MAY/JUNE 2015 The Summer Advantage - Lifeplus · 2020. 6. 15. · Instead of letting your pooch out the back door to do his business, take him for a 30-minute walk around the neighborhood

the art of®growing young

MAY/JUNE 2015

the art of®

Make Timefor Workouts PAGE 6

DHA and a Healthy Brain PAGE 26

Tips for Avoiding Dehydration PAGE 28

The Summer AdvantagePAGE 24

2 THE ART OF GROWING YOUNG May/June 2015

3

Contents4 From the Editor

31 Ask the Expert

5 Nutritional News

6FitnessMake Time for Workouts

12LifestyleAligning Yourself with Positive Frequencies

14Nutrition

Family Health22 Fostering Imaginations

24 The Summer Advantage

26 DHA and a Healthy Brain

28 Tips for Avoiding Dehydration

The Art of Growing Young® is published six times a year by Lifeplus International, PO Box 3749, Batesville, Arkansas 72503, United States. Copyright © 2015 Lifeplus International

20Herbs & SupplementsGlucosamine and Friends

Features8 Body Language

16 Fighting Age with Muscle

Hidden Sugars

“A lot of people don’t like to take time off for vacations because work settings can be competitive and job duties pile up. But these are the exact reasons why you should take a break.”

Now that the weather is warm and sunny here in the Northern Hemisphere, it is family vacation season. I don’t know about you, but even a long weekend spent away from my normal duties and routines helps me recharge. When vacations are spent with no worries, no responsibilities, just time spent relaxing with my family, they can truly be good medicine for the soul.

I read an unfortunate article not long ago about an emerging new trend of career-focused people who take work with them on vacation. Or, even worse, not taking vacations at all. It seems that in the increasingly busy lifestyles that many people are living, more and more of us are using less and less of our vacation time.

A lot of people don’t like to take time off for vacations because work settings can be competitive and job duties pile up. They don’t want to fall behind or look bad. But these are the exact reasons why you should take a break. In the short term, giving up a vacation might get you a pat on the back from a manager, but in the long run, it’s going to end up hurting not just your career but your health and your family’s happiness as well.

Stress is a part of any job. Stress can be a motivator, and in that regard it may be useful. It helps us get things done. But when it builds up or becomes chronic, stress quickly becomes unhealthy. When stress at work builds up too much, it overflows into other areas of life, hurting not just yourself but your family as well.

Often all it takes to significantly lower stress levels is a vacation. Whether it’s a weekend camping trip or a weeklong visit to a resort, a vacation helps recharge our batteries and, for many of us, helps us feel sane again.

So I urge you to take a vacation this summer. I mean a real vacation without checking your work email or calling the office to check in every few days. And don’t wait until you feel overwhelmed at work; start planning that perfect vacation now. Your boss, your family and your own body will thank you for it.

Vacations Are Good Medicine


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Healthy blood pressure Eat a delicious, hot breakfast to help ensure healthy blood pressure. In a new study, participants who ate soluble-fiber-rich whole-grain oats every day exper ienced a significant drop in blood pressure readings. The study also revealed that fiber in oats was more effective at helping control healthy blood pressure and cholesterol levels than was fiber from wheat sources.

Is your job bad for your health? Recent research shows that those of us who sit at a desk all day would benefit from more trips to the watercooler. Sitting for hours at a time causes muscles to enter a state of suspended animation that results in reduced levels of a key metabolism-revving enzyme called lipo-protein lipase. This reaction causes your body to burn less fat and sugar. Fort-unately, it takes only two minutes of movement every 30 minutes to help avoid this problem. Set an alarm on your com-puter or cell phone to remind you to stand up and walk to the watercooler, which will also help ensure that you are providing your body with the eight 8-ounce glasses of water you should drink every day.

Maximize your workout by eating more fat Some research suggests that there is no fitness benefit to restricting your daily fat intake to less than 15 percent of your total calories – a common goal of dieters. Despite what we have heard for decades, fat is not the enemy of a healthy body. In fact, some fatty acids are crucial for a healthy body, especially the unsaturated fats found in fish, nuts and avocados.

Falling in love Men experience unexpected benefits of falling in love. A recent study found that married men experience healthier blood pressure changes than do their single counterparts. But just being married isn’t enough. Another study revealed that men who feel suppor ted by their spouse showed less calcium buildup in their arterial walls than did men who didn’t feel as supported.

Drinking Tea Help protect your mental prowess by regularly drinking tea. Multiple studies have shown that the flavonoids found in tea leaves help protect cognitive function. It takes only 7 ounces of fresh tea consumed every day to see benefits. Drinking one glass of tea in the morning can help pro-tect your cognitive function for a lifetime.

Nutritional News

Fitness


TAKE AN INVENTORY OF YOUR TIME

Before you can make time for exercise, you have to know where time is already being spent. Spend a few days taking note of every activity you do. Although our lifestyles today are packed full of activities, duties and responsibilities, we often have more down-time than we realize. Making time for your favorite fitness routine may just be a matter of reorganizing daily activities.

MAKE A PLANNow that you have a better idea of

where your time is spent every day, see what you can shift around or go without in order to make time for the activities you want to fit into your daily routine. You’ll find that by making a few small changes to your routine, you can find more than enough time for a morning run or evening gym session.

STICK TO YOUR PLAN

Print out a monthly calendar and display it somewhere prominent. Cross out every day that you exercise with a thick black marker. Cross out every day that you don’t with a red one. Pretty soon you will find that you don’t like seeing many red X’s, and that will motivate you to work out more.

