Garlic is good for you right? It’s even better if you crush it and let it sit for 10 minutes. Like a cold pack with two compartments that have to be crushed and mixed to get an endothermic (cold) reaction, garlic has compartments with 1) Alliin (precursor) and 2) Alliinase (enzyme). They have to be mashed together for a while (10 min at room temperature is long enough) for the Aliinase enzyme to change the Aliien to Allicin – the much touted sulphur-containing organomolecule with all the health-protective properties. Cooking heat destroys the enzyme Alliinase, thus ending the reaction. To maximize it’s full potential, crush the garlic first and let it sit a bit while you finish chopping the veggies and other prep work. For more reading, try here and here.
Caffeine, caffeine, buzz, buzz, buzz.
Ah, what would we do without our early morning pick-me-up caffeinated beverage? Caffeine is the world’s most-used and least-regulated psychoactive drug. According to a study in 2014, 85% of US’ers consume it on a daily basis in either coffee, tea, cola or chocolate. Caffeine is found in the leaves and seeds of plants that come from around the world, and falls into a group of molecules called Methylxanthines, which also include theobromine (more abundant in chocolate) and theophylline (more abundant in tea). These molecules are part of the defense mechanism of the plant, jazzing and jittering attacking insects into herbivore paralysis.
Caffeine and it’s sister methylxanthines have many effects, but the one generally known is to boost alertness and diminish fatigue. It does this by temporarily blocking the receptors for adenosine in our body. Adenosine accumulates during the day and when it reaches a certain level, we become fatigued and head for bed, or a nap. Caffeine interrupts this effect, peaking about an hour after consumption, and creates a temporary feeling of energy and focus. Caffeine has also been shown to be helpful to calm asthmatic conditions, boost physical and aerobic performance, and help in migraine relief.
When is caffeine not such a good idea? If you are pregnant or breastfeeding, caffeine can be passed to the baby, leading to infant restlessness (as if parenting wasn’t hard enough). If you have a sleep or anxiety disorder, non-caffeinated choices are probably better for you. Caffeine increases the secretion of gastric juices, and so could contribute to heartburn. And apparently, in this study of post-menopausal women, caffeine was noticed to increase spinal bone loss, thus increasing the risk for osteporosis.
So then, what about decaf? Can it be done at home? Turns out no; simply steeping tea or coffee for a short while, and then discarding that initial brew does not appreciably decaffeinate the beverage. When coffee or tea is “decaffeinated” it is processed with either water or chemicals to selectively dissolve and remove most of the caffeine. Depending on how much of a beverage puritan you are, you might have either a “meh” reaction about decaffeination, or be totally horrified, and choose to drink something else.
Caffeine is a complicated little molecule, with both positive and negative effects. The average 8 oz cup of coffee contains 100 mg, and the average 8 oz cup of black tea, about 50mg. It’s advised that healthy adults consume no more than 400mg/day. Choose the right levels for you so you can buzz along happily (and not jitter) during your day.
Gear Up and get Outside!
“There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad gear.”
Whoever spoke these words first was someone who embraced the beauty and diversity of the natural environment, and it’s importance to our well being. Going out for a masked-walk with a friend? Walking to get groceries? Anything in town or within a 1-3 mile radius is accessible by walking, and you’re doing your cardiovascular and muscular systems a big favor by using your legs instead of your car. Also, the environment, your fuel expense and in-town traffic congestion will all be alleviated by this choice. Getting out of the house and away from screens is important for your mental and psychological health. Since the great outdoors is now being re-discovered (and recommended) as a great place to socialize and exercise safely, it’s time to up your outdoor gear game.
Here are some suggestions on how to get comfortably outside, do your workout, and safely socialize with friends no matter what the weather or plan. The key to successful outdoor clothing is layers.
Upper Body Layers:
Your base torso layer: When in doubt wool. Silk is great too - natural fibers are your best choice for wicking and heat retention even when wet with sweat or precipitation. Keep this layer thin and light - merino wool is a good choice. Avoid cotton in the winter - it absorbs water and will be too cold.
Middle torso layer: this is your warmth layer - fleece or wool go well here. Again, not bulky, you want to be as mobile as possible. Next time you are in a thrift store and there is a cashmere sweater available in your size - nab it. It’s perfect as your middle layer.
Top torso layer: Wind or water repellant - Goretex or some sort of breathable yet wind-resistant material. Not a rain poncho or weird-plastic-bag-like jacket . This keeps the wind from blowing away the body heat stored within your lower layers, but you can still release water vapor before it condenses on the inside of your clothes. A zippered front makes for quick and variable heat release, and zippered pockets are important so you don’t lose things like keys, and your hat (see below). Just above hip-height is a good length so your legs are free to move in all directions.
Lower Body Layers:
Base layer: same as for the top - Long johns (polypropylene? Wool?) if it’s really cold (relative to you, but below freezing is a good benchmark) then lognjohns are a good plan. Remember it’s hard to take these off in the middle of your workout, so if you think you will be building up a sweat, you might not need them.
Top layer: thicker-weight leggings or pants that are not too loose at the ankle.
*Wind or rain pants are helpful if you suspect precipitation, or you are going for a walk on the beach or in the snow. These can be game changers and will help make your walk much more fun. If you are going snowshoeing you might like gators - they keep snow from ending up in your boots and socks.
Hats/mitts/neck:
- We lose a lot of heat through our heads, so a small lightweight wool hat is helpful here. If you over-heat, it can be quickly stashed in a zippered (!) pocket of your jacket. If you start to chill, it can be put back on without breaking stride.
- I prefer mitts over gloves, and actually my fave are the lobster-claw mitts. These provide some dexterity while still keeping a couple of fingers together for warmth.
- If my neck is warm, I am warm. The “turtle-fur” double fleece layered neck warmers at Reny’s are great, but anything compact will do. Scarves have floppy ends that will get in your way. A neck warmer goes on and comes off fast to regulate your heat. I double-wind the neck warmer around my wrist so it’s right there when I need it again (bonus- pull it over your nose and It doubles as a mask!)
