Healthy Magazine | October '15 by Healthy Magazine

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October 2015

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October 2015

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October 2015

Healthy MAGAZINE

So October. Fall is the perfect time to change. Have you ever noticed that when the itch to change emerges, it doesn’t go away? I love words. They can be thought provoking and motivating when properly strung together; sharper than a two-edged sword, as the Bible suggests. Anyway. I heard a popular idiom yesterday and I can’t get it off my mind. I can’t think of the last time such a straightforward expression has kept me so solidly focused. It’s been empowering. Enlightening. Enriching. And it’s so simple. Consider this:

If not me, then who? If not now, then when? Like a crystal, the colors of these words change when viewed from the different angles of your life. Read this in light of family and think how it applies to the little things (doing the dishes or dusting) to the bigger things (loving, listening, reaching out, etc.). How does it apply in your life to career, friends, service opportunities, personal growth? How does it apply to the decisions you make regarding your health? Echoing in these words are change and work. As powerful as words can be, words alone cannot build, repair, produce or discover. These require effort and action. (Faith without works). At the risk of sounding preachy, it’s no wonder that we struggle with the big issues of life. Career change, completing college, getting fit, or just learning to say ‘I’m sorry’ are the kinds of things that lurk in

JOHN A. ANDERSON,

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF @JOHN_A_ANDERSON

SEP/OCT 2015 VOLUME XV, № 9

our minds and whisper that we should be doing something. If not me, then who? If not now, then when? Have you ever noticed that when the itch to change emerges, it doesn’t go away? Avoiding the issues of growth because of the effort required or the riskiness involved is actually more wearing than just diving in and doing it. That little voice is what helps us decide to move, to stretch our potential, to be great. So, as we pause to give thanks this month and reflect on where we’ve been and where we’d like to be, consider these points:

BELIEVE IN CHANGE. Change is inevitable, so don’t think you can’t because of your situation. Take charge and change. (And believe that others can change also). TAKE CHANCES. Life is risky. If it feels right, jump, and trust that the inner voice comes equipped with a parachute. Learn to recognize options and opportunities. Change jobs, start a company, get that checkup. If not now, then when?

BELIEVE IN SECOND CHANCES.

If your fitness regimen has stalled – reignite it today. And be open to atypical alternatives. Happiness doesn’t come in a package, so don’t conform your life to stereotypes and norms; find out what’s right for you and dive in.

PURSUE YOUR DREAMS. Why did you become a tax attorney or optician in the first place? Either rekindle your flame for what you do, or do something that lights your fancy. Unhappiness is a signal to change, and it’s you that generally needs to make the first move.

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF John A. Anderson | john@healthy-mag.com PUBLISHER Kenneth J. Shepherd | ken@healthy-mag.com MEDICAL DIRECTORS Steven N. Gange, M.D. Lane C. Childs, M.D. DESIGN EDITOR Phillip Chadwick | design@healthy-mag.com MANAGING EDITOR Michael Richardson | michael@healthy-mag.com PHOTOGRAPHER Ryan Chase | ryan@healthy-mag.com MAGAZINE EDITOR Kristen Soelberg | kristen@healthy-mag.com DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS Lyn Timboe | lyn.timboe@healthy-mag.com CIRCULATION MANAGER Ron Fennell | distribution@healthy-mag.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Caitlin Schille, Angela Silva, Megan Moore, David Joachim, Mark Saunders, Derek Jacobs CIRCULATION Healthy Utah® is distributed widely to more than 800 locations along the Wasatch Front. It is also direct mailed to doctors, dentists, practitioners, health clinics, banks and other businesses along the Wasatch Front.

Healthy Magazine 256 Main St., Suite F l Alpine, UT 84004 (801) 369-6139 l info@healthy-mag.com To be included in our free online directory, or to advertise or get content published please e-mail us at info@healthy-mag.com PLEASE NOTE: The content in this publication is meant to increase reader awareness of developments in the health and medical field and should not be construed as medical advice or instruction on individual health matters, which should be obtained directly from a health professional. The opinions expressed by the authors and advertisers are not necessarily those of the publisher. Call for reprint permission. All stock photography by Shutterstock.com, unless otherwise noted.

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CHOOSE GROWTH. What’s the opposite of

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growth? Stagnation. Find a pace in life that’s comfortable, and be consistent. Growth doesn’t

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require a speedometer. Just a direction. So, as the holidays distill upon us, let’s all choose to have more happiness than hurry.

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October 2015

fitness

get FIT for the holidays Holidays and special occasions challenge our commitment to get and stay fit. This year, instead of stuffing yourself with sweet treats and second helpings, nourish the mental and emotional you, and focus on becoming FIT. >>

= Find:

Find time for yourself during the winter season. Amid the holiday hustle and bustle, find quiet moments when you can write in your journal, meditate or just stop and take a few deep breaths. Seek out activities that nurture a healthy lifestyle, and reconnect with the reasons you chose to make improvements in your daily life and habits.

/ / I \ \

= Team up:

Team spirit carries us when we lose our way, a special problem during the holidays when we are tempted to forsake our exercise routine and eat too much. Teaming up with fitness friends makes a positive difference.

= Integrate:

Integrate exercise into your holiday schedule. Walk to local shops rather than drive, discover footpaths near family destinations, or dance at winter concerts, at parties or in your living room. Integrate your healthy eating habits with special occasion meals.

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Take Michelle Hughes, age 42, for example. Michelle followed the FIT prescription. She found time to exercise with her high-spirited and enthusiastic friends. She integrated her exercise program with socializing, which made working out fun. Michelle was even inspired to begin training as a competitive athlete, so she created a support team with women who, like herself, were training for a triathlon.

With this little reminder (FIT: Find, Integrate and Team Up), we can face the challenge of the holidays with renewed energy, and begin the journey towards a fresh zest for living.

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fitness

\ /

“

Holidays are enticing only for the first week or so. After that, it is no longer such a novelty to rise late and have little to do.

”

-Margaret Laurence

A few additional tidbits for sticking to

your resolve during holiday parties:

•

Always eat a healthy dinner before you go to a holiday party.

•

“Don’t go to a party wearing spacious clothes,” suggests Josh Fink, MD, a personal training studio in Ridgefield, Connecticut. Wear something slim-fitting, or pull your belt one notch tighter than it should be — you will be much less likely to overeat.

•

Bring “safe,” healthy foods to potlucks.

•

At appetizer tables, choose two or three of your favorites, put them on a napkin (try to avoid large plates, which you’re likely to want to fill up), and then walk away.

•

If there are fruits and veggies, start with those first. Then find room for smaller portions of the high-calorie mains.

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If you are drinking, alternate alcoholic beverages with nonalcoholic, calorie-free ones, like flavored seltzer. Asking for wine spritzers, which are half wine and half seltzer, is a great way to limit the impact of the liquor.

•

No matter how busy you get, make time for a healthy breakfast. Eating a morning meal will help control cravings later on. Store healthy snacks at the front of your fridge and pantry, and go for them before you treat yourself to the splurge stuff.

•

Park as far away from stores and malls as you can, so you’re forced to get in those extra minutes of walking.

•

On heavy-eating weeks, compensate for the extra food with more weight or resistance training. “It will increase the metabolic rate of the muscle tissue,” says Fink. That means your body will be better prepared to handle the extra calories.

•

Add health-related gifts to your wish list this year — they could help make for a slimmer, healthier 2015.

October 2015

fitness

EXERCISE M OTIVATION is different in Men and Women

Just finding the will, desire and time to exercise can be hard. It is scientifically proven that exercise can prolong our lives but many are obese. We all know what we have to do to stay healthy and yet we just can’t make ourselves. Motivation is the key to consistently exercising and ultimately improving our health. Understanding that men and women are usually motivated in different ways may help us overcome some of the road blocks that keep us from working out. The lists below are just general gender tendencies and may not exactly fit into what personally motivates you. The more we learn about what makes us tick the more success we will have. Try new things that will keep your workouts fresh. Staying excited about the same thing over and over doesn’t work. Change up your workout routine every 4-6 weeks. You have to mix things up. Your body adapts to the same stimuli so you need to challenge your body in different ways.

MEN

• Men generally focus on strength training and muscle gain. • They are motivated by measuring strength increases. • Love to compete whether it is with themselves and their weights or with others. • Tend to avoid group or choreography based classes. • Tend to work their upper bodies to bulk up.

WOMEN

• Women are generally pushed to stay active so that they feel good about themselves. • They want to have a better body image and exercise to fix a certain body part. • They are more in touch with their bodies and use the mind-body connection to find good health. • They exercise to maintain the energy they need to face the dayto-day demands. • They don’t mind exercising in groups or classes and love the camaraderie and friendships. • Tend to work their lower bodies to lean down.

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An educated exerciser will be empowered and motivated to keep exercising. Know that your physiology doesn’t change from the waist up or the waist down. Women need to work their upper body and definitely add strength training to their workout routines. Women don’t have to bulk up when using weights. Men, don’t avoid your lower body. Be adventurous and try some group classes. Find what makes you tick and then grow from there. Never stop finding reasons to exercise. Your longevity depends on it.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Lisa Mathews

Personal, Certified Fitness Trainer with Treehouse Athletic Club

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October 2015

FITNESS/ longevity

Exercise to PREVENT MUSCLE LOSS I

f your age depresses you, here’s a scientific truth that won’t make you feel any better. By 30, most people are losing one percent of their muscle mass each year (it’s called sarcopenia).

But your fate is still in your hands. Nutritionist Mariam Nelson from Tufts University even says that a lazy 40-year-old is biologically older than a 70-year-old that works out. So whether you’re 28 or 75, eating a diet full of protein and building your muscle regularly is a must.

1. Weight Lifting

By the time we hit middle age, we should start lifting weights at least twice a week to retain our muscle. But starting early can only help, so breakout some dumbbells or strap on some ankle weights. No one is exempt.

2. Resistance Training

While some prefer lifting weights, they’re not required. Body weight exercises like pushups, squats, crunches, lunges and even some yoga can be just as effective. Nutrition professor Douglas Paddon-Jones from the University of Texas says that just “one to two short resistance workouts each week can improve muscle mass and strength.” So, losing sleep trying to make it to the gym every morning isn’t necessary.

3. Cardio Blasting

Even though cardio isn’t purely a muscle building exercise, it’s still a good idea. It improves muscle health, encourages blood flow and helps your body repair itself. So try to jump on the trampoline or grab your bike or three times a week. But don’t stop strength training.

WRITTEN BY LINSY HUNSAKER

Sources: WebMD, The Boston Globe, Care2, and EatingWell

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October 2015

w e llness

WAYS TO DO MORNINGS

RIGHT

HOW YOU CAN MAKE OR BREAK YOUR DAY WHEN YOUR FEET FIRST HIT THE GROUND

WRITTEN BY KARLI MOATS

veryday we are given 24 hours. Out loud it sounds like a lot, but for the majority of Americans 24 hours just doesn’t seem like enough. Many people hit the pillow at night feeling unaccomplished and dull, with a sense that life is merely speeding past them and they are barely hanging on. In reality, these people probably do accomplish a lot during their day, but are simply starting their days off wrong. A defective morning schedule can drastically affect the entire day, leading to that dreaded unproductive feeling. The moment your eyes open the clock starts ticking, and that it is why it is essential to start your day off right. Laura Vanderkam, a time management expert and author of the book What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast explains that people need to embrace the morning. Her study of morning rituals found that those who are successful set aside the first hours of their days to invest in their top-priorities before other people and their priorities get in the way. The following five tips are a guide to doing mornings right. Refer to these and your days will turn from bogged down to uplifting, from busy to engaging, and from empty to meaningful. WATCH YOUR THOUGHTS “You need to learn how to select your thoughts just the same way you select your clothes every day,” says Elizabeth Gilbert, author of best selling Eat, Pray, Love. “This is a power you can cultivate. If you want to control

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things in your life so bad, work on the mind. That’s the only thing you should be trying to control.” When you wake up in the morning think of what you do and create positive thoughts towards those tasks. The mind is much more powerful than most of us give it credit for, so instead of fighting against it, work with it. Utilize your thoughts to create good vibes that will carry you through your day. EXERCISE Countless studies confirm that exercising in the morning is the best routine you can get yourself committed to. US News explained that morning exercise improves productivity, boosts metabolism, aids in a better diet and helps with greater sleep. Although it can be hard to jump out of bed and into your workout gear, the benefits of this habit are truly endless. So if you really want to have your days turn from dull to dynamite, take the challenge and get active early on. EAT A HEALTHY BREAKFAST So you want a calm, peaceful start to your day? You want a healthy body and ready-foraction brain? You want to be leaner, more energized and consume nutrients for your health? Well all that is what you are going to get with a healthy breakfast. According to the American Journal of Epidemiology, breakfast skippers are 4.5 times more likely to be obese than those who eat that morning meal. Additionally, the Journal of Adolescent Health found that high-energy breakfast foods help boost short-term memory. The key here?

Make sure your breakfast is a healthy one. High-calorie breakfast can actually reverse these positive effects. Try toast and fruit, oatmeal or a protein-packed smoothie, and be on your way to a not only happier, but healthier day. CREATE GOALS WITH VERBS We all do it. We create goals, yet no plan. We have dreams, yet no follow up. These empty promises to ourselves are a major cause of stress and letdown in our day-to-day lives. So where do we make a change? Productivity guru David Allen says that for each task or goal, start with a verb. For example, instead of simply stating “Friday presentation,” say “create powerpoint, search for images, and practice speech.” The more specific you are the greater success you will have with each task throughout the day. You better grasp what you’re accomplishing, and you don’t let yourself procrastinate until the last minute. MAKE SOMEONE ELSE HAPPY Isn’t it funny how we may feel bogged down, distressed and sad, yet the moment we help someone else we feel so much better. A recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science suggests that doing good works for others stimulates the same part of the brain activated in response to monetary rewards, sex and other positive stimuli. These feel-good chemicals help push away negative emotions including stress. So there you have it—if you want to have a great day, make someone else’s. Think about how you might do that when you wake up, and your day could be that much different.

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CAN I FIND THE

fountain of youth THROUGH DIET & EXERCISE?