MAXIMIZE YOUR MINUTES

Every minute counts. If you can spend an hour at the gym, that’s great. But it’s equally great if you find 10 minutes to be active six times throughout the day. Get started by

do ing just five minutes of calisthenics when you first wake up, between meetings, before lunch, after dinner and at any other point in the day you find the time. Whenever you have a few minutes to spare, engage in physical activity. It will add up over the course of the day.

WORK SMARTER, NOT HARDER

Try to focus on activities that work both your upper body and lower body at the same time, such as step aerobics, swimming or cross-training. You’ll boost your calorie burn without feeling like you’re working any harder. Full-body activities also help maximize your minutes.

MULTITASKCan’t choose between walking the

dog and working out? Do both. Man’s best friend is the perfect exercise companion. Instead of letting your pooch out the back door to do his business, take him for a 30-minute walk around the neighborhood. You will both get much-needed exercise and your doggie will love you for it.

SHIFT YOUR FOCUSWe attract the things, people,

experiences and circumstances into our lives that we focus on – for better or worse. Instead of focusing on feeling bad that you skipped a workout session, concentrate on all the times you did exercise and how great you felt after ward. This way of thinking is guaranteed to help you keep a positive focus on including regular physical activity in your life.

PARTNER UP

Having a workout partner with the same positive focus is strong motivation for both people who want to get fit. You will be far less likely to skip a workout if it means letting down a friend. The same goes for your work-out buddy. If your own focus is powerful, the positive focus of two people opens the door to limitless possibilities.

STAY HYDRATEDBecoming dehydrated during the

day can take a serious bite out of your work-out time. When your body doesn’t have enough water, your exercise routine will be less effec tive and probably a few minutes shorter be cause you will feel tired faster. Drink lots of water during the day so when the time comes to get active you will be ready.

WORK OUT ON THE GO

The more often you walk or ride a bike instead of taking a car or public transportation, the healthier your life will be. Short trips to the store, the deli, a friend’s house or any other destination made under your own power instead of your car’s add up quickly into your daily workout quota. Similarly, take the stairs instead of the elevator. The more small changes in moving around you can make throughout the day, the more time you will find yourself active overall.

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Make Time for WorkoutsOne of the biggest challenges facing health-conscious people is finding the time to get active. Busy, modern lifestyles are packed with activities and duties. Here are a few tips to help ensure that you always find time for exercise.

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Feature Article


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The messages you speak verbally are only a fraction of what you are communicating in any conversation. In fact, the things we don’t say are often the things we say the loudest. How is that possible? Through body language.

Every par t of your body is a tool for communicating. The ways in which you hold and control your arms, legs, face, posture and more are constantly sending messages to the people around you. This continual sending of nonverbal messages is called body language.

Many of us are completely unaware of these messages and how they are being received.

Some communication experts estimate that over 90 percent of communication is trans-mitted not through words but with body language. That is a massive amount of information, especially considering that we are not aware we are sending much of it. The large amounts of information we send out through body language can be particularly strong with strangers and new acquaintances who are unfamiliar with our personal mannerisms. Before the first word of a conversation has been spoken, many messages have already been sent and received.

Even though we’re not overtly aware of it, the basics of body language are some-thing most of us innately know. If your friend is smiling, you understand that he or she is happy. If your coworker is pacing and fidgeting, you know he or she is nervous. But these are two simple examples. There are so many intricate facets involved that it

requires effort to become a true master at sending and receiving body language. Body language can reveal deeper meanings so well that law officers and other profes sionals study it in order to learn how to better detect lies.

The reason body language can be such an important factor in communicating is that it often expresses feelings and emotions that are deeper than our words, whether we are conscious of this or not. Think about the unspoken messages you send with your face when you say “thank you.” If you are smiling while saying it, the person you are speaking with reads your face as a positive message that reinforces your appreciative words. But if you scowl and purse your lips, your unspoken message is completely dif-ferent. In this case your face is communicating that you are unhappy and that your words of thanks are more of a formality than a sincere message, or perhaps even sarcasm.

There are times when body language is easy to control, and there are times so emotionally charged that body language is nearly impossible to control. Heated arguments and extremely stressful situations make it hard for even the best-trained communicators to stay in control of their body language.

Other times, we are simply unaware of our body language. Often we don’t try to control our body language, which naturally changes based on how we feel and with whom we are talking. Making an effort to be aware of your body language can have a lasting impact on your communications skills – as can learning to be more aware of other people’s body language.

Learning to use body language to present a trusting and understanding demeanor can be a tremendous asset to your professional and personal lives. When speaking to a prospective customer, your arms and legs should not be crossed. You should maintain passive eye contact (neither stare unblink-ingly nor completely avoid the other person’s eyes). Leaning slightly toward the person with whom you are speaking informs him or her silently that you are interested in what is being said.

How does it feel when you are trying to talk to a person who has crossed arms, is turned slightly away from you and never makes eye contact? Do you want to make others feel that way when they are talking to you?

Your whole body is constantly sending messages, but one of the most important areas where nonverbal communication takes place is the face. This is the area of the body where people concentrate the most when they are conversing. While words are being spoken, messages are being silently sent by the lips, chin, eyes, eyebrows, fore-head, nose and position of the head.

Raising your eyebrows is a silent message communicating surprise. Thrusting out your chin shows stubbornness or indignation. Wrinkling your nose signals disgust. These messages are “heard” the loudest because your face is what your communication partner is visually focused on.

