it.

Optimum sleep amounts for adults is 7-9 hrs a night and more for children and adolescents. Ways to help sleep include; daily exercise (best to wait 3 hrs after exercise to sleep), less screen time before bed, stress management and lower caffeine, among others.

Ginger!

Autumn is a great season for warming foods and ginger is a delicious one. Flavorful and therapeutic, ginger with over 400 known chemical components, has long been known for soothing digestive issues and improving overall health. If you buy fresh salmony-pink ginger (locally grown by Frith Farm) you’ll experience a very mild flavor generated by  ‘Gingerols’ . Older ginger or dried ginger products like powdered ginger are dominated by more pungent ‘Shagaols’. Ginger has been studied and documented both historically and currently for it’s health benefits.  It has been identified as a modulator in blood clotting, blocks carcinogenic activity, as well as benefiting the inflammatory system via it’s inhibitory effect oneicosanoids (inflammation-response molecules). Bonus: ginger protects the stomach lining while having it’s anti-inflammatory effects, unlike NSAIDS.

There are some wonderful recipes out there: ginger chai tea, pumpkin gingerbread, (I tried this one, but futzed with the recipe a bit. I omitted the sugar, added a tad of stevia and drizzled a small amount on honey when serving), and here are some savory ones. One of my favorites is Golden Milk, which you can make with any type of milk (cow, rice, coconut, soy…) heated in a pan, plus a knob of freshly grated ginger, a teaspoon of turmeric, a smidge of black pepper, and honey. I have put this recipe on my  http://emmaholder.com/happiness-sweet/ page. 

Radishes! Autumn is their second season.

Radishes! Autumn is their second season.

Usually we associate radishes as one of the first spring vegetables our freshness-starved palates crave after a long winter.  But in Maine, these cool-weather-loving crucifers  of the Brassica family, including cabbage, kale, collards, and turnips, come around again in Autumn. Their greens are slightly peppery and are lovely in salads, sautéed or added directly to soups. The zingy roots are excellent raw and can also be roasted with a pan full of like-minded root vegetables. They also ferment very well. Just like cabbage creates sauerkraut, you can do a lacto-ferment treatment on radishes that results in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, cancer risk-reducing isothiocyanates, and also the probiotic micro-biome benefit of a fermented food.

Try fuchsia-centered watermelon radishes, easter egg colored, long white-tipped french breakfast, and my favorite: the sinister Darth-Vader-style black radishes.

Lycopene and tomato skins

Are you making a lot of tomato sauce right now? Don’t get rid of the skins or the seeds!  This is where the majority of thelycopene (an antioxidant called a flavonol) is found, as well as essential amino acids, and the seeds contain lots of minerals (Ca, Cu, Mn, Zn, and Se) Really cool article about tomato skins. Both skin and seeds contain fiber, another essential dietary component. Cooking your tomatoes will destroy the heat-sensitive vitamin C, but boost the bio-availability of the other antioxidants like lycopene and release the minerals. Tomato paste and puree was found to be high in antioxidants, so enjoy these products! And if you make your own sauce, keep the skins on and the seeds in to maximize the nutritional value of your sauce. A hand blender is one of the best kitchen tools ever.

Six things associated with happy and healthy longevity

Six things associated with happy and healthy longevity

These may not be rocket science, but there is science to back it up. The summary below comes from this article.

1. Avoid smoking and alcohol. Smoking’s a no-brainer, but what happened to the “One glass of wine is good for you” tenet? I think we all knew the writing was on the wall for that one. Turns out that like processed meat, there is no safe amount of alcohol. It has been implicated in liver damage and now certain cancers. Bummer, and eyes wide open if you choose to drink.

2. Longevity correlates with more years of education. Turns out that both white and blue collar subjects with the same level of education had the same propensity for a healthier life. The qualities involved were self-care and perseverance.

3. A happy childhood. But even the pain of a tough childhood could be mitigated by warmer supportive relationships later in life. See #4.

4. Relationships are the most important thing. Successful healthy and happy aging correlated with the ability to give love joyfully, receive it gratefully and create new relationships to replace old ones that fade away. Happiness is love.