DON’T YOU WANT TO HAVE CONTINUOUS ENERGY, THE ABILITY TO MOVE WITHOUT PAIN AND THE STRENGTH TO RUN AND TUMBLE WITH YOUR GRANDCHILDREN? I DO. THERE ARE SEVERAL STRATEGIES THAT CAN EXTEND YOUR LIFE AND HELP YOU ENJOY MOVING WITHOUT LIMITATIONS AND PAIN.

WORK SMARTER, NOT HARDER

Too often we overexert ourselves and don’t take into account muscle recovery and refueling. Balance out your routine by adding in strength training 2-3 times a week, a few cardio workouts which may include a High Intensity Interval Training for major calorie burn and then some type of mind-body class to lengthen muscles and refresh the mind.

DRINK LOTS OF WATER

Our body is made up of 65-75% water depending on the source so it should be our drink of choice above anything else. Hydrated muscles work more efficiently and don’t fatigue as fast. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that water helps your body maintain a normal temperature, lubricates and cushions joints, protects the spinal cord and other sensitive tissues and gets ride of waste.

EAT CLEAN FOODS

Our lack of time for preparation and confusion on the nutritional value of foods can hinder us from making good food choices. No matter how hard we work out we can’t out-exercise a bad diet. Try and eat as many foods that you can recognize every ingredient. For example, how many ingredients do you find in produce? Exactly one. Shop for foods found on the outside edge of the store and avoid the middle aisles as much as possible. Foods with an extended shelf life are not your friend.

STAY ON THE MOVE

There are a lot of electronic distractions, and jobs that require hours of chair-time which can lead to poor posture and, often times, back and hip problems. Our bodies are built to move— not sit. Create opportunities to move. Get up and walk around the parking lot every hour. Take the stairs whenever possible. Stand and do some squats or lunges. Plan activities that require physical activity, like hiking or mall walking.

INCORPORATE STRENGTH TRAINING

Many have the mentality that we need lots of cardio to control our weight or lose those extra pounds. Don’t get me wrong, cardiovascular exercise is good, but strength training is how you can positively change your body composition. Muscles also support us structurally, which can help us avoid injuries or chronic aches. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

FIND ACTIVITIES THAT MAKE YOU HAPPY

Treehouse Athletic Club 801-553-0123 TacFitness.com

Everything seems better if we look at it with a positive perspective. Select activities that keep you moving, but also clear your head. Connecting with family and friends to be healthy with you can have a positive impact.

Matt Kirchner is a Treehouse Certified Personal Trainer, and a Certified Personal Trainer (NPTI, CPT) CSCS (Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist)

Life doesn’t have to get harder, and your body doesn’t have to get weaker. Empower yourself with smart eating, appropriate exercise and a positive outlook. Let’s love the life we are in.

Matt Kirchner

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October 2015

Step it up!

>> Fitness Get moving

challenges Start by wearing the pedometer for a few days to get a feel for how many steps you’re taking now. If it’s less than 10,000, challenge yourself to work your way up there. Little changes like parking further away from your office or the store, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, and walking over to talk to your work colleagues instead of shooting them an e-mail can really add up. Remember that the number on your pedometer is an estimate of your steps. If it is off by a few steps, don’t worry about it — just focus on how much you are moving during the day.

TAKE 10,000 STEPS PER DAY TO STAY ON TRACK.

DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY STEPS YOU TAKE IN A DAY? YOU CAN, WITH A PEDOMETER. HERE’S HOW TO STAND UP AND TAKE ACTION.

pedometer

Wearing one is a good way to gauge how much activity you’re getting while just going about your daily activities. It can tell you whether you’re active enough or whether you should build some more movement into your day.

$20

If you don't own a pedometer, consider buying one. Look for a basic model that's easy to operate and easy to read. You don't have to get anything too expensive — there are many decent basic models available for less than $20.

BY DUKEDIET.COM

10,000

move

If you're a seasoned walker, keep doing what you're doing. If you've been inactive and tire easily, it's best to start slow and easy. At first, walk only as far or as fast as you find comfortable. If you can walk for only a few minutes, let that be your starting point. For example, you might try short daily sessions of 5 to 10 minutes and slowly build up to 15 minutes twice a week. Then, over several weeks' time, you can gradually work your way up to 30 to 60 minutes of walking most days each week.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. surgeon general recommend a minimum of 10,000 steps per day (roughly four miles). If that seems like a lot, remember that every step you take during the day counts toward the total. When you add up all the steps you take walking among the different rooms in your home, down the hallway at work, and to and from your car, you’ll see that it’s an achievable goal.

“I enjoy running because it allows me to clear my mind and be alone with my thoughts. What a wonderful benefit.” -Lora Erickson, Blonde Runner Health LLC

HEALTHY Magazine OCTOBER 2015

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in the kn ow

Running Increases

Longevity Running just 5-10 minutes a day was associated with a 28 percent lower overall risk of death, and a 58 percent reduced risk of death from heart disease, compared to not running at all, in a new study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

28%

Researchers at Iowa State University followed more than 55,000 adults for 15 years, about a quarter of whom were runners.

lower overall risk of death

SHAVING DOESN’T MAKE HAIR GROW BACK THICKER

MYTH BUSTED: We Only Use a Small Percentage of Our Brains

This common myth has actually been the subject of study, even as early as 1928, when four men shaved with the same razors, same soap, same water temperature and on the same portion of their face, and shorn hairs were measured. No evidence was found to suggest shaving increased the rate of beard growth. Similar findings are present with leg shaving. And the myth is obviously false with head hair (why would anyone be bald?).

The recent movie Lucy starring Scarlett Johansson is based on the premise that humans don’t use the entirety of their brains, and that if they could, they’d have superhero-like powers. Researchers agree this is a bunch of bogus. If we damage essentially any part of our brains, negative consequences are immediately apparent. Most of the brain is active at any given time. Source: Scientific American

Here’s why this myth persists: [[

Genetic or hormonal influences can affect hair growth, causing coincidences with hair cutting leading to erroneous connections.

[[

If skin gets rougher, thicker and more callus, the nerves may get thicker, and the hair may get thicker too. More coincidences can occur.

[[

When hair first emerges it may be dark, as it hasn’t been exposed to the sun, chemicals, etc. Darker hair appears thicker.

18 HEALTHY MAGAZINE

Clean Fist Bumps

Hands are dirty, making handshakes great for transmitting disease. High fives and fist bumps are the cleaner options. Researchers in a recent study found that high fives transmitted about half the amount of bacteria as shaking hands, and that fist bumps are 90 percent cleaner than a handshake. The study notes that Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama have been seen using fist bumps. “If the general public could be encouraged to fist bump, there is genuine potential to reduce the spread of infectious disease,” said Dave Whitworth, co-author of the study.

Source: Aberystwyth University, Wales

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Did You Know…

Women Don’t really talk more than Men Averages: Women 16,215

words a day

Men 15,669

words a day

SOBERING MONEY STATS •

• •

•

Americans have racked up more than $73 billion in new credit card debt since 2012. 2 in 5 adults have a budget. 19 % of Americans spend more than they make. 60 % don’t have a rainy day fund.

Sidenote: The range of words used per day was huge. One person used 795 words, and another 47,000 (both were men). Source: University of Arizona in Tucson

Source: wallethub.com

Teen Drivers

THE BEST &WORST STATES Wallet Hub examined teen driving statistics, teen driver crashes and laws concerning younger drivers across the nation, and ranked the states according to the worst and best teen drivers.

1. New York 2. Hawaii 3. Illinois Facebook.com/HealthyMag

WORST

Source: wallethub.com

BEST

1. South Dakota 2. Mississippi 3. Nebraska October 2015

OUTDOORS

19 IDAHO’S TOP

HIKES

OUR 19 FAVORITE IDAHO HIKES IF YOU’RE LIKE US, YOU THRIVE ON GETTING OUT INTO THE GREAT OUTDOORS, ESPECIALLY HERE IN IDAHO. AND, SINCE IT’S OCTOBER, THERE’S STILL TIME TO KNOCK A COUPLE OF THESE GREAT HIKING DESTINATIONS OFF OF YOUR OUTDOORS BUCKET LIST. HERE ARE 19 PEAKS THAT’LL MAKE YOUR WORKOUT GIVE BACK. HAPPY HIKING!

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#1. IRON CREEK TO SAWTOOTH LAKE—10 MI STANLEY, ID—Entire generations of photographers have packed

their 35-mm, 2.25-inch, and bulky view cameras with tripods the 4 miles, and 1,700 feet in elevation, to Sawtooth Lake, the largest alpine lake in the S… From the guidebook “Hiking Idaho”

1&2

#2. GRAND SAWTOOTHS LOOP—63 MI

BOISE, ID—The Sawtooth Mountains contain some of Idaho’s most beautiful scenery. Although the famous views from the road are superb, if you really want to appreciate all that this range has to offer you have to… From the guidebook “Backpacking Idaho”

#10. MOUNT BORAH—7 MI

CHALLIS, ID—The hike: Mount Borah is primarily a climber’s mountain, with one route (described here) accessible to the advanced hiker. This means that to get to and from the summit one must scramble (rock climb u… From the guidebook “Hiking Idaho”

#11. BIGHORN CRAGS—46 MI

COBALT, ID—The Bighorn Crags feature the most spectacular

peaks and lakes in Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness. And spectacular is definitely the right word. The scenery is absolutely delightful, with c… From the guidebook “Backpacking Idaho”

#12. WHITE CLOUD PEAKS LOOP—28 MI #3. BOULDER CHAIN LAKES—20 MI

CHALLIS, ID—This hike will confirm everything you may have heard about the beauty of the White Clouds and Castle Peak. It has just about every lure for the outdoorsperson: deep, cool forests, mountain springs, la… From the guidebook “Hiking Idaho”

#4. RAINBOW LAKES—9 MI

MOUNTAIN HOME, ID—Beautiful scenery, including nine fishable lakes close together. Rainbow Lakes Trail is open to foot traffic only, meaning no horses or mountain bikes. There is no forage or room at the lakes for hor… From the guidebook “Hiking Idaho”

#5. TOXAWAY - PETTIT LOOP—18 MI

Mountains. The 18-mile loop begins and ends at Pettit Lake, a large moraine lake on the valley floor. The loop encounters all the features that have… From the guidebook “Hiking Idaho”

CASCADE, ID—This hike is one of the most remote in Idaho. Aside from the stretch along the Middle Fork of the Salmon River, encountering another hiker would be a surprise. This is the most spectacular hike in the… From the guidebook “Hiking Idaho”

#7. BOULDER - LOUIE LAKES LOOP—6 MI

MCCALL, ID—A very pretty lake loop in scenic granite mountains. This is a popular area with routes to two different lakes that can put you in some very beautiful country quickly. A loop trip is also possible wi… From the guidebook “Hiking Idaho”

#8. SEVEN DEVILS LOOP—29 MI

RIGGINS, ID —This is an excellent loop hike because each day offers fine views and each night a lake to camp by. The terrain is rugged with a good deal of elevation loss and gain. The Seven Devils create their own… From the guidebook “Hiking Idaho”

#9. SOLDIER LAKES LOOP—40 MI

STANLEY, ID—This is a nice sampler of the huge Frank Church-

River of No Return Wilderness, which avoids the long, bumpy drive on dirt and gravel roads that is required to reach most other trailheads in this wilde… From the guidebook “Backpacking Idaho”

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#13. PETTIT LAKE - HELL ROARING LOOP—30 MI Stanley, ID—This relatively short trip samples all of the attributes that make the Sawtooth Mountains the most popular hiking area in Idaho. The route wanders through attractive forests, goes past several beautif… From the guidebook “Backpacking Idaho”

#14. QUEENS RIVER LOOP—31 MI

BOISE, ID—The Sawtooth Mountains have an embarrassment of riches, including colorful fields of wildflowers, jagged granite peaks, and gorgeous, high-elevation lakes. This loop trip explores the southwest part o… From the guidebook “Backpacking Idaho”

STANLEY, ID—This is a classic backpacking trip in the Sawtooth

#6. BIG BALDY - INDIAN CREEK LOOP—52 MI

STANLEY, ID—Although it would be difficult to pick a single favorite from among the dozens of mountain ranges that always draw the admiration of Idaho hikers, you could make a strong case for the White Cloud Peak… From the guidebook “Backpacking Idaho”

#15. MIDDLE FORK SALMON RIVER—67 MI

STANLEY, ID—Over countless millions of years the Middle Fork Salmon River has been busy carving a spectacular, deep canyon into the granite rock of central Idaho. From the top of the canyon looking down, this mas… From the guidebook “Backpacking Idaho”

#16. SHIP ISLAND LAKE—22 MI

SALMON, ID—One of the most spectacular areas in the Frank Church–River of No Return Wilderness. Stunning views of Ship Island Lake and the breaks country of the Middle Fork of the Salmon River. Rugged granite mo… From the guidebook “Hiking Idaho”

#17. LOON LAKE LOOP AND BEYOND—10 MI

MCCALL, ID—Two scenic Canyons and a large, productive lake. The trail to Loon Lake is usually done as a loop. In the past, however, the big question was whether one could ford the Secesh River because it was no… From the guidebook “Hiking Idaho”

#18. CHILCO MOUNTAINS—9.6 MI

SILVERWOOD, ID—From the summit of Chilco Mountain, you can see Lake Pend Oreille and Lake Coeur d’Alene, mountain waters that are as beautiful as they are big. The hike is an alpine escape for people visiting one of… From the guidebook “100 Hikes in the Inland Northwest”

#19. PALISADES CREEK—12 MI

IRWIN, ID—A beautiful, cliff-lined, easy-access canyon with a large stream as wildlife, due to no livestock grazing. Walk past the Forest Service information sign and into the narrow mouth of the canyon. Palis… From the guidebook “Hiking Idaho”

October 2015

any grab granola bars for a quick snack, not really even counting them into the day’s calorie count. It’s oats and grain, so how could it hurt? It turns out that granola bar makers take some measures to make their bars taste better. Take Nature Valley, for example, whose crunch Oats ‘N Honey bars have six grams of fat, and dish out 200 calories. Nature Valley’s much-loved Sweet and Salty Peanut bars are even worse, containing 13 grams of fat (a fifth of your daily intake) and 250 calories. Maybe it’s the frosting on the bottom half of the bar. But one bar is dry and crunchy, while the other is moist, you say. Chewy doesn’t have to mean fatty, it turns out. Take Kashi’s Chewy Granola Bar, for example, which has only 5 grams of fat. Cascadian Farms also makes some excellent bars with low fat content. Kind Plus Almond Cashew bars have a high amount of fat (10 g), but it comes from almonds and cashews, which is the kind of fat your body needs every day.