Maintaining passive eye contact while speaking is one of the first lessons communi-cations experts teach. This is a positive form of facial body language that engages the other person. Anyone who wishes to be an

Developing your communication skills can help all aspects of your life. From professional meetings to friendships to family relations, fostering good communication skills can create better relationships.

Body Language

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effective communicator but hasn’t yet mastered eye contact should concentrate on this one aspect immediately. Once you have learned how to effectively use eye contact, move on to maintaining aware-ness of your face. Knowing when to flash a smile or wink an eye can be a powerful tool.

Keep in mind that smiling is not always appropriate. If you are telling a sad story, and the person you are talking to is smiling the whole time, this is a strong indi cator that something is not right.

Body language is complex because the same look or motion can mean different things at dif-ferent times. If you are speak ing with someone, and he or she refuses to look at you, it could be because that person is afraid of what is being said, is busy with something else or just doesn’t want to talk to you. Or it could be that the person is simply shy. Do not become too fixated on just one aspect of a person’s body language or you risk missing out on another critical piece of information. Crossing one’s arms is generally thought of as either a show of anger or an indicator of being closed off from the other person. But what if the room is cold? Could it be that this person is not angry at all but just cold?

Body language also varies greatly from culture to culture. A movement or gesture that you may think nothing of could be extremely offensive to someone raised in a different culture.

When trying to read another person’s body language, look at the whole person and take into account your surroundings and any hints at the person’s history that may be affecting how the person presents himself or herself.

Arms, legs, hands, feet, fingers, posture, movement, position – the body is an extremely complex tool for sending messages. Just as with the face, other parts of the body can help you identify deeper meanings behind what is being said. With so many places

to look for clues, studying body language can feel like trying to solve a puzzle. Don’t get caught up with just one area of the body. We often misinterpret the mes-sages being sent because we focus on one single area when we should be looking at the whole picture – receiving all the mes-sages being sent, not just one or two.

Body language is incredibly complex. It changes from person to person and culture to culture.

But by taking the time to understand the meaning behind the movement, we can learn how to be more effective communicators. Remember, the things we say the loudest are often the things we don’t say at all.

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“How does it feel when you are trying to talk to a person who has

crossed arms, is turned slightly away from you and never makes eye contact?

Do you want to make others feel that way when they are talking to you?”

Lifestyle


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How is this possible? Before you can understand how your mental focus can shape your life (either positively or negatively), you need to understand a few things about energy.

First and foremost, you are more than just flesh and bone. You are energy. You are thoughts. You are feelings and emotions. All of these things come together to make you who you are. Modern-day scientists are studying how thoughts can and do change things – internally and externally. The energy field of our thoughts, feelings and emotions is projected into the world every moment of every day.

Energy f ields are measurable and quantifiable. For instance, in the field of medical diagnosis two common tests, the EEG (electroencephalogram) and the EKG (electrocardiogram) are tests used to deter-mine energy characteristics of the brain and heart.

All forms of energy, including electricity, heat, light and sound, are expressed in terms of frequency. The color red is one frequency; the color yellow is another. C-sharp is a frequency, as is B-flat. The voice of a mother and the coo of her baby are also frequencies.

We know these things to be true. Could it also be possible that energy associated with positive thoughts is represented by a particular range of certain frequencies while negative thoughts are characteristic of a different frequency range? If this is possible, then it follows that maintaining predo-minantly positive thoughts would resonate

with other positive energies around us. What a wonderful harmony we could create!

Of course, if it is possible to align oneself with positive frequencies, the opposite is true as well. If we focused predominantly on negative thoughts, we would be in harmony with negative energies. These positive and negative energies are those associated with those T-PECs we referred to earlier. Which sounds more appealing: being in harmony with positive Things, People, Experiences and Circumstances or negative ones?

Whether you realize it or not, every day you can and do attract both positive and negative T-PECs into your life by focusing on either positive or negative thoughts. This is referred to as the law of attraction. Think about the last time you had an argument with someone. Afterward, did you let your negative feelings fester and consume you? If so, you were probably in a bad mood for a long time, because every negative thought attracted more negative thoughts. However, if you were able to acknowledge that negative energy for what it was, and then release it, you were probably able to prevent yourself from succumbing to the negative frequencies.

Don’t fight with yourself! It is so easy to spend most of our time fighting that inner battle in our minds of “I should not have thought this” or “Why did I think that?” or whatever else. If we spend most of our time doing this, we won’t have the time to just smile at ourselves and get into the present moment and just feel good. An interesting point to ponder is that the only aspect of your life over which you have total control

is your ability to control what you focus on. The fantastic part of this is that when you realize it, you become motivated and empowered to really take charge of your own life. You realize that you can actually do it! External negative influences become things to observe as contrast rather than as part of your life.

To put it simply, if you spend all your time and energy focusing on the things that you don’t want to happen, how will you ever have time and energy to get the things you do want? By paying attention to how you feel and learning to root your thoughts in positive frequencies, you can create the life you want. Your positive frequencies can encompass all parts of your life – finances, health, relationships, experiences and any thing else you can think of. The more passionate you are about it, the sooner you will attract more T-PECs into your life!

Experts tell us that maintaining a positive focus is one of the most powerful assets we have for creating the life we want. With the right outlook on positive Things, positive People, positive Experiences and positive Circumstances (T-PECs), we can attract even more of these wonderful things into our lives.

