We all know that it’s important to eat well, be physically active and get a good night’s sleep.  In recent years, magazines such as Entrepreneur, Time and Inc. have featured articles about the connection between engaging in the trifecta of health behaviors and professional success. Why? Your success starts with your health – eating healthy, getting enough sleep, and exercising regularly. After all, if don’t feel great, how do you expect to sustain the focus and energy needed to get things done? Here’s a closer look at why food, sleep, and exercise can impact your success and what... Read More

Every new year brings with it resolutions, goals, intentions – whatever you want to call it.  In short, we make plans for how to be better versions of ourselves.  I’d like to suggest that we think differently about the new year by considering our big WHY? Your big why is something you plug into emotionally that drives you when things get tough. It’s not a wish or a goal, it’s something that will change your life or others around you or do something for you that really matters to your soul. It’s your purpose. If you made a resolution, you may already be feeling like you should... Read More

Exercise can seem daunting, exhausting or downright impossible if you are busy…and who isn’t busy? Time and gym access are the two biggest excuses Americans cite for not working out.  Research conducted at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, suggests that taking the stairs 30 minutes a week can give our body adequate exercise for good health. Stair climbing is a rigorous activity and previous research has found climbing stairs can burn calories two to three times faster than just walking. In the McMaster study, 17 healthy men, average age 64, were asked to walk, lift weights, and climb... Read More

Taking a cold shower, unless it is a sweltering hot day, does not sound like a desirable practice. Research, however, shows that those who took a cold shower regularly, took fewer sick days than those who did not. A study from the Netherlands revealed that those who finished their daily showers with 30-, 60- or 90-second blasts of chilly water, were less likely to take a sick day at work. Cold water didn’t keep participants from being sick, but those who took cold showers (roughly 50 degrees Fahrenheit) experienced more mild symptoms and had more energy, which allowed them to power through work... Read More

There is no perfect diet for everyone, in spite of what you might have heard.  It seems the human body can adapt to almost any diet and survive, even thrive!  Consider the diet of the Inuit, the people indigenous to polar locations such as Siberia, Alaska, Canada, and Greenland. Theirs is a mostly meat diet, and yet they are a hardy population who consume few to no vegetables in their diet. In the US, experts recommend a diet largely focused on healthy grains, fruits and vegetables.  Most Americans don’t get the recommended 5 servings per day, and even fewer eat the 5-9 servings that is considered... Read More

Perhaps you’ve heard that sitting is the new smoking?  Sitting all day is not good for our health.  We’ve actually known this, from a public health perspective, for over 60 years. Back in the 50s, researchers studied men (yes, not much research done with women in those days) who had jobs that required them to sit, compared to those who were standing or walking during the work day. The study showed that the rates of illness and early death were highest among those who were the least active. As we are now a society of desk jockeys, it makes sense that scientists would revisit this... Read More

Sea greens, also known as sea vegetables, are a group of foods in the seaweed family, that grow in the ocean. If you eat Japanese food you may be familiar with some sea greens – nori, the dark green wrapper on your sushi, or kombu, a common ingredient in miso soup. If you think you’ve never had seaweed, think again! Agar, a gelatinous substance that comes from red seaweed is used as a thickener in many foods. Sea vegetables are some of the most nutrient-packed foods on earth, packed with fiber vitamins and minerals. They are beneficial to us because they slow the aging process by promoting... Read More

New research suggests people who get too little sleep during the week can make up for it on the weekends. According to a study published in the Journal of Sleep Research, people who slept less than five hours each night throughout the week had an increased risk of early death compared to those who slept six to seven hours every night. People who get less than five hours during the week, but who catch up on some of that lost sleep on the weekend, do not have the same risk. These results suggest that sleep is not a risk factor for mortality if it is combined with a medium or long weekend sleep. Some... Read More

Recently, I had dinner at my favorite Mexican restaurant.  Usually I get a meal and don’t have room for the sopapilla that comes with it, but this time I took the sopapilla home to eat later. When I was ready to eat it, I was surprised to see that the “honey” for the sopapilla was not honey at all. It was fake honey made with corn syrup. I happened to have some locally source honey at home and used that instead of the faux honey. This is just one of the reasons it’s important to read labels. If you’re trying to change your life by eating fewer processed foods, less sugar, or any number... Read More

Did you know that a green (unripe) banana confers its own unique health benefits? Green bananas are a good source of fiber, vitamins, and minerals, and contain resistant starch which cannot be broken down by enzymes in your digestive system and, therefore, acts more like fiber. Including foods high in resistant starch in your diet may reduce your risk of diabetes and heart disease by aiding in blood sugar control and lowering blood cholesterol levels. Bananas have higher levels of antioxidants as they ripen. Fully ripened bananas produce a substance called Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF). TNF regulates... Read More