SUGAR

ome bars are marketed as granola bars, but really they are more like lightweight candy bars. Consider the Kudos Bar, by Mars, which contains a reasonable amount of calories, but that is because it is about half the size of a normal granola bar. Besides, they offer very little valuable nutrition, which should be part of the reason to eat a granola bar in the first place. More traditional granola bars don’t often fare much better. There are 12 grams of sugar in Nature Valley’s Oats 'N Honey bars, and 18 grams of sugar in their Sweet and Salty Peanut Bars. If you like a sugary snack bar, try a Larabar Pecan Pie, which has a high amount of sugar, but sugar that comes from natural dates, instead of additives.

Staff favorites include Larabar's Cashew Cookie and Coconut Cream Pie bars.

FIBER

FAT

GRANOLA BAR GUIDELINES 22 HEALTHY MAGAZINE

ANYTHING GRANOLA IS HEALTHY, RIGHT? WELL NOT IF YOU ADD MOUNDS OF SUGAR AND PACK IN FAT. BUT THERE ARE HEALTHY GRANOLA BARS. HERE ARE SOME GUIDELINES.

any Americans don’t get enough fiber in their diet, which should be at about 25 grams a day, according to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Fiber can help prevent heart disease, diabetes and digestive problems. The best sources of fiber are fruits, vegetables, whole grains and beans. Don’t rely on fiber bars to get your fiber. Also, if your excuse for eating a ton of granola bars is that you need the fiber, you might just try eating more fruit. Fruit gives you fiber and a bunch of other good nutrition at the same time. Furthermore, some report that eating multiple fiber-filled bars in one day leads to digestive issues. Another reason to not rely on bars for fiber. If you aren’t getting enough produce and whole grain, try a Kind Almond & Apricot, which combines a lot of natural ingredients with a good amount of fiber.

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10 BO OST S QUICK ENERGY

hether you’re in the office trying not to let your head fall and smash into your keyboard because you’re so tired, or at home with the kids feeling exhausted just thinking about making dinner and carpooling and homework, you can jumpstart your body with a little bit of the right food for fuel. Tara Harwood, a registered dietician recommends, “three meals and three snacks a day and to never go over three to four hours without eating something.” She warns that, “If you become too hungry, this can cause you to overeat.” The best quick energy foods are a combination of protein and complex carbohydrates. Stock up your shelves with a good selection of these options. They're not only quick to give you energy but they're also quick to prepare. Here are a list of favorites from doctors, dieticians, and even moms and dads:

1. CHEESE & CRACKERS

When you’re ready to crash you may be thinking "candy bar!" but a sugar shock will just leave you lagging again in an hour. “For a nearly instant energy boost that lasts, eat a healthy snack containing protein and a complex carbohydrate,” says Christine Gerbstadt, MD, a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association and a weight control researcher. "Try a whole-grain cracker with low-fat cheese," Gerbstadt says. Whole grain crackers and some delectable cheese will pump you up and keep you going.

2. PBJ: TRIED AND TRUE FOR THE TIRED YOU It’s not just for kids anymore. Peanut butter on whole grain bread is another easy carb + protein snack.

This combination will digest more slowly than simple carbs and will keep your blood glucose sustained so your energy level can keep up.

3. WATER… OBVIOUS, BUT REALLY

Keep a water bottle or two close by to avoid getting tired. “Some studies suggest even mild dehydration can slow your metabolism and sap your energy. The solution is simple—drink plenty of water or other unsweetened beverages throughout the day,” recommends Laura Martin, MD and medical educator.

4. FRESH FRUIT

Loaded with vitamin C, antioxidants, and fiber, fruit is great for times when you need a little energy boost. Tara Gidus, RD, a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association promoted these fruits saying, "It's got vitamins, minerals, and good carbs, which give you quick energy." Take your pick of any fruit. They’re all packed with natural sugars to get you going. Bananas, apples, and oranges are easy to pack along because they don’t require refrigeration. Berries are a sweet treat with a lower sugar density. Christine Richmond, a green health expert, recommends citrus because it will kick in within 20 minutes of eating it.

5. NUTS

A small portion, about 1 oz., will do the trick.

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6. QUINOA

“This super grain is provides energy, heart healthy benefits and has powerful anti-oxidant properties. This is one of the most nutrient rich if not the most nutrient rich grains on earth,” wrote Robert Reames, personal trainer and dietician.

7. HONEY

A great, quick energy booster because it’s a sugar, but it is more complex than the processed white sugar found in jams and jellies which means it will digest more slowly and you get to avoid the sugar crash.

8. VEGETABLES

Your mom was right: Veggies are where it’s at. They are rich in fiber and are complex carbohydrates so they digest slowly leaving you feeling full for longer.

9. TRAIL MIX

If you don’t want to down a handful of nuts, make yourself a healthy mix of your personal favorites. Add some seeds, raisins, and even a little dark chocolate if you want and you’ll have an effective fix to your afternoon drag.

10. FRUIT JUICE

This energy booster has many of the same benefits as whole fruit, but it is often sugary, so dilute it with half a cup of water for every half cup of beverage unless it’s 100% juice.

October 2015

BEAUTY TIPS FROM MERRELL HOLLIS

Below are Merrell’s Top Ten Makeup Musts for achieving celebworthy skin and makeup looks.

1. USE A MAKEUP SEALANT Apply a sealant to cleansed skin before you apply a primer. This creates an invisible barrier in between the makeup and your skin while preventing perspiration or the natural oils in your skin from breaking down the primer and makeup.

2. APPLY A FACIAL PRIMER As a makeup artist and grooming expert, celebrity makeup artist Merrell Hollis has worked with some of the biggest names in music, film and fashion including Faith Evans, Naomi Campbell, Diane Von Furstenberg, Kim Cattrall, Jessica White, Joy Bryant, Mary J. Blige, Sean ‘P.Diddy’ Combs, Usher, Idris Elba and John Legend to name a few. His approach to beauty alone has made him a reputable name in the makeup industry. His creativity and eye for detail have molded the faces of many celebrities and now he’s sharing his favorite tips with the rest of us!

24 HEALTHY MAGAZINE

Always use a primer before applying makeup. For example, instead of an eye moisturizer, use a moisturizing primer. Moisturizers can break the concealers down while a hydrating primer will give your skin the boost it needs while helping to keep the makeup on. This will cut back on the need to touch up your concealer and keep it from getting “cakey”.

3. LEARN THE COLOR WHEEL

Knowing which colors compliment each other will make picking out the right makeup shades a cinch!

4. USE A FAN BRUSH TO APPLY BLUSH Thanks to the super long bristles, a fan brush softly deposits the color on the cheeks with a more natural look.

5. EYEBROW TIPS

When shaping in your eyebrows, don’t over pluck in the pursuit of perfection. Just remember - they are sisters not twins.

6. TO MASK DISCOLORATION AND UNEVEN TONE AROUND THE MOUTH

Use an orange or peach pigment to brighten up the appearance of the skin. It enhances the skin and stops it from looking ashy around the mouth.

7. USE YOUR FINGERS ON DELICATE SKIN

Set under eye makeup using a translucent powder and your fingertips - not a sponge or makeup brush which can leave lines and creases.

8. USE THE RIGHT TOOLS When applying foundation, opt for a beauty sponge instead of a brush. Brushes are great but can remove a lot of the makeup. Instead, gently press makeup into the skin using a sponge – this will give the canvas a soft, airbrushed looked.

9. APPLY YOUR EYE MAKEUP LAST

After you have finished with foundation, concealer and bronzer, apply your eye make up. It makes it easier to see where to go once the face is contoured.

10. CHOOSING THE RIGHT FOUNDATION COLOR

The right foundation color will match your face, ears, neck, chest and hairline. To customize your over-thecounter foundation by season, add in a white color pigment to lighten it for spring/summer months or black pigment to deepen the tone for fall/winter.

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October 2015

~ beauty

DITCH THE B Tired of expensive beauty products? Make them yourself.

FACE

FA D E AC N E S C A R S

½ tsp organic cinnamon ½ tsp nutmeg 1 tsp raw honey 2 tsp fresh lemon juice Mix all together in a thick paste. Apply and let sit for 30 mins. It should burn a little for the first 5 minutes then fade. Rinse with warm water and moisturize. If you have sensitive skin, dilute the lemon. Apply twice a week to see improvement. Source: babble.com

UPLIFTING EYE CREAM

4 tsp avocado oil 2 tsp calendula oil 2 tsp rosehip oil ½ tsp cornstarch or corn flour 2 tsp melted beeswax (.3oz) 1 vitamin e capsule 3 drops lemon essential oil Use a double boiler or a stainless steel bowl sitting in a pan. Allow the water in the saucepan or base of the double to boil gently. Add all the ingredients, except for vitamin E and essential oil, to the stainless steel bowl (or top of the double boiler) and stir gently, ideally with a whisk, until well and truly melted. Take off the heat and off the water. Stir in essential oil and vitamin E. Pour into sterile jars. Put the lids on once the cream is set and cool. Apply cream to clean lids and under eyes when needed.

SKIN MOISTURIZER ¾ cup Organic Coconut Oil (beat until whipped and airy) 10 drops Frankincense essential oil 10 drops Tea Tree Oil (wards off acnecausing bacteria)

LIP SCRUB Mix Vaseline or un-petroleum jelly and raw sugar. Rub onto lips and rinse with warm washcloth. Can be used whenever lips feel dry.

This can be used every day. Source: designertrapped.com

A N T I - R E D N E S S FAC I A L Mix equal parts egg yolk and lemon juice. Apply liberally to red areas of the face. Leave on for 10-15 minutes then rinse. Repeat twice a week.

HIGHLIGHTER You’ll need lotion and shimmery eyeshadow for this. Simply mix pearl/ champagne colored glimmer eyeshadow with lotion until smooth. Source: onegoodthingbyjillee.com

Source: blahblahmagazine.com.au/how-to-make-eye-cream

26 HEALTHY MAGAZINE

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BEAUTY AISLE S H AV I N G C R E A M

1/3 cup coconut oil 1/3 cup shea butter 2 tbsp olive jojoba or sweet almond oil 2 tbsp liquid castile soap (or you can use old shampoo)

Apply mixture to hair and cover with shower cap and wait for 30 minutes then wash out. Source: onegoodthingbyjillee.com

CO CO N U T M I L K S H A M P O O ¼ cup coconut milk 1/3 unscented castile soap 1 tsp vitamin e 10 drops essential oil (lavender is a good choice)

Use daily. Source: onegoodthingbyjillee.com

HERBAL SHAMPOO 3 tsp aloe vera gel 2 tbsp dried herbs (rosemary, lavender, etc.) 4 oz distilled water 4 oz liquid castile soap 30 drops rosemary essential oil

Mix together the water and herbs and heat gently to make a strong tea. Let the mixture steep for 30 minutes then filter out the herbs and let the liquid cool. Transfer into a bottle and add the castile soap followed by the essentials oils and aloe vera. Shake well. This can be used daily. Source: realbeautyspot.com

L E M O N CO CO N U T SHAMPOO Organic shampoo base (about 1 cup) 1 tbsp organic coconut oil fragrance of choice (such as 20 drops of lemon essential oil)

Mix together in a bowl and transfer to a bottle or mason jar. Can be used daily. Source: essentiallyeclectic.com

B AT H B O M B 1 cup citric acid 1 cup baking soda ½ cup corn starch ½ cup carrier oil (such as coconut oil) food coloring 10 drops essential oil dried flower petals

Melt shea butter and coconut oil over the lowest heat setting on the stove. Stir until fully melted. Add olive oil and stir until fully blended. Remove from heat. Transfer mixture to a medium-sized bowl or jar and place in fridge until solid. Remove from fridge and whip using a hand mixer or stand mixer. Whip until fluffy (about 3-4 minutes). Add castile soap or shampoo and whip until fully combined. Spoon shaving cream into airtight container and store in a cool, dry place. Source: mommypotamus.com

Mix together a small amount of the baking soda, food coloring and essential oil in a bowl. Add the mixture to the rest of the baking soda, citric acid, and corn starch. Add flower petals and mix well. Spritz the mixture with water while mixing with your hands. Do not add too much water, just enough that when a handful, when squeezed, keeps its shape. Press the mixture firmly into a mold. Pop out of the mold immediately and let it dry overnight. Store by wrapping individually.

BO DY

HAIR

D E E P CO N D I T I O N E R

3 tbsp coconut oil 1 tbsp olive oil 8 drops essential oil

W H I P P E D B O DY B U T T E R 1-3/4 cup shea butter (helps with stretch marks as well) ½ cup coconut oil ¼ cup grapeseed oil a few drops of your favorite essential oils.

Measure out shea butter and coconut oil (which will be solid at a room temperatures below 76 degrees) and melt over mediumlow heat in a double broiler, stirring constantly until there are no lumps left. Let cool about 30 minutes, then stir in the grapeseed oil and essential oil(s) of your choosing. Cover the oil mixture and freeze for about 20-30 minutes, or refrigerate for 1-2 hours. You want the mixture to start to solidify but not completely harden, a consistency similar to soft wax or softened butter. Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl and whip until soft and fluffy. Smooth over skin anytime you need extra moisture.  Source: mamadweeb.com

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October 2015

B E A U T Y

Lobe LOGIC During the holidays, trees and houses get some of what ears deal with all year: the pain of decoration. A little lobe logic, however, can help keep ears merry through all seasons. The nature of earrings makes precaution necessary. Ear embellishment of this sort requires an on-purpose injury that is never guaranteed to heal properly.