Aligning Yourself with Positive Frequencies

Nutrition


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This marks an important change, as the fight against excess sugar is finally being realized as more important than reducing fat consumption. Many experts now agree that contrary to what diets have been saying for years, fat can actually be a healthy part of any diet so long as the amount consumed is appropriate to the activity level of the person.

Sharply limiting the amount of sugar one consumes can be challenging in societies that rely heavily on prepackaged foods. For example, what do supermarket bread, cereal, mayonnaise, peanut butter, ketchup and spaghetti sauce all have in common? Sugar.

Decades ago sugar was a kitchen ingredient. Families knew how much they were consum-ing because parents were the ones adding sugar to the meals they made. Today, sugar has crept into prepackaged foods of all kinds – often in unlikely places and under unrecognizable names. This is a major pro blem because even relatively health-conscious people are finding it harder to avoid a high-sugar diet.

Although small amounts of sugar can be included in an overall healthy diet, too much of it is bad for the body. And it doesn’t take a whole lot to be “too much,” because the most common forms of sugar are the fastest to be broken down in the body. Sugar, especially refined forms such as table sugar (sucrose), has a relatively simple chemical structure that the body rapidly breaks down and absorbs. This causes a spike in blood sugar levels that leads to a quick burst of energy often followed by prolonged dull, sluggish feelings. More than that, an influx of sugar into the bloodstream also triggers the release of insulin. The body uses insulin to keep blood sugar at safe levels, and it

also promotes fat storage and reduces chronic inflammation.

Diabetes, cardiovascular disease, tooth decay and many other common illnesses today have been linked to chronic high-sugar diets. The most obvious and prevalent impact of a high-sugar diet is weight gain. As sugar has become a more common ingredient in premade foods, waistlines have vastly increased. With larger waistlines come all manner of health concerns.

How much sugar do you consume?

A single 12-ounce can of soda can contain as much as 40 grams (10 teaspoons) of sugar. Would you put 10 teaspoons of sugar into a cup of coffee? Because soda has become so prevalent at the dinner table, many adults and children consume far more than a single can of soda at a time. Portions are growing to ridiculous sizes. A 64-ounce fountain drink from a movie theater or a convenience store contains over 53 tea-spoons of sugar. That’s almost 2 cups of sugar! Would you consciously consume 2 cups of sugar in one sitting? And that points to one of the biggest problems with sugar consumption. Most people are simply not aware of how much sugar they consume every day. Of course, food manufacturers are not helping either.

The prepackaged food industry tries to hide sugar by giving it different names. Some common names that sugar goes by to conceal just how much of it a food actually contains are molasses, corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, glucose, fructose, lactose, dextrose, sucrose, maltose – quite a few names for a single unhealthy ingredient.

No matter what its name, sugar is often found in unlikely places. For instance, foods

marketed as “low fat” are often unexpectedly high in sugar content. Fat is flavorful. When it is removed, flavor is lost. Manufacturers know that something must be put into the food to make it taste good or the low-fat product won’t sell. Often, the solution is to add more sugar. Salad dressings are particularly bad offenders in this area.

If you read the label of a low-fat version of your favorite salad dressing you will most likely be surprised to find out how much sugar it contains compared to the non-low-fat version. A far healthier option is to make your own dressings. Vinaigrettes are delicious and surprisingly simple to make. Just combine a small amount of olive oil, your favorite gourmet vinegar and some fresh herbs.

Reduced-fat cookies are another offender that replaces fat with sugar. You really wouldn’t want to eat your favorite cookie without all the fat and butter used to make it. It just wouldn’t taste good. The easiest way to put good flavor back in is to add more sugar. Sugar and fat together are the fast track to obesity, even if the fat is “low.”

The easiest way to avoid hidden sugars in your diet is to make as much food as pos-sible in your own kitchen from natural, whole ingredients. This way you can control exactly how much sugar is in your food and in your body.

When it comes to premade food, remember that less fat doesn’t necessarily mean healthy. Always read labels carefully, because sugar hides in unlikely places, not just in candy bars and soda pop. Flavored yogurts, ham-burger buns, marinades… Start looking for sugar on food labels, and you might be surprised – and wiser for it.

The American Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, which meets every five years, recently announced new guidelines for healthy eating. Following what many other major health groups have been saying, the advisory committee urged healthy eaters to focus on reducing sugar intake.

Hidden Sugars

Feature Article

THE ART OF GROWING YOUNG May/June 201516

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Unfortunately, many people don’t realize this, and as they age they become more and more afraid of injuring themselves so they become less and less active. This leads to increased muscle atrophy and even less activity. The cycle causes health problems and fears of slips, trips and falls that can cause seniors to be even less mobile.

The fear of falling is very real for many older people. Some calculations estimate that over a third of all seniors over the age of 65 will fall each year. In the United Kingdom alone, over 300,000 elderly individuals suffer bone fractures every year. For these older people, hip fractures are a serious threat that can cause severe health issues.

As we age, muscle mass naturally tends to decrease unless we engage in some sort of regular physical activity. As muscle mass is lost, a person’s balance and strength are both reduced. At the same time, bone density also tends to decrease with age. The combining of these factors contributes to the relatively high rate of bone fractures in the elderly. All of this may sound scary, but it isn’t necessarily going to happen,

because taking proper care of the body can in large part protect it against.