Shoes and socks: get a lightweight hiking boot or trail runner and some wool socks. Darn Tough is a great sock brand, and Smartwool are good too. If it’s going to precipitate - embrace it!! Use a longer boot, but one with good tread. This is where gators can be very useful to keep your feet dry and warm.
One more tip: stash some lip balm in a pocket of every winter jacket you have. You’re welcome.
Now you have a new reason for thrift stores, you’ll never be hard to buy for again, and you can socialize and exercise safely in the great outdoors! Head out and enjoy yourself!
Can UV light or sunlight deactivate Covid19?
Short’ish answer - It’s complicated and maybe expensive, but perhaps. Can we harness the power of UV to kill viruses and other pathogens without harming ourselves?
Unfiltered sunlight, contains a full spectrum of electromagnetic radiation frequencies, spanning dangerous high-powered rays, Ultraviolet or UV, the visible light spectrum, warming infrared and low-power radio waves. Luckily for us, the ozone in our atmosphere reflects or filters out the really harmful high-frequency radiation, or we’d all be crispy critters, but some UV, visible, and radio waves do come through.
The UV radiation is made up of UV-A (less powerful; gives us wrinkles) UV-B (more powerful; if we’re exposed for long time gives us sunburns and skin cancer) and UV-C (most powerful, sunburn in seconds, will fry you.) Luckily, UV-C is filtered out by the ozone layer, so we are not affected by it when we are outside in the sun. To better understand how to harness the power of UV, let’s examine how UV radiation causes damage.
UV radiation creates gluey fusions or crosslinks in genetic material (DNA or RNA). If you think of a DNA strand like a zipper, a UV-induced crosslink will cause the unzipping machinery to get stuck at the fused part, messing up replication. The more powerful the UV, the more crosslinks, and therefore more damage, potentially lethal to something with a small genome, like a virus. It does take longer to damage something bigger and more complicated like a human genome, but UV damage can build up over time.
Now it gets tricky: can we find a UV wavelength that will kill viruses, but not humans? And if so, can we build emitters to continuously sterilize public places like airports and hospitals? Turns out UV-A (315-400 nm) is too feeble, UV-B (280-315 nm) too dangerous and UV-C (100-280 nm) even more so. BUT far-UV-C (207-222nm) might do the trick. (A nerdy aside, a nm = nanometer, or a billionth of a meter. 1 meter = 1,000,000,000 nanometers. Mindbogglingly small.)
An article in the June 2020 journal Nature studied far-UV-C sensitivity on previously identified coronaviruses and influenza viruses. Exposure to far-UV-C disables the D/RNA of very small things, like a virus, but does not penetrate the first few layers of dead skin cells on our body, or the layer of tears protecting our eyes. The information generated by the experiment has been extrapolated to the similarly-structured Covid19 (size of the virus, length of genetic material, spike proteins). According to the article, continuous low-dose far-UVC light emitters could result in over 99% of eradication of virus in 25 minutes.
This could be a game changer for use in high traffic and danger areas like airports and hospitals. More research on the subject asap please!! But where does that leaves us regular folks without far UV-C emitters? I guess we wait until product testing and subsequent manufacture allows such technology to be publicly and affordably available. Heading outside and hoping sunlight will work will not be enough.
Sunlight containing the regular UV spectrum will increase your vitamin D levels which are immune supportive, and being in the light will boost your mood. But until we verify the efficacy of far-UVC and then build enough units to make a difference, we are back to the advice of: wear a mask to contain your exhalations and protect you from other’s, wash your hands, don’t touch your face, maintain healthy spacing and cooperate with quarantine directives. We’ll get through this, but only if we all do it together.
antibody response - how fast is it and why?
We are now living in a world of testing and antibodies and viruses, and if you don’t have a biology background, some of this information is going to be undecipherable. Here’s quick overview of different stages of our Immune Response and how we get to immunity.
When a new virus infects us, healthy non-immunocompromised bodies react with two timed defenses; Innate, and then Adaptive immunity. How long does this take, and what happens first? (Spoiler: first time around with a new virus, about 2 weeks or 14 days, second time around, much much faster).
When a virus (or unfortunately for those of us with allergies, pollen arghblargh) hits your nose or throat cells, our immune system (I.S.) reacts with a primary innate or general response; “Aigh!! We’re under attack by a new thing! Get it out! Don’t care what it is! Get it out! OUT!!!”
Our I.S. reacts with a non-specific attack on the new viral invader (or pollen which the body stupidly mistakes for a dangerous adversary) starting with mast cells releasing histamines. The result; sneezes (to dislodge and remove the invader), lots of liquid and mucus to wash it out, and inflammatory chemicals called cytokines, which signal for reinforcements of nutrients and other immune cells to the area. Cytokines raise the temperature of the organism to create a hostile environment for invader replication, aka fever. Cytokines also cause inflammation and swelling of the tissues, so in this case the nose and throat constrict, congest and become painful. This all happens after a few days of meeting the virus (days 1-5).
Next on stage are Natural Killer T-cells (NK) which move into action to identify and destroy infected cells, The body also produces proteins called “interferons” (so-called because they interfere with viral replication. I know. Science nomenclature can be a bit unimaginative.)
If all this hasn’t destroyed the invader yet, the fight gets personal. After about 7 days, the Adaptive Immune Response occurs. It’s made up of T- and B- lymphocytes (white blood cells) that have the ability to specifically recognize that particular virus (like a specific key for a lock). The activated white blood cells then clone themselves thousands of times to create armies of specifically-targeted “detect and destroy” T-lymphocytes, or B-lymphocytes that spew out clouds of pathogen-specific antibodies that stick to that particular virus/virally-infected cell and mark it for unavoidable destruction. These adaptive responses customize the response to that particular virus, and a healthy body will fight a regular low-to-medium-virulence virus off in about 2 weeks.
In this way, after you win the fight (you didn’t die, the virus did), you’ll have a positive antibody test for that particular virus because you had an adaptive response, and now have B and T cells and antibodies floating around that will recognize that viral antigen again. The next time your body sees it, the body goes, “Oh no, we’ve seen you before - you are bad news - goodbye!” The Adaptive Immune Response kicks in immediately and kills the virus within a few days, without all the nasty side effects from your innate response the first time around.