Piercing

QUESTIONS ABOUT

Earrings

28 HEALTHY MAGAZINE

Here are four penetrating questions and answers about earring safety.

How Young Is Too Young?

In many Latin American countries and cultures, baby girlsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; ears are pierced within the first six months of birth. Tradition plays a large role in the decision. Medical recommendations vary on when it is okay to pierce the ears of a child. A good precaution is to wait

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at least until the child receives his or her first immunizations, which happen in the first six months, generally. This will help the child avoid infections from the piercing, which are more threatening at a young age, considering a child’s underdeveloped immune system.

blood can transmit hepatitis B and C, along with tetanus, according to mayoclinic.com. A health professional should be contacted immediately if an infection is persistent, and especially if the earring clasp becomes embedded in the earlobe and can’t be removed.

But infection isn’t the only thing parents must consider. Small children by themselves cannot properly take care of a new piercing, which should be cleaned twice a day. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends waiting to do piercings until the child is old enough to care for the piercing him or herself. Otherwise parents alone have the important and time-consuming responsibility of making sure their child’s piercing doesn’t get infected.

The most common cause of pierced ear infections is unsterile piercing equipment or unsterile earring posts. If the equipment isn’t to blame, our fingers often bring the infection to the open wound after the initial procedure.

For small children, earrings also present a choking hazard. Children may be able to take the earrings off and put them in their mouths. Also, children may tend to fiddle with the earrings, which can increase the chances of infection. If parents decide to get their child’s ears pierced, having a pediatrician do the piercing is probably a good idea. Licensed medical professionals will probably have more sterile equipment and take better precautions to protect the child.

Parents should also teach these important earring basics. from B.D.

Schmitt, MD, author of Your Child's Health ››

Don’t touch your earrings except to insert or remove them. Fingers are dirty.

››

Remove the earrings at night to expose the channel to air (This only applies after the healing process is complete).

››

Clean earrings, posts and earlobes before placing the earrings.

››

Attach clasps loosely to prevent any pressure on earlobes.

››

Don’t wear dangling earrings for sports. Be careful when dancing and washing hair as well, or an activity where your earrings could get caught.

How Do I Know if My Piercing Has Caused an Infection?

Dr. Schmitt wrote that some signs of infection are when swelling and redness spread beyond the pierced area, when the individual develops a fever above 100°F, and when the infection doesn’t improve for 48 hours. Most infections of the ear don’t take long to heal, but some are more serious. Equipment contaminated with infected

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Other times, earrings are too tight, either because they are simply too short for the size of the earlobe or because the clasp is closed too tight. This presents two problems, according to Dr. Schmitt: lack of air flow and lack of blood flow, which both make the earlobe more vulnerable to infection. Cheap earrings may also have rough areas along the post, which means they can scratch the inside of the ear and bring infection. Sometimes the post is inserted wrong, which further irritates the piercing. Use a mirror to put in earrings until you becoming accustomed to it. Ask your doctor about which cleaning solution is best for the ears. Carol Mulvihill, RN-C,BSN and Carla Peterman of the University of Pittsburgh say that certain antiseptics like peroxide, bactine and alcohol can actually destroy new healing tissue. Peroxide and bactine can, however, be diluted to three parts water and one part antiseptic for safe use. There is potential risk for infection with any piercing, according to the Association of Professional Piercers (APP), as they all break the skin. However, different types of piercings have different risks and require different amounts of time to heal. For example, an ear piercing in the cartilage of the ear rather than the lobe presents more risk and takes a longer time to heal. The APP doesn’t recommend using a piercing gun, as it carries additional risks for infection because of its repeated use. Make sure whatever is being used is sterile, and that the person doing the piercing is trained.

Am I Allergic to My Earrings?

Looks aren’t everything when it comes to jewelry, says the APP. “The look of the jewelry that is placed in your fresh piercing must be secondary to aspects that affect safety and compatibility with your body,” reads safepiercing.org. Allergies must be taken into consideration when choosing earring material.

The American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) warns that metal jewelry containing nickel, cobalt or white gold can cause allergic reactions. About 10 to 15 percent of Americans have a nickel allergy, though many do not know it, according to cnn.com. When an allergic person touches nickel, there may be rashes, bumps, redness and dryness. A nickel allergy usually develops after repeated or prolonged exposure to items containing nickel, which is often jewelry, according to mayoclinic.com. “The more piercings you have, the greater your risk of developing a nickel allergy,” the website says. For earrings, especially first-time earrings, surgical-grade stainless steel, titanium, 14or 18 karat gold or a metal called niobium are good choices.

Home?

Should I Do it at

APP Secretary Bethra Szumski says that home piercing isn’t a good idea. “There are just too many variables with home self-piercing,” she says. “Most people don't have enough of an understanding of aseptic technique to manage the job safely.” This may sound obvious, but YouTube videos titled “How to Pierce Your Ears With a Safety Pin” shouldn’t be used. Movies like The Parent Trap show funny episodes of self-inflicted ear piercing, but risks are real, and probably not a smiling matter once they happen. An ear-piercing fiasco can seriously debilitate one's health. Furthermore, serious infections can result in a person never being able to pierce their ears again. Also, the exact placement of the piercing matters, since misplacement can lead to disfigurement, stretching and discomfort. An experienced piercer is more likely to pierce the correct spot.

October 2015

BREAST CANCER AWARENESS

BREAST CANCER OR SOMETHING ELSE? Lumps in the breast are more often the result of benign breast disease or a breast cyst— non-cancerous and non-life-threatening— and it’s important to know which is which.

WRITTEN BY TAYLOR SMITH

ancer is a terrifying disease that has probably touched your life or the life of someone you love. It’s something that is frequently in the back of our minds, especially as we get older. Every woman dreads finding a lump in her breast because of what it might mean. Surgery, chemo, radiation—all are potentially life saving measures that come at the cost of time and prolonged pain. What you might not know is that lumps in the breast are more often associated with benign breast disease or breast cysts. The National Cancer Institute reports most breast lumps are benign, meaning they are not cancerous or life threatening. They can, however, be the result of natural circumstances or one of many other conditions. It’s important to know the difference between the conditions causing lumps in the breast and breast cancer, and what it means for your health.

30 HEALTHY MAGAZINE

BENIGN BREAST DISEASE:

A woman’s breasts are always changing. As women approach middle age, the lobules that produce milk give way to soft, fatty tissue. This kind of breast lumpiness is most often found around the areola and in the upper and outer parts of the breast. Moreover, many women experience a natural swelling of the breasts during menstrual cycles, making any kind of breast lumpiness more pronounced than normal. Pregnancy, too, may result in increased lumpiness in the breasts. Lumps of this nature are typically benign and very rarely become cancerous. They can, however, hide the presence of malignant lumps or tumors that can be detected on a mammogram. For this reason, any lump detected in the area of the breast should be mentioned to your health care provider.

BREAST CYSTS:

Simply put, cysts are just fluid filled sacs. The National Institutes of Health reports that breast cysts are most common in women between the ages of 35 and 50. These sacs can often swell during or around the menstrual period. This swelling may cause tenderness or pain in the breast. If swelling persists, a doctor may decide to drain the cyst. If you have any questions or concerns about a lump or the condition of your breasts, you should consult a doctor as soon as possible. Even if you have had benign lumps before, speak to your doctor about the formation of any new lumps. The earlier you speak to a doctor the better off you’ll be, especially if the lump is found to be cancerous. You can never be too safe.

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we llness

Breast Cancer & ORAL HEALTH M

ost people realize the major risk factors of oral cancer. These include smoking, alcohol use and others. The surprising fact is how your oral health has a connection to breast cancer. You may be 11 times more likely to develop breast cancer if you have poor oral health or gum disease. The Journal of Breast Cancer Research and Treatment and the World Health Organization have both conducted studies that show that gum disease increases risk of breast cancer, and the mercury from your silver fillings may play a part.

In 2011 a Canadian research team assessed breast cancer tissue biopsies and found significant accumulation of heavy metals often found in dental materials. Such as, mercury, zinc, and nickel. Those that are already undergoing or about to undergo traditional cancer therapy such as chemo and radiation, should be aware that there may be side-effects that may affect the

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mouth. Also, for those treated with Bisphosphonate chemotherapies there may be long-term destruction of the jaw-bone.

For those that may be interested in more natural approaches to breast cancer therapy, there are many options available. Actress Suzanne Somers is known for refusing chemotherapy to treat her breast cancer, using instead natural alternatives such as Mistletoe. Others may include diet, ozone, alkalinizing, homeopathies, acupuncture and mind wave treatments. Also, Dr. Thomas Rau from the famous Paracelsus Clinic in Switzerland has reported that 98% of his breast cancer patients have had one or more root canal teeth on the same acupuncture/energy meridian as the original breast cancer tumor and there are others with similar reports. Obviously, claims like this are highly controversial and not taken as fact by most dentists or traditional oncologists,

but it certainly is interesting to note, if nothing else. Regardless of which camp one choses to follow, traditional or natural, it is apparent that improved oral health can pay great dividends in both prevention and treatment of breast cancer. Maybe a little flossing and regular visits to your dentist aren’t such bad ideas after all? A holistic/biological dentist would be someone who could offer more information on these topics. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Scott Chandler, DMD Silver Creek Dental 675 South 100 West, Ste. 1 Payson, UT 84651 801-853-8803 paysondentist.com

Dr. Chandler, father of ten, was trained at the University of Kentucky’s dental school. As a trustworthy professional and a perfectionist at his work, he is Payson’s elite dentist.

October 2015

Early Flu Shots WRITTEN BY BONNIE SHELTON

FALL IS UPON US, BRINGING WITH IT ANOTHER FLU SEASON. Outbreaks can start as early as October and that’s why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends getting the flu shot as soon as it’s available. “Getting a flu shot each year is one of the best things you can do to protect your health,” said Dr. Ted Epperly, a family physician in Boise. It might seem early to get a flu shot in October but Dr. Epperly says getting the vaccine now is beneficial. “One advantage is that you don’t forget,” he said. “You don’t wait too long and all of a sudden influenza is in a community.” The antibodies in the vaccine take about two weeks from the time of the immunization to build up to a sufficient amount for protection against the flu. The CDC has also determined that immunity will not decline enough to put you as risk before flu season ends in the spring. Every year, the World Health Organization predicts what the predominant flu strains will be for the upcoming year. Manufacturers then develop vaccines to match. Retailers often get the vaccine a few weeks before doctors do. That’s why you’ll see places like Rite Aid and Walgreens advertising flu shots as early as August. “The formula is based on their best estimation of what the three most prominent strains are,” said Dr. Epperly. He says even if the vaccine doesn’t end up being a perfect match for that year’s strain, you should still get a flu shot early. “Yes, you may still get sick even though you got the vaccine, but usually the illness will be less than it would have been if you didn’t,” he said. Experts say children, pregnant women and the elderly have a high risk for flu-related complications. Getting vaccinated is highly recommended. Flu season usually peaks between December and February.

32 HEALTHY MAGAZINE

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速

Watch News at Noon every Wednesday with Kim Fields & Healthy Magazine to learn life strategies for better health.

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October 2015

resilient

THE DOCTOR PAYMENT

PROBLEM Our system for paying medical professionals is broken, and patients foot the bill.

WRITTEN BY MICHAEL RICHARDSON

34 HEALTHY MAGAZINE

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American healthcare is an enormous tangled knot made over decades, and one strand that must be untied before quality and affordability improve is how America pays their doctors. The problem is right in our face and in our wallets. Consider the following. • • •

From 2001 to 2007, personal bankruptcies from illness and medical bills rose by 50 percent, to about 2/3 of all such bankruptcies. 1.7 million (2013) Americans live in households that will declare bankruptcy due to their inability to pay medical bills. 10 million Americans ages 19-64 with year-round insurance coverage will face medical bills they cannot pay.

Sources: American Journal of Medicine, Nerdwallet Health

Clearly medical insurance isn’t what it once was. Patients are grasping for solutions in the face of unexpected medical costs, and physicians are struggling to stay afloat as problematic compensation pushes them under. Here are the worst knots we must untangle when it comes to paying doctors: THE WAY INSURANCE COMPANIES AND MEDICARE PAY DOCTORS GIVES INCENTIVE FOR UNBALANCED, EXPENSIVE CARE. Some doctors report they feel pressure from insurance companies to practice a certain way, because the current systems of payment overvalue some services and undervalue others. For example, if a habitual smoker comes into a doctor’s office, the doctor doesn’t necessarily get paid for getting the patient to quit smoking. The doctor can charge small fees for asking about smoking habits and consulting about how to quit, but the real money comes from how many billable procedures he performs. Granted, some of these procedures are important for improving the patients health, but they can’t fill the place of time spent consulting the patient, which insurance doesn’t cover nearly as handsomely. In general, tests and procedures are highly compensated, and time spent with a patient is not. Paying based on volume of services given takes focus away from what it should be: the patient’s overall well-being. Furthermore, it results in unnecessary procedures and wasted money.

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“A phrase I’ve heard people say, that I think sums up the current fee-for-service way of paying for care pretty well, is that it can make doctors feel like they’re practicing medicine in a professionally undignified way,” says Andrea Ducas, MPH, a program officer with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a health philanthropy and social change organization. Dr. Andy Peiffer, medical director of the Men’s Health Center in Salt Lake City, moved to a cash-based system of payment in 2005, and doesn’t accept insurance for his services. He says this allowed him to begin practicing medicine like he wanted. Perhaps most importantly, he says, it allows him to spend more time with patients. “In preventive medicine, the most important thing a doctor can offer is time,” he says. Peiffer says people still need insurance, and that most of his patients have some form of it. Patients pay him out-of-pocket simply because it is worth the value of his time, he says. Patient satisfaction has gone up since he stopped accepting insurance, he reports. The problem becomes more complicated when Medicare is inserted into the picture. Medicare doesn’t give doctors as much money for medical services as most insurance companies do, which means that if a doctor is going to see Medicare patients, he must see a larger number of them to make it financially worthwhile. The end result is that our senior population, which needs the most medical attention, is often getting the hastiest doctor visits and the least professional consultation. THE WAY WE PAY DOCTORS DEMANDS AN ABSURD AMOUNT OF ADMINISTRATIVE LABOR ON THEIR PART, WHICH INCREASES COSTS. Medical practices must have an office staff to fight compensation battles with insurance companies. The doctor performs a procedure, and bills the insurance company of the patient, but then the insurance company often denies the claim, claiming faulty paperwork or some other issue. The doctor’s office modifies and resubmits the claim, and the battle continues. “Offices spend inordinate amounts of time on claims,” Peiffer says. “People are nickel and diming and getting nickel and dimed.” Peiffer says booting insurance allowed him to get rid of overhead costs. Research suggests that the ratio of administrative (paperwork) versus care delivery (actual doctors and nurses) staff has increased significantly in the last 20 years, wasting billions of dollars. • •

Administration (versus people who actually practice medicine) consumes 31 percent of health spending in the United States. Cutting that in half could save $400 billion annually.