Mobility, balance and strength are not the only factors influenced by muscle mass. There is intriguing new evidence that muscle mass may have an important effect on the immune system. It appears that elderly people whose bodies are more conditioned – meaning seniors whose bodies retain a larger percentage of lean muscle mass –have higher-functioning immune systems than seniors whose muscles have atrophied.

If framed negatively, this can be a scary topic. But with a positive focus, all this is good news because it provides seniors with an easy way to help retain control of their health and happiness as they grow older. By simply being active, we all can play an active role in our own health as we age.

Think about it: life is much more enjoyable when you are not confined to a chair for fear of falling, or simply because your muscles are too weak to comfortably move around. An easy, effective way to prevent these scenarios is to stay active.

Living an active lifestyle doesn’t have to mean running marathons or powerlifting weights at the gym. The word “active” is relative to many factors, including age and ability. For someone who has been confined to a chair for months or years, even small amounts of activity will help. Then focusing on the positive feelings and physical rewards of light activity will help naturally lead the person to moderate levels of activity.

Engaging in some form of regular physical activity can go a long way in reducing the risk – and fear – of falls and fractures for just about anyone of any age group. Resistance training is especially important because it can prevent and even reverse muscle loss. Of course, if it has been a while since your last workout, you may want to talk to your doctor before starting a new routine. Without the fear of falling, you can have a healthier, happier life that is productive and satisfying long into your golden years.

Exercise in general can have a major impact on the immune system for several reasons. Physical activity is a great stress reliever, whether it’s strength training, aerobic training

One of the human body’s most wonderful facets is that it is never too old to start getting in shape. Maintaining muscle mass by staying active is one of the most important steps seniors can take to preserve their health as they age.

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or simply playing a favored sport. Since stress has been shown to lower the effectiveness of the immune system, regular physical activity is a must during stressful periods of life.

Resistance exercises are ones that specifically build muscle mass, but you don’t have to be a hulk to enjoy the benefits of a regular resistance workout. You also don’t have to engage in grueling workouts with massive dumbbells. Even moderate amounts of new lean muscle mass can help a great deal, and there are many reasonably priced resistance products that you can use in the comfort of your own home. Free weights, resistance bands and even jugs of water or cans of soup can be enough to give you a resistance workout.

Muscle is also responsible for burning calories. Therefore, the more lean muscle mass you have, the more fat and calories your aerobic exercise will burn, which promotes health at any age.

Anyone who hasn’t been physically active for a period of time might find swimming to be a good choice to start with. Water provides natural buoyancy that prevents any falls from happening while presenting resistance that works your muscles. If you can’t swim, don’t worry. Water walking is a wonderful low-intensity workout

for seniors that makes a great first step toward a fitter life. The body’s natural buoyancy in chest-deep water takes stress off the lower back and the hip, knee and ankle joints, while the water provides resistance to walking, which builds muscle and endurance.

With the new evidence that there may be a direct correlation between muscle mass and the immune system, combined with all

the great health benefits that come from a fit body, it appears as though maintaining lean muscle mass may be a very helpful tool in fighting against the aging process.

Exercise of any kind can also help boost mood. When the body is physically active the brain releases natural feel-good chemicals. When seniors are able to stay active they feel better mentally and physically. These positive feelings further help them stay focused on all the positive aspects of an active lifestyle.

Resistance training doesn’t mean just bigger biceps. It also means better health and happiness at any stage of life. Maintaining lean muscle mass and staying active as long as possible will help keep you healthy and confident enough to live your life the way you want to.

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“Anyone who hasn’t been physically active for a period of time might find swimming to

be a good choice to start with. Water provides natural buoyancy that prevents

any falls from happening while presenting resistance that works your muscles.”

Herbs & Supplements


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Joints are held together with ligaments, muscles and cartilage. And just like every other part of your body, the tissues in your joints are affected by the nutrients in the foods you eat. One of the most well-known joint-friendly nutrients is glucosamine, an amino sugar that helps maintain and build new joint cartilage. Glucosamine isn’t the only nutrient that can help support healthy joints – antioxidants, hyaluronic acid, sulfur compounds and omega-3 fatty acids are all important too.

Researchers believe that glucosamine positively acts on joints by stimulating pro-duction of glycosaminoglycans, which is a substance the body uses to maintain cartilage in our joints.

Not long ago a landmark study reported that taking glucosamine sulfate over a three-year period led to about 25 percent impro ve-ment in joint function. This was a major milestone in understanding glucosamine’s role in supporting healthy joint structure and function.

As evidence of its effectiveness has grown, oral glucosamine has become a common over-the-counter product. Now many health-conscious individuals have turned to glucosamine as a way to help protect their still-healthy joints from future damage.

Another critical component of connective tissues is hyaluronic acid, which acts as a cushion and lubricant in joints and other tissues. Hyaluronic acid also forms cartilage by attaching to collagen and elastin, and traps water molecules within these structures, keeping them slippery and flexible.

Another important nutrient for joint health is methylsulfonylmethane, or MSM (sometimes referred to as dimethyl sulfone). The body uses sulfur to manufacture and maintain collagen.

Initial success showing promise and simple word of mouth have led many people to add MSM to their supplement regimen. Regardless of joint concerns, many people may simply not be getting enough sulfur in their diets (eggs, garlic and onions are the most common sources of this essential mineral), and MSM is an excellent dietary source of sulfur.

Free radicals have been shown to negatively impact joint tissues. Fruits and vegetables that are rich in antioxidants may help stop free radicals from accumulating in joint tissues and protect against free-radical-mediated cartilage degradation.