These two responses happen every time you encounter a new pathogen - bacterial or viral, so you collect immunity as you age. Kids may seem to be sick all the time, and it’s because they are meeting all the pathogens for the first time and fighting them off messily. This is also the principle behind vaccines: bits of pathogen are injected into you, and your body generates an adaptive immune response to them, so that when the real thing comes along, your body is ready and waiting. Sometimes you need boosters to remind your immune system what to fight off, for example, tetanus boosters are helpful every 10 years or so.
A nasal-swab virus test is a snapshot as to whether there is virus in your nose at the time of the test, but doesn’t tell you anything about your immune status. An antibody blood test lets you know if you successfully fought it off and now have circulating antibodies, which then hopefully confer lasting immunity. The reason for the 2 week Coronavirus quarantine is in part to allow your body to fight the virus and mount an adaptive response, creating identifiable antibodies. If up to 70% of the population can do this, it’s called “herd immunity” and it’s enough to protect the general population from transferring the virus around as quickly.
Some tips: wash your hands, gather and enjoy meeting folks outside where exhaled virus particles can be blown away and diluted, wear masks in close quarters, especially indoors, and up your outdoor gear and indoor ventilation game a LOT.
Vitamin C - Too little? Too much? How much already?!
Vitamin C (Vit C) also known as ascorbic acid or ascorbate, is the most familiar of all the vitamins. Sailors on long marine voyages suffered deadly effects of bleeding gums, hemorrhaging, and slow healing (eyew), a condition known as “Scurvy”. It was discovered in the 1700’s that bringing citrus fruit like limes (British sailers were called “limeys” for that reason) on voyages eliminated these deadly symptoms. Vit C was isolated and accurately described in 1928 by Hungarian Albert Szent-Gyorgyi who won a Nobel Prize for the discovery.
Vitamin C has since been found to play many other roles in the human body: it is an antioxidant, protects against skin DNA damage by scavenging free radicals caused by UV-exposure, boosts absorption of iron in the small intestine, assists in making collagen in the skin, thus speeding wound healing, and many other important functions.
These days, most of us in the western world do not suffer from scurvy. In fact, we’ve sort of gone the other way. Vit C is now a multi-million dollar industry (think Emergen-C packets, fortified cereals and other foods) stemming from the idea that if a little bit is good, more is better. Actually, this is not true of Vit C. Though we do not make it, we don’t store it, so any excess of what is needed is simply wastefully excreted. According to federal NIH guidelines, the daily “scurvy-prevention-plus-a-little-more” requirement is 75 - 90 mg. According to the Linus Pauling Institute, it is more like 200 - 400 mg for regular folks, a little more if you are working out heavily, are over 60, or have an intestinal absorption issue.
Since a bit too much Vit C only causes something my grandmother adorably called “the collywobbles” I’d go with 200-400 mg a day, something easily achieved if one’s diet contains adequate fresh fruits and vegetables. You don’t need thousands of milligrams per day, as suggested in the ‘70s, unless you are battling illness.
Does large amounts of Vit C help to stave off a cold or virus? Though originally purported to have such properties, unfortunately more recent science points towards ‘Not Really’. It might reduce your cold duration by a day, but that’s about it. Though those who would like to sell you supplements will protest and point towards outdated articles and anecdotal evidence. Don’t be fooled.
We don’t make Vit C, we must obtain it from food. Vit C is heat-labile, meaning is it sensitive to heat. The longer food is cooked, the more Vit C (and other vitamins) is lost. For example at 140F, 10% of the food’s Vit C is lost in 5 minutes and more than 60% is lost in 30 minutes. Most cooking is done at much higher temperatures that 140F, so Vit C is not reliably obtained in cooked food. The best dietary sources are fresh raw fruits and vegetables; citrus fruits, colorful bell peppers, cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cabbage and Brussels sprouts), tomatoes, papayas and others). Freezing apparently does not affect Vit C levels, so frozen veggies will give you more than cooked. The problem is that frozen veggies are pretty limp and icky once thawed, and really only fit for cooking. But wait - there are smoothies! Think about adding frozen spinach to your berry-and-cacao smoothie.
So what’s the takeaway (takeout? sorry, couldn’t resist)? As usual, you don’t need to buy expensive and unnecessary supplements like big vitamin C pills or packets. Eat lots of fresh raw veggies and fruits, and feel free to freeze them (or ferment them!) if your garden is spewing them out. Along with all the other beneficial nutrients, fiber and antioxidants plants provide, you’ll easily get delicious adequate doses of your daily Vitamin C.
But her proteins...
Continuing the macromolecule series, the next myth busting I’ll do involves protein. Vegetarians get this comment all the time: “But where do you get your protein?” This comment comes from the erroneous belief that protein only originates from animal sources. Actually, ALL foods contain protein; vegetables and fruit too. What’s more important to consider is the balance of amino acids (which make up protein) in our diet.
Remember that all fresh unprocessed foods are made up of 6 basic constituents; protein, carbohydrates, fat, vitamins, minerals and water. This is true of both animal and plant foods. Animals are made up of similar proteins to us and so give us similar proportions of amino acids. But we also get more fat, cholesterol and calories along with it. Plants are dissimilar to us, so we have to eat a greater variety of plant-based foods to accumulate all the amino acids we need. Plant food sources have the benefit of supplying cancer-fighting phytochemicals, probiotic-supporting fiber, many essential vitamins and minerals, and generally, fewer calories per serving. (It also takes less energy, water, and releases less waste to create plant-based food than animal-based food. But that’s a whole ‘nuther post.)
Protein is used in our bodies as source of both building blocks and energy. If we consume more protein than we need, we store it in our energy reserves, also known as fat deposits. Sorry. On the other hand, if we don’t eat enough, our metabolism will mine our muscle to get it. This seems to be more important with aging.