Source: healthcarecostmonitor.thehastingscenter.org

Proponents of a one-payer system (the payer being the government, federal or

New Systems in Place There are:

7,000 medical practices that

are certified patient-centered medical homes.

600 Accountable Care

Organizations (ACOs), serving 18 million people. An ACO is an organization that ties reimbursement to quality metrics.

500 hospitals, health systems or providers using Medicare’s Bundled Payments for Care Initiative (BPCI).

state), like Canada has, use the argument of bureaucracy costs as one of their main weapons. Having a single body to submit claims to, versus 10 different insurance companies, each with different policies, would supposedly cut costs dramatically. While arguments abound about the quality of Canadian healthcare, our neighbors to the north spend about 15 percent of health spending on administration, or about half of what the US spends. David Himmelstein, MD, an associate professor of medicine at CUNY and administrative waste researcher, says that hospitals could save about $120 billion annually if the United States switched to a system like Canada has. Doctors would save $95 billion. “A single-payer national health insurance would make universal, comprehensive coverage affordable by diverting hundreds of billions of dollars from bureaucracy to patient care,” he told The Hastings Center. In Canada, citizens pay for healthcare through their income tax, for the most part, and pay nothing at the point of service.

October 2015

Before we go crazy about Canadian health care, however, realize that some polls show that many Canadians aren’t content. A 2011 Gallup poll showed that 17 percent of Canadians are very dissatisfied with the availability of affordable healthcare (in the US that number was at 44 percent). Furthermore, 48 percent aren’t satisfied with the quality of medical care in Canada, the poll showed (50 percent aren’t satisfied in the US). THERE IS NO STANDARDIZATION OF PRICES FOR PROCEDURES. Say you need an MRI. That procedure could cost a few hundred dollars or a few thousand, based on where you have it performed, even though it is the same exact test in both places. Medicare, for example, will pay much less for a medical service if it performed in a freestanding doctor’s office versus a hospital facility. The most enraging part of this is when doctors abandon their private practice and join a large medical organization. These doctors will often stay in their own building, but work under the larger organizations salary versus billing patients themselves. The result of this is that the price for a procedure will jump from $300 to $2000, even though it is the same procedure in the same office done by the same doctor. Certain organizations help set the values for medical services: The Relative Value Scale Update Committee (RUC) and The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The National Commission on Physician Payment Reform recently called on these bodies to be more accurate and accountable in finding the real values of medical services. Due in part to the variation of prices, consumers are rarely aware of the true costs of the procedures they’re getting. The cost a patient sees is often just the remaining balance of a bill. The insulation of insurance and Medicare coverage often leads people to seek elective medical services without realizing the burden it will place on themselves and the medical providers. Research suggests that when patients receive all the information about costs, benefits, risks and tradeoffs of elective procedures, they choose about a third less treatment than if they weren’t given all the information transparently, according to pbs.org. Obviously a 30 percent decrease in services represents a tremendous weight removed from America’s back.

WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN Changes must occur with insurers, providers and patients. •

Insurers must start providing incentive for preventive medicine, and must stop rewarding doctors for performing high numbers of procedures. Fixed payments for healthcare and outcome-based reimbursement need to replace the fee-for-service model.

•

Providers need to become better coordinated. When a patient requires consultation and services from multiple medical professionals, care

36 HEALTHY MAGAZINE

and the billing for that care is often disjointed, which wastes money and decreases quality of care. New models put patients under a team of doctors, and billing occurs in a lump sum, decreasing overhead costs and paperwork.This requires cooperation with insurance companies. Providers and value-setting bodies also need to standardize costs for specific treatments across different settings. •

Patients need to start asking about different health plans, and choosing better ways to pay doctors.

There are actually already a large number of medical organizations and physicians that have adopted new payment models, and insurance companies are offering more and more contracts based on fixed payment. Check out these success stories. BUNDLED PAYMENTS Bundled payments, or episode-based payments, are a way to reimburse patients needing multiple services for a specific medical condition. Hip surgery, for example, includes pre and post-operative appointments, along with the surgery. A bundled payment plan would cover anything associated with the surgery, including complications. The efficiency of covering costs of multiple services under one payment saves money and decreases paperwork. The Baptist Health System in Texas instituted bundled options for dozens of cardiac and orthopedic procedures, and saved $4.3 million in two years. POPULATION-BASED PAYMENT This system tries to align the interests of patients with incentives for doctors. With this kind of payment, which is also called “global payment,” a provider takes responsibility for a certain amount of people, for a set amount of money from an insurance company. The doctor receives more money when care for these patients is deemed effective, making it a value-based system. In one such case, Blue Shield agreed to pay a healthcare system a predetermined amount for the care of more than 40,000 people of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS). About $30 million was saved in 3 years, which prevented rate hikes for patients. This system is effective because instead of paying doctors per procedure, they were paid a set amount, which offers no incentive for doctors to perform more procedures. In the case above, since the new plan went into action, the number of surgeries dropped 13 percent, and inpatient days dropped by 15 percent. PATIENT-CENTERED MEDICAL HOMES Under this system, insurance companies pay primary care practices to provide teambased medical care to patients, and pay per month, per patient. This system encourages continuity of care and clear communication between providers, which is important for prevention and symptom control, keeping patients out of emergency rooms and hospitals. One doctor will generally lead the

team, coordinating care for the patient across medical specialties, allowing each physician to emphasize his or her field. Hill Air Force Base in Utah implemented this model, and saw improved control of blood sugar and diabetes symptoms. Additionally, their costs went down, and patient satisfaction sits at 95 percent. WHICH IS BEST? This is a hard question to answer, because it depends on the market context, according to Andrea Ducas, MPH. Some communities will benefit from one model, while others won’t benefit from the same model. Choosing the right change is difficult, but Ducas says changes are already occurring, and the future looks bright. “There are a lot of really smart, dedicated people trying to innovate,” she says. Both insurers and doctors seem to feel a sense of urgency about the current state of affairs. Employers and individuals can help the progression continue by seeking out better health plans.

Are Insurance Companies the Bad Guys? Medical insurance isn’t what it was ten years ago, when a patient could expect most everything to be covered. Insurance companies used to even cover annual exams, even if a patient hadn’t met a deductible. But the current state of insurance compensation can’t be blamed entirely on insurance companies, says Dr. Steve Schroeder, Distinguished Professor of Health and Health Care at the University of California, San Francisco. Doctors, especially in some fields, have pushed price-setting bodies to up the level of accepted compensation for many procedures, which insurance companies must deal with. “There is a circularity to the issue,” Dr. Schroeder says. Furthermore, insurance companies are putting big money into plans that move away from the older problematic fee-for-service models. Blue Cross Blue Shield, for example, recently announced that they are spending $65 billion annually on “value-based” care, meaning they are rewarding doctors for outcome-based medicine using plans like the ones described above. “I don’t think there are any real bad guys,” Ducas says.

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CLEARED FOR TAKE-OFF! Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t let a preventable disease ground her. Vaccinating your child protects her against preventable diseases like pertussis (whooping cough), measles, meningitis, and chicken pox. Get your child immunized and watch her soar.

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October 2015

>> Fitness Energy

THE

ULTIMATE 3-minute oxygen Booster

SUSAN KARVELIS, CO-FOUNDER AND INSTRUCTOR OF SOBE PILATES GIVES US FOUR WAYS TO INCORPORATE YOGA AND PILATES AT WORK.

or time-pressed individuals who work around the clock, listen up. This oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s for you. To help improve your mental and physical health, Susan recommends the following tension-relieving yet rejuvenating exercises that can be performed anytime, anywhere. Increase mental alertness and eliminate certain levels of career stress with Pilates lower back exercises:

STEP #1 The swinging warm-up: To relieve tension at your desk.

BY KELLY TAYLOR

Stand up with arms and knees loose, lift your arms over your head and swim them down to the floor. Slightly bend your knees, let your upper body hang like a rag doll and swim them back up. Repeat while breathing deeply during movements.

STEP #2 Lower back stretches:

Targets key spot for stress in the office place.

Sit at desk and place your back flat against the chair, engage your abdominal muscles by pulling them in and up â&#x20AC;&#x201D; holding for three seconds then releasing. Repeat for three minutes.

STEP #3 Neck & shoulder stretches: Relieves built-up stress.

Sit at desk and tilt your head to the right (right ear to right shoulder) without raising your shoulder to your ear. Return to center and tilt to the other direction. Repeat 5 times per side.

STEP #4 3-minute oxygen booster: Yoga breaths of fire flush out excess carbon dioxide, replacing it with energizing oxygen. Sit with your arms stretched out to your sides, and bring your arms up over your head, so that your wrists cross. For maximum oxygenation, breathe through your nose only, inhale and then exhale in 20 to 30 short, rapid bursts drawing in your stomach muscles to force out each burst. Repeat three times, taking a few breaths between each cycle.

38 HEALTHY MAGAZINE

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HEALTHY MAGAZINE

-------------------------------ADVISOR CLIENT CONTENT

Over the counter Nasacort and Flonase: What’s in-store?

opical nasal corticosteroids like Nasacort and Flonase are commonly used medications to treat hay fever (allergic rhinitis). Previously, only physicians could prescribe these medications however, FDA has recently approved Flonase and Nasacort to be available over the counter without prescription or need for physician monitoring. Nasal corticosteroid sprays are very helpful in reducing nasal inflammation, swelling and reduce nasal secretions. These medications also help with eye itching, redness and tearing. Having them easily available is extremely convenient for the patients with allergies. However, all good things come with a price and hence, it’s extremely important for the patients to understand the concerns associated with their use. 1) NOSE BLEEDS: proper technique is extremely important to avoid nosebleeds. Supervision with a doctor can help determine that the technique is correct. Your doctor can also see if the nasal swelling is responding to the use of this medication. Nasal septum

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perforation is a rare side effect of this medication and hence, monitoring by your physician is important to rule out this rare possibility. 2) HAY FEVER symptoms are similar to viral cold, chronic sinusitis, uncontrolled acid reflux, nasal polyps, and nasopharyngeal benign or cancerous growth. It is important to make sure that these topical nasal sprays are not masking these other conditions, which could be detrimental in the long run. 3) Older individuals, who have glaucoma, should be careful with use of these topical nasal corticosteroid sprays, without discussing with their physicians or ophthalmologists. They may cause INCREASE IN INTRAOCULAR pressure with continuous use and might exacerbate glaucoma and cause vision problems and headache. 4) HEALTH INSURANCE PLANS WILL NO LONGER COVER THESE MEDICATIONS, since they are available over the counter. This may mean increased economic burden for patients. Your doctor can help you find alternatives, which would be covered by your health insurance

plan in case these over the counter medications don’t work or you are unable to afford them. In spite of above concerns, nasal corticosteroid sprays are very effective in managing hay fever symptoms and are, overall, safe medications. However, consulting with your physician and being monitored periodically while being on these medications is advisable. The Allergy Group would be very happy to answer all and every question of yours related to allergies and asthma!!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Neetu Talreja Dr. Neetu Talreja is a Board Certified Allergist/Immunologist with The Allergy Group in Boise and Meridian. Learn more from Dr. Talreja at www.theallergygroup.com or call 377-4000

October 2015

10 LIFE AFTER BABY CAN BE HARD FOR MANY WOMEN – I.E. CHANGES IN YOUR BODY, SLEEP DEPRIVATION AND STRESS. WHILE ALL THESE THINGS COME WITH THE TERRITORY OF PREGNANCY AND BABY, SIMPLY MAKING A FEW ADJUSTMENTS WILL HELP YOU TO FEEL MORE BEAUTIFUL, EMPOWERED AND LIKE YOUR OLD SELF AGAIN!

Get fitted for a new bra—If there was ever a time to properly support your breasts, now is the time. As a new mom your body will go through many changes and likewise your breasts. As your breast size change, get fitted for a new bra that properly supports your breasts. You’ll find that wearing the right bra size will help you to look better and feel better too!

2. Ditch the maternity clothes—I know, your maternity clothes are right there in your closet and comfortable to wear but getting rid of your maternity clothes and getting some new ones will help you feel like your old self again. Clothes play an important role in how you look and how you feel about yourself. So as soon as you can, get rid of the maternity clothes and get yourself a few stylish pieces that will get you back on the path to “you.”

Get a new haircut—Life as a new mom can wreak havoc on your hair, because of things like poor nutrition, stress and fluctuating hormones. Getting a fab new haircut will get rid of damaged and/or lifeless hair and help you to look younger, sexier and feel more beautiful!

40 HEALTHY MAGAZINE

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Mommy Makeover Tips Written by Notoya Green, Founder of TripletsInTribeca.com

Wear makeup always—Wearing make-up is an easy way to add life and youthfulness to your face, especially as a new mom! Your life is going to change a lot as a new mom and many of those changes will negatively affect your skin. Simply applying foundation, blush and gloss will do away with unevenness in your skin, brighten your face and hide the effects of those sleepless nights!

BIO: Notoya Green, Family Law Expert and Mother of Triplets Notoya Green is truly an expert on all family matters, from her professional experience as a family law attorney to her personal life as mother to three-year-old triplets.

Brighten those eyes—There is no way to avoid those sleepless nights as a new mom but your eyes don’t always have to tell the story. Brighten those dark and tired eyes with some concealer under your eyes even if you don’t have time for make-up!