There is widespread agreement among those in the scientific and health care communities, that certain behaviors contribute greatly to preventable chronic disease, improve productivity and impact health. In 2000, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated that four lifestyle-related behavioral risk factors accounted for approximately 40% of all deaths in the United States. The optimal lifestyle metric (OLM), reflects adherence to these four positive health behaviors: not using tobacco, exercising at least 150 minutes per week, consuming at least five fruits and vegetable... Read More

Recently, a friend of mine posted on social media that he was considering a plant-based diet to reduce his risk of heart disease.  What does that means for those of us who are omnivores – eaters of food that are of both plant and animal origin? Is it necessary to eschew animal protein to have a healthy heart? Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma and Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual, among others, has been an outspoken critic of both America’s obsession with healthy eating and American food policy.  In 2009, Mr. Pollan spoke to a room full of CDC scientists about how and why... Read More

If you look closely at a Gatorade commercial featuring Serena Williams called “You Fuel Us, We’ll Fuel You,” you may have noticed she is wearing a small patch.  That patch is a biosensor being used as a health monitor—in this case, by assessing sweat. Biosensors are currently being tested in athletes, but have other applications in the world of health. The sensor itself is a soft, flexible patch that adheres to the skin and is placed directly on the forearm or back. It’s a little larger than a quarter and about the same thickness. Fluids can be collected non-invasively and many... Read More

My mother has dementia. When I talk to her it is like talking to a pre-school age child — stream of consciousness-style ramblings of reality mixed with fantasy. It is disturbing to compare this woman to the person my mother was before dementia.  She was smart, witty, and quite opinionated.  She was a modern woman who was still quite old-fashioned; a unique woman for her generation. Dementia is not a disease, but rather a group of symptoms caused by other conditions.  Dementia causes problems with thinking, memory, and reasoning, happening when the parts of the brain used for learning,... Read More

If you ever wake up in the morning with a tight or sore jaw, fatigue, or sensitive teeth, you could be grinding or clenching your teeth at night.  The condition, known as bruxism, can lead to headaches and dental problems. Teeth grinding can be caused by stress and anxiety,  and it often occurs during sleep, caused by an abnormal bite or missing or crooked teeth. More importantly, bruxism can be caused by sleep apnea. Obstructive sleep apnea occurs when the throat muscles relax during the night, blocking the airway and interrupting breathing. About 25% of people with obstructive sleep apnea grind... Read More

Are you a glass half-full person? In other words, are you hopeful and confident about the future?  If so, you might be healthier than your friends who believe that the worst will happen. Many studies have reported that optimism influences health. Among the findings:   Highly pessimistic men were three times more likely to develop hypertension. People with positive emotions had lower blood pressures. The most pessimistic men were more than twice as likely to develop heart disease compared with the most optimistic.   It is hard to know if optimism is the result of good health, or if... Read More

I hear, read and see lots of material on health and well-being.  Sometimes the information is thorough and accurate.  Sometimes the information is correct, but some facts are omitted. Here are a few things I still hear after many years in the fitness business. BMI is not a valid health measure.  Body Mass Index, or BMI, is a measure of body fat based on height and weight that applies to adult men and women. Some complain that this not a valid way to determine if someone is fat or not.  The fact is, most Americans can use BMI to determine if they are overweight or obese, but for some this method... Read More

Did you resolve to eat healthier in 2019?  Eating healthy is one of the most popular New Year’s resolutions, right up there with “spend less money” and “exercise more.” Healthy eating can be expensive if you’re on a tight budget, but it can be done with a little thought and creativity.  Here are some easy tips for eating healthy on a budget: Plan your meals. If you plan your meals, build a shopping list, and only buy what’s on the list, you’ll spend less on stuff you don’t need.  You can save even more if you take a look at what’s on sale at your grocery store... Read More

On Mondays I attend my favorite yoga class. Every week, as class disperses and the yogis and yoginis depart, most of them head straight to their phone to see what they’ve missed. The hour they spend unifying their breath and body, finding peace, and practicing mindfulness, is shattered almost immediately after they leave the studio. Why is it so hard to practice mindfulness in our modern society? Here is my take on why practicing mindfulness every day is so hard. In the era of the 24-hour news cycle, portable devices that go everywhere with us, and social media – my apology to the medium that... Read More

A recent article in the journal The Conversation, asked the question “Is walking enough exercise?”  Four out of five experts said yes. The one expert who said no, qualified his response by saying that walking is better than no exercise at all. He goes on to point out that, ideally, strength training and higher intensity exercise is ideal for good health. While strength training and higher intensity exercise along with moderate exercise is the ideal situation for many, the National Runners’ Health Study found that moderate-intensity walking and vigorous-intensity running resulted in similar... Read More