Let’s drill down to understand protein. Proteins are made of up of chains of repeating units called amino acids or peptides. Think of 20 different styles of beads creating a polypeptide necklace. There are many combinations and lengths.
When we eat food, we masticate it into smaller pieces, then swallow it. The stomach finishes the deconstruction job by hitting food particles with digestive enzymes (trypsin) and hydrochloric acid. The smaller pieces of protein are disassembled into free-floating amino acids which pass into the small intestine for absorption into the blood stream. The amino acids are then taken up from the blood by every cell of our body.
Once amino acids are absorbed into cells, they are used for construction of particular cellular proteins. The 20 different amino acid beads have slightly different terminals, giving them slightly different electronic properties. When the whole string of beads is assembled, it twists and turns, balancing the positive and negative charges along it’s length to find a final resting conformation. The pockets created in the folded protein string determines it’s function. It could be a digestive enzyme, an antibody, insulin receptor, or hemoglobin among many others.
Back to the macro-world of food choices, how much protein do we need and where do we get it? The answer seems to depend on a number of factors, including age, gender, activity level, and goals. For the average sedentary US’er, the recommendation is about 5 oz/day for women and 6 oz/day for men. If you are working out hard, add a few ounces, being mindful that if you don’t use it, you store it. And if you stop working out, you have to reduce your intake accordingly (don’t stop working out.) You have lots of choices - remember that all foods contain protein. If you make vegetarian or vegan choices, eat a large variety, and complement your legumes with grains within 24 hours to complete your amino acid array. Other complete plant amino acid sources include soy, hemp, and quinoa.
The ultimate answer? Eat a variety of fresh delicious foods; more plant-based than animal-based, stay hydrated, get good sleep and Move move move. It’s not rocket science, and you certainly don’t need to buy special dietary products to maintain good health. Your bank account and your health span will reflect these good choices.
Low Carb Diets - and what is a carbohydrate anyway?
“Carb” and carbohydrate are two quite independent ideas, but have been confused into one concept by mainstream media in order to sell diets and products. The current marketing moniker of “carb” is very misleading and has caused confusion, nutrition myths and diet fads.
So let’s go all the way back to basics; What is food?
Food is made up of fats, proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and water. When you consume a whole food, a vegetable or fruit picked from your garden or a fish or piece of meat from a market, your stomach and intestines digest it down to these 6 basic constituents. Vitamins and minerals (“micronutrients”, because we need relatively small amounts per day) are used to build bones, hemoglobin and aid enzymatic reactions in our bodies. The water moves into our blood, cellular and interstitial fluid. Protein, fats and carbohydrates (“Macronutrients”, because we need large amounts per day) are used as building blocks and energy for us to grow and move.
A carbohydrate is not a food, but is a component of all whole foods. Even meat contains a few carbohydrates (in the form of glycogen.)
The organic chemistry term “carbohydrate” simply means carbon (carbo-) linked to hydrogen plus oxygen (-hydrate) and describes a set of macromolecules. Chains of 3 carbons give you acetic acid, or vinegar, Chains of 5 and 6 carbons give you fructose, glucose. Pairs of these 5 and 6 carbon molecules are called sucrose. Longer branched chains of carbon give you starch and cellulose, and the list goes on and on. Any molecule that ends with the suffix “-ose” is a carbohydrate, or in lay terms, ‘sugar’.
Whole foods (plants and animals) contain carbohydrates in dizzying varieties and amounts. The more one processes a food, the more it is purified towards one particular macromolecule.
Let’s take a wheat berry, the grains or seeds found on a stalk of wheat. Each tiny wheat berry has fats (wheat germ, natural oils), proteins (gluten) and carbohydrate in the form of starch and fiber or bran. When processed it's dried (eliminates water), ground and sifted (eliminates fiber and germ) and then bleached, so we are left with white flour containing only the starch, or purified carbohydrate. Or you could eat whole wheat berries (treat it like rice) and get all the nutrients.
“Low Carb” diets recommend eliminating all grains and sugars from the diet. The title is misleading because fruits and vegetables are mostly carbohydrates. If one eliminated fruits and vegetables, one would not be getting enough nutrients. If a low-carb diet means "whole food diet” or “less processed food diet”, then I’m all for it. If low-carb diet means “hyped-marketing-deprivation-mono-diet” then I’m NOT.
Your best bet: Decrease unnecessary sugars and grain products from your diet so you don’t spike your insulin. Eat as close to fresh whole foods as you can to gain as many nutrients as possible. You don’t need to buy into diet schemes or shakes or books or plans. As Michael Pollan said: “Eat Real food. Not too much. Mostly vegetables.” Your body will thank you.
It takes your breath away...
Breath. Breathing, respiration, I can’t breathe… Is it not desperately ironic that George Floyd’s last words link to something now on everyone’s minds (and faces). Without going into more weighty topics (Black Lives Matter!!!) let’s examine breath and what is really getting in our way; masks, or sub-optimal breathing habits?
Did you know you breathe more than 18,000 times a day? How do you take a deep breath? (Very cool link to a real-time thorax MRI of a deep breath) Through your mouth or your nose? Long or short? Exercise or at rest? A lot of scientific evidence now emphasizes the importance of breathing techniques in managing anxiety, fatigue, focus, and general well-being. Unsurprisingly, Eastern cultures have been examining breathing techniques for centuries. (Chinese martial arts, Buddhism)
Optimal breathing through your nose has many benefits; adequate and comfortable oxygenation, down-regulation of blood pressure, removal of excess metabolic CO2, maintenance of appropriate blood pH, and helps us to stay calm in challenging situations.
the nose warms, humidifies and filters incoming air
Nitric oxide (NO) is released in the nose during nasal breathing. NO is a vasodilator which decreases blood pressure and improves tissue oxygenation. It may also have anti-viral activity.
slower nasal breathing (as opposed to mouth breathing or panting) better supports the body’s acid-base balance by maintaining the ideal level of CO2 in the blood. The balance of carbonic acid (lower pH) and sodium bicarbonate (higher pH) buffers a plasma pH range of 7.35 - 7.45 (optimum level is about 7.4). Lower pH levels = acidosis, higher pH levels = alkalosis are both serious issues that may require medical treatment.