Products containing glucosamine, hyaluronic acid and methylsulfonylmethane are

available as over-the-counter supplements for people whose regular diets do not provide enough of these nutrients. Whether you are signing your name or running a marathon, your joints are at work and in need of nutritional support. You can help keep them functioning well by eating a diet rich in health-supporting glucosamine, hyaluronic acid, sulfur and antioxidants.

Because joint health is so critical to all levels of physical activity, it is important that we remember to help support all the joints in our bodies. Combining flexibility exercises with a healthy diet rich in joint-supporting nutrients can help the body maintain its ability to perform physically.

There are well over 200 movable and semi-movable joints in the human body. Considering that a fully developed adult has only 206 bones, that’s quite a large number. Each and every one of these joints helps perform the thousands of tasks we do every day. What are you doing to protect all your joints?

Glucosamine and Friends

Family Health


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Did you know that the foods you prepare your child can have a major impact on growing bodies and brains, which has led some researchers to recommend certain vitamin- and mineral-rich superfoods specifically to children in order to help supply them with the energy needed for playtime and the focus required for school?

Fueling the imagination – and body – all day long begins with a healthy breakfast. We’ve all heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. This is especially true for school-aged children because it has been shown repeatedly that children who eat breakfast perform better in school – and not just academically. They have fewer behavioral problems as well.

Unfortunately, most breakfast foods marketed to children are high in sugar and/or other refined carbohydrates, fat, coloring agents, preservatives and flavoring agents. All these ingredients do is provide a quick sugar rush and then a crash later in the morning that will make concentrating on schoolwork and behaving properly much harder for your child.

A breakfast that will fuel the mind and body until lunchtime is one that is high in protein and complex carbohydrates. The body digests these foods more slowly, so energy levels and brainpower remain consistent until lunchtime.

When your child is properly nourished, engage in creativity-boosting activities. Mak-ing up stories together with your child is an

excellent way to get not just your child’s creative juices flowing but your own as well. Don’t worry if you don’t feel you are creative enough to lead the exercise. Even if you think you’re bad at storytelling, coming up with a story with your child will be a fun and creative exercise that brings the two of you together.

Next to time, space is one of the most important resources your child needs. For your own sanity, create imagination zones in your home where children are allowed to play and explore without fear of bumping into an expensive vase or disturbing com-pany by making a mess in a common room. Garages and basements often make good imagination zones because messy creative projects such as painting or piñata making can take place without endangering clean walls and carpet.

Provide the resources your children need for creative expression. Children need a lot of unstructured, child-directed imaginative playtime. Well-meaning adult direction can stifle imaginations. Let your children learn how to entertain themselves with their own ideas and imaginations. Play is one of the essential human drives throughout our entire life span. Suppressing children’s play drives and expecting them to sit still in school and pay attention to often-boring, didactic educational materials are thought by some experts to be contributing to an epidemic of attention deficit disorder (ADD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Finland recently instituted a program throughout their public schools to provide 15 minutes

of unstructured playtime for every hour of classroom instruction, and their use of medications for ADD/ADHD has dropped to nearly zero since beginning this practice in their schools.

Accept unusual ideas from your child and suspend judgment of his or her divergent problem solving. Let your child learn and explore without fear of being chastised for doing something “differently” than what is expected.

Make it a rule in your home that downtime should not be spent in front of a screen. Too much time spent in front of a computer, television, tablet device, video game or smartphone does little to boost creativity. Creativity blooms when children must entertain themselves. Encourage reading, projects and interest in the arts over mind-less television watching.

The most challenging step for a parent to take is to stop worrying about your child’s achievements and focus on the process rather than the product. We want to see our children succeed in life. But winning and being the best are not always the lessons that need to be taught. Interact with your child by focusing on questions such as “Did you have fun doing that?” or “What did you like most about the process?” Creativity and play are essential to human well-being and to progress in our cultures.

Many people assume creativity is something that is innate. A child will either be creative or not and there is nothing that can be done to change that. This simply isn’t true. Creativity and imagination are skills that can be cultivated. It’s part of your job as a parent to help foster your child’s imagination.

Fostering Imaginations

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The Summer Advantage

One great summer fitness activity is bicycling. Riding a bike for 30-40 minutes provides an aerobic exercise that is wonder-ful for your cardiovascular system. Cycling has been associated with improved cardio-vascular fitness and a decreased risk of developing coronary heart disease. If you can ride your bike to work a few times a week, think of the amount of heart-friendly exercise you will receive!

The aerobic workout involved in biking is also good for weight control. If you keep your ride above a leisurely pace, it is possible to burn a lot of calories in a relatively short amount of time. The more calories you burn, the easier it is to shed the pounds you may have gained over the winter. Like any other moderate-to-high-intensity workout, a brisk bike ride will also help ramp up your meta-bolism. Better still, your metabolic rate will remain elevated for hours afterward. That means biking home after work will keep your metabolism ramped up to burn the calories you consume at dinner.

Riding a bike gives your leg muscles a low-impact resistance workout, which builds and tones muscles – especially calf, thigh and butt muscles. Working the handlebars and balancing with your core muscles can also help tone your arms and stomach. Riding a bike is easier on your joints than is running because there is less shock, as your feet never pound onto the ground. This can make cycling attractive for people with joint conditions or leg and hip injuries.