Cover those grays—It’s difficult to find time for yourself as a new mom and it’s even more difficult to make time for your appearance. Make time to cover those grays. Not covering grays can be a tipping point of other things we are neglecting with respect to our appearance. Covering your grays will help you to look healthier, more stylish and more youthful!

7. Put Vaseline on those hands!

—When you are a new mom you’re constantly washing your hands, which can rob the skin on your hands of its natural moisture. Constant hand washing (especially during the winter months) can make your hands look older, flaky and as though you’ve been living a hard life. I know this because it happened to me. Take care of your hands at night with good old fashion Vaseline. I’ve found that it is the most effective moisturizer for softening your skin when you are washing your hands constantly, and it will give your hands a more youthful appearance all while you sleep!

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8. Exercise —There is no doubt that exercise is the fastest and best way to regain your pre-baby body. So make time to exercise. Exercising will also help you to have more energy (which you need) and it will enhance your mood.

Get A little Zen —Your physical appearance is important but so is your emotional well being. Life as a new parent will offer many challenges emotionally and it’s important to find time to reflect, meditate and/or pray. It will help you deal with some of the more challenging aspects of motherhood while staying sane.

10. Stay current—Mommy life can

swallow you whole sometimes and it’s easy to lose track of current beauty and fashion trends. Subscribe to a fashion magazine or blog even if you don’t think you’re interested in fashion. Looking at beautiful clothes and reading about fashion will keep you connected to the world and help you to find your personal style as a woman and as a mom!

With her law degree that she received in 2001, Notoya took on everything from child support to divorce. In 2007, Notoya took her passion for family law and parenting to the Administration for Children's Services (ACS), where she protected children by prosecuting parents accused of neglect and abuse, handling as many as 90 cases at a time. While at ACS she learned that all parents need support and information and how vulnerable children can be when their parents don’t have it. Upon the birth of her triplets in September of 2010, Notoya put her law career on hold to become a stay-at-home mom and care fulltime for her children. Like most multiples, Notoya’s triplets were born prematurely, at just 26 weeks, and stayed in the NICU for several months. The triplets were tiny at birth, yet fairly healthy. One preemie can be a lot for a family to handle, but preemie triplets created a special parenting challenge for Notoya and her husband. As infants the three were underweight and physically delayed in activities like rolling, sitting up and crawling. However, the triplets have since caught up and today are walking, talking, counting and will be attending preschool next fall. To create an outlet for herself, Notoya turned to the world of blogging, sharing her unique parenting experiences at www.tripletsintribeca. com. Notoya not only shares details of her family life but also helps all mothers by sharing her expertise and experiences, from selecting nannies to proper nutrition to navigating the preschool process. She’s also shared her wisdom with both The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, along with multiple TV stations.

October 2015

W R I T T E N B Y C A I T L I N S CH I L L E

SCATTERBRAINED

Knowing the difference between simple forgetfulness and the signs of dementia.

42 HEALTHY MAGAZINE

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Everyone has experienced forgetfulness, whether it’s an overdue library book, late utility bill, or an ignored email from your boss. Some people are naturally more prone to be forgetful and scatterbrained than others. As it happens, being forgetful is a common sign of the development of dementia. So how can we differentiate between a scatterbrained nature and the development of a dementia? Does losing my keys mean I’m experiencing the beginnings of Alzheimer’s? Becoming more forgetful is a natural, normal part of aging. Natural brain changes associated with the aging process cause people to have greater difficulty learning new skills, more trouble retaining new information, and more trouble remembering things in general. Forgetting the name of a band you used to like isn’t a serious marker of mental health problems, however. You may be developing dementia if the changes in your brain are severe enough that they interfere with your ability to live your daily life. This includes several symptoms, including: • Disregarding personal hygiene habits • Not following proper nutrition habits- i.e., eating three meals a day, eating a relatively balanced diet • Asking the same question repeatedly • Telling the same story repeatedly • Becoming disoriented about time and place • Lapses in basic judgment

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WARDING OFF MENTAL DECLINE

While there is no cure for dementia, there are steps you can take that will lower your risk of developing the condition. First of all, maintain an active mind. This can be done by making it a daily habit to read out of a good book, play word games, and play other brain-bending games such as Sudoku. Secondly, it is important to be physically active. Even something as simple as going for a daily 15-minute walk will help not only lower your risk for dementia, but for other chronic diseases as well! In addition to being physically active, it is important to be socially active. Having an active social life and circle of friends has been shown to reduce the risk of developing dementia, and it provides other longevity benefits as well. Consider activities that can kill two birds with one stone—for instance, joining a walking group will provide physical activity as well as build social connections. If you are concerned you may be developing dementia, please talk with your doctor. He or she will be able to offer a clinical diagnosis as well as a plan for treatment. Sources: www.nia.nih.gov, www.alzinfo.org, www.psychologicalscience.org

THE VALUE OF FORGETTING But what if I’m just scatterbrained, with no sign of dementia? Is it really so bad to be a somewhat habitually forgetful person? The answer is: yes and no. Being scatterbrained certainly has its drawbacks. Lost keys, forgotten appointments, and missed deadlines are definitely hindrances to our daily living and productivity. However, some research suggests that there are benefits to “forgetting” as well. In today’s world, we are inundated with information at every turn. People who are able to forget the unimportant fluff are more apt to recall important details, and thus, are better at solving their problems, according to research published by the Association for Psychological Science (APS). “Say you get a new cell phone and you have to get a new phone number,” explains Dr. Ben Storm of the University of Illinois at Chicago, in an APS article. “Do you really want to remember your old phone number every time someone asks what your number is? Or where you parked your car this morning—it’s important information today, but you’d better forget it when it comes time to go get your car for tomorrow afternoon’s commute. We need to be able to update our memory so we can remember and think about the things that are currently relevant.” So how can we forget about things that don’t matter? The simplest answer is time. Devote thinking time to important things, and reduce the amount of time you spend thinking about the things that don’t matter. The more time you spend being bombarded by unimportant trivia, the less time and brain space are being used to focus on important details. One suggestion is to limit time on the internet and social media— social media, while useful in some regards, can throw hundreds of pieces of minutia into our brains. As Swedish short-term memory researcher Erik Fransen explains, using the internet can lead to information overload, and can cause us to lose bits of memory that are actually important. Our working memory can only hold so much information before the brain has to let things go. Just as important as thinking about the right things is to spend some time thinking about nothing. When the brain is in a less active state, important things are happening, like making information into memory and memory consolidation. Sometimes social media might be causing us to take in new memory when what our brains need is time to forget things and consolidate.

October 2015

IT’S YOUR DESK,

STUPID! How Your Job Makes You Dumber If you feel like work melted your brain today, you may be right. WRITTEN BY MICHAEL RICHARDSON Researchers over the decades have striven to understand the brain and cognitive functioning. As this understanding has grown, we now know that certain workplace behaviors may actually inhibit our productivity and mental capacity. Here are some ways your paycheck costs more than you bargained for.

STRESS BATTERS THE BRAIN Stress sometimes makes us feel frazzled and shriveled. Your brain can relate, unfortunately. Yale University School of Medicine’s Dr. Rajita Sinha, a neurologist and director of the Yale Stress Center, reported that stress, chronic or from traumatic events, can wither parts of the brain responsible for regulating emotions and metabolism.

MULTITASKING: BEING DUMB AND UNPRODUCTIVE AT THE SAME TIME Stanford’s Dr. Nass told npr.org that chronic multitaskers may actually be harming their ability to think. “They are the worst at most kinds of thinking not only required for multitasking but what we generally think of as involving deep thought,” Nass said. He said they are worse than their peers in three areas:

According to Healthland.time.com, the damage to the brain from stress hurts our ability to restrain ourselves from harmful desires, like for addictive substances. It also hurts our ability to control impulsive behaviors to do dangerous things.

•

Sounds a whole lot like getting dumber.

•

According to Sinha, stress most greatly affects the prefrontal cortex, and damage there can lead to a variety of mental problems.

•

“It’s important for top-down regulation of our emotions, cognition, desires, and impulse control,” she said. We already know stress negatively affects the cardiovascular system and other important body systems, and now it may be that stress also makes us less intelligent, so take time to relax.

44 HEALTHY MAGAZINE

Filtering: the ability to focus on relevant information and ignore irrelevant information. Managing working memory: Being able to quickly access your memory for needed information. Switching tasks: This was the biggest surprise to researchers. Multitaskers are actually slower at switching tasks than people who aren’t multitaskers.

So settle down and focus on one thing at a time.

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“E-mail vacations on the job may be a good idea."

high levels of stress and hurts one’s ability to concentrate. Their study participants changed computer window screens an average of 37 times per hour, meaning they never focused on any one thing for more than a couple of minutes on average. That doesn’t sound very smart, let alone productive. Mark suggested that it may be more productive to answer e-mails in batches. “E-mail vacations on the job may be a good idea,” she said. Another study from England supports this idea, finding that constant e-mail checking lowers IQ by about ten points, the equivalent of missing a night’s sleep or smoking marijuana.

NOT MOVING EQUALS BRAIN SHRINKING Our brains are shrinking! Scary but true. Beginning in our late 20s, most of us lose about one percent annually in the volume of our hippocampus, the part of the brain used for memory and certain types of learning, according to the New York Times. But researchers discovered that exercise seems to slow or even reverse this loss in brain volume. A 2011 study had 120 older men and women do walking or stretching programs, and the walking group had larger hippocampi after one year, effectively giving them two more years of hippocampal youth. Stretchers lost volume. A day at the desk is not only a day free of physical activity, but it also makes working out later more difficult, because we are mentally exhausted. So we just go home and watch TV on the couch instead. Can you feel your brain shrinking? Find ways to be active at work, and plan a weekly exercise routine.

CONSTANT E-MAIL CHECKING You answered 60 e-mails today and are feeling great about it. Well hold your horses, communication pro. University of California researcher Gloria Mark and colleagues found that a constant flux of e-mail messages causes

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Psychiatrist Dr. Glenn Wilson and colleagues at King’s College in London monitored the IQ of workers throughout the day, and found that the habit of over-checking e-mails is a “widespread phenomenon.” “We have found that this obsession with looking at messages, if unchecked, will damage a worker's performance by reducing their mental sharpness,” Wilson told CNN.com.

ONE TRACK MIND: MENTAL POWER REQUIRES MENTAL EXERCISE It is difficult to learn new skills if your job does not require it. After five years on the job, many careers leave little left to learn.

or feel disconnected from it, work can be awful for general wellness. Some, like Gallup, suggest that career may be the single most important element of one’s wellbeing. Gallup keeps track of the differences between “engaged” workers and “disengaged” workers, meaning workers who like their work and feel involved in it versus those who don’t. The differences are stark. Engaged workers are twice as likely to be thriving in their lives overall, compared to disengaged employees, Gallup.com reported. In fact, only 23 percent of employees who don’t feel engaged in their work say their health is “excellent.” For unemployed people the percentage is smaller, sadly. The mind is included as part of wellness. Disengaged workers are much more likely to be depressed and anxious, studies show. Tom Rath and Jim Harter looked at career wellbeing in their new book Wellbeing: Five Essential Elements, and suggested some ways to become more engaged in work for better health. They wrote that employees should connect their work to a higher purpose, focus on their strengths and the strengths of others, set and achieve goals and try to develop new skills.

But learning new skills and remaining mentally active is important for our future health, according to the Geriatric Mental Health Foundation (GMHF). “Just as we exercise our bodies to keep them in working order, so must we exercise our brains to stay mentally agile and adept,” the GMHF advises. “It’s the use-it-or-lose-it theory.” Work out your brain daily, and it may help ward off dementia later in life, like Alzheimer’s disease. Stimulating new areas of the brain is one way to keep the mind fit. Learning a new language or a new instrument, solving a puzzle and writing a story are just some ways to challenge yourself intellectually. At work, find ways to stimulate your intellect, to make sure you are utilizing that wonderful tool we all have: the brain.

IF YOU HATE IT, IT HURTS YOU: CAREERS DEFINE WELLBEING If your desk has become an instrument of torture, make some changes. A job is a job, it’s true, but for people who dislike their job,

The research in this article shows how jobs can cost us mental capacity and mental health, but most of these costs are completely voluntary. You can lower stress, be active and stop multitasking whenever you want. You’re already giving time, sweat and tears to your work, so don’t give your mental health.

October 2015

welln es s |

The Root of Addiction Looking beyond the chemical hook of a drug

of General Psychiatry, 95 percent of the addicted soldiers simply stopped when they came home. “It’s not you,” Hari writes. “It’s your cage.” Dr. Alexander conducted further studies, where addicted rats were introduced into Rat Park, and he found that they recovered from their addiction. All this suggests that environment should be considered when examining the root of addiction. Education might be a critical part of it as well. A nationwide US survey found that cocaine users who were high school graduates were less likely to become addicts, indicating that other factors such as education level play a role in the development of addiction. Another phenomena that spits in the face of the traditional view of addiction is the fact that heroine, or diacetylmorphine, is a legal drug used in a variety of medical settings. Yet hospital patients who take the drug almost never become addicted, even though it is probably more potent than heroine sold on the streets, which turns people into a nightmare.