Deep nasal breathing engages the diaphragm, instead of tensing neck and chest muscles which fire during rapid shallow breathing.
nasal breathing activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which calms you down.
Try this diaphragmatic breathing exercise recommended by Harvard Health;
Lie on your back with one hand on your chest, and the other on your belly. Breathe in through your nose while allowing your belly to rise, NOT your chest - pay attention to which hand rises. When exhaling, gently blow out through pursed lips (or perform a yoga ujjayi breath) and use your diaphragm and abdominal muscles to push the air out, not muscles in your neck or chest.
Wearing masks is a novel sensation for many of us. It can feel stifling and uncomfortable. Training ourselves to breathe through our nose and use our diaphragm is calming, and we may overcome the slight discomfort of a mask. When we cannot physically distance, it’s best to wear one when near others in public (for example in an enclosed space like a grocery store) to protect our community and model the behaviour we’d like to see.
Take a deep breath, and be grateful that you may do so.
Body compartments: No, you can't "sit-up" away your belly fat.
I get this question a lot; Someone points to their belly fat, or their dangling underarm and says “is there an exercise for this?” There is, but it’s not what you think, and there’s a reason. (Spoiler: the answer is MOVE YOUR BODY.)
Let’s think about the body containing different communicating compartments. There’s the blood compartment, the muscle compartment, the adipose tissue (fat) compartment, the organ compartment, and so on. Each compartment has a function and some are spread over many locations.
For example, let’s take muscles: their function is to contract, providing force to achieve movement. There are over 650 of them and they are located all over the body. But all muscles react the same way to hormone signals, need the same nutrients and generate the same waste products. Muscles primarily get their energy needs from glucose, tri-glycerides and oxygen which arrive to them by the blood.
The adipose (body fat) compartment is also spread around the body; mostly under the skin but also packed around internal organs for cushioning. The biggest concern I hear tends to focus on the fat layers located directly under the skin. Your adipose tissues store excess food/beverage energy once you consumed it via carbohydrates, fats or proteins. Yep, all these components of food will end up being stored in your adipose tissue if you don’t use it for energy needs. If you consume more energy than you expend, you will store it.
Sorry.
The adipose tissue compartment and the muscular compartments communicate only by the blood. Muscles call for more energy from the fat stored in the adipose tissue via hormones, which flow through the blood. No, belly fat does not conveniently leak into the abdominal muscles below to fuel them when you do sit ups.
Sorry.
In order to tap into the adipose tissue storage, and liberate the tri-glycerides to the blood stream for use elsewhere, the following steps have to occur: 1) the body needs to realize it needs more energy than it currently has floating around in the blood, 2) a hormonal response must occur to create and release the hormones into the blood stream and 3) the adipose cells must recognize the hormonal signal and respond to liberate tri-glyerices into the bloodstream; a process called Lipolysis (lipo = fat, lysis = break apart). This all takes about 20 minutes, and some effort on your part.
After 20 minutes of an increased call for energy by your muscles, (I like to call this exercise) your body will respond by tapping into your adipose tissue stores, which grudgingly yield long-term-energy molecules (aka fat). When our species was more nomadic, this energy storage process was helpful for survival. Now with most of sitting at desk jobs and burning much less energy on a daily basis, it does not serve us so well.
The solution? It’s simple: Get Moving! Move for more than 20 minutes at a time.Get your blood moving and all your compartments working together! The adipose layer will thin, your muscular layer will strengthen, and the you will be a stronger happier more balanced human. Let’s move!
You’re Welcome!
Sanitary and protective life hacks
I really hate single-use disposable things. This coronavirus response of take-out containers, plastic grocery bags, and disposable clorox wipes is really troubling me. One of my responses is to create travel cutlery bag and a transportable disinfection system in my pocket where ever I go.
In an old pencil case which goes in the every-day-carry-bag, I have put
a set of chopsticks
a metal straw (get it at Reny’s! It comes with the little pipe cleaner thingy)
knife, fork, spoon
cloth napkin
Voila! I’ll always have my owner personal kit of things I put in my mouth, the cleanliness of which I control.
For pocket-carry disinfection I use:
a strong ziplock back (like a Trader Joes bag of walnuts after I’ve eaten all the walnuts)
on old short cotton sock
70% - 80% alcohol
I keep the sock inside the zippy, and every time I leave the house, I pour in some alcohol until the sock is damp, but not dripping, zip it up, and put it in my most easily accessible pocket. Then I have a disinfectant wipe at all times, and something to cover my hand with when I open any door or have to touch any public surface. I’m using Items I already have, I’m not buying extra packaging, and I’m not throwing single use items away. Big win for my body and mind health, tiny win for the health of the planet.
Detergent and 70% alcohol - how they actually work to disable viruses.
Both detergent and rubbing alcohol are powerful allies in disinfection against viruses.
Let’s look at how viruses are put together, so we can understand how we can blow them apart. (I love that image).
In the case of coronaviruses, they are simply a set of genetic instructions that say “COPY ME… A LOT…LIKE ZILLIONS OF TIMES” made up of nucleic acids (NA) packed around a few protein packing-peanuts. This package is then surrounded by a tiny fat (lipid) globule with a few more protein spikes sticking out. These spikes (aptly called “S” proteins) look for and hook onto specific target cells in our upper respiratory tract. Once they’ve hooked on, the lipid layer of the virus gets closer to the lipid layer of our throat cell, they merge, viral genetic instructions enter the cell, take over and hijack the cell’s copying machinery to make zillions of viral particles. They then break open the cell, and start infecting neighboring cells in the same manner.
OK, firstly washing one’s hands with soap and water and scrubbing and all that: how does soap work to dismantle the fat-wrapped coronavirus?