Cycl ing on a street bike is good for coordination because it requires moving both feet in circles while steering with not just your hands but your own body weight too. Ultimately, this can help improve balance and your overall coordination skills. It is also good for your brain because it maintains alertness. It keeps you active both physically and mentally, improving circulation body-wide. A new development is the CyberCycle, which provides interactive computer pro-grams that require the rider to navigate traffic, obstacles and routes on a video screen. Clinical research has shown that such activity helps maintain cognitive fun-ction in older people better than does simply riding a stationary bicycle while reading or watching TV, where the mind is not engaged with the physical activity but instead focused on something else.

If biking doesn’t suit you, there are plenty of other activities to try this summer. Runn-ing, jogging, hiking, swimming, kayaking, canoeing, basketball, football – the list is endless. Virtually any physical activity that you enjoy outdoors will help keep your body in shape.

Swimming is one of the most effective forms of summer exercise. Moreover, it’s a fun way to cool of f ! Swimming of fers a unique combination of aerobic and resistance exercise. No matter which stroke you favor, swimming provides an excellent workout for nearly every major muscle group in your body. Water provides much more resistance

to your movements than does air, so pushing and pulling your way through the pool will tone and strengthen muscles while improv-ing your range of motion and boosting your cardiovascular system.

Swimming is primarily an aerobic exercise, but the resistance water allows swimmers to develop strong physiques that are lean and well toned.

During these hot months you can cool off and get healthy nearly anyplace you can find water – public pools, lakes, athletic centers, schools, therapeutic facilities or the pool in your own backyard. If you have any doubts whatsoever about your swimm-ing abilities, never work out anywhere that doesn’t have a trained lifeguard on duty at all times.

Regular physical activity used to be a part of daily life no matter what the time of year. Now, it is something we struggle to make time for, especially when the weather keeps us indoors. Take advantage of the wonderful summer weather and get outside to get active and healthy!

Many people experience a health cycle in which they are more active and healthy during the summer than winter. This is due in large part to weather. When it’s cold and dark, people are much more likely to stay inside. Now is the season to take advantage of warm, sunny days – now is the time to get outside and get active.

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Omega-3 fatty acids have many important roles throughout the body – from the tips of a person’s toes to the top of his or her head. Of these, perhaps the most important is the relationship between omega-3 fatty acids and the brain.

One particular omega-3, docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA, as it is more commonly known, is an especially important nutrient for the brain. Multiple modern studies have shown that from early childhood to old age, DHA helps build and maintain a healthy brain.

DHA is the longest of the fatty acids, and when it comes to protecting our brains as we age, there is nothing else like it. To begin with, DHA is a primary component of the thin membrane that surrounds all brain cells. An astounding 25 percent of all the lipids in your brain are made up of the omega-3 fatty acid DHA (or at least they should be!). We must obtain enough DHA in our diet for this to be the case; otherwise, the body will substitute other fatty acids in neuronal mem branes, sometimes with disastrous consequences.

Present in more than just the brain, DHA is also found in abundance throughout the entire nervous system. It is also present in the synapses, special junctions that brain cells use to send signals to each other and to other cells, such as muscle tissue.

Without DHA the brain would not be able to communicate with the rest of the body. Imagine what it would be like if your brain

couldn’t tell your legs to walk, your lungs to breathe or your heart to beat. According to scientific studies, including plenty of DHA in the diet early in life can greatly impact the way a brain develops, and continuing to supply the body with DHA later in life can play an important role in keeping the brain healthy as we age.

DHA does even more for our children than help protect cognitive function and brain development. One study from the United Kingdom followed hundreds of young children from birth to up to six years of age. It was discovered that children who were breastfed had much better vision. Resear-chers supposed that the difference in vision was due to levels of DHA, which is found in high quantities in the retina. Breast milk from a healthy mother contains higher concentrations of DHA than do formulas.

Regarding the years later in the age spectrum, a large body of evidence links higher intake of DHA to reduced risk of develop-ing dementia such as Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders –not surprising, as so much of the brain consists of this crucial nutrient.

One specific study on the topic, done at Tufts University, linked increased levels of DHA in the bloodstream to significantly reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease. After the initial study, nine years of follow-up test-ing was done. The final result was that researchers saw a nearly 50 percent lower

risk of developing dementia in patients with the highest levels of DHA in their blood-streams. The same participants reported eating an average of three servings of fish per week. DHA seems to help prevent Alzheimer’s by reducing amyloid plaques in the brain.

Star ting a DHA-rich diet early in life is wonderful, but it is never too late to begin eating for your brain’s health.

The best way to get more DHA into your diet is to eat more fatty, cold-water fish, such as salmon, mackerel, sardines, anchovies and herring. Try to avoid shark, swordfish, king mackerel, certain tuna and other large, long-lived fish, as they contain higher levels of mercury and other pollutants. Fish oil supplements can also provide the valuable nutrient. Vegetarians can fulfill their require-ment with supplements made of DHA extracted from cultured algae.

Doctors don’t know exactly what causes Alzheimer’s, but many do agree that eating a diet high in fresh fruits and vegetables combined with high DHA intake and regular mental stimulation is a good formula for keeping the brain healthy and functioning optimally as we age.

Nutritional science has seen an explosion of research on omega-3 fatty acids in the past few years. In the same time, these healthy fats have all but taken over the news and health food markets. All of this is for good reason.

DHA and a Healthy Brain

Family Health


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Losing and replenishing water are a constant cycle in healthy humans. No matter the time of year, we lose water in our sweat, urine and stool. We even lose water in the form of vapor every time we exhale. To replace this natural loss, doctors generally recom mend eight 8-ounce glasses of water (2 quarts) daily.