5. Coping skills are important. “Mature defenses” include altruism (The Golden Rule), sublimation (creative ability to self-express and resolve conflict), suppression (patience and seeing the bright side) and humor (not taking oneself too seriously.)

6. Giving back. Community building, realizing that your contribution is part of a bigger picture, taking care of others.

The more of these items in our toolbox, the great the predictor of  a happy healthy future into the Golden years.

Carbohydrate paradigm shift: Grains to Greens.

Let’s talk about carbs, baby. Other monikers: sugar/starch/polysaccharide/anything that ends with the suffix ‘-ose’. It is one of the favorite macronutrients along with fats, proteins and water. Carbs are found in most foods in varying levels and are a supply of glucose to our cells. The most energy-dense carbohydrates are grains and starchy root vegetables, as well as liquid sugar sources such as honey and syrups. High amounts of energy are needed by bodies actively growing or replenishing dwindling supplies, such as children or athletes. Not full grown adults with more sedentary lifestyles. You may see where I’m going with this.

Ancestrally, humans were nomadic and existed mostly on fruits and vegetable sources of carbohydrates along with animal products (proteins and fats). It’s not until humans settled in one place and domesticated grains that agriculture and concentrated sources of  calories became available. This coincided, or caused (depending on which theory you espouse) “civilization” and the population increase we experienced and continue to experience to the present day. I digress, but I think that it’s the feedback loop of calories creating more people who need more calories to survive that propels both overpopulation and famine, but thats a bigger topic that we’d need a bottle of wine for.

Luckily, nature has provided a way to get appropriate levels of carbohydrates in a nigh nutrient package -> vegetables and fruits. This is not news to most of us, but here’s just another way of thinking about it. Green vegetables are high in fiber, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and relatively low in carbohydrates. Changing the main part of our diet from grains to greens will result in an overall decrease in insulin-spiking glucose while increasing health-boosting components. Also, you can eat as much as you wish of green vegetables and fruit and never feel deprived. Any doctor/ nutritionist/dietician you consult will tell you to eat more vegetables and less processed sugar, but Big Ag will continue to try and sell you sugar (processed wheat, corn, HFCS etc.) and keep the lucrative national addiction going. Be aware.

Switch your grain intake to green intake and you may never have to worry about that final stubborn 5 pounds again.

Vitamin K2 and Osteoporosis

A 2014 article was recently forwarded to me by a woman who takes the GDP class. It’s a pretty interesting meta-analysis of a number of articles about vitamin K2, the version found in our bodies and a synthetic yet identical version made in a lab. Analysis showed that Menetetrenone (the synthetic version of K2) modestly increased the amount of bone deposition in the spine, as well as optimum blood-levels of bone-forming calcium, and decreased the numbers of spinal fractures in post-menopausal women.Vitamin K is a fat-soluble vitamin with possible side effects of high intake levels being gastrointestinal tract symptoms such as discomfort of stomach and diarrhea. normal dietary amounts would not cause any issues. A contraindication of menatetrenone supplementation is warfarin (an anticoagulant) use, because vitamin K is a coagulant (blood clotter).

Vitamin K1 is supplied by the diet, especially in green leafy vegetables, while vitamin K2 is synthesized by bacteria in the gut as well as in fermented foods. This indicates the possible need for a healthy biome and gut bacteria, which as you know is nurtured by adequate fiber in the diet. The gut biome is adversely affected by antibiotics, so its possible that the downstream effect of antibiotics can lead to gut bacteria compromise, vitamin K2 decrease to the point of affecting blood levels of Ca++ and therefore bone density. This intestinal source of vitaminK2 is still under investigation, and a number of foods also contain vitamin K2, notably natto  as the richest source (fermented soy beans), cheese and curds. Apart from the blood thinning contraindication, menatetrenone (vitamin K2) does not cause any serious side effects regardless of its dose. This indicates to me that doctors should be having conversations with their post-menopausal female patients about perhaps adding Vitamin K2-rich foods to their diets.

Maca Root

OK, this one took me by surprise. Why does a cruciferous root vegetable from Peru deserve hype? It is being touted as a new “superfood” (a moniker that has absolutely no true medical backup, it’s just a sound byte to make you buy things). Reading further revealed the kicker: “possible virility enhancer”. Aha.