Do this experiment (if you have kids, they will love this, and it will drive this point home hard). Put a bowl of warm water on your counter and add a small pool of vegetable oil (do not use your expensive olive oil for this!) to the top so you have a thin layer of oil floating on the top of the water. This mimics the viral fat outer coating layer. Now add 1 drop of dish detergent to the center of the oil and watch what happens. The soap blows the lipid away! The chemical makeup (geek alert: soap has both hydrophilic/water-loving and hydrophobic/water-hating ends) of soap disrupts the fat layer around the virus and blows it apart. BOOM. This is why washing with soap and water works so well.
Secondly, what are the effects of 70%+ ethanol or isopropyl alcohol/rubbing alcohol? High percentage alcohols are a general disinfectant that cause protein clumping or “denaturation” - similar to an egg white being cooked by heat. Imagine the “S” proteins on the outside of the virus getting all withered and stuck together and melted and so unable to hook onto their targets. I like to imagine a blow torch melting little plastic velcro hooks into an ineffective smoking clump. This resultant protein clumping will also disrupt the viral membrane in which they are embedded. Again, BOOM, virus is successfully deactivated.
**Be aware - one issue with having lots of rubbing alcohol around is that it is flammable, so be careful where you store it.
Both soap and water, and 70-80% alcohol are great disinfectants to have around your home, are cheap and easy, and they don’t stink like bleach. USE THEM. (Do feel free to use bleach too, see a previous post - check the expiry date and dilute it 1:5 - I just hate the smell - ick.)
A coronavirus hack: I carry a ziplock bag with an old ankle sock in it an easily accessible pocket. Every time I leave the house, I saturate the sock with 80% alcohol. I use the sock to touch any doorknob, shopping cart or possibly contaminated surface. In this way, I always have a disinfectant wipe ready for use for a surface, or my hands.
Home Workout Tips
So here we are, stuck at home. Hopefully healthy. So let’s make the best of it. Some of us are going to come out of this buff and educated, and others fatter and confused. Let’s be the former! :D
Here are a few ways to keep a workout habit going in quarantine at home.
1) Designate a space for your workout. It can even just be a yoga-mat’s worth of space, but it’s all yours and it’s all about your health. It’s probably a good idea to keep it apart from your eating or TV area.
2) Schedule it during your day and make it part of your routine. Pry apart the Zoom meetings and hold a space for your health.
3) Vary the workout so you challenge different muscle groups. Our bodies adapt quickly, so after a while the same exercises are not going to give you the same benefit. Add in cardiovascular challenges - you need to get to a place where you are breathing hard, and hopefully sweating a little.
4) Use what you have. Heavy books, Cans of beans, water bottles, stairs, chairs, get creative!
5) Find a buddy. A friend can help keep you motivated - even if they are in a different geographic location! Take the same zoom class, call each other and check in, facetime and do sit ups and jumping jacks, challenge each other to move everyday and hold each other accountable.
6) Keep it manageable and consistent. Don’t go off the deep end and then never want to do THAT workout again. Something everyday is more important than occasional intense things. We’re building and continuing a life-long habit habit here.
7) Use web content - there’s ridiculous amounts of free youtube and online workouts. You’ll never get to the end of it. Type in what you’d like to do that day, the equipment you have or a goal, and let fly. You’ll find what you need.
I think the face-to-face interaction of a class with a teacher you love is one of the most important and inspiring ways to become more healthy. AND, we are all working with a situation that is not our ideal. But it is forcing us to grow, find other options, and expand our horizons beyond our comfort levels. This challenge is one that we will overcome, grow from whether we like it or not, and we will be better from the experience. I cannot wait to see you all as soon as possible. Keep on keeping on :)
Bleach - the proper usage thereof
Household bleach, also known as sodium hypochlorite, is a common and effective disinfectant in domestic, medical and food environments. The active ingredient is chlorine, a powerful oxidizer. By itself, it is a toxic corrosive gas, but when coupled with hypochlorite, the chlorine is released slowly over time and is not toxic. This is why bleach has an expiration date - do check that you are using bleach that is within a year of it’s listed date.
**When you make a 1:5 diluted bleach solution to disinfect something, it will lose its effectiveness over about 24 hours, so to disinfect surfaces, make a new small batch every day. A 1-in-5 dilution of household bleach with cold water (1 part bleach to 4 parts water) is effective against many bacteria and some viruses, and is often the disinfectant of choice in cleaning surfaces in hospitals. This 1:5 dilution though smelly, is not a danger to breathe, though it is inadvisable to breathe more concentrated levels, and could harm the lungs. Because of it’s reactive instability, bleach does it’s disinfecting job quickly, and then decomposes into salt and water, and so has a negligible effect on the environment. It’s safe to pour your dilution down your sink, or throw the paper towel wipe away in the trash. Bleach is heat and light sensitive, which is why bleach comes in opaque bottles. Keep the concentrate in a cool dark area, and away from children. 3/25/20: UPDATE FROM A TOXICOLOGIST - FOR OLDER BLEACH, IT CAN STILL BE EFFECTIVE, JUST USE A LOWER DILUTION. MAYBE 1:2 (MORE THAN 3 YRS OLD) OR 1:3 (1-3 YRS OLD) OF BLEACH TO WATER.
How does bleach disinfect? By oxidation, which is a process that breaks apart organic molecules, such as viral structural proteins. Bleach acts to oxidize or attack the outer layer of viruses, breaking the spikes off, and punching holes in the protein coat (I love this visual!!) The crippled virus is then incapable of binding to target cells (like our throat or lung endothelium).
Instructions say to leave the 1:5 diluted bleach on the surface for 5 minutes, rinse, then wipe dry. Kinda tough for doorknobs, elevator buttons and other vertical surfaces over ‘discolorable’ carpets. (Although at this point, it might be silly to get precious about old crappy carpets.) I’m going to get a spray bottle, and put floor protectors like old rags under the doorknob areas when I spray them, and remove the rags afterwards.
From another article on how long Covid19 lasts on surfaces: “…disinfectants with 62-71% ethanol, 0.5% hydrogen peroxide or 0.1% sodium hypochlorite (bleach) can "efficiently" inactivate coronaviruses within a minute, according to the study. "We expect a similar effect against the 2019-nCoV," the researchers wrote, referring to the new coronavirus. But even though the new coronavirus is a similar strain to the SARS coronavirus, it's not clear if it will behave the same.