There are times when increased water loss can lead to dehydration. During the summer, heat exposure and exercise are two of the most common causes of dehydration. But these are not the only factors to consider. Illnesses that cause fever, vomiting or diarrhea can also increase the risk. So too can certain diseases, such as diabetes, and significant skin injuries, because water is lost through damaged skin.

Unfortunately, much of the liquid consumed in modern diets comes from sodas, coffee, alcoholic beverages and tea, which are all diuretics, meaning they actually cause the body to lose water. Most people drink less than a single quart of pure water each day. That’s less than half the recommended amount! It’s easy to see why dehydration can be a chronic problem for some people.

There are many symptoms of dehydration: headache, confusion, dry/sticky mouth, low urine output, heart palpitations, lethargy. Even so, it can be difficult to detect dehydration because often these symptoms are either not present or go unobserved. More over, because confusion is a common symptom,

it can be especially hard for a person to realize his or her own state of dehydration.

Dehydration may be most common in the hot summer months, but it doesn’t need to be. The best way to help prevent dehydration is to be aware of your body’s needs and simply drink more water. Carrying a water bottle to work is perhaps the easiest way to ensure that your body is adequately hydrated all day long. An even healthier method is to make multiple trips to the watercooler or kitchen sink throughout the day because it also helps keep you active. These small trips may not seem like much, but every step taken in place of sitting at your desk is a step toward a healthier life.

Hydration comes from more than just drinking water. If plain water isn’t appealing, liquid drinks such as juices (try for 100 percent fruit juice) are full of water. In addition to what we drink, nearly all the foods we eat also contain some water. Fruits and some vegetables are composed primarily of water. Depending on your diet, up to 20 percent of daily water intake can actually come from solid food.

Melons, celery, lettuce, oranges and cucumbers are all composed in large part of water, and they make delicious snacks. But nothing beats a glass of near-room-temperature, pure water. Doctors tend to recommend room-temperature water be-cause the colder water is, the harder it is for the body to absorb.

Even if you are not dangerously dehydrated, increasing your daily water intake can help improve the way you feel. Water helps regulate body temperature, helping us feel comfortable year round; it plays a role in lubricating joints, which helps mobility; and it is the most important factor in keeping our eyes, nose and mouth moist. Anybody who has ever had problems with dry eyes or nostrils knows how uncomfortable that problem can be. Cosmetically speaking, water also helps the skin stay radiant and elastic.

Water helps in vital internal systems, carrying oxygen throughout the body and working with the kidneys to eliminate waste and toxins. Even with all these benefits, other nutrition and health issues often overshadow the importance of drinking enough water. Often, people tend to focus more on which vitamins they need or how much protein they should be eating. These are important, but water intake is equally important.

Want to feel and look healthier this summer? Try the water challenge. Commit to drinking eight 8-ounce glasses of water every day for two weeks. After that short amount of time, you’ll feel such a difference that staying properly hydrated will become a priority because of the difference it will make in your life.

The sun is out and the days are warming. As summer heats up, the importance of drinking enough fresh, pure water rises.

Tips for Avoiding Dehydration




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Beauty begins from within!




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What parts of my body are vulnerable to free radicals?The short answer is “all of them.” Free radicals can damage cell membrane structures, mitochondria, proteins and lipids inside every single cell in your body – from your skin to your eyes to your brain and everything in between. Even your DNA is vulnerable to free-radical attacks. But do not fear. Every place in your body where free radicals can go, so too can the antioxidants that stop them. Antioxidants have the ability to remain stable after giving up an electron long enough to be restabilized by another antioxidant. When certain antioxidants cannot be restabilized, they harmlessly decompose. Antioxidants are found in all fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices, as well as in concentrated form in certain dietary supplements.

Are all antioxidants the same?Just as there are many sources of free radicals, there are many sources of antioxidants. Oligomeric proanthocyanidins, more commonly known as OPCs, are a specific type of antioxidant that stands out as one of the very best. What sets them apart from most other antioxidants is not only their potency but also their ability to protect many different tissues throughout the whole body from free-radical attacks. Because they are polymers of catechins (repeating units of the same molecule linked together) of varying length, they also inherently function as a network as opposed to single molecules that are all the same, such as for vitamin C, vitamin A and carotenoids. OPCs are potent free-radical scavengers. OPCs are also extremely versatile and can bind with and protect collagen and protein, thereby helping preserve youthful, healthy-looking skin. Searching the monumental amounts of scientific literature about OPCs, it is virtually impossible to find any reference to any toxicities resulting from ingesting them.

Ask the Expert

Is drinking milk enough to protect my child’s growing bones?While milk can be a good source of bone-boosting calcium, studies have shown that calcium is not enough by itself to form and protect strong bones. We know calcium relies on other nutrients to aid in proper absorption into the skeletal system, some of which are also present in milk. In large part, these include magnesium and vitamins D and K, but the list goes on. Combining calcium with zinc, copper, manganese, silicon and boron has been linked to more effective bone health. Even omega-3 fatty acids have been shown to help in some situations. It’s clear that there is much more to bone growth than simply getting enough calcium.

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MAY/JUNE 2015 The Summer Advantage - Lifeplus · 2020. 6. 15. · Instead of letting your pooch out the back door to do his business, take him for a 30-minute walk around the neighborhood