So maca,  (not to be confused with matcha – a green tea, which also has antioxidant etc. benefits, but more on that another time)… is a South American, Andean, Peruvian root vegetable that has been cultivated for eons. It is known scientifically as Lepidium meyenii, and is related to radishes and turnips. This is enough for me to tout it’s worthiness as a crucifer. Not to mention it’s frost-tolerance, self- fertilization and short growing season. But it does deplete the soil and requires either rotation or heavy fertilization. In S. America, this is done with alpaca manure. Apart from being a local staple vegetable, it seems unremarkable until someone with marketing background read some history about Incan warriors consuming a lot of it  before going into battle and then – uh oh, protect the women. So the male supplement industry has been capitalizing on this story and selling powdered maca root as a male sexual performance enhancer. (Insert much eye rolling on my part here.) Not enough research has been done to either confirm or deny these claims, so I’d say consume fresh local cruciferous vegetables, stay active and hydrated and your performance will likely be just fine.

Cholesterol ratio

To calculate your cholesterol ratio, divide your high-density lipoprotein (HDL, or “good”) cholesterol number into your total cholesterol number (HDL/total). An optimal ratio is less than 3.5-to-1. A higher ratio means a higher risk of heart disease. The normal levels of cholesterol ratios for total cholesterol to HDL should be below 4 as a general rule for both men and women. However a very good ratio is 3.5, excellent is 3.0 and fantastic is 2.6. If you can get your ratio down between 2.4 and 2.8, you can actually experience a reversal of heart disease.

Sprouting grains – why or why not?

For better or worse, grains (rice, wheat, barley, millet, etc.)  form a large part of the human diet and provide most of the carbohydrates consumed globally. To store large amounts of grain without rot, it must be harvested when dry and kept dry for shipping and distribution. Once water hits grain, which are basically seeds, they will start to sprout. Typically this happens when a seed or grain falls to the ground and a new plant starts to grow. You might buy bean sprouts at the store, or sprout them yourself. By sprouting a grain in your kitchen, you are starting the break-down process preemptively. Sprouting a grain releases certain nutrients (iron, zinc and vitamin C), and boosts available protein and antioxidant levels (link here).   You are also decreasing the amount of phytic acid (plant defense system) which inhibits mineral absorbability in the grain before you eat it.

To sprout a grain, buy organic, wash and drain them and put them sideways in a jar with a fabric membrane on your counter. Within 3-5 days, the sprouts should be showing and they are ready to eat. If they smell off in any way, toss them and try again. This is a good link on how and more details on why.

Exercise in Cold Weather? Do it!

Some studies show that exercising outside burns more calories, and the fresh clear cold air makes us feel more alert and energized.

There’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes. The right footwear and clothes will allow you to enjoy outdoor exercise and fresh air during the winter months. It’s worth dropping the extra $ on good gear to keep your healthy habits going. Make sure you have the right footwear too – boots with grip, or slip-on traction devices help a lot. Reflective gear, or clip on lights are important because it gets dark early and you want to be easily seen by motorists. End of season sales are the best to prepare for next year.

Avoid getting wet, because then you will chill more easily. Dress in layers that you can remove as soon as you start to sweat and then put back on as needed. First, put on a thin layer of synthetic material, such as polypropylene, which draws sweat away from your body. Avoid cotton, which stays wet next to your skin. Next, add a layer of fleece or wool for insulation. Top this with a waterproof, breathable outer layer. If you need more warmth add another layer of wool or fleece. I tend to wear 3-5 layers on top and 2-3 layers on my lower half and bike around in Maine winters just fine. I take all of it off down to a work out top when I arrive somewhere and dry off my inner layer. Makes for some interesting conversations.

If you are wearing the right clothes, you won’t shiver (which burns many calories, but isn’t fun) so your caloric burn will be about the same as if you were exercising in comfortable weather. The bonus comes from feeling great for exercise, sunlight, fresh air, not sharing indoor air and surfaces with lots of possibly rhinovirus-infected people.

Get out there! Check the weather, dress appropriately, hydrate and keep moving!