Diluted household bleach solutions, alcohol solutions containing at least 70% alcohol and most EPA-registered common household disinfectants should be effective at disinfecting surfaces against the coronavirus, according to the CDC. The bleach solution can be prepared by mixing 5 tablespoons (one-third cup) of bleach per gallon of water or 4 teaspoons of bleach per quart of water, the CDC wrote in a set of recommendations.”
DO NOT:
A few cautions. Only mix bleach with cold water. Hot water will decrease its effective time window.
Bleach should never be mixed with vinegar or other acids as this will create highly toxic chlorine gas and can cause severe burns internally and externally (think World War I trenches - no no no!) Mixing bleach with ammonia similarly produces toxic chloramine gas, which can burn the lungs. Mixing bleach with hydrogen peroxide results in an exothermic chemical reaction that releases oxygen, and may cause the contents to splatter and cause skin and eye injury. Heating bleach and boiling it may produce chlorates, a strong oxidizer which may lead to a fire or explosion.
Nose breathing and Nitrous Oxide
So mouth breathing is a bit creepy, but here are a few more reasons to perhaps focus on breathing through your nose right now.
Nitrous Oxide (NO) is created in high amounts in your nasal passages and sinuses and is increased in levels during nose breathing. An experiment on SARS (another coronavirus) showed that NO inhibited viral replication in vitro (it helped protect cells from infection in petri dishes). Even cooler, humming seems to increase the amount of NO in our noses, and this may be why pranayama during yoga has beneficial effects. Here’s a study where humming helped someone with sinus problems and allowed healing to occur. Humming also seems to affect the vagus nerve and decreases stress, which we could all use right now. This article has some information about vagal tone, and also recommends probiotics as having a beneficial activity on the vagus nerve. So why not give nose breathing a try while we are trying to avoid viral infection right now? Next time you are in a place where there might be more virus than you want (a grocery store, a bank, or other public place) don’t mouth breathe. Breathe calmly through your nose, and perhaps hum a little. And then wash your hands.
Kefir - The Undiscovered Ferment
Kefir is a pretty interesting dairy ferment with an amazing history. Not only is it easy-peasy to make, it has an dazzlingly biodiverse microbial portfolio (read microbiome-friendly) and many healthy benefits from heart disease risk reduction, cholesterol lowering, wound healing, and immune function enhancement.
Kefir originated in the Caucasus Mountains, which span the land bridge between the Black and Caspian seas, and divide Russia on north side from Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan on the south side. Turkey is located further to the south, and all have a tradition of kefir creation and consumption. Once a jealously guarded ancient secret, kefir has spread to mainstream consciousness recently due to the love affair of all things probiotic.
There are stories of kefir being a gift of the prophet Mohammed to nomadic herd-tending humans in the region. Shepherds of the Caucasus would transport milk in sheepskins with a resulting fermentation of a tangy milk product that was preserved at ambient temperature. Mohammed warned the families of the area not to share the secret or face losing the health- and life-extending properties of the beverage, so the kefir tradition was protected for a long time. According to one story, around 1900 Russians wanted this magical drink and sent a beautiful Russian spy to extract the grains from a Caucasus prince at the time. Things went a bit sideways for a while, but after a kidnapping and recovering of the spy, eventually (surprise) the Russians got what they wanted, and now it’s a national beverage phenomenon. Especially the morning after drinking too much vodka.
Currently, kefir can be bought as a pre-mixed, fermented, strained and bottled milk drink, or as kefir “grains”, small white cauliflower-like clusters of culture to mix into milk and make one’s own continuous culture. It cultures well and quickly at room temperature (21C/75F), but can also be temporarily suspended in the fridge, or even frozen for later use. Kefir has been touted as a cure-all for everything, but delving more deeply into the science reveals that some of these claims are not unfounded, and kefir may be one of the reasons that people from the Caucasus are some of the healthiest and longest-lived in the world. The kefir culture is biodiverse and science is now discovering the benefits and health-preserving qualities of kefir. It has been found to increase tumor resistance, decrease risk of heart disease, and improve immunity. So maybe instead of yogurt, try kefir instead!
Wash your hands! And other ways to avoid (corona)viruses
Half the world seems to have lost their minds about the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-n-CoV). We can protect ourself from viruses with some basic calm common sense. A biggie is increasing the frequency of hand washing, especially after being in public places.
Coronaviruses, like Rhinoviruses and Adenoviruses, cause upper respiratory tract infections - also known as colds, and there are hundreds of varieties. There are very few confirmed 2019-nCoV detected in the Northeastern US at this time, so relax. If you have a cold, it’s just a plain ole’ bummer of a cold. SARS is a type of coronavirus, and caused a panic a few years ago. Deaths caused in China by this particular coronavirus seem to be from pneumonia, and the affected patients already had a compromised immune system or respiratory tract to begin with. Most coronaviruses will simply give you a cold and then you’ll be done with it. Influenza on the other hand, causes the flu and can be quite deadly (over 12K in the US annually, and in 1918, a pandemic caused 20 - 100M deaths globally) so really, it’s statistically much more important to get a flu shot than to freak about coronaviruses. Remember that viruses are not bacteria, so antibiotics will not do anything against a virus. Take care of yourself so you can fight it off and decrease the chance of an opportunistic lung or sinus bacterial infection happening afterwards, because then you will have to deal with antibiotics.
That said, it’s good to take public health warnings seriously and there are many things we can do to decrease our risk of coming down with a cold (or flu). The biggest is to WASH YOUR HANDS frequently. Though viruses don’t survive well on hard surfaces, they do transmit in wet coughs and sneezes if breathed in, and will transfer to your membranes via your hands if you come in contact with infected droplets. Masks might contain coughs or sneezes if worn by an infected person, but they are not really airtight enough to protect healthy folks. Washing hands was found to be more effective than hand sanitizers because the alcohol-based sanitizer must be in contact with a mucusy virus preparation for 4 minutes before the virus is killed - most people would not rub their hands with sanitizer for that long.