WRITTEN BY C AITLIN SC HILLE

or decades, the established and accepted cause of drug addiction has been that the drugs themselves cause biological changes in a person’s body and mind, leading them to feel the need for more of the substance. But a newer body of research is poking holes in that idea, and asking questions that may revolutionize the concept of addiction. The current school of thought concerning drug addiction is reflected in common phrases such as “habit-forming” and “drug-dependency.” However, there are a few problems with the traditional view of addiction, one of the largest being that the majority of people who try drugs do not become addicted. If drug use alone doesn’t always cause addiction, then there must be more to the story. Dr. Bruce K. Alexander of Simon Fraser University is leading the crusade to dispel what he believes to be the myth of drug addiction. According to him, the evidence to support the concept of drug-induced addiction is relatively sparse. One source of research is the testimonials of drug-addicts who claim they became addicted strictly as a result of using a “habit-forming” drug. Using testimonials as a source of hard evidence is risky as there is a strong tendency toward bias. It is much like a cancer patient in his 70’s trying to pin his development of cancer directly and solely on a singular exposure to lead paint 50 years prior. The fact is, most people who try drugs do not become addicted. A large Canadian study found that 95 percent of cocaine users

46 HEALTHY MAGAZINE

reported using the drug less than once per month. Once per month doesn’t strongly suggest a brain-centered addiction. Other studies show that many people pass in and out of addiction through months or years, demonstrating that addiction does not hold its victims in a continual grip as many believe it does. Instead of being chemically centered, Alexander believes that addiction is a result of a person’s environment. The genesis of this belief came from groundbreaking research with rats. One study put a rat alone in a cage with two water bottles, one of which had just water, the other being laced with heroin or cocaine. Researchers found that the rat eventually became obsessed with the drugged water, and came back for more and more until it killed itself. So drugs are chemically addictive, right? Dr. Alexander decided to twist the experiment. Instead of putting the rat alone in a cage, he built what he called Rat Park, complete with toys, food and rat friends. The rats tried both water bottles, but to Dr. Alexander’s surprise, the rats with good lives and environments didn’t like the drugged water, and mostly shunned it. None of the rats died. Author Johann Hari, who wrote Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs, drew a parallel between Alexander’s experiment and the Vietnam War. Heroin use was rampant among American soldiers in Vietnam, and many became addicted. But according to a study in the Archives

But can we so easily disregard commonly held beliefs about drug addiction that have lasted for decades? The addictive nature of drugs is not just a belief held by the average layperson. The federal government supports this notion through statements on official websites such as www.drugabuse. gov. Here it is asserted that “addiction is a chronic, often relapsing brain disease that causes compulsive drug seeking and use.” The site delves further into the science behind addiction, launching into a discussion of brain circuits and receptors and how they are affected by drug use. It is well documented that certain substances can have drastic neurological effects, and that these effects cause the user to feel ill without more of the substance. In other words, the hook of a drug is hard to deny. And it must be said that Alexander’s work has been widely criticized. Even though his ideas should be considered, don’t go and start doing hard drugs thinking you won’t have a problem quitting. The website of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence states that you can become addicted even from rare, recreational use of drugs. An informational website developed by the Mayo Clinic purports the notion that drugs cause chemical changes in the brain which then cause addiction. Dr. Alexander presents some compelling evidence to challenge these traditional viewpoints, but perhaps a blending of his research with traditional views is on the horizon. Sources: parl.gc.ca, drugabuse.gov, ncadd.org, iflscience.com, npr.org

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Seeing the

PROBLEM Avoiding computer vision syndrome Computer Vision Syndrome (also known as CVS or Digital Eye Strain) is a condition that is caused by prolonged use of any form of technology with a digital screen— computers, tablets, and even cell phones. Many people experience symptoms of Digital Eye Strain, but often don’t realize the need to change their habits or to seek help for these discomforts. Symptoms of CVS include: • Eyestrain • Headaches • Blurred vision • Dry eyes • Neck and shoulder pain Now that we know what Computer Vision Syndrome is, you may ask what are some of the contributing factors? Poor lighting plays a large role in CVS because your eyes have to work harder in the dark in order to see an object. Improper viewing distance is also a contributor because, again, your eyes might have to work harder than they need to, depending on the location of the screen. And finally, uncorrected vision problems also can cause strain on your eyes because your eyes can only work so hard before they become fatigued. A general guideline is to make sure your eyes have plenty of time to adjust and don’t overwork themselves. Technology is a necessary part of society today, so before you ditch your iPhones, here are some helpful tips on how to avoid Computer Vision Syndrome:

• Work in well-lit areas and try to prevent glare on the screens as much as possible • Take breaks frequently; rest your eyes 15 minutes for every 2 hours of continuous technology use • Blink frequently to prevent dry eye

• Minimize glare

Computer Vision Syndrome varies from person to person. Sometimes the condition can set in quickly while other times it can takes months or years for symptoms to appear. Before you ditch your smartphones or tablets, try changing how you use technology. You might be able to fix the problem on your own. If symptoms don’t seem to improve after you have changed what you can then you should seek guidance from your healthcare provider.

• Make your screen bright enough that no straining is necessary

Sources: The American Optometric Association and The Journal of the College of Optometrists at SUNY College of Optometry

• Make sure your eyes are as healthy as possible. Correct your vision as necessary. • Have proper posture

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THE “1, 2, 10” RULE PHONES 1 foot away COMPUTERS 2 feet away TVS 10 feet away October 2015

Halloween may traditionally be a child’s holiday, but you know you’ll be indulging in all your favorite candy, too. However, those fun-size Halloween portions don’t justify a binge, because it doesn’t matter when you’re eating 10 at once. Find out how your favorite candy stacks up in this head-to-head fat and calorie competition.

TRICK TREAT WHAT' S GOOD TO E AT?

48 HEALTHY MAGAZINE

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When do you ever read the nutrition facts of fun-size and snack-size candies you eat? Remember, they’re not the same as those cute one-inch by one-inch miniatures. Fun-size candies are certainly fun, but the good times stop short when you eat more than one, so check your labels carefully!

MEET THE COMPETITORS:

BABY RUTH VS. TOOTSIE ROLL A Baby Ruth offers more flavor than a Tootsie Roll—we're talking chocolate-covered peanuts, caramel and nougat versus plain chocolate. But Mr. Ruth also manages to pack in the same amount of calories as a mid-morning snack! A fun-size Baby Ruth clocks in at a whopping 129 calories, 7g of fat and 3.4g of saturated fat. For 12 small Tootsie Rolls, you will get the same amount of calories, only 3g of fat and 0.5g of saturated fat.

THE WINNER: Tootsie Roll

BRACH’S CANDY CORN VS. JELLY BEANS For 22 pieces of this Halloween staple, candy corn will set you back 140 calories. Consume 14 jelly beans, a staple any time of the year, and you’ll be getting 150 calories. You can get almost twice as much candy corn as jelly beans for the same calories!

NESTLE CRUNCH VS. BUTTERFINGER Crisped rice or buttery crunch, both surrounded by chocolate – how can you choose? Nestle Crunch packs 70 calories, while Butterfinger tips the scale at 100 calories. Fat and saturated content are pretty much the same, so calories give one of these candies the clear edge.

THE WINNER: Nestle Crunch

THE WINNER: Candy Corn

TWIX VS. SNICKERS How could you possibly decide between a chocolate-covered, caramel-centered cookie and a chocolate-covered, carameldrizzled, peanutty bar of goodness? Well, the good news is you don’t have to! Both of these fun-size treats pack 80 calories, 4g of fat and 1.5g of saturated fat. So if you’re hungry, grab a Snickers for the extra peanut-protein, and if you need a moment, chew things over with Twix!

MILKY WAY VS. MILKY WAY DARK If you love both milk and dark chocolate, which kind of Milky Way should you choose? Eating one over the other won’t affect your waistline calorie-wise. A regular Milky Way weighs in with 75 calories, and a Milky Way Dark weighs in with 80. Fat-wise, they’re almost equal. But those five extra calories are an easy trade-off for the antioxidants found in the dark chocolate. THE WINNER: You choose

THE WINNER: You choose

BLOW POPS VS. CARAMEL APPLE POPS Gum as an added bonus or caramel surrounded by the fall flavor of apple? The blow pop clocks in with 0g of fat while the caramel apple pop barely registers at 0.5g of fat. So it has to come down to calories. The caramel apple pop limps in with 70 calories, compared to only 50 calories in the blow pop. While you may scoff at the difference of 20 calories, if you eat five at a time, you’d still be saving yourself 100 calories! THE WINNER: Blow Pops

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M&MS VS. MILK DUDS It doesn’t matter how you prefer your M&Ms—plain or peanut— because a fun-size packet of Milk Duds still beats them out, in both the calorie and fat department. Plain M&Ms have 100 calories, 4.5g of fat and 2.5g of saturated fat. Peanut M&Ms have 110 calories, 5g of fat and 2g of saturated fat. Milk Duds, in all their chewy caramel-glory, have 53 calories, 2g of fat and 0.7g of saturated fat.

THE WINNER: Milk Duds

ALMOND JOY VS. KIT KAT While you may get heart-healthy almonds and a pile of chewy coconut in the Almond Joy, you’re also getting 91 calories in this tasty creation. Fun-size Kit Kats have only 51 calories, and almost half the grams of fat and saturated fat as Almond Joy. THE WINNER: Kit Kat

Unfortunately, the calories and fat in those innocent looking fun- and snacksized candies can quickly add up. Be discerning when it comes to indulging in candy this Halloween and you won’t have to dress up as a pumpkin!

October 2015

WEIGHTLOSS 34 of the smartest diet tips ever.

ADVICE ON

WEIGHT THAT REALLY WORKS

TIPS FROM TOP NUTRITION PROS.

50 HEALTHY MAGAZINE

by Top Dietitians of the American Dietetic Association

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GOT A DIET DILEMMA? ASK a true diet pro: an RD, or registered dietitian. Her job is turning complex nutrition research into doable plans for real people.

FITNESS Courtesy of the American Dietetic Association (ADA), we took our readers’ eleven toughest diet problems and ran them by some of the top dietitians in the US: RDs who, in addition to their private careers, serve as media spokespersons or heads of specialty practice groups for the ADA. Here’s what they told us, in their own words. These tips are solid gold, learned from successful experience with thousands of clients. Some tips are new. Some you’ve heard before, but they’re repeated because they work. This treasure trove of RD wisdom could change your life-starting today.

21. Sit when you eat. 22. Dilute juice with water. 23. Have mostly veggies for lunch. 24. Eat at home. 25. Limit alcohol to weekends.

How do I eat more veggies? 26. Have a V8 or tomato juice instead of a Diet Coke at 3 pm.

I can only handle one diet change right now. What should I do?

1. Add just one fruit or veggie serving daily. Get comfortable with that, then add an extra serving until you reach 8 to 10 a day.

2. Eat at least two servings of a fruit or veggie at every meal.

3. Resolve never to supersize your food portions — unless you want to supersize your clothes.

4. Make eating purposeful, not mindless. When you put food in your mouth, peel it, unwrap it, plate it, and sit. Engage all of the senses in the pleasure of nourishing your body.

5. Start eating a big breakfast. It helps you eat fewer total calories throughout the day.

6. Make sure your plate is half veggies and/or fruit at both lunch and dinner.

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Are there any easy tricks to help me cut calories? 7. Eating out? Halve

your meal, and bag the rest. A typical restaurant entree has 1,000 to 2,000 calories, not even counting the bread, appetizer, beverage and dessert.

8. When dining out, make it automatic: Order one dessert to share.

9. Use a salad plate instead of a dinner plate.

10. See what you eat. Plate your food instead of eating out of the jar or bag.

11. Eat the low-cal items on your plate first, then graduate. Start with salads, veggies and broth soups, and eat meats and starches last. By the time you get to them, you'll be full enough to be content with smaller portions of the high-calorie choices.

12. Instead of whole milk, switch to 1 percent. If you drink one 8-oz glass a day, you'll lose 5 lb in a year.

27. Doctor your veggies to make 13. Juice has as many calories, ounce for ounce, as soda. Set a limit of one 8-oz glass of fruit juice a day.

14. Get calories from foods you chew, not beverages. Have fresh fruit instead of fruit juice.

15. Keep a food journal.

them delicious: Dribble maple syrup over carrots, and sprinkle chopped nuts on green beans.

28. Mix three different cans of beans and some diet Italian dressing. Eat this three-bean salad all week.

29. Don't forget that vegetable soup counts as a vegetable.

30. Rediscover the sweet potato.

It works wonders.

31. Use prebagged baby spinach

16. Follow the Chinese

everywhere: as "lettuce" in sandwiches, heated in soups, wilted in hot pasta and added to salads.

saying: “Eat until you are eight-tenths full.”

17. Use mustard instead of mayo.

18.

Eat more soup. The noncreamy ones are filling but low-cal.

19. Cut back on or cut out caloric drinks such as soda, sweet tea, lemonade, etc. People have lost weight by making just this one change. If you have a 20-oz bottle of Coca-Cola every day, switch to Diet Coke. You should lose 25 lb in a year.

20. Take your lunch to work or school.

32.

Spend the extra few dollars to buy vegetables that are already washed and cut up.

33.

Really hate veggies? Relax. If you love fruits, eat plenty of them; they are just as healthy (especially colorful ones such as oranges, mangoes, and melons).

34. Keep seven bags of your favorite frozen vegetables on hand. Mix any combination, microwave, and top with your favorite low-fat dressing. Enjoy 3 to 4 cups a day. Makes a great quick dinner.

The American Dietetic Association RDs serve as media spokespersons or heads of specialty practice groups for the ADA.

October 2015

n healthy recipes

Pumpkin Soup

with Shrimp and Lime

Serves 6 to 8

Although pumpkin is normally associated with Thanksgiving pie, in many other cultures it is used more innovatively as a vegetable or in richly flavored sauces. This soup, which is delicious hot or cold, has its origins in both French provincial and Latin American cuisine. It’s breathtakingly easy and makes an elegant start to any meal. Large (approx. 5 quart) slow cooker Blender or food processor

3 1 tbsp 6 cups 4 cups 1 tsp Pinch 1 cup 8 oz 6 to 8 2 tbsp 1. 2. 3. 4.

Pumpkin for Baby

If your baby isn’t loving plain pureed pumpkin, try mixing in brown rice and a peach. The sweetness of a peach sometimes can help make food more palatable for the nino. Pumpkin is more than decoration and a hay-ride spectacle; it provides important vitamins and minerals.

52 HEALTHY MAGAZINE

leeks, white part only, cleaned & coarsely chopped oil peeled pumpkin, cut into 2-inch (5 cm) cubes chicken or vegetable broth salt Freshly ground black pepper Zest and juice of 1 lime cayenne pepper heavy or whipping (35%) cream cooked salad shrimp (see Tips) cherry tomatoes, halved toasted pumpkin seeds, optional (see Tips) Finely chopped chives or cilantro leaves

In slow cooker stoneware, combine leeks and oil. Stir well. Cover and cook on High for 1 hour, until leeks are softened. Add pumpkin, broth, salt, and black pepper to taste. Cover and cook on Low for 6 hours or on High for 3 hours, until pumpkin is tender. Transfer to a blender or food processor fitted with metal blade, in batches, or use an immersion blender, and purée. If serving hot, return soup to slow cooker, add lime zest and juice, cayenne, cream and shrimp and cook on High for 20 minutes, until shrimp are heated through. If serving cold, combine ingredients in a large bowl and chill thoroughly. When ready to serve, ladle soup into individual bowls and garnish with cherry tomatoes, pumpkin seeds, if using, and chives or cilantro.