Best way to wash hands - wet hands, add regular soap, scrub for more than 20 seconds, then wash off hands and dry them. Microbes are less likely to be spread or picked up with dry hands. The soapy water will dissolve the grease and oil on your hands and items (viruses) stuck to it. Everything then goes down the drain when you rinse your hands. Use the paper towel (of a corner of your clothing) to then open a public bathroom door handle. Hopefully by washing your hands frequently, you reduce the viral exposure to a smaller dose your immune system will be able to squash quickly. Sleeping and eating well support a healthy immune system ready to fight for you.
If you do have a cold, contain your coughs and sneezes. Best bet - stay home and take care of yourself with rest and fluids instead of “toughing it out” and infecting everyone. Folks will thank you. And maybe reschedule that trip to China for another time.
What the heck is a FODMAP?
What is this acronym that sounds like an expletive?
FODMAP stands for “Fermentable Oligo-, Di-, Mono-saccharides And Polyols” Unfortunately, many foods considered to be “healthy” contain these molecules, so dealing with a low-FODMAP diet may be quite confusing and daunting.
But wait a minute - do you really need to even deal with FODMAPS? Most folks don’t, but if someone is experiencing undiagnosed gastric or intestinal distress, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) or Chrohns disease, among others, this diet might be needed. The most substantial evidence is often abdominal discomfort like bloating, cramping, and or nausea after meals that contain FODMAPs ingredients (see below), 30 minutes to two hours after eating. A nutritionist or RDA can help with a diagnosis.
So what’s going on? FODMAP foods contain higher levels of certain sugars and sugar alcohols that we usually break down enzymatically in the small intestine. If this digestion occurs incompletely, due to a compromised gut lining or flora, FODMAPS continue into the large intestine and cause nausea, bloating and gas by two means. 1) Concentrations of these molecules cause water to move into the intestines osmotically, causing bloating and 2) microbes in the large intestine continue doing what should have happened in the small intestine, and ferment FODMAPs there instead creating CO2 and other byproducts.
The good news is, if one has to deal with this diet, it’s not forever, and after a month or so of avoiding the triggers, it’s possible to add foods back one by one (under guidance of a nutritionist or other professional) and discover exactly which one(s) are the real culprits. Short term diet modification is also a lot better than dealing with long term gastrointestinal distress.
Why eat fermented foods?
Some of the more known fermented foods are yogurt and sauerkraut, but kimchi and kombucha are becoming quickly part of the North American foodscape. They are known as ”live foods” or “probiotics”. What do these terms mean, and why should they be part of our diet?
Fermentation is a way of preserving foods that prolong edibility and in many cases enhance nutritional value and flavor. If you imagine a fresh food which doesn’t stay fresh very long, especially in warmer climates, you can imagine how this got started. The natural microbes in the environment started to consume the nutrients in the food item and add their own byproducts to the mix. A hungry human gave it a try and instead of saying “oh yuck, spoiled”, they said, “ oh my, how interesting!” (and they didn’t die). This is probably how many fermentation experiments ensued, giving us delicious umami-laden terroir-specific foods and beverages (yogurt, kefir, pickled and lacto-fermented vegetables, bread, beer, wine, cider, cheese, etc.
Not only are they delicious, fermented foods (if not sterilized during subsequent processing) give us a good dose of living microbes (hence “live foods”) that we need in our intestines to survive. Probiotic is a pop culture term that combines Pro, Latin: for/towards and Biotic, Latin: bios/life, to create a modern moniker meaning food that is alive. We get a certain palette of microbes from our mothers as we are born, and ingest the rest as we eat and drink our way through life. Our microscopic symbiotic residents create vitamin K (a clotting factor) some B vitamins, as well as pre-digesting some of our food to make it more absorbable. They are known collectively as microbiota, and their combined genetic makeup is now known as our microbiome.
Let’s face it, left to itself, everything rots. Fermentation is simply creating a foody environment where we enhance the probability of the microbes we want overcrowding the ones we don’t. And then we wait and let nature take it’s course - it'’s the ultimate in slow food. The worst that can happen is we make some compost (your nose will certainly tell you if things go sideways). The best outcome? We make our own delicious signature ferment that enhances our diet, cooking, intestinal health, our immune system, brain chemistry and perhaps even susceptibility to disease. The Human Microbiome is currently a surging area of medical research. Stay tuned for more encouragement to ferment, and meanwhile, bon appetit!
Chocolate - how dark should it be?
When it come to chocolate, the darker the healthier , so 75% or higher. Avoid milk chocolate - it’s mostly sugar relative to any other beneficial phytochemicals (flavonoids, antioxidants, polyphenols, theobromine) found in the cacao.
Studies in dark chocolate consumption observed increased HDL (good) cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, and higher overall anti-oxidant activity. 100 grams of 70–85% dark chocolate contains 11 grams of fiber, 67% of the RDI for iron, 58% of the RDI for magnesium, 89% of the RDI for copper, 98% of the RDI for manganese, and lots of potassium, phosphorus, zinc and selenium, and it also has a good fatty acid profile. BEWARE; it also has 600 calories, so share it out over 3 days. A couple of squares of dark chocolate melting slowly on your taste buds is a perfect end to a meal. Big tip for those new to darker chocolates - don’t chew. Let it melt slowly in your mouth and savor the different flavors as they develop and float up through the back of your nose. It’s kind of like coffee. Another way to get the benefits of cacao is to make yourself a rich steamy hot chocolate . I use fresh milk from the farmers market, and also love coconut milk. I use very little sweetener, and interesting exotic toppings like pink peppercorns, orange zest, grated ginger or a cardamom pod.
Also, do make your chocolate purchases talk: some chocolate companies are involved in child slave labor in cacao plantations in Ghana and Cote D’Ivoire. Buy Fair Trade-certified chocolate and avoid Nestlé, Hershey and Callbout. By voting with your $, purchasing deep 75%+ dark chocolate from ethical sources makes you feel good and do good at the same time: taste buds, body and planet.