Tips If pumpkin is unavailable, substitute any orange-fleshed squash, such as acorn or butternut. If you prefer, substitute 2 cans (33⁄4 oz/106 g) shrimp, rinsed and drained. When purchasing pumpkin seeds, taste first, because they tend to go rancid quickly. Store in the freezer until ready for use. To toast pumpkin seeds: Place seeds in dry skillet over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until they are lightly browned and begin to pop. Immediately remove from heat.

Make Ahead Complete Steps 1 through 3. Cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days. When you’re ready to serve, if serving hot, reheat in a large saucepan on top of stove before completing Step 4.

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Recipies

Sweet Mango Chutney Simple flavors complement the rich taste of mango in this all-purpose chutney. Ingredients (Makes about seven 8-ounce jars)

All photos credited to Colin Erricson/www.robertrose.ca

7 cups chopped peeled sweet mangos 3 cups chopped red bell peppers 11⁄2 cups chopped onions 2 cups packed brown sugar 1 tsp pickling or canning salt 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1 cup cider vinegar 1⁄4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

Prepare canner, jars and lids. In a large pot, combine mangos, red peppers, onions, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, and vinegar. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring often. Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring occasionally, for about 40 minutes or until onion is soft and mixture is thick enough to mound on a spoon. Stir in lime juice. Ladle hot chutney into hot jars, leaving 1⁄2 inch (1 cm) headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace as necessary by adding hot chutney. Wipe rim and place hot lid disc on jar. Screw band down until fingertip-tight. Place jars in canner and return to a boil. Process for 10 minutes. Turn off heat and remove canner lid. Let jars stand in water for 5 minutes. Transfer jars to a towel-lined surface and let stand for 24 hours. Check lids and refrigerate any jars that aren't sealed.

TIPS Be sure to use mangos that are ripe but not mushy. The skin should yield slightly when pressed, and the mangos should have a fragrant aroma, particularly at the stem end. Look for rich-flavored mangos with yellow skin for a wonderful flavor and texture. There are several varieties, such as Ataulfo or Alfonso. You'll need about 12 of these smaller varieties or 5 of the large varieties.

Mango For Baby Choose a ripe mango, with soft flesh. Peel, remove the pit and mash. Add apple or pear juice, yogurt or just water and continue mashing until you get the desired consistency. Excerpted from The Complete Book of Pickling by Jennifer MacKenzie © 2009 Robert Rose Inc. www.robertrose.ca Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

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October 2015

>> Food Nutrition

Don’t let

FOOD LABELS fool you

We’ve cracked the nutrition code. Learn how to read food labels and what those ingredients really mean.

EAT HEALTHIER AND FEEL BETTER USING THE NUTRITION FACTS LABEL — THE RIGHT TOOL TO BALANCE YOUR DIET.

milk and milk products. Include lean meats, poultry, fish, beans and nuts. Choose foods that are low in saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol, salt and added sugar. Regular physical activity is important for your overall health and fitness. It also helps you control body weight by balancing the calories you take in from food with the calories you expend each day. Let’s face it; food labels can be deceiving. According to Michael F. Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, publisher of Nutrition Action and Bruce Silverglade, CSPI’s director of legal affairs, it has been nearly 20 years since the government overhauled food

You probably already use the nutrition facts label in some way — maybe to check calories, fat or sodium content. But the more familiar you are with the information, the more you’ll want to use it daily to ensure you’re eating a healthy, balanced diet. Use the label when you shop, as you plan your meals and as you cook each day. The label makes it easy to determine the amounts of nutrients you’re getting and to compare one product to another. Strive for a diet that emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat

labels, and since then, many companies have come up with new schemes to trick consumers. They give three ways on how the food label can trip you up and what to watch for. • The claim “made with whole wheat” should reveal what percent of the grain is actually whole. • If a food is made with coffee, caffeine or guarana, the label should tell you how much of those ingredients are in each serving. • Many labels claim that a food or ingredient can “support,” “enhance,” or “maintain” your joints, bones, heart, breasts, prostate, digestive health etc. Most claims aren’t backed by much evidence.

Calorie counts on nutrition labels aren’t always accurate.

Researchers at Tufts University recently analyzed 269 food items from 42 national sit-down and fast-food restaurant chains, and they found that nearly 20 percent of samples contained 100 or more calories than reported by the restaurants. Think about it like this: If every meal you eat has 100 more calories than you need, you’ll gain more than 30 pounds this year.

HIGH IN FIBER

ALL NATURAL

Jacobson and Silverglade advise that the label shouldn’t count polydextrose, maltodextrin or similar isolated fibers as equal to the intact, natural fiber in whole grains, beans or vegetables.

Any food that contains high fructose corn syrup is not at all natural.

54 HEALTHY MAGAZINE

FAT CHANCE A food with 5 grams of saturated fat per serving shouldn’t be allowed to boast that it has 0 grams of trans fat.

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>> Food Nutrition

SERVING SIZE NUMBER OF SERVINGS The nutrition facts label information is based on ONE serving, but many packages contain more. Look at the serving size and how many servings you are actually consuming. If you double the servings you eat, you double the calories and nutrients, including the percentage of the recommended daily value (DV).

For protein, choose foods that are lower in fat. Most Americans get plenty of protein but not always from the healthiest sources. When choosing a food for its protein content, such as meat, poultry, dry beans, milk and milk products, make choices that are lean, low-fat, or fat free.

HELPFUL TIP:

When you compare calories and nutrients between brand, check to see if the serving size is the same.

CALORIES COUNT, SO PAY ATTENTION TO THE AMOUNT. This is where you’ll find the number of calories per serving and the calories from fat in each serving.

THE % DAILY VALUE IS A KEY TO A BALANCED DIET. The % DV is a general guide to help you link nutrients in a serving of food to their contribution to your total daily diet. It can help you determine if a food is high or low in a nutrient — 5 percent or less is low, 20 percent or more is high. You can use the % DV to make dietary trade-offs with other foods throughout the day. The * is a reminder that the % DV is based on a 2,000-calorie diet.

KNOW YOUR FATS AND REDUCE SODIUM

Fat-free doesn’t mean calorie-free. Lower fat items may have as many calories as full-fat versions.

• To help reduce your risk of heart disease, use the label to select foods that are lowest in saturated fat, trans fat and cholesterol. • Trans fat doesn't have a % DV, but consume as little as possible because it increases your risk of heart disease. • The % DV for total fat includes all different kinds of fats. • To help lower blood cholesterol, replace saturated and trans fats with monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats found in fish, nuts and liquid vegetable oils. • Limit sodium to help reduce your risk of high blood pressure.

If the label lists that 1 serving equals 3 cookies and 100 calories and you eat 6 cookies, you’ve eaten 2 servings, or twice the number of calories and fat.

CHOOSE FOODS RICH IN THESE NUTRIENTS. • Use the label not only to limit fat and sodium, but also to increase nutrients that promote good health and may protect you from disease. • Some Americans don’t get enough vitamins A and C, potassium, calcium and iron, so choose the brand with the higher % DV for these nutrients. • Get the most nutrition for your calories — compare the calories to the nutrients you would be getting to make a healthier food choice.

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SUPPORTS IMMUNITY

Some foods make an immunity claim because they contain a vitamin or two. That can be deceiving so watch out.

You may need more or less, but the % DV is still a helpful gauge.

REACH FOR HEALTHY, WHOLESOME CARBS • Fiber and sugars are types of carbohydrates. Healthy sources, like fruits, vegetables, beans and whole grains, can reduce the risk of heart disease and improve digestive functioning. • Whole grain foods can’t always be identified by color or name, such as multi-grain or wheat. Look for the “whole” grain listed first in the ingredient list, such as whole wheat, brown rice or whole oats. • There isn’t a % DV for sugar, but you can compare the sugar content in grams among products. • Limit foods with added sugars (sucrose, glucose, fructose, corn or maple syrup), which add calories but not other nutrients, such as vitamins and minerals. Make sure added sugars are not one of the first few items in the ingredients list.

October 2015

w e llness

Word

Power HOW WORDS CAN PREVENT DIVORCE, FAILURE AND PAIN

WORDS IN MARRIAGE

WORDS AT WORK

WORDS AND PAIN

Dr. Gottman, a renowned marriage and relationship therapist, is able to predict divorce with startling accuracy. He does this using a “magic ratio” of positive to negative interactions.

Research published in American Behavioral Scientist showed that positive words in the work place are important for productivity.

Researchers in China conducted a study where they had nurses use positive or negative words with patients who underwent surgery. For patients who received “doses” of negative words, pain intensity, stress levels and morphine consumption increased for hours afterward.

Negative: Arguing, criticism, sarcasm, whining Positive: Touching, smiling, paying compliments, laughing, sympathy As long as there are five times as many positive interactions between partners as there are negative, the relationship is likely going to be stable, Gottman’s research says. This holds true even if the negative interactions are volatile and angry. Why do we need so much positivity? One reason may be that negative experiences and interactions tend to be much more influential than positive ones. Social psychology professor at Florida State University, Roy F. Baumeister, wrote about this phenomenon in an article called “Bad Is Stronger Than Good.” “Bad emotions, bad parents, and bad feedback have more impact than good ones, and bad information is processed more thoroughly than good,” he and colleagues wrote. “…you are more upset about losing $50 than you are happy about gaining $50.”

56 HEALTHY MAGAZINE

The study measured the positive and negative interactions of different teams, and then measured their productivity. The highest-performing teams had a positive to negative comment ratio of 5.6 to 1. Low-performing teams had an average of 3 negative comments to 1 positive one. Positive Comments: “I agree with that” , “that’s a good idea” Negative Comments: “We shouldn’t do that” , “I disagree”

So negativity directed at us does in fact hurt us, sometimes literally. But we can use words ourselves to counter painful experiences, research shows. Researchers from Keele University in England say that swearing alleviates pain. Expletives come from a different part of the brain than normal language, and somehow influence pain sensation, researchers say. This may be why swearing is a natural response to injury situations.

Bear in mind this is no indication to discard negative feedback entirely. In fact, surveys indicate that negative feedback is just as helpful, if not more helpful than positive feedback. It just doesn’t have to come in equal doses.

To come to this conclusion, researchers had study subjects see how long they could keep their hands immersed in cold water. Participants who were allowed to swear during the exercise reported less pain and endured significantly longer than those who used neutral words.

Sources: blogs.hbr.org, Forbes

Other researchers agree that swearing can be a beneficial response. Swearing raises one’s heart rate, allows expression and raises our defenses. Be aware, however, that swearing too much decreases swearing’s positive effects.

Sources: Nanjing Medical University, Scientific American

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we l l ne ss

WOULD YOUR KITCHEN PASS A

health inspection? WRITTEN BY ANGELA SILVA

ou feel a sense of pride after finishing a home-cooked meal that leaves your family finger-licking and asking for more. You enjoy teaching your kids how to bake and cook, and sometimes letting them experiment on their own. Your kitchen is a place of creativity and a source of happiness. But you could be inadvertently creating some health hazards that would cause an outcry if they were discovered in a restaurant or public kitchen. If a health inspector came knocking on your door, would you pass the inspection? According to a recent study by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, one in seven homes would fail a restaurantstyle health inspection, and only three out of five would receive an A or B grade. Here are five common mistakes made in the kitchen at home that are considered health violations in restaurants. OO

DOUBLE DUTY DISH RAGS – Using the same dish rag to dry your hands and to wipe down counters causes crosscontamination. After you cut raw poultry, meat or dairy and then wipe your hands on a towel after washing them, you are spreading the germs to the towel. By using that same towel to wipe the counters or dishes, you are spreading those germs to other surfaces.

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The proper way: Have a separate towel for drying hands and for wiping counters or other surfaces. Soak the counter towels in a solution of bleach and water. OO

FOREGOING THE COOKING THERMOMETER – Undercooked foods are one of the leading causes of food borne illnesses. Restaurants are required to know the exact temperature of their ovens and grills, and although we may think we’re preheating our kitchen ovens to 350 degrees, a test by Cook’s Illustrated found that different ovens set to the same temperature can vary by as much as 90 degrees. The proper way: Especially when cooking meat, always use a cooking thermometer to ensure it reaches the proper temperature. For poultry, the internal temperature must be at least 165 degrees, and for beef products it should be at least 160 degrees.

NEGLECTING THE KITCHEN FLOOR – That’s right, the floor! If a health inspector found any cracks or missing sections of grout or tile, you would face a major health violation. Bacteria and viruses will grow and thrive in cracks in the floor, and as you walk over them you will spread those germs throughout the house. The proper way: Always wet mop your floors, don’t just sweep. Use bleach to clean them if the type of floor allows it. If you discover a crack, fix it immediately.

KEEPING THE FRIDGE TOO WARM – Many people don’t realize that a major source of bacterial growth is the temperature of their refrigerator. Keeping the temperature beneath 40 degrees will discourage bacterial growth. Sometimes the refrigerator thermometer can be inaccurate, so only a separate thermometer will ensure the fridge is set to the proper temperature. The proper way: Keep a thermometer near the front of the refrigerator. When the door is open, the front is the first to warm up. This way you’ll know for sure that the entire refrigerator is a safe temperature.

WASHING IN A FULL SINK – The germs from your hands will wash away and right onto any dishes or pans in the sink. In a restaurant setting, workers must wash their hands in a separate sink than where food is rinsed or dishes are washed. Germs from hands can get onto the surface where produce is washed and cut. The proper way: Keep the sink clear of any dishes before you wash your hands, and use separate towels for drying hands and drying dishes. Keep liquid soap and paper towels or dry towels in the bathroom for hand-washing.

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